BLACK EYED LILY

I've been so out of the loop on Live Journal for months now. So, I have to check in. Is anyone going to LeakyCon besides me? I know Azkatraz will have the big Snape-Granger meet-up this year, and I'm going to that too. My primary purpose at LeakyCon will be listening to the great Wizard Wrock they are having, but I don't want to miss any of my f-list, any SSHG events or any Snapecentic activities with the likes of Snapecast staff or others. Plus, I need to share ideas about the ball. I'm flying out one week from today!

Hooray! What a day. I'm so excited and proud of our country right now! I had become so cynical about our political system. Now I have reason to hope again. It is indeed a new day.


You may have noticed I've been pretty absent from LJ lately. I wish I could say I've been working hard for the Obama campaign. Unfortunately it has been a multitude of family issues keeping me otherwise occupied. So my little free time has been spent on my exchange story.


I hope everyone is well. I look forward to catching up with everyone soon. GO U.S.A.! I'm proud of us!

Sending Happy Birthday greetings to charmed310. Here's hoping your day is full of your favorite things, such as men, horses, good friends and Harry Potter fanfic, not necessarily in that order. It was great to meet you and your cousin hogwartshoney at Phoenix Rising last year. The SS/HG shippers really missed you two this year. I'll never forget your Hedwig costume for the ball. It was classic. I hope we will meet again at a future HP con. Azkatraz is looking better now that attendees will get to see the Half-Blood Prince movie together. Are you still considering Boston?


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Whew! I'm just going to get your birthday wish in under the wire. I've thought about you several times today, but real life issues and errands kept me out of the house far too long today. I just read your post about your birthday, so I don't have to wonder what type of day you have had. It sounds like a blast. I would love to see the lavendar nikes. They sound awesome. Of course you received lots of love all around. You add so much heart to our community and are very much appreciated by so many. You already know I'm a HUGE fan of your writing, especially AUM. Your style is so much fun to read and it has real heart, as well as the fact that it is tremendously HAWT! I was so pleased to meet you at Portus. Adding your friendship to my life has been a special ray of sunshine in my life this year. Perhaps it was the warm manner in which you made me feel like an old friend, but whatever, you are a true treasure. I hope every day until your next birthday will bring you joy. Be on the look out for an IM from me about your prezzie.


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Whoops! It's 12:03 a.m. Damn, now I'm late.

Birthday greetings Angelica! I'm looking forward to meeting you over lunch next month. Twenty is a landmark birthday. I'm glad you posted of having a great birthday weekend. Enjoy this time of your life. I know college days have their own pressures, but truly your twenties should be some of the best and carefree days of your life. Seize them for all they are worth!


Graphics for Happy Birthday Comments

Here's wishing all the best to one of my favorite Deatheaters, sbrande! You really are the best Sonia, and I feel fortunate to have you on my f-list. You are truly such a wonderful support to your friends and one of the most faithful reviewers I know. It was a pleasure to meet you in New Orleans, and a joy to see you again in Dallas. Getting to meet your twin and see the two of you as the Weasley twins was a riot. I hope we meet many more times in the future. I hope you will enjoy your birthday as much as you deserve to. If I know you at all, I imagine you will get up to some mischief! May the remainder of the year bring you many blessings!


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Love,

Susan

Hooray for Hillary! I was contemplating posting about how cynical and apathetic I've grown toward national politics. This goes severely against my nature, but I've been disappointed consistently for such a long time now. I've ignored the campaigning prior to the conventions. A two year election cycle is just ridiculous, especially because of the impact it has on the day to day business of government. My obligation as an informed citizen finally exerted itself and I became determined to follow the election process from the conventions forward.

Then last night a wonderful thing happened. Hillary Clinton gave what is most likely the best speech of her political career. If you didn't have a chance to hear it, and you have any stake in American politics, I urge you to watch it on the internet. I understand that it is just a speech, a speech aimed at uniting the Democratic Party behind Barack Obama. Yet, miraculously, through listening to this speech, I found that my apathy bled away, and optimism returned. In the end, actions are what matters, not inspiring speeches. Yet maybe, by being inspired, actions might follow that move us closer to improving our world.

That's all.

A Question
Now that the Beijing Summer Olympics are over, I'd like to hear your thoughts. What did you think about these Olympics? Did you enjoy them? Have a complaint about them? Did you have a favorite moment? Please let me know.

( My Musing on the Olympics )

Look what I got! This is such a gorgeous banner. laiksmarei is a talented one. The most recent SS/HG Quiz was about First Kisses in some of our favorite fics. I don't play these often enough and just had to do this one. It was a lot of fun.




*sighs longingly*

Since the beginning of August I haven't posted much besides a few birthday wishes, and I'm behind on a few of these. So under the cut is an update on what's been going on, if your so inclined. Truthfully, it does not include much excitement. Just my personal ramblings and some of the reasons I've been scarce. So feel free to pass on the minutia.

( Vacation and RL )

Don't be surprised to find me responding to posts in your LJ's from even a few weeks back. I've seen a number of things I still want to respond to. In fact, I hadn't even finished my own comments on Portus, let alone comment much on the fabulous stuff I saw come out of Terminus. I do have to say that sbrande made one handsome Remus Lupin. Another great job droxy.

So as I wait to see what Tropical Storm Fay sends our way, besides postponing the first day of school in our county, I'll have a fairly low key day, which should allow a couple of extra hours to play catch-up. That is if the electricity holds.

Dear snapebeliever, I hope your birthday was everything you wanted it to be!


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I am so glad that you recently friended me. You are one of the few people on LJ who I knew better by your given name, rather than your LJ name. When I looked at your LJ account and saw your picture with the two Snapes it clicked. Our night over drinks at Portus with amydmartin, pythia_delphi, lampblack and others was a highlight of Portus. Just like watching HP movies with you and amydmartin was at Phoenix Rising. I'm sooo happy to have you on my f-list now so I can keep in touch. I never got to thank you directly for your help the night of the Ball. So thank you!

Here's wishing the best of birthdays to ginny_weasley31! What can I say about the "kinder and gentler" Mod of the Exchange, or so I'm told. You put in countless hours to the benefit of us who enjoy the fabulous SS/HG Exchange. If anyone deserves some recognition on their birthday it is you. I'm so pleased I had the pleasure of meeting you at Portus last month. The days of that conference went by far too fast. I'm currently on vacation and will be opening a bottle of White Star momentarily, from which I will toast your name to the heavens. Happy Birthday my dear!


glitter-graphics.com

Okay, so I manipulated my answers to get the desired result. What of it?

Your result for The Harry Potter Husband Test...

Mrs. Snape

Your perfect HP man is Severus Snape.

Take The Harry Potter Husband Test at HelloQuizzy

Whew, I just made it under the wire! It is still August 13 here in Florida. Happy Birthday to you Dickie! I hope you had a lovely birthday. It was a real pleasure to meet you this year at Snapefest. I had the honor of sitting at the same table as you on that Snapetacular Day. You are such a lovely and talented person, and you make a fabulous Helga Hufflepuff. I was also so glad that I caught your fic reading at Portus. My choice in icon is a nod to your One Perfect Valentine fic we had the pleasure of hearing that evening.


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snapeophile Here's hoping your birthday is full of sunshine and the ones you love. I'm so glad I got to spend more time with you in Dallas last month! You are one of the first people to reach out to me when I joined Live Journal to meet fellow SS/HG shippers. You remain a constant and are a source of joy and support for everyone. Keep giving that lovely smile and have a fabulous day!


Myspace Happy Birthday Comments & Graphics

It's official. My Snape obsession/addiction is certifiable. I was so pleased to get to listen to the new episode of Snapecast, mostly live from Portus. But what really got my juices flowing was getting to watch the video of Snapefest AND most especially the Tribute Video of Snape created for Snapefest by Rachael.

I loved seeing this video at Snapefest, but getting to see it now, with no distractions, I cried like a baby. I told you. I'm hopeless. It really is beautiful and captures the best of why we are all so obsessed with the Professor.

So for all of you who didn't get to Snapefest, go watch this tribute created by Scapecast's Rachel. You'll be glad you did. I'm so glad that I'll be able to see it whenever I want.

I've been wanting to post about a number of things, and respond to posts that others have made, but I couldn't go any farther without posting about this terrible, terrible news.

Tuesday morning I was lying in bed, enjoying the laziness of a summer morning with no need to get children anywhere. I had the local news on, and my alarm clock lying next to me, as I kept dozing and pushing the snooze button for ten more minutes. Finally a national news story broke through my haze and woke me up with a gasp. "A church shooting on Sunday in Knoxville, TN, at the Tennessee Valley Unitarian Universalist church left two dead and six injured, four critically".

That was my church. I haven't lived in Knoxville since 1999, but when I did that was my church. The church that I had felt the deepest spiritual connection to of any place. The church that supported me through the death of my brother John from leukemia. The church that celebrated the birth of my second and third child with me. Where I went to learn and connect and share with others who were each on an individual quest for spiritual development, which is a good part of what it means to be a UU. They believe that truths are found in all of the world's religions, as well as in secular places. Each person is responsible for their own development of their spiritual nature. In a place of beauty, like East Tennessee, some members often took the summer off to spend their Sundays out in nature.

So I raced to the computer to look up the story. Did I know anyone among the dead or injured?

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/25872864

I didn't know any of the victims, but I do remember one of the men who tackled the shooter. This church, a few blokes from the University of Tennessee, had many professors among its congregation, as well as many community leaders.

This church is a very special place. While I had been brought up Catholic, in my teens I began to have trouble with some of the Church's beliefs and practices. In my early twenties I sought out Unitarianism. It made sense to me and I've tried over the years to be part of a congregation. My years in Knoxville at TVUU was where I felt the most at home.

One aspect of Unitarianism is acceptance of everyone, they support civil rights for all, speaking out for, and providing resources to minorities, women, gay, lesbian and transgendered people. I guess their acceptance is what brought this man's hatred, barging into a children's musical program, he opened fire. His plan was to keep shooting until the police killed him. Thank god members of the congregation tackled him as soon as they understood what was going on.

I feel a little wounded myself. Sad. That in a place of peace, where people go to connect with each other in their quest for spiritual growth and community, that such hatred could cause another human to do this.

We humans have a long way to go....

Many, many thank yous to all my lovely f-list friends who sent me Birthday Wishes through LJ. I also received e-cards from firefly_124 and lampblack. Thank you. They touched my heart and made me laugh. Plus I have a promise of a one-shot out of the AUM universe from lulabelle72. SQUEE! I think that little present will make a lot of people happy, Severus and Hermione included.

All in all, I had a lovely, if quiet day. The family took me to dinner at my favorite Spanish Restaurant, and I have the promise of a private dinner with hubby this weekend to look forward to. Life is good.

Friday evening at Portus some of us SS/HG fans went to the adult fic reading in the Common Room. First up was dickgloucester, who read pieces from two wonderful fics of hers. I had not read much of her stories before now, however I will rectify that. I loved her fresh, witty style.

After that we were anticipating a reading from lariopefic from the fantastic Second Life. Instead this fellow steps to the front and asks for a volunteer to assist him in reading parts of his fic. Not wanting to miss lariopefic and knowing that Snapecast would soon be hosting their part of the Podcast Palooza, I stepped out to the restroom. Learning that there was only 15 minutes until the start of Snapecast, and that several people in the fic reading had planned to go support their favorite podcast, I tried to quietly enter the fic reading room. Once inside I felt like I had stumbled into Professor Binns' History of Magic class. Everyone was obviously bored out of their minds with vacant, glazed looks on their faces. It only took a minute or so to understand why. The fic author, and his volunteer, were still reading from his fic, a re-write of Deathly Hallows, a very, very bad re-write.

I went over to lariopefic to give my apologies. I would need to leave to honor my promise to be part of the audience for Snapecast. They were taping their podcast live at the podcast palooza. lariopefic was obviously frustrated at the situation, as she should have been. This other author had taken over the reading. He was still going strong after 30 minutes and wanted to keep going, even when a Portus staff member came in and stated that the reading time was up, the room was needed for other reasons. The audience was thrilled for an excuse to leave and practically stampeded out of there.

I couldn't get over this author's rudeness. He was oblivious to the fact that other people were there to read too, and he had no clue how bad he was. He had even handed out business cards to advertise this fic Harry Potter and the Veil of Death. The reason I bring this up, and I know other people had mentioned it in their Portus posts as well, is that I was on Fanfiction.net and I saw an advertisement for the god awful fic! This author has actually bought ads to get the word out on his fic! I'm flabbergasted! Someone needs to do him a favor and tell him how bad his story is. I'm not someone who gives negative critiques. If something is bad I typically pass it on with nothing said. I have enough to say praising the ones I love. But in this man's case I'm considering it. It is really what he needs to hear from someone.

Later on I did hear that lariopefic did get to do her reading in the bar, and it was very well received. I'm sorry I missed it. The Snapecast show at the Podcast Palooza was great. I can't wait to hear it air.

This is my final post about Snapefest. I think. After a marvelous day of quality Snapeing, we all took a little break to freshen up and then reconvened in the hotel lobby for a bus ride to the restaurant that the Snapecast staff had scoped out for our dinner. Amazingly they found a place called Sevy's Grill. I was quite curious what it would be like. I took an accessible taxi that I had arranged ahead of time. It is not standard that coach buses have wheelchair lifts and I didn't want to miss out on dinner. I was a bit envious that I missed out on the on-going camaraderie on the bus. We Snape fanatics were having a ball together. But I got there, after a scenic drive through a very posh area of Dallas filled with lovely homes and what looked like fine dining and upscale shopping areas interspersed.

This turned out to be the best dinner of my trip. Sevy's Grill is a fine dinning experience. I was very lucky to sit by Snapecast's Shannon and Jeff, plus a couple of Snarry shippers from Canada. They had just gotten in and had missed Snapefest, but got to come along to dinner. We enjoyed great conversation and delicious food. I had a Pomegranate Martini, and a lovely fillet with vegetables. Dessert was little cups of chocolate mouse, key lime tarts and fresh berries. So many of my favorites, I couldn't think of a better dinner for me. Rose from Snapecast came up with a number of clues that Severus Snape himself is the man behind Sevy's Grill. If you listen to the next podcast you will hear her elaborate. At least I think so.

After dinner our group took the bus back and I waited on my cab. He was a bit late, so when I got back to the hilton the poolside vigil for the Professor was over. Many Snapefest attendees gathered in the bar for a final drink or two, and I joined them. All in all, it was an extra special day. It was so much fun and I got to enjoy it with so many other great people. I want to thank the great folks at Snapecast one more time. This is a memory I will cherish.