#<- that might be a more popular tag of mine in the future ... stay tuned....

[piromina]

Oh, how far we've come...

[birdsofchristmas]

Chapter 6: The Swinging Christmas Tree

The oddest thing about most of the Christmas TV specials I watched growing up was that almost everything talked- animals talked, people talked, snowmen, ornaments, trees, toys, squirrels - everything seemed to have an opinion on Christmas and a desire to express it verbally.

It makes sense then that when my parents told me we were going to a singing Christmas tree I thought they were talking about an actual tree that danced and sang. For days I pictured an anthropomorphic green giant with sticks as arms, standing gleefully singing holiday tunes. My imagination even stretched into scenarios where the tree became disgruntled from years of imprisonment, breaking free of the 4-peg metal stand holding it in place then terrorizing the horrified audience of mostly attractive young parents.

I was in awe of the thing when I first beheld it at age 8, but even before the singers were ushered into its branches I was sitting in the padded seats of the church thinking “what’s it going to look like when it starts dancing?”

I learned that night that the term “singing Christmas tree” is a complete misnomer. For those who have never seen one the singing tree is a large choir performance of holiday tunes accompanied by some kind of live theatre performance. Actors, a running plotline, props and scenes, the whole lot.

The tree itself is a series of podiums stacked one by one, the widest at the base with gradually narrowing levels ascending to the ceiling of the church, decorated with all manner of lights and green fabric. The choir would be lined in rows with 20 on the first layer and less as the tree progressed higher, with a few lucky individuals perched on the very top level.

It became a family tradition to see the tree every year, and as the years progressed my interests shifted from cap guns and action figures to music and performing, and so my appreciation for the performances of the tree deepened with each attendance, extending even to my first Christmas returning home from college.

You might be balking at the idea that a giant plywood tree with choir singers would have any mass appeal, but these things are wildly popular. One church in Vancouver sees around 20,000 attendees over the course of six evenings every year, with reserved seats disappearing faster than Backstreet Boys tickets in the 90s!

It wasn’t like trying to see a Tyler Perry movie in theatres- if you didn’t show up on time seating would be highly scarce, and being that my family was never the type to be in a hurry finding a good spot was always a bit of a crap shoot.  Quite often we’d show up minutes before the curtain call and have to be seated in various single chairs throughout the church, only seeing each other again after the performance.

This year was different because I insisted on driving, and because I lied about what time the show actually started. “6:30,” I shouted throughout the house to my parents, “It starts at 6:30! We can’t be late!�� We’d leave the house at 6:38 and arrive at the church by 7pm, well ahead of the the 7:30 start time.

When it came to picking seats my parents were the most indecisive people you could ever imagine, regularly shifting seats at Nanaimo Clippers hockey games and even during movies, sometimes after the movie started! Hockey games are fair enough, but playing musical chairs during a movie was just terrible. I was always more of a settler than a nomad, content to find a good seat and sit comfortably without the anxious thought there there was always a better seat out there somewhere.

My parents started their 2 Stooges routine as soon as we arrived at the church, with “Oh, we’re really on time” and “oh, where should we sit? The balcony? I don’t want to sit too close to the stage, no not here, over there”, but I wasn’t having any of it. I strode with bold confidence into the foyer, stopping only to receive a program being passed out by the ushers, right into the auditorium, down the aisle sitting down almost immediately into the first decent enough looking seat I could find.

Twenty minutes later the director of the play approached a microphone to give his opening welcome. It was at this point I started to casually flip through the program, stopping in my reading tracks when I saw a statement in bold lettering that said “please note, there will not be an intermission for this performance”. In my rush to get a good seat I’d forgotten the golden rule of seeing plays and movies- always go to the bathroom before you sit down.

Another twenty minutes later minutes nature started calling, and calling very loudly, and I started to regret the venti peppermint latte I’d picked up on the way. The choir was singing beautifully, the acting was engaging, but I was too distracted to fully enjoy the show. At one point I looked down at the empty coffee cup sitting on the ground in front of me, thought about it for a second, then said to myself, “no, that’s a really bad idea, I should just get up”.

I shuffled down the pew awkwardly and proceeded to the exit in search of a restroom. I couldn’t see it anywhere and walked almost the entire perimeter of the foyer until I spotted a small restroom sign. When I was leaving the restroom I noticed another sign in an adjacent hallway. It had an arrow pointing left and it said “choir members, this way”.

I have to admit most of my bucket list has something to do with Christmas- celebrating the holiday in Australia for instance, or driving a Shriner car through the Santa Claus parade, or building a life sized edible gingerbread house, or proposing to my future wife by wrapping myself in a giant box with a bow, then jumping out with a ring proclaiming “marrying you is the best gift I could ever ask for babe!”

As I stood in front of the arrowed sign I felt it was a golden opportunity to cross “singing in a giant Christmas tree” off my list, and I’d be a fool to pass it up.

I followed the sign to another sign at the end of the hall, then down another another hall like a mouse in a maze. I was surprised a security guard or a spinster hasn’t stopped me at this point. You know these people, there’s a few in every church- they’re the self appointed vigilantes and guardians who adhere strictly to the rules and expect others to do so as well. If you look slightly out of place they’ll stop you and ask “excuse me sir, can I help you?” I’m always tempted to reply with “why yes, you can! I need a ride to the airport next week, would you mind driving me??”

At last I scurried though a tall purple curtain with another sign that said “performers entrance” into a room strewn about with jackets and purses and a rolling clothes rack full of empty wire hangers. At the very end of the rack there was a long, green sparkled gown I recognized as one of the choir uniforms.  

It was an awkward fit at first, and it smelled like hadn’t been washed since Christmas 1998, but I managed to get the robe on. There was a tag on the neck that said XXXL and a zipper on the back with a long string attached to it, which I assumed was an emergency escape cord in case of a fire or an earthquake. I took 2 steps and immediately stumbled, tripping on the excess fabric. It felt like I was wearing an open parachute. As I fumbled about I sang a quick vocal warm up, “Maaaaaaaaaahh, maaaaaaaaaay, meeeeeeee, muuuuuuust be santaaaaa…”

The entrance to the tree was an obvious arched entryway, beside that a final and definitive sign- “the Lord bless and keep you” with a diagram of the tree. I searched the sign until I found “Baritones: third level” and made my way into the tree’s hallowed plywood branches.

The choir was mid-song as I shimmied onto the platform, bumping into a guy who was as tall as me but about 100 pounds bigger. He looked like he’d make a great Santa in about 20 years time if his career in the CFL didn’t pan out. I whispered to him “sorry I’m late, I forgot my sheet music.” He whispered back in the lowest bass tone I’ve ever heard “s'ok, borrow mine”.

The thing I wasn’t expecting was the lights- red lights, yellow lights, green lights, lights beaming in my eyes hiding the audience from view, lights beaming from the ceiling and from the stage floor.

There were even spotlights on all sections of the choir as individuals took turns preforming solos. I sang happily through three carols, partway through the 4th I heard the low voice next to me say “bub, your parts next”. I froze with fear and looked around nervously, then I noticed there was a tiny black bauble on a long black string a mere foot in front of where I was standing. With the realization this was a microphone came the realization that my voice was going to heard well and clearly by every member in the audience!

When I thought about sneaking into a singing Christmas tree I was expecting to be just a single needle in the tree, unnoticed as an individual. I thought maybe I’d blend in, and if I was off key no-one would really notice. But now I was about to become an entire branch, to be tested by the mighty winds of high expectation to see if I could stand up to the pressure.

The spotlight hit me and I belted out the solo, giving it my best with gusto, summoning courage usually only possible after a double gin & tonic. Then I heard a giant applause with hooting and whistling from one corner of the church. The Pentecostal youth group I’d volunteered with for 5 years before leaving for college was attending in almost full force, taking up an entire section! They recognized me and cheered me on in full Pentecostal fashion, laughing and buzzing long after my solo. I imagine part of their excitement may have been them thinking I was speaking in tongues, because I only knew half the words to the solo.

I stayed on for the rest of the performance, by the end sweating profusely but filled with unimaginable joy. I didn’t stay in the tree for the standing ovation, instead sneaking back through the mouse maze hearing the cheering reverberate throughout the church before returning to my seat. I sat down as the ovation continued and breathed a sigh of relief. I’d gotten away with sneaking into the tree and besides my former youth group the crowd was none the wiser.

It was then I felt a hand on my shoulder, a grip so firm I knew it could only have belonged to a police officer. I felt the same grip one year at my old high school when I was setting off fireworks in the back field. The same grip I felt on my arm after jumping into the outdoor pool in Bowen Park late at night. The same grip I felt on my shoulder when I was caught sneaking into the walk in freezer at summer camp trying to steal ice cream. The jig was up, there was a security guard after all, and I’d been caught!

I turned around and to my surprise the grip belonged to a sweet elderly woman, with glittering eyes and a cheerful smile. I leaned down towards her and she said in a kind sounding voice “my that was very well done, thank you very much”. She had recognized me from the choir because I was still wearing the giant parachute choir robe, and I responded with a very embarrassed “thank you so much”, turning as red as a Christmas poinsettia. Her grandson, and more importantly her granddaughter, were smiling at me as well saying “yeah that was great, thanks”. This was followed by more undeserved thanks from several other grandmothers and their granddaughters while I inched towards the foyer doors.

I thought I was finally in the clear when I heard a shout from the stage, as one of the members of the choir said “Hey, aren’t you coming to the afterparty?” My parents were standing at the front door holding their coats. I put my hands up in an “I dunno” position. My dad nodded at me with a smile, winked at me, and off my parents left for home while I walked down to aisle, back to the stage, through the mouse maze, to the after party happening in the church’s library with a stack of pizza boxes in the shape of a Christmas tree.

One of the choir members approached me saying, “I don’t recognize you from practice, were you part of the tree?” And the guy with the bass voice came over and said “hey of course he was, this is Daniel, he was filling in for Mike!”

And so for the remainder of the night I was Daniel, and I was Daniel again for the following three years of returning to sing in the Christmas tree. The third year I sang on the very top level, which only lasted a few songs because I’m afraid of heights. I’ve been singing on the 2nd level ever since.

[engekihaikyuu]

Anonymous Asks Answered

Part 1

All answers under the Read More!  This is gonna be in 2 parts since I did get quite a few.  A few of these have been answered separately on their own.  If you missed them, just search the tag “asks” or “replies” on this blog and you should be able to find them.  

If you’re viewing this on the app, you won’t be able to read under the Read More apparently, so please view it in Desktop mode on your phone browser.

I feel like my answer to this should be obvious lol.  As you’ve seen, I basically scanned the entire thing, so if you looked at all that and you’re still on the fence, I’d still say buy it because it’s really great quality and you’d be supporting the production!  I understand giving the postcards a pass since one of them is literally just a picture of a volleyball on the stage (I still bought it tho), but I think the guidebook is absolutely worth it.  

Ahhhhh always a really difficult question!!!  Ok in no particular order, my favorites include, Suga Kenta, Kimura Tatsunari, Akisawa Kentarou, Hashimoto Shouhei, Ino Hiroki, Kondou Shouri, Nagata Takato, Kawasumi Bishin, and Arisawa Shoutarou (I decided to stop at 10 lol).  

For future reference, this is literally one of the more specific asks and not vague at all!  But unfortunately, I really don’t know of any Judai/Sonde specific blogs.  I will say that it would be hard to run one for Sonde because he only has a blog, no twitter or instagram, and he updates it REALLY rarely.  I’m talking like once or twice a month?  So just based on that you’re more likely to find a Judai-specific blog.  I can try to update on him more but he is one of the actors that tends to not say that much when he updates, which is every day.  Just usual things like, went to rehearsals, came home, gonna sleep lots!  That’s like 85% of what he posts.  

I reeeeeally could not give you those specifics, EVEN IF I knew them, which I don’t.  I especially could not give an answer as to how theater staff are paid, but whenever possible, if you can financially support the productions, I will always encourage people to do so.  With DVD purchases especially.  And then after that, whatever they make, at least you’ll have contributed a little!  As to how popular it is compared to other 2.5D shows, there’s no denying it’s up there.  It gets a lot of press, and a few avenues of promotion that certain other plays don’t get because it stems from an already-existing, very-popular Jump series.  It’s still no Tenimyu, and I don’t think it out-performs Touken Ranbu, but it is very highly regarded and stands in the top tier.  But stage plays are still a niche market, and you can be in the top-level productions as a minor character and still not make very much.  

They all wear face masks all the time actually, especially as the weather gets colder.  Japanese people habitually wear face masks to avoid getting sick, prevent other people from catching what they might have, and also just to keep their faces warm because Tokyo is WINDY and cold as fuck in winter.  I used to wear one just to keep my face warm, and so did most of my friends.  

Well I’ve posted the two major parts of the rap battle in two posts already that I’ll link below, but I don’t know where you can download it.  I bought my own DVD to rip those clips from, and I highly encourage people that can buy their own DVD to do so.  

Part 1: (x) Part 2: (x) 

I’ve mentioned before in several prior posts and have also shared dress rehearsal footage for Winners and Losers in which both Shouri and Takato cross-dress to play Aoba Johsai fangirls for the match between them and Karasuno.  Shouri is talking about his cross-dressing experience playing that fangirl.  

They both wear wigs.

I claw my face about this pretty much every week.  Basically, just use Tumblr on your internet browser on your phone and set it to Desktop mode because if you’re using the Tumblr app, it’s shit.  There is no way to get those links to work on mobile and that’s not your fault or mine, it’s that the Tumblr mobile app SUCKS BALLS.  

It really depends on the agency.  Obviously some of them are more restricting than others, but in general most talent agencies feature a wide variety of talents, including models and singers, not just actors.  Many of the actors belong to smaller subsidiary agencies of Watanabe Entertainment which is a huuuge agency featuring many many actors and singers and other types of entertainers.  Japanese talents tend to work a little differently; you pick a specialty for sure (acting, singing, dancing, etc...) but you’re generally expected to be able to do a little bit of everything.  ESPECIALLY stage actors.  In Hollywood, we have a bunch of actors and actresses who can’t carry a tune to save their lives, but in Japan, they try to use every person for as many different things as possible so even if your specialty is acting and not singing, you may be required to sing for a role at some point.  Every actor therefore does their best to expand their overall repertoire of available skills.

Across the board though, there is an overall restriction across 99.9% of agencies that forbids actors from talking about their personal lives and relationships.  Commonly known as the “love ban” it applies most strictly to idols and musicians, but also gets applied to actors and seiyuu.  For the most part, nobody is known to be dating until they’re about to get married.  And then maybe you’ll see a marriage announcement, or in some cases, you have to keep your marriage a secret.  I’ve seen stage actors announce upcoming marriages and now even some seiyuu, so it’s not impossible.  Overall, stage actors are allowed more freedoms than TV/movie actors and musicians/idols.  I feel like models have the most freedoms allowed based on what I’ve seen.  

MAN THAT DRAMA WAS HELLA BAAAAAAD but I love Peacemaker Kurogane~ Kenta’s been around though... he’s been acting since he was a child, I think his first role he was 4 years old?  He features in a wide variety of stuff from TV shows to movies and variety shows.  Since his role in Peacemaker, he’s done mostly movies, but he obviously made the transition to stage because he absolutely had to play Hinata no matter what.  ^_^  

I get this question about Allen a lot and I need to clarify that I don’t actually have a 100%, for-sure answer since I don’t have his birth certificate and I don’t know his parents, but I do not think he is half.  I have mentioned before that his name is spelled with Kanji ( 亜廉 ) and that Aren is an existing Japanese name that just happens to have a really nice English equivalent.  Allen did study English back in school, so he would know that better than most.  And I will say that he’s at least a quarter if not half Okinawan (he mentions an Okinawan grandmother in an older blog post).  So his features aren’t entirely main-island Japanese, and that may be where people are getting the impression that he’s half along with the romanization of his name, but I really do not think so.  To me, his features still look entirely Asian.  Justin we know is half Australian.  

Winners and Losers pretty much covers just the Interhigh match between Karasuno and Aoba Johsai.  They do cover the post-match meal and Hinata and Kageyama getting upset and promising to never apologize anymore, and they do go through the third-years deciding to stay on the team, but in 3 acts it covers mostly the match.  They do throw in a lot of flashbacks and they do include a flashback about the Karasuno third-years that in the manga occurs during the Shiratorizawa match (so that’s earlier than expected), but it’s still mostly just the match.

[nationalpark-rp]

Announcement & Updates

Hello, everyone!  Manectric-mod here.  I’m so glad you’re reading this, because Meowth-mod and I have some very exciting news to share with you.  It’s big—no, it’s HUGE news.  This news could knock the socks right off your feet if you were wearing any!  These last few months have been quite the eye-opener for us mods.

Summer is upon us, and we’ve been doing quite a lot of thinking on the future of our fantastic group.  Questions like, “How can we make this group better?” and “What can we do that’s fun and exciting?” crossed my mind on more than one occasion, and our dear Meowth-mod had to listen to me ramble off all my ideas before we came up with something concrete.  And I am so thrilled to tell you that our efforts have finally reached their climax: our brand-new, never-before-seen ideas are coming into play RIGHT NOW!

We mods have tasked diligently over the past few months and now we’re ready to make them live.  So sit back, relax, and read the following post; there’s a lot of new content ahead.

★  NEW THEME  ��

That’s right, friends!  The National Park has a brand-new theme!  I’ve worked very hard on updating our theme, and that not only includes new graphics, but new coding, as well!  Rach, the mun of our very own Giovanni and Prof. Kukui, has gone above and beyond helping me with the more intricate aspects of theme, and honestly, none of these changes could have been made without her help.  Thank you so, so much, Rach!

Here’s a quick run-down of all the new changes:

New theme

Updated pages

Rules

Masterlist

Resources

Group chat (we have a Discord!)

Brand-new mod pages

Isn’t the theme beautiful?  I worked very hard on it.  Gone are the flowers of yesterday, here lies a tribute to the upcoming Pokémon: Ultra Sun & Ultra Moon games! Would you believe me when I said I’d planned on making the sun and moon motif before those games were announced, because I did!  Our old theme was sorely outdated, so I am very happy to have replaced it.

Not only was the theme updated, but every single page on the hub has been revamped to some degree!  The most important of these pages include the Rules, Masterlist, Resources, and Group Chat pages.  Don’t forget about the new admin introductions!

The Rules page has undergone a major overhaul!  They should now be written clearly and concisely, making them much easier to read where they were not before.  The only rule that has been changed is our minimum requirement: players must now write a minimum of six (6) sentences in a roleplay post in order to be considered active.

Both Masterlists, desktop and mobile, have been updated to include characters from Pokémon Colosseum/XD and all of the Pokémon Ranger games. Players now have the opportunity to explore their rosters at length, as well as the chance to write for their Trainer Classes.

Our Resources pages is better than ever before!  Today’s update brings about a more in-depth look at all of the resources available for writers.  Each link has a description as to what each link is about, so you can be confused no longer!  In addition to this, there is more variety of resources to choose from.  The world is your oyster!

The group chat page has also been thoroughly rewritten, so make sure you freshen up on our rules.

We mods have introduction pages!  You may find them on the not-so-secret hidden links on the hub.  Just click on our names!  I have written Meowth’s, and my darling partner has written mine.  We’re like Jessie and James, only cooler and more productive.

  ★  DISCORD SERVER  ★

You heard that right!  Like I mentioned above, the National Park now has a Discord server! Our group chat page has been updated to reflect the new changes, so be sure to go over the rules carefully.

Some of you might be asking “Why the switch?” but others might be wondering what took us so long to get to this point.  For a long time, Skype has been one of the go-to programs for group chats and instant messaging, although now it is easily outclassed by many others.  The most popular chat program now is Discord, and many users have already made the switch. We’ve familiarized ourselves with it, and now we’re ready to make the switch for the National Park, too.

What does this mean for the current Skype group? Well, we’re still going to have one, however it will not be the “official” group chat any longer.  A few members cannot get or use Discord, and must continue using Skype, and so for their inclusion, we are keeping that Skype chat open.  Members are still allowed to join the Skype chat, but our new and official chat is now hosted on Discord.

We encourage anyone who is interested in joining our new Discord server—or if you cannot get/use Discord, our Skype chat—to message us stating that you’d wish to join.  We’ll get back with you and add you to the chat(s) as soon as possible!

★  EXTRAS BLOG  ★

Last but not least we have our extras blog.I have been on the edge of my seat excited to announce this one!  Lovingly called National Park MORE, our extras blog is an all-in-one blog dedicated to you, our lovely members.  This sideblog is a branch of the hub, and will post periodically everything that our hub and event blog couldn’t.

You know those characters we don’t have, but that we really want to write with?  We’ll advertise for them!  Need a little pick-me-up after a hard day?  We’ll cheer you up every week with a little positivity!

Features of the National Park MORE blog:

Character requests

Positivity quotes

Character development prompts

“Can we really request characters?!”

That’s right!  One function of our MORE blog is dedicated to requesting characters!  This means that everyone can go to the MORE ask box and ask nicely for a character to join our group.  Not only will we answer it, but we’ll publish an ad as soon as possible!  Both Meowth-mod and I can name a few characters off the top of our heads that we’d love to see within the group, and I’m sure you can, too.

Members are allowed to request characters via the MORE blog.

In order to request a character, simply state which character(s) you’d like to see.  It’s as easy as 1-2-3!

Waiting is the hardest part.  Try promoting interest by reblogging these ads.  The more exposure, the better!

“What’s this about positivity?”

I’m so glad you asked!  This is a feature that almost came as an afterthought.  There are a lot of positivity blogs around on Tumblr, but Meowth-mod and I wanted to create something more personal, something that is dedicated solely to you wonderful members.  The quotes we’ve chosen are specifically to help you create confidence in yourself.

An example of a positivity quote would be something like, “Bad days are only days that are bad. You can get through this.” It’s personal in its own way, and it’s something that we need to remind ourselves about.  As long as we know we can get through a rough patch, we will.

Things will get better; you just have to believe it.  This is the type of advice we want to give, and so we will be posting a positivity quote every week.

“Hold on—did you just say ‘character development’?”

I sure did!  We have a lot more up our sleeve than just character requests and positivity quotes!  There’s more! My dear friends, you’re in for a real treat tonight.  This blog is also dedicated to character development.  Meowth-mod and I know just how much you all love making headcanons and developing your characters, so we came up with a way to help you in that endeavor!

Each month we mods will provide a new character development topic for you all to enjoy.  This will give you a chance to think about and develop new ideas that you may or may not have considered before with your muses.  We hope that with these prompts, your characters will become even more three-dimensional than before!

These character development posts will cover a wide range of topics, including your character’s personality, their past, as well as exploring their intrapersonal relationships.  This way, you can consider all factors of your muse’s life—isn’t that exciting?

Here’s how these character development prompts will work:

We’ll provide you a set of questions and scenarios for you to think about.

You can choose to answer one, some, or all of the questions/scenarios listed. If writing a drabble in response to the prompts is more up your alley, we encourage you to use your creativity and explore your character to their fullest!

There is no limit to what you can do for these prompts.  You are allowed to write in any style you wish, whether it’s a answering the questions, writing a drabble, or any other format you like.

The first character development prompt will post on July 1st, and then on the first of the month from there on out.  Prompts will be numbered and linked in the navigation page on the MORE blog.

Please tag all of your character development prompts as “ #np prompts ” (without quotes).

These character development posts are completely optional!  You can write as much or as little as you want, so let your imagination go wild! Have fun!

Unfortunately, these prompts are supplementary and do not count towards activity.

The idea behind these character development prompts is for you all to be creative.  You should write about what seems fun, and write about what you want to do with your characters.  These prompts exist to aid in your character’s development—so you should enjoy your time doing it!

Meowth-mod and I are beyond excited to see what wonderful works you all can come up with.  We sincerely hope that these questions can help you develop your muse even further than they are already.  And with the amount of talent and passion you all put into your writing already, we know that you will blow us away.

★ STAY TUNED  ★

And that’s all we have for you tonight, friends!  A lot of brand-new ideas have made their way to our humble group, and we couldn’t be more excited to finally be able to share this with you.  Meowth-mod and myself will continue to work hard to make the National Park a great place to be.  These new additions are just the start of it.  We hope that with these new features, your experience here can be even better.

July is a very important month for us, too!  Not only will our first character development prompt post, but it’s also the time for our second summerniversary!  We have a lot of cool ideas for that event, too, so stay tuned for more news!

We hope that you have a wonderful rest of your day!  See you soon!

~ lots of love from the mods at the National Park ❤

[fahada-bellydance-blog]

What I Wore: Pyramid Road's Dancers Showcase featuring Monique Neith

Myself and Munique Neith

Costume: The costume I wore was by Joharah International.

I first saw and tried on this costume at Pyramid Road's 2016 Road Trip with Kelly. She brought a bunch of Joharah's costumes with her to sell. A few ladies that were there convinced me to try it on...and boy am I glad they did! I'm so glad Joharah still had the costume a few months later when I finally had the funds to purchase it.

It's extremely rare to find a costume "off the rack" that fits perfectly, but the fact that the belt and bra cups were the current size sold it for me. Hemming it and altering the straps was relatively simple. In the near future I'll be moving the halter strap in towards the center a little more so the dina cups fit a little better.

I decided to wear a pair of tights (Body Wrappers totalSTRETCH convertible tights in Dance Pink) underneath it on this occasion, just in case by some chance there was a costume malfunction.

I don't have a matching bolero at the moment, though I have plans to get a skintoned one in the future, so I just wore the black one I purchased from The Bellydance Shop (located in Pineville, NC).

As for jewelry, I can't say where the bracelet and armband came from. I usually wear something leopard print while performing as a callback to the fact that my name (Fahada) means leopard. The gold snake armband was my mothers, and she got it when she was a teenager.

I had intended to stop by a few stores before leaving Fayetteville to look for a necklace to wear, but didn't end up having the time. Thankfully there was a lady at the intensive selling jewelry, and she had a necklace that looks perfect with my costume. It also came with earrings, so once my ears heal from recently getting pierced I'll have a matching set. I might be able to make a matching anklet in the future too, as I've seen chain at the craft store that's similar.

Jackie and Myself backstage at the showcase

Makeup:​ Primer wise I used Maybelline's Baby Face Primer. It's an okay primer for me. It gets the job done under fuller coverage foundation, but I don't like the way it makes my pores visually appear bigger after I apply it so I dislike wearing it under powder foundation or just by itself. My pores aren't obvious after I apply foundation, so maybe it's just the way my skin is reacting to it.

My go-to foundation since I started using a liquid foundation has been Rimmel London Stay Matte Liquid Mousse Foundation in Light Porcelain. Currently it's the only foundation I've found from the drugstore that matches my skintone, although recently a few brands have come out with paler shades.

To set my foundation I used the Coty Airspun Loose Face Powder. After hearing so much about it on youtube I decided to try it out, and other than the strong scent I'm loving it. Occasionally my Palladio translucent Rice Powder would make my foundation look cakey, and so far the Airspun Powder hasn't.

My blush and contour were Makeup Geeks's Spellbinding Blush in the original formula and their Contour Powder in Break Up. I really love both of these and wear them regularly when I do my makeup. The blush and contour work perfectly with my skin and the formula is great.

On my lips I had OCC's Role Play (Original Packaging) lip tar with Rimmel London's Moisture Renew Clear Lipliner.

Role Play is described as a "deep maroon with red pearl", but in my older packaging I find it has a very faint gold pearl to it as well. My newer packaging bottle of it doesn't. It could be that my original packaging one is just old. This shade isn't one of their normal stock, but it can occasionally still be found in limited edition sets. So if you like how it looks, keep an eye out.

As for my lipliner, I haven't tried any other clear liners as of yet, although I have plans to. I currently only use lipliners with my OCC lip tars, and the only lipliner I own is Rimmel London's in clear. I found my normal Wet 'N Wild lipstick wears off quicker when I wear it with it, but it helps keep the lip tars in place and from sinking into the lines of my lips, along with extending their wear...so I believe it's just the different formulas reacting.

Now on to the really fun stuff: the eyes I got Urban Decay's Original Eyeshadow Primer Potion when I purchased their Smoked palette. I took a risk using it for the first time during a performance, but it worked out in the end.

In my crease I had Dalia from Juvia's Place Masquerade Palette, and on my lid a mix of Nefertiti and Nairobi from their Nubian 2 Palette.

Before I left I swatched every single blue eyeshadow I had to find one that matched my costume, and the winner was Dalia. At first I felt a little hesitent to use a shimmery color in my crease, but it worked out really well like I was hoping it would. It opened up my eyes more than a darker matte shade would have.

My current favorite mascara is Urban Decay's Perversion Mascara. I want to try some of the popular drug store mascaras in the future, but I feel weird buying more when I still have a mascara that I really like that hasn't gone bad yet. I really don't need several open tubes of mascara when I don't wear it very often.

As for my current favorite eyeliner, it's Stila's Smudge Stick Waterproof Eyeliner in Stingray. It goes on smoothly, is a deep black and won't budge from my waterline when I put it there. On this occasion I only put a thin line on my upper lid to keep the lash band from being really obvious when I apply falsies. And on the topic of false lashes I wore House of Lashes Mini Iconic. These are a favorite of mine now, but I only wear them for special occasions because of the price tag. I can't exactly be going around buying $12 lashes that I can only wear a handful of times right now, even if I love how they look.

To finish everything off I set my face with Milani's Make It Last Setting Spray. I've been really liking it, but I also want to pick up Ben Nye's setting spray to compare the two.

AND last but not least, for my nails I wore an Orly polish in the color Luxe. This is my favorite go-to gold nail polish. I've almost used up the whole bottle at this point with how frequently I use it. There will be a whole blog post about accent color nail polish coming up in the near future, so stay tuned!