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.  

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!