tarotgal

My first Yule Ball... was fucking AWESOME!

There were some technical difficulties here and there (Whompy broke a string, the sound cut out during a song or two, the lights were accidentally switched off a few times, mic feedback a couple times and some people had to hold a speaker up off the floor) but 95% of it went really smoothly. And the WRock was amazing! Out of the 4 bands that played, I'd only ever seen one before. So it was a treat. And a free treat (I didn't buy any merch but I did get a $1.25 lemonade and chipped in $20 for gas and tolls) which is even better.

Pottercast- Yay! I got to see the Pottercast people IN PERSON. Even got to be in some of the videos since they sent the laptop around the crowd and had us wave. Was really need to see Melissa (of Harry, A History fame) in person.

The Mudbloods- Wow. He can really sing. One of his songs had me in tears it was so good and touching. He played a bunch of others I knew (I've had Zombies stuck in my head for days now). He was really very good and it was a pleasure to get to see a new-to-me WRocker. He also sang a literary song which was one of his muggle songs but terribly cool. I want that on MP3 so badly.

The Whomping Willows- for the sake of having a favorite, I think Whompy is my favorite Wrocker. That's largely due to these three things: 1- he's got a slash song 2- I find the man extremely nummy 3- he was INCREDIBLE and brought the house down when I saw him in NYC. Tonight he wasn't quite that awesome but he definitely WRocked the house and I enjoyed every bit of his show. He even made out with Hermione on stage which was, wow! :-)

The Moaning Myrtles- Wow. I never listened to many of their songs before preparing for the ball but they have quite the variety and their musical talents are extensive. Their act contained: Lauren singing & on the grand piano, Nina singing and on the guitar (she played bass for Whompy as Hermione), Justin on drums and triangle and bells and keyboard flute thingy AND he had a musical tie. Anyhoo, I only knew about half their set but was happy with the half I did know. They sang a KICKASS song about Robert crossing over from Harry Potter to Twilight LOL And of course they ended with my favorite: Prefects are Hot. Um... yeah they are.

Ministry of Magic- I only just started listening to them, too. Bought their latest CD a few weeks back. I like their techno sound a lot and I honestly can't stop staring at the flash header on their Myspace page (ooohhh the pretty boys!). But seeing them in concert was unreal and amazing. They're like the boy band of Wizard Rock! Voldemort had an amazing voice and... is his dark mark tattoo real? The others were great, too- I have a thing for the hero and the prefect especially. But it was their whole performance really, the dancing and crowd involvement and the love and MAN they were good. I was afraid I'd cry at Bravest Man I Ever Knew but the crowd was too jumpy at the "Take it! Take it!" part and I was too busy shouting/singing along to cry. Volde actually came down into the audience and jumped with us at one point. Was such a great performance. Even tops the Malfoys as far as the fan love, and that's hard to do.

What a cool thing to be part of. I didn't want it to end. I'm still sitting here in my Hufflepuff robes, not wanting to take them off and go to sleep because then the magic will end! With Harry, A History, Beedle just out (still waiting for Amazon to ship my copy, damnit), and huge events like this, who could ever claim that the Harry Potter fandom was dead?

Okay. It's almost 4am. I need to de-squee (i.e. calm down enough to get to sleep). Also, I have a new story for the challenge I'm dying to work on...

The temperatures are finally getting cooler, the leaves are starting to change color... it's that time again: AIDS Walk Washington is right around the corner!

I'm volunteering at the walk again this year- which will be my 7th time participating in some capacity. So I'd like to make this a memorable one.. and, HOPEFULLY, a much dryer event than last year!

To sponsor me, visit: http://tinyurl.com/2xecrn
If you can donate, please do so before October 5, 2007.

It would mean a lot to me if you could donate a little at my donation page. I'm grateful for absolutely anything: $500, $50, even just $5 would help. If you can spare something, that would rock my world. And if you just can't afford to donate anything, I'll more than understand and still love you :-) I don't expect anything of anyone.

More info:
Whitman-Walker Clinic is a nonprofit, community-based organization founded in 1973 that provides and facilitates affordable, accessible health services to the Washington metropolitan area. With the advent of the AIDS epidemic, the Clinic became a leader in the fight against HIV/AIDS. The Clinic has headquarters in northwest D.C. with regional branches in southeast D.C. and northern Virginia. In addition to medical care, the Clinic’s services include HIV testing and counseling, addiction services, a day treatment center, a food bank, mental health programs, legal services and an at-cost pharmacy providing HIV medication. You can find out more about the Clinic at www.wwc.org.
Your contribution will help Whitman-Walker Clinic provide critical services to those living with HIV/AIDS. Every dollar brings hope and provides needed care. Please visit my personal fundraising website to make a secure online donation. All contributions are 100 percent tax deductible.
If you have any questions about AIDS Walk Washington or Whitman-Walker Clinic, please don’t hesitate to contact me or visit www.aidswalkwashington.org for more information.

Thank you so much for your support and generosity!

These last few days have been a series of highs and lows. Incredible moments and awful ones. *sigh* Why is it I never notice (or never live in) the middle ground between the two?

Anyway, one of the high points is the Lusty Month of May starting today over at [Bad username or site: pervy werewolf @ livejournal.com]. So I won't be around here very much. I've finished half the requested drabbles and am undecided as to when to post them. I'll decide by this weekend. Anyway... yay for naughty Remus fics and the merry month of masturbation in general!

Another highlight was seeing Alexander McCall Smith speak today! I just found out about his reading last week when I was putting together a literary event calendar and I'm sooooooooo glad I went to see him tonight! Not only was he sporting a kilt, but he was FREAKIN HILARIOUS! He talked about being a writer and about his books, but also about life in general and though he seemed all over the place, it was a beautifully thought out talk full of humor and information and wit and he was AMAZING! Seriously, if you're at all familiar with his works and you have a chance to hear him speak, make sure you do so! After the first few minutes, I pulled out a notebook and started writing some of it down. Most of these are paraphrased:

I want to make sure to leave room for complaints at the end. It's important for readers to be able to complain to a writer, telling me I should write a different sort of book... or stop writing altogether.

You've got to get your title right. Once, titles were actually about the content of the book.

Fiction can concern itself with the small things in life. Though small, those many times say a lot about humanity.

The subconscious is the start of all fiction.

Rich & grand people have to live somewhere so they live in Santa Barbara.

I have a condition called serial novelism. The solution is to write a story that can't possibly go anywhere.

When writing children's books, you can take the breaks off.

Hardware store novels aren't as popular as detective stories.

It's a sign of respect, the kilt. I don't know what for but...

Today I went to Brickfest (Legos!) like I did last year. My dad wanted to come along, and did. He enjoyed it, but clearly wasn't as thrilled as I was *G* I sooooooooooo want to build something for one of those conferences/festivals. It's on my short "to do before I die" list, actually.

Saw a lot of incredible things and this year the batteries of my camera DIDN'T die on me! So I have pictures! (And, in one case, a video since it was a life-sized, moving battle droid from Star Wars episodes 1 and 2)

They had movies this year. I didn't get to see the FEATURE LENGTH Star Wars movie, but I saw the end of one film. It was a sort of 'It's a Wonderful Life' type of deal where this guy is depressed and I came in when the angel was showing him that he really was a hero. It was a complex, elaborate series of twists and turns which led to his actually saving the world, unknowingly, and it was BECAUSE HE HAD A COLD. Basically, he sneezed on a guy who caught his cold and passed it on to another guy by sneezing on him. Then that person sneezed and passed it on and on and on all the way up to an Asian dictator who sneezed a handful of times just before launching weapons to bring about WWIII and that called it off. But there must have been AT LEAST 20 sneezes in the film. How strange that, of all the things to go in and see, I stumbled upon that very moment in that particular film. Gotta love coincidence/fate. And tons and tons of nummy sneezes *blush*

Cool stuff (in my opinion) included: an homage to the battle of Helms Deep, several elaborate scenes from HP books (including Sirius' death *sob* and Cedric & Harry together in the maze), a ton of Star Wars stuff and some Star Trek ships, several 2-story-tall working cranes, large portraits (one of Yoda), historical/famous buildings (some built to scale) like the Empire State Building and the National Cathedral, a town twice as big as last year's complete with an airport and train station and a McDonalds, a space base twice as big as last year's, a haunted house/castle, some enormous castles in general, and a ton of scenes from movies/books.


EDIT: I uploaded my photos from the event. They're here.
They're HUGE but there are so many details that get lost. So they're only 50% smaller than the originals. Still huge. Sorry about that. Hope they're still enjoyable :-)