Pez

Yesterday I spent around 4 hours sanding down a sword by hand. Was pretty tired afterwards, and then it started getting worse and by bedtime my whole shoulder-to-wrist was a limb of burning pain and I couldn't even hold a cup of water. RSI by sword sanding! Way to go, me. Took anti-inflammatories and painkillers, still took forever for me to get to sleep. But it's pretty much okay now.

I've been on a Shingeki no Kyojin* high lately and decided to make the cosplay, despite not even knowing what the character's name should be translated to since every scanlation and dub group do their own thing for Rivaille/Levi/Levy. In any case, for the costume, since I've been wanting to make a bodice block for myself anyway, I thought this was the time to do it. Silly me to not read the instructions properly, the block doesn't contain seam allowances. So I ended up wasting fabric. Used the block to draft a new set of pattern with seam allowances now. Luckily the jacket I need to make is very short and I think there's stil plenty of fabric left for making two of them.

Should make myself some icons...

Writing has slowed because events are just slow. Managed to give two characters mental problems (they have very legitimate reasons to be that way) and then everyone around them are going WAH WHAT DO. Progress is slow because nobody knows what to do. Oh dear. I really need to stop writing myself into a corner.

*Shingeki no Kyojin, also known as Attack on Titan. 44 chapters of manga is out, and 4 episodes of anime so far. If you haven't read/watched it, go now. I promise you it's good.

Follwing the Olympics, yup. Working from home and Olympics being in this country means watching it is REALLY EASY. /o/ Gymnastics and swimming is always fun to watch. And Gary Lineker suggested that Stella McCartney might have touched Tom Daley inappropriately. And the pretty team outfits. And the special knee length hoodies some swimmers get that are probably just giant slankets with a zip. And the little hat with ear-shaped bits that the horses get to wear in the equestrian events. And the go-faster stripes on one of the swimmer's cap. And all the sparkles in the Russian gymnasts' hair. And people becoming completely incoherent when they discovered they (or their children) won a gold.

In non-Olympic news, with Troika fic being completely stuck, I've been poking at TLR stuff. But I only get so far and I read what I have and I think, "Oh, Qubine ♥" and it doesn't get any further than that.

We got given flowers by a woman whose bag we found on the DLR and subsequently returned. I discovered that lilies and I don't get on very well, which is sad because they were pretty. But they are supposed to be poisonous to cats anyway so it's no huge loss I guess.

The spambots seem to have stopped for now, phew!

We've finished watching Madoka a while ago. It's good, I enjoyed most of the art and plot, but it wasn't anything surprising - half way through the story we already guessed most of the rest of the plot. I think within the first 2 episodes we already decided which one was the "bad guy", and pegged who was going to die as the story developed. I wish there were more surprises. And some bits of the story could have benefited if they had more time. Maybe one more episode on Sayaka and Kyoko, because as it is now, it's all very sudden how things changed.

And we're watching Tenimyu! Finished Hyoutei and DL3, and half of Rokkaku. So much madness.

I've been reading my old fics and thinking, damn, I wish I have PoT things to write. Maybe I should look up some prompt communities.

Storme has not tried to burn down the flat again. So far.

The X Japan gig last night was phenomenol. I got such a good view of Sugizo the whole time, and saw Toshi and Yoshiki quite close too. The set list was pretty short but they did play a few songs I really like. Yoshiki. That man. His charisma. O_O Sugizo on the violin, fuckfuckfuck. And his outfits, goddamn, why can't I be a skinny Japanese rockstar? Toshi's voice is as good as ever. And I want his shiny gloves! And pat Yoshiki on the head because he started crying as soon as he mentioned hide. And give him some PG-FUCKING-TIPS. XD (His English is definitely better than Toshi's.)

Set list:
1. Jade (new single) (love it btw)
2. Rusty Nail
3. Silent Jealousy
4. Drain
5. Kurenai
6. Born to be Free
7. I.V.
8. X
9. Endless Rain
10. Art of Life

With Sugizo's violin solos and Yoshiki's piano and drum solos in the middle. At the very end they had Forever Love playing in the background as they mucked about taking photos of the audience and then did their bows. Lots of clips on youtube already.

Order of new Rub n' Buff arrived. Although it's not grainy, I'm still not happy with the result. It appears that white Rub n' Buff is not as waxy as its metallic equivalents and has poorer coverage and spreading power. I can use it, but one tube can only cover the front of my cuirass! O_o It also means I end up with a thickass layer of wax/paint/pigment which, Rub n' Buff or not, I worry about cracking with movement. So I'm going to go for spraying acrylic instead, since I don't like the brushmarks with painted acrylic. *buys the airbrush stuff I've been meaning to buy for a long time* Not being a perfectionist, just want to make things look good. Not sure if I need to remove what I've already applied first or not, though.

I have a really bad pain at the base of my neck this week. It's likely posture and stress related. At one point even turning my head was painful. It's much better now though, I can tilt my head back and not go OW.

I've been listening to Jay Chou a lot at work (which is what Jay Chou is for. He is not for watching in the cinema ewww.) So, I've always known that he has a bad pronounciation of his own language, but in 說了再見 he literally sounds like he's imitating a westerner trying to pronounce Chinese. What the hell? Ah well. Beautiful song anyway. 煙花易冷 still takes the cake though, not because of Jay Chou's singing but Vincent Fong's lyrical genius.

Currently making cosplays of Shishio Makoto AND Seta Soujirou. Ah, Kenshin. I'm nostalgic.

ASOIAF: A Game of Thrones HBO trailer. I'm SO getting Sky after moving house so that I can watch this (and get cheap internet).

Loads more on the making-of site: http://www.makinggameofthrones.com/ I love watching the artisans videos.

Um, maybe this?



( 30 days of music meme question list )

Hmm.

Natsuoto. Beautiful MV, great song.



( 30 days of music meme question list )

Just spotted the DVD of Hamlet (animated Shakespeare). I wonder if it's the DVD version of this. Because I watched the latter many years ago and always wanted a DVD copy of it...