Cosplay~

Always been a huge fan of anime and cosplay, but never really had the time/funds/guts to do cosplay myself.

It honestly wasn't until my Hanami Day trip which rekindled my love for dressing up and not to mention how much easier and fun it was to take photos of myself whilst parading as someone/thing else! 

Every time I go out, I get all prettied up etc like outfit/makeup/accessories, so honestly cosplay is no different, however instead of playing the role of myself, I am immersed in the role of being an anime fictional character hehe

With my rekindled love and added with my impulsive-ness personality, I immediately started to search all the cosplay stores out there....

starting with "CHEAP COSPLAY" as my google search (｡･ω･｡)

The best and probably cheapest site I found is Milanoo which offers discounts and various what nots during different seasons :D currently they have discount on total price until 29/9/2013 so if you want to order, better do it fast!

I found various outfits from them which are uber tempting to buy like TONS of Naruto cosplay and Final Fantasy ones!

They are having a sale on this outfit 50% discount which brings it down to only $17.80 AUSD which makes it even cheaper on USD

$40.07 to be Ino! You know you wanna!

Obviously the popularity of the characters has an impact on the costs. The more popular it is, the better quality material they will use as people will compare as they've seen so many good bad and ugly types of cosplay.

One thing I love about Milanno is how non-shiny their fabrics look! One thing I hate about cheapo cosplay is that the manufacturers just think because it is cosplay or a costume, they dont have to use normal material and we the consumers end up wearing shiny ass fake looking stuff.

Back then cosplay weren't so popular hence prices were waaay higher and to get only crappy stuff? NTY (no thank you)  But with Milanno, they seem to have hit the spot by supplying cosplay/costumes which look like real outfits :D

As I am writing this, I am dying of anticipation and so excited about my soon to be purchase from them haha

Here are just more cosplay they offer:

Be Vincent for the low low price of $102.41 AUSD

Or the pretty Rinoa for $77.92

For $95 you can be the awesome sexy Cloudo Kun

Serah costume only $38.95 thanks to their current discount promo :D

Other than cosplay costumes they also have wigs which are done very nicely and all have pretty good reviews

This one is probably one of their higher end types of wigs so it is costly around $50.08 but I think its worth it. Looks amazing here lol

Not to drag on and on about what they offer, here is what I WILL BE GETTING

Lacus Clyne!

Hehe yepyep I wanna be cosplaying Lacus! Why? Because its pretty and its pink LOL, added the cost is only $57.88 which imho is dirt cheap! I'll be adding the extra charge for it to be custom made also :D So totalling to around $81 AUSD

This will be my first time every purchasing cosplay and through a site I have never bought anything from lol so it is a huge as gamble but its just once off so I guess I will have to try to see

There are some very bad press about Milanno especially from the current community of cosplayers I asked, however many have either got other peoples opinions or through what reviews have said dated 2 years back, so I am hoping things will be different now :)

I suppose with anything, there will always be hit and miss so that is a given, and unless I try I cant really just go by what others told me, especially when they purchase another type of cosplay and not this particular one (crosses fingers)

In terms of the wigs, I will buy from ebay as it is cheaper and white boots I can purchase anytime from a retail store so thats no biggie.

Absolutely cannot wait for it to arrive. Total estimated time is 21 days maximum so from now it'll mean hopefully it'll arrive 19/10/2013! Just before my Sydney trip and before Armageddon which I still dunno whether to go or not haha depends if I am broke or not to purchase the tickets I guess :3

-begin rant- 

PS: Alot of people have been telling me I get what I paid for with cosplay which is sometimes correct, however I have to rant that even IF I were to spend $200 on a cosplay, unless they use some damn unbreakable fabric, all fabric will wear and tear so yes rich bums go ahead and spend a ton of money on it, but it doesn't hurt to bargain hunt from time to time and try out cheaper alternatives rather than stick with the majority and going by what others say.

Added I rocked a $30 cosplay kimono on Hanami Day without ANYONE ever coming up to me and saying my outfit was shiit or crappy. Infact I had tons of people wanting to take photos because I looked really nice and my kimono was beautiful, sometimes the cost of the outfit doesn't show through, it is HOW you wear it and HOW you present yourself confidently which makes all the difference. 

-end rant

Heres the photos of me with my $30 Kimono <3

Didn't even iron it :( didn't have time haha

Take care and until next time!

xoxo M3

The Solution

So previously I blogged about getting a refurbished version of the Mac Book Air since I said its SSD storage is much bigger and for a cheaper price too like $200 difference, however....

as it did say it was built in 2012 I became hesitant. 

Like why would I be paying for a one year old model? (｡･ω･｡)

As the impatient person as I am, as soon as I finished work I nagged the bf to take me to my nearest Apple store to check things out.




My first impression of the place was that...wew its busy lol secondly though, I disliked all the information I wanted to ask, the reps referred me back to their website.
I was thinking ...I HAVE CHECKED YOUR WEBSITE SO MANY TIMES, STOP REFERRING ME TO IT (／￣(ｴ)￣)／


Like in all honesty the only reason I am asking is to see for a better price but I guess this is Apple and they wont budge. Not gonna say I enjoyed it but I can understand.




The new models, base had i5 processor 128 SSD and 4 GB of ram. Which may not seem much, especially since I want to use this as my main machine. However I had to keep telling my bf, I still had my old machine which I can use for all the recreational entertainment and media, my main use for my Mac would be:



1. tertiary work

2. video and photo editing which the finished product would be stored away into my external hard drive anyways.

3. Social networking and keeping in touch with friends (many of whom I felt I have neglected thanks to my constant gaming)




Aside from the base model there was the upgraded version, $1499 with

• 
  
• 1.3GHz dual-core Intel Core i5 processor
• Turbo Boost up to 2.6GHz
• Intel HD Graphics 5000
• 4GB memory
• 256GB flash storage¹

So essentially I'd be paying $1449-$1249= $200 for the extra 128 of storage space ( so $200 for double its storage) 

I mean $200 isn't a lot and I considered just getting the upgraded model but then it's like...$200 I can use that for something else haha this laptop as amazing as it will be as an edition to my life, it isn't my life. So I don't need to get the best of the best just to enjoy it.

I asked if there'll be any promos but the rep said no, maybe around Dec-Feb when it is the education sales period. I even inquired about the free printer, as my friend got one when she first purchased a mac....which was like 3 years ago? LOL ok so Im a bit late and I didn't expect them to have any which they didn't... so I said I'll think about it and headed off to JB

I looked on the JB prices and they were a bit higher than the Apple store and I wasn't sure if they offered any student discounts which it is SUPPOSE to be $150 off but apparently they only give $50 like WTH >.>

throughout the entire ordeal I thought of just waiting for maybe MYER to have their 10% off all Apple products instead lol which would have been cheaper.

Did I mention I was impatient? Yep I am so I couldn't wait haha prior to going to JB I was still very hesitant on purchasing a new one which would meant I had to fork out more money for lesser storage, not to mention the previous JB I went to (before heading off to the Apple store) the rep there told me all Macs would NOT have any word or word like programmes installed, so it would be up to me to purchase a $158 (it was on sale already) package. 

Kinda why I thought I'd better head off to the Apple store and see what education product/prices I can squeeze out of them.

Anyways so here I am at the JB store (the new one, AFTER I went to the Apple store) and there was this really nice Apple rep there who asked if I needed help or have any questions, off I went telling her my dilemma and she gave me answers to it all!

First off, the last year refurbished models, as nice as they may seem, actually use an older generation processor. In other words, regardless of what ram or storage or high the number is for the processing speed, it would not match up to the current ones! Secondly, she went out of her way and brought out her own this years model 13" mac air. Showed me her battery life which was at 95% and stated, she charged it yesterday!! I even asked about the heating issue as my bf was adamant Mac Air was too thin to have a cooling fan, she reassured me that it does and it was located at the top near the monitor so above the key board. Which is a relief as we all know Aussie summers can be a torture to all things moving lol

She even stated I could just get a 1TB external hard drive for my storage issues which was exactly the same as my own solution. I wanted external storage as it gives that extra protection to our data and even if my machine breaks down I'll still have all the information kept else where to retrieve later on.

My very first laptop had a virus and it refused to let me log back on, it constantly went on a loop of trying to open windows so thanks to that, I lost all my old high school digital photos (´Д｀。)

With that in mind I went back to Apple to get the student pricing and just get this over and done with~ Thinking back, probably would have been better if I'd just ask JB to price match with Apple and offer discounts on covers etc （；￣д￣） stupid asian mind wasn't fast enough, always think of better solutions AFTER I go and buy something lol

Whilst back in the Apple store, I found the same rep and spoke with her again, thought it'd be nicer to purchase it from the person who served me. Cos of commission and stuff~ aren't I da best? 

Long story short (well as short as I can go)

I purchased it!

 heres to my base model Mac Book Air 13' (´°̥̥̥̥̥̥̥̥ω°̥̥̥̥̥̥̥̥｀)

Wrote this entry up using it too haha still had to get used to the copy and paste function which I find a bit annoying to always having to use the toolbar at the top. I am sure there is another way which I would need to discover. Also need to discover how to edit movies and photos efficiently on this~

But at least I have downloaded VLC player for viewing all other movies etc and also have google chrome installed as the bf suggest it. However I don't see much difference, google chrome and safari as after the initial page, I'll be on the google search page anyways... 

Quick discovery, Ive been pressing control when I should have been pressing command!

HA I GENIUS ヽ(^‥^=ゞ)

As soon as I wrote I genius I almost had a melt down as I accidentally swiped out of this page with my stubby fingers and ended up on a white page with no info @.@ Luckily blogger saved it ><

Guess this will be the end for now, gonna spend the rest of today having some fun with this laptop hehe 

also going to update my iphone to iOS7 from its iOS5 LOL yeh its about time~

Take care and until next time,

xoxo M3 (QiQi)

Dilemmas!

Recently I just got paid from my new job -dances- 

This undisclosed amount is double what I normally get back with my old work due to the hours I used to get compared to now. 

But here comes my dilemma! 

Should I or should I not, get an Apple Macbook Air?!

dun dun dunnnn......

 this purchase alone will set me back around $1.1k AUSD which to some isn't alot, but for a part timer, this IS a lot to me, added I can't save money to save my life LOL

I've done some research and from my bf's input, refurbished units are usually good to go for, as there WAS a fault a first, but people brought it back to exchange so to make them resellable, the stores would have to then recheck everything to ensure it is resellable...RIGHT?  

I honestly am clueless about these things and previously I thought refurbished was really bad like faulty products they try to resell ヾ(=ﾟ･ﾟ=)ﾉ 

My reasons to get another laptop even though I have a mini HP Pavillion 11' dm-1 AND a Lenovo 15" 

Dm-1 HP pavillion- stock photo, mines more worn out lol

Lenovo 15" g560  -stock photo mines WAY more worn out

are fairly justified imho (in my honest opinion)

Lenovo~

First off my $600 Lenovo I got it before the start of my tertiary studies which is  nearing a good 3 years now. The laptop is still fully functional even though I spilled a few drinks on it lol and everything is decent except I did notice start and turning off is starting to have issues. 

When I turn it off, it may get stuck on the "windows is shutting down now" with the blue screen and after work Id come back to see its still like that for 8 hours. Then there's its processor which is getting laggier and slower which is no surprise since I don't service it and have loaded alot onto it. Main issue to the lag is that my WORD starter 2013 hardly loads, and when it does, it'll get stuck on "no responding" >.> FML absolutely HATE it when it does that when I am about to an assignment.

As this Lenovo has been with me for awhile and does contain all my games etc  I will keep it, solely as a gaming unit for when I am bored perhaps :p 

I do usually config the system to allow all the software to restore itself to the correct place (something I learnt whilst doing Business Informations Systems, I loved my tutor/lecturer she was and is awesome and taught us so many things like...how to track peoples IP to their physical location... LOL such a good stalker thing...)

HP Pavillion~

As for this little baby I purchased it after a work mate and friend told me she got one and she loves it due to its portability its decency as a laptop and its cheap price (ok maybe not in those words, more like "its really good and cheap" V=(° °)=V)

Prior to purchasing I did do my research and there was a ton of good reviews on it and I am currently using this at work to write this entry up! (Haha Im sorry lappy I didnt intend to betray you by using you to write up me wanting to buy another laptop *(*´∀｀*)☆) 

Pros: Small and portable, super long lasting battery life, CAN play games as long as its on low settings and so long as the server isn't populated 

Cons: processing speed is dependent on battery. If I unplug it will get slow and sometimes unresponsive. Cannot use photo editing software due to its slow speed and lack of processing power + small ram (2GB can upgrade) 

My HP feels like a laptop which can be great but it is only 70% there for me.

What a girl wants~

I want a portable laptop, powerful enough for editing photos and videos AND to be used for my tertiary work also.

I plan on cutting down my gaming hours until I can cut off permanently, I feel like an addict trying to slowly get rid of this bad addiction which has costed me about the same amount as ( highlight to see) maybe 1-2 mac book airs -end

I feel as though with the mac book Id be able to shift my addiction of gaming on to more real life addictions like blogging and going to events and taking care of myself + earning monies ofc I know I am a very obsessive person and once I get addicted to something, its all I can think of.

At high school, during music class we used to use the old Mac Computers, you know those really big monitor ones, and the one thing which stuck out the most was my love for garage band. I love it love love love it so much haha, we even made our own compositions and had it recorded on a CD I still listen to my unfinished track!

Maybe when I get a new laptop I can edit it and upload to youtube (●⌒∇⌒●)

with all the talk of the Mac Book Air 

here is the refurbished version I was thinking of purchasing

refurbished units are great as they add more things onto it

here is a comparison for the normal 13" mac book air...

Prices for normal mac book air

As you can see the prices are much higher, especially for the 13" units added, for $1249 which is $100 more than the refurbished unit, I get almost 100 GB LESS storage ヽ(　￣д￣;)ノ

With the extra $100 I could pay for a cover or education software etc so yar for $100 to get a brand new one OR get an older one but better specs hrmm....

I did do my research onto checking prices for education mac's which are a bit cheaper...

Education Macs for tertiary students and teachers

A bit cheaper, not by much but hey any discount is a good discount~

Aside from Mac Book Air, I did consider getting Mac Book PRO. 

As my bf stated if I wanted an all rounder laptop why not a pro instead of air, pros can play games and also have its own cooling fan which is necessary for summer time but for me, the issue is. Pros don't have SSD's which is the faster processor thingy and the new generation thing so since I am forking out a grand for this WHY would I want to pay for last generation stuff?

What are SSD?

All-Flash Storage:

Part of what makes MacBook Air so responsive is that it’s designed entirely around flash storage. Not only does this make MacBook Air much lighter and more portable than traditional notebooks, it also provides faster access to data and gives you instant-on capability. This next-generation flash storage is up to 4x faster than a traditional 5400-rpm notebook hard drive and faster than the previous-generation MacBook Air.4 So when you flip open MacBook Air, it starts up in seconds. Even after a month in standby mode, the screen springs to life. Apps launch quickly. And with no moving parts, flash storage stays quiet.

(Apple website store.apple.com.au)

If you think about it, the lack of moving bits will ensure the items last a bit longer also, as there is no wear and tear, theoretically anyways.

I have looked on other laptops as $1000 is a lot of money, but all other ones are either too bulky or enable too much gaming capabilities which may end up making me counterproductive by giving me the option to play even more hardcore online games lol

I'm always thinking add a few $100 and I can get Alienware but I'm not trying to get even more into gaming  (╯︵╰,) 

Added another bonus of Apple is that, due to its exclusive-ness there isn't much and I hope there wouldn't be anymore, viruses. Normal windows are more easily prone to malware and viruses, I know since I've had a few infect my older laptop which is not functional anymore so, bye bye old photos 。ﾟ(ﾟﾉД｀ﾟ)ﾟ

Yes I am very biased on my decision to picking Apple, but before you think I am an Apple fan, I am not. Ive been using windows ever since we had computers and laptops, the only one Apple item I own currently is the iPhone 4s still using iOS5 LOL

I guess after being with windows for so long its good to have a change right?

If anyone has any opinions or advice please feel free to comment~

I might head off to an Apple store right after work in 45mins time and go purchase it, if they have it. I'll leave it up to fate to see if the one store I look at will or will not have the refurbished version (*゜▽゜ノノ゛☆

Take care and until next time!




xoxo M3 (QiQi)

Hanami Day Part 2

as the title suggests, no I haven't forgotten about my other parts of the Hanami Day lol 

just because I am lazy doesn't mean I forget (or was it the other way around? .-.)

Funny enough I went to work 2 days after the Hanami Day event I found out my manager also went to the event! LOL And on top of it, he thought he saw me or least heard my voice, and ran the other way!!! (lmao ok maybe not ran the other way but he never came to say hi!!) 

I really wanted to message the team I work with to ask him to go but then I thought wait..some actually work on Sunday and it'll be rather mean to be like "HEY LETS ALL GO TO THIS EVENT HALF OF YOU CANT ATTEND COS OF WORK" ....awks ... all good though haha least if anyone wants to see photos, I GOT TONS!

MINE! lol there very various lanterns scattered across the place, I had this thing of wanting to have my own lantern photo collection lol

How sweet are these two girls? They were walking pass and I had to take a photo! They looked really young so I was really impressed they just went around by themselves, girls these days~ So brave!

YEEEEEEEEEEEEEH, another one to my collection LOL

Okay so aside from photos of me... here are the views from place (National Rhododendron Garden).

SO pretty! I have no idea about the type of flowers so all I can say is, LOOK AT DEM PRETTY PINK FLOWERS

Ok I lied, here's more photos of me LOL

Lanterns <3

#nofliter #allnature-al 

Everything is so pretty~

This lantern I couldn't reach so I just took a photo..... I should photoshop my face in there somehow...

This was our view from the higher grounds, look at all the greenery~

Wish my backyard was like this @.@

So lush~

My bf tried to take this photo with like me on the side and then the winding stairs flowing down BUT.. I messed it up and couldn't be bothered to redo another one. I sorry.

 If you look really closely, my face is actually pretty pissed in the stairs photo as my bf made a comment about me 'jokingly' which really pissed me off at the time and not wanting to make a fuss where there are people I kept going and smiled like some sinister woman ヽ(#`Д´)ﾉ 

If you like to see what he said highlight this following section ~ So he stated after he took a previous photo 'nice fake smile' which got me pretty upset because I stopped and thought, the entire time up until then I was the only one making an effort to be happy where as he just 'tagged along' and sometimes if I feel like I'm the only one putting in the effort I begin to think the other way, like "why am I even bothering or trying so hard" guess I am someone who hate to have to do everything lol if someone's with me, they better be ready to share the burden and fulfil their part, if not I go into a raging maniac~ end section~

Awks photo of me and my bf lol I had to include it here since its one of the few we took together. Ive been hogging all the limelight and made him took all the photos + carry my bag LOL

My pretties at the back. I feel like I am apart of the flower family since Im wearing the patterns lol

Look at my awesome photography.... I mean amazing landscape~

This comes to the end of my Hanami Day Part 2, part 3 will come up shortly...

(when my net renews again and I wont be using data I don't have thus going over my monthly budget LOL... I can imagine it now... my bill T-T and I can hear the sounds of my bank account crying...silently...)

Take care and until next time!

xoxo M3 (QiQi)

Hanami Day Part 1 2013

HANAMI DAY~

yep yep I've finally finished all the editing and cropping on my photos and can publish them here :D

At last, here is my photo journey

 with my boyfriend on our very first Hanami Day

After a 40 min drive from the city to whoop whoop land, we found the entry sign!~~

Road was surprisingly smooth even in the mountain regions where normally its all rubble and rocks

Look at all dem Aussie trees!

PARKING weeee, almost there!

Look at that crowd! So many people were gathered

I used the camera on us without even configuring its settings so it ended up giving us white faces LOL

Hi there, Im a ghost~

There were various stalls set up,many different types of food stalls which this one isnt....

This stall had calligraphy which was were absolutely gorgeous

Here she's writing someone's English name in translated Japanese

BONSAI! haha I had to take a photo with this particular one cos it matched my kimono

KIMONOS! Or yukatas~ I still can't remember which is what but none the less SO PRETTY

Another photo of the performance group, unfortunately we went too late and JUST missed it.

Whilst walking towards the entrance I noticed someone in cosplay and kept telling my boyfriend I saw someone with a purple wig!

I really wanted to go find them and....

She found us! haha I approached her for a photo first, but another group of people went straight in and they took their photos -glares- 

This girl was really amazing and probably had done it a lot because she just stood there and posed for awhile!

And finally I got my chance...

She looked so amazing and I loved her outfit >< Super jealous haha

I was super stupid because I only realised after I should have grabbed her name or if she belonged to a cosplay group to at least grab some details! >< but nope my excitement got the better of me and I just giggled away like a little girl LOL

Although most of the Sakura trees were green, that didnt stop the people from enjoying nice picnics :)

Various other flowers were on show despite the lack of Sakuras

Introducing, the flowers I am wearing. LOL

Couldn't help but take selfies with ma man

My bf took this without me knowing and it ended up really nice, imo anyways haha

I wanted to have a photo which looked like I was grabbing the lantern since the area was blocked by the bushes lol

My awesome photography skills! Looks so much better here than it did on the camera lol

Along the way I saw a couple both wearing the outfits which I found super adorable!

So I had to intrude and get a photo with them haha I was such a third wheel

Asked for a photo with her since she looked so nice!

Pretty pink flowers!

As I have literally hundreds more photos to go, I'll split this entry and place more photos on another part :)

Must say it really was amazingly fun and such a great day also! Loved the crowds and loved the atmosphere.

Did I mention I had people asking me for photos? 

Haha yep me! In my cosplay kimono xD 

I felt kinda bad at first cos they kept saying how nice it was and I kept thinking "its not a genuine one ><" but nonetheless they didn't mind and wanted photos :)

So if anyone sees images of someone wearing a pink/white silky kimono without the obi and has orangey blonde hair, yep that'll be me LOL 

To end this entry off, here's a photo of me with a real cherry blossom (sakura) tree~

Take care and until next time!

xoxo M3