My Hermes scarf was featured on the Vivienne Files today! My mom submitted photos to her a little while ago, and Vivienne was wonderful enough to do outfits based on it! :333

The scarf is L’Ivresse de L’Infini. :3

(One of the sets she did)

Guys srsly, go read the entire blog. She’s not my style on the whole, but she thinks amazingly with colors and shapes. Reading the blog has taught me a lot! :3

WARNING: VERY LONG AND RAMBLY POST ABOUT RL. READ AT YOUR OWN RISK. >:33

I know I’m really late with this, and the Follow Friday post that is now a Should-Have-Followed-These-People-Years-Ago Sunday post. (Forgive my lack of wit, I slept in until 9 this morning and I’m still not awake after 2 exceedingly large cups of coffee and a delicious panini)

Friday was kind of one of those days you’ll always remember as being one of the best in your life. I’ve been lucky enough to have a good-sized handful of those in my life, but this one was one of the better ones.

I’ll start with the awesome, then go to the few bad things that happened. 

Friday was the last day of Mom’s NAPFA conference (they’re one of those organizations the papers cite as something all fee-only financial planners should be a part of, and they’re damn straight), which was a half-day, so we decided to go downtown together and go to the Hermès store to pick out my graduation present afterwards (eeeeeeeeeeee!). 

Do note, if you’re ever near the Conrad Hilton in Chicago, stop by their Snax bar and get one of the chocolate chip muffins. They’re quite possibly one of the most delicious coffee shop munchies I’ve ever had, but make sure you have a friend to share one with, because those things are the size of your head. I’m not joking. 
I ended up spending most of the morning rereading Orhan Pamuk’s My Name is Red and sketching out how Loki’s necklace-plate-thingy (really need a better name for that) actually works. I’ll post that up later today, along with a couple of revisions now that I’ve actually seen the Avengers.

Mom managed to sneak me in to see the closing speaker, Dr. Jerry Linenger. 

I found his speech INCREDIBLY moving. Some thoughts, courtesy of Maman helping me remember:

When you have a reason to succeed, you’ll do everything it takes to get there

Sometimes it’s keeping on problem solving even when you get a curveball thrown at you (like when your respirator goes out in the middle of a fire that’s hot enough to melt through 5 of 6 inches of aluminum hull), even when the first solution doesn’t work.

What would you like to have changed by next year, this time?

I’ll edit this post if I can find either a transcript or recording of his speech, because it’s well worth listening to. 

(He actually talked at one point about going out on Mir’s yardarm.)

Suffice it to say he’s one of the most moving speakers I’ve ever seen, and it was a priviledge to get to hear him. 

After lunch, we went to the Hermès store. (;kjasfdk;ljasfd AIEEE YAY) Mom has been talking about getting me a quality gift that will last me a lifetime, for a while now, as a graduation present, so this is something I’ve been eagerly anticipating. I can’t begin to stress how amazing Hermes scarves are… My mother’s one is at least 30 years old and looks in mint condition, and is still at the height of fashion.  *_*

The scarf I got was the pattern L’Ivresse de L’Infini, which the Hermès website calls the Infinite Voyage, but literally translates as “the intoxication of infinity.” I vastly prefer that name. Here’s the description from the website:

Passionate about physics and mathematics, Zoé Pauwels invites us to join an “infinite voyage: the creation of all matter”. The sources of inspiration of this exuberant composition have names such as quarks and antiquarks, photons and neutrons. Physics and mathematics are bearers of a poetry so elating that scientific minds concur in describing it as aesthetic. Likewise, the patterns that they generate: pure translations of thought, or representations of the unseeable phenomena on which all life depends. Is the double helix of DNA not an image of perfection itself? There’s no magic, no miracle, just simple reality, rich and astounding.

I’ve only been able to find pictures of three color variants, so mine appears a little rare. It’s myriad pinks, turquoise, cream, and caramel, in its main colors, with some of the shading done in a Tyrian plum. It’s kind of one of the most gorgeous things I’ve ever seen in my life. Once I’ve actually received it for my graduation (as it is technically not in my possession, because I haven’t finished my last course), I’ll post up a picture. :DDD

Vivienne of the Vivienne Files did a post a couple of days ago using the most common color variant of coral and blue. 

Needless to say I’ve kind of been walking on air ever since. <3333

Finally, after crashing on the couch at home for several hours due to illness (more on that later) and tiredness, Mom and I went to go see the Avengers (FINALLY! :D).

Needless to say, I was kind of mentally squealing the whole time. And it actually, truthfully, was not entirely because of Loki my normal type of off-the-leash fangirling, but because COSTUME DESIGN OAKJDLKJ:DJFKQWOIUEWOIURE OMYKAHLESSBASTETANDATHENA. It was even better than I imagined. 

One thing odd I noticed about Loki’s plate-necklace is that there’s two different forms of it, one for his non-battle clothes, and one for the rage-goat armor. The one for the non-battle outfit is much more complicated, and surprisingly asymmetrical. It’s also really weather-beaten, I believe purposely. It’s as if the necklace is the seal for the costume-changing magic, as there are quite a few more engraved designs on it than the battle version. 

What rather surprised me was how low on dialogue the film was (but what there was was quality, mon). I mean, I should have expected it, but it has been a while since I saw an action flick. I’m quite eager to see Thor now for a bit more character background. 

My basic thoughts on the Avengers is that it felt more like the start of something than a story in and of itself. It was FRIGGIN’ AWESOME, just not really as character-driven as I would have personally prefered. I really want to see more from this franchise to get more inter-character development. :33 The hints that were there of something great MUST be developed. (Also, speaking from both the point of view of an author-in-training and a fangirl, I wish there had been more exposition with Loki. The sheer brutality he displayed, which creeped the hell out of me, must have had an incredible backstory to it. Tell me, followers, does Thor show the beginnings of this? I’ve put that movie on the queue to come as soon as possible. :D) I agree with Rudjedet’s opinion on Loki much more than the common fangirl “he just needs a hug!” opinion. Dude, I would not want to hug him, I’d end up with a throwing-knife in my jugular. Doesn’t mean he isn’t a beguiling mofo. 

I’m seriously considering going to see it again as soon as possible. 

TL;DR Meta had an amazing day on Friday.

Bad news time. Last Sunday I found a lump in my abdomen. It didn’t hurt or anything, so I waited a couple days, then called the doctor when it hadn’t gone away by then. I was terrified it was an ovarian cyst, but thank god it appears it isn’t. The doctor is pretty sure it’s a hernia (courtesy of hauling Hugeass Arthritic Hounddog, I think, poor puppy), so I went in for a CT scan yesterday, and should be getting the results Monday. In the meantime however it’s gotten more and more painful. It’s a really strange sensation, because while it’s never been more than a 6 on the pain scale, the kind of pain it produces makes my entire leg right leg weak, and when it flares up it will sometimes not actually hurt in the lump in specific, but in other nearby places like lower down my leg. Thus, I’m limping like a wounded elk most of the time and look friggin’ strange. 

I’m a little scared because I’m about 90% sure I’ll be needing surgery, and needing it pretty soon. I’ve only ever had minor surgery on my toes, and a lot of dental work. I’ve never been under total anesthesia before. Not looking forward to it, nor am I looking forward to being out of commission for at least 3 days. :/

Back to good news, though: I got another job! Not sure yet whether it’s at the Evanston Public Library or with the City of Evanston. They’ll be calling me later on this week. :D Hooray, reduced student loans! 

So yeah, really long, really rambly, and not very well thought out. :|