In Which Chauceriangirl Catches Up on 3 Days of Summer Camp

But first, you must see our beautiful gorgeousness from the Harry Potter movie.

(from left to right: Chauceriangirl (aka Bellatrix Lestrange); Jehara (aka Luna Lovegood); Amethyst (aka Professor Sybill Trelawney); and the incomparable Izzybella (aka Nymphadora Tonks Lupin).

Yes, we had an absolute blast. It was so wonderful to get together with the girls and yak our heads off, and enjoy each other’s company, and catch up on what’s been happening.  I think that Jehara needs to seriously consider moving back this way, because I reeeeeeeeeaaaaaaaallllllllllyyyyyyyyyyy miss her. I’m just sayin’.

Now back to summer camp:

Day 16 – How many friends of yours blog/tweet/actively facebook? Has social media helped or hurt your friendships?

Most of my friends and family do blog or actively facebook. I’m not sure about tweeting, because I quit twitter quite a while ago. I was growing obsessed and I already have enough obsessions in my life.    However, I do appreciate facebook. There are family members that I now am able to be closer to just by virtue of staying in contact via facebook. I get to see my brand new nieces and nephews not too long after they’re born, and it’s such a treasure. So I’m pro facebook (in moderation). I don’t have a problem with my 10 minutes a day on facebook.  And I love staying in touch through blogging. Of course, I don’t know what my friends/family would say about it. I do tend to go on and on and on and on; TMI could be my middle name.
Day 17 – What is your favorite thing about the weekend? Do you take a break from blogs or is this when you catch up?

Oh, I love not having to get up so early in the morning.  Normally I leave for work by 6 a.m., so getting to sleep even a little late is nice. And I love not having to go to work. No offense intended; I love my job, and I know how blessed I am to have such a great job and work for such a great team.  I love getting to slouch around in shorts. I love taking naps with my snuggle buddies (aka Scout and EmmyLou). I love going to dinner & movie with my honey-bear. I love getting to see my family for Saturday breakfast and Sunday lunch. I love getting to set my own schedule and do what I want to do.

And whether I take a break from blogs or not is solely dependent upon my own wishes. I do make sure to read Post Secret and Cake Wrecks on Sundays, though. Couldn’t miss those.
Day 18 – How do you feel about astrology? What’s your sign, baby, and do you think it matches your personality?

I don’t believe in astrology, so there aren’t any intense feelings one way or another. I am a sagittarius. Does it match my personality? Hang on–let me go to Google (Google is my friend). BRB….

 http://www.astrology-online.com/sagittar.htm

• Traveling  – YES
• getting to the heart of the matter  – YES
• Freedom  – YES
• Laws and meanings  – MEH
• the general ‘feel’ of things – YES

DISLIKES

• Off the wall theories  – YES
• being tied down domestically
• Being constrained  — YESYESYESYESYES
• cooling your heels  – YES
• bothered with details  – YES

So I suppose so.  But I also suppose that you could take any other sign and find that it would fit you.  That’s my story and I’m sticking to it.

 

Getting My Geek On!!!

Jehara is in town. Always cause for celebration.

Amethyst is coming. Always cause for celebration.

Izzy is coming. Always cause for celebration.

We have a hotel room for tonight and tomorrow night, so we can have our slumber (ha!) party. Always cause for celebration.

And at 12:01 tonight we will be sitting with hundreds of other people in crowded movie theatres, watching the last Harry Potter movie. Sort of cause for celebration, although its being the last of the movies is a sad thing, too. We’ve watched the actors grow from really cute kids to grown-ups, with some good acting chops. We’ve been with Harry, Ron, and Hermione as they’ve faced ever increasing powerfully evil forces, always fighting for what’s good and true and pure. We’ve been with J.K. Rowling ever since the first book came out, an unassuming little book that, had it not captured the public’s fancy in a serious way, might have been easily missed.

Always cause for celebration.

I love my sisters, all of them, and I’m so excited to have them here. There are some who aren’t able to come, and I’ll miss you.

Yes, I am a Dork

Monday Joe and I went to see Transformers with my bestie Clover and her family.  As the trailers were playing, suddenly a familiar logo came on the screen and I gasped audibly. 

I’ve been diligently staying away from any photographs, trailers, snippets, interviews etc. until after I’ve seen the movie. So this was the first trailer I had seen for the last Harry Potter movie, and it was COOL!

Jehara is coming from Arizona, and D., Izzybella and I are all going to see the movie together. If you’re local and want to join us, please please please let me know!!!!  We’ve got a hotel room for Thursday night and Friday night. There will be British themed noshes, and everyone has to dress up, including the incomparable Izzybella who, despite being a fantabulous actor, dislikes dressing up.

I am going as Bellatrix. I have a cute black maxi from Torrid that has a skull near the bottom, and I’m going to get some accessories at Hot Topic, and try to figure out how to get a death eater henna tattoo on my forearm.

My name is Chauceriangirl, and I’m a dork.

Summer Camp: Day Four

What has surprised you about being an adult? What have you learned about yourself through blogging?

The biggest surprise was learning that even though I’m an adult, I still can’t do everything I want to do.

Don’t you remember those childhood days, when your parents would boss you around, and you’d say, “I can’t wait until I’m grown up and can do anything I want!” and they would laugh hysterically and you’d think they were laughing at you and you’d stomp down the hall and slam your bedroom door and mutter imprecations about how your parents are just mean?

No?  Um, me neither.  Yeah. That’s it.  

But then I grew up.

If I want to have money, I have to go to work.  If I want to have food and shelter, I have to pay my bills. I have to do my laundry or else go naked.  I can’t ignore the news in favour of cartoons.  

Being a grown-up sucks sometimes.

And what have I learned about myself through blogging?  Mostly that I’m still a complete dork, but now I kind of like being dorky. When you’re dorky and proud, and share it openly whether through blogging or dorky tee-shirts, you meet all kinds of awesomely dorky people who are interested in the same things you are, and you can have a lot of fun.

So David Tennant is still my favourite Doctor, and Hayden Christensen was an AWFUL choice to play Anakin Skywalker, and Perpetual Kid is the coolest catalog ever, and Buffy would be Gryffindor and Willow would be Ravenclaw and Xander would be Gryffindor and Spike would so totally be Slytherin and I love him for that and I can’t decide if Faith is Gryffindor or Slytherin and I love her for that, and Wonder Woman is my hero. And I love Hoarders and Paranormal State and even though they were completely lame I totally love the Paranormal Activities movies and I’ve lived in a haunted house and I believe in ghosts.  Oh, and I’d vote forAtticus Finch for president, and I even made a tee-shirt in Café Press to say so.  And I have an Adiposian baby that I need to bring to work to sit on my desk, and I really want a sonic screwdriver. And the guy who played the Master in Season 3 is kinda hot.  And I think that before Neville Longbottom married Hannah Abbott, he and Luna had a fling. And I like to play Who Would You Do while in line for the Harry Potter movies to start at midnight. Captain Tight-Pants (Mal) or Thor?  Hmmmm.  That’s a tough one.  And the answer is 42. Remember your towel.  Ni! Ni! Ni!

If you agree or disagree with any of the statements in the preceding paragraph, please leave me a comment because you might just be my new best friend.

The Rest of the Portus Photos

 

Bellatrix LeStrange, casting the Avada Kedavra spell. Fortunately, we were armed with phoenix feathers, and she was unable to harm us.

Madame Hooch. She didn’t have her broomstick handy, but she was very pleasant to converse with.

Severus Snape sending a greeting to Janet. You probably can’t read it, but on the paper he wrote, “Hi, Janet!” He also wrote out an autograph that will shortly be winging its way to her.

The Holyhead Harpies, presumably on their way to a Quidditch match.

La famille Malfoy. Narcissa haughtily informed us that it was the last photo Draco could have taken, as he needed to get some rest before the ball.

Professor Quirrell. This was apparently before Lord Voldemort took up residence in the back of his head.

The fan art sketch of Severus Snape that led me to seriously contemplate petty larceny, not on my account, but I just thought Janet would really like this. But I wasn’t able to take it, and it’s a good thing because they auctioned off the fan art. I didn’t know that they were doing that, and if I had, I wouldn’t have thought about stealing it. And I made atonement for thinking about stealing it–I drew a picture of Ginny Weasley that looked, well, pretty okay if you discount the fact that she had two deformed hands coming out of one sleeve of her robes. I’m not an artist, let’s just say. And, well, to be strictly honest, I didn’t draw the picture in exchange for my larcenous thoughts. But it was a good story, right? (I did really draw the picture, and no, there’s not a photo of it, nor of Liz’s Texas Cheerleader Hermione, because I deleted it because I didn’t want to show anyone my dreadful drawing.

This lovely painting is a portrait of Bellatrix LeStrange. This artist is amazingly gifted. No, I didn’t contemplate stealing this one. Only the fan-art drawing of Snape. None of the others. I did wish I could afford to bid on some of them at the auction, but I couldn’t.

Dumbledore, Professor McGonagall, and Harry the night he was left on the Dursleys’ doorstep.

This is another one that made me think of Janet–Lily Evans with Severus Snape.

This lovely portrait is, of course, of Lily Evans.

This was my favourite–the lost boys of Hogwarts, from left to right: Tom Riddle, Severus Snape, and Harry Potter.

I do believe this last portrait is another of Lily Evans, but I could be remembering incorrectly. Regardless, it’s just beautiful. EDIT: The incomparable Izzybella says this is a portrait of Hermione, and I do believe she’s right.

And that, my friends, is the last of the Portus Photos. I hope you enjoy them as much as we enjoyed being there and taking them.

I had an idea for a paper that I will write and propose for a programming session at the San Francisco conference next July. If it gets accepted and I get to go, perhaps one of you lovely readers would care to join me there? Puh-leeeze????

Jim Dale Rocks the House!

Wow! What a morning!

First of all, if you EVER get the chance to hear Jim Dale speak, don’t hesitate, don’t delay, just go do it. He is an incredible speaker and performer. He read excerpts from some of the books, talked about the inspirations and sources of some of the voices, and made a two-hour presentation fly faster than Severus Snape when confronted with a bottle of shampoo.  He’s the kind of person you’d love to just spend a day listening to him talk, and you’d enjoy every moment of it.

Next, I’m so impressed with everyone’s creativity in costuming. Izzybella and I have had such a good time meeting people and talking to them, and taking photos of them and their fabulous costumes. These are just a few, and we’ll be parked outside the Masquerade Ball tonight taking more photos.

And last, but certainly not least, I was officially sorted today, and am proud to report that I am a member of the noble house of Ravenclaw. “Wit beyond measure is man’s greatest treasure.”

I’ll be back tonight with a lot more photos. Have fun!!

Portus Day Two

It’s been a great day!!!  We had breakfast at the House Tables downstairs. it was a continental breakfast, and we feasted on pumpkin bread, yogurt, homemade granola, Frosted Flakes, and fresh juice. Then we were off to our first session, a look at Gred and Forge, the twin tricksters. The next session was a really fun one about educational and employment law in the HP world; the presenter is an attorney from Rochester, New York. We had a great time, and it led right into a fantastic session about creating your own fantasy worlds.

That was it for us today. We had planned on attending another session this afternoon, but Dallas traffic and getting lost and slow service at the place we ended up having lunch at meant we got back just a little too late. So we have spent the last couple of hours lolling in our hotel room and watching How to Make an American Quilt.

We just ordered a pizza for our dinner tonight, and we’ll probably sack out early. Tomorrow is going to be a VERY full day. We hope to be getting Jim Dale’s autograph at some point, and we’ll be in sessions all morning and all afternoon. We’re skipping out on the masquerade ball, but we will be stationed at a good vantage point to take photographs of all the awesome costumes before we go have dinner at the Tex Mex restaurant at the hotel.

If you want to see a few more photos, and some of the view from our hotel room, go visit Izzybella.

Hangin’ at Hogwarts

Behold the glory of opening night at Hogwarts, aka Portus 2008!  Well, really just behold the glory of my cute lightning bolt earrings, my totally awesome Ravenclaw house tie, and our really gorgeous posh hotel room. The poshness of the hotel room cannot be overstated here, although I imagine people who stay in really posh places would be all “ho-hum” about this one. It’s where you see the cleaning staff and wonder if they’re thinking that you so totally don’t belong here. The sheets on the oh-so-comfortable beds must be a million thread count, because they’re so soft and smooth and cool and oh yawn, hmmmmm.

Huh? What was that? Sorry, I must have dozed off for a minute.

The opening feast was really, really good. The Dallas Hilton Anatole knows how to do Tex-Mex. The queso was so good you’d have wanted a bowl and a spoon, forget anything else. And they were well equipped and prepared for the hundreds of people that showed up; the lines moved quickly and everyone was made to feel very comfortable.  Did I mention the food was fantastic? ‘Cause it so totally was.

But the best thing of all is the people. When we arrived earlier this afternoon, we just watched people walk by. There is an adorable girl with purple hair wearing green Quidditch robes. And we saw a few Voldemorts complete with Naginis. There’s a lovely tall woman with a severe bob dressed as a most elegant Madame Maxime. We sat across from Dolores Umbridge at dinner tonight.  She’s a lot nicer in person than you might expect. Her wand is very short and rigid, and the locket she wears is definitely imposing.

The two best we’ve seen, though, were Sir Cadagon, clad in shiny armour parading down the halls, and the incredibly hot sexy awesomeness that is Severus Snape.  Izzybella nearly swooned when she saw him, and he very graciously gave her a hug.

So don’t beat me for this, but I forgot to take the camera with me when we went down to the opening feast. Hence there are not yet any photos of Umbridge or Snape. But there will be. I promise. We’ve already taken photos of our room and they’re uploaded onto my computer. A few are here, and you can find the others at Izzybella’s blog. And we’ll update periodically through the day, posting photos and comments about the sessions.

And I’m thinking about getting a hat tomorrow!  If I do, I promise to have Izzybella take a picture so I can post it here.