• Amalah
• Ampersand
• Cowgirl Funk
• Cut the Crap
• A Damn Thing
• Fly in the Honey
• From the Mind of the Dawnie
• Hannah Cooks
• Hannah Talks
• Hashai
• Hate Your Daddy
• Hussified
• Invinciblegirl
• JournalCon 2004
• Journey of a Girl
• Kiss My Grits
• Les-Cadeaux
• Meegor
• Nearly There
• The Nuthouse
• Pineapple Girl
• The Rage Diaries
• The Random Muse
• SkinnyKat
• That Something
• What Does a Girl Do?

I wanted to meet Booger and try some spanakopita and baklava at her house, and hold her cats Bert and Max in my lap and pet them a lot. I would have taken Booger out for a lot of drinks and brought her something pretty and shiny for her pretty new house, and I definitely would have brought her some wine. And I would say thank you for being there even though you are too fucking far away from me.

I wanted to meet Kalamity and drink some tequila shots with her and touch her pretty, pretty hair and admire her poise and panache in person. I would have brought her some wine and also something pretty and shiny for her new house, but mostly I would just give her a hug and say thank you for being so nice to me and also, I want to live in your neighborhood.

I wanted to meet Molly and talk about beauty products and hair and boys and her cute cute dog. I would listen to her, in awe, and want to be just like Molly when I grow up. I wanted to sit next to Molly at the MATH dinner so that I would know how to order my food, and I wanted to get in some kind of trouble with her. She's a kindred spirit, and I am probably not to be trusted with her, particularly when drinking is involved.

I wanted to kiss Chiara right on the mouth and tell her that I love her and her journal and I want to travel to Europe with her someday and have her teach me some Italian and French on the plane, and then we would flirt with all of the locals and maybe make out with them a little bit, but more than anything, we would eat gelato and giggle a lot.

I wanted to finally meet Rebekah and get falling-down drunk with her and giggle until our throats were sore from all of the talking. I wanted to talk about boys and Canada and Lush and why she should move to the Midwest and also, I'm so glad she's my friend, because I never feel crazy when Rebekah is on my side.

I also wanted to meet Tyger and drink some drinks with her at the hotel bar, and maybe even drink some vodka in my room with her, because I think she seems like fun and I still haven't met her and it seems like I won't for some time.

And, I wanted to hang out with PG and talk about stationery and monograms and weddings and ink pens and I would probably have gotten out some awful non-monogrammed paper and taken notes on what she had to say because the woman knows everything, and if she doesn't, she tells you how to handle yourself with grace and aplomb and those are two things I really lack at times, and I often think I want to live near PG so that she can be my assistant and say "no, sweetie, you don't use LASER LABELS to print INVITATION ENVELOPES." And her accent makes me feel like home, because it's not quite southern and not quite Texas and not quite anything, really, but it's genuine and friendly and just as nice as you'd expect it to be.

And I wanted to buy Kat a billion drinks for sending me so much traffic when she linked me that one time, and instead, all I got to do was listen to a very drunk voicemail message from 3:00 a.m. JournalCon Time, and while that is better than nothing, she is still really fucking cool and I wanted to hang out with her and talk about iPods and how much I love her journal and also, could she please be my life coach? Because I need one. I would have given her a big hug and gone to her panel and everything.

I also wanted to sit next to Scarlett at the MATH dinner and talk about clothes and hair and boys and Harvard and her family and I would ask her ten thousand questions and she would probably have said "GOD. Can I EAT my fucking FOOD?" and I would have felt bad for a few minutes before I started in with more questions, because PG would not have been around for the grace and aplomb demonstrations at that time, and I would have made an ass out of myself with Scarlett somehow. I just know it.

I wanted to meet Jerryjayray and talk about hippie colleges while drinking fruity drinks with pretty little stirring devices. I would have introduced her to the Redheads myself instead of telling her "Go meet them! They will be nice to you and introduce you to the cool kids!" And I would have bummed her cigarettes and shared my vodka with her, I love her that much.

I wanted to meet Maxwell and talk about theatre and Show People and Zelda and how much I love her blog AND her journal and how she has impossibly cute hair and that I would totally vote for her to be in Redheads+1, but that might scare her away, so I would have just tried to be cool and get to know her gradually like regular people do when they meet someone ten times more awesome than themselves.

I wanted to meet Amy and Martha and I wanted to talk shit about Bank of Fucking America with Rob because he is way out of my league as a popular person and as a writer, but goddamn, do we both hate that bank.

I really really wanted to meet Lisa and talk about shoes and I would ask her a zillion questions about things and she would probably be so gracious as to not roll her eyes at this country bumpkin and she would find something nice to say about everyone and she would scold me for instigating feuds and talking shit too much. I wanted to sit across from her at the MATH dinner and listen to her telling stories and talking about science and technology and how she must A HREF all day long, but I love her links and I love her writing and I learn more from Lisa Schmeiser's updates in a week than I do from the nightly news, so take THAT, Dan Rather.

And I just looked at the attendees list again and I would have wanted to meet every single person there, but I don't know them very well, and I might have freaked them out or been scared to go up and say hi, because LIKE HELL am I going to walk up to Monty or Mo Pie and say hello, I love your work, please pretend to know who I am. However, I probably would have been That Hung Over Girl Who Hangs Out With Those Pretty Red-Haired Girls and spent my weekend with a Vodka Collins in hand.

But most of all, I missed seeing Dawn and Kate because they are the only attendees that I've met in person, they would understand when I suggested everyone down some H to the TWO OH before bed, and they would have taken my cell phone away when I suggested that everyone call T and wake him up and freak him out, and they would have done drunk tumbling in the lobby followed by drunk shot-taking in the room, and they would have introduced me to everyone because they are popular and have been there before and I am the Fat Monica to their Rachel. They would have been my Beacons of Safety and ensured that I had fun meeting everyone else, and I would have liked that a lot.

I did feel popular because I had FORTY-ONE missed calls on my cell between Friday at 1 a.m. and Sunday at 6 a.m., and about sixteen voicemail messages from some crazy journalling drunkards. Hope y'all had fun! See you in 2005!