Con Envy

Does anyone else suffer from this?  Convention envy.  I haz it.  Spring through autumn seems to be convention season.  Last weekend was Emerald City Comicon.  MegaCon & Pax East are next weekend, and San Diego Comic Con (the big papa) is just around the corner. 
And I don't get to go!!! *Weeps furiously in the corner


I should have seen it as a bad omen when PAX East tix went on sale the day Boyfriend and I were driving through Utah, thus we had absolutely no way of knowing they went on sale, yet alone any way of purchasing them. So Saturday tix and 3-Day passes were gone before we even unpacked our car in California. BUt Boyfriend was determined to still make our annual pilgrimage to Boston with our friends.  He bought us what tickets he could still get and vowed we would go.

Unfortunately, things have not panned out here as we hoped, economically speaking which has not helped me climb out of my downward emotional spiral of suck (more on that tomorrow...aren't you excited?!) Boyfriend can't afford to fly us both to Boston for the weekend, and I can't afford to take any time off of what little work I can get, so...
me no go to PAX. 

Source

I feel like I'm losing my nerd cred. Stupid money and needing it to buy things like food and shelter.  But, I'm trying really hard to look on the bright side. Boyfriend is going to get to go to PAX East (he has never missed one) and see our friends. So I'm happy that he's happy.  He was able to sell my passes and make his money back. We won't have to worry about what to do with Leeloo over the weekend since I'll be home.  I'll get a quiet weekend to myself with my video games and my doggy.  I'll just have to avoid all things internet so that I don't fall into a weeping nerd depression every time there's a new tweet about all the cool stuff I'm missing.  Also, speaking of depression, since I won't be there, I won't have to deal with the Post PAX Blues.  Hooray?

Still...Con Envy. It's a thing.

Memory Lane Monday: PAX East Edition

I'm still recovering from my epic weekend of gaming nerdy awesomeness, since it's almost 6pm right now, so I don't actually know if this post will be up before midnight to technically still be a "Monday" post, but we'll see. I have a pounding headache, my knees hurt, my feet hurt, my shoulders hurt, my back hurts, my throat hurts, and I am experiencing some "Post Pax Blues" as I've discussed in the past. Otherwise, I can't complain. I had a really fun weekend with Boyfriend and our friends.

Last year I made a couple of Chirpify stories to condense my PAX East experience. This year I'm trying out Storify instead; it's less clunky and easier to share.  Unfortunately, now that I've spent almost 2 hours trying to document all the fun stuff I was a part of, I realized that it would have been more organized and easier to just write a summary of the weekend. Le sigh. So, here we go pour votre plaisir:


 






Are you kidding me?!?!?!??! For some reason the whole thing won't fit on Blogger. DAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH RAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAARwghgjhdgfgdfl.urhkkjvbf!!!! 

 Brain  now equals melted.


Just go read it here: 

Source

A Half-Assed Post

So, this isn't really a post, but since it's the first of the month, I felt I needed to post something. I was supposed to be upstate working on an indie film with zero internet access right now, but lack of inclement weather in the area made it not possible (the film requires snow.) So, now I am at a loss for what to post. I've been sitting here for hours trying to find words to type that someone will want to read. Alas. So, I will give you a friendly reminder that it's only  

20 DAYS UNTIL PAX EAST, BITCHES!!!!!

Are you ready for it?! 
I was born ready.

Paxsite.com

Blankety Blank and Other Female Awesomeness

Remember that time I went to PAX East and we shot a lot of videos you never got to see? THIS is one of those videos! (You can watch the others we have posted on my YouTube Channel.)

There really is no excuse for not having posted this and other videos sooner. Laziness, life, depression. These things all get in the way of accomplishing stuff sometimes. Also, Boyfriend is not what I like to call, a planner of things. But, Boyfriend is my one-man production team, so I can't get too mad. He is my producer/director/editor/sound engineer/sound operator/camera operator/PA/etc and he is amazing at being supportive and helpful, I just fail at being a motivator. Like on the days when I go to my shitty 8-hour day job while he stays home all day doing what I'm assuming is editing, but then when I get home and he's actually been watching the complete first season of Downton Abbey for the THIRD time (yes it's an awesome show, but do something, please!!!) then I get all naggy. I hate to be naggy, so I just don't say anything...I just sit on the couch and sigh.
This is why I am not a life coach.

Anywho...without further ado, my interview with the awesome lady who is Susan Arendt, the managing editor of The Escapist!





P.S After reading this blog Boyfriend says (and I quote) "Downton Abbey is really good. Actually, I was just thinking about watching that again..."

Dammit.

Overcoming Post PAX Depression

As we all exhale a deep sad sigh whilst trudging back to the daily grind that is "real life," the joyful high we all felt among our own kind for 3 days has started to dissipate and now Post-PAX Depression (PPD) has set in.  What is a nerd to do?  The Monday after PAX is like the day after Christmas: everyone goes home from their holiday travels with lots of great memories, warm fuzzies, shwag, and exhaustion. They also probably go home with a case of the blues-the sadness that creeps in after the excitement dies down and you realize you have to go back to boring daily life.  As someone who is already prone to bouts of clinical depression PPD can be especially tough on me, so I've complied a list of suggestions for coping with PPD.

-Pictures/Videos
If you took pictures or video, go through them in chronological order and remember all the awesomeness you witnessed and/or took part in. Or got to sites like G4, Flickr, The Escapist or any of your favorite nerd-lebrities who may have uploaded goodies. Relive the memories for a moment and maybe stumble upon stuff you missed.

-Don't Despair
PAX is popular.  It's not going anywhere, it will be there next year. Also, if you missed something you were dying to see, it's ok.  No one can see or do everything that every con has to offer.  It's not possible, and you are not Superman/girl, and that's ok. That's the beauty of the internets, you can see stuff you missed.

-Your Routine is Your Friend
It may not sound like it, but the sooner you get back into your daily routine, the better you'll start to feel post PAX. I, too must return to my crappy desk-monkey job that I am working hard to abandon. But, keep looking at the road ahead, keep working towards your goals in life. 

-Try Something New
Two words: Beta Codes. Everyone got these at PAX, go play a new game! You'll feel good.

-Water, Vitamins, Sleep, 
If you spent time inside a big convention hall with thousands of strangers and erratic temperature changes, then you most likely came home with a case of the PAX Plague. Feeling sick while coming down from the high of PAX can make you feel even worse.  Treat yourself right: get plenty of rest, drink LOTS of water (clear pee is happy pee), pop some vitamin C, and make a small change in your diet-get some leafy greens in your body if you don't already eat your veggies regularly (convention food doesn't make anyone feel good.)

-Keep in Touch
E-mail, Facebook, Twitter, blogs, forums, XBOX Live, PSN, Mii Plaza, etc-they are all your tools to stay in contact with all of your new friends/connections.  Use them, but don't abuse them (nobody likes a facehugger...or do they?) Remember, you are not alone in your feelings.

How else do you battle the post-PAX blues?

PAX Day 3 and Post-PAX Depression

The final day of PAX East is always a little sad, but for me it was even sadder this year because we couldn't get 3 day passes. Here's my final installment of PAX East 2012 Chirpstory.
(Here if you can't view it below)

I want to give a huge shout-out to all the folks I met at PAX East who let me interview them on camera, you guys all rock my world! The videos are in the works.
Major Thanks:
Cassandra
Elizabeth
Evan
Garrett
Handelabra Studio
Jeremy Handel
Laura
Lukewarm Media
Margaret
Michelle
Misty
Popcannibal
Rana McAnear
Ravelry
Sarah
Sarah the Enforcer
Simone
Steve
Susan Arendt
Thoseguys
Thunder Tech
And thanks to the countless people and cosplayers who let me take their pictures! PAX East was a blast! 

P.S You can now find me on Giant Bomb!
P.P.S Videos coming soon, I promise.

PAX East Day 2 Chirpified Overview

I'm enjoying this new Chirpstory app.
(If you can't see it, go here.)



Preview of what's to come: Jeremy Handel from Handelabra Studio, the developers of the new iOS game Uncle Slam was kind enough to let me interview him. The game is pretty damn fun and their booth was a blast.

For more PAX East 2012 pictures, check out my GurlNxtDoor Facebook page.

I Have Returned!



Source

PAX East was amazing this weekend!!! We had a ton of fun, met a lot of great people, and saw so much. The only thing that could have made it better was if we were able to get 3-day passes. Yes, Boyfriend and I dropped the ball and did not buy our 3 day passes before they sold out. However, we had 2 awesome fun-filled days that ended way too quickly.  We battled minor technical difficulties, sleep deprivation, crowds, and my social anxiety but we got some great footage and some amazing interviews with people this weekend. I am very proud of us and our first venture into video blogging. Now begins the tedious editing process. We will work very hard to get the completed videos up before the end of the month.  I did some good networking this weekend as well and met some really fabulous people.  My goal for next year is to be eligible for a media pass. 


Felicia Day calls her videos her "flog" (Felicia + blog = flog) I was thinking about it last night, and think I shall make up a name for my own blog/videos. I now dub this website the GoGG Blog. Gurl on Girl-Gaming = GoGG; Blog + GoGG = GloGG? I dunno, I'm still working it out. Interwebs math is hard.


UPDATE: Ok so I just did some research into the requirements for a media pass to different cons for future reference, and they seem pretty standard.  Then I went to the IRS website to see how to go about filing myself as an LLC to make myself legit. So it's official and shit: Gurl on Girl-Gaming (a fictitious entity of BDG Productions) is recognized by the IRS (in 5-6 business days) as a real business entity! Tremble before me and my legal documents!  Now I just need to file with the state of NY. Boo.
#GoodbyeMoney

Chirpified PAX East Overview

I stumbled upon this website today called Chirpstory.  It's a neat little app you can connect to your Twitter feed and create a chronological "story" of events and conversations.  I'm testing it out. I made a PAX East 2012 story. I thought it would be a better overview or more interesting than sharing the blurbs from my journal and trying to explain them. (If you can't see the images you can go here.) I'll set the scene for you: Boyfriend and I left Thursday night for Boston via bus, but on my way home from work to get my suitcase, I was walking past Central Park listening to the Nerdist podcast with Rob Paulsen and Maurice LaMarche and a pigeon shat on my chest.



P.S Chirpstory isn't paying me, I just thought it was neat and wanted to share.

Countdown to PAX East 2012 (Continued...again)

PAX East begins in less than 24 hours!!!
About 9 hours from now, I will be in Boston and my heart will be beating like jackrabbit on speed.  I am going to face my anxiety head-on and interview people/blog on camera from the Boston Convention Center. I'm excited and nervous. Excited for PAX East, and nervous that I've set the bar of expectations for myself too high and I won't look or feel confident on camera, thus crappy vlog.  Or that I will be so nervous to talk to someone that I will pee myself or need coaching from Boyfriend and then I won't look professional enough and no one will want to talk to me.  Then, I have to remind myself that I'm going to a con.  I'm going to be a minority there (you know, that whole having a vagina thing) and of course guys will probably want to talk to a cute girl with a microphone. Then I freak out again, because-oh shit-they want to talk to me, I better not fuck it up.  These are the things that keep me up at night.

All I know is after setting foot inside the BCC, action 1 of hour 1 of day 1 will be acquiring one of these:

These puppies sold out so fast last year, and I missed the boat. I am making it my mission to purchase one this year! So there, I can't freak out anymore because now I have a plan.

Step 1: Purchase scarf

Step 2: Put on scarf

Step 3: Cool stuff happens.

PAX East success.

Countdown to PAX east 2012 (Continued)

Pax East is less than 2 days away!!!

Last year, this song brought the house down. (Probably NSFW)




You can watch the entire PAX east 2011 Paul & Storm set here.

Count-down to PAX East!

I think this panel was hands-down my favorite of 2011:



Thanks to the PAX Community DVD!

Are You Ready For It? (UPDATED)

3.5 Days until PAX EAST BITCHES!!!

Last March, I went to PAXeast-my first Nerd/Geek Con ever-and it was pretty much 3 days of sleep-deprived awesomeness! While NY Comic Con last year was a bit of a letdown, I still have high hopes for PAXeast being just as awesome this year, or even better since it won't be on daylight savings weekend. The pessimist in me says I'm setting the bar too high and will be letdown, but the budding optimist deep down inside says this year will be great. 
Last March I was going through some major depression and anxiety and wasn't medicated at all properly, so while PAXeast was a blast, there was this grey hazey cloud over everything. Now that I'm properly medicated and have my blog up and going and have you lovely reader(s) I feel good. Boyfriend is also borrowing some filming equipment so I can do my first vlogging from PAXeast, so everyone look forward to that! (He has tried to make me promise not to take my anti-anxiety meds this weekend, he doesn't want me to be high on camera. Why not?! I think it'll be more interesting that way. Maybe we'll get enough "high" footage to make a blooper reel or something. That's comedy vlog gold right there!) I won't be cosplaying this year (last year I went as Jessica from Dragon Quest VIII,) but I plan to get lots of great pictures and video of what I predict will be some awesome cosplay!

To those of you attending this weekend, I'll see you in Boston! To those of you not attending: what would you like to hear about most after PAXeast this year? I'll be tweeting all of the goings-on at the Boston Convention Center next weekend, and as soon as we get the footage all edited and junk, I'll post it. Stay nerdy!

Commander Keen & GurlNxtDoor at PAXeast 2011

(UPDATE: 7/6/12- I am so incredibly late to this party, it's not even funny. This party is so over, the house it was held at has since been condemned and is awaiting demolition. Even so, I wanted to say my peace. I just learned about the PA dare-I-even-bring-it-up-again-dickwolves debacle (I told you how late I was to this party.) I am soooo glad I was blissfully unaware of it prior to attending in 2011. Reading the timeline was a great way to kill 8 hours at my shitty office time today. While, it has changed my view slightly of the PA guys, I am simply thankful for the insight into why I may not have enjoyed my first PAX East experience to the fullest extent -and it wasn't all in my head. I was unmedicated and emotionally fragile at the time, while that was the majority of the reason I had a hard time that year, looking back at everything, I really do think that the dickwolves clusterfuck "colored" a lot of my experience at PAX 2011.

Boyfriend and I attended several panels that discussed more female-gamer-focused topics, but nearly all of them devolved into a shouting/bitch fest of boys vs. girls and brought up some very sensitive topics that my delicate little psyche was not properly equipped to handle at the time. We left several panels way early before the mud really started slingling. While the dickwolves train has definitely lost a lot of steam, it still maintains a lurking presence, like everything else on the internet, even almost 2 years later.

I will say that I very much enjoyed most of PAX East 2012. I felt welcome. I did not feel ostracized.  I had fun.  That's the point of PAX. I hope it continues to thrive.)

Pax East Passes

We has them!

12 Days!!!

New Domain

OK, I finally got around to buying my domain, mostly because I was tired of typing such a long web address every time I wanted to check on my blog layout. So if it looks all screwy for the next couple of days, that's why.

Also, in case my post yesterday didn't reach the nerdy expectations of nerdiness that you've (probably) come to expect from me, never fear, PAX East is only 27 days away! This year will be even better than last year (and not just because I'm medicated now)! Get excited!

In Case You Wanted More Opinions...

I probably sound like I've been bashing NYCC in my previous blog posts, well, I kind of have. Now, in NYCC's (minuscule) defense, I was tired, I was coming down with a cold, and I was on my period all weekend, so I was bound to be a little testy. However, the main issues I had with the show lie strictly with the management/execution of the show (i.e. ReedPop) and the Javits Center, not the comic con community. I was very disappointed, mostly because PAX East (a con I adored) is also managed by ReedPop, yet the 2 shows were run very differently.
Let's start on a positive note so I don't sound like a whiny troll with nothing better to do than bitch and moan about stuff, k? Ok.

Good stuff about PAX East:
-I got to visit Boston for the first time, and Boston is a tolerable bus ride away from NYC, where I live, so it was easy enough to get to and fro.

-The Boston Convention Center was massive (almost too much so) and easily accommodated all who attended/participated. That being said, we did not get into every panel we wanted to, however there was an abundance of alternative yet equally-as-awesome panels we could choose as 2nd or 3rd choices.

-The "Enforcers" or volunteers/staff who helped keep everything running smoothly were energetic, informative, and had great attitudes during the 3 day weekend nerd extravaganza.

-The convention center food was not terrible and not too badly overpriced.

-We did not have to pay for a single autograph/picture.

-There were show-sponsored concerts that were included with admission (and they rocked).

-Most people seemed to follow "Wheaton's Law"

Not-So-Good-Stuff about PAX East:
-The Con was held the weekend of DST kicking in (a la "Spring ahead") so we lost an hour Sunday morning after the concert, which translated into 1 less hour to sleep, which translated into thousands of sleep-deprived convention-goers. Sunday looked a bit like the Walking Dead (minus the blood and entrails). But it was soooo worth it.
JoCo summed it up best at the end of his set on Saturday night/Sunday morning: "It's late at night. It's spring forward night which I think it means it's already Wednesday, so we're all fucked." Indeed, sir.

-We did have to take a cab to the bus depot from the convention center as there was no other mode of transportation, but it was fairly inexpensive.

-Convention center food was pretty much the only option for sustenance.

Good stuff about NYCC:
-It was held in NYC, so it wasn't much longer than my normal morning commute to attend, plus I was familiar with the train/bus routes already, and I got to sleep in my own bed at night.

-Overall, it was fun...ish.

-Bought some cool toys/merch

-Got some autographs/pictures from some cool people.

-We saw some great Cosplay

Not-So-Good Stuff about NYCC:
-Many non-follower's of Wheaton's Law (Worst offenders: the 3 douche mongers who cut in front of 1000 people in line to see the Masquerade).

-Lack of organization/information from the staff

-Lack of information provided by the show management/organizers

-Paying for autographs sucks ass (apparently $30 is the new $20)

-Etc, etc, etcNow, this all having been said, I understand that organizing and executing a large convention of these magnitudes (or larger) is not easy. I know that it takes the show management team loads of planning all year long and that at the end of the day, it's not possible to please 100% of the people 100% of the time. I know all of this because I happen to work for such a company (who will remain nameless to protect their identities and my job). So having an insider's view of the convention/trade show management process, I think I'm qualified to be a little picky about the conventions I choose to attend. I don't plan to attend NYCC in the future, unless I can be a guest on a panel or possibly qualify as press with my blog. However, after my scathing reviews, they may not even want me there...