Leah Rose FTW!

I have to admit, I feel kind of bad. I was so intent on making this blog something... cool, maybe not something to bring me some extra money, but a personal journal of all of the things with a focus on the nerdstuff and the health stuff. But that's obviously not happening, and for once, I can say it's for lack of trying. My cosplay and costuming have kind of taken over my life. All I do is live that nerdness that I love to write about, and while it's not a bad thing, documenting it has kind of falls down on my list of priorities. And it's not really reasonable to try to make the blog something it isn't. SO AS IT STANDS this website will sort of transition into an official page for me, costuming, my calendar, and basically an expanded facebook fanpage (which you should totally go check out at facebook.com/leahroseaz) I'll still make posts as I have time, but I won't beat myself up for not getting to it. I'll document my conventions and work and every

This post is in part inspired by one that Kate at Suburban Sweetheart did... God knows how long ago. I'm just lazy and, as much as I loved the idea, I haven't got around to it until now. :3 oops. Anyway, this is kind of a get-to-know-me kind of deal, because it's hard to tell you exactly what you should know (I mean, if you care to, which I like to think you do) about me, or anyone for that matter, unless you break it down a bit. By trade, I'm still a student, albeit not for much longer. But I work my ass off in a lot of things until I can slow down and can limit myself to just one or two. I'm a waitress, a retail worker, a comic store co-manager, a model, and cosplayer, a designer (not like that's making bank, yet), and an ebay user. Hey, it counts. Don't judge. I like modeling and costuming the best by FAR out of all of these, and I'm working toward the day where it's all I need to do. And I'm getting closer! By hobby, I'

First big convention of the season! I love me some con season! Not what it does to my bank account, but you know.  I'm not going to gloat about how awesome this year was like I wanted to/did last year, simply because I'm pretty disappointed. I'm gonna be honest. From a fan and an industry standpoint, I'm sad, and it mostly has to do with industry. So my girls from d20 and I were able to get a table on industry row on the gaming floor in exchange for volunteering on said floor, 16 hours total per person. Doesn't seem like the worst deal ever, and we made a few good friends out of it. However... industry row had no traffic. At all. The other people there actually moved (we couldn't) to get traffic. So we worked anyway, and Cory and I did the math- 5 of us minimum, a minimum of 16 hours total, at minimum wage? We paid over $600 for that booth and made three whole fans and no money off of it. I'm personally $300 in the hole just because of this

Extra appropriate cause I've got green eyes. Hee. Anyway, I have a confession to make, and I hope you guys (or just talking it out) can help me get over this shit for good. I am SO sick of undeserving people, no matter why they're undeserving, getting opportunities/rewards/exposure/anything that other (read: actually deserving) people are looked over for. Run on sentence from hell, I know, but it's hard to put into words. I understand that sometimes people are just lucky, or live in a certain area, or have some other random thing that makes them the one that gets all of the things they do, but it's got to stop. In a lot of cases, it's simply because they're willing to lose their morals for any reason. People need to stop handing the same exact person every single applicable thing that comes along just because they'll parade around half naked. Not only that, but that much success has a tendency of getting to people, and in this case someone is being cond

Some people are so ridiculously awesome, it burns. So I've known this local radio host/dj for years- he's a great guy and fellow nerd, and its hard not to meet him in a town like this. Anyway, I hear from him this morning and long story short, my best friend and I are going to the Legend of Zelda Symphony Orchestra on Friday night. I. Am. Freaking. Not only have I wanted to go since I heard it was a thing, but two tickets for free is the greatest present I've received ever- boogerpony and my engagement ring aside. Madi (bestfriend of ever) and I bonded over zelda when we were kids. And now, but you get my point. I might go so far as to say we might not be as close as we are now if it weren't for this game series. We stayed up past our fourth grade bedtimes, developed crushes on characters, cried at the sad parts and laughed uproariously at the funny, and yeah- we developed better critical thinking, problem solving, memory, and hand eye coordination. And the music

My d20 homies and I went to Con-Ichiwa yesterday and it had no idea what hit it. The end. But really, the con was... okay. In general, it was well organized, but much smaller and cramped than we would have liked. The hotel staff was really great and welcoming, but some of the attendees needed cattle prods- fire hazards of the nerdiest degree. As a panelist, the con was pretty good. We were listed in the program with no problems, even though people love to show up late. It was small enough to where we were able to deal with it and give people quick recaps in our "About the d20 Girls Project" panel, but our second one, Female Image in a Nerdy Industry, was HUGE and fantastic!! I was so proud of us. moo http://nerd-gasm.net/?p=199 There's an article some random site decided to put up about the panel, and the panel itse;f will be up on youtube soon and you'll love it, I swear.  So there wasn't much to recap on, con-wise. I felt horrid because my lovely little

Okay, normally I'm REALLY not one to jump on bandwagons with... well, much of anything. But I did for once, and for the love of God I hope you do too. I read the entire Hunger Games series in a few hours over the past few days, only stopping while driving, in class, or waiting in line at Walmart to buy the last book. TLDNR about the series: very much a more approachable (but emotionally harder to handle) Battle Royale. Post apocalyptic, dystopian America. broken into 12 disrticts. Some sort of war in the past, now as a reminder a boy and girl are picked to fight to the last man standing.  I refuse to put any spoilers, because I HATE that crap and it was ruined for me before I read the last book, but let me just say that this series in absolutely incredible. Even though the basic premise was very similar to Battle Royale, I had much more of a connection to every last character in the Hunger Games. The writing was more approachable, if that makes sense- but while a middle schoo