Just thought I’d say that… since Jess put so much time and effort into putting this lovely blog together and I have yet to actually report on any of our Vegas adventures.
I got in on Sunday, and was immediately greeted by Jess and Brandi (both of whom suffered the view of me slow motion running with my arms thrown wide open — not a pretty site, folks!). We checked into our hotel, bla bla bla, good stuff. Then we picked up my favorite badger, Elysa, at 11:15 PM (which, I’ll have you all know is actually 2:15 AM for all we poor little east coastlings) and squeed a lot.
We’ve been having a good time ever since, and probably one of my favorite parts was getting to meet those staffers I’d never met in person before. We went to the stratosphere with Eric (super enthusiastic) and K’lyssa (she is sooo sweet), and got our first taste of the Vegas cab service… Can we say… broke?
Since then, we’ve made our way over to the JW Marriott twice (both nights staying and probably annoying the other staffers very late). I was a tiny bit nervous when we first knocked on the door, but within a few minutes, I’d gotten over the fact that people who I’m used to seeing as IM boxes were now living and breathing and speaking to me. I’ll probably never say this enough, but everyone was so so so so nice. Andrew is very sweet and easy to talk to, Emerson is extremely chatty, Kevin is just… hilarious. And I would do some spazzing about Jamie’s accent, but I think I’ve done enough of that already. Ben is… amusing.
Tomorrow is the live show… yes, I am nervous. It’s going to be AWESOME stuff though, so you MUST go.
Much love!
Laura
Okay, so Lumos seems to be going well. But first: adventures at the Venetian. Rachel, Brandi, Laura, and myself took a trolley to the Venetian to ride the gondalas. After a 40 minute ride and about an hour walking [we got lost... a lot] we finally came across the boats. But as fate would have it, the tickets were sold out for the night. However, believe it or not, that was not the worst part of our Italian adventure.
I had the brilliant idea of going to this restaurant, which seemed perfectly innnocent from the outside with its fancy slogans of “the only restaurant in the Venetian to overlook the canal!” For starters, we didn’t even get a table looking over the canal. Worst yet, the whole freaking menu cost more than my life. Stuffed shells [which they condescendingly refer to as some 'zaffron bake'] cost $40! And did you know there’s four types of water? Tap vs. bottled, and sparkling vs. still. WTF. Just give me something from a watering hole, so long as it doesn’t bankrupt me. Not to mention, we were all dressed inappropriately. I was wearing my “Led Zeppelin: Hammer of the Gods– WE ARE YOUR OVERLORDS” shirt while everyone around me was in effing Versace. Long and short of it: we all ordered soup. Yes. Soup. Nothing else, just… soup. Note of interest: never, ever let Elysa choose the place to eat.
Anyway. For the record, Jess and Kay opted to hermit in the room last night, so it was just Brandi, Rachel, Laura, and myself. After the disaster with the Restaurant from Hades we ventured to Eric’s “popcorn reading” of PoA in one of the lobbies of the J.W. Marriot. Quite a few people showed up, all of whom were extremely enthusiastic– they used British accents for the dialogue and everything. The reading lasted around two hours or so, and didn’t finish till around 1 a.m. It was odd introducing myself as MuggleNet staff to a bunch of people wearing a ton of MuggleNet fan gear. I felt very… uppity. : / But they were all incredibly sweet. [TWO OF THEM WERE WEARING HUFFLEPUFF ROBES!!!!ONE] Oh, and by the way, remind me to tell you guys about Emerson making fun of my badgerness. -_-
K’lyssa was at the reading as well, and afterwards we all went up to the boys’ room and hung out for a while. This is where it gets truly interesting, as always. Most importantly, Ben hit on Brandi. YES. I KNOW. I died laughing too. It went as such:
Ben: “What’s your name again? Brandi?”
Victim: “Brandi, yeah…”
Ben: “Brandi, you’re kinda a cutie.”
Victim: *blush [or as Brandi puts it, "hangs head in shame"* "Thanks."
Ben: *holds up shot glass-- begins to sing* "This one goes out to the one I love-- uhh...to Brandi!"
*Ten minutes pass*
Ben: "Brandi, you remind me of a James Blunt song. *singing again --->* Ooooh you're beautifuuul..."
Elysa: *FACEPALM*
Brandi: *HEADDESK*
Emerson: *DIES LAUGHING*
Andrew: *CONTINUES TO BE HOT*
That was definitely the highlight of my evening. Alex of the Remus Lupins was there again. Jamie and I talked a bit about MNFF before Ben stumbled out the door and insisted on 495784564 high-fives. Oh, and Kevin is absolutely lovely. We talked a little, mostly about espresso beans. We didn't leave the party till around 3 a.m... that's 6 in the morning according to our ridiculously messed up body clocks.
When we got back to our room, Jess was sick [but she's all better now] so we let her rest, while the remaining mnetladies laughed our arses off over Ben/Brandi shipping. For the record: Brandi’s not all about it. She’s sticking with Ron.
The guys from Harry and the Potters were there too. I didn’t know who was who, but found out later in the night that I had been talking to the guitar player. Very cool guys. Tonight we’re heading back over to the Venetian to give the gondalas another try. Jess wants to visit the wax museum as well. Afterwards, it’s back to Emerson’s/Ben’s/Andrew’s/etc’s room, but only for a while. Laura’s staying the night there because the podcast show is tomorrow and they have some preparation work to do, or… something.
Remember, if you’re here in Vegas– you don’t need to be registered for Lumos to come to the LeakyMug podcast. It’s tomorrow around 6:30, I believe, at the J.W. Marriot.
On a random note: we saw Clerks II earlier today. HILARIOUS. If you’re mature and/or over 17, go see it. Possibly the best way I’ve ever used $6.25.
<3,
Elysa
So, Elysa is writing a post about our day yesterday, so I’ll go at it from my point of view.
We went out onto the strip via the Trolley and hit up the Venetian, then went to this really poofy restaraunt, then couldn’t get on the gondalas. Yeah, so if that didn’t suck enough, I was majorly sad because I didn’t get to see Harry and the Potters or Draco and the Malfoys in concert which was the ONE thing I was looking forward to on this whole trip because of my work schedule and stuff, I probably won’t have the chance to see them in concert again. BOO. Oh well. That’s okay, cuz it was semi-made-up-for when I got to take a picture with Billy from Draco and the Malfoys and sorta met the Harry and the Potters. That was nifty.
Apparently, I’m also “sort of a cutie.” That was interesting to find out.
Met Emerson, Andrew, Kevin, Jamie, Ben, Eric and Melissa. That was fun. Emerson is really nice. Kind of random and crazy, but nice. Kevin and Andrew area also really nice. Kevin’s really easy to talk to. We went on this tangent about accents and it started this whole thing about how words are pronounced. It was crazy. Eric is such a sweetie. He’s really nice and pretty funny. Found out he loves one of the roller coasters I supervise. That was interesting to hear. Fun guys all around.
I also met Brendan last night and his friend Julie. They’re really nice as well and also really funny. Omg, they cracked me up.
Ummm…other than that, we just kind of congregate at the end of the night and watch House. I love House. Hugh Laurie = *le sigh* :) That’s about it. I’m sure you’ll have PLENTY of update today. I’ll post some pix later when I can hook up my camera. I also have a wicked video of someone playing DDR. ;)
Ahhhhhhhhh! I am having so much fun here at Lumos. It’s so great to FINALLY meet everybody. For the juicy details……
1. I went to Emerson’s suite and finally got to meet the boys. Emerson is actually A GREAT GUY. *gasp* I kid. :P He is really nice and I got to snap a few interesting pictures of him and Ben. *wink wink* LOL. I promise to update the blog with the photos I have.
2. I met the infamous Eric Scull and he’s also a really great guy. He gave me a flower people! Awwwwwwww….what a sweetheart. He had a special “popcorn reading” last night that Laura, Brandi, Elysa, and I attended – it was quite fun and interesting. So that was fun.
3. I met K’lyssa and Brendan!!!!! *dances* They are teh awesome, you guys. No really, they are.
4. Andrew Simz! I met him as well…..and guess what he had to tell me! I am officially a SENIOR STAFFER on MuggleNet! *dies* I love that kid. :D OOooh, and who can forget our favorite Brit? I met Jamie as well! Wheeeeeee! He’s so *British* and so polite.
5. I’ve been taking photos like crazy and hope to take a picture with at least everyone on staff and then have that as proof that I met the boys that every little fan girl dreams of doing…..LOL. I’m quite wired (with having a bunch of coke) and I may sound a bit crazy right now, but I’m sure you’d be exactly the same if you were in my shoes.
6. I love our hotel room….For the past two nights, I’ve been sleeping with the lovely Laura Thompson! :D How many people can actually say that? Not many…and that’s what rocks. The girls and I have been out REALLY late and have pulled all nighters since we got here. No joke. But you know what? It doesn’t matter! I’m in Vegas, baby! Woooo!
The podcast is tomorrow and I am going to take as many pictures as possible! So keep an eye out ladies!
