Current Post On Trae’s Blog:
So I'm just going to come out and say it: My favorite episode of Star Trek: The Next Generation is "Conundrum." It's episode fourteen of season five, and I just deeply love it.
I don't know if it's because I literally just assumed Erich Anderson's Commander McDuff was a random Enterprise officer of the week (which we saw quite often during the show) when I watched it as a kid during the original run, so the twist actually worked on eleven year old me. I don't know if it's because I just like a good "everyone has amnesia" story. I don't even know if it's just because it's a good Ro Laren episode. I don't know if it's just because we learn that Starfleet doesn't give a crap about lasers.
I just like it. It's neat.
And I rewatched it last night, and feel that it holds up -- which is why I found it deeply weird that the folks who wrote the episode actually think it's not that good. My favorite episode of the entire seven season run of the show was a failure according to the folks who wrote it.
And maybe, as a writer and creator, I should remember that.
Like the hardest part of releasing creative works to the public is that often, after a while, I'll start to judge those things far more harshly than when I first made them. Or I'll compare it to the potential I thought an idea had in my head. And if I don't reach that potential, I'll think of it as "bad" -- when it might just be slightly different than that idea. I have one hundred percent published stories that I thought were just sort of okay and later had someone tell me how much it meant to them to read it.
*cough*I Hate November*cough*
So I should make sure I remember Conundrum. That one of my favorite things to rewatch is considered one of those failures by its creators. That the things I make might have value, just not in the way I originally thought they should.
It's just sort of how things work out.
Remember that on April 5th at 11AM Eastern/10AM Central you can join me for the Critical Thinking Witches' Collective's April Brew virtual event! Attendance is free, and you can register here!
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…though, given what the rest of the convention will smell like by that point, I’m sure sure how much it will help.
It’s important for the staff room to remain a refuge. The VGR is a lost cause
Thats why we gave our volunteers traffic cone yellow vests……and named them the bees.
True story, Lynn. True story.
Taking a shower always helps.
Showers help, and so do washing machines, which most hotels have. For some reason, they are very seldom used.
I’d also like to think that while it’s 90 outside, it’s cooler in the convention hall… but I know that’s not always the case.
Basic rule – if you have gofers crashing in the Gofer Hole, make sure the room has showers and lots and lots of towels AND that there’s time for everybody to use them before they get going in the morning. Your sense of smell will love you for it.
We don’t make our volunteers wear T-shirts.. except for security.
Sunday night at the staff dinner, there’s a reason I don’t sit with security.. (>_>)
I once attended the volunteer meeting at a Free Software conference. (These are only *slightly* geeky, so most people do know about showers and changing clothes, plus no cosplay… So not smelly in general.) They said everyone is getting *two* shirts — because the conference lasts more than one day…