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valis2Argh! I cannot believe how long this is taking. I want to post about something other than Lumos.
Ah, well. Last two days.
Sunday
I attended the Leaving Feast with![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
julian_black (at least I didn't tell the Muppet Babies story again), and sylvadin, and others as well, though for some reason I can't remember who. Some people had already left, I think.
Afterward, there was an impromptu reenactment of the Draco/Hermione slapping scene from PoA.
I mettbranch and glockgal!! They were absolute sweethearts, totally nice and cool, and it was so wonderful to talk to them.
mingbutterfly invited me to lunch, which was so very sweet! I ended up sitting across from logospilgrim and bronze_ribbons, and next to Sylvadin and Julian. I had such a lovely time. And I ended up driving poor Logospilgrim crazy for nearly an hour! I talked her ears off. She was funny and sweet, and I loved having some time to actually have conversations with people. Yay!
Julian and I wandered over to Starbucks, and we hung out, talking with many different lovely people. At one point, I realized that we were sitting next tofuriosity and when I went over to introduce myself and pass a squid around I met scarah2 as well! Plus ziasudra_fic was there, too.
Some random thoughts...
Everytime I looked at my badge and noticed my Dark Mark button I kept thinking it was this Steve Perry button I had during the 80's. Seriously. Makes sense, though, doesn't it?
I loved the Dork Mark so much. Someone was drawing it on people's arms; it had a beanie on the skull and the snake head.
I was sad that they took down the Common Room's bulletin board so quickly! I was hoping for more hilarity.
While we were sitting there talking, someone from the next table said very clearly "Harry/Dead!James", and I was giggling.
We also saw a gentleman whose shirt had been attacked, most likely by the dreaded Flashdance monster.
Eventually Julian and I left early, and made our way over to the Rio, where Penn & Teller awaited us, with open arms and a huge round rotating bed with silken sheets...oh, wait, sorry, that was only in my head.
Let's see. We decided we wanted a real dinner, and there were several restaurants at the Rio, so we just decided to wing it. There was an All-American Thingamajig that promised steaks, and we both felt like a steak.
Let me just mention that I will never go back to Vegas unless forced to go because of an extremely cool HP convention.
Seriously. I am SO SICK of smoke. I had to wash everything, even my clean clothes, when I got back.
Anyway, the American place was right off the gaming floor, noisy as hell, smoky beyond belief. It amazes me that I used to think nothing of smoke, honestly. I used to work at a bookstore where I was the only person who didn't smoke, and I thought nothing of it. Times have changed, but not in Vegas. There was a small casino at the hotel, too, and smoking was everywhere.
Anyway, we got sick of yelling at each other over the noise, and instead just ended up staring catatonically at nothing in particular until the food came.
Then it was off to P&T! They were, as expected, FABULOUS. Their tricks were amazing. Penn (mmm!!!) juggled broken bottles. Teller fed rabbits into a wood chipper. Together they boggled our minds and used cold reading and hot reading to impress the audience and remind them that psychics are fake. I enjoyed it tremendously.
While we were waiting for them to come onstage, the piano player (who played live, that was very cool, I found myself thinking that they could have just played canned music, but P&T have show business wired into their very cells, and they probably pride themselves on having live music) kept announcing that everyone should be a part of the show, and sign the envelope onstage and check out the box. He urged us not to miss out on this envelope signing/box viewing spectacle. At first Julian and I just laughed. But then the people around us went, and came back, and then were using their big peer pressure scary tactics to try to get us to sign the envelope and look at the box, so finally we heaved ourselves out of the seats, just to be denied access by security. Heh.
We were standing at the cab station afterward, and one of the cabs had a placard that displayed the logo for "Menopause: the Musical". Julian said, "Do they crank up the heat?" We also saw a car with the license plate E V I L, which we decided belonged to the Malfoys, of course.
Anyway, we took a cab back, of course. It turned out to be a cab chock full o' doom, unfortunately.
He had no idea where the hotel was. He kept giving us two options. Fortunately Julian knew it was on Rampart. So then he starts driving, and he racks up $7.95 on the meter before calling home base and finding out he went the wrong way. He took us through construction (even though the cabbie who drove us out successfully avoided all of that, and his fare came to $22). Then he had to call home base again and get directions again. Then he went 55 in a 65 zone. There were two accidents he had to go around, and then he drove on the side of the road instead of, say, an actual lane.
Best part? We get to the hotel, and sharp-eyed Julian points out that our hotel is on the right hand side.
No response.
"This is our driveway."
Still no response.
"You need to turn RIGHT HERE!"
Thank goodness he turned, because I could see that Julian's next response would have been "TURN RIGHT MUTHAFUCKA" and most likely would have included her grabbing the wheel at the same time.
Cost of this cabbie's fare? $33 and change.
On the way in, we foundbronze_ribbons, catrinella and thermidor lounging in front of Starbucks, so we had to sit down for a moment and babble. Here are my notes from this midnight conversation:
Julian consumes whispers of cheesecake
Snape's hair needs more cowbell
Catrinella demands Christopher Walken/HP crossover
I don't think I even need to explicate any of these, they're self-evident.
We made it to the hotel room slap-happy, and I put one of the extraneous pillows on a chair. I called Northwest to try to switch flights to Monday, and while I was on the phone, Julian began obsessively piling all of the superfluous pillows on the same chair, making a precarious tower...a monument to the slothful indulgence of our society. It was beautiful. I cried an emo!tear while I disco'ed in front of it. Photographic evidence soon.
Monday
Breakfast, and then to the airport withsylvadin and Julian. I LOVE PECAN BUTTER FOREVAH.
I get on the plane, and it's supposed to take off at 2:40 pm. So I'm sitting there waiting and waiting. The plane starts its engines, does its restart, and then stops. The pilot comes on and says that the restart of the left engine failed, but it's okay; they have several other systems that can restart the engine. However, we have to make a report, so it'll take a little time before we leave. The plane is backed away from the gate and we just sit there.
The pilot comes on again, and mentions that we have to go back to the gate and do paperwork. They're going to issue a delayed repair ticket, and the mechanic needs to submit more paperwork. Okay, fine. Keep in mind that it's 120 degrees, the air conditioning isn't working well, it's a completely full flight, and I'm in the very last seat on the plane, next to the attendants' secret room in the back, and that we've already been waiting about forty minutes.
Two girls come back to the last set of seats on the right hand side, and they start talking to the couple who is sitting there. One of the girls suddenly bursts into tears, and freaks out because she thinks it's not "safe" to fly. She's getting more and more worked up. An attendant brings her a glass of ice water. The girl is still freaking. Finally the attendant says, "The pilots have children and wives, they are not going to fly if it's not safe, believe me."
Then a woman comes back because she's having an asthma attack. She doesn't seem particularly upset, she's rather matter-of-fact, and she chats with the attendants quite a bit.
An elderly lady comes back who is suffering from an asthma attack, only she's totally panicking. She has a huge purse full of crap and she can't find her inhaler. Finally two respiratory therapists who are sitting in front of me find the correct inhaler in her purse. They keep telling her to breathe out of her mouth and in through her nose as she's waiting, but she's just too upset to pay them any mind.
We ended up spending nearly an hour and a half in 85-90 degree plane. It wasn't fun, y'all, and it meant that I got home after midnight, but there are worse things, definitely, and I wasn't really that upset.
That is all.
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)
Ah, well. Last two days.
Sunday
I attended the Leaving Feast with
julian_black (at least I didn't tell the Muppet Babies story again), and sylvadin, and others as well, though for some reason I can't remember who. Some people had already left, I think.Afterward, there was an impromptu reenactment of the Draco/Hermione slapping scene from PoA.
I met
tbranch and glockgal!! They were absolute sweethearts, totally nice and cool, and it was so wonderful to talk to them.mingbutterfly invited me to lunch, which was so very sweet! I ended up sitting across from logospilgrim and bronze_ribbons, and next to Sylvadin and Julian. I had such a lovely time. And I ended up driving poor Logospilgrim crazy for nearly an hour! I talked her ears off. She was funny and sweet, and I loved having some time to actually have conversations with people. Yay!Julian and I wandered over to Starbucks, and we hung out, talking with many different lovely people. At one point, I realized that we were sitting next to
furiosity and when I went over to introduce myself and pass a squid around I met scarah2 as well! Plus ziasudra_fic was there, too.Some random thoughts...
Everytime I looked at my badge and noticed my Dark Mark button I kept thinking it was this Steve Perry button I had during the 80's. Seriously. Makes sense, though, doesn't it?
I loved the Dork Mark so much. Someone was drawing it on people's arms; it had a beanie on the skull and the snake head.
I was sad that they took down the Common Room's bulletin board so quickly! I was hoping for more hilarity.
While we were sitting there talking, someone from the next table said very clearly "Harry/Dead!James", and I was giggling.
We also saw a gentleman whose shirt had been attacked, most likely by the dreaded Flashdance monster.
Eventually Julian and I left early, and made our way over to the Rio, where Penn & Teller awaited us, with open arms and a huge round rotating bed with silken sheets...oh, wait, sorry, that was only in my head.
Let's see. We decided we wanted a real dinner, and there were several restaurants at the Rio, so we just decided to wing it. There was an All-American Thingamajig that promised steaks, and we both felt like a steak.
Let me just mention that I will never go back to Vegas unless forced to go because of an extremely cool HP convention.
Seriously. I am SO SICK of smoke. I had to wash everything, even my clean clothes, when I got back.
Anyway, the American place was right off the gaming floor, noisy as hell, smoky beyond belief. It amazes me that I used to think nothing of smoke, honestly. I used to work at a bookstore where I was the only person who didn't smoke, and I thought nothing of it. Times have changed, but not in Vegas. There was a small casino at the hotel, too, and smoking was everywhere.
Anyway, we got sick of yelling at each other over the noise, and instead just ended up staring catatonically at nothing in particular until the food came.
Then it was off to P&T! They were, as expected, FABULOUS. Their tricks were amazing. Penn (mmm!!!) juggled broken bottles. Teller fed rabbits into a wood chipper. Together they boggled our minds and used cold reading and hot reading to impress the audience and remind them that psychics are fake. I enjoyed it tremendously.
While we were waiting for them to come onstage, the piano player (who played live, that was very cool, I found myself thinking that they could have just played canned music, but P&T have show business wired into their very cells, and they probably pride themselves on having live music) kept announcing that everyone should be a part of the show, and sign the envelope onstage and check out the box. He urged us not to miss out on this envelope signing/box viewing spectacle. At first Julian and I just laughed. But then the people around us went, and came back, and then were using their big peer pressure scary tactics to try to get us to sign the envelope and look at the box, so finally we heaved ourselves out of the seats, just to be denied access by security. Heh.
We were standing at the cab station afterward, and one of the cabs had a placard that displayed the logo for "Menopause: the Musical". Julian said, "Do they crank up the heat?" We also saw a car with the license plate E V I L, which we decided belonged to the Malfoys, of course.
Anyway, we took a cab back, of course. It turned out to be a cab chock full o' doom, unfortunately.
He had no idea where the hotel was. He kept giving us two options. Fortunately Julian knew it was on Rampart. So then he starts driving, and he racks up $7.95 on the meter before calling home base and finding out he went the wrong way. He took us through construction (even though the cabbie who drove us out successfully avoided all of that, and his fare came to $22). Then he had to call home base again and get directions again. Then he went 55 in a 65 zone. There were two accidents he had to go around, and then he drove on the side of the road instead of, say, an actual lane.
Best part? We get to the hotel, and sharp-eyed Julian points out that our hotel is on the right hand side.
No response.
"This is our driveway."
Still no response.
"You need to turn RIGHT HERE!"
Thank goodness he turned, because I could see that Julian's next response would have been "TURN RIGHT MUTHAFUCKA" and most likely would have included her grabbing the wheel at the same time.
Cost of this cabbie's fare? $33 and change.
On the way in, we found
bronze_ribbons, catrinella and thermidor lounging in front of Starbucks, so we had to sit down for a moment and babble. Here are my notes from this midnight conversation:Julian consumes whispers of cheesecake
Snape's hair needs more cowbell
Catrinella demands Christopher Walken/HP crossover
I don't think I even need to explicate any of these, they're self-evident.
We made it to the hotel room slap-happy, and I put one of the extraneous pillows on a chair. I called Northwest to try to switch flights to Monday, and while I was on the phone, Julian began obsessively piling all of the superfluous pillows on the same chair, making a precarious tower...a monument to the slothful indulgence of our society. It was beautiful. I cried an emo!tear while I disco'ed in front of it. Photographic evidence soon.
Monday
Breakfast, and then to the airport with
sylvadin and Julian. I LOVE PECAN BUTTER FOREVAH.I get on the plane, and it's supposed to take off at 2:40 pm. So I'm sitting there waiting and waiting. The plane starts its engines, does its restart, and then stops. The pilot comes on and says that the restart of the left engine failed, but it's okay; they have several other systems that can restart the engine. However, we have to make a report, so it'll take a little time before we leave. The plane is backed away from the gate and we just sit there.
The pilot comes on again, and mentions that we have to go back to the gate and do paperwork. They're going to issue a delayed repair ticket, and the mechanic needs to submit more paperwork. Okay, fine. Keep in mind that it's 120 degrees, the air conditioning isn't working well, it's a completely full flight, and I'm in the very last seat on the plane, next to the attendants' secret room in the back, and that we've already been waiting about forty minutes.
Two girls come back to the last set of seats on the right hand side, and they start talking to the couple who is sitting there. One of the girls suddenly bursts into tears, and freaks out because she thinks it's not "safe" to fly. She's getting more and more worked up. An attendant brings her a glass of ice water. The girl is still freaking. Finally the attendant says, "The pilots have children and wives, they are not going to fly if it's not safe, believe me."
Then a woman comes back because she's having an asthma attack. She doesn't seem particularly upset, she's rather matter-of-fact, and she chats with the attendants quite a bit.
An elderly lady comes back who is suffering from an asthma attack, only she's totally panicking. She has a huge purse full of crap and she can't find her inhaler. Finally two respiratory therapists who are sitting in front of me find the correct inhaler in her purse. They keep telling her to breathe out of her mouth and in through her nose as she's waiting, but she's just too upset to pay them any mind.
We ended up spending nearly an hour and a half in 85-90 degree plane. It wasn't fun, y'all, and it meant that I got home after midnight, but there are worse things, definitely, and I wasn't really that upset.
That is all.
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)
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
(no subject)
Date: 2006-08-05 05:07 am (UTC)Between Mr. Creepy and this other guy I would have been freaked out!
Pecan Butter??? do tell :)
Glad you made it home safe and sound m'dear :D
(no subject)
Date: 2006-08-05 04:39 pm (UTC)And we had one terrific cab guy...he was awesome. He took us around the construction, used regular roads instead of freeways, and charged us less than any other ride.