Location: Duck Landing, NC (a little north of Kitty Hawk, NC)
When: April 1 through April 9 (split into segments of Apr 1-5 and 5-9)
Minimum deposit rate: $90 per two or four days planned
Preferred deposit rate: $155 per four days planned
Total two-day overall price (including deposit): $150
Total four-day overall price (including deposit): $250 per four days (PLEASE READ THE PRICE NOTES BELOW)
Due date for signups: Already past the original dates, but as the expected results didn't hit and I'm losing money on this anyway, you're welcome to sign up now.
Payment method: Cashier's check, money order, or PayPal (PLEASE READ PAYMENT NOTES BELOW)
Closest airport: Norfolk, VA (airport code: ORF, and yes, the closest airport is in another state)
Distance from house: 1.5 to 2 hours
For questions, please post here, e-mail me, or ask on the IRC server in #Gathering. An answer may not be immediately forthcoming, but it will come about.
ATTENDEES
Confirmed (does not mean paid -- 10 segments confirmed total):
- Segment 1 (3):
- Deacon
- edge
- Holy Runner (Fragment 1)
- Kree
- Teran
Segment 2 (8): - amlthrawn
- Deacon
- Infin8Cyn
- Jamie Bond
- sneaky ninja
- Sir Spankspeople
- Teranfirbt
- aspect
- Doc Giggles
Pricing is based on splitting the available eight days into two four-day segments. It's not quite what we were planning on, but it's still a goodly amount of time, and pretty inexpensive on a daily basis. The prices include the following:
- House rental
- Rental taxes and fees
- Airfare and food for the hosts (Greg, Elizabeth, Jez, and Martin)
- Food and some incidentals for the guests
New: If you can only make it for two days, the price will be 60% of the normal price. This means that the cap will be at $150, which allows 48 hours in the house. Some people have asked about this, and while it was not considered a possibility before, it is now available.
There will be no pro-rating. If you can only make one day, you have to pay for two. If you can only make three days, you're still required to pay for the full four. No one who has not paid will be allowed in the house. We really do apologize for this, but it's the only way to be fair to those who have paid for guaranteed room, and to ensure that I don't go insane balancing the schedule.
Couples are permitted, and even encouraged. The more, the merrier.
Also at this point, those who wish to stay the entire week may plan to do so now.
Deposits: Minimum deposit due is $90 per segment, for those that need a little time to get together some money. However, it is strongly requested that you pay the preferred deposit rate of $155 per segment, as it will make life much easier on us.
Please include with your payment your forum name, real name, age, and a valid e-mail address so that you can be contacted with updates. Also include how long you will stay (for clarity's sake) and who, if anyone, is coming with you.
PAYMENTS
Important: Payments are non-refundable.
Payments will be accepted via cashier's check, money order, or other secured instrument. Personal checks will NOT be accepted. Money orders may be purchased from the US Postal Service for 95 cents, but pretty much any money orders will be accepted.
Payments may also be made via PayPal. You can use PayPal to send the money via credit card, but there will be a surcharge on each payment, as credit cards are not factored into the costs, and PayPal takes 2.9% + 30 cents on each transaction; it works out to about $5 extra initially, and about $7 total maximum if only 11 people show up. Use the following links for PayPal:
Deposit (preferred) for PayPal transfers (NOT credit cards)
Deposit (minimum) for PayPal transfers (NOT credit cards)
Deposit (preferred) for PayPal transfers (USING credit cards)
Deposit (minimum) for PayPal transfers (USING credit cards)
A surcharge has been added to the credit card payments ($4.94 for the preferred deposit and $3.00 for the minimum deposit) to reflect the additional amount that I get charged for accepting them.
If you're planning on staying the whole week, make sure that you change the quantity to 2, because your guaranteed spot is based on your deposit.
RULES
- Follow the directions of the hosts. They are responsible for ensuring that things goes smoothly during the stay, and their decisions are final. If they ask you to lower the volume, then do so, and keep it low. If they say you've had enough to drink, then you're done drinking until they say you can drink again.
- Respect everyone. If someone asks you to stop doing something (within reason), then please stop.
- Nothing illegal. This is going to be further clarified below, but if it's not legal to possess or do, don't possess or do them at the Gathering.
- No weapons -- end of story. This means no firearms, no paintball guns, no BB guns, no swords, no combat knives, no nunchaku, no throwing stars, not even rattan or bamboo practice weapons. Pocketknives are allowed.
- No drugs, unless they're valid prescription medications in the pharmacy bottles with current dates. These must be reported to the hosts on arrival. There will be no sharing of medications; if there's a medical need, transportation to a medical location will be provided.
- No throwing things inside the house.
- No smoking indoors. This is not only our rule, but a house rule.
- If you do smoke outdoors, deposit the remains in the proper receptacles.
- If you make a mess, you clean it up. Special note: If you spew, you scrub. If you blow chunks in the pool or the hot-tub, 10-20 people will beat your skull in and ship your remains home by way of Abu Dhabi, because no one will want to use the facility again.
- No underage drinking. If you are caught doing so, you risk expulsion from the Gathering.
- If you're drinking, you will turn over your keys to the hosts at the start of the drinking. They will be secured until such time as you need to drive and are judged capable of doing so; this will be at the sole discretion of the hosts.
- No wandering around outside if you're drunk, especially in the front yard.
- No drunk swimming or hot-tubbing.
- Anyone using the hot-tub must be wearing bathing suits. If you can't wear it on a normal public beach in the US without getting cited, you can't wear it in the hot-tub.
- No deck jumping. In fact, no jumping on or off of things in general, especially the beds.
- No using the pool and/or hot-tub alone. Someone must be at least in the back yard with you.
- Jacuzzis in the master bedrooms are invitation-only.
- Serious kanoodling should be done behind closed doors. Couples can be affectionate, but when it turns from affection to passion, close the door, please.
- Knocking Rule: If the sign on a bedroom door says Do Not Disturb (the two master bedrooms) or Please Knock (the more communal bedrooms), follow its advice. Respect the privacy and the sleeptimes of other people.
- It is possible that you will not always get to sleep in the same bed, depending on how many people are present. You may sometimes have to sleep on a couch or on the floor, especially if there are more people than beds, rotating with those in the opposite situation. It's only fair.
- One console per person, preferably agreed-upon before the trip. There's something like 7-8 TVs, so it's pointless to have 15 consoles there, especially if they're all Playstations. If you do bring anything, please label it as yours.
Sorry about this. Between schedules, costs, availability, likely local vacation populations, and a few other factors, this was simply deemed to be the better choice, even though a couple more people voted for August. It's nothing personal.
That you know of.
Edit 1: Added note about non-refundability after Feb 1.
Edit 2: Added in PayPal links.
Edit 3: Provided clarification of the credit surcharge amounts.
Edit 4: Added list of attendees.
Edit 5: Made some slight modifications to the dates (removed the reference to Feb 1) and a few changes to the participating people)
Edit 6: Added in stuff for two-day reservations, and opened up the schedule even more to allow deposits through Feb 28
Edit 7: Removed references to dates and such, because at this point, we'll take what we can get.
