Costume @ MindSay

I'm excited to say....I got a costume! Now this may seem kind of corny to be posting something such as silly as this,m but since the last time i remember that i wore a costume was when i was about 11 yrs old and it was Halloween. Now my family and I have a sort of religion not to celebrate Halloween (religious beliefs, say no more) so i am quite excited hehe. I know, im korny. ^.<

 

But its a...umm Robin Hood costume, i think, only im adding wings to make it appear more like a fairy. Ill be sure to take pictures and post them.

 

Now i'm at work so i dont want to make this too long so ill be returning soon! Ta ta!

 

=^.^=

Ok im at work so i hope this picture works, i cant seem to see any images here from these computers blah :P

It always bothers me. 

Now, I know it shouldn't, because it's really perhaps a silly thing to be bothered about, but nevertheless, it does.  For children, especially young children, certain concessions do need to be made. I recognize that.

The lesson was from the basic, introductory Creation series.  Give those first graders a good foundation and all that.  Multimedia is important, too.  Video one week, audio another.  Interactive situations.  Great.  But this last week, the CD was portraying the temptation of Eve by the Serpent.  God's voice was big and booming and reverberating.  Eve's was ... feminine. A sturdy soprano.  Adam's a mellow tenor.  That's all fine.

But the teacher actually had to warn the students (six-year-olds) about the Serpent's voice. "It's scary," she told them. "But remember, this is only an actor for this lesson, so don't be afraid."

It was good that she said that, because the voice of the Serpent in the story was indeed frightening to small ears.  Sharp, mocking, also reverberating with strange, otherworldly elements added in a sound studio.  The children were made to feel uncomfortable by this voice; I could see it in their faces.

Still, they were very well-behaved. Even Cartoon Ranger, though he climbed on my lap and tucked his head under my chin. 

So what do I find troublesome? 

I guess, for me, it's the idea that the children are receiving that when the Enemy or any of his creatures speaks, beckons, tempts, whatever... That the tone will warn them that it's "the bad guy."  When, instead, quite the opposite is true.  Temptation is almost always attractive and appealing.  One of the greatest jests on mankind is the idea that Satan goes around in a red skin or a red suit, with a pointed tail and horns on his head.  That that is the image of The Enemy.  A Halloween costume.

No, the Enemy comes upon the wary and the unwary.  Comes with an attractive demeanor and seductive voice.  Whether the temptation be small or great, subtle or obvious, it is rarely, if ever, surrounded by ominous overtones and frightening voices.

And I guess that, for me, I like to start teaching with as close to the truth as I can, for the age I am teaching.  Maybe that's why I don't teach first grade Sunday School.  My "Serpent Voice" would be rich, mellow and intimate.  Perhaps they'd find it too pleasant.  And that might be disconcerting, too.

Still, better to be disconcerted and prepared than frightened and misled.  At least, I think so.

I'll stick to older kids.  I can explain things better to them. 

And I won't do audio recordings of Bible lessons... I'd get fired immediately. ;)

So, not only was my mom one of the characters in the first show of this season of melodramas, but she's also playing the piano for the last one.

Which involves both a vampire and a villain.

One of the above needs a cape.

So, in the interest of being helpful, she said she'd check our house.

I don't advertise this often, but despite the normalcy of much of the goings-on here, you can find some pretty unexpected stuff.

However, of the three of us sisters, only the firstborn owned a cape. Was in fact somewhat politely startled when someone asked, because when this cape first came into my possession, I sort of went a little nuts about it. I mean, I love this cape. I think I wore it for Halloween once, and put together my whole costume JUST so I could wear the cape. I wore it around the house for no reason for a few days, too.

So, I was perhaps understandably surprised that they'd forgotten the cape, but then again, I hadn't really thought about it since that time, either. (I also went through this phase of adoring dusters and trenchcoats, and I'm starting to gain confidence about some of the long skirts I own. There's a bit of a trend here.) I said, sure, you could check it out, but I don't think it's what you're looking for.

Reason one, cape has a hood. It's a hood and cape. Not to be confused with Cape Hood - I live in the Midwest, and we don't have Capes down here, just the occasional cape. Because you know us farmer's daughters...

I have no idea where I was going with that.

Right. Problem the second, cape in question is a lovely, lovely lovely lovely scarlet-crimson sort of a thing. (Have I mentioned that I love the cape?) This, er, would be a problem. Not as bad as, say, vivid blue or orange, but really, we're going for black with this one.

Our villain in question is my friend Migs, who definitely knows how to work a cape.

But, since I had the cape out anyways, I decided to put it on. Swirly swirly twirly swishy. I love this cape. Sister and I had a brief discussion about Renfest and the ridiculous notion of having the coolest costume day be during the hottest month of the year, discussion about this being the first year in awhile of me MISSING Renfest (really, we'd have had to go on a Sunday anyways. Not enough time to plan for last Sunday, and next Sunday the guy is busy and it wouldn't be as fun without him.)

She looks at me somewhat speculatively, while I'm twirling and swishing in front of the mirror in my room, twirly swishiness, and announces, "You should really hem that. It looks too loose."
This resulted in me idly commenting (while still playing with the swishies), "I know. I can't hem worth a darn."

Hence, the Facebook status. K's probably going to appreciate that one.

My ruby slippers came in the mail today!
I've been gathering various pieces of my Halloween costume for a month now. I'm going to be Dorothy.
Everyone says that I'm going about this way too early, but I can't help it, I love Halloween. Ask my dentist why.

Hopefully this year will be a lot better than last year's Pirate fiasco. As it turns out, being a "pirate-maiden" is not as fun as it sounds. Also, trekking for hours through a neighborhood where the old man on the corner's boiled peanuts in styrofoam cups are the hit of the night while your fake hoop earrings keep falling out and your eyesight is severely impaired by an eyepatch--not so wonderful.

This year, I'm thinking I'll skip trick-or-treating (though I love it dearly) and spend Halloween at work, passing out candy to the kids. Wow, I know, sounds exciting, huh? But we have a costume contest and everything so it'll be fun to see everyone dressed up. PLUS, if I sit outside the store giving out candy, I won't have to work! Sounds like a plan.

Besides, last year I got some really weird looks. Apparently, 19 is a little old to be trick-or-treating. Who knew?

The problem is that I am wearing a Cheong and Skirt  which was worn in the Qing ( formerly Ching or Manchu) Dynasty... the last Dynasty before the republic. The dress porn in the Ming (1368-1644) dynasty was a Hanfu - more like a kimono and very flowing and silky as the women who would have lived in a scholars' garden would not have done any work - in fact the Mings were still binding feet- whereas the Manchus stopped that practice. And I think a Hanfu would be lovely but totally impractical so... as you can see above... I took a costume from the next dynasty. On cold days I wear a black and white Scholar's gown which is lined and very warm and the long sleeves are great on a chilly day as I can hide my fingers up my sleeves. today is forecast to be in the 70's so I wanted something cooler. If you ever go to Portland make it a point to stop and visit the gardens