CONfusion (RPG Con)

This past Saturday I ventured out (despite recovering from a nasty cold and it being semi dreary) to Wellington proper to attend my first CONfusion. What is CONfusion? It’s a one day gaming convention held at Turnbull House.  It consisted of three rounds each roughly 3 hours long.  Each session had 4 games you could play in.  So I look at the options for the first session and I see three things I haven’t played and then there is The Silver Kiss of the Magical Twilight of the Full Moon, which I have played both tabletop AND Larp before. I’m predictable as much as I like to do new things I’ll default with something I know I’ll have fun playing, that meant Silver Kiss.

I was the human love interest to Bryn’s Vampire, Thomas, ZOMG WAS HE CREEPY. My character was popular but geeky, she was really into kung fu. She also had a boyfriend and thus I was expecting angsty drama, which one do I choose, etc. Nope Thomas broke his neck within 20 minutes of meeting him. He then proceeded to stalk, kidnap, and force me to either spend eternity with him or die. My character liked living so she was turned, as was her bff. Then we all went to New York where I became an awesome kung fu teacher.

Next round was all about Fiasco. I’ve heard so many good things about Fiasco like SERIOUSLY good. So I signed up for that, but my deciding wasn’t done yet, With Fiasco comes many play sets do I play the Cthulhu set or Regina’s Wedding? I decided to go with Regina’s Wedding, and I’m so glad I did. I played with Jenni, Thomas, Paul and Mike. In Fiasco you don’t really have a GM as more a facilitator who plays just as equally. My main char was “Televisions Margaret Wakefeild” who we determined had a Bridezillas type of show. Jenni was Regina, who though she was marrying the heir to Baroness Something or Another, but was in fact a con-man. The photographer was my crazy ex, who ever since I deserted him at the altar has been Hell bent of destroying ALL OF THE weddings. Turned out good for most people including Margaret Wakefeild who ended up with  her own wedding CHANNEL.

The final round I played Shadowrun. I didn’t know much about this system, I think I would have preferred to have play Fiasco another time. I find while I like classic skill based games that use dice rolls to determine passes or fails, for day games I prefer more free form indie games I think.  I ended up having fun in this game and it went rather fast, mostly cause there were only two players. It took awhile to get used to the system it uses. The game is odd in that it is Science Fiction and Fantasy combined, so you have both magic and advanced tech. The goal of the game was to stop this Terrorist which we did. Dunno if I will play it again but it’s a possibility….

Over-all I played in two new to me systems, and had lots of fun… When’s the next one?

Things I Like Thursday

Things I Like Thursday

To start off things I don’t like: Accidently deleting two posts from existence by forgetting to check how recent my database backup was when upgrading my database.

—-real post begins here—-
My new blog theme thanks Sam of Rooster Tails for the cool graphics. I’m probably not done yet… I’ll still be doing a few tweaks here and there.  Also there are a few bits of content that I really need to add to the pages…

Web comics… I mean they are comics and I read them on the internet… for free!!

My top 5 are(in no particular order):

  • PVP Player vs. Player is as very nerdy comic mostly aimed at gamers.
  • XKCD how do you explain this comic to those who don’t know about it… All I can say is when me and my husband talk about it we never seem to get the letter right we have called it XFCE XKFC and XKFD among many other things….
  • Rooster Tails an awesome New Zealand trans/queer comic written by a talented trans comic artist
  • The Knit Princess really funny knitting comic, probably only funny to knitters and maybe those close to knitters.
  • Oglaf NSFW enchanted sperm, naughty stories, and irreverent humour
  • and as a bonus Khaos Komix more Trans/Queer comics, this one tells several stories from lots of viewpoints, not so much funny like Rooster Tails, and more heartbreaking in bits.

 

Audible.com how I love thee… I love to read I read probably about 20 hours a week maybe more, which has always meant that my reading competes with my other hobbies(which I seem to have a lot of) meaning that I can either read or knit, read or embroider, read or cook dinner(okay not so much a hobby). You get the picture… About a two and a half years ago, after hearing on every single one of Brenda Dayne‘s podcasts about audible, I decided to give it a go and get a free audio book… Well I never had an audio device it worked with so I cancelled it.  Fast Forward 6 months I got an android phone , and guess what it had an audible app which meant I could download the books directly to my phone. Now I use audible constantly… I still read actual books but my reading time has increased massively cause I can read and do other things like knitting and cooking.

cover image of Syren by Angie Sage

Related: The Septimus Heap books… I’m halfway through book 5 and I absolutely love this series… They are like Harry Potter but yet not at all like Harry Potter. They are well written engaging and amazing to read.

Honourable Mentions:

Getting a postcard from Jenni… I love mail that’s not bills.

Larping (of course)

The Guild (they are back yay!!!)

I don’t remember posting that!

When checking my stats yesterday I noticed more than a few people had clicked on the post about my 2010 Knitting List which I had completely forgot about! I thought even though it’s been over a year I would check in with how I did!

1. To finish my wedding shawl! DONE!!!!

2. Finish my Baudelaire socks (sock one complete toe of sock two complete) DONE

3. Finish secret socks for special someone (sock one done halfway up the foot of sock two) DONE

4. knit at least 2 pairs of socks for Ryan I cast several pair on and had no end of troubles!

5. Knit one pair of knee highs for myself! NOT A CHANCE

6. This will be the year I start my Rogue Nope

7. Knit Sprossling Nope

8. Knit another Rose Of England Shawl(this one for myself) Instead I cast-on a Neibling pattern for a shawl

9. Try to work out a few of the patterns that are floating around inside my head! YEP just have to test them and write them out

10. have fun! Tried.

The reality was that I actually did very little knitting in 2010 I was sick for a large part of it and my Mojo seemed to flee due to that. I’m finally starting to get better and I seem to be knitting again! I’m in general crafting again, I feel creative and urges to do things and I’m loving it!!! I’ve finished several patterns this year already and have cast-on a few more!

I have been sewing left right and center, making costumes for LARP events purses that are perfect and MORE! I plan on posting some detailed blog posts soon and hope you all enjoy my return to the blogsphere.

I’m still behind on some things from 2010 and I’m working on those too… slowly but surely!

 

Preserving the Tradition…

Preserving the Tradition...

I know that many of you are slowly starting to unpack your warm weather clothes, are enjoying flowers starting to peep out from the dirt, and are thinking wistfully towards the upcoming summer. The blogs I read are all aflutter of spring and summer projects. There are plans for colourific contests competing with natures own colours and simple summer sewing projects being planned. Ah, yes spring.

I on the other hand am sitting in the couch snuggled into a quilt. I’m starting to unpack my warm woolen summers, and favorite knits. Out come the simple summer boots and the useless* umbrellas. I’m staring grumpily at the grey, cold, rain thinking about all the summer things I miss. It’s autumn.

When I lived in Michigan I loved autumn, the smell, colour changes, and the slow transition to crisp snow. In Wellington it just gets cold and wet. Trees have leaves one week and none the next. Instead of slowly introducing you to cold weather Wellington autumn slowly sneaks up on you and suddenly one day you were wearing tank tops and shorts the next your bundled up in 4 or more layers.

At first I hated it, but now I have adjusted to it. It just means more indoor hobbies. Autumn has become less about playing in leaves and more about knitting, spinning and cooking.

And nothing makes autumn more bearable than jarring/canning, especially when it’s your favorite.  I remember every autumn I would look forward to two things, both from my grandmother. Her homemade delicious pumpkin pie and apple butter.  Being gluten intolerant and living in New Zealand make the pumpkin pie nearly impossible for me to make. The apple butter is a different story completely!

Note: apple butter does not contain any actual butter or dairy. The name apple butter comes from it’s smooth butter like texture.

This past Saturday I got down to work with 2kg of delicious granny smith apples and everything I needed and got down to work.  I was using this recipe with a few minor changes; I left out the lemon items and added a touch more clove.  The thing about apple butter is it takes hours and HOURS of work, I spent at least 3 hours alone just stirring. It’s all worth it in the end.

Sorry I couldn't help taking a wee bite or two first.

There are very few redeeming features to Wellington autumn, but making jams, jellys and apple butter is right near the top

 

*the umbrellas are useless due to the constant high force wind that we have here in wellington!

Hair today LONG tomorrow

Hair today LONG tomorrow

I have been growing my hair out for the last three years, mostly because my hair had always been short. The longest it had been was chin length, and I was over it. To be fair it was always my own fault that is was so short. I would constantly get bored and then chop it all off. So when I moved to New Zealand I decided that I was going to grow it out and thus I have.

Now this hasn’t been with out it’s own road bumps.

-July 2008 I cut my nearly shoulder length hair into an asymmetrical bob, just above ears on the left side and chin level on the other.

- December 2008 I randomly decided that my left side needed a shaved undercut strip.

- March 2009 I decided that what would be really cool would be to completely shave the left side of my head like that singer Cassie did later. I maintained this hairstyle until June of that year. The right side of my hair was now past my shoulders.

After that I decided enough is enough, and started growing my hair out. Unfortunately the past year my hair hasn’t gained all that much length because of having to have it cut several times to even out the whole look.

It’s taken a lot of work, an extreme amount of patience that I may have stolen from some one, but it’s well on its way to being long and lovely. It’s currently between flip length and bra strap length, and I’m very happy with it. I think as of now I’m aiming for classic length which is to the place where you butt meets your legs.

Here’s hoping that it all goes well.

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