Steamy

The weather and the ball. It's been in the 90s today so you betcha donning two shirts, an ankle length skirt, boots, a wig AND a hat was pretty oven-like (and I probably smelled like a horse by the end of the night).

It was an annoying day that ended up fine. Nothing went right in the morning and I had to RUSH for three straight hours and still ended up late to my friend MKF's presentation on Victorian funerary practices. However, it sparked an idea that I've had for a well now. I was mulling over the idea of having a memento mori (takes photos of the dead) photography running into a vampire in the course of his photo taking and fall for him. But as MKF reminded me of the ridiculous mourning rituals for women, I thought man this would be even more fun if he's a photographer as a cover and is a vampire/shifter/demon hunter (returning the vampire back to its horror roots) and runs into a young widow who hated her husband, hates being forced into 2 years of expensive mourning and the husband turns out to be a vampire. She wants to join the vampire hunter. (or eventually do both ideas)

I thought a few of our other friends were going to be there but they weren't. That left me with 2 hours to kill. Luckily my ruffled shirt was a button down. I took it off and went around in my shell and stopped at Joann Fabric to get the stuff I bought at wal-mart only you know, better (plus a housewarming gift for my friend SA). I had Chinese for dinner and went to the big Krogers where they had changed everything so I was lost but got a cheddar from Wales that was so damn good.

The steampunk ball was very good. They had Metropolis running in the background in the original German. One of the members of the Airship Athena was dispensing home brewed sasparilla that was delicious (I thought there was going to be a porter but if there was, I didn't see it. Just as well though given how many under 21s there were). The costumes were great. MKF wanted me to join the costume parade contest but I declined. There were so many people there who put more work into it than I did.

What amused me: It was like a high school dance. Bunch of girls dancing together, all the guys sitting on the edges, looking too scared to try and dance.

What I loved: Of course there were a lot of young, shapely girls in the boob popping corsets but there were also a LOT of 40+ people. In fact, the costume winner was an older man (and he had a great costume).

What I didn't like: the heat. My outfit was STUCK to me. However one lady loved all my ruffles and especially my hat

And my brass name plate fell off my doctor's bag. Thank god it happened there and I caught it. Unlike my caduceus which was lost last year and that broke my heart. I still cry whenever I think about it. It took a lot of courage for me to clean up my gladstone bag. My parents bought it for me when I went to medical school and I carried it for 4 years there and into my residency. It's seen a lot but when I got hurt, it got put in the basement until last month. I cried when I cleaned it up too. Maybe Dr. Daria Myfanwy Evans wasn't the best idea I had as a character but at least the bag lives again.

Overall, I had a ball, pun intended. I'm exhausted though. So very tired.

So you ask, where are the photos? It was too dark for my camera. I DID sit for the professional picture taker and another of them got me coming up the walk when I got there. I hope to get them from the site in a day or two.

Also, I saw my 1930s demon hunter, Temple Chevalier there. Seriously, if Temple were a modern day man, he'd be a geek. This guy had on knee-high platform romper stompers, fishnet hose with strategic holes in them, a black leather coat, a spiked collar, a metal WW1 helmet and gas mask. Later I saw he had long red hair (well his was carrot and Temple is Irish Setter auburn but still, he could have been Temple and Temple would definitely do something like this). Also in attendence was a young man who bore a resemblance (a strong one) to Marshal on In Plain Sight. I loved the little boy (about 9-11) who was dressed up as a news boy.

No declutter, too tired.