Yip, I did it my friends … I ventured out into the big wide world on my own for the first time EVER in my life!!
YAAAY me 😀
Thanks so much to all of you for just about shoving me out my front door – I had seriously cold feet and I *may* have chickened out if it wasn’t for you guys – Friday night at Asoka was absolutely everything I hoped it would be.
First of all, I totally tarted up – yes, I had make up on and everything waha! It was great fun to get all zooted up like that but I completely underestimated how long it would take, so I left a little later than I had planned.
Anyway, I parked my little black gangsta-mobile near trendy Kloof Street and made my way to the venue, hoping like HELL that I would recognize SOMEONE! And there, much to my relief, sitting outside and chatting to a bunch of folk, was Cluckhoff *whew* …
And so the evening started. I grabbed myself a drink and then got introduced to the most amazing bunch of people ever … So many of my tweeple were there, it was completely exhilarating to finally meet them all!! These are people I admire so much, who have so much to offer in the www, leaders in their field, and the driving force behind most of the fantastic multi-media and online initiatives taking place in this country (and all so frikkin YOUNG!!). It was truly an honour for me to meet them all face to face. Oh yes, and I have to just mention that being introduced to Matt Mullenweg was such a WOW moment – total surprise. This is the guy who *founded* WordPress people!! But what a cool guy 🙂 Seriously, so humble and down to earth, I loved him!
A bunch of brilliant minds inside wonderful people, so-called “geeks” all getting together to have a good time and even though I ain’t really a geek, I never once felt out of place or uncomfortable that night – they are all a really friendly bunch. I guess that surprised me a little bit … I wasn’t really sure what to expect you know?
So thanks to Mike Stopforth for organizing the meet-up, it really kicked and I loved every minute of it!!
There were only two teeny tiny little black spots on my night … Firstly, Mr Golding had his big-ass camera there – I tried to duck and dive that nasty lens but I think he got me! And secondly, I had one of my horrid panic attacks. It happened as I was squeezing my through the tight hoard of people on my way to the Little Girls’ Room. I think all the people (I get very claustrophobic) plus the small venue plus the heat inside set me off. Anyway, it didn’t last for too long thank gawd and I don’t think anyone noticed 🙂
***********************************************************************************
So who did I get to meet on Friday? Here’s the roll:
- Mike Stopforth – kept me in stitches the whole night … LOL!
- Stii Pretorius – kept me in drinks the whole night!! I definitely owe you a few brewskies Stii
- Dave Duarte – somewhat anxious for his Life Streaming presentation the next day 🙂
- Justin Hartman – very cool chat, thanks Justin. And fantastic to finally meet you!
- Tyler Reed – WOW!! Dude, I get tired just looking at you!
- Christopher Mills – at last … the much talked about man behind iMod
- Vincent Maher – what can I say, the man himself hey? Also had me giggling all night hehe …
- Mark Bloomfield – my early morning Twitter pal 🙂
- Jason Bagley – another awesome wwwtalent!
- Denham Coote – cool computer dude and a pretty good photographer too
- Catherine Luckhoff – my ice breaker … hehe, thanks for holding my hand
- Vanessa Clark – bubbly bubbly bubbly!! Shame, her cat’s on Prozac!
- Neil Garb – coder extraordinaire, very charming too
- Brandon Golding – the man with the big-ass camera!
- Rafiq Phillips – needs no introduction 🙂
- Allan Kent – aaah, too brief Allan. Catch you next time hey?
- Max Kaizen – also didn’t see much of Max, unfortunately
- Matt Mullenweg – stunning guy! I hope you found your luggage man
If I left anyone off, I’m sorry!!! (Blame the Jaggerbombs haha!)
***********************************************************************************
And here are the photos … CLICK
***********************************************************************************
And …
If you missed Matt’s presentation at WordCamp 2008, the videos are now up on Zoopy.com.
Mooooo to you too 😀
Ummm, the only lead I can give you on that one is the set of links to Zoopy that I posted above …
Mooooo
Im looking for matt’s presentation, anyone know where to find it?
‘gansta-mobile’, haha, bet it doesn’t purr like a ford! 😉
Much talked about.. is that so? Love it! Anyway, was totally awesome to finally meet you in person and I’d love to see you out again! In fact, there’s a bit of a young professionals thing going on at Relish tonight (Friday), you might want to pop in there, I’ll be there later in the evening, and if not, let’s so do drinks another time!
@SheBee … I iz famooos now you know!? Hee hee 😀
*runs off to check the Bee Hive*
Look at you getting all familiarse with ma.tt 😛
PS:Theres a word or two for you on my bloggiepoooh.
@Mike – and super cool to meet you too!! Again, thanks for throwing that together for us, it was GREAT 😀
@Matt – Hey hey 🙂 Yeah, Friday night was a big milestone for me hehe. And it was fanTAStic to meet you – I had no idea you were going to be there so it was a brilliant surprise! Aarrrgh – I see from your gallery that you managed to sneak a pic of me in too!! Yikes.
I hope you managed to get to see a bit of our gorgeous South African surrounds on your trip and that you’ll be back soon 😀
It was good meeting you too. I had no idea you aren’t out at places like that all the time – you seemed comfortable and at ease.
Nice to meet you to cow_grrrl. ‘Twas a fun evening overall I thought 🙂
It really was awesome 😀
Brilliant to meet all those fab people and just hang out with them … hmmm, I should probably mention who they all were hey? Mmk, will do an update to include that info a bit later …
Hip Hip! I’m so glad you went, and even gladder that you had such a good time.
Glad to hear you had a great night out JB…it’s amazing how leaving a comfort zone, as to say, can be such a fun experience….I should do it more often.