I always injure myself when I hand sew

Okay. I just stuck the eye of a needle half a centimeter in under my nail. I think that means it's time to stop tinkering with my outfit. It's a significant eye, too - about a millimeter in diameter. Funnily, it's the same sort of sore as a piercing. Weird. It's not bleeding so much. A little blob welled up just after it happened, but now the nail looks normal, with only a little mark about half a centimeter down on the inside. Interesting.

I got purple shampoo today. Who knew such a think existed? Blondes use it to keep their hair looking super-duper extra-platinum white-blonde. And the one I randomly picked up had really good reviews. The conditioner's reviews aren't so good because people thought it made their hair look purple. That's good news for me :)

So my outfit is only about 80% good. There's more I'd like to add in and parts I'm not very happy with, but it'll do. It'll look good to anyone who isn't familiar with it, but I'm afraid it won't stand muster when real Skyrim fans see it. Anyway. It's good enough. It's not like I'm entering the cosplay contest or anything. And I'll have fun wearing it around for a day. That's really all that matters, really. Right - time to try this on. Yeay.

my hair is PURPLE

Tired post ahead - you have been warned.

I have purple hair. It's so amazing. Every time I pass a mirror (which is quite often given that we have at least one in every room) I see it and I smile, which evolves to a laugh, which evolves to a happy dance. It's so amazing. I was at the hairdresser for about three hours today. She did a great job on it - both the colour and the cut. I think I look about 12, but that might just be because I'd gotten used to icky sort-of long in-my-face shaggyness. I was well fed up of my grown out hair. But this new hair is amazing. I know I said that already - read the disclaimer.

So, what else... I'm touching up my dovahkiin outfit for the weekend. I redid the bracers from scratch, and next is to make the "studs" look better, then to round out the edges of all the "leather" bits. I must log into the game and check the studs to see if I'm inspired on how to get them to look better. I still haven't figured out a way to do the little shield-thing on the shoulder (gardbrace?). If my sculpting skills were better I'd make it from reinforced clay, but as it is I need some sort of guide or mold and I haven't come up with anything.

Okay. Check out armour in Skyrim, then off to bed.

Autumn

Autumn in New Mexico is an interesting time. Me and river have been rained on twice in the last two days. Today, we came to the channel. It was raining and the splashes were making little ripples in the brown water of the channel. I stopped there and just watched it for a while. It was awful, but pretty at the same time. The water was brown and murky, with bits of mud and twigs sticking out of it, but still - there was something compelling about the water and the rain.

The other really odd thing is that mushrooms grow in the grass around here. I think it's a sign that people need to turn off their sprinklers.

I'm a little worried about future walks. The goatsheads are growing wild and free and every grassy verge has thousands of them just waiting to fall off and lay in wait for some innocent doggie to come walk on them and hurt her paws. I'm sort of considering getting River little booties, because (she's stupid like this) she picks them out of her paw and eats them. Then she gets sick a few minutes later.

I haven't updated in ages. I should catch up on news... PAX was amazing. I'd totally go back next year. penelope_stone and Liam's visit was brilliant. We did so much and it was good to see them and hang out. Highlights include walking on top of a mountain in lightening, photographing same lightning that night, cienega canyon forest trail, UNM - actually UNM is cool. There's a geology and meteorite museum, and the atmosphere around campus is cool - just like college, really.

I don't know what else I can say... I suppose I'll just go then.

Comic Con and Cosplay

Ah, Lj - I've missed you. Please don't go down for over a week again. And I've had loads to post about too.

I'm working on my portal gun at the moment. I've been carving the main back part from expanding foam (the stuff you use to insulate cracks in your house with). The can said it can only be used once, but I had no trouble clearing out the application pipe and using it 4 or 5 times. I emptied the can :)
Anyway - it looks kind of cool. Well, it's still really rough, but it has the shape of a portal gun, which is good.

I was carving today and I sliced my thumb. The cut is about a centimetre long and I have no idea how deep it is, but davidnarby thinks it's pretty deep because of the amount of blood that poured out. Anyway, I have a plaster and a bandage on it at the moment and it's not too sore. I poked at it earlier, though (silly, I know) and that really hurt.

Other news: Comic Con was good. We saw loads - it's kind of hard not to when it's the size of a small town. San Diego is lovely. We stepped off the plane and walked outside and the first think I said was "California has the perfect climate." For all that, it did feel cold in the shade (24degrees is cold these days). I think I'd live there, given the opportunity. Not in San Diego, perhaps... there is too much an undercurrent of a city that's not quite as nice as the façades of the buildings would lead you to believe.

I can't really describe the con itself... fascinating, crazy, colourful. We spent 3 days wandering around and we didn't see everything. It really is huge and there is so much to do. We managed to fit in some browsing, buying, Wii games, DS games, a SWTOR PVP session, celebrity spotting, artist signings, panels on comics, internet stuff, we saw the mythbusters, stood in mile long lines, didn't stand in 2 mile long lines (that's an exaggeration - it wasn't 2 miles, but it was long - it was about 1km, actually - that's pretty long for a queue). We ate in a restaurant that had been taken over by SyFy and made out to be the restaurant from a TV show - Cafe Diem from Eureka for anyone who watches that (it's good - give it a go if you are looking for something fun with a sci-fi twist to watch).
What really amused me was that we had to get the train in each morning and the main stop was 12th and Imperial Transit Station. It's funny because if you ignore the 12th, it becomes Imperial Transit Station, which has a very sci-fi tone to it - like something from Star Wars.

I don't know what else... River is well. She's really cute, actually. In the evenings when lordkilljoy is at work, she sits beside me just waiting for rubs and attention. I think she misses having someone to cuddle next to on the couch. She's gotten into a routine of sleeping until 8 these days - which is good. 7 was just a little too early for me. She even slept until 9 the other day. Amazing.

Right - I think I'll go now. Get some food, maybe. I'm thinking of just putting on dinner, because I have no idea what to have for lunch. It's a little early for dinner, though. Oh well.