But wait, there's more!

( Now cut-tagged, by special request )

When last I left you, faithful readers, I was about to change costumes and go sit on a Bujold discussion panel. Since the Hyatt charges $12.95 a night for internet access, that was the last opportunity I had to blog during the con. Here's what happened after that:

The Bujold panel went surprisingly well. I don't usually go to these sorts of panels, where a bunch of fans sort of sit around and chat--they are so often monopolized by one or two blowhards, and usually very little of any import gets said. But this one was more like a book discussion club meeting. When I showed up--surprise!--I found out I was the moderator. I didn't really mind--I like moderating panels--but since I wasn't prepared at all, I had to really wing it. Luckily this didn't turn out to be difficult, since the other panelists and the audience were really good at coming up with topics and keeping the ball rolling. At least it didn't devolve into random 'shipping, and I even managed to keep us from being hijacked by the Dreaded Casting Thread. (Oh, and I was saving my Cordelia outfit for Lois's reading on Sunday, so the costume du afternoon was the White Witch. This made moderating the panel kind of surreal.)

After the panel, we had some dinner. I ended up missing the panel on burlesque costuming, which disappoints me, but you gotta eat, and I had hit the point where changing hotels was too much trouble (Bujold panel was in the Hyatt, and the burlesque thing was at the Marriott). and I changed outfits *yet again*. I brought nine costumes this year, and yes, I wore all of them. The evening's attire was a skimpy little outfit made of silver mesh and chains, and yes, that's as scandalous as it sounds. It made an impression, especially on Tom Smith, whose concert we went to after dinner. When I walked in, he looked up and said, "Helloooooo, Nurse!"

Later there was a panel intriguingly entitled "Fans and Freaks: The Culture of Comics and Conventions," which included a documentary about cons in general, and Dragoncon in particular. Unfortunately, the female host (of the documentary, not the panel) was clueless and annoying, making the film less a documentary and more of a "let's make fun of these weird people" fest, which, frankly, I can get anywhere. So we wandered out of that one, and I decided to turn in early, since I had to be up early for the parade on Saturday. Aaron stayed out far later, hitting the Abney Park concert at 1:30, but I went back to my room to change and watch DCTV (I'm in one new clip this year, but it's not up on the website yet).

Luckily, I had the materials on hand to work this out:



(Click for larger images.)

Not great pictures, since I'm taking them w/ the webcam, but you can get the idea.

The only problem is, when I sit down, I get this:



Should I worry about that?

So here it is, the Betan Survey Fatigues (click for larger image). It sure is a far cry from my usual con-wear!



I don't really like where the stunner is sitting--if I pull the jacket down, it sort of peeks out from underneath and looks weird, but this way, it makes that one side of the jacket ride up, and looks sloppy.

The pants are a pair of khaki jeans I got today, in case the cargo pants don't show up on time. If they do, I'll return the jeans.

I haven't been inundating my blog with costume construction tales and pictures this summer, but did you really think that meant I'd go to Dragoncon without at least four costumes??

Nothing elaborate this year. No Susan and Death of Rats, no White Witch, gods help me, no Elizabethan. Nothing that takes half an hour to put on, or requires multiple props or major makeup. Z will be my costume prop this year!

You've already seen the Sarah and Toby plan; I'm also doing Jessica Rabbit, with Z in a bunny-eared hat. Z also has a Star Trek onesie and numerous other geeky designs--robots, rocket ships, etc.

The big costuming project this year is Cordelia Naismith's Betan Survey fatigues. The jacket is ready to go, with commander's tabs, a Betan Survey patch from Steve Salaba on one shoulder, and a big "Naismith, C." stenciled on one side. I've got a visored cap with a Greek letter B on the front (to echo that patch), a dollar store ray gun spray painted silver, and even scored a pair of used Timberland work boots at a flea market.

The only problem has been the pants. I got a pair of tan cargo pants on eBay, but they were a slightly darker shade of tan than the jacket. So I thought I'd bleach them. They are now orange. I don't know how this happened.

So I found another pair on eBay and figured, hey, for 8 bucks, I'll try again. But though the auction ended, and I paid, 10 days ago, the new pants are nowhere to be seen. I'm getting nervous. Does anyone have a pair of women's size L (12-14) tan cargo pants I can borrow?

(And yes, Z will be in a Vorkosigan-crested onesie.)

UPDATE: I finally heard from the eBay seller, who says he shipped them priority mail yesterday, so I should get them in time. *fingers crossed*

Somehow a lot of volunteer opportunities have landed in my lap all at once. Normally I'm not so join-y, but when stuff comes up I know I can do and would enjoy--well, why not?

The director of the local English Country Dance weekend, Fandango, was looking for someone to shoot pictures of the event. Since it gets me in free, and I have this big fancy camera I never get to use--why not? I may even dance a few sets. (Of course, this means I have to actually learn to use the big fancy camera.)

The really fun ones, though, are at DragonCon. I'm going to be on not one, but two panels. One on Lois Bujold's Miles books--and I may end up the moderator of that one--and one on Anne McCaffrey's Pern novels. The Weyrfest track director thought it would be neat to do readings from one of the novels in several languages, and compare the translations. Yours truly is the French reader. I also volunteered for German if they can't find someone more fluent. :D

I've got this idea that it would be fun to costume for the panels. SCA garb + shoulder dragon will do for Pern--if I carry a mandolin, I might even pass for Menolly. But it's hard to costume for Barrayar without going full-out military--civilians on Barrayar seem to dress like standard upper class Regency or Edwardian types, so how can you tell who the costume's supposed to be? Not only do I have little interest in military costumes, all those fitted uniform jackets are difficult sewing, esp two months before the con. Yeah, there's a military surplus store downtown, but that's a serious layout of money.

No, this doesn't make me a guest--you have to have more rarified types of expertise than mine to score a guest pass to DC. But it should be more fun than sitting in the audience.