overhaul.

To anybody reading this blog,

Very recently, I've made the difficult decision to leave The Lost Aria cosplay group. We've shared some pretty awesome times and created lovely memories together over the past year-and-a-bit, but it was an appropriate time, considering my own life circumstances, to break away from the group. Make no mistake that there's no enmity amongst the members/former members. It is simply time for some of us to blossom into our own kind of beauty. So here, I want to thank everyone in the group for the wonderful time we've spent together and wish them all the very best in their future endeavours, whatever they may be.

However, this isn't a goodbye post. It's a hello again post. As if I could leave behind this blog of snarky, fangirly goodness. Pssshh.

Though the name Rhapsody is behind us, now is the hour of II, III VII and IX, and the 

Cambio Cosplay group. 

Look forward to something so ridiculously great, your eyes will melt out of their sockets.

Love,

Septem.

5 party member archetypes.

By no means am I an expert in gaming. I could barely call myself a gamer, if at all. However, I have noticed several overused game character archetypes, especially in RPGs, so I created this post to present my findings and to serve as a reference if I ever decide, for whatever obscure reason, to somehow create my own RPG. Do keep in mind that these traits are also common in anime and manga too. 

As always, this list of character archetypes is not the be-all-and-end-all, but the types listed here are so common it's not even funny. Or maybe it is funny. I dunno.

1. The Hero (a.k.a "You")

hey, sexy lady.

Now, I don't like to boast, but in case you haven't noticed, the ladies of The Lost Aria are really, really goddamn beautiful.... So much so that I didn't feel like my joining the group would do them (or my self esteem) any good. 

I remember hanging out with Nocturne one evening during my pre-cosplay days; she showed me a bunch of pictures TLA had taken in the past, and I distinctly recall myself going home that night and brooding over how I would probably never look that good.

But enough of that. The point of this post is that I am now surrounded by a harem group of gorgeous ladies, and recently I've had a chance to (maybe?) join the ranks with my cosplay of Deathnote's Amane Misa!

Herein lies a photodump of some of my favourite TLA cosplays that ooze femininity and all sorts of loveliness:

5 shows that shaped my childhood.

Do you ever wonder how you turned out the way you did? I do. Very often. And I've come to the conclusion that the shows I watched as a kid have greatly influenced my taste in various things later on in life, even my teenage and adult years. Here are five of my fondest, most nostalgic shows, all of which were watched before I turned six:

1. Power Rangers

To be specific, I am referring to Power Rangers of the Mighty Morphin' variety. Having been brought up in Kiwiland, especially having had little interaction with other Asians up till that point, I remember being extremely chuffed when I knew that Yellow Ranger was an Asian girl. Later on I realised with amusement that Black Ranger was an African American guy, Pink Ranger was a pretty, goody-two-shoes cheerleader, and Red Ranger was the footballer. Still, while I was an innocent child, naive to the ways of the world, I was always highly entertained by the eternal struggle of good and evil, terrible special effects, and superfluous explosions.

Nocturne's guide to combating dark circles.

Recently Nocturne updated her blog with a guide to treating and preventing under-eye circles/bags. Since this is a problem we of The Lost Aria often struggle with, and I'm sure many other people do too, I thought I'd share her wisdom with you all.

Click here to go to Nocturne's blog and find out how you, too, may be rid of those annoying dark circles. :D

this is my fangirl face.

Since I became a full-time fangirl at age seven, there have been many occasions where, whilst fangirling over something, I momentarily snap out of my delirium and think to myself "I must look like a complete idiot". Thankfully, these stupid expressions of mine are often made when I'm by myself in front of my laptop, and nobody is present to judge me. In public I try to act cool, calm and collected (doesn't always work but hey).

In a moment of inspiration, I have chronicled a few of these weird faces for your viewing pleasure. Or displeasure, if you will.

(I should also mention that I am, in fact, responsible for these horrid doodles. I am a total failure when it comes to digital drawing. >:P)

1. Content fangirl

This is what I look like by default. Sort of. I've perhaps managed to get my hands on some merchandise, caught up on news concerning whatever fandom, or just hoarded a whole bunch of pretty pictures. You know, that triumphant kind of feeling. Endorphins all round.

retail therapy.

I have many bad habits, one of them being my penchant for buying things for the hell of it, especially when I know I have the money for it.

I suppose I don't really have the money for it, but I spend anyway. What's worse is that although I would like to buy things when they're discounted, if I want it enough, I'll pay the full overly marked-up price. Don't take spending tips from me, boys and girls.

As of late, I've been doing next to nothing aside from going to work, going home, and being a mad fangirl, so I haven't had many chances to show off my new acquisitions. So here we go, I'm going to show the citizens of the internet instead.

First and foremost - I have a blue streak in my hair now. :O

This is one of the only two pics I've taken of it though, and unfortunately there's more face than hair here... But I was rather pleased with how it's turned out. I've never done anything to my hair prior to this, and I was a bit nervous that it may not look very professional, but my boss saw my hair and asked (sincerely) why I didn't dye the rest of my hair blue as well. XD

This was also my first time in a hair salon. I didn't realise how expensive it was going to be. This little streak of blue cost me over $100. D:

Next - since I bought those 5 pairs of Big Bang socks in Odaiba, I have rarely worn any of the other socks I own, and as a result those 5 pairs are getting seriously worn out. To counter this problem, I ordered 5 more pairs of Big Bang socks - this time it's the Alive edition! Can't resist Daesung's blonde and TOP's mint green. 

cosplay marathon.

Last weekend, Lullaby and Requiem came to town. We stayed at Symphony and Fantasia's place, where there was much wig brushing, fangirling, eyebrowing, and general mayhem.

While I can't show any official photos, I have plenty of photos from my phone, taken with little or no artistic sense. So here they are in all their noisy, unedited glory...

onward!

This weekend will be a productive one as Lullaby and Requiem come to visit. We'll be staying (yes, myself included) at Symphony and Fantasia's place and doing a whole week of cosplay (and maybe some other stuff like eating and sleeping too).

Although Symphony, Fantasia and I live in the same wee little city, we don't really get to see each other, so I'm really looking forward to the next few days. 8D

Unfortunately, it seems I'll be bringing the entire contents of my room with me... One glance at my bags and it looks like I'm going to be spending a month in the widerness or something.

The above picture was taken when packing was at 30% completion. Nezumi's superfibre cape takes up all the room. I may just end up wearing it to save space. Plus there's a bedsheet, wigs, several rolls of bandages, and a bottle of PVA glue. Probably one of the more unusual suitcases I've packed.

So everybody watch this space! (And other places you'll find The Lost Aria) There'll be lots of exciting stuff popping up soon, which may or may not include pictures of Lullaby in skimpy clothing, depending on how stealthy the rest of us can be.

5 music videos.

In all honesty, I don't watch many music videos. I never really have. The bulk of the videos for songs I listen to mostly involve the group in question dancing/singing/playing instruments, and not much else. It's such a shame because a lot of the time it's just wasted potential. There are so many possibilities but nobody seems to seize these obvious opportunities.

However, here we have music videos/MVs/PVs or whatever you want to call them, that have some sort of story to them, or at least a development of the ideas and motifs used. For this simple trait, they are all flippin' epic.

(By the way, the picture above is the best part of the Monster MV :D)

teaware.

I'll just put it out there so there's no confusion:

I really, really like tea.

I like to try different types of tea, I like high teas/tea parties/afternoon teas, I like tea sets.

Recently, a family friend inherited a whole lot of tea cups and saucers from her grandmother, who had sadly passed on a few years ago. Our friend didn't have much need for all those cups and things, so she kindly gifted them to me. Thus began my collection of teaware.

At the moment, it's a humble collection. I haven't really got the time or money to acquire such items. Still, I love every piece to bits. Here are a few...

Tea-for-one with pink polka-dots, a birthday gift from a family friend a couple of years ago. It's by far the one I use most often for its size and convenience. Because I'm lazy like that. It was also my first tea-for-one set.

Royal Albert cup and saucer, a birthday gift from a friend last year. The poor guy has never seen me in person without a wig on, yet he was nice enough to get me this for my birthday.

Tea-for-one with blue polka dots. A gift from my waifu. I don't think he realised how expensive it was going to be before he bought it. *_* The saucer is also gigantic and quite heavy, in case you couldn't tell. So more often than not, I will just leave it in the cupboard and use just the pot and cup...

Salisbury Crown China 3 piece set from the grandmother's collection. This photo really doesn't do it much justice - the design is so lovely.

Colclough 3 piece set. Bought this one from the Tea Room stand at the craft market that's on in Wellington every Saturday. I'm in love with the combination of gold and pastel pink.

baby, i'm not a monster.

I've been getting into BigBang in a big way recently. At midnight today they released a new song, Monster.

Somehow I expected the song to be really average, since everyone was making such a big fuss about it saying how wonderful it would be etc. As it happens, I was right and the song is not as mindblowing as the hype made it out to be. Don't get me wrong though - it's a nice song. When I showed it to my younger brother, who is the resident kpop expert in our family, he said 'it sounds like 2PM'. And he has a point. It's that average.

All that aside, the MV is wonderful. It's definitely my type of MV. You simply must watch it!

Taeyang's hair made me giggle, but other than that I loved their costumes and the general feel of this video. And T.O.P's hat+scarf ensemble reminded me of Toshiya's costume in Obscure - that's always a plus.

makeup.

I tried a different way of applying eye makeup. :D

Now, I don't consider myself at all good with applying makeup - I haven't even found a foundation that suits my skin colour - but I do like to play around with it. I thought perhaps I'd go for a 'cute' kind of look, because I don't think I've been thought of as 'cute' for a long time. xD 

Of course, the level of cuteness is subjective, but for someone whose makeup skill is 0/10, I think I did okay.

Really I just wanted an excuse to pretty myself up and try on the dress I bought from Bodyline whilst on my travels. Alas my lack of camera/photographer/adequate lighting makes for really crappy shots, but hey, selca can hardly be considered art anyway, right?

That pic up there. ^ I gave it my best shot, I really did.

Sadly cuteness is not something that comes naturally to me. However, looking dorky, creepy or spaced out...do.

Maybe one day when I perfect my technique I can start doing tutorials and things, but until then you can have lots of pics of my ugly mug. :3

Oh, and I did these glasses myself. Got a pair of old 3D glasses I know I'll never use again (call me old-fashioned, but I can't stand 3D movies) and popped the lenses out. Cover with glue and sprinkle a bag of seed beads over it, and voila! A funky new pair of glasses to (maybe) wear (someday).

Maybe I'll try adding other things next time, like bigger beads or other ornaments.

singapore.

I really do wonder if the Singapore leg of my journey is worth writing about. Really, I did nothing much in particular except eat and shop (like a real Singaporean, minus the working/studying-your-ass-off thing). So here's a bunch of photos I took so you can see just what I ate.

akihabara.

That's Akihabara station. I know it's not obvious, but that's what it is.

This one deserves a whole post to itself. We probably spent more time here than any other place in Tokyo. The bulk of the stuff I brought back home was also stuff I either bought from a store in Akiba or won from a UFO catcher or Gashapon machine. 

Disneyland.

Does every child dream of going to Disneyland? I certainly did. Of the children I knew, perhaps I was one of the lucky ones. This was my third time visiting Disneyland, and my second time visiting the one in Tokyo in particular.

Potato was a compulsory travel companion, obviously.

asakusa, ginza, odaiba.

Night view of Tokyo from Odaiba

These were three locations I had not visited on my previous trips to Japan. Waifu and I went to Ginza mostly to see how many things were out of our reach. I wasn't remorseful about it though - I don't think I have much use for a Hermes scarf that costs even more than my laptop does.

shibuya, meiji-jingu, harajuku.

Although my waifu is somewhat averse to shopping for girly things, he indulged me and took me shopping in Harajuku and Shibuya. Of course, we also took a quiet walk around Yoyogi park (albeit a very small part of it) and Meiji-jingu.

yanaka etc.

During my time in Tokyo, I stayed at Annex Katsutaro Ryokan in Yanaka. It's roughly a ten-minute stroll from Nippori station and is close to pretty much whatever basic stuff a tourist needs - combinis, small cafes/eateries and souvenir shops. It was decently priced too; every other time I've visited Japan, I stayed at the Hilton in Shinjuku, and though the ryokan didn't have the same level of pomp, the level of comfort was on par. The staff speak good English too, which saved me from utilising my terrible Japanese.
                                                                             

on the (rail)road and in the sky.

This trip was officially my first self-funded trip, where I did not travel with any of my family members. It was a pretty scary thing, but there's nothing like travelling alone to make you feel like a grown up. Especially since I always feel like a child no matter what I do.

over the hills and far away.

This is Potato. He is about to go on a journey.

I've been away for a while, in case you haven't noticed. xD

Touched down on home soil yesterday, after spending almost three weeks abroad. It was my first self-funded holiday ever. Had a fantastic time, and only wish I could have a holiday like that more often. ;_;

My time was divided between Tokyo and Singapore - I spent time with mai waifu who did/is doing placements at the university hospitals there. He's currently still in Singapore, finishing off the placement there. *misses*

I'll be recapping my journey by area, seeing as I went to certain parts of Tokyo more often than others, and I really didn't do much in Singapore cos I stayed with my uncle there. And it was too hot to do anything.



Part One: On the Road and in the Sky
Part Two: Yanaka etc.
Part Three: Shibuya, Meiji-jingu, Harajuku
Part Four: Asakusa, Ginza, Odaiba
Part Five: Disneyland
Part Six: Akihabara
Part Seven: Singapore

5 childhoods worse than yours.

I think all kids go through a phase during which they think their lives are so difficult. I certainly did. But whenever I was about to complain about it (and I am being totally serious) I'd think about how much worse it could've been. There's always someone worse off. Knowing that makes me a little more grateful for the mundane struggles I face every day.

Here we have five fictional characters who have had it pretty bad when they were kids. This time I'm counting down, because it gives more impact that way. :P

5 uke attributes.

No, this isn't a summary of the anatomy of a ukelele. We're talking uke characters from BL games, or certain (most) series with BL potential, or just any old anime/manga that happens to have any percentage of yaoi fangirls.

Note: I could've called this 'How to Spot an Uke', 'You Know You're an Uke When...', 'Become an Uke in Five Easy Steps', or something to that effect, but I like keeping in theme. x3

Another note: Though I'll say 'you must', this list is by no means exhaustive and there are no hard or fast rules to being an uke ('hard' and 'fast' are more a seme's specialties after all xD /shot), so take it all with a grain of salt and (hopefully) have a giggle.

5 sweet tunes.

While I'm still in a lovey-dovey kinda mood, let's list some wonderful lovey-dovey songs!

Funnily enough, no English ones. :O

5 sweet treats.

Ah, Valentine's day. The commercial holiday. No doubt gift stores and florists and chocolatiers love this day (well, the bosses love it, the staff probably hate it...). Shop windows are filled with red and pink hearts, and the price of red roses shoots up to stupid prices.

But enough about that. The reason I'm posting this list today is because sweets are a common gift given on Valentine's day, and I have an insatiable sweet tooth. I've been known to do more baking than cooking, simply so I can subsequently wolf down my creation almost singlehandedly. I will eat pretty almost anything if it's sweet, but here are some towards which I am particularly partial.

5 BL favourites.

Okay, so this is a guilty pleasure of mine - BL/yaoi/shounen-ai/whateveryouwannacallit. I suppose this stems from the fact that I've never really liked female characters (with only a few exceptions) - they always seem so unnecessary. So when I started getting into the Gundam Wing fandom around the age of 14/15, it dawned upon me, what with all the slashfics out there, that the female characters could simply be taken out of the equation...or at least, be removed from the spotlight. 

After having discovered fanwork with BL themes, I began to branch out into series in which BL was canon. Actually, this only really started a couple of years ago when I found a pic of Kau (Togainu) in a thread on /y/. By the way boys and girls, never go to that place, it's full of unsavoury characters. xD So I guess you could say I'm something of a newb when it comes to BL?

Anyway, here are the few BL-related works I've seen/read/played for myself. No doubt this list will grow in time.

1. Togainu no Chi (Visual novel/manga/anime)

Ah, TnC. I think the reason why I didn't read/watch/play BL stuff for a while was because I thought it was all sappy love stories where the artist could've used a girl instead of the uke, but decided to use the uke because it's that much cooler. Then I played this. It was good - the plot was interesting but not so complex that I couldn't understand anything at all (since I don't understand much Japanese to begin with p:), although I laughed at the predictable 'everything invariably leads to sex' thing. But you know how you can tell if a BL plot is good or not? Take out the buttsex and see how it goes - they've turned it into a manga and anime, and even an alternate game, all without the BL in it, and it's still a good story. :3

Still, no matter what version I play/watch/read, Keisuke always scares the hell out of me.

4 unachievable cosplays.

I frequently see pictures of certain characters and feel the urge to cosplay them. Or I see pics of cosplayers and wish I could be as awesome as them. Sadly, for various reasons, there are certain cosplays I don't think I'd ever be able to pull off, regardless of how much I want to. I suppose it's always healthy for one to realise one's limits. Although there's only four on this list today - everything in moderation. xD

just a thought.

PSC recently posted a message asking people not to distribute any music, PVs or photos of their bands without permission.

I mean....seriously?

I can understand music and PVs...but...photos? Isn't that going too far? I mean, thousands of online fans use pics of these bands as their avatars/in their signatures. It's free advertising for them! The reason I know about Visual Kei at all is because of one photo I happened to find on Google image search (although for the record, it wasn't a pic of a PSC band). Plus, they're depriving the internet (i.e., the world) of a lot of eye candy. Doesn't anyone else think this is wrong? :(

What are they gonna do next? Tell people to stop cosplaying their bands too?

The thing is, with certain bands *coughAliceNinecough*, I have more photos of them than I have their music. Call me shallow, but tbh sometimes they look better than they sound. They're improving though. But with them, I'd rather sample their music via download first, then buy the single/album if I think it's worth it. The same goes with The GazettE, too. If I don't know whether or not I'll like the tracks on a CD, I'm less inclined to buy it. I'm sure there are a lot of people out there who do this too.

Of course, this would all be remedied, and the world would be a better place, if PSC would just create a YouTube channel or something so that people could listen to their music without feeling like criminals. But I don't think they have. It would also help if their albums weren't so freaking expensive. I mean, I support VK artists when I can afford to, but it's such a costly habit... ;_;

I'm glad I got the Toxic and Gemini albums when I did though. Might be my last purchase from PSC bands ever, cos I'm stubborn like that. D:

Naww, I didn't mean that.........................................................................

By the way, I used the stunning picture above because it's not an official PSC photo and therefore I'm not getting into any trouble. It fanart of The GazettE by Alzheimer13 on deviantArt.

more gifts!

So I arrived home today from having to work on a Saturday (buh). All I had on my mind was "food", "bum around" and "read No.6"... But then sitting on my bed I found a package from Ballad(e)!!

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Guess what was in it?

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If anyone was wondering, yes I am still squeeing my little head off right now. I was so distracted by the sheer awesome that I even forgot to take them out of the plastic packaging until half an hour later...

The detail on these two are so good. They're posable, their buttons are actually buttons (lol), and Sebas-chan's pocket watch chain is also a chain of sorts. Also, I was curious as to whether they had sewn the detail on Bocchan's contract eye. And yes, it turns out that they had. :O

Isn't it beautiful? :D

Thank you so much, Ballad!