No Strings Attached

Posted By Kathleen David on September 12, 2014

At Dragon Con I got to hang with like-minded people for a couple of days. I got to play with my puppet tribe. I got to hang with old friends I hadn’t seen in years and it was like putting on a comfortable sweater. It was glorious.

But this year I noticed that I was explaining to people some old fannish customs. A couple of us figured out that most of the people who participated in the puppetry track had never met Jim Henson. Heck some of them hadn’t even been born.

I spent some time talking to friends about conventions past that had faded into memory like Atlanta Fantasy Fair and MoC. Dixie Trek came up too. ChattaCon and Liberty Con are the only two that I went to regularly that are still going on.

I have become, to some, without my knowing it an elder in fandom. I was there when (fill in the blank) happened.

And it is an odd feeling.

Caroline and I were talking the other day about various topics including school and her new classmates. She told me that the kids thought I was cool because I work with puppets and always wear awesome t-shirts. And that Dad was cool because he worked for Marvel.

But she felt different than the other kids because her upbringing is different. She had both parents at home when she leaves for school and when she gets back. We work out of the house rather than go to a shop or office. She travels to all kinds of interesting places and meets interesting people.

And I got to thinking about being the Other. The one outside the group looking in.

I think we all feel that we are the Other at some point in our lives.

I know my brain doesn’t work like other people’s brains and that’s fine because theirs don’t work like mine either.

It is when I discover that something my brain does and has been doing pretty much my whole life is not like the norm that I feel the most like the Other. My norm is not your norm nor will it ever be.

I walk around with music playing in my head. Sometimes the songs get stuck but I pretty much have a soundtrack to my life or lines of dialogue from something I have heard.

I have been called a good problem solver because I seem to have this magically ability to think outside the box and come up with a solution. One of the reason I love doing panels at Dragon Con where the panelists are asked how they would build something or what materials would we use for something. Being able to rattle off ideas is like breathing to me. I also can take what others are coming up with and adding to it. I was asked this past Dragon Con, ‘How fast do you think?’ Apparently it is faster than most but then my brothers and sister can do the same thing so that’s the normal for my family.

My brain doesn’t slow down and I am fine with that. Makes it a little noisy in my head at time but I have learned to deal.

When I was a child being the Other could kind of sucked as an adult I am so use to it that it really doesn’t cross my mind unless something brings attention to it. In this case it was Caroline and a discussion about being true to yourself.

But there are times when I look around and see how I look different than the other parents of the children that Caroline is friends with. I know our common ground is our children and not much more than that. I am the Other and I am OK with that and I honestly hope they are too.

I am grateful for my brain in all its twisted glory.

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Posted By Kathleen David on September 10, 2014

There is a long list of things that I said I would do or start thinking about after Dragon Con. I just had to get through the convention.

Well now on the other side of the convention and starting to sort out what is first in the shooting match down to it would be nice to do but not in the top.

Sometimes to clear my mind, I have to clear the clutter around me. I have found that I think better in a clean(er) space. And right now things look pretty cluttered. Most of it is the aftermath of packing and puppet making. Just need to start with A and work my way to B.

Next week is paper recycling so it is time for me to go through the magazines we get and pull what I want and recycle the rest of it. I am afraid to see how far back this goes.

My birthday was quiet and that was nice. We did have a lovely cake. Now we have less lovely cake but still very good cake. We also watched the Adventures of Baron Munchausen again. Those of you at the Dragon Con Awards Banquet know why.

Today is a get the doggone project done day for something I have been working on but not finishing. Part of the hang up is that I can’t print the photos I want and I don’t want to buy yet another photo printer that won’t work the way I need it to. I already have one of those. So off I go to one of three places to do what I need to do.

Then onto the next thing on the list and so on and so forth.

Thus is my life right now.

I am grateful for that which gets done.

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Posted By Kathleen David on September 9, 2014

Today is my 51st birthday. I plan on celebrating it quietly at home. I did get a kicking card from Caroline

(For the VI: this is a card made for my by my daughter Caroline. It depicts me at age 10 with Kermit the Frog to the right)

(For the VI; This is a blurry photo of the interior. It says on the left “41 years later” and it has two Frogs peeking in on the left with me all grown up with a cat peeking from behind my legs and Caroline on my right. On the right it says “Happy Birthday. We love you, all the other cards were cheesy. Love Caroline and Daddy”)

Dear Kath,

Well another year has passed.

There has been joy and tears, successes and failures, friends found and friends lost, some forever.

You did get your creative mojo working again. Let’s just get it going a little sooner so we aren’t finishing puppets at Dragon Con.

You did get to the gym with more regularity, which I am proud of you for. Let’s get it even more so this year. You know how much better you feel after exercising.

Let’s be better about keeping promises to our daughter. She wants to do so much with you now and you need to make sure she can before you become ‘uncool’. You know what I am talking about.

Make sure your friends and family know how much you love and appreciate them. Life is fleeting as you learned this year a couple of time too many for my taste but then we are getting to that age.

Oh and can we get that Website you keep talking about going? You are on Twitter, Tumblr, Facebook, Livejournal and a couple of other places. It is that hard to put up your photos of your art work for people to peruse?

Remember that Balance is important. You learned that one the hard way this past year.

And take some time for yourself. You know what I am talking about.

Look forward to what you do this year

Love,

Yourself.

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Posted By Kathleen David on September 7, 2014

Or I have a cold and my sinuses are so irritated that my teeth hurt.

I am not a good sick person. Peter is not a good sick person. So two not good sick people in one house is a challenge. However Peter is on the mend and is feeling better so I know that I have about two or three more days of this and it will go away.

The NFL starts today. Yes, I know there was a game Thursday but today is when almost everyone gets back into it. The speculation is over and it is now time for the proof. It is also going to be interesting to see how all these new rules about contact effect the game and the timing of the game.

Baseball is still going. I have noticed a number of teams seem to be talking about being a wild card more than a division winner. Also it is interesting who is at the end of each division. Mets are already talking about next year.

I did enjoy Dr. Who last night. Capaldi is rapidly leapfrogging his way up my Doctor chart as favorite Doctor. And Jenna Coleman made it look like Clara was having a ball with the whole situation. First time we have seen it while it aired.

I think I am getting the hang of Tumblr. I am Puppetmaker40 there, which is also my Live Journal handle which I have had for 10 years now. I am mostly reposting that which I find interesting and photos of my puppets.

Still haven’t figure out twitter but I need to start using that again. My handle is @kathodavid. I am going to try to do the 100 Happy Days Challenge. Day one is up now.

Social media is vast and everyone is told that they need to be careful about their social footprint since employers look at how you present yourself online. I am looking at some of the Dragon Con photos and the like and wondering how long that is going to follow people around. Not some great choices there.

Today is more of the same. By tomorrow I want to have Dragon Con in the books.

I am grateful for things that help clear my head.

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Posted By Kathleen David on September 6, 2014

Peter picked something up at Dragon Con and I picked it up from him or someone on Monday considering when my symptoms showed up.

My head is clogged and sneezing seems to be a full body sport.

However things must be done so I will figure out a way to get them done.

Con Crud is a fact of going to conventions. You have so many people in a limit area and some people don’t know they are sick until they are at the convention or right after when symptoms start to show which is too late for everyone else who has been exposed.

Plus many people’s immune system is compromised by too little sleep and other factors.

Our big mistake was forgetting the hand sanitizer that we usually have with us.

Because of that, we will deal with the symptoms and get better.

I am grateful for whatever makes my nose feel better.

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