some things I have been meaning to post

[aamcnamara]

1. I have a mohawk.

1.5. It is very fluffy.

2. I am reading House of Leaves and it is very odd. I might post about it when I have finished, though I am not sure yet what I will say.

3. vcmw, I tried green tea with mint today and lo, it was tasty!

4. This weekend I went to Conbust.

Okay, so the chief organizational flaw of ConBust is that they apparently invited approximately eleven awesome people and then stuck them on various panels, some of which these people wanted to talk about and some of which they didn't.

It was usually interesting to listen to the off-topic conversations the panelists had, but sometimes I wished we could actually talk about the panel topic. (The best largely-off-topic one was, for me, Webcomics, often because the guy who does xkcd turns out to be geeky and entertaining in real life, too.) On the other hand, sometimes the panel was on-topic, and most of those were awesome! So, y'know, tradeoffs.

4.5. One of the ConBust panels was Utopias and Dystopias. This made me think again (again!) about YA dystopic fiction, which is one of those phenomenons that eternally fascinate me.

4.6. Another was Queer SF/F. What I took away from this panel: Torchwood elicits emotional reactions; I really ought to read more Delany.

4.7. There were awesome people.

4.8. I called my mother to say hi while I was waiting for the bus to take me back to campus. A boffer war began on the green nearby; they lined up with their foam swords and charged, yelling, at each other. "What kind of birds are those?" asked my mother.

4.9. The novelty of attending a convention mostly populated by college students and young adults was fascinating.

5. I am planning--I hope--to do one more big revision pass over "As Large as Alone" and then send it out somewhere soonish.

Comments

[aliseadae]

Ahaha to 4.8. The Rare Boffer-playing bird, occasionally known to inhabit college campuses.

The convention sounds interesting, especially the dynamic of having more college students and young adults. I'm so used to being at cons where I'm one of the only under twenty year olds/college students there.

[aamcnamara.livejournal.com]

I thought you might like that one! I forgot it when writing that email to you, I'm sorry. Too many other awesome things. If that is possible.

The dynamic was intriguing--especially since there were also just adults from the area attending, but interaction between groups was to a certain extent limited? I was not at the con all weekend, though, so I did not conduct a comprehensive study by any means.

[aliseadae]

Well if you remember any more new boffer-related species or somesuch let me know.

hah. That is interesting.

[mlt23.livejournal.com]

ConBust sounds like a lot of fun.

Perhaps the plural noun of boffers is flock?

[aamcnamara.livejournal.com]

It was a good time. (Heey, you should come out here for it next year! You can sleep on my floor if you want! An, um, alluring offer, I'm sure. I also believe ConBust itself does some housing stuff.)

Very like! A flock of boffers... maybe too many f's for easy pronunciation, but other than that, I vote yes.

[aliseadae]

Quick! Say it three times fast. "A flock of boffers, a flock of boffers, a flock of boffers".

[aamcnamara.livejournal.com]

...okay, I just tried that, and utterly failed.

[aliseadae]

I win!

Maybe it is because I go to weekly boffer (or, well, will start doing so when it doesn't conflict with game).

[sdn.livejournal.com]

i will be there in 2011, never fear. it's a great con.

[aamcnamara.livejournal.com]

I enjoyed it!

[actourdreams.livejournal.com]

I definitely, definitely recommend Delaney. Vintage Books is re-publishing some of his stuff, if you want to own some at a reasonable price – though I would recommend not starting with Dhalgren, just because it is an absolute brick. If you can get your hands on either of his memoirs, Heavenly Breakfast, or The Motion of Light on Water, those are very good, too (as Catherine Valente mentioned).

[aamcnamara.livejournal.com]

I have read some of his short stories. And a novella or so standing in the library today. I'll have to see about the memoirs or Dhalgren (eventually)--maybe through the five-college system, our library doesn't seem to have much of his stuff, although Dhalgren seems like something I would like to own.