Friday evening my phone rang, and I ignored it. I never answer the phone;  anyone who knows me texts. Then it rang again, with a number not in my contacts. I hit the end button and set it down, and it started ringing again. I picked it up then, knowing someone was dead.

“I just got the news about Conor”, my boyfriend said. His voice was gnarled with static and shock, calling from Germany, where he was at some hacker conference. “Are you ok?” he asked. He sounded terrified. He said something about Twitter. “I’m fine, baby, what’s going on?” He told me he’d heard one of our friends was dead by his own hand. He told me he was with M. and Q., that they were ready to help if I needed anything. Continue reading →

So yesterday people I know got into the winter Y Combinator session. Startup madness is in the air at every party we go to; we find ourselves talking to people we love and respect about business, when we used to talk to them about art or sex. I’m glad that people I care about are doing well, I support their awesome business ideas, it’s all fine- it’s just really damn weird to be back in 1998.
I’m having a lot of cognitive dissonance, seeing all this happen here again. It seems like it’s even worse this time, but maybe it’s just me? I’ve started a new T324 pinboard to log it, since it seems we’re condemned to repeat.