Geeks, Greeks and God

There’s been a lot of geeky stuff to do in Atlanta ever since the weather warmed up. In the last week and a half I met Amber Benson, got my Greek on, and took in the rapture at Ren Fest. It’s been a good start to the season.

First of all let me say that Amber Benson is just frakin awesome.

She came into town to be a panelist at Outlantacon (Atlanta’s gay, sci-fi convention) and, to help kick off the event, appeared for free at a book signing. Homegirl walked around Outwrite, Atlanta’s prominent queer bookstore, just like any other patron of the joint. After grabbing a coffee and a Rice Crispy Treat (which made her even more endearing) she sat down mere feet away from the table I shared with my fellow Whedonites. For those of you lesbian geeks unfamiliar with Amber: go watch seasons 4-6 of Buffy, then come back and thank me after you’re done.

You don’t get much more down-to-earth than taking a shot of the crowd with your iPhone.

And she even signed my book exactly how I wanted it (though she did kinda giggle at the request).

If you look closely, you’ll see that it says: “Summer, Thanks for always calling Kennedy a slutty rebound. Love, Amber.”

It was really cool to simply listen to the entire panel talk geek writ

ing, queer writing, and queer geek writing. It was also nice to hang out with Melissa Carter, formerly of Q100’s The Bert Show. We totally geeked about fan fiction and Star Trek Voyager.

My face looks stupid because I’d just been close to Amber Benson and Angela was making fun of my shaky hands.

All in all, it was a fantastic night.

Later that week I Greeked out at the Marietta Greek Festival where we took pictures of the Greek Orthodox Church and learned a lot about its history…

This is Elijah. It’s very important you never open the door for him, lest you end up totally fucked in Nazi Germany. And if you just laughed out loud at that you better at least post a ‘haha’ in the comment section!

We also drank Ouzo.

Don’t ever do that.

The Greek Festival isn’t the only cultural experience to be had this time of year. On the day the rapture was supposed to hit, we all hopped in a car and made a trip down to the Georgia Renaissance Festival: a great excuse to wear medieval clothing in ninety degree weather.

Turkey legs and mead were consumed with gusto, tarot cards were read, and jousting commenced.

But it wasn’t until the end of the day that the world actually changed. Not for everybody, like some psychos had anticipated, but for me. You see, the Humane Society puts up a tent at Ren Fest. I managed to stay away from it for most of the day, but after a few beers and a ‘looking can’t hurt’ attitude, we made our way over to check out the puppies for adoption. There were quite a few cuties there. I asked to hear each one’s story and finally settled on walking around with two to see how we bonded. And it was when this little guy went straight for my face with the puppy kisses that I knew I was at least going to fill out some paperwork.

They found him running around near a dumpster. He was abandoned and had lost most of his hair due to a case of mange. But it was his name that made it seem like destiny was playing a part in what was going on while Jesus decided to punk out the guys who tried to capitalize on his return. The pup was found hiding in a Samuel Adams box, so they named him Samuel Adams. And being that I have an incredible affection for naming dogs after beer… it just seemed to fit. I’m already totally in love.

He thinks I’m god, I think he’s my savior. Three cheers for Samuel Adams; the jousting, rapture dog.