Bandwagon, shmandwagon

So. In 2 weeks, my divorce finally gets underway in court and another tribe is joined. A questioning look around reveals •my boys (8 & 4.5) seem happy and stable•my gf not quite half my age continues to astound me with beauty, grace and the most primal, fulfilling love I have ever experienced•I am still a financial retard•I have the best job in the world, even if I am often a petulant closet whiner•I exhibit boundlesss slack•my geek factor could use a financial boost•I adore my decision to make classic cars part of my life•I really miss unlimited music downloads.

Two weeks ago, I finally checked out Cory Doctorow's scifi book Eastern Standard Tribe. I've been reading boingboing.net for years, but never leaped over to his hardcover work. Big mistake. My reaction to EST was as strong and enervating as it was to Stephenson's Snow Crash. My favorite scifi falls into 2 catergories: those stories that I get lost in, fully engaged and thirsting for the advance of plot and character. These kind of books often keep me reading into the wee hours. The second are those books and stories that speak to my life and desires. Snow Crash's immersive tech scenario reset my tech future view. Cory's EST makes me want my own comm on my hip, enabling me to take and store pix and transfer PSD files to my various computers, make phone calls, surf my email, store calendar info, play mp3s and radio signals, text and instant message, and share ideas (and contracts) on the fly. I have fantasized about exploiting my creative views and hacks with a global community in real time, for compensation, the 21st C version of Think Tanks.

Tribes. In my world of thought, tribes have meant OSU Fans (and any other voyeuristic fans of any sports complex), socio-economic fascists, and the seemingly limitless number of online subcultures. Doctorow expanded on that for me and now I want to move on to the next level. Impatient.