good lord they've tried to brainwash me but i've got my sanity back for a second you've got to help me it was horrible they locked us in a room and made us listen to this guy and we were served this stuff that made me feel funny and then i agreed with everything the leaders told us and now i think that killing myself for this cult is a really good idea and oh lord the drugs are taking hold again
I. The Tao of Tea
a. Arrivals I showed up almost exactly on time. As always. :) I actually went into the wrong part of the tea house to begin with. The Tao of Tea is split into two different sections, one on each side of a theater(?). The side I went into first had a lot of yuppie looking people sitting around looking very serious. I new I was in the wrong section. I traveled to the other section, and was spotted by the large group of scroffy looking people with funny looks on their faces. "These people", I thought to myself "have to be noders." In attendence upon my arrival was our (most) gracious host, LordOmar, pukesick, patientfox, ideath, flamingweasel, and Brain. There were some brief introductions, during which we swapped between user names and real names. I still have yet to get everyones real name down, and so will refer to them by their user names. (although I do know moJoe's real name is (wait for it....) Joe.) There was some muddled conversation about some various geeky things. pukesick tells us that he will be living quite soon, as he was meeting people. The tea arrives (some nice green tea, and something called "liquid jade"....I don't think it was opium..).
b. General Bullshiting, moJoe shows up, pukesick leaves The door opens and this guy who looks suspiciously like the Flaming Messiah of Retribution walks in the door. More general talk is issued forth. There is some discussion of freenet, and network related issues. pukesick flees into the evening light, that he might meet with "real" people. Feh. Having a "life". :)
c. More General Bullshitting, dragoon shows up, moJoe dispenses amusing anecdotes The conversations continue. I realize I'm not being very descriptive, but I was at the extreme edge of the group for most of this part, and only pulled up a seat next to moJoe (no, I wasn't trying to hit on him...though he is cute...), so I could hear what was going on. Anecdotes from here and later to be noded once I have a moment to think. That place was a bit froofy (nice, though...in a froofy way), so...
d. The party moves, icicle joins us As we're standing on the sidewalk, looking like a bunch of chumps, this girl walks right through the group. moJoe looks at her funny, and then calls her back. It be icicle! We all convoy into a line (at one point, I believe we were actually lined up the way we would be if we were all in the chatterbox together......it was eerie). I'm towards the rear for most of the short walk, with ideath and Brain. ideath showed off her abilites at juggling, and patientfox talked about bands with flamingweasel. LordOmar and moJoe were too far ahead for me to hear what they were talking about. Our deaths, I'm sure....but I'm getting ahead of myself.
II. The Pizza Place
a. Choosing places to sit & ordering pizza We wandered to a place called (I believe) the "Oasis Cafe". It serves pizza. This is good, as we have two veggie eaters in our midst. We stand in the doorway, blocking traffic, as we work out a way to get nine people around three tables. Eventually, everyone gets situated, and our "dads", Omar and moJoe, get up to the counter to order us food. Conversations turn more to E2-related stuff. *cough*Dman*cough* ...And a good time is had by all.
b. Waiting for the pizza More talking. Some friends of the reedies show up, have food just behind the assembled group, and leave without really saying anything. They looked nice enough.... more E2 talk, including the people we enjoy reading (ToasterLeavings got "props" from all).
c. Eating the pizza (mostly done in silence....) Mm.....bread and cheese......tastes like some sort of food stuff....
d. Post Pizza musings Yet more E2 talk. Dannye's likely implosion upon entering powell's books is addressed. No real decision is made. The debate rages on.....
e. The Group splits, LordOmar, Brain, and dragoon leave After moJoe takes down all of our names (that's what happens when you get old, ya know?), the group splits in two. Much remorse at the leaving of the fine E2 fellas. Hopes were spread around for a reunion at the thing in december. Love is in the air......you know, the love of a man for a fine cuban cigar.
III. The Internet Cafe ("Internet Arena") a. Browsing the Head shop The people with nothing to do browse a head shop nearby to the cafe. moJoe examines a lunchbox with his image as vishnu on it. Comments are made about the expensive chairs. Why did we go in here again?
b. Traveling to the cars/driving to the Internet Arena We walk to icicle and flamingweasel's vehicles. icicle and flamingweasel walk next to each other, and ideath mentions that this may be dangerous, on account of their opposing natures. I laugh. We reach the cars. me, fox, weasel, and ideath head off in the combustable rodent's ride, and moJoe and icicle lead the way in the lady's vehicle. Icicle drives kinda slow. And now you know!
c. Things what happened at the Internet Arena, icicle leaves Upon reaching moJoe's front for his cocaine smuggling ri....job, icicle flees. She had places to be, I believe. moJoe shows us the upstairs of his work, wherein the vast amounts of computer equipment what makes up his business are housed, while ideath hits a computer for her e2 fix.. It was just like my work, only using a bunch of individual computers instead of a couple powerful ones. It smelled like home. We return to the main room and utilize the computers to node en masse, which is a much more social and less creepy experience than one would imagine. ideath does not have scabies.
d. The Washingtonians depart After about half an hour to 45 minutes of this, my driver (flamin'weasel) announces that it is time to leave. He, I, and patientfox flee into the night, thanking moJoe for his kindness as we leave. The drive to Washington is quiet, as we're all quite tired. Upon reaching my home, I regain my E2 access, and fight a small flame-war with a newbie by the name of flybomber. He loses. I sleep.
I had a great time. As moJoe mentioned, all were quite sociable and normal-tastic. I hope I see everyone again in december. Until then, my friends....
My alarm clock is the most obnoxious one ever.
I feel extremely sorry for the surrounding inhabitants. It's not just loud, but screeching and piercing. Still, somehow I ended up being late for the Everything Portland Tea. The short morning rituals observed, a quick run down to Steele and 39th, a wait for the bus, a short ride and a jaunt down Belmont delivered me at the Tao of Tea, merely an hour late. I walked in, confident despite my lack of personal knowledge of any noder involved bar my fellow student Brain. I was greeted not with a hearty cheer or mug of ale, but desolation and devastation. Not really, but the mental effect of surveying the assorted hipsters and blackclad pierced staff in the place of the hearty comradery of fellow noders was much the same. So I suppose I looked fairly clueless, something I excel at, and an employee came over to ask my major malfunction.
"I'm looking for someone I was meeting, but they don't seem to be here." I muttered.
That wrinkled pink-gray product of one million years of evolution, nestled between his shoulders, allowed the helpful if slightly permanently sneering young man to explain the best course of action was to go outside and to the right. While it felt like I was getting kicked out of a tea house, after a false start I arrived at the real source of the action. A group of warmly inviting, jovial, healthy young adults, chatting and drinking tea with great gusto. I sat down and was treated to a barrage of real names. Now note, I had never before met people in real life that I had previously known online, so I was ignorant of the protocol and had been expecting E2 names, handles, aliases or whatever term best fits in the physical world. Not that figuring out the identity of our little group was that hard. Brain I knew, moJoe was positively incandescent in his loud humor (guess which noder got the dirty looks from the staff behind his back?), LordOmar's good cheer tickled my neurons into remembrance through homepage picture, ideath was unfortunate enough to be close enough for me to ask her there, flamingweasel revealed his identity through an anecdote about Everclear and burning flesh, icicle came as we were leaving with a good initial impression of a scared rabbit, Dialogue and I chatted about his return to Everything on the way to food, and patientfox revealed himself while munching on pizza and stealing tables from hipsters. Apparently and disappointingly, I missed pukesick - on the other hand, have any of you ever seen both of us in the same place at the same time? I thought so. And so I note each and every one of you.
So to jump back in time, we were sitting around, many of us drinking tea, being loud, obnoxious and fun. Walking down to food, moJoe and LordOmar took up the scout position while Brain entertained us with his brightly colored jester cap as ideath juggled and patientfox dissed corporate rock sellouts. As mentioned, yes, we did talk shit about almost every E2 celebrity, except for nate. He doesn't do enough for us to bitch about. Other fun highlights were a surfeit of getting to know you, various people's views of drunken noding, one noder's search for drugs, themes and the desperate need for customization, a brainstorm on the proper title for our post-meeting node, discussion of the December North-west E2 meeting, solemn pontifications on True Noding, and much more. Two frosh from Reed showed up, one of whom I spent a night with once and this and that, so I was surprised to see her there, and perhaps a little uncomfortable, but they didn't stay long. After munching, we were gently ushered out by the staff and stood around, looking hungry and menancing. Someone suggested starting an E2 gang, I suggested celebratory tattoos for all, and we went out to buy switchblades for robbing the assorted hippies, junkies and yuppies of Hawthorn. Actually, a majority of people left for moJoe's workplace to node and Brain, LordOmar and I went away, although I'll admit to a stop at Powells for school books first. What can I say, I'm not much of a storyteller. I enjoyed it.
So when shal we all meet again? In thunder, lightning, or in rain?
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