All Hallows Eve

A very happy All Hallow' Eve to everyone!  I think I mentioned this last year, but I've always preferred "All Hallows Eve" to "Halloween".  It has such a mysterious ring.  It is reminiscent of wood smoke and moonlit fields, and I like the old tradition of it being a night to remember the dead.  "Halloween" is reminiscent of candy and latex, and has become too much of a platform for selling rubber outfits and horror films.  I do enjoy dressing up, and won the local costume contest two years ago for my costume, "Going Postal", which involved a tutu I made out of electric blue bubble wrap, decorated with many postage stamps and postal stickers.  In any case, I enjoy the holiday, and tonight I shall light a few candles, hand out candy to the adorable midgets who come to my door, and spend some time thinking of those who have gone before me.

Costumes and a Karaoke Man

This past week has been more than a little crazy, and this weekend I'm a bridesmaid for a friend's wedding.  Consequently, not much time for blogging, particularly since my newly rekindled self-discipline requires me to spend my spare time on the novel first, before the blog.  Yesterday, as I had a couple of free hours, this self-discipline led me to pack up my laptop and walk down to the park.  This method has worked very well for me lately.  I give myself a designated amount of time, I get to be outdoors in the sun, barefoot in the grass, and free from distractions.  Sans laundry, sans sewing, sans bills, sans internet access.

Yesterday, however, I realized I had unwittingly picked the one day of the entire summer when KaraokeMan sets up on the park stage.  I don't know his name, or why he does it, or anything else about him except that one day every summer he sets up a karaoke machine and belts out a motley collection of songs in the Chewelah city park.

I went around to the side of the park behind the stage, on the other side of the creek, where the music was not quite so loud, and settled down to write.  Wrote through a selection of ABBA tunes with slowly ebbing enthusiasm, which slowed to a drip as he started in on Whistle While You Work.  Then he started yodeling, and I gave up in despair, shut off my computer, and set out for home again just as he was settling in with Who Wears Short Shorts.

I just realized that I promised more costuming photos some time ago.  Here is one with three of my solo costumes.  Costumes for solos are the most fun, because you don't have to worry about being able to duplicate anything.  I'm in the center, with Lexie and Megan on either side.

The Next Step

My rewrite is finished, and two copies of the manuscript have been printed and given to two new readers.  One step closer.  Now I have to start working up my nerve for the really difficult part: the selling.  I like doing signings.  You don't have to talk much, besides smiling and saying "thank you" or "what name should I put on it?".  When my mom and I were actively working at selling An Amazing Alphabetic Anthology, we went several times to speak to a second grade class in Spokane.  The teacher had discovered our book herself and loved it.  She had several copies in her classroom and three years running she had us come in and talk to her class.  That was lovely, but it was especially nice because it wasn't just me alone.  Also, the kids were fantastic.  The first time we did it we didn't really know what to expect, and the two other authors who were there had perfectly planned presentations worked up.  We started out just talking about the book, but the kids had so many questions (really intelligent questions too) about it that we just turned it into a Q & A session, and they loved it.  Then another year the teacher had the second-graders pair up with the fifth-graders and each took a letter of the alphabet and made up their own stories.  The Chewelah elementary schools did something very similar.  I have four books, put together by the kids with their own illustrations, inspired by our book.  I've seldom felt so proud, or so honored.  Now, if I could get into doing things like that for my novel, I would be so pleased.


On another note, my ballet teacher has been working on choreography for a new piece (one that we're all very excited about) and has asked me to design costumes for it.  Talking to her about the music and the particular feel of the piece, it sounds as though we have a very similar vision for it, which is splendid.  It's amazing how well the process flows when you're in tune in that way and you're not just trying to match your design to someone else's vision.  I can't wait to start working on them.

Beverages and Costuming

I just realized that it's been a week and a half since my last post.  In my defense, I've been quite busy this week.  Still...flaky.  I don't have much time now, since I'll be rushing off to work soon.  Beverage cart today (meaning I get to drive around the course serving drinks) and the weather looks like it might rain, or might clear off and be gorgeous.  Oh, wait, I think it is starting to rain.  Good thing I like the rain.  But will the golfers?  That is the question.  I can't say I've ever considered the opinions of golfers so much before, at least, not so much as to think of them whenever a good storm came on.


Here is a photo (taken before our recent show) of us in the costumes I created for one of our dances, Clouds Below Your Knees.

More soon!

Today has been more productive, and as a result I feel rather ashamed of my purposeless fit of yesterday.  I finished the little girls' canary costumes (photo below) and am convinced that they will look positively adorable.  Not a difficult prediction, as they nearly always do.  Now all I need to do is fix the length on our costumes, finish off the tutu for Megan's solo, and create five headpieces.  Oh, and figure out a headpiece for my solo.  Actually that sounds like a lot.  But not really considering what it was before.

The Joys of Costume Fittings

Had a costume fitting today.  I've really been enjoying fitting the girls, creating something and spending time with each of them.  They come to my house an hour or two before class, and stand in my living room while I drape them in fabric and sew things and we sip tea or coffee and watch watch Cirque du Soleil dvds.  They are such wonderful girls, all of them, and don't seem to mind me sewing things onto their bodies.  Photos of the costumes hopefully coming soon.

Encouragement

Yesterday found me rather gleeful, as I received an email from the 100 Words or Less Contest containing the evaluation of my story.  I still won't know the outcome of the contest until the middle of May, but I did well in the evaluation (66 out of 70) and that's always splendid to hear even if a cash prize isn't involved (though it is nicer if one is).


So I'm feeling a little better about the world in general today.  I also get to sew feathers onto little girls' canary costumes, which always creates a bright spot.

...with an apology for the longer-than-usual delay.

I did mean to post yesterday.  Then our internet went down for the last half of the day and my plans were foiled.  This weekend was strangely unweekendish, full of things that on their own are rather nice but crammed all together make a big mess, like trying to squeeze leftovers into too small of a container.  So now it's back to the weekly grind, and my brain feels stagnant and overwhelmed at once, full of things I want to do and write but too tired to do more than think of them.


We danced for a fundraiser Saturday night... always a good time.  Rehearsals begin in earnest next week for our show in May.  I'm also doing a fair bit of costuming this year.  Yes, it's piling more on the plate, but dancing rests my mind even while it wearies my body, and sewing for dancing is the best kind.


The weather today has been a mix of snow and sun and rain.  It mirrors my mood and helps to bring me back in tune with life.  It is people who muddle me the most.  Looking down at the world from my imaginary tower I can feel in harmony with all, yet set me down amongst them and it is a different matter.  Down on the ground they confuse and intrigue me, fascinate and disgust me, amuse and frighten me.  I long to hide from their staring eyes.  And yet I know I am one of them.  I cannot escape humanity until I can escape myself.  Therein lies the conundrum.

All Hallow's Eve

This will be the first year of my life when I've lived in a place at all accessible to trick-or-treaters, and we've loaded up on candy for the purpose, so I hope some will come, or Aaron and I shall be forced to eat it all ourselves.  Ah, the torture!

Costume party at Sporty's last night.  I have to say, crowded bars are not usually my scene.  I mean, I like going out for drinks and fun, but could dispense with the lack of breathing room and the necessity of yelling in order to be heard.  However, the annual Costume Party at Sporty's is my exception.  Sometimes it seems like the whole town comes, and it's always fun to see the costumes everyone chooses.

I prefer, "All Hallow's Eve" to "Halloween", I guess because it has more of an old-world feel to it, and makes me think of bonfires lit on the hills, and warmth, laughter and dancing, earth and air and growing things, and mystery.  "Halloween" makes me think of fake spider's webs and department stores that smell like plastic, and latex, and spandex, and fear.  All Hallow's Eve, All Soul's Night, the night before All Saint's day.  Mystery, not fear.