Dragon Con is near.. Are you ready?!

*****BLOGGER IS STILL NOT LETTING ME UPLOAD PHOTOS     ARGH *****

According to the Dragon Con website we have just under 11 days until Dragon Con officially kicks off. The Ap has been updated. The schedules are set (kind of), I mean they often change at a moment’s notice throughout the Con. I have once again set up my profile on the ap and sent Golden a friend request so we can see each other’s schedule (seriously can’t they get some nerd to figure out how to roll that from one year to the next?). I have made my appointment to give blood. I’ve checked the status of our hotel about 349,730,967,304,967,340,967 times and we are still good to go …. Now all that’s left is …. Well all the things.

There’s packing, and laundry (there’s always laundry), then packing up my bathroom stuff, and my electronics, charging all my external charger ports, clearing off my phone to make way for all the awesome I’m about to see. Charged my Switch and made sure it was updated, don’t worry I’m sure the next time I play it there will be another update.. Oh and i have to go get my annual Dragon Con TV subscription. I’m also in the process of clearing my work schedule so I can fully enjoy the time away with my bestie.

This is the first year I’m taking 2 whole weeks off (10 days to be exact). I’m taking the Friday before I leave and the Monday before I leave off then heading to Golden’s on Tuesday, then to Atlanta on Wednesday and will be in Atlanta until Monday where we will make our way back to Golden’s to crash hard before I drive back home, likely that Tuesday. Then I plan to take the rest of that week off to again do laundry, unpack, decompress, and ready myself for the return to work thing. I wish Golden could do the same, but COVID might have messed that up for her. At least she’s clear for the convention. On my to do list this week is getting my latest COVID vaccine just in case. I assume they are still giving them out … guess I’ll find out. The last one I got was before last year’s convention. I don’t know if it helped or not but I didn’t get sick so I can at least say I tried.

A few must do items on the to do list for Dragon Con include:

• Paint and Take -  Honestly one of my favorite things ever … we get to sit and people watch while painting these little miniatures that someone made on a 3D printer. It’s by far the most relaxing part of our trip.
• Vendor Hall - which is like I don’t like 6 floors of just stuff from books to plushies to action figures to t-shirts and everything else you might think of. I usually find something to bring home but also find something but don’t wanna carry it around and so I leave it behind.
• Walk of Fame – which is always interesting cause that’s where the “talent” ends up between their panels and you can talk to them or get an autograph. One year we hung out with the guy who does the Voice for Pinky and the Brain. Another year we met Nathan Fillion. One year we helped a “handler” do a Lego build while waiting on the guy who ended up not showing up cause his panel ran long. We met Felicity Day once who told Golden she loved her hair. Then later tweeted something out to the world and Golden showed me her phone and said she’s now internet famous cause she was in the background. It’s just fun to just walk around and see whose there. It’s only open at odd times tho so it’s hit and miss on if we get there are good times.
• Blood Drive – I participate but Golden cannot. On 9/11 Golden went to give blood and a few weeks later got a letter that her blood had to be destroyed. Thus began her journey to the Medical Marvel that she is today. So it’s a nice “check up” without having to pay a copay. Plus I get a cool shirt.
• Joystick Gamebar – this was new since Covid. Before they would have some prototype games in the Gaming hall that you had no idea how to work cause it was usually in Japanese or some other language and you’d just hit a bunch of buttons until you got frustrated and walked away. Now they have what they call a Gamebar in ATL within walking distance from the host hotels that we can play actual games like donkey Kong and Pacman and Mrs. Packman and racing games and pinball. It’s all free yall and it’s fun!
• Coloring for Charity – each year Dragon Con picks a specific charity and has little events and donation buckets all over the place for people to donate to the charity. A few years ago we stumbled upon this event which allows you to get a coloring book that is created by some of the artist in the Artist Pop Shop (or something like that) and it’s really cool to just sit in a room, chill and color like a small child for a bit before going back into the big mess that is the Con.
• Dragon Con Parade – Tho I admit after the first few years it was more fun to watch from our hotel room on TV or to skip it all together and go to the Vendor hall while everyone else was occupied. I do like looking at all the pictures from it tho. It’s where you get to see a lot of the creativity fly in one central location. There is no other way to describe the feeling of seeing 75-100 Agent Carters walking down a block than just Awesome.
• Dance Parties – I don’t dance but I like watching others do it....Who knows maybe i will let loose this year and go to town with some cute young stud looking to have a good time ...... 

I don’t really have costumes planned this year, much like last year it just seemed like a lot of trouble. I am taking my Care Bear onesie for Onsie Wednesday but it may or may not make it out of the back that it is in. I like walking around … looking at all the creativity that bursts out of people this time of year and I know I’ll never be as creative as they are. I always forget that for Dragon Con anything goes until I get there and see literally everything on display. Then my anxiety kicks in about will people get it ? Is it cute or stupid? What if I am a half fan and then suddenly these people start talking to me about said topic I’m dressed like and I don’t know enough to talk to them about it. I mean I’m nerd adjacent but not full on nerd. Plus there’s not a lot of cosplay for a full figured gal AKA fat girl and that’s not something I can change in 11 days. So I will pack all the nerdy shirts and proceed as planned and spend 6 amazing days with my bestie in a nice pair of blue jeans and comfortable shoes, preferably with a rum bucket in my lap, you know … once I’ve given blood of course.

 If you are heading to Dragon Con next week hit us up …. @theonlygolden   @beaslma

Happy travels and make it home safely!

Marcy

 

 

OLYMPICS PARIS 2024

**Blogger won't let me upload pictures ..... don't know why**

As I sit here watching the closing ceremonies of the 2024 Paris Olympics …. I admit ……. I’m exhausted. Getting up at 3 every morning … sometimes 4 to catch events as they happened was both necessary cause I need to see stuff live but also made for very long days at work. As with Tokyo …. I got a little insane during these 17 days (July 26^th – Aug. 11^th) and if I wasn’t watching the games live, or repeats of events at night, I was looking at athlete social media and thinking about what I’d be watching next.

I found a fantastic app that allowed me to add games to my calendar…. I didn’t realize it was adding it to my work calendar but I wasn’t mad at that either. That ap has now been flipped over to the Paralympic games which are as inspiring and special to me as these games. The drama the stories, the athletes, watching them do the impossible and make it look so simple is just an extension of these games.

Thank goodness for Peacock. I really hope they keep the momentum going for the Paralympic games cause their coverage was fantastic. Being able to click live events as they were happening or search by a specific day or search by a specific sport in order to plan your day.  I also loved that the times on Peacock were for my specific time zone which was instrumental in my planning process.

So what did I watch ……

Gymnastics, all kinds … Artistic, Rhythmic, Trampoline …. I love the drama of it. The athleticism and how there is very little to no room for error, you go up, do your routine and there is no do over. The Women blew me away as I expected them to and the Men had a rough start but a strong finish and finally got back to the podium.  Volleyball is my other love and to watch it on an Olympic stage is just the best. While Beach Volleyball ended up breaking my heart it was a fun ride while it lasted and the rally’s these teams played on the beach in the sand that was burning their feet, in the heat, and sometimes at night with the Eiffel Tower glittering in the background was just a spectacle to be seen. Well played Paris .. well played. Diving …. From all heights … the US struggled hard but it was still fun to watch… another sport that is one and done … like one bad dive and it’s kind of over cause at that point you are counting on another to have a bad dive. These are the best in the world and bad days rarely happen at that level. Artistic Swimming – AKA Synchronized Swimming – which finally got some TV love this year due to the US having a team that made it to the podium. Indoor Volleyball ended up being satisfying after watching all the other Volleyball teams fall early. The power and speed that this sport is played at gives me chills. Literal chills. 3X3 Basketball – it feels like backyard ball and I’m here for it every single time. Archery – it’s sooooooo dramatic for very little reason …. Like that dramatic pause I guess to steady themselves before letting it rip is important but is it really ? Asking for a friend .. who is me. Now this sport with the Paralympians … that deserves all the drama but they just let it rip. Badminton – I mean …. Who hasn’t played this sport with family in the backyard or at a BBQ and thought they could do this until they watch and are like wait did the shuttlecock even move before the point ends? Basketball – I watched this one more cause of my nephew he loves this sport and it gives us something to talk about plus it was fun to see the new version of the “dream team” take the court and play as a unit. They almost fumbled hard but they pulled it off. The women however never lost control of it and just sailed to that Gold medal.  Breaking - I still have no idea what was going on or how it was scored and yall I tried. I’ve read more about this “sport” that I’ve ever read about any other sport and I just can’t figure it out…. I don’t know if it will stay in the Olympics or not but it was interesting it just wasn’t explained very well for those of us that had not participated in a competition before. The announcers were …. Well I’m gonna be nice but I think they were making that shit up as they went along. Cycling … BMX … Track …. All fascinate me too cause the speed that they move and the closeness of each of the participants makes you think they are gonna die. I liken it to Snowboarding during the Winter Games it’s fun to watch but like Breaking I don’t quite know what’s going on but can at least tell a good run vs a not so good run. In breaking I couldn’t even attempt it. Routines that I thought were good and entertaining got no points … routines I thought were lousy got all the points. Like what the hell … but I digress. Equestrian …. I watched more of these events than I’ve likely watched in previous years…but I can’t really tell you why. Football … aka … Soccer … mostly cause my boss is obsessed with it and it gives us something to talk about. Rugby – this sport fascinates me but the Paralympic version of it, known as Murder Ball makes it look tame. Swimming ….. I mean how do you not watch it’s on for like 6 days straight and they have like 5,203,476,304,967 events each night. Table Tennis – see previous note about Badminton.  Tennis – I mean … we said goodbye to Nadal who left it all on the court, got to see Djokovic not shock anyone by taking the tournament by storm. The real championship was between Nadal and Djokovic, after that it was all downhill from there. I’m gonna give the ladies a break cause well that was kind of painful to watch. Water Polo - which fascinates me, cause like how do they jump like that without touching the bottom of the pool? Weightlifting - cause I wanna be watching when they throw down those weights and destroy the floor..it’s gonna happen …. You just wait.  I even got into some of the Track and Field events which I usually watch but with like one eyeball while I look for something else to watch.

I do admit there were sports that I didn’t get to watch … not as a boycott but more cause I just didn’t get to it or there just weren’t enough hours in the day …. Canoe Sprint (which I usually watch but didn’t this year for some reason), Fencing, Golf, Handball, Field Hockey (that blue field just was too much), Judo, Marathon Swimming, Modern Pentathlon (tho I did watch some of the events that make it up just not enough to say I watched it), Rowing, Sailing, Shooting (I mean honestly who came up with that?), Skateboarding, Sport Climbing (cause why really … what is the point ?), Surfing (again I saw pieces of it but not enough to say I watched it), Taekwondo, and wrestling.

Yall at one point my phone gave me a middle finger and said no more please …. It shut down and I was like oh goodness I guess we are done for the day. Like I couldn’t get it to come back on…. Couldn’t get it to charge… I really thought I was going to need a new phone but I guess it overheated or something cause she seems good now. Which is good cause like is said there is a rest then the Paralympic games get going. I will be watching but I will also be at Dragon Con so I’m gonna have to divide my two loves and catch what I can when I can. So Phone you are going to have to get it together and cause it’s going to be a long week again.

As I watch the Closing Ceremonies I’m struck by how colorful and exciting the Opening Ceremonies was vs this darker less celebratory version of a send off to these games. 

 Medal Count ... cause that's all anyone cares about (which is sad) ends with US on top of the pike for MOST MEDALS at 126 .... GOLD   40   SILVER 44    BRONZE 42 .... so we had a good O    Olympics for sure. China was behind us with 91 total (also 40 Gold), Japan with 45 total, Australia with 53 adn France rounding out the top 5 with 64 total medals as they hosted the biggest sporting party of all time. In 4 years we get to do this again on US soil once again. I’ve really given a lot of thought to Los Angels … but I know me I’ll talk myself out of it. However …. It’s always a possibility … I have 4 years to make up my mind after all.

Marcy @beaslma