Some Vegas Love by Messmaster

5/19/23

Group Host

Much love to everybody who went out of their way to be with us in Vegas!

I wanted to make this shout-out thread way earlier but it's been so overwhelming for me to process what's turned out to be one of the greatest weeks of my life, and to reflect on all the amazing people I was around. I know I'm not the only one whose memories are still sinking in.

I also know it took a lot for some of us to make it, physically and personally. So many people told me just how out of their comfort zone such a trip was, and how they've never told anybody about wam much less physically met anybody else into it. But everybody told me how rewarding and validating it was to just say screw it and live life and come do this. As a result I was hanging with misfits of the best kind, all from completely different backgrounds, coming together for the absolute love of a thing. This is what UMD is really about.

When we were at the pool party, a lady came up to me and was incredibly curious about who we all were, because none of us looked like we belonged together. She said every time someone new walked up, she didn't think they'd be with the group, but then they were! She was like who ARE you guys, you're so eclectic! I explained to her about wam and the occasion we were celebrating, and she was fascinated by that, but she was really intrigued by our completely diverse mix of races, genders, colors, ages, backgrounds, and even personalities. We were introverts, extroverts, nerds, exhibitionists, you name it. I told her that's what it looks like when you're linked by an actual passion for something other than silly demographics. I call us an anti-tribe, a group of people linked not by politics or agendas, but by the love of a common interest. Seeing everyone in person has reminded me me of what really makes this site work, and why we're still around after all these years.

So this is going to be a long paragraph but I have to give shouts to all the greatness I found myself surrounded by. There's something about wam in that we just have a higher caliber of people in our mix. Geniuses even.

First of all we had Fruitkitty with his insanely engineered pie flinger that was laser-calibrated to be absolutely consistent, and designed to break down to fit into checkable luggage. And how next-level is it that he was whipping up fresh whipped cream in a blender for his pies! That room was jacked up, so I hope you didn't get hit with a cleaning fee my man.

Also thank you bro for picking me up and hugging me... my back has never felt better. What_a_mess66, you're never without a big energetic smile on your face man. I'm glad that you--or whatever's left of you!--came to see us for a 4th time, rounding out the first time you came to visit us in Philly. Speaking of Philly, dbl999 I enjoyed our time together. I know you're local, so we gotta link up sometime soon. Loved the Pie Catapult vid you posted, too! Everybody please go check that out. CuriousPaints's brain just never stops working and spitting out ideas, and you can tell he's in deep thought even when he's not saying anything. Thanks for always keeping me on top of things online, and thanks for all your suggestions in person. You and some others have convinced me that I have to start offering merch, so I'll be offering merch sometime soon. We had Soundguy there who is the original pioneer of wam hosting and digital download systems, yet is the most humble guy you can meet. He has has always been my biggest mentor in all things technical and legal and I want to be like him when I grow up. We had Stark there, my best friend since kindergarten, who now owns and cares for all of UMD's physical servers in Vegas and elsewhere. Without him, UMD would be less secure, slower, and hosted by a faceless corporation. Couldn't have done this move with you old friend, and it means a lot that we were in Vegas together to celebrate after that difficult move... but now we physically into Vegas baby! And thanks to proteges Bornmessy and company for coming through and showing love... that first night yall got there was rough! Patayk77 was out there explaining his newest methods for extracting obscure patterns from different types of statistical data. Completely over my head but glad you're on our side my guy. Also, I would have been honored to continue letting Penelope think you were me at Beer Park because we both wore glasses!

You're much smarter and better looking I promise, so I didn't mind one bit. So Mudlove308 hooked me up with some instant mud and a bottle bath slime that apparently turns your whole bathtub into a slime bath (can't wait to try it!). Also, we might have to have a cook-off sometime my man... I think my dry rub can mess with yours We had Clix, who was passing out samples of freaking food-scented body sprays that he formulated himself! He had scents like cake batter and fruit loops. I sprayed the fruit loops one on my wrist and smelled like cereal the rest of the night. Then he was doing photo shoots on Fremont Street and giving us all instant print-outs. Clix is so next-level, you never knew what James Bond type shit he was going to pull out of his backpack next. Horris and I may be working on a project that has to do with wedgies! Wam wedgies if I have any influence. If not that, then at least we'll be having another Soul Train dance-off when next we meet. Wamvet, thanks for hanging with us at Container Park and for the little historical tour and for the stories of how crazy it actually gets. Water gushing out of the zillion-dollar TV wall just because it drizzled seems pretty Vegas to me. Thanks to PotatomanJ for being the official hype man for the entire event even before it started. And thanks for paying to make us all go on that virtual flight machine at Meow Wolf where I promptly crashed into a building. We'll hit you up sometime this Summer to have some beers in the city.

Wildebeest, you are a beast. You were the very first person we talked to at the first Vegas meet, and you're consistently the most positive, FREE, vibrant person we get to meet at these events. For me, you set the beginning vibe of all this, and I'm honored that you let us chill in your aura again, and it was a pleasure meeting your lady too. Mudracer and Michaela, thanks for coming through yet again with your immutable energy. You have maybe convinced us that we should actually move to Vegas one day... you always make a compelling case for how fun it would be. Peace to the whole Messygirl crew, representing wam as only you can. If the vid you sent me of the live event is any indication, you have a lot of wild footage to get up. Also, it was fun collaborating with you on those cabanas and taking over that Shark Tank pool... let's do it again! Thanks to Rodion for sharing his birthday with us once again; I hope this one was even messier than last time, even though this time we didn't crash your room party! Wamfan and Cream Me Again it was a blast making funky beats together on those drum machines at Omega Mart while those kids had to wait. I feel like we were jammin for like an hour.

Bpaige6129 you cool peoples, sorry we didn't get to talk more but look forward to collaborating with you on future events. Oh Darla DeVour: Sorry I didn't make it to your show but I know it was legendary, and the next one will be even better. You made everybody around you want to have even more fun than they already were. That outfit you wore on the strip complete with teddy bear was what Vegas is all about! I barely remember late night at the dueling piano bar with yall, but the pics are crazy. Thanks for making that looong trip to come see us. Sn0wmn-wam it was a joy talking with you at the pool, because I know you almost couldn't even make it at all. Sploshdiver, you certainly are a mysterious person with many interesting stories, and it turns out, some sort of psychic ability? (We'll talk about that.) I'm glad you made it home alive after the tire blowout on the way at 75MPH!

WinterAerys, love your style and your presence and it was really chill speaking with you especially at Beer Park. Ima hollar at you about those fly kicks you had on. Holland you're chill as hell. Thanks for hanging, and I love your city--we will definitely be there in the next year or two and will make it a point to hit you up when we do. Wambassador, can't believe how much you look like Kristina's brother LOL. I want to talk more with you about getting together for that eclipse you were talking about, maybe at an official meet? And remember, YOU... give love a bad name LOL. Larztord (happy birthday!) and Divine Daisy, you are the best party animals. Never forget our our 3am congo line on Fremont St. after the bars started closing, searching for the 24 hour bar. How loud were we, yelling "To the 24 hour bar! To the 24 hour bar!"

Jayce, I can't say enough about finally getting to meet the queen, the person who's been such an influence on other producers, and over our policy, over the past two decades. It wouldn't be the UMD without you and it was worth a 2-decade wait to see what your energy is like in real life. Like you said, so much makes more sense now, not that it needed to, and I wish everybody had the opportunity to meet you.

Messydreams, aka Mr. Flip Flops McCool, always a pleasure. You're like the glue to these events and you're always pushing to make them bigger and more fun. I think I'll start finally listening to you, so we'll be in touch. Mikenomic, I hope you have a mic by now haha! It was a privilege to be around the father of wam, as always. And none of us even got shot! Among the things we spoke about this time, you surprised me with a very relevant question about race and wam, and we started a nice debate that I think would be good for the whole community needs to have. I look forward to bringing that up here soon. Thanks to Ckwam for your support over the years, and for making the trek to be a part of this. I really feel like I got a sense of your benevolent leadership, and I want to know you better because I think you're a next-level person. I'll have to try and make it to see you at Burning Man one of these years. Thanks to Ckwam and Mikenomic not only for 25 years of support, but thank you both for the gifts... Those two bottles of Whisky will join DM1's from 2020 and I'll keep the bottles forever! (The whisky doesn't stand a chance tho... I'm drinking it right now). Thank you to DungeonMasterOne, Booth, CKWam, Mikenomic, Soundguy, Wamchantelle, Trouso, Yamtree, and all the mods and others, for holding the site down and for your guidance over the years and in these past couple of months in particular. I know there are people I left out who I'll remember later and be kicking myself. Finally, the biggest I LOVE YOU to Messmistress Kristina, who doesn't have a huge presence online but who is running UMD every day alongside me, and who has been my coach through the years ups and downs, especially this last year which was especially difficult. I love you bay!

I've been on the fence as to whether I should do a gathering next year (e.g. every year), or just for our 30th in 2028. Despite these past gatherings, Messmistress and I are actually really private people who never expected a real transition to IRL with wam. We're perfectly happy to stay invisible and support all the community events from the background, even a yearly gathering. Regardless, the overwhelming consensus is that everybody wants this to happen every year, or even more frequently than that! Amazingly, some people like Messydreams, Wamvet, Darla, and Bpaige6129 and others have offered to head the efforts to organize some future gatherings. Everybody seems excited to see where everything could go, hence this new Official Events group. We'll let everybody bounce ideas around and see what ideas crystalize from that. I've also started a blank event on the calendar for UMD 2024 just in case.

Wherever we do meet again, just remember that Vegas will forever be our baby. We've got landmarks there now. We should start a map! The spot on Fremont where Cream Me Again got pied. Locations visited in Lake Meade. The pool party gatherings. The first official live events (well, maybe not blow up the spots of the AirBnB's that are probably still wondering why there's a lingering smell of spoiled cream). I've made memories there that will be with me forever, and I'm happy that we're not finished working on how to make the next batch of memories happen. Let's go!!

Stay messy, my friends

5/19/23