Catching the wave!

Holy Moly!

The last couple of weeks have been filled with one wave of projects after another. And catching each wave at the right time as well as staying on it has been a great challenge. I have learned a lot. About me, about my colleagues and even about my husband. We are definitely moving upward and riding those waves a lot better with every set.

Being part of a team where I get to play with content a bit brings me a little bit of joy. Figuring out how to work through challenges in mindsets and organizing how we communicate on paper or digitally makes me happy as it grows my skills. I am truly grateful for having a place where I have support as I learn different styles of communication.

With that being said, I am missing having words to fuss with. Editing and Formatting for publishing make me happy. So now I need to find at least one more author to keep me busy at home. I am feeling a yearning to write a summary, to play with vocabulary, and to help make a story engaging.

I am ready to catch these waves!

So much STEAM!

... and dust and cowboy hats too!

The big show that our troupe worked so hard on premiered at the Wild Wild West Steampunk Convention.

Well to be honest in its beginning it was to be a show specifically for this Con, but it grew to be so much more. But this is what happens with you get a writer like Erin Lausten involved. In short this show is now the beginning of so many more with Short Stories to match!

Walking around on the first day we fell in love with all the creative costuming! Watching different acts and listening to some awesome bands, we drooled with excitement at the possibilities that lay before us. In finding locations for pictures we were awed to be standing in the same places that so many Westerns were filmed. (We giggled when someone behind us noted that one section looked like Tatooine.) In short we were overwhelmed with the ideas swirling around us and we needed to FOCUS!

The Slumber Party Returned

The first night found the three of us that had bunked together at Estrella War bunking together again! Let the giggling ensue...
Oh you bet we were giggling when we were trying to fall asleep. We were so tired from the preparation, packing, traveling and doing some last minute costuming that we were a bit Punchy. We were outright laughing when we thought of Estrella and Ms. DT!

The Giddyness continued

The next day because we stayed up late and got up early. (Early enough that three females could get a shower, get mostly ready for the day and get to breakfast by 9am. Amazing right?) That as we were finishing the last minute grommeting in the hotel room we couldn't help but giggle. AND when we were walking around the the Convention we were not as shy as we normally are when handing out promotional materials. I think we scared a couple of folks at Old Tucson Studios.


Of course the giddyness disappeared when OTS and the directors of WWWCon got their wires crossed with our performance times. We did take it in stride and got the consolation prize of attending The League of S.T.E.A.M. dinner theater. What a hoot! Especially after attempting to eat a 2 foot pizza. (I wish someone had gotten a picture.)

Not a total bust for the first day of our first Steampunk Convention.

There was, of course, two more days left!

Estrella War - The Storm

Estrella War was full of fun activities and everyone had a lot of things planned for each day we were there.
Unfortunately for those of us NOT on the battlefield, Saturday proved to be the day that flexibility was challenged.

Literally and Figuratively...

The winds blew! Swirling and Gusting they blew! We witnessed flying canopies, twisting aluminum and frantic members of the Populace running to secure their temporary homes. Stakes were shared, bodyweight used to anchor anything larger than a chair and children were corralled yet left to their own devices.

In short it was Mayhem! Loud and Scary!

I was not feeling well so once the children got a bit too much for my growing headache, I moved into the tent I was sharing with my troupemates.  Those troupemates came inside as well. We were protected from the high winds and began chatting. Noticing that while this medieval style tent rocked a bit, the noise of the wind was less and we were unaware of the further Chaos that was occurring outside. We felt safe and cozy. All was right in our world.

We began a conversation that started with snarkiness, had giggles mixed in (surprising I know), moved on to emotional and ended with a Secret Society. 

Sorry I can't tell you about it.... Yet. (We also have our own personal animal mascots.. shhhh!)

All in all we three grew a little closer and had a great time together. We finished the beer and let Sir Templeton have the empties. We were even kind enough to share snacks with him. He became too overwhelmed and needed to be put back in his basket.

Then T went outside to bring back more beer and witnessed the Destruction.

The modern nylon tents in front of and beside us had been ripped and ruined. Rain was now on its way so the mad dash to get belongings into vehicles was hot and heavy. We were astonished that we heard nothing of the Pandemonium and felt guilty for feeling so content in our "home".

Of course we offered to help. I was turned down as I was honestly not feeling well. The other two gals went out to get lunch into the folks that were working so hard and frantically. Sandwiches were made and handed out. Children were encouraged to stay in the "kitchen" and out of the way. Although the way they chose to entertain themselves with the foodstuffs was totally inappropriate. This drove my friends back into our tent. They helped everyone with sustenance, time to move away from the temptation to strangle young'uns. The rain had arrived and so had more beer. It was time to snuggle under blankets, drink more beer and wait out the Craziness.

We were impressed with the way that most folks dropped everything and helped their neighbors. We were impressed that the Nobility made sure to come around and check on the members of the Populace. We were not impressed with those that just bailed and didn't particpate in the magic that is the Current Middle Ages. That's ok. We learned a lot and saw great things. We also have more evil plans in the making.

Flexibility and a Sense of Humor!

The "survivors" showed these strengths and got the party to celebrate them.

Stardust!