Ropecon
My Ropecon entry has been pending for a while... high time to write it before I forget everything!
I went to the con on Friday straight from work, only stopped to pick up Harry from the bus station on my way. The dancing practices began immediately outside once we got to the con area and we danced for a couple of hours before Linda, Joe and Kati arrived. I needed a break, Harry got a new partner and we sat on the grass for a while before it got too cold. We wandered back to Dipoli where I was stopped by Jenni and dragged to the dancing practice again. She'd been in need of a partner because her boyfriend didn't want to dance, but once we got there the said boyfriend changed his mind and I ended up sitting by myself and shivering for quite some time before the long dance was over. I stole Harry back and made him dance with me some more, now that I was there.
When the dancing was over we went back to join the other girls. There was general hanging-out until it was time for them to go listen to a presentation about Swedish free form roleplaying, but we didn't feel like it and stayed behind to spend a little time with Eath. Random friends stopped by to chat with us and it was fun.
Eventually Eath was called to work a short shift at the clothing rack and we decided to go listen to the last half of the free form presentation with Harry. At first it was a bit difficult to get what they were doing there in front of the audience, us having come to listen to the thing in the middle of it, but it was sort of... funny? Yeah.
After that we went home and Kati came to sleep over at our place.
I had a work shift on Saturday morning, at the rack where big luggage and such were stored. I had to wake up almost as early as if I'd been going to my "regular" work. Blah.
It was my first work shift in con ever but, unsurprisingly, working at the rack wasn't too difficult. There was a girl hanging out there, a worker who didn't have her shift right then, who kept telling us that she'd had next to no sleep during the night and was feeling very hyper. Hello, what's there to be so proud of, the majority of con visitors sleep too little or not at all during the weekend. I wanted to roll my eyes at her and tell her to shut up a few times, but somehow managed to be nice enough. Random male people also came to offer us half-cooked porridge. Four hours passed by quickly enough.
When my work shift ended around 1 pm I went to find the arflings. They were sitting outside and Kati had been replaced by Sanna. I didn't have too much time to hang out with them before I had to leave with Harry, to go visit dad and Virpi who were making us... lunch? Dinner? I say dinner. It was lovely, anyway, and we drank wine with it. Antti was there too. We chatted about random things and family business and I showed a few photos to the others. Another four hours had suddenly passed by before we left and went back to the con.
The girls were waiting for the presentation about homosexuality in roleplaying games to start and we joined them. I wanted to go listen to it too and poor Harry was dragged along, but he probably enjoyed the thing as much as we did. The presentation was really funny! It included lots of weird quotes that had something to do with homosexuality from random old roleplaying books. I didn't know cyberpunk books have so many gay gangs in them.
The ball had started while we were listening to gay stuff and we went to watch it, except for Linda, who got a headache and had to retreat to her car. We mostly just watched because we didn't know the dances too well. I might have remembered the steps to a few of them, but was too uncertain to go and try. Pornpolka is something you can't forget, though, and it is a must to go dance it in every Ropecon. The atmosphere is wonderful when everyone is being cheerful and clapping their hands and stomping their feet to the music. I went with Jenni because Harry had disappeared somewhere, and it was upsetting but he's apologized enough times so let's not go further with it, and I had fun with J anyway. He returned a bit before the Hole in the Wall dance started and my friend Pekka asked me to dance. I'd gotten to practice it on Friday so I went and I'm glad I did because it was very nice. It's been a while since I last got to dance with him. He knows what he's doing and enjoys dancing too.
There was another Pornpolka before we went home, all tired and sweaty and out of breath, but excited.
I had my second work shift at Dipoli's cloth rack on Sunday morning/afternoon and it was mostly all right. Very busy at times and I got to carry enough of heavy bags and stuff. The weirdest thing I was asked to store was Bob the Builder's head. :D Someone had dressed up as him and had this big but light head he wore most of the time, but needed to put it down somewhere for a while. Hee.
After I got out Linda drove us to eat in Sello which was very nice of her (and the rest of the driving too, I don't know how I could've gotten home in the nights otherwise). There wasn't too much to do when we returned. We watched the end of the boffer tournament finale, but I was a bit bored. Or maybe just too tired to concentrate on it.
We left pretty soon after the finale. I took Harry home and made him help me watch Terminator 2 (director's cut). I'd borrowed the dvd from a workmate but was afraid I'd never manage to watch it by myself. It was sort of fun in the end, though.
That text became way longer than it was supposed to... But at least it's detailed! Umm. Somewhat.
I went to the con on Friday straight from work, only stopped to pick up Harry from the bus station on my way. The dancing practices began immediately outside once we got to the con area and we danced for a couple of hours before Linda, Joe and Kati arrived. I needed a break, Harry got a new partner and we sat on the grass for a while before it got too cold. We wandered back to Dipoli where I was stopped by Jenni and dragged to the dancing practice again. She'd been in need of a partner because her boyfriend didn't want to dance, but once we got there the said boyfriend changed his mind and I ended up sitting by myself and shivering for quite some time before the long dance was over. I stole Harry back and made him dance with me some more, now that I was there.
When the dancing was over we went back to join the other girls. There was general hanging-out until it was time for them to go listen to a presentation about Swedish free form roleplaying, but we didn't feel like it and stayed behind to spend a little time with Eath. Random friends stopped by to chat with us and it was fun.
Eventually Eath was called to work a short shift at the clothing rack and we decided to go listen to the last half of the free form presentation with Harry. At first it was a bit difficult to get what they were doing there in front of the audience, us having come to listen to the thing in the middle of it, but it was sort of... funny? Yeah.
After that we went home and Kati came to sleep over at our place.
I had a work shift on Saturday morning, at the rack where big luggage and such were stored. I had to wake up almost as early as if I'd been going to my "regular" work. Blah.
It was my first work shift in con ever but, unsurprisingly, working at the rack wasn't too difficult. There was a girl hanging out there, a worker who didn't have her shift right then, who kept telling us that she'd had next to no sleep during the night and was feeling very hyper. Hello, what's there to be so proud of, the majority of con visitors sleep too little or not at all during the weekend. I wanted to roll my eyes at her and tell her to shut up a few times, but somehow managed to be nice enough. Random male people also came to offer us half-cooked porridge. Four hours passed by quickly enough.
When my work shift ended around 1 pm I went to find the arflings. They were sitting outside and Kati had been replaced by Sanna. I didn't have too much time to hang out with them before I had to leave with Harry, to go visit dad and Virpi who were making us... lunch? Dinner? I say dinner. It was lovely, anyway, and we drank wine with it. Antti was there too. We chatted about random things and family business and I showed a few photos to the others. Another four hours had suddenly passed by before we left and went back to the con.
The girls were waiting for the presentation about homosexuality in roleplaying games to start and we joined them. I wanted to go listen to it too and poor Harry was dragged along, but he probably enjoyed the thing as much as we did. The presentation was really funny! It included lots of weird quotes that had something to do with homosexuality from random old roleplaying books. I didn't know cyberpunk books have so many gay gangs in them.
The ball had started while we were listening to gay stuff and we went to watch it, except for Linda, who got a headache and had to retreat to her car. We mostly just watched because we didn't know the dances too well. I might have remembered the steps to a few of them, but was too uncertain to go and try. Pornpolka is something you can't forget, though, and it is a must to go dance it in every Ropecon. The atmosphere is wonderful when everyone is being cheerful and clapping their hands and stomping their feet to the music. I went with Jenni because Harry had disappeared somewhere, and it was upsetting but he's apologized enough times so let's not go further with it, and I had fun with J anyway. He returned a bit before the Hole in the Wall dance started and my friend Pekka asked me to dance. I'd gotten to practice it on Friday so I went and I'm glad I did because it was very nice. It's been a while since I last got to dance with him. He knows what he's doing and enjoys dancing too.
There was another Pornpolka before we went home, all tired and sweaty and out of breath, but excited.
I had my second work shift at Dipoli's cloth rack on Sunday morning/afternoon and it was mostly all right. Very busy at times and I got to carry enough of heavy bags and stuff. The weirdest thing I was asked to store was Bob the Builder's head. :D Someone had dressed up as him and had this big but light head he wore most of the time, but needed to put it down somewhere for a while. Hee.
After I got out Linda drove us to eat in Sello which was very nice of her (and the rest of the driving too, I don't know how I could've gotten home in the nights otherwise). There wasn't too much to do when we returned. We watched the end of the boffer tournament finale, but I was a bit bored. Or maybe just too tired to concentrate on it.
We left pretty soon after the finale. I took Harry home and made him help me watch Terminator 2 (director's cut). I'd borrowed the dvd from a workmate but was afraid I'd never manage to watch it by myself. It was sort of fun in the end, though.
That text became way longer than it was supposed to... But at least it's detailed! Umm. Somewhat.