#NerdsUnite: The Ramblings of a Raconteuse (Wondercon here we come!)

<editorsnote> Nerds, meet my buddy Helenna. We met on twitter not too long ago, and she's totes mcgotes one rad chiquita banana with a flare for all things flair! That's right, Helenna here is what we call an artsy fartsy nerd. She's a poet, into all things dramatic arts, and she's going to come on board to write each week about her love of said drama. Well not like actual drama drama, like some cat fight shit - but you get the idea.

I only have one thing left to say ... HIT IT HELENNA!!! </editorsnote>

#TalkNerdyToMeLover's @Helslevy

Not gonna lie.  I’m pretty freaking excited!  But disclaimer….I’m taking off my nerd glasses for this post and putting on my geek cape! 

I was on a panel at the Comikaze Expo this past fall with a bunch of awesome geeky girls and we just found out that our panel is going to WonderCon!  

This is definitely a top life event for me.  

Yes, it’s true, I don’t have quite as much geek cred as the ladies I am on this panel with.  But, the little burgeoning geek in me is very very happy and jumping up and down like a freaking Oompa Loompa on crack. 

See I may not have a crazy amount of trivia in my brain about comics and characters, but I definitely have my fair share of geek out knowledge when it comes to anything Joss Whedon and also… zombies.  There are other things I geek out about too, but those are the 2 major fields of my geekdom.  And can I just say…. Cabin In The Woods?  Hellz YES!!!

Why is the fact that this panel is going to WonderCon so freaking exciting to me?  

Well…aside from the obvious “it’s WonderCon,” the words “speaking on a Comic-Con panel”are literally staring at me right now from my “vision board.”  And Comic-Con and WonderCon are put on by the same company.  Yes!  Manifest destiny baby!

Aside from the fact that I get to hang and talk with my favorite geeky ladies in the whole wide world, I’m really excited to be able to plug my latest animated online series that I produced with my husband and which will be released by the time we are on the panel.  It’s called “Girl and Boy”and I am super stoked to share it with the world.  

This is our teaser vid:

I’ve spent the last 4 years learning everything I could cram into my brain about the online web series world ever since recording my very first vlog in October of 2008.  Since then I have produced “The Day Player,”  “The Ex-Convict’s Guide,” “Songs From,” and 97 epsiodes of my vlog“Helenna’s Tinseltown Tuesdays”  all as a somewhat experimental foray into the web world.   I am a member of the IAWTV (International Academy of Web Television)  and absolutely LOVE the web series community. 

All this being said,  I am really stoked to be launching “Girl and Boy” with my husband Barry W. Levy.  It’s “high brow potty humor, for the low brow comedy lover,” and I’m excited that I’ll be able to talk about this project at WonderCon since it fits right in with the whole comic aspect of the convention! 

Aside from all of that, I’m so stoked to be on this panel is because these women are AMAZING!!!!  All of these ladies are super proactive go-getters who are completely taking their careers into their own hands and ROCKIN’ IT!  Mad props to Kristen Nedopak, Stephanie Thorpe, Jessica Mills,Cricket (Crix) Lee, and Leah Cevoli!  I am honored to be in your company!

If you want to “learn how each of these smart and sexy ladies built their unique, individual brands and gain insight into the struggles and success of creating your own work, from networking to production, to marketing…and staying sane along the way,” then come and join us atWonderCon on Saturday, March 17th, 2012 from 5:30 - 6:30 Room 207ABC!

#geekgirlscreate and #nerdsunite OH YEAH!!!
#xoxo hels

visit me at: http://www.helennasantoslevy.com

tweet me at: @helslevy

email me at: contacthelenna@gmail.com

#GeekSpeak: The sometimes random misadventures of @Abby_Cake

<editorsnote> Nerds, meet my buddy Abby. I met her in Chicago at the #20SBSummit, and this chick is raaaddddd!! She considers herself more of a nerd than a geek - but I think she's just all shades of random and awesome. Oh and FTR, the TNTML stance on nerds versus geeks are that nerds are products of a genetic predisposition, and geeks are raised. BOOH-YAH!!! I only have one more thing left to say ... HIT IT ABBY!!!</editorsnote>

#TalkNerdyToMeLover's @Abby_Cake

Making difficult decisions is, well, difficult. Although one might say I have more trouble making easy decisions — the question of what I should eat for lunch tends to bleed into dinner. One of the more positive aspects of my personality, in my opinion, is that I make difficult decisions with an iron fist. Once they are made, I do not rethink them. This is my life choice, for better or worse (and sometimes it has been worse).

Yet, in the wake of my difficult decision to pick my life up and move to Korea, I did not realize the necessitation of subsequent decisions I would have to make. This, in retrospect, seems naive; and as the clock ticks down to less than a month before our leave date, I am left with a pile of choices yet to sort through.

The most heartbreaking one was to leave our dog behind. Sherman has been my companion for six years and he literally means everything to me. Sherman is a German Shepherd mix, he was an injured stray with heartworms that I lured into my truck and ended up keeping. He is smart, intuitive, occasionally eats garbage, and loves me unconditionally.

Unfortunately, he also has severe anxiety caused by previous abuse and needs constant human interaction, preferably with a yard. I will not be able to offer him these things in Korea, and although it breaks my heart, I have decided to leave him here — with a yard, constant care, and far less stress. My intention was to take him, but I fear for his sanity.

He, of course, is not aware of my plans to leave him and is, at present, laying in bed with me completely oblivious and content. I, on the other hand, am filled with an overwhelming guilt every time he looks at me.

I have wanted to move to Asia since I was little. I tried once, to get into the JET Program, but my ex talked me OUT of it; and that decision was, for a while, one of my biggest regrets. Now, I have a new chance to do something I have only dreamed about, a boyfriend who is not just talking me INto it, but going with me — and I am not going to pass it up again.

I am going to be making sacrifices and difficult decisions for the next month, but I know in the end it will be worth it — for better, in this case, for both of us.

xx, @abby_cake

#nerdsunite

Want more from Abby?? Check out her blog over yonder - and don't forget to drop her a follow on twitter!!

#GeekSpeak: The sometimes random misadventures of @Abby_Cake

<editorsnote> Nerds, meet my buddy Abby. I met her in Chicago at the #20SBSummit, and this chick is raaaddddd!! She considers herself more of a nerd than a geek - but I think she's just all shades of random and awesome. Oh and FTR, the TNTML stance on nerds versus geeks are that nerds are products of a genetic predisposition, and geeks are raised. BOOH-YAH!!! I only have one more thing left to say ... HIT IT ABBY!!! </editorsnote>

#TalkNerdyToMeLover's @Abby_Cake

While I realize the opportunity of my traveling in a time machine is about as probable as my meeting Doctor Who himself, sometimes I enjoy playing pretend. In fact, Jared and I have a game where we ask one another varying what-if questions based solely around time travel.

“What if you could go back in time, and you wouldn’t alter the future, but you had to stay and live out your life on an alternate plane?”

“What if you could go back and undo one moment in time?”

“What if you had the choice to either time travel or stay in the present time, but gain the power of flight?”

If you ever have the chance to take a car ride with us, I promise you won’t be disappointed.

And so, in time with our moderate obsession with time travel and period based costumes and historical movies and a sundry of other nerdy items that you have probably already figured out about me, we always endeavor to spend one weekend a year at the Texas Renaissance Festival.

The Texas RenFest has expanded greatly since its inception and presently garners up to 60,000 people in a weekend. It has become huge. And is, as always, easy to get lost in. But I go every year and the act has become not only a tradition, but a place where I feel comfortable (at home even?). I notice all the new shops and restaurants, I speak to the employees (in an accent if I can get away with it), and I drink mead, lots of it — because that’s how Beowulf did it.

I realize that the extent to which I celebrate this festival borderlines on larping, but I am surprisingly okay with that. And I let people take pictures of/with me and I take pictures of people with spectacular costumes. And I dance to the Renaissance music and generally make a scene. It’s very free-spirited; I like being around like-minded people.

However, it’s generally disappointing that what was once such an interesting festival has begun to go the way of typical American spectatorship. When I first began attending, I felt out of place for not wearing a costume. Today I was definitely in the costume-wearing minority. I feel like commercialization is edging out the RenFest that I love and I hope in the years to come it will regain a sense of its’ former glory. But, unfortunately, I know cash is king.

I will always dance!

xx, @abby_cake

#nerdsunite

Want more from Abby?? Check out her blog over yonder - and don't forget to drop her a follow on twitter!!

#GeekSpeak: The sometimes random misadventures of @Abby_Cake

<editorsnote> Nerds, meet my buddy Abby. I met her in Chicago at the #20SBSummit, and this chick is raaaddddd!! She considers herself more of a nerd than a geek - but I think she's just all shades of random and awesome. Oh and FTR, the TNTML stance on nerds versus geeks are that nerds are products of a genetic predisposition, and geeks are raised. BOOH-YAH!!! I only have one more thing left to say ... HIT IT ABBY!!! </editorsnote>

#TalkNerdyToMeLover's @Abby_Cake

If left to my own devices, I would not watch TV.

I had a TV in college; I only used it for my NES console (a geek girl needs her 8-bit). I did not have cable, or even the local weather channel, for two years. I didn’t miss it. And I liked the void it created in my life. “Did you see [insert new show]?” “No.” The conversation would turn to more interesting things.

However, I have clocked a good amount of hours in front of the idiot box since this summer, due mostly to my unemployment and general lack of “anything better” to do. In the first few months I was not experiencing the heady anticipation and general contentment I am now. I was not happy. I was more or less forced out of my job, I leased my house, I sold my car, and left my friends to move to another town. I spent many hours slumped in front of the TV, letting my limbs protrude uselessly over the edge of the sofa. I also napped a lot. Mostly when boring shows came on.

Sometime after moving I rediscovered art, my writing began to take shape, and I developed a clear path for myself.

“The best way out is always through.” — Robert Frost

Now, during the day I do the work, I am present. Sometimes I listen to music; I like discovering new-to-me bands on Pandora. But most often I simply listen to myself. My heartbeat. My thoughts. My body’s reaction to stimuli. I will turn off the lights and work only from the glow of my screen. The words come easier with silence and tea.

Essentially, whatever mood I am in, I try to honor that. No distractions.

Then there is TV. I am not blaming Jared because I am just as much at fault, but when he gets home from class we will waste six hours laying on the sofa absorbing the useless information blared at us through the television. Part of this is due to the fact that Jared is simply exhausted and doesn’t particularly want to do anything after class. TV because it provides a passive action for our brains — pure entertainment. There is nothing and there is everything. And I know in my core that he would never give it up. I respect that.

The other part of our TV equation is that we deeply enjoy each others company and the connectivity available to us when laying close together, hands interwoven, enjoying a shared interest. Having a companion is such a magical thing.

Unfortunately, the fall television season has started, and I find myself trying to puzzle out which shows come on when. TV takes up a significant portion of my brain. Why are there so many shows on Sunday? Why does The Walking Dead overlap with Boardwalk Empire? Why does my life have to revolve on the TV Guide’s time schedule? Okay, that’s a little over dramatic, but I don’t enjoy the constrained feeling of scheduling my nights around TV show times. I do enjoy On Demand and Netflix which allow me to watch some (or all) of a show at my leisure. It alleviates some of the strain to know I can pause, get up, use the bathroom, make tea, check email, then resume the show when I feel like it.

I appreciate the feeling of control over my own life and would just as soon leave the house to do something else, then return later to watch each show at my leisure.

Ideally I would live in a world devoid of a television. But I recognize that a relationship is give and take. I choose to sacrifice this battle and fight fair. Because I love him, we have a TV.

xx, @abby_cake

#nerdsunite

Want more from Abby?? Check out her blog over yonder - and don't forget to drop her a follow on twitter!!

#GeekSpeak: The sometimes random misadventures of @Abby_Cake

<editorsnote> Nerds, meet my buddy Abby. I met her in Chicago at the #20SBSummit, and this chick is raaaddddd!! She considers herself more of a nerd than a geek - but I think she's just all shades of random and awesome. Oh and FTR, the TNTML stance on nerds versus geeks are that nerds are products of a genetic predisposition, and geeks are raised. BOOH-YAH!!! I only have one more thing left to say ... HIT IT ABBY!!!</editorsnote>

#TalkNerdyToMeLover's @Abby_Cake

Five Places I Have Woken Up. 

<b>In front of my computer.</b>
In college I moved my sofa (yes, a sofa) in front of my computer desk so I could sleep at odd intervals between camping monsters on FFXI. I often fell asleep only to be woken up by the trumpeting of a party member alerting me that we had claimed Valkurm Emperor. Grade: C That sofa (in reality, a loveseat) was not too comfortable, and I don't like being woken up, but the convenience was nice.

<b>My desk at work.</b>
One of my students bought me a Drank from the corner store, which is described as some kind of "chill out" de-energy drink. Just what high school students need. To appease them, I had half of it, then promptly passed out on my desk for the entirety of my 40 minute off-period. Grade: C I woke up groggy as hell, but getting a nap in at work is kind of fun. 

<b>The back of a truck.</b>
What Texas girl hasn't been here? After spending the day getting extremely intoxicated, crashing a fraternity party (where I was mistaken for a sophomore) and playing a lot of slap the bag while watching country bands at a Chili festival, I stoically walked (although there were offers to carry me) to my friend's truckbed, where I spent the night. Upon climbing in, I covered myself with a mattress pad and cried out to no one, "this isn't a sleeping bag!" before succumbing to sleep. Grade: B I was so drunk I didn't notice the dew accumulating on my mattress pad and actually woke up feeling fairly well. I braided my second-day hair and used the port-o-potty like a champ.

<b>On the floor, with my pants off, cuddling my dog.</b>
A friends birthday party got a little out of hand and, I don't really have all the details, but someone took me home after I gave them the wrong gate code (or was just shouting random numbers). I also threw up in a friends purse (IN the purse, people). I only managed to get my pants off before giving up somewhere between the hallway and living room. Grade: D Not an F, only because Sherman was my pillow. He is fuzzy and non-judgmental.

<b>The Grand Canyon</b>
After a 48 hour round trip and three days in Vegas with six of my  friends, we opted to camp out at the Grand Canyon. Little did we know,  there is still snow on the ground in March. Stoically, we accepted  nature's challenge and set about starting a fire and getting roaring  drunk (as if our livers hadn't been punished enough over the last week).  I woke up on the freezing ground listening to animal howls fill the  air, but with Jared's arm wrapped securely around me - that's how I  figured out he loved me. Then I watched the sun rise over the Grand Canyon. Grade: A+ Do I really need to explain??

xx, @abby_cake

#nerdsunite

Want more from Abby?? Check out her blog over yonder - and don't forget to drop her a follow on twitter!!