Pokemon Go!

If you've been on social media at all in the last few days, you've probably seen pictures and articles all about Pokemon Go. I was too old when Pokemon because a big thing to get into the cartoon but I did play several of the DS games. Pokemon Sapphire for the Gameboy Advance was my favorite and I still have that game.

Not long ago, Emily discovered the Pokemon cartoons on Netflix and got hooked. The Easter bunny brought her a Pikachu stuffed animal and she has a small collection of Pokemon cards. When this app came out, she was really excited to play.

With me armed with my phone and Emily with her tablet, we walked around our neighborhood a-hunting Pokemon. It took some getting used to but we started to catch them all. On Sunday, we went to three different parks because I was out of pokeballs and needed a pokestop.

Fletcher Park had a ton of pokestops and we caught quite a lot of pokemon. Kate's Park and Jake Rusher Park had a few pokestops and some pokemon too.

We didn't see anyone else playing the game but Emily and I had a lot of fun. I hate to admit it but Emily is much better at the game than I am. She's actually passed me by as she's on level 6 and I'm still on level 5.

I know some people are sick of hearing about Pokemon Go but I think it's refreshing to see my friends having fun with this game. This year has been terrible in a lot of ways, so it's nice to see something happy get some attention.

For now, both Emily and I will continue to try to catch them all!

Swimming!

It's June - school is out and the local pools are open! So Emily and I have been swimming several times.

Most of the parents sit on the edge of the pool or in chairs on the side. But I'm right in the pool, swimming with Emily. In part because she's only five and doesn't swim very well, and in part because I love to swim.

I never understood how people can go to the beach and just lay on the sand without going into the water. I've always loved the water and learned how to swim when I was younger. I'm not a great swimmer but I know how to do it and I've been trying to teach Emily some.

My dad always loved to swim too and he was the one who taught me, though I did take some swimming lessons when I was younger. My mom would swim too but she didn't like it as much as my dad did.

Someday, I'd love a small pool in our backyard so I can swim everyday. But until then, I'm  happy to have a local pool not far away so I can get my swim on!

Camp Fire Girls

Emily wearing my Camp Fire vest

A few days ago a high school friend posted that her mom had passed away. I was a little startled and sad to see that I knew her mom. She had been my leader when I was in Camp Fire Girls and it brought back a lot of memories.

I joined Camp Fire Girls in elementary school. I had briefly been a Girl Scout but my parents switched me to Camp Fire for some reason. I really loved everything about Camp Fire. I learned all kinds of crafty things, made friends and got to go on camping trips.

Every summer, I'd go to day camp for a week and have an overnight stay at the end of the week. We'd cook out over fires and make crafts. I remember one year I made a really ugly clown doll that I named Fred. I still have him - he's in Emily's room in her sea of stuffed animals.

Like Girl Scouts sell cookies, we sold chocolate bars. I'm not a great salesperson even back then so I was never a top seller. But one year I really wanted to go to the special weekend camp out for the top sellers. My mom drove me all around town to sell in different neighborhoods. I still remember one of the streets was Elm Street. I got to my goal and got to go on the special camping trip - it was a lot of fun.

I loved Camp Fire so much that I stuck with it until my freshman year of high school. The only reason I stopped was because I wanted to do the school plays which had rehearsals that conflicted with the Camp Fire meetings.

I have a lot of fond memories and I'm a little sad that North Carolina has no Camp Fire councils so Emily will never be a Camp Fire girl herself.

Snow Day!

Often there will be a lot of hysteria around here when snow is in the forecast. But we've gotten a lot of snow this winter so we knew to hunker down when nearly a foot of snow as called for earlier this week. We didn't get a foot but we got enough that both Emily and Todd had two snow days.

Emily loves the snow, in part because she really hasn't gotten to play in it before. In years past, we'd get some snow but it wouldn't be a lot and it would usually melt the next day. But we got a bunch so a few days ago, I braved the cold to take her out to play.

The first thing she wanted to do was build a snowman, thanks in part to her love of Frozen. The snow was perfect packing snow so we quickly built a snowman. Then Emily decided that her snowman needed a friend so we built another snowman.

After that, she wanted to have a snowball fight. She would pick up big chunks of snow but thankfully her aim was poor and didn't actually hit me. I hit her a few times but my aim was better so I mostly got her in the

back with small snowballs.

We played a little more but I was getting cold and getting a migraine. So we took our bowl that we had brought out to get some snow to make snow ice cream. 

Once we were inside, we took off our wet clothes. Emily was really excited to help me make the snow ice cream. I added too much vanilla so it tasted weird to me. But Emily loved it and that's what matters. We had extra snow in the bowl so Todd tried to make some. His was better but I'm not a huge fan of snow ice cream. But it was fun to make with Emily.

Even though the cold gave me a huge migraine, it was worth it to see Emily's big smiles!

Cosplay and Snobs

An example of piss poor cosplay

So I have another Heroes of Cosplay rant. I love the show for the beautiful costumes, but sometimes the attitudes on the show annoy me to no end.

In this week’s episode we see Monika being uber bitchy at every turn. I’m not sure why and I’m not sure if they edited her to be that way, but her attitude really sucked. Especially when she was so mean to Becky who I think has made some wonderful costumes. Cosplay should be about wearing costumes and having fun, but Monika sucked all the fun out.  It was a shame too since Fushigi Yugi is one of my favorite animes.

Now I’m not a very good cosplayer. I buy costumes and I hobble other ones together. I hand sewed my Kaylee layer cake dress and it turned out ok, but it’s falling apart now. I've had people look down at me for even thinking about making the layer cake because it’s complicated. I was told that I shouldn't do it unless I can sew really well and I got a snotty attitude from another layer cake cosplayer when I marched in the Dragon Con parade a few years ago.

Yes, it was kind of crappy, but it turned out better than I thought. And I had fun wearing it, which is the point of cosplay. Now I wouldn't complete in any of the cosplay contests, especially at Dragon Con, because I know my costumes aren’t that great. But I cosplay to run around in a fun costume.

I wore three costumes at Dragon Con this year. Two of them I bought and one I put together. I didn't get a lot of people asking me to take my picture, but a few people did. I can’t imagine not wearing a costume to Dragon Con and I had fun wearing the ones that I did. Unfortunately, there will be those snobby people who look down at other cosplayers because their costumes might not be as great as theirs.