janestarz | 2012 in review

I'm not normally one to do one of those Year in Review posts, but Jen Thompson did one to show off her costumes and I wanted that too. So here it is, my 2012 in review.

Health & Family

With my father's illness, I buried the hatchet, drowned the old cows in a deep well and went along with him to the hospital several times. I enjoy our talks and renewed relationship and know he finds courage and comfort in it as well.
My mother is doing well, but she was very busy with work this year. I enjoy visiting her and making her happy.
My brother doesn't feature much in my life. We see eachother at birthdays, and that hasn't changed, but we enjoy catching up.

My own health is good as I can't remember calling in sick with Randstad. I finally know what's up with my skin, and started treatment to get rid of the couperose. The redness is fading, the inflammation is gone. I visited dermatologists and dentists this year, got rid of all my wisdom teeth and signed up for a gym when I started cycling less and the kilos returned. I started and stopped swordfighting lessons this year. I can tell I'm thirty, but I'm very content with the overall state of the Janie.

Work
I enjoyed the benefits of the WW (Dutch law for unemployment, paying 70% of the last wage for a while if you get fired or are a special case like me) until August, leaving me at least somewhat provided for in this time. The mandatory weekly job application was hard, the kinds of jobs available are not in my interest zone and work as a seamstress was hard to find. I started working for Randstad in the spring and took on a job as a volunteer in the historic Open Air museum. I cycled to work often, losing a few kilos and shifting a few more around and had a good time working in catering, although some parts of the job are hard. My colleages at 't Laar are great.

School
I had several exams this year. I did well on my pattern drafting exam and passed the measurement taking exam as well. The course for fitting technique looked to be horribly boring, but we grew into it. In September we had our final exam as a class and each went our separate ways. Like me, some of the girls had started their practical lessons, but we are in different groups and won't see eachother in school again.

I finished my pocketspiece after a few months, made a skirt and a dress, and started on a jacket in the end of the year.

Larp
The year has been pretty darn special larp-wise. Despite obvious problems with limited cashflow, I haven't cut down on larps (just on the amount of things I buy for it and other hobbies). The year's larp season started in February with &Eva, a special event for just girls which turned out great, and I played 14 events big and small this year.

In May we packed four people into a stationwagon and drove to Switzerland in the depth of night to go visit and larp with friends from Drachenfest. It was a very special event and we had a great time.
We returned to Drachenfest with the Anarquendor, where I had (as Ilse called it) my Evita Perón moment on the gates of the Green Camp. I've hardly ever handled such a hot potato in larp, and I still think we did a great job keeping OT problems away from the group and handling all the mess in an IT enjoyable way.

Friends from the North speak to Finn and Parthalan

I retired the Original Beriadanwen at Omen in October and started a new and fun experience. I wasn't looking forward to Legendfalls, but I had more fun than events before that and we made a lovely stew with hare's meat.
And then there was Maerquin. My new Adventure character Yfke and her larger-than-life Drentish accent did well, and Marianne was up to new and exciting tricks. I cheated a paladin of Ranaa out of an important artefact, which subsequently got hand-delivered to a demon. I corrupted a temple, danced with the most eligible bachelor in the setting and had half my personality ripped away from me. Someone declared his love to me and he died before I could act on it, and someone else called me a prophet.

Photography
I still handle my camera, but I realise I haven't been practising to get better with it. I still want to learn the trick to balance my lighting better, and I guess once I learn it, I've learned all there is to the trade. (hah, I don't go in for small wishes!) Still, I am happy with some of the pictures I took and I am still very glad I bought this camera. The fact that I paid for it from working overtime at [horrible bank] makes it a fond memory associated with the device.
I tried to go out with the seasons and capture special scenes. These are my favorites:

Sewing, crafts and hobbies
Although I spent a lot of time procrastinating, there are definitely some things that stand out this year. At the start of the year I declared it the Year of the WIP, hoping to finish off some old projects. With just the hemming and buttons to be done on the second-to-last project, I declare it a succes.

I also picked up some new hobbies. I learned Naalbinding (thanks to YouTube) and picked up knitting again. I dabbled in plant dyes and started on a new set of mundanewear in an effort to use up some of my fabric stash. Thanks to school, I have two good basic blocks (one for t-shirts and dresses, one for coats and jackets) and I took the pattern of my favorite pair of pants, so I can have a lot of fun with these. I signed up for a quilt workshop to get to know some people here in Tilburg, and limited myself to only having 2 projects at a time.

I finished my chain mail shirt, a project of two years and tens of thousands of rings, and am waiting to have money for another such endeavour. The start of the year was rather busy with orders for clothing, and the rest of the year was quieter, but I sewed loads. I only hope these images can convey the extent of my sewing and craft work. There's lots more where that came from, and I don't intend to stop until my stash is empty.