I guess another indicator of Spring is that I just had to renew my Flickr subscription. So my lucky "public" (ha) gets another year of flickrness from me! ;P
I considered renewing for 2 years, but I always worry when I do that - what if something happens that I don't want the service anymore? Then I have wasted my money. I seriously HOPE nothing happens to Flickr, but you just never know. I'm still sort of bitter about my Newtype USA subscription being converted over to some new magazine that I'm not as excited about. Mostly I am sad that Newtype USA is gone, but the fact that I am now a hostage of the new magazine makes it even more annoying... I guess maybe in time I will get to like it, I like Shojo Beat, which is what I got in compensation for my lost subscription to Animerica. But even there, I still miss Animerica... <.<
I was also just thinking of subscribing to DeviantArt, but I am annoyed because there's already a Nightfall on there. One thing I am noticing is that unless I sign up to a brand new service, there's *always* a Nightfall. Which is fine, I can see it being a popular name. But here's the kicker - whoever it is that grabs the name pretty much inevitably doesn't use the service!! It's like some loser just runs around and grabs the user name and then does nothing with it. The Nightfall account on deviantart is blank. The Nightfall on Flickr is a blank account. The Nightfall on livejournal is not precisely blank, but is *nearly* blank and has a message telling people off for criticizing the person for hogging the user name and not doing anything with the account. What's up with this?
So, anyway, the debate is now "What username to use? Some weird variant of Nightfall? (N1ghtfall? Nightf4ll? Niightfall? Nightfall21? bleh) or esmereldes, like my flickr account?
Thursday, March 27, 2008
The Picture Has Nothing To Do With The Text
Happy Spring!
These were my Easter photos, but since I didn't get them posted here in time for Easter, I think they will be "Happy Spring" photos instead...
I love to do holiday photos, but this year I didn't manage to really do any for Easter. Too little time for photography lately, and then on top of that, Anime Boston was Easter weekend, so even if I did make time for Easter photos, that time got taken up by convention stuff. I also wasn't in a very Easter mood - it was so early this year I didn't feel ready for it! All of my "spring indicators" have arrived - Easter, the first day of spring on the calendar, Anime Boston, the robins, the first flower shoots - but the weather just absolutely does not feel springlike, even by New England standards! Tho, the weather always sucks in the spring and I think many New Englanders (or at least me) have some sort of amnesia every year about this fact. I think part of the attraction of living in the area must be complaining about the weather, since we always do, and we always seem vaguely surprised by how bad it is, even tho it's bad more often than not. So I am outraged - OUTRAGED I say! - that it is going to snow today. Where is the warm weather?!
But seriously, even tho I am not surprised to find that the weather is still bad at the end of March, it screwed me up to have both Easter and Anime Boston be in March. I'm more used to them happening in April when there's blossoms on the trees and some start of new grass. I did manage to take some cute spring-like photos here, but the secret involved in them is that they were all done in planters!! The first two photos are in some outdoor planters in front of a flower shop on Boylston St (and boy did people give me weird looks on that one... And they couldn't even see the Pinky!) and the ones with pink flowers were done inside of the mall. So yes, Happy Spring, even tho it feels so far away! XD 
And while I'm complaining/talking about Easter, I also have to mention - why were the Valentine's Day and Easter post-sales so bad? Christmas stuff was around for ages, but Valentine's Day and Easter candy was gone by pretty much the next day! Do people really buy so much more candy for those holidays? Or, do you suppose they actually scoop a lot of it off the shelves and return it to the warehouse for next year?
I bought these adorable little chick plushes before Easter and felt bad about not waiting until they were onsale, but now I feel glad I did, since they were nowhere to be seen post-Easter!! o.o
I'm disappointed, too, that I didn't get to grab any of the Hello Kitty Easter eggs, or buy anymore Cadbury Creme Eggs... Tho at least on that last one, maybe it is for the best. They have a ridiculous number of calories... ^^; (they're actually really kind of gross, but since I can only eat them at Easter, I always get excited about them - clever marketing!)
I did buy a Hello Kitty easter basket. This is probably something I did not need, but after being largely thwarted by my sale shopping, I was maybe a little too excited to get *something*... It is cute tho!
Wednesday, March 26, 2008
Doll Meet at Anime Boston
I went to a doll meetup (actually, I went to *two* doll meetups) at Anime Boston. Mostly everyone brought BJDs, and I took about a million pictures. So if you like BJDs, be sure to check on my flickr account in the next couple of days as I get all the pictures posted to my Anime Boston set...
Look Who Followed Me Home...
I am such a victim of marketing, I'm afraid. Whenever I see something on sale, or have a coupon, I am easily pursuaded to buy it because it is a "good deal". I am also prone to buying things because I am afraid they will become rare. This turns into trouble with my toy collections, because I tend to rationalize that even if I don't want it, I can always resell it. But... so far my resell rate is pretty much at zero... ^^; So it would really be much smarter if I only bought things I really wanted, regardless of the price. That is, indeed, what 'financial experts' will recommend. But I never can stick to this, because I think at heart what I really enjoy is bargain hunting, and not so much owning things. That's probably a bad trait in a lot of ways, because I end up buying a lot of crap I simply do not need. And truthfully the fact that my room looks like a rummage sale is doing a lot more to dissuade me from buying things than looking at my bank account does. But on the other hand, this tendency has its benefits because I can be completely thrilled for weeks by buying stickers, or some silly $10 item. I think in a lot of ways I'm easily pleased, and I can be equally happy with, for instance, a blue sweater or a green sweater. So that being said, I tend to use price as the deciding factor. The one that is on sale is a "bargain" and so that one is more exciting to buy. And it might not be on sale next week, so that's a good reason to buy it NOW and not think so much about it!
Despite the fact that I *know* that this is a marketing trick, and that is why they put things on sale and issue coupons... well, I am apparently helpless in the face of it. My dad is always making fun of me for my coupon clipping, but I can't help it - my mom was the same way and I clearly learned it from her.
What does this have to do with anything? (is that a question that even should be asked on a blog? Blogs are pretty much the home of pointless rambling, no? But, I do have a reason for this discussion! Surprise!) Well, something like a year ago, local record store/comic book store/collectible toy shop Newbury Comics got in a couple of Pullips and Taeyangs. Namely, Filato and Eternia. Their price was higher than it would've cost me to buy them mail order, incl. shipping, so I just got into the habit of checking to see if they were still there or not when I went into the store. I was hoping they'd sell well and the store might carry more - preferably new models, and ones that I wanted more than I wanted Eternia and Filato. Because altho internet shopping is often a better deal, there's something a lot more satisfying to me about buying in person. However, months dragged on and altho Eternia sold, Filato never did. I gave up on the idea that Newbury Comics would want to carry Pullips regularly. Instead, I started thinking "hm, maybe there is an opportunity for a bargain here". I have a friend who says she negotiates lower prices at stores all the time (apparently this is a trend, but clearly I do not have the gift b/c when I decided to ask about the possibility of a lowered price on Filato I was told that they don't discount collectibles - if they don't sell they go on the company website. If they don't sell there, they go on ebay. This seemed silly to me, but I'm not assertive enough to push things, I guess. So... Filato sat there. And sat there. And sat there some more. And then suddenly last night I walked in and he was substantially cheaper! I was shocked. His price was now what he would've cost to buy new *without* shipping. This was a good deal! And... maybe now someone else would buy him! I had to act fast! Uh... didn't I?
So the question here is - is the moral of this story that my patience paid off? I waited it out and got a good price for something I wanted. Or, is the moral of this story that I got suckered into buying something I didn't really want or need because it was "on sale"? Because, the truth of the matter is that I didn't esp. want Filato. I just got two new dolls who are barely out of their stock outfits. So the timing is off - it's not time for me to be thinking of a new doll. And if I bought I new doll, my wishlist was Butler, Colline and then My Melody. And maybe Horizon. Oh, and Winter Bus Stop Momoko. And I kinda wanted a Freulein Revolvtech (which is what I was actually browsing for at the store) So this unexpected purchase is actually pushing back the purchase of dolls I wanted more. But, you know, he's a nice ordinary-looking boy, which is something I did kind of want (my collection is mostly girls). And the only new ordinary boy (William) was not grabbing me any more than Filato, and Filato was cheaper.
So I am having post-purchase waffling, and Filato is staying in his box for a while. If I don't start experiencing full-on regret and decide to sell or return him, I will just keep him in his box until I want a new doll again. Because at this point I have blown my dolly budget all the way into June... >.>
Tuesday, March 25, 2008
Socks Kitty!!
So easy to fall off the blogging wagon... d'oh!
Anyway, this past weekend I went to Anime Boston. I had hoped to come back with just tons of cute things, but I didn't see that many things I couldn't live without, and the prices weren't pushing me into buying things that I probably *could* live without. (no good deals, darn it all!) Which is not to say that I did not buy anything! Far from it, I'm afraid. XD My chief purchase was this adorable little guy. I love this character and I've been snapping up everything featuring him that I come across.
So when I saw this plush at wizzywig's booth, I was unable to resist him, even tho I thought $10 was a bit pricey for a small plush. However, I'm so glad I did buy him! He's so cute and cuddly I want to bring him with me everywhere I go like I am 8 again. ^^
On a side note, wizzywig had one of my favorite booths this year, which just goes to show how much cute and random stationary has become an addiction to me... ^^;
Also, since this is supposedly a *Pinky* blog, I should note that there were a fair number of Pinkys there, but nothing rare. Mostly the very newest release girls, and then the Monster Hunter Pinkys. I'm still missing two Monster Hunters, but they were $26 at probably the cheapest place, and I have yet to take the one I got out of its packaging... But lest you think my Pinky love is fading, it's just that I don't really like anything about the Monster Hunters except the heads. I think Pinky failed me more than I failed Pinky in this instance! Tho they are very nicely done, they just don't seem very cute, you know? Someone else's style, but not mine. Maybe I'll still get them someday tho...
Oh, I must also amend this post to show the matching stickers I also bought. Check out the cute kerchief-wearing kitty, and the nesting dolls!!
Tuesday, March 18, 2008
Vote for me?
I think I posted this photo once before, but I'm posting it again with a plea:
I'm entered into a photo contest with the theme of "toys in love", and I'm trying to collect myself some votes. If you are so inclined, please vote for me!
I'm currently in fourth place and I think I probably don't really know enough people to get my tally up there to win, but it's still worth a try!!
You can vote on my flickr page (just click on the photo) and be sure to say that you are voting for me (just saying you like it won't count). You can also vote on the contest blog or on facebook. Head over to the blog to get more info on how to vote. If you do vote for me, thanks so much! ^^
Happy St. Patrick's Day!
Chun-li was not pleased when she realized that when Makoto said she had "a special green St. Patrick's Day treat" she meant brussel sprouts! ^^;
Posted only one day late!! (Ok, that's not really an accomplishment, exactly, but it's better than I generally do on holidays...)
I know it looks like I've gotten lazy about blogging again, but unfortunately this time I have an excuse. Things have been very crazy in my life lately, but I hope they might be settling down a bit finally. I sure hope so, because in addition to having no time to blog, I've had barely any time to take photos, and I desperately miss my "play time"!
So expect me to post some more pictures here soon!
