I met a fellow BDer!!

[A Little Green]

Yay for Agan posting the Paper Telephone, and yay for everybody participating! I'm not going to write an accurate description of what happened in each moot since I beileve we have had (or will have) enough of that anyway. No sense repeating, and I'm too lazy to do that in any case. To further avoid repeating stuff, I will say that all of the 'Downers we met were such sweet and friendly people and just incredibly easy to get along with. (So, sweethearts, don't think I don't like you because I don't say that separately about each of you - because I do.) Like Nog said, they really made for an essential part of our trip with their awesome company and their help with lodging, food, places to see and routes to take. I miss them all and wish I was richer so that I could travel more often – or else that they lived somewhere rather closer.

So. The first 'Downer we met was Brinn, with whom we stayed in Boston for a few days and who also joined us in the bigger 'Downer meeting in Geneva. She was a great guide and host, and it was lovely to meet her again (she had spent a weekend in Finland two years ago). She also joined us in New York at the very end of our trip. It was great to get to know her better, I love her smile, we had a good time and I'm looking forwards to some stuff we planned to do a) in the next Finlandmoot and b) once we get back to NYC and are legal there... Kath joined us for our last night in Boston. She is just as lovely as I remembered from last summer, and it was refreshing to listen to her cute British accent among all the Americans. She has a knack for being both cuddly and mean, which I like a lot.

The two of them came with us to Geneva (that moot, at least, has been suffiently covered already) to meet Mac, Rikae, Boro, Wilwa, Fea, Celuien, Mira and Nienna. Mac and Rikae were awesome hosts, as hospitable as you can get! Apart from that, Mac had a truly scary evil laugh though he was otherwise among the least scary people I've ever met (a teddy bear, as opposed to a scary bear), and Rikae was just adorable and I loved her sense of humour. And the Wereducking of course was about my favourite baby ever. Boro had amusing tan lines and I loved ruffling his hair (he suspected me because of that in ww, actually). Wilwa was adorable, I wished I'd been able to talk to her more because the once we really got to talk was very enjoyable. She really reminds me of a butterfly except that a butterfly isn't half as huggable. I'm rather sorry I didn't get a ride in Fea's famous car (another thing to return to the US for?), but the owner of the car at least was amazing and completely understood my over-the-top fascination with Watkins Glen. I didn't know Celuien from the 'Downs, but she turned out to be a truly delightful person who also baked the best (though the first, too) cobbler I've ever tasted. I only saw Nienna and Mira for one night which was a pity, because I really liked them both – yet another reason to return to the US I think. We also met Bethberry and her husband and son at Niagara, and she turned out to be a friendly, smiling and just generally good person like all the 'Downers I've had the privilege to meet - and also another I'd love to meet again with more time.

After a night spent at Boro's place (we accidentally stole his laptop cable which I felt really sorry about because he is so sweet) we continued to Milwaukee to meet Ibrin, Diamond, Oddwen and McCaber. Ibrin laughed a lot and smiled a lot and her artwork was truly great. Agan and I managed to make Diamond miss a turn on the highway by chatting too animatedly about werewolf, but it was lucky actually because I enjoyed getting more time to talk to her. Oddwen had made us beautiful necklaces and provided us with much amusement by randomly pushing Lommy's famous nose. McCaber (once we had managed to find the right one and not the random fake Joe) ate pistachios. Though I'm generally no fan of cars I have to say his car was waaaaaaay cooler than any I've had a chance to get a ride in.

After Milwaukee it was Sally, Shasta and phantom in Omaha and driving through Nebraska, South Dakota and a part of Wyoming with phantom and Shasta. Sally had a very cute way of sniggering and we spent a lovely morning with her and Agan and some truly disgusting music videos. Shasta (whom we met also later on in Oklahoma) climbed every high rock we saw, sang beautifully, had a lovely evil laugh (though very different from Mac's!) and ate little green grapes in a truly disgusting manner.

Originally Posted by phantom

It turns out she isn't nearly as boring or mean as I was expecting her to be.

It did turn out though that he was just as boring and mean as I had expected. He is responsible for not only the breaking of my finger (it still hurts!) but also the most enjoyable car rides I've ever had. And whatever it may do to his reputation, I will venture to add that he was nice and cuddly and secretly a gentleman.

We met morm and his family in Salt Lake City, first for an evening and then later on, when we returned from the west coast, we spent a night at his place. He and his wife were both really kind and polite and he had a very nice voice. Their girls were totally adorable, all of them.

In San Francisco we met Alona and Lari, though only briefly – we had brunch and visited the Museum of Modern Art. It was a pity we didn't have more time with them, for they were both really sweet and funny and smiling girls.

In Oklahoma City we met Roa and Craydon (Crayon!) for dinner. I swear I'll never be even slightly scared of a 'Downer again, because Roa wasn't scary at all but very kind and funny. They both were. And once again it would have been nice to see them for longer but we had to get on driving..

In Missouri we visited Folwren on her summer camp. It was really interesting, and she was as warm and kind and attentive a host as we could possibly have hoped for. And I think we might even have managed to convert some others of the camp staff to join the 'Downs!

We had dinner with Inziladun in Alabama, and had great fun eating fish and discussing werewolf, traffic jams, and whatever came to our minds. He surprised us by pronouncing our names perfectly before ever hearing us say them aloud and was just generally nice.

In Virginia we had some trouble with our operation Finding Mnemo. Once we did manage to find her (or she us), we spent a lovely day together. There is definitely something elvish about that girl! She's totally adorable. We talked long about horns and antennas and buried Boromir.

We had lunch in NYC with Rune and Brinn. It was lovely to see Rune again if only briefly, though he did manage to start being mean to us in his old way in such a short while! Apparently the very cheesy onion soup Agan and I were eating was horribly funny. We then spent a few days in New York with Brinn and Encaitare (boring Rune went to Boston). Brinn lived with us in the apartment we had, and Encai spent time with us during day-time. We strolled around, went to see a Broadway show, played a bit of Apples to Apples, visited some museums... Encai was another I didn't know from the 'Downs but who proved to be a totally lovely person. She looks like an elf, has an adorable laugh, and was just so easy to go around the City with.

Argh. I kind of meant to write shortly. But on the other hand it was twenty-eight awesome, unique, lovely darling 'Downers in a month's time. If any of you dearies ever consider having a vacation outside the US, you know where to go, eh? (A hint: Finland, Finland, Finland, the country where I quite want to be!)

[A Little Green]

A teaser: I might post a few photos tomorrow if I have time. Hehe.

[Hilde Bracegirdle]

Such a large number of wights so close, and I managed to miss them! I live just a tad north of Boromir.

[TheGreatElvenWarrior]

Wow, Greenie! That was absolutely fantastic to read!

But of course now everyone will get to Finland! There are such lovely people there!

[wilwarin538]

Originally Posted by Feanor of the Peredhil

Wilwa, Rune wants to know why you're jealous of him for being with me, but not jealous of me for having Rune here.

Ahaha. Well I am jealous of both of you, but actually I was mostly jealous that Rune was with Ty (that is the right name for your depressed dog right?), who I adored and want to snuggle with. But I do love you both.


That was the best paper telephone ever! And didn't take nearly as long as the ones we do on here, haha .

[Thinlómien]

So, we met a bunch of awesome people. I'm trying to keep this short and just write general stuff about people. And I will ignore Brinniel, Kath and Rune as I've met them before (sorry darlings!). Although I may want to add that Kath proved more cuddly and violent than before (but I love her nevertheless, haha) and that when I met Rune again I realised a summer (my mum tells me to write "sømmäre" instead of "summer" since I'm talking about a Dane and she also adds that Danes are the funniest and most beautiful Scandinavians) is not a proper summer without Rune. (For those who don't know, I've met him in the summers of 2006, 2008, and 2009.) So, here we go...

Well, there were a few 'downers who I thought might be slightly intimidating (reagardless how much I like them). First ones I met in Geneva, and they were Rikae and Mac. No one who has played ww with Rikae or seen pictures of Mac can say they're totally unsacry before meeting them! However, they did prove very unscary and wonderful hosts, and I just like them so much. They are both very kind and considerate, and very amusing. I found them both easy to get along with and I'm happy I got to talk with them as much as I did. I'm not sure if I ever mentioned it anywhere, but I had a plan of adopting Mac as my big brother and Rikae as my big sister-in-law and having met them, I will definitely pursue that plan. Plus, that means I get the most adorable nieces ever.

Fea was also somebody who could've been slightly intimidating - not scary, but sort of "I'm here I'm having a show" type, which kind of people sometimes just make me forget I'm present too. However, I now must apologise for this concern, because Fea turned out to be very empathetic and didn't have a show on at all. Also, she has a great talent for storytelling and it sure is not boring where Fea is! I liked her a lot and I wish I had had more time to talk with her.

Wilwa is another whom I talked with too little. She's incredibly sweet and so nice to everybody. I loved her down-to-earth calmness and it was quite refreshing to have someone who's not just making mean jokes about their friends or anything else all the time! (Not that I mind mean jokes, I make them all the time myself as some people *coughphantomandshastaandprobablyotherstoo* might have noticed.) Plus, I just loved it how happy she got when planning future 'downer meetings and she looks like a wolf. (In the positive sense! She just has these beautiful bluegrey wolf eyes.)

Continuing the list of people I'd like to have talked with more... Mira and Nienna. They were both very nice, and in different ways - Mira is the kind of straightforward and funny girl, Nienna is calm and empathetic. Sadly, the thigs I recall the best of them was Mira's obvious crush on Fea's brother and me sitting next to Nienna while playing Apples to Apples. It was also cute how they were clearly part of "Fea's gang" but they still took sisterishly car of her. Awws.

Celuien then, too. It was great to meet a person who has written a few of my favourite RPG characters ever. It turned out she was just as adorable as her Eorling Mead Hall characters - very kind and sweet and it was great to talk to her (although again didn't have enough chances of that). Plus, she had a very pretty dress and she used wonderful hippie bug spray which we all borrowed all the time.

Last one of the Geneva-mooters I haven't mentioned is Boro. Now I'm happy to say that I got to talk with him almost enough and that we actually ended up making some kind of siblingly adoption plan... Anyway, it was great to meet Boro because before the Kent-episode I had a certain kind of picture of him and after it a different one, and I was kind of lost what kind of person this guy who I considered my friend was. Turned out he was actually the mixture of the old Boro and the new Boro I had in my head and it made me really happy, because I could finally clearly see who he was and also because I liked this real person a lot, even more than the two persons I had had in my mind before. (Ok, I'm aware this is getting rather in-depth. Won't continue ranting here anymore!) Anyway, to go on my adjective spree, Boro is both calm and funny, and smart and kind. I like him (although I guess I said that already!)

With the Geneva-mooters, we went to the Niagara Falls where we met Bethberry and her family. Bethberry was really warm and witty, although more quiet than I expected her to be. Anyway, she was great company, had a nice family and gorgeous hair. (What else could a woman ask for?)

Our next stop was in Wisconsin. Ibrin was our hostess and she did very well in that, providing us with anything we might have needed and being great fun around. Like Fea, she is a gifted storyteller and she sure had interesting stories to tell! She was also very cheerful and warm (not like the overtly dignified and sorrowful lady I thought her to be, mostly based on her avatar and I have to say I prefer her the way she actually was!)

Other people we met were Oddwen, Diamond and McCaber. Oddwen was very sweet, she gave us beautiful self-made jewellry and pushed my nose. She was quieter than I expected her to be, but very funny when she said something funny. (Getting Captain Obvious-y, eh?) Anyway, I liked her a lot. Diamond was very nice too, and I just loved it when she and Greenie were geekying together (sitting on the sofa next to each other, talking leisurely and both checking their Facebook). She's also one of the people I'd like to meet again just because I didn't have enough time with her! McCaber then, he's very amusing and sympathetic although he speaks too fast (and laughs every time he finishes a sentence, which was just great). He also has the coolest car ever!

Next moot was in Omaha. We met the phantom, and a day after that Shasta and Sally. Phantom and Shasta also accompanied us for a bit of our roadtrip. Sally was cuddly and liked attacking people's kidneys. She was also just as amusing and sweet as on the 'downs, and she also proved very generous (she bought us Apples to Apples, yay!) She's also very wicked when playing word games!

Shasta is somebody you just can't help liking. He's very open and lively, and probably the most entertaining person we met. He seems to have two obsessions: singing Disney songs and climbing high rocks, but both obsessions provided entertainment. Also, he's very cuddly, funny and a gentleman despite his wicked sense of humour and his evil laugh. I'm very glad we got lots of time with him and we actually managed to see him twice!

Phantom then... I'm afraid I have to ruin his reputation. He's definitely not scary, he's very kind and caring and a good host. And as you have probably noticed on the forums, he's smart and a control freak. He's very good company probably partly because he seems to put effort to people having good time with him, which is kind of cute. And he tried desperately cling to his remains of reputation by being mean to me but it didn't quite succeed.

The next person we met was Morm. He was again somebody I could've been scared of, but no - despite his rather intimidating height, he's the opposite of scary. He has a nice, soft voice, very gentle demeanour and he's very friendly and easy to get along with. Talking with him was very nice, and his wife was great company too, and their kids were just lovely. Liked the whole family very much, and they were also as kind as to put us up, which was great.

While Agan was in Washington meeting THE Ka, Laurinquë and TGEW, we others spent time in San Fransisco. On our last day, we met Alona and Lariren. I didn't know Alona very well from the 'downs, but she proved to be awesome. She was very easy to get along with - again one of those people you just can't not like - , seemed genuinely interested in everyone around her and has good taste (she took us to SF museum of modern art. <3) Lari seemed a bit more reserved, but she was really funny and sympathetic, and seemed very calm and sensible too. I'd love to meet both of them again!

Then there was a pause of meeting 'downers, until we met Roa and Craydon for dinner. Again, one more scariness myth busted. Roa was very kind and calm, and gave a considerate and smart impression. (So not the kind of "hahaa! I'm right and I'm the boss, you listen to me"she sometimes has in ww.) I didn't know Craydon very well from the 'downs, but he was very nice too (and had interesting stories to tell) so I say he'd better play ww again! And I could definitely have spent more than just a few hours with these two.

Next 'downer we met was Folwren. Now I was really excited about meeting her because I have known her for a long time, I've had some good discussions her and I love RPGing with her but we are very different, partly it's our personalities and partly our worldviews. However, there was no need to worry about anything 'cos we got along great. We had some very enlightening discussions, got to do lots of fun stuff (for example petting goats and archery) and met her friends who were very nice too (please say hi to them for me, Foley!) Folwren herself was very friendly, thoughtful and welcoming and we had great time with her.

One could think that meeting a police investigator from Alabama could be slightly scary, but again, Inziladun wasn't scary at all (well truth be told he's not scary on the 'downs either, at all). He made a lasting impression when he immediately recognised who is who (ok, telling Nogrod from us three girls wasn't probably difficult, but it was quite good he was able to tell which of us was which given that he's not on Facebook) and pronounced our names correctly on the first try. Also, he was very fun to have around and easy to get along with, and I liked him a lot (especially after hearing that he uses his work hours for ww!)

Mnemo was the one we met after Zil. After having some minor troubles with getting in contact with her, everything went fine. She took us to a nearby park to climb trees and arrange a funeral for Boromir. We talked a lot and Mnemo was certainly one whom it was great to talk with. We talked more about LotR than we had with other 'downers before and it was lots of fun to be geeky. Mnemo was very smart and funny, and somehow refreshingly un-American. (Can't really describe it better than that!) I got along with her great and I do hope she comes to Finland some day (and drags Sally with her of course).

Last but not least is Encai, whom we met in New York. I can't get over how sweet she is - very compassionate and kind yet she has a slightly wicked sense of humour and a slightly wicked laugh. Again one of the persons you simply can't not like. She definitely needs to post on the 'downs more, because she is lovely.

All in all, we had amazing time and met 28 amazing people all of whom I want to see again. You know, Finland always welcomes you (and also you who we haven't met yet because you know we're dying to meet you too)!

The bad thing is, I've already started missing people and I'm terrible at keeping in touch with anyone... so please, keep poking me on 'downs, FB, LJ, MSN, skype, anything... but not for the next three weeks or so 'cos I won't be around.

*sends a great hug to everybody she met during the trip*

PS. Pictures to follow...
PPS. Didn't read Greenie's post before writing this so sorry if I'm repeating stuff...

[Thinlómien]

Ok, so we got group photos of all 'downer meetings except of re-meeting Shasta and of meeting Rune (which we do every summer anyway). Here we go...

At Niagara with the Genevamoot gang...

Left to right: back: Rikae, Fea, Wilwa, Kath, Boro, Lommy, Nogrod, Greenie, Bethberry, Brinn, Beth's son whose 'downer nick I can't recall sadly, front: Agan, Wereduckling and Mac.

At Ibrin's backyard...

Left to right: Diamond, McCaber, Agan, Nogrod, Greenie, Ibrin, Oddwen & Lommy.

At a random parking lot...

Left to right: phantom, Greenie, Agan, Nog, Sally and Lommy. Front: Shasta.

to be continued...

[Kath]

Oh my goodness you all look so cute in that last photo! And it's lovely to see the big Genevamoot group shot.

[Thinlómien]

Thanks Kath! Continuing...

On Weathertop in Salt Lake City...

Left to right: Agan, Lommy, Nog, Greenie and Morm.

On a famous square whose name I forgot in San Fransisco...

Left to right: Alona, Lari, Greenie, Lommy and Nogrod.

In a park in Oklahoma City...

Left to right: Agan, Nog, Greenie, Lommy, Roa and Craydon

To be continued still...

[Keeper of Dol Guldur]

Originally Posted by Thinlómien

Sadly, the thigs I recall the best of them was Mira's obvious crush on Fea's brother and me sitting next to Nienna while playing Apples to Apples. It was also cute how they were clearly part of "Fea's gang" but they still took sisterishly car of her. Awws.

I don't know WHAT you people are talking about. Fea's brother is a moody oaf (not to mention unattractive), where Fea is an awful human being who dominates everyone around her and makes them feel insignificant within seconds of meeting. *cough* I mean...love you, big sis!

Methinks Rune needs to get his butt back on here so he can back me up on that and thrill you all with tales that just get more entertaining the more people you hear them from.

[Boromir88]

Originally Posted by Keeper of Dol Guldur

I don't know WHAT you people are talking about. Fea's brother is a moody oaf (not to mention unattractive), where Fea is an awful human being who dominates everyone around her and makes them feel insignificant within seconds of meeting. *cough* I mean...love you, big sis!

Methinks Rune needs to get his butt back on here so he can back me up on that and thrill you all with tales that just get more entertaining the more people you hear them from.

As you post on her bro's name while professing this hatred.

And I see Nog's trying to take Form's job as my new match-maker. Form tends to go with the theoritical route of matching personalities. Nog just throws my single-status right out there to the entire forum and challenges the ladies to jump on it. Oh the love of bachelorhood.

[Nogrod]

Originally Posted by Boromir88

And I see Nog's trying to take Form's job as my new match-maker. Form tends to go with the theoritical route of matching personalities. Nog just throws my single-status right out there to the entire forum and challenges the ladies to jump on it. Oh the love of bachelorhood.

It was thought of in all love and brotherhood... and in all fun. And in all seriousness.

I mean the good ladies in this world miss a lot letting you go free.

No pressure for you, but to the more beautiful sex here...