fun things i've seen today

Due to various social reasons one was feeling rather poorly late today (one must really stop reading the body language of friends, but I was near full-analyst mode at the time so it was impossible for me not to interpret body language and vocalizations), but now two things have cheered me up immensely and dispersed the incipient black mood resulting from this. [Thing The First] A very nice black wedding dress done fully in the traditional style, in the window of the new bridal boutique on the way home. While I suspect it's probably just supposed to be an eye-catching challenge to the traditional white/ivory/cream, I also know several brides-to-be that will probably descend on the store when I tell them (not having the spare cash for a full custom gown). I've only ever seen a red scarlet wedding dress in a traditional style before (that wasn't either a custom job or a costume). Although I do like thematic weddings where the guests are required to come in costume as well. So far I've been to a Star Wars, Edwardian Regency, Gothic, High Magic/Society (I even got to be the celebrant at that one), Tolkeinesque/Faerie Fantasy (it was so tempting to go as a Uruk-Hai), Mississipi Riverboat, Military, Pagan, Shinto, Hindu (OK, so these last two (three?) technically weren't costumed events but traditional dress was required), and the inevitable Medieval-themed (especially if you have friends in the SCA). Actually, looking back on it, that's quite a few themed events. I sooooooo miss having access to a tailor willing to do costuming. I've gotten to hold every traditional position in the traditional western marriage ceremony except for Flower Girl, Bride and (sadly) Groom. And no, I'm not getting married in the near future. It's just there has been a surprising number of engagement announcements over the last few months and lots of friends planning events. It's difficult not to get in the proper wedding spirit (which for me seems to be teasing the bride-to-be until she hits me with something heavy). Remember brides-to-be, Bunnings often has ladders on sale! [Thing The Second] <tee hee> A friend seems to be suffering from a recent attack of satori. Which is an extremely good thing to happen and fun to watch (even remotely via LJ). <grin> Although when Eris is involved it actually tends to be more of an "Oh Sh*t" experience too – She does love to mug innocent (or in this case, not-so-innocent) passer-by and have Her way with them. <grin> I think half the fun of watching satori strike is that it is striking someone else – when it strikes you, you are generally too involved to fully savour it, and when it passes, you are no longer quite you any more.

those damn pesky ninjas

After having watched Shinobi: Heart Under Blade this morning, I can't resist creating a new collective noun to describe a group of ninja. From now on they shall be officially known in my lexicon as ... an embarrasement of ninja.

the friend of my friend is my enemy - or something like that

TrustFlow II for LiveJournal is another friends link analysis tool. It tells me the following people are located near my spherical infuences. ( the results... ) Now this does show some interesting results. There are reasons why the tier 1 and 3 people aren't on my friends list (that I shan't go into here but need not overlly concern them), but the tier 2 people are totally new to me. Maybe I should head over there and see what they look like. Tier 4+ looks like fairly standard adelaideans and fandom cross-links, which is only to be expected. Although a few people I wasn't expecting appear at levels both lower and higher than I'd normally expect. Then again my friends list is not neccessarily a list of actual friends, but rather people whose LJ I like to read. Some of themmay be friends. Others are simply popular.