02.24.08

The FooCamp Life

Posted in Conferences at 5:12 am by elizabeth_grigg

I was lying awake tonight, staring at the ceiling, thinking about a conversation we had going at saturday house. The room had separated into a quiet(er) table, and a loud(er) table, plus a third kid’s room. We had finished the presentations round robin regarding productivity (source control - who knew! and an interesting revelation about flipping the “bit” in your head regarding your personal data, that you’re going to be working on it your whole life, and each thing you do should make it better, just the way you would only do code checkins as if they were an improvement).

Anyway, me and Gregory overheard someone talking about how they were 26 and “not that 26 was old” but how they somehow expected to be married etc. We just started laughing quietly, because we were in the other room and all, and it was funny. Gregory was of a mind to correct this misguided youth regarding where he is in the opportunity funnel, and I was of a mind to NOT. Nothing makes me feel older than correcting misguided youth. But also it had never helped me at 26 and frankly I still get condescending crap at 38 so what exactly would be the point. But it was funny. Gregory brought up this controversial article and we talked about the timing of choices in front of women and men too, especially when you use adoption to remove the biological imperitave.

Staring at the ceiling listening to party noises next door it occured to me that good conversations come from people having love inside them. People are either lovers or idiots (according to the beholder, of course), and this distinction appears almost cellular. To the observer. It seems impossible to be both, and it seems inevitable that you would be one or the other quite distinctly and obviously.

This explains the resonance I had with Robert’s post regarding living a FooCamp life. I am not interested in name dropping, but I am interested in good conversations, and think my world can use cracking open on a regular basis. I would love an invitation to FooCamp, but it’s apparent I don’t need one. Years ago I thought I needed my fragile connections to the cognoscenti to get ahead, and here I am, somewhat ahead, and still I have the most fragile connection to the cognoscenti possible. I have no feelings of desperation about this. I’m deligted for the quickest of conversations among people here and there, wherever I can find them, which includes going some places I hadn’t intended and doing some awkward things. My peak this year (and it’s only February) was making a suggestion during startup weekend and having people applaud the suggestion. The applause was not at all mitigated by the fact that it was started by my saturday house homies. It was more valuable, in fact.

So I want to answer the question about how I live a FooCamp life. First, I go to new places and don’t try to fit them into my worldview ahead of time. Second, I see the love in everyone, even if it means maneuvering past the idiots like really funny rocks. Third, I persist, and while I may feel embarassed, isolated, and without any social capital (like I did here in 2005), I am stil here, still blogging, and still looking for new friends and opportunities.

Even in the middle of the night, undeservedly hungry, post sneezing fit, with a rigid day ahead of me that has very little room for free will, I still feel like it’s worth it. Not just life being worth it, of course, but the imperitave. The impetus. The inspiration.

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