London EXPO: Or, how I met Darth Vader

This weekend, as part of my rounds as a Toy Soldier, I went off on a jolly little trip to London town. Along with several other soldiers, we journeyed to ExCel London, the convention centre at which this huge event was held and spread some propaganda.

Anyway, it was great fun. I arrived pretty early, figuring that I'd get there in time even with the inevitable cockups that occur on the Underground, and met up with Jack, by room buddy for the night and all-round stand-up guy. We decided that the best way of doing this was to get to the hotel we had booked, check in, dump our stuff and get on down to the convention centre quick-smart. Of course, it didn't work like that.

Our first mishap was to miss the stop for the hotel on the Underground. No big deal, we can always get the one back, it won't cost us much time.
Then we got lost on the next train, the one to the expo.
Fuck, we're late.

Finally we arrived on the first day, and attempted to locate Alice, who was in the con somewhere. After failing to get her to come out front to meet us, we bounded (walked calmly) inside and were promptly ambushed by her. All was well, the convention centre was warm and filled with fun, and most importantly we were finally there. With the three hours(!) left to us, we went and did convention things; hugging cosplayers, marvelling at exhibits (including a great steampunk one) and buying unnecessary stuff. I bought two t-shirts, one for the White Lantern Corps, and one for the Sinestro Corps. WOOO.

The second day went a lot better, though it started badly. The shower head fell off while I was cleaning up and hit me good. However, it quickly brightened up and before you know it, we were back at the expo. The second day was one of the best events I've ever been to.
We waved placards, I met up with Monte (last time I saw him was waaaaaaaaaay back at Games Day '09) and by god did we shift pamphlets. I even met a Darth Vader, complete with stormtroopers, and had a photo with Harley Quinn.

Can't wait for next year, methinks.

The Projects in May

What am I up to right now? Well, several things.

I am writing, piece by piece, a fan fiction, God spare my soul. Yeah, I know full well that around 89% of fanfics suck epic balls, which, in a way, is kind of why I'm doing this. I want to write not just a fanfic, but one that is actually GOOD. In time, we'll see if I was successful, or if I just added yet more shit to the sewage pile that is the internet.

Secondly, I'm wrestling my way through the exam season. It's not too bad, I have six exams to get through overall, two of which I think I can do well in, so with luck I should be coming out of it in July with good grades. Next stop, university.

Finally, I'm setting about the mammoth task of repainting and replacing my entire existing Iron Warriors army for Warhammer 40,000. Yes, I have heard the jokes about playing with toy soldiers before (I've made a few of them myself) but what these people don't know is how much time and effort goes into this. I must be batshit insane. Any guy can come off the street and paint a model, but if he hasn't done anything like this before it's going to look like he stuck the brush up his arse and jumped up and down on the models. This is no exaggeration; when I started doing this, my first models looked like haemorrhoids. Now, not only do I have to paint this army to a significant standard, I've also got a time limit to do it in, owing to the fact that I was moronic enough to want to do this as part of an internet-based painting event. Fool that I am.
So that's what I'll be doing this merry month, and probably the next few months after.

My work can be followed here:
http://www.bolterandchainsword.com/index.php?showtopic=200004&hl=