Ruby in the Sky

A few weeks back, I went to a huge convention called F.A.C.T.S. in Ghent, Belgium. The con had aspects of gaming, anime and sci-fi, and… QUIDDITCH.
Now, I don’t think I have talked about quidditch on here before, so let me roughly explain it to you: Quidditch is the sport played by Harry Potter and others in the famous J.K. Rowling series. Except, quidditch (with no capital) is real. Muggle quidditch is, as the name kind of gives away for those who have read the books or seen the movies, quidditch for non-wizarding people. We run with pvc-pipes (or fancy shadowchasers or peterson’s brooms) between our legs, bludgers get thrown instead of hit with bats, and the snitch is a person with a tennis ball in a sock at the back of his pants. The sport itself is usually described as a mixed-gender full-contact sport that is a mix of rugby and handball. It’s really intense and also really great. If you want to know more: http://www.iqaquidditch.org/  is a link to the website of the International Quidditch Association.
So, I’ve been playing quidditch since May, and was planning to go to this convention anyway. Add international quidkids to the equation (they are all amazing), and you’ve got the recipe for a great weekend. You know I’m serious when I tell you I got up at around 5 o’clock saturday morning in order to be in Ghent by the time the first demo match would be. The con was amazing: there were hundreds (??) of stands, with everything and anything sci-fi, anime (or generally japanese) or gaming related. They even had a specific Doctor Who shop and a TARDIS! Thanks to our connections, we could drop off all our stuff at their booth and just go ahead an wander around; If we wanted to play, that was fine too.

I ended up buying a Star Trek shirt and a TARDIS money box (which is the one I’m using for my Day Zero project), I went to a workshop by Kamui cosplay, I took a picture with the TARDIS (in Clara cosplay, of course) and I took a picture with a Groot and a very cute little Rocket(!!!). I also played a seeker for the first time – well, the first time for a whole game, in actual sport attire that is. Oh, and: IT WAS AWESOME. Also I caught the snitch (once)(I was really proud of that). The weekend left me completely worn down (which was kind of too bad because school was due to start again the next day), sore and up some kind of cloud I didn’t get of for another week or so. I can’t wait for the next con!

Do you ever go to conventions or fantasy fairs?

Love, Ruby