Some thoughts from Anime Boston

[sorcyress]

(Written 2010 04 01):
This weekend is AnimeBoston! I have some goals: Afterthoughts in italics

• 1) Play a lot of WLB and Playtest Done. Obviously. Also played a bunch of Wack a Catgirl, which was unexpected and enjoyable, and five rounds of Dominion which was *awesome!*


• 2) Be bright, perky, bouncy, and on for customers I came out of this con feeling more socially refreshed than I have the last three cons. I'm really pleased about this. But yes, made it easy to be "on"


• 3) Hang out some with Alex, in his kilt.


• 3a) Er, Alex will be in his kilt, and I will be hanging out with him. Not me hanging out in his kilt. That would be weird.


• 3b) Although let's face it, I would rock the hell out of an earth-toned Utilikilt. I mean, in a perfect world I'd have an olive drab one, but the khaki might still match my general colour scheme well enough to look hot as hell.


• 4) Chill with the Leslians (Lauren, Emily, Beth, Kristin, Erin, possibly others) I actually managed this very little -my cell was borked, and so I could only get in touch with people through Vera. So, tweeting with Alex.


• 5) Go say hi to Dirk and harass him a bit in a friendly sort of manner. Because Dirk is awesome, obvs. He draws cool comics!


• 6) Remember my superawesome binder filled with sketches of dinosaurs, and go wander the artist alley and see what else I can manage to add There wasn't anyone new who I felt the need to get a dinosaur from, which was a shame. But okay.


• 7) Do not get stuck in any echo of Linecon08


• 8) Do not lose the game


• 9) ...fuck. It should be noted that this was *not* a goal. Pikachu noises? I have no idea what you're talking about!


• 10) Wear my Daria cosplay and see if anyone gets it. Award them a hug, if they're cool with that. Except that's really not Dariaesque, is it? Did not do, but I did see a Daria, and was told I was the only to get it, and she and I hugged. It was awesome! Pictures forthcoming.


• 11) Assemble a comic!DubDub costume? It would be pretty rad, and I *do* have the green Eisenhower jacket, rather than the show's grey. Did not manage, should get on that sometime.


• 12) Take a look at my enormous penis


• 12a) Sorry, it just came on itunes. I don't know what came over me!


• 12b) ...don't answer that.


• 13) Not go totally insane and eat the living flesh off stupid anime kids. Although they may in fact _totally deserve it_, seriously Hetalia fandom, facepalm does not begin to explain it.

Thirteen seems like a good number of rules. We're done with that.

---

Written 2010 04 04
So, as we all know, dancers make me happy as hell. I like dancing, and I like the people who also like dancing.

But a particular form of dancer makes me a special kind of happy, and that's the people like me. People who, when they hear music, can't help but move. Even if it's just tapping their feet or shimmying their hips, they have to move to the groove. I love that!

Some music is just made to be danced to. If it's loud, if it's fun, and if it's got a good beat? Oh, I'm gonna be dancing to it, and if you wanna make me happy forever, you will too.

---

I find it incredibly amusing that the simple act of putting on a pair of cat ears makes me feel self-conscious about my outfit.

I mean, I am already being stared at, being marked, being judged as not-quite-normal. I am strutting down the street in rainbow stockings and a LAB COAT, never even mind the pirate bandana or the geeky t-shirt. I am noticeable already. The cat ears are just one more little thing that people can notice.

So why do they make me self-conscious. "Oh no, people might stare!" big whoop, they already do! As near as I can guess, it is merely my preconceived judgements of catgirls that give me this insecurity. Catgirls are Bad and Wrong, and to be associated with them is a thing of the utmost impropriety.

But seriously, the ears are just so spaggletastically¹ *KAWAII!*

---

Mundanes and geeks don't notice each other.

Oh sure, we see that each other exist. We'll look down our noses on the bus, step out of each other's way on the street. But we don't _really_ notice each other, don't notice the clothes and voice and person that makes up every human.

Which is what confused me so much when I found myself admiring a pair of shoes on the bus. The shoes were on the feet of a very pretty girl, in a very short skirt, who was clearly either on her way to or from some very popular club in which loud music would be played and no geek would be allowed within a hundred feet of.

It felt for a moment like I was stepping into the mundane world. I actually wanted to compliment her, but felt as though I couldn't --she would worry I was poking fun, or think I was being weird. I had noticed her, and yet I couldn't.

It was a weird moment. But I think I like being able to travel into the world that is not my own. After all, isn't that what being a dreamer is all about?

~Sor
MOOP!

1: Spaggle, adjective. Derisive form of "sparkle". Used mainly in reference to "sparkledogs" or "spaggledaggles". If you don't know what a sparkledog is, you are probably better off. They are colourful in ways that hurt *my* eyes, and we know how much I like burn-your-retinas-bright things.

Comments

[joshuazelinsky.livejournal.com]

Eh, you could have complemented her. One thing that really bugs me is how many people in the geek subculture feel a need to either not deal with people outside it or feel like they somehow can't or shouldn't. This is a suboptimal attitude. It is especially a problem because it makes things very awkward for those of us somewhere in the middle. Geekiness is more of a continuum than an either/or thing.

[kdsorceress.livejournal.com]

I often do.
I know it's a continuum, I fall on the extremely geek side, for all that I play normal very well. I don't have a culture to call my own beyond geek culture.

~Sor

[mneme]

I'd have complimented her. Hey, what's the worst that could happen?

Want to see the cat ears. GIF? (ok, JPG?)

The link (to http://paradigmshiftmanga.com/) needs a fix. Specifically, it needs a leading http tag.

[kdsorceress.livejournal.com]

Hey, what's the worst that could happen?

I make her feel uncomfortable because she doesn't know if "hey I like your shoes" was meant as a serious compliment, (albeit from someone who doesn't look at all like the sort of girl who would wear that sort of shoes) or a clever way of teasing --"hey I "like" your shoes".

Which, sure, I can clearly say it to be the first, but I can't always guarantee it to be parsed like that.

Catears will show up when I do a picturepost.

errrg, thanks.

~Sor

[ms-hecubus.livejournal.com]

I think that speaks more to your own insecurities. Don't hold back from putting good things out there because you're unsure of how you'll be received. Not everyone who looks normal is what they seem.

[genarti]

Mundanes and geeks don't notice each other.

I would actually disagree with this -- or, rather, I'd say that it's largely true when one falls into the trap of thinking of the world as divided into mundanes and geeks. Which a lot of people do, but a lot of people straddle those lines quite happily. We're all people, after all.

I'd say go ahead and compliment her shoes, if you'd compliment somebody's xkcd shirt in the same situation. Why not?

[kdsorceress.livejournal.com]

Well yes, and were I actually thinking, I wouldn't have used the term "mundane" since it has come to be more of a slur than I'm really comfortable using.

The difference between shoes and an xkcd shirt is that I know the proper social protocol, as it were, to complimenting xkcd shirts. I don't know how people compliment shoes, I don't know if there are ways to do it or not, I don't know if it's considered "weird"

Or something like that.

(Also, she was in the middle of a conversation, and I was uncertain of interrupting. )

~Sor

[jere7my.livejournal.com]

I think one usually says "Nice shoes."

("Wanna fuck?" is optional.)

[drama-angel3189.livejournal.com]

It really is just that simple.

"Nice shoes" with maybe even a "where did you get them?" is all that is needed.

[genarti]

Being uncertain of interrupting an ongoing conversation seems a perfectly fair reason to hesitate! I would have too, yeah.

Other than that... unless she was engrossed in something else, or putting off strong DO NOT TALK TO ME STRANGE BUS PEOPLE vibes, I'd've just caught her eye, grinned a little, and said "Hey, nice shoes!" And then she'll either continue the conversation, or say "Oh, thanks!" and go back to staring out the window, or whatever. I don't really notice much difference in social protocol, except it's got a little less of the We're Part Of The Same Club vibe that geek-recognition can have.

(And yeah, I reacted partly to the word "mundane," I'll admit, because I've come to really hate that usage.)

[dodger77.livejournal.com]

...who was clearly either on her way to or from some very popular club in which loud music would be played and no geek would be allowed within a hundred feet of.

I hope that was said with tongue in cheek, because otherwise it seems uncharacteristically judgmental of you.

I empathize with your not wanting to say anything because you might offend, though. That happens to me *ALL THE TIME*

Heck, sometimes I even worry that friending people on Facebook and LJ might offend people, or at the very least, creep them out a little.

(And yes, I did deliberate a hell of a lot about the first part of the comment. If I did indeed offend you, I apologize in advance as that is never my intention.)

[dodger77.livejournal.com]

Having thought about it a bit more, I will retract my initial statement.

I wonder though if you would be turned away at the hypothetical club the girl was going to. Sure some clubs would, but would they all do it? I'm not so sure.

(Heh, and here I was, as someone who's probably more mundane than geek, trying to prove we're not all bad. Probably not the best way to go about it =P)