Yes, it's YAHDWU! (yet another hot-damn writeup, patent pending)
I wasn't supposed to go to this. The universe tried its hardest to keep me from going, but I somehow found myself throwing my gear into Gone Jackal's car on Saturday afternoon, and only a few hours later (Jackal has no gas pedal -- it's off or 100mph) I was walking past an odd group of people on a very homey-looking porch. One weirdo had a bat drawn on his face.
I wandered inside, where someone forced a nametag on me. Didn't seem to do me much good, as I can see from the other writups I was quickly forgotten. Hell, people thought someone else was mordel. SNIFF (just kidding folks, I'm much more stable than that). I tried to make sure to talk to people, get their names, before I started drinking. Didn't last long... the Shiner Bock was too tempting.
Soon I found myself inside the house, holding a glass of Parrot Bay rum as Medeival poured blue Pixie Stix into it. I found myself sitting with Girlface on the front porch, neither of us really talking to each other. I found myself trying to talk with Void_ptr and Morgon77 as they discussed if you can be a geek without using computers. I found myself mystified as Rocky played, but no one was watching it... they were participating. I found myself in the back "yard", talking with Eric/Theonomist about American Indian sweat lodges. I found myself the proprieter of Zot's back gate, courtesy of Kurt ThePope. I found myself watching Karmaflux and Gone Jackal beating the crap out of each other on the back porch. I found myself hanging out with Xamot, though we were both pretty quiet guys, and didn't really talk about anything. I found myself shaking my head when I saw The Protector of Mankind singing "Happy Birthday". I found myself on the front porch, eating Jaffa cakes with Dizzy in the fading light. I found myself awake at 6am, sitting with about 5 noders as we randomly surfed and read E2. I found myself running up the stairs to share a newfound delight with the others (sorry Chad, but I did NOT turn on the light). I found myself sleeping in the doorway of the room with no door. I found myself being woken up two or three hours later by some stand/alone/bitch, and decided I wasn't as tired as I thought. I found myself making level 5. I found myself hanging out on the porch for too damn long, waiting to go get some food. I found myself searching the house for a penguin, when my shirt clearly stated they were stealing my sanity. I found myself looking at Dem Bones, trying to say something (I failed). I found myself reveling in how cool Chihuahau Grub's car is, his music is, he is. I found myself (and many others) lost. I found myself eating pancakes with Jurph as we tried to figure out a mathematical model of node-fu over time. I found myself telling impishlaugh an insanely easy word for her crossword puzzle. I found myself walking around the parking lot, saying my goodbyes. I found myself on my way back to Chicago.
I just found 40 friggin new /msgs from all these crazy people.
I don't need to tell you people how cool you all are. You already know that. I can't tell you all how much I needed this weekend, needed to be around you people. Thank you all, let's do it again next week (KIDDING, ZOT! DON'T DIE ON US!)