BEST IN SHOW!!!!!

  

I was thinking of building up to the announcement, but I’m just too excited. Yes, all that hard work paid off; we won best in show. It was so amazing. We had been so stressed out about it. Our documentation barely got in on time (rather funny story of Lana and I zooming down the freeway and getting to the hotel with just two minutes to spare), Lana and Bridget were working on their dresses until just before pre-judging, a con worker tripped over one of our props during pre-judging and had to be taken to the hospital for stitches, Katherine had the flu and almost didn’t make it at all (though I’m sure she would have dragged herself there on Sunday just for the masquerade, even if she hadn’t been feeling better), Kendra was ready to start wringing people’s necks, and all of us were swearing, “Never again!” But when we heard people hollering and applauding as the lights went down at the end of our presentation, it was all worth it.

Anyway, I had such an incredibly fabulous time, and so much happened that I can’t possibly write it all down…at least not right now during my prep period. As soon as people get some pictures posted, I’ll snag a few to show you. Basically, we were recreating this painting of the Empress Eugenie and her ladies in waiting. I was the woman in ivory seated to the right, the one with the book. For our presentation, our soundtrack music was some waltz with a bit of background chatter. We entered in groups of two and three, moving to the front of the stage to admire each other’s dresses (really to show them off to the crowd, then moving to the side to allow the next group to take center stage. Once eight of us were on stage, one woman says (on the soundtrack, of course, but mimed by one of our ladies), “The Empress!” We all curtsy as the empress walks to center stage. She beckons to us and we surround her to admire her dress (while she is showing it off to the crowd). Then our Winterhalter steps on stage and says, “Ladies, places!” We quickly move into our positions and hold. Winterhalter takes his paint brush and pallet to touch up the painting (an poster size reproduction that has been framed) and the lights come down. Fortunately, most of the audience was familiar with the painting, because probably only the first three rows of people could see the one we had on stage.

I must say that I can see how this could become addictive. It’s quite a rush to be so nervous and wound up and then have two hundred people screaming and clapping, followed by an overwhelming sense of relief and success. Yeah, it was pretty amazing.

There were only two down sides to my weekend. One, was that the historical masquerade was just last night, and I absolutely had to work today, so I didn’t get to stay at the hotel to celebrate our victory. The second was that one of my friends is mad at me. I had told her I’d docent the exhibit while she taught a class. I did everything as I was supposed to. I emailed the volunteer coordinator, confirmed the time slot, and showed up at the appointed time. An earlier docent got mixed up about when she was supposed to be there, so she showed up at my time slot. Since I had a little more handsewing to do on my dress, she took the shift for me. When I said hi to my friend the next day, she lit into me for not showing up. I explained to her that I showed up exactly when I was told to, but she just replied that I hadn’t been there when she needed me to be. I could tell that nothing else I said was going to change her mind; as far as she is concerned, I flaked out.

In a way, she reminds me of someone I used to teach with. She was a brilliant teacher and had such great ideas and lots of energy, but she had a way of pulling people into high stress projects and then placing very large demands on them. She never could figure out why other didn’t want to put the same sort of insane time and energy into things, or why other people couldn’t sustain the same sort of work that she did. When people failed her high standards, either because her expectations were way too high or because she had failed to communicate them effectively (because she had so many balls in the air she could never really focus on the here-and-now), she took it as a personal slight. Her response was always to then take everything on herself, which left people feeling guilty and resentful.

Anyway, enough of that. I failed my friend, so I’m on her bad list for now. I just need to remember not to volunteer myself for her projects. I don’t have the time and energy for this sort of bad vibe and guilt-tripping. Plus, it was only a few moments of an otherwise fabulous weekend.

April 28, 2008  Tags:   Posted in: Sewing

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