Der Feuervogel aufersteht.

This week I:

- signed a contract for Shatterdome ATL
- typed up all but one of the answers for the exam I have due on Tuesday
- did a lot more con-related stuff
- wrote unpleasant con-related emails

And that pretty much ate all my hours between 9 and 5.

Other things I did:
- ordered stuff for our costumes for DragonCon
- revised & submitted a story

Thing I am proud of that I did:
- ran (jogged) a full mile at just over 12:30 min/mi. (I only slowed to a walk briefly to check my pace and see that, indeed, I was running faster than I thought and no wonder I was so wiped already.) This regular running thing is improving my stamina, yay.

Fun thing:
- A bottle of Special Effects Purple Smoke arrived at my house, and I just need to get some bleach.

I want to cosplay Sasha Kaidonovsky at DragonCon. (If you've seen my tumblr lately...)

DragonCon starts in 18 days.

I need to find a wig and a reference photo of her pants. I can find one of her top half (black shirt, coat), but not the full body. I saw the movie again last night, and I noticed her wearing tan pants that were fairly fitted, but it was like 2 seconds. (I think I took my tan jeans to the thrift shop last year; they didn't fit right anyway.)

I can tuck the pants into my Docs, but I need to find pants to use. I've been meaning to order one of these for a while (PCN allergy, on meds), and I could use that as a costume dog tag as long as no one looks too closely.

I was thinking of running down to Carrboro to hit up Sid's, but it's too hot to contemplate trying on coats in an un-air-conditioned tiny space jammed with stuff. (If you've never been to Sid's, imagine a 20x50' room where 80% of it is taken up with clothing racks and the rest is display cases of random and MREs.)

I found the coat I wore in college, and it's just about perfect. Except for the part where it's a winter coat, and I'm going to Atlanta in August. (It'll be nice in the panel rooms...) But I can take it apart, remove the insulation parts, and make the arms more fitted (which will involve adjusting the armscye, and oh god). And add some fake fur to the collar.

But I have this German military surplus jacket I got in high school that fits better, but the collar is wrong and I'd need to do surgery on it (remove the name tag and the little flags, for one). And it has fewer pockets.

Also I need to acquire a wig and learn how to style it. This one will work, and I've ordered from them before. I'm just concerned that Giant Emo Bang will be impossible to wrangle back. This one could also be good, but the bangs are too short.

Also there's some sort of design on the back of their jackets that is in absolutely no reference images anywhere :( According to the actress, it's made entirely of gold safety pins.

So, for reasons that are completely inexplicable, Anavel Gato, the Nightmare of Solomon, is my favorite Gundam character of all time.

Seriously, I can't explain it. kurai_seraphim had an idea that made sense, but I forget, because he said it when I was kinda drunk.

Being kinda drunk is where the terrible/awesome cosplay idea came about, too. I don't have a figure that lends itself to cosplaying a male character. Even with ace bandages and sports bras, my boobs are kind of too big for that, and I have Hips. I've always wanted to make a Zeon* uniform for cosplay (seriously, how ridiculous/awesome are they?)

I also have this ...interest verging on obsession with late 19th/early 20th century military uniforms. Like these. So the ridiculous Char-clone from Unicorn, whose name is, I shit you not, Full Frontal, has this ridiculous uniform that's pretty well based on the Hussars (and his not-Sazabi is blinged out to match, seriously. Now, with a bit of customization and some time, I could take a pattern I already own and go from there (though this one would be closer).

But that's all a pain in the ass, and, really, I can't cosplay someone whose name makes me laugh myself silly. And he's still not Gato. So, I decided I should just cosplay Gato anyway. Then, I forget how, exactly (see above: multiple beers), I decided I should just do Annabelle Gato. The katakana would be the same! (アナベル) And, as William pointed out, the only way a woman could be a pilot in UC Gundam (until Zeta, anyway), would be to go all Dernhelm.

Which would make the love triangle in Stardust Memory a LOT more interesting, really.

*Yes, Zeon kind of are space N*zis. They drop space colonies on Australia and nuke Earth from orbit and promote the doctrine of Newtype (an evolved human because of the pressures of living in space) superiority and want to be separate from Earth Federation rule. (Of course, by Zeta, the Feddies are a bunch of assholes.) Also, Japanese not-German makes me twitch.

Interestingly, and perhaps problematically, one of the oldest transliterations of ジーオン was Zion in some fan circles. Fred Schodt standardized it to Zeon, after consultation with Tomino, in his novel translations.

I should do that. Not that anyone's actually reading here, as far as I can tell.

I finished the first draft of Blue Danube Waltz about a week ago, and I'm waiting for my wonderful beta to get back to me with it. I gave him 2 weeks, so there's plenty of time. It's 26,000 words. On a read-through for editing purposes (out loud! That took a while.) I found a couple continuity goofs and some repetition, which I'll work on after my beta gets back to me. (I should really pay for Scrivener soon. I've got 9 free days left, and I'm hoarding them like Smaug.)

I picked up 45 hours of work in the next 2 weeks. Tomorrow I'm driving 2 hours each way to work 8, and next weekend, Fri-Sun, I get to go to scenic Jacksonville, NC. Thankfully, I get a per diem, so I can stay there in a hotel overnight and save the 3-hour each way trip. I figure, if I'm driving 3 hours, I'd better make it worth my while, even if it means working almost 30 hours in 3 days. Friday, getting up at 4:30 to be there by 9, then working until 9, is going to be hard, but Saturday is 9-6 and Sunday is 10-6, and I can sleep in. Crash out early Saturday, too, if I need to.

I'm making a corset for a friend, and I'm planning a costume for myself for Dragon*Con. It'll be awesome! Comfortable, even. This is important.

Then the last weekend of July/beginning of August, I'm heading to Oregon to visit kirin's family. Then the following weekend, it's beach trip time with the anime club. After that, it's 3 weeks till Dragon*Con. I'd freak out about having too much to do in so little time, but not being stuck in a 9-5 job gives me all sorts of time. I just have to not squander it...