Subject: <Insert Title Here>

From: "Pope Phred" <phred523@home.com>
Newsgroups: alt.slack
Date: Tue, Jul 10, 2001 7:47 PM
Message-ID: <guM27.125144$Q9.30848878@news1.elmhst1.il.home.com>

As is mandatory at this time of year (or at least seems to be), let me
give my impression of XXXXDay:

Lots of Somethin' and a whole TON of Nothin'!

I achieved True Slack one Morning (can't remember which: Brushwood time
is not like the others...) I could not sleep the night before, not because
of the Drummers, not because of the incessant conversation going on outside
my tent, these noises become as static to one whose ears are used to the
ringing of bells and electronic noise. Rather, the cause for my unrest was
the spouting of a certain Chaos Poet threatening the Pagans at the Circle
with his demon dogs (or some such claptrap).

Anyway, that morning around 5:30 am after chatting a bit with Alan (a
Sub-G friendly Pagan, for lack of better words), and taking care of the ole
S,S & S, I went back to camp and did nothing.

Nothing.

For 2 1/2 hours, I sat there in my Barca-lounger and did not move except
for my needs, to smoke, get a drink, etc. I just sat there and looked at the
quiet campgrounds. The Pagans greeting the Sun did not disturb me, the
squawking of birds did not trouble me, the rumbling of the truck, picking up
the trash; I knew it was there, and cared not. I only had one desire: to go
to Sherman and have breakfast. St. @ndreux had not woken up and I did not
wish to disturb him, so I waited.

I did not get anxious, I knew the time would come, and it did.

For the first time in (who-knows) how long, I didn't have an immediate
agenda, no clock to look at apprehensively, no schedule to adhere to. All I
had was wave upon wave of Slack wash over me. This is what I paid my money
for. This is why I re-ordained myself. For a brief moment I stopped, and the
world kept moving. Whatever was waiting for me would be there when I decided
to catch up, which would be decided by me and me alone.

This is how the entire event went. There were no demands. No schedule. No
events, yet there was always something to do:

Doktor Dark's Drive-In with it's Nightly (weather permitting) showings of
grade-A cheeze.

Long friendly, Slackful conversations with Soozie the Floozie, Sister
Decadence, Jesus, Magdalene and Evangelica.

Receiving an "I Broke Pastor Craig" button from Friday Jones (extra
smoochies!)

Being greeted as a "Colossal T***" by HPH and having no response prepared
for him, and not caring about it.

Previewing Soozie's awesome "The Big Book of Wild Women".

The parties! From the Thunderdome of Strange to the Tiki Lounge to the
Quijibo Dojo to the Secluded Glades of Sister Decadence and Alan (the cool
Pagan) there was always an event going on before, during and after the
"events" happened on stage.

And as always, coming back to the fire of St. @ndrew and Sikki to stop,
take a breath and dive back into the morass of Heyungh that was rampant
throughout the environs of Brushwood.

Over all of this, Jesus and Modemac would, in their
as-subtle-one-can-be-with-bullhorn way, reminded us that some kind of event
was about to happen. In that soon-ish manner, that was the least oppressive,
yet most impressive aspect of 4X: Slack delivered the way Nature intended!

Lastly, I was able to get past myself and actually bond with a Yeti
Uberfemme. She laughed at the right places, sent the right signals and
gland-throttled the Elder Ones to such a degree that I was able to receive
said signals and respond in kind. I got over myself for a night or three and
reaped its rewards. Kudos to everyone for making this a nice X-day.

Braise Pee To Dobbs
Praise Be to Connie
Iaiaiaiaiaia!

Pope (I go sleep now!) Phred

--
What a strange game. The only winning move is not to play.
- WOPR, War Games

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Original file name: <Insert Title Here>-PopePhred - converted on Wednesday, 18 July 2001, 06:24