Too Much Pressure!

Oh. My. Lord.

I've been working on this blog update for the past HOUR and with a simple graze of my hand over the touch pad while I typed caused it to highlight and disappear all my work.  Gone.  Now I have to start all over and I don't know if it'll measure up.  Gaaah!!

OK.  Deep breath.  Try again.

There have been a lot of deadlines that I've been trying to meet and the pressure to get things done on time has been building...now that a bunch of those deadlines are rapidly approaching and things are coming together as they should, things will calm down...but not until probably mid-May...or June.

Add to that the new pains I've been experiencing in my feet--that plantar fasciitis has developed into heel spurs.  Yey.  This is basically a calcium deposit on the underside of the heel, and are caused by strains on the muscles and ligaments and repeated tearing of the membrane that covers the heel bone.  The doctor calls it a "baby bone spur".  If that's the baby, I don't want to meet its daddy.  First it was the left foot, but since I've been favoring it, now my right hurts, too.  Sigh.  Week after next, new orthotics and cortisone shots.  I need to wear my night boot and do stretches and take anti-inflammatory meds.  I'm trying, but the boot sucks.

I have been working on a pile of quilts--six of them--for a quilt show coming up next week.  Things seemed to be going along well enough, but over the past few months, my long arm machine started having speed issues.  Either it would go a zillion miles an hour or go painfully slow, and this became a big problem recently.  I milked it along for a while and took it in for servicing after I finished the Civil War quilt.  It went in on a Thursday and I got it back on Tuesday.  Besides the usual lube-oil-filter deal and replacing a couple of encoders, they had tethered the cables down so that moving the handles from one end to the other, as it was designed to do, was impossible.  I snipped four of the zip-ties and moved the handles to the aft end so I could drive it following a printed pattern with the laser light.  I loaded up and started working on the Modern Jelly Roll Race quilt.  The machine worked for all of 30 minutes before it started going glacially slow again.  Nothing I could do would fix it.  I also had issues with tension--first too tight, then too loose--so I called the shop again.  I took it in on Thursday and got it back the next week, on Good Friday.  It turns out there was a long hair (human) caught in the motor sensor.  Hmmm.  Where would that come from?  Sigh.  Tara suggested I wear hair nets while quilting. :)  At least I can get back to work now!

I finished up the Modern Jelly Roll Race quilt.  I just need to put a binding on it and it'll be ready for the show!  There are a couple more quilts that need to be bound and one that needs to be quilted and bound, but now that the machine is working again, I think I'll be able to meet the deadline by Thursday.

This weekend, besides being Easter, is the annual Sakura Con at the Seattle Convention center.  This is a celebration of anime and Japanese culture.  This is our third (or fourth?) year attending, this time as a whole family, although we only had four badges, so I wasn't allowed to go into the restricted areas, like the merchants' room and the panel discussions.  Not a problem--we figured we could take turns going around with the kids.  I wanted to find a place to sit down for just a few minutes, so I wandered about looking...not a lot of options.  I decided to go into one room where they were having a demonstration of how to wear a kimono.

It just so happened that I was WEARING a kimono-like garment!  I was happy to see that of the 60 or so chairs in the room, almost all of them were unoccupied, there was no fee to sit and watch, they encouraged taking photos, but if you wanted to try on a kimono, there was a $5 fee.  Since I was already dressed, I opted to sit in the back and enjoy the show.  A few minutes later, Heide came and joined me and we chatted for a bit and caught up.  Eventually, we headed out to enjoy some of the convention and catch up with Brian and Ash, who was dressed as one of the Dr. Who characters.

We weren't able to get the special teeth Emma needed for her costume (or one of her costumes--I don't know if it was this one); she is a character from the show "Free! Iwatobi Swim Club", as is Miss E, on the left.  They ran into several other members of the Swim Club at the convention, greeting each other like old friends, as is the tradition at these conventions--high fiving or hugging perfect strangers.  They got photos of one of their members...a young man dressed in only a Speedo.  (Maybe he was European?)  A very confident young man.

Cammie plays the younger sister to Emma's character.  I spent a day looking for pieces for her costume, which I was able to find at Goodwill for $20.  The wig was extra--I think we paid $30 for it online.

Ben dressed as Sgt. Frog, a Japanese cartoon for children.  I made this costume for him back in October for Halloween, but going to the carnival at school and door-to-door trick or treating led to cocked heads and quizzical looks; no one knew what he was dressed as.  At this event, however, more than a dozen people yelled "Sergeant Frog!" and a few took pictures of him.

One of the things that Ben wanted to do was meet Todd Haberkorn, the voice of Sgt. Frog, who was at the convention, doing panel discussions and signing autographs.  Kelly took him off to wait in line, and when he finally got his turn, Mr. Haberkorn signed his photo:  "Benjamin--Thank you for being my favorite Pekoponian!"

While Ben was off waiting in line, the older girls were off doing their thing, and Cammie was with me.  We went back to the kimono room to watch them getting dressed again.  I moved to the front row to get a better view and take pictures of the assembly process, and the Sensei (teacher) of the dance studio that was sponsoring the activity, saw my outfit and said that I had wrapped it wrong--it's supposed to be left over right.  I had it right over left, which is reserved only for the dead.  Yep.  I dressed like a corpse.  I started messing with the layers and eventually they said, "come here...we'll dress you up!"  It was rather slow at the moment, so they were happy to keep themselves busy fixing up my gear.  The Sensei came over to admire the fabric of my yukata and asked me where I got it.  "A quilt shop!" I said gleefully.  "Oooo...very nice!" she said, fondling the fabric.

Went out for dinner afterwards at our favorite sushi place.  We ate too much and took a nap right on the bar...just kidding.

Tomorrow is Easter.  I have to hide eggs and pack baskets.  G'nite.

Uncommon Conventions

So you're probably wondering what we did this weekend...this holy Easter weekend...was spent in very odd costumes with several thousand other people dressed in very odd costumes.  It's the annual Anime convention, Sakura-Con held in Seattle every year.

I met up with Heide and her girls, and although we didn't get to spend quite as much time together as I would have liked (the girls were running in different directions), it was still great seeing them.

It's so FLUFFY!  I got a chance to hug Totoro!

Guys just wanna have fun...in drag...

Two of Heide's beautiful girls...

Heide's third beautiful girl...

Dancing...

And posing.


Found Waldo.

And a bunch of random shots of people...

 These guys are from a show called Hetalia.  No idea what countries they represent.

No idea who these characters are.

More costumes from the foyer.

Cleaning up...

This is a Mario Brothers thing.  Lots of people stopped by to take pictures.  The girl in the flower pot would duck down during the photos.

This gave me ample time to take photos of the people taking photos.

She was sitting nearby and posed for me.  No idea who she is.

There's a person inside that furry outfit who is very hot.  The gal in the furry bikini wiped him/her down with a wet rag from time to time.

Another costumed person posing for this photographer.  I'll crop him out later.

A group of heavily armed characters stopping to pose for pictures.  I ran around to get a better shot, but they moved on.  We could have been there all day just taking pictures of passers-by.  So many impressive costumes, wigs, and accessories.  I was carrying a towel with me all day, but it's nothing compared to the armloads of stuff some of these people walk around with.  

This outfit, for example, is quite the enterprise to be walking around in all day.  He moved very slowly, shuffling is way across large crowded rooms.  What is it?  No idea.  I'll have to ask Emma.

We waited 4 1/2 hours to meet this guy.  His name is Vic Mignogna ("Min-yonna") and he does voices for several characters in Japanese cartoons.  He's also in post-production for the new show, Star Trek Continues as Capt. James T. Kirk.  Also starring in the upcoming series, Grant Imahara (of Mythbuster's fame) who will be playing Lt. Sulu.  Vic was scheduled to do autographs for 90 minutes but ended up staying til everyone got a signature and a hug, more than 3 hours longer than scheduled.  What a sweet guy!  I thanked him for staying so long to ensure that everyone went away happy.

Biggest surprise of the weekend:  running into my cousin and her daughter...whom I haven't seen since she was very little.  We chatted for a bit, the second-cousins got a chance to meet each other (neither seemed particularly impressed or excited).  I suggested that we need to have another reunion since the last one was held in about 1984.  It's high time, people.  Deb said she'd work something out, but we really need to stay better connected.

I got Abigail to pose...I was the first to take her picture, apparently.  :)

Only two people took my picture all day, and only at the very end when someone standing in line with us asked if I was cos-playing Hitchhiker's Guide.  YES!!  I lost my junk mail somewhere along the way (three empty envelopes that I had stuffed into my pocket), but I still had my towel, so I was still a hoopy frood.*

We went out to get some food after the signing at 8:00, but the  lines at the restaurants were really long.  We walked a few blocks to the bus stop, waited a few minutes under the purple trees, and headed home.  We were all too tired to do much more.  I pulled out a baggie of crackers that we munched on during the bus ride and after they came back and packed up their stuff, I drove them over to Miss E's house for the night.

Emma came home just a little while ago...she had a great time!

*“Hey, you sass that hoopy Ford Prefect? There's a frood who really knows where his towel is."
(Sass: know, be aware of, meet, have sex with; hoopy: really together guy; frood: really amazingly together guy.)”

― Douglas Adams, The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy

Happy Easter!

The weekend has been spent in the delightful company of Heide and her family (three of them are in this photo--the two blondes and the brunette in the center back).  They, along with Kelly & Emma, had plans to go to Sakura-con, a Japanese animation convention in Seattle.  Kelly and Emma went down to sign in at the pre-registered line on Saturday morning, which was blissfully shorter than the un-registered line on Friday, where Heide and family spent five hours waiting in line to register.  This was due to the painfully slow data entry system that was garnering seemingly endless amounts of information for each attendee, printing out badges, and the cut-off of pre-registration two weeks prior to the event.  There has *got* to be a better way...and knowing one of the organizers, maybe I can make a suggestion.  If pre-payment is cut off, they should at least allow people to continue to make reservations online and pay upon arrival.  That would significantly speed up the process.  Name badges should have been "Hello my name is..." and a black magic marker.

Emma and I went shopping at the local costume store (aka Goodwill) and found among its treasures a linen shirt and silk vest.  The shirt was marked at a whopping $5 (I think), and the vest, still new with tags, marked down to $6.  The thing originally cost $58 at a local swanky department store (which I won't mention, but it rhymes with "bored some"), which then spent some time incubating in some rich lady's closet until it was released to the donation bin to find a new life as a costume piece.  Score!  The necktie is just a length of twill tape from my costume ribbons bin, and the sunglasses she already owned.  Likewise, the skirt and tights she wore were already in her collection, although I may have to invest in some new shoes for her--those ones weren't comfortable for a long day of standing and walking.  Here's Emma's close-up photo...

This is the character she was dressing up as...she's called "Shizu-chan".  No idea what her story is, but it appears she's fairly strong.  The smoking this is not appealing to her (for a number of reasons, thankfully).  I must ask her the story about the Do Not Enter sign...was it something she ripped out of the ground, or is it something she found?  And is she a waitress at the local casino?  I dunno.

And here is her complete costume... I suggested that we also (at some point) put some kind of ties at the back to accentuate her waist more and make it more fitted to her.  She agreed that it would be a good idea, but we didn't have time to take care of it before the event.

Emma waited in line for some two hours to see this guy and get his autograph.  What?!  Don't know who he is?  Me, neither.  Steve Blum is his name, and he does voices for cartoons and games.  Kelly said he was a really nice guy, very friendly and made lots of conversation and jokes with the people coming to see him.  Most of them said things like, "I've been following your work all my life," to which he said, "Wow...it's like I've raised you all...like I'm your father..."  One of the fans got the autograph he waited for and said, "Thanks, Dad."  He replied, "You're welcome, son!"

Heide was there at the convention waiting in line on Friday, but opted not to return for the weekend, but to hang out with me, Cammie and Ben for the day.  All that waiting is really hard on the body, especially if you have pre-existing medical conditions which can cause days or weeks of recovery.  Even though they had the much shorter pre-reg line, Kelly's foot is going to ache for some time, too.  A3, who is autistic, tolerated the wait for a while, but like most guests, grew weary and ended up lying down on the floor and took a nap.  After being barked at by the security folks, a man standing behind them defended them, and they were moved to a shorter "handicapped" line.  The wait was still five hours long...waaaaay too long for the amount spent on a weekend.  Seriously--it's a three day event, but you spend half of one day standing in line just to check in.  Ridiculous.

We went to the Boy Scout Pinewood Derby Race--district championship.  He won at his Pack level, so this was the winner's circle races for the district.  After six races, and all the times compiled, he placed 8th out of 33 racers.  He was pretty proud of his placing, or at least didn't appear disappointed...or maybe he was just excited about going out for sushi for lunch to celebrate.  His appetite certainly picked up--he polished off 10 plates of sushi from the conveyor belt.

Heide and I went out for dinner at the local pizza/pub/restaurant.  We ate in the bar, eating bar food (steak flatbread pizza and nachos), and watched the second half of the Sounders game.  They tied 0-0...I think I was the only one in there in my Sounders t-shirt, though...a little unusual for game day, although it was an away game.  I guess I'm a bigger fan than they are.  I wasn't sure if they were actually watching the game, though--they seemed rather reserved and there was a baseball game on another one of the TVs.  It wasn't until near the end of the game when Burch (#8) nearly made a goal that the room erupted in sound that I realized that we were all there to watch the same game.  Except maybe Heide, who politely tolerated my interest...or maybe she enjoyed it too.  (I'll hope for the latter.)

On Sunday morning, while my kids were hustling around looking for eggs and baskets, Heide and family packed up and headed back home.  We said our goodbyes, and I went back to bed for an hour or so while Kelly took Emma back to the con.  The weather was beautiful, but Cammie woke up with a fever.  Poor kiddo.  A little Tylenol took the fever down and she spent a relaxing day playing in her room.  I went to the store and got a small turkey and made a mini feast for dinner.

In all, a great weekend!  More posts on arts next time.