It was part of my New Year’s Resolutions to finally build something to show at BrickFair, after a handful of years of just going as a member of the public. Mission accomplished! I thought for sure I would blog every night with photos– so I took photos of everything– but I didn’t get home until after midnight each night so there went that idea right there. LOL

First off, I just want to say how much I love AFOLs. Their mere presence reaffirms my existence. Yay LEGO-building nerdfighters! It’s so great to know that I don’t have to leave things like my beloved LEGO bricks behind me as I age. There’s not only a group of people but an official name for people like me who are still kids at heart… or who are adults at heart who want to build with LEGO. It’s bloody fantastic!

Day 1:
I packed up my MOCs as best I could and crossed my fingers that they’d arrive in good condition. Luckily, they all made it there just fine.

As space on the Vignette table was limited, I set up my BookCrossing display there first. I hid a stash of books under the table and hoped I’d brought enough for the first day. Then I headed over and set up my Harry Potter ones next. Dressing the MOCs is my favorite part so I had fun with that. Then I decided I was hungry. So I went to Subway (no instant Scrabble winner) where I looked over the schedule to see what I wanted to be sure not to miss.

I visited the dealer’s rooms upstairs where I was immediately taken with Brick Circuits. They had an Interior Lighting Module that was the perfect solution to the problem I was having with the Slytherin Common Room. Yes, the top flips up for closer inspection, but it was still too dark. So I really wanted the lighting module. It attached to the top of something (like the ceiling) and came with 3 button batteries– enough for the weekend’s exhibition. How much was it? Only $12! I bought it instantly and hugged it and loved it muchly. From Brickforge I bought a wizard’s staff, elf helmet & bow, dwarf helmet & shield & axe thinking that now I could play Lord of the Rings properly with my LEGO. I have a not-so-secret-now desire to do a small vignette of the scene in LotR: TT where Legolas slides down the stairs on the orc shield. heehee Also from Brickforge bought a set of stickers for minifigs (one had a bare-chested sticker I can use for Ron!Harry in a MOC I’m brainstorming for next year) and two microphones I can use for the Music-themed MOC I have planned for next year as well.

I checked on my MOCs–still there, though the book I’d left was gone and I replaced it with another– and then went down to the LEGO Universe roundtable. Fascinating. I didn’t know much at all about LEGO Universe but it was really interesting to hear everyone’s input about what the game/experience would be like. Not what I was expecting, but very cool. I left a few minute early to go by my MOCs again and then headed to LEGO Bingo.

I didn’t win a thing at LEGO Bingo but I came very close two times and two people in my row won. Some really awesome prizes and it was a lot of fun. Then came the evening ceremonies. So many fans of LEGO all in one place– I was overwhelmed with nerdy happiness! And also I felt a bit… well, not yet up to their level of awesome. I definitely had a lot to learn still.

I checked on my MOCs again (yes, it’s a reoccurring theme here) then took a few spins around the floor. I was astounded by the diversity of MOCs this year. I mean, I was impressed in previous years but this year… wow. This year was definitely the year to go. Incredible things! I was especially in awe of the castles, the recreations of buildings, and the steampunk. But there was SO much to be in awe of. The train/city displays were marvelous. The carousel was beautiful. The working slot maching & ATM machine were incredible. The mosaics were stunning. There was a haunted house right next to my vignette that was almost exactly what I’d thought of building a few years ago, only much better than I could have done. I was also quite taken with the Star Trek & Star Wars, naturally. Some other favorites were the Mill & Mine, the Metro, and There’s a Fish in there somewhere. And did I mention the Steampunk?

I talked to some builders about their MOCs and finally got an answer about that gold brick project to re-create LEGO National Reigster buildings. I thought that would be the perfect way to combine my LEGO hobby with Markeroni. But, alas, that was a one year thing. Doesn’t mean I can’t just build them anyway though.

I hovered about a little, then chickened out. I headed out to my car and then said screw it and went back in. I asked someone to take my photo in front of the Steampunk MOCs so I could send the themed photo to Woot Shirts from Around the World.

I went home and had a quick microwaved meal. Then I braved the thunderstorm and headed to Potomac Mills. I left my bottle of water in the car… something I regretted later. LOL I waited to go inside and picked a ticket: white. Which, unfortunately was the second-to-last group to go in (though there were only, like, 2 people in black, the last group. DOH!) So I went from standing in one line to standing about. And then standing in another line. There were some awesome people in line with me though. It was great talking with them and sharing the pain of watching people walk out with bags and bags of LEGO. When I finally got inside, they’d sold out of everything I wanted. I got some pick a brick and got in line. I was nearly the last in line by then. I browsed the shelves as the line slowly snaked around the store. I almost bought a few sets, but I kept reminding myself about Infinitus. If it wasn’t a set I desperately wanted, why buy something just to buy something? Infinitus. Must save money for that convention. The wait was excruciatingly long. Pretty soon I regretted staying. If I hadn’t had some pick-a-brick I would have left (I didn’t want to make them dump the cup out and sort it… and there were some bricks I’d picked that I really liked/wanted). The people in front of me bought hundreds of dollars worth… one guy bought more than $700! I’m definitely not that rich. The LEGO store people had a mix of pity and laughter when I got up there with my $14 worth of bricks. I was exhausted and a little annoyed, but I’ll know better next year. And I’m sure it’s a better system than the running of the bulls that’s been done in previous years. Still, I would have liked a shot at some things. But it’s all good. I got home well after 1am and didn’t regret it too much. Next time I will bring water & a book.

Day 2:
I got there early and checked on my MOCs and put out another book. It then occurred to me that I should put two out at a time. I talked with the woman who was helping to watch over her son’s MOCs and told her that if she wanted to, she could put some out. She totally didn’t have to and I told her that and felt guilty for asking, but she said she didn’t mind and she’d look after it for me. Yay.

Then I went and volunteered for two hours up at the Bling desk. I helped sort out the “how the heck do you tell the hat sizes apart?” issue and then went to the suite to get waters for everyone. I took a minute to glance at the “adult” LEGO MOCs on the table in the suite. Honestly, I consider myself to have a very dirty mind but even I couldn’t have imagined doing some of those things with LEGO bricks. LOL I’m both in awe and disturbed by them. heehee! I handled money- mostly selling the kits and cans and pins. I almost bought a kit but decided I didn’t need one (pool isn’t really my thing and I already had a collectable brick and pin and can to remember the year). Once again… Infinitus. Must save money for stuff I REALLY want. Good Keta. *hugs self*

Anyhoo, I went back down and put out some more books. Then I went to my Harry Potter MOCs and introduced myself to Jen & family. They’re so sweet. I’ve admired her Harry potter projects for years now so I was worried she’d think I was barging in on her project. But she’s sooooo much better than I am and I purposefully made all three of mine Marauders Era MOCs so as not to be too similar to hers. I was astounded by her awesomeness once again this year. I loved the 3 Brothers vignette and her Final Battle scene with actual dueling action was amazing. Loved the hour glasses. Anyhoo, I planned to sit there for a few hours and then go to Bingo again. But I was having SO much fun talking with Harry Potter fans that I ended up staying there all day (with another trip over to replenish books). I built a little LEGO card holder by the end of the day and started putting out more than a few books at a time. I was beginning to worry that I wouldn’t get rid of all the books I’d brought. It was great to talk to people and see their reactions to my MOCs. One clever guy who had picked up one of my books on the other side of the room even correctly identified all the beds in the dorm room- smart lad!

I walked around and finally got to the rooms down the hall. OMG amazing! The PennLug room was fantastic. I loved the Geocache(the Geocache vignette from last year inspired my BookCrossing one this year) and all the little touches like Wolverine and Batman. heehee But the ApocoLEGO was astoundingly amazing and creative. Especially the gigantic Washington Monument.

I even had a chance to notice two familiar blue boxes- one in the midst of an apocolypse and the other in town.

I went to evening ceremonies where I didn’t win anything. But I guess better to win nothing than win something I wouldn’t be able to use– like Bionicle. LOL I was amused at the views on Bionicle throughout the weekend, actually. I still feel like building Harry Potter stuff isn’t the same as some of the other building out there… I feel like people look down on me a little. But I’m still a rung above the Bionicle folks, apparently. Some of their stuff was great, but I wouldn’t know what to do with it. Apparently I wasn’t alone. Poor Bionicle folk. I ran into Nate (SUCH a sweetie) who gave me his free public admission pass, which I ended up giving to my parents. Then I headed home for dinner. But I didn’t make it home. I went to Subway (again, no instant Scrabble win) and spent the time making a whole long list of MOCs I want to build. Uh oh. It’s perpetual! heehee

I headed back to the hotel for evening festivities and ran into Nate. We decided to head to the LEGO store in Tysons. I’d never been there before (Potomac Mills is the one I usually go to), so he drove. It was fun getting to know him and swapping LEGO experiences and things. I bought another pick-a-brick cupful. Definitely a fun trip!

We got back in time for the games & competitions. Dirty Brickster was just wrapping up, but it was neat seeing how it worked (wrapped gifts, people getting to steal opened packages from others, etc.. Then came Dirty Buildster where people were given different bags of bricks and instructed to build something unique and creative in half an hour. There were some fantastic MOCs! And some kind of weird ones, too. Everyone did a great job. This was followed by the Combo Build where everyone gets the same set and has to build something different from the set and the Speed Build where two teems competed to build the Eiffel Tower the fastest. And, of course, the Drunk/Impared Speed Build was quite a sight to behold. Not only did each participant down 8 shots, but the lights were turned down low, the songs were turned up high, and the white tablecloths were replaced with striped ones that resembled the colors in the sets they were trying to build. heehee Clever and fun to watch. I stuck around a little after it was over and helped clean up.

Day 3:
This day, I decided to put out about 5 or 6 books at a time at the BookCrossing MOC. I ended up getting rid of all but anout 10 books. Not too bad at all. The really, really nice mother who said she’d help out by putting out more books said some people were skeptical of the books (really free? heehee sounds familiar. We get the same thing at book festival giveaways). She also wanted to know if it was all right for her girls to help themselves to books. OF COURSE! I love seeing them get good homes and it was a nice way to help pay her back. She insisted that she came out ahead in the deal but I’m really very grateful she helped with the books!

I stayed with my Harry Potter MOCs for most of the day because I was expecting visitors. A few friends from my DADA (Defense Against Dumb A’s who don’t get Harry Potter) group came by to see my pieces (and Jen’s, of course). Hopefully we impressed them. And it was sooooooooooooo nice to be able to show off my hard work and lovely-created projects with friends. And then, a little later, my parents came! It was really cool that they’d come to support me and see my works. I took Dad to BrickFair in 2006 and he was impressed then, but this was Mom’s first time seeing the stuff. They both stayed a long time and looked at everything. Yay 🙂

I also got to meet two LEGO friends from Twitter! JustJon (who brought me a rose. Awww! LOVE it!) and brickworkz (who I kept missing every time I walked by the mosaics the day before).

I also noticed something new at the Bionicle table. It’s a commentary about the state of their genre. Bionicle is as much LEGO as Lincoln Logs.

The public show time ended and I was amazed at how quickly people began taking their MOCs apart– it was almost immediate! I packed mine up and then went to the closing evening ceremonies… where I still didn’t win anything. *sad panda* But the rep from The LEGO Group addressed us and took questions for 5 minutes in the closing ceremonies. There were some interesting questions posed and some that made me laugh. I finally heard an honest answer about old gray vs. new gray that I can live with (it happened, move on!). And someone was interested enough to ask about Harry Potter LEGO sets (no comment, which pretty much means none, which I wouldn’t be surprised about considering the game news). And the answer to “will you have Star Trek LEGO sets?” made me mad (in a playful, geeky way). “Why do you need Star Trek when you have Star Wars?” Seriously, though, I don’t really understand the answer about not wanting to compete with themselves. Why NOT sell both? It’s not like there’s some company picking up Star Trek license and producing the same product. You’d just get more money by selling both lines. But I do believe the bit about not being able to hold the license for both at the same time. Still… hey… Trek & Wars are NOT the same! 🙂

When it was all over, I actually teared up a little to see it all end. It was so much fun! Jen gave me two custom bricks she’d had made for both of us- they read “Book Girl” and “Harry Potter Girl”. Squeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee! Much love.

It took five trips to get everything to my car. Several pieces of the Slytherin Common Room and Gryffindor Tower fell apart in the process. After a whole weekend of being virtually indestructible, all I had to do was set the Slytherin Common Room in a box and it fell to pieces! Ack! WTF? LOL Better now than before though.

I said goodbye to The BrickChick’s car on my way out. And said goodbye to BrickFair as well! After I got home, I heard that my sister would have wanted to have gone to see my MOCs. Seriously, I didn’t think she’d be interested even remotely. So I ended up rebuilding the parts of my MOCs that had fallen apart and then gave her a special showing.

Oh, and my count of Woot Shirts for the weekend was 5. Not bad! I also saw 3 Washington Capitals shirts & 1 Caps hat. Yayness.

I had so much fun at my first BrickFair as a participant. I can’t wait for next year!
All my photos are here: http://www.brickshelf.com/cgi-bin/gallery.cgi?f=398763

PS- The next day, I got a Twitter message from Family Video. I’d won the drawing the week before for Coraline on DVD. So, there we go. After all those misses, I ended up winning something that week after all!

PPS- Edited to add the bit about the Q&A on the last night.