So I know I haven't posted here awhile and, for that, I'm sorry. Work has gotten crazy as of late (I'm actually being kept on until the end of year here! Go me!), plus I'm still cleaning. -_- I have this major reluctance to deal with my college crap still...

Go figure, huh?

In that case, I totally claim LJ amnesty. Anyone has anything important to tell me, please do so here.

What else, what else...

OH! Doug, if you were still interested in those Hellsing volumes, let me know? I've finally convinced my digital camera to be nice to me, so I'll take pictures for you tonight if you want to assess their condition before I send them off.

BACK TO WORK NOW!

Okay. Now it's time for that manga list I've been promising you all. My digital camera's being stupid right now, so I can't get you any pictures at the moment. They are coming, though, I promise. I just need to mess with the thing some. And find more AA batteries.

I can assure you, however, that all the manga I'm listing here are in very good condition (although I'm sure some of you may not believe me without the pictures! Soon, soon, I promise!). Some have some creasing along the spine, but all in all, they're as good as new.

If you do want anything that's listed here, I'm going to have to ask you guys for monetary compensation: $5 per volume. Preferred payment is either via PayPal or cash through mail. When you comment, please tell me which you'd prefer as well as your email so I can send the appropriate contact information to you. Once I have payment, then you will get your manga.

Everything that doesn't get sold will be donated, but I'd really rather ensure my manga is going to find a good home.


( Raw Manga )


( Translated Manga )


( Doujinshi )

Okay. SO.

I FINALLY started working on finishing Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince. I started it when it came out and, somehow or other, never got around to finishing it. I have no idea how this one occurred. Between Saturday and Sunday, with periodic breaks in between chapters for other things, I'm about 3/4s of the way done. I plan to finish it by tonight, providing I don't get distracted.

Now, what prompted me to do so was that, on Saturday, I dragged my father with me to go see Order of the Phoenix (the movie is awesome, by the way. If you haven't seen it yet and you're a fan of the series, go see it ASAP. It's beautifully done.). Umbridge was delightfully creepy/crazy, and the Ministry of Magic sequences were fantastic. Particularly the end-bits. Wow. XD I need to go see it again, I think.

Dad IMed me this morning about ordering book 7. XD He found out he could get the thing half-off if he used a coupon he got, so, naturally, I had to. XD I need to pay him back for the book, of course, but I'M GETTING BOOK 7! EEE!

As for work? Work's... work. Boring, really. The other night, after much scouting around, I have a lead on a potential job as a stitcher in a college costume shop. It's not much, mind. I mean, I'd get paid for working there and it would help flesh out the resume and portfolio some. Not much, but it's something, and a good place to start off. I need to email the woman in charge of the shop and express my interest, but I'm a little nervous. Understandable, though, right? Once I calm down enough, I'll email her and ask her if the position's still available.

I meant to make a run to JoAnn Fabrics over the weekend to pick up a couple of patterns and some fabric. Maybe some yarn and knitting needles. The other day, I had the desire to make a scarf. This, however, didn't wind up happening. I might wait until the weekend as, according to a source, they're selling patterns for cheap from Thursday to Sunday. Once I have that, Jess, I can actually start working out the pattern for your dress.

Speaking of... Jess, I got your message, but only late last night. @___@ I'll try to hop on at some point? Depends on how exhausted I am. If ever you need me, though, it'd honestly just be easier to email me or something: firefly.heart[at]gmail.com. I leave that up during the day while I'm at work. I'd post over there more while I'm at work, too, except my work internet blocked it. @__@ SIGH, work internet. SIGH.

I think that's everything for now? Yeah. Yeah, I'm pretty sure that's everything. XD

Love you all, but now I have to get back to work. ♥

One thing I definitely missed about this place? The food here is fantastic. XD *loves on my chicken quesedilla (probably spelled that incorrectly)*

....

Also, totally saw some people from high school here that I dislike immensely. Now, you guys know me. You know it takes a lot for me to dislike ANYBODY. Yet these guys? Kind of tormented me in high school. Not cool. And they're here. -_- They probably work here, since I remember seeing them last summer.

SIGH.

I give up. *goes back to work*

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO THE ABSOLUTELY FANTABULOUS azabeth99!!!

I hope things are, at the very least, a bit better for you than they have been the past few days. ♥♥♥

Okay. So, ladies and gentlemen, I'm at a bit of a dilemma here. As most of you know, I've been intently cleaning my room in an attempt to make room for the stuff I've bought over the years.

In cleaning, I have discovered that I have... a medium-sized amount of manga that I don't read any more or have any interest in keeping. Now, granted, it's not much, and it's only a few volumes of things, but it's stuff.

To be honest, I'm not entirely sure what to do with them. I could donate them somewhere or I could try selling them off and attempt to make a few bucks off of them, but, honestly, I'm not sure how much I'd get for them.

.....

Suggestions, flist? >>

Today has apparently not been a good day for many people on my flist. Thus, I offer these to all of you:


*♥♥♥ and super snuggles*

You all seem like you need it. ;~;

Okay, I bring you an update from the desk, ladies and gentlemen.

I'm working on this one request for someone and the name all this stuff needs to be added to is as follows: Angerer, Helmuth.

That's seriously a name???

Oh my God, guys! I have a closet!





















Now, I know all of you are probably going "omgwtfbbq" over that statement. So now I shall explain for those of you who were absolutely confused. See, for the longest time, my room has been a complete and total disaster area. I can't even begin to tell you just how bad it was, but since I've been home, it's been a total mess.

NO LONGER!

Mom and I went out to Target to pick out storage bins and such to go into my closet so I could attempt to make sense of the mess and now? For the first time in... probably twelve years or so, I can see the floor in my closet. This is epic for me, as I am a pack rat.

I'm still looking for a hanger of some sort to put the mobile that anruik made for me some time ago, but that, unfortunately, probably won't be able to go up until I move into an apartment all my own. ;~; This makes me sad, really, as it's a pretty mobile and I want to show off that one of my friends made something completely awesome for me, but alas!

We shall see!

*goes back to cleaning*

So. Telemarketers. Biggest nuisance on the planet. Well, probably the biggest nuisance. If you guys can all come up with something bigger than a telemarketer, I'll be amused. However, today we get a call from one, and, well, this one goes above and beyond.

Earlier this afternoon, Dad was taking a nap on the couch downstairs. I was attempting to clean the current disaster area that is my room when the phone rang. Now, I didn't know that Dad was sleeping at the time, so I just let the phone ring. When it kept ringing, however, I went to the phone and picked it up and just STARED at it for a few minutes.

We actually got something on the caller ID (more than I can say for most telemarketers), and, figuring it was just someone for the parents, I picked it up. The rather nice-sounding woman on the other end of the phone asked for my mother, but I told her she was unavailable and asked if I could take a message. The woman said no and she would try back later. And hung up.

Now, it was only then that I realized "Oh, wait. That was a goddamn telemarketer, wasn't it?" But I let Mom know someone had called asking for her once she got home and we took another look at the Caller ID. We were curious, so I went and looked up the number.

Turned out that it belongs to TWO separate people in Florida. O_O Apparently, according to one website, the number belongs to a rather persistant group of telemarketers. Someone had to deal with them for a week straight.

O_O

Yeah.

Then, later tonight, I was about ready to head out to Panera for some dinner when the phone rang once again. This time? Number Unknown. Typically, that just means a fax or something, so I picked it up anyway. This time, a man, asking for my mother. -_- Should have told him to fuck off. What came out of my mouth was "She's not available. Can I take a message?" All I could make out of his response was, "....callbacklater." And CLICK.

Next time these bastards call and I get hold of the phone, I'm debating blaring JPop in their ear.

For the record, the number in question is 239-275-5218. Just so you know to ignore it. From what I've read, people have even gotten it on their cell phones, too. As far as we know, they use a random number generator to generate phone numbers, call them, and see if they work. So. >>;; Yeah. Just a warning for you all.

Work's actually kind of slow right now. I knew I shouldn't have gone through the stuff I was told to do this morning so quickly... then I might actually have something to DO right now. Or I might be right where I am right now. But I have no way of knowing that.

Yes.

Anyhow...

Just letting you guys know that I'm NOT dead. Wishing I had a car so I could maybe drive to Wendy's for a burger, but tis not so. Mom's out of the office today and she dropped me off here this morning because she needed the car at home. See, currently, we have three cars: Dad's, Mom's, and Lauren's (the younger sibling). Younger sibling got into an accident (where she totally wasn't at fault at all; it was some girl at her school), so the repair shop has her car. Dad's car.... I'm not sure where his car is, but I know I totally can't drive that thing even if I did. Neither can my younger sister. It's a stick-shift. So she has to drive Mom's car to get to and from school. Which leaves me and Mom who need to go to the office. So we got a rental. PT Cruiser.

Now, let me just say that the PT Cruiser is probably the most confusing car I have ever seen. The controls for the automatic windows? Not on the door. It's on the dashboard. Right above the radio/CD player. The dashboard was constructed out of plastic, to the best of my knowledge. Now, normally, I don't think I'd mind, except the plastic is reflective. REFLECTIVE. It catches the sunlight and shoves it in your face so you're totally distracted while you're driving.

The car, ladies and gentlemen, is a piece of shit.

It's kind of a cute car (on the outside, the deceptive little thing), but totally not for me. I'm SCARED to drive this car, even though I technically can. I'm PETRIFIED of this car.


......

End rant. XD


In other news, I totally have "Glamorous Sky" from the NANA movie stuck in my head. -_- The ONE TIME I don't have my iPod.

Okay. Need to go back to watching the inbox. Bye!

Okay. Technically I suppose I shouldn't be doing this, but the person training me is eating right now, so I know I have a few minutes.

Anyhow, I'm back at EMC for the summer (possibly a bit longer; I need to talk to Tricia about that), and, anyway, I've got a few things to say.

Since I'm back at EMC, the rules from last year in terms of contacting me still apply. For those of you who are new and don't know what those are, here you go:
(1) My cellphone will be on, but it will be on SILENT throughout the day. I try to check it during lunch break, but I don't always remember. However, feel free to leave me messages and I'll get back to you as soon as I remember to check the phone.
(2) AIM for personal contact is out of the question. I have an AIM account I use specifically for work purposes, and, even then, it's only up in case there's a crisis or an issue I need to help take care of. Please don't demand to know what the SN is. You guys were good last year, so... I totally expect the same this time around.
(3) I try to check my normal email throughout the day: firefly.heart[at]gmail[dot]com. This is probably the best way to get in contact with me if it absolutely, positively, one hundred percent cannot possibly wait until when I leave.
(4) I'll try to update LJ when I can, too, but usually when I come home from EMC at the end of day, I've been sitting in front of a computer the whole time and, by then, I'm pretty much sick of looking at one. So.... no thinking I've died, since chances are pretty good that I'm just absolutely exhausted from dealing with morons. XD



Also, the caf is totally stocking something called Diet Coke Plus. Apparently, it's Diet Coke with vitamins and minerals. @__@ Yeah, I don't know. It's got a bit of a strange aftertaste, but it's not bad. ^-^


Love you all. Gotta get back to work though. ♥

So apparently LiveJournal explained what had been going on the past few days. A little miffed that they didn't tell us sooner (as then maybe they could have stopped a chunk of the communities I'm part of from wide-spread panic), but I'll survive.

........................

Okay, does it bother anybody else that a bunch of people apparently have taken "Hoist the Colours" from PotC: AWE and decided that was going to be their anthem for "surviving the great strikethrough of '07"? WTF, guys... Do you guys need an anthem every time LiveJournal does something? Oi...

So as you all know, I made the venture to Anime North this year. It was lots of fun and while I don't think I'm going to be able to afford to make the venture again any time soon, it was fantastic. Now, the time has come for me to share the pictures of Anime North awesome.


We start off with Thursday... and the hotel room.

Now, we were staying in the Radisson, across the street from the Doubletree (the main convention hotel) and next door to the Toronto Congress Center. And, well, I couldn't resist taking pictures of the room.

( Our room at the Radisson )

So, from there, we went to the Doubletree hotel to get our badges and such. I can honestly say, however, that I missed how easy registration is at AB. At Anime North, I wasn't entirely sure the volunteer staff knew what they were doing (but according to Val, that isn't normal). They made it seem a little confusing, but we did finally get our badges. No pictures of that, though, since I lost it somewhere between the room and the TCC/Dealer's Room on Sunday. @__@

But yes. Moving on to Friday!

( Friday: Con Day #1 )

So, after our dealers room venture, we went to this thing called Nominoichi, which is sort of like an anime fan yard sale. In another hotel. XD There, I totally bought a $2 DVD of the xxxHolic movie (the English subtitles make me laugh) and a copy of a live action series based off of a short manga called Blood Hound. It was quite awesome. But, afterwards, we returned to the hotel room.

( End of Day #1 )

And thus, Saturday rolled around. Things started off earlier (events the day before didn't start until 5pm! So weird!), and the Moonlight Masquerade (formal event!) would be later that night. I can't remember exactly everything we did that day, but I totally took a lot more pictures. XD

( Saturday: Con Day #2 )

And then, that night? Moonlight Masquerade.

( Moonlight Masquerade images )

We returned to our room at about 3am, absolutely exhausted. XD

And then Sunday began! With, you guessed it, another trip to the Dealers Room for me. Val, however, went to the Renaissance Hotel to engage in an ML photoshoot with the other ML cosplayers she met up with the other night. I, meanwhile, went to the Dealers Room once again.

( Sunday: Con Day #3 )

And then, of course, we went to PotC3, but that's another story entirely. XD

So I totally missed some birthdays while I was gone!

HAPPY BELATED BIRTHDAY sifrid AND misteazer!!! I hope your days were absolutely fantastic!

Okay, so! I have made it back to the US safe and sound for those wondering. I, however, am absolutely exhausted.

This weekend was absolutely amazing. It was great meeting everybody!! I'll post up pictures later once I'm not all @___@.

Also, I got to go see Pirates 3. I can say nothing without being OMGSPOILERY, but it was absolutely amazing. Everybody must go see it, like, now.

Mmm... let's see. What else...

OH!

I totally claim LJ amnesty since I was gone for days. Updates on people's lives? Important posts I should know about? Tell me in comments or link me to the appropriate entries.

Now? Now I'm going to take a nap. @__@

My father has a great sense of humor. He took a look a that I have completed of the Death outfit and his first response was "now all you need to do is put your hair in an arc." It took me a moment before I retalliated with: "But, Dad, Centauri women are either bald or just have that one ponytail."

So, yeah... some of you are probably wondering what the costume's for.

Well.... I'm going away to Toronto ungodly early tomorrow morning. I'll be away for the weekend and then I'm coming back Monday afternoon. Why? Well... I'm going up with my father for the hell of it and the visit coincides with Anime North. And so I'm going. >>;; I ♥ you all and I'm planning on taking lots of pictures, don't worry.

So! Today I had to mess wtih a bunch of forms for EMC! Yay! [/sarcasm] See, they had sent me forms on Wednesday to fill out since, well, I have a job with them now, and I was supposed to fill them out and fax a couple pages of it over to the woman in charge of the interns. One of them, however, required me to call her and solidify a start date. I, of course, didn't see these until late Thursday as I was working on other things, so I called her on Friday.

Only for her to be out of the office. -_- Boo. So I called her earlier this afternoon. Fortunately, she was actually there, we solidified my start date, and I was able to go and fax them to her.

.........

Apparently, I'm now at war with technology.

My dad's the one with the fax machine, but he rarely uses it and, therefore, it's never hooked up. So, after I explained to him that I needed it, he hooked it up for me and showed me how to use it properly. Of course, we tried sending it and... we got an error message.

So we think, okay, maybe we entered the phone number in incorrectly and we try it once again. Another error message. We proceeded to wage war on the fax machine in a similar manner for a good fifteen minutes before it actually decided to conceed and allowed me to send the woman in question the forms I needed. Of course, we had no way of knowing if it actually worked, so I called her, explained the situation, and asked her if she could check to see if the forms had been sent to her.

Fortunately, they had.

Satisfied, we unplugged the fax machine and my father and I went out to lunch at about 1:30 or so.

We came back at around 2:30pm and my father resumed his work on my computer. Unfortunately, thus far? It hasn't managed to solve the Media Player issue (we had to defrag it and do a whole number of other tests upon it as it was running as slow as molasses and it was either that or my father punched a hole through my CPU).

He's still not done. Of course.

Kyle (as I believe that was you who suggested the Media Player thing?), we're probably going to give it a shot later. Unless, of course, my father gets insanely frustrated with it and just decides to do a system restore on the whole damn thing. I hope he doesn't. I lose some files that way. @________@


In other news, the cosplay I've been working on is almost done (thank God). I don't have time to make shoe covers, I don't think, so I'm just going to wear the ankle-high heeled boots I have and work with those. I think it should look fine either way. I may start on the embroidery portion tonight. I don't know. The jacket now has cuffs on it, the vest has a nifty velcro closure, and I need to find a way of attaching the false closures (Fimo-based rectangles that will be painted silver [note to self: go to Wal-Mart and buy an other thing of silver paint and glue since you seem to have lost them]) to the vest. Small snaps, probably.

Also, I was bored and made an Utena rose holder out of the leftover Fimo. It's currently being painted with a gold leaf pen. It looks pretty good for a first try. XD I've said in the past that I kind of want to do a Black Rose Wakaba duelist uniform (everyone has always told me that I'm her, anyway), so I might do just that for next year's Anime Boston. I don't know. XD Either way, I have the rose holder now.

I need to get more Fimo and make another one (probably try to make it a tiny bit smaller as, well, this one's pretty big), but I don't think it's too bad for a first try!

Jacket's ALMOST done. Just needs a hem, but I'm second-guessing myself on how even it is. Need to pester Mom on that front later. XD

In addition to my father running his tests, I also noticed how very, VERY odd it is for me not to have some form of sound playing in the background. No music, no TV on, no nothing. Music's more because I don't want to risk running anything while Dad's running his tests and I'm not 100% sure where my iPod is since my room's a disaster area. @__@

.........so. At some point yesterday afternoon (possibly Friday? I can't remember when exactly this was), Windows Media Player decided to crap out on me. Right now? It plays absolutely nothing. I assumed this was because of a codec I had installed, so I uninstalled said codec. Still nothing. Dad and I are running tests on my poor baby, but, thus far, nothing really seems to be working. I'm incredibly bothered by this, as, well, my computer's my baby. No clue what's going on with it.

And since, well, that's the program I play almost everything on, checking MUST be done! We're running every test we can think of, but who knows what'll happen. We might have to do a system restore or something. @__@ I'm not looking forward to that. Mostly because I'm scared I'm going to lose some things if I do that. Which will suck, admittedly.


In other news entirely, my grandfather, for some reason we have yet to figure out, decided he wanted to go to the grocery store.... I think on Thursday? However, en route, he passed out. Let it not be said that the majority of people in New York City are heartless, for some kind soul called an ambulence and stayed with him until it arrived. Apparently, he's fine though. Just some bruising. The hospital, of course, kept him around for monitoring purposes, but other than that, according to my aunt and my uncle, he seems perfectly fine. Mom went up to New York this afternoon to spend some time with them. I'm hoping she can talk some sense into my aunt and uncle since, well, they're letting the situation with my grandfather and my grandmother (separate situations, but equally a major handful in their own right) completely cause them to go a little crazy.

I just hope it doesn't turn into a blowout fight. @___@




OH! And people on my flist who have permanent accounts (I know at least one of you does), I have a question for you guys: is it worth it in the long run?