My run in with the fuzz!

I've travelled down to Biloxi, Mississippi to meet up with Nazo, a friend of mine I know only through the internet. We've been chatting through MSN, AIM, have written letters and had video chats so ther was only one thing left to do, actually meet. So when I decided I was going to the States again I knew I had to try work her in. It was a little out of the way but doable so I gave it a shot. After Seattle I flew to Gulfport/Biloxi Airport via Atlanta to meet up with her (That brings it up to 4 states I've been in during this trip). I had booked into a hotel as I had no idea what we were going to be able to do so I thought it would be a bit much to try Couchsurf if I might be bringing a friend back to hang out.

What I didn't know before I got there is that Nazo was still stationed on an Airforce base and because of the different phases they go through she wasn't allowed of base to meet up. So I had to be escorted by some of her wingmen onto the base before I could see her. This should have been grand but they had a warped sense of humour and decided to mess around about at the gate. We eventually got in and went to some tables to eat a pizza we had brought in and were about half way through when this Jeep with a pintle mount on the back of the flatbed pulls up with it's headlights on high beam right in our faces and two people get out. Because of the messing at the gate, security had called in to get us checked out. There I was sitting at a table getting the third degree off of a MP and a DOD civilian officer. I was a little nervous because the honest answer to my purpose of being there was to meet up with a 19 year old girl I had never met before that I only know through the internet and give her candies laced with alcohol. I think I could have only had a worse chance if I was waving a hankerchief and asking if it smelt like chloroform.

After a few minutes of questioning they seemed happy with the answers and left us to what was left of our meal. We had a bit of a laugh about it and probably about 30 mins later they had to escort me off as they had to get back to their barracks before curfew. I got back to the hotel and pretty much fell straight asleep. It was the first chance to get a decent nights sleep I had since I got here. When I woke up I got a quick breakfast and then weighed up my options for the day before meeting up with Nazo again at 5. The only things I knew about the surrounding area was there was a beach that wasn't open yet because of the devastation left behind by Catriona, a Casino right by the hotel or a hooters bar across the road. I ended up staying in my room blogging and chatting with friends as it was too hot outside for me. Irish skin does not fair too well in the sun and this was soo much stronger than what we get back home.

Once I got a text from Nazo to say she was finished with her class I grabbed a cab back to the Airforce base and again had to wait to be escorted on. At least this time I got to spend much more time with her. We just hung out on the base and helped one of her wingmen to make a meal. It was a little weird to be on the base, constantly getting little reminders of the rules they have to follow and the like. But when in Rome and all that. So basically the night was spent talking with any one who came by and eventually it was time for me to leave again. We walked back to the gate with one of her wingmen, she rang her Mom and put me onto her to say a few words as Gaeilge and I'll have to kill her for that. I have to say by the time we got to the gate I found myself extremely saddened to be leaving. It had me in a low mood till this morning, when I got to chat with one of the guys back home who had me laughing so bad it just put the whole day in a new light. I owe him for that.

So now I'm back in the Airport waiting to fly out to Buffalo to visit my relatives out there.
I'm going to finish off with a couple of pics of Nazo & her wingmen and one of Nazo & me.


And why the hellnot?!

Triple Threat Update.

Here some of the photos left from my Seattle leg of the Triple Threat.



One of the things I need to do is thank the girl I stayed with while I was in Seattle. She was a great host and made me feel so welcome. I really wish I had more time to hang with her instead of the flying visit. But it was a great time regardless. Once again my fondest thanks and regards go out to her.





These are shots of the Water Wall across from the Westlake centre. I managed to make it through with all my gear. I wasn't completely dry at the end but I didn't get soaked the hardest parts were the corners.



Here is a couple of shots of "The Mecca of Man Skirts" That's right I went to the Utilikilts Store. It was great to see all the types of Kilts they sell. Nick (pictured) managed to hook me up. Gods bless him.



















These are a few landscape shots I took during my wanders round.

1. The Space Needle.

2. The Paramount Cinema (Where I was Yojimbo back in the day).







And why the hell not?!

Emeraldcity . . . . . I left my heart there but also a lot of my wallet! Part 2

So there are still a couple of things I didn't get round to in the first post ( I know you're thinking how is that possible) but seriously there were a lot of things there. Not counting the panels which I didn't get around to attending, there were things like a gaming section (mainly card games), a kids section, and of course the 501st Legion had their own display.

In the gaming section the were a load of tables laid out for card games which also ended up being used as an overflow from the snack area. There were 2 stalls selling gaming supplies and one of the exhibitors had a couple of zombie themed game. One was a spin the wheel game. It was a $1 to try it and every spin won something. I gave it a shot and walked away with a Rare Plasticman Heroclix. The other game was a card with a code on it that you had to walk around and get letters from the exhibitors and guests name based on their location. But once you had the code cracked you had to scratch a section on the other side to see if you won. If you did you had a chance to enter a draw to win Zombie video games. Another thing they did was Zombie make up. I didn't try it out but some of the other attendees were walking aound after it and they looked awesome.

In the Kids area, which was a great thing for the parents, there was some table space for colouring, balloon modellers and other little entertainments for the little tykes. I think the fun part was watching the parents sort out whose turn it was to look after the kids whilst the other went around to see the guest and artists. And the 501st stand had a large group of members walking around and a great backdrop for photoshoot oppurtunities. I think they charged a fee which was to be donated to charity. There were some great characters and I think there might have been a scuffel between Ray Parks and Darth Vader. lol.

The one fun thing for me was dealing with some of the traders. A lot of them were offering services like framing or personalisation and I know they are there to make money but it does get annoying, the constant pestering, the scrutiney, the inevitable "Can I help you sir?" or "Are you okay there?" It was great to be able to say "well I'm from Ireland and I'm flying home so nooo!".

Here are a few random photos.









1. This is what happened after the cancelled Xena.


2. Steampunk is cool.


3. Wookiees got back.


4. Yes I'm a skeeve, don't judge.



And that's pretty much the con wrapped up for now, though there will be a few scattered memories that I'll post as they come back to me.


And why the hell not?!

Emeraldcity . . . . . I left my heart there but also a lot of my wallet! Part 1

So here is the more indepth report of my time at the Comicon.

I left the airport and grabbed a bus into the city. I was a tad early and had a few things to try pick up so I did a little nostalgic sightseeing. I went to a little sandwich place in the centre of the Public Market at Pike Place and I ordered one of their World Famous Meatloaf & Cheddar Sandwichs on 8 Grain Bread". This was a meal I haven't had in 9 years and the staff were quite impressed that I came back for more. I also stopped into the first Starbucks Cafe (The one were the logo is more realistic and you can see the Sirens Breasts. I couldn't make out which was non fat and which was half & half.



After that I went into the Westlake Centre were I used to hang out during lunch breaks from my job. I was looking to find a sweet the sold in a candystore there and try to pick a cell phone (Ref: Wo ist meine Handy?). In both stores they told me they didn't stock what I was looking for but to try the drugstore across the way. It was so weird when you're in a store that is specialised to what you are looking for but then they say no the drugstore has a better selection. So after a quick run to the food court to have a look at the Indian place me and my friend Paddy ate at religiously (Bombay Wala, you weren't open, what a shame because I could have murdered a Tikka Masala), I decided to head up to the Convention Centre.

Here is where I made my first mistake. I had no idea of the size of this Con. I arrived an hour before the doors were to open and this is were I ended up.












And that was the outer waiting area there was another one in the next room with even more people! In fairness to the con the lines moved fast and I'd say I was inside about 30 mins after the show started. Unfortunately most of the exclusives that were done for the Con were gone at that point. And even worse the freebies too. Though they were reloaded a couple of times I seemed to be queing for something else every time. As I was still carrying everything I brought with me I was a little worse for wear. Fortunately for me as I was handing some of the candies out Aaron Williams' lovely wife let me stow my back pack under their table. What a difference that made! Once I was able to stand upright again I was able to move around the Con with a smile on my face. As I was walking around handing candies and stuff, I was passing them out to the Artists and Guests I knew. But when I had done that I started handing them to people whos work I thought was cool or if they had a cool costume. A few people were a little wary of taking candy from a stranger (Though given there were wookiees, storm troopers and even a guy dressed as Mojo Jojo I wasn't anyway near the strangest) so I borrowed a line from a friend and told them all "Strangers have the best Candy".

And back to the "Legend of the Irish Candy Man", I had given out a few bits here and there and apparently the Guests had started telling each other about it. I know Scott Kurtz wanted to rub the Guinness items I had given him in Wil Weatons face (It's ok I had hooked Wil up too!). As I was getting a sketch done at the Penny Arcade booth I was talking to Mike and he was thanking me again for the goodybag I had left them. But as we were talking he let slip that there was a lot of talk about the stuff I handed out, using the term "Legend of the Irish Candy Man" (which to me sounds like a knock off horror movie title). While it's cool I made a mark it does mean I'm going to have to keep this up if I do anymore conventions in the States. ($30 worth of candies is not enough).

Whilst I was able to get anywhere near as many sketches as I would have liked (Though the ones I did kick Ass!!) I did get to watch a lot of the artist going through their requests lists and see how they creat such amazing work. My favourite was definitely Bruce Timm drawing Harley Quinn, that was fantastic. It was also good to see the artist stressing a little as they didn't want to mess up on a sketch (If they still get that way there's hope for me yet future posts may announce the long awaited launch of my own attempt at a webcomic). Besides hanging out around the Nodwick table I did spend a lot of time chatting with Jennie Breeden (The Devils Panties). I did manage to get a photo with her.

She wanted a couple taken to show that out boots matched so when Alina Pete (WereGeeks) was taking them I asked her to take one on my Camera. The result is to the left. It was great to hang out with here and I ended up learning about a lot of the background characters in the strip which I wouldn't have initially gotten. I even ended up chatting with her after the con as we were waiting in the convention centre lobby.


For about half of the first day at the con I was hunting down the Boys from BSG, Ray Park & Jewel Staite for different things and everytime I spoke with them I came away with the feeling that these people were genuinely, friendly people who loved to meet their fans (especially Ray Park, I lost track of the amount of times I was in his queue waiting to head somewhere else afterwards and he'd be talking to other fans for 5 -10 mins with the staff trying to get him to move on and keep the line moving. But still Top Bloke!) At one point Michael Hogun (Colonel Tigh) offered to get a drink with me later to find out more about Gaelcon. (Yes I was pimping the Con where I could).

The second day was pretty much more of the same, hunting people down for photos and autographs but I did have a little trouble with Grampa Hatey! Some of you know him some of you may not so there will be a post later to explain the history of that horny little puppet. Somehow he managed to escape from me two or three times. It took a bit of effort to track him down but if I managed to put myself in his mindset it usually did the trick.





I'm going wrap up for now as I'm about to board a plane to take me from Atlanta to Mississippi.
I'll conntinue the post when I get to me hotel.


And why the hell not?!

The End of Emeraldcitycomicon

I've just gotten out of the convention and brief as it was I'm going to have to say I had so much fun and definitelty have to do it again next year, so look out in March for news on that.

I'm going to be spending a couple of hours in the Airport before I take off on Part II of the Triple Threat and I'll do a much bigger post then. But for now I'm just going to list the few things that made the con for me.

1. Jewel Staite complimented me on my Utilikilt.

2. Apparently there is a Legend of the Irish Candy Man. (Someone elses words not mine and I'll explain it later)

3. Getting a deeper understanding of some of the comics I read religiously, there are a lot of references that went completely over my head but once it was pointed out I was like "How could I have missed that!"

More to come from Sea-Tac,

And why the hell not?!

Wo ist meine Handy?

This post is brought to you in association with Sea-Tac Airports free wifi hotspot. (Gods bless them)

I'm sitting in Seattle-Tacoma International Airport after traveling for 16 hours give or take and my deodorent is still holding (I'm extremely impressed). I'm killing time before I get a bus into the city to head to Emeraldcitycomicon! Really excited about this as I haven't been in Seattle for just under nine years. I lived here for three months as part of a course and I regard those months as the best time of my life whilst single. This trip (hereafter referred to as the Triple Threat) is a Birthday Present to myself that I decided to go on after my last trip to Buffalo. I was looking around to see what event were on in Seattle and discoverd to my great pleasure and surprise that Emeraldcitycomicon was happening the weekend of my birthday (this sunday) and thought to myself "Blimey I'm having that".

I'll get the chance to meet the people behind most of my favourite webcomics, comicbooks and some media Celebrities such as Ray Parks (Darth Maul, Toad & Snake Eyes), Mike Mignola (Hellboy though I shouldn't have to say that) Tahmoh Penikett, Aaron Douglas, & Michael Hogan (Helo, Chief Tyrol and Colonel Tigh respectively or as I'll refer to them later the Boys from BSG), Wil Wheaton (Known forever as Wesley Crusher but is also quite a renown blogger) and, probably the biggest one for me, Jewel Staite (Kaylee Frye in Firefly& Dr. Jennifer Keller in Stargate Atlantis actually if you didn't know who she was I don't want you reading my blog . . . . . . .I'm serious, Vamoose yah varmints!) She is so Shiney!

I've packed with me about $60 worth of assorted Guinness merchandise and chocolates as bribes. . . . . . . I mean gifts for some of the Guests and artists and I'm hoping to pick up a lot of swag at the con. I've brought along empty sketch pads to be filled but I honestly don't know if I'll have enough time for everyone I want to see. The con runs till 6 both Saturday & Sunday and after that I'm going to be crashing in a house I found through couchsurfing, I was lucky as it seems to be a busy weekend for most. Of all the requests I sent out I only got one positive reply, not that the negative ones were outright nos, mostly people were out of town or already had people over. One of them had said if she had known the Con was on She would have been going to that and I definitely could have stayed with her but alas she was heading away for the weekend. I'll be hoping to tell a bit more about the girl I'll be staying with by Monday.

Oh there will be a lot of photos on Monday. I'll be moving onto part 2 of the Triple Threat which is flying down to Biloxi to meet up with a friend of mine. So again I'll have time to kill so sorting my photos from the con and a bit of Blogging should do that nicely.

Ok I'm sure you'll agree I've rambled on for long enough, but in case you were wondering the title of this post is a reference to the fact that I accidentily left my Mobile in Ireland and I'm a little cut off without it. Thankfully I have most peoples numbers on a website because if I didn't I'm not 100% I could dial my home phone number nevermind anyone else. I should be able to get by without it.

And why the hell not?!

Secret Project Stage 2 in progress!

So to kick off I have to say I've really enjoyed playing the few bass lines I can remember on this so I really have to make sure I put everything back as I found it. (This may be difficult lol)

So here is my before picture
Isn't it lovely. Enough said!

Step 1: Unstring and remove the neck. This was fairly straight forward. No major worries. The strings came off without any hassle and I should be able to recycle them. The neck was fairly securely bolted on and took a bit of effort but it finally came off.

Step 2: Remove internal hardware.
This was not so straight forward.
Since there was no scratch plate I wan't able to remove everything intact. I had to cut a couple of wires which I'll have to solder once I'm putting everything back. I took notes and photos of which wire went where but we'll see how that works out.

Step 3: Sand till your hand cramps.
It took about 3 - 4 hours of hard, finger destroying sanding (and that was with a plam power sander) to remove the 6 -7 layers of varnish and paint (and that was just the front) to get to just above the wood. The back can wait till I get back from the states as I went through 5 of the sanding pads and have to buy more.
But that's it so far, at least now I'm commited to the project and going back is no easier than going forward!
More updates as they happen!

And why the hell not!?