Living in Minnesota, it’s beneficial to participate in a winter sport. I’m a figure skater primarily, and my friend’s husband has recently taken up cross-country skiing. Winters in Minnesota can be brutal, so finding a way to enjoy them certainly helps. Occasionally, my team at work schedules team outings to help create a collaborative environment amongst our bigger team. The most recent outing was a trip to the Saint Paul Curling Club. I can’t say that I have been curling before, so I was intrigued as to how this was going to go. I was horrible at curling, and I can confirm this isn’t a secret talent I have. Although I would try curling again in the future, as it was a fun way to pass the time.

While I have seen curling at the Olympics, I barely knew much about the sport. In curling, there are four roles on a team. The first role is the lead. The lead is the one who sends the stone across the ice, hoping the stone will land in the ring. There are two sweepers. Once the stone is released, the sweepers will sweep in front of the stone. Sweeping will warm the ice and extend the path of the stone. Finally, there’s a person at the end of the ice near the ring. This person will try to sweep when the stone extends near a certain line. This can help keep the stone moving, so it moves out of the ring. Each team wants to score points by having its stone in the ring.

When we arrived, we had a twenty-minute instruction on how to curl. There was a video combined with an on-ice demonstration. With curling, there are things added to the ice to aid in traction. It wasn’t like walking on a figure skating rink, which is what I was afraid of, as I didn’t want to fall. I was nervous, to begin with. While we were taught what to do, it’s a whole different story to have your body perform the motions for the first time. I think the toughest part for me was doing the curling portion. There are certain blocks that your feet align with, and then you lunge into a position on the ice to release the stone. I think it took me five different false starts to finally figure it out.

Curling, in a lot of ways, reminded me of putting in golf. It’s a delicate balance of releasing the stone with enough force, so it glides into the ring, but not too much because then it will slide too quickly and pass the ring altogether. I’m a terrible putter in golf because I always misjudge the distance to the hole, and curling was no different. It was nice because most of my work team had never curled before either, so we could all learn together. I didn’t feel intimidated that I was the only one who sucked at the sport.

I was a little shocked at how much curling felt like exercise. There’s the lunging into position to slide the stone, along with the actual sweeping portion. My Fitbit recognized that I was exercising, but wasn’t quite sure what to log the exercise as. I found myself running after the stone on the ice, which led me to breathe a little harder. It looks so easy watching curling compared to trying to replicate the movements in person.

In the end, I didn’t score at all for my team. My team did win, but not because I helped at all. I would consider curling again, especially if it gives me something to do in winter.

I’m fortunate to have friends and family all across the United States. It allows me to travel cheaply and safely. Last weekend, I drove to Kansas City to attend Planet Comicon. I have been to Planet Comicon three times, including this trip. Every time I go, I stay with my cousin, who is gracious enough to put up with me for a few days. I always go to the convention on Friday only, so then I can explore Kansas City with him on Saturday before driving home. I wanted to summarize Planet Comicon, along with sharing pictures of my weekend in Kansas City.

For Planet Comicon, I cosplayed as Harley Quinn. I shared a little bit of my process a few weeks ago, but now I’ve got to try it out! For Harley, I did a makeup trial a week before the convention. This allowed me to try out different types of makeup styles. Additionally, Harley’s makeup has more eyeliner, and I typically don’t wear eyeliner all that much. I felt like I had to re-teach myself how to put on makeup. Doing the makeup trial was well worth my time. I felt that on the day of the convention, I was able to put on my makeup faster, so I didn’t take as long to get ready. The only thing I would do differently is the wig. I felt that the wig I ordered was uncomfortable to wear throughout the day. In between conventions, I will probably order a new wig if I cosplay this version of Harley again.

Normally, I attend Planet Comicon by myself. This year was a little different. My cousin moved in with his partner, and her daughter also attends Planet Comicon. It was fun to roam around the convention with someone else and have someone to talk to. She’s a huge anime fan, so I got to hear about her interests, and she would explain cosplays to me if I didn’t understand the reference. There was one cosplay from a manga called Chainsaw Man, which I had never heard of before. The cosplay was awesome! There was a foam chainsaw on his head and bloodied foam chainsaws on his arms. I was impressed.

Besides the convention, my cousin and I did some exploration around Kansas City. Every time I visit, I end up doing something different. We went out for lunch at a new BBQ place that I haven’t tried. Tin Kitchen is a BBQ place located in an old historic building. I ordered a beer, along with a pulled pork sandwich and mac and cheese. It was delicious! After that, we drove to the Harry S. Truman Presidential Library to check out the museum. It was fascinating since Truman took over when FDR passed away. There was a lot that happened during Truman’s presidency, including the atomic bombs, the Korean War, and the Red Scare, to name a few events. Once we finished at the Truman Presidential Library, we drove to one of my favorite breweries, Boulevard Brewing Company. Like Minneapolis, Kansas City has its share of breweries. Boulevard is one of my favorites, their tap room is huge! I had their Space Camper IPA, which was featured at Planet Comicon. After Boulevard, we went out to eat at a Mexican restaurant before unwinding for the rest of the day.

Planet Comicon was so fun! I always have a great time visiting Kansas City, as it’s one of my favorite US cities to visit. I can’t wait for my next trip.

Two weeks ago, I visited a close friend of mine who lives a few hours away. She lives in a smaller town outside of the Twin Cities. As we were planning what to do for the weekend, she let me know that there was a small business event where small businesses in the area were offering discounts throughout the day. I thought that could be fun as I like window shopping. I ended up with a small haul of sorts, so I figured I’d share everything that I found.

The Call of Cthulhu Purse

This is probably my favorite purchase of the day. We were at a bookstore, and my friend spotted these purses based on the book covers. This purse shows the cover of one of H.P. Lovecraft’s infamous stories, The Call of Cthulhu. This purse is cross-body, which is an absolute must for me. It’s also surprisingly bigger than I expected and can fit my phone, wallet, keys, and Chapstick comfortably. I always like showing off elements of geekdom in the things I wear, so this purse fits well into my closet.

Titans Hunt Issues #1-8

After purchasing the Call of Cthulhu purse, we went to the second bookstore of the day. This bookstore has more of a vintage feel to it. There are records and CDs for sale, along with comics, towards the back of the store. There are these white long boxes, but instead of having single-issue comics, there are comic bundles with a complete story. I found this Teen Titans series for relatively cheap. I can’t wait to start reading the series.

The Secret History of Wonder Woman

It should come as no surprise that Wonder Woman is one of my favorite comic book heroes. I have cosplayed as her several times, with various differences between each cosplay. I found this book, and it was a must-buy for me. It’s a non-fiction book explaining Wonder Woman’s history throughout the years. I plan on reading this book this month, in between all the events I have in March.

I’m happy with my purchases! I have a new purse to carry around and new things to read. This was a successful shopping trip!

I wanted to start this post by telling a story. Writing my blog is a hobby of mine, and it’s something that I’m proud of. I decided to be brave and share a blog post I wrote on LinkedIn. Within twenty minutes, I had someone comment on the blog post that I shared. They had written “Too Pornish” in the comments. This was someone with whom I wasn’t previously connected, so I had no idea who this person was. I immediately felt a flush of embarrassment and deleted the post linking back to my blog. I didn’t think much of it, but then I tried to access my blog through work to gather some pictures for an About Me presentation. My work had blocked my website because it was deemed an adult site. I laughed, and it clicked why that person commented “Too Pornish”. It made me think, is my blog name too sexual?

When I told my friend I was thinking about starting a blog, she helped me come up with the name. The first name I picked was “The Geeky Iceskater.” The name didn’t feel right to me, but I wanted to start writing as soon as possible. My friend helped me figure out some other blog name contenders, and she came up with Bizarre Brunette. It clicked, and I knew immediately that was the blog name I wanted. It’s funny how Bizarre and Brunette on their own aren’t sexual words, yet when they are put together, it becomes “Pornish” as this one man described. It makes me slightly uncomfortable how something that was a hobby of mine has suddenly become sexualized, which was never my intention, to begin with.

I mentioned earlier how I liked that Bizarre Brunette was feminine. The reason this matters is because of the harassment I have faced both in person and online over my hobbies. I have been made to feel unwelcome at comic book stores, even though I love reading comics. When I started playing video games, I was told that I was doing it to get attention from men, even though gaming helped me destress after a long day. I was harassed online because I chose a gamertag that was feminine. I have had people question if I’m truly a fan of something if I wear a pop culture t-shirt. It’s been draining to be made to feel like I don’t belong.

As a side note, I’m a cis, white woman, so the amount of harassment I have faced is substantially less than that of other women. There’s still work that needs to happen so that all women can feel welcome in comics, video games, and geek culture in general.

I was mulling this around, but I don’t see myself ever changing my blog name. If I ever do a rebranding, it could potentially happen in the future, but I have no plans right now. I’m going to continue writing about the topics that I’m passionate about because I want women to feel more welcome in these spaces. Unfortunately for the random guy on LinkedIn, Bizarre Brunette will continue to exist even though it might be Too Pornish.

I’m excited to say that I will be attending Gen Con in 2023! For those who are unfamiliar, Gen Con is the largest gaming convention in the US. There are so many different gaming events occurring, along with the biggest vendor hall I have ever seen. There’s so much going on at Gen Con that I find that there is something for everyone. I have been to Gen Con once, and I have always had it on my radar to go back. I may end up writing a few posts here and there as Gen Con gets closer. To start, I wanted to share the journey of attending Gen Con and why this con means so much to me despite only attending for one year.

In 2019, a few of my friends approached me about going to Gen Con as they felt that I would like the convention. Gen Con takes place in Indianapolis, which is only a nine-hour drive for me. I didn’t want to drive all that way myself, so I invited my brother to come with me. It was comforting to have him to talk to during the drive, and it was great to be able to experience this with someone else for the first time. When I first arrived at Gen Con on Thursday, I was amazed. Food trucks were lining the entrance of the convention, which is pretty smart considering gamers need to eat. I was in line waiting to get into the vendor hall on the first day, and the crowd behind us was one of the largest crowds I have ever been a part of. Another amazing part was how much there was to experience. Gen Con was hosting a brewery tour, a 5k, and other non-gaming events. I have never heard of a convention having that many events occurring simultaneously.

Immediately after getting home from Gen Con, I knew that I wanted to go back. My friends and I were planning on attending Gen Con in 2020, which obviously did not happen. Our group kept in touch throughout the years of the pandemic. Both 2021 and 2022 were a miss as the pandemic was still around, and there’s no denying that there would be a crowd. When I reached out to my friends this year, they were adamant that they wanted to return to Gen Con. All of our passes have been bought, and our hotel room has been booked. It will be nice to stay at a hotel on-site for parking and be able to walk to and from the convention at any time.

I cannot wait for Gen Con, and I’m so happy to be going back. I know my brother is looking forward to it, too, and it’s been great to be able to spend time with my brother as well.

Football isn’t necessarily my favorite sport to watch. I’m personally more of a baseball fan with my devotion to the Minnesota Twins. To be fair, I have never been to an NFL Football game at any major stadium. One of my coworkers was selling her tickets to the Saturday, December 17th, Vikings game versus the Colts. I jumped at the chance to see The Vikings live because I haven’t been to US Bank Stadium. Watching this game in person was incredible, especially because the Minnesota Vikings broke an NFL record.

As the game started, the Vikings were having a rough time. At halftime, the score was 33-0, with the Vikings not scoring anything. Fans were pissed! Our seats were in the season ticket holders’ section, and there was a lot of swearing and frustration that could be heard. Being in this section was pretty entertaining. There was someone doing commentary in the back row of our section, and his comments made us all laugh.

As the second half progressed, the same commentator would say “four touchdowns to win” or “three touchdowns to win”. Throughout the game, the Vikings kept scoring. The game started with “there’s no way the Vikings can come back from this” to “the Vikings have a chance.” The energy in the stadium increased as the Vikings kept scoring. Eventually, it got to the point where the Vikings scored a touchdown, and the score was 36-34. The Vikings needed the two-point conversion to tie the game. There was silence in the stadium as we all watched what would happen. The Vikings did it, and everyone cheered. It was time to move the game into overtime.

At this point, I’m sweaty, and my heart is beating out of my chest. My Fitbit recorded this as a workout for the day; that’s how energized I was. Overtime began, and the Vikings won the coin toss. Winning the coin toss in overtime is crucial because if you score first, you win. However, the Vikings didn’t score when they had the ball. This meant the Colts had a chance to score. The Vikings stopped them, and we got the ball back. At this point, fans are absolutely jumping up from their seats and standing to watch the game.

The Vikings kept moving the ball down the field, which put them in field goal range. This was it. If the Vikings kicker had made this field goal, we would have won the game. If the kicker missed, the Colts would have another chance, and that could cost us the game. It was maddening watching this play out, but then we saw the ball soar through the yellow goalposts. It was on the big screen at US Bank Stadium that we won! I was cheering and screaming in excitement. Fans in our row came over to high-five us. I couldn’t believe it! I couldn’t believe I was at a game where the Vikings came back from zero to win the game in overtime. I didn’t realize it was an NFL record until the announcers stated this in their commentary. On top of that, the Vikings won the NFC North Championship, which meant that the Vikings were at the top of their division. This hasn’t happened since 2017.

As a side note, I wanted to know what record we surpassed. In 1993, the Houston Oilers came back to win the game in a 32-point comeback.

I’m in awe. I can’t believe I was at this game. This is something I will never forget.

November was such a busy month for me! For me, that’s pretty unusual since I’m normally busy during the peak fall season, i.e., September and October. Last month, one of my best friends got married, and I was so happy to be included in all the festivities. I had this post in my draft for a while because I was waiting for the photos to come back, and they are such beautiful pictures.

The photos were taken at a hotel in downtown Minneapolis, so we had the skyline in the background. When we took this photo, it was 32 degrees out, so we were all shivering next to each other. Photos always manage to tell a story and bring back lovely memories.

Throughout my blog posts, I repeat myself every now and then. One of the things I will continue to say is that I’m so fortunate to have my friends. My friendships have carried through my teenage years, through college, and now as we continue into our adult lives. New friends have been added to the mix, and some friends I have grown apart from. With all of that being said, I have a good group of friends, and I couldn’t imagine my life without them.