So I, along with many friends, went to GenCon on Sunday. It wasn't as stand-filled as Supanova, I enjoyed seeing everything for purchase, and the games room seemed to be predominently cards or board. Towards the end of the day I bumped into illdrinn who informed me the games were held in booths off to the sides of the room. Dang.

Still, I bought a d30 and a new dice bag. I also got to shake hands with Alan Tudyk (Wash, Firefly/ Serenity), Paul McGillion (Dr Beckett, Atlantis), David Nykl (Dr Zelenka, Atlantis) and Mungo McKay (Marion, Undead). Amy poked fun at me getting a case of the shys, it only took me all day to work up the courage to talk to them >_>.

Oh, and the Steampunk group I was a part of one first place in the Cosplay competition. I love riding on coat-tails, especially Victorian coat-tails.

To make this more enjoyable, I'll present you with a link to a forum that seems to contain some of the better shots of the various groups at the con. I'll let you find out which ones contain me :)

GenCon 2008 Brisbane cosplay forum.

Jos and I went to Baguette last night for dinner and cocktails. We were taken straight to our table by great waiters, had a cocktail each and a baguette while ordering, Jocelyn had a Cucumber Collins and something, and I had a Lusty, Busty Maiden. Yes, I was too embarrassed to ask for it outright, I had to ask for suggestions and then nod when that one was pointed out. The food was great. Jocelyn had a fish dish of some description that actually looked tasty, and I had rabbit. For the record, Bugs is very tasty. Dessert pulled Jocelyn's attention with a passionfruit souffle while I had a chocolate treat. Jocelyn amused the waiter by asking for the entree menu after dessert as she wanted something savory. Jos is strange.

Today I woke up early to truck out the ol' Professor outfit once again to join Amy, Scott, Nel and Martin in steam-punk finery for Supanova. Well I think we veer more towards steam-pulp, but anyway. Scott and Martin had to get in there early as this year they are judges - the last few years their costume has been excellent and award winning so they decided to no longer compete. Quite charitable of them, however be assured their costumes were still awesome. Those four were getting pulled over for pictures frequently wherever we were. Many of the puller-overers were asking what series or anime we were all a part of, goes to show the detail that they all put in to their costumes. James and Amanda were also there, Amanda in the best Carmen Sandiago costume you're likely to see. She too got pulled over a few times for snapshots. Jos went plain-clothed and was happy enough with that, thank you. For those interest, of course I have pictures.

Supanova this year was a bit underwhelming. The stalls were all very commercial, the artists alley/ independents area was tucked away and small, everything awesome got sold out very quickly so there was nothing much of interest for me to purchase. Jos bought a few DVDs from JB because they were handy, and Amy bought SingStar 80s for my PS2 so we could further embarrass ourselves in front of Connie. Jos and I went to join everyone in watching the Cosplay - the auditorium was so damn packed Amy and I decided to go back into the shopping area and Jocelyn had a nap. Seriously, organisers, last year we were already starting to spill out - organise it better next year! Amy has a good suggestion, do it thematically - Anime in one group and then The Rest.

All that aside, the guests this year were great. I didn't interact with any or get autographs, but just standing near the line and seeing Jewel Staite (Kaylee from Serenity/ Firefly), Teryl Rothery (Dr Frasier from SG1), James Kyson Lee (Ando from Heroes), Lou Ferrigno (Incredible Hulk series), Michael Winslow (Sgt. Larvell "Motor Mouth" Jones from Police Acadamy) - twas full of win. Jos noted that Jewel and Terryl looked stunning IRL (well, she didn't acronym) and every one of them was so genuine and nice to people getting autographs/ talking to them. It's things like that which make events succeed. Awesome and engaged guests. Just in case any of them find this page via Google, I salute you.

Thanks to Amanda, Scott and Nel for the encouragement to Professorialise. However, I definitely felt the sting of 'not-good-enough' about the outfit so some serious work will have to commence for next time.

My postings here have really died down since I got into Twitter. I feel less guilting posting crap when I'm limited to Twitter's word count compared to here. Ah well, I'm also not been doing much I've felt like writing up for a while, I suppose. Lessee, what's stuff-worthy?

The trip down to Coolloongatta for Jos and Amy's birthday was neat. Did some more in-the-sea swimming, bleached some pants in a highly chlorinated spa, saw Horton Hears A Who (great fun) and other such things. I could get used to extended weekends away like that, I'll have to save up some leave time to do that more often. Great company and a great time had.

Last Saturday was Dracula's for Amy's birthday party. Costumed up in my rather weak Professor von Explaino outfit and joined the group for some silliness. There are photos available to see how awesomely dressed everyone was. This weekend is Supanova, the Anime and Comic convention - the guys are trying to convince me to come along as the Prof while they all come along in their steampunk outfits. Unfortunately I'm getting a big case of the over-shadoweds, so I'm uncertain if I'll go along or not. Currently, I'm still leaning towards not.

Connie has settled in nicely now. She's a complete madcat most of the time, but recently when Jos and I have sat down to watch Heroes she's lap-catted which has been awesome. Something really comforting about a lap-cat. Except when she decides it's time to attack the hand that pets it.

I need to get more Fog Ring guns so I can take them apart to use their bits in devices downstairs. Took the guns into work today, the key-ring sized one appears dead but the larger one worked fine. I played chicken with the smoke detectors for a while, people found it amusing.

Our roleplaying game continues it slow wrap-up of loose plot-lines. We're in another pseudo-Smith arc (I like calling them Smith arcs as they're to do with a trio of magic swords that Smith has had a rather bad time with), and I've finally had a chance to use the Abigail Disabler to fantastic effect. Abigail, our mage, has become slighty... unhinged. Since the last time she tried to kill Smith and Vitess, my Kitsune has worked on a suitably Kitsune-minded Abigail counterer. When she tried it last session, Smith illusioned himself into an object-of-her-affection and then used Seduction(gift) to ensure it worked. Worked incredibly well, but unfortunately had to include her fiancee as well as he was getting violent also. Still, Smith's open minded. And disturbingly bishi. And terribly clueless about such things.

Talking with Jos, I've really decided I need to put a lot more effort into getting the lab more lab-esque before I have any more gathering days downstairs. I've been too damn lazy in not finishing the walls/ finding floor-rugs and doing anything else to actually get the lab downstairs looking anything other than a large collection of pseudo-fun stuff. That, and I need to pull the finger out and actually make a proper Professor von Explaino look. I've got the neat hat, the goggles, a decent bag (shouldn't have zips though), good boots and a nice vest with a possible overjacket. Now I need good pants, shirt, and all the trinkets/ accessories that make a man mad.

Call this a call to self-encouragement.

Although the last game was last night, Amanda had a trick up her sleeve. A last wonderful in-characterness before I go forth into bleak, roleplaying stark holidayville. Amanda, with help from James and her father, organised an in character dinner.

Jos and I were late, and as Scott and Amy were car pooling with us that made them late too. Cunning ploy on our part. We arrived (eventually, I blame the directions, everyone else blames my taking us North to go South (short cut, damnit!)), and were immediately in character. Jocelyn looked especially good in a borrowed kimono, she made for a most excellent Ayane. Everyone else's costumes were grand too, I felt a bit letting-the-side-down in my chinese style shirt and black slacks (couldn't find a green/ blue robe set in time); but I did make up for it by bringing a bag of rice and eating my dessert (chocolate mousse on pavlova shells with strawberries and raspberries) with chopsticks. I got applause for that one.

The players from left to right are Scott, Amy, James, Amanda, Colin and Jocelyn, but for their true forms...

( Look below the cut )
Big thank you to Amanda's dad for playing the rather disturbing and occasionally Igor-esque butler Pennington, and to Amanda and James for putting on a smashing party. I for one had a great time.