Highlights from Salt Lake Comic Con 2014

Thursday 4 September marked the first day of the second annual Salt Lake City Comic Con!! And yes, I went, did you even doubt? Even better, Sis, Bro-in-law, and Baby E came too! Thursday was a little bit of a nightmare, logistics wise, but I think by next year they'll have it all sorted out. Also, we learned a little bit about how we should go about the first day next year.

Instead of giving a whole break down of the entire weekend, I'm just going to post some pictures of the highlights and give a little information about them.

Day 2 we dressed up like Pokemon characters (With Sis and Bro-in-law)

A surprise highlight! We just wandered into Vic Mignogna's panel because we wanted to see the person after him. It was awesome and now I've been binge watching anime series! (He's a voice actor.)

Love Alan Tudyk! He's really funny. I got to meet him and get his autograph after.

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Saturday we started the day by meeting John Barrowman! I like this picture because it makes it seem like I said something really clever, though I'm absolutely certain I didn't.

Stan LEE! Omigosh, he's amazing. Like a grandpa with the coolest stories ever.

Leonard Nimoy on Skype. He's pretty awesome too. There was a girl on the first row who we could see through the camera. She was dressed as a Vulcan, but had very un-Vulcan like reactions. I think everyone was watching to see if she was going to faint or throw up.

Everyone's costumes were amazing. I'm still pretty timid about asking for pictures, and when I do I take them really quickly so they don't turn out that well, but it's just fun to see how creative everyone is. 

I, of course, bought quite a bit of art. There's an artist named Ben Byrd who I discovered at FanX in April and was so excited to see he was there. I got three 4x6 prints from him. (His Etsy shop is down, or I would link to it. :( )

Karen Hallion was there, so of course I had to buy this print:

There are a few more, but I'm a bit too lazy right now to walk into the other room and look up the artists' names. :)

Anyway, it was a lot of fun. I did get the "con crud" last week, and spent a lot of my free time planning my cosplay for next year! Geek problems, right? ;)

Update: Birthday and Comic-Con

April has been an exciting month, lots to do and lots of fun. The month started with LDS General Conference, which I got to spend at home with Mom, Dad, and Bro. The next weekend was my birthday! My birthday happened to get stretched out to cover the whole weekend, and into the week a little bit.

The day before my official birthday I spent with friends. That morning I went to the temple to C, then in the afternoon M and I went to see a matinee of Les Miserables (a Christmas present from my parents--twice the enjoyment!). The play was AMAZING! I've seen it before, but I'm always struck by the story of redemption and how it only took one person to show val Jean that he was more than just a former prisoner. It just gets to me, so of course I cried.

After the show we got dinner at one of my favorite restaurants and took it to go (what we usually do). Then when we got home I opened the door to this:

As my brain was trying to make this fit into my reality, I was surprised by friends popping out from behind the kitchen counter! M and C had planned a surprise party for me and I was totally oblivious to the whole thing! It was a fun night, with just a few friends, which is exactly what I like.

Then on my birthday, I got to wear a new dress I had bought precisely for my birthday (because I felt I deserved it :) ).

I love the fifties style! After church I went to the parentals and had a little nap, then dinner, presents, and cheesecake! My birthday was extended even further on Tuesday when General Minion and Minion S took me out to lunch to Kneader's.

Then Thursday was Comic-Con! I was excited and nervous for my very first con. I went with my coworker and fellow whovian, K. Oh my gosh, it was so much fun! Just being around all these geeks, and feeling a connection to hundreds of people you don't know is awesome! Highlights: I made friends while waiting in line for a panel; I met Adam Baldwin and Nathan Fillion (oh, so handsome); and seeing all the creative costumes people come up with. Here a just a few pictures:

My day one cosplay! I got a lot of compliments, and a few people even asked if they could take my photo!

My new friends!

Ioan Gruffudd. He's so charming. 

James Marsters. I just couldn't get a really good picture of him. 

Day 2 cosplay--Nerdherder!

Karl Urban. He drove right past us! 

Getting Adam Baldwin's autograph. He was so nice!

Awesome Christoff and Elsa--I love her attitude.

The oh so ruggedly handsome Nathan Fillion. 

The cute and fun Karen Gillan.

Adam Baldwin during his panel.

Me and R2-D2! He even made squeely noises.

Definitely can't wait to go to another con! I was exhausted every night, but it was so much fun!

That's about it for now--hopefully I'll have some news on the job front in the near-ish future!

A Glance into the Past

I was watching Ramona and Beezus tonight (crying fest!) and there is a scene where Ramona gets her own room for the first time and she's really excited. Then Beezus comes in and tells Ramona about how scared she's going to be, sleeping in a room by herself in the dark. And it reminded me of something from my childhood. So, let's get in the TARDIS and head back to 1998.

Vworp vworp vworp

Up until I was 10, I shared a room with Sis. Our room was pretty big, and for most of the time we shared it, we had twin beds. If I ever got scared, I'd walk across the room and get into Sis's bed, though I always had to be on the side of the bed against the wall, which meant I usually got squished. For about a year before I got my own room, we had a queen bed that we shared. Sis spreads out a LOT when she sleeps, so I usually ended up in a ball on the edge of the bed.

So, when it came time to get my own room, I was pretty excited! We had just built an extension onto the back of the garage for my dad's shop, which meant that the room that used to be the shop became my bedroom. The door opened into the sink section of the bathroom, and there was no carpet, and just enough room for a twin bed, but it was going to be mine. (It's strange, I just realized that I still dream about this room, as if it's still my bedroom, even though I haven't lived in that house--or even been in it--for 9 years.) Anyway, I don't remember how it all went down, but I do remember being slightly scared when it came down to it.

If you've spent your entire life sleeping in a room with another person, and being scared of the dark, going into a room all by yourself is kind of scary! So Bro and Sis agreed to sleep on the floor of my room (my hard concrete floor with only a braided rug for a cushion) the first two nights.

It's kind of nice to know that your family is always there to sleep on your floor when you need them.

Doctor Who Workout

Last month I started my Doctor Who workouts, so I decided to give a little bit of an update.

First off, I still don't like exercising. I have to really talk myself into working out every day after work. It is made a bit easier by watching Doctor Who. This being said, I have noticed some differences, both physical and mental. I just feel better about myself. I don't think I necessarily have a more toned stomach or arms. But I feel better about those things. The days when I don't work out (or the week when I only worked out once), I definitely feel grosser about my body, and am more inclined to have a lower self image. Who would have thought?! I liked my body before I started working out, at least, I thought I did. I don't get as many headaches as I used to--which could probably also be fixed by taking frequent breaks from sitting at work. But one of the biggest emotional advantages I've noticed is a little bit less anxiety when I work out. In fact, this week, I have/had a couple of stressors and I even started thinking "I should work out, maybe that will help my anxiety about [thing]." Weird. Must be the whole endorphin thing. Good to know I won't be killing my [nonexistent] husband.

Second, I'm probably going to be keeping this up. I might even try to do it more than the 1 to 4 times a week. That's the thing, I haven't been very consistent at it, so I'm going to try to do that better. Also, certain episodes just aren't that great to workout to. I watched one and I only did ten jumping jacks and ten crunches. It was pretty lame, so I need to watch out for that.

So, that's my little update. I'm still not an workout fanatic, but I am seeing some changes in myself.

Doctor Who Workout

Today I did my first Doctor Who workout (just finished it in fact), which I got off of Pinterest and can be found here. Oh man, am I out of shape! Since I've seen all of the episodes (except the Matt Smith ones) more than once, I just chose an episode to do this with. So my workout today was to "The Unquiet Dead" (the Charles Dickens one).

It was a little hard to not just get caught up in the episode, but I had the workout taped to the side of the TV to help me remember, and I'm sure once I get more used to what I'm supposed to do, it will be easier. This episode may not have been the best episode, but when I wasn't doing one of the tasks, I made sure I was standing, stretching, or going onto my toes. Also, the part about the "catchphrase" I made to include "Bad Wolf," which was said in this episode. I ended up doing a lot of jumping jacks, because "Doctor" gets said all the time--it being his name and all. Another thing I'm going to add is a plank during the theme song at the opening.

So, it was bearable. It was fun to watch something, and it isn't constant doing something all the time. And the workout will change some depending on what episode it is, so you aren't just doing the same thing all the time, which is nice. I think I may come up with my own Doctor Who workout in the future, and maybe some for the other shows I watch during the week.

Anyway, I guess in summary, this is a good way to start working out, especially since I don't generally like exercise (I know, I'm kind of ashamed of it) and since I don't have an xbox kinect on which to play Dance Central (seriously, I never wanted an xbox before and now all I want to do is get one so I can get all four Dance Centrals and annoy the people living below me).

Another update on my New Year's resolutions: I started the second draft of my book last night and wrote three pages! Not too shabby. And I've kind of started the preplanning stage of my Canadian vacation. This will be the first vacation by myself, and I really have no idea what I'm doing, so, that's fun.

Hope that your resolutions are still going strong! If not, it's never too late to start!

End of the Week Thoughts: On Ghosts, Geekiness, and Procrastination

Ghosts

I'm pretty sure there is a ghost in the Church History Library (being my place of work). "But, Whitney," you might be saying, "how can there be a ghost in a building that's only about 6 years old?" Well, here's my theory. We've got a lot of books and documents, some of which are very old. So, my theory is that the ghost (or even multiple ghosts) came in with these very old documents, a la Tom Riddle and his diary. You're probably wondering why I have been thinking that there is a ghost at my place of work. Let me tell you. Over the past year and a few months that I have worked at the library, strange things have occurred.

One, the bathroom. Now, I'm not saying that Moaning Myrtle lives in the ladies' toilet, but someone does and who else would live in a bathroom? The automatic toilets are a little too enthusiastic about their job of flushing--unnervingly so. Also, there's this one stall that always looks like there is someone in it until you push open the unlocked door and there's no one there! Eerie.

Other evidence of at least one ghost is the strange things happening to my cubicle. I think a new ghost has moved in the past couple of months because twice in the past two months, my monitors have been moved around and generally put into a shambles, and this week my chair had been messed with! You just don't mess with a person's chair! It takes much too long to get everything back where it's supposed to be. The only thing I can think of is that it's a pranking poltergeist. And then there is the curious squeaking noise . . . but I guess that the book carts explain that one. But it's creepy!

Anyway, that's why I think there is at least one ghost in the CHL.

Geekiness

Simon Pegg once said, "Being a geek is all about being honest about what you enjoy and not being afraid to demonstrate that affection. It means never having to play it cool about how much you like something. It's basically a license to proudly emote on a somewhat childish level rather than behave like a supposed adult. Being a geek is extremely liberating."

I realized how much a geek I am about three or four years ago, and I wholeheartedly embraced it. What is geekiness anyway except being passionate about something and sharing that passion? So, in that definition, aren't we all geeks? Sport geeks, math geeks, fashion geeks, food geeks.

When I started thinking about it, I saw that I liked a lot of things considered geeky--"Star Trek," Star Wars (I'm a purist), "Doctor Who," etc. But I'm also really geeky about books, music, movies, Disney, trivia, and education. I'm not the kind of geek who plays video games (I just can't get into them. Or play them. I usually ending either running around aimlessly or killing myself my accidentally throwing myself off a ledge), and I know next to nothing about technology, science, and math. But I'm passionate, and I'm not afraid of sharing my passions--though sometimes I'm a bit more quiet about my passions than others.

Procrastination stuff

Here are some things to keep you busy when you are supposed to be busy doing something else!

The "Stuff You Should Know" Podcast. With my love of knowing random facts, this is an awesome podcast. I've linked to it before, but it's worth linking to again, because it's awesome. Just this week I learned about Barbie, Bigfoot, and Christmas traditions. I've also learned about black holes, lobotomies, the muppets, vampires, why leaves change colors, and Stockholm syndrome. Seriously interesting.

The Lizzie Bennet Diaries. This is a new web series by Hank Green which updates Pride and Prejudice. My roommate and I love it! There is a new video every Monday and Thursday, and they are about 4 minutes long. There are also a few videos done by Lydia Bennet, and Maria Lu. The really cool thing about this series is not only is it a great exploration of a relatively new form of media, but it also uses other social media to make a complete story! Each character has a twitter account, and a facebook. I went on Darcy's twitter, and his sister's GiGi's, yesterday and it was fun to get a different view of them. Even though I don't get twitter. Seriously, when it comes to twitter I'm like your 80-year-old grandma trying to figure out how to turn on an iPad. Can you really only see one side of a conversation when looking through someone's twitter account? That seems annoying. But I digress. Check out The Lizzie Bennet Diaries.

Vlogbrothers. This is the vlogs of brothers John Green and the aforementioned Hank. John Green is a YA novelist that I discovered last year when I read his amazing book The Fault in Our Stars. Then I read Paper Towns and An Abundance of Katherines. All are fun, interesting, thought provoking books, with scenes that make you laugh out loud. And that is what these vlogs are like too. There are over a thousand videos going as far back as 2007. At first I just jumped around watching random videos, but then I realized that the videos tell more of a story than anything else, so I started watching at the beginning of 2010. I have as yet to get out of 2010, but I am having loads of fun watching them. Also, John probably has the most ADORABLE baby ever. Oh, and these guys make me feel vastly untalented. Hank writes music, writes and directs LBD, organizes VidCon, rides horses, edits videos, is a biologist, and talks very fast. John writes novels (Printz awards! New York Times bestseller!), also edits videos, knows a lot about conjoined twins, and is a deep thinker. Plus, they have created a community (Nerdfighters) and have been encourage this community to help change lives. That's amazing! I've always said that if I could just change one life for the better, my life would be better for it. So, go on John and Hank!

And . . . I think that's enough to keep you busy for a little while at least.

Moving Out and Up: My Geekery is Showing

So, I don't have pictures of the whole apartment, but here are pictures of my Doctor Who themed bedroom!

Here is a wide shot of my bedroom. The other photos will show close-ups on the more interesting parts of the room. (Though I do want to point out the two decorative pillows my mom so nicely made for me, and the AMAZING Doctor Who afghan my sister knitted for me last Christmas at the end of the bed.)

This is from season 5 of the new series (the first season with Matt Smith). It hangs above my desk and is basically the awesomest thing ever.

Not Doctor Who, but still geeky. No room of mine would ever not have books in it. This isn't even half of the books I own and I'm continually getting more.

When I was 16 my parents let me pick out a bed for my new room in our new house. I always wanted a daybed, so that's what I picked. Across the back is a star (above), a moon, and a sun.

The flannel sheet set my parents bought me soon after (I think the Christmas we moved into our house).   They are getting a little worn, but let's face it, they are awesome! (I think that it's interesting that 6 years before I ever started watching DW, I was so into stars and the heavens. Actually, it's not that interesting. I watched Star Wars and Star Trek. And space is beautiful.)

You'll remember my banner from earlier this year. This is from season 3, with David Tennant.

This is the door to my own personal TARDIS, AKA my bathroom. And you'll see why in the next picture.

It's bigger on the inside!! My closet is in the bathroom, making it literally bigger on the inside from the outside. Also, it travels through space! Not even kidding! Every morning I check the weather on my iPhone while drying my hair, and almost every morning my phone says that I am in a different city (none of which are the city in which I live). So, space travel. Still working on the time travel aspect.

There you go! My geekiness for all to see!

And this concludes the series of "Moving Out and Up".