| Shit! |
[26 Jun 2009|07:07pm] |
This is the last weekend before AX! AGGGH!
And what sucks is that I have to go in to work tomorrow! AGGGH!
I guess that just means next week I'll be leaving for my vacation one day earlier; that's fair.
Time to get serious busy!
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| Michael Bay can kiss my butt |
[24 Jun 2009|07:26pm] |
I have to go watch Transformers tonight. Against my will. For some unknown reason (I think it's Shia LeDouche), my sister keeps demanding that we go watch it. And since I'll be heading out of town soon, I feel obligated to spend some time with her. Why does it have to be Transformers though? I only barely watched the first movie for the first time a couple weeks ago, on accident. All I got out of it was a lot of CG metal smashing and crashing and exploding, with a couple of eye-candy actors running around like Lilliputians beneath it all. Liz is smart; she's opting out of this get-together. So it'll just be me, my sis, and her boyfriend.
Oh well.
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| Lift with your anus! |
[22 Jun 2009|06:13pm] |
The biggest thing I did this weekend was to help Beauty and Jenny move. Why? Because I have truck and they is girls. Levi showed up with his truck too and even Cat and Kevin got roped into helping for awhile too. We went to La Madeline for dinner and nommed on bakery stuff, then got serious about the moving business. In doing so, I learned that the only thing worse than helping a cosplayer move, is helping TWO cosplayers move. It was a shit-ton of stuff, SQUARED.
About one a.m., we were finally moving the last piece of furniture into the new apartment. I don't know why, or how it happened, but we had managed to save the heaviest, biggest piece of furniture for last. So there we were, pushing this IKEA deathtrap up the winding stairs, just me and the two girls, in the dark. It was falling apart and crushing limbs as it climbed. We got it to the top of the stairs and almost over the railing (which is farther than I expected) and that's when things got retarded. Someone was laughing, someone was grunting, and someone was screaming as the monster bookcase decided it wanted to fly out into the abyss. A little voice in my head said, "Just let it fall. It's Ikea, we can get another one." But another voice said, "But the girls are underneath it." Oh, yeah. Somehow we got it into the apartment with only a small amount of damage to the bookcase, stairs, railing, doorway, and wall. That was definitely the most retarded thing I've ever done while moving.
I'm still finding bruises I didn't know I had.
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| The Present |
[17 Jun 2009|12:05pm] |
The punchline
That had been my plan all along, just so I could see the expression on Liz’s and her mom’s face when I pulled out that pink bag. "I picked this out just for you." And let me tell you, getting that pink bag was an adventure in itself.
( Cody’s Adventures in Wonderland )
Although I didn’t mention my plans to Liz so that the joke wouldn’t be ruined, as soon as I got home she quickly guessed what I was up to and vetoed the idea. She thought that even the bag would be too scandalous for her mother and then Liz would have to kill me with her bare hands for embarrassing her in front of her parents. I was kinda bummed by this turn of events, after what I’d gone through to get it, but not surprised. I’d suspected this idea might've gone too far.
Better safe than sorry I guess. But I'll always wonder, What If . . . ?
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| It's just crazy enough to work |
[16 Jun 2009|05:59pm] |
My sense of humor has led me astray before, so I don't know if this idea is brilliant or suicidal.
Poll #1416755 Public opinion pop quiz!
Open to: All, detailed results viewable to: AllShould I buy my mother-in-law a birthday present from Victoria's Secret?
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| Quick bit |
[08 Jun 2009|05:42pm] |
So this weekend, Liz spent reading all three books and movie-watching of Twilight. Good: It gave me plenty of free-time to work on cosplay. Bad: Every conversation since last Friday has revolved around sparkle-pires. I count that as a wash. So I made good progress on Wybie, getting that good, content feeling from just working for hours straight. Aaaand yesterday I spent a few hours with Jenny and Beauty working on our joint cosplay. I got fitted for a beard and then was appointed ironing bitch for the remainder of the evening. That costume workshop at the University is fucking awesome. Yeah, it's all about the soft stuff there, but still I was in awe of how much creative potential that room possessed. I wants it!
Today I finally sent off the gunblade commission and have breathed a sigh of relief. Once I finish a commission, I want to get rid of it; it's not comfortable having around. Like having someone else's baby at your place, the whole time you're wondering, "When are they going to come pick this thing up? It was fun at first, but now it's time to go. Where are it's parents?" Also today, I finally managed to schedule an appointment with the couple's counsellor. That was a bit of an ordeal itself, considering I've been trying to get this done since this time last week. I'm nervous about the whole thing, but more than that I'm eager for things to improve.
So yeah, that's what's up.
Bye.
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| Tapping out |
[30 May 2009|05:48am] |
Wybie's not going to be done. Been up all night, rushing it. The faster I go, the more ghetto it looks. I don't want to finish it at that cost. I'll do it right and take it to Expo instead.
Now I'm going to take a nap, then get up and go to A-kon and have fun as a civilian.
( Close, but no cigar )
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| It's funny because the squirrel is dead (or, Dallas: Day 88) |
[29 May 2009|05:59pm] |
Woof, there's been a lot going on these past couple of days. Nothing monumental, but lots of little stuff. Probably of greatest importance is that I've been released from this Dallas job as of today. Hooray! The job is done (or near enough that I don't need to stick around). Rather than racing home ASAP, I'm taking my time closing my affairs here in Dallas. Only now do I realize how much crap I've squirreled up here bit by bit over the past 3 months. It's almost as if I'm moving apartments. Tonight I'll finish Wybie and tomorrow I'll go to A-kon for a bit to wear him and see if I can meet some people and hang out for awhile. Sunday I'll get around to packing up, then I'll return a bad-ass orphan I'm babysitting for the weekend, then I'll stop by Cameron's to drop off their sewing machine (and probably take the two of them for lunch), and THEN I'll finally be leaving Dallas for home. Yay.
My celebration is a bit muted by the rumor-that-is-more-than-a-rumor that there will be a sequel to this Dallas job starting up in July. Part two is expected to be 3 times as big as this recent job. Odds are I'll be coming back for that. I'm not too thrilled about that, considering how much stress this previous job has meant for me and Liz, but for now I'm going to enjoy my time at home while it lasts.
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| I thank/blame you, Katherine (or, Dallas: Day 82) |
[20 May 2009|08:27pm] |
( I love bread. )
I think there must've been a few pounds of sugar in that bread I just ate, because I'm working on cosplay right now (which always get me hyper and excited), but right now it's more like hyper . . . on steroids.
Tonight I'm trying to finish Wybie's coat. The pattern says I'm done, but I'm not quite content with the fit so now I have to enter the uncharted waters of altering it myself.
Oh yeah, and the head driller said that we've only got a couple weeks left of work here. The army inspector says there's 4 months of work to go, but I don't work for (or trust) her. If there's really only 2 weeks left to go, that's great news! I'm not getting my hopes up too much, considering how often our work schedule changes, but it's the first mention anyone's made of an end-date for this job. I would really like to get back home for good; this out-of-town arrangement has been stressful for Liz and I. It would be great not to have it interfering anymore. The only downside to the completion of this job is that I won't be seeing much of Cameron any more. This job has given me the opportunity to spend time with him again, like we haven't done since before I went off to college years ago. It's too bad we don't live closer, because he really is my best friend.
My sister graduated vet grad school last week (I couldn't go to the graduation because I was working). Now she insists on being called Dr. K. Ha! I can't wrap my head around calling her "Doctor". And she's going to be doing her internship at a clinic in Austin. Fancy that! I don't click with my sister as well as I do with my brother; I haven't really had a chance to get to know her as an adult. It'll be interesting to do so while she's in Austin.
I get the feeling there was something else worth mentioning, but it slips my mind at the moment. Oh well, back to cosplay!
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| 8 > 12 (or, Dallas: Day 78) |
[14 May 2009|06:50pm] |
This morning both Codys thought that they were on break. After all, we'd worked 9 days out of the typical 10-day shift and reached a good stopping point. To start a new hole would mean a 4-day commitment, which would add up to a 13-day shift. So we thought we should go on break, enjoy the weekend, and get back to work Monday. I already had my bags packed and was minutes from leaving town when the word came back that we needed to get our asses to the job site.
Suck!
I guess that disappointment put me in the wrong mindset for work, thus making the 8-hour day we had feel even longer than our normal 12-hour day. I am sunburnt and pooped. I want to push the "food" button on my phone to have someone show up at my door with a bucket of food and a funnel, to feed me in bed and tuck me in and turn out the lights behind them.
But enough of that griping. I am tantalizingly close to finishing the Wybie coat. I get the feeling I missed some important step or rule because the coat looks extra big in every direction when I try it on. Hmm. As much as I'd like to finish it up, I don't think I have any gas in my tank for that tonight. Oh! I guess my fatigue has had one novel outcome. I think I could invent something. A bathtub faucet handle that is foot-operable. That may earn me the nickname of Monkey-Foot, but I'll bet I'm not the only beached whale who's too lazy to sit up every time they want to adjust the temperature.
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| Pimp my machine (or, Dallas: Day 76) |
[12 May 2009|07:02pm] |
| [ |
mood |
| |
 bouncy |
] |
The best part about being a NOOB is that you level up fast.
Today the drillers were waiting on some parts that were due to arrive this morning. The package arrived, but not all the parts were in it, so we couldn't work today. That meant I got the day off for cosplay! Weee!
So for the past seven hours I've been sewing. I daresay I'm on some sort of sewing high at the moment. I changed my approach and my pattern pieces are no longer coming out as puffy sopapillas. It probably would've taken a seasoned seamstress only a minute to point out what I was doing wrong, but since I figured it out on my own, it meant a lot more to me. Like double experience points.
I'm really grateful to Katherine for lending me her sewing machine. This is actually kinda fun. That may be because I'm still just sticking to the easy stuff. Deciphering the pattern instructions has been going very slowly and cautiously. I'm still a little wary and unsure when it comes to that stuff.
As I was sewing I thought of a few mods I would like to make to the machine (if it were mine). Like a slide to catch all the straight pins I was taking out, or at least a magnetic strip. And re-arrange some of the levers so that they'd be more intuitive for me and not so easily mistaken for one another. Or a flip-down magnifying lens. Then I thought, "Hell, why not steampunk-ify the whole machine? That'd be cool!" I think it'd be fun. Looking at the machine, it's so plain hospital white. I want something with more style and yes, testosterone. I would mod the hell out of my sewing machine from the inside out; I'd never be able to take it in for a tune-up, unless I had two outfits for my sewing machine, ala the hot rod kid.
Perhaps it's for the best that I don't own a sewing machine. It would be TOO awesome.
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| Soft cosplay is harder than I thought (or, Dallas: Day 74) |
[10 May 2009|10:50pm] |
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I could not figure out how to get the bobbin winder to work, so I strapped it to my Dremel and wound it that way. Power tools FTW! *high-fives MacGuyver* Then I dis-emboweled the sewing machine trying to figure out how to load the thing. I assumed that since I've managed to load a bobbin on one machine, I could do it on any machine. Right? Wrong! Metal doo-hickeys just kept falling out. A couple hours later it was starting to look like I was going to need to just buy Katherine a new sewing machine and then it finally occurred to me to look up the machine's manual online. Doh!
Bobbin Winding score: D
Last night I went to Jo-Ann's to get lining and the one in Carrollton is 2 stories tall! Wow! It's no Golden D'or, but at least it's open after 5 pm.
So tonight, now that I've got the coat material and lining, I figured I could sew the lining onto the panels. It'd be a good warm-up. It's practically tracing. Easy peasy, right?
If it's so easy, how did I end up with a sopapilla? It's fluffy, dang it! And it's got little puckering mouths at each corner. Waah. I don't want to rip seams. This sucks. I shoulda glued the dang thing.
Lining Sewing score: C-
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| Debacle |
[10 May 2009|06:42am] |
Tonight Liz and I finally had a talk about what happened earlier this week. Liz still feels that my post was an attack on her and I still feel that my post was a bold but honest request for help. We’re not going to agree on that and frankly, that’s not the most important item that we needed to resolve. If anything, my post from earlier this week was just a flare-up, a superficial symptom of other, deeper, older issues we’ve been contending with. In good times, we’ve been able to endure or ignore these issues for the most part. But with me in Dallas indefinitely, Liz alone in Austin planning a wedding, each strapped for money, luxuries, and fun, both of us have become unhappy. Our usual methods of combating unhappiness are denied us for the time being and this added stress has exacerbated the old issues that we can usually deal with. All together, it has become too much. It appears that Liz and I cannot move forward until we deal with these fundamental problems.
The conclusion we reached was that we are not prepared to marry one another. The wedding will be postponed until when and if . . . well, I don’t know. We both agreed that we need to go to couples’ counseling; our own unmediated attempts to reconcile matters has only brought us this far after all. Perhaps with help and advice which the both of us respect and acknowledge, we can progress farther than we could on our own.
I expect that in such therapy, things will get worse before they get better. We’ll have to face the inequities and problems that exist in our relationship and that will not be easy. I’m not sure that we can recognize our faults and shortcomings, accept responsibility for them, and make the true, committed effort to correct them. I am afraid of the possibility that the medicine may kill the patient, that we may not be able to bridge the schisms we find between us. What then?
I may be being overly pessimistic, but this is serious and the stakes are high. I am worried. But I know that this will be the best, in the end. If we do get married, it will be upon a stronger foundation than we have now. We love each other, but we have problems too. Admitting one doesn’t negate the other.
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| Thank goodness. |
[08 May 2009|06:31pm] |
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It's jock itch, not herpes. Oh thank goodness. That was a little scary, for a moment.
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| Google, you broke my heart (or, Dallas: Day 71) |
[08 May 2009|08:52am] |
Considering that I've already bought all the fabric for it, I think I'm going to complete my Wybie cosplay. I may not be going to any cons any time soon, but at the very least, working on Wybie will keep me busy all these evenings at the motel. Who knows, I might still be working here by the time A-kon rolls around. Even if that falls through, it'll give me something to wear for Halloween.
So while I was at Cameron's place yesterday, I made sure to abscond with Katherine's (his waifu) sewing machine. (She said I could borrow it, it's cool.) And I took his Dremel while I was at it. I was a fool to leave my own at home.
After equipping those items, I paid a phone call to a local cosplayer to get some advice on how to sew this material. The NPC said I could find the +2 Purple Needle of Sewing at a Hobby Lobby. So I stopped at the motel to Google the nearest Hobby Lobby and then hit the road.
There was no Hobby Lobby. It was a Big Lots. What the hell? That's not even close! This is the third time you've betrayed me, Google Maps! Last time was that Wal-Mart Optical Laboratory, remember? That's it, we're done! From now on I'm a Yellow Pages man!
Mission 1: Master the bobbin winder.
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[07 May 2009|05:09pm] |
I would like to thank everyone who read my last post and offered advice and support. I really appreciated receiving some guidance on this issue. I don't have any guy friends who I can talk to about this and get their opinions. And Liz is the only girl I've ever been with, so I don't have past experiences to tell me what's normal, excessive, or deficient about our relationship. I'm clueless about a lot of stuff and desperate for any sort of assistance.
Some believe that I was wrong to seek help in this environment, my fiance most of all. I knew I'd get in trouble for making that post; every time I try to discuss sex it results in a fight, so this was no surprise. I've turned the post private, but the damage has been done. Some believe I wrote that post to be hurtful or shaming to my fiance. I did not expect that. I've gone through the embarrassment and shame of going to doctors to see if there was something wrong with me that might be contributing to our problems. I'm willing to endure shame and embarrassment in order to improve our relationship. I was wrong to assume that my fiance was equally willing.
I suppose that last post shows me that Liz is not comfortable with that level of exposure. And our combined comfort is really what will enable us to repair our sex-life. At this time, outside assistance (as much as it may be needed) is detrimental to cultivating comfort and communication between us. So I cannot be seeking help here.
Thanks again for your words, everyone. It really meant a lot to me.
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| Dallas: Day 67 |
[04 May 2009|11:33pm] |
Back in Dallas. Bleh. I had a week off, I know, so I should be recharged and ready to work. But ugh, it feels like I've been here too long already. I want to go home and STAY home.
Oh well, whatever. Hopefully there's only another month or so till we're done.
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| Swords to Plowshares |
[30 Apr 2009|01:28pm] |
Or in this case, cosplay to housewares.
With it raining pretty much all week in Dallas, I'm back in Austin for the week (and probably this weekend). I've got enough hours that I don't have to go in to the office to work so I'm staying at home and keeping myself busy with all sorts of little projects. Organizing stuff, throwing out cosplay stuff that won't be re-used (Pyramid Head and Hrist, for example). I re-purposed the material I'd bought for the Wybie cosplay and the hoops from the Catbus to build some cat-curtains (curtains that allow the cat to look out the window but prevents people from looking in). I am starting to consider throwing away the Catbus entirely. I know I've sunk a few hundred dollars into it, but I wouldn't be able to continue working on it until next year at the earliest and there would be no guarantee we would have enough room to store a cosplay that big. I started Catbus two apartments ago, when I had a lot more space to commit to it. It seems that Catbus has outgrown it's home and as much as I dislike it, I may have to cut my losses now, rather than try to see it through.
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| It figures . . . |
[26 Apr 2009|08:12pm] |
A week after I decide that I quit cosplay, I get a private invite to a photoshoot.
What lousy timing.
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