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nimbus thoughts
first, the squeeing: hung out on friday with ![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
ellen_fremedon and sundry other very cool people. i thoroughly enjoyed the company.
the day wasn't completely satisfying in every respect, though, and i came away wondering why on earth i hadn't had unadulterated fun, spending it as i did with people i liked, talking about subjects that were interesting to all of us. even setting aside the handful -- okay, the one or two -- really annoying people who turned up in each room, trying their hardest to ruin every discussion, there was still something that didn't sit quite right with me. it wasn't until saturday evening that i managed to figure out what it was.
i don't normally go to cons, is the thing, and when people (you know who you are) pester me, all i've been able to tell them is that i don't enjoy myself. and i finally realize that what i don't enjoy is the conferring. it's a thing about applying a level of seriousness to something i do for fun. i used to have the same issues with some aspects of the youth group conferences i went to with my church; i tended to ditch most of the formal panels and programs and hang out with friends i hardly ever saw, since it was the company i was there for more than anything. same case here -- there's something that rankles about taking a serious, academic-like approach to a hobby. wrecks it for me.
ellen's presentation was a little different; i'd rather it had been a presentation of the full paper, but for that i'd have had to go to an actual linguistics conference, i suppose. this was still okay; if i squinted, all i could see was the academics. similarly, the keynote speech on book-banning and the first amendment was something that felt like a convening-type subject to me, and less like it had to do with a low-pressure pastime. on the other hand, the general round-table discussion-y panels did nothing for me -- certainly nothing positive. the informal let's-get-together-and-talk-about-some-things chats, i liked fine. but while i don't mind getting together and chatting about serious (which is not to say un-fun) subjects, i find that i don't much enjoy myself meeting all formally about fun subjects (which is not, necessarily, to say i don't take my fun seriously).
ellen_fremedon and sundry other very cool people. i thoroughly enjoyed the company.the day wasn't completely satisfying in every respect, though, and i came away wondering why on earth i hadn't had unadulterated fun, spending it as i did with people i liked, talking about subjects that were interesting to all of us. even setting aside the handful -- okay, the one or two -- really annoying people who turned up in each room, trying their hardest to ruin every discussion, there was still something that didn't sit quite right with me. it wasn't until saturday evening that i managed to figure out what it was.
i don't normally go to cons, is the thing, and when people (you know who you are) pester me, all i've been able to tell them is that i don't enjoy myself. and i finally realize that what i don't enjoy is the conferring. it's a thing about applying a level of seriousness to something i do for fun. i used to have the same issues with some aspects of the youth group conferences i went to with my church; i tended to ditch most of the formal panels and programs and hang out with friends i hardly ever saw, since it was the company i was there for more than anything. same case here -- there's something that rankles about taking a serious, academic-like approach to a hobby. wrecks it for me.
ellen's presentation was a little different; i'd rather it had been a presentation of the full paper, but for that i'd have had to go to an actual linguistics conference, i suppose. this was still okay; if i squinted, all i could see was the academics. similarly, the keynote speech on book-banning and the first amendment was something that felt like a convening-type subject to me, and less like it had to do with a low-pressure pastime. on the other hand, the general round-table discussion-y panels did nothing for me -- certainly nothing positive. the informal let's-get-together-and-talk-about-some-things chats, i liked fine. but while i don't mind getting together and chatting about serious (which is not to say un-fun) subjects, i find that i don't much enjoy myself meeting all formally about fun subjects (which is not, necessarily, to say i don't take my fun seriously).
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