Kids These Days!
Wherein McDiva's fannish life exceeds even my own.
I've got this terrific, geeky kid. She has a bunch of terrific, geeky friends. This middle school thing I was braced to hate, certain that we would all suffer through for three solid years, has turned out to be a golden age. The kids beg us to take them to author's signings, read voraciously, make cool stuff, and write fanfic as a classroom assignment. She gets extra credit for using words like "anteroom" in her stories. She and her friends are interesting, thoughtful people, and we have lots of common ground, although I am not allowed to upset their delicate sensibilities by singing, dancing, or flirting with MiAmor. And, absolutely NO kissing! (I am secretly thrilled that this is still yucky.)
Recently, while MiAmor and I were doing exciting stuff like getting our taxes together, McDiva was invited to go with her friend, Maa, to Gallifrey, a Doctor Who convention in Los Angeles. It turns out that she was one of four girls from her posse attending. Awesomeness ensued. Some of you may know that she has been creating and constructing elaborate costumes for the various comic conventions we attend, and the big excitement was that Louise Page, the costume designer from Doctor Who was in attendance. But much other fun was had, as well.
Here are three of them, taking a break from the Titanic party to tour the TARDIS. McDiva's the one in the Jayne hat.
It turns out that the big fad at Gallifrey is to exchange/collect badge ribbons, which sport cute messages. Maa was passing out ribbons that read "LOOK! It's a Shipper!" Amber Benson was apparently excited to get one, since she ships Giles/Willow!?! My favorite ribbon, which is especially pertinent to McDiva, was "Costuming: More productive than drugs, but just as expensive." Heh.
Here they are with Tommy Knight, the actor from The Sarah Jane Chronicles. He made a kilt from the badge ribbons. Maa's costume won a couple of awards in the Novice category of the Masquerade!
After three days of total Doctor Who immersion, the kids were invited to visit Maa's aunt, who was in town directing a Rolling Stone cover shoot. The cover subjects: the cast of Glee! The first person they saw upon entering:
Jane Freaking Lynch! *pant, pant* I do not think the girls are getting into the proper spirit, here. "They need to be terrified."
According to McDiva, Ms. Lynch asked if they liked Sue Sylvester, and they allowed that they did. I asked McDiva if she told Ms. Lynch that our entire family worships her, but she hadn't. Apparently, the actress who plays Quinn Fabray liked McDiva's skull earrings, which is more important than fawning all over Jane Lynch. Whatever.
While McDiva was off rubbing elbows with a goddess, MiAmor and I shanghai'd a couple of her friends and went to a signing of a fantastic new book by a wonderful local artist, Ramayana: Divine Loophole by Sanjay Patel. He's an animator at Pixar Studios, but he does these amazing illustrated books about Indian deities, myths, and legends that are not to be missed! Check it out!
This fall, McDiva is off to high school, and successfully auditioned in to our local, public San Francisco High School of the Arts (SOTA) in the Theater Design and Technology program. It's one of the few (only?) vocational programs in the district, as well as being part of one of the most successful college prep schools. They do academics in the morning, then focus on their chosen artistic discipline in the afternoon. All that costuming paid off big time!
I do go on, don't I? You're all very understanding.
I've got this terrific, geeky kid. She has a bunch of terrific, geeky friends. This middle school thing I was braced to hate, certain that we would all suffer through for three solid years, has turned out to be a golden age. The kids beg us to take them to author's signings, read voraciously, make cool stuff, and write fanfic as a classroom assignment. She gets extra credit for using words like "anteroom" in her stories. She and her friends are interesting, thoughtful people, and we have lots of common ground, although I am not allowed to upset their delicate sensibilities by singing, dancing, or flirting with MiAmor. And, absolutely NO kissing! (I am secretly thrilled that this is still yucky.)
Recently, while MiAmor and I were doing exciting stuff like getting our taxes together, McDiva was invited to go with her friend, Maa, to Gallifrey, a Doctor Who convention in Los Angeles. It turns out that she was one of four girls from her posse attending. Awesomeness ensued. Some of you may know that she has been creating and constructing elaborate costumes for the various comic conventions we attend, and the big excitement was that Louise Page, the costume designer from Doctor Who was in attendance. But much other fun was had, as well.
Here are three of them, taking a break from the Titanic party to tour the TARDIS. McDiva's the one in the Jayne hat.
It turns out that the big fad at Gallifrey is to exchange/collect badge ribbons, which sport cute messages. Maa was passing out ribbons that read "LOOK! It's a Shipper!" Amber Benson was apparently excited to get one, since she ships Giles/Willow!?! My favorite ribbon, which is especially pertinent to McDiva, was "Costuming: More productive than drugs, but just as expensive." Heh.
Here they are with Tommy Knight, the actor from The Sarah Jane Chronicles. He made a kilt from the badge ribbons. Maa's costume won a couple of awards in the Novice category of the Masquerade!
After three days of total Doctor Who immersion, the kids were invited to visit Maa's aunt, who was in town directing a Rolling Stone cover shoot. The cover subjects: the cast of Glee! The first person they saw upon entering:
Jane Freaking Lynch! *pant, pant* I do not think the girls are getting into the proper spirit, here. "They need to be terrified."
According to McDiva, Ms. Lynch asked if they liked Sue Sylvester, and they allowed that they did. I asked McDiva if she told Ms. Lynch that our entire family worships her, but she hadn't. Apparently, the actress who plays Quinn Fabray liked McDiva's skull earrings, which is more important than fawning all over Jane Lynch. Whatever.
While McDiva was off rubbing elbows with a goddess, MiAmor and I shanghai'd a couple of her friends and went to a signing of a fantastic new book by a wonderful local artist, Ramayana: Divine Loophole by Sanjay Patel. He's an animator at Pixar Studios, but he does these amazing illustrated books about Indian deities, myths, and legends that are not to be missed! Check it out!
This fall, McDiva is off to high school, and successfully auditioned in to our local, public San Francisco High School of the Arts (SOTA) in the Theater Design and Technology program. It's one of the few (only?) vocational programs in the district, as well as being part of one of the most successful college prep schools. They do academics in the morning, then focus on their chosen artistic discipline in the afternoon. All that costuming paid off big time!
I do go on, don't I? You're all very understanding.