A week of living undangerously

Hi folks,

With it being a half-term break in dear Old Blighty – and two weeks* for Notts residents – the Jones Family decided to take some time off.

Given last time’s wobble post – or possible ‘melt-down’ if I’m part of the ADD/ADHD neurospicy massive? – perhaps a break away from the usual would be a good thing. Oh, and to the kind souls who wrote in with wisdom and kindness, thank you 🙏

( * Readers of a certain age may wish to over pronouces the phrase ‘two weeks’ 🙂 Be aware that the original Total Recall film came out in 1990…. and still no sign of flying cars or home fusion! 🙃 Looking at you Back to the Future 2! 😏).

Days out

With Child 2.0 into their A Levels and both he & the Ever Lovely Mrs J’s love of history, we’ve had a couple of visits to battlefields, old castles, and whatnot.

The good thing about the above – other than I think it’s a good thing to stretch your mind a little – is that many of these places are quiet and out of the way. Sure, there’s the obligatory coffee shop (useful for recharging and warming up!) and facilities, but it’s not the burble and throng of the big city, cinema, or similar.

Instead, we get a drive down through country lanes we’ve not been through and a good walk through woods, fields, and moors. I’m an autumn person, so I am loving the change in the leaves, the coolness of the air, no hayfever, and with it being that inbetweeny weather, it’s a bit of gamble to layer/unlayer as you get out.

All of that and long-ish walks with little to no need for screentime, nor rush to be anywhere, and from those; a sense that the day is just yours.

(Under) Dressing for it

With the weather turning cooler, I’ve been wearing opaques – usually the very bright and equally comfy Snag ones – under my jeans. The extra layer keeps me warm and footless options have helped me mix & match socks when it comes to walking. Oh, and I should add the usual disclaimer that this isn’t sponsored content, just my personal experience.

I’ve also bought a set of bodysuits – talking of the 90s again! 👵- and these are from Long Tall Sally. They’re a good fit and being mostly cotton, you don’t get that -ahem- slight ick feeling you get with certain synthetic fabrics. That they’re from a tall shop, you don’t have that issue of overstretch nor -ahem- pinch that smaller/cheaply made items can have.

The ribbed material is, I guess, gender neutral enough that with a t-shirt over the top, it just looks to passersby like I’m layering ‘regular bloke’ stuff.

Okay, I think you could argue that I could just as easily buy men’s leggings and a thermal top, but the material nor the fit do not feel as nice. They can also be, paradoxically, too warm. But hey, that’s me: overly fussy 😉

Further tidying

With Halloween approaching, I had in my head the idea of wearing an old LBD, stripey tights, and going all out on some green skinpaint. Of course I’ll not need the witchy nose and snaggle teeth, my body has already unlocked those features thanks to genetics & male hormones 😁

But, the best laid plans of the over-hopeful where soon put to rest, as the LDB in question was a 16…. and I’m certainly not. I guess I’ve change shape a bit in the last three years. The image is from a few years back. Ah, slimmer days eh? 🙂

I had a look in the label: Dorothy Perkins. Wow, didn’t they close as a real world retailer just as the Pandemic hit? So, said dress, lovely though it is, will be making its way to the local charity shop in time for Xmas. I hope that whoever buys it enjoys feeling fabulous, and has many happy nights out in it. Fly my, pretty! Spread joy and cheer to those in need! 🪄

But the striped Snags will come in and I’ve probably saved myself a serious job of ‘de greening’ myself…. and the shower. Small mercies eh?

Spooky nerd news

If you’re not a gamer, feel free to skip this section 🙂

Still here? So, having done nearly all of the quests – and new ones added by the Skyrim modding community – I thought I’d have a look at my mod list, make some changes, and see what might be improved with different options.

For any non-gamers still reading, a mod list is a collection of modifications that change how a game behaves, looks, plays, etc. In my case, I’ve a strong leaning towards adding in interactive features such as cooking on a campfire, putting up a tent – both things I don’t like in the real world! – better looking armour & clothing (hey, I’m trans and nerdy 🤓), improvements to animation, better spells, and of course, better looking non-player characters (inc. hair, skin tone, eyes, etc).

I would say the joy – yes, joy – I get from this is both the playing with the new tweaks and the on-and-off-again tinkering. I suppose it’s a bit of a puzzle to make certain things play nicely. It certainly ticks both boxes of IT nerdery and, umm, role-playing nerdery at least.

There’s also the factor of playing a female character that helps with my (occasional) gender dysphoria and feeling valid in that world. Yes, it does seem a bit nuts given the game is A) a fantasy setting – think Lord of the Rings via Vikings via D&D, and B) it’s a game – very much not real. That said, I like my armour (and clothing) realistic, so no bikini chainmail nonsense!

Hmm, where have I seen that hair style and clothing choice before? I wonder…. 🙃

Side note: like all good fiction, characters – player or ‘non player’ – should behave as real people do. I won’t explain the game’s setting, but I will say there are factions and their goals clash with that of others. They also, for the most part, make sense…. even if the game engine doesn’t. As in, a cow might drop from the sky or a person might vanish while walking down the street. TBH, it’s these oddities that add a lot of unintended amusement.

Despite deciding to play a vampire character this time around, I still cannot justify joining the separatists. Mainly because some of them are vile racists and the leader is a sock puppet for ‘the power behind the throne’. Yeah, this is very much a Fantasy setting ‘cos you’d not see anything like that in the real world 😏

Halloween & Chams

It was a ‘bit of a do’ this week given it was Halloween, Stevie’s retirement, and Jayne’s birthday. With that in mind, I stocked early on some Halloween decorations and we colluded on cake options. It may not help with the figure, but shared goodies can be good for the soul ❤️ With me being on leave, there was less of a rush to get things sorted and I was grateful for that slightly slower pace. Given the decorations, a wig box, changing bag, and three cakes to bring, the extra time was a gift. I was pleased to see the decorations were delightfully old school, being made out of paper and thread. No more ‘single use’ plastic and much better for recycling.

I had packed two outfits – because A) Lessons Learned, and B) indecision 🙃 – and unusually, two wigs as well. Earlier in the week I’d tried my hand at a ‘wet & set’ using some foam rollers and I was very pleased to see that my human hair wig had taken them really well. Certainly better than the previous ‘do which seemed to like a heat based curl, but sadly my skills are not good enough for beach waves & a straightener.

Isobel was the first to turn up and was looking amazing in a gothic dress, kick ass boots, and feather shrug. If you’re lucky, there’ll be a post on her blog about it soon. Stevie had gone all in on a witchy outfit and we had a surprise visit from Nicole. I like to say that the Chams’ door is always open, and we do not judge anyone who’s been away for a time. It’s always good to see friends – old & new – so that was a very pleasant surprise.

I’ve been faffing around trying different techniques to hide my under eye shadows and so far, a small brush and old school conceler seems to be working. That or my failing eyesight is helping me look away from those areas! 😏 Despite an ’emergency reshade’ to correct some over zealous blending, I was pleased with the results. After last week’s wobble, I was very much aiming for ‘good enough’ with the feeling that low expectation would help avoid disappointment, and anything more would be a win.

I needed to shake out the curls a little and I think my new wig – not this one, the straight brown one – needs a bit of love around getting the fringe just right. At the mo, it feels a bit flat, so perhaps a careful tweak via the straighteners or some velcro rollers is in order. 🤔 Talking of hair, a few folk at the group were kind enough to compliment me on the new look and that really helped with my self confidence. Thank you, ladies! ❤️

As to the evening itself, we had some new visitors and some returning new folk too – always good to see people visit and to return too. Hopefully it means they’re getting what they need from the group. We did very well on the catering front and Rosalind had worked her cake magic – possibly having picked up on the forum posts about the birthday and retirement.

There was a visit from Chris who’s part of Leicester Chameleons. Val informed me that in the history of the group, the Leicester folk got in touch to ask if they could share the same name. That was news to me and I’d always wondered why both groups had similar. Oh, and for anyone who’s interested, Leicester Chameleons meet on the first Saturday of each month.

It was a busy night and as such, we did have to go on the look-out for extra chairs. For some reason, the usual stack of spares have disappeared. I’ll need to get in touch with the Centre to find out about that.

Jayne was kind enough to create and host a Halloween themed quiz. Given that theme, there were lots of film, book, and geek culture related questions. But, hey, that’s entirely my cauldron – sorry, bag. 🎃 Given the theme, I think Debbie and I were quids in on the questions! The quiz was just for fun and I did ask midway, if Jayne and I had shared film & book lists unknowingly. Out of the twenty questions, I dropped two points for having no clue about the Quatermass Experiment and who were the Edinburgh grave robbers. But, I won! Which is a surprise given most quizes I’m left clueless. Clearly, I should be looking out for fantasy, sci-fi, and horror themed ones.

After the cake, quiz, chair hunt, and much tea & good company, it was time to take down the decorations and save them for next year. There was just time for some more snaps to capture the memories of the evening. We did manage a small group shot – which turned out to be Isobel, Stevie, and myself. Yes, I’m aware of “when shall we three meet again?” 😉 I’ve popped that on the Chams’ forum and subject to permission from friends, it might make it on to the main website.

After all that, it was time to sort the washing up, tidy away, and – in my case – turn back into a pumpkin 🎃 Old jokes aside, I had an amazing night. The right amount of tea, cake, chat, fun, silliness, and all the good things about a night at Chams. To top all of that off, I’ve not had the post visit wobble from last time, nor the harsh regrets of feeling like I’d got it all wrong. Instead, just joyful feelings of self-acceptance and fond memories of time with kind souls.

L x

PS: This Wednesday my spider sense was half awake around writing something. But why around that time? Ah, the blog anniversary for 22/10/04. Guess I better do something about that for next week.