EternalCon

I attended EternalCon, a local comic convention yesterday. The cool thing about this convention is the location: the Cradle of Aviation Museum. As you walk through exhibits highlighting Long Island’s strong aeronautics history, you also get to walk through Artist Alley, gaming centers, and racks of comic book stacks. I have attended a few conventions here, a wine expo and a chocolate expo, and I always have a good time.

Here are a couple pictures to hold you over as I am still tinkering with fixing up the site!

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Heads Up!

I haven’t been updating – I know! I’m even lagging on my featured publications page. I’ve been having server issues. Tomorrow I should have time to sit down and straighten it all out. Looks like most of it is running up to speed again.

Thanks for listening!

Lazy Sunday

Happy Sunday everyone!

The past few weeks have been tremendously busy for me, and it looks like the next couple will be hectic too. I’m enjoying my new full-time position, and I am still writing on the weekends and nights because I physically need to write. If I don’t write… my brain feels sick. I don’t feel validated. It’s a feeling I could never show you and my explanation does not do it justice.

I took my family out to dinner last night, it felt wonderful to do something like that for my parents who have been super-supportive the past couple of weeks. They have done so much to help me reach my goals.

It’s finally starting to warm up here in New York. Despite the little snow flurry we had yesterday, our temperatures are beginning to level off in the 50’s. I am so anxious to spend time in the sun. Just sitting reading or writing at a park or even on my porch would be perfect.

I hope everyone has been having a wonderful spring, the time of year to start afresh. May all my fellow writers feel rejuvenated!

Enjoy this adorable Sesame Street video:

To Arizona and Back Again

Giraffe AZAfter Valentine’s Day I visited my brother and his fiancé for 10 days. I was originally gonna stay 5-6 days, but I extended it to 10 after having so much fun and bad weather in the New York area. He lives outside of Phoenix. I had visited Arizona first in 2010 and we went up to Sedona, down to Tombstone, the Phoenix Zoo, Superstition Mountain, and a couple other touristy things.

This time around I visited the Out of Africa Wildlife Park, which was one of my favorite experiences. They rescue exotic animals that people have kept as pets or from overcrowded zoos. I got to feed a tiger. I heard hyenas laugh (and moo, yes they moo!). I also fed giraffes by putting a lead between my lips and having them take it from there. A lot of people ended up getting the giraffe’s tongue all over their face but both the giraffes I fed like this were gentlemen.

We went to the Arabian Horse Show and watched a jumping contest which was thrilling. Horses are incredible. My brother took me to the Arizona Renaissance Festival which was amazing. I had never been to a RenFaire before and it was super fun. The shows, turkey leg, mead, and vendors were all cool.

Flicker Fire and Me at RenFaire

We went horseback riding on the day I was supposed to originally fly out. Our family friend Herb owns them and after letting us walk around the corral we took to the streets. I had never been horseback riding that wasn’t on a trail or premeditated route so it was amazing to have control over the horse. And once again I’ll mention how amazing they are.

It was a wonderful vacation and I enjoyed the warm weather so much. After getting back to New York I bought a Sigma lens for my camera. Sigma lens are a hit or miss, but I tested it out on my Canon and liked it. I bought the 28-200mm lens secondhand for $30, and I cannot wait to take it out on a photowalk one weekend when the weather has cleared up here.

Andria & Me on horses

 

I did a lot of writing in Arizona, bought an ocarina at the RenFaire, and spent the most time I’ve spent with my brother in the eight years he’s been in Arizona. I’m so incredibly proud of him and his fiancé and will be so happy to return next year for their WEDDING.

Hopefully spring is right around the corner as I am beginning to feel stir crazy again. Check out my Featured Publications 2015 page for my most recent clippings, as always!

Arizona sunset

 

Writer Tip

As a writer I am constantly researching. If you looked through my Google history you would be appalled. And sometimes the subject matters writers research raise red flags. I’ve known peers and colleagues who have gotten a knock on their door from the FBI.

The great thing about Google is it has a whole bunch of hidden features. These features help maximize your search results. The first time I learned about them was in college, when I worked on a few investigative pieces.

I came across a handy little guide that I wanted to share so you too can find all your search engine needs.

Check out this page and have fun with the newfound tricks! You don’t have to be a writer to enjoy them! There are plenty more tricks you can learn beyond that, but we’ll start you on the basics.

Gentleman’s Guide

Last night my sister and I went into the city to see A Gentleman’s Guide to Love and Murder at the Walter Kerr Theatre. I had been wanting to see it for some time, especially after watching their performance at the Tony Awards. Opportunity knocked for lower priced tickets and I jumped at it.

The show was so wonderful; complete with fantastic humor, vibrant characters, and great songs. I met some of the cast after show at the stage door but we had to leave to catch our train.

The thing about going to see Broadway shows is that I get to completely turn off. Except during intermission, but if it’s a good play by the time intermission rolls around I am bouncing in my seat waiting for Act II. How often do we get to power down and let our mind focus on one thing? Not very often. Live theater is so exhilarating. There is a humble thrill to it, not knowing how the performance will, it the actors will mess up, or if you will feel a reaction.

A Gentleman’s Guide was pleasant from the very beginning to the end. There was so much laughter. I would definitely recommend seeing it, and may even find myself seeing it again.

Geeked Out!

I live a simple life, right? Just filled with personal experiences and making small but wonderful memories.

So when something like Director James Gunn tweets out an article I wrote about it… well… you can assume that I am flipping out! The good kind of flipping out!

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There the tweet is. The director of Guardians of the Galaxy himself.

And, update: he posted it on Facebook as well.

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And here is a link to the article.

My head is in the clouds currently. I am so gracious. It’s a damn cute article with tons of animals to boot.

Slideshow from NY WinterCon

Busy Bumblebee

Since my last post, published on January 13, I have written six articles. Not bad! Especially when you consider I took two days off to relax. Sometimes you just need a detox from the internet.

I did manage to binge watch Arrow on Netflix and caught up with the other episodes from their website. I was able to watch the midseason premiere on Wednesday.

With that said I will be taking a short ski/snowboard trip on Monday/Tuesday. I’ve only snowboarded once before and it was a few years ago. Please pray that I don’t write a post about a broken bone.

And finally, you can check out those articles on my Featured Publications tab. It’s right there up at the top, or if you click here it will take you as well. I’m really proud of the work I’ve been producing as of late.

The baby I have been working on is PUBLISHED!

I had been quite cryptic in my past few posts about a project I have been working on. Now that it has been published, I am sharing it with you here.

In December I attended a local comic convention and met a comic industry creator who I hit it off with. He was fantastic to talk to and gave me great advice. I emailed him after and the product of those emails is the work I will have on his comic creator news website.

My first article has been published – today actually. I interviewed Ram Devineni, the comic book creator of Priya’s Shakti. Priya’s Shakti is a comic book tackling the pervasive rape culture in India, but it’s anti-sexual assault message transcends borders and is a message for the whole world.

Please take your time to read this, I worked so hard and Mr. Devineni was an amazing person to interview!

Combatting Rape: A Superheroes New Enemy

 

You can also read Priya’s Shakti for free here.