Photoshoot! (Plus Otherworld updates.)
-As expected, I have to overhaul my Donkeyskin/Celtic fusion script to get it suitable for this show. However, seeing as I was teetering on making the music folk/blues due to their Irish roots anyway, I decided to just fine-tune that idea for the songs. I'm also brainstorming at least two ways to connect it with other people's ideas.
-I have gotten attached to the idea of guerrilla gardening. I noticed a vending machine filled with seed-bombs in the organic grocery, and I looked them up. It led me to quite a few articles detailing that seed-bombs (or seed-balls) are really handy for political/social statements, because you can just throw them somewhere and a few weeks later, There Are Suddenly Plants. People frequently make seed-bombs with regional/native seed species, and I just like that part because not only does it beautify an empty lot, it would be with native plants that are increasingly rarer than standard garden plants.
So I bought a seed-bomb, put it in a window box a couple of days ago, and poured a bit of water on it each morning. Today it has a sprout!
According to the vending machine, the California wildflowers are White Yarrow, Bluehead Gilia, Innocence, Tidy Tips, Mountain Brome (native grass), Lupine, California Poppy, Baby Blue Eyes, Five-Spot, and Desert Bluebell.
Bitches are NOT kidding about their "throw-and-grow" slogan. So I bought a couple more seed-bombs and I'm looking for unused/ugly lots or places that need more color. Especially since at least half of the species mentioned are ridiculously pretty. Desert Bluebell and Bluehead Gilia are so blue it hurts, Tidy Tips are FJDKSALJKLA YELLOW, and Five Spot looks like someone carefully painted each petal and then put it in a bell-jar until the paint dried. I will have some variation of THIS in my window soon!
-----
So I spent most of Wednesday getting ready for my shoot; it was pretty much a normal shower in the morning, but a lot of work went to making sure my Dutch braids stayed tight for the best boho/fairytale waves. (And aside from re-braiding them every hour, I had to make sure I didn't touch them.) Then I hosed off my car, took the dog for a walk, and semi-jokingly prayed to "whoever deals with weather" to please make it overcast or at least less gorram bright, because not only would the summertime heat risk me getting sunburned in an hour, what's good for people isn't good for taking pictures.
I was rewarded by (most likely Manannan) not only clouding things up while we were driving to the park, but making it gorram windy. It was good for shots of my hair and clothes, but bad for staying warm when I was wearing very light and floaty clothes.
On the plus side, my photos turned out FABULOUS. My favorites are these three shots.
-----
Photographer-Friend recommended that I join an artist/photographer/casting site called Model Mayhem since I have such a unique look. And then I realized that Not-Paper-White Asian plus Bohemian Hair is definitely a non-standard look to most non-Asians, and it's a minority even among traditionally-minded Asians because they tend to favor pale skin and straight hair. Definitely explains why so many people have a hard time guessing my ethnicity.
I've been mistaken for: Mexican, Mestizo (Half Spanish, half-indigenous--especially common in South America, but some Filipinos use it too), Hapa (half Asian, half white), Japanese (according to LOTS of people, I have "a Japanese nose/face"), Mien, Cambodian, Native American, and Chinese. About five people who didn't know beforehand have guessed my ethnicity correctly. Hell, even my friends have mentioned that wavy hair makes me look Hawaiian.
I suppose this is a good thing, since it means I can pretty much play any Asian/indigenous role without getting too many people mad. And then I'd feel bad about taking roles from actors of the proper ethnicity, or the very real potential that I might not play my OWN ethnicity for years. Unless I write it, or get someone else to write it.
Anyway, I really like the idea of becoming a model and spending a couple hours getting awesome pictures taken of me, because then I could rack up eight billion GOOD photos like Photographer Friend and Model Friend, but I think I'll wait at least after I get my theater degree.
After the shoot while I was trying to get down from my EEEE PHOTOSHOOT high, I remembered that the main reason we had the shoot was because Photographer-Friend was getting evicted and needed money. While we were driving to the location, she'd mentioned going to Chicago if staying in the Bay Area wasn't viable. And I thought, "God, I do not want Photographer Friend to have to move to Chicago. Whoever Deals With Friends Not Moving Halfway Across the Country, could you help them find something affordable in a not-crime-ridden part of town?"
And Macha goes, "FINALLY. You figured out you can ask us for things!"
I went, "But I ask for a LOT of things."
"You ask the ancestors, sure, but it takes you a REALLY long time to realize that you follow at least a dozen gods who could help with something important."
Then today I was on Facebook and my friend was asking people about a certain street, and Macha startled cackling at me. But according to her, it's still going to take a few more days for me to actually believe that my intent to keep Photographer Friend in the Bay Area worked.
I also have spider-bites on my chin/jaw and really close to my ankle. Both are inconvenient since my chin is on my face, and my ankle tends to have socks/shoes covering it. Good thing I got them AFTER my shoot. Or during, seeing as we were in a park and I climbed a couple of trees. (Only three of the six tree-climbing shots were kept.)
-----
Otherworld updates, Part 2:
-Odin took me to Asgard again last month. We had to go the long way since I was visiting properly, as opposed to last time when I really needed to stop hearing whalesong and my Oak shipped me up there.
It was ridiculously cold, and then Ruadan came up and reminded me that I forgot my feather-cloak. (He'd actually given to me quite a while ago, but I keep forgetting about it because I never had a reason to wear it.)
The men in Valhalla are... okay. They didn't mean anything serious, but there was this really big "soldiers who haven't seen women for a while" vibe that didn't sit well with me. Also, they were constantly staring at me and going "Lol Irish girl, HINTHINT." And then one of them went, "Look, she's one of the Crow-Woman's get!" (Crow-Woman is the Morrigan.) So he started pawing at my hair, which neither me nor Moritz liked at all. So Moritz twisted the guy's arm off and went "ANYONE TOUCHES HER AGAIN, AND HE WILL LOSE SOMETHING PERMANENTLY."
They were somewhat less dismissive of him (because for all he's a bear-totem, he's also a gangly blond teenager), but then someone got up in my personal space again and deliberately kept from touching me. I intended to get Moritz over again, but I accidentally called the Bruin up instead because those two have extremely similar energy and it keeps confusing me.
So yeah. The Bruin showed up and everyone went dead quiet in that "Oh, crap" way. Then one of the gods (an old man with an awesome beard who might be Bragi, since he's frequently portrayed with a beard) laughed and went, "Ha, she's a bear's wife AND a bear-wife." I made the Bruin leave so Odin could take me over to see Freya.
I can understand her now. I wondered why she was suddenly speaking English, and she laughed and went, "How do you know I'm speaking English? Maybe you learned to speak Norse." So she combed my hair out, because it turns out all the time running around with the Fianna and having general forest adventures meant tons of dirt/leaves/twigs were in it, but after an hour of detangling, she finished. Then she gave me the comb (and a bag to keep it in).
She also gave me a staff with runes on it. It has a ball carved or attached to the top. I have no idea what to do with it yet, so it's just in Spirit-me's room for now.
Then we spent a few hours in Valhalla. Hanschen came over to make me feel less stared-at, but the Valhalla men ganged up on him for three reasons--having a fox-totem, being gay, and being one of Loki's former followers. Melchior and Wes had to come instead, since one is a deer-totem and the other is in a warrior-band.
...The Morrigan, Macha, and Brighid came as well. The Morrigan reminded me that I should probably be wearing shoes when I'm visiting a place, and so she handed me my boots.
So the goddesses were NOT happy that I was in Valhalla, since Odin hadn't mentioned this and the problems with a tiny girl going to a warrior's hall where there are very few women around are REALLY evident by now. So yeah, I sat next to Tyr and Bragi because those two and Odin are the only Norse who didn't stare or do the Old Norse equivalent of catcalling. And then they offered everyone drinks as apology.
I didn't drink anything (but thanked them for offering). Wes got crying-drunk, which Odin was actually happy about since "If there isn't at least one guest crying on the table, then the host is being stingy." And I found out what berserkers go through since Moritz took part in their melee/practice/brawl.
He started dancing in the fireplace to enter a trance, and then he ATE about half of the burning wood. Which turned his eyes red. And then he started slaughtering the people in the melee. (Wes, Macha, and Melchior took that time to haul me into the farthest corner possible.)
So the Valhalla men were respectful of him before, but now they were actually warming up to him because "Heeeeeey, he was ours once!"
And at the end of it, Moritz crawls out of the heap of temporarily-dead warriors. His eyes are still red, but he's just smiling and giggling like he's drunk or high, and nobody can read his energy very well. He walks up to me trying to say something, but it comes out as "Mumblemumble LAWLITYLOL, mumbleblah." Suddenly he growls, pins me to the wall, and starts turning into a grizzly, at which Wes and Melchior snap out of drunk-mode. Odin manages to grab him and hold him in place until he turns back human and starts throwing up ash.
So Moritz's energy finally gets back to normal, and that's when we thank Odin for bringing us to Asgard, and then we all leave.
He doesn't remember anything past the fire-eating, so yeah, he's not too happy that he came inches away from mauling me.
Catcalling and Berserker-Moritz aside, I'm not against going to Valhalla in small doses.
-----
The next evening, the Dagda came up and told Odin that even if the Valhalla men hadn't technically broken the guest rights, "That doesn't mean they weren't DICKS. You can't take a poet who keeps forgetting half her clothes to a fucking SOLDIER'S hall!"
And Odin gets confused and says, "She's the Crow-Woman's follower, isn't she?"
"The Morrigan doesn't ALWAYS pick warriors. Artists nowadays will kill each other for money or fame, and this one is too nice for that."
Odin went on with, "But she's a bear's wife, twice-over. That's even more telling than the Crow-Woman!"
And the Dagda just facepalms for a few minutes and gives a looooooot of "fuckfuckfuckfuckityfuck WE REALLY SHOULD HAVE TALKED MORE" vibes. And then Moritz and the Bruin took me to a cave so I wouldn't unintentionally eavesdrop on their following conversation.
Part three of the Otherworld updates will come in the next post.
-I have gotten attached to the idea of guerrilla gardening. I noticed a vending machine filled with seed-bombs in the organic grocery, and I looked them up. It led me to quite a few articles detailing that seed-bombs (or seed-balls) are really handy for political/social statements, because you can just throw them somewhere and a few weeks later, There Are Suddenly Plants. People frequently make seed-bombs with regional/native seed species, and I just like that part because not only does it beautify an empty lot, it would be with native plants that are increasingly rarer than standard garden plants.
So I bought a seed-bomb, put it in a window box a couple of days ago, and poured a bit of water on it each morning. Today it has a sprout!
According to the vending machine, the California wildflowers are White Yarrow, Bluehead Gilia, Innocence, Tidy Tips, Mountain Brome (native grass), Lupine, California Poppy, Baby Blue Eyes, Five-Spot, and Desert Bluebell.
Bitches are NOT kidding about their "throw-and-grow" slogan. So I bought a couple more seed-bombs and I'm looking for unused/ugly lots or places that need more color. Especially since at least half of the species mentioned are ridiculously pretty. Desert Bluebell and Bluehead Gilia are so blue it hurts, Tidy Tips are FJDKSALJKLA YELLOW, and Five Spot looks like someone carefully painted each petal and then put it in a bell-jar until the paint dried. I will have some variation of THIS in my window soon!
-----
So I spent most of Wednesday getting ready for my shoot; it was pretty much a normal shower in the morning, but a lot of work went to making sure my Dutch braids stayed tight for the best boho/fairytale waves. (And aside from re-braiding them every hour, I had to make sure I didn't touch them.) Then I hosed off my car, took the dog for a walk, and semi-jokingly prayed to "whoever deals with weather" to please make it overcast or at least less gorram bright, because not only would the summertime heat risk me getting sunburned in an hour, what's good for people isn't good for taking pictures.
I was rewarded by (most likely Manannan) not only clouding things up while we were driving to the park, but making it gorram windy. It was good for shots of my hair and clothes, but bad for staying warm when I was wearing very light and floaty clothes.
On the plus side, my photos turned out FABULOUS. My favorites are these three shots.
-----
Photographer-Friend recommended that I join an artist/photographer/casting site called Model Mayhem since I have such a unique look. And then I realized that Not-Paper-White Asian plus Bohemian Hair is definitely a non-standard look to most non-Asians, and it's a minority even among traditionally-minded Asians because they tend to favor pale skin and straight hair. Definitely explains why so many people have a hard time guessing my ethnicity.
I've been mistaken for: Mexican, Mestizo (Half Spanish, half-indigenous--especially common in South America, but some Filipinos use it too), Hapa (half Asian, half white), Japanese (according to LOTS of people, I have "a Japanese nose/face"), Mien, Cambodian, Native American, and Chinese. About five people who didn't know beforehand have guessed my ethnicity correctly. Hell, even my friends have mentioned that wavy hair makes me look Hawaiian.
I suppose this is a good thing, since it means I can pretty much play any Asian/indigenous role without getting too many people mad. And then I'd feel bad about taking roles from actors of the proper ethnicity, or the very real potential that I might not play my OWN ethnicity for years. Unless I write it, or get someone else to write it.
Anyway, I really like the idea of becoming a model and spending a couple hours getting awesome pictures taken of me, because then I could rack up eight billion GOOD photos like Photographer Friend and Model Friend, but I think I'll wait at least after I get my theater degree.
After the shoot while I was trying to get down from my EEEE PHOTOSHOOT high, I remembered that the main reason we had the shoot was because Photographer-Friend was getting evicted and needed money. While we were driving to the location, she'd mentioned going to Chicago if staying in the Bay Area wasn't viable. And I thought, "God, I do not want Photographer Friend to have to move to Chicago. Whoever Deals With Friends Not Moving Halfway Across the Country, could you help them find something affordable in a not-crime-ridden part of town?"
And Macha goes, "FINALLY. You figured out you can ask us for things!"
I went, "But I ask for a LOT of things."
"You ask the ancestors, sure, but it takes you a REALLY long time to realize that you follow at least a dozen gods who could help with something important."
Then today I was on Facebook and my friend was asking people about a certain street, and Macha startled cackling at me. But according to her, it's still going to take a few more days for me to actually believe that my intent to keep Photographer Friend in the Bay Area worked.
I also have spider-bites on my chin/jaw and really close to my ankle. Both are inconvenient since my chin is on my face, and my ankle tends to have socks/shoes covering it. Good thing I got them AFTER my shoot. Or during, seeing as we were in a park and I climbed a couple of trees. (Only three of the six tree-climbing shots were kept.)
-----
Otherworld updates, Part 2:
-Odin took me to Asgard again last month. We had to go the long way since I was visiting properly, as opposed to last time when I really needed to stop hearing whalesong and my Oak shipped me up there.
It was ridiculously cold, and then Ruadan came up and reminded me that I forgot my feather-cloak. (He'd actually given to me quite a while ago, but I keep forgetting about it because I never had a reason to wear it.)
The men in Valhalla are... okay. They didn't mean anything serious, but there was this really big "soldiers who haven't seen women for a while" vibe that didn't sit well with me. Also, they were constantly staring at me and going "Lol Irish girl, HINTHINT." And then one of them went, "Look, she's one of the Crow-Woman's get!" (Crow-Woman is the Morrigan.) So he started pawing at my hair, which neither me nor Moritz liked at all. So Moritz twisted the guy's arm off and went "ANYONE TOUCHES HER AGAIN, AND HE WILL LOSE SOMETHING PERMANENTLY."
They were somewhat less dismissive of him (because for all he's a bear-totem, he's also a gangly blond teenager), but then someone got up in my personal space again and deliberately kept from touching me. I intended to get Moritz over again, but I accidentally called the Bruin up instead because those two have extremely similar energy and it keeps confusing me.
So yeah. The Bruin showed up and everyone went dead quiet in that "Oh, crap" way. Then one of the gods (an old man with an awesome beard who might be Bragi, since he's frequently portrayed with a beard) laughed and went, "Ha, she's a bear's wife AND a bear-wife." I made the Bruin leave so Odin could take me over to see Freya.
I can understand her now. I wondered why she was suddenly speaking English, and she laughed and went, "How do you know I'm speaking English? Maybe you learned to speak Norse." So she combed my hair out, because it turns out all the time running around with the Fianna and having general forest adventures meant tons of dirt/leaves/twigs were in it, but after an hour of detangling, she finished. Then she gave me the comb (and a bag to keep it in).
She also gave me a staff with runes on it. It has a ball carved or attached to the top. I have no idea what to do with it yet, so it's just in Spirit-me's room for now.
Then we spent a few hours in Valhalla. Hanschen came over to make me feel less stared-at, but the Valhalla men ganged up on him for three reasons--having a fox-totem, being gay, and being one of Loki's former followers. Melchior and Wes had to come instead, since one is a deer-totem and the other is in a warrior-band.
...The Morrigan, Macha, and Brighid came as well. The Morrigan reminded me that I should probably be wearing shoes when I'm visiting a place, and so she handed me my boots.
So the goddesses were NOT happy that I was in Valhalla, since Odin hadn't mentioned this and the problems with a tiny girl going to a warrior's hall where there are very few women around are REALLY evident by now. So yeah, I sat next to Tyr and Bragi because those two and Odin are the only Norse who didn't stare or do the Old Norse equivalent of catcalling. And then they offered everyone drinks as apology.
I didn't drink anything (but thanked them for offering). Wes got crying-drunk, which Odin was actually happy about since "If there isn't at least one guest crying on the table, then the host is being stingy." And I found out what berserkers go through since Moritz took part in their melee/practice/brawl.
He started dancing in the fireplace to enter a trance, and then he ATE about half of the burning wood. Which turned his eyes red. And then he started slaughtering the people in the melee. (Wes, Macha, and Melchior took that time to haul me into the farthest corner possible.)
So the Valhalla men were respectful of him before, but now they were actually warming up to him because "Heeeeeey, he was ours once!"
And at the end of it, Moritz crawls out of the heap of temporarily-dead warriors. His eyes are still red, but he's just smiling and giggling like he's drunk or high, and nobody can read his energy very well. He walks up to me trying to say something, but it comes out as "Mumblemumble LAWLITYLOL, mumbleblah." Suddenly he growls, pins me to the wall, and starts turning into a grizzly, at which Wes and Melchior snap out of drunk-mode. Odin manages to grab him and hold him in place until he turns back human and starts throwing up ash.
So Moritz's energy finally gets back to normal, and that's when we thank Odin for bringing us to Asgard, and then we all leave.
He doesn't remember anything past the fire-eating, so yeah, he's not too happy that he came inches away from mauling me.
Catcalling and Berserker-Moritz aside, I'm not against going to Valhalla in small doses.
-----
The next evening, the Dagda came up and told Odin that even if the Valhalla men hadn't technically broken the guest rights, "That doesn't mean they weren't DICKS. You can't take a poet who keeps forgetting half her clothes to a fucking SOLDIER'S hall!"
And Odin gets confused and says, "She's the Crow-Woman's follower, isn't she?"
"The Morrigan doesn't ALWAYS pick warriors. Artists nowadays will kill each other for money or fame, and this one is too nice for that."
Odin went on with, "But she's a bear's wife, twice-over. That's even more telling than the Crow-Woman!"
And the Dagda just facepalms for a few minutes and gives a looooooot of "fuckfuckfuckfuckityfuck WE REALLY SHOULD HAVE TALKED MORE" vibes. And then Moritz and the Bruin took me to a cave so I wouldn't unintentionally eavesdrop on their following conversation.
Part three of the Otherworld updates will come in the next post.