We had thanksgiving a day late, but it was totally worth it.

I'm still procrastinating the homework.  I don't know why this is so hard for me, but it is.  The problem with procrastinating is that the workload just keeps getting bigger.  I wish I could sign up for some self-paced classes, because I think those would work really well for me.  I tend to do things in spurts, and trying to force myself to do something outside of that me makes me unproductive in everything.  I do eventually get everything done, but unfortunately it's hard for me to fit that to a time-table.  Must learn to be more focused and in control of my work.

While I haven't done any homework, I have poked around the internet looking at options for Roman clothing.  Some of our friends in the SCA are doing a Roman-themed New Year's party, and we've been wanting some roman garb ever since we saw Rome.  It'd be good for light, easy to put on garb for the days it's really hot.  It'd also make good loaner garb, since it'd fit pretty much anyone.  I also can make it entirely from fabric I already own, which is another huge plus.

I've decided to put the late 14th/early 15th century stuff off, because I'm still fiddling with the fit on my cotehardie and I think I won't have enough time to finish it all.  Instead I'm going to focus on finishing up the Japanese garb, since I still have the second hitoe to make and I have to finish a lot of hemming.  I'd hate for it to end up relegated to the half-finished pile.  I'm also going to finally hem and fix my elizabethan shift, because I didn't put gores in it when I first made it, forgetting that it's nice to be able to walk.  The first time I wore it I realised my mistake, tore a slit for walking ease, and promised myself I'd finish it later.  It's later now, and I'm determined to finally fix it!  Several skirts need to be rehemmed too, and the pair of drawstring non-period pants that Ben's been using to fight in have ripped in the crotch.  Need to sew that up, and possibly make him a new pair that isn't made out of cheap quilting cotton.  He's on garb probation, though... I was collecting clothing to wash and store, and couldn't find his fighting clothes anywhere.  I finally located them shoved in the bottom of his sheildbag, still damp with sweat.  It's been almost two weeks since the event...they were absolutely disgusting and covered in multicolored mold.  The shirt is still stained, and I'm not really sure anything will fix that.  It is nice to sit outside and see all the shirts, shifts, and kosode hanging up to dry.  Makes me feel accomplished ^_^

Now to actually accomplish something....stupid homework!

The cat is not making a very good case for letting him go outside.  He escaped today and brought a live dove into the house, where it is currently sitting in the corner being terrified.  And terrifying us.  I never said I was brave.  I did manage to seperate the cat from the bird, and I locked him in the bathroom which unfortunately has a door leading into our bedroom which he can open, so he's probably peeing on our clothes.  Or our bed, because he's a butthead.

I started making a 14th century cotehardie a while ago.  I used the directions at www.cottesimple.com, which were really clear.  I ran into troubles trying to fit myself. I thought he fitting went pretty well, and I felt like I had a good pattern.  When I made up the dress, however, it looked like
( this )

I finished the hakama and the Kirk vest last night.  I was hoping to be farther along after yesterday, but it does feel good to have something finished.  Now I'm almost done with halloween, except for the insignia.  I have a few things that wil kind of work, but nothing that I'm really proud of yet.  I just have to focus on the event now (whose idea was it to have an event the day after halloween? crazy!)  I really doubt that I'll get my hitoe done.  I painted one of the hitatare sleeves yesterday, and I still have one more to paint.  Took about an hour and a half, I think.  I still have to put together and do all the handsewing on the hitatare, and I don't think I'm going to do the white cording on it until the next event.  I still haven't even started the next kosode, though I did finally manage to wash the linen for it.  It's going to use up the last of my giant roll, which is a sad, sad day.  It's been nice to have the convenience of having a constant supply around, but I don't think I'll be buying another bolt.  I got one of the 20 yard rolls from fabrics-store.com, but it is only slightly cheaper than just buying it by the yard, and shipping out here is atrocious.  For some reason fabrics-store.com has particularly high shipping prices.  Anyway, I'll be glad to have halloween over.  My schoolwork has been suffering because of the added distraction.  I have done much better much longer in this term than I ever have before, so I'm not too worried.  I just need some time to refocus and get back on track.

The main body of the hitatare is painted and drying!  I still have to cut out and paint the sleeves, which will take a while.  It took me over an hour to paint five of the triangles, and the sleeves have twelve triangles total.  Yikes.  At least I'm making progress.  The hakama are almost assembled, but I did have to rip the crotch out and lower it, because I think I forgot to re-measure the middle panels after I cut them.  I guess that's the hazard of cutting a ton of rectangles and waiting two weeks to assemble them...I'd forgotten which ones needed to be measured again.  Luckily it's not a hard fix, just annoying.  I'm also wondering what to do about the obi.  In the picture (and I think this was customary), a white obi was worn to break up the matching bottom half from the top half.  I thought it looked nice, and bought some white silk to do that.  However, this is an SCA event and I think that could be construed as a white belt, which is reserved for knights.  I might try and pick another color, but I think any other color would look funny, since the pattern is white on a green background.  Maybe I could dye it black? 

I'm a bit more relaxed now.  I can throw out my one lowest test grade, which means that the last test isn't the end of the world.  I'd rather not have to do that this early, but oh well.  Hopefully something will click soon and everything will make sense again.  

I really need to finish all the Halloween and Japanese costumes this weekend.  Yet I suddenly have the urge to finish up my blue 15th century cotehardie. I took a look at it the other day, and the uneven eyelets are not as noticeable as I had thought at first, and i think the dress has stretched a bit in length, because it's not as short as I remember it either.  I think I can have it up and running for 12th night.  No working on it until after halloween, though.  I think I have enough time to get everything done if I stick to the plan.  Things are mostly coming together.  The rise on the hakama is too short, so I have to figure out some way to fix that.  There are several options, but non of them fun.  I'm not particularly happy with way the stamping came out (the paint kept glopping so the edges of the design aren't very neat), but it's not too noticeable from a reasonable distance.  I am also having issues hemming the armscyes in the Kirk vest, so I think I'm going to have to draft some facings and finish it that way, which is what I really should have done in the first place.

Thanks again for all the suggestions on the insignia.  I found these, which I think is what peronel was talking about.  They're absolutely perfect, except that they're six inches long.  I've been looking for shorter ones, but no luck so far.  The lamp prisms are still looking like a good bet, but I've run out of shipping time.  I bought some fimo clay and made something that looks okay(ish), which will work for now until I can find something better.

Test is over.  I might get a D if the teacher grades really really nicely.  Yuck. 

I found out earlier today that I have a physics test tomorrow.  I missed class yesterday (and was couch-ridden most of today) due to sickness.  I am so not prepared for this test!

Darn it, just lost my entry.  Basically, we're making the evil uniforms from the star trek tos episode mirror mirror.  I'm having issues with the insignia.  here it is:

Doesn't that sword type thing look familiar?  I feel like I can almost place what they used for it, but it keeps eluding me.  

My silk also came today!  It is gorgeous, and I realized that this is the first time I've made upper class garb.  I'm so excited about the pretty fabrics!

I've been debating between doing this color combination

 
or this color combination


The second was actually my original plan, but when I struck out on finding the proper silk, I started to fall in love with the first.  I figured whichever color combination presented itself cheapest would be the one.  Well, now I found the silk for both, and I can't choose.  The tan and yellow looks surprisingly good on me, and I don't have anything in those colors.  I also think that they would be easier to layer if I ever wanted to do a semi-formal heian outfit and have five hitoe.  I also really like the subtilty of the tan layered over the yellow.
I know the blue and green would look good on me, and the combination is certainly more striking, but I have lots of blue and green garb (and regular clothes...) already.  It might be fun to do something different.  However, I haven't seen any of these fabrices in person, so the dark blue and green is a safer choice.  Gah!  I was hoping lack of colors would make the decision for me!  I'm probably going to have to order in a couple of hours, so if you happen to see this post and have an opinion please comment!  I took the pictures to school yesterday and the unanimous choice was blue and green, but Bree's leaning toward the gold/yellow.

I'm almost finished with my kosode. I've gotten it to the point where there's only hand sewing left, which can easily be done while watching tv tonight or gaming tomorrow. I might chop off some of the length on the nagabakama, because they'd still be plenty long enough and that might make them easier to tie up for walking (not that I really know how to do that anyway). I've still had no luck on finding silk for the outer layers (hitoe?), and I'm thinking I'll have to buy some white silk and dye it. That kind of terrifies me, because I'd hate to ruin 6 yards of fabric at a time. On the other hand, I did a lot of reading about dyeing today and I think it might be easier than I thought it was. I just have to find a GIANT pot, and possibly an outdoor stove.

Yesterday I finally finished a skirt I'd been trying to make work for over a year now. My friend pulled the fabric out, said it was pretty and said I should finish it. It was supposed to be a wrap skirt, so I tried to make it into that and failed once again. Then I was told that it would make a very pretty gathered elastic waist skirt, which it does! It does have a bit of the flavor of a first home-ec project, but I'm just happy to have one less unfinished project around.

Our camera's not working right now, so I can't post pictures, but I'll get them up soon!

I actually finished the hakama! I didn't even have to pull apart the red petticoat, so I can go back to my original plan of using it until I can get red wool to make a better petticoat. The hakama could use to be a little wider (I think...I'm still a little confused on the japanese asthetic) but overall I'm really proud of them for a first attempt. I made the long ones, which are AWESOME. The other added bonus is that in the Kamakura period, women could wear only the hakama and a kosode. That means that when it's really hot here, which it is whenever we don't have events upcountry, I can just wear linen pants and a linen top and still look period-correct. I do love my elizabethan peasant dress, but it's going to be nice to have an option that's both easier to put on and lighter. I could even dress myself! Now I just have to make myself that kosode, and wait for the silk (which hasn't even been charged yet...) to arrive.

Today was the first day that I actually got real access to the telescopes. I've tried for the past few weeks, but every time my schedlued time came up, it was cloudy and the telescope was closed. Today I didn't plan at all, and it was clear so I got to take pictures! I had some issues with the software, though, and was having a hard time finding things that were big enough that they looked like something other than a white dot in the picture. Then my computer shut down right in the middle....fun stuff. Anyway, at least I got to use it and I can be more prepared next time.

Halloween and the Japanese event are coming up soon. I've gotten re-excited about the Japanese. I found the perfect cloth, just have to order it and hope it still exists. Of course I left my purse in the car which Ben took to work...whoops. I think I'm going to have to take apart my red Elizabethan petticoat to get enough of the right color red cloth for the hakama, but that's okay. I have plenty of other red linen, and I was planning on repleating the petticoat anyway. If I'm going to take it apart to do that, it's not that much work to just make a new one from scratch, and I'm probably not going to wear the peasant dress for a while anyway.

I guess it's time I get back into the habit of posting...after vacation I guess I sort of forgot!

Since my last post, we visited Portland. There we hung out with a ton of friends, went to our good friend's wedding (it was lovely and very fun), went on a guided rafting trip on the Deshutes with our friends, and then my dad and I boated the lower portion of the river the next day. The rafting was fun I guess, but I'm not really one for the guided trips. I really prefer settling back and watching the gorgeous scenery float by, but everyone else preferred playing with the water guns at every possible chance. I got a little irritated, and was irritated more when people called me boring and a wet blanket for not joining in the "fun". The next day with my dad was wonderful, though. We camped out the night before, when our tent was blown sideways in the wind. We read a lot, talked about books and other things, and then next day we lazily floated down the river with plenty of time to look at the scenery. My dad understands me ^_^ Ben and I also went on a backpacking trip to the Olympic Peninsula, which sounds lovely but was actually the worst backpacking trip EVER. We had thunder, downpours, epic bugs, nearby forest fires lit by lightning, soap poisoning, headaches, spilled water all over our tent, a useless sleeping pad, a hard-core hike we weren't prepared for, a lighter that melted when we lit it, several bear scares, I ran away from my electric toothbrush (I thought it was bees!), and yeah....awful! We abandoned that trip halfway through and booked it to Seattle, where we stayed in hotels, wandered the city, and went to a comedy show.
We flew back from Portland with Ben's sister, brother-in-law, and their baby. I really like them, but I'd been against this plan from the beginning, because i knew we'd need some recovery time. We did, and there were a fair number of stressful times (exasperated because the baby couldn't stop screaming...it was like living with a thousand piccolos all playing the highest note possible constantly), but overall it was fun. We did all the touristy things, saw the island, played games, and ate a LOT. Right after they left, school started.
School's been going well...I have a really good study group, most of whom are in both my math and my physics class. Because of them and my new phone setup, I haven't missed an assignment yet, and I've turned everything in on time. Usually I've lost it by this point. I've found that it's really helpful doing homework with a group, because I can't procrastinate until the last minute to do my work. I don't mind if the teacher knows I'm a screw-up, but I don't want my classmates to know. I also set up my phone calendar to send me reminders the day my online work and tests are due, and that's helped immensely. Last year I managed to forget about every one of my online math tests (I have the same teacher, and the class format is exactly the same), but now my phone keeps bugging me until I take it.
No real news on the astronomy job at school yet. I guess the money was requested and was supposed to come in last February, but it has yet to be seen. On the other hand, I'm still doing the awesome work. My professor got access to a website that allows me to control any one of almost ten telescopes. Some are in New Mexico and some are in Australia, and they range from beginner ones to pretty large, advanced ones. All I have to do is go on and sign up for a time slot, and I can control them from my couch. That's what I'm doing today ^_^
Not much sewing-related news. A bunch of guys at the station bought new uniforms so I sewed patches on for them, but the day after I got paid all the money was stolen out of my wallet. Other than that, I cut down a failed dress to make a skirt, but forgot to measure and it's too big. When I figure out how to take it in, it'll be an awesome skirt, though, and perfect for biking. My friend Bree comes to live with us starting next Tuesday, so I'll finally have someone to sew with! I'm excited. Not only is she my best friend, but she's vowed to make a fancy cake at least once a week. ^_^

I've been sort of half-heartedly cleaning the house all summer. Taking breaks, rearranging furniture, trying to find the perfect place for everything. I've just realized that we're leaving for Portland in a week, and I really have to get this done. How am I accomplishing it? By taking a break to charge my ipod. (of course I can't just plug my computer in to get the same music! That's crazy talk)

Anyway, since I'm waiting for the music to charge, I figured I'd post. I finally signed up for classes.  I'd been putting it off for ages because I kept getting prereq errors when I tried to sign up online, so I had to do it in person.  For some reason I figured it'd be this long, drawn out thing, where in actuality it took them about five minutes to look at my past credits and realize that the computer is crazy.  I'm now officially taking Calc I and Physics.  Calculus starts at 8:15 in the morning, which means I have to leave the house by 7 to bike to campus. (assuming I'm in good enough shape...if not, I leave earlier) The other calculus class starts at noon, but that means I have a four day class schedule, which I hate.  I know for a fact that if I only have one class in a day, I'm much more likely to justify skipping.  I still need one more class, and I'm having a hard time figuring out which to take.  Nothing fits in the several hours I'll have between Calculus and Physics, so I'm stuck taking an online course. 

My options are:

Japanese: Pros- I've already kind of started learning it, Ben's kind of learning it, and most of my friends took it in high school.  Also fills my required asia/pacific perspective.  Cons- Language class online?  Doesn't sound very effective.

Hawaiian: Pros- Fills the hawaiian credit, and it would help me for the remaining time we're here, and it'd be cool to say I knew how to speak it.  The teacher also got a decent review on Ratemyprofessor.com (though they did say she was hard) Cons- It's online, and knowing hawaiian would be less useful than knowing japanese when we move away from here.

Natural History of the Hawaiian Isles: Pros- Could be interesting, and I know almost nothing about this area.  Would also fill my hawaiian credit.  Cons-  Could just as easily be very boring

World Civ I: Pros- It's required, it's one of the classes I took and failed, so my gpa would go up.   Cons- I HATE history classes, and the teacher supposedly makes you write essays, which I suck at.

There are other options, but the stupid website keeps signing me out, and most of the classes I could take don't exist.  I was hoping to take some sort of dance or pe class, because those are also required and it would be a nice break from the math and thinking.  Unfortunately, those aren't offered.  I also can't seem to find the sheet of paper that the councellor wrote down all my classes on, so I'm a little confused as to what I actually need.   I know I need the classes above, though.  Blah!

We went snorkeling today for the first time in FOREVER. The new coast guard people are awesome and live right down the road from us, so we've been hanging out a lot. There are two new couples, both cool, one couple is engaged and the other is married (like us! it's nice to have people in our same situation, rather than mean judgmental people). We went out to Honolua Bay, where I'd never been before. It was pretty good snorkeling. Saw a lot of big fish, some eels, and a couple of sea turtles. One had some fibropapilloma tumors (thank you google) all over it. I've seen them on turtles before, but this was by far the worst. The poor turtle barely had any unaffected skin left on it.

Tonight we're getting together again to get dinner, go to an arcade, then go to a gallery opening of someone else in the coast guard.

Otherwise, I've still just been trying to get our house under control. I've finally gotten the guest bedroom looking like an actual room rather than an exploded storage facility. We got some new shelves for my sewing stuff. I thought that I could put some of my cloth on them and find somewhere else to stash the rest, but I actually have a lot less than I thought I did! I managed to fit all my fabric on the shelves and for the first time ever I'm able to see what I have. It's amazing. I think I'll get a lot more sewing done now that I don't have to destroy the house to find a length of fabric that I sort of remember buying. I also won't have to buy duplicates, because I can see what I have. I have an embarrassingly large amount of dark brown wool. Anyone have ideas for dark brown medium weight wool? I also have a freakish amount of unfinished projects.

I have been sewing some. I'm almost done with a slipcover for our ugly but comfortable armchair. One side looks fantastic, the other side looks like a five year old sewed it. I also have managed to put a hole in the bottom before I even sewed it together, and there is little to no fabric for the hem. I refuse to worry about it though...anything is better than the chair itself, which is an ugly faded orange with a giant hole in the back.

It's been a while...I really should start posting more frequently. I love other's frequent posting, and I check them every day even if I don't comment. I'm sorry! So....today. Went swimming, gamed, got drunk with some new people who I really really like. Ben kept saying that the new people were nice, but I didn't believe him until I met them. Silly me. Then today I got drunk and told them and him things I'd never told him before...stuff about us meeting and beginning dating and everything. I hope everything's still okay in the morning. I wish I'd sewn more recently, but I've been excavating the guest/sewing/camping/office/random room, and it's almost done. Once that's done I'll feel much less guilty about taking time for myself and sewing. Ben's been feeling really bad because of work recently, and I'm hoping that in my drunken stupor tonight I've managed to convince him that he's pretty cool. Recently we've been swimming, which I really enjoy. That surprised me...most of the time I don't like exercise for exercise's sake, but swimming laps is really calming. I even bought a lap swimming suit today (why are they all freakishly expensive and ugly??) because the elastic went on my only suit that sort of worked for that, and I've been having to swim in a really unsupportive bikini. Not fun. My new suit is ugly and expensive, but cheaper and less ugly than most of them out there. It has blue bubbles on it!
I also got the dress I made for display at the fabric store (ages ago) back yesterday. I'm excited because I didn't think I had the guts to ask for it back, but on the other hand it's really retro looking, not something I'd wear every day, and WAY too small in the hips for me. It's vaguely possible that if I let it out as much as possible and that if I keep swimming and get a slimmer waistline that it'll fit me, but I'm not sure if it's worth it. I feel like I'm at a pretty healthy size now, and I'll feel silly if I try really hard to loose weight just because I couldn't measure properly to make a dress. On the other hand, most of my garb is sized for a smaller me, and that's a lot of work to remake. Am I a horrible person if I want to loose weight because I'm lazy? Don't answer that...I'm drunk and shouldn't be posting anyway. But hello! Sorry I don't post more! I love everyone's journals!

Actually, I wouldn't know. I spent most of today hauling ten foot palm fronds to the yard waste dumpster and hand-picking some of the thousands of leaves out of the rocks in our backyard. Our landlords said the backyard was low-maintenance...just water once a day. Somehow I don't think they ever were the ones maintaining it ^_^ They said they put down rocks so we wouldn't have to mow the lawn...however, I'd much rather spend fifteen minutes a week mowing the (very small) lawn than trying to pick dry, dead, disintegrating leaves out of the tiny rocks. There has got to be another way...I've filled the dumpster bin three-quarters of the way full and the yard still looks like a mess.

In happier news, I finally convinced Ben to play tennis with me. He's been trying to get me to go running with him, but I really don't enjoy running. If I'm going to exercise, it has to be fun for me. I like being active, but I hate doing something solely for the sake of exercise. I used to kind of enjoy running, but was pushed really really hard to become a cross country runner when I was younger. I'd much rather play tennis, practice fencing, or go swimming. Now he says he'll play tennis with me every day, though! Victory! I also showed him some courts near our house that are right on the beach. They're really pretty, and you can watch the sunset while playing in the evenings.