The lyf so short

Japanese Studies professor: Still awesome. Can I please replace all my other professors with clones of her? Well maybe not all, but my English (my major, augh augh augh) professors, or at least the literature one? Pretty please?

In other news, people keep talking about NaNo and my fingers are itching to participate again but doing NaNo on top of exams - in the very same month - would be such an incredibly lousy idea that not even I will try it. *le sigh* Figures, of course, that I was jumped by a story idea a few days ago - and for a change, it would be not fantasy, and not in English!
(To be honest it's actually a business idea, not a story idea, but playing the idea through in my head led to the conclusion that I'd stumble from one difficulty to the next in my attempts to do everything right so it'd be nothing but a series of desasters. Don't think I'm ready to do that to myself in real life; there is nothing, however, that can keep me from doing it to fictional characters, mwahahahahah!

Except for exams, of course. Ngah.)

In yet other news, since sewing and reading is very much compatible if you have Bad Sewing Machine Karma (TM) anyway, I'm having a bit of a sewing flash. Today I used a break to search for patterns for a Royal Aerial Corps Regency uniform coat. I don't usually sew with patterns since you don't usually find anything useful for the sort of stuff I do anyway, but I thought that this time I should have a look since those uniform coats are a) somewhat more complicated than pseudo-medieval gowns and b) really common in street carnival, so surely high-quality patterns for the real thing would be easy to find in Cologne of all places.

No; they're crap. (As are the patterns for Regency women's clothing, which has a reeeeally distinctive sort of cut for (especially) the back, which these patterns... didn't have. Instead, they have zippers. ZIPPERS, I ASK YOU.) "Easy-to-do", modernised crap. I can get better patterns for free on the internet. Heck, I can get better patterns if I go into some museum with 18th century stuff and do some sketches*, and I am no good with pattern-making at all.

Not, apparently, as "no good" as people who make carnival costumes, however. Are people who do LARP and/or re-enactment the only non-professional costume makers with a sense of honour ambition authenticity quality I dunno? *weeps*

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*For which reason this is not a request for anyone to go and get a pattern for me. I would not normally add this but it has happened to me before, so this time I explicitly say that I do not want one. I know where to get one. I just thought this way I'd be able to escape the mathematics. If escaping the mathematics results in cheap cop-outs, though, I'll take the math, thankee...