FRIDAAAAAAAAY!!!! The day started with us booking it to registration so I could grab my badge before heading to the room for our panel- Anime Before Anime: Animation in Pre-WW2 Japan. Even though we got there 10 minutes early, there was already a huge line waiting to get in OwO This is the second time we've run it at katsu, and both times now it's gotten a really good reception :D

This year, I recorded Liz and Pat presenting it, so we now have a solid recording- or at least I hope so XD I haven't had a chance to review the footage yet, because you know, con weekend~

OH RIGHT. I didn't end up styling Ibara's wig on Thursday night, so I went in casual clothes + a fun wig so it'd be easier to get around and shop and such. Which was nice! It's always very cramped, especially artist's alley, so being more mobile made it slightly easier.

...only slightly, though, because it's still fucking Katsucon XD

We managed to hit artist alley before the infamous(?) "sewage" explosion!!! A pipe burst on Friday afternoon/evening and dumped gross dish water from the kitchens into artist alley, right on top of someone's booth D: I feel so bad for who it affected ;w; I really hope they're able to get some sort of compensation or something, since that fucking sucks!

Anyway...I usually try to do a full round of artist alley + dealers room before buying anything, but I couldn't resist the allure of Yu-Gi-Oh!


also the artist very kindly gave me badge ribbons for buying so much stuff XD I was just so fucking excited to see anyone selling ygo fanmerch *w*
And then the hell gauntlet: Dealers Room. It's soooooo big and katsu is so hit or miss for dealers, so it ends up being a lot of walking around to find a few gems. But that's cons babeeyyyyyy!!!! Honestly, one of the best parts wasn't even shopping: it was catching up with Tasty Peach! I've been buying their adorable plushies for so long, I've gotten to watch them go from a tiny booth in artist alley to a large presence in dealers room to seeing their stuff for sale in Hot Topic and other physical stores, which is so awesome. Apparently, they have stuff in fucking Epcot now!!!!!! I got to see pictures and it was just so wholesome to see how far they've come ;w;

BUUUUUUUT we only got about halfway through dealers room before we had to bitch out because we were exhausted. I ended up sitting in the lobby for awhile, watching the world go by, while Liz and Pat got our stuff out of our locker. Right before they got back, I saw a Kohaku cosplayer in the Spring Night outfit and let me tell you, the way I practically flew out of my seat to go say hi...

Since we had cosplay to finish - me and my wig styling adventures lmao - we went back to our hotel to get to work!!! If I never touch glue again.....

Also, we had snacks in our room, so we didn't have to pay out the ass for a meal in National Harbor XD

However!!! Some local-ish friends that Liz and I first met at Otakon were also staying in Alexandria, just in a different hotel, so we went over to hang out with them :D Liz was still in Nagisa at that point + they cosplay Hiyori and Jun, which meant that after gossiping for like two hours, I took a bunch of pictures of them. I'm looking forward to going through all the raws of those shots once I feel a little better~

By the time we got back to our hotel room, Pat was getting ready to get a Lyft back to the con for the raaaaaave~~~ Because I was still having a rough time with pain + wig styling to work on, Liz and I stayed behind and just kinda chilled while making glue wefts for Madara. It was sooooooooooo time consuming ;w; They look damn good, but I thought my fingers would be covered in UHU + PVA glue forever D:

After all the wefts for his braids were glued on, I realized two very important things:

1. the glue was gonna take awhile to dry before I could safely tug on the hair enough to braid it
2. we hadn't eaten any "real" food since the continental breakfast at around 9 am, and it was now after midnight

So, it was off to the 24 hour diner!!! There was one across the street from our hotel, which was very convenient after a long day. It's a local chain and we actually went to one of them after Anime USA back in October, and I remembered it being pretty damn good- and I was right! idk, maybe it's just me, but diner food always tastes best at 3 in the morning.


the boys went everywhere with me all weekend, including the high risk situation of taking pictures of them with food ♥
I somehow thought I'd be able to get back to the wig after eating, but it was like...4:30 am at that point???? So we passed the hell out, thus ending ~day 1~ of the con!

( but I doooooo have more pictures to share from it! )

aaaaaand that's a wrap on that! I'll get to the next day soon, hopefully, since I'm technically halfway done already!!!! I wanna complete the con reports~~~~~

WE HAVE MADE IT TO KATSUCON!!!!!!!!! We even almost made it to our hotel before midnight- we would have if not for the super long wait on the fucking drawbridge into Alexandria...bluh.

ANYWAY!!! I spent today gluing wefts to Madara's hairline, which was an exercise in patience and also my back fuckin' hurt ;w; Lotsa leaning and holding small strips of hair while waiting for things to dry, which is the exact sort of thing that fucks with my back D: But his hairline is done and looks beautiful!

...now to style the rest of the wig.

I had to take a break and take a power nap on the couch, and I woke up basically just in time for Liz and Pat to get home. Liz and I ran out to the thrift store and I finally found an acceptable shirt for Ibara - cutting it close! - before rushing back home to start packing. Originally, I wanted to style Madara before leaving, but I realized I'd rather be settled into the hotel room and styling him there, rather than having to drive down in the middle of the night.

So, we made it to National Harbor in surprisingly good time, I found a parking spot right by the con hotel, and we made it into Katsucon in time to pick up our badges*

*Liz and Pat got their badges because panelist badge pickup was open until midnight and regular registration was only open until 11....we showed up at 11:02 and they turned me away ;w; Like, yes, I get that it was past time, but I'm sorry my disabled ass couldn't move faster. Now I have to run down there before the panel tomorrow morning.

uggghhhhhh

I suppose I could sleep earlier tonight, but I still have to style Ibara's wig :T And I wanna make at least some progress on Madara's...

OH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Someone in the lobby of our hotel recognized my Double Face nuis!!!!! They saw them while we were checking in and apparently they'll be cosplaying Sora at some point this weekend!! So that was a nice interaction *w* I love cons...

Right now, Liz is sewing wefts into the front of my Ibara wig so the bangs go the right way without any bare spots, and then it'll be back on the wig grind~


locked and loaded to drive down to the con!!!!!! idk why I felt like I needed to dress up, but I sure did drive an hour in that wig~

( more pics inside~ )

OKAAAAAAAY!!! With that, I need to get back to work! No promises on con reports for the rest of the weekend, tho XD

Katsucon is upon us, so it's con crunch!!!!!! I'm of course having a rough pain week, so I'm moving extra slowly :T I managed to set up a wig styling station at the couch, though!


yes, I'm styling a whole new wig for Madara.....spoiled!!!
I'm using a lot of new methods on this wig, because I wasn't happy with how his first wig came out. Luckily, I snagged some cheap wigs from my favorite beauty store, sewed them together, and harvested a bunch of wefts to use for the bangs/hairline.

.........I did run out and have to buy another for the braids, but at least I found one in the same color on clearance for $10! So, in total his new wig has only cost me $22, which I'd say is damn good :D

My fingers are covered in glue right now, which is less good. Also, the whole couch is covered in wig fibers...and I am not enjoying that part. I'm pleased with how it's coming along...just glue and hair everywhere ;w;

Right now I'm actually taking a break from gluing loose hair into wefts because my back hurts so badly. I'm just frustrated!!! It's slowing me down and we leave for the con tomorrow.

...maybe I'll have more caffeine................

Oh!!!!!!!!!! THE ADORABLE KOHAKU AND MADARA BEAR NUIS ARRIVED TODAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!


sobs they're so cute I wanna die they're precious- also featuring Lumos patiently letting me put crap on her for pictures XD
The package also included a rainbow ALKALOID/Crazy:B light stick, some light up Kohaku and Aira stars, and a few doujins :D I'm so glad they made it here before katsu!!!!!!!!! I was afraid they wouldn't, since it was cutting pretty close ;w; BUT HERE THEY ARE!!!

mmkay I'm gonna get back to wig + watching Blazing Saddles, lemme just share some more pictures from today and Liz's birthday :D

( no I'm not procrastinating I'm achy, I have an excuse~ )

Happy 2/2, aka Akechi Euthanasia Day!!! I took my akeshu ita bag to Costco to celebrate~


some "youths" - late teens/early 20s maybe?? - recognized what it was and were suitably impressed :D
Anyway! The household went to Costco today + brought Elio along, since he needed to stock up on groceries after being in NYC and Japan for the past few weeks. We ended up at a different one than usual, because it was closer to his apartment, but that meant everything felt like it was in different places and I hate change so I was stressed out ;w; Also, I've been battling a terrible headache all week, which didn't help. Despite all that, it was quite successful :D

Less successful: wig styling........

I bulked out the wig head, which was a huge pain I only defeated thanks to Liz's assistance, and then...it didn't fit on the new wig head stand.

AGGGHHHHHHHHHH

My nicer wig head fits just fine, so I didn't think to check the styrofoam one I was using before I jumped into it. idk I wanted to try it out on a $3 wig head instead of something nicer, and I guess I'm paying for it???

Sooooo I tried to wrap the rod that the wig head goes onto in paper towels to make it thick enough (hehe, thick), and instead it just shredded the inside of the wig head.

'kay.

I'm just gonna bulk out the nicer wig head, but I couldn't do it last night....I was too dejected ;w;

bluh bluh I'm taking it extra hard + I'm more exhausted than usual + terrible headache, so either I'm having yet another mono flareup or I'm about to be on my period, and I don't like either of those options >:O

uhhhhhh I also could ramble about enstars and the valentines events and the current events in jp and eng but as previously mentioned: headache :c

Things purchased for cosplay in the lead up to katsu:

• handheld steamer for wig styling
• tripod wig stand to make wig styling more convenient
• wig for Ibara ($16 on clearance at one of my fave local wig stores!)
• two (2) new wigs for Madara ($6 a piece on clearance at the same store)
• casual fit for Nagisa
• new pants for Kohaku

....and I feel like there was something else, but this is all I can remember XD I've got a lot of wig things in the works - clearly! - so hopefully I can get everything done. I still need to figure out what I'm doing for what to wear as Ibara...all his casual outfits are harder to thrift so it's just like uggghhhhhhh :T

oh I also need new concealer D: I ran out of both of my faves, and now that the Morphe store is gone (+ other reasons), I can't as easily get one of them. I'm probably gonna grab a fresh tarte shape tape and then I guess order the jeffree star concealer later...idk I have a method and now I'm gonna have to modify it.

I'm excited for katsu!!! We got the time for our panel and of-fucking-course it's first thing on Friday again. They did this too us last year, too ;w; So Pat called our hotel and extended our stay to be Thursday night instead of starting on Friday, so we don't have to try to drive all the way down from Baltimore in time for our 11 am panel. Looking forward to that~

bluhhhhhhh

I'm nervous/anxious/ahhhhhhhhhhh bad brain feels about trying to style wigs for this con. I feel like I'm sooooo out of practice and there are all these new methods that I'm not familiar with. It doesn't help that I'm like...weirdly uncomfortable watching videos when other people are around, so I have limited time to try to watch tutorial videos. I wish I could just get out of my fuckin' head about it, but here we are!!!

After this, I'm gonna finish bulking out my wig head and maybe tackle sewing the Madara wigs together?? idk. Life is hard XD

edit: finished wig head and realized I completely forgot to share this pic I took earlier, cuz I thought it came out cute uwu


two very good Madara ships, also featuring my MILLIONS KNIVES glasses cleaning cloth ;D