Lumos, Take Four: The Summary. Part One: Thursday.

[valis2]

I have so much to say! Be warned: This is a looong entry, full of wild and crazy fandom.

Here is Thursday's rundown.

So I'll just begin at the beginning.

Thursday

I get to the airport around 10 am on Thursday. There are no Knight Buses until 1 pm. My thought was that it would be better to spend the extra money for a cab and get to the con early than to wait in the airport. I found a girl named Hannah who was wearing a Harry Potter Fan Club t-shirt and I shamelessly used her as bait, drawing in other fen so that I could split a cab ride to the hotel.

Hannah drew in two people, a woman in pink and a guy in a sad Harry Potter baseball hat. The three of us got in line for a cab, and met up with a fourth. While we were waiting in line, I found out that the woman in pink was none other than aubrem, one of the flisters I had been most anxious to meet! What a crazy coincidence!

Neither of us was prepared for what ensued, however.

We were speeding towards the con hotel in our hired taxi, and the guy...I'll call him Mr. Creepy...was on my right, and Aubrem was on my left. It's a rather tight fit (I am not a small woman). Aubrem and I were rather animated, of course, and we started talking about all sorts of things. Mr. Creepy interrupted every so often and offered his own rather boring observations.

One of us mentioned slash for some reason. Nothing graphic. Mr. Creepy said, basically, ewwww. Then he asked us what we see in slash. Aubrem said that it's hot, for which I adore her. He said that he doesn't think it is, and doesn't think that two girls together is either.

I am basically evil, of course, so I turn my laser-like focus onto him and begin to ask him questions.

Me: What do you like to read?
Mr. Creepy: Oh, I like Draco/Hermione.
Me: Oh really? That's interesting.
Mr. Creepy: *waxes rhapsodic over D/H and also over Harry/Hermione*
Me: So have you written fics? Where are you archived?
Mr. Creepy: I've been working on one fic, but it's not archived anywhere.
Me: Oh, that's too bad. You should archive it somewhere.
Mr. Creepy: Well, actually, it's at the beta's.
Me: What's it about?
Mr. Creepy: Well, it's basically Hogwarts meets Muppet Babies.

Normally I try to have at least a modicum of manners, but I must admit that I began laughing like an idjit. No, really. When I can breathe normally again, I posit:

Me: Muppet Babies?
Mr. Creepy: Yes, you know, the characters are all the Hogwarts characters, but they're babies. Just like the Muppet Babies are the baby versions of the Muppet characters.

Apparently this concept is so abstractly genius that he had to spell it out for me. I must mention that at this time I am laughing so hard behind my hands that I am making rather unattractive noises.

Me: So what do they do in this fic?
Mr. Creepy: Well, they're all babies, and they're all in daycare together, and Hermione is a little terror; she pulls Draco's hair!

At this point I am making high-pitched noises that can be heard by dogs in California. Aubrem has turned an alarming shade of pink.

Me: Then what happens after that?
Mr. Creepy: I don't know where to go from there. I'm kind of stuck.

I am quite relieved that I didn't actually spontaneously combust at that moment.

After the cab ride, we walked into the hotel. Mr. Creepy supposedly had procured directions for us to the registration desk, and we followed him for a few steps, until he stopped suddenly, dropped all of his luggage to the ground, and began to make humming noises.

I turned to look at Aubrem, who was just as mystified.

He unzipped his luggage and pulled out a Hogwarts robe (which looks exactly like a cheap US graduation ceremony robe), which he then donned. Yes, that's right, he couldn't go for more than two minutes at the con without putting on his fannish trappings.

So I check in at the desk, and then I check in at the registration area, and make my way up to the Palms Tower to my room. Nice room, great tub, couldn't find the damned privacy tag, but still, it was lovely. I took a few minutes to leave messages with flisters who were attending.

I wander back downstairs, and ended up meeting Aubrem again, and she introduced me to cordelia_v, elanor_isolde, and a couple other people whose names suddenly elude me. We took a walk around the artists' room. Aubrem & Cordelia wanted their picture taken behind the faux stone wall (it had a picture frame cut into it). As soon as they stood behind it, the wall began to wobble alarmingly, and I was afraid for a moment that I'd end up being interviewed for the Las Vegas Times about the horrible irony of Harry Potter fans being squashed by a faux Hogwarts wall. Fortunately, it held.

I wandered around a little bit, checked things out, and looked in the Dealers' Room. I'm quite glad I didn't sign up for it; that would have been a drag, honestly, to have to work every day. I ended up not buying anything the whole weekend...I'm not much of a souvenir person, really.

At some point Mr. Creepy found me and said that he couldn't find the people he was going to hang out with at the con, and suggested dinner or something. I probably looked like a deer caught in the headlights, but managed to stammer out that I had somewhere to go.

I stopped at Starbuck's (this will be a theme, trust me) and while I was having a snack, I though the person at the next table looked familiar. I couldn't quite place her until I saw the black silk shirt, and I remembered her entry about packing only black silk shirts for Lumos. Turned out to be julian_black! I am so glad that she came, honestly. She was the one person I had actually met before the con (I met her in April), and we ended up hanging out a lot. She is wickedly cool, amazingly talented, and hilarious.

So we went to the lumos_snape meetup at 4:30 at the Irish Pub. Happily enough, I was lucky enough to meet sigune! She's totally awesome. Well-spoken, incredibly humble, funny, and just plain nice! I met a few other people as well, chaeche, I think that's how it's spelled, and Cordelia was there too, if I remember correctly. Black bracelets were handed out, and much talking ensued.

And ac1d6urn found me! That was awesome! I was so excited to meet her, and she was there with sinick, so I got to chat briefly with them both, and then I tortured Sinick's SO for awhile, hee. Ac1d is just wonderful, so sweet and friendly and nice, soft-spoken...just wonderful. And Sinick...rar! She's great! She's got this wonderful snarky look in her eyes that is both funny and naughty...don't know how to describe it.

Julian and I made our way to the Welcoming Feast, where I met up with sylvadin. What a sweet, kind, generous soul, which I had guessed already. What a wonderful person, so caring. I immediately could see her good nature shining through! I also met up with gmonkey42, and tried not to squee like a crazed fangurl. Fortunately she ran away before I began to foam at the mouth.

At the Welcoming Feast we ended up taking a few seats at the very corner of the room. As the rest of the seats filled up, I noticed Mr. Creepy (in his robes, of course) circling the room. I had already told Julian the story, and I pointed him out. He kept circling and circling. I was afraid to make eye contact, so Julian watched him for me, and noted that he was holding two beers. One for him, the other presumably for his next victim.

I must mention that there were a few empty seats next to us. I was beginning to worry.

Fortunately, Fate was feeling a bit munificent that evening, and sent happiness our way. Happiness in the form of catrinella, thermidor, and bronze_ribbons. Thank heavens! I was familiar with Bronze_Ribbons...I had read her fics before and loved them. I also knew Catrinella because we must have the same tastes in fics...we kept commenting on the same ones last year during Smutmas. Thermidor ran off to talk to someone, and while we were sitting there, Mr. Creepy came up and asked if he could sit with us. Fortunately Catrinella mentioned that the seat was taken! Callou, callay...I then had to tell the Muppet Babies saga again (poor long-suffering Julian, another theme of the weekend) so that they could understand the true horror we had avoided. I had such a great time talking to everyone! Was marginaliana there too? I'm trying to remember. Anyway, it was absolutely wonderful! I adored them all immediately, and it was truly one of those fan mind-meld moments. Catrinella was so fun and animated, and I just felt like I had an immediate connection with Bronze_Ribbons. Thermidor was hilarious. The food was...interesting.

Then we went to the Snarry_Reader get-together. Lots of folks there. Unfortunately for me, it was in the back room of the Irish Pub so a) tons of smoke and b) lots of noise, including a musician on a mic. Julian came with me and we met lampblack, otherwise known as Rose on snapecast. She was extremely nice, filling me in on the details of using Skype, and listening to me squee like a crazy girl about Snapecast. The smoke really got to me after awhile, though. The musician was playing awful Renfest classics on his guitar for awhile, and then segued into "Piano Man" (on his guitar, no less), and Julian cracked up.

Funny thing...while I was sitting there, I said something to Julian about how rex_luscus was supposed to be attending the con, and she said, "Oh, really? I wonder what she looks like." I said, "Hmm...actually, I think she looks a lot like that girl over there." I squinted, looked at the girl's name tag, and wow! it was her! We didn't have much time to talk, because by that point the smoke had gotten to me, but it was awesome to meet her.

I also met ziasudra_fic, who was really really nice, and smart, and unfortunately I could not hear a word she said because she's rather soft-spoken. Damned musician!

I went to bed with a horribly sore throat, excited as hell about the next day.

Pics Part One (Costumes)
Pics Part Two (More costumes)
Pics Part Three (Funny)
Summary Part One (Thursday)
Summary Part Two (Friday)
Summary Part Three (Saturday)
Summary Part Four (Sunday/Monday)
Pics Part Four (More Funny)
Pics Part Five (LJ People)

Comments

[julian-black.livejournal.com]

Turned out to be julian_snape!

Now that's an interesting slip! [laughs]

[valis2.livejournal.com]

OMG! I am absolutely insane.

*laughs and laughs*

*runs off to fix, still laughing*

[sylvadin.livejournal.com]

...What a sweet, kind, generous soul...

To which my *dear* hubbie just remarked 'she obviously never met you on a PMS day!' LOL!

[valis2.livejournal.com]

bwahaha! :) *hugs*

[snapesforte.livejournal.com]

Mr. Creepy: Well, they're all babies, and they're all in daycare together, and Hermione is a little terror; she pulls Draco's hair!


Surely you jest?

*sniggers*

What a fascinating fic that will be.

[ellid.livejournal.com]

I think "cosmic horror" would be apt.

[florence-craye.livejournal.com]

Agreed. But we must make an effort to find it after the beta releases it.

*giggles at the thought of it*

[valis2.livejournal.com]

I have a feeling that it will show up at deleterius, honestly.

[valis2.livejournal.com]

Absolutely. Even without sea monkeys, it's pretty chilling.

[valis2.livejournal.com]

I was crying, I was laughing so hard.

I so wish you could have attended the con. That would have been awesome!

[artystone.livejournal.com]

Alas, Mr. Creepy's concept is hardly original.
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/HPBabies/

[imafarmgirl.livejournal.com]

I'm totally jealous. It sounds great except for Mister Creepy. Did you ever find out who he was? That would be funny if he was a good fic writer or something.

[valis2.livejournal.com]

His only fic was the one described above, which is still at the beta's.

[catrinella.livejournal.com]

I want to write that fic just to mess with him. "Oh, that's totally been done before."

[marginaliana]

Sad thing is, it probably HAS been done before. :/

[valis2.livejournal.com]

bwahaha!! It would be like the heavens crashing down upon him. You would deprive him of the will to live, because what could possibly give his life meaning without Hogwarts Babies?

[aubrem.livejournal.com]

haha, so I went from pink to pinker in the cab? heeheehee. I was hurting from laughing so hard.

He seemed nice and harmless rather than creepy to me but then, he didn't invite me to dinner. heeheeheeheeeheee!!!

That was such a great start to the weekend. {{{hugs}}}

[valis2.livejournal.com]

*hugs*

He would have been nice and harmless, had I not kept encountering him over and over again...each time I got a little more creeped out, though that might just be my own social anxieties slipping out...hee!

It was one of the funniest experiences of the weekend, honestly, and thank goodness I have a witness!

[bethbethbeth.livejournal.com]

How could we possibly have kept missing each other? We hung out with all the same people at all the same places!

*cries*

*cuddles up with Mr Creepy for consolation*

*g*

[valis2.livejournal.com]

I know! I saw you so many times, and I just kept thinking, okay, I'll wait 'til she's done talking to such-and-such, and then I'll say hi. At one point you were sitting right behind me at Starbucks! But then I'd see something shiny, and I would run away, or I'd turn around and you'd be gone...It just never happened. ;)

And I think Mr. Creepy would be very happy...I doubt he's had much cuddling in his life, I think.

[lewlinx.livejournal.com]

Mr Creepy!!! LOLOLOL

That´s just classic! Poor you!! *hugs*

Muppets Babies meets HP...WTF??? LOLOL

really, the things people dream of!!

classic...just classic!

[valis2.livejournal.com]

Sometimes I wish it were legal to carry a cattle prod on my person.

[larilee.livejournal.com]

Mr. Creepy: Well, it's basically Hogwarts meets Muppet Babies.

Oh my god, no! I'd have laughed my ass off too. But I know the perfect archive for it...

At this point I am making high-pitched noises that can be heard by dogs in California. Aubrem has turned an alarming shade of pink.

Rather like I am whilst reading this.

Hilarious! It certainly beats my arrival. :-D

[valis2.livejournal.com]

I'm so glad you found it funny! Sometimes I wonder if it's really possible to capture the hilarity of the moment. I mean, seriously, you had to be there to get the true insanity, and I feel like my writeup pales in comparison. Thank goodness you liked it!