Geek Girls Network

So, first of all, I've been apparently living under a rock, because one of my favorite blogs, which I read quite frequently, has me linked on its front page under its "G33KTASTIC LINX"!! Yes, good ol' Geek Girls Network has little ol' me right there. And I've never noticed it until now. I feel so honored and so lame at the exact same time.

Now, why get so excited about this you ask? Well, let's start right here. If you're reading my blog, then you're probably a geek. I don't know what kinds of geeks you are, but I'm assuming you're a geek of some kind. Comics, video games, sci-fi, fantasy, cosplay, food, LEGO, toys, Shakespeare, Lovecraft, whatever.

So, if you read blogs and are a geek, then you need to check out GGN if you haven't already. It's run by an awesome group of ladies. And no, it's not just for girls. It's just *mostly* written/run by girls. The wonderful Kristin, Nicole, Amy, Katie and MANY MANY others write about pretty much anything you can think of. And a lot of stuff you've not. Some of their recent postings have been about dirty comics of old, regular comics of new, and how it's okay for kids to play video games.

Then there's the podcast. Yes, Kristin and Nicole host a bi-monthly podcast that can be found on iTunes or here. It's fun, it's silly, and they have had some incredible interviews. My favorite ones so far have been, well, I can't honestly narrow it down. Recent highlights have been an interview with MythBuster Grant Imahara (can't tell you how jealous I was!) and listening to the two hosts geek out over Kristin's recent exposure to Doctor Who for the first time ever. It's so much fun.

They've hosted some epic tweet-ups and parties, most notoriously (?) the one at SDCC that was sponsored by the Science Channel! From what I understand, that one was absolutely insane, and I'm so sad I wasn't there. I hope to get to one some day. *cough*GenCon*cough* *sneeze*Dragon*Con*sneeze* For now, I just have to experience them vicariously via the blog, Twitter, and Facebook.

So, if none of this awesomeness has convinced you yet, what about this last bit? The website is all purple-y!! My favorite color!

Casting Magic

So, randomly, this weekend, I decided I wanted to try and learn how to play Magic: The Gathering. The hub played quite a bit in the past, so he agreed to teach me. We set out to buy some pre-made decks and a box of cards for deck-building, just in case. (Good thing we did, as I'd soon find out.)

Knowing nothing about the game mechanics going in, I tried to figure out what kind of deck I'd want based on what I read on the boxes and what the hub had told me about the various colors. I ended up getting a Blue/White deck, and he chose a Red/Green deck so that we had cards in a variety of colors. They were very pretty. :)

We played an open game so I could see what was happening, and he could explain things as we played. Early on, we could see he was going to annihilate me because I wasn't drawing any land, so he started playing nice. I wholeheartedly took advantage of this. I know, I'm awful! I ended up beating him because I put his creatures to sleep. I had been hiding my Sleep card so he didn't know it was coming. :)

Then we decided to build a deck. I thought it would be fun to play Red/Black after looking through all the cards we'd bought. How right I was!

First I played against a Blue/White deck, and other than his flying creatures I couldn't block and that he used Pacifism on my Dragon, I beat him fairly easily by pinging away at him with my Blood Seeker and Giant Scorpion. Deathtouch, FTW!

Then, he decided to try his Red/Green deck again that he'd played with last night. He could've beat me with that one and all of his giant Wyrms, but I discovered some more lovely things in my black deck. They are cards that took care of his insane attacks. I also had a bunch of little, relatively worthless creatures out blocking for me, so when he attacked with a +20/+20 buffed Wyrm of some sort with Trample, I only tool 13 damage, and I'd buffed back up to a full 20 at that point. And since I blocked with a Deathtouch creature, his poor Wyrm died. (I'm not sarcastic or gloating at all. Such a sore winner - and sore loser.) I then managed to take him out using things like Doom Blade and Hideous End.

I've decided I really like playing with this deck we built. It's very much a strategy deck that plays more defense and slowly whittling away at the opponent's life, but for now, I feel safe with it. And that's what I want for a newbie. We also have some friends who still play, so I'm hoping I can play more, and lose graciously. That'll be my biggest challenge...

Geek and Gamer Girls Anthem and Me

So, I'm pretty sure you've all seen this video by now, but I absolutely LOVE it! The Team Unicorn girls are my new g33k heroes along with Bonnie Burton, Ashley Eckstein, Felicia Day, and Marian Call! I'm seriously proud to be a geek!!

Geek and Gamer Girls Song

And now my personal commentary into how I fit with the lyrics of this song:

“G33k & G4M3R Girls”
Greetings friends….
Don’t you want to meet a nice girl? I'm a nice girl! Sometimes.
(First verse)
I, know a place
Where the gamer scores are so extreme (bloop boop boop!)
Dune Watched the movie, found it amusing, D & D, Played once, SO want to play again!
Where Rand al’Thor still reigns supreme
Questin’, in Hyrule LOVE me some Zelda!
Dominating Final Fantasy (Seven) and VIII and IX and X, X-2, XI... (yeah yeah, siete)
Those boys
Losin’ sleep
Tryin’ ta keep up with our l33t sp34k Yeah, I can read l337 (what up, n00bs?) (n00b sauce)
Be a part of our world
In latex and bows
Cuz’ these girls play cos’
Set our phasers to stun Star Trek, FTW!
You’ll be falling in love
Ooooooh oh ooooooh
(Chorus)
Geek and Gamer girls
We’re unbelievable
Comic books Currently reading: Fables vol 1 and Batman: Hush
And Manga in stock
Hasbro toys
So rare No, but I've got 381/1000 Little Frakkin' Colonials Starbuck Maquette
We got the mail-away
Ooooooh oh ooooooh
Geek and Gamer girls
We’re undefeatable
FPS
Achievement unlocked
Jedi represent Wars over Trek, anyday!
Now put your sabers up
Oooooooh oh ooooooh
(Verse 2)
We, love Stan Lee (Excelsior!)
And Joss created all our favorite shows There could be no truer statement!
We Frag
In our sleep (Killjoy!)
We will pwn your ass in Halo (uh oh) Gotta say, I hate Halo, but it's a personal attachment (detachment?) reason, mostly...
Be a part of our world (Be a part of our world…)
In latex and bows
Cuz’ these girls play ‘cos
Set our phasers to stun (Set our phasers to stun…)
You’ll be falling in love
Ooooooh oh ooooooh
(Chorus)
Geek and Gamer girls
We’re unbelievable (Tri-force!)
We all know
That Han shot first (It’s a trap!) I use "It's a trap!" way too often in conversation.
Anime
No dubs
We want originals Subtitles, please!
Ooooooh oh ooooooh
Geek and Gamer girls (Level up!) Ding! w00t! gratz!
We’re undefeatable
RPG
Achievement Unlocked
Browncoats represent (Shiny!) So shiny, you'll never know!
We aim to misbehave Gotta be Big Damn Heroes!
Oooooooh oh ooooooh
(Rap)
Farscape
Sailor Moon
Hogwarts boys all make them swoon Such a HP geek, I've got a quill tattoo!
Aragorn, Legolas These boys are hott!
These are the boys they love the best
I mean they’re good to go
Love Scifi, yo’
Marvel X-Men!
DC Batman! Green Lantern!
Vertigo Fables!  But where's Dark Horse?! (My fave!)
The girls are sweet
They can’t be beat
Super fine like Peach Why's she always getting captured? Again...
Darth Maul
Standing tall
He’s so bad A mad smexy Zabrak! Those horns... I was a Zabrak in SW:G!
So say we all
Epic Lootz
For the Win
Hyjal’s what we’re raiding in
Haxxors
Konami Code up up down down left right left right B A
Doctor Who Want to be a companion and travel across time and space!
Expert Mode
Game genies, WoW fiendies, Sith meanies The Dark Side has cookies!
No weenies
Don’t forget
They the queen-ies
Gamer ladies? (Yeah?)
Raidin’ tonight babies? (Uh huh!)
I’m all up on y’as
Cuz you representin’ geek and gamer girls
(Ohhh yeahh)
(Chours)
Geek and Gamer girls
We’re unbelievable
Comic books
And Manga in stock (Hey!)
Hasbro toys
So rare
We got the mail-away
Ooooooh oh ooooooh
Geek and Gamer girls (Finish him!)
We’re undefeatable
MMO
Achievements unlocked
Trekkers represent (Red shirts, red shirts!) I'm getting there! Educating myself on Trek.
(trekkers, trekkers)
Now put your phasers up
Oooooooh oh ooooooh
(Geek and gaaaaameeerrr, Geek and gaaaaamerrr, giiirrrlll)
Geek and gamer girls man
I really wish they all could be
geek and gamer girls
(Geek and gamer)
(Geek and gamer girls)
Game over.

 How do you g33k out?! 

Dragon*Con Day 2

So, I've been slow on the reporting back, and I've gotta get all of this typed out before I start forgetting the insane stuff!

Saturday was officially Day 2 of Dragon*Con, and it didn't start out so well...

I didn't sleep well on Friday night, and kept waking up feeling crappy. I thought I was dehydrated, so I kept a bottle of water by the bed and kept drinking out of it. When I finally woke up (for good) around 9:00, I was seriously shaky, and it was scary. My blood sugar had crashed REALLY badly. I laid in bed for over an hour before my stomach had settled enough that I could even eat something. By the time I had finally eaten enough to move around, it was, like, 11! So, of course, we missed the costume parade! :( I got dressed in my awesome Triana Orpheus costume (Venture Brothers, for the uninitiated) and trekked to the Hyatt to get in line for the Eureka/Warehouse 13 crossover panel.

The awesome @CapSteveRogers saved us a spot in the line that hadn't "officially started yet" because line timing is so controlled. We chilled in line with our awesome Twitter friends and some annoying girl who kept butting into our conversation. We also got to people-watch all of the awesome Venture Brothers costumes (that weren't mine) since the VB panel was right before the E/WH13 one.

I felt like I was going to pass out again so Hub went to get me some Chick-fil-A. He's awesome! After I managed to feel mostly human, we filed into the ballroom to see another hilarious panel. Well, ok, the few times Eddie McClintock, Neil Grayston, and Colin Ferguson got to talk, it was hilarious. It ended up, being another Q&A panel, and all, that everything was directed at Saul Rubinek, Erica Cerra, and Rene Auberjoinois.  And most of the questions were all serious and stuff.

I'm the tiny purple head right above the microphone (next to a bright yellow shirt)

pic stolen from @EddieMcClintock!

Except when Tia Carrere mentioned that on a future crossover episode that Eddie and Colin should mud wrestle. Then Colin started to take off his shirt, and Eddie stood up and shook his butt at the whole room. I wish I had that on film. Because it was really funny.

Oh, and they REALLY embarrassed Neil with talk about the Fargo-Claudia relationship and how he apparently quite enjoyed kissing Allison Scagliotti. Just like Sean Maher, super cute when embarrassed!

It was fun getting to see the stars of some of my newest fave shows live and to see how much fun the obviously have on set together. We were able to see why the shows are so great - that the casts have incredible chemistry.

And I'm pretty darn sure there's gonna be more crossover episodes in the future. Or at least I got the feeling from the way the panel had such great plot ideas already in mind for future episodes. I sure hope so. When Claudia went to Eureka was one of my faves this season, and it's on as I'm writing this!

After we managed to survive the insanity in that panel, we wandered back to the exhibition halls and checked out the Quantum Mechanix booth, which we couldn't get near the previous day. The coolest thing ever was that we got to play with the (not really working) replica Farnsworth and talk to the guy who designed and built every single one by hand. If they weren't $300, we probably would've bought one. I bought a "Wash is My Copilot" license plate frame and also drooled over a model BSG Viper Mark II which was estimated to start at $1500 when they hit production.

Jake also got a great compliment from a guy who designed much of their Firefly gear, as well. He was told it was nice to finally see a Jayne of the right size and build. See, there were a lot of Jaynes at the con, but not many were tall and muscley like Jake is. He's actually the same height as Adam Baldwin and has similar-sized arms. So he was the best Jayne I saw all weekend. (But I'm biased!)

We ended up eating dinner in line for the Battlestar Galactica panel and doing some awesome people-watching in the Marriott at the same time. See, it should be called Line*Con. Lots of lines. Oh, yeah, and the camera battery died right before we got to see Edward James Olmos, Aaron Douglas, Mark Sheppard, Rekha Sharma, and Richard Hatch (not the Survivor guy)!

This was another panel that was monopolized by the old guys. It was great to hear Olmos speak about some of the technical side of things and the impact that BSG has had on our society like the UN visit and all, but that's pretty much all the panel was. That and Sheppard and Douglas having some kind of hysterical inside joke going on that they couldn't share with us. :P

A few other awesome stories were told by Sharma and Douglas, but I am not going to say anything since they are TOTAL spoilers, and I know some of you haven't seen all of the series yet. <3

The one thing missing from BOTH panels on the day that would have made them even better was James Callis! Baltar/Grant is awesome! 

Before we let the Marriott, I stood *thisclose* to Aaron Douglas, and was going to try to talk to him, but then I realized he was with a bunch of friends and was bitching about his friend who he sent to get drinks and wasn't pack yet. Since he was being social with his own group, I took Wil Wheaton's advice, and decided not to be a dick. But seriously, I wanted to run up to him and give him a giant hug!

From one show about awesome spaceships to another, we left BSG and went to the Browncoat Shindig. It was a big party/dance/concert open to all *Con-goers, but geared towards the fans of the Whedonverse, specifically Firefly. Almost everyone there was in Firefly-themed costumes or tees. Jake was still Jayne, and I was pseudo-cross-play Jayne (cunning Jayne hat and Blue Sun tee).

AWESOME Kaylee dress and the only Badger I saw! (There were at least 4 of these!)

We got to see two awesomely geektastic performances with all Firefly/sci-fi-themed music! I honestly can't remember the names of the two guys who performed first, but they were Filkers with Celtic-y/bluegrass-y fun stuff. The second part was what I'd been anticipating BIG TIME, though. That was a performance by the ultra-cute, super-geeky Marian Call. If you don't know her music, you need to check her out! If you like my blog, you will like her music.

Plus I got to talk to her after the show, and she got all squee-ish when I told her I was @teacher_geek from Twitter. We're online friends and all. :) I also learned she gives great hugs!

Because it had been a "Kara isn't feeling 100%" kind of day, we went back to the hotel after her show and went to sleep. Needless to say, I slept much better, because I really needed it!

Cross-play Hatred and I at the Venture Compound booth. I perfected the Triana-looking-bored pose during the day.

Dragon*Con Part 1

I just got home from my first-ever convention. It was an absolutely insane experience. I'm exhausted. And I can't wait to go back again next year!!

So, here are the first adventures of @teacher_geek and @JayneHatJake at Dragon*Con!!

Day 0: Quest for Badges

We hiked the mile and a half from our hotel, the Renaissance Downtown (con hotels were booked by the time we decided to go), down to the Sheraton where registration was. The line stretched around the entire block of the hotel before it ever even got inside. So we stood. For two hours. In the Atlanta summer. Honestly, though, it wasn't horrible, because we got in line at about 7:00, and the sun went behind the buildings pretty soon thereafter.

There was a family from Nebraska with a little 7-year-old boy in front of us who we got to talk to for a few hours. The boy was super cute and decided I was his new best friend when he learned I was a teacher. The wait was also made a bit better by the added soundtrack of Star Trek music. 

We had to wait outside two hours before getting inside to deal with this mess:

Then it was chaos in the room to pick up badges. We were in there almost an hour, then they started calling out random last name letters to go get in the short lines up front. We got called, but our friends with us didn't. After we got our badges, we still had to wait for another 30 minutes for them.

After that, it was crash time. Getting ready for a few LONG days ahead.

Day 1: Initiation by Fire

Costume of the day: Battlestar Galactica off-duty duds (no dogtags - still need to get some! want Starbuck or Boomer, couldn't find them at D*C!) As seen with my friend Briana, dressed as Aviendha from The Wheel of Time.

I only went to three panels the first day, but they were all great. The first one was "What's New in Young Adult Science Fiction and Fantasy Literature." That panel gave bits and pieces about some new and upcoming YA books. The ones I heard about that I'm super excited to get my hands on are:

White Cat by Holly Black

This is the first  in Black's new series "The Curse Workers" about a society where some people have the ability to work curses, good and bad, by simple skin to skin contact. The protagonist is a boy who is born into a curse-working family but doesn't have the same abilities his relatives have.

Ship Breaker by Paolo Bacigalupi

Along a post-apocalyptic Gulf Coast, many people scavenge wrecked ships in order to survive. I was told it would be great for fans of Uglies, so I'm up for it. 

For the Win by Cory Doctorow 

I LOVED Doctorow's first YA book, Little Brother, so I'm really wanting to read this one. It's apparently about sweat-shop MMORPG gold-farmers across the globe and their struggle to defeat evil AFK bosses to make their real lives better by working together. More stuff about electronic freedom from one of the masterminds at BoingBoing. 

Incarceron by Catherine Fisher

Something about a living prison, evil princes who deposed rightful heirs, arranged marriages, star-crossed lovers, etc. Sounds interesting enough for me!

Behemoth by Scott Westerfeld

The follow-up to Leviathan, Westerfeld's re-imagining of  World War I if the Brits were into genetic engineering of animal and machine together and the Germans were totally steampunk. Can't wait!

There were many more on the list that I'd like to read, but these are the ones that really stuck out in my mind as getting on my "Must-Read" list. 

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We spent the afternoon fighting our way through the Peachtree Center Food Court, visiting the Her Universe and Southeastern Browncoats booths, and then finding our way over to the Westin for a Whedon-y good time. While shopping, I scored a killer Chibi Ahsoka Tano tee, met Ashley Eckstein (*squee!!* I mean, how cute is she!?), and got some great Browncoat gear for the boy!

Since we had a long time to wait before the "Simon and Kaylee Reunited" panel, we sat in on "Epitaph Three," a discussion panel about Dollhouse. It was interesting to hear people's takes on the show. I feel like it's one I need to go back and rewatch to get more out of it at this point. Until the end of season two, I didn't REALLY get into it, nor did I put much thought in there. The panel really has convinced me to give it another go. Netflix, anyone? 

- - - - - - - - - - 

After the Dollhouse panel, we went and sat in line for the first Firefly panel of the weekend. It was Sean Maher's first EVER Dragon*Con panel! We ended up with great seats, about five rows back, just off-center, for the Q&A with Jewel Staite and Sean. I honestly can't remember much except for a few things. The first of those is why I can't remember anything else. 

I was starstruck. Yes, I'll admit it. Since it was a Q&A panel, they had two mics set up in the ballroom open to the attendees. No one was lining up on our side. I thought of a question quickly and sneaked out the row to the mic. Then I got to have a brief conversation with the incredible Jewel!! 

When I got to the mic, Jewel asked me to try to embarrass Sean. I said I'd do my best. I asked them how they felt about the Simon and Kaylee relationship left unresolved when the show was first canceled. I then got a story about how Sean was with his mom when the show was canceled and how they all went to Nathan Fillion's house to eat his incredible bean dip. Sean was dodging the question, big time. Jewel antagonized him by trying to get him to answer. He clammed up and turned red. Her response was, "Sean said he felt, 'frustrated'." I succeeded in embarrassing Sean Maher. (It seemed like something easy to do, though, to be honest. He seemed very shy.)

Also, they got Nathan Fillion to call both of their phones and goof off for a good five minutes of the panel. It involved Jewel telling him to make a decision based on "WWMRD?" or "What Would Malcom Reynolds Do?"  Then he and Sean made fun of Jewel for said advice. It all ended with 1200 people flipping Nathan off over the phone. 

They also shared about their experiences working on Warehouse 13. Apparently Eddie McClintock is just as big of a prankster and goof-off on-set as Fillion is. Also, his sense of humor is really dry, and he's got great delivery/timing. And Sean called him Eddie McFuckface. I'm guessing the guest stars got to be the butts of some of his jokes during there time at the Warehouse. 

- - - - - - - - - - 

We met up with @PhysicistLisa and @abrogdon for dinner. It was fun. The boy was impressed because Lisa introduced herself just the way he had hoped. She said, "Hi, I'm Lisa from the Internet!" I thought the boy might have had a tiny squee moment.  It was so much fun to hang out with the first of my Twitter friends. We actually ran into @GameCouch and wife earlier in the day, but we were on our way to panels, so we didn't get to hang out at that point. 


We played our first round of Battlestar Galactica: The Board Game for the weekend and hung out people-watching until our late-arriving friends from Indianapolis got to the hotel. Then we booked it back to help them check in. I squealed and ran through the lobby when I saw @geeksoap, my #WonderTwin, at almost 2:00 am! (I also met @fubbleskag and @CapSteveRogers at that time, who are both frakking awesome in their own right!) 

Then, after getting them settled and talking for a while, I finally fell into a fitful sleep at about 2:45. See? There really *is* no sleep at Dragon*Con!

The Guild Returns

Gamers and RPers of all ages, just a reminder that the awesome web series starring the socially awkward cellist with meta-anxiety, Codex, I mean @feliciaday returns tomorrow! 

If you've never seen it, you can get it at WatchTheGuild.com or on YouTube, iTunes, or through your Xbox. They also run the seasons without any breaks or interruptions between episodes on Netflix Instant Play.

For you, here's the trailer for what's to come in Season 4 of The Guild.

&lt;br/&gt;&lt;a href="http://www.bing.com/videos/watch/video/the-guild-episode-10-the-return/y0y764gg?fg=sharenoembed" target="_new"title="'The Guild' Episode 10: The Return!"&gt;Video: 'The Guild' Episode 10: The Return!&lt;/a&gt;

If you like The Guild and you're going to San Diego Comic-Con next week, #1, I'm super-jealous of you, and #2, you should check out these panels: 

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Thursday Evening, 5:30: Geek Girls Exist

This incredible panel is brought to you by Geek Girls Network and features Morgan Romine (The Frag Dolls), Bonnie Burton (The Star Wars Craft Book), Marian Call (singer/songwriter), Sarah Kuhn (One Con Glory), Jill Pantozzi (Has Boobs Reads Comics blog), Veronica Belmont (Qore), Kari Byron (MythBusters), and Kiala Kazebee (GeekWeek.com). How can you pass that up?!

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Friday Evening, 5:00: Girls Gone Genre

Visit a panel full of awesome geeky female writers for TV, film, comics, and the Interwebs such as Felicia Day, Marti Noxon (Buffy, Angel, Mad Men, etc.), Melissa Rosenberg (Dexter, Twilight), and Annalee Newitz of io9.com.

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Saturday Afternoon, 2:00: The Guild

What more do I need to say? It's the panel for The Guild, the Streamy Award-winning web series and includes Felicia Day, Wil Wheaton, producer Kim Evey, and director Sean Becker.

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For those of you going to SDCC, I hope you have a blast! Make me jealous with lots of pictures and stories, and maybe bring me back something? :) 

If you're going for the first time (or tenth time) and have questions or advice, check out Amy's post at geek with curves just on that topic! Enjoy, and Excelsior!!

Handmade Geek

One of the best things about the blogging and Twitter world is that you come into contact with amazing people, like these crafters who make fun, geeky stuff.  Worthy, even, of a place on our shelves of geek toys in the living room!

First off, there are adorably evil crocheted Cthulhus. They're made by @ruthbeingruth who is also known as @cthulhuchick. If you're interested, you can find them on her Etsy page. She's also got a blog about the project which is quite fun! You can see the journey of CthulhuCthulhu, the conjoined-twin elder god.

Picture from CthulhuChick.com

There are also three incredible ladies who make geek soap! First, Kylee of Luxury Lane Soap. She's so amazing, FOX sent her a cease and desist letter about her "Fight Club" soap. Plus she's the proud owner of a seriously cool Boba Fett tattoo! She's also the one who makes Han Solo in Carbonite soap. You might've heard about it, if you're awesome. It's pretty incredible.

Picture from Luxury Lane Soap

Then there's @GeekyClean who has all sorts of amazing geeky clean soaps, but seems to be most known for her soaps that come with imbedded d20s, TetraSoap, and the Death Bar.

Last, but most certainly not least, is Lesley of GeekSoap. She and I both have schnauzers and are teachers. Yay! Plus her turnaround time on orders was seriously fast! I ordered her d20 soap on a rope and a <3 soap for the hub. She's also got Iron Man arc reactors, Dr. Who, Hitchhiker's Guide, and The Monarch soaps. How cool are those?

I got a few of these things for the hubs for our anniversary.

Kylee and Lesley also started a site to highlight cool geeks who make geeky stuff. Check out G33Kmade when you get a chance!

Harry Potter is My BFF

Before I delve into Harry Potter RP geekiness, check out my Harry Potter/Classical Lit geek tattoo feature by Amy at geek with curves. Thanks so much for featuring me! :)

For many summers (mostly, since I was off work/school and bored) I was a very active member of Envious Magic, a post-canon Harry Potter forum RPG. I had a few various characters, and even was a professor at Hogwarts for a short time.

My favorite part of the whole thing was the writing. It was encouraged that we write long posts in character, and it's probably the best fictional writing I've ever done. Not quite like fan fic, because we were characters of our own creation.

This is my favorite of all my characters, yes, a guy... Slytherin Drake Gordon.

See what I spent too much of my time doing? Here's my "Sorting Ceremony" post:

Why did it seem like every time that something important was happening to Drake, the weather decided to take a turn for the worse? Last year, on his 11th birthday, the day he got his Hogwarts letter, there was a blizzard! The day in June they were supposed to go shopping so he could get his first owl, the streams and ponds on the Gordon estate flooded in a torrential downpour! And here, the night that Drake finally arrived at Hogwarts for the first time, the dreary Scottish weather had taken an unusual turn to icy cold.

Here Drake was, in his school robes for the first time, shivering while standing outside the Great Hall, waiting for his turn to be sorted. With the drafts coming in through the windows and the cavernous stone walls, the cold seemed extremely uninviting. Drake was not happy. As a matter of fact, he seemed a bit...scared? He was very nervous about where he would be placed. He knew that the majority of the Gordons who had attended Hogwarts before him had been Slytherins. A few had been sorted into Ravenclaw every once in a blue moon. He even thought that there were a few Gryffindors in his lineage. But no Hufflepuffs. As a son of a long pure-blood line, he could not even begin to consider what being sorted into Hufflepuff would mean for his standing in the family.

Suddenly, he was jerked out of his deep thoughts and pushed through the door as the Sorting Hat called out, “Drake Gordon.” He shuffled his way to the stool on which the Hat sat. He immediately felt warmer in the Great Hall, but the nervous feeling in his stomach only grew worse as he saw the hundreds of eyes staring up at him. The Sorting Hat was placed on his spiky blonde hair and began to mumble to Drake.

Please put me in Slytherin, Drake thought to the Hat. I’d really like to be there, just like my dad. The Hat paused for a moment and then continued whispering in Drake’s head. He was to preoccupied to hear what it said. He just kept saying over and over to himself – and the Hat – Slytherin, not Hufflepuff. Slytherin, not Hufflepuff!

After a few more excruciating moments on the stool, the hat yelled out, “-------!” Drake pulled the Hat from his head, jumped down from the stool, and ran to join his new housemates that were all on their feet, cheering for their new acquisition.

And another class RP post for Muggle Studies:

Why the bloody hell did he have to take a class that studied Muggles?!  Did his parents know about this?  It would outrage them.  Of course, the one comfort that Drake got out of that particular thought was that his taking the course would outrage Mum much more so than Dad.  Dad, while not a Muggle superfan, could stomach them to some extent, when necessary, for business.  Mum, on the other hand, was a pureblood supremacist to the extreme.  She did not even like the fact that her only son had to fraternize with Muggleborn students at school.  Any pain and irritation that Drake could cause his mother was a good thing, so he knew he would suffer through Muggle Studies, if only for that one reason. 

As he entered the classroom and took his standard seat in the back corner, he remembered that he heard a new professor had been hired for this class, and his reputation was more along the lines of Monaghan than, say, Kamryn.  Drake thought he might actually be able to enjoy a Muggle Studies lesson if Monaghan taught it.  It wouldn’t be all about singing the praises of lowly non-magical humans, if one could even call them human! Once seated, he noticed a relatively young man lounging on a desk in the front of the room. He looked slightly too old to be a seventh year, so Drake assumed he must be the new professor.  The boy in green and silver robes shot to men a short, small grin, and then prepared himself for the lesson. Drake already felt as if he might just enjoy this professor’s class. There was just a certain vibe he was getting from the man.  

The professor’s tone enthralled Drake immediately.  He had a bit of a sarcastic sneer to his lecture.  Especially when he got to the part about some people thinking Muggles were capable of independent thought and action.  Drake smirked right along with the professor.  Then there was the standard talk of Muggleborn witches and wizards, along with their polar opposite, Squibs.  Thank goodness I was not a Squib! What would Mum and Dad have done with me?! he asked himself, careful not to break the no talking rule the professor apparently had.  

So, a foot long essay on what Muggles are to me, Drake mused.  This could be fun.  But at the same time, I might not want to alienate myself too much from the beginning.  I actually like this professor, whatever his name might be.  His ruminations were disturbed by Professor Torres finally announcing to the class what his name actually was.  He was no longer the mysterious new professor without a name.  He was Professor Isaiah Armel Torres.  So, Torres it is, he added to his earlier thoughts.  

Ready to start on his assignment, finally, Drake reached into his schoolbag and retrieved a roll of parchment, his knife, a quill, and his inkpot.  He unrolled the parchment to the one-foot marking on the edge and proceeded to cut off the portion he would need for this essay.  After a quick sharpening of the quill nib and a trip to the ink, and he was ready to write.  Thoughts were reeling in his mind, and he had to get them all organized.  He quickly threw out the things he disagreed with and put ink to paper.  The words just poured out of him.  And, unbeknownst to Drake, subconsciously, a slightly sadistic smile had crept over his lips.

 See? I'm an even bigger nerd than you all thought I was! My favorite reference source for all of this was the Harry Potter Lexicon. It's an incredible HP reference if you ever need ANYTHING Harry Potter related!

And I made Forum Graphics for various things:

I have to say, it was a lot of fun for about three summers, but sadly, the forum is pretty much dead now, and as it's changed hosts since I last RPed, all of my character background is gone. Just a little bit is left. Oh, well. Now I've got this to take care of all things geek.

Wingardium Leviosa

Once upon a time, I was flying home from university for Christmas vacation. My dad thought I needed to fly because if I didn't, I'd lose my thousands of frequent flyer miles I'd been building since I was like, 10, so he bought me a ticket for what would normally have been a two hour drive. It was a longer flight! I had a seriously long layover due to bad weather and a flight delay in Cincinnati, and as I was bored, I sought our the nearest bookstore. What did I find? Something that I probably should have read in 1997 had I even known about it, instead of Christmas holiday 2001. Yes, I picked up a copy of Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone.

I got the pocket paperback edition, as it was small and surefire, like me!

As I often get with something I enjoy, I was obsessive. And I had honestly never really read any form of fantasy lit before. I got the next two books from the public library once I got home. As GoF had just come out relatively recently, it was impossible to get hold of, and I didn't want to buy it hardback as I was a broke undergrad and it cost like $20. I was sad that I had to stop at book 3. 

Then Mom and I were at a used bookstore in the city, and I stumbled across a copy for $10! That was half-off the cover price. Worked for me, plus my mom paid for it. Even better!

And thus began the serious, deep Harry Potter obsession! 

Stay tuned to learn about: 

How I dreamed of living at Hogwarts

How I am apparently a member of Slytherin, Gryffindor, and Ravenclaw (oh, and I go to Beauxbatons)

How I threw a HP-themed party

How the Hub and I were total dorks about Deathly Hallows

How I was über-nerd with HP online communities

I'm only doing this in parts because otherwise one post about my HP obsession would be painfully long!

The Curse of Brains

I never knew being "too smart" was actually a downfall in the world of employment, especially when it comes to molding the minds of the future. Now, I know that places like McD's don't want to hire people with a lot of higher education, because those people are generally way over-qualified for minimum wage jobs and would leave as soon as something better came along. But apparently my nerdiness has become my biggest impediment in getting the job I truly want.

{via}

I really, truly want to teach somewhere between the ages of 6 and 9. That's grades 1-3 in the US. Those are the ages when you see so much potential and growth in kids. It's the time when they're still relatively innocent and have a thirst for knowledge. It's when kids ask a million and one questions and expect you to answer all of them. Kids at that age haven't developed any horrible adolescent attitude problems yet. They think the teacher is an immortal being of great knowledge and power. Basically, they haven't begun to suck as humans at this point. 

 {via}

Sadly, though, I've basically found out that the reason I've not gotten the jobs I've been interviewing for (my in-laws are both administrators in the school district and get inside knowledge) is that other principals think that "with my great content knowledge," also known as I actually have a fully-functional nerd-brain, I am too smart to teach primary grades. WTF, people?! This makes me wonder what the IQ of the average 1st grade teacher is around here. From my experience, teaching those grades are not intellectually taxing, but they require miles more creativity than teaching 6th grade does. To me, that means just as much brain as any other grade! They all think I'd be a wonderful, great, stupendous, *insert other superlative here* teacher in 4th or 5th grade where they want people who actually know the content of science and social studies, but knowing that stuff isn't important in a classroom full of 7 year-olds who ask questions all the time about the world around them... 

 {via}

Whatever. If that's the way they feel about it, then I should look at it as they're losing out, not me. On the plus side, it's now looking like I'll be shifting into a mostly science-teaching position in 6th grade if I stay at the middle school next year. Now that's something I can get excited about.  

 {via}/{via}

Sci-Fi Lessons

While watching Blade Runner tonight, I realized that I have learned many things about the future from science fiction. Here are the lessons I have learned:

The future is dirty. There are not enough garbage men. All we have is Scruffy, the janitor. (Blade Runner, Futurama)

Our modes of transportation don't seem to be much different. Cars fly but still have tires (Blade Runner, Back to the Future), spaceships can be clunkers (Firefly), and there is mass-transit (Futurama).

There are birds. Lots and lots of birds. Random birds. Like owls and falcons and doves. (Blade Runner)

Everyone understands Mandarin. (Firefly and Blade Runner)

Aliens are plentiful, speak English (or at least we can understand them and they us), and aren't always friendly. (Futurama, Doctor Who, The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy)

Clones, evil twins, Replicants, and androids will exist, but they WILL be EVIL. (Like Wil Wheaton)

I am sure there are many other lessons I have omitted here, but don't criticize, share! And please be sure to enlighten us all with WHERE you learned such lessons.

How I Spend My Summer Vacation

No, this is not the horrible essay your teacher possibly made you write that first week of school when you were 10. See, the verb is in the present tense, "spend," not "spent." People always assume that since I have the whole summer off every summer, I get to have all sorts of glamorous travel plans and exciting adventures. That is not the case. First of all, I'm a teacher. I don't have enough money to go on exciting vacations all summer long. Second, the Hub doesn't get much time off from work, and I'm not big on traveling by myself.

So what do I do with three months off each year? Aside from getting the 18 off-contract professional development hours I need for every school year, I read. A lot. Basically, I live off books for the summer. My stack of "To Read" books on the bedside table is so tall, Hub suggested I not buy anymore books until I put a good dent in this stack. I've made pretty good progress so far. I've removed six books from the pile you see here.

Every once in a while, once I read a few books, I'll give you my opinions whether you want to read them or not. What have I been reading? These are the first five down for the summer. And yes, I know, I've only been student (and responsibility) free for a week and a half. So what? :) Most of what I've been reading first is YA lit. It's a bit easier and faster to get through.

 Book#1: The Red Pyramid by Rick Riordan
I enjoyed the Percy Jackson and the Olympians series by Riordan well enough, so I was excited to learn that he was writing a new series that focused no on Greek mythology, but Egyptian. Turns out Red Pyramid is much more than that. It delves into Egyptian mysticism as well as the pantheon of gods and goddesses.

Sophie and Carter Kane are a brother and sister who discover a secret about their family history in the midst of tragedy. They soon discover that gods and goddesses are being awakened in the modern world. There are those on Earth that wish to allow this and those that wish to keep it from happening. The Kanes get stuck in the middle, must learn how to use their newly found powers, and help to keep chaos from being unleashed by Set. This is the first of a series, and it was enjoyable enough that I'd like to keep reading. As a matter of fact, I think it's better-written than the Percy series.
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Book #2: The Warded Man by Peter V. Brett
This book is one of the first "grown-up" fantasy books I've ever read. I've never been much into the epic fantasy wizards and dragons type or books. I actually picked this one up for my husband before he went on an international business trip. It sounded interesting enough to me, but right up his alley. Once summer started, I decided to give it a go at his insistence. I'm glad I did. Once I was able to get through the stodgy first few chapters, I really enjoyed it. As a matter of fact, I'm adding the second of the trilogy to my stack once I found where the hub put it...

In this book, the world is haunted by demons called corelings. People have forgotten how to fight them over the ages. All they have are their herbal medicines and magical wards to protect their homes, farms, and cities. Humans cower in their homes at night, hoping the wards hold. The population is connected only via the messengers who brave the open road to travel from town to village to hamlet, carrying goods and news. When one small town is visited by a messenger after a vicious coreling attack, he inspires courage in a young boy named Arlen. This is his story, the story of a crippled fiddle player, and one of a talented young herb gatherer.
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Book #3: Twisted by Laurie Halse Anderson
As I've loved many of Anderson's books in the past, such as Speak, Catalyst, Wintergirls, and Fever 1793, I was hoping that I'd enjoy this one as well.  Sadly, it was a bit of a struggle to get through. Basically, it's the story of a seventeen-year-old boy named Tyler who has a roller-coaster of a senior year thanks to a graffiti prank and an accident involving his arch-nemesis's twin sister. Oh and he's got a messed up family. It was honestly more shallow than any of Anderson's other books I've read. Usually the emotions of the characters draw me in. They're raw and intense, but this book didn't get that way until the very end, and by then, I was pretty much over the book.
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Book #4: Phoenix Rising by Karen Hesse
I think that Karen Hesse is better when writing historical fiction, also when writing in a non-traditional narrative form. This was another relatively disappointing (and depressing) book that I chose based on authors' past performances. Nyle lives with her grandmother on a sheep farm in Vermont. She's dealt with way too much loss in her short thirteen years, but when a nuclear power plant in the southern part of the state explodes, her life changes even more. Her grandmother takes in evacuees who are both sick with radiation poisoning, and Nyle must come to terms with life and death. It was a quick read, but it was too depressing.
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Book #5: The Necromancer by Michael Scott
This is my current favorite YA fantasy series. It, too, involves taking ancient mythological creatures and bringing them into modern day, but Scott has woven a much richer tapestry bringing together Greek, Egyptian, Norse, Celtic, Mesoamerican, and ancient Mediterranean cultures and gods along with real historical figures who have been made immortal by these Elder gods. As always, there's some kind of war going on, and humans are caught in the middle.

In the fourth book of the series, we find the protagonists, twins Josh and Sophie Newman, back in San Francisco with Nicholas and Perenelle Flamel. Sophie has been taught Air, Water and Fire magics already, but Josh only has Water. The plan is to take him to Prometheus for instruction in Fire magic. Dr. John Dee, the magician, has been declared an outlaw by his master Elders and is on the run with another dastardly plan, this time aided by Virginia Dare. Machiavelli is starting to question his purpose and loyalties, but still goes on the quest with Billy the Kid to set a horde of monsters, including a sphinx, loose on SF. Joan of Arc, Scathach, William Shakespeare, Comte de Saint-Germain, and Palamedes find themselves in an alternate Shadowrealm with an impossible task set before them. Over the course of a day and a half, more power is unleashed, Shadowrealms are explored, and history of the world as we know it is revealed.
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Now I'm on to my sixth book. The weather's been too crappy to be outside, plus with my lovely grass allergy, I don't really want to be outside this time of year. My plans are to get to the gym a few times, get to the pool in my in-laws' neighborhood, take a few sewing classes at a local craft and fabric store, cook, eat, sleep, oh, and if you didn't realize it, read a few books.

Even Puppy says to pick up a book this summer!