GEnie Livewire e-zine/LW9407MM.ZIP/ATLANTA.TXT

Text File | 1994-06-19 | 7.7 KB | 209 lines

I met some good friends of mine for the first time a
few weeks ago.

I'd never laid eyes on any of them (with one
exception), never even heard their voices, but I knew
some of them quite well in online relationships on
GEnie. I finally met them at the annual gathering
known as Atlantafest.

Marching on Atlanta

Atlantafest happened on May 20-24 just preceding
COMDEX. Glen Ashman, the primary organizer, provided
a basic structure, but most of the our days consisted
of conversation and interactions with friends. The
activities gave an excuse to get together as a big
group.

"Official" Atlantafest began Friday evening with
dinner at the Varsity, a fast-food restaurant
described as "an Atlanta tradition." One hundred
percent beef hamburgers and large but separate rooms
led to lots of eating and even more meeting. When I
walked in the room a nice-looking woman with
reddish-brown hair said, "Who are you?" I recognized
her from a GIF, so I said, "Ellen, it's me, Donn!"
She smiled and hugged me.

Similar scenes played out all over the room. So many
flashes popped, it looked like a young thunderstorm.

"I'm not sure why, but there was a guard on duty for
most of the time we were in the Channel 11 room,"
John Maihos said. "I wonder if Glen assigned a
bailiff to the room?" (Glen works as a judge in his
day job.)

The Naked Truth

Later in the evening a small group journeyed to a
night club featuring male dancers, a highlight of the
weekend to several attendees. One said, "The
'Chippendales' do not do what these guys do. And what
they do is so very talented!"

Reportedly the dancers wore only strategically-placed
garters (not to cover, but to provide a place to
deposit dollar bills). Several attendees went through
entire packs of 50 one-dollar bills; one woman in
particular (who shall remain nameless, pending a
bribe payment) tried to, um, "participate"
enthusiastically with a dancer.

"The most unusual part of the weekend was definitely
Friday night at the strip club!" Linda McKenney said.
"I've never gone to one before. It was great fun --
and not something that I'd expect to do at every
GEtogethers!"

Can We Talk?

Conversation at the Varsity continued until late
Friday evening, after which many Atlantafesters
adjourned to a hospitality suite at the "official"
hotel, the Courtyard Marriott. Online addicts
gathered around laptops and even desktop computers
logging onto GEnie and other services to send
messages from Atlantafest.

"The funny part is logging on to chat with someone
else in the same hotel," Glen said. "I did that a few
times. Now if I can just get a room with two phone
lines we can chat with each other in the same room!"

David Postler said, "As a traveling GEnie member I
always carry a laptop. I may leave home without my
American Express card but NEVER without my computer."

GEnie Goes Underground

During most of the day Saturday members explored
Atlanta. Most found their way to the Underground, a
historic area of Atlanta resurrected into a famous
shopping area. Lunch was at Mick's, an Underground
restaurant.

Afterwards, group members explored the Underground in
pairs and small groups and several enjoyed the nearby
Coca-Cola museum.

GEtting Stoned Together

In the evening most of the group loaded into cars and
vans for the trip to Stone Mountain Park, a 3200-acre
park famous for its memorial carving on the mountain.
At 90 feet by 190 feet, it is the world's largest
sculpture; it took 50 years to finish. We ate
together at Stone Mountain Park Inn, and the evening
closed with a 50-minute laser show projected directly
onto the mountain.

Although the laser show impressed us, other aspects
of Stone Mountain stirred us as well. "The most
memorable part of the weekend," according to Cindy
McGill, "was trying to get the group pictures at
Stone Mountain, the way everyone kept joking around."

Glenda Pace called the whole evening her most
memorable part of the weekend, saying, "We spent time
at supper getting to know each other, then we spent
more time before the show and after supper getting to
know others. The show was spectacular and MANY of us
stood there and danced to the music and sang the
songs...."

Into The Night

Back at the hotel, the hospitality suite quickly
filled again as members gathered around laptops,
shared drinks, and passed around albums containing
photos of other GEnie members, listed according to
real name, GE Mail name, and Chat handles.

Nothing official was scheduled for Sunday until
lunch, itself loosely planned; Glen knew that most
Festers would have gone over 48 hours with very
little sleep. I saw one post time-stamped 3:30 AM --
and I read it at 4:30 AM.

My little group left on Sunday for a side-trip to
Charlotte, North Carolina, to visit with Gayle
Swanson (known around the system as LADY.VIKE), so I
missed Sunday's and Monday's activities. Reports
indicate lunch Sunday at Bennigan's entailed more of
the conversation and face-to-face that marked the
rest of the GEtogether. About 15 folks remained in
Atlanta to attend COMDEX, the computer trade show
that draws computerholics like Tammy Faye draws
makeup.

The Best Part...

Glen is already thinking about next year's
Atlantafest. He said he learned a lot from Houston's
Granddaddy GEtogether, and from experience this year,
which was the second Atlantafest.

"This one was longer and we used a central hotel," he
said. "The hotel to me was a must -- it gave people a
better chance to meet and socialize. I think
Atlantafest is what GEnie is really all about, people
interacting with people."

Next year the Fest will probably move to April
because of COMDEX being scheduled then.

Ed Evans said, "My favorite part was just sitting
around the lobby talking and making new friends." He
grinned, and confided, "My only complaint was that
there were not enough single people of the opposite
sex."

David Postler commented, "The reason I go to
GEtogethers is to enjoy the sense of community that
comes by being there."

He also found that in-person barriers come down
quickly thanks to online interaction. "I remembered
[an Aladdin client] from the help desk, and when she
arrived I went up and introduced myself. I was a
little surprised to immediately get a big hug and the
comment 'You save my GEnie life!' But that's the kind
of surprise I can deal with.

Meeting someone face to face is surprisingly easy. It
really is like meeting an old friend. The meetings
are the best part of the GEtogethers.

Linda McKenney said, "Meeting people face to face
after knowing them online for me is usually like
seeing a friend I've not seen for a while." She
considers attending GEtogethers very important; she
traveled 2,483 miles to attend Atlantafest.

In a way, Linda is responsible for Atlantafest. Glen
said she was the first person he met live from GEnie,
when she started her traveling nursing and came to
Atlanta. Glen has now met, by his count, 149 online
folks.

"She showed me all her GEtogether pictures," he said,
"and told me about one in April of last year in
Charlotte (which I went to, my first one) -- and I
was hooked."

Cindy McGill said, "It was very strange finally
talking to an actual face after talking to handles
for so long. But I thought everyone was about what I
imagined... except for maybe the ages."

Houston's GEtogether is planned for August, and John
Maihos says a national GEnie GEtogether in Boston is
in the works, possibly for October 1995.

For me, attending a GEtogether is like no other
experience. I'll do it again, the first chance I
have; after all, there's nothing like making old
friends.