Phoenix Rising Part 1: Wednesday - Friday
WEDNESDAY
I arrived in New Orleans late Wednesday night after having a minor packing crisis. Upon arriving I had a crazy time trying to get my hundreds of bags into the room. Finally, I fixed myself up a little, and my roommates and I headed to the Grad Party at the Whirling Dervish. We stopped off on the way to have dinner, and then Jenny went back while Kayla, Kyra and I went ahead to the party.
We got to the bar around 11:30-ish. It was fairly packed when we got there, and I was really excited. There were Potter fans everywhere, not to mention the cosplayers. That was my first real experience with cosplayers, and from then on they continued to mess with my head the entire con. We went straight to the back to the dance floor and hung out. I was still way too inhibited to really dance, but Kyra, jazzmepurplbaby, put us all to shame. Shortly after we got there, the majority of people left. We hung around for a little while, and eventually decided we were tired and headed back home to the hotel.
THURSDAY
Thursday was a calm day. Jenny and Kayla got up early and went to work with the Habitat for Humanity group, and Kyra and I slept in. That afternoon we went for beignets and coffee at Du Monde, then roamed the quarter for a while and did some shopping. We stopped off at an internet cafe for a little while, and then we wound up in the French Market. We came across this vendor selling the most beautiful quills I have ever seen in my life. They even had an acid green quill! Acid green! After a lot of shopping and deciding I wound up spending entirely too much money on a gorgeous green and pewter (Slytherin!) quill, stand, and ink well set. I bought ink as well, but I held off on the sealing wax and stamps. We eventually wandered back to the hotel and hung out in the room until the Overture Dinner.
The dinner was great. We waited in line outside the ballroom and met so many great people. During the entire dinner I couldn't manage to wipe the stupid grin off of my face. I was so happy to be there! We ate and listened to all of the introductory speeches, and the cosplayers continued to fuck with my head. Seriously, I just wasn't used to turning around and seeing characters walking around. For some reason I was totally shy about approaching people in costumes, so I don't have many pictures of my own.
After dinner not much went on. I went back up to the room and talk to Ben on the phone for a while. Kayla and Jenny came back up to the room after a while, and I wandered off with them to an impromptu Wizard Rock concert in the ballroom. That was the first time I'd seen any of the Wizard Rock bands, so it was pretty cool. After that it was about 2am, so I just went to bed.
FRIDAY
I had not woken up that early all year, I think. Granted, if one thing can get me out of bed it's a Harry Potter conference. I tried to attend "Sirius-ly Celibate?: Sexuality and the Adults of Harry Potter," but the room was full, so a few of us headed over to "The Heir of Slytherin: Niccolo Machiavelli and the House of Salazar." After that I went off by myself in search of coffee. I found the Starbucks in the lobby where I had a coffee and planned the rest of my day.
I skipped the next hour, but managed to get to "Crossing Age Lines in Fan Fiction" early enough to grab a seat. There I met up with Lizzie, izzerwurst, whom I had met online, and Tegan, both fellow slashers. After the roundtable, which was awesome, we headed to Margaritaville for the slashers lunch, but when we got there we were told it was full (even though we RSVP'ed!), so we left and went for sushi.
We made it back early enough to get seats in the roundtable, "Flinching in the Face of Evil: Draco Malfoy." That roundtable was great! There was a lot of discussion as to whether or not Draco would be redeemed and if he had the Dark Mark. Draco is my favorite character, so I loved every bit of it.
After that we headed over to the "Slash: What Is It and Why Do You Write It?" panel. There were two panels on slash, and this one was the more informal one. It was so much fun to sit in a room full of like minded people. I stayed there the whole two hours, then left to get ready for the night. That night was Storyville. Oh, Storyville... The parts we can remember will always be in our memories, and the parts we can't remember will always be in embarrassing pictures.
I really don't remember what I did for the next few hours. I didn't eat dinner, but I guess it just took me forever to get ready. I wound up not leaving the hotel until 8:00 after everyone had already gone. I braved my way to Bourbon from the hotel by myself, and was strutting by the time I got there after being hit on more times in that one walk than the entire year so far. It wasn't until later that I realized everyone was drunk anyway. Oh well, I'll take what I can get. It makes such a difference walking around New Orleans without a boyfriend. I had never heard of the bar I was supposed to be going to, so I stopped and got a hand grenade and directions.
It turns out the bar was further down in the strip club side of Bourbon which is why I wasn't familiar with it. I spent so much time looking around that I stopped for another hand grenade. I thought since it was an open bar I could just bring it in, but when I got to the bar there were 5 cops standing in the doorway. I quickly retreated and walked around while drinking the rest of my drink as fast as I could. The brain freeze was very unpleasant. I always wind up doing that whenever I have a hand grenade, I think it's a curse. I was already nearly and hour late, so I wanted to hurry. I finished my drink and managed to get inside, up the stairs, and through security before the alcohol really got to me. By the time I found everyone inside I nearly missed the chair.
I then proceeded to make an ass of myself being drunk. I did manage to get some food which helped, but I wound up eating gumbo. Gumbo! Man, that was only because I was drunk. I never finished eating, because The Whomping Willows started playing "Draco and Harry." I had just found out I was in the company of two fellow Harry/Draco shippers, including tinkerbell753, so we all ran to get in the crowd. I then decided to attempt a video of the performance. The video mostly consists of the ceiling and Kyra trying to tell me that I wasn't pointing the camera at the stage. You can also very clearly hear my drunken singing in the background. The song involves spelling, and I think I only got that right once the entire song. My favorite was "F-N-L-L-I-N-G," but I tried at least.
We hung out in the crowd for the rest of the night, I think. I remember taking crazy pictures with jaina12 as Voldemort, but I can't for the life of me remember how that came about. I know we were taking picture of our Dark Marks, and Megan, tinkerbell753, decided that she had to have one too. I don't remember where it actually came from, but I remember that Voldemort decided to lick it onto her arm in lieu of a sink. That, surprisingly, didn't work out too well, but then Lucius started rubbing ice over it, which did the trick in the end. We took a few more pictures, then I think we spent the rest of the time rocking out.
I found another video I took of Brian of the Draco and the Malfoys. I don't remember taking it, but it's definitely more steady than the first. I remember people puked a lot and strange things happened in the bathrooms. I thought I had sobered up by the time they kicked us out at midnight, but that was only relatively so. I figured that out when I stood at the top of the stairs and had to stumble back down without killing myself. We all managed to get outside, and then we hung around in the street waiting for someone to take a picture of all four of us. Once we got that we started staggering back to our hotel. We stopped and took a picture or two on the way back, but that whole trip is blurry to me, and I think jazzmepurplbaby is the only one who remembers the walk back. If I remember correctly, some people had to be taken back in cabs. I'm pretty sure by the time we were all back no one wanted to hear the words "open bar" ever again.
Pictures!
I'll start out with the boring stuff. Here is the view from our hotel room:
At night...
We showed our house pride with some pirate stuff in our room:
Here is my awesome quill set:
The Four Founders at the Overture Dinner:
Lumien Pride!
Impromptu Wizard Rock, The Remus Lupins:
The Parselmouths:
The Whomping Willows:
Brian of Draco and the Malfoys:
All the Wizard Rock guys together:
The Crossing Age Lines roundtable:
The Draco Malfoy roundtable:
Lame MySpace-like picture I took before Storyville:
My Dark Mark:
The Whomping Willows at Storyville:
Before I remembered I had a real camera:
After I remembered I had a real camera:
Showing the Wizard Rock love:
The Parselmouths at Storyville:
Matt from the Whomping Willows and Brian from the Draco and the Malfoys, or as Matt so wonderfully put it, "Drunko Malfoy":
Voldemort's head got in the way of my picture:
But then he decided to help Brian out a little:
Somehow we wound up taking these pictures:
Voldemort applying Megan's Dark Mark:
After the fact:
On the way back to the hotel:
Pictures from tinkerbell753:
This is apparently when I was looking during this particular shot:
The picture of all four of us that we waited on:
Picture from izzerwurst
This is the Lumien House mascot, the ashwinder. Three snakes in one pictures, I'm proud of myself. I love how my ashwinder looks all shifty.
There are several pictures that are missing, but as soon as I round them up I'll post those as well.
Videos!
Draco and Harry - The Whomping Willows
Potions Yesterday - Draco and the Malfoys
Saturday - Monday coming shortly!
I arrived in New Orleans late Wednesday night after having a minor packing crisis. Upon arriving I had a crazy time trying to get my hundreds of bags into the room. Finally, I fixed myself up a little, and my roommates and I headed to the Grad Party at the Whirling Dervish. We stopped off on the way to have dinner, and then Jenny went back while Kayla, Kyra and I went ahead to the party.
We got to the bar around 11:30-ish. It was fairly packed when we got there, and I was really excited. There were Potter fans everywhere, not to mention the cosplayers. That was my first real experience with cosplayers, and from then on they continued to mess with my head the entire con. We went straight to the back to the dance floor and hung out. I was still way too inhibited to really dance, but Kyra, jazzmepurplbaby, put us all to shame. Shortly after we got there, the majority of people left. We hung around for a little while, and eventually decided we were tired and headed back home to the hotel.
THURSDAY
Thursday was a calm day. Jenny and Kayla got up early and went to work with the Habitat for Humanity group, and Kyra and I slept in. That afternoon we went for beignets and coffee at Du Monde, then roamed the quarter for a while and did some shopping. We stopped off at an internet cafe for a little while, and then we wound up in the French Market. We came across this vendor selling the most beautiful quills I have ever seen in my life. They even had an acid green quill! Acid green! After a lot of shopping and deciding I wound up spending entirely too much money on a gorgeous green and pewter (Slytherin!) quill, stand, and ink well set. I bought ink as well, but I held off on the sealing wax and stamps. We eventually wandered back to the hotel and hung out in the room until the Overture Dinner.
The dinner was great. We waited in line outside the ballroom and met so many great people. During the entire dinner I couldn't manage to wipe the stupid grin off of my face. I was so happy to be there! We ate and listened to all of the introductory speeches, and the cosplayers continued to fuck with my head. Seriously, I just wasn't used to turning around and seeing characters walking around. For some reason I was totally shy about approaching people in costumes, so I don't have many pictures of my own.
After dinner not much went on. I went back up to the room and talk to Ben on the phone for a while. Kayla and Jenny came back up to the room after a while, and I wandered off with them to an impromptu Wizard Rock concert in the ballroom. That was the first time I'd seen any of the Wizard Rock bands, so it was pretty cool. After that it was about 2am, so I just went to bed.
FRIDAY
I had not woken up that early all year, I think. Granted, if one thing can get me out of bed it's a Harry Potter conference. I tried to attend "Sirius-ly Celibate?: Sexuality and the Adults of Harry Potter," but the room was full, so a few of us headed over to "The Heir of Slytherin: Niccolo Machiavelli and the House of Salazar." After that I went off by myself in search of coffee. I found the Starbucks in the lobby where I had a coffee and planned the rest of my day.
I skipped the next hour, but managed to get to "Crossing Age Lines in Fan Fiction" early enough to grab a seat. There I met up with Lizzie, izzerwurst, whom I had met online, and Tegan, both fellow slashers. After the roundtable, which was awesome, we headed to Margaritaville for the slashers lunch, but when we got there we were told it was full (even though we RSVP'ed!), so we left and went for sushi.
We made it back early enough to get seats in the roundtable, "Flinching in the Face of Evil: Draco Malfoy." That roundtable was great! There was a lot of discussion as to whether or not Draco would be redeemed and if he had the Dark Mark. Draco is my favorite character, so I loved every bit of it.
After that we headed over to the "Slash: What Is It and Why Do You Write It?" panel. There were two panels on slash, and this one was the more informal one. It was so much fun to sit in a room full of like minded people. I stayed there the whole two hours, then left to get ready for the night. That night was Storyville. Oh, Storyville... The parts we can remember will always be in our memories, and the parts we can't remember will always be in embarrassing pictures.
I really don't remember what I did for the next few hours. I didn't eat dinner, but I guess it just took me forever to get ready. I wound up not leaving the hotel until 8:00 after everyone had already gone. I braved my way to Bourbon from the hotel by myself, and was strutting by the time I got there after being hit on more times in that one walk than the entire year so far. It wasn't until later that I realized everyone was drunk anyway. Oh well, I'll take what I can get. It makes such a difference walking around New Orleans without a boyfriend. I had never heard of the bar I was supposed to be going to, so I stopped and got a hand grenade and directions.
It turns out the bar was further down in the strip club side of Bourbon which is why I wasn't familiar with it. I spent so much time looking around that I stopped for another hand grenade. I thought since it was an open bar I could just bring it in, but when I got to the bar there were 5 cops standing in the doorway. I quickly retreated and walked around while drinking the rest of my drink as fast as I could. The brain freeze was very unpleasant. I always wind up doing that whenever I have a hand grenade, I think it's a curse. I was already nearly and hour late, so I wanted to hurry. I finished my drink and managed to get inside, up the stairs, and through security before the alcohol really got to me. By the time I found everyone inside I nearly missed the chair.
I then proceeded to make an ass of myself being drunk. I did manage to get some food which helped, but I wound up eating gumbo. Gumbo! Man, that was only because I was drunk. I never finished eating, because The Whomping Willows started playing "Draco and Harry." I had just found out I was in the company of two fellow Harry/Draco shippers, including tinkerbell753, so we all ran to get in the crowd. I then decided to attempt a video of the performance. The video mostly consists of the ceiling and Kyra trying to tell me that I wasn't pointing the camera at the stage. You can also very clearly hear my drunken singing in the background. The song involves spelling, and I think I only got that right once the entire song. My favorite was "F-N-L-L-I-N-G," but I tried at least.
We hung out in the crowd for the rest of the night, I think. I remember taking crazy pictures with jaina12 as Voldemort, but I can't for the life of me remember how that came about. I know we were taking picture of our Dark Marks, and Megan, tinkerbell753, decided that she had to have one too. I don't remember where it actually came from, but I remember that Voldemort decided to lick it onto her arm in lieu of a sink. That, surprisingly, didn't work out too well, but then Lucius started rubbing ice over it, which did the trick in the end. We took a few more pictures, then I think we spent the rest of the time rocking out.
I found another video I took of Brian of the Draco and the Malfoys. I don't remember taking it, but it's definitely more steady than the first. I remember people puked a lot and strange things happened in the bathrooms. I thought I had sobered up by the time they kicked us out at midnight, but that was only relatively so. I figured that out when I stood at the top of the stairs and had to stumble back down without killing myself. We all managed to get outside, and then we hung around in the street waiting for someone to take a picture of all four of us. Once we got that we started staggering back to our hotel. We stopped and took a picture or two on the way back, but that whole trip is blurry to me, and I think jazzmepurplbaby is the only one who remembers the walk back. If I remember correctly, some people had to be taken back in cabs. I'm pretty sure by the time we were all back no one wanted to hear the words "open bar" ever again.
Pictures!
I'll start out with the boring stuff. Here is the view from our hotel room:
At night...
We showed our house pride with some pirate stuff in our room:
Here is my awesome quill set:
The Four Founders at the Overture Dinner:
Lumien Pride!
Impromptu Wizard Rock, The Remus Lupins:
The Parselmouths:
The Whomping Willows:
Brian of Draco and the Malfoys:
All the Wizard Rock guys together:
The Crossing Age Lines roundtable:
The Draco Malfoy roundtable:
Lame MySpace-like picture I took before Storyville:
My Dark Mark:
The Whomping Willows at Storyville:
Before I remembered I had a real camera:
After I remembered I had a real camera:
Showing the Wizard Rock love:
The Parselmouths at Storyville:
Matt from the Whomping Willows and Brian from the Draco and the Malfoys, or as Matt so wonderfully put it, "Drunko Malfoy":
Voldemort's head got in the way of my picture:
But then he decided to help Brian out a little:
Somehow we wound up taking these pictures:
Voldemort applying Megan's Dark Mark:
After the fact:
On the way back to the hotel:
Pictures from tinkerbell753:
This is apparently when I was looking during this particular shot:
The picture of all four of us that we waited on:
Picture from izzerwurst
This is the Lumien House mascot, the ashwinder. Three snakes in one pictures, I'm proud of myself. I love how my ashwinder looks all shifty.
There are several pictures that are missing, but as soon as I round them up I'll post those as well.
Videos!
Draco and Harry - The Whomping Willows
Potions Yesterday - Draco and the Malfoys
Saturday - Monday coming shortly!