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Aug. 2nd, 2009 09:11 amFriday we went to the alst Clarion West party. Got to see Eileen Gunn's cool stuff. And by cool stuff, I mean wacked out, hand assembled art from found junk. She works underneath the gaze of a battery of broken doll heads and a particularly maniacal species of jack o'lantern. If ever you're at her house, ask to see Flirty Eyes. You won't sleep.
I also got to talk to the other half of our hosting couple, John Berry, about typography and metal type. You know, I used to obsessively google everyone I knew I was going to meet in the sf field. I've gotten lax. If I'd known John was an actual typographer, not just a casual fan like myself, I would have probably made a point to talk to him earlier, and not in the final minutes of the party. I told him about Carly, our magnificent local letterpresser at Bison Bookbinding, and we bemoaned the shabby treatment of old metal type. (We've got a lot at my work, in dusty drawers, but reportedly there was a lot more that got casually tossed by some clean and unappreciative pressman. I totally need to scan some of the stuff we've got. The logos are fun.
Then it was on to crash at Miki's, where we spent Saturday helping clean her house for her year-late housewarming party. A bunch of us played croquet in Miki's overgrown backyard. I totally would have won if somebody (read, everybody) hadn't forgotten there was an extra wicket I'd missed. There should be pictures surfacing on the internet of the many misadventure's of Miki's Belated Housewarming BBQ. Stay tuned for video showing what I'm willing to do among a very small group of people I'm comfortable with. No alcohol needed!
This weekend was interesting socially for many reasons. Not so much in the way I usually feel going to cons, which is, "wow, I'm on a career path and I really think I can do it. I'm going to be a writer and these are/will be my industry peers.* This feeling's more of a basic, friendship level. I realized these are the people I'm going to know for the rest of my life. Social circles come and go like clouds in the sky, but the sf scene has been around for decades, and isn't going anywhere. Even if the mini-circles evaporate, the participants will probably go into other mini-circles. If a friend from college died, I'd probably never know. But someday, sooner or later, everyone at last night's BBQ is going to die, and assuming I don't go first, I'll probably know about it, either through publications or through word of mouth.
It takes me a while to process social encounters. Livejournal certainly helps with that, thank you everyone, internet. I'm going to the store to buy caffeine and nail polish remover, and hopefully by the time I get back I'll be processed and ready to write, because dangit, I want my novel finished.
*(Although, on the career front, I did get to watch someone I know basically be told, "okay, now get in this here rickety catapult. I'm going to close my eyes and swing madly at the rope. Don't worry, I've done this before.")
I also got to talk to the other half of our hosting couple, John Berry, about typography and metal type. You know, I used to obsessively google everyone I knew I was going to meet in the sf field. I've gotten lax. If I'd known John was an actual typographer, not just a casual fan like myself, I would have probably made a point to talk to him earlier, and not in the final minutes of the party. I told him about Carly, our magnificent local letterpresser at Bison Bookbinding, and we bemoaned the shabby treatment of old metal type. (We've got a lot at my work, in dusty drawers, but reportedly there was a lot more that got casually tossed by some clean and unappreciative pressman. I totally need to scan some of the stuff we've got. The logos are fun.
Then it was on to crash at Miki's, where we spent Saturday helping clean her house for her year-late housewarming party. A bunch of us played croquet in Miki's overgrown backyard. I totally would have won if somebody (read, everybody) hadn't forgotten there was an extra wicket I'd missed. There should be pictures surfacing on the internet of the many misadventure's of Miki's Belated Housewarming BBQ. Stay tuned for video showing what I'm willing to do among a very small group of people I'm comfortable with. No alcohol needed!
This weekend was interesting socially for many reasons. Not so much in the way I usually feel going to cons, which is, "wow, I'm on a career path and I really think I can do it. I'm going to be a writer and these are/will be my industry peers.* This feeling's more of a basic, friendship level. I realized these are the people I'm going to know for the rest of my life. Social circles come and go like clouds in the sky, but the sf scene has been around for decades, and isn't going anywhere. Even if the mini-circles evaporate, the participants will probably go into other mini-circles. If a friend from college died, I'd probably never know. But someday, sooner or later, everyone at last night's BBQ is going to die, and assuming I don't go first, I'll probably know about it, either through publications or through word of mouth.
It takes me a while to process social encounters. Livejournal certainly helps with that, thank you everyone, internet. I'm going to the store to buy caffeine and nail polish remover, and hopefully by the time I get back I'll be processed and ready to write, because dangit, I want my novel finished.
*(Although, on the career front, I did get to watch someone I know basically be told, "okay, now get in this here rickety catapult. I'm going to close my eyes and swing madly at the rope. Don't worry, I've done this before.")
