What did I do, you ask?

I won the first cosplay competition I’ve ever entered, that’s what, dressed as the Scout from Team Fortress 2.

A few months ago at a housewarming party a friend of a friend of mine suggested we all get a group of people together and go to Brisbane’s 2011 Supanova as the Red Team from Team Fortress 2.  We joked around about it, discussed who could potentially play what character and decided to go for it.  It was decided I would be the Scout.

As the weeks went by we planned and collaborated via e-mail, everyone working on their own clothes and weapons and gradually we began to resemble the red team – everything minus the spy and the pyro unfortunately.

When the day finally came we all got up early so we could arrive at Supanova with plenty of time to spare.  We queued for over an hour to get in, and then queued to sign up for the cosplay competition, some of us reluctantly, thinking it was too much effort and we couldn’t possibly win despite how happy we were with our costumes.

After two or more hours waiting to go on stage, our opportunity to present our costumes finally arrived.  I didn’t realise it was going to be in front of such a big crowd, but the cheer was enormous.  We all ran out on stage, the soldier first as he yelled “GO, GO, GO!”

Above our heads they had a screen with “They’re all spies!” as we stood there posing, waiting, watching the host stare at us in awe, as the heavy spun his mini-gun barrel.  This caught the hosts’ attention and he immediately moved down the line to talk to him first.

Host (to heavy):  “How did you make this gun?”
Heavy (in Russian accent):  “Engie is credit to team.”
Host (to engie):  “So, you tell me, how was the gun made?”
Engie (in American accent):  “I took a gun, and I added more gun.”

The crowd loved it.

The host then proceeded down the line, asking my team questions and all of them remaining in character.  I was ready with an answer, but he unfortunately skipped the last couple of us and went back to addressing the crowd.  The soldier then waved his arm, yelled, “ROLL OUT!” and we marched off stage, the crowd cheering behind us.

My boyfriend, who was dressed as the sniper, wanted to go and buy more stuff from the stalls but I told him I wanted to stay for the results, even though I doubted we would win.   I told him he could go by himself, which he did, but the venue with the stalls was closed and he came straight back which was kind of lucky.

When the results were finally announced, at first they said we had come second, which we were stoked with.  Then they said there had been a mistake and we hadn’t come second, which was disappointing, until they announced we had actually come first for the group cosplay.

It was a long, hot day with a lot of queuing, waiting and literally thousands of photos taken by hundreds of both strangers and friends, but it was so worth it.

Thanks to my amazing team.  I love you guys.

Now to plan for next year’s competition…

<3 DarkSlinky.

Team Fortress 2 Red Team

On the stage, from left to right: Engie, heavy, medic, demoman, sniper, scout, heavy, host.

Soldier, heavy, scout, sniper. Taken by Kohanna Photography.

Well, I bought it last week, which is my reason for not going outside much.

It is fantastic.

The best part of it is I got it cheaper purely because I’m a girl.  Let me explain:

My boyfriend and I went shopping one night and saw it somewhere for $59.  He said he’d buy it for both of us at that price and we decided to shop around to see if we could find it cheaper.  We came across it in another shop with a sign for $49 above it; however the games themselves had $59 on them.   He said he’d go ask someone, I said I’d look at laptops while I waited.

After a while of waiting around, I decided to go look for him to see what was going on.  I came across an employee hanging around the games section and decided to ask him about it myself.  I said the game was marked at $49 and asked him if he would give it to me for that price.  He looked me up and down and asked me to show him the sign with $49 on it.

I showed him the sign and he said it should have been $59, but he’d give it to me to $49 anyway.  At this point, Snags had found me and was standing behind the guy out of his view.  I saw Snags standing there and explained to him that this guy would give us the game for $49.  The salesman turned around, looked at Snags and told us what to tell the cashier before scurrying off in a hurry.

I asked Snags what that was all about, and he explained he had already asked the same guy if he would give him the game for $49 and he had said no.  He asked me how I got it for that price off the same guy; I replied that I’m cuter than he is.

Now, I’m all for equality, woman power and moderate feminism, but if a silly boy is going to go all gaga because I’m a girl gamer then that’s his problem and I’m not going to complain if I benefit from it.  The whole incident made my day.

<3 DarkSlinky.

The only problem was I must have been walking in a stranger way than usual because I came home with huge blisters in the most awful place – just under my big toe… sort of.

Anyway, this wouldn’t have bothered me if I didn’t have a 7 and a half hour shift on Saturday.  I’ve never had pain that bad in my feet.  Ever.

I did have a point, but now I can’t remember what it was.

[Ten minutes later] Oh yes I do remember.

I want to play Team Fortress 2 while I wait for the washing to finish but I just can’t bring myself to do it, especially after the whole crate thing happened.  Yes, I’m one of those people who is incredibly annoyed at the crate thing…  I don’t care what anyone says.  It’s a stupid idea that gives rich (or obsessive) people an advantage over people with lives.  I’d go into it further but I can’t be bothered.

The other thing is I got kicked out of the clan whose server I used to play on, so either I play on a server with strangers and put up with, “ZOMG GIRL ONLINE HURP,” or I play with the obnoxious and perverted people that kicked me out…

Why did I get kicked out, you ask?  The reason I was given was that I’m not active enough.  Of course, how selfish of me not to play online games while I’m overseas.  Coincidentally I was removed after I corrected the leaders’ grammar repeatedly, and he happens to be an aspiring writer.  For shame.  Whatever, I can do better.  I love Pants Party.

Since remembering what I wanted to say and ranting about it the washing has finished.

<3 DarkSlinky.

I finally got hours at work this week.  I didn’t get any work for two weeks before I left for New Zealand and then I returned home to find they’ve hired a charming group of younger, cheaper employees.  I’m here to tell you that the amount you pay for your staff represents the quality of work you’ll get.

This week I’ve been called in numerous times to cover for staff who can’t fill their shift or just don’t bother showing up.  If you put reliable staff on to start with, you won’t have this problem.  If the same thing happens next week I’m going to look for another job to sustain me until I hopefully return to university next year.

I’m sick and I’m still going to cover for someone today.  Customers better be nice to me or heads will roll.  I have some feral sort of headcold – nothing bad, but enough to irritate me with the sneezing and body aches.

Snags’ computer has died, which in turn means my gaming life is dead.  It feels too cruel to sit here playing games in front of him while he slaves over his computers carcass.  Instead I half-sleep on the couch watching movies, occasionally patting his back in a supporting manner.  This can’t go on forever though, Pokémon Black and White comes out this week and I will allow it to eat my life.

Time to prepare for work… Happy, happy, joy, joy.

<3 DarkSlinky.

It shocks me every time I realise how long it has been since I last ranted and raved about something entirely useless… but onto more important matters…

I’ve been on the doorstep of three natural disasters in the past two months.  How unlucky could you possibly be?

I live in Queensland, Australia, which most of the world knows was almost entirely underwater before being battered by cyclones.  75% of my not-so-small state was declared a disaster zone in January.  It was so sad to watch my city, the third biggest city in Australia, be swallowed by the Brisbane River.  I stayed put on my hill that became an island for a few days.

The cyclones up north just proved what a tough state we are, with no deaths and two births during cyclone Yasi.  I’m not going to bother with meteorological details but believe me when I say it was pretty big.

It was very comforting to know that I live in such a strong community.  I volunteered to help with the clean-up but hundreds of people were getting turned away because there were simply too many volunteers.  The strength of humankind is only revealed through trying times.

Despite drought, flood, fire and cyclone, I still wouldn’t live anywhere else in the world.

Of course, the third natural disaster was much scarier.  I was in New Zealand for the Christchurch earthquake.   Luckily I was staying in Wellington and not too close to where the earthquake struck.  Apparently it was felt in Wellington, but I was driving over the Rimutaka Range at the time so my friends and I didn’t feel it.  We heard about it briefly on the radio but I only realised the extent of the damage to Christchurch when I got online and had received about 20 worried messages from friends and family asking if I was alive and okay.

The night before I left New Zealand there was an earthquake in Wellington which my friends and I definitely felt, but it wasn’t big enough to cause damage.  I love New Zealand but I was glad to be heading home, back to stable ground.  Floods and cyclones are one thing, but earthquakes strike without warning and are unlike anything I’ve ever felt before.

Mother Nature is a terrifying thing.

Given my own personal witness of the upheaval of the Earth and stirring of the weather, I can honestly say you’re a fool if you don’t believe something should be done about climate change.  It’s real, it’s here and it’s going to eat us.

<3 DarkSlinky.

Work, work, work.  The past couple of weeks I went on a bit of a spending spree – new clothes, Canon 550D SLR, 32” LED TV, etc… You catch my drift.  It’s good, but now I have so many boxes to sort through.

I also tried vlogging, only to discover I’m terribly boring on camera and don’t have anything interesting to talk about.  All this lack of sleep just makes me look like a zombie on camera anyway.

Insomnia is nasty, but it also gives me the opportunity to watch anime and sit around drawing creepy sketches of birds. It’s not as bad as some people I have come in contact with, that’s for sure.  I do love it when people with sad little lives underestimate me, but I think it’s just my own internal satisfaction.

I’m pretty certain I should write a book – but where to start, and what about?  I figure it’ll come to me with time.  I’ve already started making random notes in a sketchbook I bought at the beginning of the year.

This sketchbook also contains all the work I’ve done towards practising portraiting (did I just make up a word?).

Maybe one day I’ll be the artist, musician, teacher, writer, gamer, photographer, singer I want to be.  People mistake my habit of practising these skills as being lazy and messy, specifically, my mother.  Some people just don’t understand how the creative mind ticks.

My time will come, or so I like to believe.

<3 DarkSlinky.

Well, kind of anyway.  You could say I’ve been away on ‘business’ in the vaguest possible way… (Can’t you tell I love being mysterious?)  The point is that I didn’t forget you guys I’m here now to write stuff about stuff like I used to do.

I’m still the same person, but at the same time, the person I was was a very different person to the person I was before that… If you know what I mean.  I still play games when I can, still have trouble sleeping, people still think I have an English or Canadian accent, but at the same time, I’m growing up quickly and when I look in the mirror now I feel like I’m looking at someone else.

Long story short; since my last post I arrived home from Perth followed closely by Snags who has now lived with me for a month or so.  I had 2 weeks off work for jury duty but I’m back at work again.  There are also a number of very personal and emotionally draining issues playing out that I can’t discuss for a number of reasons (yes, this is one reason I haven’t been around).  It’s been a seriously intense emotional rollercoaster.

On the one hand, I’ve never been happier or more at peace with another human being.  I realise it’s still early stages but he makes me look forward to every day where I get to see him, talk to him, hold him, kiss him…  He makes me feel special every day.  I consider myself to be very lucky to have the love and support of this man.  Living with him has been very helpful and it feels like it wouldn’t be right living somewhere without him.  (Having someone move in with me is another reason I haven’t been around – it’s a lot of work, you know!)

On the other hand I feel isolated and alone as I fight an internal battle that only I can fight, but I will struggle to the very end and beyond if that’s what is required.  Most days I think the emotional strain is so great that my brain shuts off to it in order to remain sane and I only feel numb and withdrawn.  Other days are overwhelming and exhausting, but the continued support of family and friends as well as lack of full-time work or university stress really do lessen the burden.

I had my first lucid dream yesterday morning.  It was terrifying.  I was curled up on Snags’ chest when it felt as though I was physically falling and I only realised that that’s what falling asleep feels like after I pulled out of it.  So I willed myself to ‘fall’ again.  It took a while but eventually I pulled it off and somehow I was able to keep my conscious mind awake while still falling in to a sleep deep enough to dream.  I knew I was dreaming and I could control my actions.  I dreamt I was a young girl and for some reason the room I was dreaming of terrified me.  I was afraid to look in a mirror I knew was to my left and when I noticed a young boy standing in front of me I had an overpowering urge to wake up.  I had difficulty doing so, which was scary, but I got there eventually.

I find it incredibly interesting but I’m kind of afraid to do it again because it felt so close to touching some really sensitive nerves, so to speak.

In case you’re wondering, jury duty wasn’t exciting.  I got called in twice, the first day I couldn’t go and the second day I was excused.  At least I know what it all involves now.

I realise I’m probably not making a whole lot of sense either.  I haven’t been sleeping well and it’s incredibly late at the moment.  I guess I should go try and get some sleep.

I’m still keen to vlog too….

<3 DarkSlinky.

I have been in Perth for two and a half weeks now and in that time I have realised this is just the break I needed after what occurred with my ex.  I don’t like to sound corny (I always do anyway, don’t I?) but I fell in love with a wonderful man as soon as I stepped off that plane and saw him there waiting for me (Aheee I’m a hopeless romantic! >.<).  Of course, that man is Snags.  We’ve spent the last month getting to know each other and, frankly, I can’t get enough of him.  So far there have been absolutely no conflicts, except that I refuse to let him do housework in my home if he’s working full time and he insists on sharing the load (so trivial and cute… -Swoon-).  He will be moving to my home in Queensland over the next few months which makes both of us very happy.

Snags wasn’t the only person at the airport either.  There were about 7 friends there waiting for me despite the fact parking is expensive, my plane didn’t land until 12:30am and there was a chance my flight would be delayed due to heavy fog.  There were more people waiting at a 24hr restaurant to meet me too.  I felt so very special.  From Pants Party I have now met (and this is more for my reference than anything else) PP Queensland; X1 , Prince Barin, Verty, Mcbaine, Mosse, KyePie, Necromancer, and PP Western Australia; Snags, Fen, Murdats, Gaz, Eagz, Darkr, Timmeh, Shocklanced, Synapz, Ace of Spades, Siby, and Senn.  I’ve made a lot of other Perth friends too, and I’m yet to meet more from Pants Party.

Coming to Perth has made me realise how very little I miss in Brisbane, and how little in Brisbane misses me.  At first it was kind of upsetting but I realised it’s just the reality and I have no choice but to accept it.  I’m thinking about moving to Perth but it probably won’t be for a few years yet, if anything.  I feel as though I still have unfinished business back home and Snags is happy to move there with me so everything seems to be panning out nicely.

I sorted things out with that friend of mine that I mentioned in my last blog.  It was a simple misunderstanding and nothing serious, which I am very glad for.  While in Perth I’ve also managed to clear up a few other miscommunications with friends in Brisbane and help a few other friends with love dramas and the like.  I am quite pleased with myself and feel better about going back there now.

I seem to have slipped in to another pattern of insomnia and nightmares again.  I don’t sleep well and when I do sleep I have dreams and nightmares that are so real I wake up believing they have occurred.  I told a friend about it and he suggested I read up on and try lucid dreaming.  To start with, this will involve me having a letter written on my hand to remind myself to question my reality and writing down the dreams I have as soon as I remember them.  So I’ll try it and see if I can learn to control my dreams.  I’m very excited and interested to see what the outcome will be.

As a side note; why does everyone think I have a British accent just because I speak correctly?!  Gaarrhh!!  No matter where I go everyone asks me about it! >.<

Maybe I’ll start vlogging, just for teh lulz… >:3

<3 DarkSlinky.

(P.S. DarkSlinky is a nightmare to type without “L” or “K”.  I become DarSiny…)

Epic lol.  I kid, I kid!  I did take bits out of context, but you have to admit, it is a LOT more amusing that way, and possibly more truthful.  As the awesome Ray William Johnson would say, I’M JUST SAYIN’.

Nah, seriously, he wants you to know that, in regards to the blog entry entitled ‘Sweet Homicide‘, I interrupted his game, he wears singlets when he bums around the house and he was NOT flexing to impress me.  No, not at all.  Nuh uh.  Oh, and of course, his universe doesn’t revolve around me (universes don’t revolve at all, noob).  Well that I believe. I mean, it’s not like he still combs through my blog a year later to check what I’m up to or anything, and feels the urge to comment when I say something that may relate to him in some way, right?  …….. I lol.  Perhaps I’m not the one who should “grow up” and “get over themselves.” I mean, I never mentioned his name anywhere.  Is it just me, or is it a little arrogant to assume he’s my only ex?  I could have been talking about any of them. =)

All this is so trivial though, honestly.  These are the things that give me amusement, make me laugh.  People are funny things.  It gives me something entertaining to write about, so I’m certainly not complaining!

Speaking of people and the annoying things they do; I have a friend who recently got himself a girlfriend after 10 million years (so he implies, I think it was only about a year or two though) and has completely ditched me!  I do not believe it was because of the girl, I know her and I love her (perhaps a little TOO much…) but what the hell?  I would never have expected this from one of my close friends.  He’s away on a holiday so I haven’t spoken to him about it yet but I guess I will eventually.  I don’t think he reads my blog but if he does and if he knows it’s him I’m talking about, WHAT IS GOING ONNNN?!

In other news, one of my friends bought me Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare 2 because I’ve wanted it so badly for ages.  So far, I think it’s a great game.  I’ll be hyperactive in multiplayer and obsessing over it for quite a while, I imagine.  I also bought a stack of games when Steam had them cheap so I’m going to have to update my games list again.  Starcraft 2 comes soon too, YAAYYY! >.<

Today has been an awesome day though, seriously.  This morning I had a bunch of orchids (one of my favourite flowers, aah!) delivered to my door with the sweetest note from the man I refer to as my ‘Perth husband’, also known as Snags.  We clicked when we first met in person here in Brisbane and, now that I’m single again, things have continued to progress.  You may have noticed a change in my attitude recently and it’s purely because I’m hopeful and happy again and, like my close friends, he brings out the best in me.  I cannot wait to join my Perth friends in their home city for satay party times. (Note: ‘Satay’ as an adjective is not my word. It belongs to Snags, but I’ma use it anyway!)

<3 DarkSlinky.

I will try my best to summarise my recent series of events.

I had two friends from Pants Party Perth fly to Brisbane for a week to surprise me for my birthday.  It was one of the best surprises I’ve ever had.  I find it so challenging to express how grateful I am with mere words.  Little do they know, these boys supported me through some really difficult times, and to meet them was like meeting my heroes.

We had a fantastic week together, during which I turned 20 years old.  (Happy birthday to me!) I had two gatherings for my birthday; the first was a small gathering with the boys from Perth on my actual birthday and the second was a big gathering which we VIP’d the Mana Bar for.  My friends and I wore Sailor Scout costumes we sewed ourselves for both parties, which looked great, if I don’t say so myself.

After the second, bigger gathering, some ‘interesting’ (such a vague word, I love it) events occurred that resulted in me breaking things off with the guy I was seeing.  My close friends and the people who were there know what happened, and it’s not really a big deal.  Point is that it’s over, but for now we’re still in contact.

In the meantime, I’m being chased by guys once again.  This is not a bragging point.  I greatly dislike being hounded and sought after.  I’ve said the same thing over and over; I’m interested only in friendship for now.  If I am interested in a guy, I will chase them myself, because I enjoy the challenge and can do it at my own pace.  At the same time though, I’ve made some good friends, the kind I hope to keep… Endrant (I invent the coolest new words…).

Apparently I made a good impression, because in 2 weeks I leave Brisbane to stay with my Perth friends for a month.  I’m counting down the days until I leave this crazy city and start my wonderful holiday.  I will probably update my website from there if I get time.

I’m at the level of tiredness where I can barely keep my eyes open, strange considering it’s not even 1am.  Usually I stay up much later.

I will upload photos soon, if I remember to.

<3 DarkSlinky.