*This is my third and final post summarizing CONvergence 2016*

My three-part blogging series has reached an end. I felt that each of these three blog posts really summed up my experience at my favorite con. Every time I attend CONvergence, I always end up making a list of shows, board games, and fandoms to try. This post will be quick and short as I talk about fandoms that were really prominent at CONvergence. 

Steven’s Universe

I saw so many Steven’s Universe cosplays at CONvergence. There was even a party room themed from this show. I have heard that this show features LGBTQIA+ characters. After I finish Young Justice and Orange is the New Black this is next on my list.

Hamilton

One of my con friends would randomly start rapping lyrics from this play. I’m the first to say I’m not a broadway/play person. I would go to plays when I was younger, but it’s not something I actively follow. There were multiple panels devoted to this play. I’m going to check and see if the play’s soundtrack is on Spotify and I might give it a listen.

Sailor Moon/Watch & Read More Manga & Anime

Finally, I really want to watch more anime. Sailor Moon is one fandom that I have started getting into, but I want to watch the anime. One of my good friends has recommended to me a couple of anime series that he thinks I would like. So hopefully I can get a jump start on that too.

Thank you so much for reading about all of my CONvergence posts. I hope to get back into the swing of things and blog about gaming and/or books, but I just wanted to get my CONvergence experience into words on this blog. I’m having a fantastic summer and I love that I have more time to blog here. Comment below if you have any anime recommendations because I’m very much a noob to this.

*Also if you missed some of my CONvergence posts here are the links below*

CONvergence Post #1

CONvergence Haul

*This is my second post regarding CONvergence and my experience*

My three-part series about CONvergence is halfway over. If you haven’t had a chance to read my recap of the convention, you can find that post here: CONvergence Post Part #1 This post will talk about what I purchased at Convergence aka my haul.

One of the best and worst things about conventions is all of the amazing merchandise to buy! It’s great because I love adding to my geek collection, but it’s really bad for my wallet. I wanted to share pictures of what I purchased from the Con.

Hades/Inside Out Print by James Powell

Artist Alley is one of my favorite places to visit at CONvergence. I actually got this above print for free because I follow James Powell on Instagram. When I saw his booth at Artist Alley, I knew I had to have this print. I told him that I commented on Instagram and he remembered me. He gave me this print free of charge. I was so astonished by how cool of a guy James Powell is.

Follow James Powell on Instagram! @james_powell_art

Linus Walking Dead Print by James Powell

This was the last print I bought from James Powell. After giving me the Inside Out/Hercules art print for free, I knew I had to buy more of his art. I love the Peanuts with a passion and even though I’m not the biggest Walking Dead fan, I really loved the mash-up. Plus my boyfriend loves this show, so it will fit right in when I hang it in our room.

Fairy Tale Mash Up Books by Camille Griep

My uncle and aunt also go to CONvergence and they were having a drink with a woman they met at the hotel bar. Her name was Camille and she is an author from Seattle. This was her very first CONvergence and she was trying to promote her books. I had mentioned that I blog for Twin Cities Geek and I would love to promote her work. So she handed me two of her books for free to review! I’m looking forward to reading them because they appear to be fairy tale-themed. The cover of this book reminds me of the first season of Once Upon a Time which I loved. I can’t wait to officially read them.

Jade Street Protection Services Book #1 by Katy Rex

Katy Rex had a booth at CONvergence. She’s super nice and let me look at her book. I purchased it for $4 and I think I will really like it. It reminds me of Babs Tarr’s work with the new Batgirl. Katy described her book as Sailor Scouts who go off to Hogwarts and get caught smoking in the bathroom. I like the punk element of this book.

This wraps up my haul post and I have a lot of reading to do.

I’m taking a break from the CONvergence wrap-up posts to write a post about how this blog came about and how I became proud to consider myself a geek. 

The first time I cracked open a Harry Potter book to read is when I became a geek. As I grew older, I still kept reading various fiction novels including The Hunger Games, Divergent, The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, etc. In 2012, I watched The Avengers for the first time and I was enamored with superheroes. So I started reading comics and graphic novels and I loved the medium.

When I went off to college in 2012, I had an identity crisis. I loved what I loved, yet I was insecure to share that with anyone else. I still watch cartoons all the time and I can still spend hours playing video games. I was nervous that I should give that up because I need to grow up. Eventually, I mellowed out and accepted that this is who I am.

In the summer of 2013, I went to my first con, CONvergence. I met so many individuals who loved what I loved and I felt really at home. For those 4 days, I was in a safe place to express my interests and to see other geeks come together. This is why CONvergence is so important for me. It paved the way for self-love and acceptance of what I love and to love myself no matter what

I have always wanted to blog about my geeky interests so I took initiative and created this blog. At first, my name was going to be the Geeky Ice Skater. My friend came up with Bizarre Brunette and I knew that was what my blog name would be. Now I can share anything I want on here including my book reviews, board games, video games, and my con experience. I’m so thankful that people follow my blog and post comments every now and then.

Happy Fourth of July! After my hiatus from last week, I’m here to share a lengthy post about CONvergence a con I attended last week. Let me tell you something, con depression is certainly real as I feel a little sad that CONvergence is finally over. This post is pretty long, but I tried to sum up my happiest moments at the con. This post has helped me relive my most fun memories and I can’t wait for CONvergence 2017 because yes, I will be there. Also, I will be writing two other CONvergence-themed posts: CONvergence Haul & Fandoms I’m, Diving into. 

Thursday, June 30th, 2016 

The theme for CONvergence this year was focused on traveling in different fandoms. This includes the Tardis, Millenium Falcon, and other ships or ways to travel in media. Thursdays are usually the most relaxing day of the convention as I find it’s a bit slower-paced than the other days.

Friday, July 1st, 2016 

I cosplayed as Robin for the entire day on Friday. I found multiple Batman cosplays throughout the day.

Shortly after seeing the Batman cosplayers, I found a Scarecrow outside. I had to take a picture with him because it looked really good, it kind of freaked me out. Right before Con, I started replaying Batman Arkham Asylum and it was cool to see an accurate Scarecrow cosplay.

Saturday, July 2nd, 2016

This was my last day of Con and I cosplayed as Sailor Saturn. Now is this cosplay really accurate? Meh. Though I’m proud that I helped make my own cosplay. I had a lot of help, but still, I’m proud of myself. I chose not to wear a wig. I understand that would help make my cosplay more accurate, but I didn’t really want to. Wigs irritate me at times and I didn’t want to be uncomfortable all day.

I’m not sure if other cons do this, but at this con, you can collect ribbons. Ribbons can be handed out by other con attendees or you can get ribbons for volunteering. I try to collect as many as I can throughout the con.

On Friday and Saturday nights, there are more adult panels featuring comedy shows or other types of entertainment. We were waiting for a panel titled Drinking with Geeks which basically had comedians drinking unknown bottles of alcohol and the audience could hand alcohol to the panelists. It was funny and I’m glad I could witness, but not actually drink the liquor myself.

Look at this BB8! I found him in a Star Wars party room. Party rooms are these hotel rooms that are decked out in a theme. You can have alcoholic drinks in party rooms, but you certainly don’t have to. Unfortunately, if you aren’t 21, they won’t let you in so this was a fun new experience for me being 21.

This was from the Futurama-themed party room.

My CONvergence experience was really fun and I had a blast. I would even go as far as saying that this one was my favorite out of the other two I attended. I will be writing up my CONvergence Haul & Fandoms I will be diving into posts pretty soon after this so be on the lookout for that. Cons are so fun and I’m glad that I went.

Unintentionally, I have become busy this summer with a bunch of little projects. First, I’m working on a cosplay for Sailor Saturn. Hopefully, I’ll make a post in the future about what I learned from sewing a cosplay. I have also been writing various articles for Twin Cities Geeks like always. I’m also still a barista making coffee drinks and drinking bottomless cups of coffee. My latest project is signing up to be a contributor for Nerd Out. 

Nerd Out is an app that posts geeky/nerdy events around the U.S and Europe. No matter where you are, you can find an event to attend that will meet your interests. These events are uploaded by contributors in that area. As soon as I find out about an event, I email it to our head person and they post it on the app. I’m trying to get other geeks aware of events in Minnesota so they will more than likely attend.

Another bonus of being a contributor is free stuff! Some of the contributors have been getting free geek swag from different fandoms. I haven’t received anything yet besides my nerd-out t-shirt and business cards in the mail.

Becoming a Nerd Out App contributor was super easy and it doesn’t take up much of my time. If I do get some awesome geeky free stuff, I’ll definitely write about it on this blog. For now, I’ll get back to the constant sewing of my cosplay and editing various geek articles.

Every morning, I wake up and pour a cup of coffee. I never used to be a coffee drinker as I started drinking coffee regularly two years ago. As I was looking for a fun summer job before I head back to college, I decided to apply to a coffee chain in my area called Caribou Coffee. I had a friend who worked for this company and absolutely loved it. I applied in March 2016 during my spring break and I was hired on the spot. I started last May and have been working for a month and I can easily say this is my favorite job I have ever had.

I love being surrounded by the smell of coffee. I also love being able to get a free drink on my shift. It allows me to be creative and combine different flavors for something new. I also like recommending drinks to customers. I recommended a kind of iced coffee for someone and she came back later in the week to get what I made for her. I didn’t even remember her, but she knew me by name. That was pretty cool.

Besides just talking about how I endlessly love my coworkers and brewing coffee, I’m going to talk about coffee drinks in case you’re a newbie to drinking coffee and tea. So here it goes the ultimate beginners guide to coffee.

Americano: 

Literally just hot water and espresso and that’s it. Personally it’s a little too acidic for me. I like having a cup of coffee but just pure hot water and espresso.. it’s not for me. However, it’s one of the easiest drinks to make.

Latte: 

Steamed espresso and milk. It’s a coffee drink with a little bit more flavor than just drinking plain coffee. It also has froth to it which comes from steaming the milk. I will have a hot latte every once in a while, but not all the time.

Cappuccino:

A cappuccino is similar to a latte instead it has less milk and more froth. Personally I don’t order cappuccinos because I feel like it’s not worth it to get less milk and more froth, but hey everyone has a preference.

Iced Coffee 

Caribou calls their iced coffee cold press. It’s grinded differently than regular coffee and chilled. It’s so refreshing though! It’s also something I recommend for customers daily because it’s different than having coffee hot.

Also when it comes to caffeine, lighter roast has more than darker roast. That’s too bad because I love darker roasts, but I also want more caffeine. I constantly learn more about coffee every time I show up to work. It’s cool being able to know more about my favorite drink I have every morning. So now when you go into a coffee shop and you’re hit with the smells of beans, chocolate, and fresh baked goods, you’ll know some of the special drinks that are made daily. You won’t be a newbie and you will be able to find your drink; mine is an iced coffee with a full shot of vanilla topped with vanilla soy milk. yum.

I love living near the cities because there are so many events to go to. Besides blogging as Bizarre Brunette, I also wCrite for another blog called Twin Cities Geek. I started writing for Twin Cities Geek last summer which was great, but being in Winona was rather limiting because I couldn’t attend geeky events in the city’s area. Being in the cities this summer, I find it way more fun to be a contributor to the site. Two weeks ago my editor and creator of the site asked if we were willing to sit at our booth at MSP ComiCon and if we said yes we could get in for free. I love free stuff, events, and free anything so I volunteered to do it. I went yesterday and I had a pleasant experience.

Being an exhibitor has nice benefits including free food upstairs. Since I was sitting at the booth, I could go upstairs and get free food which included this delicious pasta salad. This con was super respectful to everyone who was attending. Not all cons treat people with respect especially if they are only there for profit. It can change your experience about the con and about whether you want to return next year.

In between volunteer shifts, I wandered the convention floor and noticed a lot of cool stuff. The downside is I didn’t bring cash which was dumb on my part. I really didn’t want to pay the $3.00 ATM fee to pull out cash. Later in the day, I was approached by a cartoonist/illustrator who wants to get in touch with me to write an article. This con was a great place to network and meet local artists which weren’t something I expected prior to arriving that morning.

This con actually meets twice a year with the second time being in October. I’m for sure going to go! I had such a great time eating a bunch of food, talking to my fellow Twin Cities contributors, and talking with local artists and businesses. Cons are my favorite places to be and I can’t wait for CONvergence which is happening next month. This summer will definitely be a blast.

Dear Mom,

This semester has been rough due to losing my cat Jasmine and handling losing a close friend of mine, but you have always been a phone call away. You listen to every word that I say and offer helpful advice. Your advice is never quite what I expect and I love that you challenge me that way. You cause me to think of the world differently which is something I always appreciate.

I love that you call me and want to gossip about the newest movie trailer. It’s something we geek out about especially if it’s about Marvel. Our shared love of Jeremy Renner will never go away. I love that we can watch James Bond movies and sing the title song because we both know the words by heart.

I love your laugh. Your laugh is unique and it’s something I cherish when I’m at home. I can hear you laugh all the way from the basement and it always puts a smile on my face. Especially when we can’t stop laughing about cat videos that I show you. When I’m having the absolute worst day, I know I can call you, and just hearing your laugh distracts me from life for 5 minutes.

Finally, having your support is all I need. Whether that’s money for an occasional tank of gas or being there when I cry, it’s something that I’m lucky to have. One life lesson I have realized is families are unique and some families aren’t close. Thankfully, we have a special bond that brings us closer together.

I love you. You’re all I need to be happy and I can’t imagine my life without you in. You’re amazing.

From your daughter, best friend, and fellow Jeremy Renner fan..

Mariah.

Today is my last day of being a college senior. Unfortunately, I’m not graduating on time because I switched my major back in sophomore year and I basically had to start from the beginning. I have never regretted my switch to Exercise Science because it’s where my passion is. It combines perfectly with my love of biology with the science behind exercise. Next semester I will only be enrolled in two classes so I won’t be full-time. Next year I hope to finish my internship and walk across that stage and finally receive my bachelor’s degree.

Here is a wrap-up of the classes I took:

Pathophysiology: This class focuses on the cause of disease and how a disease presents itself. This class was really fascinating actually, but this class was easily the hardest this semester. It required a lot of studying to wrap my head around all the ways the body can become diseased.

Epidemiology: This class is a more public health-based class focused on the spread of disease. Similar to pathophysiology in some ways, but different at the same time.

Lab Methods: All about laboratory ways to test fitness and health. So performing fitness tests on older adults and performing a VO2 max test. VO2 max is basically looking at how much oxygen your body can use during exercise.

Advanced Nutrition: This class was the last class to complete my nutrition minor. I really liked the class and I learned a little bit about how nutrition impacts health.

Even though I feel like I had no life this semester, I was able to have a little fun. I went to the ACSM conference that I wrote about in April and I went down to the cities for a pub crawl. I’m moving back to Minneapolis on Saturday so expect more posts about life in general and fun random stuff that I’m doing. The cities are where I belong.

Conventions are some of my favorite places to be. I just feel at home with the geek community and I love meeting new people. Plus going to a convention is an excuse to take a lot of pictures because in my mind pictures equate to memories. I’m going to talk about a convention I went to two years ago called CONvergence. Since I mentioned CONvergence in previous posts, I feel like I should actually talk about why I love this convention so much. 

I found out about this convention in 2012 when my friend’s mom went. I was so jealous because this just sounded like the coolest place ever. My friend and I were determined to go the next year which we did and it was one of the most memorable events that summer. I even saw my cousin hosting a couple of panels and that was cool to see. I’m actually going to just refer to the most recent CONvergence that I attended which was in 2014. I didn’t go last year because I ended up going to Milwaukee for the Fourth of July which was still pretty cool.

One of my favorite parts about conventions is just adventuring around. I’m a Doctor Who fans so, of course, I love the roaming Daleks. This one was hand-made by some really awesome fans and it comes to the convention every year. It’s fun to try and find it! I also love meeting up with people and wandering around. It’s fun to see people once a year and it feels like nothing has changed in between that time.

Another fun portion of CONvergence is the party rooms! People rent out rooms in the hotel and then design them to fit a theme. One such party room is the Arkham Asylum party room where I met up with a Doctor Joker cosplay. There was also a space lounge where you could get smoothies and such and just hang out. Another one of my favorites is the ghostbusters party room. The ghost-busters car also hangs out outside so that’s definitely another fun thing to see while attending this con.

At conventions, I’m prone to spending WAY too much money. At this particular CONvergence, I bought this really awesome Dalek mug that I still have and use every other day for my morning coffee. I have to seriously put myself on a budget or I will spend way too much money here. I also bought a Tardis necklace that was handcrafted that I wear all the time.

The panels are another favorite of mine. I like when they break down some of my TV shows or comics because it provides an interesting perspective. Some of my favorite panels were: “ASD (Autistic Spectrum Disorder) presented in TV characters” “The Worst of the Harry Potter Movies” “The Worst of Bond” “Bond at 50” and more.

The last thing I wanted to mention was the Artist Alley. Art is not something I’m good at. I’m much more of a logical type of person such as reading, loving and understanding science, and doing sudokus for fun. Walking through Artist Alley and seeing how fandoms are represented in unique art pieces is pretty neat. The artists there are so talented and they put a lot of their time and effort into making it into this alley. Buying artwork at CONvergence is supporting someone’s talent and business. Making art really gives people joy in their lives and for me to be able to support that hobby means a lot to me. I have random little art pieces that I bought from this con that I love. Including a purple Dalek (I know I need to stop with all of the Doctor Who references) and a really detailed Thor.

CONvergence has a really special place in my heart and I can’t wait to go back this summer.