Back to the Real World

In an effort to make this post just right, I have now delayed for a week. So here it is - not perfect, but hopefully it captures most of what I want. [Apologies in advance to anyone I did not list below - I am bad with names and still a bit tired].

Leviosa was great. I loved hanging out with old friends and making new ones.

I flew in on Wednesday and enjoyed my day with romaine24 on the strip, where she humoured me and took me around to see a bunch of the buildings (Monte Carlo, Bellagio, Venetian, Paris) which were very cool, then introduced me to some amazing crepes. Mmm. We also saw The Jersey Boys which was great: I highly recommend it. The next day we wandered the Luxor and met up with cleo_jay and cassie_black12 (our roommates for the con that came all the way from England) at the Mandalay Bay, where I feigned interest in those around me while mainly watching Germany lose to France (boo!) at the Euro Cup. Ah, well.

Then we headed to the Green Valley Ranch aboard a lovely shuttle bus: leather seats, beautifully appointed. And we met a couple of con-goers (one of whom [excited] had roped her friend [looking mildly terrified] into her first con). We tried not to scare the n00bie too much. :D

GVR was very nice and had everything we needed. Good thing, since we never left the place. Didn't even step a toe outside until it was time to return home. :D

The con felt like two in one - a writers' conference (much more so than past events) squished together with a fan-centred convention. Since I fit into both categories, I was looking forward to it for various reasons, though most of all to spend time with friends old and new. After one panel seemed like a very long sales pitch for the presenters' books, I didn't end up attending others by the same folks. Thankfully, the rest I did go to were not like that. 'How to Outline Like a Boss' was cancelled and I desperately needed a nap one afternoon, so I missed some writing and YA sessions I'd planned on. But I still managed to attend and enjoy a fair bit:

• Academic - Material Culture of the Wizarding World
  
• Creativity - Make your own paper wand!
  
• Fandom - The Evolution of Fandom
  
• Slash - The Writer and the Beta, Going from Fanfic to Profic, From Guns and Handcuffs to Fit Aurors and Receding Hairlines (H/D)
  
• Writing - How to Ravenclaw Your Writing, Planning Your Book as a Series, The Structural Underpinnings of Characterization in Harry Potter

And in the 'Just for Fun' category I enjoyed: the Welcome Feast, H/D meetup (I won a Harry Potter pop vinyl in the raffle!), HP trivia (it was hard!), Slash: the Game, the Magical Ball and generally hanging out with friends :) Also, the vendor halls had some most excellent stuff.

*\o/*

The best part, as always: the people! It is incredible to hang out with old friends like roomies romaine24, cleo_jay and cassie_black12 and other familiar faces including sassy_cissa, oldenuf2nb, dysonrules, red_rahl and vaysh (all the way from Germany).

I got to meet piratesmile331 (finally – I feel like I've known her forever and yes, she really is as awesome as she seems) and her lovely daughter. I also met fantasyfiend09 (who is a most adorable Hufflepuff) and got to know xterm (whom I'd seen at a previous con but hadn't really spent time with).

Other familiar faces I got to spend a little time with (or at least say hey to briefly) included furiosity, alisanne, femmequixotic, noeon, emmagrant01, ravenna_c_tan, novembersnow, rurounihime pir8fancier, geoviki, snottygrrl and more! I also got to meet some new people like gracerene [whose name I've mispronounced (it's Grace Rene, not Grace-er-een) in my head for years], dicta_contrion and more whose LJ names I can't recall off the top of my head.

By the way, if I didn't list you, chalk it up to my post-con sieve for a brain. It's nothing personal, I swear. Also, I saw some posts from people that I missed and would have liked to have (re)connected with. D: Maybe next time.

It is such an incredible feeling to hang out with fellow nerds/writers/fans and just be yourself. I have met some wonderful people over the years and have travelled to places I might never have done if it weren't for fandom and those in it with me. ♥

As a follow-up, keep watching serpentinelion: I will be adding a rec post soon and dysonrules and I (and taradiane, though she doesn't know it yet) will be hosting a fest to pay homage to what (besides the books and/or movies themselves) got you into fandom. It might have been a particular person, work of fanfic/fanart, a fanvid, a con, some meta or whatever else brings people in. We're planning to have posting in February, so there will be lots of time to create.

Wow ... long post is long. In a nutshell, I'm very glad I went to Vegas and Leviosa in particular. Vegas ... well, I can say I've been there. *checks off list* It was crazy-stupid hot and people smoke indoors, so those things alone turn me off. Having said that, there are some cool things to see and do AND I needed something fandom-related in my life again; it had been too long. Our fandom is not dead and I'm glad to be a (small) part of it. *squishes to all*