Memory Lane
As I've been going through the house and sifting my belongings out of the collective Stuff, I've had a lot of Memory Lane moments. Many of them tied to gaming, and my friends over the last decade. Some of the physical things I'm keeping, because they either still mean too much to me or because they're useful in other ways. Others I've taken a moment to cherish, then placed in the trash.
Highlights of memory lane:
--Anime Crystal Willowbrook's helmet and sword. I worked HARD on that costume, and I looked damn good. Someone had to represent the nearly naked power armor anime girl! The helmet was in good shape, but too small to be a realistic bike helmet or serve another purpose. The sword still lights up, but didn't make the *ting* noise when I pressed the button. I kept the sword, figuring a kid would like it because it flashes, and trashed the helmet. I remember getting Kevin Melloy to help me figure out the ideograms to write out Crystal's name on the helmet, carefully painting them on in gold acrylic and cursing when I made a mistake. And working on putting together the anime Laughing Tom outfit, including F.O.E.S.W.A.T.H. 2.0. Mike still has the shoulder pads in the garage.
--several pairs of sunglasses that I used to wear when playing Charisma Giovanni.
--a decorated wooden box, once given to me by Ashley from Columbus. It was an IC gift from her Brujah to Cynthia Muldoon, my Toreador fop
--an old pair of my prescription glasses with clip-on sunglasses. Looking at photos of me from college, I had them at least my Freshman year of college, which means they were likely my glasses my senior year of high school. I put them on, and didn’t trust myself to try to walk. DAMN my left eye had bad vision! Makes me so glad my parents got me LASIK as a college graduation gift.
--Dale Deering’s Boots-I kept them. The vinyl is cracked and pathetic, they are completely scuffed up…but I couldn’t throw them away. Not yet.
--my Snow Weasel puppet, from KANAR-I had modified a stuffed dog toy to look like a snow weasel, which I then used as a marionette style puppet for an entire KANAR session as we did a dungeon delve. Strong memories from that one, made me want to play KANAR again.
--the cloth tabard I made as a copy of my leather one from Journeyman Leather, complete with trim and the tree logo painted on the back. I spent HOURS making that damn thing, as I wanted a cloth copy to wear in bad weather so my costume would be consistent but I wouldn’t have to get my expensive leather piece befouled. Later, Shannon borrowed it for her costume so we could match.
--the plastic baseball bat I carried as Crystal Willowbrook, to represent my chimerical sword. In character it was a wood/real bat, but there were concerns about me carrying a real bat around the IMU so I used the plastic one for “safety.” Oh, Changeling.
--the pink feather boa I’ve had since my senior year of high school, one of the lucky tokens we carried to our various Fine Arts Academic Team competitions. With it came memories of candy corn, hand gestures for Bierstadt, the sensation of a 4 week old Sharpei puppy climbing in my lap, the music of Aaron Copland’s “Rodeo,” Monticello, raku pottery, more candy, laughing, matching dresses, and the pride of being Captain of my State Championship team my senior year.
--My flute, and an old electronic metronome and tuning instrument I got in middle school. The flute needs new pads, it last got new ones my Junior year of high school (which was 14 or so years ago). I can still play out a B-flat chromatic scale, but not as fast as I once could. Muscle memory is awesome! Simple songs and notes are still within my grasp, but the high and low octave notes have faded from memory.
--the Tuck and Roll dolls from “A Bug’s Life” that I bought in high school. An impulse buy back then, but still fun toys now. They send IR beams back and forth and “talk” to each other, have phrases they’ll say when you press buttons, and if you stack them together they sing a song and giggle and shake. I’ll put batteries in them soon, they should still work. I used them as chimerical companions at the Valpo game’s historical session they ran in Lafayette, the one set the day of the Resurgence. Me, k8, Higgins, and Oz played childlings together. And we were THE BEST CHILDLINGS EVER! To this day I have NO clue what the plot and story for the “grown-ups” was, because we spent the day playing hide-and-go-seek, tag, and just laughing and goofing off. Like kids do, because worrying is for grown-ups.
--the little wooden sword my brother Neal once had made for him, so he could stick it in a foam stone and have The Sword In The Stone
--the babydoll I used for my Richmond Changeling game--and later the Changeling game headed by Margaret-to represent my character’s baby. The eshu character (Sharra bot Ersavat) had a baby who had one blue and one brown eye, so I had painted the eye on the doll an appropriate color. I even still have the little cloth doll that Sara’s character had made for me IC, which also has one painted eye.
--the floral metal tin with scraps of nice paper that I used to use when Cynthia Muldoon was Harpy. I tracked status on individual sheets of paper, loose inside the tin. I had four or five metallic gel pens to write with, and made a big deal of selecting the “right” piece of paper to match a character before recording their status.
--the turtle shell I found while playing KANAR, and that I carried IC every game after that. Too awesome a prop to have, what with playing a dirt-elf druid. *grin* Also found the white sea-shells that I found out in Morgan-Monroe, and once used to bullshit my way into convincing some PCs to stay on the trail and keep going even when they thought we might die.
--the Free Companions Banner I sewed. A bittersweet memory, that. Mike is keeping it.
--the Free Companions plaque I made, using a woodburning pen and a LOT of patience. I kept it, and have it hanging on a wall in the garage. I put too much work into it to throw it away.
--my little leather bag with my Teifi makeup.
Highlights of memory lane:
--Anime Crystal Willowbrook's helmet and sword. I worked HARD on that costume, and I looked damn good. Someone had to represent the nearly naked power armor anime girl! The helmet was in good shape, but too small to be a realistic bike helmet or serve another purpose. The sword still lights up, but didn't make the *ting* noise when I pressed the button. I kept the sword, figuring a kid would like it because it flashes, and trashed the helmet. I remember getting Kevin Melloy to help me figure out the ideograms to write out Crystal's name on the helmet, carefully painting them on in gold acrylic and cursing when I made a mistake. And working on putting together the anime Laughing Tom outfit, including F.O.E.S.W.A.T.H. 2.0. Mike still has the shoulder pads in the garage.
--several pairs of sunglasses that I used to wear when playing Charisma Giovanni.
--a decorated wooden box, once given to me by Ashley from Columbus. It was an IC gift from her Brujah to Cynthia Muldoon, my Toreador fop
--an old pair of my prescription glasses with clip-on sunglasses. Looking at photos of me from college, I had them at least my Freshman year of college, which means they were likely my glasses my senior year of high school. I put them on, and didn’t trust myself to try to walk. DAMN my left eye had bad vision! Makes me so glad my parents got me LASIK as a college graduation gift.
--Dale Deering’s Boots-I kept them. The vinyl is cracked and pathetic, they are completely scuffed up…but I couldn’t throw them away. Not yet.
--my Snow Weasel puppet, from KANAR-I had modified a stuffed dog toy to look like a snow weasel, which I then used as a marionette style puppet for an entire KANAR session as we did a dungeon delve. Strong memories from that one, made me want to play KANAR again.
--the cloth tabard I made as a copy of my leather one from Journeyman Leather, complete with trim and the tree logo painted on the back. I spent HOURS making that damn thing, as I wanted a cloth copy to wear in bad weather so my costume would be consistent but I wouldn’t have to get my expensive leather piece befouled. Later, Shannon borrowed it for her costume so we could match.
--the plastic baseball bat I carried as Crystal Willowbrook, to represent my chimerical sword. In character it was a wood/real bat, but there were concerns about me carrying a real bat around the IMU so I used the plastic one for “safety.” Oh, Changeling.
--the pink feather boa I’ve had since my senior year of high school, one of the lucky tokens we carried to our various Fine Arts Academic Team competitions. With it came memories of candy corn, hand gestures for Bierstadt, the sensation of a 4 week old Sharpei puppy climbing in my lap, the music of Aaron Copland’s “Rodeo,” Monticello, raku pottery, more candy, laughing, matching dresses, and the pride of being Captain of my State Championship team my senior year.
--My flute, and an old electronic metronome and tuning instrument I got in middle school. The flute needs new pads, it last got new ones my Junior year of high school (which was 14 or so years ago). I can still play out a B-flat chromatic scale, but not as fast as I once could. Muscle memory is awesome! Simple songs and notes are still within my grasp, but the high and low octave notes have faded from memory.
--the Tuck and Roll dolls from “A Bug’s Life” that I bought in high school. An impulse buy back then, but still fun toys now. They send IR beams back and forth and “talk” to each other, have phrases they’ll say when you press buttons, and if you stack them together they sing a song and giggle and shake. I’ll put batteries in them soon, they should still work. I used them as chimerical companions at the Valpo game’s historical session they ran in Lafayette, the one set the day of the Resurgence. Me, k8, Higgins, and Oz played childlings together. And we were THE BEST CHILDLINGS EVER! To this day I have NO clue what the plot and story for the “grown-ups” was, because we spent the day playing hide-and-go-seek, tag, and just laughing and goofing off. Like kids do, because worrying is for grown-ups.
--the little wooden sword my brother Neal once had made for him, so he could stick it in a foam stone and have The Sword In The Stone
--the babydoll I used for my Richmond Changeling game--and later the Changeling game headed by Margaret-to represent my character’s baby. The eshu character (Sharra bot Ersavat) had a baby who had one blue and one brown eye, so I had painted the eye on the doll an appropriate color. I even still have the little cloth doll that Sara’s character had made for me IC, which also has one painted eye.
--the floral metal tin with scraps of nice paper that I used to use when Cynthia Muldoon was Harpy. I tracked status on individual sheets of paper, loose inside the tin. I had four or five metallic gel pens to write with, and made a big deal of selecting the “right” piece of paper to match a character before recording their status.
--the turtle shell I found while playing KANAR, and that I carried IC every game after that. Too awesome a prop to have, what with playing a dirt-elf druid. *grin* Also found the white sea-shells that I found out in Morgan-Monroe, and once used to bullshit my way into convincing some PCs to stay on the trail and keep going even when they thought we might die.
--the Free Companions Banner I sewed. A bittersweet memory, that. Mike is keeping it.
--the Free Companions plaque I made, using a woodburning pen and a LOT of patience. I kept it, and have it hanging on a wall in the garage. I put too much work into it to throw it away.
--my little leather bag with my Teifi makeup.