EMERALD CITY!

I'M (probably) GOING TO EMERALD CITY COMIC CON THIS YEAR!

I'M (almost definitely) DRESSING UP AS THE DEFENESTRATOR!

I'M (absolutely) GOING TO FINALLY MEET ONE OF MY LONGTIME FRIENDS IN THE REALLY REAL WORLD INSTEAD OF THE INTERNET!

...

ahem...

Excuse me, I got a bit excited.

To clarify a bit, Emerald City Comic Con is a convention in Seattle that I have wanted to go to for years now. And, with a good friend or two, I am most likely fling to attend this year, and will be cosplaying as well!

After D&D the other night, Steev and I were talking about the idea of him cosplaying as Dogwelder for ECCC, and I expressed my excitement and desire to join in as his Section 8 teammate, The Defenestrator. A little while later, and we decided to approach another D&D friend to be Jean de Baton-Baton, and are talking about how easy most of these costumes will be to get together.

In my excitement, I put out a tweet asking if any of my friends would be attending ECCC. "Maxii", from the 9thWonders days said that she would be, and she's one of the 9thers that I still talk to and haven't met in person.  So, on top of my understandable excitement over everything else, getting to finally meet someone I've known for years makes it even better!

2014, you might turn out alright after all. I was iffy after that crappy showing in your first week, but you're getting better.

A Death In The Family (Farewell, 9thWonders...)

Before anyone worries, it's not a literal death. I will be honest, though... it kind of feels like it.

9thWonders Boards: 2007-2012

Some of you probably never heard of 9thWonders, but for almost the entirety of the run of Heroes, a show I'm sure you've heard of, this was THE place for fans. More than that, however, a fairly large community was developed on this silly little message board. It was the "official/unofficial" NBC-sponsored site, message board, and landing space for all of the Alternate Reality Game stuff that NBC had going on.

When I say community, I'm not just talking about the thousands of registered members, or even just the few that were still posting within the last week. Personally, I've found so many parts of my life through 9thWonders -- the friends I made got me through a lot. I'd had a horrible relationship end, a boring job that I was not happy doing, and so much more. Something really wild? Almost every person that I got close to on that site, I still talk with, whether it's on Facebook, Twitter, or even by phone/text with some of them. A couple of them, I've met in person!

Maybe it's a little silly to feel sad about the death of this forum, but it became more than that to me and some of the others. It was like a sort of "home" online -- like your parents' house. Sure, it might not be your place anymore, and you might not go very often... but it was still there. Now, it's like it's been repossessed by the bank and torched to the ground. At least from this side of the NBC/consumer fence, there's not even "ashes" (archives) to see.

So, here's to everything -- the Skype calls, the crazy evsdropr clues, the strange-as-hell AIM chats, and to all the relationships we formed on 9th. We will miss you, 9thWonders Boards. As Jordan said on Twitter, it's officially the end of an era.

"Nothing gold can stay." - Mabes 

"My heart just broke a little." - Lauren 

"Aww." - @ebrown2112