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janestarzThis weekend I was, with many others, at Sonsbeek Live.
So far these are the other blog entries I've found about Sonsbeek (in order of appearance):
Nathreee's tale;
Fyrane's tale;
Glimworm's tale;
Don't get me wrong, I understand that a lot of things went wrong. I was most unhappy with the logistics in general and receiving of the guests on Thursdaynight in specific.
However, it could just be my die-hard mentality that I did not mind the lack of munchies and the cold at night very much. Perhaps my expectations of the weekend were different.
One of the things I did to prepare for Sonsbeeklive was simple, I took a book to read: the Mists of Avalon by Marion Zimmer Bradley. The idea I got for Sonsbeek was that it would be an event with a lot of spiritual background, and if the Mists of Avalon inspires anything, it is serenity and inner peace. By reading this book, I was preparing myself for a weekend of meditation, and Amotekun took shape.
The Eniyan:
Koriko Dbang Sa (wolf-destiny-earth), Band Leader - played by![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
glimworm;
Akiti Shing (monkey-wood), Herald - played by Nieske;
Ayanaku Isaks (elephant-metal), Ritualist - played bynathreee;
Eranko Bi Oya Chu (raccoon-water), Archivist - played by Dreek;
Amotekun Kyi Le Me (leopard-serenity-fire), Duel Master - played by me;
Thursday
I had dragged my bags to work and though it was just the red carry-all on wheels, a bag of weapons and my backpack, it was rather heavy and I was glad when we had scaled the hill of Sonsbeek. I met up with Nathreee at Arnhem (sadly I walked to the wrong side of the station, which is under heavy construction, at first). It was a stout 20 minute walk from the station because most of it was uphill - a novelty in the Netherlands. The forest gravel paths were hard on the dragging bag as well, but we got to the meeting point in the end and with little trouble thanks to Nathreee's excellent sense of direction.
Luckily we were nearly right on time: there would be a workshop at eight and we arrived a little before. Unfortunately, there was no-one from the organisation waiting for us there. Only Ohno was there to greet us, who assured us that this was the place and said that he had been there for a couple of hours already and that he wasn't allowed inside the tower that would be housing us for the weekend.
Slowly, more and more people were arriving. Kim, whom I once met as a Gangrel on Lextalionis was the first after us, and then more people. Many I knew, some I did not. But there was nobody from the organisation to welcome us or tell us where to put our bags. The field where we would be meeting had a small brick stage that was roofed so our bags were stowed dry enough, but it was uncomfortable. Where were they?
When they did arrive, toting a flask of beer each and green high-powered lasers, they were bustling about and asking if everyone was there. Then they quickly started with the workshop. Though I am normally rather good with judging the passage time, when I am annoyed the ability lessens considerably. It felt like they were an hour late, though I am unsure if this was the truth.
The workshop was the simple theatre-sport kind, and offended many of the larpers. Like they were children to be held by their hand and brought into the game, into the character by some sport. Personally, I liked it. I once did theatre and could recognize some of the things they were trying to achieve with the exercise.
What irked me most about this whole workshop thing was the fact that there was no welcome, no food or drink (which had been promised), and there was no-one to tell us how to get to the tower afterwards. True, the bandleaders got a flashlight - but our bandleader still had to get his bags from Hoxolotl's car and was gone, leaving Nathreee, Woran and myself struggling to find the path. I had to drag my bag over piles of leaves - no need to tell you that it didn't work, right? I got quite pissed off from that.
The tower itself rose as a lighted beacon above the forest floor, and when we had finally found the entrance I was pleasantly surprised by the decorations on the ground floor, which held a kitchen. A ladder went up to the first floor, where we would be sleeping on the top bunk. I had a hard time getting my bag to fit through the small opening, but Ohno helped me and I made my bed with sleeping bag and cloak and quilt and hung cloth around it to shield me from the wind. We had decided to sleep heads together, feet towards the open sides.
The tower was made of scaffolding, with long white runners of a meter and a half wide falling down the sides from the top level. The runners were held down by branches, so they moved in the breeze and we were exposed to the elements - if it would have rained really hard in combination with the wind, the lower bunk might have had some trouble with the rain.
The other floors were accessible by metal staircases, and the top floor housed a lounge area with large sitting bags and benches with cushions. A hauling system down the front side of the tower would haul a tray up, inside it were spots for cups, so you would not have to risk the ladder with scalding tea in your hands. The view from the top floor was lovely, and a roof made sure that any rain would slide down the side of the tower.
The kitchen on the bottom floor held two coffee makers, a water boiler, a refrigerator and small packets of instant soup, which were quickly brewed by various people. The Eniyan quickly went upstairs for a last talk and then went to sleep, ready to face a new day - albeit a little hung-over.
It was cold, very cold. Though June can be nice, this year it's still rather cold outside and I needed to draw the strings of my sleepingbag tight and fold my quilt double to stay warm enough. Still, I slept well enough.
Friday
The Eniyan breakfasted in silence, as they always do as a token of respect towards the food, and then applied the face markings. Other bands were also having breakfast, and one of them caught my eye because they spoke in whispers. They showed more respect to the food than the VPC band, who spoke of adjusting biofilters, or some such.
After the food was done, we stepped outside in good spirits. The sun shone, we had little trouble with ghosts at the tower, and a forest spirit had asked us about our home and told us to be glad in the land of the Immortals.
The Immortals, and the Dutch Press, were quickly found. Ayanaku sang while we were kneeled, and Eranko chalked the markings of the Eniyan on the tree. Then we continued on our way.
The art - in the game Immortals - was rather nice. A giant bubble, suspended from trees, a golden man/woman who tumbled from a fake branch, an orange-red-white artwork on poles, a number of flags, a giant beaded chandelier, the floating heads of four dictators and much much more. We had little time to see everything, as the park was rather busy with 'ghosts' - regular visitors of the park who did not participate in the game. We were told to avoid being touched by them as they would steal your soul - and so our goings were erratic. We walked, then hid, then ran away from ghosts and then stumbled around Immortals - making for a very tiring pattern. This also meant that I could not enjoy the game as much as I wanted to. I would have liked to spend some more time around some of the artwork or in meditation, but the nature of how we were supposed to interact with the visitors prevented this.
I didn't get it. This way, it was no fun for either us nor the visitors. They were not allowed into the tower and we should stop them with mirrors, but there was a sign (#5) outside the tower and people with booklets drawing close to see this artwork of Brody Condon. Yes, that would be us. Guess what you get to see? People running away and holding a mirror. Yay.
Anyway, I did get to see the Queen, thanks to my small elf-eyes looking glass. We were near the water and the waterfalls (small, Holland has no natural ones large enough to speak of) of the park and it got more and more busy. We hid by the side of the road, down a steep slope and behind a tree at the side of a pond. Some silvery-Immortal was in the water, and the Queen was on the other side of the pond on a path, wearing a burgundy suit and a beige pashmina. I can't for the life of me remember the colour of her hat, but it was large as usual. Most funny thing was that the park ranger (OK, not really like the Yellowstone Park rangers, but this guy was way cooler!) was wearing his same old khaki outfit as he was the day before when we met him. And he was showing the Queen around! The guy has style.
Lowest point of the day for me was when I was leading the Eniyan into meditation - a simple relaxation meditation I had learned during my time at Mirror - and at the moment suprème some 'ghosts' came up and one of them stepped on a branch, drawing everyone back. *sigh*
High point of the day? The Sun Salutation on the crossroads. It was really, really sunny then and there was no-one in sight. Everyone but Eranko did the yoga and we completed two salutations before the sun hid behind the clouds again. And all the while we were undisturbed.
Back at the tower we were really tired and after a couple of good stories from Dreek, Nathreee decided to go home to spend the rest of the weekend (which hadn't really started yet!) with her husband, as she had slept poorly.
A lot of the players were disgruntled and nobody really had a great time. As such, some groups persisted and tried to make play happen. Suddenly it was time for dinner and as the procession came back we found out it was sardines with tasteless white rice, seeds, tomato-basil salad and string beans with lemon and mint.
Now I'm a great fan of string beans, so I had two plates full. There was butter or another kind of grease on it, so it filled up nicely. I had had some cramps in my legs during the night the week before so I ate some tomatoes (which seems to help prevent it) and ate some rice because I needed the carbohydrates. But I was one of only six people who did not go to get french fries to eat and probably the only one who said that she liked it.
I do think the food was rather good - though people who don't like string beans would obviously disagree - and nourishing. The seeds were grilled and very good, and the food not so heavy on the stomach to kill any kind of action you had planned for the night. In truth, it was the kind of food that goes well with meditation and ritual work, and I thought it suited my idea of the event better than the pork-and-potatoes we had the next night. But then I am used to eating vegetarian stuff as NoKey will not eat meat and the Saturdaynight dinner reminded me of my father's Christmas dinner.
As I mentioned earlier a lot of players were disgruntled and some band leaders called with Bjarke to arrange for more munchies and drinks - one whole packet of cheese crackers was brought but now there was also wine and beer.
The whispering band (ofsna, fyrane and Julian and others) joined us in a meditation, and I did the same meditation as earlier that day. We managed to generate quite a lot of play. I must say that after that when we went to lounge in the penthouse where people were dropping OC, I was thoroughly annoyed by Julian, who declared that he didn't believe in spirituality, because if you did believe in stuff like reiki that would mean that you could also theoretically claim to cure cancer by laying on hands and that that was pure crap. I tried to discuss this statement with him - which is a fun thing to do as I am on quite the other side of the spectrum - but he continued not to discuss his point, but by trying to overbluff me with more and more ridiculous statements without ever trying to go into my questions or proddings to react to me instead of just trying to be the Man.
Saturday
This morning I woke up late at nearly 11, and there was a message from the forest guardians that we would need to be in character in fifteen minutes, which got my response "I thought we were supposed to wake up in character?". Breakfast, a short meditation beneath a tree, and then we were up again. We didn't feel like doing the whole walking, dodging and hiding thing again, so instead we invited the glow-band to join us in a training. We did another Sun Salutation and then I teached them Take-Ori, something NoKey had taught me and is one of the basic practices of Taijutsu. Minimum effort, maximum effect. We enjoyed that.
It was soon followed by a fighting match on the grass near the meeting place of Thursdaynight and when that was done and our band had done the dishes and claimed a flask of sausages for lunch, we had tea and sandwiches with sausage in the penthouse and listened to another story.
This filled up the afternoon nicely and in the end, when dinner came, Bjarke talked with us of how to do things differently for the next groups. I truly think he will try to fix things, and all in all I had a pretty good weekend.
I left right after dinner during another shower of rain, so I could sleep in a warm and dry bed next to my NoKey in stead of in a cold tower of scaffolding, and had my Sunday to myself.
I think that if the next game is more fun for the players, I might actually consider signing up for another game later on in the summer. The park is beautiful, the concept is really rather nice, and logistics can be fixed easily. What you put into the game, you get out of the game, and that is something to remember if you decide to one of the next games of Sonsbeek Live.
So far these are the other blog entries I've found about Sonsbeek (in order of appearance):
Nathreee's tale;
Fyrane's tale;
Glimworm's tale;
Don't get me wrong, I understand that a lot of things went wrong. I was most unhappy with the logistics in general and receiving of the guests on Thursdaynight in specific.
However, it could just be my die-hard mentality that I did not mind the lack of munchies and the cold at night very much. Perhaps my expectations of the weekend were different.
One of the things I did to prepare for Sonsbeeklive was simple, I took a book to read: the Mists of Avalon by Marion Zimmer Bradley. The idea I got for Sonsbeek was that it would be an event with a lot of spiritual background, and if the Mists of Avalon inspires anything, it is serenity and inner peace. By reading this book, I was preparing myself for a weekend of meditation, and Amotekun took shape.
The Eniyan:
Koriko Dbang Sa (wolf-destiny-earth), Band Leader - played by
glimworm;Akiti Shing (monkey-wood), Herald - played by Nieske;
Ayanaku Isaks (elephant-metal), Ritualist - played by
nathreee;Eranko Bi Oya Chu (raccoon-water), Archivist - played by Dreek;
Amotekun Kyi Le Me (leopard-serenity-fire), Duel Master - played by me;
Thursday
I had dragged my bags to work and though it was just the red carry-all on wheels, a bag of weapons and my backpack, it was rather heavy and I was glad when we had scaled the hill of Sonsbeek. I met up with Nathreee at Arnhem (sadly I walked to the wrong side of the station, which is under heavy construction, at first). It was a stout 20 minute walk from the station because most of it was uphill - a novelty in the Netherlands. The forest gravel paths were hard on the dragging bag as well, but we got to the meeting point in the end and with little trouble thanks to Nathreee's excellent sense of direction.
Luckily we were nearly right on time: there would be a workshop at eight and we arrived a little before. Unfortunately, there was no-one from the organisation waiting for us there. Only Ohno was there to greet us, who assured us that this was the place and said that he had been there for a couple of hours already and that he wasn't allowed inside the tower that would be housing us for the weekend.
Slowly, more and more people were arriving. Kim, whom I once met as a Gangrel on Lextalionis was the first after us, and then more people. Many I knew, some I did not. But there was nobody from the organisation to welcome us or tell us where to put our bags. The field where we would be meeting had a small brick stage that was roofed so our bags were stowed dry enough, but it was uncomfortable. Where were they?
When they did arrive, toting a flask of beer each and green high-powered lasers, they were bustling about and asking if everyone was there. Then they quickly started with the workshop. Though I am normally rather good with judging the passage time, when I am annoyed the ability lessens considerably. It felt like they were an hour late, though I am unsure if this was the truth.
The workshop was the simple theatre-sport kind, and offended many of the larpers. Like they were children to be held by their hand and brought into the game, into the character by some sport. Personally, I liked it. I once did theatre and could recognize some of the things they were trying to achieve with the exercise.
What irked me most about this whole workshop thing was the fact that there was no welcome, no food or drink (which had been promised), and there was no-one to tell us how to get to the tower afterwards. True, the bandleaders got a flashlight - but our bandleader still had to get his bags from Hoxolotl's car and was gone, leaving Nathreee, Woran and myself struggling to find the path. I had to drag my bag over piles of leaves - no need to tell you that it didn't work, right? I got quite pissed off from that.
The tower itself rose as a lighted beacon above the forest floor, and when we had finally found the entrance I was pleasantly surprised by the decorations on the ground floor, which held a kitchen. A ladder went up to the first floor, where we would be sleeping on the top bunk. I had a hard time getting my bag to fit through the small opening, but Ohno helped me and I made my bed with sleeping bag and cloak and quilt and hung cloth around it to shield me from the wind. We had decided to sleep heads together, feet towards the open sides.
The tower was made of scaffolding, with long white runners of a meter and a half wide falling down the sides from the top level. The runners were held down by branches, so they moved in the breeze and we were exposed to the elements - if it would have rained really hard in combination with the wind, the lower bunk might have had some trouble with the rain.
The other floors were accessible by metal staircases, and the top floor housed a lounge area with large sitting bags and benches with cushions. A hauling system down the front side of the tower would haul a tray up, inside it were spots for cups, so you would not have to risk the ladder with scalding tea in your hands. The view from the top floor was lovely, and a roof made sure that any rain would slide down the side of the tower.
The kitchen on the bottom floor held two coffee makers, a water boiler, a refrigerator and small packets of instant soup, which were quickly brewed by various people. The Eniyan quickly went upstairs for a last talk and then went to sleep, ready to face a new day - albeit a little hung-over.
It was cold, very cold. Though June can be nice, this year it's still rather cold outside and I needed to draw the strings of my sleepingbag tight and fold my quilt double to stay warm enough. Still, I slept well enough.
Friday
The Eniyan breakfasted in silence, as they always do as a token of respect towards the food, and then applied the face markings. Other bands were also having breakfast, and one of them caught my eye because they spoke in whispers. They showed more respect to the food than the VPC band, who spoke of adjusting biofilters, or some such.
After the food was done, we stepped outside in good spirits. The sun shone, we had little trouble with ghosts at the tower, and a forest spirit had asked us about our home and told us to be glad in the land of the Immortals.
The Immortals, and the Dutch Press, were quickly found. Ayanaku sang while we were kneeled, and Eranko chalked the markings of the Eniyan on the tree. Then we continued on our way.
The art - in the game Immortals - was rather nice. A giant bubble, suspended from trees, a golden man/woman who tumbled from a fake branch, an orange-red-white artwork on poles, a number of flags, a giant beaded chandelier, the floating heads of four dictators and much much more. We had little time to see everything, as the park was rather busy with 'ghosts' - regular visitors of the park who did not participate in the game. We were told to avoid being touched by them as they would steal your soul - and so our goings were erratic. We walked, then hid, then ran away from ghosts and then stumbled around Immortals - making for a very tiring pattern. This also meant that I could not enjoy the game as much as I wanted to. I would have liked to spend some more time around some of the artwork or in meditation, but the nature of how we were supposed to interact with the visitors prevented this.
I didn't get it. This way, it was no fun for either us nor the visitors. They were not allowed into the tower and we should stop them with mirrors, but there was a sign (#5) outside the tower and people with booklets drawing close to see this artwork of Brody Condon. Yes, that would be us. Guess what you get to see? People running away and holding a mirror. Yay.
Anyway, I did get to see the Queen, thanks to my small elf-eyes looking glass. We were near the water and the waterfalls (small, Holland has no natural ones large enough to speak of) of the park and it got more and more busy. We hid by the side of the road, down a steep slope and behind a tree at the side of a pond. Some silvery-Immortal was in the water, and the Queen was on the other side of the pond on a path, wearing a burgundy suit and a beige pashmina. I can't for the life of me remember the colour of her hat, but it was large as usual. Most funny thing was that the park ranger (OK, not really like the Yellowstone Park rangers, but this guy was way cooler!) was wearing his same old khaki outfit as he was the day before when we met him. And he was showing the Queen around! The guy has style.
Lowest point of the day for me was when I was leading the Eniyan into meditation - a simple relaxation meditation I had learned during my time at Mirror - and at the moment suprème some 'ghosts' came up and one of them stepped on a branch, drawing everyone back. *sigh*
High point of the day? The Sun Salutation on the crossroads. It was really, really sunny then and there was no-one in sight. Everyone but Eranko did the yoga and we completed two salutations before the sun hid behind the clouds again. And all the while we were undisturbed.
Back at the tower we were really tired and after a couple of good stories from Dreek, Nathreee decided to go home to spend the rest of the weekend (which hadn't really started yet!) with her husband, as she had slept poorly.
A lot of the players were disgruntled and nobody really had a great time. As such, some groups persisted and tried to make play happen. Suddenly it was time for dinner and as the procession came back we found out it was sardines with tasteless white rice, seeds, tomato-basil salad and string beans with lemon and mint.
Now I'm a great fan of string beans, so I had two plates full. There was butter or another kind of grease on it, so it filled up nicely. I had had some cramps in my legs during the night the week before so I ate some tomatoes (which seems to help prevent it) and ate some rice because I needed the carbohydrates. But I was one of only six people who did not go to get french fries to eat and probably the only one who said that she liked it.
I do think the food was rather good - though people who don't like string beans would obviously disagree - and nourishing. The seeds were grilled and very good, and the food not so heavy on the stomach to kill any kind of action you had planned for the night. In truth, it was the kind of food that goes well with meditation and ritual work, and I thought it suited my idea of the event better than the pork-and-potatoes we had the next night. But then I am used to eating vegetarian stuff as NoKey will not eat meat and the Saturdaynight dinner reminded me of my father's Christmas dinner.
As I mentioned earlier a lot of players were disgruntled and some band leaders called with Bjarke to arrange for more munchies and drinks - one whole packet of cheese crackers was brought but now there was also wine and beer.
The whispering band (of
sna, fyrane and Julian and others) joined us in a meditation, and I did the same meditation as earlier that day. We managed to generate quite a lot of play. I must say that after that when we went to lounge in the penthouse where people were dropping OC, I was thoroughly annoyed by Julian, who declared that he didn't believe in spirituality, because if you did believe in stuff like reiki that would mean that you could also theoretically claim to cure cancer by laying on hands and that that was pure crap. I tried to discuss this statement with him - which is a fun thing to do as I am on quite the other side of the spectrum - but he continued not to discuss his point, but by trying to overbluff me with more and more ridiculous statements without ever trying to go into my questions or proddings to react to me instead of just trying to be the Man. Saturday
This morning I woke up late at nearly 11, and there was a message from the forest guardians that we would need to be in character in fifteen minutes, which got my response "I thought we were supposed to wake up in character?". Breakfast, a short meditation beneath a tree, and then we were up again. We didn't feel like doing the whole walking, dodging and hiding thing again, so instead we invited the glow-band to join us in a training. We did another Sun Salutation and then I teached them Take-Ori, something NoKey had taught me and is one of the basic practices of Taijutsu. Minimum effort, maximum effect. We enjoyed that.
It was soon followed by a fighting match on the grass near the meeting place of Thursdaynight and when that was done and our band had done the dishes and claimed a flask of sausages for lunch, we had tea and sandwiches with sausage in the penthouse and listened to another story.
This filled up the afternoon nicely and in the end, when dinner came, Bjarke talked with us of how to do things differently for the next groups. I truly think he will try to fix things, and all in all I had a pretty good weekend.
I left right after dinner during another shower of rain, so I could sleep in a warm and dry bed next to my NoKey in stead of in a cold tower of scaffolding, and had my Sunday to myself.
I think that if the next game is more fun for the players, I might actually consider signing up for another game later on in the summer. The park is beautiful, the concept is really rather nice, and logistics can be fixed easily. What you put into the game, you get out of the game, and that is something to remember if you decide to one of the next games of Sonsbeek Live.
sonsbeeklive aftermath
Date: 2008-06-23 09:19 pm (UTC)i agree with everything you said. with the bad weather, us being totally exhausted from the production, the procession, workshop issues, the crazy art opening, caterer problems, and unseen cultural and play style gaps, i'm suprised game 1 actually worked at all. not too mention bjarke was out most of the first game day with back problems from lifting in the tower, and me dealing with the art opening business stuff, etc...
i'm very excited to say that the problems were easily fixed, and game 2 was nothing short of epic. we played until 5am on saturday, and the amazing player generated conflicts and narrative eventually pulled all of forest guardians deep into the game (all the while thinking we as organizers had generated the plot). once we recover physically and emotionally we can get the forum up and going again so players from game 2 can comment, and get the pics up and be prepared for game 3 and the caravan of danish players.
thanks and we hope to see you again!
best,
brody
Re: sonsbeeklive aftermath
Date: 2008-06-24 07:04 am (UTC)Yes it is OK to repost this on your forum, as long as you quote me as the writer (Annet N. will do, as it is public). A link is not necessary.
I have described the events as I have seen them, cutting you more slack than other posts I have read. I have linked to all the entries I have found about Sonsbeek so far both in this post and on, for instance, the Maerquin forum - where some people heard stories (they had not been there!) and told other people not to come. I tried to give some weight the other way, telling people to make up their minds on their own, bearing in mind that there is no privacy and it can be very cold.
I stand by my statement: I did have fun (and will reply to Bjarke's e-mail later today to highlight it even more) and would consider coming to a later game if I hear good stories of Games 2 or 3.
Cheers,
Annet.