get/together

Wow, this is about a thousand years late, but I wrote it longhand while I was away at third form camp. Feel my pain!!! I got sunburn! And a tree branch hit me in the head! And... I was away from the net for a week. After it had been *down* for two!

Anyway, I'm still sticking this up, possibly as the official minutes, or for posterity. Noone posted saying they hated it (unless you've all filtered me out and are saying so secretly) so I'm going out on a limb and calling it an unmitigated, absolute and total success. It was awesome. Imho.

I am so very very glad that a) china_shop and I both had so much fun at sinpozium that we said in unison, "Let's have a little get__together of our own; b) that the House of Fen all chorused "We'll come!!!"; and c) that I decided to have it at the Manor. I think it helped make it really homey and relaxed. And what on earth is the point of living in a huge house with a projection room if you don't have legions of slashers round to watch stuff with you? I wish you all lived in Wellington.

Anyway...

Day One: Friday

Got home from work, looked around in horror, realised I am, in fact, Hamlet Prince of Denmark, King of Procrastinators. I had neither finished tidying the house, nor even started my Smallville presentation. Nor, and this is the bit that I kept secret all weekend, had I marked the last thirty junior history exams I had to have done by Monday, how *dare* you change the timetable and tell me on *Friday* when I planned this thing months in advance??? Just the thought of them made me want to cry, but I resolutely compartmentalised and forgot about them. Sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof.

Tidied, vacuumed, made beds. Cursed the vagaries of life which meant the adsl was down on my desktop and I had to use the wireless on my laptop. Surfed around a little, gave up. Made more beds. Planned menus. Made more beds. Figured that was probably enough beds. Was so exhausted by this point I really wanted my own bed. Waited up for the flight in from Sydney. Which was of course late. Wondered if I'd given adequate instructions on how to find the house. Finally heard timid knock on door and opened it to find chirpy, bright eyed Australians. Rudely left them admiring the cityscape and harbour by night from my living room, and went to bed. Sorry about that.

Day Two: Saturday

Got up a whopping four hours later and went upstairs to get lunch started and, ahem, do that pesky presentation. In a strange congruence of luck and slashy karma (certainly not good planning) I found what I needed easily and quickly, and didn't have to face the shame of being the hostess and also the one whose dog ate her homework.

We started with Slash Pictionary. This is, imho, the Best Game Ever. It cracks me up so much. I love Pictionary anyway, but once there are anal probes and aliens and hot guys with experimental hair involved it can't be beat.

Best clues:

Rodney McKay becomes a travelling salesman for anal probes
Lex Luthor gets arrested having sex in the Presidential Limo

Best pictures:

Alexander and House do the wild thing (because I thought Alexander's helmet was a Robin Hood hat and it was very cute)
the one where I thought Fox Mulder's badge was a pizza box, and the letters FBI somehow coalesced into an anal probe

Then we went downstairs and did Fandom Intros. I'm really glad we did this – it's good to know what flist is talking about. Plus I totally got sucked in by a few. *sigh*

hnix showed us the pimp reel for House again. It's so good I have been seduced into watching the damn show. ETA: I have watched to ep 10. Thanks Sin. Love it! Scrubs was just as awesome second time around.

china_shop made us all sing the Due South filk to "A Few of my Favourite Things". It was hysterical, and made me not care that I can't sing.

mab_browne gave an excellent powerpoint on The Sentinel. Artworks, recs, explanations, and some excellent clips. For the first time ever I want to watch the damn show. Was disappointed to hear that all the kissing was from the gag reels, but still. Oh! And she made *fliers*.

I did Smallville. Depressed everyone with "Hurt". Horrified them with "Closer". [From the cheap seats: "Is this porn or snuff?" "Both."] Made them smile with "Gay Bar". Made them laugh hysterically with "I Can Change", "Small Wars" and "Clone Project". Plus 3scoremiles, who is not in fandom was sucked in. All in all I call it a win. God I love my big dumb incredibly gay show.

blademistress gave an amazingly thorough powerpoint, not just on Full Metal Alchemist, but also on anime/manga/hentai etc in general. Lots of useful vocabulary and now I know what's going on. I feel *informed*!

sinden replayed the Atlantis pimp reel, which made more sense to me this time. I must say, McKay does nothing for me, but Sheppard is awesome. ETA: I watched the pilot (thanks, Sin) and have now spent the entire week reading SGA slash when I should have been working. Stick a fork in me, I'm done. I *so* did not need another pathological addiction. ETA2: I've *now* read about a hundred stories. I am *so* hooked it's not funny. You *beeyotch*!!! Lex is stuck in an asylum and really I only care about spiky hair, black marks and lop-sided mouths! She then played the new reel for Supernatural. I like the look of it but I'll wait till it hits NZ.

i_naiad gave a comprehensive intro to the Pop phenomenon. Sad to say I *still* can't tell the difference (between bands *or* between members), but hey, it took all three LotR films for me to distinguish Merry and Pippin, so meh.

Honourable mention to the non-presenters who provided an audience for us egotists:

stickmarionette played us an ep of Le Cameleon. I mean The Pretender. Pretty damn funny in French, and intriguing in English.

vaudevilles played The Drag Kings and Britney as a torch ballad. I'm a little afraid.

meelie brought the Superman/Batman movie just for me. It was awesome. And so gay. I *did* copy it by the way – since I was up at 6am Monday morning before you guys left. ;-p

alasen lapped up the slashy goodness, plus introduced a new con cliche, namely people pretending to be robots. Gotta love it.

sethra2000 just generally revelled in the atmosphere. And apparently enjoyed sleeping on my couch. So yay.

3scoremiles was very confused, somewhat bemused, but also amused. She Doesn't Think Alexander/Hephaistion Is A Fandom. I'm not sure whether to be glad or sorry she missed seeing me draw "Achilles gives Hephaistion a cock ring". I'll get you yet, and your little dog too. [Or perhaps not. Keep the damn dogs away from me. I'm sorry.]

And also big props to my best friend's boyfriend, who showed me how to wire the laptops in to the projector. Thanks H.

Day Three: Sunday

Some awesome discussions. The usual chaotic rabble of people talking over each other and getting too excited to sit still. Good times.

So yeah. That's all folks. Thank you all *so much* for coming, and I hope to see you all again in the not too distant future. EhoF, hope the road trip was good.