Updates on my life

[xiphias]

Lis asked that I do a better job of blogging the minutiae of my life while she's in North Carolina, so that she can keep up with stuff while she's away.

So, last night there was an event at The Crypt in Everett. DJ Dirge, or "Matt" as some people call him, was having a birthday. And Matt is a friend of my friend vonbeck, and, anyway, they've been trying to build up attendance for his night. And it was pre-Halloween and all. So Ben (vonbeck) and I got together early, and he helped me put together a costume. Lis had found a Jayne Cobb hat a couple days ago, in, of all places, a Wild Oats supermarket, so Ben and I stopped by the Melrose Army-Navy store -- which is a genuine Army-Navy store, the kind that sells Army surplus cheap clothing mainly, and it's the place that I get things like long underwear. As it turned out, Ben had been LOOKING for that kind of store for a while, since he needed a new pair of BDU pants, anyway.

Anyway, I bought a pair of khaki BDU pants for me, as well as an olive drab jacket, and had a reasonable Jayne costume. Ben picked up some black BDU pants, and looked around the store some, thinking about things he might need to get later on.

Incidentally, they did have several jumpsuits that would work well for a Kaylee or Wash costume.

Turns out the pants and jacket are really comfortable, as well as being cheap, and I'm going to be wearing them quite a bit as working clothes.

Ben's costume was quite a bit more elaborate. He did the character Batou from the anime Ghost in the Shell, including the cybereyes, which he built out of wire and transparent plastic, and attached to his face with spirit gum. His costume also included a flack jacket (a real one, actually -- he picked it up several years ago, knowing that it would be useful for SOME costume sometime, and has actually used it multiple times), and a couple model weapons, a pistol and a battle rifle. I just had my cap gun, and a rubber knife, although Ben did lend me a real sheath for the rubber knife, which worked well. I also borrowed a pair of jungle boots from Ben, as well, which were also comfortable, although they're old and broken-down enough that I would get blisters if I actually hiked in them.

I got to see lagaz briefly, when we stopped by Ben's place before going out to the club, but she was fighting off a cold, so didn't come with us. Turns out she also plays Kingdom of Loathing.

Anyway, we got to the club early, mainly to hang out with Matt and Meghan.

It's a nice club, if perhaps a bit kitsch -- gargoyles, glow-in-the-dark skeletons embedded in the walls, and so forth. The music was good.

We have GOT to get a crowd going there. Matt's night is switching to Friday nights in a couple weeks which should help, but -- ANY GOTHY-TYPE PEOPLE IN THE BOSTON AREA READING THIS: let's start seeing if we can't pump up the numbers here. It's in Everett, which is a bit off the beaten path if you don't have a car, but I'm willing to help with car-pools. Next weekend is going to be the last time it's on Saturday nights, so, if shomer shabbat people want in on this, it'd have to be next week.

Okay. I've got an ulterior motive. Let's say that I get DJ Dirge's night to be more successful. Then I'll be in an excellent position to go to the club owners and ask if they want a REAL bartender working there. . . just sayin'. . .

Anyway, I cut out early, around quarter of 11 in order to go home and do class prep for Sunday school.

Class went pretty well all told. I wore my Jayne costume in, it being right before Halloween. I DID go to sleep in between! I didn't just wear the costume because I was up all night! (No, really, I got a good six hours of sleep.)

Nobody noticed.

Okay. What does that say about me? This has happened before. I show up somewhere wearing a costume, and nobody notices. Because they all figure, "that's just how Ian dresses."

A couple of the kids, a parent or two, and one of the assistant teachers DID notice that I was wearing a Jayne hat. But they FAILED to notice that I was wearing a Jayne coat, t-shirt (well, a t-shirt, anyway: I don't have a Blue Sun or any other REALLY Jayne t-shirt), khakis, and boots. One of the education committee members said, "But you're not carrying a big gun."

Which, fundamentally, is a good point. I said that I didn't REALLY want to be teaching about mitzvot while carrying Vera, and he agreed with me.

The first education committee meeting of the year was after school, and they'd asked us teachers to stick around for it -- we don't usually show up for them, but we did for this one. We introduced ourselves, and I mentioned that I was dressed as Jayne Cobb from the television show Firefly. Beth, my boss, said, "Oh, I wasn't sure if that was a costume or not." Jane, one of the ed committee members, and the mother of one of my favorite students from last year said, "Yeah, it was one of those situations where you don't want to say anything, just in case the person doesn't know how they look. . . ."

Adam, one of the madrichim (assistant teachers/volunteers) said, "I noticed that you were wearing a Jayne hat, but I didn't realize that it was a costume!" Beth said, "Oh, so you're familiar with this 'Firefly' show, too? I'd never heard of it." Josh Meltzer, who was the one who pointed out that I didn't have a big gun, said that it was a science fiction show, and someone else said, "Well, that makes sense. If Adam and Ian know about it, it must be sci-fi."

Both of us indignantly demurred. "That's not true!" I said.

"Yeah," Adam said, and we looked at each other. "It could also be fantasy. . . " he finished weakly, as we realized that wasn't really as much of a strong defense as we thought it was going to be.

There are reasons I like working at the Hebrew school. . .

Comments

[xiphias.livejournal.com]

She doesn't have AIM, her email is lis@osmond-riba.org, and she was thinking of calling you tomorrow.

[undauntra.livejournal.com]

Ah. Kinda cool, except for the whole me being at work until 6 (or later) and thus not getting calls. But answering machine!

[xiphias.livejournal.com]

Well, tomorrow night, anyway. She's going to be in panels from 8 am until 4 or 5, then need dinner before she gets back to her hotel.