Whoops
Have I really not posted an update since April? I'm not ignoring you all, I swear.
Things have, overall, been good. I don't have time to write much, but here are a few highlights.
May: The Amasong spring concerts, last LARPs of the school year, and Anime Central went well. I picked up a writing job: handouts ("field guides") for four time-travel-themed events about dinosaurs for the local children's museum. I've never written for kids before, and my knowledge of paleontology was quite out of date. The field has moved fast over the last 10-15 years! But much research, and work with the museum staff, has led to three handouts I'm proud of. (Nothing wrong with the fourth; it's just not written yet.)
June: The Not Ready for Bandai Players made a triumphant return to JAFAX, having skipped last year because of gas prices. It was a lovely little con as always. It's still strange being treated as convention guests. This year we even got t-shirts that say so! We also got together with an old friend from the Earlham gaming crowd who we hadn't seen in many years, which made the weekend very special.
July: Let's see... Performed my Titanic murder mystery dinner on a riverboat in Peoria. It beats me why people on a boat would want to think about one of the most famous maritime disasters ever, but the guests seemed to have a good time. The two summer sessions of the LARP went pretty well; we've added two long-time players to the staff and they are working out as we hoped. At Mom's request, I wrote some Ohio trivia questions for the Church and Synagogue Library Association's annual conference. I also collaborated on a mini-mystery to be played out between musical numbers at a tribute to Kathy Murphy later this month. I think the script outline is a good one. Several of us went to Bloomington for
chibirisu's birthday. We went to the Miller Park Zoo and a fabulous Indian restaurant. We (the folks I rode with) detoured on the way home to look and some windmills and thus stumbled on an enormous wind farm. Amazing stuff.
August: Wizard World Chicago (the Chicago Comic Con) asked Anime Central to provide an "ACen Aftershock" programming track. So, our household did a video room. The con was great fun, and oddly different from ACen itself: Lots of celebrity guests, and opportunities to pay large sums of money to meet them. The exhibit floor is other big draw, so once away from it the con felt much, much smaller than ACen despite being larger. There are few evening and no overnight events. A smaller percentage of the con-goers cosplay, though there were quite a few excellent costumes.
Yet to come: I'm about to head home to visit my mother and sisters. After I get back, I have a birthday party for an Amasong friend at which a small group of us will sing, the tribute to Kathy, the final dinosaur event, and a bunch of prep work and writing to do for the LARP.
All written out like that, it looks like I've been busy or something.
Things have, overall, been good. I don't have time to write much, but here are a few highlights.
May: The Amasong spring concerts, last LARPs of the school year, and Anime Central went well. I picked up a writing job: handouts ("field guides") for four time-travel-themed events about dinosaurs for the local children's museum. I've never written for kids before, and my knowledge of paleontology was quite out of date. The field has moved fast over the last 10-15 years! But much research, and work with the museum staff, has led to three handouts I'm proud of. (Nothing wrong with the fourth; it's just not written yet.)
June: The Not Ready for Bandai Players made a triumphant return to JAFAX, having skipped last year because of gas prices. It was a lovely little con as always. It's still strange being treated as convention guests. This year we even got t-shirts that say so! We also got together with an old friend from the Earlham gaming crowd who we hadn't seen in many years, which made the weekend very special.
July: Let's see... Performed my Titanic murder mystery dinner on a riverboat in Peoria. It beats me why people on a boat would want to think about one of the most famous maritime disasters ever, but the guests seemed to have a good time. The two summer sessions of the LARP went pretty well; we've added two long-time players to the staff and they are working out as we hoped. At Mom's request, I wrote some Ohio trivia questions for the Church and Synagogue Library Association's annual conference. I also collaborated on a mini-mystery to be played out between musical numbers at a tribute to Kathy Murphy later this month. I think the script outline is a good one. Several of us went to Bloomington for
chibirisu's birthday. We went to the Miller Park Zoo and a fabulous Indian restaurant. We (the folks I rode with) detoured on the way home to look and some windmills and thus stumbled on an enormous wind farm. Amazing stuff.August: Wizard World Chicago (the Chicago Comic Con) asked Anime Central to provide an "ACen Aftershock" programming track. So, our household did a video room. The con was great fun, and oddly different from ACen itself: Lots of celebrity guests, and opportunities to pay large sums of money to meet them. The exhibit floor is other big draw, so once away from it the con felt much, much smaller than ACen despite being larger. There are few evening and no overnight events. A smaller percentage of the con-goers cosplay, though there were quite a few excellent costumes.
Yet to come: I'm about to head home to visit my mother and sisters. After I get back, I have a birthday party for an Amasong friend at which a small group of us will sing, the tribute to Kathy, the final dinosaur event, and a bunch of prep work and writing to do for the LARP.
All written out like that, it looks like I've been busy or something.