Things I've been brooding about...
A city of half a million people, some of whom were shooting at rescuers, had to be evacuated when there was no phone service, no electricity, few roads, and most supply and support depots in the area were in serious trouble also. To say that this would have been a snap except for the eeeevil machinations of the Great Satan George Bush seems... simplistic. I'm no fan of his, but people are talking like his next step is going to be letting rich white hunters go into New Orleans to club poor black people for sport like baby seals. Sure. Right.
Poor people of all colours were affected the most by Katrina, because poor people of all colours are always affected the most, by everything. They have fewer options, fewer resources. They can't afford to move. They can't buy a plane ticket to leave temporarily. They can't even put gas in the car, if they have a car, or spare the money for emergency bottled water. They're more likely to keep their savings in cash, in their house. Even many that aren't technically "poor" still live paycheck to paycheck. Anything, a house fire, a severe illness, even car trouble, can be a heavy burden. Society manages to absorb or ignore individually ruined lives. Only a bulk deal like Katrina seems to get our attention.
It's easy with 20/20 hindsight to see what should have been done, which reports should have been heeded and which ignored. I'm sure there's plenty of room for criticism anyway. Any large group is going to screw up, never mind several large groups trying to work together. I almost envy the people for whom it's axiomatic that anything bad is Bush's fault. Their world is so much simpler. Of course, there are those who are thinking that this happened to New Orleans for roughly the same reasons that Sodom and Gomorrah encountered their difficulties. Their world is simple too.
I just wish I'd seen New Orleans before this happened. I'd always wanted to go. Now I'm thinking I'd better visit Venice when I have the chance.
So, while the weather isn't actually getting warmer, it isn't getting cooler. Trees are dropping their foliage, but it's the pine trees. Seriously, the gutters are full of long brown needles. Pansies are for sale and no-one's snickering at the thought of buying bedding plants in September. No-one is covering their tomatoes. Fall clothing styles mean less pastel, not more fabric. We're going to a company picnic... in October.
There's a new arrival in the household... yes, it's the pitter-patter of a new 150 GB hard drive. R:tAG's once state-of-the-art system is now only good enough for me to check my e-mail and play Puzzle Pirates on. This new system is sweet, though, especially the 20" flatscreen monitor. The UPS guy carried the monitor box to the house and I thought "My, what a strong man," since when I think "20-inch monitor" I automatically think "weight comparable to my own." When I went to pick the box up to move it into the computer room I nearly threw it through the ceiling. I love this monitor. And the case is this huge black-and-silver monolith... R:tAG called me in to see it with the words "The Death Star is fully operational!" There seems to be an S&M club theme happening with cases these days.
Not much else of interest... I just thought I'd post something to reassure people that I'm alive and haven't broken all my fingers or anything. The job hunt continues but I'm thinking I should start being less picky. We'll see how that goes.
James Lileks on vampires - I remembered why I used to read this guy every single day. And he uses words like "flense" and "desuetude" with a casual competancy that wins my heart.
Snowflakes - OK, this is old, but I won't even say how much time I spent with it. And check out the snowflake's shadow... it changes as you cut!
Thousand-Hand Bodhisattva Dance - Amazing.
Google Earth - No, really. Try this. Jaw-dropping.
Now that I've slept a lot and my feet don't hurt...
- It was really really great to see Jen and Terry again. I think I didn't make that explicit enough. There are few people who would run around for a day with me dressed as (and acting like) a teddy-bear hunter, as well as get involved in a drive-by Tribal dance routine. And Terry was late, and disorganized, and doing things spontaneously, and spending more money than he planned, so it was worth the price of admission just to see that. :)
- It was also really really great to meet some of R:tAG's Pinnacle colleagues. I was amazed at how quickly and effortlessly it seemed like I'd known them all (and liked them!) for a long time. Great folk.
- On two separate occasions, I had a conversation that started with "Where are you from?" and ended with "Saskatoon??!!!??? Me too!" One was understandable, since I'd never met the guy (he moved in June) but the other was someone I had actually met a few times. My defense is that at GenCon you're constantly seeing people who look familiar. It's like there's about 10 "Gamer" prototypes that everyone's just variations of.
- You can't pay too much money for a good pair of shoes.
- I will avoid flying Frontier until they change their policy of serving Doritos on board. The trip back was pure hell.
- Layne has ruined my ability (slender as it was) to do a German/Eurotrash accent. All I kept hearing in my head was "But it is so wonderful to be naked and free!" and stifling giggles. Damn your eyes, Layne!
- I talked with Ron Glass! Squeeeeee!
So. Back from GenCon, which was a hoot. I didn't actually end up playing many games, because socializing was far more fun, and it was too much work to sort out a schedule on the fly. Man, there were a lot of choices. Too many, I almost think. I did make three LARPS, one of which was run by my second-favourite Cthulhu Live ST (my first favourite being, of course, R:tAG). This guy is one of the few STs I know to obsess as much as I do about setting, props and costumes. We shamelessly begged our way into his full-up game despite having only generic tickets. It was Cthulhu Dark Ages, the first he'd ever done, and while I had great fun I felt my familiar problems with any Dark Ages game surface. It's just too hard to get into a mediaeval mindset, in my opinion, even if you're trying, and I was surprised to see some people not even trying. I mean, you don't have to have a degree in history to understand that society was different then, do you? And if you sign up for a LARP, you do understand that you're playing a role, don't you? But I don't want to sound like a total snark, most did well, and the game was fun. Crusaders and Muslims facing eldritch horrors that threatened all humanity, and still killing each other. Heh.
(That game of his wasn't the one that I wanted to get into, though. That one was the WWII German U-boat one, where he and his crew had constructed a 16' x 24' submarine interior out of PVC pipe and sheeting, complete with control panels, lighting, a working vintage phonograph and field telephone, and a galley filled with potatoes and Spam. The attendance limit in that game was, for obvious reasons, non-negotiable. I did get a tour of the set after, though, and it was mighty impressive.)
Deciding at the last minute to enter the costume contest also played hob with my plans, since that ended up taking most of Saturday what with the dressing up and the running about and the actual contest and the hey hey hey. Jen and I decided to steal a brilliant idea from Carla, Layne et al. (don't remember who all was involved, sorry) and dress up like teddy bear hunters. As in, hunters of teddy bears. We spent Saturday morning stalking catgirls and stuffed animals carried by small children. We had so many people say "You'll win the costume contest!" that we decided to enter the costume contest. And we did indeed win our category, and $100. The overall winner had taken 5 months to make her costume, which involved 12' moveable wings and 5,000 golden pheasant feathers. Considering I spent $20 on teddy bears and 2 days gutting them (with Suz's unnervingly willing help), and the costumes started out as a joke about catgirls, I can't complain.
(I am slightly worried that my first picture ever on this blog shows me like this. Honestly, I'm an adult.)
