The Guild, Supernatural, Hitchhiker's Guide, and Ghostbusters: AKA My Birth Week

 Hey Friends,

Last week was my birthday and there was fun things to do through out the week. I finally decided to adopt a birth week celebration, because I don't get a lot of opportunities to celebrate me. I shook off the misconceptions I had that only self absorbed people did birth weeks. So let me take you through some of the last week plus a few days.

A Little Guildie Fun 

Did some rewatching of The Guild, due to the fact I had been working on my book and a character had been rewatching it, so it got me wanting to do the same. It's also a good time for a refresher since they announced their going to start fundraising for a movie. 

If your not familiar with The Guild, it's a web series actress Felicia Day came out with in 2007 that ran till 2013. It follows a game guild who meet in real life and shenanigans ensue. This is a required viewing in the late 2000's to early 2010's section of your geek history education.

My 42 Birthday and a Misadventure in Cooking 

So like I said in a previous post this was a low key b-day. The PMDD was kindish to me that day. I started with making my pitcher of mockarita so it'd have time to chill. I used The Speckled Palate's Virgin Margarita recipe as a guide. I deviated in that I couldn't get fresh lime juice.

After this I watched a little more of The Guild and Trent The Traveler videos.  My Grannie stopped by to give me her gifts one of which is a purse that is awesome cause it's a cross body bag that holds all my stuff. 

Later in the day I began to prepared the main dish for my birthday supper from Supernatural: The Official Cookbook, Winchester Surprise:

This was my most ambitious recipe I think I've ever tried that wasn't baking. My Mom gave me some pointers before heading to church with Grannie, leaving me to my own devices with just the cookbook as my guide. 

          

Now I deviated from the recipe a bit it calls for ground pork and ground beef, well I decided to use what we had in the freezer which was ground pork sausage and ground deer meat and instead of chopping up pickles Mom suggested I use dill relish that it was basically chopped pickles. I feel the Winchesters are use what you got kind of people.

 

 

The other ways I deviated from the recipe in shredded cheese and instead of corn chips I put pepperoni on top to make an image of a planet to represent Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy for it is the birthday I become the answer to life, the universe, everything.

 

 

I decided on a side of peas. Now my Mom had instructed me that these particular can of peas needed a long boil... I over did it a bit...

 

Winchester Surprise was a hit. Mom and Grannie loved it! The drink was good, but very sweet, so sweet you couldn't drink much in one go. I don't know if the actual margarita drink is that sweet or not. Can someone let me know?

 I also had a late night s'more. It's become the birthday tradition for me.

My Birthday Haul

 

So here is my birthday haul:

Back right the purse my Grannie gave me.

Back left is my Legend of Zelda 40th Anniversary Magazine, which may have a slight error in it, but I still love it.

Front right is the complete collection of the 42nd Anniversary editions of the Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy series. I'd said I'd like the first book, wasn't expecting the whole thing. Y'all the books smell so good. 

Front center is a Lego Botanicals Dandelion. I've already put it together and it's hanging out in a vase.

Front right is a bottle of  Body Fantasies Cotton Candy Body Spray that was suppose to be a Christmas present but got forgotten.

I also got this homemade bag:

 

   

 

It was a collaborative effort between my Mom and Grannie. The strap had to get adjusted it was a little long.

 

 

June 6th

 

So the Saturday after my birthday was a full day and of course I get a lousy night of sleep. First was my family reunion. A time to reunite with family and partake of food. This year I had a cousin grill up burgers and hot dogs. Fangirl came at my invite, cause we were going out after words in honor of my birthday since she hadn't been able to come up on the day. I figured we lunch at the reunion and hit local stores to save money so we can go out on her birthday. 

I got some belated birthday wishes, and one not so good sentiment. Had a cousin's wife asked me my age I told her 42, she's like that's a good age your getting everything together in your head, then your body falls apart. It's like that's a kind of fraked up to tell some one. I've been feeling good about myself in my 30's and 40's when it comes to my aging. I've felt good physically despite my preexisting  physical issues I've had since I was in high school. I've approached all my birthdays with joy and hope once I discovered the scary tales people go on about being in your 30's, 40's, and so on is bull crap. I feared the big 3-0 back in my 20's, but as I got closer I saw it wasn't the scary beast people made it out to be, and I threw the most fun birthday with rainbow cake and ring pops. It's how I also approached my 40th. So I tend to ignore such talk and follow how my aging is going for me not someone else's aging or preconceived notions of aging.

I was a bit tired and irritable due to little sleep and the fact later that day the inevitable end of PMDD would happen. After the reunion Fangirl and I headed out. We hit up three thrift stores, a used book store, and a stop at Geek Mountain. After the shopping I went home and killed over into slumber.

 

June 6th Haul

 

 So first up is my gifts from Fangirl:

 

 

In the back is the final three books I needed in Tamora Pierce's Protector of the Small series. Then there's the blue dice bag Fangirl handmade for me, it's now holding all the loose dice Fangirl has gifted me over the years.The black box holds these beautiful fluid filled dice that have glittery things within.

They're all sitting in a dice chest Fangirl painted. It's currently housing all the dice sets my friends gifted me.

 

Now we come to the shopping haul. This is all the things we purchased that day:

 

  

 

Top right is a Superman/Wonder Woman comic I got at Geek Mountain.

Top left is a blue bunny Fangirl found cast off in a random section of Goodwill, she gifted him to me for the Blue Bunny Army, I'm naming him Ford after the character in Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy.

Middle left is my Goodwill find: Greenwitch by Susan Cooper, the next book I needed in the Dark Is Rising series. 

Bottom is Comic book bags from Geek Mountain, cause I have naked comics in my collection.

 

Ghostbusters Day

 

Lastly is Ghostbusters Day, now the 8th was outside my birth week this year, but it's close enough so I'll count it. Ghostbusters is a special franchise to me, because I was born the week it premiered in theaters. The day started by ducking out for my Mom's doctor appointment and after that was dragged out way longer than we thought we returned home. I got a late start watching the Ghostbusters movie. Like the 40th anniversary viewing I decided to eat a s'more during the Stay Puff Marshmallow destruction scene, it adds a another level to the viewing:

I got the idea for this from The Baby-Sitter's Club #9 The Ghost at Dawn's House. In one scene of the book the girls make s'mores to eat for that end part of the movie. It was a good idea, Mom mom even joined in the fun.

 

Okay that was a long post at least it felt like it writing it, then add in just bad attention span and power going out while trying to write it, it took much longer. So I hope your weekend is good and have some fun out there. See ya!

 

*Thrifty Geek* 

Supernatural 20th Anniversary aka My Long Winding Road to Becomimg a Fan

Hello Supernatural Family,

So this year marks 20 years since Sam and Dean hit the road in their 1967 Chevy Impala. *Cues Kansas Carry On Wayward Son*

I'd thought I'd take some time to reminisce upon my memories surrounding the show and how I got into it especially that epically Supernatural date: September 13th, 2005. Now be warned this isn't a spoiler free post!

20 Years Ago...

So who was I 20 years ago? What was I doing? Where was I? Well I was a 21 year old college student three months legal to drink certain beverages:

Look at that shiny new 21 year old!

I was working on getting my Associates Degree in Film and Video Production Technology, and yes we were fully aware that was a mouthful. I was suppose to be starting my final year of college, but my program head shifted my final classes to the spring and summer semesters, probably due to all the drama from the spring before, which left me with an unexpected fall break. 

On the entertainment front this was the year Fangirl and I would walk out of the only that I've ever walked out of House of Wax**, which is funny given Jared Padalacki is in it. TV wise Buffy, the Vampire Slayer had ended two years previous, it's spin off Angel had ended last year, and the OG Charmed was entering it's last season, so I definitely needed new shows. Well hear about this show called Supernatural (SPN) and it has fantastical elements which is up my ally. 

So the night of September 13th, 2005 I sat in my moss green chair in my bedroom, and began the hunt. I remember watching Mary burst into flames on the ceiling and thinking "That's different". I also remember Sam coming home and I got a bad feeling and I'm like "Not the girlfriend, not the girlfriend", of course that went up in flames. Little did I know 16 years later I'd be having similar emotions going "Not Dean, not Dean", that got epically skewered. 

I know what you're thinking and so began a 15 season fandom love affair... I wish I could say that, I really do. I mean most people fell in love instantly with, heck if the memes are to be believed it was when Dean uttered the line: "Dad's on a hunting trip... and he hasn't been home in a few days." 21 year old me, had a whole different story. I watched for a few episodes, I remember getting excited that Amy Ackers from Angel was gonna guest star in the third episode "Dead in the Water", but that's the most I remember of my viewing of that first half of the season. I think I dropped of sometime after "Faith", the first episode with the reapers, because when I was watching it for what I thought was the first time I recalled having seen Julie Benz one of the dresses she was wearing before. Plus the release date for it was near time the spring semester usually starts at my college, and I know I fell off watching after I started back. 

I know this has literally turned into a horror show for the Supernatural Family. I don't blame you. I'm horrified myself. Believe me I've had words with 21 me it's like "What was not to like in the show? There was a supernatural element, two cute boys, a pretty, pretty car! (If you get that reference you're awesome) Seriously totally your jam!" But remembering back I think the show initially came across as too dark and serious for my tastes. Keep in mind humor early in the show was much more subtle compared to what we got later on. Plus scarier, at least compared to the previous WB offers I was accustomed to watching. Now I loved spooky things back then, but what I could tolerate was a much smaller threshold compared to my spooky tolerances now at 41, amazing what 20 years can do to a person. So yeah I think I wrote it off as a uber serious weekly Horror movie, and mostly forgot about it. I mean this was forgotten so much that one time I saw this your birth date determines who you'll be stuck in a room with the rest of your life and I got Jenson Ackles, and I had to look up who he was. I know send chills up the spin thinking about it. Although what did Jenson do to get stuck with my Nerdy Butt for the rest of his life? Okay I'll stop scaring you now. 

The Road To Fandom... 

So Thrifty how did you finally start watching the show again? Glad you asked! You can that thank in a tiny part The Vampire Diaries, and a large part to Fangirl. So fast forward to 2009 when the aforementioned vampire show premiered, which attracted this Buffy loving geek, and I started watching it. It was while I watched that show, which at the time aired I think on Thursdays along with Supernatural, I would occasional like almost once a year see an ad for an SPN episode that peaked my interest. The first of these was "Changing Channels", cause mainly the guys were on a Japanese game show, a format I was familiar with thanks to G4 (RIP). I was surprised this serious horror show was doing humorous things like this, keep in mind had no clue they got a huge injection of funny. This was my first episode with the Trickster, and because it was the big reveal at the end had less of an effect on me as it would if I had been watching it all those seasons. This is also my first Castiel episode, yeah I'm salty about it too. Everyone else got a bada** coming into a barn holy glory, I get him coming out on a stage looking for the missing idjits, only to get spirited away by an arch angel. *Sighs* The next episode would be "The French Mistake" that I ended up watching when I realized they'd been brought to the real world. Then the last of these ad drawn in episodes, I think I was drawn to it cause of the ad, was "LARP and the Real Girl" because it had Felicia Day, who I had become a fan of thanks to The Guild and Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog (which are mandatory shows to watch for the 2000's Era of your Nerdy History class). Now you'd figure at this point I'd have realized my first impressions of the show were not correct, but apparently those first impressions stuck. 

It was a little later when that special time came along... When Fangirl was looking for a new show to binge. I can't tell you how many of my fandom origin stories involve this special time. Well this time Supernatural was her chosen one. So fun fact for you all: Fangirl exhibits signs when she has a new show obsession: 1. She starts making references, 2. She talks her Best Friend's ear off about it. *points to self* Whatever I had not learned about the show from the few episodes I watched and hanging in nerd spaces, I learned that day. This would be the catalyst for what happened next in my journey to SPN Fandom. 

I awoke one morning, I wasn't feeling so hot, can't remember if it was physical or mental, but I lounged on the bed channel surfing, and it was while scrolling the channels I came across Supernatural on TNT, and I'm like eh let's watch it. I soon found myself every so often watching this show that seemed to even capture my friend in it's grasp.  I quickly found myself enjoying it, but at this point was one of those shows I had to be in the right mood to watch, like NCIS. Of course my every so often TNT watch didn't last long cause SPN is not a show that will just be a sometimes thing, it's too powerful, supernatural I daresay. Soon I found myself being dragged with the rest of the multitudes to tune into the new episodes every week. 

And so there you have it my long road to becoming a fan of Supernatural. 

41 Years old cosplaying Dean this year

This was originally just suppose to be my memories of the pilot episode, but apparently Chuck decided to inspire a novel... I was gonna include a write up about the series finale in this blog as well, but I think this post has gone on long enough.  Since it's also the 5 year anniversary of the show ending I will probably write that part of the story in November.

So I hope you have a good 20th SPN Fam, I'm gonna watch the Pilot episode and eat a piece of pie. Carry on and may the road treat you well.

*Thrifty Geek* 

**For record I didn't want to see House of Wax to begin with, I warned Fangirl it was horror which she doesn't really like (probably do to being traumatized with Nightmare on Elm Street as a child... but that's another story). I'm not a big of those style of horror movies either, hence why I was shocked when she said we were going to see it. I wasn't thrilled, but I wasn't going to abandon my friend so I went, but I didn't wanna abandon my friend, so I went with fully intending to keep my eyes cover for the movie. Well I did just that when things started getting more dark, I heard the horrible first people screaming and then Fangirl going "Let's go". We get out of theater  and I look at her and proclaimed "I told you!" The we decided to head to a grocery store that was in the plaza at the time.