Just found an e-mail of mine in the SFRaves list archive. For the record, I was right … although I have not taken up badminton.
Date: Wed, 09 Oct 1996 15:10:57 -0700
To: sfraves@hyperreal.com, c9d@ix.netcom.com
Subject: What happened to… -Reply
c9d@ix.netcom wrote:
“everyone seems all bitter and jaded”….
As someone who is relatively new to the whole “rave scene” (my six
month birthday is coming up in a few weeks! Yay!) it really saddens
me to see how burnt out so many of my fellow gruvers are…This isn’t
everyone, of course, but it seems like the majority of people who are
partying in the 21+ age set are kind of spent, since those are the
people who have been partying for a while. It seems sometimes like
the only people at a party who have that same giddy enthusiasm as me
(”WEE! I’m here to DANCE! And have FUN!!!”) are the 16-year-olds
who have been partying for about the same time as I have…in fact, I
have had people tell me they thought I was 16 myself because my
energy was so pure and un-cynical. What is it about being
“experienced” at raving that makes folks have less fun?
Isn’t partying about HAVING FUN? I mean isn’t this why we DO it? If
it’s not fun any more, why do people bother? I figure raves are too
expensive and too overwhelming to go to if you’re not there to have a
GOOD TIME. Again, I know I’m generalizing…there are plenty of
older ravers who make me look sedate. But it seems like all the
SPARKLY ENERGY drains out of people after a year or two. Is this the
fate that is destined to meet ME in a few years? “Oh yeah, pshaw. I
USED to party. Used to dance till 9am. Used to have a good time and
dress up in texturally-exciting clothes and sparkles and hug who-ever
came near me. Now I see that’s all just a load of hoo-haw. I took
up badmittin instead.”
EEK! Someone shoot me!
much love and enthusiasm
* A R I E L *
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13 Responses to “Prophesy”
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Hey there. I'm Ariel Meadow Stallings, a native Seattleite who's written my way up and down the Left Coast. Electrolicious is where I post daily randomata, but I also write for a living. My first book, Offbeat Bride, was published last year.
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Ariel
January 6th, 2003 at 11:56 pm
Also funny was this e-mail I wrote:
Date: Fri, 11 Oct 1996 12:48:07
To: sfraves@hyperreal.com
Subject: Friday Poetry
A little poem I wrote for all of you…
* * * * * * * *
As I woke up this morning, a frown on my face,
I thought to myself “My life’s a disgrace.”
The sky was still dim, the air still cool,
And my face was stiff with that nasty morning drool.
“I just hate everything” was all I could say
As I stumbled towards the bathroom to start another day.
“I’m going to brush my teeth, then get in the shower,
Then I’m going to get in my car and drive for an hour,
Over the Dumbarton Bridge, all brakes and stop and go,
Till I arrive in my hell of Shallow Alto.”
As I stormed around the house, pissing and moaning,
I managed to hear the radio, out-shouting my groaning.
“T.G.I.F.!” said the DJ in his usual cheezy manner,
And I jumped with shock! Where was my daily planner?
I flipped through the pages, past old days and weeks,
And when I found what I sought, I really started to tweak!
Much to my suprise, the dj was right:
It was Friday morn already, which means soon: FRIDAY NIGHT!
So there I was in my skivies, at quarter to seven,
Shouting to the world “I FORGOT TODAY WAS FRIDAY! THANK GOD, I’M IN
HEAVEN!”
The commute went quickly, and work has been fine,
Because I’ve been smiling quite broadly and dancing in my mind,
To the music in my head that no-one else can hear,
But the beats are strong and the 303s clear.
It’s FRIDAY everybody, the week is finally done!
And with working out of the way, it’s TIME TO HAVE FUN!
So I’ll see you all tonight, at 215
Or maybe at PLANETARIUM…I might be seen
Regardless where we are or what we all shall do
HAVE A SUPER WEEKEND EVERYONE! ALL MY LOVE TO YOU!
Much plur to all my fellow corporate ravers!
Ariel
The Wee Li’l Document Specialist.
brittney
January 7th, 2003 at 2:13 am
You made me miss my own sparkly energy.
Those were the days, all shiny and new.
mister justin
January 7th, 2003 at 6:09 am
something funny that i didn’t learn until i moved to China — it’s badminton!
english is stupid.
but “shuttlecock” is much more fantabulous than “birdie,” don’t you think?
i_cola
January 7th, 2003 at 6:34 am
Don’t you mean ‘American pronunciation of English is stupid?’
Vera
January 7th, 2003 at 7:58 am
Oh Ariel. Those emails are awesome. I wish I could have been there in 1996, on that same mailing list for the same reasons. Time travel sounds better and better to me the more geriatric ravers (sorry, had to borrow it) I meet.
Ariel
January 7th, 2003 at 8:15 am
Naturally, even in ‘96 all anybody could talk about was “how great it USED to be.” People were saying raves were over six years ago…and yet I know that somewhere in the Bay Area, or LA, or Seattle, or a million other places, some 21 year old girl sitting at a desk in a law firm, already planning what she’s going to do this Friday.
Vera
January 7th, 2003 at 9:46 am
Naturally. Hey, I wrote a little post about this recently: there
amy
January 7th, 2003 at 10:05 am
At 23, I am definitely the sparkliest person at the weekly dance thing I go to. I’m also the oldest - by a lot. Bleh… I only wish I had a decent enough rave scene here to be jaded about it.
Tantek
January 7th, 2003 at 10:23 am
Thanks Ariel for that bit of shiny optimism. Every raver I’ve known for more than a year or so seems to go through some kind of a rave-burnout - how you come out the other end is what matters. Here is another bit of SRR fun: go vote for Coin#4
in the California Quarter Design Poll. Not just because of the girl with the flower and baggy clothes who is raising her hands and bouncing to the beat, and the laser light display emanating from the Marin hills, but because it prominently says (candy emphasis mine) at the bottom.
Another fellow corporate raver.
leblanc
January 7th, 2003 at 11:11 am
well, personally, i think it is a kid thing. and a drug thing. i know a lot of people disagree, so i’m speaking from personal experience here and not for anyone else. the first few times doing “the drug” and going to raves were FANTASTIC and i was all happy sparkly furry fun raver girl too at 23-24 years old. but after a while, that all stopped working for me, there was no “sparkle” to “the drug” and it made me sick. i still went to a few events - smaller ones - not the huge ones - as i really do love electronica music and am happy to go sober - but then as a sober person…. god that scene was awful. kids on dirty floors eyes rolled back in heads feeling eachother up in the sticky darkness not even LISTENING to the music - that, my friend, is why i became one of the people you were referring to, and stopped going and stopped “having fun.” because after a good sober look at it - it wasn’t “fun” at all. i htink the sparkly energy drained out of people because at first it was fun and new and different …. and then the dark side crept in for many of us.
but hey - like i said - it’s all up to who you are and what you came for. some people are out there still getting kicks, i know, but i’m not one of them.
ericalynn
January 8th, 2003 at 7:08 am
miss leblanc, i know exactly what you mean - except substitute your raves for the disco biscuits ’scene’ for me back in 1999. it was new and fresh and exciting and there was a sparkle that i started to lose by the beginning of 2001. as many friends of mine would agree and attest to, i continued to seek out that spark within the same scene, thinking that the problem must have been with me… what was wrong with me? the music was still good by all these newer people’s standards…what was going wrong then? what was i missing?
i took a little break from them, and came back realizing that it was i who had changed, but that it was no fault of mine… just a natural progression… and that I at least understood why the newbies and younger folks with all that energy were having a much better time than I…
leblanc
January 8th, 2003 at 9:47 am
ah, yes… bisco…..
i never did get that scene.
ericalynn
January 8th, 2003 at 4:18 pm
it wasn’t for everyone : )