Joysticks and Pinballs and Other Stuff Your Momma Warned You About - Louisville Arcade Expo 2014

Convention Info

Name: Louisville Arcade Expo
Host City: Louisville, KY
Venue: Ramada Plaza Louisville Hotel and Conference Center
Date: March 7-9th, 2014

Giggity.

Anyway, don't let the title fool you. This is going to be a very serious, grown-up entry about being an adult. Which, in this case, means playing Dr. Mario on a giant projector screen and making high-pitched swooning sounds over an Apple IIe. But before I get to that, a story:

Retro Froyo Yoyo(Yo Yo) - Game On Frozen Yogurt

Business Info

Name: Game On Frozen Yogurt
Address: 2001-2009 Pinoak Drive, Nicholasville, KY, 40356
Website: http://www.gameonfroyo.com/

Being a portly gentleman, possessed of a massive sweet tooth, I rarely balk at the chance to try new confectionery goodness. So the proliferation of frozen yogurt restaurants over the past few years has definitely been right up my alley. But with so many choices, it can be hard to decide where to go when you have a craving for the sweet stuff.

Of course, if you want to also enjoy not only shopping for old-school and new-school video games, but playing old-school and new-school video games, at the same time you're chowing down on froyo, there's only one place for you.

WHO ARE YOU CALLING SMALL?! - Sukoshi Con: Bowling Green 2014

Convention Info

Name: SukoshiCon: Bowling Green
Host City: Bowling Green, KY
Venue: The Sloan Convention Center
Date: February 15th, 2014

Some conventions are a once-a-year deal, and with the amount of work that goes into them, it's not hard to see why. Coordinating people, places, things, and ideas - no type of noun gets left behind - to give a show to a thousand or more folks from different age groups, tastes, and backgrounds is undoubtedly a task for the mighty.

And then there are some people just crazy enough to do multiple shows in a year. The folks behind Sukoshi Con are that kind of crazy(in a good way). They have at least seven shows in four states, which means they're at least seven times that kind of crazy by the Distributive Property of Insanity.

The Con with "Awesome" Right in the Name - SugoiCon 2013

Basic Convention Info

Name: SugoiCon
Host City: Sharonville, OH
Venue: Crowne Plaza Cincinnati North
Dates: November 1-3, 2013

Depending on which of my personalities you ask, SugoiCon was either my first or second convention experience ever, something like five years ago(the other possibility for Numero Uno being GenCon). Responsibility for initially making me aware of it, and thus exposing the world to my inner otaku in a big way, goes to the wonderful and talented owner of Sew Peach, who also provided me with the first home-sewn costume I ever wore to a convention, my trademark Giant Kon.

NaNo Hiatus, or "The Insatiable Maw That Devours My Life Every Year"

So November is almost over, and you may be wondering why I vanished again so quickly after such a dramatic return. Well, it's that time of the year again. A time for sharing with others. A time for personal introspection. A time for putting the hectic craziness of regular life aside for hectic craziness of a different kind.

That's right. I speak, of course, of NaNoWriMo(what were you thinking about?).

Snakes, Burgers, Dancing, and Maids - EvilleCon 2013

Basic Convention Info
Name: EvilleCon
Host City: Evansville, IN
Venue: Holiday Inn Evansville Airport
Dates: March 22-24, 2013


I first learned of EvilleCon thanks to some artist friends from the Evansville area at a convention last year. Word had it that it was a small con with a friendly atmosphere, but to be honest the name already had my curiosity piqued. And given that I'd already heard good things about Evansville from other folks, I was pretty stoked to finally have an excuse to visit. The trip there was pretty smooth and pleasant – I've driven through Indiana enough times by now to start getting used to the bizarre, mountain-less landscape – and without much trouble I found my way to the airport grounds, and the Holiday Inn.

2013: Year of the Snake? Mo' Like Year of the (Anime) Con!

So this year has been pretty crazy. I would like to blame my lack of new content on that, but it's actually been a combination of laziness, uncertainty, and straight-up fear. Not counting my old LiveJournal, I've never had a real blog before. The idea of writing stuff for anyone to read, not just a select group of my friends, is more daunting than I originally wanted to admit. This ain't the same as posting story excerpts and looking for reviews; it's a whole different game. And that game took a tire iron to the unsuspecting kneecap of my enthusiasm.

But I'm back. And I've decided to mix it up a little.