The Geek's Meow

So for my upcoming Cosplay I had to come up with something that resembles the hat Bombshells Catwoman wears.

Materials: Felt, craft foam (with sticky back), glue, scissors, pillbox hat, feathers (pre-beaded)

We started with a plain pillbox hat, and a sheet of felt. Cutting two corners off the felt to create “cat ears” – I forgot to round the tips at this stage, which would make things tricky later.

The foam had a sticky side, so I was able to apply the felt directly to the foam without having to glue it myself. This was great, because all I had to do was trim the sticky foam around the felt. This was terrible, because sticky sticks to scissors. The foam made the felt stable enough to stand up, but because it was thin it was still flexible enough to curve around the brim of the hat.

I was quite happy with the result, and how well they stayed in place as I tested the placement situation. This is when my helper got involved:

Eventually “helper” Pixie got exiled from the room.

A little glue to fix my ears in place. This was also a time to cover the glue-spot from the removal of the net veil (the hat came with a very fine veil, but it’s placement would not have allowed for the ears) with a black paint marker. The color is still slightly off under the light of the flash, but it was the best we had. Letting the glue set for two hours made the left ear totally attached. I discovered, though, while adding feathers to the right side that it wasn’t fixed as nicely. Oops.

The feather arc was too wide and spread out too thinly, so I decided to fold it in half and double up the thickness – making it more of a tuft in theory. This only worked a little. The full feather spread looked absurd, though:

As compared to:

I still think it’s too wide and not bundled enough, but I decided post-gluing, so this is what I have.

This is with the extra glue to re-attach the ear to the hat – this time after 2 hours of setting it held much better.  I was too conservative with glue apparently to start. The folded feather set, even glued, did not stay together well until I stuck it together with a bobby pin to hold it until the glue set.  Victory!

After the glue dried, I used the lint brush to remove some of my “helper’s” evidence of help. Yes, it’s a cat-hat, but she’s white and the hat is not.  She thought the feathers made it a toy for her, so she kept leaping at it. Next step was to let it set for 24+ hours to ensure the glue was really-really set. Okay, so I’m paranoid (and it was in the glue instructions).

This is when I realized that I failed to round the ears… big oops! So after the 24 hour set, me and a pair of full sized scissors (I should have used my curved nail scissors – I only realized that just now, in fact) carefully shaped the left ear successfully. My lovely spouse said I should “dock” the left ear so that everyone could know I was fixed – that was about the extent of his help. Laughing while cutting is not a good combo, but I did it.

I trimmed the right ear, and it’s not an exact match, but close enough. Then added the pin (harder than I thought as the cheap pin kept trying to bend until I sent it up through the felt of the hat, in and out, instead of all the way inside the felt and back out the full thickness). It went a bit further forward than I wanted, but I didn’t want to risk bending the pin via another pass, so it was acceptable. I’d considered gluing it in place, to prevent mishaps, but because my my placement concerns I didn’t want to commit that hard.

And then, it was done!

You can get something fast, quality, or cheap – pick two.

Okay, what I’m really referring to is listening to a live stream (Critical Role, in particular tonight), drinking wine, and writing. Pick two.

I was trying to write some RPG stuff as Critical Role spun up tonight, glass of wine to enjoy at my elbow after a month of sobriety. Every few words my train of thought would jump the track, starting to record the dialogue of the evening instead of my character’s thoughts. Or her word choices suddenly take on another character’s accent unexpectedly, the word pattern shifting away from the carefully selected ditziness. Alas.

So it appears I can drink and watch the stream happily, I have drunk and written in the past quite easily, and if my brain were not lightly buzzed I feel my concentration could separate the stream from my stream of thoughts. But all three together, not an option.

Since I’m already two glasses in, and I really enjoy watching the stream live, my writing has to be put aside for the evening.

Once upon a time, at the last software company I worked for, there was a process for employee termination. HR and your manager would summon you to a meeting room, and on the table would be a Red Folder.

When you saw HR walk into a room with a Red Folder you found yourself watching carefully to see which manager walked in as well, followed by our secret spying on who was called in, so that we could predict the email notice of their departure. Much gossip would abound when a Red Folder hit the floor – who was it, what did they do, was it only one? Eventually HR realized their process was not as secret as they intended, and they switched to plain manila folders, not much of a stealthy change but at least it didn’t scream danger like a Scarlet Letter-holder.

If HR walked into a meeting room and your manager asked to speak with you, your heart skipped a beat. At least, mine did – but I have always been jumpy when summoned by my manager, even if the news was probably good, like compensation adjustment time or a chance at a promotion. It became a joke in my department that I would ask what I had done as soon as I was called into a manager’s office, as I braced myself for the worst.

At my current company we are having our compensation conversations, a nice normal time of year, so I was highly appreciative that the subject of my meeting with my manager and the head of our team was clearly stated in the invite. Why? Because I walked in to see a Red Folder with my name on it!

Luckily the head of our team was an old school member of my previous company as well, so he double checked before I walked in that I had been clearly informed of the purpose of our meeting. We had a good chuckle about the history of the Red Folder, in fact.

What he didn’t know was my nightmare last night. I dreamt that my company had done a massive round of layoffs, with everything laid out as clearly as my last company, and as we started the process they reorganized and declared that nevermind – no layoffs were taking place and we were back to our previous roles. Within a week of that rescinded order, we were laid off again, with significantly less clarity and order. With the specter of that dream haunting my sleepy day today, that Red Folder gave me a moment of startled reflection before I reminded myself of the positive purpose of the meeting, clearly laid out in the invite.

Maybe going forward I can make better associations with the wretched Red Folder?

A couple years ago a group of friends set out on their yearly expedition to construct an encounter at Burning Man, entitled ‘The Last Apothecary’ – a space outpost with all the traces of humanity that entails.  While I have never been to the burn I wanted to contribute in my way, so when word came down that they were doing a storytime night, and needed space related poems, I put pen to paper – figuratively.  The results were the following three, of greatly varied quality…

Terra Farewell

I took the second star to the right,
I went straight until morning
The universe swallowed me up.

The sky has a thirst unquenchable,
It will drink from you all you have
And then take one last sup.

The Dipper promised me much,
And in the end that vow was broken
I am left with an empty cup.

A Terrible Space Limerick

I met a fine man down from Mars
He hung out in all the best bars
But when he would drink
You can’t imagine the stink
They’d smell it out into the stars

The Spaceman’s Grave

A meteor flashed against the sky
Sweet final song of a dying world
I never thought to wonder why
A last toll should be procured
From those who boldly ventured out
With no thought of harm to self
Never a concern or doubt
When leaping off that final shelf
Into the mysteries that lay far flung
Masked in blackness of the night
To be snuffed out at a time so young
And then to be but this scar of light
The end marked only by this brief wave
And into finally the spaceman’s grave

Not the full day at the DMV, just the morning, really. But today was government purgatory for me to help address a moderately confusing legal issue regarding a very old (15 years old) moving violation.

So I tried to make an appointment, like a smart person. However the website continued to give errors that the appointment system was down and I would need to arrive in person to wait in line. I looked at the expiration date of my license in all this and realized I was going to need a new picture so I might try to take out two birds with one stone today!

DMV opened at 8 am, I was dragging my heels and arrived at 8:20 am. And then I got to stand outside in the rather breezy morning, being grateful for my hoodie and my Kindle. 9 am rolls around and I’m still in the first line, but almost to an indoor space. I take my 9 am pill dry – if only I had planned ahead and brought water. After about an hour in line I am able to get to the counter and lay out my requests, but I am properly prepared with a completed form for my main issue. Unfortunately my plan of multi-tasking is thwarted, since it is too early to renew without taking a written exam. Alas, my eyeliner game has been wasted.

I get my number, find a seat in front of the monitor, and wait. Not long after I sat, a man and woman sit next to me, something that was totally expected and acceptable. But when the next number is called out by the automated voice the man asks “What’s our number?” Then a few minutes later another number is called and he asks his companion “What’s our number?” Yes, every time that cheerful automated voice announced something like “B-27!” he would answer with his eternal question, and every time he would receive the same response of “34.” While I did find it odd that she never gave the letter, I will forever remember that their number was 34.

E-book, smart phone, staring into space, all in their turn as I wait patiently for my time in the same white plastic seats that have been bolted in place since the 70’s to come to an end. My chair, likely older than me. The clock ticked by slowly, I tried to resist staring at it and failed. More than once I would hear a number called over and over, while the window remained empty, so I made a solemn promise to myself that as soon as my number was up I would me out of my chair and on the way to my window as quickly as possible. Sure enough, I recognized the number before me, so I closed the book, slid the phone into my purse, and straightened my paperwork in my hands, I was ready!

At the window I was smiles and laughter, so the woman I was working with responded in kind – while my issue turned out a little odd I hope I was a bright spot in her day as I rolled with the punches. The answer was not what I expected, but was indeed good news for me, so I happily paid the $5 for my record and raced home to resolved my legal woes.

Shaking off that burden was a relief! I’m so elated to have that cloud of possible large debt cleared away, and to be out of DMV purgatory. Though it does mean I will be back there, with an appointment, later this year. Can’t win them all.

I watch a show online called ‘Critical Role’ – where a group of nerdy ass voice actors sit around and play Dungeons and Dragons. Seriously, aside from having some of my friends on the show, it’s right up my alley anyway! I’ve talked about it before, but I know it’s not everyone’s cup of tea so I wanted to touch bases again on what I’m babbling about today.

Recently the group started a new campaign, and I have been able to finally watch the show live, which is exciting. One of my favorite characters so far has been Jester, the Tiefling Cleric dedicated to a god known as ‘The Traveler’ who is a trickster deity. But the more I watch Jester, the more slightly weirded out I get…

You see, I have a Tiefling Warlock with an Archfey patron, Maeve. The character I play is slightly childish, a little naive. Her voice is soft and a little high. She writes to her patron of her adventures in her magical tome as trade for her learnings, and relies heavily on the influence of her ‘Mama’ to guide her through. Maeve is silly and has trouble explaining things, but it strangely charming for it. It is likely her patron is manipulating her as a tool for his revenge on the world.

Jester is a slightly childish, and plays at being a little naive. Her voice is soft and a little high, with a rich Eastern European accent. She draws cartoons to her deity as a form of prayer as trade for her learnings, and recently wrote a letter to her Mom asking for more money to get her through. Jester is silly and has trouble explaining things, but the audience, at least, finds her strangely charming for it. Her deity has manipulated her in a clever way during the game when she tried to cast more spells than she had slots.

Magic users (though one arcane and the other holy), Tieflings, sweet and trusting, being played a bit by those they rely on for their power, recording their adventures and observations for those powerful beings, with a child-like sense of wonder and voice, and a clear relationship tying them back to their maternal figure. Coincidence? Absolutely! Weird? Also, absolutely!

Maeve was developed and in play before this campaign of Critical Role began, so there is no way that Jester could have influenced Maeve’s creation or development. The actress the plays Jester is not someone I know on the crew, so of course there is no way Maeve could have weighed in on Jester, especially since the character originally appeared in a one-shot some time ago that I was unaware of, which means technically Jester came first. But now I worry – since I’ve drawn parallels between these two, will Jester now influence my growth of Maeve?

WARNING: D&D and Tabletop RPG jargon ahead!

I’m part of a tabletop RPG campaign that has been running over 13 years – it’s a great group of people and we each run three characters so we can pick the party that works best with who can show for any given session.  These guys are practically family at this point, and we get together just about every other Sunday to immerse ourselves in the Iron Kingdoms universe (https://privateerpress.com/iron-kingdoms – it’s the RPG world for the WarMachine miniatures game) and have a great time.

Recently all three parties were about to engage in MAJOR combat – like… life or death, we’re all fucked, “This is how we die, boys” combat.  Then one of our main players was assigned overseas for a few months!  We found ourselves playing other campaigns, because there was just no reasonable way to continue until he returned to us.  Finally 2018 rolls around and just about everyone shows!

This is exciting, so we all take a deep breath and dive into the scariest of the combat situations while we can.  Ultimately my character is the star focus of this one – it was a trap laid for him – and the dice were on our side that night.  We’re demolishing the enemy, my character comes to grips with a major issue he’s been dealing with and resolves it (he happened to be possessed by a dark goddess and was transformed into her Avatar for quite a long time at this point… super awkward transformation for a teenage boy now wearing the body of a very sexy woman).  Just before my character permanently became an NPC and no longer playable due to her ascension onto the mortal plane he finds what he needs to do to stop the process and turn the tide on the pair of gods trying to manifest.  Alright, this is totally going to Flynn’s head in the long run, but for now he’s just glad to be himself – physically and mentally, again.

And in that moment, with the things he had to invoke, the changes he’s been through, he’s suddenly made some very deep realizations.  Including the fact that “the long run” is something he never thought much about, but when he does look back he sees that his girlfriend has been the one to support him enough that he was able to regain himself, and in the future he wants her to continue to be there – he’s not used to anyone wanting to be there for him since his adoptive father died.  Bolt of lightning, moment of clarity stuff.  Now he’s got some serious plans to enact, especially given that he is at heart a street urchin and she’s the illegitimate, but still noble, daughter of the King of Ord.

Whew, heavy stuff.  Next game, we have almost the whole crew again, yes!  So let’s take on another of these massive combats, and we’re going south where my Gunbunny-Khadoran (think Russian Empire/USSR power and you’ll have an idea of Khador) is part of what was supposed to be a stealth rescue mission.  Until one of her compatriots overstepped and decided to impersonate a god, publicly call out a personage of the church, and generally paint a large target on our group.  Now we have to destroy a Warjack (semi-intelligent steam-powered magical giant robots), rescue the engineers that were kidnapped, complete an assassination, recover the plans we were searching for, and not to forget… just survive!  Sure enough, the dice weren’t as clearly on our side, but with some risks, some cautious plays, and in my character’s case a LOT of bullets.  Finally we defeated almost everyone, except our target who we were in pursuit of.

Thanks to the one that blew our cover we not only located the target, but instead of having to kill him we recruited him to our side (“Step wrong and I put bullet in your skull, da?” was my character’s warning), so as frustrating as that was, we came out way ahead.  Did I mention our team of calvarymen and their bard stole the equivalent of the Popemobile and wrecked the town with in on their way to escape?  It was a great session, but my character, Ivonna, is incredibly frustrated, especially with her compatriot.

Ivonna has been a mercenary for a long time, and her two ways of blowing off stress usually involve gun-based violence or sex.  Since the combat is over, and she’s pretty sure it’d be a bad idea to hurt the party member that caused much of her stress, she is on the boat back to their base making specific plans to roll into town and find a willing sailor boy.  “Is good choice, they sail away when done with them.”

From planning the rest of his romantic life to the most casual hook up she can arrange, it’s kind of a mental whiplash for me.  Normally Ivonna is the responsible one and Flynn is as flighty as they come.  How the tables have turned this time around.

There are major costumes I want to do, but I have to find time, funding, and effort to do them.  So here I will brainstorm a bit.  Yes, a lot of this has been costuming thoughts lately, I promise there will be something different soon.

The first that comes to mind is the femme War Doctor.  So much needs to go into this.  Jodhpurs, shirt, corset/vest, boots or shoes and gaiters, wig, The Moment purse, coat, scarf, sonic screwdriver, and bits I’m sure I’m forgetting.  I have nothing that will work for this, I have to work from scratch to get this one off the ground.

By this October I need to have 1920’s Leia completed.  I already have the dress, and have some ideas on the jewelry, but I need to decide on the hair style – since I’m doing the medal ceremony jewelry I need to choose between classic buns and the end of ANH ceremony hair.  The former will probably be easier to do on my own, so it will likely be my choice, especially as it will read ‘Leia’ better than the latter.  Also I have no idea where to go for shoes, since this will be a Disneyland trip and they have to be practical as well as appropriate.

An idea I tabled a long time ago that has come back after watching Gather Your Party’s unbirthday episode last Friday was the Steampunk White Rabbit.  The White Rabbit is, after all, such a corseted fellow, always uptight and rigid.  The tricky part for this is that with a true corset I would need assistance getting dressed – which I don’t have at most conventions.  Also the heeled shoes I would go with for a Victorian look may not work well for the full day on my feet.

If I really (and I mean REALLY) want to go for a challenge, my friend Taliesin has a new character on Critical Role that is a Tiefling – since I’m retiring the idea of a pregnant Zahara cosplay from the last campaign, maybe I can still tackle a Tiefling?  Femme Mollymauk?  This just occurred to me, and would be a huge challenge, so I will need to let this brew a bit.

I’m stressed, so I’ve peeled off my sweater to prevent overheating.  My husband is still holding pressure and paper towel on his pinky finger, and I’ve made a point of not seeing the wound.  I have seen a drop of blood run down his knuckle when he showed the wound to the triage nurse, but I’m still sure it’s the stress that has me a little warm.

Normally the ER is a very full place, but surprisingly despite the flu warnings we were through the waiting room quickly, and straight from triage into a care cubicle.  The doctor comes in, he obviously needed to see the wound and confirmed that stitches are indeed the order of the day.  I’ve had stitches, I knew this was what was needed, so I’m not sure why the back of my head is buzzing, a faint dizziness coming through my brain.

I lean my head back, breathe deeply, smelling hospital.  I mention that I’m just starting to have my dizzy spell, and when my stomach begins to lurch I know I’m reacting to the blood and hospital.  Just as they move the paper towel around in order to administer the lidocaine shot I know I’m wobbly – I make my excuse and get up to leave the cubby.

Next thing I know I’m back in my chair, my thoughts wandering, head back against the wall.  The doctor is in front of me?  I’m apparently coming around and my husband, as well as the doctor, is laughing… I guess I didn’t get up?

Oh no, they inform me, I was up and half way to the door when I passed out from the blood and hospital.  So they take my blood pressure, check my heart rate, and per my request get me an ice pack I can put at the back of my neck.  Then, to prevent further issues, put me in a wheelchair and deposit me in the mini waiting room, while they wait for the lidocaine to work and stitches to be administered.  Rather quickly the dizzy finally passes, the ice pack sitting against the back of my neck warming slowly.

I try to be patient.  It works for a while.  I don’t have a book, so I check the world on my phone.  Another patient waiting for a cubicle is brought in briefly with her family.  They eventually disappear when her cubby is ready.  After a half an hour I stand up to see if I’m stable – sure enough I am.  Pacing, putzing around, restless.  I’m nervous to go back, but I figure they should be done.  Another 15 minutes or so pass, I think.  Alright, I ask the nurse station if it’s okay for me to return and they give me the all clear.

Sure enough, stitches are done, and we’re just waiting for the dressing afterwards.  So I banter, sit, relax.  The doctor peeks in to confirm that we’re just waiting for dressing, comments that my color is much better (apparently I went pale?), and moves on.  I’m good.  I’m stable.  I’m fine.  Then the nurse comes in to do the dressing and sure enough a touch of fuzzy starts to return, so I retreat into the hallway.  Chatting with another nurse, she gets me a cup of water and I’m fine again.  I still give them plenty of time to finish the dressing, then tentatively creep back… catching a fragment of their conversation I retreat again.  A few more impatient minutes and I am able to return.  Once everything is wrapped up (literally and figuratively) we are cleared to go.

Check out takes a bit, but the first breath of cool night air is a sweet balm to my senses.  My hands feel firm and not shaky, I’m ready to drive us home, and boy am I looking forward to finally getting dinner.  Did I mention he got this cut trying to open the cheese for our burritos?

As I’ve been spinning up some ideas for WonderCon and “lazy” cosplay that really isn’t lazy at all, a friend solidified the theme for her birthday party in February.

Science Fiction.

As usual our friends enjoy a costume party whenever possible, so that theme means I get to dress up!  And sci-fi is a broad category…

With my focus on WonderCon, I already have once full sci-fi based costume in the works, the revival of the Mara Jade costume.  Tricky part is that the first time I used this costume was the same friend’s birthday party in 2016 – the theme was book characters.  Being a redhead (and knowing I would be changing later in the year) I wanted to rock Mara for what I thought would be the first and last time. Lo and behold, even though she is Legends instead of canon Star Wars, I can’t let her go – so with a wig I’m going to give this one another go for the convention.  If I score the parts early, I can also use this for the party.

Alternatively, while it’s not a specific character (unless I want to undergo a much more detailed investment of time and money than originally planned) I have an N7 dress (okay, I have two) that references Mass Effect, while not being a costume-costume.  For N7 day last year I paired it with my N7 socks, always something I can do again… and now thanks to my sister I have an OmniBlade prop to seal the deal, as a casual sci-fi outfit.  Not a classic character costume, but definitely sci-fi.

So do I rush Mara, and also retread territory from years past?  Or go with the non-character based generic sci-fi goodness?