Vacation Part 2: Amish Country

The second leg of our one-week vacation brought us through the Amish countries of Ohio and Pennsylvania. Can you think of a bigger contrast?

The driving was long, but the places were cool. I have a respect for the Amish beliefs, even though I don't largely agree with them. It makes me think about being born into that culture, which I suppose is no more strange than being born into any other culture vastly different from our American way of life. That's what the Amish are like, citizens of another country alotgether. Given their Dutch heritage, that's suitable to say.

They have a unform, plain. Married men have beards; no mustaches, those are too militaristic for them. Women with white prayer coverings on their heads (they don't ever cut their hair) if they're married, black if they're not, and no jewelry (not even wedding rings). These clothes, as well as their shunning of photographs, they feel encourages humility.

And yes, I did have Weird Al's "Amish Paradise" stuck in my head a few times.

They're not as stuck in time as we tend to think. In fact, they can use electricity, but they have to generate their own. No Con Ed showing up at their farms. At a couple of the farm stands we stopped at, they did have small refridgerators they used to keep milk cold. Their horse-drawn buggies were everywhere, even on the main roads among the cars, but out of laws they bear reflectors and some even had twin lights on the front which simulated car headlights. Good idea, that.

They also speak Dutch first and the kids learn English once they start school. In fact, they think of all the rest of us Americans as "the English."

We came away with some great homemade foods and tons of fresh vegetables. All in all, a good experience and one I consider humbling. Me and my fancy laptop computer and my A/C and my job on the 11th floor concerning a Web-based appliation!

Vacation Part 1: GenCon 2005

GenCon Indy was, in short, a great deal of fun. We met authors, game designers, artists, fellow aspiring authors, and so on, and everyone was humble and very nice (as we all should be in the writing/gaming industry). I got some discounts on some books, a bunch of free stuff (including minis and t-shirts), and did my best to take in all the sights and color. Having seen that many geeks packed into one place, I can tell you that the stereotypes are both dead-on and completely untrue. And hey, where else can you see an avariel (winged elf) walking down the street? As it turned out, that girl won the costume contest, too.

We stayed with Ed and Lara and their very friendly cats in Bloomington. We got to hang out with Harley (and his friend Alex) for about 24 hours. (As it turns out, that’s the longest block of time anyone ever sees Harley: 24 hours. Maybe it’s in everyone’s best interest that it works that way; the guy is raw energy and optimism; any more of that unfettered exposure may begin to change you! Here’s a photo of him at the Goodman Games booth doing a signing and chatting with David Arneson, co-creator of the D&D game, like they're old friends!)

It was great to see you guys again. Cooler than meeting any famous author (and heck, I've forgotten how many times I've met R.A. Salvatore). Of course, as you are authors already, it’s the best of both worlds. And, as always, the weekend was far, far too short. We need more time. And next year we ought to…oh, I don’t know….GAME a little.

We also had a few visits over at the Order of the Stick booth, where Jess and Ruth deftly handled the numerous unruly OotS fans. I hope you two had fun despite the chaos, even though you probably didn’t get to experience the rest of GenCon half as much as you wanted to.

If anyone wants to see my GenCon slideshow and haven't already, let me know, and I'll send it your way!

Going West

And so later today we will set out due west—via rental Rendezvous (an interestingly-shaped car)—to pass through Pennsylvania and Ohio to reach the State of Indiana wherein we shall commence into a 3–4 day experience known collectively as GenCon 2005. It’s the biggest annual convention for fantasy/sci-fi/gaming, and also the only convention I’ve ever been to.

We’ll be staying with my friends Ed Gentry and Lara Gose, fellow writer/gamers.

I'll be checking back in 7 days and hopefully will have stories to tell (or at least amusing anecdotes) and photos from the whole experience. We'll get to meet a whole bunch of authors and game designers who are celebrities within the industry.

Incidentally, Escapee episode 17 is up. 18 will be in two weeks.

A Sense of Proportion

In a recent conversation I had with Harley, I spoke aloud something I'd been thinking about...

I (and most of you who might be reading this) exist in circles in which it's not a big deal to say something like, "Okay, so picture a world where the common person believes that winged leonine creatures are the dominant species..."

I take it for granted, this simple ability to adjust my perception to imagine an alternate world—period. That's really not an everyday thing. I've met plenty of people who find books or movies not set in modern times in a completely real world distasteful or, more likely, completely foreign to rational thought. As a writer of fantasy fiction, though, it's an everyday notion.

Of course, I take that to another extreme sometimes. When I watch a movie trailer that flashes across the screen dramatically, "Based on a true story..." I get disappointed. Real life? I much prefer fiction, (1) because it's more likely to be supernatural or fantastical, and (2) because whatever events occur, it didn't actually happen. If it's a tragedy or a crime movie, I'll feel better about it. Give me The Ring any day, but not as a real life event! Scare me to death if you can, but I'll actually be more freaked out knowing it's not real. Movies that are a little too close to reality just aren't that fun for me. Give me fiction! Give me another world!

It's like how lots of people I see on the train, who live in the Bronx, like reading novels about drugs, gangs, crime, marital affairs, or any of a dozen other depressing real-life issues you hear about on the news each night. That amazes me, that—as I see it, anyway—inability to detach oneself from Real Life, even for just a few minutes.

But don't misunderstand. This isn't disappointment with the real world. For one, the real world gives substance to fantasy; without it we would't have any basis for the fantastical. As well, the real world does have some pretty cool stuff—and that's just things I've seen with my own eyes.

A recent project of mine has had me researching the Aztec Empire a little bit. Dang, that's some pretty amazing stuff. Tenochtitlan, its capital city, was huge, and built upon the surface of a lake and accessed only by four narrow bridges. They erected great temples and pyramids, and they didn't even have the wheel.

In fact, this is a great example. Our real world produced something amazing we modern folks could never have dreamt up...it feels like a humble testament to me to base something in a fantasy world on such real-world wonders.

At this point I'm just babbling. Escapee episode 15 is up, by the way.