Fitting in

Today Tonight at the LAN party...

kelsin: "zandperl, you ARE white and nerdy."
Um, thanks I guess, for thinking I "pass"... but really, I'm light yellow. Or off-white. Or, if you're in a good mood, eggshell. ;) No worries, it amuses me when people play guessing games. :)

From the n00bs at the other table watching some other geeky music video: *scoffing noise* "Gamer girls aren't ever that hot!"
zandperl (while standing right next to ayashi): "Hey!"
Unsurprisingly, they didn't notice.

dream

I was driving in Boston, on the highway, looking for route 2 so I could stick near the Charles and Cambridge for a particular place I was trying to go. Everything looked a lot like my The City stage/set, but I kept seeing a map of Boston so I knew it was that. I was going too fast for the Rt 2 turnoff ramp as usual, and went partway up it on two wheels, then fell back off onto the highway (Pike?). I got kinda lost downtown, there was this confusing intersection with trolleys (the Green Line) and busses. A nice old man let me change lanes. My Mom was driving another car. They wanted me to pay a toll to cross the trolley line on foot since they were making everyone pay to get on - they didn't remember how much it cost, and the sign wasn't working so they had to call up front, $1.45. I protested that I had meant to make a left turn, but I missed it, so the woman told me to stay on the side, and she grabbed my wrist so I couldn't leave. I told Mom and WGL what'd happened, and that WGL and I were still on for lunch tomorrow before I had to go back home.

A letter to geeks

After my experience at PAX this summer, and some thinking about CTY's Zero Indifference policy, I realized I couldn't let this one go by.

Hi All,

Saturday's LAN party was lots of fun as usual, but there was one thing that unfortunately stuck in my mind, and I have to say something about it.

At one point there were something like eight guys crowding around a computer monitor, watching a music video or something, I didn't see the actual video. Then one guy said, "real gamer girls aren't hot."

Y'know, there's a very good reason there aren't that many hot gamer girls, or any flavor of gamer girls in the first place. That's because those of us girls who game, have an image in our heads of eight guys staring at a screen-full of gamer girls and checking out their chest sizes, not their preference of games. I was quite disappointed to see it actually happen. Maybe it was just a slip of the tongue, but there were seven other guys at that computer, and not a one of them said a thing to the speaker.

I hope that at next month's LAN party people can be a little better about their attitudes towards gamer girls and not say things that drive the less bold of us away. Or if you don't agree with my sentiments, at least learn to censor yourself before speaking in public. And I hope if someone *does* slip up, the person next to them points out that it's not acceptable.

Zandperl

*sigh* The one person's comment made me yell the "Hey!" at the moment. The silence of the other seven made me keep thinking about it tonight while installing plastic window insulation. tiurin pointed out that maybe he was one of those with perpetual verbal diarrhea and the others had learned to tune it out, but I don't think that makes it any more acceptable.

If it happens again, there's no real way to win. If I leave, he's driven me out. If I don't, I'm giving tacit consent like the seven guys. I think I might just have to cause a scene if it happens. *grumble* It better not fucking happen again.

And no one better reply with a fucking "freedom of expression" argument. I'm free to kick you in the balls too.

(And sexual harassment isn't protected speech anyway.)