De Ball of Debauchary- Prophecy 2007

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Saturday already? Time flies.

Three hours of sleep, and I am stumbling to breakfast. This is also the second morning in a row that I see the WRock boys going up to bed as I go into breakfast. I remember that lifestyle- not sure I want it back for more than a day! Or four...

Susan and I managed to talk through our first presentation, but caught a few good ones later. The talk on JKR's literary influences was interesting but dry- I hate when presenters just read their papers- and Philip Nel's talk was awesome. He talked about the movies and why they worked or didn't. I would love to be in one of his classes! Alas Kansas is far from California.

The Fandom Panal Keynote was very fun. Maybe because I recognized Paul, Steve, and Sue from PotterCast, or maybe because I was finally accepting I AM TRAPPED. And a classy fangirl 😊

Susan had recommended Travis Prinzi's talks, so I went to Voldemort: Shadow, Sociopath, Sinner. She was right, he was great! The talk by two librarians about Censorship was good too. I need a tshirt that proclaims "I read banned books!"

I had seen Steve's Welcome to the Wizarding World Talk last year, but it was just as good this time too. I also started to suspect that he was dating the red haired girl I kept seeing him with...drama, just like Faire...anyhoo, we all teared up when he talked about finding Hogwartz. I need to get to the UK.

We ate a quick dinner in the hotel at the pub. Guinness, finally! The food was great, and the hostess was so nice. She took care of two exhausted women dressed rather odd but smiling.

I tried to do Lily as a ghost for the ball, but that may have been too hard at that point for all the tired, drunk conference goers. Next year I will do flashy, more obvious costumes. But Susan and I still looked great. Paul (HatP), looking swanky in his double lightning bolt tie in the elevator- told us so 😊

The music was very 80's wedding. I danced as much as I could, and Susan got some great footage. There was a woman dressed like Mrs. Black complete with a curtained picture frame who won the costume contest- she deserved it! The costumes were great, there were lots of young girls hanging on the WRockers in the crowd, and I had a blast! I got one great photo below that sums up the whole ball- look for Joe (HatP-notice the silver shirt and leather pants), Brain (DatM), and Andrew (HPA).

We also ran into "No Pants" girl from the night before. She is fun but I am glad her friend is looking after her.

I also apologized to "Oliver Boyd" for my drunkedness at his concert, and told him I loved his set 😊

At the end we bumped into Brian again, and I asked him how his girlfriend handles all the fangirls- I think I shocked him by being asking a serious question. I don't know why I find the whole phenomenon so fascinating, but what is it like to be a normal guy, maybe even a little 'geeky', and suddenly find ourself the center of attention? Love it? Hate it? Integrate it into your 'real' life? Or lead a double life?

Always the philosopher.

Anyway, I got another hug and an prolonged finger squeeze.

I was careful not to look back.

The Common Room was shut down- BOOO!- and Susan wanted to sleep, so I decided to do interviews in the elevator. I met some very funny people, and hopefully we can share some of the- er, appropriate?- footage next year. Let's just say there was a sign in the elevator that said "Huffle My Puffle?" with a room card attached. What a fandom.

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Photos

Ball Dress
Susan and Me