fko moments (part 1)

Breakfast on Friday morning. Dave, Tom, Marlene, Phil and Lissa.

FilKONtario reports that I've found in LJ so far (I'm using LJ usernames since I'm never sure who prefers to keep their real names under wraps):

oreouk (Part 2, Part 3), ldwheeler, filkertom, phillip2637 and another phillip2637 post, allisona (part 2), chirosinger, tnatj (and part 2), tarkrai, spiritdance, daisy_knotwise, maedbh7, katyhh, shannachie,, kyttn, sposter, zencuppa, musicmutt, catalana (part 2, part 3), jhayman, smooom, demoneyes, folkmew, sexybass, gorgeousgary, billroper, madfilkentist, tnatj, braider, peristalismum.

FKO photos: The ones I took, Phillip, Allison, tnatj, John Hall.

Hey, it's April. That means, of course, that I can now say that we get possession of our new house next month.

The following is Part 1 of a few moments, notes and highlights of FKO for me. Part 2 will be posted later today. To those who responded to my Filker Photo Challenge in LJ: Most of you got the correct answer...Juliane Honisch!

Tom and a Woman of Mystery.

In no particular order...

- Seeing the Urban Tapestry "What Were We Thinking" DVD raise $600 for Interfilk (!). Thanks SO much to Gary and Sheryl for buying the DVD, and to John Durno for all his hard work in putting this project together!

- Erica Neely and I being able to finally grab a few minutes near the very end of the convention for Erica to play a song that she had written for me. Holy toledo, am I glad we managed to do so! I've always adored Erica's voice and have very much enjoyed chatting with her in the past, but this was the first time I got a glimpse of the Truly Evil Erica (deliciously so). And I Must Have My Revenge, of course. Ms. Neely won't know when or in what form. (insert maniacal laughter fading into the distance...)

Allison in our hotel room.

- Being able to spend some time with Dave Clement on Thursday evening. As I've mentioned before many times, as much as I enjoy group gatherings, I'm starting to value one-on-one time with good friends even more. It happens so rarely at filk conventions, and I prefer not to book my weekend up ahead of time. This time I purposely arrived a day early so that Dave and I could get some time together. Bonus: I got to see other early FKO arrivals as well, and got some Lissa time (details in Part 2).

- Surprise birthday party for Maya, organized by Greg, in the consuite around midnight on Saturday. Got to chat with lots of people.

Allison and Becca.

- Seeing Andrea again, checking out her kid pics, talking cooking. And camera wars at breakfast. :-)

- Meeting Rand's girlfriend, Erin (mentioned this yesterday).

- Hearing Steve announce his and Katy's engagement during his concert, just after he had sung "Home" to Katy. God, did I bawl. I have a huge weakness for romantic songs of this type. Steve's entire concert was amazing, by the way. That guy has such incredible stage presence.

- Bill Roper's dinosaur impression during Steve's concert. I can't even think about this without a big smile on my face.

Sheryl and Gary.

- Girltalk with Judith. We were rehearsing for her concert since she had asked me to play flute during "Maid of the Mist" and we just got talking...and talking... :-)

- Seeing Tom West sing in open filk again. Tom, as some of you may already know, was the one who first introduced me to filk.

- The hallway Irish session on Friday night, organized by Mary. WAAAAY fun (thanks so much, Mary!). I had to use my sheet music for most of it, but at least I could play along a bit this time. I would kill to be able to play whistle like Juliane!

- Learning "Paige's Polka" from Dave Clement, doing other whistle stuff with him. He's an incredibly patient teacher.

Andrea.

- Morden chocolate ducks from Dave, Green & Black organic chocolate bars from Lissa, keepsake box from Kathleen. Got "Spinning Reels" as a birthday gift from Gary & Sheryl, a great CD from D. Glenn Arthur's band. Lots of tunes I've heard of! Veryvery cool; I can practise playing along with these. Lyanne made me Oreo cookie pants! They fit perfectly, and I'm wearing them now; they're ideal work-at-home comfy pants. Rand gave me a copy of the Ookla the Mok Consonance concert DVD for my birthday; I'm looking forward to watching this.

- Chatting with Clark Wierda on the phone. Clark is in Kuwait right now, where he is doing a tour of duty with the US Armed Forces.

- Hearing Peggi and Carolyn perform their parody of Urban Lullaby in concert.

Lissa with Oreos.

- Seeing Tom's (as in Tom Jeffers, not Tom West) girlfriend Marlene again. Marlene attended her first filk convention last year at OVFF; I was so happy to see that we hadn't scared her off! :-)

- Carla Ulbrich's dress at the Saturday night banquet. Her concert was fantastic; I had SO much fun as did the rest of the audience. Plus she and Joe are just so darned cute together.

- Hallway conversation with Paul Estin. Wish it could have been longer.

- Mini birthday celebration with Allison and Jodi in our hotel room. Got a gift certificate for Staples from Jodi (Jodi knows I have a thing for office supplies, plus I'll need more for my new office) and some heavenly-smelling Mango Mandarin body cream (Bath & Body Works Pleasures line). Allison gave me an Incredibles gift bag with fun stuff inside like mini-bubbles and Incredibles stickers but also practical gardening items to help my new garden survive my less-than-expert care. I especially loved the plastic flowers (a suggestion of Allison's husband John, apparently) in case ALL MY PLANTS DIE. :-D

Tom and Michelle at the Filk Hall of Fame banquet.

- Being able to take so many photos of Michelle. My favourite photo: Michelle in a gorgeous sleeveless evening gown at the Filk Hall of Fame Banquet, looking elegant...and with her clenched fist upraised in her usual "I'm gonna kill you, Ohi" gesture of affection.

- The Filk Hall of Fame Banquet. Moving speeches, well-deserved awards. Congratulations to Clif Flynt, Tom Smith and Judith & Dave Hayman. I'm very glad I attended.

Jodi as a Filk Wench (runner for the Interfilk auction).

- RED BALLOONS! I posted a handwritten entry explaining my red balloon obsession on my birthday, and apparently more than a few people saw it. Mary Bertke organized a conspiracy in which some of my friends came up to me at random times during Saturday afternoon with a helium-filled red balloon, saying, "I hear you like red balloons, Debbie. Happy birthday!" By the end of the afternoon, I had quite the floating bouquet. Ju tied them to my ponytail at one point. Here's a photo Allison took partway through the afternoon.

- Seeing the Boogie Knights perform again! Geez, they are SUCH good performers...such amazing energy and good humor.

- Hearing Becca Allen sing anything.

(Continued in Part 2...)

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