Second part of friday, the first became a bit more my normal style, but as we move into the evening the stream consciousness returns a bit as the experience becomes less intellectual and more emotional.

16.00 – 19.00
– Joined a workshop about finding emotions in even small changes in body position, and how you can work with that. Find small points you can feel in your body in different positions, and feel which emotions they give you. Exaggerate body position to immerse whole body in that emotion. Can be used to both work your way into a character or find back to your self.

– Sadly next was my last co-creative session. Looking through the options this caught my eye: “Using video in larp”, and having an idea for a larp that would use film clips I stopped reading and went to that.

– A very different session than the first one. That had been a loose talk, this was a proper brainstorm workshop with a lot of post its notes. We talked about the options with videos and then went brainstorming. There is a lot you can do with this, and I’m so looking forward to start work on my Wall-E black box larp.

Click the pictures for a big version, so you can read what people wrote.

19.00 – 21.00
– Dinner then meeting with Suus starting to plan Larpwriter Summer School reunion party.
– A bit of stress and bad nerves, whenever I do things like this, my brain always goes: “but what if no one shows up?” Have learnt to ignore it and just charge ahead and do it.

– Setting up the room, getting the champagne, smiling at all the crazy stuff Dan, the room party organizer, has gotten for us (lego, paint, mustaches and so on).

– First people start showing up, realise I left computer in sleeping room at different place. Say to everyone: “welcome, I need to get my computer, here play with this lego and pour this champagne, I’ll be right back.”

– Return a few minutes later, table is covered in lego ponies and elephants and all is in deep concentration building more. Feel myself smiling. God I love those people.

– Party is a success, a lot of people show up, many say thanks for doing it. People are filling out the three posters we put up: one for things they think others should watch or read, one for cool things people have done since the summer school and one for best memory from summer school.

– Didn’t talk to many, just move around the room in a kind of daze, smiling madly and hugging and nodding, so happy just to be among and watch these people.

– It ends as quickly as it started, then getting people out and cleaning the room. End up talking for a long time with Suus and her friend Mandy from Holland about a very cool game they run for teenagers and kids there. Me and Mads loosely consider doing it in Denmark, and are promptly invited to go visit them and see how they do it.

21.00 – 24.00
– Walk down to another room party and just miss the end of the Finns celebrating the start of the next Knudepunkt or Solmukohta as it’s called in finnish. They want to do it on a boat, sounds mad, sounds like us.

– Randomly wander around for a bit, go near the bazar suddenly hear live singing, go in and hear Rhiannon singing. God she has a great voice. Stand and just listen and then stay for the rest of the open mike event, that included: brain surgery with a fork, a poem by Kipling about the Danegeld, and for me most memorable: a stand up routine by my new hero J-Mac as mentioned in the last post. Listening to him was an eye opening experience for someone like me who grew up in a small town on Fyn.

– What he does is important. Through the humor and stand up it becomes almost more honest than just a lecture. I feel, I understand the transgender situation a bit better now, just from that short stand up routine. What danish comedian Omar Marzouk have been doing for nuancing the discussion around muslims, J-Mac can do on the transgender issues.

– Later join in on conversation with J-Mac and other cool people such as Lizzy, just to listen along a bit, (bless you open chair policy).

24.00 – 04.00
– The Just a Little Lovin Room party, wow that was an experience. (“Just a Little Lovin” is a Larp about love, homosexuality, the eighties and AIDS, that have run several times, and that I hope to play this summer.) It was a first for me in two ways. It was the first time I experienced having to help a girl get rid of a bit too enthusiastic dancer, by squeezing in between them and taking over after seeing her mouthing “help me.” Felt good to help out, felt bad that I had to.

– The other was that for the first time in a long time I reached my own limit for physical contact. See the party simulated an eighties gay disco with many people in little space, so you would be surrounded closely by a lot of bodies. Normally what holds me back is the worry that I’m, crossing others boundaries, never want to do that. But this time it was my own limit I reached and had to leave. I’m not saying that is was bad, but is was an intense and interesting experience. And it was good to discover that I can recognize when I have had enough, and then also get my self to leave.

– Drifting around a bit a still landing after the JaLL party, buying a strong drink. Stumble upon the dutch room party. This more a showcase of dutch food and larp. I like their cheese nom nom nom. Meet Mandy again and she talked me through their many different projects via a picture slideshow. They do a lot in interesting stuff. Looks like traditional larps but often with a few modern twists.

– Later stumble in on the battle of the air guitars, what a mad event. People battling to be the best on air guitars. Best moment was some crazy dude doing “Let it go”.
– Around four of to bed, seemed early because many was still up and going strong, but had to run game next day, need to be sensible.

Tomorrow the first part of Saturday and how it was to run my game Waiting for Flight GO901 at KP.