General update

[luzula]

1) I have written 250 words of Yuletide story, and am pleased with what I've written! *relieved* It's like there's some sort of Yuletide magic that makes me able to write; I've never failed to have ideas for it.

2) I went to a CPR and first aid course at work, which felt useful.

3) This weekend I am crossing off a square on my year-bingo: to attend some sort of activity/event which interests me but which I am nervous to do or which is a bit out of my comfort zone or usual interests. I've done two things:
a) going to this conference, largely attended by computer geeks but also by others. I would've not even known about it, but an acquaintance convinced me to come and do some volunteer stuff for this democratic email organization whose email I use. Doesn't this panel look super-weird? IDK, I didn't go to it. I did go to a biohacking panel where we got to mix spit, soap, pineapple juice, salt, and vodka in order to see strings of our DNA (before this I had never even heard of biohacking). Anyway, there were all sorts of interesting people there who were open to talking, so it was nice. I'm going back tomorrow.
b) I also went to some lectures about Rojava and the situation in Syria, organized by the Swedish Rojava solidarity groups. I've given a fair amount of money to them, so it felt good to learn more. I was slightly afraid that this would be lots of people who already knew each other, so I dragged a friend along. Ha, turned out there was someone I knew from the syndicalist union there, which is not surprising. Anyway, I was so impressed by the journalist Joakim Medin who is one of the few foreign journalists who have spent a lot of time in Rojava (and even been thrown in prison by Assad's forces). He was riveting as a speaker and he knew so much!

So yeah, I think both of those were successes! Be in the world more, is maybe the lesson here.

Comments

[jesse_the_k]

That conference looks fascinating. It's fun to attend conferences where one doesn't need to learn anything in particular.

[luzula]

Yeah, it was pretty low-commitment, which was nice, and lots of interesting people. For example, there was a beautiful French hacker who looked kind of like an elf. He had wavy black hip-length hair in complicated braids down his back, and long dark lashes. (I can appreciate beauty even if my heart is elsewhere.)

[jesse_the_k]

Art appreciation is always a good thing.

Have you ever had (any type of) relationship where you don't share a common language?

[luzula]

Have you ever had (any type of) relationship where you don't share a common language?

Hmm, no? I mean, I have acquaintances, but not closer relationships. And "share a common language" is a sliding scale--the other person could know English but not as well as I do.

[seascribble]

That conference sounds awesome! I want to see my DNA in pineapple juice...

I really need to buckle down on Yuletide eep!

[luzula]

You can try it out at home! Mix it in the order they're given in some sort of narrow container, and shake before you pour on the vodka. Then pour the vodka on slowly and carefully at the end so the layers don't mix. And then you should see narrow stringy stuff rising up through the vodka.

I am sure Boston has these kinds of geeks. Maybe I should challenge you to do this as well? (That is, go to an interesting thing which is not something you usually do.)

[seascribble]

The odds of me buying vodka to do this are very slim, but if I ever have any I will give it a shot. :D

You probably should, but living in a new city is still kind of a bigger version of that challenge and I am pretty out of emotional spoons right, but maybe once things are more settled I should give it a shot.

[luzula]

Ah, sorry, I ought to have realized that. Save it up for later, then. : )

[ride-4ever.livejournal.com]

Here's another "be in the world more" thought: think about coming to BP 2016 (I know you wish you had in 2014l.

What is biohacking?

[luzula]

I have already been asked this by someone else, so I'll just give the same answer:

Ah no, sorry, I feel like I have drifted away from fandom too much. I mean, I do still keep in contact with fannish friends, update my journal, read fic (though not as much as before), and occasionally produce fanworks, but still. It is just not as large a part of my life as before; I don't have the same passion for it. So I can't motivate such a long trip, especially when it involves flying for such a distance.

As I really know nothing about biohacking other than the very little I learned from the panel, I'll just link to the Wikipedia page.

(ETA: I deleted your duplicate comment, btw.)

[ride-4ever.livejournal.com]

TYK for the wikipedia link and sorry about the duplicate posting (which will probably happen again -- I just got a new smartphone and I am having problems of duplicates from it in blog postings and in emails).

Glad I got to meet you IRL in 2012. That was my very first fancon ever and you were one of the fen I specifically wanted to meet. (Later this month I'm meeting up in Canada with a couple of other dS fen from Sweden -- maybe some time they'll invite me to visit Sweden and I might see you while I'm there.)