2011 in review

2011 was a really fun year! 2012 is going to be even better! Here are some highlights of my year. Truthfully I had far more epicness than I can fit into a post that won’t put us both to sleep. Still, I think this will cover some fun stuff.

January was the start of the New Year. In my office we were missing some of the students who graduated and left. As a collective group we drew collages for them. Someone drew a rendition of the person and then we all put expressions, and other art that reminded us of the person.  

February reminded me that nerds like me are everywhere. I found graffiti in the women’s bathroom at a restaurant. It reads: Make Love Not Horcruxes and has the Deathly Hallows symbol. It made me happy.

Also, that month I got a little joke played that just shows how fun and awesome my daughter is. I had neglected my breakfast grits for a meeting. When I came back there was a sad face in them – compliments of Lana.

March brought us Megacon. Conventions are the only time of year I can wear THIS hair. I love this hair!

April was the family vacation. We all piled onto the Disney Dream and had an amazing cruise. It was the best ship I have ever ever been on.

The ship was so fancy that it had mirrors in the bathroom stalls!

In May Jimmy Wong (youtube sensation) spent some time tweeting to all of the members of the office! We all fangirled (and Barry fanboyed) about spending about an hour conversing with him online. So we sent him a group photo.

In June I took the kids to Universal Studios and Islands of Adventure. You know what that means – Wizarding World of Harry Potter!

July was Leaky Con! This traveling Harry Potter convention was in Orlando this year. I got to see my fav Wizard Wrock (Draco and the Malfoys) band play! I also got to see other awesome Wrock bands play too. I met Kristina Horner! Brian Malfoy! Hank Green! Jason Munday! Alex Carpenter! Danced 10 feet away from where Evanna Lynch was dancing! Oh, and Luke Conard offered to take his shirt off for me. I only said no because I needed another favor from him. XP But in general, just so many awesome things!!!!!  Bumped into old friends like Moody (aka Andrew) and made new friends like Lucius (aka Perseus).

Scar photobombed this intimate moment with me and Luke.

But the super awesome part was that I got to experience all of this with my bestie! Scar (Scarlett – aka Louanne) and her hubby Marcos were there too! I stayed in their hotel which was super duper cool. I hung with them the whole time I was there. I LOVE these people.

(note: I cannot find my pics but a summer highlight was seeing old friends from highschool! Hanging with Lora and Sarah was just like old times!)

In August my daughter turned 21. I asked her where she wanted to go celebrate. She chose Disney World. So we went! We had a lot of fun at the Magic Kingdom and Epcot. It was just so much fun. And we stayed in the Pirate rooms on Disney property. It was just freakin awesome.

THEN we got another highlight! Finally after all these years I got to meet Miri (aka Ruzena)!!   She brought her new hubby and Jeremy and I bonded over Final Fantasy. It was a fun dinner with them.

Dragoncon is always in September. Labor Day weekend is one of my fav weekends of the year because of that. This year we brought the kids! They costumed as Brock, Ash, and Misty.

Myself, Kris, Lana, and Anna all picked someone from Final Fantasy. I said in 97 I wanted to dress like Aeris someday – and I finally did!

And let’s not forget I got to meet the legendary Wil Wheaton!

In October the Anime Club hosted the Fall Game Night along with the Library staff (who are always supportive and awesome in this twice a year event). We decorated for Halloween and even had a costume contest. Such fun. It was like a mini-convention!

November showed me some real camaraderie. One of my Anime kids was in a wreck on campus. As each of the Anime Club members drove by they stopped to wait with her until the whole scene was cleared up. Since we were all starving by then we headed to Cazbors for food. It was freezing that night. We all brought out extra hoodies for those friends who had none. In the end we not only supported Sparks, we supported each other. I. Love. These. Kids.

Johnny is missing because he was taking the photo.

Also in November we started working on the annual college Christmas Float.

December we got to show the float off! We were pretty proud of it. We had more prop trouble than I could explain, but in the end it all came together and it was really pretty. Also, the parade was fun as always.

Christmas! ‘Nuff said.  

Christmas gifts, and a few deep(ish) thoughts..

It’s that time of year when Christmas reminds me how very blessed I am in my life. I have had Christmases so poor I couldn’t afford Christmas Cards, and Christmases so indulgent I bought way more than I should admit. But more than any of the material things, the one thing that has stayed consistent is my friends and family. I have never found myself alone on Christmas. Now I don’t mean physically alone, sometimes I have had to work and not been able to have family festivities, but I knew my family and friends loved me even if I wasn’t there/there. And truly, above all else, that’s a miracle. Sometimes I am not so loveable. They  love me anyway.  And for that I am grateful.

On the fun side of the holiday.. I have to tell you, I got some really cool stuff this year! I have grown more and more fond of the giving part of Christmas. As a child it was about whatever I got – as I get older I am more and more excited about what I give. I love seeing people like what I got them! I like to think I am a pretty good gift giver. But this post is to show you what cool people I have in my life. So let’s talk gifts! I couldn’t possibly cover them all, but I want to share a few amazing things. I loved every single gift I got, please don’t get me wrong – but some were just really like..whoa.

My mom got me a mirror armoire for my jewelry. We had no full length mirrors in the house, so now we do! Also, I have so much jewelry (I am a fan of $10 big bold jewelry) and no place to put it all. So now I have one central location. It’s just beautiful! Also, a reality check – where did all that butt come from?!

My daughter got me a Daichi Miura CD. Might sound boring, it’s just a CD. Except it’s not! This is my Japanese singing obsession. If any star can turn me away from Keanu, it’s this guy (or Ming Na!). I love the way Daichi sings and I love the way he dances. His heart goes into his music. He can dance like no other. And his little boy smile that shows his heart of pure gold is just .. there are no words for him. I love him in all ways a fan can love a singer. However… he is NOT available in America. I have searched high and low. Nothing. But my daughter ordered this CD from across the ocean. It’s real. And it is amazing.

My sister got me a framed piece of art. The artwork combines 2 of my favorite things. It is Star Wars meets Where The Wild Things Are. Luke starts as Max, various SW creatures play the Wild Things. It is just..awesome. Star Wars, as you all know, is my obsession. Where The Wild Things Are is another favorite of my life. I grew up reading it. I just felt like I knew what it was like to be Max. I understood him. I got it. When I felt like nobody else in the world could understand me, I would think about Max. I knew Max got me like I got him. Not to mention the entire world Max played in with the Wild Things. What an amazing place! So now I have SW and WTWTA all in one.

Another of my top 5 amazing gifts was given to me by the lovely Joy. Warner Brothers released a limited edition Harry Potter Deathly Hallows watch. There were less than a thousand made. She made sure I got one. As a lover of watches and a Harry Potter lover, this is just awesome. Also, I love being able to say it’s limited edition. Now I have other limited edition watches and I normally do not wear them. I keep them on display. But I have recently got to thinking: who sees them? On display in my bedroom, who sees them? Nobody. On my wrist who sees it? Everyone! So I am wearing this gorgeous Deathly Hallows watch.

I feel a little weird listing some of my favs. I really did like everything I got. Tons of socks (YES!), nail polish, Queen Amidala shirt, Star Wars earrings, a messenger bag, butterfly mirror, peacock necklace, limited edition lipglosses, the coolest stapler in the world.. OH let me tell you about that.

It’s called a Stampler. My son got it for me. When I staple papers there is also a stamp around it. The staple becomes the smile of a smiley face and it reads “Have a nice day.” I thought that was so cool!! Can’t wait to staple things and send them around the campus.

I am really fortunate to be surrounded by good gift givers. Not really the amount they spend, but what it is. I really would prefer a $5 gift of something I truly love than a $50 gift of something that will sit on my shelf forgotten.

Thanks for letting me gush over these awesome gifts. Feel free to tell me about you favs. I have already been getting Tweets and Facebook messages about peoples favs. You can tell me here too! 

Pottermore.. getting in was an experience!

My alarm goes off at 6:07 in the morning. 6:05 is too early, 6:10 is too late. So at precisely 6:07 the alarm sounds off like a rally cry to start the day. I have snooze set for 5 minute increments. Normally I hit it once. Sometimes twice. Today I snoozed until 6:32. I followed my normal routine. Restroom, take the dog out for his morning relief, then feed him. I sat in my chair and applied my moisturizer. Typical morning. A little behind, but otherwise typical.

While waiting on the moisturizer to absorb I normally check Twitter and Facebook on my phone. I left the phone in the bedroom. No biggie. Grabbed my laptop. Saw a post from Kristina Horner on Twitter that had her user name for Pottermore. I smiled and thought “YAY Kristina!”. I moved over to Facebook and saw my friend Andrew, aka, Mad-Eye Moody, posted he got into Pottermore and it was time stamped 28 seconds ago!

My heart hit my stomach, or my stomach lurched to my heart. Not sure which organ moved but I was immediately excited and nervous all at once. I rushed over to Pottermore.com. It was sitting there with a clue! AAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!

The clue read: "In the Gryffindor versus Slytherin Quidditch match, in Harry's third year, how many points is Gryffindor leading by before Harry catches the Golden Snitch? Multiply this number by 35."  Yeah, I know THAT off the top of my head!

Anyway, after getting the answer I did the URL thingee you have to do. Low and behold a page showed up that looked much like a random webpage talking about Harry Potter. It was a UK site (I saw that in the URL). I was confused, and grumpy. How could I have messed up?!?!?!?!?!  Then I saw, on the right, was a purplish square and a quill sitting at the bottom of the square. I was in the right place! Now, I had to make the quill float.

Saying Wingardium Leviosa did not make it float. It was worth a try. I ran my mouse in the area and it began to float. Then it crashed back down. AH! Don’t tell me I was going to miss out on Pottermore over THIS part. So I tried it again. Same results. A third time. Same results. My hands were trembling intensely. Nerves were raw. Heart was racing even harder. I was going to miss out over the quill!  Then I heard Hermione’s voice in my head remind me that repeating a pattern will repeat results. So I tried something different with the mouse. And my quill floated!!!!!!!! Thank you Miss Granger! 10 points to Gryffindor!

I was given a link to click to “Begin your journey.”  This was like being handed a note saying to go to Platform 9 ¾. My heart was still pounding. My hands were still shaking. I arrived at the next step and was asked for my name, birth date, email address, country, and password. The excitement was so much that it took all I had to stay in my seat! I wanted to jump up and down! But I wasn’t done. I clicked enter and was taken to yet another page.

It was the book with the names of magical children who should receive Owls to Hogwarts. My name was at the top of the list. I screen printed! Then I was at a place where I was given 5 randomly selected names to choose from.  I didn’t screen print this page to show you all the random choices, but in the end I chose ChaserWolf60. As most of you know, I am of Werewolf, Vampire, Klingon, Wizard blood. So Wolf made sense to me!  Am I a Chaser? Not in the Quidditch sense. But I am a chaser. Of dreams, of knowledge, of enlightenment, of the perfect glass of tea. So ChaserWolf makes complete sense.  

I. Was. In.

I hit Twitter and Facebook straight away to announce my joy. Sorry about the all caps folks but I was more excited than you can imagine.  With Pottermore only taking a million beta testers before it opens up in October for everyone it is a special thing to us die hard Potterheads.  The release of clues is at random times and they only take less than 150K people per day. This is intense. I feel very lucky.

I received my email a little under an hour later. This was like my letter to Hogwarts. I nearly died. What I wait for now is my invitation to officially explore Pottermore. This will roll out in the next few weeks. That, my friends, will be like boarding the Hogwarts Express. No words for how exciting this is.

One of the things I most look forward to, in addition to all the new material (we rabidly want that!) is the Sorting Hat quiz. These questions were written by Queen Rowling herself. This is as close as we will come to being actually sorted. I am sure it will come out Slytherin, but I really want to see it for myself. I want to know that I have been right about who I was all this time.

Good luck to those of you still trying to get into the beta. It’s okay if you don’t make it – there is October and it will be open for everyone. I look forward to seeing you all around the Castle! 

Most of us will agree with this man..

When I’m 80 years old and sitting in my rocking chair, I’ll be reading Harry Potter. And my family will say to me, “After all this time?” And I will say, “Always.” ~Alan Rickman

LeakyCon 2012

 I’ve been doing the convention scene (several a year all over the country) for almost a decade and I have never had the experience I had there. At first I was daring to say it was the best, but after coming down off the high (a little bit) I realize that saying it is better or best is a slap in the face to the other amazing conventions I go to. What I realized about Leaky is that it is just completely different. The attendees are different. The entertainment is different. Not better, just different. 

Before I get involved in the recap and thoughts, I need to share this: I couldn’t have done any of it without Scar and her husband Marcos. It would be a long story to get into but you need to trust me on this. I could sing a million words of praise and it wouldn’t be enough. If they hadn’t have worked the magic that they worked then the rest of this entry would be full of blank paragraphs. Now, let’s talk about the con! 

One of the highlights for me was seeing Draco and the Malfoys perform live in concert. They are the whole reason I got into Wizard Wrock. Of course my tastes have expanded to other groups, but they started it all. And they sing from the Slytherin perspective, and we all know I am Slytherin. And they often sing from Draco’s perspective and what mother (Narcissa!) doesn’t want to hear songs from her son. I actually got to meet Brian (lead singer) before the concert. He was just an incredible guy. I told him I tweet him often. He asked for my Twitter name. I told him and he nodded that he recalls it. I imagine that could be true and not be just flattery because not a lot of people who identify as Jedi also identify as Slytherin. It is a tricky combination to say the least. He even consulted me about what sing I loved the most by him and he said he would make sure it was on the playlist. The fangirl moment almost became me jumping up and down and clapping and squealing, but I managed to keep my cool and smile and say thanks. The performance was amazing!!!!!!!! I will tell you right now – Draco and the Malfoys are even better live than on their CDs. Seriously. If you like Wrock and you get a chance to see them – do so! If you aren’t a fan, you should be. Whether DATM are your thing or another group is, you should be listening to something. Hell, even Scar (the Gryffindor) was singing along to This Land Is My Land. They could have performed for hours and I would have stayed (we were all starving). 

I met a few other people I consider nerd celebrities/Harry Potter celebrities. Jason Munday was there (he was polite) and was the first person I saw. I also got to meet Alex Carpenter who was really awesome. I met Kristina Horner and she was amazing. She even signed a note for Tink after I explained what a huge fan my niece is but that she is nine and can’t drive herself to the con. I wanted to hug her but I worried I would break her. But we talked about her necklace and she was just so cool. She is proof that Sytherins don't have to be horrible people. I met Luke Conard and he offered to take off his shirt for me. I can’t tell you how much I wanted that to happen (and Scar said YES! DO IT!) But I wanted Tinks note more and I had already told him I needed 2 things. If I let him remove his shirt I would have had to forgo mine or Tinks autograph. …. DAMMIT! I could have forgone MINE! I was worried about Tinks. Shit shit shit. Oh well. 

I did not do this convention as Narcissa. It was strange being near all the HP people as a common Muggle instead of as my regal pure blood self. Also, it was a little nice to be relaxed instead of trying to keep my hair out of my eyes. (I’ve considered a new wig for my Cissy costume but I do love that one I wear, it just makes me crazy with the bangs.) I have stated a hundred times before that I hate how they dressed movie Narcissa. The dark hair is so wrong in every way. Staying true to my beliefs and to the books I will continue to do book Cissy. I know I don’t get as much recognition that way, but I just can’t change to the dark hair. I did wonder about the clothing she wore in the DH2 movie. It was much nicer than the couch covers she wore in DH1. Still, I don’t know. I always imagined her and Lucius dress from the same wardrobe. He is beautiful and wears bows – so it makes sense. I will likely just stick with my skirts and tops and cloak. Narcissa is the unsung hero. I owe it to her to do it right even if everyone else messes it up.

I did meet a Lucius and Draco there. At first I didn’t stop to say hello because I was not in costume. Then after watching them a few minutes I was extremely impressed with the way they really looked the part. Noses in the air, eyeing others who were beneath them (which is everyone of course), and other things like that. I was impressed. So I went over to say hello. They managed to stay in character attitudes even when talking about personal things (conventions we attend, me showing them the bookmark I bought, etc). I was pleased to find out they will be attending Dragon*con for the Yule Ball. I hope to see them there. Lucius told me how to find him on google. So far no luck. I have to say, and I may be out of turn here, but they seemed very connected. What the connection is, I can’t say, but there is a connection between them. I think it added to the cosplay. I have this gut feeling they are pretty cool people. Bonus: they like turtles!

I bumped into Andrew in his Moody costume. I spent a little while chatting with him (and of course getting a picture) talking about our mutual friends and Dragon*con before taking off with Scarlett and Marcos. 

That brings me back to Scar. Finally getting to meet my bestie in person was amazing. She was every bit as awesome in person, if not more so. And her husband is made of win. Those two were just the most awesome people I could have hoped to spend my weekend with. It was really like we had hung out in person for years. Nothing was awkward at all. If we lived closer I know we would hang out more. Hell, even if it was like a 6-8 hour drive we would hang out more, but halfway across the country is far. Also, Scar is someone everyone would be blessed to have in their lives. She is loyal and devoted as well as fiercely protective. People like her are a blessing. (And her and Marcos are the cutest damn couple ever.) I still think Marcos has some Slytherin in him somewhere but Scar says it was all for the greater good so it’s Gryffindor. I love those two! <3 

I met a guy. He’s a friend of Scar that she has known online. It was their first time meeting as well. He fit right in. He introduced himself as Joey, but she calls him Daniel. Since most of us have professional names, friend names, online names, etc I don’t find multiple names weird. I answer to DJ, Yume, Narcissa/Cissy, and of course my given name of Denise. Hell, some people still call me Neicy. Anyhow.. he’s a fellow writer. He plays guitar and sings. He’s generally awesome. 

I tried to see Mani while I was there but Mani couldn’t make it. But I did let him know just incase he was free. I miss him! (and Whit, and TJ, and all my Orlando peeps!)

I do wish Ash could have made it. Originally she had planned to come. I know how plans fall apart so there are no ill feelings at all, but I still wish she could have made it. Jade too. Oh hell, and my sister.. and Lana.. and this list is about to get huge. 

Inevitably I had to come home. I’m still high from the con. And sore. But it was worth every single moment. I assure you this post cannot capture the amazing experiences I had this weekend. I tried to keep all the spazzing OMG SO AWESOME I ALMOST DIED types of comments out of here so it doesn’t read like a 12 year old wrote it – but it was hard!!! Because it truly was OMG SO AWESOME I ALMOST DIED!

Reflections on Harry Potter as DH.2 is set to debut..

Avid readers are usually the first to discover wonderful little known treasures and then have full bragging rights of “I told you to read that 2 years ago.” when the book blows up into a monumental success. I never got to have those bragging rights with Harry Potter. I was, in fact, extremely late to the party.

Of course I knew about Harry Potter. The first time I heard of it was when Sting arrived on the red carpet with his children and said they couldn’t wait to see Philosophers Stone because they had been reading the books as a family. Hm, a book Sting reads with his kids? Sounds interesting. I put it on my “to read” list.

But I didn’t get around to it straight away. In fact, I didn’t get around to it until the release of the final book. Shocking. I know.

I would read about my friends attending release parties. I am a fan of such parties so I fully applauded their dedication. Still, I didn’t have time to read all these books. I would “get to it later.”

Then something happened almost on accident. My daughter sent me a Sorting Hat quiz. I had a vague idea of what the Sorting Hat was, since Harry Potter mania was everywhere – I at least knew the basics. I took the quiz and got Slytherin. My friend Becky commented she was surprised since I am so much like Hermione. “Explain.” I asked. She replied “Hermione and you have a lot in common. You both study very hard. You both hang around with more boys than girls, but you don’t want people to forget you’re a girl. She is really loyal to her friends and she will stand up for what she believes in.” I smiled. This is certainly part of how I see myself. So the hat quiz was wrong since I am clearly Hermione who belonged to the house of Gryffindor.

Later that night I talk to my daughter and tell her Becky said I am like Hermione. My daughters reply was “A bossy know-it-all?” .. .. .. well that was certainly NOT the description Becky gave. Admittedly I am also a bossy know-it-all, but I had to get to the bottom of this Hermione thing.

Deathly Hallows had been released less than 2 full days when I Wiki’d Hermione. I know, I know, in hindsight that was a rather bad place to go. Still, most people on the net (read: except for a few douchebags) were kind enough to post spoiler alerts. I somehow forgot how some people are not so kind. So I dove into the article in Wikipedia about Hermione. I found out EVERYTHING about her. Even the end of the 7^th book.

I didn’t realize at the time that I had read the ending. I skipped on over to the Houses section. By definition I was clearly Slytherin. I had some traits of the other houses, but when it came to it – I was Slytherin. I went back to the Hermione article and clicked the link to Lupin, who had caught my eye earlier. I nearly fell in love with him there on the spot. It was there that I realized I had read the ending. I clicked out of the browser fast.

That weekend I went to my sisters. She had the first few books and I borrowed them. I knew how the story ended, now I needed to know how they go to the ending. I read the two she loaned me but couldn’t wait to borrow the rest so I bought them. I read them like a starving person. I was so hooked.

The fandom came hard and fast for me. It was like I had been a fan forever. The complex worlds, the deep characters – it was just so amazing. I, like the rest of the world, wanted to go to Hogwarts.

Then I began to really explore more of the fandom by attending the Yule Ball at Dragon*con. I met some wonderful people there. People I still look forward to seeing every year.

I met people in another online place I went to. Some of those wonderful witches are still my friends to this day. I don’t know them in the flesh, but online. Still, online friendships can be very intense and very fulfilling. I love those girls.

Something about Harry Potter is that I get to indulge fully into the fandom. Like my Star Wars obsession, there are conventions, music, people playing dress up.. even other people who will do bad fake European accents with me when we are in costume.

I have attended midnight opening premieres in my tiny town with a very large group of friends on more than one occasion. For the Half Blood Prince premiere I even made the front page (Slytherin takes down a Ravenclaw!) of the newspaper. We take two rows of seats when we fill the theater. My Harry Potter peeps are amazing.

I tell my children that some day they can tell their children how they saw Harry Potter on the big screen at premiere openings. It’s an experience their children will not have (unless we some day get prequels! But that’s another blog.) I feel blessed to have seen Star Wars when it originally came, and now Harry Potter. I may have missed some things along the way (book release parties, the first few movies) but overall I still got to participate in this fandom. It is something I just hold so dear.

As a writer with a little world in my head, I sometimes try to imagine how emotionally overwhelming it is for Lady Rowling. The moments of seeing your characters come to life, seeing your world in full color on a screen 30 feet high, it must be the most amazing feeling in the world. I think I would cry of happiness all the time. But more so, one of my goals as a writer is to have other people fall in love with my characters as much as I love them. I want people to cry when they do, laugh when they do.. and Jo has achieved that. We love Harry and Hermione and Ron and Neville and Remus just as much as she does. That is what it’s all about. The money must be nice, but that isn’t all there is to it. It is so much more. She brought us a world that we love so passionately. Hogwarts, Diagon Alley, The Burrow, Malfoy Manor, all of those things are a gift to us. It is a gift that nobody can ever take away. It is a gift that will never get lost, never get chewed up by the puppies, never be stolen by an ex who “forgot” to return it. It is ours. Harry and his world will forever remain.