Saturday:
This was the morning in which I briefly considered throwing myself out the hotel window rather than going to do the things I was supposed to do, which is probably why the window was only able to open about four inches. Clearly they have had this problem before.
I showered, filled my pockets with cough drops, and made my way down to the ballroom for the Fair Fortune rehearsal. I know this probably doesn't sound very early out of context, but Lena had us meeting at NINE AM. At a conference where getting to bed by 2 AM is considered wimpily early, this is a really unideal time to meet, not to mention sing an opera. Anyway, we all donned our traveling cloaks and tiaras, grabbed our wireless mics and donuts, and went through the entire song once to make sure we still had it (we last performed it a little over two months ago in Florida). The rehearsal was a little rocky but we were out of time as they opened the doors and started letting people in. Since the show was at 10 AM, we weren't expecting many people. Mostly the friends we'd bullied into coming and a handful of early risers who wanted to support wizard rock. What came through the door was absolutely not that.
The room (a ballroom O.o) was PACKED FULL. People were standing at the back. We were expecting 20-30... I just asked Alex how many people he thought were there and he told me he thought it was at least 250. Lena was glowing. Erin, Jason, Christie and I were... well, I dunno what we were. Some combination of nervous and excited. But the music started and I can't explain how or why but the entire performance went very nearly FLAWLESSLY. I have never been more proud of myself or my friends for something we've accomplished on stage, and Lena kept hugging me at our standing ovation... it was so, so good. And even though I was sick and rapidly losing my voice, it held out at least for the entire performance. Even the scary entrances I practiced a million times and never got right just happened (by luck, really) to work perfectly. Lauren was red eyed when she hugged me. Alex looked so proud. John and Hank were in the audience and I am just so happy this happened.
Afterwards we saw the trailer for "Finding Hogwarts" which is a new documentary by John, Bre, Rita and co. which I think looks really great. Then I cant exactly remember what we did but I'm pretty sure it was along the lines of food or resting. At some point we went to the Vendor room with Lauren and I heavily considered buying a metal "Knockturn Alley" street sign for my bedroom. I held off. Maybe at Azkatraz.
There was some drama with the afternoon wizard rock show as it got moved from one room to another a few times, but it didn't really affect me since I wasn't playing. It was delayed about 2 hours but everyone was really good spirited about it. We can pack up and re-setup merch like pros anyway. The show ended up being really great, too. RiddleTM are just lovely to watch (Alex and I sat in an upper balcony by ourselves for this performance; it was mellow and fun). The Mudbloods played next and Eia and I tried once again to get our Zombie dance to catch on. One day, it will be a phenomenon. We'll never stop living the dream. The Moaning Myrtles were third; fun as ever, and the Remus Lupins closed the Wizard Rock portion of LeakyCon. I'm sure this is being talked about everywhere, but I got to watch in utter awe/horror as Alex Carpenter kissed his favorite white guitar, lit it on FIRE, and smashed it to pieces on the stage before we all ran onstage to sing the ba-ba-baa's in Looking for Trouble. Everyone was totally mind blown. Brian Malfoy had his arm around me for the entirety of us being on stage. I think he's probably the only person who gets MORE emotional than I do at these things. I love that guy.
We had barely any time to get ready for the ball at this point, so we all threw on our nice clothes (everyone always looks so good! I love it!), we did a little pre-partying in the hotel room before getting to the ball and dancing our feet off for two straight hours. You know how usually at dances you just shake it like crazy during all the good songs and then you sit and rest during the bad or okay songs? THERE WERE NO BAD OR OKAY SONGS. It was just an entire playlist of melt your face off favorite dancing songs and so there was no rest for the weary. I spent a good portion of the night dancing with Alex and relishing in being a tease because I was very aware that my dress looked very nice on me and we have to share a room with our friends (>:D) and the rest of the night SHATTERING what was left of my poor voice as we jumping and swayed to songs like "Dont Stop Believing", "You Can't Stop the Beat" and "Total Eclipse of the Heart", the latter of which they played two times back to back in honor of it being Melissa's favorite song or something. Alex and I spent a lot of the night as well being in awe at just how crazy Hank and Maureen are. I want to be Maureen when I grow up.
Lots of really epic amazing dancy things happened at the dance but to recount them would be silly. Just know that there was much smiling, sweating, and fun to be had.
After the dance we had another party in the Leaky suite, and this was probably one of my favorite parts of the Con. I don't even remember how this came about, but there was a point where Maureen wanted to make a fort, so we grabbed a bunch of chairs and told Melissa we needed a blanket. Melissa got right on that, coming back within minutes with a standard white hotel sheet. We draped it over the chairs, allowed 6-7 people inside, and Maureen then announced the password would be "Fuck Off". She seemed very serious about the exclusivity of this fort. I think we also took turns holding it up with chopsticks too, as the ceiling was a bit saggy. We stayed in this fort a bit longer than a bunch of sweaty, tired, partying people should, but come on. It was a fort in the middle of a Harry Potter conference wizard rock show afterparty. It doesn't get better than that.
This was the point in which I told Maureen that I want to be her when I grow up because she, and I quote, "Writes girly books and is just incredibly weird." I HAVE HIGH ASPIRATIONS, OKAY?
The rest of the night was just general hotel room party silliness, ending in a huge pile of people on the bed Maureen was supposed to be sleeping on and then a conversation with Alex and Melissa and ... someone else ... and I know the conversation was a good one but I just can't seem to remember what it was about. Best night ever. I think Alex and I stumbled off back to our hotel room around 4 in the morning. Again, this was considered "early". Ha.
Part 4 will be the conclusion. ^^
Lasering Incidents
3 days ago
11 comments:
haha I have a "Knoclturn Alley" sign that I bought way back at Lumos. It's been hanging above my window ever since. If you buy a "Diagon Alley" one at Azkatraz I will happily trade with you there, as the Knockturn Alley sign was the last sign they had when I bought it way back in 2006. Obviously a play by ear thing, I'll see you around anyways as we share way to many mutual friends.
Glad you had a great time.
I totally agree with wanting to be Maureen when I grow up. That would just be amazing. LeakyCon sounds totally AMAZING! I wish I could go but I'm sure we'll all have just as much fun at Azkatraz and if we're lucky maybe we can get Maureen to crash that =]
Can't wait for the last part!
Thanks so much for writing all this, Kristina. It really makes me feel as if I was there, and experienced it all. I really want to go to a conference someday. :)
Wow. Wow, wow, wow. I've adored reading both your experience and Alex's of Leaky and it has made me both extremely jealous and rather happy to see that there is so much nerd fun available out there. I hope your cold clears up and you can remember the great parts and not the sucky ill parts. XD
I'm glad everyone had an awesome time, but it makes me jealous because my friend got to go to LeakyCon and I didn't because of stupid exams.
But reading this made me happy
=D
Love your blog
<3
Gah, I wish I'd been there. Stupid exams. :(
I'm glad you had a good time though, it sounds awesome!! :]
Thanks so much for taking the time to write all this. :) I wish I could have gone, but not having any money or knowing anyone who would be willing to go kind of put an end to that.
Glad you all had such an awesome time.
<3
In one way, thanks for writing this because it's made me feel like I was there and see how amazing the conferences can actually be. But on the other hand, I hate you. Now I want to go to one desperately and I just don't have the money. :(
But I don't really hate you. Glad you had an awesome time.
I'm so glad you wrote all these. It's almost like I was there with you... I so want to go to an HP conference one day, they all sound so amazing!
Can't wait to read part 4.
"Eia and I tried once again to get our Zombie dance to catch on"
please please please dance like that in a video.
you should know i cried so much during Fair Fortune.
And the hotel parties sound amazing...was it only for the epic awesome people though? because i missed them all, and i am not nearly as awesome as any of the people you talked about.
anyways, i either want to be like melissa or maureen when i grow up. seriously, they are both so epic.
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