I met a fellow BDer!!

[Hookbill the Goomba]

You know, I did write out a post for this thread the night I got back but there were technical difficulties (read: I closed the tab by accident). But I think I can remember what to say...

So, yeah, Finlandmoot was cooler than Lommy's frozen penguins! But lets talk about some of those peoples, shall we?

The first Downers I met were Legate and Lommy who were patiently waiting for me at the airport, ready to have me bagged, tagged and shipped off to some people trafficking group. If not for my pre1996 computer-like speed, they might have gotten away with it too!

It took me a few minutes to make my brain click that these two interesting peoples were actually those Downers that I'd known for years. Once it slotted into place it was as if we'd known each other for a little more than five minutes.

Legate is a fine chap with hair that would melt your heart (seriously, it's on fire a lot of the time). He can effortlessly flick from serious business man to absurd wide-eyed-death-glare maniac in moments! It's really quite impressive!

Lommy is charming and has this hyper streak that makes every conversation that bit more exciting! She was always very sweet and endearing, but also something of a grounded counterbalance to the craziness that was Aganzir. Not that Lommy isn't also a bit bonkers - she most certainly is!!

Speaking of which, Aganzir is mad! MAD, I TELL YOU! I had met her very briefly before, long ago in the cold of winter. But here in Finland we got better acquainted. When not regaling us with her vulgar dreams of vulgarity, she was usually biting people or else teaching small children to bite them for her! That being said, it all hides deep down (I think it's VERY deep down under many layers of malicious and insane violence) a very caring person who always managed to keep us organized. Sometimes resorting to making this odd clicking noise that will haunt our dreams forever!!

Now then, Nogrod is a blast! A laid back old greaser who will never be too old to rock and roll (but shall always, we pray, remain too young to die)! His hospitality was grand and he was an excellent host. When not under pressure to entertain one could imagine him pulling a pipe out and blowing smoke rings above all our heads while he pondered philosophical and, at the same time, drew offensive paper telephone pictures.

(I realise I'm going out of order of when I met people already, but who cares, really? You do? Well, sorry... um... Have a cup cake).

Esty I'd met at a few Oxonmoots. Every year she gets younger, I am sure of it! Though she has been stealing a lot of magic rings lately... Anyway, she always brightens the atmosphere and can be just as sharp and vile as the rest of us when she wanted to, no longer bound by her moderator oaths! Her bright colours and personality are always welcome at a moot!

Squatter, once again, is a fellow I was already acquainted with. Southerner though he is, we share a mutual love for all things on the odd side. Though hatless, he still remained a fit and proper member of our group.

A Little Green is a fine soul possessed of a gollum impression that puts other to shame. Though sometimes quiet in the mass of madness going on all around, she always had this look about her - that she was plotting SOMETHING! She can play a mean guitar and whatever that magical instrument of witchcraft was! More often than not the first to wake and make absurd teas - and this is something I can respect. We had many a discussion of the politics of the day as well as just general silliness.

What to say about Oddwen? Well, she certainly has earned her place as The Downer's odd expert! Also a budding photographer, judging by the sheer volume of snaps she took, Oddy has that mad-cap laugh and down right terrifying grin that will steal the scene if every she chooses! Always ready to lend a helpful word of humour and more than capable of slipping into the background until you least expect her to jump out and KILL YOU... um... I said no slander, didn't I?

Volo is a dark horse, and also a brilliant fellow of messianic proportions! Also, he defended my honour against those who said that corduroy was not cool. IT IS, by Eru's mighty beard! He's a dear for allowing me (and others) to constantly steal his hat and sunglasses. That's what Jon Snow said.

Mac, of the impressive beard, won my affections when I spotted him sporting a Green Party T-Shirt. Not that he hadn't already impressed us all with his wood cutting skills!

He and Rikae made a lovely addition to the moot - wouldn't have been the same with out the pair of them bouncing off one another with deep thoughts and craziness in equal amounts... Okay, maybe the crazy was a little more, but you get the idea! I'm trying to be nice! Don't call the men in white coats!

Shasta I hadn't interacted with much on-line, an omission I regretted very quickly! He's got a sharp wit and a nothing-but-nonsense attitude to pretty much everything around him! He seemed to appreciate the dark, rude and over-the-top humour that flew around - even encouraging it a lot of the time! The guy needs a Stetson, though.

Skip is Mr. Cool. He glided into the moot in a pair of shades and it wasn't long before he had his hands around a guitar. A mean werewolf player, but with a wolfish grin that nearly gave him away. Always laid back and probably with a beer in his hand, I'm sure he could probably drink Rune under the table, but nobody would notice. Except him. He'd know, and that would be all that mattered!

Rune is a man I'd met a few times before. I like meeting him because he's taller than me and this makes me feel normal. He gained something of a reputation though his business of selling quality beef... And other quality 'products' and 'services'.

Pitch is someone to be reckoned with! Sharp as Narsil and wacky as Mr Blobby with a concussion! Calm and collected, he takes his time with thoughts, but when they come out he usually has this way of blowing us all away with something completely brilliant or completely mad! Usually accompanied by a puff of smoke! And he was not offended by my woefully limited knowledge of German, which extended to "wurst" and a couple of Kraftwerk lyrics.

Kath I'd met once before at a long forgotten Oxonmoot, so it was nice to meet again properly! She was called "The normal Brit", but I know for a fact she was nothing of the sort! She had the same bizarreo sense of humour as the rest of us and just let her try and deny it! She'd surprise us all with a sudden dirty joke or else dump her feet on top of your head when she was tired.

Have I missed anyone? I hope not. If I did, feel free to have me thrown to the wereducklings!

[Nogrod]

Heh, I see a lot of posts being sent to this thread and reading them makes me realise the loss of not having you guys around any more - while the school-start and the numerous choir-practises & gigs have kept me busy from even thinking about the Moot for a week now. I see many of you have done this "person to person" -thingy... Let's see where I get when I start a bit differently.


So we had initially this idea that we'd bring Rikae, Mac & the Wereduckling here to my place as they'd have a room of their own with an ability to shut the door and maybe the others wouldn't disturb her sleep if we brought Esty, Squatter and Pitch here as well (thus Esty could have a room of her own as well and wouldn't be forced to sleep in a shared bed with a random person possibly half her age).

Explaining this to the New Yorkers on our way from the airport I got smug smiles and some laughs... "it's not that the Wereduckling couldn't sleep if there was noise, but rather no one else would be able to sleep if she decided to be on that mood".

Happily she was tired enough the few evenings she stayed at my place that there was no problem with that. But anyway my place turned out to be "die älter-haus das Deutsches-volk" (whatever the correct German would be for that), aka. the old-timer house for the Germans - with Squatter who seemed to be more or less fluent in German as well...

But if I'd thought of my place being the one where people could (or would) sleep unlike in the "Youth Hostel" Lommy & Aganzir were having, well I was soo wrong!

I don't know about each and every night at their place but we did actually stay awake at nights: keeping company to Squatter who needed to set off about 6am to the very end and pushing him into the taxi, sleeping two hours to drive the New Yorkers to the airport at 4am, sending Esty off around the early hours while taking up all the on-line duties neglected, sitting with Pitch the whole night talking and sharing pics others had posted on FB until the morning... And that was all great fun even if it did end up with some major sleep-deprivation.

It was not a purposeful act to try and separate the younger ones from us oldies but it was, I still think, the smoothest of arrangements (look above what I said about our pre-thoughts about the Wereduckling) and I think it worked out just fine. I had some really good time with Squatter, Esty and Pitchie, and the New Yorkers - even if their energy was oftentimes concentrated on the Wereduckling who is, to make it mildy, a strong personality, well a character. (And I do love her for that even if she yelled and cried all the boat ride from the Zoo to the harbour making other kids on the deck stick their hands into their ears... )


Sure, the logistics were a problem, but we managed it quite well in the end. We went to our summer cabin for a few days not only to give our guests a chance to experience the "middle of nowhere between the forests and the lakes" in Finland but also because that was one of the only places we could get all of us being together and not needing to mind about the neighbours, but surprisingly we also managed to crowd my place with all of us aboard a few evenings and the "club-room" of Lommy's & Aganzir's place was just priceless (priceless also in the way that it cost us nothing). So somethnig we were afraid of (well at least I was) just worked out fine as we got enough places to fit us all - as in the end of the Moot with dwindling numbers we had nice evenings both at my place and at Lommy's & Agan's. The Kinderwurst und Autobahn was recorded at my place with all of those left involved...


~*~

But even if I had some better chances to get to know Esty, Squatter and Pitchwife (and the New Yorkers for a few days), I do think it was really an easy going-time with the others as well.

I do think I know Legate already more or less well, and I have met Rune, Skip and Kath a few times already, so there were no surprises there as they were their lovable persons as ever. I had also met the New Yorkers, Shasta & Oddwen the last summer we toured the US. and they were more or less as I remembered them to be - although I have to join the chorus of saying that Oddwen is much more sinister and fun person I learned her to be last year - and that is a compliment!



~*~

But what about the people I met the first time?


Esty is just a heart of gold. Something that tells a lot about her is the following...

After our first evening gathering at my place we woke up the the next day and after breakfast she asked whether she could do the dishes. I was kind of undecided (as I don't like to put my guests into work), but she took my indecisiveness as a "yes" and said she would interpret that as a stable yes as to anything that needs to be done in the kitchen... and she did hold onto to that! I think she did more than half of the dishes at my place while she was here...

But that's anly the kind of glimpse into her - even if a telling one. I really found her the most gracious, witty, intelligent, fun and entertaining person - and every lover of music is someone I have my heart open to as I do share the love. But above all I feel she is the caring person, one who has love and wisdom enough to just think of others more than herself. *bows*


Squatter, oh my... I've interacted with you in a few threads a time or two, but that is little. But I do remember Rune saying sometime that you are too intelligent... I don't know about the excess, but I loved your traditional "European learning", "bildung" a they say in German, and your Tolkien knowledge especially. Had we had more time I would have loved to dwell on some of the stuff you brought with you I o0nly got a glimpse with...

But way to go, you're just such a great person a well - even if some of the jokes you had with Hookbill went quite far over most of us others as we have no inside knowledge of every British humour series you shared the jokes about.

I met a young British aristocrat at the archeological excavation site I was in on 2004 in Israel - he shared my room with two other guys. You kind of reminded me of him... learned, witty, fun, warm - but in this odd way soo British intelligentsia you just can pick out from the French or Scandinavian ones.


Pitchwife: it was a great pleasure to have met you. Before I met you I was thinking whether you were a neo-liberal (libertarian) or a hippie. To my great comfort I found you a true hippie indeed (even if you don't like the categorisation), but you did actually make me re-think some of the things I had already been forced to reconsider after meeting Foley & Morm the last summer... even if we didn't exactly talk about that I just realised it after the fact that you guys have more in common you might think!

But politics aside, I really liked you and am looking forwards actually to redeem the hospitability; to see your hens and all the rest. Maybe one day, next summer... or the next?


Hookbill ho! Seeing your pics on the 'Downs I had always thought you were quite a short guy... could I have been more wrong? But on the other pre-beliefs I think you fitted quite well with my preconceptions... funny, intelligent, hearty, easy to go along with... actually I'm a bit jealous of those who said they had had nice political and moral discussions with you as I never get into that with you - which I would have loved to do as I think we share a host of convictions.

But maybe the next time?



~*~

It was a great two weeks even if I had to pull off at certain points to both keep up with my medical care and to prepare for the fall-semester. Great to have had you all here!!! To the next time, in the GB or Germany?

And remember you all are welcome to Finland any day you choose... after this summer we're confident we can manage any host of 'Downers here.

[Gwathagor]

One of these days, when funds are plentiful, I will attend. And a great and terrible day it will be.

[Galadriel55]

Originally Posted by Gwathagor

One of these days, when funds are plentiful, I will attend. And a great and terrible day it will be.

One of these years, when I actually earn my own living...

And if ever in those years I happen to meet Shasta, we shall definitely have a rock/tree climbing race.

[Estelyn Telcontar]

For the record, here is the Downers page of my Tolkien events scrapbook:



I met some members before I made the book, so not all are recorded here. As far as I can remember, those would be: The Barrow-Wight (yes, Himself!), Sharkey, Thenamir, Child of the 7th Age, Shadowfax, and at least two or three more whose names I will add when I recall them...

[TheGreatElvenWarrior]

Now I REALLY wish that I had enough money to be there!

[Eomer of the Rohirrim]

Originally Posted by TheGreatElvenWarrior

Now I REALLY wish that I had enough money to be there!

Wish I had had the time.

Thanks for the detailed descriptions, everyone. It sounds like a wonderful time was had by all!