Comic Con

"But Jess!" you say, looking at the title, "Comic Con was a few months ago!"

I know it was! I went to the one in Salt Lake, not San Diego. Cheaper and closer. Win-win situation. Except maybe not in SDCC's eyes.

But here's what happened on the three days I got to experience a Comic Con. Basically, it reminded me of an anime convention, but instead of just anime, there were more cosplays and booths and such related to comics, books, games, and so on. Basically the little girl in me was like "OH MY GOD LOOK AT ALL THESE BOOKS" and the adult girl in me was like "OH MY GOD LOOK AT ALL THESE BOOKS AND GAMES."

But that was when we got in.

Getting in was a problem on Thursday. There seemed to be a lot of miscommunication going on. Volunteers didn't seem to know what line was what, and everyone in line was either angry, confused, or both. Angry confused people are not fun. Basically what it boiled down to was the line I wanted in for approximately 3-4 hours was for gold/vip members, and any general admission people who had waited in that line had to leave and go to ANOTHER line and wait LONGER. Luckily I wanted in the right line. But then, once Nate and I got in, we waited ANOTHER 1-2 hours because we chose the line where every once in a while, one of the two people helping had to turn and help the handicapped. The line moved infinitely slow because of that, while the line directly to my left moved fast. It didn't help there were two "VIP registrations" and two general "VIP" signs. I don't think there was a difference, in hindsight. On Thursday, I missed EVERYONE I wanted to see because of that line. I couldn't see Cary Elwes, Johnny Yong Bosch, or Jason David Frank. I got a three day pass and in actuality only really spend 2 and a half days because of having to wait in line. I got lucky, though. Some people didn't even get tickets.

Friday, though, was fun! I got a new shirt with Charmander Shepard. My second favorite Pokemon combined with my favorite game character. I also bought 6 patches to put on hats and scarves. I'm so excited for those!

Zelda, Portal, Mass Effect, Firefly, and Pacific Rim

I saw Vic Mignogna (whose name I surprisingly spelled right the first time), and he was just a joy to watch. He's probably my favorite American male voice actor, and I love his upbeat attitude. I really needed to hear some of the things he said. I saw him already at an anime convention in Vegas, but this just made me happier because he was in a different setting and got different (and in my opinion, cooler) questions. I also got to chill with my friends David and Christian for a bit. I dressed up as Syfy channel's Hatter, but a female version, not the Andrew Lee Potts version.

Then Saturday everything started off kind of awfully. Nate got food poisoning from the dinner he made the day before- oh no! I had to go to a work meeting, so I basically fretted beforehand and told him if absolutely ANYTHING changed he needed to let me know. I can't do sick people. But he got better after my meeting. Don't let anyone tell you naps are useless. He took a 15 minute nap and felt infinitely better afterwards. So we went a little later than we could've, but that's fine. He was okay! We walked around the floor for a bit after checking out the line to see John Barrowman. Then we went back into line and oh my god was that line long. When Nate and I were at the front, waiting to get in, we talked quickly and decided that since two chairs next to each other weren't likely not going to happen, the next time a single seat open up, I'd go, then he'd go. we'd be separated, but we'd see John Barrowman.

I love the man, let me tell you. He is funny and witty and handsome and intelligent and all sorts of things. I'm so glad I got to see him in person at least once. I am likely not going to forget the story of the girl who tried to start a Gay-Straight Alliance at her school and asked John Barrowman for help, and he told her make it peaceful. And even though the girl had graduated, she said that a GSA had been made, thanks to some help from John Barrowman. He also responded with wit to a girl saying that Stephen Amell (the panelist before him and the main star of the show Arrow) said his knees still hurt. John Barrowman goes "well maybe he shouldn't have been on them that long," which sent the entire hall into laughter. The true story, he then explained, was that in a scene in season 1, when the Dark Archer is beating the crap out of Oliver Queen (Stephen Amell), he's supposed to kick him through a wall and then kick the crap out of him. JB is wearing steel-capped boots.

You know where this is going. 

While wearing those boots, he kicks SA through the wall and starts kicking him. He kicks so hard at SA's knees that he actually hurt him. And JB felt so bad afterwards. 

But Saturday, for the awful start it had (for Nate), turned out to be fun. I really enjoyed it, and I enjoyed hanging out with Nate and David and just wandering the halls and attending panels. I do admit, watching the pilot episode of Z Nation (Syfy's newest series) made me realize exactly how big of a nerd I am for planning out my zombie apocalypse plan. The zombie apocalypse isn't going to happen for several reasons (to see most of them summed up, go watch Neil deGrasse Tyson "The Killjoy of Science"). I criticized Z Nation not for the stereotypes it plays into, but for the unrealistic zombies. Unrealistic zombies. Zombies aren't even real, Jess. They may not be, but they can follow certain rules and Z Nation did NONE OF THEM.

And unfortunately I'm back into school. Oh no. Busy school.

Food Cravings

You know, for me, it's kind of hard not eating meat. Not because I miss the taste. That's a bit far from the truth. I do miss meat on occasion. And usually only when it comes to Japanese food. Nah, that's not the craving I'm talking about.

I had an intense craving for enchiladas. With salsa. And tomatoes. And all of the good stuff. And I can't make fish enchiladas because fish is expensive when you're not near the sea. So I found a lovely recipe for black bean enchiladas that I'll be making soon because why not? My food menu the next couple of weeks is likely going to be all over the place. There's Japanese food- soba, tuna rolls, omelet rice- as well as Mexican- enchiladas- and assorted side dishes- steamed broccoli, corn on the cob, sweet potato fries. And breakfast is all about the English muffins and making what I call a banana roll-up because I can't remember the proper name. Basically it's melt chocolate chips in almond butter with a bit of milk in it, spread it on a tortilla, stick a banana in it, and then roll it up and eat it. It's a good way to use the tortillas currently sitting in the freezer. And my almond butter.

Craft update

So I FINALLY finished my dad's blanket. Probably two weeks ago. And he LOVED it. Which made me really happy because I busted my butt for that to look good.

I also finished the pretty daisy skirt! It looks so cute! 

I had no one to help me so it looks badly taken.  Sorry. :(

Almost time to return to Utah

I don't know if I'm excited to go back and start school and see my friends again or if I'm really nervous about school. I'm taking 6 classes + 1 non-credit krav maga class, but 2 of those classes are online, so maybe it won't be that bad? Then there's my club(s?) and potential research. And I don't think work will be that bad... yet. I mean, I can still do my homework and stuff at the pool, and I refuse to work nights, so we should be good on that front, too. I should probably get my bike's flat tire. That way, if my roommate ends up having to return later than me, I can take my bike back. It's faster than the train. That'll only work when there's no snow, though. I'll figure that out when it comes to it. Not sure about the mornings. Maybe the train will be the best bet for that.

I'm figuring out a planner that'll work best for me, so I don't have to deal with store-bought planners that don't have everything I need. I tend to be a bit compulsive when it comes to organizing my life, especially when it gets crazy busy. The notes section in that planner will become quite handy once I decide to start thinking about ideas for the store I want to start. Don't know how well that'll go...

Some Japan photos

Here's some photos I took while in Japan. I brought my really nice camera with me, and a lot of them came out great! I love photography and I especially love taking photos of my favorite country in the world. So much beauty and history and culture all rolled in one place.

Kaminari-mon in Asakusa, Japan

The view out of Tokyo Skytree. I had to take this picture without looking because I hate heights and I was freaking out.

Enma located at Meiji Jingu in Shibuya, Tokyo.

Art installment at the 21st Century Museum in Kanazawa.

Duck near the old stepping bridge in Kenroku-en, located in Kanazawa.

Kotoji-toro at Kenroku-en. This garden is a place I would not mind being proposed to in, I'm so in love with the beauty. I'm 100% positive I'd be too embarrassed though. Because I'm not a public person.

Bee in a flower at Gokayama.

BUTTERFLIES!

Just so you know, that sign near the giraffe? It says "Please don't feed the giraffe the leaves from the bushes! Their stomachs will break." (I'm translating as best as I can) What is that giraffe doing? ...Eating the leaves from the bushes. My friend said to me, "Won't that upset his stomach?" And I was like, "Dude... It said we can't feed them. It never said it can't feed itself."

"GET OFF GEORGE."

"I WANT MY TOY BACK BOBBY."

I tried my hand at sewing...

It didn't turn out half so bad, considering I've never sewn anything with a machine before in my life.

I found a simple skirt tutorial here and thought, hey, you know what? I want to do this because I bet I can find cute fabrics to make into skirts. Usually I don't wear skirts because I don't like the pattern. So I went to JoAnns the next day (they were having a fabric sale) and bought two yard and a half things of fabric. Day after that, I started making the skirts.

Let me tell you about the daisy skirt, as I nicknamed it.

Isn't it pretty?

The daisy skirt has a pretty flower all over it. And I fell in love fast. I decided this one would be my first one, because the other fabric was plaid and I'm partial to plaid and that way, if I screwed up on the daisy skirt, I'd be able to fix it for the plaid one. I did everything right initially. Cut out the right size square, made all the pretty curves, cut the elastic, and it was finally time to put together the pieces together.

Have a selfie of me wearing the to-be skirt as a poncho.

This is when my inherent lack of sewing knowledge showed. I got my mom to show me how to use her sewing machine. I learned all of it relatively quickly. So I sewed the elastic into a circle, which wasn't hard. Then came the edge. I didn't know it's a good idea to roll the edge twice when you seam it, so the inside has all the little fraying ends sticking out. Oops. My mom pointed this out and I said, "Oh, I'll fix it with some ribbon!" Apparently that's okay because my mom didn't correct me. I still think it's right. 

So after that, I sew the elastic onto the waist band. Here's where I screw up big time. First, after realizing that there was more fabric than elastic, and totally forgetting elastic needs to stretch (that's kind of its job, ya know?) I sewed the extra fabric over itself. It didn't stretch. At all. And so I freaked out and my mom fixed it by taking everything out and telling me, "Stretch the elastic while you sew it together!"

I did that, but I also did that slightly wrong too. If anyone ever gets close enough to the skirt, they'll see there's a lot of ruffles at one point and then none at all as I realize that I stretched the elastic too much at some points and had too much elastic left over at the end. So the elastic is folded over itself. Oops again.

So my skirt's all lovely, and I went out to get some ribbon for the bottom. I decided to wing it- BAD MOVE. I bought one spool of ribbon and called that good, and then when I went to attach it later, it ran out. I got really confused. "It definitely said 3 yards! I need to go get more! Stupid Michael's for not updating how long it is after people use it," I say to myself. Needless to say, I am 100% clueless when it comes to buying anything that isn't yarn in stores. Especially at Michael's, which I don't go to all that often. I'm a JoAnn's girl, and even then I don't get anything but yarn. 

EMERGENCY!

I got another spool, the last one left, and started attaching that... and that ran out. So I'm sitting there with approximately 2/3rds of the skirt all ribboned and 1/3 with no ribbon at all. I complain to my mom and she asks to see the spool, but I go to double-check when she goes to the bathroom. I read the spool...

And it says 3 feet, not 3 yards like I thought. And I sat there for about 30 seconds before yelling, "I'm so stupid!" I explain to my mom my reading comprehension and potential solutions, and she says, "Wait before ripping out all the ribbon. There may be a solution."

Hopefully there is, because that skirt is sitting there taunting me with its incompleteness. 

I have a sad face.

Luckily, the second one went much smoother. Although I still kinda screwed up on the bottom hem. Oops.There are certain points where it turns up because there's too much fabric in those sections compared to others. Overall, though, it's pretty. I did so much better sewing the elastic to this one, though. I remembered to stretch it out and everything! And it came out so much prettier.

Modeling the plaid skirt.

Heeeeelloooooo my friend.

I must admit, taking the tutorial word for word is not a good idea. For example, it didn't tell me to stretch the elastic in order to get the skirt to fit. The maker probably assumed people with a basic idea of how elastic stuff works and the basics of sewing were using it. I fit neither of those. OH WELL. 

But I'm looking forward to being able to wear these skirts over my dance shorts in the summer or over tights in the fall/winter because these are cute as all get out and I am going to wear them with confidence. Also because it looks like no one can ever go wrong with skirts over tights.

Trips Galore!

Sorry! Life has been kind of hectic. For two weeks I was in Japan, and then I've been at home being social. Okay, not really. It actually kind of slipped my mind to update this blog once I got home because I've been working on my dad's blanket like there's no tomorrow. Because I want this done. And it is almost done! I'm really happy about it. It's been a lot of sweat and tears, to be honest. Then I just need to pretty it up some and it'll be good to go. Not that it'll do him much good in Hawaii where he's being transferred for his job. Just a bit too late... Oops.

But yeah! I went to Japan for two weeks and had a ton of fun! Lots of stories and pictures I need to share, as well as the WIP I started while waiting for my plane. I discovered I actually get nervous during landing/takeoff. Why? Don't know. But it turns out knitting/crocheting helps me calm down and takes my mind off of it, so I worked on that a lot. Stay tuned for the batch of photos of my Japan trip! It's going to be a multi-parter.

I'm also going to Disney Land and California Adventure this weekend! It's my roommate's birthday present for me. Admittedly, she has some ulterior motive (she's never been to Disney Land, only Magic Kingdom), so it works out for all of us. There's likely to be pictures of that, too.