Crossplay musings

Over the last couple of years I've started to get into Cosplay. There's a wikipedia article on the subject, but its basically fancy dress where you portray a specific character, and pay attention to the details. As well as the dressing up angle, I also like the challenge of creating a costume. Whether that's trying to find something similar in the shops to adapt, or going the whole hog and buying material and a pattern. Some people just buy the costumes (often from sweatshops in the far east), but that cuts out half of the fun for me.

In the late 90s and early 2000s I'd attended anime and manga conventions, seen the awesome costumes, and even attended talks and workshops, but I'd never got started. Fortunately some IRC silliness and peer pressure convinced me give it a go last May. As a T*person I naturally gravitated to what is know as Crossplay - cosplaying a character of a different gender to yourself - and I've been really surprised at the reception.

Crossplay has a bit of a bad rap because of male crossplayers with hairy legs and five o'clock shadow, and female crossplayers who act out smutty Yaoi (guy on guy snogging or worse) scenes in public. Fortunately I had my tranny skills, and I pick characters who don't expose bits I'm not proud of!

Although a few chav kids have made snide comments, the cosplayers I've met have been very complimentary, both about my novice costuming skills, and my feminine acting (although my self conscious nature always worries they are exaggerating). I think it has helped by picking fandoms where the majority of fans are female, and they are used to crossplaying to meet all the major roles.

Or maybe its novelty? MtF crossplayers are still quite the rarity when you exclude those doing it half-arsedly or for "a larf", so maybe they are preserving an endangerd species ;-)

Either way, my next costume in progress is Miss Finster from Disney's Recess. I'm hoping this will provoke some amused nostalgia!

Burlesque Update

I've been a bit slack with this blog haven't I? :)

Last week was the final lesson with Burlesque Norwich before the dance studio stops night classes for the summer (I have no idea why, but there you go). In the last fifteen week myself and the lovely K have progressed from the Beginners class to the Advanced one!

My choreography still leaves a lot to be desired (not to mention my memory for remembering a routine), but I now know several poses and walks, a number of ways to remove a stocking, slip, gloves and blouse! Some of the lessons and techniques have been challenging (The Charleston and lying back on a chair and "cycling" in the air) but it's been lots of fun. And our tutor and classmates are all really nice people. I hope they all come back in the autumn.

The talk of putting on a small show is still going ahead, and I'm feeling a bit more confident about performing at this Afternoon Tease, but we'll see what things are like later in the year.

In other news:

Next week is Norwich Pride again. Fingers crossed for dry weather!

And I've become addicted to Minecraft. Here's a castle I built for practice:

Seemed a good idea at the time.

OK. Who was the genius that suggested taking burlesque lessons?

Oh yeah, it was me!

A few weeks ago Burlesque Norwich had some taster sessions. I've not managed to make it to one of their perfomance nights yet, but I thought it sounded like fun, and would make a few trannies out there a little jealous ;-)

My GF said she was up for it too, so we toodled off and had a go.

Apart from a couple of bitchy girls who spent the session sniggering and whispering (possibly about me, possibly about some of the older or heavier dancers, I don't know) it was fun. And quite the work out. I wanted to sign up for the beginners course right away, but K wanted to think about it. There was going to be a second course a few weeks later, and with luck the bitchy girls would go on the first course, or not come back.

Last week was our first lesson.

Decked out in my casual drag (hot pants, black leggings, bare feet and a cute t-shirt) I learned some poses, and a three person mini-routine involving a chair, switching places and Hey Big Spender. It was much easier than the lyric-free dance we learned at the taster, and it was fun.

This week was much harder! Apart from a few domestic disasters that meant we were late (and I missed the warmup getting into costume) the step-up to stockings and heels made a big difference.

Probably didn't help having a slightly different physiology to the rest of the class, being unfit, and being a bit of a heifer either! ;-)

Also ripped a stocking learning the peel technique for seductively removing your stockings. But the tutor did give me some ankle exercises to practice for next week. We're using props for that lesson (like feather boas and fans)

I think I might not progress to the intermediate class at this rate (although you never know). But I am looking forward to the ball we're having in June to promote the class and let the more confident dancers have a go with an audience. Not sure whether I'll volunteer to go up at the moment. But we'll see!

More next week!

In Exile

Saturday night was the first Exile club night of 2011. Exile is the replacement for the Chains on Velvet goth night in Norwich at The Waterfront.

I haven't been since it changed it's name a few years back, but K was interested in wearing her new purchases from the new gothy shop out here in the sticks. We've also made friends with the shop's owners G and L and they said they'd meet up with us if we went too. So off we went.

Getting dressed was slightly issue-filled as things decided not to fit properly, or to play badly with other items once on, but we left the house on time and looking good.

Not a great pic (you can't see my kitty ears), but you get the general stripey pink/black Cheshire Cat vibe from it.


We met G and L in the Hotel Nelson bar and got plenty of funny looks from the other patrons (the barstaff seemed fine though. I guess they were either professionals, or were still reeling from the cosplay event there earlier in the day!) Fine by me. You don't wear a PVC mini-dress and hair extensions to blend in! I just smiled back at the people who stared. After that we popped to a pub, and then on to the main event.

It hasn't changed much. They even had the same banners and wall hangings.

The event is held in the upstairs room of The Waterfront, with a dancefloor, stage, and bar. It was quite empty at the start, and the DJ wasn't doing much to fill the floor. To be honest the music wasn't that great all night. Apart from some Rammstein, and some dancier numbers, it was generic EBM, and slowish gothy stuff I didn't recognise. Shame really. I got in some dancing, but mostly chatted to people, and wandered the other rooms of the venue. There was an alternative-indie night downstairs, but after staying for a couple of songs K and I were unimpressed and went back up.

I didn't feel like I was passing for female (and there were lots of teen girls about), so I used the gents when needed. Which led to amusement later as a bunch of drunk lads waiting for their girls to come out yelled, "THAT'S THE BLOKES LOO!" as I went in. I wasn't feeling up to witty banter, so I just yelled back, " I HAVE A PENIS!" which caused the guy leaving the room to look me up and down and ask, "Really?"

Once inside (and waiting for the cubicle) I chatted with two lads about knighthoods and titles (as you do ;)) and was pleased when they commented on my outfit. The chattier of the pair said that he was from London, so my outfit was pretty normal for a goth night, but that he was impressed I had the balls to wear it in a backwater like this. I bumped into him later, and he said that he was still impressed :D

The general style was interesting to see. We had one or two girls in PVC and corsets, a few girls in leopardprint/50's style, a Ramona Flowers lookalike, couple of guys in fishnet and bondage pants, and quite a lot of black jeans and t-shirts. There also was a guy in a hooded cape, but he looked a little selfconscious. I think I'm gonna stick with the cyberstyle for future events, as for small town nights I have to dress-down and stick to blokey stuff.

Much later in the evening I saw a fellow clubber I hadn't met in years. It took a while to recognise me, but she said she was pleased I'd dropped the metal-headlook, and embraced cybergoth. We than had a chat and caught up. I wonder if she'll respond to the message I sent this morning on Facebook?

As the event is now every few months, rather than monthly, we'll probably make the effort next time as well, as overall it was fun, despite the so-so music

Echo Bazaar: The strange tale of Fallen London

I've recently been hooked by a browser game called Echo Bazaar. Its a clever little thing with a rather wonderful atmosphere and turn of phrase.

Victorian London was stolen (or maybe it was sold, it's not entirely clear) and is now located several miles under the earth. Some things haven't changed - there are urchins, and criminals, and a crazed killer on the loose (the mysterious Face Tailor). But there are some things about that really shouldn't be - Hell has an embassy here, and devils go about their business like any other person; death isn't permanent for the cunning or ruthless; nightmares are very real; and a drop of the mysterious Prisoner's Honey will transport you somewhere else....

Practically, it is a mostly text game (although items and stories have some wonderfully evocative illustrations) where you have ten actions to spend on mini stories, with these actions refreshing at a regular rate. You can also refresh once a day by Twittering an advert for the game.

Stories range from one-off encounters from your opportunities deck - contact from a maiden aunt, or an invitation to see The Duchess - to complex storylets with multiple choices and opportunities - the Mushroom Jumping Races, clearing your house of a vermin infestation, or seducing an impoverished artist.

Everything you do can affect your four stats - Dangerous, Watchful, Persuasive and Shadowy - or give you "status ailments" like Nightmares, Scandal, Wounds or Suspicion. Some key decisions can give you a reputation for Hedonism, Ruthlessness or even Daring. And you can build up a network of connections from the urchins and criminals all the way up to the devils and high society. You might even become a player in the Great Game.

So what have I been up to in the game?
I very foolishly flirted with devils, and met up with them at the circus for a chat.
I brought a message back for a greiving widow when I escaped death.
I invited my aunt down to the city to live the life she's always dreamed of.
I've played with the hearts of an artist and his model.
I've protected urchins from thugs.
I've made progress on discovering the secrets of the Face Tailor
I've made it my life's ambition to hunt and kill the mysterious creature The Vake.
And I've been bitten by The Eater of Chains while rescuing a family.

Of all the rest that last one worries me the most. My girlfriend thinks I'm mad for being on first name terms with minions of hell, but that festering bite mark has all sorts of dangerous and exciting story potential. I wonder where it will lead?

Join in the Echo Bazaar here

Or read the blog of the designers for all sorts of interesting gossip

Wierd!

In the last week or so, I've had three people favourite a very ropey Flickr pic of me dressed up at a friends hen night.

Its not a great pic, and there's no nudity, or underwear in shot. And as far as I know I've not been on Badlydressed.com. So what on earth caused this spontaneous favouriting?

Bizarre!

Everyone loves a parade!

Bit of a belated post this one, but I've not really been in a writing mood.

Last weekend was Norwich's second ever Pride celebration. I managed to go to last year's, but circumstances meant I wasn't able to stay for the parade(I don't like the word "march" in this context). So this year I cleared my diary, and got my GF to do the same. It was still all a bit last minute, not helped by a family holiday and a lost phone, but a message from Lara made it all viable again.

I'd got my outfit packed the night before, and a cooler bag was on standby for when we were ready to go. So all we had to do was wake up, get dressed (civvies for me, fabulous 20s ensemble for my girlfriend), and grab everything we needed.

It was drizzling when we got to Norwich and parked up, but we were in good spirits as we walked to the Forum.

The Forum is Norwich's "new" library and meeting place (aptly named then!) It's a big glass fronted building with an large atrium at the front, the library itself, a radio station, cafe, meeting rooms, and display rooms. Outside is a large roundish area surrounded by shallow steps on two sides, a church on one side, and a road on the last.

This year there was the Big Rainbow Bus from Pink Punters, and a stage by the roadside, and the atrium was filled with stalls from all sorts of organisations and businesses. There were advocacy groups, trade unions, a gay-friendly adoption agency, various LGBT groups from local employers, a couple of craft stalls, and even the local police who were conducting a survey on safety, hate crimes, and whether people knew who to turn to if they had problems. They had a TARDIS with holes cut in, and each side had two questions, and holes for yes/no/don't know that you popped a pingpong ball in to register your feelings. It was pretty cool.

My girlfriend was drawn to the tombola, and we came away with a couple of CDs and a voucher for Innania's Festival (a local pagan/hippy/crystals type shop). I also bought a rather lovely hairband with a black lace, and a pink satin, bow attached. The two ladies running the stall were friendly and chatty, and I showed them the hairfalls I was going to wear later in the day. They were very taken by the neon pink!

Outside they were getting ready for a linedancing display/workshop, so we wandered off to the park where the picnic was going to be. Plenty of stewards setting up for the march, but no picnickers. So it seemed like a good time to get ready. A local community theatre had set aside a dressing area for Pride, and it was this that swung my atendance from maybe to yes! The reaction of the young lady on the reception desk to the before and after put me in a very positive mood.

This was the ensemble:



When I was done we wandered back to the park to start on our picnic. We met Lara there looking a little demure, and chatted with Noam of the Warhol Factory Rejects. The sun was getting out, and we ate our food listening to the Norwich Samba Band, Vince Laws and some other poets I didn't catch the name of, and we also had a chat with a nice old couple who we shared a bench with.

While we had been eating Lara had gone off to get changed into this rather spiffy steampunk/Victoriana outfit:



There was still an hour to go until the march, so we had the bright idea to dump the picnic and anything else we didn't need to lug around, back at the car. This was either a moment of madness or genius, because when we re-emerged rfom the car park, the heavens had opened!

We stood under shelter with lots of other people dressed for summer, until we got bored, and then made a break for it. Weaving our way through Norwich we went via Jarrold's MAC makeup counter, the covered market, and finally took a break at the Forum again. Where we chatted to the ladies on the craft stall again, met up with old friends Lynn and Diane, and waited for a break in the weather.

When it didn't lok like any was going to come, we gave up and started walking anyway. Sadly by this point my fluffy boots were rather waterlogged around the bottom, and getting a bit muddy. But we kept calm and carried on ;-)

Back at the park, there was already a large crowd gathered, and the Lord Mayor and Town Crier gave a speech from the bandstand that was mostly lost in the wind. Fortunately the organisers and stewards had better projection and advised everyone that there would be protesters along the route. We were asked not to boo or jeer, and instead to ignore them, and cheer, smile and generally have a good time as we passed. Genius!

And then, as the samba band started up, and the whistles started to blow, the sun came out and the rain stopped!

The parade itself was great. It wasn't too fast, and several times we halted for reasons we never found out. There was all sorts of people marching with us. There were unions and organiastions with banners (even including the local Quakers and Unitarian church!); parents with children (who had been to the facpainting sessions before the parade); the leather brigade (including a man in rubber and a gasmask); teens, old people; drag queens; a giant pair of lips and a soundsystem on a trolley from the Warhol Factory Rejects; dogwalkers with dogs in rainbow doggie coats; lots and lots of rainbow flags; and even Norfolk's new Cheif Constable, showing his comittment to the LGBT community. There's a video here if you want to see the start of the march.

The police had closed off the streets, so we marched along the centre of the roads and waved and smiled at all the people standing on the pavements (and some people on balconies and looking out of windows). I had to laugh as we passed Chapelfield Mall. A girl watching the parade scoffed and said to her friend "This can't be legal!" As if a spontaneous parade could happen without months of planing and co-ordination with the council and the police!

The protesters were outside Primark and behind stewards and police silently holding up placards with biblical quotes on. Which amused me because of the Quakers and Unitarians marching with us. Some people with us also had on t-shirts that read "Jesus loves everyone" on the front and "even smug hypocritical bigots" on the back. The protesters were ignored, and everyone cheered, laughed and blew whistles as we passed.

The parade finally arrived at the Forum, where we gathered for some speeches from the organisers, and the Cheif Constable. We were also taught the gesture for "Pride" by the people providing British Sign Language translations of the speeches.

But we were tired out after this, and decided to call it a day. We found somewhere to eat (a very nice cornish pastie place by the market) and wandered off to the carpark via a few shops.

Getting changed back to civvies in a multistory carpark is a story I'm going to gloss over! But overall the day was great. I'm a sucker for compliments, and even the looks of confusion from people made me smile. The only negative comment I got all day was a snigger from a chav. Otherwise, people were wonderful.

In the march people were walking at diferent speeds, so you tended to be walking with different people at different times. And everyone we walked with was friendly, some were even chatty.

I'm really looking forward to next year's parade.

MCM London Expo May 2010 review

Friday was an absolute nightmare. Some idiot decided to bring in a steam train to my local station, and cordon off an area for the spotters. What they didn't take into account was by choosing platform 2, they were blocking off access to platform 1 (the regular train to London). And more importantly they hadn't accounted for lateness or bothered to keep staff and passengers informed about what was going on.

My poor girlfriend was trying to transport my birthday cake through the crowds of oblivious morons, and was getting more and more stressed by the second, but once we were lost in the scrum there was nothing that could be done. She couldn't even pass lugagge to me, put it down, or even find space to stop and catch her breath.

When we finally got on the train with minutes to spare she was nursing bruised and aching arms and we were both out of breath and stressed.

Fortunately we were in better spirits when we arrived in London, although miles of stairs and escalators at Bank to get to the DLR link didn't help matters.

When we got to our hotel we were releived to dump everything and just lay down for a bit and unwind.

When we were better we had a quick exploration of the area (plenty of shops and fast food choices), and then retired to the hotel pub for an enormous burger and fries. So huge I couldn't even finish mine!

Before settling down for the night, we checked over the early entry info, and set our alarms...

Woke up before the alarm. I don't sleep well in unusual beds, and I was still stressed from the day before, and excited about the Expo.

We'd decided to leave our cosplaying until later in the day, and hit the shopping stalls ASAP. Unfortunately I had miscalculated.

Arriving in the main hallway of Excel half an hour before early entry started (2.5 hours before regular entry is allowed) we found a gigantic queue. After walking half the length of the building we found a friend has saved us a space. Fortunately we were not lynched for queue jumping.

After what seemd like hours, but was probably 30 mins we got to the gates and saw another vast queue. Fortunately our advance tickets allowed us to bypass it, but after we exhanged them for wristbands and got our goodybags, we had to queue again in the cattle-pens to enter the main hall.

We eventually entered the main hall at 9:40, forty minutes after opening (and over an hour since we started queuing), and boy was it busy already. Fortunately with a bit of patience, and some deft footwork, you could get to any of the stalls.

The majority of the stalls at the front of the hall were selling plush toys, merchandise, and comics. But once you started digging there were DVDs, hats, figures, games, replica and prop weapons, and even CDs.

Past the sales stalls there was a large section for the Yugioh competitions; some promo areas for forthcoming films, video games and TV programmes; a wrestling ring (not sure why); an area for artists to promote their comics; and a couple of stage areas for events.

I wasn't really in the buying mood, but did get to chat to a really nice lady who drew Hetalia postcards and posters, and the creator of Fetishman. My girlfriend pointed out the similarity in our personalities after I'd chatted to him for a while, and she'd bought me a Tea-Master General pack (comic, poster,embroidered patch, and ID card).

My girlfriend and her friend tried to buy some yaoi comics, but discovered they didn't bring any ID to the expo. While tey were rummaging and grumbling, I got chatting to an Arcanine cosplayer, and made a friend by sharing my fan. Fursuiters get HOT in those things!

The day was not lst however, as a second pass of the stalls turned up a Hetalia Yaoi compilation called Under The Same Sky which proved very popular among the fans that day!

After we'd had our fill of the hall, we dropped off our friend with some cosplayers and went to change. My girlfriend was crossplaying as the cute Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus, and I was also crossplaying as Belarus.

I actually spent most of the weekend with the Hetalia cosplayers. They were a fun bunch and really friendly. Possibly a bit too friendy if you've seen some of my pictures on Facebook ;-)

I was celebrating my birthday that weekend so while when my GF took her friend to get chaged into her second outfit, she also picked up my birthday cake from our room.

It was a large sponge frosted with butter-icing, coloured to look like the Belarsian flag! It was awesome. We joined some other Hetali cosplayers who were picnicing, but sadly no-one had a knife. Fortunately we got chatting to an Eldar Dire Avenger cosplayer who offered to cut the cake with his sword. It was a bit messy, but we all got cake. And he was amused by being able to eat cake from a sword :)

The wind was picking up now, and a few spots of rain were felt, so we retreated undercover. But not before doing the Carameldansen

I also got to meet breifly with Helena Love, who I've corresponded with online, but never actually met. She also took the best photo of me that weekend (much better than the so-called pro by the white shutters!) Sadly she had other commitment, as did I, but it was nice to finally speak in person.

The weather was variable for quite a while, but it was nice to chat with everyone. We took a break at lunch time to visit the local shops (buying food in a kebabshop is hlarious while crossplaying!)

When the rain got too heavy, we retreated back inside, for a bit more shopping, and eventually retired to the hotel bar for fried calamari and spicy potato wedges.But not afte a long walk escorting my GF's friend back to her hotel.

There was an organised party at the Ibis, but as it was ticket only, and we were very tired, we didn't really care.

Even with the air-con on it was a stuffy night and I didn't really sleep well. As I lay half away I debated whether to cosplay again or not on the Sunday.

Waking up with the sun on Sunday morning I decided to wear my costume again. This time we had to wait for my GF's mate to arrive as she was storing her stuff in our room (and didn't want to walk a couple of miles from her hotel in a skimpy costume!)

This time we arrived one hour early, and outside the hall there were no queues, and inside things moved smoothly to the holding area where we ended up sitting for most of the hour. Although this was punctuated by cries of "CARD GAMES ON MOTORCYCLES!" and other silliness.

People musy have realised how much better the queues were on Sunday because spirits were high, and as we filed out of the final row of the cattle run, people were high-fiving the next row as they passed.

Sunday was a lot more laid back. We had a look around the sales hall again, and Geof, the creator of Fetishman, wished me a happy birthday and complimented me on my entourage (My girlfriend was clearing a path before us, and her friend was following behind with a flag :) ).

After that we spent most of the day out in the sun photographing cosplayers and chilling out. As the sun went down we escorted my GFs friend to the station, then we went back to the hotel bar for a very yummy cod and chips.

I did some packing, and we went to sleep. I still didn't sleep well.

Which didn't help on Monday morning. The DLR was out of service and the replacement bus was packed. Changing at Tower Gateway means leaving the station, crossing a busy road, and enetering via another entrance. Kings Cross Station is horrible and I never want to use it again. The Cambridge Express didn't open its doors until one minute before departure time. And for some reason the hourly trains from Norwich to the sticks pause for mid-afternoon.

I arrived home very frazzled and short tempered. :(

Overall (apart from the travel nightmares) it was a really good weekend. Even the bad weather didn't stop us having fun, and I've learned a few lessons for next time. I'm not sure if I prefer the expo style to the more intimite hotel-cons, but I'm definitely going again in October.

I suppose I'd better start work on that costume then...

How the Labour Party Lost My Vote

I've always been a bit of an old lefty. I figure the world is a better place to live in when the the minimum standard of living is a bit higher than a cardboard box and a blind eye turned. So imagine my disgust when I saw the latest bit of direct marketing by the Labour Party.

"Lib Dem Leader: Thatcher was right!" declares the headline. Although it doesn't actually stoop to telling us why he thought that, or what about. Don't you love a lack of context? But wait! They've helpfully expanded this with an alleged newpaper headline - "My admiriation for Thatcher; by Clegg". Even more lack of context. It could have been admiration for her hair, or standing up to critics, or even suceeding in a mans world.

"But which newspaper is this from?" you ask, so you can have an informed opinion. Why, the Daily Mail of course. *head-desk*

If you trust this gutter rag to report fairly, and accurately, then I have a bridge you might like to buy.

The soon-to-be-recyling then goes on to say how the Lib Dems are more in line with the old Tories, than the new Conservative party is. I suppose that's because the new Conservatives are too busy trying to emulate the New Labour party policy of "Say what will get most votes from Middle England" rather than having some firm ideals or values?

After I'd torn the leaflet up I dicovered a wonderful nugget of scare-mongery on the back - "Only Labour can beat the Tories," it claims. "A vote for the Lib Dems or any other party wll let the Tories win!" If a party is reduced to advocating tactical voting, I think they've already lost.

I still can't forgive the Conservatives for snatching school milk, the miners strikes, and the Poll Tax, but if the opposition has sunk to this level (remember when the Consevatives created the New Labour - New Danger posters?) then we have nothing left to lose.

Personally I will be voting for the party I want to win*, not the one I hate less.

*=Certainly not the Conservatives or one of those single policy parties like UKIP or the BNP either!

*Blows the dust away*

Time for an update I think.

The blog hasn't seen much action recently because I haven't done anything I'd regard as noteworthy. The poor weather, the general malaise, and apathy have meant I haven't been out much. And even when I have the events have been such that if you weren't there, there is little interest in hearing about it.

Sadly I'm not sure when this will change. Hopefully when we see the sun again!

One thing that has been going well is the relationship front. K and I are getting on well. We went to see Sherlock Holmes and then have a meal for Valentines day (we both enoyed the film, and the food was good too), went to a LGBT month talk about censorship and homosexuality in Sailor Moon, and have made more than a few shopping trips together since we hooked up in November.

I think it helps that we have some shared interests (gaming and anime) and some interests not shared by the other (she loves cooking TV shows and I don't. I love to read novels, ad she doesn't). It also helps that she met Pandora before we started dating.

She takes great joy in pointing out things "Pandora would like" when shopping. Although I think she sees me as tartier than I actually am! We also enjoy laughing the "hooker shoes" that seem to be in every shoe shop right now (leopard print 5" heels, patent pink stillettoes, etc)

I've even met the parents but she hasn't met my family yet. I'm still referred to as a "friend", but I think her parents are smart enough to realise the situation. I suspect they are letting her tell them in her own time :)

We shall see where things go from here.

Obligatory end of year post

Haven't posted much this year. Mainly because I haven't really had anything to say. I've certainly mellowed since changing jobs two years ago, and I don't remember the last time I needed a good rant. Annoyances are now little things that aren't worth the bother to post - hooray.

As for the good stuff, that's mostly personal and not really something I want to share with the world.

So what has happened this year?

I started off the year in drag, in a posh frock and tiara at The Catherine Wheel's NYE party. It was "Oscars" themed, and I don't own a tux ;-)

In summer I dated a scientist, and although we had a lot in common, and had some fun times, the spark wasn't really there. We're still on each other's Facebook friends list, but we don't really have much to talk about these days.

Later in the summer, I was all brave and attended Norwich's first Pride event. Circumstances conspired to stop me staying until the parade, but I was there for the picnic in Chapelfield Gardens, and went to the Forum where there were stalls and info booths.

In the autumn I tried my hand at making jewellery, and that's going pretty well. I've sold a couple of pieces, and made some friends happy with gifts. And I have a few pieces kept back for my own use too

For Halloween I refined my goth look, and made my first non-jewellery accessories (with quite a bit of help from Mum!) - furry rave boot-covers.

And more recently I've started to date a lovely young lady. No more details on that though - everytime I've blogged about a new relationship, it's fallen apart soon after :(

Tonight is NYE all over again, and once again I will be celebrating with friends as Pan. But this year I'll let my friends do the outshining. I've got some nice faux-leather jeans, and a belted top I've been itching to wear. Understated isn't a look I've played with before (and it's not a LGBT venue) so we'll see how it goes!

Halloween: After action report

Halloween was fun, but as ever, there's always a little bit of drama you can't avoid.

Arriving to pick up my friend on the way, I find she has been locked out of home. Her parents had gone out, she hadn't aken her keys, and they were late back. We wait for half an hour or so, before giving up, and heading to the party. I figure we can come back later to pick up her costume befre we all get dressed and head to the pub. Fortunately the reason she was out in the first place was to buy party food. So at least we had that.

Arriving at the hosts, we find the wind-down of the children's party earlier. Her two are running about excitedly, and there's a very smal child being looked after by a relative. This was mostly fun. We just sat in the other room, chatted to the host and some other friends, scoffed doritos, and chilled out while the kids tired themselves out and watched Jungle Junction (What a wierd show that is!)

My friend tries to cal her parents several times, but they aren't answering. Also we get a phone cal from the babysitters who are on the way, but are running late!

After while we decide it's time to start getting ready. Those that can start getting dressed, we pool our resources and the host's wardrobe to scrounge up a costume for my friend, and we wait for the late-comer to arrive.

This is my costume. The corset didn't look right, so I'm glad I packed the fishnet t-shirt!


Eventually we have everyone present and correct, the kids are with the sitters, and we are all ready to go. So we take the walk to the pub, and wave at the revellers, and parent taking kids home from trick-or-treating.

The band we went to see - Monkey Island - were pretty cool, and we met some fun folks there. I think I made the night of a shy girl when I asked if her outfit was a costume or just incredibly stylish. Turns out it wasn't a costume, and she seemed quite pleased (but a little embrarrased) to be complimented :)

Sadly the pub also had the ex of one of our party, so there was tension and drama. And then more tension and drama later when a different couple that was with us had a bit of a row because one of them was the ex of another member of our happy little bunch. Can't people just put things aside and have fun one night of the year? *sigh*

The evening wasn't a complte loss though, and we moved on to another pub, via the host's to change shoes (we we're all regretting wearing heels) and drop off those too tired to continue) We saw another band there - The Divide - who were cool, but a bit heavy for my mood on the night.

We also chatted to a lonely looking Alice Cooper look-a-like. Which was a mistake, as the guy was clearly strung out on an illegal substance. Fortunately we left before he became too twitchy.

We stayed for the last song, then went back to the hosts via the kebab shop. And then came removing the costumes, and sleep (and me finding out I am too tall to sleep comfortably on a sofa!)

In the morning, we finaly found out my friends parents had decided not to come back until much later that evening. They though she had her keys!

More pictures of the night are on my Facebook profile, but they are friends only. Sorry!

"And Now I'm Back; From Outer Space!"

I haven't blogged for absolutely ages, because nothing of interest or importance has been going on in my life. But in just seven days time it's Halloween! The tranny's favourite holiday!

Well-over a year ago I had a play at cybergoth. It was a bit half arsed, but the acrylic yarn hair-falls worked out pretty well. (photo here). I then revisited the look again for my birthday drinkies that year (photo here) , swapping out the blue yarn for some red, adding a black PVC longcoat and some bright red tights and eye-shadow. It was much more successful.

This year for Halloween I'm stepping up the look with more accessories. I've aqcuired some bright pink yarn, and re-threaded the hair-falls; I found some day-glo pink eye-shadow in Beaujangles; a friend gave me some old black and pink stripy arm-warmers, and chipped in with the girls of my gaming group to snag me a black and pink corset from the Ann Summers sale; and most important of all, I've bought some pink faux fur!

Why have I bought fur you may well ask? Good question. The answer is because all the goth/club/rave shops in the city sell furry boot covers but they are all teeny-tiny and far too expensive. Fortunately Sew Mee had a tutorial on their site (which is currently missing, presumed lost. Grrr) and I picked up some almost eye-meltingly bright pink fur during the week. Luckily I also have a Mum who is a dab hand with a sewing machine, and is looking for things to keep her busy. So today we did lots of measuring, tacking, cutting and sewing. I still need some black ribbon to tie them off at the knee, but they are mostly finished.

I can't wait to see how the yokels will react when we go out on the night! Although I am a little concerned I may have gone a bit overboard for a fancy dress party... Nah, stuff it, I haven't had a chance to be fabulous in yonks!

*Post title is from Gloria Gaynor's "I Will Survive" and is a homage to Lynn's blog YATGB

Out of the mouths of babes...

One of my best mates has a two year old daughter who is very perceptive. She's never met Pandora, and we don't discuss her (except in third person) around said daughter. However my friend was on Messenger chatting with me the other day, and her daughter asked who she was chatting with.

"Uncle Bob*," said my friend. Whereupon her daughter gave her a look to say "I love you mummy but you are very dim" and told her in no uncertain terms that she mean Auntie Bob*. Naturally she relayed this to me, and we fell about laughing for quite some time.

*=Not my actual name but you get the idea:)

Pride

So as you will have seen from the local press, Norwich finally had its first Pride event. And despite much faff, I got to attend properly.

For the months before I'd had a posse of interested folks. But as the time drew nearer things kept cropping up. Conflicting events (who organises two Pride marches on the same day? ;) ), lack of babysitters, no transport, and assorted other things meant that I very nearly gave the whole thing up as a bad job. And even until the day proper I was resigned to going in drab.

Fortunately the day itself was bright and sunny, and this both cheered me up, and boosted my confidence. After a quick call to make sure my best mate was cool with me attending en femme, I got ready. "Practical" was my goal, so denim shorts and this awesome white T-shirt from Yours were teamed with opaque tights and trainers. I even took my only large practical handbag stocked with bottled water and sunblock. With a smile on my face, and head held high I headed to my car, and then to the city.

Arriving at my mate's I was informed that she was looking after her daughter that day. And after much hoo-haa she finally turned up. Her first reaction was a polite nod and then getting on with her own stuff. Then came the open mouth and pointing. Then the "You're wearing girls clothes." This very quickly gave way to amused compliments, and lots of questions on where I got my bag, and my top, and what I used for breasts; and finally just dealing with it and chatting away as normal. Bless her ;)

The events were pretty cool. There were all sorts of stall inside The Forum with info and things to buy. Nice to see the local constabulary and unions getting involved. It was also amusing to see the emo kids that usually crowd the steps had to move a little to the left because of all the LGBT people enjoying the entertainment, and just relaxing.

We had a quick shopping and food break midday, where I managed to out myself to an old friend, and got very polite and friendly service in Burger King. We also spotted that the castle in the centre of the city was flying the rainbow flag in honour of pride.

And then it was time for the picnic. We met up with some of my mate's friends (and family) in the park, and just relaxed watching the more adventurous people's costumes. Sadly outside factors meant we couldn't stay for the march itself, but we saw everyone forming up ready. And surprisingly the Lord Mayor herself who had agreed to lead the parade to show the City supported the march.

Overall it was a fun day, helped by the good weather in a week when it had been very changeable. And for those with next year's diary already, the next Pride event will be on Saturday 31st July 2010.

Afterthought: As I arrived home I saw my new neighbour. As he was busy with something, I blanked him. I don't think he recognised me, but its hard to tell. He hasn't mentioned it anyway.

"Feed me Seymour"

So the little Venus Fly Traps are progressing slowly but surely. You can now make out the tiny, soon to be hungry, mouths. But even a midge would be too much for them at the moment!

They're still in their terrarium and original pot. They are still too tiny to transplant.

"But you cannot make her think"

The Venus Flytrap now has three, or possibly four buds. It's still in its protective terrarium, because the buds are still tiny, but I have managed to photograph them.

Behold:




If you want a larger, more detailed picture, the Flickr version is here

Today's title courtsey of Dorothy Parker. When challenged to make an epigram on the subject of "horticulture", she replied, "You can lead a whore to culture, but you cannot make her think!"

Green fingers

Two weeks ago I planted a packet of seeds for a Venus Fly Trap. They were tiny little black things smaller than the grains of fine sand they were packed with. I didn't hold out much hope though. When my brother tried to grow one, the whole packet of seeds failed to sprout.

So the pot has been sitting on my kitchen windowsill in a plastic bag, in a tray of water for a fortnight. And I've just had a look at the compost through the bag. Looks like there is some green fuzz and a single green bud! It's tiny (about a millimetre) but it's poking up above the soil. In another two to four weeks it should be ready to come out of the bag. Maybe even to re-pot, who knows.

I'm actually quite excited about it.

There will be pictures once it's out of the bag.

I can haz qualifications?

Apologies for the lolspeak, but I now have confirmation that I passed my NCFE 2* in Equality and Diversity. An actual, physical, certificate is ETA unknown, but I am now qualified to stroke my chin and declare, "I think this may be discriminatory!" :)

I've also started the coursework on my NCFE 3 (Managing Diversity). This comes with the cheering news that our E+D head honcho is pushing for us to get some (financial) recognition for our extra duties. Yay for us!

I think I'll pass on throwing my weight around on TG forums claiming to know everything about discrimination/human rights though. I've learned enough to know its a very tricky subject, and that it's always a good idea to seek further guidance before stating something as fact!

*=equivalent to a GCSE or NVQ2

Meh

Still not feeling chatty. But this made me laugh out loud:



It's even funnier if you imagine David Mitchell reading the caption.