What alot of steampunkers there are!

I guess that I underestimated the growth of steampunk. Or maybe I just havent been in it long enough. But in my search of parts to upgrade and retro grade I have been in some of the most interesting places from the yard sales, pawn stores, goodwill and you would be surprised how far the mechanical gauntlet reaches. Up here on Howell Mill where I live. I found a belt at the secondhand store which well ya know after I'm done with it is not going to be a belt cause I was trying it around my wrist. And as luck would have it, I found some shower hooks that if glued on to the right places would make great conductor knobs.
I'm thinking to myself "The belt had a nice buckle which a thermostat or some kind of device would glue very nice right on top of yeah! Didnt know one of the volunteers was stacking clothes behind watching out the corner of her eye as I was fitting the belt on my wrist envisioning the final product. So when I paid for my things which came to under $5. I shyly mentioned it was too bad that they didnt have any watches or old clocks or thermostats as I was looking for one of those.
"Well you can try the Goodwill in Buckhead. They always antiques." She said kindly bagging up my purchase then turning to attend to another women in the store
Then another young volunteer spoke up Hey I was just wondering you wouldnt happen to be in that new thing that's going around now.. I just saw at that big trekkie thing they hold in downtown Atlanta every year. People walking around with fancy hats, guns with light bulbs and googles on What's it called? she snapped her fingers jogging her memory. She turned toward her coworker
I think it's called Steampunk. Her coworker
Yeah! Steampunk Are you into that?
I could only chuckle. It wasn't new I wanted to open my mouth to say but I guess it was new to her. And it was so much more than light bulbs, guns, fancy hats and goggles but it would an eternity to explain and there were other customers so I just nodded my head and smiled,
Yes I am a steampunker
Oh cool! she said Yeah we've had a couple of them in here before asking for watches just like you She very excited at the prospect.
I had to chuckle slightly. I was glad to have made her day. Though I can't have imagined how. Maybe to her I was rare oddity that she could one day say that she saw on TV...who knows
But she wasn't done Hey you never know. If you check back every now and then we get like you guys are looking for.
Okay. Thanks
And as I went home to the cat and lunch all I could think.
My what alot of us there are!

Letting my mind wander

Okay fast forward to the present. Im here in the middle of the state on day two of refresher training. Hotel rooms are nice, two big soft beds I get it to myself would be better if my sci fi steampunk partners in crime were here though but its work its not supposed to be pleasurable. So I decided to devote my free energy to watching City Confidential and hitting up my blog and gearing up for costume for this year. During training sessions my mind drifts to the list inventoring what I have and what I need while paying half attention to the instructor, nodding my head where it was appropriate in agreement with everything said pretending to care. Yeah mean I know. So far all I got are the goggles which I managed to get by pure Cajun luck at AnachroCon 2011. I netted a sweet deal if I say so myself 2 for $20. I got two just in case.

Instead of the standard steampunk goggles, I decided to make a monogoggle which is rather easy I found out with the brand I bought

I got the monogoggle down thank you Lord Montague!
I have a vial full of gears and need some more. At a loss of whether to spray it red or burnt gold which would look better with the outfit. Would you believe I was actually pondering that throughout the training instead of policy...yeah naughty me!
Black wont stand out as much, red might be somewhat garish. I wonder if I should buy both this weekend and test it out.