Hi, sorry, I've been lost to the Pokopia dimension XD Real talk, I've been unable to put it down, and I only managed to get through the JP enstars event through sheer force of desire to have New Characters.

so yeah that was cool but pokemon is my life now XD

ALSO OH MY GODDDDDDDDDD I can't get too into it because I'm already zested, but the end of Trigun Stargaze? Way to shit on everything Stampede built up...and like, I didn't even like Stampede that much compared to 98 and the manga. And yet this was worse! It was so much worse that I it's been hours and I'm still enraged + baffled at the choices.

ughhhhhhhhh

I'm gonna paraphrase some of Liz's thoughts because they made really good ones and my brain is mush from frustration. But like. Stargaze has a lot of the same problems Stampede had with pacing and tone, but magnified to such an extreme that I can't take it seriously. I was honestly trying to give it a chance because so many people were hating on it + it took me awhile to get on board with Stampede, but yikes. This is...not a good anime. So much of it felt like "hey you know that scene from trimax that you loved? we recreated it without any understanding of what made it good or impactful!!! that's what you wanted, right?????"

And so then the final episode was all of that and more. There was a mostly mediocre, uninspired space battle + Vash and Knives fighting, and like okay. I know Trigun is DEEP SPACE PLANET FUTURE GUN ACTION but it's not all just......firing lasers in space, you know? I hate space lasers but Trigun made me love the setting, and Stargaze absolutely didn't. There was no Chronica and Domina - which I predicted, but I'm still disappointed - and we did the stupid fucking "pan over every named character to see what they're doing during the Big Fight™ as a way to pretend they're still important to the action" that I haaaaaaaaate.

ALSO. I'M SORRY. Vash would not try to coerce Knives into dying with him/committing suicide together. Like??????????? THAT'S NOT VASH THE STAMPEDE!!!! That's something Knives would pull, yeah, but it just felt sooooooo OOC in a way to seem ~edgy~ or something, idk. But I guess since Knives died to save Vash, it's "fine" and he's "redeemed" or whatever because he was sad about it, weh weh. GIMME A BREAK.

Don't even get me started on how they did Legato dirty. His death was had no fucking weight because they never did anything to build him up into a threat!!!!! He basically never became more than Knives's thirstiest follower, and that's an insult to his character. He's got more depth and yeah, he's a terrible person, but Stargaze pretty much made him into a generic anime villain who's just evil and gay coded. Thanks. That's totally all there is to Legato.

So, yeah, Knives's death was just. Shrugs. It didn't feel like anything. And that's kinda how most of Stargaze felt!!! And like they just couldn't properly decide what they were doing, so it just.....didn't matter? Are doing an everyone lives AU? Not for long! We can't actually save everyone, we better kill off the """irredeemable""" ones!! And we can't do anything with the ones we let live, especially Wolfwood, so they can just....stand around, I guess? You like that, right?

NO. I DON'T LIKE THAT AT ALL, STUDIO ORANGE. How could you do this to me ;w;

Oh but of course we have to find a way to shoehorn in the ending of Trimax, even though we'd been in the middle of a tonally different conversation. Tonal whiplash is the best way to tell a story, you know! And then we've got the final shot of Vash doing his signature ✌🏻 with the crossed fingers cuz we gotta check all the boxes!!! This is how you make Trigun Good, right?

I also hate that basically everyone but a select few scientists are leaving Nomans Land??? Like....okay yeah it wasn't great there, but it feels like it's missing the theme of human determination and making something beautiful out of a less than ideal situation. Just another example of Stargaze missing the mark!!!!!!!

okay. okay. I gotta stop because I have to eat lunch and get some writing done I was just so upset I had to write it out.

I really thought this entry would be shorter oops

ON A FINAL, GOOD NOTE, TODAY MARKS THE FIRST DAY OF MATRIX IN ENGSTARS!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I was one of the few people who really liked it and I remember posting about it as it was coming out...an early liveblog of enstars ;w; Very nostalgic, very good. I'm looking forward to reading it properly now that it's out on the ENG server~

And I'm finally gonna try to type of the popstar Knives AU I wrote in.....2023.......................


sittin' at my desk and everything!!!!

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!!!!!!

MOVIE NIGHT!!!! Liz, Pat, and I went to see Iron Lung, since Pat expressed interest and I love any excuse to get out of the house to do stuff. We had a great dinner of Costco Hot Dogs™ before going to my favorite movie theater of all time: the Ancient Egypt themed one~


and of course I brought Double Face along!!! I needed them to meet Anubis (clearly)


also Madara's kigu has a big enough tail that I could pose him standing up on the sphinx and I love that for him~
The movie itself was really good! It's not the type of horror that I usually go for - I dislike post-apocalyptic settings, space, and "trapped in a ship" horror - but since I didn't read up on it at all that's on me XD Plus, I'm always down to go to a thing a friend wants to do. And I'm glad I saw it despite it not being a thing I would have sought out, if that makes sense? The cinematography was fucking gorgeous; I kept getting lost in how incredible the lighting was.

ALSO THE BLOOD WAS SO RED IT WAS GREAT!!!!! I don't wanna spoil anything for anyone interested in seeing it, but it was just *mwah* The special effects were honestly stellar and I really like a lot of the choices made (like having some of the blood coagulate into things that looked like barnacles growing into the ship).

Downside is that it's the kind of horror that made me stressed for like 2 hours and then...I'm still lowkey stressed D: It didn't give me the release horror usually does, but it did for Pat so I think it's a personal preference. He absolutely loved it and is gonna be chewing on it for awhile.

Anyway, I also had to grab a few shots of the nuis in the mini arcade in the theater lobby. I got these kigus off aliexpress because labubu clothes (mostly) fit on the pattythree enstars nuis, and I got them like right before it got super icy cold out. So obviously I have to fix that~


aren't they precious???? I'm extra jazzed about getting them with claw machines because of Kohaku's card from Spring Night and the current top-up theming in globalstars *w*
Also, Liz managed to dig the car most of the way out!!! We have suuuuuch a long driveway that it's taken quite awhile, but now that it's been slightly warmer for a couple days, it's finally doable. And I apparently have a doctor's appointment on Friday, so I need to be able to get there.

I'M DONE WITH SNOW. It was nice for awhile but oh my god. I'm over it!!!!!!!!

I made them a beautiful cake in honor of Absolute starting this weekend, aka the Eden climax, aka one of the best enstars events~ Liz asked for chocolate cake and gave no other specifics, so this is what I came up with: dense chocolate cake with raspberry filling and cream cheese icing. It's incredibly rich, so we all nearly passed out after eating just a little bit XD

Oops?

Anyway, I'm actually super pleased with how it came out!!! I had a vision and actually managed to bring it to life- with some help from Pat. He made the stencil for the lotus flower and helped place a the beads for the lower border. I think I leveled up making large smooth sections of color (for the bits I wrote on) and just...wrangling this cake in general.....I love this cake but I do not love how delicate and crumbly it is. Even with a crumb coat, I was afraid it would still be a mess. And it WAS hard to work with, but not impossible.


I'm also really happy with both the gradient and these tassels~
My wife loved it, and honestly that's what matters the most!!!!

We also had szechuan delivered from one of Liz's favorite places, since they're not feeling great and didn't wanna go out ;w; Hopefully they'll be feeling better soon, since it's very unfair that they felt crummy on their birthday.

Also, Katsucon is this weekend XD So I'm sure they wanna feel better for that!!

IT'S STILL SO DAMN COLD ;w; plz save me from my 100+ year old house...it's so drafty.........

Anyway- we got some more errands done yesterday! Pat's car got a flat, so we went to our favorite 24 hour tire place to get a replacement. They were delightful, as always, and made sure to fill up all his other tires + the spare while we were there. Everyone is always soooo nice and it's fast, which is nice. And the price is good, even for new tires. Here's hoping his car survives the rest of the winter + Baltimore's shitty roads!!!

After that, we went to a laundromat, because our washing machine is unusable in the extreme cold. All the pipes for the first floor bathroom - which is where the laundry is - are completely uninsulated, thanks to whoever owned this house before us. So we haven't been able to do laundry at home for the past few weeks, and it's really been piling up. We got a decent amount done at the laundromat and were able to fairly easily hang stuff up to dry when we got home, thanks to the amount of cleaning we did the day before. There's so much space in our downstairs now *w*

Liz taped up a few more windows downstairs and came up with the brilliant idea to hang a blanket between the living room and the entry, since that's one of the colder areas on the first floor. Between those things, the living room is.....slightly less cold. It's definitely not warm, but it's getting better. I cannot wait for this winter to be over ;w; I can take some cold, but it's going on too long!!

The girls have been sooooo cute and cuddly, which is a big positive. I don't think I've shared the new cats we adopted last year, since everything was kind of a blur after Lumos passed ;w; We adopted a pair of sisters - Willow and Juniper - and an older male cat - Shadow Box - at the end of the summer. They've made our home very lively...partially because they all have beef with each other XD Willow cannot stand Shadow Box to the point of fighting him on sight, so he's mostly been staying in my bedroom. And then Juniper has some sort of personal vendetta against Lily, which has kept her and Dennis confined to Pat's bedroom. Maybe someday everyone will get along...


Juniper is mostly gray with some white (and a scratch on her nose from a recent fight with Lily, sighs)


and then her sister is like twice her size and has more white splotches- but mostly Willow is just really big, okay, she's a large girl ♥


Shadow Box is all black, all eyes, and no brains ♥ I love him sooooo much (even if he keeps stealing my glasses off the bedside table)
I guess I could have shared pics of the girls where they aren't snuggled up with Liz on the couch, but they look so cute like that!!! Juniper has been sleeping right up against Liz for like an hour now; it's so fucking precious *w* I love cats so much...so good.

blurgghhh I have to go out and get groceries today cuz we need food...it's just so cold.........sobs ;w; I don't wanna brave it, but we gotta eat. We just wanted to wait until the Super Bowl started so we didn't run into last minute "big game" shoppers, I guess :T

I was so excited about Madara that I forgot to share that I actually finished another mood theme: Ensemble Stars! Cards ;D I have no idea where all this inspiration is coming from, but I'll take it. I think this is the one I'm most proud of, since it required a bit more editing and going through soooooo many more images to pick moods.

Today, Liz stayed home for a much needed mental health day. We ended up playing some more Katamari Damacy - technically Once Upon A KATAMARI but I just kinda think of them as all one big fun thing - and did some light cleaning in the living room & dining room before napping on the couch. All in all, very restful (for me at least, and I think Liz as well) :D

And then after Pat got home from work, Liz made a very tasty dinner of pork loin and roasted baby red potatoes. It was so good *w* We used to get pre-marinated pork loins from just the regular grocery store, but Lidl has them now for way less, and they're easily just as good. So that's good to know!!

Since we'd gotten started earlier, Liz, Pat, and I did some more cleaning after dinner. We got the Christmas tree taken down, took a bunch of crafting supplies back up to the third floor, and organized the stuff we're keeping down here. The basement still needs to be fully sanitized after the waste pipe burst last month, so all the Christmas stuff is still upstairs, but at least it's now condensed down into boxes.

BUT IT'S LOOKING SOOOOOO GOOD DOWNSTAIRS!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Pat's also gonna help me go through all my clothes and put them away, since laundry is where I stall out a lot. And we got a cat tree to put in our bedroom like two months ago, but Liz and I haven't been able to make the space for it so it's just.....still in a box in the kitchen..........

Anyway. I'm gonna think on the positive side and be proud of all that I did get done today!! :D


some great recent pictures of Pat: a sign he found on the side of the road that got knocked down by a snowplow and posing with part of the Christmas tree like it's a fish XD


the new Katamari is honestly soooo good and I've taken a decent amount of screenshots so far, but I think this T-rex might be my fave. the way the dinos are rendered is just delightful ;D


this steggy is a close second, tho ♥
I gotta go finish up the JP event tonight so I can be prepared for everything that's coming OwO And probably play more Katamari, since I am like a man possessed with it~

I got Mayoi in both events that started today!!!!!!! :D




......even if it meant pulling an all-nighter for the JP event. I had planned that one, but the accidental one I pulled the night before made it hellish. Do not stay up two days in a row...my skin hurts ;w;

Worth it though ♥

I took a nap in the afternoon but I'm still feeling beat, so I don't have a whole lot to say. So I'll leave y'all with the nui brigade that kept me company while grinding JP for 8 hours straight.


Liz brought a button maker home from work and I used it for evil (making Mayoi buttons)

You know what a foot of snow needs? Photoshoot in your backyard featuring a skirt you made in 2017 and then promptly forgot about!!! Pat very kindly braved the cold to bring my ~vision~ to life.


the skirt is so warm and the shirt was a poor life choice XD


I like to think I'm cute and funny, and I'm right~
At least now I know what I'm wearing to the ren faire this year ;D I made this skirt to wear to a vampire ball that Liz and I went to as part of our anniversary trip, and then just...never wore it again???? idk man, it looks good actually so I have no idea why I never found another use for it. Definitely wearing it in like, 9 months, when it's ren faire season. I've also just been wearing the skirt around the house because it's floor length, so it's keeping the warmth in. So yes, I'm wandering around with a black lace train like I'm living in the Addams Family, I guess XD

ANYWAY.

I did manage to make a few icons, so that's cool. I don't necessarily love them, but part of that is just...getting back into it...thankfully it's only been like 6 months so I'm not as rusty as I could be, but I still wish I could stay more on top of things and/or skip this stage.

And then the enstars event announcement is tonight and I'm sooooooo fucking anxious, since it's either gonna be MaM or ALKALOID, so my money is gone either way. If it's MaM, no one's gonna hear from me for a week while I grind out 22 mil points. sobs. It's just like.....some of my fave units have ended up last in the rotation and also why couldn't Madara have his event while I had a job and therefore more money to blow on a phone game? Like of course he waited until I had less disposable income. Bitch.

idk I don't have anything else to say, since I've been in the house all weekend. At least the snow is really pretty and we've had a fairly chill time just vibing. Trying to focus on the positives, you know?

IT'S A WINTER WONDERLAND!!!!"
So it snowed basically all night and most of today before switching to freezing rain, which is decidedly less good but like. Whatever. It's still very wintery, and I like that...even if I'm not going out in it. It's way too damn cold!!!! Even after taping up a bunch of the windows in the house, we're all bundled up cuz the heat is only doing so well.

Other than that, I'm baking some cookies and debating trying to make icons again, since it's been...months.........all my photoshop skills have been going to ensemblerefs because that's less creative, I guess? It takes less brain thinking skills, at least.

I also wanna try to write something for threesentenceficathon cuz it's one of my favorite yearly events...I'm just still fighting Mental Illness, you know?

also trying to get back in the habit of updating this and I'm like "how the fuck did I write such long entries????" I think I spent a lot of time rambling about enstars, so I guess...that's it XD

I mean I am upset about Hiyori fucking me over in the gacha, since there's a 50/50 chance that the next jp event is gonna be MaM (though the other option is ALKALOID so I guess I'm kinda screwed either way) and I need the rate up if it's Mama. I'm not saving up another 120+ memorial coins like I had to for Halloween Madara last year :T I'm just gonna max him during the event!!!!

..........also also I've made a lot of nui outfits in the past 6 months, so when I'm up to it I kinda wanna post them here. Dreamwidth is just such a better way to organize and hold onto things than everywhere else ;w;

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.