I'm rather impressed. My Christmas this year was quite awesome, not only for gifts received, but also for the joy of having blessed others with wonderful gifts. I kind of wonder if the reason I got such awesome stuff this year was due to having been so giving and thoughtful (good karma). Only sad part is that I wish I could've given a gift to everyone I care about - that would've totally rocked.

Also had a fabulous dinner that night - roasted lamb, accompanied by roasted sweet potatoes and yams with butter drizzled over 'em. And for dessert was a fruit-topped vanilla mousse cake. Hope I haven't made too many folks drool over that...LOL. But that was it, nothing else. Simple yet fancy, and oh so delicious.

List of Gifts Given =

For my sister - a tiny cat plushie that's very soft to the touch (she adores it), and a $25 gift card for her favorite MMORPG, "Trickster Online"

For my brother - a LEGO Power Miners' Mine Mech

For my father - a pen with a laser on one end (can be either red or blue if desired), and a mini cutting board that came with a summer sausage, cheese, and crackers

For my mother - 'The Beatles' Monopoly game, a ceramic paper crane ornament thingy, and a glass teapot with a blue & white porcelain flower inside of it (my mom collects teapots & little glass sculptures, and blue is her favorite color; you can imagine what a thrill this gift was for her)

For ~Mikoto02 - A matching DA icon and ID image

For a bud on Cosplay.com (dark1110) - a bird salt shaker that resembles 'Hibird' from KHR

For *Ai-rika - Some bracelets, some beads to make Rave candy, a card (the puri-kura style cosplay photo in my gallery), and one yet to be delivered to her (and it's one she'll freak out over I am most sure of...LOL)

List of Gifts Received =

Bracelet with the kanji for 'green' on cream-white tiles along with emerald tiles (from my sis), my missing Nintendo DS (my sister wrapped it to surprise me that she found it), several totally awesome and fashionable blouses, a silver bracelet with cubic zirconias on it (from an aunt), a Pokemon TCG collector's tin (decorated w/ Lucario & having a holographic card of him, along with some booster packs that yielded some awesome/rare cards; got it from a co-worker), a little black sequined purse (not sure when the heck I'll ever use it, but it's pretty), a music box ornament shaped like a snowman that when opened reveals a miniature skating rink scene inside (which spins around to similuate the people skating; plays "We Wish You A Merry Christmas"), little red heart-shaped earrings that sparkle, a yellow-green furoshiki cloth (I can carry my pink bento box in it...how cool), black fuzzy slippers (which I can use for my 'Kankuro in PJs' costume for GasuKan next month! Yay!), a bottle of iced Genmai tea, and the most awesome gift of all - the DVD set of the miniseries "Tin Man" (BOOYEAH! Been my fave ever since *Moyayuki let me watch it at her house).

So many of my buds on DA have been doing this, so I will too.

THE BASICS: write a Christmas/Holiday wish list. It can be any 10 wishes you'd like to have granted, no matter what they are. Possible or seemingly impossible. People look and grant the wishes if they can. It's not about "OMFG PRESENTS", it's about making someone else's holiday a little brighter by giving. Personally, I get more out of giving than receiving sometimes. It's just a good feeling to give.

STEP ONE

- Make a post in your journal. The post should contain your list of 10 holiday wishes. The wishes can be anything, from simple and fun ("I'd love a Snape/Hermione icon that's just for me") to medium ("I wish for _____ on DVD") to really big ("All I want for Christmas is a new car/computer/house/TV.") The important thing: make sure the wishes are things you really, truly want.

- If you wish for real possible things, make sure you include some sort of contact info in your post, whether it's your address or just your email address where Santa (or one of his elves) could get in touch with you. In this case, you can always just note someone on DA for the sake of privacy.

- Make sure you post some version of these guidelines in your journal, so that others can join in and spread the holiday joy!

STEP TWO

- If you see a wish you can grant, and it's in your heart to do so, make someone's wish come true. Sometimes someone's trash is another's treasure, and if you have a leather jacket you don't want or a gift certificate you won't use--or even know where to get someone's dream purebred Basset Hound for free--do it.

- You needn't spend money on these wishes unless you want to. The point isn't to put people out, it's to provide everyone a chance to be someone else's holiday elf--to spread the joy. Gifts can be made anonymously or not--it's your call.

There are no rules with this project, no guarantees, and no strings attached. Just...wish, and it might come true. Give, and you might receive. And you'll have the joy of knowing you made someone's holiday special.

~~~My List~~~

1. Help me get a Millennium Eye for my Pegasus costume! Something like an eyepatch with transparent elastic would work, just as long as it's the right shape/size to fit over my eye, etc.

2. ANY help at all in fulfilling my cosplay dreams. Whether a little, a lot (most of the costume), a prop or two, and what'd be epic would be to help with any of 'the big ones' (Yajirobe from DBZ, Morrison from Pokemon, Boota from TTGL, Lili from Axis Powers Hetalia, Genma Saotome from Ranma 1/2, a cool gijinka of a pokemon, Janus from Chrono Trigger, etc.).

3. If anyone got me this T-shirt in size 3XL, I'll joygasm... [link]

4. Also a crazy idea, but if anyone could PRETTY PLEASE help me FINALLY own a gothic or sweet lolita outfit, that'd be the coolest thing ever (because it's far better than cosplay in that I can wear it almost anywhere my heart desires...).

5. It'd be EPIC to get eps of Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann on DVD (I've only watched episodes in Japanese, and it might be nice to find out what the dub is like, etc. - plus, there's a lot of episodes that I haven't seen...UGH!!!).

6. Help me end my quest to finally get a copy of the GameCube game that I've sought hard after for years - Tales of Symphonia.

7. I'd be absolutely thrilled if I could finally have fan art done of some of my OCs or RP characters, and especially pics of my two major alter-ego/RP characters (Kara Kazeneko, from the Naruto universe, and Shinsei Wakaba from the Bleach universe). If anyone would do this, I'll happily provide plenty of details...

8. A MAGIKARP PLUSHIE. Been wanting one for ages. What'd be awesome is if it were 'real-sized' (almost as big as a Pikachu).

9. A gift card from Uwajimaya/Kinokuniya, Hot Topic, Super Supplements, Borders, or heck - even a Gaia Online cash card would be totally awesome.

10. And it'd be wonderful if I could get a dark red trenchcoat of some sort, decked out with studs & stuff to look like something that Choji would wear if he were a punk-rocker (inspired by the outfit he wears in Naruto: Shippuden). Besides the epic cosplay I could do with this, it'd also be one hell of a badass coat for me to wear almost everywhere.

What're your wishes? And how can I grant them for you? ^_^

(UPDATE NOTE: Changed #1, because the original wish is partially being granted by a coworker of mine... so awesome...)

Wow...just wow. AkiCon was such a huge blast!

I haven't had so much fun at an anime convention in a long time, and it felt sooo good. Made some new con buddies, cheered my head off at the Soul Candy concert (Premiering songs from their first real album! It was SO COOL.), was highly amused by the hilarious 'musical' attempts of ~xXKingAceXx to get people to buy the prints/bookmarks/cellphone charms being sold by fellow GasuKan-er ~ji-hwan in the Artists' Alley, cheered like hella crazy at the Cosplay Showdown (~ji-hwan's BlazBlue cosplay group won the grand prize! $500!!! And happily, my bud ~Javakat343's fun cosplay skit won 2nd prize in that.), attended =PhotoPanda's first ever panel (on cosplay photography), had some Yu-Gi-Oh lolz with my bud James (cosplaying as Yuusei) and a girl who was cosplaying as Thief King Bakura (she kept stealing the little Millennium Eye lens-thingy of mine! Gah!), finally got to meet this cool guy who badly wants to attend GK (~Raif-San), and got to have fun sharing experience & tips as a guest speaker at the crossplay panel run by Carlos (of Soul Candy) - called "Crossplayers Guide to the Galaxy".

There was TONS of other great stuff that went on during the con, and it'd take me a long time to write about here and I may risk boring you with all the details...LOL. Totally psyched and looking forward to next year's AC and hoping to have some way better (and cooler-looking) costumes. As a matter of fact, I have a crazy-awesome idea right now of trying to pull off a slightly mascot-style costume of "Boota" from Gurren Lagann. Fufufu... I'm going to try my best on fulfilling this - for the joy of having a warm & comfy costume, and have fun being that kawaii little pig-mole of awesomeness. >3<

I'm attempting to get a job at the GameStop store at Pacific Place. Here's to the hope that this'll work out and I can finally be rid of dumbass Burger King. *crosses fingers*

In other news: I had a blast at GasuKan's 2nd anniversary (a.k.a. GK #21). Enjoyed some tasty food and goodies brought by the cosplay group 'R.A.P.E. Productions' (really loved their tempura, negi tamago, and pomegranate seeds; and there was a cake with =PhotoPanda's logo!), and for once I stayed a long time at Pochi's when folks went there later in the evening (though it felt weird since I missed the late bus home; oh well, still worked out okay - just got real cold on the walk home from 15th avenue...I've gotta remember to bring stuff to change into from now on).

And also, my cosplay plans for AkiCon are now finalized =

Friday --- "Konoha Gakuen" Choji
Friday Night --- "Raver" Choji
Saturday --- "Raver Fox" (fuzzy & fun stuff)
Sunday --- Maximillian J. Pegasus

Thanks to my dad's wonderful efforts, the electricity in our home won't be shut off (however, due to using part of the money for next month's rent in making a payment in a deal we worked out with the electric company, I'm sure we'll be in hot water again soon...ugh).

Doesn't change the fact that my job situation is still in a dark abyss, and so far my job hunting has been extremely fruitless and making me even more depressed. I swear, it seriously looks like all local employers are discriminatory against fast-food workers! (even though folks always claim that experience in such jobs are a sure win-win way to get better ones... Pfft...what a joke.)

In other news, GasuKan's 2nd anniversary gathering is coming up, and I hope it'll be awesome. Going to do an unique and crazy costume for it - my own 'shinigami' version of the White Rabbit from Alice in Wonderland (a.k.a. a creepy dark envisioning of that character). Already got most of it worked out from amid the things I already own (only needed to buy the ears, some white gloves, and creepy fangs for this; not bad), and all I've got left to do is find one of my dad's pocketwatches to have fun with (he already gave me permission to tinker with it for the sake of helping my costume to be cool...LOL). And if getting ready for this wasn't crazy enough, AkiCon is in just a few weeks! I'm quite looking forward to that, since I get the joy of being an assistant for the crossplay panel (entitled "Tuck Everlasting"... *snort* gosh that name cracks me up).