Thrihyrne

Glad to hear you got my text message! I think that really I just need to go to smaller get-togethers; or, frankly, just head off to slash writer conferences. Although, me being me, I spent an inordinate amount of time trying to figure out why I've felt the two HP conferences felt more shallow to me than my Tolkien gatherings, and I've realized it's because I feel differently about the canons. I love the Ardaverse: the geography, the centuries of time, the languages, the races of M-E, the costumers and the costumes, and the fans. I don't have that same affinity for HP because it's simply not nearly as dense. If I were to go to another Tolkien-based event, I'd feel much more at home as a fan because I have two costumes and I can actively engage in canon-centric discussions, as well as fanon. With HP, it's really mostly about the fanfiction, and while that's vast, I only just realized how many people are here for the elements that I sought in Tolkien fandom. I've read HBP once. I'm not usually all that into the canon materials; I like the fanfiction and studies thereof. With Tolkien fandom, I'm interested in almost every level.

Hmmm. Maybe I should consider attending a Tolkien-related conference next time. :P

< / ramble based on way too little sleep>