Hmm, time for a post I think
So, that Forensics test last Friday was definitely not a strong moment for me. The whole first page was all drugs and worth 5/13 of the test. Aside from that, totally messed up on IRMS (IR in this case meaning ion-ratio, NOT infrared; dumbdumbdumb) and ion charge spectrometry. :P Still, managed to pull through with a 75%, which combined with my 84% from the first test means I'm doing okay in the class. I want a B, and I think I'll manage that.
In other school news, got my proposal back with the comment, "It looks really good, so start talking to the committee members about when we can have your defense." THAT is very encouraging, and with luck I will be done and with a grade before May. Yippee! That just means research, writing, and adios school!
Inorganic is kicking my butt a little, as the second half isn't intuitive and the teacher kind of doesn't get it either (he admitted that). We also have to find a paper, do a review of it, and a presentation. This is actually my goal for this weekend: finish all the inorganic stuff I can so I only have to worry about showing up and taking notes.
We had some weird happenings at home this past week. On Sunday night, my bro found a baby bunny at his job (middle of the gardening section of Home Depot), we brought it home and looked up how to care for it. It was VERY cute and my bro kept talking about keeping it (I said no adoption of wild animals, just let it get strong enough to survive on its own and release it), but on Tuesday I started to wonder if all the info I'd gotten was correct. Called up a wildlife shelter, which led me to a professional rehabber who said no, my info wasn't correct, and chances are I did more harm than good. Still, when I dropped him off at the rehabber's, the bunny was very active and cuddly and looked healthy, so she thought he had a really good chance. I hope so. I'm not calling to find out (she said I could) because I'd rather not know if he doesn't make it.
Did make me more determined than even to get another pet. While cuddly pets are awesome, every cat will never be Cleo and every dog will never be Bandit. I was half thinking of a rabbit or chinchillia, but they are specialized animals. So, yeah, still stuck on the idea of a snake. :) One of these days...
Also, I put in for a job over the summer that would have me working in a costuming store as an intern. Figured it couldn't hurt to try. I'm still going to try to tutor and teach this summer, but the more options I have open, the better. The financial stuff for grad students is getting rewritten and just doesn't make sense, so I want to have back-up options in case I have to pay out of pocket.
And, sewing and costuming! What post is really complete without that?
So, made myself a coat. Something practical that I've been using the past few days. It turned out really nice, and I'm proud of it. I'll try to get pics at some point. Everybody I've shown it to thought I was just talking about getting a new coat, not making it myself, which I consider a compliment (can't tell it isn't store bought!).
Added some clasps to my petticoat so it is now completely done and closes properly. Can check that off the list!
Still gotta make those headforms. My neighbor cut the wood for the bases for me, so it's just a matter of actually making them. That's on my list for this weekend as well. Shouldn't take much, I just need the weather to be warm enough for me to work in the garage (the glue I have to attach the bases to the headforms is not something I want in the house; respirator and goggles required!).
I have the pattern for covering my cage skirt made, so I just have to cut the fabric and sew it onto the cage. I also got a really awesome idea for the Historical dress I'm making (thank you, Mom, for watching the Firefly episode "Shindig," which gave me the idea). With the contrasting colors I have, it should make a nice, cohesive dress. Covering the cage will be done this weekend, and I want to start getting my documentation for the Historical dress together before I start on it proper.
Last night I also got struck with how to possibly make the costumes for my bro and I for the CC31 masquerade. The main problem I kept running into was that the characters we want to do are tall and skinny, which doesn't quite work for us (we got the height, but the skinny? not so much). But then I looked at the heads again, and I think it may be possible to do an optical illusion trick (thank you, Lance Ikegawa! your advice from CC30 hit home!) that will make the characters look really slender, but very much like themselves. AND it could solve the heating issue (my bro overheats easily, and a fursuit would not help the situation). The only problem now is that these costumes will be TALL, so we have to keep that in mind (and not scuff the ceilings).
I'm thinking my bro and I may use these costumes again at the Denver Comic Con, which is a week after CC31. They wouldn fit right in, and if I do them right they will be impressive. Going to do some planning for these costumes this weekend (take pics of my bro and I so we can draw on top of them and figure out some logistics).
And I happened to find another possible convention to hit next year. This means, with some luck, I will be going to Arisia in January (costume: Bunnymund to compliment Mijan's Jack Frost), Norwescon in April (costume: undecided, but possible group), and Costume Con 32 in Canada in April (costumes: possibly the Phoenix, finally, and an ethnic Indian costume for the Historical). Those last two are one right after the other, so I don't know if I'll be able to do both, but I want to. :)
So, yeah, lots of stuff. Things to do this weekend are:
-finish reading Inorganic textbook (try to do tonight)
-read Inorganic paper (try to do tonight)
-do outline of paper
-do review of paper
-make presentation for paper
-do corrections for proposal (want to do at school tomorrow)
-email profs about when I can defend the proposal (want to do at school tomorrow)
-make headforms for my head (22") and my bro's head (25")
-make and sew cage covering (no ornamentation right now)
-start documentation for the Historic costume (mostly making a Word doc with the pics I took inspiration from and having pics of each layer of the costume)
-take posing pic of my bro and I
Better get started on that reading... :P The only problem is I am wiped for some reason (well, not for SOME reason; I've been getting only 3-4 hours of sleep each night this week, but I don't know why that is), so I may take a nap now and then read when I get home.