Children of the Corny 3: Third Time's the Charm!

Children of the Corny 3: Third Time's the Charm!

The following verbiage shamelessly recycled from a previous meet writeup:

The haps:

WHEN:

Friday, August 31 through Sunday, September 2. That's the (US) Labor Day weekend, so you've got all day Monday to recover.

WHERE:

Same as it ever was: our house at 107 East Sullivan Street, Heyworth, Illinois. DO NOT go to 107 West, those folks are not us! Heyworth's about ten minutes south of the Bloomington/Normal area - also some three hours from Chicago, or Indianapolis, or St. Louis.

The Bloomington/Normal area is at the hub of two major highways, Interstate 55 and Interstate 74. The Central Illinois Regional Airport is also nearby. The Peoria airport, 50 miles distant, may be cheaper. Also, there's an Amtrak station in Normal that's very convenient. Message me if you need help with directions, travel plans, or need a ride from/to public transport.

WHY:

Just because! We like seeing all our noder friends, and anyway, who needs an excuse for a party?

FOOD & DRINK:

We'll have plenty of chips and snacks and munchies around, any manner of soft drinks, beer, and wine. For the harder stuff, bring what you like and bring some to share (sharing is caring, after all). We don't drink beer, so suggestions on what to get would be nice. BriarCub will have the bottle of ouzo ready for sharing!

WHAT:

• Friday, 31st:

Arrival date! There'll be someone at the house all day, so get here whenever you can. Dinner will again be the bottomless pot of pasta, featuring Tom's Illinois Pasta Sauce. Tom will be hosting the ever-popular massive Carcassonne game, while the rest of us hang out and see who shows up (or doesn't show). Drinks all around for them what wants 'em.

• Saturday, 1st:

For those that can rise early, we'll have plenty of coffee and tea. When everyone's ready for food, we'll run up to Bloomington for lunch at the FlatTop Grill, a Mongolian barbeque-style place that's fast, fresh, and damn good. Its appeal is further enhanced by the presence of a Cold Stone Creamery nearby!

That evening, we'll have more of the traditional nodermeet activities such as consuming (more) alcohol, chatting, getting to know each other, talking about E2, talking about noders, talking about each other, playing with the cats, and so on. There's the possibility of a Node Slam - more on that later! Drinks all around for them what wants 'em.

• Sunday, 2nd:

As soon as everyone's conscious again, we'll have pancakes & waffles made from the legendary, world-famous Everything Pancake Mix! Not much planned for today, other than the inevitable reluctant goodbyes until next time . . . and make plans to head to Indiana in November for There goes the neighborhood! 3: im in ur house eating ur f00dz!

CRASH SPACE:

We've got some room here. We can sleep two on the futon (it's been reinforced), one on the couch, three to four in the upstairs bedroom, and three to five or so on the floor in the living room. I may have the garage remodeled as more living space by August, so that'll provide more space. If you've got a preference, please let me know and I'll keep a running tally. Floor crashers should bring something to sleep on, it's a hardwood floor (emphasis on the hard). There are motels within ten miles or so of us - let me know if you need help with arrangements.

THE FINE PRINT:

Not much here except that we have three cats. They're very friendly creatures and, unlike most cats, actually appear to enjoy being around lots of people. They'll prove that by getting underfoot constantly. They're shorthair cats and don't cause my allergies to go wild, but your reactions may be different. The cats will be boarded at our vet's, so they can get their yearly checkups. I hope to survive their anger when they return home.

As a rule, we don't have neighbor problems, but keeping outside noise down is always appreciated.

Charming people comin':

Passport
dichotomyboi
LaggedyAnne and Sessor
RoguePoet
eien_meru
vandewal
artman2003
hunt05
Junkill and Suzi
oakling
ammie
TwoSheds
and YOU?

Folks who might get charmed:

Borgo
Jack
Andrew_Aguecheek
Evil Catullus
gwenllian and Apatrix and troupe!
ch'i-lin and ysardo and podling

Sending their regrets:

Our wertperch and grundoon who are hosting a simultaneous West Coast nodermeet, with which we'll be in contact!
izubachi, who'll be IS racketing around Macedonia
greth
chaotic_poet

Teh pics

It's amazing how similar rural southern Illinois (and remember: everything south of Chicago is "Southern Illinois") looks, compared to rural northern Ohio. Y'all got corn, I've got corn, we've all got corn! Insert here the maniacal laughter from last year's viewing of the Rocky Horror Picture Show.

Sadly, the main instigators of the bohemian revolution at last year's Children of the Corny were absent. This was a far more sedate affair of friends drinking beer together, playing games, and having a good ol' time. Perhaps we're just worn out from Hot Damn 5? In any case, I sorely needed the vacation before starting university again tomorrow morning. And I think my liver loves me for it.

I was the first to arrive around 3:00 PM or so on Friday after a six hour drive from Dayton, OH. Wiccanpiper and I caught up over a cup of Joe and talked shop. It was then that the unimaginable happened: I had gone outside to retrieve a book from my vehicle when Laura Bush herself buzzed past me on her motorcycle like a valkyrie in shining armor.

The party picked up from there. RoguePoet, Two Sheds, hunt05, vanderval, and a non-noder contingent arrived. We took a field trip to Friar Tuck's, the local speciality liquor store, to pick up a bottle of Absolut Peppar. I might add that while I bitched during the meet about the horrid taste of peppar, in retrospect it was probably the best hard stuff at the meet.

We sat on the porch veranda sipping wine until the early hours of the morning. I crashed on the ninjagirl futon with Laura Bush (bow chicka wow wow). Unfortunately, once I sobered up I realized that she snored. :(

The next morning oakling and ammie appeared out of their car, as they had arrived terribly early in the morning from their side trip to Chicago. Never have I seen two more energetic noder ladies frolicking barefoot in the grass. Together they joined us for a rousing game of Treehouse, moderated by RoguePoet.

After everyone had slowly awoken from last night's festivities, we gathered ourselves into vehicles and met BriarCub at the Flat Top Grill, a mongolian grill make-your-own-stir-fry place in the area. I never do very well at those kinds of places, but I did like my stir fry. I recall that Junkill (who had arrived as well that morning) found some magical wand that turned his stir fry into a soup that looked quite tasty. After lunch we retired to the Cold Stone Creamery for delicious ice creams.

Returning to the house, we divided into groups to start an epic game of Carcassonne and a couple rounds of Chrononauts. The night winded down slowly, having lost its turnkey in a viewing of all six episodes of Neverwhere.

Sadly, I left quite early in the morning to resolve some administrivia and get moved into my new university-subsidized housing, so I didn't see LaggedyAnne or Sessor. Ah well, there's always Thanksgiving...

Another Lost Weekend
Official Nodermeet Mix CD
BriarCub and Wiccanpiper

Я

"Dammit, quit killing Ronald Reagan..."