I like online shopping...

I haven't really been doing anything this Reading Week.  I came down with a cold on Friday, so I've been staying in bed with my laptop and some tea all week.

Anyways, my TaoBao order shipped, so I'll post pictures when it comes in (next week, probably).  One of the pairs of shoes I ordered (white pumps with little pink polkadots) was out of stock in my size, but that can't be helped.   My current order consists of: a DoL Fantasic Dolly replica JSK (normal waist) in white, a pair of black boots for my Franziska cosplay (I think they're from Kiss Shoes, but it might be Yaya), and a short brown wig and two pairs of false lashes from Fantasy Sheep.

My EpicCosplay order came in.  I originally wanted a short wig + extensions, but the extensions were out of stock so they gave me a long wig for the price of the short wig.  The order also included wigs for three others, but I haven't seen them out of the package.  I didn't want to take them out of the bags, since we wouldn't be able to return them in that case.  Everyone's happy with the quality. The colour accuracy, not so much. One of my friends said that the dark red looked less saturated in person (which was good for the cosplay in question) and the walnut brown looked lighter (which was bad for the cosplay in question).

The wig really is nice.  I had heard people say they didn't tangle much, so I put it on a head and shook it, and rubbed a towel on it.  It didn't get tangles and there were no static flyaways.  What was most impressive, though, was that I could style it with long sleeves on and not have it stick to my arms.

My wig was in copper red for my FeMC cosplay.  The colour is perfect, but I was going for a redder tone (because I prefer a red-blue contrast between FeMC and MC to brown-blue) so I don't think colour accuracy is too important in this case (since her hair colour is all over the fucking place different people will have different opinions on what the perfect colour is).  I had originally planned to use the extensions to make a clip-on and do something like this, but when I ended up with the long wig, I tried this.  I don't like how it came out, so I think I'm going to chop up the long wig to make a short wig + extensions and go with my first idea.

Anyone with anime figures: what do you do about oiling?  My TotA Ion figure started oiling recently.  It's a trading figure so I know the plastic quality isn't that great, but it's become difficult to get a hold of so I'd like to know some way to clean it off.  I've only found prevention tips through Google.  Well, there was something about sticking it in the freezer and then wiping it down, but that didn't help.  I'm really annoyed now that I sold my extra Ion last year.

My Yuri figure and Aigis figma came in over the weekend.  I got hit by customs for the first time.  They charged me $15 in tax, and $13 as a "handling fee".  So I paid customs $13 to charge me.  IT'S OKAY, CUSTOMS.  I'M TOTALLY COOL WITH THAT. >:(  I'm guessing AmiAmi's giant box drew their attention.

Seriously, the box was fucking huge. And over half empty.  Get more box sizes, AmiAmi.

Anyways, Yuri is gorgeous. My only problem is that the base is just molded plastic and I like solid bases, but the plastic is thick, so it's not cheap and flimsy like the bases for P3's protag and Akihiko.  The paint job on the clothing is gorgeous. The hair sculpt is gorgeous.  It was worth the money.  The figure's got a nice weight to it, too.  The sword's blade sparkles (I swear, it looks better than it sounds) and the black part of the scabbard is shiner and looks lacquered.  Anyways, it's an Alter figure, of course it's good.  The light parts of his shirt are raised, too.  I was just expecting them to be painted on.

My Aigis figma is unique.  There's a drop of black paint under one of her eyes on the neutral face, so she has a mole, I guess.  I am impressed with the sculpt.  Beneath those flared gold things on her hips, there are folds of what I'm assuming would be some sort of rubber or canvas covering her leg mechanism.  I was expecting that area to be flat. I want to file her neck down, though.  She's a short haired figma, but her neck is long enough to restrict the joint's movement.  I was impressed with the detail of the paint job, though.  I was expecting it to be like the Miku figma, where some details weren't included.  I never noticed how long Aigis' shins are, though.  Damn, she has short thighs and long shins...

I lost one of my earrings at school yesterday.  It probably came off when I took off my scarf.  They were just from F21, so it's not like they were valuable, they were just really cute.  They were long, with chains and keys. Since they were my favourite pair, the remaining earring is now becoming a cell phone charm.

Finals

My first final was today.  It was Molecular Biology, three hours, 65 MC questions.   I finished an hour into the exam and waited half an hour for someone else to hand it in first.  The first few questions were difficult, but the rest was really easy.

When I left the exam room, a girl from one of the other rooms stopped me to ask if I had been writing the same exam.  She was panicking because she'd finished so quickly.  I find that as long as you can read quickly, you can easily finish MC questions in less than half the time that the instructor allots.

Now I get to spend the weekend studying like mad for Biochem.  And by studying like mad, I mean memorizing structures.  All our other profs tell us not to bother memorizing them, since we'll always have a reference in the lab.  That's what makes it so troublesome when one prof does want them memorized.  I'm doing well in that course, but that's because I know the concepts and how to apply them.  Not because I know how to draw all the structures involved in every reaction as well as the structures of the enzymes that catalyze said reactions.

And then I have my Physio exam the day after.  Let's just not talk about Physio, okay? Well, at least Physio's multiple choice.  But I need to do really well on it to make up for the last exam. I've never been to the building that the Physio exam is in, though.  I need to go early so I can look for it.  They gave us a weird code for it, too.  Normally campus building codes are a two letter alpha code, but this wasn't.  I'm not 100% sure what the alpha code would be, so until I figure that out, I don't know where I'm writing. :/  I think I know what building it is, but I'd like to be 100% sure so I don't end up at the wrong place come exam time...

If you can't give us a proper code, you can at least give us an address. :(

My two exams next week are in one of the Kinesiology buildings.  So I'm writing the exams in a gym.  Feels like high school.  I hate writing in that building because there are no clocks. And we have to wait outside before the exam.  In the cold, Canadian winter.  At night, too, for one exam...

I can't wait for the 21st.  That will be my last final, and then I'll have about two and a half weeks off.

Weeabooing starts here:

I think my weeaboo is showing (or, I really love anime merch, sometimes more than the source material itself)

Today's unexpected good luck: while buying bus tickets, I saw Old Dutch Jalapeno & Cheddar chips.  And there was a two for two dollars sale.  These are my favourite chips and I have only seen them in stores once since I was in the sixth grade.  They are so delicious and spicy.  One chip is enough to make me start coughing and my nose start running.

I got the last package from my September haul (lol SAL) and my October haul package today.  I spent an hour opening/playing with everything. Mostly opening because damn Amiami loves tape. I took pictures, but they came out shitty.  That was very annoying because my phone usually takes very clear pictures.  I have no idea why these ones were randomly low-res and grainy.

Anyways, onto the loot:
September Haul (only the AmiAmi ones arrived today): figma Kyon, from a /toy/soldier through the BST, because it was one of my grails; figma Haruhi (Winter), from AmiAmi, because now that I have Kyon I need a Haruhi for wacky hijinks; figma Yui, from AmiAmi, because I have the rest of HTT and they make a good back-up band for Miku and they make for good wacky hijinks poses; and the best item (and my most expensive figure to date, but I still paid significantly less than it's known to sell for), Kotobukiya P3 Protagonist, from MFC's sales.

 K-On and Haruhi figmas come with a nice reaction faces, so with a few Re-Ment/Orcara/MegaHouse miniatures, I like posing them in silly dioramas.  ATM I have the K-Ons acting as a band for my Miku figma, but once Luka shows up I'm rearranging them.  I must say, though, the detailing on the K-On instruments is amazing.  Mio's bass and Mugi's keyboard are exceptionally gorgeous.

Protag is gorgeous.  You can see his (fully painted) watch up his sleeve, you can read every letter--and they're less than 1mm in size--on his headphones, you can see distinct zipper teeth.  My only issue:  for some reason, the printing on the SEES armband had the seam between the two Es, so they don't line up exactly. I have him posed with the back half of the armband towards the wall, so it's not too noticeable.  I need to get Akihiko (and whenever I think or say that name too quickly it ends up being Kiko, so that's what I'll be calling him from now on) to complete the Protag, though, since his base has a cutaway for Kiko's.  I've got Kiko on backorder from AmiAmi.  I know HS has it in stock, but I have pre-orders at AmiAmi so I'm hoping it'll come in and I can save on shipping by doing that.

October Haul: Nendoroid Black Rock Shooter, since it was on sale for 1100 yen at AmiAmi; and Revoltech Yotsuba, also from AmiAmi.

I have learned that I do not like Nendoroids.  Since BRS was so cheap, it was a test purchase (I was on the fence, since I'm not all that crazy about their proportions) and because my other two October pre-orders were delayed and I didn't want to waste EMS on Yotsuba alone.  I am 90% sure I will be selling this thing at Anime North.  People always said figmas were fragile and Nendos were so sturdy, etc.  I look at this thing the wrong way and her pigtails fall out.

I've got it in the cartoonish battle damage pose at the moment.  The cartoonish bangs?  Do not fit the head's cut.  Gaps all around the face.  People bitched that the BRS figma was so flimsy and fragile, but that feels so much sturdier to me than this does.  And Nendos need to include a storage container like some other brands do.  So many extra parts.  I want to be able to store the box in my closet until I sell it and not have to deal with digging it out if I want to partswap.  I can't believe that my local anime store has the gall to sell these things for $70.  The only good thing:  the long pigtail has a peg separating the long and short locks so they can be posed separately.

Yotsuba's fun, though.  My first Revo, and even though I knew about the ratcheting joints, they were still a bit weird at first.  Not liking all the swivels, though.  More real joints, please.  The swivels are so loose, too.  It's hard to get them to hold a pose.  Currently I've got Yotsuba beside MC using her watergun to mimic his pose.

Shit that should be coming in in November:  figma Itsuki, from the BST; figmas Luka, Mari, and Aigis, from AmiAmi.  Kiko's coming whenever he comes out of backorder.  I kind of want figma Metis for Koromaru, but I dislike Metis.  Didn't play FES, and her design is ugly so I don't really want a figure of it.  Well, I can always hit up the BST to see if someone's selling Koro loose.

...Wow that was longer than I'd expected.

I also have my new glasses now.  I can see, plus the frames are thinner and the lenses are a higher RI than my old ones so they're a lot lighter.  Hopefully those bruises will go away soon.

In other news: my Classics prof still doesn't know how to use microphones, tall brunette in my Genetics tutorial still doesn't know how to answer questions, I am still colouring my Franziska wig and it is slowly making me insane, and blah school I wish we had a fall reading week like a certain nearby school.

Oh, speaking of school, the bookstore sells GIANTmicrobes in the medical section now.  I didn't get any because I couldn't decide which I liked best and Moyashimon's microbes are way cuter and the plushies are bigger so they wouldn't really fit in together. :(  I do want one of the ants (I know, not a microbe) but they didn't have any.