So, remember how back in October I was involved with dance rehearsals nearly every moment of my life for months at a time? I finally have a link to the video that isn't from Face Book!
Fan Dance Awesomeness!
We actually did 2 performances, this video is from the first. Sadly, the second performance is the better of the 2.. with no dropped fans. The only bad thing to happen during it was that one of my fans broke in my hand. Not that you can tell, I'm that professional. :D
Wednesday, January 5, 2011
Sleep is for the Weak!
Always.
Since I was like 13 or something, I've stayed up all night long and slept all day. It sucks. Because I know it's something that I need to work on fixing, and I do try.. and then it happens that I stay up until 2 AM one night and then the next it's 4 AM and then before I know it, I'm awake at dawn. And have to be to work in a few hours. Sigh.
Last year after I started my new job I did really good at sleeping at night and being awake during the day.. but I've started to back slide since November. I chock it up to having someone to talk to at all hours and then not having someone to talk to at all hours. When I have someone to put my interest in, I tend to behave like a normal human being.. with responsibilities and stuff. But the moment it's up to me to take care of myself, (read, once I'm single or have no one that shows an interest in me) I go straight back to staying up all night. And I don't even do anything most of the time. I'm just... awake, existing... bored. And I want to go to bed, but I can't for some reason.
Oh well. I didn't intend to actually write anything tonight, but it gives me something to do for a few minutes to beat the monotony of the night. Did I mention that I have work at 10 AM? Yeah, and it's a nice long shift for once.. we'll see how that works out.
Maybe I'll post a photo of myself looking like a zombie? Sounds like a good idea.
Sunday, January 2, 2011
January Resolution: Happiness
As I mentioned in the last post, it's time for resolutions to take place. And I have come up with mine. Instead of doing 1 thing for the entire year, I'm going to give myself monthly resolutions. It comes down to me not knowing of 1 thing that I want to improve about myself, but several that I know need work.
So, for January, my resolution is to find something every day that brings me happiness and share it in some way with either the people that make it possible or just as a note to remind myself. This will, hopefully, help me focus on the positive things that are in my life rather than all of the negative.
There will be some months where I focus on a physical thing, such as watching what I eat or walking or dancing. And others where I am simply creative in some way.. and others still where I am totally honest about how I feel.
This will hopefully help me to come to terms with some of the issues I have with myself and what I see as my limitations.
So, for January, my resolution is to find something every day that brings me happiness and share it in some way with either the people that make it possible or just as a note to remind myself. This will, hopefully, help me focus on the positive things that are in my life rather than all of the negative.
There will be some months where I focus on a physical thing, such as watching what I eat or walking or dancing. And others where I am simply creative in some way.. and others still where I am totally honest about how I feel.
This will hopefully help me to come to terms with some of the issues I have with myself and what I see as my limitations.
Thursday, December 30, 2010
New Year, New Me
Well, let's quickly disregard everything that was written in the last post.
It seems that I am good at cursing things to ruination by writing them down.. which is kind of silly, but it seems to be so. Every time that I write I am happy with a situation or person, that happiness ends in such a way that I am the opposite of happy.
The short story: I like douche bags. Not the hygiene kind, the male kind.
Moving on.
It's almost 2011. Holy cow. And with that realization, comes the sudden desire to come up with a resolution to keep or break for this new year. I have never done the resolution thing, so I think it's about time that I gave it a shot.
So, I'm trying to come up with one. It's hard work, really. There's the general ones that everyone does, like lose weight or save money or travel or be kind to puppies or do some great good. I don't want to do one of those because they won't really mean anything. I want to do something that will change how I see myself for years to come.
Or something.
I don't know.
It's hard, because I want to do these crazy things, but I know that I won't be able to motivate myself to do it past a certain point.
I just had a wonderful idea. Instead of a Yearly Resolution, I'm going to have a Monthly Resolution. That's like.. 12 Resolutions instead of just 1. I think that's a fab idea. Plus, it'll keep things from getting dull. Now I need to come up with my January Resolution. It'll probably be something simple like tell people why I like them or something. We'll see what I come up with on January 1st.
It seems that I am good at cursing things to ruination by writing them down.. which is kind of silly, but it seems to be so. Every time that I write I am happy with a situation or person, that happiness ends in such a way that I am the opposite of happy.
The short story: I like douche bags. Not the hygiene kind, the male kind.
Moving on.
It's almost 2011. Holy cow. And with that realization, comes the sudden desire to come up with a resolution to keep or break for this new year. I have never done the resolution thing, so I think it's about time that I gave it a shot.
So, I'm trying to come up with one. It's hard work, really. There's the general ones that everyone does, like lose weight or save money or travel or be kind to puppies or do some great good. I don't want to do one of those because they won't really mean anything. I want to do something that will change how I see myself for years to come.
Or something.
I don't know.
It's hard, because I want to do these crazy things, but I know that I won't be able to motivate myself to do it past a certain point.
I just had a wonderful idea. Instead of a Yearly Resolution, I'm going to have a Monthly Resolution. That's like.. 12 Resolutions instead of just 1. I think that's a fab idea. Plus, it'll keep things from getting dull. Now I need to come up with my January Resolution. It'll probably be something simple like tell people why I like them or something. We'll see what I come up with on January 1st.
Friday, December 3, 2010
'Tis the Season...
I'm not quite sure what it is the season of, but I do know that it is in fact a season of something.
Any whoo.
Yeah.
First of all, let me get the over-whelming sense of guilt that I have going on every time I look at the link to this thing... and then write nothing. Seriously, there are times that I want to write something but then I have to go off and do something else... and by the time I am able to write something, I have forgotten whatever it is that I was going to write before. So I do nothing and feel like a piece of crap. Not like anyone reads this thing anyway, it's more like I'm pretending that people read it and that makes me feel even worse because I feel guilty for keeping the words away from myself. Yeah, it doesn't make any sense to me either.
Maybe if my life were filled with exciting things on a daily basis, instead of kinda amusing things on a weekly basis. Or something. I dunno. But I do want to write more, I just don't feel like being boring and crap.
That being said, here is a recap of what I've been up to of late, just in case. In case of what, I haven't a clue, but that's what people say.
In the beginning of November, my last update actually, I had been talking to this guy that I have known for a few years, and had a bit of a thing for. Up until now, however, one of us has been dating someone else and we're both the kind of people that just don't talk to the opposite sex whenever we're attached to someone. So, even though we both liked each other and had things in common, our interactions were limited to the random times in a year that we would be at the same NERO event.
Fast forward to last October (2009) and the end of my current long-time relationship. Sadly, for me, he had just entered into a new relationship (as in like that week) and then moved to Texas. Of course, thinking about it now makes me happy that nothing had happened last year, as I was in a very bad emotional state over my breakup and in general just hated life. It has actually kind of made me a better person, though I will never admit as much to my ex. That would be kind of awkward, along the lines of:
Me: Thanks for treating me like crap and allowing me to realize that I am actually worth more than what you tell me I am. Also, I hope you've learned that you can be an overbearing asshole and you should actually care about the person you supposedly love instead of just using them for your selfish needs.
Actually, maybe I should tell him. But I won't, because that will mean actually talking to him and while I have recently re-added him as a friend on FB, I am not to the point that I can see what he is doing on a daily basis without either feeling total rage at the injustice of it or feeling joy because he has gotten fat and his girlfriend is a total ditz with a big ass. But I digress. I think. Maybe.
So, to get back to my little story, my emotional state was not the best (to say the very,very least) and I was generally very unhappy living in Savannah. Thus, when the topic of moving came up I jumped on board, head first, naked into the fires of this idea. Which is how I found myself living in a 6 bedroom house with 5 other people (2 of which I had only met for a weekend and 1 of whom I had never met) and their cats at the start of December. Oh the joys of having friends that love you. Seriously, without my friends I am sure that I would have fallen even deeper into the depression that my life was at that point in time. So, a huge thank you to my friends for being there for me.
At the same time that I was rebuilding my sanity and love of myself and life, he was living in Texas with his girlfriend. Fast forward once more to this fall and I am single after a quick thing that I don't know if I even can consider a real relationship. And he becomes single after his girlfriend fucks around on him. Being the embodiment of compassion (and seeing a chance after so long) I rekindled our friendship. And found out that he had had the same feelings I had had and had never acted on them for the same reasons that I never had. It was shocking, and nice, and... and.. I don't know what else.
It was just nice to have someone to talk to and be honest with and to care for them in the same way that they cared for me. And then, to both of our surprises, we realized how deep our feelings actually were. Here's where it gets a bit sappy and silly and cute and all of those other words that mean Disney personified. We realized that we actually loved each other. Not that "I think I love you because I'm lonely" love, but real love. The kind that you feel once in your life, if you're lucky. The kind that makes your chest tighten whenever you see or talk to that other person and when you miss them because you haven't spoken to them for five minutes. We realized that we felt that for each other, and it kind of scared us, or at least I know it scared me. I hadn't felt that way even for my most recent long-term relationship and had only felt it once before and that had been after being together for months.. not just talking to for weeks.
Feelings are funny things. They aren't logical, or shouldn't be. Despite wanting them to be logical and not random, they will always do things that you don't expect. Like make you fall in love with someone that you haven't actually seen in person in over a year. Things like that. But I have no regrets about it. I have a few worries, mostly remnants of past relationships that always seem to become issues.
But I want this work. Like, work forever. And, to make this happen, I am trying to be true to myself and the feelings that I have. Even stranger, and even more scarily, I am not planning for the future. For once in my life I am going to let things happen as they happen without worries for the future. If I have learned anything this year, it is that sometimes you need to let things happen and go with the flow. So, while I would like for things to happen, I am not going to push them into happening. I am going to let nature take its course and just go with the flow of life.
Hopefully.
Any whoo.
Yeah.
First of all, let me get the over-whelming sense of guilt that I have going on every time I look at the link to this thing... and then write nothing. Seriously, there are times that I want to write something but then I have to go off and do something else... and by the time I am able to write something, I have forgotten whatever it is that I was going to write before. So I do nothing and feel like a piece of crap. Not like anyone reads this thing anyway, it's more like I'm pretending that people read it and that makes me feel even worse because I feel guilty for keeping the words away from myself. Yeah, it doesn't make any sense to me either.
Maybe if my life were filled with exciting things on a daily basis, instead of kinda amusing things on a weekly basis. Or something. I dunno. But I do want to write more, I just don't feel like being boring and crap.
That being said, here is a recap of what I've been up to of late, just in case. In case of what, I haven't a clue, but that's what people say.
In the beginning of November, my last update actually, I had been talking to this guy that I have known for a few years, and had a bit of a thing for. Up until now, however, one of us has been dating someone else and we're both the kind of people that just don't talk to the opposite sex whenever we're attached to someone. So, even though we both liked each other and had things in common, our interactions were limited to the random times in a year that we would be at the same NERO event.
Fast forward to last October (2009) and the end of my current long-time relationship. Sadly, for me, he had just entered into a new relationship (as in like that week) and then moved to Texas. Of course, thinking about it now makes me happy that nothing had happened last year, as I was in a very bad emotional state over my breakup and in general just hated life. It has actually kind of made me a better person, though I will never admit as much to my ex. That would be kind of awkward, along the lines of:
Me: Thanks for treating me like crap and allowing me to realize that I am actually worth more than what you tell me I am. Also, I hope you've learned that you can be an overbearing asshole and you should actually care about the person you supposedly love instead of just using them for your selfish needs.
Actually, maybe I should tell him. But I won't, because that will mean actually talking to him and while I have recently re-added him as a friend on FB, I am not to the point that I can see what he is doing on a daily basis without either feeling total rage at the injustice of it or feeling joy because he has gotten fat and his girlfriend is a total ditz with a big ass. But I digress. I think. Maybe.
So, to get back to my little story, my emotional state was not the best (to say the very,very least) and I was generally very unhappy living in Savannah. Thus, when the topic of moving came up I jumped on board, head first, naked into the fires of this idea. Which is how I found myself living in a 6 bedroom house with 5 other people (2 of which I had only met for a weekend and 1 of whom I had never met) and their cats at the start of December. Oh the joys of having friends that love you. Seriously, without my friends I am sure that I would have fallen even deeper into the depression that my life was at that point in time. So, a huge thank you to my friends for being there for me.
At the same time that I was rebuilding my sanity and love of myself and life, he was living in Texas with his girlfriend. Fast forward once more to this fall and I am single after a quick thing that I don't know if I even can consider a real relationship. And he becomes single after his girlfriend fucks around on him. Being the embodiment of compassion (and seeing a chance after so long) I rekindled our friendship. And found out that he had had the same feelings I had had and had never acted on them for the same reasons that I never had. It was shocking, and nice, and... and.. I don't know what else.
It was just nice to have someone to talk to and be honest with and to care for them in the same way that they cared for me. And then, to both of our surprises, we realized how deep our feelings actually were. Here's where it gets a bit sappy and silly and cute and all of those other words that mean Disney personified. We realized that we actually loved each other. Not that "I think I love you because I'm lonely" love, but real love. The kind that you feel once in your life, if you're lucky. The kind that makes your chest tighten whenever you see or talk to that other person and when you miss them because you haven't spoken to them for five minutes. We realized that we felt that for each other, and it kind of scared us, or at least I know it scared me. I hadn't felt that way even for my most recent long-term relationship and had only felt it once before and that had been after being together for months.. not just talking to for weeks.
Feelings are funny things. They aren't logical, or shouldn't be. Despite wanting them to be logical and not random, they will always do things that you don't expect. Like make you fall in love with someone that you haven't actually seen in person in over a year. Things like that. But I have no regrets about it. I have a few worries, mostly remnants of past relationships that always seem to become issues.
But I want this work. Like, work forever. And, to make this happen, I am trying to be true to myself and the feelings that I have. Even stranger, and even more scarily, I am not planning for the future. For once in my life I am going to let things happen as they happen without worries for the future. If I have learned anything this year, it is that sometimes you need to let things happen and go with the flow. So, while I would like for things to happen, I am not going to push them into happening. I am going to let nature take its course and just go with the flow of life.
Hopefully.
Tuesday, November 2, 2010
I Really Love Pumpkin Creme Candies
So much do I love them that for the last month I have had a package of them sitting on my desk. And I have to keep myself from eating all of them in one fell swoop by limiting my delicious candy intake to like 2 a day.. or hour... It's really quite sad the addiction I have for pumpkin cremes and candy corn. But, it is an addiction I only have during the fall holidays, much like my love for pumpkin. Dear god do I love fucking pumpkin flavoured items.
Anyway. Yeah. Life has been extremely busy these last few months. Since August I have been rehearsing for a carnival on Halloween weekend. It was hard, the hours were long, the sweat was much.. but it was all worth it. We did really well and everyone complimented us and even asked for an encore. Once a video gets uploaded, I will share the link for all of my lovely readers... that don't follow me on FB. Haha.
In other news, I've been talking with this really cute boy that I've kinda had a mini-crush on for a few years. Apparently, he felt the same way.. which is kinda awesome. But yeah.. it makes me happy, so we'll see how things go. He also wanted me to post a picture that I drew. It was originally a bear-shark.. but I think it looks like a shark-manatee.
What do you think?
Anyway. Yeah. Life has been extremely busy these last few months. Since August I have been rehearsing for a carnival on Halloween weekend. It was hard, the hours were long, the sweat was much.. but it was all worth it. We did really well and everyone complimented us and even asked for an encore. Once a video gets uploaded, I will share the link for all of my lovely readers... that don't follow me on FB. Haha.
In other news, I've been talking with this really cute boy that I've kinda had a mini-crush on for a few years. Apparently, he felt the same way.. which is kinda awesome. But yeah.. it makes me happy, so we'll see how things go. He also wanted me to post a picture that I drew. It was originally a bear-shark.. but I think it looks like a shark-manatee.
What do you think?
Monday, September 27, 2010
Let's Talk Nerd
It is commonly known that in the geek world, the fall season is busy. There are a crap ton of conventions and other such nerdy things to attend and spend a lot of money on. This past month I have attended Dragon*Con and AWA (Anime Weekend Atlanta) as they are in my backyard.
This was my first year attending DC and I went for only Sunday, as it had the most things that I wanted to attend. First, some things that I had always heard about the insanity that is Dragon Con:
-There are a million-billion people there.
*Not quite a million people, but it was pretty damn close. There is a reason this convention has spread out to numerous hotels.
-It is a constant party.
*I didn't attend any parties but when we were leaving at like 2 AM there were a lot of random groups of people dancing outside, so I believe it.
-There's too much going on at one time.
*That is the honest truth. Thank god for the fact that the program went online the week beforehand so that I could go through and see what was going to be going on so that I could plan accordingly. Without having done that, I would not have had nearly so good of a time.
So yes, there are a million people doing a million things while they party. But it is so freaking worth it to go at least once in your life. Just keep calm and have an idea of what you want to see/do and everything will go just fine.
As for my experience, it was pretty tame. I didn't dress up, though some of my friends did, so I didn't have to worry about messing up my costume or getting all gross and having people take pictures of me every few feet. We found a really good parking place 2 blocks away from one of the hotels for $3. Waiting in line kind of sucked, but when doesn't it? The first panel we hit was actually in the same area as the badge pick-up line so we went from one line to another. But watching The Guild with Zaboo and Vork was awesome, plus we got to see an episode that hadn't been aired yet.
We hit the smaller dealers room for about an hour, mostly because of the crowd. It was really hard to move because the rows were pretty narrow and people just don't know how to move. From there I went to a book signing for Sherrilyn Kenyon, which also moved slowly. For those of you people out there that don't know how to behave at a book signing, here are the rules:
1) Don't bring the entire series to be signed. 1 or 2 books is all you need a signature in. If anything, start at the beginning and work your way through if you can hit multiple signings.
2) Don't hold a five minute long conversation with the author. They won't remember you in 15 minutes. This experience is for YOU, not them. Say hi and thanks for writing/drawing/creating this thing that I love so much, keep up the good work, have a good day and then LEAVE. The next person wants their 2 minutes too.
3) Don't bad talk after you leave a signing. Just because they didn't say "OMG, let's be best friends for life, you should move in with me!" does not make them rude. Yes, their jobs are to make their readers happy. But that doesn't mean that they should be expected to act like your best friend. Just remember this: If you had to do 7 or more hours of talking/signing/picture taking in a day for nearly an entire month.. how would you feel? Would you really be able to be 100% patient and nice? I know I wouldn't, so don't expect them to be.
Anyway, rant aside...
I'm glad that I got to get a book signed, even despite the line and wait, because I'm that sort of nerd. I like to see the person that creates the world that I lose myself in for hours at a time. I like to say "thank you, you made things better for me by writing this book". So far I have gone to 2 book signings, one for Kim Harrison and now the one for Sherrilyn Kenyon. But there are still others on my list, so hopefully I can one day mark them off.
After the signing we walked around some more, got some lunch, hit a few more panels and had fun. The last thing that we did was probably one of the most fun things I have ever done at a con: Dub Your Own Hentai. Yes, ladies and gents, we went there. And waited for like 2 hours in the holding cell of doom so that we could watch animated porn and make it funny and slightly less awkward. Because, honestly, hentai rooms are always kind of awkward. Everyone knows that everyone else is getting turned on and trying not to show it, until they just have to go to the bathroom to take care of business.
At least with this panel the point was laughing and not getting off. And oh god was it funny. I almost peed my pants laughing it was so funny.. and because I couldn't leave the room to pee or my seat would get taken by someone else. But it was worth the pain and agony to hear the things some of the people came up with. We had Sean Connery, Kermit the Frog, Forrest Gump and a few other normal accents and voices dubbing our porn. You can be sure that I'll be going again next year.
So the highlights of Dragon Con 2010: watching the Guild, getting a book signed, watching porn with funny stuff said during it.
Two weeks later Anime Weekend Atlanta rolled around and we went. Now, some history. My first convention ever was AWA in 2002, so this con has some nostalgia for me since I lost my Con Virginity to it. I have only missed 1 year since then and can't wait until I can say "I've been going to AWA for 10 years" even though that will make me one of the Old People at the con. ;_; How did it happen to me?
Anyway, Friday night I went with Carol and our friend from out of town because there was a panel that I had to miss the previous year going on. The Ouran Host Club Challenge. Basically the way it works is each Host Club member has a team of fans and they do various challenges to win the prize. The prize just so happens to be the love of the main female character, Haruhi. We close Team Glasses, Kyoya, as our team. I participated in the first challenge, the Fluffy Bunny Marshmallow game. Basically, we played telephone with marshmallows in our mouths. It was hilarious. Our friend participated in the Dance Off and won an iron on patch, that he gave to me (squee). Carol helped in the last challenge which consisted of making wedding apparel out of crepe paper. Sadly, our team didn't win, we tied for third place. But it was a lot of fun and it makes me even sadder that I missed it the year before... but I won't miss it next year. In fact, I will go in costume from the same show to be even more awesome.
Then we went to Wal*Mart to buy food and hair dye. Carol lost her badge in the parking lot. We dyed my hair red so that I could be a proper ginger Companion. And then we played Rock Band for hours before going to bed for a few hours.
Saturday morning had us in costume and ready to go to the con.
Our costumes were:
Me- Amy Pond (Dr Who)
Kristy- Donna Noble (Dr Who)
Carol- Gwen (Torchwood)
Cathe- no costume but she had the Dad Cat from Azumanga Daioh.
Joy- Yoruichi(Bleach)
Michelle- Soi Fon(Bleach)
Frank- Kisuke (Bleach)
Dennis- James (Pokemon)
While they waited in line for badges I hit the artists alley to say hi to a few friends and got stopped like 3 times to have my picture taken. That kind of set the mood for the day. I'm guessing that all the pictures that didn't get taken at DC got taken at AWA to make up for it. Seriously, I think this year had me stopped more than any other year, which is awesome. Next year will be even more epic if we get to do the Kyoshi Warriors from Last Airbender like we wanted to do this year.
As is pretty normal for AWA, we spent a lot of time in the dealers room and in video panels. We watched the Iron Editor, which is basically Iron Chef with AMV's. The winner was awesome, the loser was so bad that we didn't even think that their entry was a real video. Sad, yes, but the winner was pretty awesome. If I can find a link to it, I'll post it.
We had dinner at Chow Baby that isn't Chow Baby anymore.. but will always be Chow Baby to us. For those of you that don't know what Chow Baby is, here's the simple version: Salad bar do it yourself stir fry. And boy is it awesome.
After dinner, Kristy, Cathe, Joy, Mish and Frank left for home because it was like 10. Carol, Dennis and I stayed since I only had the one day pass and wanted to make it worth while and they didn't care so much about going home. To our luck there was a panel that we wanted to go to. It was an MST3K style anime room run by some pretty funny guys, one of which had been a judge during the Iron Editor panel. He was still asking for a cheeseburger and fries when we got there. We watched Sailor Moon S, which is horrible but not as horrible as Sailor Moon Super S. As huge Sailor Moon fans, Carol and I spent the next hour in teenage happiness as the things we hated/didn't understand about the world of Sailor Moon were poked fun at.
Then we went home and slept. The End.
So yeah, my September went by pretty awesomely. Plans for next year are already in the planning stages and money is slowly being stored away to pay for them. Here's hoping that I get to do the costumes I want to do.
-Starbuck from Battlestar Galactica (either the Marine or New Caprica)
-Kaylee from Firefly (cover alls AND the layer cake dress)
-Renge from Ouran Host Club (school uniform)
-Kyoshi Warrior (full make-up and green outfit)
This was my first year attending DC and I went for only Sunday, as it had the most things that I wanted to attend. First, some things that I had always heard about the insanity that is Dragon Con:
-There are a million-billion people there.
*Not quite a million people, but it was pretty damn close. There is a reason this convention has spread out to numerous hotels.
-It is a constant party.
*I didn't attend any parties but when we were leaving at like 2 AM there were a lot of random groups of people dancing outside, so I believe it.
-There's too much going on at one time.
*That is the honest truth. Thank god for the fact that the program went online the week beforehand so that I could go through and see what was going to be going on so that I could plan accordingly. Without having done that, I would not have had nearly so good of a time.
So yes, there are a million people doing a million things while they party. But it is so freaking worth it to go at least once in your life. Just keep calm and have an idea of what you want to see/do and everything will go just fine.
As for my experience, it was pretty tame. I didn't dress up, though some of my friends did, so I didn't have to worry about messing up my costume or getting all gross and having people take pictures of me every few feet. We found a really good parking place 2 blocks away from one of the hotels for $3. Waiting in line kind of sucked, but when doesn't it? The first panel we hit was actually in the same area as the badge pick-up line so we went from one line to another. But watching The Guild with Zaboo and Vork was awesome, plus we got to see an episode that hadn't been aired yet.
We hit the smaller dealers room for about an hour, mostly because of the crowd. It was really hard to move because the rows were pretty narrow and people just don't know how to move. From there I went to a book signing for Sherrilyn Kenyon, which also moved slowly. For those of you people out there that don't know how to behave at a book signing, here are the rules:
1) Don't bring the entire series to be signed. 1 or 2 books is all you need a signature in. If anything, start at the beginning and work your way through if you can hit multiple signings.
2) Don't hold a five minute long conversation with the author. They won't remember you in 15 minutes. This experience is for YOU, not them. Say hi and thanks for writing/drawing/creating this thing that I love so much, keep up the good work, have a good day and then LEAVE. The next person wants their 2 minutes too.
3) Don't bad talk after you leave a signing. Just because they didn't say "OMG, let's be best friends for life, you should move in with me!" does not make them rude. Yes, their jobs are to make their readers happy. But that doesn't mean that they should be expected to act like your best friend. Just remember this: If you had to do 7 or more hours of talking/signing/picture taking in a day for nearly an entire month.. how would you feel? Would you really be able to be 100% patient and nice? I know I wouldn't, so don't expect them to be.
Anyway, rant aside...
I'm glad that I got to get a book signed, even despite the line and wait, because I'm that sort of nerd. I like to see the person that creates the world that I lose myself in for hours at a time. I like to say "thank you, you made things better for me by writing this book". So far I have gone to 2 book signings, one for Kim Harrison and now the one for Sherrilyn Kenyon. But there are still others on my list, so hopefully I can one day mark them off.
After the signing we walked around some more, got some lunch, hit a few more panels and had fun. The last thing that we did was probably one of the most fun things I have ever done at a con: Dub Your Own Hentai. Yes, ladies and gents, we went there. And waited for like 2 hours in the holding cell of doom so that we could watch animated porn and make it funny and slightly less awkward. Because, honestly, hentai rooms are always kind of awkward. Everyone knows that everyone else is getting turned on and trying not to show it, until they just have to go to the bathroom to take care of business.
At least with this panel the point was laughing and not getting off. And oh god was it funny. I almost peed my pants laughing it was so funny.. and because I couldn't leave the room to pee or my seat would get taken by someone else. But it was worth the pain and agony to hear the things some of the people came up with. We had Sean Connery, Kermit the Frog, Forrest Gump and a few other normal accents and voices dubbing our porn. You can be sure that I'll be going again next year.
So the highlights of Dragon Con 2010: watching the Guild, getting a book signed, watching porn with funny stuff said during it.
Two weeks later Anime Weekend Atlanta rolled around and we went. Now, some history. My first convention ever was AWA in 2002, so this con has some nostalgia for me since I lost my Con Virginity to it. I have only missed 1 year since then and can't wait until I can say "I've been going to AWA for 10 years" even though that will make me one of the Old People at the con. ;_; How did it happen to me?
Anyway, Friday night I went with Carol and our friend from out of town because there was a panel that I had to miss the previous year going on. The Ouran Host Club Challenge. Basically the way it works is each Host Club member has a team of fans and they do various challenges to win the prize. The prize just so happens to be the love of the main female character, Haruhi. We close Team Glasses, Kyoya, as our team. I participated in the first challenge, the Fluffy Bunny Marshmallow game. Basically, we played telephone with marshmallows in our mouths. It was hilarious. Our friend participated in the Dance Off and won an iron on patch, that he gave to me (squee). Carol helped in the last challenge which consisted of making wedding apparel out of crepe paper. Sadly, our team didn't win, we tied for third place. But it was a lot of fun and it makes me even sadder that I missed it the year before... but I won't miss it next year. In fact, I will go in costume from the same show to be even more awesome.
Then we went to Wal*Mart to buy food and hair dye. Carol lost her badge in the parking lot. We dyed my hair red so that I could be a proper ginger Companion. And then we played Rock Band for hours before going to bed for a few hours.
Saturday morning had us in costume and ready to go to the con.
Our costumes were:
Me- Amy Pond (Dr Who)
Kristy- Donna Noble (Dr Who)
Carol- Gwen (Torchwood)
Cathe- no costume but she had the Dad Cat from Azumanga Daioh.
Joy- Yoruichi(Bleach)
Michelle- Soi Fon(Bleach)
Frank- Kisuke (Bleach)
Dennis- James (Pokemon)
While they waited in line for badges I hit the artists alley to say hi to a few friends and got stopped like 3 times to have my picture taken. That kind of set the mood for the day. I'm guessing that all the pictures that didn't get taken at DC got taken at AWA to make up for it. Seriously, I think this year had me stopped more than any other year, which is awesome. Next year will be even more epic if we get to do the Kyoshi Warriors from Last Airbender like we wanted to do this year.
As is pretty normal for AWA, we spent a lot of time in the dealers room and in video panels. We watched the Iron Editor, which is basically Iron Chef with AMV's. The winner was awesome, the loser was so bad that we didn't even think that their entry was a real video. Sad, yes, but the winner was pretty awesome. If I can find a link to it, I'll post it.
We had dinner at Chow Baby that isn't Chow Baby anymore.. but will always be Chow Baby to us. For those of you that don't know what Chow Baby is, here's the simple version: Salad bar do it yourself stir fry. And boy is it awesome.
After dinner, Kristy, Cathe, Joy, Mish and Frank left for home because it was like 10. Carol, Dennis and I stayed since I only had the one day pass and wanted to make it worth while and they didn't care so much about going home. To our luck there was a panel that we wanted to go to. It was an MST3K style anime room run by some pretty funny guys, one of which had been a judge during the Iron Editor panel. He was still asking for a cheeseburger and fries when we got there. We watched Sailor Moon S, which is horrible but not as horrible as Sailor Moon Super S. As huge Sailor Moon fans, Carol and I spent the next hour in teenage happiness as the things we hated/didn't understand about the world of Sailor Moon were poked fun at.
Then we went home and slept. The End.
So yeah, my September went by pretty awesomely. Plans for next year are already in the planning stages and money is slowly being stored away to pay for them. Here's hoping that I get to do the costumes I want to do.
-Starbuck from Battlestar Galactica (either the Marine or New Caprica)
-Kaylee from Firefly (cover alls AND the layer cake dress)
-Renge from Ouran Host Club (school uniform)
-Kyoshi Warrior (full make-up and green outfit)
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