I got back from MTAC (Middle Tennessee Anime Convention) on Sunday. I have lots of very good news to report! We arrived on Friday morning, and the first day was fairly uneventful. I spent a lot of time in the hotel room with *someone*. I enjoyed that very much. ;D I went to a few presentations, namely the para para battle because my sister was in it. She did really well in the first two rounds, but because of time constraints, they weren't able to do the third and fourth rounds on that day like they had planned. But she ended up winning the whole thing! She was AWESOME!!! We also got to see Jeff Nemoy, who plays the voice of Wolfwood from
Trigun. He was really funny and down-to-earth.
My highlights of course were the traditional arts, namely the taiko drummers and my own presentation on kimono. I was surprised by the number of people that showed up. I actually asked if everyone was there for my presentation because I thought that surely I was in the wrong room! My audience was wonderful, and I had a great volunteer. I think I got a bunch of people interested in starting their own kimono collections. XD
Here are some pics some nice people took after the presentation:
I decided it was high-time for a new yukata. The yellow one I bought last year just doesn't suit my tastes anymore. So I bought this black and white striped one with pink bellflowers(?) from Gary-san. I was trying to go with a more sophisticated image without looking old. Too many yukata are too "cute" for me, but I don't want the extremely traditional and "boring" yukata either, so this one seemed to suit my personality perfectly.
I also got an obi to go with it because I don't have any hanhaba obi to match. Luckily, the pink flowers will be accented by the kinchaku and geta that I bought recently (see previous two posts for pictures). I finally have put a whole yukata set together, and I hope everything arrives soon so I can go to the Japanese garden soon!
I waited all night for this bag from Ryu Japan. Because the funds are currently lower than they should be (my own fault for sure), I decided to wait until morning to see what was left, and if anything interesting was still there, I would get it (and for only $10 - what a steal!). It's pink to match the geta I bought just a little while ago. Now all I need is the yukata I have been eyeing for sometime, and my set will be complete!
I found this yukata/obi combo on Fuuka this morning. I'm sure it's been there for a while, but I never looked at it before. If you've read this blog before, you'll know that I'm very interested in modern kimono. It's not so much the yukata here that I'm raving about, but the obi. It's so simple, summery, elegant, BEAUTIFUL! I adore it! It would actually be quite simple for me to make because I sew quite a bit. I have had plans to work on a line of modern kimono this summer. So far, I have ideas and musings. I need to go get fabric, and considering the amount of boredom I accrue on days off, I need to seriously start a project!
