I'm a slayer, ask me how.

What do they say about "best laid plans"? We all managed to wake up on time, get showered, get cleaned and roll of Becky's house about when she wanted (she had told her office she had guests and might be later than usual).

But then, as we were driving over, she had a thought - what if there was no parking at the T station?

Apparently, this was a recent problem. Boston has been doing a lot of construction and telling people to use the T but their garages don't have the spots. So on a Thursday morning at 10am, they would max out. Which is what happened. We pulled into Wonderland (yes, that is the name of the T station, apparently there use to be a theme park nearby) and the "GARAGE FULL" signs were up. Becky told us to jump out so we could catch the train and she would drive to the next station and get to work.

Honestly, that was the best thing that could have happened though - if we had let Becky go to work and had driven ourselves over, we would have had no idea where to go next.

We managed to navigate the T during rush hour. Weird thing about getting to the convention center is that you have a couple options and we took the most straight forward - we got on the silver line. Problem is, the "silver line" is actually just a really big bus. That can get stuck in traffic. But it wasn't all that bad, the only rough part was how WARM it was with our winter coats in that crowded space. As soon as we got into PAX, we went in search of the coat check.

Let me tell you, Thursday PAX is my favorite PAX when it comes to actually getting to DO things. Friday and Saturday may have the best panels and events, but Thursday during the day is the best time to just meander the expo hall and play what you want.

We walked through the doors and the first game we saw, well, we didn't actually want to play it but I needed a picture in front of the sign because it was too perfect for our first photo:



Right after this, Mathew ran off to find the miniature arena table because he wanted to see if they had any games going on that day. Zac and I entered the fray. It was my intention to play video game demos but we couldn't resist what we saw next - the new game from Cyanide and Happiness, the creators of Joking Hazard, Trial By Trolley.

It is just as messed up as it sounds. Based on the idea of The Trolley Problem (which, let's face it, most of us know about because of The Good Place), players have their own train tracks assigned to them and play cards on that track, trying to convince a third player to kill the people on their opponents train tracks.



My train tracks started out with the little girl that would grow up to be the first female president. Zac got the last remaining honey bees on the planet. Then we had to talk with the demo guy and feel out his likes/dislikes to know which card we should play next. I found out he had a family and he liked them, and I had a card in my had that put his entire family on the train tracks. And it went on from there, us trying to convince him which track to roll down. You could see it being fun with friends that you know how to manipulate. Similar idea to 'Joking Hazard' where you can appeal to their twisted minds.

Mathew caught up with us after this and as we walked deeper into the Expo Hall, we passed Apple TV+ booth with a giant eagle statue, promoting their show Mythic Quest. I didn't really care about the show, but it was a GIANT EAGLE STATUE and we could pose on it and no one was there so heck yeah I got in line!

( lots of ridiculous photos under the cut, you know you want to see the silly! )

It's almost midnight so I'm going to break here for the post. But this is not the end of day 1!

Thanks for reading!

Leaving tomorrow!

VERY behind on all of your posts, I am so sorry. I have no one to blame but Slay the Spire because OMG that game is like crack. I literally had a dream last night where all of my actions were based on cards I could play. I CAN STOP WHEN I WANT!

Anyway, will most likely be posting to Instagram and Twitter because that is easy to do from the phone, so if you want to follow me there, go for it! Same username.

NERDY FUN TIMES! HERE WE COME!

Whoops! I haven't posted in ten days LOL. I did put a few things up on my Wordpress this week.

TWO WEEKS UNTIL PAX EAST 2020!!

I know I just got back from a trip, but that was with my parents. This will be with friends so very different. Tim isn't coming this year because Sylvia's got her last high school choir concert and her 18th birthday is Sunday (though I am coming back Saturday so I will be home for that). So, yeah, it will just be me and our friends Mathew and Zac. Zac works at my old branch so I'm hoping to get all the details about the new manager LOL. I mean, I know her and have met her, but from a worker perspective.

Bonus, I found out the tabletop gaming YouTube channel I obsessively follow, Dicebreaker, will be at PAX! They have a panel on Friday night which is my #1 priority for two days we are going. I am hoping to at least say hello because they are all so sweet and we chat on twitter all the time.

Speaking of, I painted my OWLBEAR! It was really relaxing actually, I would love to do another miniature. I might see if there are some cheap blanks on sale at PAX and buy them. Though I'm also thinking the Firefly game Tim got my for Christmas has minis inside I could easily add a bit of color to...

Currently I am attempting to resist the TOMS sale because the Star Wars shoes that originally brought me to the site are on sale and I want them...because Star Wars...but do I need more shoes? There are 3 pair...I could just get one...of course then they charge shipping...so I might as well get two to not pay for shipping...it makes no sense. Perhaps I will see if they are still in stock this weekend and take that as a sign.

I forgot to get a Valentine's Day card for Tim but I do have some *sexy* gifts...which I actually bought for Christmas and then realized I had purchased a LOT of things so I hid them in my dresser. I got the Chocolate Fondue so I am thinking I will stop on the way home tomorrow and grab some fruits we can dip in it.

I was going to suggest curling up on the couch and watching Your Name, an anime we saw in the theaters together a few years ago and he bought it for me on blu-ray.

But now I need to get to bed! Still gotta work tomorrow and I agreed to go to a meeting in the afternoon in Annapolis which I am kind of regretting because that drive is a pain. But it will be a good learning opportunity, see how the sausage gets made when it comes to public planning.

TTFN!

I've got about 70 emails in my inbox of posts I need to read but I was distracted today because one of the games I've had on my Steam wishlist for awhile is the "Free to play" for the weekend game!

If you have Steam and like management sims games with a sense of humor, give Two Point Hospital a try. It's simultaneously cracking me up to find out a patient has literal "verbal diarrhea" and watching the janitor run to clean it up then frantically clicking as I realize I need to build a facility that can handle the treatment and hire another nurse!

I'm working tomorrow so I'll probably sneak a peak at the ol' flist if it is quiet on the desk. On Saturdays, I tend to just take it easy at work, it's hard to focus on the weekends. Plus, we are usually pretty busy anyway so there's no point working on real projects when you know you're going to be called out to the desk every few minutes.

I was bad and just ordered yet another t-shirt, but I NEEDED it because Outside Xbox made a special commemorative PAX East 2019 shirt!! Problem is, I even went the extra mile and tried to pay for rush shipping but there is either a glitch in the system or they know they can't guarantee delivery so it wouldn't charge me for the rush shipping. I submitted a ticket but it got my hopes up that maybe I could bring it with my to PAX for them to autograph. Ah well.

Okay, going to sneak in a few more minutes of hospital management before I need to get to bed.

Leaving for Boston tomorrow!!!!!!!!!!!! Get to see bittertwee!!!!!!!!!! Then it's time for PAX East!!!!!!!!! And then a stop off at heiland_coo's place on the way back!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I have my tablet and my phone and will probably do a random post if I have the time. :)

TIME TO GEEK OUT!!!!!!!!

OMG JUST 9 DAYS UNTIL WE LEAVE FOR PAX EAST!

For those of you that don't know, PAX East is a gaming convention run by the creators of the Penny Arcade comic strip. After E3 went business only, PAX became THE convention for gamers. They have one on each coast, PAX Prime is over labor day weekend and PAX East is always in late March. I've been to PAX East every year since it started and I always have fun...but that could also be because one of my BFFs (bittertwee) lives up in Boston so it means I get to hang out with her plus I <3 Boston SO MUCH!

I got my Friday/Saturday badges in the mail this past week (3-Day passes had already sold out and it was the same price for Friday/Saturday).

AND THEY FINALLY POSTED THE PANEL SCHEDULE!. I've already got several in my phone schedule, but I really want to hear Cliffy B (not even going to attempt to spell his name, it's the 'Gears of War' creator) talk at the "storytime" session. I also want to hear the Rock Band retrospective with Harmonix, "Retro Games We Want to Love" (which looks at games that everyone raves about but you don't understand WHY!), Mass Effect Trilogy (though I'm guessing this will be hard to get in to...and I might have to tape maybedeadcat's mouth shut so we don't get in trouble LOL), "Video Games and Ethics", "Worst Apps Ever Made" (that has to be hilarious), one on writing video games, and maybe the Bioshock:Infinite panel...though I'm worried about spoilers.

Still debating whether we want to see JoCo play on Saturday night since there are 4 bands performing that evening and last time it went until 2am...makes for along day!

I think I want to spend more time in the free play rooms this year, trying out random games from the past and present.

And, of course, gotta troll the Exhibitors room for free swag and a look at up and coming titles.

CANNOT WAIT!!!!

omg it's only 73 more days until Dragon*Con! So close and yet so far away.

I have to say, conventions are amazing things. I've never been to a work-related convention because the idea just boggles my mind, but fandom related conventions are love.

As a fan of so many cult shows, even major cults like Buffy or Star Wars, it's not easy to know when you can bring up your fandoms and not get a weird look. I wear my geekiness with pride on a daily basis, but the days are few and far between when some one acknowledges their presence (like today, I had a young man ask me if there was a new Star Wars book out because he saw all my pins on my badge...and one of our teen volunteers complimented me on my Greendale Community College lanyard)

Conventions are different. They are gatherings of people who are like me - people who love one (or more) silly things so much and they want to express that love and talk about it with like-minded individuals. It doesn't matter who you are standing in line with, chances are they know at least a few Monty Python lines, will get a LOL CATS reference, and might even be able to sing along with you to a Weird Al song.

It's funny, you'd think that going to a convention would make someone feel less special because instead of being the odd geek out, they are one of many. But it is just not the case because of the wide range of people you meet at these events. I swear, no two people experience the same convention. It doesn't matter if it is D*C or SDCC - there is so much going on.

So, if you've ever said to yourself "I should go to such and such a Con someday" make that someday now. They are just so much fun. They are even more fun with friends but I explored a lot of SDCC and my first PAX totally solo and I had a wonderful time mingling with people from all over. I love the way that pop culture can bring so many people together. <3

Posted via LiveJournal app for iPad.

Waiting for the damn pest control guys to show up at the apartment. Got that fun cryptic note in the door that they would be here today "between 9am-3pm" which wouldn't be an issue if the damn note didn't also say that my pets would DIE if I left them in the apartment. It's 10:30 now, I called the office and asked if they had any freakin' clue when they might stop by. Of course they don't. But then she didn't seem too concerned about my pets, she just said to lock them in the bedroom and it would probably be fine.

UGH! I just want to talk to one of the pest guys and ask what exactly they are going to do because I'm pretty sure the note they left in the door was just a form letter kind of thing.

ANYWAY, keeping myself amused. Had talked to andy_wolverton the other day about his storytimes and he said he was planning on doing a pirate-themed storytime...and my brain immediately went to the ONE song he COULD NOT DO at storytime. Which I of course then had to Google to find so I could share, and as luck would have it, I found a video from PAX East 2011! Can you find maybedeadcat & me? (actually, we were a LOT closer than this guy).



This will kill 11 minutes for me...

I survived PAX and it was a crazy geeky time - longer post later though as we are in the process of moving. I went in and signed the lease this morning and tomorrow AD will sign it and I'm gonna drop off the Move-In check (which I thought I could pay online but it turns out I can't so I have to drive all the way back over there...blah but what can ya do?). So there might be a bit of radio silence as we pack stuff up, move it around, and, of course, get the Internet hooked up in the new apartment. I'm hoping Comcast can just turn it on and let us take our old DVR with us since I have a hella lotta stuff to catch up on watching.

So, yes I am going to be a totally frazzled and overwhelmed bag of Sam for the next few weeks until we get all our stuff moved inot the new place. I apologize in advance for the lack of commenting. I'm probably going to skim through the flist each night until they unplug my PC and move it away (oh I can feel the twitching already...)

Anyway, until I can make a decent post, here's a pic of me with Wil Wheaton. Click through to my Flickr page to see other PAX photos.