Seven Must-Do’s for Couple Cosplayers

Hello, Goldies, I’m back with more tales of adventure!

So many of you already know that I like to go to cons and cosplay. Well, I had the incredible and adorable opportunity to do a couple cosplay with someone besides my brother.

I cosplayed Asuna from Sword Art Online, and the bae cosplayed Kirito. Yes, the biggest ship in the anime industry (well maybe not, but I think so.)

Without further ado, here are 7 MUST-DO’s for couple cosplayers. Spoken from experience.

1)Take pictures.

Okay this one is obvious. What’s a cosplay without pictures. You’re going to have people constantly asking you, “Can I take your picture? You guys are sooo cute!!!” And so you have to be all cute for ten seconds and smile… or be epic.

• Take cute pictures – Because you’re a couple. You have to be adorable.

• Take epic pictures – Those in-character pictures that are all dramatic and super cool-looking.
• 
• Take selfies… lots of selfies. – What’s a cosplay without selfies?

2) Hug.

People think it’s cute, apparently. More photo ops.

 

3) Help each other out.

I speak from experience – You both are cosplaying, and you both need some help with the cosplay sometimes. If you’re cool with it, help each other out once in awhile. My Kirito had some serious wig problems every time he started headbanging to a song. It made for some very interesting wig-styling pictures.

4) Look at your merch.

I mean, you’re at a con! You’re bound to find some merchandise related to your cosplay. Maybe grab a souvenir, or just look at it.

5) Find your people.

Look for your fandom. Hetalians and Homestucks are hard to miss. If you find your tribe of weirdness, you might be able to do a group cosplay photoshoot, and those are pretty cool!

6) Play the Pocky game.

If you’ve heard of the Pocky game, good. If you haven’t, just think Lady and the Tramp pasta scene… with chocolate covered biscuit sticks.

And of course…

7) Just kiss.

If you’re not cosplaying with your brother, just kiss. You’ll be in-character anyways.

Soooo that’s a wrap. Have you ever done a couple cosplay before? Share in the comments below.

See you guys next time! 😀

(Con photo creds go to my friend Emma (@EmmaBird2015), and the bae <3. Special thanks to Conbust and the students at Smith College for the opportunity to experience this con and campus!)
~#1kid  

The Summer Season

Okay, so I know the season ended a while ago, but since it was such an exciting experience, I wanted to tell you all about it!

The first meet went pretty well. We swam at a Division 1 college in the 50 meter pool. I had never done something like that, and it was my first time swimming 50 meters instead of yards. It was different, but really exciting.

My events were the 50m free, 100m free, 200m IM, and the 100m Breast. This was also my first time swimming the 200 IM EVER in a meet! As it turns out, I didn’t do that bad. After all, I had only been practicing for a week, as it was very early in the season.

After that, I swam at another college in my state, and surprised myself AGAIN in the 50m pool. I dropped TEN SECONDS in my 200m IM, and I couldn’t wait to tell my coaches when I saw them next. They were surprised. So much so that they put me in the 200 IM on my own team.

At Rec Championships, I swam the 200 yd IM. I placed fifth, and I got a best time 🙂

In my 100 free, my coaches and I have been trying really hard to drop my time to break 1:04. I am pleased to say that I broke that time with a shocking 1:03.58!! That’s a total of 2:06 seconds!

This past week, I’ve been preparing for the next season. Through watching videos of Olympic races, I’ve learned that the race could be in one person’s favor, but another person can come up from behind and win by .01! We can’t give up. We can’t slow down. No matter where we are in that race, we have to keep going.

But the best part of the summer season was the people that I got to chill with. I felt so welcomed into both USS and Rec this year, it was incredible. Now, I’ve had some problems with my peers, and I’ve blogged a little bit about it over the years, but this season was different. Walking into a meet and people saying “Audg! You’re here! Hi!” and giving you a big hug is like:

I felt encouraged and welcomed into the clan of people that I call my friends. They support me, and I shall try my hardest to support them in their races and goals. I learn so much from them, and have been many times I’ve said “DUDE HOW DO YOU GO THAT FAST??”

So, my friends, keep going. You got this. 🙂

Have you ever had a time when you had to force yourself to keep going? Is that time now?

“Do you not know that in a race all the runners run, but only one receives the prize? So run that you may obtain it.” -1 Cor 9:24

~#1kid

Camp Anime!

Hi guys! Don’t yell at me because I’ve been gone. School’s tough.

This post is about CAMP ANIME!!!!! I went last year, but this year was waaaay better in so many ways!

Firstly, I cosplayed this year. If you don’t know what cosplaying is, then basically it’s where people dress up as a character and then hang out with other people that are dressed as a character (perhaps from the same franchise) and have fun. It’s pretty cool when you see how hard fans work to make sure their costumes are just right before a convention.

This year, I cosplayed as Fem!Japan from Hetaia. Honestly, I looked like a really strange girl in traditional Asian clothing with short black hair with a flower in it. I looked pretty different with the short hair, and anyone who already knew me was like “WHAAAA YOU CUT YOUR HAIR NO!!” No, I did not cut my hair. Wigs, my friends, can help you with your cosplays.

Secondly, I had friends with me, and I met a ton of people. I had told my friend about Camp Anime, and she was extremely excited almost immediately. Soon enough, we’re both signed up and psyched! 

The two of us met tons of really cool people. It was amazing how many Hetalians were there! Now, we talk all the time!

Thirdly, my siblings and I took part in some really fun panels. One of my favorites was the Movie-Making panel. We had 15 minutes to plot our small story, 15 minutes to film, and 15 minutes to edit our videos. The whole idea was two adults were reminiscing about their first convention, and then there’s a flashback from the convention. It was genius on our friend Austin’s part! This is what it turned out to look like: http://youtu.be/Xn6YbAruJqQ

My friends and I actually ran the Hetalia panel on the spot! We also took part it Live Angry Birds, Sushi Making (Mom’s favorite), and a few others.

The setup of the convention was that of a camp… Actually, it was a camp. We were in the woods, there was a lake, there were cabins where overnight campers slept, and a huge dining hall. My sister and I got the chance to go on a pedal boat, which was very fun.

If you want to see more: Check out this video that sums up the whole weekend! http://youtu.be/g_vUarlESG0

Thank you to all that made Camp Anime possible, to all of my friends, and to Mr. Anthony Santos for the videos. Camp Anime 2014 would not be as amazing as it was without all of you! 😀

~#1kid

Toughing It Out… OUT of the Water

Good day, friends! Welcome back!

Now, we’ve had plenty of life experiences to tell all about, but now it’s time to get to the real reason of this blog: Road to Gold.

What does it mean? It means this blog is supposedly about my Road to Gold. Of course. Any attempts to get one of those precious medals have failed. I’ve tried once, and it failed due to a head injury.

So now that I’ve gotten back on my feet and am all healed, I can continue on the Road.

This past season has been rather painful. As I mentioned in a previous post, I hurt my shoulder. The sport of archery (FF101, my bro, is well involved in it) has messed up the rotator cuff. It really, really hurt. And it limited my swimming, my skiing, my archery, my tennis, and even my sleep.

The consequence was my best stroke stripped from me for the whole season. Yes, I could not swim Butterfly Stroke at all. If you’ve seen the Butterfly stroke in action, you’d noticed the shoulders. How the work so hard to get those arms up and around with such force. Since Backstroke is also strenuous on the shoulders, I was stuck with my least favorite stroke of them all: Breastroke.

I surprisingly did alright. I definitely improved, an hour and forty-five minutes of freestyle and Breastroke, three times a week must have paid off!

It was a really interesting season. I couldn’t swim as hard as usual, so I wasn’t placed in the big championships. However, I was fast enough to win the smaller championships. 🙂 I got first in all of my events, and getting first and second in the relays.

Now the season is over. And a new challenge awaits.

Remember last summer? The state championships and the concussion? Well, THIS year, each state gets a chance to qualify for the State Games of America 2015 in Nebraska. How to qualify is simple: Get first, second, or third place in your event.

So that’s my goal for this year: Qualify for the SGA. It’s going to be difficult, but I have friends that know I can do it.

Ever think you’re going to fail? Did you feel encouraged to know that people had your back the whole time?

-#1kid

Art of the Goat and the Cat

Hello, welcome to Road2Gold!

Today, I’m going to talk about the arts. My family has always been pretty artistic. My mom writes, my bro and I play instruments, I draw.

Here’s what I do to get an idea for a work of art: Listen to music, let my imagination go free, and boom… art.

There are many forms of artistic talents out there. There’s music, literature, painting/drawing, dance, and a whole lot more!

So, what do I do for art? Let me show you…

Here’s what I wrote in English class the other day:

Billy and Friskies, Chris and Joe

                “Get back here you goat!” Farmer Joe yelled.

Billy Goat was running as fast as he could from Joe. He had a dream to become president of the United States. The day he would become president, he’d lock Joe in jail.

“Stupid goat,” Joe muttered to himself. “I’ll get you!”

Billy ran into the town square in D.C. He saw an orange cat with stripes. “Good day,” He bleated.

The cat cocked her head. “Meow?” She purred. “Meow, meow, meow, meow, meow, meow, meow.”

Billy gave up speaking to the cat for he didn’t understand meow. “Bleat bleat.” Billy continued running until he felt something on his back, the cat!

“Meow meow!” The cat said. “MEEEOW!

Billy and the cat turned to the post office. They tripped a guy with a bag and almost hit a mailbox.

“Stop him!” Joe cried. He had followed Billy all the way to the post office. “The goat, get him!”

The guy with the bag grabbed Joe’s leg, trying to get up. But Joe just fell down.

“What are you doing, fool?” Joe lectured the guy. “My goat is running away from me!”

“Help me up first and I’ll help you find your goat and my cat!” The guy said. After Joe had helped him up, he introduced himself as Chris Hanbag.

“I’m Joe. I live on a farm in Pennsylvania. How my goat ran to Washington D.C., I don’t know.”

Chris and Joe tried tracking the two animals. They asked the city’s people. All they said was they saw them going towards the White House.

“Oh no!” said Chris. “What are they going to do now? That cat’s curious. She’ll climb Mount Everest!”

“Bleat! (It’s the White House)” Billy exclaimed. “Bl- Bleat! (I’m going to become President!”

“Meow meow! (I’ll be your Vice!)” The cat said. “Meow meow purr Friskies! (My name is Friskies!)”

A week later, Billy and Friskies ruled the United States for eight years. They locked Joe in jail and appointed Chris for U.S. Senator of Virginia.

THE END

There you have it! A work of art!

Another type of arm I enjoy is, as some of you may already know, drawing!

Here is one of my recent drawings:

Another type of “Canvas Art”, as I call it, is using computers. Back in the summer, I wrote a post about using PhotoShop to make my pals from the neighborhood the Superfriends. Well, I’ve gotten a bit better using PhotoShop since then as you can see. (The one in the top left is the original picture.)

The musical part of the arts is another one of my favorites. I play the piano and my little bro plays the electric guitar. We sound quite well together.

In the end, anything you create is art. Whether it’s drawing, composing, choreographing, it’s still art.

What types of art do you enjoy?

#1kid

Land of the Mouse

Hello, hello! Welcome back to Road2Gold!

This past week my family and I took a trip to Orlando, Florida! Land of the Mouse!

The first thing we did was head to Epcot in Disney world. We stayed there walking around the countries and flying to Mars and back. (I guess space travel makes Mom and Dad a bit queasy.) My favorite part was Japan. (If you don’t know, I have always wanted to go to Japan. I had a whole post on it.)

Japan’s area at Epcot had the country’s arts. Anime and everything! It was so awesome!

We had dinner in Morocco and had dessert in Italia! Go Gelato!

The fireworks are really amazing! If you ever go, you always stay until closing.

The next day we went to LegoLand! Where nearly everything is made of Legos! There were roller coasters, fly-cycles, boats, cars, and horses, made of Legos! It was so cool! I even got a caricature done of me swimming!

On Tuesday, we took a trip to Disney’s Hollywood Studio’s. We watched a whole special effects sequence of Indiana Jones, took a tour through the effects behind war sequences and the factories behind dress making. It was all very interesting.  My favorite part was Star Tours, the Star Wars ride. It felt like you were really in hyperspace and flying through the galaxy!

Also at Hollywood Studios, we learned how to draw Daisy Duck, met the amazing Mickey Mouse, and greeted our friends Wreck-it-Ralph and Vanellope Von Shweetz!

Our hotel was awesome! I mean really, how many times do you get to stay at a hotel with a water slide! The staff set up a giant screen and we watched a movie in the pool!

My fat cat got even FATTER and he still woke us up for food. It seems that is all he ever wants!

Have you ever been to Orlando? What did you do there? Was it fun?

See you next time!

#1kid

Get a Clue

Hello, everybody!

This past Friday, we went to the Mark Twain House to investigate the murder of Huck Finn’s father. Yep, I was a detective in a real life Game of Clue!

When we got to the house, I knocked on the door, and all we heard were loads of screaming and shrieking.  Mark Twain’s housekeeper, Katy Leary opened the door telling us to hurry in and that there was a murder in the house! She brought us down stairs through a secret passageway and we discussed what we were going to do. We had to go into all the rooms and ask the people in them questions like: Was it Aransas with a pipe in the billiard room? No, that was not the answer, but you get the point: Just like Clue.

The people in the rooms were actual characters from Mark Twain’s books. People like Arkansas in the billiard room, Becky Thatcher in the drawing room, some drunken dude in the kitchen (I think he called himself Rum… Go figure), Huck Finn in the dining room, Prince/Pauper in the bedroom, Adam from the Bible (who was quite disturbing) and Guinevere in the conservatory, and Aunt Polly in the schoolroom.

As we investigated our way through the home, we discovered many things. Like in the bedroom, Mark Twain had a gas lamp next to his bed and he would smoke right next to it. Good thing he never got blown away! All those great books would have never been written!

He also slept backwards because he wanted to enjoy his headboard on his bed. It was really expensive and he wanted to get his money’s worth. In the conservatory, Mr. Twain and his children enjoyed each other’s company with the fountain and the plants. Another thing I learned was his kids were homeschooled just like me!

After being great detectives, we believed it was Becky Thatcher with a revolver in the kitchen. Everybody said: “Wow, you really think it is Becky with the revolver, huh?” because of all the asking about her and her gun.

But, that would mean Tom Sawyer was dating a murderer! And that just can’t be … can it?

Well, I hope you weren’t planning on me giving the murderer away. After all it was a crime scene and everything is confidential. I have been sworn to secrecy until the police have investigated the case.

But I think us kids could give them a few pointers on how to run a thorough investigation, for sure!

#1kid

Summer Fun Caught on Camera

Helloooooooooo!

School is out for the summer, and this past weekend we had some camera fun with the  neighborhood kids!

At first we tried to make a movie but the sound didn’t work. 😦 So we opted for still photos of ourselves and uploaded them to the computer. Photoshop can be just as fun as making movies. We posed as if we were using magical powers and edited the pics to make it look like we really did have magical powers! It looked kinda cool! I’ve included the finished pieces for your viewing.

The day flew by, but the next day, we gave filming another shot.

This time we captured every minute of it! Some of the videos didn’t have all of us in it, but it was still very fun! We had shows like the World’s Funniest Falls. It’s where I tape everyone fall down the hill in our yard. Unfortunately, I had to fall as well while someone else taped me scream to my doom! We also taped interviews and I asked everyone questions like “What’s your favorite color?” or “What is your favorite thing to do?” Another video is us acting like babies in the dark. It is SO annoying!

I cannot show you the videos  for protection reasons, but let me tell you, there are some pretty talented actors in the neighbrohood.

I can’t wait to see what the rest of the summer will be like! And I am really digging this making movies thing!

What are you going to do this summer? Any big plans? What fun have you had already?

*For some ideas, here is how to play Everybody Get a Move On, a game we play regularly in our yard* 

Needed: a ball, bases(or a dirt patch or something), people.

The object of the game is to avoid being IT and not getting tagged by the ball. How to do this succesfully is easy! just hop on a base! BUT you must leave the base when the CAPTAIN says: “EVERYBODY GET A MOVE ON!” then everybody starts running! If you are IT, aim for the CAPTAIN. When IT tags CAPTAIN, IT becomes CAPTAIN, who is then IT. Follow me? Tips: Since there are no more than 2 players on a base, go for empty bases. Just saying. 

#1Kid