MaM event accomplishment the second: I got Madara and Kohaku to Rank A+!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!



lookit them go ;w;
I'm not trying to sound ~elitest~ or anything, but I do feel somewhat more accomplished when I rank idols up in JP, probably because of the lack of autoplay. All of that was manual, babeeeyyyyy!!!! And so I even though I have more fans for my faves in ENG & CN, it feels more ""real"" in JP in a sense.

or maybe that's just my wrists crying in pain lmao

OH AND ANOTHER THING!!!! Because I got them both to rank A+, I got a new title to use in my profile~ Since I wasn't playing in JP when the Double Face climax or TRIP album ran, I don't have any other DF titles ;w; but!!!! I'm excited to have the gold one now ♥


the rank A one is silver and it's like fine but gold is clearly superior
And in another year, I'll have gotten them to rank S, trust!!! Just.....55k more fans to go...............but I want the outfits + the rainbow title, so I must push onwards.

uhhhhhh what else? Alex is coming this weekend to play some more P5R, since she's only played vanilla. We're on the 3rd semester and it's just delicious, since she's somehow stayed spoiler-free??? Wild. And since I finished the MaM event so early, I can actually have a social life, lmao.

I only went to one day of Katsucon, but omg it was fantastic this year!!!!! Alex was house/catsitting for her sister for the weekend, and since her sister lives near DC, it was closer than our place. Sooooo Liz and I headed there Friday night, grabbed a very late dinner at McDonald's with Alex, and then watched a bunch of enstars videos on youtube so Alex was ready to be excited for Absolute uwu

Also, she gifted me an adorable new friend, who goes absolutely perfectly with my CNstars cat nuis ;w; I also made them ice cream cones to match Madara's global exclusive card, and I think they came out really good ♥


if anything happens to my tutulong I'll just fucking die lmao
.....and then I stayed up waaaaaay too late because I'm fucking nocturnal D: Even though we had to wake up at 7 am to drive down early enough to get parking....I'm not smart :T

Liz and I didn't cosplay this year, cuz I didn't feel up to it, so I wore...a wig, a corset, and a floor length skirt XD wig is my Mayoi wig that I haven't styled yet - I pulled it out of the bag on Friday night and was delighted to discover that it's a lacefront - and the skirt is one I made for the Vampire Ball Liz and I went to in 2017. This did end up biting me in the ass because the corset ended up not sitting super well by the end of the night D: But we'll get to that later~

First thoughts on this year's katsu: holy shit I didn't realize how bad lobbyconning had gotten. I could actually move through the halls without be crushed by crowds????? Like, I was there on Saturday and I didn't feel cramped every second of the day. They did move registration to its own building, which freed up space to give Artist Alley a larger location, but still. It was really nice to be able to breathe during the con.

After getting our badges, we ran into some friends of Alex and Liz that they hadn't seen in over a decade, so everyone had a good time catching up. Which is, tbh, a classic Katsucon experience, since so damn many people go.

The first programming we went to was an absolutely delightful performance by Special for Princess!- or should I say Nice? XD Nice Arneb Thunder was MCing and they did a fucking incredible job. like. not to spoil it or anything, but this was such a highlight of my day, idk if anything topped it :0

Also, the esupuri group was just really sweet!!! They seemed so excited and a little surprised that so many people had come out to see them ;w; But seriously, they were quite good and did a good combination of songs and games. The trivia was great for me and Liz, since we actually keep current with the JP stories~ Liz won a tiara for answering some 4piece trivia correctly!

We hit up the Artist Alley for a bit after that, got lost in conversation with a Nagisa cosplayer who usually cosplays Double Face Kohaku, and I was blown away by their gorgeous ita bag. They had so many can badges from the DF TRIP album *w*

....and then we remembered we woke up balls early and Liz & I hadn't eaten :T So after debating a few options, we made our way to our tried and true katsu food: Mezeh. They opened sometime between katsu 2017 and 2018, and we've gone basically every year since. It's affordable and actually filling, especially since they have fresh veggies. Sometimes you gotta get some greens in you- especially at a con!!!

not me sounding like an ad read for my favorite fast casual restaurant lmao

The dealers room is a bit of a blur to me because it's soooooo big and there's so much to see, but I remember it being.....fun? Busy? It was probably one of the more cramped places at the con, but that was partially because some people are just rude. Many people shoving their way through...I didn't come with much money cuz it was a last minute decision to even go, so I wasn't sure about buying anything besides maybe something small from the idol goods booth. But since the idol goods booth wasn't there this year (?????), I ended up getting a new ita bag~


I'd seen it around on insta and lusted over it, so now it is mine!! I'm planning something around Double Face's TRIP album for it OwO
And then we had to hustle to finish artist alley before it closed, cuz we weren't coming back on Sunday D: Liz and I weren't planning on spending any more money, but 1) Alex wanted to buy more stuff and 2) we still wanted to see all of it. And in the end we did buy more XD We got a few more Trigun charms from magpiesoddities, because we've been collecting their super chibi ones since Stampede came out~ They also gave us a free plantcest sticker for being men of culture (perverts).

uhhhhhh what did we do after that..............

OH RIGHT!!! Liz and I chilled on a bench sorta new the dealers room/artist alley area while Alex went to the MXTX photoshoot, and basically just took in the sights. I love people watching at cons :D We also got to help some youths (late teens/early 20s maybe?) learn the ways of Caramelldansen. They knew the dance and song, and it sounded like they'd heard people used to dance to it at cons? So they were trying to figure out how to bring it back. So while it was a conversation that made me feel very old, it was quite wholesome.

After debating back and forth a bunch, we ended up eating dinner at the grab and go place in the Gaylord. It wasn't necessarily "cheap" but like...nothing in National Harbor is, you know? And we didn't have to leave the building, which was a big plus. I'd never grabbed anything from there before, so now I know that it's not half bad.

We wanted to go to the video game room next, but my corset was fucking killing me and I needed to find a family bathroom so Liz could help me loosen it (since all the handicapped stalls in the Gaylord are barely wider than regular ones). So that was quite the fucking adventure. BUT WE EVENTUALLY DID IT. And I've learned I'm never wearing a floor length anything to Katsucon again.....idk how I forgot this lesson from 2017 lmao.

Next up: video game room! And..............it kinda fucking sucked??????? Lie, the games were brought from the same people who supply them for a video game bar I go to here in Baltimore, and usually it's a much better selection?? Like how did Anime USA, a significantly smaller con than Katsucon, have such a better video game room? idk man like......it was kinda disappointing. They didn't even have Chunithm ;w; And it closed at midnight, which is baffling. Katsu used to run sooooo late into the night, I swear it was originally a 24 hour con. Maybe I'm wrong? But I've been going for 17 years now, so I'm pretty sure I'm right :T

Whatever! Alex is gonna come down so we can go to the much better video game bar here~

After we watch cookie monster and godzilla have a cage match in the hall, we were all wiped and ready to head home. So lemme share all the pics I didn't include throughout the entry, cuz it would have ended up even longer :T

( welcome to the party (many katsu pics inside) )

Happy Valentines and goodnight from the boys!!!! I carried many nuis around all day but tbh it was such a rush that I barely took the time to sit, let alone take pics of them D: I will say that the cat kigu nuis with their ice cream cones were a hit with the many Double Face fans and cosplayers I ran into~
All in all, a successful day at the con!!!!! Hopefully finances will be better and I can go for the full weekend next year, but I can now say I've been going to katsu for 17 fucking years.....which is wild. Here's hoping the next 17 are even better!!!!!!

So it's been.....a rough couple of months. Going back to work wreaked havoc on my body and it's taken nearly two months to adjust to it. I'm doing better now + I love my job, but it really took it out of me D:

Also...


Lumos passed away last week. She'd been sick on and off over the past couple years (honestly, she was never quite the same after Ethyl passed), but in late July/early August it started getting a lot worse. Our vet was incredibly kind and helpful throughout the whole process, talking us through all the options and helping us decide which ones would actually be beneficial, but eventually there wasn't anything more we could do ;w;

So that's. Yeah. That's been really hard. I felt like I was finally getting into the swing of working and a routine and all that, and then this hit me like a ton of bricks.

We did give her a very good last day though: we all stayed home and sat on the floor so she could get to us (since she couldn't easily jump up on things by that point), watched dumb youtube videos with her (a favorite past time), listened to Knights music so she could hear Leo (aka her favorite person EVER), and just overall spent a relaxing day centered on her needs. Liz managed to get a hold of her previous owner + their roommates, so we did a video a call with one of them and he was so touched to be able to see her again and say goodbye. Which was hard on everyone, but overall really rewarding I think.

idk man. it's been hard. it's been...a lot. I'm still not done processing it and I don't know when I'll ever be????? I'm still processing Ethyl and it hasn't even been two years since she passed, so how am I gonna move on from both of them, you know?

I actually got bereavement pay from work, because they consider pet loss to be valid and honestly that was really good. Like. Things are bad but at least work has been really understanding and supportive. My manager definitely has my back in all of this and has been super empathetic.


we honestly got some very cute pics before taking her to the vet the last time...I love her ♥
BUT YOU KNOW LIFE JUST KEEPS GOING ON!!!! Otakon happened in the middle of all this and it was really good, despite the stress. Josh and Emmy came down to watch the cats and Emmy is fantastic with ailing animals, so she was honestly a godsend with how Lumos was doing. arachat flew in for the con also, which was so exciting, despite all the stress, so like.......yay? Trying to see the good in the bad times.

Also Miryokucon is this weekend, and Alex is coming down for that + her birthday, so in general my schedule has been full. Just. idk. Trying to do things so I don't keep stressing about Lumos.

I wanna share a bunch of pics of her but I just don't have it in me right now. Everything's real rough, you know? So take these cute pics of her + Ethyl that never fail to bring me joy.

SCREAMING ROUND TWO!!!!


the way I literally screamed when he showed up, I did not expect his tsundere ass to make an appearance :O
So the Altered scout box went amazingly, lmao. I also got three copies of Tsumugi, because at least he knows how to be prompt and responsible.

uhhhhhhhh the livestream was great, the new character wasn't Kaname BUT he's apparently an assistant to Nice Arneb Thunder, aka sketchy dude extraordinaire. There's now a giant floating blimp above Ensemble Square????? The next bit of plot sounds insane, though I'm not upset. I love ridiculous things; I do love YuGiOh after all XD

OH RIGHT. ANOTHER FUCKING THING.


Madara is one of the cards in the end of year tour because he's a fucking attention hog and I hate him and I want to chew glass about him all the fucking time!!!!!!!!!!!!
There's some sort of magical girl transformation going on with this event/the next bit of plot????? Like. Uh. It's a lot. It's called "Main Story Mega Sphere" which even sounds like some sort of YGO bullshit...

ngl I love it ♥

Also I'm fuckin tired, so this entry is kinda all over the place :T

Liz and I are gonna watch the Element web anime with Alex tonight, because we wanna rewatch it and she hasn't seen it yet. And since Altered is starting tomorrow in engstars, it's well timed :D

excuse me, he was reading what to you? XD
ANYWAY, now that that's out of my system... XD I've been recording SPPs for the chat all day, since we're trying to gather as many of them as possible, and I have a lot. Maybe I play too much.......no, that can't be right!

Seriously though, it's given me a lot of direction for grinding the Eden event. Makes me feel like I'm accomplishing something instead just, you know, grinding. I really do enjoy the rhythm game, it's just...events are tedious, okay??

Alex came over this afternoon, we infodumped at each about enstars and FGO respectively, and then went on an adventure!!! aka, we got dinner + bubble tea at an Asian food hall because Alex mentioned Korean fried chicken and I needed it.


and then our nuis had a dinner date! :D
So now we're all playing enstars together and later we're gonna watch the livestream of the MDZS stage play!!! I didn't even know they were doing one but Alex mentioned it over dinner, and then by chance it's happening today only. So we quick bought the tickets and we're gonna try to record it, because apparently they're never doing a DVD/Bluray release :T

.......what did I do yesterday and today??? XD Mostly played enstars and watched shit on youtube, I think? A riveting existence, I know.

Uhhhhh I changed my firefox theme for the first time since 2021? I'd been rocking a grayscale Persona 5 one - the stripe-y looking stars as a repeating pattern - but someone in the chat was talking about using a cute cherry blossom theme and then I wanted to look at cherry blossom themes because Kohaku and now I have a cute animated theme :D

CHANGE IS BIG, OKAY. I'm a creature of habit, especially with tech.

OH I KNOW SOMETHING EXCITING FOR MEEEEE!!!! Mayoi is less than 1000 fans away from rank A!!!!!


lookit him go he's so close
I love Mayoi ;w; He was one of my faves from the beginning and he's remained that way over the past year+ I've been playing. He's also gonna be the third character to hit rank A, after Kohaku and Madara ♥

maaaaaaybe I don't have a lot to update on because I've been having a bad pain week, so I just haven't done much :T Which sucks, but like, whatcha gonna do? Hopefully I'll feel better this weekend, since Alex is coming down on Saturday and I don't wanna feel like shit the whole time.

I GOT TSUKASAAAAAA!!!!!!!


lookit him and his stupid pillow fight and his stupid obnoxious everything I'm so glad he came home :D
So that's nice :D I'm very excited for this event to start tonight- and also excited to make him and Kohaku hang out in a bunch of songs. I preemptively purchased Kohaku's La Mort card from the memorial coin shop, because I feel like the aesthetics go well together.


I wasn't willing to shell out for the background from La Mort, though, so they can hang out in the Sakuma house for now XD
Other than that, I still feel like assssssssssss. I'm curled up on the couch hoping I'll feel better later, but no luck for the time being ;w; I'd like to actually enjoy the weekend, since it's actually supposed to be pretty nice out...sobs.

Halloween Rendezvous is the next event on the CN server - after the fine one finishes up tomorrow - and I am very excited for it. I've been saving up scout tickets and dia OwO I did end up spending a chunk of dia to get the global exclusive Adonis, but he's been delayed in engstars + his outfit is so over the top...I couldn't resist XD

What else...

Oh! I finish my icon post over at killiansicons, because I was tired of staring at photoshop. I still have more I want to make, just...needed a break :T I'm gonna poke through more challenge communities later, though, since I find having a specific prompt/goal helpful.

Also Liz and I maybe got Alex to check out enstars!!!! It's like bwahahahahaaaa got another one XD I thought the shotas would be what got her, but I think it's Nagisa and his beautiful hair...which tbh is so valid. He's sooooo pretty *w*