Month: April 2016

A step in the right direction

Anime, Convention, Cosplay, Crafting, Geek, Insomnia, Sewing

I finished yet another piece of our cosplays this morning. Now I have my husband’s pants pretty much finished (just need some buttons) & my kimono is done. I’m pretty proud of the sleeves–I didn’t have a pattern for them, so I made something up. They’re not perfect, of course, but they’re even and the shoulders are comfortable, which means I measured somewhat right.

I’m about to get started on the red sash, and sometime in the next couple of days I’ll probably start on the shoes.

Okay, so I might not get started on the sash just yet. My body has just reminded me that I’ve had like an hour & a half of sleep. So later today. Or maybe tomorrow morning. But I will start soon.

Time lost

Musings, Tattoo, Thoughts, Time

Well, I lost an hour or two of my life today.

Is it so hard to make and keep appointments? You write the date and time down, and you make sure to be there. Boom. Done.

Or not. I was supposed to get a tattoo done this evening at 7:00pm. I arrived early–about 6:40pm–and one of the artists in the shop told me that the artist who scheduled me wasn’t even supposed to be in today. It’s his usual day off. So why even schedule an appointment for today if he wasn’t going to be working?

It sucks, because I set aside time and money–not to mention the $20 deposit–to get this done. I planned for it. Looked forward to it. Now it’s not done, and since the artist wasn’t there I can’t even reschedule it because, well, can’t get hold of him. Even when one of the other artists tried calling him he never called back.

I know it’s “just a tattoo,” but that’s not the point. An appointment is an appointment. I wouldn’t even have been upset if he had been running behind, but I left my card–and left the shop–over an hour ago and haven’t heard from the guy. So if he showed up late (after I gave up on waiting), then that means he didn’t bother to call me.

Thus ends my long, whining rant.

A stitch in time

Convention, Cosplay, Sewing

Y’know, I think I may have used this title for a post before. And y’know what else? I’ll probably do it again. Unoriginal? Yes. Lazy? Yes. But it’s 4:31 in the morning and I do what I want.

Anywho, I think I’m going to do some hand sewing this morning. I have a few things that need it, so that’s going to occupy my time before work today. I’m hoping to get my kimono as close to finished as possible before the weekend. I can do it, but it’s those damn sleeves I’m worried about. Sleeves are enough of a bitch with a pattern, and I have to just make up a pattern for them. Oh, well; don’t know what you can/can’t do until you try.

Here’s hoping!

Bang my head against the wall

Anime, Convention, Cosplay, Crafting, Geek, Health, Sewing

Oh…my…Goddess. I’ve had recurring headaches the past couple of weeks, nearly every day, usually in the evenings. It’s getting annoying.

As long as I catch them early and take some acetaminophen within the first half hour, they stay under control. I know from experience, however, that if I let a headache go without taking something it’s going to end up at near-migraine levels, if not a migraine itself.

This afternoon I had to stop working on my Naruto cosplay because a headache reared its ugly, well, head. I took something, but it’s still lingering.

It doesn’t help that I keep noticing little things that I need to make for the cosplay. Gotta make gloves, gotta either find cosplay shoes online or buy some sandals & modify them to match, gotta make some straps of fabric to go around the shoulders, gotta make sleeves for the kimono (because the pattern I found didn’t have sleeves)…lots of little things, but things that make the character.

I still haven’t started on the hardest part–the coat–and the vest that I need to pretty much design from scratch. Then we’re going to use some hot-glue cosplay magic to make my husband’s sandals, because the only ones he can find online that match his character don’t come in his size.

Oh yeah, and there’s the painting of the gourd, making some kind of sling for him to carry it, and figuring out some way for us to carry our things (because the patterns I have come sans pockets). All this with barely 5 weeks until the con.

It’s no wonder I’m getting headaches.

Conundrum

Cosplay, Musings, Sleep, Writing

Well, it’s Monday–that dreaded day when you can’t seem to decide whether you want to get out of bed, let alone what you want to do with your time before work once you get up.

I kind of want to write, but I’m not really “feeling” it right now. I know I need to sew, but I’m a little burned out on that one after a busy weekend working on cosplay.

Or, there’s a third option: I could just dick around on the Internet until it’s time to get ready for work. Not exactly productive (okay, not at all productive), but maybe that’s what I need…to not be productive for a little while. To just lie here with my laptop and breathe.

Or maybe sit here and breathe. Damn sunburned back. Ouch.

An object in motion

Anime, Convention, Cosplay, Sewing, Sleep

Geez-o-Pete, I’ve been tired this weekend. Napping almost every time I stop doing something. It reminds me of a Tumblr post I saw one time explaining why it’s easier to stay up late than get up early:

“An object in motion tends to stay in motion, and an object at rest tends to stay at rest.”

Well, when I rest lately, I really stay at rest.

Just woke up from a nap that was probably 2+ hours long. My husband let me sleep, for which I’m grateful, but I wonder why I was so tired.

Hopefully I can get my momentum back, fast. I have a busy work week this week, plus I’m still working on the Naruto cosplays. I’ve gotten the pants nearly completed, but I’ve barely started on the kimono, need to buy more fabric for the sash (because I miscalculated), and haven’t even started on the coat and vest. Oh, and we need to paint the gourd. Whew. Maybe that’s why I’m so exhausted! Just thinking about all that is making me sleepy.

I have nearly conquered the pants

Anime, Convention, Cosplay, Crafting, Fandom, Geek, Sewing

Just a little bit more! I have almost finished the pants that have been plaguing me for what, a week or more now? Anywho, I just need to slipstitch the waistband & then hem them & a couple buttonholes, a few buttons, and BAM! Pants.

Trying to decide which to do next: The kimono for my Temari cosplay, or continue with my husband’s stuff–the coat and vest. I think I’ll do the kimono, partly because I want to switch to something easier and less stress-inducing, and partly because I’m too lazy to change out the thread on the sewing machine. (The kimono is the same color as the pants.)

Today my husband and I started the paper mache on the gourd prop for his Gaara cosplay. It was predictably messy and slightly stressful, as he got annoyed with me trying to give instructions. I was trying to make things more clean and efficient, and I guess I didn’t take into consideration that he might just be wanting to do things his way. I suppose I just assumed I’d be taking point on the project. It’ll be okay, though. Tomorrow we’ll have some more time to work on it, and we have plenty of time before the con to get it finished.

My fighting fan prop may not happen before the con, though. We have to buy it because making it is just too time-consuming and complicated, and our budget might not allow for the purchase until after Phoenix Comicon. That’s fine, though; I mean, we’ll have plenty of time before Dragon Con, which is a bigger con anyway.

I feel good about being nearly finished with the pants. Onward to the next project!

Why Can’t I Feel

Celebrity, Mental Health, Musings, Poetry

Time stops for them
They’ve lost a friend
Never will they see again

Though never in the past have met
Inside they feel an emptiness
As favored star is laid to rest

So bright he shone
So swiftly gone
Never more to sing his song

So sad they seem
The pain cuts deep
In their hearts they swear to keep

As I sit and watch the pain
I wonder should I try to feign
To make myself seem more humane

But tears don’t fall
I’ve none at all
Emotionally I’ve hit a wall

I cannot feel
It seems unreal
No wounds have I that need to heal

Someone’s dead, someone’s gone
Ne’er again to sing their song
I’ve tried and tried, all day long

I cannot hide
How dead inside
Why can’t I feel when someone dies?

Writer’s block of a different sort

Bullying, Charity, Interview

Well, here I am, stuck again. For once, I’m not talking about my work in progress; I’m talking about interview questions.

Usually, I don’t have much of a problem coming up with interview questions. I just ask the things that I–and theoretically fans of the musician(s), actor, author, artist, etc–want to know.

My problem? I’m interviewing the head organizer of the anti-bullying charity project that I’m involved in–so I don’t really know what someone unfamiliar with the project would want to know. I already know about the project (I’m even a co-admin and in charge of the American side of production once the anthology is ready), so I’m stuck as to what to ask.

Sure, I’ll ask how the anthology project came to be, about Scribes for Lives in general, about the British charity we’ll be supporting, but then what? I’m stuck.

I suppose the point of this post (as opposed to my usually pointless rambling) is this: Does anyone have any questions about the anthology project? This is my first time actively asking for comments on this blog, so feel free to throw a comment up there! 🙂

Work of Art Wednesday

Art, Art for sale, Drawing, Sci-fi

I haven’t done this in a long time, but I’ve gotten some new artwork drawn and I’d like to share some of it.

spacegirl

I really like the forms on this one. It’s for an RPG book called “Quantum Collapse,” to be put out by D3 Adventures. I’ll be posting the art I did for them on DeviantArt here soon…well, eventually. Some of them might even be available as prints! 🙂