Barmy Blue's Bland Blog

Okay. Let’s do this, I’m sick of having it hanging over me and you must be sick of me promising to do it. Besides, if I don’t do it soon I’ll have 2 expos to write up again .
(please note, pictures of things I mention will be shown at the end. I can’t be bothered to go through this whole thing and put the right picture in the right place. Too much hassle)

Backdated Event 2: The October Expo
There’s not that much to tell really. I’ll try to remember it. I got to the station early, I don’t think it was as early as the first time though. I wasn’t so nervous this time, since I’d already done it once. Like the first time I wore my Hetalia t-shirt (Doubt I’ve mentioned this before. Last year I became quite a fangirl of Axis Powers Hetalia (so much so that I don’t advise that I read it or watch fan vids because I go into fangirly hysterics (Like the time Germany proposed to Italy because he misunderstood Italy’s feelings towards him (eeeeyyaahhhh! Just remembering it makes me smile, it was absolutely ADORABLE!) and things like that) and the fanvids are worse because they make adorable couples (and for some reason Japan is usually playing a girl in his videos, he’s a guy but because he’s shorter and has more feminine features than some of the others he ends up playing a girl) and opening sequences of anime with the Hetalia characters in (There was a Ghost in the Shell SAC one that was particularly good) anyway, digressing badly here. Focus.)) And because I became such a fan mum pestered me to print her a nice Hetalia picture (eventually I chose two from one of my favourite videos at the time (I still have the song on my MP3)) I didn’t know what it was for but I was suspicious. She got the pictures printed onto t-shirts. The t-shirts are white though (it’s not a very flattering colour for me (I won’t debate whether white counts as a colour or not. For the purpose of this blog it does) mainly because it brings about my shape more and because I’m so pale it doesn’t suit me) I wore one to the first expo with a black long sleeved t-shirt underneath (I like to dress in layers, it’s a style I developed half way through my first year at uni, I even wore it in the summer, though I chose to wear t-shirts of a slightly thinner material (At the moment I prefer black on top, so much so that I have 4 black t-shirts) it consists of a long sleeved t-shirt underneath and a short sleeved one on top. I like it because it’s kind of stylish and breaks up my shape a little)) anyway. I got to the station with plenty of time again. And eventually the others arrived (I wasn’t waiting as long as the first time) 3 of the girls were in Gothic Lolita style dresses (what with Halloween being right round the corner (Sara being one of them (she tried to convince me to wear one too but I was set on my Hetalia t-shirt so she threatened to put a ribbon in my hair instead. I decided to beat her to it and made a hair ribbon from a white lacy ribbon, a thinner black one on top, two small bows on either side and some little black roses along the top (I figured I’d try and match the style a little, even though I wasn’t wearing a dress) I wore it all day and it wasn’t so bad))) I get worried about getting lost at the expo so I usually pick someone to stay with (It would’ve been Sara the first time but she couldn’t make it to that one) this time it was Sara, I didn’t mind and if she’d objected to my company she’d have said so, besides, I was a useful prop to lean on when she had to change her shoes (she’d bought a pair of very high heels to go with the dress but they hurt her feet so she wore her trainers most of the time, but if someone wanted to take her picture she’d either demand they not include her feet or change into the shoes if she felt like it) I love all the things at the expo there’s lots to choose from but it’s usually rather pricy for what you’re actually getting (I may have mentioned my desire to get a stuffed toy at the first expo but was put of by the quality and price (and the fact that I didn’t know who some of the characters were)) things like this are what restricts my spending so I end up with rather small, cheap souvenirs that have an appealing charm to me (the first time it was the postcards) this time it was 2 cheap little keychain style things (one of L from Deathnote and one of Ichigo from bleach; a chibi L is eating a cupcake and a chibi Ichigo is hugging a giant strawberry (ichigo also means strawberry) with ears and a fox like tail (not sure if it’s a cat, dog or fox, so I’ll just call it fox like)) I put them on my handbag. Later on I also bought a box of strawberry pocky. I love pocky. (I was so glad it finally made it to the UK, only it’s called Mikado instead. What was wrong with pocky? Pocky rocks. But never mind.) as I hinted in my last entry I saw many cosplayers as characters I’ve never seen before. (Lots of Final Fantasy. I hate that purely because I’ve never played any of them. I don’t know who they are supposed to be.) We didn’t get a bag of freebies like the first time (which saved me having to carry it around at least, it got heavy, especially when my ring started to dig into my hand) and the stamp they put on your hand (so you can enter the hall again once you’ve bought a ticket (food and drink is sold outside the main hall, so you need the stamp to get back in)) was UV this time instead of red (Like the first time) We made acquaintances with a strange guy (he was partly American among other things (He’d moved around a bit) but originally a northerner (Sara said she thought she could detect the northerner in him, being one herself (incidentally I’ve never been called a southerner until I met Sara, it was an odd experience for me and rather confusing, especially since I’m from North and not South London (yes, I know that’s not what she meant, she meant south of England, but I got confused at the time)) and she struck up a conversation with him (He’d introduced himself as a friend of one of our companions when we met up with them earlier. Not exactly true, they’d just made acquaintances that day but he was a sociable person and happy to refer to strangers he acquainted himself with as friends, nothing harmless with that I guess) so when a small group of us met up and sat outside for a while to rest and discuss our activities Sara spotted this fellow and invited him to sit with us) It was only then that we discovered him to be a little mad (not apparently dangerously so, don’t think I’m trying to imply he was some sort of killer or something) he’d purchased a decorative knife at one of the stalls (I didn’t know they sold real ones) and tested it’s sharpness with his thumb (first indication he was a little mad, in the sense that self preservation wasn’t much of an issue for him) and later accepted a kiwi from Anna, our president (She’d brought a few and offered them to us. I declined because I hate kiwis and the others objected for lack of something to peel them with (I didn’t know people peeled them. Mum eats them as is. Then again, she also likes lemon skins too, turns out it’s a preference) so he decided to peel it with the knife. Only thing was the cut on his thumb was still open and he got kiwi juice in it. Seems it was pretty painful) He also had a mock ninja fight with another of our companions and then we parted ways. One of our companions dressed as a green L block from Tetris, made from cardboard boxes with a sign saying L blocks need love too (he got rather hot in it though and could only use one arm as the other was propping up one side of the costume) and two of our other companions dressed as Light and L from Deathnote and were handcuffed together. They went around with signs like Hugs for L Hugs for Kira written in a deathnote and had a little contest to see who got more. I think L won. There was a great moment when he was hugged by another L cosplayer (a better one I must admit) and it looked sooooooo absolutely adorable. I wish I’d gotten a picture but by the time my camera was ready it was over. Oh well. I’m running out of things to remember from it now. Let’s see. Oh, I saw someone in a furry Totoro costume, they must’ve been hot and I also saw a little boy as Uryū Ishida in his Quincy uniform. He looked so sweet. (I have to confess that Ishida is one of my favorite characters in Bleach. I seem to prefer glasses characters, probably because I wear them myself, nearly for ¾ of my life so far. While on that subject Kyoya Ootori has to be my favorite character from Ouran Host Club, another glasses character. They’re usually the more calculating and reserved characters. My glasses is one of the reasons I can’t comfortably cosplay as an actual character, there aren’t many glasses characters and it’s not like I can wear them part time, I need them all the time. I happen to like them so I don’t want the alternatives that are available now. The other issue is my weight combined with my height. I’m near, almost or only just over weight for my age (So it was implied by the nurse one time, but that was a couple of years ago I think, although my physique hasn’t really changed much) but I’m just above average height for women my age so I’m a little more proportioned than a shorter person with my weight. Needless to say there are few fat anime characters, who wear glasses, who it would be comfortable to dress as (as the creepy, geeky characters are usually all this criteria covers) who are also female. But I’m digressing a little) anyway, that’s about all from the expo. Oh, we took a nice group photo at the end and I didn’t mind having my picture taken when we all met up, I was taking lots of pictures myself and I needn’t be quite so conscious of having my picture taken. The attitude I took was it’s horrible but actually it could’ve been worse. They’re on facebook but I’d rather not link you to them. I don’t actually like my image spread over the internet (the only reason I even used my real name in my facebook account is because my friends know who I am, otherwise I’d have used an alias). Anyway. After that I got the train back to Hammersmith with them (even though I didn’t need to, I preferred to stay with them a little longer) said goodbye on the platform and had to jump back onto the train before it left (because it was going my way) and went home. On that day (it was a Sunday) we thought we were supposed to be going to my Uncle’s. I’d already stated that if it was a choice between family and expo I’d choose the expo, it only happens twice and it was only my second one, I see my family 3-4 times a year and I’ve gone to each little meeting since they became such a regular thing (I’m not sure if they always happened or not, they’ve been happening as long as I can remember, just not quite so often, it used to be 1-2 times a year) and mum, of course, was completely encouraging (she worries about my social life, or lack of it and is overly pleased if I can make friends at any time and bring myself to go out with them (As you know I lack self esteem and courage for such things. I’m working on it though)) and understanding. If I’d chosen differently she’d probably have nagged me to go to the expo instead. So. By the time I got home mum was still there. She should’ve left for my uncle’s by then. I freshened up a bit and we went there (still in my Hetalia t-shirt) I was suspicious that he hadn’t called to check we’d left by that time, as it was later than usual. When we got there we were met with surprise. The date to meet up had been moved. Seems we missed that (either he forgot to tell us or he did and mum forgot, doesn’t matter anyway) seemingly in the desire to be hospitable they invited us in for tea (well, mum at least, I detest tea and I hate the English stereotype that everyone drinks tea. We bloody don’t) and we had to chat. I was still excited from the expo so I was a little less sombre than I usually am around them. I was glad the date was moved, it would’ve been a very long and tedious day otherwise (I’ve no doubt that a family gathering would’ve brought my mood down eventually, now thinking what I do, I didn’t think it so much then though).
Anyway, my wrist is starting to hurt again, this has gone on long enough and that’s about all to tell. Thanks for reading this far. Now follows some pictures of what I was rambling about (Please note, anime references only, not pictures from the expo)

Hetalia.
Sorry it’s best I don’t. If I start looking for pictures I’ll get drawn into the fangirlyness again. If you’re really interested it’s best you look it up yourselves. Sorry about that. Please don’t feel obliged to, only if you really want to know what I’m going on about. It doesn’t really matter either way.

Deathnote - L


Bleach - Ichigo Kurosaki


Deathnote - Light/Kira Yagami


Totoro


Bleach - Uryū Ishida



Ouran Host Club - Kyoya Ootori


If I’ve missed any out I’ll put them in later. I’m tired now.
Will spell/gramar check later.