Photos: Mythical GF’s Jazzy 20’s Murder Mystery Birthday Party

[2020 note] This was unposted content back from 2017, mythical (then)-gf’s 25th birthday party; but not just any old birthday party, it was a murder mystery party, where everyone was assigned a role, and played a part throughout the evening, as the story of the Grand Gatsby’s speakeasy unfolded.

Looking back through these photos, it was a wonderful party, where everyone participated to the nines, and it was a fantastic way to break in our new home with a big party that was part-housewarming, part-birthday, and part-murder mystery costume party.

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Photos: Dom’s Birthday Game Night

My ongoing quest to figure out and capably shoot with a CHDK-hacked Canon point-and-shoot continued, and what better setting to try working shots than with a live gathering where people would be getting drunk and doing drunk things?

Needless to say, I’m pretty sure that if I were a person with a better grasp of photographic terminology to begin with, this might be easier, but I also think that the camera I’m using itself is pretty limiting. Even before I hacked it and added the CHDK firmware, I wasn’t happy with the quality of the pictures in even the most basic optimal settings to shoot.

It’s nice to have some photographic evidence of some of the shenanigans that went down with board games, impromptu pull-up contests, and Dom busting out some drunk-retard strength, but I can’t say that I’m thrilled with the quality of the pictures outright.  For some reason, the camera randomly went into fisheye perspectives or added toy-camera corner filters without my needing to set them in the first place.

I’m this close to scrapping the hope for a good point-and-shoot, and might just make my iPhone my “night camera” at Dragon*Con this year.

But until then, at least there are some photos to remember the night by.

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It’s almost a party

A long time ago, I worked with a guy who spoke with a pretty thick Cambodian accent.  One cold winter night as he came inside, he exclaimed to me and the other people present, to “be careful outside, there’s black ice everywhere.”  The thing was though, due to his accent, “black ice” sounded precariously like “black guys.”  This elicited a lot of laughter from us (it’s okayone of the guys present was black!): Watch out for all the black guys outside.  The black guys is dangerous.  Black guys everywhere!

Anyway, over the span of the last month, there has been a rash of trucks overturning on highway ramps, spilling their contents all over the place.  Now there’s no confirmation that black guys ice has had anything to do with any of them, but given the fact that it’s the winter, we here in Atlanta have been subject to some record-breaking arctic polar snaps, there’s always the possibility that black guys might have been involved.

Confirmed or not, it really was a convenient excuse for me to forcibly shoe-horn in the black guys story because I’m a terrible person and I find it amusing.

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And of course, Happy New Years

It’s now 2014.  For the next 183 days, we are winding up the year, with hopes and aspirations of the best outcomes for ourselves and those we care about.  I don’t feel that 2013 was terrible by any stretch of the imagination, but we as human beings all love to feel optimistic that the following year should always strive to be better.  I have no problem with that.

For me, the year started off pleasantly, in the company of fine people, and admittedly pretty tanked.  There are text messages sent that I don’t remember, and this photo that I was too hammered to bother tagging people on that someone less inebriated than I took the liberty to do instead.  I used to feel that New Years Eves were supposed to be awesome and grandiose, but when the day is over, a chill evening with decent people is all I really want to bring in the next year.

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Photos: Annual Pumpkin Carving

I’m the kind of person who believes in the importance of having traditions and annual occurrences.  Without them, sometimes there aren’t always things to look forward to, and sometimes it’s just nice to know that there are going to be times when you know you’re going be in good company and have a good time.

Pumpkin carving at Stu and Allison’s is one of those traditions that I look forward to every year, and every year, I like to put a little bit of effort into carving out something unique and not necessarily easy.  This year, I decided to parlay my fandom of LoL into my pumpkin and carve out the most important things in the world – wards.  And since I’m apparently a try-hard overachiever, I decided to do two wards, so it didn’t seem like I was just doing it to say I placed one.

The green lights are LED lights and not actual flame, because I think burning copper or mercury or whatever it takes to generate green flame would have been somewhat of a hazard, for just pumpkin carving.  Maybe another year.

Anyway, I took a few pictures, and here they are for us to all admire the creativity and an enjoyable annual tradition.

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SDCC: The 2013 Review

As the months turned into weeks, and the weeks narrowed down to days leading up to my first Comic-Con, I didn’t really know what to expect. Typically, I don’t go to any conventions with a whole lot of expectations because I am pretty boring like that, and I tend to prefer to let things happen as they come, and to simply roll with the punches. The only sentiment that I was really forewarned about was to prepare for lines, and lots and lots of lines.

To cut to the chase, I can say that I had a pretty good time out in San Diego, and Comic-Con itself was pretty worth it. I’ll admit that there was a moment in which I grew exasperated with the incessantly endless crowds and I thought that I wouldn’t want to come back, but as the convention went on and I figured out how to cope with, and avoid them, that sentiment dwindled. I’d consider going back again if the opportunity presented itself.

The thing is, this is not going to be a review where I gush about how Comic-Con was the greatest experience of my life and how that it was the best convention evar. In the grand spectrum of things, I had a good trip, but I don’t feel the need to sugar coat or not mention the things about it that are worth mentioning, good or bad. Which is kind of another way of saying that I did have some gripes, but I’m going to try and be as eloquent as I can when addressing them. But really, there was a lot to like about the event as well.

This is pretty much going to be a verbose post with a whole lot of words, so if you’re waiting for the rest of my photos, I’m still working on them, and they’re going to take a little bit more time.

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Photos: Birthday Happy Hour

Now that I’m back from Denver, I’ve got a little bit of a backlog as it pertains to pictures and things to write about… so with that in mind, it’s time to get cracking, and start catching up with all of the events before and after my trip.

I’m not really that big on birthday parties, but one thing I like do to do every year is simply get my local buds out for good food and drinks in honor of my birthday.  This year, I invited those who wanted to come and drink and eat good barbecue out to Moe’s Original Barbecue, which is like my current favorite BBQ restaurant in Atlanta, because they have the greatest wings in the city, seriously.

I was honestly nervous about the weather, since there were some dark rain clouds looming up above throughout the afternoon, but fortunately for all of us, it stayed put, and it turned out to be a pretty relaxing evening of good food, drink and company.  And I would be remiss if I did not say that I am very grateful and thankful to those who showed up to give me a little bit of their time all because of my silly birthday.  You guys are all awesome.

So anyway, I’m 31 now.  Old as shit, and feeling it in my back and shoulders these days.

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