Better now

BPoT #180:

A good book after a long day.

I may have already posted something to this effect (in fact I really think I did but it doesn't matter!), but this is just such a great feeling that it deserves more recognition. I had such a frustrating day today trying to finagle my rosalina dress, which is now mostly sewn together, to hang right, but it obstinately persists to be crooked no matter what I pin where. I wasn't even going to post today because I was so frustrated until I started reading The Golden Compass by Philip Pullman. It only took me six pages to calm down and realize, these are the days when I need this blog the most: when it seems like everything went wrong and the world is suddenly against you, that's when you need to find the one little thing that was pretty good and hang on to it until you get to a new day.

Much done, much still to do

BPoT #179:

Finishing one and starting another.

Today I finished my kimono costume for Yukina from Yu Yu Hakusho. I put the finishing touches on her blue obi belt and the big bow in the back and then went on facebook to relax for a bit and relieve my back from all the bending over that pinning and sewing requires. That's when I saw that Otakon is less than a week away and I hadn't even started my second costume yet! I know it seems a little overambitious to make two costumes, but since my sister already had made a Princess Peach costume, I wanted to make a Mario-themed Princess dress to match, so I decided on Rosalina from Super Mario Galaxy.

That's when I made an executive to finish Yukina's red hair-bow after I had the majority of Rosalina's costume finished as well. I figured it made sense to make all the accessories together anyway, since I would have to make Rosalina's wand, crown and earrings as well. Not to mention I still have to find shoes for both costumes.

I didn't realize this at first, but Rosalina's costume seems to be a bit more complicated than Yukina's and I probably should have started with hers; Yukina's kimono was essentially a robe and a wide belt with bow in the back, but Rosalina's dress involves a semi-off-the-shoulder neckline and wide sleeves with trim, a sipper closure, and a little peak at the bottom revealing a curtain of silver fabric.

But my sister wanted us to do our kimonos together first since she's doing a matching pink one for the character of Botan from the same show and she's already off teaching band camp, leaving me to complete my costumes on my own. There's nothing I could do about it now anyway, so I cut out all pieces and sewed half of them together. Hopefully tomorrow will show the same (if not more) progress!

An adorable aquatic activity

BPoT #178:

Baby baths.

One of the cutest things I have ever seen was to give the 2 year old girl I babysit a bath. I'm happy to say that the stereotype of kids hating baths is not true in my neighbor's case. She regaled with such verses of "I'm on ocean, swimming on a boat" and "If I was a mermaid I'd put jellyfish in the water." It's a good thing they're cute; putting kids to bed is way more difficult than bathtime.

A juicy one?

BPoT #177:

A contradiction.

At last the production of Will Shakespeare's A Comedy of Errors that I've been working on has concluded. Coupled with the end of the Potter series, I'm having a serious feeling of bittersweetness over the abrupt end of my daily exercises with a close group of awesome people. While it wasn't a surprise in either case, I still kind of miss it. (I think I miss HP a little more because that is well and truly over, while I will be able to work on another show next summer, but still.)

Yet, notice the "kind of." I didn't have anything pressing to do today (I could make two corny puns about sewing or the Royal Shakespeare warm-up, but I won't. Unless anyone asks.) I worked on my costume for Otakon, and then watched Design Star, House Hunters, the Daily Show and the Colbert Report. It was pretty nice.

It's all good (most of the time)

BPoT #176:

A long day in a good way.

There are few worse things than a painfully long day that seems endless and yet you seem to get nothing done. But there are few better things than a great day that seemed to breeze by as you get work done, have a great hangout, get more work done, and still get to bed early. I often wish all days could be like this, but like I always say, life is a balance, and you need a couple of bad days in order in to know what a great day is.

Sara's BPoT

Hello all. This is Sara, Eliza's super totally awesome sister, for those of you that didn't know she had a sister. Eliza kindly offered to let me write in her blog and I happily obliged. I know her blog is supposed to be about a great thing that happens to her each day...but many great things happened to me today so I'm going to tell you about them! First, Eliza and I went out and bought the remainder of our accessories needed to finish our costumes for Otakon!!! If you don't know what Otakon is you should probably stop reading this blog and look it up immediately...yes, it is that important. Second, we went to the mall and the mall is always great but today I treated myself to a wonderfully pink colored nail polish. Now, nail polish might not seem that great but I've wanted a new polish color for a long time. And by long I mean like over a year, and my birthday happens to be this Thursday, so I figured why not treat myself to an early present! :happy dance: Lastly, I went out to dinner tonight with my best friend from high school that I haven't seen for years! Not only was it wonderful to see her catch up, but I got to eat my favorite food - sushi - and drink bubble tea!!! Which is also amazing and if you don't know what that is you should DEFINITELY stop reading this blog and look it up. Now.

And that is the end of my fantabulous day.

Enjoy :)

BPoT #173-5:

Having my sister save my butt.

Lately I've been consumed with trying to complete my first costume for Otakon, start (and finish) my second, all the while going to Shakespeare camp everyday. Though fun, it's been pretty tiring. That's why it was lovely when I was sitting in front of a blank screen, wondering how I was going to make up for three days of laziness, when my dear sister suddenly took an uncharacteristic interest in my blog and I gladly turned it over while I continued to half doze, half watch Cupcake Wars ^_^

That's the way it is

BPoT #172:

Figuring it out.

One of the most annoying kinds of problem is one in which you know there is a solution but you just can't figure out how to get there. It's not like a situation where there seems to be no way; yes, this is frustrating, scary even, but at least you can think in the back of your mind Well, maybe there is no solution! Ironic as this may sound, the lack of a solution is sometimes more comforting than thinking that you're just not intelligent enough to realize the solution which you know exists.

This kind of problem is one of those little metal puzzles that taunts you by looking small and simple, but is infuriatingly complex. The easy way out is to throw up your hands and says it's impossible, even when you know it's not. It's the kind of problem in which you sit and stare at the source of your problem, hoping for a way through to manifest.

But the sheer vexation the problem causes is also the reason for the immense satisfaction you receive when you finally see the through. You might feel a little dumb at first for not knowing the answer right away, but tough luck, life sucks (sometimes). Life usually isn't a straight, well lit and nicely paved path but who'd want it that way anyway? Without trials, there'd be nothing to define triumph. You have to know failure in order to experience success.

Key change

BPoT [Tuesday] #170:

Frugality.

I do like shopping, but most of the time I hate spending money. That is why I am the sale MASTER. I hardly ever buy anything full price. Patience is the corresponding virtue here, because instead of spending more money to have something right that second, you can wait for it be marked down, and take the chance that the one you want will still be there, whether it be bag in the color or a shirt in that size. I recently rediscovered a shirt I had really wanted but declined to pay for. It was a size large, but for $6.99 I was just happy to find it again.

BPoT #171:

Praise from your mentor.

I have worked at the same Shakespeare summer program for 4 straight years now. It is the best summer job one could have. I love teaching middle school kids about Shakespeare and seeing them pull together a full-fledged production in 3 weeks, and working backstage just like I did in high school except that we work completely outside, but mostly I love my director. She is my idol. She is one of the friendliest, most knowledgeable and best-dressed women I know and I wish I could be her assistant dramaturg forever.

Today she pulled me aside and told me she was so proud of how far I'd come in the four years I've worked with her and how much I've learned and have been able to bring to the program. And then she hugged me. Suddenly I felt like my heart had turned into the sun and it was going to blaze through my skin if I didn't let it out through the biggest smile I could manage.

Irony by the sea

BPoT #169:

Seaglass.

And other seaside sundries. Today after I had kayaked out to a little rocky island in the middle of Long Island Sound I was enthralled by the vast quantity of whole shells with mother of pearl, sand and see smoothed shards of blue and green seaglass and enormous hunks of whole quartz. These treasures and their immense quantity far outweighed the meagre bits that drifted ashore at the main beach. With the salt water slowly sliding off my sunblocked skin and the sun, even slower, trying to dry my wet bathing suit, I suddenly I felt I was on vacation at a caribbean island.

I was also reminded of an ironic moment in Avatar: The Last Airbender when one of the characters, and older man called Iroh, brings in an armful of shells to his sullen Nephew, Zuko, saying "I will treasure these keepsakes for years to come!" Iroh was clearly pleased with himself, but Zuko snapped "We don't need any more useless things!"

Zuko was right, there isn't much they could have done with a bunch of shells. But in my case, every piece of mother of pearl I picked up, I thought about how I could make it into a piece of jewelry and add it to my homemade jewelry collection that I often sell. In the case of the bigger chunks of rocks and seaglass, it's true that they won't have any value past that day. Any intrinsic value, that is. And that doesn't matter. If a keepsake has value for one day only, it's still of worth. It gave the keeper enjoyment of that day, and happiness is always worth something.

Three item's the charm

BPoT #168:

Three-in-ones.

Any kind. They could be triple feature DVD's, three volume books, 3-in-1 dip containers. It could be Banana-Orange-Mango juice, a chocolate chip-oatmeal-raisin cookie or a buy-2-get-1-free deal. Anytime you get more than one thing in a single package it's triple the trouble and by trouble I mean AWESOMENESS.