Give it to me

[learnedax]

Some questions from zarabee, 'cause, y'know, questions are fun. So ask me questions if you like. Or ask me to ask you questions. Or start some random conversation. Here, I'll turn off IP logging. Now you can anonymously berate me, declare your undying love, or confess your secret sins. It's all good. Well, maybe not some of the sinning, but who am I to judge?


1. How did you find your way into fandom, and what do you find most satisfying about it?

Through the ballet. Bet you weren't expecting that. My sister, galaneia, was in a ballet troupe when I was a teen, and I volunteered to do theatre tech work for them, which as it turned out I found fairly interesting. When I looked around for other local theatre groups to get involved in, the one I wound up clicking with was an MIT Gilbert & Sullivan group, so as a consequence I spent a lot of my late teens hanging around with a bunch of geeks, which encouraged a variety of geekly interests of mine that fed upon each other, such as the SCA, LARPing, and inevitably fandom. I had been reading SF for a long time before that, of course (my father was into offbeat bedtime stories - like The Silmarillion, and Out of the Silent Planet, so I had a lot of early exposure), but I probably never would have started going to cons if I hadn't known a large fraction of that crowd already. I guess that's also what I find most satisfying about it: fandom is my tribe, or at least one of its major modes.

2. Do you have a 'theme tune', and what is it?

I'm too into constant variety to stick to any one theme song that reliably, but for a while it was Billy Joel's Angry Young Man. Note: they aren't selected by whether or not I like them.

3. I think I recall correctly that you do rpgs? What's your preferred system, and why?

My favorite system is the Mage segment of the World of Darkness, for its elegant open-ended magic system, a good setting, and the excellent lightweight dicepool system (that seems like a little thing, but the dice mechanics in WoD are actually unusually well designed). My favorite setting, however, is probably the original D&D white boxed set, which is just spilling over with imagination and possibility.

4. What did you enjoy most about Worldcon?

Transcendental experiences. There were a number of times, primarily at parties, when I felt like I had slipped into another dimension for a while, and it was a strange, wondrous place to be. I saw an astronaut leading a hula dance; I wandered into Tron; I watched a Klingon play heavy metal guitar. These are situations lesser cons just do not supply in the same way.

Meeting new and fascinating people from literally around the globe comes in high on the list, as well.

5. If someone told you you had to get rid of your five most important material possessions, what would you give away, and how would you dispose of them?

As to how, I'd try to give or sell them to someone else who could use them, if that's within the allowable bounds. If not I'd go at them with a sledgehammer/blowtorch, because when else would I get the chance?

The items would be my car, my computer, er... my speaker system... um, depends how you count individual possessions, because after that it'd probably be my books, which isn't really one thing... and after that nothing seems that valuable. It's only stuff.

Comments

[morgi.livejournal.com]

Now I want to see the extra-gothic-American-Gothic photo.