Day in the Life of an Idiot

Killed by Senbonzakura

2013-05-23T00:35:46Z

So, we went to kuk sool finally after many days absence to discover that all the cherry blossoms had bloomed, so OF COURSE we had to take some petals home and have a little shikai battle. You'll have to imagine (a lot), but also that I have Zabimaru.

I kind of like how the blossoms look like magic spikes. (Mason makes a good Byakuya, neh?)

My sad death. Luckily, I'm headed to the Soul Society!

No, I will rise again, like Renji!

Car Troubles and Porn Flail

2013-05-21T15:08:41Z

As I was driving Shawn to work today, we were idling at Lexington and Summit at the stoplight there when all of a sudden a plume of white smoke came up from under my hood. I've had so many problems with that particular sight I no longer go into super-panic mode, ie, "Ai! Car on Fire!!"

Instead, I calmly finished taking Shawn to work, bought a few groceries on the way home, and then told Mason, "Looks like a library day!" My new auto repair guy is Dave's Auto's in Roseville, which is directly across the street from the library, so when the car is stuck in the shop, I (or Mason and I during intersession) sit in the coffeeshop/library awaiting news/a rescue. (The Roseville Library has an Dunn Brothers attached that opens at 6:30 am, so that's super convenient). I've spent an entire day at the library and the only hardship is knowing I can't really go anywhere else. But, with the coffee shop attached it has EVERYTHING I NEED, in order: wifi, books, coffee, food and water and shelter. And, of course, a bathroom.

Anyway, when I pulled into Dave's and explained the situation to the guy behind the counter, he said, "Well, let's take a look." We walked outside together. He popped my hood and inspected everything in that way only a car mechanic can. I mean, I look at all those hoses and bits and think, "Huh. Car," and wouldn't be able to tell you if the engine was missing, but this guy sees all the signs. He opens up my steering fluid container and says, "I think this is over filled. Look here how it's spilled over onto the top. See how your engine has a wet spot? I think we found your culprit."

Then, he goes back into the shop and gets an HONEST TO GOD TURKEY BASTER and pulls out some excess fluid and pats me on the back and says, "There you go. Fixed."

AND IT WAS FREE.

I am utterly and completely in love with Dave's Auto and every single person who works there forever and for all time and I might have accidentally told them that as we left.

But, since Mason and I had psyched ourselves up for an all day adventure and it looks like rain, Mason and I decided, "Screw it, let's have a library day anyway," so I drove over to the library parking lot and we're now sitting in the coffeeshop waiting for he library to open.

Meanwhile, in unrelated news, my friend empty_mirrors point me to this: http://nrrrdy-grrrl.livejournal.com/580483.html a nice link salad of slash resources for those of us who ocassionally feel porn challenged, like myself. I've been told I write okay sex (slash commenters lead me to believe I ocassionally hit the mark into "hot,") but the writing of sex scenes is always a struggle. It was/is a struggle in my day job as a romance writer, too.

Anyway, the library is now open.

Don't You Wish You Were My Pen Pal?

2013-05-17T02:52:09Z

This is the sort of thing that appears as random art on the bottom of the letters I send to my pen pal, Keri, in Seattle. Several years ago (or maybe just a couple years ago), I decided that I missed the sensual, private pleasure of writing personal letters. So I put out a request on Facebook. Keri, a woman I only kinda-sorta knew at the time said, "Oooh, pick me!" So I did. We've been corresponding for at least a year and a half if not two years now and every time I write to her, I usually embellish the letter with a bit of fan art/art.

Here's what I'm sending her this week:

Pretty nice, huh? I bet you wish you were my pen pal.

Or maybe not. Maybe you'd be pretty sick of all the Renji I send.... Although, tbf, I have actually sent her Ichigo, Kisuke Urahara, Captain Kyouraku, Byakuya, and Gin Ichimaru, so I'm not ENTIRELY one-track fan art-ing her. Though there's a lot of Renji. How do I know? My red colored pencil is little more than a sad little stub.

Signed! Love is the Law!

2013-05-15T14:31:52Z

Yesterday, despite the WTF 90 degree tempuratures, Mason and I braved the crowds at the capitol to witness history in the making. Shawn was home for the afternoon, having come with us to Como Zoo earlier, but as she's such an extreme introvert that she faints in large crowds, she stayed home. Good call, I think, because it was REALLY crowded.

We were never close enough to actually see our governor sign the bill into law, but we could hear his less-than-rousing-but-still-wildly-cheered speech. Poor Governor Dayton, he's just not a spit fire. He's got such a good heart, but he always looks and sounds like such a sad sack.

Anyway, Mason did what he does at any major historical event:

I think in the future, when his children (if he has any) ask him, "Papa, where were you when...?" Mason will have to scratch his chin and say, "Oh, I was there. I remember, because I was reading XX by X." They'll say, "What was it like, Papa?" And, he'll have to shrug and say, "Oh, it's a great book...." but have NO OTHER MEMORY OF THE ENTIRE HISTORICAL MOMENT.

But, honestly, the actual memories are: it was stupid hot. There were too many bodies all pressed together. Oh, and ima got a little misty-eyed when the bill was actually signed.

And, then, I should tell you all, I had the first dream of my entire twenty-eight some years with Shawn of CHEATING ON HER. I think that probably the idea of marriage has utterly freaked out my subconscious, and I'm now trying to break up with her on the astral plane.

(Republican secret agenda: freak out long-term GBLT couples.)

Ban Sai!

2013-05-14T20:19:51Z

The Como Zoo has been doing a lot of renovation. One of the things they've added is a bonsai "garden." They always had a display, but they've arranged it now so that when you're head to the Japanese garden you stroll through a special gallery that displays not only the bansai, but also some of the traditional tea ceremony equipment for the tea hut they have. Some day, I'm going to register for one of their tea ceremonies. Maybe this year...

At any rate, Shawn took half a day off to spend with Mason and me, and we decided to check out the zoo. Of course today it decided to try to hit 90 degrees (F). I ended up taking a lot of pictures of the bonsai garden because not a lot was blooming yet in the Japanese garden (because...uh, it was snowing last week.)

Bonsai!

The garden itself is fairly lovely, though like I said, not a lot is blooming yet. It was funny because I kept forgetting that it was only last week that we were still shoveling, and I'd say things like, "Why don't they have the water for the seals out yet?" Oh... right! Or, "why aren't there more icecream stands ready yet?" Oh... right. I guess Minnesota winters are the kind of pain you forget.

Japanese Garden!

We walked around and looked at the animals a bit too, but most of the big cats were asleep in the sun. The ram was funny though. It really wanted to butt heads with someone, and there was a reindeer on the other side of its fence that it tried to engage. The reindeer yawned tauntingly, while the ram kept kind of rushing the fence a bit. It was funny, mostly because the reindeer couldn't have been less impressed.

In about a half hour, Mason and I are going to make our way over to the capitol to watch the governor sign the Marriage Equality Act bill into law. It should be quite the party. If I can, I'll try to get pictures of that too.

She Said YES...

2013-05-14T00:37:02Z

Perhaps you heard? The Minnesota Senate, after far too much deliberation and a somewhat narrow margin of seven votes, passed the Marriage Equality for All Act (or whatever it's officially called) and have legalized same sex marriage.

I spent much of the day hanging out with my friend naomikritzer trying not to think about what was happening at the capitol. I get really nervous about things like my civil rights, and I feel like I've seen things go pear-shaped when they seemed certain (like WTF, Prop 8?) Naomi was perfect company because we'd talk about things, she'd check the live feeds/blogs, give me a little report, we'd discuss whatever was new a little, and then go on to other things. I didn't have to dwell or stew or rant at the radio. The Senate still hadn't gone to a vote by the time I went to pick Shawn up, so I came home to discover my Facebook feed EXPLODED with the news. My telephone started ringing. It was my very last boyfriend EVER, Bill spelled Wm, who called to wish me a happy congratulations. While I was on the phone with him, people were responding to my dubious, "Uh, well, I guess I'm getting married, huh?" post on Facebook, to which my penpal Keri noted, "Not until you propose!"

So Bill got to hear me squeal, "Oh, shit! That's right!" While Mason was yelling, "You know how to do this, don't you? You have to have a ring and go down on one knee!"

The ring is one from Mason's jewelry box. He has a box of trinkets from Shawn and my youth, and the ring he picked for me to offer is the very one Shawn used to play dress-up with when she wanted to feel fancy and elegant or TO PRETEND TO GET MARRIED.

There was a tense moment when I got down on my knee. Shawn has, in point of fact, rejected a ring from me before. Once, almost twenty years ago now, when we were at the Mall of America, I contrived to surprise her with a Claddaugh, which I'd hoped she'd wear to show she was in a relationship, a kind of a promise ring. When I offered it, her face crumpled and she said she had to say 'no.' She never wanted a ring like that, and, anyway, did we really need something like that to symbolize our bond...? Since I still had the receipt, I took it back... utterly heartbroken, honestly. We laugh about it now, but I can't say I wasn't thinking about that while I was down on my knees.

She said yes.

She is, in fact, still wearing the goofy plastic thing, which she wore proudly when we went out to eat to celebrate. Hey, empty_mirrors, guess what? We had fish and chips! Or, at least I did, though I have to confess they were from Red Lobster.

At dinner, we did a lot of talking to Mason and among ourselves about what this means. We've decided that what's going to happen for certain is this: as soon as the law takes effect--August 1, we will get married officially. Why? I need health insurance, fast. I've been without preventative care for over a decade now. I haven't been to a proper doctor in forever. Then, we'll take some time and plan for a December wedding, probably next year in 2014. I'd like to try to keep our December 1st anniversary. It's served us well for twenty-seven years, and I'd hate to have to start over at one, you know? But, I have no idea when that date next falls on a Saturday or a Sunday (and I'm too lazy to Google right now), and we don't want to have to wait forever, so I may just have to compromise and do the weekend closest to our anniversary.

Will we have "real" rings? Probably not. I can't wear metal and, f*ck, the whole thing is supposed to symbolize a kind of chain, so screw that. Maybe I'll consider a ceramic ring, like my parents had. But, Shawn already has a wedding ring she wears that belonged to her mother and grandmother.

One thing we've decided on is a minister. The woman who did Ella's funeral keeps popping up in our lives. She did the funeral for my nephew Adam, and then married my niece Alicia. We'd kind of like her to do any ceremony we have, because she's a Unitarian and we know how well she listened to the stories we wanted told about Ella... and did a stunning job with it. So it would be nice to do something positive with her, too. (She was thrilled to meet Mason at Alicia's wedding.)

After that, like I said earlier, the only other thing I want for sure is a dance. Shawn will probably hate the large crowd, so we may have to find a place that has an "Introvert's Corner" for Shawn and my other massively introverted friends to cower in when the crowd gets to loud, noisy, and exuberant. Shawn confessed over dinner that maybe she wants a bit of veil on a hat--one of those broad hats you always see the ladies wearing at British weddings (no fascinators, though!)

So, yeah... wow. I'm still kind of in shock. I really never expected this option and now that I have it, I really don't know what to do with it. So much about weddings I never wanted, but what I do want is health insurance and all that legal stuff other married people have access to. The dress, the cake--oh, actually, we have my mom on the cake, so that's covered--the rest? I don't know.

I realize though that weddings, like funerals are in some ways, for other people. So, you know, if there's something you want us to have, put your suggestions in now and we'll seriously consider it! Why not?!

My New LJ Icon (Thanks to Frank!)

2013-05-12T16:11:42Z

Yeah, that's kind of all I wanted to say: CHECK OUT MY NEW ICON! Of course, in that dress, a few more of Renji's tattoos would show, but who cares, because THIS IS SO F*CKING AWESOME. Thank you, Frank Gosar! Thank you, thank you, thank you!

In other news, naomikritzer, haddayr and I spoke at the Regional MENSA meeting yesterday. Naomi says of it: http://naomikritzer.livejournal.com/271725.html.

Mine was like that, only without the need for a PSA. Although I didn't spill coffee on myself right before public speaking, Shawn and I did have a kerfuffle over a painting project that I'd neglected for a long time. So, I wasn't in the best head space either, and we had to rely on Haddayr to be the brains. Luckily, she has enough to cover all three of us.

I did, however, kind of wake up at the very end of the panel discussion to completely jump down the throat of an older guy in the audience who ended up asking this question, "Where were your grandmothers? When I was reading science fiction it was the golden age: Isaac Asimov, Heinlien, etc. I can only only remember a few women--"

I interrupted him right there and said, "Perhaps you've heard of this thing called 'sexism'?"

Where was my grandmother? WTF. Seriously? My father's mother was cleaning houses and lamenting the fact she only had a fourth grade education. My mother's mother was cooking and supporting her family as a widow. It wasn't until the invention of the pill that women of MY MOTHER'S GENERATION finally had the reproductive freedom to even CONSIDER the luxury of writing science fiction for chrissake! And YET, despite all those barriers, SCIENCE FICTION WAS INVENTED BY A WOMAN: MARY SHELLEY.

So f*ck you!

My response, I'll note, was only a little more measured and thoughtful.

But, I did finish painting the hallway. It looks great in "castle path." The ceiling (which was the original project) still needs doing, but we'd been meaning to do this hallway for a long, long time. I didn't take any pictures, because I'm not sure you could tell the difference any more.

Tomorrow, I may post the pictures of the beautious and delicious brunch I made today which included: fresh homemade cinnamon swirl bread, eggs, and sage sausage patties.

Anyway, great icon, neh? LOVE IT!!

I May Have to Get a New LJ Icon: Wedding Bells

2013-05-10T12:29:08Z

The Minnesota House voted to extend marriage equality to everyone yesterday. On Monday, the Senate is expected to weigh in, but, provided they have the votes (which many sources say they do), the governor has already promised to sign.

I... uh, could be getting married soon. *gulp*

I mean, YAY!

As I've talked about before, this is just one of those things I made peace with DECADES ago when I came out. Though one of the ways I always knew I was different from the other girls is that I never had the long, involved wedding fantasies they did. So, to suddenly be faced with -- do we get dresses? Rings? A Unitarian minister? Kind of throws me a little.

One thing I've always loved about weddings, though, is getting to dance. So I told Shawn that the one thing I absolutely MUST have at our wedding is a dance hall. I want to dance all night long and I want all our friends--as many who want to/can celebrate with us--to dance and dance and dance (but not until our feet burn up, just until we collapse with joy.)

So, I'll be watching Monday. Fingers crossed.

Living Up to the Blog Title

2013-05-09T11:58:59Z

I have a reoccuring dream/nightmare where I'm arriving at a science fiction convention bright and early on a Saturday morning, I make my leisurely way to registration and... discover I've missed half my panels.

After last night, I suspect I'm going to have a new writing-related nightmare: missing a reading.

So, yeah, I was sitting on my comfy chair doing a whole lot of nothing when the phone rings. Shawn answers it. I hear, "This is she. ... Oh my god!" I sit up, because I think, "Oh, crap, who died?!" Shawn's eyes are wide and she looks at me, "Lyda! You were supposed to be at a reading at Dreamhaven!" I run to the phone, and, sure enough, it's Eric Heideman who coordinates the Speculations Reading series wondering where the heck I am. I look at the time: it's 6:35 pm (the reading started at 6:30) and I say, "On my way!" At least he tells me, I'm not the only one who forgot--at the present time the only people in the store were Greg (Dreamhaven's owner) and himself.

Knowing there wasn't even a small crowd waiting meant to didn't kill anyone as I sped across town. Luckily, Dreamhaven, though it's in another city (Minneapolis), is no more than fifteen minutes away. I made it in 20, because (of course) not only did I hit every single traffic light, but the light rail train crossed at 38th and I had to wait.

On my panicked drive I called naomikritzer because I really needed to share my horror with someone who would understand. Luckily, Naomi thought it was hillarious (just what I needed, honestly,) and I was able to tell her that what I wished was for that moment in "Practical Magic" where Sandra Bullock's character is able to "activate the phone tree!" People seem to be able to organize flash mobs on a moment's notice, but could I get anyone to show up at Dreamhaven for me?

Nope.

In the end it was me, Eric, and one actual audience member. I really tried to wheeddle my way out of reading anything, but Eric insisted I read SOMETHING. He'd found a copy of a Tales of the UnAnticipated that I had a short story in, so I ended up reading the entire "Van Buylen Effect" (my time-travel couch story.) Since I was mostly reading for myself, I spent the time thinking, "Huh, that was a pretty good story." I don't write a lot of short stories because I tend to find them difficult--condensing a whole beginning, middle and end and all the other things you need like an emotional arc and all that into 10,000 words or less is a very daunting prospect for me. So, I was suprised I'd managed to pull it off pretty well. This is the story, actually, that was recently rejected for a time-travel anthology (the editors were specifically looking for reprints). I'd been feeling like maybe it wasn't as strong a story as I remembered, but now I think, well, actually it was all right.

Anyway, afterwards, the three of us went out for drinks at Merlin's Rest. It was quiz night at the pub, so we entertained ourselves by trying to answer the questions, even though we weren't playing along. I hadn't been in Merlin's Rest before really, and I tasted a bit of the fish and chips Eric ordered. I have to say, I'll be back there. Shawn and I have been looking for a decent fish and chips place since Molly Quinn's closed.

The night ended up being salvaged but OH MY GOD WHAT A NIGHTMARE.

Iron Meh

2013-05-08T13:18:55Z

First, I want to say: library day was a big success. I ended up reading the first three Manga volumes of Naruto. (I'm totally hooked!) Mason read the newest "janitor" book as well as one called JINX, which he'd had on hold. It was kind of cool to pick out books, check them out, read them while sitting there, and return them before we left for the day. We also had money on a Noodles & Co. gift card we got for Christmas, so we had a free lunch (and they say there's no such thing!)

In the middle of the day I got a text from my Marvel Movie buddy seanmmurphy. He's been wicked busy, so he finally had some time to go see Iron Man 3 and did I want to go? Of course I did!

A lot has been said about this movie. I read Charlie Jane Anders' review in io9 and so I was expecting big things. Entertainment Weekly also gave it a A-.

I... was less impressed. As I've said on Facebook, I was never a huge Iron Man reader back in the day, so my comic book canon fu is low when it comes to villans and story lines in the Iron Man title. ("The Wolverine" is going to be a tougher sell for me because Silver Samurai and the whole Japan storyline was a favorite of both Shawn and mine back in the day.) But what I'm saying is, my problems with Iron Man 3 had nothing to do with any kind of canon fail... at least not in a nit-picky kind of way. But it also meant that the SPECTACLE of the suits worked for me, but only so far...

I will say in what I hope is a spoiler-free way, that Marvel very carefully gives its heroes weaknesses that are critical to the character, and I felt, at the end, perhaps Tony Stark's was severely undercut.

I think my problem was very simply that Tony Stark never changes. A bunch of stuff happens to him in this movie that sort of parallel Thor's fall from grace, but, unlike with Thor, I never felt a real transformation from Tony. I never bought he was humbled by any of it, because he remained the quippy, surface guy he was in the very first Iron Man movie (well, more like who he is in the 2nd Iron Man and Avengers, because at least in the origin story he has to go from military industrial playboy wanker to superhero playboy wanker.)

[Spoiler (click to open)]

But what about the panic attacks, you argue? My problem there was that, while they were a good character moment (and possibly the first on-screen version of superhero PTS) he got over them INCREDIBLY EASILY and, more importantly, they never happened to him during battle, when losing his nerve could have actually cost himself his life OR SOMEONE ELSE's. Thus, they were kind superflious to the plot... and honestly to his character development. He doesn't seem to learn anything having gone through them, about the perils of being a hero. Sure, he's worried about Pepper and throws away his electro-magnet heart, but I just don't buy it. He'll be back. He's Iron Man. He says so at the end, which, again undercuts any real tension and character development.

So, yeah, I felt Iron Man was sort of Iron Meh.

Library Day and Fan Fic Thinky-Thoughts

2013-05-07T14:09:44Z

Remember when I had to take my car into the shop and I spent the day at Ramsey County Library? Well, Mason was wildly jealous, and has been bugging me to give him a "library day." Today, is library day for us. Mason is off for the month on Intersession, so we're going to head out as soon as the library opens around 10 am and make a full day of it. Should be fun, I think.

...Or he'll be bored after a couple of hours, which will be fine too. It's a lovely day. It's supposed to his 78 degrees (F). If he feels like bailing, maybe I'll talk him into a walk around Como Zoo and Conservatory or a hike through Hidden Falls or something.

In other news, I had an epiphany yesterday. Not as exciting as it may sound. I'm actually fairly prone to epiphanies, and when I articulate it, you'll probably be all, "whatever. *I* knew _that_." This is why I'm prone to ephiphanies, and why no one should alert the national media when I announce I've had one. Things that are obvious to other people will suddenly hit me like a sack of bricks. Just ask my dad about Montreal. (We both felt stupid about that one!)

At any rate, here is it: writing is hard.

See, I said you'd be disappointed.

But, specifically, the thing I learned yesterday regarding the hardness of writing is that it's hard for both the writer AND THE READER.

I should say that I'm talking about original fiction here, and that by comparing fan fiction critque to to original fiction critique is how I learned this startling fact. At a fan fiction writing party I went to last Friday, I was hanging out with my fan fiction writing friends and the conversation turned to original fiction. Both myself and one of the other women there are trying to write original fiction for sale (she's sold some coloring books, I've, of course, sold novels and am trying to break back into that gig.) Anyway, we agreed that what was missing from original fiction writing was the cheerleading. She agreed to cheerlead my original fiction projects, so I posted the very rough beginning of my Deep Space Lawyer up on Google Docs for her.

If my novel start had been a peice of my fanfic, I have no doubt I would have gotten the "whoosh" of excitement as she ran off to read it.

Instead, I got crickets.

In fact, I gave up waiting for critique from her and revised it based on some things that my writers' group said about an unrelated novel start, the one that takes place on Mars (because I thought that their thoughts applied to this one as well.)

Maybe I should be annoyed or disappointed by this reaction, but instead I asked myself, why I am I so much more excited to read the lastest from my friend empty_mirrors's amazing alternate universe Bleach epic, and yet I have to drag my feet through reading a submission from Wyrdsmiths? (A phenomenon so common we all jokingly refer to having "read our homework on the bus" sometimes, because, despite having these manuscripts often for TWO WHOLE WEEKS in advance, we _all_ have times when wait until the very last moment to sit down and read them and then RL conspires to make it impossible to read before the group meeting. So, sometimes I'll arrive at the coffee shop early and everyone is quickly reading the last of the handouts....)

I think this happens partly because, ultimately, original fiction is work for the READER, too. Particulary in critique, but perhaps all the time. I was also having a lovely email chat with Kyell Gold, my fellow GoH from Gaylaxicon, and we were talking about the sense a lot of science fiction fans (and pros) have of being woefully under-read in our field. This feeling sometimes causes us to sit down with a particular IMPORTANT author's work and plow through the MEANINGFUL NOVEL, like it's the biggest chore on the f*cking planet.

To be fair to Kyell, he didn't actually suggest that the book he'd read was a chore, but the discussion in general made me remember the times *I'd* done that and felt that way.

Fanfiction gets a different response, I think, because the reader knows s/he's already invested in the story and the characters. I like Renji so much, I'll pretty much try ANY story where he's a character. But I also tend to be picky. I'll try, but I'm very likely to bounce off, so when you finally meet a writer whose writing you actually like, but perhaps even ADMIRE, it's NOT a chore to read their beta-drafts, it's a F*CKING PLEASURE.

I've been known to have the same experience with original ficition, of course. There are authors whose work I'm so in love with that I rush off to buy/borrow their latest INSTANTLY and, if they asked, I would drop EVERYTHING to be their beta/critique reader. But, when a friend, even a friend whose work you know you like, asks you to read their original fiction (especially if it's NOT a continuation of a favorite story with characters you already know you like) it's a lot harder to get motivated to dig in. Perhaps, too, because original fiction has to be read in a different way and -SOMETIMES- the critique is more intense, more in-depth.... or at least it's a different kind of critique in that there are different expectations for original fiction than there are of fanfiction.

So, writing is hard for the reader too.

I think this is why it's important for me to have a group like Wyrdsmiths, who are basically beholden to read my original fiction and try to help me fix it (because I have promised to do the same for them). I wonder, too, if this is an especially painful problem for people trying to make the switch to writing original fiction after growing up/being immersed in the fanfic community? I think it could be potenetially very disheartening to get crickets if you're expecting whooshes. It would probably be very tempting to imagine that the crickets come from the fact that 'my writing is NO GOOD!' thoughts, rather than what is probably the truth--that reading original fiction is a chore, no matter how good the writing and the story.

Thoughts?

May Day in Minnesota

2013-05-06T12:26:52Z

I dragged Mason to the Heart of the Beast's 39th Annual May Day Parade and Pagent yesterday. I had a great time. He did pretty well just sitting on the hill where the pagent was setting up until the crowds rolled in. He was enjoying reading in the sunshine and eating all the fun food that vendors had set up around the man-made lake in the center of the park (fresh cut french fries! Italian ice! Hot tamales! Stuff too expensive but excellent smelling from food trucks!). But Mason started to get grouchy when it became wall-to-wall people, many of whom refused to sit down (we were right next to a traffic aisle, unfortunately,) when the action started.

I brought along the camera, but I accidentally had it stuck on movie mode, so all my "pictures" are actually micro-movies that all end with shots of my pants, because I think I'm setting the camera down... hillarious, really. Anyway, I may attempt to crib some other folks pictures just to give you a sense of the strange and awesome that is this yearly ritual.

This year's theme was Hallelujah, or something like that, but the pagent was its usual cryptic strangeness. There was what I could only describe as a live-action powerpoint presentation (in 15 languages!), the ghostly moose of doom, the Sun Goddess arriving from across the lake, and the dancing renewed moose.

At one point Mason leaned over to me and said, "If there's going to be an obligatory pagan quiz, I get it. Cycle of death and rebirth, right?"

The hilarious part? I hadn't really gotten it, until he pointed it out to me. I was all, "Wha...? Moose???" Although I should have figured it out because moose are one of those animals (as my friend Bill pointed out, like the polar bear,) that are very sensative to environmental changes--as he says, 'a proverbial canary in a coal mine,' and so Minnesota is in danger of losing its moose population to global warming. In my defense, moose make super surreal creepy puppets. Plus, the Heart of the Beast puppeteers are really good at mimicing animal movements and clever enough to take advantage of the natural hidey-holes in the terrian. So, when the ghost moose appeared, it was like s/he came out of nowhere. And then she led all the 'dead children' away and people clapped so I was all, "Do we like the moose of doom?"

Very spooky.

It's probably hard to imagine the scale of these puppets, too, but they're HUGE. Here's a stock photo of the Maypole Goddess to help you imagine:

It was a beautiful day yesterday. Both Mason and I managed to get sunburn on our faces. Also, I think we had the misfortune of sitting next to some people from Minnesota Normal and I might have gotten a slight contact high from all the pot being smoked in the vacinity. Perhaps that's why the Moose of Doom struck me as so DEEP and MEANINGFUL. I'm not sure.

Mason also got a balloon hat and sword, neither of which made it home intact. We almost never watch the parade, so a large part of our frustration every year is the waiting for the damn thing to start. Pagan Standard Time, don't ya know?

Free Comic Book Day

2013-05-05T12:40:04Z

There was a lot going on yesterday for Free Comic Book Day, but I managed not to do very much of it. I did, at least, stop at Uncle Sven's Comic Book Shop on St. Clair for my official FCBD swag bag.

A lot of it, as you can see, is kind of trash. Strawberry Shortcake? Pippi? But, there were "kids" bags and "adult" bags, and the adults got the Hellboy RPG guide and The Tick and some of the other more interesting titles. I was kind of surpised at the distinct lack of Ironman swag, given that FCBD coincided with his movie release. Maybe if I had actually braved one of the bigger comic book stores like The Source, where my friend comic book artist Christopher Jones was signing.

We also missed out on a cool event the owners of one of those "Free Libraries" was doing. http://libraryofjustice.blogspot.com/2013/04/youre-invited-to-free-comic-book-day.html. I blame the weather. The beginning part of the day was dreary and rainy and cold. Shawn and I were supposed to check out a neighborhood plant sale too, but she ended up with a barametric pressure induced migraine. Mason had a playdate with his friend Molly, and so we managed to get some shopping done, but then Shawn had to crash. I stopped at Sven's on the way back with Mason. When we were ready to go to the Library of Justice event, the sun had come out and he was outside playing with his friends on the block.

Mostly I did this:

Which is to say nap on the couch with the kitty.

Anyway, as a bonus, in top FCBD picture you can see the new unfinished folding table that's going out on our front porch. We don't have an amazing front porch like some of the houses here in St. Paul, but it's nice enough that we like to try to sit out on it when the weather is nice. We've tried, for the most part, to keep it clutter free (though with somewhat limited success.) The addition of the table will help us get it reorganized for this summer. Shawn wants me to paint it eggplant purple. Should be fun.

Hot off the Presses!

2013-05-04T16:38:13Z

Hot off the e-press, electrons still smokin' hot, (and in time for all your May the Fourth science fictional needs):http://www.wizardstowerbooks.com/products/fallen-host-lyda-morehouse

As I said over on the Wyrdsmiths blog, this is the second book in the AngeLINK series, but the VERY FIRST to go out of print. Ironically, I learned it was going to be remaindered about two days before I got the news that it had made the preliminary Nebula Ballot. No surprise, all the available copies were snapped up and bookstores were unable to reorder. Briefly, this was a really hot commodity. I once saw it going on Amazon.com used (or maybe eBay) for $45.00.

So, hurray, finally, you can buy it NEW again. NEW and IMPROVED, no less, because we were able to spot and fix some typos that managed to go out in the original.

If you are a fan of my fanfic, you may like this book. Why? Because my Satan is a total bishounen and a large portion of the book takes place in Japan. I will also say, I wrote all my original tetrology books to be stand-alones. So, even if you know nothing about my universe, you could pick up and read this book without having read Archangel Protocol, which came before it (though the e-book is cheap: http://wizardstowerpress.com/books-2/archangel-protocol/).

At any rate, I actually had a lot of fun re-reading this for copyediting. It had been so long since I'd read it, I actually forgot whole chunks of the story and was saying to Shawn, "Huh. I wonder what's going to happen next??"

A Few Announcements and Stray Thoughts

2013-05-03T14:49:06Z

A few announcements, in no particular order:

I have no idea if this is legit, but there was an advert on 'Writers for Diversity's Facebook page for "Fan Fiction Writers Wanted," which directed me here: http://www.writejobs.info/2013/05/fan-fiction-writers-wanted-for-online.html They appear to be looking for participants in a study group, possibly, from what they're saying will be the requirements, to test out a new software/posting format. Regardless, they say they'll pay $100 - $200 bucks. In my never ending quest to legitimize the amount of time I spend writing fic, I sent them my information. What can it hurt?

Also, next Wednesday, I'll be reading at DreamHaven Books and Comics. The information that was posted by Einblatt is as follows: Wednesday, May 8, 6:30-7:30PM. Speculations Reading Series - Lyda Morehouse. DreamHaven Books, 2301 E 38th St, Minneapolis. FFI: Eric, 612-721-5959, eheideman@dhzone.com It should be an interesting reading, as I have no new book to sell. I'm not exactly sure what I'll read from, but if people have suggestions (even if you can't attend) I'd love to hear them. And, yes, I'd totally read my slash. It might be fun to read from Fallen Host since the e-book should be coming out any day now. Maybe I'll make up postcards promoting that....

Lastly, it's snowing. I realize that as a resident of the Twin Cities, I have no right to complain. The folks south of us are dealing with 13 or more inches. Ours is only supposed to accumulate through the morning and then turn to rain. I've decided that to deal with this, I'm going to go into winter mode and bake loaves of bread to warm up the house. Our plan had been to have chicken curry tonight, but we may just have to have home-baked bread as an appertizer.

Stray thought: does any fanfic organizer do anything for National Masterbation Month? Someone should. It'd be fun to run one of those kinkbang type things celebrating all things masterbatory. If I knew how those things were run, I'd totally offer to coordinate it. I'm sure I'm not the first to think of it, though.

Right. Off to bake some bread!

Kids These Days

2013-05-02T18:05:51Z

I have to run off to a quick grocery store run, but I had to post an update about my Loft blog. I found my original blog about the secret handshake (which I postulate is manuscript format.) I reworked it a bit to fit a more general audience. The original was written for SF Novelists, so it assumed a science fiction/fantasy writing reader with a bit of insider information, familiarity with terms, etc. At any rate, the finished product was a little over 700 words, at most.

When I sent it in, I explained that it was a bit focused on business and submitting to markets, so if this was meant to promote my teen class I could think of a different subject. I was informed it was okay, but that, frankly, I was old.

Okay, the blog coordinator didn't say it like that, but the basic message was "YOUR EXPLANATIONS TAKE TOO LONG." I was told that the "most successful" blogs have "scannable" content, preferrably with a list the kids these days can digest as they do six other things at the same time.

Wow.

I think what I found shocking about this is that THIS IS FOR A BLOG FOR WRITERS. Okay, if I was writing for CRACKED.COM or even io9, I'd expect to be told to cut to the chase. Stick to the re-tweetable quips and clever sound bytes, people! But, no, this is what's supposed to draw naissant writers into a class about writing ALL THE WORDS. I'm not teaching a class on twitter fic. I'm not even teaching a class about flash fiction (which, btw, cuts off around a THOUSAND WORDS, WHICH IS STILL LONGER THAN THIS BLOG.) No, I'm teaching a class about writing short stories and novels. Surely, my target audience has the patience to read all 700 words!

Apparently, not.

Apparently, only old people read blogs like that. So, I now need to come up with a subject that is listable. Something that can be consumed in passing while traveling at the speed of ignorance....

UPDATED TO ADD: After a very honest and interesting back and forth with the blog coordinator at the Loft, we've decided to run with the "handshake" blog for this next Wednesday, or whenever, because of the quickly approaching deadlines. I agreed, however, for the sake of social experiment, to attempt to write a blog that fit the "scannable," bite-sized model for the future. TBF, she did say that there are a number of blogs on the Loft site that are as long (or longer) than the one I offered. She just found them to be "less successful." I can't argue with that. I presume that the folks at the Loft know what gets hits/retweeted/whatever, and honestly, I'm thinking now about trying to find a way to write about writing that talk about this problem. How do you hold someone's attention in the digital age?

Spotty Censorship Among Other Things

2013-05-02T12:16:31Z

I came across something very interesting in one of the JUMPs I was reading last night. Keep in mind that both these pictures were published in English-language versions of this story. One came out in a magazine, the other was published as a Manga of the collected issues of the story that originally appeared in the magazine. Both, I believe, are owned and produced by VIZ Media in America/(possibly other English-language speaking countries.) Perhaps empty_mirrors can tell me if her Manga are different, but I suspect not.

The scene is set by the fact that our hero, who has been adventuring in the afterlife, left his physical body behind. That body has been inhabited by a subsitute soul, a character named Kon, who is immature and girl-crazy and... well, gross.

IN JUMP, when we (as readers) return to the Human World, we come across Kon this way:

The subsequent dialogue implies that Ichigo's return has woken Kon from a sexy dream about several of the female characters.

HOWEVER, IN THE MAGNA, what he's doing is a little more...

[Spoiler (click to open)]

explicit:

.

Here, Kon is clearly masterbating

It doesn't surprise me that a scene like that would have been modified for an American audience, but what's weird to me is that TECHNICALLY IT WASN'T. Most of the teenagers I know, read Manga collected, rather than through JUMP (particularly now that JUMP doesn't exist in paper, only electronic.)

Thinking about it, perhaps this has nothing to do with America or English-speakers being percieved as more prudish. I feel like Bakuman (the Manga from which I learned all that is "true" about Manga-writing in Japan) implies that the editors at SHONEN JUMP feel like their audience is actually fairly YOUNG boys. In Bakuman, there's a whole arguement between the manga-writer/drawer couple and their editor about whether or not a subject matter is too dark for the percieved audience for JUMP, and are offered the option of a teen version of a shonen magazine. So, perhaps what we see above actually ocurred to suit the Japanese market, where JUMP is consumed by a LOT MORE people, many of whom are actually quite young (say as young as 10).

Regardless, I find it fascinating that by the time we get to the Manga version (which, in fact, came later, chronologically,) we have Kon being much more explict. Did Kubo-sensei redraw it himself? (Having seen how censorship occurs in US comicbooks, I suspect so, and he probably had this image in reserve.) And, was he able to use the clout he gained from the popularity of the Manga to get the original placed in the collected version.

If that's how it happens, it kind of changes the perspective that things are so MUCH LOOSER in Japan than they are here. Unless of course, this was done for the English-speaking world, though, then you have to wonder why they let it go in the collected Manga when they had a covered image already redrawn that accomodated English dialogue bubbles....

It's a mystery.

In other news, I found out that my first Loft blog is due tomorrow. Today I need to figure out what I'm going to write about. If any of you have suggestions, I'll happily take them. I was currently thinking about writing about what I like to call "the secret handshake" of submissions. I wrote something similar many years ago for SF Novelists, but it may be worth revising.

Anyway, if you have anything you might be interested in hearing me expound about for 500 words or so, let me know.

I do have to laugh, though. The blog coordinator wants me to include my twitter handle. Of course I have one as Tate, but I NEVER USE IT. I have my secret twitter account, but I've been reserving that for real friends, because I want to keep my feed managable. If someone wanted to follow my life, they'd be far better off following lydamorehouse on Facebook.

Don't Fear the Reaper

2013-05-01T14:28:00Z

Did this cover work in Japan the way it does here? Do you suppose a lot of time and energy is put into recasting all the covers of JUMP to make them work in English? Or is this exactly how it ran in Japan?

The other goodies I got for my dollar each include (but are not limited to):

An insert explaining the mysteries of Japanese sound effects!

I also got several other black-and-white inserts that explain everything from "how to introduce yourself in Japan" (using a moment from Bleach) to "Case Files" for the Espada. I suspect a lot of these end up collected in things like MASKED and SOULS, the official guides to Bleach, but, hey, it's neat to see them in situ, as it were.

Also... a dollar? I would have paid several for this:

And random pretty...

I will say that there's one set of color pages that made me laugh. It's in the middle of the Ichigo/Grimmjow fight and it's is a HUGE panel of blue sky with blood raining down from it. Yeah, that's what they blew their full-color page on. There are two tiny panels beneath that big one, showing close-ups of seriously intent Grimmjow (released in his Pantera form and looking beat-up) and glaring, determined Ichigo.

But, yeah. Blood.

Anyway, here is a picture of the large pile of goodies:

In other similar news Mason is officialy all caught up. He, like me, is now reading the episodes as they come out either from our on-line JUMP subscription or from Manga Panda, a free fan site. So, that's a yay. There are no more cries of, "IMA! NO SPOILERS!" when I start talking about Bleach.

Growing Older

2013-05-01T08:22:48Z

For Shawn's birthday this year, my mom got the most PERFECT card. It shows a woman dumping left-over food into the trash and her dialogue bubble says, "La-la-la-la, I'm throwing my vegetables away and no one can stop me!" The inside reads, "There are some perks to growing older."

That's just funny, but the truth is Shawn hates most veggies, so it's even FUNNIER.

I feel like that when I wake up at 2 o'clock am with a nagging sense that there's "stuff to be done!" I'm at the age now where I think, "Ah, hell, I'll just get up and see if I can figure out what it is..." Apparently, the dishes needed doing, so I did those. Then, I needed to finally write back to my parents because, despite the ease of social media, I've apparently forgotten how to write a simple e-mail letter and am terribly behind on familial correspondence. So, I did that.

The next thing on my list is to check to see when I promised the Loft that I would write a blog promoting my up-coming classes. This is the year I teach ALL THE THINGS in the summer. If all three courses fill-up, I have two youth classes I'll be teaching: 'ALL THE FEELS: FanFic 101' and 'MORE THAN THE ZOMBIE APOCALYPSE: Writing SF/F.' I also agreed to try another on-line class for adults teaching SF, called 'OVER THE TRANSOM: An Intermediate Course for SF/F Writers.' I'm looking forward to them all, but I really, really hope my fanfic class fills, because it would be the great vindication of my life if I could find a way to make a legitimate living from fanfic.

I mentioned the fanfic class at Detour and had tons of people come up afterwards and ask me about it. It's really a shame that I didn't get my act together enough to offer an adult version of that class for next semester. I guess someone is doing a fanfic class for adults though on the theme of 50 SHADES OF FANFIC, so maybe people will try that out. I don't know if that's written by an insider, though, you know what I mean?

Today is Wednesday, so when it's finally a decent hour, I'll be meeting with the Women of Wyrdsmiths for our usual Wednesday gathering. I've been working on another set of sample chapters. I ended up having to set aside Mars for the moment because it started to veer off my synopsis. Normally, that's a GOOD sign, but the editor who's shown interest in the Mars book is the one who rejected Samurai High for a number of reasons, but specifically because it didn't jibe with the proposal. So, that's made me a little gun shy about my usual process of just writing my way into a book until it finds its sea legs, as it were. I decided the best course of action would be to set Mars aside for the moment and come back to it with a fresh pair of eyes in a little while to see if I can wrestle it back on track or if I should just go where it takes me. In the meantime, I've switched to ANOTHER sample chapter project for a completely different editor. This project is one that my friend empty_mirrors calls DSL, which stands for "Deep Space Lawyer." This seems to have been a good move on my part, because I woke up several days ago with a zinger opening line and have been on a bit of a roll. I've been looking for a project that will carry me, and DSL might be it. That is to say, this might be the book I just write from start to finish.

My last Wyrdsmiths meeting was kind of rough, though, because I'd handed out part of the Mars project weeks earlier knowing full well that it wasn't working. Even being prepared for the critique, it was surprisingly disheartening to hear just how much it failed. I've been feeling lately like, despite writing every day, I've forgotten a lot of the basics of original fiction writing. That's probably not true/unfair and more a product of NOT SELLING. But it becomes a kind of vicious circle: it becomes mentally harder to get into OF writing the longer I'm without a contract.

And, I will tell you that getting up at 2 am has its perks, but opening my email to a rejection from a short story anthology is not one of them. I'd sent out "Van Buelyn Effect," my time travel couch story to a place looking for time-travel reprints, and got a very nice, professional "alas, does not suit our needs at this time" rejection. I can't really feel bad about not placing in this anthology because a) it was a long-shot to start with, and b) the couch story already sold once... this was for reprints only.

So, here I am at... well, now 3 am, trying to not feel like a loser.

I need to remind myself that there's good news on the horizon. I heard from my British e-book publisher, Wizard's Tower Press, that Fallen Host is in its final round of editing/clean-up and will very likely be out and available for purchase in a matter of days. Interestingly, when my family and I were at HalfPrice Books yesterday I stumbled across a pristine hard copy of Fallen Host. It didn't even have my signature in it (which is especially rare locally.) So, I bought it. It's going to go into a secret stash, for those times when I might like to give away a complete set of the old books.

And, they saw me coming at HPB... I went downstairs to start flipping through the one shelf they reserve for Shonen Jump, and, dang if the manager didn't run to the back room and haul out the rest of the Jumps they had in storage and lay them at my feet. I did walk off with half of them, so apparently that was a good move. I might have to take a photo of my haul again. All I have to say is: "color inserts." I swear to god they're easily worth the dollar I paid for them. Plus, last night I read a really cool Naurto short story that was apparently the original one-shot that launched the series (though it's VERY different, Naurto is a full-on kitsune/yoaki and has the power to shape-shift.)

Mason, meanwhile, walked off with almost 70 bucks in books.

Lucky kid.

Time-travelling Hair

2013-04-24T18:08:41Z

As per the agreement with my partner, now that Detour is over, I have gone back to my "normal" haircut. This, according to her, will reestablish equilibrium in our relationship, as it is now clearer which of us is the butch.

And, yes, I'm stuck with the fuschia/cherry red "highlights." I'm telling myself that my hair is time-travelling back to the era when it was cool to have two tone hair. 1984, pehaps? All I know is that I didn't have it. Story of my life! When it was cool, I didn't have multicolored hair or eyebrow piercings or safety pins stuck in my nose or on my clothes. No, nearly thirty years later, I'm finally doing it. Now, when no one else is.

*sigh*

I think I'm going to miss my long hair. It was an adventure, if nothing else. And I learned some things I can use in fiction.

Detour Deconstructed

2013-04-23T01:33:05Z

This year I brought along Eleanor Arnason to part of Anime Detour. When she left, she looked a lot like I did that first year--like I wondered what strange alternate universe I'd fallen into.

Detour throws us old-timer SF fans because it's held at the Radishtree, our old haunt, and, because, you know, it's a CON--we feel like we OUGHT TO UNDERSTAND IT, but, in fact, it's totally foregin... and not just because it's based on Japanese Anime. It's just a very different kind of con experience.

I think, thanks to my interpreters and the fact that I cosplayed this year, I finally get Detour... or, at least, I get how *I* can appreicate it and enjoy myself. Cosplaying is actually very central to a large part of this con. I posted pictures of this, but the garden courtyard is entirely devoted to professional stage set ups where you can pose for pictures of the amazing work you put into your costume. Because, damn, people put in serious work on some of these costumes. I didn't even try to take pictures of all the things, but I saw people in full Iron Man armor, and stuff I didn't even know WTF it was, but it looked like a whole LOT of work just to walk around in.

People who aren't in costume actually stand out. That's how many participants are cosplaying. In fact, at one point, I was crowd-watching and I saw a guy in a tee-shirt and jeans and I was like, "Huh, I wonder what show that's from...?" for a good three minutes until I realized HE WAS JUST A GUY IN A TEE-SHIRT.

Panels exist, but not like they do at other cons. The program guide has participants listed by who they're cosplaying so you know, you go to a panel on BBC's Sherlock and the panelists include Sherlock, Watson and Maycroft and they tend to talk about the show as though it was their real lives. At least, that was true on the panel I was supposed to be on last year about Full Metal Alchemist. There are other panels, like the two I participated in this year (fandom on the internet and what you need to know about writing), which were much more like a typical convention panel, but those are pretty rare. I will say that once again (like I did last year) I attended a panel about Bleach and wanted to rip my hair out or possibly pull Zabimaru out of my soul and MURDER THE PANELISTS.

Why?

Because the panel was supposed to be about the big three: Bleach, Naruto, and One Piece and about how they were ending soon and what Jump might replace them with. Last year, like this year, it became clear they were all One Piece and Naruto fans and their idea of talking about Bleach was to put up an annoying Manga panel where Renji is being particularly stupid and then making some dissing remarks about how dumb the filler arcs and then go back to talking about Naruto. They used a panel still last year. The big difference this year is that they let us watch the Anime clip of the same GODDAMN MOMENT. And you know what? None of that was EVEN new this year! It was from the middle of the Arrancar arc. There was only cursory talk about some of the events happening right now, and then on to One Piece or back to Naruto. Me and Ichigo (the other obvious Bleach fan there) were really ticked. Even the guy next to me who loved Naruto and was ticked at how dismissive the panelist were about his Manga as well as ours. The panelists seemed to be the type of young men/boys who thought that to be "intellectual" about an Anime or Manga, meant being rude about it.

And they didn't even seem to be reading JUMP. I actually *subscribe* and could have talked moderately well about the things JUMP seems to be testing out to replace Bleach. A LaCrosse themed Manga? Barrage. And the new one with the Neighbor aliens whose name escapes me. (Truthfully, I'm unhappy with a lot of it and so I skim the stories, but I at least know the sorts of things they've been running recently.) Ironically, the panelists were saying they'd need some new blood to do this panel next year, and I had to wonder how a person got that gig. I may actually have to volunteer.

/rant

I wasn't intending to go on about that as long as I did. Especially since the point really was that Detour isn't about the panels anyway. It's about costuming and previewing new Anime and the dealer's room and all the fan created stuff.

I also lucked out because I happened to know Anton, which means that at Gaylaxicon I got to know J. Michael Tatum there where he's just this guy, you know, and a F*CKING ROCKSTAR at Detour. Thus, as it happens I got to rub shoulders with a GoH, have dinner with him and late night fun at the bar (and, oddly, the furry party, and now I have an inappropriate picture of Michael at the furry party doing rude things with a tanuki that I'm not sure what to do with... I'd use it for blackmail, but since his boyfriend took a picture too, I'm not sure it's worth much.)

So, I mean, I had a blast because OMG Michael is awesome and every time I hang out with him I fall in love just a little bit more.

But, yeah, no. Eleanor bounced right off Detour.

Last of the Photos

2013-04-21T21:07:47Z

I'd planned to post the last couple photos from Detour tomorrow, but I think I'll put them up today with the thought that tomorrow, I will attempt to deconstruct my con experience. Probably the funniest thing that happened today was when I was blearily standing in line for coffee in full Renji/shinigami regalia, I got a: "Finally, a Renji cosplayer!" and a high-five.

Here's me an a Ichigo (in bankai, obviously):

A very perfect little Toshiro (with a grumpy expression even, whom I ran after yelling, "Taicho! Taicho!")"

I also had a person stop and ask for a picture of ME, which FLOORED me. I think the lesson here is, the costume makes the man (not the tattoos.) My only other final thought is that I think I may start recommending to my fellow fic writers that they consider cosplaying in their universe at least one time. I learned a lot about walking in tabi and sandals as well as the excitement that is stairs and hakama (and mine were fake!) and ZOMG WTF escelators and hakama....

Interestingly, as I was telling empty_mirrors on email, I'd seen a guy at the Obon festival who was demonstrating an Aikido sword form who did this THING with his hakama, where he'd take a fist full of the material near his thigh and jerk it aside before going into seiza or shifting into stance, and I thought, that's odd. Is that part of the form? Now I think it must be. I found I natrually did a very similar thing when faced with shifting in hakama. This gave me a wierd sort of insight into daily life/walking around. Also, wearing my hair up with the headband/bandana, which is very much a Renji THING was interesting, physically, too. When I was feeling kind of wiped (not hungover because I very, very rarely drink at cons), it felt really comforting. Like a brain hug. I wonder if that (and concealing the balding/tattoos) is another reason why the character might consider wearing it, you know?

Interesting stuff all around. Will talk about panels and people interactions tomorrow.

Now... a nap.

Detour: ALL THE BLEACH!

2013-04-21T13:52:36Z

Perhaps some of you may remember that last year, I found the experience of interacting with cosplayers really... baffling. I didn't know if people wanted me to talk to them in character or...? I didn't even know how to really appreciate what they were doing without just being aggressively dorky (at least in my own mind.) I complained that I needed "interpreters." This year, I had two: Teri and Lisa. I started whining about how to interact again, and they patiently explained to this old lady two things: 1) you can always ASK to take a picture and 2) you're simply ALLOWED to talk to anyone in your fandom (if you are also attempting/doing cosplay.)

So, I decided to make this fun for myself and I gave myself a mission: collect ALL the Bleach cosplayers. I have a zillion picutres and I know I missed a Ukitake cosplayer (for a sick guy, he sure disappeared into the crowd fast. Shunpou?)

Okay, I'm not sure how many LJ (or my computer of Little Brain) will let me post, and I will attempt to say something to organize the jumble of awesome that is Detour.

First, given who I was cosplaying, I set out to collect all the Byakuyas (and the one other Renji-grrl):

Then, there were the people whose costumes were just AMAZING. I found the Espada guys particularly frightening because they traveled in a pack :-) :

A fantastic Hollow Ichigo:

Ulquiorra and Yammy:

Yammy and Zommari:

There were also people who not only did their costumes well, but also physically resembled the characters to the point I was like, dang, that's ISSHIN (from across the room) and then, I was like, "Why is he talking to Soi Fon???":

And THIS IS HISAGI, I SWEAR TO GOD:

In fact, he needs another pic:

A Urahara who was selling stuff in the dealer's room and very cagily would NOT tell me if there was any Soul Candy:

And, then, a couple of shots just to give you a sense of the scale of this thing:

Also, cosplay is so much a part of this con that there's a place in the garden plaza/atrium JUST FOR GETTING YOUR PICTURE TAKEN (I did not do this for obvious reasons):

Garments of the Dead

2013-04-20T13:04:01Z

I woke up this morning to discover that, DESPITE ADVERTISEMENT TO THE CONTRARY, the tattoos had almost completely rubbed off in places! The irony? I HAVEN'T BEEN TO DETOUR YET! I know, right? The good news? I wasn't planning on heading over there until after noon (when we drop Mason off for a sleepover), and the dojon (where I left the paints last night, of course,) opens by 11:00 am for classes. So, I'm going scoot over there and pick up the paints in a little bit. Shawn agreed to touch them up for me. All should be well.

BUT, this got me to thinking that I probably need an alternative plan for what to wear on Sunday. Luckily, my friend and fellow writer Anna Waltz loaned me her shihakushô, which she sewed herself. The only thing I didn't have were sandals, but this morning, when I rushed off to Walgreen's to get some coffee and cat food they had flip-flops on sale.

The funny part? I think that the tattoos, even faded, are in fact MAGIC. Because the lady who checked me out, whom I'd been talking to, called me "sir." I haven't been called sir for about twenty years. I thought to myself, "Ha! She sees my inner Renji" (or, more likely? She was _so_ not going to look at anyone who had painted weird crap on their face. I had a a hat on, but she could probably sense I was not someone you wanted to actually engage because I was clearly insane. *snort*)

Anyway, here's what I'd look like if I went in costume (though I'd probably put more effort into the hair since I'd want it to stick straight out more in back.)

Tattoos!

2013-04-20T02:09:58Z

Thanks to the tireless efforts of Nicki KSN, I now have tattoos!

First the front, in which I am clearly saying, "I don't think Renji has quite so many boobs."

Because, yeah, he'd wear Hello Kitty, you know he would:

A sultry look over my shoulder to show off the back:

I tell you, I'd feel a lot sexier if I was a lot more ripped. Getting these done at the dojon made me very aware that I should spend a lot more time jumping around....