No Strings Attached

Posted By Kathleen David on June 27, 2011

I have hit crunch time. I have less than two weeks to get ready for Shoreleave so my web logging may be spotty while I try to get through the mountain of stuff that had piled up on my plate. After that it is all DragonCon all the time.

If you have been reading this web log a while, you will notice some patterns to it including the Holy Frack it’s almost Shoreleave chant.

Why does my cat run sideways? It is the weirdest looking thing.

I am looking forward to Shoreleave. Make no mistake on that one.

Today I am planning on taking Caroline with me to the gym and then for some errands. She is game for it now but I hope she holds up.

I have three cats staring at me. I checked the food bowl and the water bowl this morning so I know it isn’t that.

Mets took 2 out of 3. Not too bad for a banged up team and they did it without homeruns but a lot of base on ball.

I am setting up a schedule for me so I don’t lose track of what I need to do. There will be variations to it but I have my basic day planned out.

The first chapter of Peter’s new book The Camelot Papers will be available today at the Crazy 8 website. Go read it and tell me what you think. And, if you can, spread the word. We want to get this in front of as many eyes as possible.

Now the cats are staring at each other.

Off to start the rest of the day. May your day be pleasant and fulfilling.

I am grateful for things that help me move my projects along.

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Posted By Kathleen David on June 26, 2011

According to Caroline, her summer vacation doesn’t official start until tomorrow. Her reasoning is that she would be home on the weekend anyway so until it is a day that she went to school (i.e. Monday), it isn’t summer vacation yet.

I learned something new. Did you know that your souped-up cable box may be costing you a pretty penny? Even more so for multi-boxes households? Maybe 10 dollars a month or possibly more (but maybe less). Apparently the American Cable box was not build for conservation but efficiency. Makes me aware that I should at least drop them to sleep mode when I am not using them.

Mets beat the Rangers. No, the Mets slapped the Rangers around. Sure the previous game was a Ranger win of 8 to 1 but this was a 14 to 5 game and the Mets just kept hitting. It was nice to see.

For you bowling fans, the various bowling ball manufactures sent in their best players for a tourney and ESPN is showing the results this weekend.

So if I am understanding this correctly, there will be no football or basketball for the foreseeable future? Let’s go Hockey, I guess.

I need to get some of the cats’ nails clipped by a professional. Stalin sounds like a small pony with all the clip clopping he is doing.

We have sunshine this morning for the first time in a while. Haven’t looked to see the temperatures for the day yet.

Random Kath is Random today.

Today is split between a couple of projects I am late on and restocking the larder. We have been living on float for a while but now we are out of bread products and most of our produce.

Need to figure out the next step in a project. Also I think I need some more time to get everything done but I don’t think that is going to happen.

I had another thought to put here but it wandered away.

At least the laundry is done.

I need to sit down and figure out DragonCon and Shoreleave. I think the DragonCon sheets are due soon for the Art show. Either way I have to get some stuff done.

I have made a pledge to myself, now let’s see if I can keep it.

Cars 2 was good. It focuses on Mater so if Larry the Cable Guy drives you nuts, not your film I am afraid. Michael Caine does do a splendid Aston Martin. The 3-D is used to good effect but I did get a little motion sick this time around. Caroline loved it.

Peter and I are trying to figure out how we are going to see the movies we want to see this summer since our babysitters are in Connecticut this summer.

I have a new scar on my hand that I can’t figure out where it came from. This puzzles me since I know where most of my permanent scars came from.

Caroline is reading through Scary Godmother. Dark Horse published all the individual black and white issues in one graphic novel. She is more than half way through and loving it. She says after that she is going to go reread Magic Trixie.

It just hit me that most of the X-men First Class soundtrack could be used for a Bond film with no really change. How cool would it be for Fassbender to be the next James Bond and McAvoy plays Q? I honestly could see that.

Thank you everyone for the help with the DragonCon Costume project. Peter gave me the perfect finishing touch for the whole thing that I now have to create out of whole cloth. Working on the mechanics now.

Ah Caroline is up and my coffee is ready. Best take on the day.

I am grateful for my memories.

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Posted By Kathleen David on June 25, 2011

For being sensible rather than reactionary. It is a rare thing to see in government any more which is sad.

Most of you know my stance on Gay Marriage. I was at George Takei and Brad Altman’s wedding as a witness to their vows which were so lovely and sincere. They had to wait long enough for their relationship to be able to drink (over 21 years together) before they could get the basic rights that most of us get when we sign a wedding license.

I am happy for all my friends who will be able to say this is my wife or my husband rather than my partner or lover or whatever term they used because they couldn’t get married. Or if they said husband or wife there was a tone of sadness because they couldn’t get married in their state with their families there.

I know this is only a step in the process because there are going to be legal challenges but right now I will take this and be happy for my friends.

I am grateful that this passed.

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Posted By Kathleen David on June 24, 2011

I have decided that for DragonCon I am going to make, for the first time in a long time, a hall costume. I am going to be a judge on the Friday Costume Call like I have been for a number of years now. That one is put on my dance card pretty early on by the convention and I am more than happy to do it.

In the past I usually wear whatever I am wearing that day which tends to run to jeans, a t-shirt, and a bowling shirt. I do tend to bring a puppet with me. My fellow judges spilt between wearing things that they created and street clothes.

So this year I am going to go off the deep end and recreate a costume for DragonCon and, if I work it right, to be used as a jacket in the fall and winter. Even if that doesn’t pan out, I plan to make it for more than one convention.

So that’s where I am coming from.

What have I decided to do?

An X-men first class uniform

(For the VI: There are 5 people standing in an airplane hanger in front of a jet engine. They are all wearing yellow and blue uniforms but each is a little different. From left to right we have Professor Xavier (played by James McAvoy), Sean Cassidy aka Banshee (played by Caleb Landry Jones), Alex Summers aka Havok (played by Lucas Till), Erik Lensherr aka Magneto (played by Michael Fassbender), and Raven aka Mystique (played by Jennifer Lawrence). Raven skin is blue and she has red hair.)

So Dear Reader here is where I need your help.

I have pretty much figured out and bought the cloth for the coat and a chuck of the pants. The rest of the cloth I can fake my way through.

I need help with two things.

1) Patterns. I am going to do this as a two piece rather than a one piece jumpsuit but I need to find some patterns to give me the clues I need to recreate this. I am thinking Motorcycle jackets or racing jackets and pants for the basic pattern. Whatever I find, I am going to have to Frankenpattern the heck out of it.

2) The hardware on the harness and the jacket itself. I need to find the buckles and the clips somewhere for not a ton of money. I don’t think I can build these out of another material and make it look like I want. So any help you can give me in identifying what the hardware is and wear to find it would be very very helpful.

I am going to put some of my research photos behind the cut.

I plan to blog the whole process on this one if I can find the parts.

I am very grateful for any help I can get in this project.
(more…)

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Posted By Kathleen David on June 23, 2011

Yesterday was a busy one. I went back into the city to meet up with my BBF Mary Aileen (we use to say oldest but that got a little scary after we hit 40 years of being friends) and we went to various fabric stores in the Fashion district. I got to show her the places that I like. And we did a lot of looking at fabric with a little buying. More on that tomorrow because I am going to need your help dear reader to complete an outfit.

After that I went to the New York Public Library and chilled for a bit before heading out for CitiField. I took the 7 local and got to sit the whole time out there. I arrived during batting practice. Now the seats we had were very nice and they should be since they are Joe Quesada’s regular seats. They also were attached to one of the clubs so we had access to a bathroom that only a fix number of people had access to and there were more boys than girls in that section.

We had a rain delay so we waiting it out in the club. Caroline made some new friends with some of the kids and they played until we were informed that the game would be starting at 8:15. We dried off out seats and sat down for the game. And we almost had it at 10:30 but one runner around and we were tied yet again. Thanks a lot K-Rod.

So we went into the 10th and then the 11th. The clock was ticking. We thought about bagging it about 11:30 but Caroline was having so much fun cheering for the Mets and she wanted to find out what was going to happen. Finally in the 13th the A’s pitcher plunked Turner after intentionally walking Reyes and we got a walk off run in. 12:30 game over and we won. 4 hour game. And it was worth it to stay until the end of it.

We got home after some delays before 2:00AM. Caroline fell asleep in the car shortly after getting in. But I will give her credit. She got up at 8:00AM and get ready for school. I foresee her taking a nap this afternoon but that’s fine it is a half day at school.

So had a really good day. Feeling a little sleep deprived but not crazy sleep deprived. Going to try to get something done today. Just don’t know what.

I am grateful that we stayed for the whole game rather than listening to it on the radio on our way home.

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