I went to a sci-fi workshop last night.  The guy had a PHD and was a professor at the Air Force Academy.  He actually had some great material. 

But . . .

Why is it that SOME geeks (in particular) are rude and socially enept?  I'm not dissing geeks--hell I AM one, but I've met a few that make me want to stick hot pokers in my eyes.

One dude who attended was either drunk or on something.  He was red--like all over red--and his nose was even more red.  And he had glassy, red eyes and was talking REALLY LOUD.

We were asked to come up with a "what if" IDEA.  A sentence or two for a sci-fi idea/story.  And this guy goes on for 5 minutes about: "YEAH, DUDE, so I have this idea where it's post nuclear war and, one group is immortal, but they have to kill for it, and YEAH.  And the other group is, you know, hippy dippy fuckers, and there is this one scene where a guy meets a stoner chick and you know, his chainsaw explodes and she's, you know, all dressed in ragged clothes. 

WTF?  He went on and ON until the facilitator said, "Dude, you need an IDEA and that's it.  Summarize it."

So, he tried to summarize and it came out the exact same way only this time he had a scene he added about some "dude named Duane who got his hand chopped off, hurh hurh.. yeah, cool man!  IS THAT sci FI?  I JUST WANT TO KNOW."

Ok, fine, we finish his turn and we ask another person and the dude KEEPS TALKING, like talking to himself.  It's like he has no idea of what social manners are (or doesn't care because he's wasted--I wasn't sure).  And he kept referring to sci-fi as "that goofy stuff." 

THEN, we get Nancy-Know-It-All.  And let me tell you, I f*ing hate know-it-alls.  I hate people who think they know more than you, who think they know more than the teacher, who feel the need to try and CORRECT the teacher and who go on long diatribes about how much THEY know about a topic.  This is a common issue with some geeks.  I guess they have to compensate?  I don't know.

Well, every time he called on her to answer a question, she had to go into her life story about every short story she's written, how she knows everything about everything when it comes to writing a sci-fi short story.  Every time she raised her hand, I wanted to punch her in the face.  She was wearing these old, high-waisted jeans, a santa fe t-shirt tucked into her jeans and a fanny pack that she kept digging through when others were trying to talk.  (God forbid she give anyone else the floor?) 

I love me some geeks--but when the annoying ones come out, I want to turn in my membership card.

Here's what I find interesting . . .

J and I watched "This is It" last night (well, parts of it on a bootleg streaming site--I know, bad bad, but hey, we never EVER go out to movies anymore)!  And I'm honestly baffled by all the drug talk surrounding Michael Jackson.  He was, to put it bluntly, fuggin' amazing up on stage.  I've been around drug addicts and this was not a drug addict that I saw.  Period.  End of story.

I've been around tweakers who can't sit still.  Was definitely not him.
I've been around downers who love them some Xanax.  Definitely DEFINITELY not him. (Hi, Anna Nicole Smith?)

He was alert, coherent, even-keeled, conversational, joking, and the dance moves he exhibited were so frackin' unbelievable.  It's really a shame this tour never happened. 

Either he was on some magical pretty pony new stuff that's out there that makes drug addicts behave NORMAL (perfectly normal) or . . . he just wasn't doing all the smack people claim he was.

I dunno.  My husband kept looking at me and saying, "THIS is a drug addict?  Really?  Not in my book...."

I know most of you guys are down with the MJ.  But, yeah . . . something isn't adding up.

So, we don't have fiction workshop next week (usually meets from 7pm until 10pm).  This is a good thing.  Tonight, we were a bunch of unfocused, loopy fuckers who kept snickering at stupid shit and were generally rotten.

Next week, we're all still going to meet, but we're all gonna get wasted.  We're calling it DrunkShop.

We need it.

I need it.

I haven't gotten a good buzz in . . . well . . . I don't know.   8 years?

Captains and Cokes for me.  Yessiree.  Maybe a Newcastle.  Ahh.  Sweet heaven awaits.

Dear Fleener,

Your Xanga is gone, as is your Facebook.  As much as you're probably trying to avoid posting stuff (that you consider "whining" and the rest of us just consider it "an update to your life"), it sucks that you're not here on the 'net anymore.

I hope you get things figured out.

I hope your "friends" who aren't being so "friend-like" get a fuggin' clue.

Miss you lots.  Just sending you some good mojo. 

(hugs)

My husband has told my daughter this.

E: "I want a snack."
J: "What's the magic word?"
E: "Rock and Roll, DOG!"

Funny stuff.

Life is going pretty well right now.  Part of me doesn't want to jinx it by talking about it.  Writing is good.  Family is good.  Life is good.

A group of us in the MFA program (fiction writers) are starting our own genre writing group.  Since it's pounded into our heads, "DO NOT WRITE GENRE FOR CLASS" we're making our own group, dammit.  I joked that we should call ourselves The Inklettes.  Silly, I know.

But, our first session is Thursday.  I sent in some work that I had started on aeons ago (in a world that I helped create with FadingSun).  It will be fun to explore those characters again.  I miss them terribly.  Other members:

• Lisa: she writes lots of genre, reads lots of genre and is a walking, talking triva machine.  She is from New York.  Is mega Jewish and damn proud of it.  She's teaching me a lot about Jewish traditions and food (yum!) And there is this Jewish holiday where you have to try something new, so I had a fruit I'd never had before--it was a hybrid plum/apricot. 
  
• Miriam: writes like a madwoman.  Love her work.  She met and married her sweetheart all in her first year of graduate school. 
• Trai: first year student this year.  Awesome, awesome awesome.  She is inspiring us all.  She's already had some experience in the bus. (working for HBO and a few other studios).
• Maya: Haven't met her yet.  She's not in the program, but is a local writer.

I'm so excited for this.  I can't even begin to tell you guys.  This is an amazing part of my life.  I just feel it.

Not much else going on--just a LOT OF WRITING.  That's a good thing.