We will rock you

Well, it's over. Eighteen or so months of planning, writing, scheming, plotting and sheer hard work by the team andn it's done: NWO Rome. I am now hot, typing this chez pax_draconis and mrcook both of whom have retired in exhaustion.

I too am tired and all together too hot, but I felt it necessary to register my immediate impression of triumph at the event. Friday evening to Sunday afternoon: 97 players, eight writers, three referees and our support people. Significantly over one million words of plot: one unqualified success. Once I get home tomorrow, I shall post up some photos from the event and witter on with notes on the highlights. Those of you with access to pax_draconis' journal will see an early selection of his and my photos to give you the flavour of the event.

For now, I am just going to say that we did it.

We topped NWO Transylvania.

We ROCK.

Edited to add: There is an angry cheese in the microwave. It has been there unattended all weekend. It speaks in hostile tongues. I fear it and the deterrent it has developed while we were at the event.

We will rock you

Well, it's over. Eighteen or so months of planning, writing, scheming, plotting and sheer hard work by the team andn it's done: NWO Rome. I am now hot, typing this chez pax_draconis and mrcook both of whom have retired in exhaustion.

I too am tired and all together too hot, but I felt it necessary to register my immediate impression of triumph at the event. Friday evening to Sunday afternoon: 97 players, eight writers, three referees and our support people. Significantly over one million words of plot: one unqualified success. Once I get home tomorrow, I shall post up some photos from the event and witter on with notes on the highlights. Those of you with access to pax_draconis' journal will see an early selection of his and my photos to give you the flavour of the event.

For now, I am just going to say that we did it.

We topped NWO Transylvania.

We ROCK.

Edited to add: There is an angry cheese in the microwave. It has been there unattended all weekend. It speaks in hostile tongues. I fear it and the deterrent it has developed while we were at the event.

That was the weekend that was....

It's good to be back. It's been a weekend and a half and I am still a bit tired.

As I type I reek of Anthisan. This is the result of boasting to mrcook yesterday afternoon that I never get bitten by gnats. There are some gnats with big paunches and satisfied smiles in the environs of Ilum today, I can tell you.

I have been trying to get online to type since about 7.15 this evening. My thought was to upload the thirty-three pics I have in my camera and put them here. In fact, that is what is happening. Unfortunately after two aborted attempts at transferring them en masse, one of which caused my PC to collapse in horror, I am pushing them up one at a time. This is a major undertaking at 56k, let me tell you. The transfer continues as I type, and I hope that it will be finished shortly. The pics are all going under an LJ-cut so that those of you who are neither interested nor have broadband do not suffer the download horrors. There is no significant text behind the cut, just the pictures and, if I can be bothered, captions.

We managed as ever, to pick a very good weekend to stage NWO; the years of weekly sacrifices have not gone unheeded. In some ways the weather was too good. We had the exclusive use of the entirety of Ilum Hall from midday Friday until 6pm Sunday, but it was so hot and humid that most of the significant activity took place outdoors, where we did not have exclusive access, much to the amusement, bemusement and consternation of a number of wandering mundanes.

Overall, however, the transfer out of doors worked in our favour, though it meant that at least one set-piece was ditched, and the transformation of Columbine's child Venice into Orlando's Serenissima was lost on most. A great pity. Never mind.

I don't propose to write a great deal about the weekend; those who are interested have already done so elsewhere, and I have little if anything to add beyond more congratulations to the players who brought our baby to life; to the other refs and members of the writing crew for mutual support and inspiration; to the staff of Ilum Hall who took our weirdness in their stride and provided food of excellent quality, together with good humour.

One day all free-forms will be this way.

One million words, eh? Bloody Hell. I still can't quite believe it.

( Here are the pictures: )

See some of you sooner no doubt, but most in two years at the Grand....

While I am at it, a big thank-you to ashenkat for agreeing to sit for me for about 40 minutes while I tried a pencil portrait from life. It proved to me how much practice I need to put in to get back to where I was, and her patience was much appreciated.

I'm off to find something to eat.

That was the weekend that was....

It's good to be back. It's been a weekend and a half and I am still a bit tired.

As I type I reek of Anthisan. This is the result of boasting to mrcook yesterday afternoon that I never get bitten by gnats. There are some gnats with big paunches and satisfied smiles in the environs of Ilum today, I can tell you.

I have been trying to get online to type since about 7.15 this evening. My thought was to upload the thirty-three pics I have in my camera and put them here. In fact, that is what is happening. Unfortunately after two aborted attempts at transferring them en masse, one of which caused my PC to collapse in horror, I am pushing them up one at a time. This is a major undertaking at 56k, let me tell you. The transfer continues as I type, and I hope that it will be finished shortly. The pics are all going under an LJ-cut so that those of you who are neither interested nor have broadband do not suffer the download horrors. There is no significant text behind the cut, just the pictures and, if I can be bothered, captions.

We managed as ever, to pick a very good weekend to stage NWO; the years of weekly sacrifices have not gone unheeded. In some ways the weather was too good. We had the exclusive use of the entirety of Ilum Hall from midday Friday until 6pm Sunday, but it was so hot and humid that most of the significant activity took place outdoors, where we did not have exclusive access, much to the amusement, bemusement and consternation of a number of wandering mundanes.

Overall, however, the transfer out of doors worked in our favour, though it meant that at least one set-piece was ditched, and the transformation of Columbine's child Venice into Orlando's Serenissima was lost on most. A great pity. Never mind.

I don't propose to write a great deal about the weekend; those who are interested have already done so elsewhere, and I have little if anything to add beyond more congratulations to the players who brought our baby to life; to the other refs and members of the writing crew for mutual support and inspiration; to the staff of Ilum Hall who took our weirdness in their stride and provided food of excellent quality, together with good humour.

One day all free-forms will be this way.

One million words, eh? Bloody Hell. I still can't quite believe it.

( Here are the pictures: )

See some of you sooner no doubt, but most in two years at the Grand....

While I am at it, a big thank-you to ashenkat for agreeing to sit for me for about 40 minutes while I tried a pencil portrait from life. It proved to me how much practice I need to put in to get back to where I was, and her patience was much appreciated.

I'm off to find something to eat.