We all seem to either be a day behind or a day ahead with Terminus...
Anyway, today didn't start off as planned. LoL Haley and I didn't get out of bed till almost 12:30pm after staying up with Megan till almost 4 am just talking. Megan had set the alarm for 7am so she could straighten her hair and get ready for programming since it started at 9am. We had planned to see the first hour of the WB vs RDR panel and then at 10am go see the LeakyCon panel. Uh, yeah, we woke up at like 9am and Megan got ready and left at like 9:40 to go see the LeakyCon panel. Then she was going to Cheryl Klein's keynote presentation at noon.
Well...Haley and I totally didn't hit anything this morning. LoL We left around 1pm to go to the library to get our tickets for the John Green book signing. (He wrote Looking for Alaska and An Abundance of Katherines.) It started at 2pm and he did a book reading from his new book Paper Towns and then he answered some questions with his brother. At 3pm they started reading off numbers for people to get their book signed. By 4pm (my number was 209 while Haley's was 121...) I got my book! We also bought Hank's CD and had that signed too. Hank said he liked my name.
After that, Haley and I hunted down a CitiBank so Haley could get cash, went to the Navy Pier, and had dinner at the
Rainforest Cafe. I'll upload some pictures later. I've only been
uploading highlights anyway.
Now, for this evening, my ears are ringing...LoL
Why you ask? Because of wreggie's! Wrock at Reggie's was totally fun, but the music was LOUD and seemed to get louder every time someone came on stage so by the time they cut the music, everyone's ears feel like they're muffled when someone talks. I was fine until we got onto the bus and people kept singing really loudly and that's when I got grouchy. LoL I just wanted people to shut up to give my poor ears a rest. I think I'd have been fine if I wasn't so tired because I was ALL for it on the way there.
Anyway, wreggies was fun. I had fun and that's saying a lot since I'm not into wrock, clubs, alcohol, and dancing. LoL Some people were totally smashed. It's a good thing Reggie's was providing a bus to drive people to and from the hotel to Reggie's or there'd be a lot of cab rides for people. Plus, it was a good distance from the hotel too.
Tomorrow Haley is volunteering for a panel and she has to BE there at 8:45am. We got back to the hotel at 2:15am. :P So I'm going to TRY and get up and go to the panel she's volunteering on or going to another program and we're going to see the Wizard Rockumentary at 10am (goes till noon). Saturday evening is PotterCast, Melissa's first official book reading of her book, and some other things (it's author's and artist's night). We're going to both and I'm trying to figure out a way to sneak in a meeting of Tamora Pierce, which happens to be during PotterCast.
With that...I'm crawling into bed...We're going to Reggie's tomorrow night also so...it's another 4 hours of wrock and loud music and ringing ears, but lots of fun!
Friday, August 8, 2008
Thursday, August 7, 2008
Terminus Day 3
So...today...
We went to Panera for breakfast and came back and went and got our stuff from registration. We have Terminus t-shirts now and the program and our name badges. Afterwards we went to the Vendor Room and looked around. It almost looks like Whimsic Alley brought half the store! LoL They take up the entire back end of the vendor room. There are a ton of wands, robes, band t-shirts, and so forth available. After that a ton of staff went to get lunch at Kitty O'Sheas. Haley bought some bumper stickers and was at the room for a little (she also had a volunteer meeting to attend, but the Leaky thing this afternoon was staff only). I met up with some of the staff at Kitty O'Sheas a bit later and went with a few of them for a grocery run before the Leaky party.
After getting the groceries we had gone back to the floor with the suite (25th floor) and people were hanging out in the floor lobby. MTV was still interviewing Melissa, John, Andrew, and whoever the 4th person was so we were just waiting till they were finished. Once they were finished it was a bunch of hanging out for about 3 or so hours. It was nice just being the Leaky crew. We all sang the TLC song twice (clean version for MTV and not clean version before they came back). Then it was just a bunch of mingling and munching while MTV went around to the different groups and talked to us. They actually interviewed me! Laurie (LJ), Megan, Melissa (mlwl), and I ended up answering 3 questions: how is Twilight different than HP fandom, where do we think DH should split for the two movies, and what's LeakyCon. I think they liked us a lot because we were in a closed room and it was just the 4 of us, whereas before they had a HUGE group and it was kind of nuts for them. We'll see if they use any of the footage.
We all went down for the Welcome Feast and found our houses to walk into the conference room with each other. It was kind of funny because the 4 houses were basically lined up on the first floor and on the 2nd floor (stairs leading up from the lobby to the 2nd floor) and so you could see all 4 houses. We started the whole "Kohilo, Kohilo" or "Brubu Rocks" or whatever house you were in. It was NUTS! The ENTIRE lobby was PACKED with Potter fans. There was almost no way for people get past. LoL That poor hotel must be regretting us being around. I also found out there's an AVID conference at the hotel too. So, basically, there's 3 conferences. The National Convention on Gospel and Choir Music have been pretty nice, though we seem to be competing with them for space the most.
Anyway, once at the dinner it was a buffet dinner of all sorts of food, but it took FOREVER to get your food because there's like 1500 people who signed up and all that. Then there was some speeches (each head of house, the head of Aeolian, and the conference coordinator). It was SO hard to hear anyone, though! It was really bad. Brian of Draco and the Malfoys got a TON of love when he got up to talk and he turned BRIGHT red when everyone started cheering for him while his bio was being red. We thought Sue got lots of love, but Brian's was MASSIVE! Anyway, we all said the sound system was horrible and then all the houses tried to do various things together and we got told to stop and to be quiet. *rolls eye* HELLO we're at a conference and we WERE being pretty darn quite, but they kept yelling at us to be quiet because the Gospel group was below us. We all laughed at that, though, because we could hear their music in our conference room!
After the dinner we all went back to the Leaky Suite to hang out some more. Actually, we went to the Leaky Suite and I ended up leaving to go on a liquor run and THEN I came back. LoL It was weird caring a case of beer through the hotel and on the streets of Chicago, especially since I don't drink. :P I left early from the suite, though, because it was getting really crowded in their with the wrockers and I'm just REALLY tired. With wreggies tomorrow and everything else...I'd rather sleep right now. We'll see if I can sleep, though. There's a party going on in the room across from ours and knocking and doors opening and closing keeps happening every 10 minutes. There's got to be like 20-30 people (easily) in a room the same size as ours. It's really nuts.
Oh...I almost forgot to say! When we were getting our registration stuff, I was standing outside the room waiting for Haley. A girl comes up to me and says, "oh my gosh! I love your shirt! Where'd you get it?" and kept going on and then she said, "can I take a picture of you?" If she took it with me, I could officially say I got fangirl'd. LoL Actually, I had a lot of people tell me they liked my shirt and a few people asked where I got it or that'd be a shirt they'd actually buy. Frak said he has the coaster of my shirt and his parents got it for him. I asked where they got it and he said Monterey. I told him I live there and we high fived. It was rather funny. LoL
Tomorrow is *thinks really hard* John Green's book signing and wreggies. I have NO clue what else we're doing since John Green takes up most of the afternoon (1:30-4:30pm). Wreggies starts at 10pm, I think. Not sure what else we're doing, though. I haven't even looked at the program yet. :doh:
We went to Panera for breakfast and came back and went and got our stuff from registration. We have Terminus t-shirts now and the program and our name badges. Afterwards we went to the Vendor Room and looked around. It almost looks like Whimsic Alley brought half the store! LoL They take up the entire back end of the vendor room. There are a ton of wands, robes, band t-shirts, and so forth available. After that a ton of staff went to get lunch at Kitty O'Sheas. Haley bought some bumper stickers and was at the room for a little (she also had a volunteer meeting to attend, but the Leaky thing this afternoon was staff only). I met up with some of the staff at Kitty O'Sheas a bit later and went with a few of them for a grocery run before the Leaky party.
After getting the groceries we had gone back to the floor with the suite (25th floor) and people were hanging out in the floor lobby. MTV was still interviewing Melissa, John, Andrew, and whoever the 4th person was so we were just waiting till they were finished. Once they were finished it was a bunch of hanging out for about 3 or so hours. It was nice just being the Leaky crew. We all sang the TLC song twice (clean version for MTV and not clean version before they came back). Then it was just a bunch of mingling and munching while MTV went around to the different groups and talked to us. They actually interviewed me! Laurie (LJ), Megan, Melissa (mlwl), and I ended up answering 3 questions: how is Twilight different than HP fandom, where do we think DH should split for the two movies, and what's LeakyCon. I think they liked us a lot because we were in a closed room and it was just the 4 of us, whereas before they had a HUGE group and it was kind of nuts for them. We'll see if they use any of the footage.
We all went down for the Welcome Feast and found our houses to walk into the conference room with each other. It was kind of funny because the 4 houses were basically lined up on the first floor and on the 2nd floor (stairs leading up from the lobby to the 2nd floor) and so you could see all 4 houses. We started the whole "Kohilo, Kohilo" or "Brubu Rocks" or whatever house you were in. It was NUTS! The ENTIRE lobby was PACKED with Potter fans. There was almost no way for people get past. LoL That poor hotel must be regretting us being around. I also found out there's an AVID conference at the hotel too. So, basically, there's 3 conferences. The National Convention on Gospel and Choir Music have been pretty nice, though we seem to be competing with them for space the most.
Anyway, once at the dinner it was a buffet dinner of all sorts of food, but it took FOREVER to get your food because there's like 1500 people who signed up and all that. Then there was some speeches (each head of house, the head of Aeolian, and the conference coordinator). It was SO hard to hear anyone, though! It was really bad. Brian of Draco and the Malfoys got a TON of love when he got up to talk and he turned BRIGHT red when everyone started cheering for him while his bio was being red. We thought Sue got lots of love, but Brian's was MASSIVE! Anyway, we all said the sound system was horrible and then all the houses tried to do various things together and we got told to stop and to be quiet. *rolls eye* HELLO we're at a conference and we WERE being pretty darn quite, but they kept yelling at us to be quiet because the Gospel group was below us. We all laughed at that, though, because we could hear their music in our conference room!
After the dinner we all went back to the Leaky Suite to hang out some more. Actually, we went to the Leaky Suite and I ended up leaving to go on a liquor run and THEN I came back. LoL It was weird caring a case of beer through the hotel and on the streets of Chicago, especially since I don't drink. :P I left early from the suite, though, because it was getting really crowded in their with the wrockers and I'm just REALLY tired. With wreggies tomorrow and everything else...I'd rather sleep right now. We'll see if I can sleep, though. There's a party going on in the room across from ours and knocking and doors opening and closing keeps happening every 10 minutes. There's got to be like 20-30 people (easily) in a room the same size as ours. It's really nuts.
Oh...I almost forgot to say! When we were getting our registration stuff, I was standing outside the room waiting for Haley. A girl comes up to me and says, "oh my gosh! I love your shirt! Where'd you get it?" and kept going on and then she said, "can I take a picture of you?" If she took it with me, I could officially say I got fangirl'd. LoL Actually, I had a lot of people tell me they liked my shirt and a few people asked where I got it or that'd be a shirt they'd actually buy. Frak said he has the coaster of my shirt and his parents got it for him. I asked where they got it and he said Monterey. I told him I live there and we high fived. It was rather funny. LoL
Tomorrow is *thinks really hard* John Green's book signing and wreggies. I have NO clue what else we're doing since John Green takes up most of the afternoon (1:30-4:30pm). Wreggies starts at 10pm, I think. Not sure what else we're doing, though. I haven't even looked at the program yet. :doh:
Terminus Day 2 and Beginning of Day 3
Where to start...
Yesterday we (Megan, Haley and I) tried to get me a wrock (wizard rock) daytime ticket, but they were sold out and wouldn't sell headliner tickets till 5pm. So we went to Starbucks a few blocks away so Megan could get her caffeine and we hung out there for a while and then walked back. Haley and Megan felt bad I didn't have a ticket for wrock, but I told them to go so I hung out in the room and did some Contest work. Melissa came back and informed me she's going to stay another night! So that was nice news. She was only going to stay the one night.
We were planning to go to the Rainforest Cafe for dinner yesterday, but after getting my headliner wrock wristband and all that, it was almost 6pm and the headliners started at 7pm. So...we ditched that idea and we all went up to the Leaky Suite where some other staff were hanging out. It was fun to meet some people I'd only seen on the forum before. Some of us decided to go to Panera Bread for dinner then so we all trucked over there. We were hoping Megan could get her 50% discount because she works at Panera in Georgia, but she only got her discount at her store. Boo, hiss! After getting our food we trucked back to the Leaky Suite and hung out till close to 8pm when we trucked down to a headliner we wanted to see.
I meandered back and forth into the wrock. It was DEFINITELY a rock concert. LoL The stupid thing the hotel did, though, was to put us on a 2nd floor conference room so with the bass, the concert like movements (bouncing, dancing, etc), the floor would bounce. Not kidding you. It bounced, not shaked, bounced. Anyway, the hotel told us we couldn't dance or bounce then because the National Convention of Gospel and Choir Music is also at the hotel and they were in the conference room below us and apparently the chandelier and ceiling were shaking really badly (something about a chandelier breaking?). A lot of people weren't too excited about that, but...whatever.
After the Harry and the Potters were up (they went till almost midnight) we all decided to skip the last headliner and headed back to the Leaky Suite to party. It was basically all Leaky Staff in the beginning and it was fun. After a little while, two Mugglenet boys showed up with their posse and that changed the tone of everything because it was REALLY crowded in the suite then, but they left eventually and then Melissa, Haley, and I left at around 2am, I think. Megan came in about a half hour later after some wrockers had shown up, but there was no more food (we ate the pizza that was bought) and everyone was just talking and most people had left.
We crawled into bed sometime around 3am last night and Megan set the alarm for 8am. Haley and I were going to get up at head to the Shedd Aquarium at 8:30 to get there when it opened at 9am, but that didn't happen. The alarm went off; Megan got up and hit snooze; the alarm went off; Megan got up and hit snooze; Melissa got up and jumped into the shower; I looked at the clock and it was almost 11am. I had woken up a few times (9am and sometime around 10am), but I was like "I'm SO tired, there's no way I'm getting out of this bed and Haley is still sleeping." So I just let it go. Sometime around 10am I checked to see if Megan had gotten up because she had a LeakyCon meeting at 11am, but didn't see her body past Haley. Turns out she was still there and jumped out of bed when Melissa got into the bathroom and scrambled to get ready.
To say the least, plans haven't gone the way they were supposed to. It's a little after 11:30am here and registration starts at noon and none of us have even eaten yet! There's a staff meet-and-greet at 3 till the welcome feast too.
With that...I'm off to get dressed and get ready for Megan to show up again so we can do a Panera run (at least, that's what I'm hungry for...). I leave you all with two photos: Melissa (mlwl) and I and The Four Roomies. Megan's the one who did the bunny ears behind Melissa and I; Haley took the picture.
Yesterday we (Megan, Haley and I) tried to get me a wrock (wizard rock) daytime ticket, but they were sold out and wouldn't sell headliner tickets till 5pm. So we went to Starbucks a few blocks away so Megan could get her caffeine and we hung out there for a while and then walked back. Haley and Megan felt bad I didn't have a ticket for wrock, but I told them to go so I hung out in the room and did some Contest work. Melissa came back and informed me she's going to stay another night! So that was nice news. She was only going to stay the one night.
We were planning to go to the Rainforest Cafe for dinner yesterday, but after getting my headliner wrock wristband and all that, it was almost 6pm and the headliners started at 7pm. So...we ditched that idea and we all went up to the Leaky Suite where some other staff were hanging out. It was fun to meet some people I'd only seen on the forum before. Some of us decided to go to Panera Bread for dinner then so we all trucked over there. We were hoping Megan could get her 50% discount because she works at Panera in Georgia, but she only got her discount at her store. Boo, hiss! After getting our food we trucked back to the Leaky Suite and hung out till close to 8pm when we trucked down to a headliner we wanted to see.
I meandered back and forth into the wrock. It was DEFINITELY a rock concert. LoL The stupid thing the hotel did, though, was to put us on a 2nd floor conference room so with the bass, the concert like movements (bouncing, dancing, etc), the floor would bounce. Not kidding you. It bounced, not shaked, bounced. Anyway, the hotel told us we couldn't dance or bounce then because the National Convention of Gospel and Choir Music is also at the hotel and they were in the conference room below us and apparently the chandelier and ceiling were shaking really badly (something about a chandelier breaking?). A lot of people weren't too excited about that, but...whatever.
After the Harry and the Potters were up (they went till almost midnight) we all decided to skip the last headliner and headed back to the Leaky Suite to party. It was basically all Leaky Staff in the beginning and it was fun. After a little while, two Mugglenet boys showed up with their posse and that changed the tone of everything because it was REALLY crowded in the suite then, but they left eventually and then Melissa, Haley, and I left at around 2am, I think. Megan came in about a half hour later after some wrockers had shown up, but there was no more food (we ate the pizza that was bought) and everyone was just talking and most people had left.
We crawled into bed sometime around 3am last night and Megan set the alarm for 8am. Haley and I were going to get up at head to the Shedd Aquarium at 8:30 to get there when it opened at 9am, but that didn't happen. The alarm went off; Megan got up and hit snooze; the alarm went off; Megan got up and hit snooze; Melissa got up and jumped into the shower; I looked at the clock and it was almost 11am. I had woken up a few times (9am and sometime around 10am), but I was like "I'm SO tired, there's no way I'm getting out of this bed and Haley is still sleeping." So I just let it go. Sometime around 10am I checked to see if Megan had gotten up because she had a LeakyCon meeting at 11am, but didn't see her body past Haley. Turns out she was still there and jumped out of bed when Melissa got into the bathroom and scrambled to get ready.
To say the least, plans haven't gone the way they were supposed to. It's a little after 11:30am here and registration starts at noon and none of us have even eaten yet! There's a staff meet-and-greet at 3 till the welcome feast too.
With that...I'm off to get dressed and get ready for Megan to show up again so we can do a Panera run (at least, that's what I'm hungry for...). I leave you all with two photos: Melissa (mlwl) and I and The Four Roomies. Megan's the one who did the bunny ears behind Melissa and I; Haley took the picture.
Tuesday, August 5, 2008
Stephenie Meyer
So...I just got back from seeing Stephenie Meyer and Justin Furstenfeld (the lead singer from Blue October). The entire event lasted a little less than an hour and we had to wait like another 2 hours (maybe less?) before we got our book signed by her.
First off, I should start with how the day started off.
Haley and I THOUGHT we were going to pick up Megan today at ORD around 9am, but she missed her flight and ended up not making it to the hotel till almost 6pm. Her flight was delayed, she took the train here, had to take the bus, and walk to the hotel. So Haley and I ended up coming to the hotel early, but we stopped at the grocery store first. Her grandmother insisted on paying for our food as her contribution to the whole thing, which we tried to talk her out of, but she she insisted. Both of Haley's grandparents were really hospitable and so incredibly nice! We ended up getting to the registration desk around 12:15pm (check-in time is at 3 pm and check-out is at 11am). We get all checked-in and he hands me the keys to our room (room 924). I was a bit confused since we didn't pay for early check-in and all that, but I figured we'd go check it out anyway. Sure 'nough, our room was all ready! So we got to check in early and we just hung out at the hotel.
Melissa texts me asking if we were at the hotel yet and we were so I told her the room and let her in. We also called to have a mini-'frige brought to our room so we have that to use while we're here. The three of us just hung out, rested, talked about Breaking Dawn, I was on my computer, and whatever else. Around 5 pm we decided we should head out and look for food. Megan still hadn't arrive and was still iffy at that time. We stopped at Cosi's and got sort of like sandwich type things. We went to Millennium Park then and ate our food. It's not really hot in Chicago, but the humidity is horrible so my clothes were sticking to me by then (a half hourish walk) and it was disgusting! After eating, we walked around Millennium Park for a little and then walked to the theater.
We ended up waiting till the VERY last minute for Megan to arrive. I mean, LAST minute. We sat down in our seats at 7:02 and the event started at 7:10. LoL We had pretty cool seats. We were on the floor, but they elevated the floor so we were in the back row of the first sloped part, so we had a nice view. Justin Furstenfeld came out and had his acoustic guitar and sang three songs based off of the series. They were good, but I'm not jazzed about fan music...Then Stephenie Meyer came out and answered some questions. This was the first time she was able to answer questions about Breaking Dawn so the questions were interesting, but nothing was like really "deep" and sometimes I felt let down by the answers she supplied. Then Justin came out with Stephenie and Stephenie would listen to Blue October while she was writing and some of the band's songs are songs that relate to the series or a certain character. So Stephenie talked about who the song related to and Justin would play the song on his guitar or just sang it. It was kind of neat because Justin would then tell some of the history behind the song too. The band is a rock band so it was kind of interesting hearing the songs with an acoustic guitar. In some ways, I liked him better with the acoustic guitar than the the hard rock (I should relisten to some of their music, though). He really put the feeling into the song better, I think. Anyway, after that they started letting people out to get books signed.
One of the publisher representatives were letting people out and doing trivia and then people started showing off their t-shirts and there was some smack! LoL It was kind of funny, but some of the shirts had some very STRONG innuendo in them and we (Megan, Haley, Shawna, and I) were just appalled! Then we were lamenting the fact we wished these were all Harry Potter fans than Twilight fans. We might have been acting a wee bit snobby in the literary department.... *innocent look* We got upset though because someone's shirt said something like how Albus Severus wished he had a name like Renesme or how Albus Severus has nothing on Renesme for a name. We were ready for the Harry Potter vs Twilight smack down. LoL Luckily, they stopped doing that. It was getting to be a smack down between the different fractions. :P Anyway, once we were line, it was much better. She just signed her name in the book with a sharpie and out we were! She did talk to us, though. LoL I don't think she was as nice as Jo, but I might be a little biased. LoL
We're back in the hotel now. I'm about to take a "get the sweat off me" shower since the humidity is just horrible here! Megan is out getting food with Shawna (she's not staying with us, but she's a Leaky person). Melissa went down to the hotel's bar or something to meet up with some more Leaky people. Tomorrow is wrock (better known as wizard rock). I have to buy a $20 ticket, but it should be good. That's ALL day with a 2 hour dinner break. We might go to the Shedd tomorrow, we might not. We're thinking of hitting the Rainforest Cafe that's closest to us for dinner, though!
On a sad note, my camera won't work properly outdoors. *sigh* It turns
all red (like it's overexposed). It works fine in a room, though. It's
a complete mystery to me since it worked when Chris and I went
tidepooling and at the Aquarium gala. I haven't dropped it or anything
either. NO clue. I also realized today that my camera is only 2
megapixels! LoL That says something about how old my camera is. Anyway,
I've been using Haley's camera to take pictures since she feels weird
taking pictures of a city she visits a lot. :P We'll try uploading
pictures everyday, if we can or think about it. I bought a 7-day
wireless pass for $60 at the hotel so I can use it 24/7 basically.
Might as well utilize that!
With that...I'm out.
First off, I should start with how the day started off.
Haley and I THOUGHT we were going to pick up Megan today at ORD around 9am, but she missed her flight and ended up not making it to the hotel till almost 6pm. Her flight was delayed, she took the train here, had to take the bus, and walk to the hotel. So Haley and I ended up coming to the hotel early, but we stopped at the grocery store first. Her grandmother insisted on paying for our food as her contribution to the whole thing, which we tried to talk her out of, but she she insisted. Both of Haley's grandparents were really hospitable and so incredibly nice! We ended up getting to the registration desk around 12:15pm (check-in time is at 3 pm and check-out is at 11am). We get all checked-in and he hands me the keys to our room (room 924). I was a bit confused since we didn't pay for early check-in and all that, but I figured we'd go check it out anyway. Sure 'nough, our room was all ready! So we got to check in early and we just hung out at the hotel.
Melissa texts me asking if we were at the hotel yet and we were so I told her the room and let her in. We also called to have a mini-'frige brought to our room so we have that to use while we're here. The three of us just hung out, rested, talked about Breaking Dawn, I was on my computer, and whatever else. Around 5 pm we decided we should head out and look for food. Megan still hadn't arrive and was still iffy at that time. We stopped at Cosi's and got sort of like sandwich type things. We went to Millennium Park then and ate our food. It's not really hot in Chicago, but the humidity is horrible so my clothes were sticking to me by then (a half hourish walk) and it was disgusting! After eating, we walked around Millennium Park for a little and then walked to the theater.
We ended up waiting till the VERY last minute for Megan to arrive. I mean, LAST minute. We sat down in our seats at 7:02 and the event started at 7:10. LoL We had pretty cool seats. We were on the floor, but they elevated the floor so we were in the back row of the first sloped part, so we had a nice view. Justin Furstenfeld came out and had his acoustic guitar and sang three songs based off of the series. They were good, but I'm not jazzed about fan music...Then Stephenie Meyer came out and answered some questions. This was the first time she was able to answer questions about Breaking Dawn so the questions were interesting, but nothing was like really "deep" and sometimes I felt let down by the answers she supplied. Then Justin came out with Stephenie and Stephenie would listen to Blue October while she was writing and some of the band's songs are songs that relate to the series or a certain character. So Stephenie talked about who the song related to and Justin would play the song on his guitar or just sang it. It was kind of neat because Justin would then tell some of the history behind the song too. The band is a rock band so it was kind of interesting hearing the songs with an acoustic guitar. In some ways, I liked him better with the acoustic guitar than the the hard rock (I should relisten to some of their music, though). He really put the feeling into the song better, I think. Anyway, after that they started letting people out to get books signed.
One of the publisher representatives were letting people out and doing trivia and then people started showing off their t-shirts and there was some smack! LoL It was kind of funny, but some of the shirts had some very STRONG innuendo in them and we (Megan, Haley, Shawna, and I) were just appalled! Then we were lamenting the fact we wished these were all Harry Potter fans than Twilight fans. We might have been acting a wee bit snobby in the literary department.... *innocent look* We got upset though because someone's shirt said something like how Albus Severus wished he had a name like Renesme or how Albus Severus has nothing on Renesme for a name. We were ready for the Harry Potter vs Twilight smack down. LoL Luckily, they stopped doing that. It was getting to be a smack down between the different fractions. :P Anyway, once we were line, it was much better. She just signed her name in the book with a sharpie and out we were! She did talk to us, though. LoL I don't think she was as nice as Jo, but I might be a little biased. LoL
We're back in the hotel now. I'm about to take a "get the sweat off me" shower since the humidity is just horrible here! Megan is out getting food with Shawna (she's not staying with us, but she's a Leaky person). Melissa went down to the hotel's bar or something to meet up with some more Leaky people. Tomorrow is wrock (better known as wizard rock). I have to buy a $20 ticket, but it should be good. That's ALL day with a 2 hour dinner break. We might go to the Shedd tomorrow, we might not. We're thinking of hitting the Rainforest Cafe that's closest to us for dinner, though!
On a sad note, my camera won't work properly outdoors. *sigh* It turns
all red (like it's overexposed). It works fine in a room, though. It's
a complete mystery to me since it worked when Chris and I went
tidepooling and at the Aquarium gala. I haven't dropped it or anything
either. NO clue. I also realized today that my camera is only 2
megapixels! LoL That says something about how old my camera is. Anyway,
I've been using Haley's camera to take pictures since she feels weird
taking pictures of a city she visits a lot. :P We'll try uploading
pictures everyday, if we can or think about it. I bought a 7-day
wireless pass for $60 at the hotel so I can use it 24/7 basically.
Might as well utilize that!
With that...I'm out.
Monday, August 4, 2008
Have I mentioned I hate airports?
I wrote this somewhere else for other Terminus people arriving at Chicago tomorrow, but it basically sums up my day pretty well.
I'm hoping the weather remains nice for those flying in because it simply was NOT fun today for me. My flight was delayed by almost 4 hours because there was lightning, thunder, and heavy rain at ORD. Then, upon arrival, we found out that about 1.5 hours after we took off from LAX they closed down ORD because another weather cell went through. By the time we landed, the airport was a little backed up and we sat on the tarmac waiting for a gate to open. Once we got off the plane, our luggage was delayed because the weather picked back up again and it was deemed unsafe for the workers to get the luggage off the planes! I was supposed to arrive at ORD at 7:06pm. By the time I got my luggage, it was 12:15am.
I didn't tell the others this, but my flight from Monterey to LAX was also a little late (30 minutes). So, to say the least, my day was full of "delays." Let's hope that doesn't happen on my way home because I have TWO connecting flights and a short layover in Cincinnati when I leave ORD.
In about 7ish hours we pick Megan up from the airport (she's our roomie) and we're going grocery shopping then we'll get dropped off at the hotel around 3pm by Haley's grandmother. I'm SO excited!!
Sunday, August 3, 2008
"Bethany - what a pretty name!"
I forgot to tell about my funny-weird story at the Aquarium from today.
I was at the touch pool, but we got a complaint from a visitor that people were touching the animals in the Aviary. I was the 3rd person at the touch pool so I went to go check. There was almost NO one in the aviary and I talked with the 3 volunteers in there already and they said they told these people to stop, but they kept touching and they kept saying to stop. Anyway, the problem wasn't there anymore so I ended up helping a few visitors in there. Well, this one guy was asking questions and I was helping him and Ross also came over to help. So Ross wanders away and I'm there and the guy looks at me and says, "you have a very pretty name." I must admit it's not uncommon that someone compliments me on my name, so I said, "thank you," thinking the convo was finished. Then he keeps standing there and says, "it's a very lovely name. I like it a lot." I'm starting to creep out a little now and, again, say, "thanks" and start to walk away. He didn't look like he was going to move anytime soon, it was weird. It was also weird because the guy was older (mid-40's?) and I'm pretty sure he had a daughter.
The funny thing is I think most times I get compliments about my name from males. Even on-line a lot of the guys would say, "I like your name. I'm putting it down on my list of potential daughter names." No joke. *shrugs*
With that, I'm off to sleep since my external HD FINALLY mounted and I've been backing up my files.
I was at the touch pool, but we got a complaint from a visitor that people were touching the animals in the Aviary. I was the 3rd person at the touch pool so I went to go check. There was almost NO one in the aviary and I talked with the 3 volunteers in there already and they said they told these people to stop, but they kept touching and they kept saying to stop. Anyway, the problem wasn't there anymore so I ended up helping a few visitors in there. Well, this one guy was asking questions and I was helping him and Ross also came over to help. So Ross wanders away and I'm there and the guy looks at me and says, "you have a very pretty name." I must admit it's not uncommon that someone compliments me on my name, so I said, "thank you," thinking the convo was finished. Then he keeps standing there and says, "it's a very lovely name. I like it a lot." I'm starting to creep out a little now and, again, say, "thanks" and start to walk away. He didn't look like he was going to move anytime soon, it was weird. It was also weird because the guy was older (mid-40's?) and I'm pretty sure he had a daughter.
The funny thing is I think most times I get compliments about my name from males. Even on-line a lot of the guys would say, "I like your name. I'm putting it down on my list of potential daughter names." No joke. *shrugs*
With that, I'm off to sleep since my external HD FINALLY mounted and I've been backing up my files.
What a week(end)!
Thursday was Shae's bachelorette party. We went to Lallapalooza's and had some food and a drink. Then we went to the Mucky Duck and the girls basically just danced. It was nice and Shae had a good time, so that's what counts.
Friday night was the Breaking Dawn book release. We sold 200 books in 30 minutes - oh yeah! It was good. I was at the registration table a lot, which was perfectly fine with me, but that meant I didn't see any of the party. Like I said, it was fine with me! LoL I got home around 2 pm and started reading the book (even though I had the wedding that same day). I finally fell asleep around 6:20am and got about 460 pages read in that timespan. I've read a few more pages since then, but the book (I promise no spoilers!) has left me a bit disgruntled for various reasons so I'm not feeling the "need" and "rush" to finish the book like Deathly Hallows.
Shae and Adam had a LOVELY wedding. The ceremony was less than 30 minutes long,
which was nice. LoL Adam's father is a pastor, so he officiated the ceremony. We loved seeing the family resemblance of the
Mitchell men and the mothers! Wow! The bridesmaids had lovely black
dresses, which surprised me because her colors were a shade of pink.
The dresses were functional for other events, though, so that's gotta
be nice for them. Shae looked positively beautiful! I loved her dress.
It has a sweetheart neckline with a strap that attaches to make it a
halter (though it could have been done as a strapless). It's an A-line
dress with lace and sequins sewn onto the sides of the dress, bodice,
and the strap for the halter. She had a short train (not decorated at
all). The dress was perfect for her.
Adam started crying when
she walked down the aisle and Shae started to cry while saying her
vows. The funny part was right when the pastor (Adam's father) started
speaking, the ring bearer dropped one of the rings! So we hear this
"tink, tink, tink" and the boy scrambles to get the ring. We're all
muffling our laughter so eventually Adam's father makes a joke and we
just all start laughing. Adam had to be prompted a few times on what to
do too, it was cute. They both looked so happy and radiant!
For
their favors, they had a candy bar! They had little boxes with "Shae
and Adam Mitchell August 2, 2008" on them and they had 9 different
candies you could fill the box up with. It totally rocked my world. LoL
Today I had the aquarium (or I guess Sunday), which was the first time I've been there in a month! It went well, but it was SO crowded! This weekend we had a sailboat race in the Bay and Spirit West Coast also, so we had some crowds from that. It was nice to be back, though.
With that...I need to get this stupid external HD to mount on my laptop so I can back-up my laptop before I LEAVE! It mounted the first time, but got hung up on a file so it "froze." Now it won't mount...I have the most difficulties getting the stupid thing to mount, it's nuts. Anyway, my plane departs from Monterey a few minutes after 10am for LAX. I go from LAX to ORD. I should arrive at ORD around 7:10pm (local time). I think (and hope) I've packed everything! I will post about Terminus and post pictures over the week (if I get my act together - LoL).
Friday night was the Breaking Dawn book release. We sold 200 books in 30 minutes - oh yeah! It was good. I was at the registration table a lot, which was perfectly fine with me, but that meant I didn't see any of the party. Like I said, it was fine with me! LoL I got home around 2 pm and started reading the book (even though I had the wedding that same day). I finally fell asleep around 6:20am and got about 460 pages read in that timespan. I've read a few more pages since then, but the book (I promise no spoilers!) has left me a bit disgruntled for various reasons so I'm not feeling the "need" and "rush" to finish the book like Deathly Hallows.
Shae and Adam had a LOVELY wedding. The ceremony was less than 30 minutes long,
which was nice. LoL Adam's father is a pastor, so he officiated the ceremony. We loved seeing the family resemblance of the
Mitchell men and the mothers! Wow! The bridesmaids had lovely black
dresses, which surprised me because her colors were a shade of pink.
The dresses were functional for other events, though, so that's gotta
be nice for them. Shae looked positively beautiful! I loved her dress.
It has a sweetheart neckline with a strap that attaches to make it a
halter (though it could have been done as a strapless). It's an A-line
dress with lace and sequins sewn onto the sides of the dress, bodice,
and the strap for the halter. She had a short train (not decorated at
all). The dress was perfect for her.
Adam started crying when
she walked down the aisle and Shae started to cry while saying her
vows. The funny part was right when the pastor (Adam's father) started
speaking, the ring bearer dropped one of the rings! So we hear this
"tink, tink, tink" and the boy scrambles to get the ring. We're all
muffling our laughter so eventually Adam's father makes a joke and we
just all start laughing. Adam had to be prompted a few times on what to
do too, it was cute. They both looked so happy and radiant!
For
their favors, they had a candy bar! They had little boxes with "Shae
and Adam Mitchell August 2, 2008" on them and they had 9 different
candies you could fill the box up with. It totally rocked my world. LoL
Today I had the aquarium (or I guess Sunday), which was the first time I've been there in a month! It went well, but it was SO crowded! This weekend we had a sailboat race in the Bay and Spirit West Coast also, so we had some crowds from that. It was nice to be back, though.
With that...I need to get this stupid external HD to mount on my laptop so I can back-up my laptop before I LEAVE! It mounted the first time, but got hung up on a file so it "froze." Now it won't mount...I have the most difficulties getting the stupid thing to mount, it's nuts. Anyway, my plane departs from Monterey a few minutes after 10am for LAX. I go from LAX to ORD. I should arrive at ORD around 7:10pm (local time). I think (and hope) I've packed everything! I will post about Terminus and post pictures over the week (if I get my act together - LoL).
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