Gwen's blog

Current Events

January 28, Houston: The book launch party for Lone Star Legend is at Brazos Bookstore, at 7 PM. Y'all are all invited!

February 4, Houston: I'll be reading/signing at the downtown Houston Public Library, at 6 PM.

February 5, Austin: I'll be reading/signing at BookPeople and will undoubtedly stop by the FlipHappy crepe trailer some time after that.

February 5, San Antonio: I'll be reading/signing at the San Pedro Barnes and Noble and will probably buy some coconut candy at Mi Tierra, too.

My other blog: Go read my the Houston Chronicle parenting blog (or my ChronMomBlog, as I like to call it) and find out what I've said to piss off the more conservative commenters this week.

Buy my new novel, Lone Star Legend.

Wednesday, September 19, 2007
Lately

I used to never drink red wine but now I only drink red wine. I've gone from merlot to cabernet and chianti, and next must be shiraz.

We bought our cat a water fountain. She likes to drink the water right from its trickle source. Some people would say it's a waste of energy, to keep it running, but I think it's such a small thing to make a small creature happy, and therefore worth doing. You know?

I think I'm gonna be a fairy for Halloween. Maybe. I'll have to make the costume myself, though, because I don't want to be a slut fairy, and therefore there's no suitable costume in the stores. (All the women's costumes for sale are slut costumes. Remind me to complain about that later.)

This is what I have time to do, between my long commute home and bed time:
1. monitor homework
2. monitor everyone getting fed, one way or another
3. nag about the chores that should've been done before I got home
4. clean up only the very messiest messes, concurrently with one of the tasks above
5. exercise with Gilad
6. nagging the kids to brush their teeth and wash their faces
7. the reading of the bedtime story
and that's about it.

Every single other thing -- dentist bank groceries bills boyfriend oil change tires laundry -- I have to do over the weekend. Or during my lunch hours. Or in my dreams.

I'm glad we got a cat. This one doesn't tear up the furniture or make a big mess, and I feel fleeting joy whenever I see her little cat face. She always has a funny or cute expression. She walks around in a constant state of "Hey guys," or "Am I interrupting?" or "JESUS, A SQUIRREL!!" or "In my fantasies, everyone is chasing me. Look how clever I am, running away from them. Oops, sorry.. smashed into the plant again..."

Back to the Halloween thing.

Not a slutty fairy, and not a pink or purple fairy, and not a gothic fairy, and not an overtly glittery fairy. I want to be a nature-based fairy, in shades of green or aqua with brown, and only a little bit of magic in evidence. In my mind, as I design it, I think the words "pond fairy." I'm a pond fairy, dammit. We're going to a party where I always feel a little insecure. No, strike that -- I always feel insecure at any Halloween party we go to, because I feel like there's this giant expectation that all the women must be dressed promiscuously, and they all must be thin, and the whole purpose of the holiday is to put them on display to the men serving them liquor.

And that's fine -- I'm grown-up enough to ignore any bullshit that I don't want to take part in. But at the same time, I want to get all into it and make a nice costume. Yet I feel there's no use in wasting my creativity on such an event. You know?

I guess I could go to the Ren Fair, because the people who go there are more appreciative of creativity. But we're bored of going there and seeing the same exact stuff year after year. So I tell myself to make whatever costume I want, and then to photograph it and put it on my Flickr, and that'll make it worth the effort. But then I feel silly about that. How vain, to spend money and effort on photos meant to show off, right? (Same way I feel, now, about doing any creative thing for which I don't already have a fee negotiated. :( )

Worst part: I get envious of my boyfriend. He loves to work hard on his costumes and come up with something awesome every single year. And people appreciate it, and they compliment him. Then, they look at me and think, "Not sexy enough," and move on. And I feel... whiny because I haven't received enough attention, I guess. Hate to admit such a weakness, but that's how I feel. Creativity should trump plain nudity, in my mind, but it never will. Will it?

I was looking for inspiration online. (Fairy costumes, I mean.) I found this Flickr set called Convention Costumes Pool. Look at it. What do you think? How many of the women pictured here enjoyed making their costumes? And how many enjoy displaying their bodies to a bunch of convention guys? And how many women here enjoyed making their costumes, but got completely ignored in favor of the convention guys and the women displaying their bodies?

There were some bad-ass costumes among the social experiment, though. Check it:
1. Final Fantasy = awesome piping
2. meshy mer-person
3. Final Fantasy hangover?
4. Awesome Color Scheme Woman
5. I need this woman's wig.

And you know what?

Screw it, while I'm there, I'll just link y'all to some of my favest Flickr faves:
1. shoe fetish
2. If I had to date a non-human, it would be Relax Bear.
3. I want to eat this (then follow Jackie around and eat everything else she eats, too.)
4. Stained glass is always good.
5. So is just about anything that Jagosaurus photographs.

That's all.

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7:57 PM #

Comments:

 I've been reading you, quietly, for awhile. But now I know I love you! I have three vintage Gilad tapes from his 20 minute workout days. When I'm actually motivated, I never look better. He is magic.


# posted by Blogger Kelliqua : 8:42 PM  

 How about Evil Tooth Fairy? I had so much fun making this costume. (That's a necklace of teeth around my neck and a drill in my tool belt, by the way.)


# posted by Blogger Ms Molly : 9:02 PM  

 We got a cat fountain too, and I felt both indulgent and silly. But, it makes her happy and is also really, really good for her health -- cats prefer to drink running, fresh water, so they drink more of it, and it's good for their little kitty kidneys. So, I don't feel that silly.


# posted by Anonymous Tracy : 11:09 PM  

 That is the most accurate take on Halloween costuming I've heard yet. "Not sexy enough--move on." How irritating. My Roy Orbison costume was brilliant, but nobody wants to see a chick in drag.

Hooray for Jagosaurus! Her photos rule the school.


# posted by Blogger Marigoldie : 6:32 AM  

 I've always wondered whether the "slutty ______" problem could be successfully satirized, or if everyone would miss the point. Like, Slutty Soccer Mom. Or Slutty Amputee. Or Slutty Cancer Patient. Yeah, it would be in poor taste... but would it make a point? Or does nudity really trump everything after all?


# posted by Blogger girl_in_greenwood : 10:44 AM  

 Pond Fairy. Fantastic. And yeah, I'm afraid you're right: "Creativity should trump plain nudity, in my mind, but it never will. Will it?"

Thanks for the flickr shoutout. That has made my week.


# posted by Blogger jagosaurus : 12:02 PM  

 Ah, I love red wine too. Something so relaxing about it...

I used to drink harder stuff, but I switched. Maybe its just the way your brain gets wired, but a few sips of red wine have a very relaxing effect. You don't have to drink a lot, just a single glass at the end of the day. Better than any other stress releief program I've tried. I don't know of any other alchohol that does that same thing.


# posted by Blogger R.T. Lemur : 11:52 AM  

 I totally feel you on the Halloween costumes. Last year while in the Halloween store, I apparently got overly loud about it. I thought I was speaking quietly to my boyfriend when I said, "How come the only actual COSTUMES are for men, and the ones for women are all FUCKING MINIDRESSES. I'd like to be able to SIT DOWN without putting down a SANITARY LINER and SHOWING EVERYONE MY ACTUAL UTERUS," but since all the women in the store started clapping, it became known that I was apparently very loud.

I ended up wearing a suit and some devil horns and a tail and carrying a briefcase. I was the Devil's Advocate!


# posted by Blogger Ali : 4:45 PM  

 Kelliqua: He is the man, isn't he? And have you noticed that he doesn't seem to age? Maybe he's a vampire.

Molly: OMG, that's scary. Very good looking costume, but scary! (I'm recovering from tooth surgery as I see your pic. Fitting.)

Tracy: Oh, good. Thanks for the kitty kidney info. That's all the excuse I need.

Marigoldie: *I* want to see a chick in drag. :) Put up some pics!

Girl in Greenwood: They did it on the Onion a while back, in one of the infographics.
I think the slutty____ thing will remain popular as long as women are forced to feel guilty about wanting to be sexy. You know -- it's a 2-sided coin. I think everyone should be allowed to look sexy for themselves, whenever they feel like it... but that's not how people get pressured, so it causes weird eddies of issues. (Blah, blah, I'm on painkillers, etc.)

Jag: No problem. Least I can do, considering how many of your pix I've appropriated for my desktops.

RT: I meant that I had traded white for red. But yeah, there's something about red wine when compared to anything else, harder or softer. Must be the tannins. Or whatever they said was making the lab mice thinner.

Ali: You go. Testify, woman. And good idea on the Devil's Advocate thing. Y'all have good costume ideas. Please, let's all pledge to share pictures this year, okay?


# posted by Blogger Gwen : 10:35 AM  

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