My Tale of Two Cons

I will be at Anime Expo this year, and due to the hubub, I will also most likely go take a gander at AM2.

Holy Smokes, that's alot of Anime, J-culture, Con, & Driving, BUT, I'm not working, I will have my partner and good friends, so it should be survivable.

I am a little bumbed I wont have any good costumes YET, but there has been plotting, and as soon as I can PURCHASe the items necessary, I will be crafting like an 85 grinding from skill "1"

So keep an eye out for my signature headgear, say "hi" or if not, just be like "huh, I think that's that h47 dude, cool"

Also, please dont creep on my Cosplay homegirls, be polite and chill, and they can cut you!
C.J. or "T1nk"

Calamity Jane or "C.J."
and a myriad of other ladies who associate with me for my impressive, large, wit!

Geek Ph34r

Do you like ghost stories? A chilling tale around the campfire? Well, in our modern age even the youngest listener can be doubtful of even the most gruesome lake-side myths. So, here I have a fairly modern, geek-centric telling of a terrible occurrence I developed recently. Feel free to use it at your own outings. I think this can be adapted easily to most locals; such as cons, fairs or its native root of the campsite.

------------ -------------------- ----------------------

The hand full of us sat around the campfire as we roasted marshmallows, I know, how wonderfully cliche.
A quiet calm descended over the group as a particularly nipping breeze floated through the woods.
I made an over dramatic sigh and looked about obviously, letting my view linger up at the starry sky.

"Mel loved nights like this," I said wistfully.

"Mel? your ex?" My friend asked.

"No, his name was Melvin, and he was a frie . . um, more like an acquaintance of mine a few years back." I said as I stoked the fire and looked away despondently. "Poor guy," I continued, "I wonder if they ever found him."

Several raised eyebrows met my eyes as well as my cryptic comment.

"Melvin Butram, poor kid, what a name, went to my rival high school back in Stockton, but I knew him through LARPing. Our group used to come up here for our games. We were the Edhelian Larp Fun Society. ELFS? I didn't name it. It was during that time in my life I developed my "Theory on LARPing by the Numbers" and stopped playing shortly thereafter. But I always remember poor Melvin."

I leaned forward, settling into the story and lowered my voice a bit. Something made me nervous.

"He was very quiet, very typically nerdy. Big glasses, big boned, freckles, could not talk to girls, even in character, he'd just stutter. But, he was very talented, he always had the best outfits, armour, weapons. The noobs were always asking for his help, and he did his best to teach what he could. My buddy mike once asked him how he got so good, Melvin's reply was 'lots of free time.' We were very inclined to believe him since as far as we knew he never had any party's, a girlfriend, or anything. On occasion we'd invite him to our parties, LAN's, whatever, but he only ever came to LARP events."

The sound of the crackling fire, the wind in the trees and our slow breaths were all we could hear as I made a concerned face.

"It was funny. well, funny odd, not funny 'ha,ha.' He was a big guy but he was real good at live action, especially the combat. He took it very serious as far as not getting hit, that wounds were big deals. And any time he could help with first aid he would jump right in. He was almost always either the last person in his crew to die or not at all.
One time he 'died' in a melee that was a real bad call by one of the game masters and you could tell by Mel's face he was not pleased about the call. So he lied down and waited. A cleric came by and 'rezed' him and then he kinda snapped for a bit. He jumped up, let out a real 'GEEYYAAAGGGHH!!!' you know, startled a couple people near him, and ran down the guy who 'killed' him, guy's name was Chris. Even after he had returned the favor, he kept hitting the ground next to Chris, sorta as if the ground had been Chris' 'corpse' and then after about a good solid thirty seconds or so went off and slaughtered like four or five other enemy players that were honestly too easy. It was like Melvin . . . I don't know . . . he followed all the rules, I think he just took it too seriously."

A couple of my fellow campers shifted as I looked up with a pensive look on my face.

"Then it got close to graduation and we heard he got held back. Apparently he flunked out of most of his classes because he was skipping a lot of school. Our buddy 'Jeebus,' who we shared a Vocational class with some of the guys who went to school with Melvin, said he had gotten addicted to an MMO. Ever? . . Galax? . . no, it was one of the more gritty ones. Dark ages? I don't remember, but anyway.
Melvin only started coming to the longer outings up here. Nothing shorter than a four day weekend. He became even more quiet and the only time we saw him smile was when we were doing combats."

I gave a slight grin as I continued, " except one week, spring break, we were up here and he was all smiles. When asked what had him so happy he said he'd met somebody. We were all happy for him. Wondering who she was or if she was even real, but he was in a good mood and that was cool." My face then turned to a grimace. "But, about a month later, Melvin disappeared."

"After a week or so rumor got round that they found his room empty of all of his practical weapons and his computer on to a character log in screen. When the investigators logged in they found he had been on an RP server and a chat log where he had confessed his love to another character in game. Initially, the other player played along through RP, about a month earlier, and Melvin's character had mentioned meeting or leaving with the other character to 'the woods of Edhelian'," I said with emphasis as I motioned to the woods around me.
"Apparently when Mel dropped the bomb and gave the other player a real life address to get out here, the other player put Mel on ignore and never replied to him again, even reported him for abuse. So, the cops came out here as this was the only other lead they could find. All they ever found was his bicycle. They searched out here for another month. We all graduated without hearing any sort of updates. His parents were crushed."



"A couple years back though, I was talking to Ricky, one of Jeebus' best friends, and he said they had to stop LARPing out here because the younger kids were getting scared and players of all ages were getting hurt in freak accidents. One kid even died. The rangers said he was attacked by a predator because he had massive lacerations, but anybody who's been up here more than a few times can tell you, the most vicious thing up here is a raccoon. The creepy thing to me, is that the kid was dressed as an 'evil warlock' and Melvin almost always played a 'good ranger.' On top of that, last year they had a couple hikers go missing. They found the bodies a week and a half later, bound, gagged and dead in a cave. The cave had had a basic fire pit, some leaves that resembled bedding, and the plastic of an eyglass lens. Both hikers had twenty-twenty vision."

I looked up in suprise. I lowered my hand to my pocket and reached in.
"W-T- . . . . AAAHH!!!!" I screamed as I pulled the pair of hornrimed glasses from my pocket, they were missing one lense and were scratched and bloodied.

A Ballad I Ran

A Time or two ago there was a man who traveled afar
He traipsed across the countryside and frequented inns and bars
Through his travels and adventures he gained fortune and fame
A bard, a hero, a scoundrel, Ran Dansin was his name.

For a time he had not been seen in all his home lands
Twas rumored he was in other worlds or simply relaxing on the sands
The world was still young, not all places had been traveled
One merely had to seek out beasts to quickly be unraveled

One of these creatures awoke and sought out destruction
none can recall what it was called, just that it caused great disruption
needless to say it was of an evil way, terrorized and slew
a few tried to get it to die, but none knew exactly what to do

The beast had been sighted near a hamlet, the folks shook with fear
but over the crest of a hill, a merry tune being sung, they did hear
a tall hat with checkered pattern and wear, atop a man with great stride
an overlarge nose, odd cape, boots with red fringe and a rapier at his side.

Turn away traveler, the townspeople warned,
a beast most fowl and its company you should scorn
HA! cried the man, a good song it will make
Bring me your strongest willing bodies and, perhaps some tea and cake?

so assembled, the few of the village who were true
they wondered at this odd man and wondered at his world view
as to the creature, what does it do he inquired after tea
it tears and bites and knocks down walls, none has returned that did see

The crumpets were delicious, he said, but use creme instead of milk
as for this creature, i might be wearing one of its ilk
do you have any remnants from an earlier attack?
why yes, some piped up, our old great uncle, carl and aunt jack

they brought forth a pretty thing of lace and set it below Dansin's face
ah, mayhaps were they tailors and this was their last piece
no it was jacks, the two were lost in the last attack
oh, eheh, gimme a moment to inspect the item, in the meanwhile, have any sack?

so they brought for a jug a few went glug-alug and dansin sat in thought
he turned the fabric this way and that and sniffed it an awful lot
after the booze had been drunk up, he suddenly jumped
i know this creature, ive fought one before and have a trump

he flipped off his hat and placed it upside down and began to dig within it
he cursed and hooted and jumped once or twice, the bottomed seem to have no limit
till finally he pulled out a bottle as well as a fishing pole
and to the questioning looks he replied, im not getting close to it would any of you souls?

he set out to the hillside where the monster was last seen, other brave townies in tow
he hooked the bottle to the pole and set it in a tree, and said, watch how we do this just so
they waited in quiet, they waited in fear, the suspense was great at the time
then it got late, and a few yawned and graped, but then, there was a tug at the line

all of them sweated and strained to see, but the dusk confused their sight
they knew it was the beast from the snarls and teeth against bottle, its bite
Ran just held the pole, line slack and limp, he didnt real or tug, just sat
then the line went taught, the bottle went crash, and the villagers froze where they were at

coughing and wheezing and howling and screaming came from the beast
then slowly but surely the ruckus got quieter and the it made noise the least.
Ran waited an extra moment then said that should do it and just strolled towards the bait
and the people heard him say we live but for this thing, its too late

it took a few minutes for the truth to sink in, but at last the people knew
the thing was no more , they were safe now, for Dansin had slew
but they heard knife against bone and grunt and slash and feared for Ran's life
one brave went to Dansin, but found him knee deep in its blood and in his hand a new bone fife

my companion got the last one, he said with blood on his brow
i only got this belt, but balls to him, i have the set now
the creature was unrecognizable, what it was only Dansin knew
but the leather was supple and its meat made a great stew

at the banquet that morning many inquired what the bottle was
Dansin told them truthfully, it was no more than dandelion and suds
they were dumbfounded, and stunned, to believe many were loath
Ran calmly explained, that that creature was fiercely allergic to both

A Time or two ago there was a man who traveled afar
He traipsed across the countryside and frequented inns and bars
Through his travels and adventures he gained fortune and fame
A bard, a hero, a scoundrel, Ran Dansin was his name.

S.G.I.S.Con: The Tale

" WTF is S.G.I.S.Con?!"
Sad Geek In Snow Convention. A "con" held every year in honor of my birthday at a family cabin. I invite every geek I am buddies with and we assemble in a beautiful section of the wilderness, and stay inside for the entire weekend. well, I do, usually the guests venture farther up the road to some snow and get all cold and wet then come back. good times.
I know, "wow, how pretentious, a 'Con' just for your birthday?" but, if you've ever met me, you know I have great plans, just like anyone else, big dreams. One day I hope for it to actually be a full blown Convention, dedicated to all things geeky! Well, most things. I have often complained how Convention season is in the summer, so I would prefer a winter con, especially if I am the figure head and its soul, its true con type, would be flavored by me and my friends interests.
So, a weekend long get together, by invite only, we have begun doing themes, and vague itineraries, as well as, registration fees (so we can afford food) for room and board.
Of course, being the elitist jerk I am, I wont publicly advertise this Con, but I do extend invitations to friends of friends in the hopes that it continues to be a VERY harmonious event with like minded, yet unique individuals.
So far we have had as many as 25 geeks assembled for the festivities, and I will post synopsis of past S.G.I.S.Cons. Also watch Theatreg33k who posts day by day journals of most of our trips.