Yesterday I turned 25. It will be celebrated for family coming Saturday. The loot so far:

• Card from Pearle, 4 days early.
• Card (huge, sparkly Winx) from my mom, 1 day early.
• E-mail from my brother, 1 day early.
• E-card from Karijn.
• SMS from Olga and Jan.
• Call with voicemail message from my grandmother (father's side).
• Call from my dad.
• Card from Matthijs' mother.
• Card from dad and Mieke.
• Book with Celtic fairy tales from Matthijs
• The 5 Harry Potter books that were still missing and were promised last year on my b-day, from Matthijs.
• DVD of Hook, though it was more like a co-order than an actual present, from Matthijs.

Stress level is rising. I need to do a lot of house cleaning before Saturday and grocery shopping of course. I want to bake a cake (no pie this time) and make salad for dinner. However, parts and pieces of tent are still littering the house and next to the tent I want to do some other 'small' things for the Summoning, like making a woolen dress (finished except for the closing cords), a sheet for my larp dagger, beads and 'mirrors' for my character's superstitions (already sculpted and partly painted) and when I have the time some mittens would be nice for our summoning ritual.

Castlefest will probably be skipped, though somewhere I have a bit of hope that if I just work hard enough on the tent, we can still go on Sunday. There's a meet for the Ern on Monday, but with the current todo list I don't know if we'll be able to go (read: if it is wise). And on Tuesday another EE meeting. If only we were living in Utrecht...

I truly hope that our Esvo order will come in today. The brown thread is almost gone while we still need to do 2 tunnels and the doors. Yesterday we put up the tent again with the almost finished wall and it is starting to look good!

On top of all that I'm already worrying about the packing for the Summoning and the preparations (like baking IC bread, making sure we have enough cooking utensils to cook for 12) and the care for the kitties while we're away for 4 days. Still, I'm looking forward to it!

Last week I made the carpet-supports for our broomsticks 7x7 cm instead of the 20x7 that we had in mind. I actually had to saw them because cutting was just too hard. Last Saturday I designed and made 12 fabric skins for those supports with small flaps on all four sides to sew them to the tent. And on Sunday I finished sewing them to our Sahara tent. Hard work. Oh, and on Saturday I also sewed 4x 10,75 meter for the hems of the tent wall.

Matthijs was away on Saturday to a workshop and bbq in Almere, where he also picked up a glass tabletop for free. It has lots of scratches on it, but it will do. On Sunday Matthijs was at home again to help with the tent; he cut strips of the tent fabric for the tunnels where the broomsticks will reside. He actually sewed 2 tunnels on to the wall and then we went outside to test it...

Well, of course a master plan will only be a master plan until you actually execute it. We had miscalculated somewhere so the wall was 20 cm too wide on one side of the entrance but only 3 cm on the other side. We had measured (we thought) for 25 cm allowance on both sides of the entrance. So we'll have to improvise there when we sew on the new door flaps.

Another set back was that the front pole that we had ordered was too short. We ordered it with allowance and then sawed off a piece of 16 cm and now we found out that it is 8 cm too short. So we have ordered a new center piece of the right length. Sigh, and it wasn't a cheap project to begin with.

Also, the back part of the wall between the two tunnels was too wide by 3 centimeters, we'll have to take it in giving us a center back seam. And even when the wall is standing straight and on tension, the flap that stands out from the tent does not cover the space between the 'old' tent wall and the new one, leaving ample space for rain to enter the tent. After we've tested again with the 'finished' wall we'll see if we'll need to add strings for actually connecting the centers between the broomsticks to the tent.

Today I varnished 15 wooden tent pegs, though we decided earlier that it would not be necessary. I also varnished the bottoms of the broomsticks again because yesterday I scraped off a bit of 1 cm high so they'll fit better in the wooden 'feet'. This evening Matthijs will sew on the last 4 tunnels on the wall. I hope there'll be enough light left to test again after that.

When the wall is ready the next step will be the doors. We still have to decide on how exactly we are going to connect them to the tent (probably loops and buttons; 'houtje-touwtje') and how the overlapping door flaps will close. The doors are the last step and we have only 2 evenings (after today) and 1 day (Sunday, if we skip Castlefest) left. The Wednesday before the Summoning we'd like to start packing things, but we might need it to finish this project.

No, not the rodents. More like 'shit'. A new glass tabletop would cost me about 375 euros. I find that a bit expensive, especially considering that I got the table for 15 euros at a flea market. I might as well buy a new table for that money, except that I like the mermaid.

So, now I'm browsing around at Marktplaats to see if there's someone there who offers a tabletop (or even complete table....) of glass for less than 375 euros. And yes, they do. But the one I've tried to contact is on vacation in America until the 7th of August, and I'd rather have my table complete on the 1st of August. I also found someone else who is offering a tabletop without a picture and that one's fro free if you come and get it. It would be so very nice if Matthijs could pick up that tabletop next Saturday, because he would already be in Almere. However, the guy did not yet answer his phone, so I sent him a mail. Fingers crossed that he isn't on vacation.
Of course I could settle for my birthday for just a regular plank on top of the mermaid and go collect the glass tabletop later...

Went to Het Goed as well, but they didn't have a glass tabletop at the time. They did have wooden tabletops and the woman at the counter told me that when they have it, it should be at the 'parts' section of the store, where I already looked. So meh. Still, my run to that shop was not completely useless. I found a wooden bowl and spoon, the video (yes, videocassette, not dvd) of 'Finding Neverland' with Johnny Depp and the best: the first Dutch translation of Hans Christian Anderssen fairy tales and stories. It's a big, old looking and smelling book. The cover is hanging loose and it is written in 'old' Dutch (Nederlandsch, 'bekeeren' etc.) It cost me 17,50 but it's fairy tales and it is old so yay!

Got some tent supplies as well this Saturday: a hammer for the tent pegs, some hook-cords (instead of rubbers) and 20 meter of 3mm cotton rope. The carpet-supports for our upgrade are still not finished. I found the courage to glue and cut them but now they appear to be too stiff for the purpose we had in mind.
We want to use them as tops for the broomsticks, connected to the tent. So the broomsticks will push up the tent and stay in place. The supports look like this: [__o__] (with a top line...). The 'o' is the hole in which the broomstick will rest. However, we want to make a little bag with a slit in the middle to put the support in. That way we could remove them again when we don't need them. For that, however, the support needs to bend to get into the bag, and that won't happen. Three layers of carpet and glue is too much to bend. The only way it will bend is the wrong way. So now we are considering making them square and just permanently attaching them to the tent.

I finished my pixel project of Melisse this weekend. Lina was already finished but I kept postponing working on Melisse because she had so much one-color parts which are very boring to do. But now it is finished, and this will probably be the last pixel-work for me. Started on a new coat as well. At the end of winter I bought myself a coat pattern and some lovely purple fabric and yellow fleece lining for a winter coat. To make sure that it will fit me I'm now making a mockup out of cheaper cotton. I'll probably paint the cotton one in yellow and red (tie and dye) and make it an autumn coat when it turns out the way I like it. And then I'll start on my winter coat. The autumn coat has a collar, contrary to my summer jacket, and so it might even be useful.

Well, here's another workweek. (Hear me cheer...) Back to work.

Edit: while spell-checking this document and waking Matthijs from his after-larp-sleep I got called back by the guy from Almere. Matthijs could probably pick up the tabletop next Saturday! It's smaller than the original, but that leaves us more room to walk. W00t!

Vacation, that will be the reason of why I still haven't received the requested offers for the glass tabletop. Somehow all the people that you might want something from are celebrating the vacation, while my work still continues. Why? I really need that tabletop before the 1st of August for my birthday 'party'. Via the internet I've tried 2 companies now and my mother will ask a third one in Apeldoorn. Haven't heard from the Theaterobers either, though I sent my subscription some time ago.

So, no vacation for me. Work goes on in the web-world. Of course I could take some days off, but I'm hoarding my free days for when I really need and want them. Even though being free would be very nice in this weather, it would only mean a few days respite from work and probably a regret when I really need a day off. So, working on.. though the sun does slow me down. Sometimes I really long for the 'old days' of school with the long summer vacation.

The tent isn't going very fast and we have just discovered that all weekends up until the Summoning are filled already. Well, for Matthijs, that is. This weekend EE organizes a one-shot again, but I won't be there. The set up is such that the organization (us) will be locked up in a room for most of the time and I don't think my nerves can take that when there's not much sleep or stuff to do. So I'm skipping that. Of course Matthijs will go; he has to do most of the technical stuff and this one-shot requires a lot of tech. So, my weekend is free. The nasty thing is that Matthijs is way more on the detail and the straight lines than I am and it is quite important for some of the things to be straight and neat. You can very well let me varnish or glue things, but when things should be drawn and/or cut straight, better let someone else do it. Which kind off takes away the advantage of me having a free weekend. (Though I still have lots of other unfinished projects literally lying around.) In the end it is of course just a matter of me being insecure and seeking insurance and shared responsibility.

Then there's a weekend in which Matthijs goes to some nerd-thing in Almere on Saturday and that Sunday is a Leviathan special. On the one hand we could really use the Sunday to work on the tent. On the other hand 'bonding' with the faction would be a good idea and most of our group is going. The weekend after that one is my birthday on Saturday and Castlefest on Sunday. Yes, we could skip Castlefest (Sunday is also the least attractive day) but it is a part of the summer-feeling and I'd rather not miss it. And then we have the Summoning already. Honestly, where did the time go?

That leaves us with the workday evenings, but this week those are filled with preparations for our one-shot, next week an evaluation and Exodus meet, a friend of Matthijs visiting and me going of to work in Amsterdam to talk about some project for which e-mail appears not to work as a communication channel (no problem on my side...).

Well, at least the sun is shining. ;-)

Matthijs would be away for a week, including the weekend, on holiday with his parents and so I decided to clean te house on Saturday. (Somehow I get less motivated when someone else is around) Especially the living room could do with some cleaning because the cats had repeatedly knocked over a pot plant, which spilled earth on the couch and floor. Some good dusting and vacuum cleaning and washing the plaids of the couches would be welcome.

Well, the living room is cleaner now, but also more empty. While vacuuming I knocked over a plant, of which of course the pot broke on a just vacuumed spot of carpet. Then, when I was nearly done, one of the cats jumped up on the mermaid-table (it's a mermaid statue supporting a glass tabletop) but the weight of the cat added to the unbalanced weight of the plants and the whole table fell over shattering the tabletop itself and damaging several plants and some glass ornaments.

I quickly put the cats in a separate room; Melisse was already sniffing at the broken glass not in the least disturbed by the crash. Then I took away (the rest of) the plants and put all the glass in cardboard boxes to take to the trash. I had to break the bigger pieces that were left of the tabletop with a hammer. And then I could vacuum the carpet yet again.

So, now I'm looking for a new glass tabletop, which will probably be a costly thing. At least the room is clean now.. for as long as that will last. And there's more room to walk with the tabletop missing. Melisse even uses the mermaid statue as a climbing frame. Still, I hope it can be fixed before the 1st of August because I plan to celebrate my birthday with family that day.

On Sunday I've been busy varnishing 12 broomsticks and 14 wooden 'feet' for the broomsticks. They'll be the base of our tent wall for the Sahara tent. Unfortunately I only foud out today, after 2 layers of varnish, that the sticks don't easily fit in the holes of the 'feet'. It would have been better to check that first, if needed sand off a bit of the sticks and then start varnishing. Ah well, somehow we'll make those things fit.

I have a baking-itch at the moment. I've found a recipe for 'fake fish', a medieval dish like apple pie, and been willing to try it every since. I've already got the ingredients but the nasty thing of baking as a hobby is that you produce foodstuffs. And too much yummy food makes one fat. I'd also like to bake some fresh bread, because that's just delicious. My, I need to get rid of this hobby.

I often order things via internet because that way I don't have to leave the house to go to a store. However sometimes I'd like to know more before I buy something. So I send an e-mail with a few questions. Easy, right? It is really disturbing how hard it is for people to actually answer all your questions at once. And sometimes it's even worse; you have to send 3 mails to get the real answers you wanted because they apparently did not understand you and just guessed what you wanted. Or they avoid a straight answer. People, come on, how hard can it be?

Perhaps it's an effect of the easier communication: you just rattle away on your keyboard and press 'send' (or in some cases crtl+s) instead of painstakingly writing it out with a pen on paper. The last method makes you think about what you are going to write, because you don't want to spend precious time starting all over again. To get your message right, you probably read and reread the request carefully and thus the chance that you will actually answer it all and correctly is bigger. At least, that is my theory.

Of course I'm not saying we should go back to the slow way of writing letters, but it would be nice if people would actually spend some thought on what they are trying to communicate. And this is not only the case for friends or colleagues, but also (as this post was about) for vendors. And I thought that helping your costumer was very important in that branch.

In the last two weeks I received from 3 different vendors such short and incomplete (and sometimes almost rude) messages that it made me hesitate to buy from them. In the first case it was a small hobby shop, so I can imagine that the people who answer the mail there don't do it professionally and they were cheapest. In the second case I really needed the stuff from that shop and now in the third case I might just find me some other store to get the information and the goods that I want because this one not only takes 3 attempts to get an answer; in some answers he contradicts himself or brings in new and confusing information.

Now that that's out of my system, a short recap. My thumb is healing pretty well, the piece of flesh I put back in place seems to stay put and connect again. The 'slotavond' of Musilon was very nice. I even had the guts to sing a solo there: Once upon a December from Anastasia, which earned me an applause. I signed up for the lessons 'solo singing' at Theaterobers Educatief for September and I started to lucet, though all I have produced so far are short irregular pieces of cord. Most of the supplies for our tent upgrade are deliverd, so that's what will be keeping us occupied until the Summoning.