Writer’s Block: Life is a masquerade
I am, though I’m not yet sure what I’m going to wear. A lot of the costumes I’ve been wearing to cons lately just aren’t especially appropriate for work (though I got away with one of them at my last job, years ago). Last year I wore a Starfleet uniform to work, and it went over well, but I’d hate to repeat the theme.
If a costume has to be made, I plan four or five months in advance – the more lead time the better. If I’m planning to buy, more like a month. As I’ve sucessfully (if sloppily) constructed my first garment on a sewing machine, I have the option of making my own from now on, but it turns out that’s nearly as expensive as a commission or a purchase, these days – who knew!
I do like to surprise folks with my costume choices when I can. What can I say? It’s the thespian in me.
EDIT: Just noticed that Halloween’s on a Saturday this year, so the whole “dressing up for work” thing is moot. 🙂
My first fan convention
RoVaCon (the Roanoke Valley Convention) Seven was held at Northside High School on the other side of town from where I lived. Since I was only thirteen, and had neither a bike or many friends back then, I had to count on my dad for a ride there. (At thirteen, I was convinced that I couldn’t possibly stay upright on a bike for longer than a few minutes. Eventually, I figured out otherwise.)
I had read about SF conventions in books about Star Trek fandom, and this sounded exciting as heck – I wanted to go so badly. The advertising I’d seen said that the event ran for the whole weekend, but for reasons I can’t remember, my dad wouldn’t take me on Friday. He then wouldn’t take me on Saturday, either – I don’t remember whether there was a scheduling conflict, he didn’t feel well, or he was being obstinant; these things don’t matter when one’s an overeager thirteen-year-old fan. Finally, though, he took me to the con… on Sunday… at around 2pm. Yep, I paid a day rate to get into a con that was already shutting down. What a way to start my fannish life, eh?
The only guest I remember was Laura Banks, an actress with a small background part in that year’s Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan. I didn’t get to see her speak, she was already done for the weekend, but I remember her on the con posters – I was thirteen after all. I do remember seeing a fan who’d already obtained or constructed a “monster maroons” uniform.
The total con experience for me was seeing a few costumes in the halls, and wandering through the dealers’ room, in which I only remember Hitchhiker’s Guide LPs, Starfleet Battles miniatures, and exotic gaming dice, none of which my dad was in the mood to purchase for me. Crushingly aware that there was nothing else to see, I told my dad to go ahead and take me home.
Thankfully for the path I’d take in life, RoVaCon Eight would be much better.
30 Con Questions
Bob Snare put this test up on Facebook, and since it didn’t ask me for all my FB profile data first, I decided to go ahead and take the test:
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1. Fan, fen, geek, gamer, otaku, or other (if “other,” what)?
Gamer geek fan.
2. First con attended?
RoVaCon 7 (1982), late Sunday only. Took a while for me to forgive my dad for that one.
3. At what age did you attend your first con?
I’d have been in my late thirteens.
4. Suffer from “post-con depression?”
Not so much. I’m often kinda relieved to turn life back down a few notches.
Reconfiguring the Final Frontier
The AMC Theater at Lynnhaven Mall in Va. Beach has a new IMAX theater, so last night I loaned some of my Starfleet uniform collection to Starr and our friend Becca, and we went to see the new Star Trek movie there. I have to say, I came out of that film extremely pleased. Oh, I have a dozen tiny nitpicks, and the film wasn’t exactly as deep as some of the previous outings in the series, but when the closing credits rolled, I didn’t care about that at all.
The 10:15 showing we attended sold out of the $15 tickets, and we barely got decent seats showing up twenty minutes early. (I’d bought our tickets online the night before.) I only saw one other person in costume, a local TCC Astronomy professor in a TOS Sciences t-shirt; but we hit the mall and a restaurant before the movie, and got plenty of Vulcan salutes, shouted compliments, and picture requests. I can easily remember when wearing the uniform in public meant taking crap from random passersby. Times have changed! We didn’t get home until 1am, and Starr had a 5:30 wakeup call for work, but she insisted that didn’t matter: we had a movie to watch!
Commentary with spoilers behind the cut
Your pain does not concern the Daleks
Well, now. I was awoken by a representative from the US Census confirming this house’s address and habitation. Unfortunately, on one of the top stairs, my feet went out from under me, and I fell halfway down on my butt. Nothing seems seriously damaged, but I am always twitchy about messing up that prosthetic. The warnings from my doctors were dire. So, I’ll be a little later than I’d planned starting the afternoon’s chores.
Speaking of doctors, before I talk about the Trek movie last night, here’s an unrelated costume picture geckoman linked (click for the wearer’s LJ entry):
Now that’s thinking outside the costuming box! Awesome outfits, and dang creative. I have a soft spot for folks who don’t attempt to recreate characters perfectly, but go for something unexpected. Besides, they’re cute!
Starfleet Vice – 1990
The RoVaCon 15 Starfleet Vice video, as threatened promised…
So, I’ll explain a little of what’s going on. I’m in the wheelchair because I’d been in a life-threatening car accident only weeks ago, but I was too stubborn to miss the con. Heather and Valerie are dressed in costumes from the anime Dirty Pair. Mike Allen represented KODRA, a ruthless Klingon-Orion terrorist organistion out to rule the Alpha Quadrant; while Markus… well, he had a lab coat, so we worked that in. And of course, Tom, Mike, and Beth were solely there to support our blatant swipe of Monty Python material.
I don’t remember the name of the dude working the camera… but he really liked the anime costumes.
