Guess Those Lyrics!~

I don't have an iPod or anything so I have to listen to music on my computer. Usually I just use the speakers but the last couple days I've been using my headphones and I always forget how much cooler it sounds. :D "You Spin Me Right Round" just makes me want to dance more than usual. :P


On the topic of music, my favorite Facebook note game thing I do is guess those lyrics. You put the first line or two of 25 songs and make people guess it. The people guessing can't look up it up, either. And since this is my blog and because I'm bored, I'll do a special extended version. :P
So, here I go:
(This'll just be songs in English. So no Korean, Japanese, German, Finnish, Russian, etc...) (Yes, I really do have songs in all those languages.)

1. Father of mine, tell me where have you been?
You know I just close my eyes, my whole world disappears.


2. How can I decide what's right
When you're clouding up my mind?


3. If you could return,
Don't let it burn, don't let it fade.


4. Hey Jude,
Don't make it bad. (OH COME ON.)
The Beatles - Hey Jude


5. Keep you in the dark, you know they all
Pretend.


6. To all those people doin' lines:
Don't do it, don't do it.


7. We are on fire,
We have desires. (HAHA. XD)


8. We keep ourselves a mystery,
But we provide, we provide the clues.


9. Can't buy me love, love,
Can't buy me love, love. (REALLY. AGAIN.)
The Beatles - Can't Buy Me Love


10. The IV and your hospital bed,
This was no accident--this was a therapeutic chain of events.
Panic! at the Disco - Camisado


11. I lay you down tonight,
Much further down.


12. Ohh, caught in a bad romance.
Ohh, caught in a bad romance. (REALLY.)
Lady Gaga - Bad Romance


13. Hey there,
I know it's hard to feel like I don't care at all.
Hawthorne Heights - Ohio is for Lovers


14. We'll do it all, everything, on our own.
We don't need anything, or anyone.


15. Flew in from Miami Beach BOAC,
Didn't get to bed last night.


16. Hello there, the angel from my nightmare.
The shadow in the background of morgue.
Blink-182 - I Miss You


17. This is the story of a girl
Who cried a river and drowned the world. (<3)
Nine Days - Absolutely (Story of a Girl)


18. Another head hangs lowly,
Child is slowly taken.


19. And you're primitive,
And you're cynical to me. (<3 again)


20. I was fine, just a guy livin' on my own,
Waitin' for the sky to fall, and then you called and changed it all, doll.


21. What if I wanted to break, laugh it all off in your face?
What would you do?
30 Seconds to Mars - The Kill


22. Yeah I, I got to know your name.
Well and I, could trace your private number baby. (Really well-known song but everyone only knows the chorus...XD)
Dead or Alive - You Spin Me Right Round


23. I am, he is, you are, he is, you are me, and we all together.
See how they run like pigs from a gun, see how they fly.
The Beatles - I Am the Walrus


24. Breakin' my back just to know your name,
Seventeen tracks and I've had it with this game.
The Killers - Somebody Told Me



25. Time it tells, livin' in my hometown.
Wedding bells, they begin easy.


26. Let me take you down, 'cause I'm going to strawberry fields.
Nothing is real, and nothing to get hung about.
The Beatles - Strawberry Fields Forever


27. And I cry, and no one can hear.
Inhale.


28. Guess we're all in trouble, huh?
Black clouds are up on us.



29. I'm hearing voices, animal noises
The creme de la creme, the feminine abyss
(So many of you have heard this but none of you are going to get this. :P)


30. She paints her fingers with a close precision,
He starts to open empty bottles of gin.


31. Gimme attention, I need it now.
Too much distance to measure it out, out loud.
Paramore - Where the Lines Overlap


32. We took a back road, we're gonna look at the stars.
We took a back road in my car.


33. Mr. Mayor: The mission burns.
The zombies are marching. They close on the square.


34. I wanna hold em' like they do in Texas, please,
Fold em', let em' hit me raise it. Baby, stay with me. (REALLY.)
Lady Gaga - Poker Face


35. I want up every evening, with a big smile on my face,
And it never feels out of place.
The All-American Rejects - Gives You Hell


36. What is love?
Baby, don't hurt me. (YESIREALLYHAVETHISSONG.)
Haddaway - What is Love?


37. I'm a killer, cold and wrathful.
Silent sleeper, I've been inside your bedroom.
(<3 so creepy but still so cute~)
LUDO - Horror of Our Love


38. Let's go down now, into the darkness,
Of your thoughts.
Hawthorne Heights - Niki FM

39. My dear, there is no danger.
Can't you see they turn blind eyes to we swift and spotlight strangers?


40. Who's eyes are mine behind?
I don't recognize anything that I don't see.


Now start guessing, eyes and ears!

The Birth of a Serial Killer

Ironically, I just started typing this up while "The Horror of Our Love" by LUDO is playing.


"I want you stuffed in my mouth/Hold you down and tear you open/Live inside you/Oh love, I'd never hurt you/But I'll grind our bones/until our marrows mix/I will eat you slowly/Oh, the horror of our love/Never so much blood."


Yeah, they're messed up.

Hello, eyes and ears. I haven't been posting as much because--well, mostly because I don't have any ideas. Plus I've been uber busy roleplaying on Gaia. Liiike that's probably the reason it'll take me a few hours to finish this. (EDIT: It did.)


So today's Friday (I swear if anyone makes any Rebecca Black jokes--) and my school has just finished our full week of TAKS testing, or the Texas Assessment of Knowledge and Skill. It's just our state mandated testing we take at the end of the year and they're so simple. (Though next year they're switching to the STAR test, which is more like an End of Course exam than a "here's a generalization of what you learned the past three years" test. My class had to take the field test for it and it was hard. @_@ Luckily, we don't actually have to take it and the class below mine is going to be the first. >:D Got lucky with that one.) It took up four days: sophomores Math on Tuesday, juniors Math on Wednesday (meaning I didn't have to come in till 1:30,) Science on Thursday, and Social Studies today. We were in the same classroom, sitting in the same spot, for the three days we were testing which kind of sucked because I didn't have anyone I knew and/or liked in my room but it was still kind of awesome (I sound like a Glee recap.) because today our teacher brought us donuts from Roundrock Donuts, which if you don't know, are literally world famous for how deliciously amazing they are. (She teaches AP Biology which I plan on taking senior year. Pleasepleasepleaseletmehaveher.)


So I ended up sitting in the second row from the door in the second seat (Someone drew a flower on the Post-it note with my name on it by the second day of testing. No idea who it was or even if they knew me or if they were just bored. I saved it.) so I was between Mr. I just had foot surgery so I'm going to block the aisle with my wheelchair, forcing you to awkwardly climb in on the other side of the desk BECAUSE I'M A JERK WHO DOESN'T CARE ABOUT HOW YOU GET INTO YOUR DESK and this other guy.


FUTURE DISCLAIMER: This is pretty much all based on STEREOTYPES.
First of all, this guy is already tall and has a dark deep voice. Let's say, stereotypically speaking, this guy already has some criteria for say, a serial killer. Or a mass rapist. Or some other horrible awfully awful criminal.


I only met this guy last year and he was in my Geometry class for half the year. I learned a few things about this dude while sharing the vicinity of my Geometry class with him.
1. He blows his nose REEEALLY loud.
2. He gets made fun of for blowing his nose REEEALLY loud.
3. He gets angry when people make fun of him.
4. This makes the people make fun of him more.


And overall--not to be mean--he's pretty creepy. During the Science TAKS, I think he breathed or something and it sounded like this uuuber creepy growl-y thing that people do right before they kill you. I nearly peed my pants.


During the actually test, I learned:
5. He shows signs of mental disturbia.


At a couple of points I could hear him pounding his fist into his desk. Normal people don't do that.


This also reminds me of another kid I know who's in my World History class.
1. Not gonna lie, he can be really obnoxious sometimes. But it's not like his being is obnoxious.
2. Pretty much everyone in the class is absolutely cruel to him. (Thankfully the girl who was the worst about it moved out of the class at semester.)
3. His laugh has the power to make other people stop laughing.
4. Everyone always comments on how when he sneezes it makes them have a heart attack. (I'm pretty used to it because I also sneeze loudly. I get it from my dad.)
5. Sometimes he'll do this evil laugh thing that I guess is supposed to be kin to a squirrel.
6. We'll just be sitting in class when he does this series of clicks with his mouth. I don't know if he just does it 'cause he can or if it's Tourette's or something. (One time when he did that this girl said, "That's disgusting" just to be mean. I kind of wanted to yell at her.)
7. He also shows signs of mental disturbia. Scribbling all over someone's quiz when you're grading it is not normal and I don't appreciate it very much either.


Basically, the point I'm trying to make is that I feel this, alongside poor parenting, is how most serial killers, mass rapists, or other horrible awfully awful criminals are created. I don't know these guys' home lives and I'm not going to pretend to. It's just that all I can think of when I hear people making fun of kids like that is, do you have any idea what you're doing?


We have this supposed anti-bullying code at our school called No Place for Hate which has just kind of turned into a big joke for the students. For example, whenever someone playfully says something mean to someone else, someone will say "Hey, No Place for Hate!" I agree that the concept is laughable. Why have an anti-bullying code and not enforce it at all? A lot of kids in my Engineering class don't get along (freshmen) and a couple of weeks ago it got so bad that one of the kids punched another in front of the whole class. The puncher is part of a group of kids that I and pretty much everyone else in the class find infuriatingly annoying, and even though a lot of the other people think that the kid that got punched is just as annoying and sometimes I agree with them (cursing at the computer when it doesn't work and venomously insulting my religion aren't exactly appealing,) I pretty much consider him my friend because he really has no one else that likes him in that class--so basically, I'm nice to him when he's pleasant and when he's annoying I'm not. But not to the point where I constantly call him gay and end up punching him in the face. I'm pretty sure the guy who punched him got off easy. What kind of anti-bullying code is that?


I wish life could be like the All Boys Dalton Academy from Glee. (While I was trying to find the name of the academy on Wikipedia, I got spoilers. URGH.) If you don't know the show, Kurt--the gay kid--transfers there after being constantly harassed and receives a death threat from a football player who's only harassing him because he's actually gay himself and can't accept it. He learns from this other gay kid from the Academy--who he obviously has a crush on because he's the only gay other person on the show besides creepy football player dude--that the Academy has a 100% anti-bullying policy, so the teachers and faculty would actually give a crap if someone made fun of how you blew your nose or how you sneezed or if you got punched. Too bad that's not how things are.


I honestly never understood why people make fun of other people--why they feel the need to say what they're thinking. It doesn't matter what you're thinking. Maybe it's because I'm, to a lot of people, in the same category as them since we're all nerds. (I believe geeks have different levels. The awesome ones and the annoying ones that I don't associate with--yes, that even applies to anime geeks.) Maybe it's, I don't know, because I'm a Christian? And I actually kind of try to follow what the Bible tells us to do? No way! What a concept.


Really, I haven't been teased much in my life--not as much as some of my other friends--but I've been teased a bit and it hurts. You think it's harmless till it happens to you. I stopped riding the bus to school in fifth grade because the people in my grade that I had rode on this bus with since I was in Kindergarten didn't like the fact that I started wearing black all the time. Then there's the constant "pastor's kid" taunting, which of course everyone thinks is required or something because they do it all. the. time. Of course they're always kidding, haha, so funny. Yeah, not so much.


So think before you speak. 'Cause you never know when that person you spoke ill of comes to murder you. Just sayin'.

Who I Am Hates How I Look

Hello readers. Today's entry isn't gonna be all perky and happy like the others. Right now I feel like crap about myself and I don't really feel like pushing it out of my mind and being all happy again yet. Maybe if I get out all my thoughts I can move on.


I just got out of the shower feeling all great about myself because I had talked to Presto right before and he always makes me feel great about myself and I was wearing a new shirt. I went to the outlet mall by the freeway near here and went to the Converse outlet trying to find some blue Hi-Tops to go with my highlighter yellow shoelaces I got there over spring break. Long story short, out of the four stores that sold Converse in the outlet mall, the only one that had the specific Converse I wanted was the one that asked for ID when I tried to use my dad's credit card and I didn't bring my wallet to prove that I was his daughter, so I ended up not getting the shoes. So instead I got a t-shirt because I had wanted a Converse t-shirt for quite a while now. So I ended up buying this t-shirt because it was cute and feminine and it was soft and Presto really likes it when I wear soft shirts. (His favorite shirt of mine is mainly his favorite shirt because it's soft.)


Anyway, today is my first time wearing it because I pretty much always wear new clothes for the first time on Wednesday because that's when I see the most people I know since I go to school, anime club, the public library, and then youth group. But I start getting a little worried because as soon as I put it on I start doing the subconscious thing where I suck in my stomach and can hardly breathe because I feel like I'll pop out of the shirt.


As you can see in my pictures, I'm not fat. At all. I'm not a stick, but I'm not fat. I know I'm not fat. So why can't I stop feeling like I am?

Also, my boobs are too big. The circle should look like a circle, but it doesn't--it looks like an oval because my boobs are too big. 36C is pretty average, maybe a bit on the larger size, but nothing to get too excited over. Something me and my friends do often is...well, talk about our breasts. And compare them. I'm the second biggest, second only to my friend, Jessica, with her DD's standing no more than 4'10". At least I don't get major back problems like her. The smallest, Kayla, has AA's and always complains when we bring up this topic, saying stuff like "My 11-year-old sister is bigger than me." Honestly I wish I had her figure and I don't try to hide it either. 


Usually when I go into a Rue 21 or one of those stores that sells the cute babydoll tee's that you see the stick-thin and flat-chested girls wearing, I kind of feel like crying. Because I know I'll look huge in all of those shirts. Some girls with my kind of figure actually manage to wear them but I don't know how I could without crying the whole time I was wearing them.

Whenever I occasionally try on one of those shirts, I'm surprised they don't burst a seam. I look in the mirror and I don't feel like me.


I feel like, maybe if I was like those stick-thin, flat-chested girls than I could be cuter and wear the cute babydoll t-shirts. I feel like that would fit my personality more. But instead being cute to me is wearing a shirt of my middle school that I got at 6th grade orientation that's so faded and shrunk so much that it almost looks like a babydoll tee.


I usually keep these feelings in because no one can really get it but you. No girl that's felt those same feelings, no one is going to sympathize for you. They just say to you, "Are you stupid? You look fine! You're not fat!" I occasionally will say I'm fat to Preston just to make him make me feel better, but of course it doesn't really help at all. I know that he thinks I'm pretty and beautiful and many other positive adjectives describing my appearance, and when I'm around him, I feel like the most beautiful girl in the world. But when I feel like the biggest girl in the room and I'm unconsciously sucking in my stomach I can't help but feel anything but.

My Signature Collection

Hey there. So, today in English I came across a word that would be perfect to replace "Comedy/Tragedy" in the title of this blog:

trag·i·com·e·dy

[traj-i-kom-i-de]

noun. 1. a dramatic or other literary composition combining elements of both tragedy and comedy. 2. an incident, or series of incidents, of mixed tragic and comic character.

I was not aware of such a wonderful word. I think I will replace it in the title.

Anyway, I had a really bad day so I feel like spending a lot of time on this post. I will be showing off my (pretty measly) signature collection. (To show off my real collection I'd have to show Presto's collection alongside mine since I sort of consider his anime/manga collection mine--we've even had voice actors sign some of our stuff "To Zizi and Preston." But I can't really do that, now can I?) This won't take too long, I promise.

Fullmetal Alchemist: Premium OVA Collection

Vic Mignogna (Edward), Caitlin Glass (Winry), J Michael Tatum (Scar), Brittney Karbowski (young Alphonse), Christine Auten (Izumi), ??? (ADR Engineer)

This is close to the most signatures I have out of everything I own. Funny story about the engineer: In the line for the Anime Overload signing, this guy sees J Michael and Caitlin signing this and says, "Hey, is that the OVA collection for FMA? I was an engineer for that, can I sign it?" and I was like "Sure!" Never caught his name and you obviously can't read his signature. To this day I have no idea who that guy was. (Just checked the guest list for AO--the guy isn't even on there. 0_o)

Kodocha, Disc 04

Greg Ayres (Tsuyoshi)

IFREAKINLOVETHISSHOW. 'Tis my favorite anime ever, Kodocha. ^-^ Greg was so excited when I pulled this out, since it's not too popular. :P

Soul Eater, Part 02

Brittney Karbowski (Black Star)

I was originally very upset about FUNimation casting Black Star as a girl, but I looove Brittney. <3 She was so adorable! She actually held up the autograph line talking to my friends about Ghost Stories while I was chillin' with Michael Sinterniklaas and Presto was chillin' with Chris Ayres. XD When the staff told her to move things along, she told us to find us later so we could talk some more! :D Sadly, we never found her, but it was still really cool!

The Wallflower: The Complete Series

Greg Ayres (Yukinojo), Chris Ayres (ADR Director, George?)

IFREAKINLOVETHISHOWTOO. When I got Chris to sign this I said, "Anime News Network tells me that you directed like, half of this show. Is that true?" and he said, "Yes, but not only did a direct, but I also played...George!" And I was like ...? And he said, "He was only in one episode, but you know who I'm talking about, right?" and I said, "Yeah, of course!" No. No, I don't, Chris. I'm sorry.


Also, the reason Greg wrote "Wow!" on the disc was because he was like, "OMG. I can't believe how girly Yuki looks!" right before he signed it. XD

Soul Eater poster

Brittney Karbowski (Black Star)

Funniest thing: When Brittney signed this, she asked, "Can I write 'I will surpass God' on here?" and I was like, "Sure," and then after she started signing it, I said "Well, my dad's a pastor. He might not like very much." And she started freaking out and apologizing profusely. He still hasn't noticed. :P

Ouran High School Host Club wallscroll

Caitlin Glass (Haruhi and ADR Director), J Michael Tatum (Kyoya), and Greg Ayres (Kaoru)

This thing is like, my pride and joy. (Well, really the actual Ouran DVDs are, but a friend is borrowing those right now. :<) It's the only wallscroll I own right now (hopefully for not much longer,) and I love it to death. I totally got ripped off though, 'cause I got this for $20 and I learned later you can easily get a good wallscroll for $15 at the most. >:(


And now for some non-voice actor signatures!~

Descendents of Erdrick, Down Right Heavy

It was so awesome talking to Lauren, the flautist. My friend, Kayla, and I both used to play the flute till we quit band. When we saw them at IKKiCON, my friends and I were the only ones in the signing room right after the concert, so we got to talk to her foreverrr about fluteyness. :3

Kayla - One of Zizi's BFF's. They joined band together a year late in seventh grade, both playing flute, though Zizi quit after freshman year and Kayla's quitting after sophomore year.

(The reason the rhythm guitarist wrote "I signed the cover!" is because I almost skipped over him for some reason and I demanded that he sign it and all of the guys acted all alarmed that he hadn't. XD)

Descendents of Erdrick poster

More awesomeness~

One-Eyed Doll posters

LOVE THEM. <3 One-Eyed Doll is a local two-person band based in Austin. I got both of these at Anime Overload. The one on the right was given to everyone at the end of the concert on Friday night, and the one on the left Kimberly just gave to me for free. When I asked Junior to sign it, he got all cute and said, "YOU GOT ONE OF ME?!" and hugged me. It was pretty surprising. XD And then at IKKiCON, they remembered us! :3 I felt so special!

And last but definitely not least...

This was my marching band bag until I quit band. Now, I just use it for conventions and overnights. For the past three cons, I've gotten all the voice actors and bands there to sign it. I'm not even going to try and name them all. :P (When I asked One-Eyed Doll to sign this, all Kimberly had was this HUGE Sharpie. Pretty hilarious.)

Awesomeness factors of this bags besides the signatures:

- The Alphonse (Fullmetal Alchemist) charm

- MY NAME'S EMBROIDED IT. OH YEAH.

So, that's my collection. This was a lot than I thought it would be...o_o

So, I love you guys. You're awesome. Ttyl.

Bows and My Obsession with Them

Happy Easter (and yay for the first blog that utilizes pictures!) I went to church in this uncomfortable yet adorable dress this morning. My whole family was there, including my parents, my brothers and their significant others, except for Presto. Sadly, he had to go to his parents' church, otherwise my whole family would've been there!


Anyway, that's not the point. Today we're talking about all my BOWS. Sadly, this would've been more fitting if I had done this a few months ago because I don't wear them nearly as much now, but it will do just as well.

I always wear bows on my left, your right, where my bangs are.

Ex.:

You see, even if I wanted to, I could part my hair on the other side because I have a cowlick right where I part my hair. Otherwise it would look dumb.

The one you see in the picture is one of three of the bows I bought from Kawaii Ribbons (kawaii means cute in Japanese,) which is an artist that goes around to the conventions. I met them at Anime Overload last year, and they were also at my last convention, IKKiCON V. I absolutely love the people at that booth (It's this super cute married couple. ^-^) and so I went to their table everyday at IKKiCON. On the last day they gave me and my friends these necklaces. I wear mine constantly. (In this picture, it's the necklace with the black chain and little swirly charm.)

So AO last year was where my obsession with bows came from. I bought a blue bow with a little cloud charm and that catapulted me into buying all these bows every chance I could get. Small ones, big one, huge ones. A lot of them I no longer have because I got rid of them after I just stopped wearing them. However, here is what left of my bow collection.

You can also see many different bracelets, hats, this picture in a frame, alongside various other things.

Here you can see all the Kawaii Ribbons. The small (which I hardly wear) and medium sized bows are from Claire's. And the GIANT highlighter yellow bow I just bought at a town festival a couple of weekends ago.

As you can see, I really enjoy my bows. They make me feel cute. :P And with that, I hope you enjoyed my small little post and have a happy Easter.

The Typical Anime Convention for Zizi and Co.

So how's everybody doing? :) I'm excited because this is my first post that is primarily about anime and general nerdiness. (YESSPELLCHECKNERDINESSISAWORD.) Let's get started.


So, people always ask me either what an anime convention is or what you do at one. My English teacher this year told me once that science fiction is very hard to do an essay over because everything is different from real life. An anime convention is kind of like that: It's so hard to compare it to anything else, because most people would have never experienced anything like it. The easiest way to describe it is "it's like a Star Trek convention but with anime" but even that is highly inaccurate. Preston's been to one and has friends that have gone to many, and he tells me the differences all the time. So, I found it appropriate to make this post.


First, we need a glossary:
Anime - Simply, Japanese cartoons. There is also manga, which is the comic book version. Most often, manga is turned into an anime (ex. Fullmetal Alchemist), though sometimes video games (ex. .hack) or novels (ex. The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya) are turned into anime. Anime can also be used as a blanket term for the genre.
Anime convention - A period of time, usually spanning over a weekend, where anime lovers meet up. Can be shortened to anime con, or just con, among fans.
I've gone to four conventions: Oni-Con 2008, IKKiCON IV, Anime Overload 2, and IKKiCON V.
Oni-Con - Takes place in Houston, TX in October. (Oni in Japanese means demon, so it always around Halloween. However, the year I went it was in December because of Hurricane Ike.)
IKKiCON - Takes place in Austin, TX around New Year's.
Anime Overload - Takes place also in Austin, TX in the summer. (Last year it was in August, this year it will be in July.)
Otaku - Although a derogatory term in Japan, here otaku is generally used to describe a rabid anime fan (in a good way.) You can also put a word in front of otaku to specify the interest. (For example, a military otaku could be someone interested in aircrafts and technology from wartime.)
Cosplay - Basically, dressing up as fictional characters. They can be from pretty much any type of fiction, though generally at anime conventions you see mostly characters from anime and video games. At more diverse conventions (ex. Comic-Con) you can see characters of anything from super heroes to TV shows. One who cosplays is called a cosplayer and there is large community of cosplayers. The majority of people at any given anime convention will be cosplaying.
FUNimation - The biggest anime dubbing and distributing company in American since A.D.V. Films in 2009.
Voice actor - Pretty self-explanatory. Often shortened to VA. Usually used for English dub actors while seiyu is used to describe a Japanese voice actor.
Guest - Often voice actors, but can be pretty much anyone--professional cosplayers, comic book writers, bands, etc.
Artists' Alley - Half of the shopping area at a convention that has artists selling whatever they make--prints, pins, plushies, hats, jewelry, etc.
Dealers' Room - Half of the shopping area that sells licensed merchandise.
Panel - A pretty open-ended term for a person or a few talking with an audience. There are VA panels, which is usually just a Q&A, or there can be a panel over a certain topic (ex. "Classic anime you should know" or "Anime we love to hate.")


I could go on and on (I own The Otaku Encyclopedia) but I think that is enough you need to know to understand the rest of this blog.


The anime con-going process starts with either AnimeCons.com, where you can find conventions in your area, or you can go straight to a website for a specific convention you already know about. Registration is required, and depending on the convention can be anywhere from $20 when pre-registration starts all the way up to $50 or more for really big conventions. You can either pre-register on the website (which is what me and all my friends do, because at my first convention when we didn't do that, we had to wait for 3+ hours to get our badges,) pre-register via mail, or you can register on-site. Pre-register is simply the better option because if you do it soon enough, it's a lot cheaper, and on-site registration always takes longer. Lots of anime conventions are doing premium badges that come with special features, that go up all the way to $90 and probably more. All the conventions I've gone to only have weekend pre-register, but you can register for just the day if you register on-site. Even if you're only going for one day, it'll still probably be more time-efficient and/or cost-efficient if you just pre-register a weekend pass.


So, you get to the convention center/hotel/college campus/wherever the convention is taking place. You get your badge, which will either have your name already printed on it with the name you gave at pre-registration or you write your name on it depending on the convention. They give you a program, that comes with the list of the guests, the schedule for the weekend, and a map. Unless there is a panel you need to go to, this is where you make your first trek through the artists' alley/dealers' room.


A very common practice at anime conventions is taking pictures of cosplayers. You simply just ask, and they pose; or visa versa if you're the one being asked. This goes on throughout, but usually while you're just walking around.


There is viewing rooms, where they show anime all hours of the day. (And for some reason they always seem to show the best stuff at 3 in the morning.) There is also a video game room which is, as the title suggests, where you can play video games.


There are signings with the VA's, where you get to talk to them. I've met Christine Auten, Chris Ayres (twice,) Greg Ayres (thrice,) Terri Doty, Caitlin Glass (twice,) Brittney Karbowski, Mike McFarland, Vic Mignogna (twice,) Carli Mosier (twice,) Michael Sinterniklaas, and J Michael Tatum. I'm what you could call incredibly voice actor savvy, alongside Preston, and this is one of my favorite parts of any convention.


There are bands you can listen to and meet. My past two conventions are the only two where I've actually cared anything about the bands, and they were the same bands! One-Eyed Doll, which I can pretty much only describe as weird rock, and The Descendents of Erdrick, which is a video game music cover band.


Most conventions will start at about eight or so in the morning and go until about five in the morning. As you can imagine, most people don't stay that long--they either leave or go up to their hotel room. I've never actually stayed in a hotel room for a convention, but it's pretty customary. During the late hours of the night, there is often a rave. Some conventions will even have a gala that require fanciness!

There are also cosplay contents, dance contents and other types of contests as well that are all pretty entertaining to watch even if you aren't participating.


Sometimes there are maid cafes, which is a spin-off of a popular custom in Japan: Maid cafes are, as the name suggests, cafes that have waitresses that act as your maid. There is also the less popular variation of a butler cafe for us female folk. ;D Usually maid cafes are only for people with those stupid premium passes though. >:(


I probably missed something, but even if I did get everything there is no way I could portray how awesome anime conventions are. It's not just the events or the guests or the cosplay. It's the memories that go along with it. If you give me a few hours to talk, I could tell you so many stories from the few anime conventions that I've gone to. They are pretty much my favorite thing I get to do all year. Hopefully now you can see more into a huge part of my life and somewhat understand how amazing they are. :)


Next time: Bows and my obsession with them.

Why Do People Think Jesus DIED on Easter?

So it hasn't been that long since my last post. But, I had to make this before it was too late and the idea was still fresh in my mind. Oh, and for future reference, when I introduce a new character/a new attribute to a person that's already been introduced, I will do as such:
Person - Person likes pie.
Anyway, let's get on with this post.


This past week was Holy Week. I think every day has a name, but I'm Presbyterian and the only days we celebrate in our church are Palm Sunday, Maundy Thursday, and Good Friday. (I looked it up. Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, and Saturday are just called Holy Monday, Holy Tuesday, Holy Wednesday, and Holy Saturday.) The Maundy Thursday service is actually my favorite service of the year because it's the only service to really evoke the emotion I should feel for my savior dying for me. You hear all the time in church, "Jesus died for your sins." But you forget the true extent of it until you go to an evening candlelight service with passionate readings of the scripture of Jesus' death and then you have to leave in silence. This year, I didn't go, for a pretty stupid reason: I didn't want to go "alone," or basically go without Presto. He has evening classes at the local community college this semester, so he basically can't do any evening activities Monday-Thursday. Annoying, yes, but he's almost done so it's all right.


Anyway, today is Good Friday. I felt it was appropriate to blog today because there was a huge uproar at my school this week. We were initially going to have today off, but it was a bad weather day, so we were going to make up a day we missed in February due to snow. (I live in central Texas, where it never snows. This year and last year it snowed for one day about 1" and we had school off. Before then it hasn't snowed since I think I was 3 or so, only iced over.) But there were rumors going around school that if your parents gave you a note or called in and said you couldn't come in on Friday for "religious purposes," then you could be excused.


To save her from public humiliation, I won't disclose who this person is in case someone who knows her reads this. Anyway, I first heard this at the lunch table. My friend says, "Hey, are you guys coming to school on Friday?"


I say, "Yeah, why wouldn't we?"


She says, "Well, it's like Good Friday or something like that, so apparently we're allowed to bring in a note and get off for 'religious purposes.' So I'm going to pretend to be religious and get off."
This alone should set anybody off. But I know this girl considered herself agnostic and actually is going through a nasty break-up with another one of my friends over the fact that he is a Christian and she is not, so she has to be pretty adamant about it. And I know this girl could sort of be considered a slacker. But she's human, and all humans are made in the image of God, so I'm not condemning this girl in any way.


BUT STILL.


Then another one of my friends at the lunch table (though I don't really consider her as a friend as more of a person I associate with since we're both part of the "geeky anime clique" at school and we have mutual friends. I can't really consider her a friend because almost everything about her irritates me. Anyway,) says, "Am I the only one that doesn't understand the significance of Good Friday?" I know this girl was raised atheist or whatever, but come on. Even atheists should know that Jesus died on Good Friday, right?


"It's the day that Jesus died."


"I thought that was Easter?"


OHMYGOSHDIDSHEREALLYJUSTSAY--


"No, that's Good Friday. Easter is when he rose from the dead. The miracle is not that he died, it's that he rose from the dead."


Then we get off onto some idiotic discussion about something to do with Christianity, and it gets awkward for me and my friend, Erinn.
Erinn - Zizi and her met in preschool and reunited in middle school. She's been going to church with Zizi for about two years now, and she's the only one of what Zizi considers her good friends (besides Preston) that is religious and goes to church.


This discussion reminds me of about a month ago sitting in Math listening to two boys talk about Easter. One said, "Isn't Easter when Jesus died?" "Yeah, I think so...wait, I think that was Good Friday." "Oh yeah..."


IWASLIKE"REALLY--

Not trying to be racist, but they were both Hispanic so I'm just going to assume that they're Catholic for my next part of this post. So, we just went over a cross unit in Sunday School these past few weeks, so I'm all educated in crossology now. One day, we talked about how Catholic churches generally have crosses hanging up with Jesus' human body still hanging on them, and in most Protestant churches they have simple Roman crosses, which is empty to signify that Jesus is now in Heaven with our Father. Preston, as always, shared his opinion on this.
Preston (AKA Presto) - Raised conservative Baptist and is very secure in his beliefs. Now goes to Zizi's church, which believes very differently from the way he was raised.
He said that this upset him, because "the miracle is not that he died, but that he rose from the dead." Hey, isn't that what I said a few lines up? Now, I don't think that's necessarily what they're trying to portray, but I can understand both sides. I think Catholics are just trying to portray Jesus dying on the cross for the same reason that I love the Maundy Thursday service: for us to really grasp how much Jesus and God love us, we have to understand the death of Jesus. And we always say that "Jesus died for our sins," not that "Jesus rose for our sins." That doesn't make any sense. Either way, no one is wrong.


So, by the time it was yesterday, half of the school was getting out of school--some for religious purposes, some probably not so much. My dad said if I stayed home I'd have to go to the Good Friday service at noon, which I'm happy to oblige to because I don't think I've ever gone to a Good Friday service. Either way, Christian or not, ignorance or not, I hope you enjoy this post and have a good Good Friday.


Next time: The average anime convention for Zizi and Co.

Prologue

Hello. My name is Elizabeth Anne Roberts, but about 75% of the humans I know call me Zizi. The other approximate 25% only call me Elizabeth because they think they are so cool that they do not need to succumb to the likings of others and actually call me by the name I prefer. Or they just knew me before I started going by Zizi. Or they're my family. Or all of the above. Anyway, that's not really important. You see, I get really worked up about names. I know my real name is Elizabeth, but I feel like that is not my name--though I feel Zizi is more "me" (whatever in the world that means), it still does not feel that it is truly myself. Alas, it probably does not actually matter. Some people say your name is your destiny or some crap like that, but really it's only a thing people call you. I have other names, such as Lizzy Anne, Lovely Anne, Whiz, Whizzy (all of which my family calls me and them alone), Zidabet (the spelling is left up to dispute,) Stitches (as my boyfriend has recently started calling me for no apparent reason and slightly ironic considering I've never even had stitches,) or perhaps my favorite, Zizi Zobertz. My good friend Rina gave this to me when I first started going by this nickname at school three years ago. Since it is perhaps my favorite, it has made the title of my blog.


This is where I effortlessly segway into my next topic: the title of my blog. If you can't read it from where you're reading this and/or you don't give a care to remember it, it is The Comedy/Tragedy of Zizi Zobertz. Being a teenage girl, my life is a drama. However, I am not one of those girls that sits in the back of the classroom gossiping about other girls that surely don't deserve it (not that I think anyone deserves anything.) I've tried to avoid it up until now, but I've realized that even though I'm a geek I cannot avoid everyday high school teenager drama. And Shakespeare I guess was a pretty cool dude (Julius Caesar was in the half of the books I was supposed to read for class that I actually read, though I still completely bombed the test even though I bought No Fear Shakespeare and everything) so I'll use his comedy and tragedy title. I thought it was witty, anyway. So, that being said, this is where I introduce the characters in this drama:


Zizi - The heroine of this drama. She likes to talk and eat marshmallows.
Preston (AKA Presto) - The boyfriend. He's really tall and skinny. He's quite sickly, and Zizi's sure she'll make a blog about it one day. They've been dating since 02/12/10.
Mira - The best friend. Not your average best friend, since Zizi and her have never actually met. They became friends when Mira messaged her on deviantART when they were 12 and they've pretty much been best friends ever since.
Dad - One of Zizi's caregivers. He drives Zizi everywhere until she gets her license and talks to her about her feelings. He is the pastor of First Presbyterian Church in Georgetown, TX.
Mom - Another of Zizi's caregivers. She's a stay-at-home mom.
Timothy - The older brother. Him and Zizi don't get along very well. He'll be turning 21 next month, but he still lives at home. He has a job as a night auditor and he's interested in real estate.
Jonathan - The oldest brother. Turning 25 this September. Getting married in July. Gets along better with Zizi than Timothy, but he pretty much moved out as quickly as possible and lives in Austin.
Anna - Timothy's girlfriend. They already act like they're married. She wants to be a nurse.
Paige - Jonathan's fiancée. They're getting married in July. She is a Biology teacher in Manor.


I guess that is enough for a first post. I hope you look forward to the next one.


Next time: Why do people think Jesus died on Easter?