Events – Tse Moana

LZW12

Thursday, May 10, 2012 by Tse Moana Leave a Comment

Oops, turns out I put this post on ‘save draft’ instead of ‘publish’, so pretend it’s Thursday as you read it 😀

Yesterday I went to the Libelle Summer Week with The Mom one of her friends and a friend of the friend. We went last year as well, and that was fun so when Mom asked if I wanted to go again this year I said ‘sure!’.

The actual content of the gigantic fair that it basically is, is not of that much interest to me, but it’s always nice to hang out with Mom. Plus I like her friend a lot too (the friend of the friend was new, and approved 😀 ).

We went with an organised bus trip so we wouldn’t have to think about parking and all such things, so we had to be at the departure point quite early. We lucked out with the driver, he managed to avoid all the traffic jams by taking shortcuts and smaller roads to go around them, and ended up being one of the first buses to arrive.

We followed the same kind of pattern we had going last year, where the ladies go all around and I function as sheep herder to keep them somewhat together and roughly going in the right direction. The layout was better this year: instead of several square paths with connector lanes they now had one giant rectangle path with little squares added here and there to sit down and rest or eat/drink something. This meant we could just follow the road and we’d end up at our starting point eventually.

Right from the start we focused on the stands that offered samples (most of them food/drink related), which was much fun. We’d go from one tasting and start walking again and one of us would spot another sample area to head for. In between we bought some minor things, did much chatting and occasionally paused to sit down and have a drink.

I bought sausages, two little stone cats and a set of water colour postcards and bookmarks of horses and cows. I also collected a load of brochures and little pamphlets for museums and other touristy things around the country. I’m gonna spend some time this weekend to see if there’s anything I wanna go to this summer.

Unlike last year, we managed to do a full round and see all the stuff there. We even had about 45 minutes left before we had to head back to the bus so we sat down some more for a last drink and chat. Around four we started to make our way back to the bus so we would be there in time for its departure at 16:45 sharp. It wouldn’t do to be left behind after all 😀

The theme this year was China Town, so everything was dressed up with Chinese things, including the welcome girls 😀

There was a dragon and the main square had this huge decorated tree in it for people to sit under and around.

Mom and the ladies.

And along the way we came across this ‘Beautiful Man’, yours for only €14,95.

Elf Fantasy Fair 2011

Sunday, May 15, 2011 by Tse Moana 2 Comments

I just realised I never got around to blogging about the Elf Fantasy Fair, so here’s a quick photo/highlights reel.

Saturday april 16th, we went with a group of four: me, Nienke and two colleagues: Kimberley & Marieke. I cosplayed as Spike, from Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Nienke was Buffy and Kimberly & Marieke were more classic vampires. Once in the parking lot, K&M needed to get their teeth done, and the goo in the fake teeth took a while to dry, giving me ample time to take many pictures of them sitting in the car holding their teeth in place Emoticon met brede lach

Since I was cosplaying an existing character, I decided I wanted to go as realistic as possible. And since Spike can’t normally be outside (seeing as how the sunlight would set him on fire), and I wasn’t about to spend the whole day hiding under a blanket (as Spike can be seen doing in some episodes) I ordered a replica of the Ring of Amara. This ring basically makes vampires unkillable, since they can’t be staked anymore, and sunlight doesn’t harm them.

Once we we passed through the gates onto the terrain we immediately spotted the first of many, many, many awesome costumes: Steampunk Ladies with a cart full of alchemical potions and whatnots.

We walked around, checked out the sights, the sounds, the smells and the stands. Nienke got bitten Emoticon met brede lach , there were people cosplaying Elfquest, and there was a LOTR re-enactment camp which included the desk with awesome detailing in the props.

After that we came across the medieval camp set up by a group of our friends. Normally, as the Chauken, they re-enact iron age Germans (see for that also posts tagged KMF, where I went with them in re-enacting the iron age), but for here they went with the middle ages. They went as realistic as possible, bringing along a dead chicken, feathered and all, so they could chop it up and pluck it there before eating. All of the people had a specific job/task they were displaying over the weekend. Margreet was spinning wool, Eva was working leather (I think), Ingrid was doing medieval games.

Anneke was doing (most of) the cooking, Danielle was doing calligraphy. There were some hints of fantasy as well, what with the captured troll and the werewolf skin in the middle of the camp Emoticon met brede lach .

After walking around, there had to be time for some R&R in the grass as well. When we went on, there were more awesome costumes to see. Like these two older men and a group of Weeping Angels from Doctor Who. Then Nienke and I went for a tour through the castle, after which we made friends with the stone lions Glimlach

More costumes: an awesome Captain Jack Sparrow. I’ve seen this person cosplaying like this on several events now, s/he is awesome! We also took another stroll to the camp of our friends to find Mellien felting. Then there was a German guy, also part of a re-enactment group, who spotted our vampire-ness, and invited Marieke, where the blood was visible around her mouth, to bite him. Unfortunately vampire dentistry is rough, and she’d lost her teeth. So I stepped up to the plate and bit him.

More awesomeness in costumes and items was enjoyed throughout the day. Too many to all post here, so I’ll end with these two people and a LOTR chess set.

That Was The Year That Was: 2010

Sunday, January 2, 2011 by Tse Moana 2 Comments

January

I started Working at KPN

We had a very severe winter, which resulted in public transport being down frequently, which is very! annoying

Had a tea party with friends at Mellien’s place, it was very fun

February

I’ve got nothing for this month. For some reason I only took 3 pictures in the whole of February… And I didn’t blog that month either. Sadness. Here, have all three February pics to cheer you up from this huge, huge let down 😀

March

Spring was on its way! Not that enthusiastically yet, but I saw the first real flowers peeking their heads above ground

Finally found a good design starting point for my future tattoo

Chocolate fondue with Eva & Ingrid, yum!

Bought new plants for my back yard

Found an awesome stick to turn into a staff. So far it’s still standing unused in my mudroom, but this year I strive to actually make something out of it 🙂

Went balfolking for the first time (no, it’s probably not a proper verb, and yes, I’ll tell you what it is; it’s dancing old ball and folk dances on medieval-and-slightly-later type music)

April

With Eva, Ingrid and Nienke to Lauwersoog, which was hilarious since we got stuck in the parking lot for two hours due to no traffic regulators being present

This was also the month mom turned 60, Happy Birthday!

Nienke and I added a garden door to our shared backyard to keep the neighbourhood kids from using our space as a shortcut path

May

Went to see the Men’s Choir of Warffum (of which my uncle is a member) perform at the museum estate Verhildersum

Spent Liberation Day in Parentville, where the whole street came together to decorate it for the festivities, great sense of community then, it should be like that more often

Ingrid came by, time for scrabble in the sun. Eva & Mellien dropped by a little later, on horseback.

Saw a hedgehog in the yard, awesome little critters

Joined the LifeLines research project about long term health

June

Dad’s birthday, 67 for him. Happy Birthday!

With the summer in full swing, Nienke and I tried outdoor computing

It was also the time for the yearly full family visit to my aunt and uncle in Harderwijk

Went to visit Soestdijk Palace with Mom and a friend of hers, it was awesome! I’m very glad I got to see the place before they closed it down

July

Celtic Midsummer Fest! Need I say more? An awesome weekend in which I went re-enacting for the first time. Great friends, great environment, great things to see and do, in short, a great time!

Also, aforementioned festival will (for me) henceforth always be connected to ‘that time I banged my toes into oblivion on a tent peg’ 😀

It got so warm I regularly spent my free time lounging outside with my feet in water. At first in two buckets (one for each foot) and later in a giant tub-like thing. Monkey approved of this, always enough water to drink nearby

I bought my binder this month, which turned out to be a huge step on the road of self-discovery and gender identity

August

Castlefest! Again, need I say more! Another awesome weekend! I’d not been able to go to Castlefest for some years, so it felt great to be back here. I love the atmosphere at this particular fest, plus being able to see Omnia live again for the first time in a couple of years as well was great, too.

Nienke had a BBQ in honour of her birthday, it was tasty!

Mom started knitting socks, after a conversation about how the warm socks we had were not getting any better.

Went out for a sudden and unexpected pizza with Eva & Nienke

Dad, on request, cut off the hedge in my front yard

Monkey got weird spots on his back leg, he ended up with a salve treatment and antibiotics and return appointments at the vet three times in a row. Fortunately, they have cleared up completely

And finally, this was the month I decided to continue blogging here, instead of trying to maintain both this blog and a LifeJournal

September

I burned my arm a wee bit by splashing hot olive oil on it. Fortunately I washed it off right away, so it didn’t go much further than some light second degree burning one one spot and some intenser first degree burning on the others. The second degree spot left a scar, it’s pretty 🙂

Had Tessa over to dog-sit, and got both her and Monkey in the same room without Tessa trying to eat Monkey, and without Monkey trying his best to hide as far away as possible

Had my own birthday, turned 26. Happy Birthday me!

Got the flu right after the birthday parties, ended up having to stay home for about a week, and had noticeably less energy the weeks after that while I was recovering further, not fun 🙁

October

Became obsessed with Glee 😀

Got my iPhone

Mom started knitting gloves, nice and warm for the winter

Went out to wok with Eva & Ingrid, yum!

Attended Julius’ birthday, which was a sort of High Tea type thing with a whole bunch of cakes he and his mom made, it was awesome (and very, very tasty!)

Bought two awesome pumpkins for Halloween and carved them; one a face, the other a sort of cheese with holes kinda idea with mice in the holes

November

Was a bit down for a good part of this month, a combination of Daylight Savings Time ending, winter coming up and some other random shit. Took a while before I saw the colours of the world in full shine again, instead of dulled

Mom knit me a pretty hat to match the gloves she made, my mom rocks 🙂

Discovered the Instagram iPhone app (among many, many other apps; I <3 apps 😀 ) which is fun to play with

December

Had a St. Nicholasmas (a combination of St. Nicholas and Christmas) party with Nienke, Eva, Mellien and Ingrid. It was fun and very nice to have a group get together again.

CATACLYSM! W00t!

The snow really hit. It looks awesome, but just like last year, it’s wreaking havoc on the public transport system. Which is kinda ridiculous as they spent the whole year winterproofing their systems and all, and they were sure it would be better this year… And then the first few days we have heavy snowfall, everything falls apart, again.

December was good, even though in the beginning of the month I wasn’t sure about that (residual gloominess from November)

Weekly Four: week 31

Tuesday, August 10, 2010 by Tse Moana Leave a Comment

I forgot week 30 😀

The past week was the week that ended with the, awesome as usual, Castlefest!

I’m grateful for being at Castlefest with good friends, for that makes the experience only more powerful.

I’m happy with the pretty things I bought. New music (Omnia’s latest, a CD of Scrum), some reading (Diana Wynne Jones’ The Tough Guide to Fantasyland), something to watch (a poster of Omnia), things to play with (Vampire Fangs to use when playing Spike at next year’s Elf Fantasy Fair) and things to make other things with (fur, leather).

I’m saddish it’s over already, time flew.

I learned beards don’t look half bad on me 😀

Realisation

Friday, July 30, 2010 by Tse Moana 3 Comments

Today I finally tried on the full outfit I’ve assembled for Castlefest. I bought most of the actual clothes at the Celtic Midsummer Fair earlier this month and had tried the clothes then, but not fully together.

The reason I decided tonight was a good time to try it on (besides the fact that Castlefest is next weekend and it would be kinda nice to know if the outfit is complete or if it needs more oomph) was that the binder I ordered came today.

Backtracking slightly, I’m going to Castlefest as a male character. This, combined with my own genderqueerness, and a conversation I had with Eva recently, made me look to get one

The binder was delivered this morning, and I tried it out then immediately. It’s a pain to put on, but it looks awesome! (Although when I loose some more weight it will be even better :D) I wore it again tonight with the costume photoshoot and am still wearing it. It’s much more comfortable then I thought and works great. However, as I was looking at my self in the mirror tonight and enjoying the masculine looking chest, I realised I’ve been doing this, diminishing my chest, for a long time now. Much more so than I previously realised.

I’m female bodied, obviously, but identify as something beyond the male/female dichotomy, I feel I am, at the very least, both, if not more.
The way I dress varies between more feminine things one day and more masculine things the other, depending on my mood and inner feeling basically. Up till now I usually turned to my hoodies and wider t-shirts on ‘male’ days, and combined that not only with my most minimising bra (and thanking my lucky stars my cup size is moderate enough :D) but always adding a tight tanktop over it to flatten it as much as I could. It was a fun thing to realise that I’ve been doing that basically since before I even started figuring out who and what I was in regards to gender. It kinda feels like validation, in a way of “see, I had these feelings and stuff before I realised it, it’s real”. And this makes me happy.

So, to close, here’s some pics. First two of the outfit (binder makes it so much better! I’m definitely wearing it at Castlefest too), then me wearing the binder. If you’re my friend on Facebook, I’m uploading more outfit pics there.

02 Rianne 04 Rianne

11 Rianne 19 Rianne

Weekly Four: week 29

Monday, July 26, 2010 by Tse Moana 1 Comment

I’m grateful for books, for they make everything better.

I’m happy it’s almost Castlefest, I am soooo looking forward to going!

I’ve been annoyed with myself this week. Looking ahead is all good and well, but I tend to look too far ahead, and stay there with my head, instead of coming back to focus on the here and now. And sometimes the here and now suffers because of it.

I learned (sorry Ingrid! 😀 ) that Ingrid’s bed and my back/hips don’t get along very well.

Celtic Midsummer Fest (KMF)

Wednesday, July 7, 2010 by Tse Moana 7 Comments

19 Groep So, I went to re-enact the Iron age over the weekend at a festival. I’ve still got everything jumbling around in my head so not really a proper telling in story order, more this was awesome and this was awesome kinda bulletpoints.

The group of people was awesome. I’m not always very good with larger groups, let alone when there’s people in it I don’t know or don’t know very well, but I liked the (for me) new people and got along very well with those I did know but not very well.

I slept outside the first night. It was very cool to see the stars, plus, it’s something that was on my 101 list 😀

It was insanely warm the two days and my hair was really getting in the way. Too long in the neck and hanging in my eyes near the sides. So I asked Eva if she would cut it, Iron age style 😀

On Saturday we cut the back side. First I got soapy water poured over my head (remnants from the wool felting) Then Eva massaged some of the camomile blossoms (actually there with other herbs and such to demonstrate plants that can be used to dye wool…) in my head, all the while bullshitting the spectators on how they first needed to calm the skin on my head 😀

Then the awesomely made (by our very own blacksmith Juut) Iron age knifes were grabbed and Eva and Wilma started cutting my hair. It was a hit with visitors, people stopped at the camp in droves, intrigued at what we were doing. Some must have declared me crazy for letting them do that to me 😀

48 Yngvar kus Sunday we finished the job with the front end.

Eva and Signe brought their horses. This made the whole encampment come alive, and look much more real life than without it. It was too warm to do anything with them during the day, but we did some pulling with Yngvar on Sunday evening. It was hilarious dragging the event volunteers from one point to another.

All the various works that were done/demonstrated over the weekend were all very well thought out (the group’s been doing this for about a year now, this was my first time going with them) and it felt completely natural to be doing them or to see them done around. Wool felting, card weaving, scraping horns to prep them for being turned into drinking horns, chopping wood, carving wood, cooking over fire, blacksmithing (normally done, but this weekend it was too warm), the aforementioned hair cutting, sewing etc… The whole experience felt very natural, just like a regular kinda lifestyle (as opposed to really feeling like you’re playing or something) 🙂

Wool and plants to make dyes

Food stuff

More food stuff

Felted wool and card weaving

Everyone has something they can do for when there are spectators. I brought a tunic so I could sew edges on it

Cooking set up

Felting

I hit, and tore open, my small toes on a tent pike…

Feeding the fire

Also music

Bits and Pieces

Thursday, July 1, 2010 by Tse Moana Leave a Comment

Took the day off today (was only planned in for 4 hours anyway) so I can get ready for the weekend. I’ll be joining a bunch of friends in re-enacting iron age Germans at a Celtic midsummer festival (KMF). I need to pack my things and make it as small as possible since we’ll be with lots of people and space is limited. I have to work all day tomorrow and we leave right after work so no real time to pack then.

The weekend looks to be very, very warm. Not my preferred weather, but not much I can do about it 😀 I imagine I’ll be getting some more colour on me arms. I hope I ‘ll be able to get some pictures in this weekend also. Can’t just walk around with my camera all the time, it has to look realistic.

Made awesome chocolate mousse yesterday after a recipe Eva showed me. It was very, very tasty although one should not eat too much, it is really filling.

Cat’s an idiot. He’s been in a fight again a day or two ago. He has huge spot on his inner thigh without hair. When I spotted it, it had already dried up (it wasn’t bleeding, but I imagine it kinda looked like when you prick a blister, moist and such) .It’s healing nicely though so I’m not really worried or anything.

Went grocery shopping yesterday, bought lots of chicken, some feta to put in my salads (for variation with the other cheese I usual throw in) and tangerines and strawberries. Found, in the discount bin, the most recent (2008) CD from one of my favourite singers, Laura Pausini. I didn’t have this one yet (shame on me 😀 ) so I bought it. Label said €8,99 but when I later checked my receipt it said €5, yay!

I should water my plants *goes off to do that*

Inner City, Beards, Soestdijk

Tuesday, June 22, 2010 by Tse Moana Leave a Comment

Got off work early today. And so did Nienke. And while I had agreed with my mom to meet her at the train station halfway home, there was time left so Nien and I decided to hit the city. I still needed to go the party store and see if they had a beard, ideally blue, for Castlefest. So we made our way to the inner city and spent quite some time at the party store marveling at the many, many fun things they had. I’m so definitely going back there again. I saw a couple nice things to create scary looking Halloween decorations while also being usable for LARP and such (foam torn off limbs 😀 ).

They didn’t have any good looking beards I liked, let alone blue ones. Since it’s probably gonna be warm during Castlefest, I figured I don’t want a really big beard anyway. I ended up with a Jack Sparrow-like beard. It’s not blue, but we’ll figure something out for that. Nienke, who’s going as the rat catcher of Hamelin, bought a pretty Venetian type eye-mask in cream with gold edges and musical notes on it.

After that we headed out towards another party store to see if they had beards. Along the way I felt festive and sunny and bought the both of us awesome ice cream (pistachio and hazelnut/chocolate for Nienke, cookie/vanilla, lemon and hazelnut/chocolate for me). Before reaching the second party store we quickly hopped into this cute newish store I’d not seen before. I bought two very cute bibs for the new second cousins that are expected in July and September. The second party store, finally, kinda sucked since they had no proper beards, just mostly wigs and hats and other gag gifts.

We then decided to head back to the train station and wait for the train that would lead us to the meet-up with mom. We drank something at the Burger King before the train got there and then got off at Winsum to meet mom. She had some errands to run too so we hit a few more stores. I bought a new birthday calendar to replace the one I have. I’ve used it for four years or so now and want something else to look at 😀

We then dropped Nienke off at home, I grabbed my things and went with mom to their place. I’ll be sleeping here tonight because tomorrow we’re going to Soestdijk Palace and we need to be at the bus really, really early.

Bits and Pieces

Tuesday, May 11, 2010 by Tse Moana 1 Comment

I can tell it’s spring, I’m all over my house doing things. The increase in light always has a good influence on me, both physical as well as mental and emotional. I’m happier and more content with life in general now than in the winter, even though the financial woes are still there (it’s quiet at work so I can’t make as many hours as I’d like, and as a result I get less money coming in, so far it all still works out but it can’t go much lower).

And in light of said financial woes, I spent money recently 😀 Not that much though, some flea market bargains mostly. The only indulgence was a new garden table for 40 euros. At the flea market I bought a ‘new’ comfy chair for the living room as the old one wasn’t that comfy anymore. It’s nice to sit in, soft yet supportive, and a very pretty purple-greyish colour. There was another one and I was so tempted to take that one too (they were 5 euros a piece) but I just don’t have room for it and there’s no way I can get it up in the attic to use there. I also got a red wooden herb rack for the kitchen for 50 cents and two easy read paperbacks, also for 50 ct.

At another flea market on Liberation Day (May 5) I bought two children’s books, a set of book ends with old globes on them and a hanging, made of netting, IKEA storage thing, all for 1 euro 😀

Thursday’s the big yearly market here in town, not a flea market, but I’ll see if I can find a bargain or two. I definitely need a few more plants/flowers. I have this cute flowerpot that is screaming for some desert type plants. Which reminds me, I shall have to go look around see if I can get some tiles for cheap or nothing somewhere. I want to tile a part of my front yard to turn into a small terrace. And, in combination with that, I’m gonna need some rocks and stuff, to turn the edge of the front yard, where it lies against the neighbours area, into a small proper garden bit (instead of grass). I plan to put some flowers and such there, but also to use aforementioned rocks to create a tower of sorts to play with different levels in that bit. ‘Cause eventually, when money’s less tight, I want a smallish privacy fence between me and the neighbour and that will then be the ‘back wall’ for the proper garden bit.

Spring makes me plan things and also execute those plans. Or at least big parts of it. I’m also working on my attic. I’ve already had part of it converted into a room, but it was used for junk storage mostly the last year. I’m now going to turn it back into a usable space by making it my craft & game room. Game room mostly because I’m gonna store my board games up there since there’s hardly anyone around me who likes playing games 🙁
Crafts to be done there will mostly be bigger stuff like making things for Castlefest and other renaissance faire like things. Although I will probably move most of my other craft stuff upstairs as well to create more space in my bedroom where I store it now. Attic will have a table to work at and cabinetry to hold the various things.
Getting the place into shape goes pretty slow though. I’ve cleaned out most of the room there and, after another vacuuming turn, it’ll be ready to put stuff in there. However, one of the cabinets to be used there is still in use in the bedroom. And I can’t move it from the bedroom until I get two Billy’s from IKEA to replace it (need to put all those books somewhere, no? 😀 ). And getting the Billy’s will have to wait until either holiday bonus or my tax returns come in, whichever comes first. I’m betting on the holiday bonus which should be end of this month. Tax probably not until end of June 🙁 At least both these things should be a significant help with the financial woes 🙂

Right, I mentioned Castlefest. I haven’t gone there in a while, but this year I WILL go, even if I have to crawl there. And I’ll be going as Bluebeard. For that I have an idea of the costume I want, something mostly generic fantasy with some fancy overtones. I’m of the opinion that Bluebeard, outside of his murderous tendencies, was really a charming man, otherwise how’d he ever get that many women to marry him 😀
I’ll obviously need a blue beard to get the message across of who I am, so a trip to the party store is in the works to see what they have in fake beards. I want something that looks as realistic as possible, and is dye-able, since a semi-realistic beard is not gonna be blue by itself.