Not a con report

[chipotle]

Yes, Anthrocon was good, I had a fun time. I saw just about everyone I wanted to see although I didn’t get a chance to speak to everyone. (Other than the “Oh, it’s you! Hi!” kind of conversation.) As usual, I bought very little. I had a couple theoretically authentic cheesesteaks. I was reminded of what I don’t like about Florida summers, even though I wasn’t in Florida. I discovered that many people still don’t know I have a book out from Sofawolf. I again participated in the “Iron Author” contest as a judge, and read some of the most (deliberately) eye-bleeding furry stories ever committed—and I use that word advisedly—to paper.

I’m trying to look at an ongoing conflict with a friend or two as a learning experience, a attempt to put Zen-like ideas of detachment and letting go into better practice than I usually do. That’s not about being emotionless and letting go of friends, it’s about letting go of expectations, setting aside anger. I think I can honestly say that there’s no one right now I’m angry with. After explaining what I believe, what I felt, why I chose the actions I did, and what my regrets are, I’m not going to do any good by belaboring my point of view in the hopes it will be acknowledged by those I’m in conflict with.

While it’s been hinted at in the BandariMUCK community journal, I’m starting to plan a successor MUCK to Bandari which retains the pulp adventure setting but changes other aspects with an eye toward increasing its potential audience, learning from various pitalls we found (or created!) on Bandari as well as from “right things” on other MUCKs. One of the more interesting things I’m seriously thinking about is adapting the “issue tracking” system from Here Lies Monsters, in which MUCK management is basically conducted through a web-based trouble ticket system.

Now, though, it’s somewhat past time to dig through office email and see what projects I need to get back to. The overall project I’m working on here is moving from the building phase into the support phase, and there’s an open question as to how long my contract will last, although I’m mildly optimistic they’ll bring me back for another project even if my part on this one winds down. (I’ll confess that a few weeks off to drive around doing what tugrik and revar are doing sounds like a capital idea, although I know from recent experience that the “vacation” of being unemployed wears thin quickly.)

Comments

[joshuwain.livejournal.com]

<looks interested> How does Iron Author work? At CONvergence, each year, we do Iron Artist -as do many conventions- but this is the first I've heard about "Iron Author"...

Oh, and is there anywhere to read the results?

Yours,
Sylvan (Dave)

[chipotle.livejournal.com]

Basically, all the participants are given a "cliche menu" with various terrible fan story cliches -- using the word 'yiff,' working in a famous fictional character, working in a famous fan, having evil humans oppressing furries as a plot device, etc. Then, they have 24 hours to write a story. Each story is read by three people and points are awarded for working in the cliches (up to 30), then each judge can award up to 10 points for "artistic merit" (using the term very loosely) for a total of 60 possible points.

Stories this year included one we dubbed "mixed media," as it was entirely laser printed but some of the pages were on notebook paper (and there was an inexplicable font change for half a page or so); one written entirely in 733T-speak; and one written as a "Choose Your Own Adventure" story (with a sliding crate puzzle in it, and one endless loop). The winner, again using the term loosely, was hand-written entirely on index cards.

As far as I know, the entries will be scanned in and made available on anthrocon.org (probably mentioned in the forums somewhere).

[joshuwain.livejournal.com]

Ok, that sounds fun! :) REALLY fun!

I'll bring it up to our own convention organizer of "Iron Artist".

(Our Iron Artist panel usually involves one of our author Guests of Honor reading a scene -a few paragraphs, maybe- and the artists, in their own mediums, having to depict that scene...)

[padfootsm.livejournal.com]

I'm interested in Iron Author and the results as well.

Plus the fact I'm curious what the topic was (due to the bloody comment)?

[brahma-minotaur.livejournal.com]

I was happy to see you. You seemed like you were in good spirits, and dare I say you were more approachable? Must have been because you weren't working on your laptop. ;)

[ladyperegrine.livejournal.com]

I'm so sorry I forgot to call about dim sum on Sunday. Gah. I didn't even realize until well after the fact.

It was great rooming with you and getting to know you a little better. :-) Hope to see you same time next year.