I've been delaying my annual BayCon post - Monday I was (predictably) exhausted and would have fallen asleep over my keyboard if I'd tried to spend time on the computer and yesterday I was trying to pretend that I was getting work done. Today I've given up on that work concept for a bit (it really is just that quiet this week) and get on with it before I forget all the high points of the weekend.

This won't be the usual "OMG!! SO AWESOME!! *SQUEEEEEE*" post that I usually do, because while it was a GOOD weekend, it was also very...quiet. I know a lot of folks have used "quiet" to describe the Con this year, and in my case, I think it's because I wasn't disappointed with the weekend, but it was sort of slow by comparison to other years. The overall energy level of the convention just wasn't there.

However, this was the first time that Shar has come out with me, which proved to be quite enjoyable, and I got to introduce him to all the wonderful folks that I really only see at Con for one reason or another. There was also a higher percentage of the "Family" in attendance as well, which was awesome.

( So without further ado, the high points: )

After whinging yesterday about lack of motivation, I did indeed kick things into overdrive and completed three new pieces. I also took better pictures of the accent bits I did for Shar's Halloween costume (Harry Dresden). I'm not sure how I feel about the third one though, so I think I'm going to do an alternate version and put it up to a vote. And I've got one more piece planned for today as well...maybe two.

So, since I subjected LJ land to my complaints yesterday, I figure it's only fair to share what came of them. ( Photographic Evidence of Motivation )

I'll post the third one later when I have the second version done. I'm going to want opinions on that one regarding which is the better way for it to look.

And now...onward! *grin*


ETA: After a rather remarkably productive (possibly even obsessive) weekend of crafting, I have 2 more pieces in addition to the one I solicited input on. Rather than blow everyone's f-page away with multiple photo heavy posts, I'm adding a few more pictures here... ( Obsessive? No. Why do you ask? *twitch* )

I haven't posted pics of any of my projects recently, and since Golden Gate Faire wound up giving me a whole bunch of new focal pieces to work with, I thought I'd share a couple recent projects.

These sets are what I made with two of the three pieces I picked up at GGRF plus a commission piece I did for RedMinx as a gift for a friend (KalendarGirl). I've got plans for the third focal piece and am working on designs for another commission piece, so I'll post those as I finish them.

( Pictures for the Curious/Interested )

WHEE!

As always, I have more to say about BayCon and what a wonderful weekend it was than I could possibly ever fit into one post - which is probably just as well, since some things should just stay at BayCon. :D

It was the usual fantabulous weekend of geekery and good times. As in years previous, I was traveling with the incomparably fun and beautiful redminx and va_peterson, and Ms. Vicki's boy K as well. This year, dalisair was along for the ride as well, and I was blessed with poeso, cjl101, gwenrose, jeebachu and adnate coming out for the first time and stride and snoopyh42 making a return visit. I also got a couple of drive-bys on fallen42 on Friday night and got to see a good cross section of the Sta Maria crew, which is always nice. (chelleann77's ring is really gorgeous...if you haven't seen it yet, you really should.)

And this year, unlike prior years, there are already pictures up! Yay! (Thank you Snoopy and Dalisair!)

The Minx, Ms. Vicki and I decided to do a trio of Gotham City's bad girls this year for our Saturday evening costumes - Minx was Poison Ivy, Ms. V was Harlequinn and I reprised my Catwoman costume from Halloween. We also had Ms. V's man and cjl101 as not one, but TWO Jokers, which didn't bother Harlequinn one bit. And on the "good girl" side of the comic book, poeso was a SMOKING hot Zatanna and stride turned heads as Dark Phoenix.

Captain Tightpants, aka waywardbound, joined us for much of the weekend as well, which was tons of fun as always. I think Poe charmed him, but Gwen and I made sure to properly abuse him so he wouldn't get a swelled head or anything. Wouldn't want this BayCon to be any different for him than prior years. =)

And I owe him big time for one of the highlights of my weekend...turning Stride into an elder god. *grins like a maniac* The man is the (proud I hope!) owner of the original Illyria costume from Angel. I was in a state of hyper fan-girl squee for most of Sunday afternoon. (Still am really...and I'm absolutely holding you to that t-shirt promise from ComicCon! ;P)

Other highlights -- school girl night was fun, as always. I even found out that I'm not really as horribly awful at swing dancing as I thought I was, and I have decided that I really enjoy having bows on my stockings. (Now I just need cuter panties if I'm going to be picking up people's keys in that skirt.)

I gave in to temptation and picked up a third corset, because apparently I don't _need_ a velvet corset...I must.have.one. - because it's a _moral imperative_. And because, as I said any number of times this weekend, it's so _f&&king PETABLE_! (Mmm...velvet...mmm...fondling velvet...mmm...clothes that beg to be touched...)

Other lessons of BayCon:

- lipstick makes a pretty good imitation of leaving marks, without leaving marks
- spandex may be a privilege for most people, but the committee has voted and for some folks, it really is a right
- life continues to be good in the Ottoman empire
- it is still possible for me to be stunned by my own reflection...which sounds really arrogant (and probably is) but it's nice to occasionally look at myself and think, "Holy shit! I actually AM hot..."

Further notes:
-- redminx...thank you again for organizing the rooms, sharing your booze and for getting me into the BayCon experience to begin with. I have never failed to have a wonderful weekend and not the least of that is due to the pleasure of your company. *hugs*
-- waywardbound, if they get the Companion's Guild off the ground, let me know. I spent my entire drive to work thinking about how to build an Inara costume around that new corset!
-- poeso...we need to do the Firefly costumes again some year. See above comment to WaywardBound re: Inara. I have IDEAS! *plot plot plot* (and I think you might not object if the last few of your garnets went into jewelry for such an outfit? *grin*)

Now...I'm supposed to be working. But first, must go add a couple people to my f-list. *waves at dalisair*

For them's as care *glances at mdyesowitch*, I added a couple things to my DeviantArt page yesterday.

And ladyofdragons got into the "here...this is a bunch of stuff that is complied into a less than aesthetically pleasing configuration...maybe you can make it better" game yesterday - which means there will be more, because apparently I cannot be handed something random, slightly tacky or even downright hideous but made of decent components, without trying to improve it.

[Edit: Come to think of it, I think she mentioned that poeso gave that hideous mess to her, because it was her colors...which means that Poe has once again managed to hand me something that I am immediately driven to turn into something wearable....Poe, if you keep this up, I may have to dub you "Muse"! ;P]

In this case, she handed me a necklace and what might have been earrings that looked a bit like something you'd find for $0.25 at a local garage sale - one of those long chains of beads and godawfulnasty (yes, that's a technical classification) wire with little charms dangling off every inch or so, all of it compiled into something that's really...gaudy - even if the individual components are relatively nice - and would probably snag on hair, sweaters, shirts or passing animals. I coiled the whole thing in my hand, eyed it speculatively, and told her it looked like a Muppet.

Then I proceeded to take it apart, separate out the pieces (lots of purple glass beads, crappy metal beads and glass flower and leaf pendant pieces), and start turning it into something else. I was sort of startled to discover that the individual components really weren't all that bad - it was just that godawfulnasty wire and the configuration that were camouflaging the potential the components had.

I now wish I'd taken a picture of the...thing...before I took it apart, because then you could understand the significant difference between what was and what will be. I'm about three quarters done with reworking it - at which point I shall offer it back up to ladyofdragons for her collection - and will post a picture, since I think I've made a rather remarkable difference in it.

I totally didn't make the necklace I was going to work on last night...either of them...but that's ok, since one was for me and the other -- well, let's just say that LoD would have gone home with something else if the idea had worked, so she really only sabotaged herself. :P

( Edited to add photos...since I finished the piece )

I've been on a serious jewelry making run this weekend -- I got slapped stupid by the inspiration stick on Friday afternoon and have been running with it ever since. I now have three necklaces and a pair of earrings, and ideas for more earrings...which means I need to channel this energy towards some other projects! =)

In the meantime, I'm showing off...because I can...but I love you, so I'm putting the pictures under a cut. ;)

( Pretty-shineys if you're interested )

Otherwise known as additional self-indulgent wanking... =)

Here's three of the better images from yesterday's messing about with the camera. I'll post a couple of Mshathvri once I've got her clearance on the ones I want to put up. I've refrained from the not entirely safe for work shots...though I plan to put one or two up on my DeviantArt page (with a mature content filter of course). I'll also put a few others of what we did on DA so that I don't do all my preening and self-indulgent silliness here.

( Pictures below the cut - click through for larger versions )
( And after a bit of negotiating - a couple of Mshathvri )

Q: What do you get when you put two attention-whoring Leos in one room with a camera and a whole bunch of interesting clothes?

A: 634 pictures in a multitude of poses, some of which may not be safe for human consumption.


If you're very very good, I might even post one or two... *evil grin*

HAH! I knew it! I have a post from just before we moved where I noted that I was going to need to get a microwave because Harlequin House didn't have one! *looks smug and vindicated and bloodthirsty*

I suppose I should get back to work now...


{Edit: And I found the transaction on my Visa statements too -- July 2, 2006. I'm certain I don't have the receipt, but the bank might be able to pull up information on what was purchased. *crosses fingers*)

I finished the LJ-Meme piece I did for redminx back in early January just before moving made my project work come to a grinding halt. Unfortunately I didn't get a chance to deliver it until recently, but now that she has it and I won't be ruining the surprise, I'm taking advantage of my right to brag...because honestly, this piece came out REALLY well (about 18 bazillion times better than I thought it would when I started putting it together) and I'm very proud of it. =)

( Bragging - because I can )

Now I have one meme piece left to do...poor black_reaver has been waiting very patiently and is probably wondering why an "earring" is taking so damned long. =)

Hopefully I'll get a chance to do the soldering work I need to do this weekend and get it put together - and hopefully when he sees it, he'll understand why it took so long to design and construct properly.

...and apparently hotter than a Guild Wars background too, or at least so sayeth admiralorko who is currently using the Scale Tipper image as his laptop background.

My ego is purring. poeso's ego should be purring too, IMO. =)

So that was a pleasant day - worked a little later than intended, but then got to have lunch with Romeo, got in a little reading and then went to play mini-golf with The Admiral and leiland. Must remember that Leiland is not heat resistant...we sort of wilted her and she's now convinced that Twitch and I are utterly insane. (Just because we enjoy 105 degree heat and were both wearing jeans... *grin*)

Then we gathered up lairian and Joe Who Does Not Have an LJ that I Know Of and wandered off to find dinner. It has been confirmed that Chipotle Tabasco sauce goes really well on the sandwiches at the Red Smoke Grill, and is tasty on fries.

I have been thoroughly addicted to K.T. Tunstall and so I took advantage of Twitch's need to pick up a router and picked up her album (Eye to the Telescope). She's got a nicely rich vocal range and is a helluva song writer. If you like bluesy rock music, I highly recommend her.

And I got introduced to Chicken Little as well, which was quite entertaining.

So now I'm happily ensconced on the couch with my new CD, and assuming I can stay awake, I think it's time to get to an email I've been delayed in answering.

Lookie lookie what poeso drew... =)

( Scale Tipper - inspired by WWII style bomber nose art )

She's doing art based on a bunch of ladies she knows, and I'm flattered to be the first one she finished. *big grin*

Spent most of the day pulling out my "long-term storage" boxes in the garage and going through them. I think I pulled out around seven to ten boxes of stuff and consolidated it to 5 or 6 plastic tubs. The recycling bin is nearly full, I have a stack of text books that I haven't brought myself to put in the trash can yet, and I have three boxes of "miscellaneous" stuff that needs to find other things of it's kind and have the boxes topped off, labled and stacked somewhere for easy moving... But at least some of my stuff is now organized, sorted and properly stored for the future. ( Rambling and a picture”> And I found some of the books that I thought I was missing from my childhood. I'm still missing at least one box, since I didn't find any of my horse stories (horses were a big thing for me as a kid), but I did find my original Narnia books (well loved), <U>Charlie and the Chocolate Factory</U> and the collected James Herriott books (<U>All Creatures Great and Small</U>), which I may just pull out and read again at some point. (Would it surprise you to know I once wanted to be a veterinarian?) I also found a bunch of the books that I kept after college courses. The primary upside of completing a major in English is that you have a good chance of picking up some pretty nifty stuff. The psychology major only got me a handful of really out of date texts that I ended up tossing. (Interestingly, I'm having a harder time parting with my law texts, despite knowing that they're just as out of date.) I found my collection of Robert Frost poems, the collected works of Coleridge and my copy of <U>The Prince</U> (which technically came from a history course but...) I also found my copy of <U>Solaris</U> which I really ought to re-read because I recall being very impressed with its depth...and it would be a cleansing of that hash that George Clooney made of it. And of course I found (or re-discovered) any number of other things that I didn't realize I'd pack-ratted away -- including a notebook that I thought I'd lost YEARS ago, and which I was despondent about because it contained this: <img src= )

mdyesowitch's last post about her green and copper creations reminded me that I wanted to preen a bit about some of my jewelry work.

Being an attention whore, and actually fairly proud of my work as well, I tend to pack mostly my own creations when it comes to jewelry for trips (and really, that's almost all I wear anyhow) because I like to see what kind of reactions I get from people who don't know me or my work.

BayCon was, of course, no exception - in addition to the black net choker in my icon, I took my favorite blue one and several others. My ego was quite pleased to get a number of compliments on them, including an inquiry as to whether I'd purchased the blue at one of the vendor booths at the con which made me feel pretty darned good about it.

I also picked up a couple things for future pieces. The same vendor who was selling some really gorgeous finished works (and I must remember a couple of design ideas they had for when I have my soldering tools out and accessible again -- which I will...someday...) was selling loose cabs as well and he had some really great stuff.

I managed to resist the STUNNING pieces of lapis, though the matched tear drop shapes were hard to not pick up, but I did pick up a really nice piece of amber from them that will go well with a design I'm working on at the moment. I also picked up, from another vendor, a really stunning amber heart. I'm not absolutely positive that it's not plastic, considering the size, but as was noted, since it was only $10, I either got what I paid for or got a _really_ good deal - either way, I'm satisfied. I think I know exactly how I want to string it too, but I'm not certain.

I've been really itchy to get back to my beadwork for a while now, and I've started to fail miserably at resisting unpacking my stuff. It's annoying to know that I really shouldn't be getting into my boxes since they really are packed well and need to stay that way...but hopefully I'll be able to do a couple small things and then re-seal the boxes and do some really spectacular stuff once we're moved again.

And I need to start posting pictures here, if only for my own record. I'm finding that my phone takes decent images of stuff when I'm wearing it, which is often a better visual than other shots, and it's convenient, so hopefully I'll get motivated on that score eventually.

BayCon was _wonderful_ ... *purr* Like a three day Thumper party with corsets and a theme.

The real world isn't nearly as much fun. It has grocery shopping and packing and allergies and having to get up for work in the morning...and it has a lower percentage of cute boys with talented hands and cute girls with talented teeth and everything an attention whore/backrub slut/touch junkie could desire.

It is so much fun to let my inner Leo out for a good romp every once in a while. *grin*

And I got to learn to swing dance, picked up twice the ribbons I got last year, got a new corset, met a bunch of new people (several of whom will be added to my friends list soon), saw a bunch of folks I already knew, re-established in my mind that good kisses are to be taken at every possible opportunity, didn't quite get talked into buying fangs, got some experience with why quality bed warmers are to be encouraged and rewarded, had a wonderful time being part of a group that took over the hall while singing drinking songs at the top of our lungs and am completely ready to do it all again next year.

I'm quite certain I will have a post-Con "hangover" for at least a day or two after this, but at least I can close my eyes and be right back at a couple of pleasant memories. =)

And now I am clean and napped and fed and I'm sure there are a number of other things to say about the weekend, but I think I'll finish processing them and determine if filters are required...

Pictures will be forthcoming when the ever gorgeous redminx locates her camera and lets me know where to find them. (And if you think I look good...she looked even better. It's absolutely worth expecting to be overshadowed by companions when you get to walk behind said gorgeous redhead while she's wearing a corset...)

I know what I forgot in my collection of "things I would have posted about"...

snoopyh42 brought me Godiva truffles - he was waiting with chocolate when I got home from drooling over the hottie at the rock gym.

He was paying penance, but I'll have to get the chat log from him to properly explain it. I don't archive chat history on my work computer.

Oh, and I've been playing with my phone again...like new icon?

( Explanation of the truffles )

Gacked from mdysowitch

( The Knowledge v. Intellect Test )
I'm actually a bit surprised by the result on this quiz - several of the questions are incredibly poorly worded and could be answered two or more ways depending. Apparently making the assumption that the test creator was NOT trying to trick me was the right one.

And I'm enough of a nerd to want to know which ones I got wrong and what the right answers were.

As most folks who've seen me out of my work clothes recently probably have noticed, I have 2 pairs of jeans and both of them have holes.

( Assholes aren't just body parts anymore ... and new clothes make me happy )

So two bottles of water goes a long way towards making one feel human again. And a good meal doesn't hurt either...(mmm, Indian food - Sansar's a little pricy but I just cannot stay away from garlic naan and lamb curry. God the spicy spicy is a wonderful thing...*rolls eyes in culinary bliss*)

Once I came back around to feeling human, and looking at the night with nothing in particular to do, Romeo and I cooked up a scheme to satiate my inner exhibitionist and give him a chance to play with his camera...unfortunately, the camera didn't make it back into either the house or his car after it's last trip, so you'll have to wait for the photos. Let's just say it involved a lot of black, and I'm now slightly gothed out with nowhere to go...which is a shame, cuz this is a fun shade of lipstick. Course the face powder kind of itches...I should probably clean up soon. That's what I get for buying the cheap shit. But I have a couple trial size orders coming from Amphigory.com that should work better, so when we do get around to this, the photos should be more interesting. (yes, I'm an attention slut...your point?)

I'm realizing that the turn my hair has taken towards the darker, coppery auburn range actually works well with regard to darker make-ups - which is kind of cool. It's like a small bit of pay back for losing my lovely bright copper tresses.

So I've slept, eaten well and gotten to play around with some of the stuff in my closet that I don't get to pull out often. This is a fairly satisfying way to unwind after the past week. Not to mention, a brief stint of playing dress up (working out what to use when we've got the camera again) satiated a lot of my feeling like I hadn't really done as well by Halloween as I could have.

Oh, and I've got _legs_....Heh heh heh... =D

Now if I can deal with my in-box...*sigh*

The spirit of adventure hit me a bit late this trip - I realized on my car ride to the airport, as I drove past the Pentagon and Arlington Cemetary, that I will _have_ to go back someday and see all the things I didn't have time for this trip. Preferably I'll go back for a vacation and have a week to see it all.

But until then...I'm back to the same old same old, and I'm sure my posts will be less interesting for a while to come.

A few notes and traveling tidbits of interest before I go back to memes and random inanities:

- The Charlotte Airport, like many, is designed as a central hub with "spokes" radiating out from it for the terminals. The hub contains an impressive food court (complete with a full on, sit-down-and-order-from-a-waitress Chili's) and large windows looking out onto the air field. Along the windows, where there would normally be plastic chairs or benches in most airports, they've decided to go with something a bit more...Southern. They have a row of rocking chairs. I thought that was kind of cute.

- Flying over the Rocky Mountain states is fascinating. You can see the history of the hills and valleys so clearly - it's like looking at a picture with lines marking out where the water used to be, the inland seas, the glaciers. It's really awe inspiring.

- Puddle jumpers are REALLY cramped. I knew I was going to be on a small plane between DC and Charlotte when my seat assignment was 1C - anything that close to the front means either 1st class or a plane you get on using a ladder, and since I didn't pay for 1st class... =)


Oh, and in an additional fit of self-promotion:

Voting is half over for the 12 Babes of X-Mas Contest.


Have you voted yet? (I'm on page 3...hint, hint)