So who do we appear as on the world map?

( Unlikely heroes out for cosplay )

( Two hours by train, half an hour by car. )

Bright side: my new hat seems to work quite well. I've got all my costume bits so far on and I look like a halfway-passable Dominic. Of course, I'm only a halfway-dressed Dominic, so it's to be expected. I need to get out to another costume store and see if I can't get the rest of my accessories, and a jacket at a thrift store. Augh!

...I really need a cosplay closet because my cosplay suitcase is about to BURST.

Schedule, March 5-11

Sun 3/5: 1:30-8:30
Mon 3/6: 10:00-5:00
Tue 3/7: 10:00-5:00
Wed 3/8: OFF (I think I'll be doing my hair... I hope.)
Thu 3/9: 10:00-5:00
Fri 3/10: 12:00-7:00
Sat 3/11: OFF (I think I'll be shopping.)

Bras. There is no such thing as a "normal" one anymore.

I walked into Vicki's today armed with $150 and ready to blow it all in one shot. I looked around for a bit, but there were no normal bras. There were the lacy ones and the pushup ones and the padded ones and the ones that are already shaped like boobs, but nothing NOT lacy, pushup, padded or boob-shaped; nothing NORMAL. When I did finally find the (tiny) section with the normal bras, there weren't any in my size. There were plenty of 34Bs and 36Cs but no 36Bs. Why?

"Do you need help?"
"Um, I just want a bra. Just a normal one. No pushup, no padding, nothing. Just a bra."
"What do you mean?"
"o_o# What do you mean, 'What do I mean'?!"

I don't want a lacy bra; no one sees my undies but me. I don't want a pushup bra; the girls don't belong directly under my chin. I don't want a padded bra; my breasts are not mentally unstable. I don't want a boob-shaped bra; I think my boobs are boob-shaped enough (and I don't want to feel horribly inadequate if I don't completely fill the pre-formed boob-cup). I just want a NORMAL bra, and, apparently, it's impossible to find one. I even went to department stores after Vicki's and found more of the boob-shaped ones. I was ready to cry.

A (black) customer tried to play the racism card on me this afternoon. I was standing near the jewelry case and noticed she was looking at the bags. I went over and said hi and asked if they needed any help. Without looking at me, the woman flipped out saying stuff like, "No, I'm just looking, I'm not gonna steal nothing. People always think the black people gotta steal something" and so on. I apologized and backed away, but she kept going. I ignored her and went to try and help other people, but I couldn't ignore the fact that I was unnerved by this woman.

She was at the register, where Arlene was. Arlene, recall, is the new hire. Today was her second day on the job, and this is her first retail gig, so everything's still really new to her. She was really Caught off-guard and didn't know exactly what to do. The woman was ranting to Arlene and took a look at me and saw that I wasn't white. She looked stunned for a split second but kept right on going.

I was still shaken, and literally shaking. >_<#

So, work. WAS INTERESTING. I was set to start at noon, but didn't because the store wasn't open. I looked at my copy of the schedule (I decided carrying it with me would be a good idea... okay, I was lazy and never took it out of my bag), and saw that Karen Huang was the offending manager. I wasn't about to call her -- ew -- and it was Ariana's only day off this week, so I called Evie, who was supposed to come in at 1:30 anyway. She got there at ten to one, after I'd been waiting an hour (Elaina had gone home by then; she left before I got to the mall). Long story short, goal was 25 and by the time I left, we had 20, and two and a half hours to go. HOW AWESOME ARE WE.

We deserve a party.

I cleaned my keyboard and broke my caps lock button.

Why am I so tired?