HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO YOOOUUU

I was going to post about my visit to the Aussie Sanctuary, but the pictures aren't working properly -_-
Also, I might not be able to post much for the next few weeks because Scarl and I have Big Important Exams coming up.

I just wanted to say a slightly-early Happy Birthday to Cali! I'm not going to say exactly when her birthday is because she might not want that on the internet where creepy stalkers like me can see it, because suffice it to say that it is soonish.
HAPPY BIRTHDAY CALI :D

*Lots of virtual cake*

Suggesting more rules

I thought I'd suggest a couple of basic rules for our Council of Elders to vote on, seeing as we really need some :P

1) No bombs allowed.
This is a) self explanatory and b) our one current rule.

2) No insults, put downs or real life fights
...although role-play fighting and debating are allowed.
If you really must squabble over who's the bigger Ghanith fan, take it to email.

3) No killing off someone else's character without their permission.
This is as simple as writing *swings sword at Saph's neck* instead of *chops Saph's head off*. That way, I have the option of ducking.

4) No ducks allowed.
I am unwilling to negotiate on this.

5) No uprisings, please.
This is a democratic sanctuary. If you're upset with our leadership, then you have bad taste we can hold elections :3

6) Don't let the Sanctuary die.
^^^^ most important rule, right there. We're better than the Americans!

Since last post, Thalia Intel has joined the Sanctuary (I hope you enjoy it! Flick me an email at cgkaynz@gmail.com whenever you want to become a blog author). Also, I think Dugglyn Carzania has become our representative in America! (Do we need to add 'no zombie caterpillars' to the list of rules? Or, at least, no flesh-eating ones?)

Finally, I'm off to the Australian Sanctuary for three days, starting tomorrow and getting back 11pm Sunday night. It's my first time in Aussie, strangely enough, and I can't take my laptop so I'll see you all when I get back.

Love,
Saph

Meeting the Golden God

It was BRILLIANT.
The Elders decided beforehand that we were going to go in our Elder robes (which Scarlet made, so thanks for that Scarl). We all went together, along with Flaminia who has become our newest recruit. Apparently our costumes impressed the people running it so much that they gave us all goodie bags containing posters and a wristband! Flaminia was also an excellent Melancholia.
Derek's talk was just as funny as usual, and then there was the Q+A, and then we got to MEET him.

Of course, there was an incredibly long queue first. So we started advertising and recruiting for the Sanctuary :3 And before we noticed it, the line thinned out and trickled away...
Suddenly we were at the front, all "Hey, where'd the other people go?"
Which is when we all stood in front of Derek's little table. He looked up, took us in, and his eyes kind of widened in fear, like, "Who are these crazy people? What do they want with me?"
So I introduced us and his eyes kind of widened even more and he sat back in his seat.
Me: On the behalf of the New Zealand Sanctuary, I have a very serious gift for you.
*I place a packet of tim tams in front of him and give him an intense look*
They're real, Derek. Accept it.
So he burst out laughing, and then we were all talking and getting our books signed (he liked my taken name!). It was amazing. We all got a picture:


From right to left: Elder Scarlet Eventide, Flaminia, Derek, myself and Grand Mage Calidae Dark. In front are the tim tams XD

(I'm squinting. I don't know why I'm squinting. I didn't feel like I was squinting. Possibly I was looking at the wrong camera. There were three. Or maybe my smile's just too big.)

I'm also wearing a sword on my left hip that you can't really see in this photo, which I meant to use to threaten Derek into re-writing CERTAIN SCENES. Yes, it is a real sword. Yes, it is sharp. Yes, my parents know I keep a sword next to my hair ties. But we had so much fun discussing how crazy Blogland is that I forgot about the threatening thing completely.

Derek said he'd post his pictures of us on Twitter, but he hasn't yet. It was honestly the most amazing evening I've had all year. Thanks to everyone who came, as well as Derek for travelling all the way around the world. All hail the Golden God!

Love,
Saph

New recruits?

Wow.
I'm sure one of us will do a post about the meet & greet with Derek later, but for now I wanted to do something a bit more practical.
We did a lot of recruiting this evening, and I'm not sure how many of those people will actually visit. Just in case they do, here's a quick list of questions you might have:

Who are we?

Currently our staff are:
Grand Mage Calidae Dark
Elder Sapphire Iota (me!)
Elder Scarlet Eventide
Selena Gasp
Jasmine Echoing
Alex Stone

Unfortunately we don't see much of several Sanctuary members. Flaminia is also keen on joining I believe, so welcome to you Flaminia if you're here. I hope I spelt your name right :P Alex used to be our Administrator, but he moved to England and hasn't really been seen since (except for HACKING MY ACCOUNT.)

So you see why we're keen on having more staff!

Who appointed us leaders?

Ever heard of Blogland, that wonderful world in the comment sections of Derek's blog? Well, it all started there. Then the rest was decided among ourselves.

What do we do on here?

Not as much as we'd like to! We sometimes post about things relating to New Zealand and/or Skulduggery Pleasant. We'd like to do some role playing of Sanctuary life, but currently there aren't enough regular visitors. There's only one rule so far: no bombs allowed.
Yeah, we need more rules.

How do I join/comment?

First you need a blogger account. They're very quick to make, especially if you have Gmail/ Facebook. Just click on 'Create new account' in the top right-hand corner of this page. Then you'll be able to comment on our posts and/or receive notifications when we post. Feel free to chill out in the comment section until you're comfortable with this place. If you want to become a Sanctuary member, we need to send you an invite through email so just write your address in the comment section. For safety reasons please delete your comment after receiving the email invite :)

Is this only online?

There may occasionally be special occasions when meet ups are organised, such as when Derek comes on tour. But at least 98% of it will be on here.


I hope that covers everything. Leave any other questions in the comment section and I'll get around to answering them ASAP. I hope you like it here!

Love,
Saph

EXCITEMENT

Soooooooooooooooo

As you all (should) know

Derek Landy is coming to NZ! Yay!!
For us minions in the capital, he will be at Scots Collage at 5:30pm on the 3rd October.

Saph and Scarlet, if we're still going to make our robes, this site http://www.servantsofthelight.org/knowledge/makingrobes.html makes it all look super simple...

ALSO

I may or may have not won a requiem ball event pack...      AND I AM SUPER EXCITED I CAN'T WAIT TILL IT ARRIVES
it has to get here from Ireland though, so it might take a while.
But when it arrives I promise, something will happen. Not quite sure when or where or what yet, but something will happen...

Also, HOW BRILLIANT WAS THE DYING OF THE LIGHT!?!? Hurry up and read it everyone!
Love,
Calidae xx

EDIT: HEY LOOK WHAT ARRIVED!
This and much, much more... :D

We may have kidnapped the Grand Mage.

Elder Scarlet and I have trapped her so that we can teach her how to play certain card games.
Shhhh...

The Dying of the Light

Well.
It is time, my friends, my allies.
In font of me, on an innocent little Kindle screen, is the end.

For those of you who can't see the picture, It reads:
Skulduggery Pleasant: The Dying of the Light
downloading (78%)

It has been an incredible journey of a series: up and down and around again, biting our nails for our favourite characters and shipping Ghanith madly.
But it's also been an incredible journey for us, as a fandom and as a family.
A while back, when the cover for TDOTL was published on the blog, I sat down at wrote a lovely little speech about this. It was emotional and thoughtfully worded, and addressed every Bloglandian I know by name. It was also deleted when my computer went off to computer heaven (RIP).
So, this is all made up on the spot, and I think it's better that way. (EDIT: Actually, no, it's one massive ramble. Feel free to skip to the end.)
When I'm trying to say something emotional, I tend to exaggerate, kind of like I'm trying to justify myself and my feelings.
But my fingers are tip-tapping away right now and I feel like typing the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth.

When one of my best friends did a little library presentation on the Skulduggery Pleasant series three (I think) years ago, I thought, oh, that looks cool. I'll give it a try.
I was sold, gone, in my first fandom and over the moon. My friends and I picked taken names- Saph, Detta, Ferne, Jas, etc. And we built our own world in New Zealand, a kind of perfect scenario where we were all sisters and friends and ran away to have adventures before returning home in time for dinner.
Then I came on the blog for the first time, ranting about Tim Tams and not realizing that I could just refresh the page, rather than spamming the comments section continuously :P And I met some of the funniest, friendliest, bravest, deepest, most purely good people I have ever known, even if they didn't see it themselves.
I fell a little in love with this world, and every person in it. From Clemy to Alastair, I loved them all for what they brought to my life. I loved you, every one of you, and in time I begun to know you. Know your little quirks of typing, know about your love of certain TV shows or characters, your photoshop talents, the deepest thoughts of your mind and fears that crept in at night when the rest of the world was still.
As I grew, so did SaphTC. She became a person, with hopes and dreams and secrets and random thoughts I never wrote down. She lives in my head, but she became as real as you or I.
But here's the thing: I was trying to live in two places at once. I was trying to keep up with my schoolwork and real life and stresses of teenagehood, whilst still talking to you all regularly and taking on the stresses of this second world as well.
I couldn't. I kept leaving for a few weeks at a time- usually due to schoolwork, sometimes because I was just exhausted. Scarlet can tell you- she has enough texts and emails from me at half past four in the morning to prove it. There was one time I went four days on three hours sleep. But somehow, talking to any one of you made my whole world brighten up again.

One night at about 2AM, I realized something.
Yes, you are all dear to me. I really did love roleplaying and chatting and being there for you.
But if I'm going to be happy in life, it has to be with the life I've got.
I couldn't deal with two lives' worth of stress. So I just stopped going on.

Maybe you noticed. I don't know. I don't regret leaving- but I don't regret coming, either. Blogland is amazing and creative and beautiful and intelligent, and I am so much the better for knowing you all.
I miss you; every time I see a carrot, or hear about snowfall, or see Sherlock or Doctor Who or a rose, see a poster of 1D,
Or read the word 'dynamite'
Or hear someone use the word 'trip'
Or realize that it's nearly September
Or get asked anything to do with courage
Or see a mini cactus sitting on a windowsill
Or think deep philosophical thoughts about being unique
Or read any kind of writing that sounds like one of you
Or write poetry
Or see someone reading a book
Or hear them talking about their internet friends
Every day, every hour, every minute I remember you and I miss you so much it hurts, because there will never be a day when any one of you is no longer important to me.
You are so special and so perfect. I'm not like Annika or Taia or Star or Adra or Fabi or Luci. I'm not a good enough writer to find words for what can't be named, and they wouldn't be good enough if I did.

I've rambled on too long, I know. This just kind of... grew. But the point is that I want to say thank you. For loving me, for making me laugh, for being there everyday, for building a friendship on the shared love of one book series that now has come to an end.
I want you to know that I love you: Fabi, Snow, Ember, Scarlet, Cali, Serena, Death, Alex, the Bloglandians I never got the chance to meet and probably never will. I'm sure I would have loved you too. Take care of my friends, won't you? They're pretty awesome. You might have noticed.
Cheers to the fellow Kiwinions, and Alex wherever on earth he is now.
And I will forever owe the girl who introduced me to the first page. Scarl, you're still one of my best friends, my general moral compass and centre of pretty much everything I do.

I pay you back by letting you eat my lunch.

BASICALLY, what I am trying to say and failing despite that whole big block of words, is that I am glad beyond words that I found you, and no-one will ever replace you.

In a way, it's been just like the books: funny and deep and based on a friendship that will never fade.
It's been the journey of a lifetime- and I hope it will continue to be, for a long time yet. SP may be over, but I'm certainly not. We're stuck together: for the days and weeks and months to come, however long until we finally create a country for Bloglandians where we can live in... well, not peace.
Unity?
No.
Insanity?
Yeah, that's the word.

I love you. I will always love you.

Thanks, New Zealand minions, even those who never commented on Derek's blog. This is still for you.
Thanks, Blogland.
Thanks, Derek.

Love,
Saph