| Cons and appling to grad school and other random stuff |
[Nov. 5th, 2009|11:27 am] |
Since it's the talk of LJ right now, I am going to Intercon. I've signed up for SecureMarket on recommendations, and am going to be helping run Chateau Ennui. I am planning on signing up for Lifeline later. I am unsure what I'm going to do for the Friday and Sunday slots, and am open to recommendations. Also, I'm starting to think about rooming options.
The weekend before last I was at the Ohio Valley Filk Festival which was totally awesome, being filled with music and people. There were too many nifty people I don't see awesome to list, but if you were there be reassured that I enjoyed see you. I was unfortunately having some asthma problem so I only wound up performing one song, but it was the one I wrote and it seemed to go pretty well. ![[info]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif) maedbh7 took my to the local music shop which was awesome and I got a new baritone ukulele, which I have been enjoying.
The process of applying to grad school is filled with annoying bureaucracy and has been bringing out my perfectionist tendencies, but it is proceed pretty well despite that. I might be posting a personal statement of intention here in a few weeks seeking feedback. I took the GREs yesterday and got a 710 on the verbal and an 800 on the quantitative so I'm all proud of that.
I'm closing down Neocyclic Games formally, which makes me sad, but is the right thing to do. I'm glad that I'm finally having the togetherness to do what I need to do with it. |
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| Arisia room share?? |
[Nov. 4th, 2009|09:16 pm] |
So I have foolishly not obtained a room at the Hyatt for Arisia this year and would be very interested in sharing one if anyone has space available. Please let me know. Thanks. |
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| Invisible Illness Awareness Week - September 14-20, 2009 |
[Sep. 17th, 2009|09:32 am] |
I don't do many memes these day, but this one is in support of a good cause. The introduction was written by the friend I got this from, and I think it's a good introduction so I included it here.
Basically, an "invisible illness" is loosely defined as any pain condition that can't be seen visually by others. Crohn's Disease is a typical style medical condition that isn't visually obvious to anyone, but I hear tell the cramps and burning and vomiting can all be quite trying when it's 3 or more times per week every week for your whole life. A less typical one might be Autism, where visually you look like everybody else, but internally the high pitched tone a TV makes, the whine of fluorescent lighting, the reek of cologne, the excessive saltiness of all foods, is enough to make each day a full-frontal terrorist attack on all of your senses, which only adds to the daily confusion of a verbal world you have to re-symbolize into pictures in your mind's eye before you can comprehend it. Invisible illness is no joke when you live with one everyday, and you get stigmatized for it by anyone who chooses to believe "it's all in your head".
So, in support of Invisible Illness Awareness Week, I am proud to bring you my answers to( 30 Things About Invisible Illness - My Story. ) |
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| Pi-Con report |
[Aug. 24th, 2009|04:11 pm] |
So I'm back from Pi-Con where I was LARP coordinator and on too many panels. I got a full night's sleep last night, but I'm still rather tired and somewhat out of it.
( Con reports are long! )
All in all, an excellent time, and totally worth the energy invested. |
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| Today was awesome! |
[Aug. 14th, 2009|12:54 am] |
I hung out with happyfunpaul in the morning and got some work done: sending email and applying for a job.
My sister and her kids were in town visiting my dad, so we went to see them. My nieces and nephew are cute and high energy. We all went to Drumlin Farm where we got to see lots of farm animals and birds and walk around, and the weather was nice, not too hot or too cold or too humid.
After the farm trip, my family was going to get manicures, which happyfunpaul and I, shockingly, didn't have any interest in. So we took the spare hour and went to visit Carolyn, who I don't get to see often enough, since we were out her way anyhow. There was good chatting and playing with her dog and general niftyness. After that, we headed back to my dad's place for dinner and had a bit more time to hang out, play catch, and see the family.
I got a call back from the job application, and am going to have an interview! *bounces* With luck, I may soon have employment again!
After dinner, I went to quasi-BSCF, and got a much needed gaming fix. I also had the pleasure of seeing laurion, bleemoo, _dragonwolf_, and [unknown lj]Ryan, all of whom I hadn't seen much of this summer.
So yay! for friends and family and catching up and farms and gaming and possible jobs! |
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| Back from WorldCon (pants bankrupt) |
[Aug. 11th, 2009|09:21 am] |
So I've returned from my first WorldCon in one piece, and gotten some much needed sleep. I won't be catching up on LJ, so if you posted anything I really should know, leave a comment here.
( A con report! ) |
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| Pi-Con rooming coordination |
[Jul. 30th, 2009|03:35 pm] |
So I know some of you were thinking about maybe going to Pi-Con this August 21-23, and I want to encourage you to do this. It'll be a good time. The website has up a tentative panel schedule, including a wide variety on of topics: SF&F literature, media, science, technology, writing, comics, filk, gaming, lifestyle, and fandom panels. It's not up on the website yet, but there are going be 6 LARPs running over the course of the weekend. There will also be song circles, concerts and open filking.
I'm mentioning this because the hotel block closes August 1st. I've already got a full room, but I'm offering the comment thread here as a place for people to coordinate rooming. So if you're planning on going to Pi-Con, and need a room, please comment here. Thanks! |
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| Hiatus |
[Jul. 14th, 2009|02:42 pm] |
Hi Everyone,
I just wanted to let you know that I have too much to do, and the only thing I can easily cut is reading LJ. So I'm going to try taking a few weeks hiatus from LJ. If there is something you really want me to know about please send me an email (username at gmail).
Thanks. |
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| Ask LJ: freeware data tools |
[Jul. 2nd, 2009|03:16 pm] |
I have a large set of numerical data is a comma-separated values text file that I want to a) plot, b) find maxima and minimum of, c) apply functions to every point of. This is the kind of thing that I used to use Matlab for, but I don't have access to Matlab anymore and it isn't cheap. Excel or OpenOffice Calc can do these tasks, but I don't have Excel and OpenOffice is very slow at them. I was wondering if anyone knows of a good freeware or open-source program for this type of data analysis. |
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| It could have been me |
[Jun. 24th, 2009|05:20 pm] |
So the news, such as there is, from Iran has hit me really hard. I said some of this before in a comment, but I got hit by it again and wanted to say it here.
( strong, including unpleasant, emotions )
It's taken me a long time to realize just how safe I am, and it saddens me greatly that so many, even some close to me, don't share that freedom. And I'd like to give everyone more of the good that I have, but often I don't know how. And that's just where I am right now. |
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| Concertino |
[Jun. 22nd, 2009|08:13 pm] |
So this past weekend, I was at the local filk con, Concertino. fiddledragon and I ran con-suite. I'm still a bit brain dead from the con, but so if this may be a bit disorganized as a report.
This was the first con where I had official organization duties for, and that went pretty well. Con suite succeeding in providing food, drinks, and space to the con goers, so yay! fiddledragon was a pleasure to work with, and all of our volunteers were great! Thank you!
I didn't get to a lot of open filking, but did manage to get to at least part of several awesome concerts, include hsifyppah's. I also got to enjoy dead dog.
My band, Don't Fret the Small Stuff, had our first real performance in circle on Saturday, and that went very well. We also did both of our songs at dead dog.
I enjoyed seeing old friends and meeting new folks. I got new CDs. I learned some more sign language. I worked on my crochet project. There were hugs and music and puns, and much niftyness. |
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| Why do people kill people who are killing people to show that killing people is wrong? |
[Jun. 3rd, 2009|10:34 am] |
I don't have a lot of principles that I stand by and won't be talked down from but "compassion is more important than ideology" is one of them. If you're moral code ever tells you that hurting someone is the right thing to do, something is wrong. Now I believe that sometimes hurting someone is the less wrong thing to do. If someone try to hurt me, I'll fight back without compunction, but afterwords my thoughts will be "I wish I hadn't had to do that" and not "I showed him not to mess around with me" or something equally righteous.
( This got long. )
Lastly, I'm sorry that this is probably an indictment of some of the people who read my LJ. I don't want to hurt you, but I'm not willing to be silent on this topic. |
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| What is filk: in-group and out-group defintions |
[Apr. 24th, 2009|11:30 am] |
The title of my roommate's recent post "Does this count as filk? I hope not." and one of the comments about it, have brought to my mind some very interesting questions about the definition of filk.
I think what filkers call filk and what non-filker sci-fi fans call filk are not always the same. If londo had posted his parody on a filk list, it's extremely unlikely that anyone would have said "that isn't good enough to be filk". In fact, if anyone did say that, they would be scolded by the rest of the community. It's almost inconceivable that anyone would claim that the parody in question, being written about The Eye of Argon, would be not considered filk based on it's content.
Moreover, this isn't the first time I've heard someone describe their stuff as "not good enough for filk". On the other hand, I've also heard a number of sci-fi fans who enjoy geeky music say that they don't like filk because "it isn't good quality". Fandom values both technical competence and inclusion. Filkers generally seem to think that a fannish music community should support anyone who wants to perform, even the incompetent. (Which isn't to say that filker don't encourage people to improve their musical skills.) Other fans prefer to get their geek music fix from professional musicians. However, even those fans who listen to individual filk artists typically won't show up a filk con for the concerts. Why? I wonder.
Aside from the quality vs inclusion issues, self-identified filkers tend to define filk by the community, where as non-filker fans seem to think of it more a genre and define it by content. Some of the definitions of filk I hear a lot from filkers are: "the music of science fiction fandom" and "what filkers play and/or write" (which seems to reflect a focus on community). Non-filkers seem much more likely to say that filk is "parodies" or "music about science fiction and fantasy" (about a topic rather than of a community).
Relatedly, in the discussions surrounding filk programming at general conventions, I've noticed an increasing amount of geeky music (nerdcore, video game bands, etc) made by people who don't consider themselves filkers. There have always been some musicians who write stuff that fits the content of filk without being involved with the community (Tom Lehrer, Weird Al), but the number seems to be expanding rapidly. I think this is just one reflection of the increasing diversity of culture that the internet has been enabling.
However, it is unclear to me why few of the new geek musicians are involved with the filk community. Do they not know about it? Are they judging it to be for amateurs? Do they not feel included, perhaps based on musical style, or not directly sci-fi content or some other factor? Do they not want to share performance space? Is there some other cultural factor that creates a divide?
Also, given that there is a division between filkers and musically oriented sci-fi fans, should we try to change that? I think it'd would be better to have a cohesive, inclusive community, but maybe others disagree.
I've been putting so much thought into this, because lately, I've been volunteering to organize filk programming at general sci-fi conventions. I'd like to do that in a why that provides value for both sides of border around "filk community" and brings fans together. I'd really like hear all of your input, especially those of you who are musicians in sci-fi fandom, but don't identify as filkers. What do you think of as the defining and non-defining characteristics of filk? Why are you involved or not in the community? Also, should I cross post this to ![[info]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/community.gif) filk? |
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| Life is good |
[Apr. 22nd, 2009|09:57 am] |
My life is going really well at the moment. I have a shiny new boyfriend, prospects for employment and lots of good friends. I'm in good health and it's spring time. I have enough to do to keep me busy, but not so much that I am overwhelmed. Yeah, life is good. |
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| Tie Dye Party 2009 |
[Apr. 15th, 2009|09:06 am] |
I'd like to invite you all to my second annual tie-dye parties. Given the potential for rain and people varied schedules, I'm going to be repeating last year's two-parties-a-week-apart. This means there will be tie-dye parties on both May 3rd and May 9th. The party will start at 2pm and go until roughly sundown. In the event of rain, there will *not* be tie-dying but people are still welcome to come over and hang out. The party will be in, and out in front of, my apartment. Please email me if you would like to attend and don't know where I live.
This is a chance to make slightly stained white clothing usable again, to get a case of identically feeling socks that all look different, or just make a nifty T-shirt and hang out with folks. I will be supplying the tie dye equipment, but you'll need to bring your own dye-ables. Items to dye should be natural fibers, preferably cotton, for best results. Also, bringing food or drinks to share would be appreciated.
RSVP are highly appreciated but not required. This is an open invite, so feel free to share this invitation. I do ask that you let me know if you are bringing someone I have not met before. |
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| Festival report |
[Apr. 6th, 2009|06:53 pm] |
So this past weekend I was at Festival of LARPs at Brandeis. I helped run three games and played in two, and was very busy.
Friday during the day I was pretty much continually running around getting together props, character sheets, and costume components, as well as writing back up characters for Chateau Ennui. Friday evening, I helped run Clarence: A Light Entertainment for Six to Twelve Gay Couples with natbudin. Running the game was the most relaxing part of the day, in large part because Clarence is probably the easiest LARP to run ever. The game is a meta game, with the only mechanics being handled by the in-game GMs. Resultantly, the GM needs to assemble all the props and get the copies of the game printed out, but at run time, I got to basically sit back and watch. This made me happy.
Saturday, I started out running Marin County New-Age Society Cocktail Party with nyren. This started out a bit rough since when I showed up five minutes before game start, only two players were there and my co-GM was not. Thankfully, people did show up and aside from getting started rather late, the game seemed to run pretty well. Also, thanks to doompuppy, who agreed to get pulled in halfway through for a character I would otherwise have had to NPC, and did a great job with it.
I skipped lunch to scurry over to playing in The Final Voyage of the Mary Celeste, which I had lot of fun with. I got to play the wonky observer character, which I always enjoy.
After that, I went to dinner with a bunch of cool people and there was interesting conversation mostly about larp. Go figure. Dinner took longer than intended so I got back to Brandeis just in time to run Chateau Ennui.
Chateau Ennui is pezzonovante's Film Noir game which I helped write. Somewhere in the writing process I got attached to it and started thinking of it as mine. This was a bit awkward because it put me in the uncomfortable position of feeling responsible for something that I didn't have control over.
Fortunately, the game went pretty well. There were definitely some issues which will need to be fixed in re-write, but most were small omissions that did not cause too much trouble. There were definitely some cool moments to watch. So as londo says "I wrote a game and it didn't suck!" Also, with the end of Chateau, my life became a lot more relaxing.
Sunday, I slept in and then headed to the con, where I went some folk headed to Lizzy's for ice cream. I got back in time to play A Midsummer's Night and the Livin' is Easy, which I had been hearing a lot about. The character I played, Suzy Sunshine, was much more mundane that the character's I usually like, but I really enjoyed the role. Perhaps, playing an ordinary human in a Faerie game still counts as playing the strange one.
After that was dead dog, which I don't remember a lot of details but there were people and it was cool. Most of the people who were still at dead dog when it ended came over to my place where we hung out until 5am. Much fun was had, and interesting conversations.
Throughout the weekend, there a lot of seeing and talking to cool people. |
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| Random thoughts |
[Mar. 30th, 2009|06:01 pm] |
| [ | Tags | | | introspection | ] |
| [ | Current Mood |
| |  complex | ] |
| [ | Current Music |
| | Echo's Children - Part of Who We Are | ] |
I've been stuck sick in bed for a few days now (but I am getting better now!) and so all the thoughts that normally I might find someone to comment to about, and so clarify the notion and move on, are filling up my head and copulating with each other. Mix in a bit of sickness-induced fuzzy-headedness and this is what comes out. This gets a bit meta-(sensitive-topics), so if you're easily hurt by others' opinions you may want to skip it.
( Read more... ) |
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| Roomming situation resolved |
[Mar. 24th, 2009|02:13 pm] |
I'll be remaining in my current place next year, and being joined by dvtune. Thanks to everyone who offered help in finding me a living situation. |
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