Oh. My. Lord.

I can't believe I haven't posted this yet. It's been over a week since I went there, and abshnfsd. See, this is how much I neglect LJ orz.

Anywaaays.

Last Saturday (July 10th) I went to Chibicon with my best friends Amber (no lj) and saphitri. It was the first time I've ever been to a con, and boy, was it fun. We left at about... 7:30AM-ish, because the con started at 10AM and we had to go there by train and bus and whatnot. When we arrived in Utrecht, a major city where we had to change trains, we already saw hordes of cosplayers. I got so excited just looking at them! There were about a BAZILLION Vampire Knight outfits and of course, possibly even more Naruto ones, but we spotted some originals and some amazing cosplays already. One of them was Mirror's Edge's Faith, she looked awesome!

Buut anyway. Finally arriving at the scene by bus, there was a line that was like... Jesus, a mile long or something. Luckily, things went quite fast once the doors opened and we were in before we knew it. I squeed my head off at all the amazing cosplays I saw while we were waiting outside already, haha.

Once inside, we were a little confused at first because we didn't know which room held what and where we were supposed to go and all that jazz, but we decided to check out the Dealer Room first. We spend about 90% of the day there, anyway, ahaha. I didn't actually buy that much, while I had been expecting to, but we took some pictures of some awesome, awesome cosplays.

Okay, I'm rambling about cosplays so much, I might as well tell you what treasures we spotted:

Final Fantasy: Lightning, Snow x2, Summoner Yuna x4, Thief Rikku, Tifa x2, Kefka, Tonberry, friggin' STYRIA (dark Shiva sister XD), Gunner Yuna x2
Kingdom Hearts: Riku, Sora x2 I believe, a cute Kairi, one Xion, one Roxas and I believe I even saw Marluxia and Larxene. Omgwtfbbq!
Other games: There was a shitload of Vocaloid cosplay including some pretty good ones, Umbreon & Espeon (!!! <333), Skitty, some Pikachus, some Trainers (incl. Dawn, I think), two Marios, Midna (non-human form) and an awesome Dante. There were also quite a few World of Warcraft cosplayers.
Anime: Most of the things we saw were anime, but the people I took pictures off were from Chobits, Lucy from Elfen Lied, Meer Campbell from Gundam (which I only know was her because a friend pointed it out; I just took her picture because she looked really pretty), and... um... I forgot OTL. OH RIGHT, I also spotted willeke4439 cosplayed as someone from Prince of Tennis. Can't remember who, sorry Willeke!

I... do have pictures, but they almost all include me. And as you know I'm incredibly shy and even reluctant about posting pictures of me on teh interwebz. I can give you some links to sites which have pictures, or send the ones I took with myself cropped out, if you want me to though. Don't hesitate to ask.

I'm going to contradict myself and ask you guys WHO ARE THESE PEOPLE:

The one on the right is Skitty, but I'm curious about the one on the left. When I first saw her I was like OMG CRISIS CORE TIFA until I looked closely, haha XD

And this one:

I saw them walk by a hundred times until I was like "Alright, that's it, gimme that camera, I'm going to take their picture and ask others who they are" XDD. Why yes, I am a dork.


What next? There was an awesome cosplay show from which I missed half because when we wanted to enter the hall, some guy stopped us and sent us back because our bags were too big. WTF. And Shiva was on stage! Don't interrupt me when I'm fangirling, you fool! XD So we had to dump our bags in a locker and when we returned, we had missed the acts, so I was pretty pissed. But oh well. We had something to eat, not much because there was no decent food. There were noodles and stuff but it was... about 90 degrees or something, so I didn't exactly feel like eating something hot :') At the end of the day all I had eaten was some Pocky and some ice cream. XD

All in all, despite the heat and despite missing the Shiva act, I had so much fun. I purchased Earthian vol. 1, some buttons and a Lenne phonestrap (weeee!), I wish I had bought more but ah well. I wouldn't know what else I should have bought XD There was a Crisis Core Cloud action figure which I would have liked, but I could have gotten that in a gamestore for about... 10 euros less or something. All in good time, I should say, haha.

So now my best friends and I are seriously considering cosplaying. Sav wants to do Vanille and Amber wants to cosplay Lightning, so (and not just because of that) I would love to cosplay either Yun Fang or Serah. I'd have to lose a gazillion pounds first, but still. I'd love it. So a question for you cosplayers out there (and especially you, rainbowserenity  XDD): Is Fang or Serah a good starter? Or would you recommend starting with an easier cosplay first? I thought Fang is a little tricky, maybe, but Serah isn't that bad, right? Well, let me know. Any other tips concering cosplay are very welcome as well!

Without further ado, here's a link to a forum which has links to a lot of pictures. Now, the forum is Dutch, but the links are all red and easily recognizable I think:

Clicky here!

Over and out!
x LG

It doesn't really bother me that Spain got the title.

That is, if they had deserved it. They played good and everything... But the ref was so friggin' biased.

Spain's goal was totally offside.

Welp, congratulations Spain, I guess.

Now if you'll excuse me, I have to form a complot against this ref. Which would be better, gasoline and a torch or a well aimed sharp rock?

Once again, a month passes by without me bothering to post. Well, I have spent about three out of those four weeks studying and worrying about whether or not I would get my first year degree, but I pulled it off! I couldn't be happier! The only subject I was worried about was Modern Japanese History, for which I got a shameful 34/100, but three weeks of studying pulled off because I passed the resit with a staggering 80/100. I never would have expected that, and I'm so glad! I immediately enrolled myself for the second year and I applied for the position of mentor to the new first years. On top of that, I finally got a new job and right now I'm pretty much home alone - well, my sister's home until the 16th, but she works around the clock, so I feel like a houswive, heehee.

As you can see, I haven't been sitting still!

But now, I finally have time for some relaxation. I started reading again and finished The Book Thief by Markus Zusak, a book I can recommend to absolutely everyone, and I finally, finally started on Final Fantasy VII. And it's pulling me in like I never had expected. When the Plate came down on Sector 7 I was absolutely shocked! I just sat gaping at my screen with this face: D= (And of course, my mom chooses moments like that to walk into the room, resulting in me pointing at the screen and babbling and her replying something along the lines of "That's nice dear, will you walk the dog later?" XD). I'll probably ramble about FF7 more as I progress. If anyone's wondering at what point of the game I am, I just got Vincent and am about to climb Mt. Nibel.


Just thought I'd write a little Life Update. How are all of you guys doing? I've been neglecting not only my own, but your LJs as well. Hope you're all doing alright.

Note to self: Stop neglecting LJ.

That's all for now, over and out.

That's right! Today is my eighteenth birthday!

I can now buy and drink strong liquor, get my driver's license, enter casinos and coffeeshops, etcetera, etcetera. In America I'd still have a few years to go, but we're all crazy here, so here I can do anything I want now, haha.

But the best thing is...

NO MORE DIVING AROUND THE LJ MATURE CONTENT FILTERS (or the dA ones for that matter)

TAKE THAT, LJ. TAKE THAT.

Alright alright alright XD

Happy mother's day everyone, especially all you mothers out there.

In honour of our moms, have an AMV. It's a rather personal one, but I figured I'd show it anyway. Watch it on YouTube for description etc.!:

I saw Xenobia's Darkness Before Dawn was deleted :( Now I haz a sad.

So if anyone knows if it's still there somewhere... Let me know?

I'm still on time! The day isn't over yet! ...Okay, I fail. There's some pictures in this entry, but I think it's not as big as the Sinterklaas one since there is less elaboration necessary. ...At least, I think so. Ask away if anything seems unclear, though!
Also, this entry is very orange. Heh heh heh.

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Hello boys and girls, it's time to take another whiff of Dutch culture! Today's lesson:

Koninginnedag / Queen's Day

What is Queen's Day?
Queen's Day, or Koninginnedag, is the birthday of the late Queen Juliana. In fact, Queen's Day used to be on August 31, for that was the birthday of Queen Wilhelmina, Juliana's mother. Nowadays, it is celebrated on April 30th, even though our current queen's birthday is in January. My guess is that the day had become such a tradition it would be too much trouble to move the day again. Besides, it doesn't really matter. A party is a party.

What does one do on this day?
There are several activies one can indulge in, and of course there is something for everyone. For the little ones, there are always games. Every town usually has one or two places, usually places like the town square, where small games and activies are organized. The games are usually old-fashioned Dutch games, such as spijkerpoepen ("pooping nails"), a sack race, carrying potatoes on a spoon without letting it fall, things like that. Bouncy castles and the like are popular as well. Almost all children like to get their faces painted, and some make their own hats from orange paper (sometimes in school).
 

 

Flea markets
Now this is my favorite part. All over the country, in pretty much every town, there are flea markets. As John Fealey (see below) so brilliantly put it, we "go into our house and collect shit". And then, we sell that shit. I don't think I should elaborate too much, since I think everyone knows how a flea market works.



Festivities / Koninginnenacht (Queen's Night)
And this would be the favorite part of any normal person my age, haha. Koninginnedag consists of parties, parties, and more parties. All over the country, particularly in big cities such as Amsterdam, Rotterdam, and The Hague, there are festivals. Famous radio stations such as 3FM and 538 tend to organize concerts with popular artists, which usually attracts crowds of thousands. Imagine: thousands of people, usually aged 15 - 35, all dressed in orange. If you've ever seen Dutch soccer-supporters... well, it looks the same.


There is also Koninginnenacht, or Queen's Night, which is tonight. Basically, people go clubbing just like every other weekend. Except they now have an excuse to booze even more, haha. So it's really just a continuation of the festivities of the day. Any questions?

Yeah, okay, so... wait. Where does the Queen fit in in all of this?!
Oh. Right. Well, every year, the Queen, together with most of the Royal Family, visits a city somewhere in Holland. It's a different city every year. There, they just walk around and wave, and occassionally they indulge in the activities as well. I just saw Prince Bernard and Prince Floris throwing rubber ducks. I'm not even kidding.
Needless to say, when a city is chosen, they are very proud and spend quite some time preparing for the Queen's arrival.

What's with all the orange?
I doubt this explanation is even necessary, but the Dutch national color is orange. The Royal Family are called de Oranjes (the Oranges, and not in the fruit way). Think Willem van Oranje. That should ring a bell, right? Right.
Either way, we exploit this color shamelessly. Like I said, if you've ever seen our football-supporters... We wrap ourselves in orange clothing and/or don ourselves with all kinds of crazy decorations. Not just scarves, shirts, banners... anything's possible. Wigs, crowns, tiara's, horns, bells, noses, giant squeaky hammers, liontails (or anything with a lion; it is the symbol of the Netherlands. Just google 'dutch lion' or something, haha)... The most popular thing would be the hats. We have some pretty crazy hats, the most popular of which would be the inflatable orange crown as seen in the photo at the top of this post.
Heineken has designed some pretty weird shit as well... Just look at this one. Or this one. Or this one, which isn't a hat, but a popular accessory all the same.

Also, special for this occassion, we make our pastry orange as well. ...Well, one in particular. The tom pouce, more commonly spelled tompoes. While it's normally pink on top, on Koninginnedag, they are orange. They are very, very tasty <3


Aaaand that's it! I hope I didn't forget anything! If you have any questions don't hesitate to ask. Oh, and do excuse any typos I might have made. I just returned from Amstelveen two hours ago while I got out of bed at... 6:30 AM, or something, to get there in time, haha. And I'm also too lazy to check xD

Happy Queen's Day, everyone! I now leave you with this brilliant sketch;

Copypaste from my DevArt account, minor changes:

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Stole this from Ziggy (=LagunaNoJutsu)! I followed her example of only doing 5 drabble request instead of ten, because... well, you know how I get with these.

Here we go!

Drabble Request Meme

The first 5 people who comment on this journal will get one free ficlet/drabble dedicated/gifted to them from me!

In return, you must offer 5 free ficlets/drabbles in your own journal. If you've already done this meme, simply link the journal entry in your comment... You still qualify.

I will not write your request until I see this in your journal.

However, if you don't have the ability to write, or doing another meme similar to this already, just let me know. I know a few people on my flist don't write, but it's okay, just tell me. (You could for instance draw something instead, or if I absolutely ADORE your prompt I might even just do it, let me know).

These will most likely be extremely short, unless I get a bout of inspiration all of a sudden. My 'normal' ficlets are hardly over a thousand words, so yeah.

Don't forget the 'magic word'! Remember, this is FREE.

Fandoms I will write for:
Compilation of Final Fantasy VII _{(this is my main fandom, so I'm at my best here)}
Final Fantasy X
Final Fantasy X-2
Kingdom Hearts
And fandoms I usually don't write for, but am willing to give a try: The Time Traveler's Wife, Memoirs of a Geisha, Dead Fantasy, Gravitation, Loveless, Lord of the Rings, Harry Potter, Ai no Kusabi, eh...

However, if you would like something from another fandom, don't hesitate to ask! I'll see if I know the fandom/if I know it well enough to write something about.

I will pretty much try to write anything, any genre, any pairing, etcetera. I'm not very good at everything but I'm very willing to try. I won't do self-inserts though, but I should think that speaks for itself.

Also: If you're not one of the first five, you can still request something. It might intrigue me, or even if it doesn't, I might still give it a try. I really want to practice my writing and get back into it

 

I hope I won't disappoint! Let's hope I can pull this off!

1. LagunaNoJutsu / Ziggy Pasta. Prompt: Cloud doing laundry, getting embarassed over Marlene's underwear and hot and bothered because of Tifa's underwear.
2. albedosreqium. Prompt: Tseng&Cloud somewhere after the Modeoheim mission OR Reno has to walk Dark Nation and it turns ugly, leaving Rufus to deal with it.
3.
4.
5.
(6, 7, 8......?)

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So there you have it! You can ask me everything, but I can't promise you anything. I'm at my best with humor, and you all pretty much know what fandoms and pairings I write best for, but like I said: I'm willing to try.

Also, I love Monty Oum:



xx!

I've been editing videos like crazy! Last time I edited this much in this amount of time was... years ago? Anyway, here they are! Oh, it might be good to watch them on YouTube instead of here, so you can read the video description:





I just couldn't... not do it. The Nanny is the most awesome sitcom ever. Even if it has been on the telly at least fifty times already. But come on, Niles never bores.



Hate the song, but loved editing this. And face it, Tifa is hot and kicks ass. She's one scary lady, really.


And last but certainly not least: a little promo for the awesome fanfic Malady by the amazing Ziggy Pasta. Nothing much, but I lovelovelove the fic and I needed to edit some Clack really, really bad:




And that was it!

Hope you guys enjoy, feedback appreciated! Also, I deleted nearly all my icons and replaced them with new ones (FF13 omg), so if you suddenly see my default icon everywhere, well, that's why xD

Oh, before I forget! As you all know I assume, I'm Dutch. I wanted to ask you if there is any way you can tell my mother tongue isn't English. It can just be little things, even if I just use a certain word a whole lot. Be it in my blog entries, comments, fanfics, anything. I'd like to know that, I don't know why xD

You are expensive.

But I want you.


How in the devil's name does a store manage to release a game three days before the actual release date? I don't know, but my friend Amber had pre-ordered FF13 and was told she could come pick it up last Friday. So naturally, I stalked her this Saturday and played through the first hour of the game.

1) Lightning really is the female version of Cloud. As in, really.
2) Vanille is adorable and can't keep her hands off of Hope.
3) Snow is... Well, I don't know. He seemed all right, but he's OBSESSED with Serah already, so hmm...
4) Hope is hopelessly moe but adorable either way.
5) Minor characters are still awesome <3
6) Sazh is freakin' hilarious. I love him already. But his movements are really, really awkward and weird. Then again how can you not love a guy who has a Chocobo living in his hair?

*searches between pillows of couch for money*

T__T