Okay, so I have a confession to make.

Ever since watching Marvel's The Avengers, I duly came to realize that I've been missing out on a large chunk of geekdom in my life, which is: the geekdom of comic books. "The Avengers" opened a world to me which I knew would be vast, interesting, complicated, and perhaps more endearing than I have imagined. In all those years, I've seen fellow geek friends succumb to the power of the comic book. While I do own a couple, such as "V for Vendetta" and "Watchmen," I have never really considered myself an enthusiast... until I felt the tingle of slowly becoming one eventually.

I think it's both a good thing and a bad thing. xD

You see, I've entered this phase when I stop spending on make-up, clothes, and shoes--which is good--only to bring my attention to something else--which is, well, entirely geek stuff.

I've foregone some skin care purchases because of this:

"The Ultimates," written by Mark Millar

I've sworn that I'd be in a spending ban after that motherfudger, and so far so good: no major purchases since then, and I believe that the effort is worth it, since I enjoyed my new paperback immensely.

And that is when I knew that I wanted MOARRR.

So I decided to attend Fully Book's Free Comic Book Day on May 19, 2012 at their Bonifacio High Street branch (yes, the one with the four--well, five with the basement--floors of awesome). Of course, I also made sure to attend with friends who were more adept in this new field that I am dabbling into. Nick or Pinoyavenger was there, and so was Mark, and the Justice PH, who came in full costume--pure coolness.

The 9:30AM line

When the line started to move in front of Fully Booked.

I was told that people start falling in line a couple of hours before the shop opens during Free Comic Book Day, and Fully Booked was no exception. Nick and I were there at around 9AM and there already was a line outside the doors about three shops long. In less than an hour, the line grew long enough to span nearly a mile (I may be exaggerating but hey! It's my first Free Comic Book Day ever and these novel things bring wonder to my eyes). The little kid inside me grew giddy. I was thinking: what people would do for free comics; what people would do to celebrate something they love, however small it was. 

The poster

Nick and I (and the line behind us)

As our turn came, I went about consulting Nick and Mark repeatedly on recommendations of comics, both from the free comic book pile, and from those on sale. I eyed a couple of comic book compilations on The Hulk (I have The Hulk/Dr. Bruce Banner FEELS, you see. :P) from the sale (50% off!!!!!) and toted them around for a while, making up my mind, until I decided to save up instead for more geek things I had in mind (also comic book related... somewhat ^^;). The force of comic books in me isn't that strong yet, but the interest surely remained. Mark offered to lend me "Planet Hulk," and of course I accepted; before investing myself thoroughly into this geekdom, I must do more than dip my toes and dive in, with the help of friends, of course. ^_^;;;

The Justice PH :D

Pickin' out some comics at the comics desk

By brunch time, Nick and I decided to have some waffles and pancakes, and soon, Mark joined in after retrieving a free donut from Krispy Kreme. And then a slew of comic-book (and "Avengers" film)-related conversations began. The names and timelines they dropped were both foreign and candy to my ears. They didn't leave me out of the conversation as they enlightened me as they went, while I asked a question or two. It dawned upon me again that I HAVE BEEN MISSING OUT. Dang, girl! You could've had some grand times with past Free Comic Book Days. Oh well, better late then never ever, I suppose!

What I got (behind are prints illustrated by comic book artist Andrew Villar :) )

I haven't had a kikay post in a long time, but I've initially planned for my blog to cater to various audiences and be about various topics and shenanigans, and since I've been in a geeking mood as of late, WELL HERE IT IS.

And besides...

(I just needed an excuse to include a tantrum-y Loki here.)

So... any of you guys have been on Free Comic Book Days for this year and the past years since its inception? :D


LURVE,

So what are these "anime and hobby conventions," and why do people go to such events?

Well, people have their own, various reasons, but one thing's for sure: we go there to dress up and just plain have fun. :P

And what do we mean by "dress up?"

YES, it's called "cosplay." The term "cosplay" has definitions which people debate on and have evolved overtime, but simply put, it's short for "costume play:" wherein a person dresses up as a fictional character from television, films, books, and comic books and ACTS OUT the character. YOU ARE THE CHARACTER. It sounds pretty freaky to the layman, but as we keep on saying amongst ourselves: one may never know the joys of cosplay until he or she tries it... because it's worth trying at least once in your life. ~.^

BUT this entry isn't solely about cosplay. It's about an event called "The Philippine Cosplay Convention," running in its fifth year and was held on March 3, 2012 in Robinson's Place Manila Midtown Atrium. Yes, I know this is a super late post. xD

So we've been teased with this poster weeks before the event:

The event teaser poster taken from Cosplay.ph.

What's cool about PCC is that their IS NO ENTRANCE FEE. This was actually the first time I've attended PCC, but my chaps here seem to have attended for a while now:

Yes, that's 2 girls dressing up as 2 guys... with a hawt schoolgirl teehee

A couple of friends decided to dress up as characters from Kuroshitsuji, also known as "Black Butler" in its English dub. Ayn was Ciel Phantomhive, while Stacy was Grell Sutcliff. Caroline was simply dressed up as a hot schoolgirl (she will deny the "hot" part, but don't believe her xD). I... well, you will see. :P

Since entrance was free, the place was simply packed. However, since the mall was basically open to costumed people especially when they needed refreshment and had to go on food and bathroom breaks, the crowd remained manageable and there was still enough space to breathe. Another plus for this event and the venue. :D

Taken from the 4th floor ^^

Now... let's take a look at some of the cool cosplays we've encountered at the convention:

A ZOIDS MECHA! One complicated costume

Marky, one adorable, talented cosplayer, dressed up as Bon Clay from One Piece

This is also the place where your childhood comes to life.

SHAIDER! Galaxy police

Also, we meet more cosplay friends and acquaintances, like these guys from the famous Tuxedo Team:

The girls were joining the festivities at the venue

I also think that one of the fun parts of being in costume is when you go out and eat and do some of the stuff you do normally... but as the character you're cosplaying. xD Here, Grell is picking on Ciel in the absence of Ciel's butler, Sebastian :P :

Grell!!! BEhAVE! :P

And as for me, well... the usual. :P I'm still on my way of reaching my ideal weight since I gained a LOT, so in the meantime, I've been dressing up as a pirate lass. ^^; For this event, I specifically went as a gypsy pirate princess. Because every little girl wants to be a princess

Who goes there??? >:3

The venue also had booths that sold toys and other cosplay-related goodies. :D It is, after all, a cosplay compendium event. ^^ Of course, I HAD TO take a photo of THIS:

ThunderCats, HOOOOO!!!

At the end of the day, we had tired feet, but were all smiles. :) 10,000,000 photos later (well not really, but all of us were trigger happy as much as we can with our cameras while distracted by so many stuff), we remembered to take a group shot photo of ourselves. xD

With Celeste who came as an ordinary h00man hehe

People who are keen to judge may be inclined to think that we'ere too old for such things, and should just stick to what one calls "reality." We try not to let those kinds of people bust our bubble, since we still try our best to live our lives and all other responsibilities that come with it. :) Cosplay events add more rays of sunshine into our lives, and we relish every minute of it, in spite of what other people may think. ^^;;;

As I said, being in costume and attending such events is worth a try... even at least once in your lifetime.

LURVE,

Aha! So this is the first time I'm using my labeling system and I'm already doing a double-label. :P Well, if I just write about the mini haul, it'll be an awfully short post (a mini post for a mini haul... though not bad for those with ADHD hahaha I kid, I kid!! ^_^;;;). 


I sort of have this goal of saving up more this year, so I try (yes, it's the magic word) to limit my spending as much as possible. Therefore, I'm giving myself the illusion that if I do small hauls at a time, it won't feel that I'm spending a lot.... :P

u've got 2 b kiddin meh

Enough rambling! On with the bits I got for the past week:

Nature Republic, which is one of the Korean cosmetics brands quickly becoming popular in the country, opened a branch in Festival Mall in the latter months of last year, and I only got to finally drop by the place now. AND it's because I didn't even know that there was a Nature Republic in Festival Mall... until I visited their Facebook fan page, and kikaytrekkie mentioned it in passing in one of her blogs.

So I go in, browse through the stuff, but at that moment a few piqued my interest... see, I was shutting my mind down a bit from the temptation of dishing out some dough for pretty things (but was still taking down some mental notes of their products which I'd like to try someday). The nice SA guided me through the store, asking what my skin type was, etc. I was settled on telling her that I'll be back someday since it's my first time in the store and only wanted a look-see, and was about to glide out of the doorway when a curious little thing caught my eye... it was hanging among the "accessories" section:

Yyyeaaah. It's a tiny face scrubber thingie (what a profound description!) which slips into the three middle digits of your hand quite snugly, and has the texture of a face towel, basically. I'll do a review on that soon... I just about used it twice. ^_^

Anyway, here's the rest of my mini-haul, which consists of two items from Lush:

The "soap" I got is actually a shampoo bar (disc?), and the little tin with the pink label below it is lip tint.

I do get a lot of tips from kikaytrekkie, and the shampoo bar was one of her tried and tested recommendations. It didn't have a name when I picked it up at the Lush store from Alabang Town Center, but I believe it's called "Stimulating Spice Shampoo Bar." And IT SMELLS SO DARN GOOD. IT SMELLS OF CINNAMON OH LOVE LOVE. Rather reminded me of Christmas, it did. I hope the nice lady at the store didn't feel all weirded out as I kept sniffing on a bar of this and getting high.

Next:

I actually had a purpose of going to Lush that day, and it was so see if they still had any of that much-raved about Snow Fairy Shower Gel lying around... only to find out that it quickly sold out even days before Christmas. Dang, I'd have to wait till next Christmas again since those things are seasonal. Fortunately, the lip tint from the same line was still available, and at half-off price at that, so I ended up getting it anyway, if only to fill that Snow Fairy Shower Gel-shaped hole in my heart in vain.

I s'pose I'll do a review of my Lush haul when I can. :)

AND THEN SUDDENLY....

TOYS!!!

My aunt was sorting out a room full of old toys since my dad will be visiting from overseas this weekend (and for the rest of February ^_^). In the process, she unearthed some artifacts of my childhood... MY PLAY-DOH SETS.

Ah, they bring such memories. Play-Doh was definitely one of my favorite toys as a child, and among one of the last toys I "gave up" as I grew older.

Yes, you saw that, all right. TMNT. :) Not by Play-Doh, though...

And "The Little Mermaid," this time by another brand, "Super Dough."

Ah, reminiscing those lovely times of yore.

Ahem.

I'm sure a lot of ya'll out there have a toy or two that remind you a lot about the good times of your littlest youth. :P

Well, that be all for now. I gotta return to work and make more moolah to feed the need for shiny objects (huh?).


 Lurve,


LadyRaggedyCat

Well, took me a while to return to "updating" again! :P And why yes, apart from having a blog post backlog from LAST YEAR, I do have a list of topics to tackle in future posts.

Procrastinating Kitteh Is Procrastinating. AWWWW YEAH.

Also, I'm a little bit more resolute now in changing the abomination of a photo reflected from my last post (yes, the Zombie hand jutting from the bowels of the earth) which has been in kikaytrekkie's right-hand bar where she lists down the blogs she recommends to he readers (thanks again for that, girl! ^_^) for a whole THREE MONTHS. 

BUT before anything else:

It's this time of year when people decide that what they've resolved to do last year needs to be resolved (again) for good this year. :P For instance, I have a couple of resolutions from last year which I'd carry on and carry over to this year, and a couple of new ones, too. To share, and to hopefully get support from fellow bloggers out there with just about the same goals, here are: 

LE RESOLUTIONS FOR 2012:

1.) Reach my ideal weight. It won't be just about hitting the gym... In fact, I can do my workouts at home with the very manual equipment I have now... I just need the *surprise* RESOLVE and motivation. ^^; Also, it's about eating more healthily, and if possible, return to my all-vegetarian diet. Most importantly, it's about getting the discipline to get off my butt, fight the excuses, and actually do those reps and dance workouts. Also, I'm just about into the whole Zumba thing right now. It's quite fun if my glum days haven't killed the fun out of it. BAHAHA.

2.) Blog regularly. I do hope that you guys will be getting more from this ol' blog of mine, and know more about the different stuff that catch my fancy and interest which, I hope, would catch yours too. :) I've been following some friends' blogs and are quite awed and a tad envious of how they're so dedicated to churning out something new for their readers. For me personally, it doesn't matter if I put something new up every week, bi-weekly, or even everyday... my blog just needs to have enough substance by the time half the year is over. CHALLENGE ACCEPTED. :))

3.) Get new perspectives on life. NOW this is deep and very abstract... but that's how I can put it right now. xD I realized that I've been in a rut for the past couple of years figuring out my potential and priorities and all that emotional, mental, and existential shiz. I do believe that I have a lot of potential; I just don't have enough confidence to get out there and nail it. I've nailed a few things here and there, but not the big stuff. I think it's really time for the big stuff. Time for that little Bilbo journey. ^^;;;

Zany hipster Uncle Bilbo from "The Broship of the Ring"... O_o

I have a few more resolutions... but they seem more of "wishes" than resolutions (I've read that there is a definite difference between the two. :P). In any case, I'm putting my top 3 resolutions out there for the world to see. There's no turning back now. *face of determination........*

I'll leave the post at that for now, since I talk too much when writing my thoughts down and long post might end up being longer. :P 

Have a nice week ahead, luvs! Here's to a more epic 2012... and may the world not end just because the Mayan calendar said so (of course I'm joking here, kinda). 

Lurve,





*Le Credits: Zany Uncle Bilbo is courtesy of GingerHaze's Tumblr Page. Fun fun site with a lot of her scribbles, doodles, 'n stuff. ^_^