Seeing ex-boyfriends kinda sucks

Josh, my college boyfriend, is in town this week, doing a training thing for work. Although we agreed to stay friends after the break-up (doesn't everyone say that?), we only kinda sorta kept in touch (talking on aim every once in a while, exchanging emails once or twice a year) and it had been awhile since we'd actually seen each other. When he told me he was coming to Atl, I immediately asked if we could get together, fully expecting a no, since that's been his standard answer for the past few years. But this time, he agreed. He called me on Sunday after he checked into his hotel, and we went to dinner and then out for a few drinks. It was fun, talking to him and catching up. A little awkward at first, but not too bad. We went out again tonight, and talked about all our friends from college that we don't don't really keep in touch with anymore. Seeing him these past couple of days made me remember why I fell for him in the first place - although I'm sure some people *coughErincough* are probably still scratching their heads at that one. :) I'm actually amazed we were able to stay together for two and half years, given how different our personalities and interests are.

I'm pretty cynical when it comes to relationships, but I'm a big believer in love. I'm of the opinion that if you really love someone, that love you feel never goes away. It may change (from romantic to platonic, or vice-versa), but it'll always be there. I'm not still in love with Josh, but I do care about him and want him to be happy. When he dropped me off at the house tonight, he told me that he was going to a Braves game tomorrow, doing a work presentation Thursday evening, and then leaving on Friday, so we wouldn't be able to go out again this week. We hugged, and said our goodbyes, and that was that. I'm a little depressed right now, but also glad that I got to talk to him. I almost feel like this is the sort of closure I've been waiting for for the past 3 years. He lives in Iowa now, and is talking about transferring to South America in the next few years, so there's no telling when (or if) we'll ever see each other again. Probably never, but you never know.

So...yeah. I'm gonna go read comics or something now to cheer myself up.

The verdict

We were listening to the radio at work today when the verdict was announced. One of the perks of working retail - we have to keep our display TV, radio, and DVD players running all the time. I was kind of torn when I heard "not guilty" on each charge. On one hand, Michael Jackson's pretty messed up (read: "borderline insane"), and I'm not convinced he didn't do it. But on the other hand, if the evidence was circumstantial, then you can't really have a conviction. Yay! for our wonderful justice system. If anything, I really thought he would've been found guilty of giving alcohol to minors, but I guess if you call it "Jesus juice," it makes it ok. Maybe now the whole media circus will calm down, and we can get to work punishing the REAL guilty parties - the parents who suspected Jackson of wrongdoing, but allowed their child to be alone with him anyway.

The Cheese Danish

Matt and I ended upleaving the con early to go to a production of Hamlet at Matt's theater in Princeton. OMFG, that campus is amazing. It looks like a castle just plopped down in the middle (ok, south) of NJ or something.


The McCarter Theater


"The Arch"


Statue of St. George slaying the dragon


Cute statues of Princeton's mascot, the tiger

The play itself was rather...interesting. I was expecting a lot worse, to be honest. There were a lot of people who left during intermission, and even in the middle of scenes, which I thought was incredibly rude. The director definitely had an interesting take on it. Things I liked:

* Polonius standing between the audience and the half-drawn curtain as he listens in on Hamlet and Gertrude. This was really cool, because we saw the scene from Polonius's point of view. And when Hamlet shot him through the curtain, we could see the blood appear on the back of his white robe, which I thought was an awesome visual.
* The same actor playing Claudius and the ghost. This was a bit confusing at first, and I'm sure it drove first-time Hamlet-viewers crazy, but it turned out really well.

Things I didn't like:

* Hamlet didn't die at the end. You knew he was going to, but at curtain he was still alive. Also? HE SHOT HORATIO! That really pissed me off. Apparently, the director wanted everyone dead, so "the audience would be the only witness to the tragedy" or whatever, but still.
* The implied incest between Ophelia and Laertes. WTF? The Ophelia character had a lot of flaws, actually, but doing this cheapened her relationship with Hamlet and undermined her madness, imo. Plus, it was kinda gross and unnecessary.
There were other things, but I can't think of them right now. For the most part, it was just a really strange retelling. Not bad, but not fabulous, either.

WWP Day 3: Artists!

The last day of the con was spent walking around artist's alley, buying more comics, and sitting in a "Year of the Bat" panel, which was much cooler than I thought it would be.

In artist's alley, we met Chris Giarusso, who draws the Marvel Mini-Mates. He did a super-cute Nightcrawler sketch for me (#2 in my Nightcrawler sketch collection) and an equally cute-yet-grumpy Batman for Matt.


Chris Giarusso drawing Nightcrawler for me.


The finished product!

Plus, I got a copy of Dardevil signed by David Mack. It's the first issue in the second Echo storyline, which Mack wrote and drew. I love the character of Echo, although I think I'm probably in the minority on that one.

I also went back to the Aspen booth and asked JT Krul about upcoming Fathom stories and whether or not characters from the first volume would be returning. Happily, the mysterious blue dude will be back, and if he turns out to be Aspen's brother I will feel completely justified in my uber-intuitive comic-reading skillz. Or something.

The coolest thing about the Year of Bat panel: someone asked who would take up the costume were Bruce Wayne to retire or give it up. Dan Didio said that was something that would be addressed in the Crisis crossover. Crap, now I have to buy the thing.

WWP Day 2: Sadly, no Seth Green

Apparently, we were supposed to get ot the con super-early, wait in line, PAY for a ticket, then stand in line again to get autographs from Seth Green. Good thing I found out after waiting for only 10 minutes or so. Argh. On the plus side, Matt completed his run of Spectre, so he's happy, and I bought three bootleg dvds: Clone High S1 (yay!) and Eddie Izzard's Sexie and Live at the Ambassadors.

Wizard World Philly Day 1: I met Michael Turner!

Today, Matt and I took the trains into Philly for the con. I haven't been on a train since my trip to England 4 years ago, so I was WAY too excited about it. When we got there, we had to stand in a long line before we could actually get inside, but we made friends with some fellow geeks, so at least we were entertained. Once inside, we wondered around and found the Aspen booth, so I was able to get my convention exclusives. Then, we went to a panel for Grim Jack, written by one of Matt's comic shop buddies. I was wearing my "Go Pirates!" Veronica Mars t-shirt, and when one of the panelists commented on it, I got to spread the goodness that is VM to a wider audience. Go me!

After the panel (which was really neat, considering I've never even read the comic) we hit a Wawa for lunch. Wawas are kinda like Quik Trips, but without the gas. They had this computerized-sandwich-ordering system that that would've been really efficient, had it not taken me three tries to get a tuna salad sandwich. But bygones, because after lunch....

I stood in line at the Aspen booth and....



I got to meet Michael Turner!



I was telling my line buddy, Stephen, that I would probably make an ass of myself and turn into a complete puddle of fangirl mush. And I was right. I have no idea what I actually said to the man, but he smiled at whatever it was, told me it was nice to meet me, and SHOOK MY HAND! SQUEE!!!

I am such an idiot. Oh, well.

After I recovered, I was able to catch the last bit of DC's "Crisis Counseling" panel, and then it was more Mike Turner goodness in the Aspen panel. Where I made an ass of myself again, mispronouncing the name of a book when I asked a question - EKOS is pronounced "eee-kos" rather than "eh-kos." But I did learn a lot of interesting stuff about my favorite book, Fathom, and it's always cool to see the writers and artists in person.

Tomorrow: Seth Green day!

The next shark lady?

There were a bunch of guys fishing in the surf last night after dark, and one of them caught a baby shark. It was only 2 feet long, if that, and it looked like a (mini) great white. It was so perfect, it almost seemed fake. They threw it back, thankfully. That little shark was one of the coolest things I've ever seen. It's also the first wild one I've ever seen, even after 20+ years of visiting the ocean.

Every time I go to the beach with my family, my mom asks me why I decided to study Literature instead of Marine Biology. Growing up, I was obsessed with dolphins and sharks. I wanted to be the next Eugene Clark. We started talking about it again this trip, and I've been thinking. How hard would it be to get a second Bachelor's degree in something like that? There's a great program at UGA. It's not a serious idea by any means, but still something to ponder. I'd love to be a perpetual student, and just keep studying something new all the time.

Oh, well. Time to go pack for my next trip. I couldn't find Heir to the Empire or Eragon at the library, which makes me seriously question the quality of the Fulton County Library System. Well, not really. Instead, I picked up Citizen Girl, about a women's studies grad student who starts working at a non-profit agency, and Vox, a transcript of a conversation between two people who meet on a phone-sex party line. Don't judge - my friend Ian's been raving about this book for forever.