I met a fellow BDer!!

[Diamond18]

I'm impressed to see the posts recapping everything, but I don't dare try to attempt it. I think I prefer to communicate in knowing winks with the Downers who were there and lord it over everyone else. I mean, what?

No really, it was an amazing week, very intense for me because I was so out of my element, but I don't think I could adequately put the whole experience into words. This was the first time I met everyone (with the exception of Rune, who visited me two years ago). Some people I felt I knew rather well, whether from interacting on the 'Downs in my active days, or from LiveJournal, Facebook, or Instant Messaging. There were a few who I didn't know well, and some I didn't know at all.

I felt as if I "knew" Kath, Brinn, Fea, phantom, Form, Celuien, Encai, Mac and Rikae from various interactions. I <3 you all already, and am so glad I got to meet you in the real live physical world.

I recalled Glirdan, Shasta, and Boro from 'Downs interaction, but knew absolutely nothing about who they are in real life. Boro in particular was nothing like I imagined him from the 'Downs! I imagined someone older and far more serious. I was pleasantly surprised to find out that he is, in fact, awesome. Glirdan and Shasta were amazing as well. I <3 you guys.

That leaves Nienna, Wilwa, alona, Lari, and Mira as people who were essentially Brand New to me upon meeting them in real life. They were awesome. I must admit that I was terrified of Mira in the beginning, probably because the first day I walked in on a conversation/argument about her having punched John and then Rune. But Rune should be punched whenever possible, so it's all good.

Originally Posted by J. Michael Formendacil

Diamond18 was not exactly what I was expecting. I'm not sure what I was expecting, because she looked like Diamond's pictures, could well have written Diamond's LiveJournal, and definitely seemed to recognize Boro and I when we picked her up. Unfortunately for getting to know her, she's a bit of a quiet Downer in a party that had a few loudmouths *looks guilty* Diamond definitely belongs on the list of "people I didn't get to spend much time with."

Correction: I recognized YOU. Even after Boro introduced himself I didn't know who he was, due to my being deaf from the plane's descent. So there was an awkward few moments of "Yay Michael! Aaaaaand... other dude..." before it registered. Anyway, yes, the great not-secret of Diamond18 is that she is really a shy, quiet, socially awkward person in RL. I can do well in a smallish group, but not so much in a group of 20.... That may be the one thing I really regret about the trip. Many people left before I felt like I'd gotten a chance to have a proper conversation with them. Some people I barely talked to at all, and others I talked to only in the big group setting. While I did a lot of quietly observing I would have loved to have interacted more. But then, it did not help that I was still very sick the first few days and had painful sinus headaches much of the time, so was more or less out of it. Still, I very glad that I dragged myself to the airport and toughed it out. It was so worth it.

PS It was really difficult to convert everyone into Downer screen names for this post!