Wow it's been two years since I last logged in to Dreamwidth! And in the last post I made, I was talking about how sick I was, to boot- I hope no one thought I died! Life just got very busy, and I had less time for fandom/social media things- but I became a playwright, and a producer, and a director in that time, and board member of a theatre company I love very much, so those were all good excuses, I think!

Of course, now that we're in the middle of a global pandemic, I have much more time on my hands, since theatre is not happening right now, nor conventions to sew costumes for, so I have time again to check back in on this very ancient blog- if I count the original version of this blog on LJ, I've had it for over half my life, so I can't abandon it entirely.

I don't know if I'll keep up regularly here, but I certainly do think of the friends I have here regularly- I watched a few episodes of Sapphire and Steel last year because thisbluespirit recommended it. (I liked what I saw, but I didn't get very far- I was watching at my ex-boyfriend's house with his Amazon Prime, so when we broke up, that was the end of that, I'm afraid!)

I'm recalling that I have several prompt tables left to fill with Doctor Who fanworks, that I started years ago- after I finished watching all of Classic Who, I kind of fell out of fandom, but only temporarily. I love Doctor Who with all my heart, and I'll probably re-watch the first three Doctors eras at some point, so perhaps once I have the characters voices back in my head again, I'll write some more fic and finish those tables. I never did join AO3, which, now that we're social distancing, (and now that I've written fic for fandoms other than Doctor Who) I really feel like I ought to finally do! I'll probably forget again, but I really am making it a goal to do that this year.

I've missed two years of everyone's journals, so I hope everyone reading this has been doing well in that time, and I hope you're all staying safe now! Hopefully we'll all come out of this okay, eventually!

Life has been crazy lately- I've had family crisis come up that makes my schedule unpredictable, so I had to quit the Shakespeare play I was doing. I feel horribly guilty because it opens next week, but there's no way I can commit to the rigorous schedule of it right now. And I actually got to sing in one scene, and I really miss singing with other people, so I'm rather gutted to be missing out on that. But sometimes there's nothing you can do when everything happens at once. *sigh*

Obviously, I haven't had any time for sewing and I think my Peggy Carter cosplay will have to be shelved. Boo. But I can always wear one of my old Disney Princess outfits for that convention. What I really need to concentrate on making a wardrobe for is TeslaCon! I've been designing random steampunk things for years that I've never actually made, so this is the year to finally do it! I'm washing up some fabric and hoping to start sewing as soon as I have some free time.

My Doctor Who watch-a-thon has resumed with 'Revenge of the Cybermen'. ( Reactions here )

Once again, so much to tell since my last update! My panto closed last weekend- it was hard work, but worth it for all the laughter, and all the things I learned, and all the new friends I made. I miss it already! But my friends from the show convinced me to join Facebook after years of resisting, since apparently they have more privacy options now, so at least I'll still be able to hear from them all. (P.S. Facebook is apparently for people with way too much time on their hands- how can anyone sort through it all?! I'm not exactly a social butterfly and have no idea how people can have hundreds upon hundreds of 'friends', but I'm limiting 'friends' to people I've actually met, so that should hopefully keep it manageable. We'll see how it goes, or if I retreat in terror!)

But today is Christmas, so Merry Christmas to everyone! (Or Happy Holidays, since there are many other splendid mid-winter festivities in the world!) I'm celebrating with a turkey dinner and my usual round of old Christmas movies, so I'd say I've had myself a merry little Christmas, and I hope everyone else is having happy and peaceful celebrations too. :D

I wanted to write some holiday-themed Whofic, since I haven't had time to write anything while the panto was running, but earlier this week I had the cast party for our show to go to, and then an actual Christmas cookie party at my house with some friends from the show (which were both so much fun!), so I was cooking and/or cleaning my house this week instead of writing. But there's always New Years, so holiday fic could still happen! I've got all those prompts to fill at dw_allsorts after all. ;D

Random middle of the night updates are better than no updates I suppose, so-

I took the stage manager position after all. I really want to keep doing theater, and I decided it's best not to turn down opportunities when they're handed to you! This means I will be very busy for the next three months, and so I won't have time to make Clara's governess outfit for Chicago TARDIS this year. :(

BUT- I have three other cosplays planned, and one is almost done, one already started, and the other I have all the materials for- and except for painting the flowers and birds onto Ian's Marco Polo jacket, they're relatively simple, so I should still have all three days of the convention covered! Woohoo! I can do this!!! \o/

Also went to see an exhibit of costumes from Downton Abbey last week- it was amazing! They had them set up in a beautiful historic mansion that was modelled on an English country house, so you really got the full 'stepping into history' ambiance. The costumes are half the reason I watch, tbh, and they're all so exquisite in person. The construction details are interesting to see, & getting to look up close from several angles was a real treat! A lot of the beaded & embroidered pieces were actually from the period, and you just don't see handwork like that anymore! Also it was very surprising to see how tiny all the actresses costumes are. You expect them to be very tall because they have so much screen presence, but they're just average people, albeit very thin ones! There's hope for us short girls yet, lol.

My Classic Who watch-a-thon has already slowed to a crawl before my rehearsals even start, but I finally managed to watch 'The Three Doctors' last night. I felt very strongly that the Second Doctor was written completely out of character, so that was very disappointing, since I'd hoped for one more story with my lovely, sweet, funny Two, and got a rather obnoxious childish substitute instead. Even the Brigadier felt a bit off- his dryly amused air replaced with outright disdain for the Doctor in some instances, so I think the writers were simply not having a good day. The story was alright, & Benton & Jo were adorable as usual, so that was good at least. And of course, the small bits with William Hartnell as the First Doctor really got to me. However small, they're his last appearance as the Doctor, and he's the original and best, in my book. ♥ On to 'Carnival of Monsters' next!

Am still tired out from Civil War weekend reenacting. The weather was glorious & the park it was at was lovely, but now skies are grey & raining and all I want to do is sleep! Luckily there isn't an event again this weekend, especially since I have to be at a rehearsal all day Saturday. I got asked back as stage manager for the actual run of the production, & we're doing blocking rehearsals now & it's all very interesting to watch it take shape & I'm very excited at the prospect of being backstage at an actual theater again!

In fangirl nonsense news, I finished re-watching my favorite childhood TV show, ReBoot, recently. I'd almost forgotten how great it was, but I never really stopped loving it. Even after all these years it still blows me away with how fantastic it is- the writing is top notch, the characters are still my heroes, and the visual side of it is just gorgeous. I don't buy the accusation that the CG animation is 'primitive' by today's standards- it's still beautifully designed, & it still impresses me with how sophisticated it looks, and this was from the 1990s! Season 3, especially, is mindblowingly beautiful. And the human characters actually look more like humans than any other CG animated characters I've ever seen- no caricatured 'cartoony' stuff at all. (Except when they went & re-designed them all in season 4, and then they didn't even look like themselves- but the writing was AWFUL & none of the characters acted like themselves either, so I'm totally not counting season 4 as part of ReBoot & just pretending it didn't exist!)

Now I'm having all kinds of feels over this show though, & not being able to let go of it, but there's like no fandom for it these days to satiate my obsession. I would read all the fic, but there really isn't any! There's a couple things on A03 (yes, I looked!) but the majority of it is by one author with a very creepy pairing that I would sooner die than read about, so that's that I guess! I did make a mix tape (yes, on an actual cassette tape) for season 3 back when I was 12- maybe I'll re-create it & expand on it as a fanmix on 8tracks, just to see if anyone actually listens to it. I'd forgotten what it's like to be in a small fandom; I guess I'll have to scuttle back to Doctor Who pretty soon so I can have other people to squee with! (But actually, season one of ReBoot reminds me a lot of season one of Classic Who- Dot & Bob are totally Barbara & Ian, and Enzo is their Susan & Phong is the Doctor- no wonder I took to Classic Who so quickly! Apparently I've been unconsciously seeking out the same characters my whole life, lol.)

Up next: watching more Classic Who!