Decompression
Nov. 12th, 2007 01:49 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
magidSaturday night I went to the Boston Decompression gathering (party? It was, but that doesn't feel like the right word.). I'd read about Portland, SF, and NYC gatherings, and was totally looking forward to this, though I knew I wouldn't know most of the people there. I'd decided that it would be easier for me to meet people if I offered them food; I always like feeding people anyway, and I remembered giving out Electrictruffle's truffles at BRC being an often easier way to start a conversation than anything else.
What I hadn't thought about was temperature. The space was in a building down by the docks, taking over most of the seventh floor. There was a cap on the number of people who could come because of space issues, and as it was, as more people crammed into the space, it got warmer and warmer (and humid, unlike the desert heat, alas). Which meant that I wanted to distribute my offerings more quickly than I otherwise would've: the chocolate started to melt. I'd dipped over a hundred pieces of crystallized ginger in dark chocolate, which translates into feeding a significant percentage of the people there :-).
And it did make it easier to start conversations. I'm really glad about this, because by the time I was done with the ginger, I felt that I recognized a lot of the people there, and they knew me ("ginger lady!" :-), and it was more comfortable to be alone (when I was) with known people going by. Plus I got to have longer conversations with a bunch of people (a photographer from mid-Cape, a couple out from Montana, a Brookline-ite recently back from India, et al.), though my natural tendency to forget names the first couple of times means I mostly don't remember anyone's name :-(.
It also turned out that I knew more people there than I'd expected, which also helped me. Somehow, though there were lots of times that I was alone, I never tipped over into the bad kind of alone in a crowd, though there were definitely times I wished I was there with particular people to hang out with.
People were, of course, in fantabulous outfits (one of the pluses of being wholly indoors, I suppose). Now there are all sorts of things I'd like to try to make (with my currently-lame sewing skills...), especially modifying extant clothing. One guy had a great skirt he'd made out of white jeans, with lots of pocketses in strange places. I need more skirts with pockets!
There was a longish corridor by the entrance, but the rest of the space was set up as a warren of spaces. There were two dance spaces. For consumables, there were three areas: a kitchen with warm and cold drinks, a bar, and a buffet. There were two hidden passages, and two little tent-like hang-out areas. There was a room with bunk beds, and another set up with many pillows and fabric hanging from the ceiling (which had yet more music). There was a small smoking area, separately ventilated, but as the crowd grew, there was overflow (and people not caring), which was a bit frustrating (I don't like smoke). And there were some other places findable if one opened doors or pushed aside hangings, which made it fun to explore.
Being inside meant no fire and no really tall art (the ceilings weren't overly high), but there were some very cool things anyway. I really liked the column of vertical lines of changing colored lights; it was interesting to watch people as the lights spun around, and really strange being in the column (I haven't been that dizzy from just standing and looking at something before). One hidden passageway was papered, with lights glowing along the floor. The other hidden passageway was unlit, dark and mysterious. There was the scary-clown bathroom (with strange lights), photos from BRC, lots of strange lights and much interesting drapery. There were also the cool murals by Klingonlandlady.
And the Kostume Kult, a corner with all sorts of interesting clothing and accessories (bring something, take something, whatever), plus body painting available. There were some gorgeous things there. Also in that corner was a guy spray-painting clothes with Burner stencils, someone offering to use Saran-Wrap to help people walk more like penguins, and a DMV (department of mutant vehicles), though given the space, the vehicles were toy-sized. Near that there was a bike with... things... coming out of it, including a pole coming out of the handlebars that turned a disco ball at the top of it. Given the size of the space, while it would've been cool to have more art, I'm not sure where it would have fit!
Oh, and there was the peripatetic Q Bar, which manifested in six places over the course of the event, offering gin and tonics (djinn and tonix?) to passersby. I couldn't help but think of Arthur Dent on prehistoric Earth...
I'm still surprised I stayed as long as I did (I think the last time I stayed up all night was for the overnight ride over a year ago); I'm usually a morning person, not a night owl. I'm glad I did, though.
What I hadn't thought about was temperature. The space was in a building down by the docks, taking over most of the seventh floor. There was a cap on the number of people who could come because of space issues, and as it was, as more people crammed into the space, it got warmer and warmer (and humid, unlike the desert heat, alas). Which meant that I wanted to distribute my offerings more quickly than I otherwise would've: the chocolate started to melt. I'd dipped over a hundred pieces of crystallized ginger in dark chocolate, which translates into feeding a significant percentage of the people there :-).
And it did make it easier to start conversations. I'm really glad about this, because by the time I was done with the ginger, I felt that I recognized a lot of the people there, and they knew me ("ginger lady!" :-), and it was more comfortable to be alone (when I was) with known people going by. Plus I got to have longer conversations with a bunch of people (a photographer from mid-Cape, a couple out from Montana, a Brookline-ite recently back from India, et al.), though my natural tendency to forget names the first couple of times means I mostly don't remember anyone's name :-(.
It also turned out that I knew more people there than I'd expected, which also helped me. Somehow, though there were lots of times that I was alone, I never tipped over into the bad kind of alone in a crowd, though there were definitely times I wished I was there with particular people to hang out with.
People were, of course, in fantabulous outfits (one of the pluses of being wholly indoors, I suppose). Now there are all sorts of things I'd like to try to make (with my currently-lame sewing skills...), especially modifying extant clothing. One guy had a great skirt he'd made out of white jeans, with lots of pocketses in strange places. I need more skirts with pockets!
There was a longish corridor by the entrance, but the rest of the space was set up as a warren of spaces. There were two dance spaces. For consumables, there were three areas: a kitchen with warm and cold drinks, a bar, and a buffet. There were two hidden passages, and two little tent-like hang-out areas. There was a room with bunk beds, and another set up with many pillows and fabric hanging from the ceiling (which had yet more music). There was a small smoking area, separately ventilated, but as the crowd grew, there was overflow (and people not caring), which was a bit frustrating (I don't like smoke). And there were some other places findable if one opened doors or pushed aside hangings, which made it fun to explore.
Being inside meant no fire and no really tall art (the ceilings weren't overly high), but there were some very cool things anyway. I really liked the column of vertical lines of changing colored lights; it was interesting to watch people as the lights spun around, and really strange being in the column (I haven't been that dizzy from just standing and looking at something before). One hidden passageway was papered, with lights glowing along the floor. The other hidden passageway was unlit, dark and mysterious. There was the scary-clown bathroom (with strange lights), photos from BRC, lots of strange lights and much interesting drapery. There were also the cool murals by Klingonlandlady.
And the Kostume Kult, a corner with all sorts of interesting clothing and accessories (bring something, take something, whatever), plus body painting available. There were some gorgeous things there. Also in that corner was a guy spray-painting clothes with Burner stencils, someone offering to use Saran-Wrap to help people walk more like penguins, and a DMV (department of mutant vehicles), though given the space, the vehicles were toy-sized. Near that there was a bike with... things... coming out of it, including a pole coming out of the handlebars that turned a disco ball at the top of it. Given the size of the space, while it would've been cool to have more art, I'm not sure where it would have fit!
Oh, and there was the peripatetic Q Bar, which manifested in six places over the course of the event, offering gin and tonics (djinn and tonix?) to passersby. I couldn't help but think of Arthur Dent on prehistoric Earth...
I'm still surprised I stayed as long as I did (I think the last time I stayed up all night was for the overnight ride over a year ago); I'm usually a morning person, not a night owl. I'm glad I did, though.