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The Navajo-dubbed Star Wars showing was AMAZING! The host, O-v3rfl-O ("Overflow" for those of us who still speak English), racked up major points with her fellow Virtual Adepts (and me). She's an Apprentice of Correspondence, Forces, and Time; and she used those three spheres combined to re-record the movie as if she'd been there in the audience. (I've used a similar effect in the past to take static pictures on an old Kodak Instamatic. A whole movie, though? That must have been a looooong ritual.) Everyone enjoyed it, and the perspective of being in an outdoor theater, in the seats, surrounded by thousands of people who clapped and cheered.... It was really wonderful and inspiring. One of the Virtual Adepts burned DVDs for everyone who wanted a copy, and he did a skillful job of reducing the original's quality so that it looked more like a cell phone bootleg as opposed to the HD quality that O-v3rfl-O captured. Something that can be shared, even on Youtube, without the Technocracy getting suspicious.
The afterparty was likewise epic. There was some Star Wars geekery. (I scored points by explaining how I'd constructed a lightsaber as part of a Seeking--and then nearly accidentally hacked my own leg off with it. That got some laughs. No one asked about how I healed it: I think they just assumed I knew some Life magic or someone with Life magic--instead of the reality, which was me getting healed by Mouse.) There were jelloshots made by a Cult of Ecstacy member who was a huge movie buff. (I limited myself to just one--and one was plenty.) And there was a video game and virtual realit (VR) rig show-and-tell.
I got my first taste of the Digital Web courtesy of a VA called @lph@ 83t@ (Alpha Beta): It was interesting, even if I stayed in the "tutorial" area. I suggested the possibility of using Mind magic to substitute for the VR rig, and learned that that's already been done. Virtual Adepts who can access the Digital Web without a VR rig are called "Otaku" and are fairly rare. There was one present at the meet-up, so I spent some time discussing theory with him. Now that I've actually been to the Digital Web via a VR rig, I can probably get back via the Otaku method. I might have to do some more exploring of the Digital Web at some point, but I don't have the zeal for it that the Virtual Adepts seem to possess. I think they liked me: I ended up being given an online handle of Greenlight. (It was initially "gr33n71t3", but I talked them into using plain English. The name is a reference to the color of my lightsaber--they actually asked!!!--and how quickly I'd picked up on using a VR rig.)
The party broke up around 3pm, about an hour after Joey regaled the VAs there how we'd recently kicked some vampires' asses in Seattle. He made it sound like I was more powerful than I was--and left out the part where I screwed up in masking Joey and Raul's approach. Joey and I returned to the hotel, and then he propositioned me. (Yikes!) I don't know if he was drunk or what, but.... No. Told him I had a girlfriend back in St. Clair and didn't swing that way. Relationships? They're hard enough to deal with if you're a mage (or a garou). I suspect they're even harder to deal with if you're not straight. Poor Joey. And THANK GOD, when he'd called to invite me on this trip, I'd nixed his suggestion to share a room.
I got all of about 3 hours of sleep before I had to be up and out the door to make it to the airport Sunday morning. The trip from Phoenix to Boulder was uneventful. Rented a car from Hertz (got a Jeep Liberty as I needed a 4x4). Headed out to the high desert to see if Pavel was around. Nada. Fortunately I purchased some camping gear, and I'd brought some supplies for Pavel, too. (He radiates so much magic that he has trouble interacting with humans, which I suspect is partly why he's isolated himself to a cave out in the desert.) I'll be fine waiting around out here for a bit. I can sleep in the car, even if it's not terribly comfortable. Until then, I'm enjoying how pretty the desert is. Especially as the sun sets. And the full moon rising into the night sky--untouched by the light pollution like we get from St. Clair. The stars are brilliant and numerous. I can see why Pavel picked this place to establish his sanctum. Kind of feels like I'm in a Western, and it's really conducive to clearing your mind. I find myself savoring the tranquility.
Woke up to an encrypted e-mail from Val. Tranquility: destroyed. She'd touched base with Jacinta, who probed Val for what she knew about me. (Val said she was scary as fuck, too. Of course, it is a full moon, but still.) A comment about how long Val'd known about me then led to Jacinta asking who all knew about me. Val fingered Salem. (Fuck.) But Val left off other names, so Ila and Charley are safe. It sounds like Jacinta demanded that Val tell her /everything/ about /everything/ if she wanted Jacinta's trust: sounds like Val doesn't want it that bad. Honestly? Can't blame her one bit. By the sound of things, I might need to start considering a Mutually Assured Destruction scenario for when I meet with Jacinta--I imagine I can leave one hell of a smoking crater if need be. That or just say "fuck it" and disappear: I've got a pretty good idea how to thwart all their tracking gifts and rites.
This? This is what I get for helping the garou.
The afterparty was likewise epic. There was some Star Wars geekery. (I scored points by explaining how I'd constructed a lightsaber as part of a Seeking--and then nearly accidentally hacked my own leg off with it. That got some laughs. No one asked about how I healed it: I think they just assumed I knew some Life magic or someone with Life magic--instead of the reality, which was me getting healed by Mouse.) There were jelloshots made by a Cult of Ecstacy member who was a huge movie buff. (I limited myself to just one--and one was plenty.) And there was a video game and virtual realit (VR) rig show-and-tell.
I got my first taste of the Digital Web courtesy of a VA called @lph@ 83t@ (Alpha Beta): It was interesting, even if I stayed in the "tutorial" area. I suggested the possibility of using Mind magic to substitute for the VR rig, and learned that that's already been done. Virtual Adepts who can access the Digital Web without a VR rig are called "Otaku" and are fairly rare. There was one present at the meet-up, so I spent some time discussing theory with him. Now that I've actually been to the Digital Web via a VR rig, I can probably get back via the Otaku method. I might have to do some more exploring of the Digital Web at some point, but I don't have the zeal for it that the Virtual Adepts seem to possess. I think they liked me: I ended up being given an online handle of Greenlight. (It was initially "gr33n71t3", but I talked them into using plain English. The name is a reference to the color of my lightsaber--they actually asked!!!--and how quickly I'd picked up on using a VR rig.)
The party broke up around 3pm, about an hour after Joey regaled the VAs there how we'd recently kicked some vampires' asses in Seattle. He made it sound like I was more powerful than I was--and left out the part where I screwed up in masking Joey and Raul's approach. Joey and I returned to the hotel, and then he propositioned me. (Yikes!) I don't know if he was drunk or what, but.... No. Told him I had a girlfriend back in St. Clair and didn't swing that way. Relationships? They're hard enough to deal with if you're a mage (or a garou). I suspect they're even harder to deal with if you're not straight. Poor Joey. And THANK GOD, when he'd called to invite me on this trip, I'd nixed his suggestion to share a room.
I got all of about 3 hours of sleep before I had to be up and out the door to make it to the airport Sunday morning. The trip from Phoenix to Boulder was uneventful. Rented a car from Hertz (got a Jeep Liberty as I needed a 4x4). Headed out to the high desert to see if Pavel was around. Nada. Fortunately I purchased some camping gear, and I'd brought some supplies for Pavel, too. (He radiates so much magic that he has trouble interacting with humans, which I suspect is partly why he's isolated himself to a cave out in the desert.) I'll be fine waiting around out here for a bit. I can sleep in the car, even if it's not terribly comfortable. Until then, I'm enjoying how pretty the desert is. Especially as the sun sets. And the full moon rising into the night sky--untouched by the light pollution like we get from St. Clair. The stars are brilliant and numerous. I can see why Pavel picked this place to establish his sanctum. Kind of feels like I'm in a Western, and it's really conducive to clearing your mind. I find myself savoring the tranquility.
Woke up to an encrypted e-mail from Val. Tranquility: destroyed. She'd touched base with Jacinta, who probed Val for what she knew about me. (Val said she was scary as fuck, too. Of course, it is a full moon, but still.) A comment about how long Val'd known about me then led to Jacinta asking who all knew about me. Val fingered Salem. (Fuck.) But Val left off other names, so Ila and Charley are safe. It sounds like Jacinta demanded that Val tell her /everything/ about /everything/ if she wanted Jacinta's trust: sounds like Val doesn't want it that bad. Honestly? Can't blame her one bit. By the sound of things, I might need to start considering a Mutually Assured Destruction scenario for when I meet with Jacinta--I imagine I can leave one hell of a smoking crater if need be. That or just say "fuck it" and disappear: I've got a pretty good idea how to thwart all their tracking gifts and rites.
This? This is what I get for helping the garou.
