I left around 11am on Friday to go to Columbus. I had to make sure that I beat everyone to the hotel, since the reservation was under my name. So, I got there probably sometime after 2pm. I was first. Yay! The drive really sucked, though... tons of rain and downpours. Not really my fav driving conditions. So, once there I got the hotel keys, parked my car, and headed up to the rooms. The rooms had adjoining doors! Yay again! When I got in the room the radio was on playing classical music, which I thought was kinda funny since it was a Holiday Inn. It was really quiet when I got there, so I kicked back and waited for everyone to arrive. I left the classical music on becaue it was relaxing.
After 3pm I get a call from PeregrinPip. SQUEE! So, shortly after that they arrived at the hotel and got settled. We hung out, I met their friend, I showed them my scrapbook and stuff, and then Ros was the next to arrive! Onecheekyhobbit and I ran downstairs to help her because she had brought lots of fun stuff (DVD player, VCR, lots of movies!). I started taking movies around this point... got some videos of the girls making themselves all pretty for Mt. Shore! Haha! Don't worry, there's plenty of embarrassing footage of me to make up for the embarrassements I caused others :)
Next came Ninquelosse, Cinerama, and their son. They, fun enough, ended up with a room right across the hall from us. So, once we were prettied up we went to meet some people for dinner and hoped that the others would arrive soon. When we got to the restaurant we met up with FredO and wife of the Fan Club boards. They are so fun! So, we all sat down and ate some salad while we waited for a few more. Next came Bryan and his friends. So, once all of us were there we decided to order because we heard from Dee that her and Kisa were gonna be late because of stupid traffic. So, we had a fun dinner... we caught up, talked Hobbits and LOTR, made lots of bad jokes, took pics, and got videotaped by FredO. After dinner a lot of people left for the Ohio Theatre to catch the preshow Q&A with Howard Shore. PeregrinPip, OneCheekyHobbt, J, Finabair, Ros, and I waited for Kisa and Dee. Oh yeah, we also met Mars as dinner was ending... he's fun. He wanted pictures taken with all the ladies to show to his friends :)
So, soon afterward Dee and Kisaarrived... blomping ensued. They hurried, unpacked, and changed... and we were off to the theatre...

The Ohio Theatre is quite lovely... very ornate. Lots of reds and gold. Anyway, our seats were in the lower balcony. They were good seats, but the leg room was not good for anyone over 5 feet tall. There were a few people in costume, and there was one lady with this creepy large Frodo doll that she was cradling like a baby. Yeah, a little creepy.
The concert was great. I was happy that some music from the movies that didn't make it onto the soundtracks was in there, including: The Departure of the Fellowship from Rivendell, The Extended Fall of Gandalf music, and SHADOWFAX! Oh yes, the Shadowfax music was played and Tig was a happy girl!!!!!!!!!! Throughout the concert they projected concept art and sketches onto screens which related to the part of the movie that the music was from. I thought it was weird at first, because a lot of the tempos were different, but then I was like, "Well, the man wrote the music, so if he wants to play with it as a conductor he's allowed." :) But, overall, I thought the symphony did a good job. It was interesting to hear how different some parts could sound, and how others sounded just like on the soundtrack. I liked being able to see the instruments that were being featured on some of the more unique pieces (such as the Treebeard piece, and such). The female soloist had a lovely voice, she did a nice job. The choir was alright, but I thought that they lacked in the power needed for some of the stronger pieces. But, eh, you can't have it all. I'm wondering if this concert had one of the longest standing ovations in the Columbus Symphony history... because, honestly, it went on forever... but that's fine, Howard's the man, he deserves it.

So, after the concert we went back to the hotel for drinks. Some of us, I won't mention who, got a little tipsy! Hehe! It was great, we must've been there for hours. Onecheekyhobbit played a little Pac Man, others were having philosophical LOTR discussions, and the rest of us were just blathering, in a fun way! We met two new fans down there who had, unfortunately, just been mugged before they arrived. That sucks, I feel bad for them. They were really nice, though, I enjoyed them. I can't really remember everything that went on at the bar, but it was fun stuff, and that's all that matters.
After the bar closed we went back to the rooms. Finabair and Ros decided to sleep, and Dee tried to but eventually was overtaken by the lure of the Tarot deck and Chain of Fools. I was up until 5am! Ha! I love it! Kisa gave me an awesome tarot reading that I'm hoping will come true... it looked promising :)