Monday, September 24, 2007

...and there was great rejoicing...

It just got announced at work... I've been promoted from Programmer/Analyst III to Systems Analyst! I've been working toward this for a while, so I'm glad it has arrived.

Sorry about the weird colors on the blog. I've been playing with the template lately. I'm making adjustments as I have time, such as playing with the colors. Hopefully it will look better soon.

Also, my weight is finally going back down. I am back below 150 for the first time in over six months! I'm looking to get back down to about 130, which is the high end of 'normal' for my age and height. I've lost about 7 pounds since Dragon*Con. I hope to get to my goal before next D*C. I've lost 50 pounds in 6 months before, so I think I can do this.
Why is it so easy to gain and so hard to lose when it comes to weight?

This will change the size on my costumes a little, so I'm going to wait a bit before I do anything that's closely tailored.

Here is my basic design for the patch for the Jane Sagan costume:

CDF Patch Rough Design

I went with the Phoenix-and-Torch motif, as explained in the artist's comments in the link above.

What do you think?

Wednesday, September 19, 2007

Greetings on Talk Like a Pirate Day

Arrrrrh, me matey, it be Talk Like a Pirate Day!

Talk Like a Pirate Day Official Website

(*sings "It's a Pirate's Life for Me"*)

So, grab yer cutlasses and yer parrots and let's set sail!

Arrrrrrrrhhhhh...

Monday, September 17, 2007

Getting Back Into the Groove

Oi! I've been back from the Con for two weeks now. I'm still trying to get used to NOT seeing Klingons and Stormtroopers around every corner. It is amazing how quickly I get used to the Con atmosphere and how long it takes me to "decompress" back into the "Real World" TM.

I am already planning my costumes for next year:

1 - Raven. I already have the OYL costume done. Now I want to be brave and try the McKone style Raven (cloak, dress, thigh boots). I have the spandex. I have some patterns that I can adapt to create the other parts. Now I just need to get started!

2- Jane Sagan from Old Man's War. This one is going to be a challenge, since I cannot find any illustrations of this character. I love Mr. Scalzi's work, however his penchant for leaving things undescribed makes it difficult to cosplay his characters. In re-reading the series, I've come up with the following description for the CU CDF dress uniforms: blue.

All righty, then. I do have something to start with. I have designed a military patch for a uniform, and it will match a blue one pretty well. Since the planet Phoenix is pretty prominent in that 'verse, and since torches have long been a symbol on military uniforms, I decided to go with a phoenix-and-torch motif, with the body of the phoenix behind the torch in such a way that the head of the phoenix becomes the "flame" for the torch. I have it sketched out on graph paper now. I may scan it in later and post it here to see if folks like it.

I just need to come up with a plausible design for the actual uniform. Something military and dressy, but not too flashy, since she is Special Forces... and they don't like to advertise themselves. Oh, and green skin and cat's eyes. This will be my first foray into theatrical makeup! (*rubs hands together*) This oughta be interesting.

Monday, September 03, 2007

Dragon*Con pictures

Dragon*Con was even bigger and better this year. We stayed at a hotel this time, but we did not stay at one of the convention hotels. Instead, we got one just a couple of blocks away. It was close enough to walk to (even in Atlanta) but far enough away that it was quiet. Well, for a city hotel room, at least. I'm a country girl. I'm used to hearing cicadas and frogs at night instead of car horns.

Anyhoo, we did get to go some of the later events for the first time this year. We attended the masquerade, which was hosted by some of the build team from Mythbusters. Such a hoot, and the costumes were great. We also attended the midnight Cruxshadows concert. They kicked off their last world tour at DC 06 and ended it with DC 07. Great to see. However, even with a late afternoon nap, and despite the entire wonderfulness of Cruxshadow's music, Li'l KT still turned into a pumpkin at 1 AM and fell asleep for a few minutes, just a few rows back from the mosh pit. Now, where is that ability when I have insomnia??????

We met some wonderful people all over the con, usually while we were queueing up for something. We also ran into some old friends. Remember the Beast Boy I ran into last year? We managed to find each other again, in the middle of a convention of nearly 50,000 people! I also got to meet his lovely fiancee and have a nice chat with them. The gentleman who was Nightwing was there as well. I was very happy to see that they remembered me, too. It was great. Mr. BB also dressed up as Jericho later on, but unfortunately I wasn't able to find him then, so I didn't get a picture! (Dag-nabbit! ) He's so good with his costumes that I wanted his opinion on my Speedy outfit, but unfortunately I had to get out of it before he could see it. Spandex, KT, Atlanta, and August just don't mix very well, and I had to change before I collapsed of heat exhaustion. NOTE TO SELF: Choose less modest costumes next time. Speedy was great in January (Chattanooga's January, not Canada's, mind you), but NOT Labor Day weekend! Granted, it was cooler than it had been, but I was also in a crowded space with a lot of 98.6 degree heaters. I sweated through the suede on my boots, it was so hot. The adhesive on my funkyfoam arrow crest gave up the ghost. At one point, I lost it in the dealer's room and had to backtrack to find it (after about 10,000 people had trampled it).

But it was great to see them all again. We'll see if we can find them again next year!

Pictures

There are panels and concerts and events galore (not to mention shopping!) at Dragon*Con, but for me the very best part is to just find a perch in the Hyatt lobby and watch the costumes go by. Some are so professional that they look like they just stepped off a sound stage. Others are obviously home jobs (like mine) but still look great. Some are very obvious references to movies or books or video games (or even cross-genre items, like the Elvis Stormtrooper). Others just leave me scratching my head, wondering what they were thinking. But even then, it's good to see them having fun with what they have done. The mister managed to take pictures of just about everything, especially in the parade. I've managed to cull out the ones I really like. I might add more later as time permits.

Beast Boy, Part Deux:



Titans Together!


The same fellow also does some great Flash villains. Last year, he did the Trickster. This year, The Top:




My one and only picture of Speedy from this year... It's Speedy doing her Cousin Itt imitation. (I had no idea the mister was taking my picture then! But at least I finally got the gaiters done for the legs!)
Believe me, it takes some guts to walk through the streets of downtown Atlanta dressed like an Oscar Meyer WeinerWagon. I only got whistled at twice this time. It must be the bow. (For a better picture, please see the January 2007 archives.)







Princess Fiona, from Shrek




For you G.I. Joe fans (Yo Joe!)



"You just can't appreciate Elvis's music until you've heard it in the original Klingon" OR "He Thinks He's Elvis!"






Mario! Luigi!




The Diplomatic Contingent for the Predators:


The Batman from the 60's show. This guy looked great.



Someone actually came as the little guy from the Six Flags commercials.



For "FireFly" fans... someone decided to dress up as the ship itself...



The lovely Nichelle Nichols, who played Lt. Uhura in the classic "Star Trek"




Biker Klingons!




The Green Lantern Corps was well-represented.



Another GL with Red Arrow



And it's just not a Con without The Princess Bride




More pictures can be found on my Shutterfly site at: KT's Shutterfly Site

Click on the link above, then click on the "View Pictures" button to view a slideshow of the pictures that the mister took. I will add more pictures as time allows.

Back from Dragon*Con!

Pictures and update coming soon!