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Get Him to the Geek
When gamers gather to celebrate their obsessions, the Penny Arcade Expo is the result: a three-day geek bacchanal of shows, demos, and latex costumes. Dennis Tang explores one of the country's biggest gaming conventions to get to the bottom of a growing subculture
The underground double bus on Boston's silver line is filled to capacity with an unusually homogeneous crowd this morning. Mostly male, mostly twenty-something, mostly white, mostly dressed in slouchy windbreakers, cargo pants, and baggy jeans. Their T-shirts mostly depict pilated cartoons and mushrooms, and esoteric catchphrases. It's the uniform of a certain social subset, the kind of attire that suggests acne where there is none. I am standing in the accordion hookup between the two bus sections, which creaks and rattles in a way that suggests imminent disaster. Next to me are two people who do not fit that description: a tall, built man wearing a Bruins jersey and what is presumably his girlfriend, whose streaky, highlighted, flat-ironed blonde hair seems synonymous with the phrase "body shots." Noticing that something is up, he turns to his other side and asks someone, "Where's everyone headed?"
"It's PAX," the addressee says, giving the guy's blank stare a moment before adding, "It's a convention? For, like, video games." And maybe I'm projecting, but his voice seems to contain exactly that kind of haughtiness you'd expect, an Oh, you've probably never heard of it vibe that existed long before hipsters roamed the earth. The Bruins guy doesn't pay it much mind, though. And it's not all pimply pale dudes and the jocks they sneer at, either. Seated not too far from me is a pair of black guys who for a minute might seem to be the only other people going somewhere else—until I listen in and hear: "Nah, dawg, it's like a first-person adventure/fantasy. You're saving these villagers from like an evil sorcerer..." and so on.
They are a certain kind of person, and I'd be lying if I said I hadn't come to the Penny Arcade Expo without expecting to find them. I tried not to make this into a faux-zoological study, a David Attenborough documentary that depicts the geek, that socially outcast sub-species of the young American male, in his natural habitat. But if this scene weren't peculiar enough to warrant such a treatment, you wouldn't be reading about it. Besides, if this bus is any indication, the stereotyped could hardly care what we think. They're here, with their gear; get used to it.
The Penny Arcade Expo is a case study in gaming culture if there ever was one, a sprawling three-day convention featuring new releases, developer panels, gaming tournaments, and more. Unlike other shows, like E3, it is open to the public, making it more of a populist, community-driven experience than an opportunity for industry titans to hawk their wares—though hawk they still do, of course. There are two PAs now; the original Seattle-based one, now called PAX Prime, drew 70,000 attendees in September of last year. While Prime opened in 2004 with a scant 3,300 guests, PAX East here in Boston began just two years ago, and is now comparably sized to its big brother.
Cresting the overpass from the subway station, the sight of the Boston Convention and Exhibition Center is the first sign that PAX is serious business. It is an enormous stadium-sized building of steel and glass, its façade an enormous, windowed second-story overhang that looks, somewhat fittingly, like the bridge of an interstellar spaceship. An 80-foot-tall video tower displays the PAX logo, with a game controller's directional pad composing the "X" and a rotation of slogans below it: "Why Your IT Guy Is 'Out Sick,' " and so on. The second sign is the massive flow of people that can be seen from hundreds of yards away, all converging on the booths and signage that lie just past the front doors. Then, you finally get to the doors to find that Chevrolet is an official sponsor of the event. An Aveo compact is parked in the courtyard and covered in PAX stickers; predictably, all of the cars present are small, fuel-efficient hatchbacks and hybrids. There are no Cadillacs here. The marketing implication is clear: The attendees here are young, and they aren't investment bankers or soybean farmers.
Once inside, I am immediately lost. The lobby acts as a meeting place for hundreds of people, mostly of the variety I rode with, but also peppered with a collection of costumed individuals, known as cosplayers, dressed as their favorite characters (more on that later). I get a map. There is certainly enough going on to keep a gamer busy for three days: the exhibition hall, showing off new games under a flurry of LED lights and thumping bass; gaming-centric seminars and lectures, from "Gamers with Jobs Presents: Gaming for Grown-ups" to "How to Start Playing Dungeons Dragons"; and plenty of free console and arcade play areas to keep you entertained in between. I decide to avoid the exhibition hall for now since even from all the way out here, I can hear a muffled sound like Skrillex performing in a fish tank. I decide to wander the halls instead; it doesn't take long for me to find, as it were, the kind of thing I am looking for.
In one of the side halls is a small stage, open to all, running Dance Central for the ox Kinect, in which a motion-capture camera tracks your movements as you imitate dance moves choreographed to Top 40 hits. Onstage is a man with a pink ponytail and a mustache and wearing a tweed vest. He looks like the type of guy you'd expect at the counter of your local used bookstore, engrossed by a Detective Comics while you attempt to find the Italian cooking section. That apparently doesn't make him immune to the rhythmic charms of David Guetta's "Sexy Chick," as he's up there popping, locking, and pumping his way to a flawless performance. A girl walking by is seized there, mouth agape, for the duration. When he's done, the game racks up his perfect score. Applause all around, from the dozen or so people sitting cross-legged on the surrounding carpet.
Then, a new challenger appears. Another guy decides to up the ante with a similarly perfect rendition of "Toxic" by Britney Spears; the choreography includes a recurring snaking-hips move that the audience finds gender-bendingly amusing. One kid waves his oversized plastic broadsword to the beat. The ponytailed dude feigns not to care, leaning on a nearby column and looking at his while his challenger shimmies and grinds onstage. Louder applause all around. It's all set for a deciding match—never mind that the game is for all ages, and forgiving enough that they both just hit perfect scores on the hardest difficulty—until a pair of greedy novices take the stage, load up the Lady Gaga, and set the game to "easy." Step aside, newbs!, everyone seems to moan. Ah, well. The rivals disperse, and the geek faceoff is spoiled. This is starting well, I think.
Early in the day, I attend a QA with the creators of the Penny Arcade web comic, gaming mega-stars and PAX founders Jerry Holkins and Mike Krahulik. As if the mind-blowing turnout here weren't enough, fans make frequent pleas to the need for a PAX South, or a PAX Dubai. Build it and they will cosplay, I guess.
I go to the QA not just to people-watch, but because, I have to confess, I'm also a huge fan myself. When Penny Arcade was first published in November of 1998, I was still in grade school. By virtue of parents who worked in IT, we had an Internet connection at home, a 28K modem that did a lot more beeping and screeching than actually downloading anything through the phone line. I played video games, though. A lot of them. I quickly graduated from my Sega Genesis and Sonic the Hedgehog platformers to the hard stuff: fantasy role-players like Baldur's Gate and Fallout, shooters like Quake and Unreal. Without the newest gaming rigs (whose hardware now make my smartphone look like SkyNet by comparison) I was playing the hottest games long after they'd gone cold, but it hardly mattered: It was an addiction, the kind of unconscious clicking-and-staring-until-your-eyes-water-holy-crap-is-it-really-that-late preoccupation that ruins your grades and worries your parents. There are many reasons I, as a classic "gamer," could give for why I liked it so much: a nomadic childhood that stunted friendships with flesh-and-blood people; an inherently introverted, reclusive personality that resulted in the same; or an inclination toward cerebral, technical interests—no doubt exacerbated by a complete ineptitude with sports and the outdoors in general—that naturally translated to video games. The instantaneous tactile cause-and-effect of gaming, its tightly logical, computer-generated worlds: These were archetypal, the escapist obsession of "geeks," socially anxious and fragile beings for whom the infinitely variable chaos and physical ertion of the real world were just too much.
Nowadays, however, when Baltimore Ravens running back Ray Rice is an avowed Call of Duty fan, and Vikings superstar Adrian Peterson allegedly plays the Magic: The Gathering collectable card game (his teammate, punter Chris Kluwe, definitely does; so did I), that genealogy probably needs some rethinking. But even so, the crowd at PAX makes it plain that the heart of gaming culture are still the peers I wish I knew as a kid, those of us who were in love with it before it was...well, not cool (it's still not that), but even socially acceptable to admit.
It was not always like this. The Penny Arcade comic was the brainchild of Holkins and Krahulik, featuring their respective alter egos, Tycho and Gabe. By then gaming wasn't exactly some obscure fetish—it had been part of the cultural consciousness for decades, from Pong to Mario to The Last Starfighter. But it had just gotten its first taste of mainstream, grown-up popularity with the success of the first PlayStation, and was still several years away from becoming the large-scale medium (and raking in the grown-up money that would come along with that) it is today, with so-called "hardcore" gamers still residing on the fringes—exactly the demographic to which Penny Arcade catered. The second-ever Penny Arcade strip was a jab at John Romero, the (relatively) famous designer of the first-person shooters Doom and Quake, whose personal project, Daikatana, would prove to be a famously bug-ridden boondoggle. (Yes, I played Daikatana. My enduring memory is of being so aggravated by my AI teammate running into the line of fire that I turned on the invincibility cheat—and then watched him kill himself by walking out of a train.) And if you didn't know who that was, then it wasn't for you: It's fascinating in retrospect how inside-baseball the comic was from day one; its viability is above all a testament to how the Internet has enabled individuals to pursue and spread their hobbies for little cost (and in those days, no profit). But on another level, it was also a harbinger of how gaming would soon be ready for prime time, not just as an entertainment product, but one with a captivated fan base, and industry-focused, Variety-esque coverage and dialogue akin to Hollywood. In 1998, you could write a free web comic about the video game industry and develop a healthy readership; in 2012, you can host a video game convention with attendees flying in from Johannesburg.
Gaming, Penny Arcade, and I all grew up together. You'd probably count Microsoft's release of the ox, with its emphasis on PC-like gameplay and a robust multiplayer network in an affordable and ready-made package as a seminal moment in the mainstreaming movement. After that, the frat bros got into Halo and Call of Duty, and the craft never looked back: Spike TV hosts its own Video Game Awards—Call of Duty commercials have "world premieres" during the NBA playoffs; gaming has graduated from cottage to big-time industry, in a way it never could have without expanding past its dedicated base. The comic's humor became more confident, its references more self-reflective, Gabe's art style more fluid and vibrant; the writing has dealt with the industry's as well as their own booming success, addressing how the varsity goons who used to beat them up in high school are now all up in their GameStops. Conversely, in high school is when you would conventionally say that I "outgrew" the strip and gaming in general, as preoccupations like girls, cars, and a depressing shortage of both quickly pushed gaming to the backburner and then, in college, off the stove entirely. But it seems obvious now, judging by the throng of alternate selves roaming this building, that I didn't outgrow squat—that if anything, the hobby I left behind has done more growing than I ever will.
Unfortunately for those who came to see video games, this year there is no new Halo or Gears of War, the kind of multi-million-dollar blockbuster that gets the Spike crowd going. Judging by the show floor, the most buzzed-about title here is Max Payne 3. Max Payne is a series of third-person shooters in which the titular character, an amalgam of countless pulp detective and action-movie archetypes, tears his way through the game in a John Woo- and Matrix-inspired combat style featuring gratuitous double-pistol gunplay and slow-motion, bullet-time acrobatics. It's an old PC gamers' favorite, and thus an old favorite of mine. The line for the demo is immense. It stretches around the big black box of the Max Payne booth and far off into the concrete and cinder-block outskirts of the hall, where you'd be forgiven for thinking you were in line for a meet-and-greet with Kate Upton.
At the end of the line, when I finally find it, is a guy named George. I make small talk with George for a while—or really, he makes small talk with me. He doesn't seem all that excited about Max Payne, but he's got his DS (Nintendo's dual-screen portable console) in hand, and he'd just be playing the same games sitting down...so, you know. Accordingly, the next purchase he's debating is the 3DS, which is upgraded with some cool 3-D/augmented reality bells and whistles. "I kind of want a 3DS but it's like, all the games are remakes. What am I going to play on it? There's Metal Gear Solid...well, I already have that for the SNES. And [The Legend of Zelda:] Ocarina of Time, I have that for N64." Throughout the day I hear a lot of quite earnest and long-winded talk about video games from many people, even when I tell them I'm a writer, and that I haven't come to write about any games. These conversations are pretty tedious—usually, people shouldn't delve into an oral review of the latest Pokémon sequel before checking to see if you're ready to invest ten minutes of your life into it—which, I guess when the common denominator for everyone in the building is their time- and life-consuming dedication to video games, is exactly the kind of "rule" you've made a pilgrimage here to escape. Deciding I've talked enough with George, nice as he is, I politely take my leave...to skip to the front of the line.
Okay, so I lied. George, I'm sorry. I don't need to stand in line, because I have a PAX media pass. This affords me a private appointment with one of the PR reps running the booth. At the front counter, I check in with a cute, brown-haired British girl. By the looks of it, of all the women who work in the gaming industry, the vast majority of them are in client-facing public relations—whoever could guess why? While she looks my name up, I look over at the front of the line, where a trio of men who look like they've exhausted their supplies of potable water and canned goods getting up here have obviously caught wind of what I'm doing. You know how in the wake of the financial crisis/recession/Occupy movement, the media has been drumming up countless "millionaires have it so hard" faux-sob stories, just to spur on outrage and disbelief from all us common folk? The beams of sheer hatred I feel on my back are a lot like that. I'm so embarrassed, I can't look at them. I want to try to get them in with me, and go back for George while I'm at it. But the girl says to come with her, and I follow her past the crowded demo kiosks into a temporary demo living room, replete with a coffee table, air conditioner, and leather coach. It keeps getting better. Or worse. I don't know anymore.
While chatting with the girl, a heavyset man with a "common" three-day pass wanders in. Seeing the big screen and the leather couch, he gets a pleasantly confused look on his face, like he's accidentally gotten backstage on the Watch the Throne tour. The PR girl gives him a blank, mildly hostile stare, like that's exactly what he's done. "Sorry," he starts, "I wasn't sure if this was where I was supposed to go."
"...No," she says, before gently leading him out to one of the kiosks outside. "Sorry about that," she turns around and smiles, "where were we?"
After the rep arrives and gives me a short rundown of the game, he hands me an ox controller and lets me play through a level of Max Payne 3—the only ten minutes of gaming I will have at PAX. And after ten minutes of running, ducking, diving, and performing some brutal shotgun ecutions, I come to the conclusion that it's...all right. A perfectly fine game, and a worthy successor to the games I used to love, in the sense that it's pretty much exactly the same. There are upgrades, like a "kill shot" feature that lets you Swiss-cheese the last enemy in a scene with a hail of slow-motion bullets (a less than wholesome marketing highlight), as well as an intriguing multiplayer component, which involves dueling bullet-time abilities that require you to get the drop on your enemies and freeze-frame them before they can do likewise. But did it strike me as something I would like to spend 15 or more hours playing? Now, I've spent 15 or more hours recently doing some pretty dumb things. But there is something about this game and all the others here that leaves me completely cold, and I don't really know what. I think of my teenage self, who easily spent over 30 hours sitting at a mouse and keyboard, jumping around in slow-mo, just like Neo does! I think about the line outside. How many limbs and first-born might be offered in exchange for sitting where I am right now?
While I haven't seriously played any games in years, I had always thought of it as a natural, temporal shift in priorities, like not seeing a good friend for a while: I've just been busy; I've had a lot on my plate lately. But this was like finally making time for that friend to discover that you don't really care to spend 30 minutes with him in a coffee shop, let alone do it on the regular. This stuff more or less used to be my life; now, confronted with all the diversity and sophistication of modern gaming, not to mention a drool-worthy exclusivity of access to it, I'd rather be at home, watching Mad Men reruns.
When I step outside for a smoke, a man takes one look at me and my badge and says, "A media pass, huh? How do you get one of those?"
"Work in media, I guess." And, I want to say, in my best immigrant mother's voice, but never forget where you came from! I think he's fine on that, though: He's going to the Bioshock developer's seminar at 3 p.m., and he's really stoked to hear Ken Levine.
While getting my jacket at the coat check to fish out some cigarettes—anyone's guess as to what socio-cultural non-risk factors are at play here, but in none of the outdoor areas have I seen anyone so much as take a puff—I take quick notice of the couple next to me. The man is nondescript here, a small Chinese guy in a size-medium T-shirt and wire-frame glasses, with hair that's spiky but uncombed. The girl is something else, though, a petite blonde wearing a slinky white dress with a big red bow tied at the waist. What sets it apart as handiwork is her hair, gelled to each side in a pair of gravity-defying curlicues that stretch past her shoulders. I ask her about her costume; she explains that she is cosplaying the titular character from Catherine, a Japanese story-driven adventure game. When I point to the hair, the guy chimes in: "Yeah, that part took us a long time," he laughs. Us? A group of admirers come from behind me and ask for a photo. "Sure," he says. He? Standing just behind her right shoulder, carrying a DSLR camera, he looks like the proud boyfriend of a beauty queen. I wouldn't call her pageant pretty, and this isn't exactly the Taj Mahal in Atlantic City, but she's the center of attention here nevertheless.
Cosplay is short for "costume play." Good cosplayers get photographed here a lot. It's a common courtesy extended by everyone who comes here in costume, and probably a substantial reason they dressed up in the first place. When it comes to the scantily-clad female costumers, it's customary put your arm around them without actually touching them, thus the comically hands-off "hover arm" that's a bit of a sexually frustrated geek trope in itself. There's a lot of hover arm going on right in front of me, in fact, as a tall, gawky guy having his photo taken with Catherine is treating the girl's pale bare shoulders like the surface of the sun. Female objectification and titillation is a fact of life here, pretty much guaranteed by the decreasingly so but still predominantly male audience that gaming draws. The weird, anesthetized sexualization that persists here often goes unmentioned. Many female characters in gaming are strong figures, after all, even if they have to navigate their bare midriffs and enormous, heaving chest plates while fighting the forces of darkness. One woman, who'd in fact been paid to show by the maker of the game she was cosplaying, was asked to leave the exhibition grounds, on account of her character's outfit being a jumpsuit that opened at her cleavage and closed just short of the wrong hairline. Of course, when you consider that the game's main character is named Lollipop Chainshaw, the problem begins long before a paid performer and her choice of source-material-faithful dress. Who knows if that is something that can be helped in an industry that, while it grows broader, older, and more female by the day, would still probably call the ten-percent female attendance at PAX (just eyeballing) a healthy turnout.
Later I am walking across the Microsoft area on the show floor—by far the largest, as Microsoft is plainly serious about capturing the purist market over its rivals at Sony and Nintendo—to find that the center of it is consumed by a huge crowd, larger than the Max Payne line, with dozens of smartphones and cameras raised up in periscope configuration. I have to ask someone in front of me, someone much taller, what's going on. Turns out it's photos and autographs with Felicia Day, star of web series The Guild, and geek pinup extraordinaire; another (albeit closely related) kind of geek may know her from Joss Whedon's writers'-strike web musical Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog, starring Neil Patrick Harris. Mostly through the Whedon connection, several of my close friends are drooling fans of hers. So, if only to piss them off, and promising that this will be my last abuse of GQ's power, I swear, I ask her manager if I can talk to her after she's done here. I come back an hour later, at which time we literally whisk her across the exhibition hall, her glasses concealing her identity Clark Kent-style for just a few seconds—I feel like I'm escorting Princess Grace or something.
Talking to her, I find that there's very good reason for her position as goddess and role model in the world of gaming celebrity, and why a substantial proportion of the line for her autograph—more so than many other crowds here, actually—was female. "I think it's very flattering and I'm aware that it's not going to last forever, so the more I can be out there and inspire people to follow in my footsteps, the more breakouts there will be. With the opportunities the Internet provides, this is the time. The next George Lucas won't come from Hollywood, you know? It'll be someone doing something online." She is starting a TV channel called Geek Sundry, in fact, but on ox Live, where The Guild and other shows are available streaming, direct to their intended audience. Given the rising stature of gaming and her sex symbol status within it, would she be up for a photo shoot? "As long as it's not anything slutty," she laughs. "I have too many girls looking up to me, I can't pose in like, a bikini." She's the thinking geek's girl next door, beautiful and smart but without all the marketer-ordained skimpiness. She has almost two million Twitter followers, most of whom would probably kill to stand here and watch her recite her grocery list, let alone have, like, a conversation.
"My friends are going to kill me for this," I say.
"Oh no! Why? Don't die, I like you!" Okay, so I'm not totally apathetic about being here.
And as for what she'll be doing many years from now? She will be gaming, that's for sure. "Obviously the people I appeal to might change, but hopefully not."
I spend dinner eating some terrible heat-lamp chicken strips and sitting with a crew of five guys who, despite sounding like the best of friends, have never met before. They've been talking for years on an Internet forum, they say. When I ask what forum, one of them, who has spotted my media pass and already asked what my deal is, uses the laymen's explanation. "SomethingAwful.com, have you heard of it?" Yes, I assure him, I have. (Whether you have isn't terribly important.) They picked PAX East as their first-ever meeting place, and despite some consternation over what it would be like to speak in the flesh—some of them have met other "e-friends" before, others haven't—have pretty much taken their rapport seamlessly into real life, they say. I ask what drew them together, of all the thousands of people on that forum. They say they shared some favorite games in common, but that between the hundreds of people who favored the same games, they don't know how they gravitated together—they just liked each other, they guess. Seems like friendship in the Internet morass works just like in real life: as in, who the hell knows?
One way online friendship does not work the same is the diverse spread of geography and demographics these guys represent; they're plainly kindred spirits who never would have met by other means. One works at a call center in Canada. One of them is a student at law school. The oldest is 35, and the youngest is 19. Maybe if I'd had a crew like this, I'd be here under different circumstances; the fact that I've had that thought, and a little wistfully at that, suggests that something here is getting to me.
Accordingly, the most noteworthy item I spy on the show floor all day is Geek Chic, a hardwood furniture company specializing in playing/living/dining-room furniture for grown-up gamers. From bureaus that double as dungeon master tables, to specialized comic book storage, to massive tabletop gaming centers that double as dining room furniture, Geek Chic produces upscale craftsmanship specially for an aging generation of gamers, who don't want their middle-aged lives to clash with continuing the hobbies of their youth. Thing is, the company's wares run from one to over twelve thousand dollars apiece. My obvious first thought: Who buys this stuff? That's when a man walking by takes a look at an eight-thousand-dollar table, which has a grid of removable squares, on which sit molded miniature dungeons, forests, and rivers, not to mention pull-out drawers on each side with a space for your dice and, yes, a cup-holder. "It's modular..." he says, gushing, and then makes a sound normally reserved for the privacy of one's bedroom. The answer, it turns out, is lots of people. The founder, Robert, tells me that despite having 25 full-time employees and tens of thousands of square feet in production space, orders remain backlogged for months. How much did they sell? Try two million dollars' worth.
"Geek is just a term to say that we're very passionate about a specific subject," he says. "Just because we're geeks and gamers doesn't mean we don't want to have nice things." He has a point. The growth of gaming has been cited as evidence of the parallel ascension of the man-child, the career-less couch-surfer who continues to prolong adolescence into his twenties and thirties. But products like Geek Chic imply the opposite: that boys are still building lives and becoming men, they're just taking their hobbies along with them. And if we can forgive the Entourage crew and their ilk buying matching Ferraris, can't we let these guys have their Transformer dining tables?
By now it's getting late, and it's time for the concert. The lineup is a who's who of gaming bands: Supercommuter, the Minibosses, the Protomen. The crowd lining up for the concert is impressive. Standing in line (I do have to stand in line this time), I notice a very fit man in cargo shorts with unusually good posture talking to his friend. Figuring one more snap judgment can't hurt, I decide to investigate.
Sam is in fact a Marine based out of a naval base in Maryland. He made the eight-hour trip because he's a devoted follower of tonight's headliner, a band called the Protomen. The Protomen are primarily inspired by the classic Mega Man series, as well as the synth-y, keytar-filled rock it shared the '80s with. Sam is not just a fan of the Protomen, he follows them around, groupie-style. "I've been to all of the shows they've played in the last year," he says. In fact he's dragged his platoon-mate—who has zero interest in games and looks sort of mildly, constantly chagrined by the scene around him—the eight hours here to keep him company. When asked if this isn't kind of unacceptably strange for a Marine, he doesn't exactly say no; in addition to the rampant Call of Duty-type first-person shooter play you'd expect from that set, more than a few of Sam's peers are serious gamers.
"Twenty guys in our platoon, maybe seven of them play MMOs." Massively multiplayer games like World of Warcraft are, in many ways, the ultimate expression of hardcore gaming, largely because they require an all-consuming dedication to laborious, repetitive play, or "grinding," for the sake of collecting all the shiny loot that forms the core of the games' reward structures—basically, if you aren't playing dozens of hours a week, you might as well not play at all. People get obsessed. Kids in China have died from exhaustion playing it. At least the Marines would have the physical stamina for it, I think.
"I've got a tattoo," he says suddenly. "Wanna see?" When I nod, he turns his back to me and lifts up his shirt to reveal a Triforce, the iconic emblem from Nintendo's Zelda series, etched on his back. "First thing I got out of boot camp." I ask him how his peers think of such a show of, um, enthusiasm. "They get it. I mean, our sergeant thought I was weird, but the guys understood." Hell, I'm not sure I understand. Maybe it seems daft that it has taken me all day and dozens of conversations, to still be surprised that a person from this or that segment of society is secretly or publicly an obsessed gamer.
The doors open, and eventually the main theater is packed to capacity. The lights dim, and first up is a "chip-hop" group called Supercommuter, whose gamer-centric, white-boy rap is what is usually categorized as "nerdcore." The acoustics are by a guy called Stenobot, who composes all his tunes on an original Game Boy—which I now realize is as about as large as the box my last phone came in—jerry-rigged to the bank of synthesizers in front of him.
_Hold up now, the ship you showed me
On TV shined like a trophy
Plus there's one thing no one told me_
One detail—where the hell are we going?
The song has nothing to do with games, but everything to do with gamers—the lonely uncertainty of early adulthood, uniquely exacerbated in these people by the stigma that they engage in a children's hobby. Who am I, where am I going? I just want to fly an X-wing, maybe slay some dragons. The song seamlessly transitions into a new beat and a new bleep, and the crowd is rocking now. Much of the big hair and Styrofoam armor that made such good cosplay earlier just becomes cumbersome now. One girl, seated on a man's shoulders in a short silk slip, is showing a generous amount of bike short.
Okay, so this isn't exactly an AC/DC-sized stadium crowd. But the audience is pumped, the music is (surprisingly) good, and the concert possesses a singularity of purpose. All day I've found myself surprised by the sheer numbers of people at PAX, but now they gain a sustained rhythm and harmony, jumping and swaying, bound together by the sheer esotericism of their passion. Hundreds of people, joined in the communal flying of a common freak flag.
While the next band sets up, I step out of the hall to the windows out front. The trains will stop running soon, and I have a bar appointment with some old friends. I'm spent from a day of walking rings around the convention, and a trek up to Cambridge sounds like a bruising chore. Yesterday, I might have called such responsibilities "having a life." But really, after a day spent with these people, consuming this culture, breathing in the sense of camaraderie, commiseration, and sheer joy that comes with sharing en masse the subject of all your greatest desires, triumphs, and pleasures, and coming face-to-face with the same long-abandoned facet of myself to boot, could I really say that with a straight face? It's tempting to share in all of this, even if my chances at it are long gone. The lights here are bright, the music loud, the people unified; the Protomen are calling.
I look out the window into the city's fluorescent night. The video sign from this morning is showing another slogan, one I hadn't seen before: "Welcome home."


text:
There have been so many happy days in my life, I don't think I could even count how many there were.
There have been so many happy days in my life, I don't think I could even count how many there were. But just for the fun of it, I tried to list them. I've come up with those happy days that I think were tops in my life.
One of my earliest happy days was while I was going to Schriever Graded School, not the large brick building that is called Schriever School today, but the white wood building that is now used for a different purpose.
I was in second grade at the time. The teacher, Mrs. Lirette, thought I had fever and sent me to rest in the teacher's lounge. At the time, that room was not used just for a teacher's lounge, but it was also the mimeograph room, where copies were made of test papers and other things.
As it turned out, I did have fever. I felt so loved that day. As the teachers came in to do whatever they had to do in the copy room/lounge, they'd look at me lying there and say nice things such as, "she's such a cute little thing" or "she's such a sweet child." I ate up those nice things. I made as though I was sleeping, but I'm sure they knew I was faking.
Now that I'm older, and I've lived through my motherhood phase and could tell if my own children were really sleeping or "playing possum," I'm sure they could tell I was faking sleep and just eating up that attention. When I got home that afternoon, Mama took my temperature and sure enough, I was sick. She put me to bed, probably gave me a dose of castor oil (ugh), and I missed a few days of school. I loved school, so that part about staying home seemed to be punishment. But I still feel that all the rest was a good experience.
Some of my other good experiences included the retreat the Catholic students went to for our Confirmation. The priest threw out silver bells — lots of them — to the students, and we had to scramble for them after the completion of the retreat. I can remember not catching many silver bells because I was so tiny, and I was afraid I'd be crushed in that sea of bodies. However, it was still a good experience. We seldom had candy when I was a child, and no matter if I only caught a few, those few were quite a treat.
Other experiences include the night I got engaged to Vic, our wedding day, the day I gave birth to each of our children, and each one's wedding day. Perhaps I'm one of a few mothers who never knew what "empty nest syndrome" felt like. I was happy when they left home. I figured Vic and I had done as good a job as we were capable of doing, and we could send them off without regrets. Over the years we've tried not to be interfering parents, and they gave us the same respect we gave them. Today, they pamper us. It's almost as though our roles have been reversed. We listen to their concerns about us and usually act accordingly.
All of our anniversaries have been happy ones. Pretty soon we'll celebrate our 67th wedding anniversary. Although the road of life has been a rough one to travel at times, I can truthfully say that for the most part, our life together has been better than we could ever expect.
We give thanks for all the good times over the years. We also give thanks for those times when there were "only one set of footprints." Those were the times our faith carried us through. Two of those times were when one of our children spent several weeks at Baptist Hospital in New Orleans and more time at Charity Hospital in New Orleans when he was diagnosed with a brain tumor. Today he's fine, and that's another thing to be thankful for.
The other time of great sadness was when the boy we raised took his own life. That was almost impossible to bear, but again our family, friends and faith carried us through.
When we needed family, friends and faith the most, all were there and offered their assistance. We accepted their prayerful offerings and still thank God that so many people supported us during our almost 67 years of marriage. Many of those "angels" have gone to their heavenly reward; the remaining "angels" are still here among us. We offer a huge thank you for helping us when we needed it most. With people like you around, no one need walk alone through the brambles in life.
Irene C. Michel, a native of Terrebonne Parish, is a columnist for The Courier and Daily Comet. She can be reached at 876-3252 or firstname.lastname@example.com.

subset: commoncrawl


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Steam Days
Next Steam Days at Half Term (16th-24th February )
See our unique collection of Great Western Railway steam engines, coaches, wagons, buildings and small relics based around the original 1930s engine shed
G.W.R Class 1400 Collett 0-4-2, No. 1450 will be visiting us from the end of April until early September.
You could even drive the locomotive by booking on one of our Railway Experience Days.
Class 14 Diesel D9551 will be visiting us from the SVR for our Heritage Diesel weekend - 4th-6th May.
Exhibition Only Days - Steam, smoke and soot! Probably one the best days out you can have if you are into trains and history. Great fun for young and old alike and even teenagers can enjoy it.- Kevin R - Dorchester
The entrance to Didcot Railway Centre is through the ticket hall & subway of Didcot Parkway railway station - Didcot, Oxfordshire, OX11 7NJ. Information about Parking.
There is an unavoidable flight of 18 steps at our only entrance. See our Access Statement for details.
Next Steam Days at Half Term (16th-24th February )
Explore the Centre at your leisure - Weekends January/February 2019
Selected Weekends in April, May and September
Have a go at controlling the trains - 1960s style!
Sunday March 3rd
Your favourite No 1 Engine visits Didcot. March 30th-31st
Official Launch Date - April 5th-7th
Lady of Legend, King Edward II & the Steam Railmotor - Easter April 19th-22nd
Opening times. admission charges, how to get here, loco roster and accessibility information.
Important Parking Information
to our historic buildings, locomotives, rolling stock and the exciting things to see and do.
Help us maintain and run the railway, join the Great Western Society or help raise funds.
Didcot Railway Centre is the home of the Great Western Society
10 things to do for Families and Adults
Stay up to date with events and what's going on at Didcot Railway Centre.
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NASHVILLE, Tenn. - The Tennessee State men's and women's cross country teams continued their season on Saturday during the Vanderbilt Invitational at Percy Warner Park. The field featured 24 teams in each race with the men running an 8K and the women a 5K.
Jamill Jackson was the first of the Flying Tigers to cross the tape in a time of 30:53, just ahead of Jalon McCutcheon at 31:04. Adrian McDaniel (32:14) led a group of three TSU runners across the finish line. The group included Jonathan Owens at 33:30 and Theodore Nicholson 35:26.
Breanna Adams (26:58) edged Oteia Prince (26:59) by a tenth of a second to lead the women's attack. Jasmine Owens (28:54), Charita Harris (29:39) and Diera Taylor (33:23) teamed up with Adams and Prince to finish ahead of Alabama A&M.
Brianna Woodson completed the course in 33:25 and Gabrielle Todd came across in 33:54.
On the women's side, TSU totaled 754 with host Vanderbilt claiming the title with 42 points. The men finished with 785 points while Ohio Valley Conference opponent Eastern Kentucky took the top spot with 32 points.
TSU will travel to Daytona Beach, Fla., to run in two separate events. On Friday, September 21, the teams will compete in the Bethune-Cookman Beach Invite before taking part in the Asics Embry-Riddle Classic on Saturday.


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Police Identify Victim of Essex Street Murder
Bangor police on Tuesday identified the victim of a murder on Essex Street.
The victim is 21-year-old Brooke Locke of Bangor, according to a news release from the Bangor Police Department. The State Medical Examiner's Office has determined Locke died of strangulation.
Zackery Mailloux, 21, was charged with murder after his arrest Monday afternoon. Police discovered Locke's body in the apartment she shared with Mailloux at 166 Essex Street in Bangor.
Mailloux made his first court apperance Tuesday afternoon and was ordered held without bail. The affidavit in the case has been impounded upon the order of the court so no additional details regarding this case will be released at this time, according to police.


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Today, when you think of a Harley-Davidson motorcycle - chrome, a growling engine, sleek lines and comfort comes to mind. The first Harley-Davidson was a basic bicycle with an engine on it. It took years for Harley to acquire its reputation, perfection and celebrity status. Harley-Davidson was founded in 1903 by William S. Harley, Arthur Davidson, Walter Davidson and William A. Davidson who were dedicated to making their business a success.
We asked the Harley-Davidson Museum which motorcycles are the most popular throughout the century and what's ahead for the future.
Click ahead to find the most glorious Harley-Davidsons.


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Add an unhackable Ransomware protection
PC-Welt features a review of six free firewalls with ZoneAlarm® resulting as the test winner. The editorial department's conclusion: The firewall presents very good security performance.
ZoneAlarm® - January 4, 2007
In a very detailed review of ten security suites, ZoneAlarm® Internet Security Suite 6.5 features the recommended firewall. The suite is said to have very good protection and manages to effectively protect itself from unauthorized termination.
ZoneAlarm® Internet Security Suite 6.5 - September 1, 2006
In a large review of seven firewalls, PC Praxis thorougly conducted security as well as performance tests. ZoneAlarm® Pro clearly won the competition and was awarded with the winner logo. "A very secure, flexible and convenient firewall with numerous protection functions that absolutely make sense."
ZoneAlarm® Pro 6.5 - August 3, 2006
Once a year, the editorial department of CHIP online selects the best download products. Their conclusion with regard to ZoneAlarm®: "Outstanding freeware which protects effectively against hackers. A large advantage compared to other firewall programs is the particularly simple handling and the "stealth" function, which makes the PC actually invisible in the Internet. Version 6 offers a preventing defense mechanism against Spyware."
ZoneAlarm® - December 2005
ProtectStar Incorporated, an independent IT security expert active worldwide, awarded - for the first time - a personal firewall with the ProtectStar Award. ZoneAlarm® Pro 6.0 was tested over several days with the following conclusion: "ZoneAlarm® Pro is a technically well-engineered and user-friendly security software. Users get a professional firewall which is worth every €-Cent."
ZoneAlarm® Pro 6.0 - November 2005
ZoneAlarm® - August 5, 2005
ZoneAlarm® Security Suite 5.5 - December 3, 2004


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My 21-year old sister Krystal, who was also a twin, dropped dead on campus before her midterm exams on Monday. They think it might be a brain aneurysm, but we won't know the exact cause for 30-60 days. Life is not CSI. The visitation is Thursday and funeral Friday here in Northern Ky. Information on services can be found on the front page of KevinandShel.com.
There will NOT be a Friday event post this week. There's just no way I can get it together in time.
It looks like, overall, I'll be taking around 2 weeks off from the wine
blog. I'm going to ask two friends of mine to contribute periodically,
as guest authors, over the next week and a half.
Sunday I actually leave for a conference in Florida where I'm giving two presentations. I've decided to go, because I think I could use a break. Kevin & I have had a lot of death in 30 days (Krystal died 31 days after Kevin's father). My best friend lives near the conference, so I think the trip will be good for me.
I return next Wednesday night. I intend to post an event listing on Oct 26 and everything should return to normal after that. Or in my case, a new normal.
Thank you for your patience …
– Michelle
UPDATE 10/17 evening: The coroner called my dad tonight. When he opened up Krystal's
chest, the right ventricle of her heart was destroyed. It was a
congenital heart defect. A heart problem had shown up in her twin, Kimberly, earlier this
year but it hadn't presented in Krystal, even with tests. Kim is on
medication. The coroner said she probably was going about her day, had
some sort of pain similar to antacid, and then was gone. Quick.
Her heart was just tired.
The stress on her heart from finals, work, and everyday living is
different from the stress put on her heart from sports and climbing and
all the other things she did. Her heart just gave out.
It helps to have a reason, even if it doesn't take away the pain.
This is terribly sad news. So sorry to hear you're going through this. Our thoughts are with you.
Life isn't CSI, and it certainly doesn't play fair, either. Hang in there, Michelle. My heart goes out to you and your family.
Extremely sorry to hear about your loss. As someone not far from your sisters age, who makes his living from neuroscience and the brain, it's certainly painful to see this.
Please, don't be afraid to take time to grieve. We are there with you, take as much time as you need. We'll be here waiting, when you're ready again.
So sorry for your loss! We are keeping you and your family in our thoughts and prayers.
To see Krystal move to the other side, in her prime, renders our hearts full of sadness. Our thoughts and prayers are with you and your family. Harmony Hill Vineyards
To see Krystal move to the other side, in her prime, renders our hearts full of sadness. Our thoughts and prayers are with you and your family. Harmony Hill Vineyards
Michelle: I am so sorry to hear this news. I echo Adamatus' words: Take all the time you need to grieve, and don't feel pressure to return to these duties. We'll be here whenever you come back.
Michelle: I know I offered this before, but my offer still stands, if you should EVER need time away from it all, please consider our home as a place of rest and relaxation while feasting on Spanish food and wine here in Barcelona. Although our digs are modest, your glass will never run dry Take care of yourself and know that our hearts go out to you.
Gabriella and Ryan Opaz (Catavino)
Wine Competitions Wine Book Club (WBC) Wine Judging Reviews Readings Whiskey Watch France Games Weblogs Wine Clubs Books RIP Repost WBW #65 Wine Glossary Wine Maps TasteCamp Web/Tech Marketing Uncategorized Legislation Recipes Florida Recession Wine Meet the Winemaker Greatest Hits Drink Pink! (BCRF) Holiday Current Affairs Television Spirits Photos Wine Shop Wednesday Contests Scotch & Whiskey History Disney Wine Tech Food and Wine Pairings Mad Men Monday Guest Writers Pop Culture Food and Drink Wine Blogs Knowledge Entertainment Dinner and Drinks Life Charity Benefits News Beer-Guy.net Special Events Beer WBW Local Wineries Cocktails Wine Shops Restaurants Travel Wineries Wine Notes Wine Events Weekly Cincinnati Wine Events Wine Misc Local Tastings Cincinnati
Krystal Pepper Memorial Scholarship Fund
Raising money for a scholarship fund in memory of Michelle's little sister who passed away in 2007


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Angelina Jolie steps out post double mastectomy
Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie stepped out together on Sunday at the premiere of zombie thriller World War Z - Jolie's first public appearance since announcing last month that she had undergone a double mastectomy.entertainment Updated: Jun 02, 2013 23:16 IST
Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie stepped out together Sunday at the premiere of zombie thriller World War Z - Jolie's first public appearance since announcing last month that she had undergone a double mastectomy.
The couple walked a black, rather than red, carpet at the world premiere Sunday of the big-budget film, which stars Pitt as a United Nations employee battling to save the world from a zombie apocalypse.
The pair wore complementary black outfits as they signed autographs for fans in Leicester Square.
Jolie told reporters she felt great, and had "been very happy to see the discussion of women's health expanded" by her announcement.
Jolie revealed last month in an op-ed piece for The New York Times that she had had her breasts removed after discovering she has an inherited genetic mutation that puts her at high risk of breast and ovarian cancer.
Jolie's mother Marcheline Bertrand died from ovarian cancer at 56, and the actress' aunt died of breast cancer last month.
The 37-year-old actress revealed that, beginning in February, she underwent three surgeries - which she succeeded in keeping secret from the public - in which her breasts were removed, and later replaced by implants. She said the procedure had reduced her chance of developing breast cancer from 87% to under
Pitt said Jolie's mastectomy and subsequent revelation had been "a very moving experience" for the couple, who have six children.
"What it means to others has really surprised me," he told the BBC. "The beautiful thing is that for us, life will go on. ... It certainly brought our family tighter together."
Rock band Muse is performing an outdoor concert Sunday for the premiere of the shot-in-Britain film which producers hope will be a summer blockbuster.
First Published: Jun 02, 2013 23:13 IST


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Top Gun
When a helicopter crew is adrift at sea and later discovered on shore, the NCIS team must determine the cause of the crash and locate the missing pilot. Meanwhile, Tony (Michael Weatherly, right) and McGee (Sean Murray, center) channel their inner "Maverick" and "Iceman," a la "Top Gun." Also pictured: Diane Neal (left) returns to guest star as CGIS Agent Abigail Borin. Photo: Cliff Lipson/CBS ©2012 CBS Broadcasting, Inc. All Rights Reserved.


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Tel: 01503 232737 Email: firstname.lastname@example.com
Rolls 35mm Neo pole is suitable for Medium to Heavy weight curtains up to 15kg (see Notes About 480cm on main Neo Page) and represents excellent value. Available in 6 options up to 480cm. Sold in complete pole sets. Sizes 240cm and above are supplied in two pieces with an internal joining sleeve and a central bracket that the join sits in. Can easily be shortened using a junior hacksaw. Rings are nylon lined for smooth quieter running.
See full information for Rolls Neo here especially for info about 480cm options.
Need to know more about dimensions of components? Check out all Rolls Neo Component Dimensions here


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Donate juice, cereal, rice, pasta, canned tuna and jelly to help the Niles Township Food Pantry this holiday season. Donation bins can be found at both campus entrances. Monetary donations are being accepted in the Office of Student Life in Skokie. Hosted by Oakton Helping Others
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'Good Morning America' Anchor Robin Roberts Comes Out
Good Morning America anchor Robin Roberts, who inspired millions through her brave battle with cancer, has publicly come out for the first time.
In a letter posted on her Facebook page, Roberts reflects on the past year and her recovery and acknowledges her girlfriend, massage therapist Amber Laign.
Robin writes:
Flashback 12/29/12....Hard to believe this was 1 year ago today..when I reached a critical milestone of 100 days post transplant...and KJ was finally allowed to come back home.
Reading this comforts me and I hope the same for you: "If you are depressed, you are living in the past. If you are anxious, you are living in the future. If you are at peace, you are living in the present."
At this moment I am at peace and filled with joy and gratitude.
I am grateful to God, my doctors and nurses for my restored good health.
I am grateful for my sister, Sally-Ann, for being my donor and giving me the gift of life.
I am grateful for my entire family, my long time girlfriend, Amber, and friends as we prepare to celebrate a glorious new year together.
I am grateful for the many prayers and well wishes for my recovery. I return every one of them to you 100 fold.
On this last Sunday of 2013 I encourage you to reflect on what you are grateful for too.
Wishing you a Healthy and Happy New Year.
Peace, love, and blessings to all..XO
According to an ABC spokesperson (via Variety):
An ABC News spokeswoman said Roberts has been in a ten-year relationship with a woman named Amber Laign, a massage therapist in private practice originally from the Bay Area, and noted that the two had met through mutual friends. Laign specializes in helping people recovering from injuries, the spokeswoman said.
Congratulations on publicly opening up, Robin!! We're wishing you a happy and healthy new year!
Image Source
I don't EVER comment on these issues in a forum because I think they are a breeding ground for controversy. As a born again believer in Jesus Christ I would only like to say this. We have all read that the Bible says..."the fornicators, idolaters, adulterers, thieves, and liars will not inherit the kingdom of God, which were some of you." The bible wants every human being to know that they are valuable to God. John 3:16. I am not pro homosexuality, but I love people. I respect people. We ALL need to stop hating. Robin good for you in your battle against cancer. God has a plan for your life.
Those people who quote the Bible as God's word are deluding themselves and using the Bible as a crutch for heir own narrow, homophobic, discriminatory or self-serving views. No "God," if, in fact, there ever was such a creature, ever sat around writing a book! The Bible is a collection of myths written by men, used to explain that which, at the time, could not be explained, or to support personal views or interests. So much hatred and disdain has been perpetrated by those people who profess to be followers of the biblical "word." There is far more truth in the words of PT Barnum: "there's a sucker born every minute!"
I don't think anybody actually thinks God say down and wrote the Bible. If that is what u imagine id suggest broadening your horizons just a smidge.and just as many ppl stereotype ppl who are homosexual...u are also one of those people. Congratulations lol you're officially part of a hate group. Now aren't u proud? So were the natzis.
God bless you Robin, as she/he/it has already done with surviving Cancer and all the other trials and tribulations of being a black Woman in this world we live in.
As for those that "judge" you via their beliefs, no matter how prejudicial they are, I quote a very great old comedienne, Sophie Tucker.
"Opinions are like a**holes.... everyone has one...and nobody wants to hear from them!!!"
You rock, and I wish you all the goodnes in life you and Amber both desirve!
Robin, you are an inspiration to so many, for going public with your health struggles ... Which gave many, many others hope with their own health issues. I am glad you have Amber to love ... Everyone needs and is entitled to live their life in a way that makes them happy. May you go forward and enjoy much peace of mind. Congrats and best wishes!
Robin-you have and are an inspiration to many,including me !! I'm not sick/cancer etc that I know of -for after 28 years @ a great ,small co my husband worked(electrician) & had great insurance,now we don't -his job now (small 3 persons) co., no insurance. Scarey-I hvnt been for mammogram/gyno dr in 5 years now-lots o friends my age getting breast cancer! Any way..... Proud if you for telling abt your gay & girlfriend of many years! I am a Christian and what I say & tell people(I have gay friends,myself) is WE ARE TO LOVE EVERYONE AND NIT JUDGE ANYONE. GOD IS OUR CREATOR AND LIVES US ALL AND I THINK PEOPLE NEED TO TAKE A LOOK AT THEIR OWN LIFE N STOP WORRYING/SLASHING GAY OR ANYTHING !!!! I agree we have freedom of speech& that's s"posed to be America-but good grief -at all who are quick to judge!!! There's lots of things in the Bible of do's n donts -Robin ,so glad you're getting well & helping others etc! God is smiling down on you!! What a wonderful woman you are:-) ! Keep in "keepin on!" You're awesome!!!!!!!!!!
All I can say is this!! Your struggle with cancer inspired many, your words of love to millions never go unnotticed. To all those that are quoteing the Bible I agree with you it is wrong, it says so in the Bible. BUT God loves all sinners and would love for ALL his children to turn away from sin and be washed in the blood. But also how about you love the sinner and NOT the sin. I agree with God all should turn away from unclean sins. But instead of Judgeing because he that is with out sin should cast the first stone, and if we but judge ourselves daily we would not need GOD to judge us. I agree with someone who said that this country is going down hill by making allowences. Well SIN enterend the world, we are but fleshly humans with fleshly desires. SIN IS SIN, weather its being Gay, or pornography, or lust, or EATING TOO MUCH, or lying or stealing, or wishing you had your neighbors boat or car, or wished that people would die, or anything that is WRONG. So please before you cast your JUDGEments make sure your living your life as PERFECT as JESUS did here on earth!!!
So glad to see and read that you are well and happy, Robin! God bless always! To everyone commenting negatively about her relationship, I say this: it is not our place to judge anyone for any reason...secondly, she didn't owe it to anyone in this forum or in the world to share her personal life...how many of us publicly announce our love for someone, straight or otherwise? Why not? Because it's nobody's business, that's why! She made a choice to make it public and that took courage, no like my dad would say "cojones" to do considering the ignorance that still exists. Before throwing a stone, take a look at your glass house. Your private life, I am certain, is not 100% godly. So, stop it!
You only understand what those in power want you to believe, taken out of context, the context of the times in which it was written, you are mean spirited and close minded and judgemental to have said this to anyone on planet earth.. Learn something about the bible on your own, look around at the history of the texts and to whom they were written and about what they were written. Try Homosexuality and the bible and read it. Open your little mind
Dear Robin,
You are a survivor and very courageous in you public battle with breast cancer. I think it's wonderful that you were acknowledged everyone that helped you through your recovery. I know how difficult it can be to "come out" but you did the right thing by your girlfriend. Good for you!!!
It's interesting how a mere human thinks they know how God thinks or feels. God created all living things including gay people. If you don't learn in life how to accept all people, God will put something in your path in order to have to look at it through a different lens. (ie a gay child of your own.) Love and kindness is the answer. Everything else is judgement.
Thank you Robyn! Ibam a family survivor of breast cancer.. The disease took my mother when she was a young 45 and I was a youngster of only 12. I am also a lesbian and I find strength and the message of love through your words and story. May you always feel the joy and love that surrounds you. You are right.. It is the Present moment we Have to learn to live in!
Robin, god bless you and thank you for sharing. Love is a beautiful, God has blessed you and to 'Everyone' that has chosen to use scriptures to judge, read them all and not be selective. His thoughts are NOT our thoughts and his ways are NOT are ways, period. Jesus also said that we love one another, period. With that being said, from a woman that is not gay....Robin, we love you, we will continue to support you, GMA and all your efforts. You have blessed our lives. Love, Love, Laugh and Live!
God don't bring two women together ! God don't bring two men together ! God bring's man and woman together ! God says it is a abomination for a man to lay with a man. It's funny how people believe what they want to believe when it comes to God's word. Sin is sin ! Matters if you are a good person or a bad person. God will NEVER ! NEVER ! change what He has spoken ! For the Bible says "If a man lies with a male as with a woman, both of them have committed an abomination; they surely be put to death; their blood is upon them. LEVITICUS 20:13 That's what God said...Amen
I am SO i love with you! I was so inspired by you throughout your health issues. I prayed you would be okay. I thought you were so heroic with sharing your experience with us in order to inspire others. I may be in love with you, but I am a gay man...lol Now that you once again share this part of your life... you are even more my hero. One person can change the world...and you have done it at least twice. Best wishes and you make me proud!
Robin, always remember that their will be people who like and dislike you in the world regardless of your preference. There are many individuals around the world who love and have been inspired by you, including me! So only focus on the good and continue to be faithful n positive as you are and that's all that matters Robin. We love you!!!
Robin, you are an inspiration to so many people. I admire your courage in coming out. I know being a public figure, it was not an impulsive decision but one that took bravery. I am from New Orleans where your sister Sally Ann is an anchor on WWL and I watch her every morning, she has the biggest heart i know and is filled with so much kindness. I watched her segments during your recovery and felt as if I were there recovering with you. May you and Amber have a life filled with much love, joy and many blessings.
Robin, you courage is inspirational. I have prayed for you though out your illnesses. I am so grateful you have the integrity to include all aspects of your life. You have always been open and frank regarding very personal aspects of your life. I support and love a very beautiful daughter who is gay. She is beautiful and strong. I would be heartbroken if she choose not to share her whole self because she is an amazing woman who dedicates herself to teaching special education. So good for you Robin !!
Way to go, Robin. Your courage during your breast cancer ordeal and the bone marrow transplant has inspired so very many women in America and Canada and the world. Now you have helped change the world. My daughter and daughter-in-law will be so proud of you. I watch every morning and love GMA. Happy New Year to you and Amber and God Bless.
Sally, I'm so sorry you carry such hate in your heart. Try to respect yourself, God, and all the courageous people who are honest with themselves, their families, and in Robin and Amber's situation....the world!!
My heart breaks for Robin and Amber to have to endure such horrible things said, and thought by people like you. They have been through so much, and now honesty will open a whole new, and exciting world for them.
Congrats Amber and Robin. Sally go and love your family, then ask yourself if the situation was reversed, would you be ok if people judged you?? I think not!!!
Because she has a girlfriend she is out of the closet? I have a long term girlfriend of 20 years but not gay? I dont see anything about sexuality in her post so how did you relate that to Her sex life? Heterosexual people don't walk around announcing who they have sex with. Not sure we people . It is necessary to share who you have sex with. Im sorry I dont get that at all. Whatever happened to privacy?
Men and women have lived freely for many, many years together in relationships/marriages. You knew who they were because they would be introduced as husband and wife. It's a sense of pride to be able to announce who you plan on spending your life with. For gay people it has been a struggle for many, many years to not live as freely. We now feel as though we can share with people who we are proud to be with! It's that simple. Don't be so hateful!
Listen to the new pope. He is not here to judge. As long as you worship "A" god, that is all that matters. Our judgement will come on our final day!
There is too much hate in this world. Whether it's Robin's "girl" friend or girlfriend, it does not matter. What matters is that this person stood by herself during a very difficult time in her life.
End of story!
Lisalee: It is not about who we have sex with. With your not being a member of our community (LGBTQ), it is tough to understand. You don't have to "get it", it's ok.
With the majority of society being heterosexual, heterosexuals do not need to explain themselves.
However, when you grow up being told who you are is wrong and you should change, "coming out" becomes a big deal. When you're in a public position as Robin is, this public declaration is courageous and inspiring to other members of our community.
Well that makes a lot of sense. I bet that is hard to deal with. I dont know how I ended up on Instinct except one of my gay friends posted this announcement on my FB page. Notice I said friend.... I really dont care... I love everyone the same. I still think its ok for me to voice things I dont agree with or have questions about. I feel like the gay community gets too upset with people that disagree. I just like there are people that live it and agree there are going to be those that disagree and dont live it. Hate is wrong regardless but disagreement is not
Here's what you're not understanding, Lisalee. Being gay is how we were born just like you were born (presumably) straight. So when you say the gay community gets too upset with people that disagree, you're talking about people who disagree with who we are. If I said all women were inferior, only on Earth to support a man therefore deserving no place at the table that would upset you. Would it not? It is not about agreeing or disagreeing with it because that is who we are. If you disagree with me being a human being, there is something wrong with you, not me.
Well Bruce if you felt that way about women that would be your opinion. Wouldn't make me angry at all as people are entitled. I know people that were not born that way but chose it. That was out of their mouth not mine. Chosen by hurt. Then you are right there are some that were born that way. Hence disagreement or discussion would be natural. I dont think it has anything to do with not being human. Once again I read haste in that post. Like I mentioned previously, I love everyone. God is the only opinion I care about when it comes to my life so.......
You may not be aware of it but straight people DO announce who they had sex with. When someone says "husband" or "wife" or refers to the mother or father of his or her children, it is a pretty clear announcement of who they sleep with.
Honesty, I am sick of all the heterosexuals rubbing our noses in their sex lives. I do not need to know that they are married or have children--keep all that sex stuff private please!!!!
You may not be aware of it but straight people DO announce who they had sex with. When someone says "husband" or "wife" or refers to the mother or father of his or her children, it is a pretty clear announcement of who they sleep with.
Honesty, I am sick of all the heterosexuals rubbing our noses in their sex lives. I do not need to know that they are married or have children--keep all that sex stuff private please!!!!
Well I didn't see the confirmation from GMAIL. Just because I disagree does not mean im stupid or an idiot. Believe me I am far from that. Im really tired of hearing about peoples sexual preferences cause it really doesn't matter. Comments eluded to sexuality. Control yourself. That was so ridiculous for you to comment like that. No hate on my end cuz you just dont know better.


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#87464 - ALUMINUM THREADED SHOCK SET (127-187mm/2pcs)
Baja 5B/Front/Need Fill Oil
Discontinued, replacement part: #102480
Standard Parts
Genuine HPI quality spare part for easy maintenance and repairs. A fully built pair of front shocks for the Baja 5B. Featuring externally adjustable pistons, threaded shock body for infinitely adjustable ride height, purple anodized aluminium shock caps and spring collars, and competition-tuned springs, these are the original (OEM) front shocks for the Baja 5B. #Z182 shock oil is necessary to fill the shocks.


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GOP's troubles boost Dem recruiting
House Democrats have been all but written off in 2014, but now they finally have something to smile about: The twin fiscal crises that did a number on GOP approval ratings nationwide are providing a badly needed boost to Democratic candidate recruitment efforts.
More than a half-dozen blue-chip Democratic candidates who had been uneasy about running — or flatly declined to do so — are now jumping headlong into top-flight races. And they're citing the ugly spectacle on Capitol Hill as a big reason.
Story Continued Below
In Nebraska, Pete Festersen, an Omaha city councilman, announced earlier this month that he will try to unseat GOP Rep. Lee Terry. Festersen previously said he wouldn't run against Terry, an eight-term incumbent with a history of narrow reelection wins.
( Also on POLITICO: Shutdown fuels Republican primaries)
But after Terry came under fire for answering "dang straight" to a question about whether he would accept pay during the government shutdown, Festersen reconsidered. National Democrats see Festersen as just the kind of pro-business moderate who can give the party a shot in the Republican-friendly 2nd Congressional District.
The same thing happened in New Jersey, where attorney Bill Hughes Jr., the son of a popular former congressman, for months resisted pleas by national Democrats to run against longtime GOP Rep. Frank LoBiondo. But after watching the budget drama unfold, Hughes says he's likely to run.
So does Indiana Democrat Joe Bock, a University of Notre Dame official who recently said, after much hesitation, that he will most likely run.
( WATCH: Shutdown winners & losers on "Turn the Table")
"I've been looking at this, and I've come to the conclusion that if I didn't do it, it's because I'm lazy or a chicken," he told POLITICO.
Some of the Democratic recruits have statewide or national profiles. James Lee Witt, who was director of the Federal Emergency Management Agency under former President Bill Clinton, says he's looking at running for the seat being vacated by Republican Rep. Tom Cotton.
And in Florida, Alex Sink, the state's former chief financial officer who narrowly lost a bid for governor in 2010, said her frustration with the budget and debt crises is pushing her to consider running for a seat in the St. Petersburg area.
"I've gotten very upset about the government. Why can't these people understand they're hurting everyday Americans?" Sink said in an interview. "I can't be complaining unless I'm willing to be part of the solution."
( WATCH: 10 great quotes on debt ceiling fight)
New York Rep. Steve Israel, the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee chairman, said the shutdown and debt ceiling standoff prodded candidates who had been on the fence or inclined not to run to jump in.
"There were a handful of districts where we had top-tier potential candidates a month ago, but they did not see a path to victory. So they closed the door; they locked the door; they barricaded the door; and they put me on the [Federal Communications Commission] Do-Not-Call list," Israel said.
No one — not even Democrats themselves — is yet saying the House is in play. A combination of redistricting and demographics has limited the number of competitive seats in 2014, giving Democrats few opportunities to chip away at the GOP's 17-seat majority. And while the fiscal debate has unquestionably hurt the GOP brand, it's unclear how lasting the damage will be — and whether voters will even care a year from now.
( PHOTOS: Government shutdown protesters)
Republicans are quick to point out that strong recruits are hardly a guarantee of success in red districts.
"It's going to be difficult for these second-tier Democrat candidates to run as outsiders in Republican districts when President Obama and Harry Reid are leading their party and running Washington," said Andrea Bozek, a National Republican Congressional Committee spokeswoman.
But in an election that has given Democrats little reason for hope, the new recruits provide at least a glimmer.


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|Sykesville, Md.
|High School:
2013: Scored at each of UMBC's final four meets, leading the Retrievers to their best-ever finish at the America East Championships, fifth… Place 45th overall with a 5k time of 19:47.71 at the conference championship meet at Binghamton… Lowered her time almost 40 seconds from her run (20:25.6) at the Pre-Conference Meet on the same course in September… Also scored at the Paul Short Run at Lehigh, the Princeton Invitational, and the NCAA Mid-Atlantic Regionals, also at Lehigh… Recorded her top season 6k time of 23:10.45 at the Salty Dog Invitational at Navy on Sept. 15… Selected to the America East All-Academic Team... Named to the America East Commissioner's Honor Roll.
2012: Competed in each of the Retrievers' seven races, scoring five times and leading the team at the Towson Invitational... McGovern finished third overall on the 5k course at Oregon Ridge Park to pace the Retrievers for the first time in her career... Set a career-best time of 19:08.83... Finished in 43rd at the America East Championships at New Hampshire with a new personal-best 5k time of 18:38.43 which ranks sixth all-time at UMBC... Selected to the America East All-Academic Team... Named to the America East Commissioner's Honor Roll.
2011: Competed in all six meets for the Retrievers, scoring three times... Top finish came at the season-opening Mount St. Mary's Duals where she finished 39th in a 5k time of 20:27.24... Finished the America East Championships race in a season-best 5k time of 20:00.79 to place 70th... Recognized on the America East Commissioner's Honor Roll.
2010: Competed in four meets... Top finish was 39th at the Mount St. Mary's Duals in a 5k time of 22:22.97... Ran a season-best 6k time of 27:14.5 at the Salty Dog Invitational... Recognized on the America East Commissioner's Honor Roll.
Background: Named to the Carroll County All-Decade Cross Country First Team... Named All-State Cross Country Honorable Mention by runningmd.com in 2009... A four-time All-County Cross Country First Team honoree by the Carroll County Times... Also named to the All-County First Team in the indoor season in 2009 and 2010 and the outdoor season in 2010... Named to the All-Monocacy Valley Athletic League Cross Country First Team four times... Part of the Maryland 2A Outdoor Championship-winning 4x800 relay team in 2010... Earned Scholar Athlete Award 12 times by the Maryland Athletic Association... Earned the Carroll County Coaches Association Award in 2010... Earned multiple academic accolades, including being a State of Maryland Distinguished Scholar Semifinalist, an AP Scholar, a Graduate of Distinction, a Governor of Maryland's Merit Scholastic Award winner and a Dual Academy Certificate recipient.
Personal: Daughter of Mark and Christine McGovern... Has a younger sister, Alexa... Majoring in environmental science... Born Nov. 9, 1992.


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St. Boniface receives citation for 125th anniversary
State Rep. Matt Gabler (R-Elk/Clearfield) was on hand Saturday evening to present St. Boniface Catholic Elementary School Principal Marie Giazzoni with a citation from the State House of Representatives honoring the 125th anniversary of the school and parish. Shown in the photo are Fr. Jim Faluszczak, St. Boniface pastor, Gabler, Giazzoni and the Most Rev. Donald Trautman, bishop of the Erie Diocese. Photo by Amy Cherry.
Local Social Media Posts


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Monday, May 24, 2010
First Generation Completed
Sunday, May 9, 2010
The Saga of Jane Ann DAWES Continued
As you can see in the above image from 1871 Jane is alive and well and her birth location is recorded as Hadlow, Kent further adding to her continued existence. I then decided to look in later years for a death and found a likely entry in FreeBMD for 1872. Unlike the census, her full name is shown and the age at death matches with her birth year of 1805 so I suspect that this is her. I also found a death for John in 1878. I have ordered the certificate for this Jane Ann and will update this posting when it arrives. I hope that it doesn't take more than a month like the ones for her sisters Susannah and Mary did. They arrived last week having been ordered on April 5th just before the GRO price increase but I am still waiting for Harriett's and will update all of their death dates after I have all the facts.
I still can't find a marriage for Jane Ann and John Bennett. Maybe she was "once burned and twice shy" since she appears to have started living with him before her second husband, William COOKE, died and we now know that her first husband, Thomas CHATFIELD, didn't die in 1832 but was transported to VanDiemen's land in 1831 for 14 years. And, I am not sure that she ever actually married William COOKE although her first child with him is listed as illegitimate while the second child isn't but there is no record of a marriage between them and given this new information about Thomas CHATFIELD I suspect that she didn't marry either William COOKE or John BENNETT.
This blog is starting to pay off because I was contacted by a CHATFIELD descendant with the information on Thomas and his legal problems.


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The International Comparative Legal Guide to Vertical Agreements and Dominant Firms 2018, 2nd Edition
Aug 16, 2018 Primer Members Only
By International Comparative Legal Guide, published by Global Legal Group
The information in any resource collected in this virtual library should not be construed as legal advice or legal opinion on specific facts and should not be considered representative of the views of its authors, its sponsors, and/or ACC. These resources are not intended as a definitive statement on the subject addressed. Rather, they are intended to serve as a tool providing practical advice and references for the busy in-house practitioner and other readers.


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If you've ever been involved with any kind of work-related group project, you'll know what a nightmare it is to collaborate via email. The management of file versions alone is enough to introduce ambiguity and quickly hiccup the whole thing.
Plus, if you're not careful, it's possible to start an entire email thread questioning what file version you're supposed to be looking at. Add in offshore workers, out-of-town clients, time zones, missing cc'd project members -- or just as bad -- excessively copied emails, and before long, no one knows what's going on. With multiple projects in the confused stream, you might as well all give up and go home.
The answer to these kinds of problems is to use a project collaboration tool -- of which there are now many. LiveHive is one such tool that is differentiated from many others because it has multiple mobile offerings, including one app for Android.
The Pitch
LiveHive pitches itself as a collaboration tool for creating visual Workspaces for organizing teams. Workspaces are essentially projects.
The custom workspaces store all of the important project assets in one cloud-based hub. Collaborators drop files or capture content. and the project owner shares workspaces with a team by inviting members, who then discuss projects.
LiveHive starts at US$24 a month for 30 workspaces.
I found it an elegant solution, with a few caveats. First, this app is oriented towards project collaboration rather than project management, so don't expect to see timelines, project scope templates or even basic project status reports. Where the service works well is in associating a specific asset file with a discussion thread. You see a file thumbnail embedded in the discussion.
I think that this kind of file association is key in any collaboration so that you don't end up with a Dropbox-like repository of asset files that need sifting through to find what everyone is talking about -- almost as bad as an email attachment that each team member has to manage individually. If you're familiar with commenting on Facebook's news feed Web pages, you'll get the live discussion thread idea used in this app.
File thumbnails appear in similar style to how a Facebook photo appears in a Facebook News Feed. The text discussion is below as comments
The Problems
I ran into issues getting the app to work properly on a tablet because the app couldn't handle a landscape orientation. It was a lame effort Android tablet-wise.
Some Caveats
If you've never used a collaboration tool before, I have, and I've found that clients want to use your collaboration tool too. They want to be on the same page. And why not?
Well, there's one thing that all of the suites I've seen lack, including this one, and that's a way to very clearly define client-facing collaboration, and internal collaboration.
Even though you can control who sees what, I'd like to see workspace background colors implemented on project-by-project basis, rather than a task-basis like Create Workspace, and Capture Webpage areas being defined with different colored borders, for example.
It's a waste of color as a UI resource. Delineation of posting is important, because not surprisingly, sometimes you don't need, or want the client to be privy to all that the development team are. It's too much information, for one thing.
Plus, it can also hinder expression from the developer, or employee if he knows the client can see it. Before you know it you'll be back with e-mail.
This also leads me to observing a lack of project-by-project definition in the Activity Stream on LiveHive's desktop PC website -- which needs fixing. It's unusable as is. I was using Firefox 23.01 on Windows 7 and simulating real-world use by flipping between app and desktop browser. You can't see what comment the project is associated with on the PC.
However, this Activity Stream project definition isn't an issue on the app because the Android app delineates projects in the stream acceptably with a subheader.
The Conclusion
Boy have we come a long way from email for project collaboration. LiveHive is an admirable solution. I would suggest any enterprise that wants to move over to a collaboration tool, give this one a shot.
Want to Suggest an Android App for Review?
Is there an Android app you'd like to suggest for review? Something you think other Android users would love to know about? Something you find intriguing but aren't sure it's worth your time or money?
Please send your ideas to me, and I'll consider them for a future Android app review.