on costumery and Doing

I'm a thinkin person. I'm not a doin person. I often use imagination when others would use hands. I've dabbled in hand work before, though, and I've drawn and published my own comic book by hand, sure, but most of the time, when my hands are busy working on a project, they're busy typing. It often feels like I just don't have the ... vision, perhaps? to realize something physically on my own. When I "do stuff", the results are often ephemeral, such as a live stage performance, or merely archived electronically, such as web goof-offery or photographs or writing for various projects. Rarely, if ever, do I get the chance to "go down to the workshop" and make something physical for myself. Perhaps that's for the best. Me and power tools have never really been the best of friends; acquaintances, really. (Though this one time I totally built a Crow T. Robot look-alike puppet made out of kitchen utensils, and his beak actually worked if you pulled the invisible fishing line just right, so that was a bonus.)

( This is why I was so darn pleased with myself for actually coming up with a Halloween costume this year. )

I realize there are tons of people out there who Do with their hands, and who are now just perplexed at how strange it must be for someone to be so excited to have this mundane insight of "Hey! You can THINK something up and then you can DO it!" They must be even more perplexed because this involves a topic as silly and easily-accomplished as a Halloween costume that, when you think about it, didn't involve any time working with a lathe or blowtorch or anything else that'd require the use of safety goggles. But that's just how we roll. Sometimes, you just forget you can Do. Sure, the costume's just as ephemeral as everything else I do: the apron will probably be made into rags, the chef's toque put away and forgotten, and the shirt will go into the back of the closet and maybe considered the next time I need a tacky abomination of big collars, but it's the whole process that counts for me. I'm quite proud with what I done did.

Oh, and the party was absolutely lovely and eclecticavatar was a wonderful and charming hostess and I had a very enjoyable time, thank you very much.

A VERY SIMPLE NON-SPOILERY TORCHWOOD DRINKING GAME

1. Every time there's an overhead nighttime pan over Cardiff, loudly intone "MEANWHILE, IN CARDIFF..." Then take a drink.

That oughta do you right there, boys and girls. Be sure to keep a big glass of water nearby for bedtime, or you'll wake up with a hangover tomorrow!

Sheer concentrated brilliance in JPEG format.

Combining Peanuts characters with the Marvel universe. And some other fun places.