Skipping to the end to note that I AM HOME!

Bicyclops and his lovely wife and Ginger picked me up at Anne's this morning and we hit the highway. I'd been up since 6:00, and KateP, who was sharing the room with me, wandered down at 7:00 to say goodbye and I sent her back to sleep, since she didn't have to leave to make her plane till 9:00. Jeeves helped me strip the bed, such a helpful handsome fellow, and in return I, for the last time this trip, turned on the kitchen faucet for him to have a drink. Anne had the foresight to set the timer on the coffeemaker, and there was joe. (No, not Joe). Caught up on email and F2F on Anne's laptop, schmoozed a little, and then the Bicyclopses and Ginger arrived. Askye got up to say goodbye, I hugged everybody within reach, and we set off southward. Much talk was had along the way, to the consensus that Buffistas=foamy, intelligent, funny, quirky and all-round good folks.

My kitty missed me, my DH is still at work. I think I'm gonna nap and then unpack. I missed having access to the board all weekend, except for Anne's Mac at odd moments. We'll have to investigate my laptop's wireless problem. At some point I'll do a better summation post, and post it here or in LJ, possibly both.

Let me just say, it was a fabulous weekend, and I was surprised and delighted to find the people I've known for years, months or weeks to be just the same as they come across on b.org, only more 3-D-ish.

Okay, this post is gonna be all memememe, but I just wanted to say a big THANK YOU to everyone who took pictures and posted them up already. You know how usually when you dress up fancy, you think, Yeah, that looks okay, too bad I'm not thinner or prettier or more adept at styling my hair or whatever? Well, on Saturday night, I didn't feel that at all. For once, I felt really beautiful. I keep going back and looking at the pictures of me and thinking, hot damn, that's me!

Kate! Dude, we need to talk more. Because you're damn cool.

t smooch

I was sad that you left so early on Sunday, because I really wanted to spend more time talking with you too.

This is totally seconded, BTW.

t blushing

I wish you'd been around more! I would have loved to hang out more with you.

I got to talk to Kate *lots* and she was my sugar mama at the prom. Still wasn't enough, though. And I'm totally stealing that orange skirt someday.

t throws smonster down and snogs her senseless

t is no longer allowed to use the fake-tag quick-edit

I miss you too, babe.

Also, Reema keeps looking like Jen K.

Oh, that's who she reminded me of!

smonster, I think that in the fangirls picture, my guess is that the second "?" is Holli. Have no idea, not even a guess, who the first "?" may be.

I'm pretty sure that was Holli's friend Shira.

..And, on a totally seperate note: Maria, I also didn't know about Rod until reading through this thread just now. I am so sorry that you have to go through this. I wish now I'd hugged you just a little longer or a little tighter.

Hi everyone. I'm back in Philly, and back at work. I had a great time, everyone is lovely, and I'd like to be back there. I'm still exhausted, despite a relatively early night last night. After the Prom, I find myself with an inexplicable urge to shout "Soylent Green is boobs! BOOOOOBS!!", but I'm sure that will pass. I'm currently in a very Coldplay kind of place, which may also pass.

Other noteworthies:

The National Zoo is well worth the price of admission, even though they pulled a bait-and-switch on Meet the Mole Rat (they produced an armadillo instead, which was still very cool, being an armadillo). I won't go into great detail, as there are limits on post length.

Steph gave me a figurine of Rufus! (The naked mole rat from Kim Possible.) He's very pretty. (PS: rumours of Antarctic mole rats have been debunked. There shall be no bunking with icy mole rats.)

ND has introduced me to the crooning wonder that is Richard Cheese, and no good can come of it.

Lovesick Ass was hysterical. Four eps wasn't enough for Wonderfalls to grab me, but I think that ep would've done it.

From the National Zoo's website comes this charming commentary:

Biologist Paul Sherman studied such foraging behavior in his laboratory at Cornell University. He observed that when an individual mole-rat discovers a new food source it will grab a chunk and scurry back to the nest, chirping all the way. Upon arrival at the nest, the food scout will wave the morsel aloft for all to smell. This chirp-and-wave maneuver sets off a small stampede, as workers race to collect more food and bring it back to feed the whole colony.

Awww.

For those who asked about the zoo trip at the Prom and wondered what the hell I was talking about, this is the best pic of a Rothschild's mynah I could find: here. It still doesn't do it justice.

There should probably be more, but I'm still half brain dead. I think it's the right half.

ND has introduced me to the crooning wonder that is Richard Cheese, and no good can come of it.

Oh! I had totally forgotten about that. That was hysterical.

My pictures will be up soon.

I wish you'd been around more!

Me too. It was poor planning on my part. (Short version: Saturday morning I waited for P. to get back from what turned out to be a three-hour bike ride before going to the hotel, which meant everyone had gone out by the time we got there. Sunday I had some writing to do, so I went home in the morning meaning to come back out, only it never quite happened.) But next year I won't be a local, so everyone will have plenty of time to get sick of me.

Note to self: kidnap LJ for a few hours next F2F.

The one thing I was disappointed about this year was missing the zoo trip with Billytea and the others. I stayed up way too late on Friday drinking with and talking to DebetEsse, MM, ND, and JohnSweden (and others?), so I didn't make it awake in time to go with the zoo trip.

eta: Not that I would have missed the chance to get to know DE or JS, or trade woh pahs with MM all night. Sigh. Too many Buffistas, too little time.

Too many Buffistas, too little time.

Sing it, sister. I also didn't get to spend nearly as much time talking to you as I wanted.

Still looking at Prom pictures. I would say that Hec and JZ are the most adorable couple EVAH!!1!, except that I also think Rebecca Lizard and Reema should hold that title. It's a puzzler and no mistake. I wanted to mention in particular that Anne W. looked especially beautiful at the Prom, Jessica and Lyra Jane are supercute, as is Tom Scola, Vortex looked like a goddess, and Raquel and Maria are both gorgeous, even if they refuse to believe the evidence of their own eyes.

Vortex looked like a goddess

I assume we're talking a fertility goddess here. Or possibly a goddess of battle, in a "You could put someone's eye out with those" kind of way.

Well, there are those Boob War photos...