No Strings Attached

Posted By Kathleen David on June 8, 2017

It has been spring-like this week and I am fine with that. It has been so crisp that a light jacket or hoodie has been needed in the early morning or evening. I am enjoy it now because I know that soon enough we are going to be in the heat.

Yesterday I got my mother’s day present installed. After our storm door disintegrated on us during a Nor’eastern, we knew we had to replace it. It protects the front door and allows us to have air circulating without having to worry about the cats escaping. Now we have a shiny new storm door that latches perfectly and is tightly sealed so that the bugs can’t get in.

We needed to renovate our bathroom so we got a contractor and started the job only to find that we had a lot more damage to the room that we knew due to the previous contractor who cut so many corners and left us with so many potential disasters, I am surprised we made it this far without a serious issue. So that went to 3X the cost of the first estimate.

Peter has set up his patreon account. You can find it here. Feel free to join and pass it around. This is the account we created so we wouldn’t have to deal with tax issues any more.

We were informed that we needed to be at the student awards ceremony since Caroline will be receiving an award or two this evening. So proud of her. We know she is in the top 1% of her class in grade point average.

I am going to be, for the first time in a while, wearing a costume at conventions. I have most of it put together with the critical pieces already here or in the mail. It all started when I decided to get my hair cut and go back to whatever my natural color was at this point. It was sunny so I was wearing my Ray Ban sunglasses on my walk home and I happen to look in a window on my way home and saw that it would be very easy for me to dress up as the current Doctor in Dr. Who. We have taken to calling this hair cut ‘the accidental Capaldi’. I have the shoes, coat, sunglasses, and ring in hand. Sonic is on its way thanks to a friend. I think I have the shirt and pants in my closet and I am hoping that they fit. I know if nothing else I have the hoodie and black t-shirt that will work.

Part of the hoping to fit on the pants is that I have been able to hit the gym with regularity and am getting results that I want. I have upped my gym time by another day and am getting my routine in along with other exercises to keep my body guessing. So far nothing pulled but that good muscle ache that tells you that you have really worked out. According to folks who don’t see me that often, I have slimmed down waist and beefed up my arms, which is what I wanted to do. Also going to the gym helps my mental state a lot. Now I have to work on getting my food back into the excellent category rather than the OK range. More fruit less processed foods. Less salt and sugar. I know what I need to do. I just have to do it.

Today I am using the dumpster we had to rent to get rid of the interior of the bathroom to get rid of stuff that has been piling up in the garage that we have needed to dump for some time. Big o’ clean up to get us in a better place for the rest of the year. That and the last of the laundry are my big plans for the day.

I am grateful for Caroline’s achievements.

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Posted By Kathleen David on June 7, 2017

I was at the Phoenix Comic Con when the police arrested Mathew Sterling for threats, unlawful carry, and possession of illegal weapons. He claimed that he believed he was an incarnation of the Punisher and was there to kill one of the guests. Before he was arrested, the story was a little different and very scary for one young woman who was being stalked by this individual. Someone in California saw what was going on through Facebook and alerted the local police. The police managed to arrest the suspect before he could do any harm. He was trying for suicide by cop. I didn’t know anything about what was going on until a friend texted me to find out if we were OK.

Because of that, there was a no weapons policy for the convention instituted including any prop versions of weapons. This was the policy put in place so the convention could stay open for the next three days.

This made for very long lines to get in Friday. By Saturday they had gotten the check down to something reasonable.

The Internet blew up in certain sections as people cried out about the unfairness to take their ‘right’ to carry fake weapons as part of their costume.

Phoenix ComicCon offered refunds for those who did not care to attend. They did ask for understanding that this would happen AFTER the convention because they were in the middle of it when this did happen.

The blanket ban seems absurd but it was the easiest way to allow the convention to be held. Imagine the lines if every person who wanted to bring in a prop weapon had to defend why their prop is NOT a weapon. Security would have been nickled and dimed to death for ‘why light saber handles but not full light sabers’? Why proton packs with the ‘gun’ but not Holtzman’s small pistols? And on and on until no one could get into the place. I have been in that situation at a convention on the security side of the fence and it is a royal PITA.

People’s costumes were still recognizable. Maybe a few that are very prop heavy got lost in translation but nothing I saw. Even the anime characters were recognizable if you knew the anime.

Sure the plethora of Negins didn’t have their barbwire baseball bat, but I still knew the character. And it was nice NOT having to bob and weave around those baseball bats for a change. I have been clobbered more than once by someone turning to fast with one of those up on their shoulder. Always gotten an apology too. I didn’t have to avoid oversized mallets that are the choice weapon of Harley. The ability to get through the throng quickly became easier because I was not ducking or avoiding oversized props.

Because of what happened in Phoenix, conventions are going to have to change their weapons policy before we do have an incident within the convention itself. The Alamo City Comic Con banned duffle bags, large backpacks, and oversized tote bags and I don’t think they will be the only ones to do so.

I don’t think that the prop weapons should be banned but I do think that some common sense on everybody’s part will go a long way to solving this issue.

Now for something else I witnessed at the convention. Furries seem to get a lot of flack for various reasons most of which have nothing to do with a majority of people who like to wear animal costumes. There was a toddler who was not having a good day or rather was done with it all. The tantrum was epic. But when he saw someone in a realistic fox mask (like those made by Clockwork creatures), he just stopped and stared. The Fox noticed the boy and got down to his level. The Fox allowed the boy to pet him and talked to him quietly as the boy calmed down to the point that the kid fell asleep in their stroller. The parents were grateful. All those around who had been listening to the howls were grateful. The Fox tipped their hat and went on their merry way with some friends their good deed done and we all appreciated it.

I am grateful for people who were sensible in this whole matter and that Fox for taking the time to take care of a child.

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Posted By Kathleen David on June 6, 2017

Caroline and I have been talking about her using my sewing machine for a while now.

She has been hand sewing for a while and made some really cute stuffed animals for her friends and cousins. But that is rather time consuming and she couldn’t do some of her projects which needed a machine stitch.

Sunday she sat down and with a little coaching, she put together her first project. She made a pouch to put the pieces of her baby blanket.

A little more practice and she will be able to make anything that she wants. She is already planning out about half a dozen costumes and some school clothes she wants to make.

I am so proud of her.

Caroline conquers the sewing machine

(For the VI: This is Caroline sitting at my sewing machine with purple cloth feeding it through. Her brown hair is back and she is wearing a brown shirt.)

The Finished Product

(For the VI: Caroline holding up the rectangular purple bag.)

I am grateful for Caroline’s boundless creative energy.

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Posted By Kathleen David on June 5, 2017

I am talking about the past three episodes of Doctor Who being “Extremis”, “The Pyramid at the end of the world” and “The Lie of the Land” since they are really one story told over three weeks.

Now it is going to be very hard to not spoil things if you haven’t seen these episodes or have only seen the first because they do tie into each other so tightly. And if you haven’t seen Oxygen, then close this window and don’t come back until you are all caught up please. I really want this to unfold for you the way it unfolded for me.

Over all this season is making me even sadder that this is Capaldi’s last hurrah as the Doctor. Now I come to find out that Michelle Gomez is bowing out as Missy, which pains me to my core especially with the banter in “the Lie of the Land.” Pearl Mackie just keeps impressing me more each week. She can do so much with so little and has put Bill among my favorite companions. It is really going to suck if she leaves as well. I am figuring that Nardole is this season only. Matt Lucas has brought so much to the table and every off hand comment makes me so want to know more about Nardole who has gone from comic relief to interstellar bad-ášš in 10 episodes (the 8 we have seen and the two Christmas episodes.)

The new threat to the human race is the Monks, which have a weird set of rules that they follow. I have to give Moffat credit for creating an alien race that wants to conquer Earth in a different method than any other alien race has done so far. In many ways it was even scarier than the usual war-like invasion especially with the current political situation here in the US.

This is probably one of the best cautionary tales of social media and gaming I have seen so far. I am never going to be able to play a first person shooter the same way again much less Mario Cart.

(more…)

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Posted By Kathleen David on May 31, 2017

We are home now.

That was a week’s worth of highs and lows.

I want to say a couple of things about Phoenix ComicCon before getting into other things.

Matt and his crew throw an amazing convention. We were well taken care of from the time we got there until we left. They handled our issues along with a lot of other issues as well as they could given the circumstances. I would highly recommend this convention not only for the crew but the fans as well who are enthusiastic and warm.

Shout out to the hotel staff at the Hyatt who managed to keep things moving, especially the elevators, forward. Yes it was a bit of a pain at peak times to get to one’s room but we all made it and a short wait for safety and no broken elevators was worth it.

Shout out to the staff at the convention center along with the security staff who were given an impossible situation where not everyone was going to be happy and managed to improve on it between Friday and Saturday so that things went back to moving along much smoother.

Shout out to the fans also who dealt with things with a sense of humor rather than get mad at the convention that they could not bring in their props. I do understand that a lot of work went into them and you wanted to show them off, but considering what happened I hope that you can see why they did what they did.

Now for those of you are reading and wondering what the heck I am talking about. Here’s what happened at the convention on Thursday from the local paper the Arizona Republic. Short version was that someone got in with a bunch of loaded weapons and threatened to shoot police and an actor who was attending. He talk about it on social media (facebook) and someone called the local police to inform them what was going on just in case it was serious which is was. So thank you to the individual to stepped forward and said something because they saw something.

What is not being said in the paper because he is now claiming he was there to kill Jason David Franks (Green Power Ranger) as his motivation is that his original reasons for being there are even a little more scary than that. He was stalking someone who was at the convention. He texted/message her that if she didn’t go out with him/spend time with him, people were going to pay. This behavior on his part had apparently been going on for a while. He had come to the convention because she was going to be there. The person who reported him was friends with the young lady who was being stalked and they were concerned at the escalation of the threats both at the police, the convention and this young woman.

We had that clouding the convention. The convention offered refunds if people didn’t want to come because of what happened. Some fans got bent out of shape because they couldn’t bring their cosplay weapons and went to the Internet to cry how unfair all this was. I think that the convention did the best they could under the circumstances and did a blanket policy that would ensure the safety of the staff, guests, and attendees. I will say it was easier to walk through the convention without having to worry about being smacked in the face with an oversized prop or baseball bat wrapped in barbed wire.

Peter had to leave the convention on Sunday due to his mother passing away. Caroline and I stayed to greet fans and pass out his autograph. We joined him in Connecticut the next day and spent time with our family up there. We returned yesterday evening and now are working out the next thing on our plate.

I would like to thank everyone for their kind words and sympathy. It really does mean a lot to us.

I promise to talk about our more positive adventures from the convention tomorrow. Today I have to get the bathroom ready for the contractors who are coming to repair a number of issues with it including the fact that the tub is cracked.

I am grateful for family.

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