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What the fuck is up with this SNOW shit?
In preparation for April Fool's Day
Mar. 29th, 2011 03:01 pmI hate April Fool's Day to begin with, because I hate, possibly more than anything else, being made to feel stupid. In recent years, I've seen more people leaning towards celebrating "fool" in the sense of "play" instead of "fool" in the sense of "trick," and I like that a lot better. But April Fool's Day still makes me tense and unhappy.
Some years ago (I don't recall exactly how many), Jeff VanderMeer tried to include me in an April Fool's stunt: the imaginary anthology, Squidpunk. And I, well, I kind of handed him his head.
In retrospect, and with some perspective, I feel really bad about this, because Jeff's email (which boiled down to, "Where is your contribution to Squidpunk?") was not an attempt to catch me out ("fool" in the sense of "trick"). It was an attempt to invite me to play, to join in the celebration of "fool" in that other sense. Jeff had no way of knowing he was hitting one of my nightmare buttons (most of my anxiety dreams are variations on YOU ARE FAILING TO FULFILL YOUR OBLIGATIONS) or that, due to stress and whatnot, the preceding half-year or so had been notable for the number of things I had completely forgotten to do. In other words, I went directly to PANIC without passing either GO or ENGAGE CRITICAL FACULTIES--and then, about half an hour later when I'd calmed down enough to realize that it was 11:30 P.M. on March 31st, I rolled up like an iron porcupine and chewed Jeff out.
So, Jeff, I apologize. My reaction was more about my baggage than anything you did, and I'm sorry.
And for everyone else: if you think it would be funny to pull an April Fool's joke on me? It wouldn't.
Some years ago (I don't recall exactly how many), Jeff VanderMeer tried to include me in an April Fool's stunt: the imaginary anthology, Squidpunk. And I, well, I kind of handed him his head.
In retrospect, and with some perspective, I feel really bad about this, because Jeff's email (which boiled down to, "Where is your contribution to Squidpunk?") was not an attempt to catch me out ("fool" in the sense of "trick"). It was an attempt to invite me to play, to join in the celebration of "fool" in that other sense. Jeff had no way of knowing he was hitting one of my nightmare buttons (most of my anxiety dreams are variations on YOU ARE FAILING TO FULFILL YOUR OBLIGATIONS) or that, due to stress and whatnot, the preceding half-year or so had been notable for the number of things I had completely forgotten to do. In other words, I went directly to PANIC without passing either GO or ENGAGE CRITICAL FACULTIES--and then, about half an hour later when I'd calmed down enough to realize that it was 11:30 P.M. on March 31st, I rolled up like an iron porcupine and chewed Jeff out.
So, Jeff, I apologize. My reaction was more about my baggage than anything you did, and I'm sorry.
And for everyone else: if you think it would be funny to pull an April Fool's joke on me? It wouldn't.
