After finally locating Jess in the crazy airport, we climbed into the car and headed to the hotel. After dropping off our bags at the hotel and quickly refreshing ourselves, we headed off to the welcome party. There was squee after squee as we all talked, hugged and laughed. It was a reunion unlike any other, people from all over he world, in one conference room preparing themselves for a fun filled and informative weekend.
I gave Agent S the gift I had brought for her birthday, gave Katrina the snack cakes I brought her and gave Josh the comic book I had come across at Wizard World ComiCon, and all of which were met with sincere thank you's. It felt like catching up with family at another event. After tons of hellos, hugs and chatting, we moved on to the lectures.
A group from a nearby shop, Voodoo Authentica, spoke about voodoo and the voodoo culture in New Orleans. There were authentic chants, spiritual smelling oils which were offered to all and there were drums to keep the beat for the chant. Sadly, due to how exhausted I was and how cold the room was, I kept drifting off through the lecture. I can say that what I did see was very interesting.
Next up Ryan did an interesting lecture about hoaxes. he touched on the 2012 phenomenon, UFO sightings and strange paranormal events in the media. It was an interesting and different lecture than I am used to from him. Even when he touched on most topics I had heard him speak about before, it seemed like there was a new ease and humor about it. It seemed very much like Ryan has a new lease on life.
Finally we headed back to the hotel and everyone rushed about eagerly to get dressed for the masquerade. We all rushed around, doing make up, laughing and consulting along the way, It was a bit chaotic, but in a fun way. It was very much like setting up for an important party that you know will be a blast. Now, I may be biased, but when we were done and headed out the door, we all looked fantastic.
The masquerade was awesome! We were late arriving and when we entered, there was a performance happening courtesy of Voodoo Authentica. There were lots of "ooh's and aah's" as people mingled and tried to figure out who was under the masks. The costumes, outfits and masks added a mysteriously fun aspect to everything. I had removed my glasses for the full mask effect and was suffering from slight blindness, but I still managed to be convinced to dance with Whitney. People danced and the music played on and on, at least as long as Whitney could push it.
Then, the music ended. People moved on to their rooms or the lobby. The auctioned Ghost Hunts began and people gathered to work out late night plans. Groups decided to make their way into the French Quarter for an evening of mingling with the Bourbon St crowd. The rest of my group, after changing and dropping me at the hotel, are headed out to meet up with other Field Trippers in the Quarter in search of crazy times and wacky memories. I am a little too tired to hit the night life, but there is always tomorrow.
