Arrived back home yesterday. I've had a great time. It was espescally good meeting everyone in person. :) I'll be sure to the add photos of the trip soon.

Well, I'm very nearly home! I'm currently sat at St Pancras International awaiting my train home. There was a band playing in the station when I arrived! Go figure. I guess the Olympics are getting in full swing.

Anyway, I can't wait to get home now, cos then I can see you all again. Yay!

Alan

Nahhh! They were waiting for you. :D Glad you made it back; bit like diving into the Mariana Trench coming over here. :xD:

It was great to see everybody! I think I managed to squeeze in at least a fleeting "hello" to all of the ToS members who were present, including HNM, Eltu, and others who hadn't made the prior Meetup. Fantastic! :D

http://am.mikkowilson.com/2012/index...reenwidth=1024

So... do I even want to know why/how this happened? :P

I got a room off Eltu. (Who had booked two, for reasons that still escape me) However, he and Unknown only turned up on (very early) Friday morning, whereas I'd been hanging around since Thursday afternoon. The hotel wouldn't let me in to a room without a credit card to hold the bill on, so mikko used his, which gave him both room keys. (Irayo again mikko. You're awesome. ;))

Earlier that afternoon, HNM and Moco had gone off to buy a pineapple. Since mikko now had the key to Eltu's room, the logical happened, ready for Eltu and Unknown coming in the next morning. (Also by way of Mikko, because the trains had closed.)

So yeah, blame/congratulate mikko for not only running most of the meetup, but also organising jokes on the side. :party:

I finally made it home after finding out that cable thieves had stolen the signalling cable near Bedford, resulting in me having to travel back via Euston and Birmingham. Think my 120 mile journey home took longer than the flight across the Atlantic!! Meh!

Anyway, once got home I couldn't help but watch some of the footage. It was great watching Jon Landau again. I also started my Na'vi lesson. I'm currently transferring the 8 hours of footage so I can start the long process of editing. It's goingto take a while, but I will push it out for everyone as soon as I can. (Note that the Jon Landau evening and Na'vi Lesson's will require approval before release.)

In the meantime, feel free to post up links to your photos.

Alan

I haven't been on ToS much since the meetup, been a bit busy, but the photos speak for themselves :D

Currently staying with Moco.

The meetup was amazing, and yes, we put a pineapple into Eltu's room :P

It was great to meet everyone, and hopefully even more people next year. I'm missing everyone already :)

PMD is almost worse than PAD.

Because the Meetup was real.

- Mikko

PMD is MUCH worse than than PAD. :'( I can always pop the disc in and watch it over and over, but I can't see everyone together again on a whim.

*Sigh*

There's always next year.... ;)

Man, I didn't even think about it that way.

- Mikko

that was a bummar about the longer journey Alan :( but glad you're back safe & sound as a pound! will be waiting for the videos :awesome: but take your time, you sure need it!

it was good to see you Sempu, and your family :D although for a couple of minutes each time but great nevertheless to 'put the face and the... post(s) together"! So to speak.
If there is a potential? I am sure there is loads. Example: we stopped at a juice stand during the cosplay, & people kept coming for the photos, eventually the juice guy asked: "Are you people selling something?" - "No." - "Are you working for the museum?" - "No." - "so why are you doing this?" - "Because... we love it! :awesome:" and of course we went on about the forums, the meetup, the 50+ persons from all over the world, that "we can change if we really want" and "send them a message". He listened very attentively & said that what we were doing was really, really cool. And this 'interview' happened quite a few times during the meetup. We ended up sending some people to the forums cos they recentlly (!) watched Avatar, were in awe & stricken by Avatar effect, & were feeling very lonely for not having anybody to talk to... :( :rolleyes:

same reason for not posting during the meetup.


hehe my first impression in the airport was ... that everything was so.... American! :shock::awesome: All the signs in English only, & people talking American (English + FAST + LOUD). I am not making value based judgements, not saying 'it was 'good' or 'bad' - I just found it different, curious & even exotic (& I've travelled a fair bit, but mostly Eastwards). In any case this journey was an avalanche of impressions. Still digesting but it was the best holiday ever, that's for sure. I just wish I had more time to talk to more people but better luck next time.

Don't remind me. :'(

I can't remember who, but someone (I suspect it was Mikko. Again.) suggested we say we worked for Lightstorm and were filming for the sequel and see who believed us. ;)

It's pretty much the same in the UK. (And we have a lot more accents in a smaller space.) Foreigners? What are those? :P

They're very different... but I guess so. But then, the meetup will happen again, and I can always look at all the photos :)

I've had some time now to reflect more on the meetup (immediately after departing Seattle I embarked on a long-ish backpacking trip) and I've found myself wishing I could have had more time there. There were a few friends that I had a great time meeting in person, there were others whom I had barely conversed with before but became good acquaintances by the meetup's end, and even a few whose (user)names I still can't recall but were awesome to speak to for the first time. It was all great, but it just would have been nice if I could have had more time to hang out and converse...if I had been able, maybe, to make the camping trip! There is indeed a kind of depression! Oh well - I am glad I went. :)

That is interesting to hear. It makes me wonder just how many people got stricken by that effect and aren't on any of these forums.

Yes, too true, Mikko. :(

Anyway, PMD aside, it was so great to see all my ToS Avatar clanmates in Seattle (those who could make it there), and I had a wonderful time at the meetup! It was truly awesome, from the cosplay and clan meal, to getting to meet Landau and Frommer, and everything in between! I also enjoyed the camping/hiking in Olympic Park -- newbie to it and all. :)

A massive Irayo to the AvatarMeet planning committee, the EMP museum, the hotel, Jon Landau & Kathy Franklin, Paul Frommer (and anyone else I can't think of at the moment) for making this very special gathering of the clans such a success! :D

Looking forward to next year's meetup, wherever it will be. ;)

I don't have any PSD, PMD, whatever, but like I said last year, I think I would be crushed if there weren't going to be any more meetups. Until the very last meetup, I have something to look forward to :) Last year, I didn't know any of you going into the first meetup, and this time, the ending was made so much easier for me because I got to spend time with HNM after.

Yes there were many "couples" there. :)

yeah, it sounds a bit surprising even - but then again, I only discovered the forums about half a year after watching Avatar; and my friend didn't want to watch it when it came out precisely because of all the excitement and 'noise' around it. It took her a good year to decide :shock: so heh people seem to keep discovering it... Avatar is not over! it's never over, not for me... *sigh*

you lucky swine(s). yes I guess that would have been a nice closure for quite a few of us 'couples brought together by Avatar' (*sigh again*)

As for the next meetup I give it 99.999% I won't make it to the US next year. Unless... unless... ah well I still don't know so I'd better 'oisss!'

:(

I hope you can be there.

I'm home now, and maybe PMD etc have hit me after all, ever since I got back I've had a huge headache and felt really cold :(

miaow. Only time will show... We didn't get to talk much but I was glad to see you & Moco happy. Plus, the peacemaking process (that I discovered only on Mikko's photos) made me happy, too.

yeah, when it comes it comes with the vengeance :( :( I feel quite a bit on a downer too, weepy & grumpy, I didn't get why but then I thought - it could be PMD striking in... :(

Really cold? is it cold at yours? it HOT here on my side, I feel a bit overwhelmed after the cool Seattle! I am glad that Eywa sent us a sunny cosplay day, otherwise it wouldn't be that much fun :S

Hey is there going to be a post-Meetup session (a thread, an IRC...) to see what went well & what could have gone better? I would like one... there was one hickup where yours truly pleads guilty :( but I hope I can add some constructive thoughts for the future...

Yeah, having everyone come on IRC at once would be a good idea. There's so many people I'd never even seen on the forums before that I'd like to talk to again.

Not overly cold, maybe slightly colder than Seattle, but quite a lot colder than New Orleans.

As for not feeling well though, turns out I got an ear infection and my sinuses are messed up, stupid flight >.>

Interesting idea :)

Hang to your hat's folks, coz the planning team have pulled together a survey for you to pass on your thoughts regarding the meet up.

We're hoping to get one last newsletter out soon if the editors for it are available, but we will get something out. So get thinking through, what you liked, what you didn't, what was good, what could be done better etc.

Alan

Sounds great Alan! Do you know if there are any thoughts about where the next one could be? I guess you could always put something into the survey about possible locations.

Yep. There be a question covering that topic ;)

Alan

:shock: yay! sounds good for me... I'll follow your advice & hold on to my... head beads!

I sincerely have to try hard to think of anything I didn't like, and nothing that's actually a big deal.

I can't really think of anything other than "Needed to be longer" :P

I have been saving the pics that I keep receiving by e-mail, here is one of those I like best:

http://www.tree-of-souls.com/members...you_see_so.jpg

Where, and when can you see so many Avatar Umbrellas at the same time & same place?

http://am.mikkowilson.com/2012/index...reenwidth=1440
Pawl was teaching us about the weather, and asks what we would call this.
Cue a shout from across the room: "Seätl!" :awesome:

Eee...I remember that picture being taken with the brollies! I think there was another one taken in the hotel?

I remember that comment too in the Na'vi Lesson. Think it was Mikko? Hehe. I spent Saturday editing the Na'vi lesson videos. They just need to be approved before we can release them. The thing was I started taking part as I was editing and had to kick myself a few times to re-focus on what I was doing.:D Hahaha. Hopefully it won't be too long before they are out.

In the meantime, I hope you all got the AvatarMeet newsletter and have filled in the survey the was linked in there. Here is the link if you missed it:

https://www.surveymonkey.com/s/B2X7QL9

This is your opportunity to feed back what you thought went well, what needs to be improved, what things you might like to see at a next meet up and so on. Your help by filling it in will be greatly appreciated by the planning team. Irayo ma aysmuk. :hi:

Alan

Survey done. Now I'm looking forward to the next one already...

Aww man, I had the fifth umbrella! I brought it but never ended up needing it :P

umbrellas
 

I took this picture in the alley between the hotel and drug store. I said you will never see that many Avatar umbrellas together on this Planet if ever again. Everybody who had one wenr to the store at the same time during the rain. Very rare and very cool.:party::party:

Alan... the survey's done! thanks for the reminder hehe.

can you take a photo with it anyway & photoshop yourself in? :P

how about during the next meetup? :P I hope it won't be raining much though... What did you call this rain Alan - liquid sunshine?

Irayo ma Apache :hi: So far 15 people have done the survey out of the 50 who went. I'll have to go chasing around. Hehehe

And yeah, you are right; liquid sunshine. We get a lot of it in the UK.

Anymore for filling in the survey and having your say on the meet up? Speak now....

Alan

I happen to notice that question 4 has multiple choices available. I imagine we're not supposed to pick "Very good value" and "poor value" at once? ;)

Sounds like some kind of drink :P

Apache - Irayo for sharing that photo of us with our Avatar umbrellas! That was a fun photo to take. :)

And I too completed the survey. I'm sure future meetups will only get better. :)