Bit of Ivory

I am simply too tired right now to do a coherent update about the debate, at least not to do it justice, so I’ll just say that it went really well. No blood was shed, and all stayed generally within the bounds of decency and civilized argument.

Will update tomorrow, I promise. Right now I am so wiped out I think I’m going to fall over at my computer.

And hooray for high-speed internet in the rooms! Updates will therefore be possible, if not necessarily long.

My flight was relatively uneventful. I managed to keep my breakfast down by not having any– and only drinking on the plane. We had quite a lot of turbulence the second half of the flight, but nothing really alarming.

When I got to the airport, I turned my cell phone on and was almost immediately called by Lou, who had come with her husband Duane to pick me up. I was very grateful for this, and it was SO awesome to finally meet her.

The hotel is very much swankier than any I’ve ever stayed in. Of course, considering that luxury for me was a Holiday Inn, this is not surprising. It was very nice to have a bellboy (well, more of a bellman really) carry my stuff up to my room. After dropping everything off, I went downstairs again to check in for the conference. Being a presenter definitely had its perks, as I got to wait in a much, much shorter line than everyone else.

I found almost immediately– well, more to the point, she found me. I hung around with her a while, met a few other Quillers, and had just sat down to eat saying “I need to find Leslie” when lo and behold, she walked up! It was lovely. Also ran into shortly thereafter (and had a discussion on how to pronounce Angua). We all took a trip up to my room to loox at the t-shirts (which got a wonderful reaction), and then went over to Angua’s room, where we were joined by Lou and her Dobby statue. Took some very funny pics that will be posted eventually.

After chatting with Quillers for a while, we went down to the Maurader panel. It was very interesting– rather like being in a thread at SQ or Fiction Alley except that we had to get permission to speak our piece.

My roommates all seem awesome, the other Quillers are great, and I can’t wait for tomorrow!

I’m packed. My evidence is in order. I just hope I didn’t forget anything important.

Now to catch a few hours of sleep, then I’ll be on my way to Florida.

Thank you all so much for your good wishes, your help and your support.

Angua and I are doing this for you, you know.

I’ll update as I can– I don’t know how internet access is going to be.

Nimbus, here I come!

To squeal. Loudly.

Pirates is going to have a sequel! And Orlando Bloom and Johnny Depp have already signed on!

*Does Happy Pirate Dance*

More. Sexy. Pirate. Boy. Coming. Up.

WAAAAHOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!

I’m flying to Florida tomorrow morning. I don’t have half the stuff done that I need to.

My feeling of vague anxiety is quickly turning into a state of panic.

At the same time, I. Am. So. Excited. This weekend is going to be awesome– a once in a lifetime opportunity. I can’t wait to meet everyone that I’ve been talking to for the last year and a half (has it really only been that long? Seems like much longer). There are a few people missing, of course– Melanie, Teri, Rebecca, Alec, Wolf, Trisha, Katie, and so many of the SQ people . Hopefully someday I’ll be able to meet them too.

Okay, enough waxing emotional. I’ve got and opening statement to finish, another presentation to edit, and all my evidence to print out. Not to mention packing.

• Mellie is coming to Nimbus after all. Hooray!
• My Sugar Quill t-shirt arrived. Thank you, thank you, thank you to Moey for using Express Mail to get it to me on time. I will wear it proudly.
• I picked up the debate t-shirts. They look awesome. Just you wait. It’s going to be amazing.
• While at Wal-Mart buying last-minute items for Florida, walked past a shelf with Orange Crush. It’s a sign. Am trying to figure out if I’ll have enough space to take a few bottles with me in my carry-on luggage. Am still trying to figure out how I’m going to fit 25 t-shirts.
• Have actually accomplished writing the opening of my opening statement. Will finish it tonight. Will. Will.

That is all.

Thanks to an anonymous donor, I now have a paid LiveJournal account for 6 months. Also thanks to that donor, I’ve been in a icon-making frenzy.

Thanks to seviet for her lovely as always artwork.

Had to have at least *one* Jack icon.

Magoo42 requested this one, and I was of course happy to oblige.

Anyone wants one, just let me know you’re taking it. Feel the icon love.

After resolving some issues between Harry and Ginny (my computers, not the characters ), the day went pretty well. I went to lunch with Joesther and Katmorning. I’ve met Jo before, but it was the first time I’d met Kat. They are both very nice. It was quite funny– Jo had taken out her copy of OotP, and the waitress looked at it and said “Have you finished it yet?” We all looked at each other for a minute before answering “You have no idea.” Every time she came back we talked HP. The highlight of the meal was when we asked her who she thought would get together romance-wise. “Ron and Hermione,” she said immediately. We all let out a whoop, and then I couldn’t help but ask “And what about Harry?”

“Harry and Ginny.”

We got a lot of strange looks after our reaction to that. And I must say, we all left a really nice tip. Tipping for shipping, we decided.

After lunch, I drove over to BYU campus and got our t-shirts ordered. I’ll have to wait till tomorrow to pick them up, but they are going to look awesome. I had to explain their purpose to the guy behind the counter, of course. He got a good laugh once he realized what they were, exactly.

I have 8-9 minutes to speak in my other panel, so I really need to write that. Hopefully I’ll be able to get both that and my debate opening statement written. Then I’ll have time to make more icons. Seviet, can I request a nice H/G pic?

Take a look at how obsessed I am with Sexy Pirate Boy:
[Read more →]

Didn’t get a thing done today, except for a few more rows on my knitting. Instead, I spent my day with Colin Firth and Orlando Bloom. Can’t think of a better way to spend it. Except for maybe if it really *was* Colin Firth and Orlando Bloom, instead of just their images.

See, I, along with my two sisters, went over to Jen’s house today and watched Pride and Prejudice. All of it. Then, almost directly thereafter, my family went to Pirates of the Caribbean (second time for my mom and me, third time for my sisters, first time for my bro and my dad). So all in all, a rather good day for eye candy. I’ve decided that Orlando Bloom is so beautiful it hurts. Yum.

A digitized version of the shippy part of the Katie Couric/J.K. Rowling interview has now been uploaded to my site. Many, many thanks to ChicagoAmy, and escpecially to Redwood7 for doing the digitizing. You guys are AWESOME.

Go. Watch. Enjoy.