DisneyLand Left

It seems that every time I go to the Magic Kingdom for Theatreg33k's birthday we end up with some kind of crazy story.
Did you ever hear the one about the two blondes who wanted to go to DisneyLand on a whim? Yeah, two smokin' hot babes in a bright red convertible, sunglasses, top down, hair blowing in the wind cruising up I-5. They get into Anaheim and see the road signs "DisneyLand. Left."
So they turned around and went home.

I tell you that bad joke to tell you this story, plus a little more.
We went down the day AFTER the 24 hour day and missed a whole lot of our friends who were down there just for that event. (Un)fortunately Theatreg33k had a rehearsal that night and even if we had driven down that night, we MIGHT have gotten in if the park wasn't full and we MIGHT have gotten there before it closed at 6 A.M.
Apparently the park had to stop admitting people 3 different times as DisneyLand was at capacity. But people got cool pins, buttons, shirts, sweaters, even mickey ears that said things like "One more day of Disney." And that was nice, but we were actually a little glad we missed it as it was a madhouse.
So, we took a pleasant cruise down 101 as I detest I-5 with a fiery passion, leaving reasonably early, and finally managed to hit the park around noon. They closed at 8?10? Sometime "early."

Funny story, THREE separate times, park guests confused Theatreg33k for a Cast Member in two different places. Two asked for fitting rooms and another asked . . . I don't remember, I think it was how World of Color worked or something? We concluded it was her awesome sweater we bought her a few years back thats all "50th anniversary" and has a very clean design, not one of those hoodies with a graphic on it. Plus Lanyards, and I say, we look very comfortable while we're there, not the usual touristy types.

Yeah, we at D-Land all the time. Iz Koo.

 We were also accosted by two different younglings who were ravenous amateur pin traders, but they were polite and respected our designated pins-for-trade. (I like to show off, so one side of  my lanyard is not for trade. Although I have considered the hip lanyards, thanks to my buddy Jewnathan, but my pins are so heavy they dangle like a yo-yo, so maybe a two lanyard system, or even now they have these crazy Uber-Lanyards that are double think and feel like seatbelt material.) Both of them sort of just stepped up dead in our tracks, thrusting their lanyards out, eyeballing our lanyards in turn, parents slightly aghast and apprehensive as to how we would react. No fear from these kids, it was great. Crazy sentimental crap like that helped make the trip. As well as a couple young ladies who had just gotten into trading that trip chased me down to ask about a couple pins I had, so we traded some knowledge as well as overpriced tin. And apparently I look like a serious trader as I had two separate cast members plus a guy who runs a pin trading site say as much to me. Oh yes, my ego was adequately stroked.
One of the inquiries was on a particularly obscure pin that no one could figure out. We saw it three separate times that day, and the final time, Theatreg33k snagged it just so we could look it up more adequately when we got home to full PC's and some free time. The first couple times we saw it there were guesses that he might be from Star Wars which I confided in T1nk that that was not possible as I can usually recognize 99.9% of that universe even if I don't know who it is immediately, I suggested Captain Eo or some alternative sci-fi as he seemed to be green, wearing a sash, and had small curly horns. T1nk did not recall him from Cpt.Eo. T1nk then investigated the back of the pin. It said something like "2005 Happy Hauns LE 25" on the back so t1nk began to use her crazy new smart phone to try and track it down. She came to the conclusion from others who were discussing it on other forums that he was originally part of a full set but was scraped from a display set and released on his own. We traded for him and asked a few "pro" traders who were set up in the park that day but didn't manage to ask any hard core sharks, just re-affirmed what we already knew, that it was an older pin and that it was crazy limited, only 25 around, and that it was originally from Disney World. Cool. We get home, start looking it up in earnest, and I don't know why, but as soon as I saw the Pin on a computer screen, my brain clicked and I almost shouted as T1nk read out loud what my brain had just told me. Cesar's Ghost, from the Haunted Mansion. Bam, mystery solved, rare pin acquired.
So, if you know anyone who works in the Pin Trader shop in FrontierLand, or a couple people who had to stand outside Midway on March 2nd, OR a young lady who was prepping for the Pixar parade/show in DCA right outside the theatre where they show Alladin, also on the 2nd, let them know we figured it out. We don't know anyone on the inside anymore, but we know people who do, so, pass it along, they were just as stumped as us.

Also, we had a CRAZY, MOMENTOUS, SLAP YO MOMMA GOOD, dinner at the Mountain Winery. My soup was good, and the deserts were stupid delicious, just on the edges of being too sweet or tart or whatever, but never crossing that line, they were phenomenal. But the entree . . . Filet Mingon, Med. Rare, WOOOHHOOOOOoooooH! You want to talk about some Disney magic. PLUS!, so, Theatreg33k/T1nk is a full vegan now with light on the carbs, so, a lot of the time its like "what do you eat?" but we barely mentioned these potential restrictions, because T1nk wanted to know what was in certain things so she could plan accordingly(she was semi-vegetarian this trip as its hard to avoid a lot of things at the resort, kudo's to them, not as hard as you might think) And our server, Alex, was like "I got this, HEY YO SEAN! Sean's da chef, like a boss." (I'm paraphrasing of course, it was all very smooth and professional) and Sean comes out in his whites with the cool round coffee filter hat and is like "Whadup!? Check it, dont eat the bread, it hangs out with cheese, instead of butter, we got olive oil, and instead of deserts full of dairy, we got the banginest fruit cup you eaver put your tongue into. BOO-YA!" I was all like "yeah baby, I helped set this up, right?" I'm sure T1nk will have something to say about it on one of her blogs, if not, you can ask her yourself how awesome it was, lemme know.

Then, we got Fast-Passed for reserved sections of World of Color. Apparently, if your all up close, your gonna be wet as many of the spouts shoot in every direction, including towards the audience, in order to get the correct angle. And this is mostly true, assume it will happen, as we saw one section that was DRENCHED, I think it's worth it to do it once, but after that, take some higher ground. plus, its like sitting on the sidelines of a sporting event. It's cool, it's right there, but it's hard to get the whole picture cause you have to keep turning your head and being hyper-aware. Magically enough, we found the magic sweet spot where no water splashes. Maybe a light mist once or twice, but honestly, when the fire kicked in, it all evaporated off. Real funny though, as I mentioned, less than 10 yards from us, Soaked people. So, keep that in mind. Gallagher style up close and personal, or mezzanine status. Not sure how cool other sections are.

Yes, you gonna get wet. We were so close I could have probably pissed into the jets, made the distance, and no one would have noticed.

So, every time we go to Disneyland we forget they have a bag hold service for anything you buy at the resort, so T1nk & I were working under the assumption that we didn't want to be trying to juggle everything we had bought on and off rides all day. So, T1nk was like "we show up last day before we drive home, buy all the stuff and take off." Sounded like a plan. Oh boy, always expect the unexpected.
The biggest casualty of the days events I believe was the fact that theatreg33k wanted a particular fascinator that was a Nightmare Before Christmas Mini Top Hat. They had every other version; Tink cameo, cheshire cat, new Johnny Depp Mad Hatter, but ALL SOLD OUT. WE literally went through every shop in both parks plus downtown trying to find this thing. So, next time you go down there, see if they have one for us and give me or T1nk a call please? we'll pay you back.
Now that wasn't the unexpected though, that just sucked. The unexpected was when we got out into the parking lot and more people than one might expect were heading back to their cars. I even remember hearing someone say "it's closed" but I don't listen to random people until I hear something from someone official. Then the Trams weren't running. The Cast Members were simply directing people to the footpath that takes you up into downtown Disney. "Curious" we thought, but we strode on, to see what adventure was in store.
In hindsight, I think this could have been handled a little more efficiently from the initial contact perspective, since I feel charging people for parking, then letting them get all the way up into downtown Disney with little-to-no information was not a great idea, but overall, Mad props to everyone I met and interacted with, Guest and Cast Member alike for staying calm, patient and understanding through the ordeal.

THERE WAS A LINE RIDE JUST TO GET INTO DOWNTOWN DISNEY!?!?!

To get to the point, there was a bomb scare. An "item" was discovered in a tree near a ticket booth, so at 7:10 everything was put on lock. Apparently, someone wanted to leave a good will message to the park goers and the dude even called the police to let them know it was him and just some paper when he saw the commotion at the park was going on. Apparently some people were even stuck inside the park when it happened. Sucked to be them. *eyeroll*
Yeah, Disneyland was closed Willy Wanka Chocolate Factory Style for almost four hours, while the bomb squad was called in and that guy tried to explain to the police his message of good will. Although, now that I think about it, T1nk & I did not particularly seek out an official explanation. We asked a couple random Cast Members what they had heard, but ended up giving them more information as we were checking net feeds for info. We did feel sort of bad for some of the Cast Members though as we saw A LOT of managers out and about figuring that some cast members had gone home after that much down time.
BUT we finally rolled into the park proper around 11:30 (The park re-opened about 10:50 but I did NOT want to be part of the barbarous multitudes rushing the gate, so we hung out in Downtown just a little longer) and scoured for above mentioned hat, could not find, and left with what spoils we could. had some late Chipotle in S.L.O. (HATE I-5, love 101) and came home to an indifferent cat, as always.
So, if you want a crazy Disneyland story, try and come with us next year, evidence shows it wont be boring.

Where U at, h47?

And what's with all the "urban" style post titles? Well, they're quick and I feel they accurately portray the hectic lifestyle I have come across the last three weeks. Worry not H47ites, I am working on a fore-log of my usual droll and drivel to keep this site chok full of the usual vitriol and fan-fawning we've come accustomed to.
Now, why have my post suddenly gone more erratic than usual and not even weekly as has been in the past? well, I will tell you.

After working retail during holidays, which is a pain, anyone who's done it can tell you, I spent a week in So-Cal getting schooled in the myriad of ways of simulated violence for stage & screen, as my previous post informed.
Then, when I got home, I was greeted by a disgruntled cat who had apparently grown rather fond of me and acted out in protest to my absence by peeing everywhere. In between returning to work and a trip to the vet, several cleaning bouts were needed immediately.
With no rest for the wicked, last night, AFTER Theatreg33k/t1nk's callback for Sylvia,

we drove over the hill to a Lords of Ancient Sin meet up hosted by my "brother from another mother" Moose, which included a lovely dinner and blatant sexual advances from and to anyone and everyone who wished to utter "your mom."

I am currently suffereing from D&D withdrawals but I should be able to remedy that tonight as my regularly scheduled table top gaming should resume this week. As should our normal schedule of posts beginning next Tues, as well as a 3rd 4 t3h Nrrd for Jan. and I will do my best to include something else Nerdy & musical to make up for a lack of Nerdcore from last month. I have plenty stewing in my drafts, I merely need to distill them for presentation. I hope you can contain yourselves until then. Thank you all again for your patience and understanding . . . and if not, well, go away then.

For t3h Lose

As in the opposite of FTW, as in, a metaphor for my life.

After a few years of wishful thinking and hopeful musing, Theatreg33k & I have finally started our own web-comic. Read it HERE. Hosting thanks to our good techy Epyon Avenger, Story is written dominantly by myself, inspired by true events and further embellished by myself, with constant input from Theatreg33k, AND I finally talked her into drawing it, and so her career as an artist begins . . . . from square one.

So go read it, and please be kind as this is sort of like a garage band thing, were ametures praying for the big leagues, but we do welcome all REAL criticism, "you suck" will be met with "and you need a life" or something equally snarky.

URL is:
http://ftl.chaos-axiom.com/

Enjoy!

S.G.I.S.Con IV Recap

Only 1 month late! Okay, so I lied about blogging the entire Con. I was having too much fun actually being at the Con . . . and Raiding. Heh.

A couple resources Care of T1nk The Con Fairy!

If you didn't already know, this year was Star Wars themed. We HAD the Christmas special, but due to technical difficulties we were unable to watch it. However, we did have a showing of "Something Something Something Dark Side" and "Spaceballs" for those who had not been exposed to it's awesomeness.

Overall this year was a success even though there were a few bumps for the management.

We had 2 tv's set up next to each other with a PA system and 5 different systems hooked to them, ACROSS from another TV, with D&D & Laptopery 2 yards to the right and board gaming 1 yard to the left.

Upstairs Sexy Chris and myself had set up our desktops (we had raids Saturday & Sunday night. WoW is SRZ BSNZ. true story, while we did cake and they sang happy birthday, I was IN an Ony 10 and they were waiting for me to do cake cause I had mentioned WHY i was gonna have to AFK for a few minutes.) And there were numerous netbooks as well. Oh, and fun fact . . . Idevices (iPhones, iTouches) will suck up your bandwidth like a 50 cent hooker sucks up . . . water. They have to stay hydrated.

Let me correct myself right now, there was no D&D from late Friday night until late Sunday night there was Pathfinder, led by Steve Wes, and half of the Con rolled characters and proceeded to have ridiculous adventures. I will see if I can get a guest post from Mr. Wes detailing the adventure, but if you cant wait, look HERE.

Closing ceremonies went swiftly and the Sad Geek in Snow this year was Mr. Robe Guy, he also donned a snuggy a few times and accepted his new "friend" graciously.
I hope you all had as much or more fun than I did and I will leave you with one last peace of shameless self admiration. This was caught by T1nk/theatreg33k while I was stretching my pipes. You can also hear the shenanigans of the Pathfinder group in the background, just as amusing. Thanks, love.

2 pigs, 2 families, 1 rock, 1 boat, 7 days, 1 question, & 1 BIG ANSWER!

And that's not even the half of it.

At some point during summer '08 a conversation consisting of T1nk/theatreg33k saying "You know, we don't have to get married very soon, but an extended engagement might be nice."

I let these words ferment, stew, roll around, and otherwise haunt me for about a month until in September of the same year I resolved to ask the big question.

Now, not many people may realize, that there are certain institutions and traditions that I think should be approached with utmost sincerity. In short, I aint fuckin around at this point.

Early October we went to Blizzcon and it was there that I threw down the idea to some trusted confederates and began researching ideas for where and how I would Take A Knee.
In case you missed it, Blizzcon '08 was held in Anaheim, which is conspicuously close to Disneyland and we spent quite a bit of time there that weekend. I had heard about the "free B-day pass" promo that year and a plan began to formulate, grow, nay, INFEST my brain.

So, as of mid-October, Thee Plan, was to propose as we got off the jungle cruise ride with all friends and family I could finagle into coming as witnesses. This all under the guise of a "Big B-day week" because she was turning *incoherent mumbling of an age between 15 and 200 years old* and I usually have a big weekend party for my own birthday. It was only fair. This was the story I kept telling close friends so that on the off chance I had to call it off they would be understanding. Yet, telling people made me feel it was doable, and it gave me some time to hear it out loud and really consider if it was the step I wanted to take.
Fast forward to late November, I started saving up a chunk of cash, and committed to calling The Mouse and seeing if he could "huho" hook me up.

First, I had to do it up all proper, I asked her folks if I could take them out to dinner for a "Christmas Present" and ask for their blessing. They said yes. I then called my folks to see if they approved, they did. Parents averted!
I then started telling MORE people because it was kind of awesome. Finally in February '09 I called Disneyland. IT WAS GREAT! The people at the park were totally cool and ready to help however I needed. Next thing I knew, I had a private boat on the jungle cruise set up, a section reserved for our family for lunch at one of the restaurants and Dinner at the Blue Bayou for later.
"Dude H47? how much did you throw down for all the special services?" Not a cent! We even got one of our old college friends who works there part time, to be the skipper of our boat. (Did I mention our Friend is a big time Hollywood Voice Actress? If you need an awesome voice let her know . . )

So, as of February, the plan was get our crew on the boat, get to the backside of water, drop to the knee, Bob's your uncle, we're engaged! I drag T1nk to the Blue Bayou, I'm awesome, Disney Land IS the happiest place on earth (unless you're a small child between the hours of 3 &5 pm, cause that shit is nap time.)

I get the ring from Shane Co., I get it "future Maid of Honor" approved, I'm showing it off to everybody, telling everybody the scheme, this thing is getting big. I keep the ring hidden in my Special Edition Burning Crusade box, the big ass one? fit perfect. it was creepy.

At some point T1nk's Manager decided to be cheeky and say "hey, wanna know what hes getting you for your birthday? . . . Pot Belied Pig." Even more horrifying was T1nk's reply, "Awesome! They're so CUTE!"
What else could I do? I verified. "Yeah, the trouble is gonna be sneaking it in to the park as a "seeing eye pig."
She wanted to name the fictitious pig Wilbur, I suggested AndEggs. Later that same week, we were out at a bar with a bunch of other friends, I was recounting the story so far and somehow it became TWO pigs.
Now I've got my friends harboring pork at various locations so as to keep T1nk off the trail. I know, we're so clever.

At some point I asked T1nk what she thought it really was, and she guessed it BUT she was like "but I don't want to think that's what it is in case it's not." So, this wont be a huge surprise apparently, but it still was, just watch.

The week of her B-day rolls around and it's time to get to Anaheim. I have the stinkin thing hidden in a compartment in the Shenani-Van, praying she doesn't decide to look for the roadside kit. (what?! I'm paranoid.) We get to the hotel and a week of vacation starts off without a hitch.

(I love to stand in front of the train station and look out upon the park. Very nostalgia/inspiring/romantic[not in the sexy sense, as in the movement])

The day came for it all to be set up. The jungle crew knew what time we we're supposed to be there, private boat and all. we had a section of one of the restaurants all reserved for our group for lunch before hand. We got a birthday gift card for T1nk (you had an option of three items for b-day, it was cool) and I was like, Until noon, its all you! We rode some rides, ate, and we hit the jungle cruise at 3pm! The total group was my mom, my g-ma, my sister, my cousin, her mom, her dad, our friends Epyon Avenger, The Blave and two of his female friends, PievuhG, L1 and L2, with Voice Actress as our skipper. Apparently there was a boat mishap and Voice Actress had to hijack a boat that wasn't hers (we're so pirates) and off we steamed/motored/rolled. Voice Actress laid down a great string of horrible jokes that the ride is famous for, we get to the back of the waterfall, and she says "and now, the moment "H4773r" has been waiting for (all his life? i dont remember exactly, cut me some slack, I was stressing soooo hard right then.)" I dropped to my knee, pulled the box, T1nk was like "WTF" then I asked . . . .

(Video border in "obnoxious-puke green" in T1nks honor)

The boat took off again, cheering and incoherent congratulations accompanied us to the dock, Voice Actress valiantly tried to lay her best jokes on us for the end of the voyage and we disembarked.

Pics were taken in a very convenient alcove I had not noticed till then, and PievuhG had a special gift for us . . .

T1nk and I split off from the group to giver her some time to recover form
the shock, text/tweet everyone we knew what had happened. We wandered
over to the Blue Bayou in time for our dinner, and did whatever she
wanted the rest of the trip.

Once more, I'd like to thank all our family and friends for helping me make
this happen and for all of your support. We will be setting the date
for the big day on T1nk's NEXT birthday, and it will most likely be a
year-2 years from then.

San Diego Comic Con 2009 Part 2

Next morning, got off to a late start. rolled down the hill, took a left at Albuquerque when we should have turned down at Timbucktoo. (If you dont know that joke, grow older by five years or more, watch some loony toons, or GTFO mah bliggity blawg!) but still rolled right into downtwon San Diago(yes, Anchorman jokes were in full swing from celeb tweets and beyond)

By this time T1nk was in full "im-late-and-i-will-kill-if-i'm-not-on-time" freak out mode, so I dropped Pievuhg and the better half at the first good looking stop, and moved my way up to $15 parking lot that was a good mile away. hopped a bicycle taxi, tipped the poor guy with a roll of quarters (do not underestimate my brokeness) and schlepped up to get mah badge.

As I was herded like an animal of the field among a multitude of other geeks attempting to get into the convention center, I began to feel that familiar sensation of elation. These were my people, and I immediately began to judge them. But elitism aside, I never feel more at ease than at a con. this is where my kind, the geek, the nerd, the outcast, the goth, the Trekkie(wow, spellchecker corrected that for me, yikes), the weird guy, the gamer, the hacker, the candlestick maker, this is where we congregate and only our own judge us, not the entire locale. And if they're our own judging us, we at least feel the comfort that, they have an understanding, and don't come of their opinion blindly but from a mutual understanding that most of us know, we're still not considered "normal." And I don't know if I'm getting soft or just have gained more wisdom, but now I often think before I pass judgment, assessing the previous thought as well as playing devils advocate for a second. A good example of this is actually from a panel I missed entirely.
(for the extended version seek out Kevin Smith Q&A from Hall H Comic Con 09, there should be a link here somewhere . . . there's a good one, for shorter, try this, But I suggest starting at the top and writing off your next 2 hours.)
Kevin Smith effectively said GTF-OFF Twihards, they are the geeks of the future, they are girls w/Vamp hard on's, WTF is wrong with you dude?"

Oh look, a tangent, never had one of those, or sarcasm for that matter *false belly chuckle* Oh ho ho ho . . moving on . . . .

Grabbed my badge for Fri, was told I could grab my badge for sat after 4 pm, was tossed a swag bag (very literature heavy, less on the swag) and really started taking in the sights (see pic, the 2 Astromech droids in the general Lobby. Fear the SW fans!) , the sounds (general cacophony with strange snippets, and of course, the smells [if you are, know, or have interacted with any sort of social deviate for longer than two days, we don't smell the prettiest, no, not even some of the girls. It's unfortunate, but we are making strides towards change[its here that I wanted to link to a flyer/handout/thing by Something Positive about using a shower at conventions specifically targeted at geeks. i.e. undress, we know it's embarrassing, get under the water, we know, its cold, turn it towards hot. use the soap, no those aren't demon creatures eating your flesh, they are bubbles, and normal, then rinse, dry, and dress again.] Unfortunately I cant find said pamphlet, if anyone else can, please notify me). I then hustled to get to some hall where T1nk was already in line even though the panel was about to get out in less than 10 minutes. To be fair, it was a Coraline panel with Niel Gaiman. while waiting for Pievuhg to recover me, (I was a bit lost, but she had explored the con the day before) I am very confident, I saw Stan Lee. I heard the voice, looked back, there was a white suit upon an older gentleman wearing glasses, all attached to a mustache, and surrounded by an entourage. Liz found me, and took me to T1nk. ( ComicCon Nazi's/Elite's are, well, doing there jobs, to them; "please stop being dicks," if you encounter one; "they are doing their job's, don't bug them more than twice, don't be dicks to them, they're trying to keep the Con form being lame. If you have a problem, join staff and fix it." gee? sounds like cops.)

T1nk was still in line and concerned we wouldn't make it into the "9" panel at hall H because, well, it's Hall H. So, I told her, as her Man-Pack for the weekend I was gonna head over there and get in line. ( I had attempted to establish a couple times, that since I would be attending Aftercon, and dragging her along, AND since she paid for my tickets for ComicCon, I was there at her whim to carry swag [ill-gotten or otherwise], supplies, and hold spots in lines)
Pievuhg led me down to the bottom level and we popped into the dealer hall. What a ridiculousness. To say this hall is large, crowded, or noisy, is to call an ocean wet. Picture a pulga(that's flea market for you non-ethnic's) and put it under a large concrete ceiling and sink it about 5 feet under street level, and you've got an idea of how this place looked.
Pievuhg stopped at the ComicCon booth (not as awesome or impressive as you might think, very simple, one booth) to buy a sexy ComicCon shirt. I took the opportunity to find, as Scott Kurtz put it, The "Penny Arcade Elbow" which he was in, and it seemed, so was most of the rest of the WebComic Industry. MC Frontalot was holdin down a Corner of the PA booth as their official . . um, something fancy sounding, as Tycho likes to do, that effectively means Front is their official Rapper. I stopped, saw MC Frontalot in the flesh. Got my copy of Nerdcore Rising signed, Front regaled me with the fact that my copy was early run copy and superior to the merchandise in front of him. I was pleased. I then rolled around to the other side of the booth and had Gabe of Tycho and Gabe sign my "I roll twenty's" Shirt with the phrase "I thought you were supposed to get better at this" If I could get Wil Wheaton to sign that same shirt, I may end my life as a geek in peace.With geek/fanboy Nirvana almost attained I unerringly head to find THE LINE TO H! Found it, stood in it, T1nk showed up, stood in it. Met two groups of people, one groovy, one annoying, none worth more note than that.

Then, finally made it into the SUB-FUCKING-LINES INSIDE HALL H!!! which are there to further torment those who have endured the outside for 3+ hours. Apparently other situations have been explored and I pray and keep myself ignorant of the truth in the hopes that Comic Con higher ups have assessed other options and find that this is the most effective.

Once inside Hall H we find that the end of the Disney Panel is underway and find seats.
Disney panel: Tons of Fun. Beauty and the Beast in 3D this coming Valentines day ( I know what T1nk and I are going too).
But the one I am really excited for is The Princess and the Frog. Oh yeah, all hand drawn, full blown musical numbers performed by the characters. Good jokes, a nod to more mature audiences than just kiddy fare, a gator named Louis who solves problems with sharp sticks and plays jazz trumpet(after my own heart, I assure you) and a Cajun firefly named Ray who thinks as disjointed and quickly as he talks. I laughed my ass off at the 3 min clip they showed. I'm seein that one. Only down sides I can think of, the first black Disney princess isn't actually a real princess from the start, and as if New Orleans square in Disneyland wasn't crowded enough already, with Fantasmic, Haunted Mansion, three or so restaurants, one of the easiest to find bathrooms, the train station, and of course The Cpt. Jack sparrow ride, sorry, Pirates.
Also, Miyazaki, or, J-colonel Sanders, was there to promote Ponyo's release in the U.S with full Dub, and was awarded the g">Comic Con Inkpot award, those things are metal, I want one. Paton Oswald came out, made the Disney panel a little PG13 with the Q&A, awkward geeks were awkward cause it was friggin Miyazaki-san, and the panel ended.

There was than a lull in between panels and t1nk and I moved up for a better seat and settled in for an awesome panel. Some dude I didn't recognized was moderating but introduced the director, Shane Acker, as well as Acker's two "mentors" on the project, Tim Burton, and Timur Bekmambetov (the director from Wanted). Hrmm . . Tim Squared helped shane, lol. And two huge names working on the movie, Elijah Wood, and Jennifer Connelly. In Short, "9" looks awesome, and even if it's not the deepest movie, it will have a crazy nifty hook and be very pretty to watch. After this panel, T1nk and I left to locate Pievuhg and wander the Con Some more.

We wandered the dealer room, apparently Amanda Palmer(lead singer of Dresden Dolls) was doing a book signing that afternoon/evening and T1nk had to stalk her, we ate Con food, and were charged too much for it.

Around 5 PM was a lil in booth concert by MC Frontalot and the Categorical Imperative (his drummer) at the PA Elbow! (see Pic above, I know, its a shitty pic from my cell phone. I will get a better phone and try to take better pictures, never guarantees.)

Finally, due to the fact my parking pass was only good till 8:30 pm, we all decided to call it a day and headed back up the hill.

San Diego Comic Con 2009 part 1

(There is a room above the fire station on Main Street Disneyland which Walt Disney would stay in all the time. He would keep a light on to let the people in the park know he was there and after his passing they keep the light on all the time now. Thats right)

TEN FUCKING HOURS!!!Wait, I'm getting ahead of myself by about six hours. So, for the fun adventures of how we finally decided to go to SDCC see Theatreg33k . . damn. one of these days I will link the shit outta these posts.

SO! Pievuhg had a weekend pass (she's sleeping with the owner of a local comic shop, regardless of the fact that the owner is currently carrying her husbands child SHUSH!) but T1nk(theatreg33k, yes i know, "holy shit h47!? nicknames for your nicknames?!" shuddup, T1nk is shorter and its another of her personas, AND it's my blog, keep up!) and I only had passes for Fri & Sat, we were gonna drive down Wednesday, and while pievuhg was at the con thurs, T1nk & I would hit the magic kingdom (yes, we're Disney whores and have no shame about it. yes, i know they're an evil ubercorp, but I'll be damned if its not one of the most fun places in the world, get a childhood) *looks around* crap, got ahead of myself again.

Tuesday night (after D&D) I discovered my H47b0x(my computer) decided I could log in but would then log me back out of windows, so, had to get Epyon_Avenger on the case, my digital savior. I packed up for the weekend and attempted to sleep from 1 Am to 5 Am so we could leave at 6 Am. great plan, meanwhile, T1nk stayed up all night packing and such, just gonna sleep the whole way down, which she did. Left bright and early at about 7 am (of course), watched the sun come up as we drove down I-5, the varicose vein of the crack that is the central valley of California. Constantly paranoid and fighting my fatigue-to-hunger-to-"whatwasthatnoise?!wasitthecar?!" syndrome we made a few stops along the way. tried to talk pievuhg into letting us try and sneak her into the MouseLand around Anaheim, but she wouldn't have it. At that point I thought, "oh good, almost there, not much farther" my spacial recollection of the location of Anaheim to San Diego is still skewed. the last 2-3 hours of the drive were painful for me, I had no idea where i was going again, and of course, instead of -continue on I-5, then left on suchandsuch lane- it was, okay merge onto this highway, now this highway, now left, right, right, up, down, select, start, WTF!? apparently our sweet hookup to stay over is atop the only mountain in the basin (t1nk is NOT cool with windy roads, especially if they're atop a fucking cliff) and so TEN FUCKING HOURS after leaving, we had arrived. Got lost shortly thereafter attempting to locate civilization at the bottom of the hill, had chipotle (so fuckin tasty) and found THE EASY WAY back up the hill to our HQ for the weekend. slept like the dead.

T1nk and I woke up at . . . ? 7:30 am? 8? because we were gonna drop Pievuhg off at the con and head north back to Anaheim. Apparently Pievuhg was welcomed with booze the night before and was nursing a hangover and finally at about 9am T1nk and I realized she wasn't leaving with us. BAM, off to Walt's World. Rode rides and all that, forgot my lanyard (yes, t1nk got me hooked on pin trading the trip I proposed to her [blog about that later, I'm sure] but its actually very fun and I have a sixth sense for hidden mickey's, I'm like a boar to truffles. I just think a pin is cool, but when we look closer, there's ears. anyway) but still snagged a slick lanyard weight, AND, we caught the Electrical Parade. that shit was awesome, the intro music is really the best part. It broke down, sat there for 3 mins, and a deisel pull cart rolled up and pulled it along. it was awesome. I want to be an electrical bug, that looks like so much fun.
made it back to HQ without incident, ready to attack Comic Con '09 fast and hard, just like me, OH!

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.

Old R4n7 (4-17-08)

R4n7 4-17-08

as for me, lord, where to start. well, horny beyond belief, but thats nothing new, damn hormones . . . im only in 2 classes this semester and im still finding it hard to go to them regularly. screen writing is interesting, im working on a semi-autobiographical script chronicling my break up with my ex as well as the rekindling of my love for thaetre, very deep, meaningful and dramatic . . . I HATE IT! i lived it, i dont want to relive it again, thats why i play warcraft and D&D and play dress up no less than 3 times a year.

Speaking of Warcraft, good lord am i addicted. and now, 2 of my friends who dont even play WoW are hooked on the card game, its like Magic The Gathering, only for WoW and they want to play constantly. poor guy, one of em, (The Blave), has played all the original Real Time strategy versions of Warcraft, so he knows all this back story, but he's never played WoW so hes always like "but hat makes no sense in the old games, this and this was this way" so Tink(theatreg33k) and I have to explain to him "NO! no making sense anymore, WoW has ruined any semblance of plot the game had, get over it!"
But yeah, WAY too much time spent playing that, ive got my 70 mage doing dailies constantly, and a 65 hunter im finally getting up to 70, and a 42 war i need to get up to outland so that guild can get raiding.

THE OTHER class is advanced acting, and well, it should be "excersices and coaching for acting" cause all we do is read scripts, listen to the proffesor, do scenes and play acting games.

I am sound designing for not only a high school show (the odd couple, female version), but for a "real" theatre company, Arclight Theatre and i'll be doing the sound for Twelfth Night, so that should be fun.

ALSO, i recently got a job at Armor-geddon, and i should start monday, that's gonna be interesting. It's gonna be like working at a corporate comic shop, the guy who hired me is really gun-ho about making the store into something great and caring about the store and the product, as well as making sales, in order to keep the store afloat. so more of a commitment then i was looking for in a store, but thats okay, it should be good for me, and i like that in a management staff.

so thats whats up with me.

Maintaining Youth

This will be a repeated theme, I'm sure.
Growing up sucks, ooh, real ground breaking, I know. But, I have found many people have managed to circumvent the ravages of adultship and maintained an immature lifestyle, I also seek this status.
A couple nifty things Theatreg33k poked for me this very morning include SCIENCE!! which is pretty funny, we have many friends who need TONS of these badges. as well as, well, One of the more obvious perpetrators of my childishness. I see a Scout theme. hrmm . . I blame the Pixar film UP as well as the fact I haven't been harassed nor harassed by a peer in the woods. (maybe next S.G.I.S.Con? don't worry, I will post more about this particular convention in another blog)
Another not-so-secret obsession is to be a nerdcore hip hop MC. Combined with the fact that I need a new phone (old phone is old) the fiance found this abominable app that would allow me to mix beats on the fly and spit rhymes to my i-box-o souls.
But yes, linkgasm aside, I remember back my parents told me to enjoy being young because I didn't know how good I had it. No, my parents made me well aware of how lucky I was, and as such I have continued to -Not grow up-. To the point where my theatre mentor, V-A, nicknamed me Peter Pan, and the group of my friends at "Ehouse" were dubbed my lost boys.
Often enough it is merely the balance of meeting responsibilities and refusing to be hindered by what is considered childish or silly. In many things in life (relationships, business) confidence is key. The mantra "be yourself" or even Polonius' "this above all, to thine own self be true" resonates across the ages. Even if he was kind of a weaselly little bugger (played by Bill Murray in a horrible modern version of Hamlet). Lessons I still haven't learned, I know, but that's why we seek to emulate the things we value. Otherwise we would all be perfect, and if art has shown us anything it's that a perfect world is a BORING world.
Hrrm, distractions, I lost my groove. More on this later.

Paranoia & Nicknames

So, If you read more than a few posts here, you will notice I don't use peoples real names anywhere, and more often then not, they're nicknames.
Ever since the wee years of my internet exploits I was aware of the fact that bad things happen when random people have access to your personal info. It has remained a prudent exercise ever since, hence, why my real name is never used here, and anyone who doesn't already have a well established web handle, gets a nickname I feel adequately describes them, or has been pre-approved by them. a few people who will probably re-occur follow:
Theatreg33k, my fiance, she is also an actress, we live together, owns a cat (don't even get me started on that cat), she's currently employed by a major corporation, is a presence in most social networking sites and has her own site which I can't find right now. More about her and our relationship in other posts, trust me.
Epyon_avenger: A good friend of mine out here in the left valley. He is a Tech for a private school, a nerdlinger supreme, and hosts a couple Neverwinter servers. One of the many geeks In my D&D circle, doppleganger to . . .
PievuhG: Origionally just, my co-worker, at the high end weapons shop we work at, soon became a great friend as her geeky flag flew brightly, with a rainbow on it. One of the lesbians Theatreg33k and I have added to our collection (we collect lesbians, i'm sure there will be a post) she's cureently single, and it has been established by all of us that her and Epyon are the same people from different realities, or something to that effect. She used to do Repo, and is a mechanic, soooo dykey, its great.
The Blave: An overacheiver, a bear of a man, a teddy bear that is. He looks like like a viking, very norse pillager, but he's happy and amicable all the time. A theatre/english teacher at a local high school, The Blave is also a constant fixture in our D&D groups. I call him The Blave because he has a penchant for telling outlandish white lies, and more often than not people beleive him. see D.O.S. in any of Theatreg33ks other sites.
I will post other character profiles later, probably name them Nicknames again.