get/together

First up, as most of you will have gleaned by now, the proposed dates have been confirmed, as is the venue. We will be at the hall Saturday 1st and Sunday 2nd October (though with some minor changes that I'll detail soon) and having the usual peripheral brunches, lazy afternoons, etc on both Friday 30th September and Monday 3rd October as applicable to individual attendees' schedules.

Get your thinking caps on about presentations, games, discussions, etc etc, that you might like to have/host/moderate. We've had our first unoffical volunteer already, which was labellementeuse with Critical Role, so kudos, T. Pub Quiz is a go, so start swotting up your Fanlore, g/t history, and AO3 stats.

We're still on twitter, obviously: https://twitter.com/get__together, but in a new twist on an old concept we also now have a comm at Imzy: https://www.imzy.com/get_together. All posts (or at the very least links) will be made at all three places, so follow whichever you prefer.

If you have friends who won't see this post, please send them a carrier pigeon!

Ooh, one last point. I'm currently holding a booking at a hostel as a last resort backup in the event of difficulty, but will cancel it if everyone is sorted. Let me know as soon as you can on that one, please.

Right, two things here:

1) Can you please give me an indication of arrival day/time here. No need to be NSA-levels of specific, just a general idea so I can get a sense of who's around for brunches etc. If you're coming in a group one of you can speak for all. ;-p

For the record:

talitha78 Tuesday afternoon
meelie erilyn Thursday midnight
jocondite 8.30am Friday --> liaise with labellementeuse
shihadchick blademistress stickmarionette midday Friday
the_antichris Thursday night --> liaise with nmarlow
mab_browne 6pm Friday
dewey3067 8am Friday
cross_stitchery 6.30pm Friday
sethra2000 2.30pm Friday
missiedith Friday afternoon
labellementeuse, aworldinside, maudlinrose, tamarillow, deepbluemermaid already live here!

2) A round of applause please, for dewey3067, our masterful accommodation co-ordinator.

From Dewey:

"For group accommodation I have reserved rooms in the Brentwood Hotel in Kilbirnie.

Room: 4 x Quad rooms (can be split into 4 x single beds per room)
Tariff: $155.00 per room/night -- rate covers 2 people, then $35.00 per person thereafter.

(Which is better than in previous years as for those rooms without four people we get a lower price.)

In the past we’ve either split the total per night evenly between all people regardless of rooms, or a group handles all charges for a single room for the weekend. I’m good either way and we can decide on the weekend.

The Brentwood has a free airport shuttle: 'For a pick up please call us on 0508 273 689 once you have collected your luggage and we will pick you up outside the Arrivals Terminal (downstairs). Drop offs can be arranged with Reception.'

I’d like to know by Sunday 21 September if you want a space, as I will cancel unneeded rooms so as to not get charged!

For those not wanting in on this hotel booking, I can recommend the YHA in the city. But you will need to book soon as it is Wearable Arts weekend."

For the Record

dewey3067 (Fri,Sat,Sun)
missiedith (Fri, Sat, Sun)
mab_browne (Fri, Sat)
sethra2000 (Fri, Sat)
cross_stitchery (Fri,Sat)

Hi everyone.

I was waiting for Dewey to make this post, but in the meantime I've noticed a fair amount of double-up chatter in other places, so apologies for stepping on your toes, hon.

Dewey, who is the hotel goddess, has unfortunately confirmed that the Brentwood Hotel and 747 Motel in Kilbirnie are both full for the weekend of get/together. God knows what's going on. I understand she's been looking into other options, so can everyone who's coming in from elsewhere in NZ (Aussies not included) please track comments to this post and either confirm you've made your own arrangements, or liaise with potential roommates here. I'll keep editing in updates as they arrive, but the comment threads will have the most up to date information in the first instance.

ETA 2.0: This post is now closed. No further additions to the group booking are available. If you need advice as to accommodation options in Wellington feel free to ask, but you will have to make your own bookings from here on out. Thanks again to Dewey for a masterful job on a task that was even more difficult than usual.

A perennial bugbear, it remains a regret we don't have an all-in-one space like the sinpozium venue in Sydney, but we do what we can.

Hotel Option:

If you move quickly, and you're willing/able to splash out a little more this year, I heartily recommend the Brentwood. (I've never actually stayed there, before anyone makes me sign in blood, but I have been to functions and enjoyed them.) Do twins and triples, but in each case you can pack in an extra person (ie triple and quad) if two of you are willing to share a queen bed. About $50-80 pp depending on combos and packing. Big advantage: literally across the road and down a wee lane from the venue. Also, free pick-up from airport, so save on taxis.

The Brentwood

( Otherwise, there are the old reliables offered every year: )

Feel free to use the comments on this post to discuss options/organise roommates. And of course to ask any accommodation related questions. :D

ETA: Many thanks to dewey3067 for organising and booking the hotel rooms. Check out full details in comments.

This icon brought to you by the letters W, T, and F, and the realisation I have to write 15,000 words of ST:XI by next Monday and I have not only 0 words, but also 0 plot. This icon's ass now kicked by my awesome and fearful power of writing five thou words a day when under the gun, and China and Mr China's promptings over dinner.

Righty-ho then. I'll keep stalling with g/t bzns.

Options for accommodation are pretty much as follows:

Hostels

X-Base

Nomads

I don't think there's much doubt these are the two nicest hostels in the downtown area. They're certainly the newest. I've never stayed at either, but I've scoped both out (China and I trawled the entire town last year) and my impression is that Nomads is quieter. I've also heard anecdotally that it's slightly nicer. You can get a quad or a sixer for about $30 per person per night at both. Both are equally close to the bus stop, and it's a fifteen minute ride to Kilbirnie.

Sethra has already assembled a party, so if you're in that group, please finalise with her at her post back here.

Motels

747

Will do triples for about $40 pp. Might be worth checking out. The advantage would be that you'd be just across the road. Otoh, it's small, so might be full during the hols.

Any questions, please ask.

Final List:

The Wellington Eight get to sleep in their own beds
The X-Base Six (Carol, Mab, Elaine, Pru, Dewey and Jasmine) are in the Sanctuary at Base
The Sydney Four (Al, Meelie, Sin and Libby) are putting us all to shame at the Museum Hotel
The Ls (Linda, Lee and Lyn) are at the Pixie Palace
The Canadiadians (Claire and Kat) are at the 747
Ange is on a couch in Wilton *lol*
Chris is at her Mum's

Following initial discussion of preferences a couple of weeks ago, I went ahead and booked two Quad rooms at Nomads. shihadchick helpfully reminded me of this this afternoon so I just want to verify number of nights required and people involved. If it's wrong it's easily fixed, but I need to know pretty quickly. If anyone's a late joiner I need to know that too so I can add you.

Room One:

kiwisue
mab_browne
cross_stitchery
sethra2000
angel_a

Room Two:

shihadchick
blademistress
stickmarionette
blue_raven

Rooms are booked Friday and Saturday nights, with an option to add Sunday night for those that require it.

As you've all heard by now in fits and starts, Lex Luthor has departed Smallville for Metropolis my friend A has finally conceded he's moving permanently to the UK, and Stately Luthor Manor has been boarded up and dust sheeted sold for a princely sum such as none of us shall ever see in our life times. [/small emo tear]

The show must, shall, and does go on however, and get/together 2007 will take place, as promised, the weekend of 28-30th September. The only real change, and one which is sadly unavoidable, is that the slumber party style the Manor made possible is no longer an option. China, Vaud and I have investigated all possibilities however, and believe we have come up with the best alternative.

China has very graciously agreed to host the festivities, by which I mean make available her home here in Wellington for daytime and evening activities (the panels, the presentations, the games, the viewing etc). She has a large open plan living space, and a smaller room for breakout time. Between us Vaud and I will be able to take care of the mod cons and technology so all will proceed exactly as usual as far as the actual content of the weekend goes. China cannot, however, accomodate or fully cater for people the way that I used to.

With regard to accomodation, we are looking at a group room at the Cambridge (in Cambridge Terrace, surprise!), which will enable the band to stay largely together, which I imagine would be most enjoyable. Sort of like the convention room parties of old. They are available for six or for ten, at a rate of twenty dollars per person per night, which is very reasonable. I know some of you have family in Wellington you can stay with, though of course you're very welcome to join the mob if you prefer. Those of you coming in from Sydney for the holidays who have already made arrangements are, of course, already arranged. I will require numbers from Kiwis sooner rather than later though, so we can confirm the current provisional booking.

With regard to food, we will be making a small charge to provide lunch both days and the usual snacks and drinks. We will have the usual dinner out, and order takeaways the other nights.

I realise this makes the weekend a little more expensive than in the past, but it will still be fantastic, and I hope as many of you as possible will still come. Please do get your thinking caps on and get back to me asap though.

Tentative programme to follow shortly. Though not tonight. ;-p

We have our own community. I have informed my loved ones that they have to get out of the house Nov 26/27th. You all appear to be coming. Or trying. This thing is definitely happening now. Resistance is futile.

I'm going to make a call and say that we're going ahead with those dates, since most people said yes, a couple said maybe, and noone said no to it as a possibility. I now need you all to make a call about which day if any you want to include as a third - the Monday or the Friday. It would seem sensible, especially if you're flying in.

I've just had a quick look at the Air New Zealand website, and boy, time difference is a lot more annoying Sydney-Wellington than Wellington-Sydney. Ooh! I've just checked Qantas, and they're considerably cheaper. Bah humbug AirNZ!!! Anyway. If you took Friday off you could get in here in the early afternoon, see a bit of the town, we could all go for dinner and drinks, have an orientation etc, slash away merrily all weekend, and you could fly out crack of dawn Monday and still make it to work on time! (Sadly there are no Sunday night flights. Meh.) But have a look and talk among yourselves, guys.

In the interests of keeping costs down, and also upping the whole slumber party quality, I'm hereby extending an invitation to all the Aussies to bring a sleeping bag and crash at Stately Luthor Manor¹. You all seem to know each other pretty well, and it'll be fun. If you'd prefer a hotel room, I can, of course, recommend one.

So. Please join this community, investigate your bookings, and let's start talking turkey. Yaye!!!

1. The name by which my house shall be known here, to protect it from axe-murderers who trawl the internet pretending to be teenage girls when really they are truckers from Arkansas.