Spazzmanda

I’m home again, and having trouble with the post vacation recuperation. I know that I have very few sympathizers, but my brain is just not firing on all cylinders quite yet. Gimme time.

DragonCon was a marathon- I took not a single photo- but Jeff took plenty and I’ll upload them soon, I promise. I had the best time EVER! Jeff and I were Pee Wee and Miss Yvonne in the parade (see a crowd member’s candid shot) -it was such fun. A tad on the early side and lots of hair and makeup… for Jeff… but much, much merriment was had by all! We were walking in right front of Erik Estrada. He came rolling up on a motorcycle, hair billowing in the breeze, blinding smile, and I nearly wet my pants. It was one of the highlights of my ‘con’ experience (he was really nice too.)

Foxy and I entered our Super-Secret costume into the Masquerade (BIG costume contest on Sunday night.) We were – are you ready?- Pirates. Ahhhh, what is so secret, you may ask? Well, we made our pirate costumes entirely out of duct tape. You can see a picture I found here. (More to follow- I’m gettin’ to it.) I was beyond petrified to get on that stage in front of all of those people. (Um, geeks aren’t always kind in regards to costuming efforts- they’ve been known to boo.) But the roar of approval from the audience when the Duct Tape aspect was announced was beyond what I had expected. See the one photo of our voila moment here where we pulled out a big ol’ piece to show the crowd. It was surreal, to say the least.

Were they hot? Damn skippy. Uncomfortable? I still have staple marks in my butt, what do you think? Were they totally worth it because of the accolades we received from all of geekdom? You can bet your mint condition Marvel Comic collection – or your 12-inch Star Wars action figures (still in the box- of course.)

Because I have no photos to share- hey, I had a strenuous week of napping, drinking and laying by the pool- here is a lovely piece of circa 1986 heirloom knitting a la Spazz. I was about eight years old when I made this bookmark for my mother. Can you believe she actually wants it back?

Note the color-changing skills with the vintage acrylic yarn. That was free-style baby- I was a deviant knitta’ even as a lass. I have some new knitting inspiration after going to DragonCon-  I’m a Firefly fan- so I’m SO going to have to knit this  item (and ashamed I didn’t think of it first!) There is a little geek in all of us, some of us are just more comfortable sharing it with the world.

It is no big secret, I’m dating a geek. But, during our extensive courtship, he has taught me to embrace my inner geek. OIn fact- I’ve apparently always been a closet geek all along!

You may not realize that the biggest geek fest in the southeast, DragonCon, is this week. I’m so tired from our preparations already, and I’m not seeing much opportunity for resting in my near future as I am packing for both the convention AND the beach trip, I sure hope I don’t forget to pack enough underwear.

I will be leaving immediately from the convention on Monday morning to go to St. George. (Woo- hoo St. George!- Thank you John Olin and Margaret for inviting me again!)

Photo from last year’s trip:

From left to right- My adopted sis Anjanette, Moi with sunburn, the lovely Sally and of course John and Margaret- Babs- my adopted parents.)

Anyhoo, back to the costume, the whole point of the post! Foxy and I have been working on an UBER-Secret costume for the upcoming ‘con.’ Since I’m also going to the beach, it will be some time before photos are posted (because I’m not taking my laptop with me, sorry, but I’m totally unplugging.)

Now, I don’t sew. My mother does, but I don’t have the talent or the patience. She won’t sew for me anymore, so I have been forced to figure my own way around the machine. I can make costumes and ‘embellish’ pre-exisiting shapes with some minor sewing and adjustments. Last year, Jeff tried his best to convince me that I could sew him some Batman gloves. I refused. He persisted and it almost ended in bloodshed (his, not mine.)

This costume idea was totally Fox’s, and it is totally cool! I hope it will be a hit. She wants us to enter the big costume contest. I told her I might need a drink (or four) before I would be ok with going on a stage in front of a bout a million geeks that positively live for this stuff.

It should be pretty neat. More to follow.