Lumos People, Dear Reader

[connielane]

As is the case with every major event in my life, I feel compelled to write up an exhaustive account of my travels in Las Vegas, particularly the Lumos conference. I did a backdated entry about the last day of Shakefest here, in case anyone wants to hear about Hamlet. But what follows is purely (well, almost purely) Vegas. True, what happens in Vegas stays in Vegas, but I'm going to break that rule for the most part. However, I reserve the right to invoke the VDC (Vegas Discretion Clause) at any point in my tale. There will be a few links to other people's pictures in this post, but I'll be posting my own under friends-lock later.

Also, having been obsessed with "Wizard People, Dear Reader" and it's seemingly infinite supply of wonderful, humorous lines for the past several days, this account may slip into that style now and then. But I'll try to keep it under control. :P

Thursday - wherein we arrive in Vegas, meet lots of people, eat hotel food, and ROX out.

After three days of small town quaintness, it was time for our heroines - Conny Lane, Susy G, and Wahlee the Bear - to bid farewell to their friend Gryffinkat and to the fair hamlet (*rimshot*) of Cedar City and hit the Big Time. Las Vegas, Nevada. The Big L.V. Vegas, baby. The Symposium of The Lumos. Whatever the question was, the answer would always be yes. Yes to life, and yes to Harry freakin' Potter.

(Too much? *takes it down a notch*)

We hit the road mid-morning and stopped once again in St. George. We hit Costco for lunch (and my very own paperback copy of The Worst Book Ever Written). And we made the last couple of stops on our Ultimate Shopping Quest '06. Then ... it was time to hit the road for realz.

We took a side route through Kolob Canyon and snapped a bazillion pictures. When we were finished "ooo"ing and "ahh"ing over the gorgeous terrain, we drove approximately 87 circles in the parking lot so that Wahlee could take a picture of her odometer reading 121212.

Once we left Kolob it was another couple of hours to the Big L.V. Armed with a CD of '60s Super Hits, we made our way. There was about a 30 mile stretch of I-15 that went through Arizona and winded through the most gorgeous mountain scenery I've ever seen. As we got closer to Vegas, I took over DJ duties and fired up my iPod. As we cruised into Las Vegas proper, I couldn't resist playing "Viva Las Vegas." I mean, that's a MUST, right?!

The hotel turned out to be fairly easy to find (for us, at least, though I hear some people were hit with a Confundus charm trying to get there), and we pulled up to the front door and had them valet park the car. We got to the front desk just before a horde of Lumos attendees arrived via Knight Bus (shuttle, for any muggles who might be reading). Among this legion were mrs_bombadil and our 4th roommate, prettyannamoon. Amazed by our own impeccable timing, we checked in to our room, feeling a bit of concern upon hearing that it was going to cost more than we had been told. But oh ho, dear reader, that concern would soon be a memory - gone as quickly as the contents of an old lady's change purse in a Vegas slot machine.

For when we opened the door to our room we experienced a collective jaw drop, and yes, I do think that this jaw drop was romantic in nature. The palatial bathroom! The The whirlpool with seating for three! The ginormous shower with "rain" shower head feature! The hallway - yes, our room had a hallway! The amazingly inviting queen beds with pristine white down comforters and 30 pillows each! The small balcony that overlooked a be-palm-treed landscape and would have made a darn fine setting for Romeo & Juliet, should we have wished to stage an impromptu production! The huge TV, equipped with a Playstation joystick that we had no freaking use for! Tada! Tada! Tada forever! Yes, dear reader, we had arrived, and we couldn't unpack for fully 10 minutes because we were too busy running around the room and squeeing over our embarrassment of riches.

I decided to ring Iguana, who I knew had arrived earlier, and see if she was having a similarly "tada!" kind of afternoon. Sadly, the answer was no. Turkish rebels had commandeered her room and she was currently being forced to fight them back to reclaim it. She was busy with that, so we would meet up with her a bit later.

wahlee_98 had agreed to pick up piperx from the airport, so she and susy_gwen went to do that. This turned out to be an adventure in and of itself, maily because I had neglected to send the map with them. Over the next couple of hours there was much phone-calling, right and wrong directions, wrong turnings, "Oh, there are TWO airports!"es and whatnot, but they eventually made it back in time to change into clever HP costumes and make it to the Welcome Feast.

While Wahlee and SG were getting Lost in La Mancha, prettyannamoon and I decided to head down to Registration and sign in. There we met the incomparable Melissa Anelli and John Noe, who were hanging out at the information desk and boggling at all the wizardly goings-on. As we went to check in, prettyannamoon was asked for her signed and notarized parental permission form, and we experienced a brief moment of "bzuh?!" before P.Moon assured the volunteer that as she was 24 friggin' years old, a permission form would probably not be necessary.

We signed in and got our cooliez Lumos bags, programs, and handy-dandy laniard nametags. On our way back out we caught a glimpse of the notorious Emerson Spartz, complete with an entourage to protect him from rabid fangirls. At this point, I received a call from Iguana, who had successfully beaten back the Turkish rebels and victoriously claimed back her hotel room. She also seemed very excited about having rented a convertible for her stay - something about Johnny Depp and Benicio Del Toro driving around Vegas. The three of us went back to mine and P.Moon's room and chatted, periodically answering frantic calls from Wahlee and Susy G, who were still trying to find their way to the airport at this point. And P.Moon presented Iguana and I with our very own red coffee mugs, a la House. *loves*

I called up to blpurdom's and mrs_bombadil's room to let them know that Emily might be a little late to our Panel Planning Meeting, and the former invited us up to visit with them and their current guests, peachespig and his lovely wife helianthemum (who are steadily climbing my list of favorite people). We went, and shortly after we arrived we were joined by a gaggle of R/Hr shippers - rhrsoulmates, lunalovepotter, penny_sieve, dome36, mudblood428 and her mom, and probably someone else I'm forgetting.

I took a moment to call and make sure that Wahlee and Susy G had eventually gotten un-lost, and discovered that they had indeed and were currently on their way back to the hotel with piperx. Eventually, the third inhabitant of the room we were in - claudia_k - arrived and presented us all with gifts (very cool beaded bookmarks that were color coded to our "houses"). The party gathering in blpurdom's room dissipated after a little while, and everyone left except myself, blpurdom, and Mrs. B. We spent the next few minutes extolling the virtues of Ginevra Weasley (for our upcoming panel, not just for fun). We were then suddenly struck with the lateness of the hour and rushed down (and then up again) to the Welcome Feast.

Rhrsoulmates, being both unusually small and unusually commanding, managed to save 2 large tables in the Alternate Great Hall (which I think was cooler than the actual "Great Hall") for the sailors of a ship so evil that hell spat it back. There was much yumminess - Padfoot Stew (not as gross as it sounds), salad, huge hunks of bread, and Aunt Petunia's sugared violet cake. Several people took advantage of the bar, which had a menu of specialty drinks, such as Butterbeer and Avada Colada. At one point, Wahlee brought Melissa over to our table for introductions, and I was pleased that she knew who I was and remembered the package I sent her before her trip to Edinburgh last summer. And then Melissa took Susan and Emily (and, rather surprisingly, me - yay for the perks of being a Leaky staffer) over to the Leaky Cauldron table to meet lots of people - I mainly remember John Noe, Sue Upton, Nick Rhein, Doris Herrman, and Cheryl Klein (continuity editor of the HP books, who was at Lumos in an unofficial capacity). There were at least half a dozen more that I don't remember because I only met them the one time. I was a bit starstruck, truth be told, and I was shocked out of my bloomers that Sue knew who I was.

The next event was Wizard Rock. Excuse me, that should be WIZARD ROCK! I need a concert screencap from Stunt Rock to go with this, but sadly that masterpiece is not yet on DVD. The first Wizard band was Draco and the Malfoys, who sang songs about Harry screwing up in Potions and Draco wanting to be "freaking awesome" like Voldemort. The music pounded in my eardrums a little too intensely, so after a few minutes I took refuge in the hallway.

I chatted with various folk and there was much talk about a secret goodie for those who would attend the first HP movie night on Friday. Harry and the Potters eventually took the stage and I braved the supa-loud concert hall once more to rock out to "Save Ginny Weasley." I think rhrsoulmates has a picture of this. However, due to the two-hour time difference, I soon found myself very tired and desrious of the downy comfort of the hotel's bedding. Ker-snooze.....


Friday - wherein I attend many panels, hang with many cool peeps, and see some pirate movie.

The next morning I awoke, as usual, before everyone else in the room. I got ready for the day and traipsed down to the hotel's Starbucks (having missed my usual Wednesday trip) and got my old standard - grande caramel frappucino. Teh yums. There was also breakfast being served in the Great Hall, and I met up with several people from our crowd. We compared schedules and plans for the day and at 9:00 it was time for the first session of panels.

I figured the most entertainment was to be found at a panel called "The Parameters of Speculation: The Different Ways of Thinking about the Possible Endings of the Harry Potter Saga." This was led by three well-known panelists - Steve Vander Ark, John Granger, and Joyce Odell (a.k.a. The Red Hen, of "The Changeling Hypothesis" fame). Joyce was wearing the coolest witch hat ever. I sat next to Piperx and giggled at the notations she had made on her schedule. The panel was not so much about specific predictions as it was about the tools that readers might use to try and guess future canon. I particularly like The Red Hen's comments about filters through which she reads the books. Steve was basically the Scully of the group - his position was that no matter how good our predictive tools are, they're useless in predicting Rowling's story because she's making up her own rules. He also made an excellent point about Ootp, and how people were so flabbergasted by that book because we wanted another GoF. Granger ... you know, I actually do like John Granger, but he had some pretty controversial things to say. And I heard peachespig giggling in the row behind me every time he said "Hogwarts hermaphrodite." Oh, and John/Steve is my new OTP. :P

Next up was a not-quite-hour-long break during which I figured I'd better eat something, since I planned to attend several panels in a row starting just before lunch time. I met up with peachespig and helianthemum and we decided to have an early lunch at the Promenade Cafe (or, as it would come to be called, the "R/Hr Cafe"). We giggled muchly about hermaphodites and Slughorn!Dumbledore, and talked about the panels to come.

We had just enough time after paying our bill to dash to Wahlee's presentation (The Sorting Hat, Ideology, and Free Will - hey, Em, they put the Oxford comma in the listing on the Lumos website!). It was a very good paper and quite informative. The women on my row marveled at how she took a 50-page piece of source material and boiled it down to a 2-minute, easy-to-understand summary. Go Emily!

Immediately after Wahlee's presentation was the Ginny Panel (In Defense of Ginny: Harry's Ideal Girl), led by blpurdom, mrs_bombadil, wahlee_98 and myself. I thought this went extremely well (though I didn't speak up as much as I should have). We took about an hour to describe Ginny's character development over the first 6 books and then spent the rest of the time discussing her portrayal outside the books (fanfic, the movies) and answering questions. As I suspected, we were in a friendly room, and I wouldn't have minded a bit of opposition. But I was quite pleased at how many people showed up, considering the time of day and the fact that our panel coincided with the keynote luncheon.

After our panel was the panel I had most looked forward to - for reasons I won't go into here. "Where Did We Go From Here?" This panel was led by Heidi and included Penny, so I was interested in what they and the others had to say about the shift in expectations that new canon has brought in the past few years. For many reasons, though, it was a disappointment. Mostly, it was just rather dull and unorganized. But the panel did yield this interesting gem: the protestation that prior to HBP, Blaise Zabini was the most interesting character in the books. This, dear reader, is the sort of comment that brain aneurysms are made of. Yes, I know the person was talking from a fandom perspective, and that she meant that a fanfic writer could make Blaise interesting because literally anything could be done with such a character, but what she said was that he was the most interesting character in the books before we knew anything (even his gender) besides his name and house. But the highlight of the panel was an ickle H/Her who, in the Q&A, declared that HBP turned her love for Hermione into hate ... but that Hermione could still possibly redeem herself in book 7. *dies from eye rolling*

The "Trickster" roundtable I wanted to go to next was full - despite the fact that there was wa-haaaay more space in the room than they were actually using. So I took a little break before Anise's presentation (Harry's Loves, Harry's Hates: A New Key to Their Mysteries). This presentation was just not that interesting at all. It was basically a hodge-podge of things that people have been saying since the day HBP was released, like "Harry has to forgive Snape." There was also some crazy sprinkled in, like references to the Book of Judas, gnosticism, and the astonishing claim that Harry is not capable of romantic love.

After this, I followed several people into the hotel's "pub" for a pre-arrenged R/Hr meetup. The gathering was a bit too crowded and noisy for me, but it was great to see all of these people whose names I've seen online forever. There were many introductions and yellings into cell phones, and Wahlee, Iguana and I discovered that we plan much better on YM than in person. Or maybe we were just missing our red-haired Cruise Director. :P

Immediately after extricating ourselves from the rowdy R/Hers, several of us headed to HP movie night, with the hope of seeing something squeeworthy. HP Scene It was being played as we walked in, and I won a package of HP tattoos for correctly answering a question about Hagrid. As the movie started we began to realize that there would be no squeeing, no sir. Sigh. We watched the movie a while, though, and slowly started to trickle out.

Then it was time for dinner - a truly evil dinner indeed, dear readers. So evil, in fact, that I must invoke the VDC for fear of shocking your delicate sensibilities. I can only say that I shall never think on Lucius and Draco Malfoy without a shudder. Just ... dude. After the diabolical dinner, it was time for a late-night rendevous with Captain Jack Sparrow and a "drawring of a key."


Saturday, Part 1 - wherein I attend many more panels and become a podcast staffer.

It was 1:00am when we left the movie, so I slept fairly hard that night but still woke up relatively early. At breakfast, I had a spirited discussion with Mrs. B, claudia_k, pocketowl, and her husband Chris about good and bad teachers at Hogwarts. This was in anticipation of a panel on a similar subject that was happening during the first session that morning, and which I missed because it filled up before I could get a seat. I spotted Chris on his way out of the panel and he assured me that it was pretty much the same thing we had discussed over juice and scones.

The next presentation was probably my favorite of the event - Edmund Kern's paper called "Snape's Eyes" - about what the descriptions of Snape's eyes tell us about his behavior and his motives. There was a line WAY out the door and down the hall to get in to this one, and for some reason, the Lumos people had put this presentation in one of the smallest rooms available. We eventually had to move to one of the larger rooms, and since so many people were turned away, Kern agreed to do a second reading that afternoon for those who missed this one. The paper was very interesting and very thorough. It reminded me quite a bit of an angua9 essay - frighteningly meticulous and detailed, and utterly convincing.

Next was another paper on Snape (all the stuff on Snape was hugely popular, as you might imagine - take that, Blaise Zabini!). This one was on Snape as a Byronic hero, which I don't personally buy, but it was an interesting paper nonetheless. After this I went to hear a paper about reading HP with a Marxist perspective. This one was kind of a low point, as the speaker was talking a bit too fast to be understood and he seemed more interested in debunking the capitalist reading than in explaining the Marxist reading itself.

Iguana and I decided to do lunch at the R/Hr cafe. Knowing me to be a total Pirate aficionado and spoiler whore, she filled me in on all the Pirates screenwriter news. We were soon joined by peachespig and helianthemum. The Pirate talk continued with questions about geography and other assorted matters. Conversation eventually turned to - wait for it - Harry Potter. And somehow we got started talking about primitive technology, including that classic of search engines ... Gopher. Ah, the memories.

After we paid for our meal, it was time for the event we'd all been waiting for ... gentlemen, start your lawnmowers ... Anise's Love Potion Panel of Doom. The non-Anise panelist was actually quite interesting, talking about the context of love potions/spells and their history. I may never eat spaghetti again, though. Just sayin'. But Anise's portion was not compelling or convincing at all. Her argument was based on the (IMO erroneous) idea that love potions were a theme that permeated HBP (she made some comment about a constant drumbeat throughout the book or some such nonsense). She counts seven references to love potions, which are really more like five or six. And I was not impressed at all with the comparison of love potions to Imperius.

There was a good bit of post-panel snarking in the hall, and we found out more details about how we were supposed to get into the LeakyMug podcast later that evening. A few minutes later something exciting happened. Wahlee, the Enabler - her coolness knowing no bounds - managed a way for myself and my roomies to not only not have to wait in line for wristbands and entrance to that evening's podcast, but also to snag front row seats. We were taken on as LeakyMug staff - I got a t-shirt and everything! Our job was to stand at the door and make sure that everyone who went in had a wristband. I hung out a bit in the TLC special room, and eventually left to go to two more panels.

The next panel I attended was a paper on Hogwarts teachers, and thence I went to Steve Vander Ark's presentation about the current state of the HP fandom - how we're kind of in limbo waiting for the last bit of canon. It was mostly a "yay fandom" kind of thing. Lots of applause and cheers, lots of laughs, and Steve made the whole room tear up reading the Mirror of Erised scene. He had some great things to say about Harry's development as a character, and I especially loved his point about Harry going from Hermione having to tell him "As long as Dumbledore's around..." to the end of HBP where we get a reversal and Dumbledore saying that he's not afraid because he's with Harry.

After the panel I went back to the TLC room for a few minutes where Iguana was purposefully studying for the evening's trivia smackdown between TLC and Mugglenet. When it was time for people to line up, my roomies and I - newly dubbed bouncers - took our positions at the front of the line. We did our best, with the help of a few others, to wrangle the absolutely INSANE line of people (pic taken by prettyannamoon), and we all waited for over an hour for the doors to open. P.Moon and I bonded with "The Fire Hazards" - tenacious fangirls (and one fanboy who bore a striking resemblance to Taylor Hicks) who had waited since 8am to get a prime spot in the line. Once the doors opened, we got everyone in with amazing quickness and patted ourselves on the back for our fearsome bouncer skillz.

When everyone had gone in, Switchboard Tim (a very hard-working Leaky staffer) said that they needed someone to stay at the door during the podcast and keep checking wristbands (since people would be going in and out for drinks, bathroom breaks, etc.). Also, since there was a bar right outside the room, said doorkeeper would need to make sure that no one brought glass containers inside. There was a moment of hesitation on all of our parts, and then, feeling a fit of altruism and appreciation for getting to hang out with the Leaky folks, I took on this solemn responsibility. Little did I know what the evening held in store for me.



************

My Adventures as Leaky Mug Bouncer and Stage Manager

It started off easily enough. Alex (a.k.a. The Remus Lupins) warmed the crowd up for a while, and everyone was really great about showing me their wristbands as if I were someone important. At this time, I also met awelkin, and chatted very briefly with her before she took her seat. Switchboard Tim gave me a chair and a cup of water for my trouble. Life was good.

But things started to take a turn when I was approached by Betty Hamilton, head of Lumos security ("Head Auror," as it were). She asked me to run back to where the Leaky Muggers were gatherd backstage and see if everyone was ready. I happily agreed to do so, since it made me feel important and gave me an excuse to rub elbows, albeit briefly, with the famous podcasters. The group assured me that they were indeed ready and I rushed back to my post to give Betty the thumbs up. I had done exactly as requested, and at this point I figured my task was done and I could get back to the thankfully dull task of checking wristbands.

But oh no, dear reader - my night had only begun. For in running that small errand I had unwittingly accepted a promotion in the LeakyMug ranks. I had just been bumped up from bouncer to stage manager.

Alex kept playing and playing and playing. Ten minutes passed. Betty came back to me and asked "Aren't they ready?"

"Um, yeah," I replied, bemusedly, "They were ready when I asked them 10 minutes ago and came back to tell you just that."

"They need to come out now," she replied. "Can you go back and ask them to tell this guy to stop playing? They're the ones who hired him; they're responsible for him."

Thinking that this was totally not what I signed up for, but not wanting anyone to be angry with me, I trudged back to the backstage area - totally on the opposite side from my staffer roommates, who might have been able to help me with what happened next.

I peered meekly through the door and instantly saw Andrew Sims and John Noe.

"Um, is there anyone who can get him to stop playing?" I wibbled. Yes, dear reader, I wibbled.

"Well, can you do it?" John retorted, in a tone that convinced me he and everyone else thought I was an idiot. Not that I disagreed.

Duh, I thought to myself. They can't come out here and do it because they have to make their entrance. And here I am in a "staff" t-shirt. Of course, it's not unreasonable to expect me to do it. I had other thoughts as well, like why the heck didn't they communicate to him in the first place just how long he was supposed to play. But now it was my freakin' job.

Gah.

Gah.

Gah forever. I closed the backstage door and whimpered out to the front of the stage. I drew strength from Lord knows where and began to seek help from the VIPs in the front row. But alas, these efforts were fruitless. I took in a deep breath, imagined myself as a stern figure of authority, turned toward the stage, and began to gesticulate firmly with Alex. I pointed backstage as fiercely as I could and mouthed "They're ready! They're waiting for you to stop!" After a few moments, he finally acknowledge my hail, and...

Proceeded to play two more effin' songs. Freakin' rock musicians. He started to play a third, in answer to which Betty and I both said "NO!" probably loud enough for the whole room to hear. We began to frantically execute the Throat-Cutting 'Cut It Short, You Moron!' move, and just when I was about to ask a hotel staffer for a large cane, Steve Vander Ark - bless his nippers! - used his Alpha Male presence to put a stop to the pre-show.

Infuriated that I had been put in such a position by Betty, only to be made a fool of, I left my post for a minute to get some air, finish my water, and utter a few choice expletives to no one. I started to compose a cool-sounding defense (in case Noe or someone else decided that everything was my fault) while the Leaky Muggers staged a sort-of dramatic intro. It wasn't my kind of thing - the Aurors had staged a little skit where Death Eaters had supposedly kidnapped Melissa and the Aurors had to rescue her and get her back to the podcast. Much of the action happened at the back of the room where I was, and there are probably several pictures of the proceedings with me in the background looking like I could choke a bitch. Perhaps I would have enjoyed it more if I hadn't been so ticked off. But at least my moment of drama was over, and I could sit back and enjoy the show from the cheap seat. Right?

What can I tell you, dear reader? My naivetee knows no bounds, I guess. The podcast was going well. The LeakyMug panel - which included the illustrious Iguana - spent a long time discussing Snape's loyalties and Harry's chances of surviving the series. Too long, in fact, for it started to reach the time that the podcast was supposed to end. Then passed it. And they still hadn't done the trivia contest or the filks they had planned to do.

People began to come up to me and ask how much longer it was going to last. I was wary of speaking to people on behalf of the podcasters, but I did my best despite having no idea what the specific plans were. I also received a thrashing from some H/Hers who left in outrage over yet another comment about them being "delusional." One of them leaned toward me on her way out and angrily said "They really need to stop bashing my favorite ship." If it hadn't been for the drama of trying to get the podcast started all by my lonesome, I would probably have been much more amused.

But one of my last interactions with an audience member came when a Ben Kingsley-looking guy asked me when the trivia contest was going to start. At this point, the panel was still discussing Snape, so I told him I didn't know, and he proceeded to berate the panel by proxy (i.e., talk at me as if I could do a damn thing).

"Steve Vander Ark is more important than all those people up there put together," he said, gesturing toward the panel, "and he's backstage twiddling his thumbs!" Funny ... I didn't know Steve had an agent.

I tried to placate Mr. Kingsley as best I could - sympathetically gesturing and shrugging my shoulders and hands and plainly stating that I had no idea what the specific plans were, or if they might cut something short since they started so late. I spoke politely and empathetically, and thought I might have done my customer service background some credit.

And then BLAMO! Out of nowhere came a completely unprovoked attack.

"It's okay to say 'I don't know,'" he said patronizingly. "You don't have to shrug your shoulders. We do have language as well as gestures."

For a moment I tried to decide which would be more effective - to use my language to say "F*** you" or to express that sentiment through a gesture. But he walked away before I could reach a decision, so I settled for a huge rolling of the eyes. My nightmare was now complete, but the show didn't last too much longer after that. When John started "New York, New York" I breathed a huge sigh of relief.

************


Saturday, Part 2 - wherein I play groupie, laugh muchly, and experience a great fandomly satisfaction.

After the show, there was some picture taking and a lot of waiting. LOTS of it. Patience is indeed a virtue, and one that did not go unrewarded this evening. After lots and lots of waiting - during which I witnessed first hand an Emerson fangirl episode involving Indian food (sadly, this girl chickened out of the BalletChic approach of presenting her beloved with a box of sex toys :P) - I found myself walking with Wahlee, Iguana, P.Moon and Melissa up to the uber-swanky TLC/MN suite to hang with lots of very cool people.

The room was insanely big and insanely messy. And there were always tons of people coming in and out. I don't see how the people who actually had beds there ever slept. *pets them* Much of the evening was spent listening to "Wizard People, Dear Reader" (transcript of an older version here and here, if you want to check it out first before downloading). This is an audio track that you play along with the first HP movie (sound on the movie turned down, of course) - much like a fan-made audio commentary, but much much cooler. It's the funniest freaking thing I've heard in quite a long time, if not ever. We were screaming, nay crying with laughter.

Pizza was ordered, but it never came. However, several of us descended like vultures upon a large, cold pizza that was leftover from someone else's room. Eventually, the noise in the room overcame the speakers playing Wizard People. But soon something happened that was so cool that I'm going to have to invoke the VDC again. All I can say is that Melissa Anelli is one of the nicest, most giving people I've come across in the fandom. If you're reading this, it was truly a pleasure to finally meet you. And I would be remiss in not issuing a great expression of gratitude to Wahlee as well, who made the evening's climax possible.

Wahlee, Iguana and I hugged our gracious hostess goodbye (she was flying out at 7am - eeek! - for another Borders appearance with Cheryl Klein and Emerson) and made our way back to our respective rooms. Iguana tried to be stealthy so as not to wake her (she thought) sleeping roommates. But not only were they not sleeping, they hadn't even gotten back from their excursion to the Strip. Most of our crowd had gone to the Strip for the evening, and I've heard lots of adventure stories already. But you'll have to read those on other journals, because those people tell their own stories way better than I can.


Sunday - wherein many goodbyes are said.

On Sunday morning, I went down to the Leaving Feast with a heavy heart, though I was determined not to cry like a sap. Those who were in the Alternate Great Hall for the Welcome Feast were in the actual Great Hall this time, but I still prefer the Alternate Great Hall. Round tables are a much better set up for visiting than the long tables. Our meal was far too frequently interrupted by Debbie McClain, the chief organizer who seemed not to be ready to let go of the microphone because she just wouldn't. stop. talking.

Wahlee and Susy G left us for a while to go to church, and the rest of us said goodbye to several folks, such as P.Moon, Mrs. B, and blpurdom. I went back up to my room for a bit and looked up the "Dear Reader" transcript (and hunted unsuccessfully for some good icons) before I was joined by our new roomie, Iguana. We decided to head back down to the disassembling Lumos area and hang out with the stragglers before they left us as well. We ran into peachespig, helianthemum, alphabet26 and simmysim and the six of us decided to do lunch at the Cheescake Factory, a wonder of restaurants that I had never yet visited. I *finally* got to ride in Iguana's rented convertible - very cool, with obligatory loud music.

Lunch was supa-yummy and we chatted about our respective experiences of reading OotP and HBP. We were also sad to find that the Cheesecake Factory menu inescapably foreshadowed H/Hr. We cried for a few moments, then continued bravely through our meal, hiding the pain we all so palpably felt. And, just so you know, the Oreo cheesecake is EVAL.

When we got back, Iguana and I returned to our room, joined by the rest of our Cheesecake party. I started to read some portions of "Dear Reader" aloud, and we were soon joined by Wahlee. laurel_potter came up as well, and we all had a good long talk. But eventually it was time for peachespig and helianthemum to start their drive back home, so we bade them farewell and went down to the swimming pool for a spell.

The pool was actually rather warm and the water was strangely salty. But it was very refreshing and relaxing. I spent some quality time there with poconell, chickadilly, Iguana, and laurel_potter. Later in the evening, Iguana went out to the strip with poconell, alphabet26, simmysim, and laurel_potter. Again, their adventures on the Strip are their own to tell.

Susy G had gone out to dinner with some family of hers who lived in Vegas, so Wahlee and I were left to fend for ourselves. My now near-empty wallet was afraid of the Japanese restaurant in the hotel, so we ended up going to the hotel's buffet, which is decidedly not one of the famous Vegas buffets. But it was filling, and that was all we required.

We came back to the room and were tempted to try the pay-per-view movies, but suddenly changed our minds once we saw the prices. Nothing else on TV tempted us, so Wahlee surfed the net while I caught up on some sleep.


Monday - wherein more goodbyes are said, and three fearless females exhaust themselves on the infamous Strip.

On Monday morning, those who hadn't left on Sunday were trickling out of the hotel. Wahlee, Susy G and I had a farewell breakfast at the R/Hr Cafe with Iguana. The three of us weren't leaving until Tuesday, so we spent much of the morning saying several more goodbyes (to chickadilly, poconell, alphabet26, simmysim, laurel_potter and the aforementioned Iguana) as we headed out for our own adventures on the Strip. I was quite proud of myself for STILL not crying. *punches the air toughly*

It took us a little while to get to the Strip, because we had to stop for gas and to get Wahlee some sunglasses so that she could see to drive. We had the Carpenters playing, though, so it was all good. And I was taught how to do the Bytheway Point - the obligatory finger movement to accompany "We've Only Just Begun." I won't hear that song again without doing it. :)

Our first stop was Star Trek: The Experience. A truly cool attraction, despite the fact that I have watched exactly four episodes of the original series and only snippets of the 2nd movie. We started with the History of the Future Museum, which had lots of cool memorobilia and an exhaustive timeline. In the background, several clips from the shows and movies were playing (I got to hear "KHAN!" several times, which pleased me very much). After making our way down the timeline, we did the two "rides." I like the Klingon Encounter better than the Borg Invasion. The latter has too many tactile shocks which I don't really care for. But it was an extremely cool experience. As we waited in line, we laughed at the fact that we had come to a Star Trek attraction from a Harry Potter conference - I called it "The Full-On Nerd Experience." There were people in costume walking among us - paid to do so, I presume. A Klingon asked us if we were carrying contraband, and when we answered no he asked "Why not?!"

We spent some time in the gift shop (Wahlee bought a Tribble) and simply HAD to have lunch at Quark's Bar. The food was expensive, but the portions were large and delicioso. We eavesdropped on a nearby table, and Susy G kept us entertained by skewering french fry after french fry on a toothpick. Hey, we're easily amused.

After Star Trek it was time for the Strip. We drove as far as the Bellagio and parked the car. We went inside the Bellagio and marveled at the miniatures and fountains in the lobby. I still wonder how those little fountain arches work. We found a place that served gelato and had a cold, creamy snack. We decided to walk with our desserts to save time and were sure that we could see New York, New York and the Luxor, as well as swing by M&M World, and be back in thirty minutes for the fountain show. Wro-hong!

It was a LONG walk from the Bellagio to New York, New York, and the sidewalk was strewn with postcard porn. We looked in vain for a public fountain, and continued down the Strip where we caught the tram at Excalibur and rode down to the Luxor so I could get a picture of the Sphinx. I probably took more pictures of the Strip in that two hours than I did the rest of my trip. Ready to die from dehydration, we stopped on the way back at a drug store and bought some bottled water. Relief - warm, sweeping, glorious relief - swept over us as we drenched our parched throats. It was getting so late that we decided to skip M&M World and the Fountain Show and just get back to our car. Wahlee had to be in a conference call at 6:00 and we didnt even get to the car until 5:45. There was a bit of a panic on the drive back as Wahlee tried to get into the conference call, but eventually all was well and we returned safely to the hotel.

While Wahlee finished her call, Susy G read and I slept. At around 7:00 we headed down to the pool and hot tub. The lateness of the day made the pool a little chilly, but it was heaven nonetheless. Even more heavenly was the hot tub, which was big enough for all three of us to do Dead Man's Floats at the same time.

Retiring to the room once more, we showered, changed, and went downstairs for one last meal at the R/Hr Cafe. Though this was my fourth visit to said restaurant, it was the first time I tried something non-breakfasty. The chipotle mayonaise on my chicken sandwich, however, was too much for me, and I thought wistfully of my "usual" eggs and bacon.

We went back upstairs and got on the 'net to find that Iguana had arrived safely home, and we had a Skype voice chat (my first ever, dear reader) with her. I had hoped to go back to the Strip that evening and see it all lit up, but it had gotten so late that I abandoned that plan in favor of a good night's sleep.


Tuesday - wherein we make like Sheryl Crow and start "leaving Las Vegas."

The next morning, I got up (again) fairly early, grabbed a frappucino from Starbucks, and proceeded to use up as much of my remaining camera film as possible on our lovely hotel. I returned to pack and found that, with a little extra effort, I really could fit everythng back in the three bags I came with. Thank heavens for my bright idea to pack half as many clothes and do laundry in the middle of the trip.

We all got done packing and checked out earlier than we expected, and we timed it just right so that it was both too late for a farewell breakfast and too early for a farewell lunch. My flight didn't leave until 4:20, but I sensed that Wahlee and Susy G were ready to go home, so they dropped me off at the airport and I hung around for a few hours. I had Wizard People's Brad Neely on my iPod to keep me company, though, and I passed the time rather amusingly, trying not to laugh out loud and force people to stare at me. I also took a few minutes to get on the airport's internet and read about Jo's press conference.

The flight was pretty much uneventful, except for a little turbulence as we passed through a storm. I spent most of the time writing out a draft of this post, and when I arrived home, I was delighted to find some snarky!Jo shipping comments (and some eager folks to discuss them with) waiting for me. I particularly loved the comment about "those of you over 18" - I wonder if she seriously thinks that shippers are all teenagers or if that was just a big fat bizzurn. :P

Anyway, the trip was absolutely wonderful. It was one of the only times in my life that I have truly felt like I was on vacation. Of course, the four-star digs didn't hurt (I was *very* sad to part with our lovely room). It's strange to get back home and communicate with people through the internet that you've just recently met in person. I truly don't know what I would do if there were no e-mail and instant message - I would probably still be a gooey puddle of tears. It was wonderful reuniting with "old" (three years, at least) friends and meeting new ones for the first time in person. I miss everyone terribly, and now have but one question...

When can we do this again?