We Caucused

Tuesday was our state caucuses.  Ruth is really interested in politics so she wanted to go to both.  At 6 I took her to party it up with the Democrats.  The Dems were so unorganized that by 7, when she was supposed to go to the Repubs with Chuck, we were still way way back in line.  We gave up on the Dems and I dropped off Ruth at the Repubs where Chuck was already in his meeting.  I thought of going back and voting at my caucus but decided it wasn't worth it (there were hundreds of people still in line when we left).  After 2 hours Ruth and Chuck came home. They said the Repubs were still debating and talking, but Chuck was able to vote so then he just left.   Yea for Democracy - boo for an outdated caucus system.

Comic Con

Another weekend of Comic Con has come and gone.  Ruth and I went all three days.  We did different cosplays each day, and on Friday Ruth also put in a couple hours at the cyberman.  There weren't as many panels this time that interested us, but we did see Levar Burton, Summer Glau, Dean Cain, Sylvester McCoy, and Peter Davidson, among others.   Most of the fun was in the cosplay and we were stopped a lot for pictures all three days.  The highlight was when we were able to meet up with some other cybermen and do some photos and work the crowds.  We were quite popular.

Saturday was the cosplay contest and it's what I've been working for for months.  I designed a costume specifically to compete in this contest, attempting to hit all the judging points (I've posted a little bit about my process on my cosplay blog. Msg me if you want the URL).   But when the final stage list came out that afternoon my name wasn't on it.  I was shocked.  And for the next two hours I wandered around the convention floor questioning myself, vacillating between wanting to give up and wanting to build the biggest cosplay of all time.  Finally we decided to leave early.  On the way out we happened to see the guy in charge of the cosplay competition (keep in mind that there were 50,000 people there, so it's amazing that this happened) who stopped us and asked if I had seen the list.  I said that I had and that I wasn't on it.  He was surprised and told us to wait there while he checked on something.  So to make a long story short it ends up that they didn't print a page of the results and several people, including myself, were accidentally left off.  So I was in!

The competition went very well.  I rushed the stage portion, but all my lights worked and I got a huge reaction from the crowd (about 500 people). In the end I got 2nd place in my category. I got a medal and some cash, and was overall very happy with how things went.  It was fun to meet all the people, and there were amazing costumes.  Something I learned this year is that like any judging type contest, when it gets right down to it, it's all opinion.  A completely different set of people could have won on a different day.

Here are some Pictures:

One of many people Ruth posed with when she was the cyberman. This Elsa gave her a big hug. 

After the cosplay competition. This guy didn't win anything but I thought his cosplay was amazing. Judging can be very subjective.

A few new cyberman friends we met.

Wigs are not my favorite thing. This is a really cheep one that I totally took apart and remade to make it usable.  Next time I'll just spend the $80 for a good wig. 

This is the pic of me that appeared in a KSL news story.

This pic of us was featured on the county library facebook page.

I'm demonstrating my "magic".  My pauldron and bracer had LED lights and my hand had a very bright LED panel that I could flash like I was making magic by pressing button at my thigh with my other hand. 

Ruth had an adventure walking the cyberman through the mall to the convention center. 

3 days of eating subway. Subway is only a block away from the convention center and you can eat there for a lot less and it tastes better. 

Waiting for a panel to start.

Ruth was posted to protect the carbonite rebel. 

Bellow is a .gif I made of my stage performance. It's pretty rough but you can get the idea.

Band Concert

Jared had his second ever band concert this week.  It's amazing what a few months can do for beginning band; they were actually pretty good. Jared got to play the xylophone, bells, and snare drum.  He was really excited for this concert all week and did a really good job.


Cosplay Prejudging

This weekend was prejudging for my local con's cosplay contest.  It's quite an involved process that I've never documented before so I took some pictures to give all you people an idea of what it involves.

Even though Ruth is not competing this year she agreed to come with me as a handler.  At this level, many cosplayers have a handler or two to help with their costumes and deal with navigation and crowds.  Like the cyberman, I can't dress in this cosplay by myself, and then at the con it helps to have someone to deal with photo requests and the press of crowds.  Here we are waiting for our turn to be judged.

After about 45 minutes Ruth and I are finally "on deck" which means we are the next up to be judged. After giving us instructions they give us a space to do the final adjustments to the cosplay before being judged.

The first portion of prejudging is presentation. This is where I stand before the panel and give a general summary of my cosplay.  In this case I am explaining that I created an Assasin's Creed/Elsa Mashup and the inspiration for that.

Part of your presentation is providing written information and documentation about your cosplay, including inspirations, materials, and processes.  My documentation was 9 pages long.

For three minutes the judges then poke and prod. This is like a quick question  period as they shoot of questions about your processes and you are expected to answer them.  You can't have personal space or be self conscious about anything here.

It can feel a little weird. When the three minutes are up a bell rings and that's it.

After judging you are ushered to photography where you take several shots in different poses.  These will appear on the con's site as well as other promo material for the contest.   

As soon as you are done with photos you are done with prejudging.  We won't find out until the day of the stage competition if I make it to the stage.  If I do make it to the stage, then prejudging will count as 60% of my score and stage presentation will count as 40%.    The first time I competed (with the space suit) I did not make it to the stage portion.  Only about 60 make it through.   Since I am competing in a brand new category I expect to go through.   I did have a problem with my lights during judging (they went on the fritz) but overall the judges gave me very positive feedback.

 I also made it into 3 seconds of a very short Instagram video put out by the con.  Here it is:

State Debate Tournament

Ruth finished off the debate season this weekend by going to the state debate tournament.  She competed in Original Oratory (her primary category is not offered) which is an original 10 minute speech.  She didn't make it to the finals, but she was happy with how she did and is overall very happy with all the success she had this debate tournament.  She won or placed at every tournament she entered up until the regional level. She has lots of plans for next year and can't wait to get at it. 

I don't have a recording of Ruth's speech, which was about self-confidence, but I did get her to record her Humorous Interpretation, which was her primary event all season. HI is a one person play, where the student is given 10 minutes and has to do all the parts with no costumes or props. It's kind of hard to explain, so you can just watch it for yourselves.  It's linked right here in the blog. If you get this via email, you'll have to visit the blog online to view the video. 

Camping

Jared went on another camp out with the scouts. I asked him what his favorite part was and he said "coming home." 

Our crocus are up! I also planted broccoli and my peas are just breaking the soil. 

Provo City Center Temple Open House

I'm not saying we are procrastinators, but I am saying that our family finally made it to the very last day of the Provo Temple Open House.  Lucky for us there were no lines and no waiting and it was a beautiful day.  We loved the new building and were especially impressed with the Victorian exit signs, door hinges and plates, and air grates. I'm so glad my niece is getting married here in six weeks so I get to look at everything again.

Prom Invite

Ruth was officially invited to Prom this weekend and has been trying to think of a fun way to respond to the invite.  We think we already have the dress as well.  Yea for thrifting!

Much Needed Boost

I got a much needed boost on my cosplay project this week.  I think when you work alone on a project for a long time, especially a creative project, you start to see all the flaws and none of the successes. I've been at that point with my latest project for awhile. So this week for the first time I took a picture of it and posted it on a cosplay group I belong to on Facebook.  I just wanted to put it out there and see what kind of reactions I would get, and even though the picture was blurry and the post lacked detail, the reaction was overwhelmingly positive (350 likes, a long list of comments). It was that little extra push I needed . My pre-judging is in 2 weeks and I still have a few things to finish up.

Regional Competition

Ruth went to regional debate tournament this weekend and she competed in a new category (the category she usually competes in was not offered) original oratory; which means she wrote, memorized, and delivered a 10 minute speech.  Even though this was her first time and she was up against other students who had competed in this all year, she still got 7th, which was a high enough placing to qualify for the state tournament. State will be in March, and that will be the last for the season. 

Also this Week

Jared went on a weekend camp out with the scouts and he said it was cold but he had a good time.  

I hosted my book club at out house and had a good turn out.  Because my book was based in the south I made boiled peanuts, and they were a big hit. 

We went to see a demonstration at our local library of an old guy who had won the world YoYo championship back in the day.  It was a pretty entertaining show considering, and he had a few tricks that impressed Jared.  But since this guy was an old school yoyo'er (no bearings) and Jared is new school there wasn't a whole lot of cross over. Still Jared said he was impressed by the guys two handed looping(for us layman, that's when he yoyo's in circles repeatedly with two hands), which the man held the world record in for 16 years.    What most impressed me is that Jared actually smiled during the presentation.  Oh, and Jared wanted me to add to the blog that he (meaning Jared) is really awesome.

Ruth competed this weekend to try to get to a national debate tournament that is being held in Salt Lake in July.  Only the 1st and 2nd finishers got to go and Ruth got 5th.  Ruth did make it to finals though and was pleased with how she did.  Ruth will compete again next week. She is getting excited for the season to end so she can start working on next year's events.

Last weekend, Ruth went to Sweetheart's dance with Quaid.  Here are some pictures she posted on Instigram.  She said they had a really fun time at the dance. I was able to finish all the alterations of her dress in time (thanks to my new serger) but I wasn't there to see her off to the dance because I was in California.

Last weekend I flew into California with my Sister Donna and her husband and my mother for my nephew's wedding. Behind me is the beach house where my Sister Kathy and her husband hosted us.

Here is the view from the balcony.  The ocean is an amazing and powerful thing. 

When the tide was high it hit the rocks so close to the beach house that it would shake, but when the tide was out there were thousands of round beach stones. My mother collected pockets full.  I know because I carried her bag through the airport.

Both days I was there I walked out to the end of the pier and back. There's a Ruby's dinner at the end and a lot of interesting people between here and there.

We flew through San Fransisco so I made my mother pose by this sign with her name on it.

I've not done much flying in my life, so I still get excited to go on airplanes and look out the window.  I'm more convinced now than ever that the science behind airplanes is magic.

I don't have any pictures from my nephew's wedding (the few I took were blurry) but it was very nice.  I also didn't take any pictures of the family (didn't think of it, I guess) but we had a nice time visiting together.