You may not like it... arcadiagt5

[stephbg]

Normally I really enjoy reading my lj mail. It gives me a feeling of connection to the world that old-fashioned e-mail never did, and is a vast improvement over my previous typical average of once-per-year contact. But I received a message recently that I'd been dreading: a request for my memories from a person whose identity I wasn't really sure of. A bullet, undodged.



There are a lot of people I have yet to identify on lj. I'm happy to exchange banter with strangers on the assumption that they're actually people I've probably met before, or at least that they know a lot of the same people I do and are thus likely to be worth conversing with. I'd prefer to know who people are.

I'd tried to identify arcadiagt5 before. I'd looked at all their pix (wow, that's a *lot* of trike photos), squinted at the low-res faces, read the profile, looked at a bunch of journal entries. Clearly this was a person I'd seen at Swancon, at UniSFA, a bit older than I, and for whom the trike/exercise thing was a relatively new experience. Ex-Perth, now living in Canberra. Doing much the same kind of job I often do.

No help whatsoever.

For some reason (and I really couldn't say why), I'd made the assumtion that arcadiagt5 was a she, but have since found out that that was incorrect. Fortunately he was kind enough to include a photo userpic with the request for memories, from which I've extrapolated an identity. Unfortunately, there's not much in the tank so this may be harder on the ego than expected.

Arcadiagt5 belongs to an earlier generation of UniSFAns than I, and thus was old guard long before I ever admitted that I was old guard. He spoke a little too loudly, a little too close, and with a bit too much bluster. Well meaning, keen to belong, but somehow missing the mark. The good news is, based on extremely rare sightings in the last 10 years or so, he seems to have grown out of it. Anyone who recognises the difference between what system users ask for and what they actually need automatically gets a big bunch of points.

And that's all I've got, sorry.

--
Curious to see how many of my brain cells are dedicated to memories of you? Comment here.

Comments

[arcadiagt5.livejournal.com]

Thank you. In truth I did a lot of my growing up in Unisfa, in many ways the willingness of unisfans to be the sort of friends who would tell me when I was being an idiot or too loud was the best thing that ever happened to me.

It may hurt a little, but most of that last paragraph is spot on.

[stephbg.livejournal.com]

I appreciate your response. I'm sorry if it's not what you were expecting. I really am pretty vague about the late 80s/early 90s. No badness intended.

[arcadiagt5.livejournal.com]

Don't be sorry. Given who I was then, any other answer wouldn't have been honest.

And it is useful to look back sometimes and, hopefully, relearn any of the lessons that have been slipping.

So, thank you.

Besides, these reminiscences have been identifying LJs that I should have friended a long time ago so thanks for that too!

:)

[arcadiagt5.livejournal.com]

On a more amusing note, yes I've been taking a lot of photos recently. I think that cycle touring is going to be my favourite form of tourism for some time to come. :)