In the first Q&A panel, Jerry (Tycho) kept saying that in response to
questions about possible additions to PAX. After the first few, it
became kind of a running joke because of the repetition, but I think
that's part of why I love PAX above all the other events. Part of the
makeup of the demographic is to be genuinely interested in others or at
least a lack of malice. Most whining and nastiness is generally
curtailed through sheer peer pressure to be nice. My guess is too many
of us have memories of unpleasant teenage years too thoroughly imprinted
on our psyches to allow trash talk and the like to creep into our
domain. But other than a general intolerance of hostility it's pretty
much anything goes. There's no pressure to conform. You want to wear
that top hat or bring an ocharina, do it. Chances are, someone will be
unexpectedly pleased by it. A lot of people wear costumes, but because
quality costumes are generally enthusiastically received they are
generally very high calibur jobs. It's the whole creativity + commitment
thing that marks the rest of the show. I guess I'm going to keep coming
back to that. As we roll away down the tracks from the show, I always
get a little sad about it being over, not necessarily for the panels or
shows or cool vendors, but for the crowds of people who mostly seemed as
interested in other people and their creativity as I am. It's rather
meta to be in a crowd of other people watchers, kind of like standing in
the middle of the hall of mirrors in Versailles. Then suddenly, after three days of concentrated crowd, everyone
disperses into the rest of societal mix and I'm back to being the
observer looking in from the outside again. It's always a little bizarre
to make that changeover even though I spend 99% of my life that way.
Then I find my footing again and get back to it. But for three days I
belong and identify with an actual community instead of just mucking
around on the fringes so I can learn the skills without the accompanying
worldview, the way I did with motorcycles, or hockey, or even writing. Anyway, it's a long ride south today and I've loads of time to
acclimatize myself to not being a part of anything larger. It's just
always a little sad to lose the sense of community.
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