Reasons Why I Love Being A Geek

 These are just a few reasons I love being a geek!

Reason #4 - You meet some of the most fascinating people who share some of your interests and become terrific friends.

Reason #13 - Some fandoms are so large that no matter where you go (from moving to a new city to traveling around the world) you can find and connect with other fans.  This made my first move from home much easier because I was immediately able to connect into the Star Wars community where I moved and make new friends right away.

Reason #1 - It becomes a lot easier to find excuses to wear costumes.

Reason #1138 - Pictures with other friends and fans in costume make for some of the best memories.

Reason #6 - Hearing a child yell out, "Mommy!  Mommy!  Look!  An alien!" as you run through an airport to get to your connecting flight with Lekku on your head is priceless.

Reason #23 - The look on children's faces when they see you in costume is priceless.

Reason #3 - Geeky trivia challenges while waiting in line for a gaming console/midnight movie opening/con event make for great laughs and fun chances to spout off random geeky knowledge.

Reason #pi - It means you have friends to celebrate and appreciate the wonderful celebration that should occur at 1:59 and 26 seconds every March 14th.

Reason #42 - Having friends who understand why you walk around with a towel on May 25th.

Reason #100 - Conventions.

Reason #88 - Lightsaber battles in the park.

Reason #89 - Having your first married fight be a lightsaber duel at your wedding reception...

Reason #90 - Having friends awesome enough to bring their lightsabers and act as an honor guard arch as you leave your wedding.

Reason #24 - Getting to learn a wide variety of crafting/sewing skills from your multi-talented geeky friends.

Reason #36 - Having your laugh and sneeze compared to sound effects from movies.  My laugh sounds like a Veractyl call and my sneezes like blaster bolts...

Reason #37 - Having your laugh made the official sound effect of the group.

Reason #5 - It's fun!

Reason #63 - Because finding friends who love your geeky side is the best.

Reason #2187 - Having a friend where her hair in the Princess Leia ceremonial hairdo for your wedding.

Reason #31 - Apparently dancing the Macarena to the Imperial March while wearing a Twi'lek costume is highly entertaining for the audience (not to mention - a ton of fun :p).



Reason #72 - Finding your spouse through an online message board for your hobby (Star Wars - theforce.net) because someone dared him to talk to the next girl to post is a fun "how we met" story to tell.

Reason #91 - All my wedding ceremony songs were from Star Wars - except one.  It was from The Legend of Zelda.

Reason #7 - Creating a list of geeky things you've done on a pizza box while waiting in line in the freezing cold in Madison, WI for launch day of the Wii console to arrive...

Reason #95 - Being asked if you are a Knight that says Ni so often while in Castle Crashers gear that you incorporate a little Monty Python into your Masquerade skit.



Reason #103 - Competing in Masquerade with friends.  I fire bend at 13:26, but you should watch the whole thing.  Brother Silence (Cheeser) does a fabulous job!  And my hubby dons the completed Org. XIII cloak  and the key that he has spent much time on.  Plus, there were many  other wonderful costumes!



Video by Nathan Smith


Reason #9999 - This list will constantly grow. :)

FIAWOL - Speak Out With Your Geek Out

FIAWOL - "Fandom is a way of life."  This pretty much sums me up.  I'm a geek.  I'm proud of it.  Sometimes other people don't like that about me, but overall, I've found that most people don't mind.  They enjoy glimpses into my crazy geeky life as long as I'm not forcing them to join me.  So don't be afraid to share your hobbies - you might be surprised by who else shares them too.
 
Speak Out With Your Geek Out

The following questions were provided by the organizers of Speak Out With Your Geek Out.  Here are my answers:

 1. What words of reassurance do you want to share with people who feel embarrassed about their hobbies?

If you are having fun with your hobby - it shouldn't bother you if someone else doesn't understand.


2. Why are you proud to identify yourself as a geek? Can you do this in a way that doesn't condescend or sound elitist?

I'm proud to identify myself as a geek, because geeks have a lot of fun.  We really aren't that different from anyone else with a passion for something.  Take your die hard sports fan for example.  They deck a room (or their whole house) out in team colors and team items.  They host team themed gatherings (otherwise known as a Game is on).  Many will dress in their favorite team colors and a proud few will even deck themselves out in face paint.  Some also immerse themselves in virtual games with the players they love (ex. Fantasy Football).  I'd propose that they are similar to fans of other genres.  I will use one of my main fandoms, Star Wars, as a comparison.  My husband and I have personally decked out much of our house with Star Wars themed items - from my Star Wars apron and cookie cutters to the coffee table my husband is currently constructing to hold our LEGO Star Wars Ultimate Collector's Millennium Falcon.  We've hosted Star Wars RPG nights and helped organize social gatherings for the Spokantina (the local Star Wars Fan Force that I helped found).  My husband and I, not only wear the geeky Star Wars t-shirts, but we costume.  In this fandom, he has a Jedi costume and I have a Sith Twi'lek and am working on a "ride-able" Tauntaun.  As far as virtual games go, we've both played many Star Wars themed video games and have also participated in online Role Playing campaigns (one of which ran for several years - I <3 my Jedi Outcasts family!).  So, personally, I'd place myself, as a Star Wars fan, on the same level as a die hard Sports fan.  Being a geek doesn't make you better than others - it just means you are getting a lot of enjoyment out of life that others who decide to hide their hobbies might me missing.

3. True confessions: If you have engaged in nerd rage or edition wars, what would you say to someone who said they weren't going to try your hobby because you were too negative?


I've never engaged in edition wars - other than siding with the Han shot first (though I'd argue "Han shot." period).  Mainly, I find these wars humorous (especially anit-Jar-Jar rants, but then, I secretly like Jar-Jar for the humor he brings - he's a bit on the silly side, like me).  I enjoy all my fandoms.  My fandoms include the ever "feuding" Star Wars and Star Trek (there is no reason you can't enjoy both), Harry Potter, Lord of the Rings, Avatar - The Last Airbender, The Legend of Zelda, Mario, and Pirates of the Caribbean.  I may geek out about some more than others, but I don't tend to rant about any of them.  If someone informed me I was too negative about one of my fandoms, I would ask them which one and why.  If it turned out that I truly was rather negative about it, it would probably be time to drop that fandom for me.

4. When was the first time you realized you loved your hobby (or vocation)?


Hobbies - hmmm.... my longest running hobby is probably crafting - which can probably be linked back to the first time I held a hammer... I'm pretty sure that was some time before I turned 5.

5. For professionals out there, how did you turn your passion for your hobby into a career?


Ask me this again a few months down the road - when my Mom's and my crafting store has been open for a while.

6. Remember a time when someone put you down for the hobbies/vocation you love so much. Now, imagine sitting down to a table and introducing them to your passions and how they make you happy. How would you do it and what would you pick?

I tend to show them my pictures of the various things I've done involving my fandoms or I tell them stories from conventions or RP nights.  I usually try to start from an interest that I know they have and try to highlight some things our interests share.  If they don't want to hear about it, I don't push the issue.  I'm happy with my hobbies - my happiness does not require outside approval.

7. Is there a hobby or vocation you think you'd be passionate about but haven't had the time/courage/opportunity to learn?


I'd like to learn to belly dance and think that I would have a lot of fun with it.  I've still got a lot of working out to do before I'd feel confident to sign up for a class.

~*~*~*~

 Also, because I am super excited about it.  I'm featured on geekcrafts.com today!

Leveling Up - Level 27 - Human - Bard

I turned 27 today.

Last night I celebrated with some friends and family with a BBQ.  Today, I spent the morning with my mom discussing the online business we are starting (selling crafty creations).  My late afternoon was spent at work.  Now hubby and I are ordering pizza and plan on playing a board game after dinner.  This weekend we will have some more friends over to celebrate with a board game night.  It is always wonderful to catch up with friends.

As for birthday wishes, I received well over 100 happy wishes from the various online communities I am a part of.  I even got a birthday greeting from a random stranger as I left work (because work gave me a balloon as part of my gift).

It was a nice day and I am surrounded by wonderful friends and family, on and offline.  So thank you all for making my day a special day.  I look forward to what level 27 has in store for me.  Oh, and because one of my awesome friends made me think about it.  I would allocate my skill points for this level up into Artisan (this would aid in the new joint business endeavor with my mother), Languages (because I want to learn more Japanese), Music (because I'd like to make progress on the violin), Craftsman (due to plans for an awesome Pai Sho table and wanting to finish a chain mail piece), Reflexes (this would be helpful in learning to fence as well as in generally staying on my feet :p), and Stamina (so that all of the above don't kill me).

Recent Food Endeavors

Fun with food creations.

My recent food endeavors have included:

Using my Star Wars pancake molds for the first time. Probably shouldn't show them to my younger siblings... they might want to play with their food too...

Baking my first Pavlova - a very delicious Aussie/NZ dish (thanks to Mum for the family recipe - I can't share it, so please don't ask for it). There are several Pavlova recipes on the web if you'd like to try it. It's a yummy meringue cake topped in fresh made whip cream (not the stuff you buy in the store) and berries. So delicious!

Baking my first carrot cake (it was from a box). I made a double layer cake. One layer was carrot cake, the other layer was chocolate cake. This is the D20 cake in the pictures. The pans I used were a bit on the small side so I made cupcakes with the extra batter. I then used the cupcakes to shape the D20 for the top of the cake. It was frosted in cream cheese frosting and then I used sprinkles to do the decorating (cutting out printed letters/numbers and placing them on the cake before adding the sprinkles and then peeling them off for sprinkle free words and numbers. This was made for Joe's birthday as he said carrot cake with chocolate cream cheese frosting was his favorite. I couldn't find chocolate cream cheese frosting (and didn't think that all I really needed to do was mix in cocoa) so I layered the cake with the chocolate instead.

And the Discworld birthday cake for Nora which I detail here: Discworld Dessert

As I am typing, I currently have my second Pavlova baking. This time I do not plan on opening the oven door until tomorrow morning. Hopefully it will not fall this time (though last time was still yummy). My Mom is looking forward to the Pavlova as my Mum (Mother-In-Law) got her hooked on it during my parent's last visit to Colorado.

I've decided recently that I'd like to try a new dish each week (doesn't have to just be desserts). My friend even loaned me a Celtic cookbook to look through. But don't worry, this won't turn into a food blog - though I will probably share about my new endeavors.

Liebster Blog Award

Liebster is German and means dear or beloved. So this is a neat little award to receive. I'm not 100% sure where, when or how it originated, but it has been passed from one small (but awesome) blog to another for quite some time. This award works a lot like a game of tag. When someone tags you, letting you know they value your blog, you are asked to continue by honoring others with the award as well. This award serves as a way to connect others to small (but awesome) blogs that you enjoy. It doesn't boost your readership overnight, but it does let you know of new blogs that you may also find an interest in and serves as a small scale networking tool.

I received this award from the wonderful and talented Maze. She is the author of I'm Finding Me Again, a blog I was linked to in a thread on the NaNoWriMo site discussing the Day Zero Project. I've really enjoyed reading her blog (even if I haven't thought of 101 things for my Day Zero Project list yet). If you feel like you need inspiration to go reach your goals - I would check her blog out. She's been crossing goals off her list left and right.

The rules for passing on this award state that recipients should then pass it on to 3-5 bloggers they follow that have less than 200 readers and then let those bloggers know they have received the award. As I set out to pass on this award, I realized that I have never commented on some of my favorite blogs.

In no particular order, these are the blogs I am passing this award on to:

Jenny Geek - I'm not 100% sure she has less than 200 readers as her followers aren't listed. She takes a fun approach to her life and the comics that accompany her posts are cute! She's a geek and her posts reflect that she has embraced that aspect of her life. I hope you enjoy her posts as much as I do. I've missed them since she has been on vacation. Now, I need to actually comment on her blog for once - instead of remaining the silent reader.

The Quilt List - Not only is this woman an amazing quilter, she also makes some of the most fascinating charm bracelets I have ever seen. It seems like she is finishing a new project each week and I sit here in awe of what she comes up with. I encourage you to go bask in her creativity.

Captured by Crane - My Aunt is an incredibly talented photographer. With photography as one of my many hobbies, I am always amazed at the photo shoots my Aunt captures. She does beautiful work.

RotS - This one doesn't get a link because it is a private blog. I enjoy reading it immensely as the author is doing a marvelous job telling a fascinating tale. I can't wait to find out what happens next.

SpoCon 2011

There is so much that I could say about SpoCon this year. It was a total blast. So this will be a weekend recap of sorts and I know I will still forget something.

Friday morning, I had the honor of attending the Guest/Pro Breakfast where I was privileged to sit with several of the other League of Extraordinary Writers 2011 Writing Contest finalists (Kaye, Greg, Scott, and Esther), a member of the ConCom, and several members of the Dead Gentlemen (Brian Lewis, Scott Brown, Christian Doyle, and a gal whose name momentarily escapes me). The breakfast was highly entertaining. All of the Dead Gentlemen are a lively group and rather outgoing.

After breakfast finished, I joined Kaye, her mother, Kathy, and Kaye's friend, Jordan. I chatted with them as I did some hand stitching on my costume. About 2.5 hours later, registration opened and I stood in line for an hour to get my badge. I got my badge just in time to rush off and meet with C. J. Cherryh, who spent a half-hour critiquing my writing contest submission and gave me many helpful tips and encouraged me in my writing. This was the perfect way to start a con!

I ended up going to several other writing panels over the course of the weekend and received tips from authors: Patricia Briggs, John Dalmas, C. J. Cherryh, Jane Fancher, Tanglwyst de Holloway, Alma Alexander, Mark Ferrari, Deby Fredericks, and owner of Blue Falcon Editing, Andrea Howe. There are so many things I am very excited to work on in my writing thanks to these wonderful people. I also met several wonderful aspiring authors at these panels and look forward to some day reading their work.

Friday night couldn't arrive soon enough for me. I've been looking forward to Opening Ceremonies for months, because that is when the L.E.W. contest winners would be announced.

Photo by Cheeser.

I waited on pins and needles. Eager to hear my name when the announcements finally arrived.

"Second place winner for Flash Fiction is..." My brain went into shock as I realized that they had not read my name. There were only two finalists in each category. They didn't say my name! That means... Shock gripped my brain and I found that I couldn't voice the conclusion my brain had arrived at. Then I heard my name read as the General Writing Contest Flash Fiction winner. I don't even think the announcer had finished reading my name when my husband's cheers deafened me. He was just as excited as I was - only his vocal cords were functioning.

Photo by Cheeser.

So this is me, with my medal. It has the awesome SpoCon logo on the front and the back is engraved. The other half of my prize is a gift certificate to Blue Falcon Editing for the editing of my flash fiction entry. Words cannot even express my excitement.

Photo by Cheeser.

My husband and I celebrated by going out to eat with a friend and then rushing home to sew more on our costumes. We finished them around 12:30 p.m. and headed for the con.

We signed up for the Masquerade. It was so much fun performing my flag routine (even if I dropped one of my flags). There were several really awesome costumes present. One of my favorites was a gal dressed up as a white wolf. The costume had beautiful detail.

Photo by the Spokantina member I handed my camera to...

Masquerade results:
Firebender [Avatar - The Last Airbender] {Me} - Best Performance - Journeyman Class
Roxas [Kingdom Hearts II] {My Hubby} - Best Workmanship - Journeyman Class
Brother Silence, Cass [Gamers II - Dorkness Rising] {Our friend, Cheeser} - Best of Show

Photo by the Spokantina member I handed my camera to...

And a shot with Cheeser in his Snowtrooper armor and me with flags to show you how they looked moving.

Other con highlights:

Filking (click here for what filking is) - this was so much fun! I only regret that I wasn't able to stay the whole time and missed the first night of it. The filking circle was so friendly! I really need to figure out how to get my hands on a song book.

Meeting Dragon Dronet - this man is a masterful prop builder and armorer. He does beautiful work. He brought several pieces to pass around.

Photo by the Spokantina member I handed my camera to...

He even let me put on the Samurai helmet used in the t.v. series Heroes.

Photo by the Spokantina member I handed my camera to...

Teaching others how to twirl flags - during the dance I taught several other con goers how to flag. It was highly entertaining, especially when Alfredo decided to give one a whirl.

Getting asked for my autograph six times since they put all the contest entries in an anthology (if you granted permission). I love my copy of the book and was super excited when I discovered that my flash fiction story, Fate, was the first one. I tracked down two of the other writers in the book to have them sign it as well {I wanted to get everyone, but was unable to locate them all}.

And my overall favorite con memories are every one of them spent with friends (new and old alike). I had a blast hanging out with all my geeky buddies and can't wait to do it all again next year.

EDIT: I will be adding more pictures (and hopefully video) when I find them.

Photo by Lady Mischief


Video by Nathan Smith

I fire bend at 13:26, but you should watch the whole thing. Brother Silence (Cheeser) does a fabulous job! And my hubby dons the completed Org. XIII cloak and the key that he has spent much time on. Plus, there were many other wonderful costumes!

Discworld Birthday Dessert

So a few weeks ago, one of my best friends mentioned that it would be awesome to have a Discworld birthday cake. So this last Saturday, with the help of her daughter, I made her a Discworld dessert. The world is made out of white chocolate dyed blue, with milk chocolate land masses and butterscotch mountains all melted a drizzled together to form a world map of sorts, complete with powder sugared snow mountains on one of the continents. The elephants are plastic (and if you look closely you may catch a glimpse of the two elephant substitute, zebras - as in my hunt for elephants, I only managed to locate two). The turtle is made of rice krispy treats covered in vanilla frosting dyed green. Nora added the butterscotch chip eyes. All in all, the dessert was yummy and now I find myself wanting to read the books.



The birthday girl and her dessert.






The dessert makers.