kalpurna

Hello, flist! I am in DETROIT. My flight was oversold and this nice biology teacher next to me was frrrreaking out about being fired for not showing up tomorrow, and I have no classes on Monday, so I'm staying the night in a hotel. In DETROIT. And they're paying me $300 + room and board to do it.

If I said this wasn't a tiny bit motivated by my desire to spend more time with my beloved Detroit airport, I would be lying.

HMMMM WHAT DID I DO THIS WEEKEND I DON'T KNOW LET ME THINK HMM HMMM HMMMM

I flew in on Thursday night to Connecticut and after a night in loveyouallwrong's basement caught a ride up in her car along with quettaser, shoemaster, riadsala, my lovely and charming roommates. \o/ By the way, guys, I forgot to say so before we left, but that was an A+ roommate situation. No drama (except when I pitched a drunken fit over not having a blanket) and no stress. I love you all times a million.

My panel was earlyish Friday, which, thank God, because I was having a minor heart attack every time I thought about it, and at least I got it out of the WAY. eledhwenlin and I got to talk it over before lunch, and she had really great ideas for where to take the conversation, and it was just FUN. And it seemed to go okay, at least by my standards, which were "no bombs go off", and it was interesting seeing what kinds of language is spreading around fandom these days. (Conclusion: NO ONE knows what "MTE" means, except for people like me and Lea who lurk teenie comms. (My Thoughts Exactly, for the record.)) I didn't even need to use my plants in the audience to ask pity questions!

And then I was free to enjoy PANELS! I attended a lot of great panels, and especially enjoyed the Psych panel, which was full of people with good opinions, and the RPF panel, which was full of people telling Pete Wentz to get off our damn lawn. I unfortunately missed a ton of panels I wanted to go to. :( At least I didn't sleep through all of Saturday like I did last time!

The vid show and dance party on Friday Night were pretty damn fantastic. Lea and I kept sneaking upstairs to do shots instead of paying for drinks at the hotel bar because that is the kind of classy we are. Not that we had shot glasses, so by "shots" we mean "swigs directly from the bottle." Then we came back down and danced our asses off. They played "Guilty Pleasure" first which was the wisest of all possible moves since it got all the bandom girls, who, let's face it, are used to being shameless, out on the dancefloor and excited. There were more people dancing than I expected, and the mix was fabulous, and everyone was dressed to the nines, and I loooved it. I hurt my thighs so badly getting low while Flo Rida told me about boots with the fur that I spent the entire rest of the con bitching about them.

Also, riadsala and drlense almost had an ACTUAL BRAWL over whether "Love Shack" is great or crap. It ended when Caroline LEFT THE ROOM after being restrained. Ahahahaha.

On Saturday morning, we all eeled out of bed in variously graceful ways, and Lea informed me that at some point during the night she had been sitting up in bed wide awake and bored and I had turned over and told her to stop snoring and then fallen back asleep. Ummm, I don't know? Then we went down and had some glorious eggs and bacon with fayemeadows until I felt human again.

Oh, and I forgot to mention, there was a craft table! The craft table was a DEFINITE highlight of last MJ, and it had only gotten better this time around with the addition of Pete Wentz and about sixty more glitter pens. I very carefully glittered up a Pete (with red glittery peen) that I then stuck on a popsicle stick and which I believe bayleaf left in some sort of decorative planter. Lea made a rapey Callum that I truly cannot describe, because you must see it for yourself.

Saturday night was Jacque's, the drag bar, and it was indescribably amazing. We had the entire floor area reserved (because the con comm is amazing and they can do that) and it was just a sea of fangirls in various levels of sparkly sluttery. The energy of the show was unfuckingbelievable; I would guess that they rarely get to perform to an audience that vocally enthusiastic and that unshockable (and that well-tipping; they could barely do their acts because we were so busy brandishing dollar bills at them). reginagiraffe had her ankles tugged in the air and a drag queen give her faux head. It was that kind of night. The bachelorette parties lurked around the edges and looked freaked out. Oh, Courtney's Cupcakes, we're sorry you thought YOU were going to be the rowdy ones.

And then there was a room party I will draw a graceful veil over except to say that giddygeek is all of the adorable and I kissed all of the girls on the lesbian bed. Oh, and also, at some point I caused a commotion looking for a pen so I could write down the following:

I'm going to pee on you on your face

me and Caroline and Hannah are going to have a baby who is lost all the time and I'm going to birth him out of my ear

So, GOOD THING I PRESERVED THAT.

At some point this morning Lea turned to me and Allison and asked if this year's MJ was better than 2007's, and she and I both paused where we were to think about that one. Comparing individual items - the fabulous dance party, the BEYOND fabulous field trip to drag queens, the quality of the hotel, the quality of the room parties I attended - it's really no contest, because this MJ was absolutely perfect on every one of those fronts. But on the other hand... MJ 2007 was my first con. It was the first time I met fangirls en masse, the first time I met giddygeek and calathea and misspamela and airinshaw and brooklinegirl and mrsronweasley and entropical87 and bayleaf and strangecobwebs and shihadchick and Jesus Christ, half my flist. I was vibrating with energy the entire weekend and came out of it like I was coming out of a war. MJ 2009 was never going to be that for me, because it was never going to be my first con. So was it objectively a better con? Yes. Did I have a fantastic time? Yes. But MJ 2007 will always have that untouchable place in my heart.

I think the truly wonderful thing about this con for me is the way I feel right here and now (in, uh, Detroit). Two years ago, I was emotionally wrecked on Sunday, weeping and devastated and feeling like I had just lost something incredible I'd never get to find again. Today, I feel sad it's over, but mostly - those people I thought were so great? They're part of my actual life now. They're not just internet friends, they're straight-up FRIENDS. I'm going to see them again, I'm going to talk to them, and in two years I'm going to get on a plane to Boston. MJ 2007 felt like once-in-a-lifetime. MJ 2009 felt like this is my life. And I'm so fucking thankful for that.

(For reference: con report 07. Rereading that, my impressions are: 1) holy shit I sound young, and b) fangirls really haven't changed when it comes to boobs.)

In conclusion, I want to thank the con comm for being made out of pure decanted awesome, and to send giant ridiculous hugs to everyone I mentioned in this post and everyone I forgot to mention because I'm exhausted and spacey. You are why I'm here. You are what this is about for me. Just you.