Comic-Con

Oh my god, two blog posts in one month; I must be serious about that whole keeping up thing I mentioned.

So this past weekend I went to Wizard World Comic-Con St. Louis. I went with my best friend and my little brother. It was fun and I had an amazing time. We arrived on friday, went and checked in, and started walking around the vendor area.

DAY 1

The first thing I saw when I got there was the booth for Ultrasabers. They are a company known for making lightsabers. They usually have set styles that people get but when I got to that booth I saw something I never expected to see. I saw the Saber of Omens. For those who don't know what that might be it is the Sword of Omens from Thundercats as a lightsaber. It was the coolest thing ever, and I bought one. Now mind you, I had no plans to do so, but when you have an opportunity like that, you take it. So I bought it and I look forward to using it.

After that, day one was mostly filled with walking around and visiting friends. There is something pretty sweet about having friends who have booths at an event like that. One of which being it makes them easier to find when wanting to hang out. The food choices were about the same as last year. Expensive but still good. He only complaint I really had was the lack of tables and chairs to sit at in the food area. I understand that with the amount of people attending you can't have seats for everyone without losing Con space, but if your food venders are in an area where there is nothing else around then damn it give people a place to sit. And no, the floor is not a viable place to sit. When you have been walking around for a few hours and decide to get food, the last thing you want to do is have to sit your happy ass on the cement floor.

Now unlike last year I did try and attend some panels. On Friday I only attended one. It was a Doctor Who panel that mostly discussed the end of Matt Smith's run. It was pretty cool, I even got up and asked a question of the panelists. I ended the day with seeing Captain America: The Winter Soldier which was an awesome movie.

Overall, day one was a good day. There was one issue, but that's not really my story to tell.

DAY 2

The second day was my favorite of the weekend.

It started with putting on my Renaissance Superman costume. I hadn't worn it since I went to Renn Faire last year and it was nice to wear it again. So we(me, my bestie, and my brother) went over the Con and were able to see some more friends. I went to a speed-dating event. That was pretty fun. I did kind of feel like the guy running it was kind of douchy. He kind of talked to everyone as if we were those stereotypical nerds you see on tv who couldn't get a date to save their lives. I've been in the geek/nerd community long enough to know that type is a rarity. Either way it was pretty fun. Made a couple of new friends, and have a new tumblr to follow. After that I went back to my room to change out of the costume. Partly because my feet were starting to hurt in the boots I was wearing, but also because the clasp for my cloak had come off and was no longer usable. Will have to work on getting that fixed. If only I knew people who knew costuming lol.

The next thing I did was go back for my picture with Karen Gillian and Matt Smith of Doctor Who. Got in line about an hour before the photo opp which was a good thing because it was already packed. I jad gotten tickets for my bestie amd I as we are both fans. We had found out that each pass could actually get two people for the photo. She decided to invite my brother into hers which is cool, except he had never watched the show. I invited a good friend of mine.

After the photo we headed back to the hotel room to prepare for a room party we were throwing. I had decided to throw a room party after booking the room when I realized how large the room was going to be. I'm not going to lie, I was really nervous. I had invited friends out before for a party but having friends come to a restaurant for your birthday is not quite the same as throwing one where you have to take care of the details. I must say it was a resounding success. There was a good turn out with friends both new and old. It definitely made me confident about possibly throwing parties in the future. I'll admit the fact that it ended with me in bed alone is something I would have changed but that's how things go.

Day two was loads better than day one. Seeing as how day one was amazing that says something.

DAY 3

So the third day was a bit more subdued. It was the last day of the Con and so there wasn't as much to try and experience. At least not as far as the Con went. We mostly spent this day going around to the booths friends had and saying hi. My bestie and my brother wanted to go around and get the free stuff that came with their badge which is cool. I had done that on friday so I mostly just walked with them and occasionally made my goodbyes to friends as I saw them.

This was the first event this year where I was reminded how much I missed my dad. Him, my brother, and I were originally planning on going together. My dad even wanted to try and do a steampunk costume. So while I had fun doing this without him it still hurt. But I think in the end, he would be proud of me for being able to have a good time anyway. He would have been the first to tell me that I couldn't change what happened, so going and enjoying myself would have been the only thing to do. I could hear him now: "Did you have a good time? Then don't let the fact that I wasn't there change that."

Overall I had a lot of fun and it was a great experience. Good friends, good booze, much laughter and smiles, and lots of joy was had, and you know what? In the end that is all that matters.

I do what I want

Well here I am again,  attempting to post more and keep this thing from becoming a tomb of thoughts long past.

Today I am writing about something that always bothers me. People's need to tell others that their opinion/likes/dislikes/whatever are wrong. It's a thing I've noticed for a while but today I felt like talking about it. What brought this up was something a coworker said. Before I get into that, a little background.

A few months back, when my dad was still in the hospital, I let a bit more facial hair than usual grow out. I'll admit I can't grow much of a beard, and it came out looking kind of scraggly, but i decided to do it. At first I was going to let it grow to see how it turned out, but shortly after deciding to do so I found out about my dad's condition. After that I decided that I wasn't going to shave it until things resolved themselves one way or the other. From the reactions I got from guys at work you would think I had committed a capital offense. Every opportunity they had they took to tell me how bad it looked, or how I needed to shave it, or just outright laughter. Now to be fair, during this time I wasn't exactly talking too much to a lot of people about what was going on. I only mentioned it to the one or two people I consider friends and they understood and letbit go. The others though, my goodness. It is amazing how it seems as if other guys try to control the way someone thinks or does things. One day, after about a month or so of this I blew up at a couple of them and told them my reasons. One or two seemed sympathetic but a few others kind of chuckled about it. I believe they were chuckling more about my reaction to them rather than the reasons I gave(at least that's what I choose to believe). Either way they dropped it. When my dad passed I shaved and haven't really thought of it since until today.

So I come into work just a regular day when a dick of a coworker(that has always been my opinion of him not just brought on by this) tells me that he likes the look I have at the moment much better. At first I had no idea what he was talking about as the look I have now I've had for a few years. It seems he was talking about that time period where I let my "beard" grow out. This annoyed me. I explained to him how his opinion didn't actually matter to me, especially when it comes to my looks. Actually when it comes to how I look no guys opinion matters to me. Primarily for two reasons. The first and main one is that I dress for me(yes I realize the irony of that statement coming from a man especially with the next reason). The second is that in the grand scheme of things, the only opinions other than my own I listen to, when it comes to my style, are women's. Now I accept that that might sound misogynistic and for that I apologize, but the truth is I'm straight and therefore sleep with women. Their opinion means more to me; because I feel that even if they have no interest in me, they are still basing their opinion on what they think looks good on a guy(or at least me if they are talking to me about it). There tends to be two reactions from guys to a statement like that. One being "No shit" and the other being "You're whipped". Now by pure coincidence the few male friends I have(about 85% of my friends are female, and don't get me started on how guys treat that tidbit) are of the "No shit" variety. They understand how the opinions of the people you are attracted to are somewhat more relevant than those of people you aren't.

Now I figure that by this point you are probably wondering what that story has to do with the original premise of this post. Let me explain, no that would be too long, let me sum up. It seems that people love to tell you you are wrong in the things you like, or enjoy, or just want to do, if it doesn't line up with their thoughts on those things.

I'll be the first to admit I like a lot of stuff. Whether it's movies, comics, books, music, or people. Because of that I have been accused of liking everything and everyone. While that isn't entirely true the thing I have never understood is what difference does it make. An example, and I know a lot of people will judge me for it, is that I like the Star Wars Prequel Trilogy. Now that you all had the collective gasp, understand that I am aware of it's flaws and have issues with those myself, but the main reason why I like them is that it is Fucking Star Wars. Yes Jar Jar Binks sucked, the droids were idiotic, and some of the acting was sub-par at best but all I care about is that it's Star Wars. The reason I use that as an example is because when I like something/someone I don't think too deeply into why I just know that I do. I know quite a few people who could tell you point for point every single reason they like something, I am not one of them. The main reason for that is that I don't think too deeply about it. Once I have accepted that I like or enjoy something then that is all I need to know. The same applies asbto why I don't like something/someone. Now in those cases I can give all the reasons, mainly because once I realize I don't like something, then I examine why so that I can feel, in my own mind, that it isn't for some arbitrary reason.

I guess what I'm trying to say with all of this rambling talk is that people shouldn't try to control what others like and don't like. Even if you don't agree you should let them have that. I think the main reason people make such a big deal about it is that they want validation for their own thoughts and opinions, and nothing does that better than someone agreeing with you. But you'll be amazed at how much less stress you have when you either stop caring about or trying to control the opinions of others. Now as I said earlier I do make exceptions, but those are the people who have a bigger impact on my life and who my choices actively affect them.

Well that's all for now. I'm aware that I ramble and that a lot of what I said probably won't make sense to people but you know what, I don't care. There's a line from a movie/tv show/ whatever that I think fits perfectly here....."I do what I want"