Over the weekend, I secretly tripped to Toronto, Ontario, without the knowledge of anyone except for some friends.  It was a grand experience, and obviously I survived the trip, because here I am now, writing a short bloggity blog about my adventure.

Darren and I decided to leave late on Wednesday night. I tried to put my own suitcase into his car, thus throwing my back out of place and delaying out trip by half an hour.  Eventually we got on the road and reached Mubix’s house to let him borrow a camera for Defcon.

Eventually we got to Jenn’s house on Thursday afternoon, just in time for some delicious Italian eats at Il Paesano.  Afterwards, we hung out and cleaned up a bit back at her place, then headed downtown for the big Second City show called Barack To The Future. The show was hilarious, and they served delicious beverages and appetizers!

Down the street from Second City was a nice little bar called Gabby’s, where I had many beers and delicious Caesar’s.  It was here that I made sure to Twitter my friend and forum mod, Weiman, as well as Spec Ops Kerrigan- two guys from the Pure Pwnage forums.

We all hung out and had drinks for a few hours before eventually heading back to Jenn’s for much needed sleep.

On Friday, we woke up for lunch with some IPTV folk, and chilled at their workplace for a few hours. I was sooo happy to finally meet these three people who have done so much for the IPTV world. We got to talk about everything from our show at Hak5 to their shows as well. It was quite the experience, and I was lucky enough to bring an adorable squishy cow home.

After lunch, Jenn took Darren and I to the Eaton Centre in Toronto, where I found a cute miniature plushie green Yoshi and Darren bought matching Yoshi house slippers. I LOVED the Eaton Centre.  Holy crap, it’s the biggest mall I’ve ever been in. I think.

After the Eaton Centre, we joined up with Pronobozo and we took off to a Sushi joint for dinner. Sushi was delicious as usual. I wanted to join up with some friends from Pure Pwnage, so I got ahold of them and we walked to their hotel. About 10 people met us outside - this including Myren, Evan, Weiman, Dr. Toker, Gamer Chick, Aeros, Corpus, IW4, Shorteh, along with a few others… who am I forgetting? We all walked to a bar that said we had too many people in our group… So sadly, we gave up and split up. They headed to New Gen, and we headed to a bar called Einstein’s.

Einstein’s wasn’t the best bar as far as service goes, but damn, their drinks were strong!  Darren, Jenn, Pronobozo, and I all had drinks and played pool together.  Jenn and I kicked the boys asses in pool, and the boys rickrolled the bar by playing Rick Astley on the jukebox.  Eventually Nav, a new friend, showed up and I gave her some pointers on pool (so well, in fact, that she kicked my ass!). After some beers, a punch, and meeting some random TO’s, we went back to Ponzo’s for sleep, only to wake up with a hangover the next day.

I’ve never had such a bad hangover.  I felt sick throughout the whole premiere, but I tried my best to hide it and ignore the pain, because I wanted to have fun!

Darren, Ponzo, and I got to the theatre, cut the line, and gave out some free schwag from Hak5. We also got some short clips of the fans for a (hopefully) segment on the show. I was able to chat up some of the Pure Pwnage crew and cast, as well as a TON of random forum members and totally awesome PP fans. Everyone was SOOO nice and welcoming!!!

The show was awesome. Linda Gallant sang a few songs, the cast was introduced, and we watched Ep. 16, 17, and 18. This time, the eps weren’t in black and white, and there was no delay. The episodes were very funny, and totally worth the trip. I played some Tetris and got pwned by someone in teh audience. Guess it just wasn’t my day! The only thing I forgot to do was go by the n00bstore and pick up some Pure Pwnage schwag to wear on Hak5.

After the show, the two boys and I went to Labrynth bar and food for some lunch/dinner before the afterparty. We grabbed our foodz and headed back to Pauper’s Pub, where the afterparty was said to start. The afterparty was insane and fun. I met up with so many old friends, and made a ton of new ones. We all drank and had a wonderful time. The guys from PlayerFIVE.com bought me a beer, and Geoff bought me a Caesar and a shot of something… On the taxi to Pauper’s Pub, I had lost my camera, so during the whole afterparty I took pix with Shorteh’s camera (thank you!) and asked others to snap TONs of photos so I could save them when I got home.

After the afterparty and a lovely dinner with some of the PP ppl, Darren and I headed to our hotel for the night…

Apparently a propane tank blew up that night but we didn’t hear or see a thing. It looked like a frackin Atomic Bomb though, from the videos I saw.

We joined Geoff and Myren on Sunday morning for a delicious breakfast at another new place called Over Easy.  After breakfast and fun talks about exciting things happening with our different shows, Darren and I went to a game store called A&C Games. Just down the road on Spadina, I found a store that selled NOTHING BUT manga and anime merchandise! HOLY CRAP!!!!

I spent so much money at Anime Extreme. I found Sailor Moon posters, various keychains, a t-shirt, some Pocky, and a Mario yellow star plushie. I probably spent way too much at this store, but it was so worth it.

We met up with Pronobozo again at a bar called Sneaky Dee’s which is one of my favorites. Their caesar drinks are terrific and they always play good music! I wasn’t really feeling like a bar on Sunday night, so we went over to Evan’s to chill with him and Weiman.  Weiman pwned me at tennis, then I pwned him at bowling on the Wii. Evan showed us Skrie’s mod that he’s been working on, and OMG I can’t wait til it’s done.

Darren and I left Evan’s place and headed back to the hotel… but we passed a pub called Hoops and decided to get a pint before bed.

On Monday, we woke up early to leave Toronto.  I bought some Timbits from Tim Hortons (lol, Tim’s Bits), and we checked out a lighting store in Toronto, looking for new lights for Hak5. After not finding anything perfect for our show, we headed home.

We bought some syrup, Canadian candy, and Canadian beer at the Duty Free before leaving the country.

And I miss Toronto Canada already.

Six days, encounting…

I just got back from my annual family beach trip to North Carolina, where we go to deep sea fish, surf, tan, drink, and swim.  It’s always a blast, and I love it there.  Topsail Island has never been a huge tourist spot, so it’s usually just locals and a bunch of families from around North Carolina.  The beaches are beautiful, the sand dunes sport hidden sand dollars and conc shells, and the beach houses are always decorated incredibly cute. <3

I went searching online for the history of this island, because I once found something similar to an arrowhead, and there are these strange lookout towers all around the island.  I also wondered, where did Topsail Island get it’s name?

Well, I found the answers:

Lying on the eastern coastline of North Carolina, perfectly set within thirty minutes in either direction to Jacksonville and Wilmington, it’s been said that Topsail achieved it’s name from a rather unique source, pirates. Blackbeard himself was rumored to roam the island, making his way to Ocracoke. As ships would pass offshore, the tall pirate ship’s masts could be seen in the distance, thus the name of Top-sail, (pronounced Top-sul by most). Of course, this is part of the mysterious legend of the island.

When the high sails could be seen waving in the distance, oncoming ships quickly turned around to flee from a possible confrontation. Not many wanted to come face-to-face with savage pirates, especially if they thought it was Blackbeard’s flagship, the Queen Anne’s Revenge.

…

Another significant piece of history for Topsail Island was the Tucscarora Indians. The evidence of prehistoric Indian villages and artifacts date back thousands of years. In the 1700s, they were known to have made hunting trips to Topsail Island. You can still find arrowheads made by the Tucscarora Indians all over the island.

…

The U.S. Navy picked Topsail, particularly the Topsail Beach area, as their site for Operation Bumblebee. The Holly Ridge area housed Camp Davis, which literally led to a somewhat short-lived boomtown scenario. During Operation Bumblebee, nearly 200 experimental missiles were launched down the island resulting in the ramjet engine, which eventually allowed aircraft to push past the speed of sound.

Incidentally, Operation Bumblebee got it’s name from just that, the flight of the bumblebee. According to the aerodynamic experts, because of it’s structure, the bumblebee should not be able to fly. Of course, the bumblebee doesn’t know this and flies anyway. Such was the case of the experimental missiles.

There are many observation towers, which were used to track the missiles during flight. These are the small, three story block structures you see found scattered around the island. Some have been refurbished and one has even been added to a home in the Topsail Beach area. That one in particular was kept authentic with little remodeling in order to keep the integrity of the past.

I find all this rather interesting, specially since I’ve spent around 20 weeks throughout the years at this awesome place.

If you’ve ever moved across the country, you know what I’m talking about.  Moving is a huge stress.  Not only do you have to change your address for EVERYTHING (i.e., your bills, the postal service, even your job so you can file your taxes next year…), but you also have to pay lots of money for gas, try to fit all your belongings into a car, and say goodbye to all your close friends.  At least, thats what I had to do, and is it worth it?  Oh yea, totally

I just moved to Virginia, USA.  And I love it.  The weather is hot, it’s sunny all the time, and they dont get a lot of rain.  Of course, I haven’t sat through my first hurricane yet…  Everyone is very friendly, and there are a LOT less bible beaters on the east coast than my hometown in Missouri, USA.  It’s a bit of a culture shock, but since I’ve been to North Carolina to visit the family every summer, it’s not too hard to get used to.

Anyone watch Diggnation?  Revision3?  Darren and I just got back from a trip to New York City.  NYC is so expensive!  Gas is almost $4.50  up there, and the cost of a shitty hotel is at least $100/ night.  The show was hilarious.  Darren pushed me into going on stage to be a shot girl for Kevin and Alex..  Everyone there was very nice and welcoming to our little crew.  Needless to say, I can’t wait to visit the Rev3 crew

Oh, one last thing.  BARACK THE VOTE!

Here’s a nifty new site to check out:

Driftr.com - Travel Community

You can post blogs, pictures, etc. about your recent travels. It looks like a pretty awesome community if you are into traveling. I heard about this off the podcast CommandN and it looks really cool!

EDIT:

I just started my Driftr account…  Check it out!

…but being surrounded by sorority girls while on this plane is not. Kind of weird, actually. The flight attendant saw the girl beside me wearing greek letters. She goes, “Oh, you’re in blablabla, cool!” Then turns to me and says, “What sorority are you in?” I was like… wtf, are you serious? None. Sorry, I’m not about to throw away my money on a big pretty house to live in, so I can party and deal with drama. Naw, not for me.

I had a great Spring Break. Full of technolust. Fer realz.

I’m willing to say that Williamsburg Virginia is worth a visit. It’s beautiful. Although, dealing with all the other tourists in kinda a pain in the ass, but what can you do? There is so much colonial history, so many things to experience… Just go there

Battlestar Galactica Season 3 just came out on DVD, so Darren got a pre-ordered copy. We basically played couch potato and watched almost the entire season, just in the nick of time for Season 4. It’s been a while since I’ve obsessed about a tv show…

  Rock Band is AWESOME! Just puttin’ that out there.

Much Hak.5 tech lovin went on this week as well. J!NX had a $5 off sale for 3 days, so not only did I spend some cash, but DK pimped his t-shirt on teh site as well. J!NX also started a EXP and Gold membership thing. It’s quite fun! Yay for RPG’s! The taping of episode 3×09 occurred yesterday, all day. We ustreamed all day for viewers. I learned how to use the broadcasting box thing… as well as how filming generally goes for each episode. All in all, the best spring break I’ve ever had!

So my Spring Break just started, and it started out on a glorious note. My roommates sister got hitched yesterday, and I have to say it was a wonderful experience. Not only are his sister’s the most friendly hospitable people EVAR, but they also really know how to have a good time.

We drove 6 hours to Dallas, Texas, where the whole family was meeting up.  I have to say, I really hate Texas roads…  I missed forested hills and the like.  You can see way too much humanity from the road.  I think one of the things I like about Missouri is the fact that you can’t see a lot of the residential areas from the roads because there is so much foretst.  I like that about Virginia too…  But Texas is dry, plain, and very dusty… And they have a highway named after George W. Bush D:

The wedding was medium sized, with lots of friends and family… probably no more than 200 people. It was beautiful. Everything from Rosie’s dress to the flower arrangements… everything was perfect. This was the first wedding I have been to since I was a child, so I really enjoyed it and paid attention to all the small details… Who knows? Maybe someday I’ll be in her shoes (hahaha, waaaaaaay down the line!). The reception was so fun! The whole family was there, along with a photographer from HarttPhoto, a dj, and a man recording the entire thing to video.  I didn’t like the dj much.  He played a lot of music that’s fun and lovey dovey, but very hard to dance to.  Weddings are all together fun to be at :)  I am so happy for Rosie and I wish her all the best!  <3

Spring break begins in a few days, and this is the first one that I’ve actually taken time off work to travel.  For years and years, all I’d do is stay in town and work.  I’d take the extra time off classes to get extra hours at work.  But this year, I’m actually going somewhere.   My roommate James’ sister is getting married to her fiance down in Texas, so I’ll be spending a few days down there.  After that, I’m flying out to Virginia to visit Darren.  I can’t wait, I’m so excited to visit my friends family, then visit my boyfriend and my soon-to-be home.  We’ll have a blast, I’m sure

But with all this cold weather, I really want to be on a beach, somewhere warm and toasty, sipping a frozen beverage, enjoying the ocean breeze.  Yay for vacations!

The second time I took a trip to Toronto, Canada, I tried this drink called a Caesar aka Bloody Caesar. It sounds so disgusting whenever you see the ingrediants, but it tastes so good and spicy. It’s a very warm beverage, and you either love it or hate it. For me, it’s my favorite drink. No one in Missouri knows what it is, because it was originally from Canada. Anywayz, I think you should try it, just once- because even though it sounds kinda gross, you may fall in love with it like I did.

Here is some info on Caesars<3

I know I was kinda gone since last week.  Darren came to visit, so I kind of forgot about the internet…  if that’s possible.  Do you ever find yourself doing something online for so long that you lose track of time?  I can end up spending 6, 7 hours online in one sitting without even knowing it.  Geeeez!

To my fellow Springfieldians:  Have you ever visited 1984?  It’s this amazing 80’s arcade with all these original old arcade systems that still work!  You pay $5 cash at the door and play for as long as you want.  They have snackey snackey’s and sodas, and you can buy cute lil pins and whatnot.  If you get the high score you get a free pass!