So, about the lack of updates...

This year, I've been horrible with updates.

See, I was supposed to be on the road to Blizzcon, yesterday. Costume done or not, this afternoon was the drop dead day. I was really hoping it would still happen, but it won't. I've been laid up too much to finish the costume, or even manage to post shots of it. I can barely walk in the hooves, forget dance, at this point.

Back around April, my health started taking a serious nose dive. I already have a chronic condition, but things went from manageable to worse and worse. It's somewhat managed again at this point, but I'm still in constant pain.

I got the call from my doctor's office late this afternoon. Absolutely no flying. Absolutely no going on long trips alone. Something showed up on the latest MRI, and they want to check with another specialist. Going on a long trip before they know what it is would be ill advised, to say the least.
And before anyone says cancer - no. It's not cancer. We are 100% positive it is not cancer or any form of cancer. And we're 99% certain it's not going to kill me now or even next year. But it is leaving me exhausted and in too much pain to even think about traveling.

So, not only will I not be in costume, I won't be able to attend Blizzcon at all. Unfortunately, even if I were able to attend, I'm forced to concede that I'd be unable to enjoy it. I'm just in too much pain; I wouldn't even be able to walk the convention hall.

I hate conceding defeat more than anything else, but I really don't have a choice. Hopefully, later in the year, when this is cleared up, I'll be able to finish up the costume.

Unfortunately, this was to be my last Blizzcon. I will not be attending Blizzcon 2010. I realized several key things. WoW is going in directions I do not agree with or like; WoW turned into a job; WoW just wasn't fun any more. Certainly, Blizzcon is about more than just Warcraft, but Warcraft is why I attended. (Sorry, I'm just not that into Starcraft or Diablo.)
This isn't to say I might not show up as a Tauren somewhere else, in the future. Certainly, I would like to - Cassinae is a wonderful character in so many ways. My muse truly blessed me with her. And someday, people will get to meet her in the flesh so to speak. Unfortunately, it will not be at Blizzcon.

Good luck out there. Hopefully I'll have something less depressing to post soon.

The Main Mane

My mane arrived from CosWorx this afternoon! I can't find my camera though, so pictures will have to wait till tomorrow.
For now, have a swatch.

The consumerism begins!

Vendor dump!

This year, the mane is being sourced from CosWorx since they now have pre-wefted extensions. (And excellent customer service! They didn't have the color I wanted listed, so they added it.) Epic mane is epic - four pounds of synthetic on it's way to my door.
This year's staff is coming from a friend, who hasn't sent me the link for the rest of you yet. It will be nothing short of "OMG OSSUM."
Much of the electronic components will be coming from Digi-Key. Highly recommended; I've done business with them for years. They have excellent customer service, and amazing stock, even for small orders.

Parts I'm still looking for include the fur - 4-way stretch short-pile has proven difficult to find, though not as bad as trying to color and texture match last year. I'm also trying to find smaller EL Panels that can be driven by battery pack. (I definitely do not need 60"x300ft!) Sadly, EL Wire looks like it can't handle the bends I need to do with it.

Also, I've changed the template of this blog. Hopefully this will make it easier to read. :)

Ticket Status

This year? This year was different.
Panic? Oh yes. Lots of panic. Many panic. Anxiety. Terror.

Both tickets are purchased and confirmed.

Arm your slash-moos.

Long time, no write!

Well. I kind of disappeared there after Blizzcon - you can thank work for that I'm afraid. Yes, I'm still alive. I just dove right into one giant rat's nest of problems and it never improved, sadly. As soon as I'd fix one, another would pop up to replace it. We finally went live on our upgrade, but I was already up to my eyeballs in planning our upgrades. Then?
Well. Last Friday, I was laid off. No warning, except the knowledge that the company was not doing so well overall. They decided to restructure IT, and being the newest hire, I was first - but not alone - on the chopping block. I can't say that anyone who's still there has any confidence in this restructuring doing anything but harm, but it's well out of my hands.

What does this mean for Blizzcon this year? Well.
Yes. I'm still the Cow Level. That's not changing. This year is going to be a different cow. This year will also involve far less real leather and fur, as it's hideously expensive and hard to work with. It will make up for this by employing electronics.
No. I'm not going to disclose much of anything yet. But it's now 3 months to Blizzcon (give or take a week or two!) so it's time to get cracking. This year, I plan to actually buy tickets instead of having to beg for them. ;) I may also be selling some various sewing things to help pay for expenses. Also, if possible, I plan to auction one or two tickets to help pay for expenses. Watch here for updates on all of that.

Updates will be slow in coming

Please let me apologize in advance here. This is due to circumstances out of my control. Otherwise known as the reasons why I can never, ever take vacations.

My coworker fell deathly ill - quite literally - on Friday night. There's only two of us covering the entire department. I got a voicemail from him this morning, and he'll be out for three to four weeks at least recovering. So I will be covering everything for that long.
Obviously, this will make it pretty damned hard to update you all on things, and get the last remnants of the trip itself sorted out. I'm dialed in to the office already as the urgent things start piling up.

This is why I can never take vacations.

I'm Home! 10/18/2008

It's official, they can turn out the lights at Blizzcon. The last person is finally home safe and sound.

Lory and I had a wonderful week in California, and a wonderful drive. I have various entries typed up on my laptop, but I'm too tired and sore to put them in tonight. Later on this week I'll put them up. We have over 8GB of photos from the trip.

For now, I'm tired. I'll be on AIM. imalamuya -at- gmail -dot- com is both my email and my AIM name.

Summary: Too many lines, really long drive back, had a blast, Amana, IA has awesome food, definitely try the Tangerine Chicken, Coco's is epic win, I need to drink more often, and don't stay at Motel 6 if you can afford better - realized after spending the night at one.