I've got a hunger twisting my stomach into knots
The biggest frustration with the recent blog embargo in my life is not that I'm making fewer entries. I'm unhappy about that, but it actually requires less effort, so it sort of balances out. My problem is that I'm not keeping up with my friends page nearly as well. I don't read entries as thoroughly, I rarely read things more than once, and there have been half a dozen comment-worthy things that have gone un-commented-upon (by me, anyway.) I miss y'all. Livejournal has been a huge part of my life.
But the times they are a-changin', and I needs must change with them. First to go is the notion I can actually chronicle the majority of "events" (such as they are) in my day-to-day life. It was nice while it lasted, but its just not manageable anymore. And the truth of the matter is I’m not sure anyone’s going to miss it, aside from me. I’m going to keep trying to make interesting entries, and I’ll keep relating amusing anecdotes when I have time. But the litanies, the weekend summaries and such... these things will have to go.
Some things, obviously, remain worthy of mention. I hit up Arisia this past weekend. Its been a while since I’ve been to a con; it was refreshing to be rather definitively Amongst My People. Now its true, my people are a socially awkward and unhygienic people. But it was comforting and friendly nevertheless. And while I was there I stopped by one of the webcomics panels, specifically one titled Webcomics Criticism: The Good, The Bad, & The Ugly. In fact, that’s pretty much the only reason I roused myself from my torpid state and went downtown.
I gather the panel was not as well-attended as some of the others, but given that it was in direct competition with the Arisia Masquerade that’s hardly surprising. I went because I wanted to see demiurgent and weds in the flesh, and I was pleasantly surprised to discover that qcjeph was on the panel as well, alongside moderator Kelly J Cooper and Alexander Danner (both of whom may well have LJs, but I don’t know what they are.) There followed some erudite and occasionally spirited discussion. Allow me to speak for a moment about my impressions of people.
demiurgent was all that expected, only more so. He made some reference during the discussion to being a "self-identified schlub," and that’s more or less the mental picture with which I entered the room. What I saw instead was someone who delightfully embodies that Catch 22 geek trait: enthusiasm. He spoke eloquently, fervently even, about the things in which he believed. But he did so in more or less the same fashion as your junior high science teacher. He struck me instantly as the sort of person I’d love to count as a friend.
weds didn’t talk much, so I didn’t get nearly as good a sense of her (although that in and of itself probably speaks volumes.) I must confess I would not have been unduly surprised if she hadn’t spoken a word, actually. But she and demiurgent played off of one another frankly spectacularly on those occasions when she did speak up. They make an interesting contrast to say the least, and the fact they’re a team (in multiple senses of the word) is... compelling, I think is the word I’m going to use.
(Side note: the Arisia program bio made some joke about her not having a discernible accent, due to the whole Canada-Britain-America thing. Which I bought, utterly, until such time as she said the word "process." As a New Englander I have been conditioned to expect that word to have a nice, wide-mouthed "ah" sound. PRAHHHHH-cess. But she chimed in just like a Brit with a long "o." PROHHHHH-cess. It was so glaring it actually startled me.)
qcjeph was not what I expected at all... only in hindsight I’m not sure why that is. I guess I somehow had the sense, based on little more than his newsbox entries by the comic, that he was a shy or retiring person. I suppose, in all honesty, I expected him to be a lot like Marten. Which he is, but it took seeing him in person for me to realize that’s because there’s a lot of him in Marten and not the other way ‘round. He had an exceptional sardonic wit and a nice dry sense of humor, such that virtually whenever he opened his mouth he had the entire room in stitches. Which only makes sense, really, given the comic he writes.
Cristi was there as well, which means that I finally understand what demiurgent was talking about in that one journalistic snark I love so well.
Anyway, after the panel was over I ambled up, intent on shaking the hands of the people behind the ‘Snark. I wanted to tell them that I love what they do, that I hoped they kept on keepin’ on. Only... I was trying so hard not to mewl like the fanboy that I am that I have no idea what I said to either of them. I blacked out. I can only hope I did not prattle on too much. I didn’t bother speaking to qcjeph as well, although I probably should have. All of the panelists had a somewhat weary "second night of the con" look about them, and despite my overwhelming desire to be spend more time around them, even just listening to them talk (yes, I know, I am a spoonfed, get over it), I couldn’t quite bring myself to bother them. Attempting to forcibly interpose myself into their conversations just seemed hopelessly crude.
There’s this thing Nick Hornby talks about somewhere in the middle of High Fidelity. He’s nattering on about fetish properties, about how record collectors waste away entire days just looking for something worth buying. And how when one finally gives up in disgust and just buys the last thing they were even considering, one exits the store in a hurry with a sort of giddy rush and a desire to do something substantive. I have discovered, unsurprisingly, that being in the presence of thinkers and writers whose work I really respect has much the same effect. I wanted to be like them -- more than that, I wanted to stand in their ranks as an equal. And that meant going out and employing my brain to its utmost, at a time when it felt positively atrophied from disuse. It was nifty.
But the times they are a-changin', and I needs must change with them. First to go is the notion I can actually chronicle the majority of "events" (such as they are) in my day-to-day life. It was nice while it lasted, but its just not manageable anymore. And the truth of the matter is I’m not sure anyone’s going to miss it, aside from me. I’m going to keep trying to make interesting entries, and I’ll keep relating amusing anecdotes when I have time. But the litanies, the weekend summaries and such... these things will have to go.
Some things, obviously, remain worthy of mention. I hit up Arisia this past weekend. Its been a while since I’ve been to a con; it was refreshing to be rather definitively Amongst My People. Now its true, my people are a socially awkward and unhygienic people. But it was comforting and friendly nevertheless. And while I was there I stopped by one of the webcomics panels, specifically one titled Webcomics Criticism: The Good, The Bad, & The Ugly. In fact, that’s pretty much the only reason I roused myself from my torpid state and went downtown.
I gather the panel was not as well-attended as some of the others, but given that it was in direct competition with the Arisia Masquerade that’s hardly surprising. I went because I wanted to see demiurgent and weds in the flesh, and I was pleasantly surprised to discover that qcjeph was on the panel as well, alongside moderator Kelly J Cooper and Alexander Danner (both of whom may well have LJs, but I don’t know what they are.) There followed some erudite and occasionally spirited discussion. Allow me to speak for a moment about my impressions of people.
demiurgent was all that expected, only more so. He made some reference during the discussion to being a "self-identified schlub," and that’s more or less the mental picture with which I entered the room. What I saw instead was someone who delightfully embodies that Catch 22 geek trait: enthusiasm. He spoke eloquently, fervently even, about the things in which he believed. But he did so in more or less the same fashion as your junior high science teacher. He struck me instantly as the sort of person I’d love to count as a friend.
weds didn’t talk much, so I didn’t get nearly as good a sense of her (although that in and of itself probably speaks volumes.) I must confess I would not have been unduly surprised if she hadn’t spoken a word, actually. But she and demiurgent played off of one another frankly spectacularly on those occasions when she did speak up. They make an interesting contrast to say the least, and the fact they’re a team (in multiple senses of the word) is... compelling, I think is the word I’m going to use.
(Side note: the Arisia program bio made some joke about her not having a discernible accent, due to the whole Canada-Britain-America thing. Which I bought, utterly, until such time as she said the word "process." As a New Englander I have been conditioned to expect that word to have a nice, wide-mouthed "ah" sound. PRAHHHHH-cess. But she chimed in just like a Brit with a long "o." PROHHHHH-cess. It was so glaring it actually startled me.)
qcjeph was not what I expected at all... only in hindsight I’m not sure why that is. I guess I somehow had the sense, based on little more than his newsbox entries by the comic, that he was a shy or retiring person. I suppose, in all honesty, I expected him to be a lot like Marten. Which he is, but it took seeing him in person for me to realize that’s because there’s a lot of him in Marten and not the other way ‘round. He had an exceptional sardonic wit and a nice dry sense of humor, such that virtually whenever he opened his mouth he had the entire room in stitches. Which only makes sense, really, given the comic he writes.
Cristi was there as well, which means that I finally understand what demiurgent was talking about in that one journalistic snark I love so well.
Anyway, after the panel was over I ambled up, intent on shaking the hands of the people behind the ‘Snark. I wanted to tell them that I love what they do, that I hoped they kept on keepin’ on. Only... I was trying so hard not to mewl like the fanboy that I am that I have no idea what I said to either of them. I blacked out. I can only hope I did not prattle on too much. I didn’t bother speaking to qcjeph as well, although I probably should have. All of the panelists had a somewhat weary "second night of the con" look about them, and despite my overwhelming desire to be spend more time around them, even just listening to them talk (yes, I know, I am a spoonfed, get over it), I couldn’t quite bring myself to bother them. Attempting to forcibly interpose myself into their conversations just seemed hopelessly crude.
There’s this thing Nick Hornby talks about somewhere in the middle of High Fidelity. He’s nattering on about fetish properties, about how record collectors waste away entire days just looking for something worth buying. And how when one finally gives up in disgust and just buys the last thing they were even considering, one exits the store in a hurry with a sort of giddy rush and a desire to do something substantive. I have discovered, unsurprisingly, that being in the presence of thinkers and writers whose work I really respect has much the same effect. I wanted to be like them -- more than that, I wanted to stand in their ranks as an equal. And that meant going out and employing my brain to its utmost, at a time when it felt positively atrophied from disuse. It was nifty.