Lumos post-mortem, part one

[thrihyrne]

Well, I'm here at the McCann International Airport in Las Vegas. The last Knight Bus shuttle was at 11:00; my flight is at 5:25. I can't even check in my (waaaaaaay too overpacked) suitcase until 1:25. However, after 4 days of no internet, here at the airport they have free wifi!!! WOOOOOT!! So I'm going to spend some quality time sortof catching up, if I can. Somehow the wait doesn't seem nearly so bad now that I know I can look at LJ and do email.



So— the conference! Well, must admit to being underwhelmed; one of the panels I really wanted to attend was cancelled; a couple that I wanted to get in were in tiny rooms and due to fire codes, I couldn't attend (to be fair, for one I was late). Basically I'd wanted to have more discussions about fanfiction and fandom in general, and this was really education and general fandom (books/movies, etc.). There were some good costumes, and much squeeing, but not about topics that were of great interest to me. I'm so glad to report that my paper presentation went well for the 20 or so people I had in attendance. 25 minutes just isn't enough time to talk about much of *anything*, but we were all given CDs with the papers on them, so hopefully if people were interested in my very hasty overview, they can read it at their own leisure. I did get to see some people I was on the lookout for, and of course met some new folks. As with TWH, it seemed that some people I met on the front end (even on the shuttle) I saw again and again, and even left at the same time. I'm way too overtired to list names, but there will definitely be some new people on my flist. My little Ronslash gathering did happen, and that was great fun!! We talked at/in the pool for a couple of hours, and that was really, for me, what it's all about. I do have some pictures that I'll upload to my website and I'll post to let you guys know the link. Probably the most stunning thing was Friday morning, when I saw someone who looked oddly familiar, then I looked at her tag, and she's been a favorite author of mine for a couple of years. Since I'm not flocking this, I won't mention her name, but she has astonishing wordcraft. And… we both went to college together. The same year, even. I was absolutely floored. I mean, to me (and probably within greater fandom) this person is a BNF slash writer. It was just shocking. Very, very cool. Most people walked around in minimal groups of two; it's interesting attending something like this as a solo person, especially when I tend to be in observation mode most of the time anyway.

So- more soon. Heck, if I can find an electrical outlet (the battery on my laptop is notoriously short-lived), I may have my pictures up and even write a drabble or two for the comms I'm in. I definitely need a long night's sleep, though.

Comments

[celandineb.livejournal.com]

Yay! Glad you had a good time even if the actual conference part wasn't quite all you hoped. *g* And I am totally curious as to who that slash writer is.

Safe travel home!

[wolfiekins.livejournal.com]

Yay! Free airport wi-fi is a very good thing! Sounds like it was a wonderful time anyway, even if things turned out differently that you'd anticipated. Still good to get out and about, yes? And the evening at the pool discussing Ron sounds like a dream! *sigh* And no, you can't drop a bomb like that ('I met this cool person, but...') without letting us in on it! Hope your flight is bearable! *hugs*

[bironic.livejournal.com]

Welcome almost-back! And congrats on a successful presentation.

Sorry the weekend didn't live up to expectation, but it does sound like fun, and that's a great story about having actually known an admired fic writer. Makes you wonder who else is out there...

[llembas.livejournal.com]

Sorry for the underwhelmingness of the official discussions that went on.

But it still sounds like you had a fun time! I look forward to seeing pictures!

[elicia8.livejournal.com]

Wow, sounds like you had a cool/interesting time. I'm glad you're on your way home for a much-needed rest--hope you're ready for more heat, though! (ugh) Glad to hear all went well, love. Talk to you more soon!

((((HUGS))))

[kerryblaze.livejournal.com]

OMG. I was looking for you!!! I can't believe we never met up! I'm so disappointed. I wanted to fangirl you!!!

[stuckinsea.livejournal.com]

I'm glad you had a good time. Did you get shocked a lot from all the static electricity, that's the only thing I hate about going to Vegas, everywhere I turned I was getting constantly zapped...it got so bad I was acting like a loon lightly chanting...'Don't touch, don't touch' as I veered my way around the gamblers. That's so cool you got a nod from someone in person, that's awesome, and a high five how cool is that...lol. Well, can't wait to hear more and have a wonderful safe flight home.

[fungus-files.livejournal.com]

So great that your paper got a good response and that you felt satisfied in giving it (even in its truncated form ;) ). Thanks for the txt! Hope you got home safely and look forward to reading more about your Las Vegas adventures. I can see how it would be disappointing to miss out on the content that you had hoped to see/hear, and also about the emphasis of the gathering being on different things than what you'd have preferred. It does sound like these get-togethers are so huge that it's inevitable (?) that smaller events might happen, focused on more specific aspects of fandom (e.g. fanfic, slash...).

[canellaphile.livejournal.com]

I'm so glad I got to see you several times at Lumos, hon! I adored your presentation - it was one of the more enjoyable ones because it was interesting and you had some excellent thoughts on the subject. :) I hear you about being underwhelmed - I took your feedback anonymously to the wrap-up session. The response from the programming chair (also someone on my flist) was that they can only program what they get proposals for, etc... Maybe next time we'll just have to stir up some major enthusiasm for what we want to see, and try to get people to put those proposals together.

My only disappointment is that I didn't get to go for a swim... XD
*HUGS*

[snottygrrl.livejournal.com]

had no idea your flight was so late. mine too, hence why i didn't take the shuttle. did manage to finagle a ride though. wish i'd known the airport had free wifi though. [*grumbles*]

it was great seeing you, and there were more solo's than you think i'll suspect, but most did find a roomie at least.

just got home and haven't slept much for almost 36 hours now. not really coherent anymore.

[*snugs*]

[marginaliana]

*waves*

I thought your presentation was one of the most interesting ones I went to. :D I definitely feel your pain about the small rooms, too - I only got locked out of one but I only just squeaked into a couple others and I know there were people turned away from those as well. I think they didn't quite anticipate how popular some things were going to be on the fanfiction end and put more emphasis on the teaching and general fandom stuff in terms of space.

Thanks again for organizing the Ron meetup - that was so great.

[blue-braces.livejournal.com]

Hi Thevina! We met at Lumos and you told me about your crossover presentation after not-Umbridge wrote "I must not tell lies" on my hand. And I recced my tathren's Sirius/Dubya fic from ithurtsmybrain to you. I hope it's ok if I friend you.

[stormwynd.livejournal.com]

Hi there! *waves* I was your programming prefect for your crossover fanfic presentation, and I chatted with you a little afterwards. I hope it's OK that I've friended you.

I take it you stayed at the JW Marriott? I was at Red Rocks, which came fully Internetted (is that a word?) with both Wifi and cable connections available. Of course, I had to shuttle back and forth between my hotel at the Marriott, so maybe it wasn't quite worth it....

As for programming, I was also hoping for more slash-centric programming. What there was seemed to focus on pairings that I'm not really into (Snape/Draco, for example), but I suspect that my OTP (Harry/Draco) is getting to be a bit passe these days. I haven't actually checked, but it seemed to me that compared to Nimbus in 2003, there was a lot less stuff on slash and on fandom studies in general. (I didn't make it to TWH.)

Anyway, hope the flight home treated you well.

[(Anonymous)]

This comment really does not have anything to do with this post. Just wanted to say I just read your LOTR story "In the Shadow of Hope", it was absolutely lovely.

Also read "Through Dooms of Love" in the Harry Potter community. Wow! I stand in awe of your talent.

Will hopefully be reading your essay on crossover fanfiction today. I glimpsed at it before and I have to say it looks like I am going to enjoy it very much.

[phoenixw.livejournal.com]

I know what you mean about the subjects. The thing that I most enjoyed about the Witching Hour was the number of writing workshops and writing-related panels. I thought that was sadly lacking at Lumos, and the main reason I didn't bother to buy tickets to any of the keynote luncheons.

Despite that, I was pleasantly surprised to find that I really enjoyed all the academic presentations that I attended. I came home with my inner geek recharged and excited about presenting a paper of my own next year at the Prophecy. That's what I love most about these events. They really help to stimulate my creative synapses. :-D

I'll read through your paper in the next couple of days and leave comments here, if you don't mind. I really enjoyed your presentation, and wished I'd taken notes. Darn it!