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Small Talk: The Quiver


Lisin
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Thanks for answering my passionfruit question. 

I read a lot of food blogs and I'm trying to work out what is iconic to us Aussies but uncommon everywhere else. 

Do you have kiwi fruit? Don't bother answering if you're from New Zealand ?

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7 minutes ago, Mellowyellow said:

Thanks for answering my passionfruit question. 

I read a lot of food blogs and I'm trying to work out what is iconic to us Aussies but uncommon everywhere else. 

Do you have kiwi fruit? Don't bother answering if you're from New Zealand ?

Kiwis are much more common and easy to find.

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1 minute ago, statsgirl said:

We have lots of kiwi fruit here.   Enough for cooking and making ices even.  Or fruit salads with orange, pineapple and strawberries and blueberries if they are in season.

Ok what about longan, jackfruit, mangosteen, papaya, rambutan?

I'm breaking out the tropical fruits now ?

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Papaya is common, the others I have only seen at the Asian grocery and only occasionally.

I think papaya is native to Latin America while the others are native to S/SE Asia so papaya is probably easier to get here. 

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Kiwi has been a common fruit around here for a while. Papaya can be found at stores regularly, but I don't think it's really popular. No clue about the others. I haven't even seen them before googling right now. Mangosteen for weight loss, huh? ?

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3 hours ago, Mellowyellow said:

Ok what about longan, jackfruit, mangosteen, papaya, rambutan?

I'm breaking out the tropical fruits now ?

I'm in California, and I've seen plenty of longan, jackfruit, papaya, and rambutan. I've seen mangosteen occasionally, but it's grown in Mexico, so not as good as the ones from Southeast Asia.

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4 hours ago, Mellowyellow said:

Ok what about longan, jackfruit, mangosteen, papaya, rambutan?

I'm breaking out the tropical fruits now ?

I don't think I've ever had longan or mangosteen, but I do love jackfruit (especially preserved, but also fresh), papaya and rambutan. I used to be able to get them only at Chinatown but now there are so many Asian stores around that it's gotten easier. 

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Is the jackfruit, papaya, rambutan grown in California @lemotomato?

Far North Queensland grows a lot of our tropical fruit. Mangosteen and durian comes from Thailand though.

I loooooove jackfruit. I used to eat tonnes of it by myself before I birthed a jackfruit monster and had to share. It is my dream to go to Cairns without the boys and an empty suitcase so I can visit a jackfruit farm and carry a few home in my luggage. I even rang up a grower who told me I can visit them next January during jackfruit season. 

Hubby says it's easy to kidnap me. Just put out a "cheap tropical fruit" sign and I'll follow.

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6 hours ago, Mellowyellow said:

 

Do you have kiwi fruit? Don't bother answering if you're from New Zealand ?

 

Yeah, Kiwi has been common since the late eighties, before that, not so much.  Curious, do you eat it with or without the fuzzy skin?  I hear it differs in some places.  

Quote

Far North Queensland grows a lot of our tropical fruit. Mangosteen and durian come from Thailand though.

 

Isn't durian that fruit that can taste and smell like the worst thing ever? 

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1 minute ago, BkWurm1 said:

Yeah, Kiwi has been common since the late eighties, before that, not so much.  Curious, do you eat it with or without the fuzzy skin?  I hear it differs in some places.  

Isn't durian that fruit that can taste and smell like the worst thing ever? 

Some people think it smells like sewer! You're either a lover or hater.

I love it! Durian pancakes next week!

I eat my kiwi peeled! Do you have golden kiwis as well a green?

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10 minutes ago, Mellowyellow said:

Is the jackfruit, papaya, rambutan grown in California @lemotomato?

Far North Queensland grows a lot of our tropical fruit. Mangosteen and durian comes from Thailand though.

I loooooove jackfruit. I used to eat tonnes of it by myself before I birthed a jackfruit monster and had to share. It is my dream to go to Cairns without the boys and an empty suitcase so I can visit a jackfruit farm and carry a few home in my luggage. I even rang up a grower who told me I can visit them next January during jackfruit season. 

Hubby says it's easy to kidnap me. Just put out a "cheap tropical fruit" sign and I'll follow.

lol, noted.

No, those fruits don't grow in California, but I think they're more easily frozen for shipment overseas, while mangosteen doesn't hold up well that way. 

OMG, I tried durian for the first time a year ago. Worst thing I've ever eaten in my life. My mom loves the stuff, though.

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8 minutes ago, BkWurm1 said:

Yeah, Kiwi has been common since the late eighties, before that, not so much.  Curious, do you eat it with or without the fuzzy skin?  I hear it differs in some places.  

Eating kiwi unpeeled? ? What kind of crazy talk is this?

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4 minutes ago, lemotomato said:

 

OMG, I tried durian for the first time a year ago. Worst thing I've ever eaten in my life. My mom loves the stuff, though.

Did the smell offend you or the taste?

Australia has taken to importing US cherries so I'm pigging out on Rainier cherries in winter! So bad for the food miles but I can't say no to a rainier! I'll make it up with something else!

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9 minutes ago, Mellowyellow said:

Did the smell offend you or the taste?

Definitely the taste. I don't have any issues with just the smell, but when I actually ate a piece, the taste made me gag. It was... I can't even describe what it tasted like, it was just so foul. And I've eaten plenty of pungent food before-- stinky tofu, century eggs, blue cheese-- but durian was inedible to  me.

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(edited)
25 minutes ago, Mellowyellow said:

Did the smell offend you or the taste?

Australia has taken to importing US cherries so I'm pigging out on Rainier cherries in winter! So bad for the food miles but I can't say no to a rainier! I'll make it up with something else!

Oh cherries, yum.  They've been tempting me at the store.

And to merge this with the pie discussion from the Social Media thread, I do love a good cherry pie with vanilla ice cream on top.  :)

 

IMG_0513.JPG

Edited by Starfish35
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We don't really do fruit pies in Australia but American cooking shows have converted me. 

I love lemon meringue pie (sometimes I do a passionfruit version because we have abundant passionfruit).

I used to only make apple pie and eat it with ice cream but Alton Brown put me onto strawberry pie and blueberry pie.

Sometimes I'm too lazy to make crust so cobbler and crumble are just easier. I love apple blueberry crumble and peach cobbler. All with vanilla ice cream of course.

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(edited)

I like cherry, apple (if it's not too sweet), peach, and strawberry rhubarb.  I don't really go for meringue pies much though, but I can sometimes be tempted by a coconut cream.  

Peach cobbler....yum. :)  My mom used to make some good apple crisp too, but the apples have to be good.  

Edited by Starfish35
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1 hour ago, bijoux said:

Eating kiwi unpeeled? ? What kind of crazy talk is this?

Ha!  Back when first showed up, it was hotly debated if the fuzzy skin was supposed to be eaten like that of a peach and apple or like a rind to get rid of.  (Interestingly enough I've read that in Japan NO ONE eats the skin of an apple or peach) I prefer to peel the Kiwi but I have eaten it with the skin on and it's really not so bad.  I was curious if it was a real thing or just weird Midwesterners trying to figure out something exotic.  

40 minutes ago, Starfish35 said:

I like cherry, apple (if it's not too sweet), peach, and strawberry rhubarb.  I don't really go for meringue pies much though, but I can sometimes be tempted by a coconut cream.  

Peach cobbler....yum. :)  My mom used to make some good apple crisp too, but the apples have to be good.  

I love cobblers and crisps.  So easy to make and sooo yummy.  I miss rhubarb pie.  It used to grow like a weed in my yard when I was growing up until my brother - who hates it - mowed it over until they died.   I'll even happily skip the strawberry part.  I love the tart and tanginess of it.  It still messes with my head how much rhubarb looks like celery stalks though.

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(edited)

I like the tart. :)  I think that's why I like the fruit pies - I like some tart with the sweet.  Blueberry pie tends to be too sweet for me, and apple pie - well, it depends on the apples and who is making it.  But personally I like it with some tart in it too.

(Which kind of makes it a mystery why I like coconut cream pie, because that stuff is pure sweet.   But it's something I only rarely get a craving for.)

I've only ever had straight rhubarb pie once - some small town restaurant in Arizona that I probably couldn't find again if my life depended on it.  Lol.  But it was really good. :)

Edited by Starfish35
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21 minutes ago, Morrigan2575 said:

 

i pretty mich just use Yellow Cake Mix and a sqaure baking pan. Put the brown sugar in the bottom, top with pineapple slices (canned or fresh), put maraschino cherries inside the pineapple slice, and then pour in the yellow cake mix (you can also add some pineapple juice to the cake mix if you want) and then bake. 

It's easy and yummy ?

Now I'll have to look up the ingredients of the Yellow Cake Mix. :) One, I don't know if it's available, although it probably is under one name or another. Two, I don't use ready made cake mixes. I'm not much of a baker - my repertoire literally consists of brownies, cheesecake and three or four different variants of muffins - but for some reason I just don't use this. 

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2 minutes ago, bijoux said:

Now I'll have to look up the ingredients of the Yellow Cake Mix. :) One, I don't know if it's available, although it probably is under one name or another. Two, I don't use ready made cake mixes. I'm not much of a baker - my repertoire literally consists of brownies, cheesecake and three or four different variants of muffins - but for some reason I just don't use this. 

If you like rum cake (which I do), this recipe for pineapple upside down cake is excellent: 

Smitten Kitchen Pineapple Upside Down Cake

(also check the comments if you want to modify because she usually responds to questions about modifications) 

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I"m going to have to try that cake.

It is sour cherry time here.  Once a year for two weeks, you can buy 10 lb. tubs of sour cherries in light syrup.  I freeze them in jars to use over the winter.  Cherry pie, cherry strudel, rice with cherries (an Iranian recipe), cherries on my oatmeal.  And the real reason I buy them -- cherry soup.  There are cherry soups in some European countries but my father invented a terrific cold soup of cherries, raspberries and sour cream.  It's like eating dessert for the first course.

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13 minutes ago, statsgirl said:

I"m going to have to try that cake.

It is sour cherry time here.  Once a year for two weeks, you can buy 10 lb. tubs of sour cherries in light syrup.  I freeze them in jars to use over the winter.  Cherry pie, cherry strudel, rice with cherries (an Iranian recipe), cherries on my oatmeal.  And the real reason I buy them -- cherry soup.  There are cherry soups in some European countries but my father invented a terrific cold soup of cherries, raspberries and sour cream.  It's like eating dessert for the first course.

I like all these things! 

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16 minutes ago, statsgirl said:

I"m going to have to try that cake.

It is sour cherry time here.  Once a year for two weeks, you can buy 10 lb. tubs of sour cherries in light syrup.  I freeze them in jars to use over the winter.  Cherry pie, cherry strudel, rice with cherries (an Iranian recipe), cherries on my oatmeal.  And the real reason I buy them -- cherry soup.  There are cherry soups in some European countries but my father invented a terrific cold soup of cherries, raspberries and sour cream.  It's like eating dessert for the first course.

Is your father willing to share the recipe? ;)

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Just now, Mellowyellow said:

Did someone say cake?

This is my signature cake for the boys. This is this years Americn cherry season version of this cake. I make it twice a year when I can access fresh cherries. 

 

Lovely! Looks very yummy!

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I'm not a huge sweet tooth but I like dessert after my meal. Hubby loves his sweets so I'm forever baking cakes, muffins, cookies, slices to pack for his afternoon tea.

I'm sneaky and have managed to reduce the sugar in his afternoon tea goods over the years.

I do love dessert with a huge pot of tea after dinner. Some of our favourites are: sticky date pudding, pies, crumbles, lemon curd cake, blackforest cake, durian cream cake, raspberry cake, "tiramisu" cake, strawberry cream sponge, choux buns filled with ice cream and topped with chocolate sauce.

You get the idea! I bake and cook a lot!

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The best thing about moving to Seattle is my access to cheap Rainier cherries!  The worst part is that I have diabetes so have to watch fruit.  :-(   My favorite thing about going to Hawaii is the breakfast fruit buffet.

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This Con recap is going here because it has almost no Arrow. 

As always it was a fun, but supremely stressful, convention.  I camped out twice and have the ant bites (only three) to show for it.  They HAVE GOT to figure out their line situation but that's a rant for another time. 

Day by day:

I camped out overnight so that I could have a prime line spot on Thursday.  While everyone else was rushing to get passes for the Funko, Hasbro, Lego, DC and WB exclusives/autographs, I was able to be right up front for the line to the Exhibit Hall*.  This meant I was able to get to the Warner Bros booth as soon as the Hall opened, which guaranteed I would get their daily freebies.  I am now in possession of the Con TV Guide issue (they gave out all the covers but I only kept the one with Cress Williams), a Hogwarts cap, a Teen Titans shirt for the baby I don't have, and a Lego DC poster.  I use the Con as an opportunity to get birthday presents for my summer baby friends so that meant a stop at BBC America where I loaded up on Doctor Who merch, followed by a few other stops (don't remember the companies) to get Batman, Emma Swan, and Wonder Woman goodies.  I hadn't planned on getting the Lord Mesa Green Arrow figure, but he's such a lovely guy that I couldn't stop myself.  He also has a table over at Artist's Alley so I had him sign the figure a few minutes later while I browsed his prints.  When I came across a print of three Star Wars fans (representing Han, Leia and Luke) saying "we love you" to GhostCarrie and her responding "I know" I knew I had to have it because if something makes you ready to start bawling (in a good way) in the middle of Comic Con you must throw money at it.  I told him he's a mean mean man, which made him giggle with evil glee, and proceeded to buy a bunch more prints.  Before anyone thinks I spent all the money at his table, he sells mystery packs of what I assume are some of his less popular prints.  It's still stuff focusing on DC, Marvel, Star Wars, and similar nerdy movies/tv shows so no one gets things they wouldn't be familiar with.  I also stopped by Katie Cook's table as one of my Con traditions is to buy a couple of her on the spot watercolors (she only does 2 at a time but will be there Thurs-Sat) and give them as presents.  I was particularly proud of having her do a watercolor of my friend Amy surrounded by cats, as she's currently got foster kittens joining her other three.  Amy got me a ticket to Hamilton this past March and deserves all the thank you gifts.  I also bought prints of Hamilton art from Katie Cook to send with the watercolor.  I'm trying to remember if I went to any panels on Thursday, and I feel that I did, but can't remember what they could be.  Obviously not anything memorable if I did. 

I made a point of sleeping in a bed for Friday morning and casually went to the convention center after 10.  I'm pretty sure this was a mistake because my plan for the day (go to the afternoon DuckTales panel, take some pictures of David Tennant, and then go to the show's autograph session) didn't work out at all.  As you can imagine, everyone else had the same idea, so the line was impossibly long, we didn't get into the panel, and, to make things worse, the Con staff realized too late that they should have handed out tickets for the signing (who knew that Comic Con attendees would want David Tennant's autograph?  Crazy talk, right?).  They half-assed it by quickly finding some tickets for us to draw in a lottery and I didn't get the right color.  All I can hope for is that DuckTales is popular and comes back next year.  To make it worse, I was right in front of this annoying woman who kept repeating "I've been here since 11am!" as if that means anything.  If it had been a walk up and get the autograph situation like originally planned, it wouldn't matter what time any of us arrived as long as there was room and the actors still around.  Shit, I got in line for Saturday at 845pm and still didn't get to do what I originally wanted (getting to that).  Anyway, once I realized that I would not have the chance to become instant BFF with the Tennant, I headed over to Ballroom 20 to get in line for Batman and Harley Quinn.  Last year, for Killing Joke, I got in line around 5pm and had to wait a couple hours before getting in the room.  Not this time.  There was apparently so much room that we only waited in line about ten minutes.  I ended up sitting through the entire Outlander panel so I didn't have to stand for two hours.  I don't watch that show so I didn't join in all the hooting at the actors, though I was happy to see Jenna Dewan Tatum, who I enjoyed as Lucy Lane and would much rather see on Supergirl than Mon-El.  Anyway, they answered some questions and then the first episode of the upcoming season was shown.  Still not getting what the big deal is about this show (I sat through the panel at the Con before it started and didn't get it then either so I guess it's just a personality clash kind of thing) but everyone else really enjoyed it so I decided to be happy for them.  Then they showed Batman and Harley Quinn.  It is worlds better than Killing Joke and

Spoiler

Harley and Nightwing hooking up was far more entertaining than Bats and Babs.  It made for great JudgeyBatman reactions and Nighwing's "like you've never made out with a supervillain" was perfectly delivered (any reference to my girl Selina makes me happy).  It did make me wonder where Bruce Timm (who was also a writer on Killing Joke) gets his out-there ships.  First he hooks Batman up with Batgirl, a ship that I'm pretty sure only holds him, and now Harley and Nightwing.  At least the latter are on an equal level and weren't presented as anything other than a spur of the moment one night stand.  I also love Harley's friendship with Ivy and that it wasn't ruined by the team up with Bats and Nightwing.  Harley busting out the Nuclear Option to stop Ivy from destroying the world (meaning: big eyes and crocodile tears) was so fucking funny.  Ivy's "I hate you so much" while she and Harley sobbed and hugged each other was hilarious.

  I definitely recommend this one. 

And then there was Saturday.  Like I said, I got in line right after the movie, at around 845pm, and was so proud of myself.  Surely this meant I was in a prime spot for a WB autograph session, right?  I've been going to those sessions the last six years (Man of Steel, Arrow, Arrow, Nikita+Veronica Mars, LOT, LOT) and like the tradition.  They do a bunch on Saturday so there's a really good chance of getting a ticket when you're in line as early as I was.  I figured that going for LOT again put me in a great spot, since everyone else would want Arrow, Flash, and Westworld first.  If I couldn't get LOT, I would happily settle for Black Lightning, Gotham, or Lucifer.  Wasn't concerned at all.  Then they opened the building and the shitshow began.  First, the line staff split us into two lines, and mine turned out to be the wrong one.  Rather than take us to the a point in the correct line where we could merge, the Con staff told us to suck it up and get in it on our own.  Fine, the mistake was caught early enough that we could still have decent placement.  Then the line staff at the back stairs scanners (we have to scan our badges every time we enter and exit the building) told us that we wouldn't be allowed back up that way if we left to get in line (which was at the marina at this point-and the marina is right behind the convention center so don't let that mislead you).  This isn't true, because all those lines go down to the marina at some point and, if you're in that line, they have to let you back in that way.  When we pointed out that being in one of these lines meant they had to let us return this way, they kept insisting that wasn't true.  So I was done at this point.  I'll never want anyone's autograph badly enough to deal with these kind of idiots.  I did find one of the Con supervisors and told him what the line staff was saying and he confirmed that they were wrong before going to deal with it.  At that point I went to the Exhibit Hall to pick up some comic exclusives I hadn't been able to get to on Thursday.  This is the point where the day starts getting awesome to make up for the initial crazy.  First, I got to John Lewis' panel for his March comics.  That was great.  He and his co-writers answered questions (with priority for kids and educators) about the comics and history.  Then we were invited to march (follow) with Lewis down to the Hall and be first in line for his book signing.  That was super cool.  He's a stroller so it took a while, and way too many people were all "who is this guy?" but it was still great.  I already have the comics but I bought another set and got them signed for my mom, who is a John Lewis superfan. 

After that I went back to my original Saturday plan, which was to sit through some small panels before going to the LOT (or whichever show) signing.  I'm glad I stayed with that plan.  I sat through a panel called Quick Draw, which seems pretty calm (three cartoonists given various words and then drawing them) but was so much fun.  The artists and moderator were all old friends and they cracked jokes and drew silly stuff the whole time.  Then came Cartoon Voices 1, which ended up my favorite hour of the whole weekend.  Six voice actors came out and were all so charming, funny, and charismatic that I am angry they aren't huge stars.  I also learned a lot.  All of them had done voices I was familiar with but a few stood out.  Gray Griffin does the voice of Catwoman for the Arkham games and told great stories about doing voiceover work for porn promos (they were all asked to talk about obscure jobs that no one would know about).  As you'd expect, that became a running joke.   Another actor, Josh Robert Thompson, was the voice of Craig Ferguson's sidekick Geoff on his show and does a pitch perfect Morgan Freeman.  As an extension of that, everyone talked about how they'll get called in to do voice work for actors when they aren't available.  As in, Freeman wasn't able to do some dubbing so they called Thompson instead.  That's one of those things that makes sense when you think about it (the work needs to get done and why not call a talented voice actor if the original one can't be there for whatever reason?) but I'd never thought about it before.  This is where the Arrow connection comes in.  Another actor, Mick Wingert, was answering a question (is there anyone in particular who you were stoked to work with?) and I was able to suss out that he was talking about Arrow.  What he said was that he was called in to do some of that substitute dubbing mentioned above and first squeed when he saw Dolph Lundgren leaving the studio and then about fainted when he entered and saw Michael Dorn.  What convinced me this was Arrow (though that certainly was enough) was when he made a comment about his line: "you failed this city".  I took a moment and tried to think of anything else that this job could have been for but, nope, it was Arrow.  I assume it was one of Amell's con weekends.  It wasn't a hard case but I did enjoy playing detective.  After that panel was one for Happy, which should live up to the comic (violent and amusing) and then the pilot for Midnight, Texas (which has a decent premise but I don't expect to last very long). 

This day was not over though because I still had Fatman on Batman (Kevin Smith and Marc Bernardin) to attend.  I love that show and obsessively check youtube for new episodes.  The live show was at the American Comedy Co just a few blocks from where I was staying.  It was really funny.  Kevin talked way more than Marc but both were having so much fun talking about the various trailers that had just been released and predictions for things to come.  Marc thinks Cap will die in Infinity War and that he'd put money on Black Widow killing him.  Kevin thinks Thanos but, when Marc made the case that Cap trusts Natasha completely and therefore she can get close to him (he didn't say but I would assume she'd be under the thrall of an Infinity Stone), he switched.  Kevin loves it when Marc has theories because they tend to be awesomely plausible.  Marc doesn't have a great track record so I never assume he'll be right but he sells it well.

That was a long day.

Sunday was much calmer.  I went to the panel for the new Spiderman cartoon, where they showed us the first two episodes, sat through Cartoon Voices 2 (which was fun but didn't have the magic of the first one) and then went hunting for books.  A few years ago I started ending my con before it closed.  I would feel sad if I left when the doors closes and, by leaving early, all of that went away.  I prefer to celebrate an ending rather than grieve one.  So, after I bought more books than I should, I went back to the room to pack.  I wasn't able to watch Game of Thrones so I've been avoiding social media all day today but will watch it soon.  It was a good Con.

I also didn't get the LOT or Black Lightning bags I wanted but I did end up with Supergirl, Gotham and Lucifer so that's a different kind of success.  Also, my cats are so happy to see me and are acting like Grandma and Grandpa ignored them while I was gone (which isn't true because my mom spoils them and my dad, who claims to be indifferent, always lets them cuddle in his lap). 

*For those who don't know, the convention center opens at 7am so that some of the crowd congestion can be relieved.  The Exhibit Hall (where all the booths, for exclusives and major autographs, are located) and panel rooms don't open until 9am.  For those of us in line super early, we get in the building and then wait a couple more hours before everything begins.  That's when we usually make on the spot friends and talk about various nerd topics.

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(edited)

Midnight Texas? Is that the supernatural one?

I haven't seen it, but I was looking forward to one starting and I wonder if that's it.

Edited by Chaser
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