Ok, I admit it. For several years of our relationship, when it was just the Hubster (then the BoyToy) and me, we had been getting old. I don’t mean chronological age, mind you — because, well DUHHH — but more like we were getting a little too set in our ways, stuffy, and boring. Rut Country.

However, since 2008, when I decided to lose my mind and put aside a fairly lucrative (if boring) career and go to college for a Baking and Pastry Arts Management diploma, things have been definitely changing! While I do not work professionally in the industry, I don’t regret my decision to do it;  I’ve learned so much from the experience and met so many interesting people, some of whom are close friends to this day.

I strongly believe that, because I broke out of my rut to try something new — and dragged the Hubster along with me — I’m doing what I’m going to be doing in only a couple of short weeks:

I am going to be attending my first ever convention! And oh-ho, not just *any* convention, but the awesome gamer-geek AND geeky-girl friendly, steampunk-oriented, super-inclusive gaming TempleCon! Two cars-full of us will be convoying down the road to this event, and staying together in the same hotel — though not the same room, heh… It’s going to be an incredible time!

I’m in the process of making my first-ever steampunk costume (going for a Victorian look), putting the finishing touches on my Pathfinder character for a session I’ll be playing, and helping The Hubster finish painting his Warmachine miniatures for the gigantic, multi-day, tiered WarmaHordes competition he and a couple of our friends from the game store have signed up for. It’s going to be seriously amazing!

And the even better part is, while BFF, Miss Kitty, who is a seriously avid geek-girl gamer, will be spending tons of time with her Big Brothers, namely my Hub and GdayBloke, our mutual gamer-impresario friend of Awesome Aussie proportions, playing WarmaHordes (which is not mah thang), I won’t be left alone to my own devices. We have *another* awesome friend coming too, who, thanks to Miss Kitty, has discovered her deep love of Magic: The Gathering and enjoyment of many things geeky and Steampunky!

I mean, who *wouldn’t* want to go to a convention that boasts, just in the workshops section alone, mind you, gems like this:

• How To Be a Better GameMaster
• Corsetry Basics
• Undead En Garde: Vampire Dueling with Wooden Stakes
• Bellydance Fusion: Tempest Style!
• How To Make Wings

A selection of events in the Seminars and Panels section:

• A History of Time Travel
• What is the Lady Planeswalker Society? (I’m SOOO going to this!!!)
• Rum Appreciation: White, Dark, Spiced
• Aperitif Appreciation: Honey (i.e. MEAD!)
• Introduction to Bourbon Whiskey
• Black Phoenix Alchemy Lab Meet n’ Sniff
• Roleplaying Game Adventure Design
• Women and Video Gaming
• …and so many more!

And then there are the literally dozens of tabletop, board, miniature, and card games that are listed as open demos, one-shot games, or multi-session, tiered games with prizes at the end! Who else would ever have thought of playing the same game of Munchkin with dozens of people at separate tables, using PORTALS to jump from one table to another?! Madness!!

Of course, there are tons of entertainment acts, from bands to solo musicians, to belly dancers and sideshow acts, to steampunk fashion shows, to LARPing events, to comedy acts. There are even three shadowcast movies: one being the ubiquitous Rocky Horror Picture Show (absolutely awesome), and the others being two episodes of one of the best cancelled TV shows in existence, Firefly (eps: Jaynestown and Out of Gas)…I am so excited to see these done in SC!!!

On top of all this, there’s a huge Arcade Alley with dozens of retro video games…did I mention that ALL OF THE ABOVE is INCLUDED in your admission ticket?! With the exception of the alcohol tastings having a small surcharge, this 24-hour event is FREE with the purchase of your very reasonably-priced convention pass. The mind boggles.

And before I forget, there’s a great area for vendors of awesome goodies that I’m really looking forward to spending a little mad money on — been saving for 3 months — so much so that I am starting to squeal…eeeee!

This Con is so creative and wide-ranging in interests and tastes, there is simply no time to see everything we want to see; earlier this week, some of us sat down with our respective lists and tried to make some form of scheduling out of it, connecting when we would be doing things together and apart, minimizing double- and triple-bookings and long stretches of time without breaks, and trying to shoehorn in some time for food intake, which I understand can be a hazard when playing in a 4-day, 24-hour long festival of “ooh, SHINY”!

Looking at all of the previous years’ photos of the amazing costumes and props, I can only hope that my first time making my own costume from scratch is at least a partial success. I have a lot to learn and a lot to do between now and when the Con starts; pics to be posted as I have them. Wish me luck!