Manda DS scrapbook » BJD

Stupid Computer…

Manda — Sun, 08 Feb 2009 03:02:52 +0000

So the computer decided to die on me about 2 weeks ago. Screen went out and nothing else happened when it was turned on. Lucky for me it was still under warrenty so we just had to send it in and get it fixed. Good news is the new screen looks much sharper then the old one. Bad news the hard drive had to be wiped, there was also an issue with the motherboard that effed up the hard drive. I have about 95% of all my important stuff backed up on my external…. with the exception of the work I had been doing these past 2 months. Now it’s all gone and I have a lot of catching up to do T-T.

My wordpress theme I was working on is all gone… I have to start over! I think I’ll be putting that project off for now out of sheer frustration. I got a lot accomplished for DS (omg yes we’re still gonna put it back up) that I have to start a lot over for. Lucky I did upload a good portion of the work I did so it’s not too horrible. I caught up a lot more so far this weekend. Really just have to build up all the pages and we can finally open the site back up. Just a few glitches… like for some reason when users login pages don’t display… but it does for Admins and guests not logged in. I thought maybe it had to do with the phpbb permissions affecting the site… but makes no sense since guest that have no permissions are able to view pages and users that have standard permissions cannot. So I’m guessing it’s something with our authorization coding… which Kai wrote up… and he is also lacking a computer right now so it’ll have to wait XD. Other than that everything is going very nicely. I found a great AJAX based rating script I’d like to use… but I still need to figure out how to integrate it into saving rated data into a database. I’m new with AJAX so it’s confusing. Forced me to install prototype and scriptolicious which just happen to be amazing in what they can accomplish with Javascripts and AJAX. I highly recommend everyone look into it.

So for fun there is a viewable page up for DS: http://deadeyes-star.com/gakujin
Links to nothing else at the moment and we have a temporary test database up just to see if things work. Diru is the only band with some information… they always seem to be our test band XD. I’m hoping this week to update our new databases with past information since everything on the site links together it’s hard to put up and complete everything with out the band database with the band id’s up.

More fun news, a friend of mine has recently discovered the amazing world of Asian BJD’s. She does independent video production and with her new found facination wants to create like a mini BJD documentry. I have a few friends she’d like to do interviews on and next month she’s planning to drag the video exquipment up into Manhattan to attend a doll meet. Seems like a fun project to be involved in. Still not sure yet if I want to actually be on film though… I mean I only have one doll so I don’t seem like much of a fanatic. Deep down I am, I’m just poor XD…. ROFL also I get to pick songs for background music XD. Not sure quite what goes with dolls :/ lots of Jrock of some sort though.

BJD fun

Manda — Sat, 31 Mar 2007 01:53:12 +0000

I am…completely exhausted T-T. Very busy couple of days I guess. Now where to start…
Umm…ok so on Tuesday Liz and I went to the meeting with our international advisor. Nothing major, she just needed to know about our flight plans and to give us information about insurance and all that. She seemed more enthusiastic about my camera then me XD. She kind of snatched it out of my hands and started clicking away, was funny as hell really XD. I know KCP and all the international programs are always quite excited about their students photographing stuff. She also got to see Harumi again and Natsuo for the first time. I swear if she ends up buying on of those dolls I’ll laugh my ass off. She could come to meetings with us XDD! Wonderful little bit of knowledge though, KCP no longer requires 1 semester of Japanese to go in to the program….so why is this good news? I might be able to talk Joe into doing it with me next year *evil laughter* and possibly Andrew and Jess. They actually planned on doing a different program through their schools but cancled at the last minute because of the RA thing. KCP is still the win for Japanese study abroad though .
So anyway, after and interesting meeting we took the boys around campus and did some photographing…I’m sure we looked odd. Was so much fun though ^^. And gave me a chance to use Camera-chan <3. Lots of wonderful pictures came out of it ^^....though I'm far too lazy to post them all up in the doll gallery at the moment....so here's a bunch of links:

[ Link Link Link Link Link Link ]

Such sick doll obsession….and the crazy will only increase with each doll T-T. *sigh* ah well, I have no other hobbies that cost money, might as well waste it all on dolls XD.

Sooo then yesterday I spent most of the day studying and folding more clothes…very boring day. Not even worth talking about.

Today I went to some “self discovery” career thingy where they give you an assessment test to determine what careers your most suited for…no surprise Liz and I got the same things. Was rather interesting though.
After that I made Joe stop off at the drug store so I could pick up diet stuff. Yes I’ve finally resorted to pills and crap to help lose all the effen weight I gained. Metabolism boosters, appetite suppressants, vitamins, and protein bars. w00t. I am quite determined to get back down to 98lbs. according to the weight chart its actually a normal weight considering my height and smal build. Screw all the doctors who said I should be 115. I’ve been there….and it was fat, not healthy. I’ve only got like 8 lbs. to go and I’m in the clear. Hopefully I’ll lose more. I will fit my ass into a pair of H. naoto pants if it’s the last thing I do!

Umm….oh, also updated the “Random” gallery with stupid pictures of me being a retard and my room. I thought I should document it while it’s still sort of clean….plus I really just wanted to use Camera-chan XD.

Camera of Doom

Manda — Tue, 27 Mar 2007 01:48:40 +0000

OMFG…I got my camera today! Much earlier then expected ^^. I was quite afraid of being disappointed with my $600 purchase…but I’m more then happy! I spent most of the day taking pictures of random crap around Joe’s house ( it being laundry day). I’m pretty sure I’ll be hugging a lot of the automatic features for now and later on I’ll go messing with the custom stuff ^^. Sooo being that I’ve never stated it, I got a Nikon D40. I must have read over the review on dpreview.com like a million times before I decided to get it. My favorite feature….SHUTTER SPEED OPTIONS AND MANUAL FOCUS! w00t no more crappy point and shoot <3. So once I got home I of course tested out it's true capabilities on Harumi XD. He was my little model/camera whore this evening. Sample Pictures:

Believe it or not those were shot in extremely low light and me being a spaz with a shakey hand…Yay ^^! Pictures that don’t suck! I seriously want to photograph everything now o_o. At least this gives me modivation to finish up that last Yukata for Natsuo so Liz and I can have our little traditional photoshoot with the boys. *clicky clicky*

*sigh* so um, besides that…I’ve been doing nothing XD. Kind of trying to get stuff in order. Less then two weeks now o_O. I did yet another major room renovation today so hopefully it’ll stay that way till I leave XD. Also started checking off stuff to pack….what an adventure that’ll be.

Tomorrow Liz and I have the appointment with our International Advisor to finalize everything with the flight plans…and I still have to go yell at the school some more for messing up my billing T-T.
Thursday Joe and I are supposedly going on a dinner cruise that he’s owed me since Valentines day…but the cruise ship effed up our plans and have been giving us trouble ever since. At this point I think I’d rather him just get a refund and we’ll go blow $200 in Manhattan for a day. I guess we’ll see how that goes.

Dollmeet

Manda — Mon, 12 Mar 2007 01:44:48 +0000

Urgh, finally I’m not dying of over tired so I can update this damn thing XD. Lets see…
On Friday Joe took Liz and I over to the school. It was kind of hell because I decided to just not go to sleep that night….so I was kind of dead all day. Finished paying off tuition though^^, well I still owe like $60 but I doubt they’ll be like “OMG we want our $60 NOW or we kill you!”, I’ll probably hand that in this week being that I’ll have to go back up anyway. We also scheduled a meeting with our international advisor to discuss our flight plans and some last minute stuff before leaving. Its kind of hard to believe theres nothing left to do for this trip but sit here and wait till I can at least start packing stuff….and then once everything is packed I just wait some more o_O. Luckely I’ve calmed down with the whole Japan thing…I’m saving it for the plane trip bwahahahaha.
So on friday night I passed out at like 7pm XD…only to wake up at 2 am the next morning. Lol I really can’t win. I left my house at like 10 and met Liz on the train for the Doll meeting in Manhattan. We almost didn’t find the place…it was stuck behind a building where you couldn’t see it. We got there probably at like 12. A lot more people went then I was expecting o_o. And OMG I want like 5 dolls now T-T. It was definitely a good opportunity to see what different dolls look like in person…I’m currently hooked on getting a DOD Ducan as my first SD sized doll T-T… but for a $700 doll I’m really going to have to wait XD. Liz and I are probably going to split the Too&Bee-A once we get back from Japan…its only like $250 a person including makeup, a wig, shipping etc…and I already bought my cute little girl and outfit XD. So I’m all set as far as that goes…just needs shoes…but she could steal Harumi’s till she gets her own…and damn it I really want a Ducan now T-T. I guess its a trade off…the girl who bought the Ducan wants an Ivan now after seeing Liz’s XD…and like everyone wants and Ivan&Kirill set after seeing ours. Dolls will be our DOOM….ah well. We made lots of friends yesterday and I was surpriesed how nice everyone was o_O. We’re so use to the American Jrock scene which usually consists of pissy, stuck up, elitest girls who think they know it all or overly hyper scary fangirls who make retarded coments and act like idiots….very few seem to stray from either category (in New York at least)… It was a very pleasent change XD. And Harumi and Natsuo got to meet other dolls ^^! I took a ton of pictures yesterday….but hell, I’m far to lazy to go posting them all here. There’s a thread on the DOA forum where I posted here….I’ll probably add the pics to the E-S gallery soon. Hooray!
Soooo towards the end of the meet up, Shono came by and was absolutely horrified XD. I’m sure he thought we were all crazy. Some how he’d never seen BJD’s even when he was still living in Japan. Lol it was really funny, a few people walked up to him and be like “are you a doll owner?” in which he gave the funniest look and reply “Why are you asking me that?! I’m a guy! I dont’ play with dolls!”. XDDD poor Shono. He was all woozy too cause he just had to give blood. We left pretty quickly after that so we could go eat and sit down after standing for like 2857023948 hours. Unforunately we won’t get to see everyone for another 3 months T-T. But we’ll be back…with h. naoto fabric and a will to sew! muahahaha.
We spent the rest of the night discussing random crap and talking about Japanese….seriously Japanese is so effed up I have no idea how the hell I’m going to learn it. I feel stupid to ever think there was a chance I could have learned it on my own. Theres just so much stuff to it that you really would never know of unless someone teaches it to you. And books seriously fail. I’m going to see Shono on Tuesday hopefully and hes going to help me with the Japanese in return for help with his midterms lol. And then I should probably set up to do some study session with Liz T-T. I’m not worried so much about passing classes or anything like that as much as I’m worried about interacting with people. It really is so sad that I won’t be able to participate or even understand much of conversations when I get there. I suppose it really is just something I’ll have to learn through experiance….unless I can try and Katakanize everything… “SHAPUPENSHIRU”! XD wth Japan.
So ummm…I’ve written way too much by now and I’m still effen tired from yesterday so Ima go lay down. Peace ;P-

Photoshoot and Airfare

Manda — Sun, 04 Mar 2007 01:37:14 +0000

Hooray! Awesome day today! I like…actually did stuff besides sitting on the computer all day rotting my mind. Sooooo Liz came over and brought Natsuo! Him and Harumi finally got to meet for the first time ^^! To celebrate the moment we decided to hold a little photoshoot. Soooo we dressed them up all cute and basically took pictures all day. Things started out fine…ahem…but then the clothes came off XD. God…its so bad…but so effen funny. We must have been histerical the entire time. These poor boys T-T. Ah well. SO here’s a taste:

Yeah…somewhat rated R I suppose….all in good fun though ^^. The entire shoot is up in the doll gallery if anyone dares to look XD. Once I’m done sewing their Yukata we’ll do another shoot…hopefully before Japan..
DON’T JUDGE US!
AND finally….I got my plane ticket ^^!!!!! I depart at 12:30 on April 6th…like a 14 hour flight T-T. It’s going to be hell…but I’m on my way to Japanland so I really couldn’t care less. I just have NO idea how I’m going to compose myself on the plane. I’m already so excited about it now…I’ll have to go out shopping once we check into the dorms on Saturday…and My first Sunday will of course be spent in Harajuku XD. I’m pretty sure I’ll explode.
I’m ordering my camera probably the end of next week which I’m also happy about…$600..but well worth it. Expect a ton of pictures after that as I get a good feel for it. I need to update pictures of my own as well….after I get my hair cut though…yet another thing on my to do list before Japan. Hehehe so much to do in so little time. Very exciting though.

JP Update

Manda — Tue, 30 Jan 2007 01:36:24 +0000

Hooray, new stuff to report.
Soooo…Liz and I now have a site for the boys <3. I went as far as to buy a new domain for the soul purpose of our dolls XD. It can be seen here: Endless Seasons. Has a lovely little back story to it and everything ^^. Still awaiting the arrival of Liz’s doll though T-T. He should be coming in this week with luck.
We also went shopping and bought a ton of stuff so we could start sewing and making things to sell. Selling doll stuff can turn quite a profit o_O. We’re definitely going to buy h. naoto fabric in Japan so we can make bjd stuff with it ^^. YAY! We’re also going to attempt face ups….cause at $100 per head its well worth it o_O! I’m hoping my experiance with paint and pastel with finally prove itself useful XD.

So onto Japan updates, I’m going to pay the first half of my tuition tomorrow. Yay paying is fun. I went through so much crap with my loan today. Their incompitance has cause a 2 week delay in me getting my first check so I now have to pay the first half out of pocket till I get my check. I did quite a bit of arguing on the phone today T-T. I normally don’t get so argumentative and angry with people and situations like this…but its been stressful enough. Thankfully everything was sorted by the end of the day and no one was hurt XD.
Nice to think all of this planning is almost over though. Just have to pay the tuition and book the flight. Then I can obsess about my doll to pass the time XD. He’ll make 2 months fly right by!

Harumi has come home!

Manda — Sat, 20 Jan 2007 01:32:22 +0000

YES! Harumi arrived in the mail yesterday! After only 3 weeks o_O too! I’m a psycho already about this doll…Liz and I took pictures T-T:

Oh yes…he is a sexy little boy XD! He’s waiting for Liz to get Natsuo now so they can take pretty pictures together ^^! …did some body say BDSM?! Muahahahahahaha! (Its so bad…).
So it’s kinda funny, he came with a little booklet of his series and little back stories on the dolls…apperantly the two dolls Liz and I ordered JUST HAPPEN to work for Satan collecting innocent souls in return for eternal youth…and are, in fact, Gay. I swear we didn’t plan it out that way XD.

Manda + Liz = Japanland!

Manda — Thu, 11 Jan 2007 01:22:47 +0000

Yeah…so its been quite a while since I’ve updated. Lost track of yet another blog T-T. It happens I suppose. I do in fact have a reason for attempting to start it back up though! I recieved my approval for registration yesterday for Japan! Hooray! So I’m 100% officially going now. Just have to fill out a ton of paper work and book the flight! Then I’ll be long gone in three months, bwahahahaha.
So, what does this have to do with me starting the blog back up besides my need to brag XD?! I do indeed plan on documenting my trip as much as possible. I think this will be the best way. I could throw it all up on livejournal or something….but I dispise livejournal….too many 16-year-olds. I’ll be buying my wonderfully expensive Nikon soon so I plan on posting a lot of pictures…it’ll be eaiser this way.
*sigh* so with most of the process almost complete I need only to study as much as I can in a short period of time….and lose like 10 lbs so I can fit into the clothes…cause their clothes are made for stick people and I haven’t been a stick since High school XD. Hooray stick clothes!
I did order some Sex Pot Revenge stuff for Christmas that I got in the mail yesterday ^^. And Liz bought me a Putumayo shirt for Christmas <3. My collection will soon be growing at rapid pace *evil laughter*.
OH and Joe bought me my Dream of Doll ;-;! Kirill is now all mine <3. Liz will be ordering Ivan soon so we may photograph both of them together in compromising positions…don’t judge me!

Thats about all for now I think…I’ll update if anything happens…maybe…