Monday, November 19, 2012

Photos of OryCon 34 participants


I am sharing this link which showcases some of the great character costumes worn by OryCon 34 attendees which were taken by Inspired Media Photography.

My favorite was the young girl in an Apocalypse costume. She is shown in photos #7-10. Not only was her costume very creative, but she was a natural performer, who engaged the audience without hesitation during the judging of the masquerade ball.  (Perhaps her mom will see this post and comment with more about her darling daughter. I'm intensely curious about her incredible stage pretense.)

Saturday, November 17, 2012

Stages

I open the door.
Eight months
seems like Yesterday.
Yesterday is there for her too.

We both talk and laugh,
keenly aware of
the underlying tension
living there in the laughter of friends.

“Stage Three kidney failure,”
she adds casually, like we do,
“there are only Two more
after this.”

I listen as she recounts
the last Five years
to the stranger in the room
I smile and I cry.

Living and dying
reverberate
off these four walls
and these three hearts.

I’m so exquisitely
intertwined in
this minute
this moment

I am folded into her
deeply aware
of the powerful witness
I am honored to be

yesterday
and today.

For my friend, JC (not Jesus Christ! You know who you are!)
Thank you. November 17th 2012.


(I had to take a break from my OryCon lessons to post something about my day with a dear friend today)

Wednesday, November 14, 2012

Lessons from OryCon - from an outsider welcomed in - Part 4

We walked downstairs where I observed people of all ages, all shapes and sizes - enjoying the sights, conversation, and scheduled events of the convention. The stress and anxiety I felt before, melted away. 

Lesson Four: OryCon attendees are 100% comfortable with exactly who they are. They allow others to be exactly who they are as well. 


I was worried about not fitting in, which I quickly discovered was irrelevant entirely. Unlike other events, this wasn’t a judgement parade. It wasn’t a competition (well, it was but not in the bad way) to be “the best” anything. It was merely a venue to BE your best, authentic self. 

I discovered a brilliant and exciting thing called “Hospitality”. Not “hospitality” but “Hospitality” with a capital H. Dozens and dozens of volunteers provided food, beverages, and entertainment to registered attendees. It was like going to your friends house to celebrate (insert any fun summer holiday here), except it was friend after friend after friend. As my friend introduced me as a “first time” attendee, it seemed everyone wanted to ensure I was having a good time and checked in on me throughout the evening. Club music was plentiful and I was able to dance to my heart’s content. A rare thing as a wife, mom, and career woman. On the rare occasion I DO get to do dancing in my regular life, it’s usually stressful as people are in their own personal dance reality show, looking to win some internal competition against everyone else on the dance floor. 

Lesson Five: Just Dance. Everyone is here to have fun and no one gives two shits how you go about it on the dance floor! 

 

Saturday, November 10, 2012

Lessons from OryCon - from an outsider welcomed in - Part 3


We proceeded to take our bags to the room. You would think we were packed for more more than a quick weekend trip by the bags and luggage we hauled up the elevator and down the hall. As we settled into the room, it was only a few short minutes before the beds and closets were overflowing with our attire for the weekend. I learned my first lesson. 


Lesson one: OryCon is all about the costume changes! 


Another friend of my friend, I’ll call her Lavois (not to protect the innocent, but because that’s her name and saying “friend” all the time is going to get confusing) arrived and the clothing options became even more abundant.


Lesson two: Attendees of OryCon enjoy sharing. 


Between my friend and Lavois, clothing and accessories were plentiful. I think they enjoyed accessorizing me as much as I enjoyed the fun of being “dressed up”. Another fun fact about my non-redneck self is that I am a breast cancer survivor. Diagnosed 3 years ago and only about 18 months out of active treatment my hair is just now to a length where I feel feminine again. During treatment, make-up was something I just didn’t have the energy nor inclination for. Therefore, being dressed, accessorized, and taking the luxury of powder, blush and lipstick felt wonderful.


Lesson Three: You are never too old for dress up! 


(click here for part 1) (Click here for part 2) (click here for part 4)

Wednesday, November 7, 2012

Lessons from OryCon - from an outsider welcomed in- Part 2

Arrival


I walked in to the hotel with my friend and and took a look around as we approached the check-in line. To my right, a normal hotel counter, with crisply dressed, young and vibrant hotel employees welcoming us in. To my left, I saw dozens of people young and older (not old, just older than some) milling about. I had made myself commit to being comfortable and secure - even IF I was out of my element. The mental commitment didn’t stick as we checked in. I had informed my friend of this before our arrival - even confiding in her that walking into the local high school with my kids still made me feel anxious. I have a theory that my high school student anxiety must be a combination of my lack of popularity as a teen myself and my personal insecurities of not graduating high school (hey, I got my GED, so that STILL doesn’t make me a red-neck!). It really pisses me off that as a grown adult I can’t walk into a high school and just feel confident. They are teen-agers for crying out loud! So, as I walked into the hotel lobby, that feeling of “not good enough” creeped up, irreverently ignoring my mental commitment to be confident in this new crowd of strangers.

(click here for part 1)   (click here for part 3) 

Monday, November 5, 2012

Lessons from OryCon - from an outsider welcomed in Part 1

OryCon 2012


Recently, I asked my best high school friend who lives in the Portland area if I could come visit for a long weekend. I’d never been to her new home and I’d decided some good girl time could be had while my husband was in the woods hunting the elusive 3 point bull Elk. They have to be elusive because in all the years I’ve known him I’ve never witnessed him coming home with meat. This year he promises to buy bacon on the way home just to be safe. I’m married to a man who hunts elusive elk. And elusive deer. And elusive grouse. And ducks on occasion. Ducks aren’t elusive apparently. He and his friends actually shoot and kill ducks. There are photos and duck pepperoni to prove it.

I mention these details to help give you a sense of who I am, who my family is and what sorts of things are “normal” to us. Hunting. Camping. Horseback riding (as if there is another kind of horse-anything-riding). Quads. Dogs. Bonfires and Barbeques (what we do, not a country song). Boating (not the cool speedboat with a water-ski attached, but more like floating around in an aluminum...well...boat..ish, depending on your definition of a boat). My husband owns a tractor, a riding lawnmower, a backpack blower, and a lot of other really expensive stuff you apparently need to maintain 10 acres in the country. I recently started hiking. I call it hiking. My son says what I’m doing is actually just slow walking since I’m doing it on hills more so than mountains. I informed him that if I put on actual hiking shoes, and I walk on something other than a paved mostly level path, its called hiking.

I am stopping short of calling ourselves red-necks. Afterall, we work in Seattle. We have long-ass commutes to white-collar jobs (my husband has a more blue Carhartt T-Shirt job, but according to Wiki his still counts as a white-collar job). I’m pretty sure that disqualifies us from being red-necks.

When I asked my friend about the long weekend visit, she informed me that was the weekend her and her husband would be attending OryCon in Portland. I was like, OryWhat? She sent me a link to a website. I didn’t do a deep dive on the site. I just looked at the registration cost. I decided it was affordable and since my friend would be there, I was in.

In the weeks leading up to the event, my friend tried to prepare me...in small baby steps. First, she informed me she had plenty of things available to share for me to wear. I didn’t know jeans, tennis shoes, and a comfortable top weren’t really going to suffice. Next, she sent me a text and said I needed to buy a corset to act as a base for all the clothes she would be providing. I’m 37 years old this year. I’ve never purchased a corset in my life. It’s not like I’m a puritan or anything. I just never saw the reason in buying something that...well, here’s what I know about corsets...A corset made Keira Knightley pass out and fall into the ocean in Pirates of the Caribbean. I guess they just never sounded practical, comfortable or fun to me. Trusting my friend, however, I set out to buy a corset. Fortunately, I have a friend who owns a lingerie store (Lovers Naughty or Nice in Monroe, WA). I was able to go to the store and try on corsets to my heart’s content. I can’t say the trying on made me any more “fond” of corsets. You can NOT put one of those on by yourself! I tried! I finally found a nice black, underwire corset with cute little rhinestone embellishments on the front that fit and was mostly comfortable. I tooked a picture in the mirror (classy, I know), sent it to my friend for approval and got the thumbs up. I. Was. Now. Officially. Ready. For. OryCon. or so I thought...

I arrived after midnight at my friends house on the day of the event. Having never been to her house before, I tip-toed into the place, everyone sleeping hoping I was in the right place. I crashed on the guest bed (a positive sign that I was indeed in the right house) till the appointed hour arrived. 

(Click here for part 2)