Sándor: “My shoes and socks.”

- Mihály

I don’t usually deal well with new situations, lots of people and/or new people, but I felt surprisingly comfortable surrounded by all the nerds of different shapes and sizes. It’s refreshing to see how many people actually feel the same passion I feel about a great many things.

The event was pretty well organized, all things considered. The entirety of four hotels was dedicated to Dragon*Con events. A handy booklet listed events, times and locations for the weekend. Despite this organization, we still felt a bit lost for a majority of the time; trying to plan panels, find rooms and work out timing issues. Alex, Kenneth and I are in agreement that this trip is best described as a learning experience: we are compiling a list of things we need to do or do differently for next time (yeah, we’re already working on “next time”).

We attended a Miss Star Trek Universe Pageant, which featured a green belly dancer and Seven of Nine (or is it Six or… whatever) dancing to “All the Single Ladies,” hosted by two Klingons. It was fun. We attended a panel called “Adult Themes in the Star Wars Universe,” which didn’t sink to new depths of perversion, it just started there. Apparently, everyone in Star Wars is fucking everyone else. We touched on issues including getting Twi’leks off by incorporating their head tales during intercourse. Ewoks apparently started the furbie movement. Artoo has MANY attachments not displayed in the movies.

The Battlestar Gallactica panel was actually really good. Edward James Olmos was very engaging and informative. Dean Stockwell was pretty funny. Richard Hatch got to be a bit of a bore, as he spent most of his time defending himself and his character. Oh yeah, I took a piss with Edward James Olmos.

And the costumes…. I knew that many people would be dressing up, since that is kinda what you do and I expected to see several genres represented, but I think what surprised most was how varied the quality of costumes was. I guess since the interwebs showcases the best outfits, I must have figured that that was the standard, but I was wrong. Some of the better ones included an 8′+ Chewbacca, several slave Leias, between 5 and 7 Indiana Jones’, a handful of Kara “Starbuck” Thraces, a shit-ton of Jedi, a Grand Admiral Thrawn, a Leeloo, a Zorg, a couple of “Up” kids, stormtroopers, predators (including a female predator), at least one alien and a variety of steampunk get-ups.

The following is a selection from this weekend’s events.

Setting out on our great adventure

Chewbacca (I’ll let Alex estimate his height).

Viet and Alex with Captain America.

Viet and slave Leia.

Super stoked about Glee! Its the coolest show EVAR! (Or until LOST returns at the very least :o)

Charleston Scottish Games and Highland Festival will be taking place in Boone Hall Plantation on ole Mount P on Saturday, September the 9th. I, for one, look forward to donning the UK brand kilt and samplin’ some whiskey (whiskey is optional).

As of this evening, I will attempt the traditional art of wet shaving. One step up (or down, depending on how you look at it) from the straight razor, the practitioner will create a lather from a soap or cream, apply it to the face using a brush made of beaver hair (the animal, not the… you get it, I’m sure) and scrap the aforementioned lather and facial hair with a single bladed safety razor. This process is to be repeated several times until the desired smoothness is attained.

Why would one revert to such an arcane method of hair removal? Well, “why the hell not?”, is my reply (I know, don’t answer a question with a question, but …). And it worked well for several generations until the two, three and now five bladed disposable deals came about with their aerosol shaving creams and uber-merchandising. Its supposed to provide a closer shave with less irritation (“Do you always believe what you read?” “Nope, that’s why I’m trying it out for myself”), and the occasional metal blade is sure to be better for the environment then the crap-ton of plastic blades that must be disposed of with the disposable blades. I’m sure I’ll shred my face up good and proper the first few times, but I’m also sure it will prove to be a worth-while experience.

Becky left for her missions trip to Panama this morning. Actually, its was church that I took her to; she didn't leave for Panama until later this afternoon. I figured that since I was up anyway, I might as well do something productive. That didn't go quite as planned. Most of my day has been spent not doing anything until about 4-ish when I realized I should probably eat something. Since I had already wasted a significant chunk of the day, I decided to write the rest of it off as well: I started brewing coffee… LOTS of coffee.

Having tried using coffee for the purposes of dying cotton fabric in the past (I think it is technically staining, but we’re not here to argue semantics, and it was with my dice bag a few years back) I thought I should give it a go with denim (I’m using denim since it has been the fabric which yielded the best results for kilts, and I’m staining for a worn look and I was unable to purchase denim in the desired color). With that, phase two of kilt number 4 is officially under way (phase one having been bleaching said denim). Still a bit unsure if it'll be a contemporary or traditional apron, or even if I'll try a knife pleat or stick with the tried and true box pleats. I figure the hard part was actually getting up off my ass and starting the project, now I should have about a week of coffee stain time to decide the finer points and details.

Much regard to all as I retire to watch Watchmen with the Caoilainn pup.