Sinuses, Pumpkins, Colds and Internet Woes or How I Apparently Upset an Ancient Spirit...

Hello Friends,

It has been a crazy few weeks y'all. I don't know what evil spirit I peeved off but dang! So follow me as I go through the craziness of the last few weeks. 

Sinus Woes of Halloween 

So the week following the Smoky Mountain Geek Expo I started having a big shift in my mental heath I wasn't feeling well and we had like a shift in weather it rained a few days which brought my mood down. Well close to Halloween I was noticing a lot mucus building up in me cause of post nasal drip, I was coughing a lot and it was causing chest congestion so I spent a few days panicking trying figure out if sinuses or a cold because I had a convention with the Captain coming up the 1st and she can't get sick. Well we did manage to figure out it was my sinuses, cause the Captain who has sinus problems too was going through the same thing. 

So Halloween came and in the midst of choking on my mucus I managed to carve a freckled face sweetie and My mom utilized pumpkin seeds in her Jack-o-Lantern.

Then we sat down to our Halloween meal that featured this Ham Monster:

                                                   

 We feasted as we watched the old Halloween shows late into the night. Very late...

 

Cons and Colds

Was up early for the Fall WNC Comic Con, which will get it's own post at some point. Captain and I felt great after being assaulted by our sinus issues. Had a good time until we went home and something we were talking about right before I was dropped off triggered my anxiety. So mood tanked again. 

Well the 2nd woke up to take my meds and saw my birth control. It came apparent quickly why I'd felt like crap the last week I was in PMDD H*ll Time. Normally my Mom gives me a heads up, cause she's in charge of filling our meds up in our boxes each week, but bless her she'd been sick, and forgot to tell me. As if that wasn't bad enough I started getting sick as the day went on... Apparently I caught Con crud! I messaged Captain to tell her what happened turns she caught it too! But unfortunately for her she has Cystic Fibrosis which got aggravated by the cold, and I think she is still on meds to heal from it. 

So yeah having a cold and mental health crap sucks, and we're entering that portion of PMDD season right before I start when I become a irritable bear, when my tooth on the right side of my face that's connected to the sinuses starts trying to swell up. I guess sinus issues plus the cold that was working the sinuses and the tooth decided to say "FU". It swelled up a little but not too bad, compare to other times.

Snow Days and the 80's

The 10th we awoke to snow and it brought frigid temps with it.

So this led to my Mom cooking delightful things to warm our body and souls. Like here homemade soup...

 

Cornbread...

And Brownies!

      

The next day it was still really cold, which makes me depressed and as Alwyn Oak would say hibernate. So I had a kind of 80's day. I watched The Last Unicorn, this is the first time I've watched it since I got my new TV, I don't know if it's the higher def or what but I noticed so many details I never noticed before, and saw the pirate cat's appearance at the end of the movie. Someone online mentioned the appearance, I wanna say it was someone on Epbot's Discord. Then I watched The Lost Boys then Tubi decided to line up to play The Lost Boys: The Tribe a movie I just learned existed this year. Wasn't too bad, not as good as the original, but Angus Sutherland was such a good vampire. Seriously how does a vampire hunter create such good vampires. Then we had the northern lights happen in our skies that night, a rare treat.

Internet Hassles and Fires 

The 13th I woke up to my internet being down, and I knew this wasn't just an internet outage. If it had been the top light indicating power to the internet modem would still work, but I had no lights. I unplugged it and plugged it back in. It worked for a bit then out again. I called the company dealt with all that to get a hold of someone. Upon checking they said that the modem had malfunctioned and they scheduled for the technician to come on Monday the 17th. I asked him if it could be cause the modem was just old, it's the one that I got when they installed everything 10 years ago. The guy starts kinda low key freaking out saying don't tell them that! I found it odd given a piece on the satellite for the set up had went out a few years ago and  they replaced it for no charge. That's why we pay extra. Well then the guy abruptly hangs up.

So for the weekend I'm unplugging and plugging this thing to get the internet to work, which was annoying. So it gets to be Sunday the 16th. My Mom is gone with my Grandmother for evening services at the church. So here I am by myself with the cats, it's dark, already a little low key nerve wracking for me, when my sister messages me in a panic asking if we were okay. I'm like why and apparently over the mountain from us a wildfire had started. This explained the sirens I heard earlier. I stepped out on the porch and didn't see flames or smell smoke, but it was slightly unnerving cause that is a fear of mine. Luckily they had it contained in like a couple days.

Monday the 17th comes when the technician suppose to come. I was a little concerned cause they had roads blocked both ways where the fire was and I didn't know if they could get through. Well no one showed up, no call letting us know what happened.  So Tuesday I call to see what happened. They said I hadn't been on the books and the guy had been disconnected and they said we tried to call back.Funny thing we got no call. So luckily they could get a technician to me Thursday the 20th. I picked the morning slot, cause my Mom and I needed to go grocery shopping. Sadly it'd be the day after my online therapy appointment. So Wednesday had to talk to my therapist on the phone.

So I wake up at the butt crack of dawn cause the morning slot would have the technician coming  between 8 or 11. Well waited each hour of the morning slot, no show, I gave him an hour grace period in case there had been issues at a previous job, still no show. 1:45 pm the guy calls saying he's on his way he'll be there in 45 minutes. By the time he gets there to start it's almost 3 and half hour late to the latest of the appointed slot. I'm livid, especially when he doesn't offer an explanation, but I don't say anything. Here's why: I noticed he arrived here at the time for the afternoon slot hours, so I start wondering did they company screw up, they did it before, and as the job went on I had a feeling this might be the case. We were so confused why he was working on the satellite and not the modem. He informed us he'd changed the part I'd just just had replaced a few years ago. Finally figured out it was the modem, and my suspicions correct just old. When we told him that's what the guy on the phone had said, he's like they didn't tell him. I actually brought up about the guy on the phone telling me not to tell him about it was that and he looked at me weird. He couldn't understand why. Then he said he had bad news I have to replace the modem with a new one cause mine was a dinosaur and they didn't make them anymore. My Mom's like do we have to pay for it? He goes no... I'm like I'm failing to see the bad. Hook me up! So he does I have to call the internet company to asked for the equipment upgrade and after a headache we get it. Tech looks at the order they sent him the wrong one. So he's like F it I'll call them on the technician's special line. So after all that got my  modem fixed. Yeah they tech was getting annoyed with the company.

Next day I remember I haven't checked my personal email in weeks. I keep eye on the work more. So I checked it, saw the email from that Monday where I'd made the technician appointment and it said the morning slot. The one they sent on that Thursday to let me know he was coming was changed to afternoon. So it was a mistake on their end. Glad I kept my temper.

Thanksgiving

So Thanksgiving came along and we had a nice spread.

 

At dinner I got to learn a funny story my Dad told my Mom about a prank my Papaw pulled on my Mamaw when my Dad was a little kid. It was a nice Thanksgiving and my sibling called we got to wish her a Happy Birthday which was also that day. 

 

The Last Couple Weeks

 

So the last couple weeks been meh. The 28th the teeth on the left side my face started giving me trouble, luckily that didn't blow up into anything. Monday the 1st we went out to do some essentials shopping. Get to Walmart, and even though it wasn't Black Friday it was crazy. This is the funny thing I can handle a convention crowd but holiday shopping at Walmart, gives me anxiety. I was already stressed trying to get a couple things for people on my list now dodging other shoppers, yeah it about sent me in a panic attack.

So also PMDD time again which has really been rough, even more than last month I think. Sunday the 7th we got a surprise. My Grandmother and Mom had gotten back from church and Mom was telling me about the service when two vehicles pulled up in the yard. I was like what the crap, cause my anxiety was out of sight I was not up for unplanned visitors. My Mom went out to see who it was. Then I hear singing and I'm like carolers?! I stepped out on the porch and sure enough there were carolers. I've lived here 41 years and never had carolers, wanted to do it, but the holler is not built to do it, or so I thought. That's why I went out this was like a rare event.

They were people from church, they prayed with us, and gave us a treat box. 

So yeah that's been the last month. It's taken me weeks to write this because stuff keeps happening and being unwell. I hope you all have a great week! Stay warm if you are in the colder climates, and I'll see ya next time.

*Thrifty Geek* 

The Smoky Mountain Geek Expo 2022 and the Twenty Year Reunion

 Hello Friends, 

Today we continue our look at events past that I really should have posted months ago. In this post we are going to discuss the Smoky Mountain Geek Expo. It was the first year of Waynesville, North Carolina's first convention. To actually have a convention in my neck of the woods is amazing. I was excited that I didn't have to get up so early to get somewhere to find parking.

 

The costumes: 

I was the 11th Doctor... Again. I had plans to unveil my new costume, but complications kept me from getting it done, so I went with my standby.

Fangirl was Willow from The Owl House. It was fun seeing this costume come together over time. There's even a little bottle of Etta's Elixir on her belt.

 

The Convention:

It was a small convention, but not a bad showing with over 1,150 guests according to their Facebook Page.

It was good seeing vendors that I was familiar with from other conventions. I felt like I was getting really familiar with the regional Geek Vendor Community more that I had before, I think it's because I attended multiple Geekish events this year instead of just one. 

We saw our friends from Morgan's Comics. I know I talk about these guys often here, but they are our most local store and the Asheville comic shop we most frequent. So if your in West Asheville check them out!

There was a lot of cool signs at this thing some offering protection in these uncertain times:

Others were a beautiful pen rhyme basically telling "you break it you bought it":

The Nerdy Old Men Podcast were recording there that day. They were kind enough to let me get a picture of them while they were getting things ready, so go check them out!

We saw some good costumes the was a person dressed as Edric Blight from The Owl House. They shared some of their Moo-chi with us:

 

We saw this Hagrid which left me a little sad, due to the fact Robbie Coltrane had passed recently.

It's Marvel's Biggest Fans

 

I think this angel has been following me. I saw him at the WNC Comic Con now here, I think it's the sam vendor. I think in addition to Thursdays he should be the Angel of Conventions, well one of them at least.

We were only there a couple hours, but we had a lot of fun:

Still won't work on wood!!!!

After the con we stopped for some Burger King and went to Fangirl's house where we chowed down while watching Warehouse 13. I also finally got to meet her dog Kiki, named for Kiki's Delivery Service. 

The Barely Domesticated Kiki lounging in her natural habitat.

After a respite it was off to our second event our 20 Year Class Reunion:

It was great seeing old friends it was especially great to see the Captain in person after three years due to Covid. I was so happy to see her.

All Hail the Captain!

It was a fun night I got to see a lot of friends I haven't seen in person for years, my voice was horse for talking over the DJ's music, but it was fun. The night ended with us taking Fangirl to her car she parked a little ways away. I gave her her gifts I've had over the last few years for her, including this Holiday. I also got to properly meet her driving buddy Jack:

Don't you just love my friends? We are fun people what can I say. We said our goodbyes then headed for home. I was pooped afterwards understandably. 

Well I hope the rest of your weekend is good, God bless, and wave to the skeletons in passenger seats, it's only polite.

*Thrifty Geek*

WNC Comic Con 2022

 Hello Friends,

 

This past Saturday Fangirl and I went to WNC Comic Con in Fletcher, NC. This is our first year at this particular con. The Asheville Anime Regional Convention has yet to start up again, and I didn't want to go a third year without a con, so I suggested this one. There was a bit of a line to get in, but it was worth the wait cause this cute little R2 unit was roaming the floors making happy little chirping sounds:

 

There was also a Punisher themed van there:

 

Vendors

 

There were lots of great vendors with so many things I wanted to buy! One such stop was the Pop Up Wand Shop that had these gorgeous homemade wands, some had roses on the handle end. They were beautiful. Sadly I did not get a card or website information to be able to find them should I ever have extra cash to buy one of those rose wands. If I often find myself unable to purchase from vendors I take a card should I ever be able to purchase from them later on.

 

 Roxy Taylor from Auntie M's Novelties has beautiful homemade , sealed, shimmery bottles that are fandom themed. I was looking at this Ghostbuster one she had with Slimer green liquid inside. I wanted it so bad, oh if money were no object. 

I fear what would happen if we put these guys in a room together.

 

The Wishing Well had Legend of Zelda Ocarinas for sale. I've been wanting one since I saw them advertised in a Nintendo Power magazine. 

One of my favorite jewelry shops was Elder Nerd Designs she does chain mail jewelry and some look like dragon scales. She had some with the Supernatural anti-possession symbol. I also loved her Mermaid Lantern items.

Morgan's Comics Table. Sorry it's slightly blurry.

My peeps from Morgan's Comic were representing that day. They had a video game demo set up too on one end.

Artists and Authors

As with many conventions there were some great artists and authors. Dan Jaworsky had a style I liked with his imaginings of nerdy things, I also noticed the artist Adam Casey from Winston-Salem among the artists. I found Rick Lonon's I wanna say stempling art amazing, though I got the term wrong when I did complement him. Sorry! 

I talked writing and bookmarks with New York Times Best Selling Author F.T. Lukens. Her works seem interesting, I may have to look into them. She's also from right here in North Carolina.

Costumes

What's a con without costumes. Captain America and the Scarlet Witch lent their talents to the judging table:

The esteemed judges, again sorry for the blur.

 

I once more became the 11th Doctor.  I ened up kicking back with my fellow aliens:

I also kicked back with myself, hope we don't cause a paradox.

Lovely Geeky Items That Are Mine Now

So you've heard me lament about what I couldn't afford to get, bet your wondering what did you get? Well I had like twelve dollars so I had to spend wise and everything I bought fit in this tiny bag:

 

But good things come in small packages:

Save for gift items and a donation I made to the Klingon Assault Group this is my haul. Back left to right: a Castiel sticker, a Cyan Among Us sticker because that's the color I usually play in the game, a Link sticker, a Supernatural pin because I'm making up for lack of SPN stuff in my life.  I also always buy a pin from every con I've been to.  Front row is a glow in the dark cat and some dice I purchased from The Deck Box. I know what your thinking a lot of little stuff, what can I say it's the little things that make you happy. 

After Party

Not really that much of a party we just went to Cracker Barrel for a later lunch. I spent way too much time enjoying the moving lit glitter globes.  I partook of my usual meal grilled chicken tenders and two sides of mac and cheese, I'm picky with some restaurant sides. I only like them prepared a certain way, and most places make them the way I don't, Mac and Cheese is one of the few sides that people don't screw up much. 

 

It was a fun con, I loved meeting everybody. Fangirl is actually thinking of adding that to our yearly cons. So that's going to be fun and I was so excited to learn my county is getting it's own con! Sadly it's same day this year as the Pumpkin Festival, and if it keeps falling on the Pumpkin Festival we may switch to this geeky event. We'll see. 

 

I hope you guys have a good week, geek on, and God Bless.

*Thrifty Geek*

AARC 2018

 

Happy Friday My Friends,

Ok this post is coming out later than I planned for the pure reason I accidentally left my camera in Fangirl's car and didn't see her again for a week or so. But I am now ready to tell ya about the Asheville Anime Regional Convention (AARC). This year it was up to a two day con, Fangirl and I only attended Saturday July the 28th. We headed out early to get good parking and make our reservation. Fun Fact the building this con is held in was where I attended my first concert and met my first celebrity, Bryan White.

We took a spin around Artist Alley. I purchased my con pin for this year, I went with a Tardis, I know I'm predictable. We also ran into an author friend of ours, Amanda Churi, that we met three years ago at our final GeekOut! Last year at ARRC I purchased book one of her Trilogy The Twisted Trilogy : A Lapse in Time. This year I bought book two: The Dark Materials. She was happy to learn I had actually read the first one. Her fiance Kevin was there again this year, dressed as the character I'm pretty sure he inspired.

We headed to the Dealer's floor where we did a quick preliminary walk through before heading to make our reservation.

Here's where the nerds are at

Fangirl had discovered there was going to be a Marshmallow Rainbows Maid Cafe at the con this year and really wanted to have our lunch there. Once the schedule came out she made our reservations. As we stood waiting for the Cafe to open we watched a maid yelling at the con floor below trying to get more customers, Fangirl warned her to be careful or they'd all see up her dress, the maid looked at her and said she was a burlesque dancer so it wasn't nothing knew. I'm sure in my head at that point I was like Jim Carrey going "Alrighty then."

Bubbles mark the entrance to the maids lair

The maids soon let us into the cafe, where a DJ was busting out possibly J-Pop tunes.  We were joined by a dude named TJ, who we'd befriended as we waited in line, and learned was a vet, thanks for your service.

Fangirl and our Lunch Mate TJ

At each space we found with the menu gifts of paper flowers with chocolate in them, and a vial of bubbles.

The Master's Banquet and a couple gifts

Yes at bubbles we all became kids again. We were also given a sticker with a drawing of our maid, and a bracelet. I was given a blue and green bead one cause it matched my pineapple shirt. We ordered the Master's Banquet from the menu which was the whole meal they offered Sandwich, Chips, and a dessert. We also purchased the Special Gift, which was a picture with your waitress. Our section was taken care of by Maid Sniikersnee, the pink maid who is the Yandere type according to her pic on Facebook. She was fraking awesome, actually they all were. On the tiny pic they give you when you took a pic with your table's maid she wrote her name and drew some hearts in what else pink.

After the meal they broke out board games where our Table played Candyland the My Little Pony edition. Sniikersnee was Twilight Sparkle, I was Fluttershy, Fangirl was Rainbow Dash, our Vet friend choose Pinkie Pie, whose piece had gone on a trip so Sniikersnee substituted with one of her pins, a cleaver with cake on it. I never made it to the end... I'd get close then the cards would be against me. *pouts* To finish our hour the DJ spun a tune as the maids lip synched and performed a dance.

We then took a longer stroll around the Dealer's floor where of course we noticed the larger selection of Anime inspired cars this year:

There we some amazing costumes:

Nicholas D. Wolfwood from Trigun and a genderbent Harley Quinn (Thanks Fangirl)

I think both of these are from Kiki's Delivery Service, I know the Kiki is. (Photo courtesy of Fangirl)

This is the most funny costume I saw, I can't help when I see this to recall that Classic Foamy the Squirrel episode Rules For the Masses (warning not suitable for younger/sensitive audiences) where Foamy suggests you be sure to shower while at the con.


We settled in at the stage for the Cosplay Lip Synch Battle. There was some amazing peeps I have to admit. The one I really remember was a Poison Ivy Neegan, basically cause of the costume with it's green lights. There was even a Dipper from Gravity Falls competing which I thought was cool seeing a  costume from the show.

Chilling in the crowd during the Lip Synch Battle

The battle is under way

We stopped at a couple of the featured guests' booths, the one I was most  thrilled to meet was Johnny Young Bosch, who currently does a lot of voice acting, but when I was growing up I knew him as Adam the Black Power Ranger. I'm happy to add his sig to my collection John Hancocks.

Fangirl's Cabbit hanging out at Artist's Alley still donning Fangirl's Jane Hat and now her Maid's gift bracelet.

We went back for another round at Artist Alley and visited with Amanda one last time, before bidding the con adieu. We were pooped. I think we may have had enough energy and money to partake of the Chinese food.

This Geek was pooped after this con, and dang look at that crazy hair!

If you want to see others' experience at AARC I suggest Brotalku's post, I think they show some of the Lip Synch Battle in it and you get a brief glimpse of Fangirl in the crowd, look for the purple. Also check out League of Extraordinary Appalachians' post, I think they have a couple for this con, they cover the costume contest a couple of them were in.

After the con I was inspired to write a poem about my experience at AARC that I hope to add to a poetry collection I'm working on that focuses mainly on Geeks and Dreamers. This is just the I think  2nd draft I look for it to be edited further at some point:

When the Anime Buffs Gather

A stroll through artist alley
Fills the eye with pretty trinkets
A meeting with that indie author
Named for a passed family dog
Another book sold
Another book read
Another step for a dream come true

With a military vet
You pass through a doorway
Into a cheery world of color and techno music
Ruled by rainbow hued maids
Where gifts of bubbles makes kids out of adults
And a game takes you back to that one 7th grade social studies class

With a meal and a dance
 The rainbow ladies send you back into the crowd
Populated with souls wielding giant hammers and huge furry heads
A nerd Mom nurses her babe
Already bringing it up in the geeky ways
Smart Momma
On stage characters are locked in a lip synch battle
Poison Neegan illuminates green and wields a mean bat
While a Haunted Hill Nurse Harlequin does a split

A hero of your past emerges
Taking a moment to sign your meager offering
Thank you for your time
Thank you for your work

Surrounded by downtown traffic
A couple begins their lives together
As the people pour out of an ornate church
Into the rays of the afternoon sun
Geez how many people can be in one bridal party?

I hope your Weekend is awesome and if you want to see epicness totally check out The Hillywood Show's® Supernatural Parody 2. As always may God bless you guys!

Ninja <[0000]---------------[0000]> Writer