No Strings Attached

Posted By Kathleen David on October 21, 2013

And I don’t mean the language learning system but some brain fuzz in the way of clear thinking. I am writing this after a cup and a half of coffee.

It amazes me how football fans find ways to salvaging their season and explaining that even if their team has a really bad record, they can turn it around and get into the playoffs, run the table and win the Superbowl. The more weeks that are played the machinations of how their team will make it get more convoluted. Funny how the Giants fans are placing their entire season on tonight’s game. But if you run the numbers, that is the only way that this season can be salvaged. The Jets are doing OK. The Falcons are really not getting it done. Da Bears have to get it together since their division is wide open for a team that starts winning.

Today is a combination of things that need to get done and a couple of things need to get started. This week is all about Caroline’s Halloween costume and getting that done in the best possible ways. Starting with the pattern which I plan to finish up today.

I liked Once Upon a Time last night to a point. The point where it lost me was in the third act when Neal turns on Gold after Pan works his mental games with Neal. Gold was honest with Neal but Neal wasn’t listening. It was clumsy. And considering how Neal feels about Pan and the things that happened with him and his dad the previous season, it really didn’t ring true for where they left the characters. The actors did the best that they could with the material but if the material isn’t there, then it just doesn’t work. And the puzzling thing is that both writers are working on the series and have written some good episodes. I get the feeling that things were written into a corner and they had to pull the old soap opera stunt to keep the story going.

We watched Reign. Overall it is historical garb fluff. The thing that made us question if we were going to watch another episode is all the bloody music through out the thing trying to set the tone for the scene. Let your actors do what they need to do or get better actors. And there are some good young actors stuck amongst the music.

Well off to deal with the next thing that needs to be dealt with. Hope everyone has a very pleasant day. The weather here is really nice and makes me want to do stuff outside.

I am grateful for having learned how to dissect a script.

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Posted By Kathleen David on October 19, 2013

Right now the plan is that today we are going to do things around the house that needs to get done and work on her costume. Tomorrow we are off to the Bronx Zoo for the Boo at the Zoo activities and to see the animals and the puppet show.

Peter has a novel he is working on that he is in the groove with so it is going to be a Mommy/daughter weekend. It isn’t like he is vanishing but he won’t be participating in most of the activities.

Peter and I saw the movie Carrie yesterday. It was an experience. If you know what is going to happen because you read the novel or saw the De Palma film, it just raises the level of terror because you know the path that this film is going down. I thought this one was much closer to the book. It is set in this time so there are ways of bullying that didn’t exist when the book came out. I found the motivations of various characters are much clearer here. Good acting all the way around. Scary film. Interestingly enough the R is for language and violence more than sextual situations and nudity. There was no nipplage in the whole thing. No exposed dirty pillows. Which was nice because a lot of these types of films have gratuitous full frontal nudity. So if you like a solid horror flick, this is one of them.

Cat boxes don’t take as long when you have fewer cats. I miss my kitties but not missing the mess. Millie has taken Stalin’s place as my hip cat (he sleeps next to my hip on the couch.)

Once upon a time in Wonderland is probably going down a rabbit hole never to be seen again. What did they expect since they put it head to head with the Big Bang Theory which is the same group of people that would watch it. If it does go, it will make me a little sad. I was enjoying the wind up of the story and the villains were starting to interest me. You can’t say that the creators of Once upon a Time are a one trick pony since they created LOST. I think this is just a case of getting screwed with the time slot. I have also heard rumors that this is it for the Good Wife too. Which is a crying shame since it is not the show but the sliding time slot that CBS put it in. If the DVR is set or you plan to watch it at 9 pm on Sunday, you are disappointed with an overrun from the Amazing Race because of other things that run long. At least nothing was cancelled half way through airing of the show.

I had the weirdest dream last night. I remember bits and pieces but I woke up thinking, “The only way I am going to get my backpack back is to sing with the Doctor and the Muppets.” I have no idea where that one was going.

This week there have been two papers on the subject of sleep and how the brain gets rid of toxins while sleeping. They are tying this into different brain disorders that seem to occur when the brain is not being detoxified. In some ways that makes a lot of sense.

OK next on the list Laundry before we are overwhelmed by dirty socks.

I am grateful for Caroline’s help with the decorations.

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Posted By Kathleen David on October 18, 2013

And that is how my brain is working this morning. Not very creative.

There are mornings that I think my brain is just barely on. Enough that I can do basic things like breath and make coffee. The way that I know my brain has woken up a bit is that I can do Sudoku without feeling like every number is a fight in my brain. Once I get the spatial relations working the rest of the brain snaps back into place and I am pretty much back to me.

This morning I made sure that I did things in a certain order so that I won’t forget something in the morning routine. Caroline’s lunch gets made after I give her breakfast and the lunch goes into her bookbag. I then double check with Caroline to make sure that she has packed everything she needs for that day in school and I have signed all the things that I need to sign.

Next I will put together my gym bag and make sure that I have everything I need. After depositing Caroline on the school bus, I plan to get to the gym a little earlier than usual since Peter and I want to go see the new version of Carrie and that is not Caroline friendly at all.

If I can get the brain to engage all the way, then I plan to start on Caroline’s Halloween costume. I need to get some more EL wire and figure out a little more how I am going to do the heart itself. We sorted out the pattern and got the fabric last week.

I am grateful for brains that fire on all cylinders.

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Posted By Kathleen David on October 17, 2013

The weather is cloudy but it doesn’t look like rain really. I won’t be surprised if it does rain for at least a little while today.

So the government is open until next year. Best of luck to all my friends who work for various government agencies both as employees and contractors. I hope those who were recalled early get paid for the time that they were working. It sucks that we have a whole bunch of people who had to use their leave to fill in their time card to keep money moving in their direction.

Figgy got into it with an outdoor cat. I had never heard such sounds from her. She wasn’t in defensive mode and she is fixed so she is not in heat. However that cat got her riled up. It is a black cat with a round white patch that is as big as a name tag. I think it has a home in the area because I have seen it (him is our guess) hanging around the house.

Kung Fu can be frustrating for me at time. I am not the most coordinated person on the planet. I am hopeless at first person shooters or video games that you have to time things out. Puppets is the only place I am coordinated because I just do. We were doing a stick exercise and I discovered that I can only do it if I am not thinking about it. That old Zen do without doing, think without thinking. Peter can get into the zone and pound it out. I am working to get to that point. It takes me forever to get a form down and make it look effortless but I am not giving up.

We had an influx of new folks at the gym. They redid the cardio machines and did a good job of telling people. So getting a machine is more of a challenge than it use to be. My gym time is my me time for the day. I turn off the phone and forget the clock for a while. It takes however long it takes for me to do my routine. It has been a little more difficult to do it in the order I like but I have figured out what I need to do.

The NFL is thinking about two games on Thursday. Not a good idea. Not too happy about one game on Thursday. They are trying to squeeze every dime they can out of their fan base. The number of players hurt increases with each game. Also with the new helmet rules in place, the knee injuries are on the rise.

The MLB playoffs are going on. I have no dog in the hunt. I think MLB wants a Dodgers vs. BoSox match since that is both coasts and teams that have followings outside their markets. Personally I think it is going to be Cardinals vs. the Red Sox although if it is Cardinals vs. Tigers, I won’t be unhappy. I honestly don’t know if we will be watching the series.

Caroline is quite proud of her credit at the end of Skylanders Swap Force. She said she can remember when the figures were just chips. She went up to Activision to play test another Skylander’s game (one of the app games) and she did such a good job, the Swap Force programmers asked if she could test some new levels that they created. She had a blast doing so. Mind you this was before Giants released.

She did well at NYCC. She sold a lot of drawings and had fun talking to people that she has known for most of her life. There are some people who buy a drawing from her every year.

Today is a restock the larder, visit the gym, and put away the stuff we pulled out for NYCC. Let’s see how far we get.

I am grateful for comfortable weather.

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Posted By Kathleen David on October 16, 2013

A couple of things that have come up on the web about cosplay and cosplayers. (I am desperately trying to not hyphenate cosplay since I have been informed that there is no hyphen but it is a little hard since my word processing program thinks cosplayer is wrong and cos-player is right).

One happened in front of me although I didn’t know at the time. At NYCC there was a group of men who were going around and “interviewing” cosplayers. They were asking questions that were not appropriate to begin with and, while they did ask permission to touch, they asked in the rudest manner and in some cases didn’t take no as an answer. People reported them to the convention more than once. There didn’t seem to be much being done until it came to light that they faked their press credentials and then they were out on their butts and banned from any Reed show. So points to Reed for not just brushing this off as fans will be fans.

There is a movement on the Internet and at cons that are trying to get the message that costume does not equal consent. There is also the back off movement to allow women and girls feel comfortable at conventions wearing what they want as the guys do. Although I do have male friends who look good in spandex who have had their butts pinched and their package fondled without their consent so don’t think this is a one gender issue. And we can’t say that it is outsiders who are doing these sorts of inappropriate behavior since the last couple of times it has been in a controlled environment so no one was there that didn’t apply to be there.

Another fan behavior that I am not loving is the “why are you cosplaying that, it is not your body type” comments. I don’t think doesn’t happen to men, but I do think this happens more to women than men. I heard some comments in passing from people at NYCC, which weren’t very nice. “She is not as hot a cat girl as that other chick I saw was.” “Maybe if she lay off the donuts, she would look better in her costume.” “I like my Wonder Woman with a rack on her.” Yes, we can hear you talking to your buds and playing who’s is bigger. I can’t stop anyone from having opinions but think before you talk people. Would you say this if your mother were standing next to you?

And cosplayers, I am not expecting a united front. Heck, I know there is sniping going on just having been on that side of the costume. One of the biggest flame wars I got in the middle of had to do with two groups of costumers who had been competing against each other for years. Once group had a few more wins under their belt but skill wise both groups were pretty much even. But you might have each other’s backs at these things. I swear some of the worse comments I heard about others came from cosplayers. Especially the shaming comments.

I also saw a lot of cosplayers talking to each other and making new friends. I saw people in costumes getting compliments from fans and positive feedback. I did see good things going on so it was not all bad.

I don’t really wear costumes anymore. It is a rare occasion that I do. Part of that is when I moved from fan to professional, I knew that I was a professional therefore some of my previous fannish activities got put by the wayside. Not with any regrets on my part. I have enjoyed my professional career very much thank you. I appreciate those who do and the artisanship that goes into these costumes.

I hope that the actions that Reed Expo took will help. I hope that other conventions especially the big ones take note and take action when they come across this sort of behavior that makes others uncomfortable. I really wish we could allow people to cosplay what they want to cosplay without making them feel as if they aren’t worthy of the character they want to emulate because of some unwritten rule that they aren’t the right “type” for the character.

Let’s go out there and have FUN again.

I am grateful for both the costumers and the fans that give positive feedback to each other.

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