Orson Welles on Better Living Through Adversity...

I had to write this down before I forget it. Its just what I mean about thriving under adversity. It makes for stronger, better people with more character.

"In Italy for thirty years under the Borgias they had warfare, terror, murder and bloodshed but they produced Michelangelo, Leonardo da Vinci and the Renaissance. In Switzerland, they had brotherly love; they had five hundred years of democracy and peace and what did that produce? The cuckoo clock.”

Thank you Orson Welles, for the great quote.

More Corset Woes

Wearing a corset 23/7 means that I sometimes (read...often) have little mishaps that require repair. I am in serious need of a better backup corset for when I have to repair the main corset. Well, I have been wearing the back up corset because my main corset is having some trouble with turning steels at the back, which gouge into my skin and cause unbelievable pain. My husband calls me the corset terminator. I have now broken the busk in my backup corset, and having tried to repair this problem in a previous corset, I know that I have to do this in a delicate manner otherwise I will render the corset completely unwearable. I have reinforced the front of the corset with 1/2 inch wide double thick steels in each pocket and then an additional two of those in each side of the busk. Now I have to sew it all back together and see what happens. If anyone reads this, wish me luck...

My daily dose of adversity in the form of...corset training

So as if all of the other things aren't enough, I add a little extra adversity to my daily life by trying to function while wearing a corset? You would think I love the toil and trouble. This is probably going to be a boring, just for me kind of post, so unless you are a corset enthusiast, I'd skip it.

Actually, the corset makes me feel better, believe it or not. It is my protective shell. The stiffer and more immobilizing, the better. I prefer no bend in the torso whatsoever. I am in a constant struggle to find the right corset, the right style, the right fit. Of course, if you are going to attempt to wear a corset in what enthusiasts call "23/7" you MUST have a custom fit corset. This is not as easy as one would think. I have been wearing a corset for a few years now and have now worn corsets made by several makers and it seems like its just a neverending process of finding just the right one.
I dont plan on writing a whole bunch about my corset wear now, mabye later. But as with other things, I want to write down what I think when I think of it. I have just been looking at some photos of me in older corsets and it suddenly occurred to me that I am happier and do better when my corset is leather. This might sound like just a preference, but I really feel prettier, sexier, and more motivated to train my waist when I see it in leather. Feeling pretty is a huge motivator for me. If I dont feel beautiful I have a hard time motivating myself to do anything. I swear I'm not a total narcisist (sp?), or maybe I am, I dont know. All I know is that the smooth feeling of running my hand down the side of a leather corset to feel my shape is just a happy feeling I cant get with anything else. My husband and I discussed this more than a year ago, and decided that all of my future corsets should be leather, but for some reason he changed his mind. I guess it was the expense. He used to be more involved in my corsetting, but seems to have lost interest, so now I have to do all of the lacing myself, which does take some of the fun out of it for me. I liked the closeness of him lacing me. I need a real job that pays well so that I can afford leather again...sigh.