Never Enough Trans-Friendly Parties Department

An ad for a party I'm helping to organize.

She
A new party for all self-identifying women

Join us every third Friday of the month as She redefines the concept of women's parties at the Center. We welcome all CSPC members and guests who identify as women and agree to respect women's space. Let our Party Hosts, EC, and volunteers present an evening that is inviting, comfortable, and satisfying. Come help us make She an amazing experience!

Free social 8pm-8:45pm, party 9 pm to 2 am

Chocolate is optional.

"She" addresses a problem that exists with the current Women's Event: Trangendered women whose ID does not have a F for the gender marker are forbidden from partaking in, and contributing to, the women's space the Women's Event represents.

By introducing a play party which is open to all self-identifying women who agree to respect women's space, we hope to provide an answer to this problem. We feel that enforcing the need to respect the women's space may make it easier to police that space. If this admission policy proves workable, which we believe it will, the policy can be applied to the existing Women's Event, making it more inclusive.

Who is this party for? Self-identifying women only. While state-issued ID will not be required to prove gender, attendees will need to agree to respect female space by presenting and behaving accordingly.

Never Enough Metal Shows & Documentaries Department

I don't want to get too in-depth into either subject, but to touch base:

I attended Pagan Fest 2 earlier this month. It rocked. We missed the first couple of bands, which sucked--I wanted to see Oakhelm!--but I really liked Blackguard, Primordial, and Korpiklaani a lot.

And since people have asked: It's called "Pagan Fest" because most of the bands on the bill are pagans. (I'm not sure about Swashbuckle, who does what they call "pirate metal", and was thus automatically the goofiest act on the bill--but they did know their thrash!) They write songs that include references to their non-Abrahamic beliefs and mythologies. This is not a new phenomenon in metal. Bathory changed mid-career from singing about Satan and evil, to singing about the Norse gods and battle. I am sure I can dig further and find older examples if you need, however. It should not be surprising that paganism in metal is prevalent, and can support its own scene.

I also got to see the documentary, Until the Light Takes Us, which is a very candid look at the roots of the Norwegian black metal scene. It pulled no punches, but it succeeded in finding the souls behind the mythology of Norwegian black metal. Fenriz, drummer for the seminal black metal band Darkthrone, comes across as a fairly thoughtful and complex character with a sense of humor and a defiant desire to remain underground even as black metal explodes into an international phenomenon. Even Varg Vikernes, whose reputation comes across as extremely evil, seems more like someone who summoned up that which he could not put down, rather than the grand master of some malevolent scheme. The story is presented in a way that by and large proves both accessible to novices and fascinating to followers of the black metal genre. I only have one objection--I didn't mind the addition of artists who were using black metal as the subject of their gallery showings, but... TAP DANCE? No, sorry, that was epic fail. The rest of the movie was too fantastic for me to care, however. Do check it out if at all possible--there are to be theatrical releases and DVDs to be announced.

Never Enough Life Updates Department

It has been a while since I posted to this blog, hasn't it?

To be brief: I think I can say now that Amber, who I mentioned in the last post, is my current love interest. :) She, too, is trans--although in more of a genderfluid sense--and we have a lot in common. It helps that she's just as much of a computer nerd and a kinkster as I, if not more so. She's also much more involved in the local geek communities, given her connection to Norwescon. It also helps that she's cute and cuddly and adorable and fun. The only real downside to our relationship is that she is married--I know Amber's wife and she's pretty awesome herself--but it's an open relationship, and as long as Amber's wife approves of me, all should be well.

Amber also runs a fetish photography studio called Bound Muse--for details, please visit http://boundmuse.com/

I've also been pretty active on Twitter nowadays, and encourage those of you who want to see short bursts of drivel from me to go there. Here you'll only see meanderings. Maybe the occasional penetrating analysis. Obviously you'd rather find out the Black Metal Of The Day (#bmotd) than read here. :)

I'm also active on Blip.FM, which is similar to Twitter only it focuses on music. You can DJ through this, and I have been:

http://blip.fm/lilithvf1998 -- For the more eclectic stuff (including, yes, black metal, but it's really all over the map! Recent blips include Captain Beefheart, DEVO, and Screamin' Jay Hawkins, for example.)

http://blip.fm/femmetal -- For female-oriented metal, e.g. metal bands with at least one active woman in the band. This one has been more of a challenge, but has been all the more rewarding for it!

I also posted more recent pics--including Norwescon pics--on my Flickr account.

Finally, I'm also on FaceBook, for those who would rather follow me there. All my blog posts here are echoed there, so you won't be missing much. :)

Enjoy! I am!

Never Enough Convention Fun Department

I have spent this past weekend at Norwescon 32, one of the largest and oldest science fiction/fantasy conventions in the Pacific Northwest, and I must say I had a blast--far more fun than I was expecting. It probably helped that my dear friend Amber is running IT for the convention and needeed help. Anyone who has been with me at a SubGenius event knows how hard it is for me to relax--slack, for me, is quite Emergentile in nature and is best experienced in a blast of overthrusters and screams of "hiIwouldlovetotalkbutIgottarunseeyousoonbye!" Keeping occupied and feeling like a useful contributor helps that along.

It was also a chance to check out the Intergalactic Bank of Timbuktu and their slave auction at the convention. Amber was willing to lend me some Timbuks from her account to bid on... well, her, but we'll save that story for later. Even if I didn't find anyone to bid for, I loved the show. I didn't get to attend the Robert The Bruce Memorial Scotch-Off--it conflicted with the IBT auction--but I hear that was a roiling good time.

I will comment more later....

Never Enough Good Assurances Department

After months of separation, Cynthia an I are moving towards a very friendly divorce. I think that we are actually kind of surprised, and even pleased, with the overall results. It's as if our lives got a major kick-start when we realized we would fare better separately. So those of you who insist on being sad over this, STOP IT ALREADY. FEEL HAPPY FOR US, REALLY.

She's getting ready to go to college--for which I am intensely proud of her. Frankly, it'll be easier for her as a recent divorcee to obtain financial aid. All who know just how smart she is, will be happy to know she'll get to expand upon that. The last few times I saw her, she seemed pretty happy too, and seems to be getting many of her health issues straightened out. Of course, being single is bringing challenges she never had to face before, but again I'm proud of her for facing those challenges, and more to the point, to embrace them. I'm confident she'll arise in the end, stronger than ever, and we'll all be awe-struck.

Her life isn't the only one improved by the separation.

I saw my doctor because I have bronchitis and she commented that I looked good and relatively toned, compared to the last time she saw me--have I been working out? No, just walking a lot, now that I don't have someone to drive me around everyplace. She was also amazed at my weight, given that I quit smoking. Most people quitting smoking usually experience more stress and tend to snack more, so she was expecting it to increase; instead it has remained stable for the past several months. (Cyn, honey, I love you, but I am so glad to not be living with smokers right now. FWIW, I'm glad you've cut back on your smoking too.) I've also made a good start with getting my dental woes resolved, and my chiropractic treatments continue with good results, have had a fair amount of hair removal done, and have gotten my hair cut nicely--things that would have been difficult to justify previously. And it's been increasingly easy to get a grip on my mental health as well. It's almost like being reborn.

For those in particular who are worried I'd be lonely--don't be. I'm dating a very nice, interesting, compatible person without any particular eye on an outcome, except to enjoy a bit of time together once a week. It helps that her kinks compliment mine very nicely. *ahem*

So again--stop worrying about us. We rock.

Never Enough Unfulfilled Ironies Department

I know this is a month late. Life and all. Plus somehow, despite my better instincts, I've been sucked into the Facebook maelstrom. But I was reminded by this Zaius Nation posting of an odd fantasy I had running through my head on Inauguration Day.

There we have President Barack Obama, freshly sworn in, giving his speech to the nation:

"On this hopeful occasion, one must yet recognize certain realities. Now, I know I have been compared to Superman by some of my supporters. This, of course, is nonsense. For you see...."

And here he rips off his rubber mask -- "I am actually LEX LUTHOR. BWAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!"

Why, oh why, is it that something that'd suck that bad would also be incredibly awesome? Probably for the same reason it's far-fetched, and it's just as well. Superman had his work cut out for him too.

Never Enough Truth About Normality Department

Powerful words:

"Meanwhile, too many people work endlessly hard at trying to “pass for normal”. The problem with pretending to be normal is that it gives power to the paradigm, to this concept of normalcy. As long as the person is pretending to be whatever kind of average-normal they are not, they are devaluing themselves and allowing others to devalue them, and they are handing over their personal power to the realm of the imaginary Normal people.

Normal, average people are imaginary, because no-one is wholly average and normal. However, the imaginary-normal people are a very real majority group. They all pretend to be normal, and en masse they have majority power under that paradigm."