What makes a maker?

[maker]

With the start of a new week and promising things ahead, maybe it's time to start a journal. Only time will tell if I can drive myself to post regularly, here's a little something to get things started.

 

Following my plan to limit my interaction with females to a bare minimum, it does feel as if I'm not wasting as much time thinking about them and that can only be a good thing. Keep in mind that cutting all communication would be nearly impossible, not to mention the damage to my career and hobbies. While it's relatively easy to maintain a peace of mind in an office full of guys, other departments are not so lucky and having to deal with women simply comes with the territory. I don't even mind dealing with the ones who are genuinely good at what they do, I even suspect that the distribution of fools is in no-way gender specific. At least when your sample is not a present day college campus.

 

Same goes for what I do outside of work, women in cosplaying far outnumber men and so striking an entire gender off of the list of possible customers would be just stupid. As long as they are willing to pay for my work and don't pull me into their personal drama, I couldn't care less.

 

On a related note, my most recent cooperation project is shaping up to be quite something. There are still a lot of unknowns, ifs and buts ahead but should everything work, we could score a contract for props with a game developer. Then again, I should know better than to create unreasonable expectations, for the time being I'll focus on the present instead of the future.

 

Sometimes the best examples of why romance is a fool's errand come from your friends. Not that ENA's "infidelity" section and some of the crazy, misandric posters on here don't paint a good enough image on their own. A friend of mine asked for help with moving his stuff because his now ex girlfriend was cheating on him with their landlord. Now she lives with him, a guy who's roughly 20 years her senior. I really hate these feel bad moments, when nothing you can do will help someone who's close to you, even some fun distraction is just a temporary fix. I can't even imagine going through something like that.

[maker]

I should really pay more attention to the weather forecast, now that I've gotten used to walking to work instead of driving. Apparently 22 degrees in the morning and clear, blue skies can turn into a torrent of rain that caught me on my way from work. Getting soaked was just a minor inconvenience, aside from having to take care of wet suede shoes.

 

The 3D printer has been running more or less nonstop, that means I'll be busy with post processing, acetone treatment, the works. As far as female contact goes, there's little to report. Like every single day, I had to be nice to the cashier and ladies in the cafeteria, but at least it yields bigger portions or better cuts of meat.

[maker]

Today was a nice change of pace, especially since I tend to stay away from sports. Despite having fairly decent hand-eye coordination when it comes to detailed things, painting or modeling, I'm incapable to coordinate when things are moving fast. That's why almost every single time I'm forced to participate in some sport activity, it ends up with me flailing my arms or legs in a funny way and being a detriment to the team.

 

A friend from work organized a farewell party since he's leaving for his home country and a fun, friendly tournament in football tennis (futnet) made up most of it, aside from mandatory beers and grilled meat. We got our behinds handed to us, lost all five games but it was still fun and not that serious. Guess that even sports activities can be fun, as long as the people you play with are not complete s about someone's lack of skill.

[maker]

This weekend has been a little more busy than usual, I had to drive to the post office to send a couple commissioned pieces to their new owners because I wasn't able to make it during the week. Now that this is done, I can focus on the stuff that's not yet finished. At least being busy means I'm in a positive mood most of the time, plus I'm usually too tired to stay awake and rack my brain over things that are not really that important.

 

The female flatmate of a friend from work (different guy than the one who's leaving the country) is looking for someone, again. So far it seems that the only required quality is to own a rear axle for her car or to know where to get one, I nearly choke on my beer when he explained how she uses guys to get stuff and then tells them that she's not really interested. There are times when I'm really glad that I've never been a beta orbiter like that, fingers crossed that things stay that way.

[maker]

It almost feels like a clash of two completely different worlds when I come to ENA and read up on all the drama that goes on in relationships. Sure, I don't have access to regular sex and companionship but are those things really worth it in the long run? Comparing the pros and cons, it's getting harder for me to justify even looking for someone.

 

This week has been a blast, a barbecue party on Wednesday and another, albeit smaller coming up today. With cold beer and a freshly grilled chunk of meat close by, all the worries and drama seem to vanish.

In other news, I've dedicated some of my printing time to making toys. Some gliders/rubber band planes for guys at work so they can try them out with kids over the weekend. Strangely enough, even if I love making working toys and devices that you can't easily buy, I still can't imagine having children of my own. Perhaps it is an attempt to make up for having toys thrown out when I was young and my mother threw a fit of rage, one that ended up in punishment for everyone who was in sight. Regardless of the deeper reasoning behind this, it feels good to help kids out, even if it is by proxy.

[maker]

What a day, my new computer controlled vinyl cutter arrived just after I got back from work and I've spent the rest of the day by setting the thing up and doing some test cuts. At least I have a custom made t-shirt for all that time spent.

 

While I was out with a friend to get a roll of orange vinyl from him, a cute German girl (at least I've guessed that based on her accent) asked for directions to a restaurant that didn't really ring a bell at first but turned out to be this great local kebab place. Then I got reproached by my friend for not even trying to get her number. Ah well, that sort of game was never really my thing.

[maker]

Free dating sites can be an unexpected source of good laughs, especially in my area. Older women with kids are no real surprise as I imagine that this craving for surrogate fathers and beta providers is fairly universal.

My age bracket on the other hand is an almost 50/50 split between single mothers and morbidly obese or at the very least obese girls with a shopping list of demands and requirements. Oh, the joys of not having to pick either of those options.

 

In other news, I'm still rather busy with various commissions, long may it remain.

[WithLove]

You've mentioned cosplaying. Is your work centered around designing costumes for this?

[maker]

You've mentioned cosplaying. Is your work centered around designing costumes for this?

 

WithLove, if you mean my day job then no, that's probably as far from costume and prop making as one could get. But I do spend most of my spare time working on costumes or props, mostly for other people.

[WithLove]

That's really awesome. My ex made himself Boba Fett's helmet and wanted to make the rest of the armor. I've always wanted to cosplay; never had the gumption to do it. (Plus, being on the fatter side, there aren't many characters I could do justice for.)

 

That's a great hobby to have.

 

My dream cosplay: female Titan from Destiny.

[maker]

I'm still tempted by a number of Star Wars costumes, so far I did not have the time and motivation to start one. It's a tough call when it comes to people wanting to cosplay a character that doesn't exactly fit their build. I personally don't mind, the workmanship and staying true to the original are way more important than making sure someone is not too fat or slim for a given character. The only exception would be a revealing cosplay on someone morbidly obese, nobody wants to see a mashup of Princess Leia and Jabba the Hutt.

 

It can eat a ton of your free time but agreed, a great hobby to have. Purely by coincidence, I'm working on a prop gun from Destiny, one of the exotic hand cannons.

 

 

[WithLove]

Wowwwww, that looks fantastic! I'd be proud to carry that.

 

Yeah, I get what you're saying about body size. I would not be able to pull off Leia or any of the slim characters, and I'd be insulting those kinds of characters to even try. I leave it to slimmer women.

 

But when it comes to general characters, like the ones you'd see at Renaissance Festivals and such, I'd love to go as a cleric, since that's what I always play - but I could definitely pull off a female barbarian or dwarf fighter of some sort, because I have red hair and I'm short! I'd love to carry around a greataxe, to be honest.

[maker]

After reading your post, I can only suggest one thing - go for it! Seriously, it can be really rewarding to meet someone who recognizes your character and absolutely wants to take a picture with you because you're portraying someone from his or hers favorite movie/series/comic. Link up with people that are already seasoned cosplayers and get your craft on.

 

And it goes without saying that I'm not exactly eager to try and go for some incredibly manly characters who run around half naked and have more abs than you can count, I don't have the build for that, not yet. Luckily for us, weight is nothing permanet and it took me roughly a year to get from being overweight to well withing the healthy range for my height.

[WithLove]

I'm glad you took initiative and got yourself to a healthy weight. I'm trying to do that, myself. I've been going to the gym for a couple weeks and I've been really trying to count calories and eat healthier. It's hard. I like the gym a lot - I love lifting and using an exercise ball, but I really hate cardio. It bothers my calves (I played soccer for many years and injured them). I sort of feel angry that exercise really doesn't count towards all that much when it comes to losing weight - diet is the main thing.

 

I live in Florida, so there are plenty of Cons for me to attend, not to mention permanent Renaissance Festivals within a two hour radius of me. I'm definitely going to do it, eventually. I'm just not all that crafty.

[maker]

You're right on point with the diet, it is hard to make up for caloric imbalance with exercise alone. I'd say it is there to help you maintain at least some muscle mass as your weight goes down, the important changes are made in the kitchen. On the upside, it gets much easier to maintain those new eating habits as you get used to them, just hang in there.

 

It's been quite different for me as I am just plain bad at acting and my secret superpower is to make a goofy face whenever someone's taking a picture. I'm in it for the crafting and making of things, especially when it comes to props that nobody made before.

[maker]

Sometimes the ads are so perfect that it would be a shame not to share.

 

Looking for something serious. Only doctors or pharmacists.

(This is a loose translation, though there wasn't anything else in the text)

 

And attached a picture of what I thought to be a female Keith Richards impersonator. Drugs are bad, m'kay.

[WithLove]

Oh dear.

 

Sometimes I would go out of my way to message ones that made me laugh. Male or female, even though I don't swing that way.

[maker]

I have to admit that I'm using those free dating sites almost exclusively as a source of good laughs. Nothing worthwhile in my immediate area and I don't want to be the sucker who drives an hour or more for dates only to be politely told to sod off. No free lunch. Tinder is even worse in that regard, the few matches I've got did not go past my initial message or the conversation gradually died down once I stopped initiating.

 

Ads that are funny on purpose are quite rare over here, most of them are just cringeworthy enough to be funny.

[WithLove]

When I used OLD, I was surprised that I didn't get tons of messages, but the ones I did get almost always led to dates. The successes outweighed the failures, which seems pretty rare.

[maker]

I can't say that I've had a single success with online dating over the years. A number of dates that did not go anywhere, though I can imagine that the female point od view is quite different.

[WithLove]

I had dates with 4 guys I met off of OLD... 3 of them became boyfriends. I mean, I suppose you could call them failures, since the relationships didn't last past 4 months each, but I'm a better person for having met them.

[maker]

By failures I meant no dates or dates that did not lead to anything else. 3 out of 4 sounds like an excellent success rate!

[maker]

Pretty busy weekends now seem to be the standard instead of an exception. On the plus side, having a lot on my hands keeps my mind occupied and I'm feeling happy most of the time.

In completely unrelated news, I've received a mail that my payment for a black powder musket has been processed. I'm excited like a little kid, can't wait for that replica to arrive so I can take it to the range and make some noise. From what I've read and seen, these Pedersoli guns are very nicely done so there's a lot to be excited for.

[WithLove]

I went to the range with my father 2 weekends ago. I have a pistol and rifle. They are a lot of fun - but I don't have a rifle cleaning kit, which I really need to get.

[maker]

Range time can be loads of fun, especially with friends. You get to try out different guns, make holes in stuff and at the end of the day you're dirty but happy. Cleaning kit is another thing that I have to get hold of, along with spare flints, bullet moulds and other essentials. Plus I'm really looking forward to making my own paper cartridges.

I wonder if the lack of involved women influenced my choice of hobbies. Aside from cosplaying, most stuff that I do in my free time or discuss on the internet is 'manly' stuff with few or even no female enthusiasts.

 

I've achieved a little something at work that's not directly related to my job. No amazing breakthrough and maybe I'm way too excited by it. A DC power source came from our lab as defective and not eligible for a warranty repair since it's kinda old and was bought by one of our suppliers. We took it apart and I was able to identify what exact parts self destructed in the surge protection circuit. At least peering over charred remains of a burned thermistor with a magnifying glass was worth it in the end.