The Queek Files

I've been told by a lot of people that I have a lot of "no shit there I was" stories. Not all of my encounters with politicians, famous people, or weird situations were accidental. I sought out a few of them and here are a few of those stories. I mean, I did intentionally show up and throw rotten fruit at President George H. W. Bush when I was in high school. ActUp was having an AIDS protest at an event he was having local to me and asked folks to show. So, I did. This was before the world of Patriot Acts and extreme paranoia. Hell, there wasn't even a legal structure for dealing with domestic terrorism. That didn't happen until the Oklahoma City bombing. We were considered rude, but within our legal rights. Our rotten fruit wasn't considered a security threat, just a hygiene issue. I don't think I hit him, but I'm pretty sure that a few Secret Service guys had a hell of a dry cleaning bill. Also in high school, I'd made personal enemies with a...

I'm sorry that I've missed a couple weeks of posting here. The holidays are a rough time for me. As I posted earlier, I struggle with this time of year. Between being busy with hosting my friends and family, attending work events, and working harder due to coworkers taking time off for their own events; when not actively involved in something to do with the holidays (or the Star Wars premier) I was most likely asleep. This year was extra rough due to us holding the memorial for one of my best friends over the New Year. For those who don't know my friend; they were one of the most interesting people in my life. They were non-binary, asexual, mixed Cajun and Creole child of Louisiana; with all that entails. They were a geek in both the traditional sense and the modern sense; a fire eating Carnie and gamer nerd. They had a career as a massage therapist, combining their training as a yoga instructor into this. They owned and ran a merch and massage presence in the Ren Faire s...

I used to work in customer service positions that put me in contact with the public. These jobs ranged from fast food to being a barista to managing retail to an international hotel company's call center escalations. Here are a few of my eye rollers from the call center. ========== Internal assist call... (Guest is from Africa. Agent is from the Caribbean... mutually unintelligible accents. Guest is booked into an all-inclusive resort.) Agent: This guest keeps asking me why her reservation doesn't show the males included. Me: As in secondary names? Agent: I don't know. She just keeps repeating her question about all males being included in her rate. Me: Uh... this is an all-inclusive hotel. I think she's saying meals, as in food; not males, as in boys. None of our hotels include boys for the guest's enjoyment as part of the rate.  Commentary: Not even our Amsterdam hotels offer more than directions to the brothels. ========== ...

Here is one of my older filks. I actually won a prize for it. This one uses the tune and story flow of an LDS (Mormon) hymn. My version is a hymn for the Sabbat Sect from the Vampire: The Masquerade role-playing game. “I Am a Childe of Caine” Parody Lyrics: lilalexei Original Lyrics: Naomi Ward Randal and Darwin Wolford ( I Am a Child of G-d ) Original Tune: Mildred Tanner Pettit (I Am a Child of G-d) I am a Childe of Caine And he has made me here, Has given me an eternal quest With powers strong and queer. Keep me, drive me, chase behind me, Teach me all the rites. Drill me in all I must do To be as strong some night. I am a Child of Caine And so my Beast is great; Help me to comprehend this news Before it grows too late. Keep me, drive me, chase behind me, Teach me all the rites. Drill me in all I must do To be as strong some night. I am a Childe of Caine. Rich vitae is in store; If I but learn to hunt my prey, I’ll live for ...

I've always been an avid reader. This isn't a casual statement. From childhood on, I've devoured multiple books a week. I'm usually working on more than one book at a time. At least one rides around in my shoulder bag and more live on my bedside table. I love library books and highly recommend you visit your local library, but I have a hard time with the return process. If I enjoy a book, I grow attached to it and want to keep it. This results in me buying a lot of books. There are bookshelves in most of the rooms of my house. My book collection makes my friends fear me ever moving house again. I'm pretty sure they'll charge me more than a pot of chili and a few beers next time. Used bookstores and second hand websites have kept this habit from bankrupting me. When I was younger, it wasn't usual for me to be carrying a huge backpack full of gaming, fiction, and research books. It was even worse when I was in high school and university. Many of my friends...

I'm going to apologize up front that this isn't really related to any of my declared blog topics of geekiness or queerness. It does skirt the edge of my politics though. I may have a few issues with the commercialism of the season. Also, I call them the Winter holidays due to there being so many of them. In addition to the 800 pound gorilla that is Christmas; there is Bodhi Day, Hanukkah, Krampusnacht, Kwanzaa, Newtonmas, New Year's, Pancha Ganapati, Solstice, Thanksgiving (U.S.), Yalda, Yule, and more. As a child, I loved this time of year. It was magical, full of awesome food and gifts. As I got older, I grew to like it less and less. It became less about joy and more about expectations. It was about what I was supposed to do instead of what I liked to do. As an adult; I know that I'm supposed to go to work, pay my bills, vote, clean house, not be a dick, and so on. That's all fine. It's the added expectations around this time of year that has sucked any joy...

T his is a post copied over and slightly modified from an older blog. I will recycle some of my older work if it still applies or I think you might get something out of it. In this case, it still applies. In the process of the crazy that’s been my reality; I’ve had the chance to reflect on a major change in a huge aspect of my life. It should come as no surprise, considering the themes of this blog, that this aspect is geek fandom. The change in question is in how the ‘fannish’ vs ‘mundane’ worlds interact with one another. It has been a pretty gradual change over the course of my decades of involvement in fandom, but the last few years of mega movies and even more mega conventions have brought it into stark (oooh... a pun) focus for me. To give a little background, I’m far from one of the grand-dames of fandom. I’m not one of the original pioneers of the convention scene or community organization out of the 1940s and 50s. We are starting to lose those folks, unfortunately. I have ...