[I�m so excited to post this review! I typed this at work while listening to Indie 103.1 live streaming radio. Don�t worry, I�m allowed to do this so long as it�s on my downtime. And I have a LOT of downtime as of late due to the end of the year wrapping up and my assignment ending July 1st.

For this event I went to Mode Plus in the Westfield West Covina mall and bought a overall jumper type of dress that was just perfect for the airship theme! The brand, Krafty, has a lot of steam inspired items that are not too expensive. If you�re a bigger gal who loves steamy clothing, find Krafty brand clothing! I also found some like-colored leg warmers at the dollar store, they were too big so I held them up with garters. I also wore my Mathilda wig just for fun! I wanted to look different and I had no idea what to do with my hair. I was thinking pig tails, and maybe I should have worn them, but this seemed more era appropriate. My brother made the comment, �What a hairdo. It's as big as the Hindenburg! I bet it will go up just as fast!�, paraphrasing lyrics from the song Slaughterama by Gwar. Cheeky!

I also bought a silver balloon and printed out pictures of the before and after of the Hindenburg disaster, so I had my own personal Hindenburg with me! What�s funny about that was when I put the before picture, the balloon would float, but because of the weight of the paper on the other side, the balloon would sink, just like the real Hindenburg! HAHA!

Me with the Hindenburg afloat

My outfit for the night, I really like this picture among the weeds ^.^]

Manticore Society was there on site as Chrononaut Club celebrated their first anniversary last night with an Airship theme throughout. Most in attendance donned their spectacular airship gear, from goggle to flight caps, jackets to boots. Everyone had such wonderful ensembles!

Andrew in his extremely warm cap and tele-o-scope

Capt. Wong Wei and Cindy dressing up to the night's theme to a T!

Capt. Wong Wei, along with our guests Pockets and Adam, and I with my metallic Hindenburg came and attended as both spectators and vendors.

The lovely Pockets and Adam

[Jerry took some photos of me and the Capt. while we set up. I like the way the earring tree left a neat shadow on my arm!

our lovely set up this night

The car ride there was very entertaining! I always like talking to Pockets and her boyfriend was a delighted addition to the conversation with his quick wit! Tonzy was going to come but he said he wanted to be prepared with an outfit so he�ll come next time. Yay, spreading steampunk around my non-steamy friends!]

Amy was attending the Elective Surgery booth and I donated my contribution on a cake and a lovely wind-up clock that, when turned around, exposed the inner workings and gears! It garnered a lot of attention, as this booth usually does because Repo! is just that awesome! [I bought a wonderful piece of memorabilia from our booth: a flyer for advertising the pre-release of Repo! the Genetic Opera in theatres! They were given to us personally from Terrance Zdunich and these are the only ones left, ever! I�m smitten!] Capt. Wong Wei and I set up our booth and started mingling and taking pictures. [I did well this night selling a purse, a little hat and a tea light holder! I�ve been meaning to make more items but have just been so swamped. Pockets gave me a great idea of making hat pins and accessories. I�m going to have to definitely look into that as I know us women like to decorate our hats!

I have to include this picture cos it's just so funny! I <3 Amy and her giant hat!]

This night included a demonstration fro one of the vendors and their little flying machine hovering over the crowd and the operators desperately avoiding the fans!

We had fun hitting it to keep it afloat!

XD The silent film projector featured a showing of archival footage from the golden age of the Zeppelin, which I found very interesting! DJ Greyshades announced a wonderful trivia contest where the winner would get a newly printed Chrononaut Club t-shirt with their logo on it! We were asked what was the very first song played at the very first Chrononaut. Amazingly, our Capt. knew the correct answer was Emilie Autumn's "Always look on the Bright Side of Life" and won the t-shirt! Fantastic!

Greyshades at work

I kept having trouble with my Hindenburg and ditched it for the most part after about an hour until Jerry asked if I wanted to take some pictures. He wore a great flight cap/goggles/scarf/leather jacket combo, he really looked like he just got out of a plane!

Ready to fly!

I really adored how these pictures, as well as the rest of the night�s, turned out!

[After the initial pictures of my outfit, I got my balloon and a brief history of the Hindenburg began to play out!

Ready on deck!

I'm aiming for "cute" here :3

Behold the magnificent flying machine!

What? Oh no! Something's gone horribly awry!

Oh, the humanity!

Remember kids, hydrogen may be cheaper but it�s definitely more volatile!]

Later in the night, our beloved Prof. CJ (the mustachio driver from the LA Repo! shadowcast, ATTAK!) came in with a wonderful outfit, completed by a steam contraption of sorts: a mechanical hand that protruded and retracted into a sleeve, like a gun! Inspired!

Prof. CJ, a character all around, always!

[We spoke about there being a gender bender night at the ATTAK! show and he wants me to do mustachio driver for him that night! How fitting! I�m going to have a lot of fun with this, I�ll hope to fill the big shoes, er, rather mustache that CJ has made!] He was later joined by his girlfriend Amanda, aka Shilo in ATTAK!, aka Amber in Elective Surgery. She was clad in a eye-catching security uniform complete with officer�s hat, military coat, pinstriped pants and an eye patch! I was most amazed when she took off the coat: she was wearing an amazingly tight laced corset and her waist was so tiny it looked like I could put my hands around it and have my fingers touch! O.O

Amanda, BIG gun, tiny waist!

She was accompanied by two other ATTAK!ers, Treasure who plays a victim and other parts varying through the show, and Danielle, who played Luigi Largo and makes a very convincing boy when in character! I was stunned by her very fetching dress and hat combo, very different from how we�re used to seeing her!


Treasure and Dani, very nice!

The ATTAK! crew, hanging out! �This is the best Airship Prom ever!� I exclaimed! They are actually part of the crew of the HMS Bandersnatch!

Cody and Kristina where of course in attendance. Kristina was helping serve cake her mother made at this moment I do believe!

When it grew later in the evening, the announcement for the shadow puppet show, Animal Cracker Conspiracy, was made and everyone grabbed a chair and sat down to watch the show as the lights were turned off and we were immersed in ambient music. It was a story surrounding what seemed to be the creation and exploration of a mechanical man curiosity with butterflies. He examines and keeps some in a cage in a lab and tries to become one with colorful wings. He falls and in the end the butterflies come about him and make him fly! It was a really great story and I loved how imaginative and different it was from any kind of puppet show I�ve ever seen! Everyone gave them a big round of applause and cheer, and as the puppeteers took their bows they invited anyone who wanted to see how they made the show to come up on stage and take a look!

[ I took a few photos, they weren�t very good but I hope you can still enjoy them for what you can see :) MPsy took really great photos with his camera, check them out when they get posted! (http://madcalamity.zenfolio.com/)

The mechanical man in the field

A city skyline

Butterflies in a cage

It reminds me of this woman who appeared on Ukraine�s Got Talent and did a performance with a light board and sand that was so moving people in the audience were moved to tears and honestly, so was I! Check out the video here. It's 8 minutes long, if you have the time watch it please do, it's extremely well executed:

After the puppet show, Amy announced the winner of the fantastic clock and all stood around in silence to make certain they listened to the numbers called. The winner was very happy and we made about $68 in donations from the wonderful generous people who love us! [Cody was off by one measly number! GAH!]

There was a group shot of a few of us clad in aviator hats and goggles. Andrew was kind enough to lend me an aviator hat and a prop for the photo!

Even Jerry joined in on the fun in front of the lens for a change! Awesome!

We�re a crew of drunken pirates

We�re the only Airship Pilots!

And looking out into the distance to watch our airship slowly float away...Great times!

Jerry at work

The duration of the night was filled with Abney Park music and a lot of newcomers who popped in to see what this Steampunk business is all about. A group of girls commented on how warm and inviting everyone is and it does my heart good to hear that.

[As everything was wrapping up, I took off the wig I donned for the night and everyone was happy to see my long hair fall out. I�ve been thinking about cutting my hair in that style but after everyone�s relief to see my hair down that night, I will keep it long!

The before and after.

My long hair is still there :) While I sat down for a while, Amy danced up a storm! I love it when she dances, it's mesmerizing ^.^]

After packing up everything and saying our goodbyes, we made the trip home and had a lot of fun listening to the Capt. steampunk mixes. We had a wonderful time with our friends and I met some new people who are really awesome! I think we all went to sleep that night dreading the next morning on little hours of sleep but we went to sleep happy cos we had an absolute blast at Chrononaut�s First of Many Anniversaries!

Til the next steam thing!

Links to check out:

Manticore Society's blog http://themanticoresociety.blogspot.com/
Chrononaut http://chrononautclub.com/
Animal Cracker Conspiracy Puppet Company http://www.animalcrackerconspiracy.com/
Jerry's Zenfolio http://jerryabuan.zenfolio.com/p863244710
Capt. Wong Wei's Zenfolio http://madcalamity.zenfolio.com/
Elective Surgery's page http://www.repo-electivesurgery.com/