Sat Jul 16 – Never did get out to my laundry last night, so I had to set aside time this morning. And so there I was on a Saturday, in bed, trying to figure out why my alarm was going off before 6 am. But the laundry is done, yippee, and now I get to try and figure out the rest of my day.

Since I’m not needed for the “pre-divorce” moving thing, I was going to spend my day moving boxes to my new apartment. But I really need to get an oil change first, and it turns out that the Goodyear chain that I use has a sister store a block from my new apartment. So I’m headed out to get the car worked on first, before overworking my car in the heat of the day.

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Good thing I didn’t just plan to sit in Borders reading Harry Potter, because they’re not putting the books on display yet. But there was a steady stream of customers all day, getting in line for their tickets for their pre-purchased copies. All the books are behind the front register counters for now, and family after family of adults and eager children were coming through the store all afternoon.

I spent most of my afternoon in Borders, since it’s directly across the street from my car guys by my new apartment. It was a lost day for moving, but a good day for the Festiva-of-316-thousand-miles-plus. [Yes! I really have over 316,222+ miles on my car now!!] Turns out that no one stocks my size air filter, so I’ll have to call ahead before my next oil change to make sure they have one ready for me. The next big car repair will also be addressing the oil leak(s), so it’ll be a full day affair anyways. Gotta save up for it.

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I’ve come up with an ingenious idea for my fighting gear. I have this black linen cotehardie (floor length dress, basically) that hasn’t been “fitted” yet. We put it together quickly a few years ago, and I never got around to adjusting it. Since my shield design in this groups is black and gold, and I also have some yellow linen I wasn’t sure what I was planning to do with it, I’m going to adapt the black dress into a fighting outfit. I knew I wanted to “fight in a skirt” so I’m going to cut the dress as if it were a horse-riding outfit (so adding “riding slits” to the skirt portion). Then I’ll start adding my device to the dress in the yellow linen, almost quilting or applique technique. Should come out quite stunning, and I can stop looking like I’m just walking around the park with yoga pants and a t-shirt. (Since I’ve been wearing yoga pants and a t-shirt for practice. *grin*)

I got the idea when I was trying to figure out how to go to a “costumed fighter practice” when I’m not fully in garb yet. Now I’ll look much better on the field, even though I’m not fully armored yet. Looking good is half the battle, wouldn’t you say?