Arisia 2010

I spent too much of Arisia in my patented Outsider Funk™, which I originated in junior high, developed at Pinewoods, and perfected at conventions — "Everybody else is basking in waves of camaraderie, and I, the lone wolf, gaze nobly and pensively down upon them. Woe!" I mock myself because I know this is my own brain doing its brain thing; at Arisia this year I was surrounded by several people I'm quite close to, another dozen casual friends, and loads of acquaintances who seemed pleased to see me. Strangers stopped me to comment on my silk brocade Chucks or robot-mandala tee; pretty girls played with my hair given half a chance. But none of this stopped me from retreating to my room to watch Everybody Loves Raymond (yes, really) several times on Saturday afternoon, or glowering solitarily in a corner when the first couple of hours of tunes at the Saturday dance were industrial instead of 80s-pop. (Pro tip: mirrored sunglasses are both an essential part of an "80s Guy" costume and useful for concealing red eyes.) I felt old, and uninteresting, and out-of-touch, and sorry for myself.

At the dance, around 3AM, kdsorceress very sweetly came to dance with me, and the DJ started playing Safety Dance and other assorted fluff, and there was polka-ing, and things picked up. It doesn't take much to knock the needle out of the groove, sometimes. (For the young'uns among you, this is a reference to phonograph records.) When I wasn't moping because I wasn't the constant center of attention, I was having a great time:

• I watched a 16mm print of Reptilicus, one of the first schlock movies I ever saw, in a room full of geeks. It was presented in Emergo, so halfway through the projectionist flung a stuffed lizard into the audience. Ha! I also got a chance to see Red Dwarf 2009, which did some very funny things with Blade Runner references and CSI-esque image enhancement.


• I saw a sooj concert for the first time. I happen to be reading Cat Valente's Palimpsest this week, and Ms. Valente and Ms. Tucker happened to be doing a reading/performance based on Palimpsest at Arisia. Serendipity! sooj has a gorgeous voice and an excellent fashion sense.


• I did some Regency dancing at the "Malice in Wonderland" ball, which involved excruciatingly long walkthroughs (inevitable, I think) and chats with lots of new people in amazing costumes. Lacking a costume, I bought a ponyfall made of cascading red-and-white-and-black ribbons and convinced rigel to pretty up my hair with it. I looked gooood, though I could not begin to compete with kdsorceress's attention-grabbing garb.


• I quintupled my accumulated conversation time with Dirk Tiede, a friend from Scottish dancing. He was there to shill his comics and artwork (check it out at dynamanga.net), up in the "pros' nest", where authors and artists had their tables set up, and where one eight-year-old kid was sitting on the floor with about five duct tape wallets and roses. I did not buy anything from Dirk, but I did buy a rose from the kid, who had a better sales pitch. ("I like your ribbons.")


• I danced to "chiptunes", which all the kids are into these days, with 8-bit video games projected on the wall. Not my scene, but the company made up for it.


• The folks who performed the updated War of the Worlds radio show at the Somerville last fall put on a parody of an old SF serial. Sharp writing, lots of fannish in-jokes.


• I gave blood, in record time — squeeze squeeze spurt, and I was done — to the sound of M.I.A. (This was Saturday afternoon, and may have contributed to my mood crash.)


• I climbed "Mount Arisia" — 16 flights of stairs, from the lobby to the art show — which was, um, not actually a big deal. I like feeling like I'm in shape.


• While I was on the phone, a young woman appeared in front of me and began bouncing up and down and making incomprehensible noises. Turned out it was one of adfamiliares's Oberlin students — the one who provided us with Gus-Gus, in fact. We were both very pleased to see each other, though it was weird as all fuck to see her in that context. Especially with the bondage collar.


• I left after midnight on Sunday, walking in my Chucks through three inches of slush and driving sleet to the other side of the Charles, where I waited forty-five minutes for the 57 to come. Sucked. Sucked so much.