Fake Girl Gamers Make Me Laugh

Apparently, I'm way behind but there is a new meme called gurl gamer, aka fake girl gamers who like to tote their l337 gaming skillz to attract guys. I first came upon it when I saw this hilarious picture of a sexy gurl gamer mouthing a controller (and then subsequent people mocking her):

Girl vs.guy gamer eating hardware (Source: The Meta Picture)

Lol, that kills me! That inspired me to find other common poses and match them up with the guy equivalent. The results were amusing.

Girl vs. guy playing XBox (Source: The Raw Story, Shades of Zero )

Lara Croft cosplayer vs. Chuck Norris wielding two guns (Source: Getty Images, Know Your Meme)

Girl vs. guy posing with arcade machines (Source: La Carmina, Kotaku)

Honestly, I think all of it can be summarized with this simple comic. Sorry, most of us gamer girls don't look like super models... except for Shawn's wife. :)

(Source: I Waste So Much Time)

Enjoy your Thanksgiving, and try to avoid any dishes that serve electronics!

Bartering for Crafts FTW!

Ok, last Halloween-related post of the year – promise! This year, let's just say I got sucked into making a few costumes for 3 friends' kids. Despicable Me minions hats to be exact. However, I have a firm habit of not making crafts for money, only gifts. That's at least 4 evenings per hat, given that I'm working more hours now and have less free time at night. I was looking at many hours of intensive crocheting (mainly because of the multiple parts – hands, eyes, googles, mouth, etc.) for probably nothing more than a thanks. Now I love my friends, but in this season of my life, I'm desperately needing sleep more. And God just told me to cut down on my commitments. Gaaaahh... what to do?

Not sure she fully appreciates all the time and effort that went into this hat ^_~

When I adamantly refused Friend #1's offer to pay (as usual), she came up with a brilliant idea: "Why don't I babysit Dexter for 2 nights so you and K can go some date nights?" OMG, you are brilliant! O_O From now on, I am totally bartering my crafting skills (when socially acceptable, like for last-minute Halloween costumes). Friend #2 will actually be dog sitting for us while we're out of town for the holidays. Friend #3... I'm pretty sure that was a freebie. :)

This is the only picture of kid #1 wearing it because he couldn't stop ripping it off and staring at it in amazement. Fuzzy heart feeling #^__^#

Update: here's the link to the pattern I used. Good luck, everyone!

Question:
Have you ever bartered your crafting or other skills? If so, what did you ask for in return?

Winner of the Blue Kitty Backpack Giveaway

Sorry for the late announcement, but thank you for all the suggestions for my upcoming new series "Home is Where the Console Is." (Like the new banner?) We have an official winner: suggestion #6 by Teresa! Please email me your contact information and I'll get it mailed to you asap.

As I've been researching some geek chic décor as inspiration, I came across this awesome Etsy site called Cutting Pixels. The shop owner specializes in video game paper cuts that look super clean and even elegant like 18th century portrait silhouettes. Check out her work:

My Neighbor Totoro

Link from The Legend of Zelda

Akuma from Street Fighter

The famous piranha plant (my favorite)

Cutting Pixels totally embodies what I'm trying to do with our home – make our house look sophisticated while still incorporating K's love of video games. A true meld of our two personalities. :)

Star Wars Halloween Extravaganza!

Sorry about the belated post! Meant to post this immediately after Halloween but we were out of town last week. Check out this crazy Star Wars X-Wing Starfighter that someone built near my brother LDK's neighborhood:

Can you imagine seeing that parked in someone's front lawn! It's not exactly life-size, but pretty big none the less. The family's kids were also fully dressed as various Star Wars characters and stood on around the spacecraft to help enhance the scene.

Kids serving as Darth Maul and Jawa lawn decorations

The garage had been fully converted into the famous Mos Eisley Cantina, where loads of candy were served at the bar. Plus, loud Star Wars music was blaring on the speakers, entertaining the entire block.

 

LDK took a short video that shows the X-Wing Starfighter in action, with blinking lights and mysterious smoke. So coool! I hope they do it again when Dexter is older; I think we'd totally consider flying there just for Halloween!


Only a few more hours till the kitty backpack giveaway ends. Thanks to everyone who has entered so far!

Giveaway: Blue Kitty Cat Backpack

Dexter's not sure he wants to give away the new "toy" he found on Mommy's chair.

My anime group decided to make a trip down to our annual anime conference. I didn't feel brave enough to make a costume, given the intensity of all the serious cosplayers out there. Big idea: why not crochet or knit something for the con? :) I had a ton of baby blue Caron Pound of Love yarn to use up, and was inspired by this bunny backpack I saw on Animal Crossing. Unfortunately, as with most improvised patterns, there was a lot of frogging and redoing involved, so I didn't finish it in time. Fortunately for you, I managed to complete it in the short intermission between Dexter's Halloween costume and Christmas craft gifts. Welcome to... the Kitty Cat Backpack giveaway!

Am I not super adorable?

Check out my cute curved tail!

How can you enter to win? Well, I'm starting a new series called Home Is Where the Console Is, which will consist of DIY tutorials on how to live with a gamer without having your house feel like a college dorm room. There's already a ton of blogs and articles out there about how women can deal with their partners' gaming habits, but this is more like the Martha Stewart Show for gamers' wives and girlfriends. For example, what's the best way to store (aka hide) all those video games? How about best practices for hosting a LAN party? I've got a pretty good list of decorating and domestic tricks already, but I'd love to hear what kind of topics you'd like to see. You can enter the giveaway in several way:

1. Blog: Leave a comment on this blog post with your idea(s) for the series.
   
2. Facebook: Leave a comment on the giveaway photo on my Facebook page here with your idea(s) for the series. (Winner must be a fan of the A Gamer's Wife page on Facebook.)
3. Twitter: Reply to the giveaway tweet here with your ideas for the series. (Winner must be a follower of @agamerswife on Twitter.)

Each new topic/question will be considered as a separate entry, so submit as many as you like. The contest will be open for two weeks until Sunday, November 17, and the winner will be announced the following day. Best of luck to all of you!

You know you want to take me home!

Note: the backpack is currently kid-sized where each strap is about 24" long. However, I can increase the straps to a custom length if requested. The cat is about 12" from ear to toe, and the bag is about 7.5" tall.