+ AUSTIN DEVMEET 2004 +

THIS DEVIATION WILL TAKE A LOT OF YOUR TIME!. Meaning that it is impossible to view this deviation without fullview, and without full reading or the description. If this is too much of a commitment for you, I suggest you do not continue.

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Today was a very unique and interesting day. The following is a description of the collage of photos above, correlating with the numbers.

Austin, TX. 12:00pm. Mojo’s Café. That was where about fifty deviants were supposed to meet on Saturday, February 21, 2004.

My day started with *dusty129, a friend of around 10 years, coming to my house. Another friend of mine, *jasato (James) had spent the night with me to make it quicker and more efficient for Dusty to come get us. So we departed around 9:00 in the morning in an Oldsmobile. We got on the highway and headed towards Austin. On the way, James wanted to smoke a cigarette, so he lit one up and rolled down Dusty’s window so as to not bother us non-smokers as much. One thing he did not know was that Dusty’s window does not roll up as easily as it rolls down. Needless to say, we were all freezing balls the way there, and the way back. Not to mention the already-bad-speakers were faint to be heard over the noise the wind made. It was looking lovely already. Around this time #1 was taken. 10:36.

So we arrive in Austin at about 11:00 AM, a whole hour earlier than expected. No matter, we would find Mojo’s and then go do something in the meantime. Dusty was driving and thought he missed his exit, so he took the next one available. Turns out it was the exact street Mojo’s was on, only a few blocks down. Pretty damn good, eh? So as we went down, we had no idea what it looked like, we saw a Blockbuster’s. Me and Dusty work for Blockbuster, so we wanted to go in and see how it differed from our store, and to alleviate our bladders. As Dusty gets out of the car, he tells me to look across the street. Lo-and-behold, there’s fuckin’ Mojo’s. Damn good, again! We made good time without even trying! Seeing as it was across the street, we decided to leave the car parked in the Blockbuster parking lot. See photo #2 and #3.

After doing our business, we killed some time by talking to the Blockbuster manager on duty, and then headed over to Mojo’s. We sat down, grabbed the local free paper, and waited. At about 12:00 exactly, *crazyleafhead (Shay) showed up. Slowly, more and more showed up. Next was ~inferis (David). In no particular order, *lady-blue, * capricious and others showed up. Handshakes were exchanged, the normal. While we were sitting there, waiting for $spot (Spot) and crew, Dusty spotted a chicken in the road. After realizing the irony of this, via the classic joke, we all broke out our cameras. The chicken was trying to cross the road. We all scrambled shots. #4. 12:41.(click here for *darkrune’s awesome shot) After getting some of his own photos, Dusty took it upon himself to try and prevent some chicken roadkill. His solution was to run out in front of traffic, effectively stopping it, while he ran/scared the chicken away, eventually back to the side it had started on. I think this particular chicken crossed the road just to see what it was like on the other side, because he came back. Guess it wasn’t impressive?

Anywho, it’s about an hour after the meeting time, but it’s okay, we’re just sitting here anyway, not planning on going anywhere. Soon $spot, %skittleboi and %rzero show up. By now we had around 25 deviants. Some had to leave quickly, like *heartstaken (photo #5 on the left. Right is Shay) So after that $ spot, whose real legal name is Spot, told us about many new ideas DeviantArt is pushing around right now, and many old ones that have yet to be implemented. He filled us in on who does what, and how much they do. He gave many props to fellow admins for their amazing hard work put into the site. Some history, who got hired, when, by whom. All interesting things I have not seen anywhere written. In #6, Spot is the man on the far right with his arm raised.

After more very informative talks from Spot, Shay decided to do the giveaway now. A shirt, a `jasinski calendar, prints accounts and varying lengths of subscriptions. Coincidentally, my name was chosen first. I got the shirt. This was nice, but it was two sizes too small (L). I told her to give it to someone else. What I forgot was, my name remained out of the hat. (photo #7 ). No matter, later events will reciprocate for me not winning anything. Read on.

David (photo #8) won the `jasinski calendar! After that, more talking went on. Actually, more like me asking $ spot a hundred questions, and him answering me very informatively and patiently (photo #9). Photo #10 shows * lady-blue wearing something to help us all remember her name. She graciously gave up her seat and settles for the table.

Photo #11 is Shay’s camera. Such quality!
Photo #12 is someone pointing the finger of blame at someone else.

So much much talking went on… #13 is David photographing me. #14 is % skittleboi (Josh) and %rzero (William) taking photos. Willy seen here touching nipples.

After a bit Spot needed to download his camera, for it was already full. He pulls out a laptop, downloads them. Logs on to deviantART to assign the subscription winners immediately. (#15 ). Photo #16 is a closeup of some administrative-tool screen. Nothing ‘top secret’, but pixilated purposely to prevent Spot from worrying and to keep everyone wondering.

Around the time we all stood around Spot’s laptop, a man (#17) asked us some questions, who we were, what we were doing. Friendly like. Then he gets very rude towards us saying we hadn’t bought anything, when, in fact, many of us had, and how we were taking up 2/3’s of the outside seats, which was true. He was just an asshole, so I took his photo while he was looking just to prove to him how much I gave a shit (zero percent).

GROUP PHOTO TIME!. This man, a friend of a deviant, was kind enough to take all of our photos with about seven cameras total. (photo #18).

The hugeass photo in the middle is the group photo, I do not know everyone’s name by face, so I won’t even try. Someone did though, click here for * darkrune’s group photo (same spots, different people’s eyes’ closed ) with names added.

Photo #19 was taken at 15:15. We had passed some time, just talking. About half of the group decided to leave, and the remainder sat and talked until we decided to eat something. Taco Bell or Burger King was the choice. Spot, using administrative powers, threatened to ban us all if we did not vote for Taco Bell, so we did. Photo #20 you can see Spot and his ‘ready to eat!’ face. #21 is another shot of the ordering process. #22 is eating! #23 is Spot holding his nose, probably due to some kind of gas excreted.
Spot received a call from `missmisery, and handed the phone to David (photo #24 ).

Wile we were finishing up, the man in photo #25 showed up and asked for money. Nobody in our group gave him any, but the one in this photo gave him some.

There’s a slight pause now, no photographs to help along the story, because this part of the story is the negative part. No time to take photos. As we walked out of Taco Bell, we looked for Dusty’s Oldsmobile. IT WAS GONE. We had left it parked at the Blockbuster, and now it was no longer there. DUDE, WHERE’s DUSTY’S CAR?!. He went inside, found out that it had been towed. So he got the towing number, it would cost him $130 to get it back. Spot and co. had to get back and deliver people to Houston and then go to Dallas, so they had to go. Shay and David hung around, which was extremely courteous of them. We called Dusty’s dad, who would meet us at the towers’ with cash. Thank god I didn’t have to pitch in, I have shit I needed to buy . Shay and Michael gave us money, because we didn’t know if we would have enough at first, but after Dusty’s dad spotted us, we returned the cash. Shay then drove us to the towing place, and David went to get his car, parked far away, and return. A few minutes later, after finding the place with some difficulty, David called Shay’s phone and says he’s locked is key’s in his car!. This day gets progressively better. So while we were at the towers, we told them of his situation, and they were going to get his keys out for $25. We left, wishing them the both the best of luck, and thanking them for their extreme kindness to practical ‘strangers’. How brings us together. Ahh, the love

After solving this major problem, we piled into the car and started to head off. It was about 18:30 when we left. The sky looked cool, it wasn’t any beautiful colors, but I turned my camera on and took some photos.

As the minutes went by, the sky got exceedingly more pink, because of the sunset and the suns’ rays hitting the atmosphere at that angle. The result are photos #26. Quite a beautiful ending to a hectic day.

On the drive home, on the highway, we saw the license plate, shown in photo #27, ‘NO LIE’. Very odd. Some kind of sign? You tell me.

We’re about 10 miles from home when Dusty decides to get gas, which, of course, requires the engine off. Dusty’s engine goes off more easily than it goes on, same as his window. So, we’re S.O.L. But no, Dusty breaks out his jack, some wrenches and gets down on the dirt in his ‘good pants’. Takes off the starter of the car, and short-circuits the bitch. Key turned, engine rolls. We’re in business again, after about thirty minutes.

No other problems befell us between that gas station and home. We talked about the days events, and how long these journal entries would be. I decided, though, just to make mine a story/photo collage, the one seen here.

I hope you have enjoyed my description of the events in the life of one deviant, on Saturday, February 21, 2004. I really enjoyed this meet. Everyone was excellent. Great conversations. Even a few unavoidable ones about religion and politics. I am now committed to future meets. Any time, anywhere in Texas, and I’m there. Annual sounds fun, no?

Regardless, that is the kind of badass day you have when you belong to the largest, fastest growing, and ,most importantly, best art community on the world of the internet.


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I hope you have enjoyed my description of the events in the life of one deviant, on Saturday, February 21, 2004. I really enjoyed this meet. Everyone was excellent. Great conversations. Even a few unavoidable ones about religion and politics. I am now committed to future meets. Any time, anywhere in Texas, and I’m there. Annual sounds fun, no?

Regardless, that is the kind of badass day you have when you belong to the largest, fastest growing, and ,most importantly, best art community on the world of the internet.

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-edit: moved to devART related> Deviant Meet Photos instead of 'Devious Fun'. This category did not exist at time of uploadation.