8/13 System Seminar

Things we learned:

-Confirmation that Horace arranged Noah and Sarah’s marriage.

-Andy doesn’t appreciate the finer points of Batman (don’t lecture me about being an adult if you can’t iron your pants you little pervert.)

-Horace started the System to attract a particular type of person and Noah took it over and wants the goal to be to teach people self actualization.

– Horace is associated with OSDM. And believes in Anoch.

Oh and Noah thinks I have excellent beard to hair combo.

On a side, really personal note…

Noah pulled @thegilded aside during the premeet portion of the night. He pulled out a wad of cash and said “Even though I want your money, I don’t need it.”

And handed me $100 dollars in cash. Because he did this for Sean and I, I can only assume it was payment for doing what we do on the forums.

This was not necessary at all, but the appreciation and respect it garnered within me is unmatched.

Thank you @maddyxxx. That was a truly incredible gesture.

Horace started the System to attract a particular type of person and Noah took it over and wants the goal to be to teach people self actualization.

@thebuz That explains the disconnect between The System’s marketing materials and The System itself. Now, combined with last week’s lessons, the folks who were turned off by the initial announcement (me included) can give it a second chance. Personally I’m not at a place in my life where I need The System, and I still have some doubts about whether Noah can practice what he preaches, but if there are lessons to be learned I’m on board.

Also, what he did for you and Sean was awesome. Noah’s earned a lot of respect from me.

Andy had the best quotes of the night I’d say:

“That which I believed was defining me was actually killing me” -@confuseddude

“Noah Sinclair taught me how to FUCK!” -@confuseddude

At tonight’s seminar, Noah showed his real colors. As I predicted, Noah was tired of all this bullshit and wanted to free himself and us. Noah did something tonight that earned my respect and put a big smile on my face: He called out his “dad” on all his bullshit and threw him to the wolves. Fucking A right @maddyxxx

A lot of fascinating details about how Sarah and the Sinclairs first crossed paths. I’d love to know more about the logistics of her hospital visits/vetting process. It was a little hard to follow, but it sounded like Horace and the OSDM were trolling multiple hospitals looking for someone suitable, which means at some point she was a civilian, rather than growing up in this world in the same way, say, Nicole from registration seemed to have been. A lot of what Sarah said got laughs, but it all sounded quite sinister. She definitely seemed off, broken somehow. I think she was scared. We saw that Horace was upset by what she was saying but “Tom Barrow” made him back off. Speaking of which, Tom Barrow’s presence here means that he holds the distinction of being the only member of the OSDM at both the System and iConfidant events… highly significant. At this point I’d be hard pressed say who was in a higher position of authority– Horace or Tom.

@macbethinabathtub Something I took away from that whole conversation: The OSDM (or at the very least Hoarace) has people everywhere. Even when Sarah was just a civilian, her own doctor had ties to Hoarace and was able to give him the heads up that he had a possible candidate for Hoarace’s son. Also worth noting was that she told the story in a way that made it seem like Noah had no idea she was picked out for him when they first met.

Notes from tonight-

• Noah is 100% hotter in person.
• Tom Borrow was there yet nothing was said about him. He took @lazysmartperson to the side before the show started to talk to him for a minute.
• Horace was taking the (adorable) photographer and pointing at people to take photos of. I was one of them, as many others.
• Sarah was super awkward and made me think much less of her.
• @mike deserved the a standing ovation for his version of what we did for the periscopes.
• Horace needs to keep track of his gloves.
• I acted upon “take what is yours” and took the extra bottle of alcohol offered to us winners. Noah, you’re welcome to come take it back. (Or get Otis to pick it up. Miss that old goober.)
• Noah draws dicks pretty well, not so much piles of shit.
• There seems to be a reoccurring theme of black label.
• Andy can suck a dick.

Brief Overview from garbage seats.
–We showed up and some mean lady in a blue dress made us stare at the wall on the side of the building.
–We entered (Horace watching) and were told to take 3 note cards and a pencil and find a seat.
–Some guy was directed by Horace to take pictures of everyone.
–the announcer (Holly?) was kind of like a System game show host with rap music and clapping and said she was a professor of the System and she warmed us up.
–Sarah was the first guest and sat in a chair and was interviewed by Holly. She seemed very submissive and even dressed down like a sister-wife (out of character). She explained how she met Noah, that she was selected by Horace and some doctors who put her through evasive physical testing and choose her because she was a perfect specimen and she didn’t care because she thought she was winning something. She and Noah also complete for Timothy’s love and that is how they will raise him to be strong and choosy when selecting a future wife, nothing less than someone who will compete for him…
—Second guest was Andy, who was quite “on”. He pulled Buz and Brad onstage and said something about not letting games or pop culture distract from our true selves? He had a brief moment at the beginning about how the System “changed” him.
–Next was Mike, who spoke from the heart about his life and shared his own System testimonial with us live. It was quite emotional.
–Then Holly showed a video of some of our heartfelt System periscopes as an intro to…the man himself, Noah Sinclair…more rap, more applause. He did some exercises with having us write our goals, then telling us they were shit, then writing our real goals. He called out a few people and belittled our answers. He called some guy named Adam onstage because he said he wasn’t a failure. Noah asked Andy to assist, then tied the guys hands with his tie and slapped him around until Adam agreed his life wasn’t over and he could still change.
Then he called up a group to face each other and one give rebuttals to the others failures. That group stayed onstage while Noah called up Horace and asked him about Anoch and the OSDM. Horace wouldn’t answer. Then Noah told the group onstage to go backstage with Horace. Then Noah told us that the whole System thing was hard for him to participate in and that he would basically guide us and we would be safe as long as he was there (?).

And that was it. I don’t know what happened at the beginning of the evening from 5-6pm. But overall, it was a good time..lots of comedy and laughs. Though not much of a big reveal or anything, I enjoyed it, lot’s of fun.

• This reply was modified 6 years, 8 months ago by Sage.

It felt so wonderful to finally watch Horace squirm after 2 years of hearing his shit.

I said it before and I’ll say it again: Noah is the most real person here. Glad to see him break his chains!

Getting to see Horace in person and he’s kind of a contradiction. Sarah told the story about how he selected her for Noah and he seemed to have an incredible amount of power and control. Dude is a doctor, owned the hospital, and was running in depth tests on what had to be a lot of people. Yet, while Sarah was talking, he was getting antsy as hell about…something? Yes, Horace looked gross in her story, but he doesn’t seem the type to care, especially when it’s revealing how deep his influence and power go. Eventually he did freak out and go to confront her, but Tom Barrow backed him off, saying something like, “It isn’t worth it.”

I agree with @macbethinabathtub that their interaction may have pointed to Tom having more power than we realized, even to the point of being above Horace.

Horace was also having control issues with Noah and was furious when he was called up on stage. It’s obvious that his control is slipping, but less obvious is what’s causing that. Not that we haven’t seen indications that he’s been having troubles, but what would cause such a quick collapse for someone with what appears to be a huge sphere of influence. Or was this all performance to make everyone think he’s slipping?

I guess the man I was pulled out by was a Tom Barrow. He was frustrated by Noah. Brought up the whole periscope experiment thing this week. I forgot what I said that prompted him to ask me if I had done it. And I had said yes. He asked me why would I do that and then he told me to just go.

@kevin

I agree with @macbethinabathtub that their interaction may have pointed to Tom having more power than we realized, even to the point of being above Horace.

I maintain that Borrow is to Horace (or the Sinclairs) that Tom Hagen is to the Corelones. The advisory family member.

Alright Noah, that was one hell of an evening I won’t soon forget. You know where my heart lies, but I appreciate what you do on at least one level. Hearing that he compensated @thebuz and @thegilded also cheers my heart because I know they deal with A LOT as mods.

I know @mamatato got pulled aside at one point, and I’m sure she’ll share her story tomorrow when she can. Other than that, I don’t have much more to add beyond noticing @111error chilling in the back row for part of the evening.

Also god damn why the hell do you ever put me up against Buz in discussing something of geek culture?

Wanted to say how much I loved the seminar. I’m also glad to see Noah tell it like it is!

@sfire8 I had meh tickets and the additional half hour (compared to garbage) was:

– quick meet and greet with Noah in groups of 5 where he seemed like he couldn’t care less who or what we were
– warm up type workshop moments similar to when Andy and Noah brought random people (from winners and meh) on stage to play out scenarios. It was hosted by a couple of The System guys.

Just got home, was really good seeing everyone and seeing The System in action. Double plus good seeing @mike pop out of the god damn shadows to drop his truth bombs.

Full write up tomorrow when I’m not tired as shit.

A few highlights:

— Photographer said I was “the prettiest one in the entire line, with pretty green eyes”. But we know this.
— @111error sat down behind me early in the show. After the confrontation with Horace, he muttered, “this is bullshit” and stormed out.
— @lazysmartperson shared an important piece of information about what Horace said to him outside. I’ll let him relay it.
— We were in a movie theater and there was no popcorn. THIS IS BULLSHIT.
— @mike made the most emotionally courageous public appearance I can ever recall. A public “Red Room” moment. Let his appearance be an inspiration to us all.
— @maddyxxx revealed more to us in how he said things, than in what he said.
— HA! I am so not a plant!
— I think several months back I suggested that perhaps the Sinclairs were deserving of a bit more compassion than we had afforded them. To me, Sarah seems like an introverted woman who was roped into something and is in way over her head. I’d like to know more about her attitude at the focus group and if it jibes with who we saw tonight.
— As for the 3 Horace questions:If he said “no” to any of them, then he would expose himself to any followers as being a fraud. If he said “yes”, then his plans would potentially be revealed. So we still don’t actually know.
— Some writer somewhere showed off his comedy chops tonight and they rocked.
— I know none of these people are actors, but if they were, I’d say they have some kick-ass comic timing.

@larry Sarah tonight was completely different from the focus group. At the focus group she was confident and had her shit together. Tonight she was timid and afraid to even speak. She was unsure of herself and what to say. She sounded robotic and it was clear that Hovering Horace holds her leash tight. Maybe Sarah used to be a little bitchy and cold but she was a strong female. Now she seems like a battered housewife and that makes me sad 🙁 something is very wrong with her.

Ps. WHERE IS OTIS?!

• This reply was modified 6 years, 8 months ago by Candace.

Then Noah told us that the whole System thing was hard for him to participate in and that he would basically guide us and we would be safe as long as he was there (?).

Well if that’s not the most ominous endorsement of the whole sacrifice theory ever.

Think while you still have me
Move while you still see me
You’ll be lost
You’ll be so sorry
When I’m gone

Alright @maddyxxx, if it’s not too late I’m ready to take you seriously.
Come kick my ass.

I had a “winner” ticket. Met Noah for the second time and he was actually very nice to me whenever I talked to him (which wasn’t much). No snide commentary/fart noises, no trash dump at my feet. Hell he even toasted to “no drinking and driving” which is something I fully 100% support. Good on him!

His photographer was making me horribly uncomfortable though. I think he has a picture of my left face cheek. Great. :-/

Johnny Walker Black label: smooth and a little smokey. Never tried it but it’s not bad! Heard Noah say “it’s a wee whiskey” in a Irish accent. Hehe, unlike @chelsea’s assessment of Noah’s temporary break from his usual voice, I thought it was cute. 😉

Sarah–um, as much as it pains me to say it I actually feel very sorry for her position. She comes off as a broken woman. I don’t like what I see.

Horace–deserves all the cosmic karma to kick him right in the dick IMHO. His System needs to fucking burn.

Tom Barrow–didn’t leave holes in the dry wall so points to him for that.

I was hoping to see Otis but alas he wasn’t there. Seeing @mike pop in on stage though was the biggest WTF and most emotional moment of the seminar. You’re freakin’ brave, Mike.

Would love to know why Morgan thought this was bullshit; I personally didn’t gain much of anything from the seminar. Much of the advise of “fuck off” is not feasible nor realistically something I can do. So, I finally got a taste of the System and it’s just not for me. Not for everyone though so I have no shame saying this. Back to Morgan though, I find it to be odd timing to walk out after Noah confronted Horace about his ties with The Church of Anoch. Why is Horace’s refusal to say one way or the other, bullshit?

It was good to see you guys though, even if it was a short while.

I’ll be back to my paranoid and crazy theories after this brief message.

Thank you to everyone for yesterday. Thank you for listening to me try to talk and remember what I had wanted to say. Thank you to everyone who came up to me afterwards with words of encouragement and stories of their own. You guys are fucking amazing. There’s so much I wanted to say, but in the spur of the moment, totally forgot.

@maddyxxx always said to take what you want. I took that as a metaphor and not to take something physical. Yesterday was a step to take my life back. To kick it in the balls and while it’s hunched over, grab it by the back of the neck and own it. I am in fucking control. WE are in fucking control of our own lives. No one else and nothing else.

Now…I didn’t see much of the seminar, but I did see some interesting things while I was waiting.

– When I first got there, there were 4 men standing together about 20 feet away just staring daggers at me. Horace, Tom Barrow, and two others. It’s possible these were the 2 guys that started the night out (from what I could hear).
– At one point, the door to the room I was in opened and Tom walked in, stared at me, then stared out the door and motioned. Then pointed at the chair/couch. At that point, DLB came in. DLB is still under their control. He seemed to not be able to do anything unless Tom gave the ok for him to do so.
– @111error stormed out once Noah brought Horace on stage. Was that based on Noah or Horace?
– I feel like Noah will be in danger now. He called his dad, a very powerful man, on stage and made him look like a fool.
– Hearing how Sarah and Noah….met…was interesting. Does the OSDM really stand for “Oracles Superior Dating Manual”?

So glad to see you back @mike!!

Thank you @maenicole <3<3<3

Wanted to go into a bit more detail over “Battle of the Batmen”. Andy’s question to me was “Who’s your favorite Batman?” which is indeed the Nolan / Bale version. What can I say, Dark Knight is my favorite film in the series. BUT if he had asked “Who is the BEST Batman?” sure, that answer is up for debate.

Arguing over opinions is pointless to me. Everyone has their own personal favorites for whatever reasons they have. I fucking LOVE Snake on a Plane and found it to be one of my favorite comedies to watch with friends when it came out. But I recognize it’s a fucking shitty movie.

Buz made some legit points about Kevin Conroy, and I’d probably back him up that he’s the quintessential Batman. I mean hell, when I play Injustice 2 whose voice do I hear? Kevin’s. But for me personally when I first think of Batman my brain goes directly to Bale’s version facing off with Heath Ledger’s Joker. And for that I don’t need to defend myself.

P.S. Bale’s Batmobile can kick any other Batmobile’s butt. And that’s a fact.

So, so, SO happy to have you back @mike. 🙂 🙂 🙂

@Mike That’s very interesting that you saw DLB there. I saw the little spiky tips of his hair appear and disappear a couple times up in the booth when the music turned on by mistake during the interviews as well. Maybe those sound issues weren’t mistakes at all? Was he trying to get our attention?

@coryphella – You’re amazing, thank you. Go enjoy your last few days in Scotland!!

@lilmsfancpants – Oh, good catch! Were there music cues with words by any chance? I wonder if there was a message that was trying to be delivered?

Ha! I actually thought that was Noah messing around with the sound system.

Here’s what happened from the garbage seats!

Before the Show

When we arrived shortly before 6pm, we were told to stand in line and face the wall. The woman instructing us spoke in a loud, slightly irritated voice. This was a character I’d never seen before, an Asian woman. I didn’t hear her identified by name.

They began letting us in, one or two people at a time. Maybe someone up front – Candace? – can say what happened when you were allowed inside? The check-in process was going slowly, so eventually they stopped checking us in one at a time and led the whole line into the theater at once. A photographer snapped pictures of us as we entered.

We passed Horace, who looked stern and wasn’t making much eye contact.

In the theater, the woman from the outside instructed us to take three blank index cards and a pencil from the stage.

Sarah’s Interview

After we’d all taken our seats, an Australian woman apparently named Holly took the stage and greeted us with “Hello, Los Angeles!” She tried to pump up our energy, then eventually announced someone without whom none of this would be possible…Sarah. She sat down to interview Sarah, reading her questions from a stack of cards.

Sarah seemed extremely formal and professional, perhaps a bit unfeeling. When asked what it was like being married to Noah Sinclair, she said that every undertaking had its rewards and challenges. When asked what the key to their marriage was, she said, “Competition.” They compete over everything. Including Timothy’s love. She said that it was her idea for Timothy to have a “scoreboard” showing which parent was winning, and that she unabashedly played dirty by telling Timothy whenever Noah griped about him. Her methods were successful and she was usually the more beloved parent, according to the scoreboard.

When asked how she and Noah met, she told an unsettling story about going to her annual gyno appointment and her gynecologist asking if he could run some additional tests. Interested in being in peak physical condition, she agreed. Eventually more and more tests were run by a whole team of specialists, some of them quite “intrusive,” until she finally learned what this was all about: Horace had been having her tested to see if she would make a good physical candidate for his son Noah. Basically, he’d been seeing what she’d have to add to the bloodline.

Which definitely points to Timothy being important to Horace in some way.

As she was describing all of this, Horace began stalking up the aisle, glaring at her. He stood directly next to the stage, as if to intimidate her. She looked at him and paused for a moment, but then kept talking. He seemed unhappy with what she was saying. Eventually Tom Barrow went up to him, whispered, “It’s not worth it, it’s not worth it,” and pulled him away.

Andy’s Testimony

After the Sarah interview, Holly introduced Andy. Andy described how Noah had changed his life. Then he did an audience exercise.

He asked those of us who liked Batman to raise our hands. Then he called on Brad and asked him who, in his mind, the definitive Batman was. Brad said Christian Bale. Andy asked who disagreed, and called on Buz. He then had the two of them face each other on stage and asked Buz to explain why he disagreed. Buz said that the definitive Batman was Kevin Conroy from the Animated Series and explained why. Andy asked Brad to respond, but Brad didn’t see the point in arguing opinions. Eventually Andy sent them both back to their seats.

He promptly mocked both of them for having such strong opinions on Batman at all. He said that he used to be like them, but “That which I believed was defining me was actually killing me.” Facebook likes, opinions on pop culture, our concern for the trivial defined us as “weak-minded and feeble” and led to complacency. Those things don’t matter.

He said that he used to be like us, obsessed with digital achievements instead of real achievements. But all that was was endless masturbation. Noah Sinclair taught him what was really important. All he knew was how to masturbate until Noah taught him how to fuck.

He then got a bit carried away and lifted his hands in the air, shouting “Noah Sinclair! Noah Sinclair! Noah Sinclair!” until Holly came out and took the microphone away from him.

The Special Guest

Holly then introduced a surprise secret guest: Mike Fontaine.

Mike essentially shared his version of our Periscopes. There’s no way I could do what he said justice, so I’ll just say that he moved a number of people to tears and made us believe that changing your way of life is possible.

Background Activity

While all this was happening, Tom Barrow and Horace occasionally pulled people out of the audience to go outside for a 1:1. Hopefully we’ll hear more soon of what happened to them.

The System Video

I believe this is the point where this video showed, but I may be getting the timing wrong. They showed us a video comprised of many clips of our Periscopes, covering topics ranging from hope to fear to gratitude to distress. The video ended on Neil Patrick Harris describing how the System had differed from other self-help processes and truly helped him.

Noah Sinclair

Then it was time for the man himself, Noah Sinclair. Noah spoke a bunch of the usual jargon about taking what’s ours, identifying what’s in our way, and learning to tell people to fuck off. He also conducted some exercises with us, having us write down our goal for the year, then going around reading our answers and criticizing them or praising them. Much of his advice was about using other people. Using them to propel yourself forward.

He had Kortney Luby and Addison Born face each other on stage and tell each other what they saw. He criticized them for being too nice, then asked the audience for a volunteer who had never met Kortney or Addison before. This was hard to find, but eventually some dude spoke up and said that Kortney was trying to be emo. Noah rolled his eyes and called the guy Captain Obvious, then gave up on the exercise.

In another exercise, he called up six people and had them face each other in pairs. The first person had to name what was holding them back, the second person had to tell them how to deal with it. He laughed a lot at the advice being given.

Then he called Horace up onstage. Some people clapped. I booed. Horace seemed furious.

Noah said that Horace was the one who had created The System. He asked Horace three questions:

1) Do you believe in Anoch?
2) Are the Oracles real?
3) In what way are you tied to the OSDM?

Horace refused to answer any of the questions. At one point, if I recall, he tried to yell at Noah, but Noah drowned him out. Noah told the six participants still on stage to take Horace backstage and question him further. As they went backstage, we could hear Horace yelling, “You have no free thought! You have no free will! No free thought! No free will!”

Noah said, somewhat cryptically, that this is what happens, “you become a monster and you end up with only the comfort of the rest of the monsters.”

He said that “Horace did this to control you and I’m not going to fucking stand for it.”

He said, “As long as I’m here…you will be equipped” for self-actualization.

So yeah, Rizzo called it, Horace started The System as a means of control, but Noah is taking it back.

Noah walked off, the lights went up, and the rest of us looked at each other and slowly filtered out.

Thoughts

• I didn’t see Sarah as being frightened at all, merely being somewhat mechanical. I think perhaps her unemotional, purely rational behavior is part of the reason Horace chose her. That said, I haven’t seen much of her before, so maybe others were picking up on some nuances that I missed.
• When Sarah kept talking as Horace stared at her, I saw it as an act of defiance. She wasn’t going to be intimidated into silence.
• Horace seemed pretty helpless. He seemed angry and resistant the whole time, but nobody was paying attention to him except Tom trying to soothe him. When did he lose all his ability to intimidate? Has he lost his grip on Noah for good?
• Does Noah even need our help anymore, if he’s able to publicly humiliate Horace in such a way?
• This was a Noah who was defying Horace. Does that mean this was the real, deep-down Noah? Because…I still didn’t particularly care for this Noah, and I didn’t trust his many speeches about using other people. From a Resistance POV, I am now especially wary of being used.
• Tom Barrow whispering in Horace’s ear suggests that Horace and Tom share some common goals. Such as bringing Anoch back. Or, at least, such as certain “sacrifices”. We knew from the Resistance that “all known entities” report back to Horace, but it was nice to have this confirmed.

@daela – thank you, as always, for your wonderful writeups! I wish I could have been there.

So who were the people who were taken out for 1:1s? Who were the ones who took Horace backstage?

I didn’t even see @111error there! Interesting that he stormed out…and missed Noah completely getting the upper hand. I wonder what Morgan’s thoughts are now that Noah seems to be aligning with the same goals. They’re two peas in a pod now.

@111error snuck in and stayed in the shadows of the back row. I only noticed him when I looked back to see who was coming through the back door. It felt like he didn’t want to make his presence all too known, but also wasn’t actively trying to hide.

So most of the event was covered pretty well by others, so I’ll focus on my experiences and my take on the whole thing.

“Winners” drink – Enjoyed sharing a drink with a clearly bored Noah (asked a couple times things like “How much longer do I have to be here”). Tom Barrow made a brief appearance but he left really quickly which left most of us confused. I thought that the photographer was… unusual, but people in this group were having more fun with him than being unnerved by him. Towards the end, Noah pulled Buz aside and then me afterwards. He told me that he wanted my money, but didn’t need it. He gave me the money that I paid for my ticket back due to my service to the community, presumably for my mod service. I thanked him and thank any of The Powers That Be that are reading this

I got to enjoy the “Almost cool” portion, and then during the actual seminar, after Sarah’s interview, Horace angrily pulled me away. He told me to follow him and I followed him into the restroom. It seemed like he wasn’t interested in talking to me, he just wanted someone to complain to as he pissed (in the stall, this wasn’t a Mary Lynn scenario). Nonstop complains about Noah, telling me that he hates Noah and he suspects Noah hates him because Noah sees some of Horace in himself. He asked me if I had any children and when I told him no he seemed pleased. By this point, he was washing his hands and was clearly displeased at the “fucking sandpaper” that they provide and told me to turn around. He proceeded to dry his hands on my shirt and told me to “sit the fuck back down, you’re missing the show”. I did so.

I was already happy with my attendance at this time but seeing cameos from NPH and @mumumusings bolstered that happiness immediately. When @mike came out, the crowd erupted and I sure as fuck joined them.

Overall a hell of a Seminar. Noah drilling Horace on Anoch and Oracles has me looking forward to the next System event.

A cameo from @mumumusings?

Ah, I should clarify. He wasn’t there in person, but there was a section of the event in which they took clips from all of our tasks, so a bunch of the participants in attendance got to see themselves on the big screen. They also included some people who were not physically present so there were clips from Neil Patrick Harris, @mumumusings and actually on thinking on it more, you were also on there @coryphella

Oh. Awesome.

So sorry about the delay…

Just keeping you updated with what had happened yesterday as I got pulled behind the curtain with Horace. Ok so, Horace pulled myself along with a handful of other people back into a dressing room. He started yelling at us that we are all sheep and we don’t understand what all this is, that we’re all just a bunch of “pot smoking, drinking hippies.” After he’s done yelling at us, he tells us that he’s missing his “black gloves”.
As everyone is looking for his gloves, I approach Horace and ask him if Anoch is real? “You can tell me Horace, I’m a believer.” Instead of me getting any kind of answer from him, he turns around and yells at me to find his “fucking gloves” and then leaves out the side door.
We did look for his gloves, but didn’t find them, did find them?? As the group of us went into escape room mode, we did find a pair of black gloves that were inside of a trash bag box along with a flashlight, but it was so out of place that as we were searching, we honestly felt we were being intrusive. We don’t know if those gloves were what he wanted us to find, if it was coincidence that those gloves happened to be in that trash bag box. Or Horace didn’t have his gloves there and he had us looking for a “snipe” so he can make his exit. Either way, not much happened back there besides getting yelled at by him, but still wanted to update you all about what happened back there.

Hopefully in the future I can be able to have some one on one time with horace and pick his brain about what he knows.

@daela to add! Noah told the drinking crew the Asian woman was his assistant, and her name was Liu (genuinely unsure about spelling but pronounced “Lou.”)

I just wrote up this big long thing but it didn’t go through 🙁

Anyway, What Sarah was saying (“I’m a competitive cutthroat bitch”) didn’t match up with her mannerisms/delivery. She seemed timid and lost, almost like I would expect someone suffering from amnesia or dementia to behave. The lights and loud noises seemed to be further disorienting her. She seemed girlish. Did you guys hear the actual sound effect at one point that sounded like wires frying/sizzling? Like some sort of technical glitch noise? Just as she was starting to kind of go “off script a bit” and reveal too much? This to me suggests she is more than just an intimidated hostage to Horace but has actually been reprogrammed in some way (helmet?). I genuinely don’t think she knows who she is. She seemed during the interview to be confused, as if she was having weird flashbacks and could perhaps not remember the “story of her own life”/what was real.

That being said, most of what she was saying was repulsive (competing for son’s love) but I actually found that oddly sweet and romantic, the fact that ideally her and Noah compete over their son so that he will grow to expect nothing less than the best from Love. I mean that’s sweet, ideally, but let’s be real, they’re probably raising a sociopath who won’t be capable of experiencing real love.

Holly is cool. Wanna see what she gets up to.

I basically think Sarah Sinclair could very well be Sarah Thompson as others were saying, or some other kidnapped victim.

I doubt she ended up being in the “hospital” and being experimented on as consensually as “she” would have us to believe.

Tom Barrow took me aside and expressed concern about Noah’s recent antics like making people eat weird food. He said that if Noah keeps going on like this then “Horace might literally kill himself.”

I hope that I heard that right because I like the current self-actualizing Noah and like it even more that his actions are disrupting Horace’s OSDM agenda.

Hello everyone. Yes, I slid in late, quietly sat in the back row, and observed.
I have no clue what Noah is up to, everything I saw last night came across as unhinged, but as long as we’re not enemies then I’m going to stay in this holding pattern and explore an… uneasy friendship. Their house is clearly not in order – and what was up with Andy’s sudden ‘expression of love’ for Noah at the end? It almost looked like a cry for help…

It wasn’t easy to sit silently through what I saw. I’m not entirely sure what my friends stood to gain from it, and I had to bite my tongue several times when Noah stared at me, taunting me to dare to join in.

Before I left, I saw Noah deliver a solid ‘fuck you’ to his father, stumbling over the OSDM acronym – perhaps relishing the public embarrassment of Horace a little too much? But, whatever was going on in his head, there are definitely places where our goals dovetail and intersect.

I did not mean to look like I was ‘storming out’, I had just seen enough. My friends, chastised and admonished for a love of comics, others told to criticize each other needlessly with no lesson or payoff, one of my very best friends, Mike, returning in his natural scribe role but having to trudge through Hell to get there, and baring his soul in a way I know was uncomfortable for him, I’d just seen enough. Having confirmed with my own eyes that Horace was no longer captain of the ship, I was able to leave. My ‘fuck this’ comment came from an unwillingness to see more of the circus, and being free to get out of there. I had hands to kiss and babies to shake.

Been catching up on everyone’s posts now that I have returned to civilisation for two nights… While it is interesting to read what happened, one question jumps out at me:

What did you feel you actually learned from this seminar?

To be honest, I fully expected the switch to occur yesterday. It didn’t, but that doesn’t mean it is not gonna happen. I’ve been watching you all bare your souls from a distance and have been incredibly moved. I am fiercely protective of my friends and I hope to Anoch that the switch I expect never comes because I don’t want to be a witness to the fallout…

Wait… is @mike the person among us that made a promise and who is dictating the narrative that
The Hostess in black spoke about?

@thebuz, that crossed my mind last night too? Didn’t Noah, tell them to “come forward and do what you said you would…” Or something like that? Maybe @mike can tell us?

Also wondering of anyone asked one of the players, “what did you do at the seminar??” I couldn’t get close to anyone except LIU and she was so gruff. I should have done it..dammit.

@thebuz, that crossed my mind last night too? Didn’t Noah say “come forward and do what you said you would…” Or something like that? Maybe @mike can tell us?
Also wondering of anyone asked one of the players, “WHAT HAPPENED AT THE RETREAT??” I couldn’t get close to anyone except LIU and she was so gruff. I should have done it..dammit.

@sfire8 Damn I knew I forgot something… I should’ve asked when I got my poster.

@meghanmayhem agreed. Andy was creeping me out with his frenetic behaviour, to be honest. Same with the photographer, who told several of us that Noah “saved him” and would make us famous; Noah just seemed annoyed with him. It’s almost like their love is purely artificial, and it exasperates him.

Last night was so fun! Seeing and meeting everyone was the real treat.

I was a garbage person, who had an adventure in parking, ended up waddling up at 5:45. I was content to idle until 6. The eccentric photographer took photos of my leg tattoos, like on rapid blast. The fierce, Asian woman wanted my ticket. I fumbled around and downloaded it on my phone and was escorted inside. Noah was sitting there he asked, “Are they cool? (alright? fine?)” and she just made an wavering hand gesture. He went back to his phone.

Took our seats, not a bad seat in the small indie theater, and got called up to do a System Scenario with @wanda102, @mistere and @lazysmartperson. (Y’all brilliant btw)

During Sarah’s interview I felt (and still feel) for her. Because no matter what she does, says or endorses, it could be ‘the most wrong’ she’s ever done, resulting in her injury or death, or noah’s or their son. I just want to have coffee with her and like, hear her. I was fascinated by her answers and was excited at the stare down between her and Horace, “He said I was worthy of his son.”
Like there had been a time everyone was in on this together. Maybe, there had even been some good times? She is a psychopath, surrounded by psychopaths. It is a literal nest of psychopathy. Want. I thought maybe Sarah would join Noah on stage, or be with him at some point, but right now they only seem to be orbiting each other. Maybe still being kept away from one another?

I loved everyone’s involvement, the video was great. and NPH?! Fucking wild. I don’t know Mike, that was before my time, but what he shared was real and sincere, and before nearly 100+ people.

Saw @111error sit in the back corner, stone faced AF.

Noah told us to crumble up our goals and throw them on the floor, they weren’t good enough. Smashing up our papers, people threw them everywhere. Then onto the stage. Then everyone threw them onto the stage much to the annoyance of Noah and this weird, ‘fuck you guys’ smile.

Loved @visitor-m ‘Fuck Off!’ moment on stage. I was so happy for her, while simultaneously getting screamed at. It was fantastic. ( Noah was reading responses to the initial question: “Why are you a loser” and called her up due to her ‘always helping others rather than myself’ answer. He asked the audience if anyone had a problem she could solve. She’s a nurse. I asked a question regarding making my father compliant with his diabetes medication. She gave a great, supportive answer (<3) to which Noah said…’no, say this instead. No. Scream it instead.’)

Closing the evening, roundabouting back to Anoch, was awesome. Did anyone get photos of the stage enders, who those crazy ‘Warhammer 40K’ like chaos symbols? Was there a symbol behind the curtain, pained on the wall, that was really only visible to those sitting center?

Overall, I felt like Noah (as much as we are baby shit bags) Likes us. If we can survive it/this, we can be either his way out or the collapse of the entire thing. His energy changed when he brought Horace on stage. I felt his fatigue, frustration and his defiance.

Wild. Too Wild.

TLDR
-Want to hug Sarah.
-Horace dun gone lost his train of the rails.
-Noah probably likes us, hates everything else
-Morgan present
-Fun to see everyone!
-REALLY fun to watch so much participation
-Fun. Fun. Fun!

• This reply was modified 6 years, 8 months ago by Jackie.

I thought maybe Sarah would join Noah on stage, or be with him at some point, but right now they only seem to be orbiting each other. Maybe still being kept away from one another?

Yes, it was odd that we never saw the two of them interact. But who would be keeping them apart, if not Horace?

@theladyj I took one! I have a feeling that this symbol could just be part of that theater’s normal decorations, creepy though it is. Anyway, here she is.

@daela

I still feel like it is Horace, or was originally. Maybe someone(s)/council?) even above him? Also, I theorize, that keeping them separate or monitored or ‘leashed’, could have been terms of the original cease-fire, when Noah returned for Sarah/timmy’s safety. Even during The most current System videos, they’re not alone.

Since maybe they are this complimenting, competing force, that if they manage to get together, they’d be unstoppable in destroying what offends them. What if them together, perfectly forged, nay hand picked, is the destructive force they fear?

To me, it feels like a very, Sodium and Water. Separate and relativity inert. Together? volatile.

Girl, for the win, @lilmsfancpants
“Part of the theater’s normal decoration.”

What did that initial contact email look like? “Hi- Arena Theaters, The System here. We had an original location, but when we heard you had some all ready, crazy, blood cult symbolism pre-installed, we knew we needed your partnership. Fuck those other guys.” I love the idea of it.

Though, such an idea, especially when they had NPH in The System testimonials, supports the narrative that this is far stretching and deep reaching.

@theladyj This is essentially how we picked our wedding venue.

Loved catching up with everyone last night! Especially our fun interaction @theladyj. Thanks again!
Also, couldnt agree more about the most powerful quotes of the night @pandace88. Those really resonated with me too…