The State Of The Wendy

[wendyzski]

I know I've picked a couple of new readers lately - most of whom I have never actually met. So in an efforts to show them what they are in for and that it's not the All Cloverfield All The Time Blog (Obsessive wendy is Obsessing), here is some stuff about me.


I'm 41, single, short and loud. I'm usually some variety of redhead, depending on what brand is on sale this week. I think my hair was originally brown, but since I've not seen it since high school I'm not entirely sure. I am originally from northern NJ but came to college in the Chicago area (Northwestern - theatre) and just never left. Now I live in a 1BR on the north side of Chicago, and the primary decor in my living room is framed One-Sheets (Empire Strikes Back, Return of the Jedi, Godzilla 85 and soon Cloverfield), reproduction ukiyo-e prints, and books.

I've been working at Renaissance Faires since age 14 - booths, street theatre, swordwork, storytelling, and now music. I was with Minstrosity for 9 seasons and 3 CDs, and am now 1/3 of Merry Measure. We are preparing for our 2nd touring season and working on our 1st CD - a source of much complaining in these pages. I am primarily a vocalist, although I also play pennywhistle, bodhran, and bowed psaltery. I'm also de-facto business manager and artistic director, mainly because no one else wants to do it.

Another source of much complaint is my dayjob. I am the admin assistant at a real estate/property management firm on Michigan Avenue. I work for an elderly Greek man who shouts a lot and a manager whose brains have been replaced by an HR manual. I have therefor been discreetly interviewing for "other opportunities" since mid-December.

Most of my local friends are part of Galaxy Rangers, which was once the science fiction club at NU and now with many years and assorted life changes some have left and we've aquired some new hangers-on. We usually have casual drop-in gaming every Friday night, go in clusters to movies and stuff, and often go to science fiction conventions. The undisputed center and social planner of the group was always Janet, my best friend for more than 20 years. She died of cancer in July, and we're all still trying to find a new balance around the hole she left.

I share my apartment with a lop-eared rabbit named Pepper. . I adopted her from a shelter a year ago last September - she was found in a park, probably a cute baby easter bunny who was dumped once she stopped being baby-cute. She apparently missed the memo about being a "timid little woodland creature" - she's spunky, sassy, and gets into everything. She loves people, particularly the sloppy kind who drop food on the floor. She once climbed a ladder to get at yummies on a table, and she has defeated three different fasteners I used to block my bedroom/sewing room off with a gate. She is littertrained and aside from the bedroom she has free run of my apartment 24-7 - I've covered the electrical cords and as for anything else - well, I'm the one wit the big brain and opposable thimbs - if I leave it on the floor and she chews it, it's pretty much my fault for leaving it there. I am active in a lot of online bunny communities as well, mostly because so much of the info out there on rabbit care is either outdated or just plain wrong.

Since you can't exactly run out to WalMart to find Elizabethan clothing, I also design and sew my own. . Most of the stuff is more casual, but that's the prettiest of the current batch. I have a deep interest in historical clothing, and keep up with current research. Some of the people on my F-list are also costumers, researchers, or both.

I'm a voracious reader - mostly Fantasy and SF but a fair amount of Non-Fiction as well. I'm a nut for social history - I don't want to know who won what battle, I want to know what they had for breakfast! most of my expertise is in Tudor and Elizabethan England, but there are other subjects I've researched in detail just because - geisha/geiko, historical homes, victorian crime, the history of prostitution, the Mallory-Irvine expedition to Everest, and I was into pirates before pirates were cool.

As I've mentioned, 'Monster Week on the 4:30 Movie" was a formative part of my childhood. It started with "The Deadly Mantis" at age 6, and I still have a fairly decent shelf of daikaiju tapes and dvds. A side-interest of that is US B-movies of the 50s and 60s. I programmed the 24-hr B-fest for 3 years in college and own copies of both 'Plan 9 from Outer Space' AND 'Night Of The Lepus'.

I have one brother in California - he works in aquisitions for Intel and his wife is expecting their first child next month. My mother lives in Florida near her brother, her best friend from grade school, and her "um...friend". ( he's in his 70's, so "boyfriend" isn't the right word....). My parents divorced about 20 years ago and neither my brother nor I are in touch with my Dad. Frankly, while I love my family, there is enough geographical and emotional distance that my friends are really my family.

My LJ is set to "adult concepts" because I'm an adult, and sometimes I talk about adult stuff and I don't want to worry about some self-appointed LJ police getting their panties in a know because I said "fuck".

Comments

[padparadscha.livejournal.com]

Damn your bunny looks like Huck--and yes, Huck was a Bad Bunny, too. She was tough and snarky and had an extortion racket where anyone entering the laundry room (her base of operations) would have their feet sat upon until they gave her a treat. She loved chocolate and we would give it to her once in a while, on the theory that if humans are allowed to eat things that are bad for them then so are rabbits (and she still lived a good ten years). She had boxed with both our cats and a small dog who made the mistake of getting too close to her. Timid Woodland Creature my ass.

Sorry. I still miss that wabbit.

Anyway, you sound like my kinda dude (in, of course, the gender-neutral sense) and happen to be geeky in all the right places (you ARE an MST3k fan, aren't you?!). Nice to meet you, and I'll stick around!

[wendyzski.livejournal.com]

I was MST3K before MST3K was cool!

We had the same kind of vibe at B-Fest, only LIVE! As a result I never much got into watching it on TV. If I have to listen to their snark, they should have to listen to mine!

Pepper smacked the neighbor's chihuahua around once. I kind of agreed with her.

[padparadscha.livejournal.com]

*grin* I dunno about "before it was cool" (I was barely before it at all), but I was MST3k before I knew about the show itself, anyway. I still love the stuff they come up with. My mother despairs when watching movies with me, because I have this tendency to commentate while I watch. (I do belong in the special hell. I provide my own commentary in theaters, but I try to do it QUIETLY.)

Okay, so the dog was a silky/chihuahua/something-or-other we'd found on the street and were keeping until we found its owner, but still, it was rather funny to watch one of the Chicken McNuggets of the animal kingdom pounding on one of the predators.

I may have to press you for clothing details, but not for big people--I am a rather insane doll-lover and may need recommendations for dressing my 18" roommates at some point.

[microwench.livejournal.com]

The more fellow short people I meet, the more I think it's practically *required* that we be loud. Sometimes it's the only way I keep from being stepped on!

Also, nice shades in your pretty Elizabethan picture :-) Are those a period style?

[ladyariyana.livejournal.com]

ahh that is a mask.. she was all fancied up for the masquerade.. this I know well because I took the pic lol.. and wow.. never thought of missy as loud.. pretty, cute, cuddly and sexy as heck but loud? guess I missed that lol.. now Wendy? yeah I have heard her be loud.. it can be very entertaining!
of course I love both of you so it's all good hehehee

[wendyzski.livejournal.com]

That's actually a mask - velvet with burgundy gimp and feathers on the side

[microwench.livejournal.com]

Ahhh...lol...my teeny and not-so-clear monitor made it look like shades!

The gown is quite pretty, BTW. I am still in awe of you sewing types. I can kinda-sorta wrangle a sewing machine. Maybe...I think...

[ktlovely.livejournal.com]

Hi, I'm Katie *waves* I found you via jenthompson's friends list. This might sound creepy, but I've been periodically lurking since about the time you adopted Pepper. I started lurking for the bunny stories and stayed because you're fun; would you mind if I friended you?

[wendyzski.livejournal.com]

Not at all!

And BTW - I "hate" the term "friend", because it implies that if you are not on the list you're not my friend. My "Friends" page is called "people I put up with" :).

There are people who are my friends whose LJs I don't read - either because all they do is post memes or political stuff that annoys me. There are also people who I read who I have never and will never meet, but whose LJs I read because I think they are funny. (like cadhla and cleolinda)

I actually met Jen briefly when she visited Bristol, in her Moroni gown and she does look EXACTLY like the painting. Jealousy - I has it.

[ktlovely.livejournal.com]

I second the jealousy on the Moroni gown. I re-read the making-of diary the other day when in need of inspiration!

I'm pretty sure I won't meet half the people on my LJ; you're actually one of the closest to me, being in Chicago. I'm a Michigander--in the general vicinity of Grand Rapids, now, but I used to live in the very SW corner of Michigan, nestled in by St. Joe/Benton Harbor and all those other little tiny towns hardly anybody's ever heard of. :)

[wendyzski.livejournal.com]

If you ever go to the Michigan Renaissance Festival in Flint, you may have seen me. The Merry Measure pic above was taken at the duck pond straight ahead from the main gates, and the single shot of me was taken at the Little Guinness Pub - both from this past season. We're bidding on a couple of Michigan shows for the upcoming season.

I obviously go pretty ren-casual at these events. It's rude to out-dress the queen, and farthingales don't fit on pub stages. I became enamored of Flemish Workingwomen's outfits after seeing Drea Leed present at CostumeCon a few years ago and that's mostly what I wear now. It holds the 38DDs in place but I can still bend over and haul benches around. And yes I know the cleavage isn't "proper" for that style, but a tavern singer is rather improper at best. Plus we make 37% less money in tips when I wear a partlet...

[ktlovely.livejournal.com]

I'm sad to say I haven't been to a MI Renaissance Festival in ages. I went to Silverleaf a couple years ago, but that was the last time I went. For the past two summers I've been working in Mackinaw City and haven't been able to get away for Faire. I have noooo idea what I'll be doing this summer, though, so maybe!

Sometimes, you just can't hide the cleavage. I mostly do 18th century, but I hardly ever wear a neck scarf/cleavage cover. They make me crazy and while I don't get tips, I can see your point!

[jmaynard.livejournal.com]

I agree that the "friends list" is misnamed. I'd like to think Wendy and I are friends, and I'm not at all insulted that I'm not on her friends list even though she's on mine. I'd say that not everything I post is political, but there's a nontrivial amount of it, and I recognize that not all share my views. (Even if I do think they should. :-)

[wendyzski.livejournal.com]

You're who I had in mind with that one - we hold diametrically opposing views on a lot of issues, so reading those entries just makes me cranky. We're not going to change each others minds, so let's agree to disagree. I check in with yours every month or so, to see what's up, but every day and I'd kick a hole in my monitor :)

[jmaynard.livejournal.com]

I understand. I'm perfectly able to separate the person from her politics; it's dismaying that a lot of folks are not, and I've lost a few friends because they weren't (including one guy whose web pages I'd been hosting for years that snuck off in the middle of the night after he decided he couldn't stand me any more).

There are folks on my "friends" list who fervently wish that they weren't there for this kind of reason. They're there because I like to read what they write, even though I've got major disagreements with a lot of it. They'll be there until they quit writing stuff I want to read, and then they'll be gone.

I wish LJ would come up with some other name for that list, but I've got no good suggestion to offer.

[jmaynard.livejournal.com]

FWIW, I'd be interested in your comments on my latest two entries, neither of which is political. The two right after those are, though, so be forewarned. :-)

[wendyzski.livejournal.com]

Well, I'm of no help on the car angle, as I've lived without one for more than 20 years. I have driven a couple of hybrids through my car-sharing service (The Honda Civic most of the time) and I like them, but I don't have any testosterone-fueled self-image issues that a lot of guys seem to have about cars. I'd happily drive a go-cart if it had head and AC and I didn't get run over on the highway!