Yeah, I
said "Haunted" and "Whoniverse" in the same sentence! Mostly because this is a quickie that will
hopefully cover both the Doctor Who cosplay event AND the Historic Haunts tour
I took, and it will be just funny enough to tide you over for Halloween AND the
first 9 days of November (including Dia de los Muertos, or the Day of the
Dead). So, instead of going blabbity
blah, let's get right to it! I've got
the Necrofusion full album here (which is by Zak Bagans + Praga Khan), which is
OPTIONAL for you! (If it's too
distracting, do some DJ Lorn, with Ancient Realms: Atlantis or Ancient Realms: Anasazi!) WARNING: Lots of pictures
here, so if you are having a hard time loading up pictures, I suggest you try
using a laptop or a desktop computer and not some iWhatever device you're
using.
Who Was Whose Doctor? Why I Should Have a TARDIS!!!
The
inaugural Doctor Who cosplay event on Saturday, October 18th, 2014, was pretty
good: people showed up in costume that were creative, and I was surprised at
how creative they were in their choices.
Let me be honest, though: I should've started way earlier than I
did. I was super stressed, wanting some
actual awesome costume to wear. I was so
desperate that I was frantically scanning through ThinkGeek for Whovian
goodies. I wound up wearing a DoctorWho-INSPIRED outfit rather than a full on costume, which actually made Dad a
little happy. It was original, but
totally painful for my feet as I was wearing Converse high-tops that did not
fit me very well. Maybe I should've
applied duct tape to the situation……
Anyways,
despite showing up LATE and missing most of the action (hence the need for an
actual TARDIS with Gallifreyan time-travel technology!), people were there
dressed as Doctor Rory, Amy, a Dalek, a Cyberman (there were 2 Cybermen,
actually), Captain Jack Harkness…… Even
Dan and Kris got in on the cosplay action: Kris was Madame Kovarian and Dan
could alternate between a Silence (without the hands) and an infected gas
mask-wearing medical doctor from the two-parter "The Empty Child/TheDoctor Dances".
But just
dressing up wasn't enough: Dan and Kris even decked out the store in Whovian
decorations, with a (cardboard) TARDIS out front, the gravestones for Mr. and
Mrs. Pond, Clara Oswald, and River Song, the Face of Bo, the Doctor's
non-fightin' hand…. Some chilled bottled
Waters of Mars, some Whovian cupcakes and even marshmallow Adipose pops were
available for sale in case you get famished or thirsty, with a scavenger hunt
available to cure boredom, with a color/draw-your-own-TARDIS activity for the
kids!
My
initial assesment: 4 plungers out of 5.
I could've been there earlier, but that's my own damn fault; I would've
gotten great pictures of great costumes between noon and 3pm EDT! Other businesses had stuff going on, like a
London Fog tea available at the café two doors down, and the salon doing Whovian
nail designs; I also missed them! DAVROS
DAMMIT! Next time, after creating a ton
of Adipose with my mass, I most certainly WILL have a costume ready!
MARK MY WORDS, SAXON!
*Schwarzneggar accent* I'LL BE BAHCK!!!!!
(more pictures from the cosplay event is available here: https://flic.kr/s/aHsk5QbwvD )
(more pictures from the cosplay event is available here: https://flic.kr/s/aHsk5QbwvD )
Historic Haunts: The Return of the Damned Blogger
I hope
people remember my post about going on the Historic Haunts tour last year. I decided to go again this year, but with
Papa Spock's camera! This very decision
has consequences, however. I had opted
for the camera for one reason: the possibility of capturing something paranormal
in an image. What I wound up with is
much different and weirder from when I started—THE ESSENCE OF EVERY GOOD
JOURNEY! Or is it documentary? Not sure; I should ask Morgan Spurlock…. *picks up that name she dropped, gently
prodding it to do more episodes of Inside Man on CNN*
Anyways,
it's the same stops as before, but the details are a little bit different,
mostly because I didn't have the awesome tour guide who wore a kilt last
year. This year, it was a lady in a bit
of a Victorian Gothic ensemble.
Currently second-best choice, in my opinion. Then again, I was not paying as much
attention this year because I was instead trying to take pictures for my blog
post about this tour. Cue EXASPERATED
SIGH!!!!
First
thing I noticed when I reached location number 1 (Brethren House): we're all
holding candles, we're all following this interestingly dressed character
around town, listening to tales of history and the weird happenings of what's
not necessarily considered scientific and holding candles while we go
through. Either this is a special
traditional journey that has a hint of a religious vibe (as in the candle-lit
vigils olden day friends of mine have attended for their churches)……or we look
like a fucking cult here. Seriously,
tell me if we look like a cult!
Do you get what I mean?!
Thanks, Jenny Lawson aka the Bloggess, for inspiring that bit of crazy
thinking! I can't wait for the
brainwashing to be completed so that I, too, may be collecting weird taxidermy
and get raised eyebrows during the annual inspection done by the apartment
building's management whenever we get too damn comfortable! Maybe your husband Victor (who's always
wrong—unless he's obviously right) can do the inspection this year—just to make
it fun!
Anyways,
more pictures here include us walking, tour guide's "preaching" and
nothing out of the ordinary—so far…..
We hit
God's Acre (a cemetery surrounded by school buildings, in case you forgot), and
for me, it was photography central! I
wound up staying farther behind to take pictures, hoping to CATCH
SOMETHING!!!!!! *flails* I think I did….because I took this
picture—AIN'T IT PURDY?!
And I took this second one just in case of false
positives:
Huh….That's weird…..I'm sure that there weren't any bugs
around… And I doubt that there's any
dust in this cemetery. I am also sure
that the lens of the camera was clear…..
Let's take a closer look:
And then I went back to the previous picture…..
Pardon the poor editing—My Photoshop skills are severely
lacking….but I lined it up best I could!
Anyways,
ORBS! Very controversial manifestationof spirit energy. Most orbs caught in
photos and videos are actually just dust particles and bugs and what-not. In fact, Zak Bagans and Nick Groff each say
(in their books) that 95-97% of all orbs captured on film (static or video) are
bugs or dust particles or lens flares or whatever and easy to debunk. It's that remaining 3-5% that is totally
weird: they emit their own light, are not caused by any light reflecting off of
a random bug or some dust, they manifest IN FRAME, and move in intelligent
patterns at times.
I'm not
entirely sure that I caught an ACTUAL orb, and verification on whether I did or
not would be appreciated. (FUCK OFF,
TROLLS!) But in any case, the
POSSIBILITY is there!
After
the cemetery, we swung by Boyd Theater (which I hope gets back up and running;
please, potential investors! Help bring
this historic icon of Bethlehem, PA, back to life!) and the Hells' Fargo:
FIXED! Lol, I'm kidding, Wells Fargo! |
And then passed through that pedestrian alley by the
Underground Lair (Wow, how much advertising are they getting just from me
mentioning their store in my blog?!) to get to the Sun Inn.
Before I tell you about the next photo, let me tell you right now……I AM FINE! I AM OKAY! You can tell by my tweets!
A little shaken. Singed around the edges. Accidentally set my hair on fire with haunted tour candle. #INCINERATE #EXASPERATE #SANITATE
— Eden Pyrithea (@LadyEden1337) October 25, 2014
Don't worry: i'm okay. It's just some hair and my ego that were burnt. FYI: caNDLES and caMERAS don't mix. #INCINERATE #EXASPERATE
— Eden Pyrithea (@LadyEden1337) October 25, 2014
And it was all my Davros-damn fault for doing this: I was
trying to get a picture of the tour guide in front of the back end of the Sun
Inn from a point of view towards the ground angled up—like a worm's eye view
type of shot. I was also holding a LIT
candle, and it wasn't one of those fake ones that is powered by batteries and
working light bulbs; this is ACTUAL fire burning an ACTUAL wick that's part of
an ACTUAL candle made of ACTUAL wax wearing an ACTUAL clear plastic cup used to
catch wax drippings so that said drippings don't burn our hands. I was not paying attention to the way I was
holding the candle, and inadvertently held it too close to my hair, setting my
hair on fire. I heard it, felt the
flames lightly lick my cheek, and yelped, quickly putting it out with the bare
hand that was NOT holding the candle.
*shudders* I finally went through
that rite of passage of setting my own hair on fucking FIRE, which is an
experience that stays with you for the rest of your life! All just to get this shot:
I was
able to check after the tour was over to see if I was burnt (because I didn't
feel pain; yeah, adrenaline is fun like that) or not, and seeing what the
damage was, I was also able to breathe a small sigh of relief. Yeah, burning your hair is not fun, but it's
even worse if you ACTUALLY get burnt flesh in the process. I even reassured everyone that I'm okay, and
that it was just my hair and ego that were burnt (like I said in my
tweets). No need for an incident report
for something as stupid as what I had done!
Seriously, I'm not one of those crazy people who live to sue everyone for
every imperfection in their lives!
Hi! I'm Lady Eden Pyrithea, your substitute
Smokey the Bear mascot, and I say that fire only belongs on the grill, in
campfires and in fire tornadoes. DON'T
BURN OUR FORESTS OR HAIR!!! #INCINERATE
So, back
to the Sun Inn, after carefully eyeing the candle for the rest of the tour, and
taking a picture at the HISTORIC Hotel Bethlehem (which still
has a Room With a Boo I would LOVE to stay in; in fact, I dare
skeptics—especially Bad Astronomy blogger Phil Plait—to spend a couple nights
in this room. Yeah, it's expensive and
got a HUGE waiting list, but I swear, the memories will be WELL worth it!), I
was able to head home, call Papa Spock to inform him of the events that took
place within that hour and take my second shower of the day. It was a long day, and I swear, despite the
short burst of fear and panic I had, it was……okay. I disliked the amount of issues I had prior
to the tour (Buses should NOT break while people are in transit to their
audiologist appointment; the bus drivers should also NOT take ten minutes to
stop the fucking bus and try and fix it themselves, due to said people being
ALREADY late to their audiologist appointment and do not need to be even
later!), but I have to quickly sum it up as a VERY LONG DAY. I was so tired that I wound up falling asleep
on my own couch after the shower and a mug full of milk.
Seriously,
I should get a reward for surviving all that.
Not something big, just…maybe, a new pair of headphones that are long
overdue? Or a large tub of delicious mint
gelato decorated with cannolis?
Out of
exhaustion, I say BLEHHHH. Anyhow, I
hope everyone enjoys their Halloween (which is my BIRTHDAY! Yeah, totally my birthday! Just like Vanilla Ice! And the two other babies that were delivered
that same day in that same hospital I was born at, all scheduled at the same
time because the obstetrician was about to go on vacation, which turned it all
into a race! #FIRST) while I spend it with my parents before heading out on
another trip to locations within my sector.
Remember last year, when I spent a snowed-in Doctor Who Day at a hotel
in Pittsburgh that SHOULD HAVE an elevator in it and not just be a converted
apartment complex? Yeah, it's same that
trip again, only with a real hotel with a REAL elevator (not just an imaginary
one), and it's much earlier in the month.
Bonus: I get to bring my dice rolling game, and possibly get Mama
Squirrel and Papa Spock to bring the Princess Bride game I gave them for last
Christmas on this trip. Hopefully, we'll
get to have a Starbucks Popular-Seattle-based-coffee-shop-chain gaming
night again. It was fun trying to
conquer Tokyo, but perhaps we can play some other games, like said Princess
Bride game or my Roll For It game or……some other game. It was fun—CAN WE PLEASE DO IT AGAIN?!