Vinemeet West - Report & Photos

Three Amigos, enjoying some stogies provided by Cash.

Mykola, winsomecowboy (looking quite dapper) and Sarmar.

Walt D giving Mykola some friendly advice, and Kymlee being unusually camera aware.

Mykola, keeping Celestina nourished with an ear of corn.

Celestina taking a short pit stop on my shoulder.

The Vinemeet West t-shirts come out, and Myk and Sarmar give us the ''Flatlander'' look.

I found *two* of these things in the woods (winsomecowboy and Walt D).

Mykola ardently protesting *something*, I can''t remember what.

Winsomecowboy gives up on trying to shove a 5-foot log into a 3-foot fireplace.

Lughshand approving of this particular portion of the night.

Cash, playing us.... Johnny Cash.

One thing that stuck me as interesting, is that Cash informed me on the way back that the other Vinemeet attendees were quite nervous to meet each other. Kymlee's recent post confirms this, where she writes,

OkayI guess Ill get my stuff out of the car then Still a little uneasy, I retrieved my belongings and was directed to a room with four bunk beds. Once I staked out a bed, I sat at the table, set up my lap-top and used work as a buffer for my nervousness.

I'm not sure if it was the fact that Cash and I arrived the second day, after the ice had been broken, or if it's just because I'm generally very pleased and comfortable to meet strangers - or maybe it was that most of the people in attendance didn't seem like strangers to me, since I've gotten to know many of you over the past year or so.

In fact, I believe that know more about the core values and personalities of some Newsvine users, than I do those of some friends who I see on a regular basis. Communicating through a written medium and participating in a community where important issues are discussed as part of the norm, really makes for a very developed sense of 'knowing someone', before you actually get to meet them. Still, some of the Newsviners I met struck me as very different than their online personalities.

Mykola is near the top of this list. He's much more quiet and reserved than you'd think, as Walt described. However, if you get enough whiskey in him - the *true* Mykola will start to emerge. Still though, to get the actual online version of Myk, I think we need to invite Phaedrus to the next Vinemeet.

Cash met me at the airport, and I have to say that he's very carefully crafted his Newsvine persona to show a very specific side of his complex personality. I won't ruin it for him by telling you about the rest, because he's worked so hard to achieve his singular status of 'resident purveyor of all things hot-chicks & science'. It's actually quite puzzling that he's been miffed ever since Vinemeet about coming off like a pompous elitist. Hey, when you've got nothing but supermodels and high level science on your column, you can pretty much only expect to be completely understood by me.

I have to admit, I knew little about winsomecowboy's life outside of the Vine till Mykola and Sarmar's visit to Seattle earlier in the week, during which they gave me the dossier on Mr. Cowboy. Not only do I now know exactly how to get his goat (it involves juggling), but I have to say that he's likely one of the most interesting and unique persons I've ever met, and I've met a lot of people. I still can't figure out what his deal was with the fire. He was stuffing all sorts of combustible material into the fireplace, till probably 5AM. Some of it wouldn't even fit, but he tried anyway. Is there sometime you aren't telling me winsome?

Celestina was probably the biggest surprise, and I do mean that in a nice way. First off, I couldn't get used to calling her by her real name, and I don't think I ever will. The reason I think she's a strange case is that most people are actually tamer and less ornery in real life. Celestina on the other hand, was a hilarious person to argue with, a fun person to provoke and generally spoke her mind like I've never seen on the Vine - where she is the ever-sweet, patient lover of all people. Those qualities are still there, but she lets her hair down (and takes the gloves off) in person, which is all the more reason to attend the next Vinemeet she'll be at.

Kymlee is pretty much just how I expected her to be. Smart, nice, thoughtful and opinionated. She had this crazy idea that she would get an interview out of me "after 5 drinks". Well, thank gosh I never had more than 5 the entire weekend! She did snap quite a few pictures of me, and somehow I always seemed to be able to whip out the Blue Steel at the last moment. She told me that I am 'camera aware', so I then began calling her my Biographer, since she was chronicling my life throughout the night with random photos. I still don't think she caught me unaware even once. I'm not sure what that means about me.

Gwenny is as described by the others. If I weren't so short of time in getting to know the others, I probably would've spent 12 hours or so playing WoW with her. She's a gamer from way, way back.... and that is cool. I'm really impressed that she did 12 hours of solo driving just to meet us sorry souls from the other end of the internet pipes.

lughshand and I did not get too much of a chance to chat, but he was definitely the voice of reason, a terrific fellow and a gentleman. Scratch that, he was the *only* gentleman in the lodge. From what I did get to know about him, his experiences in life run very deep and his presence added diversity to the group. It was serendipitous that he was able to make it to Vinemeet, and it was a pleasure to meet him.

Sarmar starts out being just as quiet in real life as she typically is on the Vine. Though, her alter ego appeared out of nowhere and she spent half the night chatty and in an English accent. Despite flying under the radar around the Vine, she knew all of the personalities and the humor behind every Newsvine inside joke. Her best moments were spent taking care of Celestina just until she went off to bed, at which point we then took care of Sarmar. It was like the passing of the torch ;)

Orlando arrived quite late. I can't imagine what it was like to walk into the scene he arrived upon, but he didn't even miss a beat. I remember laughing quite heartily as Kymlee, Gwenny (who is part Native American), Orlando and I were on the couch - all pulling the race card about who should go get the stereo - when Cash finally broke into the conversation and said "I'm the white guy, I'll go get it". It was hilarious. Cigar box in hand, easygoing attitude, I could chill with O.D. anytime.

Walt D is one of the most genuine, fun loving and thoughtful fellas you'll ever meet. He's also the person I think I'd be least likely to meet if it weren't for Newsvine. I can't thank him enough for the work he put into making this thing happen. Not to mention knighting me with Dr. Frank and giving me the task of bringing the chickens back to Newsvine HQ. My only question about him relates to his diet. We had giant steaks for breakfast, lunch and dinner. I guess he likes his protein.

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