Azkatraz 2009 - In Brief?
Wow. Things got really odd again. Went to Azkatraz, and now every time I see Alcatraz I swear it's spelled incorrectly. Was an awesome time though, even if I did feel a bit disconnected. Many thanks to Anneke for letting me room with her, and for letting me hang out. It was really different simply attending a convention and not working it. I had too much time to fill I think. I did meet some really cool people though.
Thursday was the Harry Potter line party for the 11:30pm showing of Half Blood Prince, and while the line was supposed to start at 9, of course people started showing up early. I was there at uh...7:30. <.< >.> I was second in line behind a lovely Australian group. While I loved the movie there were some real WTF?! moments. I drove home rather than stay at the hotel that night. Mark was having car issues and I needed to be around so I could help him take it to the shop. They hadn't called him by the time I was set to leave on Friday for the meet and greet, so he sent me off saying he would make other arrangements. I was glad I attended, I joined a group of strangers to form a team for HP trivia, and while we lost, we still had a great time. I hooked up with Anneke later that night in the hotel room after spending a couple hours playing Who Is A Death Eater? (A variation of the Mafia game). I met a girl named Meghan there, and in a weird (maybe not that weird, given that the HP fandom is pretty incestuous) conincidence found out we were both friends of Anneke.
Saturday morning was the Welcome Feast, at which Anneke introduced me to Mijan. Whom I quietly fangirled. So quietly, in fact that she didn't even realize I was fangirling, and was amazed to so gracious to find out I was a fan, and a long time lurker on her journal. After the feast was a day filled with panels. First up was Slashperverts Queers in the Wizarding World and Ours, which was funny and informative. I also attended Pir8fanciers Pacing DH: The Avada Kedavra to the Book? Which part well thought out commentary and part discussion. Finished the night with the H/D meet and greet where I got to meet more HD fans, and chat with old friends, and went to the pajama party where Anneke and I and some others did a HP "Whos' Line Is It Anyway?" It went very well considering we had had no time to prepare.
Sunday morning was a Merlin Circle breakfast where we were entertained by a compilation of HP music vids. They were all amazing and I keep meaning to find them on the net so I can see them again. Sunday morning panels was The State of the Snarry Ship, which was a LOT of fun, and a chance to meet another fav author, Dementor Delta. Regrettably I had to leave a few minutes early to make the start of the H/D panel run by some of my fav authors. OMG Furiousity! Pir8fancier! November Snow! The others were too new for me to have heard of, but I'm going to check them out. After the panel I got involved in a discussion with one of the most intelligent, and funny women I got to meet that weekend, and regretably I dont have her name handy. But I ended up in her hotel room with her, her daughter, Red_rhal, and a couple others talking about everything from HP to our pasts, and politics. I was sad when it ended, but I had skipped lunch, so after grabbing something, I hit the tail end of Furiousity's If You Don't Have Anything Nice To Say, Should You Say It Anyway? panel. Fandom is just plain silly sometimes. The point was made about people who fake thier deaths to leave fandom. I was like why should I care?
That night I think it was the Prison Break Ball which for once I was dressed correctly. Thanks to Anneke for letting me borrow her wig. I had them take a picture to send to KiSA, he loves when I wear wigs, and has never gotten to see me in a corset. The ball was hot, so I ended up leaving early and changing clothes. Saturday night I had been up til 3am hanging out with a group of people on the 3rd floor chatting. Sunday ended up much the same, except we were all up til 5am. We watched Dr. Horribles' Sing Along Blog. Since I wasn't working the con it meant I could sleep in, esp as there wasn't much I wanted to see the next morning. So I slept for a bit, and got up for breakfast and went back to the room for a nap.
Monday was another Merlin Circle breakfast, and a light day on the panels, I mostly just hung around. But in true con fashion, I seem to be forgetting details. I went to one called Sirius-ly Celibate? Again - Sexuality and the Adults of Harry Potter. Was a really fun panel. Since they record all the panels for anyone to purchase a recording of later, and it was a large room with lots of attendees, they needed someone to help pass a mic around so people would be heard. I volunteered and spent a fun hour playing Oprah. It was a very good panel though, and raised some points I hadn't considered before. After that was HP and the Unforgivable Curses, which was interesting at the time, but mostly filler until I could get to The People Vs J.K. Rowling, which was a mock trial where there were charges brought against JK by we the people. The presenters were a real prosecuting attorney, and a professor of English who was the defense, and there was a judge. The panel went, the prosecuter read the charges and presented her argument, then the defense gave a rebuttal, and then it was opened to the audience who was to bring evidence supporting whichever side and also be the jury. Both sides were well thought out, and well presented and humorous to boot. And when the audience got in to it, they were funny too. I want to buy this panel session, because it was just that much awesome.
Just hung out a bit went to the art auction, mostly just to see what was there and partly kill time and to support Anneke who was interested in a few things. But I saw this beautiful quilt and had to bid. Luckily my experience running the Ycon auction all those years stood me in good stead and my aggressive bidding strategy kept my opposition low and I got the quilt cheaply. After that Anneke and I went to grab dinner at a Thai place and went back out to hang out again. When I found Sasha (one of the Team 3rd Floor people) she mentioned we were changing the location to avoid some of the people who had been there the previous night disrupting her goal of having a drabble/drable session. Somehow we all ended up in the ball area which was great because the groups could spread out to those who wanted to chat, those who wanted to draw, and those who wanted to play games. I spent time in all 3 groups. At one point Meghan and I were thirsty, and went off on an epic journey to find a working soda machine and enough money to buy them after the first one ate a buck .25. Things started winding down, but the Nazi hotel chased us away and we ended up in our usual spot on the 3rd floor, where a few minutes later they showed up again. We just all went to bed after that.
I moved my car closer and took my stuff down to it. I didnt want to stay in the hotel, I was going to drive home and come back in the morning for the Leaving Feast. After the feast, Anneke and I hung around saying goodbye to people before she had to leave to catch her flight. As I was wandering around, the Art Insight people has set up in the hallway. I had seen them mentioned on the Azkatraz website and was craving the collection of photo prints. One was 40 dollars, the whole set 430. How could I pick one? And the only way to get the Luna print was to buy the set but I couldn't afford the $430 total price tag. However the girl explained they have lay-away, and then they lady who runs the gallery came by and SHE explained even more, and well, I ended up walking away with about $1500 in beautiful HP art. The photo print set, as well as 2 limited edition prints. So beautiful. The cool thing is, I can pay little by little and then more when I get a job. There was an interesting last minute Harry/Draco/Lucius/LV photo session, and shortly after I left for home again where I slept most of the night and the next day. Then, got sick. I think it's the fact that I'm in a hotel which is sealed and away from the usual allergens I deal with and when I come back in to the, coupled with lack of sleep I usually have with cons, my body gets overwhelmed. This time it wasn;t so bad because I sucked on Cold-eezs, as well as the Flonase to control the symptoms. 3 day fever, and the lightest aftermath I've had in a long time.
So yeah, I didn't mean to type this much about Azkatraz, and I know I forgot stuff and people and I'm sorry. It's just the way I get after a con. It all starts to blur together. I had other things, but I'll save that for another post.
Thursday was the Harry Potter line party for the 11:30pm showing of Half Blood Prince, and while the line was supposed to start at 9, of course people started showing up early. I was there at uh...7:30. <.< >.> I was second in line behind a lovely Australian group. While I loved the movie there were some real WTF?! moments. I drove home rather than stay at the hotel that night. Mark was having car issues and I needed to be around so I could help him take it to the shop. They hadn't called him by the time I was set to leave on Friday for the meet and greet, so he sent me off saying he would make other arrangements. I was glad I attended, I joined a group of strangers to form a team for HP trivia, and while we lost, we still had a great time. I hooked up with Anneke later that night in the hotel room after spending a couple hours playing Who Is A Death Eater? (A variation of the Mafia game). I met a girl named Meghan there, and in a weird (maybe not that weird, given that the HP fandom is pretty incestuous) conincidence found out we were both friends of Anneke.
Saturday morning was the Welcome Feast, at which Anneke introduced me to Mijan. Whom I quietly fangirled. So quietly, in fact that she didn't even realize I was fangirling, and was amazed to so gracious to find out I was a fan, and a long time lurker on her journal. After the feast was a day filled with panels. First up was Slashperverts Queers in the Wizarding World and Ours, which was funny and informative. I also attended Pir8fanciers Pacing DH: The Avada Kedavra to the Book? Which part well thought out commentary and part discussion. Finished the night with the H/D meet and greet where I got to meet more HD fans, and chat with old friends, and went to the pajama party where Anneke and I and some others did a HP "Whos' Line Is It Anyway?" It went very well considering we had had no time to prepare.
Sunday morning was a Merlin Circle breakfast where we were entertained by a compilation of HP music vids. They were all amazing and I keep meaning to find them on the net so I can see them again. Sunday morning panels was The State of the Snarry Ship, which was a LOT of fun, and a chance to meet another fav author, Dementor Delta. Regrettably I had to leave a few minutes early to make the start of the H/D panel run by some of my fav authors. OMG Furiousity! Pir8fancier! November Snow! The others were too new for me to have heard of, but I'm going to check them out. After the panel I got involved in a discussion with one of the most intelligent, and funny women I got to meet that weekend, and regretably I dont have her name handy. But I ended up in her hotel room with her, her daughter, Red_rhal, and a couple others talking about everything from HP to our pasts, and politics. I was sad when it ended, but I had skipped lunch, so after grabbing something, I hit the tail end of Furiousity's If You Don't Have Anything Nice To Say, Should You Say It Anyway? panel. Fandom is just plain silly sometimes. The point was made about people who fake thier deaths to leave fandom. I was like why should I care?
That night I think it was the Prison Break Ball which for once I was dressed correctly. Thanks to Anneke for letting me borrow her wig. I had them take a picture to send to KiSA, he loves when I wear wigs, and has never gotten to see me in a corset. The ball was hot, so I ended up leaving early and changing clothes. Saturday night I had been up til 3am hanging out with a group of people on the 3rd floor chatting. Sunday ended up much the same, except we were all up til 5am. We watched Dr. Horribles' Sing Along Blog. Since I wasn't working the con it meant I could sleep in, esp as there wasn't much I wanted to see the next morning. So I slept for a bit, and got up for breakfast and went back to the room for a nap.
Monday was another Merlin Circle breakfast, and a light day on the panels, I mostly just hung around. But in true con fashion, I seem to be forgetting details. I went to one called Sirius-ly Celibate? Again - Sexuality and the Adults of Harry Potter. Was a really fun panel. Since they record all the panels for anyone to purchase a recording of later, and it was a large room with lots of attendees, they needed someone to help pass a mic around so people would be heard. I volunteered and spent a fun hour playing Oprah. It was a very good panel though, and raised some points I hadn't considered before. After that was HP and the Unforgivable Curses, which was interesting at the time, but mostly filler until I could get to The People Vs J.K. Rowling, which was a mock trial where there were charges brought against JK by we the people. The presenters were a real prosecuting attorney, and a professor of English who was the defense, and there was a judge. The panel went, the prosecuter read the charges and presented her argument, then the defense gave a rebuttal, and then it was opened to the audience who was to bring evidence supporting whichever side and also be the jury. Both sides were well thought out, and well presented and humorous to boot. And when the audience got in to it, they were funny too. I want to buy this panel session, because it was just that much awesome.
Just hung out a bit went to the art auction, mostly just to see what was there and partly kill time and to support Anneke who was interested in a few things. But I saw this beautiful quilt and had to bid. Luckily my experience running the Ycon auction all those years stood me in good stead and my aggressive bidding strategy kept my opposition low and I got the quilt cheaply. After that Anneke and I went to grab dinner at a Thai place and went back out to hang out again. When I found Sasha (one of the Team 3rd Floor people) she mentioned we were changing the location to avoid some of the people who had been there the previous night disrupting her goal of having a drabble/drable session. Somehow we all ended up in the ball area which was great because the groups could spread out to those who wanted to chat, those who wanted to draw, and those who wanted to play games. I spent time in all 3 groups. At one point Meghan and I were thirsty, and went off on an epic journey to find a working soda machine and enough money to buy them after the first one ate a buck .25. Things started winding down, but the Nazi hotel chased us away and we ended up in our usual spot on the 3rd floor, where a few minutes later they showed up again. We just all went to bed after that.
I moved my car closer and took my stuff down to it. I didnt want to stay in the hotel, I was going to drive home and come back in the morning for the Leaving Feast. After the feast, Anneke and I hung around saying goodbye to people before she had to leave to catch her flight. As I was wandering around, the Art Insight people has set up in the hallway. I had seen them mentioned on the Azkatraz website and was craving the collection of photo prints. One was 40 dollars, the whole set 430. How could I pick one? And the only way to get the Luna print was to buy the set but I couldn't afford the $430 total price tag. However the girl explained they have lay-away, and then they lady who runs the gallery came by and SHE explained even more, and well, I ended up walking away with about $1500 in beautiful HP art. The photo print set, as well as 2 limited edition prints. So beautiful. The cool thing is, I can pay little by little and then more when I get a job. There was an interesting last minute Harry/Draco/Lucius/LV photo session, and shortly after I left for home again where I slept most of the night and the next day. Then, got sick. I think it's the fact that I'm in a hotel which is sealed and away from the usual allergens I deal with and when I come back in to the, coupled with lack of sleep I usually have with cons, my body gets overwhelmed. This time it wasn;t so bad because I sucked on Cold-eezs, as well as the Flonase to control the symptoms. 3 day fever, and the lightest aftermath I've had in a long time.
So yeah, I didn't mean to type this much about Azkatraz, and I know I forgot stuff and people and I'm sorry. It's just the way I get after a con. It all starts to blur together. I had other things, but I'll save that for another post.