So that thing I do....

It's been well over a year since I have written. And surprise surprise I am planning on changing the direction of this blog.

To update:

I have not really LARPed since October of 2014 so there isn't much to catch you up on that front. I am however working with a friend to start back up our local Heroic Austin chapter. So there is some good news.

On the book front, I have read (read that as listened to the audio book) many new books. This has added a few new authors to my follow relentlessly list so I should write some reviews on those. (when i'm not being a lazy sod)

I haven't really made anything. Mostly due to exhaustion, depression, lack of money, having moved and now being pregnant. Which brings me to the next part.

How I am changing this blog:

Mostly it was just on my hobbies and books and things but now that I am preggerz I will be adding the Little One to the topics. Most in regards to the items and electronics I am buying for little Fidget in preparation for the arrival in April 2016.

Hashonen August 1-3

As mentioned in my previous post, There was a bit of trouble with the event. Sadly it was changed into an adventureday and some roleplay nights because the site lost the reservation. The Bad. We didn't find this out until our caravan was within an hour of site. The dissapointment eminating from the us all was almost palpable. For some of us the trip was only 15 hours, for others it was more like 27. So it's understandable that people would be highly dissapointed with the loss of a game they had already put so much effort into going to. The Good. The staff rallied to pull something together out of the mess and made something awesome. We got a "Tavern night" Friday night and an Adventure Day and some more Tavern Night on Saturday. It was informative, hillarious and worth the trip. I used my real life skills of wit to make people laugh, I intrenched myself in the local plot so I would feel connected to the game and got involved in the story. So Win there for Staff and for me. :) The Nitty Gritty: Friday: We arrived at our generous hosts home as the game staff was in a scramble and panic. I can't even begin to explain how hard that was for them. I can imagine the stress and fear and I don't relish the thought of being in their place. I had baked cookies for them anyway and took that opportunity to dole out hugs and support where I could. The Larp chapter I was helping out at went into Hiatus because of stress and lack of support, so I wanted to be there to help them out as much as I could. A plan was formed, Tavern night, Adventure day, Tavern night. So from there we went out to dinner and then came back to costume up for the Role Play! I am an RP (role-play) junkie for those of you that don't know. I am happy to have a game where there is no combat and we have to solve our problems some other way. I am also happy to fight the whole event and be exahusted when I go home. My game does not ride on me comming out on top, if I can express a wide range of emotions then I am happy. Tavern Night Friday Oh I could tell the stories I heard or the things I said but I will just leave you with my favorite quotes. Just in case there are some Heroic Players reading this. "Oh, do you want a Hug?" (me) "No" (MC) "Damn, that ususally solve half of all my problems..." (me) "What solves the other half?" (MC) "A Knife." (Me) "I like her." (MHL) "Terpreter!!! Terpreter!!" (RP) Saturday: Saturday was turned into an Adventure day where we went to a public park and ran around playing a modified game of capture the flag. 3 Teams, One Powerhouse team, One average team, and one with no magic and all the low levels. The objective was to collect 3 flags hidden around the area, each team wanted all 3 flags.There were mosters roaming the area so you had to watch out for not just the other teams, who through plot effects would look like mosters, but also the roaming enemies. This meant that there was a fair share of PvP (player verses player) with some PvE (player verses enemie). I do not like PvP in LARPs. I think it forsters a toxic atmosphere in the players. Not my cup of tea... There was a way in game to change the PvP aspect to a co-operative game but it hinged on you bumping into one specific PC. That didn't happen because I rped my character the way she would react to waking up in a dream surrounded by no one she knew or trusted. Ditch the people she didn't know and look for someone she knows. I eventually found him (MC), but it was an NPC, which means he wasn't REALY on my side. I then used my other OOG skill ISIP (Intrench Self In Plot) and opened a rabid bag of weasels and inserted my hand into it. He activated my transform and my character became her Transformed self, or as termed by MC and a good friend of mine JK "The Bitch." I am a glorified PNPC when that happens,I have speciffic instructions on how to interact with people and it often causes problems for me later on when I am out of that transform and am back to normal PC status. I was then on my own team and made that whole PVP thing more like PNPCvALL Y'ALL. I can't say I hated it because it solved my fighting people I can see are not having fun, got alot of and I learned a lot about the story. Favorite moments/Quotes "Awe, you killed my Snake!" (me on NPC disitegrating JSK) "Sorry... You turned you back to me and I just couldn't help it.." (Me) "..You aren't alright are you" (JH) "Astute you are..." (me) Satruday Night: Second evening of RPs. Part of my reasons for going to Hashonen was to repair some magic items I have on my character. For IG reasons if they weren't fixed I was going to turn my character over to plot at the next game, so I had high motivations to get that fixed. This was my first attempt at High Magic alone so understandably I went overboard as to not flop. However I did however open said rabid bag of weasels and inster other hand. Then there was alot of crazy whojo with madness that I avoided because of character history. Favortie Quotes "I can make those shoot out lightning" (Player I don't know his initials of) "Who says they can't already?" (me) "What?!? All I said was science..." (same unknown player above) "Nope, NO, Uh-uh! I have been insane before, I do not need assistance remembering..." (me) Over All: One of my favorite weekends. My only regret is not being able to attend their game this weekend... :( I am so excited for their game in October.

Failure on reply, Success on costuming.

So I said that I would post up some pictures of the overdress. As you can guess from the title, that isn't happening. Through several shenanigans the game was cancled, or turned into a couple rp nights and an adventure day. The dress worked out, but I don't have any images on how the the stitching held up. Forgive my tardy, lazy and incomplete follow up. I am not going to lie and say I am ashamed as I had way to much fun at Hashonnen.

Re-enforceing Grommets

A while back I attempted to make a ghawazee coat. I got to through the template part had pretty fabric but I was not thinking clearly when I made it. I stitched a light fabric to linen. It looks pretty but there was no way to make a closure that looked authentic/period without using a zipper. 

I was dissapointed and threw the project into one of my many "Deal with this later" boxes. Well it became time for that Later to come around. I decided to re-enforce grommits with a button-hole stitch.

 I had to tilt the grommets away from the seam as I did some fabric painting on the edges and I didn't want to loose that to the grommet holes. It means that it might not hold as well but I put pretty on and I want people to see the pretty. I then proceeded to hammer the grommets in with the help of my Husband. ((NOTE: These are fabric grommets that you can get at Joan's, Micheals, Hobbylobby. Not Leath Grommets.))

Let me tell you Button Holes can be abreviate to something inapporpiate. They are time consuming and require patience. They do however look nice when completed. To the left you will see the first hole and what the plain grommet looks like.

Not too shabby for my first attempt at button hole stitching. This weekend will be it's play test, literally as I will be larping in it. I will provide a finished image next week when I have a full kit (costume) picture as well. And I will tell you how well they stood up to the harsh beating it will take running around and playing.

Below is what it looked like half done. Left side grommets are done. Right side are plain silver grommets.

Just for clarification the color match from fabric to thread it much better in person than in the image. The fabric shines quite prevalently in the light.

Safe to say

It's safe to say that I failed at that weekly blog thing I mentioned last year. To make my massive lazyness and forgetfullness seem more like life's fault than my own short comings I'll tell you what has passed.

I quit my job shortly there after and proceded to start working as a substitute teacher and temp in the city of Austin. And I am sure that all of you remember the behavior of either your own children or yourselves with reguards to Substitutes in your class. I won't say it was a nitemare, but teaching them taught me that I don't want to teach science.

If I go back to further my education it will either be to get my masters in Geology (for the big money) or to teach MATH. Yes, I said MATH. Numbers don't lie to me. Numbers don't make a mess of the classroom then shaft me with clean up before the next batch of self-inflated mini-people arrive to repeate the process. It wasn't fun and the longest I spent in one substitute position was 5 days and it was with 4th graders. Teaching childeren who will still bawl in public is hard, don't let anyone tell you otherwise.

After that I started an extended temporary position with a company called Texas Classroom Teachers Association (TCTA). That meant that I got to go into the same office everyday to work on a single task. I loved it. I was a data entry anylyst and I got to listen to books on tape while updating memberships accounts. Durring lunch I got to talk to people, there were social invites, a friendly welcoming atmosphere. After 2 years of crazy Oil and Gas work I started feeling like a real person again.

Sadly they needed to hire a programmer more than another Data Entry Analyst so shortly before Christmas I was back to waiting on jobs again. I did not pick up another steady paycheck untill February 25, 2014. Where I am still working now trying to accrew the 720 hours required for the staffing agency to even start the communication for hiring me. I am currently 3 hours shy of that milestone so they won't start talks until next week.

I am annoyed, but making money.
Underutilized but earning just under my hourly wage as a Mudlogger.
Do dull repetative tasks but get to read books/play on my tablet when I am done.
Overall, I can't really complain.

Thanks for reading. I'll post up some of my crafty work from the last year over the next few weeks. For real this time. I got photos and everything!

Changing Directions. Re-published

In an effort to share my knowledge and crafty (both senses of the word) skills, I have decided to start a weekly Blog. We shall see how this goes, as I have failed in numerous attempts to do this before. However this time I'm not writing about silly crazy stuff. Just my hobby and the crazy shenanigans and messes I make because of it.

I am a college graduate with a degree in Geology. I work for the Oil and Gas UIndustry and although I love the rocks and science I get to do while I am out an about the boonies of Tehaz, I'm looking for a job closer to home.

So I will use this blog when I am too far from my games to share stories, show tutorials, talk about past events. Or talk about how I am procrastinating about all of the above. :)

Welcome to my world.
Try not to get lost.

Woops

So I got back from training, then went out into the field and then went on days off, Went larping and then went to work again, then got engaged, then went back to Oklahoma for more training. Following that I was denied for a promotion I earned and the switched companies.  Now am in a whirl wind tango where I have little time for me much less for blogging. :\ Go figure right?

Moving Homebase!!!

So I am heading into Tulsa, OK for about a week to get an upgrade on my knowledge of my job. Because of this change in location I won't have a post for you either today, MONDAY, or Friday. That is not a guarantee, I might have some free time during this training week to compose another post but I'm not making promises.

Anyway, I am being transfered to the TEXAS division and I will get to be closer to my manthing. Yes I said Manthing, because saying he is my boyfriend doesn't properly describe the relationship. There isn't a single word to describe it besides "together". Which is debatable since I have been in Oklahoma for 7 months and he has been in Texas.

Anyway I'll get up something for next Monday for sure. <3

Bad Teacher, Bad movie...

I was heavily disappointed after watching Bad Teacher with Cameron Diaz, Justin Timberlake and Jason Segel. I am a fan of both Cameron Diaz and Jason Segel. So to see them playing opposite in the film was an excitement. Granted the film would have been funnier in a room full of other people.

I watched both the Theatrical version and the unrated, I didn't realy see how some of those scenes that were cut were cut. There are two scenes different from one to the other. And I found neither of them offensive.  I should have prefaced that with the fact that I get offended easily.

Anyway the basic gist is Cameron Diaz is this teacher, a terrible one. Doesn't care about anyone but herself, her fiancée discovers that she is a Gold-digger and dumps her. So as a result she returns to teaching where she continues her usual shenanigans with the new goal of a boob job. Of which the local gym teacher, Jason Segal, thinks is not necessary, she shoots him down and continues on.  Hoping that the new boobs give her an edge in hooking a new stupid rich guy, cue Justin Timberlake. The dumb rich guy. Diaz continues the movie trying to weasel her way into a relationship with him but he falls for another teacher.

I liked the concept and the interaction between Diaz and Segel but hated the rest of the film. I'm not a spoiler fan so I'm not telling you if she get's Timberlake, or if Segel wins her over. That you have to watch it for yourself. I recomend seeing it with a lot of people if not at all.

Oh what a tangles web I created...

This is going to be a short post because it's impossible to type and knit at the same time. I got bored of watching movies and decided since it's cold to start knitting again. I'm making the ever cliché scarf. I tried to make a pattern my self and even though the pattern looked nice the yarns I chose refused to cooperate so I ripped it out.  Granted all of this is for my LARP character because I'm super excited to play again in 3 weeks.

I should warn you though,. If you are starting out as a knitter, don't pay attention to the gauge. Just cast on as many stitches as you want the scarf wide and then go for it. Keep close attention to the number of stitched in each row and if you think you have to it and want to go faster or look away. DON'T You will drop a stitch and once you drop one it's a pain in the but to pick it back up. Which is less of a pain as ripping out several lines of knitting.  So in short. Go slow, Pay attention, Don't get cocky.