Bloggy-ookami

First off, it's well into spring now, and things where I am are starting to heat up. Yesterday, it was 84 degrees and relatively humid, but nothing that bad. The sun felt strangely hot for the conditions, though. I was working a 10-7 shift and the second guy wasn't scheduled to come in until 5, but that's no big deal. In fact, it's pretty normal (not that I like it, but that's another story). So I did my job normally, and when 5 o'clock rolled around, he wasn't there. Knowing my managers, I knew what was up, but went inside to confirm it. Sure enough, the managers pulled the other into the back to help unload a truck. Let me make something perfectly clear: this is not a random occurrence that they pulled him back there spontaneously because they really needed help. No, they do this to him almost every day we work together, so much so that I can almost plan my day around it. In fact, the managers plan their day around it (or rather, they plan to pull him back there hours ahead of time). Naturally, they still get mad at me if I fall behind in my work, because logic. So the other guy got pulled to unload a truck. Fine. I'm used to it. I'm hot, sweaty, and tired, but it wasn't something unexpected.

Then I got a customer that was probably the first overtly jerky I've ever had as a cart pusher. Let me lay down the situation.

I was bringing in about 10 carts by hand through the front doors since that's the simplest method for stray carts in the handicap parking areas, right? When I brought them in, someone had left a cart facing the wrong way in front of the line of carts I was going to connect my 10 carts to. It was left like this. Imagine that ">>>>>>>" is the big line of carts, and the "<" is the wrong-facing one:

>>>>>>>>>>>><

No big deal, happens all the time. I turn the cart around and connect it properly, then walk back to the front of the 10 I was preparing to push. Then along came the woman who stopped her cart exactly where the previous wrong-facing cart was. She was about to leave it like this:

>>>>>>>>>>>>V

So I said "Ma'am?" to get her attention before she left it. She saw me and asked, "You want me to leave it?" To which I replied, "I need to to move it. I'm about to push these right there." In response to this, she blatantly and purposefully left the cart exactly where it was, making me take care of it again before finally dealing with the 10 that I brought it. As she walked away, I think I heard her mumble something like, "Talk to me that way..." What way she meant, I'm not certain, unless she thought I was using "move it" in the rude sense that people sometimes do. I don't know why she'd think I meant it any differently than she meant "leave it," though.

So yeah. That was a bit irritating. Anyway, after work, I drove to my aunt's house to get some swimming exercise in. The last time I swam a week ago, I swam 30 lengths of the pool, which left me so tired I was barely able to stand. This time I swam 48 lengths and aside from muscle fatigue, I didn't really feel all that tired. I decided not to go for 60 though and ended it at 48 (I do it in sets of 6 lengths, or 3 laps). They recently had their pool lining replaced and haven't put the stairs and ladder back in the pool yet, so I have to jump out of the pool. That didn't turn out so well this time. When I jumped out, my left calf muscle seized and cramped like hell. On the bright side, I made it out, so I didn't have to deal with it while still in the water. I stretched the muscle out for a few minutes and it slowly eased up and relaxed. As it was doing so, though, I saw something interesting and really quite entertaining: the calf muscle started wriggling and writhing. It looked sort of like a heart beating with the way it moved, or like when that alien was about to pop out of that guy's stomach in Alien. xD

Everything ended up fine, though, so no worries. The calf still hurts a bit today, sore from the cramp. But walking seems to ease it, so I'll be fine for work. And that was my interesting day.



Also, you may be wondering why I'm sharing some random day of my life.



Nah, I just wanted to use that. :derpe:

But who's laughing now? Eeeeee hee heeee! /Old western coot

Numerous people told me not to do it, that the description of the Kickstarter was shady. They said it was likely a scam. It was too late, though, since I had already put down my money. But ohoho, lo and behold, Carbonesque pulled through.

Some of you may remember a Kickstarter for a "Moon" plush (Princess Luna in reality), using the flimsy workaround of the plush being of an OC from Sailor Moon that happens to look 100% like Princess Luna of MLP. It was only $20 for a pretty darn good plush. I put down $40 for two (one for giving to my second cousin). As the months went on, and more delays occurred for these plushes, I started to think maybe it was a scam after all. If it did turn out like that, I'd just have shrugged it off anyway, sense that money was spent half a year ago and I've moved on since then.

But what is that? I saw an email notice from USPS (United States Postal Service) announcing a packaged was being processed from Carbonesque. I waited a couple of days, and what do you know! I got the package today, and in it was exactly what I was promised: well-made, cheap Luna plushes!

Spoiler: Behold, the princess of the night hath arrived! And the fun has been doubled!

I felt I just had to share this because I found it so hilarious. Not long ago, on tonight's episode of the Colbert Report, Stephen Colbert covered a new ad the Catholic Diocese of Brooklyn is using to try and increase church attendance. The following is the ad, and then Colbert's piece on it.



Yes, Jesus was the original hipster. After all, he was into Christianity way before it went mainstream. I don't know how I didn't see this sooner, folks. An unemployed 33-year-old who home brews his own water into wine and thinks he's God's gift to humanity? That's like every other guy in Brooklyn. And Jesus was ironic as it gets. When everyone else went swimming, Jesus was like, "Nah, I'd rather go for a walk." Even his death was ironic. "Sup Romans. Yeah, I was dead for while, but then I got bored. YOLO."

~Stephen Colbert

Just wanted to share. xD

[youtube]K-WANol1dlg[/youtube]

Alright so, about half a week ago, management told us to keep both cart bay doors (the overhead ones like a garage) closed when we're not using them. This is fine and standard operating procedure (for me, the others seem not to care), but I had one teensy problem with the order. One of the doors had a broken track wheel that was misaligned, and I knew it would be a bad idea to operate that door too much, being broken and all. Three days later, I got to open said door because I was bringing some carts in, and lo and behold, it gets caught on a bolt and falls lopsided, half of the track wheels falling off completely. Needless to say, this made the door pretty much inoperable. The other cart pusher (the senior one) came and tried to correct it, only to have the door fall off altogether, left hanging only by one of those thick, woven metal wires.

So we did all we could do. We made room to rotate the door against the wall so we could keep doing our job. It's management's problem now. I would have been mad about the situation, but I was so full of a smug, I-told-you-so feeling toward the managers that I was actually in a pretty good mood.

Later that day, I also came across something someone very thoughtfully left in a cart for me to pick up and take care of. You know.....with my hands. Pics ahoy!

Spoiler: Broken Cart Bay Door

Spoiler: The Super Thoughtful Present Somone Left Me....to Touch....With My Hands...

I came across a car in the parking lot that had a bunch of pollen on it and a few people (the owners most likely) had written messages on the car by brushing the pollen away. I had a mildly mischievous impulse and wrote another couple messages on the car. I was some distance away when they got to their car, and they seemed confused by it. I was practically shaking with suppressed mirth. xD Not to worry, all the pollen will be washed off tomorrow with the coming of heavy rain. :3

Spoiler: It's fun to be naughty~

I went to a one-day anime marketplace (kind of a mini-convention) with a friend I hadn't seen for 4 months. We got in for free because of their manga trade-in policy: trade in one manga for $1 off the entry price. Entry was $4, so I brought 8 manga I haven't read for around 8 years and we got in for free. Honestly, the dealer's room was pretty unimpressive, with very few things I haven't seen at conventions. In retrospect, that should have been expected. We ended up being there for an hour or so, then we went back to his house. While I was there, though, I did buy a couple of pieces of tile art and I'm pleased with how they look on my wall. It's like looking at big video game sprites.

Spoiler: Tile Art!

I went to the mall today primarily to buy a Build-A-Bear Pinkie Pie plush, and to check out some other pony-relevant stores while I was there. To my dismay, the Build-A-Bear Workshop is not yet open for business (wish their website had told me that...), but I found some cool stuff at the other places I looked at. There was one store, I believe named "Character Box" that had a good amount of a bunch of stuff ranging from ponies to Final Fantasy to lots of anime. I almost bought a Yoshi and Kirby plush, but decided against it. Instead, I bought a Zoroark figure. Then at Hot Topic (u maid, pixelbrah? ) I bought the Derpy and Fluttershy vinyl figures, a few blind bags, and a Vinyl Scratch sticker.

Fun fact: One of the blind bags was Spitfire, and I kid you not, the card says Soarin. And if I had gotten Soarin, the card would have said Spitfire. Does it take effort to double check?

By the way, I always found it amusing how the Derpy figurine doesn't say her name, but rather just gives a picture of her face. Trying to placate the soccer moms I guess. xD

Spoiler: Pics ahoy!

PETA, a.k.a. People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, a radical animal rights organization here in America, went and did a silly thing. Instead of rescuing impounded animals or whatnot, apparently they've taken to simply killing animals that would otherwise be perfectly adoptable (they hate the idea of domesticated animals). I'm linking the story, and I warn you: there are some pictures that are really tough to see, especially for animal lovers. I implore you, if you think you can't handle it, then don't look at them.

~Link removed upon admin request~

I love this video, and so do you, but is 4 seconds enough? HELL no! So I took it and made a 15-minute version of it!

[youtube]4w1s9VTUp6E[/youtube]

And as a bonus, cleaned up my desktop for the first time in a LONG time, including removing the big, useless scanner to make more desk space. The desk was cover with small bits of trash, things out of place because I was too lazy to put them away properly, stacks of DVD and blu-Ray cases that needed to be put up, and was a disorganized mess. I could even really seen the mane 6 brushables I have in front of my monitor! But that's all done now, and it feels good!

I also cleaned up much of the clothes I hadn't put up in the dresser for months, and now my top bunk is mostly clear again. My room still needs a lot of work, but I took down two big tasks on my last two days off.

Anyway, pics of desk and art!

Spoiler: Art 'n' sturf

Looking for a bit of inspiration? I know I was, and this helped a bit in cheering me up.

"A well-known speaker started off his seminar holding up a $20.00 bill. In the room of 200, he asked, "Who would like this $20 bill?" Hands started going up. He said, "I am going to give this $20 to one of you but first, let me do this."

He proceeded to crumple up the $20 dollar bill. He then asked, "Who still wants it...?" Still the hands were up in the air. "Well," he replied, "What if I do this?" And he dropped it on the ground and started to grind it into the floor with his shoe. He picked it up, now crumpled and dirty. "Now, who still wants it?" Still the hands went into the air.

"My friends, we have all learned a very valuable lesson. No matter what I did to the money, you still wanted it because it did not decrease in value. It was still worth $20. Many times in our lives, we are dropped, crumpled, and ground into the dirt by the decisions we make and the circumstances that come our way. We may feel as though we are worthless. But no matter what has happened or what will happen, you will never lose your value.

Dirty or clean, crumpled or finely creased, you are still priceless to those who DO LOVE you. The worth of our lives comes not in what we do or who we know, but by WHO WE ARE.

You are special-Don't EVER forget it." If you do not pass this on, you may never know the lives it touches, the hurting hearts it speaks to, or the hope that it may bring. Count your blessings, not your problems."

12x18 is an odd dimension (for the art prints I bought at Momocon), and typical stores don't sell them, so I ordered them from Amazon and they came in today. I bought a could 11x17 frames for my pony motivational posters as well, but found them at Walmart. I'll post pics when I get everything mounted and pinned up.

This is part 2 of a 2-part blog about the convention. To read the first part (along with some awesome pics of cosplayers and things like that), go here: http://www.everypony.com/blogs/entry.php?1564-MomoCon-2013-Megablog!-Convention-edition

Alright let me get something out of the way. This convention made my wallet weep huge manly tears.



But I got a bunch of good stuff out of it. I got a few art prints (one of which is a print by the MLP cmoic artist), a poster or three (including two pony motivational posters to help cheer me on when I'm down), many buttons, car decals, Pokemon Gym badge pins, a few keychains, some plushes, a T-shirt, and I started putting together a cosplay idea for the next con: Mage Twilight (Fire Emblem style). To that end, I bought a pair of ears and a horn, a shawl/mantle, a tome, and a blanket that I plane to turn into a cape/cloak. I need boots, robes, and gauntlets though. I have pics of the outfit I cosplayed in the first day of the con, and of what I have of my current cosplay idea. Enjoy!

Spoiler: Buttons!

Spoiler: Prints and posters

Pokeplushes! (Zorua and Espeon) - https://dl.dropbox.com/u/73613383/Conventions/MomoCon 2013/IMG_7994.JPG

Car Decals (Prinny, Gurren Lagann drill necklace, Fullmetal Alchemist Ouroboros symbol) - https://dl.dropbox.com/u/73613383/Conventions/MomoCon 2013/IMG_7983.JPG

Gym Badges (I am real poke a man master!) - https://dl.dropbox.com/u/73613383/Conventions/MomoCon 2013/IMG_7982.JPG

Keychains (Shiny Umbreon, somehow cutesy Missingno, and Jupiter Djinni from Golden Sun) - https://dl.dropbox.com/u/73613383/Conventions/MomoCon 2013/2013-03-10_16-32-27_83.jpg
https://dl.dropbox.com/u/73613383/Conventions/MomoCon 2013/2013-03-10_16-30-53_812.jpg
https://dl.dropbox.com/u/73613383/Conventions/MomoCon 2013/2013-03-10_16-30-30_785.jpg

Majora's Mask T-shirt - https://dl.dropbox.com/u/73613383/Conventions/MomoCon 2013/IMG_8000.JPG

Spell Tome - https://dl.dropbox.com/u/73613383/Conventions/MomoCon 2013/IMG_7991.JPG
https://dl.dropbox.com/u/73613383/Conventions/MomoCon 2013/IMG_7992.JPG

Pony ears and horn - https://dl.dropbox.com/u/73613383/Conventions/MomoCon 2013/IMG_7996.JPG

Twilight Mantle - https://dl.dropbox.com/u/73613383/Conventions/MomoCon 2013/IMG_7997.JPG

Twilight cloak-to-be - https://dl.dropbox.com/u/73613383/Conventions/MomoCon 2013/IMG_7998.JPG

Twilght Mage outfit as it stands now - https://dl.dropbox.com/u/73613383/Conventions/MomoCon 2013/IMG_8001.JPG
https://dl.dropbox.com/u/73613383/Conventions/MomoCon 2013/IMG_8002.JPG
https://dl.dropbox.com/u/73613383/Conventions/MomoCon 2013/IMG_8006.JPG
https://dl.dropbox.com/u/73613383/Conventions/MomoCon 2013/IMG_8010.JPG

Kazuramatsuri Fuujirou semi-cosplay (yes my hair is in pigtails) - https://dl.dropbox.com/u/73613383/Conventions/MomoCon 2013/IMG_8011.JPG
https://dl.dropbox.com/u/73613383/Conventions/MomoCon 2013/IMG_8013.JPG
https://dl.dropbox.com/u/73613383/Conventions/MomoCon 2013/IMG_8015.JPG
https://dl.dropbox.com/u/73613383/Conventions/MomoCon 2013/IMG_8016.JPG

As some of you may know, I attended a convention this weekend called MomoCon in Atlanta. It was really fun and I hope to go again next year. I plan to make this two blog posts due to the number of pics I got and I have to cover 2 days of material. So in this entry, I'm covering the convention itself, and I'll cover the stuff I bought in the next one! Some of you also know I went kinda-sorta cosplaying as a character in Disgaea 4 (posted a pic in my last blog entry). Unfortunately, nobody got it. Several people got the prinny hat, but no one I talked to had played Disgaea 4 and so didn't know it was an actual character's hat. Ah well, c'est la vie.

I did, hoever get a number of compliments on my bag and the plushes I had sticking out of it. People seemed really surprised when I said these pony plushes were found at Walmart and several vowed to go looking at Walmart for them. While in the Dealer's Room, I came across a Zorua plush that I added to the ponies sticking out of my bag. At one point, it fell out when I wasn't looking, but a minute or so later, a nice man asked if I'd dropped it (just after I realized it was gone) and, relieved, I thanked him and accepted it back. The mustache on Pinkie I didn't add until I got home, unfortunately. But it's never leaving her now.

Spoiler: My Swag Bag, or.....Swbag...

https://dl.dropbox.com/u/73613383/Conventions/MomoCon 2013/2013-03-10_15-20-16_760.jpg

https://dl.dropbox.com/u/73613383/Conventions/MomoCon 2013/2013-03-10_15-20-35_736.jpg

I attended a few panels during my stay. I went to a couple of Q&A sessions with Mike Reiss, a writer for The Simpsons. That guy is hilarious. He also created The Critic and worked on many movies like all the Ice Age movies, Despicable Me, Horton Hears a Who, The Lorax, and more. I also attended a Little Kuriboh Q&A (creator of Yu-Gi-Oh! Abridged, which I still haven't seen *raises flame shield), and though I didn't know the subject matter, it was really funny. His first question was from a guy cosplaying as Roxas of Kingdom Hearts, and man they gave him a hard time the entire panel, always joking of course. My favorite joke was when he got around to asking the question (Little Kuriboh and his wife tend to get sidetracked), Kuriboh asked, "Is this going to be a two-hour tutorial that no one wants to play?" xD

Then came the brony panels. One of them was run by Canterlanta's own Josh: MLP 101. It basically covered MLP from its inception in the 80s all the way up to bronies and their creations. We all had to suffer while watching Gen 3 and 3.5. *shudder* After that panel, as I was leaving, I was stopped by a cool guy named Sebastian. He pulled me aside to interview me about basically everything about my being a brony. He asked me how I came to be one, and what being a brony means to me, and if I feel it's made me a better person than I was before ponies, and what I think of people who hate MLP and bronies.

My answers were thus: I came across a brony at work and asked him out of curiosity what the big deal was and he advised I give it a shot. I forget about it for a couple months until I saw a pony video linked in the related videos of something else, and clicked on it out of curiosity. I was attracted to the cuteness of it and the voices and colors and watched some fan videos. I really liked them, so I downloaded season 1 and watched a few and was hooked. And being a brony to me means that you enjoy the show, maybe some fanmade stuff. I do feel I've become a better person since becoming a brony. I always had the capacity to be a good person, and MLP was the catalyst I needed. The lessons it teaches I've known all my life, but had long since discarded for the most part. MLP retaught these lessons and, seeing how it worked for the ponies, I realized all the lessons need to work is belief that they can, which leads to trying. As for pony/brony haters, I'm fine if they don't like it. Ponies, like anything else, are not for everyone, and I respect that they don't like and hope that they respect that I do.

I've been kicking myself since that interview, though, since I forgot to exchange information so I could see and post the final product here. Sorry guys.

Then came the thing I was looking forward to most: the showing of the first half of Double Rainboom, and it didn't disappoint. I found the animation good and the jokes funny, and look forward to the conclusion. I recorded it on my camera, but the quality is pretty bad. Still, if you want to watch it, here it is!

[youtube]4Od2WPclmTk[/youtube]

After that came an hour and a half of brony videos. I saw a ton I never knew of before, but only one I could find when I got home (it's an awesome one though). It was a lot of fun but sometimes I couldn't hear it very well.

Oh, and there was a food court at a mall a couple buildings away (linked by a skybridge) that had a ton of awesome food to choose from. Cookie store, Dairy Queen, Checkers, Chik-fil-A, Great Wraps, suchi, Thai food, a bistro, an awesome pizza place, and much more! I was never wanting for food, that's for sure.

There's a story behind one of my pictures. She's cosplaying as a Rainbow Dash D&D class (not sure which one). She was also part of the Fairy Tail podcast they were doing later, and she played the role of Lucy. Now if you don't know Lucy, one of her defining characteristcs is gigantic boobs. This girl said she doesn't have the boobs for it, so she stuck squeaky dog toys in her bra to fill up some room. xD the result being that her boobs now squeak. She invited me to try, so I did so while making a hyperbolic face. xD

Spoiler: Rainbow Squeak

And now for the rest of the cosplays!

Spoiler: Him (Powerpuff Girls)

Spoiler: Nakajima Yuu and Hanamura Yosuke (Persona 4)

Spoiler: Handsome Jack and Psycho (Borderlands 2)

Spoiler: Juvia, Erza, Gerard, Natsu, and Gajeel from Fairy Tail

Spoiler: Brotherhood of Steel (Fallout 3) and my friend Ralphie

Spoiler: The Once-ler (The Lorax)

Spoiler: D'aww Spike

Spoiler: Shining Armor, King Sombre, and Cadance Missle

Spoiler: Chrysalis and Sombre

Spoiler: Chrysalis, Sombre, and Discord

Spoiler: Scootaloo and Rainbow Dash assaulting the Wonderbolts

Spoiler: Vinyl Scratch (Josh, the guy who ran the MLP 101 panel) and Octavia

Spoiler: Derpy!

Spoiler: Fluttershy

Lilith and Maya (Borderlands 2) - https://dl.dropbox.com/u/73613383/Conventions/MomoCon 2013/IMG_7938.JPG

Tomoyo and Kyou (Clannad) - https://dl.dropbox.com/u/73613383/Conventions/MomoCon 2013/IMG_7939.JPG

Starscream (Transformers) - https://dl.dropbox.com/u/73613383/Conventions/MomoCon 2013/IMG_7941.JPG

Serah (Final Fantasy XIII) - https://dl.dropbox.com/u/73613383/Conventions/MomoCon 2013/IMG_7940.JPG

Altair (Assassin's Creed) - https://dl.dropbox.com/u/73613383/Conventions/MomoCon 2013/IMG_7942.JPG

Primula (Shuffle!) - https://dl.dropbox.com/u/73613383/Conventions/MomoCon 2013/IMG_7943.JPG

Deer Chell (Portal 2) - https://dl.dropbox.com/u/73613383/Conventions/MomoCon 2013/IMG_7945.JPG

Steampunk Pikachu (bad lighting, don't know why) - https://dl.dropbox.com/u/73613383/Conventions/MomoCon 2013/IMG_7947.JPG

Alphonse Elric (Fullmetal Alchemist) - https://dl.dropbox.com/u/73613383/Conventions/MomoCon 2013/IMG_7948.JPG

Turbo, Fix-It Felix, Wreck-It Ralph, and Vanellope von Schweetz (Wreck-It Ralph) - https://dl.dropbox.com/u/73613383/Conventions/MomoCon 2013/IMG_7949.JPG

Alphonse Elric, Edward Elric, and Envy (Fullmetal Alchemist) - https://dl.dropbox.com/u/73613383/Conventions/MomoCon 2013/IMG_7964.JPG

Tingle (Legend of Zelda) - https://dl.dropbox.com/u/73613383/Conventions/MomoCon 2013/IMG_7967.JPG

Micaiah (Fire Emblem: Radiant Dawn) - https://dl.dropbox.com/u/73613383/Conventions/MomoCon 2013/IMG_7969.JPG

That's it for this blog. Keep an eye out for thw next one where I post my swag!

I'm kinda sorta cosplaying for the convention I'm attending this weekend. I say kinda sorta because it's just going to be the hat and bat of the character, and somewhat the hair (I'm putting my hair in pigtails). I bought a black plastic bat and spray painted it brown using a plastic-adhering spray paint (that happened to be just the perfect color too), and wrapped it up at the bottom with white paper medical tape, as well as a taped "X" where the sweet spot of the bat is. Here's a pic of the character and a pic of the bat I made. Her name is Kazuramatsuri Fuuka from Disgaea 4, and I name my cosplay Kazuramatsuri Fuujirou (basically the male equivalent)! Oh, and you bet your buns you can look forward to a series of image-laden blog posts about the convention!

Behold!

Spoiler: Big Fuuka image

Spoiler: Painted and taped bat