Holidays and Rally stuff
Oct. 31st, 2010 08:25 pmHappy Halloween/Samhain to those who celebrate it! I have no trick or treaters which of course means the candy is MINE ALL MINE!
So! The rally!
You've probably already read about the crazy crowds. There were a lot of people.![[profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
tafffimai and I hit the metro about 10am and I think we were just at the border of "Aren't you glad everyone on this train used Dial?" and "If you wanted to get on the train today, you should've lined up for it yesterday."
We were lucky enough to get on a train after a few tries and getting snuggly with our neighbors. Immediately after was when we started getting the texts all on the variations of "Been here for six years and STILL WAITING ON THE METRO." or "Am two stops away, may get there in time for swearing in of next presidential administration." or "Have been waiting to get out of this @#$%ing metro station for so long am now convinced life above ground is a myth."
The only person we were able to meet up with in the end wasktnb. All others were lost in the crowd which was so big it not only broke Twitter (or so I was told) but effectively jammed all cellphone communication. Which nobody fully realized until hours later when texts finally started coming in and calls could finally be made. Prior to that phones would show as having a perfectly good signal, but nothing could be done with it.
The three of us joined the rivers of humanity making their way to the rally area. I can't stress enough how huge and constant the crowd was. However, and I say this as someone who has lived through many Mardi Gras, I also can't stress enough how nice the vibe was. For all that there was a metric shit ton of people, nobody was rude, nobody gave off stressed "This is my spot and I will DEFEND IT TO THE DEATH" feelings, nobody was That Drunk Guy/Girl trying to use the rally as their personal bathroom/party space. I've been at cons where the teeming masses of humanity have come off as more stressed and hostile than this group did. Considering how many people were there, and how tightly packed the space had to be, I'd say that's pretty amazing.
(About the only exception we personally ran into was one woman who went all "NOT ON, ladies, NOT ON" when we walked past her in an unsucessful attempt to find our friends. I assumed she meant us standing in front of her when she'd gotten there early enough to get a good space. I was told by my two companions that she was actually bitching about us stepping on her blanket. Which was on the ground. Which she herself was standing. I... have no idea.)
Though we didn't find anybody else, we did end up with a pretty good spot where we could easily see a jumbotron and hear what was going on. Given how many people barely scored one of those things, let alone two, I'd say we lucked out.
Given what I've heard and read I'd say the rally in person was about as uneven as it came off on TV. But the good parts were very good and the iffy parts that went on too long (like the tail end of Father Guido's blessing) probably served as good times for people to try to go to the bathroom.
Watching it via jumbotron (I could see the stage in the distance but not well enough to actually see anything going on on said stage) did make it effectively like watching the show on TV, but being in the crowd definitely added something. It was great to be there as the crowd lost it when Ozzy came out on stage, for instance, or when we all started singing along with Jon and Stephen. So I guess it was sort of like a very large fannish viewing party, in that respect.
Afterwards we all embraced the zen of the crowd hugeness and moseyed our way back to the hotel without worrying about things like "speed" or "attempts to use public transportation." The slow walk out of the mall gave folks a chance to show off their signs and to read other people's. One person's sign near us prompted random shouts from the crowd of "Yeah, 'Avatar' DID suck!" "District 9 was better!" "I agree!" "I'm glad we can have a reasonable discourse about this!" "Me too!"
Spotted in the crowd was at least one member of Anonymous, and someone holding a big sign about privilege, and someone holding an XKCD-style "[citation needed]" sign, so it was like the internet had come along with us. Also spotted in the crowd was the world's tiniest beagle puppy, who is obviously the cure for everything that ails us.
So I'd say good stuff all in all. Very regrettable that I couldn't meet up with all the folks I'd been hoping to meet up with, but we were all dealing with the same crowds which made it a bit easier to understand why the meetup just was not happening.
I'm glad I went. I'm also glad to be home and snuggling with kitties.
Hope everone else had a good weekend too =)
So! The rally!
You've probably already read about the crazy crowds. There were a lot of people.
tafffimai and I hit the metro about 10am and I think we were just at the border of "Aren't you glad everyone on this train used Dial?" and "If you wanted to get on the train today, you should've lined up for it yesterday."We were lucky enough to get on a train after a few tries and getting snuggly with our neighbors. Immediately after was when we started getting the texts all on the variations of "Been here for six years and STILL WAITING ON THE METRO." or "Am two stops away, may get there in time for swearing in of next presidential administration." or "Have been waiting to get out of this @#$%ing metro station for so long am now convinced life above ground is a myth."
The only person we were able to meet up with in the end was
ktnb. All others were lost in the crowd which was so big it not only broke Twitter (or so I was told) but effectively jammed all cellphone communication. Which nobody fully realized until hours later when texts finally started coming in and calls could finally be made. Prior to that phones would show as having a perfectly good signal, but nothing could be done with it. The three of us joined the rivers of humanity making their way to the rally area. I can't stress enough how huge and constant the crowd was. However, and I say this as someone who has lived through many Mardi Gras, I also can't stress enough how nice the vibe was. For all that there was a metric shit ton of people, nobody was rude, nobody gave off stressed "This is my spot and I will DEFEND IT TO THE DEATH" feelings, nobody was That Drunk Guy/Girl trying to use the rally as their personal bathroom/party space. I've been at cons where the teeming masses of humanity have come off as more stressed and hostile than this group did. Considering how many people were there, and how tightly packed the space had to be, I'd say that's pretty amazing.
(About the only exception we personally ran into was one woman who went all "NOT ON, ladies, NOT ON" when we walked past her in an unsucessful attempt to find our friends. I assumed she meant us standing in front of her when she'd gotten there early enough to get a good space. I was told by my two companions that she was actually bitching about us stepping on her blanket. Which was on the ground. Which she herself was standing. I... have no idea.)
Though we didn't find anybody else, we did end up with a pretty good spot where we could easily see a jumbotron and hear what was going on. Given how many people barely scored one of those things, let alone two, I'd say we lucked out.
Given what I've heard and read I'd say the rally in person was about as uneven as it came off on TV. But the good parts were very good and the iffy parts that went on too long (like the tail end of Father Guido's blessing) probably served as good times for people to try to go to the bathroom.
Watching it via jumbotron (I could see the stage in the distance but not well enough to actually see anything going on on said stage) did make it effectively like watching the show on TV, but being in the crowd definitely added something. It was great to be there as the crowd lost it when Ozzy came out on stage, for instance, or when we all started singing along with Jon and Stephen. So I guess it was sort of like a very large fannish viewing party, in that respect.
Afterwards we all embraced the zen of the crowd hugeness and moseyed our way back to the hotel without worrying about things like "speed" or "attempts to use public transportation." The slow walk out of the mall gave folks a chance to show off their signs and to read other people's. One person's sign near us prompted random shouts from the crowd of "Yeah, 'Avatar' DID suck!" "District 9 was better!" "I agree!" "I'm glad we can have a reasonable discourse about this!" "Me too!"
Spotted in the crowd was at least one member of Anonymous, and someone holding a big sign about privilege, and someone holding an XKCD-style "[citation needed]" sign, so it was like the internet had come along with us. Also spotted in the crowd was the world's tiniest beagle puppy, who is obviously the cure for everything that ails us.
So I'd say good stuff all in all. Very regrettable that I couldn't meet up with all the folks I'd been hoping to meet up with, but we were all dealing with the same crowds which made it a bit easier to understand why the meetup just was not happening.
I'm glad I went. I'm also glad to be home and snuggling with kitties.
Hope everone else had a good weekend too =)
