The Green Room: My First Story Telling Mission

Also Known As part of the reason I haven't been blogging for a while. Also it's winter. There ain't much going on.

So first of all I would like to share that last night I watched The Crow and seriously it is arguably the best film in cinematic history. A goth dude. come back from the dead. murders bad people. with a crow. and he plays guitar. Like, what the fuck else do you want from a movie? I think we're finished here.

Anyway. so first thing's first: I went LARPing again the weekend before last, and really enjoyed it. I really enjoy this game I go to ("Shards of Massagon," or "Shard" for short) because there is some great story-telling (I got pulled into a really exciting plot while I was there), and the Staff do a truly phenomenal job of keeping things in character while allowing players to enjoy themselves and have fun. Also the players are really starting to kick it up with costuming which I absolutely love because I love me some good LARP Fashion. Oh, speaking of which...

Thanks to Jen Fiscus for the shot 

This is me being a total badass with face tattoos basically stolen straight outta Skyrim. And yes, by badass I mean LARPer, the complete opposite of a badass. Anyway, I made the hoodie and the armor was my Christmas gift from my lovely significant other, and all-in-all I'm pretty proud of the look.

So that was fun. I then spent almost every fucking waking hour including many that I was supposed to be working on proposals setting up for my own LARP, the Green Room. The Green Room was a 1899-era Cthulhu Live! Larp run this past weekend at my apartment complex clubhouse. My friends absolutely rocked my world with some spectacular costuming and role play (hopefully I'll be able to update this post with pics of players), and they claim to have had a great time. I cooked several dishes including calamari, which was very exciting, and served four different kinds of absinthe, champagne, and white and red wine, while a friend also brought a bar-ful of liquor to serve manhattans and martinis. Also because it was Cthulhu, I drove all the characters insane. Hooray!

Now that things are closer to normal, I'm hoping to change around my work-out schedule with Monday/Saturday cardio, Wednesday/Friday/Sunday silks and trapeze, and Thursday pole. If it gets to be too much I might drop the Friday silks, but we'll see. Sometimes I'm so tired I just want to go home on Friday nights, but other nights I really want to just kick off my weekend with a nice workout before I get blitzed out of my skull. On that note, here's a demonstration of my improved knee grip strength. Ohwaitmyfuckingphonecan'tuploaditwhenwillIlearntotakeshortervideossorry. :( Anyway, til next time.

XP Farming and Plotting Skill Points for 2013

WARNING: This post will involve walls of text without pictures.

Ok, so aside from the parts of 2012 that really, really sucked, it wasn't that bad of a year. (I mean honestly, I think you could say that about just about any year, including the one your family burned down in a fire, you lost all your money, and had your leg eaten off by an alligator.) BUT. It was the year that I started doing silks and really hitting the gym again. It was the year my boyfriend and I stuck it out through some tough times. It was the year that I tried pole dancing and gymnastics and really increased my strength, flexibility, and self-worth. Also the year I finally fucking beat DragonAge, seriously it's been hanging over my head so long...

Anyway, so I haven't been a big fan of New Year's Resolutions in the past because I believe resolutions should be made throughout the year. I kind of feel like waiting until the new year and then suddenly engaging  dramatic habit changes is setting yourself up for failure. But on the other hand, setting up goals for yourself is a good thing, especially when you have plans for achieving them. So here it is: Kate's 2013 Resolutions.

1) Pay off my credit card and start saving for something big (like a house with horses and space for LARPing and maybe a tree for a trapeze and silks and I'm digressing, sorry)
2) Do more writing, both blogging and creative.
3) Improve my rail work. Specifically, I would like to be able to do 10 pull-ups and 10 chin-ups as well as 5 leg-lifts (feet touching bar). I think I might have to seek some professional assistance on this one, but I'll keep you updated as to my progress.
4) Tumble in gymnastics. I'm getting closer to performing a front flip. By December, I'm hoping to be able to do a front flip and back flip, a clean round-off, and possibly a hand-spring.
5) Keep my weight lower but increasing my cardio and fruit and vegetable intake. I actually started this before New Year's but my resolution is continue it going forward.
6) I'm officially starting pole fitness again January 10th. That's not really a resolution, but I guess it's related?
7) Take occasional videos of myself doing aerials and gymnastics in order to identify my weakness and track my progress.

On that last note, here is a video my BF took on Friday, December 28th of me on the trapeze. Naturally, there is a lot of room for improvement in terms of my execution as well as my strength and flexibility. I could really take this apart second by second and point out all the things I need to work on, but it's a start! Maybe next December I'll post another video that will blow this one away.

P.S. This post was supposed to go up yesterday, but it took me a little while to realize that 1+ minute video can't be uploaded over Verizon. Also I may have already overshot my usage for the month. Also I might get a camcorder sometime soon.