Indeed, and I'm *really* glad you stepped up to the podium, Dan!
Yours was the singular convention I went to; the Lunacon and I'm
grateful for the experience. I did make it sound like it was
all-or-nothing and that wasn't fair. It's like eating; there's
grazers, devours, pickers, and all manner of participating in
culture.
I didn't provide a fair and balanced viewpoint.
The reason I always placed my feet where I have is because of my
own personal tendencies; for me, personally, the pull is quite
strong. When I get into a show, I get *really* into it. When I
first saw the Stargate TV show (after having seen the movie in
the theater a few years prior) I said to myself, "No... no no..
don't do it" and I avoided watching it for a few years.
Then I let myself start watching it.
It wasn't until the series was finished and I had seen every
episode, participated in online forums, debated about critically
important show issues, that I could put it aside and go, "Well
that was an interesting ride".
But while on it... I don't get off the ride. For me, I'm always
a small step away from full immersion. It's my personality. I
didn't go to further conventions because I knew what for me, was
the next steps I'd take and it's not the direction I wanted for
myself.
It's not that the direction is inevitable for all, many, most or
even some people. Just me.
Right now, I'd be living in India had I accepted a 5 year
contract to help start a computer company there in '93 with a
workmate who was going back there. I wouldn't be in Florida
where I am now, doing what I do. It's not that that would have
been a bad life choice; it would have been a marvelous life
choice and I'm sure I would've had a wonderful time and I'd be
enjoying life in India right now. I know myself and how I am.
With every subculture or, indeed, every endevour, each person
has their own "Stopping Point". Heck, when an engineer has specs
on what to build and begins planning, there's stopping points of
"what's reasonable for the project"; there's no point in
calculating Pi to a million digits to create a round wheel made
of rubber on a road. They have a stopping point that they
consider reasonable depending on the project.
For fandom, I have mine. I wouldn't want to tell anybody else
where theirs should be. There's different levels of engagement.
Sorry if I gave the implication of a subculture consisting
solely of the outliers. I was just providing a defense for the
PG-outliers as it were.
I enjoyed the heck out of Lunacon; I actually didn't think of it
as "going to a convention" and here's why, as ridiculous as it
may sound:
For me, "going to a convention" would mean wearing the furry
suit, the spock ears, sitting at a panel, standing up on a
podium giving a speech, filking in front of an audience.
That's not everybody; that's _me_. When I was looking into
churches in my 20s during my religious phase, I didn't just find
one and sit in a pew. I taught myself Russian, looked into
schools for becoming a priest, stayed at a monastery for a few
weeks... even made it part of my retirement plan.
I had a data entry job in Excel. Didn't know Excel.
Dissatisfied, I dove full in and reinvented the entire way that
reporting structure was done, teaching myself VBA and ended up
getting me hired at a nice pay for a few years.
I'm like that with everything. Most people, thankfully, aren't
like me
So yeah... sorry for giving off a bad impression. Hope this
helps you understand where I was coming from there.
