Let's get Steampunked!

I’ve mentioned so many times that I love cosplay. I love dressing up. Being a hardcore nerd is the best way for me! I go to comic conventions, comic store events, even some movies are made to dress up for if you go to opening night! I know I wanted to dress up more for Star Wars: The Force Awakens.

And with me, I don’t do store bought costumes unless I modify them. I think the best costumes are the ones you make yourself. The ones you add personalization and characteristics that are specific to you! Make it your own design by adding your own flair and style. Whether you change the characters hair color or add jewelry, there is always something that you can tweak to make it original. I mean, let’s face it, no one likes going to a con when everyone around is in cookie cutter versions of the characters.  

Now if I can start from scratch and build up from just a couple items of regular clothing, I’m definitely going that option. One of the first things I ever had made was a long, hooded cape. I bought the materials and had them shipped to a seamstress I met in eBay who sold me a piece she replicated from the Star Wars movie of that time. To this day, it is one of my all-time favorites. I could build so many costumes around just that one piece.  But enough about that…

Lately, my passion has geared towards steampunk (pun intended). Where the future meets the past, where creativity and functionality clash in a gloriously beautiful mix. Gears, skeleton keys, bronze-stained colors, and your ideas of where the future could take us combine to make some really amazing mixtures. I got a steampunk costume for a review. It is cute. But it is lacking. So I have decided to expand its amazing horizons by creating weapons that would match its genre.

I picked up some Nerf-like weapons and some Rustoleum paints with my boyfriend, who is working on turning his Nerf ax into a zombie-hunting accessory to his Umbrella Corps cosplay.

I also have a couple guns I’m doing for the Lara Croft look I’ve been planning for ages!

And I gotta say, I’m super excited about them so far. Especially after running into a friend of mine who’s dad has a bunch of skeleton keys he might part with…  

My boyfriend and I spent one night starting the modifications.

We aren't done yet, but I'm liking where they are so far.

Gotta love free pancakes!

Took the kids out to IHOP last night.

You can't pass up 3 hot, free pancakes... Although we had to wait 35 minutes to get to a table... But the kids ate and I didn't have to cook or clean up. 

It was completely satisfying. And they will be having another cool special for St. Patrick's day. 

So wear green and get your pancake face on! Don't forget to tip the waitress, be patient with them and have fun. 

The Mask is on

Do you ever feel that every day and every moment needs to be portrayed as going well? That you have to keep up good appearances to the world around you better? That’s my outlook. The world has enough darkness. There is enough pain, hurt, and sadness to go around. So someone has to shine through it all. Someone has to offer that glimpse of joy that makes others smile. I’m not a clown, by any means. I’m the complete opposite actually. I’m not full of jokes. I’m sarcastic. I don’t like people. I like being alone. It doesn’t help me get out of the darkness when I’m alone, but it helps to avoid making it worse when the people who are offering advice or trying to help only make it worse…

You know that saying, “Sometimes the ones who smile the most, are the ones who hurt the most on the inside”? It’s true. They put on a mask and always give off that happy-go-lucky attitude that is expected of them. Do you ever wonder how they do it? Here’s a secret… they sometimes cry themselves to sleep.

When they have a bad day, they try not to include anyone in it. They tell themselves its fine. Everyone has bad days and they all come to an end. They take every task in the queue, one by one, and get through it. Someone smiles at them, they smile back. Someone asks how they are doing, they answer with “doing good, thanks”. And for the most part, no one notices that it is all an act. Why? Why can’t people see through it?! I tell myself that it is because I’ve gotten good at the act. I’ve practiced it so well. Got it down to the last faked laugh. Then I finally collapse at the end of the day and hope for a better day tomorrow. I cry and tell myself to stop being so pathetic. If I slip up and actually talk to someone about what is going, I feel worse. Not only am I feeling bad, but I’m telling someone else and they will probably feel bad. I’m spreading the bad instead of promoting good. I’m burdening them. They can’t do anything about it. They can’t offer anything more than, “It’s going to be okay”, “Just breathe, you got this”, or “It happens, get over it”. That last one is my favorite. Why? It further reminds me I’m sounding like a pathetic whiner. “Cry yourself a river, build yourself a bridge, and get over it.”

Today started off all wrong and has continued to go uphill. Haven’t even hit the crest yet. On the radio, they said today was National “Get Over It” Day. Sorta fits. Tell myself to get over it. Stuff is hitting the fan and I have to suck it up. Put on the big girl panties and throw back. Right? That’s not how I feel inside though. But that’s how I’m trying to look on the outside. I’ve quit answering the text messages. Not talking to anyone on Facebook. I’ve decided to put the walls up and take the battering rams out against the projects I’m faced with. It will be a long day. And I know that eventually it has to end. Until then, I’ll put on the mask. I will be that light in the darkness. I don’t suggest walking towards my light though. Just take it as a beacon of hope through the chaotic seas of the daily grind. If I slip, and the weakness I feel within shows, just act like you didn’t catch it. For the sake of my pride.
Have a great day, folks! It can’t last forever.

“Humility doesn’t mean you think less of yourself, but that you think of yourself less.”

“Humility doesn’t mean you think less of yourself, but that you think of yourself less.” Facing Your Giants

Read that statement again. What does it mean to you?

I’m still reading Facing Your Giants by Max Lucado. The latest chapter I’ve finished was on the above point. We get so caught up in ourselves, our doings, in our accomplishments… that we think of ourselves as being higher and mightier than others. Do you ever think you are better than the waitress at your favorite restaurant?  Do you get annoyed with the flight attendant when she takes too long to bring your drink or forgets your blanket? Do you get irate when the cashier makes a mistake on your order? I know I have. I’m in a hurry. Maybe I know how to do their job more efficiently than they do. Maybe I just ran out of patience. And let’s face it, I’m the client. You serve me. My needs come as a priority. Don’t they?

What other ways do I feel superior? Maybe when faced with someone who truly is stupid? Let’s clarify something before I move on from that though… Ignorance is the absence of information. Stupidity is the presence of knowledge but the refusal to use it. Know anyone like that? So let’s say I am forced to interact with them. What’s the attitude I find myself taking? You got it. I’m better than they are. I can do that better than they can.

But what should I be doing? Remembering that I am no better than anyone else would be a great start. That some people are “special” and should be treated as such. I’m not any more than anyone else in this world. I am me. I’ll admit, I am talented. I am intelligent. I won’t boast about it, though. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve argued with friends that I’m nothing special. Its this mindset that I need to stay in. I need to stay humble.

Lucado goes on to say that we should come down to the lower levels with our pride. When we rise too high, we can't hear or see others. We miss what is truly going on because we are too caught up in ourselves. "You'll be amazed what you hear and who you see. And you'll breathe a whole lot easier." You won't be trying to always impress others. You can just be you.

I don't think of myself as being less. I just need to think of myself less.

 

hu·mil·i·ty

[(h)yo͞oˈmilədē]

 

NOUN

1. a modest or low view of one's own importance; humbleness.