Bullstock 2013: A Wave of Nostalgia

Before you say anything about me being behind with my campnano project, let me explain you a thing:

This is the poster I saw on Wednesday. On my lunch break, I left the library and headed to my office. I thought about the sandwich waiting for me in the mini-fridge, and the emails I had to catch up on before running back to the library for more work - and I almost kept walking when I saw this poster. It seemed like a mirage, standing as it was on a metal stand in the dirt, and I caused a minor traffic jam when I stopped on the sidewalk to examine it further.

"There's no way Owl City's coming to USF," I said, narrowing my eyes. "I must be seeing things."

But when I got back to the office, I forgot about the sandwich and emails and researched the event. And, my gosh, it was true.

And it was happening in less than two days.

Nothing says, "OMG KIM YOU'RE GRADUATING" than the impossible happening. I've been listening to Owl City since my college days, starting with my discovery of "Saltwater Room" (I had iTunes Genius to thank for that, haha). Adam's catchy music and gentle lyrics charmed me and I became a fan for life :) In 2010, I went to my first OC concert in Orlando, and again in 2011, so I never really believed that Adam would come to USF. No one comes here, haha.

Graduate school tends to keep you busy, busy enough to miss out on a lot of events, or just completely uninformed. Finding out about Bullstock was like having a bucket of icy water thrown on me: I woke up, shocked and excited about something besides my finished thesis. My fellow MFA cohorts had missed the memo too, so I knew I'd be going to the concert alone. I studied the campus map ('cause, you know, I'm chained to one building mostly) for parking options and blasted The Midsummer Station on my drive home.

I have a few OC shirts, but I chose to wear my powdery blue one that I had bought at my first concert  in 2010. As I hung it on the back of my chair, I felt nostalgic. I had come full circle, in a way.

When I had gone to the House of Blues in 2010, I was graduating from college. The cap and gown had been ordered, honors tassels on their way, and my posters needed to be peeled off the dorm walls and put away (hopefully to be used again someday). I had no idea what awaited me after college, and I remember being worried about whether or not I'd make it into graduate school to pursue creative writing. With all that going on, I had a great time at the concert - and not long after, my worries were put to rest when I found out that I had been accepted into grad school.

So fast-forward to Friday and picture me hopping out of my car, lugging a backpack because I'm coming straight from work (and it's an easy way to hang onto a water bottle, for sure). I had driven through the rain, but the top of campus was clear save for an overcast sky. I held my umbrella like a sword and set off for the The Meadows, a stretch of lawn just beyond the college dorms. With 80% humidity, I practically swam down the sidewalks and bobbed across the streets with other students as we guessed when it was safe to cross. By the time I made it there, Bullstock was already in full gear.

There were two stages, almost side by side, and a screen in the middle that had been used to project the evening's schedule and, later, the performances, so each side could watch the show, no matter what stage they stood in front of.

The stage I picked had a few hints that seemed to indicate that Owl City was playing there: extra special effect lights, a keyboard, and a line of Hoot Owls already staking their spots up against the wall.

By the time Owl City came on, night already fell and we avoided any chances of rain. Thankfully. South of Holly, Variance, and Hot Chelle Rae were all amazing bands; despite a failed crowd-surfing moment along the way, the energy in The Meadows was electric. So were my legs, haha. Afterr having been to three standing room only concerts before, my body seemed to remember what it was like to not move for a few hours... wow. A breeze rolled through every ten minutes or so, making the waiting, dancing, and waiting again much more pleasurable. And when the lights flickered on and Owl City took the stage, the crowd went wild. For the first time, I felt like USF had awakened.

Being so close to the stage meant that each song was a little hard to hear, and it took me a few seconds to figure out what song was next. The ground throbbed with the music, hands swaying, screaming filling the humid air. And once again, I noticed how much Adam has grown as a performer. He cracked jokes between songs, interacted with the audience, and even had a few funny faces ready for the more humorous songs like "Deer in the Headlights" and "I'm Coming After You." There was a least two times during the concert where I felt my heart almost drop out of my chest, haha!

And later on, I would come to find out that, at least by twitter and tumblr's testimonies, this was the first concert that Adam had ever worn a sleeveless shirt :)

What a breathtaking, impossible concert! Even two days afterward, I'm still reeling over the timing. My usual habit of writing something before an epic event didn't happen this time - I hardly had time as it was to prepare for Bullstock. But if I had the chance to say anything to Adam, it would go something like this:

No matter how it happened, thank you for coming to USF and performing. Right now, I'm at the end of a chapter, with another just on the horizon - and here you are again, just like the last time. Very surreal, but I'm happy to have made it to Bullstock. I'll continue to write my strange, whimsical stories, crawling with ocean-washed bastions, whale-song, space hotels, and abandoned ex-planets. Keep writing your inspiring, cheerful music! There's never enough Owl City music :)

The Final Countdown

Camp NaNoWriMo: April Edition

There's nothing like a big old reason to start another project or make headway on an old one. Maybe I like running myself into the ground, so I'm going to participate in this month's Camp NaNoWriMo event.

Here's the deal: I've been thesis-crazy, revising, and revising some more until my committee members gave me the green light to move on. After getting approval from all three, I had to fill out forms that demanded signatures from many people - including higher authorities that I'd never met before. And after that, I had to attack my thesis once more in order to read a peppy excerpt for our end-of-the-year celebration, Curtain Call.

(I'm still waiting on pics from the event... but I'll blog about that real soon - with sneaky-peeks of the narwhal-and-lighthouse thesis I've been talkin' about for months, haha).

So, in a nutshell, I'm so tuckered out that it's been hard to get back to the place I've been - the happy place where I write, every day, and enjoy the process of writing instead of biting my nails over what I will do with it afterwards.

In an effort to get back there, I'm going to work on a small project, tentatively titled Stella Over the Fireplace. My goal is to finish the first draft by the end of the month. It won't be longer than 20k.

Since it took so long for my creaky brain to formulate a story, I will totally be flying by the seat of my pants on this one. Slowly, the characters and plot twists are rising to the surface: a creepy portrait that  decides to cry; a girl who dreams of designing clothes, but wonders if it's just in her blood; a psychic who's hiding her regrets under smoke and mirrors; and a clumsy boy who bears scorch marks and touches fire.

It'll be a good month of writing-therapy for me - and hopefully, I'll be back to Tread Softly and Boys & Bees with renewed energy!

Goodbye to Formpring

If you haven't gotten the memo yet, it's official: Formspring has officially closed. It has been such a fun experience to use Formspring over the years, fielding some awesome questions that have helped me in picking blog post topics and learning what my readers are concerned with or thinking about. The best part is that the questions were anonymous - and, really, that means that the questions were exciting and sometimes shocking (but in a good way!).

Before Formspring officially closed, I asked you to send any last questions you may have had - and I got one last one.

Basically, Anonymous asked why I haven't been blogging about my Figment projects lately ;_;

Well, I do love blogging about my writing, whether it's a Figment project or one of my other harebrained ideas. However, this time in my life is wrought with cliff-hanging stress like never before:

1) I'm literally graduating at the end of the month. THE END OF THE MONTH, GUYS. Can you believe it? But before I can hold my precious master's degree, I have to survive these last few weeks - and academia is nothing if not rigorous to the very end.

2) After graduation, I'll have to face the real world. I'm kind of excited.

3) There are a few short stories that I've have to push back (see above), but now I've got to crack down and finish writing them so they're shiny and ready to submit. After all, literary journals and magazines don't have year-round submission periods *cue infomercial grin*

4) Annnnnnd, I'm still querying agents and publishers, seeking a home for Birdcage Girl. It's a long, long road, my friends.

I should be back to my old antics soon, talking about stories and keeping up with my Figment updates and reading list, but I can't quite do it right now. And that makes me sad.

But I'm doing the bet I can and I hope you'll bear with me :)

Megacon 2013

So... Megacon '13:

Ghosts, Ghosts, Ghosts

Going to conventions can be, well, rigorous. You're on your feet all day, moving from panel to panel, dodging people in the dealer's space aisles, talking to strangers, waiting in line for everything, and keeping your camera ready. Rest is for weaker fans, haha.

But I'm very sneaky.

I happen to know Scott Tepperman, an investigator on Syfy's Ghost Hunters International. He's the coolest guy you'll ever meet: funny, easy-going, and kind. He had some great stories about what it was like to travel the world, exploring haunted castles and prisons in pitch black darkness. Although Scott is branching out into other avenues, like starring in low-budget horror movies, he still goes to conventions around the U.S. I was thrilled to hear that he'd be going to Megacon this year!

The GHI booth became my home base for next two days. I met fellow investigator Paul Bradford as well (who turns out to be a big Doctor Who fan, haha).

Dodging the crowds lining up for autographs in the special guest sections, I always returned to the booth to check in, eat my lunch, and listen with a huge grin on my face as fans came to the booth to share paranormal experiences with Scott and Paul.

Sci-Fi Speed Dating

Speed Dating was so much fun! The people behind the TLC show, Geek Love, were indeed running the sessions; just knowing that helped calm my nerves because they are the best, haha. Ryan Glitch had a slew of hilarious jokes to keep all of us distracted and calm. What I liked most is that he was very concerned that us girls were comfortable - and if we needed anything, he'd rush to our rescue like a superhero!

Luckly for me, I had no issues. I got to talk to thirty-five guys, three minutes each. My mouth went dry after the first three minutes, but I soldiered through it somehow. I had a water bottle, but time went so fast that I'd probably miss talking to someone if I reached for my water and took a drink (I kid you not). For the most part, three minutes was more than enough time to feel someone out and see if you like them. After the first four guys, I relaxed and started having fun.

I took Speed Dating very seriously. I vowed to myself that I'd only write down the numbers of the guys I'd like to get to know more - guys that I could see going on a date with. So... at the end of the session, I only wrote down one guy's number. Ah, well. I talked to so many nice guys, but the chemistry just wasn't there for me.

My sheet, however, had a lot of numbers on it. Wow! I'm very flattered.

I'd love to do Sci-Fi Speed Dating again. Really, truly. The only tough part is that the two hour sessions are huge chunks of time to lose when you're at a convention. To do more than one session per convention would mean that you'd ultimately miss out on other panels or, well, eating. Eating is very important... but tends to be ignored during cons, haha.

Panels

The panels this year were a mixed bag, but for the most part, I enjoyed them. My first panel of the weekend was "Crafting the Character Arc: How to Successfully Navigate Your Character Through Your Narrative." Going in, I expected to see a full panel of comic book writers, but instead discovered that the entire panel was going to be conducted by one lone woman: Jennie Jarvis, an MFA instructor as Full Sail University.

With less than a month away from holding my MFA degree, I felt a swell of pride in seeing her up there, kicking butt and taking charge of a large room packed with writers. Some of what she taught was review for me, like how she used a story diagram to talk about character growth (rising action, climax, etc). However, Jarvis has written in various mediums, including screenplay writing, so she had a lot of tiny but glittering gems of great advice. The best for me was when she defined the difference between goal and motivation. Readers, Jarvis says, expect to see a character win or fail at a goal (aka a tangible thing). You can't rely on a character's internal conflict alone. Ex: seeing two characters wed at the end of a story is more powerful than just having one character feel that the other character loves him/her.

Another memorable panel was "Q & A with Vic Mignona." For anyone living under a rock (seriously, guys), Vic is an amazing voice actor; some of his roles include Edward Elric from Fullmetal Alchemist,   Zero Kiryu from Vampire Knight, Tamaki Suou (!!! *passes out*) from Ouran High School Host Club, and, like, a million others.

I've gone to Vic's panels before, and it's probably a miracle that I had because his legion of fans keep growing every year. What makes Vic so, well, lovable, I suppose, is that he has a very warm and encouraging personality. He always does a great job with voice acting, but when you meet him in person, it's almost as if those shiny anime sparkles surround his face, haha! During his panel, he talked about his journey in becoming a voice actor, pursuing your dreams, and speaking in the voices of our favorite characters. I would have liked to have seen more of him, but Saturday was insanely crowded, making even the smallest goals seem quite impossible (my, have these conventions grown!).

In the evening, I attended an indie film festival, showcasing award-winning short films in various genres. In addition to seeing Creepy Crawly, an aptly-named horror short film with Scott Tepperman as one of the actors, I got to watch Pupsock and Wendell vs the Sky Pirates.



The humor is wonderful, and a bit eyebrow-raising, but the mixing of mediums is the best part. I love that puppets and digital characters share the screen, along with special effects and real actors and actresses. I met Thomas Mumme, one of the masterminds behind Pupsock. Somehow, we got on the subject of Buster Keaton (always a good thing) and then we geeked out about Hugo - he insisted that I need to put the book up at the top of my reading list! And it is. I have The Invention of Hugo Cabret on my desk, ready to be read.

The Haul

Despite the gigantic dealer's space, I walked away from the convention with only a few items. Many booths sold the same exact t-shirts, plushies, posters, etc. - an unusual phenomenon. As you can see, I didn't get any Doctor Who merch;Hot Topic sold about eighty percent of what was there (and, if I had really wanted them, I would have already emptied by wallet at Hot Topic, thankyouverymuch). 

I am a big, big, big fan of the Portal series, and practically slobbered over the small, but good wares. I got a huge, stuffed Wheatley and a "Wheatley Laboratories" t-shirt. Yes, Wheatley is my favorite character, haha. 

I also got issues #1 and 2 of the Fionna & Cake comic book series. Adventure Time is pretty awesome, but the gender-bent characters have stolen my heart. I wish there were more issues! The artwork inside the comics was gorgeously-drawn and I'm so excited to see more of Flame Prince.

In regards to anime, I finished my collection of the Earl & the Fairy manga. I fell in love with the anime, but the manga is also great. And, last but not least, I got a keychain of Sailor Moon's disguise pen, the first weapon of sorts she ever used alongside her tiara. The disguise pen doesn't get much love, so it's wonderful to have one! 

  

Unread Books and Convention Time!

With two months left until graduation, one question weighs on my mind: what will I do with all my books?

I haven't gotten to a book-hoarding stage, where paperbacks creep out of the floorboards and my hardbacks cut up my skin when I sleep in a pile of them at night, but my three bookshelves are stuffed with manga, YA, and children's books. All the textbooks from college and grad school have been exiled to the computer room in the front of the house. If you opened my closet, you'd find thrift store collections of Grimm's fairy tales jammed with retired library books, sold with the plastic and bar codes still on their covers. I even have one shelf in my closet dedicated to anthologies, since I've gravitated towards them after having to procure stories for my students during grad school.

Unlike this comic, I'm not keeping books for my future brood. Rather, I reread them many times, enthralled by my favorite scenes and characters, and I love being able to lend them to friends as well.

But after I graduate, what will happen to me? What will happen to these books?

I'm willing to make my life difficult: if I have to move, I will break my back packing and moving all these books with me. However, I want to make sure that every book I'm bringing is one I want to keep - and that means catching up on all the unread books I have.

Above, you'll find a chunk of one of my bookshelves - probably the most jam-packed section. I've read most of these books, but there are a few that I've lined up to read over the next few weeks.

The best part about finding books I don't like, or don't want to keep, is that I can donate them. It makes getting rid of books easy, because I know that other people will pick up those books and like them, even if I didn't. I could never, ever throw a book away *shudders* Always donate, kiddos, haha.

In addition to my book worries, spring break has started! I've got a thesis to format, adding the finishing touches on the persnickety formatting requirements, down to the appropriate spacing between headers, leaders, and margins. I must take naps, do laundry, clean my room, eat out, write, and do something fun. Well, the fun part is something I have covered this year.

On Friday, I'll be going to Megacon, a giant sci-fi and anime convention held in Orlando, FL. I LOVE these conventions, but you wouldn't know it from my blog. Come to think of it, I only started blogging during my first year of graduate school and, since then, I haven't been able to attend (due to a combination of deadlines, teaching, and creative writing events). The stars aligned this year, allowing my brother and I to have the same week off... and that week happened to include Megacon.

Couldn't. Be. More. Perfect.

In the two years since my last convention, I'm sure that a lot has changed. I'm feeling a little nervous, actually, because I've been out of the loop in what shows and fandoms are popular now. My life has revolved around devouring novels, memoirs, poetry, and studying craft... so I haven't had the time to watch a bunch of anime or buy new gaming systems to play some amazing RPGs (my favorite types of games). I've only recently gotten into Doctor Who (thank goodness), and I've reached Season 5, watching a few episodes with the 11th Doctor, Matt Smith, so I'm feeling pretty good about that.

Normally, whether I'm behind or not shouldn't matter, but I'm trying something new. Stepping out of my comfort zone, shall I say.

I'm going speed dating while I'm there.

Inspired by Geek Love, a sci-fi speed dating show that aired on TLC, I'm going to take a chance and have some fun (and hopefully swallow my nerves, haha). Even if this experience turns out to be a disaster, it'll make for a good blog post, haha!



Because I lack a fancy phone, I can't live tweet my Megacon adventures, but I will be taking my Kindle Fire. If the hotel and convention area have free wi-fi, then I should be in business!


What have you all done / plan to do for your spring break? How do you handle a growing pile of unread books?

Like One of Those Victorian Fainting Women

There was nothing romantic about this February. Usually I enjoy writing V-Day posts, usually cataloging all the fun, single things I do in order to make the most out of the lace-and-chocolate holiday, but this year was different.

On February 14th, I was writhing in agony on the couch, suffering from food poisoning turned stomach virus. I had to call in sick, miss the conference panel I was supposed to be on, and ate nothing but saltines and toast. I couldn't even read!

Me, calling into work at 5:00 am: 

"Hey _______, it's me again. I'm still not better. In fact, I've somehow taken on a fever overnight and the stomach pains are getting worse. Clearly, I have no shame talking about this. But I'll make it quick. If I were to come into work today, I'd either slump into a pile of goo on the floor, like one of those Victorian fainting women, or excuse myself multiple times each hour. Don't worry, though. I'm going to the doctor today..." 

Through the haze of pain, I daydreamed about the travel writing panel I was missing and the stack of handouts that were now all but useless since no one could hear me speak about my experiences in England and my travel writing tips. Booooooo. I also wished for many things: a new stomach made of steel and stocked with an ancient Greek army, chocolate cake, a book that wouldn't make me woozy while trying to read, and a nap.

"No naps," my intestines said, contorting into the shape of a rubber band ball. "Sleep is for the healthy."

The awesome poster in question.

But it's been about a week since then and I'm almost recovered. It is so good to be back at school, to say hello, laugh, and look at a computer screen without feeling faint. I have great friends in the program too, including the incredibly talented and frilly Namie of the blog "Good Morning Lovely." (We're BFF office mates at school, haha). She gave me, like, the best get well soon present ever when I returned to school: a Doctor Who poster that has a very witty saying on it that makes me think - well heck, maybe time traveling would have been a better cure for me than antibiotics.

Grad school takes no prisoners and my thesis is no exception. I'll be working on my last set of revisions this weekend before starting another ream of paperwork and getting the poor thing formatted. In other story news, I've been starting to get chunks of free time that, thankfully, have allowed me to write more of the current Figment stories I have up. I want to continue posting chapters in a timely fashion and I feel as if my characters, long dormant under the wild Thesis Sea, are starting to rise again to the surface.

A tiny story of mine called "Her Body Was Map" has recently been published at Lightning Cake, a brand-new lit journal started by Figment's very own, Linna Lee. Linna even illustrates the stories that get published and I can't convey how ecstatic I am with the one Linna made for my story. It. Is. Brilliant.

So happy belated V-Day. As I sit here, sifting through the chocolate that had to wait, I guess I can't complain. It feels amazing to be well again - or, at least, to be able to dash up a staircase, eat a whole sandwich, and laugh until it hurts while watching crazy-fantastic Food Network shows.

How has your February been?