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USA: NYC: Joining NY Jedi

Posted on June 30th, 2007 by Anna Zhan.
Categories: Blog, Costumes, Star Wars.

[Me and my lightsaber - modded with a three-watt Luxeon LED in the hilt - eBay really should be declared one of the seven Wonders of the Modern World.]

One of the great things about New York City - and there are many - is the outlet for my geekiness that it offers. I enjoy martial arts, so NY Jedi provides a good outlet for that, and ensures I get a bit of exercise as well.  It’s also an opportunity to socialize - as you can see in the picture below, I’m not the only crazy person in this city.

 
[NY Jedi at Big Apple Con - can you find me?  I was very much the traditionalist in my first set of Jedi robes…I already have plans for the next set…]

Joining NY Jedi, however, meant that I needed a couple things.  First, a Jedi uniform.  I’ve been big into crafts ever since I was a kid, so hand sewing my own Jedi robes, while exhausting, was also a lot of fun.  And I learned a lot from it, too.  (I also had really tired fingers.)

      
[Lights on; lights off - my first attempt at costuming!]

The other thing I needed, of course, was the weapon of a Jedi Knight: not as clumsy or random as a [gun]; an elegant weapon for a more civilized age…  Yes, I bought a lightsaber.  Technically, it’s the Anakin Skywalker model (modified) from Master Replicas.  It’s also referred to as the Luke, but I call it the Mara, as she eventually gets it (and cause she’s awesome.)

[The cash supply is being depleted rather rapidly, but if there was one thing I really wanted, it was a lightsaber.  And hey, at least I use it - this saber collects no dust!]

3 comments.

USA: NYC: Central Park 2007.06.18

Posted on June 18th, 2007 by Anna Zhan.
Categories: Blog, Costumes, NYC, Star Wars.

[Myself, modeling the under tunic, obi, and tabbards of my Jedi robes, which I am stitching by hand - my poor fingers.]

Yea though I spend WAY too much time working on my Jedi robes (which need to be ready for next weekend’s Big Apple Con, where I’ll be working the NY Jedi table,) please don’t assume that I never get out.  (Hey, if nothing else, I leave the apartment for lightsaber practice.)

[Random pretty fountain in Central Park.]

Today I visited Central Park - and for all you regular readers, yes, I expect I got a sunburn once again.  It’s not easy being a quarter vampire, but I make the best of it.

[Myself at the John Lennon memorial in Central Park.]

I saw the Dakota, where John Lennon was shot, and visited the memorial, commissioned by Yoko Ono and dedicated to Lennon, just inside Central Park near the place where he was killed.  It was an area called Strawberry Fields - I must admit I was somewhere disappointed that there were no fresh strawberries for the pickings.

[View over the bow of my ship…err…boat in Central Park.]

I also baked out in the sun on a row boat in Central Park.  While it’s over-priced ($12 for the first hour and $3 for each additional hour,) it’s also quite a lot of fun.  It was my first time in a row boat.  I’ve been sea kayaking and whitewater rafting, and I’ve paddled on a dragon boat racing team - yet rowing a row boat around Central Park was a new, exciting, and even exotic experience for me.  We’re all weird in our own ways.

1 comment.

USA: NYC: Settling in

Posted on June 10th, 2007 by Anna Zhan.
Categories: Blog, NYC.

So, I moved to NYC.  And, of course, three days after moving into my apartment, the place caught on fire.  Actually, I never figured out if it was my building or the one I share a bedroom wall with, but the FDNY was quick to respond, so I never had to leave my apartment.

 
[Five fire trucks pile into the intersection below my apartment]

I’ve been told that all cabbies and cops drive Crown Victorias, but that’s obviously a lie.  It seems NYPD has been importing Tuk Tuks from Thailand.

[I suppose it’s just a meter maid, but it’s still funny.  It’s totally a Tuk Tuk.  And NYPD Tuk Tuk.]

I drove in NYC, and - to my own shock and amazement - I did not die.  Though, mind you, I have no real desire to do that on a regular basis.  Still, I felt like a real New Yorker as I drive over the beautiful Verrazano suspension bridge.

[The Verrazano Bridge, connecting Brooklyn to Staten Island, charges a $9 toll EACH WAY!]

What really makes the city home, though, is having the Jedi Cat here, comfortable settled into the only chair we have in the entire apartment.  (That’s a lie - we now have two more chairs - but we’re down a bed after my roommate’s cat, Darwin, punctured the inflatable mattress in his room last night.)

[The Jedi Cat, Tarzan, lounging comfortably in our new home in Brooklyn]

3 comments.