No Strings Attached

Posted By Kathleen David on January 27, 2012

I think about this time next year I can talk about what I saw yesterday. And that’s how it has been going on around here. Cool Stuff but because we have NDAs (Non-Disclosure Agreements) with various companies, we can’t talk about it, yet. And that’s a little frustrating for me at times.

Caroline has had to learn at a young age what she can and can’t talk about in public because of what she sees and hears. This past Tuesday, she was sitting in a recording studio listening to actors read lines to a script that Peter wrote. She knows she can’t talk about the story or the information she has on the characters that hasn’t been revealed by the episodes that have already aired.

Peter has a short stay here and he is off again on another mystery project for most of next week. Again lots of paperwork swearing that we won’t talk about what we see and hear has been signed. I am figuring fall of this year for being able to talk about that project.

However I can show you why my husband is the most awesome husband in the world. He went to see a taping of the Big Bang Theory on Tuesday evening with Susan Ellison. Harlan babysat Caroline. Harlan and Caroline got along just fine. They have for years. They watched Pinocchio and Caroline got to explore the Ellison residence. And I can tell you, having been there, there is a lot to explore.

Anyway, back to why my husband rocks.

(For the Visually Impaired: This is a program from the taping of an episode of the Big Bang Theory. It is white with black lettering and says “Big Bang Theory :Tuesday, January 24, 2012. There are two autographs on the program. Above the logo it says “To Kathleen Thanks for Watching Chuck Lorre” and below the logo it says “To Kathleen We miss you Bill P”. Bill P is Bill Prady who long with Chuck Lorre created the show.)

Yep, he got me the autographs of the creators of the show. Pretty cool.

I am grateful for the adventures my family had and that they are now safely home.

Powered by Bookmarkify™

Category: Uncategorized | No Comments »
Tags:

Posted By Kathleen David on January 25, 2012

I find as a read and I hear things, certain words and phrases seem to pop up and catch my attention. This week the phrase was Inner Child.

Apparently Jung quantified the concept of the Divine Child as an archetype. Depend on who you read, this is a bad thing to have or a good thing to have and we all have it.

“Let your inner child out and play” was the theme to an art book I was reading. I can’t remember the title but it written for those who felt blocked or uncreative. The gist of the work was that everyone was creative, you just had to figure out how to get or recognize your creative force. It also suggested that you go on play dates with your inner child. I have to say that the image I got in my head from that one gave me a really good giggle.

My inner child is health and pretty happy. And it doesn’t stay inner that much to me. I have found that I still feel like I did as a kid in certain situations, I just learned how to deal with my feelings and the situations over time. I guess that is called growing up.

I still play with toys but now I create the toys I play with. I get a warm fuzzy feeling inside when I do something that I think is pretty incredible and then some one else affirms what I did was pretty incredible. I get angry and sad but most of the temper tantrum is within rather than without.

I do wonder how much Caroline has helped my inner child to stick around. Having a kid makes one both remember things when one was a kid and get to try new things because you have a kid.

But honestly, I think Peter and I would be going to toy stores and kids movies on our own. Just the way we are wired. I have been going to toy stores with friends for years. We mostly browsed but there were times we were looking for toys for us (which is what Caroline called Toys R Us for years). I remember almost getting kicked out of a toy store when a friend and I came across Magic Earring Ken and couldn’t stop laughing. About a month later Magic Earring Kens became hard to find as they had become a gay icon for the reasons that had us almost on the floor in hysterics.

Society has changed to where an adult buying toys for themselves isn’t as strange as it was many years ago. Now they can buy limited edition exclusives of toys they had as kids. Look at San Diego Comic Con and the speculators market for examples of this. Personally here in this household, if it is a toy then it comes out of the packaging and is play with.

I think that society has changed allowing adults to act more like children. I prefer to think of it as society allowing us to be more like us rather than the social ideal whatever that is at the time. We don’t have to hide behind doors of a club or social club to play. We do it out in the open and freely. Which I think is a good thing for us as human beings.

My inner child is healthy and happy and has plenty of other inner children to play with. I married someone else who believe that it is healthy to let one’s imagination roams and play with the possibilities. We have a child who is encouraged to think what if. Our friends have healthy inner children as well that they express in so many different ways.

I am grateful for my inner child’s health.

Powered by Bookmarkify™

Category: Uncategorized | No Comments »
Tags: introspection

Posted By Kathleen David on January 24, 2012

Or sometimes one can be one’s own worst critic.

Constructive criticism is a funny set of words. One is about building and the other is deconstructing. It is also funny what people think constructive criticism is and isn’t.

For example, hearing “your anatomy is off” isn’t very helpful. But hearing “You need to look at the back leg of your figure. Legs don’t bend like that unless broken” is of much more use.

Honestly I am my own worst critic. I see every flaw and shortcut I did to get to the final product. I see the materials I substituted because I couldn’t find exactly what I wanted. I see every blemish and missed brush stroke.

But what I have learned over time is that there is a point that one just needs to let it go and let others see it.

I use Peter a lot as my sounding board. He has a good eye for things that I didn’t even think about. I trust his opinion about my work because he doesn’t sugar coat things for me.

But occasionally I do get someone who doesn’t like my work and they tell me that they don’t. I ask why and they give me some answer that doesn’t make sense or they give me something else to think about in the final product. I remember one guy didn’t like my work but it turned out that he didn’t like puppets at all and didn’t understand why they were in an art show. I have had to fight the puppets as art battle more than once in my career.

Today I am going to work on a griffin that I have had in my head for a bit. I think I finally have all the pieces sorted out and now can draft it.

I am sure there will be parts that I don’t like but there are always parts that I don’t like or know how I would change them next time. But that is part and parcel of being an artist and a craftsman.

I am grateful for the constructive criticism I have receive over the years including Wendy Froud sending me back to my table to redo my doll’s hand because “You and I know that you can do much better than that”. Thanks Wendy.

Powered by Bookmarkify™

Category: Uncategorized | No Comments »
Tags: Art, crafts, crafty tuesday, Creativity

Posted By Kathleen David on January 23, 2012

It is the year of the Black Water Dragon.

Gong Xi Fa Cai to you and your families.

Caroline is very happy with this because “Dragons are cool” according to her.

Today she and Peter are off to LA on another adventure. They will be back Thursday.

This gives me three days to myself to get done what I want to get done. Today I will be dealing with my computer at the Apple Genius Bar along with a couple of other errands including some larder restocking.

Giants vs. Patriots should be a good game. In two weeks the next NFL champ will be known. The Giants vs. the 49ers was a good game to watch. The Pats vs. the Ravens wasn’t bad either. There was some strange officiating at both games but I think that the calls basically zeroed out by the end. And the new overtime rules seem to work.

Off to do things that need to be done. Always a good thing.

I am grateful that Caroline gets a chance to spent some time with family friends

Powered by Bookmarkify™

Category: Uncategorized | No Comments »
Tags:

Posted By Kathleen David on January 22, 2012

Nor my worst. I got some stuff done. I have more stuff to do. My motivation needs a kick in the seat to get up and moving (No that’s not a cosmic hint. I can do it myself.)

Next week will be different since there is so much going on and not going on at the same time.

Most of tomorrow will be shuttling people where they need to go and seeing if the computer can be brought back to life for more than 5 minutes at a throw.

Tuesday and Wednesday are still fluid. It depends on what I decide is the more pressing matter.

Thursday is a çráp shoot at to what is going to happen.

Friday we might return to normal but I am not betting on it.

By the weekend, we will be returning to the status quo for the most part.

So web logging is going to be a bit spotty until I get the computer sorted out.

So Monday is a big ? but if I get on, probably about football

Tuesday is Crafty Tuesday

Wednesday is Introspection

The rest of the week is whatever is on my mind if I have the time.

There are days that I would like a TARDIS at my disposal.

I am grateful for opportunities that my child has in her life.

Powered by Bookmarkify™

Category: Uncategorized | No Comments »
Tags:

Posted By Kathleen David on January 21, 2012

Or rather I have a feeling that will be the call when I get it to the Genius Bar at the Mac Store. Liquid went into the iBook while it was on and I think it is fried. So I am down one computer. Peter, who is proofreading a book, is letting me have time on his computer to type this and any other Internet thing I need to do that I can’t do on the iPad. The pain, of course, is the hard drive which was backed up two weeks ago. If I can’t get the stuff off the hard drive, then those things are lost to the ages including some photos which is sad but there it is.

I would be doing all this today but it is snowing at a rather rapid rate and seems like it is not slowing down anytime soon however it is suppose to switch over to rain later making a lovely slushy Sunday. So I think I am looking at Monday as my earliest attempt to get it fixed.

UPDATE:Peter did get it up and running for a little while but then it went black again so it can work just need to get it TO work. Which is going to be a trip to the Genius Bar on Monday at 12:30. I do love being able to make a reservation. I have a feeling that this is going to take a while to fix.

So I will be spending less time on the Internet for the foreseeable future. Which is probably a good thing over all. I might get some other stuff done finally.

I am grateful that we did get it to work even for 15 minutes.

Powered by Bookmarkify™

Category: Uncategorized | 1 Comment »
Tags:

Posted By Kathleen David on January 20, 2012

Yesterday I had another prime example that my body really doesn’t like mold in any form. Some of you may remember a couple of years ago when my body decided that it didn’t like penicillin anymore and informed me rather violently. Since then I have discovered that mold and I don’t get along at all.

Here’s what happened, I was having lunch. I had some onion dip to have with my chips as a special treat. I checked the dip since I had opened it and it looked fine. I gave it the sniff test and it smelled fine. About 5 chips in, I tasted a very moldy taste and my body reacted violently before I could even swallow it. I lost my lunch and my throat started to swell. I downed two Benadryl quickly and eventually the throat went back to normal. However now I have a very sore throat that hurts to swallow a lot.

I didn’t use to react like this but something in my body changed and now this is what I have to live with.

I am sure that you have speculated what you would say to your younger self if you got the chance to tell them one thing. Me, I would tell my younger self to take better care of my body so when I got to this point, I would have fewer problems. But what happened to my body is part of me and who I am. I would like not to break my nose as many times as it has been broken.

So today I am going to take it easy to let my body finish its temper tantrum. I do need to go to the store to get a thing or two for the next couple of days to prevent snow from coming in or if it does, we can hunker down until Monday.

I am so grateful for Benadryl right now.

Powered by Bookmarkify™

Category: Uncategorized | No Comments »
Tags:

Posted By Kathleen David on January 19, 2012

I read a lot of stuff on the Internet. Sometimes I wander off and read what others point out to me. Other times I find stuff on my own. There are a couple of newsletters I take a quick look through to see if anything interests me. If so I go read in more detail.

Recently I read through a couple of mental health articles in different places that had about the same conclusion, positive thinking doesn’t work for everyone. And that made me feel better about being me. I have known for a long time that positive thinking only gets me so far before niggling doubts about the positive thing I am thinking about.

I think it goes to that everyone is different and reacts to different stimuli in different ways.

For me cleaning is a form of meditation but it doesn’t work all the time. I also find myself cleaning when I am seriously angry and don’t really have any other outlet for my fury. So there is a weird dichotomy there.

One of the articles had some suggestions about other things to try when one ends up in that downward spiral looped thinking which I find myself doing. One is to list 5 things that make you happy right there and then. It will change as time and circumstances change but it does make one stop and take another look at ones life.

The other thing I was glad that the article emphasized was that feeling sad or down is not a bad thing. There are occasions in life that not feeling totally happy is the right response to the situation. Which makes me less guilty when I do feel down and there is a real reason for it. I honestly don’t think we were suppose to be happy 24/7. It would be nice but it is not that practical. My goal is even keel which works well for me.

Another article did a good job of pointing out that we are not cookie cutter people. Each person has ways of dealing with things that work for them. There are techniques that can be taught, like time management and organizational skills, that can help but one needs to find what works for them.

One of the reason I started the grateful line in my blog was to remind myself what I do have even when the walls seems to be tumbling around me. And sometimes it can seem kinda stupid to me to be thankful for say peas but I like peas. I enjoy eating them and they are one of my comfort foods especially frozen. What I have come to realize over the years is that there is nothing stupid about being grateful for something. It means something to me and it makes me feel better maybe about myself or my situation. Right now the challenge is trying not to repeat myself.

So I think what I am saying is find what works for you. It may make no sense to anyone else but if it makes you feel better, then it works right?

I am grateful for articles that make me think and give me useful information.

Powered by Bookmarkify™

Category: Uncategorized | No Comments »
Tags:

Posted By Kathleen David on January 17, 2012

Except for my professional costuming work, most of what I do is recreations of other people’s designs or I take a 2-D drawing and bring it into three dimensions. This is because most of the conventions we do these sketches at are media conventions.

Before the Internet, yes children there was a time before the Internet, it was pretty challenging recreating a costume. You had the movie or TV show to go on and for photo reference, if you were lucky, a couple of fuzzy pictures in a magazine like Starlog. If you were really lucky there might be a book on the making of with photos you can use for reference.

Now we have the vast resources of the Internet and there are more magazines with photos. Also more films have making of books, which I would have killed for earlier in my career. But we still had ways of figuring things out and making it look right.

Historical patterns is something else that has changed a lot. Even Halloween patterns didn’t really exist until the late 1980s in standard pattern books. If you wanted to create some shapes, you would have to draft your own, Franken-pattern from existing looks (hard for the fashion of the 80s) or hope that Folkwear had a pattern for it. Now we have all kinds of patterns and patterns that can be used for other things.

I remember a time before fleece when trying to make puppets was the never ending hunt for the right kind of velour or another kind of fabric that was fuzzy and stretched the right way. Antron fleece is still the gold standard for puppets but you can use the fleece for them.

Fabric is always a challenge in costuming. You have to decide if you are going for screen accurate or costume accurate. The lighting used television, stage, and screen changes colors a lot. For example the 8th Doctor’s coat reads different colors under different light in the TV movie but is, in person, a greenish brown or a brownish green depending on who you talk to. I, for the longest time, thought it was brown. My X-men coat is a prime example of trying to find fabrics to fake the look from the film which was made from UK materials. (Honestly I am still jealous of your stretch fuzzy furs.) I think I did pretty well.

I find costuming a heck of a lot easier now then when I started. New fabrics and new building materials have made things much easier. Patterns are easier to find now that the big pattern makers realized that there is a market for historic costumes and it is a large one. There are still a lot of challenges in recreation which is why I enjoy it but it is nice that I have more of a shot at getting it right now.

I am grateful for everything that has made it easier to recreate costume designs.

Powered by Bookmarkify™

Category: Uncategorized | No Comments »
Tags:

Posted By Kathleen David on January 16, 2012

I am moving Sherlock to Wednesday since I haven’t seen the last episode and I woke up thinking about what I am writing about today

Today is a day where we remember a man who had a dream, which is was good dream and many people have worked hard to see Dr. King’s dream become a reality. And we, being humanity as a whole, are better off than we were when Dr. King was working for basic human rights. But there are many that still don’t have even the fundamental human rights laid out in The Universal Declaration of Human Rights by the United Nations.

I asked Caroline who Dr. King was and she said he was a great man who wanted people to be equal. I asked her what equal meant and she puzzled her way through the word and what she thought it meant. I think because I grew up in Atlanta Dr. King was more prevalent in my schooling. We talked about human rights and how some people aren’t treated as people, which she found horrifying. She has a rough idea of what slavery is but doesn’t understand how anyone could have thought that was a good idea and right now I am fine with that as her understanding. I know her understanding will expand as she gets older.

And on this day to celebrate a great man, I think we need to consider those who don’t have what so many of the rest of us take for granted including access to a basic education. I am privileged in that I received a good basic education that allowed me to go to the college of my choice and pursue a career (well careers) that interested me. But many children in the world don’t have that chance. The ability to read, write and do simple math is a gateway to so much more. And we have all heard the excuses as to why fundamental education is impossible for (insert group here) but those are only excuses. The ability to read opens doors to all kinds of possibilities. The ability to do math allows one to speak a universal language since 2+2=4 is true in any country on this planet and undersea as well.

So on this day let us consider Dr. King’s words but let us also find ways to let his dreams become our reality.

I am grateful to everyone who has worked for the rights of humanity.

Powered by Bookmarkify™

Category: Uncategorized | 1 Comment »
Tags: