Walk Softly and Carry a Big Schtick

Walk Softly and Carry a Big Schtick

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Below are the 10 most recent journal entries recorded in the "Chaz Boston Baden" journal:

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April 21st, 2012
12:24 pm [Link]	Costume Snow Camp (part 1) So here's what we did. 1. An idea is hatched. Two or three years ago, in casual conversation, Melissa De Mello used the phrase "Cosplay Camp" when describing the fun she had at an anime convention held at the Antelope Valley Inn in Lancaster. That phrase resonated and stuck in my head. What if you could actually put on a "Cosplay Camp" or "Costume Camp" event, analogous to Band Camp and all those other special-activity camps? We started researching sites and prices, and I learned that it was surprisingly reasonable to rent a "summer camp" in the off-season for a weekend. (Not just any camp, mind you, but I found five viable locations in three different counties.) It's possible to do a weekend retreat at a beautiful mountain location for $100-$150 a person. Two and a half days, two nights, five or six meals included. Bring your own sleeping bag. 2. ( Would anyone want to attend it? ) 3. ( Would any organization want to sponsor it? ) (to be continued...) Current Location: Santa Ana, CA Current Mood: chipper Current Music: KFAI - "Sabados Allegros" radio show Tags: cosplay camp (1 comment \| Leave a comment)
April 20th, 2012
02:05 pm [Link]	More pictures Pictures posted on website: Anime Los Angeles 8 part 20: Tuesday and Wednesday (03-05-Jan-2012) et seq. Anime Los Angeles 8 part 37: Publications Wrap-up (21-Jan-2012) Anime Los Angeles 8 part 38: Wrap-up Meeting (28-Jan-2012) et seq. Miscellaneous: Dead battery (15-Jan-2012) e Miscellaneous: Z-Wing, Four and Twenty (21-Jan-2012) LASFS/Aftermeetings part 460: Coral Cafe (19/20-Jan-2012) LASFS/Aftermeetings part 461: Coral Cafe (02-Feb-2012) LASFS/Aftermeetings part 462: Auction, Coral Cafe (09-Feb-2012) LASFS/Aftermeetings part 463: Coral Cafe (23-Feb-2012) LASFS/Aftermeetings part 464: Auction, Coral Cafe (22-Mar-2012) LASFS/Aftermeetings part 465: Coral Cafe (29-Mar-2012) et seq. SoCal AMCC Cosplay Picnic at Mile Square Park (22-Jan-2012) Part 1 et seq. Corona Cosplay Picnic at Promenade Park (09-Feb-2012) Part 1 et seq. Temecula and Pechanga Casino (12-Feb-2012) Gallifrey 2012 part 1: Thursday Night (16-Feb-2012) et seq. ConDor 19 part 1: Friday (02-Mar-2012) et seq. Beth visits California (05-Mar-2012) Japan. Endless Discovery. at The Grove (10-Mar-2012) SoCal AMCC Picnic 12 at Mile Square Park (11-Mar-2012) Sarah, Alannah and the Canadians (15-Mar-2012) Anime Conji 3 part 1: Friday (16-Mar-2012) et seq. Cosplay Picnic in Lancaster (24-Mar-2012) Food trucks at YLHS (29-Mar-2012) Party at Lindsay and Myion's place (31-Mar-2012) Chaz's Steampunk Beard (01-Apr-2012) Costume Camp part 1: Friday Evening (13-Apr-2012) et seq. Current Location: Santa Ana, CA Current Mood: chipper Tags: anime conji, anime los angeles, condor, pix (Leave a comment)
April 9th, 2012
11:23 pm [Link]	Maria saves Costume Workshop Weekend I am so proud of missmea, I could just burst. Not just that she's worked out the schedule for Costume Workshop Weekend -- take a look at it here on the schedule page - but that she's figured out everything that needs to be done, broken it down into goals that can be achieved one by one, assigning and delegating tasks as needed. Costume Workshop Weekend has been over a year in the making. It started from an off-hand remark that Melissa DeMello made that used the phrase "Cosplay Camp." Maria wasn't involved in the original plans, but she's become indispensable. I really don't think it would have come off half as well as it's going, if she hadn't become involved. Thank you, Maria. Current Location: Anaheim, CA Current Mood: chipper Tags: costume workshop weekend (1 comment \| Leave a comment)
March 22nd, 2012
02:49 pm [Link]	Anyone going to Westercon in Seattle? Want to help me throw a party? I'm going to Westercon this summer. (I'm their Fan Guest of Honor.) I'd like to host a party during the convention. If I can pull this off, I'm going to need some help on the ground. At a minimum, some help rounding up the groceries would be needed. Better would be if you'll help me get things prepped to make the on-site cooking so much easier... Does this sound like fun? I'm thinking we serve tacos, encourage people to wear aloha shirts, and take lots of pictures. Current Location: Santa Ana, CA Current Mood: chipper Tags: party, westercon (4 comments \| Leave a comment)
March 21st, 2012
06:12 pm [Link]	Taco Party wrap-up At Anime Conji 3, we served up about 50 or so hard-shell tacos, 36 soft tacos, and maybe 10 or 20 street-style corn-tortilla soft tacos. About 90 or 100 in all. But we went through almost all the meat that we'd brought for 160-200 tacos. Which means that I completely underestimated -- by a factor of 2 -- how much people would fill each taco, but I correctly gauged how much food overall would be needed. Money-wise, though, we came within $11 of breaking even. For a net out-of-pocket expense of $11 for party food expenses, that's an absolutely amazing result. And that's based on spending $176 on the food. We could have saved some money if we'd shopped around butchers a little more -- with 20+ lbs of meat, saving $1/lb. on one or two of the meat buys would have made the difference. Fillings: Seasoned ground beef, just shy of 6 lbs. worth. Made with the Trader Joe's taco seasoning and tomato sauces. Chili Colorado (beef), bought about 6 lbs of meat. Carnitas (shredded pork), bought 5.8 lbs of meat. Chicken Mole, used 3 whole chickens from Costco's rotisserie. missmea was kind enough to pull most of the meat off of the bones for us. That went into a crockpot with three boxes of Rogelio Bueno's Mole Poblano. Soy Chorizo, 24 oz., from Trader Joe's. Other items: Taco shells, Taco Bell brand (because they were on sale, $1.99/12.) Soft taco size flour tortillas. Street taco size corn tortillas, in a crockpot to warm them up (and as it turns out, overcook most of them). Regular steamed white rice Cuban-style black beans (from Trader Joe's, 4 or 5 cans I think) Chopped lettuce Chopped red onion 2 lbs. shredded cheese - the "Mexican blend" from Stater Bros. I couldn't find any cheddar cheaper, so it made no sense to grate it myself. 16 oz. sour cream 4 limes, cut into 10 wedges each. (Thank you again, Maria!) 10 bottles of Coca-Cola from Mexico, made with real sugar Pint and half-pint bottled water, donated from my last picnic's leftovers Mistakes were made. Specifically, I should have marked the Carnitas zip bag, so I could tell it from the zip bags of ground beef. Or, you know, mark all of the bags. I also should have remembered to put plastic liners in each crockpot -- I ended up having to wash out two at the end of the night because of forgetting this at the beginning. A number of people took a big ol' flour tortilla and put a scoop of each filling... I realized that some people were taking bigger ladlefulls than they may have intended. I have no problem if people want to take two small scoops, but what I saw was people taking one large scoop because that's what came up when they dipped it in the pot. I've bought some more wooden spoons, because I think they'll be better for scooping. And I could use more of them anyway. Thanks are also due to Rebecca Rowan for loaning me a small crockpot. Having someone local loan me crockpots is handy. And Christian B. McGuire transported some of my party fixings, including the rice cooker and another crockpot, which eased my own transportation burden as well. Current Location: Santa Ana, CA Current Mood: chipper Current Music: Some old Hawaiian songs Tags: anime conji, taco party (4 comments \| Leave a comment)
March 12th, 2012
05:31 pm [Link]	Taco Party So in preparation for Matthew Lewis's Taco Party, I'm trying to cook the meat ahead of time. Everything I cook between now and Wednesday night, I'll freeze, and Thursday's work will go into the ice chest along with everything from the freezer. Friday morning, everything goes into the crockpots. Any cooking or other prep I can do at home pre-con means less workload Friday at the con. In the past, Matt's collected the money to pay for the tacos ahead of time. This time, it'll be a matter of collecting the money at the party, which means instant gratification for everyone. I'm thinking of putting up a sign at the buffet line that says "Tacos $1-$2 each" and let people decide for themselves if they've got a taco worth putting in extra money for. Current Mood: chipper Tags: food (Leave a comment)
02:11 pm [Link]	Carnitas experiment today I went home on my lunch break and put this into a standard crockpot on high. It just about filled it up. 5.8 lb pork shoulder blade roast, boneless, cut into stewing size chunks 2 tsp black pepper 2 tsp dry "roasted garlic" 1 tsp crushed red pepper 1 tsp cayenne pepper 1 tsp chili powder 1 tsp Lawry's seasoning salt 1 TB cumin 1 tsp ground coriander 3 cups of water I forgot to pick up an onion, so I'll get one on the way home from work to chop up and add to the mix when I take the pork out, shred it with a fork, and put it back in after it's been cooking for 6 hours. Current Location: Santa Ana, CA Current Mood: chipper Tags: food (3 comments \| Leave a comment)
11:45 am [Link]	Carnitas experiment Today I intend to buy two pork roasts, because I want at least 5 lbs. of meat in the crockpot. I'm also planning to throw in 2 tsp black pepper 2 tsp of garlic powder, or more a chopped-up onion between 2 tsp and 2 TB of cayenne pepper, crushed red pepper, or chili powder 1/2 tsp Lawry's seasoning salt 1 TB cumin 1 tsp cilantro or coriander -- I think I have the coriander on hand 2 to 4 cups of water I'm actually hoping to do this on my lunch break, so by the time I get home later it'll be ready for testing. Current Mood: chipper Tags: food (2 comments \| Leave a comment)
February 15th, 2012
12:23 am [Link]	Kathie Spiss memorial 2012-03-24 Tucson The memorial service for Kathie Spiss, the 69-year-old lady who ran RV Awards in Arizona that has made so many ribbons for so many fans and fannish conventions, will be Saturday 2012-03-24. I have a prior commitment. Will any other fans be able to wave the fannish flag there? Chaz Current Location: Anaheim CA Current Mood: sad Tags: ribbons (Leave a comment)
February 4th, 2012
02:34 pm [Link]	Disneyana: Lake Buena Vista phone book I have a March 1984 Lake Buena Vista, Florida phone book from Vista-United Communications. It was the first phone book I ever saw that had Mickey Mouse on the cover, which is why I brought it home from my Walt Disney World trip. Does anyone want it? Current Location: Anaheim, CA Current Mood: chipper Current Music: Sugar Ray - "Is she really going out with him" Tags: disney (1 comment \| Leave a comment)

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