Good ol' Rae

Got to camp yesterday around 7:30. The clouds had blown in and it was overcast and chilly, but no rain, and not miserable enough to stop everyone from being outside and having fun.

( Going to camp is like falling off of the earth. )

I'm alive. I'm well enough. I'm driving out to camp tonight right after work. Lisa was so excited to hear from me, and I was excited to hear her voice. It will be so nice to be out there. I hope the traffic co-operates.

I'll drive back after campfire (it's 10-year-olds' week so hopefully they go to bed earlier rather than later).

ETA: And we can officially chalk my temporary craziness on Sunday to being hormonal. Thank goodness for that.

I have an extra ticket for the 4th Annual Belly Up Show featuring Petite Jamilla of the Bellydance Superstars.

Friday, July 25 at 8:00 p.m.
Tantra Night Club

Does anyone wanna' come with?

Only 53 days to Dragon*Con. [Did anyone else's heart just skip a beat there?]

1. What are you MOST looking forward to at Dragon*Con (other than seeing your friends :P)?

Just being there. Time off work. The humid Atlanta heat. Sweet tea! But mostly the crazy spontaneous creativity that floats around the con.

2. What are you LEAST looking forward to/dreading at Dragon*Con?

Crowds. Getting screamed at not to stop or take pictures. Sore feet.

3. What are your Dragon*Con pet peeves?

Stupid questions in panels. And all the dissing of the Con Com afterwards. But that's not unique to D*Con. Lessee... Not getting into panels because they're full.

4. How many costumes are your bringing this year (and how done are you?)

I'm taking a pretty zen approach to costuming this year. I'm not terribly dedicated to wearing any one costume at any particular time. But here's what I'm planning to bring:

• Millie (steampunk) - to be worn whenever the Vertigo crew assembles. Done.


• Soup Faerie - More of an afternoon costume. Probably Friday afternoon, or whenever I feel like it. Done.


• Various belly dance stuff; cholis and skirts and hip belts and things - to be worn when I go to the drum circle in the evenings. Which I plan to do a LOT. Not "done" per se - always accumulating more because you can never have enough bling.

That's about it. I might suddenly decide to sew a steampunk belly dance thing to go see Abney Park. But not likely.

5. Planning on being a part of any costume groups? Any particular photo shoots you got planned?

Just Vertigo Crew. They're awesome.

6. Do you have any Dragon*Con traditions?

TRADER VIC'S! We arrive on the Wednesday before, check into the hotel, and then descend upon Trader Vic's in our finest tiki fashions. A round of Mai Tais and the event has begun!

7. Anything in particular you plan on accomplishing this year?

... in terms of what? Um... no contests... but I do plan to meet some cool people - both celebrity and fan alike.

8. Where do you think you will be at 1 am on Friday night?

Either dancing in the drum circle or hanging out with the gang. Or both? Pretty please?

9. What costume do you think we will be seeing WAY too much of this year?

I'm with J-9... Indiana Jones.

10. What costume will we be not be seeing enough of, do you think?

Neopets! Ha!

11. What do you think Dragon*Con always has too much of (not costume-wise)?

Complainers. People don't appreciate what they have in this convention.

12. What do you think DragonCon doesn't have ENOUGH of?

Days. Definitely.

13. If you could make one suggestion to the Dragon*Con staff to improve DC as a whole, what would it be?

Oh, I know better than to go down this road. No comment. I really love it at this convention. It's my "Geek Mecca." I am flexible enough to deal with whatever little inconveniences might get thrown at me. The D*C staff just need to stay the course.

Compared to the last several Saturdays, today was a very exciting and event-filled day.

We started with a trip downtown to the second annual Calgary Turkish Festival. I hadn't been to last year's festival, but I saw a banner a couple of weeks ago, advertising this year's event and decided we should check it out. It's a small festival, with only the minimum requirements (one stage, one food stand, and a handful of vendors), but it is well-done, nonetheless. The stage featured live music, folk dancing (whirling dervishes) and a brace of corny but not annoying hosts. The food was plentiful and popular (who doesn't love kebabs and baklava?). The vendors were friendly. And most importantly, the people there seemed to be enjoying themselves.

I say "seemed to be" because I spent most of it sitting on the sidelines - a mishap with a donair caused an embarrassing stain on my light-coloured pants. I sat, angry and mortified, while drhaggis tried to salvage my mood by bringing me baklava and ice cream (which were both delicious). I even had to sit out of the debke dance! Which was infuriating.

Apparently, there was an Indian wedding happening at the Sheraton at Eau Clair and they were having their photos taken in the park. Meanwhile, a cosplay picnic flourished across the way. Add the spill over from the Stampede, which started yesterday, and you've got yourself one helluvan eclectic mix of people. Watching the Turks mingle with the Indian bridal party, cosplayers, and cowboys helped to appease my foul mood.

The stain nearly ruined my day (it was really terrible!), but somehow I managed to cover it up enough on the way back to the car, once I got the courage to stand and walk among these strangers. We drove home, I changed, and then it was off to the next item on our agenda: Rockabilly Dress shopping.

Mister Sable and his wife had discovered Blame Betty, a boutique on 17th ave that sells rockabilly clothes, which seemed promising for regular sized people and even fat girls like me. As we walked up to the store, the sales lady outside (with the sidewalk sale stuff) gave us a friendly smile. I walked right up to her and said, "Let's cut to the chase - do you have anything that would fit me?" [I indicated to my rotund figure.]

She laughed, said she appreciated my straightforwardness and said they might have a few things that might fit inside.

The ladies inside were also very friendly and helpful, telling me which of their lines fit smaller or larger than others. They helped me to find the bigger sizes and even brought a pair of heels for me to try on with the dresses.

I so loved how these girls were eager to help, and didn't give up on finding something for me at first glance.

So, in the changeroom, things weren't pretty. About half of the dresses couldn't even make it over my shoulders, despite being "XL" or "18". I got stuck in a couple of them. Was scared I'd rip them. Didn't. Whew.

The other half did manage to go on, but many of them were still much too small; clinging to my large belly or cutting me in the arms. Boo.

One of them actually did fit. It was a nice swing dress - black, with a cute skull-with-a-bow-on-its-head motif. But the adjuster on the spaghetti strap was broken (which they were going to give me a discount for, of course). And it had this weird bunching of fabric where the bodice met the skirt. And it came in a different colour, which I liked better, but they didn't have the colour I liked in my size. Boo.

Despite the fact that it fit fairly well, and drhaggis thought it was smokin', I wasn't in love with it. And if I as going to pay that much for a dress, I didn't want to have to do any repairs to it. So I left it behind. My mission to find a Rockabilly or swing dress failed. Damn, it's frustrating! I want a swing dress so bad! I think I'll have to have one custom made. And I'm just not up to sewing it myself. Fie!

I would still recommend the store, though, even for larger girls. If you're a size 16 (even if you're on the "large side" of 16) you might find something there for you. Be prepared to pay, though - these aren't cheap.

Okay, so next up was a trip to the theatre to take in the new Get Smart movie. This summer is CRAZY for movies! Before the movie, they showed a preview for Eddie Murphy's next offering. Looks weird. But at least he's not in a fat suit. So let's be thankful for that, shall we?

Get Smart was pretty funny. Stupid fat jokes - including a fat suit. Is there no escaping this? The non-fat suit scenes were hilarious and I found myself wiping away tears. Steve Carrel is a genius and I love him. So yeah. Get Smart was good. Minus fat suits. That is all.

Weird day. Lots of fun things. No dress. Good night.

I'm a sucker for drill teams. Drumlines, cheer teams... you name it; if it is a large group of people doing something to music or rhythm on a field or court, I'm completely engrossed.

shanmonster posted this to her journal today and I have to say; as a dancer, a drill team fan, and especially as a costumer, this is remarkable.

And, of course, as usually happens when I watch a drill team perform, I was moved to tears. This is the St. Charles North Northstars - a highschool lyrical dance drill team. Get ready to feel some chills, people. Watch and then tell me I'm lying.

Courtesy of tengogozo (Joy Nash) at fatshionista.

Just wandering around.

Seeing awesome stuff.

Feeling happy.

Boss guy said to me this morning, "When do you leave? You really love that vacation, don't you?"

And I said yes. Yes I do. And I can't wait.

Hail Atlanta!

Happy Birthday to padawansguide.

Thoughts and wishes for a super day, filled with pretty things and lots of laughs.

Always,

~ Rae.

I've been to the theatre twice this week to watch such movies as Iron Man and Indiana Jones. I liked them both. And I'm glad I went to see them.

The commercials that they played before both movies gave me pause, though. Especially for the laughs they got.

Article one: The ad with the tongues and eyeball for Coke Zero. Where they argue about whether it's really COKE in the bottle or not. A lame premise, but the animation is visually interesting. The punchline is that the tongues, who are tasting the Coke Zero (and think it's actually Coke), accuse the eyeball of being a BIG. FAT. LIAR.

To which the eyeball (with chicken legs, for some reason) replies, mortified, "I AM NOT FAT!"

The audience laughs. The guy behind me can't contain his delight at such a wicked joke.

Yes. Because it's fine to be a liar as long as you're not a FAT one.

Article two: The previews for Kung Fu Panda, by Dreamworks. The kingdom's only hope against the evil Tiger thing is the Panda. Fat, clumsy, stupid panda. Who farts.

Watch out! He's tempted to SIT ON YOU! [Close up on his ass, while the audience winces and groans at the thought of being squashed by that stinky butt.] Oh, and we have to take a moment now while he crawls his way, gasping, up the stairs. Ha ha ha! Stupid panda can't even climb that mountain of stairs without getting winded!

Article three: The KOODO commercials with the infomercial guy in 80's workout gear. The joke is that the 80's were silly and infomercials are awful. But wait, there's more! Call now and you can get a - FAT-FREE PHONE!

Am I outraged about this? Well, no. Because it's so damn common. It's nothing new, and it's been there a very long time (especially images of disgusting fat people farting - I'm looking at you, Eddie Murphy).

But I just ask that you - my friends - make yourself aware of how fat and fat people are viewed in the media. And maybe try not to laugh so hard when fatty falls down.

It's 2:00 a.m. on Sunday night. My typing is pretty incoherent, so I'll keep this brief. These are just my initial thoughts.

I just finished watching Take Me Out To The Ballgame - the one Gene Kelly/Frank Sinatra film that I still hadn't seen. (The other two being Anchors Aweigh, my first Gene film, and On The Town, an often-screened movie on television which I've seen a number of times.) TCM played all three tonight, and of course the one I hadn't seen was the one that didn't start until 12:30 a.m.

Ballgame is instantly one of my new favourites! I like it better than American In Paris, which I know was critically acclaimed and which I do appreciate as Gene's masterpiece... but is a little too moody for my taste. Ballgame is charming, funny, and grand - and a little sexy! (As one would expect a Busby Berkley musical to be). Esther Williams is so much sweeter and more tolerable for my late-century movie palate than Grayson (who was originally cast in Williams' role). Of course I've always been a fan of Esther Williams' bathing beauty, but I never appreciated her talent for acting until this movie, when she spends more time singing and dancing and charming Gene than swimming; only one token swimming pool scene in the whole movie.

The costumes are exquisite in their fifties-take-on-Victorian way. Bright and colourful and gorgeous, especially on Williams' and Kelly's athletic figures. And I know Sinatra wasn't the shy lamb that MGM was so fond of casting him to be, but there's a tiny part of my heart that can't resist melting when he blushes and says, "Gee..."

*swoon*

The women characters are both assertive and strong in this movie, which is refreshing. Who doesn't love Betty Garrett? Comedienne, singer, dancer, all-around talent. And though this is Sinatra month on TCM, I've caught no fewer than four of her movies this weekend. She's brilliant, and perfect in Ballgame.

So, yeah. I've stayed up this late (and later!) to catch Gene movies I hadn't seen before, and though it's always worth the bleary eyes and distractedness the next day, tonight I'm extra glad I did it.

I've said it before and I'll say it again; TCM effing ROCKS.

ETA: SQUEE! Betty Garrett appears in Trail of the Screaming Forehead, the latest offering from Larry Blamire, writer and creative genius behind The Lost Skeleton of Cadavra.

AND! According to IMDB, The Lost Skeleton Returns Again is in post production! Lattis, Cro-bar, and Animala (all my favorite characters from Lost Skeleton) return! I have to resist the urge to get super stoked about this, because who knows how long it will be before I actually get to see this movie? But still - AWESOME.

I sleep now.

"Did you watch American Idol last night?" he asks.

I tell him I didn't. There's some discussion about what's happening in the show, and what happened in past years. We talk about how much (or how little) it has done for various singers' careers.

"Well, Ruben Studdard was on last night," he says with eyebrows raised and a nod of the head, "and let me tell you - the moon is the second-largest body orbiting the earth right now. He won't be getting any Subway contracts any time soon."

"Yeah, and he was supposed to have been on some big weight loss program," she says.

I turn away, lest they see the tears welling up.

ETA: An acceptable simile to use in business is "That's like putting the fat kid in charge of the dessert cart."

I read this in the paper today during lunch and nearly lost it.

http://ca.news.yahoo.com/s/reuters/080515/n_top_news/news_food_climate_obesity_col_1

( Under a cut now. )

I'm irritable right now. Prolly due to low blood sugar. Just had lunch. Hopefully this subsides. If not, it's a hormonal thing.

The sun is glorious outside right now. The kind of sun that reaches right down into your heart and bubbles up through your insides. I hereby decree that everyone in Calgary should take some time to enjoy the weather today.

My groin injury feels almost 100% better - I'm not hobbling around or grunting every time I stand up or sit down. I might even do some gentle dancing today after work. I'm still wary about re-injuring, so I'll forego climbing the stairs here at work for another day and just take the elevator - one floor. I feel idiotic, but I have a legitimate reason.

Dinner and Cagney last night at laughingmagpie's house was awesome. I think the Corned Beef Hash had some kind of magic in it because it was krazy delishis.

That is all.

Now that the show is over, we're back to actually working on tech in class instead of just drilling our choreographies. And I did something last night that re-injured my right hip (groin?). It's an old injury that I got during my last year in volleyball. Pulling my right leg forward is very painful, and sitting for more than 20 minutes makes it very stiff.

I'll survive, for sure, but I'm just posting here for the sake of tracking injuries and recovery, etc... And because I like to whine.

So before we go any further, I'm introducing a new belly dance filter, so those of you who couldn't care less about my belly dance musings don't have to have your f-pages cluttered with it. If you're interested in reading about it, then comment, and I'll add you. If you're not, then don't and I will totally understand. I'll still post event notices (mostly just our annual show) outside the filter. But rants, goals, progress, and photos will go behind the filter. Alright? Alright.

( And now some belly dancer introspection. )

Who knew? Tomorrow is World Belly Dance Day - a day to "serve as a reminder that belly dance is an ART form, a cultural event, a sport, and a social and family entertainment." Designated as the second Saturday in May, apparently started last year.

Well, shimmy my sequins. If I had known, I could have planned something with y'all. Instead, I've designated it as a day to sew my new cover up, which I want to have finished before Sunday (the Mothers' Day Run & Walk).

There are a few things happening in Calgary this weekend for BDers - notably, Mira Betz' workshop & performance, which I had considered attending, but which I just didn't have the energy for after the last month or so.

Next year. Let's plan something for next year. But for 2008, make sure to do something Rak-in! Even if it's dancing in your own livingrooms.

I. Am. Exhausted.

The weekend started with my mommy arriving at our place earlier than we expected. I had a lot of sewing to do, so I apologized that I wouldn't be able to hang out with her very much.

We went out and grabbed a quick bite for supper, then came back, and I set back to sewing my costume for the show. I had expected to be nearly finished at this time, but I'm finding that I am unable to really gauge how long it takes me to sew stuff. Anyway, I was up very late, finishing my bra, and only went to bed when I heard my brain say, "It doesn't matter how it looks..."

I decided that apathy would only hurt me, so I left the last little bits off and went to bed.

Woke up at 8:00 a.m. because my dog (who lives with my mom and travels with her everywhere) was sniffing around the bedroom, making little tick tick tick sounds as her claws hit the laminate flooring.

Started sewing again in earnest at 10:00 a.m. Finished the bra and started on the skirt (which I knew wouldn't take long). Realized I wouldn't have enough trim for the gauntlets I had planned to sew, so mom and I went out to buy more, grab lunch, and do a little bit of shopping. I love hanging out with my mom!

Came back around 6:00 p.m. - too late for my taste, but spending time with my mom is important. Mom offered to help me with my costume, so I asked her to sew the trim onto the skirt. I prolly could have done it with a machine if I was careful, but she was happy to do it for me while I sewed my gauntlets. Started sewing again, but got hit very hard with a sudden, intense migraine! With nausea! I was really worried now, but took about half an hour to lay down and try to overcome it. I staved it off a little and finished the costume around 10:30 p.m.

Then I set to packing for the next day. I got nearly everything together and then crashed at 1:00 a.m.

Woke up at 8:00 a.m. (late - I had wanted to be up at 7:00), showered, shaved, did my toenails, dried my hair, styled it, and did my makeup. The makeup just wasn't co-operating and I left the house quite late.

Arrived at the theatre at 11:00 a.m., just in time for tech run. This was the only time I was going to get to see the other acts, so I was happy we could do it.

We hung out at the theatre while the tech guy went for lunch, and then it was time to start getting dressed. The silver costumes, which I was worried about not really fitting all that well, don't fit ANYONE in our troupe well, but we still looked faboo once you factored the pretty skirts, hair, makeup, and veils. We snapped a picture for posterity, which is on my camera still, and I promise I'll post behind an f-locked post.

The show went well, even with some really hectic costume changes. It was great to see you all there! lunarpenumbra, foxmanfx, byron_black, laughingmagpie, Dr. Smith, and of course my drhaggis - I saw you all in the audience and it was fun dancing for you! ixzylanthyr and celticone, I didn't see you but I hope you had fun!

A few of us went out to the Keg for supper afterwards and that was fun, too, even though some of the people at the restaurant were staring at my absurd hair and makeup. Hee hee! It's fun to freak out the norms!

Came home, took my hair and makeup off, and crashed at 10:30 p.m. And now I'm at work, and all the bosses are out of the office for training, and I'm absolutely wrecked. I'm glad we don't do this every weekend! Oh, and I have belly dance class tonight! *dies*

I'm looking forward to getting my Paris photos, photos from Andy's wedding, photos from the Expo, and the one troupe photo off my camera and sharing them with you. Oh, and hanging out with my husband, because it's hard to do that when you're madly stitching beads onto pink sparkly fabric!

Love to you all,

~ Rae

I just finished sewing my costume an hour ago.

It's 11:30.

I still have to shave, pack, and dry my hair.

Today's the First of May. Don't forget to get your dose of Jonathan Coulton today. Why? Because he effing RAWKS.

I've been working on my costumes for the show, putting stronger hooks on the bedlehs and adjusting straps. For the non-dancers out there; when you first buy a belly dance costume (the ones with just the bra and belt are called bedleh), the manufacturer barely attaches any sort of fastener because they know you're going to have to adjust for the perfect fit. So I knew I'd have to do this to the costumes I ordered. No big deal.

But I'm frustrated because the one we ordered as a troupe is too small in the cups. So even though I've made the straps fit and put really strong fasteners on it (hooray for MONDO snaps and JUMBO hooks!), it's terribly unflattering. And I can't really afford to wear a costume that is unflattering (not that anyone can, really, but I sort of feel it's my duty to represent the fat belly dancers well, and that means wearing costumes that flatter). And it's the troupe costume so we all have to wear it for two numbers in this show. I might tack on some strips of that stretchy sequin ribbon to the top of the cups to help contain the boob spillage.

By the way: the one from Dahlal did come in while I was in Paris, and I love it. The photos definitely don't do it justice. But back to the troupe costume...

So in addition to the cups being too small, they sewed the beading through the spot where the straps join the ribcage band, so when I went to remove the straps to adjust them, the beading had to be cut. I had to go back over the beading and reattach several sequins to make sure I didn't have giant gaps in the decoration. I think there's still a spot that I missed because I'm finding new beads, but I can't find where they're coming from. Meh.

The belt was easy to adjust and was pretty closely fit to my measurements in the first place. I just hope it doesn't gap too much or move around when I'm dancing. (I've tried it on and danced, of course, but no plan of attack ever survives the enemy - in this case, a live stage with an audience.)

I've pretty much decided I'm going to sell this one after the show and order one that's got the right cup size. It's not a bad costume overall - it's just this one doesn't fit me.

I have one strap left to attach and half a snap and then do the boob spillage thing and I'll be done that one tonight. Then I'll finish the costume I designed (shh! Pictures when it's finished), which I know fits me because I made it for myself. I have three days. AND I have to do all the other stuff like toenails, ironing my veil, packing, figuring out makeup, dancing in the costumes to work out the kinks, and get ready for my mom to come visit... ACK!

Did a lot of running around last week to prepare for the CCEE this weekend. Our booth this year was the best EVAR. And we had a lot of visitors. It's so great seeing people discover the world of social fandom for the first time.

I took some photos (which, of course, I haven't done anything with) and I will get a report together after the show this weekend.

In other news: drhaggis arrives home today! It's been over a week since he left and I'm about ready to have my husband back again.

I have lots to do this week - make adjustments to my bedlehs, plan my makeup, pack, and drill, drill, drill! And clean the house, because my mommy is coming down for the show. Oh, and squish the stuffing outta' my hubby at every possible moment.

See y'all on the other side!