Category: Time

Step it up

#nerd, Convention, Corsetry, Cosplay, Crafting, Fandom, Geek, Sewing, Time

I bet you thought this was another Pokemon Go post…well, you were wrong!

It’s getting to be about a month & a half until we leave for Dragon Con, so I need to step up my work on our cosplays. Tick tick tick. The timer’s running out. I still have to put the lining on the Shatterstar coat, cut the pieces for the corset (& everything else that I haven’t started yet), sew the shit together, & learn how to use my serger to sew Spandex. Oh, and there’s the fabrication of the weapons and painting of my boots once they’re ordered & shipped. So yeah, gotta step it up.

I think I’m going to go into the sewing room & start cutting the pieces for the corset. Since I’ll need to order the boning (as soon as I know the lengths I’ll need), I should probably get started on that next. Then it will be on to the shrug I’m going to make, and then all the Spandex stuff.

When I made the Naruto cosplays it took me less than a month for both of them, but they were less complicated. These involve a lot more work, so I’m keeping my fingers crossed. I’ve got to alter almost every pattern I’m using, so it’s going to be tough. I also need to lose weight before Dragon Con so things fit better, but I think I’ll be okay on that front.

Oh yeah, I’ve also got to do some alterations on my husband’s Star Wars/Doctor Who mashup cosplay & the Naruto cosplay. So there’s that.

Tick tick tick.

Tick Tock

Time, Work

I might have used this title before, but I’m too lazy to check right now. Anywho, it’s creeping up on time to leave for work.

I don’t know why I tend to dread the last 20-30 minutes before I venture off on that short 5-6 minute drive to the office. It’s not like I necessarily dread working, just knowing that soon I’ll have to leave my apartment and head out. I have no problem with actually working (most days–but doesn’t everybody have a couple days where they just want to curl back up under the blankets and ignore the world?). Just knowing that work is pending.

Maybe it’s just the knowledge that time is ticking down to the end of the quiet morning. Or maybe it’s the feeling of “I’ve got to finish whatever I’m doing before it’s time to go.” Who knows.

I’d write more on the subject, but it’s almost time to leave. 😉 Ciao!

I put the “pro” in procrastination

Comic books, Convention, Cosplay, Crafting, Geek, Time

Remember the post oh, almost two weeks ago, where I said I was going to start on the coat for the Shatterstar cosplay within the next two days? Yeah, so I just started the first mockup “blueprint” today.

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It’s not an exact science because the pattern we have is slightly different than the coat shown on the right, but I have the color blocking figured out now for the front and the Xs on the sleeves shouldn’t be too hard once I get to that point.

The pants turned out looking great (I don’t have a good picture of them right now) so I’m feeling pretty confident. Granted, I made the pants pattern once before–just without the color blocking–so I knew how to go about it better this time, and I’m doing some pretty heavy modifications to the coat…okay, maybe not 100% confident. Like 75%. Maybe.

I’ve got to step up my timetable if I’m going to finish both cosplays by the time we leave for Dragon Con. No more slacking off in the mornings. Gotta push-push-push. Gogogo. Muy rápido. Etc, etc.

With this three-day weekend I might be able to step it up a notch and at least one weekday off before we leave, I might not be as strapped as I think I am. Also, I need to start utilizing my time after work for cosplay instead of messing around on the computer or watching TV. Thankfully it’s the summer viewing season & there’s less to watch. Lol

Today will largely be spent in Tucson going shopping for–you guessed it–more cosplay stuff and tomorrow will largely be spent at my parents’ house doing laundry and hanging out with the family, but I think I’ll have enough time to get cracking and hopefully get at least a few seams taken care of. I know I won’t get the whole coat done this weekend, but I should be able to cut and pin most of the outer pieces (probably not the lining) and get started on the sewing. I may even try using my serger for the seams. It’s such a nifty thing…just need to get the right thread on it & not frustrate the hell outta myself in the process of threading.

Fingers crossed!

Revelation

Charity, Cosplay, Crafting, Musings, Sewing, Stress, Time, Work

I’m such a ditz. I’ve been thinking all this time that it’s my day job OT that has me worn out, but I forgot that I’ve also still been taking on work with Talk Nerdy With Us and extra responsibilities with the charity anthology project. No wonder I’m feeling the burnout!

I don’t mind the Talk Nerdy With Us work–it’s a fun job to have–and even though the anthology will be a lot of work as co-admin, I kind of enjoy the challenge. It’s frustrating when the head admin is unable to work on the project as often as I am (and he’s got a bit of an attention span problem–not to mention he’s been sick lately), but it gives me a chance to take charge and get the project moving the way I’d like it to, rather than have it sit stagnant as it has been. As our writers also have day jobs/other things going on with their lives, it’s hard to coordinate and get momentum.

Oh yeah, and there are also the cosplays I have to finish in the next couple of months. Two months. Two short, short months. I’ve got to get those finished.

So that’s my life in a nutshell right now. Work. More work. Charity work. And cosplay work.

Sheesh.

Wibbly Wobbly, Timey Wimey

#TV, Social Media, Time

Okay, this is a bit of a rant.

Arizona does not observe daylight savings time. To simplify it, half of the year it’s on Mountain time and half of the year Pacific. It makes TV watching interesting at times, because you have to adjust your viewing times to the time change.

Now, I suppose that’s the reason that my local NBC station airs shows on Mountain time still despite Arizona being on the same time schedule as Pacific viewers.

Local NBC station, you screwed up.

So here’s why I’m annoyed: I live tweet shows for Talk Nerdy With Us from time to time. Live tweeting during a Mountain standard time airing blows. Nobody else is live tweeting at that time; the big live tweets are East coast (Eastern) and West coast (Pacific) times. I had planned on live tweeting a season finale tonight, but I couldn’t…because I missed the first half. If it aired at the “right” time, I would have caught the whole thing. This also put me off from the other live tweeters. The Pacific live tweeters were just starting the episode, not halfway through it like my station was.

Time should not be that complicated, local NBC station. You were airing this show at 8pm when Arizona was in sync with Mountain time. Air it at the same time when daylight savings ends. It’s that simple. It’s Arizona time. Not whenever-the-fuck-you-want-it-to-be time. You don’t have to play with time itself to get viewers. Yeah, if I had realized your fuckery I would have been able to see the show an hour earlier. But then what? I would have had a lousy time live tweeting. Could I have recorded it? Maybe, but it was a two-hour episode, so I would have had to play the first half while the second half was recording–something that I know my TV has the capability of doing, but fuck if I know how.

In closing, quit fucking with time, local NBC station. You aren’t the Doctor. You aren’t a Time Lord. You aren’t special. Just keep it on Arizona time. Air it at the same bat-time, and I might keep watching the same bat-channel.

Tick-tock, Tick-tock

Cosplay, Crafting, Poetry, Sewing, Time

Tick-tock, tick-tock

The hands go round and round

The more cycles that the hands complete

Her nervousness abounds

Tick-tock, tick-tock

So much work left to be done

There’s snips and clips and lengthened tails

Will she finish by the strike of one?

Tick-tock, tick-tock

The list, it ever grows

The more that’s done, the more’s to do

Will she finish? No one knows

Crunch time

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

It’s now exactly 3 weeks until Phoenix Comicon, and I’m still not done with all the cosplay stuff I need to do–in fact, my list is growing every day!

I have to:

  • finish my husband’s Gaara coat
  • work with my husband to make our Sand Village shoes
  • make the Gaara vest (and put a pocket inside it for keys/phone/wallet)
  • make the Gaara belt and leg strap thingies
  • paint Gaara’s symbols on the gourd
  • make a belt for my Jedi TARDIS cosplay so I have a place for my lightsaber
  • add belt loops to the bag I made for my husband’s Sith Time Lord cosplay (so he has a place for his keys/wallet/phone)
  • add a snap on his tunic so it stays flat in front
  • maybe make another couple of straps for my Temari obi

I’m sure there are other things I’m forgetting, but those are the major things. So yeah, 3 weeks for that, and I work a lot in those 3 weeks.

I think I can do it. I’m telling myself I can do it. I just need to buckle down & bust my butt. Once I get the Gaara coat and vest done and the Sand Village shoes for our Naruto cosplays, that should be the majority of the sewing stuff. So beyond that it’s little stuff. The painting shouldn’t take too long…the symbols are simple enough, just need to sit down & paint them. That’ll be, what, an hour or so? So yeah, not too bad.

The worst part will probably be making the vest for the Gaara cosplay, because I have no pattern for it. I have to 100% make it up from scratch. And I’m no Project Runway contestant.

I can do it. I can do it. I can do it. (If I make this my mantra, maybe the positive thinking will make it true lol)

Oh…and think up interview questions for any interviews I get with the con guests.

I can do it. I can do it. I can do it……

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.

Early to Bed, Early to Rise

Age, Musings, New Year, Sleep, Thoughts, Time

Man, I’m old.

I went to bed last night at 2100–9:00 pm for those non-military/non-medical types. New Year’s Eve, and I cut out three hours before midnight. Where did my youth go?

Don’t get me wrong; the early morning hours sometimes help me to concentrate on things like writing and catching up on the non-day-job things I need to do. I’ve grown accustomed to the mornings where I sit and listen to music by the light of the computer screen. I don’t necessarily like getting up this early, but I do like that I can still get things done.

I think about my younger days (even just a few years younger), and I’m reminded that as I age my tolerance for partying decreases significantly. Sure, I’ll go out to dinner or movies with others. I’ll socialize at Phoenix Comicon (and this year, Dragon Con). But going to bars? Clubs? Wild house parties? Those are things of the past for me. And I’ve learned that I really don’t mind this.

I don’t know if it’s true what they say about wisdom accompanying this thing called aging. I’ve wised up to the fact that partying just doesn’t hold any appeal to me anymore, but that doesn’t mean I’m wise. Far from it, I think. I still make mistakes–often the same ones repeatedly–and there’s a lot about life that I still don’t know. I have a lot to learn, which I guess is a good thing. In my opinion, once you stop learning things life gets pretty boring. What’s left after you’ve learned everything you can? How do you keep your mind sharp?

In the past five years I’ve gone from a night owl with chronic morning grogginess to a person who routinely wakes up before 4:00 a.m. and almost immediately starts doing something. That “something” may just be messing around on the laptop, but it’s still different from my pre-morning mornings, when I would sit up and wash my Ritalin down with an energy drink or two just to be able to function.

Don’t get me wrong. I’ve stopped the Ritalin and replaced it with Adderal (Ritalin quit helping as well as it used to), and I still drink energy drinks or Frappuchinos, but I don’t need them the second I wake up like I used to, and I even forgo the caffeine if I feel awake enough to make do with water or lemonade or some such thing.

Yeah, I’m getting old. Tired all day, awake at nothing in the morning, going to bed early…but I’m still young, too. I can pick up new hobbies, I can write new things–I’m still able to grow and keep on trucking. So I guess I should look at that as a good thing and not try to obsess over the relative age. So I’m older. So I don’t live the exciting night life. So what?

I’m going to get up, get moving, and get things done. I’m just going to do them earlier.

The passage of time

Age, Musings, Time

What the heck happened to the last 18 years?

I came to the realization recently that it’s been 18 years since I graduated from high school. I am officially old enough to have a kid graduating from high school. (I don’t have any kids, but that’s besides the point). When did this happen?

I remember graduating (vaguely). I remember the first two years of college. I remember house parties and clubs and bars and living the single life. Not that I would trade my stable married life for anything, but it’s weird to think how I’ve settled down and grown up and become a certified adult.

Getting tattoos when there are still bills to be paid? Nah. Going to a bar & getting smashed? Eh, maybe once in a while…if I have a driver. Clubs? Eww. No thanks. I feel out of place and awkward and way too mature to be hanging out in one of those.

So weird. When did I get to be 36? That’s just four years away from 40. Geez.

I wonder what I’ll be doing in four years. Will I still be writing? Will my book(s) be successful? Will I have more art sold? More cosplays? Will I still be at both of my current jobs? I can’t imagine leaving either of them. Will I still be a proud geek? Will I still look young enough to get carded?

Who knows. It’s four years away. That’s, like, forever. Or something. Plenty of time to do the things I want to do. Write another novel or two. Design more cosplays. Paint more, draw more. Keep on workin’. And definitely keep geeking out.