Album 1

Album 2

And here are all the pictures from the Star Wars Costume Competition. My friend Julius was the MC and I was his escort, so I was in costume, but didn’t compete.

HAHA, DONE! Three days down, one more to go.

Aaron Douglas gave me a hug in the middle of a 300-person fan panel. He got down off the stage. Also, I got to chat with Aaron, and then with the Weasley twins and Neville Longbottom as I got all their autographs. Jamie Bamber was also very funny in the BSG panel. I got a rad picture of Mark Sheppard as he walked by me on the stairs, and Richard Hatch called me “Darlin’,” when he squeezed past me in the Walk of Fame. John DeLancie walked past me on the way out of the Miss Klingon competition. Brent Spiner looks REALLY OLD, Gates McFadden looks like she’s 30, and she weighs about 2 pounds. Jonathon Frakes, however, seems to have picked up Gates’ slack. James Marsters is just as funny in a panel as I thought he would be, and Juliet Landau is just as beautiful and classy as I thought she would be. And I got to spend a ton of time with my friend Nate who I very rarely get to see. I got a corset! And I came home with a decent chunk of money still in my bank account!

For those of you who may not know, Aaron Douglas plays the flight deck chief in Battlestar Galactica. He is by far my favorite character in the series. Oliver and James Phelps play the Weasley twins and Matthew Lewis (who is the awesomest kid in the world, very nice, very cool) plays Neville Longbottom. Jamie Bamber plays Apollo on Battlestar Galactica. Mark Sheppard is in Battlestar Galactica as well, but I knew him as Badger on Firefly. Richard Hatch was the original Apollo on the first Battlestar Galactica series, and now he plays Tom Zarek on the new show. John DeLancie was Q in Star Trek: The Next Generation, Brent Spiner was Data, Gates McFadden was Beverly Crusher, and Jonathon Frakes was Will Riker. James Marsters was Spike on Buffy the Vampire Slayer, and Juliet Landau was Drusilla.

I’ll say this about Dragon*Con. It’s the one place I can be in the world and I won’t get judged. Everyone there understands the pull of our favorite television series or books or movie. Everyone knows what it’s like to pay the $85 (unless they pre-regged) to be somewhere with people who understand you. Everyone wants to be there, so everyone gets it. Whether they’re jonesing for swag from the dealer room, or they really dig wearing corsets and big chunky boots and black dreads, or they love Stargate SG-1 and want to know about all the collectibles you can get, or they want to see the celebrities from their favorite show, or they want to argue about which incarnation of Dr. Who is best…they all WANT to be there. They all have an intrinsic reason to be in Atlanta with their fellow sci-fi and fantasy fans, and they are compelled to be there. Around 40,000 of us this year. And we’re smaller than ComiCon in San Diego.

More than Tallahassee, or Thessaloniki, or California, the convention is home. Not because of location, but because of environment. It’s a specific distinction. I get the impression that San Diego will be the place I feel the most at home. It’s California + convention + kickass ren faires within driving distance. Just thoughts I’ve had.

Apparently, me, Ron and Hermione are shocked and disturbed by whatever is on the other side of my kitchen.

It’s a phenomenal book. I loved it. I think it’s the best book of the series so far. Absolutely incredible.

I’m not going to talk about the finer points because you never know who hasn’t read it yet.

In HPDA last night, a whole bunch of my chatters behaved improperly…I’m also not going into details because I just don’t feel like it. Suffice it to say, my chat is starting to succumb to the same crap that makes other chats fall apart, and I’m not going to let it happen. In those other chats, the admins disappear. Conveniently, I’ve been around constantly for this chat, and I don’t intend to stop. Something’s gotta happen, though. I’ll just keep trying to keep people in line.

Also, the HPDA chatroom has a new plotline if anyone’s interested. Come on down. Information at http://hpda.seekingsolace.net/ and chat room at http://pjj.cc/hpda/. Visit! Also, say nice things about Sean’s writing of the plotline. Some of the best fanfic I’ve read in awhile (of course, not including the Draco Veritas series, which is still ongoing).