NYC Fen Gathering
So, so, so much fun and I nearly missed it!
I woke up yesterday morning feeling a bit under the weather and wasn't sure I was up to a four-hour drive alone. Not to mention a four-hour drive back in the wee small hours of the morning. I figured I could always stop at a hotel on the way home if I felt too tired to drive.
I arrived in the city a little after 5 pm and called lyra_sena and I agreed to meet her at the Playwright Tavern on 8th and 45th. I also got to meet nifra_idril, rageprufrock and musesfool. Pru regaled us with her most embarassing stories and, let me me tell you, she is one kick-ass storyteller.
There was also some chatter about Harry Potter, which I don't read, so musesfool was kind enough take over the Harry Potter eduation darthrami had started. She gave me some more background about Remus, Sirius and James.
Lyra, Nifra and I also chatted a bit about Due South. Lyra is quite intoxicated with Fraser/RayK and I certainly can't blame her for that. And the wild thing is she hasn't seen a single episode of the show!
After nearly two hours of chatting, we headed over to Doyle's to meet up with others and it was pretty crowded. I didn't count the number of people, but I'm guessing there had to be at least 25 people there. Everyone was gathered in the bar area and we were squished between the bar and a wall about 6-8 feet away. It was hard to get through to meet everyone.
Luckily slodwick was near the front of the crowd, so I got to say hello to her. She's totally my Michael Rosenbaum hero with all her stories and squeeing about that wonderful man. She told me scrunchy wanted to meet me and pointed her out at the far end of the bar. As I tried to squeeze through the crowd, I ran into lexalot, who has been kind enough to beta some of my stories. So we got to chatting and she told me truly nightmarish stories about trying to get auto insurance in NJ.
Finally found my way down to Scrunchy, the only other die-hard Oz fan in the room. I told her my sole Christopher Meloni story and several Lee Tergesen stories and, at some point, we moved to a quieter table, where slodwick joined us and we chatted some more. Scrunchy is a truly delightful person and I had blast chatting with her. She made me laugh, which is probably no surprise to any of you who have met me before, but she also made Slodwick laugh harder and louder than I did, which may surprise some of you. It's true!
nerodi came over for a few minutes and I was so happy to meet her. She's very peppy and enthusiastic just like she comes across on her LJ.
I also met and briefly spoke with celli, kstanley (who arranged the get-together), daera23, bktheirregular and lifeinwords, who went around collecting the names/LJ names of everyone who attended so we could all have a record. Later, I asked to see the list and was amazed to discover that scribblinlenore was there. "Where?" I asked. Turns out, she was standing next to me talking to Nerodi and pun, so I said hello and got pulled into their chat about Pegboy. Nerodi was very cruel to Pegboy, as she always is, but she gave him some comfort at the end of her tale. That woman's imagination amazes me. *g* She insisted that I must write a Pegboy story and I told her I wasn't sure I could be that mean to poor Clark. She said, "Yes, you can." I've heard that when Nerodi makes a request of you, it must be done.
By now, it was getting on toward 11 pm and I had a long drive home, but I had to say hello to thdancingferret before I left. So we chatted for a few minutes and I started saying good-bye to everyone. I didn't want to go! It was so much fun and I didn't even get to meet everyone who was there!
The drive home was long and boring but not too bad. I was still pretty pumped up from the gathering, so I wasn't tired, but my eyes were dry and sore. I stopped a couple of times to rest them and finally pulled in around 3:45 am. Still, it was totally worth the trip!
(ETA: In my sleep deprivation, I forget to mention meeting tstar78! Sorry, Caro! I woke up from nap thinking, I forgot to mention Caro!)
I woke up yesterday morning feeling a bit under the weather and wasn't sure I was up to a four-hour drive alone. Not to mention a four-hour drive back in the wee small hours of the morning. I figured I could always stop at a hotel on the way home if I felt too tired to drive.
I arrived in the city a little after 5 pm and called lyra_sena and I agreed to meet her at the Playwright Tavern on 8th and 45th. I also got to meet nifra_idril, rageprufrock and musesfool. Pru regaled us with her most embarassing stories and, let me me tell you, she is one kick-ass storyteller.
There was also some chatter about Harry Potter, which I don't read, so musesfool was kind enough take over the Harry Potter eduation darthrami had started. She gave me some more background about Remus, Sirius and James.
Lyra, Nifra and I also chatted a bit about Due South. Lyra is quite intoxicated with Fraser/RayK and I certainly can't blame her for that. And the wild thing is she hasn't seen a single episode of the show!
After nearly two hours of chatting, we headed over to Doyle's to meet up with others and it was pretty crowded. I didn't count the number of people, but I'm guessing there had to be at least 25 people there. Everyone was gathered in the bar area and we were squished between the bar and a wall about 6-8 feet away. It was hard to get through to meet everyone.
Luckily slodwick was near the front of the crowd, so I got to say hello to her. She's totally my Michael Rosenbaum hero with all her stories and squeeing about that wonderful man. She told me scrunchy wanted to meet me and pointed her out at the far end of the bar. As I tried to squeeze through the crowd, I ran into lexalot, who has been kind enough to beta some of my stories. So we got to chatting and she told me truly nightmarish stories about trying to get auto insurance in NJ.
Finally found my way down to Scrunchy, the only other die-hard Oz fan in the room. I told her my sole Christopher Meloni story and several Lee Tergesen stories and, at some point, we moved to a quieter table, where slodwick joined us and we chatted some more. Scrunchy is a truly delightful person and I had blast chatting with her. She made me laugh, which is probably no surprise to any of you who have met me before, but she also made Slodwick laugh harder and louder than I did, which may surprise some of you. It's true!
nerodi came over for a few minutes and I was so happy to meet her. She's very peppy and enthusiastic just like she comes across on her LJ.
I also met and briefly spoke with celli, kstanley (who arranged the get-together), daera23, bktheirregular and lifeinwords, who went around collecting the names/LJ names of everyone who attended so we could all have a record. Later, I asked to see the list and was amazed to discover that scribblinlenore was there. "Where?" I asked. Turns out, she was standing next to me talking to Nerodi and pun, so I said hello and got pulled into their chat about Pegboy. Nerodi was very cruel to Pegboy, as she always is, but she gave him some comfort at the end of her tale. That woman's imagination amazes me. *g* She insisted that I must write a Pegboy story and I told her I wasn't sure I could be that mean to poor Clark. She said, "Yes, you can." I've heard that when Nerodi makes a request of you, it must be done.
By now, it was getting on toward 11 pm and I had a long drive home, but I had to say hello to thdancingferret before I left. So we chatted for a few minutes and I started saying good-bye to everyone. I didn't want to go! It was so much fun and I didn't even get to meet everyone who was there!
The drive home was long and boring but not too bad. I was still pretty pumped up from the gathering, so I wasn't tired, but my eyes were dry and sore. I stopped a couple of times to rest them and finally pulled in around 3:45 am. Still, it was totally worth the trip!
(ETA: In my sleep deprivation, I forget to mention meeting tstar78! Sorry, Caro! I woke up from nap thinking, I forgot to mention Caro!)