Today, Liz and I went to Joanns for potentially the last time ever- and we honored it the best way we knew how:


BY DRESSING UP IN COSPLAY, OF COURSE!!!! We had a leisurely afternoon of watching dumb shit on Youtube and then got into cosplay to make our pilgrimage ;w; I've written some here before and plenty of people have said it better, but Joanns closing is going to leave such a void in the crafting world that it's hard for me to put into words. Maybe I'll write a poem about it; maybe I'll just ramble on here in the middle of the night at some point. But we wanted to give a sendoff to the store that enabled us to start cosplaying in the first place, and I think we did well.


everyone ignore the stain on my shirt and focus on how cute we look~

( we took more pics while we were there and still, somehow, I feel like it'll never be enough )

And then every fucking mall was already closed & it was raining, so we didn't really have anywhere to muck about in cosplay? So we ended up getting bubble tea XD


I put the boys back in their bear nuis + bows, because I wanted them to go to Joanns in something I made~
Speaking of nuis...my cat kigu nuis from the Chinese enstars store finally shipped. They were supposed to ship around the 19th and didn't, and then I saw other people online sharing theirs, so I started to worry D: I even made sure to order from the official taobao, so it was like...what has gone wrong??? Thankfully, Superbuy reached out and they arrived at the warehouse safe and sound! :D They'll be here in a couple weeks, according to the shipping I got, and the package will also include a Kohaku orb plush to go with the Madara one I have. Very excited for all these things~~~

and then the tariffs will murder me when the next set of nui preorders arrive sobs

ALSO!!!!!!! Liz managed to get the VPN + foreign purchasing working for the newest enstars stage play, so tonight we're gonna watch Desperate Checkmate :D The streaming service for this one was way trickier to deal with than the one the last Dramatica used, and tbh I wish they were all as simple as the one the MDZS stage play used XD

I'm really hungry but don't feel like cooking yet, so here's me trying to make a bit of a catch up post from the past week or so.

Friday
BUSY DAY. I picked up my PS2 from the store and they did an incredible job (as always). The top loader has been warped since I installed it in 2007, and they fixed that without me even asking??? The whole repair was only $30, because they're fucking amazing. I ended up chatting with the employees for like two hours because we all love to talk, but I managed to avoid buying anything extra...this time XD


I cut through Round1 on the way out, so I just had to take a pic of Madara on one of the rhythm games~
And then I got to be disappointed by the BIBLION scout box - aka the rate up box for the Crazy:B climax - because I guess Tsukasa has betrayed me???? idk I was exhausted and hadn't eaten yet, so the world was ending. After I got lunch I felt a lot better XD

idk what I did the rest of the night...OH!!! I picked Liz and Pat up from work and then we (unsuccessfully) tried to pick up meds for Pat before driving off to Petco. Lumos and her expensive food is killing me but I love her...anything for baby ♥


also I put Tsukasa on my homescreen in an attempt to entice him home...tune in next time to see how that went!
Saturday
Crazy:B climax babeyyyyy!!!!! I can't believe the climax events are finally here OwO I'm kinda sad I'm only going for one copy of Rinne, but the Double Face one will be here before I know it. I'm also excited for the TRIP album cards in a couple more months!!!

Liz and I went to Arundel Mills, because I guess I go there every few weekends??? I finally remembered to bring the right nuis with me, so I have some very good pictures at the Egyptian movie theatre.


FINALLY BROUGHT THEM!!!! AND THEY LOOK GREAT!!!!!!!

( a few more pics of the mall and dinner )

And then we went home so I could get on the grind- the grind for more dia, because I was determined to bring Tsukasa home. Both for the event rate up and because I have this card in JP & CN, so I'm used to seeing him around. I also just really like the outfit. Also Tsukasa USUALLY stalks me!!!! And so...I had to wring a bunch of dia out of my account and try just one more 10 scout...


SWEET SUCCESS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Also, the story for the scout box is legit really good...and also is kinda the reason Nagisa has an account for writing RPF in Ougonten XD So that's delightful. I love when thinks interconnect like that (sometimes in silly ways).

Saturday was also the end of The Legend of KAGETSU on the CN server and I did manage to snag Keito from it, as well as use my hoarded memorial coins to pick up some Kohaku and Madara cards I'd been missing. Next up is Mika Goes To Space the event, and then I can maybe take a break from focusing on CN for a bit.

( snip snip for even more enstars screencaps )

Sunday
Writing this entry is really challenging me to think about what I did the past few days....mostly just lounged around the house and played video games, I think???????????? OH. Josh made it back from the bachelor party he was at down in SC, and he stayed over for another night to break up the long drive. And I made a bow for Genevieve to send home with him, since she's living a very spoiled life as an only cat and thus needs an adorable bow, too.

.....I should have taken a picture of the finished product before sending it off :T

Monday
Pat went up to Pittsburgh with Josh, leaving me and Liz alone for a little staycation! We mostly just vibed around the house, but we managed to pop out for some groceries in the afternoon. We got the stuff to make tantanmen + a few other meals but forgot gatorlyte again, because my life is suffering XD I've just been really dehydrated lately ;w;

I started patterning some outfits for nuis, but burnt out kinda quickly because doing tiny stuff is soooooooo taxing for me D: I'll try to get back to it soon, I just...idk. It's a lot. Plus I think I have to get slightly different pleather that's thinner, and uhhhhhh joanns is just about gone so I don't think that's gonna happen any time soon.

bluh.

And then I played a bunch of FFVII and accidentally reached the point of no return with Aerith without remembering to make an extra save file with her, so I feel stupid ;w; I do at least have to replay basically disc one to get the trophy for taking Barret on the Gold Saucer date, so...I guess I'll make one then...

BUT WE GOT THE EVENT ANNOUNCEMENT AND I WAS RIGHT IT WAS SWITCH WITH NATSUME AS THE CENTER, EVERYONE ELSE WHO DOUBTED IT CAN DERELICK MY BALLS XD

plz cowboy Wataru, I take back everything I said about "no more cowboys" plz I need the rate up support for Natsume!!!!!!

Today
Woke up early to drive Liz to work, got home, tried to work on graphics/writing/coding/this entry...I started this like 5+ hours ago D: I did take a nap in the middle because Lumos got in my lap and put me to sleep, but I also fed myself. I'm not still starving XD

Anyway!!! I have to pick Liz up in like half an hour, so I'm gonna cut it here. I probably have even more pictures I haven't posted yet, but 1) this is long enough and 2) I don't feel like sorting through everything to see what I have and haven't posted.

EVENT CARDS GET!!!!!!!!!!! With more than 24 hours to go!!!!!!! :D


featuring my first ever Esu 5*!!! to be fair this is only his third, but the first two were gacha ones and I haven't been lucky enough to snag either yet ^^;;


and another green Subaru, but 1) his attribute has better synergy with my other green Trickstar cards and 2) he's got pretty damn good stats cuz he's a tour card~
Honestly, the set list of this tour has been really good! Tours can be such a grind if I don't vibe with the set list, so I'm really glad I like this one...since I am a little burnt out on jp events already ;w; I just don't wanna miss getting all the cards from this new chunk of Main Story, especially since I snagged all the 4piece ones last year.

I do have some mixed feelings on how they've structured some of the rewards for this tour. In the past, any backgrounds from an event have come from points rewards (usually around the 800k-1mil points mark, which is about where I end up if I'm not going for the 5*), with the option to purchase them later for a single memorial coin each if you missed them. Which is nice, because there are some really pretty backgrounds from past events that I've picked up because the price is right.

HOWEVER. In the current jp event, both 5* and one of the 4* have backgrounds that you unlock on the card (one background per card), which is something that usually only happens with cards from the gacha. There are also backgrounds from points rewards, so??? idk????? This means you'd have to spend 10-30 memorial coins per background, depending on the card you're snagging, which is kinda fuckin excessive. Like, okay, yes, you're getting a whole card and not just a background, but you're unable to even see a preview of the background if it's from a card.

Like many things with the big changes enstars has made this year, I'm on "wait and see" to, you know, see how I feel. It's just...a small thing but still one that makes me fussy. I know I'm actively playing in jp and keeping on top of events, but being able to snag older event backgrounds for a relatively cheap price has been really nice- in both jp and eng!


but I do like the fancy promenade in the mega sphere - courtesy of Esu's card ♥ - and I just had to put Kohaku and Madara there~ also pleased to have the SCR room outfit of demon Mama- everyone plz give me good luck at eventually getting the last two copies for the MV version!!!!
idk I'm not sure if I'm actually super upset or just fussy because I overdid myself doing a shit ton of dishes and other house cleaning related stuff today :T Also bleeding.

..........and maybe also because I've only gotten a couple hours of sleep the past few nights because I'm still trying to fix my sleep schedule D: Life is hard when you're nocturnal and/or depressed or something.


also it's my precious stupid bird son's birthday today!!!!!! featuring his 2024 birthday pasha card, because it's running in China this year ♪
okay that's enough I'm gonna grind the tour more (or maybe get back to making icons again...maybe)

OKAY. The image hosting software still isn't working properly, but at least it's being worked on by the support team. And I can still upload things through my FTP client and the in browser control panel, it's just the convenience of the specific image hosting that's lacking- for now.

Cool things I did this week: more hand-sewing projects! I made a big bow for Lumos and matching-ish ones for my Judal & Hakuryuu nuis! :D


SHE LOOKS SO PRECIOUS the bow is soooooo cute on her + it has a bell and it makes such a good sound, I keep dying from how cute she is ;w;

( more pictures of Lumos + the bow itself )

making bows for my Madara and Kohaku nuis definitely inspired me, and I'm sooooo excited to have some for these little shits, too ♥
Besides that...it's mostly been playing enstars, stressing about my website, and watching Liz fucking crush it at Queen's Blood in FFVII: Rebirth XD I've played some more of the OG, too, but...idk I haven't been feeling great so I've been sleeping a lot. I would really love if this could stop happening ;w;

BUT!!!! I wan to make more cute things!!!!! I have a bunch of YouTube videos open on how to make rosettes for pins/ita bags, and I wanna use that knowledge to make things for my nuis. The Kohaku & Madara ones that I usually carry around are a unique size for nuis - basically only the company that makes them makes outfits/accessories for them - so I also wanna make them some more clothes. I just gotta keep inspiring myself!!

Also I promised myself I was done buying Chinese enstars merch because of the tariffs - even though I love most of it, hence why I've got a bunch I preordered - but they just teased the new collection of merch and it's REALLY FUCKING CUTE!!!!!!!! Everyone has fox ears and fluffy kimonos for most of it, and then they're making fox nuis of all the characters.

AS IF THE KITTY CAT KIGU NUIS I ORDERED AREN'T CUTE ENOUGH!!!!!!!!!!!!! It's killing me XD I guess I'll have to see how all the tariffs shake out/how feasible buying from a reseller in Japan or else is, but damn if I don't want basically that whole collection ;w; Life is hard!!!

Oh, right...on Madara's birthday I did a single scout on his birthday box because I didn't have much else to spare, and this fucker gave me a third copy of his demon 5* XD


I'm not even mad, just surprised!!!!!
.....and then in ENG I did multiple 10 scouts and got NOTHING OF HIS. I did get some 5* cards, just not his. Which like. Okay. I'm glad to have them, but I'm also kinda desperately hoping to max out his first feature scout and get the secret color...maybe someday.

Lemme finish this off with a great pic I took the other night: Double Face in their pristine unicorn kigus...on an old pay phone.


I love putting them dumb places~

Save for a few kinks that I'm still sorting out - like logging into/uploading images to my actual image hosting on my site - it's all back!!!! Everything is there, it's just a matter of fixing some fairly minor things. All told, it took about 12 hours from when I submitted the support ticket, which is honestly not that bad! Especially since they had to escalate it multiple times due to the complexity of it...yeah. idk what went wrong, but it was something major on their end.

BUT IT'S ALL BETTER NOW!!!

I have a lot of thoughts and also yesterday was Madara's birthday and I spent most of it stressing about website issues so like. bluh. MAYBE NEXT YEAR, MAMA XD

Anyway, I'm gonna try to catch up on my friends page and replying to comments and all that, I'm just kinda wiped emotionally right now. I hate that I mostly managed it while it was going on, but now I'm...not? It's like an emotional hangover of sorts I guess? idk. I don't like it :T

I did some grinding in the JP event but tbh I don't think I have it in me to get Hokuto....I'm supposed to be playing for fun and I don't wanna burn myself out on a game I really like D: Which is kinda disappointing but also like, it is what it is you know?

SUCK IT, PAST KILLIAN!!!! ANYTHING IS POSSIBLE WHEN YOU STAY UP PAST 5 IN THE GOD DAMN MORNING!!!!!!!!!!!!


I don't even have the pieces to unlock him but whatever, Hokuto is mine :D
I just didn't wanna miss out on the first event of the "new year" (since enstars rolls over when the anniversary is, aka the end of April) and I'm stupid. This is why my sleep schedule is shot XD I'll say I'm not as impressed as last year's, but last year's was Ringing evil phone so that's a tough act to follow. In general I tend to enjoy enstars events, though I'm still withholding judgment on this next round of main story events...I guess I'll see what the next part of that holds in a couple weeks.

Also it's this asshole's birthday next week, so I switched up my engstars profile some for him~ I'm also delighted that we finally have the unit banners for "I have too damn many fans of all the characters in this unit" so I can flex my love of Double Face ;D


I guess I could change my featured cards to match the color story better, but I like them too much so they're staying ♥
I've had the Crisis Core soundtrack on repeat still, because it's just really good okay ;w; I was gonna work on grinding out more trophies in Rebirth or running around in the OG FFVII, but I'm torn...what if I just replayed the Crisis Core remake instead?????? IT'S REALLY GOOD AND I LOVE ZACK A LOT. LOVE ME A TRAGIC HIMBO!!!!!!!!!!!!

Or I could finally beat FFVII: Remake but I got stuck at the final fucking motorcycle fight and even Liz hasn't been able to beat it so like. FUCK ME I GUESS!!!! I'm just mad at anything involving vehicles in games...

Also also I need more icons of Zack...I have a decent amount of FFVII ones backed up from what I had on GJ, but that was slightly before Crisis Core came out originally...so I only have a few of him. I'm gonna have to go through the depths of LJ in hopes of finding not dead links and/or make my own, I guess!

Today was....better than yesterday in some ways, because I actually managed to get out of bed before noon. Yaaaaaay! My whole body has been complaining about everything I fucking do these days, and it's really been knocking me out ;w; But I'm trying to get up and moving more in hopes that it'll help.

I did some grinding in the JP event but tbh I don't think I have it in me to get Hokuto....I'm supposed to be playing for fun and I don't wanna burn myself out on a game I really like D: Which is kinda disappointing but also like, it is what it is you know?

Highlight of the day: taking the boys to Pizza Hut (to make up for the slight of taking them to Little Caesars, aka not the pizza chain that Double Face had a collab with)


yes, the sign stuck out from the wall just enough to prop some nuis in~


they had a "ranch tasting flight" and I couldn't resist!!! tbh it was pretty good, even if the pepperoni "ranch" barely qualifies as a ranch; it tastes like straight up liquid pepperoni somehow?????
Other than that, I think I'm gonna be able to get Kohaku to 75k fans today in CN, which means I'll be able to take him on the BIGGEST UPPY in LIMIT BREAK DREAMERS!!!!!!! I've wanted to be able to do this since it hit JP last year, but grinding for fans is haaaaard. Or, no, it's not hard, it's just very time consuming. There's no real way to rush it. But I'm almost there!!!!! Madara isn't very far behind, so I'm just very excited *w* I thought I'd have to wait the many years it would take for it to hit ENG.....

Oh! The shopping center with the Pizza Hut is one of those ones where Everything Must Be The Same Color, and that color is dark green. Okay, whatever, I don't design shopping centers, but I do find it neat when I see one where even big chains have to fit the mold. And this one had a Wendy's- key word, had. When we went to leave, I noticed that it had been painted gray and all the windows were covered/painted over?????? Which is just a shame; I love seeing uniquely colored fast food chains. Even if it was just the outside, it made it ~different~ and now I'm sad it's gone D:

Also it was one of the closest Wendy's, so fuck me I guess XD I hope they put something fun where it was, or at least another fast food chain I like!!!

and I made myself sad all day listening to the Crisis Core soundtrack sobs it's just so good ;w;

I got rained on and I'm super sore + achy, but I had tons of fun today!!!! The Mt Vernon Flower Mart is back and we were in the market for more plants (aka, more peppers, since those were what we had the most success with last year), so Pat and I planned on meeting Liz there after they got off work. Pat ended up inviting Elio, since we hadn't seen him in awhile, and by chance he'd been planning on going today, too!!!

HOWEVER. I thought I was meeting Pat and Elio at the light rail stop by Pat's work, but Pat thought I was meeting them at the flower mart...so they left without me XD It's cool, I can handle taking the train alone...it was just really silly since they just left like RIGHT before I got there.

This meant I got off the light rail just as Liz was getting off work, so we walked over together~ We got maybe 30 seconds into our walk before we were like "hey, is it drizzling?" followed up by a torrential downpour. At least the nuis were safely in a waterproof ita bag!

Eventually, the rain cleared up and we made it the last block and a half to the flower market!!! AND!!!!!!!!!!!!!


we got to see a truly stunning rainbow ♥
I managed to whip up little bows for their ears this afternoon, just in time for the festival~~~~~~~ I was honestly really excited to go this year, not just because it's a fun tradition we've fallen into, but also because it was this time last year that Liz and I had truly fallen for Kohaku & Madara in a like... "oh, oh, this is gon' be an important one" ship feels kinda way. We walked around talking about Madara's love of impulse performances at street festivals and just...idk it was really nice ;w; I love them (kohamada and Liz).

So!!!! Returning this year with my decked out kohamada nuis...very special to me ♥

After that, we got the ever-important lemon sticks - since Elio had never had one! - and walked around, picking out plants. Honestly, the rain cut some of the heat, leaving the weather basically perfect for an evening at a street festival :D

( further images from the festival!!! )

While we were eating dinner - still at the flower market, but slightly fancier street food because it's in a sorta bougie area - someone came up and complimented the dress I was wearing, and then we ended up chatting a ton. They just moved into the area from out in the suburbs and seem similarly nerdy, so hopefully we've managed to make another local friend!!!

I'm in sooooo much pain from all the walking around, but overall today was good *w* I'm also too tired to figure out how to end this properly, sooooo bye? XD

I changed my laptop wallpaper today, because I got lost on pixiv + I wanted something summery~


art by 芦 ♥
Love how the only major change since the last time I posted my laptop bg is that I've added more versions of enstars to it XD I have good taste, I swear! Also finally remembered to include a shortcut to the control panel for mewdragon's online reader...since it's a weird url that I can never remember :T

Other than that, I've been fussy about the new enstars UI but not for major reasons, just more that I have muscle memory and only one of the versions I play has changed. I still play in ENG + CN and they won't be getting the UI change for yearssssss so I'm just struggling. And it's partially glitchy from being a massive change, so I have to be patient...something I'm bad at XD

I usually try to make the maximum amount of icons for challenges/contests I enter, but I'm still feeling burnt out ;w; I managed to pull together the minimum 5 for monthlyinspo, but most of them I'd made earlier in the month...bluh. I'm not happy with most of what I made, either.

BAD CREATIVITY BRAIN SUUUUUUUUUUUCKS!!!!!

I did get the 5* from Sena's event today, at least!!! I don't even like him that much, but 1) the song slaps, 2) the aesthetic slaps, and 3) I'm trying to get as many copies of Leo's 4* from it as possible, which means I'm potentially getting two copies of the 5* XD


Senaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa~~~~~~ real talk tho I've been looking forward to this event for over a year; Or the Beautiful Golden Drop is hands down my favorite Knights song *w*
okay back to the jp event~ I'm not gonna get Hokuto from sitting on my ass ;D

THE NEW UI IS HERE AND I HAVE....MIXED FEELINGS!!!!!! But mostly positive!!!!!!!!! Overall, I like a lot of the new aspects...which unfortunately means most of my gripes are about the function, not the form.


WELCOME TO THE NEW HOME SCREEN!!!!!! I honestly love how colorful and fun it is- it reminds me a lot of original Love Live, in a good way! I love that it's not afraid to be bright and almost tacky, especially when so many games lean towards minimalism :D
HOWEVER................I hate that a lot of the important features are now hidden behind buttons, including things I'd like to be able to see at a glance. BP (stamina), work tickets, and diamonds are now accessed by clicking the big star in the upper left that displays your rank, which looks cool but they don't belong within a menu. They're the sort of things that should be right there when you login. I also don't like that Story and Cards are no longer on the home screen- they're within the big star in the bottom right that says Produce, which is where most of the important shit is.

okay okay okay I'm not trying to write a tutorial here XD I've had a lot of reactions since it came back online approx ~24 hours ago...and now it's down for pre-event maintenance, hence why I'm rambling here.

There's also just a lot of hiding important things that shouldn't be hidden, imho. In the office item purchasing screen, it no longer tells you how many of each item you already have, unless you click on yet another button. The theme here is "plz put that back where you found it so help me" I guess :T

Seriously, the new UI is already bright and full of a bunch of fun shapes, I promise that keeping a few numbers/small images on there won't hurt. It'll just add to the organized chaos that I'm pretty sure they're going for! IT'S OKAY TO SHOW US INFO I PROMISE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I don't wanna just be negative above the cut, so lemme say some more things I like~


the MEGA PHONE screen is honestly delightful- I think it's so fun!!!! I just wish that MV fitting room didn't take quite so many menus to get to :T

( many more images + new UI discussion under the cut, because I have a lot of feels )

OKAY. Okay. This was a lot of post, mostly about the JP enstars app, so lemme finish it off with proof that I actually left my house today: the boys at Costco~