The Wonderment of Comic Con Monday, Jan 31 2011

If New Orleans has had a Comic Convention before this year, then I haven’t heard about it.  Usually, I’m on top of nerdy things like this.

This year, a friend of mine sent me a facebook message, alerting me that students, with valid ID could get into NOLA Comic Con for the incredible price of $5.  I decided, the very second she sent me that link, that I was going, whether my friends were coming along or not.  Of course I invited them, and as it turned out, Max didn’t care too much, Stephanie wanted to go (most likely to watch me be nerdy) and Hannah didn’t have a choice in the matter.  I spent the week in a perpetual state of excitement.

We left campus at a little after 9:00 on Saturday morning, and made for the House on Sycamore.  The girls were not quite ready, so we didn’t get out of the house until 9:30 or so.  We got to the convention center, got parked, and got our wristbands for the day all before 10:00, and were able to stand in line.

I was impressed with how smoothly everything operated.  The volunteers were all hard working and very friendly.  For the most part, things were well organized, and there was plenty of space for everyone.

Highlights of the day:

1. James Marsters.  I wish I could say “enough said,” for this and just move on, but  I feel the need to gush.  His Q&A panel was so funny, he himself was charming and entertaining, and it ended up being one of the best hours of the day.  I forgot how cute I think he is.
2. Doctor Who Cosplayers.  I carried around my sonic screw driver all day long, and I am ashamed and disappointed to admit that when we ran into a Doctor Who 11 Cosplayer wearing a fez at around lunch time, I was unable to do anything cool.  He was so spot on; the right color tweed coat and bow tie, suspenders, fez…  I just couldn’t even approach him.  Stupid, stupid Jessica.  Oh well, they were still wonderful.  :)
3. ADAM FREAKING WEST! That’s right, ladies and gentlemen, I got to sit in on a Q&A panel from ADAM WEST!  He was, by far, the most amazing part of my day.  He’s so….  Adam West-like in real life:  So strange, so funny, but I don’t think he actually means to be.  I didn’t know what to do with myself, especially when he and Burt Ward began impersonating himself.  “Holy Strawberry, Batman!  We’re in a jam!”

Let downs of the day:

1. Billy D. Williams.  I sat in on the Billy D. panel because I am a major Star Wars fanatic.  Billy D. was right after James Marsters, so the room was full of good vibes; he had a crowd that was softened to butter.  Unfortunately, he turned out to be the biggest snore fest any Comic Con has ever seen.  His impish assistant did quite a bit of answering for him, and was the only real light to the room.  As Max put it, “I think Lando needed a nap.”
2. Not being allowed to take pictures of Adam West and Burt Ward.  I can’t believe that they wouldn’t let us take pictures.  We waited in line for an hour in order to get really good seats to see West and Ward, and so when we went in, I found myself in the third row with no one in front of me in the second row and a short person in front of me in the first.  I had a clear view of both of them.  I kept wondering if Adam West was staring at me.  I don’t understand why we weren’t allowed to take pictures, but I’m going to assume its because the flash of the camera turns Adam West into a cold-blooded killing machine.

I didn’t take a lot of pictures throughout the day, because by the time I thought to get my camera out of my pocket, the day was half over.  I fangirled too much.  :)  But it was a very fun day!

And in conclusion, my friend Brian Bennant, whose website you can visit here took the best picture of the day.  I’ve yoinked this off his website, so credit where credit is due.  :)

K-9 decorated for New Orleans!!!

 

 

 

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Follow me as I get it together Monday, Jan 31 2011

Tomorrow (or rather, when I wake up today) I plan on getting my shit together.

I basically don’t have classes this semester, and for the past 3 weeks of school, I’ve done pretty much nothing.  Lazed on my ass, read a lot of web comics, generally slothed.

No more.

Tomorrow I make up a regimen, and I stick to it.  I have a thesis to write, a weight loss goal to make, things to do for my desk and my department, and I have to make sure that it’s all pulled together.

I’ve started a Tumblr account to track the small stuff, so that this blog can be more about stories of my life/things that I think are import/generally more real bloggy.  Follow my tumblr here.  I will still be doing postaweek, but now, it’ll be more meaningful.

This does not count as my postaweek.  That will be uploaded tomorrow.

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A Post Every Week: What? Thursday, Jan 20 2011

WordPress is starting a new initiative called postaday/postaweek, which is a support community for bloggers to write more.  Guess who is jumping on the bandwagon!?!?

Part of the initiative is to give bloggers creative ideas on what exactly they can blog about, so don’t be surprised if over the course of this year, there is a deviation from my normal this-is-my-life posts.  I want to blog more, especially because of all of the changes I’m about to go through, what with graduating college, beginning working for Teach for America, moving to St. Louis, etc.  Here’s to building my blog!

I’m hoping to get more subscribers/more comments, so if you see something that interests you, say so!!!

Here goes nothing… wish me luck!

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Rescuing Devil Cat Tuesday, Jan 18 2011

I get to my door the other evening after a particularly long and terrible evening with my friend group, put my card in the door, and notice a kitty cat at the bottom of the stairs to my porch.  At first, I ignore it, because this is probably a Campus Cat, and while its weird that its made it all the way to student side, whatever.  But then the cat starts to climb the stairs to approach me.  This is weirder, because Campus Cats NEVER get within 10 feet of people.  This cat walks right up to me me, sits down on my shoes, and purrs.  He’s grey, with black stripes, very chubby (unlike campus cats) and he has big green eyes.  “Hi kitty.” I say to him.  In response, he meows and then jumps up on my window ledge.  I scratch him a little and decide to continue about my evening, but when I go to open my door, kitty gets this look on his face that says “I’M SO COLD PLEASE DON’T GO INSIDE!  OR IF YOU DO TAKE ME WITH YOU.  WHERE AM I??”
Its at this point that I notice that kitty has a collar.  Kitty’s name is Toulouse and there is a phone number.

“Are you lost kitty?” I ask him, and he purrs at me.

So I continue to scratch him, and I call the number on his collar.  There is no address on it, and I don’t want him to sit outside all night where it is so cold.  I am expecting to be SUCH A GOOD CITIZEN, paying it forward for 2011.  I can’t wait for a little old cat lady to start sobbing at the fact that I’ve found her precious kitty, and I’ve decided I’ll even deliver him to her because he is so friendly.  The woman who picks up the phone does sound older, but it seems that I am getting into something bigger than I expected.

“Oh, I’m actually not in New Orleans right now; I’m in Colorado.”  “Yeah, my boyfriend is on his way to the house right now to make sure the kitty door is unlocked.”  “Could you just run Toulouse to my house?”

“Of course I can bring him home,” I tell her, because he has this look on his face that is making me almost like cats.  “Where do you live?”

“Well…” she says and there is a slight pause.  “I live on Magnolia street.  Do you know where that is?”

“No,” I tell her, because I’ve never heard of it.  “I’m on Tulane’s campus right now, on Willow street.  Any chance you can direct me?”

She says “Of COURSE.  Simply go down Willow to Calhoun (I know this), Go down Calhoun to Magnolia (I can handle this) and turn…  Well… turn…  rii-Left.  Turn left down Magnolia.  Then I’m down the street, there are 2 abandoned houses and then there’s a little cabin with a fence around it.  That one is mine.”

There’s this moment where I’m like, ‘are you serious?’ in my head, and then I realize how rude that would be.  So I ask her, “Um… and just so I know, what’s your house number?”

“I… its 72… 72…  I actually don’t remember.”

There’s another pause, and then I tell her…  “Well, I’ll see what I can do.”  and we say good-bye.

I stare at this kitty.  Toulouse.  He looks up at me and he purrs a little, and I decide that I am going to make it my mission to get kitty home.  Its cold, and kitty needs a warm place to sleep.  Since that place isn’t going to be my place, I’m going to be his hero.

But I’m not stupid.  The first thing I do is call Max.  Max has already gotten into his pjs for the night, so I’ve got to rouse him from his down stage, because I’ve decided he is looking up actual directions to Magnolia street and then he is coming with me.  He does so, and tells me that he’ll meet me on Willow.

Now there’s the the challenge of transporting kitty.  I don’t have anything leash like, and I know that cat’s aren’t followers.  So I look at kitty and I say to him “do you like being carried?”

He’s been letting me pet him with no problem, so I grab him and he immediately snuggles onto my chest.  Now mind you:  kitty is the size of a toddler.  Kitty weighs 25 or 30 pounds.  But he seems happy in my arms, and this doesn’t seem like its going to be a problem.

I lug tubby kitty to Willow, and a few minutes later I meet Max there.  This is when Max and I learn something very important about tubby kitty.  He doesn’t like cars.  At all.  Kitty immediately starts struggling in my arms, and let me remind you, TUBBY KITTY IS THE SIZE AND STRENGTH OF A TODDLER.  So I wrestle tubby kitty into submission with Max trying to figure out how to help me, but being just about as affective as someone trying to help with a struggling toddler.  I finally grab tubby kitty by the scruff of his neck, which calms him down a little bit.  With that, we start our trek down Willow.

As we trudge in the 22 degree weather, kitty starts making a noise.  It is an unearthly noise.  It is a low, guttural, strange noise.  I’ve never heard an animal make this noise.  He’s still not struggling, because I’m holding one arm around him and the other has the scruff of his neck pulled back, but he just keeps making this evil noise.  Max turns around to ask me what’s wrong with the cat, and I have no answer for him.

We make it to Magnolia, and we take the left.  Its a short street – its only one block on this side, and one block on the other side, which is why I’m unfamiliar with it.  We walk all the way down it, where it ends in a dead end, but we cannot find a cabin/cottage nestled near 2 empty houses.  I’m not sure what to do; I’ve got tubby devil kitty, a street of houses with no official destination, and did I mention its 22 degrees, and I’m in a sweat shirt?

Finally, I call the lady back.

“Hi, I’m on Magnolia, but I’m not sure which house is yours.  I’m standing at the end of the street.  I see a house with a fence like you said.  It has a blue truck outside.  Is that yours?”

“um…”

she proceeds to give me the same directions she gave me the first time I called.  I start describing houses to her, all the while Max is trying to distract tubby devil kitty because I don’t want to give him over (Max is notorious for dropping animals of all shapes, sizes, etc).  The woman does not seem to recognize any of her neighbors’ homes, so in a fit of desperation, I mention her boyfriend again.  “Didn’t you say your boyfriend was coming by to check the kitty door?”

“Oh yeah, he left already, but he said he said everything is open and ready for Toulouse.”

Fuck.

So finally, at the end of the street, Max and I come to a house with a light on, a gate that looks like its locked but it isn’t, has a vehicle parked outside, and doesn’t look like anyone is home.  I’m tempted to knock on a door or two, but the issue is if this woman can’t recognize her neighborhood, I don’t think her neighbors will know who she is.  I tell her “I think we’re here.” and she says “Oh, God bless you.” and then I just hang up.

Max and I take a moment to try to decide what to do, and finally, I open the fence and drop tubby devil kitty through the open door.  Kitty stops making the noise and looks at me for a moment, then starts to walk around the side of the house.  “We did it!” I shout at him, but then, kitty comes waltzing back around and walks right through the fence and back out into the neighborhood.

I have a moment of betrayal: like I’ve just RESCUED THIS KITTY and his thank you is to run away again.  We watch him, as he sort of wanders the area, and then he disappears.

“We’re leaving” I tell Max.  “We’re done.”

So I rescued a tubby devil kitty.  By rescue, I mean, didn’t bring him in to my dorm, which is for the best.

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