Aeternitas con post #4 (wrapup)

First off, anyone who’s got photos of me from Aeternitas please send them to me or links to where they’re up! (Me having forgotten camera and all…)
The “Magic Is Forever” Ball was terrific fun, as these things usually are. It’s like HP cons are full of people who remember how awful our junior proms were and are determined not to let that happen again. Haha. People dance and sing and generally have a great time. And the costumes! Man, the costumes. Draco LePage cosplayed as Michael Jackson. We had some in full ball gowns, Death Eaters in dress robes, you name it. (Apparently the whole idea for Aeternitas started with Amanda wanting to do a kind of Hogwarts Prom and it grew into a whole conference…)
Here’s me from my blurry cell phone camera, dolled up for the ball and wearing my Magic U tarot-themed hat, made for me by Soiled Doves Mercantile after they read and loved the books! https://lockerz.com/s/97534249 Yes, that’s the Tarot reading Kyle gets his first day at Veritas, all four cards. 🙂 It was my first time actually *wearing* the hat in public and it was perfect for a magical ball.
While at the ball, I got a “Felix Felicis” cocktail from the hotel bartenders and it turns out the golden color in the potion is from tequila. Man, that thing was strong.
One of the bartenders was a young bald guy who wore a cape most of the weekend and pretended to be Tom Riddle. He apparently changed his Facebook nickname to Dark Lord Bartender so we can all friend him.
James Snape also had his telescope out so that those who wanted to actually see Saturn on Saturnalia could. Seeing Saturn never fails to move me.
After the ball GatewayGirl and I went and hung out at the Snarry Suite for a while, then I wanted to check out The Remus Lupins (aka Alex Carpenter) who were playing the final wizard rock show of the weekend. We arrived in time to see the last few songs of the Justin Finch Fletchleys, and then Alex came on. He led the entire crowd (of about 50 people) all through the hotel with his guitar, trying to drum up more spectators, singing “We are wizards and we’re awesome, don’t you want to be awesome, too?” No idea if that convinced more folks to join the crowd, but it was fun and typical Alex, who is one of the better showmen on the Wrock circuit.
At one point in the show he sang a (not very complimentary) song about Snape and broke a string, and had to borrow another guitar. He bantered with a cosplaying Snape in the audience, “Hey, I thought we had an agreement you wouldn’t hex my guitar while I was playing.”
And then it was 2 in the morning and we were tipsy and exhausted, so we went to sleep. GatewayGirl actually got up at 5am to greet the dawn on May 1st and pick flowers. She didn’t find any flowers, but she did find frost on the ground, which might be why she didn’t find flowers. Yeah, New Hampshire is the frozen north. I slept through this.
Then we dragged ourselves up to the Leaving Feast, which was a brunch. Last chance to say goodbye to everyone, last minute LJ and email exchanges, last chance to convince more folks they should splurge and join us at Diacon Alley in the UK in July. (Other folks were pushing for Lubricus; The Con That Shall Not Be Named, in Seattle in June. I won’t be there, but lots of my friends will!)
One of the really fun, fannish things they did was give out Hogwarts diplomas to everyone who turned in their report cards. 🙂 They also used colored calligraphers ink to write in the names, depending on what house affiliation you chose. Since I wrote “Slytherclaw” mine is blue and green! Ah, these fannish things make me so happy. I love this fandom so much.
After all that, though, there were still some folks at the con I never ran into. Like Titti! I kept hearing she was there and then never crossed paths with her! Next time, I suppose!
And I’ll see you all at Ascendio in Orlando in July 2012, right?