Okay - I promised I'd write here yesterday, or the day before, or something like that, but life is kind of blurry and hectic and stuff like that, and I've been busy hospicing my butt off.  Seriously, like 300 miles and half a dozen house calls in the last 2 days.

But somewhere in there <lj user="umbran"> and I also made it to the Topsfield Fair, because it is a fall tradition and because I need my annual fill of deep-fried Oreos and giant pumpkins, and because this year I decided to try my luck in the crafts contest.

The Topsfield Fair is a big, delightful, traditional county fair, with 4H exhibits and flower and garden contests and sheep-shearing demos and deep fried everything on a stick, and a fairly prodigious crafts competition.  They have categories for just about anything you can imagine, and I love browsing and seeing all of the beautiful things people create, and every year I promise myself that next year I'll enter something of mine, and then forget.

But this year I'd finally made a showpiece - a rainbow shawl, from yarn I spun myself, that I was happy enough with to actually look up the rules for entry.  And, when I got to the website, I found out that there was a contest for hand-spun yarn, as well.  With a division for blends and synthetics.  And I'd just finished spinning my first custom-designed blended fiber (I wanted to get a certain effect, so I spun up two different kinds of yarn and plied them together).  So, what the hell.  I entered that too.  It was free, after all.

So we went to the fair yesterday, and we walked through the garden displays and hugged my friends at the forge and gawked at the freaky feather-footed chickens, and stopped by the sheep barn to pick up my yarn.

Where I was handed a 'Best In Division' ribbon and told that my prize money was in the mail, and that next year I really ought to consider entering more divisions.

And then we went to the crafts show.

Where my shawl was sitting next to a blue First Place ribbon.  (No; not best in show, but still first place in crocheted clothing).

I am utterly agog.  I was mostly entering for the sheer personal amusement of being able to say that I did.  I had no thoughts of actually winning, and I swear nowhere on the site did it say anything about prize money.   And I still think of myself as a novice spinner; it's only recently that I've even gotten to the point where I'm happy enough with my finished fiber to actually crochet with it.

Yowza.

I am an award-winning fiber artist.

It sounds all fancy and stuff when I put it that way.....

Those of you who've known me for any length of time have known that I've had the same haircut for, well.... for a long time.

I was a victim of the 80's.  I had a bad shag perm in 8th grade (my mother was convinced that it would make me more popular.  It didn't.), and I hated it with a fiery passion.  I vowed at that point, in 1988, that I would never cut my hair again, and never suffer through an atrocious short cut like that again.  And I've kept that vow.

I spent most of high school growing my hair out, and most of college growing out my bangs.  My hair is naturally ramrod-straight, so I've had long, straight hair for my entire adult life.  Somewhere around my second year of vet school a friend persuaded me to dye my hair red, and since then I haven't really made any serious changes.

That means my hairstyle is nearly old enough to vote.

I've set foot in a salon precisely twice since then.  Once in vet school, at a place that specialized in long hair, to get a miniscule trim, and once about two years ago, when my hair was falling apart, to get it shaped and tinted with a temporary color that didn't really take.  Other than that, I've looked about the same.  And over the past few months or so, I've been fighting a back-of-my-brain urge to Change Something.

Since I use henna, I can't really color my hair with anything else.  But temporary dye could work.... though that didn't seem quite right.  And just change for the sake of change didn't seem right either.  Still, I wanted *something* different.  So when GISHWHES came up, I promised myself that if there was an item on the scavenger hunt list that involved doing something weird to your hair, I'd consider it an omen and throw myself on that grenade.

And there it was.  Item #166 - cut at least 10" of your hair off and donate it to a wig charity.

So.

( Want to see what happened? )

So while I'm on the subject of arts, crafts, and Intercon, I'm going to be self-indulgent and share the photographic evidence of what I've been doing with my downtime (admittedly, in one case with a great deal of help)....

( Pictures, hidden for those who aren't interested )

So remember a while ago I asked folks for advice about fun and exciting new hair colors?

So it turns out that apparently you can't bleach henna out of hair. It just doesn't work - it has something to do with the chemical makeup of the stuff. So no green hair for me. Also no violet, or lavender, or really anything particularly unnatural.

However, I did manage to find a hairstylist who was willing to work with me, and my wishes, and my (fragile from most of a year of stress, poor health, and intermittent malnutrition) hair. And while lavender was off-limits, it turns out burgundy wasn't. And that burgundy with copper streaks actually looks pretty interesting.

She also managed to trim my hair in such a way that it looks like the shorter, broken-off bits around my face actually look intentional, instead of "I'm so sick that my hair is just falling apart." Which is a goodness.

It's not exactly what I wanted, and it's going to take some getting used to, but it's different and that is a goodness. And the longer I have it, the more I like it....

( Pictures, hidden for those who aren't interested.... )

( Pictures, hidden for those who don't want to see them.... )
Of course, after she was delivered, I managed to putter up and down our dead-end street about three or four times before the battery died, alas. Admittedly, I'm a timid and inexperienced rider, still familiarizing myself with the controls, and stalling the poor thing near constantly... but even that shouldn't be enough to completely drain the battery.

And the dealership is closed for the night. So in the morning I get to call the service department and, with luck, they'll get a new battery our here in time for me to practice again tomorrow night. And who knows; someday I might get enough courage to actually head off my dead-end onto a real street....

....finishing a project that has been in progress for over two years, now.

( Pictures, hidden for those who don't care.... )

Intercon happened. It was good. There were games that I played in, that were awesome, and a game that I ran that went well, and time with people I don't see near often enough, and costumes, and hugging, and all that stuff that makes me happy.

'Sith Lords' was wonderful, as I expected; I was cast with a few people I don't get to roleplay with very often, which can be a huge source of fun when things go well. It was my first attempt in a long time at coordinating costuming, plus I love being a doll for other people to practice makeup on. Between that and the fact that the role let me play around with fascinating and eccentric body language and mannerisms, and the complex and angsty romantic triangle written into my story, it was everything I wanted.

'The Ballad of Jess-Belle' was similarly dramatic and angsty, if with less makeup and lower heels for my costume. I got to roleplay with some of my favorite people, and managed to win a tall-tale-telling competition with a story I made up on the spot, which surprised the heck out of me.

'Desperadoes Under the Eaves,' which I ran with ursangnome and jadasc went well, as far as I can tell. Our players were marvelous and bizarre and confusing and wonderful, and as far as I can tell most of them had a good time.

And there were people I don't get to see enough, and time spent curled up on the sofa chatting and catching up, and introducing friends to each other, and meeting new people, and reminiscing over old games and planning new ones, and I can't remember the last time I had this much fun at a con.

Being around people is good, and, to be completely honest, being around people who tell me they like me is a much-needed boost to my self-esteem when things are rough. Right now I am exhausted and headachy, but feeling loved, fulfilled, entertained, and all-in-all good.

Thank you so much to everyone who was part of my con, for making it so wonderful....

(Yes, I know it technically still is going on. But I have to work tomorrow, so no Sunday night/Monday for me. Also, I'm pretty sure that 3 days of con is about all the con I can tolerate, so right now I'm glad to be in my nice, warm, quiet home.)

First of all, thank you thank you thank you to everyone who replied to my last post, and to everyone who took the time to say hello, keep me company, and give me hugs at the con. I had been a bit worried and uncertain going in, and I wound up having a very good time. There was one minor brush with panic on Saturday night, but I had an excellent friend to carry me through it, and other than that all was good and more than good.

This was an odd year for me; it was the first time in years that I haven't been part of either programming or staff. I decided to take this as a low-key year, and it was both liberating and unusual to be able to wander around the con and do whatever I wanted whenever I wanted. The up side of this was the freedom; the downside was the fact that Arisia is cold enough and short enough on hangout space that there really wasn't anywhere good to just sit and socialize.

That said, I did manage to find good time with friends, and I got to spend a decent amount of time dancing, both of which were just what I needed. But the true highlight of the con for me was getting to wear the costume I've been working on for most of the past month.

I'm not a very good seamstress, and even though I can sew a bit I honestly just don't like to. But I love the challenge of finding costume concepts that require minimal sewing. And I've had a lot of downtime this past month. And metaphysick has been introducing me more and more to Star Wars. And so I thought to myself, 'Huh. I bet I could make a Twi'lek costume....'

And so I did. And I managed not to chicken out of wearing it on Saturday. And it looked kind of like this....

( Pictures, hidden because my vanity should not overwhelm your friends-page... )

I've never done a serious hall costume before, so it was a fascinating experience. Apparently being painted blue turns you into a rock star (and makes you Even More Fascinating Than Usual to toddlers), and it made just walking around public spaces a major event. On the other hand, I've found that wearing an elaborate enough costume does wonders to help me overcome my phobia of having my picture taken, so the attention and camera flashes were an overall-positive thing. I'm fairly certain I'll wear the costume again next year (and, with luck, airbrushing will be much easier and faster in the future)...

Other than that... there were friends, and there was dancing, and now there is thawing and enjoying the quiet. All in all, a good weekend.

Okay, I didn't exactly create it. But it's still mine, and I am utterly in love with it.

I had the last session of inking for my dragon tattoo yesterday. 7 hours under the needle total, though I'm supposed to go back in January for one last follow-up to make sure there's no touching up needed. And the finished project is just as glorious and bright and beautiful as I imagined it would be....

( Images hidden behind here. I've been posting lots of pictures lately, it seems..... )

So I met with the tattoo artist for the second time today. I had a first visit a couple of weeks ago where I talked to the studio, got set up with an artist they thought matched my style, and then chatted with the guy about what sort of design I wanted in general - and much gratitude to ravenrose and evcelt for letting me know that was an option! And the artist seemed pretty cool, and enthusiastic, and like he understood my general idea, and he promised to come up with some concept art for me.

Today I went back to see what he had drawn. It was just a rough sketch, but it was enough to make it clear that he did, in fact, grasp the imagery that I wanted, and that he could make it beautiful. And I love the fact that he seems enthusiastic, and wants to add little details to make what I want even cooler - he went into detail about shading techniques and artistic tricks that, not being an artist, I'm not quite sure I follow, but it's clear he loves what he does, and has the standard geek's love of detail and sharing passion, and it feels good that he's as excited about this as I am.

So I have an appointment for this coming Wednesday to start getting inked. And I'm excited, and I'm scared, because this is permanent and forever and real, and now that money is paid and appointments are made there's a little part of my brain that's starting to scream about what-ifs. I haven't actually *seen* the final art yet; I won't until it's on my body. I haven't had three years to test-drive the body art like I did with my last tattoo. What if multiple tattoos make me look like some painted tramp? What if it looks cheesy? What if, what if, what if?

Screw what-if. It's going to be gorgeous, and awesome, and I can't wait. And I'll be honest, the hint of scary is kind of part of the awesome.

New body art, new symbol, new part of me.... 3 more days. I was figuring it'd be closer to weeks, but somehow now that it's sooner, it's that much harder to wait....