Archive for March, 2008


So… last weekend (Et al Croce: Seems like such a long time ago…) we went to NorWesCon.

On the one hand, internally I was giddy like a little kid. shimmeringjemmy gave me several hours free time on my own at the con. This was exciting in theory.

Unfortunately, my con experience wasn’t like the ones I had as a 15 year old. NWC seems to be far more based in the social clumping. Seeing friends you don’t get to see except at NWC. Hanging with friends at sessions. Going with friends to gatherings.

I’m still new to the area so my social experience consists of
    seeing about 10 people in the weekend that I kinda know…
    Admiring their outfit if they are wearing it…
    Asking how they are enjoying the con…
    waving as they head off to (sdkfuwef)

This is an odd feeling.

When I went to Dragon*Con in Atlanta about 4-5 years ago; I actually knew nobody there. There was the friend from online who invited me to crash on the floor of her shared hotel room. There was the ‘daughter of a psychiatrist’ (a common bond) that I’d bonded with in IM that I’d met thru LJ. That was it.

However, at D*C I met a tonne of people. People knew of me from the net which really kinda freaked me out. And the scary part was; I got invited on the spot to be on several panels. The funny thing is I actually met s00j at this con and chatted briefly with her… but never really filed it away beyond, “Really hot and talented drummer from the circle”

So back to NorWesCon. It’s a larger con, but a large area con. It’s obvious that this is ‘da sh*#’ when it comes to Seattle area SciFi. I don’t want to hazard a guess on the size. Now… it’s not a WorldCon/Dragon*con… But the good news is… it’s not a ComicCon either. Comic Con is a trade show…not a con.

So… Art show.. nice. I’m saddened by how much the scifi fan is economically not in a place to buy art. Yes.. I’m biased. Went to a couple of sessions. I found myself pining to be on panels because sometimes the crowd would pull the panel waaay of topic. And like many cons. I leave with about 5-15 panel ideas.

One panel was about good and bad characters. It was observed that the most interesting good characters tend to behave at times like a**holes. The further observation is that everyone at one time has been an a**hole. So the question was posed to the room, “Has anyone in this room never actually been an a**hole”. So I lifted Aiden above my head and raised his hand. Okay… so maybe I got to be an a**hole myself.. but it’s worth it for the sake of a good joke.

At one point we got on an elevator with two women dressed in the style of Eliza in My Fair Lady. Swooping huge hats with flowers. I mean huuuuuge hats. I got on the elevator and joked, “Dear diary. Wife brutally killed today on an elevator. Really can’t go into the details…they are just too… hard to explain.” Good laughter on the elevator. Then someone added, “I’m really sorry I sent flowers to the funeral, he looked devastated.”

There was also a poker tournament. There were ongoing satellites to win a seat at the final main tournament. I inadvertently won a seat. It was a massively short stacked tournament. (200 in chips, initial blinds 10/20).. but the fun was going to the final table with 1 1/2 blinds… Quinting up, then tripling up and finishing third. No.. I’m not going to explain what that all means here.

But I never really felt connected to anyone at the con. Maybe over time. Maybe I’m too old. Maybe I’ve out grown the 16 year old who wants to take over a panel with hir fanish experiences and then demonstrate the worst british accent ever (Standard Fan Type X13)

A good con. I just want to know if I’m outgrowing cons or just not close enough to this one yet.

No meme history… Too many people have this one up.

March is Ask a Question Month

And if it wasn’t I guess we really don’t get a choice now

Comments are screened, ask me a question, which will be answered in a separate post. Any question. Any question at all.

I reserve the right not to answer. That probably won’t happen, but I reserve the right all the same.

I have caught the con/festival crud.

I don’t have the miserable sick that I had in February… But it’s a coughy, achy, sneezing goo.

Now here’s the problem. For the next 48 hours I need to be at the top of my game.

I basically need to perform at my best.

So I need to ask friends and such to send positive energy of success in my general direction for at least the next 48 hours.

I can’t exactly explain why at the moment. I probably will next week. But for now. It’s just a sort of muster the will and go forwards kind of thing.

I know I’m being vague… but rest assured.. If all works like I hope… I will explain in detail (with luck) within the week.

Thanks for this unpaid service announcement.

P.S. if you know what I’m dealing with, please don’t share until I post.

This email or things like it go around about once every 3-5 years. This one is entertaining because it talks about how easy things are today by comparing it to about 20-25 years ago. To be honest; things weren’t that miserable 30 years ago either. They were different; but I’d still take the creature conveniences of 30 years ago over the lack of conveniences of say… 90 years ago.

So… this is a fun walk down amnesia lane for the 30+ crowd. (I know some of you have already seen it via email and blog)


SPOILED UNDER-30 CROWD!!!

When I was a kid, adults used to bore me to tears
with their tedious diatribes about how hard things were
when they were growing up; what with walking
twenty-five miles to school every morning … uphill BOTH ways

yadda, yadda, yadda

And I remember promising myself that when I grew up,
there was no way in hell I was going to lay
a bunch of crap like that on kids about how hard I had it
and how easy they’ve got it!
But now that… I’m over the ripe old age of
thirty, I can’t help but look around and notice the youth of today.

You’ve got it so easy! I mean, compared to my
childhood, you live in a damn Utopia!
And I hate to say it but you kids today you
don’t know how good you’ve got it!

I mean, when I was a kid we didn’t have The
Internet . If we wanted to know something,
we had to go to the damn library and
look it up ourselves, in the card catalog!!
There was no email!! We had to actually write
somebody a letter .with a pen!
Then you had to walk all the way across the street and
put it in the mailbox and it would take like a week to get there!

There were no MP3’s or Napsters! You wanted to
steal music, you had to hitchhike to the damn record store and shoplift it yourself!
Or you had to wait around all day to tape it off the radio and the DJ’d usually talk over the
beginning and @#*% it all up!
We didn’t have fancy crap like Call Waiting! If you
were on the phone and somebody else called they got a busy signal, that’s it!

And we didn’t have fancy Caller ID Boxes either!
When the phone rang, you had no idea who it was!
It could be your school, your mom, your boss, your bookie, your drug dealer,
a collections agent, you just didn’t know!!!
You had to pick it up and take your chances, mister!

We didn’t have any fancy Sony Playstation video games with high-resolution 3-D graphics!
We had the Atari 2600!
With games like ‘Space Invaders’ and ‘asteroids’. Your guy was a little square!
You actually had to use your imagination! !
And there were no multiple levels or screens, it was just one screen forever!

And you could never win.
The game just kept getting harder and harder and faster and faster until you died!
Just like LIFE!

When you went to the movie theater there no such thing as stadium seating!
All the seats were the same height!
If a tall guy or some old broad with a hat sat in front of you and you couldn’t see,
you were just screwed!

Sure, we had cable television, but back then that
was only like 15 channels
and there was no on screen menu and no remote control!
You had to use a little book called a TV Guide to find out what was on!
You were screwed when it came to channel surfing!
You had to get off your ass and walk over to the TV to change the
channel and there was no Cartoon Network either! You could only get cartoons
on Saturday Morning. Do you hear what I’m saying!?!
We had to wait ALL WEEK for cartoons, you spoiled little rat-bastards!

And we didn’t have microwaves, if we wanted to heat
something up we had to use the stove or go build a frigging fire .. imagine that!
If we wanted popcorn, we had to use that stupid Jiffy Pop thing
and shake it over the stove forever like an idiot.

That’s exactly what I’m talking about!
You kids today have got it too easy.
You’re spoiled.
You guys wouldn’t have lasted five minutes back in 1980!

Regards,
The over 30 Crowd

When I entered the Washington Caucus I did so firmly as an undecided member choosing to support the Democratic Party.

I was so firm in my stance I was prepared (if necessary) to stand as an ‘undecided delegate’ in the conference. I acknowledge the amount of pressure from both sides of the democratic campaign that this would open me to.

At my caucus location, people were unimaginably supportive. Yes there was a vocal majority of Obama supporters. The Clinton supporters (while numbering less) were no less vocal of their support.

Yet, despite this there was NO pressure on me to pick a candidate. Everyone who was familiar with the caucus process were united in one stance. Showing those of us unfamiliar how the process worked. Everyone had a fair time to speak. I was even given time to speak on why I was undecided in the event people who’d moved to a candidate felt they were actually undecided.

But now, I am supporting Obama.

To me this doesn’t just mean supporting my candidate. It means supporting a fair, legal, and (dare I say it) honest election process.

Today I read an article from a Clinton supporter who was at the time of the Washington Caucus undecided in her opinion. Her reasons matched mine.

Unfortunately, her blog post got ugly.