• Travel light. Remember that you could potentially be amassing up to 18 hard copy crits each week. (Though if you run out of luggage space, media mail is your friend.)
• Don't forget to play. Wander about the neighborhood, go on outings, take weekend trips, join your classmates on myriad adventures. Basically, peel yourself away from your computer from time to time; your eyeballs and your arse will thank you.
• You have a captive audience devoted to making you a better writer; take advantage of it: test drive the unfamiliar, the uncomfortable, and the downright traumatizing. The results may not always be glorious--you may, for instance, be accused of being a morally reprehensible shell of a human being--but these reactions are important to note.
• "We're all a little mad here." Enjoy it. I was fortunate in that all of my classmates were perfect in every way, and while I hope that you find yourself in the same situation, six weeks of cohabitation with strangers may not be all joy. Just take a breath and remember that ye're all crewing the same ship. But as you are vastly more charming than I, I'm sure you will be perfectly capable of defusing messy situations. (Otherwise, aim for the eyes, throat, and groin.)
• Empty your cup.

• You can sleep when it's over.

Holy crow, new Blogger interface.  
Initial response: NooooOOOooOOooo! Where the fuck is my blaagghh?!
Now: It's rather pretty, this. 


But yes, after my initial knee-jerk reaction of [Hissss, resistance to change], I think the new look is quite nice and streamlined. So cheers to ye, industrious Blogger team! 


H'okai, so. In March I tantalized the world with a mention of some good news, then never explained what it was. You have all, I am sure, been waiting on tenterhooks for me to unveil my big secret. As I've recently been sent this... braggadocio... graphicky badge thing... I suppose it's safe to share:

I just wanted to share with ye this (probably NSFW) poem to which I was introduced via Danielle Corsetto, who writes and draws one of my favorite webcomics, Girls With Slingshots. As she put it, "It is (in order of appearance) the funniest, raunchiest, sweetest and most intimate poem I’ve ever heard. I know you’ll love it." And I agree.


(In case you're like me and have trouble sometimes with parsing words when they're spoken aloud, I've included the text under the cut [let me know if I misrepresented anything in the transcript!].)


And now, without further ado: "Bloodbath," created and performed by Christian Drake.

This past weekend, I attended some of the Visions of the Future: Global Science Fiction Cinema Conference, with panels like "Cyborgs, Affect, and Sexuality" and "SF, Empire, and the State." It was my very first academic conference, which meant that while I romped merrily down a memory lane paved with the jargon of my youth, I was also taken a little aback by speakers' tendencies to preface their presentations with an apologia re: science fiction as much maligned but increasingly respectable with lots to offer even discerning minds, et cetera, ad abundantiam (ad astra‽).


You guys. We are all in the same geeky boat. It's okay to admit that you may actually like this genre. 


Again, it was a fairly cozy con, but a fun one that introduced me to many most excellent folks / papers / films, including this super charming claymation short ("Viaje a Marte"):

I've had a pretty exciting week in terms of lifestuff, filled with a lot of good news and happy tidings, which I may get into once things get more officialized. In the meantime, have some photos of my very first tattoo convention: Lefty's Third Annual Tattoo Expo in Coralville.