Introducing Insanely Happy Kitt (NYAF Convention Report) (part two)

last modified: Thursday, October 02, 2008 (12:40:17 PM CST)

Mr. K was so entertaining at the dinner. He was so interested in us, asking questions and being cute. The restaurant had some pretty awful dinner theatre sort of enteraining going on, that repeated too often, and was too loud, but aside from that, it was awesome. I'd taken some glowstick bracelets, and Mr. K wanted to wear one. Unfortunately, most of the food contained cheese, and Mr. K doesn't like cheese. We know because he'd look down, say 'Cheese, cheese, cheese' while shaking his head 'no'. Of course we wanted pictures with him. One of the other fans came in a very impressive D costume. Mr. K gestured for the hat, so some people have pics with him wearing D's hat. The look on his face when they brought out his birthday cake with sparklers on top was priceless. Horrified that they were bringing something on fire to the table! After a while he got a bit bored, asked Kevin for a little notebook and started doodling a cute chibi D. Looking at it now (I have one of the two he drew before people brought out books to be signed) I think it's supposed to be Mr. K as D (since D has glasses, very genki eyes, and a round face).

Saturday evening I went to visit Ghosty (voice actor David Wills) at his radio show at FDU -- and was on the air, too! That was fun, meeting him, Gerry, and Jenn (other fans of his show) in person.

Friday and Saturday at the con, I attended two voice acting workshops, and had a chance to go up on stage and read for a contest Sunday. The prize was a voice acting contract. I didn't make it past the first round (I didn't expect to) but, it was awesome reading for Michael Sinterniklaas (the voice of the Dark Magician/Mahaad!) and he actually joked with me a bit before I started my piece. After that, I went to the autograph session for the voice actors.

I got to give Michael the fancel of the Dark Magician I painted in a frantic hurry to him -- personally. It was so amazing! His entire face lit up (mouth open, eyes shining bright like a child's) when he saw it -- then he looked down as if to figure out where to sign it and then I told him it was a gift for him. (Is it so wrong for me to enjoy having made a voice actor speechless for a moment? *ebilgrin*) His smile became utterly incredible, then he stood up, reached over the table, and hugged me! *fangirl bliss!* He hesitated before signing the Dark Magician card I brought to make certain it was okay. I told him I could always get another card and the opportunity to get his autograph was too good to pass up. ^_^

So, in a nutshell, I didn't have a good time at the con -- I had an amazing, incredible, marvelous, awesome, unbelievable *dashes off to strip the thesaurus of all the superlative words it has and put them into this post*

Introducing Insanely Happy Kitt (NYAF Convention Report)

last modified: Thursday, October 02, 2008 (12:39:30 PM CST)

She's been absent for a while. EvilCorp tried their evil best to kill her, but the support of understanding friends *hugs Tex-chan and Lucidscreamer* kept her on enough genki life support that she survived.

*drops out of silly third person pov*

I attended the New York Anime Festival this weekend. I love New York. It's an amazing place (to visit, I wouldn't be able to live there). I'd been there three times previously to attend Eric Stuart Band concerts, and just love the place, and the people. Syan and I shared a hotel room with a third person, and got to pal around the con. *waves at Syan*

The NYAF this year had Mr. Yoshitaka Amano and Mr. Hideyuki Kikuchi as the guests of honor. There was a truly once in a lifetime opportunity that arose to attend a special birthday dinner in honor of Mr. K's birthday along with Kevin Leahy and Mr. Amano and nine other fans. This weekend was unlike any other in terms of sheer *WOW* factor.

I attended Mr. Kikuchi's panel and get an idea of how utterly creative and hard-working he is. Writing consumes him. I was amused and relieved when he described his creative process -- figure out the characters and the situation, and just let it unfold. He doesn't have an idea of where the story is going until he writes it. (Sounds kinda familiar, huh, Tex?) The highlight came when a fan in the audience during the Q & A portion asked Mr. K if Mr. Amano's rendition of D matched his mental one. Mr. K hemmed and hawed a bit, ultimately answering that Mr. Amano's vision of D was spectacular, and more commercially viable than his. What made it so funny was that Mr. Amano had crept into the room after the session started and heard the answer! Mr. K then asked the audience to not ask anything else about Mr. Amano.

Mr. Amano's panel was awesome, too. He described a project near and dear to his heart: for years he's wanted to create a superhero. He wants to make TakoMan (I think that's the right spelling) -- that is Octopus Man. He's figured out his powers and weaknesses, and his arch enemies. It would be such fun to see something like this from Mr. Amano!

The VHD panel which featured both and kept the focus on the world of VHD was awesome. A new novel was released in Japan last week. Dark Horse seems to be very happy with how the VHD novels are selling in English, so I think they are about to commit to translating all of them.
I was able to attend both Mr. Kikuchi and Mr. Amano autograph sessions. In each one, Mr. Amano not only signed the item I brought (a kinda rare hardback edition of the first novel, and the wonderful signboard that Crystal painted for me) but drew D on it as well. The book has a nice profile of D. I was so amused with the signboard. Mr. Leahy signed it first, then Mr. Kikuchi. By the time Mr. Amano got it, the white area had only enough space for him to sign Y. Amano. He looked at it for a moment, and this indescribably adorable unsatisfied look crossed his face. He flipped the board over and drew a terribly cute Chibi D stalking in from the side on the back.

Mr. K was so entertaining at the dinner. He was so interested in us, asking questions and being cute. The restaurant had some pretty awful dinner theatre sort of enteraining going on, that repeated too often, and was too loud, but aside from that, it was awesome. I'd taken some glowstick bracelets, and Mr. K wanted to wear one. Unfortunately, most of the food contained cheese, and Mr. K doesn't like cheese. We know because he'd look down, say 'Cheese, cheese, cheese' while shaking his head 'no'. Of course we wanted pictures with him. One of the other fans came in a very impressive D costume. Mr. K gestured for the hat, so some people have pics with him wearing D's hat. The look on his face when they brought out his birthday cake with sparklers on top was priceless. Horrified that they were bringing something on fire to the table! After a while he got a bit bored, asked Kevin for a little

I've been quiet about AX --

last modified: Wednesday, July 12, 2006 (9:24:47 AM CST)

Mainly because I was voiceless most of the time. ~.~() On the Wednesday before I was to leave for CA, I woke up with inflamed sinuses and a sore throat. I wasn't sick, it was just a rather extreme allergic reaction to the fact the tons of rain we had been having (in Maryland) suddenly stopped and everything I'm allergic to bloomed with a passion. Ugg. Complicating matters was the very talkative seatmate I had on the plane trip out on Thursday. I had wanted to read a VHD novel during the 3 - 4 hours of the flight. Instead, I was trapped in inane strangers-on-a-plane conversation the whole time.

So, I woke up Friday -- voiceless. I have the best roommates in the world, since I'd manage to recover a croaking echo of my voice by the end of each day, cough (as quietly as I could, dashing to the bathroom to muffle it if I got into one of those convulsive coughing fits) through each night and wake up with no voice the next day.

I helped Crystal with her Artist Alley table, but, I need to know -- how is it that with only a weak, croaky-froggy voice I managed to help her sell so much? Must've been her wonderful artwork, selling itself! ^_~ *le sigh* Her talent is in painting. Mine is *alas* in mundane customer service/sales. Ah well. Selling art prints, calendars, buttons and lami cards covered in Crystal's amazing art is so much more fun than selling boring eyeglasses and contact lenses. At least there weren't any insurances to bill! :-p

I managed to land a couple of very nice pieces of production art; they are in the New Cels section of my gallery. Oh, and I got to meet some new RSers, as well as Midori (who's very sweet!) and Keigo (who is very nice!) in person. Michael, from the licensing department of Dark Horse, was gracious enough to speak with me, too; so I've a much better understanding of all the fascinating legal wrangling that goes on to bring us some of the titles from Japan (such as the VHD novels). All-in-all, though I had no voice most of the time, I had a wonderful con. A huge "Thank you!" goes to my wonderful, long-suffering roommates. ^_^ *hugs*

Yay for Tex-chan!

last modified: Friday, April 21, 2006 (5:50:25 PM CST)

So, I'm talking with Tex-chan on the phone while working on my gallery. I noticed that my gallery hits were at 9,999. She made a comment about one of my cels and I realized she was *right then* looking at my gallery. When I went back to my account page, yup, sure enough, my gallery hits are at 10,000!

Yay for Tex-chan being my 10,000th hit!

*gives Tex a pretty Yue feather in gratitude*

Nothing in common

last modified: Friday, March 03, 2006 (9:17:17 PM CST)

The cels presented in tonight's update have nothing in common. If it were just cels from Card Captor Sakura and Vampire Hunter D: Bloodlust, I could claim they were from the same studio, but, I have some new cels from Mon Colle Knights which doesn't really fit with either of the other two shows.

I suppose I could have gone with "sweet", "dark" and "silly" for an update theme, but, that just didn't have the same zing as what I went with.

For now, all the new cels are in the *gasp!* New Cels section. I'll be a bit more serious when I move them into their proper sections later.

I hope you enjoy the odd little theme I used to present them, and I hope everyone has a wonderful weekend, too! ^_^

(Not a cel post) My fish died today.

last modified: Monday, January 16, 2006 (10:46:29 AM CST)

Or last night sometime. He wasn't a particularly expensive fish, as he was just a betta, but he was nifty. I never thought fish were a particularly interactive sort of pet until him. He was this pretty salmon pink and his fins had hints of red, iridescent blue and purple. He was beautiful, and he knew it, so I named him Hotohori.

I first learned that fish (at least some of them) could be interactive pets because Hori-fishie would "dance" whenever I came into his field of view. Evidently, his field of view was more than 12 feet, because he'd start dancing to catch my attention whenever I entered my living room (and his bowl was in the dining room). He was smart too. He'd dance if he'd catch a glimpse of me through the cut-away into the kitchen. You might suggest he'd dance if he saw any movement. Uhm, no. He'd never dance for the cat, or other people. Just for me.

Once in a while, when I was feeding him, he'd come up to the top and crest out over the water, as if in his little fishie mind, he were a great shark. It scared the heck out of him (and me) when he bumped into my finger doing that one time.

The first time he bearded, it frightened me. It was a show of a primal sort of aggression that was simply awesome in its ferocity. I had read that betta would beard, that is puff up their fins and pull forward some other, I guess they are fins too, that normally lie flat against their heads in a "back off and no one gets hurt" threat display. These fish are rather insanely aggressive, as they will beard at each other (so you can never have two betta in the same tank or one will be killed). So, my pretty, placid fish got himself scared by something and bearded. The something? A little figure I have of Dark Magician. Until this last month or so, he'd beard whenever I put the Dark Magician near enough for him to see. So, now we know! Hotohori and Dark Magician are mortal enemies!

Periodically, he'd get all horny, and make bubble rafts in his bowl. He'd get all sulky, make tons of bubbles and be even more pissy than usual. Turns out the male betta is responsible for the young-uns, since they fertilize the eggs then lift them into the bubble rafts and guard them until the little ones are born. Silly, little horny fish! There were never any unfertilized eggs in your tank!

A few months ago I noticed a white patchiness on his top fin. It never did appear like Ick to me, but that's what everyone assumed it was. I got a betta specific medicine to add to his water, and upped changing his water out according the schedule recommended on the medicine. Nothing seemed to help, as his top fin eventually "melted" away. Until two days ago he was energetic enough, and still eating, but I could tell it was pretty close to the end, since his color had faded to merely a pale echo of its previous splendor. Truth be told, he hung on about two months after I thought he'd die. Stubborn, brave, little fish!

So, it wasn't a surprise to find him on his side and still in the bottom of his tank this morning. Still, I'm sad and feel kinda guilty that he died, since I was his owner and responsible for him. This summer, he would have been four years old.

Does it seem silly that I'm going to miss him? Just a fish, not a creature I could cuddle as I do my cat, but, in his own way he developed a language with me, and, well, was a true pet, not just a decorative thing as I had always assumed fish were.

Good-bye, Hori-fishie. I'm gonna miss you!

Big (for me) gallery update!

last modified: Thursday, January 12, 2006 (12:17:21 AM CST)

Let's see -- a cel of Eccentro and a new cel of Gabriolis from Mon Colle Knights; a sketch of Zechs in the "Bishies I Haven't Met Yet" section; two new entries in CCS - Kero; a lovely new addition in Eriol's section (also Card Captor Sakura); a new Yue sketch AND a new cel of Clow Reed (you should be able to figure out which show! :P); a new Vampire Hunter D: Bloodlust cel and two new Vampire Hunter D cels.

*counts*

Eleven new entries. Yes, for me, this is a *big* update!

A story to delight those who wish ...

last modified: Wednesday, December 14, 2005 (6:33:58 PM CST)

... those who wish it were possible to go and kick the a** of some bidder who sniped an auction they *thought* they were winning! Extra delight for fans of Weiss Kreuz and Vampire Hunter D. Honestly though, no knowledge of either show is necessary to enjoy this story:

http://www.s94065996.onlinehome.us/weiss-fics/sniper/wk-fic-sniper.htm

It's the work of Tex-chan *hugs!* so, you know it's good. One tiny, little warning: the main characters are the florists-by-day/assassins-by-night cuties of Weiss, and as Tex-chan points out, they aren't exactly choir boys. There's lots of swearing.

Anyone who's ever lost an auction at -- the -- last -- possible -- second, will certainly identify with Omi's angst and probably agree with the decision to do something about it that develops in the story.

So, go read already! And, if you like it, please let Tex-chan know by posting on her LJ here:
http://www.livejournal.com/users/tex_chan/11672.html

(hee, hee! Devilishly good deed for the day done, I'm outta here!)

A new Special Yue cel! (CCS spoiler)

last modified: Wednesday, December 07, 2005 (8:37:32 PM CST)

The scene from Card Captor Sakura where Touya gives his magic to Yue to prevent Yukito from fading away is a powerful and beautiful scene -- even for those of us who are not so much into the yaoi aspect of Touya and Yukito's relationship. *ducks yaoi fangirls*

I've been lucky enough as a collector to manage to find (and afford) a few lovely cels from this scene already, but I always wanted one where Yue was holding Touya, while Touya was still conscious. The absolutely most perfect cel to fit that description was in Kei's gallery, inspiring me to send him a *gushing* feedback a couple of years ago ending with the inevitable "If you ever wish to sell this cel, please think of me". Well, he did (wish to sell). And, he did (think of me). So I did (buy the cel). And thus...

http://foreverdreaming.rubberslug.com/gallery/inv_info.asp?ItemID=142410

Please beware that the description contains spoilers for the scene.

My other recent acquisition makes me very happy too, a wishlist cel! Since I didn't post anything about it -- I get the feeling Aya might be a bit miffed if I don't at least mention it here, and I have this aversion to bleeding, so...

http://foreverdreaming.rubberslug.com/gallery/inv_info.asp?ItemID=142245

(I am a very happy fangirl. Wheeeee! See?)

Update - New fiction, sketches and cels

last modified: Friday, November 25, 2005 (10:07:03 PM CST)

I had to work today *boo! hiss!* but still managed to get a couple of fun things taken care of. I tweaked a rather odd short little bit of fiction I've been noodling with and posted it to ff.net.

It's in the Yu-Gi-Oh fandom and I guess it's mostly a thought piece about the overlapping bit of destiny that Yugi and Yami shared. It's titled "Twined".

http://www.fanfiction.net/s/2675258/1/

More importantly (to this crowd, at least) I managed to scan and add a few new cels and sketches (in the New Cel section, for now). Two sketches of phoenix Suzaku from one of the Fushigi Yuugi OVAs, a cute sketch of Yukito and a gi-normous bag of cookies, a new cel of Yukito and Sakura (I think it's from the quiz episode), a darling cel of Prince Sakura, a new Kero-chan cel looking at the paper bearing a Clow Circle that Sakura found when she battled the giant teddy-bear, Yukito looking over his shoulder and a simply beautiful cel of Sakura being comforted by Yue.

I hope everyone enjoys. ^_^

Zany Update

last modified: Saturday, November 05, 2005 (12:37:15 PM CST)

You guys know I'm unremittingly odd, right? If you didn't before, you're about to discover it now. Added today are two modest settei copy images of Dark from D-N-Angel, and 12 settei copy images from Vampire Hunter D: Bloodlust. What's so odd about that, you ask? In and of itself, nothing. Dark's images were even posted in a fairly normal way. It's just that I didn't want to just scan the VHD images and toss 'em up with the usual fan-girl gushing I'm so prone to. Sure, D is all that, but I imagine that it gets tedious after a while to read the same sort of gushing over and over again. Still, it is D and he deserves to be gushed over, so...

Imagine if you would, a photographer who is commissioned to conduct a photo shoot with D as her model. (At least that's what I did!) My zany results are posted in the gallery as "The Photo Shoot". Oh, and the gentleman who wanted the portfolio? Well, if you've read my fan fiction, it's the personage I tend to refer to as "Himself" -- D's dad. Uhm...yeah.

I mentioned that I am odd, didn't I? *slinks off to hide under a rock*

RS Gallery Stuff

last modified: Wednesday, November 02, 2005 (4:35:21 PM CST)

Way back when, I had entered information and descriptions for 11 of my Touya cels, but never had a chance to actually scan them. Until today, that is. So, the first page of my Touya section are all of those that had been hidden (since they had no images), plus a new Touya cel I found lost and lonely in one of my cel books.

There are some new, better scans ('cause the ones I had up were not so good) of some cels and a few new cels altogether in a couple of sections too. It's slow going, but I will eventually switch all the poor scans for better ones, and add information and descriptions for all the cels that still need them.

Re-introducing Forever Dreaming

last modified: Tuesday, November 01, 2005 (12:03:44 AM CST)

I've been struggling for a while with my gallery, trying to come up with a theme and look that I like. This struggle's been going on nearly a year, and in frustration I ended up de-listing the gallery entirely.

It's taken some time, but I think there's good agreement with the title and the presentation of the cels, finally, so, it's time to show my gallery again.

I'm still working on it to find the cels that need basic information and descriptions added (and there are some cels that were never scanned too) but the majority of my collection is up and ready *gulp!* I guess, to be viewed again.

If anyone is so inclined to offer feedback, I welcome constructive criticism and corrections (as well as compliments if you deem my efforts worthy!)

m^_^m

Meh

last modified: Saturday, July 09, 2005 (11:57:36 PM CST)

Isn't it amazing how much work there is after one returns from a vacation? I finally had a few minutes to add the info for the new cels and sketches I found at AX. I wasn't entirely certain which scene the cel of D was from, so I wanted to watch Bloodlust again (such a sacrifice! ^_~) to pinpoint it properly before I revealed it. Now that I know for sure, I can (and have) unprotect it. There's a lovely CCS cel that had been hidden too. Enjoy!

Turnings

last modified: Friday, July 08, 2005 (3:05:38 PM CST)

AX was a blast. I had a great time with my AX roomies (as usual ^_^) and lots of fun meeting people from both RS and Beta. Some sort of universal cel karma rebalancing must have been happening, since I found some stunning cels and sketches. (The two best finds are still hidden though. :-p)

My 16 year old cat, Gus, was boarded at the vet while I was away, since he's diabetic and needs insulin injections twice a day. I was concerned as, during his appointment in May, the vet suggested that Gus might be starting with kidney problems too. My first cat, Ceasar, died from kidney disease at 22 years of age, so this was certainly an unwelcome thought. However, all the tests came back normal, so, though he has diabetes (under control, yay!) and arthritis, he's basically a healthy, though mouthy, kitty.

The news I woke up to yesterday, the terrorist bombings in London, makes me want to cry for those harmed and rave and scream at those who caused the harm. I wish we could mend this broken world so such horrors never happen, to anyone, ever again.

And today...

Well, ~ it's my birthday and I'll --

go to work even though I don't want to! ~ At least, that's what I told myself this morning. Actually, it's not been too bad. I had to dash over to the DMV during lunch to get my driver's license renewed and got a wonderful surprise. The CRT (Corneal Refractive Therapy -- contact lenses I wear at night that flatten the cornea for good day-time vision) I've been using for over a year has corrected my nearsightedness so that I no longer need a restriction for corrective eyewear while driving. Nifty!

And, while waiting at the DMV, I got hit with another inspiration for a Vampire Hunter D story. *ebilgrin* However, before I can allow D to fill my mind with angsty thoughts for the story, I must update the Ronin Art pages on Stargarde for Crystal. That's the primary project for this weekend.

Crystal painted a gorgeous image of Dark (DNAngel) for me while we were at her table in Artist Alley at AX. I'm thinking I might use it for the next incarnation of Forever Dreaming. Yeah, I'm bored with the theme again. *eyeroll*

Mom and Dad called to wish me a happy birthday, which is sweet, and to reassure me about the hurricane charging at them. Yeah, they live in Florida. I always worry during hurricane season.

*slinks back into hiding*

From the far reaches of isolated obscurity...

last modified: Friday, June 10, 2005 (9:27:34 AM CST)

...an (anticipated) update of vampire goodness! ^_^

A little while ago there appeared on YJ a cluster of Nightwalker sketches. I hemmed and hawed (as the seller doesn't ship out of Japan) but finally asked my deputy to bid for me since the most interesting sketches kept cycling with no bids. I just picked up the packet from the post office today. As sometimes happens with YJ auctions, there were more sheets than had been displayed for each auction.

The lovely one of Shido with his eyes closed was thus revealed to be the one I had hoped it was, as two of the "extra" sheets show Cain's hand stroking through his hair! I was never quite bold enough to put it on my wishlist, but that scene is one of my favorites from the series -- where Cain (the evil but totally love-struck sire of Shido) shows him a tender moment, only to have Shido throw a glass of some unidentified red liquid (!) in Cain's face a minute later (which is another sketch I received in my packet today).

If I am able to get my pc at home to work again (yes, after losing its configuration file YET AGAIN! -- I loathe Best Buy's Geek Squad "service" btw) and talk nicely with my scanner, I might actually be able to add something new to my gallery.

Not that I expect anyone cares.

::has been collecting unpopular series for a long time:: :-p

But, Shido! And Cain (well, his hand and back of his head at any rate)!

^__^

Auction Woes

last modified: Friday, April 29, 2005 (12:56:22 PM CST)

All I wanted was one. That was it, just one production image of a certain character because I greatly admire the seiyuu. It's been over three years I've been bidding and losing at trying to win just this one.

*shrug* You can guess from the title that I lost again. The sole bidder on an auction until the last day, such things happen, but I had bid high enough to hold back two other bidders. I thought I had a shot at finally getting just this one lone image of this character I've wanted for so long. Toward the last hour or so, another bidder appeared and topped me. I bumped my bid, thinking I'd do without coffee and chocolate (quite a sacrifice for me!) for a month to finally, finally, after over three long years cross this one character off my wishlist.

Not to be. Perhaps I wouldn't be so bitter about it except I have this rule about not bidding on items I see that friends have prior bids on. It seems I'm the only one who has such a rule and so, I've lost out yet again. To a friend.

I'm not going to fight it anymore. The character in question is crossed off my wishlist, not because I finally gained the one item I was looking for, or lost interest in the character, but because I'm tired of losing out and feeling bitter at friends when I do.

*sigh*

Snowy day

last modified: Saturday, January 22, 2005 (2:31:57 PM CST)

Yup, it's snowing like mad here so I decided to work on my RS gallery a bit. It's been delisted for about six months mainly because I was sick of the theme and felt contrained by the gallery name "Things with Wings".

There's a ton of work to be done to bring the gallery into harmony with the new theme, but so far, so good.

I would appreciate feedback and helpful suggestions on the work that's been done so far. ^_^

Well, my fingers are freezing, so I'm going to take a hot cocoa break and maybe fire up FF7 for a bit too. I've managed to get a gold Chocobo and so was able to get the special materia from their caves so... currently I'm busy leveling up Knights of the Round before taking on the downed Shinra plane to get the third Huge Materia. *grin!*