Photos: Dragon*Con 2014 – Friday

Admittedly, and embarrassingly, I admit that I spent the vast majority of Friday morning/afternoon dealing with a rager of a hangover from the previous night’s shenanigans.  That being said, I kind of felt like I didn’t take nearly as many pictures as I normally do at a D*C, but at the same time, I was wondering if there were many things that me personally, wanted to take pictures of.

I’m not saying that what was out there was utter garbage, but it’s no secret that the unofficial rule of costuming is that the big guns come out on Saturday; Fridays are like for the secondary tier of costumes, or something along those lines.  After all, I can attest to having more than one conversation with friends and acquaintances that echo such a sentiment.

Regardless, there was still plenty of things to take pictures of, and again I’ll have to remark about how I’m disappointed in myself for being so negligent and unpracticed to have gone the entire weekend with my new camera and new lens operating without the image stabilization that an amateur like me probably really needs.

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Photos: Dragon*Con 2014 – Thursday

So, this picture kind of sums up my personal Dragon*Con Thursday night experience.  Once the bourbon started to flow, it literally was like an hour before I hit the deck in a well, regrettable fashion.  I know this thanks to the timestamps on the photographs of the night, several of them that I have absolutely no recollection of being taken.

I am apparently a very affectionate drunk with an affinity for attempting Blue Steel.

A little bit of backstory however: about 45 minutes after I had unloaded all of my personal effects and finally settled into my hotel room, I came to the realization that my messenger bag was nowhere to be found.  Said messenger bag contained my camera, my iPad, and one of those long-forgotten devices known as a netbook in it.  Close to roughly $1,200 of electronics in it.

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City hiking at the Cascade Springs Nature Preserve

Over the weekend, I went on a little hike.  One of my closest friends has been going on hikes on almost a weekly basis for a while now, and it’s piqued my interest in wanting to do some hiking on my own, despite the drastic difference in quality of hiking trails between Georgia and Virginia.

After doing a little bit of searching, and finding a few comprehensive lists of hikes in the remote Atlanta/North Georgia region, I found a trail oddly-located within the city limits that seemed like a good idea to try, that wouldn’t eat up my entire day driving to get there, and keep my afternoon free for things I needed to do.

The Cascade Springs Nature Preserve is located almost in the middle of the city, leaning towards the Southwestern region of the Perimeter.  Typically, the words “Southwest Atlanta” is synonymous with crime and shootings on almost a daily basis, but it turns out that this chunk of land sits a little bit further out from those sketchy neighborhoods, and is apparently protected greenspace that continues to exist as this juxtaposed oasis of nature surrounded by sprawl.

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Photos: Minor League Baseball in Kodak, Tennessee

I chose to visit Kodak kind of on a whim.  Initially, I was planning on making Asheville a day trip, where I’d go straight back to Atlanta in the wee hours of the night, but when I found out that the Mississippi Braves were playing against the Smokies, I decided to make my one day trip into a two day one, because Kodak is just 90 miles from Asheville, as opposed to driving the 290 miles back to Atlanta.

Despite the fact that Kodak is a small town seemingly in the middle of nowhere, I was still really excited by the idea of going there.  There’s something ironically amusing to me about small towns in the middle of nowhere that I look forward to.  I guess I like the experience of seeing what those deep out into the country are like, and if they can handle when an English-speaking Asian guy comes romping into their towns, trying to see what’s up.

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Photos: Minor League Baseball in Asheville, North Carolina

So, Asheville.  I was looking forward to visiting this place more than about any other place I had thought about visiting throughout the 2014 baseball season, because to my understanding Asheville was a town known for interesting dining, lots of local breweries, and it happened to be a place within reasonable driving distance that had a minor league ballpark I’ve never visited, AND they just so happened to be giving out a bobblehead, AND they were also playing against an Atlanta Braves affiliate.  Needless to say, it was the no-brainer of no-brainers that I would be looking forward to this particular trip.

Much to my expectations, Asheville was a lovely place that I enjoyed a great deal.  The drive to get there wasn’t the least bit difficult, and it frankly just felt good to get in my own car and drive somewhere I’d never really been to before.

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Photos: MomoCon, day 2

So on the second day of MomoCon, I went back to the kit lens which would give me the vastly needed versatility in a con environment to take pictures with.  The results were somewhat better, and I didn’t have to scrap as many pictures as I did the day prior.

Regardless, more mostly League costumers, and other miscellaneous things that caught my eye, as well as some silliness with friends.

Still no Mafia Jinxes though. ☹

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