xmakina: (Default)
xmakina ([personal profile] xmakina) wrote2010-03-30 04:44 pm
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splat!

Wowzers. The last few days have been Busy. Can't possibly think why. Perhaps a recap is in order?

I found out the lovely Dominey is coming back to England and spent about a day finding the best possible way to meet her at the airport and then crash in London. Interesting fact: the coaches and the trains around here and London are on a par with each other, except the coaches are cheaper.

Then on Saturday was no less than The Big Day - Oxford BiFest 2010. The day went absolutely fantastic, at least from where I was standing. I didn't get to do half as much socialising as I had wanted (especially with the fabulous [livejournal.com profile] blazingrowan) owing to a lapse into "organiser-who-spends-the-whole-day-checking-everywhere" mode. Highlights include the meet-and-greet at the station, [livejournal.com profile] miss_amaranth's first workshop, [livejournal.com profile] oilrig's Friends and Allies, the time spent on the desk in the evening (for 3 hours it sure did fly by) especially when certain attendees came to keep me company. The team are writing up a full announcement which will be posted soon but I just, personally, want to thank [livejournal.com profile] d_floorlandmine for the great music, the venue staff for putting on such yummy food and cheap drinks and everyone who came and made it the success it was!

On Sunday was the walks around Oxford, led by the very knowledgeable [livejournal.com profile] anarchist_nomad. I didn't join until quite late owing to a need to sleep that was pretty extreme. When I got there it was great to hang out with the fabulous [livejournal.com profile] just_becky as well as the two lovely people whose name I don't remember so if anyone can remind me that'd be lovely.

That evening we had a really good "tribe" (I'm still deciding what name I want to use here) gathering, which ended in lots of cuddles and then very yummy burgers!

Monday evening we had a debrief. The specifics relating to BiFest will be announced in due course, but in terms of Bisexual Oxford it was very good. We had a lot to get through and through it we got. We formalised a structure, came up with some really cool ways to look more professional and I've got some really high hopes for the team and the group. Again, specific announcements will made in the [livejournal.com profile] bisexual_oxford community when we've written them up.

Today I have been setting things up, making things work and occasionally doing my job! When I get home I need to start bringing my flat up from "squalid" to "impressively clean" as I'm expecting house guest on Saturday.

Speaking of which, it seems some people missed this last time so...
[Poll #1545083]

[identity profile] anarchist-nomad.livejournal.com 2010-03-30 04:02 pm (UTC)(link)
By the way: I'd be interested in what words you eventually choose to describe various levels of connection. About a year and a half ago, [livejournal.com profile] bunnypip and I -- along with some others -- had a discussion about the linguistics and ended up working with "community", "tribe", and "family".

Community is the least closely knit of the three. The collected BiCon crowd counts as a "community". Connected in many ways, but spread out.

Family is on the other end of the spectrum. [livejournal.com profile] cheshcat and Resourceress and [livejournal.com profile] sunastria and [livejournal.com profile] gyades and I were a poly family for many years, ending when Resourceress and I broke up our eight year relationship in December 2007. [livejournal.com profile] gyades and I own a house together in Chicago. Resourceress helped me drive a truck (pulling a car) 2500 miles from New York to Arizona. More recently, [livejournal.com profile] bunnypip and [livejournal.com profile] cheshcat and I have been functioning as a family unit. When [livejournal.com profile] cheshcat couldn't return to the States for Christmas, she stayed with [livejournal.com profile] bunnypip. When [livejournal.com profile] bunnypip needed childcare for the previous two Wednesday mornings, I drove to the Warren to provide. We have shared auto insurance and are likely to have shared bank accounts soon. In short, family is the most interwoven relationships... and they are the people you know you can count on and the bonds are strong all around.

"Tribe" is a level in between the two. We discussed this in late 2008, when [livejournal.com profile] bunnypip and [livejournal.com profile] parallelgirl and [livejournal.com profile] thehalibutkid and [livejournal.com profile] felbrigg and [livejournal.com profile] cheshcat and I were functioning thusly... with the door wide open for [livejournal.com profile] darkfloweruk to join us whenever she wanted. We did things like arrange a group cleanup of the Leveret Warren. We weren't all tightly connected to everyone else in the tribe... but there was a good sense of closeness and comradery.

Does that make sense?

Of course, you can pick whatever language suit you best. One of the things that I mentioned in our "Relationship Styles & Structures" workshop[*] is that we are moving beyond societal norms and, as such, we are in a linguistic frontier. Everyone is thinking what suits them best and picking their own nomenclature; what works well for one may even inadvertently offend another. So I share what we thought about to give you something to mull over... but, ultimately, you need to choose what works best for you.


[*] Which you did not attend as you needed to be in [livejournal.com profile] miss_amaranth's workshop at the time.

[identity profile] bunnypip.livejournal.com 2010-03-30 04:47 pm (UTC)(link)
other terms such as 'clan' could function instead of 'tribe' I suppose.

*reaches for thesaurus*

The equivalent that I have in London is, for complex reasons of terrible punning, called 'The Pride'

[identity profile] bunnypip.livejournal.com 2010-03-30 04:53 pm (UTC)(link)
online thesaurus suggests many things including:

'ilk', 'gang', 'bunch', 'band', 'tie-in', 'tie-up' (???), 'coterie', 'troupe', 'set', 'crush' (again ???), 'system', 'network', 'kin', 'kindred', 'kinship', 'syndicate', 'federation' etc etc

[identity profile] anarchist-nomad.livejournal.com 2010-03-30 05:12 pm (UTC)(link)
Some of those are really funny, Beloved! Besides the ones you denoted with question marks... could you really see us calling ourselves a "federation"?

A "syndicate" I could almost see, given the connection to Anarcho-syndicalism. On the other hand, I'm really the only person approaching an Anarcho-syndicalist in our current group.[*]

"Ilk"? I don't think so. Can you hear that? "We had a big ilk meeting," or "I need to have some communication with my ilk." Blech!

"Kindred" and "kinship" strike me as too close to family, rather than tribe. "Kith" fits better than "kin" for that.

As for clan? It could work as an alternative. It just is somewhat controversial, given my US-ianness. Reminds a bit too much of the KKK.

"Tie-up"??? *shakes head*


[*] And I'm not even fully that, really. I like to self-describe as an "Anarchist-without-adjectives", as I relate in various ways to Anarcho-communism and Anarcho-collectivism as well.

[identity profile] bunnypip.livejournal.com 2010-03-30 05:24 pm (UTC)(link)
I just chose the ones that were either interesting or funny or both.

Federation reminded me more of startrek than anything else!

[identity profile] anarchist-nomad.livejournal.com 2010-03-30 05:37 pm (UTC)(link)
In contrast, I tend to see "network" as broader than tribe, less broad than "community"... but not so much about describing relationships as connections.

For instance, I see your other left-handed American as in the same network as me -- thanks to the connection through you -- but we aren't in any sort of contact. Still, things that affect him can also easily affect me (e.g., recent mental health issues with one person, or a police case involving a different person).

Also worth noting that one can belong to more than one tribe. I see you as belonging to two, for instance.
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[identity profile] xmakina.livejournal.com 2010-03-30 05:41 pm (UTC)(link)
"is in your extended network". Ah, nostalgia.

[livejournal.com profile] miss_amaranth will get it if no one else does

[identity profile] anarchist-nomad.livejournal.com 2010-03-30 05:45 pm (UTC)(link)
MySpace?

[identity profile] bunnypip.livejournal.com 2010-03-30 05:45 pm (UTC)(link)
i agree about networks. It's more a logistical logical thing than a qualitative thing.

and yes ... two tribes. I just hope they don't go to war :-/

[identity profile] anarchist-nomad.livejournal.com 2010-03-30 05:51 pm (UTC)(link)
i agree about networks. It's more a logistical logical thing than a qualitative thing.

Exactly!

(Which is to say that I agree with you agreeing with me, Love! *grin*)

and yes ... two tribes. I just hope they don't go to war :-/

I don't think it likely, really. It seems to me more likely that the current situation will just continue ad infinitum.

*hugs*

[identity profile] bunnypip.livejournal.com 2010-03-30 05:54 pm (UTC)(link)
I am glad of that because when two tribes go to war one is all that you can score.

[identity profile] anarchist-nomad.livejournal.com 2010-03-30 05:56 pm (UTC)(link)
Song lyric? I missed that one -- sorry!

P.S. Just sent you a text. Don't know if you will get it -- your phone hates me.

[identity profile] bunnypip.livejournal.com 2010-03-30 05:58 pm (UTC)(link)
Frankie Goes to Hollywood.

No - no text :-(

[identity profile] anarchist-nomad.livejournal.com 2010-03-30 05:59 pm (UTC)(link)
Sorry -- missed that one. And I'm feeling less than gruntled with your phone, my dear!
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[identity profile] xmakina.livejournal.com 2010-03-30 05:24 pm (UTC)(link)
As a trekkie, The United Federation of Planets Polyness had a certain (if not usable) appeal!

Coterie is fun, but after reading Vampire:The Masquerade (where the vampires operate in coterie's) maybe I'm not so sure...

Thanks for posting those ideas, both of you. I shall continue to consider what I think works best for me *smiles*

[identity profile] anarchist-nomad.livejournal.com 2010-03-30 05:34 pm (UTC)(link)
Didn't know you were a Trekkie! Something else we have in common, then...

Good luck in finding the right poly language for you! And I'm sure that both [livejournal.com profile] bunnypip and I will be happy to brainstorm more with you if you so choose. After all, we are a pair of word geeks!
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[identity profile] xmakina.livejournal.com 2010-03-30 05:43 pm (UTC)(link)
Very much so. Incidentally; Janeway, Picard, Kirk, Sisko in that order. Leaving Archer out of this list is very deliberate.

[identity profile] bunnypip.livejournal.com 2010-03-30 05:47 pm (UTC)(link)
I would probably have agreed with you at one point. Now I'd probably say Picard, Kirk, Janeway, Sisko.

and no, Archer doesn't count. I keep expecting him to Leap!

[identity profile] bunnypip.livejournal.com 2010-03-30 05:50 pm (UTC)(link)
Oh, and who is your favourite adversary?

Mine has to be Q (boring and predictable I know). I also like the borg. I must do right? I named my step mother after them :-)
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[identity profile] xmakina.livejournal.com 2010-03-31 10:39 am (UTC)(link)
I see Q as more of an antagonist than an adversary. Whilst he does cause a lot of problems, he's never killed anyone, not even a red-shirt.

I really liked Lore and Seska. The only problem with Seska was when it was a story about her it always meant the episode revolved around Chakotay, my least favorite first officer.

[identity profile] bunnypip.livejournal.com 2010-03-31 10:47 am (UTC)(link)
I think I prefer him to major Kira.

No-one will ever rival Spock though.

[identity profile] anarchist-nomad.livejournal.com 2010-03-30 05:49 pm (UTC)(link)
I got into Trek at the age of seventeen, when TNG was in its fifth season. Contrary to most of the people my age, I actually preferred The Original Series, but I also quite enjoyed The Next Generation. I had a lukewarm relationship with Deep Space Nine and eventually drifted away, as my attempts to be captured by Voyager never bore fruit. So I've been away from the franchise since about 1996, I'm afraid. Never even tried Enterprise.

Personally, I think that they should jump another generation and try again. It was 21 years from the launch of TOS (1966) to TNG (1987) and it has been 23 from the TNG launch to present. Why not jump forward another hundred years and see if it would breathe new life into the franchise?

[identity profile] bunnypip.livejournal.com 2010-03-30 05:52 pm (UTC)(link)
I loved loved loved the startrek film last year though (like 'muppet babies' but with startrek) I want more of that!!!

[identity profile] anarchist-nomad.livejournal.com 2010-03-30 05:57 pm (UTC)(link)
Absolutely!!

I don't count one movie as me getting back into the franchise... but, yes, it was [surprisingly] excellent! Looking forward to whenever they choose to make a sequel!

*grin* *bounce*

[identity profile] bunnypip.livejournal.com 2010-03-30 05:57 pm (UTC)(link)
'its interminable mission to boldly go back to places we visited 3 seasons ago because the women were cute and wore short skirts'

[identity profile] anarchist-nomad.livejournal.com 2010-03-30 05:58 pm (UTC)(link)
Is there really a better reason?? >;-D

[identity profile] anarchist-nomad.livejournal.com 2010-03-30 05:58 pm (UTC)(link)
Oh, and to split infinitives! That is also part of the infinite mission, you know... *wink*

[identity profile] bunnypip.livejournal.com 2010-03-31 07:17 am (UTC)(link)
to boldly, and with scant regard for the rules of grammar as they pertain to the use of infinitive verb forms, go where no-one (or man) has gone before.

[identity profile] sweetcyanide.livejournal.com 2010-03-31 07:42 am (UTC)(link)
Bah, missed party announcement the first time and have other plans now :-( Hope you have a really fantastic on though! xxx

[identity profile] blazingrowan.livejournal.com 2010-03-31 11:07 am (UTC)(link)
Thanks for the invite! *buries self in exams*

[identity profile] pinkoi.livejournal.com 2010-03-30 05:32 pm (UTC)(link)
sorry i cant come to your party dude, it is my friends birthday which I have already said I would be about for
xx

I would have been...

[identity profile] topbit.livejournal.com 2010-03-30 08:47 pm (UTC)(link)
But me heading to Eastercon has been planned for some time