Aki-con 2013: Snapshots

I'm going to admit something here: Sometimes I'm not as strong as I make myself out to be on the internet. Sure, I'm strong, and I have a thick skin, but over the course of Fangasm being on TV and all of the hatred I received there were some moments where I just wanted to hide under my blankets and cry. I had kind of isolated myself from all of my friends because I've been so busy lately, so I was living on the internet and despite myself I was falling prey to some of the cruelty that has been thrown my way for being an outspoken feminist on television.

Aki-con is a small convention here in Seattle, down at a hotel in Seatac. This year they were kind enough to invite me as a guest, so I did a lot of signings and Q&As. I got a hotel room with some of my closest Seattle friends and the entire thing was just so, so good for my soul. I went from feeling lonely and sad to feeling completely fulfilled and happy.

I'm so lucky to be surrounded by strong, outspoken, brilliant women who aren't catty and are a great support network for one another. I feel like sometimes I forget that I have that and start feeling sorry for myself, and this weekend reminded me to suck it up and be super thankful for what I have. It's amazing what good company, good conversation, and an overload of geekiness can do for a girl!

I also made some great new friends, like that brunette babe covered in geeky ink in the above photographs. She's an extremely talented cosplayer known as Feoranna. She and I are getting married, just fyi. And I also spent some time with amazing voice actor David Vincent, who is a truly genuine individual and gave me some really good advice on my career.

Basically, Aki-con was everything I needed... and now I'm super energized and ready for Stan Lee's Comikaze next week where I get to re-unite with all of the Fangasm crew since we filmed our promos back in July! YAY!

Adventures: The Ballard Locks and Fish Ladder in Seattle

Those are huge salmon!

What happens when I try to do a self portrait with Gregg -_-

My dress: Urban Outfitters (Similar) // Galaxy Leggings: Romwe (Similar) // Sunglasses: Nasty Gal (Similar) // Boots: Thrifted (Similar) // Denim Jacket: Thrifted (Similar) // Quartz Necklace: Etsy (Similar) // Cat Bag: eBay

One of my favorite things is playing tourist in my own city.  Seattle has no shortage of interesting destinations, and even though I've lived here close to 4 years, there's still a lot of places I haven't visited. On Saturday Gregg and I decided to go to the Ballard Locks and Fish Ladder. The Ballard Locks is a passage from the sea to the boat canal, and it's very interesting to watch the water levels change and the boats come and go. On top of that, the Locks are also home to the Fish Ladder, a man made salmon spawning area. As many of you probably know, salmon swim upstream to spawn. So Seattle made its own upstream rapids for salmon to come lay eggs in! It's REALLY amazing - there's spawning salmon everywhere, and you can go underground and see them through a viewing window!

I was raised in Alaska and I'm VERY familiar with salmon, so I was entirely smitten by the experience. I think I could happily go back and spend hours there, just watching the fish doing their thing.

Oh, I haven't talked about Gregg on the Geeky Peacock yet, have I? We met about a month ago via OkCupid and it quickly became apparent that the two of us needed to be dating, stat. We have a ridiculous amount of things in common (he has a tattoo of my favorite manga on his arm!!), have well aligned life goals/philosophies, etc. Suffice to say... I'm very happy. Oh, and he's in an excellent band that you should check out: Golden Gardens. Isn't he handsome? ;-)

Do you guys have any suggestions of places I should play tourist in Seattle or the surrounding areas (besides the obvious)?

On Tidepooling and Cute Sea Creatures!

Last weekend I took my friend Adam tidepooling for the first time. He had never been before, so his childlike wonder when we flipped rocks and found the teeming life underneath was absolutely adorable. It reminded me of my childhood in Alaska when tidepooling completely consumed my summers - wait for the low tide and run out onto the beach, flipping over rocks willy nilly to expose the tiny worlds that laid underneath.

If you're never been tidepooling before or don't know what it is, it's simple... really! Whenever the tide goes out (especially to the minus tides, basically any tide below 0) and exposes the rocks that are usually underwater, small sea creatures take cover in the pools of water that collect in rock crags. To avoid existing in a seagull's stomach, they all congregate underneath rocks and wait until the tide rises again. This makes it a perfect opportunity for curious humans who DON'T want to eat the animals (well, I would hope not!) to flip over the rocks and see what's hiding underneath! Crabs, shrimp, little fish, pillbugs, gross worms, sea anemones, gunnels... I've even found octopus in the past! It's one of my favorite activities, and I love seeing what the beach has to offer every low tide.

Some important things to remember if you decide to try tidepooling:

• Bring gloves. Most of the rocks you want to flip are encrusted in barnacles, which will completely destroy your hands if they're not protected.
• Flip over rocks that are not stuck in sand or flush to the ground. The more space beneath them, the better! The long, flat ones are generally the best.
• Don't hurt the animals underneath! It's okay to gently pick them up and look at them (if they let you), but don't poke, prod, squish, or feed to seagulls! It's a complicated ecosystem - DON'T BE THAT GUY.
• Flip the rocks back over!! I cannot stress this ENOUGH. Once you're done looking under the rock, PUT IT BACK. Otherwise the seagulls are going to reap your bounty and all of your tiny new friends will be dinner for pesky birds!

This goes without saying, but if you want to go tidepooling find a ROCKY beach. Sandy beaches obviously have nothing more than sandworms if you dig deep enough. If you're in the Seattle area, one of my favorite beaches for a quick jaunt is the point at Alki - it has a ton of rocks at low tide.

As for seeing WHEN the low tides are, you can either get a tide almanac, check online, or use an app. I use an AWESOME little app called TideGraph, where you can input your preferred beach. It shows you precisely when the low and high tides are!

What about you guys? Have you ever been tidepooling? Where? Did you find anything amazing? I love hearing people's stories!

Did you really think that would work? OR: That time I punched a dude in the dick at a bar

I'm the sort of girl who can feel comfortable in any social situation. Clubs, anime conventions, uncomfortable parties with no music and socially awkward people... I go out of my way to put myself in many different life scenarios, because I am a "tourist". I like observing other human beings, and I like existing in moments that could be good fodder for stories in the future.

In many ways, this makes me an atypical geek girl. While I mostly stick to my conventions and cosplayer parties, I still stray outside of the norm and go to clubs and bars and after parties. I'm just as comfortable in a tight dress and high heels at a club as I am in spandex and boots at a convention. Thus, this "chameleon" like quality I possess has given me many different life experiences... and they're not all necessarily entertaining.

Due to constantly putting myself "out there", I've dealt with my fair share of sexual harassment, rape culture, and misogynist behavior. As an intense advocate of feminism, I have zero qualms of calling people out on their ickiness. I've yelled at guys who try to neg me at bars - I educate dudes who send me weird messages on dating websites about how what they're doing is completely unacceptable. But a few days ago I experienced something completely new.

This past weekend was Pride in Seattle, an amazing citywide celebration of LGBT rights. It was especially insane after the amazing collapse of DoMA, and people were out in droves. Trails of glitter lined the streets, everyone was holding hands, and the entire thing was all kinds of magical and positive. Naturally, I was out on the town with one of my closest friends, soaking up the atmosphere and having a great time.

Late on Saturday night I stumbled into my favorite Seattle bar - the Unicorn - only to discover an epic dance party was going on downstairs. As a great lover of shaking what my mama gave me, I dove in immediately. A tall man with dreadlocks yelled "you're sexy!" and I grinned at him, dancing in his general direction. He began to dance behind me - and while I am not the "grinding" type, I let him put his hands upon my waist and wiggle behind me. This I was okay with.

Suddenly, his hands were no longer on my waist and they were roving up my thighs, pushing my dress up. I grabbed his hands and threw them off of me, and he apologized in my ear. "You're just so sexy!" he said, and I rolled my eyes and yelled "don't touch me!". Foolishly, I believed that was the end of it. My best friend was dancing in front of me, facing me, so I felt safe within the crowd because she could see what this guy was doing.

He started to dance again, hands back on my hips. Safe. Then, again: he grabbed my hand and pulled it behind me, placing it upon his penis. He was fully erect and practically bursting out of his pants, and I yanked my hand away and screamed "WHAT THE FUCK". Before I could think to react, he pushed my hair off of my neck and said "Just for a second, just for a second!" and grabbed my hand again, shoving it into his cock for a second time.

I punched him. I punched that motherfucker in the dick so hard that it was like I was a heroine in a martial arts movie. And then I streaked through the crowd, adrenaline pumping through me as I heard him yell "you BITCH!"

I should have grabbed the bouncer, but to be honest I didn't even really know what he looked like, and I felt that the justice of punching that douche in the cock was better than him getting kicked out of the bar. It took me awhile to process - I used to be a nightclub photographer so I understand how brazen intoxicated men can act. I've had my butt grabbed, my boobs grabbed, horribly lewd comments shouted in my ear. But I've NEVER had a guy force my hand onto his erect cock. And that is seriously fucked up behavior.

I've been relaying this story to my friends and followers, and most of them laugh and high five me. But while I am proud of the way I reacted, the more I think about it, the more disturbed I am. I understand we live in a world rife with rape culture, but at times I live in a happy little liberal bubble where I believe we're making progress. But this man obviously found it not only okay, but totally a viable option to sexually harass me on the dance floor, surrounded by hundreds of people.

What is wrong with individuals that makes this a flirting "technique"? Do women actually allow guys to get away with this shit? I'm so incensed and enraged that I'm not sure what to do. Except punch more dicks. Many more dicks.