Afterglow

That's sort of what I was feeling on Sunday, early afternoon in my time zone, as we were reaching the end of Second Life's first 24-hour Triviathon, a fundraiser benefiting Relay for Life and thus the American Cancer Society. I had been awake since approximately 8:30am the morning before and had played through the entire marathon without even a snooze. I'd been running variously on tea, adrenaline, and chocolate-covered espresso beans.

During the final two hours, which featured Cully Andel's trivia set in homage to the letter R, I was also experiencing an unexpected natural high that felt like calm joy: I was dancing with my sweetheart. answering a satisfying number of questions, and surrounded in general by some of the most wonderful people it has been my pleasure to know. Many were old and recent friends speckling my mini-map with yellow dots rivaling the green ones for space. Others were relatively new ones I got to know a bit better.

And of course there were the others in the final five: Juke Badger, Rain Ninetails, FlutterBye Skytower, and Devin Velinov. Even though we didn't necessarily converse more than usual -- after all, being able to sustain oneself for that length of time means doing more than hanging on every word in local chat -- I ended up finishing the twenty-four hours with a strong sense of bonding with them different from what comes of simply seeing them at games on a regular basis. Because of them, completing the marathon was more than a test of endurance; it was a time of learning about how much this community and the games that glue it together mean, not just to me but possibly to others as well. Or to put it another way, it felt good to know that if I'm a freak, at least I'm not the only one. :)

I initially planned to do the Triviathon simply because I'm obsessive-compulsive and a completionist. I wouldn't have known how to do only part of the event (in a way that allowed me to enjoy it, that is) and wouldn't have wanted to play favorites among the hosts in scheduling my time. By the end, I had additional reasons I was glad I had come, and never for a moment did I regret my decision to stay. I never really even wished I could go to bed (since obviously I could if I wanted to). I've been feeling pretty mushy since the event ended, so now that I'm rested, here is my list of reasons I'm happy I did the Triviathon and will do the next one (RL schedule permitting), as long as it's not too soon:

* For the cause itself. Yay us for earning a significant sum for cancer research! It was over L$60,000, which translates into around US$230. It's not a lot in terms of the ACS's annual budget, but it's more than I can afford to donate in my RL.

* For the sense of community. I choose to join this group of people at events because they continuously impress me with their intelligence, their wit, and their vastly diverse personalities.

* For supporting the hosts. It's a shame that not everyone who hosts quality trivia in SL could have been included, but that's just another reason to look forward to doing it again. Next time, I will not selfishly take up three hours, even though I've heard people say that it was a relief to have a game scheduled in the middle that was not a constant barrage of questions. Chaos was a good mid-point format for those who were staying the course (or most of it), but next time I'll happily make more room for others among the many brilliant and hard-working trivia hosts so that the next round of all-nighters can get a good representation of styles and personalities.

* For the typos. Keeping track of them kept my brain a-working, and I'll have a spiffy list for you of the highlights.

* For the trivia, duh. I was able to see many of my favorite hosts all at once and to go head to head with nearly everyone I know, all in the span of an earthly rotation.

I might be a little "love ya, man" right now, and maybe its onset was due to serious sleep deprivation and over-caffeination, but the root of it is genuine. I'm very thankful for the community we've built up, and that means both my closest friends and the people I see a lot but have never conversed with and everyone in between. I don't want to sugar-coat it -- drama has been known to happen at times -- but we have a lot of special folks in our midst, and this weekend helped to remind me of just how glad I am to be among them!