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Oct. 9th, 2004 09:49 amWell, I am awake, showered and ready to sew.
I am under the completely BIZARRE illusion that despite owning a sewing machine, I am going to do this entire dress by hand while listening to music appropriate to the time period and feeling charming (and fucking around on the Internet of course). Granted, I have sewn whole garments by hand before, that probably involved even more sewing (kimono), but will see how long this brilliant idea lasts, eh? I have to cut the fabric and pin everything first, which is actually the part I hate, especially because I am working with a fabric pattern that involves both lines and objects so I need to use the right part of the fabric and be really precise in all things.
I also need to make a retticule, but that will be easy enough to do on the train on the way up there as long as I cut the pieces. And I suppose I should acquire gloves and a fan and some sort of suitable jewlery. There may be a million reasons why this little event won't live up to what I want it to be, but dear god, I am going to look good, dance decently and beat people at cards. Rar.
One of the big issues with historical-type events outside of the SCA is they tend to have far far more women than men involved (there are exceptions, generally involving specific battle reenactments from the Revolutionary and Civil Wars and a group of guys that do reenactments on one of the tallships docked in Maryland -- but they are far and few between and no where near NYC) mainly because the focus is not fighting and drink. And I suppose the men aren't too keen on the stockings and what have you. Whatever. At any rate, this is always a source of grave drama when it comes time for a historical ball. There's a holiday ball which I am not going to (it's Civil War era, which is probably one of the most expensive and exhausting eras to costume a woman for, and it just doesn't strike my fancy enough to even try) that requires men and women register in couples so as to achieve a gender balance, which means oodles of women get wait-listed. Our Recency Assembly has no such rule, and women are expected to outnumber men two to one. Generally nearly all of the women will be costumed, and many of the men will merely wear tuxedos. At any rate, whether an event should have forced gender balancing or not is a big source of discussion amongst people who do this stuff, and while it's too exhausting to go into here, I mention it only because I wish more men would participate, however, I think people make much more of it than is necessary and even neglect to look at the context in which these events would have occured where it is highly unlikely the events themselves would have been gender balanced (hello, um... WARS?)
I am doing a student film tomorrow. This is good, but I can already feel myself bracing for it, as one invariably must.
On the random hilarity front, coworkers have just noticed that I always have a book with me, and several have inquired of late. "Oh it's the Horatio Hornblower series," I've mumbled. "You mean that thing on A&E?" they've asked with glee. Who knew. Especially because it's the office guys, who seem impressed by the fact I am plodding through boats shooting each other to pieces. That said, the books are starting to exhaust and I find myself reading faster and fasterbecause we're at the point where lots of awful things are happening, and it's really a bit agonizing. At any rate.
Also on the work front, I will be getting one check on Tuesday (new boss had said we'd get everything this week) definitely. Another one or two by the end of the week. The remaining one or two by the end of the following week, and then hopefully we'll be on schedule. Should this prove to be true, all crises are averted, but dear fucking God. My job is like a daily exercise in just narrowing down my focus in a way that won't include it. It reminds me of being a sorority pledge, which I did with basically none of the agony I watched my peers or later sisters go through. It's hard to explain, unless you've been there yourself, the ducking of abritrary hardship that is, if not designed, at least supposed to inspire group unity anyway. My office is so not about group unity. And someone from the past of it may be rejoining. More about that nightmare if and when it happens.
Meanwhile, my NIDA essay remains unfinished. Why I want to do something like the NIDA open is easy -- intensive acting training away from the daily pressures being a professional actor in New York City. But why _NIDA_? Um... I know I have to come up with something more eloquent than great reputation, exchange rate and weather and a significant dose of whimsy. But, there it is.
I am under the completely BIZARRE illusion that despite owning a sewing machine, I am going to do this entire dress by hand while listening to music appropriate to the time period and feeling charming (and fucking around on the Internet of course). Granted, I have sewn whole garments by hand before, that probably involved even more sewing (kimono), but will see how long this brilliant idea lasts, eh? I have to cut the fabric and pin everything first, which is actually the part I hate, especially because I am working with a fabric pattern that involves both lines and objects so I need to use the right part of the fabric and be really precise in all things.
I also need to make a retticule, but that will be easy enough to do on the train on the way up there as long as I cut the pieces. And I suppose I should acquire gloves and a fan and some sort of suitable jewlery. There may be a million reasons why this little event won't live up to what I want it to be, but dear god, I am going to look good, dance decently and beat people at cards. Rar.
One of the big issues with historical-type events outside of the SCA is they tend to have far far more women than men involved (there are exceptions, generally involving specific battle reenactments from the Revolutionary and Civil Wars and a group of guys that do reenactments on one of the tallships docked in Maryland -- but they are far and few between and no where near NYC) mainly because the focus is not fighting and drink. And I suppose the men aren't too keen on the stockings and what have you. Whatever. At any rate, this is always a source of grave drama when it comes time for a historical ball. There's a holiday ball which I am not going to (it's Civil War era, which is probably one of the most expensive and exhausting eras to costume a woman for, and it just doesn't strike my fancy enough to even try) that requires men and women register in couples so as to achieve a gender balance, which means oodles of women get wait-listed. Our Recency Assembly has no such rule, and women are expected to outnumber men two to one. Generally nearly all of the women will be costumed, and many of the men will merely wear tuxedos. At any rate, whether an event should have forced gender balancing or not is a big source of discussion amongst people who do this stuff, and while it's too exhausting to go into here, I mention it only because I wish more men would participate, however, I think people make much more of it than is necessary and even neglect to look at the context in which these events would have occured where it is highly unlikely the events themselves would have been gender balanced (hello, um... WARS?)
I am doing a student film tomorrow. This is good, but I can already feel myself bracing for it, as one invariably must.
On the random hilarity front, coworkers have just noticed that I always have a book with me, and several have inquired of late. "Oh it's the Horatio Hornblower series," I've mumbled. "You mean that thing on A&E?" they've asked with glee. Who knew. Especially because it's the office guys, who seem impressed by the fact I am plodding through boats shooting each other to pieces. That said, the books are starting to exhaust and I find myself reading faster and fasterbecause we're at the point where lots of awful things are happening, and it's really a bit agonizing. At any rate.
Also on the work front, I will be getting one check on Tuesday (new boss had said we'd get everything this week) definitely. Another one or two by the end of the week. The remaining one or two by the end of the following week, and then hopefully we'll be on schedule. Should this prove to be true, all crises are averted, but dear fucking God. My job is like a daily exercise in just narrowing down my focus in a way that won't include it. It reminds me of being a sorority pledge, which I did with basically none of the agony I watched my peers or later sisters go through. It's hard to explain, unless you've been there yourself, the ducking of abritrary hardship that is, if not designed, at least supposed to inspire group unity anyway. My office is so not about group unity. And someone from the past of it may be rejoining. More about that nightmare if and when it happens.
Meanwhile, my NIDA essay remains unfinished. Why I want to do something like the NIDA open is easy -- intensive acting training away from the daily pressures being a professional actor in New York City. But why _NIDA_? Um... I know I have to come up with something more eloquent than great reputation, exchange rate and weather and a significant dose of whimsy. But, there it is.
