Laurion

Honored.

2018-12-03T00:13:34Z

http://lebor.net/wp-content/uploads/2018/12/1FE34CA8-4FBF-4398-809E-F6A79C4D62BE.jpeg
Yesterday I was inducted into the Order of the Golden Mantle. This is an SCA award recognizing an individual who has shown both prowess and service in the SCA to some of the auxiliary martial activities, such as combat archery, siege weaponry, scouting, or thrown weapons. This last one is my
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Crossposted from The Black Horse of the Blog World. Read the full post at http://lebor.net/?p=1034.

I made a thing.

2017-06-15T02:04:05Z

I found a woodcut image today while poking around for other things, and shared it with a few people. Based on those conversations I made a thing. I present to you Oopsie, the Thrower. The unofficial mascot of the SCA Thrown Weapons community. You can find Oopsie in a ready to wear form
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Crossposted from The Black Horse of the Blog World. Read the full post at https://wp.me/pdWNb-fQ.

Fishing in the wrong pond.

2017-01-20T18:06:54Z

https://s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/564x/00/2b/2a/002b2abf3aeeb5df4e48822a5c40c05f.jpg

Many of you know that I've been involved with a local con-running group for a very long time. For a number of years I've been the treasurer. So it isn't uncommon for me to get emails talking about money and payments and whatnot. I got one today, ostensibly from the current President
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Crossposted from The Black Horse of the Blog World. Read the full post at https://wp.me/pdWNb-fK.

Hey guys, knives are sharp.

2016-09-01T01:33:26Z

So I went out in the backyard to practice some knife throwing tonight and thought I'd try putting a bit more spin on it so I could stand closer to ten feet. And for the first time had a knife come straight back at me. Did you know bleeding gets you seen faster at the ER? Fortunately it wasn't a bad place (left forearm outside near the elbow). So 18 stitches and a tetanus shot and I'm home before bed. Stitches come out in two weeks. I'll be out practicing again Saturday, although carefully. So, in all seriousness, please be careful out there people. Post stitches image below (below the cut if possible, har har), pre stitches photo available on request.

Shoe (castle?) has dropped

2016-01-29T15:20:30Z

When last we spoke, I mentioned that the iconic castle at Brandeis University was at risk. Well, now we have further details of the plans by the administration recently approved by the Board. Rather than tear down the whole thing, they’re opting to keep the parts that most tie into the marketing of the school, the A and B sections that appear so frequently in imagery, and that contain the well popularized Cholomondley’s coffeehouse. The rest they intend to tear down and replace with a modern block shaped dormitory.

Alumni interested in discussing this and in organizing a response to this may wish to join the newly formed Facebook Group. Let me know if you need an invite to join, I’m not sure.

Anyhow, I do understand the pressures. Students want modern dorms with A/C and efficient working heat. ADA compliance is a beautiful thing. Safety is important. Residential students bring in more revenue. But here’s the thing: In the past decade (so, recently in college evolution terms) they knocked down the cottages and the Ridgewood dorms and rebuilt very large modern facilities in their place, so I’m not sure how much pressure there actually is for more beds. I know there’s a growing international population that drives some of the demand for residential facilities. But I do actually think that safety and energy efficiency are the bigger drivers. I think if not for these there’d be no debate. But faced with this, I do acknowledge the compromises of the current plan. It is always cheaper to knock down an old building and start from scratch than it is to rehabilitate an old structure. Building new gives lots of opportunities that just can’t be done effectively with old structures. The Castle is a study in inefficient use of space.

But it’s a castle. It’s not supposed to be an efficient use of space. And too much of the campus already was, or has recently been turned into, unappealing blocks. The Castle is a refreshingly organic (so to speak) and culturally unique object. It’s on the National Register of Historic Places. The administration recognizes this and is trying to preserve what they see as the parts that most embody that legacy. Sadly, the parts are very much less than the whole. At the same time, they’ve had scaffolding and safety netting up and all over the whole thing for a year or two now, fully selling to everyone the fact or image of the building as structurally unsound and falling apart on a daily basis. A current editorial in the Justice carries the perspective of at least one student.

So, the Castle is unsafe. It’s inefficient. Fixing it while retaining the exterior and they layout is expensive, especially doing it right and not just slapping some patches up. With the new dorms in place, the school can afford to close down the Castle as a dorm while they address the issue. Now is the time. So alumni and students who want to influence the plan need to vote with their dollars, both earmarking any current donations for preserving the Castle exterior in its entirety, and reminding the administration that alumni dollars are a long term value, whereas the cost of reconstruction is a short term one. I have no idea if that’ll work at all, and I’m at least content that the administration is in fact trying to do its best given the needs and limitations it has, and isn’t just bulldozing the entire structure.

References

http://www.brandeis.edu/castle-project/about.html
http://www.thejustice.org/article/2016/01/castle-to-be-torn-down
http://www.postalstampart.com/product/Brandeis_University_Usen_Castle_1st_Day_Cover_Usen_Castle_Stamp
http://www.ebay.in/itm/USA-MINT-POSTCARD-USEN-CASTLE-/172069546601
http://www.schoolneedlepoint.com/
https://www.facebook.com/groups/201962490156975/
http://www.brandeis.edu/studentlife/dcl/tour/village.html
http://www.brandeis.edu/studentlife/dcl/tour/ridgewood.html
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Castle_%28Waltham,_Massachusetts%29
https://www.bostonglobe.com/metro/2016/01/27/beloved-brandeis-dorm-will-longer-castle/oQOg2wMXFenXR3gWlneEeM/story.html
http://www.thejustice.org/article/2016/01/editorial-commend-university-decision-on-usen-castle

Mirrored from The Black Horse of the Blog World.

We have a castle?

2015-11-06T21:40:15Z

Attention Brandeis Alumni (and others):

In recent news, it has come to my attention that the administration of Brandeis University is proposing to tear down Usen Castle. They say it is old, it is falling apart, it is unsafe, and it is inefficient. See http://www.thejustice.org/article/2015/11/trustees-to-decide-on-future-of-castle for a recent article on the debate. It is well known for its bizarre architectural elements (see http://allthetropes.wikia.com/wiki/Bizarrchitecture and http://www.brandeis.edu/studentlife/dcl/roomselection/images/UsenCastle.pdf)

That may be. But it is also historic (National Registry as of 1979), iconic, and emblematic. It is the one thing, other than the university seal, that appears most on paraphernalia and imagery. When the Post Office issued a stamp in honor of the school’s 50th anniversary, it was the thing pictured on the stamp. Still listed as a popular dorm, you can see more and read more at http://omeka.lts.brandeis.edu/exhibits/show/photographs-of-the-castle-from .

For those of you in the SCA, it should be no surprise that there was a tradition of using the castle in various ways – meetings, inspiration for arms, the odd strawberry war with another borough, etc.

For those of you with ties to the BSCF, this was more or less where the club started, where many many meetings and movie nights were held, and where many many larps took place over the years.

For those of you curious about academic history, this building predates Brandeis and was the main building of the old Middlesex University (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Middlesex_University_(Massachusetts)) an old medical college, and the only veterinary college in New England, until Tufts in 1978.

For those of you with memories of 90’s television, the coffee shop there is widely considered the inspiration for Central Perk in the TV show Friends.

Abbie Hoffman and Angela Davis spent time there engaged in political discourse.

In short, if you have a relevant connection to the place, and if you have an opinion on its future, now is the time to make your opinions known to those who are making decisions about it.

Mirrored from The Black Horse of the Blog World.

laurion @ 2015-09-14T19:29:00

2015-09-14T23:29:37Z

Free bookcases.

2015-08-23T21:21:21Z

We’re trimming back the book collection and with it the bookcases. This is in preparation for moving J from his current room into what is at the moment our library and guest room. He’s three now and graduating to a big boy room and a big boy bed. But this means we now have a couple of empty bookcases as books have been moved into deep storage.

So, could anyone use a bookcase or two? Let me know, and I,d be glad to take pictures or send descriptions.

Mirrored from The Black Horse of the Blog World.

Further proof of our debatable mental faculties.

2015-05-28T02:21:52Z

So… Amanda and I have decided that we’re going to go to Pittsburgh this summer to visit her brother. And since we’ll be there anyway… Let’s take the toddler to Pennsic! What could possibly go wrong?

Pennsic, for those who don’t know, is an SCA camping event that regularly draws over 10,000 people. It’s two weeks long, although we are only planning on going for the second week, called War Week.

For those who do know, we don’t yet have an encampment. Got room in yours? Also, have you camped with a toddler who may or may not be potty trained? Advice and support much appreciated.

Mirrored from The Black Horse of the Blog World.

It’s okay, I’m with the band.

2015-03-23T19:24:14Z

knightoftheburningpestle.com

Just to get that out there first thing. What is Knight of the Burning Pestle? It’s a play written by Francis Beaumont around 1607. Lucky him, he’s been overshadowed in history by some guy pretentious enough to land the epithet of ‘Bard of Avon’. And that’s a real shame in its way, because Knight of the Burning Pestle is -damned- funny.

And there’s a production of it coming up by Theater@First. Click on that link for the full details, but in short, April 23rd, 24th, 25th, 30th, and May 1st at 8pm, or May 2nd at 2pm at Unity Church in Somerville, within a song’s distance of Davis Square.

You won’t see me on the stage playing a part. I’m not directing or producing in any way. I’m not even doing tech. You see, this show is going to have LIVE MUSIC, and I’m in the band. One of the fun parts of the script is how often it references music from the period. So we’ve taken those, and some other appropriate period music, and will be enlivening the performances all for you.

Come see one of the best plays you don’t know.

Mirrored from The Black Horse of the Blog World.

Add another line to the resume…

2014-12-09T02:11:06Z

Now that I’ve told those who need to be told first, I can now say that earlier today I accepted a new job offer. As this year passes and a new one arrives, I’ll be stepping down from Regis and (re)joining Brandeis as their new Academic System Administrator. It’s a big change in some ways, and a little change in some others. As I have seven years under my belt at Regis, it shouldn’t be a surprise that I had some mixed thoughts about making the change. I’m very proud of the work I’ve done at Regis, and the growth opportunities it has afforded me. But equally, I’m looking forward to bringing my acquired skills and established enthusiasm to a new group, and looking forward to seeing what I can do there. And what new ways I might grow in doing so. And it doesn’t hurt that I’ll have a title that better reflects the work I so often do. I’ll still have to explain it to most of my family a few times before they start to understand it though. *grin*

(One of the hardest parts may be learning to walk to a different building after I park…)

Mirrored from The Black Horse of the Blog World.

Probably about time

2014-11-14T03:11:22Z

Well, in honor of my 20th anniversary being in, out, around, over, under, and through the SCA (yeah, 20… I looked. Feast of the Simple Fare in Barony Beyond the Mountain in 1994 was my first event. Hard to pin it to an exact day though), I’ve gone and done something I’ve never done before.

I’ve become a paid member.

Mirrored from The Black Horse of the Blog World.

Now with even more cuddles!

2014-10-21T01:00:48Z

Our household has recently gotten an upgrade of the furry nature. This weekend we went out and found two new cats to join our family. We weren’t expecting two. We were expecting one. But these two came as a pair, and we decided it worked out best to keep them that way. So here are Abelard and Heloise, but we’re generally referring to them as Abel (brown and white tiger) and Lulu (grey with gold eyes).

So far the introductions are going as well as can be expected, and Abel is almost aggressive in his demands for cuddles. Lulu is playing it cool, letting her brother be the ambassador for now. And Tica is tolerant so long as the new ones don’t get too close to her food or her library. Pictures below.

Mirrored from The Black Horse of the Blog World.

Uplifting video of the day

2014-07-14T16:51:30Z

This is (literally) your uplifting video of the day.

And remember: each balloon has a basket underneath with at least one person floating up in it.

Mirrored from The Black Horse of the Blog World.

Good weekend

2014-07-14T12:45:26Z

Had a really good weekend.

Friday (I have fridays off in the summer) Jaeger and I went to our Music Together class where he fell in love with a new djembe, then we we went to the library for books and trains. After that we went home for fluffernutters and naps. Mimi and Poppi (the names he picked for my parents) came by and Amanda came home from a day of relief work. We cooked up some mini pizzas and packed up a picnic basket and walked down to the town common for the Friday night concert series. Dancing and balloons and ice cream happened.

Saturday Mimi and Poppi came back up and took Jaeger for a while. I went to have lunch with jducoeur and fenicedautun at Zaftigs, then went back home to do some housework. Afterwards we drove down to Plymouth for a third set of fireworks, having been to Needham and Waltham the weekend before. It was quite late when we got in, but it was worth the drive.

Sunday, there was no thrown weapons practice (most of the regulars being up at GNEW), so after sleeping in a bit, I got up and mowed the lawn. Jaeger got out his plastic lawnmower and helped. Did our grocery shopping a day early, and then after naptime we packed up our swim gear and a cooler and went over to spend the afternoon at Cochituate State Park. I’d not actually been before despite living nearby for quite some time. Very nice state park, and absolutely worth the modest $5 parking fee to get in. We walked around the trails for a bit, and spent some time in the lake. Jaegermonsters like swimming, who knew? He had a great time splashing and pointing at the boats and the birds. Our only regret is we forgot to bring the beach toys so he could play in the sand more. After drying off and changing back into our regular clothes I found out that craigslist had come through again, so we went out and picked up a pre-birthday birthday gift of a tricycle for the monster, and went out to dinner at the BBC. Then home for bath and bed. Jaeger’s only regret was that it was too late in the day to actually go riding on the new tricycle, which he is very excited about and keeps referring to as a motorcycle. I’m sure he’ll be out on it today.

In the general state of things, it is going well. Certainly better than things were. Amanda is feeling better than she has in a -long- time, and things are looking positive for the job prospects. We’ve gotten some things sorted and some help on the financial front. And the parents of the children’s center kids (most of the children aren’t of faculty or staff at the school, but are from the Weston/Wayland/Wellesley community) got together and pooled their not insignificant business and financial firepower, formed a task force, and got the college to agree to a three year plan to keep the children’s center open. So we have that back and one more source of stress has been lifted. Our current immediate stresses tend to be along the lines of not overscheduling the remainder of our rapidly filling summer. And I’m glad to have that as a problem.

Mirrored from The Black Horse of the Blog World.

Uh…. great?

2014-06-18T20:34:35Z

My kid has recently proven that he has the strength to weight ratio and the coordination and the cognitive ability to put it all together and to pull himself up and over the railing of his crib and to lower himself down to the floor.

Kinda defeats the purpose of having a crib, doesn’t it?

So we’ll be transitioning to a toddler bed sooner than expected….

Mirrored from The Black Horse of the Blog World.

Hearts do heal, but slowly.

2014-06-02T16:31:23Z

So, a long post now that the knife’s edge is blunted a bit.

Cats and cat ownership has long been a big part of my emotional anchoring. I got my first cat when I was eight (he was Italian, no really, we lived there at the time) and he was with me through the angsty teen years and through college. He lived 18 years with us before finally succumbing to old age in 2004. Long time friends may even remember that post. And then the first cat I got as an adult was Ozy. Again, long time friends may remember the post I made the day the day after we picked him out. I’d always hoped Ozy would live as long as Midnight did.

But we were not to be so lucky. About a month ago, as a result of a change in his eating habits (He was -always- a food motivated cat, more labrador than cat sometimes), Amanda found a lump in him. And again, I’ll link to a post where you can read more about that and what he meant to us. It quickly became obvious that this was not something that was treatable, and that we had a limited amount of time with him.

Over the past month he ‘rollercoastered’. He would rally and have good days, and then other times he’d go downhill rapidly. We kept looking for signs as to when it was time, and we kept seeing that the ups were losing out to the downs. He went from not eating his regular food to eating tastier dry food to eating quality wet food to eating the equivalent of junk food. But still, wit a pill at mealtimes, even as recently as Thursday he had an up day where he ate 5 (small) cans of food across the day; on Friday he ate two cans in the morning, but would barely eat half a can in the evening.

He wouldn’t give us clear signals though. He didn’t become overly reclusive, still jumping up on Amanda’s lap in the evenings and purring, still coming running at mealtimes even though he wasn’t eating, and generally behaving catlike. But we could see his body wasting and he had a lot less enthusiasm and energy than he had 6 months ago when he would bolt down his dinner and go after Tica’s, or when he would attack her aggressively.

It was clear that our cat was sick, getting sicker, and wasn’t going to get better. And we could see that he was dehydrated and in a lot of discomfort. We found spots where he’d vomited. We didn’t want him to suffer needlessly. We didn’t want the catsitter to have to be the one who was there with him at the end. We wanted him to go on a good note and in a way where we could say goodbye properly.

saturday we could see things were rough, but weren’t sure. Sunday morning we knew we needed to discuss it. And on our way back from thrown weapons practice we made a decision and came to peace with having made it. When we got home and he asked for food I gave him some more, but again he wasn’t eating enthusiastically. After naptime we gave him some fish, which he enjoyed, and called in a vet we knew well enough to be comfortable with, but weren’t socially connected to.

We took Ozy out on the deck, because he loved being outside even though he wasn’t an outdoor cat, only going out when we occasionally took him out on his harness. And J came out with us and loved playing in the sunshine. Ozy wanted to go down the stairs to the yard, so we let him, and we walked him all around the yard. Yesterdays picture was from that time. It was the most animated he’s been in months.

Shortly after, the vet showed up. We brought Ozy back to the deck and sedated him. Then we brought J over to say goodbye to him, which he did, waving, saying bye-bye and giving a kiss. Much of it at our prompting because he is too young to understand. And then we killed our kitty so he wouldn’t go suffering or alone, but could go outside in the sunshine happy. It was quiet. It was peaceful. There was no spasms, no meows, no protests. We brought Tica out to see. Not sure she understood either. And we said goodbye.

It was a beautiful day, and it was everything we wanted it to be. It was perfect. And yet I still can only hope that helps in the long run because it isn’t helping in the short run.

Goodbye to the cat who picked me in the shelter.

Goodbye to the cat who hid for his first week with us.

Goodbye to the first cat I gave a name to.

Goodbye to the cat with the awesome big paws and extra toes who didn’t care if you touched them.

Goodbye to the cat who got out of the house and had us sick and worried that we lost him, but showed up the next morning for breakfast (always food motivated).

Goodbye to the cat who ate a corn cob and sent Amanda with him to the Tufts hospital only hours after she’d graduated from there.

Goodbye to the cat who would jump up and settle down on my desk while I was trying to get things done.

Goodbye to the cat who was always getting on the counters looking for food scraps.

Goodbye to the gentlest cat on four feet.

Goodbye to the cat who used to crawl inside the couch frame and hang out there for hours.

Goodbye to the cat who managed to take up half the bed in the wintertime.

We love you, and miss you already.

Mirrored from The Black Horse of the Blog World.

Goodbye my gentle giant.

2014-06-01T22:17:15Z

Goodbye Ozymandias. Full post another day when I don’t hurt so much.

Mirrored from The Black Horse of the Blog World.

And the other other shoe drops

2014-05-19T17:38:00Z

Amanda has posted about the third in a series of N things we are struggling with right now. Hopefully N stays == 3.

Again life is sieging us about our mental walls and trying to reduce us to useless blobs of jelly.

Short version: our older cat (who we can’t be certain of the age, but isn’t -that- old) has an aggressive and intractable cancer. Prognosis is months if we are lucky, weeks if we aren’t. Cats, and this cat in particular, are a big deal to us and our history. And we have no idea how Jägermonster will take it, either.

Mirrored from The Black Horse of the Blog World.

Spend money to make money

2014-05-15T14:15:13Z

Did you know that childcare is really expensive? Some of you don’t have kids, and some of you plan to never have kids, in which case, you’ll never know this personally. And this post may not be for you.

Still here? Yeah, so child care is really expensive. As of a 2008 study [1] it was the largest expense on average for middle class families, eclipsing both food and housing. As of a 2013 study [2], it often exceeds the cost of tuition at a state school. As you’ll read later, I had reason to gather facts and figures on this.

In Massachusetts, the average cost of childcare is $16,000 a year. That makes us if not the most expensive state, the second most expensive. Depends on the source and timing of the data. That’s the average cost. Quality care at an accredited center, will, of course, cost more. And centers in the more affluent and higher cost of living eastern part of the state will skew above average as well.

But we are lucky. I work at a college that has a very high quality, fully accredited program that has been established for 30 years and gives about a 33% staff discount. Meaning we have been able to enroll our toddler in a top tier program for a little less than it would have cost at the not-nationally-accredited KinderCare facility that he was in when he was too young to be enrolled at Regis. (Both are still above that average figure cited above but not by much. Those geographical factors.) And obviously it is convenient, because what could be more convenient than driving where you are going anyhow? And there is a safe and spacious campus around it, so the children can go on long(er) walks to the athletic fields or the gym, or to the science department to do exploratory and educational play, etc. His previous KinderCare we referred to as day care, and the Regis center we refer to as school. That kind of difference.

That whole paragraph will soon need to be rewritten to be past tense. At the end of April we received a letter informing us that because the center has had declining enrollments and has been running at increasing deficits, the program is being terminated at the end of June and will not reopen. This was a complete shock to us and the other parents. Many of us had already signed contracts for next year. And many of the almost comparable nearby facilities have already filled up for the next year. And it was a bombshell to the teachers at the center, who will also have a hard time getting new jobs because the nearby centers have already planned out their staffing for the next year.

We’re ‘lucky’. His previous facility has openings, so we have someplace for the Jägermonster. And as good as the people there are, and as clean and pleasant as the facility is, it is very hard to return to average when you’ve had excellent and were expecting excellent as an option. But the other excellent options either don’t have full day options, are way out of our price range, don’t have openings, or some combination of the three.

The parents of the children did rally and have a meeting with the President and CFO, but I don’t know as anything will come of it.

So this is one more thing that has been adding to our mental and financial stress.

[1] http://www.pewstates.org/uploadedFiles/PCS_Assets/2008/PEW_PkN_pre-kpinch_Nov2008_report.pdf

[2] http://usa.childcareaware.org/sites/default/files/Cost%20of%20Care%202013%20110613.pdf

Mirrored from The Black Horse of the Blog World.

Out Loud

2014-05-13T20:19:42Z

Some of you will have already seen this. Amanda posted on Monday night a very important piece about the state of the Amanda. In short, it hasn’t been good, but it is getting better. But to get better, we have to walk through fire. It’s an f-locked post, so if you can’t see it, ask one of us and we’ll share the details and/or add you to the f-list.

And as the bottom of her post says, “Thank you all for reading and caring. We really need it right now. Another post will be coming soon, for as they say, it does not rain but it pours and there is more, but it needs it’s own write up.”

Mirrored from The Black Horse of the Blog World.

Where have all the postings gone… long time passing…

2014-05-12T21:34:01Z

So, forgive me if this is a dumb question, but where did everyone go?

A forced change to livejournal (friend’s page no longer accepts custom styles) has pushed me to go to each of the friends that I follow and resubscribe to their individual pages.

And I keep seeing a wasteland. So many last updates that say things like ’2010′, ’2009′, ’2007′. Where did everyone go? I see posts from the same dozen people on a regular basis, but there used to be a lot more people out there.

So where did everyone go?

I know about Twitter. I’m there, but the posts are short and stream by. Don’t get me started about Facebook. The drek drowns out the good stuff all too often. And too much is stuffed onto one page. Tumblr? Pinterest? Pretty, but mostly empty from what I’ve seen.

Where do people go to actually…. write? Journal to their social network? Connect?

And I know, for the longest time I’ve written on my own wordpress blog and crossposted to LJ (and now… FB too. Not that I go there myself). So I’m one of those people who is ‘not there’ in some sense.

I accept that my social life isn’t what it was. But looking at the data while redoing the LJ connections… man, it really isn’t what it used to be. And a lot of it used to be keeping connected to people on LJ in a way that I just don’t feel connected on other network sites. And these days I’m not feeling connected to many people at all. So here I send out a post into what seems to be an ever fading arena, knowing that the dozens of people who haven’t updated in five years aren’t going to see it, just as I don’t see anything from them.

Part of me wonders when a social network connection is so underutilized that it should be pruned entirely. I’ve readded these dead connections. IT doesn’t cost me much at all. No posts means nothing shows up in my feeds. No words require me to triage their value and exert neurons to process them. And if someone does come back, the connection is still there. But perhaps there is an unseen, unknown weight and drag from these old connections.

I feel like I’ve missed some secret. That all these connections have been moved somewhere else, and I’m the one who wasn’t told about it, or doesn’t know how to get to them. Is there some way to make Facebook functional? Or have people given up on the concept of social networks entirely? Did people move to some site that died or never thrived (xanga, myspace, Google+) and then never have the heart to try again? I know, again, I’m asking this of the wrong audience, because the only audience that will see it is almost definitionally the wrong one. Am I echolocating across a featureless plain? Only getting back what I already know to be there?

Where have all the postings gone... long time passing...

2014-05-12T21:29:44Z

So, forgive me if this is a dumb question, but where did everyone go?

A forced change to livejournal (friend's page no longer accepts custom styles) has pushed me to go to each of the friends that I follow and resubscribe to their individual pages.

And I keep seeing a wasteland. So many last updates that say things like '2010', '2009', '2007'. Where did everyone go? I see posts from the same dozen people on a regular basis, but there used to be a lot more people out there.

So where did everyone go?

I know about Twitter. I'm there, but the posts are short and stream by. Don't get me started about Facebook. The drek drowns out the good stuff all too often. And too much is stuffed onto one page. Tumblr? Pinterest? Pretty, but mostly empty from what I've seen.

Where do people go to actually.... write? Journal to their social network? Connect?

And I know, for the longest time I've written on my own wordpress blog and crossposted to LJ (and now... FB too. Not that I go there myself). So I'm one of those people who is 'not there' in some sense. [EDIT: Hah! Something since my last posting on 2/21 has broken crossposting! What the F! Yay!]

I accept that my social life isn't what it was. But looking at the data while redoing the LJ connections... man, it really isn't what it used to be. And a lot of it used to be keeping connected to people on LJ in a way that I just don't feel connected on other network sites. And these days I'm not feeling connected to many people at all. So here I send out a post into what seems to be an ever fading arena, knowing that the dozens of people who haven't updated in five years aren't going to see it, just as I don't see anything from them.

Part of me wonders when a social network connection is so underutilized that it should be pruned entirely. I've readded these dead connections. IT doesn't cost me much at all. No posts means nothing shows up in my feeds. No words require me to triage their value and exert neurons to process them. And if someone does come back, the connection is still there. But perhaps there is an unseen, unknown weight and drag from these old connections.

I feel like I've missed some secret. That all these connections have been moved somewhere else, and I'm the one who wasn't told about it, or doesn't know how to get to them. Is there some way to make Facebook functional? Or have people given up on the concept of social networks entirely? Did people move to some site that died or never thrived (xanga, myspace, Google+) and then never have the heart to try again? I know, again, I'm asking this of the wrong audience, because the only audience that will see it is almost definitionally the wrong one. Am I echolocating across a featureless plain? Only getting back what I already know to be there?

¡Fiestaval! Brandeis Festival of the LARPs 2014

2014-02-21T14:33:12Z

Originally posted by in_water_writ at ¡Fiestaval! Brandeis Festival of the LARPs 2014

Larpers! You are cordially invited to a Fiestaval!

¡Fiestaval! is the ninth Festival of the LARPs, an annual LARP convention held at Brandeis University.

Bids are open! Bid your game now HERE.

Registration for the convention is open! Register now at 2014.festivalofthelarps.com!

Registration is free and open to the general public. Limited crash space is available upon request.

This year, Festival sign-ups will be tiered.

On Tuesday, March 18th you can sign up for one game at 7pm.

On Wednesday, March 19th you can sign up for up to two games at 7pm.

On Thursday, March 20th you can sign up for all the games you like, though still only one per time slot!

Bids received before March 7th will (if accepted) be posted to the schedule at the time the schedule is initially posted.

Bids submitted after March 7th but before the 14th will be added to the posted schedule before signups.

Any bids received after March 14th (if accepted) may be posted to the schedule after signups are already open.

Please also join and share our Facebook group HERE to help spread the word!

- Your loving Con-Chair,
Jenn

Brr.

2014-01-23T00:46:23Z

No heat. Service person has been called, but won’t be here for another hour. Not sure when it cut out but when I checked the temp when I got home from work it was in the mid 50s. Yes, the timing sucks, but these things usually happen when they’re stressed, so of course this will happen in the winter time.

Mirrored from The Black Horse of the Blog World.

Laurion

Honored.

I made a thing.

Fishing in the wrong pond.

Hey guys, knives are sharp.

Shoe (castle?) has dropped

We have a castle?

laurion @ 2015-09-14T19:29:00

Free bookcases.

Further proof of our debatable mental faculties.

It’s okay, I’m with the band.

Add another line to the resume…

Probably about time

Now with even more cuddles!

Uplifting video of the day

Good weekend

Uh…. great?

Hearts do heal, but slowly.

Goodbye my gentle giant.

And the other other shoe drops

Spend money to make money

Out Loud

Where have all the postings gone… long time passing…

Share this:

Where have all the postings gone... long time passing...

¡Fiestaval! Brandeis Festival of the LARPs 2014

Brr.