Contemplations of a Closet Curmudgeon

Mostly because by the time we broke for dinner, the restaurant(s) we checked had lines out the door. We ended up at Speissekammer instead.

I discovered my copy of Seven Samurai is not in the case. I last had it for the flight to Annapolis because I watched it on the plane. It has not turned up. This is a reasonable excuse for me to get a copy of the newly restored version on DVD. I also need to replace Throne of Blood, because what I have is a Chinese release with really odd subtitling.

Let's see, we did Throne of Blood with the weird subtitles, Rashomon (Staffan had never seen it), dinner break, Hidden Fortress and rounded out the night with Big Trouble In Little China.

We made the two open bottles of shochu go away, plus most of a 350ml Kurusawa Kimoto sake. Somewhere along the line, we came up with a new game. Essentially you take a drink every time

1. Mifune walks around with balled fists.
2. Mifune laughs, defiantly or otherwise.
3. Mifune scratches self.
4. Mifune says "Hime." (Hidden Fortress variant.)
5, Mifune (or someone else) cries "Kuso!" ("Shit," though the subtitlers frequently render this as "Damn.")
6. Comic peasant is comical.

Which explains why we ended the night with Big Trouble.
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In other news, I have been informed that the Great Hero of China has been offered knighthood in the Kingdom of the Outlands. We talked this morning and he is supposed to give the king his answer next week. That said, the ball is rolling on the assumption he will accept.  EDIT: He announced publicly on the Tousando that it's a Go for Estrella, so I'm not telling tales out of school.

He has asked me to be one of his spokespeople. Which means I should maybe try to knock out something to wear for the occasion. I'm thinking something from the Asuka period when Japan and China were in early contact. Abe-hime was wearing something of the sort at Twelfth Night and and I liked it. The Kyoto Costume Museum also shows variants such as this.

Except I ALSO just got an inquiry for a commission.....

EDIT: Woot, found exactly what I needed in my library for a Nara outfit - the Nuikata book even has pattern schematics. And I may even have some suitable pieces in the stash to do some of it!  It's slightly later, however, it still demonstrates Chinese influence on Japanese dress, it's a really pretty look and I have enough of my own hair I may be able to do cool things with it.

Borne towards my duty
By the music of heaven
I swore on my life.
Such duty is no burden
When supported by such friends.

Maddening because it cuts out in the middle of Dame Christian's speech!!!! Which was to the point without being gushy or make me wonder who she could possibly be talking about.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/erink/sets/72157628767863855/
Courtesy of Erin Kelly. She got some great ones of the Monkey Bearers, our Han Chinese couple and a good evidence shot of how dirty my mo got on that poolside patio.

Ishida no Kentarou Mitsumasa hits one out of the ballpark again. For some sort of gaming event - not clear on which, except that the "mon" is based on something from a game.

I am reminded yet again that I am acquainted with any number of bright, talented, funny, attractive men I can do nothing about except be grateful for their friendship. Oh well.

On that note, I am going to the art store for framing supplies. The sooner I get my scroll on a wall, the safer it'll be.

Earlier today, the ever-wise xrian thought to mention to me that "it *is* OK to wear your Laurel medallion to bed, to work etc. for a couple of days if you want to. A surprising number of Laurels have done so, whether they will admit to it or not."

Not only is it not the sort of thing that would've occurred to me, but my new regalia has already induced one panic. I have a history with award tokens: I lost my Corolla Vitae (strung on a paternoster, discovered the silk broke and half of it was long gone when I was undressing), the string of black pearls and garnets given to me by Mistress Guernin Cimarguid which I put my Rose Leaf on exploded no less than three times before I gave up and interred what was left of it in a zip lock bag. As a result, I tend to wear a cookie on the day I get it, then they stay at home. Some are in a drawer in the spice cabinet in the bathroom and my Western Lily and Princess' token from Sora-hime are hanging on the corner of the desk bookcase here where I can see them. The sole exceptions are my Defender of the West torse, which is securely tied around my green brocade obi and has managed to stay there over multiple wearings since I received it in 2009. This led me to string my Cambium on a sturdy cord with a monkey netsuke, which I've worn suspended from my obi/hakama ties several times.

So Sunday morning, I carefully put both medallions in a pouch with a necklace la_peregrina had given me so I wouldn't lose them and put the pouch in a safe place. I woke up in the middle of the night all freaked out because I couldn't remember where that safe place was, which meant running downstairs and ripping through the several tote bags I'd unloaded the night before. It wasn't there. I made myself calm down and assured myself it had to be in the suitcase, which I'd been too tired to wrestle with and left in the back of the truck. Unloaded the suitcase and brought it up Monday afternoon. No pouch. Checked all the totes again. Checked EVERYTHING again. Including, this time, my purse. Duh.

Current whereabouts is a corner of the bathroom sink right where I can see said pouch every time I go past it before I mentally settle on a place to keep it that I won't forget. Just like I have a routine with where the keys go in my purse and where the purse goes when I come in the house so I don't spend my life running around like a dork searching for my keys. (Eye roll. I swear I inherited this trait from Dad!)

modehistorique wrote an entry about her Laurel experience (so bummed I was Zen Face Spackling and missed it, because I'm sure it was epic in its own way) and about how awesome her friends/household are and all the stuff they made for her. Now this is awesome and I don't begrudge her a thing because it's all very cool and appropriate for her and she belongs to a household that doesn't consist of stuffed monkeys. My situation is totally different. Imagine my in-kingdom friends trying to hatch any sort of project to surprise me with - without being able to ask anyone what would be appropriate because my niche is the narrow one and I'm the Resident Expert (TM). "We need a live rooster to take the curse off Jose's glove and nobody seems to know what to get Millie or Jimmy for their wedding present."

The Ishiyamas (from Aethelmearc), did, however, make me two lengths of green and gold kumihimo cord.  The lower one has been cleverly fitted with a ring and toggle. I wore both in my ceremony: the short one tied into a bow to hold my wig ponytail was a minor anachronism, but I wanted to display it, especially as the long one was doing hold-the-underlayers-closed duty somewhere under my mo.


And I received two more Cheerful Monkey pieces by Sarre and Elsbeth of Reannag Teine, wrapped in a screaming orange furoshiki with an asanoha (hemp leaf) motif and presented to me by Mistress Sabrina de La Bere and Duchess Catherine Lorraine.
  (MONKEYS!)

Besides, what would Sarah do with a handcrafted sake set by Mercy the Potter anyway? (Will try to get pics tomorrow, so much of this stuff is still packed protectively.)  I can see one of my winter projects needs to be padded pouches for my fragile goodies.

Yeah, I made out just fine.

The wish tree was a success once folks figured out how it worked. It was in the room for the Friday night party, then on a table in the feast hall Saturday, with a supply of papers and a couple Sharpies. I managed to get a bag over it and transport it home without taking it all down and it's currently sitting on top of the Gaius Auklandus Memorial Monolith (a 37" tube TV). Lots of good stuff on it too, ranging from the touching, to the Zen ("Before peerage: chop wood, carry water. After peerage: chop wood, carry water.") to the completely random ("I like turtles.")
(Courtesy of Mozelle Williams.)

I just wasted my entire afternoon. Bought two containers of the exact same paint because I had a feeling the cotton duck I bought for a new banner was going to eat it (sure enough it did), and when I opened the second container. Guess what? It's not even close to the same shade of blue. Delta Ceramcoat acrylic. They're getting a nasty letter and a bill for the materials I wasted on principle.

I might as well not have bothered. So we'll just have to use the tatty old banner with the bad calligraphy, because I have work and taiko tomorrow and no more time to screw around with this project.

Just posted in the past hour to the kingdom list. "Note that this is a dry site - alcohol must be purchased from the Hotel. If we
see any open bottles, we will ask you to remove them. Otherwise, the hotel can lose their liquor license, and may not allow us back."

Isn't it a good thing that the tasting room at Takara is closed this weekend so I couldn't make an expensive sake buy BEFORE I found this out???? The kinpaku is $35 and the Antique is $55 a bottle.