I've been out of it for a while, huh? Sorry about that, but I guess I haven't had much to say. At least not stuff that I felt I should be posting here...

I already wrote up a little X-Mas message elsewhere, but I thought I would cut and paste it here:

Winter is a time to celebrate the presence of friends and family. Outside its cold and its dark. And inside, more than a few of us suffer from seasonal depression. What better time is there then to show appreciation for the people around you and celebrate one another's company? What better time to enjoy good food and drink? It is its own warmth and its own sunlight. There's no need to cover it up with the psuedo-religion of Santa Clause or the birth of a long-dead religious figurehead. And that is why I do not celebrate those things. For me, they are completely beside the point and unnecessary. So it is that I hope my friends and my family had a pleasant holiday, no matter how or what they themselves chose to celebrate.

Presents wise, I've gotten or am getting lots of cute Nyanko things! Like Nyanko desserts! And a giant layered Nyanko cake! And Nyanko curry and rice plate! (My favourite cheap Japanese meal.) And Nyanko traditional fish! And Nyanko roasted chicken! I'm also getting the very last of the Final Fantasy VII official ShinRa items I was missing - the company ID card! It was never for sale, only sent out to people in Japan who registered. I'm also still expecting an as of yet unknown gift from my sister, Elf.

I hope my sister and her husband enjoy the presents I sent them. Sarah/Elf got a fleecey beanie KamiNeko hat. KamiNeko is an evil grey cat from Azumanga Daioh, which she must now watch! MUST! And I got John/Thudfactor a beret-style green mushroom hat ala Mario Bros. Philip got a rare and "good" condition Red XIII plushie from Final Fantasy VII. They were only produced for use as UFO machine prizes and that was 6+ years ago, so its really difficult to find them in ANY condition. I didn't get anything for my dad, which I feel kind of guilty about, but I just don't know what he'd want. Apart from a visit from me, but I don't know when I'll be able to do that.

Anyways, to explain where I've been, what I've been doing...

A month or two back, I finally got talked into signing up for a free LiveJournal account by my new cosplaying friends. (Its been working out really well! I have friends now! We go out and do stuff! YAY!) The biggest reason being that they are lazy and only check livejournal since they can easily link to their friends, etc. So I decided to make it my Cosplaying and FFCUK related Journal. (FFCUK = Final Fantasy Cosplay UK = my new friends) It also happens that one of my friends bought me a year long subscription to it as an X-Mas Gift, so I was able to do a few cool things with it, like use my own custom mood icons and such. And they are insanely cute. They're little Sephiroth faces!

I had also decided from the start I was going to be rather harsh on it and utterly indulge my obsessiveness and rant about anything pissing me off. So it can get a bit "strong" over there, hence I don't have a link to it on my side bar or anything - its not meant for a lot of people to read. I really do rant and bitch a LOT on it and shouldn't be taken overly seriously. If anyone is interested in reading my vaguely cosplaying related rants however, you can visit it here: Becoming Sephiroth. It can be an interesting read because in my quest for the perfect custom Sephiroth cosplay outfit, I come full circle in some ways. Such as the fact that I'm going to be traditionally wrapping the handle of the massively long 5'9" LARP katana I'm having made. So once again, I get to talk about things like making glue out of sushi rice and finding ito (strapping) and same-kawa (stingray skin).