Recent adventures in Orlando, FL

Even though I was in Orlando all week, I wouldn't call it a vacation. It's more like a job that I love.

MegaCon had it's moments. I rocked the "Mad Men"-inspired dress that I made, and got lots of compliments. I like being recognized for my mad sewing skillz.

Me with Space Marine from Warhammer 40k, I think?

Otherwise, I helped run registration for the USMSC event, and on Saturday, I put on a monster suit and played "alien" for a few rounds, to give some of the other NPCs break. Playing "monster" is a physically demanding job, maybe more so than playing marine. I really enjoyed doing it at my first MegaCon, and that's kinda what got me hooked into playing this game, but after I got banged up pretty I good, I went back to the registration table. I didn't get to see much else of the con. I walked around the exhibit hall for maybe 20 mins., ogled the Star Wars stuff, and that was it. I saw lots of very young Doctor Who's, a few good-looking super heroes, and TONS of kids in bad wigs and mediocre anime costumes.

So MegaCon, was MegaCon. It was a good team-building experience for our crew, if not a great success for Mindgame Productions.

The following week in Orlando was like any old work week, except that I was sitting on someone else's couch, and I had a really bad cold. It seemed that lots of people had gotten sick that week. "Patient Zero" was probably at MegaCon. I am still hacking up the remnants of said virus. The only marginally interesting thing that I did was go to Skycraft - a candy store for tech nerds. This is the place where junk from old data centers and Radio Shack stores goes to die. This is the place where you go to find parts for building your robot, props for filming a science fiction movie, etc.

We picked up what Stefan calls a missile case, for $40. This is a big plastic "Pelican"-style shipping case that was probably used to ship servers or large electronic equipment. I can't imagine what it would cost to buy new. They had stacks of these cases there.

Last Saturday was the Amerika airsoft milsim event at Wayne's World of Paintball in Ocala. Now that was hella fun times. After helping out with registration in the early morning,

Check-in at Wayne's World. Photo by Brian Gilbert.

I actually got to go out and play!!! It had been a long time since I had that kind of fun. My gear performed well. I managed to stay in the game a lot longer than I thought I could. The nice weather was an extra added bonus.

Here, I am holding another player's rifle while he is "interrogated," while my own M177 dangles from it's sling. Photo by Chantal Jost. I'm wearing black, because I was playing a "bad guy," LOL.

...and then it was a long drive back home.

UNLoadOut 003
Originally uploaded by mirvana.

I wasn't initially planning on going with the boyfriend to the Ai500 Black Jack event at Fort Blanding in a couple weeks. However, I decided to combine the trip with a visit to my grandfather who lives in Florida and so...I did not have all the stuff to do the load-out for a combatant/player in the game, but I still wanted to participate in some active way. This is my attempt at an NPC "UN observer/reporter" costume. Notice the UN flash on the hat, and the robin egg blue vest. I also have a light blue baseball cap with the UN logo on it, and I applied a UN badge to the backpack that I'm going to carry. I made the vest, based on an existing bulletproof vest that Stef has. I bet that no one else has ever gone to such lengths for an NPC.