Arrant Nonsense

Photographic evidence that I am, indeed, a dork ( under the cut )

Let me preface this by saying, I don't wear much jewelry. I used to match earrings up with a pin and whatever animal I was wearing on a t-shirt that day, awhile ago. Nowadays, I don't generally bother.

That being said.

writercon is fast approaching. I bought a dress and a sash today for the cocktail party. I have earrings. The dress is a purple batik sort of thing with a tiger on the bottom of it, made in Thailand, and the sash is a wide crocheted thing in gold, silver, and white. I have a pewter tiger pin that I can wear if I wish, although the earrings are gold-tone and don't match it at all.

I still have no shoes, other than the bloody uncomfortable ones I really don't want to wear.

Then there's this thing. Which would go beautifully with the dress in a goldtone with the iridescent purple beads. But again. I don't wear jewelry much, and have no idea where else I would wear such an outlandish object. Firefly meetups? Eh, maybe, although I generally wear my various Serenity t-shirts to those. My brother's wedding is coming up in a couple of months...

So, the question becomes: Does the slave bracelet count as "swag"? Or should I just swallow hard and use other money for it? Or is it a silly thing to buy altogether?

[Number Five voice] Need input...

I guess I'm going to the writercon cocktail party. Seeing as I just blew fifteen bucks on a dress at the swap meet for just that purpose. Now I need a sash and shoes. *eyes hair, which I have no idea what to do with* At least I have jewelry that'll go with the dress...

Of course, the reason we went to the swap meet in the first place was so I could get a new, less cavernous, fanny pack than the one I'm packing around now. And naturally, no one had any of those. *mumbles*

That being said, I scored a Dale Jarrett windshield sunscreen for the Purple Cruiserberry, a book by Greg Bear, a couple of 3-D dino puzzles for Da Boy, and some cheap choklit for the Muse. Plus the aforementioned dress. And it got me outside, in the sun, away from the puter for a few hours. So it wasn't a total loss.

The Hubby's schedule changes on a monthly basis, and we got the one for July today.

Not only does he have the entire block of WriterCon days off, but he gets home around 3pm on the Wednesday before--which means I could go a day early, if the flights aren't full--or if I decide to break down and buy a ticket. This would give me a chance to go to the zoo. PANDAS! Of course, this would mean another $100 for the hotel room for the extra day, plus another $50 for the food budget, and possibly needing extra money for a taxi or something since I'm not renting a car, although apparently MARTA serves the hotel and the zoo. This is, of course, assuming I can get the hotel room for an extra day.

The price for a seat on a plane has dropped to $300 at Travelocity. This is starting to look VERY tempting. If it drops another fifty bucks, I'm buying one. Heck with it. I bought it. I'm starting to wonder what I can sell in order to scrape together more cash. I have duplicate books. I have a carving I may be willing to give up, if I can get a hundred bucks for it. He's spoken for.

And I've forgotten my login for Travelocity.

Argh.

In other news, I got a creepy-as-hell plotbunny that went into the Smuggling Space this morning. Considering the fact that my last thing made people cry, I'm not sure I want to write this one...

*doesn't care*

I have justified buying this t-shirt with my WriterCon money under the category of "swag." I wanted it when Hot Topic had it...and then they meanly discontinued it before I could snag it. No way am I letting that opportunity go by again.

In fact, most of the $50 per check I put towards WriterCon is not going in the two-liter bottle I'm using as a bank this time. I want to buy the t-shirt and the yearbook...thing, too. Except...the website seems to be down. Rats.

In other WriterCon news, those of you on my flist who want an icon pin, sing out. I'm going to be making the final ones very soon.

I'm on track, money-wise, which is a fine and shiny thing. Now, if only the airline ticket prices would drop another hundred bucks or so, I could buy one and not have to fly standby. The fact that they've dropped $80 since the last time I looked is a hopeful one.

NO MORE BREAKING INTO THE WRITERCON FUND.

Bad agilebrit! BAD!

I should be writing. I have two (count 'em!) ficathon entries due in a month or so. What am I doing instead? Making icons to turn into pins for writercon. Why am I doing this? Because I realized that the icons I make for myself or icontests are woefully inadequate when it comes to 'shipping or certain characters. So, I'm making Bangel (*gags*), Spuffy (*gags more*), Gunn/Big Black Cat, Gunn/Fred, Wes/Lilah, single characters that I've neglected...all sorts of things.

I'm not making any slash icons. If people want a slash couple made into a pin, they can supply the icon themselves.

And if anyone on my flist is going to writercon and wants one (or more) of the silly things, then by all means, sing out and don't be shy. You have one of the favorite fic you've ever written? Self-promotion is teh kewl; I'll be wearing one featuring "Partners in Crime" myownself. OTP? Bring it on; please just have it be work-safe, as my five-year-old is fascinated by the process and doesn't need to see boobies or other nekkid parts. :) But the Con is sneaking up on us pretty quickly...

My cya_ficathon entry was due today. I've had something like six weeks to write it. Is it done?

Um, no.

The good news is that I have over 4000 words and nearly eleven pages. The thing is continuing apace. But it's not done, and it should have been, and I feel bad. Bleh. *kicks Antubis in his fuzzy butt*

In other news, I'm declaring the LJ-pin-making venture a success. Therefore, anyone on my flist who's going to writercon and wanting one (or more!), sing out and let me know which. It can be any icons you like, whether you want mine or yours. I'm working up a second batch right now, and I'll also be bringing extras of mine that I've made.

Gakked from trollprincess:

Rec-Go-Round: Rec me one story you've written that you're proud of, any genre, here on my LJ.

Then go forth and ask the same in yours.

In other news, I'm working up the writercon icon pins. I can print 48 per page. Anyone on my flist going to WriterCon that wants one (or more than one), sing out. :)

They say you're never too old, right?

So, I'm trying to print these icons out so they're usable as pin-things, right? I used two methods of putting the icons in a WordPerfect doc. I did a simple copy and paste, which sticks them on there as they are, same size and everything, about an inch square. I can get 42 icons on a page with that. And I did an "import graphic" which made them about an inch and a half square. I can get 24 per page doing it that way. Then I printed the doc out on high-gloss photo paper.

And...I can't say I'm thrilled with the results, either way. They're kind of grainy and just don't have the crispness I see on my screen. So. I need to try something else, obviously, because I'm not going to sell something to people that I wouldn't want to wear myself. I can't do it from Paint Shop Pro, because I don't have a printer installed for this computer, and I have no plug on this computer for that particular printer cable, which is, um, OLD. Yes, I realize that coming into the 21st Century kicking and screaming is the way most people do things. *clings to old ways, even though they suck*

You know, there's bound to be a way to network these two computers wirelessly...