Curiouser and Curiouser

I kind of want to start writing fanfiction as a creative outlet.

Anyone have any opinions on fanfiction.net and that whole shebang? Beta readers?

I... don't really know how to start this. The only fanfiction I've ever written was a few years ago for nyren's Nobilis game, which was short and thoroughly ridiculous.

So, offside7 and I are trying to do a shoot while she's in the area on Sunday. It's probably going to end up a Dia de los Muertos-style shoot in the T tunnels and around Cambridge a bit.

Anyone in the Camberville crowd (preferably near a T station) willing to host us for a bit as we do her wardrobe and makeup?

I will love you forever and ever. And possibly owe you baked goods.

So, elenuial and I are waitlisted for a room for Arisia. We really need a room, as we're teaching dance things and he's on panels. Anyone have space in a room for us and is looking for roommates? I've let bleemoo know that we're interested in rooming with him, but maybe having this up here will help other people hook up, too.

So, I have an appointment at David's Bridal on 12/27.

However, I've fallen head over heels in love with a vintage dress on Ebay. It's beautiful, it's the only dress out of the thousands (yes, literally, thousands) of gowns that I've looked at. I've gone back three design seasons and found nothing. I think it's because of my love for vintage fashion, and people always tell me that I was born into the wrong time period.

It has everything I'm looking for, in the silhouette I'm looking for. I'm so small that I can't wear big, poofy gowns without getting lost in the fabric, and I can't dance in the mermaid style or styles with huge trains. This one falls on a much more flattering, flexible sheath style. And I don't like *white* white, but more an off-white or ivory.

So, this dress on Ebay. Starting at $200, versus the $2k and up that typical gowns start at. Beading and lace. A gorgeous 20s gown. Right silhouette. Right color. Right size (may need to be taken in a bit). Right feel for the wedding/venue (the building was a casino built in the 1890s). I've had a visceral reaction to just the sight of this dress that I haven't felt to the thousands I've seen.

So, my question is this: Should I buy the dress without having tried it on? Based just on the "this is the one" feeling I've had? Seriously, I can't stop looking at it every fifteen minutes when I'm on the internet.

Pictures available, just not posting them here because this is elenuial-accessible.

I have ten days until the end of the auction.

So, I'm thinking that between our officiant and incongruous and numerous ideas, the best way to incorporate them all?

Time-travel-themed wedding.

Therefore, I was thinking of having accents for each of the tables according to a different time and place, numbering 14 in total.

Again, this is just something I was kicking around. No guarantees elenuial will go for it. =)

So far, a few ideas:

France, 1940 - Eiffel tower, Noir film covers, Barbie trenchcoats
Greece, 400 BC - Columns, statues, etc
Pangea, Cretaceous period - DINOSAURS
Mars or The Moon, 2200 - robots, aliens, tiny houses spray-painted silver

Anyone else have any ideas for places + little decorations? I'm trying to go with places and times that have something interesting going on.

P.S. - Does anyone know where I could get a backdrop of inside the Tardis for the photobooth, or have one made on the cheap?

I know I made this post a long time ago, but I finally found a model to work with me on it. =)

Anyone have a bathtub I could use for a photoshoot? If it's claw-foot, awesome, if not, okay. =) Mainly, I just need something with a fair bit of space in front of it so that I can move around while shooting. And fill it with balloons.

It's not going to be a huge thing, just me and a super cute model (possibly with her escort) for a few hours.

So, I accomplished Step 1: Acquire Base of the dress, as I have challenged myself to sew as little as humanly possible throughout this whole project. I know that if I allow myself to oversew, I'll likely overdesign as well.

So far, the supplies I have:
1 size 16 (!!) hideous polyester bridesmaid dress
1 ballgown petticoat
1 PILE OF LACE
24 yards of faux pearls
3 yards of 2" wide chocolate brown ribbon

Here's my first dilemma: Basic design. I've stripped the bridesmaid dress of a lot of its hideousness, which included ugly as sin beaded flower scarves and many, MANY of the beaded flowers and other tacky little things covering it. Now it's naked and on my dressform over a giant petticoat. Time to drape the lace.

Ignore the lace around the neck, as that's just where I'm storing it for now. It won't end up there, trust me.

Here are my three choices:
( Photos under the cut! )

As soon as I get that down, I can start on things like adding pearls, bows, gears, and quite possibly a white or tan leather underbust corset. Oh, and taking in the dress itself.

So, which do people like? 1, 2, or 3?

I'd been having issues with my external hard drive, but now I think that they've all come together at once. I just installed Windows Service Pack 3, and now it refuses to acknowledge my external hard drive's existence. Plus, now Windows lags like crazy.

Yes, it recognizes that there is a drive there. I can remove it with the "remove hardware safely" window. When it pops up, Windows makes the "hey, there's a drive" noise but nothing else happens.
I've tried unplugging and replugging in every order I can think of. I've rebooted. Nothing.

I also tried to read it in Ubuntu, which has worked before, but Ubuntu said that the drive is unmountable because the drive is apparently still trying to talk to windows. Constantly.

I have no idea what to do. There's so much on this hard drive that I want to keep, but apparently can't get to at all.

This is really, really frustrating.

Is it possible to rip the hard drive part out of an external like that and read it somehow else, or does it actually have to be functioning to be readable?

I'm on the verge of tears. I moved my files onto the external so that this would not happen. Now, nowhere is safe to keep anything important, and that's unacceptable.

So, someone suggested I try AVG to get rid of my google problem.

I download it.

I scan.

MY LAPTOP BREAKS.

Seriously. As soon as I click to finish the scan, my system crashes and no longer fully boots. I can get into the advanced options menu fine, but as soon as it gets to the point where it'd ask me to choose a user, it just starts all over again. I can't even boot safe mode.

I'm so pissed off right now. This is ridiculous. Anti-fucking-malware did more damage than that stupid bug.

I don't know what to do. I'm clueless when it comes to booting. If anyone can help, please give me a call/email. I'm on elenuial's computer for now, and I'm free until about 5 tonight.

There are baked goods in it for anyone who can make my laptop function again. Even if it's just to get my files off of it.

I can't keep walking by Bowie's tank and bursting into tears. I have to have something living in there, and soon.

I have pretty much narrowed it down to two species: the Spotted Python and garter snakes. Here's a helpful table. Price is very much not an issue.

Point	Pythons	Garters
Size	100-140cm	60-160cm, depending on subspecies
Can live in pairs?	Yes	Yes
Color	Brown spots with iridescent coat	Many, though I'm mostly looking at blue and possibly orange. They're all vivid.
Availability	Slightly rare in US	Very common to very rare, depending on subspecies
Taming	Very easy	Mild
Activity	Low	High
Maintenance	Low	Slightly higher
Diet	Mice only	Mice, minnows

Thoughts? Anything else I should add up there?