it's like the eye of a duck

We're as prepared for Sandy as we can be. We have a cooler-sized container full of water, a pork roast in the slow cooker and a mess of ground beef and onions for who knows what. I figure if we lose power, if it's cooked we can eat at least some of it before it goes off.

D. has taped up the windows and drawn the drapes, and we're both charging phones, laptops, etc. My last act will be to to a pidge of machine sewing in preparation for hand sewing tomorrow.

Anticipating losing power, so I'll see y'all on the other side. Local peeps: y'all stay safe and check in when it's over!

I'm not blind to the fact that the styles in my small (but growing) collection of designer duds closely mirrors the sorts of things I like to sew: asymmetry more often than not, with unusual shapes, details, and/or textures. In short, the things worth investing time or money in because there simply aren't anything like them available through usual channels, and they're more interesting to wear and make.

Even simple things can be special through their quality or not-immediately-apparent construction. Take this deceptively simple top for example. It looks plain but it's cut on the bias which changes the drape and fit significantly.

But no matter how it manifests itself, unusual = more work. In addition to the draping aspect I'm giving myself more roadblocks: in addition to the full bust adjustment and other tweaks to make it fit absolutely perfectly, this my first project using silk charmeuse, aka "silk slime" for it's slippery, fluid qualities that make even cutting the pieces a challenge.

It keeps things interesting from an assembly viewpoint and gives me experience with another aspect of dressmaking, but I'm trying to resign myself to the fact that even after 20+ years of sewing, I may not have anything wearable by the end of this adventure.

Same news as last year - still a unicorn with a bad rep. I'm just posting it publicly this year.

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 )

Move day is tomorrow. Still things to pack, but mostly (MOSTLY) done.

D. is less anxious than I am because he's moved so much; for me it's like pre-travel anxiety times 10: all the fears of forgetting/breaking/losing something plus the knowledge that I can't go back, ever (and I really can't - management is gutting our current place as soon as we're out).

Maybe that it's because I've moved so few times, but I simply don't REMEMBER what the last time was like. Do clothes go in boxes, suitcases, or both? Did we hand-carry fragile or awkward things ourselves (did we even have buffer time in which to do so) last time? How long does all this take? Don't know if it's thyroidiness or moving being such a PITA that I've blocked all memories of it, but it's like I'm doing much of this for the first time.

I KNOW this is the first time I've moved with the cats. It shouldn't be awful as it's not far but stressed cats tend to get lost or destroy things, and a neighbor-cat that evidently lingers around the house isn't likely to help the situation. We're going over early tomorrow with them to situate them in a bathroom so they won't accidentally run out in the chaos of loading the truck.

Back to it...

House: Still up to my eyebrows in boxes and scheduling. We have 3 days between closing and moving, so I'm using the time to have the air ducts and fireplaces cleaned - I figure it will be easier without furniture potentially in the way.

We still haven't tackled the unfinished part of the basement. I can't speak for D., but I know I've been avoiding it. I've already gone through the fabric stash twice but dread facing whatever else I've accumulated over the years.

Current events: I'm still stunned about the Colorado theater shooting, and my heart sinks a little more every time I see that the victim count go up. The continuing coverage isn't informative beyond that - developments are slow, yet the demands of the 24 hour news cycle means that the media is filling the time with foolish speculation. I really hope this doesn't get pinned on geek culture or fans; my personal guess (I do it too, yeah, yeah) is that the Holmes chose the theater simply because he knew the premiere of a summer blockbuster would be packed.

Between this and Salon's cruelty on the border story, I am reminded why I don't follow news as closely as I used to. I don't ENJOY being misanthropic, but <rant>What is wrong with these people!? I get that illegal immigrants are breaking the law (need for immigration reform is another rant), but they shouldn't have to die for it. Leaving water in the desert assures that at the least they're alive to be sent back to their countries of origin. And the acts of the border control agents in the article are pointless sadism for...what? Because they can (also saving rant how law enforcement sometimes attracts power mad bullies)?</rant>

Fencing: wearing myself out with tiring "dancing" footwork and trying to get out of the bad habit of attacking out of range. Also, I'm involved in creating a fencing fashion blog (details forthcoming).

Tangential: the complaints about Twitter and Facebook destroying written communication holds true, at least for me. dustdaughter has rightly pointed out that with only 140 characters, everyone winds up sounding like Rorschach from "Watchmen", and while typing the comparatively huge tome above I found myself mixing tenses, repeating verbs, and dropping articles left and right. Maybe this is another bad habit to break.

The slashfic, it writes itself:

Original Content(TM) coming soon.

I've come to the point in my game that it's as much a mental as physical exercise and the next logical progression is improving my tactics. And I thought lunges were hard...

( fencing foo ensues )

Fortunately, due to Nationals there's a lot of gold medal bout footage floating around, so I can not only watch good fencing, I can try to unravel what's going on.

As ever with this sport, I'm trying to see another bit of the iceberg. It's frustrating but certainly never gets dull.

Truism of life: sometimes you have to give up one thing to get another.

I just sent in my withdrawal from Summer Nationals, and canceled my room reservations :/ It's disappointing (for me, for D., and for D.'s mom, who we'd have been seeing) but I'm trying to save every scrap for the down payment. It works out, as home visiting was likely going to eat up extra training time, so I doubt I would have been ready.

I'd be more crushed if there weren't a NAC (and umpteen other competitions) coming up in the fall. This gives me more time to concentrate on my latest ongoing effort to see what my opponents are doing, put a name on it (offense, defense, feint, preparation), and come up with a solution to it.