Well, the Coke thingie was just what I expected. Crass commercialism of the best kind – a product with a cult-like following.

When we returned to the hotel, we realized that we had better hustle to get into mingling mode if we wanted to enjoy any of the social aspect of this conference. So, a quick change, makeup touch-up and out we went.

When we arrived at the bar, I spied two girls I recognized from last year’s Fantasia Fair. So we went over and chatted them up, and ordered a couple of drinks. It was nice to see two old friends – a funny term for people we had met only for a few days last year, but such is the nature of friend-making at these events – and we talked for a while about the changes and developments since our first meeting.

Jen, who is now a woman full-time, was the one who first told me her little joke: what’s the difference between a crossdresser and a transsexual? 3 years. This she had told me at Fantasia about 10 minutes after we had first met, and right after I told her that I had just started and the one concern my girlfriend had was that she might lose the male part of me. My gf laughed nervously then, but so far there hasn’t been any truth to its message, at least in my life… on the other hand, Jen transitioned almost exactly on schedule according to her joke.

As I surveyed the room, I noticed another familiar face – this one I had seen only on my computer screen. Kimberly and I had exchanged a few messages online and reading her posts I knew her to be pretty, outgoing, funny, talented and well liked. So, I excused myself and went over and introduced myself.

She was sitting at a table with two other girls, laughing and having a great time. They immediately welcomed me and invited me to take the fourth seat.

It sure felt good to sit down… during the day, I had walked just a little too far in my cute little booties, and had made the mistake of not wearing socks, so the last thing I wanted was to walk anywhere in heels that night. I hadn’t had dinner and expected to have to go out for some food, but sitting there with these great girls, laughing and talking, and being in Atlanta, Georgia, after all, I resolved to adopt the attitude of Gone With The Wind’s Scarlett, and decided, “I’ll think about that tomorrow.”

Dita is a tall girl with a German accent, a very girly sense of style and an outgoing personality. She loves herself and is full of positive energy. She has met so many people online – and turned a fair number into real-world friends – that I want to take a course from her on the subject. Who but Dita could manage to walk onto a plane, in her own inimitable way, smiling at the first-class passengers and later in the flight have a drink arrive courtesy of an admirer from up front?

Terree is such a friendly and sweet girl who makes everyone feel at ease.

Turns out, this table was the center of the universe, so to speak. We just had to sit there and have fun, and others came by and visited. We managed to meet a fair number of other girls as a result, each and every one an appealing personality. I was even surprised by another Fantasia friend who passed by later in the evening, a tall South African named Diane. I look forward to running into all of them during the course of the weekend and getting to know them better.

I cannot stress enough the amazing way these conferences create friendships. Diane and I had fifteen minutes of time together in Fantasia last year, yet each of us remembers the other and is so pleased to have the chance to reminisce and renew acquaintances year later. I’ve never had that experience in the “real world.”

Eventually, Kimberly and Terree went off to a suite party for a time, but amazingly, even without those two larger-than-life personalities, our table didn’t miss a beat! They were replaced by Kahlan, who turns out to be a friend of Dita’s, JoAnne, who is also member of the same site as Kimberly, Gina – a friendly, soft-spoken girl, Kelly, Ginger, Stephanie and on and on…

When they returned, Terree was a little miffed. Apparently she had a run-in with a humorless girl from Diva Las Vegas (is that redundant?). She and Kimberly recounted the episode, with Kimberly doing her impression of this unidentified sourpuss listening to this joke. I’m not sure who was funnier, but here’s the joke: what’s the difference between erotic and kinky? Erotic is with a feather; kinky is with a chicken!

I thought it was funny!

We stayed at that table for the rest of the night until 4am and even managed to get some decent food delivered right to us, so we didn’t even have to go hungry. “As God is my witness…”