I thought I'd be smart and take some time off after Dragon*Con and rest up. Wasn't entirely a bad idea but I did have some trouble resetting my body clock. The down side was I was coming back in the week of some major Celebrations that we had to ensure went smoothly. It was pretty much all hands on deck, but it was good to see the people I work with.
On Friday night I got to NPC at an airsoft LARP event. I had so much fun doing that. After being run out of town, branded as a plague carrier, and had potshots taken on me, I finally got to do something I always wanted to do . . . . . Turn round, shaking a staff and screaming "You'll regret this!"
The weekend continued on from there, I had a Birthday party for a 6 year old to go to, and between trying to find stop some of the kids killing each other over the toys that were brought as presents and trying out some of the games on the Wii, I had really good time. Later that night I stayed over in a friend's house and watched a couple of movies (Zoolander, Sweeney Todd and A Knight's Tale, they're some really good movies . . . . . don't you judge me). Once I finished up there I went into town and shot some pool with one of my friends.
Of course after a good weekend, there comes a bad week. . . . well it wasn't all bad . . . . . well it was kinda ok. Work was more of the same but Monday night I went out for a Gaming session, Tuesday night I met up with a friend for her birthday so that was fun.
That's pretty much everything up to date, from here on in I'm looking forward to Eirtakon, OctoCon and of course GaelCon.
And why the hell not?!!
Wednesday, September 29, 2010
Wednesday, September 15, 2010
Dragon*Con Report Part 3
I'm finally gonna post some photos (for the first time in an age I know)
first off here's a picture of me with Laurell K Hamilton (She thought my Kilt was awesome)the night of the second Kilt blowing.
Next is one of Jennie trying to get rid of a stubborn fan (Yeah I know, he looks familiar to me too!)
One of the things I did over the course of the Convention was gather some new Sketches for my ComicKilt.
Here are some close ups of the ComicKilt
A Hellboy on the back pocket thanks to Mike Mignola:
A sketch from Gina Biggs on the other back pocket:
A BunBun from Sluggy Freelance courtesy of Pete Abrams:
And finally to complete the set Jennie B's pretty princess:
though that one is harder to find unless you really go looking . . . .
And why the hell not?!!
first off here's a picture of me with Laurell K Hamilton (She thought my Kilt was awesome)the night of the second Kilt blowing.
Next is one of Jennie trying to get rid of a stubborn fan (Yeah I know, he looks familiar to me too!)
One of the things I did over the course of the Convention was gather some new Sketches for my ComicKilt.
Here are some close ups of the ComicKilt
A Hellboy on the back pocket thanks to Mike Mignola:
A sketch from Gina Biggs on the other back pocket:
A BunBun from Sluggy Freelance courtesy of Pete Abrams:
And finally to complete the set Jennie B's pretty princess:
though that one is harder to find unless you really go looking . . . .
And why the hell not?!!
Sunday, September 12, 2010
Dragon*Con Report Part 2
I'm too tired to do a full report so I'll just cover the highlights . . . .
1. I was abused by Bender.
2. Got an Autograph from Laurell K Hamilton.
3. Got Blown by Jennie B.
Intrigued? then read on.
1. While walking round the walk of fame I stopped to say hi to the guys from Futurama and give them Chocolate. While I waited I ended up talking with a girl from Northern Ireland (see my post for 13/08/10 about how it's a small world). I got to be second in line and the guy in front asked me to take a photo of him with John DiMaggio and Billy West. I was a little nervous and my hand was shaking slightly so the picture was a little blurred and I suggested taking a second one for safety. I was still holding the bag of Chocolate and John jokingly starts shouting at me "Put the Bag down Shakie! Use two Hands!" I took the second shot and gave them the Chocolates before quickly leaving.
2. When I told one of my friends that I was going to Dragon*Con and that Laurell K Hamilton would be there, he asked me to get an advanced reading edition of one of her books. So I tried to get her to sign it on the Saturday so I'd have her Sunday signing as a second chance. I went over to the Marriott Hotel where she was signing and ended up finding a rather long queue already waiting. I joined the end of it and found out that I had nearly 2 hours before the signing was to take place. People kept joining the line and after about half an hour staff kept coming out to count the line and warn people that they probably wouldn't get an Autograph. I was about 87th and the guaranteed cutoff was at 75. The guys on staff told us there was a chance she'd be able to do some more so we hung on as alternates.
Eventually they let the line into the room and the alternates were kept just outside. People were being turned away from behind us and eventually we were brought into the room. So after a short while I got up to her table and her husband Jonathon asked me if I wanted it personalised . . . . . . at this moment I have to say I listened to the little devil on my shoulder and took the opportunity to have a little fun. I asked for a dedication that would imply I had told her some personal details about my friend and laughed evilly as I walked away. ( I gave him the book today and I think he had called me a bastard at least three times before I told him the truth)
3. Dragon*Con is known for many things but one of the well known things is the Kilt Blowings (it's pretty self explanatory). Jennie B from the Devils Panties gathers a large portion of the Kilted population of Dragon*Con parades them out in front of a large crowd of women and lets loose with a Leaf Blower. Since the event was nearly shut down last year due to exposure, this year it was made an official event and she managed to get the use of a room for it. This meant crowd control, ID checks and a stage.
Several of the Larger fans of the WebComic were acting as bouncers and Jennie B had to upgrade from her usual Hard Surface Blowers (their Batteries stopped charging) to a proper Leaf Blower. There were several characters to be blown, Snape, Indiana Jones and Short Round, Steampunk Boba Fett, Link and one of the crowd favourites Jareth The Goblin King. I think next year I'll have to costume up. I was blown shortly after Snape and got my share of cheers so I walked off happy and after wards I got a picture taken with Jennie B.
And that wraps up Saturday, come back tomorrow for Sunday (possibly Monday).
And why the hell not?!!
1. I was abused by Bender.
2. Got an Autograph from Laurell K Hamilton.
3. Got Blown by Jennie B.
Intrigued? then read on.
1. While walking round the walk of fame I stopped to say hi to the guys from Futurama and give them Chocolate. While I waited I ended up talking with a girl from Northern Ireland (see my post for 13/08/10 about how it's a small world). I got to be second in line and the guy in front asked me to take a photo of him with John DiMaggio and Billy West. I was a little nervous and my hand was shaking slightly so the picture was a little blurred and I suggested taking a second one for safety. I was still holding the bag of Chocolate and John jokingly starts shouting at me "Put the Bag down Shakie! Use two Hands!" I took the second shot and gave them the Chocolates before quickly leaving.
2. When I told one of my friends that I was going to Dragon*Con and that Laurell K Hamilton would be there, he asked me to get an advanced reading edition of one of her books. So I tried to get her to sign it on the Saturday so I'd have her Sunday signing as a second chance. I went over to the Marriott Hotel where she was signing and ended up finding a rather long queue already waiting. I joined the end of it and found out that I had nearly 2 hours before the signing was to take place. People kept joining the line and after about half an hour staff kept coming out to count the line and warn people that they probably wouldn't get an Autograph. I was about 87th and the guaranteed cutoff was at 75. The guys on staff told us there was a chance she'd be able to do some more so we hung on as alternates.
Eventually they let the line into the room and the alternates were kept just outside. People were being turned away from behind us and eventually we were brought into the room. So after a short while I got up to her table and her husband Jonathon asked me if I wanted it personalised . . . . . . at this moment I have to say I listened to the little devil on my shoulder and took the opportunity to have a little fun. I asked for a dedication that would imply I had told her some personal details about my friend and laughed evilly as I walked away. ( I gave him the book today and I think he had called me a bastard at least three times before I told him the truth)
3. Dragon*Con is known for many things but one of the well known things is the Kilt Blowings (it's pretty self explanatory). Jennie B from the Devils Panties gathers a large portion of the Kilted population of Dragon*Con parades them out in front of a large crowd of women and lets loose with a Leaf Blower. Since the event was nearly shut down last year due to exposure, this year it was made an official event and she managed to get the use of a room for it. This meant crowd control, ID checks and a stage.
Several of the Larger fans of the WebComic were acting as bouncers and Jennie B had to upgrade from her usual Hard Surface Blowers (their Batteries stopped charging) to a proper Leaf Blower. There were several characters to be blown, Snape, Indiana Jones and Short Round, Steampunk Boba Fett, Link and one of the crowd favourites Jareth The Goblin King. I think next year I'll have to costume up. I was blown shortly after Snape and got my share of cheers so I walked off happy and after wards I got a picture taken with Jennie B.
And that wraps up Saturday, come back tomorrow for Sunday (possibly Monday).
And why the hell not?!!
Dragon*Con Report Part 1
It's been 5 days since Dragon*Con closed it's doors for this year and I've been home for 4. I had to build up to blogging as for the first day back I was too tired to be coherent, the second day the change in environment caused a fair bit of tightening to the point were I could barely breathe without it hurting and yesterday and today I was doing catchup of mail, webcomics and internet memes. So I'll cover day one and two of Dragon*Con in this post.
Thursday was mostly spent travelling, I had to fly from Dublin to Atlanta stopping in JFK on the way. It pretty much went very smoothly, I waltzed through security and breezed through customs in Dublin before boarding a very nice plane to JFK. As I posted before I love flying but this was one of the most geeked out planes I'd been on yet. Every seat had it's own screen in the seat in front of it and it was all on demand content. I got to watch The Losers, The A Team and The Karate Kid during the flight and still had time to listen to an album or two before landing.
Once I got to JFK I went through customs again and asides from a quick question about the food I'd declared it was all good. I've watched to many of those Border Patrol or Passport Control shows on TV . . . . I follow the rule "if it goes in my mouth, it's food!", so I always declare that I have Chocolate in my case. They never question how much Chocolate I have and let me go through without even opening the case. Then I headed for my second flight and quickly made my way to Atlanta. Once I landed in Atlanta I got my bags and got out of the Airport in record time. This year I utilised the MARTA (Metropolitan Atlanta Rapid Transit Authority) system instead of a cab and saved myself a fair bit of cash (around $5 for a round trip vs $40 each way in a cab) got off at my stop, checked into the Sheraton (my first hotel) and had a very relaxing shower. I was planning on meeting up with some of the other Forumites from the Devils Panties forum but I ended up crashing on top of the Bed and woke up bright and early Friday Morning.
I got up and went downstairs to pick up my Pre-Reg Badge for the Con which took about an hour and a half (worth for a saving of $50) and then went back to my room for a quick shower before checking out of the hotel (yeah I know I only showered the night before and all I did since then was sleep and queue but Atlanta is gorram hot, so it was needed). I left my case in storage and then walked to the Marriott, Hyatt and Hilton for the convention Proper. Once the Halls were open I went in to see the Artists Alley and got to say hi to Jenny B (thedevilspanties.com/) and Gina Biggs (www.redstring.strawberrycomics.com) again and drop off what is becoming my traditional batch of Chocolates. After I scanned the artists alley for other Webcomics I read (with not entirely satisfying results) I went over to the Dealers and Exhibitors rooms to check out the Merch on sale.
At this point I should mention that I was planning on going through the Con with one or two purchases in mind and scrimping on everything else as I was a little short on funds due to a little credit card snafu (They had blocked my card due to suspected fraudulent activities . . . . I live in Dublin and suddenly there are charges on my card in Atlanta sure looks suss, of course if they went back through my charges and saw the airline tickets to Atlanta and the Hotel room reservations in Atlanta maybe they'd have cracked the Rosetta stone). So I was window shopping trying to locate the bargains and at least whittle down my options. There was a lot of stuff and I reckon if I had both the monies required and luggage enough to carry it all I'd still of had trouble just choosing one item from each stall. There was Steam Punk gear, Sci Fi gear, leather items, DVD's of childhood shows, Action Figures and memorabilia . . . . It was a glorious sight to behold. I finally left the hall with an idea of what I wanted to pick up and list of things that I could neither afford nor pack but wanted regardless.
I went back to the Sheraton to pick up my case and tried to book into the Marriott (Hotel No. 2 for those of you keeping count) but here's where the Credit Card snafu became a major Charlie Foxtrot (look it up or ask a friend with a little experience with military parlance) as my card had been temporarily blocked for security by the Credit Card Company they couldn't use it to check me in . . . . so I had to pay Cash for one night get the mess cleared with the Credit Card Company and use my card to cover the next two nights the next morning. So when I finally got to my room I just put my stuff away and headed back out to see more of the Con.
This time out I did my first sweep of the Walk of Fame . . . . just really to place where people were and to see how many people actually showed up (you still get last minute cancellations. There were one or two people who I did end up saying "aww Damn" about but there were still a lot of people to see. I ended up getting my Trek on and chatting with Robert Beltran and Garrett Wang who play Cmdr Chakotay and Ensign Kim respectively. And I think I managed to make conversation with them without failing my fanboy check.
And that pretty much wraps up my Dragon*Con Friday . . . I had intended to make it to the Saturday Morning (1am) Kilt Blowing but again I ended up crashing after a shower.
More on the Kilt Blowings and the Saturday of Dragon*Con tomorrow.
And why the hell not?!!
Thursday was mostly spent travelling, I had to fly from Dublin to Atlanta stopping in JFK on the way. It pretty much went very smoothly, I waltzed through security and breezed through customs in Dublin before boarding a very nice plane to JFK. As I posted before I love flying but this was one of the most geeked out planes I'd been on yet. Every seat had it's own screen in the seat in front of it and it was all on demand content. I got to watch The Losers, The A Team and The Karate Kid during the flight and still had time to listen to an album or two before landing.
Once I got to JFK I went through customs again and asides from a quick question about the food I'd declared it was all good. I've watched to many of those Border Patrol or Passport Control shows on TV . . . . I follow the rule "if it goes in my mouth, it's food!", so I always declare that I have Chocolate in my case. They never question how much Chocolate I have and let me go through without even opening the case. Then I headed for my second flight and quickly made my way to Atlanta. Once I landed in Atlanta I got my bags and got out of the Airport in record time. This year I utilised the MARTA (Metropolitan Atlanta Rapid Transit Authority) system instead of a cab and saved myself a fair bit of cash (around $5 for a round trip vs $40 each way in a cab) got off at my stop, checked into the Sheraton (my first hotel) and had a very relaxing shower. I was planning on meeting up with some of the other Forumites from the Devils Panties forum but I ended up crashing on top of the Bed and woke up bright and early Friday Morning.
I got up and went downstairs to pick up my Pre-Reg Badge for the Con which took about an hour and a half (worth for a saving of $50) and then went back to my room for a quick shower before checking out of the hotel (yeah I know I only showered the night before and all I did since then was sleep and queue but Atlanta is gorram hot, so it was needed). I left my case in storage and then walked to the Marriott, Hyatt and Hilton for the convention Proper. Once the Halls were open I went in to see the Artists Alley and got to say hi to Jenny B (thedevilspanties.com/) and Gina Biggs (www.redstring.strawberrycomics.com) again and drop off what is becoming my traditional batch of Chocolates. After I scanned the artists alley for other Webcomics I read (with not entirely satisfying results) I went over to the Dealers and Exhibitors rooms to check out the Merch on sale.
At this point I should mention that I was planning on going through the Con with one or two purchases in mind and scrimping on everything else as I was a little short on funds due to a little credit card snafu (They had blocked my card due to suspected fraudulent activities . . . . I live in Dublin and suddenly there are charges on my card in Atlanta sure looks suss, of course if they went back through my charges and saw the airline tickets to Atlanta and the Hotel room reservations in Atlanta maybe they'd have cracked the Rosetta stone). So I was window shopping trying to locate the bargains and at least whittle down my options. There was a lot of stuff and I reckon if I had both the monies required and luggage enough to carry it all I'd still of had trouble just choosing one item from each stall. There was Steam Punk gear, Sci Fi gear, leather items, DVD's of childhood shows, Action Figures and memorabilia . . . . It was a glorious sight to behold. I finally left the hall with an idea of what I wanted to pick up and list of things that I could neither afford nor pack but wanted regardless.
I went back to the Sheraton to pick up my case and tried to book into the Marriott (Hotel No. 2 for those of you keeping count) but here's where the Credit Card snafu became a major Charlie Foxtrot (look it up or ask a friend with a little experience with military parlance) as my card had been temporarily blocked for security by the Credit Card Company they couldn't use it to check me in . . . . so I had to pay Cash for one night get the mess cleared with the Credit Card Company and use my card to cover the next two nights the next morning. So when I finally got to my room I just put my stuff away and headed back out to see more of the Con.
This time out I did my first sweep of the Walk of Fame . . . . just really to place where people were and to see how many people actually showed up (you still get last minute cancellations. There were one or two people who I did end up saying "aww Damn" about but there were still a lot of people to see. I ended up getting my Trek on and chatting with Robert Beltran and Garrett Wang who play Cmdr Chakotay and Ensign Kim respectively. And I think I managed to make conversation with them without failing my fanboy check.
And that pretty much wraps up my Dragon*Con Friday . . . I had intended to make it to the Saturday Morning (1am) Kilt Blowing but again I ended up crashing after a shower.
More on the Kilt Blowings and the Saturday of Dragon*Con tomorrow.
And why the hell not?!!
Wednesday, September 1, 2010
Life gets in the way.
Sorry about missing Mondays post but I'd no internet access outside of work and it's been busy in the Office.
Tomorrow I'll be in Atlanta and the next 4 days after that will be Dragon*Con. . . . . soooo sooo happy! I haven't decided if I'll take my laptop or not so this could be the last post till wednesday of next week. Of course it could go the other way and there could be daily updates (possibly with pictures . . . shock horror). Only one way to find out . . . . .stay tuned!
So one thing I've noticed recently is I like to use scales for feedback. I mean I'll ask someone's opinion and usually push for a quantifier. Maybe it's the years of dealing with telemarketers or answering surveys, I don't know but it's something that's gotten into my mental workings so meh! Though I do like that I have kind of changed it to but my stamp on it. You know how it goes, usually the phrasing "On a scale of 1 - 10, 1 being 'w' and 10 being 'x', how 'y' is 'z'?" I've squished it a bit for time constraints.
To give an example or two, I was contemplating asking a friend to pass on my number to a girl we know through one of her friends, but I deceided to ask her opinion on it first. So I text her saying "On a scale of 1 - Batshit, just how crazy would I be to get involved with 'X'?".
Or I was walking through the Office in work earlier this week and I saw the opportunity for a little playful mischief but I thoguht against it as I'd probably get in trouble. So I decided to run it by my Boss just to see his reaction. " So Chief, on a scale of 1 - you're fired, how bad would it have been if I 'x'd' from 'y's' computer to see if 'z' would fall for it? Once he stopped choking and went back to his normal colour we both decided it would have been a very, very bad thing.
Lol, maybe it'll catch on?
And why the hell not?!!
Tomorrow I'll be in Atlanta and the next 4 days after that will be Dragon*Con. . . . . soooo sooo happy! I haven't decided if I'll take my laptop or not so this could be the last post till wednesday of next week. Of course it could go the other way and there could be daily updates (possibly with pictures . . . shock horror). Only one way to find out . . . . .stay tuned!
So one thing I've noticed recently is I like to use scales for feedback. I mean I'll ask someone's opinion and usually push for a quantifier. Maybe it's the years of dealing with telemarketers or answering surveys, I don't know but it's something that's gotten into my mental workings so meh! Though I do like that I have kind of changed it to but my stamp on it. You know how it goes, usually the phrasing "On a scale of 1 - 10, 1 being 'w' and 10 being 'x', how 'y' is 'z'?" I've squished it a bit for time constraints.
To give an example or two, I was contemplating asking a friend to pass on my number to a girl we know through one of her friends, but I deceided to ask her opinion on it first. So I text her saying "On a scale of 1 - Batshit, just how crazy would I be to get involved with 'X'?".
Or I was walking through the Office in work earlier this week and I saw the opportunity for a little playful mischief but I thoguht against it as I'd probably get in trouble. So I decided to run it by my Boss just to see his reaction. " So Chief, on a scale of 1 - you're fired, how bad would it have been if I 'x'd' from 'y's' computer to see if 'z' would fall for it? Once he stopped choking and went back to his normal colour we both decided it would have been a very, very bad thing.
Lol, maybe it'll catch on?
And why the hell not?!!
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