From: Josh Simon <jsimon@convex.COM>
Subject: Summary of the motss.con
Originator: jsimon@mikey.convex.com
Reply-To: jsimon@convex.com (Josh Simon)
Organization: CONVEX Computer Corporation, Richardson, Tx., USA
Date: Wed, 12 Aug 1992 20:53:09 GMT
X-Disclaimer: This message was written by a user at CONVEX Computer
              Corp. The opinions expressed are those of the user and
              not necessarily those of CONVEX.

Several people have posted their thoughts on the con, so here are mine.
This is mostly a factual summary of what happened from my point of view,
and hopefully I remembered everybody's name correctly.  (No promises.)

Wed Jul 22: Arrive about an hour late because of delays leaving DFW.  Lee
(my ex from Dallas who's now working for IBM in New York) picks me up and
we drive out (against my better judgement) to the Bagby Hot Springs, a 2
or 3 hour drive from PDX.  The "early arrivals" were going to meet here at
6 or 8 and soak all night.  It's been a long day (I was up at 6am CDT for
driving to the airport, and it's 12am PDT by the time we get to Bagby);
I'm exhausted.  We get there, start climbing the mountain to get to the hot
springs, and meet one group of soc.motssers on their way down. They say that
there're still a lot of motssers at the top, so Lee and I keep climbing.
(After all this, I *need* a soak in the hot tubs there!)  We climb more,
and run into a second group of motssers, who say that the rest of the group
is leaving.  I am beyond pooped at this point, so I say the hell with it
and climb back down.  Stand around in the parking lot chatting with motssers
until we all get down from the hot springs, then convoy to the hotel.  I
arrive around 1am, and my roommate, who's already checked in, isn't back
yet.  Sit in lobby 'til 1:45am.  Eventually, get to room and bo to ged.

Thu Jul 23: Spent the morning and afternoon walking around Portland with
Arnold Gum (roommate).  Some minor shopping, some sight-seeing, run into
a group of random motssers for lunch.  After lunch, a trip to Powell's
Books.  Wonderful!  (Powell's has been discussed at length, elsewhere.)
That evening was the welcome dinner at House of Louie's for a wonderful
Chinese dinner.  (55 motssers and local queerfolk in one room, seating
for 48, and plenty of food.)  Met some folks from the net I'd not met
before -- too many to name, really -- and saw some folks I'd met in
Boston (Ry Schwark, Howard Solomon, Ri-Jen Chou, Alan Batie (organizing
this con), Bob Donahue and his FredBear, and so on)....  Was a lot of
fun.  After dinner, it was pretty much a nothing-planned evening, so a
bunch of us went back to Alan's house (suprising his roommate, Michael,
who was on the phone wearing absolutely nothing (he left after saying
hello to us because he was going to continue reading and a houseful of
queers was probably a bit much for him)), sat around, and chatted for
a while, until the contingent from the hotel returned there.  Sleep.

Fri Jul 24: Morning picnic at a local park, the name of which escapes me.
Supposed to start at 11am, most of us start rolling in around noon or 1 or
2...  QST (Queer Standard Time) becomes a running joke for the rest of the
con.  Sit talk eat talk chat talk run around talk rest talk....  Around 3pm
or so nine of us hopped into Tom Limoncelli's van and drove to the nearby
Science Museum, because they had an ST:TNG exhibit.  (Was fun, pretty high-
tech, and I'm glad I went.  Was overpriced though.  Ah well.)  After the
museum we returned to the picnic and when it broke up I headed over to Alan's
with him, to start setting up for the picnic there.  (I had no car, so I
hitched a ride, meaning I got to clean the porch while getting set up.  Ah
well, it was something to do.)  Picnic: Food, folks, fun.  Met some more
IRC folk, still more motssers, and enjoyed myself.  Messed with Howard
Solomon's mind a little, until he started zinging me back a bit much.  (I
like him.  Nice person.)  Around 9pm or so, Tom Limoncelli herded most of
us (I'd guess about 50-60 people) into the basement for his safe(r) sex
workshop.  Ran about 1.5 hours before I had to go to the john, but I stayed
long enough to see him demonstrate the correct use of a dental dam (on Ry
Schwark's knee), how properly to apply a condom, the use of dammettes (which
are leather straps to hold a dental dam in place and leaving the hands free
to, uh, perform other tasks; the demo involved Scooter dropping trou about
1/2m in front of me for Tom to apply the dammettes; the room was amused),
and the use of a particular Hitachi product which is sold as a back massager
(but with clitoral stimulator and/or anal probe as attachments).  Grandmama
KKKruella (Ry Schwark) was in ecstacies, as s/he was the poor hapless person
who was the recipient of the Hitachi's vibrations.  Went upstairs, took a
bathroom break, and stayed talkign to some folks up there.  Around 12 or 1
it was convoy to the hotel and bed.

Sat Jul 25: This morning, a bunch of us met in the hotel lobby to do brunch.
After brunch, the more politicized crowd went along to the gay pride march;
I went back to the hotel for a rest.  After the march, we were going to go to
a local clothing-optional beach for the afternoon.  I exercised my option,
and took it all off; most people did likewise.  Sand was very hot, water was
very cool (and very welcome); we brought food for a mini brunch (leftovers
from the BBQ the previous night, mostly), and lots and lots of sunscreen.
(Had fun applying it to each other as you may well expect. ;-) )  That evening,
we were going to meet at Alan's house to determine what to do for dinner;
20 of us headed out to Alexis' for an excellent Greek dinner (20 queers doing
Greek, <sigh>).  Then we broke up -- some to the bar scene, some to a leather-
bear gathering, and some simply back to the hotel to cuddle.

Sun Jul 26: The traditional Dim-Sum brunch, again at House of Louie's.  Was fun
watching Mara Chibnick (I sat next to her) trying to determine who was who,
as she'd met us all yesterday at the beach.  (She'd remained clothed for
medical reasons.  I do remember a discussion on how Miss Manners would say
one should react when, on a clothing-optional beach, several nude men
introduce themselves to you.  My response: "How do you do?")  After brunch,
we split up; a contingent of us headed off
to Powell's Books again.  Back to the hotel around 2.  My bum knee was acting
up so I grabbed a book (Agatha Christie's *There Is A Tide...* if I recall)
and went to the nearest park -- Riverside Park, which is a block-wide strip
of park -- grass, trees, benches, fountains, sculptures -- along the
riverfront, and all of one block from the hotel.  Sat and read until about
4pm, then back to the hotel to meet the group for dinner.  Dinner was to be
at a place called Old Wives' Tales, which is a lesbian-owned mostly-vegetarian
(they have chicken and fish, no beef or pork, on the menu) restaurant across
the river from the hotel, and about 32 or 36 of us showed up.  Excellent
food, great company, and a lot of fun.  After dinner, we were going to all
get dessert if we wanted it, and meet back at the fountain in Riverside Park.
About 25 of us made it there, and we sat and talked and listened to Marc
play his violin (concert-quality, allowing for the wind which continued to
detune it, no matter how hard he tried to keep it in tune).  (A funny: John
Dorrance pulled off Bob Donahue's soc.motss cap and tossed it down onto the
ground.  Someone else (I forget who) pinned an anti-OCA button onto it.  I
tossed in a few coins.  General amusement.  While this is going on, the
straight teens who have been throwing each other into the fountain came
by to listen to Marc's violin, and I think one even tossed in some change.)
After an hour or two, there was a group grope -- uh, group *hug* -- in front
of the fountain, whereupon we all sang the Moose Song (okay, Cliff and Ellen
sang the lyrics and we all did the choruses) to the amusement of the one
presumably straight gentleman who'd been sitting nearby throughout all our
antics (he left shortly after the Moose Song).  Was a long time since I sang
in public.  I enjoyed it.  After that, we sort of broke up, and wound up
having about 20 of us in Cliff and Ellen's hotel room chatting for a while.
Was a nice close to the evening and the con.

Mon Jul 27:  There was a scheduled brunch, but several of us had early
afternoon planes to catch, so I skipped it.  Arnold and I went to brunch
with Ri-Jen and Chris Adami, and got back to the hotel to finish packing.
Said g'bye to the brunch bunch in the hotel lobby, and Arnold and I drove
out to return the car and catch our flights.

Overall, it was a lot of fun.  I'm glad I went, even if the hotel *did* cost
more for me (my half of the room) than the airfare.  :-)

Next year in {Washington DC | Chicago IL | Austin TX}!
-j
-- 
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= Josh Simon / Convex Computer / 3000 Waterview Pkwy / Richardson TX 75083 =
= jsimon@convex.com / userJSS@umichum.bitnet / {...}!uiucuxc!convex!jsimon =
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Newsgroups: soc.motss