Convention @ MindSay 
anime
Youmacon and NaNoWriMo
Kitsune no Tora
Eating: candy
Drinking: Apple cider from the cider mill! 8D
Writing: Lifeless
Reading: The Lone Ranger and Tonto Fist Fight in Heaven by Sherman Alexie for school
Thinking about: How much homework I still have to do, NaNoNovel
Kitsune no Tora is feeling: tired, drained
Hi guys!
...It's been a week since Youmacon, and I STILL haven't blogged about it. XD I FAIL
Okay so. I don't remember a whole ton of details because I was hyped up on Monster, brain-dead due to lack of sleep, and sore from walking a lot and sleeping on the floor in a sleeping bag with another 11 people in a cramped hotel room the size of my bedroom. Actually, it was a little bit bigger than my bedroom, but I digress. XD
Okay so. Thursday I got up, finished packing, did some internet things and then went to the Gamer's Alliance (a club at school) to pick up Andrea. She was not there. She was out shopping for her Youmacon stuff. XD I waited for her for about an hour, watching the boys play Halo. It was mildly entertaining. She finally arrived, and we transferred her stuff in her car to my car, and she left her car for her mother to drive home after she got off the bus later that afternoon.
We went back to my house and watched Silent Hill. 8D It was awesome, except for the fact that the room was too bright even with the blinds closed and we couldn't see a lot of things. My TV also decided to have a fail and make the music and sound effects so loud we couldn't hear the talking. DX Andi has most of the lines of the movie memorized, though, so she just told me what they said when I didn't catch it. XD
Around 6-ish we left, I picked up Micah and we set off on our way~ Everything went pretty smoothly; I drove and Micah, being the most competent with directions of the three of us, read off the directions to me. We listened to music from Andi's iPod Touch which she rigged to my car's radio with a tape deck, and it was awesome. Until the road that lead us to the hotel didn't show up. XD; We ended up on Michigan Avenue, which is a train-wreck right now because of construction. We ended up driving up and down it confused until we found the Town Center's service drive (which was ALSO under construction, ick) and FINALLY made it to the hotel.
We then proceeded to wait aimlessly for 2 hours for the girl (Michelle) who reserved our hotel room, because we couldn't get in until she checked in. DX I was supposed to meet someone from the NaNo forums there, but I missed her because of it. DX
When we finally got in we watched a few of the Death Note live action movies and then went to bed at like, 2 am. XD
Friday we did more fun things and took pictures and walked around a LOT. There were fun panels and the opening ceremonies, despite the extremely long line (that we were lucky enough to notice and sat in for a long while so we could get good seats), was a lot of fun. I like the announcer guy, he's funny. XD
Saturday was much of the same, except the morning I was leading Andrea around, because she dressed up as Deep Drive Riku with the blindfold. She could still see, but everything was fuzzy because she didn't have any glasses or contacts in in addition to being mostly blocked from the thin blindfold. I also dressed in my Halloween costume -- I was a gyspy. I have pics, which I will post a link to at the end. XD We also played Death Note Mafia from about 11pm until 6 am, even with the time change. XD 8 hours straight, yay! Eventually somewhere around 2 or 3 our moderator left, so I moderated the rest of the games, switching off with Andrea and this one other girl once. It was fun. 8D I bought the cards for it from Nikolai, so now I can play whenever I get a good amount of people~ <3
Also, my roomate flooded the bathroom Friday night. XDD She was really really tired, and taking a shower. For some reason, her brain didn't realize that the plastic shower curtain goes INSIDE the tub, because if it's outside the tub the water splashes over the side and floods the floor in about 2 inches of water. XD She had to go downstairs and get someone from the hotel staff to clean it up, and then sat in a corner in shame when he brought a mop, a bucket, and the hugest armful of towels ever. XD I took a picture, but you can't really see the water...
I had to go to the bathroom when I got there, so I had to take off my socks and roll up my pant legs so I could go. Still got my pants wet, and Saturday morning I got my socks wet because it had soaked into the carpet outside the bathroom door. D:
Sunday was lazy. We spent the entire morning lazily packing and feeling generally worn out. Check out was at noon, which Michelle did check out in time for, but we ended up in the room waiting for a cart to take our suitcases until almost 1. The guy who packed the stuff in my trunk didn't know that you have to pull the handle back into a closed position before you close it, or else it either doesn't close or gets stuck. Now it's stuck. DX I can't open it. We had to fold the seats down and drag Andrea's stuff out the side door when I dropped her off because no one could open it. :/
We walked around for a while, taking a few pictures but not many, and I sat and watched the Spoony Bards for a while because my feet hurt so incredibly much. We lost contact with Micah, so we waited around for a while for him to show up or call us so we could go home. Eventually Andrea told him we were leaving and if he didn't come right that second he'd have to find another ride, but then he texted her back, saying he was already home and had fallen asleep. >.> Uh, hello, thanks for telling us, jerk. I thought I was his only ride home, since I DID take him there, but noooo, he found a ride and didn't think to tell me. DX We waited around for nothing, and I was already in a bad mood from not getting enough sleep.
We drove home around 6-ish with minimal problems. It took me a while to find the North ramp for the Southfield freeway, but we did and we were on our way.
It was a blast, and I can't wait for next year. I am DEFINITELY cosplaying, no excuses. I'm definitely doing Riza Hawkeye from FullMetal Alchemist next year, but I want to do more than one costume. I'll probably do someone from Axis Powers Hetalia, but I'm having trouble choosing from Russia, America, North Italy, and France. XDD
Pictures are here! http://s431.photobucket.com/albums/qq39/TK-Kitsune/Youmacon%202009/
OKAY ENOUGH ABOUT YOUMACON
It's National Novel Writing Month! 8D I both hate myself for doing this to myself and love it because I'm getting SO MUCH DONE OMG. Even if it is utter crap. XD
I decided to just do Lifeless, rather than Precious Wingbeats. PW is just too complicated and too much to do for NaNoWriMo, and I haven't figured out all the plotholes yet. Lifeless is relatively simple, so that's what I'm doing.
I got a TERRIBLE start, I didn't start until the 3rd because of Youmacon and fatigue/homework, and only wrote about 300 words that day. XD I'm sitting at 8,865 words right now, which is pretty darn good if I say so myself for 4 days. XD I'm going to try and get to 10,000 today, maybe 11,000 if I can.
I'm thinking about posting it here, as I go. I haven't decided yet, though.
I'll ramble more about this sometime later this month, I'm sure. XD Goodnight, digital abyss~
Eating: candy
Drinking: Apple cider from the cider mill! 8D
Writing: Lifeless
Reading: The Lone Ranger and Tonto Fist Fight in Heaven by Sherman Alexie for school
Thinking about: How much homework I still have to do, NaNoNovel
Kitsune no Tora is feeling: tired, drained
Hi guys!
...It's been a week since Youmacon, and I STILL haven't blogged about it. XD I FAIL
Okay so. I don't remember a whole ton of details because I was hyped up on Monster, brain-dead due to lack of sleep, and sore from walking a lot and sleeping on the floor in a sleeping bag with another 11 people in a cramped hotel room the size of my bedroom. Actually, it was a little bit bigger than my bedroom, but I digress. XD
Okay so. Thursday I got up, finished packing, did some internet things and then went to the Gamer's Alliance (a club at school) to pick up Andrea. She was not there. She was out shopping for her Youmacon stuff. XD I waited for her for about an hour, watching the boys play Halo. It was mildly entertaining. She finally arrived, and we transferred her stuff in her car to my car, and she left her car for her mother to drive home after she got off the bus later that afternoon.
We went back to my house and watched Silent Hill. 8D It was awesome, except for the fact that the room was too bright even with the blinds closed and we couldn't see a lot of things. My TV also decided to have a fail and make the music and sound effects so loud we couldn't hear the talking. DX Andi has most of the lines of the movie memorized, though, so she just told me what they said when I didn't catch it. XD
Around 6-ish we left, I picked up Micah and we set off on our way~ Everything went pretty smoothly; I drove and Micah, being the most competent with directions of the three of us, read off the directions to me. We listened to music from Andi's iPod Touch which she rigged to my car's radio with a tape deck, and it was awesome. Until the road that lead us to the hotel didn't show up. XD; We ended up on Michigan Avenue, which is a train-wreck right now because of construction. We ended up driving up and down it confused until we found the Town Center's service drive (which was ALSO under construction, ick) and FINALLY made it to the hotel.
We then proceeded to wait aimlessly for 2 hours for the girl (Michelle) who reserved our hotel room, because we couldn't get in until she checked in. DX I was supposed to meet someone from the NaNo forums there, but I missed her because of it. DX
When we finally got in we watched a few of the Death Note live action movies and then went to bed at like, 2 am. XD
Friday we did more fun things and took pictures and walked around a LOT. There were fun panels and the opening ceremonies, despite the extremely long line (that we were lucky enough to notice and sat in for a long while so we could get good seats), was a lot of fun. I like the announcer guy, he's funny. XD
Saturday was much of the same, except the morning I was leading Andrea around, because she dressed up as Deep Drive Riku with the blindfold. She could still see, but everything was fuzzy because she didn't have any glasses or contacts in in addition to being mostly blocked from the thin blindfold. I also dressed in my Halloween costume -- I was a gyspy. I have pics, which I will post a link to at the end. XD We also played Death Note Mafia from about 11pm until 6 am, even with the time change. XD 8 hours straight, yay! Eventually somewhere around 2 or 3 our moderator left, so I moderated the rest of the games, switching off with Andrea and this one other girl once. It was fun. 8D I bought the cards for it from Nikolai, so now I can play whenever I get a good amount of people~ <3
Also, my roomate flooded the bathroom Friday night. XDD She was really really tired, and taking a shower. For some reason, her brain didn't realize that the plastic shower curtain goes INSIDE the tub, because if it's outside the tub the water splashes over the side and floods the floor in about 2 inches of water. XD She had to go downstairs and get someone from the hotel staff to clean it up, and then sat in a corner in shame when he brought a mop, a bucket, and the hugest armful of towels ever. XD I took a picture, but you can't really see the water...
I had to go to the bathroom when I got there, so I had to take off my socks and roll up my pant legs so I could go. Still got my pants wet, and Saturday morning I got my socks wet because it had soaked into the carpet outside the bathroom door. D:
Sunday was lazy. We spent the entire morning lazily packing and feeling generally worn out. Check out was at noon, which Michelle did check out in time for, but we ended up in the room waiting for a cart to take our suitcases until almost 1. The guy who packed the stuff in my trunk didn't know that you have to pull the handle back into a closed position before you close it, or else it either doesn't close or gets stuck. Now it's stuck. DX I can't open it. We had to fold the seats down and drag Andrea's stuff out the side door when I dropped her off because no one could open it. :/
We walked around for a while, taking a few pictures but not many, and I sat and watched the Spoony Bards for a while because my feet hurt so incredibly much. We lost contact with Micah, so we waited around for a while for him to show up or call us so we could go home. Eventually Andrea told him we were leaving and if he didn't come right that second he'd have to find another ride, but then he texted her back, saying he was already home and had fallen asleep. >.> Uh, hello, thanks for telling us, jerk. I thought I was his only ride home, since I DID take him there, but noooo, he found a ride and didn't think to tell me. DX We waited around for nothing, and I was already in a bad mood from not getting enough sleep.
We drove home around 6-ish with minimal problems. It took me a while to find the North ramp for the Southfield freeway, but we did and we were on our way.
It was a blast, and I can't wait for next year. I am DEFINITELY cosplaying, no excuses. I'm definitely doing Riza Hawkeye from FullMetal Alchemist next year, but I want to do more than one costume. I'll probably do someone from Axis Powers Hetalia, but I'm having trouble choosing from Russia, America, North Italy, and France. XDD
Pictures are here! http://s431.photobucket.com/albums/qq39/TK-Kitsune/Youmacon%202009/
OKAY ENOUGH ABOUT YOUMACON
It's National Novel Writing Month! 8D I both hate myself for doing this to myself and love it because I'm getting SO MUCH DONE OMG. Even if it is utter crap. XD
I decided to just do Lifeless, rather than Precious Wingbeats. PW is just too complicated and too much to do for NaNoWriMo, and I haven't figured out all the plotholes yet. Lifeless is relatively simple, so that's what I'm doing.
I got a TERRIBLE start, I didn't start until the 3rd because of Youmacon and fatigue/homework, and only wrote about 300 words that day. XD I'm sitting at 8,865 words right now, which is pretty darn good if I say so myself for 4 days. XD I'm going to try and get to 10,000 today, maybe 11,000 if I can.
I'm thinking about posting it here, as I go. I haven't decided yet, though.
I'll ramble more about this sometime later this month, I'm sure. XD Goodnight, digital abyss~
Thingssss
Kitsune no Tora
Drinking: Water
Listening to: iTunes on shuffle
Talking to: Well, I WAS talking to Taylor...
Excited for: YOUMACON!! <3 and NaNoWriMo
Depressed about: Failing my calculus test this morning
Doing: Packing for Youmacon~
This morning suuuuuuucked. I failed my calculus exam. ;3; I just couldn't do most of it. I really think I need some help in it. ^^; I'd go to the student advisor for the class, but he's only around in the morning before class, and there's just no way I can get there that early. I just don't want to. So I'll have to go to the ASC and find a tutor, I guess...
So.... recap! Sunday, my friend Andi and I went to a haunted house--the Realm of Darkness out in Pontiac. It was a lot of fun~ I didn't really get scared that often, but that was probably mostly because Andi was clinging to my arm and she went first through everything. XD I only got scared twice or so, once when they blew air at us after we walked into a completely pitch black room, and another time when Andi screamed. XD And maybe once when someone jumped out at us, I dunno.
We failed at all the riddles and trivia, though, so we didn't get to meet the Wizard and collect prizes. :( We'll have to do a better job next year~
Apparently one of our forumers at ALoP has the Swine Flu. D8 Chiharu claims she has had it for the past three days... I'm sure she'll be fine, but that would be the first person I know who has contracted it. Since I'm going to be around fifty-bazillion people in a closed space during the con this weekend, my aunt insisted she buy me a bottle of hand sanitizer, and I try out those medicines that are supposed to prevent you from getting sick. I forgot to buy them, though. XD;; I still hope I don't get sick with anything, that would suck. Last year I lucked out, but this year I'm staying at the hotel so I have a higher chance of having prolonged contact with potentially sick people... ewww con funk. D:
Yesterday I had my midterm in Short-Stories and Novels. I dunno how I did... I don't think I did extremely well, because I had a hard time with the essay questions, but I hope I did at least decently. It won't do to fail two classes this semester (the other one likely being Calculus). :(
YOUMACON STARTS TOMORROW!!! <333 Today I have a bunch of stuff I need to do (one important thing I still have not done yet...) and then I'll finish up those things and go pick up Andi.
Today I had to:
Clean out my car
Start packing my suitcase--still have to do that
Buy drinks and snacks
Start packing the cooler
Begin packing the car
and charge my DS/rearrange my game case for games I might actually PLAY.
Tomorrow I have to:
Make sandwiches
Finish packing cooler
Finish packing suitcase
Finish packing the car
Organize online things
And then a little before 2 I have to pick up Andi from her class at school. We'll then be coming back to my house, watching Silent Hill (yay Pyramidhead~), and then we'll head off for EPIC FUN TIEMS in Dearborn!
I'm so fucking excited. 8DDDDDDD <33333
I have a big huge list of individual things I have to remember--like my medicine and the batteries for my camera, which I am 60% likely to forget on my own--so hopefully I won't forget anything. XD
NaNoWriMo also starts Sunday~ I'm not so sure I'm going to be doing Precious Wingbeats anymore. It kinda lost the NEW SHINY STORY spark, and I've realized there's a shitload of plotholes and things that don't quite make sense. So I dunno what I'm going to do... I might do Lifeless, but that already has the first chapter written and finished... I could just continue and not count the first chapter in my count, though. I really really should get that story done, I have the whole thing plotted out with lots of scenes to do, so I know I could easily get 50K out of it, and it has been sitting around since March-ish. Might as well use NaNo for a crash-course in getting the story out, yes? :3
I don't know. We'll see. I'll have to decide soon, though, I'm already going to get a bad start because of Youmacon.
I've got to start packing and then go to class, so this is all I can say for now. Goodnight, digital abyss~
Drinking: Water
Listening to: iTunes on shuffle
Talking to: Well, I WAS talking to Taylor...
Excited for: YOUMACON!! <3 and NaNoWriMo
Depressed about: Failing my calculus test this morning
Doing: Packing for Youmacon~
This morning suuuuuuucked. I failed my calculus exam. ;3; I just couldn't do most of it. I really think I need some help in it. ^^; I'd go to the student advisor for the class, but he's only around in the morning before class, and there's just no way I can get there that early. I just don't want to. So I'll have to go to the ASC and find a tutor, I guess...
So.... recap! Sunday, my friend Andi and I went to a haunted house--the Realm of Darkness out in Pontiac. It was a lot of fun~ I didn't really get scared that often, but that was probably mostly because Andi was clinging to my arm and she went first through everything. XD I only got scared twice or so, once when they blew air at us after we walked into a completely pitch black room, and another time when Andi screamed. XD And maybe once when someone jumped out at us, I dunno.
We failed at all the riddles and trivia, though, so we didn't get to meet the Wizard and collect prizes. :( We'll have to do a better job next year~
Apparently one of our forumers at ALoP has the Swine Flu. D8 Chiharu claims she has had it for the past three days... I'm sure she'll be fine, but that would be the first person I know who has contracted it. Since I'm going to be around fifty-bazillion people in a closed space during the con this weekend, my aunt insisted she buy me a bottle of hand sanitizer, and I try out those medicines that are supposed to prevent you from getting sick. I forgot to buy them, though. XD;; I still hope I don't get sick with anything, that would suck. Last year I lucked out, but this year I'm staying at the hotel so I have a higher chance of having prolonged contact with potentially sick people... ewww con funk. D:
Yesterday I had my midterm in Short-Stories and Novels. I dunno how I did... I don't think I did extremely well, because I had a hard time with the essay questions, but I hope I did at least decently. It won't do to fail two classes this semester (the other one likely being Calculus). :(
YOUMACON STARTS TOMORROW!!! <333 Today I have a bunch of stuff I need to do (one important thing I still have not done yet...) and then I'll finish up those things and go pick up Andi.
Today I had to:
Clean out my car
Start packing my suitcase--still have to do that
Buy drinks and snacks
Start packing the cooler
Begin packing the car
and charge my DS/rearrange my game case for games I might actually PLAY.
Tomorrow I have to:
Make sandwiches
Finish packing cooler
Finish packing suitcase
Finish packing the car
Organize online things
And then a little before 2 I have to pick up Andi from her class at school. We'll then be coming back to my house, watching Silent Hill (yay Pyramidhead~), and then we'll head off for EPIC FUN TIEMS in Dearborn!
I'm so fucking excited. 8DDDDDDD <33333
I have a big huge list of individual things I have to remember--like my medicine and the batteries for my camera, which I am 60% likely to forget on my own--so hopefully I won't forget anything. XD
NaNoWriMo also starts Sunday~ I'm not so sure I'm going to be doing Precious Wingbeats anymore. It kinda lost the NEW SHINY STORY spark, and I've realized there's a shitload of plotholes and things that don't quite make sense. So I dunno what I'm going to do... I might do Lifeless, but that already has the first chapter written and finished... I could just continue and not count the first chapter in my count, though. I really really should get that story done, I have the whole thing plotted out with lots of scenes to do, so I know I could easily get 50K out of it, and it has been sitting around since March-ish. Might as well use NaNo for a crash-course in getting the story out, yes? :3
I don't know. We'll see. I'll have to decide soon, though, I'm already going to get a bad start because of Youmacon.
I've got to start packing and then go to class, so this is all I can say for now. Goodnight, digital abyss~
lost my train of thought..
and i all had something to write about all figured out earlier today, like "hey that would be a slightly interesting thing that happened to me to talk about!" sigh.
got back on skype today; created a new username to match the aim s/n. my only contact at the old one was the ex anyway, who's blocked me everywhere, so. might be idling on there now, for the curious.
noticed monday's severe weather warning from accuweather! how i love virginia weather, approaching a record set in 1983, or 26 years ago according to my calculations..which is also coincidentally when the racketeers made their first convention appearance! at least, according to an unscrupulously revealing post on my fb newsfeed, anyway. how uncanny..
got back on skype today; created a new username to match the aim s/n. my only contact at the old one was the ex anyway, who's blocked me everywhere, so. might be idling on there now, for the curious.
noticed monday's severe weather warning from accuweather! how i love virginia weather, approaching a record set in 1983, or 26 years ago according to my calculations..which is also coincidentally when the racketeers made their first convention appearance! at least, according to an unscrupulously revealing post on my fb newsfeed, anyway. how uncanny..
post-convention withdrawal, part 5 (thursday)
so thursday starts with breakfast with laura before heading to our final ga to vote on the new board. they ask that voting members move up to the front half, so laura goes and sits next to lindsay, while i sit in the back by sara. she of course then corrects my misinformed notion about secondary members, saying that we can actually still vote, so i join the line of people signing in with caitlin, and sit back down by laura for speeches/questions and voting. sadly, my one "silly" question ("if you were a kitchen utensil, what would you be and why?") doesn't faze any of the officers running for vice president. the new board consists of colette as president (running against caitlin, a heartbreaking loss), jon as second vp (against abby, ben, and zach), tyler as secretary (against lindsay), shawn as treasurer (against..?), and some n00b david as parliamentarian (the only office unopposed), with no one dropping down to any of those offices.
lunch with laura comes next, and we pick up andrew m. along the way. afterwards, goldie and i skip out on the fourth jcl ga/bazaar/voting fellowship, to go back to the dorm and work on polishing up the final skits, as we rehease them in front of a small crowd in the lounge, finalize our top ten lists, get the music medley together, and polish the third skit, which is about me fbstalking her on her laptop, while doing "research" on what it takes to win that's entertainment. time's getting tight now as sara is compiling the final powerpoint and i have some trouble getting the video to convert properly, but andrew helps me with, and ben gets the music cut together with short record scratches in between.
goldie and i go through them all one last time, adding the final touches to our top ten list as we get ready to go to the tech rehearsal, and go over the ad-libbing and lines in our heads, and the index cards for announcing the acts. the two of us, sara, haag, and i think maybe laura grab some quick dinner before heading over to where te will be for the tech/dress rehearsal, which is the same place as the auditions and jcl GAs have been. we wait around for a bit when we get there, and i mess around with my camera a bit before entrusting it to spence to take pictures with, assuring him that i should have plenty of battery life (2/3 left) and card space for him to use. goldie and i finally get to head to the dressing room, before anyone else gets there..nothing quite like how blinding the light of vanity bulbs and huge mirrors can be, eh?
as night is coming, the other acts and skits eventually get there to warm up and start getting ready, invading our lovely little dressing room. my camera is returned to me by caitlin or zach, after which i discover he's somehow managed to kill my battery, likely by overusing the flash..which means i'll have to rely on my zn5 from there on out, which was okay enough, i suppose. half the reason why i got the phone, anyway, because it had a good camera. anyway, so time's counting down, and we finally get the kinks worked out of running the introduction, with the dancing and timing and everything, and retire back to the room, waiting for our big debut. goldie soon goes to be placed in the crowd about fifteen minutes prior, without giving me a chance to say good luck and break a leg and all that, so it's just tension for me until they dim house and it's showtime.
the cheering is deafening as i take the stage, and doesn't settle until sara cues the first line (the voice of the scl) too early, so it gets cut off as i announce, "hi, i'm paul de, from virginia (pause for more uproarious applause), and i'm going to be performing a dance medley [another awkward pause for the music cue]" to slight confusion from the audience because they don't realize i'm actually "auditioning" for that's entertainment. needless to say, i think everyone enjoyed the dance moves (though the sad part that someone was so kind to point out was that i previously already knew all three dances beforehand). stephanie interrupts me and we do our michael jackson dance, and the intro goes off without a hitch.
we pretty much nail all the other acts and skits, with a few minor hiccups, though the big blunder actually wound up being the music video, sadly enough. the audio just wasn't clear enough and the projected screen apparently wasn't at a good enough angle for everyone to see either, so all our hard work there went unnoticed, even when we linked it to announcing the next act. :( fortunately, the last bit (the top ten list) got some good laughs, and audible groans at the punchlines (spoilering the njcl officers' skit, and the most wanted act for that's entertainment being "michael jackson—live"). kyle smith, presenting awards, stole some of our fire as we thanked everyone and wished them goodnight. hopefully all the videos i know people were taking will be up soon, on youtube or elsewhere.
soo after all this mess and a short fellowship we're starving, so andrew drives a group of us over to in-n-out burger, which is a totally new thing for us since we don't have them on the east coast. a bunch of us wind up having to leave early though (new officers meeting and soforth), so we end up with just me, laura, fu, lindsay, leslie, and i think andrew, who stay and actually eat. laura and i lap-buddy up yet again back to scl hotel, and get changed so we can finally take a dip in the hot tub for the "partay" shawn had goldie and i announce during rehearsal before the show began, thinking others would join us..but it seems like others are more interested in simply waiting and watching for what might happen.
we talk for a good while about what's been going on and how we've been feeling, and whether taking risks is worth forgoing something more certain, but more or less mutually agree that if nothing else, we want to stay close friends..we don't get to bed until around 5:30AM with the sun rising, however..but that's okay, because there's nothing to do the next morning until the banquet.
lunch with laura comes next, and we pick up andrew m. along the way. afterwards, goldie and i skip out on the fourth jcl ga/bazaar/voting fellowship, to go back to the dorm and work on polishing up the final skits, as we rehease them in front of a small crowd in the lounge, finalize our top ten lists, get the music medley together, and polish the third skit, which is about me fbstalking her on her laptop, while doing "research" on what it takes to win that's entertainment. time's getting tight now as sara is compiling the final powerpoint and i have some trouble getting the video to convert properly, but andrew helps me with, and ben gets the music cut together with short record scratches in between.
goldie and i go through them all one last time, adding the final touches to our top ten list as we get ready to go to the tech rehearsal, and go over the ad-libbing and lines in our heads, and the index cards for announcing the acts. the two of us, sara, haag, and i think maybe laura grab some quick dinner before heading over to where te will be for the tech/dress rehearsal, which is the same place as the auditions and jcl GAs have been. we wait around for a bit when we get there, and i mess around with my camera a bit before entrusting it to spence to take pictures with, assuring him that i should have plenty of battery life (2/3 left) and card space for him to use. goldie and i finally get to head to the dressing room, before anyone else gets there..nothing quite like how blinding the light of vanity bulbs and huge mirrors can be, eh?
as night is coming, the other acts and skits eventually get there to warm up and start getting ready, invading our lovely little dressing room. my camera is returned to me by caitlin or zach, after which i discover he's somehow managed to kill my battery, likely by overusing the flash..which means i'll have to rely on my zn5 from there on out, which was okay enough, i suppose. half the reason why i got the phone, anyway, because it had a good camera. anyway, so time's counting down, and we finally get the kinks worked out of running the introduction, with the dancing and timing and everything, and retire back to the room, waiting for our big debut. goldie soon goes to be placed in the crowd about fifteen minutes prior, without giving me a chance to say good luck and break a leg and all that, so it's just tension for me until they dim house and it's showtime.
the cheering is deafening as i take the stage, and doesn't settle until sara cues the first line (the voice of the scl) too early, so it gets cut off as i announce, "hi, i'm paul de, from virginia (pause for more uproarious applause), and i'm going to be performing a dance medley [another awkward pause for the music cue]" to slight confusion from the audience because they don't realize i'm actually "auditioning" for that's entertainment. needless to say, i think everyone enjoyed the dance moves (though the sad part that someone was so kind to point out was that i previously already knew all three dances beforehand). stephanie interrupts me and we do our michael jackson dance, and the intro goes off without a hitch.
we pretty much nail all the other acts and skits, with a few minor hiccups, though the big blunder actually wound up being the music video, sadly enough. the audio just wasn't clear enough and the projected screen apparently wasn't at a good enough angle for everyone to see either, so all our hard work there went unnoticed, even when we linked it to announcing the next act. :( fortunately, the last bit (the top ten list) got some good laughs, and audible groans at the punchlines (spoilering the njcl officers' skit, and the most wanted act for that's entertainment being "michael jackson—live"). kyle smith, presenting awards, stole some of our fire as we thanked everyone and wished them goodnight. hopefully all the videos i know people were taking will be up soon, on youtube or elsewhere.
soo after all this mess and a short fellowship we're starving, so andrew drives a group of us over to in-n-out burger, which is a totally new thing for us since we don't have them on the east coast. a bunch of us wind up having to leave early though (new officers meeting and soforth), so we end up with just me, laura, fu, lindsay, leslie, and i think andrew, who stay and actually eat. laura and i lap-buddy up yet again back to scl hotel, and get changed so we can finally take a dip in the hot tub for the "partay" shawn had goldie and i announce during rehearsal before the show began, thinking others would join us..but it seems like others are more interested in simply waiting and watching for what might happen.
we talk for a good while about what's been going on and how we've been feeling, and whether taking risks is worth forgoing something more certain, but more or less mutually agree that if nothing else, we want to stay close friends..we don't get to bed until around 5:30AM with the sun rising, however..but that's okay, because there's nothing to do the next morning until the banquet.
post-convention withdrawal, part 6 (friday, satuday, and aftermath)
friday morning means the last day of convention, since i'm leaving saturday at 4AM, flight out of sacramento at 6:20AM on delta. so, we get up and get ready for banquet..i whip out my paisley (that i mentioned previously) and sweetass tux, and we all roll out to the arc ballroom again. we're there a little early as everyone else is still helping to decorate to a beachy theme with coconut bras and whatnot, and eventually take a seat by goldie and shawn. spence will join our table next to laura, as will andrew, travis, and leslie, though travis and andrew both eventually find other seats.
tyler tries to run through a slideshow about last year and this year's conventions that he's made and set up, but the people keep futzing with the lights, and eventually haag gets up and futzes some more before they leave the one front section where we are dimmer and the rest lit, as people are up and getting food. lots of pics of people who weren't around this time show up, as our turn finally comes to get food. salad, artichoke hearts (which i've never seen before and thus encountered some difficulty with), cornbread muffins, au gratin potatoes, and thinly sliced barbecue ribs, with those lemon thingies from the reception and spice cake triangles for dessert. then it's on to recognizing all the olympika and ludi chairs, me winning the hal rather award (hellooo, fargo!), and introducing the new board.
after banquet, we have another couple of hours until the valete general assembly, so we head back to scl housing for some more downtime, not doing much, spending some quiet time together since we know we literally only have hours left together now. lounging around for a bit, we decide that we need to wear what we're wearing for the farewell dance to ga (rather than coming back in between), since the events will go ga, roman banquet/slave auction, world series certamen, and farewell dance, with no time buffer between. laura laments that she didn't really bring anything to wear to the dance, but she goes to ask abby whether she can maybe borrow a dress. i re-don my all-black ensemble from that's entertainment, but simplify things a bit with a silver tie, having returned the one zach gave me, that received so many compliments, and we head off to ga.
the farewell ga is always full of awards and whatnot, as we sit with leslie and heather behind some immature wisconsins who feel the need to be smartasses but don't have the guts to turn around to see who i actually am. going through all the awards, there's some spirit fingering though laura and i are falling asleep on each other half the time so we miss a lot of when our states are mentioned..and leslie's north carolinans (?) seem to beat out one of our top virginia people numerous times. and of course, what final ga would be complete without people becoming audibly irritated by all of emma's jangling medals? ;) course, i think virginia winning overall spirit for the large delegations a SEVENTH time in a row made up for most of that, huzzah!
fortunately the roman banquet location is right nearby, as we take a roundabout path through the next building but still arriving before any jclers, who have to do the spirit procession. the theme is "roman" around hollywood, so there's a cool setup with rows and rows of food and tables..salad (more artichokes, ahh!), cheese and vegetable tray, seasoned ciabatta bread slices (?), chicken marsalla, and vegetarian lasagna..with various popsicles and frozen ice cream bars for dessert! yeah, pretty exciting. they're playing music from various decades of movies, which is cool too because laura knows a lot of them that i don't, and vice versa. the group we wind up sitting with (me across from jon), seems to be in flux the whole time we're there, especially as haag starts getting the auctioning organized. laura and i go to grab some ice cream, but two of the freezers all out of the kinds we wanted..but at the third freezer i settle for some kind of sour rocketship-type thing with gumball, and she goes for a banana fudge pop.
haag finally gets things started with a slew of jclers, before finally getting to some nscl officers and njcl officers, most of the males shannon actually inadvertently ends up buying, and immediate sets free so they can go to their meeting. right as i end a call with mo asking me where i am, goldie and i get auctioned off to kailyn, who—somewhat to my dismay—also sets us free. we've more or less run out of time to go to world series however, as there's no one to take us, so we decide to just hang around for a while longer before heading off to the dance.
so the three of us (me, laura, spence) get to the farewell dance right when it starts, picking up some bead necklaces at the entrance..but there's absolutely no one there except the chaperones, who are all sitting at a table together..watching the three of us dance—which is totally okay, because we can each hold our own; it's just a bit odd having basically a gym-sized dance floor with only three people on it trying to get the party started..which doesn't happen for a solid half hour, as a handful of jclers show up and see just us dancing. of course, once things finally got started with a bigger group of jclers joining us, we totally got down, because what else do you think sclers do? ;) we take frequent water breaks while waiting for laura's request (john legend's green light, which they never actually play), and one time take a breather outside with shawn, who accidentally gets us locked out so we have to go back around, this time realizing i'd grabbed teal (hs color) instead of green (favorite color), and adding blue and orange (uva colors, or laura's uf colors).
the night ends well, though rather than with a slow song, the djs choose cupid shuffle for some reason beyond me. we're all starving by this point, so we ask around about getting some pizza, but shannon offers to take erin, spence, laura, and i to in-n-out burger again, where we get stickers and hats from this nice guy who's taking our orders and putting them together. he apologizes for yelling out our order numbers when we're the only ones in the store; on the way back, we figured he normally deals with lots of drunk people friday nights, and understandably has to be a bit more ahem, forceful..with them.
the last night "festivities" begin a little late as we return and everyone files into the makeshift "lounge" we've had for the week, with caitlin reading the whizbangs to start..some are rather unfunny however, with no apparent reason as to how certain ones got in the box, and no one willing to own up to the responsibility. i'll later find that the box was kept on-stage, which led to some of the jcl officers adding theirs to the mix, which is probably a good reason why many weren't great, or were outright terrible and not whizbangs at all. after this is the traditional reading by the new secretary of course, which laura quickly falls asleep to with my massaging. tyler's not a new person after all, not to mention his nonchalant manner of voice made the passages seem almost normal. as this finished up however, everyone starts to leave to pack and/or try to get some sleep. i say a few goodbyes to people, asking laura up to the room to spend a last bit of time together while i pack and andrew joins in a bit, volunteering every so graciously to take erin and i back over to the lot by registration when we rendezvous in about an hour.
i don't think anyone's particularly masterful when it comes to saying goodbye, but we do try our best with them..the four of us get into andrew's car and head over to the lot, where several shuttles are waiting. erin eventually finds one of va's state chairs to turn in our keys, while we wait for everyone to arrive. laura's cold, so i'm holding her in my arms the whole time, somewhat amusingly as we're both wearing jeans and pink shirts. the time finally comes for us to say our last goodbyes and part ways, so we do our best before i get into a shuttle with erin and three random vjclers, off on our way to the airport. i try her neck pillow and conk out, and the two us encounter a bit of difficulty getting checked in, but eventually make it before everyone else does as a huge line forms behind us. getting through security was a lot faster this time, but also made me realize how many effects i carry. i whip out my lappy for a bit in atl, finding a fbmsg from laura that i can't help but reread several times before it's time once again to board.
i chat with amanda a bit this time while we're taxiing before takeoff, but put on some music and pretty much fall asleep once we get airborne, as on the first flight. at the baggage claim in ric, erin waits for all the kids to be claimed by their parents before we leave. we grab some wendy's by the new house, finally arriving back around six or seven..and i post the photos and video i have to fb and leave laura a vm, before heading back up to fredericksburg.
tyler tries to run through a slideshow about last year and this year's conventions that he's made and set up, but the people keep futzing with the lights, and eventually haag gets up and futzes some more before they leave the one front section where we are dimmer and the rest lit, as people are up and getting food. lots of pics of people who weren't around this time show up, as our turn finally comes to get food. salad, artichoke hearts (which i've never seen before and thus encountered some difficulty with), cornbread muffins, au gratin potatoes, and thinly sliced barbecue ribs, with those lemon thingies from the reception and spice cake triangles for dessert. then it's on to recognizing all the olympika and ludi chairs, me winning the hal rather award (hellooo, fargo!), and introducing the new board.
after banquet, we have another couple of hours until the valete general assembly, so we head back to scl housing for some more downtime, not doing much, spending some quiet time together since we know we literally only have hours left together now. lounging around for a bit, we decide that we need to wear what we're wearing for the farewell dance to ga (rather than coming back in between), since the events will go ga, roman banquet/slave auction, world series certamen, and farewell dance, with no time buffer between. laura laments that she didn't really bring anything to wear to the dance, but she goes to ask abby whether she can maybe borrow a dress. i re-don my all-black ensemble from that's entertainment, but simplify things a bit with a silver tie, having returned the one zach gave me, that received so many compliments, and we head off to ga.
the farewell ga is always full of awards and whatnot, as we sit with leslie and heather behind some immature wisconsins who feel the need to be smartasses but don't have the guts to turn around to see who i actually am. going through all the awards, there's some spirit fingering though laura and i are falling asleep on each other half the time so we miss a lot of when our states are mentioned..and leslie's north carolinans (?) seem to beat out one of our top virginia people numerous times. and of course, what final ga would be complete without people becoming audibly irritated by all of emma's jangling medals? ;) course, i think virginia winning overall spirit for the large delegations a SEVENTH time in a row made up for most of that, huzzah!
fortunately the roman banquet location is right nearby, as we take a roundabout path through the next building but still arriving before any jclers, who have to do the spirit procession. the theme is "roman" around hollywood, so there's a cool setup with rows and rows of food and tables..salad (more artichokes, ahh!), cheese and vegetable tray, seasoned ciabatta bread slices (?), chicken marsalla, and vegetarian lasagna..with various popsicles and frozen ice cream bars for dessert! yeah, pretty exciting. they're playing music from various decades of movies, which is cool too because laura knows a lot of them that i don't, and vice versa. the group we wind up sitting with (me across from jon), seems to be in flux the whole time we're there, especially as haag starts getting the auctioning organized. laura and i go to grab some ice cream, but two of the freezers all out of the kinds we wanted..but at the third freezer i settle for some kind of sour rocketship-type thing with gumball, and she goes for a banana fudge pop.
haag finally gets things started with a slew of jclers, before finally getting to some nscl officers and njcl officers, most of the males shannon actually inadvertently ends up buying, and immediate sets free so they can go to their meeting. right as i end a call with mo asking me where i am, goldie and i get auctioned off to kailyn, who—somewhat to my dismay—also sets us free. we've more or less run out of time to go to world series however, as there's no one to take us, so we decide to just hang around for a while longer before heading off to the dance.
so the three of us (me, laura, spence) get to the farewell dance right when it starts, picking up some bead necklaces at the entrance..but there's absolutely no one there except the chaperones, who are all sitting at a table together..watching the three of us dance—which is totally okay, because we can each hold our own; it's just a bit odd having basically a gym-sized dance floor with only three people on it trying to get the party started..which doesn't happen for a solid half hour, as a handful of jclers show up and see just us dancing. of course, once things finally got started with a bigger group of jclers joining us, we totally got down, because what else do you think sclers do? ;) we take frequent water breaks while waiting for laura's request (john legend's green light, which they never actually play), and one time take a breather outside with shawn, who accidentally gets us locked out so we have to go back around, this time realizing i'd grabbed teal (hs color) instead of green (favorite color), and adding blue and orange (uva colors, or laura's uf colors).
the night ends well, though rather than with a slow song, the djs choose cupid shuffle for some reason beyond me. we're all starving by this point, so we ask around about getting some pizza, but shannon offers to take erin, spence, laura, and i to in-n-out burger again, where we get stickers and hats from this nice guy who's taking our orders and putting them together. he apologizes for yelling out our order numbers when we're the only ones in the store; on the way back, we figured he normally deals with lots of drunk people friday nights, and understandably has to be a bit more ahem, forceful..with them.
the last night "festivities" begin a little late as we return and everyone files into the makeshift "lounge" we've had for the week, with caitlin reading the whizbangs to start..some are rather unfunny however, with no apparent reason as to how certain ones got in the box, and no one willing to own up to the responsibility. i'll later find that the box was kept on-stage, which led to some of the jcl officers adding theirs to the mix, which is probably a good reason why many weren't great, or were outright terrible and not whizbangs at all. after this is the traditional reading by the new secretary of course, which laura quickly falls asleep to with my massaging. tyler's not a new person after all, not to mention his nonchalant manner of voice made the passages seem almost normal. as this finished up however, everyone starts to leave to pack and/or try to get some sleep. i say a few goodbyes to people, asking laura up to the room to spend a last bit of time together while i pack and andrew joins in a bit, volunteering every so graciously to take erin and i back over to the lot by registration when we rendezvous in about an hour.
i don't think anyone's particularly masterful when it comes to saying goodbye, but we do try our best with them..the four of us get into andrew's car and head over to the lot, where several shuttles are waiting. erin eventually finds one of va's state chairs to turn in our keys, while we wait for everyone to arrive. laura's cold, so i'm holding her in my arms the whole time, somewhat amusingly as we're both wearing jeans and pink shirts. the time finally comes for us to say our last goodbyes and part ways, so we do our best before i get into a shuttle with erin and three random vjclers, off on our way to the airport. i try her neck pillow and conk out, and the two us encounter a bit of difficulty getting checked in, but eventually make it before everyone else does as a huge line forms behind us. getting through security was a lot faster this time, but also made me realize how many effects i carry. i whip out my lappy for a bit in atl, finding a fbmsg from laura that i can't help but reread several times before it's time once again to board.
i chat with amanda a bit this time while we're taxiing before takeoff, but put on some music and pretty much fall asleep once we get airborne, as on the first flight. at the baggage claim in ric, erin waits for all the kids to be claimed by their parents before we leave. we grab some wendy's by the new house, finally arriving back around six or seven..and i post the photos and video i have to fb and leave laura a vm, before heading back up to fredericksburg.
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