Dream Girl meetup

Geeks are marvelous creatures.

And I'm not saying this to pat myself on the back. There's just too much evidence to say anything else. Six months ago, as I mentioned below, Randall Munroe put a series of coordinates in this strip. Without comment (even now after the fact he hasn't blogged about it). This was the result:



I was the voice that shouted out, "don't worry, they'll never find him."

estimates for turnout ran around 1000 or more. As the entire thing was about life imitating art, certain elements of the strip found representation; such as these:

"No Allegations Without Citation!"



Because it seems some days that's all you can hope for

Both are a reference to this comic. Also there was this:

A tape measure extending competition, a reference to this strip. It was divided into two "events," horizontal and vertical; that one obviously being the latter. I'm pictured looking on, over the shoulder of the guy holding the sign. If I remember correctly, this is him tying my (then) leading 12 feet. The mark was broken when he was lent a tape measure that was designed to be extended and stay true. The final record was 187 inches, if I recall correctly. But I can't be trusted on the matter as I was up to other things

*gives a moment for people to laugh at the stupid face he's making*

I was able to meet and jam with three complete strangers. Now, there was a group on the forums that were talking about a musical jam, but these weren't them. I met up with them later; one playing clarinet, another on bongos, and a dude playing a Bowed Psaltery. His instrument can be seen off to the left in this pic, and he appears in his entirety in this one. (he, like me, participated in both jams). I actually had the oppertunity to learn a few songs, a couple of which I've even managed to remember. At some point we had a sizable crowd around us when we played Hotel California; everyone all singing along. Of course, Freebird was requested numerous times. For some reason we didn't play it until number six.

I might not have mentioned that this took place in a playground.

Some of the signs at the park were temporarily modified to fit the event. Coincidentally, I met the person responsible for it. She's actually a friend of my cousin Jay, who also was there.

He actually doesn't read the strip religiously, though when he does he likes it. He followed his friends there when he heard I was going. The sign actually did have a point to it. He works for an organization called Fair Foods, and they're holding an event to prevent the dumping of unused cabbage. However, a lot of people were disappointed to learn that it wasn't done out of irony, which I can understand, because on its face its brilliant. I was searching for him in the crowd when he popped out of nowhere and started hitting me on the head with the sign.

Yeah... he found me first in the crowd... wonder why.

One of the biggest fears of forumgoers was that the entire thing was that it would be a trap
Specifically we were concerned about the possibility of velociraptors attacking . Luckily, there was only one, who curiously came clad in a suit, and instead of slaughtering us all he just danced all Chris Walken style to Weapon of Choice.

That guy was awesome. It's kind of funny that there was speculation on the forums as to raptor maulings but none as to the cops showing up to queer the vibe. They didn't, thankfully. The neighbors seemed to like us, even the ones expecting just another trip to the playground with their kids. A local sandwich shop owner actually closed shop to come down and hand out flyers. And I know that at the very least the author ordered one.

Later on, the the party moved to nearby Danehy park, where some xkcd-ers had set up a trebuchet, and were launching baseballs in the air, which were run down and caught by people with gloves. They also tried to launch some shoes, but not with the same level of success.

The crowd thinned, and about 20 of us, including Randall, went to Redbones, which was awesome. You have to love a place that serves up the water and soda in jars and has beers from local breweries on tap. It was there that that two people finally got the reference made by the sign on my not-a-murse laptop bag that said "I could disappear at any moment," a reference to this comic. One of them was the creator.

Cat: You could disappear at any moment?
Randall: Yeah, so you should make out with him.

Making a geek reference that the author himself has to explain to someone is in some circles an achievement and in others branded as social eltism. Guess which circles I run in.

Though when I followed some newfound friends back to a party at a hotel room filled with booze bottles and forumites, more people got it.

It's weird hanging out with a group of people you'd only met on a forum. Especially given the number of laptops in the room. I was given the official title of "red shirt" on my forum profile by the moderator when I said that basically my low number of posts made me a sort of an Ensign as far as the forums went (I was explaining why I was going by my real name and not my forum name)

There were good times found there and also a bottle that said it was mixed tequila and gold rum infused with lime. It smelled like a lemon-scented wetnap but actually was quite tasty. Someone asked me to play things on my guitar (which had since been signed by Randall) and I did, eventually devolving into a 12 bar that two (awesome) people just went with. I can't remember a damn word of it except that the title was "fat geek blues," but it was fun as hell.

Of course living in the suburbs of Boston means that if you don't have a car nights out have this Cinderella shit where after 12 the public transit turns into a pumpkin. And I missed the last train. Luckily, my brother was still awake, and I called had him log onto my AIM to see who could get me. Of the three friends who I thought would be able to, one was temporarily carless, one was drunk, and one was stoned. I was about to give up when at random a friend messaged saying that she was bored as hell and driving around aimlessly.

I really wish that was typical of the sort of luck I've had.

So all in all, fun times. Even if I'd had to walk home the six miles--This figure given under the assumption that I would have immediately known which was the best way to go, which I wouldn't have-- it would have been well worth it. Can't wait until it happens again. And it almost has to.

Apologies that it took so long to post. I've been combing through the flick'r photopool for the event, which is 1,200+ photos strong. And also I'd been waiting on a youtube of the jam session, because I saw someone recording, but none has been forthcoming.

Also, Boston Legal and House premiered tonight, and were awesome. I will address that later.