Ok, I REALLY need to be sewing right now (cause it's already 6:30...eep!) but I know it's a long time since I updated so here I go with a quick one:

Zach and I had massive fun in MA. We decided to skip going to Six Flags (cause it was hot and I didn't feel like walking around all day) and went to IKEA on our way home instead. Yay IKEA!

I had my last day at Pier 1 yesterday (OHTHANKTHELORD) and I have an interview for the job I want on Monday. Wish me luck! I REALLY WANT IT! Zach's geting re-re-deployed in October (I think my head will fall off) so I want this job to help me get through the next freaking year.

I'm a finalist in the Dobby's! Check it out, yo!: HPFF Best AU Story  Please go vote for me if you have an account there! Yay! I WANT TO WIN!! Don't let the "V for Vendetta" CROSSOVER beat me!

Zach and I are headed to the Sterling Renaissance Faire on Saturday, so that's why I have sewing to do (still.) I'm mostly done, though, so I'll be sure to post copious pictures!

I seem to be now known as the resident "Twilight" hater at Borders, which I find very amusing. Almost as amusing as listening to my co-workers try to defend "Breaking Dawn." Lol. It's great! Random loser Renny moment here: Today at work I got down a box of forks and I seriously thought to myself, "Heh heh, maybe Edward lives in here...Heh heh." It was a combination of !fail and !omgwtfthat'sfunny... (Now I feel sorry, Nanners, for sending you "Twilight." It's an ok book for someone your age (no offense) but otherwise you're better of reading manga! Yay for manga! Oh crap-a-doodle I have like 12 of Silvana's mangas that I need to read and get back to her...)

Ok, there's probably lots else I'm forgetting here but I need to get on the sewing machine now. My time is pretty much booked solid until Saturday so I have no more time to slack off! Go Renny go! Go make your blouse! Ack!

So, since I'm trying to be better at posting, I thought I'd post a quickie before work. Zach had the day off so I'm eating YUMMY French Toast and bacon, which is sugoi! Let's see...well, on Sunday we went to Big Lots (cause we are LOSERS) just for fun cause it was right next to Quiznos where we went to lunch, and I totally found the dvd of Beat Takeshi's "Brother" for three freaking dollars!! It was soooo cool! "Brother" is a really awesome Japanese movie about a yakuza who is banished from Tokyo so he goes to LA to find his younger brother, who is in a sort of little gang there. Basically the whole movie is about how violence begets more violence. I normally don't like action or ganster movies at all, but something about Beat Takeshi's movies just make them soooo interesting. Amazon lists the price as $22, so getting it for 3 was pretty neat-o :)

I'm currently reading Tanith Lee's "Flat Earth Series" and I'm almost done with the first book, Night's Master. The book is soooo good, but anything written by Tanith Lee is bound to be. The book is three parts and each part contains about 3 stories that flow into each other and all have something to do with Azhrarn, the Prince of Demons (who is HOT HOT HOT!). Though all of her books are amazing to read, this one is exceptionally imaginative with absolutely gorgeous descriptions. Every time I read one of her books I just get so insanely jealous that one person could think up so many beautiful things. *sigh*

So...I *finally* started working on my new faire dress last night. I drafted a pattern for my bloomers I'm going to wear underneath (which are going to be black linen to match my short chemise...yay!) and I cut out muslin pieces so I can sew those up and see if the pattern actually works ;) OK, well, I have to go to work now, which makes me a sad panda. I don't want to go! Oh well, at least I updated!

Hoo...ok. SO here I am again. Updating like, what, twice in a week or so? IT'S MADNESS!! So, er, not much going on, you know, like always. Working and working, and when I'm not working I'm usually playing "Persona 3: FES" or sleeping. I've already pumped 85 odd hours into Persona, which is very sad. At least it's something I feel like playing, cause there really isn't anything else. I still haven't even OPENED "Lost in Blue 3" and I got mad at "Silent Hill: Origins" about five minutes into the game so I haven't continued with that since then. I think I'm done with polygamy books for the moment, and I'm slowly making my way back into fantasy. Just finished reading Diana Wynne Jones' new book, "House of Many Ways" which actually is the direct sequel to "Howl's Moving Castle," though I think it definitely helps to read "Castle in the Air" in between the two or else you're like, WTF did this small child come from? Hehehe...I love Howl, but definitely not as much as Chrestomanci. Chrestomanci is definitely probably in the top 3 of all-time hugest literary crushes. Reading that book made me want to re-read "Howl's Moving Castle" so that's what I'm doing right now. I finally read my  "Tail of the Moon" manga #11, which I was rather putting off because I know it's going to be a good month or so until I have the next one. I love that manga, but most of the time I'm yelling at it, "When the &#@% are Usagi and Hanzo going to DO IT already??" I want them to have numerous little ninja babies running around! I'm actually pretty behind on my other mangas. I've been buying all of the "NANA"'s, but I haven't really read since like #6 or something...I'm also behind in "The Wallflower" and am pretty much stagnant in "From Far Away" and "The Queen's Knight," which Sylvana has offered to let me borrow but I keep forgetting about it...I just also finished reading "The Last Hero," by Terry Pratchett, which was nice cause I never really got over finishing the Discworld books. Dammit, I need LOTS MORE LORD VETINARI! Cause he's hot in my mind. And doesn't look like the pictures I've seen of him...He has a ponytail, I swear it!! I think he actually looks like an older Chrestomanci in my head, actually...

I've got most of my fabric for my next Ren dress, now it's just a matter of making myself sit down and MAKE the darn thing. I also need to remember to put in requests for time off at work for next month. Zach has about 20 days of block leave, but I keep forgetting that I DON'T, so I need to actually take time off as well so we can go camping and go to the Faire. I think it's going to be hella awesome...I'm really excited, and I know my dress will look HOT. You know, once it's made. Cause right now it's sitting as yards and yards of fabric in Jo-Ann's Fabrics bags. Dang. I don't want to sew...bleh.

So, since I missed a couple members of BUCK-TICK's birthdays (like Acchan! I don't think I did a REAL tribute to ACCHAN!) I'm going to do a MASSIVE shout out to Hidehiko here:


So, speaking of BUCK-TICK, I think I need to reiterate how FREAKING AWESOME THEY ARE!

I've finally FORCED myself to update. It's really quite silly how long I went without updating, but there really wasn't a whole lot to talk about! Zach was gone for over a month doing JRTC in Louisiana, so that really sucked. I spent a lot of time just watching Netflix movies and playing Persona 3: FES (which is a really addicting game, though I don't think I'd ever play through it again...)

So what else is new...hmm hmm hmm...I've been REALLY interested in polygamy lately and I've read some amazing books written by women who were forced into plural marriages then later escaped from it. I've been learning a lot about the Fundamentalist Latter Day Saints (FLDS) church, which is the group that's been on the news a lot lately with Warren Jeff's trial and the kids seized from the Yearn for Zion ranch in Texas. I TOTALLY recommend these books I've read to anyone who basically really wants to better appreciate their own lives, especially if you're like me and married to a totally wonderful, loving man (and you're the only wife!):

"Shattered Dreams: My Life as a Polygamist's Wife" by Irene Spencer
"Escape" by Carolyn Jessop
"Stolen Innocence: My Story of Growing Up in a Polygamous Sect, Becoming a Teenage Bride, and Breaking Free of Warren Jeffs" by Elissa Wall

I'm still reading Elissa Wall's book right now, which is the most relevant for me because she's actually four years YOUNGER than I am. I liked reading all of these books because each one is written by a woman from a different generation, so you can slowly see the evolution of the FLDS church from being slightly more tolerant and "normal" to being the totalitarian hell created by Warren Jeffs. So, yeah, I definitely recommend these books, if only to become aware of a culture that exists in modern day America which I didn't even know about. I also watched the first two seasons of "Big Love," the show on HBO that is about a polygamous family living in the Salt Lake City suburbs. It's really a great show, and reading the books helped me to better understand how life was like on "the compound" and also the subtle parallels the show makes between the relationship of Roman Grant and his son Albert to Rulon Jeffs and his son Warren. Definitely a really interesting show and I'm looking forward to the third season (whenever they get around to airing it...bleh.)

Um...what else...I'm (slowly) starting work on a new Renaissance dress that I hope to have finished by next month for the Sterling Faire. It's going to be red and HOT! Well, hot in both senses of the word...I'm going to make it totally without commercial patterns, so this will be my first big foray into that way of sewing. I'm going to be making the bodice basically from the pattern I drafted for my Elizabethan corset, so at least I'll sort of be familiar with that. I'm going to make it sleeveless, but also going to sew removable straps that I can attach to the shoulders if I feel like changing it up. I want to make the entire dress reversible, too, so it's going to take a LOT of planning. I want to sew the whole thing with French seams (phew!) if I can...and also I'm going to do cartridge pleating on the skirt. All in all I think it's going to look really cool when I'm done. I'll make sure to post some pictures. I have the fabric already for the outside of the dress, so I need lining and also fabric to make a chemise and maybe also an underskirt. Phew. I'm going to be busy!

So today I'm off from work so I'm going to check out a fabric store a few miles away to see if they have anything. The Joann's around here is pretty ghetto, though I heard the Wal-Mart (eeeew!) near the mall has a decent fabric department so I *might* check that out if I am just totally desperate. It's been DISGUSTINGLY hot here the past few days...upper 80's with about 99% humidity. It's not *too* bad out today, though, and the heat is supposed to break on Wednesday. Yesterday Zach and I went to the little zoo right down the street from us (which actually had a lot of animals...very cool!) then we went and got ice cream so it was like we had a real little date instead of sitting around playing video games all day! I've been working a LOT of hours the past two weeks, so it's definitely nice to have a couple of days off. I also have Friday off, which is good, but also not good cause that means my paycheck is going to be smaller next time around.

Ok, wel, I definitely updated, so I think I'm going to get dressed and head over to that fabric store now. Hoping it isn't this tiny shack filled with quilting material, but it can't hurt to check it out. Hope all my LJ buds are doing well!