I woke from a dream about trying to find a flash light that worked, to hear a loud bang. We'd lost power. Strangely, our next door neighbors had power. And as I seemed to anticipate, I couldn't find a flashlight. It was about 7:00 AM. I went back to bed. Kept hearing thunder. We rarely lose power for long, but it was almost 10:00 before we got it back. It's going to be a long winter, I think.

I posted some old zoo pics yesterday. Some of them have a view or two now, but this little guy has 88! Wow! Who knew sun bears were hawt! Weird.

Thinking about holiday shopping? Zazzle is having a sale! So go check out my gallery of gifts! When you check out use the code VETERANSDAY9 to get $5.00 off your order of $35.00 or more.

I'm busy working on the gallery today. It should be up soon. meanwhile, there are lots of great pics up at the Flickr group.

If you are planning on spending Thanksgiving weekend at Orycon, consider coming to the three panels they have me speaking on.


Sat Nov 28 11:00:am Steampunk: Victorian marvels of science fantastic
Discuss and learn about the marvelous world of steampunk. What's new and what's classic in books, movies, art, toys and even music!

Sat Nov 28 12:00:pm Intro to Steampunk
Introduction to Steampunk costuming and weaponry


Sat Nov 28 1:00:pm Punk/Cyberpunk/Goth
Turning counterculture into mainstream.

Didn't manage to win, but thought you might like to see it.

Hmmm, the biggest problem with Steamcon for me was that my personal photographer was busy running the con. I have no photos of at least three of my outfits. And no good shots of my fave outfit. I wonder if I can get someone to follow me around with a camera next year. Naw, one more thing to have to plan. Sigh.

(Paul Guinan, Anina Bennett, Diana Vick, Tim Powers, & Serena Powers at the Tea & Couture event.
Photo by Scheherezade morgan)

If you have photos from Steamcon last weekend, please add them to the Steamcon Flickr Group. It’s a great way to make sure your fellow attendees and those who didn’t get to attend can see them.

I look so forlorn there. Sort of like I feel right now. Well, Steamcon is over for this year, but planning is well under way for the next one. It's just too far away!

Just in case anyone thought I might be available for questions or requests in the next four days...this is me officially signing off. Really...it's too late. Whatever it is. I'm out the door and not reachable with any degree of certainty. There's this little convention that I'm running...

Zazzle is having a shipping sale! Any order of $20.00 or more qualifies for free shipping. Just enter the code BFUWKMZVJFGHLGDTIOMF.
So go check out My Zazzle gallery! and start shopping! Sale ends October 5th.

As always, let me know if there is a product you’d like one of my images added to and I will try and make it happen!

You may now purchase tickets to Steamcon’s Saturday afternoon “Tea and Couture” event and the Saturday evening “Airship Invasion” concert featuring Unwoman, Vernian Process and Abney Park.

Click here to get your tickets!

Tickets for each event are $16.00 per person. No one under 6 years old will be allowed in either event. You must also have a membership to the convention to enter. You may buy two tickets per order. Tickets will be available for pick up at the convention registration desk. Nothing will be mailed out. “Tea and Couture” tickets will not be available at the door so that our caterers will know how many of us to set places for. If the Concert tickets do not sell out in advance, they will be available at registration.

If you have any further questions please email info@steam-con.com

Off to Rainfurrest to draw and sell art all day. Wish me luck!

Hey, someone got a bit of a close up shot of Widget at Dragoncon!

Check this out!
It looks like the rumors are true! Tim Powers' fabulous book, On Stranger Tides will be the basis of the fourth Pirates of the Caribbean movie! There has been a lot of buzz about the fourth move being steampunk, which would be fantastic and even better if our writer guest of honor is truly involved. I guess we'll have to wait until Steamcon to ask him.

Just a quick heads up. The meeting tomorrow is at the hotel NOT the library.
We will be meeting in Salon A.

And if you are feeling sick, please do stay home. We appreciate your dedication, but take care of yourself first.

The next Steamcon organizational meeting is:

Sunday, September 13th
at 2:30 – 5:30 P.M.
at the Seattle Airport Marriott in Salon A
3201 S 176th St
Seatac, WA 98188-4013

The parking in the hotel lot will be $6.00.
There may be free parking up the hill if you look.

For future reference, the next meeting will be :
October 4th also at the Seattle Airport Marriott
2:30-5:30

So a quick review of Dragoncon.

Highlights:

• Saw some old friends and made many new ones. It was great to see my “steampunk daughters and sister” again.
• Great costumes! Lots of great costumes and very few lame ones.
• Good response to my costumes. One Harley was so cute when she first saw me as Ivy.
• Steampunk presence was really amazing. The track did well despite too little space. I expect next year should be off the charts!
• Talked steampunk and Steamcon up. As usual people randomly came up and asked us questions. Someone called us the “steampunk ambassadors”. Lol! Just might have to make costumes…
• Managed to trade for six fantastic Hard Rock Café pins! Three of them at the con with a mundane who wandered in!


Lowlights:

• Travel on the way down was full of problems.
• A few costume snafus and breakages, and not finding the right pieces when needed.
• Not managing to get a gigantic steampunk photo shoot, but we did manage a minor one. Next year for sure!
• Didn’t find the Dr Who meetup, but at least I found a fabulous Dr that recognized my Brannigan’s daughter costume.
• Standing in line for registration on Friday morning for two hours.
• Standing in line for the Time Traveler’s Ball for a very long time, finally getting in and wishing I hadn’t bothered. They got stuck with a small room with about 5 times as many people wanting in. Huge line! They shouldn’t have had tables in the ball, and there was no riser for the band. Next year should be much better.
• Down pillow top bed = fail. Damn feathers kept sticking me.
• Trader Vic’s was closed on Monday when we tried to go for dinner! Boo!


Funny things:

• Many people telling me I looked really familiar. Flickr is working well, or Brass Goggles or LiveJournal. World domination plan phase one – complete!
• Getting strange looks when I said I wanted green contacts for my Ivy costume, then finding a mirror… and they were very green! Weird. If only they did that on command.
• I actually bought a Buffy t-shirt. “And then Buffy Staked Edward. The End.” Best T-shirt Evar!

Best obscure costume:
• Abby Sciuto of NCIS complete with Hippo.


Costume trends that can stop now:

• Zombifying everything!
• Blonde Slave Leias, especially the one with sequins.

For those of you worried about Disney buying Marvel ...

So helix90 and I went to Dragoncon in Atlanta last weekend. It was a lot of fun. We attended a few panels in the well dressed altered history track, mostly the steampunk themed ones. We went to a great steampunk meetup where we coerced everyone into taking a huge group shot. We talked about steampunk and Steamcon to everyone who came up and asked. One guy I expected to ask about steampunk actually asked "What's with all the little hats?". Lol!
There were many fabulous costumes. We took lots of photos. You can see them here The steampunk starts about half way through.
I started a group for just steampunk at Dragoncon like last year, but I seem to have been beaten to the punch by this group.

Anyway, go enjoy photos and get inspired for Steamcon!

Wow, I am so jealous of this couple. Pictures at the club and several long standing members attending the reception. A dream come true. Damn, I miss that place.