rivenwanderer (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
rivenwanderer) wrote2009-08-10 10:43 pm
rivenwanderer) wrote2009-08-10 10:43 pm
Mysterium and other vacationing
I should probably be Doing Something about unpacking around here, but it is over 80 degrees F and I am thus incapable of moving.
So! I'll recap last week's adventures instead:
Mysterium:
Mysterium was pretty awesome! This is what happened. Due to further air travel problems after the ones I previously posted about, I only got there after the presentations were already over on Friday. Hmph.
Disorganized blips of cool things from Mysterium:
-Seeing![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
hylianjean's fantastic Myst-related arts and crafts. They are seriously awe-inspiring.
-Hanging out withshoomlah! We both were around for Rivenguild and we both hadn't really grokked what was sooooo great about Uru's online form until hearing stories at Mysterium. And in any case, Shoomy is just fun to be around!
-A tour of the Cyan headquarters lead by Rand Miller himself! He is such a character. We got to see real props from the filming of the cut scenes in Riven, accompanied by Rand's narration. And I finally got my hands on a hardcover copy of the Book of D'ni.
-Meeting Myst fans from all over and geeking out
-Singing along to Lords of the Rhymes ineleri's hotel room
-Miraculously not getting the con crud that at least half the con came down with
-Coming up with yet another fanart concept, but I won't say too much about it until I've done concrete work on it...
-Instant gratification of crocheting this guy over the course of a day and being able to show it to tons of people and have them fully appreciate it ^_^
Attempted escape from Spokane:
So, because my dad is a saint, he drove to Spokane, spent the night at his brother's house in Spokane, and drove me back to my parents' house near Vancouver, WA (close to Portland) on Sunday at the end of Mysterium. Resulting in the whole Mysterium scheme not costing an arm and two legs due to the plane ride being three non-round-trips. Or at least, that's how it was supposed to work. First, my dad ended up helping his incompetent brother move out of his house all day Saturday--if I'd known that, I wouldn't have asked him to drive and would've probably just flown from Spokane to Portland. Then... on the drive out from Spokane, the car's "check engine" light came on after some serious engine heat issues. In 100+ degree weather. The wait for the tow truck was... not pleasant. Fortunately, it was just a quick ride in the tow truck to The Dalles (did you know there are only something like three US cities whose name starts with "The"?), where we were able to stay in a hotel right next to a Subaru dealership. In the morning, we rented an SUV so that we could still go camping while the car was being repaired.
Camping and visiting parents:
I was wrong, we went camping in the Olympic National Forest in northwest Washington, not in Oregon. (Did you know there's a town in Washington called Humptulips? I am not making this up.) Anyway, my aunt and uncle and cousins on my mom's side were in the campsite next to ours. We spent 3 nights there and went hiking in the forest and on the beaches. I found an extremely cool striped agate (I think) rock on the beach. Susannah got to meet my aunt's family, and it was really quite remarkable to see my cousins as preteens rather than small children. The younger one needs a subscription to Make Magazine! I think the trip was a little too much nature for Susannah, but she seemed to survive OK and enjoy parts of it *grin*. When we got back from camping, I introduced the younger cousin to Kingdom of Loathing and gave both of them the Myst 10th Anniversary Edition pack. Mwahaha.
The whole trip just flew by in retrospect. I feel a bit like I need a vacation from the vacation. Ah well, back to the code mines.
So! I'll recap last week's adventures instead:
Mysterium:
Mysterium was pretty awesome! This is what happened. Due to further air travel problems after the ones I previously posted about, I only got there after the presentations were already over on Friday. Hmph.
Disorganized blips of cool things from Mysterium:
-Seeing
hylianjean's fantastic Myst-related arts and crafts. They are seriously awe-inspiring.-Hanging out with
shoomlah! We both were around for Rivenguild and we both hadn't really grokked what was sooooo great about Uru's online form until hearing stories at Mysterium. And in any case, Shoomy is just fun to be around!-A tour of the Cyan headquarters lead by Rand Miller himself! He is such a character. We got to see real props from the filming of the cut scenes in Riven, accompanied by Rand's narration. And I finally got my hands on a hardcover copy of the Book of D'ni.
-Meeting Myst fans from all over and geeking out
-Singing along to Lords of the Rhymes in
eleri's hotel room-Miraculously not getting the con crud that at least half the con came down with
-Coming up with yet another fanart concept, but I won't say too much about it until I've done concrete work on it...
-Instant gratification of crocheting this guy over the course of a day and being able to show it to tons of people and have them fully appreciate it ^_^
Attempted escape from Spokane:
So, because my dad is a saint, he drove to Spokane, spent the night at his brother's house in Spokane, and drove me back to my parents' house near Vancouver, WA (close to Portland) on Sunday at the end of Mysterium. Resulting in the whole Mysterium scheme not costing an arm and two legs due to the plane ride being three non-round-trips. Or at least, that's how it was supposed to work. First, my dad ended up helping his incompetent brother move out of his house all day Saturday--if I'd known that, I wouldn't have asked him to drive and would've probably just flown from Spokane to Portland. Then... on the drive out from Spokane, the car's "check engine" light came on after some serious engine heat issues. In 100+ degree weather. The wait for the tow truck was... not pleasant. Fortunately, it was just a quick ride in the tow truck to The Dalles (did you know there are only something like three US cities whose name starts with "The"?), where we were able to stay in a hotel right next to a Subaru dealership. In the morning, we rented an SUV so that we could still go camping while the car was being repaired.
Camping and visiting parents:
I was wrong, we went camping in the Olympic National Forest in northwest Washington, not in Oregon. (Did you know there's a town in Washington called Humptulips? I am not making this up.) Anyway, my aunt and uncle and cousins on my mom's side were in the campsite next to ours. We spent 3 nights there and went hiking in the forest and on the beaches. I found an extremely cool striped agate (I think) rock on the beach. Susannah got to meet my aunt's family, and it was really quite remarkable to see my cousins as preteens rather than small children. The younger one needs a subscription to Make Magazine! I think the trip was a little too much nature for Susannah, but she seemed to survive OK and enjoy parts of it *grin*. When we got back from camping, I introduced the younger cousin to Kingdom of Loathing and gave both of them the Myst 10th Anniversary Edition pack. Mwahaha.
The whole trip just flew by in retrospect. I feel a bit like I need a vacation from the vacation. Ah well, back to the code mines.