Khaotic is Right
I came down sick after KhaoticKon and then I went and got a new puppy. Suffice it to say, I no longer have a life.
A bird's got to do what a bird's got to do.
It was a great convention, never mind first, the KhaoticKon staff pulled out all the stops and did a great job. If you were there and you missed the Combat Musical then I have to ask; What the eff is wrong with you? What I appreciated the most was two chances at reasonable times to see the entire show. I was in a panel for the first performance and by the time I got to the second It seemed like everyone in the hotel was saying “OMG did you see the musical?” I was a little leery going in, to be honest. I can be… critical of musical performances but the cast did a great job.
The Arwen cosplay pulled down a best in show at this convention and I have to say, the judges were just the nicest and most engaged I’ve ever seen, cosplay or otherwise. It’s so nice to show off your art to people who seem genuinely excited about it. Yeah, when you win you do come off as bias but after the day I was having, I needed some warm smiles.
Like a Chihuahua, only smaller and deadlier
I probably really only have myself to blame for this, though honestly I’m not sure how. The costume contest was Sunday so we got up early, packed up everything in the room but Arwen and loaded up the car. I came back, changed into Arwen, checked out at the front desk and skidded to a stop in the judging line only five minutes late and slightly sweaty. Sure, fine, no problem. I’m a ‘professional’ and I can handle this, get me some touchups and a hair brush and I’m good! No the real problem was the final touchup before going on stage. My costume handler for the day was my friend Megan. There’s a whole ordeal that goes into taking a costume on stage where you check that everything is fine you touch up your hair and makeup and hand off your bag and your handler says nice supportive things to you. It’s better than therapy and a lot less expensive. So We’re standing in the hall because there’s really no better place to do the last check and I had just done a pointy ear check and fished my glitter powder out of my bag. For those of you not familiar with Lord of the Rings, (and I’m not sure I know you if that’s the case) Arwen is an elf, and elves, unlike vampires, actually do sparkle. For those of us who don’t sparkle, there’s glitter powder. I scored a really handy little portable glitter powder at a con last fall with a built in applicator that I’d fallen in love with, mostly because I can touch up my sparkle in under 2 minutes. I popped the top… and all hell broke loose.
The built in applicator snapped off the top and rolled across the floor, spraying glitter dust all over the floor, Arwen, Megan, my con bag and a couple of nearby Hetalia cosplayers. Insert panic here.
Who knew anything so tiny could cause so much chaos? I have to say, Megan was a real trooper. Having never been a costume handler before she rose to the occasion, assured me we’d fix everything, de-glittered my gown, the floor and all the surrounding nations. Not too many people would deal so well or so patiently with a neurotic artist.
In other news, there’s a brand new AMV for your viewing enjoyment/ridicule as the case may be;
It came away with a “Best Upbeat” award in Saturday’s AMV contest.
So thanks to Megan, thanks to the judges and thanks to the countries who didn’t declare war on me for making them look like Twilight cosplayers.
Now why don’t she never write?
I know I was supposed to blog, I realize this. I made promises about craft and cosplay demos and interesting geekery and I’m fully aware that I didn’t fulfill them. I have no excuse. But I do have a reason; Fear. Well, a little paranoia but mostly fear. I’m absolutely petrified of publishing something while medicated. That’s no big deal, you’re thinking, just wait until you’re not medicated. Ah ha! You see, I’ve only been barely sober since January. And those lucid moments were reserved for earning a living. Call me crazy but I really like electric and food.
It all started with the new puppy. I got a Shiba Inu, it wasn’t really my idea but she’s cute and manipulative and before I knew it I was out buying her accessories, like fresh baked doggy treats…. and a scooter. I know what you’re thinking; Why would a sane person buy a dog a scooter? There’s a threefold answer to that. Firstly; I can’t run as fast as she can. Second; I don’t own a bike any more. Third; I’m not that sane, don’t kid yourself.
The scooter was working out great, it really was. Kaname was getting her exercise, I was discovering muscles in my legs and thighs I didn’t know existed, the neighbors were having a good time watching the crazy woman on the scooter with the mad puppy. Everyone was happy. Right until the point where Kaname decided that the velociraptor in the hedge was going to eat us.
If you’ve never spent time with a shiba, let me tell you; they live in constant fear of the apocalypse. In Kaname’s case death is just waiting to strike from within every trashcan and letter box. I never saw the velociraptor but she assures me that if she hadn’t got out of the way when she did, we’d both be gonners now. She decided the safest thing to do was to abandon the scooter and drag me to safety. I’m thinking the velociraptor wasn’t that hungry because she never went for the scooter. By the time I managed to carry both dog and scooter home I was forced to the disturbing realization that my knee had split open on the pavement and I wouldn’t be eligible to give blood for quite some time.
Before the knee had a chance to heal up I tried to cut my thumb off with an xacto knife while making an Alpha Meson Blaster. It’s looking really good by the way. And after that I pulled my shoulder playing Skyward Sword… and then I dropped a storage cabinet on my foot. So all in all, I’ve been pretty heavily medicated in my free time. This is terrible for getting any sort of writing done.
My best friend Laura has been having a similar problem with her writing, only with less bandaids and neosporin. When we’re not writing we generally complain to each other, make drinks with vodka in them and then come up with story premises that would only work in a world where all publishing companies are run by chimpanzees. So last night I was recovering from my latest injury and Laura was explaining to me why fantasy noire sequels to Jane Austen novels are good ideas.
Me: Great, I’m going to end up in Pemberly in my nighty… again.
Laura: Hahaha. I need to turn that into a status update.
Me: I might need to beat you to that. I have so few really quotable moments any more.
Laura: There will be more in the future. I promise.
Me: I’ll take your word for it
Laura: There will… I’ve started writing again, finally!
Me: It’s almost one am here, I need a shower and I think my pain meds are starting to wear off. So I think I’ll put off writing tonight.
Laura: I hope the pain meds aren’t for something serious.
Me: I slipped on a wet floor at the market and crashed into an endcap. It was like the fall of Gondolin only with Cheetos
Laura: Ouch!
Me: it’s not so bad, I split my scooter injury open again but all the cheetos survived which is more than what we can say for Gondolin
Laura: True…
Laura went on to lecture me about overcoming my deep seeded fears about blogging while medicated. Pretty much she shamed me into updating by insisting that if I wait until I’m sober I’ll never write again. Feel free to thank or punish her as your conscience dictates.
I’m including a picture of my new River Song journal because I like pictures and it’s the only thing I’ve made in the last three months that I haven’t bled on. Laura says it’s a new dawn for me. I told her I smashed my thumb with the leather stamp.
On the horizon; KhaoticKon Tampa, the promised cosplay posts, and more drunken stupidity.
I’d like to thank the Academy…
Seriously, A super big thank you to the completely phenomenal people who run Shadocon. It was a really big weekend for me and my friends, me mostly. Check out the gallery to get a look at my newest cosplay; Arwen from Lord of the Rings Return of the King. Arwen represents 9 months worth of sewing and jewelry craft and I’m very proud to say she walked away with the “Best Individual” win in the costume contest. (And yes, I’ve begun to anthropomorphize this costume, if you’d exhausted nine months of your life beading and bending sheet aluminum you’d start to think your cosplays were your friends too.) But more about Arwen in a future post. My resolution for next year is to start posting more about crafting and construction.
My other big news for the weekend is a “Best Comedy” award for my latest AMV, if you didn’t see it at Shado, (and I didn’t) here it is.
Yeah yeah, I know, I should have been at the AMV contest but I swear on a stack of otakus I had no idea I was even a finalist. I was going to go to the amv contest, I really was, because my friend Megan was a finalist but there was stuff and shenanigans and Quinton Flynn did the Locomotion and Isaak Wells threw a chair and one thing led to another and well…. that’s when Megan ran into the panel and told me I’d won (to which I said “wa?”) So thanks Megan and thanks Quinton and thank you Isaak for not throwing the chair in my general direction. And a big apology to Chris and Henry and the rest of the guys on staff at Shado because I stood you up at the amv contest like a spineless teenager.
Wow, I should do this every weekend.
