Things I Learned: How We Learned to Love Distopia

So, I finally get around to telling all about my adventures at Penguicon. I'll be posting one of these a day, on weekdays, until I'm done. So, enjoy! :)

Also, I apologize, but this first one is going to be choppy, I'll try to edit it in the future.

Title: How We Learned to Love Dystopia
Presenters: Sarah Monette, William Jones, Daniel J. Hogan, and Elizabeth Bear
Date and Time: Friday, April 18 at 8:00pm

Utopia has no plot. It cannot have plot. Plot come from two sides of a conflict fighting with one another. There are few Utopian stories, because there is nothing really to tell. The happily ever after ending is not pleasing. It doesn't feel true to us as humans, because life is full of strife and hardship, but in a Utopia everything is perfect. There is no hardship to be suffered.

Dystopia, on the other hand, is full of stories. The stories of where the dystopia began, how it grew and took hold. The accounts of those oppressed in the society - the freedom fighters and those they fight for. The tales of how the Dystopia ends.

Dystopia stories often incorporate the Utopia as well - the place where everyone is happy and content, where there is no suffering or sadness. In the end, however, all of these stories are revealed to be about a Dystopia disguised as Utopia. The people are oppressed, but do not realize it (The Matrix, Brave New World). They are controlled by forces outside of their control, and they don't try to stop it. They are happy, but not truly. A happiness caused by lies and drugs.

A true Utopia - one where there is no pain, no suffering, everyone is happy with their lives and themselves - is no more possible to our minds than Santa Clause or the Tooth Fairy. The belief and faith needed for a Utopia to be believable does not exist any longer. Not with all the pain and suffering we witness in the world around us.

For each story that dystopia gives rise to, there are different takes that they can be portrayed through as well - The people who become legends because they get out. The cautionary tales and the fairy stories. The metaphors, written 15 years in the future - about the world here and now, that we live in. The stories that are epiphanies. Where the character and/or the reader come to an "aha" moment by the end.

Rest in Peace, Little One

Just a general update for everyone.

Around 4:30pm today, I put Min to sleep. Her tumor was large enough that it was beginning to bother her, and she had bit at it last night - essentially attempting to bite it off. I woke up to a cage full of blood. What resulted was me taking her in to the vet later in the day (around 3:00, the earliest they could see her). My options were clear - I could get her the surgery to remove the tumor in the next few days (a 400$ procedure), or I could put her to sleep.

After an agonizing hour, I finally came to my decision.

She's buried in my mother's backyard - under the cherry tree. I thought that would be nicer than leaving her to the vet to take care of.

Sorta here

Hello all! Sorry I haven't posted anything in a while.

So ... my life ...

((Also, yes this is almost a perfect copy-paste from devArt))

Work
At the moment I'm very much enjoying my job. My coworkers are awesome, my "boss" is one of us, and in all I feel welcome there. They're even accepting to the fact that I have issues at times :D That's really cool to me.

School
Well, you all know I dropped out of SUU spring semester. Since then I've applied to go to SLCC (my GPA was/is too low for the U of U), and have registered for classes this fall. I'm a little worried that I won't do any better here than I did in Cedar. :|

I'm also severely missing Cedar City - or more accurately, SUU. I've had a couple of episodes of randomly crying because I want to be at SUU, but I realize that it isn't ... healthy for me to be there. I'm too far away from my doctors and from Tene, and I just seem to get sick in Cedar :(

My hope is that I'll do well at SLCC this semester, and probably next spring, and then I can transfer to the U of U.

Home Life
Can I just say that I don't like living in this house? That's all I really need to say, right?

Rats
Min and Avi are both doing great. Min's tumor is getting quite large, but so far it isn't inhibiting her ability to get around. Until it does, I'm going to be keeping her around :)

Other
I've been trying to be more social lately, but I think I've been failing horribly. I sorta feel like I've been failing horribly at just about everything lately. It sucks :( I'm trying to improve myself, but I feel like I'm stuck somehow. I can't improve ... but I'm also not getting worse :| Confusing

I'm writing a bit more than I used to, but not very much. I'm also working on my second unseen Kyoot! comic, and have ideas for lots more. Those will probably start getting completed soon.

And, I can't think of anything else to say.

--Michelle "Washi" Maxfield

PS: It is too bloody hot right now. I HATE SUMMER D:

Bugs

My first convention and I catch it.

Con Crud.


I feel like crap :( But I guess I shouldn't be surprised with my immune system being what it is. Time to go take some Vitamin C and sleep for the rest of the day.

Penguicon Day 1

WARNING LONG POST IS LONG!

Well, here I am, comfy in bed at the Troy Hilton in Michigan. I've been to one day of Penguicon, and I'm mostly enjoying myself. Yesterday was an adventure, though ...

So, Tene and I left for the airport around 10, our flight was scheduled to leave at around 12:30am. It left on time and all was well.

Ended up falling asleep on the flight. It was uncomfortable but - hey - whatcha gonna do?

Problem #1: My glasses broke in-flight. I'm not entirely certain as to how. I put them in the pocket of the seat in front of me before I fell asleep. But ... When I woke up they were gone. I eventually found them by my seat - apparently run over by one of the stewardess carts. Nothing fell off, but the left side was bent out of shape - the metal hinge twisted, and the plastic cracking. I put them in Tene's glasses' case and didn't worry about them again.

The plane took us to Atlanta, and we had a short layover before finally getting into a smaller plane to get to Detroit. Aside from me having issues with turbulence and general fears of flying, everything went well. I slept better on this flight.

We landed in Detroit at 9am local time. Didn't have to wait for luggage (yay carry on!), found an over-priced cab, and went to our hotel.

I slept in the cab, which hurt my neck.

Finally we got to the hotel. This is where I learned that Tene had not pre-registered for the con, and as a result we couldn't get registered for a while. While this was mostly okay, after some other adventures we could no longer get into the Consuite.

At the hotel I decided to replenish my energy, and had a long nap. I was wakened by Tene, who then asked if I wanted to go pick up one of the panelists from the airport. This panelist was Eliezer Yudkowsky who posts regularly to Overcoming Bias. So, we borrowed one of the Conhosts cars and went to the airport to pick up Eliezer. Everything was fine, I was just there to keep Tene comfy. I fell asleep in this car too.

At the airport I waited with the car while Tene went to go find Eliezer. Unfortunately, I was left in the "No parking, no standing" zone - where there was supposed to be "active loading and unloading, only." After being yelled at by a policeman on a motorcycle, I decided to move out of the way.

I ended up getting lost, and couldn't find my way back to the terminal until I'd gone around the airport 5+ times. I was not happy.

Once my anxiety attack was over, I found myself back at the hotel! Still unregistered, we couldn't find Matt (who owned the car we borrowed). Tene called him, and got permission to borrow the car again.

We went to the mall nearby, and found a Lenscrafters. They failed at an attempt to fix my glasses, but put them back together enough that I could wear them. Now they work okay, the lenses were in good shape, but the side post falls off sometimes

Well, we finally got back to the hotel, registered, and then went off to see the panels. I went to the three literature ones, which were very interesting, and I got to meet Tamora Pierce. That was cool.

I'll go into the panels later, for now, my adventures are hopefully over.