The Queek Files

We sure are living in historic and challenging times. Millions have been confirmed ill. Millions more have gone unconfirmed. Hundreds of thousands have died. The worldwide economy has ground to a halt in a way that hasn't been seen since the Great Depression. Billions are under stay at home or quarantine orders. People of all kinds are using this to gain advantage. Authoritarian regimes are tightening their grip. Populists are feeding off the chaos. Capitalists are scraping up every free bit of cash. Criminals are preying on peoples' fears. Personally, I'm in a pretty privileged place and I acknowledged that fact. I get to work full time from home and have only taken a minimal pay hit. My family has always maintained food and supplies storage. That's a lesson we learned from my grandparents who survived the Great Depression in the rural Midwest and has prevented us from having to try to stock up all at once. I have friends who can sew and have made me a lovely selecti...

Being a geek isn't exclusively associated with pop culture. Geekiness is about your level of passion for a specific subject matter. The Trekkie with their room full of cosplays and collectibles is no different than the dude with a sports memorabilia filled 'man cave.' Just watch a game. The guys wearing uniforms and/or painting themselves up in team colors are exactly the same as your local Sailor Moon cosplayer. Personally, I have a couple things I really geek out about that aren't pop culture. No, it isn't marijuana leaf macrame or armpit hair braiding. Sorry to disappoint. I love history. Look at that beautiful flying phallus from Pompeii. He just wants to give you prosperity and good luck. I have shelves full of history books where the books are stacked multiple deep. Crammed in nooks and crannies on those shelves are recreations of historical artifacts and actual ancient coins. I got my first Egyptology book written for adults when I was in the fourth...

Let's all get into the wayback machine and imagine it's June of 2017. Our hero/ine (me); has a great relationship, a steady M-F office job, and has been benefiting from major lifestyle changes. Those lifestyle changes had begun as a holistic approach to managing diagnosed Depression and ended up having the minor side effect of massive (seriously massive) weight loss. Our hero/ine was feeling confident, healthy, and even in love with themselves. Enter, a pickup truck sandwich. Ooooh... plot twist! I was driving a KIA Soul that day. A pedestrian was in the cross walk on a stretch of two lane road without stop signs. A line of traffic had stopped to let them go through. I was sitting behind a pickup truck when another pickup hit me from behind, going about 40 mph. Needless to say, I was the cheese in that sandwich. The KIA was totaled and I was rattled up real good. The next year was not pretty. In the process of medical review from the wreck, it was discovered that I had dege...

Tabletop and live action role-playing games have been a huge part of my life since childhood. At some points in my life, I've played in more games in a week than there are days; going from one game to the next in the same night. Once it became one of my primary hobbies, I had never gone for more than a couple weeks without either a tabletop or live-action game. I wasn't addicted... I could quit at any time. ;) Seriously though, this was a huge source of my social activity. It's where my friends came from. It drove my travel. Conventions drew me to cities that I wouldn't have otherwise gone. It fed my creativity in many ways; writing, drawing, and costuming. It also drove a lot of my spending. My shelves still bend under the weight of the books. My dice collection is ridiculous and the closet in my office has as many LARP costumes in it has cosplays. When I got my promotion at work, I drew the short straw and got a night shift. No more gaming for me. I could have ...

I've been told by a lot of people that I have a lot of "no shit there I was" stories. Not all of my encounters with politicians, famous people, or weird situations were accidental. I sought out a few of them and here are a few of those stories. I mean, I did intentionally show up and throw rotten fruit at President George H. W. Bush when I was in high school. ActUp was having an AIDS protest at an event he was having local to me and asked folks to show. So, I did. This was before the world of Patriot Acts and extreme paranoia. Hell, there wasn't even a legal structure for dealing with domestic terrorism. That didn't happen until the Oklahoma City bombing. We were considered rude, but within our legal rights. Our rotten fruit wasn't considered a security threat, just a hygiene issue. I don't think I hit him, but I'm pretty sure that a few Secret Service guys had a hell of a dry cleaning bill. Also in high school, I'd made personal enemies with a...

I'm sorry that I've missed a couple weeks of posting here. The holidays are a rough time for me. As I posted earlier, I struggle with this time of year. Between being busy with hosting my friends and family, attending work events, and working harder due to coworkers taking time off for their own events; when not actively involved in something to do with the holidays (or the Star Wars premier) I was most likely asleep. This year was extra rough due to us holding the memorial for one of my best friends over the New Year. For those who don't know my friend; they were one of the most interesting people in my life. They were non-binary, asexual, mixed Cajun and Creole child of Louisiana; with all that entails. They were a geek in both the traditional sense and the modern sense; a fire eating Carnie and gamer nerd. They had a career as a massage therapist, combining their training as a yoga instructor into this. They owned and ran a merch and massage presence in the Ren Faire s...