I went to the Heren Istarion Tolkien event that you guys posted. Thank you so much! I would never have known about it if not for you. It's the NYC-based Tolkien club headed by Jessica and Anthony Burke. It was completely free and really, really fune; there were about thirty people there.
We started with Jessica and Anthony and other staff doing some readings from Tolkien and from his letters. Then there was an open mic for anyone who wanted to read. Quite a few people read their favorite pages of Tolkien and what it meant to them. Then we saw a documentary about Tolkien from the extended dvd. Then there was a costume contest and I dressed up expecting everyone to be much mored dressed than I was but that was not the case and I won third place! I got to pick a billboard out of all the ones in the room and I picked the one with the moon which was almost the official one. Then there was a trivia contest and I ended up winning! I was in the third round and then in the final round but it was really close. So I won more stuff! The limited realease ROTK calendar and a Gandalf bust.
Then somehow I also won the raffle for people becoming members (I became a member at the event) and I won a Frodo bust and the TTT tabletop strategy game. I never won that much in my life! (but I gave the Gandalf bust to another girl because I did not really want it and I had four other prizes.
There was also a woman there doing something called countless stories. What she did was interview LOTR fans and they get posted on this engine where you click on a character or theme and get videos of people talking about it. So I got interviewed for that too! So i am going to be on the web talking about Tolkien! We ended with readings and I read what Eowyn says in her triumphant moment. There was nothing I had not participated. I felt great It was really cool. And we also each got a coin from The Shire Post.