Yearly Archives: 2002

you know you have been bad when…

… conference photos emerge of you and you don’t really remember when they were taken. That’s right: CSCW2002 was a blast, although i’m still not sure of how i feel about conferences held in New Orleans: recipe for disaster. But each day i woke up, had my brain tugged and prodded and then found myself relaxing to the New Orleans atmosphere and then finding Hurricanes everywhere. Free ones too. Dangerous dangerous.

Our workshop turned out better than i could have expected. 12 attendees, all rather rad folks and genuine discussion. Sure, like in all workshops, we did not get as far as we would have hoped, but i can’t complain because it’s been my experience that making connections far superceeds functionality in these situations and this was just a rad group for getting into challenging conversations.

My brain is definitely spinning from (both the alcohol and) meeting amazing people who reminded me that 1) school can be inherently amazing and 2) i am still a capable human being. Oh, and plus, so many people told me that i look so much calmer and less insane (ha! little do they know!) It’s true though – i’m smiling again…

Now.. must get back into school…

Oh, and as a side note, Stewart Brand is even cooler now that i’ve seen him speak, and he was pretty amazing as a textual figure before. Of course, i’m totally biased because 1) his introduction focused on his life with Ken Kesey and other heads and 2) he didn’t take himself seriously.

graphical browsing

As much as the notion of graphical browsing pains me for its inefficiency, i have to say that i appreciate the elegance of the system (mmm.. circles) and i realize that many AOL users only browse the web through clicking on items at the portal front site. Scary, isn’t it?

christmas resistence

My best friend falls in love with Christmas every year in October. By the time that the bloody holiday hits, she’s with the rest of us: ugg ugg and ugg. I’ve been trying to convince my family and friends that gifts are utterly unnecessary, attending mass is just an exercise in snore reduction and the Christmas tree was far more entertaining when my beloved kitty used to knock it over. Alas, i always lose to the traditions of my family. But apparently my sentiments are shared by others cause now there is:

Christmas Resistence
No Shopping
No Guilt
No Pressure

terrorism

“Terrorism Is Society’s Condemnation of Itself” – Jean Baudrillard

The despair of having everything

The West’s mission is to make the world’s wealth of cultures interchangeable, and to subordinate them within the global order. Our culture, which is bereft of values, revenges itself upon the values of other cultures.

Is globalisation inevitable? What fervour propels the world to embrace such an abstract idea? And what force drives us to make that idea a reality so unconditionally?

patrons of a disorderly house with controlled substances

Last week, a party in Washington was busted on the suspicion of drug use. Three people were arrested for posession and 445 were busted for being “patrons of a disorderly house with controlled substances.” How disturbing is it that one can be arrested for being in the same room with people who are doing drugs? Does this mean that if i’m chilling with an elected official who is doing coke in the back room that i can be arrested? Disturbing…

male contraceptive pill

It seems as though researchers have developed a pill for men. Interestingly, it operates on the same principle as the female pill: induce pregnancy hormones. In order to counteract the problems that this would cause on a male system (impotence, decreased sex drive, etc.), they also pump the body with testosterone.

I’m fascinated that we’re willing to allow this level of hormone messing for folks to keep from getting pregnant, but we still won’t allow hormone futzing for trans folks. How much do you want to bet that this will be covered by insurance the moment that it is released on the market?

thieves play cribbage

It would humor me greatly to think that the thieves who stole my cribbage board from my trunk play cribbage, but somehow, i kinda doubt it. In fact, they probably just took it thinking that it would contain CDs, but little did they know that they would be forced to learn a fabulous snotty game!

So, i had my goodbye party and it was so much fun to hang out with folks that i love and just laugh and be silly. And one friend made liquid nitrogen ice cream which was fantastic! And then i ran off to New York in theory to go dance, but in reality to have a very enlightening and well-needed conversation in gaia time. And of course, my car got busted into, which is annoying but not all that surprising. And of course, we had nothing in it in preparation for the likelihood that they’d see outta state plates and break in. But all they got was my change of clothes and my beloved cribbage board which we replaced shortly later (in a non-CD case format). And then i had one of the most lovely chill-out times that i’ve had in a long time… mmm.. connecting with people is good. So i’m very happy and ready to go off and away and start a new and refreshed life in the land where i won’t need my heavy winter coat since it was stolen anyways..