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Happy Autumn! Or, to anyone in the South, Happy Spring! Though it has been nearly twenty-two months since the last time I left Argentina, which means that I missed the Austral Spring last year... and it would seem likely that I will do the same this year.
Besides being the last weekend of Summer, it turns out that this will also be my last weekend in England for awhile. Next weekend, I will be in Italy... and the three weekends after that, I will be in the States. In fact, I was sorting through my upcoming travel, and it seems that I will be away from Oxford for most of the rest of this year. Of course, plans have a pesky way of changing... but, between now and New Years, I have two trips planned to the States, two trips planned to Italy, and two trips planned to Germany. With ninety-nine days left in 2007, it looks like I will be away from Skullcrusher Mountain for sixty-one of them. Guess that's why I call myself the Nomad, huh?
At least the weather, which had been abysmal all week, cleared up for yesterday, the last day of Summer. I headed into London for PolyDay, a one day polyamory meetup and conference[*]. Around noon, I arrived at the venue, which was a pub overlooking the Thames with a very nice view of St. Paul's Cathedral. I think this is only the third time that I have been in London this year -- ever since![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
cheshcat and I bought Peter, we've been more apt to take him on drives to parts of the country we have not yet explored than to head into the big city.
Polyday itself was good fun. I went to a couple of the workshops, on "Poly-er Than Thou" and "Poly Speed-Introductions", though I also skipped some workshop sessions to just have more time socializing and meeting new people. Regarding the workshops, the latter involved an hour of shouting[**] at new people for two minutes each.
The former workshop took the form of a clever game where we all started with two poker chips and could bet them on the outcome of various questions. The questions took the form of "How many relationships are you currently in?" or "How many people have you ever slept with?" or "How long have you been in your longest current relationship?" If you thought that you were in the top half of the people in the room, you bet a chip. Of those who bet, the top half won the chips from the bottom half[***]. At the end of the game, in a room of about forty people, I had accumulated the most chips -- a total of nine. In fact, I had even loaned out a chip to the woman next to me, who had run out of hers. Maybe I should move into the gambling industry. During the rest of the day, a few people remarked to me on my winnings[****], and how I must be quite poly. But, truth be told, I think it has more about knowing when to bet. I bet on less than half the questions that were asked... but every time I did place a bet, I won. In fact, I won multiple chips on the "What is the worst poly-drama explosion you've ever had?" I told the story of MO'D and her psychotic break, which all agreed was unbeatable. Heh -- nice to know that the worst night of my life is redeemable for four poker chips.
As fun as the workshops were, the best part of the day was really just socializing with new people[*****]. I sawparallelgirl for the first time since April, and it was really good to meet lots of other poly people. Some of whom have been added to my LJ friends list[******]. Since moving to England, I have involved myself in lots of nifty things -- from campanology to history to sightseeing -- but one thing that has been lacking is a community of likeminded poly folk[*******]. Knowing more polys is definitely a Good Thing.
In the evening, a group of us went for some really good Turkish food. And, after that, there was a disco. I hadn't been dancing since my time in San Francisco withyavin7 last month, so that was also good fun. When the dance wound down at about midnight, I started to head home. It was a nice night, so I decided against taking the tube back to Victoria Station... opting to walk instead. The warm and clear weather made for a very pleasant midnight stroll along the Thames, starting near St. Paul's Cathedral, going past the London Eye, past Big Ben and Parliament, past Westminster Abbey and finally reaching the bus stop where I could hop a coach back to Oxford. Walking cost my about forty minutes, but it was well worth it for such a pleasant and peaceful stroll. Anyway, I lucked out and made it to the bus stop about thirty seconds before the 1:15am bus left -- no waiting needed! An added bonus is that, due to the late hour, I got the best seat on the bus -- the front of the top of a double-decker. Arriving back in Oxford at 2:45am, I cycled home and walked into my secret lair on Skullcrusher Mountain at about 3am.
Now a sensible person would go to sleep at this point. But I, for one, have never been accused of sensibility! After spending the day alone at PolyDay --cheshcat had planned to join me but was feeling a bit under the weather -- I wanted some attention from my sweeties before calling it a night. So I rang up frogcastle and we chatted for a bit. Then, after that, I crawled into bed with cheshcat, waking her up so that we could snuggle.
Overall, a very nice day... even if I did not get any sleep until 6:30 in the morning! At least today was a Sunday, so I could -- and did -- sleep in until 1 in the afternoon!
[*] Wow, that sounds all high-falooting and serious, don't it?
[**] Due to the loud and crowded room.
[***] Yes, this is a flawed system from a mathematical perspective, in that if everyone in the top half of the room actually bets and no one in the bottom half does, then everyone who bet should win... but only half of them actually do. Nonetheless, it was a fun game.
[****] The chips, I should note, were worth nothing and were all returned at the end of the game.
[*****] Doing so on a balcony overlooking the Thames didn't hurt one bit, either. I am such the water elemental.
[******] Hi!
[*******] Similar to all those awesome people from Poly Chicago. You know who you are!
Besides being the last weekend of Summer, it turns out that this will also be my last weekend in England for awhile. Next weekend, I will be in Italy... and the three weekends after that, I will be in the States. In fact, I was sorting through my upcoming travel, and it seems that I will be away from Oxford for most of the rest of this year. Of course, plans have a pesky way of changing... but, between now and New Years, I have two trips planned to the States, two trips planned to Italy, and two trips planned to Germany. With ninety-nine days left in 2007, it looks like I will be away from Skullcrusher Mountain for sixty-one of them. Guess that's why I call myself the Nomad, huh?
At least the weather, which had been abysmal all week, cleared up for yesterday, the last day of Summer. I headed into London for PolyDay, a one day polyamory meetup and conference[*]. Around noon, I arrived at the venue, which was a pub overlooking the Thames with a very nice view of St. Paul's Cathedral. I think this is only the third time that I have been in London this year -- ever since
cheshcat and I bought Peter, we've been more apt to take him on drives to parts of the country we have not yet explored than to head into the big city.Polyday itself was good fun. I went to a couple of the workshops, on "Poly-er Than Thou" and "Poly Speed-Introductions", though I also skipped some workshop sessions to just have more time socializing and meeting new people. Regarding the workshops, the latter involved an hour of shouting[**] at new people for two minutes each.
The former workshop took the form of a clever game where we all started with two poker chips and could bet them on the outcome of various questions. The questions took the form of "How many relationships are you currently in?" or "How many people have you ever slept with?" or "How long have you been in your longest current relationship?" If you thought that you were in the top half of the people in the room, you bet a chip. Of those who bet, the top half won the chips from the bottom half[***]. At the end of the game, in a room of about forty people, I had accumulated the most chips -- a total of nine. In fact, I had even loaned out a chip to the woman next to me, who had run out of hers. Maybe I should move into the gambling industry. During the rest of the day, a few people remarked to me on my winnings[****], and how I must be quite poly. But, truth be told, I think it has more about knowing when to bet. I bet on less than half the questions that were asked... but every time I did place a bet, I won. In fact, I won multiple chips on the "What is the worst poly-drama explosion you've ever had?" I told the story of MO'D and her psychotic break, which all agreed was unbeatable. Heh -- nice to know that the worst night of my life is redeemable for four poker chips.
As fun as the workshops were, the best part of the day was really just socializing with new people[*****]. I saw
parallelgirl for the first time since April, and it was really good to meet lots of other poly people. Some of whom have been added to my LJ friends list[******]. Since moving to England, I have involved myself in lots of nifty things -- from campanology to history to sightseeing -- but one thing that has been lacking is a community of likeminded poly folk[*******]. Knowing more polys is definitely a Good Thing.In the evening, a group of us went for some really good Turkish food. And, after that, there was a disco. I hadn't been dancing since my time in San Francisco with
yavin7 last month, so that was also good fun. When the dance wound down at about midnight, I started to head home. It was a nice night, so I decided against taking the tube back to Victoria Station... opting to walk instead. The warm and clear weather made for a very pleasant midnight stroll along the Thames, starting near St. Paul's Cathedral, going past the London Eye, past Big Ben and Parliament, past Westminster Abbey and finally reaching the bus stop where I could hop a coach back to Oxford. Walking cost my about forty minutes, but it was well worth it for such a pleasant and peaceful stroll. Anyway, I lucked out and made it to the bus stop about thirty seconds before the 1:15am bus left -- no waiting needed! An added bonus is that, due to the late hour, I got the best seat on the bus -- the front of the top of a double-decker. Arriving back in Oxford at 2:45am, I cycled home and walked into my secret lair on Skullcrusher Mountain at about 3am.Now a sensible person would go to sleep at this point. But I, for one, have never been accused of sensibility! After spending the day alone at PolyDay --
cheshcat had planned to join me but was feeling a bit under the weather -- I wanted some attention from my sweeties before calling it a night. So I rang up frogcastle and we chatted for a bit. Then, after that, I crawled into bed with cheshcat, waking her up so that we could snuggle.Overall, a very nice day... even if I did not get any sleep until 6:30 in the morning! At least today was a Sunday, so I could -- and did -- sleep in until 1 in the afternoon!
[*] Wow, that sounds all high-falooting and serious, don't it?
[**] Due to the loud and crowded room.
[***] Yes, this is a flawed system from a mathematical perspective, in that if everyone in the top half of the room actually bets and no one in the bottom half does, then everyone who bet should win... but only half of them actually do. Nonetheless, it was a fun game.
[****] The chips, I should note, were worth nothing and were all returned at the end of the game.
[*****] Doing so on a balcony overlooking the Thames didn't hurt one bit, either. I am such the water elemental.
[******] Hi!
[*******] Similar to all those awesome people from Poly Chicago. You know who you are!
