Calling All Geeks!

Okay, anyone who reads my blog can tell you I really have no place correcting other people’s grammar, but I’ve been seeing something a lot lately, mostly online, and it’s been kind of bugging me. People are using “to” instead of “too”. So, as a public service, I just want to say when you mean it as in “in addition to”, you use “too”. For instance, Bob’s going to lunch and so are you, that means you are going to lunch too. You are not going to lunch to. Also, it can associate with an amount. So, if you ate more then you should, you ate too much, no to much.

Like I said, I really have no room to complain, but it’s been kind of bugging me lately. Also, as long as I’m on the subject, my laptop quite possibly has the worst spell check ever. If the word I’m trying to spell starts with an S, don’t give me nothing but U words!

Okay, so there is this guy at my work. He’s the kind of guy who knows everything about anything, or at least, that’s what he thinks. Real know it all type of guy. He’s basically a good guy after all, but he’s really smug and arrogant on the surface.

Well, he insisted that I bring in my Mandalorian helmet to work sometime to show off. I told him a bunch of times that it was unfinished and still kind of rough but he said he wanted to see it anyway. Well, I took it with me when I went into work today and he startd telling me all the ways that I could fix it and improve it.

First, before I brought it in, I had to explain about a dozen times what a Mandalorian is. And, still, I think most of the people I talked too still think I’m doing a Boba Fett costume. So, right off the bat, his advice was void by the fact that he had no idea really what he was talking about. Second, his advice wasn’t even that good. His biggest complaint was that he thought the inside was too lumpy (due to the way it was cast) and that I should sand the whole thing down. Yes, the inside where no one was going to be able to see. Not to mention the fact that that would take forever. But he was also going on about how I wouldn’t be able to see since I can’t really wear my glasses with it on and I swear he got way too excited when he pointed out the fact that my nose pokes out of the open visor just a little, tinny bit. (Don’t worry, though. I was already aware of this fact and I’ve already determined that it won’t be an issue.)

I don’t know. I guess he didn’t complain about it too much, but he just had this whole attitude like he was looking down at it. And I’m rather fond of my helmet, so I took it kind of personal. It’s just, like, who the hell are you to judge. Let’s see YOUR Mando helmet that’s so great. Oh, well. Ultimately, I think, deep down, he was just jealous. And I think the same thing can be said for all the ass holes who look down on costuming. They really think it’s cool, but they’re too repressed and afraid of being called a geek to admit it. Really, it’s there loss.  And Gotal’ur Chaab pities them.

So, I don’t have much experience with highway driving. Did some during driver’s ed and a couple of times since when I absolutely had to, but if there is ever a way to avoid the highway, I tend to. I don’t really know why, honestly. I do fine on them. There is just something about the highway that makes me a little more nervous.

That being said, I went to fill out a job application down town yesterday and, even though there was another way, I decided to take the highway instead. I got down there okay, more or less. I got a little turned around at one point, but it was no big deal and I knew what I did wrong, which helped me get back on course. However, getting home was another story all together.

Long story short, I ended up driving in the wrong direction for about an hour. I don’t want to point fingers or anything, but lets just say my directions were … shall we say vague.

On the bright side, after spending about four hours total driving to and from this place, I totally feel ready for the drive next Adventure Con.

PS: For what it’s worth, I applied at Custom Signs. As the name suggest, they build signs, much like my former job at Morrison, where my dad still works. In fact, Custom is one of Morrison’s biggest rivals. So, yeah, that would be interesting if everything works out. (Actually, it was my dad’s idea that I apply there, so it won’t really be too weird.)

Well, my job interview with the Kroger warehouse was yesterday. I’m sorry to report, however, that it is a no go. In a surprising twist, it was actually me turning them down. They had a whole big group of us come in and before we had our individual interviews, they took us on a tour and gave a presentation going over the job description and the details and everything. It was during the presentation that I had a bunch of red flags go up. There were several, but the main one for me, I think, was the hours. I’d be starting doing 3ed shift. That’s 11 at night to 7:30 in the morning plus two hours of mandatory overtime. (Meaning, your not guaranteed to work the extra two hours, but if they need you to, you can’t say no.) I would have to give up way too much if I worked nights. I’d practically never see friends and family. Conventions would be a thing of the past. (No MOC or AdCon!) Heck, I’d have to make arrangements even at Comic Town considering the fact that the hours they’d be open are the hours I’d want to be asleep. And there is no night life around where I live, so even on my days off (which would basically come randomly, as I understand) it’s not like I could go out and do anything.

So, for that reason as well as a few others, I politely told them that I simply didn’t think I was the man for the job. Ultimately, I think it was the right decision, but so far that hasn’t stopped me from feeling bad about it. I guess I’m mostly just disappointed. It’s okay, though. I may be down but I’m certainly not out. Tomorrow, in fact, I’m faxing out my resume to this plastic company. (Yes, I have considered the possible advantages in building my Mando armor. lol) I’m sure I’ll find something when the time is right.

So I finally saw the Iron Man trailer on TV last night. And I damn near wet my pants. It was freakin’ AWESOME! It had everything I’d expect to see in an Iron Man movie. Funny thing is, with Iron Man acting like a royal douche in the comics, I was honestly worried that my opinion of the trailer would be tainted. But this completely reminded me why I liked the character in the first place. I mean, I expected it to be good, but it still blew all of my expectations away! As Spider-man limps off in the direction that Batman went (pre-Begins, of course.), I’m glad to see another Marvel character poised to take the reins. Now I can’t wait for next May.

Okay, this has really been pissing me off and I just need to get it out there. Am I really the only one who thinks that the previews for Dragon Wars look a little, shall we say, familiar?

An ancient war. One is a force for good. One is a force for evil. Giant creatures tearing apart major cities, the military trying to stop them while government officials … occupy some sort of barely related B-plot. And, you can’t forget the tagline: “They’ve made our world their battleground.”

I can’t place my finger on it, but I think I saw that movie at some point. Like, during the summer. I can’t remember what it was, but it’s as if they’ve … transformed it into a new movie. Some other movie about “There war, our world”.  That one scene where the dragon is crashing into the street even looks kind of like when Starscream skidded across the street in the Transformers trailer… Hmm, seems I’ve run out of innuendo.

 … Robots in disguise.

Just wanted to take this opportunity to congratulate Jon and Amy on the birth of their third child and to welcome Magnus Alan Nichols to the world. He shares a name with a Transformer, an X-Man villian, (I know it wasn’t intentional guys. Just a cool coincidence. lol) and his initials spell the word MAN. Not even a day old and he’s already a certified bad ass.

Again, I’m really happy for you guys and wish you the best of luck. Now, take a rest. You’ve earned it!

I don’t know if I’ve ever officially mentioned it here, but I decided back at Adventure Con that I was going to follow Jon’s example and build a Mandalorian costume. So far, the process has been slow but rewarding. I first tackled the gauntlets, which I made using baseball batter shin guards. Originally, I was planning on them only being “half gauntlets”, with them just covering the top part of my arms and held on by elastic straps. After painting them, however (Three times on one.) I decided they would look better as full wrap arounds. I have a plan to mod them, but I need to acquire some sintra first.

Next, I ordered my helmet. This has been a bit of a hassle, I must confess. When I placed my order, I was told that it would go out in 10-15 days. After about three weeks, I sent a letter to the guy politely asking for a progress report. I still didn’t hear anything from him for about another week. Luckily, I’m told it should have gone out sometime today, which means I should be receiving it early next week. I can’t wait to get started on it.

As far as my main chest armor, I think I may finally have my general design nailed down. I even made a miniature version out of cardboard just to get a feel for it. I’m actually quite pleased with it so far. After helping Brian and Jon out with their costumes at AdCon, one of my major goals for this project is trying to modify the design in such a way that I could feasibly put it on and take it off by myself. I think it really shows in the model. Check it out:

As you can see here, I thought I’d try combining as many pieces together as possible. (I left out the diamond piece in the model, but I do plan to include it in the life size.) I also thought I’d join the front and the back on a hinge at the shoulders. Here’s a look from a different angle:

And here’s a rough look at what I was thinking for the shoulder pads. These didn’t turn out quite the way I meant for them to in the model, but to give you an idea of what I was going for, I was inspired by (and may possibly try to obtain and modify) football shoulder pads.

And the shoulder pads on the armor:

Yeah, so far, my only real problem is the sizing…

And, just to see how it looks, I did a rough mock up of my main paint scheme:

Unfortunately, I won’t be able to do any of this until I order some sintra. I think I found a good place, but of course I have to confer with Jon before I do anything major. (‘Cause he’s the expert.)
I’ve been developing the costume in other ways, as well. I officially declared my Mandalorian name. Gotal’ur Chaab. It’s Mando’a for “Create Fear”. (I’m really getting into a theme that I may or may not have stolen from Batman. lol) It was also pointed out to me that Gotal is a species in the Star Wars Universe that just so happened to work for my character, so I decided I’m going to be one of those. I think I just about have the back story nailed down, I just need to sit down and write it.

Oh, and finally, I created a design for the Mandalorian Mercs Region Design Contest. I really like it, but I truly doubt I’ll win. (That ties into something I won’t mention here, however.) Even if it doesn’t win, I think I’ll still work it into my costume somehow anyway just ’cause I think it’s cool. Check it out:

Anyway, I think that’s it for now. Stay tuned for more updates!

Good news on the job hunt! I have an interview on Monday! I got a call from the Kroger distribution warehouse on Wednesday and we set it all up. I am so psyched. I’m really trying not to get my hopes up, but I’m feeling pretty good about this. And, hey, even if nothing else, this is a step in the right direction

Stay tuned…