Post Leaky Depression

I am feeling so lost in this Muggle world. Well, not lost per-se. But...out of place, maybe. It's hard to readjust back to the Muggle world when I was surrounded by wizards for five amazing days. Five days that felt like an eternity. I've only experienced anything close to this once and that was YouthWrite 2007, but this is worse. This was more at home than I've ever felt. I was at Hogwarts, with my friends, with wizards. It was how it was meant to be. Sharing our passion together.

It's so weird being back, to having those same wizards being usernames again. I don't know how to explain it, but I have somehow seperated their usernames from their beings, so to only be able to interact with them via username now is...unsettling, almost.

I have been listening to "The Prince's Tale" on repeat pretty much since I got home. Also, "When the Lights Go Out" because it was basically the theme of LeakyCon.

God I miss you guys.

This Night Will Never End: LeakyCon Day 5

Eileen and Audrey left before 7 am, and I got up with them. I showered, packed, and went down to breakfast, which was delicious. There was sausages, eggs, potatoes, bread, bagels, bacon, fresh fruit (which was probably the best after a week of fast food). I found Michelle, and later Arletta, Victoria, Amanda and Amy found us. We ate, I was really quiet from exhaustion and sadness. I wandered around later with Katie and got people to sign my yearbook. I met the Earls and Lily Zalon. Andrew's inscription in my book made me cry, and I still can't believe he wrote it. It just...oh my god means so much to me, I can't even believe it. I honestly think that once of the best things about LeakyCon was meeting him. I mean, meeting John would have been amazing, but meeting Andrew is honestly a bigger deal, now that I think about it. He is such an inspiration to me, and I can now consider him my friend. ...writing that boggles my mind a bit.

Possibly my favourite picture from the Con. Two of my favourite people. <3

I left right after the Closing Ceremonies. Starkid performed "Days of Summer" (which, in combination with leaving and Andrew's inscription, made me cry.) and "Get Back to Hogwarts" (which I could barely sing through my tears.) Leaving is one of the hardest things I've ever had to do.

Heather drove me and two random girls we found in the lobby to the airport. It was so hard to say goodbye to her.

Wizard Party Forever: LeakyCon Day 4

Leaky Con Day 4

Saturday, July 16, 2011

Eillen, Holly and I woke up early to get in line for the Starkid panel. We ended up seeing Warlock's Hairy Heart as well which was...okay. They did only have one rehearsal, so I am forgiving, and the music was gorgeous. But I didn't really enjoy it that much.

When the Starkids came on...the place errupted. My ears hurt after. They sang songs from AVPM and AVPS and it was so amazing. I enjoyed it way more than I expected. I got a lot of footage, and a group pic which was meh. But I can't believe how amazing it was to see Darren perform live. I mean meeting him was fantastic, but seeing him perform...woooooow.

I stayed for the actors panel as well, which was okay. It got a little repetitive, especially with the kids, but it was still really cool. Will, Rohan and ...Arthur? I think. Well anyway, James Sirius, young Sirius and Albus Severus were definitely the most entertaining. Al had never read the books, except the epilogue - gasp! Hugo was so shy it was adorable! (And later at the ball, he was totally the opposite, running around on stage high fiving everyone). Evanna, Chris and Scarlette were the best part, though. Evanna apparently ships Dumbledore/Luna (you just need a time turner!) and Chris ships Wood/Percy - which I now need to read because it makes so much sense. I didn't stay to get pics, which I wish I would have. I went to get in line to get autographs, and waited over an hour but the line was too long so I left. We went for supper at Tchou Chou instead (and by we, I mean Room 1725 + Kaci), which was pretty and tasty, but slow.

The ball. Wow, the ball. It was soooooooo much fun. I danced with Room 1725, Sara, Kelly, Taekia, Elizabeth, Charles, Kate, Karen, Amy, Michelle, Lauren, Delana...so many people. I don't even know how to record what happened. Paul, Alex and Whompy DJ'd. Charles is a dancing fiend. Sara was so much fun. Total Eclipse of the Heart was played 3 times. THREE. We made Melissa cry. We sang "WE ARE WIZARDS WE'LL PARTY FOREVER THIS NIGHT WILL NEVER END" in a chorus over and over at the end. Holly had to leave. D: The baby Potter actors danced in the crowd for a while, and then on stage once Evanna and Scarlette appeared. I high-fived Christian again. I met Joella. All the people who made Leaky happen got on stage for Total Eclipse of the Heart and danced. After the first, Alex xcreamed "ARE YOU READ FOR LEAKYCON TO BE OVER?" the answer was obvious. So they played it again. After the second, everyone started to chant "Esther" over and over. So a tearful Melissa started to play once of Alex's solo songs in her honor. Which was followed by Total Eclipse of the Heart again.

Hey, Stormtrooper. Wrong fandom. :P

And that was the end of the ball. Not that ayone left. We all just hung out in the Great Hall until we were kicked out. 1725 found an emotional Andrew and we chatted before going back to the hotel room. We stayed up and talked until 3-ish. I don't remember what about, but I know that none of us wanted the night to end, because that would mean it was the end.

Lookit all of this beauty.

LineCon: LeakyCon Day 3

LeakyCon Day 3

Friday, July 15

I woke up early so that I could go and get in line for the Maureen/John/Hank signing but...John had to leave the Con because he was sick. Poor guy, hope he's doing better now. I was really disappointed, but I got to meet MJ! And Hank again! And The Katherine! (who is gorgeous, oh my goodness!) I really wish I had gone and talked to him the day before.

After their signing I waited for the Stephanie Perkins/Cheryl Klein signing - which was much shorter and more personal. Steph knew who I was from Twitter! She is so nice and just the epitome of cool. I don't think I have ever met anyone who embodies "cool" more than she does.

Seriously. Epitome of cool.

I volunteered at merch after that and have since decided that Kelly and Sarah Danver are the best. They're so much fun! I may have stalked the wizard rock table from afar. I went and talked to Paul DeGeorge (who knew me from emails!!) - we had a great conversation. I got pictures with both Paul and Joe, and with most of the Ministry boys (Mark wasn't around).

I love these two girls so much. <3

The Leaky staff invited us to meet Starkid and Evanna! AH! It was the best. And there was still free food! It wasn't much, but there was some! I met Joey, Joe Walker, Darren and Evanna and got pictures with them. I didn't get any autographs, but pictures are better. Poor Darren looks so sleepy, but Evanna was so friendly! I talked to her about the HPA and thanked her and she is just so lovely.

Lookit who I met!

 

We had an HPA staff photo after that, which included gifts for senior staff from the rest of us (t-shirts that we had all signed) and party crackers for everyone. Paul DeGeorge missed the big group photo, but some of us were still around so we offered to take a picture with him anyway.

We went to Moe's for dinner after that, which was tasty, but...I missed Hank and Gred and Forge play because of it. :(

I got pictures with the rest of the wrockers at the wizard rock show. I saw Draco and the Malfoys, Whompy, some of Tonks and the Aurors and Harry and the Potters. Draco and the Malfoys and Tonks and the Aurors were both acoustic. I never thought I could wrock that hard to an acoustic set. Whompy and Harry and the Potters were....beyond amazing. I danced with Julian wowww it was just amazing. Evanna came out and danced for I Believe in Nargles, and then she played bass for Harry and the Potters. Holly balls, Harry and the Potters are brilliant live. SO MUCH FUN.

A lot of the HPA staff were....tipsy....and it was so funny. There was a lot of emotion and cheering and hugs after the concert. (WE'RE IN A CIRCLE - WHOOOOO!) We all group hugged Andrew, who later told Zack that he was beautiful. Hahaha. And then Zack hugged me, which is honestly one of my favourite moments of the con because Zack and I had barely spoken before that. (And he's a really fantastic hugger.)

I talked to Christian again and he totally remembered me! :D

We stayed up talking and giggling for half of the night because half of the room was a wee bit tipsy. XD There were a lot of sexual jokes made about a certain someone we met that night, who is so incredibly adorable. <3

Just Looking For Trouble: LeakyCon Day 2

Leaky Con: Day 2

July 14, 2011

Most of the HPA staff woke up super early (read: 6:00) to go and help the Leaky staff sort through the kerfuffle that was the previous day. We got our HPA tshirts (so beautiful, I'm in love with them), and set to work sorting through badges, registering people, giving out movie tickets. It was a long, but none-the-less, fun, morning.

I went to the Imagine Better! press conference as well to tweet, but I failed more than I tweeted on that respect.

Highlight number one of the day: I met Mike Lombardo. Whereas the day before I had been too shy to go and say "hi" to John Green, I made myself go and talk to Mike. He was just standing there, I was standing in line, so I went to say hi. I got a picture and asked him about The Alchemist, which he would later go and get from the car for me. While I waited for that, I would also meet Hayley G Hoover and manage not to fangirl her. Well, I really just didn't talk to her at all until she said something because I didn't know what to say. Then we talked about Harry Potter, and it was glorious. I also somehow managed NOT to fangirl Mike. I really don't know how that happened. (He is a lot taller in person that I thought!)

Me and Mike! He's so nice! (And that's an Alex Carpenter photo bomb in the background.

My editing doesn't really let you see that though.)

We went and got burritos at Kedobo, which was DELICIOUS. Victoria had her first burrito ever! My volunteer hours kind of failed today but I MET HANK GREEN. I was at the HPA booth, and he was at the DFTBA booth, so I went over and talked to him a bit. (It was awkward. Even with Katie there.) I then purchased Ellen Hardcastle, which he asked to sign. It was the first one he had signed! Ever! AH! I didn't get a picture though. Duh, stoopid.

I saw John again. Froze again. I really wish I had gone to talk to him when he was at the DFTBA booth because he left that night. (sick. Poor guy.)

The LeakyMug was wonderful. My first live podcasting experience. I went in by myself, but ended up sitting next to Ravenclaw Dancer for Twitter :O Jessica also showed up, and later Heather. So it was quite fantastic. It was so cool seeing the Podcasters doing their thing - it was like my high school dreams had come true. XD

Seeing Christian play....oh man. He was so good. It was so amazing to finally see him live. And I got to meet him! And I think he knew me! He seemed to, anyway. He is SO NICE. He was so excited to sign my copy of The Alchemist - apparently it was both his and Mike's first? I can still hardly believe how genuienly nice he is. I saw him a few different times through the con, and he was so nice every time.

CHRISTIAN! Gah! He is so nice and talented and I just love him.

I saw Mikey again after and we chatted/fangirled about Christian. I never did see Sarah, but I met Joella later!

After that it was DH.2. Katie T, Heather, Victoria, Holly, Audrey, Eileen and I went over to the theatre together. Katie wasn't in our theatre, but Amy and her daughters were. It was good. There were of course things I didn't like about it, but seeing it in a room full of people who love Harry Potter as much as I do was amazing. We all cheered and cried together. I don't even know how to put it into words, but it was one of the most amazing experiences I've ever had.

Before the tears started. We would not have looked this good other wise.

We went to the Hard Rock Cafe for supper, even though it was like...9. That was an interesting experience. The servers kept coming up to us and talking about Potter, because we were decked out in our robes and such.

Wizard Rock. I can't even describe. I didn't really start to dance until JFF came out, but I sang along to Lauren's set (who I chatted with earlier and she is just so genuienly nice!). I found Holly and the rest of 1725 and we went nuts. KRUM LIVE! I have been wanting to see that live for EVER and I finally did. Ministry of Magic played next and wowwwww. I was dancing/singing so hard that I was breathless at points. I just can't even.

And then...The Remus Lupins. Their last show ever was also my first of theirs. They are so amazing live! Alex and Tyler can rock SO HARD. I think Looking for Trouble went on for about 15 minutes. I also bought a Team Lupin shirt (that I have been basically living in when I'm not at work since I got back) and wore it. It's a bit big, but sooo comfy. Evanna came out at the end of The Ballad of Neville and Luna and danced (oh! I walked into to the Great Hall with her earlier! Ah!). At the end of the set podcasters, wrockers, Starkids...basically all of the famous fandom people came out and sang. After the set we all chanted "One more song!" until Alex came out and played Alone on Valentine's Day accoustically. God it was amazing!

Gotta Get Back to Hogwarts! LeakyCon Day 1

I admit, I have been putting off this post since I got home from LeakyCon. Probably because once I type this up, it will really mean that LeakyCon is over. But...here goes. I am going to be posting each day in a separate post so as to not overwhelm. I will probably also post a "favourite moments" blog with moments in list form.

LeakyCon was easily by far the best five days of my life. And that includes YouthWrite. YouthWrite doesn't even compare to the awesome that was LeakyCon 2011. Yes, YouthWrite saved me in a lot of ways but...this was freaking Hogwarts.

Leaky Con: Day 1

Wednesday, July 13, 2011

I didn't sleep much. Four and a half hours, I think? I thought it was awful at the time. Really, I was just setting the norm for LeakyCon. I didn't mind, though, because I was just so freaking excited. And thus started my day of travel. I was at the airport at 4 am MST, I landed in Orlando at 4 PM EST. I met wizards a long the way - a group of three heading to LeakyCon in Edmonton (who, incidentally, I flew home with too.) and then a girl and her mom in Chicago, who I sat with on the plane. I wish I remembered her name so that I could find her on the interwebs. ANYWAY.

I got to the Orlando Airport (FREAKING HUGE OH MY GOD) and I'm sure I would've gotten lost if it hadn't been for my Chicago friend and her mom. I waited for Heather and Audrey, who couldn't find where I was. (The airport was HUGE after all) My god it was hot there. I have honestly never experienced that kind of heat. (Strange enough, I miss the Orlando weather now that I'm home.)

The first time I saw Hogwarts on the way to Universal was...amazing. I screamed. Actually. Like...it was Hogwarts. In real life. Not on TV, or in my imagination or in pictures. IN REAL LIFE. And then we got to the hotel. HOGWARTS WAS OUTSIDE OUR WINDOW. AGHADF. It was the best ever.

I met Eileen then. She came up to see us. It's so weird thinking that I'd barely spoken to her, and now I love her SO much. Seriously. Audrey, Eileen and I went down to the Lobby so that Audrey and I could register. We managed to find a lull in both the registration line AND the conflict resolution lines. Somehow. Apparently the lines had been ridiculous earlier, but we didn't have to wait at all. I feel very lucky hearing that people had to wait like, 5 hours. O_O

We went to the Opening Ceremonies in the Great Hall after that. The Great Hall was...beautiful. Breath taking. They had projections everywhere. The ceiling had the sky projected on it so that it echoed the sky outside (that was my favourite part, by far), the sides had the movie posters projected onto it, and clips from the movies (I don't remember if they were projected at the Opening Ceremonies or not, but it was the rest of the week). And the stage! It looked like Hogwarts. There were banners and crests and torches and suits of armour. All on flats painted to look like stone. It was beautiful.

And then there were the ceremonies themselves. It was basically a history of the fandom and it was amazing. Harry and the Potters played (my first live wizard rock experience! And it was "The Weapon" - well...they played another song too, I think, but I don't remember what it was.), Hank Green played, Potter Puppet Pals came out, someone got proposed to (agh so romantic.). There were interviews from key people in the fandom. It was beautiful. The theme of the week was "Hogwarts Graduating Class of 2011" and LeakyCon was our graduation shindig. Amazing, right?

We all trouped to the WWoHP after that. Eileen and I found Taekia, Jennifer, Kelly, Sarah and Elizabeth (Audrey  didn't get tickets for Open at the Close) and we went with them. We sang and laughed and oh my goodness just the walk was beautiful. So much vegetation and nature - who knew so much loveliness could be in the middle of a metropolis?

The Wizarding World of Harry Potter is at the very back of Universal, so we had to walk through everything to get there. But oh my god it was worth it. When I first saw Hogsmeade, I stopped dead. Literally, stopped dead. It was like my dreams had fallen into being. It was the absolutely most amazing thing. And then we kept going. And there was the Hogwarts Express. And Honeydukes. And Ollivanders. And Dervish and Banges. And Zonko's. And Hogwarts. Hogwarts castle was right freaking in front of me.

Photo courtesy of Delana

Eileen and I wandered - the others had gone to ride on other stuff throughout the park - looking at shops and things. We ran into Katie Twyman, who then joined us because she lost Catitude. (That sounds so weird.) HolycrapIlovethatgirlsomuch. We had the most amazing time going through the shops. Heather found us outside of Honeydukes and we decided it was time for Butterbeer. They had three different kinds - frozen, cold and hot. I tried frozen first and holycrapitwassogood. Tasted like a creamcicle. Mmmm. Later I tried the cold one, and it was decent, but not nearly as good as the frozen one. I also had a sip of Pumpkin Juice, which tastes a bit like apple cider. I think I probably would have even liked it if I had had a whole one to myself. (I have been drinking out of nothing but my Butterbeer cup since I got back.)

We saw Andrew Sims by the Hogwarts Express. I think the look of surprise and fangirly-ness scared him. XD

We ran into a bunch of HPA Staffers and got a whole HPA table outside of the Three Broomsticks with Karen, Kate, Andrew and Lauren. I remember Karen saying "Okay, who is who?" And I went "Jodi!" immediately. The look on Andrew's face when he realized who I was will stay with me for a while. He was so shocked and happy. He was all "Jodi? Jodi Butler?" and then came and hugged me. It was such an amazing moment in my life. And then Heather, Katie and I spotted David Levithan. We, of course, got a picture.

See? Proof!

A bunch of us went to the Forbidden Journey next. Or, we tried to. We kept getting sidetracked along the way. Or rather, Andrew did. He introduced Katie to Evanna Lynch, who was gearing up to do a Pottercast. I met Frak (he is so awesome! So so nice!). When we finally made it to The Forbidden Journey...oh my goodness it was so cool inside. Legit Hogwarts. Dumbledore's office, the unicorn portrait Harry and Ginny kiss in front of, the hourglasses with house points, the Gryffindor common room, a whole room full of portraits, the Defense Against the Dark Arts classroom.

Sherbot Lemon didn't work. :(

And then the ride. We were IN HOGWARTS. I don't remember a lot of it in detail, just being completely amazed. We flew, flipped upside own, swung through the Forbidden Forrest (where spiders tried to get us. Shudder.) Water sprayed us in the fast. We flew through Hogwarts and the grounds with Harry as our guide, being chased by the Horntail (who followed us into the castle and tore bits of the roof apart and then proceeded to nearly cook us.), evading the Whomping Willow. I left the ride breathless, laughing and wanting more. I bought some stuff from the shop - a Hogwarts picture frame and a Fawkes keychain. I nearly bought a picture frame that was Sirius' mugshot. I kind of wish I had, to be honest. Because it's Sirius.

Heather and I went on The Flight of the Hippogriff, which was actually really good. I didn't get sick or anything! To get there, you walked through bits of the Forrest, not heeding Dumbledore or Hagrid as they told you not to go further, and then walked past the Ford Anglia and Hagrid's Hut. It started out in Hagrid's hut and then we flew around, up past Hogwarts (we had an AMAZING view) and then zoomed around back down to the hut. It was awesome.

We went into the other ride, but didn't go on it. There was a Goblet of Fire (Eileen, Heather and I all put our names in the Goblet), Triwizard Cup lots of Triwizard stuff.

I support a Hogwarts victory. But seriously, Diggory FTW!

We ate at The Three Broomsticks (free fooood!) and went into The Hogs Head. We also tried some Florean Fortescue icecream - peanut butter and strawberry, I think? I don't remember for sure. It was tasty, but I didn't eat all of it. I hadn't eaten all day and just to have the little bit of food I had from The Three Broomsticks was enough. It was that "so-hungry-you-feel-sick" thing.

I met Mikey in front of Hogwarts. Wow. I never thought I would be able to say that. But yeah, we met for the first time in front of Hogwarts. Epic? Epic.

We stayed until the very bitter end and grabbed another Butterbeer on the way out. Not gonna lie, I just wanted the cup. We took a water taxi back to the hotel, which I was too worn out, yet excited at the same time, to enjoy. We got back to the hotel, all exhausted, with Audrey already asleep. We basically just fell into bed without much thought of hygiene or anything of that sort.

LeakyCon

...in list form.

(I am going to be putting up more detailed posts in a while, but this is what I'm doing for now.)

• Melting in the heat at the Orlando airport while waiting for Heather and Audrey to find where I was. They got lost. XD
• Screaming when I first saw Hogwarts
• Being able to see Hogwarts outside of our hotel room window
• Meeting room 1725 for the first time <3
• Victoria's first burrito ever
• IT'S A CIRCLE PARTY, WHOOOO!
• Meeting Andrew Slack and having him be so shocked, amazed, and pleased to see me
• Trying to seduce Sirius Black with Katie and failing
• Walking into Hogsmeade and seeing the Hogwarts Express for the first time. Butterflies.
• Nearly running right into Andrew Sims. Having a fangirly expression on my face and scaring him.
• Drinking frozen Butterbeer for the first time
• The Forbidden Journey with Karen, Lauren and Andrew. Oh my god. I got to ride a broom, play Quidditch, be chased by a dragon. Scream a lot haha.
• Meeting Frak before the live Pottercast, seeing Evanna Lynch and not freaking.
• Seeing John Green for the first time and being unable to move
• Seeing John Green for the second time and being unable to move
• Having Hank Green ask if he could sign my copy of Ellen Hardcastle. And being the first one to ever get a signed copy of that album
• Meeting Mike Lombardo
• Seeing Christian play as Oliver Boyd and the Remembralls for the first time. Meeting him.
• Meeting Stephanie Perkins and having her recognize me from Twitter
• Meeting Paul DeGeorge and having him know me from the HPA
• First wizard rock experience ever
• Seeing someone get proposed to in the Great Hall during the Opening Ceremonies
• Daily dose of burrito
• "We are wizard's, we'll party forever, this night will never end."
• Andrew saying that I inspired him
• Krum live
• Dancing/screaming with Julian to Harry and the Potters
• Meeting Evanna Lynch, talking to her about the HPA
• Meeting Darren Criss
• Talking to Joe Walker about his "Boba Fett" badge
• flying to Orlando with wizards unintentionally
• group hugging Andrew after wizard rock
• Meeting so many wrockers
• Talking to Andrew, and then being surprise hugged by Zack
• Refusing the leave the Great Hall after the ball
• Total Eclipse of the Heart. Three times.
• "I believe I can fly!" with Kelly and Sarah
• HPA Merch table
• LeakyCountry. It will be in Nerdfighteria.
• The crazy that was giving out tickets for the film
• Seeing DH.2 with people as crazy as I am. Crying, laughing and cheering together.
• Ambushing David Levithan while he was trying to get Butterbeer, begging for a photo.
• Talking to Kate when I saw Darren Criss IRL for the first time and freezing mid-sentence
• HPA staff photo
• flying into the Edmonton airport and being shocked by the fields and all of the open space
• Being frozen once I got to Edmonton because I wasn't used to this "cool" of weather