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Apparently the position of Aquatics Director at my pool is cursed or something. We've had five different people now in the three years I've worked there, if you count the one that never actually showed up for the first day on the job. Yeah, Dana resigned, which makes me sad, because he was pretty awesome. So Kelly, previously the Assistant Aquatics Director is taking over - hopefully she'll last a little longer. And...scuba class? You're all nice people, really. But they don't pay me extra to stand around ten minutes after closing while you haul your sorry asses out of the pool. It's not my fault you all came twenty minutes after your class was supposed to start (sadly, there isn't much I can do about this other than glare a lot).

And I'm all twitchy right now, like I should be doing something, but I don't know what. I tried making some new icons for Asher, but my icon-skills feel like massive amounts of suck lately. It probably doesn't help that the original drawing is colored pencil, which looks great on paper, but doesn't scan well, and edits worse, and I am so not hardcore enough to try to CG it.

...Actually, I haven't shared that yet, have I. Here, have Asher being bad-ass with his gigantic Leviathan tattoo. I took photos of myself for references for the pose, and I'm quite happy with how it came out, because I am not incredibly talented in the art department (well, 2D stuff anyway. Give me fabric and I'm good).

And I am weak and apped for Tseng somewhere. And I think I may end up cosplaying KH2!Squall, because I am unable to resist his hotness.

Ew ew ew I want people I hate out of my fandoms now. Mostly because the only way I can go on pretending they don't exist is to avoid the fandom (it's one of several reasons I don't hang out in FMA fandom any more), which I don't like doing.

And I have largely being sitting around on my ass and watching too much late-night tv (Mythbusters and X-Files re-runs, yay!), playing more KH2, and reading Seifer/Squall fic because I haven't yet exhausted the good stuff of that like I have Turks-fic. I also totally need to strand myself with no internet, because I have all this ficcing I want to do, but every time I sit down at the computer to do it I get distracted by the internet. I wish the video card on my old laptop wasn't fried; that would do nicely right now.

And to end this on a non-grumbly note, a huge

Happy Birthday!

to Mara <3 Have a wonderful day, dear.

Yes, I've just returned from a con, and I'm planning new costumes already. I'm a masochist, I know. So right now I'm going through and doing for Rufus what I did for Sephiroth back in September - laying out what I like and don't like about the different versions. The decision is really between in-game and AC, because if full-body shots from BC exist, I haven't seen them (and I'm trying to stay spoiler-free for it anyway), and while trying to design an Amano version of Rufus would be an interesting challenge, it would also probably be a bit silly looking. So, ( in handy list form! )
Opinions welcomed, particularly from any of those who have offered to be my Turks, as we really ought to match. And anyone interested in joining, speak up. I'd like to debut this at Yaoicon this October, but doubtless will bring the outfit to other cons as well. Any and all Turks welcome - I've had at least two offers on Reno, which means at this rate, I may end up with a Reno clone army (which would be both awesome and scary - although I'm particularly looking for a Tseng (Skuld~ You know you want to. *coerces*)

Home, and rather tired (also hot and sticky, ugh), but I will do a con report before I forget everything. Photos will come later, along with any con-bits I forget here, because I think I've got about a hundred of them, so it'll take a while.

( Friday )

( Saturday )

( Sunday )

Overall, a pretty fun con. I was a bit annoyed by the fact that my friends kept ditching me, but it was nice seeing some familar faces, as well as all the awesome costumes, and I'm glad I went to more events than I usually do - they were all really awesome.

So, leaving for the con tomorrow morning, which means I'm doing all my last-minute packing now. However, suggestions as to what I may have forgotten are always welcome, because I'm good at forgetting important things. What I've got packed: all costume bits, normal clothes and stuff for the dance, camera and batteries, cell phone and charger, food and drinks, wallet with money and driver's liscense, inflatable mattress, hotel confirmation number, safety pins, glue gun and glue, contacts and solution, hair stuff (gel, brushes), deodorant, toothpaste and brush.

I think I've got everything, but I always manage to forget something. Yuna wig came on time, so I don't have to worry about that, although I'm bringing stuff for Hatori anyway, because it's not much, and having a costume with shoes that don't hurt will be nice. Food and drink-wise, I've got six packs of bottles of apple juice and fruit punch, Fruit Loops, saltines, nilla wafers, tea, microwave ramen (you can make it in a coffee maker, I've done it), apple sauce, tea, and I'm going to make muffins tonight. I also have plastic forks and spoons.

...You'd think I'd be going to spend a week in the wilderness or something with all this shit XD;

It probably comes as a bit of a surprise to anybody who's actually seen the disaster area that is my room to learn that I have any method at all for organizing all my shit, but I do. And occasionally it serves me well - I found the draft of a Rufus-fic I was working on back in the fall I thought I had lost in my folder of fic drafts and character notes. I honestly need some sort of system because I'm so totally absentminded - if I were to just put stuff down anywhere (which I do sometimes), I'd never find it again.

Of course, I think I'm better at finding things when I'm not actually looking for them. Case in point: I was trying to figure out where I put down the print copy of that Ada/Leon fic I was talking about a couple weeks ago, with all the edits that still need to be typed up and a bunch of playlists scrawled out on the back. I didn't find it. What I found instead were my clip-on sunglasses I've been looking for for weeks, and the sketch that shows all of Asher's piercings that I was sure had either been tossed out or gone through the wash in a pocket. Maybe the fic will turn up when I'm looking for something else, later....

And as before, opinions, please!

In the event that my summoner Yuna wig doesn't arrive on time (it shipped yesterday, so, uh, we'll see), what should I wear to AB instead?

-PoA!Remus Lupin, Harry Potter
-vet!Seishirou, Tokyo Babylon (hair is way off for this one, but nobody will really recognize me anyway)
-Hatori, Fruits Basket
-mafia!Leon, RE4 (only one that requires any additional work, although it's an hour's worth at most, and I'll have perfect hair)

I'm open to other suggestions as well, but I'm packing light this con, so anything bulkier than a suit isn't happening, and I can't bring my other Tatsumi outfits because, uh, I don't fit into the pants any more. Leave your vote in the comments because I am not cool enough to have a real poll script.

Dear self, this whole 'Getting Things Done' thing works a lot better when you don't misplace the only sewing needle you were able to find the other day. Argh. Tomorrow, then, I bet there's more in the sewing room somewhere. Current status - I got the flame pattern for the cuffs of WM Yuna cut out, but need said sewing needle to sew them down. I also got the lining for Ada cut out and partially pinned together, which is somewhat of an accomplishment, as I modified the hell out of the bust on the original pattern, and then had to trace all my modifications onto tissue paper for the lining.

Non-costume-wise, my Life Saving and First Aid recert is tomorrow, and I'm panicking already, because I haven't done any of it in three years (that being how long a certification lasts) and I know I'm going to screw up deep water spinal. Ugh. May go play some KH2 to take my mind off of things.

-Fuzzy!
-Doesn't slide all over the place when you lay patterns out
-Doesn't really fray
-Sticks to itself just enough to make placing things easy
-Comes in basically every color ever.

I've been hand-sewing little fuzzy bits of detailing for White Mage Yuna since three this afternoon. On a mostly unrelated note, I think string bikinis are made for women who are either smaller-breasted, wider-chested, or who have a much more lax definintion of 'indecent exposure' than I do. I think my bras cover more than this. Ah well - it's going to be under that weird white wrap-top I still have to do.

Are we ever given any indication in-game that Rufus's weapon is a shotgun, other than it being double-barreled? Mostly because while I'm willing to believe that it's possible, if unlikely, to build enough strength to hold a shotgun steady and level with one hand, with no stock, but the recoil seems like a really fast way to seriously injure your wrist and/or arm. I didn't fire more than fifteen shells last weekend, several of which were from a smaller guage (20 - with shotguns, bigger numbers mean a smaller barrel diameter), and it killed to move my shoulder for three days afterwards. And...while I've never heard of it being done, it seems like it should be possible to made a rifle double-barreled, which would probably be lighter and have a lot less kick to it.

...Apparently the internet has read my mind. Just took a quick peek at the gun community on LJ, and someone was asking about the legality of double-barreled pistols. So it's definately possible. And yes, I am entirely guilty of overthinking fannish obsessions.