Tag Archives: swtor

by Michaela de Bruce | 2017-01-10 · 20:00

good news bad news day

Very much up and down. Most of the down was not serious and the serious ones are not as serious as what they could have been.

So I saw my surgeon today. I do need surgery but probably not as intensive as it could be!

That’s the good news.

The bad news is that it may be that my hands naturally fuse together.

On the other hand there is a partial replacement option!!!

Bad news is it still involves chopping the end of both ulnars and replacing them with metal.

My hands though show nerve impingement. Radial and carpal.

Good news is the carpal tunnel should be an “easy” fix- mean done a heck of a lot- but it is more surgery. Basically my hands are going to be a mess of scars.

Good news is I am test driving some injections to see if surgery is going to help- no point if the damage has been done, but either way this is a fairly non invasive kind of trial 🙂 My hands do feel a little on fire so some NSAIDs tonight.

Good news- found my Mothma Fabric!!

Bad news it isn’t actually able to be de-coloured to white.

Good news is I can bring it in as the lovely lady at the counter was on the store’s social media tonight and said to bring it in to exchange 🙂

Also good is there is a cheaper fabric that was very close so I should be able to swap length for length and get some pins or something to make up the difference 🙂 It will need to be washed in hot soapy water and fulled but it is the closest I have found in a decade of searching.

And finally.. turns out I did not have a Dromund Kaas Stronghold, but it was all of 5 credits to buy.

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Filed under life with disability/illness

Tagged as health, mothma, swtor

by Michaela de Bruce | 2016-12-19 · 09:04

found them

Supplements from Der Bazar! I have a stack to go through and make a good proper post about, possibly a plage. I have terrible tagging habits so a page may be best.

Also I’m going to switch up blog settings to share “medium” sized thumbnails as the thumbnails seem to be smaller. I love this theme but it is now possible to put images inline now as well.

Anyway.

So the current list of things wot to make is ridic.

Mon Mothma -my current one has shrunk so if anyone 5’3″ and shorter is interested… I’d really like to have a slip on costume as I’ve got so many complicated layered costumes as it is.

Yes. That’s Genevieve. I was so looking forward to seeing her in Revenge of the Sith 🙂 So perfect casting in Rogue One is more perfect and established than many realise 😉

Leia Senatorial

(My apologies to the gif maker, but LOOK AT HOW BIG HER BUNS ARE!!!! Higher than her hairline and over the top of her collar. Onto her cheeks and extends past the back of her head.

I wore her to the Rogue One premier, it’s actually really pretty but the belt is real leather and has stretched so it sits on my hips which is wrong and incidentally makes it look like my waist is huge. I need to make the boots, in fact they are the sole (get it??) reason for wanting to finish. But I’m also happy passing her once I have Mothma! But the wig I made uses two price lacefronts

Senya Tirall.

Oh my goodness. In SWTOR my relationship with her has been tough but I’m so glad I made the decisions I did. Just realised I have stretch twill in off white and grey that is perfect. I knew I had enough plastic but woo! fabric!

Please do watch, the expansion does pack a wallop too. There were only a few moments I felt locked players into having to do something- and they were intended to add variety- for my hands they were only doable after my infusion which had a lovely pre-med prednisone infusion and other help.

Just got some email in game from characters, they are pretty expressive too.

SPOILERS! But you can watch the opening cinematic and crawl to at least understand why I love playing so much! BTW I tend to play Empire but light side. I’m such a Granny Weatherwax! And I usually play from level 1.

Ahsoka Tano, Rebels era

Speaking of feels… Ahsoka grew up with the audience who followed her in TCW. Her leaving TCW was incredible. The story group respected her so much that her story was not predictable. Her last TCW story was familiar in real life. Who hasn’t had to deal with the accusation of “where there’s smoke….” So I may have related a little too well!

Anyway. I’m not 14 so grown up Ahsoka is a little more me! So far all the leather has been tooled and shaped. The sabers are being worked in Sketchup.

My montral are curing right now, I’m trying to do them in two parts to really control the latex thickness. More latex is on the courier truck right now. As of typing.

Right, it’s time to make, so my post is really about my current SW costumes. I also have a Padme Light Blue to remake. Need threads…

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Tagged as ahsoka, corsets, leia, mothma, padme, senya, swtor

by Michaela de Bruce | 2016-12-13 · 12:53

swtor-knights of the eternal throne, 3

Chapter 3, Dark Reunions

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Tagged as gaming, health, swtor

by Michaela de Bruce | · 12:03

swtor, knights of the eternal throne, 2

Invested in the story we continue to find people willing to help, and of course figure out their intents. But this stage as Commander you find people both wanting to take you down or use you to their ends.

My toon and I share the same side eye look a lot.

Chapter 2: Run For The Shadows

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Tagged as gaming, health, swtor

by Michaela de Bruce | · 10:26

swtor- knights of the eternal throne, 1

Chicken walker funtimes.

I will be spoilering, but also talking about the new game play and how it affects my ability to play. I love challenges. But there are some things that ~~are very much~~ can in effect be locked out or create a different kind of tension than the rush of tackling a challenge 🙂

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Tagged as gaming, health, swtor

by Michaela de Bruce | · 09:25

gaming limitations

I have tenosynovitis right across both hands, a result of Rheumatoid Disease. My ulnar has shifted to sit on top of my carpal bones as well. This is obviously fairly catastrophic over time but with splinting and therapy I should be able to get more use before limiting surgery. I need to take care of my fingers too as the smaller bones in my hands and fingers are eroding and recycled to be used in the disease process.

I use a regular keyboard and type sideways. I have tried other keyboards but the learning curve is very steep. In this way I balance speed of typing, lightness of pressure and can prevent my very fragile little and ring fingers from hitting keys they shouldn’t!

Here my ideal key press approach is on the left, on the right shows a key press that I need to avoid. But this is quite often what is needed in my ring finger of my left hand if I use WASD to move. I rotate the keyboard further when I am able to totally separate keyboard use from my mousing hand.

An ideal setup would be to have an angled desk and keyboard set in. So I am looking into keyboards with some slope and rest areas. But typing sideways means I am using my shoulders to move my hands over the keys as much as the distal parts of my hands.

I use a very light weight traditional mouse (usb) as I can rest my entire fingers over the clicking area and avoid direct pressure on the tips of my fingers.

This is how I try to use the mouse, so I depress the full finger. It can be a bit slow. But the mouse is more responsive than my keyboard.

Here you can see how my palm is fairly well supported.

My hope with my Xbox controller is to be able to get my hands off the desktop entirely and be able to avoid the rotation of my hands and wrists that happen with a mouse and keyboard.

But I am also going to invest in a vertical mouse have now tried one. I’m concerned about the weight and surface requirements for it to work.

These help, a lot. But they aren’t total solutions as there are no total solutions to my disease. It changes the bones and tendons in my hand but also those muscles and tendons that control the hand to originate in the forearm.

So I have to be selective in non vital activities. I also rely a heck of a lot on spellcheck to do posts like these due to difficulty depressing some keys.

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Filed under life with disability/illness, Uncategorized

Tagged as gaming, health, rheumatoid, swtor

by Michaela de Bruce | 2016-11-17 · 16:30

if you are on @swtor server The Harbinger and have Senya

You will probably notice me getting up very close to your companion. And then a whisper as I explain this is for costume research purposes.

And yes, in doing this my toon caught the plaque. But it was worth it!

There are Reasons I cannot use my own companion but that is a SPOILER!

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Tagged as senya, swtor

by Michaela de Bruce | 2016-11-11 · 09:08

New obsession, the next armour project for sure

Senya Tirell. Look, she has pants! Comfy pants!

I have played SWTOR since beta. If you have been a long time follower you know it was the incredible Deceived cinematic that got me actually playing not only this game but then tackling Mass Effect which I had basically just watched playthroughs and read lore.

Flip forward to the latest expansion and I had a few worries that we were getting a not SW but more generic (but pretty!) Bioware space game and actually playing and getting something really pretty darn fun and very SW after all. The themes are all there, it’s just visually different.

Anyway. so after the 15 chapters (most of which you have to play in a single run) you wind up with a decision. A decision that will impact the next expansion, I will leave what actually happens. out of my spoiler free post!

By the time I played through the last few chapters I was a bit sidetracked by what was going on to remember what we were told in the first few chapters about this family and about the Eternal Fleet. So this next trailer is spoilery and yet not. And it’s pretty darn beautiful. And part of why I now really want to make Senya’s gear. I just want to say her actions are clearly multifaceted, there is a desire to protect her own but more than that an understanding of their potential impact.

I mean I have no idea what we’ll have to face in the end, but I know I’ve been very impressed by Senya as a companion as well as clashed with her.

Also if you are interested, the three cinematics for the start of the game:

https://youtu.be/AMQ51v6Nafo

https://youtu.be/CDuYZ0-NUHw

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by Michaela de Bruce | 2016-06-17 · 21:15

Okay, I will finish this

I had made all of this before C6 and D*C but lost the confidence to wear it. Sure I wore my Darth Talon but this.. this is a little more… well it only covers half what I’d like it too…

You can’t see but that is fishnet over shiny lycra so is very much like wearing fake ostrich legs- like super large goosebumps..

But I loved all the little plastic pieces I made! So many squares! look at them! These are all cut from expanded PVC (Forex here, Sintra, etc.- though different manufacturers apparently heat seal at different pressures/temps so there is a difference!) or extruded PVC. See the red? That’s PVC weld 🙂 That dissolves the plastic to essentially melt and weld. It works best with pressure and with very scuffed surfaces. This is how I’ll be making my Avatar set 🙂

Yes, tht is one of my Shae Vizla rangefinder pieces, I recycle my offcuts where possible! I have a bit container of offcuts!