GingerSass

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NaBloPoMo 2012: November 7th– hot girls, booze, and bacon

Today’s prompt reads

Wednesday, November 7, 2012
Talk about the last compliment you received.

Hehe. Well, normally this would be one of my students saying “Miss! Miss! I love your nails/shoes/hair/outfit/etc!” in order to sweet talk their way towards a better grade. (Or, occasionally actually complimenting my style. I’m definitely one of the “younger” teachers which means, by the weird laws of high school mentality, I’m cool. In high school. Which BLOWS MY MIND.) However, since my school has been closed since Hurricane Sandy, I haven’t seen my lovely students in almost 2 weeks. Wah.

The last compliment I received was last night via Twitter. I was in a weird mood awaiting the campaign results, and as a friend complained that he wanted bacon, I realized that I actually had a pack of bacon that had a use by date of November 7th. aka today. Oops. Sooo I decided to cook the entire thing off. In my apartment. While watching the Election results. This resulted in the creation of a #Bacon2012 hashtag, and me sending out a lot of overly-tired, pumpkin beer induced bacon tweets.

I’ve never been so proud of so many people I don’t know. #Bacon2012 for the win!

I also ended up responding to a tweet from the lovely DeadCowGirl  saying that she was cooking. She posted a link to a recipe for braised beef shanks, and I tweeted back that I may show up on her doorstep, begging for her cooking with gifts of bacon & booze. Her response? My last compliment, NaBloPoMo!

So there you have it, folks. I’m a hot chick, and even hotter when I show up on peoples’ doorsteps with gifts of booze and bacon.

I love the women I’ve met through BlogHer. Seriously.

I just finished reading Jenny Larson (The Bloggess)’s book, Let’s Pretend This Never Happened (A Mostly True Memoir), and there is an entire chapter devoted to her making friends with girls (bloggers) for the first time. At one point, she says, “…I discovered blogging and found other people online who were misanthropic misfits like me” (Lawson, 169-170).* This perfectly sums up how I feel about the women I met at BlogHer12. While I may seem like I’m able to speak coherently to you folks, I’m letting you in on a painful secret: as I’ve gotten older, I’ve become extremely awkward in social situations. I prefer the safety of texting while standing against the wall at parties, and at the BlogHer Conference in August, although I had the time of my life, I didn’t know how to react when meeting people (take a look at my top ten moments!) or when Big Name Bloggers knew my name.

The women I have met through blogging have helped me gain a voice, and they’ve been the girl friends I never knew I wanted. I’m not afraid to be silly, non-sensical, redunkulous, and me with them. We’re all “misanthropic misfits,” and it means so much to me to have these blogging friends.

So, thank you, DeadCowGirl, for being the inspiration for this NaBloPoMo post and calling me a hot chick.

 

*Yes. I did just cite a quote in MLA format on my blog.

Post BlogHer12 Depression/ Hangover

I’ve had hangovers before, but this one is certainly the worst.

It’s been a week now since I’ve left my BlogHer buddies behind in NYC, and I feel as though I’m mourning the loss of a loved ones.

For a few days, no matter where I stepped, there were people who understood me. They spoke my language. They understood what Twitter is, and why I occasionally needed to pause and take an ironic photo relatable to my online identity.

These were my people.

As soon as I discovered them, they were taken away. BlogHer12 ended. We all bid farewell, hugged, and said we’d see each other next year.

I’m not coping with this loss very well. In fact, I’d even venture to say I’ve entered a Post-BlogHer12 Depression.

I keep anticipating running into smart, intellectual, thought-provoking individuals on a daily basis. I don’t understand why others don’t understand my frustrations of slow Twitter loading times. I feel lonely in my blogger-less world.

I want to live in a world where everyone around me can have an articulate discussion on real life issues.

I want people to go “Ohhhhhh” when I reveal my names other than Kailynn.

I want to be able to drool over my favorite bloggers in person. (Metaphorically speaking, of course.)

I want to pile all of my favorite bloggers onto an island where we can mock society, make dirty jokes, have intellectual discussions, and drink on someone else’s tab all day.

I want to spend all day every day catching up on tweets, emails, and posts.

Most importantly, I want to spend hours upon hours with inspirational women who have made me cry, laugh, and feel validation for my writing. BlogHer12 helped me feel as if I’m finally doing what I’m meant to be doing in this world.

BlogHer13 can’t come soon enough.

Validation that I’m Cool

I’m a fairly new blogger. I didn’t start GingerSass until this past March at the Sex, Love, and Dating Conference, and I was surprised by the sudden fanbase it had. (This was probably because some of my earliest posts had the tags “lesbian,” “sex,” “gingers,” and “AfterEllen.”) I’ve been continuously surprised that strangers– not just my friends– are fans of GingerSass on Facebook, and that I have more than 5 followers on Twitter.

Twitter is a funny thing. It allows you to interact with everyone from your best friend to your favorite soap star. Sometimes big names respond, and others don’t. I’ve been lucky enough to have had people like Amy Brenneman, Tammy Lynn Michaels, Cady McClain, and StaceyAnn Chin retweet and respond to some of my rambling responses to their tweets. These moments have made me feel incredibly special.


I’m still special enough to take MySpace photos of myself in the mirror.

You know what else had made me feel incredibly special? BlogHer12.

I had the opportunity to attend a lot of panels with some incredibly talented (and famed) bloggers. After each panel, people tended to line up to meet their blogger crushes.

I observed many post-panel meetings that went like this:

Session-Attendee: “OH-MI-GAWD!!! I’m so-and-so, I blog for so-and-so! I read your blog, like, every day! I especially loved your post about (enter post description here). I left you a comment, did you see it?! (Or ‘I tweeted you about ___________’.) Do you remember me??! I blog about _______________. ”

Big Name Blogger: (polite smile, handshake) “Oh, wow, that’s so kind of you. Thank you for following me. I’m glad you enjoyed this session, it’s so great to have met you.” (slyly moves on to next fangirl)

/end scene

Now, nothing against fangirls. I’ve been one. We all have. But really? You expect Big Name Bloggers to know who the hell you are? Big Name Bloggers get TONS of comments and tweets every day. They won’t remember you, and you shouldn’t expect them to… nor should you throw a hissy fit when they don’t remember you. Grow up!

I had a different fan girl attitude at the various blogging sessions and moments of meeting Big Name Bloggers. I didn’t expect any of them to know who I was… but I was raised in a household filled with manners. If you see someone you know someplace, even if you barely know them, it’s polite to acknowledge someone and say hi. People from the Twitterverse are kind of like friends of friends you run into at a party– you’re not sure if they know who you are or not, but you feel like a jerk if you don’t say hi.

For my first fangirl moment, I ran into a Big Name Blogger whose site I discovered a few months ago, and I’ve been addicted to since. We’ve had a few Twitter discussions, but I’d never met a Twitter friend in real life. I introduced myself, saying, “Hi, I’m Kailynn, or GingerSass–” before she cut me off, interrupted me, and said, “GingerSass?! You get a hug!!!” We drank, made dirty jokes, and hung out together at various points throughout the rest of the weekend.

It was exciting.

I also attended a panel where another Big Name Blogger was moderating. After the panel, I waited for some other fangirls to finish drooling and I quickly introduced myself, saying, “Hi, I’m Kailynn, or GingerSass. I didn’t get a chance to say hi to you last night, but I just wanted to say hi and how fabulous everything is!” I was told I was funny, that said Big Name Blogger had been following my tweets throughout the entire day, and that I had been making her laugh. I also got a hug.

Other exciting moments included going to a luncheon where, once I introduced myself, everyone said “Ohhhhhhh!”, continuously tellng people my real name, my blog name, and my Facebook name and having them say “Oh my God! That’s you?!”, running up to ‘strangers’ and hugging them because we recognized one another from the Twitterverse and Blogosphere, and telling people, “I’m GingerSass, but if you can’t remember that, remember my ass.”


I had a name badge.

People knew who I was, and it was CRAZY. It was also a really surreal form of validation that I’m doing something successful with my writing. I’m making a reputation for myself in the writing world in a way I never dreamt possible, and it feels incredibly surreal–and fantabulous– to be making my dreams come true.

(By the way, I’m sorry if this post seems any bit cocky. I just can’t believe people know who I am. It’s weird.)

Twas the night before BlogHer…

Twas the night before BlogHer…
(a BlogHer12 poem by Kailynn)

Twas the night before BlogHer, when all through the town
the air was filled with all sorts of packing sounds.
The luggage was placed by the door with care,
and the blogger checked that she had perfect hair.

When the blogger finally laid down in her bed,
visions of everything she’d forgotten danced in her head.
Every forgotten item elicited sighs and moans
so she set reminders for the morning in her phone.

In the middle of the night she arose with such clatter,
as she had posts to write and had almost forgotten the matter.
Away to the her MacBook she flew with a flash,
writing with finesse, hoping her rambles weren’t trash.

The sun finally rose and it was almost time to go.
Unfortunately the coffee pot was being incredibly slow.
Then, what to her wondering eyes should appear,
but a miniature caravan, and a driver that seemed very queer.

The little old driver, so lively and quick,
she knew in a moment she might get sick.
For BlogHer started in only a few hours,
and it didn’t seem as if he had fast-driving powers!

“Hey lady! Yes you! Are you ready to hit the road?
Why do you need 4 bags? This is a heavy load.
You’re giving out swag to one and to all?
I might as well be driving a giant brick wall.”

The old man loaded her bags and told her to wave goodbye,
for it was time to go to New York, time to fly!
So up the highway they sailed with ease,
with the car full of swag and blogger goodies.

The driver was dressed all in black, from his head to his foot,
and his clothes were all tarnished with cigarette ashes and soot.
A bundle of keys he had flung on his back,
and he looked like a badass, if not a bit whack.

His eyes-how they twinkled! His face was quite hairy!
His voice was like honey, his singing like that of a canary!
His little mouth was turned into a semi-frown,
And the beard of his chin was a salt-and-peppered brown.

The butt of a cigarette he held tight in his teeth,
and the smoke it encircled his head like a wreath.
He had a scarred face and a huge, sweaty belly,
That shook when he coughed, like a bowl full of jelly!

He drove and he drove, hardly saying a word.
It was probably because he was a bit absurd.
The blogger grinned and took a few notes.
When she had wifi again he’d make a great anecdote.

She wrote and she wrote, thinking of more to say.
She couldn’t wait to meet others who thought the same way.
They would laugh and sing and be a merry crew…
With booze and other bloggers what else could they do?

Then, in a flash, New York came into sight.
The blogger got so excited at this special delight.
She was a step closer to having the time of her life…
maybe if she played her cards right she’d come home with a wife.

They got to the hotel, and the driver sprang out to get the blogger’s bags.
The blogger grinned ear to ear and looked at all of the BlogHer flags.
She tipped the driver quite nicely, and as he drove off out of site,
she could hear him sing “Happy BlogHer to all, and to all a good-night!”

BlogHer ’12 momentary freak out

I’m really excited to be going to BlogHer ’12 in a few weeks, as it is a wonderful opportunity for me to network, meet other bloggers, and connect with others who share my love for writing. In just over 3 months, my site has had over 4300 hits, 1000 subscribers, almost 400 twitter followers, and over 115 fans on Facebook. My fanbase (?) grows daily, and it has been a really exciting, inspiring experience.

BlogHer, on the otherhand, has been overwhelming.

First, I didn’t think I’d be able to go at first. Student tickets were sold out, and I had missed the early bird specials because I’m a broke, uninformed grad student. I started a campaign on ChipIn, and raised $40. Wooo! I also booked a poetry gig, which gave me a decent bit of money. by some luck (and a lot of leads on Twitter!) I found someone who was selling her BlogHer ’12 student pass. Everything lined up, and lo and behold, I’M GOING TO BLOGHER ’12!!!!!!

Unfortunately, I am completely overwhelmed. My pass is for Friday & Saturday, but I want to come in on Thursday for a lunch my friend DragynAlly is hosting. I’m staying with a friend in Brooklyn for a few days, but definitely questioning the commute back and forth between BK and Times Square!

Besides the commute, another one of my big concerns is my schedule. There’s so much to do, and so little time to do it! I want to see it all. I want to attend the sessions that will be most beneficial to myself and my blog. I want to drool over all of the amazing speakers and bloggers. I want to meet all of the bloggers who have been such a vital part of my my BlogHer community experience. I want to attend as many parties as possible and truly enjoy myself.

Basically, I need to clone myself for the conference so I can take it all in.

I’m also really excited and anxious to better my website. I recently paid actual money for hosting on hostgator…but I have no clue how to backup GingerSass and transfer it over there without potentially destroying all of the hard work I have done. I want to make GingerSass more beautiful and make it have less load time, but I’m afraid of losing the image that has become associated with my brand. (Is it okay to say I have a brand now?)  My baby is taking off, and I’m about to get into a committed relationship with it. (I’ve had commitment issues with blogging in the past– can I make this relationship last?) This is so exciting and scary and amazing and wonderful and terrifying and fantabulous. Holy fudge.

Ahhhhhh BlogHer’12 ahhhhhh!!!!!!!!

What tips do you have for a BlogHer newbie like me?

Most importantly, what should I bring?? So far, all I’ve been able to do is think of things I need to bring with me, such as:

-macbook
-macbook charger
-camera
-camera charger
-business cards
-stickers
-additional swag from sponsors tbd
-cell phone
-binder
-business card holder pocket thingies in binder
-notebook
-stylish bag for everything I need during day plus outfit for night (boo commuting from BK)

Holy crud people… I’m going to BlogHer ’12!!!!!!!!!