Current Post On Trae’s Blog:
So right now I'm sitting in my living room, kind of exhausted, looking at a green chair that used to sit in my Grandmother's living room. This weekend was eventful, and I'm tired.
Crysta and I went down to Milwaukee so we could spend father's day with my parents (along with some other family members). We went to the Brewer's game on Sunday, and like any game of baseball, it was a good time. I've never been a huge sports person, but I love watching a good live baseball game.
Honestly it was an amazing day.
Before I left town on Saturday though, I swung by the local No Kings protest here in Eau Claire, and then spent a chunk of time at the local Pride celebration. I tend to be a bit of a shut in these days, so with all the awful stuff in the news it was nice to remind myself that there are good people in the world willing to stand up for what's right and for each other.
My grandmother passed away not that long ago, and one thing I had my parent set aside for me was a chair. I realize that it looks a bit more gold in the photo, but trust me when I say it's green in real life. This morning I loaded it into my pickup and drove it across the state and got it into my living room. I loved this chair as a kid, and importantly... it swivels. And when I was growing up adults would always yell at me not to spin the chair. Well guess what, it's my chair now.
And no one can stop me from spinning.
I dunno -- it was just a lot of stuff in a short amount of time. We also went out to dinner after the baseball game yesterday, but I think I'll give my full opinion on that later this week in a different blog post. Because we went to a restaurant none of us had been to before, and uh... I have thoughts.
That was vague. I'm being vague. You're just going to have to be okay with that.
![Nerd & Tie[dot]Social Forums](https://www.nerdandtie.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/natsocial-nicepreview-square-300x300.png)
Yeah. As someone of Hispanic decent visiting up north that was fun trying to learn on the German names lol. And trying to watch all the yanks pronounce my last name!
Amazing how easily an ethnic name can trip you up, even if you think you’re ready for them. But Polish names seem to do it deliberately.
Or if you’re prepared for the wrong ethnicity. I knew an Indian kid named Tejas(Tay-jis) once. He lived in an area with a huge Hispanic influence. Literally everyone assumed it was Tay-has when they met him, even after he said it.
This was something I greatly appreciated with David Vincent, who MC’d Sakura-Con’s Closing Ceremonies this year. He made a point to meet with our cultural performers before the ceremonies to make sure he had the pronunciations correct.
One joy at Registration was people with a badge name of something like “Tigerfoxxx”. Your name would immediately be “Tiger Fox ecks ecks.” Every time.
I recall the time that David Gerrold was MCing a costume contest and was visited with so many unpronounceable character names (and NO phonetic breakdown) he finally gave up and started introducing people as “Fred. From the planet Fred”. No idea what the balance was between annoyed and amused on the part of the entries. 🙂