GenCon: You're a Rockstar

This is the first of several entries on my trip to GenCon 2015. I wanted to break them into smaller (ha!) bits for consumption. I just have so much to say about so many things.

What was on my mind the most, though, was, well. . . the people at GenCon. No, not those of us commoners who go there for the games, but the other people. The game designers, publishers, and personalities. Plus, I have to make some personal excuses for my own. . . I guess you could say, weirdness.

First of all, let me say. . . game designers, publishers, and other game personalities, you are ROCKSTARS! When I see you in the hall, at a booth, walking right in front of me. . .I can't contain my "excitement." I kind of can't not say "OH! SO-AND-SO!" in a kind of loud, excited way. Then I instinctively cover my mouth in a moment of humiliating "wtf me." Or, let's say, I start to stutter and back-talk over myself and get all tongue-tied. That moment of JELL-O brain that occurs when you are starstruck!

For those who don't get it, it's like your favorite boyband just walked in front of you or you saw Robert Downey, Jr. and Chris Pratt sitting at the table next to you eating burgers and fries. Yes, they are normal people, just like everyone else, but to you, these people are special! They deserve to be honored and revered! That is what these game people are to gamers.

Sadly, I have to peep. Sadly, it scares people. Sadly, I look like a total dork. At the same time, I hope you know your fans show their love and appreciation in different forms. Sometimes from afar with a smile and sometimes a shocked "YOUR NAME" as you literally pass right in front of them or appear right next to them. You are THAT amazing.

I wanted to start by saying that the people at GenCon are Rockstars. It's like going to the biggest tabletop game concert in the United States. The outfits are loud (yes, even the everyday outfit), the hair (whether on the head or the face) is representin' and the sound of the dice or the shuffle of the cards are a sweet, sweet solo riff.

Here are the ROCKSTARS I encountered at GenCon this year. Some from a distance and some personally.

Internet Personalities

• Boardgame Corner - Mark
• Ran into Mark in the Exhibit Hall. I saw him first and kind of awkwardly stopped him, but my husband talked to him. I smiled and participated in a non-verbal way. Great guy and seriously busy. Saw him EVERYWHERE! Even saw him at Wil Wheaton's Titansgrave Event. He actually gave Wheaton something and I was like "woah.... he's so cool." Um... to both guys. We met Mark last year, too, and he's still rockin' the Con hardcore. If he had a FitBit, I bet it exploded!
• Drive Thru Review - Joel
• Another at-a-distance moment where I let my husband talk. Mostly because my husband and Joel exchange tweets a lot. Now Joel can put faces with funny twitter handles. We love Joel's work and follow him. A great and funny guy! Plus, he's a total workhorse. He suffered the horrible heat of the hall and recorded so much stuff. Always so much work. You rock!
• Undead Viking - Lance
• I was standing in line for some food at one of the trucks and I was being that super awesome karma-earning person who leaves space between myself and the person in front of me so that the crowd can pass through. Karma smiled down on me and Undead Viking walked through! I stumbled as I said "oh my god, Undead Viking!" He paused, turned, and shook my hand. Totally remembered me as a nun from last year. It was just a quick exchange and some praise for him. Surprisingly, we ended up next to them in the hall on the floor eating and my husband said hi to him, and Mrs. Undead Viking and I talked food. Saw him again later in the con and waved. Love his work and he's a super awesome guy. 
• Watch it Played - Rodney
• The last day of the con. . . sitting debating over trying to go to our reservation early and I saw him emerge from the mist of people exiting the exhibit hall. I slapped my husband across the chest and gestured, saying loudly, "Look! Look! Rodney! He's there!" I urged him to go say hi and off he went. They talked and my husband pointed at me. Hilarious tidbit, they met each other in the same spot last year, too. Nicest guy IN THE WORLD! Happy Day!

Game Designers

• Bruno Faidutti - Mission: Red Planet, Citadels, Incan Gold, Warehouse 51 (Just to name a few.)
• He was signing stuff and I basked in his awesomeness from a distance.
• Chris Cieslik (Asmadi Games) - Consequential, Red7
• Taught us Consequential, which was really a great deal of fun.
• Chris Handy - Pack O Games: GEM, FLY, BUS, HUE, LIE, SHH, TKO, TAJ
• Talked to the other person at the booth, but shared an exchanged nod and smile. Love these little games.
• Ignacy Trzewiczek (Portal Games) - Robinson Crusoe, Imperial Settlers, Neuroshima Hex
• We were having coffee near the Mayfair entrance to the ICC and playing some small games while we waited for the hall to open on Sunday. We looked over and saw him. Didn't want to interrupt his morning, so I tweeted my fangirl love.
• Mike Selinker (Lone Shark Games) -  Pathfinder ACG, Betrayal at House on the Hill, Lords of Vegas, 12 Days, Unspeakable Words (Just to name a few... seriously.... this guy is like... a god!)
• My husband and I were at Steak n' Shake and we were eating and playing Love Letter: Batman. My husband looked up and saw him. As we were preparing to leave, he politely nudged him and apologized for interrupting, but had to express our love of his creative genius and let him know we backed Apocrypha ACG. Fistbumps and hurrahs!
• Mike Richie (Rather Dashing Games) - Dwarven Miner, Pirates, Ninjas, Robots & Zombies, Graveyards, Ghosts, & Haunted Houses
• Met Ms. Richie first (when I essentially bought one of every game. One copy for my school kids and an additional of my already owned so my club kids could have their own copy) and then she brought her husband over. I had met both him and Grant last year at their booth and I have their business cards still in my wallet. I gushed about being a fan and how I have turned all my club kids into fans. I also revealed that I used their games as Mentor Games in my Calkins game unit. I had a mental moment later in the con, though, when he appeared next to me on the floor of the hall eating (my friend was blocking him) and I blurted out "OH HI!" and caused him to pause mid-get-up. I'm so awkward sometimes. I <3 them, though and I am definitely a #fan4life . Grant Wilson was super busy working the sales booth and I have no idea how to approach him without feeling awkward. I mean, he's here for his games and his company and his book and all the work he's been doing with Mike and I want to respect what he's here doing. At the same time, it's because of his time on Ghost Hunters that I was able to learn about this super cool game company! Maybe next year I'll be more gutsy and talk, but I always hate to interrupt his work time for the games with ghost time gushing despite my shared passion for the paranormal.
• Ryan Laukat (Red Raven Games) - Empires of the Void, Above and Below, Artifacts, Inc.
• I hovered while my husband talked to him about Empires of the Void. Ryan said it's reprinting/2nd addition and it'll be almost a whole new game, because he's got lots of new ideas and has a new set of thought processes. Very friendly. 
• Steve Kenson (Green Ronin) - ICONS Superpowered Roleplaying
• I wanted help with looking at some interesting and unique roleplaying games for my students and this one seemed perfect and aligned with some great writing strategies we use in our curriculum. Steve was extremely helpful and friendly when discussing this option.

Seriously Famous

• Trace Beaulieu (MST3K) - Crow-T Robot; Dr. Clayton Forrester
• Another at a distance fan moment for me. I've met him before and, let me say, he's amazing. Fangirl since it first started airing. I also have his book, which is hilarious and we've read it to our daughter. He was just swamped and aside from an additional "You're amazing, thank you for all you do," I had nothing new to say. My respect and love are out there in the universe.
• Anne Wheaton - Internet Personality, Sharknado 2
• Sweetest, most gorgeous lady and I'll discuss this in a later entry. OMG so sweet.
• Wil Wheaton - Internet Geek Personality, Star Trek: The Next Generation, Stand By Me, Big Bang Theory, Tabletop, Titansgrave (and so much more......)
• Future entry.

All the cool Cosplayers who Performed as Awesome People

Sidenote: My husband said I was being rather self-deprecating in the above description of my behavior, but in reality, I feel that way about me, because of the excessive fun-made-at-my-expense for having some FanGirl moments over my Fandom! You will see this kind of personal analysis a great deal, because I am excessively hard on myself for everything (except games... I lose those and as long as I had fun, could really care less). On the flipside, hopefully you'll find it humorous.

What Does the Shark say?

My daughter (3) likes to pretend that she's a shark. . . or a dog. . . depending on the day and time. She's got the puppy noises down, because we have a dog who she mimics. We don't, though, have a shark. Additionally, I've tried to convince her that sharks are the soundless predator. They don't make any kind of noise, which is why they are so scary.

Not to encourage the idea that I had her thinking that sharks are scary, I'd like to back-up my story for a second. My daughter and I have had a long love-affair with sharks. I had started taking her to the Chicago Aqarium when she was only six months old. Then we took her to Sea World when she was almost two and almost three. There is also "shark" on Word World on PBS Kids. Finally, there was the classic Sharknado that aired over the summer. She heard mommy and daddy constantly talking about it and making jokes and she watched the trailer with us. Mommy also got a shirt with a Sharknado on it and she loves to point out that there are sharks on mommy's shirt.

Even before my daughter was born, I had been passionate about sharks. I had wanted to be a marine biologist and study sharks. This was during my time in elementary school. It didn't work out that way for me, but it's still something I'm passionate about. I always geek-out a little when I see an article in the news about sharks or it's Shark Week on Discovery Channel (um. . . except this year, which kind of sucked with all this overly dramatized stuff).

My daughter, though, is beyond fascinated by them, demanding we see them whenever we can. It was a wonderful day for her when she got to meet a shark in person and talk to them. Not only did she get to pet real sharks swimming in a shallow petting-pool, but she got to meet a Land Shark. The Land Shark gave her a temporary tattoo and she was in heaven all day. She even needed to purchase replica sharks in the gift shop at the Myrtle Beach Ripley's Aquarium after her encounter. This little kid just LOVES sharks!

So for my daughter to be into sharks and want to pretend to be a shark, was a-okay with me. Yet, when she's pretending to be this vicious, yet friendly, predator, she "swims" around saying "Shark, shark" and substitutes all English words with "shark," but speaks in proper sentence structure, so you know exactly what she's saying despite the swapping out of words. I begged and pleaded with her to give it up and I tried to use toddler-logic to encourage her to see my way on this. Sadly, I don't think this "toddler-logic" is a real thing and I couldn't make my convincing arguments work.

Instead, I pulled up the classic John Williams score to the original JAWS and let her listen to the classic, first 55 seconds.

She was smitten! Trying to open her mouth as wide as the shark on the poster and demanding to hear the shark song over and over again. When I asked her, "What does a shark say?" she actually was "singing" back the score!

This then prompted my husband to engage the hilarious "What does the fox say?" He turned it into a "What does the shark say?" spoof and the sounds like the  26 - 30  second marks with the first french horn spot.  I wish I could duplicate it or that my stubborn husband would let me record his genius, geeky quip moment! It was so brilliant and caused us to erupt into all kinds of laughter. Then, of course, we had to watch the video and my daughter just laughed and laughed.

The moral of the story? It's good to be a geek mom. Look at all the cultural stuff my toddler just engaged with in a positive and self-affirming way without gender-stereotyping or bias. I love that I can do these things with her and it's fun for everyone. . . and I can hear John Williams instead of a shrill "shark, shark" during imaginary play time.

The T-Shirt Treatise (con't.)

A while back I wrote about how I wanted to use t-shirts as a teaching tool in my classroom. Of course I was being a bit hyperbolic at times and not every shirt was a direct link to the classroom. I have now, though, had the time to start using the shirts in the classroom during certain lessons and on certain days and I wanted to share some of the results that I've collected from the use of the shirts (plus add a few shirts that were recently released by snorgtees.com).

I did wear this on International Talk Like a Pirate Day. It was awesome. I had a whole list of pirate lingo and the students had to write pirate stories using the story dice in my class and an awesome pirate name generator. And we used the shirt as a joke and the hook them to the awesomeness of the day. It was a win-win situation and it was a lot of fun. They were trying to figure out the shirt and we talked about why the pirate crossword puzzle would look like this and how hard it would be to solve. Hilarious! A definite shirt to wear again next year for International Talk Like a Pirate Day!

My students were working on plot in the narratives they are writing. My seventh graders were working on a plot for the origin stories they were writing for their super heroes. Whenever I had a student say they were done, I'd always say "Cool story bro, needs more dragons." It usually meant they were missing the action in the story. They just told me some things, but nothing ever really happened in the story. Plus, many of them needed excitement and we talked about that in one-on-ones to help them improve their writing. The students also got a kick out of the fact that my shirt said "bro." While I don't know how memorable the t-shirt will be, it was a fun way to break the tension for ushering in a need for revisions.

My students are struggling to understand what literally and figuratively mean. So when I ask them to tell me what the idiom of the week LITERALLY means, they give me the idiom definition. When, literally, it means "to hit a sack" or to "find a needle in a haystack," instead of "go to bed" or "finding something small in a big place/area." If I am figuratively speaking, I am using "coded" language to explain something. It was an interesting discussion. Does it bother me that people say "literally"? According to this shirt, no. I'll be wearing it again, especially when we're working on figurative language throughout the year in both of my grade level literacy classes. It doesn't hurt that red is our school color, either.


This shirt was a fun puzzle shirt for my kids. The students who are keeping their eye out for what I'm wearing were already trying to solve the puzzle before I ever even introduced it. I  used this t-shirt on the day we were starting spelling in the classroom. Someone said "I don't get it." I flattened the shirt and let them take a moment thinking about it. I said, "Don't words usually follow the 'I before E' pattern, except after a C where the E would come before the I? Don't you think that's wEIrd?" It was great the students won't forget weird, but I used it as a reminder that the "ie" combination doesn't always go "ie," It might follow the "ei" pattern. That is why we are learning features in spelling, so that they can be aware of the certain types of word structures that occur naturally in the English language. It is a great thinking shirts where the students have to start applying what they know to solve the problem. It also causes that kind of awareness that they need to start developing to be more participatory members of a productive community.

This is a Friday or before a break shirt. Sometimes you just need just exude an indifference to high stress situations. Sixth graders can be incredibly worrisome over things that don't necessitate worrying. I have found this has a tendency to stem from not listening to directions or guidelines. It happens. So I have to "meh away the stress." Plus the kids laugh and I have a tendency to say it alot. It helps facilitate a positive atmosphere before the weekends (especially for me).

What? A Sharknado shirt? Yes! My students were working on their narratives again and I wore this shirt as a reminder of how EPIC they needed to be! I said "we're going to need a bigger classroom with all these amazing ideas!" It worked for my students writing a standard narrative AND those who were working on their super hero origin stories.



This is the shirt I am anticipating the most. While teaching spelling this last week, my students had to deal with certain spelling features which focused on vowel/consonant combinations. So, for example the long a using the CVCe word pattern. (Yeah, it's a little intense, I think, as far as spelling is concerned.) As a review, I asked the students, what are the vowels. . . they are sixth graders. . . and they were like "It's like. . . a-w-sometimes y." I mean, they kept saying w. . . and it made me wonder what disconnect happened where they thought u was w. So I went home that night and I saw this shirt on  snorgtees.com and knew it was a must. Here are all the vowels that are always counted, partying inside and Y is only invited sometimes. Love it! Hopefully they'd never forget it. We'll just assume they're drinking soda and punch. What? You thought it was alcohol? Shame on you! Be an adult!


Now that I'm getting to wears my shirts in the classroom, it's wonderful to see that my plan for hooking the students is seriously working. My peer coach also recommended having reference posters that remind the students about some of the t-shirts. I'm not sure what I want to do about that. Either way, I am loving being able to wear my t-shirts in the classroom. Complete with dress pants! It's a great idea for use in your classroom if you're a teacher, especially in middle school.

Sharknado: Tweet-frenzy

 Last night I ended up exercising my weak MST3K muscle by tweeting live during the SyFy Channel's epic Sharknado! With all the buzz and alot of joking about the upcoming movie, I couldn't help but be drawn to it. With some minor protest and ribbing from my husband, I was ready to go at 8PM (central standard time) with my twitter feed open and my wit at a dull sheen.

Can I just say, I haven't had so much fun watching such a bad movie in a long time! Well, that's not fair. I haven't had that much fun watching a made-for-tv movie in a long time. Confirms for me that riffing bad movies is absolutely the best soup for the soul!

As this blog clearly shows, I'm not the most veteran geek and I'm hardly a tech geek, so um . .. have pity on the below sharing. Start at the bottom and work your way up. Thanks and I hope you can enjoy some of what I have to offer here. Like I said, it was a great experience and I absolutely loved every minute of it. Even the untweeted banter between my husband and I. Here's a BuzzFeed article with some of the creme-de-la-creme of the tweets from last night.