Otakon 2012

Well, I started to write about our flight out from the west coast to the east coast, but then I got too mad and had to stop! Haha.  Let's just say there was a bunch of cancelled flights and airline jumbles along the way there, and in the end I was just glad we didn't miss the whole convention!

For our second anniversary, we went to Otakon, the second largest anime convention in the US! This was both our first time here, as well as our first time on the East Coast!

Baltimore

Friday morning, we stand in the pre-reg line.  It's super long - and outdoors in the hot hot summer sun, but it moved quick. (2 hours vs. the 6 hour Fanime line)

See the swarm of people..everywhere?!

Standin' in line, starting to miss that cold Bay Area weather!

While waiting in line, we also became familiar with the popular vocals of the ice cold water guy (heard here). His ice cold water, which is only one dollar, is guaranteed to get stuck in your head...forever!  People even remixed his song, and played it at masquerade!  This is why I'd love to continue visiting new conventions. It's not for the anime - you can see that at home.  It's for the experience!

Anyway, when we got to the front of the reg line, we got to pick our badge design. I picked the crab and Sak picked Eureka 7.  I liked that we got to pick, but for $70 a ticket, they could have at least printed our names on it. We had to write it with a sharpie! And it was just a paper ticket, bah.

Anyway, costumes, you want to see cosplay right?

Cutest Appa I've ever seen!

Bowser and Alphonse. Can you tell I have a thing for full body cosplay? The skill just astounds me!

Mech from Evangelion and FLCL

A mimic! So awesome!

Panty & Stocking. This was a popular cosplay choice at this con, and these two pulled it off well! Love Stocking's blue and pink hair.

Pony Pony Pony! Yes, creepy, I know. Go watch the Full Metal Panic Fumoffu episode on Netflix now. It's a classic.

This Portal cosplay took long fall boots quite seriously. The staff member is telling him he's too tall for standards I think? 

It was hard for me not to compare everything to Fanime - "People are more scantily clad here (it's hot, derr)!" "The San Jose Convention Center isn't as cool or big as Baltimore's!" "AMVs are better at Otakon! Masquerade is better at Fanime!" "People don't smell as much here! But it's not 24 hours like Fanime!" "Otakon needs more video rooms! But the people are nicer!" Etc. etc.

But eventually we learned to just accept each for what they are, and to just enjoy the similarities and differences! They are both super awesome conventions, no doubt about it.

Impromptu dance party!

The best part of Otakon (or any convention!) is friends! We met up with our friends J and M, and got to hang out with them mostly all day Saturday! The keron casual cosplay was a success, and a few people even asked for pictures! That's what I consider a success for casual cosplay anyway ;)

In the gaming room. I like how they put all the consoles in lock boxes! 

At masquerade! 

 massive scale of the gaming room! 

Trivia before the AMVs was a nice touch!

Masquerade was in a sporting arena.

And there was just so many great spaces for people to congregate!

Someone was selling latch hook rugs! AHHH I need to work on mine >.>"!

Giant pizza cutter?

Other highlights was watching Panda Go Panda in English, cheering along at the Aya Hirano concert (voice of Haruhi and Konata!), and getting to see at least part of the late night fan parodies. Those and AMVs are always my most favorite. I'm still bummed that we missed the Rocky Horror-esque singalong of Evangelion Re:death though. It's been a while since I've been to one!

Anyway, if I could afford the plane ticket, I'd come back every year. Though I'd get a hotel closer to the con so I could stay until the 2 am closing. And I'd find more places to eat! There were many, but it was so hot it was hard to go exploring without dying! I'm already excited about going to another big convention next year..do you have one near you? I'll come visit!

House Guests

My laptop got smoosh-crunched sometime during our vacation, so while Sak tries to rescue all my stuff, I'd like to introduce you to our newest house guests!

Bunnies!!!

Our college friend's rabbits accidentally got the chance to breed before he could get them fixed, thus ending up with a cute little litter of grey and black bunnies. My uncle wanted two for my 9 and 11 year old girl cousins, so I get to rabbit-sit for a week or so before they transition to their new home. Yaay! I also get to do a lot of rabbit research so I can educate them on their new pets!

I admit to going a little overboard when it comes to small animal care. The only time Sak and I regularly went to Whole Foods was to pick up ingredients for our homemade rat food. They seriously ate better than we did. So I think I will go overboard with these buns as well!

We made a new coroplast (corrugated plastic) liner for my sister's old C&C cage that we made ages ago for her old guinea pigs.  The bunnies are only five weeks old right now, so as they get bigger I will need to figure out a way to make the walls higher (while still being accessible).

Though cubes and coroplast (C&C) pens are meant for guinea pigs, I think it'll work just fine for rabbits once we modify it.  For now, I just put an elastic crib sheet over the top when we're not supervising them. The crib sheet is a perfect fit, and still allows all the sides to be open and breathable.  C&C cages are awesome for small (non-climbing) rodents, as they allow plenty of running room and are somewhat simple to clean since you can easily pop the liner box out.  I also love how there's storage cubes at the base for food and cleaning supplies.  Here's an awesome link on how to make one - they are fairly inexpensive and easy to make!

Anyway, my family is going to come up on the weekend and bring all the old guinea pig supplies like litter trays, hay feeder, and igloo house. So that's why their home looks pretty boring right now! :P I tried to make a tent out of a trader joe's bag though.

Adventuresome cowlick-bunny checks it out.

Hmmm...

Flatten!

Cowlick-bunny is much more active and playful than her sister, munchy-bunny.

Munchy bunny also likes to nap a lot.

"There's a butt in my face!"

I love it when they stand on their hind feet with their little paws in the air..so cute!

They move really fast, so it's hard to take good pictures.  I'm hoping my mom can get some better ones with her good camera this weekend!

Baby animals are so much fun to watch though - they are so playful and curious. I gave them three different types of hay to try - alfalfa (okay only really for baby bunnies), oat, and timothy.  It was fun to see them hop from one to the other deciding which was best (alfalfa won!).  As for pellets, I'm slowly weaning them off the food they ate at their original home and switching them to Oxbow young rabbit food.  It's fortified more for growing bunnies, and I'm a huge fan of Oxbow as they use pretty good ingredients and are one of the only brands that makes a legit rat food.

Anyway, the only thing I'm worried about is my friend was only 70% sure that both rabbits were girls. It's hard to tell when they are so young, but I'm hoping we'll know for certain soon because no one wants another accidental litter!

Cute bunny tail!

Oh, speaking of house guests, my brother is also living with us for a while. Though I haven't seen him but once over the past four days.  Between his job and his massive social life, he's home after we go to bed and we leave for work before he wakes up. He'll be staying with us for a couple months until he finds out where on the peninsula he wants to live. Perhaps unfair, I don't really have a problem this time since he's my own brother. I can nag freely if I have to (though he's a good boy so I know it won't come to that). Ha!

Anyway, three new house guests upon our vacation return! Definitely keeps the post-vacation blues away. :)

Have you ever had a bunny before? What's your tips? (Glasses, I am waggling my finger in your direction especially, lol)

Tansu-style Closet

So ever since we bought the house I've been dreaming of owning a tansu.  Specifically a step tansu, which usually comes in three parts and has loads of storage.

(source)

They are usually ridiculously expensive, and we came this close *pinches fingers* to buying one off Craigslist for $500 a while back.  Unfortunately the seller decided to be a jerk and sell it to someone else after saying we could buy it. Happens.

Anyway, I was in the thrift store with my mom the other day and a cabinet immediately struck my eye!  It wasn't a step tansu, but it was tansu styled.  $120 dollars and one Home Depot truck rental later, and we have a tansu-esque closet!

It's real wood, but I hesitate to call it real tansu since the joints are not dovetailed together like a real one should be (this is glue and nails). Also there are no sliding doors. It's still pretty awesome though, with tri-fold  doors...

Actually, the whole thing makes for a perfect futon closet. (It's original use was an TV closet I believe.)  Sak's parents bought us two twin-sized futons (the kind that lay on the floor) from Japan as a present for housing BIL, so they'll sit in here when all the pieces arrive. (Perfect guest beds!)  Right now we just have the sheets and comforters.

Comforters currently fit quite nicely in the bottom!

Although I'm really digging this massive piece of furniture, Sak was initially pretty mad at me for buying it.  You see, I didn't quite think to measure anything when I bought it..And it doesn't actually fit on the wall very well due to a wall sconce being in the way.

Well. It sort of fits. Haha!

Eventually we'll need to remove the sconce, and I think I'd like to turn the cabinet 90 degrees so it's against the wall perpendicular to its current wall. Still haven't decided. What should I do with the hole the wall sconce will leave though? Do they make covers for those sorts of things?

You never know what random things you'll find in a thrift store. :P