30. Finally attend a Halloween party dressed as Rogue from X-Men (30 x 30)

This is the primary Rogue look in most of the old X-Men comics.























I drew a design to make a one piece suit. I used old pants as a pattern for the bottoms and guessed at how to make the top part (which would prove ill-advised later)




After sewing the legs without any problems, I started on the torso and the arms. Because I didn't have a pattern, although I spent nearly an hour looking for one at the fabric store, the top didn't fit correctly. I started over.

























(#229 "Down Under" Issue of the Uncanny X-Men)



This time I used an old shirt as a guide for the top, which brought me SUCCESS! I made a catsuit! all on my own!






























Before leaving for DC on Thursday night before the Halloween party, I tried on my cat suit. I was going to steal one of my mother's bathing suits from 1982 which was the right kind of green and use a leather jacket that I grifted from a clothing swap in LA last summer to complete the costume. One leg! Two legs! starting to zipper up the back and rrrrrrrrrrrRIPPPPPPPPPP. the suit split right up the middle. I left it in my closet.

Plan C:
Snow-Bunny Rogue from the X-Men. There actually IS one issue where Rogue goes skiing. I put together the outfit and trundled down to DC. Hangin' with my bestie!


Posing as a super-hero is difficult:

27. take a metal-welding course (30 x 30)

This item on the list was going to be impossible to complete without a load of money; or so I thought. My buddy Brian has come to the rescue!


I've known Brian since I was 15. I had recently moved back to Arlington and was a sophomore in high school. One night our house was prank called ... the prankster's phone number was exactly the same except the last two digits were transposed. Turns out that we had a mutual friend who I hadn't seen since elementary school and thus started our friendship. I was always over at his house, we were always driving around in that huge green jeep with subwoofers in the back. And then tradegy struck and it all fell away. Brian went away to prison when he was only 16 years old. It inspired me to research policies and laws regarding capital punishment and made me start asking some serious questions about loyalty, friendship, faith, and ethics. Brian and I had written each other a handful of times in the first 15 years of his sentence; something changed last holiday season. A mutual friend, Derek, told me that his father had been talking to Brian on a regular basis. I thought we should write him a letter and maybe pass it along with our addresses to Brian. We did. Since then there hasn't been a month that's gone by that I haven't heard from him and that he hasn't heard from me.

Last time I wrote him my 30x30 list with the status of some of the items. He sent me back six handwritten pages and illustrated instructions on arc welding and acetelyne welding. This counts as long-distance learning I say!