Happy Birthday to Me!

Today is yet another birthday for me. For this special day I’m going to upload .jpegs of some special letters I wrote earlier this year that basically explains a few things about myself.

Here is some background. This past spring the Religious Exploration program (which is what my Unitarian Universalist congregation calls its Sunday school program) decided to do an intergenerational activity which is supposed to foster more community between the young children in the program and other adult members beside the children’s parents.

So the Mystery Buddy program was started. Basically one adult and one child would be paired up. Neither would know about who the buddy was other than each person was given a mailbox number where the two buddies would deliver letters. (The mailboxes were really manilla folders that were hung on a bulletin board and they each had a number.) Basically each Sunday in April the person would drop off a letter for his/her buddy while picking up the letter that the buddy left for him/her. At the end of the month a special reception would be held after both Sunday service and the Religious Education classes (which run concurrently) where both paris of mystery buddies would meet each other in person for the first time.

I decided to take part of it because I figured that it would be fun. I was paired with a pre-school boy who is a big fan of My Little Pony. Since the kid was so young, I had to be careful about writing letters mainly because I wasn’t sure what his reading level was (or if he had even learned to read yet). I decided to create picture collages instead. Well, anyway, we managed to put our letters in the slots and I finally met him in person. (The boy was a bit on the shy side and he ended up not speaking much while sticking closely with his mother. I ended up talking with his parents instead, which was okay.)

So, as a special birthday feature, I’m going to upload what I originally gave to my Mystery Buddy. Each week of the Mystery Buddy program had a different theme so we didn’t have to come up with a subject idea for our letters, which was a great idea. The first week focused on music. I downloaded some graphics off the Internet and I did this collage in Photoshop where I mixed in some of the musicians I actually like (such as Pink Floyd and The Beatles) with Octavia from My Little Pony (as a nod to my Mystery Buddy’s interest in that show), the virtual pop star Hatsune Miku (I figured that he might be into cartoon characters), and the Internet sensation Keyboard Cat (I figured that he would get a kick out of that one). For added measure I had Rainbow Dash near the rainbow-producing prism that graced Pink Floyd’s The Dark Side of the Moon album.

Week 2’s theme was favorite hobbies. I ended up doing a short one-page letter where I included a few samples of my drawings and photographs.

Week 3’s theme was happiest childhood memory. I was a bit stumped on this one until I decided to write about The Enchanted Forest. Even though, at two pages, it’s the longest of my letters, it’s basically a short and simplified version of my Saving The Enchanted Forest movie that I screened at last year’s Artomatic in Hyattsville.

The fourth and final week had favorite games as the theme. I decided to just list two board games (Monopoly and The Game of Life) and two video games (Pac-Man and Angry Birds).

Okay so I didn’t write my entire autobiography in those letters but hopefully, through reading them, you have the chance to learn a little more about the person who writes this blog (me). 🙂

Otakon Day 1 (August 9, 2013)

The next day I packed both my lunch and dinner along with some sodas and a freezer cold pack in my thermal Wegman’s bag, grabbed my planned submissions to the Art Show, got in my car, and drove to the North Linthicum light rail station in order to wait for the train to take me into Baltimore. (This method is far cheaper than going into Baltimore and using a parking garage. The round-trip light rail fare costs only $3.20 per day versus the parking garage’s fee of $20 per day.) I wasn’t the only Otakon convention goer waiting at that station. I saw a group of cosplayers also waiting.

While I was on the train I spoke with a fellow Otakon-goer who was sitting next to me. She said that she was staying at the Baltimore Hilton Hotel with eight other people and I noticed that she was carrying a pillow and sleeping bag among her gear. I’m not surprised that she’s doing this. This particular Hilton charges a hefty fee for its rooms but it’s also conveniently located within walking distance of the Baltimore Conventon Center, Camden Yards, and Harborplace plus it’s right next to a light rail stop and a bus stop on one of the lines of Charm City Circulator.

I arrived about noon and I saw such a huge crowd waiting outside the Baltimore Convention Center.

I decided to go into the Baltimore Hilton and cross the sky bridge linking the hotel with the Baltimore Convention Center in order to get into Otakon. As I was going inside, I passed one of the eating places located at the Hilton with a long lunch line that went out the doors. I was very glad that I opted to carry my own lunch from home instead.

While I was in the Hilton on my way to the sky bridge, I came across something special. Since 2013 marks the 20th anniversary of Otakon, someone had organized an Otamuseum where vintage items from previous Otakons (such as programs, t-shirts, and badges) on display in glass cases.

As I was crossing the skybridge, I got a glimpse of the long line of people who were still trying to get their Otakon badges and they weren’t able to make it to the preregistration badge pickup the day before.

Once I made it inside the Baltimore Convention Center, I decided to head directly to the Art Show to drop off my submissions. It took me a while to find the Art Show because this year’s show was so massive. I finally learned that the Art Show was sharing a giant room with the Artists Alley. I only stopped briedly to take a photo of Eric Maruscak of Pepper Ink starting another real-time art project just like he did at last year’s Otakon.

I submitted my works to the art show then I walked around. It was very crowded yet it was lively and there were many people cosplaying as characters like Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter and Harley Quinn

I spent the bulk of the first day of Otakon in the Dealers Room. The first thing I saw was that writer Peter S. Beagle was back at Otakon. Last year I purchased a deluxe graphic novel adaptation of his most famous book The Last Unicorn and I had him autograph it for me. There were other books by him that were on sale in addition to The Last Unicorn that I would’ve loved to have browsed through and see if I wanted to buy anything else and have him sign it. Unfortunately his booth was even more crowded than last year so I was unable to even get a close look at all the books he had available. The photo below is the closest I ever got to Peter S. Beagle at this year’s Otakon.

Like previous Otakons, The Dealers Room was very big and it featured all kinds of stuff that one can buy including Pullip dolls, cute plush llamas, model robot kits, manga books, anime DVDs, and all kind of t-shirts imagineable. Japanese fashion designer h. Naoko was back with his Hangry & Angry line of clothes but, unlike last year, there was no h. Naoko fashion show scheduled. The strangest new item I saw on sale at many tables this year was a product called Necomimi Brainwave Cat Ears, which are cat ears you wear on your head and it’s supposed to detect your brainwaves and move around based on whatever brainwaves your head is generating at the moment. For My Little Pony fans who missed last weekend’s BronyCon at the Baltimore Convention Center, there were plenty of pony swag on sale in The Dealers Room.

I originally had every intention of visiting both the Dealers Room and Artists Alley on the first day but the Dealers Room was so huge by itself that, by the time I managed to visit all the booths at least once, my feet felt like they were ready to drop off and it was close to dinner time. So I decided to go on one of the upper levels, find a seat in the hallway, and eat the dinner I had brought with me.

Emerging from the lower level was an adventure itself. The exit doors of the Dealers Room was only in one area. The escalator was working so I took that up to a floor that was just underneath the main front entrace of the Baltimore Convention Center. Like the lower level, there were escalators and steps. What was weird was that while all the escalators in other parts of the building were working and available for everyone, the escalators located in the front of the Baltimore Convention Center was reserved only for people with disabilities who registered as such at the booth that was located on the upper level of the front entrace that we all had to manually walk upstairs in order to get that special designation. (Yes, it was as strange as it sounds here.) My feet came close to giving out and I barely managed to walk to the top of the steps.

It didn’t help that there was this huge thunderstorm that happened in the middle of the day. (My joints tend to be more creaky on rainy days.) But I managed to make it to the main lobby of the Baltimore Convention Center, where I saw plenty of cosplayers like the ones in the photos below.

Finding a place to sit was a challenge at times because many people had occupied the seats that were located in the hallways and terraces. The best place to find a place where I could sit and eat the food I brought with me from home: The Otacafe. There were plenty of seats there.

The catch was that I had to put up with a karaoke contest that took place while I was eating dinner but it was worth it in order to take a load off of my feet.

After dinner I happened to pass this room where photographs were being taken of various costumed Otakon attendees for the Otakon Cosplay Archive. Normally I would walk past that room since I wasn’t wearing a costume. But the sign mentioned that people had the chance to have 3D scans of themselves. I knew this meant that Otakon had gotten ahold of at least one 3D printer and I wanted to check it out.

For cosplayers interested in the traditional 2D photo, there were regular professional photo equipment that were set up.

In another room that was off to the side, a company called ShapeShot was responsible for the 3D photoshoots.

For $250 a cosplayer can get a full body scan (including the costume) that will result in a 6-inch figure. More cash-strapped con attendees can opt for having just a head scan for only $5. That head scan can be later used on a bunch of items ranging from coffee mugs to pencil toppers.

One could even opt to have his/her scanned head on top of a Lego Minifig.

After viewing all the equipment that goes into making a digital 3D scan of a living human being for 3D printers, I have to say that anyone considering going into a similar line of work would not only require a lot of money (including buying several top-of-the-line hi-res DSLR cameras) but one would need a large room in order to set up the entire system.

This cosplayer opted for the full body scan, including her costume.

I had originally planned on attending only one panel today, called "The Worst Anime of All Time", which was presented by the Anime News Network. It sounded like it was going to be a compendium of anime so bad that it’s really funny. I knew from attending previous Otakons that if you wanted to be assured of having a seat, you had to get in a line at least a half-an-hour before it begins. I arrived a half=an-hour only to encounter Walt Disney World-style lines, as you can see in the photo below.

Unfortunately the line going to the room was so long that all the seats were filled by the time I got towards the front of the line.

Instead I walked around the hallways of Otakon some more. I found the Otachan room where people of all ages can engage in Asian-themed crafts. If I hadn’t started to feeling tired at the time I took the next two photographs, I might have tried a craft or two myself.

By the late afternoon-early evening my feet continued to feel like they were about to give out so I decided to call it a day and leave Otakon. The front entrance of the Baltimore Convention Center was still filled with people trying to register and pick up badges so I took a similar route to the Convention Center light rail stop. I took the sky bridge from the convention center to the Baltimore Hilton then exited out of the Hilton over to the light rail stop. While I was on my way out I took a few more photos of various cosplayers.

As I was leaving I noticed the line of people waiting to register and/or pick up their badges in the late afternoon summer sun. That line was just as long as it was this morning.

I arrived home feeling totally tired, stiff, and sore all over my body. So far it was only the first day of Otakon and I was already feeling like I’ve been there all three days. That didn’t sound good considering the fact that Otakon was going to last two more days.

Behnke’s Nurseries, Beltsville, Maryland (December 14, 2012) and Riverdale Holiday Market, Riverdale Park, Maryland (December 15, 2012)

This past Saturday was my birthday and it would be my first one since my husband abruptly walked out on me with no warning on December 28, 2011. My husband has largely avoided talking to me since then and I received no acknowledgement from him about my birthday this year, which is a stark contrast to my birthday last year (when my husband gave me both a new iPod Touch and a new iPad and he took me to this wonderful French restaurant for dinner). So I decided to spend this past weekend just going out in an effort to enjoy my birthday and forget about my husband.

Late Friday afternoon I decided to visit the Christmas shop at Behnke’s Nurseries in Beltsville, Maryland. This is the nursery that’s located closest to my home. Compared to Homestead Gardens and Valley View Farms, the Behnke’s Christmas shop is small but there were still some interesting decorations like the moose in the photo below.

The next two photos are of pointsettias in unusual colors and covered in glitter. No, they are not natural. The colors and glitter were painted on the leaves. I’m not sure how I feel about these plants. On the one hand, they are definitely unnatural. On the other hand, they do look pretty.

Behnke’s had a bunch of miniature plants on sale in a variety of decorative pots. One could choose plants like tiny pointsettias and miniature orchids. I thought they were cute.

I purchased one thing at Behnke’s. I previouly saw this during my visit to Valley View Farms but I didn’t buy it on that trip because I was about to purchase two hedgehog ornaments and a small nativity and I didn’t think I had enough money to purchase anything else. It’s a smoker shaped like a gingerbread house that comes with a supply of gingerbread-scented incense. I thought it was cute. I was also attracted to the fact that, for once, it’s not imported from China. This cottage is one of a series of cottages made by a U.S. based company called Ginger Cottages. (The link has lots of eye candy.) What was even sweeter was that the smoker originally had a $29.95 price tag but I got it on sale for $21.

The next day was my birthday and I decided to make a brief appearance at the Riverdale Holiday Market because two of my friends were selling their crafts at that festival. (I had the opportunity to sell my stuff there this year but I didn’t because this market is usually held outdoors in December, a time of the year when the weather in the Baltimore-Washington, DC area can be pretty iffy at best and I just didn’t want to sign up only to have it be extremely cold or snowing on that day.) The weather also happened to be nice and sunny with temperatures in the low 60’s so I decided to go there. As I walked over to the market, I saw this University of Maryland Physics Department van that had an illustration that made me think of the cover of an early 1970’s Pink Floyd album.

I visited my friends’ booths and I managed to purchase a couple of things. One was a Thank You card that was made by Archelaus, whose cards features the kind of designs that one doesn’t usually find on a Hallmark card. The other was this really cute and small nativity scene that was made in Peru. It’s really unique and the photos below show why I was enchanted with this.

It provides a nice companion piece to this other nativity scene made from wood in China I purchased recently at Valley View Farms.

Both nativity scenes are now displayed on the coffee table under my four-foot tall tree in the living room.