As far as atmosphere, yes, the EFFEN Gopher is not the St. Paul Hotel, but it did have one thing today that made it a special place to be. You could carry openly with complete freedom, and not worry about somebody spazzing out and calling the cops, or having some stranger try to grab your gun, (except for Cobb wanting to run off with my 50GI
) or any of the usual emotional angst/paranoia that comes along with OC. It was a very wonderful and relaxed affair.One other very unusual thing, which I wouldn't have believed until I saw it, was the reaction of some normal citizens who came in for coneys at 11:00 when the bar nominally opened. The place was still packed with about 45 of us, and the noise level was pretty high, and despite all the hardware hanging out everywhere I don't think anybody noticed. They could literally not see the trees for the forest. I was the last one to leave about 1, and I know a couple of people picked up on me as I was wandering around getting my stuff together.
Some people have asked about the possibility of a repeat event, and the first week in February is full because of the Winter Carnival. (The Gopher is the OFFICIAL Vulcan bar, BTW.) If anybody would like a repeat in March, however, I think Cheri would be up for it, and we'd know to start cooking the food 45 minutes earlier next time. Let me know if you're interested.
Thanks Seismic for putting this effen thing together.
