So I've been hashing out just exactly what I was going to put in here, be it the bare essentials or the long winded self awareness that transpired over a weekend where this sheltered piece of person was as plain as wallpaper. The nerves weren't bad going in, but the were moments where I could only do a double take; was this real? Was there a human face(s) to this? I have to say that there have been times where the whole concept of community was alien, that every time I saw this and that about gatherings or missing folks or the crash or that play was completely secondary to the experience that I'd roll my eyes and say "that's a nice story, but it's totally embellished".
This past weekend was an eye opening experience in more ways than one, and I'm glad I was able to be in the company of such a multitude of dynamic people. It may sound cliche, but the fact is that there was a great contingent of good folk here, and it was a pleasure.
Not going to go into a long list of thanks yous, but I have three. TF4F and Sadira were great hosts, to the point where I felt sympathy that they were the ones running around, taking out garbage, cooking the food (and it was damn good food), and making everyone feel extremely comfortable. I don't think enough can be said of the amount of work they put into making this thing operate like it does. What I can offer is gratitude. And I'll also thank BlackestLily for giving me a couch to sleep on and a peppery bowl of soup, as well as being a pretty damn cool nerd...which only serves to remind me about how funny and awesome the nerds all are. Got to sleep ass to ass.
Could say a lot more about a lot of people here, but for the sake of brevity, I won't. I thank you all for the great time, and hope to see you all in just under a year.