Mysterium 2001

Mysterium 2001 was held in Carlsbad, NM on August 3 - 5.  It was the second Mysterium, and it was planned by six fans.  The planning committee consisted of:  Tina Buck, Jonathan Crofts, Michele Ehr, Laura Gonzalez, Susan McGaw, and Ryan Warzecha.

Friday night, fans gathered in the meeting room of the Best Western Stevens Inn, which sported a marquis reading, "Shorah Mysterium Group", just like the marquis at the hotel the year before.  After an initial period during which fans could talk among themselves and get to know each other a little better, a buffet was offered for supper.  A few presentations were planned for after supper, so when two of the four presenters failed to show promptly, the tension in the room grew.  Would they make it on time?  At last George Chastain, the presenter for UbiSoft, arrived, and the fans pounced on him, eager for whatever information he would give them.  But what of the representative for Cyan, Richard Watson?  His plane had been delayed, so he arrived when the presentations were to begin, and we waited until he could participate.  Presentations were given by Drew Van Camp for The Writing Project, George Chastain and companions for UbiSoft, Bobby Kanaeaupuni (yes, I can pronounce that) for D'ni Legacy, Tina Buck for Steve Ogden, and Richard A. Watson for Cyan, Inc.  All the presentations went smoothly and were followed by a question/answer period.  Mysterium Tshirts were sold at a very low price, and each Tshirt came with a Mysterium round button and a refrigerator magnet.  People socialised into the evening and early morning, as Mysterium attendees are wont to do.

Saturday, all the attendees drove to Carlsbad Caverns after breakfast.  There they entered the caves together, but the group quickly spread out according to preferred pace.  Ryan Warzecha took the lead, and Tina Buck took up the rear guard.  By the time the two extremes met again, the group was spread out over an hour apart, but they were assured that no one had been lost.  Imagine their surprise when shortly thereafter one of the group could not be accounted for.  He had not checked in with the people who had driven him to the caverns, so even though the men from UbiSoft were nowhere to be found and it was supposed that they might be together, there was quite a hubbub searching for the missing member.  Calls to the hotel rooms and lobby turned up nothing, and seven hours after his initial disappearance, the missing member was found in the company of the UbiSoft men.  He was found half an hour before the park rangers were to begin a search for him, so the search was called off.  After watching the bats fly from the mouth of the cavern to go hunt insects across the river, the group headed back to the hotel.  Socialisation went into the night again.

Monday after breakfast, the group met in a nearby park to learn about EDGE.  EDGE stands for Extreme Disc Golf Experience.  Disc golf is Frisbee golf.  You can learn more about it here.  UbiSoft provided Mysterium attendess with free EDGE discs .  There were contests for farthest throw - judged by where the disc stopped, not how far it flew (won by Riven Chan), straightest throw (won by Lady Kira's son) , best style of throw (won by Alahmnat's mother), and a random drawing (won by Alahmnat) for signed From Myst to Riven books.  Contests to win Steve Ogden's new EP were for best singer (lonelyto25's brother Bulldog) and worst singer (datasage).  I think it's important here to note that there were only two contestants in the singing contest.  After the contests, the group slowly broke up and people went back to sightsee or begin the journey home.

You can find some of the Mysterium 2001 attendees' sites here.

 
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