The Gigantic Portus Post
Jul. 14th, 2008 12:46 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
alisanneOkay, so I am finally back from Portus and I have to say it was fantastic. It wasn't my first HP con (that was Sectus last year), but it was the first one that I had signed up for officially, so I was determined to do and see everything, to have the full con experience. I'm not sure how well I succeeded, but I gave it a good try. ;)
Thursday I went to pick up![[insanejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/ij-userinfo.gif)
celandineb and we drove down to Dallas. We entertained ourselves on the way with Cel's mix CDs of 80's music (I'd forgotten how much I loved that music *sigh*) and I think we made good time, arriving at about 5pm. We located sassy_cissa in the lobby and proceeded to check in, running into dementordelta at the registration desk.
The welcoming feast was lovely (although I did wonder what the Hogwarts students would have made of Tex Mex *g*) and the mixed drinks, with names like Portus Punch, Demented Texas Kiss (yummy!) and the Patronus, they definitely warranted a try. Sevvie's Love Potion number 9 seemed especially popular. *g*
There was Wizard Wrock that night, but I'm old, so I went to bed.
We were all bouncy in the morning, so we had breakfast and went to discussions, the first one was about Severus Snape (who else? Heh).celadineb took copious notes which she will tell you about. I'm sure. *g*
I signed up for all the meals, so needless to say I was well fed, and it does seem as if I ran into the most people at lunches and teas and dessert minglers, lol. I attended both Keynote Luncheons and while I enjoyed them, Henry Jenkins' was the better of the two by far, IMO, while Monique Trottier's was good but not quite as engaging.
The sessions were interesting, my favorite discussions were "Wednesday Night is Gay night at the Three Broomsticks", all about Albus Dumbledore, although we discussed just about everyone in the wizarding world, Outcasts: Stigmatized by Hogwarts and, of course, Fanfiction Warnings, which was run bycelandineb, dementordelta and proftib. I learned lots there and had fun while doing it. ;) I did make me realize I really have to plan my comments for the panel I'm on at Terminus!
But above and beyond the sessions and the food I went to this thing to meet PEOPLE!
I'm sure I'll forget someone, but I met and RE-metand squeed over a ton of people including the adorably bubbly lilyseyes, the also adorable but equally contemplative and thoughtful irisgirl12000 (and OMG, these two SO need to CoSplay as H/D, y'all. Really.), the oh so talented zephre and her snake (which made her easy to find in a crowd), the lovely and also quite talented venturous1, the bubbly nqdonne, the sweet cardigirl, my darling shiv5468, who I didn't get to say a proper British goodbye to *sniff*, the elegant and gracious emmagrant01 (who has the cutest baby), the adorable firefly124, the bubbly leianora, treewishes (who had better be at Terminus *glares*), the lovely proftib, as well as heidi8, flourish, dixiebell12, abigail89, sullacat, furiosity, droxy, and strigola. I met even more people I know, but the badges were small and I often couldn't see who everyone was, not to mention that not everyone wore their badges all the time. In addition to fandom peeps I got to see several HOT Severus Snapes, a really well done Malfoy Family (Lucius, yum!), the sexiest scariest Bellatrix Lestrange ever, some Lord Voldemorts, a couple of Albus Dumbledores, a GREAT Madam Hootch, several Dementors, several House-elves, and a bunch of roaming Death Eaters. *g*
I took no pictures, sadly, but I insinuated my way into other people's photos quite readily, so I think I'll be showing up in a journal near you soon. Heh.
Before we left to go home we stayed for the auction, which raised money for Literacy Instruction for Texas (LIFT). I really wanted Snape in the bag so I got him, but it was quite the bidding war *is BAD at auctions*. I also got this lovely Phoenix painting (Yay Phoenixes!) so it was all good.
I am now home doing laundry, unpacking, and unwinding. I have a TON of comments to answer, a weekly fic wrap up to put out, a Neville fic to post, AND a ton of other fics to write. And now I can't wait for Terminus! Eeeeeee!
Thursday I went to pick up
celandineb and we drove down to Dallas. We entertained ourselves on the way with Cel's mix CDs of 80's music (I'd forgotten how much I loved that music *sigh*) and I think we made good time, arriving at about 5pm. We located sassy_cissa in the lobby and proceeded to check in, running into dementordelta at the registration desk.The welcoming feast was lovely (although I did wonder what the Hogwarts students would have made of Tex Mex *g*) and the mixed drinks, with names like Portus Punch, Demented Texas Kiss (yummy!) and the Patronus, they definitely warranted a try. Sevvie's Love Potion number 9 seemed especially popular. *g*
There was Wizard Wrock that night, but I'm old, so I went to bed.
We were all bouncy in the morning, so we had breakfast and went to discussions, the first one was about Severus Snape (who else? Heh).
celadineb took copious notes which she will tell you about. I'm sure. *g*I signed up for all the meals, so needless to say I was well fed, and it does seem as if I ran into the most people at lunches and teas and dessert minglers, lol. I attended both Keynote Luncheons and while I enjoyed them, Henry Jenkins' was the better of the two by far, IMO, while Monique Trottier's was good but not quite as engaging.
The sessions were interesting, my favorite discussions were "Wednesday Night is Gay night at the Three Broomsticks", all about Albus Dumbledore, although we discussed just about everyone in the wizarding world, Outcasts: Stigmatized by Hogwarts and, of course, Fanfiction Warnings, which was run by
celandineb, dementordelta and proftib. I learned lots there and had fun while doing it. ;) I did make me realize I really have to plan my comments for the panel I'm on at Terminus!But above and beyond the sessions and the food I went to this thing to meet PEOPLE!
I'm sure I'll forget someone, but I met and RE-met
lilyseyes, the also adorable but equally contemplative and thoughtful irisgirl12000 (and OMG, these two SO need to CoSplay as H/D, y'all. Really.), the oh so talented zephre and her snake (which made her easy to find in a crowd), the lovely and also quite talented venturous1, the bubbly nqdonne, the sweet cardigirl, my darling shiv5468, who I didn't get to say a proper British goodbye to *sniff*, the elegant and gracious emmagrant01 (who has the cutest baby), the adorable firefly124, the bubbly leianora, treewishes (who had better be at Terminus *glares*), the lovely proftib, as well as heidi8, flourish, dixiebell12, abigail89, sullacat, furiosity, droxy, and strigola. I met even more people I know, but the badges were small and I often couldn't see who everyone was, not to mention that not everyone wore their badges all the time. In addition to fandom peeps I got to see several I took no pictures, sadly, but I insinuated my way into other people's photos quite readily, so I think I'll be showing up in a journal near you soon. Heh.
Before we left to go home we stayed for the auction, which raised money for Literacy Instruction for Texas (LIFT). I really wanted Snape in the bag so I got him, but it was quite the bidding war *is BAD at auctions*. I also got this lovely Phoenix painting (Yay Phoenixes!) so it was all good.
I am now home doing laundry, unpacking, and unwinding. I have a TON of comments to answer, a weekly fic wrap up to put out, a Neville fic to post, AND a ton of other fics to write. And now I can't wait for Terminus! Eeeeeee!
