And So It Begins

Ruth came stumbling into the house late Saturday night, after spending 23 hours over two days at the first debate tournament of the season, with a shiny first place trophy in her hand.   Debate season has started with the first tournament at the University of Utah. There, Ruth competed against varsity high school debate students from all over the state in the categories of Humorous Interpretation and, for the very first time, Dramatic Interpretation.   She felt good about her DI performance but didn't make it to finals in that category. She did, however, take her HI all the way to finals and then got the win.  She's really happy about it because she knows, since this was her first time competing with this script, that she can improve and be even more competitive in the future.  Her next tournament will be at the end of this month.

Jared's .001 %

This weekend we took Jared to Asian City to buy him some chopsticks and while we were there we also bought him some healing spheres. Since then he's been eating everything with chopsticks and the light clanging of the spheres has become a constant.  It's all part of him getting in touch with the .001 % Asian part of him that showed up on his grandfather's DNA test.  He also says he has learned enough in his Chinese class that he can count to 999 and call people names.

Bonus: While Ruth was away at the debate tournament and Jared was off at scout camp, Chuck and I went out on a long overdue date.  

Happy 17th Birthday Ruth

Today for Ruth's birthday we watched General Conference.  She asked for homemade cinnamon rolls and popcorn chicken bowl for her birthday treats.  To give you some insights into Ruth's interest she got a black pant suit (to wear at debate tournaments) and also a Harry Potter robe, among other gifts.   On Friday she had some friends over and they watched movies and ate pizza.   Ruth is smart, ambitious, confident, talented, and beautiful.  She's been working very hard at her AP classes and is practicing constantly for her first debate tournament of the season which takes place next weekend.

Summer

Our little bunny Summer died this week.  This didn't come as a surprise to us as Summer has been showing her age for awhile now and the past couple of weeks she has been pretty sick. But even in her elderly state she managed to eat peaches under the peach tree until she could hardly move, and she managed to eat all the tomatoes of the vines that she could reach.  It wasn't until the last week really that she has struggled getting around.  Last Saturday I brought her in and cleaned her fur and brushed her down; she hasn't been able to groom herself very well.  She was just skin and bones and she just lay there and whimpered as I brushed her. Poor little thing.  So while we are sad to lose Summer we know that it was her time and we are glad that she isn't suffering anymore.

Here's the last picture I took of Summer a couple of weeks ago.  She loved eating the tomatoes.




Summer was grumpy but also a beautiful and soft bunny.  

Homecoming

We had a few things this week. Jared went on a camp out with the scouts, I played guitar at a church thing, we painted the front and back door,  but the most notable event was Ruth going to homecoming. 

Ruth always loved Kaitlin's homecoming dress from a few years ago so she decided that she wanted to recreate Kaitlin's look for her homecoming this year.  Just as Kaitlin did, Ruth got a lot of complements on her dress. It's just so different then what other girls are wearing.

Ruth went with Drew, a guy she met at Les Mis and has dated a few times since then. They went with 5 other couples. For their day date they went hiking and had nerf gun battles. They had a great time.

Finding Our New Normal

The excitement of a new school year and comic con is over so this week we started to settle into our new normal.  I processed some peaches and re-opened my etsy shop,  Jared practiced the drums, Ruth went to some meetings and on a date, Chuck went to work.

As has been my post competition tradition, I spent an entire day cleaning out my workshop. Ruth says that the mannequins are creepy.

  This is what Jared is wearing today. Please note the christmas socks.

Young Womenhood Award

Last week I failed to mention that Ruth was given her Young Womanhood Award at church.  She's been working on this for four years and finally finished.  Our church had a nice dinner with fancy decorations in the theme of The Wizard of Oz.

Happy Birthday 

We celebrated Chuck's birthday with pizza, zucchini brownies, and Mario Cart.

Comic Con

I went to comic con alone on Thursday.  While I wouldn't want to go alone all the time, once in awhile going alone is really fun because of all of the people you meet.   I sat through panels with Mark Hamill and William Shatner with a girl who cheered very loudly and was giving up her college degree to sell cosmetics.  I saw some people I knew from cosplaying and chatted with them.  I was able to ask questions of James Dashner and Katie Cassidy. On the train ride home I started chatting with a guy who had just gotten out of the Army and had bought a sword at comic con. He had done 3 tours, and another couple sat next to us (they were both so excited about having met Mark Hamill that day) who we talked to for a long time and he had also served in army in the same area as the first guy (small world).  It's fun meeting new people.

On Friday I met an old friend from Nauvoo at con.  It was her first time and we walked the floor together.  Later we met for lunch.  I spent most of that day alone (my friend didn't want to go to panels) and asked questions of Arthur Darvil and Evanna Lynch.

Saturday was our big cosplay day and Ruth's only day of con (because she didn't want to miss school).  Ruth had spent the last month designing and sewing her own costume a Link/Zelda mashup, and I donned the tin-man.  The con was totally packed.  At times the aisles were so full I felt like we were sheep in a chute.

The tin man got a lot of attention. I was constantly stopped for photos, I did an interview, I did some posing for some sort of music video. Of all my past cosplay, this one got the most attention.  I'm guessing it's because everyone knows the tin man and there is a certain amount of nostalgia with that character.  But it wasn't just me, Ruth got a lot of attention as well.  She was stopped multiple times.  I loved it when people would push the tin man out of the way so they could take Ruth's picture.  Ruth was a trooper all day, very patient when I got stopped for a photo, helping with armor, helping with my constantly pealing make-up.

Out of 250 contestants, only 10 were accepted onto the stage in each category. The competition was amazing. It is getting better and better each year.  I always struggle in stage presentation and I feel like I did better with that this time around.  There was a huge crowd, I'd guess well over a thousand people.  It was pretty fun.  Because everything ran late and there was a concert setting up, they just announced the winners name, but we didn't get to go on stage or anything to get our awards at the end.  Still, it was fun to win.

Now I'm left to ponder what to do with this crazy hobby of mine.  With this win I am now pushed into the "masters" category.  The competition at this level is amazing, and I don't think I'll be able to compete, not because I don't have the skill, but because I'm not willing to put hundreds of dollars into a cosplay.  We'll see.

After the show, showing off the medal.

Ruth was adorable.  We realized when we got home that we had failed to take any pictures together.  :(

A professional photographer took this one.  It shows off one of the unexpected problems I had with the costume, when I got really hot (and it was hot and sweaty) my heart would fog up. I am steam powered, right?

My biggest fan met with me after the contest.  She said she was cheering for me the whole time, that I was her favorite, and she was so happy that I won.  I let her hold my ax and we took some pictures together. 

For reference.  This is the guy that won Best of Show.  This is the category I will have to now compete in.

Back to School

Ruth and Jared started back to school this week.  Ruth will have a crazy busy year with a heavy work load in addition to her activities.  So far her favorite class has been AP Government, but she's also bonded with her AP Language teacher over being fans of "The West Wing."   Jared is excited about band and Chinese.  After the first day he proudly declared that he could count to ten in Chinese. When I asked him to do it, he said I'd have to wait while he went and got his paper.

Cosplay PreJudging

This weekend was the first round of judging for the Comic Con cosplay competition (you may remember my lengthy post about the process last February). Chuck went with me this time as my handler, and it all went pretty smoothly.  This was the first time I've worn this costume and I ended up having to make last minute modifications.  I still had a few problems, but on the whole I'm happy with it.   There is a lot of competition this year, but, being an original design puts me in a different category than most, so that helps.

So, what am I?  I'm a re-imagining of the Tin Man from Wizard of Oz in a clockwork/steampunk style.  My clockwork heart even beats.