Rachel Mei

Zack & Wiki Gets!

Mon, 04 May 2009 12:42:55 GMT

I just bought Zack & Wiki (awesome Wii game - far too hardcore for kids!) off Zavvi.co.uk for £9.95, inc delivery. Score :D Maybe I'll write a FAQ this time. I certainly won't have much else to do up North!

Atchoo!

Sun, 03 May 2009 15:05:07 GMT

Bahhh it's the Bank Holiday weekend and I have a cold, typical! Not as yucky as yesterday, but really tired and my nose is all sore. Despite others comments, no it's not swine flu :p

In other news, the unthinkable has happened. I resigned from my job on Thursday and at the end of the month I shall be moving TO ZA NORTH! My 4 week notice at work is more like 3, because I happen to have booked a long weekend in Italy with awesome colleagues just before my last date (Expo weekend, sadly). Soo it's going to be hectic.

I'm thinking I should have some big "hurrah she's leaving!" drinks/karaoke/meal in London before I go, probably the last weekend in May. I'm too tired to properly organise anything right now and I'm kinda trying not to think about how much I'll miss everyone :(

Passed!

Mon, 21 Jul 2008 13:52:34 GMT

I took my car theory test on Saturday morning and passed, woot! :D I wasn't very confident because I only started revising a few days beforehand and not very thoroughly, but I just scraped the multiple choice. 45/50 and the pass-mark is 43, phew!

The hazard perception bit was easy, just like playing a computer game ;) For you old geezers who don't know, you now have to pass the multiple-choice AND the HP to obtain your theory. They show you 14 video-clips from the view of a moving car and you click the mouse whenever you see potential hazards - pedestrians about to cross/run, parked cars blocking views, cars changing direction or doing mad things like reversing into main roads etc. Anything that may cause you to slow down or change direction. They score you on how quickly you spot these.

And I've just realised I've posted about this but not yet about Paris, the convention there and Euro Disney. Oh well, when work and life is less hectic - it can wait!

Paris

Wed, 09 Jul 2008 20:02:56 GMT

DO YOU REMEMBER THE MAGIC?

(proper post to follow at an unspecified time)

Over-reaction?

Thu, 05 Jun 2008 11:39:34 GMT

Does that need a heifen? Oh well...

Had a incident at work and I'm not sure whether I was overly sensitive and a bit uptight about it really. I think I'm justified but I hate "ratting" on people as such.

We've been having issues with one of our printers this week and had a couple of engineers in from the company that maintain them.
Today, one chap came in that I've not met before and he made me feel quite uncomfortable and embarassed. I'm terrible at receiving compliments at the best of times, but you don't expect someone to walk in and say upon introduction "Oh gosh, wasn't expecting someone so goodlooking/lovely" (forget the exact wording). Complete shock at that! Laugh it off and respond with the automatic polite thanks. When I take him to the printer he then goes on to enquire into my background, which isn't unusual, but when leaving later he then continues AGAIN to say "what an interesting mix, you're very beautiful". EEEH?? WTF creepy creepy go away ;__; Brush it aside, take down details, say thank you and go back to computer intently to stop conversation until he leaves.

If he wasn't due back in tomorrow to fix once we get spare parts I'd have probably left it, but I'm so worried he'd continue in that manner I ended up calling the account manager to complain, in a very nice way.

"I don't want to seem uptight, but as you can tell I'm a young lady and I felt it inappropriate and rather uncomfortable"

Got repeated sincere apologies and assurances that I'm "not uptight" and promised that he won't be back. I hope he doesn't get it in the neck, but what a relief!

Soo, complete over-reaction? Should I have stopped him initially and said "I'm sorry, I find this inapprorpiate" or just ignored completely?

The Nom O'clock News

Wed, 04 Jun 2008 15:43:33 GMT

Noms I feel worth mentioning today...

Eat - Maccha Frappuccinos
Eat is a food place you see in London. The name was something like "Macchalate" or similarly catchy, but it's one of their new cold drinks range advertised and is bright green so now I'm intrigued. Green tea frappaccino?! Will update you on results should I try :D

McDonalds - Orea & Toffee McFlurry
Colleague returning food-related treats/favours got us some McFlurries which are swirled (a bit) with Oreos and toffee sauce. OMNONMONMONNOMNOM.

Krispy Kreme - Strawberries & Cream
They sell KK in the Tesco Metro nearby and this is one of their new summer special donuts! Tried the peach already (it don't impress me much) but this was the first time I'd seen this so I HAD to buy, despite knowing I was having ice-cream soon! Just ate it and YUM. White icing and sprinkled dried strawberry flakes/pieces on top (pretty and frangrant) and creamy pink strawberry filling which was lighter then expected.
Altogether, it gets todays top NOMNOMNOMNOMNOMMMMMMM <3

This is what I do at work haha. I should set up the anti-diet LJ and update you all frequently on my gluttony!

Sick x_x

Sat, 12 Jan 2008 10:34:05 GMT

God, bladder infections are the worst!

I've been off work the last 2 days, either bored out of mind or in horrible pain/discomfort. Cranberry juice is my saviour! I think I was only awake and out of bed for handful of hours yesterday, so feeling very groggy now. Taking hardcore painkillers which are keeping the pain in my side (kidneys?) to liveable, but yesterday it was the nausea that drove me mad. I love to eat, but having difficulty even drinking fluids without feeling sick right now, which means my body is very weak too. Need a hug ;__;

Hellooo 2008!

Wed, 09 Jan 2008 17:25:10 GMT

Posting to take my mind off my wrecked body... played badminton for the first time since before Christmas, didn't stretch sufficiently and now the right-side of my torso (between hip and rib) is all sorts of owie.

Christmas and New Year were nice. Christmas at home with family plus Val, her mum and Jon Lim to help us obliverate the turkey. Mighty success! Got some lovely presents, including iPod, girly knick-knacks from mum, alarm clock and promised driving lessons paid for from dad. From friends, cute accessories, asian-ninja-chick-MeiMei-figuirine and probably more I've forgotten. Also, lots of chocolate >_> Shocking! Thanks guys ^^

Worked a bit round Christmas, then headed up to stay at Ross' for a week over New Year. Was bliisss~ Lisa and Dom kindly hosted a little partay which was great fun, stayed the night, then on the drive back on New Years Day Ross had much calamity with the car. Smashed wing mirror from another car, then shortly after checking out the damage, getting out to close the boot properly... onto a plastic bottle of milk. Not TOO much damage with either, but still, poor thing - what do you say in a situation like that? Try not to laugh anyway xD

On the 2nd, Ross and I have officially been together~~ So we had a nice little shop and cinema in Harrogate (Enchanted - soppy!), then a lovely dinner. I also got the most beautiful necklace. Love love <3

Work's ok, started again Monday. Apart from a little carelessness with my finances the last month (not a problem, just surprising) and little illness, absolutely top-notch here. Bring it 2008! :D

They're tracking us, run!

Thu, 22 Nov 2007 14:47:50 GMT

Heyy, about time I updated this thing-a-ma-bob :D

Regarding the subject; London has seemed REALLY small lately. I keep bumping into all sorts of people I know when not taking my usual daily route!
On my London Bridge-Waterloo East/Waterloo-Vauxhall variant it's been particularly creepy. On 2 occassions in the last month or so I've gone that way and bumped into 2 people I know on each leg! One at LB and another Waterloo. Last time, I was with a badminton friend I'd bumped into at LB and then we happened to jump through closing doors on a Vauxhall train exactly where Nic was. EXCATLY. I literally jumped on and at him in one swift unconscious, amazed move! Hahaha.

And yesterday, when grabbing a late Northern line train home I just happened to get on the a carriage that my parents happened to be in (I chose the carriage for being right by the exit stairs at Morden, they had gotten on randomly) as they came back from a musical. Very fun creeping up on my mum and nudging here with my knee till she looked up. See, if you've ever been on London tube in commuter hour, you keep your head down and don't look at anyone, even if they are standing annoyingly close and start nudging you with their knees! xD

Enough of my mindless prattle though (that'll be the day). Life is good, even if the weather and lack of sunlight is Le Shit.

I got upgraded in badminton, FINALLY. WAHEY! I'm now B+, watch out A! :D

Recent jaunts have included Oxford the other weekend, with Ross to check out his old digs and meet his school-day friends (including BFF guy) and of course my regular trek to The North which is always absolutely lovey.

Fairly busy in the run up to Christmas and I get paid tomorrow so need to plan my budget and stuff. Work has been between busy and awful-stress of late, and soon to be even busier, but as you can tell it's really quiet today and I'm bored and procrastinating. Woot!

Convention and cosplay;
Doing this Anime Central thing soon with Nia, so need to make sure Firklin is ok to wear still. And I'm doing Minami next year, but otherwise I'm a bit "meh" on the whole con thing now. Unless I'm cosplaying it's really boring and uneventful (thanks bountiful internet!), I see my good friends regardless and yeah it's all rather expensive really. So I think from now on it'll be Minami (social, boozey, yay!) and London Expos for me only. And maybe Paris cons :) they're awesome. Oh right, list of costumes that everyone's already done to death...

Minami '08:
Rabi-En-Rose for DC threesome (half done I think, somewhereee!)
Eternal Sonata duo with Nia (Waltz and Salsa I think?)
Wild Arms group - yet to find a character I like, Nia mentioned a flower girl..

Paris '08??:
My Little Pony??

Various Expos:
Dunno! BeatMania group?? I'd really like to do Lillith!

I think Minami, with fun/cute characters will revamp my cosplay-energy, but both my making-motivation/skills and actual cosplaying/posing confidence in myself is pretty low right now, so have to see... the Disney group at Expo was fun but I did absolutely hate my costume and how I looked, during the weekend and pictures/videos after, ahaha... ok, could of been funner :(

Wow, long entry. Let's do some work now!
Rachel xx

London Expo this weekend - travel engineering work

Wed, 17 Oct 2007 13:15:15 GMT

Hai guyz!

Just got my usual e-mail from tfl.gov.uk (transport for london), for all the engineering works going on with the tube system this weekend.

For ONCE, the DLR has no planned engineering work for the Expo weeekend - shocking! So no need to get a bloody bus replacement service :)

However, the Jubilee Line shall not be running between North Greenwich and Stratford. If, like me, you usually get the Jubilee to Canning Town (between those 2 stations) and then get the DLR, you'll have to find an alternative route. I suggest everyone looks up their route before hand as other underground lines have work scheduled too.

www.tfl.gov.uk

I'll stop being a mother now! xx

Sewed like mad yesterday and Jasmine has trousers and bling-bling shoes, hurray! ^_^ Popping into John Lewis tonight (Oxford St, groan..) to grab another zip and hair&jewellery supplies. Then need to make top, and the accessories. Yay!~ BEING POSITIVE DESU ;__;

Friday Rambles

Fri, 12 Oct 2007 12:30:05 GMT

It's Friday, the office is quiet... this calls for an LJ post!

Colleagues are now back, so the stress has been lifted, thankfully, and I can now get back to desperately finding things to occupy myself with, hoorah! And I seem to be back to normal voice-wise, with cold more or less banished, huzzah! :D Everyone I know seems to be dropping like flies though!

This weekend, I plan to get my arse in gear and make my Jasmine costume and play some badminton tonight and Sunday so that my belly isn't *too* wobbly in it! ^_^;

Weather's definately descended into winter this week, and having grown out of alot of my wardrobe during the milder weather, I realised I am lacking in enough work and casual outfits suitable for warmth and generally being very depressed with my drab, old clothing. So, like a girl, I cheered myself up yesterday by skiving off work early and popping to Wimbledon for some shopping. Woohoo!
H&M in Wimbledon always dissapoints me, the clothing lines there are decidely... rubbish. I prefer looking in the Oxford St stores, but they're always crowded, and my fave clothes always seem to come from the store in Stratford-Upon-Avon... shit. Nia, I'll be visiting again soon ;(
Anyway, picky, fashion-challenged me managed to find ONE nice casual top in River Island, which - as demonstrated today - seems to do nicely in a semi-smart work ensemble. I decided I also need new going-out, fitted dark jeans, so went to the last place I got a good baggy pair which I love...

<3 UniQlo! ^__^ For me, personally, the jeans in UniQlo seem to actually fit and I really like the material. None of that "distressed" or "millions of holes" or "*insert stupid phrase involving sweetangel/baby/toohot4u* in glitter across the arse" nonsense.
I don't usually like their other clothing though. Surprisingly, I did this time! Acquired; warmsnuggly pink/red hooded top and practicalcomfy grey zip-up sweater for badminton. Success! I suck at shopping, so going out and getting 4 items of practical clothing within 2 hours is amazing for me! And so, the sterotype of women doing "retail therapy" has been enforced. Ta-dah.

Now.. just need to finish Jasmine and Halloween outfits, book Christmas/New Year/weekend plans (Expo, Oxford, etc), figure out work holiday allowance and think of Christmas/birthday presents. Curse you parents and brother for having birthdays in October/November/December, argh! @_@

Must.. sleep..

Tue, 25 Sep 2007 08:45:55 GMT

Urrrrrgh. Damn you books, damn you to hell for consuming my soul!

I'm quite a bookworm at times, and when I get into a story find it impossible to put down, sometimes not noticing hours go past. My books shelves haven't got anything particularly unusual, favouring fantasy and old biddy literature(Little Women, Anne of Green Gables etc).

Anyway, this year I hadn't really been reading that much. I'd depend on the ipod, psp or good old sleep on the commute, and when I get home surfing or vegging in front of the tv. The odd book here and there, but nothing I couldn't read a chapter here, there, coming back to it after a couple days, lasting a week or 2 or 3. Then a couple months back, discovered a shared love of fantasy series with a colleague. OSHIT. Lent him my A Song of Ice and Fire series (currently 5 or 6 books?), and he recommmended HIS favourite author; a woman called Robin Hobb.

I don't think it's quite as good as ASOIAF, but it's still addictive, and she ties everything together really well. She's created one world, where's she's centered 3 trilogies. 3! So in 2 months between work and busy weekends, I've devoured the first 2 trilogies, 6 books so far. All with average 900 pages? I just started the 1st book of the final trilogy yesterday at lunch.. I stopped short of the last chapter or so at 5.30am this morning ;__;

So yea, after this long senseless ramble, I think I got about ooh.. an hour dozing/light sleep last night/this morning? I was in for work at 8.30am, which isn't a record breaker at all, but along with the weather, I want nothing more then the comfy retreat of my duvet right now. Wahhh!

Career test meme

Tue, 18 Sep 2007 07:56:37 GMT

1. Go to http://www.careercruising.com
2. Put in Username: nycareers, Password: landmark.
3. Take their "Career Matchmaker" questions.
4. Post the top ten results

1) Locksmith
2) Security Systems Technician
3) Furniture Finisher
4) Picture Framer
5) Upholsterer
6) Automotive Painter
7) Tailor / Dressmaker
8) Bicycle Mechanic
9) Musical Instrument Builder and Repairer
10) Gunsmith

Srlsy, wtf?? o_O;

Blah blah blah

Fri, 17 Aug 2007 15:13:58 GMT

Woo August update-eroo! Hmm, now what have I been doing lately..? My head's so all over the place u_u;

Went to AmeCon in Leicester last weekend! Not much to say other then 2 cosplays (Yuri and Firklin again, must get photos gathered), much drinky dancey, some warbling with my partner in crime Chubbs, and running around everywhere really. Oh, and I got Fruits Basket 1-12 for £30 \o/ Kev was also really ill, and shan't go into it, but I'm so glad he's ok <3

The party on Sat night was awesome-fun! I sold glowsticks for Choco, and really let myself go (must of looked mad!). TokyoToys Hideki and his sisters Yuko and Sumomo must have drunk the same water, as they were also insane! They're really fun :) Got a great pic of us on my mobile which I'll post later with the rest. I also saw the Glaswegian(?) cosplay gals from Paris again, but didn't speak to them as much as I'd have liked, and spoke with Rosie who is looovely ^^ Bane's (Chubzilla) girlfriend Jess is also loads of fun! We need to work on Utada KeepTryin' outfits soon! ^_^ So some new people, which is nice! Usual rubbishers, yeah, love you too ;(
There's lots more to talk about, like the nice rooms, and the poor security guy in tears to me and Ross about the idiotic con-goers vomiting everywhere, and spacking about in the Dealers Room with Barry&co, but can't be arsed! Was a fun weekend anyway.

I'm now really obsessed about cosplay now though. Cosplay in groups to be exact! I've been "dragged" into doing a Disney/KH group for LondonExpo in October (Princess Jasmine!), which Mark pioneered. And now, I've had a PM from the lovely Rinny-san in France I met in July, and she saw the girls' Magna Carta costumes and would like us to cosplay with them when they come over in October! ^^ So now I'm all "eeeee!" with the idea, and would like to make a beautiful MC costume, although they look insanely difficult! Chelsea, I'm thinking right now.

Work's being ok, same old (though it's just about to get super busy in Sept ;_;), and tonight I go to Stratford-Upon-Avon to girly-it-up with Nia this weekend. Spa... away! xD There'll probably be much nomming and spacking involved too, what else?

Cosplay; Extreme Sport

Fri, 03 Aug 2007 14:55:32 GMT

Or extreme mocking.. anyway, Nia just sent me this gem and I thought I'd get it in before she could embarass me on her own LJ.

Me being rubbish + Mark with a rapid-shot equipped camera = SADS

JapanExpo cosplay photos (Paris, 2007)

Wed, 25 Jul 2007 18:41:24 GMT

I got an e-mail from one of the really friendly photographers in Paris, DLG :D

Pictures of me and Nia as Firlin and Amatalilly, and of Kat, Angela and Sonya. Very "ooh la la, glasses and cleavage!" pics of Sonya ;) Photos with "publique" as a comment, will be put up on his public gallery. I have his e-mail if you want him to not put any up, he told me as such at the con.

http://convention.elvenmaid.org/people/rachelmei/index.php

His main page is:

http://convention.elvenmaid.org/

Fairly pleased with my pics, just wished someone had told me I looked like a simpering idiot! Hehe ^^

Harry Potto

Fri, 20 Jul 2007 15:02:05 GMT

Having not re-read all the previous Potter books in a long while (looking forward to the last book, but not in the huge hype), I found the following BBC-story quite handy for summarising the story so far!

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/entertainment/6896062.stm

My fave is #3 :D

BOOK ONE:
Harry: :D
BOOK TWO:
Harry: :)
BOOK THREE:
Harry: :|
BOOK FOUR:
Harry: :/
BOOK FIVE:
Harry: :(
BOOK SIX:
Harry: :'

I wonder if BOOK SEVEN = x_x ?

TGIF!

Fri, 20 Jul 2007 12:08:34 GMT

Wooooo, Friday ^_^ Although the weather has typically dampened the whole offices' (grammar crime?) spirit by chucking it down just before the weekend! There was thunder and lightning on top. But now seems to be brightening a bit, so fingers crossed for tomorrow...

Since Paris, I have been dealing with Le French Plague. Got a throat/chest? infection and been dealing with that, and varying stages of no voice, to 20-a-day puffer Doris, back to sexy-hotline-husk and propa' Northern. And coughing and choking. Lots.

Still managed to go out and party for the first time in ages on Sat, for the badminton club's summer BBQ and "disco" (we so cool), with lots of fun cheesy dancing until 2am. And Wednesday, the company took us lot go-karting at Buckmore Park in Kent. Woo! I've been other places before as a kid, but this is a professional course, with incredibly powerful engines for adults. So we all suited up and had the best time! Shall put some photos up on facebook soon (I'm now a FB addict...)

This weekend is going to be the TOPPEST NOTCH however. UK-Anime's annual Ice-cream Tour of London tomorrow xD kyaa~! And then Japan Expo on Sunday, which I'll probably wear Yuri to. Hopefully better then the past London Expos. And, after a month of distance, seeing Ross. Cannot WAIT! <3

Post-Paris

Wed, 11 Jul 2007 13:15:35 GMT

Wooooo I made it back from Paris alive! The French didn't manage to grab me and bake me into a baguette, happy! Saying that, everyone was a hell of a lot nicer then feared and remembered. Nia and I even had a French girl apologising to us for her bad English. It was 10x better then our non-existent French!

Wellll, where to start? Guess a day-by-day blow is the easiest, so you have been warned! LONG, INCOMPREHENSIBLE POST AHOY!

Thursday:
Met Nia [takuropop] after work Wednesday. Luckily found out that the Alexandra store (sells uniforms) in London had closed 6 weeks previously, so we skipped our original HalCali boiler-suit (for concert on Sunday) buying plans and headed back to mine.
Once there, there was much packing and last minute cosplay finishing (mostly on my part, Nia helped me out soo much! <3) and we managed to get to bed around 1am.
Up at 7am, leaving 8, to get our 10.40am Eurostar train from Waterloo. Journey went smoothly and very relaxed. However, once in Paris then did things start to go pear-shaped!

Buying wrong metro/RER ticket and getting fined 25 Euros each!

Not being able to find our La Defense Renaissance hotel! (did finally after a lovely old lady helped us look and ask).

Panicking over hotel rate! (later remembered my cheques were in pounds, not
euros, panic over!).

Quick! More cosplay last-minute!

Gravely under-estimating the distance and danger in walking to the restaurant along the river, in the rain, for over an hour!!

But that seemed to be all our bad karma used up for the trip (mostly) and they weren't all that terrible - like say, losing our passports! The hotel was amazing. Very businessy right next to the Grande Arch le Defense, with a complimentary sauna/fitness center, huuuge breakfast buffet with EVERYTHING and then some, v.helpful staff, and just much posh indeed. The restaurant (once we got there) was "fun and trendy" as promised! It was a boat on the Seine, and was very chic and hip in decor, food and staff. Name was simply "O". Waiter was lovely chap as well!
I need to get pics off Nia, as we tried to photograph everything we ate at the weekend. We skipped starters and aperitif (much to his shock - no wine?!). Nia had a wonderfully light and delicate seabass with tomato 'salsa' and a courgette flan which she fell in love with, and I played safe with a absolutely gorgeous bit of veal and potato puree. For desert, Nia had a trio of sorbets (citron, peach and OMG lovely pear!), whilst I again went rich with a chocolate melty-inside pud with custard (lighter then I was expecting). All beautiful! Back to the hotel (after a bit of kerfuffle with paying the bill to the wrong person, and taxi gets) and rest.

Friday
Woke up at fairly early time (7am?), ravenous, and was over the moon at the fantastic breakfast buffet! We had a busy morning before even getting to the convention itself... searching for Alexandra's Paris store (surprise, surprise, also closed a week back - but they hadn't updated the sodding site!), and then consoling ourselves at one of Pierre Herme's amazing patesseries. Nia told me he is like the Picasso of the pastry world, and the selections were indeed AMAZING! Got many macaroons to try, and a glass of 'Sensation' each (see Nia's flickr link at bottom). THEN back to the hotel, grab bags, and off to the convention - at last!

Navigate our way successfully to the exhibiton centre for 2pmish. This has been my first non-UK con and by god it was MASSIVE. The section they had was basically a giant rectangle with a smaller rectangle inside which was a garden with a stream. We got dressed into our super-cute Shining Force EXA costumes (Firklin & Amatalilly), and ended up being dragged into the garden area for photos by Celeste (aka as Blitz on cosplay.com) that Nia knew. Bumped into the UK cosplay lot then (Mark, Kat, Sonya, Angela, Emma, Ellie) and it was all very fun, hectic and sociable! Also got speaking to a lovely French cosplayer called Sandrine (aka Rinny_chan on cosplay.com), and she introduced me to a couple of photographers there too. So hoping for some cool pics! Sandrine and Celeste both coming to London cons I think, so really must contact them! Looking at their pages now, their costumes are soo good~

Big rush to get dressed and back to the hotel, to meet UK guys for a meal in Gare De Nord. Ok, restaurant, awesome meal ^^ Except that I got seated next to Mark, urgh, FACE! He drank some alcohol though, so the entertainment made up for it!

Saturday
Luckily, our KoF costumes didn't need much work, so we could just go to bed the previous night. Got up early again, big breakfast, and - yes, you've guessed it - ANOTHER PATESSERIE :D Arnaud Lahrer this time. MORE macaroons and cakey noms to behold! A pair of American girls were in there too taking pictures, and like us had read up online and come to Paris on a mission. We looked like such fat bastards to them though, as we came out with a HUGE box. To be fair, the large box of macaroons was for little Emily (her bithday that day), we bought a few more for ourselves, got a cake each (see flickr) and an ice-cream each. Mojito for Nia (alcy!) and pear for mee~
A man correctly stared at us in a nearby park, as we methodically opened, photographed, and ate the cakes. Oh dear...

Onto the convention! Again, turned up late around 1-2pm. We looked round the actual convention a bit more this time, and bought some fans (hot sunny day), and dressed up in our KoF costumes. Myself as Yuri and Nia as ChaeLim. Yuri is very iconic and popular, so I felt like one of the Disneyworld characters that get chased by children for photos and shouting in my FACE! (I'm looking at you, Mark and hareem!). That day was very fun, we did lots of photo-taking with the UK lot outside, and got to explore the stalls a bit more. Yet didn't buy anything, hrrm! Found the TokyoToys store and surprised the hell out of Hideki (store owner). He was wearing an apron (apparently the girls on the stall were complaining about exploitation!), and skipped out of his stall in order to twirl me round and balldance?! Fun guy xD French even more sure we're mad though. Possibly because I also spacked like anything when we encountered Pyramid-head... (I fed him chocolate~!).

That evening went a bit wrong. We were all going out for Emily's birthday, but we left late, and she got a bit worked up because there was a large number of people invited (UK lot cancelled, hope Emma's feeling better! Tokyotoys no idea), but we got there an hour late, had nowhere near enough seats, so Nia, KevPack and I went to.. McDonalds! xD Was lovely to actually speak to Kevpack properly, and it wasn't too bad. Another rush for the last Metro home...

Sunday
Aha, NO pastry shops today! Still got up earlyish though, as we had a mission... a HALCALI MISSION! :D We went straight to the con, lined up forever outside (the French CANNOT queue!) and finally got in. And today, without cosplay plans! So we had a good look round that day, found Junko Mizuno to sign Nia's model, and run around really. Sandrine and Celeste were in a Pop'a'Music group for the group madquerade. Group show was pretty bad overall, but the setup was AWESOME - large stage and thrust/catwalk, good presenters, and tech had 3 large screens for us at the back to see everything.
Many Naruto/rubbish groups, that thought doing a shitty macarena/simple dance routine qualified as an entertaining skit, and cartwheels got applause. But there were some that stood out, such as Pop'a'music, cute girl Pokemon dancing group, Mysterious Cities of Gold, Seint Seiya with Pokemon parody, and the most AMAZING sentai performance!!! Best skit I've EVER seen!
SEE THIS! http://youtube.com/watch?v=kTf4cxlpotI

And of course, after that we had... HACALIIIIIIIIIIIII. I got to highfive HACALIIIIIIII! Was great! They were only on for 40mins, did about 5 songs, but after us chanting and making uproar for an encore, they came back on. Obviously weren't expecting such a reaction, so did an unplanned song, with the guitarist as backing music. ^_^ So happy! I could see Nia was about to explode!

Exhausted from all our activity, we skip the World Cosplay Summit and head back to the hotel. The last supper was at Kong, another "fun and trendy" restaurant we found, with a domed glass roof near the river, decor by the famous Philip Stark. Much Japanese influence. A lovely American couple ended up sat next to us, and we chatted to them. Food wise... well, we couldn't take pictures, but we have something else that I need to scan in xD Curse you cocktails! It was over-priced, but good.

And the Monday, rather deflated, we make our way back... missing the breakfast buffet, we hit a McDonalds instead! What a last meal!

Nia's flickr with noms:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/crayonpanda

What a bloody long post... will spell check later!
Rachel x

Scoop

Wed, 04 Jul 2007 09:59:56 GMT

What's that, another Italian ice-cream place in the Westend? Yes please! :D

Scoop - http://www.scoopgelato.com/

Not as fun as the creations at Ciao, but looks super-posh and traditional (let's culture with gelato!). It's got fruit sorbets, ices, ice-cream cakes and more alongside the 'regular' dairy stuff - wow! Who wants to come sample with me next week? (please don't kill me Rob...)

Found via dailycandy.com. I signed up to their newsletter and boy do I regret it - too many noms-tastic alerts (last time it was the oh-so-expensive Skylon restaurant!).

Now to see if I can sneak a quick kip under my desk. So tired, I stupidly read a book until 3am this morning, and tonight I've got SUPER packing and last minute cosplay before heading to Paris with Nia in the morning, urrgh~

Uweeh~

Tue, 03 Jul 2007 12:45:31 GMT

I feel so lethargic, but I haven't really done anything... quiet at work, so the day is just dragging. Unlike yesterday, when it just zipped by - oh, Yesterday! *cuts song short*

Apart from bothering some of my friends on Friday night, I spent the weekend at home. Mostly sewing costumes in prep for Paris (Japan Expo) this weekend! ^^ Spent a good 7/8 hours working on Sat, and a few more on Sunday making a tail, and failing at shoes (given up and shall wear some vaguely matching boots of mums, d'oh).

So yes.. hotel - check. Travel - check. Restaurant bookings and various print-off info and directions and telephone numbers - check. Called HSBC to inform them of trip, and wad of Euros leftover from Holland - check.

Firklin (Shining Force EXA) has been the most complicated of my attempts so far (though not v.experienced anyway). It's ok, took a lot of shortcuts, and am vaguely pleased with it. Still have to do the sleeves, and the straps/belts tonight (should be simple), and re-do the rivets and attach/paint bells to tailcoat.

Yuri from KoF -simplest job ever- is now a last minute rush-finish, but only due to my awful procrastination and leaving buying ebay items to the last minute! Got the spandex suit (fhoo!), shoes, socks, wig, hairband, but the gloves and karate top just arrived this morning! (gloves need dying/covering, and top needs sleeves shortened), but that's basic, assuming the dying works.
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With all this cosplay rush, I keep forgetting I'm going to an ANIME CON! But Nia has sent me the timetable, and I'm getting v.excited. Let's go, YAY! ^_^

Wii friend code

Tue, 26 Jun 2007 18:31:27 GMT

Hey hey! I'm 20 now OMG. Bday was good, saw lots of my friends, ate tons of food, got loads of lovely texts, cards and presents, and tried not to think about my old age too much!

Ross is ace, and far too generous - he got me a Wii. Omfgbbq~~ So thought I better get all my friends' wii codes. Please add and give me yours, so I may steal all your gay Miis :D

Mine is: 5686 1912 3701 3060

Ciao~

Dutch delights

Tue, 12 Jun 2007 08:59:19 GMT

No, I'm not talking about you Mark, my European chum, should you be reading this.

I'm all about THIS! http://www.myolddutch.com

Seems to be a chain of restaurants that sell, well, pancakes! Some so-wrong-yet-so-tempting savoury fillings in the menu thar, and they even have a Christmas menu! I *must* go try this soon!

Getting all excited over UK-As 3rd Annual Ice-Cream Tour of London, and been researching restaurants and sweet-eateries. Chris, you work around Holborn don't you? They have a branch there. Go eat pancakes! :D

Are You Hungry?

Fri, 08 Jun 2007 15:48:22 GMT

In other news, I have just spent £44.14 on bentos & acccessories.

Mooooooo! <3 u_u

Quick Update!

Fri, 08 Jun 2007 14:26:57 GMT

Speedy catch-up on recent events, in the Life Of Mei.

Last weekend Ross came down on Saturday, and I surprised him with a table booked at The Skylon restaurant, new re-furbished super-posh restaurant and grill in the Royal Festival Hall along the Southbank and overlooking the Thames. The view was gorgeous (sunset), the service impeccable (even if one waiter did embarass himself calling Ross madam, and another rush over to aid us when Ross made a gesture with his hand for toilet directions!) and the food... amazing. I've never had such posh-nosh! Aside from our 3-course meal (yum), they also had unlimited tasty fresh bread, canapes (Parmesan breasticks, dip and something else), and a little seafood terrine-jelly, which they served and then poured on top a green pea-mint sauce. Very odd, but nice!
It was also Choco's birthday, which I hope I didn't neglect too much with this adventure. Drinks on Riverside (and many lol pics, ala Nia's facebook), and park-sunning on Sunday. Lovely.

Apart from socialising and romantic-ing it up, I've been playing badminton more and getting back into it and enjoying it immensely, and work had slowed down but been a mixed bag of my bored/unfulfilled and happy/appreciated moods. Also been edging back into my hobby of anime/manga. What to do with my future? Le sigh.

The summer is looking v.exciting indeed. Must cosplay-produce like mad this weekend, as I have JapanExpo in July (yayy! HALCALI!) and AmeCon in August. Work has scheduled go-karting in July (yahoo!), Film4 are doing their Summer Screen in Somerset House again (great fun), UK-A are holding the 3rd annual Ice-Cream Tour, and I've got the money, friends, and time to enjoy it all freely.

Then I remember, and I become somber... I'm almost 20, ARGHS! So GAMMALS! But I'm celebrating by stuffing my face and being as childish as I can, so it'll be as painless a process as possible :D