About the Webmistress
(abandon all hope ye who enter here)
Welcome to the realm of my self indulgence.  Every person should have a section of their webpage devoted to themselves.  This is mine.  If you don't like it, there is that really nifty button at the top labelled "back" push that now if you want to leave.  Otherwise be prepared for some good old fashioned rambling and opinions.  This is me.  Uncensored.  Well, not really.  But you get the idea.

BTW that is not me.  This is Liesl -- she's from the LARP I used to be in back in Grand Rapids.  She is not someone to trifle with.  That and she is married.  But I took the picture, when I was webmistress for the LARP, something that I will NEVER do again - both the LARPing and the webmastering. Anyway, I like the picture.  So I thought I would open with it.  And as I said before, you can always leave.

So there.  
Look Ma!  I'm playing with tables.  That's right.  I don't use frames, java, or any of that other fancy-schmancy web programming crap.  Nope, I use good old fashioned HTML and Netscape Communicator.  It is simple, it is easy, and I don't have to devote my life to trying to figure out how to work the bloody program.  I just open it and go.  That is why you won't see a ton of nifty little web buttons or graphics.  Because I don't care enough to spend my time putting them together.  I have better things to do.  Like write.  Or Moderate one of my many e-mail lists or other websites.  Or work on Otakon stuff.  Or play with my pets.  Or sit on my ass and watch my thighs grow fatter.  Get the picture.  Web design and webpage maintenance are not high on my list of priorities. 

I am also pretty slow with updating fics, Livejournal, and other things.  I admit it.  Deal. 

Oh and the picture is of me this time.  My friend Zack took it of me when we went to Disney World back in 1999.  So um yeah -- it's been a while.
Speaking of Zack, he is one of my oldest friends.  In fact, we are still friends.  He's the one you have to blame, curse, praise, worship for introducing me to good Anime.  

Back in 1994, there was this little known anime called Macross Plus.  It had just come out and it was really quite special.  

Now me, I knew nothing about this.  Sure I had grown up watching Voltron and Tranzor Z.  But I knew nothing about Star Blazers or Robotech nor its Japanese Origins.  Then, in high school, I stumbled into Warriors of the Wind.  I liked it.  I didn't know better.  The music was great and the art neat.  Sure it was aimed at little kids but what did I know?  It was fun.  

Many years passed.  I still loved Voltron. I even rented the old beat up tape the local video store had.  That is when I learned that underneath his uniform Lotor wears foam rubber shoulder pads.  I bet you didn't know that.  

Anyway. 

College happens -- it's like shit except on a much more expensive level.  And a bunch of my friends in the dorm and I are watching movies.  And Luther, my Mennonite horror-movie freak friend, announces that he has the most horrific movie ever made.  It is a Japanese Anime called Legend of the Overfiend.  

That's right folks.  The first anime that  I ever saw that I knew was anime was tentacle porn.  Kinda explains a lot if you know me now doesn't it?  My friends and I sat through this badly dubbed hentai movie and watched it through to the end.  It was like a train wreck.  You couldn't look away.  I still remember Luther exclaiming "Cartoons shouldn't have sex!"  It brings a smile to my face everytime I think about it.   In fact, I am smiling now.  

Enter Zack.  He was in another group of friends that I hung out with.  One night he started talking about anime and I asked him what that was.  He told me and I told him that I didn't like it.  When he asked why I explained that rape by demons was not my thing.  He blinked and blinked again.  And then excused himself.  A few minutes later he had brought back a couple of tapes with him and said, "This is anime."  He then proceeded to make me watch things like Ranma 1/2, Bubblegum Crisis, Ah! My Goddess, and of course the hook Macross Plus.  I loved it.  

The rest is kinda history.  Well not really.  But we'll get to that.
You see that picture up there.  That is me again at the very first Anime Central dressed as Shampoo.  Yes, Toshi, I did cosplay as a Ranma character.  Once.  Don't hold it against me.  

You see, one of my fannish tendancies is that I like attending Anime conventions.  You get to meet all sorts of neat people and hear all sorts of neat things.  Of course, my biggest philosophy about anime conventions is two-fold:  

1.  Never go to an anime con to watch anime.  
2.  Never go to an Anime Con to play video games.  
Why?  Because you can bloody well do that at home or at a freaking arcade!  Go for the panels, dealer room, Anime music Videos, Cosplay, and of course my favorite thing -- the guests.   

But anyway, yanking myself back on track, I like cons.  In fact, I liked them so much that I decided to start working them.  Mostly as guest relations, but I have done just about everything else from Running the whole con (never doing that again) to security (I was Co-Head of Spec Ops for Otakon 2008) to Registration to Cosplay (NEVER -EVER doing that again.)  

So, um, yeah.  I kinda fell into working cons because a good chunk of the guests were/are my friends so it just makes sense for me to hang out with them and make sure that they eat and get to their panels.  Then, I graduated from college and moved to Florida and everything changed.
Ok, that isn't me graduating from college.  I kinda skipped that ceremony.  I seem to recall that I was someplace in Kentucky when it was going on.  That is me and my Nana, babysitter since I was a month old, at my high school graduation.  And for that matter the picture above is from my commencement.  I haven't changed much. 

But in May of 2002, I graduated from Central Michigan University -- that institution will never see another penny from me -- and I grabbed my then best friend and we burned rubber to the great sunny state of Florida.  Or at least we thought so at the time.  We know better now.  We lived in an apartment in the bad side of town.  I got to learn more about how drug deals go down by sitting out on our balcony watching our neighbors conduct them at all hours of the night.  But it is thanks to that shitty apartment that I have my cat, Rin.  Rin was a stray and I, being the soft touch that I am, was unable to stop myself from adopting him.  He is doing very well and is a very strange cat.  He likes to take baths and is fond of being spun around on the floor until he gets dizzy.  He's now 6 years old and he still loves this.  He is super tolerant kitty.  

Also while down there, I got my second cat, Pazu.  You will soon see a theme with my pet's names.  However getting a second cat was a stretch for me, I don't like cats.  I prefer dogs.  Cats make my eyes and chin itch and my throat swell shut.  Dogs don't.  So why do I have two of them?  I have no clue.  But they don't set me off too badly unless I haven't washed them lately.  Then well, we get the itches.  

Back to Pazu.  He was a shelter kitty and the vet is pretty damn sure he is a purebred Abyssinian.  Like that matters to me.  He is my sweet cuddly kitty.  He trills and likes to lead me to the food dish.  He also has the longest tail that three vets have ever seen.  And of course he has his most endearing quality.  He drools when he is happy.  Rin has uncontrollable tongue action when you hit his spot.  Pazu drools and kneads.  It is very cute.  

Fast forward 3 years.  After three Hurricanes - Charley, Frances, and Jeanne and then through three home break-ins I had had enough.  I quit my job  in February of 2005.  It was for the best.  For those of my friends who follow my livejournal, you know what went on there.  For those of you who don't, well let's just say that stuff happened and I am back in Michigan now where I am much happier. 

Anyways.  I am sick of rambling.  Here are more random Pictures of me and ones I took.  When I finally get off of my ass and transfer my pics from my Digital Camera to my computer maybe then you will get the long rant of why three hurricanes in six weeks is not fun although the storms themselves are neat, why three break ins in six weeks doesn't top my list of enjoyable experiences, and why I subject myself to moderating several things when I have a temper that of Hera.
See, I'm happier.  Don't I look happier?  Or do I look like am about to reach through the screen and strangle someone?  Don't answer that.  

But in all actuality, I am more content with my life here in Grand Rapids than I was down in Florida.  I purchased my first house in October of 2005. I like my house.  It is a big house - well for one person it is.   I no longet have a roommate.  Stuff happened.  If you follow my livejournal you know what is up.  If you don't.  That is not my problem.  

Anyway.  For my thirtieth birthday present to myself I got a dog.  I'd been wanting a dog of my own for some time and a went back and forth about the kind that I wanted.  Well there was this ad for English Springer Spaniel puppies and I already know I like the breed so I went to look.  It was my birthday.  I came home with my little girl, Rikku.  Rikku is a liver and white bitch and I debated breeding her for a while she is just so pretty and sweet.  She loves to cuddle and when she has a stuffed toy she likes to suck it and knead a pillow.  It is very cute to watch. 

After my roommate moved out, I decided I would get the big dog that I always wanted.  Again I looked around again.  I had a few false starts.  Then I saw an ad from a shelter for set of German Shepherd/Black Lab puppies that were just ready to be adopted.  I went with my dad to look at them.  I liked two of them - both males - but the larger of the two liked me more.  So I picked him.  He was named "Bear" it didn't stay that for long.  For the entire car ride back to the house and then to get his stuff we tried out names.  I was determined to NOT have an anime name.  I failed.  Or rather the puppy wasn't going with it.

Back up a bit, I name pets based on what they respond to.  It works better that way.  

So yeah.  The Puppy.  His name is Shikamaru or Shika-shika.  He is a sweet puppy who has never known what it is like to not have me around.  Both he and Rikku want to go everywhere with me.  And in general, they are very well behaved.  

Oh for those of you who caught it, I don't leave my house.  I work from home doing skipwork for a repossession company.  I love it.  I love the company I work for, I like my drivers, and I like what I do.  It means that I don't have to spend money on gas and in this economy that is definitely of the good.   

However, I am sick of rambling.  So how about some pictures?
These are my old dogs, Tedi & Dot.  I loved them lots.  And when they died a few years ago I was heartbroken.  The Pictures were taking literally days before Dot, the brown one, died due to kidney failure.  Tedi died almost two years later of Cancer. 

The pictures were taken in my Parent's back yard. 
<= This is me in New Zealand.   I haven't changed much.

This is a picture of a plant that was curled like an ankh.  I just needed to take the picture.  I like it ^_^
Some Random black and white pictures of downtown Grand Rapids.  I miss my parents digital camera. 

Whoa!  You actually managed to make it all the way down here?  I'm impressed.  Well if you want to find out more about me.  You can always go to my livejournal.