I met a fellow BDer!!

[satansaloser2005]

Originally Posted by A Little Green

Our flight back home takes off from NYC on the 20th. We'll probably be in New York from the 17th or so, which means that if you're willing to travel there to meet us we will be ever so happy! (And any of you sweethearts who said you liked us so much, a trip to NYC is never a bad idea.. )

Aww. I don't think I'll start ranting about any of our lovely Downer-meetings quite yet - from my part at least you'll probably have to wait for a super-epic massive post once I'm back home.. For now, I will just say that we have met a bunch of adorable people all of whom I miss already.

Soooo....I dreamt you guys were at my house last night. I think this means something.

[Feanor of the Peredhil]

Side note: There was supposed to be a super Skype date with me, Stick, Sally, Shasta, the phantom, the Finns, and possibly others, and it failed through almost no fault of mine.

The first time it failed was because when Stick and I got home from work, my house lacked power and thus internet due to bathroom remodeling adventures.

Then they weren't home when my power was back on.

Then we weren't home when Sally called saying people were home and ready. And then though eventually Stick made it back to my house, I never did.

And so, Skype failed. Lo siento. Otherwise there'd be stories from that too. And I doubt anybody wants to hear why I never made it home Saturday night.

[Keeper of Dol Guldur]

Originally Posted by Feanor of the Peredhil

Then we weren't home when Sally called saying people were home and ready. And then though eventually Stick made it back to my house, I never did.

And so, Skype failed. Lo siento. Otherwise there'd be stories from that too. And I doubt anybody wants to hear why I never made it home Saturday night.

She was hippie cuddling, and don't let her try to tell you differently. I apparently totally missed the memo about them calling when we weren't home. Oh wait...

[Aganzir]

As you probably know by now, us Finns (Thinlómien, A Little Green, Nogrod and yours truly) decided to travel to the United States to see all our American Downer friends, and also a bit of the country itself. This is our 13th day of travelling, and we're currently in Salt Lake City. Thus far we've seen at least one Downer each day.

We arrived in New York City late at night (9pm, but my body told me it was actually 4am) and slept there before taking a bus to Boston to see Brinniel on Friday. It's over two years since we last saw her, and we all were pretty excited about meeting her again. She took us to her house which was quite lovely, and after some unpacking and relaxing we went to get some food and, despite the heat we northerners are not at all used to, walk around Boston. In the evening Brinn introduced Apples to Apples to us – a game that, interestingly enough, hasn't been translated into Finnish. We learned that Greenie doesn't find the phantom repulsive and Lommy doesn't think Kath is idiotic.

On Saturday we got up early and walked the Freedom Trail which turned out to be quite interesting. (OOT: Lommy is just reading the book 'The Third Chimpanzee' and found out there's an extinct species called Shasta ground sloth.) After that we visited the New England Aquarium. It was an awesome place, and we spent hours watching the fishes. Lommy liked the penguins and the tortoises the most while my favourites were the stingrays, Nog liked an ugly fish whose name he can't remember, and Little Green fell in love with a big green monster.

In the end we were in quite a hurry if we wanted to have dinner before picking up our rental car and Kath from the airport, but even though Kath's flight landed early, Nog, Brinn and I were at the airport just on time with a ++Kath sign. Lommy and Greenie had gone back to Brinn's place and taken a nap, and they came to open the door to us only after five minutes of ringing the doorbell and trying to call them. They were not quite so tired anymore, so we made drinks (Greenie had a little green drink in a big green glass) and played more Apples to Apples, finding out the phantom is desperate.

On Sunday it was time to head to Geneva. We drove there with Kath while Brinn took a plane, and after hours of sitting in the car our GPS told us we had arrived at Rikae and Macalaure's house. It looked surprisingly empty, but just when we pulled up in front of it, a girl in a black-and-white striped shirt (who turned out to be Fea) came out and shouted something, and suddenly lots of people (Rikae, Boro, wilwa, Nienna, Mira, Celuien, and the Wereduckling of course) came from the backyard to welcome us. I have met several Downers before, but it still felt weird to see so many at once (Celuien, Mira, Kath, wilwa, Greenie)! And actually it wasn't even awkward. Even though none of us Finns had met them before, we had talked to them on the Downs and seen what they look like on Facebook, so they didn't feel strangers at all. (Later Mac came with Brinn, whom he picked up at the airport.)

So we sat down in the backyard while Fea and Boro cooked for us (it was delicious), and after that we ate the peach cobbler Celuien had made (om nom nom). In the end we spent most of the night talking about all kinds of random stuff in small groups, and when the insects began to bother us too much, we went inside and played Apples to Apples.

On Monday Nienna and Mira had to leave. Fea drove them back to her place, and Kath and wilwa went along. We others went to Watkins Glen (Rivendell), and Fea & co joined us there later. It was a really beautiful place.
The evening was also lots of fun. Rikae's and Macalaure's parents came visiting and we had a campfire and grilled sausages. Rikae's oldest daughter told us that the worse your sausage burns, the more evil you are. I was busy explaining something to somebody while grilling mine, and when I finally realised it was still grilling, it was very, very black. I swear I didn't do it on purpose.
Then some of us had fun cross-dressing, and later we played two games of werewolf. In the first one, the day 1 main suspects were Fea, Rikae and Aganzir who, said the village, had acted unnecessarily wolfishly on purpose. Déjà vu, anyone? In the second game I voted for Macwolf every day but the wolves won anyway.

Originally Posted by Fea

I was killed and discovered to be a wolf, for reasoning that was quite faulty, but also clearly lucky.

Fea: Agan, are you a wolf?
Agan: Just as much as you are.
*later* Fea: Okay so Agan said she's a wolf...
village: Lynch!

Originally Posted by Fea

Kath, Wilwa, and I fell asleep listening to Lommy and Agan murmuring in Finnish.

It was either the night we discussed how awesome people you are or the night we talked about me.

On Tuesday we packed our things and drove to Niagara Falls. I sat between wilwa and Boro and talked with wilwa pretty much the whole ride. Although we have differing world views, it was really interesting. I hadn't had too much interaction with her before, and although everybody who has met her had told me she's sweet, I was still surprised she's so lovely. It would be impossible not to like her.

We met Bêthberry, her son who also has a Downs account (unfortunately I can't remember his user name), and her husband in Niagara. They all were very nice too. After hanging around and visiting the sunny Canada (Boro, Nog, wilwa, Rikae, Fea, Brinn, Green, Lommy, Kath, Mac), it was time to say goodbye. We postponed it by taking very tiny steps while walking back to the parking lot, and when we had finally reached the cars, we spent several minutes just hugging one another and exchanging comments like 'We must meet again,' 'Come to Finland!' and 'Any chance you could visit New York City before we fly back home?'

And then the others left back for Geneva and we took Boro with us and headed westward. In the car, we discovered that both Lommy and Greenie had adopted Kath's way of saying 'really, really [adjective].' I was suddenly exhausted – with the time zone difference and getting too little sleep because I was too busy hanging around with awesome people, only adrenaline had kept me going. At one point I was talking to Boro, realised I wasn't making sense at all and pointed out he should now understand why I always screw things up if I play werewolf when I'm tired, and he said something along the lines 'I see what you mean.'

In Boro's apartment, we stayed awake for a while and went through the photos we had taken, but we went to bed soon enough. And (too) early on Wednesday morning it was time for us to move on. Thus ended our trip's first major Downer meet-up.

I had met Brinn and Kath before, and both were just as awesome as I remembered. Brinn was a very good host and had planned nice things for us during our stay in Boston. It was really helpful to have with us someone who actually knew the city, otherwise we would have been totally lost. Plus, she looks gorgeous with short hair. As for Kath, I had really missed her sense of humour and her straightforwardness. And I had almost too much fun poking at her ribs.

I didn't know Nienna and Mira too well in advance and I only spent one evening with them, but they both seemed very nice. Celuien had work so she could be with us only in the evenings. I didn't talk to her as much as I would've wanted to, but I liked her as well. And thanks to her, I could make a painting for Boro (she took a nice picture of him and Rune in Bostonmoot).

I love Rikae and Macalaure. They are so sweet and lots of fun to be around! And they both are much less scary in real life than online: back in my newbie days (and okay, even later), I used to be semi-scared of Rikae, while Mac, on the other hand, looks darn scary only in pictures. Also, the Wereduckling is awesome. It was so cute to hear her growl. She was also afraid of Nog at first, but later she learned to say his name, and she told us Mac was a wolf when we played werewolf, but unfortunately nobody paid heed to her words. Rikae's other kids were awesome as well. And I loved their house, especially the basement. We did the laundry before we left, and some of my clothes still smell of their basement.

Boro was great too. He was quieter in live werewolf than he is on the Downs and it felt weird at first, but then again Nog is also like that. Anyway he is sweet and funny, and it was interesting to hear him talk about why he wants to be a teacher.

Fea is, if possible, even lovelier in real life. She was very much fun to be around, and she has the knack of being able to tell about even the most trivial stuff so that it sounds interesting. Also, she was great to play werewolf with, and even though I've always disagreed with her on the significance of day 1s, I'll never again be able to accuse her because of her behaviour if I think of her in real life werewolf! She was hilarious.

Bêthberry was sweet as well, and I love her hair.

So, on to Wisconsin. Lommy and I slept some hours in the car, but I was still rather tired when we arrived at Ibrin's place. We went to get something to eat, and soon after we had got to the restaurant, Oddwen and Diamond18 joined us. After eating we drove to the closest Walmart and tried to find McCaber, but it didn't go quite as planned.

Originally Posted by Oddwen

She pointed us out to a young worker, to whom Aganzir boldly walked up to.

There happened to be a guy with the same first name and a last name that differed from McCaber's by only a few letters!

So we returned back to Ibrin's place and watched some Mythbusters. And I was quite tired. Around 10pm I thought, 'I'll go upstairs for a while, I just need some quiet,' and the next thing I knew was somebody coming into the room and saying 'McCaber just arrived, it's past 11pm.' So I went back downstairs and was as social as I could, but I'm not very much fun to be with when I'm tired.

Thursday morning was better. We started westward around 10am with Oddwen, Diamond and McCaber and had a picnic somewhere, after which Cabbie left us. Greenie and I rode with Diamond, and we had so much fun talking about werewolf that we entertained the people in the other car by accidentally driving past the exit we were supposed to take. When we eventually found a gas station we could stop at, we parted with Oddwen and Diamond and headed towards Omaha.

Ibrin and her husband were very talkative and easy to be with, and it was really funny to hear her talk about the RPGs she had played, the OneRing.net, fan fiction etc.

Oddwen and Diamond were awesome. One of the most hilarious moments during Wisconsinmoot was when Oddwen all of a sudden walked to Lommy and poked at her nose! McCaber was really nice too, although he talked so fast I had a hard time deciphering what he was saying, especially in the evening.

So we drove the whole day, and some of us spent their time sleeping in the car again. When we were about a 100 miles from Omaha we called the phantom whose house we were supposed to stay at. He was shocked: 'What, are you coming today? I thought it was tomorrow!' Fortunately he didn't mind us staying there an extra night, and in the end we parked in front of his lair around 9.30pm. Phantom and Nog talked a lot about sports which bored me so I went online, and when I tried to find the others later, they were in the basement playing table football. Phantom and Greenie made a very good team while we others (first Nog & Lommy, then Lommy & me) scored lots of own goals.

On Friday, sally and Shasta arrived and I found the phantom's tree house in the backyard. Sally came first. She was just as sweet as you'd imagine, and she gave us all ballpoint pens made of corn fibre. Shasta, who had got lost a couple of times, arrived some time later, and Nog, Lommy & sally went to grocery. Phantom, Greenie, Shasta and I sat in the phantom's living room (which was dark because the blinds were down). Phantom kneeled before Greenie and started to tell her of a dream he had had, and Shasta and I talked about all kinds of random stuff. He was very easy to talk to and we got along quite well:
Agan: 'I used to have a crush on Downer X.'
Shasta: 'Oh. Me too.'
And then we discussed our Downer crushes, and suddenly we realised Greenie and phantom were staring at us. They claimed they didn't hear anything, though. Shortly after that the shoppers came back and I helped Nog with the cooking while the others continued talking in the living room.

After eating we played werewolf twice. Greenie and Nog were the wolves, and phantom surprised us with a very accurate interpretation of the first night's events (for those who don't know, we don't have a mod at the beginning but the roles are written on pieces of paper, and before the day starts, we count aloud to ten with our eyes covered so the wolves can find out each other's identity meanwhile): he could tell from Greenie's (who was sitting next to him) voice that she was turning her head and began to smile when she saw her partner. Not surprisingly, the wolves lost. In the next game we wanted to avoid that kind of accidents so we decided everyone claps their hands ten times. Nog lost the count which led inevitably to jokes about the clap. This time Nog and Shasta were wolves, and they won quite easily. Greenie threatened to kill them both but hasn't carried out her plan yet. In one of the games, Lommy got annoyed with the phantom and talked about 'the plans he creates in his small head.' Phantom was shocked by this comment.

The rest of the night involved Apples to Apples (we really like the game!), jokes about pants, and Shasta and Greenie singing Disney songs. Shasta's rendition of Be Prepared made me extremely happy.

On Saturday morning sally, Greenie and I were the first ones to be up. We gossiped about the phantom's softer side, and when everybody else was awake, Lommy, Greenie, Shasta & me explored the phantom's backyard. There's lots of mud (Lommy & Greenie still have some under their toenails) and a lovely brook where everybody except Shasta was attacked by leeches.

In the afternoon we packed our things and headed west. We played word games, and I hated Shasta's 'I'm going to the moon and taking with me X' game because I sucked at it. Actually I sucked at almost every game we played. Not good for my ego.
We parted with sally (who gave us our very own copy of Apples to Apples, yay!) in the late afternoon and continued our trip, trying to find a motel. However, they all seemed to be fully booked (according to the phantom this happened because Greenie brings bad luck), and at least Shasta and I ended up sleeping in the car. We found one as late as 1.30am, and when we woke up in the morning, we saw we were in South Dakota in the middle of nowhere.

On Sunday we visited Badlands (Shasta found the Pride Rock and played Simba) and Mount Rushmore, had a picnic in a forest and climbed on rocks. That night we found a motel relatively early but stayed up relatively late writing hilarious stories, playing werewolf (there were only six of us so we had a wolf, cobbler and ranger) – in the first game I was the cobbler and they lynched Shastawolf on day 1 because someone got the idiotic idea that we were the baddies because we joked about it, and in the second game Nog was the wolf and got lynched on the last day despite Lommler's valiant efforts to distract us; and Apples to Apples again. We finally went to sleep around 4am.

Yesterday phantom and Shasta left us, which made Greenie and me sick. Our being sick made also Lommy sick. Not nice.

Neither the phantom nor Shasta was quite what I had imagined. Phantom's softer side turned out to be very soft, but for his reputation's sake I must add he hates the sun and everything that grows (except for certain little green things), and he broke both Greenie's finger and her confidence in her musical skills.

Shasta, on the other hand, was much more evil than I had thought (that's certainly not a bad thing though). He's a terrific singer and provided us with lots of entertainment also in the form of climbing high rocks. Yesterday, after the guys had left, we stopped to eat while driving on the Bighorn Mountains, and somebody pointed out it was good we didn't have Shasta with us any more because otherwise we'd never have been able to leave (there was a particularly high rock next to us). And next time I meet him, I'd love to see him wear 8-inch stilettos.

We just came back to our hotel after having dinner with mormegil & his family in a fancy Mexican restaurant and driving/walking around Salt Lake City, whose geography actually reminds us of Gondolin (what with it lying between mountains etc). Morm isn't half so scary as I thought. He's actually very nice, and his family is adorable. We had much fun talking about werewolf and the Downs in general.

Tomorrow the others fly to San Francisco and I fly to Seattle to spend some quality Ka, TGEW & Laurinquë time. I'm happy we're not even halfway through our trip yet and there are still more Downers we're going to meet, but at the same time I miss everybody like crazy. You all are ♥

[mormegil]

I finally met some fellow Downers. I think I'm the only Downer who hasn't actually met a fellow Downer and now I have. I had a lovely evening with Nogrod, Lommy, Little Green and Aganzir, along with my family in tow. It was, in my opinion at least quite enjoyable. I'm glad to have finally met some Downers and it reminded me why I love this forum and I am glad we have the common thread of our love of Tolkien to bring us together. Thank you for a lovely evening you 4.

[Inziladun]

Originally Posted by mormegil

I finally met some fellow Downers. I think I'm the only Downer who hasn't actually met a fellow Downer and now I have.

Meh, you're not (weren't) the only one.
I don't suppose the Southeast is on the Finns' itinerary?

[Feanor of the Peredhil]

Agan: 'I used to have a crush on Downer X.'
Shasta: 'Oh. Me too.'
And then we discussed our Downer crushes, and suddenly we realised Greenie and phantom were staring at us. They claimed they didn't hear anything, though. Shortly after that the shoppers came back and I helped Nog with the cooking while the others continued talking in the living room.

Sooooo curious.

I mean, I had a teenage crush on the phantom, but who didn't?

[Hookbill the Goomba]

Originally Posted by Feanor of the Peredhil

Sooooo curious.

I mean, I had a teenage crush on the phantom, but who didn't?

Are you suggesting that some of us stopped?

[Mnemosyne]

Originally Posted by Inziladun

I don't suppose the Southeast is on the Finns' itinerary?

Vaguely, as that's where I am right now. We're still trying to arrange things, but the House of Nog is answering PMs if you don't mind waiting for a bit. They won't be in the area for another couple of weeks, so that's plenty of time to arrange something. Rather depends on how blocked out their itinerary is so far.

[Inziladun]

At long last, I have something to post here.

I was able to get in touch with Nog, Agan, Greenie, and Lommy and arrange to meet them on the Southeastern leg of their journey as they passed through Birmingham. It came together rather quickly, so I didn't have time to arrange things for them the way I would have liked. Still, got together and had a very nice dinner with them. Chocolate brownies with ice cream is a wonderful thing, is it not?
It was a wonderful time, and my only complaint is that I didn't have longer to spend with them. Absolutely delightful people. Thanks for making my first RL Downer meeting such a pleasant experience.

[Folwren]

Originally Posted by mormegil

I finally met some fellow Downers. I think I'm the only Downer who hasn't actually met a fellow Downer and now I have. I had a lovely evening with Nogrod, Lommy, Little Green and Aganzir, along with my family in tow. It was, in my opinion at least quite enjoyable. I'm glad to have finally met some Downers and it reminded me why I love this forum and I am glad we have the common thread of our love of Tolkien to bring us together. Thank you for a lovely evening you 4.

Not so, my friend. I, too, had never met anyone from the Downs before, but Thursday changed that. I met them, too, and it was marvelous. I was so excited I hardly knew what to do with myself, and I hope I didn't look like a fool half the time. In the two hours they were there, I managed to embarrass myself extremely at least once...

Nogrod and company, I have a question to ask you all sometime so that a matter between me and my Camp friends can be settled...

-- Folwren

[Aganzir]

A few quick comments, a more elaborate post on our Downer meetings will follow when we have more time. Suffice to say everybody is awesome.

Originally Posted by the phantom

Friday- Aganzir skipped off into the woods to explore, wearing no shoes at all! I am still uncertain how she managed it given the stickers and poison ivy that carpets the forest.

We don't have poison ivy in Finland so I was obviously not aware it might be dangerous. Anyway either it doesn't affect me or I'm even better at walking barefoot in forests than I thought.

Originally Posted by phantom

(Funny quote- At one point Greenie said that something Agan had done caused her to look suspicious, and Agan dismissively responded, "Well, that's really not my problem."

If the village decides to lynch innocent!me, it's their problem, not mine. I'm only helpful as long as they want my help!

Originally Posted by phantom

Not surprisingly the unsuitable parts were mostly all in the same hand-writing, but I won't point any fingers (and I'm sure you can figure it out anyway).

We're quite unanimous there was more than one family-unfriendly handwriting!

Originally Posted by Feanor of the Peredhil

Sooooo curious.

X stands obviously for xyzzy.

Originally Posted by Folwren

In the two hours they were there, I managed to embarrass myself extremely at least once...

We at least didn't notice anything.

Originally Posted by Folwren

Nogrod and company, I have a question to ask you all sometime so that a matter between me and my Camp friends can be settled...

Sure, go ahead!

[TheGreatElvenWarrior]

Originally Posted by Aganzir

We don't have poison ivy in Finland so I was obviously not aware it might be dangerous. Anyway either it doesn't affect me or I'm even better at walking barefoot in forests than I thought.

Good thing that you have good skills; it's either that or good luck that helped you not step on the shattered glass in the forest in Washington!

[Folwren]

Originally Posted by Aganzir

Sure, go ahead!

Okay, this may sound ridiculous to you, but it wasn't my doing, it was their's...

You had not been gone for two minutes before Janie, Zhenya, and Justin withdrew into a clump apart from Chad and I and when I began to pay attention to what they were saying, what I heard was, "Yes, it was definitely a Brittish accent."

"You guys!" I said, bursting in on their bubble. "They're from Finland - it was a Finnish accent!"

"No, no," they said wisely, turning towards me. "We obviously heard an English accent in there."

"How on earth could it be an English accent when they grew up and learned English in Finland?"

They tried to convince me that it was a Brittish accent and a reason that it might be that is because that would be the closest English speaking people near you, so you would take up their accent. I tried to explain that it didn't matter if the Brittish were the closest to you, you all learned English in grade school, so your accents would be Finnish, since you learned it from childhood AND you learned it from Finnish teachers, not from Brittish ones.

So....prove I'm right, and tell me that your accent is not a Brittish accent, but a Finnish one. er...I mean, tell me what accent you would consider yours to be. When you see a person from Britain, is their accent different than yours? I know that looking back, for instance, the way Aganzir's proper name is pronounced by you all is very different from how we pronounce it here in America, and again different from how it would be pronounced in Britain. I could not think of any other examples than her name off the top of my head, but I know it wasn't a Brittish accent.

I ran after you all to try to get your opinion on the matter, but you had just started down the hill and didn't see me running like a mad person behind you.

Hope your trip back home is safe.

-- Foley

[the phantom]

Thursday, 6:30 PM- I was busy finishing up some work when my phone lit up. I was expecting a call from a friend and so I did not bother to view the screen before answering. But the voice that responded was not that of my friend. It was Lommy!

I was very pleased to hear from the Finns, as I desired to arranged the specifics of their arrival the following day and work out the details of our weekend travels. Imagine my surprise when I was informed that they were nearly to Omaha and were intending to stay there that very night!

I spent the next couple of hours rushing around to get everything prepared, and then there they were, pulling up in front of my house. The wait was over.

****************

Thursday night- The Finns and I settled in and got acquainted and discussed what we would do the next couple of days. We also played some foosball. Lommy showed less flare for the game than did her sister, a fact that Greenie and I pointed out repeatedly. At one point Greenie went so far as to exclaim, "Come on, at least make an effort!" after scoring a goal.

The evening was capped off by the girls all wearing the souvenirs I had gotten them- Nebraska Husker shirts! ♥

****************

Friday- Aganzir skipped off into the woods to explore, wearing no shoes at all! I am still uncertain how she managed it given the stickers and poison ivy that carpets the forest. Meanwhile Lommy sat down in the yard with her laptop and I threw the football (American version) around with Nog and Green.

After that we visited Buffalo Wild Wings during the afternoon football matches (non-American version). The food was tasty as always and then we took the long way back home. We had some time to kill before Sally and Shasta arrived, so we messed around with YouTube videos and musical instruments and just generally had fun.

****************

Friday night- Sally and Shasta arrived and the group was complete! After a raid of the grocery store Nog master-minded a lovely meal and after filling our tummies we set about making epic Werewolf fun. And we were more than a little successful, I can tell you.

No lie, the very first day of our first game was possibly the best Day 1 ever! It lasted a good 20+ minutes, and rather than random votes and people complaining about how random Day 1s are, the votes were cast with conviction and there was lots of legitimately great discussion. We started the game by closing our eyes and putting our heads down and counting to ten. During this time the two people who drew Werewolf roles were to put their heads up so that they would know who was on their side on Day 1.

Well, I heard a certain Downer's voice change direction during the counting, telling me that this individual was a Werewolf looking around to find a partner. In addition I heard this person smile when they were almost fully turned my direction, telling me that the other Werewolf was most likely directly to my right (we were spread out through the living room).

So, armed with this information I launched directly into an accusation to open the day and things were off and running. It was... well... you just had to be there. Incredibly epic.

The first day of our second game on the other hand was the worst Day 1 ever. It lasted around 25 minutes or so, and I may actually be exaggerating by saying that 5 minutes was spent on topic. Somehow or other we continually ended up telling "pants" jokes or jokes involving "the clap". And just so everyone understands why we were making such jokes, after the events of the first game we did not wish to count aloud at the start of this game, and so we resolved instead to clap ten times with our eyes shut before day 1 so that the Werewolves could find each other.

Well, a certain one of our number gave an extra couple of claps at the end. Naturally, I quickly accused this individual of being a Werewolf on the grounds that he was too busy identifying his fellow wolf to keep track of the number of claps. Someone else bemoaned the fact that I had yet again been handed a free reason to suspect someone from the get-go, phrasing it something like, "First it was the counting, and now Phantom's been handed the clap!" After that it was chaos, and I don't think there was a laugh-free second the rest of the day. The Wolves won that game, but I'd just like to point out that I supported lynching them every day, and the other villagers just didn't obey me properly. *shakes fist*

(Funny quote- At one point Greenie said that something Agan had done caused her to look suspicious, and Agan dismissively responded, "Well, that's really not my problem."

****************

Saturday- It was time to hit the road. Shasta and the girls piled into Sally's car and in far too short a time we reached the parting of the ways, where we were forced to say farewell to Sally.

Upon reaching our destination (Valentine, Nebraska) we discovered that there was a big event going on and no rooms were available. I had foolishly joked earlier in the drive that such a thing would happen, and so it was decided that it was my fault. We ended up driving for another couple of hours before stopping that night, but that was fine as it gave me more time to get to know the Downer that was currently riding with me- Greenie. It turns out she isn't nearly as boring or mean as I was expecting her to be.

****************

Sunday- We took a couple of lovely walks in the badlands and I got to ride with Agan and Lommy, who taught me a new travel game that pleased me greatly. After the badlands we moved on to Mount Rushmore, and then we ate an excellent picnic lunch on a rocky hill. After the picnic we set about exploring the hillside. Both here and in the badlands Shasta took every opportunity to climb upon a high rock and pose for a picture.

****************

Sunday night- We checked into rooms in Gillette, Wyoming and kicked off a night of games. First we did something I had never done before- combined story writing! We each started a story, but limited our writing to two lines, and then we folded the paper in such a way that only one line could be read and passed it to the next person. The next person was only allowed to look at that one single line before adding two lines of their own, and so on down the line.

Our stories turned out to be quite amusing. I would post them on here (we did 12 of them), but if I'm not mistaken every last one of them contains something that would make it unsuitable for the forum. Not surprisingly the unsuitable parts were mostly all in the same hand-writing, but I won't point any fingers (and I'm sure you can figure it out anyway ).

After that we played a couple games of Werewolf featuring Werewolf, Cobbler, Ranger, and three Ordos. Both games were fantastic, but I'll leave it to someone else to give a blow-by-blow account. Summary from my point of view- everyone I ever declared innocent turned out to be so, and I was a fantastic Ranger! *toots own horn*

To cap the night off we played Apples to Apples.

****************

Monday- Shasta and I said goodbye to the Finns and headed back east. We were very sad. The first part of the trip was spent talking about online games and listening to Nightwish. At some point my throat took a turn for the worse (I had been feeling rather ill since the night before), and so Shasta did a lot of napping and reading after that. As we neared Omaha my throat began feeling better and we chattered away once again. Shasta made his exit the following morning and the moot was officially over.

****************

Sally- She was as funny and cheerful as ever and I'm sure I'll be seeing her again in the coming months. Having another Downer living close is quite nice.

Shasta- He was just as entertaining and fun as he was in Bostonmoot, which anyone who was in Boston will tell you is high praise.

Nogrod- I finally got to meet my Arda Cup cosponsor! He was very much his Downs self- smart, responsible, and very polite and gracious.

Agan- She was... Maria. She had her own patented facial expressions and even her very own accent, as well as extremely long nails. I still wonder how she types.

Lommy- She was big on insults. I lost track of the number of bad things she said about me in our short time together. But she was just kidding around of course. I think.

Greenie- Perhaps the best travel companion I've ever been granted. Sharing music and conversation with her was quite enjoyable, and I'm sure she'll report that I am even more dark and evil and such in real life than on the Downs.

****************

There is much more that could be said for each person and each day, but I'll let others have their chance first. Long story short- the whole thing was fantastic! Totally worth coming down ill.

And lastly- moon, lightning, stars, Westside Story.

[Eomer of the Rohirrim]

Wow Aganzir, that's more people than I've met in the last 10 years.