It looks like this. It has 5 stickers on the front, that fit into those rectangular areas; and my name on a sticker on the back. Inside, my contact details, including: POBox, phone, Google Voice, skype, email, web, etc.

SCORE! is a free-stuff popup swap.

I got there early, helped volunteer, busted my balls setting up the books and electronics departments while people were flooding in. I did my best. This was my payback – for the 2 minutes I had my back turned, someone stole my notebook. It was behind the electronics table, in a pile of obviously-personal stuff. It was not an “accident” – it was an obvious quick-pinch. The analogy is like taking off your shoe to remove a rock, setting your shoe down to wipe your foot, and someone stealing your shoe: SCORE! FREE SHOE!

Why would someone do that?

There was clearly a culture of people there who understood the intention of the event: keep waste out of landfills, exchange, dialogue, talk about stuff, the aesthetics of life. And then there were people who were there to simply cart away as much free stuff as they possible could get away with. Sad but true.

This reminds me increasingly of why I’m a “digitalist” – specifically, why I like to keep as much information as possible “in the cloud”. Unfortunately, I hadn’t transcribed all of the information contained within my notebook yet. And most of my notebooks, once they finish just sit on a shelf and collect dust. Unfortunately, this notebook wasn’t supposed to “finish” until the end of September.

School of the Future, Holocenter, Maker Faire, Flux Factory, etc… if I had a meeting with you, if I took notes, they’re gone. Just GONE.

6+ months of notes and ideas, snatched in a single breath.

Gone.

Needless to say I’m pissed, upset, and depressed. Like I say I helped Alpha One Labs setup shop, and volunteered my energies. I barely got to talk or network with anyone because the pace was so hectic. The event organizers seemed plenty nice and there were a number of cute girls there. The lady running the book area was super-cute and there was a barkeep I would have liked chatting up. Now, I’m sitting at home sulking on a sunny Saturday afternoon and frankly I DO NOT WANT TO GO BACK OUTSIDE.

I know at some point I’m going to cry, I just lost so much work and time. And I’ll have to spend double-time the next four months in preparation for World Maker Faire (NYC) recovering or following up with a “sorry” to everybody I was supposed to get in touch with and now… my mind is so overworked and flooded with information, I simply can’t remember everything anymore. I have to write things down. But now it’s like I no longer trust writing it down, or taking a notebook outside that might contain sensitive information if lost. But it wasn’t lost, it was stolen.

I’ve coordinated events before with 2, 4, 900 people. In my home and elsewhere. Always left doors and rooms unlocked because I felt safe for my stuff. Now, now I no longer feel safe. I’m not sure if I trust a free-swap style event anymore. In near-6 years I’ve never had anything in NYC stolen from me.

My information is clearly labeled inside the book. Will someone go out of their way to return it? Please please, I hope so.

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