Category Archives: Geekness

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Leggo my LEGOs!

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On Wednesday, I FINALLY got to see The Lego Movie. I had been wanting to see it since I saw the trailers last year but due to circumstances I just hadn’t gotten around to it. I had been told by no less than 10 people that I HAD TO GO SEE IT and that “DEBORAH YOU WILL LOVE IT” and “EVERYTHING IS AWESOME!”

Thanks to the movie, I was not so subtly reminded that I had received a Lego set of an A-Wing Starfighter for my birthday that I hadn’t put together. So since I was feeling quite creative and inspired by the movie, I thought “Sure! This is the best time to do this.”

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(By the way, yes I’m fully aware that the box says ages 7-12 and yes, I did receive this as a gift for my 30th birthday. What can I say, my friends pick up things that I will like.)

I eagerly opened the box and it brought back a rush of memories for me. Bags of pieces! A thick book of instructions! Little Lego people!

I was all set on taking pictures of my progress but I got so wrapped up into putting together pieces (while catching up on the last two episodes of The Walking Dead) that I forgot to do it. Putting together the sections was pretty easy as long as you followed the instructions.

However. It’s REALLY frustrating when you are 3/4 of the way into completing your set and then you realize you put a piece in the wrong place. And that in order to fix it you have to take apart most of the Starfighter to fix it. And then you realize after taking it apart, you can’t remember where you left off and you start getting annoyed because it seems like you’ll have to start ALL OVER AGAIN because you cannot make this one piece fit anywhere. Luckily before things got to the point of dissembling angrily the entire thing, I was able to finally figure it out.

Sadly, something happened along the way and I am missing two very tiny pieces. The pieces are not noticeable when completing the finished product and you really can’t tell at all. However, I can. Thankfully, you can go on Lego’s website and request missing pieces and it seems like they will ship them to you for free (I mean, don’t take advantage of this) so hopefully I’ll have them soon so I can feel at peace (pun?)

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It was a lot of fun putting this together and it brought back a lot of good memories as well as made me feel quite creative and productive. I kinda want to go out now and get more sets and put them together. I’m not the super crafty or physically creative type so I probably can’t create something out of just random pieces. But I think it’d be pretty cool to make more.

Also for the record, playing with Legos isn’t a boy thing and I kinda wish the marketing of it would not make it seem so to the point where they’ve created that whole “Just for girls” set. I’m a girl and I totally loved the one I just put together and I’m sure other younger girls would as well.

I’ve yet to really play any of the Lego video games (dabbled with Star Wars: The Complete Saga and Marvel Super Heroes) but they look really fun and cute. I also enjoyed yesterday on Netflix: Lego Marvel Super Heroes: Maximum Overload. If you enjoyed The Lego Movie and are a Marvel fan, you’ll really enjoy this short animated film. Lots of in jokes and humor and very well done. I only wish that Hawkeye was in it, but you can’t have everything in life.

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What Is Deborah Geeking Over This Week Vol. 2

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I don’t know about you but this is what got my attention this week.

These arrived in the mail this week. Got them for free with the gift card I won from DSW. Perhaps if you see me in person I will be wearing them.

This is the Garlic Tuscan Bread from Wegman’s and holy crap it is what I want to believe manna tastes like.

Sadly the Olympics are over. And I don’t want to think about how old I’m going to be for the next one. But at least they went out in style.

But that’s ok because this Sunday is the Academy Awards. You GUYZ, it’s like MY SUPERBOWL.

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And speaking of movies, I saw this the other night and it was fantastic. As a historian, archivist, and movie lover, I really enjoyed it. It’s basically Ocean’s 11 during WWII.

Duh. Always. (HAPPY BIRTHDAY JOSH GROBAN!!!!)

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Celeb Fangirling: The Tom Hiddleston Edition

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If you know me any, then you know I love me some Brits.

Did you see that Superbowl commercial about the British villains?

Do you see who one of the stars is in that video?

That’s right. Tom Hiddleston.

Apparently I was introduced to Tom years ago back in 2008 when I watched a movie called Miss Austen Regrets and he appears as a suitor to Jane Austen’s niece.

But it wasn’t until 2012 when I began to fully appreciate him. Marvel’s The Avengers was about to come out and I needed to backtrack to Thor to catch up. Now there are many reasons why I really like that movie (Hawkeye introduction being one of them) but Tom Hiddleston’s portrayal of Loki really got to me. If you read the comics, you’re not supposed to like Loki. He’s a boss villain. He’s evil. He’s manipulative. He’s a trickster. He’s not a good guy AT ALL. And yet in that movie, you cannot help but feel sorry for Loki.  (Unless you have a heart of stone, you weirdo.) All thanks to Hiddles’ fantastic acting to garner sympathy for the character which then continues in the Avengers movie. No I don’t agree with Loki’s actions or decisions, but once again I know WHY he’s doing it. And Hiddles’ plays it up with such perfection that I want to give him a hug. And he has fabulous hair to boot in the movies.

But disregarding all that. He’s so many other things as well. He does Shakespeare. He does historical drama. He does vampires. Basically he’s REALLY good at everything he does. And he’s really funny too.

But instead of me talking about it let me show you why Tom Hiddleston worthy of fangirling?

Because things like this:

And this:

And this (I recommend closing your eyes as you listen to the soothing tones):

I could go on but I think you get the point by now.

Hiddles is a fantastic actor. Sure he’s also quite good looking, but once again it’s the humor and the being really good at what you can do that make him worthy of admiration From Shakespeare to super heroes, he’s fantastic is whatever he does. I mean how could you not love someone who does this?

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So may I introduce to you the act you’ve known for all these years?

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It was 50 years ago last week that the Beatles came to the US for the first time and basically changed the way the world heard music forever.

It was about 18 and a half years ago (oh gosh am I that old?!) this year that I really discovered the Beatles music and it changed the way I heard music forever.

If you’ve known me for any amount of time, then you know that Beatles are MY band. Yes, I listen to other music and I have other bands that I greatly enjoy. But ever since November 1995, the Beatles have been my favorite band. That was when the Beatles Anthology came on TV and it changed my life forever.

I was in 7th grade and I was trying to figure out what type of music to like. Everyone was either listening to rap or alternative or country and while I liked certain songs, there wasn’t anything I gravitated towards. I wanted something that I could answer to when someone asked me what was my favorite type of music. And for reasons that I could not explain to you, I had the desire to tape the special. And then obsessively watched it for the next year. The Beatles were now MY band.

I still can’t explain what drew me to their music. Probably the same magic that drew all those fans 50 years ago. It’s catchy. It’s good. It’s simple. It’s deep. It stands the test of time. It’s influential. It’s memorable. I can find a Beatles song for almost any situation I’m in. Their music is classic. Their own music evolved and therefore changed music as we now hear it forever.

What gets me the most is that when they wrote all these songs and music, ALL of the Beatles were younger than me. To write over 200 songs (and more when they started their solo careers) in your 20s that have stood the test of time for over FIFTY years? Geniuses, I tell you.

Now they might not be your favorite band and you may detest their music. But if you like music of any sort, I can guarantee you that whoever you listen to has been someone affected by the Beatles. This is one of those short blog posts where I don’t feel like I need to gush or explain in detail. You either appreciate their music or you don’t. I do.

Here’s to another 50 years.

Update:

I got to visit the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in Cleveland today and well, this is what happened:

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The Olympics are Here! GO SPORTS!

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You guys! It’s finally here! The Olympics! YAY! To get you in the mood…..

Upfront disclaimer: I am fully aware of the protests and the situation with the games being held in Russia. I respect the decision to boycott watching the games. This post is more focused on the Olympics in general.

I am an Olympic lover. I love sports in general. I can watch football, college basketball, tennis, heck even NASCAR and be super excited. But the Olympics are the Holy Grail of sports watching for me. It’s a wonderful hybrid for a person like me who enjoys sports and history.

I have no memory of watching the Olympics until 1992. Whether or not we watched it before, I have no idea. But when the 1992 Winter Games came on, I remembered my family being glued to the TV especially when Kristi Yamaguchi won the gold medal in ladies figure skating. And since then the Olympic Games has always been a viewing staple in my life. While I was at home my family was hooked to the TV. When I was away for college in 2002, even though I didn’t have my own TV in my dorm room, I still somehow found ways to watch the games.

If this blog is still running in 2016, I’ll talk about the summer games then, which I do love. But as this is 2014 and it’s the winter games, that’s what we’ll be talking about.

The Opening Ceremonies, while boring to most, I find very exciting. This is where I learned a lot about the culture of each host country. Plus the parade of nations is how I basically learned geography. Thanks to the Olympics, I was the only kid in my fourth grade class that could name countries that had been part of the former Soviet Union.

There may still be a small part of me that likes to pretend I am a world-class athlete and can represent my country at the Olympics and win a gold medal. For years it used to be skiing. And then I actually tried out skiing for the first time and I realized yeah there ain’t no way I can make it down a mountain that fast.

I love watching so many of the sports. This is probably the only time every four years that I will sit down and watch an entire hockey game. Also when else do you get to watch bobsled, skeleton, or luge? And will someone please explain to me the purpose of two-man luge and why only men compete and what is the benefit of having them lie on top of each other?

Snowboarding is one of my favorite sports to watch because it seems so cool and I wish I could do that so badly. But really I know I can’t so it’s just fun to enjoy. Speed skating can be a lot of fun. There’s this Dan Jansen Visa commercial that gets me EVERY TIME I watch it. Because Morgan Freeman’s voice elicits tears.

Short track speed skating brings out the most adrenaline though. Have you seen one of these races? It’s basically roller derby on ice. People fall. You don’t know who’s going to win. We shout so much at the TV during these races. It’s basically the equivalent of the swimming races in my book. Why? Because the unexpected happens. Exhibit A:

And then there’s the crown jewel of the Winter Olympics. Figure skating. I LOVE watching figure skating. I cannot imagine though how on earth they can do all those jumps and land on one foot on that skinny blade and not break their ankle constantly. But it’s so beautiful to watch. And so much drama. SO MUCH.

Plus every Olympics, there’s always an Olympic crush. I think last year it was either a snowboarder or Evan Lysacek. But as I get older, the athletes get younger. But for now, I’ll be glued to my TV and computer as I enjoy these games and cheer on my country. USA! USA! USA!

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Celeb Fangirling: The Josh Groban edition

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If any of you read my blog post last week on what I was currently geeking out over, you may have noticed that I included a GIF of Josh Groban. And you may have been like, Hmm that’s random. But yes, I am now a Josh Groban fan.

Truth: I have several male celebs that I may fangirl over from time to time (contrary to popular belief Jeremy Renner is NOT one of them). And they may get brought up on this blog. (Hello Hiddles!)

Funny story though, I’m not really into his music quite yet. I’ve actually only really listened to his Christmas album and “You Raise Me Up. ” Maybe eventually I’ll get into the other stuff but that’s for later, not now. In fact last year I was invited to go see him perform when he came to the Northern Virginia area and I was like “Josh Groban? Surely you jest.” I made fun of my best friend for listening to him when we were on a road trip, “Josh Groban, really? You? What?”

And then I discovered his Twitter feed.

Nope, it’s not his not music or even the fact that he’s pretty hot that made me become a fan of him. It’s his wittiness on Twitter. That man is funny. Who knew? (And it’s actually him.) I thought he was just some pretty boy who sang music that made older women swoon. Seriously he’s the type of guy you want to bring home to your parents but if you did, you’d have women from 16-80 trying to attack you for stealing their golden boy. Therefore he must be a clean-cut and slightly boring guy who was just very vanilla.

Not at all. I mean first off, did you see him on The Office as Andy’s brother? Or him on Glee? Or his adorableness when he was very young on Ally McBeal? Ok that’s not really what I was going for. Backtracking…. I remember this video from The Jimmy Kimmel Show that Josh Groban participated in and I was like Oh wow, that’s out of character for him, that’s funny. (Warning that video is not appropriate if you get easily offended, it’s the one about Ben Affleck, so don’t click on it if you do get offended easily) Basically he wasn’t what I thought he was.

So like I said it was his Twitter feed that won me over with examples like these (though you may not find these as funny as I did):

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Even the HuffPo thinks that Josh Groban’s twitter feed is awesome as evident here in this article.

I found this Tumblr blog that ALL about him. Basically whoever runs it has been doing it for several years. They post pics, videos, his Twitter posts, basically anything that is Groban related. And through I’ve learned a lot. Like his dog’s name. And the fact he appears to wear a lot of grandpa cardigans. Also his high school pictures. Also that man takes a LOT of posed pictures. If I didn’t know he was a singer, I’d just think he was some fashion model based on how many pics there are of him.

But all that aside, it’s been pretty fun to become interested in someone through their words and wittiness vs what they are really famous for. If I ever got the chance to meet him, I would be pretty cool with telling him that “Hey, you’re a funny guy. Oh you sing too. That’s cool. More wittiness though please.” I think I could honestly say that if Josh Groban serenaded me, I’d be like “erhm, can we actually just talk instead?” Humor and using words well makes someone more attractive and intriguing.

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What is Deborah Geeking Over This Week Vol 1

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To continue the trend of giving you readers a one time break from ALL THE WORDS, here’s what I’ve been geeking out over this week:

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Indeed. What have YOU been geeking out over this week?

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GEEK BATTLE

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During lunch this past Sunday, a group of my friends and I had a rowdy discussion on why one should read the Harry Potter books and why they shouldn’t. Members of the group ranged from “reading every single book and watching all the movies” to being “the casual fan with a book and movie or two” to “I don’t even want to touch this thing”. There were discussions ranging from what makes a book a classic (Lord of the Rings is a classic, Harry Potter is not) to how the Fast and Furious series is better than Harry Potter. It was a rather heated battle (I can get very passionate talking about something I love) but I didn’t walk away wanting to “Avada Kedavra” anyone though I was tempted to use “Levicorpus”.   

Now while I am apparently a Pureblood with Deatheater tendencies (actually more towards Squibs and Dursleys), the conversation made me realize something about me. While I would have defended Harry and his world to the death, I fully respect someone else’s choice to not like or want to join the wizarding world. I’m not going to force anyone to try something unless they are willing to. You’re not going to appreciate or like something unless you want to.

Not everyone has to like the same fandoms that I do. I’m mainly a Marvel fan and I know that there are DC only people. I prefer watching Star Wars and I have friends that are die-hard Trekkies. Even within a fandom there will be dissent between purists and those that allow revisions (ie. the entire Star Wars saga).

So while it would probably be awesome for a few days (possibly weeks) of being around people who liked the exact same interests as you so you could gush as long as you wanted, after a while it would probably get old. I like learning new things so if someone were to only talk about the same thing all the time, I’d eventually get really bored.

I think the balance to having differences in interests is that while you may disagree and slightly banter about which is better, the trick to have respect. Don’t think you’re superior because you like a certain thing or even worse, because you DON’T like a certain thing and you think people who do are below you.

For example, I have no interest in anime. None whatsoever. I’ve been told multiple times that I should like anime (“You’re Asian!”) and have been given numerous movies and TV shows to watch. Well, I tried. I watched Dragon Ball Z and Cowboy Bebop. And I just can’t do it. It’s  not interesting to me at all and I can’t get into it. But that’s just me. For all my friends that do like it, that’s great! I don’t diss or make fun of the fact that you do like it. I do wish that I could get into it so that I could join in the conversation and not feel left out. But since I already tried and know that I didn’t like it, I can’t force myself to do something that isn’t going to make me happy. On the other hand, after initially dismissing it because to me it looked Transformers meets Battleship, I ended up LOVING Pacific Rim after much convincing (the sword!!!). So you never know until you try.

It’s perfectly fine to be an expert in a certain niche of your interests. I learned this when we went to the ThinkGeek trivia challenge. Our eight person team had all of us being really good in certain areas which made us very well-rounded and able to do well throughout the competition. Had we all only been DC Comics fans, read only Neil Gaiman, and stayed only faithful to the Nintendo game system, we would have failed tremendously. It’s great to find a connection with another fellow superfan but it’s also good to be with those who aren’t.

All this to say: to name just a few, yes, I adore Harry Potter, I love Star Wars (yes ALL of them), I love Marvel Comics, I devoured The Hunger Games, I actually do like ALL the Hobbit movies, I don’t watch anime, I am not really into video games (though there’s a specific reason why), and while I enjoy some high fantasy books, I can’t stand paranormal no matter how hard I try. If you agree or disagree with any of my interests that’s fine! If you like different things that I do, that’s fine! As long as we can talk about them without wanting to make the other person BEND TO OUR WAYS, having geek differences and tastes will always be awesome.

Now excuse me while I go get my Hufflepuff scarf, drink some butterbeer, and study up on some arithmancy.

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The Annual Family Movie Trip

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When my sisters and I go home for the holidays, it’s become a yearly tradition to take our parents out to the movies. This is actually a bigger deal than you might think because my parents rarely go to the movie theater. They don’t feel the need because they (finally!) have cable TV, Netflix, the library, and a ROKU so they can watch all the K-Dramas they want. Going to the movies cost a lot of money and the sound is too loud (or so says my mom). They don’t mind waiting until it comes out on DVD.

Even so, we still like to take them out when we’re all home just so they can experience the movie the way it was meant to be. Last year, as everyone in the family thoroughly enjoys James Bond, we took them to see Skyfall. This year, after a positive attitude towards seeing Tangled on DVD, we decided to go see Frozen. Animated movies can be hit or miss with my parents. We try to take them to see the Pixar movies because we think that’s the best animated movies out there (other than the Kung Fu Panda movies and How to Train Your Dragon which they surprisingly liked because they thought Toothless looked like our pug). We soon discovered that there are certain types of animated movies that they like and don’t. They will say yes to humans, talking animals, and objects that act like humans. They do not like movies with monsters or inanimate objects that don’t talk or cars that talk. Ratatouille, Toy Story 3, Brave, and Up were all huge hits while Cars and Wall-E tanked VERY badly. (To be fair, Cars is probably MY least favorite Pixar movie ever and I still haven’t seen Cars 2.)

So to test them out for this year’s movie, like I said we had them watch Tangled and they greatly enjoyed it. The story was a hit, good songs, there were humans, and Pascal the chameleon reminded them of our pug. We figured then if they like that movie, then they would greatly enjoy Frozen.

Now if you haven’t seen Frozen yet, I’m not going to spoil it for you but I’m going to tell you that you need to go see it. It’s one of the best movies Disney (not counting Pixar) has put out in a LONG time. I would rank it in the era with The Lion King. It’s wonderfully animated, memorable songs, and a very funny/emotional storyline. It wasn’t at all what I was expecting. Mainly because whoever did the marketing for the movie had no idea how to market it. My sister and I thought it was going to be about the stupid snowman but it ended up being a delightful surprise.

On our trip to the theater, we soon discovered that it was take your parent to the movies day and we were just like everyone else. Except for the fact that were 20 years older than all the other kids in the theater. Unfortunately for us, we had to sit near the front of the theater which is not really fun. But this was a new theater back home that had seats that reclined so it wasn’t really that bad. The parents seemed pretty excited about the Disney short that was shown in front of the movie. If you have seen it then you will chuckle that my mom thought that they had actually come out into our actual theater.

Watching the movie again was a delight for me. But it was really good for my parents as well. They seemed enthralled throughout the entire movie. No one fell asleep! Nor was it too loud for them either. They enjoyed Olaf, laughed appropriately (sometimes they don’t catch the jokes, plus there is no closed captioning in theaters), got scared/nervous during certain scenes, and gasped at the twist. It was a delightful time for everyone. It’s a good sister movie so seeing it with my sisters again was like “Oh hey, I appreciate you a little more, *nods politely at each other”. It was a good family bonding time. Also I might add that even though the theater was packed with kiddies, they were all quite well-behaved. No one shouted or cried. Well done, parents. We all walked out saying everyone enjoyed it, which is when you know the film is well done.

So that was our family’s annual trip to the movies. Because we as a whole group don’t do it that often, it makes it more special for us. Sometimes we even buy popcorn (GASP, no really this is a big deal, though our family LOVES popcorn). No idea what will be out next year for us to enjoy, but whatever it is, I’m sure it’ll be a good time.

Image from: http://monorii.tumblr.com/post/72555957053/disneys-frozen-minimalist-posters-elsanna

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It was a good year to be a geek

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This week, my posts will be taking a look back at 2013 and looking forward to 2014. Monday’s post was about all my firsts for 2013 while Wednesday’s post was a deep thinking look back at 2013.

2013, despite everything else that was going on in my life, was a very geeky year for me. While I didn’t get to go to any cons this year (mainly due to not having a job), I still got to experience a ton of geeky things that I thoroughly enjoyed.

One of my New Year’s Resolutions was to read 200 books in 2013. Now to most of you, that sounds like A LOT of books. But if you used to read my old blog, then you’d think 200 is a small number for me. I mean, I used to crank out 400-500 books a year, and one year I read 624 books. Then life got in the way, and my reading decreased dramatically. I think in 2012 I read maybe 50 books? So I knew for 2013, that I wanted to get back to reading and I set a goal. There were A LOT of times throughout the year that I thought I wasn’t going to make it. But I also realized that without the pressure of book blogging and review deadlines, reading became pleasurable again. And it was just nice to read stories and information for fun. My final numbers for 2013 were 217 books. I will admit that I reread the entire Harry Potter series and the Alice McKinley series but you know a book is a book. My goal for 2014 is 225 books .We’ll see what happens. Oh and don’t ask me what my favorite book was. Unless you have more than a few minutes.

I found new favorite TV shows this year. And I’m sure by now you’re tired of hearing me talk about them. But I’m going to. AGAIN. That’s right. 2013 was the year of Deborah discovers Doctor Who and Breaking Bad. I binged watch BB like WHOA. So good. When I finally caught up with the live episodes, it was torture seeing them and not knowing what was going to happen. There were many times I screamed at the TV.

And now everyone knows that I’m a Whovian. Yes, I started watching Doctor Who because it seemed like the thing to do only to find myself slightly obsessed. So. Many. Feels. I really love this show. It’s so British and geeky and meta. And so many other things. I binged watched throughout the year so that I could catch up in time to watch the 50th Anniversary special with everyone else. That’s A LOT of episodes mind you. And along the way, I also learned a lot of about the history of the show and the impact it’s had on pop and geek culture. It got to the point that I became a bigger fan than all my other friends who had tried to get me into the show previously. I will say though, I wasn’t a big fan of the Christmas episode. The 50th anniversary special was SO awesome. The Christmas one bored me. But that’s ok. We’ll just see what next year brings when we get to see what Peter Capaldi will bring to the table. Also my friends and family have realized that I love the show so much that I received quite a number of Doctor Who Items for Christmas including TARDIS knee socks, TARDIS fleece blanket, and a TARDIS journal. When I find a new geek fandom, I tend to become quite easy to shop for during holidays and birthdays.

If you know me very well then you know I love movies and seeing them in the theater is quite awesome. In 2012, one of my best friends and I were always going to see movies. It became our thing Plus I did this thing where I saw The Avengers six times in the theater *cough*. In 2013, we still did that, but not as much. However I did get to see some awesome movies this year. Everything from sequels such as The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug, Catching Fire, Loki 2 (I mean Thor 2) and Star Trek 2 to extremely funny comedies like The World’s End and This is the End to just awesomesauce like Gravity and Frozen. 2013 wasn’t the best year for movies IMHO but it was still a pretty good year. I have a feeling my movie going will cut back a little but I’m still looking forward to seeing my upcoming favorites on the big screen.

Tabletop gaming became a THING as game nights became popular among my group of friends. I will just say that expansion packs are like the gifts that just keep giving.

And finally, the geekiest thing I probably did all year was become all Nick Fury like and assemble an Avengers worthy team to participate in a geek trivia contest sponsored by ThinkGeek. I rounded up seven of my best geekiest friends and we became “The Darkest Timeline” and our evil selves took over (kudos if you know the reference). We trained in advance and realized that between the eight of us, our skills and knowledge were vast in all forms of geekness.

When we got there, we donned our beards and soon became immersed in a very intense and fast paced contest testing our geeky limits. We actually did quite well answering the most obscure of questions of geek trivia. There was even a bacon eating contest where contestants from each team had to eat what was a pound of bacon when uncooked the fastest. And this guy, became our hero, when he won. It was our team’s shining moment as we got a huge amount of bonus points for that round. When the final round came up, we were in second place. It was a Final Jeopardy question. The topic was literature. I got sent up because I read the most, though I argued this fact that as this was a geek trivia night, sci fi/fantasy would be more prevalent and we should send up Bacon Master instead. No one listened to me and so I was sent up on stage and risked away all our points. The question ended up being “What two authors wrote Good Omens?” Heck if I know??? And I see Bacon Master slump his head as he DID know the answer. I randomly picked two authors in the genre, Terry Brooks and RA Salvatore while every other person on stage knew it was Neil Gaiman and Terry Pratchett. I still get teased about it to this day.

But it was ok. Because we still had a blast. And it was the geekiest thing any of us had ever done and everyone loved us and our beards. And we even returned months later for our revenge though sadly the same thing happened again when we lost it in the final round again. But still, it’s one of my most favorite times of 2013 as several of my closest friends and I were able to be our true selves for a few hours and have a blast doing it. We were loved so much that ThinkGeek made us their cover image for the next event.

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The Darkest Timeline posting with Steve and Timmy the ThinkGeek Monkey of Think Geek. We made Timmy a tiny beard during the next trivia night as well as one for OUR mascot, Tommy (Timmy’s Evil Twin)

And yes, in this group, I’m the only girl who is a geek.

So that’s just some highlights of my geeky year of 2013. Oh! I didn’t even mention I got to see and meet Chris Hardwick aka Nerdist or host of Talking Dead, in person! I would say it was a pretty nerdy year. I hope that this year continues to be so. At the very least I’ll make it as geeky as I want it to be. Maybe I’ll finally get to learn how to REALLY be Katniss this year! (Subtlety should be on my New Years Resolution list…but it’s not. Not this year.)