I Shower Meme more often than I Shower...
I'll be helping my brother move to College of Santa Fe until Sunday, so I'll take a message and get back to you later. In the mean time, here's more shower meme. Incidentally, it's the Shower Meme because anoisblue came up with it in the shower. It's also acceptably known as the Interview Meme. The rules, if you haven't been paying attention: Ask me for an interview; I'll send you five questions. Post the answers in your journals and invite others to ask you for an interview. If you'd like to know some answers, you can also feel free to ask five questions as shadowpryde has done...
1) Have you ever read D'Aulaire's Norse Gods and Giants? If so, did it affect you as much as their Book of Greek Myths? In what ways?
I did a report on Norse gods in 6th grade based on that book, but I got it from the library, so I didn't have the "read it every other month" opportunity that I did with the Greeks. I thus have a passing recognition of the Norse gods and some of the major stories, but not like the Greeks. However, since I also did a report on Leif Ericsson, I have a better understanding of Norse history than I do of (non-Philosophical) Greek history. 2) What plans do you currently have for your life post-graduation?
Travel around, find a place to live, and get a job there.
I want to leave Colorado but probably stay in the West, so likely candidate metro areas are Seattle, Portland, San Fran, LA, Vegas, Salt Lake, Phoenix, Tuscon, or government-installation-in-the-middle-of-the-desert (Los Alamos, frex). I welcome comments regarding these locations and their environs (or other places I've missed that might host interesting software opportunities). Aside from a week in Santa Cruz and a week around Moab, I haven't been very far west of the Continental Divide, so I need to visit each of these places and catch glimpses of their soul and their surroundings. Can I stand a place that gets more than 15 inches of rain per year? Can I keep my cool during a week of 110 degrees? Is the ocean too wet for me?
During the Multiple Drawing Down I talked with the Lord and Lady and clarified my search procedure -- I need to be vulnerable, I need to ask what I want to know, I can't be afraid to change. Thus shall I find the heart and soul of the people and the place. On Saturday I asked for blessings from the Sun God as I travel the deserts and from the Horned One as I trek through the forests. He said he'd send me a sign -- a bird -- and when I saw it I would be knocked speechless. 3) Rattle off the names of a couple of fictional books that affected your spiritual outlook and explain why they did so?
I can't think of any. When my spirituality has been affected by books, it's been by philosophy (e.g. Tao Te Ching), myth (e.g. D'Aulaire's) or nonfiction (e.g. The Alphabet vs. The Goddess). I think RPGs have affected my spirituality, but mostly through playing and thinking about playing rather than, say, connecting with a particular Garou tribe. Most of my spirituality has come from nonrational internal sources, arising spontaneously through emotion or through play. Of course, my affiliation as Pagan is probably influenced by my love for fantasy books. 4) How did your workshops at Dragonfest go?
I'll write a Dragonfest post after I get back from Santa Fe next week, but here's a glimpse:
My workshops were amazing. 22 people attended our Math and Science ritual, moving from station to station learning neat facts and doing some neat art on paper or their bodies. It was raining as we were setting up -- which was our one potential killer -- but it let up without destroying all our print outs. I met up with the person I had in mind for our fourth quarter caller at the Trance Circle the previous night, and as I invited him another girl got excited and volunteered to do a Bosse-Einstein Condensate call. Heather's neuron dance worked, but was kind of boring, but everything else was great.
My nonverbal workshop was lots of fun as well. As usual, most folks struggled at first, but after a few minutes people started moving together. A neat pentacle dance came together, the group danced around howling like wolves, and there were some funny-yet-effectual quarter calls. After a rough morning, Aria did a wonderful job in our melodrama. But the surest sign of the workshop's success was the fact that 25 adults stood in a circle and made silly noises by moving their finger between their lips. (I believe the Welsh word for this is "berlwm.")
Workshops are a great way to meet people. I had folks come up to me throughout the rest of the fest and thank me for the workhops. 5) What do you think of the local convention scene?
I've been once or twice to each of GenghisCon, BenCon, and TactiCon. Each time my goal was gaming -- usually card gaming -- and with mixed results. I've been in some really neat tournaments. I took second place in the oddly-formatted Mountain Shogun storyline tournament, winning my final game by Enlightenment (circa Scorpion Clan Coup). A couple locals produced an improved version of the L5R Tactical rules that produced some wonderful evenings. I met my friend Keith Baker (of the $100,000 WotC challenge fame) at an On the Edge tournament and I've been playing games at his house now for the last six years. There have also been some lame tournaments -- I wiped the floor with a Kolat Geisha deck in a tournament that the TO didn't get sanctioned or prizes for. I've been in a couple tournaments where only a handful of people showed, which were fun, but not very exciting. I've also tried some new games -- rail games are neat and I'd like to play again; AD&D Living City is not for me.
Overall, I've enjoyed my convention visits. Partly it was the thrill of an adventure on the bus down to Denver. I'd invariably meet up with someone I knew who'd give me a ride home or let me crash in their room. I'd joke a lot, sleep little, and surprisingly have no appetite; a bagel, a sandwitch, and two apples would keep me going all con. I haven't been to a con in the last several years, which means I haven't gone carousing in the bars, had my own hotel room, etc. I also haven't been to anything like GenCon, which I need to rectify. I think 2004 may be my chance to get back into hard-core geek mode, since I should have both money and time to spare.
I did a report on Norse gods in 6th grade based on that book, but I got it from the library, so I didn't have the "read it every other month" opportunity that I did with the Greeks. I thus have a passing recognition of the Norse gods and some of the major stories, but not like the Greeks. However, since I also did a report on Leif Ericsson, I have a better understanding of Norse history than I do of (non-Philosophical) Greek history. 2) What plans do you currently have for your life post-graduation?
Travel around, find a place to live, and get a job there.
I want to leave Colorado but probably stay in the West, so likely candidate metro areas are Seattle, Portland, San Fran, LA, Vegas, Salt Lake, Phoenix, Tuscon, or government-installation-in-the-middle-of-the-desert (Los Alamos, frex). I welcome comments regarding these locations and their environs (or other places I've missed that might host interesting software opportunities). Aside from a week in Santa Cruz and a week around Moab, I haven't been very far west of the Continental Divide, so I need to visit each of these places and catch glimpses of their soul and their surroundings. Can I stand a place that gets more than 15 inches of rain per year? Can I keep my cool during a week of 110 degrees? Is the ocean too wet for me?
During the Multiple Drawing Down I talked with the Lord and Lady and clarified my search procedure -- I need to be vulnerable, I need to ask what I want to know, I can't be afraid to change. Thus shall I find the heart and soul of the people and the place. On Saturday I asked for blessings from the Sun God as I travel the deserts and from the Horned One as I trek through the forests. He said he'd send me a sign -- a bird -- and when I saw it I would be knocked speechless. 3) Rattle off the names of a couple of fictional books that affected your spiritual outlook and explain why they did so?
I can't think of any. When my spirituality has been affected by books, it's been by philosophy (e.g. Tao Te Ching), myth (e.g. D'Aulaire's) or nonfiction (e.g. The Alphabet vs. The Goddess). I think RPGs have affected my spirituality, but mostly through playing and thinking about playing rather than, say, connecting with a particular Garou tribe. Most of my spirituality has come from nonrational internal sources, arising spontaneously through emotion or through play. Of course, my affiliation as Pagan is probably influenced by my love for fantasy books. 4) How did your workshops at Dragonfest go?
I'll write a Dragonfest post after I get back from Santa Fe next week, but here's a glimpse:
My workshops were amazing. 22 people attended our Math and Science ritual, moving from station to station learning neat facts and doing some neat art on paper or their bodies. It was raining as we were setting up -- which was our one potential killer -- but it let up without destroying all our print outs. I met up with the person I had in mind for our fourth quarter caller at the Trance Circle the previous night, and as I invited him another girl got excited and volunteered to do a Bosse-Einstein Condensate call. Heather's neuron dance worked, but was kind of boring, but everything else was great.
My nonverbal workshop was lots of fun as well. As usual, most folks struggled at first, but after a few minutes people started moving together. A neat pentacle dance came together, the group danced around howling like wolves, and there were some funny-yet-effectual quarter calls. After a rough morning, Aria did a wonderful job in our melodrama. But the surest sign of the workshop's success was the fact that 25 adults stood in a circle and made silly noises by moving their finger between their lips. (I believe the Welsh word for this is "berlwm.")
Workshops are a great way to meet people. I had folks come up to me throughout the rest of the fest and thank me for the workhops. 5) What do you think of the local convention scene?
I've been once or twice to each of GenghisCon, BenCon, and TactiCon. Each time my goal was gaming -- usually card gaming -- and with mixed results. I've been in some really neat tournaments. I took second place in the oddly-formatted Mountain Shogun storyline tournament, winning my final game by Enlightenment (circa Scorpion Clan Coup). A couple locals produced an improved version of the L5R Tactical rules that produced some wonderful evenings. I met my friend Keith Baker (of the $100,000 WotC challenge fame) at an On the Edge tournament and I've been playing games at his house now for the last six years. There have also been some lame tournaments -- I wiped the floor with a Kolat Geisha deck in a tournament that the TO didn't get sanctioned or prizes for. I've been in a couple tournaments where only a handful of people showed, which were fun, but not very exciting. I've also tried some new games -- rail games are neat and I'd like to play again; AD&D Living City is not for me.
Overall, I've enjoyed my convention visits. Partly it was the thrill of an adventure on the bus down to Denver. I'd invariably meet up with someone I knew who'd give me a ride home or let me crash in their room. I'd joke a lot, sleep little, and surprisingly have no appetite; a bagel, a sandwitch, and two apples would keep me going all con. I haven't been to a con in the last several years, which means I haven't gone carousing in the bars, had my own hotel room, etc. I also haven't been to anything like GenCon, which I need to rectify. I think 2004 may be my chance to get back into hard-core geek mode, since I should have both money and time to spare.