I'm going to get real sappy about Leakycon (again)
There was a livechat last night with my Leaky kids and I've been putting it off for a while because I've been feeling gross and inadequate because that's a thing that sometimes happens when you're dealing with depression. Yeah, I said it. It's truth time.
I have had a rough month, and an even worse couple of weeks. I've had a lot of thoughts about my friends not wanting me around, and just putting up with me and feeling like a placeholder instead of a person. I realize on some level that this feelings are not logical and probably not true, but it doesn't stop them from feeling true.
But then I got on livechat with Joe and Sultana and Estlin and Colin and I felt human again for a while. Leakycon is my family, guys. I cannot stress that or explain that enough. Leakycon isn't strictly the reason I'm alive, but it's the reason I like being alive a lot of the time and it's made me a better person and the people I've met there are some of the best people I know. I love you all so much and you mean the world to me. The old friends and the new ones and the ones I talk to a lot and the ones I wish I talked to more. You guys are my everything and I'd be so lost without this family.
Thank you guys, from the bottom of my heart. You fill up the places inside me that empty me out and try to leave me hollow.
I miss you and I want it to be Orlando so I can see your face.
I miss you too. I miss everyone so much and it hurts and we still don’t have dates yet and it’s a problem. Also I need to get on top of planning IRL Leaky Alum meetups too because I’m not entirely sure I can wait that long before seeing anybody.
So I just realized I never did a proper leakycon wrapup. I was a first-timer this year and had a great time, and I wanna write it all down before I forget.
Here goes!
So my mom and I drove down from Seattle to Portland on wednesday. It took about three hours, and we were in Portland by seven. We checked in at the Hilton, and then met up with Grace and her dad upstairs. Since it was only eight at this point, we decided to go to Powells.
On the way to Powells, we drove by what appeared to be the Lizzie Bennet Diaries cast. We jumped out and talked to Christopher Sean, aka Bing Lee. He was super sweet and took a picture with us.
While we were at Powells, we ran into Keith and Colin, who we would later learn are LeakyCon celebrities in their own right, and hung out and talked to them for a while. (If you guys see this, thanks for giving us a great Con experience!)
when we got back to the hotel, we joined a group of girls lying around in the lobby and hung out there for a while.
Thursday
We arrived at the convention center around 11, and hung out drinking smoothies til noon. after a quick Con-wide starkid singalong, we went to our first panel, the tumblr meetup. It was a great way to start the con. I got called up to the mic at one point to read aloud my text post (the grocery store one), which was freaky.
We hung out and relaxed until four, when we went to the merch hall (more on merch later). Then we lined up for the opening ceremonies.
The ceremonies were fantastic. We were on the far right and had a really good view. I'm not ashamed to say I teared up when anthony revealed his Mark costume.
After the ceremonies was the Warblers panel, which was surreal. Since we're a small fandom, we were all relatively close to them. They just hung out and talked. It was great.
Friday
We started out the day with the LBD panel, which was super fun. We were up close as well, which was great. Then it was time for a hilarious JMOMS, featuring the best Les Mis parody i've seen in a long time.
We at lunch and then went to LeakyStars, where my tumblr friend Sarah Wood won with a kickass cup song.
We killed time in the merch hall before I went to the disney singalong panel, with tessa, jackie, and curt. At least that's who it was supposed to be. About a quarter of the way through, the entire harry potter cast, the warblers, and john cozart all come and join in. It was amazing.
Then came the team quiz. We were grouped with Sam, Dizzy, and Sage. It was awesome even though we totally lost. We left early and got baked goods with them instead.
Saturday
Today I was mostly alone, which was great. I started out the day with the mina lima panel, which was amazing. I got to ask them a question as well, which was super cool. After that was the Men of LBD, which was a fun panel to watch. I stayed for the Fandom in the Dark Ages panel, and managed to snag a second-row seat,which I held on to for the Nerdfighter meetup.
The Nerdfighter meetup was great. Hank sang, talked, and educated us about drugs.
Then we all went around wearing mustaches for an hour.
The Ball
I wore my red dress to the ball, as tumblr suggested. For the first two hours we danced by ourselves. Grace left around ten, and I headed up to the front and joined a dance circle with the Warblers and the cast of LBD. I got to touch Wes Aderhold, and Allison Paige said I looked pretty. (!!!!!!!). I danced with several different groups. At one point I hugged Anthony Rapp. It was a good night
Sunday
I was so tired but the closing was so good.
I'll talk about merch in a later post.
All in all, it was the best weekend of my life. Thank you so much to Melissa and her staff, for creating such a beautiful event. See you next year!
