Art Nouveau Ho

My friend Liana has posted that "the chemotherapy has had little to no effect and the consulting doctors have more or less agreed that hospice is the right thing to do at this time".

I am really very much not OK with this. I was hoping to see Liana again; despite living on different continents, we've managed to meet once a year or so. I was hoping to see more of her art. I was assuming she'd outlive her twenties. Fuck.

( Photo and thoughts below )

I'm back in DC, having spent last weekend in Atlanta at DragonCon.

I still feel vestiges of Geek Shame saying that. But recently in London, a moment with two friends-of-a-friend altered my thinking on that matter. These were two New Yorkers, you know, Upper West Side types who think wearing a beaded top makes them bohemian? In the course of conversation I mentioned that I'd been to a medieval reenactment earlier in the summer, and I explained what that was...

"Oh. We thought it was like that thing they have in Sterling, you know, that fair..."
"Eeyuch! We wouldn't be caught dead there!"
"You couldn't pay us enough to go!"
"We've never been, of course. But we've heard about it."

Suddenly, it came to me: I loathe these women and all they stand for. Granted, Renaissance Fairs are nerd-intensive, but given the choice between nerds in tights and sneering trend-mavens, I will take the nerds every time. (Besides, what were these women doing if not cosplaying Sex and the City ?)

Then I went to Glyndebourne to see Love And Other Demons, the new opera by Peter Eötvös [pronounced "Erdversh."]
The opera was fascinating and the friend who'd invited me was lovely-- but also in the party was one of those loud public-school hoorah types who felt he had to sneer mordantly at everything, including at the mezzo when she was injured by part of the moving set ("Bloody stupid woman.") It was at that point that I let him know he was being a dick. The train journey back was... interesting.

So I've had it with sneerers and scoffers. They're dry-rot to anyone trying to create anything or do anything unusual. And I am done with shame. If you'd care to join me, I'll be hauling the Geek Flag up the pole and handing out free drinks to everyone who isn't boring. Cheers!

So it's looking like I won't be able to make it to DragonCon this year. I've got a singing commitment in France in the first week of September that clashes.

Last year's DragonCon was my third, and easily my most fun one ever. So many people whom I first met there have since become ornaments to my Friends list (Yeah, you! Stop looking over your shoulder; you know who you are.) I was really looking forward to reconnecting with you all this year now that I know you a bit better, and I really hope I don't have to wait another year-and-a-half before seeing you again!

I am particularly put out to be missing this year, because I predict that this September's con will be full of Spartans. Or, as nanashi_jones puts it, SPAAAAARTAAAAAANS. If there isn't at least one phalanx of Spartans In Bikinis, I will be very disappointed.

Ah well. Roll on DragonCon '08!

Also, roll on Whitby, where I will be in a couple of weeks' time. I first started this journal after last April's Whitby, as a way of staying in touch with all the amazing people I got to know there. (Yeah, you! See you there.)

Faerie wings
Elf ears
Vampire fangs
Klingon forehead wrinkles
Black T-shirt with something clever written on it
Poorly fitting corset (esp. if resulting in "muffin tits")
Not enough