I’ve been trying to figure out why I enjoy making and wearing costumes so much.

I love dressing up. I know it partially comes from a love of things unordinary. I think it also partially originates from my preference of skirts to pants; most of my costumes are dress-based, after all.

The challenge of creating something is part of it, too. One of my triumphs was finding a classic Trek sourcebook with sketches of uniforms, tracing the six-inch-high picture, enlarging it via the grid method, and making a remarkably authentic bright red classic Trek woman’s uniform. (That, I got to wear twice – once at my Hallowe’en party, once a following Hallowe’en at the F/SF bookstore I worked in. Complete with high black boots.) I love putting costumes together because, let’s face it, part of showing up in costume is to feel proud of what you’ve done, to hear other people say, “That’s so cool!”, and with the proper finishing touches, it’s all just so satisfying.

I also enjoy sewing. I’m not patient enough to be perfect, so sewing everyday clothes isn’t really an option. However, sewing a costume means you can get away with little mistakes and shortcuts most of the time.

I don’t think it originates with a desire to be someone else. I like being me, thank you very much. I just particularly enjoy being me in nifty clothes. However, perhaps it has something to do with special occasions. You wouldn’t wear a costume every day; dressing up carries with it an implication of holiday and festivity.

Eh. Whatever. I like costuming. I should just enjoy it, and not question it.

So as I wait for web pages to load as I work I�m flipping through blogs; I hit Ceridwen�s Cauldron, scan it quickly, and say to myself, �No, she hasn�t updated it, this is all familiar.� Then I look at it a little more closely. No, I�m mistaken. She has updated it. It just looks familiar because I lived through it four hours ago with her.

Yes, Ceri had much joy today in shopping vicariously through me. Well, Ceri darling, you can just look forward breathlessly to the days in the not-so-distant future when I call you up and scream that there�s no hope and that the pattern is going to hell. You�ll get the lovely experience of feeling sewing frustration through me, too.

If I had a million dollars, oh, the fabrics I would have bought today. Micro-suede. Jacquard. Printed damask. Silk brocade. Stuff I�d have cut after a stiff drink � immediately after, so I could cut correctly before the alcohol began affecting my system adversely. Just a nip for courage. And I would have looked smashing. (The impressive-in-costume, not the inebriated kind.)

Being financially challenged, however, I am now in possession of fabric that will look just fine, and didn�t cost even a fraction as much as the ones that I coveted. I have to keep reminding myself that only Ceri and I would really appreciate the look and feel of the $65-per-metre fabric. It�s a costume, after all. Like my other costumes, I will look amazing for one night, and then hang it up. I do take them out once in a while and try them on, and stroke them, and feel proud of how well I constructed them, but overall, they see use for about five hours max.

I�m letting myself in for a rough time, too, because I�m kit-bashing. �Kit-bashing?� Ceri inquired today. �Is that the term?� Yes, I say, and it dates back from my model-building days (Aha � something else you didn�t know about me!). Kit-bashing, for those who don�t know, is when you combine two or more model kits to create something new, or use a kit as a basis for something the manufacturer didn�t intend it to be. Never satisfied with doing the things the easy way first, I�m combining two patterns for this year�s Hallowe�en costume. No, I�m not telling you what it is, because then I�ll have to live up to your expectations. Forget it.

I�m giving myself two and a half months, though, so everything should be okay. Right?

It was Lughnassadh this weekend, the first harvest festival, and I baked bread to commemorate it, the way I always do. I got home from the Great Fabric Excursion this afternoon and said, �Ooh! Bread!� I�d forgotten I had a whole other loaf. There�s even Brie in the fridge, and p�t�, too. And the husband won�t be home for dinner tonight. If only The Fellowship of the Ring had been released on DVD today, instead of coming out tomorrow � I�d curl up in front of the TV with bread and cheese and p�t�, and spend all evening convinced that December simply won�t come fast enough.

Oh, sure. As soon as I write a self-pitying post, the page publishes for the first time in two days.

Muttergrumblegrr.

I’m lonely. My blog will not publish.

I can look at this one of two ways:

1. Look, I am free! I can sneak about and no one will know – until it’s too late!
2. I am cut off from the world, and everyone thinks I just don’t care.

Hm. Maybe not.

I have discovered a way to beat the heat. And no, it has nothing to do with spending time in a grocery store, hugging bags of frozen peas. I actually dislike grocery stores in heatwaves; they’re too cold, so that when you walk outside again the humidity hits you like a huge wet pillow and your knees buckle for a second or two.

No, my solution is a stay-at-home, do-it-yourself kind of answer. It presupposes you were in a supermarket in the recent past, however, and that you have chicken or some such thing in your fridge or freezer.

Go into your kitchen; turn on an element on top of the stove. (I know I’ve lost some of you already, because most people go into the kitchen to open the fridge for ice water in weather like this. Stove? What stove?) Melt some butter in a pan. Slice your chicken up and stir-fry it. If you want to get fancy you can add some onion, but really, don’t worry about it.

Stand there in front of the stove, and fry that meat.

When it’s done, slide it onto a plate, cover it loosely, and put it in the fridge. Don’t forget to turn off the stove.

Walk out of the kitchen. You will immediately notice a huge drop in temperature. Why, it’s almost as if the rest of your place of habitation is cool!

In addition, you have the handy cooked chicken to chop up and toss into a salad for dinner later, because that’s about as warm a meal as you want to have. Nice, cool salad, with chicken. Mmm.

You’re welcome.