open pasture

Instagram Username Update

So I am super excited!

When I first registered for Instagram, someone had taken my username (the nerve!), and to make matters worse, they hadn’t even used the account in I don’t know how many years.

Fortunately, the other day I happened to check, and my username became available, so my Instagram username is no longer TheMattSchwartzNet, and is finally TheMattSchwartz which makes me endlessly happy (I like it when things match).

https://www.instagram.com/p/BVi-aGVACpL/?taken-by=themattschwartz

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My Tags, Let Me Show You Them

Con Prep Day II

Okay, I am almost all ready – currently returning phone calls so I can clean out my voicemail: then a shower, printing out the last bit of stuff I need to for con, then doing the iron on transfers, and we are totally wrapped up…and if spoons stick with me I may even be able to organize my desk a bit. Kadimah!

And away we goooo!!!

So all of my blog entries are transferred over (woohoo!!)!! I will attempt to categorize/tag everything over the next few days (woot), as well as unlock a few posts that don’t have to be locked, but – by and large – we’re done!

I am super, super, super excited to get back into blogging (and so happy to be off of LJ, now that they’ve sold us out to the Russian Federation).

For now, a summary email to work, a few return phone calls, some errands, and one or two things left for Yaoi North and we’ll call it a great day 🙂

So about that export/import…

So the LiveJournal export didn’t export *everything* (totally not Greg’s fault, apparently one of my entries has something in it that’s making export hard) so now I’m manually copying entries from my LJ to my Blog fro 2002-2011 (and then deleting them from our evil Russian Overlords) while watching (err…listening to) Fantastic Beasts as Mom and I celebrate Mother’s Day by preparing some Brie and Crackers…and our Fondoodler…and I try and beat the migraine that wants to emerge into submission with pills and water.

However, I am still eternally grateful to Greg because what was able to be exported has saved me weeks of work, and the remaining transfer will only take a few hours today so woohoo!

Almost Time For Anime North

Before I begin, I have to thank both Gryvon for getting my blog back online and for providing hosting, and Greg for writing the script that allowed me to get my content off of LiveJournal’s servers, now that they’ve totally sold out to their Russian Federation overlords (speaking of, if you can afford to make a donation to the Rainbow Railroad to support evacuating our brothers in Chechnya, please do so).

Please forgive me as I work to get back into my writing groove, and as I work to get some maintenance done around here (like categories, etc.). I am just so thankful that, at the very least, my content was able to be saved from LJ…if not things like mood, the music I was listening to when I wrote my posts, etc.

Anyway, that said! It’s almost time for Anime North! I cannot wait! This is honestly one of my favorite times of the year. Anime North is that one time of year where those of us who are heavily into geek culture get to be ourselves: where we get to dress up like our favorite characters, talk (non-stop) about our favorite shows, and our favorite games, find groups that represent us (like Yaoi North & the Toronto Gaymers).

In the immortal words of Jonathan Larson “It’s about being an us for once, instead of a them!”

I remember when I was working on Long Island (while almost all of my friends were back in Buffalo, Israel, or Canada) and how depressed I would get being so far away from my support network; but I’d look at something on my desk I had picked up from con (in this case, from my friend at Pixel Visions), and it would instantly lighten my mood, because it was a connection, and a reminder that my tribe existed, was there, and that there were folks like me…and while they may not have been there on that sandbar with me, that we’d all be together again soon.

https://www.instagram.com/p/o7d6bUjJzW/

Anime North (and more specifically, Yaoi North) are sometimes the one time a year that some folks get to come out of the closet (not just the geek closet, but the LGBTQ* closet); when they get to explore artwork, and media, and TV shows, and books that represent them and who they are as a person, and that reflect the community that they want to live in…and I find that so incredibly special…because when I was working (even as an out Queer guy) in a very cis-het-business world; it was that connection to the community that I knew existed that kept me going, until I finally got there.

So as I begin to get this blog back into shape, I get to breathe a deep sigh of relief that my content is saved, and I get to show thanks that my tribe exists.

So, here’s to starting a new adventure, and to seeing the Toronto part of my family in just a couple of weeks 🙂

https://www.instagram.com/p/BT76F99BiQU/

Tacos & Nero Wolfe

nomadmatan: I want tacos lol
gryvon: I had tacos.
nomadmatan: haha I had 5 for lunch
gryvon: …wow.
nomadmatan: dude
nomadmatan: five is nothing
nomadmatan: that’s like
nomadmatan: not even enough meat
nomadmatan: to make a steak
gryvon: oh, right. you’re a guy.
nomadmatan: LOL
gryvon: ^_^

In other news, I was thinking about this earlier.

I read a lot of Nero Wolfe, I re-read the series constantly (though I still need to get some of the books they haven’t reprinted widely, I’ve only gotten to read a fraction of the series about 1/3 of the 75 books printed. And I’ve said for some time that if you ever want to know how to think critically, handle situations in which you’re being interrogated (which I have been, oddly enough) properly, or conduct stellar interviews and learn how to ask the right questions in tough circumstances, you’ll read the entire series twice…it will change your life. Every Academic who I found a fondness for, I’ve later found out owns the entire series – including Paauw and Dr. Jaeger.

However, my fondness for the series is also because I’ve had a crush on and a torrid literary love affair with the leading man (Archie Goodwin, six feet even, muscular, cocky as all hell and a smart ass) since I was first handed two of the books to borrow for summer vacation by my Spanish Teacher Sñra. Hellen in Eighth Grade and I was re-reading one of the books tonight, in which (and he’s done this before) he steps into a sandwich shop and orders three or four sandwiches, and something to drink…and I thought to myself “not only do I admire that he keeps his figure as fit as he does…but that he can put away as much as I can at lunch and does so without shame…”

I don’t know, I just admire that in a guy.

In other news, it’s almost time for bed.

G’night.