~ January 12, 2004 - 10:19 a.m. ~
Loose Ends, Dust, and Things to Come
*creaky sound of opening door*Um, hello? Where�s the damn light switch?
*sounds of muffled banging and cursing*
*lights flicker on to reveal Gina on a very dusty diary page*
God, what a mess. I better get those cobwebs off the pretty picture of Stonehenge. . .
Erm, right, yes. So I haven�t been here in a while, as you can tell. I blame my nose for this. Specifically my sinuses. But all that in a minute.
First off, the Gathering was inspirational and life-changing (worry not, Jamie, a short essay to that effect is on it�s way). The night before it began, Jamie, Ivy, and Tosspot � er, Danny - and I met up with Fruthy and Beckers and Anwen and Roxy, and Mel . Whee! Largest grouping of Sisters ever! Whoo hoo!
The lectures and the workshops were so cool. I got to sit in on one given by Prof. Michael Drout about Tolkien and Beowulf, and one on Tolkien�s mythology, and (one of the neatest) one called �Harry Potter is a Hobbit.� That one was given by Dr. Amy Sturgis, who teaches fantasy literature classes at some University in the Carolinas, I think. It was about how JK Rowling and Tolkien faced the same problem of audience; are their books for kids or adults. Both authors feel/felt that their books were for all ages, but the appropriateness of the books for certain age groups has been widely and fiercely debated by the public. It was a really great lecture, and I think I am going to start some kind of debate about it on the sister diary soon . . .
On the lighter side of the Gathering, Jamie and I (OK, mostly Jamie cause I�m a bit of a wuss) asked Craig Parker and Mark Ferguson (that�s Haldir and Gil-Galad, for the uninitiated) to nance for us. They did, kind of, since they weren�t sure what nancing was. Poor blokes obviously never read much Cassie Clare.
Although we didn�t get to see TTT on the big screen, we did see FOTR and ROTK, and Anwen, Ivy and I just bawled our way through the whole thing. I�ve seen ROTK twice since, and I still just weep the whole way through. I am actually getting choked up now just thinking about it, which is a little lame, but you have to understand how deeply these books, these movies move me.
We also went to the banquet and masquerade at Medieval Times. The attempts of the folks at Medieval Times to overlay Lord of the Rings onto their normal show was quite lame, but the show was entertaining all the same. I was very impressed by the riding, anyway. And I really enjoyed the masquerade, especially since my costume won a prize for workmanship. I think when it came to the major awards, they were really looking for copies of costumes from the movie, so I guess that�s what I�ll do for Gathering 2005.
Although I did get really sick and lost my voice, I had an amazing time. Unfortunately, I didn�t get better until after New Years. I flew down to Florida with Tim, still rather sick off my ass. Fortunately, by Christmas I was feeling well enough to take on my brother in both Lord of the Rings Trivial Pursuit and LOTR Monopoly. Sadly, he kicked my ass in both. Although I�d like to point out that in the Trivial Pursuit game, he got all these stupid easy questions (like who plays Sam), and Andi and I got all these insanely hard questions (like what kind of lighting did they use on Cate Blanchett to make her seem more ethereal). I spent New Years curled into a little ball trying not to puke, but by January 2, I was finally better. I enjoyed chilling out in Florida, but I was rather disappointed that I didn�t get to see too many people since I was sick most of the time. I did rally and go out with Meggers a couple of times, and I got to see Andrea K for an evening of fondue, so all was not lost. But it really sucks that I couldn�t talk above a whisper most of my vacation.
Anyway, back in New York now. Back to the job search. Back to the below-freezing weather. I think I am going to have to talk Tim into going skiing or something, because trudging through winter without the respite of some snowy fun is just too depressing.
Look for a new layout here soon. Until then, I remain your frozen Gina.
