Inside the shell

A quick post filled with photos of the new bow. Very excited to take this out for a spin the next week or so. 3D shoot tomorrow, Royal Round practice on Monday, and GNEW next weekend.




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 i read this great article yesterday in Architect magazine about how there are still not many women in high-level positions in development firms and the architectural firms that work with them.  It was very thoughtfully written and did not blame either 'male chauvinist pigs' or 'flighty women' for the disparity.

Then I went to my afternoon meeting and this happened:

The contractor on our latest project asked, just before the formal start of our meeting after we were all sitting down, where my boss was.  When I said that he had another meeting to attend, this contractor complained that he (my boss) was getting full of himself, and was doing that thing big architects do where they attend all the prelim meetings and then once you get started you get the B team and never see them again.  Now, to be fair a) he is right, that is how many firms operate, and to some extent what happened here. b) I have worked with this guy many times in the past and I am sure he was mostly joking around, as this fits his sense of humor. Still, I did not appreciate being dissed like that in front of my clients. I tried not to react, but I am afraid I was a bit obviously miffed at him about it.

After the meeting we hashed out a few details in the field, after which he asked me why a was dressed up so nice.  I was mostly just confused, because in many years of working with him, he had never once commented on my looks. Then in the parking lot, while I was talking with one of the clients, he drove by and complemented me on how I looked again, and it dawned on my that he was trying to make up for making me pissed at the beginning of the meeting, and this is the best way he can think of to do that.

I really don't want to be mad at the guy, it wasn't that bad a thing to start with, and being pissy will just be counter-productive, so I laugh, and explain that the suite he likes is really over 14 years old, and I am just luck these things don't go out of style.

Later I realized just how badly we all screwed that one up. Firstly, he did not do himself any favors as all the clients in the room when he made his initial remarks and the one I was talking to in the parking lot, were all women.  Not that the B-team crack was particularly sexist, just that I think it was a type of joke that would have been funnier to a room full of men. And the making up via compliments on my clothes and shoes? All said from the rolled down window of his Cadillac? Well the woman I was talking to wasn't smiling.  

On the other hand, I didn't come out looking very good either. First I was obviously too rattled by an off-hand comment before the meeting, not good for the professional image, or for the image of women as too emotional. And later, when he apologizes by commenting on my looks, I LET HIM GET AWAY WITH IT.  In front of a female client no less.

I think that great article I read may have given us too much credit all around.

 I saw the Avengers last night.  I wasn't originally planning to, but there was so much buzz about it, from so many different types of people, that I decided I needed to see it. (Helped along by the fact that I am currently being archery obsessive)

I loved it.  I mean, it's a comic book movie, there is no earth-shattering insight, or major cultural significance here.  It is nothing really but big hollywood commercialized escapism.  Which it does very very well.  It has all the pieces, which is why I think it appeals so widely.  It has a story, the plot isn't complicated, and it shouldn't be in a movie with so much going on, but it is there.  It's got characters.  Helped here by have several other movies in which to develop them, but amazingly they manage to clearly include the major character points within the movie its self in a way that is clear to people who haven't seen the others (I hadn't).  It has full-bore dramatic heroic moments, plenty of light quips, action sequences you can actually follow without the benefit of years play computer games, and meaningful interaction both friendly and hostile between all the various characters.  It looked cool.  It made you feel good.  The actors/actresses were hot.

Here is a movie that earned its record breaking money, not by doing one bit of movie making better that it had ever been done before, but by doing all the bits to a very high standard.  I will pay it the highest compliment I am able.  I drove over 100miles round-trip and paid full-price for my ticket, and I don't regret doing so at all.  

A bit of luck and some nudging by others (you know who you are) had landed me in a pretty good position to do two of River Song's costumes for the GallifreyOne convention in February. (There will be Con pictures in a later post) By a few weeks into the new year I had finished a set of boot covers so that I could used the same boots for both, and my vortex manipuator of which I was pretty proud. Now I just needed to create her blaster, as River just wouldn't be River without it.



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That all makes it sound like I knew what I was doing, or that it went smoothly, but I futzed about with what bits to take off and put on for nearly two months.  I had no idea what glue to use, and ended up using about 5 different ones.  The clay had to dry over night, so I could only do small bits at a time, and it had to be glued on after it dried, despite being sticky when wet.  I was convinced it was never going to come out at all, had no idea what I was doing, and began to be crunched for time.  I guess that is why I am so very happy with it in the end.

 

( More pictures, info, and a question. )

 I just sat down a watched the first 1/4 of the new Sherlock.  Entertaining, but I am remembering the inherent problem in basing anything on the Irene Alder story.  See, I just had this conversation with my sister over the weekend, about how neither of us like the kind of story where you can see the train coming and know there is no way off the tracks.  Nearly every Sherlock Holmes story is the antithesis of this.  Sherlock as a character is competence porn in the extreme.  When first reading the stories this makes the few where something goes wrong very surprising and rather awesome.  However, if you know the canon, any rewrite of A Scandal in Bohemia is doomed to be an exercise in 'I can't look!'.

 I am disappointed that this in one of only three new episodes.  I may have to consume this one in small chunks, and hope the next is more to my personal tastes.  I'll let you know what I think when I finish watching it.

 Well, it has been way too long since I posted something here, and I really have no excuse.  I check this account every day.   I just didn't have anything to say.  And after a while, any thing you might say seems way to dumb to break a long silence with. I'm just not very good at this.  I hardly even call my mother!

Still, I have been working on my sewing skills, and since this few weeks are all the winter holidays, I have needed to finish off the projects that were intended as gifts.  Here are some pics for you guys.


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 So tomorrow I have to go back to work.  The concept seems a bit weird after a week off, especially since it isn't like I having been working hard while I was off.  I started the week with a cold, but a few days at the beach really seemed to help me fight it off, so I got back home feeling much better.  This was good because since then it has been all either painting the house or sewing for Pennsic.  The weather has been perfect for painting, even if I got more sun doing that then at the beach.  It was good to be outside, even if I thought my arms were going to fall off some mornings.

The sewing has also been fun, there is just a LOT of it to get done, and not much time left.  Sewing for Gallifrey or even Birka is all about quality, crafting one of two pieces you really want to show off.  Sewing for Pennsic is all bout volume.  You need to produce enough clothing to last you and another person for over a week (with no laundry available).  Even for those of us with something of an existing wardrobe, it is a challenge. And much of C's stuff is pretty old and worn.

( The current state of the Pennsic sewing list: )

 So I have caught the damn cold that seems to be going around everywhere.  How long does it take to get over a cold?  About 10 days.  How long am I off before I have to go back to work?  About 10 days.  I am SO MAD!!!!!

Got my new swim suite, hit all my weight-loss goals and most of my work-out ones, and I just want to curl up with tea.  

Fun, I was supposed to be having fun...craptastic crap!