I'm over at Hastings for a conference. I wrote up the first panel for my MfA blog.

My panel was good. I don't think I was imagining it that the audience was fullest for us, being that we had the massive star power. I was sitting between Krist Novoselic (bassist for Nirvana) and Fat Mike of NOFX, with Jenny Toomey (Director of the awesome Future of Music Coalition) sitting in and moderating. Nervous! I think I did ok though. People had positive feedback for me, and I'm hoping to get some constructive criticism tomorrow. It was kind of a rush.

Lawrence Lessig is a-fucking-mazing. I've been a fan of his work for a while, but I'd never seen/heard him live. His presentaion was one step shy of genius theater of the mind. His pacing; his use of visuals and music; his messge which is down-to-earth and intellectually as close to bullet proof as it gets... I want to put this man on tour all over the nation to promote Free Cultre, or at least rip off his act and get enough people excited that we can stick The Man Himself on the Supreme Court. I'll try to find video of that if I can.

In all it was an interesting day. I was surprised at how many misconceptions were floating around. The notion that filesharing cut into music industry profits was gospel, when in fact it's highly debatable. The technology community was also somewhat underrepresented. Nowhere was this more apparent than in the keynote of State Senator Kevin Murray. I was called away from his work in-progress to prep for my panel, which was a good thing because half way through it I was almost in full rant mode. I took notes during his speech and I will send his office a message with some far more laid-back responses than I would have given in-person. I don't know if any attention will be paid, but I'd like to educate the man.

Anyway, it was a great experience. There were a lot of smart, good-looking, energetic people there. I got to tag-team-transcribe one panel via SubEthaEdit and Rendzevious (my new favorite way to know who's definitely "in the know" about tech at these things). I got to shmooze a little later. It was fun to talk in front of folks. If I can keep this up without getting hooked on Hubris (good luck, comanche) I might get to make it a more regular thing.

I'm in the office. It's 2am. I'm stuffing envelopes, working on a dvd, and setting up some mailing lists. I'm fairly confidant that in four or eight years this will be more commonplace experience. As it is I feel a little like a pioneer.

Hey. Sorry for leaving that mopey post up for so long. I've been busy and things are better. My bike seat's been stolen twice, but Frank is moving in and MfA is taking off. I've got all kinds of things to write about, but no time for anything at the moment. I haven't even called my mom!

I feel good about a lot of things; things are still moving.

Swirling malcontented winds of impotence; it's hard to watch the ship go down. Like having your testicles in a a cold vice. First a shinking and then a crushing. There's a proven correlation between winning and testosterone, something to do with vigor and vitality. I'm a little bit hollow lately; not beaten by any stretch, but empty of a great many things. Nobody likes loosing, feeling like a looser.

Everyone wants a piece of something. I'm not sure what it is that people think we've got here. I seem to have lost some of my bearings -- don't know what I want anymore. What to believe. And where the hell is this going? Can you tell I'm confused? Need to go up on a mountain or something, get my shit sorted out.

But there's no time for mountain climbing at the moment. We're getting into a big push for music for america. Time to dig deep and find some inner veins of fortitude for the next two weeks. Then strike a more equitable balance in life. I'd like to have fun again. You can't beat fun; but it's a lot easier said than done.