A friend of mine mentioned yesterday that time moves differently now then when we were children. Now with the hustle and bustle of our daily lives when we take time to do "nothing" time moves quickly. As children if there was nothing to do time would move so slowly as to be painful! Does this mean that "nothing" means something different to us now then it did then? Or is it something completely external with nothing to do with definitions.
I found this difference also applies to many parts of our lives. We think that a project will take X amount of time. However, sometimes we don't factor in the Y that can be anything from kids to forgotten errands. So the actual amount of time (Z) is of course more than we expected. Then again this happens with those projects that have a concrete deadline. For those projects that we have more flexible deadlines, half the time things work out so well that we find ourselves done with time to spare. What is frustrating is that both sets of projects do not happen within a time frame that allows the extra time from one to be applied to the other. Even more frustrating is that there isn't a formula or rule to let us know when these times will occur.
This makes me feel like Time itself is an entity related to Chaos and in league with Nemesis. It is obviously readjusting itself for entertainment purposes. I can truly see these Entities watching us and manipulating things just to see how we'll react. It's even possible that there is a constant betting pool going on about the outcomes. Although I am not sure who the bookie would be. The Fates?
In any case Time can be tricky and often frustrating. And for the moment I will not try to figure it out. But one of these days I will work on it. Or just write a story to shame that Trickster Time.
Friday, November 19, 2010
Thursday, November 11, 2010
NaNoWriMo... sort of
NaNoWriMo, National Novel Writing Month is an annual self-monitored writing contest. The contest is not about writing the best story. In fact no one else actually reads your novel unless you decide to send it to someone for that purpose. The point of the contest is to write without slowing down to edit or research. Get all your ideas on "paper" and hit at least 50,000 words. A couple of people I know are participating this year as am I.
Admittedly, I haven't been very good about using every available moment to write. I am doing a bit better than I did last year, I blamed the low word count last year to starting 2 weeks into the month. This year, I acknowledge that I have let other things distract me. I plan for time to write and then work on things for the dance troupe OR start plotting ways to make a bit more money. Making ends meet is a HUGE distraction.
Another huge distraction is that buzzing in the back of my head that I could be polishing what I have already written to submit to agents. This of course runs back around to that making money thing. Really, if I had money I could just write. The time would be there for research and editing as well. Then the daydreaming begins.
One of my writing partners and I constantly joke about winning the lottery so we can become wealthy enough to write. Being a professional student would be nice too, but really that would defeat the purpose which is having time to write without worrying about the dreaded Bill Monster. We understand that this joking is a way of blowing off steam. The daydream to relieve stress. Last week, however, I almost stepped over the line.
I was surrounded by advertising for that week's Powerball. At that point it was up to $123 million and I was counting change out to put fuel in my truck. I was SO close to using some of that change to buy a Powerball ticket. I was calculating what winning that money would actually mean. (The math will be wrong, it's not my forte.) About 50% would be taken for taxes which would leave me with $61.5 million. Paid out over 20 years there would be a yearly stipend of about $3 million. So the first year I could pay off student loans, personal loans, medical debt and buy the house completely from my in-laws. We'd also be able to buy a larger home and have newer vehicles. My husband would still have to work that year. BUT we'd be comfy. This all went through my head in the 2-3 minutes that I had to wait for an available cashier.
What stopped me from buying a ticket and trying? I would be cheating myself out of 24 miles of driving. That is 1/3 of the mileage for my day. Total reality check. I had to be able to get to work and back home that day, regardless of whether or not my $3 would win me anything in the future. This was too big of a gamble for me on this day.
Where does this leave me then? And what does this have to do with NaNoWriMo?
It leaves me realizing that I need to continue to do what I can to scrimp and save. I need to remind myself that the course I am on will get me to where I want to go. I need to work on Patience. And mostly I need to remember that when I am feeling overwhelmed this blog is here for me to empty the clutter so I can hear my character's voices more clearly.
With that in mind I go back to writing a bit more on the slightly researched and not edited novel that I WILL finish on November 30th!
Admittedly, I haven't been very good about using every available moment to write. I am doing a bit better than I did last year, I blamed the low word count last year to starting 2 weeks into the month. This year, I acknowledge that I have let other things distract me. I plan for time to write and then work on things for the dance troupe OR start plotting ways to make a bit more money. Making ends meet is a HUGE distraction.
Another huge distraction is that buzzing in the back of my head that I could be polishing what I have already written to submit to agents. This of course runs back around to that making money thing. Really, if I had money I could just write. The time would be there for research and editing as well. Then the daydreaming begins.
One of my writing partners and I constantly joke about winning the lottery so we can become wealthy enough to write. Being a professional student would be nice too, but really that would defeat the purpose which is having time to write without worrying about the dreaded Bill Monster. We understand that this joking is a way of blowing off steam. The daydream to relieve stress. Last week, however, I almost stepped over the line.
I was surrounded by advertising for that week's Powerball. At that point it was up to $123 million and I was counting change out to put fuel in my truck. I was SO close to using some of that change to buy a Powerball ticket. I was calculating what winning that money would actually mean. (The math will be wrong, it's not my forte.) About 50% would be taken for taxes which would leave me with $61.5 million. Paid out over 20 years there would be a yearly stipend of about $3 million. So the first year I could pay off student loans, personal loans, medical debt and buy the house completely from my in-laws. We'd also be able to buy a larger home and have newer vehicles. My husband would still have to work that year. BUT we'd be comfy. This all went through my head in the 2-3 minutes that I had to wait for an available cashier.
What stopped me from buying a ticket and trying? I would be cheating myself out of 24 miles of driving. That is 1/3 of the mileage for my day. Total reality check. I had to be able to get to work and back home that day, regardless of whether or not my $3 would win me anything in the future. This was too big of a gamble for me on this day.
Where does this leave me then? And what does this have to do with NaNoWriMo?
It leaves me realizing that I need to continue to do what I can to scrimp and save. I need to remind myself that the course I am on will get me to where I want to go. I need to work on Patience. And mostly I need to remember that when I am feeling overwhelmed this blog is here for me to empty the clutter so I can hear my character's voices more clearly.
With that in mind I go back to writing a bit more on the slightly researched and not edited novel that I WILL finish on November 30th!
Wednesday, November 10, 2010
Drowning Smurfs...
Giggle Three
(you all are probably getting tired of the dye job stories.. hehehe)
This of course is the continuing discussion of silly things that came up when creating costumes. If you are a friend of mine on a social network you have seen a picture of the whole troupe in these beautiful "peacock" color costumes and every bit of them were made by us! We are so Talented. But I digress.
Trying to come up with something simple, girly and bellydance'ish we zeroed in on wrap pants. There is only one seam right in the middle and the rest is hemming. Fairly simple and we had fabric we could dye in any color already. After deciding on the purple velvet for the ghwazee coats the pants had to be bright to contrast and still be one of the "peacock" colors. The name of the dye we used was Sapphire, but my friend insisted it was Smurf Blue. I didn't care. It was bright, pretty and would get pants on us. (Dancing w/out pants would have made some of the men happy but Not the other dancers.) Thus the bright blue dye on the raw silk pants that gave such an amazing contrast.
One of the fun things that happens when you dye anything, be it fabric or hair, is that you Always end up with some on yourself. I have learned to wear clothing that I don't mind being multi-colored. We try to remember to put on gloves but sometimes they tear. Of course, most of the time the problem is that you are in a rush to get things done and at some point forget to don the gloves. When it comes to me, I just don't care enough to worry about what my hands will look like. (My husband will attest to this as it was true when working on my Mazda years ago as well.) On this round of dyeing I actually didn't get my hands on much so I just had blue nails and some spotting. My friend managed to turn her fingers blue almost to the second knuckle. I was a little jealous, I kind of like getting "dirty" when doing art. Next time I was going to do more.
My friend, who had commissioned work to finish for her business, had more blue things to dye the next day. I noticed on her status update that her fingers looked like she had been drowning smurfs! The image that came to my mind of course is that big cauldron that Gargamel had with smurfs in it trying to get out. The whole time my friend is laughing and pushing them down into the pot. Because THAT is how they all became BLUE!! So really she wasn't drowning smurfs but dyeing them to match our outfits!
(It gets much stranger.)
The following week, we were dyeing the small pieces of our costuming. This included the Peacock Camo armpit covers and the Grilled Peacock veil I wore as a butt cover. (Covering is important to us.) And yes this time I get color on me. I really did put a glove on, but it split right at the bottom. Did I notice? Yes. Did I care. Not one bit. I started out being careful about where I put my hand. As we started having fun really mashing in the color I stopped paying attention. Later on I looked at the "peacock" coloring on the heel of my hand and began to think. If having blue tipped fingers meant you were drowning smurfs then what did peacock coloring on the heel of your hand mean?
Smooshed Peacock!
"I am very sorry sir, but your pet peacock was buzzing in my ear while I was talking. Before I could think about it I just swatted it down and smooshed it."
Wait. Peacocks are too big to just swat down. Hmmm. What if it was a peacock mosquito? No. Female mosquitos are the ones that bite and only Male peacocks are colorful. (Told ya it would get really strange.) Would a hummingbird sized peacock be small enough? YES!
"I was chatting with a friend when a peacock hummingbird came a little too close and mistaking it for a pesky bug I swatted it. I felt really badly when I realized my mistake and am now marked with the colors of my crime."
This lunacy I have only shared now, with you. Don't you all feel special?
This was the point when I realized... I needed sleep.
(you all are probably getting tired of the dye job stories.. hehehe)
This of course is the continuing discussion of silly things that came up when creating costumes. If you are a friend of mine on a social network you have seen a picture of the whole troupe in these beautiful "peacock" color costumes and every bit of them were made by us! We are so Talented. But I digress.
Trying to come up with something simple, girly and bellydance'ish we zeroed in on wrap pants. There is only one seam right in the middle and the rest is hemming. Fairly simple and we had fabric we could dye in any color already. After deciding on the purple velvet for the ghwazee coats the pants had to be bright to contrast and still be one of the "peacock" colors. The name of the dye we used was Sapphire, but my friend insisted it was Smurf Blue. I didn't care. It was bright, pretty and would get pants on us. (Dancing w/out pants would have made some of the men happy but Not the other dancers.) Thus the bright blue dye on the raw silk pants that gave such an amazing contrast.
One of the fun things that happens when you dye anything, be it fabric or hair, is that you Always end up with some on yourself. I have learned to wear clothing that I don't mind being multi-colored. We try to remember to put on gloves but sometimes they tear. Of course, most of the time the problem is that you are in a rush to get things done and at some point forget to don the gloves. When it comes to me, I just don't care enough to worry about what my hands will look like. (My husband will attest to this as it was true when working on my Mazda years ago as well.) On this round of dyeing I actually didn't get my hands on much so I just had blue nails and some spotting. My friend managed to turn her fingers blue almost to the second knuckle. I was a little jealous, I kind of like getting "dirty" when doing art. Next time I was going to do more.
My friend, who had commissioned work to finish for her business, had more blue things to dye the next day. I noticed on her status update that her fingers looked like she had been drowning smurfs! The image that came to my mind of course is that big cauldron that Gargamel had with smurfs in it trying to get out. The whole time my friend is laughing and pushing them down into the pot. Because THAT is how they all became BLUE!! So really she wasn't drowning smurfs but dyeing them to match our outfits!
(It gets much stranger.)
The following week, we were dyeing the small pieces of our costuming. This included the Peacock Camo armpit covers and the Grilled Peacock veil I wore as a butt cover. (Covering is important to us.) And yes this time I get color on me. I really did put a glove on, but it split right at the bottom. Did I notice? Yes. Did I care. Not one bit. I started out being careful about where I put my hand. As we started having fun really mashing in the color I stopped paying attention. Later on I looked at the "peacock" coloring on the heel of my hand and began to think. If having blue tipped fingers meant you were drowning smurfs then what did peacock coloring on the heel of your hand mean?
Smooshed Peacock!
"I am very sorry sir, but your pet peacock was buzzing in my ear while I was talking. Before I could think about it I just swatted it down and smooshed it."
Wait. Peacocks are too big to just swat down. Hmmm. What if it was a peacock mosquito? No. Female mosquitos are the ones that bite and only Male peacocks are colorful. (Told ya it would get really strange.) Would a hummingbird sized peacock be small enough? YES!
"I was chatting with a friend when a peacock hummingbird came a little too close and mistaking it for a pesky bug I swatted it. I felt really badly when I realized my mistake and am now marked with the colors of my crime."
This lunacy I have only shared now, with you. Don't you all feel special?
This was the point when I realized... I needed sleep.
Tuesday, November 9, 2010
It's just Worm Spit!
Giggle number Two (BTW these are not in chronological order)
Some folks really have a way of expressing themselves in a way that is both succinct and humorous. I love these little tidbits because while they never fail to make me giggle, they also paint the exact picture necessary. It is also funny when they come out after some slightly related remark is made elsewhere. This was one of those times that will be etched into my memory.
I believe it was the last day of dyeing and stitching for our costumes that I spaced the errands I was supposed to run before getting to my friend's house. Since those errands weren't run I got to the house early. Color me embarrassed when I came into the house during a phone conversation. My hostess was all kinds of gracious, I was just feeling dumb because I forgot stuff, again. (The forgetting things is a whole Other story.) She brought me chai and I waited patiently really trying to just relax and not listen in on the conversation. That is until I hear, "I don't know why silk items are such a high priced commodity, it's just worm spit." This was said very matter of factly and I had to cover my face and bite my tongue so my laughing wouldn't interrupt the conversation I was supposedly ignoring. Thank goodness my mouth was not full of the yummy chai!
This week was also the week that "The Cat in the Hat Knows a lot About That" was repeating the silk thread episode.In this episode one of the children needs silk thread to repair her dress and the Cat takes them some silly place to meet silk worms. The worm is upset at being called a worm because she is in fact a CATERPILLAR. The nerve of us for mistaking the two!
Now if you've gotten to know a little of how my mind mashes things you'll know what comes next.I hear 'it's just worm spit' and think 'No they're caterpillars'. I try really hard not to say things like this out loud, because I don't want to be that kind of nerd. But I think them all the time. So now I have in my head this little ditty "Worm spit, Caterpillar Spit it doesn't matter it still feels nice." Yeah, we won't take that any further.
Telephone conversation finished, chai refilled and silks ready to be prepared for dyeing I grin at my friend and say "So it's just worm spit eh?" She bursts out laughing. When she gets herself back under control tells me "But it really is." We then go into the discussion about how this protein that is pretty readily available comes at such a high price in retail markets. I do point out that it is actually the work involved between the silk as fabric and the silk as finished product. There is a lot of prep work, care and special treatment that silk requires that other fabrics such as cotton do not. All of our hard work to create a set of simple yet pretty costumes proved just that.
Now I can honestly say that I have a beautiful costume to dance in that is mostly comprised of beautifully dyed Worm Spit, (or Caterpillar Spit if you'd rather.)
Some folks really have a way of expressing themselves in a way that is both succinct and humorous. I love these little tidbits because while they never fail to make me giggle, they also paint the exact picture necessary. It is also funny when they come out after some slightly related remark is made elsewhere. This was one of those times that will be etched into my memory.
I believe it was the last day of dyeing and stitching for our costumes that I spaced the errands I was supposed to run before getting to my friend's house. Since those errands weren't run I got to the house early. Color me embarrassed when I came into the house during a phone conversation. My hostess was all kinds of gracious, I was just feeling dumb because I forgot stuff, again. (The forgetting things is a whole Other story.) She brought me chai and I waited patiently really trying to just relax and not listen in on the conversation. That is until I hear, "I don't know why silk items are such a high priced commodity, it's just worm spit." This was said very matter of factly and I had to cover my face and bite my tongue so my laughing wouldn't interrupt the conversation I was supposedly ignoring. Thank goodness my mouth was not full of the yummy chai!
This week was also the week that "The Cat in the Hat Knows a lot About That" was repeating the silk thread episode.In this episode one of the children needs silk thread to repair her dress and the Cat takes them some silly place to meet silk worms. The worm is upset at being called a worm because she is in fact a CATERPILLAR. The nerve of us for mistaking the two!
Now if you've gotten to know a little of how my mind mashes things you'll know what comes next.I hear 'it's just worm spit' and think 'No they're caterpillars'. I try really hard not to say things like this out loud, because I don't want to be that kind of nerd. But I think them all the time. So now I have in my head this little ditty "Worm spit, Caterpillar Spit it doesn't matter it still feels nice." Yeah, we won't take that any further.
Telephone conversation finished, chai refilled and silks ready to be prepared for dyeing I grin at my friend and say "So it's just worm spit eh?" She bursts out laughing. When she gets herself back under control tells me "But it really is." We then go into the discussion about how this protein that is pretty readily available comes at such a high price in retail markets. I do point out that it is actually the work involved between the silk as fabric and the silk as finished product. There is a lot of prep work, care and special treatment that silk requires that other fabrics such as cotton do not. All of our hard work to create a set of simple yet pretty costumes proved just that.
Now I can honestly say that I have a beautiful costume to dance in that is mostly comprised of beautifully dyed Worm Spit, (or Caterpillar Spit if you'd rather.)
Monday, November 8, 2010
Grilled Peacock.... (with Pineapple Sauce?)
Giggle One of the Costuming Saga (BTW these are not in chronological order)
Sometimes in costume making, you create items that will double as both part of a costume or an accessory. We did a few of these with silks over the past two weeks. The colors we got were both breath taking and fun. And when the color got all over us, that was fun too. I personally got to learn a little about the chemical reactions that make the dyeing process happen, (Zahira sneaks science lessons into Everything!) I was also trusted to squirt the dye out of the bottles onto the silk. Woo Hoo!
This time around the dye pot, I learned that dyeing silk is not an exact science and sometimes the silk or the dye is naughty. Color doesn't always take OR the color changes a bit. This makes every project a true science experiment. My definition of an experiment: A true scientific experiment comes about when you don't know what will actually happen. You can make a hypothesis and put your materials/data together but you have to Wait for the outcome.
One veil in particular did both of the above-mentioned naughty tricks to us when we were in the process of creating it. It didn't take color in some spots AND one of the colors came out differently than expected. After pulling said veil out of the processing container, I pointed these two bits of mischief out to Zahira. She leaned back a little and tapped her finger on her bottom lip in her patented "I'm creating" mode. After a few moments of thought her eyes began to sparkle and a dazzling grin appeared. Painting! That is how we change what we Got into something we Want. First came the pleating of the veil, then out came the paintbrush. Dipping into the dye pot and stroking color onto the fabric Zahira told me to just wait and see. I followed her directions and wrapped the silk, put it in to steam and when we pulled it out I was amazed.
The veil had lovely graduated sections of the "Peacock" coloring we were striving for, but with painting the pleats we got this striped effect as well. Our troupe colors were dubbed a few weeks ago as Peacock Camo, because of the colors and how the dye soaked into the fabric. This veil had none of the camouflage type spotting, it only had the colors we have been using for our Peacock Camo. Since there was this purple striping across most of this "peacock" veil, the imagination could only conclude that it had been on the grill. Thus this veil is now dubbed - Grilled Peacock.
I, of course, began laughing at the thought of the face most people would make if offered grilled peacock. Then, I began to wonder what it would taste like and furthermore what kind of sauce could you serve with it. (Strange? Yes! But it gets better.) Pondering the sauce, my mind wandered back into costume land and I tried picturing what color would be peacock'ish and compliment the costume well. Gold came to mind almost immediately and on the heels of that thought came the thought that pineapples were "gold". The only conclusion that I then came to was that if you are going to have Grilled Peacock, you MUST serve it with Pineapple Sauce!
The Grilled Peacock veil I took as my decorative "butt cover" and wore it with pride. I made sure that I had gold jewelry to compliment the whole Peacock ensemble. That way when I walked around and while I was on stage I could imagine myself as Grilled Peacock with Pineapple Sauce!
Sometimes in costume making, you create items that will double as both part of a costume or an accessory. We did a few of these with silks over the past two weeks. The colors we got were both breath taking and fun. And when the color got all over us, that was fun too. I personally got to learn a little about the chemical reactions that make the dyeing process happen, (Zahira sneaks science lessons into Everything!) I was also trusted to squirt the dye out of the bottles onto the silk. Woo Hoo!
This time around the dye pot, I learned that dyeing silk is not an exact science and sometimes the silk or the dye is naughty. Color doesn't always take OR the color changes a bit. This makes every project a true science experiment. My definition of an experiment: A true scientific experiment comes about when you don't know what will actually happen. You can make a hypothesis and put your materials/data together but you have to Wait for the outcome.
One veil in particular did both of the above-mentioned naughty tricks to us when we were in the process of creating it. It didn't take color in some spots AND one of the colors came out differently than expected. After pulling said veil out of the processing container, I pointed these two bits of mischief out to Zahira. She leaned back a little and tapped her finger on her bottom lip in her patented "I'm creating" mode. After a few moments of thought her eyes began to sparkle and a dazzling grin appeared. Painting! That is how we change what we Got into something we Want. First came the pleating of the veil, then out came the paintbrush. Dipping into the dye pot and stroking color onto the fabric Zahira told me to just wait and see. I followed her directions and wrapped the silk, put it in to steam and when we pulled it out I was amazed.
The veil had lovely graduated sections of the "Peacock" coloring we were striving for, but with painting the pleats we got this striped effect as well. Our troupe colors were dubbed a few weeks ago as Peacock Camo, because of the colors and how the dye soaked into the fabric. This veil had none of the camouflage type spotting, it only had the colors we have been using for our Peacock Camo. Since there was this purple striping across most of this "peacock" veil, the imagination could only conclude that it had been on the grill. Thus this veil is now dubbed - Grilled Peacock.
I, of course, began laughing at the thought of the face most people would make if offered grilled peacock. Then, I began to wonder what it would taste like and furthermore what kind of sauce could you serve with it. (Strange? Yes! But it gets better.) Pondering the sauce, my mind wandered back into costume land and I tried picturing what color would be peacock'ish and compliment the costume well. Gold came to mind almost immediately and on the heels of that thought came the thought that pineapples were "gold". The only conclusion that I then came to was that if you are going to have Grilled Peacock, you MUST serve it with Pineapple Sauce!
The Grilled Peacock veil I took as my decorative "butt cover" and wore it with pride. I made sure that I had gold jewelry to compliment the whole Peacock ensemble. That way when I walked around and while I was on stage I could imagine myself as Grilled Peacock with Pineapple Sauce!
Friday, November 5, 2010
Whirlwind!
What a couple of weeks! It has been so full of drama, fun and other types of excitement. It is almost over and I am happy for it. Although, the demented part of me wonders if I will be bored to go back to my regularly scheduled program. Not to say that my weeks aren't normally full and slightly chaotic.
I am part of a Belly Dance troupe and we have a performance tomorrow. This is a good thing as we are trying to make a good impression on the community as well as the public at large. (We hope to hear the jingle of coin, that we are not wearing, hit our baskets soon!) The craziness began when we realized we had to make some sort of troupe costumes when our costumer got a new job and had to jet out of town. Her vision for us still needs to be stitched together and final fitted. While we are excited for her amazing work to be on us for a performance, this Saturday's performance for the Middle Eastern Culture and Dance Association's Fall Festival will not see us dance naked! Let the Crazy Begin!
The fantastic thing with this particular group of women is that we figure out what we need to do and do it. Every single gal has at least one talent to share and most of us have overlapping skills. Very Helpful when the group needs to get a project done FAST.
A ten minute conversation on the Monday after we found out we could be naked for this performance yielded beautiful results. I cannot post the rendering at the time of this post since we will be debuting the costume tomorrow. I will say that this artistic rendering made almost all the gals in the troupe emit an unsolicited 'Wow!'. We are so talented. Decision made, it was now time to get to the business of cutting fabric and sewing together these beautiful creations.
This is where I tell you all that WE as individuals have a tendency to try to do everything on our own. Asking for help is a skill we are all still learning. (I do not pretend to be good at this at all, I know my faults.) A couple of us had to remind our fashion designer/silk expert/costumer/dancer extraordinaire (Zahira) that she was NOT putting these costumes together for us all on her own. Each gal was asked to put a couple of simple pieces together, and I volunteered to help with the more complicated pieces and pieces that needed to be dyed. I still have some peacock coloring under a couple of my nails and on the heel of my hand. It will be gone by tomorrow afternoon. I swear!
This project, as of this post, is not entirely complete as a couple of us need to put the finishing touches on bras or coats. But I am proud of us for pulling together and being as close to done as we are before dinner today! For us gals with super busy schedules and kids to get this together and done in two weeks time is Awesome in my humble opinion. I truly believe we are a gifted group of determined and talented women. To top this off, everyone that pitched in did so without any whining or complaint! We are truly a Phenomenal group! No one can convince me differently. We are also a group of nutters and not one of us would disagree. :)
The next few posts will come from snippets of conversation or comments made during the work of these last couple of weeks. Zahira and I are looking for a cartoonist for a few comic strips of these adventures. As well as other behind the scenes moments. Be Very Afraid.
I am part of a Belly Dance troupe and we have a performance tomorrow. This is a good thing as we are trying to make a good impression on the community as well as the public at large. (We hope to hear the jingle of coin, that we are not wearing, hit our baskets soon!) The craziness began when we realized we had to make some sort of troupe costumes when our costumer got a new job and had to jet out of town. Her vision for us still needs to be stitched together and final fitted. While we are excited for her amazing work to be on us for a performance, this Saturday's performance for the Middle Eastern Culture and Dance Association's Fall Festival will not see us dance naked! Let the Crazy Begin!
The fantastic thing with this particular group of women is that we figure out what we need to do and do it. Every single gal has at least one talent to share and most of us have overlapping skills. Very Helpful when the group needs to get a project done FAST.
A ten minute conversation on the Monday after we found out we could be naked for this performance yielded beautiful results. I cannot post the rendering at the time of this post since we will be debuting the costume tomorrow. I will say that this artistic rendering made almost all the gals in the troupe emit an unsolicited 'Wow!'. We are so talented. Decision made, it was now time to get to the business of cutting fabric and sewing together these beautiful creations.
This is where I tell you all that WE as individuals have a tendency to try to do everything on our own. Asking for help is a skill we are all still learning. (I do not pretend to be good at this at all, I know my faults.) A couple of us had to remind our fashion designer/silk expert/costumer/dancer extraordinaire (Zahira) that she was NOT putting these costumes together for us all on her own. Each gal was asked to put a couple of simple pieces together, and I volunteered to help with the more complicated pieces and pieces that needed to be dyed. I still have some peacock coloring under a couple of my nails and on the heel of my hand. It will be gone by tomorrow afternoon. I swear!
This project, as of this post, is not entirely complete as a couple of us need to put the finishing touches on bras or coats. But I am proud of us for pulling together and being as close to done as we are before dinner today! For us gals with super busy schedules and kids to get this together and done in two weeks time is Awesome in my humble opinion. I truly believe we are a gifted group of determined and talented women. To top this off, everyone that pitched in did so without any whining or complaint! We are truly a Phenomenal group! No one can convince me differently. We are also a group of nutters and not one of us would disagree. :)
The next few posts will come from snippets of conversation or comments made during the work of these last couple of weeks. Zahira and I are looking for a cartoonist for a few comic strips of these adventures. As well as other behind the scenes moments. Be Very Afraid.
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