[Brinniel]

Yeah, most of my BD meetings started with an awkward hello, but the awkwardness never lasted long. I usually find that by 10 minutes after the initial meeting (if not earlier), you're talking to each other like old friends who have met many times before. The least awkward meeting was probably with Lommy and Aganzir. They picked me up at the airport, and I recall while they weren't actually jumping and squealing, they looked pretty darned close to it. The most awkward meeting was with Laitoste. She had never been a very active member of the Downs and while I got to know her fairly well through LJ, I barely saw any pictures of her. We decided to meet in front of where the LotR musical was playing (since we would be seeing it later), and considering it wasn't very crowded at the time, you'd think we'd spot one another instantly. But what happened was that we passed by one another and proceeded to stand practically next to each other waiting for the other to show up. We didn't realise it until about a minute of waiting and exchanging awkward glances. Whoops.

Originally Posted by Hakon

I think I am one of the only downers that has never met another downer. I know I have not even been a member for 3 months but still.

I remember about a month or so after I joined that several BDers started to meet and I was desperate to do the same since the only BDer I knew was the friend from school who recruited me to the site. In fact, I even stated my goal was to meet a BDer before I graduated from high school, but that was not meant to be (perhaps partly because of my two year hiatus at that time). I was a member for over five years before I met my first Downer, which was Rune. It all depends on timing and convenience. I wouldn't have met most of the BDers I have if I didn't study abroad and travel every weekend. I lucked out with meeting Fea and gang when she invited me to visit when I complained on LJ how I had nowhere to go for Spring Break. She warned me there wasn't much to do in Elmira, but it ended up being the best spring break I ever had. Not to mention that making the decision to visit later earned me two future housemates, which should make my (most likely) final year in Boston much more awesome.

Originally Posted by wilwa

Considering Toronto is such a giant city it surprises me that there are no major Downers there, if there was that would be so handy because of my fairly close proximity.

You know, considering there are 8 million people in Manhattan alone, not to mention the millions of others in the areas surrounding, you'd think that there would be some BDers living here, but that is not so. Only one BDer lives nearby and that's on Long Island (which I will come back to in a moment). Of course, BDers seem to meet in the most random places. Who would've ever guessed that Finland would be the prime BD meeting spot? And I've had two BDers come from out of the country to visit me in Boise, Idaho of all place. I mean, really. No one comes to visit Boise. Half the people in the United States don't even know where Idaho is. (Whenever I tell someone I'm from Idaho, the first reaction I get is, "I never met anyone from Idaho before.")

Anyway, speaking of BDer meetings, I met a BDer a little over a week ago (on August 1). Encaitare, who is no longer an active member but still lurks, lives in Long Island and while it's not terribly close to Manhattan, it's close enough that it'd be a mistake not to meet. And considering we know each other quite well through LJ and Facebook, of course we had to. There was the brilliant idea that we should take advantage of our freshly turning 21 and go see a burlesque show, so that we did. So she came to my apartment, then we headed off onto an unexpectedly long adventure on the subway (a lot of trains were not running due to construction). We finally did arrive and enjoyed a show containing many things that are not Barrow Downs appropriate (after all, it wasn't exactly a family show). Though I only had two drinks over a span of three hours, I eventually became a little more than tipsy, being the lightweight I am (though I think that martini I had was also very strong). It made me feel like quite the alcoholic, especially standing next to Encai who doesn't drink at all, but I felt a bit better after seeing the passed out drunk people at Penn Station and knew I was nowhere close to that state. After grabbing pizza and ice cream at the train station (we had extra time since Encai missed her train due to subway delays), we made a very quick goodbye and then I headed home with the opportunity to see what Times Square is like at 3am (not a pretty sight). It was a fun meeting and a bit different since I usually meet BDers during the day and well, it was my first time in a burlesque club...so it was an interesting experience. And meeting Encai was not strange at all since I feel I know her quite well through LJ. You'd think that seeing burlesque with a BDer you just met could pose as awkward, but not at all. :P

Attached is photographic evidence of our meeting. Not the most flattering picture, but keep in mind this was inside a crowded NYC burlesque club on a muggy summer night.