Summer Travel Wrap-up!

With Labor Day comes the unofficial end of summer travel season.  Sadly, I'll be spending this long weekend at work, but I don't mind too much as I've had a rather eventful and travel-filled summer!  In the next few days/weeks, I'll be posting about my various trips, including FanimeCon, Comic-Con, Hearst Castle, Catalina Island, and Star Trek Las Vegas.  Hopefully there isn't too much delay in getting these posts up as my work schedule ramps up once again.

Fortunately, the end of summer doesn't mark the end of my fun.  Autumn is by far my favorite season of the year, marked by pumpkins, cooler weather, hot apple cider, football, falling leaves, Thanksgiving, and Halloween!  On top of that, I have several upcoming trips to New York, New Orleans, and Texas which I will be planning over the next several months.  For me, I almost get as much excitement from the planning stages as I do the actual trip!

As someone once said, "Travel is about the journey, not the destination. The destination is only the means for the journey to begin."  Let the journeys continue!

Cosplay is NOT Consent

Instead of writing about the events of today's Comic-Con, I'd like to focus on a single encounter that essentially defined my day.

After successfully picking up some swag from the Plants vs. Zombies booth, I was approached by a woman. The conversation went like this:

Woman: You know EVERYONE can see down your top.

Me: Excuse me? I am wearing a shirt under my corset.

Woman: Doesn't matter. EVERYONE can see down your top.

Me: I don't see what the problem is. I am covered up.

Woman: It doesn't mater. [At this point, I believe she says] It makes it seem like you have something that you don't.

The woman and I walked away from each other, and I was left in shock. My cosplay outfit of the day consisted of a sleeveless shirt with lace shoulders, a long black bustle skirt, and an overbust corset on top of the shirt. I did not feel my cosplay was inappropriate in any way. Moreover, why did it matter what I was wearing? Why did it bother her so much that she took the effort to approach me?

Conventions are one of the few times people can come out of their shell and dress in unique ways. For me, cosplay is one of the big reasons I attend conventions, and I take pride in the outfits I put together. I strongly believe that wearing cosplay does NOT give others consent to harass or make unwanted advances. There should be no place for such negativity in an environment where everyone is simply trying to have fun.

This is not the first time I've been victimized by sexual harassment at a convention. While dressed up as Pinkie Pie during FanimeCon, an individual made negative comments about what I was wearing. I realize that I probably should have brushed off these comments, but at both Comic-Con and FanimeCon they bothered me enough that I went back to my hotel and changed.

I share my story because I want to prevent other con-goers from experiencing the shame and self-consciousness that I felt today. Harassment can ruin someone's convention experience, so please be respectful and keep your mouth shut if someone's dress does not please your personal aesthetic. Let's keep Comic-Con and other conventions a safe place for self-expression and creativity.

Comic-Con 2013 Begins!

Hello! I apologize for the lack of updates, but between FanimeCon, working, and completely unplanned family trips to Hearst Castle and Catalina Island, I haven't had much time to blog these past few months. I will write about my trips eventually, but for now I will my shift focus to Comic-Con!

The road leading to Comic-Con definitely had some bumps. In fact, here's a list of situations I've encountered the past two weeks:

-The seamstress who was supposed to make my Star Trek uniform didn't quite work out, so I had to mail the fabric across the country. The uniform is being shipped back to my friend in San Diego, who will hopefully get it to me by tomorrow. I just hope it fits.

-My car was broken into, back window smashed, and my purse stolen from the trunk. Fortunately, no credit cards or ID cards were taken.

-I had issues trying to keep my luggage under the Megabus weight limit. Cosplay (especially boots) can be heavy!

-My printer ran out of colored ink and refused to print anything. Fortunately, I figured out how to get it to print in black and white only.

-My Comic-Con barcodes printed out as outlines of barcodes instead of the actual barcodes themselves. I found a way around this.

-Lugging my suitcase around L.A. Union Station was more difficult than anticipated. Once again, I blame heavy cosplay.

-My camera's SD card stopped working. Fortunately I have a spare, but I'm not sure if I'll be able to save the pictures on the corrupted card.

-Back in January, I booked an Amtrak train from the Bay Area to San Diego. When I managed to get a Megabus ticket to Los Angeles Union Station for $1, I canceled the train trip and rebooked it for LA to SD instead. This morning, I received an e-mail from Amtrak telling me I missed my train. When I called Amtrak, they told me that the original trip was never canceled. Fortunately, they refunded me my money or I would be out $130+ right now.

-I've probably averaged 4-5 hours of sleep this past week. Hopefully I can get some rest tonight before the big action starts tomorrow.

-Shortly after the Amtrak train left Union Station, the person next to me stated that he was from a city north of Los Angeles. I misheard it as him saying he was headed there. This nearly made my heart stop as I thought I had gotten on the wrong train. Thankfully, I am now relaxing on the correct train and typing this post.

I can only hope that it's relatively smooth sailing from here. Hoping that the hostel is a nice one, that I have fun roommates, and that Comic-Con is more fun than stressful. I declare that the fun starts now!

Not sure what I'll be doing tonight after I check into the hostel. Given that my train arrives in San Diego at 7pm, it might be too late to make the SDCCBlog Party. I'll probably swing by to see how the lines are and if they're too long I'll just get dinner. After the past few days my goal should be to get sleep tonight!

I'm not sure how much I'll be able to blog during Comic-Con, but I'll definitely be posting updates on my twitter account: @TPumpkins. I will also be carrying my Nintendo 3DS around so see if you get a Street Pass from me!

To everyone going to Comic-Con, I wish you a safe an enjoyable time!

The Pre-Summer Convention Lull

Seems like the last time I posted was when I secured tickets to Comic-Con.  Not much has happened since then, other than lots of working and lots of planning.  Work has been a grind, but hopefully it's worth it come summer!

Anyway, here's what I've accomplished since my last post:
-Secured cheap bus tickets for my San Diego and Las Vegas trips thanks to Megabus
-Purchased parts for my Pinkie Pie cosplay and steampunk outfit
-Purchased fabric for my Star Trek cosplay (though I may pay someone to make it for me per my mom's recommendation)
-Worked tons of hours so I have money to blow this summer!

Fanime/Clockwork Alchemy is coming up fast - exactly a month from today!  Leading up to that are the releases of both Iron Man 3 and Star Trek: Into Darkness!  As I write this, I definitely feel the excitement starting to build.

To end this post, I'll share a picture from one of the more exciting moments from the past few months:  Giants baseball opening weekend!

Giants Opening Day Ring Ceremony

Comic-Con 2013: Badge Registration Insanity

Between the Season 3 finale of "My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic" and Comic-Con badge sales, it's been a wild morning!

Saturdays are always my day to sleep in after a long week.  However, despite going to bed at 1:30am this morning I was wide awake at 7:00am.  Fortunately, I had My Little Pony to keep me occupied for half an hour before getting my equipment ready for 9am badge sales.

At 8:15am, I grabbed all the working electronic devices in my house and headed into the study room, where the internet signal is strongest.  I brought with me two laptops, an iPhone, and an android phone.  I also grabbed my camera in case I needed to take screen shots of my phones.

At 8:30am, I woke up my boyfriend so he could help me get badges.  A friend from across the country called her husband to make sure he could help me using his three computers and fast internet connection.

By 8:55am, I was set to go.  I had multiple browsers open on each computer with the Comic-Con landing page and the link copied in case I had to use the paste function later.  I also had twitter and facebook open in case of any updates.  On top of that, I had an online clock open so I could start clicking as soon as the clock turned 9!  For good measure, I plugged my modem's ethernet cable into my fastest laptop.

At exactly 9am, I started clicking/pressing enter on all my devices.  Nothing happened.  Most of my pages went into loading mode, while others went to an error screen.

At 9:05am, I got into a landing page which told me that the waiting room was full and that badges were likely sold out.  Checking twitter and seeing that most people were encountering similar issues, I continued to frantically reload my pages.

At 9:15am, I managed to get into the waiting room as #37729 with my fastest laptop using the Firefox browser.  My friend also go into the wait room as a number in the 29000s.  My other laptop running Chrome also got in as #46465.

Registration Waiting Room on Firefox browser at 9:15am

In the next 30-35 minutes, my number in the Firefox browser gradually decreased.  Meanwhile, my friend remained stuck on the same number while my Chrome browser continued to read #46465.  I took a screenshot and attempted to contact Comic-Con's customer service number, only to get multiple busy signals.

Around 9:50, I finally managed to get into the badge purchase area with my Firebox browser.  By then, 4-day and 4-day plus preview night badges were sold out.  However, there were still one-day badges left for all four days!  I managed to secure Thursday-Sunday one-day passes for myself and two friends.  Once out of the waiting room, the entire process went smoothly and quickly.

I checked out my last person a few minutes before 10am.  Minutes later, Saturday badges were completely sold out.  Roughly 30 minutes after that, all Comic-Con badges were sold out!

I consider myself extremely lucky that I managed to survive the buggy computer system and end up with badges for all four days.  After I finished paying for my last badge, my friend informed me that he was still stuck on the same number.  Looking at the computer next to me, my position still reads #46465.

Registration Waiting Room on Chrome browser at 11:45am

While I still would have gone to San Diego without a Comic-Con Badge, I'm super excited that I now have passes for all four days!  I definitely attribute this to beginners luck because based on social media, a lot of people were not as lucky.  At this rate, I may not get badges for next year (or a Fanime hotel room, given how similarly crazy reservations were this year), so I plan on trying to make the most of this experience!

I hope that everyone vying for a badge got at least something!  After this eventful morning I think it's time to go back to bed!

Comic-Con 2013 Prep: Badges Go On Sale Tomorrow!

Tomorrow is the day thousands of Comic-Con fans have been awaiting for months!  At 9am PST, badges officially go on sale for 2013's convention!  Sadly, I missed out on volunteer registration, so I'm crossing my fingers and hoping for the best.  If things don't work out and I end up empty handed, I still plan traveling to San Diego and hanging out in the Gaslamp District!

Here's the youtube video with detailed instructions on how to purchase a badge.  I definitely need to watch it one more time before tomorrow's madness.  Also need to make sure to set several alarm clocks to I'm actually awake.  I suppose I could get up before at 7am and watch the Twipocalypse.

Good luck to everyone vying for a badge tomorrow!  Not sure I'm ready for the impending madness...

Musings On Super Bowl Eve

I am so lucky to be a sports fan in the Bay Area. Even luckier that I have the time and knowledge to appreciate what's happened this past year.

The last time I remember the Bay Area having dominant sports teams was in the 1980s. I was really young back then, so I can only speculate on the chronological order of events. One of my first memories was having a joint birthday and Super Bowl watching party. The 49ers were playing and I remember thinking that they would win because Joe Montana was quarterback. Indeed, they won that year and the year after. To this day, Joe Montana is still my favorite quarterback.

Another memory was the 1988 United States presidential elections. My parents took me along to the polling place, and while I was there I remember someone asking, "Who are you going to vote for, Bush or Dukakis?" My enthusiastic response: "JOSE CANSECO! With Mark McGuire as Vice-President!"

The next year, I was playing with my cousin and waiting for game 3 of the World Series to start when the living room started shaking, prompting my family to evacuate the house. Definitely a moment that many in the Bay Area will never forget.

Once I started school, I just didn't follow sports as much. I recall following the Golden State Warriors for a few years and catching baseball and football every now and then. I also maintained a baseball collection, which is currently collecting dust on top my bookshelf. In college, I followed my school's basketball and football teams, but that was only because I was in the marching band and attended almost every game.

Several months after I finished college in 2010, the San Francisco Giants went to the World Series. Reading and learning about the team through the internet and news, I couldn't help but gravitate towards their personalities and individual stories. Spending Halloween in San Francisco, I was immediately drawn into the excitement as I was surrounded by people and stores with orange decor and signs supporting the home team. Watching the game on TV, I was engrossed by the excitement of the sport. Unlike people around me who find baseball boring, I found it suspenseful, gripping, and exciting. After 20 years, I was hooked on baseball yet again.

Sadly, I had to miss the World Series Championship Parade because of work, so I promised myself I wouldn't miss the next one. In 2011, I watched/listened to every single Giants game of the season, whether on TV, radio, or at AT&T Park. I essentially did the same thing in 2012, except I watched playoff games at various restaurants with other fans. When the Giants clinched the NLCS I was at a restaurant in Walnut Creek, high-fiving complete strangers. We were so busy celebrating that we didn't realize that the same rainstorm that hit San Francisco that night was headed in our direction, resulting in many drenched fans as we ran to our cars.

During the World Series, I loitered around outside AT&T Park, taking in the sights. A number of TVs were set up outside the stadium, so you didn't need to go to a bar to watch the game. The only problem was the TV delay, causing us to hear the crowds inside of the stadium cheering before actually seeing it on TV 10 seconds later. I spend game 4 with thousands of people in Civic Center Square, and subsequently got sprayed with champagne and apple cider. As per my promise, I booked a hotel along the parade route and had a front row spot as the team drove past. Best Halloween parade ever and definitely one of the more memorable Octobers I've had.

Now, another San Francisco team is about to play in football's biggest event. Instead of being orange, San Francisco's City Hall and Coit Tower are colored red and gold. 49er shirts, which were on sale a few months ago, are now impossible to find. At work yesterday, many of my coworkers were wearing jerseys and NFC Championship shirts. While not everyone loves sports, there's no denying that the 49ers have once again united San Francisco.

It's a great time to be a Bay Area sports fan, and I'm definitely enjoying the fun while it last. I mean, how often do we get a local baseball team and football team in championship games within the same year? So glad I've come to love and appreciate sports again!

GO NINERS!!!