Contemplations of a Closet Curmudgeon

Please to be enjoying this funny from the Nice Young Samurai From An Tir. http://tousando.proboards.com/index.cgi?board=general&action=display&thread=3883

Taiko was awesome with a side of Whee! Clint being Clint (i.e., a taiko maniac who likes makin' stuff) built a pair of shime daiko with stands and brought them to class last week. Shannon-sensei decided to incorporate them into class and I got to play them twice. The first time was fun, the second time, paired with Josh on a break-neck duet* of Shinkyoku was a-freakin-mazing. *That's right, just two of us. Josh is the guy with the wicked hand speed on o-daiko and he started fast, but with the small, light sticks we were playing with (and the fact that teaming with him had me a bit amped to begin with), I kept up. Hung out a little bit after class to noodle around with them a bit in a room at the other side of the building before we all had to go home. So much fun!

for putting me on the scent. I give you "No Reservations: Narnia." http://archiveofourown.org/works/137185

....my knees be damned, I'd learn to fight and ask hrj to be my consort, just  'cause. Yes, I'm straight, but she's inspirational and would make an amazing monarch.

Congratulations are in order for the Gentlemen Barons of Gyldenholt. The Board is developing the venues for further discussion on same-gender leadership in the SCA. http://www.scatoday.net/node/21565  It's a start.

Here's the tangent MY brain went off on, however. I am Inspirationally Unequal. Technically.  (My apologies to anyone who thinks I am trying to co-opt their cause. I have somewhere I am going with this, honest.)

Gaius (who's either trying to email me from The Beyond this week or , most likely, whose account has been hacked by spammers) once told me I'd make an excellent queen. That statement was worth a couple of halfhearted fight practices and a hearty "I'm too old for this shit."   I've been playing in the SCA since autumn of 1995 and I don't fight and I don't have someone willing to fight for me. So much for teetering on a pedestal and being someone's potential Queen of Love And Beauty (TM), right?

The truth is, many of us don't get to be part of the monarchy pool as it is. We're not part of the fighter/consort population of the SCA for any number of reasons having nothing to do with gender: health, age, different interests within the game, you name it. So why not let the ones who do want to fight or be fought for go forth and do so? Bad reigns? We get 'em already. "Gaming the system?" We've got every-other-reign dukes already. And we get through it.
 
This? Oh, that's the rose that His Highness sent me on Saturday. It's hit its peak today and smells heavenly.

Inspiration is where one finds it. It doesn't need to be on a pedestal, or sitting on a throne. It can be anywhere and anyone.

Your mileage may vary.

Originally posted by twbasketcase at Mississippi Personhood Amendment

It was so perfect - horizontal stripes in two shades of rusty brown, navy and white. Except it wasn't, being a find on an unmarked bolt. It felt like it could be rayon, but who knows. It has not worn well. It keeps tearing on the weft, most notably under the arms, usually because the amount of "tension" caused by me raising an arm while the fabric is trapped by my obi is too much for it.

I had some scraps left. I patched it. Each time I patched it and wore it out to an event, it would just tear in a new spot. It happened again Saturday.

I really liked this kosode: it was comfortable and easy to wear - aside from the tearing bit - and very 16th c. townie.

Sigh.

Bonus random driveby tanka. (I don't know why I'm in the mood to write 'em, I just am.)

There will be no glimpse
Of a sake cup moon in
The sky tonight.
The fading light is cool, grey
And soft rain drips from the eaves.

Just heard the news that sarahbellem and two others (don't know who yet as it's up to them to decide what news to put out and when and where) have also been offered Twelfth Night Laurels. I hate Sarah. She's pretty and petite and has a darling figure and a Hot Laurel Boyfriend and a weird pinecone fetish and makes beautiful, complicated historical clothing from a variety of periods (but most notably the 16th century).  I'm TOTALLY kidding about the hatin' part: she was one of the folks who threw themselves on me yesterday and the only one who said the occasion demanded a fist bump.

GO SARAH - and whoever the Players To Be Named Later are.

For those lovin' the cloche, it's by Jessica Simpson and I found mine at the Nordstrom Rack in San Leandro for about $25. (Full retail is nearly double that.) The key to giving it the proper 20's shape was to turn the brim up in front as well as on the side. I added a marcasite brooch above the bow just for fun.

As mentioned previously, they're in a lot of stores this fall so you can find them in a range of prices, styles and colors.

I needed green thread. And I figured I'd look for linen or a linen blend - the short kosode I wear with my nagabakama is the first piece of Japanese garb I ever made and the collar has issues and dammit, I want a new one for Twelfth Night!  (I also want a handsewing project I can work on at GWW that's not silk!) Discount Fabrics (Ashby & San Pablo in Berkeley) opens at 10 - and they're doing a no-sales-tax promo through the end of September.   Their linen prices have gone up, hell, their cotton prices have gone up, but if one factors in tax and shipping costs I would've spent elsewhere, I did OK on a nice linen rayon blend. Oh, and that heavy silk herringbone I made the white uchigi out of is still there, the better part of a bolt and that's still $9.99/yard, if anyone is interested.

I also had a coupon for DSW rattling around in my purse and it was still early, so what the heck? I hate shoe shopping lately. For one thing, I started with wide feet and have compounded the problem by developing bunions. For another, the current trend for ugly-ass shooties  and stratospherically high heels does not appeal to me in the slightest. Most places carry medium widths, which means I have to size up for a shoe to fit across my instep, and that's the kiss of death for a high heel because it'll be too long for the arch of my foot. Hence I live in sandals, clogs and so forth most of the time.

I didn't expect to find anything, but I figured I'd look anyway. And I found these, for $35.99. The 9 1/2 fit me. (I have bought shoes ranging anywhere from an 8 W to a 9 1/2 M). Perfectly. If they had pointed toes they'd be perfect for tomorrow's 20's themed event, but as they are, they'll also work with some of the 60's styles I want to wear. And they're comfortable. They also had them in brown.

On an unrelated but disappointing note, I decided to see if a swatch of the jinken I used for my uwagi was colorfast. It's been soaking in dye remover all day in the kitchen sink - and it's still color fast. A pity as I still have a good bit of it left. If I want a new karaginu, I'm going to have to make it out of something else.....

This article dates to 2006, but I remember when I first read it. http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/13320352/ns/business-world_business/t/japanese-culture-becoming-cult-cute/#.Tn4uSOwrXSs "“I make it a point never to forget to smile,” said [model Yuri] Ebihara, often seen
in TV ads and on billboards. “If someone doesn’t find me cute, I want to know why because then I’ll work on it to get better at being cute.”"

These roots are older, deeper, and sometimes creepier than Hello Kitty and Sailor Moon. Literature from the Heian and Kamakura periods in Japan routinely describe the sexual initiation of girls of about 12 or 13 by older men. Try to imagine being raped at that age while your parents pretend they don't know what is going on, then scold you for not appreciating the great honor you've been given. http://www.sengokudaimyo.com/Forced_Affection.html  offers a survey of examples from period literature. Even today, apprentice geisha or maiko wear kimono that code as child-like, complete with growth-pleats at the shoulder seams and long, fluttering sleeves.

Not judging here, just reporting. I wasn't born Japanese, after all.