So right now I'm sitting in a hotel room in West Plains, MO. Tomorrow is Oz Con, and I have to admit I'm kind of excited about it. If you're going, you can find the event schedule here, but if you're just looking for me, the highlights include: 7:00pm Friday - Never Have I Ever With The Guests
Just what it says on the tin. Along with the other Oz Con guests, I'll be playing Never Have I Ever (or "I've Never" as its known in my neck of the woods). Should be highly entertaining.
9:00am Saturday - So You Want to Start a Webcomic
Join me for the A to Zs of starting your own webcomic. From the creative to the technical, we cover all the bases.
6:00pm Saturday - Cosplay Contest
I'm one of the judges for Oz Con's cosplay contest... so, yay! To be fair, for most of this, you'll just see me sitting in a chair. BUT IT'S ME, IN A CHAIR! EXCITING! Also, y'know, cosplayers.
1:00pm Sunday - Convention Disasters
I've been working cons for almost 20 years, and I have stories. Oh god do I have stories. Some of which I haven't even worked into UnCONventional yet either. So yeah, beyond that I'll also have a table with stuff for sale, and that's neat too.
Again, you should be there.
Because I am. Or, I mean, will be tomorrow.
Which could be right now for you depending on when you read this, now that I think about it...
- Traegorn
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Five years ago today, I stood in a chapel in a park in Washington County, WI. Five years ago today, Crysta walked down the aisle. Five years ago today, she became my wife.
Five years. Five amazing years.
Right now she's carrying a totebag on the other side of the living room, with no idea that I'm writing about her right now. She just smiled at me and put it down. Crysta is packing things in the bag. She hasn't eaten breakfast yet.
She should eat breakfast.
We're getting ready to go spend the weekend on a lake in Northern Indiana near the Michigan border in celebration of these five years (wow, five years). One of our favorite things to do is sit on a lake and do nothing, so that's what we're going to do.
Hopefully the weather will be nice.
So here's to the most wonderful woman I've ever known, and the fact that she continues to put up with my fat, lazy ass sitting on the couch right now is amazing. I just told her I was writing a blog entry about her.
She smiled at me.
Life is pretty awesome some days.
(Mandatory plug: Next weekend I'll be at Oz Con in West Plains, MO - and you should come too)
- Traegorn
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This June is a very busy month for me, as I'm going to be all over the place over the next few weeks. It is very, very exhausting.
And I just got over being sick.
First up I'm going up to Milwaukee as a bunch of my family is getting together to go to a Brewers' game for my dad's birthday. The weekend after that Crysta and I will be celebrating our fifth wedding anniversary -- which is, y'know, a big deal.
I honestly can't believe she's put up with me for this long.
Of course, after that, I'll be headed out to West Plains, MO for Oz Con (June 26-28). Which, y'know, is a whole other thing.
If I fall over, someone please prop me up.
- Traegorn
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So I got back from Anime Central on Sunday night, but I'm only just now feeling awake again.
The convention itself was pretty great - I got to see some old friends, meet some readers of UnCONventional who I hadn't yet, and talk to lots of people who hadn't yet been exposed to the awesomeness of my stuff.
As an added bonus, I also got to see my brother for a bit, since Crysta and I crashed at his apartment.
It's my first time back at a con that size in a really, really long time, and while I still prefer smaller events, I will probably go back next year. My only big regret is that I didn't get to spend as much time with most people as I would have liked, as ACen was a pretty busy con for me.
But an event like that draws all your energy out, and coming home was like crashing into a wall. Whether I like it or not, life goes on post con, and I have schedules, deadlines and work to get done... so I've been kinda in autopilot since.
But today I felt awake. Which is, y'know, a good thing.
The next con on my calendar is Oz Con in West Plains, MO from June 26th to 28th. I'm a guest of honor there, and it's officially my first convention in the state of Missouri. After that, I'm taking July off this year, followed by my annual Geek.kon pilgrimage August 21st to 23rd.
Oh god, do I need some sleep.
At least we've got a three day weekend coming up...
- Traegorn
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So as I've mentioned repeatedly before, I'll be at Anime Central this weekend in Rosemont, IL. I haven't done a con this big in a very, very long time, and I'm pretty excited about it.
I will, of course, be in the Artist Alley, and you can conveniently find me at table E07. If you want to know where that is, here's a handy dandy layout:
 Stop by if you can, because I love talking with folks.
It should be pretty great.
- Traegorn
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Why is it that when I get busy I find the time to update literally all of my projects online except this blog? I mean, I've been running this website for almost nineteen years, and maintaining this space for fourteen or so.
I mean, I blog a couple times day over at Nerd & Tie (which admittedly cut out some of the content that used to appear here). I write music (hey, I put out a new song about the fanfic My Immortal). I draw multiple comics a week ( The Chronicles of Crosarth and UnCONventional).
But I don't take the time to write about me.
Maybe I just don't have as much going on. Maybe I just have thrown myself so much into my creative projects that I don't have much else to say. Maybe it's because I don't find myself as interesting as I did when I was twenty at thirty-four...
...okay, that's not true. I'm absolutely fascinating.
But here I am, going weeks at a time without anything to say. I think it's because the relationship drama that used to fill my life evaporated once I met my wife Crysta, I can't talk about work, and now all my nerd blogging is elsewhere. The most I have to talk about here is convention appearances and creative projects, which often speak for themselves.
Ah well.
I'm excited about ACen at least.
- Traegorn
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So this weekend I'll be at my "home con" No Brand Con in Eau Claire, WI. It's Wisconsin's oldest and longest running Anime Convention and I'm expecting it to be a super awesome time.
Honestly, this year is my first year of barely being involved in it (technically I'm always staff as a co-founder, but I don't even get to vote in things since I can't attend the meetings physically), and I think that's going to be weird for me.
But hey, it had to happen some day.
I'll be in the Artist Alley most of the weekend, and my table will be right outside main programming. I'll also still be hosting No Brand Con's tradition late night screening of Hanzo the Razor: Sword of Justice on Friday Night -- so that should be fun. Right before that, at 10:30pm, I'll also be doing a live version of the Nerd & Tie podcast too -- so you should be there.
Doing two cons in a row is a bit exhausting, as I was at The INDYpendent Show / Who's Yer Con last weekend, but I think it's worth it. I mean, I had a lot of fun last weekend and I'll have a lot of fun this weekend.
I'll just be very, very tired.
After No Brand Con I have to prep for Anime Central too... oh god... I'm going to be so tired...
- Traegorn
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So this Sunday I'll be trucking the touring Trae show down to Indianapolis for the INDYpendent Show. I did the spring show last year and had an awesome time. I had to miss the fall show last year, so I'm happy to be back this time around.
This year the event is being run in conjunction with Who's Yer Con - and admission is totally free. If you're in the area, come out and hang out with me. It'll be fun.
And then? Well the following weekend I'll be at No Brand Con in Eau Claire, WI.
Because I am a masochist.
- Traegorn
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So I've known this for a while, but I wanted to hold back until contracts were signed (and it got put on their website) - I'll be at Oz Con this year as a guest of honor.
Specifically (as there are a couple of events around the world with similar names), I'll be at the Oz Con in West Plains, MO. The dates are June 26-28, and preregistration is still very much open.
Oz Con is a "gaming, cosplay and anime convention" held at the West Plains Civic Center, and I think it'll be a lot of fun. I don't do a lot of cons in that area, so it'll be a chance to talk to people who I haven't met yet -- and maybe a shorter drive for fans I have west of the Mississippi to come see me.
Because I want to see them.
So be there.
You won't regret it.
This year I think I'm doing twice as many conventions as I usually do, and it's exhausting... but kind of awesome. I have a lot of stuff in the works that hasn't been announced yet, and as soon as I firm things up, I'll post about it here too.
As for this last weekend, I had a great Saturday at Karoshi Con by the way, and definitely plan on going back next year. Of course, mostly it's because I got to hang out with friends like Nick from Nerd & Tie as well as awesome human beings like KORFan. Frankly, everyone there was kind of great. If you can get to DeKalb, IL next year, do it. You won't regret it.
My next con is the INDYpendent Show in Indianapolis on April 19th -- quickly followed by No Brand Con in Eau Claire, WI the following weekend (April 24-26).
Like I said, I'm busy.
- Traegorn
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