BEFORE THE STORM *bursts into song - from Les Miserables*

Anyway I promised a reflection on the summer. So here you are. My goals were

-- I must complete the first 5 volumes of the History of Middle Earth, as they've been sitting on my dresser for years. UNACCEPTABLE. D=
-- I must work harder at this German learning thing. I slacked a lot, and trying to navigate amazon.de has shown me how much I really need to get done.
-- I must complete the Tanzsaal dress in time for Otakon. In that vein, I must also convince mother dearest to let me stay for the 3 days.
-- I must earn many moneys for college stuff. And fabric. heh.
-- I must make the Rote Stiefel dance dress and find better boots for it. xD That's so awkward when you translate it....red boots dance dress and find better boots. XDDDDD ok, enough.
-- I must finish learning the Chaconne and learn Zigeurneweisen. Er, I think I spelled that right. o.O

-- Well, I read 1 of the History books, and started another?
-- Didn't learn any new German. =(
-- YES. I finished my dress and I did convince mother to let me stay all 3 days. It was an epic awesome time.
-- Yes. I earned many moneys and it was excellent.
-- Didn't do this, I got distracted by other costumes and... yeah.
-- Um, Still working on that Chaconne. I'm using it for an audition soon, so I really need to practice more.

Other thoughts - this summer was way too hospital/injury filled. First my grandmother had a heart attack. Then I cut off part of my finger. Then grandmother fell again and had to go back to the hospital (she just got released). Then mom hurt her back. Now my adopted Aunt has Tuberculosis. Oy.

I was horrifically lazy most of the time, as I didn't practice more than thrice. I did work quite a bit, and made the dress, which was excellent, but there was a lot of wasted time. I made some new friends, and found some super new costumes to make. I'm almost ready for college, and I'm getting my passport today so we can go to Germany next summer (hopefully). I didn't hang out with as many people as I would have liked to, but that happens. I painted a bridge, swam, read a lot, made video game progress, sewed, dyed stuff for the first time, seduced some men (and women,xD), got SHOES, hiked a 4 mile hike, went to the ER, watched movies until 4 in the morning... yeah it was good. Now it's back to work!

I really need to finish that summer reading. XD

Filling out passport applications is confusing. o.O Or maybe I'm just kinda slow.

I really dislike having my clothes in the process of getting all packed up, since now I have nothing I like to wear out, and it saddens me. I tried to tear up some existing (ugly) shirts this morning and make something useful out of them, but I failed rather spectacularly. -_-

We had my birthday celebration thing last night, even though it's a week early... I got a FOAM SWORD AND IT IS EPIC. We ate yummeh foods too, which was nice.

Yesterday was also Kate and Matt's last day of work, so we went out to IHOP afterwards. I couldn't get any toast though, since I had to save room for dinner T_T I love toast.

And so, today I'm supposed to be organizing my crap for school, getting my passport picture taken, and perhaps getting tested for Tuberculosis, since my 'other' Aunt has it.

Tomorrow there shall be a reflection on this summer. It will be deep and meaningful, no doubt.

Comment with your username, and I'll give you an honest compliment. Then post this in your journal, and spread the love.

I'm spreading the love! *loooooove*

I got 5 pairs of shoes at DSW. I also had my last violin lesson. RETAIL THERAPY. But my shoes are amazing. I got these light blue Converse, a pair of heels, black sneakers to replace my dead ones (T_T RIP shoes. I love you) some brown sneakers for the lulz, and an AWESOME pair of felt scrunchy ankle boots. Their design name was "Hobbit." I had to. =D

Wasn't that exciting?

The de-gay-ifyer. Then all of my lust will NOT go unrequited! I could make it so that evey man I lusted after was NOT inevitably gay! =D

</creepy>

So. That was really damn fun. And super painful. But I will get to that in a moment.

Friday - Woke up at 8 to take a shower and dress. Picked Jenny up at 10:30, smashed myself in the car in the massive hoop skirt. Jenny was super cute as Stephanie and she had the apron from that one episode. Win. We get to Baltimore and check into the hotel - OMG Maria and Amelia are staying in the same hotel! It was super pretty, and there was a phone next to the toilet. LOLLERSKATES. We get to the con around noon, and go to the pre-reg line. LONG LINE IS LONG. It wrapped around like...half the building. We stood there for about 2 hours, and I got mildly sunburnt. I also broke my shoe lace holder thing in a manhole cover, which was tragic. =( I was out-nerded by the guy standing in front of us, with whom I made conversation about myriad things. But he out-Tolkien-nerded me, and I was sad. Nice enough fellow though. Once we got IN, we wandered around a lot. A lot a lot. I took pictures of people and many many many people took my picture. Many many people took Jenny's picture. =3 It was fuuun. I got a call from Yob and shamefully left Jenny in the care of Kostnett, Paulette, and Amy. Yob and I hung out and wandered around Baltimore talking, and it was really nice - I'd forgotten how much fun he could be to be around. XD People on the street took my picture. LULZ. Whenever one of those duck tour buses went by, we would wave (applicable to the whole convention time). Saw the Westley cosplayer again, but he couldn't pick me up this time. (Durn hoop skirt). Met a girl who KNEW WHO I WAS!!! *Waves to Shawna - sorry if I spelled your name wrong!* She was awesome and I gave her my LJ address so I hope she reads this! Went back to our normal group for dinner, which was a salad. Stalked Pretty Man and took his picture. Mmmmm. No rave for us, we went back to the room, and I took stock of my blisters. My shoes =/= comfortable. I fixed the laces with some nifty glue I brought. We watched Labyrinth until 2 in the morning, making all kinds of indecent remarks about the J-area. Much giggling. We also heard an epic Lightsaber battle that was taking place in the halls, and some guy yelling "I JUST WANT TO PARTY WITH YOU! I THINK YOU'RE SEXY!"

Saturday - I awoke around nine thirty (but COMFY BED WAS COMFY), got a shower and dressed. Jenny woke up around 10, and we didn't get to the con until 11 or 12. I went to get her some Tylenol in the morning and met a dude on the elevator. He was nice. XD We talked about con stuff and it was fun. Con people are so outgoing and fun to talk to. I wish life was more like that. The hoopskirt of mine took up half the hallway, but it was so much fun anyway. I felt like a freaking movie star! It was niiice. Met the Phantom cosplayer and got him to join our group =D He was a very interesting character. In a good way. We couldn't go 20 feet without someone asking for a picture - they thought I was Christine! More wandering around and not much was accomplished. I did find 2 awesome t-shirts, though. Saw an EPIC Jack Sparrow and Barbossa in the artist alley and took their picture. I asked if they would be there on Sunday and they didn't know. Barbossa remarked on the large-ness of my skirt and I told him it's where I kept all the corpses of people who weren't going to the con on Sunday. They looked frightened. Bwahahaha. Saw the guys from the pre-reg line again and talked to them a little more... Did more wandering, hung out with Jared for an hour or so when I lost Jenny. =( It was entertaining enough. We moseyed back to the hotel around 9:30 or 10, missing both the rave and masquerade. oh well. It was still enjoyable wandering around looking at stuff. I showered a second time, and started packing since we had to be out of the hotel by 11 the next morning. Crammed the hoop skirt into my suitcase with a lot of pushing and shoving! It was exciting. Jenny and I were up until 2 again giggling and talking. EVERYTHING was funny. "There's a dead bird in my bed!" Also took some questionable pictures with Sportaplush in the bed. BWAHAHAHAHA. He's a pimp. A herd of con-goers stampeded past our room in a frenzy of shushing at 1:30 in the morning. Blister count was up to 8. So much pain.

Sunday - Crammed the rest of my stuff into my bag, cosplayed Elizabeth from PotC1. The elevator was PACKED, so I left all my stuff with Jenny and got in the elevator myself with another con guy who was doing the same thing. We had to get on an up elevator since all the down ones were full. We had a lot of laughs about that. After checking out, the two of us got BACK on the elevator and got our stuff and respective roommates. The poor guy had to hold his cooler on his head since there was no room for it on the floor of the elevator. Good thing I didn't have the hoopskirt today. The con was REALLY slow, everyone was dead tired, so we meandered through the dealers room and artist alley one last time. ManBelle took my picture and I took his and gave him a hug since he's adorable. Got 2 more t-shirts, a fan for Catherine, and a nifty mah-jong bracelet. Met up with Yob one last time and we're gonna try to hang out sometime sort of soon I think. Hung around with the Phantom (whose real name is Greg. He's Greek. Lol). and then we had to go meet Jenny's mom at the hotel so we could go home. I saw a girl crossplaying Jack Sparrow and tried to get a picture with her, but my camera failed on Jenny and the pictures didn't register. It was a major bummer. We ran into pre-reg line guys again and said goodbye. Much hugging that day, which made me happyyyy since I love hugs. Then it was home time!

My feet and legs were DEAD, since my Elizabeth shoes were also 3 inch semi-stripper heels that pinched my already blistered feet. I lost 5 pounds over the course of the weekend thanks to eating once a day and walking everywhere! Super happy about that, since I wanted to take off those 5 pounds. It'll probably come roaring back soon, though. = / Oh well. It's niiice for now.

Kostnett told me later today on facebook that I made it on to "the official Otakon 2008 recap video with the best cosplayers." Super epic happy time. All the pain was WORTH IT. Apparently they showed it at the closing ceremony, which we missed since we couldn't find it. XD FAIL. All in all a really fun experience. SHOUTOUT TIME. (this is going on coscom too)

First and foremost - JENNY/STEPHANIE for being the most amazing roommate ever and forgiving me my whoreish tendencies to run around with the menfolk. I tried, I really did. The whore-mones, though, they overwhelm. I had so much fun with you and it won't be the same next year if we can't go together. The reactions of the little kids when they saw you were priceless and oh-so-CUTE! <33333 forever.

Shawna! (again sorry if I spell it wrong) - Most awesome taste in musicals ever! Major props for knowing who I was and being so enthused with my costume. I was so happy that another American Tanz fan is out there and that you thought I was a good Sarah. I forgive your Thomas Borchert fandom, and wholeheartedly embrace the fact you have the Kevin DVD. <3 to you!

The menfolk - Greg, Jared, Yob, Alexander, other guy, Kostnett, and various elevator people. You guys rock. I'm a ho, sorry, it kinda happens. Hopefully there were no misunderstandings. XD Ya'll make me smile.

So yes. Next up, I gotta make me a Christine costume so Greg and I can do a FOR REAL Phantom cosplay. He might make a Krolock, too, which will be amazing. We have to talk later. =D If I left important stuff out, Jenny please fill it in. I know I can't remember it all. Pics are up on Facebook with captions and such, so check those out.

Tonight was amazing. Tips sucked butt, and I didn't get to run for Bryce, which was tragic, but I served a guy who looked so much like Kevin Tarte. It was rather frightening, but it made my night. His eyes weren't quite as blue and he had longer hair, but the rest was like OH SHIT ITS MY FAVORITE SINGER EVER. He had an accent. It made me happy. I think he was gay too. It made me sad. XD I had to make 5 Nacho Supremes in a row, which was really traumatising, since one of those motherfuckers takes 4 minutes to make.

I'm super excited for Otakon, which begins tomorrow. I shall try to get into the car in my massive, galvanizing hoop skirt, but I'm not so sure how well that's gonna work out. Heh.

James came home today! I was really glad to see him again, since he was being all intern-y this whole summer. We intend to watch old Disney movies all next week, and it shall be good.

*squeeee*

I fully intend to participate in this year's NaNoWriMo. It'll be really interesting, especially since my writing is pure crap even when I'm NOT pressed for time. Can't wait to see what drivel I churn out for THAT. I should just write lots of really bad porn. I actually can't write porn, it gives me the willies. Not in the good way. Bahahaha

I got this game today - well, yesterday... it's called Dracula: Origin. It's basically a point and click adventure game, but with some butt kicking puzzles and graphics. (When I say graphics, I mean that Dracula fellow sure is attractive, with great taste in boots, and it's gonna be a shame to have to kill him). The main character, Van Helsing, is a bit of a pretentious douche with a bad accent, and he calls you useless if you make a mistake on a puzzle, but it's pretty funny. The whole game reminds me of a line from DHSaB - "if you're not a friggin 'tard, you will prevail!" I've only had major trouble with 4 puzzles so far, which means someone smart would have it all done in an hour. But I digress. I enjoy it, for all it's cliches and bad voice acting. (Srsly, Mina's voice actor......even I could have done better. XD But she doesn't talk much, just lies unconscious with holes in her neck for the most part, so it's ok). Right now I'm in some kind of tomb thing in Egypt, and there was a zombie, so I decided enough for one night, as my brain is all "ow, you made me think for 6 hours, you bitch."
http://www.dracula-origin.com/en/
check that out. This is to make up for the distressing lack of Moonlight.

In other news, Otakon is on Friday, and I go to JMU in 15 days! =OOOO

(For the record, I hate Twilight. The ennnd!)

I'll try to keep this spoiler free, but now I want to make the dress from the end of PotC - the nifty wrap one Elizabeth wears on the beach, with the dramatic billowy bits. It's super awesome, but I don't know how it's put together. Obviously the top is your basic wrap dress, but the bottom half it confusing, since it has all those slits in it for the billowy goodness. Material for it will be expensive, since it looks like it's some kind of black silk with a faint pattern on it (also black, but another shade). There's some awesome trim on the neck and sleeves - black background, dark antique gold designs, and a few deep red bits here and there. Sadly there are no pictures to study from, since it was only onscreen for like, 5 minutes.

Anyway I got my dorm assignment/roommate today. My dorm's in the middle of nowhere, it's ugly, but at least it's one of the few with AC. And it's right near my 8 oclock class. BUT it's on the wrong side of Route 81 in terms of all my other classes. It's right next to the rec center, so I have no excuse not to go to the gym and get buff. So. That's kind of exciting. My move in day is August 20th! (and a week until Otakon! Whoooop)

Ok. I was messing around on Costumersguide.com, when I found a link to an article on Keira Knightley and her battle with a studio over breast enhancement on the posters for The Duchess. Naturally, I was intrigued, since we're practically boob twins. In the article, it talked about how the studio wanted to give her C cups because hers aren't good enough as they are. It also quoted her saying that she did a shoot for a magazine, but they wouldn't put her on the cover unless she let them photoshop her into Cs, because they're afraid her natural A cups would "turn off the readers." There are so many things wrong with this, I don't even know where to start. Granted, this could be slightly fabricated for dramatic effect, but... I like to bitch, so roll with it.

I have long admired Keira for her decision to stick it to the man (literally) and not get a boob job. Just because we don't have huge knockers doesn't make us any less human or womanly. It's time for SOMEONE to stick up for us small chested people, and she's making a start. Us women in general need to stick together, too. We're horribly judgemental on others of our gender (usually out of our own insecurities), when we should be picking each other up off the ground and getting others to accept themselves.

This is, however, tremendously difficult to do, since the media has so brainwashed our culture that we feel we have to measure up to the (officially) impossible standard of Hollywood. With photoshop, they make the skinniest women have huge (naturally impossible) racks. Little 10 year old Jill sees said pictures, and thinks that's what she should look like, and her peers suffer the same fate. This leads to severe cases of body dysmorphia (a term I ganked from another blog, defined roughly as having a distorted sense of your body). I have it, as I was taking my measurements for eBay purchases, I discovered I added an inch to my waist and gained 5 pounds (summer lethargy and all), sending me into a bitch fit. I now weigh 120 pounds at 5'5" with a 27 inch waist but I can't help but sense I was happier and I felt more attractive at 115 pounds and the 26 inch waist I had during the school year. Really though, that's perfectly healthy - healthier than I was 5 pounds ago. BUT thanks to the media/ body hysteria, I feel worse about myself and am frantically trying to think of a way to ditch those 5 pounds before I start college.

Men are developing a sense of entitlement - they DESERVE to have supermodel lookalikes as girlfriends. The advent of shows like "Beauty and the Geek" enforces this image. Face it, guys. This is Real Life, not TV. Don't expect women to fall at your feet. Work at it, for once in your pathetic, overpriveledged lives. And be able to take no for an answer. Women don't come in "One size fits all" - there are variations in weight, color, chest size, height, and it's all beautiful in some way. Even the largest girl may have the most beautiful eyes or an amazing smile or a fantastic sense of humor, but so many won't bother to look because "oh, she's fat, and therefore stupid and not worth my time." It's time to get with the program and get your heads out of your asses - Personality IS the most important thing. In 50 years, that "great rack" will be sagging to hell, and then what will you have? Without personality, there's nothing to hold you together. Initial attraction is one thing, but you have to have an intellectual connection, or you will be miserable. That's why so called "love at first sight" never works, except in fairy tales. The most attractive people can be the most bland, since they don't have to work as hard, or develop real interests - so much is handed to them solely on the basis of their looks (Case in point - While I was with my well endowed, conventionally attractive friend, people were more friendly, helpful, and a cashier gave us our drinks for free. This never happens when I'm with my fellow small chested or less conventionally attractive friends. Personally, I think all my buds are gorgeous in some way or another, so whatever society has to say totally pales in comparison).

On the "war on cellulite." Isn't there anything else ya'll could be doing with your time? Cellulite ISN'T a result of being fat/obese/what have you. It's a natural thing that just kinda happens. If the people who are trying to fund "cures" for cellulite would turn their brains toward something important (like oh, say, Cancer or AIDS research) we might have a cure for something now. But no, they're set on finding ways to make us feel worse about ourselves so they can get MOAR MONEYS LOLOoLOl. (By the way - there ISN'T really a cure for it. It's a cell thing, so you're not gonna fix it with creams.) Stretch marks too. Everyone has a growth spurt. I have stretch marks on my upper legs from when I got taller, and on my bum cause, well, I have a bum. Another natural happenstance that's not "attractive" that the media tries to make us feel terrible about so we go buy product for it.

On acne. It happens, but the stereotypes have got to stop. Not every person with acne is a socially inept, unwashed, rank, disease ridden pestilence upon society. (Ok I got a little carried away there, but the first 3 are the most common stereotype people have of us acne sufferers). I am so tired of seeing in movies the only person with acne is either the bully or the "math geek with no friends." In books, too. Eloise Midgen and Moaning Myrtle in Harry Potter - I almost quit reading the books because I was so offended by the way Rowling portrayed those 2 girls. They were the only 2 about whom any comment on their skin was made, and they were the outcasts, the whiney, and the disliked. Come on, woman. I have acne, have had it for years. I've tried so many things to get rid of it, and it won't go away. Don't judge me by it, or think I don't shower just because I have bad skin. It's unrelated at this point. Acne is a bacterial thing and can get into your bloodstream, at which point the only thing you can do is take pills and hope they work. (As a side note - I never want to have another porcelain skinned friend come up to me and tell me she feels ugly, and upon my inquiry, gesturing to a pinprick sized red dot on her nose that's not even visible until pointed out. This kind of thing hurts more than I let on, as it implies I'm ugly for having a lot of more-than-pinprick sized red blotches on my face. Just don't do it, people. Until you get a case like mine.... (And dear, I'm not mad about it, and sorry if I offend you for using this in my tangent, but..yes. It did hurt rather a lot. I still love you, though!)

To be edited as I see fit

In other news - I MISS MR KANE. WAH. Oh, I need help.

So I finally caught those stupid fish, but now I'm totally fucked. I got to the whole Twilight forest thing and I was trying to get all the bits of light, but I somehow missed one along the way - but I killed its keeper. So now there's no conceivable way to get it back. (I saved my game, thinking I had it, so I can't go back to before I killed the guy to redo it).

That's 8 hours of my life down the drain. Now I have to start the fuck over.

I don't want to go to work tonight. Yesterday was terrible and my feet still haven't recovered (worked from 12-8). Hungry people are mean, and it sucks when all the Reggae-listening potheads are all high and get the munchies at the SAME TIME.

That is all.