Whew, so today was my birthday. Boy was it LONG. I went into work a little early (7:40), but I didn't wind up leaving until 10:20 PM. Ah well... I'm hoping the experiment I was working on turns out ok. I did get to stop and spend an hour with my family who drove up to see me, and my old buddy/roommate came too! I've only gotten a few gifts so far, but I've been told by several people that more are being shipped to me, so I'm excited about that! I'm gonna post what I receive below and try to properly thank the people who gave them :)
My little bro got me several gifts, but this one was the only one that came in in time. It is a Hollow Knight pin. I only this year discovered how beautiful this game is. It has a striking and dark the story-line, gorgeous visuals, and some extremely well-crafted music. The pin he bought me came with a bonus button, and it turned out to be Shovel Knight (YAY! I love that game too!). I keep all my pins on the roof of my car... and that means I can pull them off and put them on at any time I think they would be classy. So, thanks a ton bro! I know you put a lot of work into searching for tasteful nerdy stuff for me, and I also know I'll love your other gifts!
My ex-roommate gave me a cool card game called "Superfight". It looks like it will be a ton of fun!! I think the premise is you get a random character card and a random set of abilities, and then you and the other people argue who would win in a fight! Plus, there are blank cards that you can fill in (which means I'm making a Toothless card, and I am ALWAYS gonna vote that he wins... no matter how biased it makes me XD). It's a really neat gift, and I'm sure I'll have a lot of fun with it. So, Sensei, thanks a bunch!
My grandparents gave me money (which is much appreciated. I'm saving up for a trip I hope to go on), and my PI from the lab I work in gave me this thing called a Birchbox. Apparently, it's a subscription to some sort of men's grooming thing... which may mean she thinks I don't look spiffy enough XD. Who knows... the products do look nice, though! Plus, it's very kind of her as my boss to take notice. I think they are planning to have pizza for me tomorrow!
This evening, I got to eat with my family and a few friends at a cool burger joint. The food was great (although the place got loud because it was 1$ beer night!). It was great to get a breather from work and to see them all. Man, I do miss being home...
Anywho, I'll be sure to post any more gifts I get as they come in! I actually usually don't get that many HTTYD gifts... not because I don't like HTTYD stuff... the problem is I buy all of it for myself before anyone else gets the chance! Still, it's awesome to get some of my other fandoms represented. This is my first year of loving Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood, so I'm pretty sure I'll get some great merch from that amazing show! Roy Mustang is sooooooooooo cool!
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Day 2 gifts were AMAZING! I had to get up around 4:40 to get ready for work, but I noticed that I had two emails in my inbox. One of them was from Inhonoredglory, and the other one was from Toothlesslove! Inhonoredglory made me an art piece and Toothlesslove wrote a short story for me! I'm hoping to get permission to post the short story, and I'll post the art-piece below and freak out about it!
So, first off... WOW. This is just so well done just from an artistic standpoint! It's a crossover between HTTYD and Fullmetal Alchemist! As I mentioned yesterday, I've totally fallen for this epic story (Manga, Anime, and all!) over this last year. It's also such a fun parallel because the character Hiccup is cosplaying here is Edward Elric. Ed notably has a missing left foot as well! He also happens to be a die-hard pacifist with massive conviction and drive. Then, that epic metal version of Toothless is representing Alphonse Elric, Edward's younger brother. Alphonse is a powerful, protective character with fierce loyalty to his brother. Hiccup and Toothless's relationship is very bro-esque, so they fit their roles beautifully! I can't get over the complexity and shading of Toothless, and then you have tons of great little details! Everything From Hiccup's matching missing foot to the blood seal on the Toothless armor, it's a masterfully well-done art piece, and I was SO EXCITED when I got it in my email this morning. I really, really want to print it out as a poster and hang it. I genuinely can't express how much I loved this painting, and how thankful I am for all the time and effort that was clearly put into it! Thank you so much glory! I'd love to hear your thought process while making this. I'm always stunned at just how talented you are, and I really do feel super, super lucky to have been given such a gorgeous and epic gift for my bday!
As far as the short story written by Toothlesslove, if I get the chance, I'll post it on here. It was really, really fun. Beautifully written, excellently paced, and it did a really, really good job at balancing two heroes in the limelight. It featured Hiccup meeting my favorite character from FMAB, Roy Mustang. Honestly, I find it tricky to have heroes meet, especially if they butt heads on certain principles ideas, and to not have it feel like a competition on who is cooler. I also think it is tricky to balance Hiccup against someone so powerful and commanding in combat as Roy, but Toothlesslove did a brilliant job making both of my favorites shine. It really did explore some beautiful themes, and most of all... it felt so, SO in-character. I know she hasn't had the chance to finish the show, so it was shocking to see how accurate the depiction of Roy Mustang was! Seeing him and Hiccup interact in the story felt really genuine, almost like it was canon! Also, man, the way the story ended made me extremely hooked to the notion of this cross-over... because it almost ends on a cliffhanger! I'd love to see more interactions between Hiccup and Roy. It felt so rich, and the storyline screamed potential! Thanks so much, Toothlesslove! I'm sure this took you a ton of time, and I really, really loved it!
I also got a tie, a wireless speaker, and a bunch of stationery from two of my lab-mates! My PI even made me a cake! So, yeah, day after my birthday was certainly fun. Thank you, everyone, for the gifts!
I'm still pretty positive I have more gifts coming in, so I'll post about them when they come in :)
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Day 3! My little brother got me two really cool graphic tees! They are both from TeePublic, which a site I've recently found. It has lots of cool, nerdy stuff!
The first shirt is a cream colored tee with a really dramatic, pretty, and somber FMAB design. I love how obscured both the brother's are. Al's stooping sadly in the middle with the Japanese red sun behind him is the perfect center of the image. Then you have Ed, standing in sad determination to the side. It really draws out the importance of the brothers' quest... to get back their bodies! So, I'm actually wearing the shirt as I write this.
The other tee is a white graphic tee with the full alchemic array of Roy Mustang. This is the design used to generate flame alchemy, which my favorite character in FMAB uses to great effect. The design looks stark and striking against the white, and now I have two FMAB shirts with the Elric brothers, and two that focus on Roy! Thanks a ton to my little brother for searching out these great designs. I know he took a lot of time trying to pick out the best ones, so I really am thankful!
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