Seize the Stars

After being ridiculously busy for the past month, I'm now stuck at home with a nasty virus and feeling miserable because all my friends are out having a Fourth of July party and watching the fireworks while I'm sitting on my own coughing up large chunks of phlegm :(

For the 4th I usually at least watch The Music Man and eat some apple pie, but I don't feel celebratory in light of the horrible things going on in this country, and I'm too exhausted from my constant coughing fits to even try to cheer myself up. The onset of post-show depression isn't helping anyway- I usually feel sad after I finish doing a play, and not having another show lined up to do until December makes me more than a little anxious. Theatre is usually the only thing that makes me feel useful or happy, and there's not even anything to audition for on the horizon. But on the bright side, I made lots of new friends from this last show, and we've been trying to do stuff together on a regular basis, which is nice.

I really need to get cracking on sewing costumes for conventions, but for some reason I've had no desire to sew at all. And I should be excited- at TeslaCon this year, they're having a black & white My Fair Lady Ascot scene theme event, which I've dreamed of doing since I was a little kid... but I don't want to make anything for it, I just want to magically have a perfect outfit spring into existence for me to wear :p

Being super sick right now is probably not helping my motivation or optimism at any rate. Being sick in the summer is the WORST. Be gone, foul plague!!

Why, look, I'm still alive! *gasp* I totally forgot about posting my pics from TeslaCon, which I will do soon(ish).

I'm in rehearsals for another play- this time acting again, which is a bit of a relief after the last show I stage-managed turned out to be a pretty awful experience, but at least it looked good on stage, and it's over now. Onward and upward!

Just bought tickets for a Wizarding (i.e. Harry Potter) Convention this summer, so hopefully that should be fun. I honestly don't know if I'm even going to make any costumes for this one though- I think I might just wear my store-bought Hogwarts gear and just hang around with my friends, since I have a few real life friends who might go too. Not having a sewing project staring me in the face during the run of the play I'm in would definitely be a stress reducing move, after all.

I've fallen down the rabbit hole of Disney fandom once again thanks to the excellent current Disney princess TV series. Tangled: The Series and Elena of Avalor are surprisingly well written and beautifully animated, and I've reached the point where I'm finally old enough to admit I still really like kids stuff lol. And anyway I'm very close to finishing watching all of Classic Who, so it's good to have more shows to binge-watch when I get done with it. (I recently bought a ton of Big Finish stuff though, so I'm not nearly done with Doctor Who itself!)

Since I'm too tired for any more thinking or typing, and have proved that I'm still here, I think it's time for some sleep at last.

The theme at TeslaCon was Bucharest, Romania- so lots of eastern European/folk dress/fantasy kind of stuff mixed with the usual Steampunk stuff. I liked the aesthetic a lot. Starting with my last outfit first, I think the outfit I made for Sunday captured the theme the best out all my outfits that weekend, and since it had bloomers instead of a skirt, it was a lot easier to wear!



( Read more... )

I'm finding that my decision to not do any theatre this summer in order to concentrate on sewing has left me rather bored and bereft of a social life, but at least I've started to make progress on my historical sewing projects, which is some small consolation. I've finally got my late 1880s bustle done, so I can at least start on skirts now, but for the life of me, I CANNOT find a late 1880s bodice pattern that fits AT ALL. The late 1880s is one of my favorite costume eras, and this year's theme at TeslaCon *is* late 1880s, but I've tried so many patterns that just don't remotely work (and I'm terrible at making patterns from scratch) that I'm just about to give up in despair. *sigh* (On the bright side, I finally made an 1860s/early 70s bodice pattern that fits, so I'm super excited to make some new stuff when I get back to Civil War reeanacting next year!)

In fandom news, I'm terribly, terribly sad that Deborah Watling, who played one of my very favorite Doctor Who companions, has passed away. It was apparently a very recent illness- I just saw her at a Doctor Who convention 8 months ago, and she certainly didn't seem ill then. I first met her at the same convention two years before that, when I'd made cosplays of two of her costumes, and I actually cried the first time I talked to her and told her how much her portrayal of Victoria meant to me! But she was very sweet and hugged me, and asked how long it had taken to make them, and said they looked just like the original outfits she wore. And when I fretted that I had to just guess what color to make the dress from 'Evil of the Daleks' because there were no color photos of it, she said that it didn't matter, because I'd made it with love, so even if it wasn't the exact same color, it was still perfect. I'll never forget that as long as I live. You cosplay a character because you love them, and to be able to let the person who created the character know that means so much.

I think Victoria is a hugely underrated character, and Deborah made her so real and lovable. Her scene with Patrick Troughton as the Doctor in 'Tomb of the Cybermen' where he comforts her about her father's death is honestly one of the most beautiful scenes in Doctor Who. It feels like far too soon to be saying goodbye to someone at 69, in this day and age when people live so long, but I'll always treasure the work she did, and the brief time I got to spend with her. RIP Debbie. ♥

Been laying low and trying to rest up since my last play closed, because a) I was sick as a dog and b) I wanted to feel better for my road trip to see 'My Fair Lady' in Chicago! I saw it on Thursday and it was AMAZING!!!



The Lyric Opera has been doing an annual musical for a few years, and they're always spectacular world class productions, but this one was my absolute favorite I've seen. For one thing, Richard E. Grant is playing Henry Higgins. I nearly fainted when I heard they'd cast him- he's been one of my favorite actors for years, and never in my wildest dreams did I, a penniless midwestern girl, think I would ever get the chance to see him live on stage! And he was perfect in this role, as was Lisa O'Hare as Eliza Doolittle.

( A review with spoilers and squeeing )

So tired. Final dress rehearsal for my latest play went well- but honestly after a very long tech week, I feel like I'd rather just be done with it and sleep for a whole day than go to opening night tomorrow! But apparently people have paid to come see us, which is pretty cool after all, so the show goes on. And since I'm running the show from backstage, I get to play with the vintage hats and costumes in the ladies dressing room while they're all on stage, heehee! (No, I'm not supposed to, but that's just what happens when you leave me alone with a rack full of vintage clothing for any length of time. When the cat's away...lol)

I'm sad that I didn't finish my fic for who_guestfest yet again. *sigh* But at least I started one this year! But once tech week came around, it was a lost cause to even think about writing anything. Still gonna try and finish eventually, but probably after the show closes, since I'll need to sleep sometime between then and now!

Watched the season premiere of Doctor Who, since I was sitting home that Saturday night and had nothing else to do anyway. (Or so I thought: I learned the next day that THE ZOMBIES(!!!) had played a concert a few miles away from me that very night and I'd missed it. I had no idea the original band members had even gotten back together, let alone had a tour stop in my hometown, so I spent the next day crying my eyes out at missing my one chance ever to hear my favorite band live. But I digress...) ( text )

Anyway, just hoping to get thru the rest of this weekend without collapsing! *fingers crossed*

Here is the new masterpost for my second prompt table originally claimed on LJ and now transferred to the Dreamwidth side of the comm at who_allsorts:

First Doctor Era: 15 prompts - Poetry Randomiser

#01 Writing by candlelight	#02 – A silken dress	#03 – Too long shut in	#04 – Where are you leading me	#05 – In ferocious cold
#06 – Beating wings	#07 – I dare not move	#08 – I had a dream	#09 – Put off that mask	#10 – The scene is set
#11 – And the sudden light	#12 – Enchantment was undone	#13 - The dust of a kiss	#14 - A gallant flower	#15 - All in war with Time

I realize I've neglected online blogging for a while, due to a combination of being very busy with theater things and the uncertainty over the fate of LJ. Even though I'd officially decided to move over to Dreamwidth, I was clinging to LJ since it's still bigger and busier and I'm loathe to lose the active comms I have there. (There's a comm I'd love to import to DW, but I'm only a mod and I fear the owners are long gone, and I worry about losing that one particularly.)

But I think now with LJ's new user agreement upon us, it's finally time to be more active in my migration to Dreamwidth. I'm not going to delete my journal over there or anything, & I'm going to try to figure out how to cross-post DW entries to LJ, but I might disable LJ-side commenting. I think more of us trying to be active on DW might encourage others and liven things up over here. I'm still getting the hang of the differences between the two sites, and that'll probably take a while to get used to, but I'm going to try. I don't relish losing LJ one bit, since I've been there for such a long time & there's so many memories and so much history there. But if it becomes necessary to let it go one day, I'd like to be pro-active about creating something to take it's place. I'd like to think that if we could build up a fandom there, we can build up the same here too.

So, Hello Dreamwidth! *waves*

Random updating returns! For a start, it's my birthday today, and I feel rather ill, but I'm determined to go out and get an ice cream sundae later and try to have some fun and not feel too depressed that I'm another year older. It feels a little anti-climactic to have my actual birthday a few days after my birthday party, but I've got a rehearsal tonight, and a couple of my friends are in the show, so at least I'll get to see them and that's nice. And anyway, last week I went to hear Chad & Jeremy (1960s British folk duo) live in concert as my early birthday present to myself, which was amazing and so much fun, so I really can't complain. (They're just as good now as they were in 1964. They're very funny in person, and they've even branched out into blues-ier songs as well, which they're equally adept at. But hearing their classics like 'A Summer Song', 'Willow Weep for Me' and 'Distant Shores' live was just magical. And I got to chat with them when they signed my poster! Not many 60s bands a girl my age can say that about!)

So as mentioned above, rehearsals for this year's holiday panto have started. We're doing the Wizard of Oz, and it's good silly fun. I don't think I quite have my stage manager organizational brain capabilities 100% back yet, but hopefully it'll come to me soon!

Amidst lists and script changes and rehearsals I don't have much time for other projects, but I'm chugging along with my sewing- my brown Steampunk jacket for TeslaCon is ready to be sewn together, or at least seems to be- it's a Simplicity pattern, so I don't trust it one bit, but the muslin mock-up didn't have any problems, so I'm keeping fingers crossed it'll behave as well in the cotton twill fashion fabric.

Been randomly watching Classic Who. I got very bored once Harry left, though! I don't know what it is that makes my brain turn off the minute it's only the Doctor and Sarah Jane in the TARDIS, and I feel like a bad fan for it, but idk. I just couldn't keep awake during 'Planet of Evil' or 'Pyramids of Mars' even though everyone says they're some of the best. Maybe it's the definite shift from the 'team tardis' dynamic to the 'doctor and sidekick' dynamic that I find off-putting. But I'll continue to watch because it's Doctor Who and I'm so close to finishing the classic series! (And also I've been procrastinating by listening to Big Finish in between TV serials- oops! I should really give all the Big finish stories proper reviews someday when I'm less busy.)

Anyway, that's all for now and I should get some sleep. LOL that would be the best birthday present of all!

Life continues to be crazy. I've had to try to get as much stuff out of my apartment as possible, since they finally decided to remodel the bathroom after many years of asking, but most stuff got put in the basement, which is now flooded after torrential rain these past few days, so now I have to get it all out of there. *headdesk* It seems the universe is determined for me not to have any fun or get any creative endeavors finished AT ALL this summer. And the tropical humidity this week certainly hasn't helped to improve my morale. :/

I attempted to have some fun today by going to the vintage flea market I'd been excited about for months, but as soon as I got there it rained. A lot. And since it was outdoors, both the attendees and the merchandise got soaked. There were some straw purses and silk scarves I might have bought had they not been totally wet through, so that was disappointing, but when people suggested that having it indoors next year would be a good idea, the people putting it on got offended and seemed to think we were insinuating they didn't care about the condition of their merchandise, which seemed a bit of an extreme take-away from a friendly customer suggestion! (Although on second thought, they probably don't care very much if they brought all their most expensive unique pieces outside without enough tents to cover them all!) On the bright side, there were a few racks inside, and I got to try on a 1910s sheer overdress that fit me perfectly. It was pretty expensive and in poor condition, so I didn't buy, but I think I could re-create it pretty easily with fabrics and patterns I have in my stash, so yay! I always think vintage shopping isn't wasted, because even without buying something you can still get ideas for things to make. (But next time I hope I won't have to get so wet!!)

Haven't had time for Classic Who despite my best efforts. Maybe next month things will be settled down again finally, and I'll be able to write again and sew for TeslaCon at last. *fingers crossed*