Fabula monachi
Have spent several hours coming back to reality after arriving home from the Con...
Firstly; that was one of the best weekends of my entire life. Srsly.
The last few days have involved drinking, dancing (badly, but with gusto), singing (see previous), talking, staying up until the small hours, a little light flirting, the consumption of enormous amounts of sugary things, swimming, and a whole load of Rushing Around Trying To Be Useful (one of my favourite con activities, I must confess).
(I'd never played Twister before Saturday! - and I really should have buffed up on my Dr Horrible songs - and ... oh yes ... the meerkats.)
When I came up to the Con on Thursday, I was carrying the weight of a roughish few months on my shoulders - I now feel utterly fantastic (if somewhat sleep-deprived).
Secondly; the Guild competition was so much more civilised this time around. I'd been party to a number of discussions post-2006 concerning the Guilds and what was felt to be sub-optimal about the way they interacted and their effect on the Con as a whole.
As such, when the Monks of Cool were floated as an idea, I was interested to see if this could make a difference; I was flattered to be invited to join in by silly_swordsman and Leo.
As the Con approached, the scale of what everyone was trying to do really started to hit home; in the case of the Monks, we were trying to do something (on short notice) that had never been done before at DWCon - and making it all up as we went along; trying to reward everyone who did something for the Con, not just those confident enough to step forward; trying to make sure that the big Guilds didn't just swamp the little ones; trying to encourage Guilds to take part in each others' events; printing, calculating, trying to cover the possible pitfalls, arranging deputies (sometimes at the eleventh hour!).
And then ... it happened. We hit the ground, we met the deputies, a few initial questions were raised and addressed (to some degree); and the rest was a massively enjoyable blur up until Tuesday morning.
We didn't do everything right; there were a number of notes taken and lessons learned - and if there is something like the Monks next time around, we'll have those notes to hand.
(I'll post some more detailed thoughts on this at some point when my brain is capable of dealing with complex concepts without whimpering faintly.)
Thirdly; As is fairly typical of my Con history, I didn't get to that many 'official' events; in 1998-2006, it was because I was doing Watch duty - this time, it was because we were trying to give the Guilds what assistance we could.
Nonetheless, I did get to witness (and even participate in) some events; the conga-line massage was great, as were the Double Entendre Olympics - I'd say that that is something I could see being spread into a proper dedicated slot of its own; it was inspired.
The Buckle a Swash event was fun as always, my only regret being that I couldn't bring my fencing kit up this time around.
Other events; well, I could go on at length about them all, and how wonderful they all were, but I'm speaking to an audience who were (for the most part) there as well; you know all this; the crazed and inspiring things that happen when creative and unorthodox people sit down with alcohol and a burning desire to be silly in public.
It was fun sharing a space with you all for some deeply weird and joyful days and nights; and I hope that we can do it all again in 2010 - and knowing natural20, I'm confident that we can.
And now, sleep.
Firstly; that was one of the best weekends of my entire life. Srsly.
The last few days have involved drinking, dancing (badly, but with gusto), singing (see previous), talking, staying up until the small hours, a little light flirting, the consumption of enormous amounts of sugary things, swimming, and a whole load of Rushing Around Trying To Be Useful (one of my favourite con activities, I must confess).
(I'd never played Twister before Saturday! - and I really should have buffed up on my Dr Horrible songs - and ... oh yes ... the meerkats.)
When I came up to the Con on Thursday, I was carrying the weight of a roughish few months on my shoulders - I now feel utterly fantastic (if somewhat sleep-deprived).
Secondly; the Guild competition was so much more civilised this time around. I'd been party to a number of discussions post-2006 concerning the Guilds and what was felt to be sub-optimal about the way they interacted and their effect on the Con as a whole.
As such, when the Monks of Cool were floated as an idea, I was interested to see if this could make a difference; I was flattered to be invited to join in by silly_swordsman and Leo.
As the Con approached, the scale of what everyone was trying to do really started to hit home; in the case of the Monks, we were trying to do something (on short notice) that had never been done before at DWCon - and making it all up as we went along; trying to reward everyone who did something for the Con, not just those confident enough to step forward; trying to make sure that the big Guilds didn't just swamp the little ones; trying to encourage Guilds to take part in each others' events; printing, calculating, trying to cover the possible pitfalls, arranging deputies (sometimes at the eleventh hour!).
And then ... it happened. We hit the ground, we met the deputies, a few initial questions were raised and addressed (to some degree); and the rest was a massively enjoyable blur up until Tuesday morning.
We didn't do everything right; there were a number of notes taken and lessons learned - and if there is something like the Monks next time around, we'll have those notes to hand.
(I'll post some more detailed thoughts on this at some point when my brain is capable of dealing with complex concepts without whimpering faintly.)
Thirdly; As is fairly typical of my Con history, I didn't get to that many 'official' events; in 1998-2006, it was because I was doing Watch duty - this time, it was because we were trying to give the Guilds what assistance we could.
Nonetheless, I did get to witness (and even participate in) some events; the conga-line massage was great, as were the Double Entendre Olympics - I'd say that that is something I could see being spread into a proper dedicated slot of its own; it was inspired.
The Buckle a Swash event was fun as always, my only regret being that I couldn't bring my fencing kit up this time around.
Other events; well, I could go on at length about them all, and how wonderful they all were, but I'm speaking to an audience who were (for the most part) there as well; you know all this; the crazed and inspiring things that happen when creative and unorthodox people sit down with alcohol and a burning desire to be silly in public.
It was fun sharing a space with you all for some deeply weird and joyful days and nights; and I hope that we can do it all again in 2010 - and knowing natural20, I'm confident that we can.
And now, sleep.