Citizenship Credit #3: Dragon*Con!

I've been told numerous times to show off my Dragon*Con photos, especially after I wrote about my experience there for my memoir assignment. I took a decent amount of photos, so I won't post them all here. However, I will show off some choice shots. Most of my photos come from generic con running around, while the rest come from my Spread of the Black Plague set. For those of you who remember from reading my memoir, I took my giant microbe plush toy of the Black Death and used it as a silly theme for photos. It was fun. Now if only I can get Flickr to cooperate...



This has to be one of my most shocking photos of the set, if only because this guy had the guts to dress up like a SS Nazi Spock. Yes, Spock as a Nazi. I just had to take a photo of that.


This is Robert Englund, probably better known as Freddy Krueger. He has THE best frightened reaction to Black Plague ever.


Darth Vader!



Last photo I'm posting on here so I don't cause space issues. Steampunk is very much alive at Dragon*Con, and my friend Lindsey had this lovely outfit.

If you want to see the rest of my D*Con photos, you can find them on my Flickr account here, which runs slow at times. Stupid flash.

Citizenship Credit #2: So When Is This Book Being Published?

While Flickr is being slow with me messing with the photos, I think I'll talk about my book! Yes, despite being technically in an English class that is somewhat remedial (at least, that's what Mr. Andy gave the impression of), I actually write. A lot. It's mostly fiction, since I find nonfiction to be a little boring to write about. Anyhow...I'm actually working on being a published author, oddly enough without going for an English degree like most people think is required to put words on paper. If Crichton can be a doctor and write awesome books, then darnit I'm gonna have my engineering degree-shaped cake and eat it, too!

One of my books is titled Urami, which is the Japanese word for "grudge". It is a historical fiction based in the Edo Period in Osaka, Japan, around the late 1600s. The main protagonist is a samurai's wife named Megumi, who is also the mother of two boys and makes kabuki masks. Her husband had a run-in with a yakuza (Japanese mafia) gang in Kyoto, and they had followed him back to Osaka to give him one last chance to work for them. Tragedy befalls upon Megumi and her family when her husband insists on "no". To begin with, her husband is killed that night on the street. If that wasn't bad enough, two goons from the yakuza gang break into her home, kill her sons, raped her, cut off two of her fingers on the right hand for daring to defend herself, and then they burn her house down. Talk about Murphy's Law in extreme mode. The local blacksmith rescues her and cauterizes her wounds as he tells her that they have taken her husband's head. She decides that revenge is the answer, by donning an unpainted Kabuki mask, dressing in her husband's clothes, uses his sword, and disguises herself as a mercenary for hire. On her way to Kyoto she comes across some unlikely allies, like a crazy old hermit that has a knack for explosives and a young ninja who faked his own death to get away from his profession. Will she gain revenge on the yakuza leader that had her husband killed? And if she does, what does she do next?

I've been working on it for...oh...three years now? And I haven't really finished it. I have this nasty plague that seems to attack all writers called "distraction". Usually one thing or another would keep me from sitting down and actually writing. Hopefully I can beat away this nasty habit and get published before I'm too dead to enjoy the rewards. I plan on Urami being a trilogy, and I got the second book mostly planned out in my head. The third book might be a difficult task.

Citizenship Credit #1: Art Gallery

I'm pretty sure I need two extra blog posts, so while I am multitasking with registering a Flickr account (you'll soon see why), I am going to talk about this exhibit that I was invited to at the Joan Derryberry Art Gallery. Alas, I do not have photos, as this was a spur of the moment thing.

Apparently everyone who had a piece on display was enrolled in the BFA program, according to the website. I do remember photos being taken of this girl with a medal around her neck. She was standing next to this beautiful neck piece that had dark fabrics, almost Victorian-esque in presentation. My favorite piece had to be the octopus made from blown glass. There was even a separate display of two tentacles, also made of blown glass, complete with the suction cup things. Another interesting one was this small metal cage with an animal skull in it. There were some abstract pieces, but I'm not really a big fan of the abstract arts.

There was also a small snack buffet, but since we can't really eat in the gallery I opted to wait until I was finished inside to dig in. They had a few different kinds of cheese, chocolate-dipped strawberries, and other tasty things. I ate a small plate full of cheese and fruit on my way home.

It had actually been a while since I've went into an art gallery. I'm an artist, myself, but I didn't think my skills were good enough to even consider being paid to do commission, let alone have something for all to see. With that in mind, I never really went into galleries due to...I suppose jealousy and lack of self-esteem as an artist. However, I had a really good time that day. Perhaps my jealousy finally passed on.

RE: The Triumph of Hope over Self-Interest

Right. So apparently Blogger ate one of my posts and I didn't realize it until nearly too late. Stupid technology. Anyway.

I'm leaning towards agreeing with Mr. Brooks. Americans seem to have these delusions of grandeur that they're all gonna be rich someday, if not already rich. And then they turn around and worry more about the social aspects of Owning Stuff then the fact that sometimes they can't even afford that meal at the Macaroni Grill. It's amazing how most people don't see what's obviously going on. We may not be a Communist nation, but even in our capitalistic society it should be clear that the rich will get richer and the poorer will get poorer until people pull the veil from their eyes.

Me? I'm moving to Germany as soon as it's auspicious to do so. As much as I have to give credit to America for giving me a free place to be born, the citizens make me groan an sigh everyday.

Some English homework

RE: Craft, Care at Flatbread Company Makes Up for Sparse Menu

Is it sad that it took me a short while to realize that "flatbread" meant "pizza"? Must be a regional thing. Reading this article just made me hungry and lament that I can't even afford the really greasy pizzas I'm used to, let alone these organically delicious creations. Her evaluation at the end seemed to mesh well with her descriptions at the beginning, although it begs me to go off on another tangent when it comes to appetizers. Why do we need to have them in the first place? And why does it matter if there are so few? I'm not at a restaurant to eat an appetizer, I go there to eat...food. Appetizers shouldn't even be necessary, that's almost like saying "Hey, your main courses are insufficient enough to feed me! Bring me more lettuce!" Bleh. However, I must jump back to the original topic and say once again that her evaluation was thorough and thoughtful. She describes everything so vividly I can almost picture it in my mind. Mmm, pizza...

RE: Potter Power

And here I thought I was the only one who wasn't all that thrilled with Harry Potter, although the author never did give his opinions on the books, as he was reviewing the movie version. I feel that my personal views on the material made the article seem boring to read, and I found myself merely skimming through it. I'm not a fan of J.K. Rowling's style of writing, even if I overlooked the fact that she is British and I am not. Some of my favorite authors are British, so that excuse you might give me is right out. I must say that the author was a tad snarky, perhaps the poor guy was stuck in the theatre with a bunch of squealing fan girls. If nothing else, Mr. Outhier, I completely agree with your assessment.

RE: Cookie Master and Johnny Depp

RE: Cookie Master

It depressed me a little that an engineering and business degree toting guy would be stuck in a noodle factory writing fortunes, although the story was written in a way that made me forget said feeling. The lottery numbers incident was hilarious, and it's always fun to read about how people get their inspirations for things. Hopefully no one will ever notice his fortune recycling!

RE: Johnny Depp

Man, do you just feel all warm and squishy inside when he talks about how becoming a parent changed things for him? I sure did. It's amusing how famous Mr. Depp has become despite him trying not to be. The joke about him being the Anti-Tom Cruise was hysterical, if nothing else than because it tickled my "I Hate Tom Cruise" bone. I love how people that worked with him thought he was crazy with how he was on the set of Pirates. I always loved his films, especially when he did Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. He's no Gene Wilder, but he plays a very awesome Wonka. I guess I can be considered a Depp fangirl, without the squealing and putting posters of him up on my walls. I can't wait for the next movie that Tim Burton is doing, which once again as Depp as one of his actors. This next movie is based off of Alice in Wonderland, where Depp is cast as the Mad Hatter. Awesome!

Memoir Topic Sketch #3 - Dragon*Con

I'm a geek. If I could find a mountaintop to shout out to the world that I am a geek, I totally would in a heartbeat. I can argue that Picard is better than Kirk, and I swear upon my life that 2nd edition Dungeon and Dragon rules were just fine and 3.5 rules ruined everything. Without going into too much detail, I can say that one thing geeks like to do is take a pilgrimage to a hotel for one weekend and interact with fellow geeks (these are called conventions). One such convention that I wish I started going to sooner is Dragon*Con, a wondrous land of Sci-Fi and Fantasy. There's so many things to do at Dragon*Con that it would be impossible to go to all the events unless you cloned yourself at least ten times.

...I hate timed writing. I got stuck right here due to my severely crappy attention span when it comes to writing about multiple things at once.