Monday, October 3, 2011

Crucible

DH and I finally were able to attend Crucible this year. (Crucible is a convention, for lack of another term, put together by Arthur Moyer and the Omnimancers) We enjoyed ourselves and I was able to take away some useful, if sometimes unintended by the presenters, knowledge.

1. Damn, you people really expect me to keep up with my blogging!

2. DH and I really are older, and more societally established than many (most?) people who attend such events.

3. I finally got to meet some people "in real life" that I have been corresponding with for a while, in some case, years. So pleased to finally sit down with Sara, Jason F., Jeff Mach Kenaz Filan and his wife Kathy, and R.O. And, of course, meeting new people is lovely.

4. I am really sorry that I missed meeting Jow and Deb. We were confused as to whether there was a gathering/party after the last session Saturday night, just as we were about the "closing brunch" at the hotel. And being that we didn't attend the sex magic panel discussion, and there is something about staying overnight in a decent hotel...but I am still sorry that we missed you guys.

5. I learned (or relearned), that while I don't know more than I thought I knew, my body of knowledge is larger, compared to others, than I realized. Not that I necessarily know or have experienced more than everyone, or anyone else on any of the given subjects, but until convinced otherwise, my assumption is that everyone knows more about everything than I do. Lovely to find out that it isn't always true.

6. Jason Miller could probably give a presentation that consisted solely of reading a phone book and make it interesting and entertaining. So when his subject matter is interesting, as his lecture on Malefica was, well, I am just sorry for those of you who missed it. But, FYI, Jason, some of us wear all black because it makes the silver in our hair look better. (feel free to insert smiley face.)

7. It was during the Malefica talk that I gained the most useful insight of the day. Some of you have complained that I rarely explain how I do magic, sticking only to the broadest outlines and the arts and crafts explanations. I've never felt comfortable going into detail on the blog, now I know exactly why I don't.

8. I did feel for R.O. during his talk on “Applied Hermetics: Conjuring a Better Tomorrow." So many of us were with him and watched him work his way through this project over the last few years, that his comment of it feeling like he was presenting to his aunts and uncles made perfect sense to me. He needs a new audience so he can shine properly. It will be well worth your time.


9. The fact that I admit publicly that I am a food snob will surprise people. Given the opportunity, I am also a wine snob, although that did not come up this past weekend. True, the way I phrased it in Jason's hearing sounded horrendous but I can admit, it comes from privilege. Too few calories are NOT a problem in my life (see note #2), so why should I eat anything that is less than excellent? I'd rather not eat food I don't enjoy, just because it is served to me unasked for. Really, starving children anywhere are not better off for my cleaning my plate.


6 comments:

Deborah Castellano said...

I didn't know you were going! I'm sorry we missed meeting you too! I didn't even know you were east coast tbh! Hopefully next year?

Lavanah said...

Yes! I am looking forward to next year, already!

Bryan Lord said...

As one of the organizers (aka, I get some credit for putting it together, but Arthur gets most of it), I should address number 4.

The event has no official parties or after hours events. Only those things on the schedule are sanctioned parts of the events, and some of those are either free form or an outdated schedule entry. The Sunday brunch is just a free form event, and usually startes after check out, while the lunch on Saturday needs to be removed.

There is generally a private afterparty held in a suite at the hotel, and is by invite only for a variety of reasons. It sounds like you were either invited and not given details, or were not invited because no one who was doing the inviting knew you. I throw that afterparty.

Lavanah said...

Bryan, I apologize for not giving you credit, because Crucible was worthy of it. As for the other issues-no harm, no foul. We were in the hotel dining room long before the Sunday brunch start time, doing the zombie-in-search-of-coffee thing. Later on, we did see others, asking at the reception desk for the Crucible table, mostly, they ended up joining us. So perhaps that part off the program could use some editing.

As for the after-party issue, I appreciate the explanation, it may be that my hearing is too good for my own good.

Servitor Lucem said...

Well, I can say that, all things considered, I didn't really miss the after-party. Also, I wore black because it was Saturday. I really should not have to explain that one any further, right? ;-)
All in all, a good event. Wane\ted to chat a bit more with R.O., but, alas,that was not to be. More later, I suppose. Really nice meeting a couple of people that I "know" from the Net, though...

Bryan Lord said...

Lavanah, Was not cruising for credit, was mostly just wanting to be clear on the I know what I am talking about front. :-) Thank you for the feedback!