jchrisobrien (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
jchrisobrien) wrote2002-09-05 03:44 pm
jchrisobrien) wrote2002-09-05 03:44 pm
Friday: Triumph and Tedium
We're up early, and packing up our belongings again so we can be at the registration desk to move our belonging to our new room, like good guests. Unfortunately, our new rooms aren't clean yet. We should come back in two hours and all will be ready. There's a lot of grumbling, but we take out stuff back upstairs. Already there are storm troopers and anime characters milling through the lobby, and the photographers are hard at work.
I pass through the first sub level, where all of the bands have their tables set up: Sins of Lust, Cruxshadows, the Last Dance, the Changelings, Bella Morte, Ghoultown, Voltaire, Nothing Inside... the Goth contingent is noticeably larger this year, or at least more obvious. The next level down is where the open gaming room is, and where the LARPs are station. The tenor of people changes noticeably down here; those of you who are familiar with gaming subculture know exactly what I mean.
Several of my old friends were there at the VTES table, but fewer that last year. I settled into my first VTES game using an old Toreador deck I'd made it to the finals with a few years ago. I'd tuned it pretty nicely, and it paid off. I was the highest ranked player going into the finals! I ran up to the front desk before the finals to see if our room was ready yet. What a shock to find out that it still wasn't ready! I left Fudjo to chew out the clerk, and finished up my game. I took second place in the finals, got some free cards, and another edge marker to replace the one I won last year, and subsequently lost. Funny that.
Tonight's concert was The Changelings. Their set was marred by a horrible sound system, an omnipresent buzz that felt like saws cutting into your bones. It wasn't audible during the music, but reappeared in between songs. I wandered in and out, watching the lobbies filled to overflowing with costumed gamers, Goths in full club attire, normals stopping people to take pictures. There were no fights, no arguments, just lots of people drinking and laughing and reveling in their hobbies. Silentq and I stopped by the Goth/industrial dance and tore up the floor for hours. I think it was about five thirty when I got back to my room. Somewhere during the night, a girl asked to take my picture. Who was I to say no?
I pass through the first sub level, where all of the bands have their tables set up: Sins of Lust, Cruxshadows, the Last Dance, the Changelings, Bella Morte, Ghoultown, Voltaire, Nothing Inside... the Goth contingent is noticeably larger this year, or at least more obvious. The next level down is where the open gaming room is, and where the LARPs are station. The tenor of people changes noticeably down here; those of you who are familiar with gaming subculture know exactly what I mean.
Several of my old friends were there at the VTES table, but fewer that last year. I settled into my first VTES game using an old Toreador deck I'd made it to the finals with a few years ago. I'd tuned it pretty nicely, and it paid off. I was the highest ranked player going into the finals! I ran up to the front desk before the finals to see if our room was ready yet. What a shock to find out that it still wasn't ready! I left Fudjo to chew out the clerk, and finished up my game. I took second place in the finals, got some free cards, and another edge marker to replace the one I won last year, and subsequently lost. Funny that.
Tonight's concert was The Changelings. Their set was marred by a horrible sound system, an omnipresent buzz that felt like saws cutting into your bones. It wasn't audible during the music, but reappeared in between songs. I wandered in and out, watching the lobbies filled to overflowing with costumed gamers, Goths in full club attire, normals stopping people to take pictures. There were no fights, no arguments, just lots of people drinking and laughing and reveling in their hobbies. Silentq and I stopped by the Goth/industrial dance and tore up the floor for hours. I think it was about five thirty when I got back to my room. Somewhere during the night, a girl asked to take my picture. Who was I to say no?