practicality

I am in the middle of exam madness, I have no problem being horribly self-centered here.

I have flipped my sleep schedule yet again! Sigh, my life. I have gotten Important Boring Stuff done, or in some cases, at least started, so I do not actually feel very guilty about this at all right now. It's exam period, I'm allowed to do stupid shit like this for a week or two.

I've been looking at lots of photos of kimono and shibori dyeing and stuff, and it makes me want to make something beautiful. I know I'm a good seamstress, but somewhat ironically, I don't actually enjoy sewing that much. I enjoy seeing the finished product all put together, but the actual process usually just ends up as tedious and occasionally frustrating (it's not a project until I've put at least one sleeve on upside down or inside out). The stuff I actually really enjoy doing is what I think of as the 'crafty' bits - painting, beading, building props. I had a ton of fun with Yuna because a huge portion of the outfit is like that - the skirt and obi are all painting, the sleeves are gradient-dye (and I actually had a ton of fun doing that, and love how they turned out), the earrings were beading and painting my own beads and occasionally building my own beads. I wish I was better at the 'crafty' things - I've gotten better about being able to copy designs, and /way/ better about not smudging my paint everywhere (no smudges on either of the haori! It was like a miracle), but it's still all very basic.

Maybe when I am in Richmond next week acquiring a hot water dispenser and a new tower fan, I will drop by Michaels and go on a shopping spree or something. Not quite sure what to make, although I did rescue my knitting needles from languishing in my old bedroom closet back in the US.

Also, I realized the other day that I may have to edit some of what I'm writing for Jyuushiko's backstory, because I am thinking in fashion terms that are at least a thousand years too late for the setting of this story - realized when I was discussing how Sougyo no Kotowari basically wears a variation of Heian-era courtier's robes (now mostly known as Shinto priests' robes, but I think given the age of the zanpakuto, the historical connection is the more relevant one). I am thinking in other terms (mostly medical) that are probably closer to two thousand years too late, but I may give in and let some anachronisms lay.

Because the rest of my life can be summed up as Book-Off is awesome, and I have spent way too much time playing Pokemon Diamond this week. So, first off, stuff I want to do I forgot to mention in my last post -

Pokemon Diamond/Pearl - Dawn: Because she's adorable and sometimes my inner twelve-year-old girly-girl needs to get out sometimes. I am not sure if I'm cute enough for this, but damnit, I will try anyway. This may involve Jon doing like...Empoleon gijinka, because I love my giant death penguin.

Tales of the Abyss: Jade Curtiss for me, Dist for Jon, because he does the creepy smile really well and is all gangly. Sadly, there is no good way to tote around a giant armchair at a con, but it'd be fun to be snarky all day.

I have also wound up volunteering to help other people with cosplay, some of it in return for favors. So I've got Toboe pants and wig to make, in return for a cute Elena and Sougyo no Kotowari (yesssssss I have teeny adorable zanpakuto. ONLY ONE, but one is cute enough). I'm also helping Yana and Charlene with their Loveless cosplay - Ritsuka and Soubi - because I like helping my friends be awesome.

And entirely unrelated to cosplay, but totally nerdy anyway - I am going to make myself a Minazuki backpack. It will be the epitome of ugly-cute, and it will be very fuzzy. I'm still trying to decide if it should be messanger bag style, or like...one of those single-shoulder strap backpacks, with the wings as straps. I may have to do a muslin mock-up and decide. My one requirement is that it be big enough to hold my laptop.

Finally! For those interested in browsing on their own, the main gallery starts here, Turks photoshoot stuff starts here, and Bleach stuff starts here.

Going to go ahead and embed some of my favs, too - just a warning that it'll be image-heavy. I know some of the resized versions are a little artifact-y, but the page links have the big version too.

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I've edited like 90% of my Sakuracon photos, but the internet is being fussy again (and I think 'fussy' is the best word here, really) so they won't go up until this weekend. I also prep-weeded most of my garden today, hooray!

Near-Future Stuff
(Don't want to say 'AE stuff' because I have more plans than there are days of the con)
-Shinra spruce-up - no shoe-failure, Elena wig that does not look like Lady Gaga reject, bonus Papa Shinra and Scarlet outfits. May need emergency Seattle day trip planning to engage in Dark Nation rescue mission (as it appears he did not make it all the way home with me, cry)
-Summoner Yuna spruce-up - Some little things on various pieces, making a new head for the staff, boots that don't pinch my toes, trim the wig down
-Bleach - ZANPAKUTO, making peasant shoes that don't destroy feet (and can survive damp - I made the mistake of putting the damp waraji in a plastic bag to pack and then forgetting about them and I discovered today that they were fuzzy :<). Possibly include new people in our mad Bleach cosplay adventures, but that's up in the air.
-Wonder Chef and Dark Chef - All new! I have Wonder Chef fabric and may go ahead and cut out the pants and vest this weekend. I look forward to building six foot tall forks
-Advent Children Rufus - Needs suit fabric so I can actually make the suit, Jellova

Far-Future Stuff/Brainstorming
-Integra - have fabric! Have no desire to try to make it for AE though because I'm a little burnt out on suits
-Braska and Auron - have been tossing the idea around with Jon for a while, because he'd make a cute young!Auron. Really intricate, though, so I'm not sure when I'll have the time for it.
-Nanoha something or other - Maybeeee? I love the character designs - would probably go for Hayate or Signum myself, but again, intricate.

So guess who inverted their sleep cycle again! I predict whoever has to process my sleep diary and questionnare at the sleep clinic will probably facepalm forever when they see 'bedtime: 8:30 am' for like four days in a row. I did however get two of my three term papers done. They are kind of terribad and way too short, but they are /done/. I think I'm hitting a university-level senior slump, where at this point I just want to pass and be done with it all. Who's not going to grad school? Yeah, that'd be me.

I also read a bunch of manga, oh yay. And uh. May have made another Ukitake RP account. He is small and adorkable and already has a partner-in-crime (who is currently hitting on Jyuushiko because Kyouraku is incorrigible like that). Hollow!Orihime has also been creeping on little!Ukitake, which is...both creepy and awesome. Basically, tl;dr, I love Bleach Dressing Room.

Con photos will be up....eventually. I want to process them in Lightroom to get some more practice, but constant internet failures (even with a new modem, ugh) and the fact that I can't find my 4GB flash drive have been thwarting me.

(assorted notes to self - US taxes, doujin credits on icons, cosplay lists)

I have internet! I have WoW! I can run high graphics settings and get more than 10 FPS in Dalaran! I have a port of the last version of Amarok that was awesome before 2.0 killed it! I have everything but my term papers and finals done! I have adorable zanpakuto icons!

I also think I have some variety of upper respiratory tract infection, because I'm getting sinus headaches and waking up in the morning with the inside of my mouth tasting like mucousy death (and I slept fifteen hours Sunday night and another ten last night), but given the madness of the last two weeks, I am utterly unsurprised. It is only a minor bleh, but it is a minor bleh on top of term papers which means I will probably have a rather cranky week. Oh well. TWO MORE TO GO.

-Bought X Infinity (finally) and the Bleach SOULs because I am weak and they took credit card. We'll see what damage I do tomorrow
-Reno + Rude and Ukitake + Kyouraku wandering the con together. Person: "Can I get a photo of you two?" Us: "Uhhh. Which two?"
-Informal survey says more people want hugs from Ukitake than from Rufus - but not by much
-Contrary to what canon tells us, Hitsugaya loves getting candy from Ukitake. It may have helped that I had both chocolate mini eggs and wintergreen Lifesavers.
-In keeping a little more with canon, Hitsugaya appears to enjoy wintergreen Lifesavers more than chocolate
-Early in the afternoon, I was hanging around outside talking about Aizen being a troll with some other Bleach cosplayers (and admiring Nanao's hollowed-out-book carrying case), when some random people came up behind me and startled me by tapping me on the shoulder. I thought this was just random con lulz, until cut to the Bleach photoshoot, and the same random people go over to the other good Ukitake cosplayer and startle her (she actually shrieked), and then say "We snuck up on someone we thought was you earlier, but it was like, an actual dude." I think this counts as a win?
-Other me gave me bubblegum! I'm almost tempted to just keep it forever as a memento
-OMG A KAIEN SHOWED UP. I WAS SO HAPPY. Other me was happy too (like all of our interactions were very BDR, where I enjoy playing with doubles)
-Bleach photoshoot was otherwise kind of fail, because organization, what organization.
-Awesome cosplay of the day: Queen of Blades, Artemisia, KATEN KYOKOTSU.
-Delicious Cheesecake Factory dinner :3
-At aforementioned dinner, there were two guys at the table next to us. When one went to the washroom, the other slid over to tell us that it was his friend's birthday, and that he really liked our cosplay, and would we do a little something for him? So we got a napkin, wrote 'Happy Birthday!' on it and signed it as the Turks and Rufus, and then, as the two of them left the restaurant, Reno ran out, slung an arm around his shoulder, said 'Yo!' and dropped the napkin in his hand. Apparently the look on his face was priceless.

So, because life hates me and Canada Post is terrible, we have no wig for Elena or Scarlet. Scarlet was sort of a bonus anyway, so it's not a big deal, but Elena kind of throws over the entire group and essentially my last four months of work, as our Elena has shoulder-length red and black streaked hair right now.

I have also succeeded in pissing my landlord off by texting him at four am to ask if he was going to be home when the mail came, because he is apparently one of those people who will actually get up to check text in the middle of the night.


Ugh ugh ugh at least the Bleach cosplay will look good. Time to write more genderswap fic while I wait for the benzos to kick in enough I can actually sleep.

So two things have occurred in the last three days:

1) My laptop ate another battery. This makes three which have died on me (one within a week of getting it), and this one is really dead. I have to shut the computer down entirely just to move it between rooms, as there's no power even for hibernate. I am so happy for Ubuntu's short boot times now.

2) The house modem has kicked the bucket. We've been having issues on and off for the past two months, but my landlord went to reset it today to try and fix the latest round of connectivity issues and now it's totally gone. ETA on a new one is three days.

The collective effect is that I want to tear my hair out even more than I did already. I won't be on AIM much, as internet at home = wireless tethering, and while I have a cushy data plan on my phone, it's not that cushy, so I'll probably be leaving it off except when I'm actively doing internet stuff.

This week is just...idk, I have to laugh because otherwise I'd scream and throw things at walls. I'm actually doing okay on sewing when I sit down and look at it objectively, but I'm so used to being really far behind at this point that my anxiety has skyrocketed anyway, which makes everything seem out of control (and then I panic, and then things actually are out of control, and just....lol my neurochemistry). The info packet from the sleep clinic actually finally showed up in the mail today though, so hooray for one bit of Important Administrative Shit getting done.

I also wrote more Ukitake!genderswap fic, because this AU is slowly consuming my brain. That, and I have a lot of time to think about things when I'm spending most of my afternoons sewing. Not sure when I will actually post more, as I just have a fragment of a scene that needs like, two scenes before it to make sense, but I'm kind of amazed that there are ideas in my brain and they actually link up properly and everything. I think Jyuushiko now beats Jorim for 'RP character with the most backstory scenes written up'. Though Tseng has a ton of headcanon that I've never bothered to write up, it just kind of shows up in random conversations with Sheska.