9-29-2013 Drum Circle, Cosplay Progress, and Whatever The Hell Loki and Hanschen Planned.
Tangible Updates:
-Got my cape fabric and makeup for Elphaba last week. I did a spot test for the makeup; it's a little dark, but that can be solved by getting a tube of white or yellow so I can mix it and lighten it up. One of my theater friends advised me to use eyeshadow instead of cream makeup, but I'll wait and see if the cream looks good on its own. According to a lot of Elphaba cosplayers, using the right application method (with brushes/sponges and a good foundation, not just slathering it on) does wonders for helping the makeup look like natural color instead of... well, witch-makeup.
Also, I just realized that however well I set it, at least some of the makeup is going to rub off when my hair starts getting everywhere around my green face. Then I'll get MORE makeup on my hair when I use my green hands to get it out of the way. I think I'll just bite the bullet, try not to touch my hair too much, and take a good long shower after I'm done with my pictures.
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Intangible Updates:
So this month's drum circle was pretty fantastic. I found out two things:
1) In the first journey, I just danced and didn't get much visions, but I noticed a lot of people's journeys had something to do with caves. One person had a bear roar at her and terrify her, which made her think about why she was so afraid of people getting mad at her. So I knew that the Bruin was somewhere around.
Right before the second journey, my manifestation of energy-clearing got to the point where I wasn't just coughing a couple of times, I actually went into the bathroom and started retching up gunk. Ick. But then when I finished coughing stuff up, I got shot up into the Upper World where the Bruin laughed at me and said, "Healing!"
That reminded me that I still need to do a lot of healing before Moritz comes back, but I've also gotten a lot of healing done already.
2) During the second journey in which I also started dancing, I couldn't quite pin things down in words in time for sharing, so I talked with the ancestors about it instead. Then the ancestors AND the Tuatha De started pushing the phrases "RITUAL DANCE" and "DO THIS FOR OTHERS" at me. (Yes, in all-caps.) And I'm like, "I know, I need to take some sort of dance class next semester," but the spirits went, "No, RITUAL DANCE, not just dance! FIND A TEACHER."
So I asked the medicine-woman about ritual dance; she said she'd ask one of her dancer friends for connections, since she's not much of a dance person herself. She does know that dance is a great way for me to connect during drum circles, because when I'm playing or staying still, I'd try to hold it and get distracted or confused, but dancing lets Spirit (or Spirit's message) vibrate through me.
And yeah, I'm looking around at shamanistic/ritual/religious dance while I wait for the medicine-woman's friend to get back to us.
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Which leads me to "Whatever the Hell Loki and Hanschen Planned."
You know how I'm not doing too well in Sociology? Well, Hanschen went "Fuck that noise, you don't need that. Watch for weird shit from the school's website soon, little sister."
And then today, I overslept. It wasn't a problem since my classes are all in the afternoon anyway, but it was a problem that I was just being lazy. So Cuchulainn woke me up (or rather, got me actually out of bed) by going, "HONEY YOU NEED TO GET UP BECAUSE LOKI IS ABOUT TO FUCK SHIT UP IN YOUR SOCIOLOGY CLASS TODAY."
So yay, I got out of bed, made Cuchulainn stop laughing at me, and kept a very tight watch on myself to make sure that when I got to Sociology, I would at least be able to handle things with minimal freaking-out.
And typically, I lost track of time in rehearsal because I had fun watching everyone do a runthrough while being pressured to remember their lines perfectly. That means I ended up missing the first hour of Sociology, so I just went home because there'd be no point showing up an hour into a lecture. This wasn't in Loki's plans, but judging by how smug he and Hanschen are, it apparently doesn't hurt at all.
What worries me is how the Morrigan ENDORSES said plan. Because it's going to clear spiritual room for "important things," like figuring out my ritual dance training, theater, and my various art projects.
I know I only have about four more gen-ed classes to finish my degree and I can always take another class in the Sociology department, but I told the Morrigan that this is a minor setback that I REALLY DON'T WANT right now. She countered with, "Of course you don't WANT all this bullshit. But you need to get rid of this class because it stresses you out and it's not important for your theater degree."
Then I asked why she hadn't just told me to drop the class beforehand, because now I'll have to pay for it at the end of semester, and she went, "One: I can't see everything. Two: Don't be so sure about having to pay."
For the eightieth time this year, I told her, "I DO NOT UNDERSTAND WHY I'M GOING THROUGH SPIRITUAL ISSUES, WHILE GOING THROUGH COLLEGE ISSUES, WHILE SORTING OUT MY FAMILY ISSUES. I just want to get my degree, sort my personal stuff out, and get a job so I can move out. This shit is weird!"
And then Freya of all people dropped by and went, "Ha, weird. You can't just do things, little bear-wife. It's in your nature to get tangled up in wyrd. Yours, your family's, other people's--fate is strange like that."
Side-note: It took me until very recently to notice that Freya is naked. I just didn't notice because her hair is long and thick enough to cover everything from her shoulders to knees. And to be honest, she doesn't act naked; she doesn't flaunt it OR cover it up. None of the other gods or ancestors have drawn attention to it, either.
-Got my cape fabric and makeup for Elphaba last week. I did a spot test for the makeup; it's a little dark, but that can be solved by getting a tube of white or yellow so I can mix it and lighten it up. One of my theater friends advised me to use eyeshadow instead of cream makeup, but I'll wait and see if the cream looks good on its own. According to a lot of Elphaba cosplayers, using the right application method (with brushes/sponges and a good foundation, not just slathering it on) does wonders for helping the makeup look like natural color instead of... well, witch-makeup.
Also, I just realized that however well I set it, at least some of the makeup is going to rub off when my hair starts getting everywhere around my green face. Then I'll get MORE makeup on my hair when I use my green hands to get it out of the way. I think I'll just bite the bullet, try not to touch my hair too much, and take a good long shower after I'm done with my pictures.
-----
Intangible Updates:
So this month's drum circle was pretty fantastic. I found out two things:
1) In the first journey, I just danced and didn't get much visions, but I noticed a lot of people's journeys had something to do with caves. One person had a bear roar at her and terrify her, which made her think about why she was so afraid of people getting mad at her. So I knew that the Bruin was somewhere around.
Right before the second journey, my manifestation of energy-clearing got to the point where I wasn't just coughing a couple of times, I actually went into the bathroom and started retching up gunk. Ick. But then when I finished coughing stuff up, I got shot up into the Upper World where the Bruin laughed at me and said, "Healing!"
That reminded me that I still need to do a lot of healing before Moritz comes back, but I've also gotten a lot of healing done already.
2) During the second journey in which I also started dancing, I couldn't quite pin things down in words in time for sharing, so I talked with the ancestors about it instead. Then the ancestors AND the Tuatha De started pushing the phrases "RITUAL DANCE" and "DO THIS FOR OTHERS" at me. (Yes, in all-caps.) And I'm like, "I know, I need to take some sort of dance class next semester," but the spirits went, "No, RITUAL DANCE, not just dance! FIND A TEACHER."
So I asked the medicine-woman about ritual dance; she said she'd ask one of her dancer friends for connections, since she's not much of a dance person herself. She does know that dance is a great way for me to connect during drum circles, because when I'm playing or staying still, I'd try to hold it and get distracted or confused, but dancing lets Spirit (or Spirit's message) vibrate through me.
And yeah, I'm looking around at shamanistic/ritual/religious dance while I wait for the medicine-woman's friend to get back to us.
-----
Which leads me to "Whatever the Hell Loki and Hanschen Planned."
You know how I'm not doing too well in Sociology? Well, Hanschen went "Fuck that noise, you don't need that. Watch for weird shit from the school's website soon, little sister."
And then today, I overslept. It wasn't a problem since my classes are all in the afternoon anyway, but it was a problem that I was just being lazy. So Cuchulainn woke me up (or rather, got me actually out of bed) by going, "HONEY YOU NEED TO GET UP BECAUSE LOKI IS ABOUT TO FUCK SHIT UP IN YOUR SOCIOLOGY CLASS TODAY."
So yay, I got out of bed, made Cuchulainn stop laughing at me, and kept a very tight watch on myself to make sure that when I got to Sociology, I would at least be able to handle things with minimal freaking-out.
And typically, I lost track of time in rehearsal because I had fun watching everyone do a runthrough while being pressured to remember their lines perfectly. That means I ended up missing the first hour of Sociology, so I just went home because there'd be no point showing up an hour into a lecture. This wasn't in Loki's plans, but judging by how smug he and Hanschen are, it apparently doesn't hurt at all.
What worries me is how the Morrigan ENDORSES said plan. Because it's going to clear spiritual room for "important things," like figuring out my ritual dance training, theater, and my various art projects.
I know I only have about four more gen-ed classes to finish my degree and I can always take another class in the Sociology department, but I told the Morrigan that this is a minor setback that I REALLY DON'T WANT right now. She countered with, "Of course you don't WANT all this bullshit. But you need to get rid of this class because it stresses you out and it's not important for your theater degree."
Then I asked why she hadn't just told me to drop the class beforehand, because now I'll have to pay for it at the end of semester, and she went, "One: I can't see everything. Two: Don't be so sure about having to pay."
For the eightieth time this year, I told her, "I DO NOT UNDERSTAND WHY I'M GOING THROUGH SPIRITUAL ISSUES, WHILE GOING THROUGH COLLEGE ISSUES, WHILE SORTING OUT MY FAMILY ISSUES. I just want to get my degree, sort my personal stuff out, and get a job so I can move out. This shit is weird!"
And then Freya of all people dropped by and went, "Ha, weird. You can't just do things, little bear-wife. It's in your nature to get tangled up in wyrd. Yours, your family's, other people's--fate is strange like that."
Side-note: It took me until very recently to notice that Freya is naked. I just didn't notice because her hair is long and thick enough to cover everything from her shoulders to knees. And to be honest, she doesn't act naked; she doesn't flaunt it OR cover it up. None of the other gods or ancestors have drawn attention to it, either.