Wednesday, June 25, 2014

The Past Week or So


Today I am feeling in a mentally bad place, so I decided to do things that would cheer me up, like writing a blog post.


As you can see from the picture, I redyed my hair! Well, my friend did. I love it but...suddenly, two weeks later, I want to go to a natural color! Maybe a color slightly darker then a milky tea brown? I think my hair is still too short for lighter colors...if it ever gets back to its former glory, I might go full blonde, but right now, I just want a creamy brown color. Unfortunately, I don't have the money to get the color corrector and dye right now! ;o;

This past weekend, I went to a mall with the fiance and some of my friends. This is what I wore:



It's a pink and purple paradise outfit, heehee! We all went to the candy store and bought some candy, and Ashley even bought me a Hello Kitty plush! And when we got back into town, Ashley gave me some money she owed me for a dress I sold to her...in the form of a video game!


(I got a manicure with my mommy, as you can see~) Project Diva F! I already made a post about my refound love for Vocaloids, so I won't make another...but let me just say this game is GREAT! I might post a review on it. But it will definitely be in my monthly favorites. I also want to go back and buy the first two Project Diva games...I might, once I have money...

OR, I might spend all my money forever on my newest obsession...TAOBAO! Taobao is a Chinese shopping site which hosts loads of different stores. There, you can find anything, from home goods, to jewelry, to anime goods, even lolita clothing! I'm definitely going to make a huge post on future wants from Taobao. I might just buy all my clothes from there from now on! So much CUTE STUFF.

Another thing I've done recently is go to the thrift store. While I was there I found a few cute items of clothes, but my real catch was this:


A Totodile Pokedoll, straight from the Pokemon Center in New York! He's so round and cuuute. Also, a Sudowudo plush, but that's not as impressive, hah.

A few days ago, my fiance traded in some things and got a 3DS XL. It's soooo huge compared to the regular 3DSs! And so, I decided I had to have one, too. I gathered together some old gaming things to trade...and at the first store we went to, the one where he got his, they said even with all the things I was trading in it would still be a lot to pay. I was really discouraged, but we tried another store, and they took everything and I didn't have to pay a thing! (And fiance got the huge Metal Gear collection for really cheap!) So here is my new baby:


I've already covered it in stickers :3 I've also gotten back into Animal Crossing! I was SO into that game when it came out a little over a year ago, and played it pretty hardcore, but when Pokemon X came out, I was a little negligent of my town! But I think I'm getting back into the swing of things.

And then when we came home from getting the DS, we got out of the car, and heard a meowing...and up comes a black cat! He (the fiance says it's a he? I couldn't tell...) looks to be about a year or so old, and in very good shape and of a good weight. He was so friendly! He talked to us, rubbed us, and even let me pick him up when he made a dash for our door XD He really wanted to come inside...and if we didn't have a pet fee, and had a bit more money for cat food and litter and vet visits and such, we'd take him. I named him Horus!



Tonight I heard him meowing outside our door, so I went outside to say hello...it started raining, so me and the fiance sat under the overhang with him until the rain stopped. I want to keep him so badly!! I know we can't but...he's such a sweetie...


As for today...I've had an okay day. But in my head, I've just felt like something is screaming and trying to get out. I deal with depression, but for the past few weeks or so, I've been dealing with it splendidly, and now to suddenly be falling back down is...ugh. I've become fixated on how I view myself again. And I don't think too highly of myself when I get down. 

But tomorrow is a new day. I can change. Right? Right.

Wednesday, June 18, 2014

Let's Talk VOCALOID


Today we're going to talk about my rekindled love of VOCALOID. Do you like them? Do they annoy you? 

I first got into them when I learned about them my freshman year of college. I even cosplayed the genderbend of Gakupo, Gakuko! ...I guess you want to see, don't you?


...yeah, looks kind of awful, right? It was one of my first experiences cosplaying, and I chose the simplest design to do. But the point was I had fun with it. 

Yet, I was never too fond of the fandom, and eventually I got out of it. I had my moments where I'd get back into it, mostly having to do with Project Diva, but I never really felt the excitement and love for it again. Until now. 

The fiance and I just got a PS3 again! When we had one before, I had downloaded the demo for Project Diva F, but never played it. I was excited that I finally could now. I decided to get out my old, kind of broken PSP and my copy of Project Diva Extend out and play again. Gosh, I love rhythm games. From there I decided to do research, and found out that there were a lot more Vocaloids now then there were a few years ago. They all have such imaginative designs and they're from all around the world! I'm going to make another post later about my top ten favorite Vocaloids. Spoiler: Galaco is best.


From there, I decided to look up something very closely related: UTAU. Utau is a program much like Vocaloid, only free to use. There are thousands upon thousands of fan made voice banks for this program, each different from one another. At first I was just looking up info about my favorite, Namine Ritsu, but then it led me to the Utau wikipedia, which listed every single active and inactive Utauloid. So many! I want to draw them all!

But not only do I want to draw already existing Utau...I want to create. In the beginning, this was just me wanting to create character designs. But then I thought...why not create a voice bank for them? That's right, I'm going to record my voice, and bring my song ideas to life! May I introduce you to my Utau, Boukenne Hani!


She is a young pirate lady who loves adventure and singing! I also figured I could do the voice for her younger sister, Boukenne Remon. 


There are going to be some difficulties of course. I don't have the best voice, so recording the ideal notes might take a little while. Also...I've forgotten how to read music! Luckily my fiance remembers. 

Really...I'm just excited to be excited over something again! I haven't felt this happy and creative over something in a long while. 


Sunday, June 15, 2014

Top Ten Video Games I've Replayed Too Many Times



Hello again! So, since one of my earlier posts was about games I've never finished, I thought I should make this post about games I've played and finished and bit too much. We all have those games we love to replay, even to the point obsession, and here are mine!


10. Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone (GBC)

Yes, the first one is a movie game. But not a bad movie game! It is terribly short, however; I think the last time I played it I beat it in an hour. This is one of the first three video games I ever got. It's a bit of an RPG mixed with a little of just exploring, from what I can remember. Pretty simple. But I learned to level grind with this game, so much to the point that I would just max out my spells' levels at the very beginning of the game just to see if I could. It's a cute little game that I replayed over and over.



9. Frogger 2 Swampy's Revenge (GBC)

This was another of my first three games. I don't even know why I wanted this game. I remember circling it in a catalogue, even though I had never heard of the franchise. I guess I just liked the frog aspect? Either way, this was the first video game I ever beat. Maybe that's not saying a lot, but…there were a few hard parts and puzzle-like parts in that game! I also found all the secret gems (I think?) in every single level, and this was before I knew you could look for this stuff on the internet! I remember waking my dad up when I beat the game for the first time, and was sad he wasn't as excited as I.



8. Super Mario Brothers (GBC)

The cartridge itself is known as "Super Mario Bros. Deluxe" as it has both Super Mario Brothers and the original Mario Bros. on it. But I'm going to be talking specifically about SMB. I first played it in a very old arcade machine at my dentist's office. I wasn't good at first, but I learned what was where, and could soon advance to about world 2-1 before they would call me back to dental hell. So I had to get this game when I saw it in stores. Like I said in my last post, I'm not very good at Mario games, but I love them, so I persisted. Soon I beat the game, and then beat it over and over.



7. Pokemon Puzzle Challenge 

This is the Gameboy Color port of Pokemon Puzzle League for the N64. It's downgraded a bit, but still very fun and cute. I was maybe nine when I got this game. I didn't know a lot of things back then. I didn't know you could go online and look for secrets about video games. So it legitimately surprised me when I beat hard mode for the first time and it unlocked a new mode, and then another! I was also surprised as new characters became available for me to use. While I've never fully beaten the game's hardest mode, "intense mode," I've definitely given this game a fair share of my time.



6. Mario Kart DS

This wasn't my first Mario Kart game, but it's definitely my most loved. I've unlocked everything. I've gotten the highest ranking in everything. I hate that I sold it, because it was my go-to boredom game, no matter how much I played it. It never got boring! Unfortunately the 3DS version just did not live up to that.



5. We Love Katamari

Katamari is one of my most favorite game series. It's quirky, cultural, and cute and it something that can take my mind off almost any problem. While I've replayed and completed almost every version multiple times (except for the 360 and Vita versions) I think the second game for the Playstation 2 is the one I've played the most. It has so much more to do then any of the other games, in my opinion. I got this game maybe when I was fifteen, and I still play it to this day, around eight years later. I would have this higher on the list, but I haven't finished the game's hardest mode…the one million roses level. It's exactly what it sounds like. You gather one million roses. I think if the levels they game you to get said roses were more open or more varied, I'd be more willing to add to my total roses, but I get so bored going around in circles…luckily the rest of the game makes up for that!



4. DDR Max 2

This was my first game for the PS2! It only took me a few days to learn how to dance well, and maybe about a week to unlock all the songs. But of course, this game has a huge replay value. I ay have gotten through some songs, but only just, and I constantly was striving for that "AAA" rating. While I haven't played it since I moved into my apartment due to space, I still have it and my mat.



3. Kirby Nightmare in Dreamland

Here we get to the slightly obsessive part. This is my first and only Kirby game, though now I have more to play on the Virtual Console. It took me a while to fully beat the game, but I did. And then I beat it again. I would replay the last level over and over again just because I thought the battle was cool as anything. I also loved replaying the mode where you fight all the bosses in a row.



2. Pokemon Silver

This was my first Pokemon game, so naturally, it's my favorite, along with the remake, Soul Silver. I cannot tell you how many times I retorted this game before I finally completed it, and how many times I've restarted it since. I even got my dad to replace the battery when it finally ran out. I recently obtained a copy of the Japanese version, I can't wait to replace the battery in it so I can start playing!



1. Yoshi's Island (GBA)

I love Yoshi. He's not my favorite Mario character, but he is up there. This game has the Mario elements with a different twist, and maybe that's why I love it so much. Here's where it get's obsessive - I loved the credits song so much, and it didn't occur to me that I could probably find it online. So instead, I would replay the final boss battle and watch the credits every single night, only at night. I did this during long car trips as well; when we set off at night, I would turn on my light and play through the last battle just to hear the soothing credits song. I even made up words to it in fake Japanese (yes, I was that kind of kid).

Tuesday, June 10, 2014

May Favorites 2014


I'm only a week and a half late...anyways, May was a kind of stressful month at the beginning and great during the end. So here's five things I was loving during the month of May! Um, this month is a little unconventional - no makeup or fashion products, and some of the favorites aren't exactly things you can purchase...sorry haha.


First up is more of a concept then an item...it's a newer art style! I've been having artist block for who knows how long. I recently got inspired by a new favorite artist, Kaiami, to draw a bit in her style. The more I drew, the more it evolved from a copy of her style into something of my own. It's not perfect yet, but I'm actually making art and I'm liking what I'm doing! If you have a deviantArt account, you can follow me there at MeltyBunny and my tumblr art blog at meltybunny-art.


My second favorite is kind of weird? SWEET TEA. For the longest time I hated sweet tea. I liked iced tea with flavors, but not just straight, Southern sweet tea. And then I was at Thornton's and instead of coffee, I had the strangest desire to get some. And it tasted a little gross, but I liked it. Now I'm drinking it non stop. I know that it's no good for me because of all the sugar but I. Can't. Stop.


Probably the most normal favorite on my list is a new anime called Is The Order a Rabbit? It combines slice of life with rabbits and coffee, so I really don't see any faults with it at all. If you love cute, fluffy anime, I highly recommend it. The ninth episode was just released, and the fifth is up on Hulu+.


My fourth favorite...is the lack of spiders in my apartment. You can see why I didn't put an image there, yes? We had an incident with a giant spider in our apartment. No, you don't get it. Giant. In the bed. But it was taken care of, and we got pest control to come and search, and they didn't find anything. It most likely came from a box I ordered from Poland. Thanks, Amazon!


Lastly is...this blog post that I made XD Why? Because it got liked and reblogged over six hundred times on tumblr and got almost twice those views on the post itself, so that means it reached a LOT of people...and hopefully that means it helped a lot of people as well! That's what I want - to help people.


I know this was a really short and not so organized/cool favorites post, hopefully next month will actually have interesting favorites on it.

Are you watching E3? I got up early to watch Nintendo's segment. I saw Sony's and was pleasantly surprised.

Monday, June 9, 2014

OOTD: International Lolita Day - Summer 2014


Last Saturday was International Lolita Day! International Lolita Day happens once in the summer, and once in the winter. It's a celebration of the fashion that unifies us all.

I didn't do anything particularly special this ILD; I had invited two friends over but both said they probably couldn't make it. But  did want to celebrate and get dressed up - so did!

Pinky Paradise!

JSK, Shoes - Bodyline
Blouse - Thrifted
Socks - Offbrand
Wig - L-email
Accessories - Angelic Pretty, My Dearest Victoria, Offbrand


This is one of two new dresses that I received. I love it! It's so princess-y and chiffon-y. But it was so hot, and the wig didn't help, so I really just dressed up and then took it off. But then, one of my friends, Ashley, texted me and said she wanted to come over and get frilly! I got to dress up again, this time in my second new dress, a replica of Angelic Pretty's Milky Planet!

Dark in the Night

OP, bow - Oo Jia
Socks - Secret Shop
Shoes - Bodyline
Wig - MintyMix
Accessories -  Angelic Pretty, Offbrand



Ashley doesn't yet have any lolita clothes, so I got to play dress up with her! I dressed her in my Cinderella Bunny dress, pink bunny blouse, ankle socks, and Bodyline shoes!

Here is a picture of the two of us! Isn't she ADORABLE?


Although we really didn't do any lolita-esque things, it was fun to get dressed up! 

I hope you had a fun saturday as well!!

Friday, June 6, 2014

24 Years Old! Birthday Haul!


I'm only more then a week late! Haha. I've been busy with cleaning and hanging out ._. Anyways. This is my birthday overview and a haul of what I got. As with all my hauls, I'm not bragging, I just like sharing what I got, and I like watching and reading other people's hauls!

So on my actual birthday, the 28th, I was off work! So I got to sleep in. I got all dressed up and waited...and waited..and eventually headed a few towns over with the fiance to the Cheesecake Factory to meet my parents for dinner! It was really nice, and I always enjoy seeing them, since I get homesick so easily, haha. And, cheesecake. Yum.

After that, my friend Chelsea picked me up and took me to Nashville, to Dave&Busters! For those of you who don't know what it is, it's like an arcade place, where you pay to play all sorts of games, and most of them give out tickets which you can exchange for prizes! Eventually our friend Megan joined us and we played for hours! It was great because I hadn't seen Megan in YEARS.

When it came time to exchange our tickets for prizes, I had quite a few, so I was able to get some nice things...


A cute Domo keychain which I attatched to my purse...


A Pikachu plushie which is GREAT for late night cuddles...


And then this journal! Which has not been written in at all yet.

And, of course, candy!! I got a lot of candy so the fiance could have some, too. Then my friends surprised me by using their tickets to buy me presents!


This cute purple, spiky bracelet and Hello Kitty earbuds!! Thank you~!

After that, Chelsea took me home, where my fiance and presents from my parents were waiting! My big present for the year is...


A red Keurig! Um, ignore the dirty pan x_x As you can see by the empty K-Cups, I've already used it quite a lot. They got me three different kinds of coffee and tea, and the Keurig came with samples...so I have lots of varieties. My favorites so far have been the iced coffees and teas! It's been very useful. Maybe a little too useful, haha.


There was also a plethora of hair and makeup goodies!! Yay! My favorite of these has been the Tarte lip color!


They got me this book, How to Be Like Walt, which is so far very interesting!!

They also got me my favorite peanut butter, because I have an addiction problem...heh.

I feel like I'm leaving something out, but...I don't know what...

And then on Saturday, I had another little party with friends! Two of my friends couldn't make it, but my good friends Erik and Ashley did, and they brought cake and chips and soda and etc! We went out for lunch, coffee, came back and watched the Power Rangers movie, talked lolita with Ashley (I can play dress up with her! I am in a happy place!) and then we just talked and watched other things.

Ashley gave me a really nice gift...


A Hello Kitty tin, four little Hello Kitties, a wallet, some tissues, and a bracelet I wear often! Oh, and CANDY!

All and all, I've had a great birthday and a great couple of days. As I said at the beginning, I'm doing some heavy duty cleaning...in order to renew our lease at the apartment, we have to do a walkthrough, and while I know our level of cleanliness and how much clothes are strewn on the floor probably isn't what they care about, the apartment does need a serious cleaning. Hopefully we can get that done before tomorrow. I just purchased Tomodachi Life, also, so hopefully I won't get too distracted...

And tomorrow is International Lolita day! I'm trying to get together with a few friends, but it may be just me dressing up alone, haha.

Sunday, June 1, 2014

MeltyBunny's Guide to Plus Size Lolita Fashion


EDIT (7/716) - This is absolutely my most popular post on both my blog and tumblr, and is still passed around, so I've updated a few minor things (mostly links)! I don't even wear lolita anymore and I don't even like those coordinated in the header anymore, lol...but, this post seems to really help people, so I'm glad.

The topic of today's blog is very self explanatory - plus size lolita fashion! How to find pieces that fit, pieces that are affordable, where to avoid, etc., etc.. I got inspired to write this because one of my besties is getting into lolita! I'm still pretty basic at the fashion, but, you know, I try. I'm going to be focusing more on the "plus size" aspect of lolita rather then other aspects such as where to find accessories or coord building. However, if you have questions about anything that I didn't cover, you're more then welcome to ask!! I'm going to try to organize this the best I can...I hope this is helpful to some of you!!


GETTING STARTED

Okay, so you've ogled the fashion for a while, and you finally want to jump in. Great! But to be honest, being a plus size guy or gal gives you some limitations. That's okay, it doesn't mean you can't wear lolita! Everyone can wear lolita and feel like a princess!

Firstly, you're going to have to know your measurements. Each piece has different measurements! What I do is put on the underwear I would be wearing when wearing lolita - any shapewear, sports bra (it helps reduce bust size but may cause boob loaf) or other bra that makes your breasts smaller. I also take my measurements in both centimeters and inches. Most lolita websites have their measurements listed in centimeters, but a few are in inches. Bust and waist measurements are essential, but sometimes shoulder width, arm width, and even thigh and hip width if you're buying pants can be necessary. It's good to just take all of them!

Now that you know what size you are, you can start looking for clothing! But what should you get for your first coord? You have a choice between an OP (one piece), a JSK (jumperskirt) and blouse, or a blouse and skirt. Personally, skirts don't look too good on me because right now my waist isn't very defined. You'll also need shoes, socks or tights, bloomers or shorts, a petticoat, and accessories! It can be a little daunting at first, but it will be worth it! And once you have your first full coord, you can slowly add other pieces to your wardrobe!

BRANDS

One of the biggest myths about plus size lolita is that there are no brand pieces that will fit. That is absolutely WRONG. There are loads of brand dresses, blouses, and skirts that fit a variety of sizes!

My favorite resource for finding brand pieces is a website called GorgeousPlusLolita. The link will bring you to a page of plus size friendly brand and their individual measurements. Wow! Look at all of that! 

And of course, take note of shirring in pieces. Usually if a piece has shirring, it can stretch an extra few centimeters then the max measurements given. But of course, sometimes this extra stretch might make the piece look bad or give you the dreaded "boob loaf," so estimate with caution! 

But GPL doesn't have every single piece on their website, and they don't have any blouses at all. There are two libraries where you can browse and search practically any piece of lolita, Lolibrary and HelloLace. I prefer Lolibrary over HelloLace, but they both essentially serve the same function. Almost every piece has measurements listed! 

And if you really want a piece but can't find the max measurements or think it can stretch a bit further then what the internet says - do your research! Look for reviews! A good resource for this is the EGL community on LiveJournal for older pieces; I'm honestly not so sure how active it is nowadays. They are a great resource or lots of things, but people often post reviews of what they bought, and measurements and reviews can be requested as well! Another good resource is the Plus Size Lolita community on FaceBook.

Now, you can find some of these pieces on their brand's website. But many are no longer for sale there, or you may not want to pay full price. In that case, there are five great resources I have for finding and seeking pieces. The first is egl_comm_sales on LiveJournal (eta: again, not sure how active this is anymore). They even have a plus size tag! Second is LaceMarket, an auction site which also has a plus size tag, and is generally just a good resource for cheaper lolita items. Then there is Plus Size Lolita Sales on FaceBook. There's the regular Lolita Sales Community on FaceBook, but they do not have a specific place for plus size items. Finally, there's the used item shop Closet Child. A guide to ordering from them can be found here.

OFFBRAND

Next I'm going to talk about indie brands, off brands, handmade items, and replicas. 

There are many indie brands available, such as Chess Story, Dear Celine, Rose Melody, etc. Many of these brands have custom sizing options on their pieces for very reasonable prices! These brands can be found on the Chinese shopping site Taobao...unfortunately, I've never shopped directly from there, so I cannot offer much help. You do need a shopping service, like Taobao Spree, to buy for you. But, if that seems too daunting, there are websites that are essentially shopping services, like Qutieland* and Clobba. I prefer the layout of Qutieland over Clobba. If you do order from Taobao, whether you get it through a shopping service or one of these websites, it is going to take a while, so please don't order anything from here if you need it for a convention the following month!

*eta: It seems like this year, people have had problems with Qutieland taking their money and not following through and items not reaching their destination after months and months. I haven't heard an update about this recently, so please be cautious.

There are three main offbrands, the most popular being Bodyline. Bodyline used to have pretty poor quality clothing and was seen as "ita," but many of the pieces they have now are really good and high quality compared to what they used to have. There still are a few not-so-good pieces, but as long as you look carefully at the pictures and do your research, you'll be fine. Bodyline has many pieces in bigger sizes, and recently implemented a new search function where you can look only at those bigger pieces! One thing I've noticed about Bodyline pieces is that if they have shirring, they do seem to stretch further then what their max measurements say. For example, Cinderella Bunny has a listed max measurement of 100cm in the bust, but fits me at around 110cm. I can't guarantee that every piece is like that, but every piece I have bought seems to be like that. Bodyline is great for getting some cute dresses, socks, and blouses from, but I'd stay away from their petticoats, they tend to be not so good. The other two main offbrands are Fan+Friend and Anna House. Fan+Friend is great for staples such as blouses; they have larger and custom sizes in many of their pieces. Anna House does have a few lace monsters hiding on the website, but also some really cute pieces in custom and larger sizes.

Don't ever knock a handmade item! Even if you can't sew, there are some really talented seamstresses out there, and of curse they can make items to your specific measurements! ...that's really all I have to say on that subject.

Finally, there's replicas. A replica is what it sounds like, a cheaper and not always correct copy of another piece. Replicas are a big deal in the lolita community, as they are technically theft. But the two biggest names in replica makers, Dream of Lolita which can be found on Qutieland and Clobba, and Oo Jia, who can be found on her FaceBook or website, do make custom sizes, which is great in the case of a dress which might not originally come in your size. Most lolitas I've come across who do not approve of replicas won't be mean or anything if they find out you're wearing a replica. It's really your choice whether you decide to wear replicas or not. 

ET CETERA

"But I want to fit X!" Being plus size, there are just going to be some pieces that you probably cannot fit into. That doesn't mean there's anything wrong with you. It's just one of those things that you're going to have to accept. However, if you want to/are able to lose weight, I have a beginner's guide to weight loss here.

"I have wide hips, do I need a petticoat?" Yes. It's not really lolita if it doesn't have that silhouette. Classical Puppets on Taobao is famous for their poofy petticoats. eBay is also a good source for petticoats. And if one doesn't give you enough poof? Layer two!

"So I found this website called Milanoo-" No.

"Will other lolitas laugh at me for being bigger?" If they're decent people, no. There are cruel people in every community and lolita is no exception, so if you go to the places where people like these congregate, certain websites for instance, then you may find yourself becoming upset. But these people don't know you. They live on mocking others for no reason. They don't deserve to make you unhappy or make you doubt wearing lolita. If anyone ever makes fun of you because of your size, just ignore them and get them out of your life. 


I truly hope this helped some of you and like I said, if you need help with anything, I'm more then happy to respond!