Leah Rose FTW!

Some people are so ridiculously awesome, it burns. So I've known this local radio host/dj for years- he's a great guy and fellow nerd, and its hard not to meet him in a town like this. Anyway, I hear from him this morning and long story short, my best friend and I are going to the Legend of Zelda Symphony Orchestra on Friday night. I. Am. Freaking. Not only have I wanted to go since I heard it was a thing, but two tickets for free is the greatest present I've received ever- boogerpony and my engagement ring aside. Madi (bestfriend of ever) and I bonded over zelda when we were kids. And now, but you get my point. I might go so far as to say we might not be as close as we are now if it weren't for this game series. We stayed up past our fourth grade bedtimes, developed crushes on characters, cried at the sad parts and laughed uproariously at the funny, and yeah- we developed better critical thinking, problem solving, memory, and hand eye coordination. And the music...

My d20 homies and I went to Con-Ichiwa yesterday and it had no idea what hit it. The end. But really, the con was... okay. In general, it was well organized, but much smaller and cramped than we would have liked. The hotel staff was really great and welcoming, but some of the attendees needed cattle prods- fire hazards of the nerdiest degree. As a panelist, the con was pretty good. We were listed in the program with no problems, even though people love to show up late. It was small enough to where we were able to deal with it and give people quick recaps in our "About the d20 Girls Project" panel, but our second one, Female Image in a Nerdy Industry, was HUGE and fantastic!! I was so proud of us. moo http://nerd-gasm.net/?p=199 There's an article some random site decided to put up about the panel, and the panel itse;f will be up on youtube soon and you'll love it, I swear.  So there wasn't much to recap on, con-wise. I felt horrid because my lovely little ...

Okay, normally I'm REALLY not one to jump on bandwagons with... well, much of anything. But I did for once, and for the love of God I hope you do too. I read the entire Hunger Games series in a few hours over the past few days, only stopping while driving, in class, or waiting in line at Walmart to buy the last book. TLDNR about the series: very much a more approachable (but emotionally harder to handle) Battle Royale. Post apocalyptic, dystopian America. broken into 12 disrticts. Some sort of war in the past, now as a reminder a boy and girl are picked to fight to the last man standing.  I refuse to put any spoilers, because I HATE that crap and it was ruined for me before I read the last book, but let me just say that this series in absolutely incredible. Even though the basic premise was very similar to Battle Royale, I had much more of a connection to every last character in the Hunger Games. The writing was more approachable, if that makes sense- but while a middle schoo...

www. takethislollipop .com/ http://www.cnn.com/2011/10/27/tech/social-media/take-this-lollipop/ Have you guys seen this? It's some "interactive" video thing that's been going around that's supposed to scare you into being smarter about what you put on the internet. Going to the website (not the CNN article I just linked) will get you to a site that asks to connect with facebook, but it says that it deletes your information right away (which it does). Once you connect, a video plays showing someone stalking you via brute forcing your account. God, and it was bad enough just having people see what you post publicly... anyway, it shows this disgusting looking dude getting angrier and anrgier for some reason, then using google maps to search for your address- which most people have on their profile. This wasn't too creepy for me, I only publicize my city and state anywhere, and all he searched for was Sierra Vista, AZ. Good luck finding me, dood! Save fo...

I'll be the first to admit, I'm bad at bashing myself. Not like self mutilation, mind you, but nitpicking about stupid things I don't like about myself. And where does it get me? What can I do about them? Not a whole lot. Granted, I don't verbalize it that much, but I'm always thinking something needs improvement. Why the hell do we do this? We keep looking at the negatives instead of seeing the awesome big picture. And you're always you're own worst critic, so it's not like anyone else even notices half the things we hate about ourselves. But others can tell what we take pride in and are most confident about, so why not focus on those? The big three things I have a problem with are mostly just genetics and by chance- nothing that I can help, so I shouldn't act like it's a problem. And I'm a big believer that for every negative thing you think abotu yoursself, you should remember a positive so you can realize how good you really have it!...

I'll give you the TL:DNR right up front: Let it never be said that video games can't be art. Finally, after months of waiting and not nearly as many dollars as I'd be willing to pay for it, the Shadow of the Colossus and Ico Collection has been released. And even as someone who has religiously played it before, I'm. Blown. Away. In case you don't know, the gist of Shadow of the Colossus is as follows: you are Wander. You bring the body of the (recently sacrificed) girl important to you to the forbidden land to try to resurrect her through the power of a long-banished god. (Girlfriend? Sister? The relationship is obviously deep, but vague.) This god tells you that he will do as you wish... if you help him/her by killing the 16 monsters through the land that lock away the god's stolen power- the power needed to do it. Kill the monster, save the princess, so stereotypical, I know. But it's not. These monsters are literal Colossi. They loom at always i...

First world problem, I know. At least I have a job, at least I'm not car-less and completely broke. I even have a job doing nerdy things at a fun place and get free drinks all day. But dear God sometimes I want to punch a baby. We already have rules posted at the shop- nothing specific enough to make people stop acting like ill-bred children or d-bags, but rules nonetheless. The ownerbossman made them though, and he's not always there to see what the issues really are, and what the regulars already know and are good about. So basically what we have isn't doing jack. It's also mostly in regards to treating other customers, not about the employees, which is a little... odd... and sucks for me. Granted, I know why a lot of the things we want to say can't be said- there's no way to put a lot of this delicately and we don't want to lose any customers. But I want to say it anyway. Leah's Revised Store Rules!! 1. BATHE. I reserve the right to ziptie th...