measi's Diaryland Diary ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Arisia musings: Friday evening Now that I've had a good nap, some Chinese take-out, and time to get caffeine in me, I can actually type an entry in here. :) Ade dropped me a hi on AIM about a half-hour after we got home, and I was so tired I was seeing two computer screens. *sigh* We had a great time at Arisia. Lots to do and see, lots to buy... and way too much time spent awake for our own goods. Both Erich and I got out of work early on Friday so we could get to the hotel before six, get checked in, etc. before the rush. It was a good idea. While we were relaxing over dinner in the lobby's lounge area, tons of people started showing up. In a way, we had perfect seats in the center of the lobby-- we watched everyone come in and thankfully the handful of people I knew all saw me there, so we didn't have to leave notes up on the Con message board system on the Mezzanine. Our waiters for supper that night were incredibly slow, but it wasn't too troublesome. We relaxed, hung out, and just said hi to people. After dinner we took a quick browse around dealer's row, which is a block of hotel rooms where vendors essentially put up temporary shops. Some of the vendors were already up and running, but a lot were either not there yet or were just setting up. At 9 p.m., Erich headed off to the gaming room, and I went to one of the four panels I attended during the weekend. This one dealt with Tarot readings-- how different people read the cards, what they consider them useful for, etc. My friend Kimee met up with me there. It wasn't the best of discussions-- the topics covered were interesting, but it struck me that the people who did read Tarot were quite arrogant about discussing things, rather than really joining on topics that could include the newbies-- including myself. It was a long panel-- almost two hours. But eh, I did get something out of it, I guess. I bought two decks over the weekend and a new book. Maybe that will be one of my little projects to start working on this year. Thinking Erich had joined in on a LARP (live-action-role-playing) that was going from 9 p.m. to midnight, I headed straight down to the basement for the annual drum circle. I had an absolute blast. I'll preface this by saying that last year's circle was a huge disappointment. There were a couple of guys who had huge egos and tried to take over all of the rhythms of the circle, ruining it for the rest of us. Only about 15 people showed up last year. It was over in about an hour and a half. I was worried about a repeat performance this year. I was more than thrilled at the outcome. By the time I got my drum from the room and got down there, approximately 30 people were sitting around the circle who would be drumming or playing some sort of percussion. Another dozen or so were dancers, and there were several people just there to listen. All ages, too-- from a cute little girl who couldn't have been more than four to a couple who were at least in their late 50's. The guy who ran the circle this year is a friend of BUOgre (Tony) and Rachel (who were also there). He set up a simple, elegant little altar circle in the center of the room. He had us do a neat exercise to warm everyone up, where one person started a simple rhythm, and once the person was comfortable, they looked to the person sitting next to them to start, who brought in his or her own addition to the rhythm, who then looked at the next person, etc. Once everyone was playing, the first person who had begun the rhythm stopped playing, listening to what emptiness had been created because of his absence. It was an exercise in community-- what we each brought to the rhythm. And an extremely effective one. It was a fantastic, relaxed way to begin the evening. And one I was extremely grateful for, since I'd never played my drum before. I found it incredibly easy to play. Now I just need to get some finger flexibility to make different sounds on it. We played rhythms that often went for a half-hour with no break in sound. Occasionally the sound changed beats, blending for a while before the new one took hold-- sometimes quickening, sometimes slowing. It was probably the single most magickal amount of energy I've ever seen created-- the heartbeat of it was just astounding. The people who danced in the middle were also of all ages, sizes, and abilities. A couple of people were dancing with rhythm sticks or their drums. One woman who was close to my age dressed in a full belly-dancing outfit, complete with hand cymbals. She was amazing. The four year old girl did her own dancing, spinning around to the rhythms and imitating the adults she saw. Men danced, women danced. As time went on, a few people went to bed or elsewhere to meet up with friends. The circle grew smaller, but the sound and dance still went on. And slowly, I realized how tired I was getting. At the end of a set, I looked at my watch. It was nearly 2 a.m. By that time, the man who had run the circle was also about ready to drop out, so we all did a grounding ritual, taking back some of the energy we'd created. A few people remained to drum well into the night. Tony and Rachel said that they were going shopping on Dealer's Row (yes, at 2 a.m.), and if I wanted to join them, I was welcome. I told them I needed to go drop off the drum and see if Erich was in, but if he was out and about, I'd hang out with them for a bit. I took my drum upstairs, and saw that Erich wasn't yet in the room. I went back down to the Mezzanine and went into the gaming room. Didn't see him. I decided to check the message boards, and while doing so, ran into him. He was involved in a D&D game. They were taking a quick break. He didn't know when he'd be "home" to our room. I said okay, gave him a kiss, and went up to meet Tony and Rachel. We did a little browsing before we all felt the weight of the drumming energy crash out of us. I was in bed around three (once I'd gone down to the main desk to replace my by-then missing room key). Erich got home from the game at 6 a.m. (and I had to let him in, since they'd changed the key code). A good start to the con. :) 10:12 p.m. - 19 January 2003 ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |
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