I've been feeling kinda down in the last few weeks. I'd been really tired and headachy, and I thought it was mostly because I was working so much. But it turned out that I'd gotten the flu. The sick bug had been circling thru our unit for the last month. So I was super-shivery on April 22, and worked half day on Friday and then went home. And dug thru my comic book boxes looking for things for people to sign.
On Saturday at 9, we left for Calgary. I'm not sure if I reminded them that it was happening, or that they just weren't sure if I was interested in going again. But I had to go this year, b/c Leonard Nimoy and Brent Spiner were going to be there. My 2 favourite ST characters! How could I miss it?! So W got the tickets, I searched for a hotel, and A drove. Of course, A was lazy and just wanted to book the Expo hotels, but they were charging $120-127/night. He said he wanted to walk to the Expo. Which is pointless since we can't check in until the afternoon, and we'd have to check out in the morning. So why would we bother walking. After I found a few more hotels that were close by, he might've figured that out, so he said it didn't really matter on the distance then. So I found one for $89/night with $10 breakfast coupon. That took me about 4-5 days to do all that hotel searching. Anyways, they did say the Sandman hotel was pretty nice, so that's good. But it snowed loonies on Saturday night, and my jacket's no longer water-resistant. I was so soaked. Edit (7/20/10): Did a video recording of the room I was in. Was watching Criminals Minds at the time, b/c A&E have a marathon every night it seems. Anyways, it wasn't an episode I'd seen, but I have the DVDs so it's okay. I was on the 12th fl, and in the corner of my room, where I could've gotten a 180 degree outside view, they put a column in the middle. But the column is hollowed where it goes to the window b/c the curtains continue back there. So you could hide a body or evidence, ala Criminal Minds. So when I was examining my room, the room looked nice, but bathroom wasn't quite so. A bit of gunk in the bathtub, floor tiles weren't even, peeling wallpaper. But fine for one night.
Anyways, W said he had to be out all Friday night so he wanted to leave later. I, of course, knew the line-ups would be crazy, for both the entry wristband and Nimoy. But W kept saying there'd be no line-up b/c we'd already bought the tickets. Guess who was right?!
Anyways, didn't make it into the main hall for Nimoy's panel, but got into the overflow hall. Which meant we got to see him on video...once they turned on the video. Was not the same. Since we couldn't add our boos to the idiots who tried to shake his hand or have him read their script. But it's so sad he's going to retire. Anyways, he was there for both days, and I was lining up to get his autograph on Sunday, but he didn't feel well so I lined up for nothing. But a very lovely gentleman.
Edit (7/20/10): Trying to free up space on my camera so reviewing what's on there, and there was one of me chatting of what happened b/c I was too tired to write. Totally forgot I went to the X-Men panel with Len Wein and Chris Claremont. Funnily, a lot of the people I saw in Calgary are also at SDCC this year, so it's pretty cool I get to really meet them in Calgary. The panel was very good, very casual since they took mostly questions. There was a different level of respect shown to Leonard Nimoy than to Len and Chris.
Also got a few more Beast commissions. I'm a bit disappointed by Jill Thompson...even though I shouldn't be since he isn't her character, and she couldn't quite remember what he looked like, so she probably had to look him up. But it costed $100. Which I guess I shouldn't moan about, since she's an established artist. But the best deal was Chris Giarrusso. He didn't charge anything for a headshot, and only $10 for a full body. So of course I wanted the full body, and I would've paid $40 since chibi-Beast was soooooo adorable!!!! Such an great job. I'll have to scan it and put it up at work. See if M still thinks Beast is ugly. Anyways, ended up talking with colourist Laurie Smith and George Freeman about comic books and the change from working in analog (it seems funny to call colouring by hand that) to digital. The order of work's changed, and so now the artists just pray it looks decent. I'd wanted to go back to get him to do a sketch for me, but I couldn't find their table again! And I was criss-crossing the floor b/c I vaguely remembered where they were. Edit (7/20/2010): Here's some of the commissions: 
Anyways, got a Greg Horn print of pinball Iron Man for my brother. And then I spent 2 hours looking at the frames in Michael's b/c my sister-in-law didn't want a black matte frame. Cripes, that is what 80% of frames. Finally found one that was faux dark-wood in 12x18 size. Otherwise I'd be spending $40 on the freaking frame, which would be almost 2x more than the print. Instead with all the coupons and sale, it was a decent price. Was also going to pick up frames for the commissions, but then they'd just be sitting in a stack anyways, so got a scrapbook album instead, 3 for $15. I'd been kinda wanting to keep all the stuff I'd pick up anyways...so might as well. Now, if only I had the time to put them together, sort thru my photos, and post them.
Speaking of which, I hadn't read the latest Facebook policy but according to CNET, aside from FB never deleting anything you've put up, everything also belongs to them. Which makes me not want to post anything on there. Which really sucks. So I've been avoiding FB for a while. Also didn't help that one of my favourite apps changed their look so I can't figure out how anything works anymore.
Not sure if that's contributed to my downfunk, probably has. Also did my taxes. B/c my dad makes too much income (according to my bro who's doing both their taxes), I can't claim him as a dependant or get caregiver expenses. So stupid. Also lost about $1700 b/c the pension buyback went against my RRSP limit. So not happy.
Met up with S and L to see Kick-Ass. Very good movie. I felt guilty at laughing at certain parts b/c death shouldn't be that funny. Even if I have a black humour, seeing someone explode from being microwaved is pretty gross. It was also Free Comic Book day, so I picked up a lotta stuff. My store was giving away a lot of overstock too, so I got 4 magazines and 3 mangas. Lovely haul. That made me happy.
But anyways, still very tired and headachy. Just very blah. Losing interest in a lot of things, and just wanting to get distracted. At least I got an Internet connection on my NDS again. Just have to be sitting at City Hall or in the middle of the Square to get it. Nothing weird about that.
