Various posts that don’t really fit into other categories, such as updates on what’s going on in my life or what’s going on with the blog.
This is the post you’ve all been waiting for (or one of them, anyway) – part one of my massive photo dump of shots from GenCon 2013! There are plenty of pictures that I took, with a little assistance from Mr. Crafty Nerd – hope everyone enjoys them! Due to the fact that there are so many pictures, shots from Day 3 and 4 are in a separate post so that way things don’t slow to a crawl here! Enjoy! 😀
Today has been… a day, we’ll put it at that. There were good parts, there were bad parts, and there were absolutely exhausting parts.
It’s no secret to those who know me well, but for those who don’t know me, I deal with some bad social anxiety and can get seriously awkward as a result. For the most part, it doesn’t bother me, unless I’m in situations where there are lots of people/lots of noises or I’m an unfamiliar place. And, well, GenCon hits all three. I don’t know my way around too well, there are way too many people everywhere, and more often than not I have to REALLY work up the nerve to ask a favorite author or webcomic artist to sign something for me because I feel bad bothering them. I know, I know, they wouldn’t be here if they didn’t want their fans to talk to them or flail about in their general presence, but still. Social anxiety is irrational. And it was incredibly irrational today, that is for sure. I ended up retreating back to the hotel room mid-day to hide and recharge my batteries, so to speak.
My day was fun, though, I won’t deny it. I ended up at another instance of the Enterplay My Little Pony trading card game, and ended up with more swag – I have only bought one pony related thing so far this trip, haha. I got a trading card folio and this card:
Yes, this is one of the more rare Rainbow Dash cards for the trading card series – rumor has it that one went for $700 on eBay recently. (It’s going for around $180 at the time of this writing, which isn’t $700, but still!) I’m ridiculously lucky to have gotten this – the guys at Enterplay are amazing. I’ve said it before, and I’ll likely say it again, hah.
After the pony panel, I wandered around the exhibition hall before having a slight meltdown/freakout because I couldn’t work up the nerve to ask Jeph Jacques (of Questionable Content fame) to draw me a picture of Marigold, so I ended up going back to the room and just sat there for a while, overwhelmed and overtired. (I didn’t sleep much last night, which probably contributed to it.) Bryan, wonderful husband that he is, ended up going back and getting me the sketch. I am very thankful that he is so patient with me. Thankfully, sleep and quiet did the trick, and I braved the exhibition hall for one last round of goodies before getting dinner and camping out in front of the room where An Evening with Patrick Rothfuss was scheduled to happen.
I am ridiculously glad I got there early. Apparently the event was sold out – and since I got in line early enough, I got to sit right up front. It was amazing. Patrick is just so… I don’t know how to explain it, except it feels like he’s just one of the gang, an awesome person the likes of which I’d love to just hang out with. And it felt like we were hanging out, him and around 200 other people, myself included. He talked candidly. He cussed a lot. He talked about feminism and sexism in fantasy novels, and he read stuff to us from when he wrote a humorous advice column back in college, he told us about his writing processes, he talked about tons of other stuff which I cannot remember, and then we all sang “You Are My Sunshine” together.
And then I had him sign my iPad. Which I will post pictures of tomorrow, when I am actually near my iPad and my phone. Apparently it was not the first electronic device he had signed. Awesome. He is now, officially, my most favorite author. Not only are his books amazing, but he is frigging awesome. Sorry, Anne Bishop, but Patrick has dethroned you.
And entirely unrelated to anything – there’s a guy sitting not too far away from where I’m parked in the lobby with my laptop who has been playing the Game of Thrones theme on his guitar for, well, about an hour. I am not kidding. I’m pretty sure I never want to hear that song again.
Until tomorrow, everyone! I’ll be dressed as the 4th Doctor, which I am incredibly excited about. I am also excited about the fact that I have enough stuff to post about to fill the site for a week straight. 😀 And we’re only halfway through the con!
Haha, I am coming to you live from Steak N Shake in downtown Indy, because our hotel charges $15 a day for internet! So, the daily GenCon reports I promised may not exactly be daily – but trust me, I’ll definitely go into crazy amounts of detail once home.
Yesterday was a fun day – I dressed as Pinkie Pie, and lots of people stopped to take pictures, it was awesome. I ended up getting quite a few pictures taken with Rainbow Factory Dash, a steampunk grimdark Rainbow Dash who was pretty awesome about everyone saying “OH GOD PINKIE AND DASH WE NEED YOUR PICTURES”, aheheh. The first thing I did at the convention was take pictures with Rainbow Factory Dash, and then dash (haha) to the Exhibition Hall, where everyone’s money ends up going, hahah. I snagged another set of Impact Miniatures’ pony minis (I need the mane 6!), then wandered around the exhibition hall for a couple of hours and spent stupid amounts of money. Which is fine – I’ve been waiting for GenCon all summer! During my wanders through the hall, I stumbled across the Worldbuilders booth – and Patrick Rothfuss, an author whose books I adore. (I may have torn through both of his books in two weeks, if that says anything)
I promptly stopped and flailed a little bit. Bryan encouraged me to go say hi to him – so I did. And told him I loved his books, and I was excited to meet him, and then after he thanked me and we exchanged other pleasantries, I bought a t-shirt from his booth and then agonized over taking his picture. Bryan then went up and asked Patrick if I could get my picture taken with him, and he said “sure!” And stood up, AND GAVE ME A HUG AND I ALMOST DIED OMG. I think that made my convention, aheheh.
AAAH PATRICK ROTHFUSS HUGGED ME *flails*
The afternoon/evening was spent doing My Little Pony related things – I met some awesome people, and learned quite a bit about the new My Little Pony trading card game that’s coming out. The Enterplay group was awesome – they told us about how they hired fans to work on the game to make sure it’s as show accurate as possible, and seemed to have a lot of fun with the panel in general. There were plenty of goodies handed out (Rainbow Factory Dash got a rare Rainbow Dash foil card handed to him, and I got a Pinkie Pie play mat for the TCG!), lots of good questions asked, and lots of fun was had. The TCG playtest tournament went really well, too – I had a lot of fun and am likely going to write an entire post dedicated to just that. I played against – you guessed it – Rainbow Factory Dash, haha. I thoroughly wiped the floor with him, and we declared it was a good game. 😀
Afterwards, I wandered around a bit, went back to my hotel room to switch into more comfortable clothes, and got some dinner before calling it a day. And what a day it was! Today has had a pretty good start, too – delicious breakfast and free internet at Steak N Shake, and – get this – the waitress recognized me from a shot of people wandering around at the convention on a local news station! 😀 I’ll hunt down the clip when I am connected to better wi-fi.
For now, though, time to finish breakfast and get ready for Day 2!
You guys, I am so incredibly excited.
You want to know why?
This is my FIRST convention that I’ve attended as an actual, legitimate blogger. Sure, I don’t have press passes or anything, but still. I’ll be taking lots of pictures for a purpose! 😀
Instead of just dashing around to take pictures with all the ponies I can find, like last year.
So, yes, The Crafty Nerd is going to GenCon 2013! This is not my first convention – and definitely not my last. I’m coming super-prepared this year, with three costumes, and I’ve even got a hotel room close to the Indianapolis Convention Center. I’ve signed up for a couple of events, and plan on wandering around and taking LOTS of pictures, like I did last year. And I’ll be posting all those pictures at the end of each day of the con, with as much commentary as I can put together after a long day of convention going.
If you’re attending GenCon this year and see me, don’t be shy! I’ve got pictures of the costumes I’ll be wearing (which will conveniently be posted here the night before I wear them), so feel free to say hi if you spot me! (And if you catch me on Saturday, when I’m dressed as the Fourth Doctor, tell me you read the Crafty Nerd and I’ll give you some actual Jelly Babies!)
Tomorrow, I’ll be rocking my Pinkie Pie costume, with some modifications – instead of the cutie mark t-shirt I’ve got in the picture above, I’ll be wearing a yellow tanktop. I’ll still be carrying around Plushie Pie, and exuding cheer and smiles! 😀 So if you’re in the Indianapolis area tomorrow, and attending GenCon, say hi! 😀 And keep your eyes peeled here for the next four days, for lots of pictures and convention-related fun! Until then, enjoy a handful of photos from last year’s GenCon!
It’s not terribly often that I take up a new hobby – especially one that I can easily incorporate my nerdiness into. (Or actually encourages my nerdiness.) However, a couple of my friends are also into this specific hobby, and it piqued my interest…
Yes, that’s right – I’ve picked up the fine (and expensive) hobby of painting minis. And it turns out I’m actually pretty good at it, too!
When I first heard about mini figures, it was through some friends who played Warhammer 40K – that was my only exposure to minis for many, many years. All I knew about it was that it involved lots of tiny figurines, and the game wasn’t quite my thing, so I largely ignored it. Then a friend of mine reintroduced me to the hobby last year – it turned out minis weren’t just used for Warhammer, they were used in lots of games – like Pathfinder, Dungeons and Dragons, and more. I admired his intricate paint work, but didn’t think I could manage such tiny details. Continue reading →
Oh yes. We all have our moments when we do something and then think “Yikes, I’m nerdy!” Here’s a little list of my nerdy moments – feel free to share yours in the comments!
And these are just the ones I’m guilty of – again, if you have your own nerdy moments, share them in the comments! I may add them to an updated version of this post. 🙂
No no no, not a vacation from posting – although I did unintentionally take one of those, and I’m sorry! I’m going to stick to a schedule from now on – Wednesdays and Sundays will be my posting days, with an occasional Roundup here and there. And since today is a Sunday…
WE HAVE A POST!
Now, I really am on vacation – back in my home state of New York, in the lovely Adirondack Mountains. Bryan’s grandparents have a cabin here, and I’ve been coming up here with Bryan and his family for about six years now. We’re close to Lake George, which is a very touristy place, but far enough away from all the busy-ness of the town, which is wonderful.
I mean, come on, look at this beautiful view of the Hudson River. Absolutely wonderful. I’ve been looking forward to this all summer – and I am incredibly happy to be here. All my classes are done for the summer, work has entered a lull (I taught a ridiculous amount of page layout and design workshops during the early part of last week, and that’s it for my teaching schedule for the rest of the summer), and it’s the perfect part of the summer to take a vacation. So here I am, parked at the kitchen table in my pajamas and my Escher-inspired Doctor Who sweatshirt, with my laptop, writing this post while listening to the birds tweet outside.
I’m going to shift the focus of my weekly roundups to include not just awesome crafty things, but awesome craft and nerd things in general! This week, I’ve got a whole bunch of things for you guys.
This is an awesome podcast by my friend Andy and a friend of his that delves into the history of gaming – Andy and Jason play all sorts of video games, on their original systems, and talk about all sorts of gaming stuff. The podcast updates twice a week – and I think my Super NES will be powering one of the upcoming episodes, so stay tuned! I’m enjoying the heck out of this podcast.
Ever wanted to make a TARDIS? Well, here’s a tutorial that shows you how to make one with perler beads! I love playing with perler beads – it’s just so awesome to assemble a picture or something and then iron over it to melt all the beads together… it’s oddly satisfying.
For those of you who collect the My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic comics, or for those who are just fans of the series, this is a must-buy. I picked this up at my local comic book shop last week, and the My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic Treasury Edition is packed with all sorts of awesome things. It’s got a line art only edition of the first comic in the front, which is especially awesome to look at for this art nerd, and it also has a collection of every different cover variant for the first couple of comics – the original variants, the Hot Topic covers, the one made especially for different comic vendors – all nice and large and in bright colors. The book is definitely larger than the comic books – it’s about 9 by 12 inches – and the art is awesome. You can likely find it in your local comic book shop! (For more information, check out this article from Derpy Hooves News.)
And that’s it for this week’s roundup – feel free to let me know in the comments if there’s something you think I should feature in next week’s roundup!
Well, it only took me six months to do it this time – I finished my second Doctor Who scarf!
The scarf turned out pretty well, although there were a couple of hiccups along the way while making it, including…
Aside from these issues, making the scarf was fun, and it kept me occupied during many long chilly nights of TV watching and gave me something to do while sitting through family gatherings and classes. I’m kind of sad that I’m done with it… and I’m considering taking on the task of making scarves for friends, should they want one. I’m starting to question my sanity, with that last bit, haha, but there’s nothing so soothing as knitting a nice, long, Doctor Who scarf!
So, when most people think of scooter riding, they don’t usually think “wow, having some music would make this ride even better!” Most people don’t generally think of convoluted ways to add speakers to their scooter, either. (I mean, come on, motorcycles have radios, how come Scooterlou didn’t come with one standard? Heheh.) Well, I guess you could say I’m not most people, heheh.
I will preface this with a little bit of explanation – I absolutely LOVE music. Almost as much as I love reading books. I try and find some way to work music into whatever I’m doing – I listen while I’m at work, while Bryan’s driving somewhere, while I’m cleaning the house, while I’m typing blog entries… In fact, I think I just managed to crash my PS3 by trying to see if the Google Play Music site would work on it. (Apparently not.) Music is just a part of who I am. And once I finally got over my general nervousness about riding Scooterlou, I thought, “There’s gotta be some way I can listen to music on this thing.”
My first attempt at making Scooterlou musical was a weatherproof speaker that ran on batteries, and connected to my phone through Bluetooth. There wasn’t really a good place to actually put the speaker, so I ended up resting it on the floor and bungee-cording it to my basket. I’d tested the speaker out in the house, and it got pretty loud, so I figured it’d work fine!
Boy, was I wrong. When Scooterlou’s engine gets going, she’s pretty darn loud – so loud that even when I had the speaker cranked up as loud as reasonably possible, I could barely hear it when idling, forget about while I was actually riding. It was a bummer – I spent a chunk of change on that speaker, and while it does come in handy in other situations (like when we’re giving the scooters baths, or when I’m in the shower, or if we ever go camping again), it’s not the best idea for scootering. I resigned myself to someday spending a ridiculous amount of money on a sound system for my little Honda Metropolitan… and then I came across this.
One of my new friends runs a scooter shop (it’s Wick’s Wheels, for any locals who are interested), and one day I was poking through the helmet selection when I stumbled upon this wonderful thing. It’s a helmet – with Bluetooth speakers and a mic. While I’d never ever be brave enough to answer the phone while riding my scooter, the fact that it can connect to my phone (which has a lovely unlimited data connection and can hook right up to my Google Play All-Access Music collection) was what sold me. MUSIC ON MY SCOOTER. It was finally going to happen in a safe way! YES. So, I bought it. And after having to return the first one because the port for the plug to charge said helmet was a little messed up in the first helmet, I found out this is exactly what I need. It doesn’t need to be loud enough for everyone on the road to hear it. I’m the only one who needs to listen to Daft Punk’s Get Lucky on repeat ninety million times. 😀
So yes, scooters and music can, and do, mix. Carefully. 🙂