I agree. I think she was so chuffed that someone so young was interested in her work that she was willing to break social norms. I also think it definitely helped that I didn't mention a big reason I chose to pursue Plan 9 was that Glenda was such a cool mascot.
While I'm mostly joking about that last part, Lorinda did always mention that my childishness was expressed in curiosity rather than blatant immaturity. She said that was the key to being able to exist in these professional spaces without drawing undue attention to myself. It also helped that I steeled myself by participating in Usenet, where often times it seemed people were competing to be the most toxic person in the collective.
The closest to that for me was being a just out of high school employee at an interesting post production facility that had some talented people in the engineering staff. I was a kid in a candy store, but all electronics and video/film based stuff. The engineers were probably taken off guard by my incessant questions of why/how/huh until they eventually realized that I wan't being a pest but actually learning what they were sharing. At some point, the questions were advanced enough they wanted me to switch departments. Definitely the best OJT situation I've ever been in, but that was 30 years ago now. damn.
While I'm mostly joking about that last part, Lorinda did always mention that my childishness was expressed in curiosity rather than blatant immaturity. She said that was the key to being able to exist in these professional spaces without drawing undue attention to myself. It also helped that I steeled myself by participating in Usenet, where often times it seemed people were competing to be the most toxic person in the collective.