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steampunk & geekery
Jan. 26th, 2009 09:13 pmSo I've made my outfit for the steampunk event Kinetoscope at Panoptikon, and the detail work is drying as I type. What to do for Xenoix's outfit, though? Hmm.
I miss working at LoneStar Comics. Being the girl who could tell you how to fix your green/black deck got points for rarity value, but being a cute girl who could talk to the fanboys in their own language until they looked at me like I was an alien? That just pushed all sorts of happy little buttons for me. Belonging and inclusion are wonderful things, and we freaks don't get enough. I hoped at the time that I was doing some good in the world, but wasn't sure that gender norms and social resistance among geeks could be broken down.
I saw one of my old customers this winter, waved at him from across the crowded restaurant, and he was still weirded out to see me. I wandered over before I left, asked him how his life and hobbies were going, and he actually smiled and said that the guy across from him was part of his gaming group. When I knew him, this particular dude wasn't well known for smiling; I thought he might have something in the autism spectrum. Maybe he was just unhappy all the time, though; it happens. But he remembered me fondly years later, and that's just gratifying. And maybe I did help some of my customers connect to a wider world. I wish I knew for sure. :T
Most of the geeking I do now is for reframing people's paradigms (social hacking is FTW), but I wasn't always this way. I used to be alternately withdrawn and hyperactively friendly. I was a total spaz who lived in stories about heroes, gods, and aliens because I couldn't relate to normal people. I've been feeling uncomfortably mainstream lately, despite the lack of television, and I miss the fringe kids. I miss the loser I used to be.
So the shelf and a half of graphic novels isn't going anywhere, and has started expanding again. I've been thinking maybe it's time I got back to my roots.
So, got any recs?
I miss working at LoneStar Comics. Being the girl who could tell you how to fix your green/black deck got points for rarity value, but being a cute girl who could talk to the fanboys in their own language until they looked at me like I was an alien? That just pushed all sorts of happy little buttons for me. Belonging and inclusion are wonderful things, and we freaks don't get enough. I hoped at the time that I was doing some good in the world, but wasn't sure that gender norms and social resistance among geeks could be broken down.
I saw one of my old customers this winter, waved at him from across the crowded restaurant, and he was still weirded out to see me. I wandered over before I left, asked him how his life and hobbies were going, and he actually smiled and said that the guy across from him was part of his gaming group. When I knew him, this particular dude wasn't well known for smiling; I thought he might have something in the autism spectrum. Maybe he was just unhappy all the time, though; it happens. But he remembered me fondly years later, and that's just gratifying. And maybe I did help some of my customers connect to a wider world. I wish I knew for sure. :T
Most of the geeking I do now is for reframing people's paradigms (social hacking is FTW), but I wasn't always this way. I used to be alternately withdrawn and hyperactively friendly. I was a total spaz who lived in stories about heroes, gods, and aliens because I couldn't relate to normal people. I've been feeling uncomfortably mainstream lately, despite the lack of television, and I miss the fringe kids. I miss the loser I used to be.
So the shelf and a half of graphic novels isn't going anywhere, and has started expanding again. I've been thinking maybe it's time I got back to my roots.
So, got any recs?