Words and rhinestones.
I don't even know whether I mentioned here on LJ that I actually managed to finish NaNoWriMo back in November? Well, I did hit the 50K words, but unfortunately, I only got about halfway through my novel with that wordcount. I had been planning on finishing it, or at least attempting to finish it, but so far, I haven't written much since November. I guess it's because I feel like the novel is very bad and I'm not particularly excited about it - and so, my motivation is flagging. I was actually thinking today that it might be wise to start coming up with ideas for next year's novel.
In other news, I am getting that figure skating costume made. The seamstress I had been counting on couldn't make it in the end, but I found one here in Ljubljana and had my first fitting on Monday. At this point, it's just a very plain suit made of black lycra, nothing very exciting. The fabric is quite thin, so that makes me feel a bit self-conscious, but I guess that's normal.
The thing I am very worried about is the illusion mesh. The shop with fabrics (the biggest in Ljubljana) near which the seamstress works only had two colors of nude lycra and only one color of nude mesh - so I had no real choice and had to go with what they had in stock. (Unless I ordered some online, which would complicate the process and I would have to guess regarding the colors, anyway.) The lycra for the lining is lighter than my skin, quite pale. The mesh that's going to go on top is darker than my skin and a different shade. I'm really not sure how they're going to look combined.
The seamstress assured me that from afar, it won't show, but I am still worried. Mesh that clashes with the skaters' skin is one of my pet-peeves in costuming… wouldn't it be ironic if I ended up with that very flaw on my own costume?!
Once the costume is made, I still have to glue rhinestones on it. I am going to use a mix of Preciosa (Czech crystals), which are the second best crystals after Swarovski, and some cheap stones I ordered from China (if they turn out horrible, I can still chuck them… they were only a few euros). I hear mixing it up should make for a nice effect overall, that the cheaper stones pick up the shine from the high quality rhinestones. I was going to order my fancy rhinestones from a Czech website, but they sold out on the larger stones I wanted for accents, so I found this British online store. I had my order ready (using the EUR setting while shopping on their website), but when I went to pay, it turned out that the total sum was like 12 eur higher than expected - the Pound Sterling has been going strong these days, so I'm waiting it out to see if it drops.
I really really hope the costume turns out nice and not cheap-looking and horrible.
I have been making progress on my skating, though only a slow one. I have been working on camel spins since last season and I am finally managing to hit them - not always and I usually only manage 2-3 revolutions, but it’s better than nothing. The coach fixed my technique on the scratch and sit spins and after struggling with this for a while, I am now better at them again. My backspin is slowly getting steadier, too.
I am sad, though, that she won’t let me jump the lutz. I haven’t really insisted yet; she’s got me working on other jumps. But I can do the lutz - it’s still a very small and slightly inconsistent lutz, but I feel like I could practice it along with some of the other girls that the coach is letting work on theirs. She wouldn’t even let me do them off-ice in the last practice. I understand that she wants me to improve my overall jumping technique first, but I was kind of hoping to include the lutz in my program...
One of the other girls - admittedly the best one in the group; she used to do rhythmic gymnastics when she was younger - is even working on an off-ice axel and on doubles. Now, the axel is something I still have my sight set on for the future and I would very much like to start practicing it off the ice… Most of my off-ice jumps are pretty steady and I think my on-ice jumps are decent, too, even though my technique is a work in progress (I am mostly struggling with crossing my legs the way they should be in the air and not helping myself up into the air with my knee too much… and with looking up while jumping). So this is a little frustrating for me.
The other day, Andreja - the girl who joined this group of teenagers at the same time as me - asked how many points they (the teenage girls) score in competition... One of them is a total annoying smartass (think Hermione Granger times 100) and she says that well, she had around 24 points the last competition, the worst girl of their group had 17 or 16… so the two of us could expect maybe 12 points. I’m like fuck you, bitch. I mean, Andreja is at those beginner stages and doesn’t have all the jumps, but I still thought that it was such an offensive comment. I am quite sure that I can skate at least as well as the worst of their little “elite” club. ;) Luckily, I don’t have to compete in the same category as these girls - they’re between ages 16 and 18, while I’m in the official adult figure skating category (28+).
In other news, I am getting that figure skating costume made. The seamstress I had been counting on couldn't make it in the end, but I found one here in Ljubljana and had my first fitting on Monday. At this point, it's just a very plain suit made of black lycra, nothing very exciting. The fabric is quite thin, so that makes me feel a bit self-conscious, but I guess that's normal.
The thing I am very worried about is the illusion mesh. The shop with fabrics (the biggest in Ljubljana) near which the seamstress works only had two colors of nude lycra and only one color of nude mesh - so I had no real choice and had to go with what they had in stock. (Unless I ordered some online, which would complicate the process and I would have to guess regarding the colors, anyway.) The lycra for the lining is lighter than my skin, quite pale. The mesh that's going to go on top is darker than my skin and a different shade. I'm really not sure how they're going to look combined.
The seamstress assured me that from afar, it won't show, but I am still worried. Mesh that clashes with the skaters' skin is one of my pet-peeves in costuming… wouldn't it be ironic if I ended up with that very flaw on my own costume?!
Once the costume is made, I still have to glue rhinestones on it. I am going to use a mix of Preciosa (Czech crystals), which are the second best crystals after Swarovski, and some cheap stones I ordered from China (if they turn out horrible, I can still chuck them… they were only a few euros). I hear mixing it up should make for a nice effect overall, that the cheaper stones pick up the shine from the high quality rhinestones. I was going to order my fancy rhinestones from a Czech website, but they sold out on the larger stones I wanted for accents, so I found this British online store. I had my order ready (using the EUR setting while shopping on their website), but when I went to pay, it turned out that the total sum was like 12 eur higher than expected - the Pound Sterling has been going strong these days, so I'm waiting it out to see if it drops.
I really really hope the costume turns out nice and not cheap-looking and horrible.
I have been making progress on my skating, though only a slow one. I have been working on camel spins since last season and I am finally managing to hit them - not always and I usually only manage 2-3 revolutions, but it’s better than nothing. The coach fixed my technique on the scratch and sit spins and after struggling with this for a while, I am now better at them again. My backspin is slowly getting steadier, too.
I am sad, though, that she won’t let me jump the lutz. I haven’t really insisted yet; she’s got me working on other jumps. But I can do the lutz - it’s still a very small and slightly inconsistent lutz, but I feel like I could practice it along with some of the other girls that the coach is letting work on theirs. She wouldn’t even let me do them off-ice in the last practice. I understand that she wants me to improve my overall jumping technique first, but I was kind of hoping to include the lutz in my program...
One of the other girls - admittedly the best one in the group; she used to do rhythmic gymnastics when she was younger - is even working on an off-ice axel and on doubles. Now, the axel is something I still have my sight set on for the future and I would very much like to start practicing it off the ice… Most of my off-ice jumps are pretty steady and I think my on-ice jumps are decent, too, even though my technique is a work in progress (I am mostly struggling with crossing my legs the way they should be in the air and not helping myself up into the air with my knee too much… and with looking up while jumping). So this is a little frustrating for me.
The other day, Andreja - the girl who joined this group of teenagers at the same time as me - asked how many points they (the teenage girls) score in competition... One of them is a total annoying smartass (think Hermione Granger times 100) and she says that well, she had around 24 points the last competition, the worst girl of their group had 17 or 16… so the two of us could expect maybe 12 points. I’m like fuck you, bitch. I mean, Andreja is at those beginner stages and doesn’t have all the jumps, but I still thought that it was such an offensive comment. I am quite sure that I can skate at least as well as the worst of their little “elite” club. ;) Luckily, I don’t have to compete in the same category as these girls - they’re between ages 16 and 18, while I’m in the official adult figure skating category (28+).