I once met a man with a sense of adventure. He was dressed to thrill wherever he went.

[hazelchaz]

Hooray! The prodigal carts are returning!

In late February/mid-March, I was convinced that we'd lost some of the carts. The carts all have names - Ala, Alexander, Tuesday, Trixie, Nessie, Cookie, Blinky, Pinky, Inky and Clyde. And Ala & Alexander, along with most of the others, were missing. Oh noes! They weren't at the clubhouse, they weren't in the Pod, the only ones that had been seen were Tuesday and Trixie, plus Clyde (I think) was used at Gallifrey One.

Well, a month later I got a message from Erica. "Chaz, are you ever going to get these carts from me?" And a week or so after that a message from Jarod. "Chaz, are you ever going to get these carts back from me?"

So. Jarod's coming over in about half an hour. And I'll meet up with Erica real soon now.

Gathering-wise: The SoCal Gathering (Long may it prosper) tomorrow marks the fifth year of the picnics -- they started in 2005. Impressive, yes? (See also other well-meant enterprises that haven't been able to manage five events in five years; the SoCal Gatherings add up to 7 or 8 in five years, I think.)

EDIT: Or perhaps it's 6 events in only four years, my source of information may have been wildly inaccurate.

In other news, I have two anonymous admirers who've come here from 4chan, and apparently are hanging on my every word. Hi guys! Introduce yourselves! One of them's a Roadrunner customer in SoCal, the other one's a PacBell DSL customer in or near Irvine, but they haven't been signing their submissions so I don't know much more than that. Well, that and they don't have a very high opinion of me.

Comments

[encorecrazay.livejournal.com]

Got to keep track of your stuff, you've need a lot for all the 'parties' you give.

Love that song by Kirsty MacColl, KGSR in Austin plays it often http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ISzoUdtMSH4

[soulcrux42.livejournal.com]

Hey Chaz....
I figured I'd use my experience and in-ness with the 4chan types to scounge up a little extra info into this whole "complaints" business

So far, I got a couple "wth are you talking about"s, a couple compliments :

"Hes a pretty cool guy, he wears teddy bear ears and doesn't afraid of anything" (this is a 4chan meme, generally when said about someone it should be taken as a positive comment)

"I met him at PMX in 2008 and just went to my first ALA this past january and I liked it. :p"

so I agree [that he's pretty cool]"

Only one complaint:

"It's not how he runs his con, but how arrogant he is about it. Because people say he runs a decent con, it has gone to his head and become noticeable with how he treats others that are organizing their own events"

so...
statistically, with what i have so far only 16% of 4chan dislikes you...

pretty reasonable number if i do say so myself..

Arrogance

[hazelchaz]

I can see that accusation making sense. Let me give you a couple of examples.

1. Gathering organizer -- that is, at a picnic that was collecting $5 a head. Was not necessarily the chief architect -- but had been in charge of the cashbox all day, was wearing a big poofy loli dress and was conspicuous. Pretty sure she was giving instructions to people. At the end of the day, when people were picking up the litter as it was getting dark, I quietly suggested that she should help with that too and set a good example. She was upset, because she was tired from all the work she'd done, and thought it was pretty arrogant of me to suggest that because she had a leadership role she should keep going until the picnic site was clean.

2. Another convention. Older than animelosangeles, but less than ten years old. Not as many people as we get. They had arranged with the hotel that the pool area was part of their reserved space, and had badge-checkers at the gates; I suggested to the chair that perhaps posting signs would be a good idea, because it's different from past years' policy and not the ordinary case for the hotel. Chair thinks I'm arrogant. Convention has announced a contest, but not explained who's in charge of it or when the winners will be announced. I participate. I ask chair when and where the winners are announced; chair thinks I'm arrogant, tells me my entry wasn't going to win, doesn't answer the question.

3. Another convention. About as old as Animé Los Angeles. Run by a group of people who've been around anime conventions a good long time, before they started this one. We've arranged to swap comp memberships, and I've paid for a few extra memberships for our full team. This means we have two classes of badges, which are ordinarily issued in two different places. I ask if it would be possible to pick them all up in one place? (No.) It's possible that the people running it consider me arrogant.

4. Another potluck picnic, no fee. Fan in charge helped at a previous picnic, but it's her first time as the figurehead in charge. I get there early, and I've brought a lot of equipment. I make the suggestion that we could use one of the picnic tables for the buffet table, and the other for prep; I try to emphasize that she's in charge, this is just an idea that might work out. She agrees with the plan, doesn't appear to think I'm arrogant. Perhaps I've improved how I deliver advice?

5. A convention I go to. Nobody is issued a nametag, and more than half the members just get a wristband. I try to keep quiet about this. A convention after that. Dealers, committee, pros, artists, and people like that get nametags, the rest of the attendees get a wristband (but at least this one's removable), something promised to me 9 months previous doesn't happen. I try to keep quiet about all that too, as I'm trying to learn diplomacy.

Arrogant? Confident? Two observers to the same event could have differing perceptions; both of their views are important.

Re: Arrogance

[soulcrux42.livejournal.com]

I've gotten some more replies.

Some positive ones:
"he's a nice guy, he gave me and my fiancee a ride to one of the cosplay gatherings, invited us for dinner AND gave us a ride back from a one hour and a half route so we could get back to our country safely.

He has even contacted us if we ever seem to be in a problem in regards for hotel staying and others, and is very nice over all.

He has always been extremely helpful, fuck, I have to find a way to repay him D:"

(this one made me laugh) "I don't have a problem with him, and I don't get the hate. Unless 14 year old girls think he's creepy, but w/e, we all can't be bishonen."

And...more talk about your supposed arrogance: =\

"I saw his recent lj entry where he mentions the "hubris" of a group that would dare to call themselves SoCal gathering while not having a bajillion other gatherings throughout the entirely of Southern California.

Just because he hosts lemonade socials at various points throughout the year doesn't mean everyone else has to, especially if it's just a group of girls who like to cosplay and happen to have a once-a-year event that other people like to attend.

So yeah, he seems arrogant and condescending.
I've talked to him before (years ago) and honestly if it weren't for that lj post I wouldn't have thought twice about him. I like ALA well enough, but to have that attitude towards another unrelated event is a little strange."


"Yeah, he's a bit of a douche that only really likes to "help" other groups out so he can either take some credit for their success or more often so he can use their events as a platform to advertise the shit out of his own.

On that topic, his own event is a perfect example of said hubris he claimed another event showed. He for a period of time thought his own staff could do no wrong and was rather bluntly shown otherwise and he had to apologize profusely. To the extent that he was half stalking peoples livejournals so he could comment directly to the the people who had felt slighted (and in most instances rightly so)."


"Chaz is a generally nice man. It is obvious that certain things he treats as more of a business opportunity ((this seems to be a null point. they can't expect you to be exlusively an alms-giver all the time)) over the basic interest of the fans but I have never had an issue with him. As i've been told there are other things that others feel about him in regards to the con he hosts, the events he tries to support and such."

"Yeah at SoCal he was arguably pleasant, but the journal entry spoken about had something to do about how drinks were being distributed last year (which was fine, no water or other beverages ran dry). He compared himself and his gatherings to the battles of Napoleon, saying that he had more skill in strategy/tactics by how he distributed lemonade. Sweet lordy lord what a douche."

If you're interested in seeing all of them and the like, heres the link: http://zip.4chan.org/cgl/res/1819975.html

Forgive my raw speech in the first post...one speaks less conventionally on 4chan then is normal. (i now find out funny how i said "who has a BEEF with my boy Baden" XD)

Forgive me if it seems like im beating a dead horse or meddling. Just trying to shine some light on the situation for you.

Seems to me some pople just think you're a bit condescending. But we're all condescending sometimes. They dont seem to have any specific complaints...

Re: Arrogance

[hazelchaz]

he's a nice guy, he gave me and my fiancee a ride to one of the cosplay gatherings, invited us for dinner AND gave us a ride back from a one hour and a half route so we could get back to our country safely... He has always been extremely helpful, fuck, I have to find a way to repay him D:"

Nina. She is one of my heroes. She got up at 5:00 am to go to an 11 o'clock cosplay picnic, because it takes so long to cross the border. (And then there were only 7 people at the picnic...) The least I could do is drive them back to a San Diego Trolley Station near the border, and I wish I'd had the time because I really should have driven them all the way down to San Ysidro.

That kind of dedication, that kind of effort to participate by foot and by trolley and by bus to get from Tijuana to Escondido (look it up, it's not a straight shot even by car): you have to respect that. She reminds me of summoner_lenne9 in that respect, come to think of it. You can hardly respond with "Oh, poor me, I had to drive three hours on one beautifully-paved interstate highway."

No, there is nothing for her to repay. If she's in a position to help someone else out down the line, that's just frosting on the cake.

[ala-mokita.livejournal.com]

Chaz,

It is easy for others to perceive you are arrogant. From your POV its confusing that anyone wouldn't do something you'd dome, or accept a simple suggestion. From the other side its a critique and finger pointing and a challenge that they are not goind it correctly. Your delivery is what makes the difference. Mostly you deliver your words in a way that people can more easily decide to believe is arrogant. You are confident and offering sound advice/suggestions, but they only see the confidence as a superior attitude. It takes a while to shift thru this when a person gets to know you, and some never bother to learn who you are, so people with years of exposure but no absorbtion will see the "arrogance" as well.
Confidence is arrogance in the eyes of many who have laways lacked confidence. My POV, but your glad to see it as interpretive dance of the Watusi as well.

Diplomacy and tact

[hazelchaz]

It's hard to keep my mouth shut, in person and in my personal LJ. I'm practicing though -- as you pointed out regarding one of my recent conreport posts, sometimes I do pull my punches.