DJ Johnny Zed - AMAZING!!

[kimeepower.livejournal.com]

I didn't see any mention of the amazing music & the great time had by all at the Saturday Night Dance. That DJ is such a great find. His name is DJ Johhny Zed. I danced from the very beginning until I couldn't any longer at 6:30am, only stopping to get some Rocket Fuel. I am now just starting to feel my legs again. I loved that he played an amazing set & actually got right into the crowd & danced too. LOVE HIM. Thought he shoudl get a little shout out :)

(no subject)

[xiphias.livejournal.com]

So, I was talking to my mother about Arisia, and how Arisia has amazing volunteer staff who work themselves to a frazzle, and how, because of this, Arisia ALSO tries to have things around to make staffers NOT die, like hot food and stuff like that, but that one problem was getting staffers to actually USE those things, since they're working themselves to the bone and won't take half an hour to sit down and have a hot meal.

Clearly, my mother feels, what is needed is someone in charge of kidnapping other staffers and making them have a hot meal.

So she asked whether it would be okay if she had a ninja mask.

"What?"

"Well, I'm a mother. And clearly, what is needed is a mother for other staffers. A NINJA MOMMY! Who will KIDNAP DIV HEADS AND FEED THEM!!"

Um.

So, I guess my question is, if my mother volunteers for Arisia next year in Staff Den-type capacities, can she have a ninja mask? I already told her that Security will probably NOT let her have throwing stars.

As long as I'm making suggestions . . .

[xiphias.livejournal.com]

So, my wife and I were discussing how the con went, and how the hotel staff was not only bending over backwards for us, but inventing entire new schools of Hatha Yoga. And how the concom and staff was being creative and dealing with things.

"You know," we said, "the ONLY problems we had with the space were, y'know, physical problems. Technical problems. And you can use smart people of good will to solve technical problems much easier than you can use technical solutions to solve selfish-dumb-person problems. I bet we can find ways to solve all these problems."

What was the biggest problem? Elevators. I mean, if the elevators were easy and quick enough, it would be trivial to get to the Art Show and Dealer's Room, so those problems would be pretty small.

"Elevators? I mean, frankly, that's a technical problem. An engineering problem. Seems weird that two thousand geeks couldn't solve an engineering problem."

Then we looked at each other.

And simultaneously yelled,

"JUNKYARD WARS: ELEVATOR CHALLENGE!"

Well, that's the end of that.

[hygiene-ninja.livejournal.com]

I never intended any offense, and I'm sorry that people have taken this as a personal affront.

I started off this shtick with the explicit goal of making it a random distribution of hygiene products. Until recently, I'd heard only humorous or confused responses, and the general impression I got was that people were amused.

At the most recent Con, I took a "request" and executed it poorly. This was the only time I'd taken a request more specific than "Make sure you visit the game room" and after it was done, I'd already decided it would be the last. I wasn't happy with how it went or how I felt about it afterwards.

My first response to the recent threads on LJ was "How can I rework this so I'm not making people feel attacked?" I never intended to offend anyone or hurt their feelings. The whole point was to poke fun at a fandom stereotype and get people to laugh.

I wanted people to chuckle, not wonder if someone else thought they smelled bad, or feel like they were being singled out.

I contemplated restricting the Ninja to leaving materials on tables and displays, perhaps putting up some signs around the con reminding folks of the 5-2-1 rule. I figured if I stopped handing soap and such to specific individuals people wouldn't feel attacked and everyone could enjoy the gag.

I also started thinking of how I could apologize for inadvertently making others feel attacked. Being somewhat clueless socially, I hadn't realized there were such negative reactions to the Hygiene Ninja.

Then I saw the comments were people were threatening physical violence. I realized that some people had decided that physically attacking me was an appropriate response to being handed a bar of soap.

I lost all interest in reworking the gag. This absurd notion has gotten out of hand, and I have no interest in wondering if someone is going to kick me from behind or punch me in the face because they think a random bottle of shampoo constitutes a personal attack. While there are a lot of things for which I'd be willing to put my personal safety at risk, running around a Sci-fi convention dressed as a Ninja isn't one of them.

Until now, I'd never backed down from a bully in my life. This resulted in a lot of fights growing up, but I'd always stood my ground and gone toe to toe with whomever challenged me. I wonder if it's a sign of growing up that I'm backing down now because someone decided to raise his fist online and threaten to bloody my lip.

Arisia Art Show Staff

[wren13.livejournal.com]

I want to publicly thank the Incredible Floating East Coast Art Show Crew and a cast of way too few who kept the art show happy and functioning for this Arisia.  The 16th floor was hard to get to, difficult to leave and cold all weekend.  Con-goers this year were often rude, demanding, unwilling to follow signage/direction and thieves, but they all seemed to have enjoyed themselves by the time they found their way back downstairs.  And by the end of the weekend, you had to deal with my inner bitch as well.

You are just amazing.  I wouldn't blame any of you for quitting, and I thank various Deities that you stuck by me all weekend.  We threw one heck of a wonderful show. despite everything.

Thank you from the bottom of my heart.

Dr. Karen

Art Show Director