Oogaboo Invasion

The Oogs are here in force. We had a small crowd last night and showed the Shirley Temple "Land of Oz" and had popcorn. A handful stayed the night, then Eric and I (mostly Eric) frantically cleaned while our overnighters went out to a chocolate factory in hopes of getting a tour (they didn't).

Because we told everyone they could show up early, instead of saying they should arrive around 2 pm as usual, most people arrived at about 2 pm instead of 3-4 pm. Go figure.

One of our special guests is David Maxine, who comic fans might better recognize as Hungry Tiger Press, the publishing company of Eric Shanower's works. David is in town to see Wagner's Ring, and is apparently staying with Ed Brubaker. Unfortunately, he has to leave very soon to go to the opera.

There are around a dozen wild and crazy Oogaboos wandering around our living room. I won't mention the discussion topics, since they range far and wide and much have nothing to do with Oz. I'm hearing a lone voice from the back... what's that? What's an Oogaboo? Ah...

Oogaboos live in the Northwest corner of Oz, as seen in Tik-Tok of Oz. As the Oz fandom in the United States tend to congregate in groupings by geography, when the Northwest group first formed, they called themselves Oogaboos. They are the only Oz group that I know of that has regular quarterly gatherings (we call them Oogaboo Rendezvous) and they are a fairly tight-knit group. When I married Eric, I married into the Oogaboos.

Oogaboo Rendezvous tend to be mild meetings. The Oogs gather at somebody's house (Eric hosts at least one, sometimes two a year) and bring food for a potluck (including one time when everyone brought pie) and chat and bring in books to sell to each other and sometimes watch a video and bring show-and-tell stuff that's Oz-related. For this meeting I set out all the comic books we've gotten recently that have an Oz theme or are slightly Oz related (Oddly Normal was a big hit).

They are now gathering to take "the quiz" which will be played on the Home Jeopardy set Eric has. He put in a bunch of Oz questions and the gathering has been divided into three teams for the tournament. I'm trying to convince Eric to put the questions and answers up on the Oz Blog, but I think he's considering saving them for a later Oz convention.

Sadly, I just took another dose of the anti-nausea medication because I was beginning to feel the room weave and wave around me. In less than an hour I'm likely to be unconscious from the stuff. I hope I wake up before the party ends.