Faithful

I was inspired by a viewing of Fever Pitch, a movie about an obsessive Boston Red Sox fan, to read Faithful, the recent Stewart O'Nan/Stephen King book about following the Red Sox through last season. Non-baseball fans will be disappointed in this book -- it does talk from time to time about what it means to be a fan who lives and dies with a team with such a disappointing legacy but the majority of the text talks about minutiae related to strategies, personnel, and so on, albeit in a well written and often amusing way. However, timill and rwl should read it immediately!

Faithful

I was inspired by a viewing of Fever Pitch, a movie about an obsessive Boston Red Sox fan, to read Faithful, the recent Stewart O'Nan/Stephen King book about following the Red Sox through last season. Non-baseball fans will be disappointed in this book -- it does talk from time to time about what it means to be a fan who lives and dies with a team with such a disappointing legacy but the majority of the text talks about minutiae related to strategies, personnel, and so on, albeit in a well written and often amusing way. However, timill and rwl should read it immediately!

Trepidation

I went down to LA yesterday to go to the cemetery -- not only did my family always go to the cemetery on Mother's Day when I was a kid but my mother's birthday was May 5 so there is a two-fold reason for this annual visit. (I also go down between Rosh Hashana and Yom Kippur, and for the anniversary of the date of my mother's passing.) On these visits, I also get to spend some time with my brother, who lives down there. The visit reminded me that I don't believe that I've mentioned here that my brother has decided to come to ConQuesT in Kansas City to get to know Stephen better. He's also done some anime voiceover work so I think he'll have a good time and would make a good addition to the program. The trepidation comes in because I love my brother a lot and he's a much kinder and nicer person that I am, but he tends towards the emotional and romantic in his view of the world, where Stephen and I are more practical, cynical, and sarcastic. It's very touching that he wants to spend more time with us but the thought of his possibly dragging Stephen off for a man-to-man chat fills me with horror, especially given that Stephen says he will try but cannot promise not to laugh... It's also going to be weird having my personal life and my fannish life intersect so closely.

Trepidation

I went down to LA yesterday to go to the cemetery -- not only did my family always go to the cemetery on Mother's Day when I was a kid but my mother's birthday was May 5 so there is a two-fold reason for this annual visit. (I also go down between Rosh Hashana and Yom Kippur, and for the anniversary of the date of my mother's passing.) On these visits, I also get to spend some time with my brother, who lives down there. The visit reminded me that I don't believe that I've mentioned here that my brother has decided to come to ConQuesT in Kansas City to get to know Stephen better. He's also done some anime voiceover work so I think he'll have a good time and would make a good addition to the program. The trepidation comes in because I love my brother a lot and he's a much kinder and nicer person that I am, but he tends towards the emotional and romantic in his view of the world, where Stephen and I are more practical, cynical, and sarcastic. It's very touching that he wants to spend more time with us but the thought of his possibly dragging Stephen off for a man-to-man chat fills me with horror, especially given that Stephen says he will try but cannot promise not to laugh... It's also going to be weird having my personal life and my fannish life intersect so closely.