   Current Post On Trae’s Blog:
My grandmother died last night. This wasn't a shock or a surprise. Her health has been on the decline, and she's been in hospice for the last month. She lived a long life, and in her final days she was surrounded by her three adult children.
My grandma was a kind woman. She wasn't perfect, but I always felt loved in her presence. She was a retired kindergarten teacher, and was still working when I was a kid. I have so many happy memories sitting at her kitchen table, and I'm going to carry those with me for the rest of my life. She was also proof that anyone who claims that you get more conservative as you get older is full of shit, because she certainly didn't.
I think it's interesting how the body processes grief sometimes. I don't know that I'll cry, but over the past month, knowing this was coming, I've felt a tension in my gut. Now that she's passed, instead of relief that tension is replaced by a sense of emptiness. That something is missing that should still be there. Something has been taken away, and I feel it.
Of course, as I wrote that, I immediately started crying... so I guess my body processes grief in pretty ordinary ways too.
I wanted to come up with something profound linking this to Beltane, which we sit in the middle of right now, but it just seemed hackneyed. Like I was trying to dig out some greater significance when the truth is death comes whenever it wants. The only predictable thing about it is that it's the end of all of our journeys. I hope that when I pass I'm so lucky to have lived such a long life with people that I love around me in my final days.
For the record, I will be fine. I just needed to get these words out while they were still in my head. I don't have some rousing conclusion or deep insight to tack on here at the end, just that gut feeling that something is missing.
Because it is.
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Hey! A dealer selling CD’s!
And at a con with a “No Bootlegs” policy, no less!
They could legal copies of soundtracks to popular video games or anime series.
Guess I phrased that poorly. I was merely commenting on the lack of dealers selling CDs these days, when once they were abundant.
*sigh* I miss the old days. When fansubs were multigenerational VHS copies, a lot of things were dub-only, and $40 for two episodes was considered an acceptable price.
On second thought, I only miss certain, overly romanticized elements.
Agreed. Some parts of Cons Of The Past were pretty awesome… but as a whole, the modern stuff is better.
Yeah, besides the fact that a Pioneer/Geneon released a number of Jpop and anime soundtracks, and there’s a number of game soundtracks available in the US, a lot of groups also import Japanese CDs. As long as they’re not Son May or Ever Anime or one of the other bootleg groups, there’s no reason to question CDs being at a convention.
I really need to be more specific when I’m waxing nostalgic 😉
Yeah, the “Stubble Guy’s” table has CDs because I used to sell (legit, imported) CDs at cons.