How Much Should I Display My Kids Online?

I just finished another hat for Dexter, a Futurama brain slug baby hat. I made the first one for Sara's son over 2 years ago, which K remembered and specially requested. This beanie's a little bigger than its predecessor and should fit a 3 to 6 month old. I guess as the human gets bigger, so does the little parasitic alien. :)

This picture made me wish I had one of our baby boy wearing it, which led me to consider, "Wait, should I post pictures of our son online?" The Internet has become an archive of history, both wanted and unwanted. How does this affect a person's ability to be hired, get elected, etc. when there are silly childhood stories and pictures on Facebook and who knows where else? What do you (or would you) use as a rule of thumb for your own kiddos?

Endless Baby Prep Work

As of this week, little Dexter is officially full-term, which is scary given the amount of baby to-do's we still have left. The one thing we have accomplished is set up our oh-so-awesome automatic feeder for Chairman Meow so that she won't starve while we're at the hospital. (Clearly, this thing was designed by some seriously bored engineers with a passion for cats and koi fish.) K even hand-crafted a wood stand for it with a fancy edging and multiple layers of stain. Not sure why he went through all the effort when it's just going to be hidden next to our washing machine, but kudos to him!

Took a little while to calibrate the machine to spit out exactly 30-40 pellets each time

As for our other DIY baby projects, the nursery is... mostly not an extra storage room anymore, but the good news is that K's parents are coming this weekend to help put together the crib and dresser. I also plan on making 2-4 weeks worth of freezer meals based on recipe books from the library. And finally, yes it is true... I have actually begun finishing homemade crafts for my own kiddo. The Link outfit is still in the works (why is the elf hat taking me so long??), but in the meanwhile, I just whipped up a quick set of baby mittens and hat.

K chose the colors... doesn't it remind you a little of candy corn?

Question:
What else do you think I should make for Dexter in my last remaining days of freedom?

More Female Characters = More Female Players?

Over two years ago, I wrote a post called Scary Angry Gamer Girls where this female columnist for Kotaku argued that adding more female characters to Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 would increase the number of women who would play the game. And I think that's hogwash. But hey, maybe there are girls out there who really care about that kind of stuff, and I'll admit, I'll choose to design a female character by default if it's available.

So let's take a look at a couple of examples, and you tell me what you think. At the time Modern Warfare 2 came out, so did Aliens vs. Predator – another first person shooter that employs soldiers, but this time with both genders represented. Here's what a female marine looks like in the game:

Trust me, this one has boobs

I'm assuming the female is on the left because the other person is balding...

Now before you say, "Well, they cheated and just used the same body rig that has a woman's head slapped on it," here's what a female marine looks like in the movie Aliens:

Private Jenette Vasquez has been doing some serious P90X!

Long story short: when soldiers are all suited up in full gear, you can't really tell what gender they are, especially with all the regulations on even their personal appearance (no beards, long hair, piercings, etc). And that's the point, because they're supposed to be a homogenous fighting force that stresses "esprit de corps" over individualism. So if you want to go for true accuracy in a modern-day military game, a) there won't be a lot of women on the roster and b) you won't be able to tell they're female on the field anyway (at least visually).

Okay okay, if the whole point of playing a female character is that you should be able to tell she's a woman and she should embody feminine characteristics, let's go to the other extreme. In terms of third-person pure action games, God of War stars the very masculine and chauvinistic Kratos, destroyer of gods and user of women. So if you were to make a female version of Kratos, what would it look like? Well, the video game industry will try anything new that might make money, and so we have two female-driven titles: Bayonetta and Heavenly Sword.

Who would you rather play: Kratos, Bayonetta, or Naiko?

Out of the two, I've seen more of Bayonetta, and oh boy, is she feminine. One might say "oversexualized." So does that make Bayonetta just another male fantasy game? From a feminist point of view, you could say she encompasses many ideal characteristics: intelligent, physically strong, comfortable with her sexuality, and member of a matriarchal organization. Is she a powerful, liberated woman or just a different flavor of exploitative eye candy for teenage boys? Is Bayonetta what girl gamers are really looking for?

Now that we've seen both ends of the spectrum – butch, faceless marine #12 versus provocative, sexy warrior princess – which is better? Or is there another alternative? What kind of female character in a traditional "male-oriented" game genre do you think would really attract more female players?

Related Links:
Why Modern Video Game Armies Lack Female Troops

How to Make Video Game Onesies for Baby Geeks

I'm not a huge fan of bridal and baby showers, mainly because of the cheesy games you're forced to play. However, 7 years ago when I attended my first baby shower, I was exposed to a really neat party activity: decorating baby onesies! The host just bought a pack of white onesies and puffy paints and let us have at it. How clever! Not only do the guests get to show off their creativity, but the mom-to-be also receives a batch of free baby outfits personalized by her good friends. :)

Fast-forward to my own baby shower, and onesie painting was the one thing I wanted to make sure to include. Luckily, my BFF Sophia had her shower a couple weeks beforehand and sent me a blog article that suggested creating stencils for people who may not be as artistic. Brilliant! Here's how I did it...

MATERIALS:

• Fabric paint - I bought Tulip "Soft" paint bottles from Michael's (fabric markers and puffy paints don't fill in solid shapes very well)
• Paint brushes (at least one for each color)
• Freezer paper (parchment and wax paper won't work; it needs to be paper on one side and waxy on the other)
• Print-outs of the stencils you want to use (make sure they're not wider than the onesies)
• Examples: Mario mushroom, power button, Triforce, Pac man, video game controller, Domo-kun
• Cardboard rectangles - I just cut up a cardboard box into sections big enough to fit inside a onesie and entirely under a stencil
• Sharpie
• X-Acto knife or scissors for cutting out intricate stencils
• White (or solid colored) onesies - choose several sizes and buy enough for each guest to make 2 to 3 each
• Disposable tablecloth and disposable plates/bowls

INSTRUCTIONS:

1. Wash and dry the onesies.
2. Look online for stencils you want to use to decorate the onesies and print them out. Make sure they're not too complicated or else your guests may not have enough time to let the paint dry if there are multiple colors involved.
3. Cut out a piece of freezer paper that matches the size of the stencil. Place the stencil print-out under the freezer paper, and make sure the waxy side of the freezer paper is facing down and touching the paper. Use a Sharpie to trace the stencil on the freezer paper.
4. Cut out the stencil outline on the freezer paper. Iron the freezer paper stencil onto a onesie (again, with the waxy side face down), using the appropriate heat setting for the onesie's fabric.
5. Cut out cardboard rectangles and insert them into the onesies under the stencils. The cardboard acts as both a solid surface and a barrier in case the paint leaks through.
6. Cover your table with the disposable table covering and squeeze out the different colored paints into disposable plates/bowls. (Don't dilute the paint with water or else it may bleed under the stencil.) I had one paintbrush per color so people didn't have to rinse them out when switching colors. Also, if you don't have that many colors, people can mix paints to create new combinations.
7. If your design requires layering of colors, wait ~15 minutes and carefully try painting on the second color, making sure it doesn't mix with first color.
8. After an hour or so, it should be safe to peel off the freezer paper. The paint bottles will have instructions on how long to wait before you can wash the onesies. Soak the brushes in water to clean them.

I'm surprised at how well they turned out! The lines are so clean and sharp... if you can believe it, a 3-year-old painted the Triforce and power button.

My favorite designs are the Mario mushroom and Domo-kun. For Domo-kun, I had two stencils ironed on, one on the outside of the black outline and one covering the brown fur (but with a hole for the mouth). I painted the black outline and red mouth first, and then after they dried, I freehand painted the teeth on. After the teeth dried, I peeled off both stencils, carefully painted on the brown fur without bleeding over the existing paint, waited for the brown to dry, and lastly added the eyes. As you can probably tell, I only had time to decorate one onesie, but I think it was totally worth it. ^_^;;

Not everyone decided to use the premade stencils, so I have several personalized paintings as well. K has promised to make me a certain design that was too complex for stenciling, so hopefully I'll be able to show it to you someday.

Question:
What's a favorite game you've played at a baby or bridal shower?

Baby Shower in a Box

After passing the first trimester milestone, I started worrying about what to do about my baby shower. All my close friends and family were in another state, and the only people I knew in this new state were K's family and the married couples in a Bible study we just started attending a few months ago. To compensate, I decided to scour Craigslist and buy as much secondhand baby stuff as safely possible because, well, I didn't expect anyone to get me anything, much less throw me a party.

As usual, God surpassed my expectations/plans and blessed me with not one, but two baby showers! One was hosted by K's mom for the relatives on her side of the family. And then this coming weekend, one of my new friends graciously offered to host a party for the women in my Bible study. But guess what arrived in the mail just before the party...

That's right, it's a baby shower in a box! Remember my oh-so-creative friend Jessi? She worked with another woman from my previous Bible study, surprising me with a care package full of goodies and decorations for my baby shower! Check out the sweet swag that was unveiled:

Thank you cards, tableware, streamers, confetti, and DIY paper tissue pom-poms!

I can't believe how thoughtful and freaking awesome those two women are to help me celebrate the arrival of Dexter, despite the long distance between us. I'm so touched by their kindness, I can't even express it in words. So if you're ever thinking of helping a friend celebrate her wedding or baby shower when she's recently moved to a new city, consider this "shower-in-a-box" idea. You'll absolutely make her day – no, her entire year! ^____^

My First Etsy Sale!

I think I created my Etsy account, oh, back in 2009, but other than making a handful of purchases, I've never engaged much in its other features, like creating treasury lists or selling things. However recently, a reader reached out via email and wanted to commission me to make a crochet beard hat. You know, like a regular hat but with a faux yarn beard connected at the sides to cover and warm your chin. Think of it as the hipster, less-coverage-but-less-creepy version of a ski mask.

Hmm, generally I don't like making crafts to order, not even requests from friends. I feel all this pressure to finish it in a timely manner and it just isn't as enjoyable. I work best when I'm inspired to make something out of (I know this sounds cheesy) love and not need. Plus, so much time goes into crocheting/knitting projects that if I applied my regular hourly rate for work, there's no way anyone would buy my stuff. I certainly wouldn't pay that amount. As a min-maxer, I'd rather make money off designing patterns because then I can just design something once and sell the PDF over and over again (until someone decides to rip me off and sell it as their own). And like software products, they both have high gross margins.

That being said, I thought this commission might be the perfect way to experiment with going through the selling process on Etsy. So I low-balled the price, the customer accepted my bid, and I got cracking. Now if you've checked Etsy and Ravelry, there are tons of crochet beard hats out there, but the client specifically wanted me to add my "special twist" to the project and gave me little direction other than that. So I pretty much winged the whole thing. Here's how it went:

• Hat: Piece of cake!
• Beard: Once I got the basic pattern down for making loops of varying lengths, easy peasy. Had to redo the chin area a few times to make sure it curved under at the right spot, which was time consuming, but overall not too bad.
• Mustache: What. The. Heck. This tiny, final piece was supposed to take no time at all and yet I could not make it work. First it was too flimsy. Then it was too thick. Then it wouldn't stay up and kept collapsing over the mouth opening. Then it wouldn't center correctly because it was too tight or loose on one side. GAAAAHHHH!!!

I've never gotten so close to cussing over a yarn project. All I can say is that K deserves a huge thanks for his infinite patience as I kept making him wear the stupid thing while I adjusted, readjusted, ripped out, resewed, etc. that darn mustache. Here's what I learned from the entire experience:

• As confirmed, I dislike making crochet items (versus patterns) for sale, especially given what a perfectionist I can be.
• Etsy charged me a little more than a dollar for the transaction! Oops, next time I'll need to raise the price accordingly. Other than that, the whole sale process was very smooth sailing on my part.

Anyway, took me about a week of evenings working on it on and off, but it's finally done and out of my hair. Here's photographic proof from my customer showing how satisfied he is. ^_~

P.S. I forgot to mention, but another motivator for me to take on this project is that I've been trying to raise money to get that luxury item I mentioned before. To let you on the secret, it's a fancy-pancy automated cat feeder that I've been in love with since last year, and K finally convinced me it was ok to buy it, especially with the baby on its way soon. Can't wait for it to arrive! It's an engineering masterpiece, and I think both Chairman Meow and I will be much happier if she can be automatically fed multiple times a day. :)