At the StL meet, Friday evening was originally going to be bowling, and instead it somehow morphed into the evening at The Complex. Something to do with a decision by the Mods, for the riffraff to go to the club and they met somewhere else (???). I surely would've preferred hanging with the mods that night as it was almost surely quieter and such. Pretty much all of Saturday evening was at the Complex as well.
The noise was so utterly intense and painful that not only was it impossible to talk...additionally even the process of THINKING was shut down. I remember how sad it felt that I was trying to hang with Elvin - the only time in my lifetime I've ever met him - and I couldn't converse with him because I had to yell to be heard, and my brain was numb. Similar when trying to hang with centexfarmer Saturday night, it was very hard to find a place where we could hear each other at all, and we found a place (I think downstairs) where maybe the sound level was 105dB.
Yes, clubbing is something that I intensely dislike. The loud noise was clubbing my brain into jelly...
A defining moment for me, that I'll never forget, at the Saturday night banquet, was when GL (or GL247, whichever he used at the time), a/k/a Dan from San Antonio, approached JUB owner Seth* with an extreme heartfelt thank you, and a hug, for JUB having helped him come out. THAT exemplifies how defining a JUB meet can be, for a person. I remember being moved greatly by that, and also hugging Seth* quickly after, and I think I was crying for having just seen something so wonderful.
*I don't remember, but "Seth" came out with his real name later...Byron, Brian, or something??
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On the other hand, there was also a lot of social time, which made the StL meet wonderful, and some friendships-which-still-exist were born at the meet while on the light rail, eating out, and a lot of lobby hang-time. On balance, that was what "won the day" and made me decide to go to future meets, where I was very delighted to find that the time wasn't eaten up and frittered away by clubbing after all.
The camaraderie is wonderful. I am aware of "drama" at only one of the many meets, ever - drama is inevitable at some points in everybody's lives, and not all that rarely. My observation is that it's RARE at any JUB meet, and things like shared activities, new friendships, having fun, and generally being happy to be there, are what RULE THE DAY. (Well, the weekend...)
Unless it's held on whatever weekend includes the third Saturday of August, I'll be there!
LET'S DO IT!
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