State of the Empire – 2/18/18 or as late as HELL…

…or Tartarus, as the fictional, MLP world case may be. This is the State of the Empire blog that should have happened LAST SUNDAY. There are MANY reasons for this…the biggest being Gallifrey One and the case of Con Crud that hit me the day after the convention ended. I’ll be doing a separate post on the convention, which will include how THESE went over and how you can get one of your own for FREE!

Now on to the excuses that started before the convention and haven’t ended even YET.

The big one is THIS.

My car of 23 years is DEAD.

Our 1995 Ford Windstar was SO OLD, we bought it BEFORE cell phones were even a thing. Let THAT fact sink in while you are digesting the other fact that it drove its last on Thursday, February 15th, 2018.

I think the King of Shadows CURSED IT when I took this shot of him getting ready to go with us while riding in the front seat en route to Equestria LA back in October 2017.

It is the last pic (and apparently the ONLY ONE) I took of the car before it kicked the proverbial bucket. I am sure he was indignant with me putting the seat belt over him because seriously, what the hell do Shadows need with a seat belt?

So…the stress of trying to obtain fundage for said car’s replacement reached a peak that took me to the precipice of a nervous breakdown two days before the convention. Then, suddenly and out-of-the-friggin’-blue, a friend of 30+ years came to our rescue and loaned us the money to get the car I had been pining for ever since I test drove it the week before.

So, even though we got the money – and the car – the stress killed my immune system to such a point that even the aggressive immune-boosting supplements I had begun the week before the con were ineffective at stopping the legendary and dreaded Gallifreyan Con Crud.

Luckily it is hitting me with only a tenth of the power it clobbered me with last year as this time in 2017 I was bedridden and on antibiotics for a week after the convention. But then we only got in to Gallifrey One by working ConOps and sacrificing my feet to the angry and hateful God of Out of Shape Fans. To that, even if we have to miss a future Gallifrey One, I will NEVER do that AGAIN.

As the War Doctor said, “NO MORE”.

See you tomorrow when I pen this week’s State of the Empire report and try to get back on track (and sanity). Until then, Slaves, remember to always

Hail King Sombra!