Go on a scentventure with Cowboy & Cricket Candle Co.

The slogan of Cowboy & Cricket Candle Company says that they create extraordinary scents for extraordinary people. I love candles because they can help create that feeling of hygge that I talked about a few weeks ago. And as someone who loves unique candle scents, when I happened to see that they were selling a candle called "Poe Dameron's Jacket," I was so intrigued that I had to rush over to their Etsy store and buy a candle. Alena and Meredith are not just any chandlers, they are self-proclaimed scentventurists who create popular culture candles.

Making Trivia Fun Again

I'm a trivia fan from way back. As captain of the academic team in high school, I was a quick-recall fiend and friends would call me the "Queen of Useless Knowledge." I'm #blessed to be pretty good at remembering facts and figures. My university had an academic team, but I didn't join. It just didn't seem to be the same. I tried out for the Jeopardy Teen Tourney and have been trying to get on for years. T I searched for a way to expel some of the bits of knowledge from my brain for years until I discovered pub trivia.

Lexington now has a few options for those of us who love getting our quiz on. The OG in town is Local Trivia Action. Boasting a schedule of nearly 50 shows 7 days a week. It's a great option for lovers of the traditional team trivia show. Played over 6 rounds with a half-time bonus, trivia with LTA takes place in 30+ restaurants and bars. Teams take home bar cash for top three and best team name at most games and can be any size. The shows are fun, hosts play music between questions to give players a chance to answer. Games run about two hours and are held at times fitting all schedules.

I'm partial to Local Trivia Action, because I've been a host before, so when I say that it's a ton of fun and well worth your time, I'd be biased. But! It's a ton of fun and well worth your time. Part of the experience is the atmosphere of the venue. Malabu Pub, for example, is your quintessential dive bar and owns that moniker proudly. Other locations for weekly games include the chain favorite TGI Fridays and grocery stores Whole Foods, Luckey's, and Good Foods Co-Op. They do many themed shows. I played in an Academy Awards themed show right after the Oscar's. We placed second!

Geeks Who Drink is also hosting shows in Lexington, at HopCat and The Barn at the Summit. They
had been hosting at Pivot Brewing, but I see that it has been removed from their schedule. This style of pub quiz is different than Local Trivia Action in that the first round is a "name that tune" round followed by another audio quiz featuring clips from tv and movies. They restrict team size to 6. Geeks Who Drink is a national chain and host many shows all over the country. Find out more here.

There are other opportunities for trivia which pop up often. Soundbar, Cosmic Charlies and a few other spots have been doing many themed trivia nights. Harry Potter, as one can imagine, is a pretty hot ticket. The Pub (RIP) consistently had sold out Harry Potter nights and Cosmic Charlie's had so many at their HP show that the game took 4+ hours. Facebook is generally your best bet to find out about special shows around town!

If you're not feeling much like going out to play, play trivia in the comfort of your home by playing Trivia Crack, HQTrivia, and Cash Show. All three games allow you to play against real people. The latter two award cash prizes for answering 12 questions in a row. Between the two live game shows, HQ definitely has the most players, but Cash Show is getting better. I'm really impressed at the difficulty of the questions!

If you're ever looking for someone to play trivia with, give me a holler! I play with a core group who all have their own strengths and areas where they specialize. We also come up with prize-winning team names like "The Shape of Water should've been called 'Grinding Nemo'" and "Better Late Than Pregnant." I love it!

Sunday Funday

A plaque in Maysville, KY

As an adult, weekends are the best and also kind of the worst. You get off work on average at 5p on
Friday, generally get Saturday to do something fun, and Sunday is all about prolonging the inevitable of the impending work week. The occasional brunch can temper the feeling of dread as we count down the hours of freedom before we return to the shackles of the working world.

When I'm grocery shopping or thinking about adult things to get ready for the week, I like to remember some amazing times that I had even just a few years ago with my mom. We used to celebrate something that we called Sunday Funday.

It started when I was a kid. My mom and I loved to take drives on Sunday afternoons. I was obsessed with the Weather Channel (local on the 8's, baby) so I would pull it up and see what way the wind was blowing in my hometown and that's the way we'd go. We ended up at museums, parks, forgotten places, and new discoveries. We also ended up at cemeteries, which for the average person may seem pretty daggone morbid, but it was just par for course with us.

Kentucky/Virginia border at Breaks Interstate Park

We kept up the tradition pretty well when I was in high school, but other than the occasional time I was home from school, we fell off a bit when I was in college. However, by the time I had left school and had weekends free again, we tried to pick it back up. My hometown, Flatwoods, is about the same distance from Morehead, KY that Lexington is, so we often would meet up there on a Sunday afternoon about 5 for dinner one of our favorite Mexican restaurants. After dinner we'd sometimes drive to Cave Run Lake and just spend some time enjoying the beauty of nature.

These moments were part of my development as a person. We shared laughs, tears, were able to have pretty real conversations about life. I'm forever grateful for Sundays spent on random back roads with my mom.

While we spend so much time dreading the next day, Sundays are meant to be savored. I admit that I've been using them to binge-watch ER during the winter months, but when spring comes, I'll be out exploring the commonwealth and all that there is to offer. There is so much that I haven't seen and places that I'd love to revisit. Maybe I'll even pack a picnic lunch like my mom and I used to. I can't think of a better way to honor such special memories made with my mom while making new ones.

If you need something to do on a Sunday afternoon, I suggest you pull up your trusty weather app, find out which way the wind is blowing, and just drive. You never know what you may discover.

Lexington Comic & Toy Con Adds More Signage, Tips for 2018

I've had the pleasure of writing and podcasting about Lexington Comic & Toy Con for the past six year. Six. Years?! It feels like just yesterday that I had my first table as Kentucky Geek Girl right across the street from Neil Kaplan. That was such a great experience for me because I was in a phase in my life where I was trying to be more outgoing and it certainly thrust me into the excitement of a pop culture convention.

I'm #blessed to have been a part of LCTC as an exhibitor for four years. I had the opportunity to meet so many people, including readers of KGG that I didn't even know! I closed up shop on the blog in 2016, but I attended that year with Leila, my podcast co-host. Being on the other side of things was strange! I waited in line for Brent Spiner for two hours or so and when I finally had the chance to meet him I was so nervous that I stuttered and he could tell that I was not in any place to make proper conversation. He told me to "Be well." I was elated!

This year, there are some fantastic guests lined up including Matthew Mercer, most recently of Overwatch (McCree) and Critical Role. I'm personally excited to see Jonathan Frakes (Riker of Star Trek: The Next Generation) and John Barrowman (Doctor Who, Torchwood, Arrow). By expanding into Rupp Arena and taking over the entirety of Lexington Convention Center, LCTC is able to bring in even more guests including Tara Strong, Doug Jones, and EG Daily.

One thing that I was impressed with is that they're working extremely hard to streamline the ticketing process. In years past, it has not been easy, with lines of people not knowing exactly what to do. Advanced check-in is being strongly encouraged this year. The center will open up tomorrow, Thursday, March 8 from 9a until 8p. If you're around and can pop in, it's advantagous so you can avoid the lines to pick up tickets on Friday, but especially Saturday and Sunday when the traffic is heaviest. Con-goers will need to enter through High Street, which will help control the flow of traffic.

Parking will be $10 in the High Street parking lot. There may be some street parking around, especially because the St. Patrick's Day festival won't be happening, but most lots will be around $10. You can always take an Uber or Lyft and avoid parking altogether. Follow those links to get free rides and help me earn them too!

I'm also impressed with how much signage you can already see in pictures being taken of the lobby and ticketing area. I always think it's better to have too much information than not enough. You can also download the LCTC app. You can create you own to-do list, access the floor map, and more.

 

The app and website has information about photo-ops, the con schedule, and even has a list of autograph prices. With tens of thousands of guests expected this year, planning ahead is key. It's really hard to wander at this point while shoulder-to-shoulder with other nerds. 

If cosplaying, be sure to check your weapon. The con is also making use of Rupp Area's metal detectors. 

Cell service is tough in the convention center, but there is free WiFi in lobby areas. Check in with friends via iMessage or Messenger to find out where they are, because SMS text messages may get delayed. 

Making a plan and figuring out where you want to go ahead of time goes a long way!

If you go....

Lexington Comic & Toy Con

Convention Hours:
Friday, 1:00PM – 9:00PM (3-DAY VIP PASS HOLDERS ONLY) & 4:00PM- 9:00PM (GENERAL ADMISSION)
Saturday, 10:00AM – 7:00PM
Sunday, 10:00AM – 4:00PM
After hours events are planned for Friday and Saturday nights!

TICKET INFORMATION


3 DAY VIP FULL WEEKEND PASSES (FRIDAY-SATURDAY-SUNDAY)
SPECIAL EARLY PRICE $65 if purchased before 3/4/18
$80 if purchased on or after 3/5/18 or at the door
Children 10 and under are FREE with paid parent or guardian.
There are NO REFUNDS on admission tickets


2 DAY SATURDAY -SUNDAY PASSES
SPECIAL EARLY PRICE $50 if purchased before 3/4/18
$60 if purchased on or after 3/5/18 or at the door
Children 10 and under are FREE with paid parent or guardian.
There are NO REFUNDS on admission tickets


SINGLE DAY TICKETS
Adult single day tickets purchased in ADVANCE before 3/4: Friday ($30), Saturday ($35), and Sunday ($20)
Adult single day tickets on or after 3/5 and at the show: Friday ($40), Saturday ($45), and Sunday ($30)
Children 10 and under are FREE with paid parent or guardian.
There are NO REFUNDS on admission tickets


Children 10 years of age and under are FREE with a paid parent or guardian. You do not have to purchase a ticket for a child 10 years or younger, just let us know that your child is with you when you check in at the show.

Getting Hygge With It

Aesthetic - image from TheDivine_MissN on Instagram

I recently read of the Danish concept of hygge. It would seem that the news of this practice of coziness broke in late 2016, but I didn't discover it until just a few weeks ago. Though there is no English translation, cozy does come the closest, and the Danes have it right on the money. I love being cozy. I like blankets and I obsessed over the Snuggie when they were first introduced.

When I signed the lease on my apartment back in June, I knew that I wanted to cultivate a space where I felt comfortable and I could also welcome others. Thanks to crowdsourcing a name from friends, Ransom Retreat was born. I even made a Facebook page so I could check in. No one can accuse me of not committing to a theme. :-D

New Blog, Who Dis?

Greetings, world! It is I, the blogger formerly known as Kentucky Geek Girl. For those of you who are finding me for the first time. I have been a blogger for nearly twenty years. Oh, God. That's  the first time I've ever actually typed that out. It all started with Xanga, then Myspace, the occasional Facebook note, then I found a home on Blogger. It all hasn't been a success. It took a really long time for me to find my voice and hone my craft.

In late 2009, I started the blog that would become Kentucky Geek Girl. I changed the name, got a domain, and built a brand for over five years. The site came to its natural end in Spring 2016 when I closed the virtual doors. My podcasting partner, Leila, and I moved out of the apartment that we used as our studio, and we ended that as well.

Fast forward to July 2017, when Leila and I reconvened recording our podcast, The Rad Ass Bitches, and the urge struck me to create again.  I've given a great deal of thought to what this would look like, mostly because I wasn't sure exactly what my voice was or where I fit in to the blogging world. Screaming into the void on Twitter has been fine, but I have had the desire to write as of late, so I thought, "What the heck?" and decided to purchase a new domain.

Who am I?
I'm 30 years old and live in Lexington, Kentucky. I have a background in history, nonprofit management, and cultural organizations. I'm in my last semester of graduate school and will complete a MA in Arts Administration in May. I work as a Travel Consultant for a company that develops and operates historical tours in the US and Europe. I'm really excited about it! As I said, I've been blogging for coming upon 20 years and I've always had an affinity for writing.

Why Nat20?

It's double-sided. As I get older, I have more people who have been calling me Nat as a nickname as opposed to Tasha, which is how I had been identified for years. My online handle was tashalee for several platforms and I know that for Twitter specifically I've had no less than 4 name changes. I have most recently settled on TheDivine_MissN and that is where I see it staying. I actually made a new blog on Xanga in high school called The Divine Miss N, an obvious play on the Bette Midler moniker, and decided to revive it. So, as I approach my twentieth year of blogging, I thought that using the "20" would work as well.

Nat 20 is also a gaming reference. A natural 20 is when you roll a 20 on a 20-sided dice. I've been role-playing for over a decade now and in almost every system rolling a 20 means a critical success despite any modifiers that you might have on a given stat.  This means that whatever you're trying to accomplish by rolling the die, you're going to be successful and it will happen without question. This, of course, is the reverse of rolling a 1 which is a critical failure no matter what your stats are.

So? What does this mean?

I wanted to start a new blog that incorporated various aspects of my life and interests. For a long time I was compartmentalizing. I had KGG which was my geek blog, Tasha Get's Healthy, where I chronicled my weight loss successes,  and I would write for a geek website or two. I've decided to combine all of those things under one brand and really control the content that I wanted to publish.

I'm inspired to create a space where I share my experiences as a 30-something woman navigating a variety of worlds. I'm finishing graduate school for one program (and possibly applying to another), working full-time in a job that I love, trying to connect with people in my city, and participate in hobbies that I find fulfilling. Can all of that make for good content? Maybe. We'll see. ;-)

This new space will be a reflection of who I am. Maybe I'll share some travel tips, post about a new event that I think you should attend, showcase my latest purchase for my apartment, or post a recipe for a dish that I really love. There's no particular geeky twist here,  just me being my authentic self. So, if that seems geeky, that's fine. If not, that's totally fine to. For me, at least.

Nat20 will be about an appreciation of authenticity and celebrating critical successes. I hope you join me on this journey!