Codename: Maple: Class Crazy and Con Excitement

Report: November, 2011

Thanks to the Holidays fast approaching I ended up signing up for more craft classes than I realized. Of course, my streak of classes being great had to be broken at some point. Guess this was the month for it.

At least the month also brought us Hal-Con! It is our second year of attending this fantasy and science fiction convention. We also decided it was a great year to be a volunteer. Getting to see the event behind the scenes was awesome. As a former event coordinator I truly felt their growing pains with a new venue and triple the attendance from last year. For every complaint, I heard at least five praises which was wonderful. All of our gaming buddies made a pit stop at our designated monitoring areas which was very nice of them. It's still up in the air if we will volunteer next year. We missed a few great workshops and there is something to be said for just cruising around rather than herding folks out of walkways for safety purposes.

Bead Class:

The two classes where I learned how to make the bracelet and pendant pictured below were fabulous. The Nova Scotia Centre for Craft and Design is located on the waterfront next door to the farmers market. Both classes made for great Saturday afternoons. They kept the class size small which I liked. I've made more of these items for holiday presents and was very proud to give out handmade gifts this year.

Snowflake Class:

Since we live on a pretty well traveled corner I wanted to put something in our street facing windows for the season. I spotted this snowflake class and thought I would give it a try. My girlfriend Ruth came along and made a few for her front windows too.

The final product

The instructor showing us the connecting technique

Ruth getting her glitter on!

Beach Glass Class:

Welp, it finally happened. I signed up for a class that just sucked. I feel well prepared for crappy boring mind numbing meetings thanks to the corporate world. But this class had to take the cake. The description was misleading, the final project was pitiful, the instructor was so rude it took everything I had to stay in my chair when I really felt like going Godzilla on her and flipping the table over. The hardest part was the other 23 ladies in class, who also spent $20, kept saying the class was great and couldn't wait for another one. WTF!!! The instructor sold additional crap at the end but it was all I could do to get my vest on and hit the door like detention was over. Oh well, guess you can't win the craft class lottery all the time. I did learn to do a bit more research concerning the venue and instructor after that evening.

Crappiest class ever...I kept the pendant long enough to share a pic before it gets recycled into parts.

Pie Shop:

I headed back to the pie shop this month since immigration is still quoting me another four month wait. I wasn't sure if it was something I would do ever again but it seems the call for extra cash was too much to resist. I do enjoy my time with the ladies who work there but the work is so physically grueling that I did question my sanity a few times as I trudged up stairs for a hot shower and a stiff jack and coke. I asked the ladies at the shop to sum up the holiday season at Heppy's Pie Shop. Below is Cathy's interpretation of a typical day...

Hal-Con:

There is something about a convention that gets my blood going. I love crowds, workshops, rabid fans and long days wandering around checking out cool stuff. I could pass on catching a nose full of the third day body odor from attendees but I guess that's why they make febreeze in portable aerosol cans. Next year I think I'll make Spiderman like webshooters so I can stealth spray folks as they walk by. Enjoy the pics!

Our volunteer meeting the night before the grand opening

The main stage

The main stage after the Klingons took over!

The annual Klingon meeting was super cool to watch. The makeup was incredible.

I attended a costume leather mask making class in between volunteer shifts.

The hallways were packed as folks got ready to watch the costume contest in the main stage area.

Master Chief was a rocking costume down to a voice alteration box. The man was super patient and stood in a million pictures all weekend long.

Master Chief and the Death Knight were two final contestants in the contest.

This is just after the news that the Death Knight won the contest.

Thanks to a mutual online gaming buddy (I love you Shalto!) I had the pleasure of reading a book series by Canadian Author Kelley Armstrong. I was so excited she was attending the Con I made sure my volunteer shift ended in time to catch her writing workshop. If was wasn't impressed with her before, this talk raised her to a whole other level in my world.

Kelley was even willing to take a picture with me! She signed a book for me and gave me a few signed book markers to share with my reading buddies too. I was so excited :D

Models galore were posted around the vendor area for folks to enjoy.

Warbird anyone?

The Warhammer War Room before the con started. This room was packed with people two days straight.

My favorites are the landscape ideas they use. I couldn't get close enough to check out mini's since the room was full to capacity most of the con.

Here's Nelson! He's the Hal-Con mascot and is based on the town clock that sits at the base of Citadel Hill in downtown Halifax. We all secretly believe the clock is a giant robot and spotting him transformed at the con just confirmed our suspicions.

The gamer room was staffed by some rockin' folks. I like their schedule screen plus all the swag you could win during multiple tournaments over the weekend.

This was an evening shot...all those hard core folks that spent the night.

I just couldn't get the whole room in one pic before the con opened. It ended up being 36 tables being run 20 hours a day. I would have to say the most popular tourney was the Steve Jackson tournament when Steve jumped in and played with different groups. Having him attend the con was a huge draw.

I laughed out loud when I saw a wizard playing pinball. The games were donated for the weekend but the only thing I heard while standing there was The Who.