I am not afraid to keep on living / I am not afraid to walk this world alone

LOOKIT THE FANCY

2008-05-16T02:25:38Z

She was SO HAPPY about the summer weather today that she started rolling around like a puppy. I'm just glad I managed to catch it. AWWWWWW.

Backjumping

2008-05-14T04:12:41Z

This.

My Uncle Jay's short film. I just got a message on Facebook that apparently CBC is showing it tomorrow night as part of a "short film faceoff." Tomorrow night they'll be opening it up to voting. So hey, go vote for my uncle? If he wins, he gets funding for more movies. He's apparently making a full-length feature horror film now, which makes me sad, because I will never, ever go to see what kind of twisted horrors this guy can come up with. I mean, he gave my cousin a Telletubbies calendar. That's not normal.

Short Film Faceoff

LOL

2008-05-11T19:47:49Z

I was going through my closet last night, and realized I really do have a whole crapload of potential casual lolita outfits, which I don't wear nearly enough. So, in my effort to get more wear out of it, I got all dolled up in my pink argyle skirt and Putumayo hoodie.

And now it is pouring rain outside. LOL.

Another random fact: Yesterday I bought a tube of L'oreal lipstick because it was on sale, and it turns out that it smells EXACTLY like a toy I had as a kid. The problem is that I honestly can't place WHICH toy it smells like. I want to say it was one of those scented My Little Ponies, but it may have been those horses that had the saddles and the saddles flipped up and had jewelry inside. Anyone remember those? I feel like I'm going crazy, and all over a tube of lipstick.

ellorgast @ 2008-04-29T08:02:00

2008-04-29T14:02:33Z

Ever have that dream where Lord Voldemort is your Latin professor?

ellorgast @ 2008-04-28T22:23:00

2008-04-29T04:23:34Z

My dad hung out with some Newfoundlanders when he was working, and he brought back for us a whole bunch of authentic Newfie snacks. These include Caramel Logs, Jam Jams, Cream Crackers, and--my favorite, if by name only--Square Milk Lunch. How can you not love a people who decide to name a cracker Square Milk Lunch? I've just tried the Jam Jams, and they taste like Fig Newtons but with some extra spice.

Whoops

2008-04-26T20:14:34Z

Sorry to everyone who was looking for me this week. Monday and Tuesday were dominated by the bellydance show, while the rest of the week was consumed by a combination of bad weather and worse cold, which conspired to make me want to do nothing but lay in bed in a little ball and pet my kitty. I've pretty much just put all my energy into not letting it affect my job during the day, and then came home and made dinner for my mom who's in the final throes of her coursework, and then crashed.

I'm determined to get caught up this weekend (i.e. tags, photos, and Gesma articles), but this is also the last weekend that my sister will be here, so we'll see how that goes. Last night I used my Cheesecake Cafe gift card to take my mom and sister out, even though I kinda felt too miserable for the occasion. I found that they actually make decent Italian sodas! And also really good fries. I came home and curled up on the couch, and my sister was awesome enough to go get me a movie and some orange juice (I did the exact same thing for her last Friday when SHE was the sick one, so it works out). We watched Pan's Labyrinth, and they both loved it as much as I've been telling them they would (they wouldn't believe me because it looks so scary).

ellorgast @ 2008-04-25T08:02:00

2008-04-25T14:02:40Z

My throat feels like it's trying to cannibalize itself. Maybe I won't have to actually talk while I teach English today. They can play Uno all morning, couldn't they?

ellorgast @ 2008-04-22T22:40:00

2008-04-23T04:40:05Z

Bellydance show went awesome. My costume turned out amazingly.

I have ten gazillion photos from the last two weeks that need posting. They're slowly working their way through the editing process to reach your screens.

I sleep now.

School

2008-04-06T18:20:23Z

Since we're doing a unit on Canada in my class, I decided to decorate the classroom with scenes from across Canada. We've got all these calendars that got donated to the school with photographs of scenery, so I took over a whole wall with them. In the center I put "Across Canada" and made a big compass surrounding it out of red cardstock. Then I labeled where all the scenes came from. It looks pretty awesome, in my humble opinion.

Jocelyn decided to use them in a lesson, so we all took our chairs over and sat down in front of the display. Then she asked everyone where they most wanted to visit. Strangely, they almost unanimously agreed that their first choice was Edmonton. It was one of the only cities that I chose to include photos of--why put up cityscapes when you have twenty pictures of mountains to choose from? And one of the photos of Edmonton featured the provincial building all lit up at night. The answer they all gave when asked why in the world they'd want to live in that beautiful but freakishly cold city? Because it looks safe with all those lights. And the other one was because the provincial building looks like buildings in their home countries.

Of course, all of them have lived in big cities before. The Afghanis used to live in Russia. The Sudanese know Khartoum and Cairo. But I know that when I think "safe," I don't think "city." I think of all the tranquil forests and farmsteads that I put up around that city picture. But when asked about other places, an Afghani woman said that she would feel scared in many of the places on the wall. When I pressed her for which places, she didn't choose the ones I expected--the mountains in Yukon, the endless frozen desert of Nunavut, or the giant glaciers of Athabasca. Even the wide open spaces of Saskatchewan I could have understood. Nope, she pointed to a grassy wetland in New Brunswick. It was the most idyllic scene you can imagine--it looked like it was ripped out of Bambi. Just this field of long grasses growing out of a still pond, with gentle hills in the background. When I asked her what in the world could be scary about that, she said "I would be scared to be alone there. It looks like there are no people."

Trendy trends

2008-04-05T23:50:19Z

Can anybody explain to me what's up with this recent obsession with the edible-looking jewelry and the fake nails with the LAYERS AND LAYERS OF STUFF in sweet lolita? If people want to wear it, it's their thing, but I'm just baffled by this DESSERTSPLOSION that's been going on just in the past few months. It's like how Baby's bows-on-bows-on-bows have spawned well beyond their originally well-controlled environment of only occupying the dress, now we must repeat our prints on our hands, many times over. I suspect this is a mini decora invasion of some kind, but I don't know enough about those other fashion scenes to say, really. It's funny how any time there's a big sweet trend, it REALLY catches on, like the whole Rococo obsession last year.

In a more pleasant trend, full-sized hats seem to be gaining ground in classic lolita (I suspect this comes partly from there being more classic lolitas in general, so they're less afraid to BE all-out classic instead of imitating the sweet camp). I have a vintage-style hat I've been hanging onto for a while now that I always thought would look great with some lolita action, so I'm thinking I might finally break it out now.

Pirates capture French yacht

2008-04-04T23:59:48Z

http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5hAoKoV-wzh9gGZMp6o7INkdOdadQD8VRASC00

The International Maritime Bureau, which tracks piracy, said in its annual report earlier this year that global pirate attacks rose 10 percent in 2007, marking the first increase in three years.

LOL.

I am an addict.

2008-04-03T22:49:02Z

Antique Beast is taking orders. ANTIQUE BEAST IS TAKING MOTHERFUCKING ORDERS. I have been a lolita for... oh man, maybe four years now? and never seen Antique Beast open for orders.

All of my money is gone. I'm broke forever. I bought two headdresses (because the best feature about AB has ALWAYS been the headdresses) and the Azalea OP. Damn, I wish they still made the Lycoris OP, though. That would've been my dream dress.

Keigo is my hero. Keigo put up with me trying to request an order this morning when the catalog was going down, thanks to the site admins replacing it with the new one. I should send Celga cookies, but they get all my money instead, so fair trade.

...With the top I already own, and the OP and bolero I have coming, I think I now own more AB than anything else. That is so nuts. You'd think I wasn't a classic lolita at all.

I also failed to post fic last night. I tried. I really did. And it was my favorite prompt out of the whole month, too. This whole "trying to be focused after a full day of work" thing might not go so well as planned.

ellorgast @ 2008-04-01T22:01:00

2008-04-02T04:02:01Z

Prompt: The smell of spring.
Fandom: Gesma
Characters: Robert, John (pre-story YEAH I WENT THERE)

The scent of crushed grass and damp, rotting wood met his nostrils as he knelt to place his bow beside him. The crisp, calming scent stood in sharp contrast to his hotly racing pulse, and his eyes refused to stray from those of the stranger standing above him. The smirk tugging at his lips only turned more mischievious as he tugged at the leather straps of his quiver, unknotting them as slowly and deliberately as one would the ribbons of a fine silk gown. The quiver slipped easily from his back to rest in the damp grass, while Robert watched the stranger watching him. If ever the removal of weapons had been heightened to the art of striptease, the rogue in Lincoln green had mastered it.

He languidly stood, spreading his hands to show that they were empty, as the stranger watched with amusement. "Do you hope that you will win by distracting me first?"

"I have no need of such devious behaviour, friend." Robert breathed in deeply, arching his back into the sun as he did so. The sun did so pick up the color in his skin well. "I am merely enjoying the spring air."

He knew that it was the sheer audacity of his actions that gave the giant man pause. They both knew that he could break Robert's neck with his bare hands. Robert suspected that he played along with his request only to see where it led.

The man held one large pole in each of his meaty hands. He shoved one in Robert's direction. He delicately curled his fingers around it, as though accepting a fond gift.

"Remember my name when the Unnamed One asks who sent such a pretty one so early to his kingdom."

Robert could not smirk any further. "I certainly shall."

He never lost eye contact.

ellorgast @ 2008-04-01T18:00:00

2008-04-02T00:00:26Z

I now return to my regularly-scheduled Shimmy time, because my super-fun guest has left and I am back to doing boring things all by myself. Sushi and I had a fun time, mostly because we're both really awesome at doing a whole lot of nothing. I made her watch a bunch of movies, she made me watch The Twelve Kingdoms and read Fables (I got through almost all the ones she brought, too). We also went out to eat a lot and um. Went around town a bit. We're really lame people.

Also, she is ridiculously generous.

So she brought me BIG-ASS hardcover Annotated Alice, along with a cute little book on tea. And she made me a star jar (and let me choose the colors!). And then just to be a giant dork, when we were looking at this Asian-style tea set and both commented on how pretty it was, she went back later and bought it for me. Damn her. Every time I look at them, I just want to drink some tea.

I am thinking of following the crowd and doing this month's 31 days challenge, because wow, those are some cool prompts. Except that I know me, and I know I really won't turn out a fic every day. So I'm going to try to do it unofficially, and write as many as I can, and screw the rest. I'm mostly thinking of them for my original characters for Gesma, but some plain old Sailor Moon drabbles might slip in there too. I also don't believe in friends filters, so you're stuck with me spamming you this month.

ellorgast @ 2008-03-24T12:43:00

2008-03-24T18:43:35Z

Sushi arrives in 7 hours or so!

And I woke up with a raging cold! Crap.

But the house is clean like whoa. It sparkles. You could eat out of the burners on our stove. Also we raked the front yard. And found green things underneath!

Also, my sister's boyfriend is downstairs. He is the only person downstairs. I'm totally gonna meet him for the first time with unbrushed teeth.

Also, I WON MY AUCTIONS. Do you want to know what I won? Guess. Guess what I won.

An Antique Beast OP and bolero. :O

My max bid was so far over what it closed at, that I think I'm already paid up for it. LOL, I even asked Celga to raise my max bid when other people started bidding on it.

Now, those items are supposedly "private production." It is also apparently "the commodity of early time" which I think means that it's old. That would explain why neither item is actually listed on the site (I have never seen a long dress from AB before). Which does make me slightly nervous still, but when you compare them to authentic pieces, the style is distinctively similar, especially in the sleeves. Even if it turns out not to be the real deal, I still didn't spend a whole lot on them, luckily.

I need to dust my room. Sushi will not get a clean desk, but she'll get a clean everything else. Good thing she's got her own laptop.

Heee!

2008-03-23T05:40:05Z

she_who_is_soc MADE ME A DARK KINGDOM FST.

Let me repeat that: she_who_is_soc MADE ME A 3-DISC SET DARK KINGDOM FST WITH COVER ART BY digitalxsushix. It is called Can't Stop the Rock(s). LOL.

Holy shit, that is a whole lot of music to indulge my old fandom. There's even pairing songs, and a song for Shitennou-as-rocks, and Dark Endymion songs, and a Danburite song.

It's been a while since I've produced anything worthwhile guys, but I know there's a bunch of you Shitennou fans still watching my LJ. Every one of you should A) join fst (join FST ANYWAY, because it's fun and you get free musics) and B) go see the awesome fan-mix of awesome (you must join to see). Though it's even cooler if you click your way there from the main page, because the cut text is a quote from my oooooooold Shitennou comic Stoned. Then C) Tell Sage how full of awesome she is for bringing this piece of beauty into the world.

I get to use my dorky fannish icon for this one.

ellorgast @ 2008-03-20T21:55:00

2008-03-21T03:55:14Z

Vagina Monologues was AWESOME. I'm so glad I went. I was really pleased to see the Women's Center putting on something so professional, since there was so much questioning of its usefulness when I was going to school. The university theater is huge, and it was actually packed, which surprised me. Especially because of the hefty ticket prices, which I expected to turn most people away. But, I can justify a $30 donation to local women's shelters, for sure. My mom was happy we went as well, which I was glad for, because she looked very uncomfortable with the stuff set up in the lobby beforehand, what with the loud indie singers and the chocolate vaginas on sale.

ALSO digitalxsushix is staying with me next week and I have to hurry and finish cleaning my room. XD; It's mostly a matter of figuring out where to PUT things, since I have a whole lot of stuff and not so much space. I want to at least make sure she has a nicely vacuumed and dusted space in which to live. I really want to show her a good time, but of course I keep coming back to the fact that Lethbridge is really, really lame.

Oh, pinkwigs? You've used Celga a ton more than me. I remember you saying that they usually reply to you right away when you make an auction request--should I be worried that I haven't heard from them in two days? I really really don't want to lose this one.

Current state of affairs

2008-03-15T02:18:45Z

- My job is secure for another few months! We cornered Elma in a meeting today and she finally explained to us that if she has to let a TA go, she'll try to keep her working another 2-3 months. I'm pretty disappointed with how she never told us this from the start, but I think that because she knew in her mind that we'd have months left even if our contracts aren't renewed, she forgot that we didn't know that part. Regardless, I'm happy at least knowing I have someplace to go after spring break.

- My Burmese student brought in some clothes that she wove herself and offered them up for sale. I secured an AMAZING wrap skirt. She had to show me how to wear it, LOL. I don't have it in my possession yet (she wanted me to just TAKE it and bring her the money on Monday, but I wasn't doing that, so I finally compromised by hiding it in the filing cabinet). It's pricey, but hand-woven skirt by a lady I know personally, which took her a month to make? Yeah, it's a bargain.

- My current status with UVic is that they are waiting for my transcripts to arrive. Go team.

ellorgast @ 2008-03-13T21:53:00

2008-03-14T03:53:32Z

The Vagina Monologues are next week, but everybody's balking at the $30 price tag (it's all going to Harbour House, though, so I see it as money well spent). But I shall be there, and if anybody else comes, along that will work too.

I got the CUTEST blouse and vest from Bryan's today. Seeing Cindy and Bronwen at the store must be good luck, because I always come away with the coolest stuff after I visit them first.

Also, I hate that the poupee girl comm explodes with multiple posts about EVERY event. Did we really need FIVE posts about the Valentine's boxes opening? Did we need THREE (and counting) on the Enchanted event items? (All of which feature complaining about how ugly the dresses are. Have you SEEN the movie previews?)

I am totally having a sleepover at Cindy's house Saturday night. Must think of snacks!

ellorgast @ 2008-03-09T22:37:00

2008-03-10T04:37:15Z

Thanks for everyone's condolences earlier. I'm feeling a lot better today.

The panel went awesome. We had almost a full room. I also have almost 80 pictures to post, but that will come maybe tomorrow.

Cindy, did I leave my bag at your house? It had Pocky and mango candy and a necklace in it. I don't remember bringing it in, but someone might have grabbed it as we were unloading the truck.

Daylight savings is lame. This day was barely a blip.

ellorgast @ 2008-03-06T20:52:00

2008-03-07T03:52:16Z

Grandma passed away last night. It was the day after her 94th birthday.

There won't be a funeral. She didn't want one. Which is so very her, once I think about it. She didn't even have a formal wedding ceremony. She talked the Catholic priest who married them out of waiting the standard two weeks because she didn't want it announced in church every Sunday leading up to it. But still, it doesn't seem right not to have anything at all. It's hard to really think of her as being gone, even though in a way she has been gone for a while now.

My mom was right when she called it the end of an era. Farewell, Dragon Lady.

My aunt's greyhound died earlier in the week too. This has not been a good week for deaths.

I went to dance class for the first time in three weeks, and my belly is no longer fit for mayas or undulations or heaven forbid, omis. I got heartburn SO BAD, I'm still feeling it. But then I went out to the thrift store and tried on a million things, and got an adorable dress with a retro print that reminds me of Grandma's kitchen, so that was a nice time.

I don't know how you pay tribute to someone who doesn't want tribute paid to her. Go about your business, I guess. She would have.

ellorgast @ 2008-02-24T23:41:00

2008-02-25T06:41:58Z

I haven't been around so much recently because I've been trying to write an application for the University of Victoria education program, which means staring at the essay I have to write for long stretches of time and adding half a sentence only to delete it again. I'm kind of freaked out by how fast I came to the decision to apply, and even more freaked out by how soon I would be going if I do get in (this summer), so generally I'm being a hermit until the day I have to send it out (before Friday).

I also have two weeks in which to Photoshop a whole slideshow for this lolita panel, and I'm also ridiculously excited by CC and CW (pirates FTW!), which both seem like they're backburnered but actually take up a significant amount of my thoughts.

And yet when I look back at today, the only thing which I feel like I meaningfully accomplished was buying stuff on poupee (three anniversary dresses and a bag acquired!). It is like delicious digital crack.

Also, Oscars were lame, I Met the Walrus didn't win, and CTV lied when they said they'd play it in full after the show.

This post only relevent to two people

2008-02-18T04:38:16Z

Cindy and Bronwen, we've officially got a panel slot booked for Nishikaze. I reserved an hour, because I figure that it's always better to have leftover time than to be scrambling to finish. He also said that he'd look into getting computer access for us so we can use the projector. I figure that between a slide show and the dressform you suggested, we should have enough there that we won't be scrambling for subject matter. I also don't remember what gibberish I submitted for the panel description, LOL.

At some point, I'd really like to sit down and discuss it. Maybe at our next meetup? I'd love to have you over for tea some evening. And of course, BY NO MEANS do I want you to feel obligated to still go ahead with it. I know it's just something that we've casually talked about, and we still have time to back out at any point if we think it's not going to come together.

ellorgast @ 2008-02-11T22:22:00

2008-02-12T05:22:10Z

Allegedly, my uncle's nephew, James Braithwaite, was one of the illustrators for this short animation (it's based on his ink art). Now it's up for an Academy Award. Not that I've ever met him, but hey, that's pretty cool. I recognize his sketchy line art style as being really similar to my uncle's.

I saw the director on Much Music tonight and he seemed like a really cool, witty guy. Apparently he really doesn't have the money to go, but he has credit cards, and they are his friends.

Valentine's Day crafts

2008-02-11T03:38:57Z

I decided to make my gifts for my mom and sister this year. Thanks to Michael's having a 50% off sale on all their beads, I spent a... rather disgusting amount of money on glass beads. The investment has been made; no turning back now.

Mom's is blue, Jess's is purple.

20 gauge wire base, TEENY little 28 gauge wire contrast, and glass beads. I happened to have the 28 gauge because it was the only kind of wire left on sale (far be it from me to pass up cheap materials), but damn is that stuff fine. You can't even cut it with wire cutters, you have to use scissors. I'm a bit worried that makes it less strong, but I'm sure Mom will take care of it.

20 gauge wire base, 24 gauge wire contrast, and glass beads. Isn't that face-shaped bead COOL? I just found that today, and it immediately became the focus of this piece.

All was inspired by the work of Wyrding Studios, which is far and away beyond what I could do myself, but when the artist told me that the base wire for everything was only 20 gauge (cheap and easy and on-hand), it led me to new possibilities.