Current location:	Anaheim CA
Current mood:	chipper
Current music:	Robyn Hitchcock - "Sleeping With Your Devil Mask"
Entry tags:	ribbons

...sugar kisses; lips like sugar, sugar kisses. Lips like sugar, sugar kisses; lips like sugar...
Twelfth section of my ribbon story. We're talking about ribbons that I have in plain text style; they haven't been reordered in a fancy style, and might not ever.

• FLEXIBLE
• PAN-GALACTIC MINION

nolly spoke up in favor of "Flexible." The problem that I'd be trying to solve by letting "Flexible" lapse has to do with overlapping ribbon topics. Say you're handing out different ribbons, and someone walks up wanting every single one they qualify for: what do they get? My usual way around this problem is to delegate out the styles. When I run into someone who finds a particular ribbon speaks to them, I might give them a pack and tell them to hand them out as they see fit, and to come back and let me know if they run out. (And I'd like the leftovers if they don't use them up, and they can mail them to me at the address on my business card.)

That's all the instructions I give them. kproche and bovil have been known to be very selective in who they give "Gender Outlaw" to, and caprine likes to play against type when awarding "Beefcake" ribbons. She's certainly entitled, it was her idea to print them in the first place. Usually, though, the person with the ribbons hands them out to almost anyone who asks them nicely, if they're not actively on the hunt for people to give them to. I mentioned karisu_sama and the "Pretty Boy" ribbons earlier...

"Pan-Galactic Minion", on the other hand, is one I hand out very selectively. Usually it's for someone who's been very helpful to me, often (although not always) in a minion-like fashion: running errands and getting things done. There's not too many things I can do to express my sincere thanks, but giving out a hot pink ribbon is one of them.

So the Minion ribbons are rare, they don't overlap much with other categories. If someone shows up and spends an hour or two helping set up the Fan Gallery, and then the next day spends all day helping prep a party, they might get both "Fan Gallery Helper" and "Pan-Galactic Minion", for what's essentially the same thing: being helpful. But it's rare.

On the other hand, taking the collection of ribbons as whole, there's a lot of nudgenudgewinkwink overlapping categories. I want to get away from the redundancy but hang onto the fun. One possibility is to bring "Pervy" to conventions with Brits and others, and keep "Flexible" for the local cons. I'm not sure that's the solution, but it's close to what I've already been doing: before each con I go through the ribbon boxes and pull out the ones that I'm bringing to the con to possibly be given away. I don't really want to bring all of the little bins with me, for two reasons: first, it's complicated enough looking for ribbons in one or two bins, having them split over half a dozen would be far worse; and secondly, while I say I want to give away more ribbons faster, I don't actually want to hand out several thousand ribbons at a single convention. I don't have the energy, and it makes for an expensive hobby. (That's why it's fun ordering ribbons for other people -- it's like when I give someone ribbons to hand out, only it doesn't come out of my budget.)

• 4TH GENERATION FAN
• LUX FLAKES

"4th Generation Fan" simply hasn't run out yet; I still have scads of them. When I do use them up, I'll get them printed in a fancy style.

"Lux Flakes," on the other hand, will probably never see the light of day again. Lux Theater did "Lux Schoolhouse Theater" at Loscon in 2001, and their "sponsor" was "Lux Flakes" according to their little handout. (In this context, they were a breakfast cereal, not a laundry soap.) I thought it might be amusing to have ribbons that said "Lux Flakes" but the three Lux principals were Not Amused. (We'll talk later about "Lux Theater" ribbons.)

• MAFF NOMINEE
• MAFF WINNER

The hoax Mid-Atlantic Fan Fund has had one person declared the winner. (Fanhistorical triva question: who? and by whom?) Mid-Atlantic in this context doesn't refer to the middle of the eastern seaboard -- Maryland, etc. -- it refers to raising enough money to send someone halfway across the ocean and leaving them there.

So it needs a particular type of person to hand out these ribbons, and to convince the recipient to wear it. Anyone think they're up to the job?