Tag Archives: ubercon

Explorations

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First: I’m an Uncle (again)! Nikhil Tiger Sacks was born March 31, 2004, and is doing well (as is his mom). Congratulations, and I can’t wait to meet him :).

I’m not quite sure where this post will take me. I’m mostly posting because I’ve had requests to update so the prior post is no longer so prominently displayed. What exactly I’ll be posting, I’m not entirely sure. Hence the post, “Explorations”.

It’s not that I have nothing to say. I have a LOT to say, about a great many things. Enjoying the beautiful weather we’ve been having, getting to spend time with my wife, adventures with UberCon, money woes (if I don’t get a job in the next month or two, we’ll have to move when our lease is up, and if it doesn’t pay very well, then we may have to move anyway), and looking forward to seeing my friends on my impending trip back east for school.

That’s just the things that are immediately pressing on my mind. There’s much more to say. The sad part is that I don’t really want to talk about any of it in any amount of depth.
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Grr. Argh.

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I’m not entirely sure what I’m going to write about this evening, but it’s time to post again, and there are definitely things rolling around in my head. Some are postable (post-worthy is arguably too pretentious for them), some are not, but no time like the present to find out!

I’m pretty sure I mentioned it before, but my friends Eli and Megan broke up recently. This has been a rollercoaster of emotions for the both of them, I’m sure. They’ve been processing it differently, though, which has caused a bit of… hmm, strife in the overall breakup. Namely, Eli has been externalizing, being very vocal about how he is feeling, and open about his needs. Megan has been far more internalizing as far as I can tell, and has been processing how she’s feeling either by herself, or with a few close friends.
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Back in the Saddle Again

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I’m not entirely sure whether this will prove to be a short post or a long one yet, so please bear with me. It’s been a long time since I really sat down and wrote an entry, despite feeling that I should (and in fact missing the feeling). I have a number of things that I would like to write longer, more thoughtful, drawn out posts about, things such as UberCon, and all the surrounding brouhaha that has accompanied it (almost all of it positive, however, or at the very least not negative).

But not right now.
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The Good, the Bad, the Director

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So, things have been a little stressful, lately. Health insurance came due, and while not exactly unexpected, we really didn’t have the funds for it, so we are now left with needing to do some creative accounting to find the money for everything (rent, bills, car payments, car repairs, et cetera — the money we gratefully received from Mickey’s father to repair the car had to be spent on the health insurance). I’m scrambling madly for a job and have had absolutely no luck. I’ve submitted over 60 resumes at this point, plus several job applications for retail positions, and everyone is either not hiring, or is looking for someone more qualified. Not that they are telling me this, mind you: I’ve been lucky to get an auto-response out of most of them. They also generally say “No calls concerning employment accepted — if we like your resume, WE’LL CALL YOU.”

That would be “the bad”: being broke as hell, with no relief in sight. Even jobs I’m qualified for I’m not getting a response out of. At this rate, it is distinctly possible that we’ll have to sell stock (or use it as collateral on a loan) and move back east to DC, where Mickey has more consistent, reasonable-paying work. I really like it out here except for the job situation, so I’m really REALLY hoping it doesn’t come to that.
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Child’s Play

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Just a quick post. Penny Arcade is currently partnering with Amazon and the Seattle Children’s Hospital to do a toy drive for the kids. It’s called Child’s Play, and really is a pretty awesome thing. It’s also impressive just how much support they’ve received, and how quickly.

In other toyish news, my friend Gareth is a finalist in the Lego Master Builder competitions. (Gareth, not Garrett. Scroll down.) Good luck in the finals, man!

UberCon is coming along. We’ve set up some Forums, which you should check out if you’re a foruming type of person.

See? Quick post. Later. :)

Sundry Esoterica

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This is really only a semi-post. It’s just random stuff that I thought was cool or interesting, and probably won’t be for anyone else.

– I finished my study plan a full day early, and have already gotten it okayed… we’re going to photocopy it tomorrow and submit it, at which point I’ll be done and on my way. I’m pretty damn pleased about that.

– The pictures I took at UberCon have been put up in the UberCon web gallery. In the week since they were posted, one of the pictures I took has become one of the most viewed images in the gallery (viewed ~1400 times when I last checked). Not unsurprisingly, it was a picture of a cute girl in a costume.
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UberCon

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For those readers that are new: read the old posts to see my prior concerns about UberCon. For the rest of you: it went far better than I had feared, but not as well as I had hoped.

Let’s get the basics out of the way: UberCon was a hell of a lot of fun. Everyone seems to have had a really good time, including myself. More importantly, many of the vendors have already expressed interest in returning, so things are looking QUITE favorable for UberCon III, to be held sometime in late March-early April. Having had a sit-down with Kevin, we’ve worked out a lot of the issues that were bothering us, and things are going to be firmed up in a more final fashion sometime in the next few weeks.

I got to meet a lot of really cool, interesting people: I had made it explicitly clear prior to the convention that I was not volunteering for anything, and was coming as an attendee. This allowed me to roam as I wanted, and talk to who I wanted without having to worry about having to be somewhere. I even exchanged information with a few, so I’ll be able to keep in touch.

The only major letdown was the number of people: we had more than last time, but not by much. This could be for a variety of reasons, and really didn’t hinder anyone from having a good time. From a business standpoint, however, it was disappointing.
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General Foo Strikes Again

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Today was much less zombie-like than yesterday, and I can’t explain why. It just was. I came downstairs, put on some jazz, and checked my email, where I finally received 1) more than 2 pieces of email, and 2) a response from Jody, the head of the EXCEL program at Union Institute and University, reviewing my EXCEL essay thus far. I got a very favorable response, though there was an overwhelming request for more personal examples of what I was talking about. This is difficult for me, as I find it hard to write both personally and what I deem “professionally”. I’ll just have to do what I can, though. It’s due the 22nd, which means it needs to be in the mail by the 19th, which means I need to be done by the 18th. 17 days from now, essentially. This shouldn’t be too hard, though. I don’t have that much more to do.

In other news, I had a meeting with some folks from PA today, concerning working with them to bring UberCon to the Seattle area. This went over VERY favorably, and I’m back to being excited about the prospect of organizing the convention again. I need to send them some information, but that’s mostly information I need to confirm with Kevin, first (such as any changes made to the sponsorship forms, et cetera). I can’t talk too much about it yet, but it’s definitely a “Yay” situation.

I’m a little frustrated with my content right now. Nothing wrong with blogging, I suppose, but I just feel like I should have more content that is relevant to more than just people who know me. More essays, reviews, and art. That said, I just picked up criticalgames.com, which will be a site dedicated to discussion of games as a serious medium for creative expression.
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“The Normal Life”

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I have never been one that could be called “normal.” I know, I know, normality is a very fuzzy concept, but put aside the “everyone is a unique snowFLAKE” circle-jerk for a moment and realize that there IS something called “normal,” and that a lot of people are just that. Normal. That does not make them sub-par human beings, or without talents, or a unique identity that makes them who they are. It’s just that when you add up all those talents and personality traits and actions and thoughts, it comes out to “normal.”

To claim that I am not normal like other people may seem a little egotistical, what with the current fad of “doing your own thing, just like everybody else.” This is by no means how I mean it. I’m talking about the ever-present sense of alienation from one’s peers, of doing things differently despite yourself, of trying to fit in and be like other people even though a part of you inside is screaming out and rebelling against normality as hard as it can.
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