Megacon!!!!!

Megacon is this weekend. I am stoked. I love conventions!!! This will be a little different for me. I will not be costuming. I know, I know, shocking! The reality is that costuming can take anywhere from 45 minutes (simple Jedi, or Narcissa) to 2 hours (Atris) to get ready. That doesn’t include time to get out of character as well (make up removal, shower, then getting dressed up as yourself!) I have a paper due, a test due, etc. I wish I could tell you I was the person who can get those things done a week or two ahead of time but I’d be lying.

No fears! I wil have tons-o-fun. I love running around in my cool t-shirts too. Some celebs I want to meet will be there (Hello Chris Sabet!!!!) and some I want to see again (Tom Felton, I’m looking at you.) In addition to all that I have 14 students coming along! Most of the Anime Club is able to make this trip and that makes me happy. We are gonna have so much fun. Did I mention we are staying at the Peabody Orlando?

I’ll be taking my new book Oath of Office as well so I can read myself to sleep. I'll also be seeing old friends I only see at conventions (Hi Lupin! Hi Steve! Hi Maya-chan! Hi everyone else who is too many to mention!)  And missing friends who used to come but have sense moved away (I miss you Celine!!)

I’ll be tweeting and Facebooking pics, have no worries there. It’ll almost be like you guys are with me! Speaking of which, will any of you ACTUALLY be there with me? If so, find me and say hello!! 

Don't Forget To Be Awesome, and Be Excellent To Each Other, and May The Force Be With You!
DJ/ Darth (now Jedi!) Yume/Cissy/Bulma/WhateverelseYouKnowMeBy

Michael Palmer has a new book coming! (And there is a CONTEST people!!!!)

Some of you who have known me a long time know I love this man. Some of you new to my life will take pause and wonder, because I don't talk about him much lately. See, I had a passionate love for his novels for a long time and have read almost all of them.. until ... ... one book came along that I despised. I tried. I tried SO HARD to love it. But I didn't. I wanted to. I couldn't. So I gave up about 1/3 of the way in and walked away from it, broken hearted. And for some reason I let it get to me far more than it should have. I was not being a very good fan. Sometimes we get disappointed, but if we are always, otherwise, thrilled with the author, why would we turn our backs? I have no excuse. And now I feel so bad for it. But he has a new book coming and I AM EXCITED!!! I mean, like super excited!!! It's almost like falling in love again. I haven't even read the book yet and I am bouncing off the walls!

Confession: One of his characters stays with me so hard that every single time I write a new character of my own, I recall something about Jessie. Jessie, a neurosurgeon, always kept a gameboy in her labcoat pocket. She would get stressed, go hide somewhere, whip it out, and play. I remember thinking that A) made her super cool, B) it was a great quirk while really helped bring her to life. And I always think of her when I see someone playing Tetris. I (almost) always think of her when I am writing.

But really almost everything by him is really good. Don't let my first paragraph deter you. HE IS AWESOME!

In related news, the awesome book blogger Ems is having a contest to give away a SIGNED COPY of the new novel! OH EMM GEE! If you want to enter, you totally should. This is huge. And amazing. And it's MICHAEL FREAKING PALMER!

My baby sister...

My baby sister turned 40 today. I went to Atlanta (technically a suburb, but you get the point) over the weekend to celebrate. I gave her a Spock cookie jar. (The detail is amazing!) I meant to write a lot of little notes about childhood memories but I a) Didn't have time b) didn't want to take him out of the shipping box for fear he might break in transit. Still, looking at my baby sister I see the woman she is now, but I also see the little girl who ran around in her Garfield night shirt and pretended to be Dyna Girl to my Electro Woman.

I love her.

1976 with Mom

1987 Halloween

1988 Debbies graduation

Early 2000's

2004 cruise

2009

2010

2011 pirates on the Disney Cruise

John Green did something I hope I never forget..

He spent 12 hours a day, 7 days a week, for a month signing pages to go into his new novel The Fault In Our Stars. I sort of wondered why he did this. I watched his progress through his vlogs, tweets, blogs, and other social media venues. John even got his brother Hank involved. Hank is basically as popular as John in the social media. Hank took some of the sheets John autographed and drew little angler fish on them and dubbed them Hanklerfish. I digress.

So recently I found out why John went to the trouble of pre-signing all these papers for so long. I mean seriously - imagine how many Sharpies he went through! How many hand cramps he had! How many times his eyes must have crossed. I am glad his name is short John Green and not long like Rumpleclothesfromnosleep Vegetabletsandwichdude.

Anyhow.. John Green did this because he knows he can't go on tour everywhere. He only tours to major cities usually. And even if he toured to small cities, he can't hit every single one. And John Green wanted people to have the chance to get an autographed copy. He wanted ~everyone~ to have a chance. That includes me, here, in my town that doesn't even have a book store.

Thank you John Green. I hope when I become famous like you that I will remember to give everyone a chance too. People in small towns don't get book tours. People in small towns without book stores are drowning in desperate need of connections to the world of literature.

Side note: I really would love to get a Hanklerfish. But if another Nerdfighter needs it more than I do, I'll sacrifice my fish.



Edit @ 7:02 p.m.: My book arrived! I did not get the Hanklerfish but I did John Greens signature in a green sharpie! Ya know what? That is a score! I am happy. I'm also putting my current read on hold so I can go through this book. I've been waiting a long time to read it! DFTBA!!

2012 is going to be amazing. I can feel it in my bones!

2011 was a year of transition for a lot of people I know. Professionally, emotionally, relationshipy. 2012 is the year things will happen. We (as a collective whole) will live up to the dreams we talk about. We will reach out for those goals. We will find peace in ourselves that nobody else can give us. We will connect as people and build each other up instead of tearing each other down. This is gonna happen in my world. I hope you'll be a part of it.