2016

I do not think I am alone in thinking 2016 was a terrible year.  There were lots of celebrity deaths and lots of other problems.  I had a family member die, a family member diagnosed with cancer.  Then there was the terrible awful that was November.  I have been slowly recovering from that horrendous day and am moving on but it is slow and difficult.

A brief history
I grew up in a house with republican mother and a democrat father.  Politics were not discussed much at all.  Then came Bill Clinton and neither parent could get behind him so they started looking for alternates.  When I was in high school some billion years ago, I was in an advanced Citizenship Issues class.  In the class with me were the head of the Teenage Republicans and the Young Democrats.  I was always the person called on as the voice of the middle.  I suppose the middle is where I belong (I am a Libra after all).  I have often joked that I am the most liberal Republican or the most conservative Democrat you might know.  I have volunteered for the Independent candidate and the Democrat alike.  I have voted for the candidate and not the party for years.

To November
This year I volunteered for the Democratic Party.  I am not embarrassed or ashamed of it.  I only wish I could have done more.  I was so excited for the election I rushed home from work, made dinner, fed the dog, put on my jammies and jumped in bed in front of the TV to watch.  I was so appalled and nauseated that I went to bed by 8pm before the election had been called.   I have never been so ashamed to be surrounded by so many people with ugly hearts.  I have unfriended several people on Facebook and am outright ignoring people I should not.  I do understand people that are afraid of women in power.  Do I understand why?  HELL NO but I understand that they exist.  I understand that there are those people that were afraid of the status quo.  However what I do not, and will NEVER understand is that of the two major party nominees, why would you vote for a narcissistic sex offender? OR vote for someone who has no chance to defeat said sex offender.
Well, now those people have put the narcissist in the White House.

Now
In the one week he has been in office, there has been talk of succession from 3 states, multiple rallies and today the crem de le crem...a screening of Finding Dory.  WOW What a good choice the minority of this country has made.

Since November I have been in a bit of depression.  I am trying to get out.  I have decided I need to get out of this funk.  I am back to writing and watching my shows and movies.  I am playing video games again.  I have made the conscious decision to avoid  much of the daily news and to try and become happy again.  I will not get over it and if another person tells me to do so, I will take myself out of their life.  I do not want to be around people who think the behavior of this narcissist is ok and his policies are good for the country I love.

Happier times

Have you ever played The Adventures of Link, Zelda II?  I have not played it since I was a kid.  Holy bananas it is difficult in places.  Lots of things I did not remember and some things I remembered perfectly.  Crazy how things work like that.  Now I am off to catch up on the last two episodes of Gotham.  Goodnight.

DragonCon 2016 Recap

Holy Bananas, folks, another year of con has come and gone.  There are so many things to tell you! First off there was a hurricane that was coming up the coast.  It brought a lot of wind and sprinkles of rain.  The weather was AWESOME it was in the 70's and with the wind it was not ungodly humid and sauna like.  WOO HOO for hurricanes that are just down the coast.

This year it seemed like there were more people arriving early and staying late.  Usually there was a huge influx of people on Thursday.  This year it was on Wednesday.  Also, there were more people there on Monday than in years past.  Cool!  There were events on Thursday this year also.  The Geek Sing-a-long was a hit and so was the wrestling.  Both were a lot of fun.  The Marriott got a whole lot of new furniture.  It was EVERYWHERE.  It took them 2 days to get it all stored for the con.  It was beautiful while it was out.  I know people are still mourning the Volpin pattern Marriott carpet.  The new one is not all that great to look at.   BUT, when you look at it from the higher levels it is sooo cool.  ALSO, this helps for people who are lost.  The stripes are perpendicular to the sky bridges to the Hyatt and the Hilton so if you are following the lines, you are going the wrong way...see, there is something good about the change.  Besides, folks, this is not the first time the carpet has changed in the Marriott.  Have a cheer, in a few years they will change it again and we will mourn this one leaving.  LOLOLOL

I was on a panel for the first time.  YAYYY Conquered that fear of public speaking.  I helped out with the DragonCon Newbies group and led a walking tour for the first time.  WOOOOOT.  I got a Pic with Daredevil and a Fucking Pissant as my mom calls him.  The amount of great panels I attended were immeasurable.  The friends and fellow geeks I got to hang out with are too many to mention.  You know who you are.  Thanks for another great con!

I had a photo op with this one guy and I was worried because he portrays a particularly unpleasant character.  When I got in the photo line it was not very long.  I was kind of nervous.  Sometimes celebrities are hit or miss with the con scene.  In this line I decided I would go to his fan panel that I was not previously planning to go to.  I usually try to avoid the chaos of the celebrities if I can.  Since his photo line was so short I was worried there would not be a full room for his panel.  I went over to the Hyatt to get in line and it was about 20 minutes before the panel was to begin.  The line was told long before I got there that it had been capped.  WHAT?!?!?  The end of the line went all of the way around the Hyatt and began to lap itself.  YAYAY!  I was wrong and he did get DragonCon Love.  I am so proud of my people for not giving him the cold shoulder.  Everyone that was in line did not get into the panel.  I have a friend who was in the line before it began to lap itself and she did not get into the room until 30 minutes after it started and someone had left.  HUGS to all of the people who waited in that line!!!!

Charlie Cox, aka Matt Murdock, Daredevil from Netflix or Tristain from Stardust was the most amazing celeb I have met.  That says a lot.  John Barrowman is hard to top....ok maybe they are tied.  When getting a celeb photo op you are herded in like cattle and are with the celeb 10 seconds tops.  With Charlie, he introduced himself, asked my name, where I was from and if I was having a good time.  WHAT?!?! This is the coolest celeb ever!  Most just say hi and bye.  That is if you are lucky...This is NOT bashing on celebs...it is just that there are so many fans and such little time. I am sure it is tiring for them.  Please do not think that I have anything unpleasant to say about celebs.  This is just saying that an encounter with one went above and beyond to make those 10 seconds smashing!

This year there was a very distinct difference between good and bad panels.  I went to two in the same room and the same problems were there for both panels.  Difficult to hear...we were told to NOT close the door.  Not sure what that was about and the panelists were not prepped in any way.  Very chaotic.  Another toughie was about Genetics...I get that this is a very scientific topic..however it was supposed to be about Harry Potter.  I think it was about genetics and then just throw in some Harry Potter references.  Kind of a bummer.  There were lots of kids in there and if I thought it was a bit difficult to follow, I am sure they did too.  There was a panel that the Tolkien track puts on every year.  Westeros vs Middle Earth.  The panelists were given a topic and told to research it ahead of time and they would be given an allotted time to talk about it.  This was so well planned.  The panelists were prepared and organized.  This is one of the best panels I have seen in awhile.  Then again, I have never been to a bad panel put on by the Tolkien Track.

I found a new track I really do not know why it took me so long to find.  It is the Fantasy Lit track.  Charlotte and Angel, the track directors are delightful and put on two great panels that I saw.  Both were organized, interactive and they knew their subject matter. The other panel I saw of theirs was DragonSex.  This was the funniest panel I think I have ever been to. They had Todd McCaffery there and they talked about how dragons have sex. It was appropriately inappropriate, there was a rocket scientist who told us how much time the dragons had to have sex in the air before they hit ground...It was 6 minutes if they did not extend their wings and if they extended the wings it could last up to 2 hours.  LOLOL There was a sign language translator...HOLY COW was he into the discussion. There was a hearing impaired person but she did not speak English so there was an ASL interpreter that was translating to a hearing impaired translator who could then translate from English to French SL. The French guy was the funniest thing I have ever seen.  This interpreter was so animated that by the end of the panel we, the audience, were all doing the SL gestures in response to him. I think all three of those folks probably had more fun than the rest of us put together.  So not planned and so amazing.

The Newbies walking tour was new for me this year also.  I stood at the door and gave away tickets to get you into the groups for the tours.  I did this for awhile.  While this was going on, we answered questions while we waited for the next group of 20 to fill up.  When it was time for me to take my group I think things went well.  I stopped my tour more than expected but I think the more info you can give the better.  I had a pair of girls that started at the front of the group and the further we went, the further back they got in the group until finally they and my wrangler went missing.  We waited to see if they could catch up but unfortunately they never did.  We got back to the beginning room and did more Q&A.  I had so much fun.  A Big Thanks to Kim, Kevin, Sue and Michael for setting this up.  I think this is sooo invaluable to anyone who takes the time to stop by.

All in all, this was another AMAZING year.  I did not fangirl out or embarrass myself so that was great.  Met more new folks and tried more new things.  I can't wait for next years adventure.

66 Days Until Dragon Con

I have a new goal for the week.   The ultimate in difficult for me, to go sugarless.  Now I know that is almost impractical if you count all the sugar there is in processed foods, cereals hot dogs and stuff.  I am talking refined sugar.  Cookies, cake, candy and the like.  Today is day 1.  I hope I do not go berserk and kill someone.  ORR start seeing flying monkeys.  I have gone without cokes for years now and I think I can do this.  Wish me luck.

67 Days Until Dragon Con

I know this is supposed to be all about weight loss but something epic happened Sunday.  She is 10 year old Lyanna Mormont.  She laid the smackdown on a hall full of crotchety old men and took names.  OMG!  Sunday was the season 6 finale of Game of Thrones.  This was in my opinion the best episode in the history of the show.  We have some crazy goings on in King's Landing.  I think this is leading up to the Valonqar prophecy.  Will it be Jaime or will it be Tyrion?  I vote for Jaime.  If you do not know the prophecy, check it out here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0epLB3cyn-g  There was some great aligning of old houses...Targaryen, Tyrell and Dorne.  Holy cow, Lady Olenna is awesome.  I two of my favorite characters are Lady Olenna and Lady Lyanna.  Both kicked superior butt!  The oldest and the youngest make me smile.

It is hard to not be all spoiler-y.  I hope I have not ruined anything.

68 Days Until Dragon Con

UGGG.
My family came to visit.  My diet plan went out of the window.  CRUD.  I did manage to hold myself to only two pieces of pizza though.  YAY for me.  Then I had pie.  =/

Big Brother season 18 has started up again and there is lots of drama.  I love Big Brother in all of it's drama and the oh so many train wrecks.  Anyone remember April and Ollie?  I wonder if they are still dating.  LOLOLOL  I honestly wonder how people are so stupid and do not realize that they are being filmed 24-7?  We have already had one showmance that has broken up and two more are in the works.  DURRH!  I will do more on that when we get to the first eviction.  Stillll UGG!

69 Days Until Dragon Con

Another Friday is here.  UGGG
I have done better this week but not good enough.Atleast there was no gain.
Goal for next week is to watch portion control.  No need to eat everything on my plate, I can leave some on the plate.

Date: June 24, 2016

Time: 10:30 pm

Water: 50 oz

Activities:Walk to lunch daily

Steps: 19819

70 Days Until Dragon Con

Big Brother season 18 started last night.  As a tradition, Jeff, Marc and I go to On The Border and do a draft of who we want to be on our team.  We did this last night and there was much angst and cajoling.  We ended up with our teams and there was trading into the night.  The teams are as follows:

Jeff	Marc	Heather
Frank	Da'Vonne	Nicole
Tiffany	Zakiyah	Victor
Paulie	Glenn	Bronte
Natalie	Jozea	Corey
Paul	James	Michelle
		Bridgette

Marc goes for who he thinks will tank quickly.  I try to go for strong women, and Jeff is usually alpha guys and returners.  Due to bad draft choices on my part and decent trades to off my bad selections, I have my team.  Marc made several trades to get his team.  Hopefully this year we will get a female winner!

71 Days Until Dragon Con

Ok now that I have mellowed a bit.  HOLY COW THAT WAS EPIC!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  Game of Thrones Season 6 Episode 9 The Battle of Bastards was AWESOME SAUCE.  You had 2 different battles, a budding flirtation, and bad ass ladies all over the place.  Lyanna Mormont, Yara Greyjoy, Danaerys Targaryen, and Sansa Stark.  WOOT!!!!! I wanna be like you!
I do not like battle scenes and there was a very GIGANTIC one in this episode.  I was either screaming at the tv, hiding behind a pillow or up pacing around the room.  It was crazy crazy.  Now a battle would not be authentic without some losses but, it has to happen.  There was sadness and a tear shed, I have to admit.  For the most part though this was so....awesome seems too meek of a word.  What is more than awesome?

I will not spoiler anything but instead leave you with this parting tidbit.

72 Days Until Dragon Con

Kindness.

There is a person out there whom I know who showed me the most wonderful kindness today.  It is weird how the littlest of things can make your day.  Weight loss is a struggle.  Many of us face it.  Whether we want to lose 10 lbs or something a little greater, it is a battle.  Wendy,  I cannot thank you enough for your words of encouragement.  Knowing that there is a someone out there is absolutely uplifting and amazing. When times get tough, even if we have never met, I am out here for you.  I have someone out there for me and I will be out there for you.
Please remember to be kind to others!
~HUGS

73 Days Until Dragon Con

Game of Thrones.
Sunday is GoT.  Last night was the next to last episode.  I was so pumped and yet as the season winds down I am bummed because it is almost over again.  YUCK.  Last night was EPIC.  I made Kraft Macaroni and Cheese...one of the greatest meals of all time.  I ate the entire box.  It was a stressful episode.  OMG I almost forgot to tell you about the donuts.

Maclane

 

For breakfast I had 10 donuts in the box.  These donuts were to last me all day and into today.  I had 2 and left the box on the table and went upstairs.  I was busy doing stuff and then the dog (Maclane) disappeared.  I could not find him.  I went looking and headed downstairs.  What did I find, a dog with his nose sticking out of the donut box that was now on the couch.  He looked at me and licked his lips.  HE ATE THE ENTIRE BOX OF DONUTS!  I was sooooo mad.  Needless to say he had a belly ache and was not in favor with me all day long!  He did not get a single other thing to eat the rest of the day.  No dinner, no treats, nothing.  That 35lb pig just ate all of my donuts.  In hindsight, I did not need all of the points and it was probably a good thing he ate them all but don't tell him I said that.

74 Days Until Dragon Con

Oh how the weekend sneaks up on me.
I was a very BAD girl this weekend.  I did the unthinkable.  I sat on the couch and played Neverwinter all day Saturday.  Neverwitnter is a online Dungeons and Dragons game for those who do not know.  I had so much fun but it was counter productive to my goals.  Oh well.  Can't do everything we want to do and still be 100% on plan.  Also, ate pizza.  It contains all of the major food groups so it is good for you, RIGHT?  Yeah, yeah, I know it is terrible for you but it is soooo delicious.  

75 Days Until Dragon Con

Have you all ever been on https://www.pottermore.com/?  It is a website by JK Rowling for Harry Potter fans.  (Yes, I still LOVE Harry Potter). You can get sorted into a house and even get what your wand would be.  I was sorted into Ravenclaw.  WOOT!  I was so shocked I tried it again and sure enough it was the same both times.  There are additional tidbits, facts and even writing by JKR.  There is so much more here too.  It is really cool.  If you are a fan of Harry Potter you totally need to check this out.  Let me know which house you got sorted into.

A few months ago a friend went to Harry Potter World in London.  WOO HOO!!  She bought me a Ravenclaw tee shirt.  I was sooooo excited.  She bought me a XXL which should have been PLENTY big even after it shrank.  Alas, I guess those Brits are tiny or something.  I hope to be able to wear it for con next year!

XXL London HP Ravenclaw tee.

76 Days Until Dragon Con

This has not been a good two weeks.  First the toe and now a cold.  UGGG.  I have not been walking or working out a lot.  Also, there was an accident at the store and Oreos made it into the house.  Now I never had more than 3 at a time but still.  Alas, they brought bagels into work yesterday.  I succumbed to the delicious dough-ey-ness.  SHAME SHAME SHAME

Date: June 17, 2016

Time: 10:30 pm

Water: 60 oz

Activities:None...I have a cold

Steps: 14007

77 Days Until Dragon Con

Traveling

I have always had to travel to Dragon Con.  In the beginning it was from San Francisco.  Now it is from Denver.  Either way, it is a long flight.  There is a lot you are limited to when you fly.  First, unless you want to pay extra, and depending on the airline, you are limited to one carry on bag and a purse.  I go for a week.  Do you know how hard it is for me to pack regular clothes for a week in one suitcase and a purse?  UGGG!  Then, HEAVEN FORBID I buy anything. The trouble of shipping it home is a total mess.  One year I decided to ship my dirty laundry home via Fedex.  That way all of the delicate things I bought would be safe in my suitcase.  To ship Fedex regular-not overnight or something-was over $40.00.  WTH?  AHHHHHHHH!

How do you take costume supplies and how do you bring stuff back home?  It is a gigantic mystery to me how so many people can do it.  I can take one or two smallish costumes and that is it.  I have had to be pretty sparing on what I take so I have room to bring things home.  One year it was 18 tee shirts.  YAY!  This takes up a lot of room in one small carry on suitcase and a purse.  If you want to pay the $50.00 extra per bag per leg of the trip you can do checked bags.  Prices do vary and some are dependent on size and weight.  Money grubbing airlines!

Depending on the airline, the seats are so doggone narrow, there is no way to not infringe on the person next to you.  Then, you have to deal with the ugly stares you get from the people passing by hoping they do not have to sit next to you.  It is miserable.  Don't get me started on the seatbelts.  They do not always fit.  I swear some of them would not fit around kids.  So you have to go through the staff and say, hey I am fat, do you have a seatbelt extender?  They make airplanes embarrassing enough without drawing attention to ones self.  NO THANKS!  I just tucked the ends of the belt under my shirt so they thought I was strapped in.  Some airplane seats are so small that the average person spills out of them.  What are chubby people supposed to do?  TOTALLY UNCOOL AIRLINES!!!

THEN I found one of the most AMAZING websites EVERRRRRRR! Seat Guru.  http://www.seatguru.com/  This website actually helps you to find the different seats you might want.  They identify longer leg room, armrests that do not go up, and seat widths.  WOO HOO CHECK IT OUT!

On a trip From NYC to San Fran, Virgin offered a first class upgrade for $100.00.  It was the best and worst decision of my life.  I did it.  Since then I am spoiled.  When it is a long flight, I wait until the fares for first class come down until they are barely over the original price of the main cabin.  This year I am spending less than $200.00 more for roundtrip first class vs what I would have spent last fall for coach.  ANNNND I get 1 free checked bag.  WOOT!  I do not have to worry about seat belts, people looking at me funny because I am chubby, not fitting into the seat at all, or if I can get my stuff in the one small suitcase.  First class is totally worth the extra $200.00.  I recommend it.

78 Days Until Dragon Con

Soap box time.
SORRY!!!!
I have a box.  Many might refer to it as a soap box.  The box is of my own making and I try desperately to not bring it out in public.  Unfortunately, here, today, it is getting brought out.  WHAT THE FUCK IS WRONG WITH PEOPLE????
Shooting up nightclubs?  Losing your kid and killing a Gorilla?  WTF?  A kid is 'snatched' by an alligator?  I cannot imaging the immesurable pain these families are going through.  My heart goes out to all of those who remain.  To those who have to pick up the pieces.  Tho those who have in someway been impacted by these tragedies. I cannot imagine your pain and to be brutally honest, I do not want to try to imagine it.

STILL, WTF?  Why are we doing this to ourselves?  Yes, I say ourselves.  The gorilla was in no way behaving out of character for a gorilla.  What was the kid doing in a place where he could get captured by the gorilla to begin with?  The alligator, it probably thought the kid was something to nibble.  If you go near the water, home to many alligators, do you really expect the alligator to not come take a nibble?  It is like asking the fat kid in school to not eat the unwrapped tweenkie that you left on his lunch tray in front of him.  Would he have asked you for your tweenkie?  Probably not, but if you open it and put it in front of him, what is a fat kid to do? 

In both of these incidents, the location of the animals and the animals themselves are being blamed.  WHY??? THEY DID NOTHING WRONG.  Yes this is a terrible tragedy but it is not the facilities or the animals that were in the wrong.  Is anyone to blame?  Yes and no.  Accidents happen all of the time.  The parents took their eyes off of the kids for just a second and whammo.  Does that mean the park/zoo or animals are at fault?  NO!

AS for the shootings?  Seriously?  Does it matter if it was a homophobe with religious undertones or just a plain homophobe?  Whether he blames Isis, or some other terror organization, he still targeted a gay nightclub.  That makes him a homophobe.  ASSHOLE!!!  All of these political pundants are fighting over terminology that just does not matter.  SHUT THE HELL UP.  It is still some mentally deranged person killing others for their own reasons.  Terminology does not matter.  How you respond to this does.  How are you working to stopping this from happening again?  That is what matters.  His rationale?  WHO CARES?!?!?!?

There are those that blame the guns.  I am one of them.  Am I saying all guns are bad, yes I am.  NOW before you get your panties in a bunch please keep reading.  Guns are specifically designed to kill.  The guns in question are doing EXACTLY what they are supposed to do.  Do I think all guns should be banned?  HELL NO!  When the second amendment was written it was all about muskets and little balls of lead.  The Founding Fathers did not have the problem we do today with the amount of school et al mass shootings.  I think there should be limits on guns.  There need to be more limitations on WHO is able to get a gun.  There needs to be a limit on the number of rounds that can be fired.  There needs to be stiffer penalties for manufacturers and dealers who break the rules.  I think guns are essential to who we are as a people.  We need to be able to protect ourselves if we need to. For those hunters out there, you need to be able to hunt. 

ALL of that being said, why as a species are we so damn awful?  We killed a gorilla for doing nothing more than playing with someone who came into his home without permission.  Would we legally do that to another human?  HELL NO!  We are horrific to our planet, animals and to others.  When will we ever learn?  When will we be kind to not only ourselves, but to others, other species and our world?

Off the box.

79 Days Until Dragon Con

Ugg!!!! Being sick sucks.  I got home from work today and took a nap.  RAH!  However, I needed to go to Weight Watchers.  I decided I would just go and weigh in and get dinner on the way back home.  I was up 1.8 lbs.  GRRRR Not really surprising though considering I have done NO physical activity since I broke my toe.  I am ok on walking now.  It is still sore but it is managable.  However I take 5 steps and I wheeze then cough.  Not fun. 

80 Days Until Dragon Con

Registration Line

When I was in California, I discovered Dragon Con.  I found that there were other people like me.  Chubby nerds.  IT WAS OK to be an out and chubby nerd.....OMG this was the first time in my life that I felt like I truly fit in somewhere.  I did not need to keep it hidden any more.  I have been back every year since.  YAY.  When I was packing to leave Cali, I decided to quit the extreme diet.  My weight immediately went back up and then some.  I decided to try Weight Watchers.  I did it for the last few months in Cali and did not really like the group so I half-assed the plan.  Not terribly successful buuuuttt I was not gaining any either.
This first year at con was a changing point in my life.  I am going to overcome this struggle.

81 Days Until Dragon Con

UGGGG I have a cold.  if it is not one thing it is another.  Tomorrow my friends and I have decided to give up smoke breaks (I dont smoke, I just take breaks) and go walking instead.  I hope I will be okay with the toe issue.  I might be slow but at least I will be moving.  We shall see.  In high school when my allergies were hell, I used to tie a roll of toilet paper around my neck.  I think I might do that tomorrow for our walks.  Summer colds are terrible.  I am glad that all of these issues are happening now and not right before con.  WOOT things are going to be awesome!

82 Days Until Dragon COn

A little more history.

10 years ago, I moved again.  This time to California where is was cloudy, foggy or rainy every day.  There were hills everywhere that made casual walking unpleasant.  Biking and rollerblading downright icky.  I knew no one, so I hid in the house.  I was away from my family and the things I knew.  I was lost.  I was in a serious downward spiral.  I would drop my husband off at Bart (the subway) in the morning and then go to the donut store on the way home.  I would get my 2 donuts and go home get back in bed and not get out until it was time to go pick him up again.  This went on for several months.  Needless to say my weight BALLOONED to the highest it has ever been.

I started to get to get better and got a new job.  I  hired a personal trainer and lost a lot of weight.  YAY.  A year later, I got another new job and it was stressfull and totally depressing.  I stayed there for 5 years.  Why?  Because it paid REALLY well and I knew I was going to be leaving California as soon as enough money was saved to buy a house.  During these 5 years the weight went up and down.  I tried all sorts of crazy diets and even went to one of those weight loss clinics where you could only eat the food that they provided and 1 lean meal a day. The food was terrible.  I ate 1 cinnamon granola bar 4x a day and then a cheese and onion omelette every day for over 2 years.  I was MISERABLE.  BUUUUTTTT I did loose 60 lbs.  YAY That was great, right?

83 Days Until Dragon Con

Date: June 10, 2016

Time: 11:30 pm

Water: 45 oz

Activities:None...I broke my toe

Steps: 19590

This evening I am out of town visiting family so I do not have a lot of time.  More tomorrow!