As we were riding up to the Gettysburg DopeFest yesterday, Doc Cathode, Cleophus and I were discussing the sporadicness of my attendance at some local PhillyDope gatherings. The short answer – I’m significantly older than most of the attendees; I don’t do the whole sci-fi/fantasy/RPG thing; and I don’t drink – so once in a while, maybe, but I’m not gonna get that much out of it. At that point, Doc Cathode began to question me closely, and evoked the following as the list of things I don’t do:
[ul]
[li]“Star Trek”[/li][li]“Star Wars”[/li][li]“LOTR”[/li][li]Other fantasy[/li][li]Any RPGs, ever, even as a youthful experiment[/li][li]“The Simpsons”[/li][li]“Futurama”[/li][li]anime[/li][li]“Family Guy”[/li][li]“King of the Hill”[/li][li]“The X-Files”[/li][li]Esperanto[/li][li]Play an instrument[/li][li]Write anything other than stuff associated with my job[/li][li]Chthulu[/li][li]Ren Faire[/li][li]Smoke ([not entirely OT]I haven’t been around so many smokers at once in at least ten years as I was yesterday[/OT])[/li][li]Drink [/li][li]Do drugs[/li][li]Know anything more about computers than where the “on” button is[/li][li]Post in Great Debates[/li][li]Do more than tiptoe gingerly through the Pit[/li][li]Post anything at all about my bedroom or bathroom habits (though I have posted a few times in threads about menstruation and/or menopause – but only if it says “TMI – boyz keep out” in big letters in the thread title :o )[/li][/ul]
What do I do, DC demanded.
Um – Tap dance? (too … non-dopery, aparently). Garden. Design my own needlepoint projects. Collect shell lamps ('50s kitsch). None of these really are exactly to the point of the ethos here, though. My fondness for Arthurian legend, since it’s well the boring side of obsessive, probably isn’t enough. My starting the weekly “Apprentice” thread was also dismissed by my judges.
I was telling MsRobyn about this conversation at the DopeFest, and she thought long and hard and came up with “Post way too much in game threads.” (For those who have disabled sigs – my claim to fame is damn close to 500 posts in the infamous “a” thread)
Is that enough, people? Or must I exile myself from my beloved Dope, where I spend so much time and have made so many friends? Must I quit before I get to 5,000 posts – a milepost I’ll probably hit before my second anniversary?
One final bit of evidence that I might belong here after all: It’s a ridiculoulusly gorgeous day on the cusp between spring and summer – and I can’t go out and start the yardwork I’m so looking forward until I’d composed this OP.
Well, I say you can stay; OTOH, I don’t do most of the things that you don’t do (I’ll admit to enjoying LOTR, occasional drinking, RenFaire, and probably posting more often than I should in sex/menstruation/TMI du jour threads.
But, IMO, if you ponied up the bucks, and you don’t piss off the mods enough to get banned, then you can stay.
Also, I enjoyed meeting you yesterday, and hope to see you at other Dopefests.
Sure, you’re a Doper, twickster. You are because you help the balance of what is Dopatude. For us to be the grand mental melting pot, we need as much variety in the gene pool as possible. Cannonball!
I don’t do dildos and dragons, Lord of the Rutabagas, or Rocket Propelled Grenade games, either. You’ll shoot your eye out!
Worry not about drinkage and smokage-some us us will make up for that.
[John Wayne voice]So anyway, what I’m tryin’ to say, little Missie is that you can hang around these here parts as long as ya like-cause ya seem to fit right in.[/voice]
Heck, I’m YOUNGER than most of the dopers that attend gatherings. I’m pretty sure I was the youngest person with a screenname that attended ChiDope this year.
I don’t drink, smoke, or do drugs. I’m not into sci-fi or Buffy or LOTR or RPGs or Futurama or the X-Files. I’m not a writer (though I took a creative writing class), I don’t post things relating to the bedroom or the bathroom, and I don’t do Renfaires.
ChiDopes 2003 and 2004 have been a couple of the two most fun weekends of my life.
If only for being high priestess of the “a” thread, if simply for pointing out that Gwyneth Paltrow looks like Howdy Doody and finally, if just for directing yours truly to the ‘wedding ring up the nose’ thread, you reveal the very soul of a doper.
Truth be told, I’m not into any of the things you listed in your OP, either. Fantasy? Yawn. “The Simpsons/Family Guy/any other adult cartoon”? Change the channel. RPGs? No thanks, I think I’ll stick to mah jongg. Anything else? Too busy. And a certain sense of delicacy and decorum forbid me from posting to many of the TMI threads, and posting in a sex thread is a big no-no. So I guess I’m not a Doper, either.
However, apparently there are some people who actually read what I post, and some who actually like reading it. So I stay. Besides, if it weren’t for the SDMB, where else would I have met you, twicks? The Eiffel Tower?
What the heck are Renfaires & RPGs?? I do a few of the things you don’t do, but very few. And I’m old… waaay old (My birthday is Thursday, then I stop counting ) Even if someone told me to leave, I doubt I could. I’m too addicted!
Renfaires are Renaissance Fairs, where people dress up in medieval costume and go around eating haunches of meet, etc. RPG = Role Playing Game, like Dungeons and Dragons, etc.
How old? 50 this year. :eek: Older than Cleophus’s mother, for instance. And definitely old enough that I’m pretty sure RNATB doesn’t really want to see me naked.
I do a few of the things you don’t do, but very few. And I’m old… waaay old (My birthday is Thursday, then I stop counting ) Even if someone told me to leave, I doubt I could. I’m too addicted!