We were without power for 96 hours.

I was without internet for 19 days.

My phone's reception out here in the boonies is total crap. I was lucky on occasion to get access to a news page, but dA was a no go.  Plus the phone is too little to do much.

So, it has been an interesting month. And boring. Really really boring.  We had a derecho here, which is pretty much a little brief land based hurricane that whips up out of nowhere and leaves mass destruction.  There are still three trees on our garage. There are three more down out by our mail box, a couple down in the gulley, and a couple more on the hill. We had no power for four days, and we were some of the luckiest; most people waited six or seven days, or even more.  The temperatures have been over 90 for weeks, which is blistering hot up here.  Today I got in my car to go to work, heard a popping noise, and found a mile down the street that one of my tires had blown up.  Not just gone flat. The thing is in total shatters. I calculated that emergency supplies and gasoline for the generator cost me approximately $900. Thank goodness for my recent raise! Oh, and my aunt has pneumonia. (She's ok. Still recovering but doing fine.)

But all was not lost. I did get about 700 pictures ready to post on my stock site. I watched my Trigun DVDs on my computer (no internet also meant no cable). I started to reread Trigun. I love Trigun.  I listened to a bunch of podcasts I've been behind on. I made progress cleaning the garage. I got all of my aunt's laundry caught up. including all the blankets! I got to see two sets of fireworks.

I also whined. A LOT. Swearing was involved.

By the time my tire blew out this morning I was completely nonplussed. No biggie.  Call AAA and get out my little spare. I'll get new ones tomorrow. It's payday, what the hell.

Yesterday our power was out again, for about seven hours.  It got turned back on at one point for about five minutes, then the power company cut it on purpose, because up the hill a limb on the lines caught fire.  It took them about 5 more hours to get it cleared.  At about 10:30 my aunt said she heard men outside her window. As our house is very secluded and her window faces the most secluded area of the property, I was a bit off put by this.  Turns out it was the power company assessing the two poles behind out house.  They did not much like the giant one down in the gulley, covered in vines. I tried to tell them to go around the property and into the gulley at ground level down by the river.  Did they listen? No. One guy goes down the hill, which is about an 80º slope.  He slips and falls the rest of the way. He's ok, but I was still thinking "dumbass". Pitch black and you climb down a bramble covered cliff after a huge rainstorm.

It's been an interesting adventure.

For pictures, check out my mom's journal:
Storms Called Land HurricanesTuesday Morning, an Electrical Crew from Alabama that came up to help Ohio, showed up at Linda's, ~Fubelle, where Tina lives with her Aunt, to begin work on removing debris and getting the electric turned back on after being out of power since Friday Afternoon. Then, Tuesday afternoon, the switch was pulled and electricity once again coursed through the myriad of cables that connect a whole lot of homes together, as well as farms, churches and small businesses.
The storms, with wind shears that tore across the country 100 miles long traveling up to 91 miles per hour, created devastation from Chicago, IL to the east coast. Crazy.
Steve and I set out for Newark last Friday and was near Canton, Oh when we got a call from Linda. She told Steve to turn around and go back home. She tried to convince Steve how bad the storms were, but to no avail. I had looked up the radar and could see the storm covered Indiana, went up into Illinois and Michigan, as well half of Ohio and quickly heading

So how have the last three weeks been for you guys? I hope less uneventful.

I suppose I could drone on and on about all the trial and tribulations of my life lately, but I never want to, so meh.  Stuff happens and tomorrow is yucky traditional meal day (I hate most thanksgiving food, blarg )(except for mashed potatoes - mashed potatoes are awesome).  Went and saw my Buckeyes lose last week and we couldn't even bitch because it was Penn State and they kept saying be nice to Penn State, so we did.  Work is hell because now we are down 2 people and working with a skeleton crew for the rest of the year.  Not fun, nope nope nope.  But I do hope to see the courthouse lighting on Friday.  So that should be nice.

Anyhoo, =siriuslylostwerewolf tagged me with one of those make your own 10 question things, so I guess I will answer them.  But I'm not going to make my own ten because I already did that and I'm lazy.

1) What animal/insect/creature do you most fear?
I don't really have a fear of any particular animal; I like to look at bugs and spiders and creepy crawlies because they are cool looking.  I don't think I'd want to come face to face with a bear or big cat, but I don't fear them in a normal situation.  Large dogs I don't know sometimes put me on edge.  I'm not comfortable with the thought of having my throat ripped out.

2) If given the choice, do you prefer to drink water or soda/pop?
Like, if I could only have one or the other for all time? I'd definitely go with water.  I like pop well enough, but I drink a lot more water.

3) Favorite type of candy/ candy bar?
My absolute favorite I can't even eat. Twix bars.   Stoopid allergies.
I like Kit Kat, Reese's Cup, Nestle Crunch, Lindt Truffles, chocolate toffees, French mints, chocolate covered grahams or pretzels.
I miss Skittles and Starburst, 100 Grand bars, Milky Way... stoopid allergies

4) Which language(s) would you like to learn?
Let's see... I've already studied ancient and modern Greek, Latin, German, a little French and Hebrew... how about some Asian languages like Japanese and Chinese, maybe Arabic as well.  Gimme a language, I'll be interested.

5) Favorite form of travel?
Car for short distances, plane for long, metro for in the big city.  I miss being able to walk to work.  

6) What is your absolute favorite movie?
Impossible question. But if forced I'd say the BBC version of Pride and Prejudice, since I tend to pick it whenever I'm in the mood for a movie.

7) What is your name?
Tina

8) What is your quest?
To seek the holy grail.

9) What is your favorite color?
Pink... no blue!   (seriously, blue is my favorite color.  I wish this journal skin were blue and not pink.)

10) Aaaand I'm going to steal Sanne's question and ask: What are your favorite boy and girl names?
um um um... Jakob and Lillianna?


And that's all folks.

Anyone going to see the Muppets this weekend?  I wanna see the Muppets.

Hey everyone!

Gotta get that long journal off my page.

So anyhoo, I got a random note from someone I've never heard of telling me I was tagged.  Normally I'd just ignore something like that but damn the questions were good. So for shits and giggles I will answer them.  Just because.

1. What's your favorite artform?
Photography.  Most of my gallery is photography. Most of my faves are photography, so it must be photography.   I like all forms, really. I'm not picky. I'm more of a subject matter person.

2. Do you like SF? (Science/Speculative fiction)
I do like good, believable science fiction. HOWEVER, the moment I lose my suspension of disbelief the work is pretty much ruined for me.  I'll spend the rest of my time nit-picking every little thing that doesn't square up with true science.  For this reason, I tend to prefer fantasy, since the reasons behind magic are usually "it works just because".

3. What's your opinion of Canadians?
I like Canadians.  The problem is half the time I am not aware that someone is Canadian and not American. I wouldn't treat someone any differently (besides being very confused if they got deported, which happened once). Sometimes I get Canadian change but since I live in northern Ohio I can spend it wherever I want.

4. Do you want to go to Disney World?
I always want to go to Disney World.  I like this question.

5. Do you like Star Wars?
I do like Star Wars.  It came out when I was 3, so you could say I grew up with it.  Plus my mom has seen it 35482926349201 times, so it was sort of hard to escape growing up.

6. Is Back to the Future epic?
It is indeed epic.  I'm one of the small minority who likes the third one best.  

7. Have you seen the Llama Song?
Is that the one that goes something like llama llama llama duck?  If so then yes, I have seen it.

8. What's your favorite book?
Ooh this one is hard to narrow down.  I'll go with...
The Death Gate Cycle
The Lord of the Rings & The Silmarillion
The Iliad
Pride and Prejudice
Howl's Moving Castle

9. Favorite band?
I don't really have favorite bands. I just like a lot of songs.  If forced, I suppose I'd say Pink Floyd.

10. Do you think deltasquadproductions is epic? (answering incorrectly will result in pummeling.)
I have no idea what this is. I hope I do not get pummeled.


So that's it.  According to the tag I'm supposed to make up my own 10 questions.  I guess if anyone wants to copy paste these into a comment and answer you can.

1. Boxers or Briefs?
2. When you order a sugary carbonated beverage, do you call it soda, pop, coke, or something else?
3. What was the last movie you saw? Was it any good?
4. What song makes you want to scream and rip off your ears?
5. Are you ready for some football?
6. What deviant would you most like to meet (one you haven't met before, beside me, of course )?
7. Are you horny for Columbus?
8. Do you listen to any podcasts? If yes, what are they?
9. How much wood could Hanna chuck if Hanna were a half-blind woodchuck?
10. You must give up one of the following in order to keep all the rest: Music, Laughter, Truth, Freedom, Money, Sex.  Which one do you sacrifice and in what order do you rank the remaining five (1 being most important).

Hope those are good questions.
~Tina

First off I would like to wish all my East Coast friends the very best. Stay safe, stay dry!


On to the recap, as demanded by *LeftWingDuck mostly because she wants to see my pictures.   So if you just want to see some panel pictures, go here: [link] and you can see all my pics.  I couldn't be arsed to caption any of them, though, so if you want to know who's in them you'll have to ask.

Hanna got here on Thursday night.  I woke her up with my alarms Friday morning; I had to go to work, so we ended up driving separately (which turned out to be a very good thing).  She went early and I headed out around 2 to Columbus. I got there a little after 3, found Hanna and registration, and this time I had my badge in about 10 minutes. Nothing like Sugoicon, thank goodness!  We went to *Sonion's panel at 4:00, which was very interesting, and then Hanna had her panel at 6:00.


Sonny at his 4:00 panel.  

We then puttered around until the 11 Anime Voice Actors 18+ panel, and we sat right up front.  I was surprised they let us take pictures. Video was strictly verboten.  Eric Vale stole the show with an impersonation of a voice actor not present.  It was downright uncanny how much he can sound like this particular voice actor.   Seems they do not get along.  But anyhoo, at one point I laughed so hard I thought I was going to faint.  My only critique was there were too many sex questions.  Come on people!  Some are funny but it got boring after a while.    


We would have liked to stay for the 1:00am panel but we had a 1 hour drive home and wanted to be back early on Saturday, so we headed out.  I paid for my parking and started to roll out of the garage when I realized there might be something horribly wrong with my car.   Hanna was behind me and halfway down the block I had to pull over. My brakes were gone.  DAMMIT.  See how it was good we drove separately?  We decided to leave my car in the garage and worry about it later; we got home around 2:45am.

Next day we headed out early so we could see *Sonion again, this time in a panel geared towards Fullmetal Alchemist.  Perhaps I failed to mention that *Sonion is not just an awesome cartoonist, but also the voice of Maes Hughes?  He's awesome like that.   This panel was packed and extremely funny.  Sonny stole a pink piggy and named him Philip.  


I wore my Merryweather on Saturday. In the dealer's room, we talked with James Hatton and his lovely wife, who loved my costume. I bought a book and got a button from them, then when I was putting my wallet away I realized I could not find my license. This would prove to be an issue as without it I could not get into the 18+ panels in the evening, even though I'm on the wrong side of 30. But so is life.  I went to the Nostalgia Critic Q&A and ripped my bag apart. No license.  I called my aunt and had her rip my room apart. No license.  So there I am in Columbus with a car with no brakes and no driver's license.  Yay!   

After another panel with *Sonion (damn he had a lot of panels!) I had to take care of my car. Hanna wasn't feeling well so she went to the food court to eat and relax. I got my car out of the garage, very carefully, with almost no brake pressure, and called AAA.  They were there lickety-split, so I suppose if your brakes go out the place to do it is right downtown Columbus.  The driver was very nice and very cute and said he didn't mind the drive out to Newark.  He made sure I had a ride home before letting my traipse back to the con.  So there I was walking down High Street in my Merryweather dress and carrying my wings and hat.  I managed to lose my wand and a nice lady came running up behind me to give it back.  It was kind of hilarious, to be honest.  Losing stuff all willy-nilly.

Our next big thing was meeting *Sonionfor drinks at the hotel bar. We had to wait a while but it was worth it. I got a free drink from the bartender (it was non-alcoholic, of course, remember - no license!), and then Sonny gave us all free sketches.  I got Col. Armstrong being attacked by a raccoon.    


Later I spilled Sonny's wine on Hanna's sketch.  It was just one of these days.  I told Hanna I would be fine if she wanted to go to the 18+ panel; I would be more than happy to entertain myself by wandering around taking pictures, but she decided we might as well just go home and get some sleep so we could be early again on Sunday.  It was a very long day, and despite my issues I did have a blast.  I got my picture taken lots of times and got to meet *oneoftwo. I bought some of her HP kissing buttons.  So cute!

Sunday we got up early Hanna was already up when my alarm went off. I don't think she slept much, to be honest.   But we wanted to be back in Columbus for the 11:00 panel where a bunch of the voice actors would be cold-reading a terrible radio play from 1949.  It was damn hilarious. I got some pictures although they aren't all that great.


Then Hanna wanted to go get a picture with Sonny *Sonion so we did.  His table looked so lonely.  Maybe it was the sign.


Next up was a panel with Doug Walker, the Nostalgia Critic, about moviues you hate but everyone else loves, or vice versa.  He had mentioned the day before in his Q&A that he might be filming a skit for TGWTG at the panel on Sunday, so understandably I was all "must be at panel!!!"  As we were waiting in line Ian Sinclair suddenly came up behind Hanna and I to ask who we were waiting for. I was all OMG, it's Ian Sinclair! We told him and he said he loved the NC.  then he went walking off.  Completely random!

Anyhoo, The skit is here: [link] if you are interested.  It is very funny and Hanna and I are in it for about a half a second.  Internet famous!
I managed to be first during the panel, admitting that I hate Ferris Bueller's Day Off.  I might like it if Ferris weren't such a spoiled rotten douche bag, or if he got caught in the end.  Hate hate hate him!    


A horse is a horse of course of course...


Hanna and I enjoying some scintillating conversation:


A few cosplayers I stopped for pictures:   


Some general pics of the con:   


The mural was really cool.  Hanna drew a couple things but I never did. Someone paid $81 for it at the closing ceremonies.

So that was the gist of things.  I had a very nice time despite my troubles.  Seems the car is going to be about $600.   And I went and got a replacement license today. It's still pink.  I have no idea whatever happened to the other. I guess it got tired of me bitching it was pink and lost itself. But I will know now to always put it back in my wallet after getting carded at a 18+ panel instead of sticking it in my pocket!

We'll probably go to Sugoicon again this year.  James asked us if we'd be back and we were all he remembered we were there last year!  Which reminds me I need to e-mail him the picture I posted in my gallery here.

And oh yeah, as soon as I got back I recommended *Sonion for a DD because he had never had one!  Check it out:


I might post some of the better pics to =AreteStock  Some I like quite a lot.  I'll have to see.   But as for now photobucket will have to do.


Toodles! ~Tina

Yay Nostalgia Critic at Matsuricon!

I'm in a video! Well, sort of.  It pans so fast you can't see me, but go here: [link] and watch. Especially the blooper. OMG   If your name is Hanna you may especially love the blooper.  Hanna will know, yes she will.


Full report forthcoming as soon as I get my photos processed.