I met a fellow BDer!!

[The Squatter of Amon Rûdh]

My guess is that someone's hooked up an improbability drive to the forum's bandwidth.

[Saurreg]

Originally Posted by The Squatter of Amon Rûdh

My guess is that someone's hooked up an improbability drive to the forum's bandwidth.

Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy FTW!

[Volo]

Anybody who would dare to meet me living in Berlin?

[Brinniel]

I'm happy to announce that I've just been accepted into my college's Kasteel Well External Program. This basically means that from January to April 2008, I get to live and take classes in a castle in the Netherlands. Not only that, but we're required to visit two other cities (I'm not sure which ones yet) and are encouraged to travel abroad to other countries in Europe as well- thanks to 3-day weekends and 2 week long breaks, this is entirely possible.

Now I know that Spring 2008 is still pretty far away, but I definitely hope during my stay in Europe that I will have the opportunity to meet some of you European Downers. I've never been overseas before, so this is really exciting for me.

[Rune Son of Bjarne]

I will try to remember that. . .

From what I have seen here and on LJ you seem like a person I would like to meet and since Holland is not that far away and fairly cheap to go to. . . well it is definitly a possibilty.

[Laleena]

oh!oh! I know someone cuz we go to the same school in Berlin, CT. Legolasfan1 is my Best Friend!!

Anyone else live here?

[Estelyn Telcontar]

I have met yet another Downer, though only the few who have been around as long as I have and who have frequented the chat room in the past will remember her: goldwine. I visited her on a trip to Australia, her home, and enjoyed our meeting very much! She is a great hostess and a lovely person, with whom it was a joy to converse, as we share many interests. I feel privileged to have gotten to know her personally.

I'm always open for opportunities of meeting Downs members who live or visit in Germany/Europe - just let me know when you'll be where and I'll try to make it possible, though I can't promise success in advance...

[Nilpaurion Felagund]

As I type this, I'm sitting beside a fellow BDer.

And no, I'm not related to her. Perhaps not closely, that is.

yavanna II was browsing the Downs in some computer place here in the University of the Philippines, while I, fresh from a French class, was looking for a computer, and I saw her, and worked up the courage to talk to her, and then we ended up chatting like friends.

This is sooo heady!

[Rikae]

Well now.

I have to type this quietly, because someone who just traveled through six time zones is sleeping upstairs.

I picked Macalaure up at the airport yesterday evening. Not quite long years; nor Nan Elmoth, but some spell seems to have caused us to have miss several hours since.

*bliss*

He is simply the most wonderful person in this world.

[Nogrod]

Rikae & Mac!

That's just so beautiful!

Enjoy and live!

[Hookbill the Goomba]

Well, with this year's Oxonmoot came some strange occurrences indeed. Yes, I went there and met some quite disturbing people. I also met some Downers.
Estelyn and Guinevire were at the Eagle and Child and we had many adventures! Squatter arrived a little later complete with trilby and waistcoat of doom. Narfforc, in true Northerner fashion, arrived drunk and beating the living daylights out of a small child... Or at least, something like that.

[davem]

Originally Posted by Hookbill the Goomba

Well, with this year's Oxonmoot came some strange occurrences indeed. Yes, I went there and met some quite disturbing people. I also met some Downers.
Estelyn and Guinevire were at the Eagle and Child and we had many adventures! Squatter arrived a little later complete with trilby and waistcoat of doom. Narfforc, in true Northerner fashion, arrived drunk and beating the living daylights out of a small child... Or at least, something like that.

Hope you had a great time. I'm envious. Did you get to hear Alex Lewis singing at the 'Ents'? Lal is particularly upset to have missed the Dealers' Room. I was going to go down myself - told Lal I'd send her some pics back from me phone, but for some reason she insisted I had to be around 'in case something happens'.

[Lalwendë]

Originally Posted by davem

Hope you had a great time. I'm envious. Did you get to hear Alex Lewis singing at the 'Ents'? Lal is particularly upset to have missed the Dealers' Room. I was going to go down myself - told Lal I'd send her some pics back from me phone, but for some reason she insisted I had to be around 'in case something happens'.

Rotten old goat :P As it happens if we had booked to go we'd have wasted a few hundred quid as I was detained in the hospital til 6pm on Friday for obs. I must have foresight...or maybe a pessimistic outlook?

I'm not sorry I missed the 'Ents' though. Meh. Last year I was almost crushed to death in the rush to exit the marquee as they began...the best 'Ents' were narfforc's recitations from News of the World on Sunday morning. I trust he was on form?

Photos are demanded - go direct to your blog Mr Hookbill...if you please.

[Mithalwen]

Alex Lewis wasn't there you can imagin how controllable my grief was Lal, ...... but there was a lot of truly dreadful poetry, some folk singing - which was fine but basically the same tune regardless of subject matter and the truly wonderful "Sound of Mumaks" presented by the Cambridge Tolkien Society...... All together now "How do you solve a problem like Moria?" ....

[Hookbill the Goomba]

Right, if you want a nice little report about Oxonmoot, I got one on my blog.
http://hukbillgoomba.livejournal.com/67249.html#cutid1

Mithalwen, you were at Oxonmoot? Why didn't you try and find the rest of us? Think yourself too good for us, eh?

[Mithalwen]

The reverse if anything.... it took me all day to introduce myself to Lal who I had chatted with quite a bit from PMs etc and that was only when she was on her own, to intoduce myself to Lal and Dave together would have been too terrifying. Then I literally didn't know what I was doing as regards how long I was going for until Wednesday or when I would arrive ... and then it was too late and I left it to fate and fate said "No"....

[The Squatter of Amon Rûdh]

I should like to say that the Tolkien Society did us proud, and that although davem and Lalwendë were missed, we managed to soldier on in their absence. Owing to a combination of road closures and my own incompetent navigation, I arrived at dinner on Friday just in time for the main course and had to wait until we were filling in the corners before looking for the other Downers. I caught up with Estelyn, Guinevere and Hookbill just in time for the Cambridge Tolkien Society's rendition of their combined homage to Tolkien and Spike Milligan, The Lord of the Goons. Narfforc was in evidence, but he and I didn't actually have a proper conversation until Saturday afternoon, so for now we must leave him.

Having known Guinevere through various quiz threads and Hookbill through his editorship of The Downer, it wasn't difficult to strike up a suitable conversation, which I must say was so interesting and engaging that I can't remember any of it. Perhaps my regular trips to the bar can explain my aberrant memory. In retrospect I didn't spend as much time speaking to Guinevere as I should have liked, since in person she speaks less than Estelyn, Hookbill and I; but hopefully she didn't feel ignored. Estelyn and I have, of course, met several times already, so we picked up where we left off. She was, as usual, the person who made introductions, dispensed Tolkien memorabilia, collected signatures and arranged group photographs, which would never happen if it were left up to me. She also enforced the forum regulations with an iron fist throughout, although I did make that bit up. Hookbill proved to share my delight in the subtle art of absurd comedy, much as one would expect from a perusal of his newspaper; but we also discovered that we've both watched Withnail and I rather more times than is good for us. Since he's undoubtedly reading this, I'd just like to say: "I have a heart condition."

Saturday began unwontedly early with a suitably enormous breakfast. I then attended more lectures than I did in my entire first week at university (four), sometimes with one or other of the Downers, sometimes not. In one of these, Hookbill demonstrated that he actually participates when the lecturer asks for audience participation, and that he doesn't need his books to talk about Tolkien (I clearly do, since I couldn't accurately remember a single quotation for the whole weekend). I finally caught up with Narfforc at the last lecture of the day ('The Goths and Huns revisited'), where our conversation about early medieval mythology was rudely interrupted by the guest speaker's insistence on delivering her lecture.

We all met up at one table for the Ents on Saturday night, where the first set of Downs group photographs was taken before I could get completely drunk. We then adjourned to the bar, where further madness ensued, before taking in the utter lack of entertainment that was the Tolkien reading group (not one reading that wasn't part of CRT's HME commentary, and mostly a single bore monopolising the entire event - no names, no pack drill). Estelyn, Hookbill and I all went, but all of us made excuses after a very short time. Of all of these, only Estelyn's was genuine, since Hookbill and I claimed tiredness, but actually went to a party on the roof of the block where I was staying.

I'll say this for the TS: they know how to drink, and by 'drink' I mean anything and everything that they can lay their hands on. The roof was one swinging event, where many members of the committee and several performers from the Ents letting their hair down with a vengeance. To give you some idea of the evening, I was discussing with a TS member from Holland how Joseph's Wright's comments as quoted by Tolkien [1] explained the high prices charged by Oxford colleges for use as Oxonmoot venues, while the two of us drank some Dutch mead that he'd brought and Narfforc taught two people the basics of unarmed combat directly next to us. It was, in short, the sort of drunken shambles that I particularly enjoy. I went to bed at twenty to five in the morning, got just over two hours' sleep and missed the morning walking tour. We were represented on that excursion by Guinevere and Estelyn, who had neither stayed up all night nor drunk themselves silly.

I shan't be too flippant about Enyalië, being that it's a respectful ceremony of remembrance. That leaves me little to say about it other than that it was the diametric opposite of my first visit to Tolkien's grave. A speech was made by the TS's outgoing president, Namarië was sung and another Downs group photograph was taken by the grave. Afterwards, we headed off to the Nosebag in Oxford for tea and cakes (and in my case a mountain of other food to settle my churning stomach). There we met up with other T.S. members and continued to talk about various subjects until the Return of the Bore. Eventually, at about three, Hookbill and I had to leave, since we weren't staying in Oxford for the extra night. We managed to have another chat about various subjects on the walk back to Lady Margaret Hall, and I drove him to the station, during which time I discovered that he's completely uninterested in cars. For this failure to show due slavish appreciation for my convertible, I kicked him out and charged him five pounds for the petrol, although not really.

Thus ended my first Oxonmoot, and a roaring good time it was too. I recommend wholeheartedly both the event itself and the meeting there of other members of this forum, who are for the most part neither cannibals nor zombies. I look forward to meeting more of you next year at the extended edition of the moot.

[1] "'What do you take Oxford for, lad?' 'A university, a place of learning.' 'Nay, lad, it's a factory! And what's it making? I'll tell you. It's making fees. Get that into your head, and you'll begin to understand what goes on.'" Reported in Letters #250; 1 November 1963, to Michael Tolkien. The interposed answer was Tolkien's own.

[Hookbill the Goomba]

Originally Posted by The Squatter of Amon Rûdh

For this failure to show due slavish appreciation for my convertible, I kicked him out and charged him five pounds for the petrol, although not really

Yes, all he really did was throw me out of the car and then run over me thirty six times. Hence the rather cobbled together nature of the latest Newspaper... Although, thankfully, they are all cobbled together and so no one noticed.

But I'm making time!

[Lalwendë]

Originally Posted by Mithalwen

Alex Lewis wasn't there you can imagin how controllable my grief was Lal, ...... but there was a lot of truly dreadful poetry, some folk singing - which was fine but basically the same tune regardless of subject matter and the truly wonderful "Sound of Mumaks" presented by the Cambridge Tolkien Society...... All together now "How do you solve a problem like Moria?" ....

Now I'm really angry that I missed the one year that was not blighted by the 'singing' of Mr Lewis.

Although I did miss a chance to annoy by starting an argument about how folk music is actually good

Originally Posted by Squatter

I'll say this for the TS: they know how to drink; and by 'drink' I mean anything and everything that they can lay their hands on.

Yes, it's the English disease I spent a long time after the last Oxonmoot worrying I had made a plonker of myself with Joanna Tolkien because I was introduced to her while sitting on a park bench in the darkness (to which we had retreated so as to swear copiously about the Ents without directly hurting anyone's feelings...and so that we could still see in and laugh at a certain singer), well oiled with cider and stinking of an excessive consumption of cigs and cheesey Nik Naks. There was a roof party (of sorts) last year - unfortunately this happened above my room on the Friday, one of several designated as the 'quiet' block - I trust this was not the case this year or our esteemed pal Alan may have had to spend a night sleeping on a bench in the quad once more and I don't think it did him very much good - I shall have to get davem to ask him...I believe last year Mr narfforc was so drunk he went to sleep at teatime and woke up at 4am on Sunday morning looking for the party

Did you know that at the Birmingham event the TS had drunk the local pub quite literally dry by Sunday night - but being troopers, everyone went and sat outside the pub anyway.

Next year we may or may not be able to bring the newest Downer of all. This depends on how good the cider harvest has been though.

[Bêthberry]

Next year, if they do a Pythonesque Beren watching Luthien dancing in the forest, I'll be there.

Gollem: "I'm so hungry I could eat a fish called Wanda."

Frodo: "It's only a flesh wound."

Gimli: "What makes you think she's a witch?"
Boromir: "Well, she turned me into a newt."
Gimli: "A newt?"
Boromir: "Well, . . . sort of."

Shadowfax: "I don't use coconuts"

[narfforc]

You are quite correct Lal I was drunk last year and did miss The Ents. I had a great time this year though, managing to get to most of the lectures I wanted to. It was very good to meet Hooky, Squatter and Guinevere for the first time, and Esty once again, I hope you will all come again, along with some more Downers maybe. This is my umpteenth Oxonmoot, so I will let the enthusiasm of The First Timers speak for itself, and Squatter has done a fabulous job of that. I will close by saying that some of us Elder Mooters have decided to try and organise a Yulemoot in Leeds, watch this space.

[Estelyn Telcontar]

I'm quite disappointed that Mithalwen was there and we didn't get to know her! I kept looking on Saturday, but since I had no idea what I was looking for, it was no surprise that I couldn't find her. Did you recognize any of us, Mith? Most of us had our nicks on our badges.

I think we already set a record for most Downers in the same place at the same time, what with five of us together at the party, but six would have been even better! We shall see what next Oxonmoot brings.

I really enjoyed meeting Hookbill for the first time; he really is as crazy in person as he seems when he's prowling around Mirth, yet he is also very intelligent, an interesting conversationalist, and a gregarious companion. His Tom Bombadil costume was greatly applauded at the party.

I've already met Squatter on several previous occasions, so I looked forward to seeing him again. He is brilliant and hilarious, very knowledgable on more than just Tolkien, and a snappy dresser besides. His all-black outfit on the first evening was a model of stylish individuality. Though not actually a costume, we convinced him that the black shirt and tie which he wore with the equally black jacket and very elegant vest made him look like a Ringwraith at a business meeting!

Narfforc knows so many people, being a long-time Oxonmoot attendee, so we didn't see him as often, but he was as funny as ever when we did. He had exciting news about his finished parody (which he manages to quote almost as often as I do the REB!), and in my opinion, he looked better in his blue wizard costume without the white wig and beard.

The Downer I saw most while in England was Guinevere. We met in London earlier in the week because we both wanted to see the LotR musical. (Review soon to be posted on the thread concerning the musical.) We enjoyed each other's company right from the beginning, had a lot of common interests to talk about, and saw a lot of London on foot, since the weather was too gorgeous to tempt us down into the Tube when not absolutely necessary. We had picnic lunches in the park and on Trafalgar Square, looked at the memorials in Westminster Abbey, and popped down to Brighton to see the Royal Pavilion before going on to Oxford.

Guinevere is a person with many interests, well worth getting to know in depth, though not a person who puts herself into the limelight. She has read so widely that I ended up writing down a lot of book recommendations, is fluent in several languages, and knows more plant and flower names than I do (as I found out when we went to the Botanic Gardens in Oxford), so I was able to profit from her knowledge.

My personal impressions of my first Oxonmoot:

I thought the people were very friendly, in general; it wasn't difficult to strike up a conversation with them, whether newbies like myself or old-timers. The time schedule was a bit cramped, with art and dealer's rooms open only during the same times when lectures and workshops were held, for the most part. My favourite lecture was the one on the meaning of laughter in Middle-earth: a fascinating topic, researched by a US professor and his students and to be published in the future. Highly recommended!

My favourite activity was listening to the Cambridge Society's reading of parts of the BBC's LotR script. I had already heard them in 2005, knew from two whom I had seen at the German seminar this spring that they were coming to perform, and had looked forward to that very much. It was wonderful, both funny and moving.

The Art Show had some excellent pictures; Anke Eissmann was there to show her wonderful paintings, and I was very impressed with several of the artists' works. My "Leaf and Star" wall hanging was also displayed.

I don't yet know if I will plan to come again next year, but I would certainly enjoy the opportunity. Perhaps we can break the record we set this year!

[Mithalwen]

I may have seen you disappearing into a building the other side of the Quad on friday evening when I was waiting to register if you were wearing a grey trouser suit , I now realise I was in the bar at the same time as Squatter and Narfforc .. but I wasn't sure that Narfforc was Narfforc without the Father Christmas beard and I had no idea that Squatter was there or what he looked like. I think Hookbill may have attended some of the same lectures but I didn't make a positive ID till the masquerade which was rather late in the day and since I was with someone who had just bought me a pint I couldn't really break away... My eyesight is good but I can't read 10 point fonts at a distance.

[Guinevere]

As usual my account is belated...

As you could gather from Esty’s report, we already met in London on Monday. Although it was the first time we met, we immediately got on splendidly and had a great time together. She is a wonderful person, very outgoing and friendly and we share many interests, (in addition to Tolkien.) I feel I have found a real friend in her!
We went to see the LotR musical which I enjoyed very much ( I had been a bit sceptical about that, but Nafforc’s excellent review had convinced me that it was worth seeing.)
We did a lot of walking in London und saw a Shakespeare play in the Globe on the second evening. (It was “Love’s Labour’s lost” and fortunately I had prepared myself and read it beforehand.)
We then spent a day in Brighton where we visited the Pavilion and walked along the sea and in the old town. It was interesting, but I like Oxford much better.

Before going to the Oxonmoot we waited in the “Bird and Baby” for Hookbill who proved to be a very interesting and nice young man. He showed us then the way to Lady Margaret Hall, which I found to be a beautiful place.

After dinner (which I found delicious) we met Squatter – I’d been looking forward to meeting him in person, since I have for years very much enjoyed and admired his brilliant posts on the Downs. I therefore was at first rather awestruck. But he turned out to be very nice and friendly (and handsome, not looking like Cardinal Richelieu as I had been picturing him for ages )
As he mentions I talked very little, but then it was interesting enough to listen to all those fascinating people, and I was intent on understanding everything.
I hadn’t been in an English speaking country for more than 30 years and so am more used to reading and writing in English than to speaking it.

The various lectures I attended on Saturday were interesting and I had no problems understanding them, but I admit I got very little of “the Lord of the Goons” and some of the “Ents”.
Nafforc whom we met later, was also very nice, and had a gorgeous costume at the party.

I also enjoyed the Art Show very much, especially Anke Eissmann’s beautiful pictures and Esty's lovely quilt.

On the whole I had a very good time in England, and I hope to go there again before long.

[Mithalwen]

I met Poison Ivy on Saturday. She lives about a mile from me and over coffee and splendid chocolate biscuits we discussed many Tolkien related topics. I am sure we will meet again if I didn't scare her too much

[Estelyn Telcontar]

Oh, how nice! I got to know Poison Ivy at Oxonmoot, and she is a lovely person. I'm sure you both had plenty to talk about!

[Rune Son of Bjarne]

OK

This summer I met Brinn, Di and Encai. . . It was all good fun allthough it was not Tolkien that was the major conversation subject.

I also met Laitoste on a trip to York a few weeks ago, it was very lucky that she by chance was passing through at the same time I was.

Anyways these where all very nice people that I would love to see again, but it would be fun to meet a male downer as well.

[Macalaure]

Last Saturday, we (Rikae, who was visiting me, and me) met our first Downer (apart from each other, of course):

We've been meeting with Esty - in the city she lives in and I come from.

Over some coffee/tea/cocoa in a café next to the city fountain we spent time chatting about life in Germany and the US, talking about the past and present of the Downs, and gossiping about Barrowdowns couples - known and suspected future ones. We also had the honor to sign our screen names beneath the illustrious Guinevere, Squatter, Hookbill, and narfforc.

As many other Downers already had the pleasure to be able to notice, Esty is a very nice, charming, and outgoing (which was very helpful, considering that both Rikae and me belong more into the introverted department) person, who one simply enjoys spending time with.

Pictures of us may or may not appear on the photo thread, depending on whether we happened to take one which does not feature me looking goofy.

[Estelyn Telcontar]

Let me add to Mac's report: I had looked forward to meeting Rikae and him - I love to get together with any Downers, but a BD couple is something special indeed! They were so cute together , and we ran out of time, not out of conversational subjects. I do hope we will have a chance to get together again in the future to "fill up the corners"; I know we have much in common and would enjoy finding out more about a romance that was precipitated by werewolf playing!

I'll check out the photos to see if there's at least one on which all three of us look good!

[Legate of Amon Lanc]

I can actually write on this thread... it seems so strange! It's very hard for me to actually realise the black-and-green something I am posting this message on has anything to do with the real person I spent last two days with. It is only a few hours since Brinniel has left Prague. Her coming here was really unpredicted - while I knew that she is coming, her plans got changed several times and I was not expecting her this time. But now, all of a sudden she told me she's going to come this weekend. So it was all made on spot, but in the end I think it turned out well. We met on Sunday morning, and then I accompanied her all the day, visiting monuments and other things. The same on Monday.

I think my mind has not yet fully understood what actually happened. Maybe my brain is in something like a shock, and only very, very slowly it is becoming able to reflect past events. I can't actually find words to describe how I feel about Brinn, as she suddenly became a person so complex to me that I simply can't. But one thing I can say for sure already: this was a great experience and I wouldn't trade it for anything.

[Brinniel]

Geez...it's taken me long enough to post on this thread. But things can get quite insane when one travels somewhere new every weekend...

Anyways, yes I did meet Legate on Easter weekend. I had originally planned to travel to Italy that weekend but there were some complications and that trip got cancelled. So I decided at the very last moment to bump up my trip to Prague and go that very weekend instead. I felt a bit guilty to so suddenly change my plans on Legate, but we managed to get in contact and plan things out despite the last minuteness of it.

Overall, my trip to Prague went wonderfully...it's a very beautiful city. I admit I was rather nervous about meeting Legate, but he was pretty easy to talk to and I think any awkwardness quickly faded away. For the record, Legate is very nice and polite (as one would expect). I found it extremely kind of him to spend almost two whole days with me doing all sorts of touristy stuff. He was a great companion to have and his company really did help my weekend to become a fantastic one.

--------------

Eh, okay I just realised I never wrote here about my meeting with Rune...so perhaps it's time I do that. Anyways, as he mentioned awhile back, Rune came to the US and visited me for several days in Boise. We had lots of fun and I took him around doing what little there is to do in Idaho. How do I describe Rune? Hmm...well Rune is just...Rune. Ha, but really, he's a delightful person to have around and definitely very amusing to talk to. Since he did visit my hometown, my parents of course insisted on meeting him....I was surprised how well they got along. Rune is just that outgoing. My first experience of meeting a Downer was a wonderful one and it certainly was one of the highlights of my summer.

And a little over a month ago, I decided to return the gesture of Rune visiting me and I visited him for a weekend in Copenhagen. It was a great weekend and I enjoyed having another opportunity to hang out with Rune again. We did plenty of touristy stuff and I learned a lot from him about his home country. With two experience behind me, I must say it's quite awesome to have a local show you around the city (especially when it's a Downer).

I do have pictures from these visits. Perhaps I should post them?

Anyways, in three days I will meet at least another five more BDers! I can't believe how soon that is.. *twitches with excitement*

[Nogrod]

Originally Posted by Brinniel

Anyways, in three days I will meet at least another five more BDers! I can't believe how soon that is.. *twitches with excitement*

No less than five...

Welcome Brinn!

[Nogrod]

Okay.

If no one else starts this I will then do it.

It was great to meet you Brinn! You were just as lovely - or even more so - as I thought! It was a pleasure to have you as our guest here in Helsinki. I hope you enjoyed your stay. And it actually looked like you did.

And I'm quite dissapointed that I had those crucial choir-rehearsals both Saturday and Sunday (7 hours a day) so that I couldn't join the trip to Suomenlinna or stay to follow you when you left. But I think you had nice company without me... possibly even better.

That also meant we never get to take a picture of all of us six together which is a pity (I kind of guessed that when we talked on Saturday evening that we could take them on Sunday morning...).

I'm not sure how well this records in the "most 'Downers meeting ever" -list but I'd believe it's quite high in there. Sadly we couldn't get Spawn to join us to make it seven... and even more just because it would have been nice to meet her in the first place (she lives just about twenty minutes bus-ride from my place and we have never met!). That should be corrected as well!

What should I say? Brinn's a lovely person. A bit shy perhaps to begin with (or was it just me?) but the ice breaks easily - and she's ready to take up challenges like playing mafioso (live-werewolf) with unknown people or to jump into recording an audio-feat just like that. And her smile and laughter are just incredibly catching. I do hope this was not the last time we met! Just wait Brinn, one day we will be banging on your door in Idaho - or wherever you live some day!

We'll be sending you some pictures anyway - or Lommy / Greenie / Volo will be doing that. Either here or in the photo page thread...

[Finduilas]

If you ever get close enough to bang on her door, inform me so maybe we can have you bang on ours.

[Gwathagor]

That would be rather jolly, wouldn't it? Meeting other Downers, that is.

[Thinlómien]

Yes, Brinn was here and it was awesome. She, Agan and Volo stayed the whole weekend with Noggie, Greenie and me in Noggie's place. We had absolutely wonderful time, especially when visiting the fortress of Suomenlinna, but also doing all kinds of fun stuff in the evenings and all the other nice things... Brinn is a lovely person and I will be very very sad if I never meet her again. Truly, I just had one of the best weekends for a long time.

PS. The camera-people (Brinn, Greenie and Volo) might post some rather scary pictures soon...

[Aganzir]

Maybe I should post something, too.

So, Brinn is a lovely person and it was wonderful to spend a weekend with her. Apart from all that usual stuff (being in museums, walking around Helsinki etc), we did everything else nice; played live werewolf (which was not nice, though ), teased the wooden horse & rider (who is better known as Théodred to us ) and recorded some passages from Lotr. And we also spent some time in Moria, on the Barrowdowns & Dead Marshes and by the Mirrormere.

I'll come to knock your door when I travel around the world some day.

[A Little Green]

I suppose there is not much that I can add. Just wait for the pics... There's some rather scary ones there. *smirk* Maybe I should add that we experienced not only the Barrow Downs, Moria, and other nice places, but also some very contemporary art.. The weekend was one of the best ones in a very long time, and I am very disappointed with my life if I'll never meet Brinn again.

[Brinniel]

My trip to Helsinki was one of my better planned trips and was something I was looking forward to for some time. And I had such a great time, I'm sad it's already over. Anyways, I've got so much wonderful things to say, I just don't know if I can put it all into words...

Lommy and Aganzir were the ones who greeted me at the airport. Lommy is just as much of a sweetheart as she is online and I must say, she's got a wonderful smile (and you should see her face light up when you mention penguins...). Aganzir seems to be happy and serious and silly all at the same time (if that description makes any sense whatsoever...). I sense an adventurous streak in her and there's something about Aganzir that makes me think she definitely belongs in Middle-earth.

An hour after we arrived at Noggie's place, Noggie, Greenie, and Volo arrived from school. Noggie is just as talkative as he is on the Downs. We had some interesting conversations and I enjoyed discussing with him as well as learning from him. I envy the students who have him as a teacher, as I could imagine it must be great to be in his class. It's just a shame he was unable to hang out with the rest of us during the day. I didn't know Greenie very well before I met her, but I've discovered she's got a great personality. She is a very cute girl and most definitely an actress (as those who have heard some of her audio clips might alreay know). She also has some really wonderful facial expressions. Volo is just as funny and weird (of course, in a good way) in RL as he is on the Downs. I found him quite easy to talk to.

All five are equally silly, which I loved. Their enthusiasm helped me break out of my shell and I was happy to join in on the craziness and fun they partake in. As for what we did, I think the others gave everyone a good idea of that..

Originally Posted by Nogrod

A bit shy perhaps to begin with (or was it just me?)

No, that's not just you...I am known to be a shy person. But as I said, everyone's outgoingness really helped me break out of my shell.

Originally Posted by Aganzir

played live werewolf (which was not nice, though )

That's only because Aganzir became a Fenris Wolf..

Anyways, pictures should be coming soon...hopefully no later than late tonight. I'm sure they will amuse many.

And if any of you come knocking on my door, whether it's in Boise or Boston or wherever else I may live, I will gladly welcome you.

[Lalaith]

This all sounds marvellous fun.
In other news, I'm thinking of starting a thread entitled "I've never met a fellow BD-er".