There were fat unicorns!  And mudkips!  And llamas on the wall!

As many have already heard (because I'm the last to update my journal, lmao), the adorable `dammitMEL, the mighty !DreamingMyth, the insightful !WrathOfNessis, the Angelo No.2 known as ~KissMyHuman, and I spent the past Wednesday at the deviantART Headquarters -- and we lived to tell about it!  

  And believe me when I say that survival is no small feat!  Being amongst all of that awesome artwork, the plushies, those fantastic people, the lair of devWear, the creative genius that ebbs from the walls, and $chris' Rockband skillz0rz?  It tends to take your breath away!







Psst! deviantART is about to add a new feature to the website!  Code name: Groups.  But shh!  You didn't hear that from me.

There's been a lot of talk about this soon-to-be released feature, but one thing's for sure:  These Groups are AMAZING.  

I went to the meeting at deviantART HQ fairly clueless as to what deviantART Groups actually *were* or why we should want to use them -- and now I stand before you awestruck and astounded by how ingenious they are. I have a million different ideas on how I'd like to utilize them or see them utilized, and sheer excitement is pulsing through my veins for what this will mean for the future of the deviantART community as a whole.  I can't wait!

The whole idea behind this meeting was to get some input or ideas for Groups.  And let me be the first, second, third, fourth, FIFTH to tell you that everything already in the works is amazing.  Even so, there is something so inexplicably thrilling about being asked for your input, and witnessing as $Heidi or +spyed jot down the idea to consider it, use it, or implement it in some form or another.  

Aww!  







So how'd I end up at the deviantART HQ?  

Well...   

In the wee-hours of Tuesday morning, deviantART's CEO and co-founder +spyed (Angelo) threw this devMEET-of-sorts together.  This was a completely spur-of-the-moment plan, but I love random hair-brained ideas like these!  He invited a few deviants from #devart to join him in discussing the new Groups feature that deviantART is about to release and to hear what they had to say.

Upon learning this and seeing the group of people assembling to go, I decided it was too great of an opportunity to pass up.  So I sort of... um, bought last-minute plane tickets to fly out to the dA HQ for the day?    All in the spirit of Groups!  And deviousness!  

I'd never done anything like that before and didn't even know where I was going, but!  I refused to let that dissuade me.  So without much more than the address of a coffee shop where everyone was meeting, I boarded a plane on Wednesday morning and ventured forth to meet +spyed and the other dAlcoholics.  So much fun!

And we got much more than we bargained for!  We also got to meet $Heidi, `Waveswinger, $bionikdesign, `richardbrady, `trowlandson, !Stykera, $endosage, $micahgoulart, $makepictures, a whole cave of ¢Creative Team members in action, and several others!  It was awesome to be able to meet the people behind the usernames.  






I have never -- EVER -- been surrounded by so many people who not only love something so much that they get excited just sharing it with others, but love it so much that they work to make it exponentially better every single day.  

I have never -- EVER -- been around so many people that loved deviantART, and could talk about it for hours.  It was bliss!

And I have never -- EVER -- stood on a sidewalk acting like Moar Bear.  

Until this past Wednesday.

The entire excursion was a sensory overload, and I'm still basking in the fuzzy glow of the aftermath.  I cannot thank HQ enough for allowing us to wander around and hang out with everyone even though they were busy working.  Hopefully we didn't cause any deviantART downtime for the rest of you...?

Note to all deviantART members:  We are in good hands.    And +spyed makes a wicked caffè latte.