Listening to: my Spotify “Your Top Songs 2019” playlist
Reading: Patton Oswalt’s Silver Screen Fiend
Watching: PROMARE
Playing: one of those MMO-style Minecraft servers, me and my little brother have been going hard in Hypixel Skyblock instead of bonding through playing catch or whatever
Eating: a #4 from Freddy’s, a chain restaurant that feels like Steak and Shake and Chik-Fil-A’s weird son
Drinking: B.Nektar’s Punk Lemonade, big recommend
Jay asked me to write a blog post. The issue with that concept is, unlike the last few authors (Chris, Jay, repeat ad infinitum), I don’t… do much at Wraith. Unlike those talented pixel pushers and speech givers, I’m a simple noise monkey who works a convention booth now and again. Besides pithy comments and “no I like the other one better”s in the company Discord, I’m pretty absent from the day-to-day goings-on. So, when Jay asked me to write a post about what I do (for Wraith and otherwise), I had some decisions to make. Do I write about:
Kabo, the fundraiser for Extra Life and Dayton Children’s Hospital I help run every October (this year’s total is roughly $3,000, haven’t finalized it yet due to Clerical Hell)?
RAJ, the largest Japanese arcade gaming event in the country (please show up, it’s gonna be so fun), which is happening THIS WEEKEND in Columbus?
Ohayocon, one of Ohio’s largest anime conventions (and the home to my very own Indie Gaming Showcase, a curated exhibition of indie devs from around the Midwest and beyond), which takes place in January?
Psychic Drive, a traveling exhibition of weird and fantastical arcade cabinets (including indie darling CROSSNIQ+ and indie “Darling, you should really move out now” Collapsus) that I do Branding Consultation™/merchandise design for?
any of the dozen-odd other projects I’m involved with at any given time (the tabletop wrestling RPG that took over my life for a few months earlier this year, thinking about starting one of those dumb niche lifestyle brands that sells t-shirts for too many dollars, voicing a certain squeaky chameleon in a certain block-busting puzzle game, etc.)?
The result I ended up with, after already having written half the words requested for this piece, was somewhere in the middle.
Play a fun game of “Spot the Griffin” with this photo!
~ C O N V E N T I O N S ~
If it wasn’t obvious from earlier, I attend more than a few cons. By the end of this year, I’ll have gone to an even dozen. I have a job offer on the table that would at least triple that number in 2020, which will be my excuse when Jay asks why I can’t write any more blog posts ever again. Ohayocon 2020 will mark my, ahem,
S E V E N T E E N T H
year of going to cons, so it’s basically a Hotel California situation. I may check out of a hotel at least once a month, but I never really leave Con Mode. My suitcase is in a constant state of half-unpacked waiting; staples like my Psychic Drive jersey and all-over-print Psyduck tee only ever leave its gaping maw for careful washings, while seasonal items like my unending collection of tissue-paper-thin sweaters make more brief appearances. My friends list is a never-ending parade of met-at-a-party-once’s and “wait which con do they work for?”s. My badge collection is stored in a metal chest that takes two hands to lift the lid off of, and it’s overflowing. Cons are, to put it succinctly, what I do.
Pictured: me, being struck by lightning while holding a one-of-a-kind signed Pop! Vinyl figure as Jon St. John looks on. Because sometimes my job is fun.
So, 500 words later, here’s the point. This weekend, I’m heading to one of my favorite cons and I hope to see you there. If not, I hope to see you in January at one of my other favorite cons. And if not there, well, there’s too many potential cons to list and/or rank. But I’ll see you somewhere. This was pretty messy; I might have to do a second one sometime now that I’ve introduced myself.
Remember that time we did a festival? I sure try not to.
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