(no subject)

[usullusa]

Ahhhh.
Today I went to a reading by Jaida Jones and Dani Bennett and it was full of awesome and win. And poor Stephanie had to drive half an hour to my house to drop my book off so I could bring it with me and get it signed.

And by today. I mean yesterday. Because it is now 1am and the train ride from Grand Central to New Haven is sooooo long. I'm so glad I'm actually moving to New York in August and then I won't have to make these ridiculously expensive, long trips whenever I want to do something awesome. Because nothing awesome happens in Connecticut. EVER.

But the reading rocked and I spent the entire trip there quietly keening "Clara Clara Clara, we're going to meet Jaida and Dani. Clara Clara Clara." And then Clara would laugh and pat me on the shoulder with a sort of worried look on her face. And then when we got there Clara and I waved our hands around a bit from sheer glee and I kind of made this sound. It was a combination of a high pitched giggle and a croak.
And then they read bits of their book out loud and answered questions and let fans come near them, though god knows I wouldn't have, because you could tell most of the fans were shoeboxers, and as I said to Clara: "Fandom is a deep, dark, scary place."

So basically it went well.

Comments

[alpestars.livejournal.com]

Er... Hello! Hope you don't mind me friending you. I saw your post about attending Jaida and Bennett's author signing, and I was sad because except for a prior commitment that night, I was *so close* to attending it as well. Then I read one of your prior entries, and saw that you went to Beecher!

It's a small world. Did you also go to the tri-town high school? I just graduated last year.

[usullusa.livejournal.com]

Oh my god that is SO weird! I just graduated a month ago from Hopkins in New Haven. Small world! Wow. I am utterly floored right now.

Where do you live right now? I'm moving to New York City in August.

Sorry, I'm sort of gibbering right now. I just really never expected that I would meet somebody out of just regular life that was also into fandom. Like... Beecher?! What? That is so insane to me.

ANYWAY HI

[usullusa.livejournal.com]

Also I just realized I already said I was moving to new york in my entry. Sorry for being repetitive. It's late. That's my excuse. (Okay. Also I'm excited about it. << )

[alpestars.livejournal.com]

I'm at home this summer when I'm not interning at (see: commuting to) NYC, which btw *is* an awesome city! And I'm kind of less surprised now by the fact that so many writers/musicians/subway musicians seem to be there. ^_^

Dude, Hopkins. I almost went there to start 9th grade. And I know how you feel about finding people in fandom -- I sometimes secretly suspect that people are, only to be disappointed when they admit that they like something fandom-ish like HP or have "heard of fanfic" but have never partaken in the craziness. And then I'm stared at rather pointedly.

Anywayy, yes... You should be excited about NYC. :)

[usullusa.livejournal.com]

Hah. yes. And then they give you weird looks. And you're like errr- I didn't... meant that... please stop looking at me like that. I had that happen to me a couple days ago. It was awkward.
Actually, it's still awkward when they admit they are into fandom and then ask you for your favorite pairing or something, and it turns out you're into slash and they're not. That's awkward too.

What are you interning as?

(I know right. Like all the awesome people are in NYC. It's so cool. Like the fact that I'm going to be living in the same city as ELLEN KUSHNER actually makes me die of glee a little bit every time I think about it.)

[alpestars.livejournal.com]

Haha, I find that slash is usually swept under the rug, unless it's wincest in the Supernatural fandom or something. I'm doing a marketing-related internship, but it's only a few days a week, so it's manageable.

I've actually not read anything by Ellen Kushner yet, but I might put it on my summer reading list (which i have to start taking seriously). what books do you recommend starting off with?

and by "moving to NYC"... are you going to NYU, by any chance?

[usullusa.livejournal.com]

Yea, it's still kind of a taboo topic. Sadly, if you say you're into slash you get the "weird" label. Oh well. They don't know what they're missing. >>

yea, I was going to say that doing an internship in NYC must be kind of expensive cuse you have to commute.

Ah, you must read her stuff! Swordspoint is kind of classic, though it's a little raw. But I still love it to absolute pieces. And if you liked Swordspoint then read Privilege of the Sword which is kind of a sequel and kind of not. And for a complete 360 read Thomas the Rhymer. *takes deep breath* Sorry, I'm a fangirl.

And why yes, I do happen to be going to NYU. ... Why? >>

[alpestars.livejournal.com]

Commuting is waaayy less expensive than living there for the summer. :) I asked about NYU because I was curious -- I know a couple of people there, and prob because I was seriously considering going there for a while I feel like I can't escape its what-if presence, or something. </cue melodrama ahem... anyway, I will try to check out Swordspoint and/or its sequel. Have you read "Catspaw" by Joan D. Vinge? It's similar in terms of genre, I think. There's a supposed prequel to it, but I recommend starting with "Catspaw" since it's much better.

...

[alpestars.livejournal.com]

OH MY GOODNESS. you went to worthington hooker too?!

Re: ...

[usullusa.livejournal.com]

Huh?! Holy shit, you did too?! Oh jesus that is SO WEIRD. I think we need to meet or something. This is way too much of a coincidence to be ignored. Also I haven't read Catspaw, but I surely intend to. I trust in the taste of people who partake in Havermercy and/or Shoebox love.

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[alpestars.livejournal.com]

Beecher was great and all that, but Hooker (ugh, I never understood it back then when people made fun of the name) was *so much* diversity and music and reveles and may day and that fourth grade play and... yeah. Is it just me, or was the music teacher/all her events basically the highlight of everything?

We should talk. :)

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[usullusa.livejournal.com]

I know! She really was what made Worthington Hooker [haha, yea I never got the joke either when I was a kid] great. Seriously. May Day? Awesome. I left two months into third grade so I never got to braid the maypole. It was the most depressing thing ever.
I still remember singing the continent song. (North America, South America, Europe, Asia, Africa, Don't forget Australia, Don't forget Antarctica)
And we used to have that diversity day thing where kids from every part of the world would get up and say hello in their language. It was just awesome.

I had a really hard time at Beecher (i.e. nobody liked me) because I came from that kind of diverse background and Beecher consisted almost entirely of the children of privileged white families whose sole exposure to people different from them was the token asian kid in every class. (Can you tell I don't like Beecher? << )

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[alpestars.livejournal.com]

Haha, I think I *became* that token asian kid when I entered Beecher in 5th grade. I know... whereas Worthington Hooker was all excitement and music and extra recess and a lot of school-wide integration and fun, Beecher was definitely more structured. Hooker was about the entire classroom eagerly raising their hands to answer a question; Beecher was about calmly taking turns and being somewhat intimidated by the huge campus (even though it was a very well ordered/nice school. I mean, srsly, the swimming pool. :P).

Do you remember what teachers you had at Hooker? And do you ever visit the library?

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[usullusa.livejournal.com]

I don't remember kindergarten, but I had Ms. Wilson in first grade, Ms. Brown in 2nd, and a new teacher whose name I don't remember in third grade. Worthington Hooker had a library? What? I never went to the upper elementary school, so I dunno if they had one there.

And yea, Beecher had this massive campus. But they put a lot of money into it and yo could tell, everything was clean and spacious and well ordered. And the pool... somebody told me this ridiculous lie that if you peed in the pool a red circle would appear around you and I spent the next two years looking for red circles around people whenever I used that pool.

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[alpestars.livejournal.com]

I had Wilson too. I remember she showed us the original Narnia TV series (or maybe only The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe).

I was talking about the town library. :)

Re: ...

[usullusa.livejournal.com]

I haven't been to the New Haven town library in about... forever. Not since I was a tiny kid. I don't even remember what I checked out there, which I almost always do.

I am so jealous that you got to watch Narnia in class! I only remember her teaching us evolution and how whales were actually land animals that evolved to live in water again and I thought it was the most brilliant thing ever. And also the reading corner and she gave you stars for reading books out loud, and the harder the book the more stars you got. Oh Worthington Hooker... did you ever go to the girl's bathroom to talk to your friends and did you find out that you could climb behind the stalls and stand on the pipe back there so you could reach the ceiling. I remember thinking it was great fun.