March Festival

What highlights?

To stress a point, were all making a pretty bad name for ourselves in regard to getting to know new people through this game. How many of you were this good of friends before KR gave you a place to get to know eachother even better than you already did. Or gave you a chance to laugh at eachother or yourselves for the really stupid things we all do when were larping it up.

I think that everyone who works up the courage to say "You know what, I bet it would be a lot of fun to play make believe for a weekend" deserves a chance to build the same kind of relationships that the 'old timers' did.  I did not know a single solitary soul coming to KR the first time. But I like to think Ive made a few friends in my relatively short time.

I can roll with the punches, I can also swallow my pride and admit to quagz that I touched on a sensitive subject and that I was sorry.

I learn new things about people everytime I interact with them, but you will never know everything about everyone.  Most people think its hilariously funny to walk up to me and instead of shaking my hand, they will touch my concave chest, or pectus excavadum. I'm a grown man, who earns a lot of respect form the people he works with and deals with on a daily basis, nobody walks up to me and touches my chest. But I allow many of you to, because I understand the casual type of repore you're trying to gain with me, which is fine.  There may come a day when a subject arises that I am not comfortable with, and when that happens, I will do my best to let you know in a collected and mature way. And I just hope the next time I push someones button, they offer me the same courtesy.

Thanks.

Can I touch your chest, Craig? 

Robb- Who are you to bust on incorrect spelling. This isn't 6th grad English spelling test. Go watch the Colbert report :'(.

Fair enough, I honestly thought Charlie meant to write 'kiss on the cheeks.' Never heard of a 'buss on the cheek' before.

Matt White's right and I'll try to tone it on the 'hypersensitiveness.' I think I need to stop reading the boards at work.

...my head hurt reading that.....

Did someone say Piggy-Peterson is playing again?!?!?!?!??!?!?

Indeed.  Move already!

Just so there is no misunderstanding, Webster's New Collegiate Dictionary 1976 (that's A Merriam Webster, the scrabble player's bible) under buss says "kiss."  Too bad scrabble is anacronistic.  I do have a leather board.

Quas and I have busted each other's chops from day one with Chuck (which I abhor) and Quas, as in imoto.  We genuinely enjoy one another's company.

Yeah, it seems I get worked over a bit on the boards (others have mentioned this to me in private), but its not like I don't put myself in that position.  My personality is at times grating.   I call to mind Benjamin Franklin's conversation with John Adams in 1776.  I wouldn't have put Rob's posting to hypersensitivity, but rather to a different set of ethics, given his comments on some of my other posts.  So long as it does not extend to people's IG treatment of my characters, there is no problem. 

These differences go back to my concept of friendship.  If one thinks my post was creepy, then obviously that individual does not know me at a particular level.  No judgment - just lack of knowledge.  If one thought I wanted Matt to post pictures of vampishly clad women in his embrace, ditto.

It is one thing to choose my words carefully, but I will not water down my writing to assure that no one reads it wrong.

Craig's comment about personal space and touching brings up the LARPers minefield.  Personally, I am very selective with whom I embrace in the game - even those with whom I have become close IG.  I desire no misunderstandings.  Having played in an adult themed vampire game or three, that was the key rule.  There were scenes that only worked because the people involved discussed ahead of time the level of intensity that would be employed.  That would not work in KR, but it is part of my attitude toward the touching aspect.  Given my age in particular.

Ugh - I'm tired.  It was a long night.

I just want to clarify a couple things about my post.

First, I did not intend for anything I said beyond the first sentence to be directed at Jess. There were two distinct thoughts in that post, the first being that I thought - without anything more attached to it - that Jess unfairly interpreted Charlie's post. The second was everything else.

And regarding that second part, I'd like to make two other clarifications:

One, I didn't intend to come to Charlie's defense, per se. The person that I felt got the harshest treatment was Craig, and I'm glad to see that was resolved. But my statements weren't intended to defend either of them, or even both of them; they were intended to defend everyone that comes onto these forums, tries to fit in, and sometimes gets rendered into a chew toy because he or she fails to immediately parse our community's etiquette and our relationships. There is no road map to getting along with as diverse a bunch as we are, but as Craig pointed out what we do is so damned odd that anyone coming along can't be blamed for thinking that he can fit in. Of late, it has just seems like some people have been overreacting to what other people do or say, and, worse still, interpreting everything those people do or say after in the worst possible light - never giving them a chance to learn to ropes and start fitting in.

Two, I only said what I said because it is my firm belief that none of the people I was addressing actually want to be like that or intend to come across that way. For me to bother saying something critical of a person is proof that I think highly of him or her. I don't waste my breath on people that I don't care about. So I appreciate the responses that have been made so far, here and via PM, because it reaffirms my belief that we are all as fine a group of people as I like to think.

Finally, Paul's answer to my rhetorical question gave me a good laugh in the way that it really made no sense whatsoever. A+ sir.