Oh, I Forgot You Were Still Here . . .

My poor, little neglected blog! Has it really been so long? Yes, yes it has. Frankly, I blame twitter - and my general disinterest in social media over the last year. But now it's a new year (2014 how the hell did that happen?!) and I want to keep track of all my projects again, so I hope this is going to be more regular (maybe). I also finally have a tumblr and it's called Doom Tiki! It's were I'll be indulging my tiki and all things kitsch obsession. It may also be where I post more regularly :-/

Okay, let's roll out the 2013 Year-in-Review!

In some ways 2013 was the year of the con. I went to three last year and had a blast at each one. First was Emerald City Comic Con up in Seattle, then Rose City Comic Con and finally Orycon again in November - and I dressed up for each one with friends. We were vikings. Awesome, awesome vikings.

This guy made an amazing Ray Stantz

Below is my favorite pic of the whole bunch because this Mandalorian's armor kinda stole my heart (Sorry, Ray).

The hammer I made



Most of my creative efforts last year went into vikings, whether it was mine and Igor's costumes or the troupe set I did with my friends at the annual Haflaween.

Also, 2013 was another successful year for NANOWRIMO! I got back into writing in a major way - so much so that one of my goals this year is to submit a story to publishers by December. I'm writing, editing and reading furiously to try and make this happen. So far I'm on track (I think).

During the summer months we also went to see Trek in the Park: The Trouble with Tribbles and to a Weird Al concert at the zoo. I had a moment when the local garrison participated in the encore song

I performed an Aliens themed set in December for which I made this headdress:

Pics from the performance at Offbeat




 
SUPER fun, but it will probably be the last time I perform for a while. This year I concentrate on getting back into Muay Thai and seriously getting in shape. Plus more cons and the costumes Igor and I have planned for this year are already off to a flying start, but more about that later.

What I did not do last year was play Arkham Origins because I was so busy. Now that I have more free time I finally started the game. I am kicking so much Gotham ass already and will be ready for when Arkham Knight comes out later this year.

I feel like I'm missing a ton (I think Igor and I went on a camping trip at some point during all the summer), but this is already a long post so I'll end it here.

Final thought, look at how awesome these cosplayers are!

Cobra Commander and Cobra PR - if you haven't heard of them check out the Commander's facebook page or the kickstarter mentioned in the video. They are hilarious and talented and if I ever see them at a con I will fangirl the fuck out. Even if I'm dressed like a tough viking.

Productive Days Are Here Again!

Considering Saturday was spent going to see The Full Cirque's Dark Side of Knight, my good friend perform with The Sprockettes, and then going to watch a Timber's game, I'm surprised I managed to get so much done last weekend.

Exhibit A: Great progress on my new dance pants! Using some existing pants as a pattern I cut out pieces of my fancy new striped fabric. Now they're all sewn together and I've semi-pinned them to the tops that I'm going to attach them to.





Exhibit B: A cellphone bag for my mom's birthday. Last weekend mom showed me her new phone, and the sock she carries it around it. Nothing wrong with using a sock as a carrying case - sometimes it's the best thing for the job. But when she showed it to me it was mentioned she wanted a real case for it. Her birthday is tomorrow so I thought it'd be perfect to whip up a little pouch for the phone. Voila!



And here it is wrapped up all purdy

This was really simple and only took me about one episode of Twin Peaks to make. Yes, I'm still obsessed with re-watching Twin Peaks. That show is unbelievably good, weird and surprising - and it doesn't hurt that Kyle McLaughlin is an idiosyncratic cutie in it.

The weekend is almost upon me again and already it's full of wonderful, exciting things - which I will report on in my next post.

Now I leave you with a pick from the Labyrinth Masquerade Ball that Krista and I attended the weekend before last.