Pursuing Calefaction

It’s my birthday. So never mind that I’m still up only by the questionable virtues of caffeine; it’s time to break the long silence, even if this ends up being trite. I predicted as late spring was taking shape that this summer would be a giant ball of chaotic energy, and I am very sorry to report that I was not wrong. Many happy moments arose from the crackling, undoing energy that my local corner has been suffused with, but they are islands of joy amid lakes of stress, uncertainty, and anger. The long and short of the “news” is that the Sidhe and I have moved to Raleigh, I have a shiny new phone that does everything except my laundry (woe!), and I am no longer a Dragon*Con virgin.

This last is both the most important and least awkward of the three. I’m well familiar with city life–I stomped around Baltimore for the decade after I graduated high school–but it still takes time to get acquainted with new roads and places. The thrum and hush of Raleigh is not at all the same as Baltimore’s, even though we happen to live on Falls (of the Neuse) Road, which happens to coincide with Baltimore’s Falls Road in many respects: neighborhood character, position on the circular roadway known down here as the “belt-line,” and status as an artery into the city being but a few of these. It does, however, lack one major feature of Baltimore’s Falls Road. If you are brave enough to travel along it south into the heart of the city past the alligator mural, you will find yourself speeding headlong down sharply-banked, poorly-maintained curves, cracking from the roots of a verdant forest that springs up almost without warning. Hence its nickname among certain Baltimoreans: the Jungle Road. But enough about Baltimore! I have a new phone finally, acquired through the efforts of my friend BPT (@kaetzchen on Twitter). He scored a couple of used HTC Dreams, AKA the original Google phone put out by T*Mobile. They aren’t s’posed to run the latest Android (froyo), but a team of hackers shoehorned it in beautifully. So thanks to BPT and the awesome dev team that made Cyanogen_mod, I had a smartphone just in time for Dragon*Con 2010!!

A full post will be dedicated to that event, but suffice it to say I was in nerd heaven. Despite being a newcomer, I was immediately familiar with the basics. I have had some first-hand exposure to that excellent expression of American bohème called Burning Man; after seeing unspeakable acts performed by parties unknown in a telephone booth in the middle of the desert, I can safely say that D*C was relatively tame. But not entirely so. I brought my A-game with the help of the Sidhe, who taught me how to sew on her Singer. So I rocked a home-made Rincewind robe & hat much of the time, with stints as a TOS Science Officer and a reprise of the Tenth Doctor in his tux. I didn’t attend nearly all that I hoped to, but it was nice to just soak in it without a demanding schedule. I had the great good fortune of going down with some veterans, so I had top-notch guides on how to handle the dramz. I got to meet the excellent Keith R. Potempa and his lovely wife Freya in person, and I was less than ten feet from Brent Spiner at his Sunday panel!!!

Back to regular life now, but I’ve been infused with a latent energy now that I’ve seen other people living the dream too. It’s ok to play boardgames. I just need to seek out the big boy boards now. My commute is now tripled, so full days are now completely untenable for accomplishing anything beyond making sure Dalek and the Sidhe have been fed & watered. Real life encroaches. But I have seen the glory of the true path, and none can now keep me from finding it out of these hinterlands.

I’m coming home.