Finally, we heard cheering and saw lots of flashes going off below. A staff member mentioned that John Rhys-Davies was here! I could hardly contain my excitement. I've heard nothing except how gracious and sweet this man is in real life, and he was the FIRST CELEBRITY we were about to meet. As he made his way up the stairs, two people came and stood RIGHT in front of our side of the staircase. I was very, very put out. I had it all worked out in my mind - he would come up the stairs, see me at the top at the stairs in all my white-dress, Galadriel glory, stop a few stairs from the top and ask me for a strand from my golden head... Alas, it was not to be! However, he did glance to his right, straight at Melonie and Gina. I thought Melonie was about to faint. Her smile nearly split her face in two! He said, "Hello, all you sick fans. Thank you for coming. Why are you all here? You should be home, watching the Oscars, eating chips and drinking beer!" It was very, very sweet! The crowd followed him into the main pool room and we decided to wait so we didn't miss anyone else. We were somehow under the impression that if he was there, the others must be well on their way. We thought if we waited, the main crowd would have dispersed and we could talk to him longer. We needn't have bothered waiting!!!!! The rest of the cast and crew didn't show up for quite a while, and when Melonie and I finally decided we needed to go talk to him, he'd already left by a different staircase! We were so very disappointed!! I wanted to hug him! I wanted to tell him how desperately glad I was that he was alive after his horrid accident, and how much I admire his work. I did point him out to Kierstin when she finally decided to show up, so at least she got a picture with him.

**Note: The lucky penguin in all these pictures is LadyBird, Kierstin's office mascot, who has traveled all over the world and now, has met many celebrities!**

So we waited and waited again. During all of the waiting around at the top of the stairs that we did, it was interesting to note that every TORN staffer we saw was running around, talking on their walkie talkies, getting things organized for the V.V.I.P.s - generally being busy. We asked Quickbeam for another picture (to imitate the picture we'd had taken with him at Bowlmoot last August) and truthfully, there was never really a moment that he had free until the very end of the night. He was always running about doing something. After the celebrities came, he was busy running from one to the other, welcoming them to the party and asking if they needed anything - generally trying to make them feel as welcome and comfortable as possible. We were amazed and disappointed at how little partying the staffers really did. They were so busy, we're not even sure they ever ate! So thank you, organizers, for making this party so memorable for the rest of us!

This was a very long waiting period (almost an hour and a half long!), with lots of false alarms. At that point, a girl who we'd noticed had been staring at us and taking notes came up to Gina and told us that she liked our dresses and that she was planning on making costumes for herself as well. She was very nice, but we were pretty distracted, unfortunately. . . (if that nice girl is out there and reading this, we're so sorry for being distracted!) Finally, another celebrity arrived and mounted the stairs. I caught the name from a staffer - Greg Parker. Who is Greg Parker? I wasn't entirely sure, though the name sounded vaguely familiar. A lovely man dressed in a fetching black suit and shirt was coming. As he reached the top of the stairs, he immediately approached Jeffrey to get a closer look at his prosthetic  hobbit feet. Next (be still my heart!), he looked up at ME and his eyes got bigger and said, "Those ears are FANTASTIC! Where did you get those?" I pointed out Shawn, our makeup artist standing next to me who didn't have a clue what was happening. This Greg Parker fellow said, "Turn back, I want to see those again." I told him they were gelatin as he pulled away my hair and felt my ears! Okay, it was cool, but at this point I wasn't so excited because I had no idea who he was. After he left, Jeffrey and I were theorizing he was a makeup artist on the set because he was so interested in the makeup, and he had a kiwi accent. Shawn seemed put out and wanted to meet him to ask for a job, so I went in search of him. As I looked in the table room, there was a lady staffer at the doorway. She asked if I was looking for someone and I said I was. She told me, "Billy Boyd and Dominic Monaghan are on their way, and Craig Parker is here." CRAIG PARKER??? CRAIG PARKER??? I just about screamed and died, concurrently or consecutively. Craig Parker, not Greg Parker. Haldir the elf, not a makeup artist! I was flabbergasted. This swimmingly nice man was Haldir and I didn't even recognize him! To be fair, he is much better looking in real life than he is on film. And his kiwi accent, so different from his accent in the movie, made his voice unrecognizable. I almost wanted to cry at this point. I'd missed my opportunity to talk to him more and get a picture. I ran back and fairly SHRIEKED to the rest of the group standing there that it was Haldir who had just touched my ears and I didn't even know who he was. I was embarrassed and sad, but determined to look for him later in the night. For the moment, however, I knew that the two blessed hobbits were on their way.

Alas, I was mistaken again! First of all, a man in a sharp red suit was heading upstairs. None of us knew who it was and we didn't hear anybody say his name. He came up to us immediately and starting chatting away very pleasantly. He was so very sweet and kind, not to mention having a very cute kiwi accent as well. At this point, I was still very flustered about the whole Craig Parker incident, so I thought I'd check one last time in two of the main rooms. In the table room, the lady staffer asked me who I was looking for again, and I cried, "I talked to Craig Parker and I didn't even realize it was him!!!" This red-suited gentleman must have overheard me because he said, "Oh, you want to talk to Craig? I'll find him for you!" I took the opportunity to ask him what his name was and he said, "Well, my real name is Bruce..." BRUCE HOPKINS! I knew right away who he was. "... but you'll know me better as Gamling." I shouted, "GAMLING! Of course! I didn't recognize you without the wig!!" I was tickled indeed and we immediately got pictures with him. He then pulled out his camera and wanted pictures of us!! "For my website," he said (http://www.bruce-hopkins.com/). After another lengthy bit of conversation, he parted with us with another promise of finding Craig for us again.

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