Aaron writes...

THURSDAY

Got up, entirely too early, and started calling rental places. Maybe we should have gone with Rent-A-Wreck. (Next time, national chain) Don't rent from New York Rental. So, we rent a Chrysler Seebring convertible, which has a few dings in it. Or rather, in the dim light of the parking garage, it looked like a few dings. Out in full sunlight, it was a different story altogether.

It also had a tape deck. Ordinarily, I would love that. I love cassettes, and hate CDs. Ninety percent of my music collection is cassettes. But, I didn't think anybody still rented cars with tape decks, so we brought CDs for traveling music. Oops.

(Side note to all you car owners: Do you feel like you have a bond with your car? I mean, to the point where it's like a pet or something? That it knows you and you know it, and you compliment each other? Just curious)

And we're off. Six hundred miles by map through unfamiliar territory with an unbonded vehicle. What could go wrong? Oh, and our main route, I-95, apparently has a bad rep about road rage. I felt right at home.

So we drove. From New York, though New Jersey, (Where we stopped for lunch and bought 64 oz mugs for the rest of the trip. Oh, and the pseudo-leather thing that's supposed to cover the top when it's down blew off somewhere on the Jersey Turnpike. Recovery was not an option) Delaware, Maryland, Washington D.C., back into Maryland, (where we got royally lost), and finally into Virginia, to pick up Lynati at Dulles airport.

So, happy reunion there, car reloaded, (for such a big car, the Seebring has *no* trunk space) and we're off again... Back to Maryland, for Chinese dinner, and so Lyn can do laundry and pick up her wings.

On the way back from dinner, it starts *pouring*. Now, I've never driven a convertible before, and we drove all the way up to this point with the top down, (The source of the sunburn Mara and especially I was sporting the whole con) *and* I'm a spaz. So we can't figure out how to lock the convertible closed. So the roof's leaking, and most of it's dripping right on the door panel where the window controls are... And *something* happens, and my window goes down and STAYS down.

This, in a word, sucks.

Much swearing and meddling with a pair of needle-nosed pliers fails to fix the problem, but fortunately for us, that was the last rain of the trip. (It did eventually fix itself, kind of) Fortified by a newly-bought Pat Benetar tape, we set off again, through the wilds of Virginia, completing a "four hour" road trip in two and a half hours.

Some general observations before I go on:

1. Eastern states have no idea how to build highways. Of every place we went, only Pennsylvania seemed to get it right. In Texas, highways actually go *through* places. None of this "here's an exit, some undetermined distance down which there *might* be a town" stuff. Virginia was particularly bad about this. Back home, on the side of the highway, there're fast food places, 24-hour diners, roadside attractions, evil small-town cops with radar guns, and, most importantly, *gas stations.* In Virginia, the side of the highway is... trees. Nothing but trees for miles. On the sides and in the median. Trees, and big "No Stopping" signs.

2. Toll roads are EVIL. It's a tax on people's ability to move freely. Just the idea makes me feel oogy.

3. "Speed limit enforced by aircraft." WTH does that mean? If you go too fast, they chase you with choppers? If so, then, (A) What were all those VA state patrol cars we passed for?, and (B) Why didn't they come after me?

Back to the ramble...

So, we finally get to Williamsburg, and, after a stop at 7-11, find our way into the hotel. It's like, 1 a.m. by this time. We get inside, and run into WinterWolf and Dreamie, Kyt, and some other people hanging out in the lobby. Wolfie showed us his rental, (his Seebring was in much better condition then ours) and we unloaded all our junk. During that lengthy process, Jen, Patrick, and Kathy arrived. More roadtrip survivors! Mara gave Jen her art gift, and the elevator opened to reveal Gregs W. & B., and a woman I later realized was Carol.

(I wish we'd figured that out sooner. We really didn't get to hang out with her, except a little after the auction, and by then it was too late to have much of a staff meeting)

Eventually, after most of the other people decamped for a late dinner at Denny's, we ran into Hudson, who showed off the first of many nifty black dart guns to be found at a nearby WalMart.

We just sort of hung out for a couple of hours, talking of projects, and cons, and the fandom in general. Unable to interest anyone else in food, I was forced to eat the leftover pizza from Jersey. Such hardship. ;)

And then suddenly it was like 4 a.m. Ack! Bedtime.

Aaron writes...

And, my much belated Gathering Diary...

Okay, this was BlurCon for me, so apologies in advance if I leave anything out. Or put anything in that didn't happen. I was so sleepy it was hard to tell sometimes.

WEDNESDAY

Actually, this starts on Tuesday, since I wasn't packed until the last minute, and our flight was so early we decided to just stay up all night and then sleep on the plane.

So, I ran around and packing like a madman while Mara watched the first half of The Ten Commandments. (Dang, Vincent Price was actually young once?!?)

So, we leave, my mom drops us off at the airport, and we get to stand in line. For a looooong time. Next time, e-tickets.

We go through security, and I get stopped for a "random" check. This old lady empties everything out of my backpack, looks at it, (Including my disposable razor, which I know you're not supposed to carry on) and then puts it all back in, all of it the wrong way 'round, and then wonders why it won't close.

So we fly to Dallas. I lose my sunglasses somewhere on the plane, which irks me to no end. After I notice that, I also notice we forgot something a little more important: Lynati's feet.

"Did we tell my mom to mail that package?" "Um..."

So, a frantic phonecall home later, that's taken care of, and I buy a replacement pair of sunglasses. Which lasted about two weeks. They're broken now. Rassem frassem shoddy merchandise...

So, off to Laguardia. I slept the whole way, and didn't wake up until about ten seconds before we touched down.

"Hey, it's raining-" (Loud, bouncy landing) "Oh, we're here."

So, we drop our stuff at Mara's mom's place, and bum around New York a bit. I insist on a stop at MidTown Comics, because it's Wednesday, and even on vacation, I have to pick up my comics.

Dinner, and then bed until bright and early on...

Forliya writes...

Hey, greg sorry I couldnt come to the gathering this year but theres been something going on in my neborhood in virginia! I keep hearing sounds like the gargoyals make when they are mad. please tell me what you think? oh and I'm still in love with goliath, and i'm writing a book called "The Run-Away's Hunter"!!!!

VIVA LA GARGOYALES!!!!!!!!!

kEVO writes...

alright,i'd like to begin by saying how much i truly, deeply love Gargoyles. it is the most incredible show i have ever seen. but i'll save higher efforts of ego inflation for later.

my question is about the Gatherings. i've noticed that when people have asked you about Team Atlantis or, in one case, who created the Praying Gargoyle statue, you told them the answer would be revealed at G2002. i was unable to attend this Gathering, cuz of the whole "no money" thing so will these answers be brought up in 2003 or here on Station 8 or will i just never be able to find them out? i'm gonna try to go to G2003, because it's very close to where i live.

which brings me to my next question. am i allowed to attend The Gathering even if i'm not staying at the hotel there? i know i should probably try to find these answers online before asking you but i figured since i was already here.

thanks for your time, sir!

-kR

Todd Jensen writes...

I've been reading your Gathering rambles, and found them interesting, especially the part about the never-made Team Atlantis episode involving Demona. Pity that I didn't go this year and thus missed it (you don't suppose that you'll be able to play the "original radio cast" performance again at next year's Gathering?).

Although seeing Demona referred to as "the Gorlois" did feel a bit odd, since I'm more apt to associate that name with the Duke of Cornwall whom Uther Pendragon fought with over Igraine than with any gargoyles. Then again, come to think of it, you did once mention that Castle Wyvern was modelled on Tintagel, which was Duke Gorlois's chief stronghold.

Another Angel writes...

If the gargoyles were not to know who their parents were... how did they prevent inbreeding?
Oh, and the Gathering was so much fun this year- can't wait for 2003!

Jim R. writes...

Hi Greg. Haven't posted anything in your queue for a while. At the Gathering 2002, I shook your hand and I believe I saw you in the parking lot carrying out Gargoyles backpacks. By the time you read this, you'll probably have forgotten, but anyway here's the link to my Gathering 2002 journal. It should still be there whenever you get around to seeing this.

Copy and paste --> http://www.dialwforwarp.com/gargoyles/journal.html

kathy writes...

Gathering Journal Part 2

Saturday - Sleep is for Wimps

Unfortunately, it's also necessary for cognitive processes. I'm sort of blurry on the day part of Saturday. I know I talked to a bunch of people and had a good time doing it. I also know that I went poolside long enough to read for a little while until the game of koosh catch turned into a cannon ball contest and I got all soggy. (Remember this, it turns into a running gag on Monday).

Eventually it was time for the Radio Play. Greg's players did an excellent job and we got to "see" an episode of Team Atlantis that had a strangely coincidental tie in to Gargoyles. As an extra bonus, since this episode had been voice acted by the professional cast we got to hear their version too.

Lunch was a Mickey Dee's run. Then we tracked down an ATM at a 7/11. Hey, sometimes a little mundane is a good thing. But I wished we had been tipped that the banquet menu was hotdogs and hamburgers, I might have had something else for lunch. C'EST la vie. (or something) And hey! Karine explained what Sacre Blu! means.

After the banquet and a great Q and A with Greg and Greg, it was time to get ready for the Masquerade. I sat out this year. I actually thought about a costume for five or six minutes, but I opted for minimal baggage instead. That's okay. I put on a length of batique fabric and my sunglasses and went as "Lilo and Stitch extra # 37 which, since it included bare feet, meant I was comfy as we wore out another night with pizza and a marathon gabfest. Unfortunately, this meant that I was engaging in yet another Gathering Tradition: the loss of my voice.

Sunday or This May Be the Home Stretch for the Convention, but I've Got Two More Days

Yes, we did actually get to bed before dawn, but not by much. Saturday became Sunday while we talked and laughed and generally got silly. I was smart enough to put my stuff out before going out for the evening, so getting to bed was a minimal hassle. Again, it was a good thing my roomies are heavy sleepers because this was definitely a night owl weekend.

I was late for the Starship Troopers panel - I'm not sure why. I spaced and lost about half an hour during breakfast. It was a good discussion though, and there was some interesting insight into the mind of Sony execs and their marketing staff. I hope they release everything they have stuck in the vaults, because the videos have been really good so. Afterward was the post mortem on Team Atlantis which will be coming to video after a fashion to a retailer near you. Buy that too and show Disney that they've been shortsighted.

I was definitely starting to feel the last couple of days so though I popped in briefly for the Voice Acting Workshop (Suggestion to next year's staff - schedule that before tryouts - Please?) I mostly concentrated on setting up our next after-hours event - A dinner at a restaurant that didn't serve pancakes or waffles and a trip to the Yorktown Ghostwalk.

I slept through Closing Ceremonies so somebody else will have to report on that, but did wake up in time to round up all of our party of ten and head out of the convention.

The hotel recommended the restaurant whose name I think was the Whaling Company ( I was still having a godawful time hanging on to details by that point). The food was good, the company excellent and we made it out of the restaurant in time to make our bus at the Yorktown Visitor Center. Btw, this was my only blind panic moment of the evening, I was sure for several seconds that I'd misunderstood the guy on the phone and taken ten people to the wrong place. I was more than a little relieved when the person I asked for information turned out to be our tour coordinator.

The cruise was dorky. I didn't realize they were just going around in a big circle otherwise I would have hauled everybody above decks. But it was a chance for some of our party to catch a quick nap. By the time the boat landed and we were segregated out for another bus ride we had gained some more Gathering folk. We ended up a party of fourteen and when our tour guide Rita asked if we were some kind of a fraternity having an initiation ritual (Not sure but I'm sure it had to do with Kyt on a leash that was sending her thoughts that direction) I replied no we were all part of a family reunion, which really wasn't too far from the truth.

It was a pleasant night. The company was fine and the fireflies were pretty. We lost part of our group on the walk back to the car because they were gawking at the twinkly lights.

We got back to the hotel in time to catch a portion of the Dead Dog Party, but the conversation wasn't really in keeping with the mellow evening we'd already enjoyed so it was back to my room for more conversation and later after the party broke up, girly time with Jen and Mandi. So ended Sunday or rather Monday morning.

Monday - Or Look! Kathy's All Wet!

The official after Gathering event was a trip to Busch Gardens. We assembled in the lobby and jockeyed for car space and soon we were underway. Hats off and Happy Birthday to Jubilee for organizing so many people. We all made it to the park and remembered where we parked. (Germany 2) bought tickets and went inside.

The core of our group was Lanny and Derek, Greg, Jubilee and me. Kellie Fay, Torrey, Sapphire, Winterwolf and Dreamie made periodic appearances as did Denis, Scott, Mandi and others who I'm afraid I can't recall anymore (I'm sorry!)

Greg and I rode the Loch Ness Monster. Kellie became the official keeper of stuff for the first part of the day, since she both caught some kind of funky cold from the hotels ventilation system (Honestly, nice people, really nice people (did I mention how great they were?) but they need to change the filters and clean their AC system.) We couldn't help notice the number of ads that popped up during the day for Chiropractic Services. It seemed to be some kind of omen, though thankfully, it was meant for someone else!

Anyway, since Greg's quote of the day was 'Sure, whatever' and mine was "I'm in". We made the rounds stopping at roller coasters and water rides along the way. It was my day to be soggy. Pompeii, this odd ride that involved live flame and water was my first soaking. Not bad, kind of nice after the inferno that was the first part of the trip, but I got doused pretty good, which resulted in Lanny complementing me on my new spiky 'do and a wet tank top.

The pleasant sogginess was soon to be a thing of the past. Shortly thereafter most of us got on the white water ride. Huge fun. But, this time I didn't get a little wet, I got completely soaked. Wet denim does not equal comfy. So I squished my way out of the company of my friends for a few minutes to buy a pair of shorts and change clothes. Now I was "sporty" and only semi soggy. A vast improvement for as long as it lasted.

I avoided a couple of rides that seemed like a sure fire trip to vertigo land, but Greg and I rode nearly all the Deathcoasters except for Alpinefest, fright, whatever. I took one look at that and said "A big no." despite multiple promptings from Jubilee.

We saw the Irish dance show. The dancers stomped their feet off, but may I just say, Damn you, Michael Flatley? I much preferred the Swing show that provided our dinner entertainment and Imaginique that closed the evening and I still can't believe Greg slept through nearly all of it. I gawked totally awed. But I'm getting ahead of myself.

We still had to ride the Flume. (A word that Greg was strangely enamored with.) And to no one's surprise, I was all soggy again by the time it was over even though Greg obligingly acted as human shield.

There were bumper cars and the Autobahn and an amazingly entertaining interlude at the German area when Derek graciously paid so that we could all flip frogs. I will express some relief that he didn't win the giant stuffed flamingo, but I like the little walrus that became mine by the end of the night. (Thank you!)

Oh! And Busch Gardens is known for its critters! I got to play with the Lorikeets and see wolves and bald eagles and of course, the famous Clydesdales.

We closed the park, stopping for ice cream along the way. Well, some of us had ice cream. Greg, "Did I mention I like to eat?" Weisman had this absurd banana split in a waffle cone. He entertained us thoroughly as he tried to eat this thing while maintaining his dignity. A perfect final act to a great day.

But all good things eventually end. We drove back to the hotel and said many goodbyes. And so ended Gathering 2002.

Fin

kathy writes...

Hey Greg, I had a great time at the Gathering. And since you got me motivated, here's my Gathering Journal.
Cheers,
kathy

Thursday or If It's 1AM it must be Denny's

Another year has rolled on past and it's Gathering time again. I'm on the same flight as the Gregs (that's Guler and Weisman) from Atlanta to Newport News and we all get stuck at Hartsfield for an extra hour and a half as a typical summer thunderstorm rolls its way through. Eventually, it passes by and we're on our way only to be treated to another light show and a strange burnt umber moon in mid-flight.

We arrived in Newport News and there's Carol. She's been waiting for us for what probably seemed to her forever. We did try and call - honest! It's just everybody with a cell phone was having trouble that night.

Hotel yea! It's 1:00 in the morning and the lobby is packed with people checking in similarly delayed by weather. Fortunately, I knew I was getting in much later than my roommates Mandi and Christi so I asked them to leave a key for me at the desk. We're saved from making a big production practical joke out of Jen's surprise arrival when Greg sees her standing in the lobby chatting up a gaggle of other folks.

Stuff stashed, it's off to Denny's and what is becoming a late night tradition, driving some hapless waitress nuts while she attempts to deal with a table full of people most of whom haven't seen each other for a year.

Friday or Wait a Minute, Didn't You Plan This?

Friday after breakfast (nice people, honestly probably the nicest waitstaff I've ever run across, even if they were a bit dazed and confused) the day begins. I snag my badge early and chat a bit with Siryn and the others. Then I indulge in what is becoming another tradition, banging on Greg W's. door for an early (for him) morning wake up call. This year I'm on legitimate business, I'm delivering his convention badge and making sure he's awake and ready for his first Mug a Guest. A Mug, for anybody who's wondering, is an opportunity for a small group of people (usually less than ten) to chat up a guest on any subject they care to broach.

That duty accomplished, it's back downstairs to help out in the Art Room with set up, catch up with folks and try and attend a Writers Workshop. Kudos to Kellie Faye for an interesting exercise involving canon characters and a trigold set emerald. I did get a little twitchy, I'll admit. One of the downsides of staying up late is a certain amount of continual motion is necessary to stay alert. So I snuck next door to audition for the Radio Play. It was an interesting experience. I'm not sure why I got so bloody nervous, maybe because the last thing I ever acted in was "Sorry Wrong Number" (hey, I had the lead!) but that was in the 8th grade. Anyway, back to the workshop to hear everyone's writing sample and guess which characters they'd been assigned. I must have done something right, because nearly everybody guessed I'd been assigned Goliath.

After the seminar it was time for more chatting. I apologize to everyone for not naming names, but frankly, all the specifics have run together in a massive blur. I will say that I enjoyed myself thoroughly, that I was really glad to see where all some of you have taken yourselves, especially those younger folk who I've known for several years now and watched grow up. Also I've rarely laughed so long and so hard in all my life. Whoever tagged me "Betty", my ribs still hurt, thank you very much!

Opening Ceremonies - Wow look at all the fresh meat! Seriously, it was neat to see all the new faces at opening ceremonies. I hope you guys had a great time and will be back again next year. Greg brought out his stories - (Greg - you might want to have those tapes transferred to DVD so they don't get trashed) and the New York Crew made their opening pitch for next year. It sounds like an awesome amount of planning has already gone into 2003, which should translate into a terrific time for all. Go you New York Clannies!

But back to this year, and Si and her crew who did a bang up job. Free swag for all from Toon Disney! And all they had to do is read a short advertisement. And best of all Gargoyles DVD's coming soon (well, in a year or so) to a retailer near you! And because the excitement never stops, the announcement to run, not walk to your nearest Disney Store to buy Gargoyles lapel pins (only $5.00) new to stores now. Let's show those marketing people there's a consumer base for Gargoyles. If we buy the little stuff now, they may reward us later.

And finally, it's 8:00 and I'm supposed to be on a Fanfiction Panel. My fellow cohorts were to be Patrick Toman (because we write together as Madame Destine for the 3 people not in on that secret), Moon Cat, Spacebaby and Mara. Somewhere along the line we were supposed to get together and come up with a presentation but that didn't quite happen.

Oh well, what do you do when you have no formal presentation, but want to engage an audience? Go fishing!! Which is what I did. We started with slash since it seemed that some of our audience were slash writers (a nibble, but no real bite). Moved on to the whys of pen names (can't do much with that one).

Greg thought he was making us nervous so he bailed. Which was his loss because then we started in on deconstructing a character to figure out how to place him in an unusual situation (because not all adult oriented fic is about chains and whipped cream) and the conversation really started to fly.

We ended up deconstructing Anton Sevarius, coming up with a really strange back story for the guy and having a great time. I'm afraid I got a little manic, which is what I do when I'm nervous, so to my co-presenters Mea Culpa.

We finally wrapped things up and now I'm a little blurry. Oh right, we went to the Con Suite and enjoyed an excellent Chinese dinner courtesy of Lexy and Kai. (A long and happy life to you both.) And, as always when a bunch of people get together, we ended up talking until all hours of the morning. Greg was bogarting the bottled water so I swiped one just on general principals. Because, you know, sometimes you just gotta.

Eventually, I snuck back to my room, (my roommates were long out of it) and caught a couple of hours of shuteye.

TBC

JEB writes...

Day 3 - Sunday, June 30, 2002

Woke up at 9:50 AM or so. Dad went out to get us breakfast, so we waited around a bit until he returned. As soon as we
were done and a time of 2 PM was set for meeting and heading home, I headed down to see the Atlantis Q & A panel. I waited a bit while the Roughnecks Q & A ended, but eventually just went on in when it went into overtime.

The Atlantis Q & A, when it started, was interesting; Greg described it as a panel on the "death of a show." The discussion, headed by the two Gregs, went into all sorts of tangents. The show was around halfway complete when it was axed, leading some in the entertainment industry to describe such a previously unheard-of circumstance as "Atlantis-ing a show." Basically, Atlantis: The Lost Empire did well enough when considering international revenues, but it was a failure in the U.S., and
internationally when compared to corporate expectations; so rather than create a series that made the movie more likable, such as the case was with the Disney's Hercules series (my opinion, I'll grant), they dropped the show entire. Greg also commented (regarding the film) that it felt like a film-by-committee and that certain parts (such as the over-long fireside discussion of the characters' backgrounds) seemed to indicate that the creators really wanted to do a musical. (On that note, he said that Lilo
and Stitch probably worked better because they weren't trying to make a musical.) The direct-to-video Team Atlantis movie will contain the three episodes nearest to completion (they'd been sent on to animators when the show was canned). The entire main cast from the film, save Michael J. Fox and the late Jim Varney, were involved in the show. Mike Mignola did conceptual designs for many creatures for the show, which (as he put it) he would combine into a combined "Frankenstein" whole. Many
elements (such as explosions) were considered too violent (quite a increase in the S&P since Gargoyles' era...), and were toned down; for example, the bit in "The Last" where Vinnie tossed a bomb into an animated gargoyle's hands and blew it up was reduced to Kida doing a loop-de-loop in the autogyro to throw the creature off. Basically, it seemed that Disney was doing what it and a lot of Hollywood, sadly, prefer to do anymore- aim lower. Unlike the early and mid-1990s, when Disney created kids' entertainment with appeal for the whole family, Disney now creates only stuff that can appeal to their vision of children's likes and dislikes. I was rather disappointed when I heard Team Atlantis was canned, not simply for the fact that Gargoyles would make a sort-of comeback during its run, but because it sounded like a promising show (heck, I felt like the
film was a pilot for an ongoing series more than a standalone film; how right my instincts were, eh?).

After Greg Guler left and the panel shifted to voice acting, I headed to the art show, browsed a bit more, and corrected the person watching the room on how to say my net-name (Jeb, not J E B, if you're curious) when she asked. Then I went to the video room and watched the first few episodes of Cowboy Bebop. (For some reason, I expected I'd dislike that show; now it's a favorite.) Halfway through episode three, the auction crowd gathered; figuring I might as well give it a shot, I signed up to bid. Many fine items appeared, including the radio play script, Greg's version of the script, and the recording of the actual VA's
material; original art from Roy Sato of the Gargoyles cast, some of which shot up as high as $510 in the bidding; a poster of CrzyDemona's Demona fanart signed by Marina Sirtis (which Greg B. won) and a Star Trek: Insurrection DVD, box signed by Jonathan Frakes; and Greg Guler's original sketch of a stone Goliath. I left a few times when the auction lasted past 2 PM; but my family showed up late, so I got some extra time. I negotiated to stay until 3 PM, and did so; tried to bid on a Castle Wyvern playset, but it got too rich for my blood (in other words, it topped $20). After it ended, I said good-bye to Greg B., browsed the art room one more time, said good-bye again to Greg B. as I passed him (and he said I'd better update MOA or he'd kill me), and walked upstairs. After my family unsettled themselves from where they sat amidst Abram Wintersmith and the Clan Olympians' rules-talk, we headed on home.

While lower-key than some prior Gatherings (I missed G2K1, but I suspect it was much less grand than that con), G2K2 was still a fun con. In a way, the lower-key approach helped, as it emphasized fan interaction more than activities. My thanks to Siryn and all the other con staff and volunteers for running such a smooth operation and making this con so good!