Of 'Murica, and Other Such Wonderful Things · 4:12pm Jun 30th, 2014
So before I say anything else:
For those of you unfortunately ignorant of the sports-ing currently happening: the United States advanced to the Round of 16 in the World Cup despite being drawn into the "Group of Death" for the first round, so christened because the other three teams in it were considered to be far better than us and we were widely given long odds of even scoring a point, let alone winning one game and getting a second one stolen from us at the last second, let alone RISING FROM THE FRAY LIKE INDOMITABLE FUCKING WARRIORS.
Okay, I'm done. I swear to God I'm done now.
So yes, I'm unreasonably excited about how well we've played and I'll be proud of what we've accomplished no matter what happens in the knockout rounds (because hey, we still made it farther than Spain and England and Italy and oh I'm sorry weren't they all saying we sucked a few months ago)
, but that's not the real reason I'm blogging right now. I have a few other things I want to mention, most of which have to do with my plans for the rest of the summer related to both writing and extracurricular fandom shit.
First off, welcome to the smattering of new followers I've gotten from Far From The Tree, and thanks to everyone else for the comments, favorites, and upvotes that got it into the feature box for a few hours on Saturday. The reception I've received, both in terms of getting featured briefly and in the type of comments I've seen, was far beyond anything I was expecting, so I'm truly grateful for that. Moreover, though, I'm pretty stoked about my own role in getting that entry for Obselescence's contest out, though, primarily because to me it validates the progress I've made in establishing a consistent writing schedule over the last couple months. I've formed a habit of writing for a minimum of an hour every day and tracking my word counts and/or reasons for not writing, and not only has that allowed me to finish that contest entry in a couple weeks and done wonders for my confidence as an aspiring novelist, I've also managed to put around 4,000 words into another oneshot and around 35,000 words into a much larger project that I teased a bit upwards of a year ago and am now finally well on my way to completing.
My original goal of having a draft done by summer's end was sidetracked by both my contest entry and the sheer length the story (and, I hope, the ensuing trilogy/series) will likely end up being, but this story represents the culmination of--and I'm actually not exaggerating here--over ten years of brainstorming, dreaming, constant redesigns and revisions inside my head, and multiple failed attempts at pulling off the concept that forms the central theme of this fic. I am 110% committed to this project being the first multi-chapter novel-length story I've ever finished in its entirety, and accomplishing that will mean so much more to me than I can fully convey right now. Beyond that, though, it's also gonna have a bunch of fight scenes and explosions and emotional metadrama in it, and lots and lots and lots of superpowers. Because honestly, there just aren't enough of those in this fandom's fic library, or anywhere else for that matter.
Second and more immediately relevant, though, I'll be flying cross-country to hit up Everfree Northwest in three days, and participating in three panels to boot. In addition to the official Equestria Daily blogpone panel (6:00 PM Saturday in the Orcas room), I was also offered not just one, but two opportunities to get up on the Mane Stage and abuse the infinitesimal amount of power I get from being semi-horsefamous thanks to EqD followups, and you better believe I jumped on them like goddamn trampolines. On Friday at 4:30 PM, I'll be with DustyKatt, Screwball, and Cereal Velocity competing against several show VAs in PonyFeud, which... okay, straight up, I have no idea what the hell it is, but I think it's a Family Feud game show-type deal or something and it sounded hella fun, plus if everyone goes according to plan I have one hell of an entrance cooked up for it.
But what I'm even more hyped for (I mean, we are reaching dangerously critical masses of hype right here) is 11:30 AM on Sunday, which is when I'll be moderating a panel featuring Georgia Ball and Heather Nuhfer, otherwise known as two of the writers for the MLP:FiM comic books. If any of that sounds interesting to you or if you just want to come bask in the glow of my rugged, masculine candor and charm (I mean, I have a beard and I play rugby, so... close enough), that's my tentative schedule for the con aside from chilling in the fanfic area and possibly just walking up to some writing panels and grabbing the mic just to see if anyone will bother stopping me. Abusing your authority is seriously the best, you guys.
And third, about a month after EFNW I'll be hitting the road (or train tracks, or whatever) again up to Baltimore for Spaghettifest 2014, otherwise known as Bronycon, otherwise known as the place where I'll once again be on three panels because for fuck's sake people keep enabling my egomaniacal tendencies and that's not entirely my fault. There won't be any Mane Stage performances/debacles this time around, but I will be up to bat twice Saturday on smaller stages, in the Hall of the Moon for the EqD Pre-Reader Q&Neigh (God, why do we keep using that pun...) at 11:15 AM and the "Worlds Beyond" crossover fic panel in the Hall of the Star at 1:45 PM later that same day. On top of that, I've also slid into a vacant spot on the similarly-monikered "World Beyond Ponyville" adventure fic panel on Sunday, which will once again occupy the 11:15 AM slot in the Hall of the Moon.
I've heard estimates of anywhere from 10,000 to 15,000 attendees for Bronycon this year, which as you may have noticed is absolutely fucking insane, so get your ass over there come August and party with us. If you're still looking for a room, Tayman and company (company being Sunchaser, Golden Vision, Jake The Army Guy, and RazedRainbow) have rented out two suites in the Holiday Inn right across the street from the convention center, and they have three spots they're still trying to fill there. The going rate'll be $260 in total for Thursday night through Monday afternoon if they can get eight people in there, but I doubt I have to say much more than "it's a goddamn suite literally within sight of the convention, why the hell are you not already frothing at the mouth to get on this". First three to PM Tayman and get things set up win. Go forth and conquer, guys.
So that's that, just about. For those of you I'll see at EFNW, aw shit bitch we bout to go hard on this one, and for everyone else, that's all I have to say about that. Now I just have to hope Clint "The Motherfucker" Dempsey, Jermaine "The Other Motherfucker" Jones, and the rest of the Screamin' Eagles get past Belgium tomorrow, so I can join the party in Seattle for the quarterfinals on July 5th.
I dunno, I feel like we kinda failed our way to victory, but any port in a storm, I guess. :B The win against Ghana was still fuckin' awesome.
And oh man, you're gonna moderate for a comics panel? I'm jelly. don't get mobbed by show staff desiring your rugged, barely-legal body or anything. :V
The way we played against Germany... I dunno if we stand much of a chance against Belgium. Never gave ourselves an escape route on our way up the field, couldn't keep possession because we kept pitching the ball into the air on passes, yadda yadda. Good thing we have Tim Howard, or else we could have likely lost that game 4-0.
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We shall see how we do next game. I think we stand a chance, but we HAVE to play better...
Oh, and I have to commend you on developing a regular writing schedule for yourself. Glad to hear it's been working out for you.
And have fun at BronyCon and Everfree. Sounds like you've got your hands full!
~Arwhale
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We played that way against Germany because we'd just come from Manaus and the field was basically underwater. We played to survive that match and thankfully did, so now we've had a chance to regroup and reset for the elimination rounds.
I hope. ._.
Awww, yeah. It's almost BC time.
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Welp. It was a hard fought battle, and we did give them a helluva fight, but Belgium just dominated on the possession. Oh well.
...
And Tim Howard with 16 SAVES.
SIX. TEEN.
...
Oh, and Michael Bradley can piss up a rope.
I've tried to compose a civil post expressing my irritation at how irrelevant this blog post is to the tagged story, but it's not happening. Have a link to a blog post I wrote in a better frame of mind instead.
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Fascinating.
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