7 Tips for Meeting People Offline

I'm a major player on the Anime and Cosplay Kelowna forum and the community there has been booming. But since there's a lot of young people and people who are a bit socially shy, I made them a quick and easy guide to meeting people. It's helped quite a few people so far, so I might as well post it here as well.
Remember, meeting new people is great, the anime forum has had a ton of great meet ups, new friendships being made and more. But there's always a danger of something going wrong. So here's some tips for meeting people in person.

1) Meet in a Public Place
This one is pretty basic. If you're going to meet someone for the first time, maybe it's best not to show up at their place. A coffee shop, the mall, a store, movie theatre all work well.

2) Tell People Where You Are and What You're Doing
This is important for the younger people. Your folks worry about you. Tell them where you're going. Who you're going with and what time you're expected back. Also tell them who are you meeting, their real name and forum name.

3) Bring A Cell Phone
Once again your parents worry about you kiddies. Bring a cell phone, that you if you're stood up you can call for a ride home. Or if you're feeling uncomfortable you can get away easily.

4) Bring A Friend!
Strength in numbers! If you're nervous about meeting someone in real person, bring a friend or a parent or older sibling. At the anime forum meet ups we always welcome friends of members to our meet ups! The more the merrier (but do give a little bit of notice, especially for events with limited amount of room).

5) Trust Your Feelings
Sometimes you know things are not right. If you're not having good feelings from someone, then don't meet them. Cancel your plans with them and tell them you'll meet them at the next meet up with multiple people instead of alone. Do have the common courtesy to tell them you can't make it to a meet up several hours before you're planned to meet them.

6) Protect Your Information
If you haven't figured it out yet. All anyone really needs is your e-mail address and I could potentially have your full name, location, school, work address and even phone number. That's it. Really easy to become an Internet stalker.

7) Dress Appropriate
I got a bit of heat from writing this on the forum, but do dress right for occasions. While some Cosplay costumes do features some revealing clothing choices, it's always best to not to run around in super short skirts and low cut shirts, especially for the younger ladies. Also make note of the weather as well.

Anime Convention Coming 2010

In January I made a post about a possible Anime Convention coming to Kelowna in 2010. I can now say that there will be one and we're still looking at July 2010. It will be called Anime Okanagan.
I've been made into the second in command as Vice President of Kelowna Anime and Cosplay Association and I'm the Director of Marketing for the convention.
So my job is to make sure everything is moving forward while trying to get the word out about our convention and draw in as many people as we can.
The Anime and Cosplay Kelowna Forum is borderline 160 people now, which is a markable improvement from me being the 34th forum member back in January.
So far marketing has been through word of mouth and little business cards left in strategic locations. My goal is to have over 300 people on the forum by the end of the year. We're on to phase 2 of marketing, which is our online presence. We've got our Twitter page going, blogger site, facebook page, YouTube page and a lot of YouTube videos in the work. Ian, the president, and I wrote out at least 2 dozen video ideas. It should keep me busy for a while.
Location of the convention will be decided by the end of the month, same with the exact weekend. We've canvassed a lot of different locations; each had their positive and negative aspects. Some knew what they were doing and services they offer and what spaces they have could be useful for some events, others.. didn't. The ones that didn't sunk to the bottom of the list fast.

If everything goes well then Kelowna's going to be hit by something it has never seen on a scale that's bigger then this valley has ever seen.
Wish me luck.

Oh yeah. I'm also landed a part in a movie by local director Jeremy Heynen. Check out his website: TheMissingPatient.Com/

Kelowna Zombie Walk 2009

On May 9th I got to attend the Kelowna Zombie Walk. I have to admit, it was a lot of fun. I also did my own make up, which turned out quite well. Here's a few shots of me as a zombie and my make up.

Here's close to the final stage: Here the wound is made up of toilet paper glued to my arm, then the surrounding area was covered in white Halloween make up, then dirt. Then food colouring was added to the toilet paper. Then more dirt. I was a very dirty boy by the time my costume was done.



Here's the end result. A little brushing to make the dirt look a little more natural, a lot more fake blood and colouring. If you look closely the blood from the wounds twirl around my hand and off my pinky. I found it interesting to see how it flowed down my arm following the contours.

Here's a video of me in action:

Not Very Arty At The Moment

I couldn't let a month pass without an update. What have I been up to? I've found four great sound bytes for lipsync animation. One from Clone High, one from Fire Emblem: Path of Radiance and two from Duckman. I have begun storyboarding them out. I've also been trying to get another short film off the floor. I have quite a few ideas for little scenes, but nothing that creates a larger picture or story. Which is quite fustrating.
However, despite only being on the Anime and Cosplay forum for nearly 2 months now. The forum numbers have surged forward from 34 to 86. The first official meeting for the board of directors is on Monday, so it should be interesting to see where it goes.