Well hello everyone.
Sure has been a long time since I have written a blog and I feel like a lot has happened in that time. Lets start out with WorldCon 2018. This was my first convention and my first time in San Jose. I didn't get to see to much of the city but what I saw of it was very nice. Even though San Jose is a big city it didn't that big city feel to me. My wife and I spent most of it downtown by the convention center and stayed in the fabulous Fairfield Hotel. By far the fanciest hotel we have ever stayed in. Of course we didnt spend to much time in the hotel room besides for the evenings. Now for those that don't know WorldCon is a sciene fiction convention based around books. Im more a fantasy guy myself but there are a few things that overlap. Its where they nominate and award the Hugo Awards every year. Like I said I am more a fantasy guy so I hadn't read any of the nominees so I choose not to vote. Before I get to carried away I feel I must say we attended because one of my best friends is currently editing a sci-fi book he wrote and invited us so we mostly went to give him support and hey why not. Everyone can use a nice trip to San Jose right. Anyway he had read lots of the nominees and was really into the whole voting process.
We missed the opening ceremonies cause we flew in a day late but my friend was there and even snuck into a party where George Martin was "holding court" as he put it. He was too scared to go say hi but I like to think if I was there I would have went over and said hi. Who really knows though. I did see him a few times later in the convention but both times I deemed it would have been rude to interrupt what he was doing.
Anywho the evening my wife and I flew in we all went to go see The Winchester Mystery House. It is definitely a very weird old building and I wish I could have seen it before it was damaged in the great earthquake. That was in the 30s if I remember correctly but it doesn't really matter. It was amazing either way. Apparently when they made the movie Winchester they sold the rights to the production company so we were not allowed to take photos of the interior but here are some pics I got from the exterior.
Awesome old school carriage in the back of the house.
Thats my buddy with me in this pic who is writing the book.
My wife got much better pic then I did but I love the architecture of this place. We also took a second more "behind the scenes" tour after the normal one where they take you more into the bones of the house, including the basement, hardhats required and all. Few of the people on the tour, my wife included, got weird vibes from certain parts of the house especially the basement but I tend to be deaf to these sort of things; much to my chagrin. Anyway all in all it was a fantastic tour and if you are ever in San Jose I highly recommend it.
Anyway back to the convention. My wife and I spent most the time browsing all the wonderful booths and spending way to much money. They had lots and lots of books, jewelry, clothes, art, accessories and did I mention books. There were lots of autographed books going for hundreds and hundreds of dollars. My friend was trying to find an autographed copy of It by Stephen King for his wife but alas to no avail. He was willing to spend around $1500 dollars on it too. Crazy in my opinion. I did buy a fantastic original bowler hat from the 30s and some goggles to go with it. Heres a pic of me wearing them.
Do I look dapper or what? Haha
Also there were people in costumes everywhere that were pretty cool and I wish I would have taken more pictures of them but here is one my wife took of me and one of them
He had a very sexy voice when we were whispering to each other during the picture. 😉
There were also lots of panels and discussions to attend and I got to see a display of medieval weaponry and another on bookbinding. We got to make your own little books but mine was a disaster lol. My wifes on the other hand turned out fantastic. I'll let you guess who is the more creative one of the two of us.
Anyway thats about all about the convention but here's a few pics of me in the hotel sauna just because. I absolutely LOVE saunas.
Oh and heres a view from our hotel room, just because.
It was real smoky due to all the fires burning at the time in the northwest. Fantastic trip though.
And in other news I am still in the process of trying to get a job with the electricians union. Few weeks ago I had to take an algebra and a reading comprehension test. It was in a word...brutal. Now I haven't been in school for 20 years now. (Yes yes I am old) I did study for the algebra portion of the test and I thought i was doing well until about halfway through the test I realized I only had 5 minutes left and then starting rushing. I am pretty sure I failed the math part of the test since I didnt even get to about a third of the test but everyone else there seemed to be in the same boat. Good thing they add the two scores together cause I am sure I aced the reading comprehension part of the test cause I got a letter a few days later saying I had, in fact, passed the test. My interview is the 24th of this month so wish me luck. I really need a new job. Mostly due to the fact that I need to get off the night shift and we have a new manager at work that I utterly despise. I find myself daydreaming about doing horrible things to him which I feel isn't good for my mental health. I can't switch jobs to soon though because.......wait for it.....
I am buying a house!!!!!! My wife and I decided to go see how our odds were in getting a home loan and found out we were in fantastic shape so went house hunting. We only looked at about 15-20 houses before we found one we loved and put in an offer. Its currently in escrow waiting for the underwriter to approve everything so keep your fingers crossed I may be a homeowner soon. Been dreaming of this for years now.
Lastly but possibly the most important my wife and I just celebrated our anniversary. We have been married 17 years now. I love my wife more then anything and am so happy we found each other. I hope everyone enjoys the happiness my wife and I found in each other. I truly am blessed. Heres a random picture of my wife I took in San Jose.
I do love her so very much.
Ok I think this blog is quite long enough and kudos to anyone who actually made it through. Once I get my house, hopefully, I will let you all know.
Take care now SG Land
Much love
Yaoth
