Moments of Mayham: the UGLY Hat

I tried to tell myself it wasn't that bad. I really did. then I took a solid look at the hat I've been knitting for a couple days and realized, "Nope, this is by far the ugliest hat I have ever knitted EVER. See for yourself:



Sad, isn't it? but it's also found a home with Emily Klik of Synphoria, so that's happy making. she's fabulous, and this hat will simply be swept into her awesome and therefore BE awesome. I'm ok with that.

We're so fucked. Well done, America

Friend posted this - "On my way home tonight I heard a woman interviewed at a poll in NC. She voted for O in '8. Since then she lost her job, draws unemployment, is going back to school & has no health insurance. So this time she's voting a straight R ticket. R's won't extend unemployment, didn't back increased Pell grants, want to repeal health care & have 0 ideas for jobs. So that's who she voted for."

That sums up last night pretty well. I’ve seen a few moments of American stupidity in my day, but this was a pure moment. And we have only ourselves to blame.

Those of us who dismiss the Tea Party and their idiocy are in fact correct. They are idiots. They’re also well-funded and LOUD. And that volume alone gets the attention of the sheeple, not the facts. Organizations like NOM and Concerned Women for America and Focus on the Family have raised their voices high in outright lies, and people believed. The facts didn’t matter because the people with facts didn’t wave their flags high and hard and fast. We have ourselves to blame.

Matt Yglesias has the best tweet in reaction to the networks calling teabagger Rand Paul as the Senate winner from Kentucky: "Finally we have a Senator willing to stand up the tyranny of the Civil Rights Act!"

And our fearless leader? Our fierce Advocate? Yeah, about him. Obama had the cards to play. He did something 2 years ago that made the world take notice. He took some of the lowest voting demographics in this nation and mobilized them not only to vote, but to gather together their not inconsiderable resources for one common goal. It was a firestorm, and it got him elected by a LANDSLIDE. That and Palin is an imbecile, but that’s a post for another day.

But where has our advocate gone? Where is the man I voted for 2 years ago? Where was he during the election season? Covering his ass and doing damage control in the last 3-4 weeks for his party AFTER barely lifting a finger to help those same demographics that made sure he got elected. *sigh* DADT will end on his watch, huh?

Iowa is where my main concern lies now. The judges who got ousted by Tea Party lies and who will be replaced by TRUE activist judges who will NOT uphold the laws? We're all feeling this one. We did you wrong and for that I am sorry. the tide has turned, and dark days are ahead for us.

Well done, Democrats. You had a powerplay in your hands, and you did nothing with it. Now you’re got a fight on your hands you weren’t ready for when you HAD power. These next two years are going to be very, very hard.

Frogs are falling from the sky... and other treasures of meteorology

It’s been a roller coaster couple of weeks. Pythonacon = WIN!!! SO much win. Had a wonderful time with raven_ap_morgan and ericcoleman and xap and bunch of amazing people for the Monty Python-filled birthday of Gundo! I finally met WSPA-3. I have a FAN in WSPA-3. SO much mischief! Fairly certain ericcoleman is shaking his head right now wondering exactly what he’s done. Awww, it’s not so bad. He’s simply unleashed an unstoppable tidal wave of cute. That’s all…

P-con was incredible. Funny and heart-warming and served as the unofficial debut point for Cheshire Moon! We debuted ‘Widow’s Garden,’ the song ericcoleman and I wrote at Strowlers in St Louis a few weeks back. *shiver* We wrote a song. We’re a band. Breathing. Breathing. SQUEEEEEEEEE!!!!!

….and then I got sick. Violently sick. Sick to the point of considering a Dr. visit and I’m out of sick time kind of sick. It got better, but my tummy is still a bit fragile. Blarg!

BUT! So much happening soon! Duckon is on the move and getting off the ground. Very excited, and it’s meshing well. Getting to know a lot of really wonderful people in fandom. WindyCon is RIGHT around the corner, where s00j will be kicking Faerie into high gear with Tricky Pixie! You have to go. It’s a RULE.

And can I just say TOMBOAT!!! I’ve been going to rehearsal, and jumpin’ jeepers on a cracker with cheese, this is going to be GOOOOOOD.

Furr Fest is coming up as well. Belly dance Panda, GO! Vampires and unicrons, oh MY!

Then on to Thanksgiving and everything after. I look at the November calendar and cry a little…..

Duckon and everything after

And a voice cried out from the fannish heavens saying, 'It is done.' I have been named Vice Chair for DucKon. 4 years attached to the first Chicago Scifi con I ever attended. What have I done?!! There, I've said it. I feel better. Except I also feel like I have a huge rubber duck on my back as opposed to the perverbial monkee. But whatever.

Furries are back, people! Working on an actual furry track, guests and all. I'm also trying really hard not to become a drill sergent. I know how I come off, and it's important to me that I don't come off as a dictator or too much of a hardass. I don't mean to, I just want to get the job done smoothly, on time, and under budget. That's the goal.

And can I just say, FILK!! A would-be filker is a stone's throw from the helm. I don't think this has been lost on a few minds. We'll see how this goes, but I hope to help rebuild a few bridges and forge new rivers, letting voices sing and instruments ring happily through the halls of Duckon once more.

And now I sit back and watch my free time burn like a Wicker Man on the Nevada Desert. *sigh* Pass the marshmallows?

Grinning Moonbeams

Grinning Moonbeams

It’s been a BUSY few weeks.

Strowlers was incredible! So many new faces now so dear. Understanding and joy has with old friends. Roads braved and paths traveled holding hands with loved ones. So many songs and stories shared. And one song in particular still rings in my head and heart. As some of you know, Eric Coleman and I have started a band! We are Cheshire Moon (Thanks, Xap!), and Saturday afternoon at Strowlers, we wrote our first song: Widow’s Garden. *shiver* Still gives me chills to think about it!

Tricky Pixie was incredible as always, backed up by GB mojo for a HYSTERICAL rendition of ‘Alligator in the House’ (Eric didn’t know I could double as an air-raid siren. He knows now.) and a heart pounding ‘Firebird’s Child.’ Saying goodbye has never been so hard as to let go of so many new friends.

And now back home to more incredible lyrics running through my head. And these ones aren’t going away! Verse has in the past had a tendency to come and go so quickly I barely have time to get it down. Now the words wait, wait for the melody they need to set them free. For Eric and I to sit down together and set them free in song. Set them into the moonlight and starlight, into the sunlight and beating rain. Almost as if the world has gathered its misfit toys and surrounded us in their stories, waiting only for the breath and chord they seek to bring them to life.

And yes, there is a wondrous man in my life. And he comes with his own soundtrack! A partner is crimes musical and not, I feel almost bumbling in my giddiness.

But real-life has come calling, and brings with it more than my fair share of mundania. I still don’t know if I have a job at the end of next week. *pout* I hate the waiting. I’m also becoming more heavily involved in DucKon next year which has me freaked and excited at the same time. And on top of it all, we’re 6 weeks from WindyCon, which means costuming-palooza and last-minute prep for Windy and MFF. Whee!!!

Beck in the Saddle again....

Ok, I know I’m a touch late to the table on this one, but I have to say I never thought I’d see this. After all the work, all the sacrifices of life and legislature, we’re still arguing about this. What. The. Fuck.

Let me take a step back. As some of you may know, I have a rather severe distaste for racism. Call it ingrained. And yet I stand absolutely aghast day after day at the constant blathering of this so-called ‘Tea Party’ and the sewage they use for said tea. Now, don’t get me wrong, the in-fighting currently being waged on the right about who is in fact right who’s a socialist librul-lovin’ commy pinko is delicious. But now we come to one of the icons of this movement: Glenn Beck.

Aw, Glenn. How you long for attention. Long for it so much you’ll say literally anything and cry rivers of tears for it, regardless of merit or taste or honor. And yet THIS is what you would tout as your motive for organizing a convention of hate in DC on the anniversary or the speech of a man truly worthy of a term like honor. Dr. Martin Luther King stood before a gathering of thousands to express a dream. Now you stand on that same ground and pile mountain after mountain of unchecked hate.

I pity you. I detest pity; I find it a font of weakness and insecurity that is not only unnecessary but loathsome. And yet you are all these things, and so do I pity you. Arrogance has never come in a more perfect package of self-righteous bigotry with a pretty little bow of unrepentant lies. You speak of people trying to silence your truth. You wouldn’t know truth if it hit you in the face with a wet fish.

But alas, Becky boy is only a swollen node on the groin of a much bigger problem: somewhere along the way we’ve managed to slink backwards. There is still a percentage of people in this country who believe are President is Muslim. And they care WHY, exactly? Oh wait, because ALL Muslims are terrorists, including the ones that share the vast majority of their beliefs and values with Christianity and Judaism. Namely ALL of them. Riiiight. Anyone ever notice that? 3 major monotheistic doctrine-based religions, one main (shared) deity, 75% the same rhetoric, and yet all they want to do is kill each other. Wait, what?

Back to my point, the state of Texas wants to change history itself to suit its purposes of fear-mongering and cultivated hatred, a tactic used by many an oppressive regime, right down to the Inquisition. Congressmen and women from all over the country are vying for power on the basis of fear of their own constituents. The Constitution is being put on trial because it doesn’t fit the self-aggrandizing agendas of the far Right (spelled ‘Reich’ for those of you keeping score. If you haven’t looked up the actually tenants of Socialism, you might want to. Note how closely they relate to the far RIGHT as opposed the Left. Just a thought.) Xenophobia has found a foothold in the ‘Land of the free and home of the brave.’ Unless your brown. Or not Evangelical Christian. Or anything other than starkly heterosexual. Then you’re just fucked.

How DARE you. As someone of Native American stock I can’t help but laugh hysterically at the gall of these people. Those whose heretical, religious-persecution-fleeing ancestors came to this land and then orchestrated the systematic genocide of indigenous people over the course of centuries are suddenly AGHAST at the audacity of anyone not like you in your midst. And simply because there was no law against it, it was fine to kill over hundreds of thousands of people just to further their own goals.

I grant you, some of my own ancestors came to this land in this way. But let’s take a moment, as a whole, and refuse to let history be our guide and not our warning system. History, not what they teach in Texas. History, that which is so soaked in blood and nightmares that it’s hard to look at most days. History, that which we too will one day be a part of. Is this the mark that we leave, a pock mark so deep it scars over to the point that a hundred years from now we too are scoffed at as short-sighted fools?

Nah, I like to form my own thoughts. But thanks for offering. Now FUCK OFF so the grown ups can something done.

MuseCon Musings (MuseCon 0)

I was really pleased. The programming was non-pressured and I learned some nifty new things (although I need another hobby like I need a pig on my head). Of course, now I have an itch to teach a beginning knitting class next year. And Gundo recruited me for Filk next year (SO HAPPY!!).

Speaking of Gundo, Toyboat RAWKED!! Rawked in wrong and wonderful ways. Songs that break people are always such a joy.

Hotel is really nice and cozy, even with the atrium lobby and elevator setup (yipe, heights). Roomed with Eric Colemanand Xap which was loads of fun. WSPA-2 also roomed with us, which made for way too many hysterical moments.

But all kidding aside, that boy can PLAY. It’s going to very interesting to watch as he gets better because he’s already oh my wow musically. Shiny shiny. :)

Hung out with lots of great people, including, Adam and Michaeland a bunch of mega super awesome people.

Got a lot of good ideas for projects and neat stuff (Xap taught me how to do shuttle tatting!!), and I think I want to start my own beehive. I know, allergy, but still, attended a really awesome panel on the subject, and it’s really interesting. And I got a bee on my ankle at the train station and he didn’t sting me! I like when the universe sends glowing neon signs that say, “Yeah, this is ok. Relax.” Now all I need is a backyard and a garden….

Had a great time in filk circle singing with Eric, and Gundo joined me on “Follow that Road” by Anne Hills. JOY! “Swamp Witch” was so eerie and fun. Must do that one again. That and more. More, more, more…

Overall: B+ Quite pleased, and I can’t wait for Sooj to be there next year!!! I get to be Filk helper with Sooj as our GOH. And Eric and I will likely be singing together again. And and and and… My life is so fucking GOOD…

I did the right thing. So why do I feel like a swamp rat that ran over a garden snake with an alligator bulldozer on fire?

I just told a guy I care about that I can't associate with him anymore. I illustrated why, as I have on several occasions before. He and I have gone over these points of contention more than once, and he has refused to change his behavior. He keeps professing to not understand what he's doing wrong even when I spell it out for him in crayon. I tell him no, he takes it at the time, then brings the subject up against mere days (sometimes HOURS) later to see if anything has changed when I SPECIFICALLY ASKED HIM TO DROP IT.

He's not a bad person. He's a wonderful man 90% of the time. Its that 10% that kills me, and I can't invest that kind of emotion in him anymore. I'm out of spoons.

So, we had that talk. he cried. I almost did, too, but I kept it together. I'm here trying not to feel like I just ruined his life by making the choice I had to make for me. Blarg.

Being a grown up is hard. Poly is HARDER. Let's go to the spa...

My First Rush Concert

Base drum hits my chest like cannon fire. A voice like windswept brushfire scorches my very skin. Must be a Rush concert.

Every heartbeat a bassline echo, but I am not caged. Barefoot and half-deaf with liquid joy. At the foot on Monsters, I am free.

Rhythmic pulsing pulls at my throat, and from it spins words I know by heart and soul and spleen. Yes, spleen.

Intermission. My ears are bleeding colored lights. I stand at the feet of children sprung from the pulsating forehead imagination. Dreams made flesh.

Synthesizer fever dreams, smokescreen light show, and three men captivating the soul of air itself by lighting it on fire.

20-armed steampunk drum robot freak of nature! Wait, that’s Neil every day…

My hearing will come back when its not hung over. Worth it. Utterly worth it.

Duckon 19.... QUACK!

That was different! Good different, weird different, but different. Sound checks and floor shows, and sight gags, oh my! And dang it people, what’s a girl in a red hood have to do to get a wolf around here?! ;)

Overall it was a lot of fun. I overbooked myself all to hell, but even that turned out ok. I get press ganged into a panel Friday, entitle ‘How to Pick Up Geek Girls.’ It was a basic explanation of do’s and don’t’s in thought process and action when it comes to girls at sci-fi cons. By far my favorite line of thought was “If I didn’t want you to look at me, I wouldn’t dress like this.” To say nothing of Anejo’s addition to the conversation from the audience: “Always stick the dismount.” Subtitle: How you break up with someone is just as important as how you pick someone up. Anejo, dear one, COME UP WITH A BETTER WAY TO SAY THAT. Thank you. 

Wydlekyttin’s birthday party was beyond fabulous. It was comfortable overall and gave a lot of people a place to relax as well as help celebrate the wondrous birthday girl. Who looked HOT in the Poisen Ivy dress I made her. Yeah. My life, it does not suck.

Tear down was… FUN. Closing ceremonies was a Blast if a bit less the spectacle that we’d hoped for. But we 4 pulled it off with usual con gusto and fun, and Deacon Drew has left the building. Go, Slayer!

This marks my second Duckon, and I must say, my love of filk has been fanned into a passion not only for the music but the plethora of wonderful people that make it. SO amazingly happy to have been able to share in the laughter and beauty and presence of these musicians and what they do.

The con chair is dead! Long live the con chair!