Sunday, March 10, 2013

Comic Con 2013

 When Christian and I found out that Comic Con was having it's first ever visit to Perth, we jumped at the chance to go. The best Perth had ever had was SuperNova and that never really attracted much attention.
And considering that we never really do anything overly ostentatious, we figured we'd splurge and get the VIP tickets. Not that our $150 a pop really got us much - just fast tracked queuing for tokens, a couple of VIP only panels and a DVD of the event sent out afterwards. For the really awesome perks, one had to part with several hundred dollars and we couldn't justify it that much.

We organised a dog sitter and got really lucky when we learned that Christian's aunty had a time share hotel unit just down the road from the Convention Centre and as she never used the free nights she's entitled to, she was happy for us to stay there.

We took the Friday off as an annual leave day so we could make the most of the weekend and set out to really enjoy ourselves. We checked in about 4pm Friday arvo and spent the evening wandering about the city. Just next to the hotel was this cool little shop that was absolutely jam packed with pianos. Seriously, if someone's Grandma was obsessed with pianos, this is what her attic would look like. There was hardly any room to move and it was fucking awesome!


We had to walk under the freeway overpass to get anywhere and this little guy was pinned to a 'Graffiti Hotline' sign. I'd forgotten to take my meds a couple of times in the last week and had been a right grumpy bitch and this made me cheer up considerably.



It was rather overcast on Friday and I thought the city skyline looked really cool.


 So we got up early on Saturday and headed down to the Convention Centre, not really knowing what to expect. Obviously the lines were out the door, but it wasn't as busy as we had expected. Our queue time took longer than general admission as we had to be ID'd and get a few bits and bobs from the front desk.

While in line we saw Bane...


And Bender.


Inside we spent a couple of hours wandering about, finding out where everything was and taking in the sights and sounds. We got some tokens for some autographs and our VIP tickets paid off almost straight away as we were in  line for tokens for all of about two minutes. Although we loved the idea of getting photos and autographs of almost everyone there it just wasn't really viable for us to do so - financially but also practically. I mean, we only have a little house and are almost out of wall space already. What would we do with them? No point forking out such a considerable amount of money (autos were $30 up to $50 depending on the star and photos started from about $50 I think to $90 with someone like Shatner or RDA) just to have them put in a folder somewhere never to see the light of day.

In the end we got two tokens - one to get an autograph from Colin Ferguson for Tash and one to get RDA to sign a Cyanide and Happiness comic for us.

The queue for Colin was rather short so we jumped in straight away. I told Christian that now we were mere moments away from talking to such an awesome actor as Mr Ferguson, I couldn't think of anything intelligent to say at all and would most likely make a blubbering idiot of myself. Which I probably did. 

Colin - shakes hands we me and then with Christian. Hi, how are you? I'm Colin.

Me - Crap, really? We thought we were in William Shatner's line! Well damn!

Colin - Yeah, I get that all the time! (Laughs...thankfully) So, where are you guys from?
Me - From Perth, we're locals.

Colin - Wow, seems like most people are from around here. At most conventions heaps of people seem to have traveled a long way to get there.

Christian - Well, it's because we're so far away from everyone else in the country.

Me - Yeah, we're the most isolated capital city in the world. No one comes here if they can help it.

Colin - Yeah, it took me like five hours to fly here from Sydney.

Christian - And they charge you a heap to get here. 

Colin - What, they don't give you a discount?

Christian - Nah, it's cheap to fly here from everywhere but not cheap to fly out from here.

Me - I get the feeling they want to keep us here...

We chatted for a minute more and Colin signed a photo for us and we walked off, me a little star struck. It was only then that I looked down and realised he'd signed the photo 'For Tasha, great to meet you - Colin Ferguson'. Oops...Tash is going to have to pretend she's met him...

After that we looked around a bit more and then started to line up for our autograph with RDA. We were then shooed off because you weren't allowed to line up prior to 15 mins before the session time started. So we went and sat down for a bit and then when the allowed time had come, we went to line up, only to find a hundred people already in line. Grrrrrr! So we queued anyway and got shuffled further and further down the line as Platinum passes and the RDA Experience passes got put in front of us. After we'd been queuing for almost an hour a woman came down the line announcing that everyone should chech their tokens as the RDA tokens had a time on them and if your time was for 3:30 to come back later.

Well guess what? Fucking 3:30!!!

So we went and found a quite place against stage 2 to sit and I went off to find some food. By this time the crowd had almost doubled and it took me twenty minutes to navigate my way across the convention floor to the cafe and even longer to get back. When I did get back I discovered the invasion had begun!!! But for some reason Mario had joined forces with the Daleks!

  

We ate lunch and people watched (though I must admit I was crap at taking pics of the awesome costumes. I just hated interrupting people to get a photo as they must have been getting sick of it happening every five minutes.)

We waited where we were as there was a VIP panel on with Jason Momoa, Teryl Rothery and David Nykl from Stargate. At this point Christian looked as tired as I felt.


The panel started and the three actors were very friendly, very funny and just a lovely bunch of people. Plus, Jason Momoa is hot. Nuff said.




  

 After the panel we decided to head back to the hotel for an hour or two to rest until heading back to get RDA's autograph. Before we left we stopped by a few of the artists booths to pick up some prints we wanted. I bought a heap of these Doctor Who prints from an extremely talented man called Stewart McKenny. He was lovely and signed them all for me and we had an awesome discussion about Doctor Who, what my fave Angels episode was, how scary they were and if he drew The Empty Child. He said that this is something he wants to do in future. A truly remarkable artist and I encourage everyone to check out his site :)


After a short rest at the hotel (I didn't technically rest, I just messaged backwards and forwards with Flora but considering I was sitting on a comfy couch is was resting enough) we headed back to the convention.

And the line for RDA was so long, it snaked all the way through the convention, almost to the front door! Christian spoke to one of the helpers there and she said that RDA was there till 6pm but he would stay until everyone who had bought a token had gotten his signature (tokens are only valid on the day of purchase). So we went off wandering again and took a more detailed browse of the stalls. This was when we stumbled across this shirt. It's the characters from Firefly in Snoopy form.

Christian couldn't decide if it was awesome or not. I say yes.


 We got back in line at about half five as we were tired of walking about and just watched people coming and going. If I was tried with sore feet, I couldn't imagine how Iron Man felt...


The line slowly snaked around until we could see the signing booths. Shatner had returned to sign extra autographs and Christian and I remarked again how fast he pumped them through. The couple behind us said that they had gotten his autograph and he didn't engage in small talk or pleasantries, just signed and you were ushered off. I guess when you're a veteran of these conventions, you do what you have to do to get through the day. To be honest, he's not looking all the best :( He walks with a cane and all his photos were taken with him sitting down.I can imagine just how tiring these days can be for him. When he left, someone in the line called out 'Goodnight Mr Shatner' and he turned and waved which was nice.

6pm came and went and Richard Dean 'I'm a fucking trooper' Anderson just went on and on. I have no idea how his hand had not fallen off as yet but he was determined that no one would go home without what they paid for. It was half past six by the time we reached him and he was still cheerful and chirpy and he happily signed our comic for us. He hadn't seen it before and he had a good laugh over it and I'm glad that we could make him laugh after such a long day.

 

That evening we stumbled back to the hotel and just ordered room service and mindlessly watched Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade. We were just absolutely shattered after such a long day and we still had a day to go!

Sunday morning we checked out of the hotel and headed up to the CC and discovered that the few people in Perth who didn't know it was on, found out and were there! Saturday it had gotten progressively busier as the day went on but the opening crowd on Sunday was as big as the biggest crowd on Saturday. We met up with Steven and it helped to have two tall people who could see where they were going. It's difficult when one's head only reached armpit level on most other people.
We went to a Voice Acting Masterclass with Paul Eiding and Chris Sabat and then went to a screening of a few episodes of Adventure Time since we had no idea what all the hype was about. We said goodbye to Steven and headed for lunch and as we left the CC we found that they had shut the doors as they had reached capacity but there were still at least a thousand people still waiting to get it.
After lunch we had planned to sit in on the Colin Ferguson panel followed by the Jason Momoa one and culminating in the RDA panel. Unfortunately the lines were so very long that the chances of getting in were slim to none and we decided that we may as well call it quits and head home.

Turned out rather well actually as I've had time to do this post, and to scan our autograph and email it to Rob at Cyanide and Happiness.

Now I'm exhausted so I'll wrap this up :)
xxx

Thursday, February 21, 2013

It's a Dance Off!

I'm so lucky that I found Christian, because no one else will ever understand me like he does.

Seriously, we have conversations that, if overheard by a psychiatrist would have us in a padded room before you could say 'Holy Batman, it's a padded room!'. We use so many in jokes, movie quotes and geek references that it must sound like a complete other language. For example, how much of the following conversation we had today via txt can you understand?

Me - I hate my work puter and it hates me :(

C - Dance off time!

Me - I was thinking a Bane Off.

C - Well it's not really a tie situation.

Me - We hate each other equally as much so that kinda counts as a tie, doesn't it?

C - It falls more into the rivalry category which would be a dance off I'm afraid. Prepare to get served.

Me - Dammit, I wonder if my good friend Voltron would teach me some of his sik moves?

C - Well unless your PC is an Atari you might want to get taught by someone who has moves that aren't from the 80's.

Me - Don't you think I could win a dance off using the Robot?

C - Not likely.

Me - I guess it would depend who was judging the dance off...do you think it would be Billy Idol?

C - Or David Bowie...

Me - Oh yes, that guy. I wonder if my equally good friend Billy Zane will be there to support me?

C - Or TVs Eric Roberts.

Me - How about Tom Ribbons?

C - He would only show up if it was a charity event for saving puppies.

Me - No puppies were saved in the event of this dance off.

C - Then Tom Ribbons will stay at home eating food that wasn't derived from animals or vegetables.
       In case you are wondering, that's mostly just dirt.

Me - But dirt prepared bu one oh Hollywood's top B Grade chefs!

C - Of course.

Me - I don't know how much longer I can keep this conversation going...

C - Yeah, I'm done.

Can you name all the references quoted above? You have 60 seconds, starting...NOW!














Tuesday, January 15, 2013

Robin Hood

Honestly, I'm beginning to think I should rename this blog from 'The Natterings of Nettie' to 'Christian and Nettie's Txting History' since all I seem to do lately is posts about conversations we have during the day. Then again, at least I'm posting, yes?

C - I's thinking of getting the Razr on the staff plan. It's not a contract so I can change if the plan isn't any good and the phone will only cost me $240 all up.

Me - Cool :)

C - I'm technically not eligible but I don't think anyone will check and if they do I'll just play dumb.

Me - You are a master criminal and I love you for it xxx

C - I'm like Robin Hood. Rich = insert 'Big Corperate Phone Company Christian Works For'and poor = me

C -Pretty sure they'll write folk tales about me in a few hundred years.

Me - They'll sing about your exploits whilst carousing around a camp fire in the middle of the woods.

C - Probably won't have woods in a few hundred years. Or fires for that matter.

Me - True. So they shall sing about your exploits whilst carousing around a nuclear reactor in a barren wasteland.

C - Much better.

Me - Pity there's not a beautiful Maid Marrion to go with the story :(

C - You could dye your hair red and be Will Scarlet, or learn to play the lute and be Allan a Dale?

C - Or maybe just  beautiful wench Marion? Bit too late for you to be a maid sorry.

Me - You only just saved your arse with that one :P

C - :D

Me - Though if you want me to be Will Scarlet I can buy a wig and a strap on...

C - Hmmm, that's the best offer I've had today so far!

Thursday, January 03, 2013

Cancer of the anus

Been a while hasn't it? Figured I should post before you forget about me and I die a lonely loner, on a lonely road, alone...

Did everyone have a good new year? I did, it was a fun, nerdy evening on New Years Eve, then I pretty much slept all of New Years Day and then the trouble started the following day at work. Had an absolute shit of a day and this txt conversation with the boy followed towards the end of it, after much bitching to him about all the bullshit.

NB - Handy to know is that I am a Leo and Christian is a Cancer according to astrologists.

Me - One of the nurses told me I'm having a crap day because the moon is in Leo and so Leos are in the limelight...:/

C - Fuck you moon! Fuck you and your limelight!

Me - Careful, Cancer is in Uranus, if it sees you fucking the moon it might get jealous.

C - Cancer in my anus? Is she an astrologist or a proctologist?

Me - She's a quack as well as an astrologist...

The following conversation occurred this morning.

Me - How's that cancer of the anus going?

C - Turns out it was nothing. Turns out!

Me - I always thought Uranus and Your Anus were the same thing. Turns out, they're not. TURNS OUT! (For those of you who haven't seen the latest Bill Bailey show, the 'turns out' business will just confuse you. I assure you that it's actually very funny.)

C - (digressing slightly) I hate how the internet is all like 'Look out Aus! There's a heat wave coming!'. Fuck you aresholes, Aus is more than just Sydney ad Melbourne.

Me -Where was our sympathy last week???

C - What's that Perth? Sorry I can't hear you over here on the east coast because my head is so far up my own arse.

Me - They better be careful, they might catch cancer of the anus...

And on the juvenile note I shall leave it at that. I gave you a post, I didn't say anything about it being an intelligent, mature post...

Wednesday, October 24, 2012

Sounds of nature

Christian and I had gone to bed and could hears noises coming from the pond across the road.

Me - Is that ducks making that noise?
C- Ah no. That would be frogs.
Me -  They sound like ducks. *pause* Do you think it's a defense mechanism?
C - What is?
Me - The frogs, sounding like ducks. I tried to think of what eat frogs and I can only think of birds and obviously another bird isn't going to eat a duck. It would fly down for dinner and then be like 'Oh shit, it's Mrs Johnston!'
C - Snakes eat frogs.
Me - So the frogs sound like ducks so snakes won't eat them.
C - If you say so.
Me - Hang on, do snakes have ears? Can they even hear???
C - Yes, they have ear holes.
Me - In Gary Larson comics snakes always have ear lobes. But then again, the snakes are always in a loungeroom and Mrs Snake is wearing earrings and pearls and Mr Snake is wearing glasses and reading a paper.
C - ...I'm going to sleep now.
Me - Oh, ok. Night.

Monday, October 01, 2012

The Gardening Finals

Well Ladies and Gentlemen, the Spring Gardening Finals weekend has drawn to a close and what a weekend it was! We had some amazing match ups, some shock losses, triumphant winners and most of all, much gardening fun! If you missed all the action, catch up with what happened in our match by match run down!

Match 1 - Team Annie VS Team Flower Beds

TFB looked strong coming into this match. The late rains had added fuel to their fire and they had some strong looking weeds. However, the first half saw TA make an early attack on TFB's left flank and it really looked like TA had the match in the bag. There was some calculated forking and TA really dug down deep and grabbed most of those weeds by the roots. TFB did manage a few evasive maneuvers but all in all they were not looking good by half time.
TFB did have a trick left up their sleeves however. Carpal Tunnel, who used to play for TA made his appearance in the second half and boy, did he show TA who's boss! Some great team work with Deep Rooted Grass really has TA struggling and it looked like they had this match lost for sure! The way this game was see-sawing backwards and forwards had everyone on the edge of their seats. Could TA make a late surge? Or would TFB just be too strong?
Then TA pulled out the wild card! Poison! We have never seen TA use this move in all their games against TFB! But that Deep Rooted Grass is just too persistent!
It came down to the wire but TA came home in the end.

Match 2 - Team Annie VS Front Lawn

Match forfeited by FL as their main player, Lawn Mower was injured and could not play.

Match 3 - Team Annie VS Lantana

TA came into this game as the favourites. Their win against TFB earlier in the day, plus the rest they had due to the forfeit really put the odds in their favour. Lantana however has never been easy to beat.
Lantana bought some of their most prickly players with them and most this year seem to have a height advantage.
Yet again TA started strong, really attacking Lantana's lower branches, and making great use of their most aggressive player,  Long Handled Pruner. TA made some great headway, despite numerous small injuries to Easily Scratched Forearms. Lantana have always been known for their aggressiveness and TA really had to use every ounce of their courage to keep on top of this beast of a team.
The second half saw TA really begin to struggle. Their defense, Wheelie Bin was just finding Lantana too much to handle. It was obvious he wasn't going to be able to take much more of what Lantana threw at him.
And then Lantana pulled out their signature move! Allergies! TA had been confident that they could counter this, but in the end it proved just too strong for them. Lantana followed this in quick succession with Major Hives Outbreak and TA just crumpled under the pressure.

Grand Final - Lantana VS Back Yard

Tune in next time to find out who will win the ultimate battle - Lantana or Back Yard! Both are strong teams, however Back Yard has stronger team play and really seem to have a broader skill. On the other hand, Lantana is more aggressive and will use that to their advantage.
However is goes down, one thing is certain. This will be an epic battle!


Saturday, September 22, 2012

Therapy

Dave, this is a poem I wrote about my own experience.  Poetry isn't something I normally delve into but the first psych I ever saw set me the task as part of my therapy.

STOLEN INNOCENCE

Jolt awake. Cold sweat running down your back.
The nightmare never fading – it’s real.
Fall back into uneasy sleep.
The years fly backwards
Back towards your innocent childhood.
A bright sunny afternoon
Laughter haunts a gentle breeze.
A friend takes on a stranger’s face
Hands suddenly roaming everywhere
They rip and tear your innocence away,
They weave the thread of future nightmares.
Self esteem plummets, confusion skyrockets.
A new experience – “Am I being bad?”
Days, maybe weeks flash by
Laughter haunts a gentle breeze
You run, trying to hide as the countdown begins
You panic – she’ll find you first.
A cupboard door opens in your bedroom,
A hand gestures you inside.
You accept the stranger’s offer.
You sit, cramped, hoping you aren’t found.
The stranger’s heartbeat thumps loudly in your ear.
You squirm, this isn’t right.
So uncomfortable, you can’t breathe…
Eyes fly open, a scream in your throat.
You pull yourself out of bed and run
As a wave of nausea rolls over you.
Your stomach is emptied but your mind isn’t
“Please God, please take the memories away.”
As the day dawns you steel yourself,
Steel yourself for another day of
Living without your stolen innocence.