MOOP!

Arisia! Con-reports! Woo!

Basically, I make con-reports in one of two ways these days: I gather up all the tweets I made in the course of the con, and annotate them, or I do a list of Awesome/Good/Meh/Bad/Ugly things from the length of time I am reporting on. Because I have only recently regained a phone with the ability to text (and no space bar, which means _most annoying tweets ever_), I am leaning towards that latter one.

So let's have some Arisia con-report!

THE AWESOME
*Sparr.
*jere7my.
*Eric-in-Elevators, however briefly. He puts up with far too much drama and whining from me, which...I need, honestly. I need more poly-friendly folk who I trust to call me out when I'm being an idiot and to give me good advice, and who I'm not dating. The intersection of those circles is shockingly low.
*Babelicious rainbow rope mini-dresses, even if they weren't perfect, and all the nice comments I get. There are pictures, but not on this site.
*Dancing like an idiot at the dancing-like-an-idiot party. Notably, "Nemesis", a mash-up of "Tik-Tok" and "Ice Ice Baby", and "I Would Walk 500 Miles".
*Getting to hang out with Pi-Nerd and corrupt him to the ways of proper cons.
*Picking up a paper bag from the ground, and eating the sandwich inside. I live in a video game!
*Managing to make work something that I am woefully unpractised at, and insecure towards that fault. This was the first time. It will happen again.

THE GOOD
*Surprisingly, all of masque rehearsal, and most of the masque itself. I'm as confused as you are. I think the fact that I had an internet connection and tumblr open for most of the rehearsal helped immensely.
*The tech party. I think it's the longest I've ever spent at a tech party before, and I spent about half the time there momming people. Someday when I am rich, I will have a spare room at cons for people to (JUST!) sleep in. I do not like it when my friends are sad because there is a party in the room they want to sleep in.
*Getting to see and chat with Jim, however briefly.
*Ohmygod, the hilarious thing Jim showed me, which is hilarious and utterly unexpected yet not surprising. No, I won't tell you what it is, except to say that the internet has made being creepy easier than ever, and I shouldn't find it as funny as I do.
*Spending a chunk of time ogling an unusually hot (in that she so wasn't my normal type) dripping wet young lady wearing nothing but a low-cut t-shirt and a pair of cut-offs, while having a very good conversation with a gentleman several decades older and more lecherous than I am, who somehow knows who I am, despite being much more of a local figure than I am.
*Seeing my college friend David play Jack Skellington in Tesseract's shadowcast of Nightmare Before Christmas.
*The number of people who determined that A) Sparr has clue, and B) that he should live in Boston and they are going to offer ways to make that happen.

THE MEH
*I didn't start any new relationships, despite it being an even-numbered year and thus fulfilling that pattern. Hell, I didn't even sorta start any new relationships, like I did last year. I did kiss someone new, and that might become something interesting someday, but hasn't quite gotten there yet.
*Being appreciated for my looks, replying with something sharp and walking away, and being called back with legitimate suggestions for how to help and an apology.
*I potentially ground-scored a hula-hoop --need to contact Tessaract and see if they lost one.
*The cross-step waltz class, which could easily be broken into its own good/bad/ugly list. I kinda learned pivaloops, which makes it a net gain? Maybe? And I briefly got to waltz with Larry, so that was boss.
*Ropeclass, mostly because I managed to immediately forget everything that was taught.
*Missing sunspiral's clan's party.
*Being forced into Chrome, kicking and screaming. I am going ahead and giving it a trial run, because fine, also, because the incognito window thing is damn clever. I still hate that I haven't figured out how to fix the "switch tabs" thing to something I am actually capable of using yet. NO WAIT! THAT'S COMPLETELY FIXABLE! Okay, that makes Chrome less annoying, although still not as well-arranged as Safari yet. I'm going to stop babbling about my computer issues now, because this is a con-report, and that really isn't anything to do with Arisia.

THE BAD
*I am not a very good ATD. It is going to be a few years before I try that again. It might just be the con --Balticon, for instance, I have a lot more cycles available for tech-- but yeah. Sigh.
*One of the connectors on my hoop is broken. Sparr can probably print me a new part, if I can figure out how it works. In the meantime, I can tape it shut.
*Jealousy is a terrible thing, in all directions that it travels. I like it least when it is happening to other people because of me, but I also hate it when it is happening to me.
*Being out of sync with just about everyone. This got better as the weekend ran on, but I ran into a _lot_ of times when my wants and someone else's wants weren't lining up, or schedules weren't meshing, or whatever.
*Related to the above, I missed almost all of the parts of con that I consider to be "the con". I'd be shocked if I made four hours of hanging out and chatting in random groups of friends and strangers in the middle of the lobby, or wandering the dealer's hall, or playing idle games.

THE UGLY
*The immense and awful breakdown I had for like three hours straight Friday afternoon.
*The even fucking worse minor breakdown about half an hour later that involved me walking out on one of my best friends, who was just trying to help.
*Being told "you need to smile because you're too pretty to look so glum". What. The. Hell.
*The immense, ridiculous, and complicated modesty issues I was exhibiting throughout the entire con, which was leading to things like me not being able to leave the bathroom to get my clothes because even a towel was too little and I just couldn't cope with being seen naked, despite the fact that everyone I was rooming with has already seen me thus, and vehemently don't care. And sometimes they went away, but it was hard to tell when they'd pop up again, and man, that was ducking awful.
*Relatedly, the issues I was having throughout the entire con with the difference between being cute and being useful, and the fact that only one of those things is actually something I want to be liked for. Hint: it's not the first.
*Did you know that if I'm aware of someone having been consent-dubious to a friend of mine, I start to get panic-symptoms from being around them? Yeah, that was plenty not fun. I can't even remember their situation (besides "bad"), and the person was perfectly nice to me, but mein gott, I very nearly unbalanced the lead-follow ratio of the dance floor *more* just to get away from them.
*Failing to properly spend any time with Ian. This was something I really wanted to manage, and it just...yeah.

Okay. This is plenty long enough. If you want to know more, you can always ask.

I am probably not the only one noticing that it skews pretty heavy towards the negative categories. That's okay. It was...a weird con. They always are, I mean, but this was...yeah.

I'm still gonna keep doing Arisia. But next year, I'm gonna figure out something ahead of time to make it a damn lot easier to manage.

~Sor
MOOP!

This is another one of them sundries/link posts, because I am far too angry to report about Daycamp today. Which means I probably will at some point, but I want to get this done first --not the least so I can clean up this browser window of all the loose tabs, and restart Vera, which she would probably appreciate.

So, some stuff that has caught my eye lately!

*An account of a visit to the nursing home where a Stonewall veteran currently resides, during Pride. It's beautiful, and sad, and while it hurts to think that we cast aside those who set the path, it's nice to realize that the queer¹ community HAS been making progress, even when some days it feels we haven't.

*Drowning does not look like moviedrowning. Dot linked to it on Twitter, and I was entranced, partially because of the whole neck-choking-not breathing neuroses I have, and the fact that they've been a lot on my mind lately, trying to sort out what the specific problems are, and how they work.

*A pretty sweet pdf of how to survive your first con. It's HP cons specific, but most of the information is really useful. I would recommend it if you're for some reason not much of a congoer but would like to be.

*Always check the sources cited --something on Cracked.com was snarking that smarter people have less sex, and linked this study to prove it. I went "But... the venn diagram of "people I know have lots of sex" and "people I know who are smart" actually has a fair bit of overlap.

At any rate, I clicked through, and found that it's the abstract to what sounds like a fascinating study about the fact that intelligent adolescents have less sex. Like...people in the twelve-eighteen year old range. Gonna be honest here, I am smarter than you², enjoy sex more than you³, and when I was 12-18? Shit man, I was about as uninterested in sex as a baby is in politics.

*SMBC illustrates why you should not date a mathematician. I more or less died of lawl. This is one of the comics that I will print out and put in my classroom when I am a teacher, along with half the archive of xkcd⁴.

*Sometimes shirt.woot is meh. Sometimes shirt.woot is weird. Sometimes shirt.woot is forgettable.

And sometimes shirt.woot is so awesome that it sells out of the ten dollar/day price before I can even get to it. I am _seriously_ debating just sucking it up, and paying the extra five dollars for this one.

*And to round us off, Surviving the World⁵ touched on one of my favourite "deep questions" --namely, is sex with a perfect clone of yourself incest or masturbation⁷. And his answer is *excellent*.

What's interesting in your world?

~Sor
MOOP!

1: Queer used here not to intend a slur, but simply a more definitive way of making sure I include EVERYONE who needs to be included, and not just limiting it by the letters I can remember in the general glbtqqaikp alphabet soup. (That's gay lesbian bi trans queer questioning asexual intersex kinky poly, in this case. I'm sure someone more savvy can toss out a couple others I missed.)

2: No, not really. I am smarter than a lot of people, but the people who are my closest friends tend to be smarter than I am. If "fag hag" wasn't such a detestable term, I would totally claim to be a "nerd hag".

3: ...no comment.

4: The non-swearing half.

5: This is seriously one of the best comics on the internet. I adore Dante --among other things, he's the only cartoonist I've yet found that can outrank Randall Munroe on the "webcartoonists I would have a whole lot of awesome sex with given the chance"⁶ list.

6: I almost fixed this to be doing his taxes, which is not a euphemism, but no, I really do just find him immensely shagable. What can I say, I *really* like geeks.

7: This footnote intentionally left blank, save one hell of a cute little smirk.

I am at Origins. It is awesome. I am not tweeting nearly enough, because I am lazy and it's hard to type with the PoSBox¹.

We played one *epic* game of Werewolf last night --it was a no nighttime round, designed with people mingling in mind. It ended with a seer confirmed voting block, after we lynched Tony for being a wolf. The like...three of you who know Tony and aren't here know how awesome it is that we actually managed to get him.

My voice has disappeared faster than any Origins ever. Seriously, it was starting to seriously go last night(Thursday) and today it is practically gone. Luckily, I survived Andy vs Everyone. Hopefully, I will still be able to talk at six tomorrow, to survive it again.

Annnnnd that's life. I need more ice cream sometime.

~Sor
MOOP!

(Unrelatedly, holy hell, Sparr's laptop is huge. By which I mean, dunno, five or six inches bigger than mine, but when I'm trying to lounge with it on my lap, that is a lot.

Also, dear Alys, laptop is not a euphemism. OR IS IT?!)

1: PoSBox is my current cell phone. It lives up to its name.

ToDo List:

*Call work on Saturday to find out when I'm working next week
*Make a Booty Chest uniform to wear as a hall costume at Balticon
*Reply to Jesse, Tricia, Newt
*Cook something for dinner. Real mac and cheese, maybe? I'd have to buy ingredients, methinks.
*Work more on unpacking and whatnot
*Harass Veronica sometime, find out when more Buffy can happen.
*Take apart my fabulous green wench skirt in order to make it into a pattern in order to make more fabulous skirts.
*Run that last load of laundry

I'm sure there are other things, but they are probably boring. Like these, only moreso.

I like that I always feel quite on top of things and ready to accomplish just everything ever when I get home for the summer, and then promptly forget about it all about a week later.

~Sor
MOOP!

So, Arisia was pretty awesome. I was at a bit of a weird place hormonally (Anyone want to trade?) but the incredible emotional high of spending a weekend with a lot of people I really quite like totally made up for it and gave me a wonderful rush of homeness.

"Steampunk is easy. All you need is goggles and a top hat." "Yeah, if you WANT to look like a poseur."

(Sorry. Am having conversation while updating. I am scum like that.)

Annndyes.

So.

Here's the awesome(?) news. The fun of Arisia last year was that the monday of it was the day I could move back into my dorm. So, like a sensible person, I assumed that the monday of this years Arisia was the day I could move back in.

Classes start on the 26th. Dorm opens on the 25th. I have a week in Boston to screw around!

So, yeah. I'm going to enjoy being able to spend time in my city as it's meant to be, what with the good and glorious SNOW everywhere to play in. (I suspect I'll be sick of it as soon as I have to walk anywhere ever, but in the meantime, ohmygod, SNOWWWW!)

My shoulder is being read over, which is always slightly disconcerting not because I mind the words being read, but because it always tends to make me self-conscious when I am watched in any way, and doubly so for what I lamely consider my art. 'Specially because I tend to have just abysmal grammar.

Annnnd I'm going to finish packing now. Byeeee.

~Sor
MOOP!

While working on my X Years Ago Today post for today, I stumbled across last year's "review of the year in a sentance"

The exact wording I used to explain was "So, unless there's something from the last 12 months that you really want to know about, I'm going to skip doing a nice big wordy post this year, and give you the one sentence summery of the past twelve months:"

Last year? Sorcy got into college, met her clone, made some bad decisions, made some good decisions, survived her first semester at college, and didn't die.

This year?

Sorcy started dating two utterly amazing people, went to a bunch of cons, got a job at a thrift store, traveled to North Carolina to see one of her favourite musicals, made friends with the right people and continued to enjoy school, a lot.

~Sor
MOOP!

So, I'm at Arisia, hanging out with this really really really cool guy, who happens to be the TD (and therefore my boss), named Spence. It's Friday night, and we go off to the staff lounge to get dinner and chillax, and so he can convince me to work Rocky Horror that night (really, just babysitting our stuff).

I mention that I'm going anyways, because Randy Milholland (The guy who draws the webcomic Something Positive) is going to be there. Spence goes "Oh. Yeah, I know him. He plays DnD with me every Wednesday." Cue major jealousy mode from Sorcy. (He managed to say one thing that made me more insanely jealous over the course of the weekend, and that's that he's going to go see my Doctor in a play, damn him, damn him, damn him.)

LATER

I show up to RHPS, and start looking around for Spence, just to say hi. He grabs me by the arm and drags me across the room.

(Hella paraphrased conversation)
Spence: Kat, this is Randy. Randy, this is Kat, the girl I was talking about.
Me: Roishgpijopakfm!!
Randy: Hi. Where's a piece of paper, I'll draw you something.
Me: ...sirghafoi!!!!
Randy: Which charecter do you want?
Me: *completely blanks on the name of EVERY SINGLE NAME OF EVERY SOMETHING POSITIVE CHARECTER EVER, I SHIT YOU NOT.*
Me: Uhhhhhh...*Short bisexual genderfucker! There's one of those, and I groove on that. Thank you brain!* T-Bob?
Randy: Sure! ( *Draws* )
Me: dsorighsgiopjdjoitihogdiodfgijo!!!! *drools* !!! oisugjsgndotgj;!

In all seriousness, I don't think I was quite that incoherent --I'm pretty sure that everything I said was a real word. And that I didn't stammer that much. But seriously, Randy was WAY nice to me, which is very kind, especially I was spazzing out on a level I haven't reached since I met Weird Al last summer.

So yeah. I now have a picture of T-Bob hanging on my wall. Loooooooooooooove!!!!

Clearly, all I need to do now is toss my original Sluggy Freelance art up next to it, plus whatever sketches I scavenge at Vericon (Pete! Jeph! Randall Munroe! EEEEEE!!!) Oh, and of course my CatHat.

...Although in all truth, there is something slightly sketchy about looking up from your computer and realizing that T-Bob!Jesus is staring straight at you and making innuendos. ...Meh!

More Arisiareport to follow eventually.

~Sor
MOOP!

Arisia: The down and dirty version.

(ie: If I ever actually write a proper con report, it will explain everything listed below.)

*Awesome people: Spence, Magus, Eric (in Elevators!), Josh-mneme, Mom, Persis and David, Brenna, Sean-of-the-Subway, Sian and my Original, ¹
*OMGBBQ, yay mom!²
*"I need a pair of clean hands to help unfold a projector screen" or "how I lost out on conning on all of Saturday and most of Friday"³
*Icehouse!⁴
*Club Dance, and Goblin Ball, and SCD, and...⁵
*"I wanna go" "I wanna come!"⁶
*OHMYGAWD, with the T-Bob and the Rocky (hee, gold speedo!) and the BEING INCREDIBLY UNBELIEVABLY NICE and the everything and the I really really like Randy Milholland. ⁷
*I really really trust fen. ⁸
*Eric has screwed the word "Awesome" for me⁹

Additionally, I need to start listing the things I am going to need if I am going to start getting serious about certain things (Such as a purple bag of games and proper dance shoes. And a regency gown (probably). And probably a sewing maching. Fuck, fuck, fuck.¹⁰)

~Sor
MOOP!

1: And other people I am CERTAINLY forgetting
2: Go ask her.
3: This was a good thing, bytheway, not bad.
4: My pyramids, let me show you them.
5: I have mentioned my intense love of dancing, yes?
6: Oh-ohhhh-o-o-ohhh.
7: Something*Positive
8: Yay brownies, and handing random people Vera
9: That wordchoice was very specific. NTS: Earrings.

10: I really really hate sewing. Need to learn though.

Terry Pratchett apparently has alzheimers. I got five different posts on my friends list telling me this, which makes me go all "damn." and kinda sad.

I do have a small advantage that there's still a *lot* of Pratchett that I haven't read yet, so I still have a lot of teh funny to look forward to. But still man! That's just not cool.

***

I've pretty much just completely adopted this as the format for my elljay, haven't I?

***

Pretty much annihilated my sociology final. And then I went back home and went to sleep, because waking up at eight o clock for a final I was done with by nine is not at all a fun thing to do.

***

Weekend: Hopefully WGA strike thing (ee, Whedon) with possibly Maddie and possibly Keira on Friday. Baking cookies and playing games with Keira and Magus and other people on Saturday. Holiday partying with Lauren, Emily, Kate Monster, Dominik, Ria, Maddie, Mando, and very plausibly other people on Sunday. Last final on Monday, then home again home again.

Next month or so: Sweeney Todd comes out on the 21st. Georgetown and Tree Decorating on the 23rd. Christmas Eve type stuff and bowling with Santa on the 24th. Christmas and All That on the 25th. Katters shows up on the 26th. New Years on the 31st (shit-need-costume-rar...007 verse wears tailcoats, right? (Still kinda want to show up as the evil villans cat in an attempt to get scritches)) More New Years on the first of January. Katters leaves on the sixth (I think). Come Home on the 17th and go straight to Arisia. Yarrcon until Monday, at which point I will hopefully drag mum around to meet all my friends. School for a week, and then Vericon on the 25th. Collapse in a tired heap of "who's idea was it to attend back to back cons again?" on the 28th. School!

***

Apparently, Rent is a lot of what my mood requires right now. It's very confusing when my mood doesn't tell me what kind of music it wants. Stupid brain.

***

So, what bits of pop culture am I missing like woah? Music, movies, books, games, etc, just tell me what you will force down my throat if you realize I haven't actually heard/seen/read/played it.

~Sor
MOOP!

Okay, so it's not my Origins report yet.

But have a look at all the pictures.

~Sor