it's like the eye of a duck

I've not posted in almost a month, so here's the quick and dirty version of what's been up:

• Health: The "bunion" turned out to be just bursitis, and now I have custom orthotics to keep it from getting worse.
  
  Fun tip: stick-on velcro in the sole works well for holding orthotics in place.
  
  
• Media: have been sucked into Sleepy Hollow (makes free and loose with the history, but the characters have good chemistry) and Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. (a couple of strong episodes but still finding it's feet).
  
  Saw Thor 2; thought the world/main characters were better than in the first one plus more Loki and Darcy = yay. Saw Ender's Game; I enjoyed it but never read the book so I didn't have nostalgia/expectations going in (yes, I know. I rationalize because D. loved the book as a kid before we all knew what a 'phobe Orson Scott Card is).
  
  Watched "Goonies" and "Beetlejuice" for the first times since…high school? jlsjlsjls: Beetlejuice may have showcased the first documented pair of swants (scroll down), and Delia's other costumes definitely pioneered Japanese designers.
  
  
• Sewing: bwahaha! Writing has eaten my sewing time.
  
  
• Writing: still consumes me though I did not do NaNoWriMo; had good writing days both alone and with dustdaughter.
  
  Teaching myself Scrivener because I'm rapidly losing track of multiple Word files.
  
  
• Reading: mostly crunchy academic tomes for the book sprinkled with occasional fiction so my brain doesn't explode. See: Hollow City, Ooomph: A Little Super Goes a Long Way, Halo Effect.
  
  
• Thanksgiving: we spent with kiya and lady_masque and friends with tons of food.
  
  Played Arkham Horror for the first time and am staggered at the complexity of the game play.
  
  Turned everyone on to Alton Brown's cocoa brownies (which I've linked to before but are so good it's worth doing again).
  
  
• Cats: routine vaccination updates turned into clearing up an aggressive ear infection for Spice; she is deaf now, though we don't know whether this is because of infection or treatment :( Due to the stress of repeated vet visits she didn't eat for a week and we're now plying her with tuna and canned food to bulk her back up.
  
  
• Fencing: competed a couple of weeks ago and am proud I was only defeated 10-6 by a scary B rated vet in my final direct elimination.
  
  Arrogantly(?) think I stand a chance of getting my D this season if I can keep my head on straight.
  
  
• Holiday: only thing planned so far is D.'s office party which is 1) 1920s themed and 2) in CA. So costume and slightly warmer weather = win.
  
  
• Whisky: hoo boy yeah!
  

I'm very slowly catching up with y'all. I probably won't comment much but know I AM reading.

Because I found a few gems that couldn't wait for a long link dump:

• One of my longest-lingering sewing fantasies has come true a Vivienne Westwood pattern! For FREE no less! And assuming the finished garment doesn't show the wrong side of the fabric I have been sitting on the perfect fabric for YEARS....


• Fencing and Fine Wine Camp, Bordeaux France - alas, I am not officially a veteran until the new season, but I'm hoping this is a yearly thing.


• The DC Art Science Evening Rendezvous (DASER) is a monthly discussion forum on art and science projects in the national capital region. Looks interesting; bookmarking.


• And a bonus: Fashion Historians Unite! for Facebookers: A networking place to get to know more people in the fashion/textile history academic and museum realms and share information about research, symposia, publications, useful websites and resources, etc.

My costume projects Pinterest board.

Why I'm just giving you a link instead of talking about costume projects [opens into TedTalk video]. Hat tip margoeve.

Why a little pessimism is a good thing.

Gathered from here, there, and everywhere:

Learn to be a better writer by reading fanfiction - especially the bits about villians needing motivation and using crackfic to get unstuck.

John Cleese on creativity - “Creativity is not a talent. It is a way of operating.” - so true. Hat tip @ITSLENNYHENRY (yes, the real one).

Femme Doctors and crossplayers: not that different - elegant description of the what cross play is and isn’t, and why it’s appealing. Wonderful fun, but also put on your gender studies hat.

Dates to remember for 2013 - first two weeks of May are looking awfully good. And there’s gonna be a 3rd Riddick movie? Hat tip D.

The Star Trek-Middleman crossover you’ve been cautiously excited for - seriously, if you never watched The Middleman, go forth and view now. It’s rather like Firefly, killed before it’s time, wonderfully witty and only 13 hours of footage. Related: Middleman-Doctor Who crossover.

Edit 7:45 pm Links fixed. Dunno what LJ was doing adding extra quotes.

Saturday. D. and I went to see Epic Win Burlesque, a show of, by, and for sci fi/comic book/pop culture geeks.

I'd heard of these guys, or something like them, but didn't know they were going to be in town until nminusone mentioned it on his Facebook feed. I'd enjoyed the burlesque I saw with C. in Las Vegas and thought D. would at least enjoy the nerdy angle, so I got tix and we met up with nminusone and geekchick at the venue.

Oh, it was AWESOME! Just the right blend of silly and sexy. They did only a sampling of their repertoire but they've covered almost every major fandom I can think of and encourage the audience to post their videos and photos, so there's a lot more on YouTube, etc. Both men and women perform, though IMHO on this particular evening the women were hotter [YouTube]. ObCostume: evidently at least some of the performers make their own, and go to a great deal of effort on them as well.

Perhaps the funniest part of the evening was when it dawned on us that "KittenBot" was doing her act to the "Fruity Oaty Bar" song from Serenity [YouTube].

So if these guys come your way, go out and show some support, 'cos there's not enough of it in the world. We'd definitely go again!

P.S. Obviously none of the links are work safe. Wouldn't want y'all getting in trouble at work :P

At long last! Reconnected to the internet with a real keyboard so I can type something of substance!

Let me 'splain. No, there is too much. Let me sum up:

( The move )

( Post-move )

( Post-post-move )

( hell bent for linkage )

( Upcoming )

Coming out of the winter lethargy:

A couple of weekends ago D. and I caught the Anglo Saxon hoard exhibit. It is small, but excellent, and not only is the detailed work breathtakingly beautiful (I'm still in awe that tiny filigree and inlay could be done in the 7th century, and in such volume!) but the story behind it is one of incredible good luck: a weekend metal detector treasure hunter found it after searching for half an hour on an acquaintance's farmland. No catalog because it's going to be years before all of the thousands of pieces are sorted, cleaned, cataloged and restored.

Given that we don't get downtown often it seemed a shame to pop back out, so we went out for truly dangerous pies afterwards: all fresh ingredients and real fruit instead of processed everything and corn syrup!

This coming weekend has a lot going on as well: a morning of Federal/regency-o-rama costume lectures followed by lunch with skill_grl, finishing with summer nationals qualifiers in the afternoon. Whether I qualify or not it's gonna be a good day :)

And I got permission today to view another museum's 6(!) Fortuny gowns behind the scenes! I'm excited but nervous, as I indicated in my application for viewing that I'd be open to publishing my findings if I discover anything worth sharing. While this is true, my research on the Peplos gown construction has been going on intermittently for about 2 years now and at this rate I'm skeptical that I'll be making any sort of breakthroughs - this is to satisfy my own curiosity.

Badger is inviting me onto Pinterest to share shoe pictures. A worthy endeavor to fill out gaps in my schedule (haha!)

I've kept up my resolution to stretch, if not daily, then certainly I'm up to 5 days a week over 3.

I think it's helping my fencing, especially the "rocking lunge" and keeping my back leg under me rather than out behind me (thanks Badger) - I'm doing the best lunges of my life and generally feel more mobile, at least after I'm well warmed up.

I fenced Scary Person(TM) M. last night and he said he was pleased to see me "consistently fencing at a competitive level" and while I was flattered, I as ever have problems accepting a compliment. Can I really keep this?

So, I've committed to stretching, but little else. I keep planning to go to the Anglo-Saxon hoard exhibit, register for ChocoTherapy, chocolate, and Dress U but keep putting it off because choosing something invariably means shutting some other possibility out. I need to just gorram do it already....

Also need to catch up on LJ etc. I know you all are doing cool and wonderful things that I neglect to comment on because y'all deserve more than "cool!" and my words won't congeal further than that :(

Off to find D.'s robe pattern, as he needs a new one (though Reconstructing History's latest and a holiday Downton Abbey marathon make me itching to make a 1910s dress. Which I'll want/need if I go to Dress U...)

I've been remiss in updating the ol' LJ, mostly because I'm still in lazy holiday mode/on west coast time:

Christmas week was great but hectic. We went out to Seattle to see D.'s family. Rarely and wonderfully, mom and stepdad and all of the siblings and their families were able to get together, and Seattle was chosen because that's where the new niece is - and she's an ideal baby, all smiles and never cries unless something is really wrong. Four-year-old niece is on a princess kick and got the most fabulous dress-up dresses with twirlable skirts. The older nieces are going through preteen rockiness but mostly well; the nephews are for all purposes adults and fun to talk to.

The siblings all seem to be happy, and togetherness was balanced by time apart - each family had their own place to stay (including a two-level delightfully minimalist loft in the arts district that set my aesthetic lust all a-quiver!) I'm very fortunate that I get along with my in-laws and enjoy spending time with them!

We did spend a good amount of time walking, mostly around the hotel and the Pike/Pine area, finding record stores with genuine vinyl records and almost as rare, an independent brick and mortar bookstore that reminded me of the late lamented Oxford Books of Atlanta. I made a deliberate trip to Red Light Vintage, and though I found nothing that fit I recommend it to vintage seekers if you're ever in town as the prices are criminally low.

Due to the whimsical inclinations of Google Maps we got to see even more of the city, driving past multiple (as in, every corner, sometimes twice) coffee houses, wig shops (?) tattoo parlors and restaurants in search of a drugstore (that ended up being a block from the hotel :P) I'm surprised that I like Seattle in winter as much as I do in spring, even without the blisteringly bright plants in bloom. It's more casual, funky, and relaxed than DC, which was much needed as being at home can be such a roller-coaster. Our hotel was nice (free coffee every morning!), so we spent much of our quiet time just sleeping and reading.

And oh, there was reading! D. got me a Kindle for Christmas and despite my misgivings (I can't share books, I'm limited to Amazon's format) it's addictive at first use - at last I can read all of those obscure novels that the library doesn't get, without eating shelf space! There's also internet access so it functions as a limited laptop.

As with all holidays there was an unholy amount of food and wine. We found gut-busting Italian, old fashioned pies, Belgian waffles and deep, dense coffee (of course).

Saw the new Sherlock Holmes (a total scream, especially Stephen Fry as Mycroft) and New Year's Eve (better and more poignant than expected).

Due to a 10-hour break between hotel checkout and redeye flight home, we visited the Museum of Glass and marveled at tiny glass flowers, and had a quiet evening at Indochine, with just about perfect food and wine.

It was good :)