Before the pandemic, I used to go to these comic conventions called SpringCon and FallCon. Hosted at the Minnesota State Fair Grounds, they focused heavily on comics and featured local comic creators. I’m not exactly sure why, but this event went through a hiatus in which this convention didn’t happen. I’m not aware of the exact reason, I’m sure the pandemic had something to do with it. I’m happy to say the convention has returned and is trying to gain traction in the Minnesota convention scene. I tabled at FallCon with Twin Cities Geek and hope to see this convention back at the Fair Grounds.

FallCon is a different type of convention than other conventions I have been to. With the heavy focus on comics, this event doesn’t have gaming or a ton of panels. Instead, it’s like an indoor market where vendors are set up. Vendors range from local comic book stores to independent artists, and booths like Twin Cities Geek handing out free stuff. Since that’s the case, I would highly recommend bringing cash to spend. I like walking down the aisles and seeing what I find. I stop and flip through comics in bins or I listen as someone tells me about their comic and why they created it.

I wouldn’t say FallCon has a big cosplay scene, but that doesn’t stop me from cosplaying. I was mulling around what cosplay I wanted to wear and settled on Jessica Jones. I cosplayed as Jessica Jones at Twin Cities Con one year and it’s nice that I have everything in my closet to pull from. I wore a black body suit, faux leather jacket, black gloves, light blue jeans, and black combat boots. I like this cosplay because it’s subtle. For those who aren’t familiar with Jessica Jones, you would think I’m wearing my normal clothes. As I was leaving the convention, someone stopped to take my photo. I wasn’t expecting it as this is a pretty normal cosplay.

Part of the reason I love tabling at conventions is talking with people. All it takes is for someone to walk by our booth, make eye contact, and by me saying hello, they come over to talk to me. I tell them about Twin Cities Geek and what we do. It’s entertaining and it makes the day go by fast. With FallCon, there were fewer people there than I had anticipated there would be. Having fewer people attend means less money is spent on vendors who are paying for a table to be there. I wasn’t there on Saturday, so I hope Saturday was busier. It felt oddly desolate for a convention when in years past, there would be several groups of people walking up and down the aisles.

With that said, I was glad I made it to the convention. It reminds me why I love reading comics and why I am glad to be a part of this part of the geek community.

I don’t go shopping often, however, when I do, I try to thrift or go to a Marshall’s or TJ Maxx. I like saving money and I find enjoyment in finding something on sale. For my birthday, my mom bought me a Marshall’s gift card and it is spooky season, so it was a great time to go shopping. I found a lot of Halloween decorations to add to my growing collection and I figured I’d share them.

Besides the Halloween decorations, I did buy normal things. I bought a new work blouse. It’s a plain black long sleeve except the sleeves are floral and fluttery. I’m doing a terrible job describing it, but it’s flattering and professional. I also bought a long-sleeved black sweater. I wear a lot of black, but I can’t help it, black is a flattering color. I don’t think it’s possible to have too many black sweaters.

Now for the Halloween decorations. The first thing I bought was a decorative throw blanket for our white chair upstairs. Upon first glance, I thought it was a Frankenstein holding a Halloween basket, but oh no. It was avocados which made the blanket ten times better. I’m a stereotypical millennial who loves Avocado toast. This blanket was made for me. I bought two new decorations upstairs. The first one is a snow globe with a skeleton astronaut with a raven on its left shoulder. When you shake the globe, black glitter falls around it. I didn’t realize Halloween snow globes existed, but here we are. I bought another decorative item for the upstairs nightstand. It’s a stack of books labeled potions and curses with a gold spider resting on them. Finally, I bought a new water bottle. It’s a black thermos with a gold snake in the center and gold moons and flowers surrounding it. Having a new water bottle to drink from makes me want to drink more water and I like rotating out my water bottles per the season. It’s the little things that sometimes bring me the most joy.

One of the running jokes I have with our friend group is whether or not I can convince my husband to buy the 12-foot-tall skeleton from Home Depot. I don’t think this will be the year for that, but I am hoping with time, this skeleton will eventually become a haunting presence in our yard.

One of my favorite traditions I have with one of my friends is attending the Minnesota Renaissance Festival. We have been going since our college days. As we were reminiscing, we realized we had been going to the Renaissance Festival for ten years. That’s such a long time! There were years I had to miss including the year when me and my husband were planning our wedding and last year because we were in Europe. With that said, I always look forward to our trips to Ren Fest and many more trips in the future.

The last time I went to Ren Fest, me and my friends took a bus which helped immensely! I have addressed this before, but parking at Ren Fest was a nightmare. There were times we had to wait in extremely long lines to park a car. After Ren Fest’s event in 2022, Scott County threatened to pull Ren Fest’s event license if they couldn’t figure out their parking situation. I couldn’t agree more because it was becoming a safety issue. I didn’t go last year, so I wasn’t aware of the changes Ren Fest made to parking. When we were planning our day, she preferred driving versus taking the bus. In recent years, Ren Fest started charging to park a car. Before, parking onsite had been free. I don’t mind paying to park if it means a better experience with more staff to direct us on where to park our vehicles. Paying in advance, I paid $15 which I felt was reasonable. For those who didn’t pre-pay, it was $30 on sight with cash or card. As we approached, I was expecting the worst. I was pleasantly surprised when we got to the festival, showed our pre-paid parking pass, and parked within fifteen minutes. It was a huge improvement compared to other years we went. Additionally, it seems Ren Fest added way more park and rides. The only caveat is that most of the park and rides were in the south half of the metro. I’d love to see more park and rides in the northern or western suburbs because that would also help with decreasing car traffic.

While every Ren Fest trip is fun, this year felt extra special. This was the first year that both me and my friend dressed up. I have dressed up in the past and my friend always mentioned how she wanted to, but it didn’t work out. She made it a priority this year and her whole blue outfit was beautiful. She clearly had a fun time with it and it was great to see her having a blast. Her boyfriend took pictures of us which we would have forgotten about had he not said anything. I think we both agreed that dressing for Ren Fest is something we are going to commit to in years to come.

For my outfit, I went for a green, druidic look. I ordered this green dress as a backup to my Keyleth cosplay. I rummaged through my costume accessories and pulled out this black, faux leather belt I use in my Kylo Ren cosplay which cinched the look together. Finally, I had an autumn leaves and butterflies headband that I also ordered for my Keyleth cosplay and didn’t need. It all came together and I already had all the pieces in my closet. It helps to be a cosplayer sometimes!

Since we have gone so often, we have a few staples or things we have to do while we are there. For the most part, we don’t see any shows. Instead, we wander around the fairgrounds and do a bit of shopping. I tend to purchase new earrings, lotions, or perfumes whenever I go. This year, I stuck to a budget and I didn’t buy anything except for food. Every year, the food I eat varies except for the Apple Cider Float. The Apple Cider Float is so good. It’s Apple Cider and I always get Cinnamon Ice Cream versus Vanilla Ice Cream. It’s the quintessential fall beverage. It’s become such a classic thing for us that my friend’s boyfriend reminded us that we had to get it before we left. He kept us on track, that’s for sure.

This was a Ren Fest trip for the books. I think both me and my friend will put more of an emphasis on dressing up as something every year. As a cosplayer, I always like having an excuse to create a new costume. Here’s to ten more years of Renaissance Festival trips.

My husband and I have been having many serious conversations about having kids. Choosing to become a parent is a big decision and one that shouldn’t be taken lightly. In these ongoing conversations, my husband and I decided to undergo Genetic Testing. One of the main reasons I wanted to write about this is because I haven’t seen other people discuss this. I know Genetic Testing exists, but most of the time when I hear couples announcing their pregnancy, they skip over the decisions they made prior. If one person reads this and finds it helps them or even if someone does not want kids at all, but finds this interesting, then I think making this well known is worth it.

My husband is the main reason why we chose to get our genes tested. My husband’s aunt on his dad’s side died of Cystic Fibrosis before he was born. For those unfamiliar, Cystic Fibrosis (CF) is a genetically inherited disease meaning it’s not a disease that can be spread like the flu. CF impacts the amount of mucus the body generates. The mucus is thicker, blocking various passages, and can damage organs. There is no cure for CF and while treatments have steadily gotten better over time, some individuals with CF can have mild symptoms while others have severe symptoms.

My husband wanted a formal confirmation through gene testing if he was a carrier for CF. The first step was to contact a genetic counselor. They asked my husband a series of questions to determine the risk level and if genetic testing was needed. Based on little information my husband had about his family history, they ordered a genetic test to be delivered. To get genetic testing, you can either go into a medical facility and get blood drawn or they use an at-home testing kit. My husband chose the latter. His results took about 2 – 4 weeks. We found out my husband was indeed a carrier for CF.

It’s not surprising that my husband was a carrier for CF. However, it meant I now had to undergo genetic testing as well. I contacted the same genetic counselor who walked me through the process. She said they would test 613 of my genes. With my genetic test, they would be testing more of my genes than my husband’s because if we were to have a boy, I would pass everything on my X chromosome to my son. I was sent the same test and repeated the process. Now all we could do was wait.

Before I reveal my results, I wanted to share what would happen if I was or was not a carrier. If I were a carrier, this would mean that we would have a 25% chance of passing CF to our children. If I was not a carrier, we would have no chance. For someone to be positively diagnosed with CF, they need the carrier gene from mom and the carrier gene from dad. If I don’t have the gene, then our kid may be a carrier, like my husband, but would not have CF. I received my results shortly after Labor Day and am NOT a CF carrier. I let out a sigh of relief. There is nothing wrong with being a carrier, my husband is and he is a healthy person. CF will not be a reality for our kids and it’s one less thing for us to worry about.

There is a cost associated with getting genetic testing done. I hate when people discuss medical care and don’t share the cost. Each test (before insurance) costs $19,000. $19,000!?!?!?!?!?!?? That’s wild. After insurance, my husband (who has way better health insurance than I do) would pay $200 while I would be looking at anywhere between $500 – $600. I can use my HSA (Health Savings Account) to pay for the cost of genetic testing which helps make it more affordable.

I wish more people would be more open about genetic testing and the decisions that they make before having kids. Having kids is a big decision and with the power of the internet, having more resources available makes it easier to make the best decision for you. I want to be clear, not having kids is valid and I will defend anyone’s right to choose not to have children. Getting genetic testing is something I’m so glad I was able to do and it provides more reassurance if and when we decide to have kids.

The last post in my Gen Con post series is my haul! This is all the things I bought throughout my time roaming the exhibit hall. I do want to make one thing clear, everything in this picture is everything I paid for. I did not receive anything in this picture for free in exchange for an honest review. These were all things that stood out to me or something I wanted to have for myself. In no particular order, I will detail everything I bought at Gen Con.

As a side note, I did receive a press badge from Gen Con. This means that I did attend the convention for free. When I applied for my press badge, I applied under Twin Cities Geek versus BizarreBrunette. While I did receive a press badge, all my thoughts are my own.

Final Girl Core Box + Hans Box – Van Ryder Games

Final Girl is a game designed by Van Ryder Games where players play as a Final Girl. For those who aren’t familiar, Final Girl is a term for a girl in a Horror film who is the only one left and has to take on a killer by herself. The one thing that I find fascinating about the Final Girl games is that they are solo games. I can play this game by myself at any point in time. I love that honestly. One of the biggest barriers of playing board games for me is finding the time and the group to play the game I want to play. I have heard nothing but good things about Final Girl, so I decided to give it a shot. I will for sure post my thoughts once I have had time to play it.

Candela Obscura Core Rulebook – Darrington Press

It’s too bad that Darrington Press didn’t have a booth at Gen Con this year. This might be for the best because if they did, I would not have stuck to my budget. With that said, I ended up finding a copy of Candela Obscura at Miniature Market. I liked paging through the book as the art is stunning. I wasn’t planning on buying Candela Obscura, so it was a nice surprise to see a copy of the book was available to purchase.

Call of Cthulhu Keeper Rulebook + Keeper Tips – Chaosium Inc.

This is the purchase I am the most excited for. I’m writing this to hold myself accountable, I want to be a DM for Call of Cthulhu. I want to page through the rules, read the Keeper Tips, and write my own Call of Cthulhu one-shot. I have seriously thought about being a DM, but not for Dungeons & Dragons. I want to commit and as a future goal, I would love to work myself up to running a game at CONvergence next year. Will it happen? I have no idea, but I really want to dedicate myself to do this. Call of Cthulhu holds a special place in my heart since this is the system that got me into TTRPGs to begin with, so it seems fitting that it would be the system that I try to learn.

I will say that my haul for Gen Con is smaller than prior years. I was much more intentional with what I wanted to purchase and if that particular game or rule book would be something I would use in the future. I’m so excited to dive into Call of Cthulhu and Candela as I’d love to write a few one-shots to run my friends through.

I went into this year’s Gen Con a little differently than I have in the past. Usually, I would purchase event tickets ahead of time, so I had an exact idea as to what I was doing every day. This year, I didn’t pre-purchase any event tickets. This allowed me to stumble upon things that I wouldn’t have discovered had I been busy. I wanted to share all the new things I tried at Gen Con and what I would do again in the future.

As a side note, I did receive a press badge from Gen Con. This means that I did attend the convention for free. When I applied for my press badge, I applied under Twin Cities Geek versus BizarreBrunette. While I did receive a press badge, all my thoughts are my own.

Paint Minis

I saw one of my friends painting a miniature at this rectangular table near the exhibit hall. I asked him if he had to sign up for this or if he could sit down and paint at any time. One of the booth attendees approached me and asked if I was interested in painting a mini for free. I couldn’t say no to that. I have never painted a mini nor would I consider myself a crafty person. They quickly had me set up with a few paintbrushes, a mat to blot the brushes, and a pedestal to put the mini on. I was surprised at how relaxed I felt painting. This was a speed painting event, so I only had 30 minutes to paint. As such, my mini has paint blotches in different areas. However, I was impressed with what I accomplished having never painted before. On Sunday, I found another painting booth on the second floor that had different minis to paint. I chose an Eldritch Foundry mini with a jet pack.

This was such a great event to stumble upon. I have Malifaux minis I bought last year that I still haven’t painted yet and now I feel inspired to do so. This will be something that I will aim to do every year at Gen Con.

Attended a TTRPG Live Show

One of my friends alerted me to the fact that BlackwaterDnD would be at Gen Con this year. I have never heard of BlackwaterDnD before this, but my friend raved about them. I checked my schedule and I could make their live show. It was hilarious! They didn’t play Dungeons and Dragons, instead, they played a roleplaying game where they flipped coins instead of rolling dice. Several of the players kept dropping the coins or losing them. Their live show was only an hour and I felt that went by quickly.

I’m always looking for new TTRPG content to dive into, so I do plan on listening to BlackwaterDnD within the next few days. I want to be on the lookout for any other TTRPG groups or live shows in the future.

Lined Up for a Signing

AHHHH!!! I got to meet the cast of The Command Zone!!!! Can you tell that I’m still not over it? I have been listening to The Command Zone specifically their Game Knights episodes where they play Commander with members of the cast and with special guests. While I consider myself a casual Magic: The Gathering fan, The Command Zone has inspired me to do more deck building and to play at more pre-release events.

I was walking towards the Wizards of the Coast panel room and saw that the cast of The Command Zone was doing a signing. I wasn’t sure what to expect since I didn’t see that I needed to purchase event tickets ahead of time. I arrived at the room forty five minutes early because I wasn’t sure how early I had to be there. While I waited, I talked to a variety of fans who were also in line. Many fans brought Magic cards for the cast to sign which I did not do. If anything, my plan was to talk with them briefly and say that I was a fan of the show.

As the panel doors opened, I saw they had someone from their team being willing to take photos. I grew more excited because I’d much rather have a photo of the experience than their signatures. When it was my turn, Josh (the man on the left in the photo) shook my hand and asked me my name. He also said that my staff was cool. Everyone else was lovely to speak with. It all happened so fast and they even had a box of free stuff that fans could take. It might be embarassing to admit, but my hands and legs were shaking. I didn’t think I would be that nervous, but here I am. I took a few of their token cards which I gave to a friend since they couldn’t make the signing.

This was such a cool opportunity and I have started relistening to The Command Zone podcast which I fell behind on. It’s cool to be able to say that I met them in real life.

There were so many cool opportunities that I discovered this year. I do want to have at least one event per day to do, but I’m glad I left my schedule fairly open at the same time.

I made it back from Gen Con and it was so much fun. I wouldn’t expect anything less; this is my 3rd time attending Gen Con and it’s become one of my all-time favorite conventions. For Gen Con, I devote a few posts as there’s so much I want to write about. This post will be a generic recap of the convention. The second post in this series will be about new experiences I had at Gen Con and finally, the last post will focus on my haul or everything I purchased this year.

As a side note, I did receive a press badge from Gen Con. This means that I did attend the convention for free. When I applied for my press badge, I applied under Twin Cities Geek versus BizarreBrunette. While I did receive a press badge, all my thoughts are my own.

Gen Con is a four-day convention and our group stays all four days. On Thursday, it’s become a ritual where our group likes to get to the convention center early and camp out near the exhibit hall. I’m always the one to take a selfie of our group while we wait. This year, I didn’t have anything specific I was trying to purchase which was nice. I could walk through the exhibit hall and try to take in everything.

Since I have been to Gen Con a few times, there are a few things I have to do. The first would be to try the Gen Con pizza from Hot Box Pizza. Hot Box Pizza is a pizza chain in the Indianapolis area and every year, there’s an official pizza. At the Gen Con block party, Hot Box will sell slices of the official Gen Con pizza. This year, the pizza was Critical Chip which had salsa verde, corn, beans, jalapenos, ranch drizzle, and crushed doritoes. It was pretty good. Another thing that I usually do is try Sun King’s Gen Con official beer. Sun King Brewery will partner with Gen Con to have an official beer of Gen Con. This year, the beer was a Cereal inspired beer and that did not sound good to me. My brother ended up ordering it and I had a sip. It was okay, but not something I would have ordered myself.

The final thing I wanted to touch on at Gen Con was cosplay! I learned last year that having three cosplays was too much. On top of that, our hotel was thirty minutes outside of downtown, so there wasn’t a way I could take a break like I could last year. I didn’t plan any new cosplays, instead, I brought my Bioshock Splicer cosplay along with Keyleth with me. I love re-wearing cosplays because it’s quick for me to change into them. I took many pictures with other cosplayers which is always a compliment. My Bioshock splicer cosplay is always a hit and it’s great to see so many people recognize my cosplay since it’s more niche. I’d love to bring a new cosplay to Gen Con next year.

Gen Con was busy and I’m looking forward to decompressing this week.

I’m officially in my 30s! Today is my birthday and after I get off work, my husband and I will drive up to Duluth to spend time with family. My husband’s family has never been to Duluth before, so acting as a tour guide and showing them around will be fun. Since I’m entering a new phase of my life, I wanted to share some of my favorite moments from my 20s in chronological order.

Junior Year – Fall 2014

My early 20s began when I was entering my junior year of college. When I think back on my college years, junior year will forever be a standout. This is the year I met my husband, although I didn’t know that then. I was living with a good group of girlfriends in an off-campus apartment. I was starting to get further into my degree and becoming more involved in Winona State’s Astronomy Club. This year was a great start to my 20s.

Buying My Car – December 2016

For the first few years of college, I did not have a car. I think that was for the best since my school was known for not having enough parking spots and trying to get a parking pass was an extra expense. Eventually, I did bring a car with me to school. I drove a Ford Windstar Blue mini-van that my friend named Bertha.

In my final semester before graduation, I had to do an internship. My internship site was 35 minutes away from my college campus. Unfortunately for Bertha, my car was an older vehicle and I had concerns as to whether my car would withstand the extra miles. I wouldn’t consider myself a car person meaning I don’t have strong opinions as to what type of car I wanted. With my mom’s help, we purchased a Subaru Forester in Jasmine Green. We named our car Ripley Rey. Ripley after Alien and Rey after Star Wars.

Since 2016, I have taken my car on countless road trips including frequent trips to Chicago and Kansas City. I plan on driving my car as long as I can.

Graduating From College – May 2017

This is easily one of the greatest achievements from my 20s. Graduating from college was a longer journey since I spent five years getting my degree. By the time graduation rolled around, I was so ready to be done. I counted the days until I could move home to be closer to friends and family. The weekend I graduated, the weather was gorgeous! It was sunny, but not too hot. It was a lovely weekend when some of my extended family came to see me walk across the stage. I showed them around both Winona and La Crosse. Winona will always have a special place in my heart.

Visiting NYC – Summer 2018

I went on so many trips throughout my 20s and each trip was fun in its own right. I decided to highlight the time I went to New York City. Everything about this trip was perfect. We walked around Central Park, ate a lot of good food, had a few boozy moments, and took tons of pictures. This was also my first adult flight. The only other plane I was on was when my family flew to Atlanta when I was in middle school.

I would love to go back to NYC someday. There’s so much to explore and while we had a blast, there was no way we had time to see everything.

Orlando – February 2019

Orlando was a great trip. It was the first time I left Minnesota in winter which I would definitely do again. It made winter less long. It was a jam-packed week as we spent most of the time at Universal Studios. Our hotel was within walking distance which was convenient and there was a shuttle in case we were tired and didn’t want to walk back. Unbeknownst to us, this was the last trip we took before the pandemic. It took a while before traveling became safe again and these memories kept me going throughout quarantine.

Mini-Moon – California Trip – Fall 2021

I wanted to add this trip to the list since this was the first trip after the pandemic. While Europe was always going to be the honeymoon trip, there were still limitations with flying and taking Covid tests. I did not want to be stranded in another country because I tested positive for Covid. This was my and my husband’s first time in California. We spent time in LA, Santa Monica, Disneyland, and San Francisco. The fun part about visiting Disneyland in the Fall was seeing all the Halloween decorations. It was great to spend time at the beach and walking across The Golden Gate Bridge was a great thing to check off my travel list.

Europe Trip – September 2023

I can’t forget to mention Europe! This trip was a dream come true. I had been wanting to go to Europe for so long. This trip was everything I wanted it to be and so much more.

New Mexico – April 2024

I wanted to end with a memory from this year. The road trip I took with my mom was so much fun. The best moments of this trip were sitting at breweries and spending quality time with her. As I have gotten older, it feels more difficult to juggle all of my friendships, relationships, regular exercise, getting good sleep, and hobbies. This trip gave me time to spend with my mom which I will treasure forever.

I am looking forward to my 30s. While my 20s have been fun, I’m fully okay with putting these years behind me.

I have never been to a cosplay photo meet-up before. At conventions, there will be coordinated times for various cosplayers to meet up and get photos taken. When I plan out my cosplays, I wear what I want on whatever day I want. This year, I happened to time my Harley Quinn cosplay on the DC cosplay photo day at CONvergence. I decided to go because why not. Some of the pictures have been posted and I love all of them.

I am obsessed with these photos! I have never gotten professional photos of my cosplays mostly because of the cost associated with paying a professional photographer. I may consider this in the future. The quality of these photos is way better than any photo I would take. There were several photographers there, so there will probably be more photos that will be uploaded. I’m glad I went and I definitely want to do this in the future.

It’s funny, last week I noticed something. I have been writing about CONvergence for so long and realized that instead of capitalizing the first three letters, I was spelling out the convention as Convergence. I have since updated all my previous posts that I had written about the convention. Proofreading is important, am I right? That said, CONvergence was last weekend as it’s usually over the Fourth of July weekend. There’s always something special when I attend CONvergence as it feels like I’m returning to my home base and the convention that started it all for me. I wanted to share a few of the highlights from the con.

Throughout CONvergence, I went to three different panels. The first panel I went to was the “Andor Fan Panel”. I loved Andor because it shows a different type of story within Star Wars. Without stories like Andor, there wouldn’t be a rebellion. I thought the panelists were well-balanced in discussing the show and taking questions from the audience. The second panel I went to was “Wig Styling 101”. This panel was probably the most useful panel that I went to. When I started wearing wigs, I didn’t watch a video tutorial. I threw my hair in a bun, stuffed it under the wig cap, and called it good. The panelists suggested braiding or twisting the hair so that when you put the wig cap on, it lays flat and there isn’t a bump at the back of the wig. This is such an obvious statement, but it never occurred to me to do anything different. Another takeaway from the panel is the panelists highlighted several online websites to order wigs. I always ordered from Amazon not necessarily by choice, but because I didn’t know where else to get wigs. While the panel focused on wig styling, I learned so much more about the basics of wearing wigs. The final panel I attended was “Session Zero: Setting the Stage for Your Epic Campaign”. I have thought about becoming a GM (not a paid one, but for fun). I don’t think I would focus on Dungeons & Dragons, instead, I’d love to GM Call of Cthulhu, Candela Obscura, or another horror TTRPG system. I think what worries me is how intimidating being a GM is, but I have to start somewhere.

Besides panels, CONvergence is another convention I cosplay at. This year, I went with Red Riding Hood, Harley Quinn, and Keyleth. Red Riding Hood is a cosplay that I rent. It’s been a go-to comfort cosplay for me and it’s nice to have a breather from wearing wigs. The last time I wore Harley was back in 2023 for Planet Comicon, so it was nice to wear this cosplay again. The Harley wig I have has seen better days, so I might get one more use out of it before needing to throw it away. Keyleth was a character I have been wanting to cosplay for a while. I am so excited about how this cosplay came together. I’m going to write a more in-depth post about prepping this cosplay, so I won’t say much more than that.

Something I normally don’t do at CONvergence is gaming. CONvergence has always had gaming events, but either they don’t work with my schedule or they conflict with something else. I wanted to prioritize gaming this year especially since this was Badwolf Adventure Studios‘ first time at CONvergence. I signed up for their Daggerheart event which was a play test of Critical Role’s TTRPG system. I wanted to play Daggerheart for a while, so I’m glad I got the chance to play. I have a lot of thoughts about Daggerheart now that I played it, so I will write those in a future post. I’m happy to see Badwolf at CONvergence not only from a business promotion standpoint but also providing more experiences for convention attendees to get into TTRPGs.

I had so much fun at CONvergence this year. It’s always bittersweet when this convention is over, but it gives me something to look forward to every year.