![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
Adventures!
Apr. 4th, 2016 02:05 pm- Arrived at Scarborough, dropped my trailer, and had about 2 hours to get ready for the weekend.
- Got picked up by Kelly and Trina, and they, Laura, and I went to Panoptikon, where we met up with Dianna and Strange, and we all danced and had a great time! I also messed up my hip and overall enjoyed Lord Byron's spinning.
- All of the above drove up to Norman Medieval Faire on Saturday, wandered around, had a great time, bought some things, and were just generally patrons. My find of the day was Odyssey Craftworks, an incredible silversmith from Kansas City, and I bought this pendant. Then we ate some delicious fried pies en route to Scarby, where I picked up my truck, and we braved the construction in Temple, TX to find a hotel for the night.
- On Sunday we slept in a little before heading to Sherwood, where we wandered around and were patrons again, albeit slighty more obnoxious ones ("Where are the turkey legs?" "Where are the restrooms?" *walk in the opposite direction* "I can make that myself!"). I left early, and drove back to Scarby.
- Then I changed into Antidote* and drove up to the Church for its Haute Noir fashion event, where I saw Di again and got to see a very good fashion show. I wasn't chosen to compete in the best dressed contest, alas (I didn't have the right attitude when I came in, I guess), but so it goes. The music there has changed a bit - the video lounge was pretty much all 80's, but the main room was better, imo. It did have a significant length of time where the music was lame, but they did have some sections of better and/or newer music, and after bar close they pulled out the aggrotech and got really crunchy. I was getting concerned about my alertness, so I only stuck around until 2:30/2:45.
So that was my weekend of craziness! I had a great time, despite my initial trepidation about trying to squeeze in so many things and so much driving. Woot!
* 10 minutes were spent struggling with my getting my left stocking to effing stay attached to my garter belt! I really need one that fastens more securely. Fuck that noise.
TRF 2015 recap
Dec. 1st, 2015 09:39 pmTRF was kind of a mixed bag this year. With a lot of rain (including a hurricane/tropical storm weekend), the show as a whole was rough for a lot of folks, but thanks to an amazing sales team, the booths I manage were not as down as a lot of other businesses were.
I'd been flirting with a guy via text a lot throughout MN, and was eager to see him in person in TRF. Too eager apparently. So that was disappointing. There were a couple of other guys I see sporadically there as well, but with schedules and one of them staying an hour away from site, I only got to see the other one, and only twice. I'm feeling very blase about that whole situation. On the one hand, I'm not really getting my emotional needs/wants met with either of them, but on the other hand, it's not like there are many other viable options in the tiny dating pool that is renfaire. So I'll probably just maintain those relationships so I can cuddle at least a couple times a year (when I'm outside of MN).
There was a fair amount of music in TRF. I got to see two concerts, and failed at seeing a third.
First was God Module, with Die Sektor, Mordacious, and Voicecoil. I was most interested in Voicecoil, then Die Sektor, then God Mod, than Mordacious, and pretty much got what I was expecting out of that concert. Then I got to see Skinny Puppy again, with Youth Code opening, and that was a great classic industrial show, and I was so glad to see so many Houstonians represent - over 1000 of them! I was supposed to see The Birthday Massacre and Combichrist with Di, but I was dumb with my truck, and bailed at the last minute because I was worried that I might have fucked it up big time. After TRF ended, I went and saw Velvet Acid Christ for my first time ever, in Austin on the Saturday after show close. That was a good show, and a reasonable number of folks made it out to the show, about 150.
MN 2015 recap
Oct. 1st, 2015 09:35 pmMN 2015 recap
Work was smashing, as usual. It was a little stressful at the start, when my replacement fulltimer needed replacing, but kireeonna was able to step in, and damn, is she a fantastic saleswoman!
I had a couple concerts during the show this year. First was KMFDM with CHANT and Inertia. Inertia was a pleasant surprise, as they are more the bleepy bloopy stuff that I favor, though the vocals were a little on the ?whiny? side. I need to figure out a better adjective for vocals like that. And CHANT was *more* awesome than I remembered, and KMFDM was great as always. Then, for my birthday eve, I got to see Alter der Ruine for the third time this year, and they opened for Haujobb, so I got to see them for the first time, though it was the second time I've seen Herr Myer performing this year (the first was when he opened for Seabound in Atlanta as Architect). That was in the basement of Mill City, which is such a better venue for small concerts than so many others I've been to! I'm so tired of too few people rattling around in a space meant for 5 times the crowd.
And then it was clubbing again. Love the Saloon!
The Saloon was so... much... this year. Last year I ended the show on a giant crush-high, and I'd been looking forward to returning to see what might happen on that front. Then it all got complicated.
(Details cut for a private post)
CO 2015 recap
Jul. 31st, 2015 09:33 pmAbout two weeks ago I completely lost motivation to work out at all, not even the 2 days a week I've been doing here, and took a week off. Then last Friday I was actually into it again, but today, again, I'm indifferent. Aren't you supposed to get endorphins or dopamine when you exercise?
No concerts here this show, but I got to go to Milk Bar every week, and every week Di drove, so I got to drink and just totally have fun and dance. Until I got a crush on a boy, and it got awkward. *sigh* I mostly want to lose myself in the music, so interpersonal interactions on the floor are just not something that I feel comfortable with, and then to compound it with my shyness and the difficulty of communicating in that environment.... Oh well. At least the music was great.
Oh, so much great music! DJ Edminister led me to two great albums, a new X Marks the Pedwalk, and Camouflage. I found an amazing project, Shutterdown, and wish it were better known. Another "late to the party" find was Lavantgarde.
GA 2015 recap
Jun. 1st, 2015 09:31 pmBusiness has been fine. No news there.
I doubled my workout routine from AZ to GA. I've been working out twice as much (cardio 3x/wk instead of 2x, and weights 2 or 3x/wk instead of not at all), and I may have lost a pound. Since January, I've gained on my ribs and waist, stayed steady on my hips and biceps, and lost 1" on my thighs. On the plus side, I can see my biceps with relative ease, and can do 3 sets of 20 leg lifts on a power tower, whereas at the start of the show I struggled to do 7 reps. Since I have weekwork in CO, I'll probably drop down to 2x/wk again, though I'll try to keep up with the weights.
Tired of playing the long game with boys. Of course, at this moment I'm ovulating and depressed and more emotional than usual, but I would like to know that there's a steady intimate partner who cares about me and lets me know that he's thinking about me, instead of this constant up and down of having crushes, then the inevitable let down when I realize it's not going to happen. I keep dropping notes to assorted cute boys and handsome men (and one cute man), but I'm trying not to be overly attentive to any one, since I'm only actually physical with one (and he has a very full schedule), but it would be really nice if sometimes I got the first text/FB message/whatever.
I got to see Seabound at the start of the show! Super excited for that concert, since I didn't get to see them when they were last on tour in the US. They were touring with Architect (Daniel Myer of Haujobb and Destroid), and the local opener Phracture was good too! Then I got to see Ego Likeness open for Voltaire again, and a random concert to see a Canadian project Hide, which was also really good. I definitely want to see all these bands again. On Friday I'll get to see the legendary Laibach! Very excited for that opportunity! I'm even going out on a school night for it, and not just any school night, but the one immediately preceeding a 1400-mile Hell Week.
General life update - spring 2015
Mar. 12th, 2015 09:37 pmSo, let's see... As of late, I have been feeling very Adult. I just got my transmission rebuilt, but since I had a special transmission savings account set up, that $4100 repair bill was almost 75% covered. And also, after the SNAFU of my tax return last year, I was way better about doing tax-beneficial things with my money, primarily, opening a HSA, which dropped my AGI, which improved my ACA refund, which means I get a healthy tax refund this year, yay! Which is great, because of that other 25% of my transmission bill that wasn't covered. So between all that, I think I'll come out even or slightly ahead this year.
However, now I need to rebuild that savings account, and it occurs to me that I probably should start saving for another trailer and/or truck, so the next several years will be focused on that. I want $5k in the former and $10k in the latter before I go overseas again. Which is sad, but so it goes. Maybe I'll be super amazing and manage another trip for my 40th. More than likely, though, I'll be 42 or 45 before that happens.
Concerts/clubbing: Since TRF, I've gotten to see Mr Kitty once in Austin, and Alter der Ruine twice in Tucson. At the last one, Mike J told me an amazing thing about the next time they tour with Mr Kitty! I can't wait until the official announcement so I can stop bursting at the seams with it. I had a great time the few times I got to go to Elysium in Austin, and I met a really nice guy there, and we're Facebook friends now. Alas, he's moving to Madison soon to be with his primary, so I might see him once a year if I'm ambitious. And here in Phoenix, I've been going to a new night at Stacy's at Melrose. The night itself is so-so: Overall poor attendance; the music, while good, is not my cup of tea; good drinks for a good price; and the people are nice. And I've met another local guy here! Maybe this year is my year of meeting locals, getting out of my shell and socializing. We'll see.
Boys: I'd like a primary. However, that will take one to two years to even determine if someone is primary material. I thought maybe I had a good option there for a bit, but he's so awesome that his boss is sending him to a bunch of little shows, and I'll only see him for 4-8 weeks a year, most likely. So that's not ideal.
My cat still has fleas. I think I might finally bite the bullet and wash him in Georgia. Hopefully that will help.
General life update
Oct. 20th, 2014 12:57 amLet's see..... last update was in Georgia.
On the music front: Concerts in Denver were great! De/Vision again, and I brought Masha with, and she got to tease one of the band members for wearing a Russian shirt but not knowing Russian. Then I got to see Alter der Ruine and Mr Kitty, which was super exciting because they are up-and-coming (or maybe just to certain music snobs) and they only had a handful of tourdates. Then Grendel bookended the end of CO and start of MN. Grendel-MN was an interesting show, because they were doing military helicopter exercises downtown, which pissed me off, which really added to the aggrotech atmosphere of the concert. I also noticably damaged my hearing as that concert. After that, MN was all about clubbing, and I had so much fun! The music rocked - I loved the DJs and the DJs loved me - and I got to know a couple more people there. I'm really looking forward to Hard Mondays again next year! I should probably dampen my enthusiasm actually. I went to "Be.witched Wednesdays" at Numbers in Houston, and it was much with the lame. But there is a Mr Kitty concert at the end of the show, so that will be excellent!
Business-wise, the year has been going great! Mostly great workers, and we bought a shoppe in MN, and I got to leave someone else to run the shop while I went to Kirsten and Damon's wedding! That was incredible.
I'm still not certain what my next extended vacation will be. M'era Luna in 2015 or 2016? More likely 2016 because I don't want the shoppe opened for the first time without me. Or maybe Australia in the winter? Or Bali or New Zealand? Or maybe I should just start a general fund and try to be impulsive! Within certain limits, of course!
I more or less got over Jon in MN. It's a little wierd seeing him now.... hopefully getting past this awkward stage won't take more than a year or two... and certainly all the cute boys in MN helped! I might just be addicted to NRE. It's certainly a thought.
My cat has fleas. I have fleas. My whole house has fleas. Thankfully, my house is only 220 sq ft, but it's still frustrating!
morning music
Jul. 27th, 2014 07:44 amEs ist vorbei
Alles bricht in zwei
Jede Hoffnung, jede Trauemeri
Es ist vorbei.
It's over
Everything breaks in two
Every hope, every daydream
It's over
Right now I'm in Georgia, selling crowns, rings, and shiny things. I've been to two concerts at The Masquerade - VNV Nation in Heaven, and Aurelio Voltaire in Hell. VNV was special because it was the final show of the tour, and Ronan gave out some prizes after the encore. Voltaire was special because he invited the audience up on stage with him to sing "When You're Evil," and at the bridge, he wondered aloud why no one was gently caressing his butt, so wooo! I got to touch Voltaire's butt! That was awesome! And soon I'll go to back-to-back De/Vision concerts in Atlanta and Denver! I've finished off some video games - Fallout 3 finally, a new Shadowrun game - bought a couple albums, and generally not been very productive. I took a stab at making gloves from a pattern, and I think I'll just continue to cut up old, damaged ones for my fancy fingers-only gloves. Made a new gym bag and chemise as well, but mostly I've been holing myself up in my trailer.
Eh, that's not true. I've actually been doing a very good job of going out and being social at least three times a week. Some times it's only for an hour, but it's better than nothing!
I've been working out a lot. A lot. 20-30 minutes of cardio every week day (I skipped twice), and I feel like I'm doing far better at weight things than I was. At least, I know more theory (even though I don't use it), and I'm better about getting different muscle groups. I've improved my upper body strength, and can do 3 sets of 20 knee raises. I still just kind of want to drop 10 lbs, even though intellectually I know that's unrealistic unless I make some serious food changes.
Well, now I don't feel like I've been a total slacker! I've just done unquantifiable things! Thanks, LiveJournal! And Facebook meme too, I guess.
Completed sewing projects
Jan. 2nd, 2014 11:39 pmMy cotton cotehardie came out pretty well. I copied the pattern based on the "large," because Swedes are tall and skinny, and that was what was recommended for my measurements. I kept it on a hanger for two weeks during the Armadillo - entirely unintentional, but very good for stretching out the bias! I took it in a bit at the sides, wrists, and at the hem (a lot at the hem!), then flat felled everything that wasn't a rolled hem.
The gloves were the most exciting part of my sewing. Because I was cutting up pre-existing items, that took a lot of trepidation out of it - I was worried about teeny tiny seam allowances. I really like how they look, and they are totally different from anything else out there at the moment - plenty of people have handflower/slave bracelets that go from multiple rings to the wrist, and plenty of people have fingerless hand/wrist warmers, but almost no one has palmless gloves, and no one has them like I do. Except, of course, for Nina de Lianin. They still need some work - I need to make the pieces that cross the back of the hand out of something stretchy or elastic, and I probably need to relearn how to properly sew such materials.
The bustle-skirt was slow and frustrating, starting at the fabric store - they had organza in plum and a bright, almost fushia, purple, neither of which were a good shade for me. So I hemmed and hawed, and looked around some more, and did that maybe 3 more times, then found the right shade of purple organza shelved with some navy things! Yay! Then construction was of course a lot of gathering and pinning, and lots of uncertainty about if I was making things well. I ended up making the front of the skirt ankle-length, then extending the skirt into a train in the back. Then the front was pleated up to about 8" long, and the center back got tacked up to the waistband. I don't know if it could properly be called a bustle, but I'll let wiser minds than I let me know what they think.
Winter sewing projects
Dec. 14th, 2013 12:49 am- New long-sleeved work chemise. Complete. I messed up twice on this one - I cut the front and back as two separate pieces, and the sleeves are finished differently, one in a French seam and the the other is a hand-finished flat felled seam. I forgot the wrist wouldn't fit through the machine. Whoops!
- Cotehardies. In progress. This is a fun one. About two years ago I bought a wool sideless surcoat from
![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif){kind=small}
geminibalance, but I've had nothing to wear with it. In Norway I impulse-bought a Swedish pattern from a small historical pattern company, and I'm using that, so that is all sorts of translation fun. I remembered midway through tracing the pattern that Europeans don't put seam allowance on their patterns, so I was able to add my own imperial seam allowances instead. I'm making a cotton one first, as the psuedo-mock-up. I think I'll be able to make whatever modifications I want on the cotton, so when I break out the silk it'll be perfect! And then I will have warm and cold weather cotehardies! For that year-round SCAing I do. Not.- I really need a new blue chemise for my hot weather outfit. Unfortunately, I've been really picky about fabric, and don't have anything I'm happy with. So I'll probably need to find any blue gauze at this point. If this happens during Georgia that's ok, but I'd prefer to have it finished for AZ.
- Gothy cosplay - I've been mildly obsessed with the outfits in this music video. While most of them are beyond my meager abilities, I'd really like to make my own version of Nina's final dress (from Royal Black's "Enchanted Gardens" collection). My purple velvet underbust will serve, so that leaves me 2-3 things to do. 1) Lace skirt with bustle. This will be an adventure in draping. 2) Make a version of those sexy, sexy gloves. Mine certainly won't be latex/rubber/PVC/whatever - I picked up a couple pairs of damaged gloves at Dickens on the Strand to experiment with, hopefully successfully. 3) I may try and attach some netting to my bra so it looks more like the Royal Black design. Depends on how inspired I am.
Other than testing a rice bag for drying out my spices, that's probably it for sewing this winter. Then hopefully I can do some piece work in Georgia.
Seven Year Itch?
Nov. 4th, 2013 01:20 pm( Read more... )
In other news, I do check LJ regularly, and read your posts, more or less (I may skim the long ones). Do you?
Konzertfreude
Feb. 14th, 2013 08:49 pmJune/July - Project Pitchfork and Ayria!!!!! I'll miss their concert in Atlanta - I'll be halfway to Denver on June 4th. I hope they add a Denver date to their tour!
Final week in Norway
Dec. 26th, 2012 03:03 pm( cut for length )
Norway update
Dec. 19th, 2012 09:24 am( Cut for length )
I'll probably post another update next week when I'm back State-side, unless I'm really bored while I'm waiting for my plane. Have a wonderful Solstice everyone!
Hello, world!
Dec. 7th, 2012 04:20 pmOn Sunday, I leave for a two-week vacation to Norway. I'm bringing way too much stuff. I've learned a little bit of Norwegian. I still need to check the voltage on my phone charger. Though I just checked my Nook charger and that'll work for my phone too, so nevermind that. I need to change my voicemail message!
Should I go to Bergen? Trondheim? Tromso? I still have no idea.
