This Beer Tastes Nerdy

Kind of a nifty thing.

I just found out that Sun King Brewery, a local brewer here in Indianapolis (who makes a delicious cream ale that is my go-to when I treat myself to a beer) is going to be making a new brew inspired by Gen Con for 2013's convention.

The nerds are also getting our own beer garden this year on Georgia St. - across the street from the Indianapolis Convention Center.

I am so looking forward to that. I am a big fan of our local Sun King. They have some really great flavors at decent prices (considering that it's not a massive nation-wide brewer). I have yet to run into their Beer Bus while it's operational, but it amuses me nonetheless that it exists.

Maybe it will encourage me to drink enough water this year so I don't suffer heat exhaustion like I did the year before last. That corset wasn't such a good idea...

Where Has the Time Gone?

Whoa, guys.

Just... whoa.

It's been a while. For those of you who follow me on tumblr (geeky-jez), you know that I have still been around online, but mostly in reblogging rather than generating my own content. I got swallowed up by my own life for the past year or so. Since our last visit:

• I finished my cosplay project, but had to cut it back to just finishing the helmet, due to getting flooded with more hours at work.
• I was promoted twice (with only a few weeks between promotions) into two full time positions and began managing my store.
• I got a second job as an artist working at an up and coming game development studio in town.
• I have had all of my free time sucked into staffing problems, training new people, dealing with some complete assholes, and getting generally depressed that my retail day job was taking me away from being able to do many of the things I love.

And then, in the first week of March:

• We found out that one family member is going through a cancer scare and had her roommates move out on her with no notice and without paying their last month's rent.
• Another family member collapsed, had to be rushed to the hospital, was showing signs of dementia, and had us panicking about his well being.
• A friend got beaten up by their partner (who is thankfully now an 'ex'.)
• I got a severe stomach flu that kept me from eating any proper food for a full week (and even then, it took me about a week after I could eat again to be able to not get nauseated by the smallest amount of food).
• I was still having to manage my store via phone while heavily medicated on drugs that made me either sleep or start slipping into a dreamy stupor of slowed mental ability any time I was forced to stay awake.
• I had a break down where I realized that I had to put in my two week's notice at work - not only to handle the possibility of having to leave town to help my family, but also because I feel I need to re-evaluate my priorities. Realize that I am the type of person who hates to give up in anything, even if I am miserable with stress, so walking away from a job is terrifying in it's own right.

All of which happened between Monday the 4th and Sunday the 10th.

March also brought us news of the attempted suicide of a friend. 

Understandably, I feel a bit overwhelmed.

It's scary to walk away from a job, but at the same time it feels oddly liberating. I am finally getting the opportunity to rediscover what I actually like to do with my time. It has only been a recent change (my time only became my own again on the 24th) - but the promise of having control over my day again is enticing. I hope to re-approach the commission work that I had to close down due to lack of time - and I hope to restart this aspect of my life from the perspective of a businesswoman as well as an artist. While the stability of having someone else hand me a paycheck is alluring, I also dream about being able to control my own fate more and overwhelm myself with work that I find stimulating and enjoyable.

I will put together that tutorial on the Skyrim helmet - which turned out to be freakin' awesome, if I do say so myself. And I will commit to being more diligent about pursuing my passions (even if I do have to wander back into a day job to pay the bills).

Allonzy- Alonzo!

Creating the Dovahkiin

Realistically, this is my first cosplay.

I've dressed up before to go to conventions or nerdy gatherings: I wore my best Browncoatesque Western/Chinese hodgepodge to the premiere of Serenity, with the Chinese character for Serenity painted on my cheek. I threw together a pretty impressive closet Steampunk for a trip to Gen Con last summer that I didn't think would happen. I even went to SDCC in a costume for one of the days... though it wasn't one I was particularly proud of or would have picked for myself.

But this is my first time actually picking a fandom I am passionate about and constructing a costume that replicates it's source material to the best of my ability.

I am not a total n00b when it comes to fabrication and costume work. I have a pretty extensive background in theatre (though I haven't been in that world for many years now) and have a fairly wide variety of experience in arts and crafts. Still, I've never faked armor. Or prop weapons. Or done any work with wonderflex, friendly plastic, or many of the other materials that cosplay costumers use.

Also, I'm generally pretty strapped for cash.

This will be a journey into frugal cosplay. I have a passion for fabrication and look forward to pushing myself into recreating as much of this costume as possible while also pinching my pennies. I don't have a workshop or a garage that's cleared of stuff. I don't have a workbench or many tools (unless I dig through the spider-and-dust-coated-pit that is my basement). But I do have creativity and an intense level of satisfaction when I can macgyver something together rather than purchase it pre-made.

Coming Soon: Chapter 1 - The Helmet

Choices, Choices...

I have a Tumblr account: geeky-jez.tumblr.com

This leaves me with a slight problem... Most of the things I would post here, I would also post there.

But tumblr gives me a little more flexibility in the layout, appearance and variety of my content...

So, yeah.

I'm not abandoning this blog, but I think it would be wise for anyone who enjoys me here to follow me there - because I may decide to transition to one venue-of-posting, rather than generating a series of reposts between the two sites - and my brain is currently fighting over two viable options.

12.03.06

I honestly don't know how I feel about this video.

Many times when I'm recording something, I jot down some thoughts ahead of time and I start to record as if it were a performance - the words are mine, the thoughts are mine, and I'm not stiffly reading from a script, but I try to stay brief and concise and animated. It makes it easier to edit and creates a better end product. To watch the raw footage, you'd often see me repeating myself frequently, going back to do another take of whatever point I'd last said, because I want to make sure it looked and sounded right.

This is not one of those videos.

Recording this kind of got away from me. I was not really in control. I started out with a vague sense that I wanted to talk about my feelings - that I needed to get something off of my chest. I had been looking back through footage of a deceased friend and was overcome with emotion while talking about it. I stopped thinking about the fact that I was making a video. I just started talking.

This is probably one of the most honest and intimate moments I've ever recorded... and that scares me a little.

I edited it, thinking I would cut a lot of it out. When the final cut was made, I wondered if I'd even post it. I posted it, not sure if I was going to promote it at all - maybe it could sit in obscurity in my Youtube channel and only the occasional stranger would notice it.

I've obviously changed my mind and decided to share it.

Still not sure how I feel about it, though.

Happy Day of Foodies!

 In honor of Thanksgiving, here's a heaping helping of blogness.

No way in Hell could I have finished that off...

Thanksgiving went off without a hitch. While my mom obviously did her part, Josh and I were able to kind of take over and give her a chance to relax. Between the two of us, we got everything timed perfectly. Go Team Venture! This year, we brined the turkey in a solution made of apple cider, vermouth and some leftover Riesling. Yum. It's easy to brine meats when it's so damn cold - we could just stick it in a container out in the garage without worrying about having room in the fridge. The meat ended up so juicy - I'm not a white meat kind of girl most of the time, but it was moist and full of deliciousness. One of the best turkey's I've ever had.

I'm currently nibbling on some of my homemade pie, now that I'm finished packing away tons of leftovers and cleaning the carcass for some turkey soup that's now wafting from the kitchen. I had a hell of a time making the crust last night - that dough just didn't want to be made and my mother's cuisinart died halfway through the process. Happy to say, it turned out deliciously. 

I have defeated you, fail crust demon!

I've been a bit delayed in my posting, mostly because life is just coasting at the moment. Work, work, work, day off, play Skyrim, play Saints Row, rinse, repeat.

Productivity black hole, I love you so much.

I'm getting a good chunk of hours at work, which is refreshing and soothes me a bit, considering that I'm going to be forced into getting my hours cut soon. At least it's recognized that my performance is good, but that is a very small comfort considering that I'm on the hunt for a second job (not counting the freelance work I'm also doing in my downtime.)

I'm making an effort to produce more content for YouTube. I have an audience there that I still can't explain... I wasn't producing with a particular audience in mind. But it makes sense to entertain them as best I can... Otherwise, I feel like someone peeking through the curtains while a crowd stands on their doorstep, waiting for something to happen.

 A little while back, I decided to weigh in on something that's been bugging me about the media coverage of the Occupy movement. I understand that it is hard to know quite what to do to quell an expression of social unrest, especially when there are not any clear solutions... but you know, typing more on it would just be repeating myself. Check out the video.

Goodnight all. I must leave you now, to lull myself to sleep with Skyrim and naked bears.

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