The weekend that was

[hils]

Thanks to everyone for the kind birthday messages. It was really appreciated.

My actual birthday was great. The days either side were a bit rubbish but I'll go into that in a bit.

As I said I was at writerconuk on my birthday and I had an amazing time. I was a wee bit stressed in the days leading up to it as I was chair of the committee and I was sure everything was going to go wrong and everyone was going to blame me. But it all ran pretty much smoothly. And the lovely attendees surprised me with cake and a card <3



I got an amazing haul of presents from my friends and family.
1. A new handbag
2. A purple fluffy robe
3. Man From UNCLE tshirt
4. Dancing Groot Mug
5. Purple cardigan
6. Penguin hot water bottle
7. Divergent book trilogy
8. Dragon Age World of Thedas vol 2
9. Lego Marvel PS4 Game
10. Mirror Mirror blu-ray
11. The Man From UNCLE: Complete Series DVD


Ros wanted to buy me a new handbag for my birthday as I've been saying I need one for ages. She chose a blue one but wanted me to look at it first in case I didn't like it. It was a bit big for my needs so I chose this one instead. I love it.


I've been wearing this with my PJs every night. It's so warm and fluffy


Isn't this cute!


IT'S SO FLUFFY I WANT TO DIE


Last year flickums bought me the Hunger Games books. It must be a new tradition that I get YA book trilogies from her. And the MUNCLE DVDs were my birthday present to myself. No regrets.


I watched Mirror Mirror last night and as well as being hilarious it actually wound up being one of the best Snow White adaptations I've seen. It succeeded in all the ways Snow White and the Huntsman failed and still managed to make Snow White a feminist heroine while being a silly and fun movie. I loved it. And, you know, Armie Hammer shirtless a lot was just a bonus.


Looking forward to reading more about the Dragon Age universe


So after the hell of a massively delayed train I decided I needed a beer and a sandwich when I got to the hotel in Coventry. Slightly embarassing that when I ordered the guy behind the bar looked at me and then said "Are you here for Writercon? I recognise you from last year." Slightly embarassing :D But as it turned out he was the one looking after us for the weekend and he was lovely. He was sad that there was no Supernatural swag on our raffle table this year as he loves the show.


enchantersnight was cosplaying as Loki for the dinner so I had to try on the first attempt at the horns.


The lovely bogwitch tries to make all of the goodie bags that come part of registration personal so I got a MUNCLE coaster in mine :D


Of course I had to have a White Russian cocktail. It is now being known as the Illya Kuryakin :D


I may have had a lot of cocktails over the weekend...


enchantersnight had a peppermint cocktail that looked like Loki. It was also very tiny

So that was Friday. Saturday was the writerconuk panels as well as being my actual birthday


enchantersnight got me a cushion covered in Steve/Bucky quotes. It is now known as the feels cushion


Even Ros who is not a fandom person and who doesn't own a computer or watch much TV got me a fandom card for my birthday :D


Parents got me a sparkly unicorn card and inside was $50 and instructions to buy myself something nice while I'm in the US <3


flickums got a MUNCLE card...


...which was sponsored by Dorian's butt


kazzy_cee got me a card which was also a quiz. I have the answers if anyone wants to play.


Lovely view of the sunrise from our hotel room window


First panel was by ningloreth and was on Show Don't Tell. Really interesting and got some good discussion going


Selfie of me wearing my new cardi


tlanti did a talk on What Fandom Has Done For Me which turned into us having a big conversation on what we love about fandom. I had to make a special mention to the memebers of muncle who have been so kind and welcoming that it actually brought me to (happy) tears on one occasion. Not a single person has accused anyone of not being a real fan if they saw the movie first and it's just been such a lovely place to be these past couple of months. So thank you MUNCLE for being so lovely.


Lunch was rather delicious


What to do when your fandom explodes. I was very good and didn't talk about how SPN has degenerated into wank and ship wars. Instead we made it a positive discussion about how to cope when your fandom falls apart.


Dinosaur impressions were a theme of the weekend. Don't ask.


Alternative Storytelling was about vids, games, comics etc and was really interesting! I'm so amazed by the creative ways people find to tell their stories.


Blue is a good colour for a cocktail


enchantersnight with her Loki on


I just opted for a sparkly top and some makeup


The lovely Kieron (who recognised me from last year) put on a sweetie bar for the Doctor Who viewing we did before dinner


And popcorn


Loki with a Loki cocktail


Obviously I had to end the day with another Illya Kuryakin

Sunday was another hellish. Got stuck at the barrier in Coventry and wound up missing my train by about 30 seconds. So that meant I missed my connection in Birmingham. Then, when I got back to York the bus was pulling away. Eventually got home and had a text from enchantersnight telling me I'd left my external hard drive in our hotel room. Luckily she was still there so she very kindly mailed it to me and it arrived today. Phew!

But on the brighter side I had nice things waiting for me when I got home

caedesdeo sent me a card and stickers aimed at my mental level


I'm hoping this book is as slashy as the movie was


And I'm hoping that when I read this I might understand what flickums is talking about