capn_moonie

RTXSo (and I just realized I tend to start all my journals with 'so'. Huh.) I just got back from an awesome weekend in Austin, Texas. Why was I in Austin, you ask? I'll give you a couple guesses, and if you guessed wrong I'm going to think you didn't read my journal title. Or may have been living under a rock. Not that there's anything wrong with living under a rock. I'm sure lots of really great people have lived under rocks at one point in their lives.
My weekend actually started on Thursday. In case you didn't know I live in the Chicago area. And I had the bright idea that my friend and I would drive to Texas.
I mean, it's only 18 hours or so each way.
What's 18 hours in the grand scheme of things, anyway?
Well, 18x2, if you count the round trip.
Anyway. We left on Thursday, the RTX logo written in bold window crayon on the back window of my car, and made it to Texas before fatigue made us stop for the night.
And on Friday we made a final three hour hop and there we were in Austin, checked in early, picked up our badges and proceeded to wander around downtown for the rest of the day. Managed to meet a few people and have some RvB talk, and Mass Effect talk, since I'm a huge Mass Effect fan. Saw Marshall a couple times. I seemed to pass Marshall or see him in random places all weekend but never actually had a chance to meet him so I'll say now... 'Hi, Marshall! It was great seeing you. You are awesome.'
Then came Saturday. I won't bore with details of line waiting, but I managed to acquire some swag and attend one of the panels I wanted to attend (Monty's) Monty has a very soothing voice. And got in line early for the concert. Which was AWESOME! from start to finish. The string quartet rendition of the Halo themes gave me goosebumps. Then came Trocodero. I've been a fan of Trocodero ever since the first season, and to see them play live was just...wow. They played some of my favorite songs. And since I got in line early I was right in front of the stage, tapping my feet and mouthing the lyrics and doing a little dance (occasionally), throughout.
Then came Jeff Williams. I'd never seen Jeff before but, oddly, he was exactly how I pictured him. And his pants were very rock star. And hearing Matt sing Forge world three times made my night, particularly as he seemed to be progressively more mellow each time. :) And Jason singing 'Bow Chika Wow Wow'! He's one bad mutha(shut yo mouth). The only thing that would have made the night even more fab-u-lous was if they could've gotten Dan up there to sing. That would have 'Blown me awaaaaaaaaay!'
My friend and I stayed for the entire concert. And so neither of us got much sleep before it was time to get up and get to the film shoot. But there was NO WAY I was going to miss that. I mean
NO WAY. So I was in the group between 9th and 10th (badge 0909) and it was early and dark, a little drizzle that cleared up before the sun. Planned my position and route and what I was going to do. And about five takes and some scraped knees later it was totally worth it. I can't wait to see the end results.
Didn't make it to either RT panel, which was rather disappointing, but ah well. I still got to go to the live podcast, which was hilarious. It was great to see all the guys up there together, and Jack managing to trigger Burnie's gag reflex will always be a memorable moment.
I also got to hold the Avenger rifle that was given away during the podcast later on on the exhibit hall. Which was a bit of a geek-out moment for me.
Watched people play Halo4. I would have played but I didn't want everyone to see how horrible I am at multiplayer. I'd rather do that in the privacy of my own home, thank you. It was awesome to watch, however, and I can't wait to get my copy.
One thing I really am sad that I didn't get to go to was the Freelancer panel. My friend, who didn't go to the podcast, got in line for that one and was happy to tell me later on how fantastic it was. But I forgave her when she gave me a room key (our deactivated one before you ask) signed by my two favorites freelancers, Sean and Shannon (aka York and Wash). That incited a TRUE geek moment of utter delight.
And while I was waiting for her to exit that panel I ran into Burnie in a rare moment when he wasn't surrounded by a mob of people and got him to sign my badge and shook his hand. And I thanked him for RTX.
Which I will reiterate right now. Thank you for RTX. Thank you all for a memorable experience.
Much

, moonie.

p.s. The drive back was difficult, and not because of the torrential rain in north Texas, but because I really didn't want to leave.

10 months ago | Comments (1) | + 1 Cool

capn_moonie

Walking DeadSo I just watched about five minutes of the Season Finale of the Walking Dead. ... I don't like zombies. Zombies freak me out, and this was not my idea. As soon as the 'chewing on living people started' I had a physical reaction of breaking out into a cold sweat and left the room...to write this.

I'm still a little freaked out.

This is why I don't play Left for Dead

1 year ago | Comments (0)

capn_moonie

Coincidental Meet-UpSo the other day I was at work and it was a pretty normal day, a little busy but otherwise not bad. Just for the record I work at a retail store. So I'm doing my thing and I catch a glimpse of something familiar out of the corner of my eye. I look closer and see this guy is wearing a "Gus No" symbol t-shirt. Then I see the back and sure enough, there's the Roosterteeth logo. So i get unaccountably excited, go up to this guy say I love his shirt and request a fist-bump. He looks at me like I'm only moderately insane and obliges, then asks me if I know what his shirt means. "Of course! It's a 'Gus No' shirt!" Then I turn away and promptly almost trip over someone standing behind me.

Later on I'm filling in at thee Service desk and he comes up to exchange a pair of shorts and we talk about some site content, like Immersion and RvB and as it was monday we chatted a bit about the new episode coming out that night. And I explain that I was excited about meeting another RT fan that I haven't introduced to the site myself. Although I'm sure there're others, they just weren't wearing shirts to give away their identities.

So that pretty much made my day, RT fan. Hope you're having fun at Comicon if you ever read this.

1 year ago | Comments (2) | + 3 Cool

capn_moonie

Fanimecon 2011Well, while some of you lucky folks are headed off to RTX (you lucky, lucky folks you) I'm going to be jetting off to San Jose to meet up with some of my online buddies for Fanime. This should be interesting. I just hope the weather cooperates.

1 year ago | Comments (1) | + 1 Cool

capn_moonie

Early BirthdayOkay, so here's the thing. A couple days ago my mother asked me what I wanted for my birthday, and I had no idea so off the top of my head I said 'A memory foam body pillow'. So she's like, 'Okay, anything else?' And I just give her an odd look because I really don't expect much in the way of gifts on my birthday. So I told her, again, off the top of my head, 'Maybe a hard shell suitcase for when I travel.'
Not for one moment did the present I really wanted cross my mind, the thing I'd asked for for Christmas and talked about buying for myself if I had any money left over from my trip to California to attend Fanime with my buddies. It just didn't seem like a viable possibility.
Okay, so I had today off and was spring cleaning and my mom sent my dad off to get my birthday present. (Which she regretted when he called her on the phone and told her that 'well, he had it but he was just going to get a couple more things, y'know, in case we needed them' And had her credit card.)
I, being a terrible procrastinator, had neglected to request my birthday off. And my mother, being how she is, couldn't stand to wait to give it to me. Her rationale was that if I got it now I could start using it now.
Sure, whatever. I could use a pillow anytime. But I was pretty sure the suitcase was out. Unless she was going to tell me to pack my things and hit the road.
So she tells my dad to bring it in and I joke around with them, closing my eyes and pretending to unwrap invisible wrapping paper. But I knew what it was the moment I laid my hands on it.

An Xbox 360. The very same Xbox 360 that I had been talking about getting forever. I would stand in front of the game display and look at the Halo games and vow...'Someday'. Well, someday was today, as an early birthday present I also got a copy of Halo: Reach.

Needless to say I hooked that puppy straight up and have been playing for hours. (On easy, because I want to learn the controls before I try anything more difficult.)

I guess they do listen to me after all.

Now, if you'll excuse me, I need to kill some more Covenant.

2 years ago | Comments (4)

capn_moonie

GUS DREAMI had a Gus Dream last night. Perhaps it was because of the coffee or the fact that I had trouble getting to sleep on time since it was a long and stressful weekend (which could have also bee influenced by the coffee).
Or it could be that I'd spent the last couple hours before bed watching and listening to the RT live stream. And there, in the background, stood Gus, looking back at me with with a winning smile and a glint of mischief in his eye.

2 years ago | Comments (2) | + 1 Funny

capn_moonie

Spring AheadSo I am not looking forward to daylight savings time.
Really not looking forward to it.
I already have enough trouble getting up at 5 am on my working weekends and not being a zombie. So when my brain is telling me it's actually 4 am and that my clock is lying to me I can't think that the situation will be any better.
I've been considering trying five hour energy but haven't had much luck with energy drinks in the past so i don't have much hope for it. I don't think coffee even helps me feel less tired, just more able to deal with the tiredness.
In any case...
I think I could deal with spring in a more positive way if daylight savings time didn't exist.
And allergies. Definitely could do without those.

2 years ago | Comments (3) | + 2 Ditto

capn_moonie

Pink March SkyAfter a 60 degree day yesterday, the winter here in NW Indiana is back. I'm not surprised having experienced all my winters here, but it is still a bit jarring to drop thirty degrees in a few hours and watch the rain turn to ice then turn to snow. The sky is currently pink. Who needs weather channel when you can look out your window and see a pink sky?
I wonder if that's a phenomenon everyone experiences or if it's just restricted to people who live in or near large cities. In my case, that would be Chicago. Once in a while you'll see a pink sky at midnight and know that you're, if you're not already getting it, going to be seeing some precipitation soon.
Perhaps it's the lights reflecting off of the low level pollution. Which isn't such a nice thing to think about, but there it is. Gary's right on the other side of us and you can see the pillars of exhaust, or whatever it is, towering into the sky when it's not too windy.
And there's another lovely thing about the weather today, the wind. Wind so strong that the ice flies horizontally and feels like pellets of sand hitting your face when you turn into it. I enjoy snow in general, don't get me wrong, I'd rather be snowed on than rained on, but that is definitely the most unpleasant snowflake to slam into your face at twenty miles an hour.
So the sky is still pink, and though I can't see it unless the outside light come on or I catch a sight of it in the headlights of a passing car, I know the snow is still coming down. Not like the 'Great Blizzard of 2011' where I was risking life and limb trying to get home from work in my little Aveo, but still coming down.
But hey, that's just how it is.

2 years ago | Comments (0)