My Artfest / WoW crew.

For those of you who attended Artfest this year, you probably met my friends who I play World of Warcraft with. There is a lot of negative connotation that is associated with online video games...and I definitely have to watch how much time I play...but for all that, I have met some of the nicest and coolest friends ever by playing this game. I started playing because my daughter Trista kept bugging me to play (she has been playing the game since it was released) and finally I gave in and tried it out. It is really an amazing game and I was instantly hooked. However, I didn't actually talk to anyone in the game for about 6 months...anyone besides Trista that is. For those of you who do not know...World of Warcraft is an online fantasy game where you control a character and roam an incredibly large world populated with both computer controlled characters as well as other toons controlled by people from all over the world.

This game ranges from simple play to the very complex. You can run around fighting monsters, explore dungeons, or just sit back and fish, cook, pick herbs, mine ore, or work on your professions like blacksmithing or engineering, etc.. Anyway, for six months I avoided talking (typing in tiny chat windows in the game) to anyone. One day I needed some help to finish a quest so I asked in game for some help. Two people in my guild (Trista was an officer in our guild when I first joined the game and invited me right away) quickly came to my aid. These two people were Rhohann and Voormas...or as you might have met them at Artfest; Justin and Brian. They were the shuttle drivers at Artfest '09.

As we played together I started talking more and more to guild members and pretty soon, real friendships formed.

Sometime during 2005, Trista and I had been bumped from a flight someplace and ended up with some free air tickets and so we came up with the idea to meet our "WoW" friends in real life. Teesha and I had recently gone to Ithaca, NY for her to attend a retreat at the Oiseau Sisters and while she was there I spent my time exploring the AMAZING gorges around Ithaca.

I had fallen in love with Robert H. Treman state park and remembered that it had really cool little cabins for rent. These cabins were built in the 30's I believe and they are very rustic...but wonderful. They each have electricity, a fridge, and four single beds.
Trista and I rallied our internet friends together and planned a camp trip to meet them. It was a little nerve racking meeting people we had laughed with and adventured with only through the electronic airwaves...but...we all felt an instant bond the moment we met each other.

This year will be year four for our annual camp trip. It has grown stronger every year and I envision it to grow even more. It was here last year that I was talking to everyone around the campfire and began telling them about Artfest. Before I knew it...I had five volunteers for Artfest '09. That is how and why this year we had Justin, Kristen, Brian, Dave (Trista's new BF btw ;) and Stephen all out to help us. They did an amazing job and they all absolutely fell in love with Artfest and all of the attendees there. They also fell in love with the Northwest and it is my hope (and i think theirs as well) that they will be migrating to our fair shore sometime in the next year or two. They have all eagerly committed themselves to coming out again for Artfest 2010 for sure.

After Artfest, they all stayed with us for a week to explore Seattle, and to attend Norwescon (a sci/fi convention I go to every year)...and while they were at the house, we decided to make journals. They all made amazing journals (I am trying to get them to email me some pics so I can show them here) and it was a blast making journals with them in the studio.

This is Dave and Brian:Justin and Kristen. I know that at least Justin has been back in NY making journals with his Dad since he left Washington. That just makes me happy ;)Stephen and Dave:
The final point to my long winded tale is that cupid sprung into action during this trip. ;) Trista and Dave hit it off and I can't help but smile at the fevered pitch of their newly found romance. I couldn't be happier for them. This might actually get Dave out here to the west coast a little sooner than originally planned. haha ;)

Here is Dave:)I do feel very blessed that through my "play" time, I have met real friends. And the fact that those friends also now share a passion for art and journal making and Artfest is just an amazing double bonus for me.