Upbeat
I love this place. Three things happened this Saturday: A conference on consciousness (neurophilosophy, I think) by Antonio Damasio. The technoparade. The festiblog. And I had noticed all of these in advance (via street, e-mail and blogs), which is highly out of character.
Yesterday night, I went to a bar for a free concert, the band was very good, but started much later than expected and I was feeling bummed until someone started a conversation (music, travel). I left early to get some sleep. Sadly, I fell asleep super-late and got only a few hours of shut-eye. I missed the Damasio conference, oh well, I'll be able to catch it on video, moving on. The technoparade I joined when it was half-way. Big stupid beats and a dreamlike atmosphere, felt kinda like religion. I basically got lost in the dancing crowd that followed the floats, didn't feel very much pressure or nervousness, just tried to relax, smile and dance a bit. Kinda weak, but my dancing was never good and doesn't get better on about four hours of sleep. Saw some moderately crazy people, greased naked torsos, a red zentai (smooth full-body costume), most kinds of crazy hair (long dreads, wigs and spikes), colourful dresses, and so on. Taking a note that I should bring those strange glasses I have next time. The show ended abruptly at five, and I moved to the festiblog.
This is a small-scale, friendly convention of French webcomic authors. Franco-Belgian comics have a more artsy flavour, and so do French webcomics. These webcomics also tend to be more personal. I waited in line for my author to draw me a thing, said author is very slow and does super quality work. I struck a conversation with someone in the line, who studies graphic design and interactive installations. We talked anime (me, though I'm not extremely current) and manga (out of my depth) - adaptations were helpful common ground. There's an art event where we should meet again. We were joined by someone who studies mechanics (bridge and air-flow simulations, things like that). Discussed school, employment, siblings, food. Got a Korean restaurant rec. I have a feeling I should have asked for the second's e-mail contact as well, but thought it presumptuous at the time (and I wasn't confident I'd follow through). Sadly the artist was overwhelmed and turned us back after the wait; I asked for an autograph (wasn't very inspired, think of a little phrase they could write next time) and got a little drawing anyway. Apparently they had read Halting state, which was unexpected. Go Charles Stross readers.
So the highlight of the day was this 2h30 conversation while waiting in line. Am very happy about this, about meeting intelligent and polycurious nerds, and that I have a chance to see one again. I haven't had those kind of interactions at work or school, where I've lately been pulling people instead of having peers, was a bit passive/ineffectual about meeting more, and have sometimes flaked on friends; my recent social circle is a joke. I should thank the author for having a cool readership. Will come back tomorrow for more, and perhaps if I camp I'll get that damn drawing.