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Lord Sloth writes...

Friday (part one): And an early start is what I got. I woke (very appropriately) as the sun was rising, which a very strange thing for me to do but I suppose my internal clock improves tenfold when I'm in a new and exciting place. I then showered and headed off to the mall where I assumed I'd be able to find a replacement battery charger for my camera, you see, fool that I am, I brought my video camera with an empty battery and left behind the cord to charge it. I had breakfast there but as it was getting near ten and radio shack wasn't yet open, I headed back to the hotel. I then joined my group and had breakfast again, this time just an expensive half a grapefruit so as not to be left out. Soon after I bought meself my ticket and nametag and soon enough things started to happen.
Since this was all new to me, I had to attend con-virgin 101 to get prepped for the plucking. Didn't stay there for too long since there was only so many ways Sapphire could stress to be as crazy and open as I could and to not worry about the consequences. Overall I think alright in that regard, not that I'd win any awards or even be in the top 50 rank of crazy out there fans.
However, I figured a good place to start would be the general round robin, even if I wasn't completely sure what that was about. Now, I'm neither much of a writer or an on-the-spot improviser (though both activities hold my interest), but I think I did alright when suddenly called upon to continue the story; even if I forgot some of what had already been established earlier, I held fast to what I knew about MacBeth and Demona (whom the story was about). I could be mistaken, and I know the truth is out there somewhere on the tape spacebabie caught it all with, perhaps already on the Internet…I ought to look into that…
Anyway with that fun concluded, I headed down for the real juice of this event: a voice acting seminar with KEITH DAVID!!! And some other guy would be there as well (who apparently had SOME sort of connection to Gargoyles) to assist Keith, or something. He he. But then I get there and learn Keith wasn't going to be in the city till at least tomorrow, <sigh> "better late then not at all" I reckoned as I settled in to watch this other guy. All right, enough jerking around, I enjoyed professor Weisman's class immensely, one of the best parts of the gathering and probably the highest highlight of Friday. You (Greg) may have considered it the same old tripe you've done in past seminars, but it was still a hellava good and interesting time to a virgin, one which I could probably stand to go through a few more times. I took some notes since I may actually be doing some voice acting latter on for a computer game (a fan made, non profit one perhaps, but still a fine quality production (anyone who used to like the King's Quest games and would like to apply online, go to www.kq9.org, there should still be time)). I got even more revved up however when the DVD crew showed up and I had just unwittingly volunteered to read some lines in front of the camera. <<Eep>>. I was ultimately proud of my performance however, subtle though it was, as Goliath drinking tea with Leo, Una, and Griff. Tis always though with parts expressing little outward emotion because there's usually a lot one has to convey to the audience in less then obvious ways. I'm even proud of my last moment when I got the balls to look dead on in the camera for my final line "don't worry, I won't let anything happen to him this time". WOO HOO! No regrets man, not even if it shows on the DVD!
With that done I figured I had gotten me and myself all preped for THE AUDITIONS. DUN Dun dun.

Which I will continue latter as I am out of time.

Greg responds...

You were posting right down to the wire. Let's see if the rest of your conjournal made it... You had 46 seconds left, I think.

Response recorded on August 15, 2006

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Lord Sloth writes...

In which the Lord Sloth migrates to the Gathering of 2004 and Piglet meets a Heffalump

Thursday (and a few years before):

Well, there I was; a big fan since the "awakening" in 94, but not a single convention (of any kind) to my name. In all fairness, I only learned of the Gatherings (and of the whole fandom) while the 5th one was all but in progress, but still, it was about time that I found out what all the fuss was about. Knowing that this one was only a three-hour drive made it all the more imperative, and all the more inexcusable that I almost missed my chance by not committing and not making arrangements soon enough. Luckily, I was able to get weekend reservations in a youth hostel that was amazingly close to the hotel (and cheep); and on top of that, Alex Garg (bless him) had room for 1 more in his car and was coming right past my city.
So, with lady luck grinning smugly at me (after only a twenty-minute delay finding my place) I was off to see the Weisman, the wonderful Weisman of Montreal. I and my traveling companions: Alex Garg, Leo and Sadistic Cow, had a fairly uneventful journey (they say the real adventure was back in Toronto), but I did get finally get to talk one on one with people about something they like as strongly as I do (which I don't think I've experienced off of the net), not to mention hear a hilarious recording of the Silence of the Lambs musical. Things got a little rougher once we got into Montreal's traffic (having been there before I should have warned them, but I guess I thought it was common knowledge), but after a few wrong turns and barely getting checked in before the cut off time, I finally made my way to the Hotel. I then hung out in most of the evening in my party's room (with a fantastic view at the top floor) and had a hardy dinner of bananas, granola bars and cookies.
Other attendees started to arrive latter so we hung out in the lobby and had a mini gathering, where I was finally able to put some faces to all them screen-names and avatars I had seen over the years. Didn't see so many that I knew to well and, even with previous chatting history, I still have some troubles socializing face to face. I hadn't been keeping up at station 8 as much as I had used to anyway and it was obvious (and heartening) that this was already quite a tight knit group of people. Eventually a not so dapper looking fellow sporting a nice (yet now deceased) beard walked passed with a group escorts/tag alongers and I hear awed shouts of "Greg's here, Greg's here!" and I think "where, behind the over aged fan?" (in Graham Chapman's voice naturally). I soon realized the truth and wasn't all that surprised. You soon moved on to do your thing and I went to bed soon after as well since I hoped for an early start.

Greg responds...

"over aged fan," huh? Yep, that's me.

Response recorded on August 14, 2006

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Reusch writes...

Con Journal

Ten years after the start of the Amzing animated series "Gargolyes", I was sitting at my friend Topmans house when I suddenly thought of "Gargoyles". I asked Topman if he had ever seen the show and he replied that he didn't. This was an absolute shame of course and after assuring him that this was and amazing show he proceeded to download the episodes. After procurring the first five episodes Topman soon discovered that I had indeed been right. This was one, if not the best animated series ever made. All of this led him to search the web for fan websites and it was then that he stumbled upon the 8th Annual gathering of the gargoyles. It was to take place in our home of Montreal, Quebec so we of course had to attend. We had no excuse not to. We quickly filled out the registration sheets taking the whole package, including the awesome t-shirt, and cut a check. Soon we were able to revel at the sight of our names on the registered people list, thingy.

We were so excited about it that we could not contain our excietment as August 6th quickly approached. All we had to do was sit back and wait.WRONG! Topman had the brilliant idea of making a canon costume. And ,well, Topman being Topman had to pick one of the most difficult characters to make a costume for. "Thailog". Now don't get me wrong "Thailog" is an awesome character, but making a costume of him. Not my idea of easy. And I am really lazy. But of course I had to help Topman because he's my best friend. We started a good deal in advanced because we knew it would take us forever, but we are both huge procrastinators so... Needless to say we only Really started working the week of the con. It took awhile, but after lots of glue, velcro and sadly enough staples(?) we managed to put together what I thought was an awesome costume. I however have vowed to never attempt feet on another costume again. Throughout this whole costume ordeal we watched "Gargoyles", which made it a little harder to work on the costume, but hey, we got to see some "Gargoyles".

Well I guess that after all of this rambling I can get started on my actual Con journal. I just thought that it would be a good idea to explain the interesting events that came befor the big day.

Friday
The notion of waking up in the morning has always disgusted me, but after having worked on a costume for the last week and getting about an average of five hours of sleep each night, the idea of waking up is just horrendous. However I forced myself out of my sleeping bag, (I had crashed at Topmans the night before due to working on the costume into the wee hours of the morning) so that I couldprepare myself for a weekend of what I was sure would be non-stop fun.(I turned out to be under-estimating the con). So Topman and I piled into the car and his dad drove us downtown. We would have taken the bus, but I needed to find out how to get to the delta hotel because I had to drive there the next day so that we would have a place to store Topmans costume. The wings I made were not the most sturdy of wings.(That's what I used the staples for). When we arrived we were a few hours early so we decided to go to Tim Hortons where we had a sweet, sweet french vanilla(Our favorite drink). After that we decided to go see if anything had started. We had like a half hour befor anything started. When we got there we discovered that the registration desk was open and we shyly approached, but just stood there. we waited untill one of the staff asked us if we were pre-registered. we replied yes and gave our names. We in return received our package which included an amazing name tag with this years mascot, "Riel", one of the gathering t-shirts and a program.

Now that we were at the con and had our name tags and everything it was time to mingle. At least that would have been the normal thing to do. Topman and I decided to take refuge at one of the empty tables and browse our program so that we could decide what we want to do. While doing this Sarah came around recruiting people for the clan olympics. Topman and I were a little apprehensive about joining in seeing as we were not to keen for anything involving athletics, or trivia so we put our names down as a maybe. Later on we thought, "ah what the hell. We're here to have fun lets do it!". So we told Sarah and she said we had to be in teams of four. Well seeing as Topman and I did not know anyone we had no team so Sarah said that she would find us ones. After this Topman and i went to put on our t-shirts.(We were practically the only ones wearing them the first day. we felt kind of wierd, but it was a cool shirt.) When we cam back Sarah had found us a team. A couple of loners like us named Nez and david. They turned out to be an amazing couple of people. Topman and I couldn't have asked for a better clan. The only problem was we had to think of a clan name. Well after having chatted for a good while with Nez and David, we discovered that Nez was fromTexas, but was right on the border of Mexico. With that in our minds we came up with the name "Mexanadiens". It would have been more appropriate to be called the "texanadiens", but well I guess we were a little to excited to think straight. Then came the start of our ongoing joke. When Abe asked our name we told him, but then he asked for a team motto. we had no idea that we were suppose to have a motto so we all groaned. We then decided that we were too lazy to come up with another motto so a big groan in unison was the start of a beautiful thing. After a talking for awhile we went our seperate ways. Nez and David went to a live drawing thing and Topman and I went to the "con Virgin.
It was here that we met Sapphire and Chameleon girl. Two very awesome peole. we spent a better part of an hour drawing random things on the white board and just talking. It was really fun. Topman and I got to really act like ourselves here. That would be acting like complete morons. Ah, good times. After that we went to the voice acting seminar with Greg.
We arrived and found that most of the seats were taken so we sat all the way in the back. Greg then started giving tips on voice acting and it was really interesting. The only bad thing was that Keith david was not there yet due to him finishing shooting a film. No problem, he would be there later. Soon greg started asking for volunteers. I was not too keen on the idea seeing as I always make an ass out of myself when I do something like that. I was however trying to get Topman to go up because hes a really ggod actor and has been an extra in a few movies and has done a few commercials. He was not too keen on the idea. In the middle of all this the disney film crew arrived to shoot some stuff for the Gargoyles dvd. Thank God. It took long enough for them to put the show on dvd. Anyways the last skit that greg was doing required five people and only two put their hands up. I finnaly managed to persuade Topman to do it and he went up. we however still did not have enough people so I volunteered. I knew I would regret it. I ended up with the part of Hudson.(My least favorite character.) I soon discovered that I could not wink with my voice.*Wink*. However it was really fun. I got some applause for being a girl with the part of Hudson.
Well after that was done Topman and I didn't really want to visit the other seminars(seeing as the radio play conflicted with the clan olympics) so we just hung around the tables. Soon Nez and David joined us and we decided to go to the underground mall to get some food. We decided to get some McDonalds. This was the biggest mistake ever. the service was terrible. I wanted the salad with the crispy chicken. The woman there asked me twice about the chicken so I felt confident that they would get it right. Mistake number two. It took about twenty minutes, after she told me that it would be ten, and they got the chicken wrong. At this point I just wanted to eat something seeing as we had like fifteen minutes before the opening ceremonies. During this twenty minutes they burned two batches of fries, messed up Davids double big mac and forgot to give me the salad dressing and a fork. I had to ask for them and at that point they still did not have davids food ready. I had to eat quickly so I went to sit down. Unfourtunatly, they don't know how to cut chicken at this McDonalds so I had to go ask for a knife. And when I did this I was given a fork. Let's just say that this was not the most pleasent experience that I've ever had. We arrived just in time for the opening ceremonies which were awesome. Karine welcomed us all and Greg played us a tape from people who could not attend the convention.(Even though Keith David was on the tape.) It was really awesome. Greg then proceeded to trick us all by stopping mid-sentence and announcing, "Keith David everyone". we all turned to see... Nothing. Now that was cruel, but it was really cool to see what a great sense of humour Greg has. He then played us the pitch for gargoyles and a few other shows he had been working on. They were pretty awesome. Then while one of the staff was talking the clan olympics took over. We were not expecting this and topman and I were terrefied that we would have to make fools of ourselves in front of everyone. It turned out to be really cool. David had to put on a shirt full of holes so that Nez could fill it with plastic balls that Topman and I handed to her. It was really fun. And at the end it turned out that we were not in last place. This was exciting news. After that we concluded the opening ceremonies.
Topman and I then decided to attend the Mystery Gargoyles Theater 3000. We didn't know what this was, but after an episode we really got into it. It was also here that we met Annie and Katherine. They were so cool. we had a blast saying random coments abouot the episode we were watching. Topman and I were however kicked out early so that they could prepare for the next portion of the clan olympics.
Within ten minutes "shot in the dark" had started. We were the third to last group to go and the game ended up being throwing three koosh balls at targets that had point values and power ups on it. At the end we ended up being in third place and first in that event. Not bad at all. After finding out these results Topman and I went home to sleep and prepare for the big day.

Saturday
Once again we had to wake up Early, but this time I had to drive there. This was nerve-racking, seeing as I had never had to drive downtown, but we ended up at the hotel with no trouble at all. The first event of the day was the clan olympics "trivia torture". It turned out to be the best torture ever... Seeing as David was the one to be tortured. Their were three forms of torture, 1-toothpaste and O.J. 2-getting your hair dyed or 3-chocolate dipped in blue cheese dressing. The only thing that I learned from this trivia was that none of us could write really fast. Thankfully we were not the first ones to get out so we still ended up in third.
After that we went to the weapons demonstartion, which I found to be really entertaining. nothing beats some good old fashioned sword fighting. This laster for about an hour. we had to leave early for some more Clan olympics.
The fourth event turned out to be really hard pictionary. I was volunteered by the rest of my clan to be the one to draw. I love how we did not choose the artist of the group which was nez. Well we ended up being first in this event after having passed on a few of the things like new and improved. How the hall am I suppose to draw that. Well whatever we were doing well and there was only one more event to go.
The last thing we attended befor the banquet was the radio play. It turned out that it had a cast of like thirty people. The episode turned out to be journey. All the actors were great. I especially liked the person who got to play Elisa's cat Cagney. Brilliant stuff. They all got a rousing applaud at the end and now we had time to kill befor the banquet.
We ended up in Nez and Davids hotel room decorating our box for the clan olympics scavenger hunt the next day. It turns out that Nez and david had gone to the dollar store and bought random stuff like balloons and road sign stickers. So we finished decorating the box with crazy little sayings that corresponded to the road sign stickers. Topman and I then left for the banquet. Unfourtunatly Nez and david were not attending.
At the banquet Topman and I were back at square one, sitting alone at a table. Flanker then came and saved us by joining out tables. he was a really cool guy and we had alot of fun talking to him about random stuff. Then Annie and Katherine joined us. Flanker then got Sarah to join us and brenda decided to have pity on us and joined us too. We know had a full table,(Still leaving a spot open for either Greg or Keith David). It turned out to be an awesome table. Even though we did not get Greg or Keith. Sigh. Well it was still an awesome table. When the food came we had a blast making fun of it. the best was the vegetables that came with the main meal. They were cut in the wierdest shapes. We figured that one of them was cut in the shape of Quebec. Whether or not this was intentional we have no idea, but it was hilarious. I even took a picture of it. The food was not bad, but we hated the stuffing inside the quail. Oh well. Apparently everyone had fun watching my expression as I ate the fruit desert. It was so gross. Apparently the bavarian cake was fantastic, but I was stuck with the gross fruit thing. Lets just say there are probably some really good photos of my facial expressions. Finnaly the big moment arrived. Keith David. he walked into the room to great applause. It was now time for the Q & A.
Greg started it off to give Keith time to eat something. I didn't really have any questions so I just sat back and listened. Then Keith got into it. He was a great guy and it was really intersting to listen to him. There was one problem though. the room next to us was doing Karaoke. It sonded like a dying giraffe. Topman and I were having serious problems trying to hold in our laughter. I felt so bad that I was laughing while Keith was talking, but man were they bad. Sadly Topman and I had to leave so that we could get his costume cause he needed time to change into it and put on the body paint. This was too bad cause we missed the part where Keith said "will somebody shoot that horse", referring of course to the people attempting, and failing, to sing "My heart will go on".
Topman went to put on his costume in the mens room. When he came out about an hour later, I had to help him put on the fragile wings and those stupid feet. Never again.
When the masquerade started I got myself a seat on the side so I could take pictures. There were a lot of amazing costumes. But what I really liked was the cosplay done by sapphire, chameleon gril and some guy who I don't know his name. Sorry guy. They performed the opening monologue to Gargoyles using bristol board and a lot of crazy things. It was fantastic. Then they started the parade of costumes. They were all really good. I will not try to name them all cause I know that I will leave some people out. All I can say is I loved Jade griffins costume with the rip off skirt like Elisa's in "eye of the beholder". I got a lot of great pics so I will always have these great memories. Once the awards were given out all the people who were dressed up went outside for people to take some pictures. I got a lot of really cool ones. After all of this awesomness, it was time for Karaoke.
Topman had to go take off the costume so I was wondering around listening to the other people sing. Thankfully the costume held up till the end of the masquerade. After that the feet started to self-destruct. At the Karoke Keith David serenaded us with a wonderful song. He was so good. It was also really sweet how he had his kid up there with him. That was so nice. There was also this guy you did a rendition of "Blame Canada" with different words so that it was "Blame Gargoyles". When Topman returned we talked to Annie and Katherine for a bit, but then we were really tired so we went home to try and get some sleep.

Sunday
Sunday started off with the last event of the clan olympics. It turned out that Topman and I were really bad at this. We were always the last to get the things that were on the list. The only thing I can say is that our box was, I think, the best one there. Nobody else had a sticker that said 80 into the official groaning emoticon.(Look at it sideways) We all had this written on our hands that day. It didn't help us, but we had our Groan powers unite by putting all our fists together and groaning. I have to say I had a really great time with the clan olympics.
After the event was over we decided to show Nez one of the great things about Canada, Tim Hortons. She was a little skeptical, but she soon learned the error of her skeptcism. We also met up with a bunch of other con goers and took over a corner of the Tim Hortons. It was really awesome.
After our delicious lunch Topman and I went to check out the artwork. We were so jealous of all the people who could draw better then us. The drawings were really amazing. Topman and I then each bought some Gargoyles trading cards. These included the pop up ones. Those are really cool. I currently have them all sitting on my window sill. I am looking at them right now as I type this. Man they are cool. Anyways back to the con. We then each bought a copy of the Phoenix gate anthology. We also got this side by most of the authors. I got a lot of neat little notes from them. It's a great little momento. And from what I've read so far I'm really loving it, so great work you guys.
Now it was time for the mug-s-guest with Keith David. He was a really open guy and he told us a lot about what he felt about the show and other things like what cologne he wears. It was really cool to just listen to him talking. he has such an awesome voice. I believe Gorbash said it best in his con journal, "He could read the phone book and we would all be hanging on his every word". Unfourtunatly Keith had to go eat something befor the closing ceremonies so that was over.
The closing ceremonies were so sad. I didn't want it to end. There were a lot of thank you's said to all the people who made this amazing event possible and then Chris went over stuff about the 2005 convention in Las vegas. This was really sad cause I'm pretty sure I won't be able to make it. Oh well ther's always the one after that. We also found out the winners for the clan olympics. We came in third tied with some other clan who's name escapes me at the moment. oops. After all the talking Keith David was signing autographs and I got him to sign my Program. He was so nice. he asked me how I got my nickname and posed with me for a really cool photo. That was so awesome. I must of shown everyone I know that photo. I can't believe that I got to meet Keith David. This con was the most fun I hav ever had. I hope that it keeps going for a really long time and I hope that Disney see's what an impact this show has made on a lot of people. Well the only thing left now was La Rode tomorrow.

Monday
When we finally left the hotel to go to La Ronde I was so excited. I hadn't been there in a few years so the fact that I was going there again with a bunch of really cool people was really exciting. When we got on the metro Sapphire led us in reciting the opening monologue. It was so funny. I wish I could know what was going on in the other passengers head. they must have thought we were all crazy, but it was worth it. When we got to La Ronde we split up and the group I was in went to the cobra. The line didn't look to long, but they only had one cart running on the track so it was really lonk. Topman,Chyna Rose, and I passed the time by singing songs from Rent. Once again I'm sure people thought we were nuts. We then decided that just befor the drop on the cobra we would scream out "Gargoyles on dvd December 7th". We were all suppose to do it in unison, but the rest of the gang could not hear us, but it was cool none the less. we had a great time on all the rides and it was just so much fun to be there with this great people. It was a sad time when we had to leave, but there will be a next time. Of that I am sure. Topman and I wished all the other con goers on the metro a safe journey home and told them that we hoped we would see each other in the near future. for now it's just e-mail and chat rooms. Oh well I guess thats good enough.

well I want to thank everyone who took the time to read this lengthy con journal. I hope you enjoyed it and I apologise for any spelling and grammer mistakes. I'm doing this really last miute. As I said at the beginning I'm a really big fan of procrastination. I also apologies for missing anything important. so much awesome stuff took place that my brain is swamped with fond memories.
Hopefully I will see all you cool people at a future con.
Ciao, Reusch
GARGOYLES RULE!!!

Greg responds...

Glad you had a good time. Hope to see you at another Gathering soon.

Response recorded on August 14, 2006

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Leo writes...

Note: The following is just a quick and dirty version since I only have a few minutes left

(continued...)

Saturday, August 7th: Gathering, Day 2

After eating breakfast (a less expensive breakfast this time), I went "Thrill of the Chase" panel hosted by Spacebabie, Ellen Stolfa, and Christine Morgan. Then I went to the art room to pre register for G2005. They were trying a new computerized registration system this year, so there was a delay while they got the software configured.

After finally registering, I realized that I had used up most of the lunch break. So I went to the auditorium and waited for the Auction to begin. Has anyone else noticed the shrinking quantity of merchandise available each year? Anyway… This year's big item was a cell of Goliath carrying Elisa - I think it might have been from "Double Jeopardy" - that went for over $400!! I won a puzzle an a "golden book" version of "Awakenings."

I brought the items I won back up to the room and checked out my equipment, to make sure everything was working. I still needed to get audiotapes to record Keith David at the banquet. I also had a request from Demona Taina, who wasn't able to make this years gathering, to record Keith David saying a specific naughty bit of dialogue in Goliath's voice. *groan* That would have to wait until after the radio play though, because my Nikon SLR decided to jamb on me. *$@#!!!!* I had intended to use THAT camera to take pictures of the masquerade/cosplay because my digital camera has a slow shutter. [insert more unvocalized expletives] So I spent the rest of the time before the radio play trying unsuccessfully to manually rewind the film so I could put in a new roll. *sigh*

The radio play this year was an extended version of "The Journey." (Greg had added a few scenes back in that were cut by the "Goliath Chronicles" people to make room for Goliath's monologue.) This was the largest cast ever, at 31 performers. Keith David was originally scheduled to play Goliath, but he was still delayed. Rob St. Martin did a pretty good Goliath in his place. The rest of the cast did a superb job as well, especially Zehra's performance of Elisa (she almost sounded like Sally Richardson in some places.) Of course, the DVD crew was there taping.

After the radio play I ran to the Office Depot (I think that's what it was, the sign was in French) and bought a 10 pack of 90min cassettes. (I would only use two of them)

Went to the banquet. Ate Quail. Keith David showed up. he talked about Gargoyles, They Live, Men at Work and his other movie experiences. After the banquet I got him to say the lines requested by Demona Taina.

Went upstairs to put tape recorder away. Keith David stepped out of the elevator. His room is 2 doors down from ours. Went to Masquerade. Lots of costumes. Took pictures. Went to the bar with Ellen and a few others after. Missed the Karaoke with Keith David. Then went to bed.

Sunday, August 8th: Gathering, Day 3

Went to "Gargoyle Biology" panel. Then I got my Phoenix Gate Anthology signed by all the authors. Listened to Keith David's mug-a-guest. After Closing Ceremonies I got Keith David to autograph my DVD's and Demona Taina's drawing of Thailog hugging Goliath. Then Kelly got the 6-frame screen grab compilation that we collaborated on autographed. He just stared at it and laughed. Then he asked for his own copy. So we ran across the street to the Office Depot and got a color copy. After hading it to Keith I took Kelly's picture with him.

After that excitement we walked up University Street and ate at a sandwich place in the underground mall, then headed back to the hotel.

Ellen took Alex, Kelly, and me up Mount Royal. It was a tiring climb, but it was a nice view. I took many pictures until my camera batteries wore out. We took the long way back down with a short cut through the university. Ellen then treated us to a drink at a pub, one of her old hang-outs. We got back just in time to meet her husband, who had arrived just a few minutes before we got back. Then we went to bed. Alex and Kelly had to leave in the morning. I stayed an extra day so I could go to LaRonde and maybe do a little more touring, before heading back home

Greg responds...

And you posted your journal right under the wire. Thanks. It's really appreciated.

Response recorded on August 11, 2006

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Lynati writes...

Con Journal part 5

Monday

Slept well, very deeply, and was woken up by a voice in the room that wasn't expected there; Siryn, in search of her missing wallet. It was later recovered, although not in the room. Being of no help and knowing it, I let sleep drag me back down right as she left. The second time I wake and there is an extra someone in the room, it turns out to be Ellen Stolfa, whom Emambu finally hunted down to sign his Anthology. There are about two seconds where I think, "oh good, nothing is on fire, I can go back to sleep" before recalling I really wanted her to sign mine as well…and I'd already packed it. Besides, I wanted to talk to her- I'd managed to miss her pretty much the entire con, and the same thing happened at '03- and so managed to wake up enough to do so. I think I was officially up after that, and due to the one miscommunication in the Travel Plans side of things, I'd only gotten the room until Monday morning anticipating leaving that afternoon. We'd already taken care of that, having worked out with Revel and Spacie to crash their room for the last night, and so I started trucking my bags and boxes down to their room on the 7th floor.

At some point during this move, Mara and Aaron woke up enough to pack, and with Emambu we got everything moved with no mishaps. Oh, I did have to spare a good 15 minutes to finish cleaning up the bathroom. The paint was the easy part, actually; it was the soft pastels that had turned to powder everywhere that were the problem.

I go check-out, and more or less stumble into Kathy then- she amidst a crew of her own, who tapered off while we talked until we were the only two in the walkway. Now, I hadn't gotten to talk to Kathy much, outside of what con matters she helped with in 2003. Definitely my loss. Anyway, there was again a moment of "let's move out of the middle of the walkway". Talk at this point was focused on con stuff and the position the DVD might put Vegas in. She went off to do something, and I wound up talking with Flanker and IRC Goliath, whom we shortly learned the origination of "Team Canadian Body Massage" 's oh-so-original name from. For the unenlightened, it is from one of a collection of amusingly re-dubbed GI Joe Public Service Announcements. (He was nice enough to post the link in LJ for our perusal; it's I think sixth or so down on the list. http://www.fenslerfilm.com/?sec=video )

The group doubled in size somehow, and next thing I know Emambu and I were giving Kathy a back massage. I got to talk to Flanker for a bit, and after Aaron showed up the conversation with Kathy turned back to con stuff for a while, but rapidly moved to fic. And lo, we were struck amazed, for here was someone who not only remembered what happened during season 1 of TGS, but *remembered why things were done the way they were!* A bloody revelation to those left with the chore of writing the last seasons of the Gargoyles Saga as we prepare to close down the project. Somehow Chris and Hudson and Kael materialized amidst this, along with Norcumi and Quindar, and suddenly there were umpteen conversations going on. I was pulled out of chat by Dancer for a twenty minute discussion, only to return and find the conversation was just returning to the point I had left it at. Surreal.

Hunger takes up, and those of us who are going out for food offer to pick up McDonald's orders for those who aren't. We make the mistake of ordering our own food to sit down instead of takeaway, and are an hour or so later in returning with feed for the others. …ooops…

We move up to the loft of the lobby for a bit, Aaron and I dragging Emambu into the ficcy talk with Kathy, until Chris and co. have to leave and the rest of us are too exhausted to stay awake much more. All of us opt to go back to the one room and hang out there for a while, and offer Mandi the same when we run into her, which she took us up on. We gather there for a while, lots of random storytelling, especially things involving cars and a great story Emambu has from a time his brother inadvertently caused the start of a mile back-up on both sides of the highway.

A good time was apparently had by all, although Kathy's expression at nearly the whole room singing along- and keeping pace- with the entirety of Dennis Leary's "The Asshole Song" was quite amusing in its own right.

But we couldn't keep up the pace forever, and one by one people begged off for the night or fell asleep where they lay. A perfectly dead-dog way to end a wonderful weekend, and I only threw up twice during the con, which makes this the least vomitous Gathering I have been to.
Yaye Montreal!

And now it's time to prep for staffing 2005; I've already started by updating the "tips for running a small con" advice piece that Aaron and I wrote after 2003; unfinished, it's already blossomed into website proportions and has been accorded such. Con Planning 101 can be found at: http://lynativerse.artchicks.org/Fic/CP_TOC.htm

-Lynati
Aug 29th, 2004

Greg responds...

Really, until we can get it down to NO vomit, I won't really consider it a victory. ;)

Response recorded on August 11, 2006

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Lynati writes...

The con journal that wouldn't die, part 4 (of 5)

Sunday

Wake up to my own alarm clock and skiddadle off to co-host "Gargoyle Biology 101", a sort of lesson in applied science. Or applied reality, as the case may be.

Mara got me a muffin, which I managed to nibbled the top off of while waiting for more people to show…we had a scant room at first, but fifteen minutes into the presentation the ranks had swelled to something respectable. Yggdrasil started off with a power-point presentation on genetics, a very well done one at that. It moved to me next, and my short focus on basics of anatomy, with an emphasis on gargoyle wing structure. (I'd like to see- or host- a panel some year that caters to the art side of how gargoyles are built.) It was also an excuse to show off some of my art, which I'd created for this very purpose (in school) in the first place…and the research of other knowledgeable fandomites I'd collected, Like Shadowriders's "Gargoyles and Flight" document. The latter half was more opting answers to the audience's questions, which were very good; Dylan fielded most of them, since he of all of us has the strongest (actual medical) background. Topics ranged from social aspects of the species impact on their biology to speculations on "real" causes of eye-glow, to…all sorts of stuff. Some slightly more earthy than I expected, but it was all fun. And I learned a few things myself. All three of us agreed that we'd like to see it relived (and improved) at Vegas, provided all can make the con.

I find it a bit amusing, in an odd fashion, the number of people who've referred to this as "Whit's Bio Panel" in their con journal, especially after his own admission of not having time to do any prep work…not that I did much new for the con either, beyond grabbing the vast notebook I'd put together over the last school year. (Actually, until I got my schedule at registration, I wasn't wholly sure that we were even going to *have* the panel.) Yggdrasil was definitely the one who was best prepared…
No, my "amusement" had far more to do with the fact that my name was left entirely off the header, when the panel was inspired by my running around last semester trying to draw people into discussing gargie bio to help me come to realistic conclusions for a project I was doing for school (Basework for my Senior Thesis, actually) and the panel partially my idea…Okay, it irks me. Yes, I *know* it wasn't deliberate and there was far more to contend with than such a minor detail. It still irks. ; )

I can't remember what happened between the end of the panel and closing ceremonies. I recall briefly looking in on both Kathy's writing panel and Liz's art one…wait, no, I remember. I spent it in the art room, which I had not yet seen, participating in the silent auction. (I won the only two I tried for, shocked that neither had bids; one was Kythera's "the Storm" - both a print and original sketch- and a lovely watercolor Liz did of the three named Ishimuran clan members and their beast.) I also picked up a copy of the Phoenix Gate Anthology and a pin, and headed for the signing table. Talked to people, Liz and Eden and Karine some, and the signers, but mostly with Dylan and Stormy.

Closing Ceremonies came on, and then the guest signing. I ran up and got my Montreal Con shirt for Mara to get signed, and wandered around the room talking to people. (Again, mostly Dylan and Stormy, since I am nearly as fixated on their work and ability to write as I am on Cyrway's, and they as people (and not just authors) are both imminently cool.) Mara grabs me to ask what I want Keith David to sign on my shirt, and after a minute of blanking on anything, ask that it be "munchies??" I drift off, and come back to find Mara had been asked to explain the context of such an odd quote…and Keith had been much humored by the story. (This being the "true story behind the Goliath CHRONICles") I am talking to Karine at the back of the room, wavering over presenting the Montreal Puppy to Keith, and manage to just miss his initial reaction to Aaron's tattoo, which he was again convinced to show. Around that point I go up, hand over the glass with a fairly brief explanation, and leave with Aaron before I can hold up the remainder of the line for too long.

The Official Meeting was after that; strange experience. (I agree with Quindar that KGB meetings are more entertaining. ; ) We're gathered en masse for talkies a bit, and then came time to say goodbye to Cat, Rika, Heccy, and Dave, who all had to leave then. : (

Hudson and Aaron and many others decided to play laser tag, which I have always wanted to try, but really didn't feel up to; I was assured everyone would be back in an hour or so. (It was five.)I spent the first two hours packing up my art mess and trying to convince Mara that she wasn't wearing pants, and should put some on. (The fact that she was entirely clothed was a logic I simply ignored on the grounds that I was bored and she- being very tired and thus susceptible to my inanity- was entertaining.) I finished most of the clean on up and took pity on Mara, letting her nap, and wandered off to, well, wander. I ran into Norcumi and Quindar some time later, who had just left a note for me at the room. We circle the lobby several times before landing in the big comfy lobby chairs for me to wait for the return of the laser-taggers. At one point we pass Keith David and his wife coming out of the elevator, and I managed to put on a less-grumbly expression just in time to return his greeting.

The three of us sit and talk, eventually joined after an hour or so by Mara, and Emambu- who was crashing in our room that night. Ckayote and Greg Bishansky materialized and joined us until, an hour or so later, Aaron and the others showed up. And he brought pizza! We swapped stories with Norcumi and Quindar, who randomly took pictures as the night went on.

tbc

Greg responds...

Decompression days can be good.

Response recorded on August 10, 2006

Bookmark Link

Lynati writes...

con Journal Part 3

Saturday

I wake up, and it is Not Good. My usual con sickness- collectively caused by the sleep deprivation, food deprivation, running around, stress, and relationship issues which seem to come together EVERY Gathering- has made it's first appearance. And then some. I beg off for the morning, asking Mara to send my regrets down to Chris, as I was supposed to help sit pre-reg. I got back to sleep, curled around the maelstrom in my guts, and when I finally get up things haven't improved at all. And on top of that, one foot had settled itself into a pediac fetal position, and refused to straighten out; I couldn't even feel half my leg at first. Some feeling crept back into my largest and smallest toe…unfortunately, that feeling was pain. I limped off to find Cat, only to find her not only sick herself but also at a loss of what to do when it comes to leg problems. She suspected I had pinched a nerve in my hip, and stretches of muscle groups besides my calf and foot did seem to help. I still spent most of the day feeling like I was doing an impression of Verbal Kint.

I manage to make it downstairs eventually, in time to meet up with Aaron and Mara as they went to be interviewed by the Video Crew. The interview is winding down when Aaron adds in, "…and I know Greg Weisman wanted me to show this…" and peels off his shirt to reveal the 8" color Demona he had tattooed there when he was 19. They wrap up, and Aaron helps me stumble off in search of food that I can keep down, and on our way out we run into Cat's crew returning from brekky, and I somewhat brighten upon seeing Dancer still with them. We wind up in the train station next to the Tim Horton's, at a passable sandwich place, and notice a Office Depot-type store nearby, and head over to it as I am looking for stands to hold some art (cast-glass versions of the 2004 mascot, which I referred to as the "Montreal Puppies") that I'd made with the intent of giving to Karine and the special guests. We found something I figured would work, and bought a couple to try out. (They worked. I went back the next day and bought more. Montreal rain tastes awesome.)

After that was the great search for the home depot; Karine had given us good directions that Montreal's one-way street deal utterly confused us on. The less said about that trip, the better, only thank you Revel for the loan of Hyena, and the HD people were actually very helpful.

So we get back to work on my costume. And…yeesh, I don't want to even go into it. Emambu, Mara, and Aaron wound up doing a metric buttload of work for me, and injuries on the side, and I gave my uber-staplegun to Aaron, who had successfully managed NOT to staple the fabric into me through the small amount of plaster strapped to my back.

Thank you guys, thank you thank you thank you. And I promise I'll be done with my costume months in advance from now on.

By the time I make it down, half-finished, the masque itself is over…well, the judges are out for decision-making. However, my arrival seems to catch much attention, and I was stopped for a mass photo time, which pretty much made the whole thing worth it. As did my "best late arrival" honorable mention from Greg Weisman. Awards for the rest are given, and then someone dressed as the Hunter (Flanker, as it turned out) had me strangle him for a photo op. (I have no clue how those pics came out.) I talk to Loopy about his costume, muchly jealous… I think I'm pretty much going to have to cross-dress as Brooklyn for 2006 in order to beat that. (Yes, 2006. I have something else in mind for 2005.) Hung around, and met up with Norcumi and Quindar, once again promising that I'd shortly be available for them to kidnap away for a few hours. First there were a couple things I had to take care of…giving Greg one of the Montreal Puppies…and then there was a little incident with Emambu singing a filk I wrote, at the start of karaoke.

Scooted off after that- missing the YMCA thing, which after spending 2 months straight every summer for 11 years at a YMCA camp which considered that song (heh) something of a theme, I could have probably managed the lyrics decently- and spent the night talking to Norcumi and Quindar in their room. That conversation starting off with me being asked to explain the differences between the reality of First Born and real life. I suppose those of you who follow the comic might have been wondering as well, so I'll just clear the air right now…yes, it's true.
Cat really IS dating Cthulu.

Got back into the room a little after four in the morning, realized that I no longer had to work on a costume, and was happy. Then I realized I was skedj'd to co-present a panel the next morning, re-checked the time, and whimpered at the ten am slot. (why ten am? why Sunday morning? whhyyyyyyyy??? ; )

tbc

Greg responds...

Face it. The Gathering is not sleep-enducing.

Response recorded on August 10, 2006

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Lynati writes...

Con Journal Part 2

Friday

Was woken up by Mara getting back to the room from a venture out, and the notification that my reputation as a Scary Fangirl (tm) had apparently preceded me. I, naturally, took this entirely out of proportion and spent the morning avoiding two of my fanfic heroes less I do something to confirm the fact. (Easy to do with the whole "incognito" thing; I had to pass within two feet of them on a couple occasions in the crowd). We hit registration and got our con goodies; and as further proof that Chris has the powers of mesmerism, Aaron was convinced to sign up for the Clan Olympics 2005 staff team. (If there is one thing he hates more than participating in a sport, it's participating in a team sport.) They needed a fourth, and I'd already begged off for the fact I had a costume to finish (again). So Mara wound up in the last position, whereupon I think something along the lines of "Well, I guess you're Staff now" was then said. We haven't eaten yet, and as we run into Hudson's group and Cat's Crew we learn they have not either. So we all decide to go out for lunch, with a few other random fandomites also in search of sustenance. About seventeen of us arrive at this café, see that they are packed and turn to leave when (the manager?) comes out and says there is room enough for us all at the outside tables, and the service is fast…won't we stay?

We do, and the service was fast, and the food was good and inexpensive. I had a gyro, and sat and chatted with Chris while Cat pulled my arm out at a funky angle and spent about ten minutes fixing the carpal tunnel that had started to develop in my right hand. (Thank you again, Cat; I haven't had so much as a twinge since.)

Emambu and I and a couple other slipped back to the con early, wanting to catch the Voice Acting Seminar (another panel I have never quite made it to.) It was good; Emambu and Revel were great reading out Lex and Brooklyn's lines from one scene, and whomever did Griff's lines from that bit of M.I.A.

I'd almost worked up the courage to volunteer for a reading when the camera crew showed up. Now, the thought of making the attempt in front of the crowd was already enough to give me a minor difficulty in breathing; there was no way I was going to embarrass myself on film to boot, even with the general assurance that it wouldn't make it onto the DVD.

It was a good panel; I'd like to see what it's like with more presenters. It ends, and I am temporarily stunned by the fact that Ethan seems to have sprouted a smaller, paler, female version of himself, and hadn't noticed. I go over to the girl because reality demanded it, and tap her on the shoulder. This turned out to be White Avator, one of the fandom's artists. I sneak off then to work on my costume (I have a very strong memory here of chipping off an extraneous chunk of glass in time to Mellencamp's "Rain on the Scarecrow" playing on my walkman) and remain there until I am dragged down to Opening Ceremonies. (I knew what time it started; I just didn't realize that time was already upon me.) Three seats were supposed to have been saved by our friends in the second row; somehow things got mixed up, and there were only two. Mara opted to sit in the row directly behind, so I sat between Aaron and a girl who turned out to be Mercedes.

Didn't take me long to realize that the two people sitting almost directly in front of me were Dylan and his fiancée, Stormy. Attempts to return a greeting were dismembered by Aaron suddenly attempting to display his sense of humor with something that involved a Vulcan pincer grip and the back of my neck…and then the show, as it were, was on.

Current Staff was introduced, leaving not a few of us deeply impressed that Karine could Chair a con while THAT much pregnant. Greg Weisman got up to talk, which resulted in a quote from the con that seems to live in infamy right next to "mommy, what's a con virgin?"

Greg had made a comment about how after this many years, he doubted the fandom had anything left that didn't have his signature on it, but if anything was left…
Cat's immediate response was, "Sign my Grandma!"
Greg looked at a loss for words, which was funny in its own right even though he didn't deliver what I thought was the obvious response of: "Bring her to Vegas!" ; )

About then Abe and MAui stepped in with a surprise first event for the Gargie Olympics. About the time the walkway had cleared and they were counting balls, I slip off to the other side of the room to talk to whom I hoped (correctly) was Norcumi, whom I'd been keeping an eye open for. Kythera popped up minutes later and took the seat next to me, and…I cannot remember that conversation at all. um. *^_^*

About that time Chris is tapped to pitch 2005, and introduce his staff…which I get a surprisingly illustrious inclusion into. (hee, I felt special…) I watched Quindar (Norcumi's s.o.) during most of this. He, heretofore, had been very much in doubt of some of the 2005 intentions and the staff's ability to pull them off; by the time I got to speak to him about it that night, Quindar admitted to being impressed by the speil, as did Norcumi. (Both are shockingly cynical once you get to know them, and not terribly easy to impress. They are very helpful people to have playing the devil's advocate for ideas.) My one odd-note-out about it was that, from where I was sitting, with the reddish long sleeves and the sharp claws and my inability to clearly see his facial features, the mascot looked unnervingly like Freddy Kreuger.

I get back to my original seat right when the lights are turned down for the "home videos" part of OC, and watched the faces of those around who, while hardly new to the fandom, had never attended a Gathering before. It was strangely gratifying to see their expressions; maybe it was knowing that I am not the only one drawn so deeply into the show. After that was the Atlantis ep "The Lost", which I'd yet to hear. I liked it, although I had the misfortune of sitting in front of Rika as well as Mara and Cat, and…I think she tried to crawl into her own hat at one point. I could almost keep a straight face through the, er, more innuendo- accessible portions…but I couldn't help but turn to see how Rika was handling it, and I just lost it after that. In front of me at the staff table, Siryn didn't look like she was coping much better… ; )

(Of course, it wasn't until after the con that we realized that "…all the grunts, groans, and gasps of combat being taken terribly out of context by our collective filthy, filthy little minds" (as Christine Morgan put it) the script actually *directs* the Voice Actors to sound that way at points, when we had a chance to sit down at Greg B.'s house and look at a copy.)

Opening Ceremonies end, and Aaron and I wind up talking to Mercedes for a bit. Enter here the discussion shifting to fellow writer Cyrway without Aaron or I directing it there. Sayeth Mercedes, "It's good to know she still has fans as dedicated as you. As far as I know, there's only one person out there who still writes to her about her Gargoyles fic."
Us: ""oh?"
Mercedes: "Yeah, there's a girl she found who does filks about her universe,"
Me : (thinking) oh cool, there is someone else writing Cyrway filks?
Me : ~ pause as reality kicks in ~
Me: "You mean…someone *besides* me?"
Mercedes : "What name do you post under?"
Me: "Lynati"
Mercedes: "Yeah, that's the one."

So. Yeah. She's read them. And apparently doesn't hate them. The One deigns to notice my work in Her name! (…ever had a running gag that lasted so long that you and your friends lost track of the line between the joke and reality? It's a scary, scary thing. On that note, there really isn't a 30-ft tall statue of Eddie of Winslow in Aaron's backyard.) (Yet.)

I get rather distracted at this point, and miss/don't recall much of the conversation that she and her brother have with Aaron at that point. I'm too busy bouncing around like the hyperactive fangirl I am.

I meant to work on the costume more from after OC to the start of the Blue Mug, but this wound up not exactly happening. First off, I was distracted by conversation with Hudson and Kaelyan in lower level for a bit, throwing in a "actually, I have a pair of pliers" to Kael's comments about the so-far failed attempts to get the DVD player hooked to the TV. I promised to send them up; I had also promised to drop by to visit Cat's Crew and have them around to chat to while I worked. I head upstairs, when I notice a fandomite drifting by herself; being someone who 1) values her own solititude at times and 2) has been left wandering for lack of anyone to hang with, I decide to by a good con-goer and strike up a conversation. This is Dancer, whose friends took off for dinner without her; I offer to let her come hang with me if she has nothing better to do, after I run a few errands. We head to Rika's room first, were she and Cat are quickly embroiled in a metal-working conversation as I talk to Rika and Heccy. Eventually those still awake- ie, not Sammy or GE, who were also sharing room and ride- come up to my room. Dancer mentions wanting to call home but her phone not working, and I mention Hudson wanted it known that his satellite phone was available for such calls. I send her up with my pliers, which struck another thing off my list. Unfortunately, Dave and Heccy realize they are more of a distraction to my work than a help only 20 minutes before the Blue Mug, so I really only had about that much time for the costume. *sigh* Then again, I come to the con primarily to see my friends, not to be awed over at the masquerade. (Although I really do enjoy that, when I happens.)

I head up to the consuite, and have a chance to talk to Liz around then about turning in my AMV's for the contest, which I was advised to do the next morning, early. (As it turned out, I wasn't capable of upright motion for most of that morning, so I missed entering them entirely. Eh, for those who care- and have windows media player- they are posted at:
http://lynativerse.artchicks.org/Invincible.WMV
http://lynativerse.artchicks.org/PerfectDay(med).WMV
and the one I was forced to render in two parts:
http://lynativerse.artchicks.org/WarriorGoodbyeP1.WMV
http://lynativerse.artchicks.org/WarriorGoodbyeP2.WMV

I found myself staring again at the aptly-named White, who has hair so beautiful I could not resist asking to be allowed to pet it. (I'm not usually that touchy-feely with people I don't know very well. The conventions have really helped improve my ability to handle social situations.) I liked the conversation; after all, the blue mug doesn't *have* to be raunchy; it just is allowed to be. I managed a couple decent questions. (Forgetting one that came as a follow-up to one I'd recently gotten response to at Ask Greg; At the time of The Last, did Demona really believe she was the last gargoyle alive?) It ended late, and I again worked later- about 5am- on my costume, and gave myself my first hot glue burns of the weekend. (my only second degree burn from a glue gun, ever, would come the next night...along with Mara's. :\ )

tbc

Greg responds...

It's the people, isn't it? I like to think I contribute, but really the thing that makes the Gathering work year after year is the family it has become. Squabbling family on occasion, but family nonetheless.

Response recorded on August 09, 2006

Bookmark Link

Torvik writes...

Am I the last one to post a journal?? (Hope not...)

2004 Journal for Alan (Torvik)

I'm doing this all backwards.

It seems like most people get involved in the fandom, and *then* attend the Gathering. Not so in my case. My sister and I attended because we loved the show, and now here I am, looking to be connected to the fandom throughout the year as well. Funny.

I thought the con was great. It took a while for us to find our niche and the rhythm of things, but that didn't really dampen our fun at all.

I was drawn to the con for a couple reason, one of which was the acting aspect (voice and otherwise). I had put a big circle around the voice acting seminar on my schedule, and felt confident that we'd get there in time for it. However, because of our hour long flight delay, and trouble getting to our hotel (we stayed at the Days Inn down the street - $40/night cheaper AND we got a Shrek 2 theme room ;) not only did I miss out on the seminar, but on the RPG Panel and the first auditions. Disappointing.

Opening ceremonies were alright. I wanted to ask the pregnant lady who she was, and what her role in the weekend was. The first half didn't feel so much like a ceremony, as much as it felt like the ref laying out the rules before a wrestling match…

I enjoyed what Greg had to share, especially the pitches he had prepared. I liked the idea of Gargs 2198 (or whatever the year was) and Dark Ages. Bad Guys seemed a little contrived, and the rest seemed like an ever bigger stretch. (The Gate was 'just out of reach' for 40 years?? Reach a little farther man! Come on! ;) Still, it was a great glimpse into all the workings that boil below the surface that we never really get to see.

MGT3K (don't ask me to write it out) was fun, especially since I had found myself heckling episodes over the past half year since I had dusted off my tapes. I appreciated Jade when she invited Jackie and I to sit closer on the floor. I was like, 'Hurray, acceptance!' I gotta check the site out sometime to see if any of my lines got picked up.

We left after that, since we were kinda tired and weren't too interested in the Blue Mug. It was a nice walk back to our hotel. Only twenty minutes (downhill), and three Tim Hortons on the way. We felt far safer walking downtown Montreal at that hour than we would have in Winnipeg.

Jackie wasn't feeling so hot the next morning, so I caught a cab and went by myself. First off, I went to audition. The form I was given asked if I wanted only large part, only a small part, or whatever. Now I naturally WANTED a large part, but I didn't want to jeopardize my shot at getting anything by saying I ONLY wanted a large part, so I put 'whatever'. It also asked if I could speak with an English or Scottish accent. I didn't know what to put, but I knew I didn't want to limit myself, so I put a yes for both of them. Afterall, it didn't ask if I could do them *well*. (The back of the audition bundle had an early concept pic of Angela! Just another one of those fringe benefits of attending the con!)

I read Hudson's part for the audition. Since I started watching Gargs, I had adopted little Sottish hints to me speech, and I think that helped. I had also spent two months in London, but that didn't really help at all. My attempt at an English accent sound like an Irishman trying to sound Scottish.

From there, I went up to the ConSuite and watched Hunter's Moon 1-3. Good stuff. Good stuff.

Jackie and I were going to attend the SCA demo (whatever that meant) but we decided to help Mug Greg instead. I finally got to ask my question that had been sitting on 'Ask Greg .com' for half a year, and received a satisfying answer. (When he lead the clan, everyone probably called Hudson 'Mentor', not as an official name, per se, but a respectful handle all the same. After Goliath took up leadership, some still called the older gargoyle 'Mentor' but it wasn't as common, and had pretty much slipped away my the time they had reached NY.)

After that, were rehearsals. I checked the cast list, and sure enough, I was on it! Once we were all assembled, Greg called out each person one at a time, and announced which part they had. I tried not to get my hopes up. I really tried, especially since Kieth David wasn't going to be there to read the part of Goliath, and I knew that my voice had a certain resonance to it.

Finally, Greg reached the end of his list, and asked "Who still doesn't have a part?" I put up my hand, as did a guy in the front row. "Oh," Greg said, "So-and-So, you're Owen." Everyone clapped. "There must be someone who still doesn't have a part." I raised my hand again, and Greg announced that I would play Hudson's role, which I was pleased with. Then he said that they had seen Ed Asner (the original voice of Hudson) in LA, and they got him to sign the script, which I would be able to keep after the show! This made being Hudson *especially* ok. ( http://www.geocities.com/_zith/script.jpg Sorry about the horrible quality of the scan. I'm using my parent's computer right now X-(

The Radio Play was lots of fun. Sure, I only had 4 lines, but Hudson was mentioned often. When I heard the person read Castaway's part, I suddenly remember what an English accent was *supposed* to sound like. It'd obviously be fun to be a part of a Radio Play with a smaller cast. Maybe next year…

After that, it was the official time to watch the music video entries. A bunch of us crowded into an elevator and headed up to the ConSuite. Sadly, only 3 video actually worked on the laptop. Luckily, one of them was mine. I thought the other two were kinda cheesy and boring, while mine was fresh and punchy. (Well, what else am I supposed to say about my own video?) Yet, I saw that votes were also piling up for 'Learning to Fly' (despite the fact that Gargoyles clearly don't fly… ;) We cast our votes and left for our hotel.

Jackie and I skipped the banquet, because a) it was very expensive, b) we both wanted to take a nap before the long evening started, and c) we needed time to get our costumes ready. So we slipped back to our hotel and did the above.

We were going as Fox and Xanatos from 'Eye of the Beholder'. I had suggested the idea to her a few months ago, expecting that I'd have to do some major wheedling to get her to go along with the idea. To my surprise, she was excited about the idea right away. Lucky me.

Her costume was simple. I went to Value Village and found the longest trench coat I could find as well as an old, gold necklace I could take sections out of. I went to Michael's to get Fimo and some half marbles to make the Eye of Odin from, and I already had body paint to 'tattoo' her eye with.

My costume was a little more involved. I picked up some sleek black sweat pants from the aforementioned VV Boutique, as well as an equally sleek black t-shirt which would be worn over a dark purple long sleeve sweater. A pair of black socks and a dark brown pony-tail extension rounded off the simple part of the costume.

The tricky part was the jet-pack. I had grabbed a few screenshot of David wearing it, but still struggled in figuring out what exactly it looked like, since the shots weren't that clear. I went to Home Depot, and wandered around their duct-work section trying to put it all together in my mind.

It ended up being simpler than I thought. The only noticeable modification I made was changing the suit to dual-thrust from single-thrust. I found two duct-elbows that were big and wide enough to do the trick. I also bough four duct straps (2 for the belt, and 1 for each arm strap), and one plate to go across my chest. I used ordinary duct tape to hold it all together, and shiny waterproof tape to cover it.

The finishing touch was the easiest to overlook. I went to Radio Shack and bought two red lights, a switch, some batteries, and other little do-das that are required for electrical work. The guy working there was very helpful since I had never done anything like this before. I rigged up all the lights together, and they worked great, except they were a bit on the dim side, and the lights in the ballroom already had a red tinge to them.

That night we finally assembled all of our costumes together, and I think we looked great. Sure, I didn't have the goatee, and Jackie didn't have strawberry blond hair, but we were close enough. (I even put on extra clothes under my costume, just so I'd look more buff ;)

We arrived back at the con on time, but the dinner went long, so we spent time waiting around. Since we were participating in the costume contest, they asked us to wait in another room with the other competitors. We were an interesting look crew, to say the least. What I really like is that even though there were tones of people dressed up, there was only one overlap in costumes. (Double the Dracon means double the trouble, eh?) There were four Foxes, and even tow from Eye of the Beholder, but they were all different.

Once everyone was seated in the ballroom, we lined up outside the doors and waited to be called in. Jackie suggested that I carry her in to the stage. I was hesitant (afterall, my buffness was only because of the extra clothes I was wearing) but decided to give it a shot. I picked her up, and as we walked down the aisle I whispered to her, "I've never felt more heroic in my life."

I think it was our entrance that secured us the 'Best Couple' award. I was so very pleased with the outcome. Jackie and I enjoyed the rest of the ball, listened to some karaoke. I really enjoyed getting our photo taken with Jade. She was dressed up as Elisa from Eye, who of course was dressed up as Belle. It was SO prefect. I couldn't have planned it better.

I also pulled Greg aside and thanked him for casting me as Hudson. I think the role came with a certain mantle, and I appreciated having it placed on me. I also told him that everyone at home loved my voice, but I wanted to know what 'people from his world' would think of me. 'Would I be just another voice?' He said that I had a good sound, and that doing accent work might be good for me, but ultimately I had a Canadian sound, and if I wanted to work in an American market, I would need to learn how to turn it on and off. It was advice I could understand. Jackie and I left not long after.

The next morning we were back, ready for our last day of the convention. Jackie decided to sit in on the Garg Bio discussion (since she's majoring in it) and I went to help Mug Keith David, who had only arrived the night before, just in time for the end of the banquet. A couple of us had been sitting there for almost an hour, when someone announced that Keith had not been informed about the session, and would not be there until after lunch. Disappointed, I left to join the end of the Bio session.

The Mug-A-Guest was pretty good (although I did get bored with it after a while). The biggest highlight was Keith's answer when I asked 'What, other than perseverance, do you most attribute where you are at to?' Without batting an eye, he said "God". Apparently he had wanted to go into ministry, and decided that this was the best kind of ministry for him to be involved in. I found that real encouraging. It was a refreshing contrast from the 'go where the work is' and 'perfect your craft' advice.

The Closing Ceremonies were nice. They announced the art show winners for a while. I still wasn't sure if I had won the Best Music Video award. I had hoped as much, but I felt there were enough votes for 'Learning to Fly' to give me a run for my money. After the art awards, they gave the floor to the Las Vegas people for a bit, and said a bunch of 'Thank You's. I began to wonder if they had eliminated the music video contest because of low turn out. Then, just before they were going to finish everything off, Liz stopped the proceedings, and asked if the creator of the music video 'Faint' was present. And I was! I went up and collected my ribbon, well contented again.

After the official closing, Jackie and I got in line to get Keith's autograph. I took that opportunity to thank him for his words that afternoon, stating that it helped me remember the role my faith needs to play in my career. Once we were done with that, we headed out to make our way to the airport.

Jackie and I had a great time at the Con. We went, wanting to spend some time together before she got married, and we had an excellent time doing so. Our costumes were GREAT, I won the contest, I got to be in the Radio Play, and received good advice about voice acting.

I probably won't be in Vegas next year, but I think I'll get a supporting membership and try to enter another video. The year after, who knows? I'm also finding a number of people who have said to me 'Oh yeah, I remember that show. Whatever happened to it?' At which point I give them the big Dec. 7th speciel. (I hope it goes well…)

Well, it's almost Sept. 1st, so I had best read this over, and post it. Thanks again fandom for helping keep this going. Looking forward to being more involved in the future.

Alan/Torvik/Xanatos in a jet-pack/the music video contest winner/…

Know what? Just call me Tor.

Greg responds...

Hey Tor, glad you had a good time. What exactly is a "Shrek 2" theme room anyway?

Response recorded on August 09, 2006

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Lynati writes...

2004 Montreal Con Journal

Part 1

My con experience, as with most who travel by caravan, starts a bit before the actual con dates.

It started with a couple small problems; I can't fly on an airplane until I get this little "has seizures and blacks out on planes" thing looked at and hopefully fixed; Aaron didn't have time to renew his passport, and Revel wound up promising both him, Mara, Greg B. and Alex a ride to the con along with Spacebabie, in a car that only seats four. About that time, Emambu offered/was convinced to drive from Pittsburgh to Kansas City and pick me up. Deciding that 1) Pittsburgh wasn't too bad a place for a layover from the Texas contingent, and 2) Revel didn't especially want to navigate New York alone, never having driven in the state, we wound up using Pittsburgh as a crash point for one night (well, morning as it turned out), and both vehicles- Emambu, Aaron, Mara, and myself in the Mafia Cruiser, and Spacie and Revel in his Hyena- would travel together to get the Bishansky brothers, and take another night there before heading up to Montreal.

There was also some juggling of luggage, mostly me leaving most of my stuff- not planning to return to KC until some time in September, I'd had to pack for a full summer, and somewhere along the line decided that being separated from the hub of my communications, art, writing, and research for over two months was too long. Add in I was already traveling in a car with huge trunk space, and that I wasn't entirely comfy in leaving it alone in my apartment for two months, I wound up bringing my entire computer set-up (sans printer) with me.

So Thursday we take of from Greg's mother's house, and are Montreal-bound. Today's trip wasn't much different than the previous day, with Aaron and Emambu indulging in sports-conversations, and an uninterested Mara and I in the back seat, dozing and working on art. I'd called for a stop at the nearest home-depot-esque store to pick up a few more supplies for my costume, and indulged in a lot of wire-wrapping of sections of chicken wire together for my vastly-unfinished costume.

During the con, I wound up re-living my 2002 position of holing up in my hotel room for half the con, missing both the radio play and several panels I wished to see, working on a costume that I didn't finish nearly to my standards but wore anyway, and which people seemed impressed by. Of course, while I automatically jump to my own laziness as an excuse for this, it isn't really true. Both times I had pressing school issues- 2002 I'd gone to Germany on a school trip for credit, and had to mail my costume home as I couldn't lug it around eastern Europe. I left that trip two days earlier to make the con. This time, it was finishing up the last credits I needed to complete my double-major- with the class ending on July 28th- and packing up my apartment, since I wouldn't be back until I came through to add everything to the moving truck I'd be bringing my Maryland property with, en route to a final destination in Texas. Both, sadly, ranked ahead of my costume in things I had to focus on- and even then I'd only had time to start Ophelia on July 3rd.

Besides, there was always the next years…

Anyway, after a while the conversation shifted a bit; some was centered around the webcomic Jack, and a long debate about the nature of its anthropomorphic reality. More was fic-related, since all four of us are/were fic writers…or at least, fic procrastinators. Before hitting Pittsburgh, the Texas contingent had come up with a new game to pass the time, called "Fate", which we indulged in for a while. Each person takes a turn in picking a canon character, and each time around everyone explains what happened to that character in their own world. Eventually this dissolved into fic-talk (my favorite pastime) and some TGS-related discussions. This would not be the first time such a topic came up during the con. ; )

I, sadly, had no more chances to sing, as Emambu had given into my request for lessons on the ride up from Kansas City, and I spent a large portion of that trip butchering Melissa Etheridge and listening in awe to Emambu's talent when it came to a best-of Van Morrison album.

It was bordering dusk when we hit Canada, and the fic chatty was still going strong. We cross the border with ease- if over an hour's wait- but have to pull off at the first opportunity when it is realized that no one has the directions from the border to the hotel. Between 411 and a helpful native, we were on our way…only to be further diverted by more road construction. We reach the hotel, unload at the front, and I check in. New experience for me, and considerably easier than I was worried it could be. There are a number of our age/type people hovering about in the lobby, and I get some help in carting everything up to the room. Come back down to mingle after finding said room to be satisfactory…if tricky to get into.

I recognized Leo, and managed to correctly place another girl- whom I'd only met briefly at 2001- as Chyna Rose. She, Mara and I, and one who I absolutely did not recognize as Silver despite a long art-related chat in '02, sat down to stretch out and talk. Talk at this point mostly revolved about interesting quirks in finding the hotel, pet cats, and Wolverine. Others drifted in, most of which I'd never met in person. This included Chameleongirl, whom I know from LiveJournal, and the Sadistic Cow, who I know from the one Gargoyles fic that actually gave me nightmares as well as from Mooncat's forum. Didn't really chat with either of them much during the con; sorry guys.

About that time the caravan that included Chris, Hudson and Ethan showed up, and I wasted no time in pouncing Ethan over the matter of my furry feet, which I was forced to leave with him in New York and had been assured, repeatedly, would be returned to me at the con. I was really really looking forward to being reunited with them, my first attempt and surprising success at gargie feet, but that didn't happen; in an apartment the size of a breadbox, they had proved unfindable.

I'm really going to miss those feet. : (

And while I'm busy sulking about that, Aaron wanders away from where he'd been chatting with Chris, comes up to me and says, "I'm in".

To which I, knowing he couldn't possibly mean 2005 con staff since his insistence post-2003 that he'll never get within 300 feet of being on a con staff again and Mara's equal insistence that she would gut anyone who attempted anyone who attempted to convince him otherwise with a plastic spork, cleverly respond:

"What?"

"Treasurer. For 2005. Chris talked me into it."

"What? HOW???"

"I'm not sure."

I notice at this point Mara is talking to Chris, and no sporks seem present. It takes me a while to process this, so it's a full three minutes later, after I've gone back to chatting with Silver about art stuff, that I turn back to where Aaron is talking to Hudson's group and yowl a "Are you insane?!?"

Aaron: "What?"

Me: "…nothing."

Time passes, and the (rather large) group that had accompanied the con staff and Greg Weisman out to dinner return; it may have been after midnight by then. Anyway, an all new round of greetings goes on, of which I am only peripherally part of as I either don't know, or am severely intimidated by, most of those who just showed up. I should also take this time to point out that I was at the con ingocnito- as myself. About three months earlier I'd needed hair for an art project, right then, and lopped off my ponytail to use. I'd cut it back further in the tweening months, so for the first time since I was seven I had hair that didn't reach my shoulders. Second, I was wearing contacts instead of my usual (darkly tinted) glasses. It had taken Hudson until after I started talking for him to recognize me, and Kaelyan about five minutes after that. (Kathy Pogge didn't for over a day, but then, she had far less reason to than either of the guys.)

But Greg Weisman knew in two seconds flat, and gave me a hug as well. So there's a group of over twenty fans carousing in a mass of sub-groups chatting right in front of the hotel doors for about half an hour before people start begging off and heading to bed. The ones left eventually decided to move out of the middle of the lobby walkway- where everyone tended to gravitate to throughout the con- over to the couches, and all we sat down and chatted for a bit.

The group broke up, and I worked on my costume while Aaron and Mara went to sleep, and for a couple hours after that.

tbc

Greg responds...

Hey, YAY for me. Sometimes I'm quite dense about these things, so I'm glad I wasn't that time. Usually, once I really meet a person, he or she is locked in fairly well. But it can take me two or three gatherings to lock someone into my less-than-traplike brain. And I'm sure there are many exceptions.

Response recorded on August 08, 2006

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Spoogens writes...

Da Gathering Journal.

Well.. This 2004 Gathering was a learning experience.
I learned that this con has morphed from people just coming to see cool, new things and drool over voice actors and Greg. It's turned into a mission and a family. Like in all families, not everyone gets along, but we all stick together and go to ungodly places to see eachother once a year. We take care of eachother, trash hotels together, and constantly strive to make the family a big and better functioning unit.
I learned that everything in Montreal is written in French, and detours and incredibly hard to navigate in a foriegn language.
I learned a pint in Canada is Nearly Ten Smakeroos.
I learned smokes come in packs of 25.
I learned Keith David is very friendly when tipsy.
I learned everyone gets friendlier and smilier when in ridiculous costumes.
I learned Radio Plays are cooler in auitoriums.
I learned everyone bands together when in a country where they can't read the road maps.
And I learned why I've never gone to Montreal before.

I can't wait until 2005, because I know that no matter where we are, or how exspensive a 5 inch pizza is, we are a family.

Greg responds...

An extended family that's eager to extend even further. Tell your friends.

Response recorded on August 08, 2006

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Venus writes...

I have no time to do a real journal, sorry.....college is draining my soul (I have 5 seperate assignments to finish by tomorrow as I type this!), but I did want to get in a blurb before it was too late.

I had an awesome time at this past gathering, it was my third, and definately won't be my last. I saw masses of friends....those people are my family, and it makes me uber happy that I get to see them atleast once a year.
Gargoyles on DVD! I've already convinced another girl here to buy it. ^-^
And....soon back on TV? We can only hope!

Umm, like I said...it was great, I had masses of fun, and I hope everyone can make it for 2005! I'm wearing my t-shirt for it today! I'm a walking advertisement!
See you guys in Vegas!

Greg responds...

Glad you had fun. Stick with us, the best is yet to come!

Response recorded on August 07, 2006

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Nikki "Y2Hecate" Owens writes...

Gathering 2005

Unfortunately, with school and family madness, I've not had time to write up an actual con journal (yet). But, I did want to say a few things about it.

The 8th Gathering Of The Gargoyles, was actually my 4th Gathering. It was a wonderful experience, as always. The staff did a great job, and I thank them for all their hard work.
Traveling to Canada was a new and exciting experience for me. I'm glad I got the chance.
The Gathering itself is always fun for me, and this year was no exception. But here's some of my personal highlights.
The banquet was delicious. I was a little worried that I wouldn't like it, as I'm a very picky eater, but I'm glad I tried it.
The art show was amazing. So many talented artists! Seeing all the great pieces and the work put into them really encourages me to improve my own art.
Lots of interesting panels, as usual. I only wish I had the time to attend more of them. Radio Play, and Blue Mug were a couple of my favorite events.
The Masquerade and Ball!

The best part, however, is just hanging out, and seeing all the fans that attend; my friends, and all the new people I meet.
The Gathering is just that.. a gathering. A gathering of lots of great people from all over the world, just hanging out and having fun. All in the name of Gargoyles.
It's something I look forward to every year.

I can't wait to see everyone in Las Vegas for 2006! Come hang out with us!

~Nikki/Hecate~
(If anyone's interested: When I do finish my more detailed con report, I'll post it here: http://www.y2hecate.com/Gathering2004/ )

Greg responds...

As many of you know, Nikki loves the Gathering so much that she's now conchair for the 2007 Gathering in Pigeon Forge, TN.

Response recorded on August 07, 2006

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Jonathan D. Parshall writes...

Got to the hotel the day before the convention absolutely exhausted. That airport really ain't so great. Just collapsed into bed.

The first day I attended a extremely interesting panel with John Clemens about combat. Hudson showed he was scarily familiar with weaponry of all types. :) The opening ceremonies were cool, learning the next con was to be in Las Vegas was a pleasant surprise and I definitely plain on attending. Watch the Clan Olympics take over the ceremonies was a highlight and I only wish I could have managed to see more of it during the con. Afterwards I was participated in Mystery Gargoyles Theater 3000, which was a blast. After dinner and going to my room for a while, I attended the Blue Mug-a-Guest with Greg. Am I the only one who thinks we really get a bigger room for this? The past two have each seemed far too small, this time especially. I still enjoyed the conversation and got to trade a few before hand with Whitbourne about Tim Hourtins. Got my question answered, but again forgot to ask the question I put off asking in New York.

The next day I was at I the auction and managed to buy some things I really don't need. The Radio Play was wonderful. Whoever did the voice of Vinnie really hit the nail on the head, it sounded perfect. The banquet was probably the highlight of the con (Despite the subpar food, but I was expecting that. I am SO looking forward to those Las Vegas buffets!). Listening to Keith speak was a treat, despite having to strain to hear him over the caterwauling next-door (Who the heck were those people anyway?).

The last day was sad, but it really great to get my photo with Keith and a autograph. I had planned to go the amusement park, but a mix-up of my fault prevented me. Still, it was all in all a great con and am already checking airfares for next year. See you'all there!

Greg responds...

Short and too the point.

Response recorded on August 04, 2006

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CKayote writes...

Note to readers; I was writing actual hard copy in a notebook while I was at the con. I've

transcribed it pretty much word-for-word, so when it's written in the present tense, that's

because I wrote about it while it was happening. Where it's in past tense, that's because I

was writing about it later on.

Thursday Evening

Airline travel was airline travel. I'll invest in a jetpack.

8-ish: Got to hotel. Ate. Talked with other gathering-goers. T-Shirts from precious

Gathering and trench coats are good indicators.

1: Finally got to bed. On the floor. Still better than the "mattress" in my dorm last year.

Friday

9:45: Awake. Went to Eat with Sarah the Great. Found out I don't like Swiss Almond Mocha

Chocolate coffee.

We went and registered in. Gotta buy a Shirt. Signed up for Blue Q+A and Clan Oylmpics.

12:00: Went to Sapcebabie's General Round Robin. We talked about UCF (she just graduated

from the university I'm attending).
Waited for more people to come.
Seri Wavelength, Whitbourne, Allaine showed up. We waited more. Lord Sloth showed up.
We started. Allaine taped the whole thing.
"Macbeth and Demona in the Grand Canyon whitewater rafting. Using the words "Bitch, Ropes,

Rocks, Flirtatious, Salamander, Moss, and Whisky"

1:15: Dingy! Out of Round Robin.

1:50: Went to fill out a ballot for the art show. Must take some illegal pictures. Then get

lunch.
Bought a Gathering T-Shirt and Phoenix Gate anthology.
T-Shirt was too small, so I exchanged it for another one.
Got lunch with Sara the Great.

3:15: Saw a little bit of Greg's voice acting talk. He was talking about picturing the

characters in his head before making the show.

3:30: Went to costume seminar.

4:15: Wrote on the hard copy of this journal. Waited for opening ceremony at 5:00.

4:45: Made a sign for our Clan Olympics team. We purposely spelled it wrong. -> For those of

you who don't know (re: everybody), I was on Clan Chalangd, Part Duex.

5:00: Sat with my team (Me, Sarah the Great, ChynaRose, and Allaine) at opening ceremonies.

I stuffed the most balls down my shirt! So proud.

Vegas sounded great. Decided I had to find money to attend.

Enjoyed the pitch presentations. Liked the evolutions of the character designs.
Great story about 'This is meant for kids?!"
Wasn't impressed by the New Olympians presentation. Thought the design for Sphinx was

interesting. Very Gargish. I wonder why no one on AskGreg has asked if she has some ancestry

in the New Olympian Clan.
My advice (not that I'm qualified to give it) to Greg on this one is it needs to have some

plot rather than just premise.

Bad Guys ROcked!

Disappointed we didn't get to do Mystery Gargoyles Theater 3000.

Dinner: Ate a bagel at Tim Horton's.

10:00: Shot in the dark. We came in last but made 3 tic-tact-toe. Must get someone to

exorcise the "spirits".

12:00-2:00: 'Blue' (why is it called Blue?) Mug-a-Guest. Not a lot of 'Blue' questions. Was

I the only one who asked adult questions (I asked using the tail to pleasure one's self and

where little Oberon's Children came from) or is my memory bad? Probably both.

Saturday

9:50: Dragged myself out of bed (re:the floor). Roomates need to wash their feet. Damn!

10:00 Torture trivia. Lots of fun. I'm surprised the other teams didn't try to get us out

first.
But never fear! I am the holder of the magic 1up ball!

11:15: Out of torture trivia. We were down to 2nd from last. Saved the 1up ball.

I went upstairs and cleaned up. Had some bad donuts and awlful coffee (mostly water) at Tim

Horton's.

12:00: Sat around talking about commercials with some of the English con-goers at the

McDonald's by the Tim Horton's.

12:30: Came to the auction. Bought some stuff.
I'll see about scanning the coloring book up onto the internet.

1:37: Still at the auction. Going to buy a dangly and stick it to my forehead like White.
Damn! The Brooklyn went up to $26!
Bought the last Broadway one for $6. Probably too much. But I must suction cup it to my head

so I can take a photo and put it on the internet. Which means I need a website.

They auctioned of "The Cell". You feel the tension in the air. If someone had lit a match

I'm afraid the room would have exploded.

$41 for the "Darkfighter" backpack.

Gotta email Rita M. and congratulate her on how well her artwork sold.

2:30: Played really hard pictionary. It was really hard.
We got last and had to allow another team to die. But we still had the Hunter's Moon Dash to

make it up.

3:15: Payed for my auction stuff. Attached the Broadway sucker to head. It rocked.

Played pictionary some more just for fun. Robert was really good at it. we got all the

phrases when he was drawing.

3:30: Put in the minimum $20 bid on the Gargoyle-alien-armor-dune-worm painting. It's sort

of alot and not's Netzumi's best piece, but it's picture I stumbled upon that got me into

the fandom, so it's worth buying.

3:40: Put stuff down up in the room. The I went to attend the radio play. Was wondering what

it was going to be. I know it needs lots of people and there's about 30 sitting upfront.

3:50: We started the radio play. Had to wait for the film crew.

4:21: They did "The Journey". Going to see the music videos next.

4:30: Seen the videoes. Disappointed there was only 3. Apparently the mail-ins didn't work

or some such. Poor Siren. Trying to remember if Nickerous said he sent some in.
Think mine was the best, but I'm partial. Didn't because of it.

Went to A fan's room. Ate his pizza and watched a few episode tapes.

8:30: Banquest is over. Keith David is doing Q+A. Annoying music from next door drifting

over. But don't worry, "Our hearts will go on."

9:30: Kicked us out to prep for the Masquerade.
Gotta do something for it next year. Severius or Owen?

9:50: Masquerade's getting going. Lots of people in costumes who don't seem to be in the

contest. I wonder if the full body gargoyle guy scared them off.
Costumes were great. Ran out of pictures on my camera. Started taking them with the digital

in my cell phone.
My hands are sore and bleeding from all the clapping! And I'm finding I write with too many

exclamation marks.

11:45: Went up to Sarah's room and we made "The ONE BOX."
Came back down and took Allaine's pciture with my camera phone. I know he saw us. Wonder

what he was thinking. Will find out the hard way.
But it'll be worth it. Our characture of him is great!

11:55: Came down to karoke to see what's going on down here.

1:05: Lyric-less "YMCA" (we didn't know any of the words so we insert 'something-something'

every 5 seconds).
My hands are still sore from earlier.

1:35: My "I Will Survive" is a hit.

Sunday

10:05: Sarah had Scott drag me out of bed for the scavenger hunt. Lot of fun. Bought the

knick-knacks we didn't have.
Sarah ran upstreet(and I mean literally mean up and in up-hill) to a convience store and

nearly passed out.

12:30: Saw the Keith David Mug-A-Guest.

1:15-ish: Bought the "Midori' piece I had bid on in the art show.
Bought another T-shirt too. (Later I got home to realize that the gargoyle is on the back of

the shirt, not the front like I thought.)

3:00: Closing. Looking forward to 2005. Registered for next year. Got a free T-shirt.

5:30: Swam in the indoor pool. Feel much better.

6:30: Showered. Smell much better.

7:00: Laser Tag!

KICKED @%#^& ASS!
Glad I wore all black.

9:30: Went to eat at a restaurant called Rueben's. Lousy sandwich. Fires were good. It was

decided that we will do laser tag next year in Vegas.

10:45: Siryn is a mean drunk. Enough said.

11:00: Talked with Lynati & others about TGS stuff. Aaron, Marge, & Greg Bishanky(?) showed

up later.

1:40: Went to bed.

Monday

7:30: Sarah dragged me out of bed. We walked around and saw the architecture.
Got breakfast. Good food.

9:50: We got back. Ran to the bathrooms.

10:10: Out of room. Sat in lobby and talked.

11:30: Outta there. Cuaght bus to the airport.

12:55: Finishing Gathering Journal in airport. Missing everybody already. Dang.

Greg responds...

That was punchy! It had verve!

Response recorded on August 04, 2006

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Leo writes...

Thursday, August 5th: "Pre" Gathering.

We arrived at the Delta Centrville a little after 6PM. Kelly and I went with the porter and our bags to our room on the 28th floor (the highest "guest" floor in the hotel). After tipping the porter we relaxed in the room for about a half hour, checking out what channels the TV had to offer. Alex only had time to glance around the room and make a couple calls home before he had to go play "Taxi Driver" between the hotel and the airport. Lord Sloth then stopped by after checking in at his youth hostle and we let him keep his stuff in or room while he was at the con.
We arrived at the Delta Centrville a little after 6PM. Kelly and I went with the porter and our bags to our room on the 28th floor (the highest "guest" floor in the hotel). After tipping the porter we relaxed in the room for about a half hour, checking out what channels the TV had to offer. Alex only had time to glance around the room and make a couple calls home before he had to go play "Taxi Driver" between the hotel and the airport. Lord Sloth then stopped by after checking in at his youth hostle and we let him keep his stuff in or room while he was at the con.

We spent most of what was left of the evening lounging in the room or taking exciting elevator rides down to the lobby, either for Kelly to have a smoke or to see if we could catch any other con-goers as they were checking in. By about 10:00 most of the "con veterans" had arrived and we hung out in the lobby (A Fan, Mara, Aaron, Spacebabie, Revel, Liz - who is also from Virginia - Wingless, and many others) Alex Garg had arrived with Kathy, but they had to leave again to go pick up Kathy's room mate as well as Denis - the 4th person in our room. This caused some confusion when Denis arrived about an hour and a half after Alex Left.

I was under the impression that Denis had arrived with Alex. So Kelly and I brought him up to the room. We watched TV for a while and waited for Alex to come back from "parking the car". About half an hour later when Denis asked us where Alex was, I said he probably stayed down in the lobby to chat. THEN.. we find out that Denis actually didn't get picked up by Alex, he took a taxi when he couldn't find he, at the airport.

Oops.

At about 1:AM, Alex comes in looking exhausted. He looks at the bed he had planned on sleeping in, sees Denis asleep in it, then looks at me and Kelly. After briefly explaining the misunderstanding we finally called it a night, with Alex sleeping on an exercise mat on the floor.

Friday, August 6th: Gathering, Day 1

The four of us (Alex, Kelly, Denis, and I) had breakfast at Chez Antoine, the "bistro" in the hotel lobby. With us were Ellen Stolfa, Kathy Pogge, and a couple other fans. Most of us ordered the buffet, which was pretty good but a little on the expensive side. After breakfast, we went up to the mezzanine and hung out until registration started. I saw many familiar faces and many new ones as well, including the "famous" Christine Morgan.

A little while later, registration opened and I picked up my package - con badge, T-shirt, Phoenix Gate Anthology, and schedule (or rather "program" - 26 pages and center stapled - kudos to Syrin for the awesome job). After our little group had registered, Ellen invited us on a walking tour of downtown Montreal. We all went back upstairs, dropped off our packets gathered our "tourist" gear. Unfortunately my digital camera needed a recharge so I had to take my bulky SLR film camera instead. On the way back down I stopped at the con suite and dropped of a couple movie contributions for the video room: "They Live" and "Men at Work" - both featured Keith David. Soon we were all assembled and ready to go.

We first stopped at the Notre-Dame Basilica. I had seen videos of this building, and I knew the interior was even more spectacular, so I really wanted to go inside. I was particularly interested in seeing the famous organ which has been there since 1891. Unfortunately we didn't have much time, and we were hoping to stop for food before getting back to the con. So I took some photos of the exterior and a couple shots of the horse-drawn carriages that were lining the street. I hoped I would be able to come back later and see the inside. We then visited China Town where we browsed a few of the shops. We then made our way back towards the hotel. On the way back, Ellen took us by McGill University, one of her Alma-matters. We briefly stopped at a bistro on University Street. Its small atrium featured a sculpture of a cow. This provided for some amusement as one of Kelly's online personas is "The Sadistic Cow." Ellen and Kathy decided to stay and eat, while the four of us from room 2816 rushed back to the hotel so we could catch the beginning of the second block of panels since we were already missing the first block.

I went to Flanker's "Understanding Combat" panel. I don't think he'll be able to do this panel in Vegas, much less set foot in an airport with his "visual aids" - which he let us play with. :-D. I then auditioned for the radio play. I never bothered to audition at the last to cons. I was hoping Keith David would be there, but he hadn't arrived yet. So Greg had brought in "Crazy Demona" Jen to assist him. I read for Xanatos and did my "angry cat" impression. The DVD crew was waiting outside the room. Being a multi-media enthusiast I had to get a close look at that camera. After that I went up to the room and relaxed a bit before Opening Ceremonies.

Opening Ceremonies started out with the usual introduction by the con staff. Gorebash was awarded the title of "Fan Guest of Honor." Then Clan Olympics "took over" with their first event: "Get Stuffed" - where one team member stands at the front of the room, wearing a ripped oversized t-shirt, into which others try to stuff as many plastic balls as possible (I took pictures). After the silliness was over, the G2005 staff pimped next years con and unveiled the mascot, unofficially named "Blue Eyes." Then Greg (after pulling his sadistic "Ladies and gentlemen, Keith David" stunt) played a tape recording of several of the production crew and voice talent involved in the show, including Ed Asner (Huson) sans accent. Basically they all said the same thing - how they loved working on the show and that if they could they would try to make next year's convention. Next came the big announcement that the DVD was going to be on December 7th (the day after my birthday.) Greg then proceeded to elaborate by reading from a printed out PowerPoint presentation (which you can read more about in his own journal). The rest of Opening Ceremonies proceeded "normally" with the screening of the two promotion videos, the Bad Guys lica reel, and the audio recording of the never animated Team Atlantis episode, "The Last."

After Opening ceremonies we retreated back to the room - I think we watched "South Park"… in FRENCH - before heading down to the Blue Mug -A-Guest, where you can ask Greg anything that comes to your dirty little mind. At least that's how it was last year. This year, it wasn't so "blue." Some say it was because we didn't have Thom Adcox there to encourage us. I think it might have been because it was scheduled before the "regular" mug-a-guest since Greg couldn't stay Saturday night. Whatever the reason, it seems more people were interested in talking about the DVD than asking naughty questions. Although I didn't stay very long, I did work up the courage to show Greg the screen shots of frames that might have been "overlooked" but the animation supervisors, as well as a compilation of screen shots with accompanying text (courtesy of the "Sadistic Cow.") These were passed around and got some amusing reactions.

To be continued..... (hopefully)

Greg responds...

I've come to the conclusion or at least the opinion that the reason that Blue Mugs are no longer as blue as they once were is because we've already covered most of the blue bases. At every blue mug, somebody pipes up and asks a silly or humorously obnoxious question that's so out there that I don't have an answer, but serious blue discussions that we might have seem old news.

That's my theory, anyway.

Maybe the comics will encourage more blueness -- since they won't be blue at all, but may inspire blue thoughts.

Response recorded on August 03, 2006

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IRC Goliath writes...

Seth's Con journal! (and just in time)

My Gathering experience

Wednesday (Day -1)

Before I left from Fresno, California I was really nervous about the flight:
a) I've never been out of the country before
b) I didn't have my passport
There really wasn't any excuse for me not to have my passport, I had plenty of time between The Gathering 2003 and 2004 to get one but I didn't think I needed one since I had a state issued form of identification and a certified copy of my birth certificate. Well, approximately two to three weeks prior to my scheduled time to fly out I wanted to double check and make sure I had all my shit together. So I called the Office of Vital Records to make sure I had everything in order and they explained to me that the look of the Certified Birth Certificates and the embossed stamp that is used on them had been changed since September 11th and as a result there was the possibility that an airline might reject my request to travel. So I made a mad scramble to try and get an updated copy of my birth certificate but was unable to procure one in time for my flight. I assumed as long as they let me on the plane at Fresno that I would be okay the rest of the flight and it didn't even dawn on me until I left LAX that there was the possibility they could reject me at JFK or Canadian Customs!
But despite all my worrying, things went relatively smooth. The people at the X-RAY machines always gave me a knowing grin as I proceeded to remove my keys, loose change, phones, pager, wallet, belt, etc. just to get through the friggin metal detector.

Thursday (Day 0)
So I landed in JFK on Thursday morning and that's when something really cool happened! They needed to bump one person from the 9am flight into Montreal to a later flight and offered a travel voucher for the person who would exchange seats. Since I knew my roommates weren't going to show up until 1pm I decided to be the volunteer. I could wait 3 hours in JFK and get a travel voucher or I could wait 3 hours at the hotel. So, several rounds of Mario Golf later I boarded the plane to Montreal.
Customs was... interesting. It was fairly easy in the sense that all I had to do was show them my Birth Certificate, ID, and answer a few questions. The line was LONG and I thought I was going to be there for HOURS but it moved faster than expected. The only thing that worried me was my luggage was already off the plane and off the carousel, sitting off to the side. Upon exiting customs I was greeted by not less than a thousand people. It took me a little while to remember that just because we're not allowed to greet people at the gate in America, the same does not apply for other countries. I quickly spotted an ATM machine so I could get some local money and was soon off to the hotel via Taxi.
The hotel was quiet... too quiet! Where the hell was everybody?! It took a while for everybody to trickle in (including my roommates) but eventually I began to see some framilar faces from cons past: Gorebash, Vashkoda, Wingless, CrzyDemona, Kathy, GregX, Hudson, Chris Rogers, etc. Wingless, Gaberus, A Fan, and I went in search of food after dropping my stuff off in the room and getting settled in. We chatted the night away with fellow fans before retiring to our respective rooms to get ready for the big day.

Friday (Day 1)
We woke up around 9 so we would be up in plenty of time to get breakfast and stop by the registration desk before the first events started. Good old McDonalds located down in an underground complex. Beneath Montreal is their subway system which expands into a gigantic underground labyrinth of malls and stores connecting to the aboveground buildings all over downtown Montreal! It's really impressive! I wish I had more time to explore it but, unfortunately, 90% of it was shut down on the weekends so I only had the little experience on Friday. After breakfast and getting my registration in order, I loitered around the lobby for a while say hi to old friends and getting caught up. I ran into some more friends that I hadn't seen the night before, including Greg Weisman, Lanny, and Siryn. These are some of my favorite times during The Gathering because there are so many wonderful and diverse people who attend and some of them I only get to see once a year. I also spent a little bit of time checking out the Art Show & Dealer's Room. Sans the items Disney brought from the Archives to display last year, the turn out for both artists and dealers was much more impressive and diverse this year.
Wingless and Gaberus went off to attend Flanker's Understanding Combat session while I went to attend Greg's Voice Acting Seminar. I love the voice acting seminar's as I'm a little bit of an attention whore and love the chance to perform in front of an audience, even though my voice isn't very unique sounding. And it's always great to learn new lessons and tips from people in the industry. The panel was supposed to feature both Greg and Keith David but Keith hadn't arrived yet as he was held over a day in Miami (I think) where they were filming Transporter 2. Despite the absence of Keith, the seminar was really great and Greg did a fantastic job parting advice and wisdom onto us. It was also during this seminar that I was introduced to a Canadian friend of Lanny's named Michael, who has done real voice acting in his life. Michael is quite the character and a real interesting guy... but more on him later.
After the voice acting panel it was time for me to try out for this year's radio play! For those of you who have never attended The Gathering before, Greg brings a script from episodes of Gargoyles or scripts from other projects he's worked on for us to reenact before an audience. But first we have to have auditions to try out for the various parts. This year's radio play we were able to figure out was going to be "The Journey" based on the initials of the roles that needed assigning.
After the auditions were over I had a little bit of time to chill out before the opening ceremonies so I accompanied Gorebash, Vashkoda, and Sean as they moved into a different hotel room with highspeed internet access available. We decided to check out this create your own pasta place that Vash knew about after ceremonies. Opening ceremonies proceeded as usual. The con staff welcomed everybody and presented themselves, the announcement for next year's convention, and Greg presented his usual slew of videos and stories (which we NEVER get tired of watching). There were a few major announcements:

1) Next year's convention will be held in the city of Las Vegas, Nevada!
2) Gorebash received the equivalent of the Lifetime achievement award for all of his efforts on Satation 8 and helping to keep the fandom alive
3) The official release date and stats for the Gargoyles DVD which was originally announced in 2002:
A 2 disc set comprised of the complete first season, uncut
MSRP (Manufacturer Suggested Retail Price) of $29.99
Commentary on the first five episodes by Greg, Frank Paur, and Keith David
The original pitch Greg used to sell the show to Disney
And a documentary on The Gathering of the Gargoyles 2004 as filmed in Montreal, Canada

That's right, there was film crew at the con who had been running around and getting footage of anything and everything they could (the voice acting panel and radio play auditions were no exception and I hope I end up on the DVD :D). Very, very exciting news... It was a GREAT time to be a Gargoyles fan. Greg closed with some inspirational words stressing just how much it's now up to the fans to get the word out on the DVD and The Gathering.
After ceremonies we went to the pasta place (whose name escapes me at the moment) but I think is worth mentioning because it was absolutely fantastic and I wish we had a place like it in Fresno. We all came back to the hotel for the Blue Mug-a-Guest which wasn't very blue this year due to A LOT of questions and excitement around the DVD. I tried to do my own part to help keep in on track with a few questions about Lexington's sexuality but it was still a great experience, as usual.

Saturday (Day 2)
I woke up late. There weren't many events I was planning on going to in the morning but I wasn't planning on staying up until 2:30am at the Blue Mug-a-Guest either. After buying a few items at the Dealer's room and bidding on the Art Show items, my roommates and I went down to the underground malls to try and find some food (perhaps more McDonalds). But they were closed! Everything was closed!! We probably spent close to 2 hours running around all of Montreal looking for some food! I was hoping to make it back in time for this year's auction. One of the things I'm famous for (even though I've only done it three, maybe four times) is paying outlandish amounts of money for some of the rarer pieces. This year I went to way to many conventions and took way too many trips so I was flat broke but I was still hoping to make a guest appearance just to freak people out and make them wonder what I was going to bid on (can't disappoint the fans). Unfortunately, it was not meant to be... I made it back to the hotel JUST in time for the Radio Play Rehearsals.
I've done quite a few of the Radio Plays and I must say this year's cast was brilliant. Everybody did a fantastic job! As I said, we did the Gargoyles episode "The Journey" and I was assigned the role of Owen Burnett... I swear I was type-cast!! But at least I had lines this year, unlike when I played the mute character Claw at last year's con.
Highlights included:
Zehra as Elisa Maza (I swear she SOUNDS like Salli sometimes)
Michael as Vinnie Grigori (he really has fantastic talent and he's cute too! :D)
The sexy Jen Anderson as Fleance
Liz and Stormy doing great jobs as baby Alexander Xanatos and Cagney the cat
Vashkoda and Gorebash played the roles of Maria Chavez and Matt Bluestone wonderfully
Lanny did a great Travis Marshall
But the people who stole the show with the last lines were Cindy and Chris Rogers as Margot Yale and Lennox Macduff.
Keith David finally arrived during the Banquet and I was the first person to shake his hand coming through the door. I believe he recognized me from past conventions as I've been to every convention he's been to and I thought I heard him say "It's good to see you again" as he shook my hand. Anyway, the banquet was a fantastic experience and many laughs were had by all... especially thanks to the party next door which featured some of the WORST off-key karaoke singing I have ever heard in my life!! To point that Keith said "Somebody shoot that horse" as somebody was hitting the high note on "I did it my way."
A couple of other highlights from the QA with Keither (for me anyway) was when he was telling us how seeing Harrison Ford's Motorcycle (they were in Hollywood Homicide together) would give him a boner and the out of context quote "I hope I can whip out Thailog when I need to." So THAT'S what he calls it (I know, I know. "My dick, my dick, my dick" ... or in this case Keith's).
After the banquet came the Masquerade and Cosplay. My personal favorites were:
John as the Renaissance Hunter (I'm a little biased because I played John Canmore in hunter garb in 97 and 98 but it was still a great costume!)
Lynati's Ophelia
Becca Morgan as Bronx.
Sapphire, Chameleon Girl and Ethan's reenactment of the second season Gargoyles theme with props
All of the staff members costumes (Siryn was SO adorable as Tom!!)
And last but not least, Loopy at Korul. It's about time a fursuiter showed up with a Gargoyles costume (complete with retractable wings that were controlled by his arms)!! He did a great skit as well as The Gargoyle who's scared of heights to the tune of rubbery ducky. Lanny pointed out to me later that we've seen costumes done better and more complex at other furry conventions but it was still awesome to see. Lanny and I spent most of the night chatting away and getting caught up as friends often do but we occasionally peeked our head back into the ballroom for some of the better highlights including listening to Cindy, Jen, and Keith sing (all three are fantastic in their own rights!), a hilarious edition of YMCA (or YMCsomething) and the filk "Blame Gargoyles" based off of South Park's "Blame Canada" (incidentally, I found myself whistling that tune all through the airport on Monday! Thanks A LOT guys… I'm lucky they didn't kill me, eh!). I said my goodbyes to Greg before heading upstairs to retire as he was leaving that morning to meet up with his family for his daughter Erin's birthday.

Sunday (Day 3)
Most of Sunday I spent gathering up a few last goodies in the Dealer's room before chatting the evening away with Jen, Lanny, Siryn, and Vash. Closing Ceremonies was sad, as usual because it means that things are unfortunately coming to an end (as is this diary). I was happy to see that many of the pieces that I voted on in the art show won awards and Cindy did an amazing job handling the whole ordeal :) I was able to get Keith David to sign my Delux Wingblast Goliath action figure and he made a note of it because he had never seen one before and thought it looked awesome (I have to see if I can pick one up for him to give to him in Vegas).
Afterwards Vash, Gore, Sean, and I ran around all of Montreal to try a find an EB Games for a Playstation 2 RF unit so Sean could play Final Fantasy XI in his hotel... Nothing is open on the weekends in downtown Montreal and I mean NOTHING. Hell, I'm shocked the hotel we were STAYING at was even open after the experience we had on Saturday and Sunday. I spent the rest of the evening in the con suite with the staff talking about the good, the bad, and the ugly for both this year's con and next and a little bit of brainstorming on how to help promote it and the DVDs. I also got a little bit of cuddle time with Jen and Alan grabbed my ass! WOO!!!

Monday (the final day)
I picked up some souvenirs and memorabilia for the people back home before packing up my bags and heading to the airport. The flight out was as smooth and uneventful as the flights in and now I can say that I've officially been to a foreign country. I always wish The Gatherings could go on longer than they do because I always have such an amazing time at them but this year I was a little glad to be back in America. Between nothing being open on weekends and not speaking French, Montreal ran me a little weary at times (and I appreciate even more how little Spanish speaking California actually is now, despite our complaints that they're taking over :D). But despite that I'm eagerly looking forward to returning to Canada to explore more of the country itself (and not just from the view of a hotel room) as what little I WAS exposed to took my breath away with it's gorgeous blending of country, history, and modernization. And I can't wait to do it all over again in Las Vegas for The Gathering of the Gargoyles 2005!!

Greg responds...

Seth went on to join the staff for G2006, this past month. I also had lunch with him, Michael McAdams, Sam Bernstein, Brian Dumlao, Sammy and Tom at San Diego ComicCon last week. That's right. We hang.

Response recorded on August 02, 2006

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Arno writes...

(Below you will find my Gathering diary, as it is. In its original version it is actually more or less integrated with a multiple page photo gallery, and part of a larger diary on my visit of Canada. This entire setup makes it very difficult to post the diary somewhere without the pictures or sub-pages. I have opted to copy and much of the relevant text into the submission form in order to post it here. Existing out of its original context, the result might be a bit confusing, so please bear with me.)

FRIDAY

Friday was the first proper day of the Gathering. It began with sleeping in late for most of us, considering the time we had gone to bed the night before. The exception was MAui. She had to get up early to work on the Clan Olympics with Abram Wintersmith. As a result most of the morning had already disappeared by the time we were up and about. By that time Robert, also our roomie, had shown up as well, swelling our ranks further.

One of our first acts of the day was to get registered at the registration desk. Again, a lot of familiar faces, and some new ones, but I have to say, I liked all the new faces I met.

We registered ourselves as a team for the Clan Olympics under the name "Arcadia International" ("We don't suck!"). Our members represented Canada, the United States of America, Great Brittain and The Netherlands. It was a team with too many members so we needed to rotate, but that turned out to work just fine as there was always some other team in need of a spare player. The Clan Olympics was a major event this year, and ended up dominating our weekend. Good thing it was a lot of fun.

At some point we decided to go to have breakfast/lunch. As we walked out ('we' being Robert, Dubble, Countess and myself) we walked right into a huge group of Gathering-attendants who all were just leaving for breakfast/lunch. The group was far too large to remember, but random names would be Hudson, Chris Rogers, Kaelyan, Cat, Mandolin, a bunch of people I know by face, not by name, and a bunch of people I don't remember at all. Awash in the sudden current, the self-appointed "Dweeby section of the group", we followed them around to a corner restaurant who gladly wanted to feed us, but only outside, where there was still room. The personel was quite friendly. It seems that for some reason, wherever Gargoyles fans go, everyone seems to like them. What is it about us? ;)

After all this the Gathering started proper, starting with the opening ceremonies, and then through the MGT3K event to the second Clan Olympics event. The second event? Indeed. The first had already been sprung at us during the opening ceremonies. A very daring move indeed.

Unfortunately Countess and Beedoo! missed most of this. Countess had to pick up Beedoo! from the airport as the opening ceremonies started and returned very late due to a delay. But with Beedoo! there at least our room was now completely present.

I recall that at one point, we went too bed. Way too late, again.

--- The registration desk, manned and womaned by BrooklynX, Rob and Siryn, was a very active place at the start of the Gathering, so much so that people gathered there for the largest part of the day. Aside from regular registration there was the seperate registration for the Clan Olympics beside it. No one could register without at least hearing of the event.
(Actually, I think the man's name was Rob. I know what his online handle is, more or less, but I can't even begin to spell it. ;) )

--- At the registration desk we also met the camera team sent there by Disney to film the Gathering. I was very pleasantly actually surprised to find that they were very open, very enthusiastic people. In my cynicism I had assumed they would just show up, shoot some film, collect their wages and leave. Instead, they really seemed to be there to want to get into the thing.

The camera team asked us to register again, so they'd have footage of registration. So we handed in our badges, then, in front of the camera, walked up to the desk, told our name and got handed a random badge and envelope. It was nothing like proper registration, unfortunately ("Arno! Hey Arno! What's you're last name!?"), and I wish they'd been there to film that instead. But we dutifully did our bit. A great actor I shall never be though.

They certainly filmed a lot of stuff. As I was talking to the camera people, signing away either my soul or my right not to want to appear on the DVD (yeah, right!) on some piece of legal paper, and suddenly I realised that I'd lost my program! But when I turned it around I found it again, under this enormous camera, being filmed for the DVD. I am so proud. Sadly, though, I lost it for real later that day.

--- As always the Gathering officially kicked off withthe opening ceremonies. In random order: we watched the movies, we listened to the stories. We listened to what the staff had in store for us, there was a fun tape with recorded messages from about a dozen(?) people involved with Gargoyles on it (as with Ed Asner's letter at the Gathering in LA, 2001, I can't help but notice what a kind man he seems to be), Gorebash received a well-deserved fandom award and at some point the opening ceremonies even got hijacked by the Clan Olympics.

After the chaos caused by this died down the opening ceremonies continued as usual. Further notable parts included the release date and further information on the Gargoyles DVD and Chris Roger's plans for the future of the Gathering which were, to say the least, fascinating.

--- During the opening ceremonies the whole thing got hijacked by the Clan Olympics. MAui and Abram Wintersmith stepped to the front of the room, stoically dropping cue cards declaring the opening ceremonies to be taken over. Truthfully, It was a hillarious thing to happen, and I must say, a brave thing to do for both them as well as the Gathering staff, who no doubt had to OK this rather unconventional idea.

So there we were, participating in the first event already, Jess and Dubble grabbing balls from a box and Robert stuffing them down my shirt for all he was worth, all this in front of the entire assembly of fans as well as the camera crew.

Sadly, I have no pictures of the actual event itself. I was too busy getting balls stuffed down my shirt.

--- Beedoo! arrived hours later than she was supposed to, but fortunately just in time to do the traditional "hanging out in our room" thing with us again.

SATURDAY

The second day of the Gathering was the only full day of Gathering planned. As such, it was filled with activities, most of which I did not have a chance to attend.

As stated earlier, the Clan Olympics dominated our weekend, and it continued doing so. One thing it did was force us to get up relatively early (once again, even earlier for MAui), allowing us to have much more day at our disposal as we would have had otherwise. The whole day consisted of walking around, looking at things, meeting up with people, voting on the artshow, voting on the art show again only properly this time, all that fitted around the two impressive Clan Olympics events: Trivia Torture and Really Hard Pictionary.

I did not manage to visit many (or any) panels that day, though I did go see the radio show. We also, as traditional, did not go to the banquet, since some of our group have finances that will not allow such an expenditure. On the other hand, most people seem to have missed the Karaoke singing following the masquerade, and that's certainly their loss.

--- Three years ago I met young Becca Morgan at the Gathering in LA, 2001. She threw a cat at me, numerous times. This seems to have left quite an impression on her as this year, when she finally showed up again, she had insisted on bringing a cat to throw at me. As the old toy was lost a new one had to be bought for the sole purpose of being thrown at me. Believe me, the money wasn't wasted.

--- The first Clan Olympics event of the day was Trivia Torture, possible the most professionally executed one of all. MAui had worked hard (and stayed up late) designing and printing professional cards for this game, while the way this conventionroom was set up could not be more perfect for this game.

The rules were complicated when explained but simple while playing: each team assigned a team member to sit on a chair below. This team member would not play, they would be the 'hostage'. Above each hostage three circular cards with entertaining text were stuck to the wall. These acted as a form of 'points'. If the 'points' of a team reached zero, ie, all the cards were removed, the hostage would be tortured either with spraypainted hair, or various disgusting combinations of food to eat. We put Robert down there (who bravely volunteered). Surplus Arcadia International member Dubble played for another team and promptly got sat down there as well, making sure we'd lose even if we won. ;)

The game centered around questions asked (from professionally designed cards, of course) by either Abram or MAui. The question would be either Gargoyles trivia or 'regular' trivia question. A member of the first team to hold up a piece of paper with a legible and correct answer would then get to step down and remove a 'point' from one of the teams.

Intermixed with all this were bonus cards which could do either good or harm, and the Spirits, members of teams which were previously eliminated from the game and who could interfere with the game at their apparent discretion.

Arcadia International eventually won the event through Spirit intervention at the expense of the Green Dragons. There's no saying for sure whether we would not have won otherwise, but I will say this though: the Green Dragons were good. Very good!

--- The second Clan Olympics event of the day was "Really Hard Pictionary", which lived up quite well to its rather presumptious name. Really Hard Pictionary was, well, really hard. Try drawing "It's the end of the world as we know it and I feel fine". Try drawing "Advanced Dungeons and Dragons". Believe me, it's even harder than it might seem.

By popular demand the game was continued even after all the scores were awarded, just for fun. I'll note that Robert and Flanker turned out to be very good at making people guess the right phrase. Absolute highlight was Flanker drawing a schetchy big fat gargoyle to indicate the word "Broadway". The Gathering was probably the only place in the world where this would work.

--- After the Really Hard Pictionary event of the Clan Olympics each team was given a box and provided with a source of markers of all sorts of colours. The box was to be used in the next and final event, the Scavenger Hunt, and we were to decorate it as we saw fit.

The decorating was taken care of by the two most artistic team members available, Countess and Beedoo!. Countess did some terrific lettering, while Beedoo! drew some cute pictures of the characters of our team. To them goes nearly all the credit for a fine box indeed. Myself, I went to the radio play as it was being decorated, and thus my only contribution was the addition of the Dutch flag among the three other flags of our respective countries.

--- As the box was being decorated and I was about to make my way to the radio play, this person here walked into the hotel. I don't know his proper name, I don't even know his face, I just know that he went by the name of 'Korul' and that this was the most amazing costume I had ever seen. Needless to say, he was there for the masquerade later that day.

--- I went to the radio play expecting to find Keith David there playing the role of Goliath. Unfortunately, he still had not arrived. The radio play was still pretty fun though, because the reworked 'original' script of 'The Journey' worked well and because there was some pretty good voice acting there. Clearly after all those years people have become quite good at this sort of thing.

The people who stood out the most, though, I thought, were Chris Rogers as MacBeth and Eden as Margot Yale. They were amazing, bickering with each other. "Madam, they burned witches like you in the middle ages!" "You, sir, live in a fantasy world!" If anything of the radio play ends up on the DVD that had better be in it.

--- As not all of us could afford the banquet, we ventured out to find some food of our own. This entailed my first trek through downtown Montreal. As it turned out, almost all I would see of Montreal on the days of the Gathering I would see that day. Everything we needed was conveniently placed in one single street.

--- We finally found food in a Hard Rock Cafe, situated in the middle of a Brazilian street party of all things. With all the bustle it took them rather a while to serve us, but we had fun entertaining ourselves.

--- This year's masquerade was the most spectacular I have seen. Granted, all other years, for one reason or another, I missed the grand entrances, but even then, the quality of costumes was very high, as was the quantity. It was a very nice touch that nearly the entire staff was in costume as well. I was quite impressed.

Overall winner was, of course, the man known as Korul. The detail on his gargoyle costume was amazing, particularly the moving wings and mouth. It was very impressive and a very well-deserved win.

--- After the masquerade came the Karaoke night. Sadly, due to some apparent technical difficulties taking up a bit of time, many people had already wandered off. Which is their loss.

SUNDAY

Sunday was the wrap-up of the Gathering, but a very busy day nontheless. To begin with there was the final Clan Olympics event: the Scavenger Hunt, a fitting finale which had us exhausted and yet hyped up before 11 AM.

After this came the closing ceremonies, which I have to admit seemed a little of an anti-climax. Greg Weisman had already left, as had the camera team. And really, what else was there to say that "we're done"? Nevertheless, the Gathering staff put together an excelent con altogether, and they deserve to be praised for it.

In between the Scavenger Hunt and the CLosing Ceremonies I happened to stumble upon a Mug-A-Guest with Keith David. Now, I'm not really one to go listen to celebreties. I'm quite sure they are interesting, just no more so than my friends who I only see once a year if that. I decided to stay and listen, though. I found there that Keith David, whom I knew next to nothing from, was a very intelligent, very thoughtful and very kind man. I was very impressed and I hope the camera team got some of it all.

Also, nearly everyone at the Closing Ceremonies will remember Robert and Jess peddling a sign-up sheet for an impromptu game of laser-tag. To those that did not sign up, or show up: you missed out. Really. Definately.

--- Once again Clan Olympics had us get up at the crack of dawn (also known as about 8:15 AM) in order to take part in the one Clan Olympics event us Arcadians actually consistently do well: the Scavenger Hunt.

The Scavenger hunt involved finding items from a list and putting them in the box we prepared the day before. Some items were simple, others were difficult, and a few turned out to be impossible: A can of Lysol, a bird, any bird, three different flavors of lip gloss, diapers, any vehicle floormat, one standard #2 pencil, a non-hotel blanket, a MALE con-goer with a 2004 Gathering shirt not from our team (who was to strip off the shirt and toss it in the box), a hardcover book, a set of balls from the first Clan Olympics event, a shotglass, three rolls of packed toilet paper, a disposable camera with no photos left on it, a plunger and a note from any hotel staff member saying "I did this for the Clan Olympics".

And then there was a list of bonus items, held by MAui who had hidden herself somewhere in the hotel. These items were for extra points: some wooden thing called the "Official 2x4 of the 1998 Hock-Fest", some bonus bags, three squishy soccer balls, as many different business cards as we could find and a special guest or Gathering staff member to stand in our box for 15 seconds.

It was a very exciting and very exhausting game which had Gathering attendants running chaotically through the hotel. We got a cleaning staff member to give us toilet paper and write us a note, I stripped in my Gathering Shirt in exchange for a vehicle floor mat and a disposable camera for another team, and then I generally ran around with no list, no team member and half an idea of what to look for. The box filled marvelously nontheless. I am only disappointed not to have been there to see Kanthara stand in our box.

Fun fact: the Gathering Hotel had only one plunger in the entire building. And they'd lost it.

--- During the closing ceremonies the winners of the Clan Olympics were announced. Considering the scores and our results at the Scavenger hunt, it was not really a surprise anymore, but Arcadia International won! Mind, with some help from the spirits, but even then, I know my teammates certainly played quite well.

So, we came forward and accepted our prizes and the honour. Our prizes consisted of a circular piece of cardboard saying we won and four Clan Olympics T-shirts to split between the five of us. Look at us showing our Arcadian pride.

After closing ceremonies I got another shirt from Chris Rogers for pre-registering. Very kind of him. Withg the Gathering T-shirt, the Evil Makes Me Sad T-shirt and the Clan Olympics prize, it was my fourth new shirt that weekend. I'd started seriously regretting bringing shirts at all.

--- The other major event of the day: Lasertag!

Saturday evening we passed a lasertag place on our way back to the hotel. Now, Robert had, at earlier Gatherings, already expressed a desire for us to play Lasertag. So, he went inside for a moment, asked for information and came out with the knowledge that a group of exactly 30 people would get a good discount.

So, he set about organising a group of exactly 30 people. He and Jess went round the lines for Keith David and pre-registering after the closing ceremonies and collected names of people who wanted to come. It took some doing, but they actually managed to fill their list. Even Keith David signed up.

Of course, around the time people were to gather in the lobby things went all pearshaped. Some didn't show up, others wanted to join after all. Some would arrive late. Keith David was still eating with his wife. In the end we left in two groups, one of twenty-one and another group of straglers that would hopefully make thirty.

Robert became nervous.

The walk to the Lasertag place was sort of an event itself. Keeping a group that size together on the sidewalks of Montreal was no small matter, especially considering that we were late and needed to keep up a good pace. Being Robert's roomies more or less automatically assigned us the task of keeping the group together a bit. Now we know what sheep dogs feel like! It was an entertaining walk, though.

It took some time for the rest of us to arrive, but when they did we were with 33, though sadly without Keith David. It turned out they could fit 32 in their maze, so Jess kindly voluntered to sit the whole game out. She really missed out for the rest of us. She's too kind (but don't tell her that ;) ).

The game itself was brilliant, and I'm sure the massive amount of people we brought helped a lot. It was pandemonium and I think everyone had great fun. There were three rounds, one with everyone against everyone, one with two teams, and one with two teams protecting two members, a king and a queen. It turned out Robert was the Lasertag champion among us. No wonder he wanted to play.

I hope we'll do this again some time.

Greg responds...

See the fun the rest of you are missing out on?

Check out www.gatheringofthegargoyles.com for information on the 2007 Gathering of the Gargoyles. We're in a different city every year, and this year we're heading to Pigeon Forge, Tennessee!!!

Response recorded on August 02, 2006

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Vashkoda writes...

Gathering Report Part I--the abridged, somewhat more relevant version

Thursday:

Gore navigated through the back alleys of the Bronx to pick up me and my friend Sean. It's in fact thanks to Gore's car (and his offer of floor space) that I was even going to the con, as I was otherwise still suffering from jetlag, work-guilt, indecisiveness, and a general nervousness of being filmed. But when your transportation, lodging and company is taken care of, how can you say no, especially when you really wanted to go in the first place?

So we take off on the I-87 with the general awareness that it's going to be a long drive, and that the direction will be North. Somewhere along the way, we realize that we are no longer on the I-87, nor heading exactly North. I guess that's what happens when you get distracted by long discussions about Greg Weisman's ideas for the show. So after passing the twentieth or so cornfield, Gore proceeds to make a daring U-turn right in front of the toll booth. We throw repeated glances over our shoulders as we listen to what Gore dubbed "running from the cops music". It turns out no one was following us, and we saved ourselves from paying the toll for our detour. The detour did cost us time, however, and we only made it to the border at 10 (though this did mean a shorter line at customs). I made use of my French-skills in translating a few signs, and we managed to find the hotel. There were some fans waiting in the lobby when we arrived, but all we could think about was sleep. Luckily we were shepherded upstairs by Seth/IRC Goliath and Dave/Wingless, who told us registration had been pushed back a few hours the next day. That suited us just fine. Through the elevator glass, we gaped at the view of the pool on the gym floor. Then we reached our room and crashed.

Friday:

Not knowing where else to go, we decide to eat at the hotel. We fill up on omelets and buffet food to give us the energy to explore the city (by foot. Gore had his car, but due to a miraculous feat of squeezing it into a tiny parking space, he was very reluctant to take the car out again). We dash over to registration real quick to get our packets and, most importantly, the schedule of events. I begin a hunt for a laptop for a certain video project I was hoping to complete (I was almost positive either Gore or Seth would have brought one, but no luck). Seth does mention that Chris Rogers, with help from Lynati, managed to hook up a VCR to the hotel tv's (which were somehow modded to stop guests from doing that sort of thing). That gave us hope for Sean's PS2. So we go to the Staples-like store next door, but don't manage to find the remote that would let us switch the video input (this of course, assumed that we would manage to hook up the PS2 to the tv). As we're looking at the map in the con booklet, we set what may be a Multimedia City towards the top of the map. After fifteen minutes of walking what we thought was north, we see the word "ouest" on the *left* side of the map, which meant we had actually been going south the whole time. D'oh! On the walk back, Gore starts asking me to translate signs, and gets a real kick out of the "Je me souviens" on the Quebec license plates. I then teach him the opposite phrase, "J'oublies", and he amuses himself saying it throughout the con. For his impertinence, a Quebecan pigeon makes his shoulder its new roost. We only have time to explore 'North' a short distance, but we do manage to spot a "International Pasta" restaurant that I insist we go to for dinner. Sadly, the Asian-style building we'd been hoping was also a restaurant, turned out to be a Holiday Inn.

So we make it back in time for Greg's voice-acting panel. Normally I wouldn't have gone to this one, as I've heard it in the past. I was actually planning on going to the tour of Karine/Kanthara's animation studio, but that was unfortunately dropped out of the new schedule. Still, the fact that Keith David would be there made this one a bit more special. Only…it turned out Keith was delayed filming a scene for "Transporter 2". We were still treated to a unique twist when the DVD video crew turned up in the middle of the panel. [I will omit my detailed notes here and save them for my site, which if you're curious, can be found here: http://crossroads.dragonmists.org/fantasy/avalon/gathering/g2k4.html]. Afterwards, the room cleared for Radio Play auditions. Sean was as reticent as ever, which only made me less eager to try out. Gore had no problem putting himself near the front of the line. I stood back and hesitated, and then had my single personal encounter with the DVD crew, when they asked if I was auditioning. Then when I saw the crew going inside to film the tryouts (yikes!), and saw that Siryn (who I'd be embarrassed to act in front of) was going to help judge, I made a quick escape. My reasoning to everyone afterwards was that it'd be better to try out the following day, when Greg might be more desperate and forgiving.

As a consolation prize to having no PS2, Sean urges us to upgrade to a room with internet access. We go up to our new room on the 22nd floor and chat with Seth, as Sean tries to get his old laptop to boot for over an hour. I decide to give up on my project (guess it'll have to wait for 2005). Just as it activates, it's time to head to Opening Ceremonies. We manage to snag the front row right in front of Greg. I embolden myself to go up there and have a quick word with him (I really wish at some con, I'll have a chance to have an actual conversation with the guy). Then the con staff begin to speak one by one, until Maui and Abram hijack the mic to announce that the Clan Olympics' first event is starting right then and there. Greg looks bewildered and slightly annoyed (or perhaps worried about the chaos and how it would look on film), and I wonder if he had been warned of this ahead of time. I was relieved that enough people showed interest to fill ten teams. The goal was apparently to do a plastic-ball relay to fill a teammate's shirt (which had holes in it, though whether this was to allow balls to go in or to make it harder to keep them in, I wasn't sure). The team in front of us had so many balls, they had filled the sleeves and had to use their teeth to keep them up. Yet despite this, they were the losing team, which leads me to think that the goal was not the number of balls, but rather the kind of balls, as some apparently had points written on them (I really hope the rules were explained at the beginning to these people, or I consider this event to be horribly unfair). Balls kept falling to the floor, and Gore amused himself juggling them (until he was outstaged by Siryn).

Opening ceremonies then resumed with more con staff announcements. Gore ends up winning the Fandom Guest of Honor award, which was well deserved after all the hard work he put into making (and still upgrading) Station 8. The G2005 staff (Chris, Lanny, Aaron and Mara) show off their mascot and announce plans to tentatively hold the con July 21-Auguest 1 at the Las Vegas Plaza Hotel. They also want to organize a celebrity charity poker game to try to draw more guests, along with plans for a Grand Canyon trip and acquiring show tickets. Then Greg takes the mic and asks the con virgins to raise their hands (I'd say a good thirty people did-I wonder how many of them are Canadians who weren't able to make it before?). There were five people who had been to all 8 conventions. We then watched the spinoff pitches for Dark Ages, New Olympians and Bad Guys, as well as the original series pitch, and a video with interviews I don't think I've seen before (my memory is fuzzy, but Greg did mention he'd just received a new tape from Buena Vista). We also listened to the Team Atlantis crossover-episode audio tape. And as a surprise bonus, we got to listen to members of old Gargoyles cast and crew wish us well at the con. Included in the tape were Frank Paur, Keith David, Bob Kline, David Schwartz, Troy Miters, Vic Cook, Ed Asner, and Cripsin Freeman. Carol Wagner had collected the voices, but didn't have time to get any more before the con. And then of course, Greg announced the big news - that the DVD will be out on Dec 7th for $29.99, and that there would be an audio commentary for the "Awakening" 5-parter. He reminded us that he's done all he can, and that it's up to us now to get the word out and get as many people to buy it as we can if we hope to have a season 2 DVD, or even a continuation of the series. He also asked us to go to the DVD film crew and tell them how Gargoyles changed our lives (relationships, fan-writing/art, reading Shakespeare, getting tattoos, etc).

After Opening Ceremonies, we rushed to the con suite where they were showing the music videos. Apparently there was no system in place to project them, so we had to watch them on Liz's laptop. By the time we got there, they were already playing the and last one, so we forced them to play them all over again. My favorite was one to the music of Linkin' Park, mostly because the images were sometimes appropriate to the song, and because it didn't seem to drag on too long. Then I reminded my roommates about the pasta place we saw earlier (I'm a pasta-freak), and we invited Seth, Dave/Wingless, and Dan/Titanic/Gaburos to come with us. It was better than I could have imagined. It was only a small fast-food-like chain, but this place put professional Italian restaurants with pasta-combo deals to shame. You could pick from a dozen kinds of fresh pasta and 30-or-so sauces, and they would put the ingredients together and sauté them right in front of you. After skipping lunch, I needed a hearty meal, so I went with the linguini and stroganoff, though I salivated over everyone else's dishes as well (not literally, thankfully).

We were exhausted when we got back to the room, and I tried to decide whether it would be worth torturing myself trying to stay awake for the Blue-Mug-A-Guest. After assurances from Seth and Gore that they would take good notes, I finally allowed sleep to overtake me. So ends Day 2.

Greg responds...

As some of you now know, Vash has been sheperding (sheperdessing?) the creation of the Team Atlantis animatic for "The Last". Anyone interested in helping out, by storyboarding a section or two should contact Vashkoda!

Response recorded on August 01, 2006

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Jeffrey Allan Boman writes...

I posted this first in the Comment Room, but realized I should post them here:

Gathering of Gargoyles
August 6th - 8th
Delta Hotel, Montreal

First I have to point out: in terms of my attendance experience, this was a small convention. All conventions seem small after WorldCon, but at approximately 180 attendees, this one was a little larger than Primedia in 1999.

The big difference is: I had fun at this one.

I think it helped that this had a much more specific focus: PriMedia was for fans of all television media; this convention was solely for fans of Gargoyles, the most rich and fascinating animated show to come from Disney. As a result, we all had something in common.

It also helped that the convention was kept to 6 rooms spread over 3 small floors; PriMedia was all over a few long, empty floors of a hotel, helping it to feel like a ghost town.

Day One

I started the convention with a chuckle: when I filled out my registration form, I put my BBS alias (Thoth) in the nickname section.

When I got my registration badge, I learned it was the ONLY name listed! I don't think many there would recognize me from the name alone, but it still made for a funny thing.

I was amazed at how young most of the fans were: folks in their late teens or early 20s. The show really touched fans all over the age spectrum.

The 1st panel Friday I attended was called Perspective at 1 PM. I thought it might actually be about the show. At first I wondered if I was in the wrong room, as I was the only person there. Turned out the con chair who was hosting it was just running a little behind.

The panel was actually about drawing in perspective, something I learned in school. I stayed in case the panel speaker (the con chair Karine) needed some help. That was a bit of arrogance on my part: she's actually a working animator; I'm not.

This was the only drawing panel I attended during the con... since I can no longer draw that would just seem pointless.

We began learning just how quickly the hotel staff worked to please us: first, the a/c made the hotel feel chilly. That was fixed up quickly. Also: the speakers were blasting 'muzak' in all the rooms, making it hard to hear panelists. That too was fixed immediately.

I visited the con suite next. They didn't have snacks out yet, but the room was quite nice, and I got to enjoy some of the classic shows on tape. I'd forgotten about some of the episodes, like the one that introduced the Golem of Prague!

3 PM: RPG panel

The speakers were longtime gamers, owned a store in Seattle, and the wife was a published author. They relayed some fun "war stories" of their past games. This is something I never grow tired of.

Bringing the panel back to the reason for the con I asked what game they thought best to play Gargoyles. They mentioned how Steve Jackson has the write-ups (they were massive GURPS gamers), but can't publish them. Disney won't let anyone make money off their IP (even if they don't try) so I suspect legal reasons.

5 PM: Opening Ceremonies

This was attended by the most people I'd seen to date at the convention. Not surprising, since it was attended by one of the guests Greg Weisman (series creator and producer). ?

The Ceremonies were 'interrupted' by the first event of the Clan Olympics, a Gargoyles-themed version of the Color Wars we'd held in summer camp. The difference was again that these were fun. I got to hold one end of a dividing line rope for the first event.

Greg played an audio tape of some actors from the show expressing their apologies that they couldn't attend. The audience got very lively when Ed Asner spoke!

The Con Chair for next year had a speech. The con holds an Olympics-style city choice every year; Las Vegas won for next year. That's not a con I can afford along with Westercon. Two trips in less than a month would be too much.

Because of the Clan Olympics I had to leave before the end for Transport, so I missed some of Greg's speech. At least I was there for the most important part: the first 5 episodes (season one they call it) will be released on DVD on December 7th. Mark your calendar and get many folks to buy it, so that we can send the message to Disney that the series can be profitable. DVD sales are the reason Family Guy will be coming back next season. Maybe this could do the same thing for Gargoyles!

Day 2

I grabbed some eats at a hotel snack shop. The hotel restaurant was too pricey, and breakfast was a buffet. Without someone else to carry my plate, I wouldn't be able to carry it.

10 AM Thrill of the Chase

This was my "Writer Panel" of the weekend. :) The panelists mostly were awake. One of them showed the effects of too much partying Friday night, not enough sleep.

The topic was, as the name implies, chase scenes. They spoke of the challenges to write a good one, of how a chase may have nothing to do with action, and how even Gargoyles had a show-long chase (Eliza Maza and Goliath). It was a very interesting panel.

Next was a convention lunch break. I spent it in the dealer's room. I haven't outgrown my D-R Liaison roots... the room had many more dealers, as often happens at smaller cons; dealers will save money by only being there for the longest day.

I had a neat surprise there: Emru & Tamu Townsend were both there for fps! I hung with them for most of the rest of the convention to talk shop, to share memories of my University days with Emru, etc (I just realized: he makes another APA link too!). They had past issues of the print magazine for sale and display. I was actually in more of them than I remembered: counting my online review, I actually have 5 to my credit, not 3 (two were in one issue that I own but haven't seen in many years). Counting my mini report for this con, I'll be up to 6 pieces so far.

12:30 PM Mug-a-guest : Greg Weisman

Several of us asked about a lot of things. I asked about Greg's dealings with voice actress Brigit Bako (I explain in the sidebar) and the seeming non-finish of the Avalon storyline (actually it was the World Tour. I had the wrong name). Others asked about different story points, Greg's opinion on current Disney 'toons (opinions cut to avoid hurting Greg if they come out wrong). It was an interesting panel.

Emru went aside with Greg to interview him for the magazine, and I spent the time chatting with Tamu. Afterward I had lunch w/Em. We went a short enough walk into downtown, but it was enough to leave me wiped out. We took a small cab ride back to the convention; I wanted to pay for it, but Emru did - it was his chance to expense something to the magazine. :) We came back to:

3:30'ish PM Radio play

This was Greg's final episode of the show, read by attendees. There were differences from how the show originally aired; not a surprise, since Greg wasn't the series editor by then. Unfortunately Keith David was delayed due to a film shoot, otherwise he intended to be there to read the Goliath part. Rob St-Martin, the convention Vice Chair, read it instead. It was a fun piece. Emru made a joke about the Auditorium we sat in; it was as if we were back in school!

Rob St-Martin added to the NaNoWriMo reunion of the weekend: he, Karine and the smaller Mark all ran things, while the taller Mark (I don't know his last name. Mike might) was there, and Chris Taras (who ran our NaNo-group) ran the Auction. It was very successful from what I hear.

I couldn't afford the Banquet too, and I missed both it and the Masquerade - but I still reserved my evening Transport after those events. I ended up eating supper at hotel restaurant. I tried the con suite after, but it was closed for those events as well. Fortunately I only had a 30-minute wait for Transportation after though. That's far better than a 2-hour wait!

I almost forgot: I saw our friend Kriquor at the Radio play. I saw his name on the pre-reg list, and guessed he'd be there as David Xanathos, but this was my first chance to see him. He's another friend now living in Toronto, sadly. :(

I did see one of the folks in hall costume (or for the Masquerade) outside of the Radio Play too. I wish I'd had my camera ready, because it was breathtaking.

DAY 3

I spent most of the day in the Dealer's Room with Emru & Tamu. The only panel I wanted to attend the most for the day would be there anyway.

10 AM'ish Mug-a guest w/ Keith David

There were a lot of people seated to wait for him... I told him how he was one degree of separation from Brigit for me. He said he may say hi to her for me, but I won't hold him to it. Unless he recalls my name, I don't expect him to remember me.

His speech turned into a long diatribe on how soldiers can't easily adjust to regular life after war, but once he began talking about his career, it was gold.

One thing that stood out: he listed Gargoyles as an animated series, not a cartoon. As he said, cartoons are now things aimed at kids (in North America, granted), whereas the series was far more sophisticated. This was very apt to many of us.

Before he arrived I passed through the art show, as it would be taken down soon after. There were some very talented artists shown... of course the primary subjects were characters from the show.

After Keith's speech, Emru had a prize drawing. He'd got folks on an fps mailing list for a chance at a prize. I won one of them: a CD of music inspired by anime. I didn't win the grand prize (a season 3 DVD set for Family Guy), but I may get it anyway... Em will try to get me all 3 seasons to do a series overview.

2 PM Closing Ceremonies

This started with another speech from the 2005 Con Chair (Vegas: I can dream...) then a long string of awards for folks in the art show. Then we got the winners of the Clan Olympics. They spotlighted the lady who had the first pre-registration to this convention. She came from Australia - wow!

I unfortunately had to miss Keith David's final words as I had to get my Transport home.

Conclusions

I had fun at this convention. It had a smaller set of panels, only two guests - but the fact that it was on a focused theme, that I knew quite a few folks there, that everyone was friendly... it was definitely worth the time and effort.

I'm counting the days now until the DVD comes out, and I'm hoping to get to the 2006 Gathering - the 10th anniversary!

Greg responds...

Did you make it? Are you still around?

Response recorded on August 01, 2006

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Ethan Gilchrist writes...

Just cutting and pasting my entry from my livejournal about the con. To sum up though, I miss everyone and cannot wait for next year!!!!

Wednesday:
Spent most of the day trying to get to level 20 on CIty of Heroes. lol

Thursday:
Last minute packing before I left. Shower and shave and out the door! I was supposed to hit Newark Airport by noon to meet up with my ride. For once the notoriously late one was on time!!! Got there at 11:52am, called Chris and found out they were late. LOL 3 hours later they showed and we began a looooooooong drive up to Montreal. The drive was actually uneventful for the most part. That is until we got to the border. Turns out the Canadian Border guards were "on strike". They're not actually on strike but they were being uberly slow. Ah well. Made it to the hotel and proceeded to pass out.

Friday:
Woke up and 19 of us decided to mob a restaraunt for food. That was uber fun!! Made it back just in time for the voice acting seminar and the auditions. I was uber nervous but I still had the guts to try. Didn't care if I made it or not, I just wanted to make up for missing it last year. While I was in line Sapph showed up and let me know what room I was supposed to be in. After the audition she ran up to me franticly and said "Ethan! I need you!" No NOT like that! (Not that I wouldn't mind heh). She needed me to do the naration for the skit she was planning for the masquerade which I'll get to in a bit. We went to her room and practiced. After that were opening ceremonies which was a real treat for me since last year I missed them. Con quote for me was said here "Sign my grandma!". LOL!!!

I skipped the next couple events but for the life of me I can't remember what I did! lol Round 11pm was the blue-mug which was fun though oddly tame this year. Went out for dinner at some place called Le Marche which was sort of like a permanent street fair/cafeteria sort of place. Stayed up all night until about 8am before staggering back to the room and going into a coma.

Saturday:
Yet again woke up just when I needed to. Just in time to stumble to the registration desk and find out that I got a part!!! *happy dance* It was only a bit part but I got to be a villian which was MUCH fun. Like acting evil is a stretch for me. lol I only missed one cue which was when the coldness of the auditorium got to me really bad and for a second I just couldn't talk. I don't know if anyone caught that but we just kept going. Thing about that was that I didn't worry that it would just stall. I knew everyone else would just keep going. *shrugs* Anyway, after that me and a couple people went to an Irish pub down the street for a guiness. Walked in, sat down at the bar and told the (uber cute) bartender "Hi, yes we're tourists, no we don't know what's going on, and yes we will refrain from pretending we do." She got a big kick outta that. Made it back for the banquet. The food was great! The manager even surprised everyone by making special gargoyles menus!!! Missed the Q&A because I had to get ready for the masquerade but I don't mind that...

Shortly before the masquerade I realized something. We were pantomiming the opening to the show. This meant I was reading the lines from it. Kieth David's lines!!! With him sitting in front of me and judging us!! ACK!! lol I was quite a bit nervous but I franticly ranted about that for a while to get it outta my system and just went for it. I had an absolute blast! Sapph and Julie were amazing!! The worst part was that it was soooooooooo hard not to bust out laughing myself! :D

Afterwards there was kareoke and after being charged up from the masquerade I took the mike (which I forgot to turn on lol) and belted out "Another Irish Drinking Song" by Da Vinci's Notebook. I think people liked it. Wasn't bad since by that point my voice started dying. Ended up staying awake until 6am after a marathon conversation which, for me, is one of the highlights of the entire con.

Sunday:
Yet again woke up just in time. I was the model for the life drawing that day. It was fun except the room was INSANELY cold!!!! Went to the mug-a-guest with Kieth David afterwards and then wandered around trying not to be all depressed that people would be leaving soon. Heh Closing ceremonies were bittersweet but on the other hand it just get's me closer to next year's con and VEGAS!!!!

More stuff went on after closing ceremonies were over but I'm going to cut this here since I'm getting tired of typing. lol Still a lot of detail I left out of this as well but I'll add more later. Anyway, that's all for now!! *bampf*
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Greg responds...

I do appreciate people cutting and pasting their Gathering Journals to this spot. I know my responses aren't all that interesting, but it helps to have one location where I can point to for the powers that be.

Hope we've gotten a lot of G2006 journals, just for that reason.

Response recorded on July 31, 2006

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Kaioto writes...

Well, I'm not sure if this is very relevent, but it is a post anyway. ;-)

My Gathering Experience - Montreal 2004

Honestly, I think I spent less time focused on Gargoyles this year than any other. I blame driving competely. This was the first Gathering I'd ever brought my car to, and it was a mixed blessing.

On the positive side, I could afford to take myself and my wife to this event due to the fact that I could drive to and from Montreal in only 6 or 7 hours. It wasn't that far from Boston. I also managed to help out a friend in a tight spot.

On the down side, the drive was taxing, traffic problems conspired to make us miss registration and Opening Ceremonies, and I spent more time than I bargained for outside of Montreal proper.

I have to say that the city reminds me of home. The construction still causes assinine traffic. The drivers are atrocious. The only big differences were that everyone I ran into from a bilingual Francophone / Anglophone and it is illegal to make a right turn at an unposted red light.

On the up side, we got Kael's bag back for him. Seems that when he flew down to Virginia to hook up with Chris Rogers car to drive up, his airline lost his luggage with his clothes. They got yelled at and agreed to FedEx it ASAP to the hotel in Montreal. Of course, they didn't bother to make sure it would clear customs in time to actually get there. So it was to sit at the airport in a FedEx depot for the entire weekend until after Kael left. That was uncool, so we drove up there, got lost in the airport, surrounding highways, and auxiliary roads. Eventually we were directed to the depot, then redirected to the terminal where we had to repeat the litany of disaster to a friendly customs agent who eventually took pity and stamped the release forms. We took them back to FedEx, filled our more forms, and Kael finally had his stuff back.

You know, I wonder how Elisa coped with not having a change of clothing during that whole Avalon Tour. It must've been annoying, especially with all the adventuring. It'll ruin your clothes pretty quickly.

That was sort of the tone for the whole Gathering. Run around. Drive around. Get lost a lot. I was so tired I spent most of the time lounging here or there, just listening to interesting people talk and drifting. Hudson always has interesting stories to tell. The writers panels seemed to be going well, but I just don't have any time or ambition for writing at the moment. The dealers room was very cool. I got a chance to go through the art show and pick up some pins, T-Shirts, and pre-register for Vegas.

The Banquet was very nicely done. I enjoyed everything but the loud noises coming from the next room over. Keith David was as charming as ever. Managed to get some good coordination going with Siryn and Chris about web-marketing the Gargoyles DVD and Gathering 2005 online. I managed to take a peek at a lot of the awesome costumes from the contest and harass Greg a bit about a comic project we've been plotting for a while now.

Chris managed to convince me to take Lexy along and go to the Montreal casino that night. It was very late, but I really didn't want to call it a day since I had to drive back Sunday anyway and wouldn't have time to do anything else this Gathering.

I never have any luck at crowded casinos on a weekend night, so I should've known better. I dropped some money at a cold Blackjack table. Lexy was caught by the slot-machine that wouldn't die. It just kept playing down to one quarter and then hitting back up to 40. It yo-yo'd like that 3 times staight! Chris had more luck on the higher blackjack tables and a little time playing craps. He treated Lexy, myself, and Kael to dinner / midnight snack over at the buffet. I had chocolate and raspberry death-cake and a lemon pasty of some sort. The sugar was enough to get me back to the hotel in one piece.

The drive back home wasn't too bad, except for having to double-back for something vitally important right at the U.S. border. That added 3 extra hours of driving time, but people were so honest and helpful that I could still count it as a somewhat positive experience.

Perhaps I'll have better luck with my travel and my tables in Vegas next year.

Hope to see you there!

- Marty "Kaioto" Lund

Greg responds...

Ahh... the advantages of being two years behind here at ASK GREG. Of course, I did see Marty at G2005 AND G2006. The comic project is now a reality. Spent most of San Diego ComicCon last week signing copies for a bunch of fans who didn't know the comic was out. Asked everyone to help spread the word by telling 1000 people each...

Good times!

Response recorded on July 27, 2006

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Mara Cordova writes...

Basically, this is a cop-out post because I'm still in the middle of writing my Gathering diary and have hit the wall, narration-wise. (Also, it's more or less the same for a majority of the time pre-and-post con as Aaron, Spaciebabie, Revel, Emambu, Lynati, GregX and Alex Bishansky since we all caravaned to and from Canada.) I do plan on finishing it, sometime, but for now I just want to post that I had a wonderful time, it's always great to see everyone again, meet long time online friends who finally get to make their first Gathering and actually have some really nice conversation with people I sorta knew by name but not really on a person-to-person level.

I will will *will* (I say to you three times) try to get my diary done, but I wanted to post something now at least.

So I had a great time and I'm looking forward to seeing everyone (and more people who haven't been before or haven't made a Gathering in a few years... *crosses fingers*)again in Vegas. Which, somehow I'm on staff for... again. But that's another kettle of fish. Ja ne!

Greg responds...

Cool. Always great to see you as well, Mara.

Response recorded on July 26, 2006

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Wingless writes...

Well, I've been wanting to do this for years, but not being a person very good with words(which is why I got into radio, after all), I've never gotten around to actually writing a gathering journal. This was the 4th gathering I've attended, having been to 1998, 2001, 2003 and this year. I've never been big on traveling, mainly because I'm legally blind and deathly afraid of getting myself lost or something. I can see enough to read(nose to page-or in this case, nose to screen). I can also use a camera reasonably well, and what might surprise you is that I can see things in the photos I took better than I could actually being there. Stating that, I apologize in advance if I don't get all the names right or miss metioning someone. Also excuse any bad grammer or spelling. As I stated, writing ain't my thing.

Wednesday August 4th.
I had been pretty busy trying to get all the details done before the trip. I had done minimal packing up to that point, and needed to get my butt in gear. I had also been working on a little surprise for Greg Weisman, and thankfully got it completed on time(more on that in Saturdays entry). I had also made a CDR of mp3s for the trip. I had bought some new clothes, done lots of washing and managed to get most things packed before the evening. This would be the easiest Gathering trip I've had, being Ottawa is only a 2 hour drive from Montreal, and I was traveling with my friend Gabarus(Dan) and Flanker(John) was driving up to Ottawa to pick us both up. Flanker was going to stay with Gab overnight and we'd head off to Montreal early Thursday morning.
I had gone into Station 8 chat and talked to Whitbourne(Dylan) who asked me to bring my Ultimate Goliath action figure, along with an 12 inch tall Elisa figure his fiancee Stormy(Mary)asked me to bring for her custom action figure display, so I made a point to pack those before I forgot. The Goliath figure actually came in handy later. Talking to IRC Goliath (Seth) that evening, It was looking like we might pick him up at the airport on our way - but the best laid plans..and all that. So, I chatted to Gabarus briefly online(since he has no phone) to make sure Flanker got there ok and make our plans. I wanted to leave by 10, they wanted to leave by Noon, so we compromised and planned for 11am. IRC Goliath was flying to L.A. first, and he got online at the airport for a bit and made some plans to try and pick him up. It was after 1 am before I finally hit the pillows - and actually managed to sleep, which I was never able to do before the previous 3 gatherings I attended.

Thursday, August 5th

I got up reasonably early to get myself showered and pack my shaver and a few last things. Had a bit of breakfast and a coffee(I prefer tea, but coffee is faster to make). Then I headed to the computer to see if my sleepy head travel companions were awake. No sign of them-but IRC Goliath was online again. He was in New York - and his flight had been delayed to Montreal, so he wouldn't be leaving there till after 11. That seemed to be a good thing, except we hadn't left yet. Without being able to co-ordinate things, we wouldn't be able to pick him up, which I felt kinda bad about. When 10 am came and went, I started to get a little nervous. Then 11 am, I started to get concerned. It was 11:15 when I got a call for Gab, they were at a gas station about 5 minutes away and they'd be to get me shortly. A half hour went by and the two lost souls pulled in the driveway. They came in for a few minutes to help me with my luggage. I had a large suitcase and a carry on bag - and a few other things in a plastic bag. Feeling like I was bringing the house with me, I felt a little better when I heard Flanker was bringing a cot and sleeping bag, and Gab packed his full sized computer tower with him, plus his other luggage. The plan was to hook the computer to the TV in our hotel room and we could watch DVD's - again, the best laid plans....
So on went the tunes and off we went. Flanker had already made the trip to Montreal, but not from Ottawa, so we kinda had to limp our way out of the city. I'm no good at directions and Gab is reasonably new to Ottawa. After a few wrong turns, we found the right highway and were on our way. It was a relatively uneventful trip, although we overshot Montreal a little bit, but that gave us a chance to stop. Flanker checked the map, Gab went in search of smokes and I found a Monsieur Felix and Mr. Norton cookie place - a gourmet cookie place only in Montreal that I've heard about for years. So I grabbed a dozen mix of chocolate chunk cookies and some water, found my way back to the car (with Flanker's help) and, after we all had a cookie break, we were off again.

We arrived at the hotel after 2:30 and took the scenic route around the parking garage before we found a spot, close to the elevator of course, and we made our way to the lobby. It wasn't long before I heard a familiar voice - IRC Goliath was hiding off in one of the seating areas close to the windows. Gab & I had our roomie, Flanker went off in search of his roomies as well. We checked in, got our keys and headed up to our room.

The room was certainly nice enough. Being a large person, I always check out the bed frame, which was less than sturdy. Gab suggested we remove it for the duration of our stay, so we disassembled the bed. They brought up our bags and Gab immediately went for his computer tower-to see if he could hook it up to the TV. Although it had A/V jacks, they were not accessible(we even had hotel techs check it out and there was nothing they could do). We also planned to have a few cold drinks in the room, but there was no fridge. We called down and they actually sent one up. We were all set-except for the tv. After we talked for a bit and looked at some of the DVD goodies IRC Goliath and Gab brought that we planned to watch, we headed beck downstairs in search of other early arrivals.

We found a few people, including A Fan. By this time we were all getting pretty hungry, and A Fan was looking for someone to venture out for food with, so we were instructed that there were places to eat down below the hotel(which strangely you have to walk through the hotel restaurant to get to(go figure). A lot of places were closed, but we finally settled on a strange little pub/eatery done up in a super hero motif - almost like you were walking onto the set of the old batman 60's TV series. So we all ordered and started to eat(although they got my order wrong...oh well). Gab wasn't feeling very well. He had been fighting a bout of strep throat for the last few weeks and was still feeling the fever from it-so he had his food packed up and we headed back to the hotel and headed back to our room for a bit.

IRC Goliath and myself headed back downstairs to see if we could find more arrivals - and maybe spot Greg, who had supposedly arrived. Discovering Greg and the Con staff had slipped out for dinner, we hung around checked out who had arrived. Chris Rogers was around, as was the Mysterious Lord Sloth(a fellow Canadian I wanted to finally meet). Abe Wintersmith also had made it and he sat down and chatted with IRC Goliath & myself for a bit. Maui, Arno and her crew from Toronto also rolled in (Maui is from Ottawa originally and I hadn't seen her in some time - this would be the first Garg Con I've been to with her attending. Little did I know the major part She and Abe would play in making it such a fun Con). We ran into Hudson and his group - and took some pictures. Gorebash, Vash & Hyperdawg arrived we chatted in the lobby for a bit-and took a few more pictures. We saw them up to their room. Not surprising the first thing Gore & Hpye did was unpack their electronics - You would almost think that it was sustenance and they required it, but hey, I'm much the same way, so I shouldn't talk. We talked for a little bit, then headed back to our room to check on Gab-who was dozing off with the TV on. Back down to the lobby we went to hang around for a little while longer-still hoping we'd catch Greg & the staff come back from dinner. It was creeping on 1 AM by the time IRC Goliath & I finally gave up and headed back up to our room for some much needed shut eye.
I must admit here that I said hello and got hugs from quite a few people - but my poor memory combined with my lousy eyesight prevents me from mentioning everyone - and I feel a bit bad about that. I appreciated everyone that came up and said hello to me.

Friday, August 6th:

I have this over conscious habit of not wanting to hold everyone up by me being slow, so despite setting the alarm, I got up an hour early so I could shower and clear out of the washroom so Gab & IRC Goliath could have free reign-and that would give me some lounge time to relax a bit before the long day ahead. Goliath was the first of us to head down to register, while Gab & I....gabbed. a bit longer and waited for him to return so we could see his schedule and get an idea what our day would be like. By the time we got moving it was almost lunchtime. Gab & I registered, and I ran in to Whitbourne & Stormy. I was thrilled they would both be able to make it. The Can Clan couple as I call them. They've been to visit me at my place in Ottawa many times over the years. Since they moved from Kingston to Halifax I don't see them as often.
After that, Gab, Goliath & I headed to McDonalds to grab a quick bite. Gab & I had plans to catch Flanker's weapons panel and Goliath wanted to check out the voice actor's panel. I was feeling I was missing something, since I wanted to hear Keith speak again. We only got a brief taste of him at Gathering 2001, and the thought of having him for the whole gathering was great. Not that I'd likely have the nerve to go up and talk to him, mind you. I'm shy as all get out.

I wasn't entirely sure what to expect for the understanding combat panel. Being visually impaired, using a gun is kinda out of my league, but I went just the same. I had promised Flanker - and was a little concerned about a low turnout. I need not have worried, the room was about 3/4 full and there were a lot of technical questions. Flanker put on a very good demonstration. He knew his stuff - despite an attempted upstaging by Hudson and a few other knowledgeable attendees. I've known Hudson was very knowledgeable about weapons for some time-so that wasn't a surprise. I can see him and Flanker working on a similar panel in Vegas next year. On the subject of Flanker-the man has some of the most amazing red eye! You'd swear he was a gargoyle the way his eyes glow in some of the pictures I took.

After the panel, Gab & I went in to the art room to check things out. There was a lot of amazing art and merchandise there. Gab picked 2 T shirts, and he found someone selling a Goliath Mug. My very first piece of Garg merchandise was the Lexington mug-and though I had found Broadway and Brooklyn, Goliath had eluded me. Whitbourne came over just at that moment and bought the mug for me. *blushes* He's amazing-and no amount of protesting from me was going to stop him. The artwork as always is simply breathtaking. We have so much talent in this fandom. That's another thing that Gargoyles has inspired - it's caused many people to explore their talents in writing and drawing - and we have one amazingly large pool of talent in both fields. I spied a few pieces of Kythera's work that I wanted(I think I would have bought out her binder of images-along with everyone else's if my wallet would have let me...*sigh* oh well.

It was time for the radio play auditions. Every year someone tries to get me to audition and every year I chicken out. Would I like to do it? sure! I've been involved in radio on a volunteer basis for close to 20 years, so it would seem natural. Trouble is, doing a radio show in a room by yourself with a microphone is a lot different than speaking in front of close to 200 people. Radio is a breeze compared to that. For that reason, and the fact that the script would have to be large print for me to even considering becoming involved-and with the hectic pace the con takes, it would be too much of a hassle getting one made up. So I just stayed on the sidelines and convinced Gabarus to take part(he's also has some radio experience-and a good voice). I knew IRC Goliath was going to audition-as were Whit & Stormy-Although Stormy wouldn't get to audition until Saturday morning. While all this was going on, I headed back up to our room for a bit to relax, check out some of the pics I took before opening ceremonies.
Gab made it back up to the room to unwind before opening Ceremonies as well. We talked for a bit, and after auditioning for the radio play, we realized he was also tied in with the Clan Olympics. He was just a little miffed, thinking he was committed to 2 things at once-and was certain that it was me who had hooked him into the Olympics in the first place. I was feeling bad-largely cause I wanted to see him in the radio play. Strange thing, I couldn't for the life of me remember ever having talked to him about the Olympics before. We finally figured out that it was indeed Flanker who had "recruited" Gab to team Canadian Body Massage. Ha! It wasn't me!

The Opening Ceremonies began. I was up at the front near the video screen(as always) with Gab on my right and Stormy & Whit on my left. It was fun watching and hearing Stormy's reaction to everything-as a Con Virgin and all, but I'm quite sure Whit filled her in on some of it. Still, you really need to be there. We had the intro for the Con staff and a taste of what Gathering 2005 was about. Then, before Greg got his chance to talk-the event was hijacked by Abe and Maui and the Clan Olympics! We were introduced to all the teams.

Team Canadian Body Massage:
- Flanker
- Whitbourne
- Stormy
- Gabarus
The 2005 Con Staff
- Chris Rogers
- Lanny Fields
- Erin Wheeler
- Mara Cordova

The Mexinadians
- Top Man
- Reusch
- David
- Nezumi

Arcadia International
- Robert Luca
- Arno
- Dubble
- Countess

The Dark Knights (Said "Ka-Nig-Its")
- Shade
- Enyo
- Adam
- White

The Green Dragons
- Kya White Sapphire
- Chameleongirl
- Karlyl
- Kyffin

The Defective Gargoyles
- Gix
- Airalana
- Syrth
- Wolffer

Clan Challanged: Part Duex
- Sarah the Great
- Chyna Rose
- Mike Cohen
- Amena

Then-the first event, which involved one member wearing a hole filled shirt while the rest of the team did a relay of sorts to bring plastic colored balls and stuff them in the shirt. Whitbourne was up there as the victim..er, person wearing the shirt-proudly waving his Acadian flag. It was a fun event(although I forget now where we placed in that). Gab apparently got bowled over-landing flat on his back during the event. He has back problems to begin with, and as long as I've known him(which is like 8 years now) he's forever having accidents that result in him landing on his back. Poor guy.

Greg finally got his chance to shine. We saw the original pitch of Gargoyles to disney(with a very young looking Greg on the video) for those who might not know, this video features a synopsis of the show idea, with several still drawings of the Characters. Being that Gargoyles was conceived as a comedy, several of the character designs on these cards reflect that original concept-namely the trio and especially Bronx. Then, the original test reel with some borrowed music from several other movies. The infamous "It's Better Than Barney" story -and the pitches for the unmade spin offs, "The New Olympians", "Dark Ages", and the lica reel of "Bad Guys" - which in itself is worth going to the Gathering to see! Then, something we fans have been waiting for...the announcement for the DVD release -along with an actual date-December 7th!. I Can't wait myself.

Once opening Ceremonies came to a close, Gab & I hooked up with Goliath, Gorebash, Vash and Hyperdawg and we ventured out for food. This was really my first look at Montreal on foot. I now that sounds strange, not only being Canadian, but also only 2 hours away from the city. I just never had a chance to go before. I was amazed how clean it is - and only someone like me could appreciate the extra bright crosswalk lights and the countdown timers so you know how long you have to cross. What also too me by surprise is how little business activity there was. Many store fronts were empty, and those that were occupied were closed. It took us a while to find a restaurant. We finally found a nice pasta place - which not only gave you a choice of pastas, but also your choice of about 20 different sauces-which they made fresh right there in front of you! We all made our choices, and sat down and talked about the gathering events thus far. It felt a lot like a bunch of old friends getting together. I know most of us chat online to one another, but it always amazes me how much the world has opened up as a result of the internet. The whole gargoyles fandom and the convention are a good example of that. It's a pretty wonderful thing. Myself having been quite a sheltered person most of my life - getting out like this is an amazing experience. Just a little frightening at times being in an unfamiliar place and not being able to find your way around without some help. I'm pretty used to knowing my domain and being able to navigate without looking. I must admit I do feel a little bad having to "lean" on people and have them watch out for me. So I'll say a big thanks to Gab, Goliath, Gore, Whit, Flanker and in past years, Dark Horse and Pogo. All of them stuck their necks out for me to make sure I had a good time. I'll tell ya guys, it's greatly appreciated.

Dinner was over. Gab Still wasn't feeling his best and he brought most of his dinner back to the hotel(that fridge we had sent up to the room got pretty full towards the end of the Con. We all headed back to the hotel and hung out for a bit. Then back up to our room Gab & I went. We watched TV for a bit. Goliath joined us a bit later - he needed the experience of seeing some of the Simpsons and South Park in French! Goliath then headed down to meet some other people before the Blue Mug A guest with Greg. I stayed with Gab for a bit longer-then headed to the Con suite to get us some seats for the Mug A Greg event. At that point there was still hope Keith David would make it for that, but we'd have to wait a bit longer.

I grabbed the last few seats for myself and Gab(who was going to come down later). Someone gave up a seat for me-which was appreciated. The room was soon packed-with little walking room, let alone breathing room. It's one event I think most of the 18+ con goers look forward to the most. I really think at times we talk about the Gargoyles as if they were real. I think that's a lot of the appeal of the show - the characters ARE so lifelike in how they were written and portrayed that it's easy for the fans to get lost in that. I know myself I would like them to be real. I think the human race could stand some competition at this stage of the game. We could stand to have some a "Living conscience" that would help to keep us in check.
It was a tame blue mug A guest compared to previous years. The absence of Thom Adcox and the excitement over the DVD likely helped to keep things at least PG for most of the event. I actually got the nerve to ask a question...ah, the coward that I am. Basically how Gargoyles would handle the subject of the "Birds & The Bees" - since the parental structure of the clan is different from that of humans. The hatchlings have many fathers and mothers(biological connections don't matter so much as the older clan members raises the younger).
It was 2am by the time Greg called it a night. It had been a busy day so we ventured back to the room and crawled into bed. The con was going by too fast already.

Saturday, August 7th:

Again I got up before the alarm, showered and got myself together before my sleepyhead room mates woke up and did the same. By the time we got ourselves together, it was almost time for the first events for the day, so skipping brekkie, Gab and I headed to the Clan Olympics trivia torture. Keep in mind that I wasn't officially on any team, but I knew Stormy was auditioning for the radio play, and that left Team Canadian body massage short a few members - so I offered to stand in. Thankfully, I wasn't selected to be the victim up at the front of the room having to be tortured. I even got one of the answers right! *faint*. It was a hoot, and I was busy running my camera to capture the "tortures" on film...Chocolate and blue cheese dressing? What were they thinking?!!

Lunchtime proved a bit of a challenge. Goliath, Gab & I hooked up again and went in search of a place to eat. Heading down to the tunnels under the hotel where the stores had been so busy the day before - here, at noon on a Saturday EVERYTHING was closed! I'd never heard of that before -so we followed the tunnels for a while and landed back up on the street. It was a good hour before we found somewhere to grab a bite. On our walk back - we stumbled on a building with multi colored windows. Something like that is great for me. A landmark even my eyes can pick up on-plus I love colors. So we grabbed a few pictures (I see by other peoples photo collections from the con that I wasn't the only one that noticed that building...I still don't know what was in it though.)

We didn't quite make it back in time for the Auction - something I don't like to miss, since I have a vast collection of Garg merchandise. I did notice that someone had brought one of the Gathering 99 double CD soundtracks that I had made(I ended up making over 90 copies of that-and gave em all away or they were auctioned off at the con). I still wonder if Greg ever got his copy(as usual, I never had the courage to go up to him and give it to him myself-but I'd be tricked into it this year...more on that later).

It was time for another round of Clan Olympics-but it was also time for the Radio play auditions, which took Gab, Stormy & Whitbourne away from Team Canadian Body Massage again - so in steps Wingless to stand in on the "Really Hard Pictionary". I think team captain Flanker began to appreciate having Mr.fill-in handy-and surprisingly I got one of the answers there too-woo for me! We wrapped up early and continued to play before the radio play opened up. I was surprised it was held In the Auditorium. The room was set up like a lecture hall, with raised tables with these silly pull out chairs-much to small for us large economy sized Con goers-so I planted myself on the stairs in the middle. I figured that would be a great spot to take pictures from. My Camera overall didn't like the lighting in that room, so it fought with me to take pictures. Once the radio play started and Greg introduced they would be doing an unedited script of "the Journey"-with some scenes that didn't make it to the actual show. He introduced the very large cast and things got underway. We have some very talented voices in the fandom. I was glad that everyone I knew that auditioned got at least some part in it. Then the Camera crew set up and started taping the radio play...right in front of me. That was a bit of a disappointment - but I know it was more important for them to get good shots of the event. Better them in front of me than me in front of them. It was an amazing radio play - always one of the highlights of the convention.

We all went our separate ways for a bit. Gab got invited up to Hudson's room, and IRC Goliath was also socializing. Gab & I had not gotten banquet passes, so we were trying to hook up with anyone that was going out to dinner. It seemed no one was or the plans fell through. I headed back up to the room to relax a bit and wait for Gab & Goliath to return. Goliath headed to the Banquet, and when Gab got back, we made arrangements(after trying to navigate a French phone book for a good half hour) to order some food in. Gab was feeling better thankfully and had a better appetite. We got done early, and I headed down to where the Masquerade was to start. It was then I found out that Keith David had finally arrived, so I peeked in to this bizarre room-lit in Orange mood lighting - very bizarre. I sat down at the back and listened to the last 20 minutes of Keith's Q&A. I don't think I was supposed to be there-not having paid for the banquet, but I'm glad I got to hear some of it just the same (notwithstanding the noise from the group caterwauling with the bad disco music next door to us.

Then the Masquerade and cosplay began. Some of the most amazing costumes I've ever seen for sure. Every year people seem to go further and further out to create the ultimate Gargoyles related costumes, and they do indeed improve every year. All of them were amazing. From the Gargoyles intro...with visual aids, to Korul and "the Gargoyle who's afraid of heights"-what an amazing costume! Flanker & Stormy were great in their Renaissance Hunter and Quarryman outfits. The Titania and Ophelia costumes were amazing as well. Jade Griffin in her Bellelisa dress-wow! My pic of her has to be the best one I took at the convention. Of course Becca Morgan was adorable as Bronx-ah to be young and able to walk on all fours again without killing your back. Got a great picture of Gab scratching her ear. It's a riot.

Things seemed to be winding down somewhat. I hung around taking pictures of the costumes madly while they got set up for the Karaoke. Then came the moment. I mentioned earlier the CD I made for Greg. To explain this better. A few years ago, someone found out Greg liked M&M's-so of course, the fans(which is short for fanatics, of course) don't miss little details like that, so last year everyone started hiding M&Ms in Greg's stuff-or put some in front of him when he wasn't looking. Well, to continue that fanatic vision. Last year, while on the subway to Coney Island in New York, those of us sitting near Greg picked up on him whistling or humming the Theme to the TV show-the Banana Splits (the "Tra la la song-one banana, two banana"). For the benefit of those who don't know what the Banana Splits was. It was a late 1960s kids show made by Hanna-Barbera.. It was a show hosted by these live action animals-basically people in amusement park type suits. Fleagle the Dog(the group leader), Bingo-a gorilla with lotsa teeth, Drooper, a rather clumsy Lion and Snorky, a shaggy gray elephant that doesn't talk-he honks! Basically these 4 animals live in a clubhouse which we got invited to each week. They'd show cartoons and a special adventure serial called "Danger Island" and also tell jokes, do prat falls & such. It was very colorful ans psychedelic. Well, the four animals were also musicians, and in the last segment of each show-there would be a little music video, with them romping around ala the Beatles or Monkees(this was still over 10 years before MTV folks). Anyway, marketing the way it is, there was a Banana Splits album released-with some pretty cool songs on it, along with a number of box top mail in EP singles you could get. Well, the DJ and 60s music collector that I am, took advantage of this little inside to Greg's mind set and made him a one of a kind CD soundtrack of these rare records. I had planned a little speech when I gave it to him-the whole 9 yards. Then the coward in me began to set in...I started to think-Greg isn't going to remember that happening on the subway. He's gonna bloody well think I'm out of my mind! So, though I had brought the CD down with me, I had, by that time, given up on the idea of giving it to him. Then Gabarus steps in. The take charge, fearless, in your face kinda person he is, went over to Greg and told him I had something for him, the Gab proceeded to drag me over to Greg(without me having a clue what he was up to-in order for me to give him the CD). I was in shock, and likely would have turned around and run given have the chance -but I stuttered through part of what I had planned to say and gave him the disc. I was very surprised and pleased that he seemed to like it. I imagine he didn't know they had actually put out records of the songs from the show. Just the same, I'm happy I got a chance to give it to him. Especially since learning later on that he had to leave the convention that night. I wouldn't have gotten another chance. Gorebash actually made me tell the story of the CD on video. God, I hope that never sees the light of day. I was still in shock from having actually given it to Greg! *faints*

Karaokee: I hadn't planned at all to stick around for that, but I'm awfully glad I did. Like I said earlier, we have some good voices in the fandom, and not just for the radio play. Catching Titania's "all that jazz" was pretty amazing, as was the parody of "Blame Canada"(very appropriate one to filk at a Montreal convention folks) - "Blame Gargoyles-we should form a full assault-it's Weisman's fault!" Then Keith David got into the act. What a voice! With his little ones in tow - he got up to sing-and beautifully too.

Not long after that - we headed back up to the room. Gab and I are a thirsty pair, and we were forever hunting for drink machines or somewhere to get something wet. I finally located a machine on our floor-and Gab had found one on the pool level too, so we loaded up and headed back to the room. Gab had made arrangements earlier in the day to borrow one of the projectors used for the opening ceremonies. Turns out that he ( Yggdrasil) was our next door neighbor in the hotel. Small fandom. So, Gab proceed to borrow this machine, hot-wire his computer to it(without the proper cables yet) and we were watching a few movies and futurama on the wall of our room till the wee hours of the morning. Yggdrasil needed his projector back early the next morning for his presentation(although I wasn't sure what it was about at the time).
Still feeling a bit damp & icky from the days events, I grabbed a quick shower and hopped into bed.

Sunday, August 8th:
Late to bed, late to rise. The convention winding down and I didn't want it to end-at least not yet. We were up too late to get anything to eat so we made a coffee in the room(Gab had Tea), and we all headed down to see what was going on. We all wanted to attend both Keith David Mug-A-Guests. It was only then I realized that Whitbourne and Yggdrasil had their biology panel at the same time. I waited around for the Mug a guest to start in the art room. When it proved to be delayed, I snuck over to the Biology panel. Much like the Blue Mug-A-Guest, here are all these people discussing cloning and the potential biological makeup of fictitious beings with Wings and tails. It was wonderful. Ah, the possibilities!

After the panel, Gab & I returned to the dealer room to find that the Keith Mug-A-Guest had yet to take place, and would be delayed longer-so we hadn't missed anything.

I only got to meet Keith briefly at the autograph signing in LA in 2001. He was on a tight schedule and didn't really have time to socialize. Wow! Did he make up for it this year. All eyes turned on him and applause sounded as he walked into the room. He went around to every table showing interest in what everyone was doing, The artwork, the Phoenix gate anthology, the T shirts - and everyone waiting to hear him talk. He warmly greeted all of us and shook our hands. That floored me. Maybe it's just me, but I don't see many people with that much charisma and class in the world today - taking time to talk to everyone that was there...even lil' ol' me!

His talk was amazing. One of the revelations that impressed me was when someone asked him "what haven't you done that you would like to do" and he said, "the Nat "King" Cole Story" - after his previous night singing-it just clicked! He'd be so perfect for that. People were interested in stories of the voice recording sessions for Gargoyles, the movies he'd been in and the people he's worked with.
After the Q&A, he stayed around to talked to people. Gab had talked to him briefly the previous evening about how to get into voice acting, and he had promised to talk to him the following day. He remembered Gab-who then dragged me over-Mr. Nervous knees that I am. Gab had told him about my involvement with music and radio. He said he was going to be in Ottawa with his family at one point and would consider dropping by my place to see my collection! I almost dropped dead on the spot.

The schedule was running a bit behind, so closing ceremonies had to begin. We all gathered in another room and ran through the awards ceremony. I was busy snapping pictures left & right the best I could, so the actual awards were a blur to me. I know Stormy and Kythera won several-as did many other artistic fingers. The presentation for Gathering 2005 by Chris Rogers. It sounds impressive. Vegas though? Large people and airlines don't usually like each other very much. At the moment I can't see myself going. That's not to say that I won't work on it. I certainly want to, If over I can get over the fear of traveling alone. I'm awful, I know.

Then the autograph signing with Keith. I had already gotten his autograph in 2001, and hadn't really brought anything to get signed. Stormy had returned my Ultimate Goliath figure during lunch break-since She & Whitbourne had to leave before 5pm. I got the idea of having him sign one of the Wings-which thankfully were detachable. I also brought the Goliath mug Whit had bought me. Gabarus was just ahead of me and we arranged to take each other's pictures with Keith. He was still charming and very open. When it was my turn, I went behind the table with im, and he put his arm around me and talked with me for a minute(keep in mind that I'm in utter shock at that moment). Thanks to Gab, I have a picture to prove it happened. Keith signed both the wing and the mug-and had never heard of the "Ultimate Goliath" figure before. Admittedly, it's not one of the better likenesses of Goliath, but hey, I had it there and Keith signed it.

Stormy came over and I congratulated her on her awards. She showed me close up her "gargoyles in drag" figures. Yes folks, she's a very unusual person-but I love her-and her fiencee Whitborune. They were off for their plane back to Halifax, so we exchanged our goodbye hugs and they were off. I snapped more pictures of people before they headed off as well.

Now, there was talk of a laser tag event being put together. I've never played, and being it's a very sight oriented activity-and was willing to go. Gabarus wasn't up to going and I wasn't about to leave him behind. I also figured IRC Goliath would be going for sure, and was very surprised that he didn't. I don't know for certain, but I think he might have stayed behind because I couldn't participate. Either way I was happy he didn't(and if that was the case, I luvs ya Seth).

As it turns out, our entire dinner crew from Friday night didn't end up going, so Gore, Vash Hyperdawg, Gab, IRC Goliath and myself headed back to the pasta place for another round. On the way they had some streets closed off since they were shooting a movie. They wouldn't allow cameras, but, after our meal, we came across a horse drawn bus type wagon(without the horse) so we couldn't resist getting a picture of the crew in front of it.
Once back at the hotel...everything was a blur. There were quite a few goodbyes and hugs from people departing. We headed back to the room for a bit, Goliath went up to the con suite to see what was going on, and ultimately got swallowed in the activities up there. Gab contemplated a swim but decided against it, so we just lounged for a bit. Once Goliath returned, we all called it a night.

Monday, August 9th

We had arranged for a late check out(1pm) so we could catch up on some sleep, pack and grab a bite before we had to check out. Things don't always work out the way we plan them. We got showered, packed, and by the time we got down to get something to eat, it was 12:30! We had to grab a really quick bite-thankfully the tunnel mall under the hotel was open. We ran back to our rooms, ate, grabbed our luggage and headed down to check out. There were still "gatherers" lingering about. We dropped our luggage, and there was a cab waiting. Goliath had to catch his flight in a few hours. After a long hug, we saw him off.

I went to sit down with our luggage while Gab went out for a smoke. Keith David was still there, making the rounds in the lobby. He came over and, shook my hand and said goodbye, again saying that he'd try to come by when he was in Ottawa. He never did make it, but the offer alone-Wow!
We found a few more lurkers at the hotel - Hudson, Kythera and bunch of next year's Con staff talking about 2005 in Vegas. Gab and I were awaiting Flanker-who had ventured to old Montreal for a cyber café to check his email. Keith David came by again-this time with his Kids to say goodbye, and there Gabarus snapped my last Gathering photo. An amazing Gathering it was.

Flanker returned, we loaded up his car and headed off back to Ottawa. An uneventful trip home I must point out, considering my previous 3 disaster trips return trips from the gathering. At least I wasn't going to get stuck on a runway in a fierce thunder and wind storm, or miss my flight an be stuck at LAX for 9 hours-hoping for a seat on an overbooked flight, or get stranded in the small town or Kenville, New Jersey when our car broke down(all true stories folks). We dropped Gabarus off first, and then myself...Glad to be home, and yet wishing I was still in Montreal with everyone.

How about this-we start our own commune - The Gathering of the Gargoyles commune where we'll all live, work and have fun together all year around(or at least for the summer months).

My only regrets? I didn't get to see more of Montreal-and show some of my American friends that Canada does have life to it. That I didn't get to socialize a bit more with everyone. There's so many people I chat with online and would like a better chance to get to know them better-as well as hang out more with those I do know. That I didn't get one of Arno's "Evil makes me Sad" shirts. We need to mass market those Maui.

Lets hope I make it to Vegas next year.

and here's a link to my gathering photos. As I write this(August 29th) I still have at least another 100 to post - so keep looking back in.
http://www.thecanclan.com/gathering04

Thanks everyone for making it such a great time.

Dave "Wingless" Sampson

Greg responds...

Hey Wingless,

You know one of my fondest Gathering memories is that walk we all took down the boardwalk (or whatever they call it) out on Coney Island. Always great to have you at the Gathering. (No need to be so terrified of me. I rarely bite.) And the Banana Splits CD is in my musical rotation. I love it!

Hope to see you in Pigeon Forge!

Response recorded on July 26, 2006

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TopMan writes...

Top Man's Super-fantastical Super-long Con-virgirnal (Vir-journal

Disclaimer: Many of the people mentionned in this were also ConVirgins and n00bs, so chances are you've never heard of them/me and barely remember them/me from the convention, if at all. Hopefully, this will help you get more acquainted with us ^^

Someday the Nth of Whenever

I was browsing the web, and *somehow* came across the Gathering Of The Gargoyles 2004 website. I looked at it and thought "Jeez, what weird kinds of people would go to this?" Then I read the page, and thought "Jeez, I would go to this!!"

A couple of days after Someday the Nth of Whenever:

I talked to Reusch about it, thinking she'd laugh in my face. Instead, she said "awesome!" Everything was set ^^

Friday, August 6th:

Well, the day started off with Reusch and I getting a lift over to the hotel from my dad. The convention wasn't due to start for a little while, which we planned on purpose so we could wake ourselves up with a Tim Hortons french vanilla. We ended up eating brunch there, and it was very nice, except at the very end, when we were sitting outside with our coffees, much to my disgust and Carolynn's delight I was pooped on by a bird -_-. Not the proudest moment in my life. Luckily it was just my hand, so I washed it off easily, and we decided to head over to the hotel and scope out the inside.

In doing so we found out that Registration table was already open, so, feeling VERY antisocial, we sort of tiptoed up to the counter and waited until someone approached us, then we half-whispered our names and sat down at an empty table feeling foolish and admiring the packages. Suddenly, I get Abe from the table going "Heeeey, Topman!" and Sarah The Great is asking us if we want to join the Clan Olympics. I had already been considering it, as it sounded fun, and Abe was there to encourage me, and Reusch was all up for it, so I was close to saying yes. The only problem was we had only two people. So I asked her to put a question mark down next to our names. About 5 minutes later I figured "Ah, what the hell" and signed us up. She said there were two others needing a team and asked if we didn't mind pairing up with them, which of course we didn't. This was the make-or-break moment where half the convention could end up being spent with complete and utter weirdos.

And fortunately for us, we did! Nezumi and David were great fun from the get-go, and we hung out together the entire convention, but more on that later, because Abe ruined our good mood by making us think up a name. After five minutes of weird conversation, we decided on "The Mexanadians" (despite the fact that Nez was from Texas, not Mexico, and Texanadians would have been just as easy, for some reason we stuck with that.) We were so proud of our bizarre name, that we were grinning right up until the moment Abe said "Okay, so now we need your team motto." And we all went: "MOTTO!? *GROAN*" So, we decided that a hearty groaning sound would be a good motto for us. Unfortunately, for the moment we were going to have to leave our new teammates, as Con Virgin 101 (which Reusch and I felt we definitely needed to attend) was starting, while Nez and David decided to attend something else, which escapes me at the moment.

Con Virgin 101 was a blast. We arrived 15 minutes late due to our meeting with Nez and David, and apparently we weren't the first to interrupt Sapphire's panel, but since there were so few of us she just ended up starting over from the beginning. She talked about how everyone's insane (which is true), and then showed off her impressive art and french skills with a hilarious little scribbling. ("Bonjour, je m'appelle Velociraptor" XD) Of course, there can't really be ALL that much to talk about for introducing new people to cons, so after about 15 minutes, she realized that we had a whole spare hour. So all hell broke loose (that is to say as much hell as can break loose with about 7 people) and we started drawing on the board and chatting. We met ChameleonGirl there too, who is a great and funny gal, and there was a couple which I believe were French Canadian, and unfortunately I never caught their names, but they were nice and friendly. I felt a bit bad about having made little comments throughout Sapphire's presentation, because she seemed a bit miffed by all the interruptions, but I hope she realized I did it because I had warmed up to her and the room, and wanted to join into the discussions, maybe not in the most appropriate of ways. If you're reading this, I hope I didn't offend you in any way =S

Next up was the voice acting seminar, where Reusch and I got to see Greg Weisman in person for the first time. We learned here that Keith David wasn't going to make it, which was a little disappointing because I had been hoping to hear him spout a number of Goliath lines during this panel, but I soon got over it. Greg was a great speaker, and had a lot of information to give out, and I thought it was a very interesting panel considering, as a child actor, albeit not a very famous one, I had done (small amounts of) voice acting in the past and wanted to see what he had to say. At the end he was having people read the skits and coaching them, and Reusch SOMEHOW managed to convince me to join in for the last skit, provided she did too. I ended up getting Brooklyn, and Reusch, this time to MY delight, got Hudson (which was funny, as we are both avidly averse to Hudson's character). It was fun, although I'm almost positive I read WAY too fast, and then felt confused because Greg didn't mention anything to me (it either wasn't as bad as I thought, he didn't notice, or I was a hopeless case). Sidenote, whoever did the first Demona reading (I believe it was CrzyDemona?) and the Griff reader (Michael?) were AMAZING!!!

Unfortunately, we found out the Radio Play Auditions weren't available for viewing, so it was either the Costuming Seminar or the RPG panel. Reusch didn't want to touch the Costuming Seminar (we had just spent two solid weeks working on my Thailog costume, which was a beast to make) so we went to the RPG panel. Unfortunately, we had only dabbled in RPGs (read: RPG, as in one) so we didn't understand the panel at all, and decided we should probably leave before we went nuts in the room trying to pretend that we knew what we were talking about.

We went up to the con room and watched a couple of episodes, I seem to remember Kingdom and Hound Of Ulster. At some point we ended up finding Nez and Dave and decided that during this extended break we should find some food somewhere so that we wouldn't start stomach-rumbling during the opening ceremonies. We went to the McDonalds that was found, by whom I don't know, by going through the hotel restaurant into a bank/business building, then down the escalator into an underground mall. The service there was TERRIBLE. First off, the girl at the counter AND the guy in the back CONSTANTLY disregarded the beeping of the fry machine, so they burnt the fries TWICE. Reusch's salad took at LEAST 15 minutes to make, and they ended up giving her the wrong kind of chicken, despite the counter-girl asking twice. They neglected to give her a fork or salad dressing. She later found out that the chicken wasn't cut properly, so she returned to the counter, asked for a knife, was given a fork. David, meanwhile, was waiting for a double big mac, and they ended up accidentally making a single big mac, and then didn't notice until he was waiting for the food for five minutes. So he got to wait even longer. They gave us a complimentary hamburger, which I ate, but it wasn't all that good, and definitely didn't make up for the awful service.

We all headed back to the Opening Ceremonies, which were a blast. The staff presented themselves, and then during Liz's speech, Abe and MAui surprised us all by "taking over". They announced the teams, and then shocked us by saying that the first event would be NOW. Good thing we'd eaten =) Reusch and I had to grab the balls from the bin, and then pass them over the line to Nez, who stuffed them into David's hole-filled shirt. While Reusch grabbed balls from the bin, I took the strategy of picking up any and all balls that were dropped by others onto the floor. It must have worked moderately well, because we were in third place by the end. After all the excitement died down (I felt bad for Liz... the beginning of her speech was cut short, and then we were all still catching our breath for the end) Greg presented the DVD info (w00t for December 7th) told his amusing stories (I was shocked when EVERYONE around me shouted out "It's Better Than Barney", but I'll be prepared to join in next time ^_~), played a tape with a bunch of people who worked on Gargoyles (Keith David was hilarious, and Ed Asner was funny too, but he also said some very deep, nostalgic stuff about his being on the show and wanting to come to a Gathering that kind of made me sad, the way only nostalgia can), and then played all of his videos, which for some must be a bit boring now, but for me was quite interesting, as this was the first time I was seeing them. He then played an audio tape of The Last, the not-so-long lost Atlantis episode, which far too many of us took far too dirtily, but for good reasons!

After Opening Ceremonies came Mystery Gargoyles Theatre, which Reusch and I didn't quite understand at first, but then we figured out it was just people making jokes about the show as it's playing, which is what we do anyways. We also met some new friends there, Annie and Catherine, who, while we didn't see them much aside from the banquet, were really cool people and great fun to talk to. Jade Griffin also came off as being really cool, but I never really had a conversation with her until Sunday, which is a bit of a shame.

After an hour or so of heckling, the Clan Olympics people were kicked out of the room so we couldn't see what was being set up. It ended up being some kooky toss-the-ball game, with some very inventive twists, such as the Spirits and the flip-over rule, and the tic-tac-toe. I suck at tossing balls, and although two of my three shots came EXTREMELY close (one actually bounced off the middle of the chair that the target was sitting on, but never actually hit the target) but none succeeded, which made me feel a bit useless. We almost got a tic-tac-toe, which would have scored us some bonus points, but we didn't end up doing so. If only I had gone last instead of second, I MIGHT have been able to at least accomplish that... nonetheless, Reusch, David and Nez had enough skill to pull us into 2nd place! Congrats to them.

Saturday, Sunday and Monday hopefully coming before Tuesday ^^

Greg responds...

Always nice to get the perspective of the newbies. So... did you make Las Vegas? Valencia? Are you coming to Pigeon Forge? If you had that much fun, you can't let it be the last time, right?

Check out www.gatheringofthegargoyles.com for more information on G2007 in Pigeon Forge, Tennessee.

Response recorded on July 06, 2006

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bummed writes...

My Gathering Journal -
I couldn't go! I wept at least once an hour. Could someone schedule a Gathering in early June someplace nice? I probably can't go to the 2005 one either. (bawls eyes out) :(

Greg responds...

Here you have it. Mid-June someplace nice. Are you coming or bumming?

Response recorded on June 21, 2006

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Mandolin (Mandi Ohlin) writes...

Greg -

I just got home tonight after working all weekend to finish up my con journal, only to discover that a disk error had eaten half of Saturday and all of Sunday and Monday. I spent an hour trying to retrieve it, drove myself to tears, with no luck.

It's now 11:30 on the 29th, I have to deal with getting my act together for graduate school on Thursday, I still have to find forms and call advisors and find out where the money is coming from, find out where my class is, find out what books I need, and there is no way I can reconstruct the whole thing by Tuesday night.

Greg, I am so, so sorry, but I just can't post the con diary by August 31st. I can't redo all that in time. I'm tired, I'm stressed, and I just can't get down all the wonderful and amusing things that happened in those four days in time for the impatience of the PTB.

I was there, I had fun, I want to retell everything that happened, but I just don't have the time left to do it by the 31st. Instead of a con diary, you'll have to settle for an apology. I can't redo all that in time. I can't.

Again, I am really, really, sorry. Please forgive me....

Greg responds...

You're totally forgiven.

Thanks for trying.

Response recorded on June 20, 2006

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matt writes...

My Gathering Journal

-unfortunatly i could not attend this years Gathering either. but i felt so helpless about posting Gathering Journals taht i decided to post this just to show people how easy it is to post their thoughts. i'm kinda dissapointed taht we only have a 25% turnout... i hope we see better participation in buying the DVD...

thanks Greg.

Greg responds...

Me too.

Response recorded on June 20, 2006

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Gorebash writes...

8th Annual Gathering of the Gargoyles
Montreal, Quebec, Canada
August 6-8, 2004

My con journal. It's long (winded).

Thursday, August 5, 2004 (Abridged)

Driving from just south of Boston, MA to Montreal, Quebec. Left home around 6:30am. Picked up Vashkoda and her friend Sean (we met at the 2003 con) in the Bronx on my way. Didn't take the I-80 exit in Albany and went 200 miles west through New York before we figured out the error. Drove 200 miles east. Got back on I-80 and headed north torwards Montreal. Got in around midnight.

Friday, August 6, 2004

Vashkoda, Sean and I had breakfast in the hotel restaurant. We then headed over to the registration desk to pickup our badges and materials. We had a couple hours before the first session of the day, so we went in search of a universal remote.

Sean had brought his Playstation 2 with him in hopes of hooking it up to the TV in our room. However the hotel took every step they could to not allow hooking up external devices to the TV. We figured if we got a universal remote, we could then change over to the line input on the TV and bypass the hotel's attempt to stop such things.

Next door to the hotel was a Staples... or whatever it was they called Staples in Canada. No remotes, although I did pick up a silver Sharpie in hopes of getting Keith David to sign an issue of the Gargoyles comic book I had brought along.

We then headed west from the hotel trying to locate a Radio Shack a clerk at the Staples had said was nearby. We didn't find anything and turned around. As we passed under a bridge on the way back I was molested by one of the local fowl, deciding to use my shoulder as a convenient perch. Vash rescued me from the vile creature, and on we went.

Crosswalks in Montreal are much different than anything I was use to. For starters, you didn't have to push a button to get the lights to go red so we could cross. Seems Montreal has a thing for one-way streets, which allows a person to cross on any red light perpendicular to the direction you're crossing. They even provide a little counter on some corners to tell you how much time you have to cross. Very handy.

We then went east from the hotel to check out what was over on the other side. During our trip we found a Subway and a pasta shop, so food wasn't going to be an issue. Vash is big on pasta and so we planned to return later for dinner.

We got back to the hotel in time for our first session of the day. Greg was hosting a session on voice acting, partly in preparation for the radio play auditions that would follow. On our way in I ran into Greg and said hi. At the 2003 con I missed this session because I arrived Friday evening. Now I would finally get to attend the session.

Keith David was suppose to co-host the session, but we learned he had been delayed while shooting for the new film "Transporter 2" in Miami. No worries.

A little ways into the session the DVD film crew showed up. I tried to take it in stride, but was incredibly excited. The presence of the film crew showed that, yes, there really was going to be a DVD, and yes they really are going to do a documentary on the con. Of course we knew this ahead of time, but seeing the crew there in person cemented the reality of it all.

After some stories and a few pointers, Greg had people get up and read from some scripts he had with him. I got in on the last one. After the session ended, auditions for the radio play began. A bunch of us lined up outside of the room while Greg and Crzy Jen set things up. Like last year (and previous cons) four packets were given to the first four people in line. Each packet had a page of dialogged for a single character. As we moved forward in line and copy a copy of this packet, we would have to pick a character to read for when we auditioned for Greg.

With the packet also came a piece of paper where you had to fill out your info and if you could do a certain accent or bark or meow. The bottom half of that paper was for Greg to fill out during the audition. It included spaces to mark how well you performed based on various criteria. It also included a list of all the parts using 2-letter abbreviations to obfuscate which parts were which. It's a fun puzzle to look at those 2-letter abbreviations, try to identify which represent what characters, and figure out what the radio play will be. (Greg keeps the radio play content a secret until the show.)

I saw Q1, Q2, Q3, and Q4 listed amongst the parts and instantly put together that these had to be quarrymen parts. Since the only episode Greg wrote that had Quarrymen in it was "The Journey" I guessed we'd be doing a version of "The Journey". Vash was able to identify far more characters based on the 2-letter abbreviations than I and helped confirm my hunch when she figured out that JC was John Castaway and VG was Vinnie Grigori, aka Vinnie from the episode "Vendettas". Both characters are in "The Journey" so at that point we felt that we had a pretty good guess.

Last year I had auditioned with Xanatos' dialogged, which I had picked at the last minute with no chance to review it to get a feel for the lines. This year I'd have time to prepare. I finally settled on Lexington's lines just as the DVD crew came over and asked if they could film us rehearsing for the audition. I think everyone was a little apprehensive and/or insecure about performing for the cameras, but a couple people mustered up the guts to do it. One of whom had read Lex's lines. Then all eyes were on me to perform for the camera too. WTF? Okay. For whatever reason, I didn't feel I could do Lex's lines since they already had that on tape now. So I switched over to Broadway and read for the camera.

Finally it came time for my turn to audition. I'd get away from the film crew and not have to worry about being on camera. Nope. The film crew followed me into the room to tape my audition. Swell. But I could focus on the script and ignore what was around me, which I did. I thought I did well enough to have a decent chance at getting a part which didn't involve just grunting (as was the case last year).

After my audition I waited around with Vash and Sean while IRC Goliath did his thing. Vash and Sean didn't seem to be into auditioning for the radio play, but there were something like 31 parts, the most for any radio play performed at a Gathering thus far. Several others there as well as myself tried to convince them to audition, but it wasn't happening.

Sean wanted Internet access and rumor had it that the hotel had a couple floors of newly-renovated "premier" rooms that would cost us about 25 bucks more a night, but had Internet access. So we talked to the people at the front desk and got our room upgraded. We were now on the 22nd floor and had a great view looking west from the hotel.

At the Opening Ceremonies, Karine got up and welcomed us to the con and introduced the staff. This year's staff put on a great con, I haven't heard one bad thing. Keeping 200 guests happy is certainly not an easy job. Thanks guys!

CrzyD presented me with this years fan guest of honor award. I had no clue this was coming until about halfway through her intro, she mentioned chat rooms and Vash nudged me. It was really cool, but I feel there are a large number of people who've done a lot more for the fandom than myself, and so I felt a bit awkward. I tried to somewhat convey that in a little piece I said after getting the award. I was trying to acknowledge that s8's 'success' is wholly due to Ask Greg and the content Greg provides to this fandom. It's his willingness to share new insight and information on the Gargoyles universe that keeps the spark alive. And of COURSE it's also everyone who visits the site, who posts to the comment room, who hit the chat room, who post questions to Ask Greg. It's the fans willingness to contribute content, THAT's the other half. I totally missed this while I was at the podium, and realized about 10 seconds after sitting down what an idiot I was. It's Greg and the fans, contributing and feeding off of each other, THAT's why s8 exists in the form it does.

But it was still cool to get the award.

Opening ceremonies got taken over by the clan olympics. The first event was your basic stuff-balls-down-shirt-with-holes sort of thing. The losing team would be eliminated. However a special "7-up" ball (I think... or it may have been a different "power-up" ball) that was found by one team could have been used to save the losing team from elimination. That wasn't happening. Very cold.

I juggled for the cameras.

Chris Rogers got up and talked about what was in store for Gathering 2005. This may have happened after Greg did his stuff because Siryn talked about working on the mascot picture during the Team Atlantis episode... but I'm getting ahead of myself. Gathering 2005 will be in Las Vegas as the Palace Station hotel and casino. Rooms will cost $89 a night. The mascot was created by Siryn with the suggestion of "What would Frank Sinatra look like as a gargoyle?". She calls him "blue eyes" but Chris planned to have a naming contest for the mascot. He also talked about registering the Gathering as a certain type of organization in which membership dues (gathering registration) would be tax-deductible. I'm sure we'll get more info on that in the coming months.

Onto the main course. Greg was about to get up so I grabbed a clean tape and tossed it into the video camera I had just bought, specifically so I could tape the events of the con.

Greg Weisman, creator of Gargoyles, gets up to the podium and begins his intro. He then cuts short and yells out "Ladies and gentlemen, Keith David", directing everybody to the back of the room. Everybody turned and ... Keith wasn't there. A sweet callback to the 1997 Gathering where he pulled the same stunt.

Greg played an audio tape of some people who worked on Gargoyles saying hi to the fans. The people on tape were Frank Paur (producer), Keith David (voice of Goliath), Bob Kline (director), Dave Schwartz (storyboard artist), Troy Adomitis (storyboard artist), Vic Cook (storyboard artist), Ed Asner (voice of Hudson), and Crispin Freeman (voice actor for various animated series). A big thanks to Carol Wagner who was responsible for going around and getting these guys on tape. It was a real treat.

Greg gave us the news on the DVD. He announced the release date, December 7, and that the 5-part "Awakening" would have a commentary track that included Greg, Keith David, and Frank Paur. It would also include a (15 minute?) documentary on the Gathering con, which is why the film crew was there. There will be advertising for the release on Toon Disney and ABC Family.

Greg went into the standard material at this point. The pitch. The re-pitch(es). The promotions leading up to the show. The "it's better than Barney" story. The video pitches for "New Olympians" and "Dark Ages" as well as the lieca reel for "Bad Guys". Anyone whose attended at least one Gathering is well acquainted with this material, but it's always fun to hear the stories again. It's part tradition, part pre-history story telling, and I always enjoy it.

Greg played the voice track for an episode of "Team Atlantis" called "The Last" in which Demona and one of the hunters make an appearance. "Team Atlantis" was based on the movie "Atlantis" but was canceled after "Atlantis" had disappointedly (to Disney) box office numbers. But not before a few episodes were recorded! It was a nice inside-look at the animation process, and especially nice to hear that the grunts and groans we've had to do during past radio plays sound just as funny when done by the professionals.

After Penning Ceremonies, Vash, Sean, IRC Goliath, Wingless, Dan and I headed out to that pasta place we'd found earlier for dinner. On the way I found an ATM machine that was on a network that my ATM card could use and snagged my first bit of Canadian cash. Crazy stuff, especially with the shiny holograms in the corners of the their $20 bills.

The pasta place was really sweet. You picked your choice of pasta from a list of about 20 or so and then picked your sauce from a list of maybe 35 or so. The chef would put the meal together and cook it right in front of you. This night I had angel hair pasta with the Orleans sauce, which was basically chicken in some sort of cajun sauce. The guy gave me a dumbfounded stare at how I pronounced Orleans. Vash, who speaks French very well, would later tell me that it's pronounced a little like "Or-lee-oh" in French. Whups.

After dinner we headed headed back to the room to chill for a little bit until Greg's blue mug-a-guest at 11pm. The mug-a-guest was pretty tame, although some curious screen caps from a couple episodes of Gargoyles were making the rounds. A question about Angela and Gabriel came up but Greg said the two had more of a brother/sister relationship than anything else. Some fun with tails. But for the most part, it was more regular mug-a-guest with lots of stories about the development of the show.

After the mug-a-guest I crawled back into bed and fell asleep quickly.

Saturday, August 7, 2004

I didn't have any plans until the 12:30 Greg Weisman mug-a-guest. Vash and Sean, at some point, took off to attend the radio play auditions that were happening earlier that morning. Vash had finally broken down and auditioned. I met her and Sean during auditions and we three decided to take off in search of an electronics store. Sean was still looking to find a universal remote for the TV in the hotel room.

We set out into Montreal and soon found a computer hardware store. We browsed for a bit and eventually asked one of the clerks if they knew where the nearest Radio Shack was. We were finally pointed in the right direction and made our way to a nearby underground plaza.

Underground?! Apparently this is common in Montreal. You'll walk into the lobby of some nearby building (in our case, the Royal Bank of Canada I think it was) and you'll find stairs or an escalator, off in one corner of the lobby, leading down into the underground mall. If there are signs that mark where these entrances are, I didn't see them.

In the underground mall we found a bunch of shops typical to any US mall I'd been to, including the elusive Radio Shack. Sean bought his remote and I grabbed some lunch at a Subway. On the way back Vash stopped at a McDonalds with a mad craving for fries.

We were back at the hotel in time for Greg's mug-a-guest.

At these types of events, the mug-a-guests, I usually have nothing that I feel is relevant to ask. I much prefer to take the more passive role of sitting back and enjoying the stories that Greg has to tell. But while I was rattling around potential questions in my head, a conversation Vash and I had on the drive up popped into mind.

We had been talking about the Gargoyles:2198 spin-off. I'm mostly interested in the LXMs which I see as having huge potential, both in their concept, and in their use as a plot device. In a pre-Space Spawn world, I see them serving very good purposes and serving very dark purposes. I see a parallel between the LXMs and distributed computing, with all the pros and cons that come with DC. It would come down the intentions of the person who controlled the LXMs. It also rattles the brain a bit to figure out just what the nature of the Lex/Xanatos relationship is or was.

But, more to the point, Vash brings up Nick Maza. Where does he come from? Elisa and Goliath are a couple, and they can't have kids, so who else is there? Beth Maza? I spent the trip up with the notion it could have only been a descendant of Beth Maza. Derek's a mutant. Elisa's parents, we might assume, have no other kids, and we have yet to hear of any cousins to Elisa, Beth & Derek. So I figured it had to be one of the three, and Beth was the only one "available" to have kids. The kink in that idea is that if Beth were to marry, traditionally, she'd take her husband's last name, and so would any kids. So how does Nick get the Maza name?

Then at the blue mug-a-guest, someone had brought up E&G having kids. Vash had brought up in the car that Greg had said (at some point) that E&G would probably adopt a kid, but that the adoption, or the relationship, or something relating to that kid would have sadness and serendipity.. or something like that.

Anyways, Greg responds to the E&G kids question by bringing up the adoption angle, and his response seemed pretty cemented in the idea that E&G would definitely adopt. So as I'm sitting at the Saturday mug-a-guest with Greg, I start putting 2 and 2 together. If E&G adopt, what is that kid's last name going to be? Goliath doesn't have one (...well, not in the sense that I'm talking about). Would the kid take Elisa's last name? How would the general public react to news that she and Goliath had adopted a kid? Some sticky points.

What if the kid takes Elisa's last name? Now we've got a way for the Maza name to carry down a few generations to G2198. So I started working out on a way I could ask this to Greg without being direct. It seems that approach sometimes works better at getting an answer out of Greg than just being direct.

Just as I was putting it together, Carol Wagner came over and let me know that the Gargoyles DVD crew were interviewing fans and that I should probably go see those guys within the next half-hour or so.

But before I left, I asked my question. Does G2198's Nick Maza have an ancestor, born around this time (2004 +/- 5 years) who is adopted? Greg thought about it for a moment and said yes. HAH! Vash was there with me and I think we were the only two who realized what Greg had just revealed. With that I stood up and took off to see the DVD crew. Perhaps a bit too dramatically, but I just had my big moment for the day, so I was buzzing.

In the ballroom where Opening Ceremonies were held, the DVD crew had setup a white screen which they were interviewing fans in front of. I arrived in time to see one guy (whose name I'm blanking on, even after I had time to talk with him after the masquerade... DOH!) take of his shirt and reveal the Demona tattoo across his chest. Those of us watching all bet that that particular moment will be making it on the DVD.

A couple more people went up for interviews, including Becca Morgan. The DVD guys started talking about breaking for lunch, but were able to get me in before the took off. There wasn't anything big about the interview. Just typical questions that they seemed to ask all the fans. I'm guessing they'll have a quick montage of responses to their "Who is your favorite gargoyle?" question. I said Broadway, and when asked why, quoted Broadway's "slow and steady" mantra. But I doubt that'll make it on the DVD as I stumbled across the words.

They needed a separate "Who's your favorite bad guy?" so I could go off on Fang and how much I love that character. Jim Belushi's delivery, and Fang's great one-liners combine to make some of the most memorable moments in any Gargoyles episode. (Probably overshadowed by only the "Here's Puck" scene from "The Mirror").

So after the DVD bit, I headed back up to catch the tail end of Greg's mug-a-guest. I was feeling overly-confident in my earlier success that I tried to get Greg to answer whether or not Fox is alive in G2198. I did so by asking if Alexander Xanatos IV's mother is alive in 2198. AX IV is the same as baby Alex from the original series. Remember that Alex is 1/4th fae, and as such, has a different 'life cycle'. Fox is 1/2 fae. So if 1/4th fae can have an extended life, wouldn't 1/2 fae mean twice as long a life? (Assuming no unnatural causes in death.) Then it would make sense that she's alive in G2198, and Greg's lack of an answer makes me think that she is, but that she's in some kind of ... odd situation or position. Because I don't see why she wouldn't get involved in fighting the Space Spawn if she were alive, but we get no mention of her in the G2198 synopsis Greg's provided. So her role is either subdued or simply not there because of some other, unknown, factor.

And I think that Fox's position in G2198 somehow relates to what Titania whispered in Fox's ear somehow. But... theories aside...

Greg wouldn't answer my Fox question. So I was batting .500, which is better than I expected.

But in my own head, I think the answer is "Yes" followed by a very big "but".

And way back in the dark recesses of my mind, the alternate answer to "What did Titania whisper to Fox?" is something to do with Titania's past relationship with Xanatos.

But Greg's right. Leaving some things unanswered can be more fun.

So after the mug-a-guest came the radio play rehearsals. I was lucky enough to get selected for the radio play this year. While a group of us were waiting for Greg to show up I got to be the meat in a Siryn and CrzyD sammich. Very nice.

Jen later (post-con) showed me an old pic from the 98 con where I was also the meat in a S&C sammich. Of course I was in drag, Jen had body paint, and Siryn had a horn. At the rehearsals, Jen didn't have body paint, and Siryn had no horn.

Greg showed up and handed out scripts to everyone for "The Journey". My earlier hunch had been proven correct. I was given the part of Matt Bluestone. No grunts and growls for me, this year I had real words! Vash got the part of Maria Chavez and so we had a scene together.

We went through the script once with Greg providing feedback on our performances.

Then it was time for the show. Greg had been worried that with 31 parts, there'd be nobody left to attend the show itself, but we had a great turnout. Riverdale did a great Vinnie and easily stole the show. The guy who played John Castaway (was his name Eric?) nailed his performance of John Castway and the scenes between him and Riverdale as Vinnie, I thought, were some of the best we've had in any radio play.

After the radio play we headed back to the room to get ready for the banquet.

At the banquet there was still no sign of Keith David, although rumor had it that he was on his way and would make it in time for the masquerade. At our table was Vash, Sean, IRC Goliath, Silver and her mom. The banquet started off with a shrimp cocktail which only Sean ate. I inspected mine, but I'm not a big shrimp guy. But we did have some dinner rolls the rest of us filled up on them. We think one of the roll types served at our table had bits of olive in it. And we think those olives caused a green discoloration on the outside of the rolls. This is what we think. But we also think we may have had a small anti-biotics factory in our bread basket as well.

There was also a salad, which I'm told the hotel does not normally serve with the dressing that came with it. Apparently, while taste-testing things out, the con staff enjoyed the salad we had, but liked the dressing from another salad they had taste-tested. The hotel was willing to accommodate. Pretty cool.

The main course was quail, which was very tasty. During this time Keith David arrived! He was seated and the staff began to serve him his meal. Greg started moderating questions for Keith, who would answer between bites. Greg was also willing to take questions, but I think everyone was focused on Keith. I found Keith to be incredibly open, willing to share, and very very friendly. The guy could read names out of a phone book and I think we'd all still hang on his every word.

Dessert was either with "seasonal fruit charlotte strawberry coulis" or "three-chocolate Bavarian cake with raspberry coulis" depending on .. luck, really. I had the three-chocolate one and it was damn nice. Best dessert I've had in a long time.

All throughout dessert Keith David continued to take questions. In the ballroom next to ours there was another party going on, during which they broke out the karaoke machine. So while we were all trying to listen to Keith talk, we were subjected to some less-than-stellar karaoke performances, barely muffled by the partition between the two rooms. At one point Keith yelled out "Somebody kill that horse!", during (I think) somebody's rendition of that Celine Dion song from Titanic (and, holy crap, was it bad).

We got to hear the story about the origins of Jalapena, and how there was a mini-revolt among the production staff to stop Greg from using it, lead by Frank Paur (I believe). Keith gave the name of the singer he got "Jalapena!" from, but I've already forgotten it. I wish I'd brought my video camera with me to the banquet.

After the banquet we had a break while the room was cleared and prepared for the masquerade.

The ballroom's lights were dimmed for some reason (maybe at the DVD crew's request?) so what I was able to video tape came out particularly odd (in terms of light).

I grabbed a seat to the side of the area where the cosplayers would be performing. The judges for the masquerade were Greg, Keith, the hotel manager and his wife. The hotel manager seemed to get really into it. The manager's wife seemed like a deer in headlights.

During the first skit, I discovered I was in a crappy place to video tape from. All I was getting were peoples sides. So I moved around to the back of the ballroom and started taping from there. I was in a nice place as I was able to get people as the entered and stood on stage.

Loopy's costume of a character named Korul, and his performance done to his song "The Gargoyle Who's Afraid of Heights" stole the show. It was a great costume, with functional wings, and the performance was fun. Jade Griffin came in as Elisa in her yellow (Belle) dress from the episode "Eye of the Beholder" and wowed the crowd as she tore the skirt off (nice) much like Elisa in said episode. Flanker came in as the Hunter, complete with a sword (a fencing foil I think). There was a Fox/Xanatos couple where Xanatos carried Fox down to the stage area. Their costumes were also from "Eye of the Beholder" so Fox was in just a trench coat while X had his jet pack on. There was a classy looking Fox in a black evening dress played by Annie (I think). There was an Ophelia who I think showed up late and missed the judging portion. Patrick Toman was done up as Puck. Karine (con-chair) was done up as pregnant Fox from the episode "Walkabout". Karine, herself, is a few months pregnant. Siryn was dressed as young Tom (the only one in drag this year, I believe). There was a sweet Echidna costume, complete with snake tail and a snake-form of danglies (old school s8 chat ppl knows about danglies). Cindy was done up as Titania (who knew Titania could sing?!), a Princess Katherine, and a Macbeth and Gruoch. There were some original character costumes whose names are just absolutely escaping me. One was a nurse; there was a gargoyle lady who had these spring-loaded wings which were sweet, ... I'm easily missing at least 10 more people. Sorry, my memory is crap.

After the masquerade, things transitioned into a sort of karaoke/dance party. This is probably the part of the con I most enjoyed. I got to meet and talk with a ton of other fans, many of whom I've met only online before this night.

Keith David came back down and did a song for us acapella. He said during the banquet he's wanted to always do a movie about Nat King Cole, and he could! It was a great song to listen to, and very memorable moment, made all the more so by Arno getting grabassed while slow dancing with another guy during the whole thing. Oh, and that's on camera too. Nice.

One guy got up (is this Eric?... someone was named Eric, and it totally threw me off) and did a parody of "Blame Canada!" from the South Park movie called "Blame Gargoyles" which was hilarious.

MAui is crazy. At some point she convinces somebody to play YMCA and tries to get me up to dance. Feh! I don't dance, at least there aren't any videos to prove it, despite urban myths of a certain "goats go to hell" song. Anyways, I didn't know the words to the song (as people started singing along) nor did I have any clue what the 'dance' was. Batting .000, finally back to my normal average.

But I wasn't the only one. And very quickly, the lyrics we sang became "something" for every word besides the refrain. Ah, mass crazy. This is what the con is all about.

A lot of people stuck around well into evening. Just before I left, Greg went over to this giant sketch pad (if you can all it that) and drew a gargoyle in orange marker. Where this thing is now I'd love to know. I think it was his own misc. gargoyle, although it did look like Brooklyn, wearing a pair of sunglasses.

Finally exhausted from the day, I headed back to the room to sleep.

Sunday, August 8, 2004

Having stayed up until 2am the night before, I slept in late on Sunday. I woke up around 10:30am. Vash and Sean had already woken up and taken off for who knows where. I was left to fend for myself. I got myself together and headed down in hopes of catching the first of two Keith David mug-a-guests.

The mug-a-guest was to take place in the same room where the art show and dealer room were located. When I showed up I discovered Keith had missed his first mug-a-guest. Later I was told this happened simply because he hadn't been informed about the mug-a-guest and didn't know he was scheduled to show up. No worries, there was still the afternoon mug-a-guest, and Closing Ceremonies.

I still hadn't found Vash and Sean and I wasn't up for lunch, so I decided to hit the art show. The art this year was some of the best stuff I've seen yet. Even Greg's kids got into the act and have a few pieces on display. The "wtf" of the show goes to Stormy's 'Caught in the Act'. Basically she took some of the Kenner Gargoyles figures and put them in dresses. Odd? Shocking? Different? I don't know, but I sure as hell won't be getting THAT image out of my head anytime soon. A lot of the con staff are exception artists and more than once I had to be reminded by IRC Goliath (who was there checking out the art as well) that I couldn't vote for them. I dug the etchings which I believe were made by Y2Hecate. I was very close to buying one and trying to put that in as a window on my computer case. I definitely wanted to buy a piece of art this year. I had a few extra bucks and I wanted to do my piece to support the artists in the fandom, so I was on the hunt. Most of the art that was up for sale were done through silent auctions. However the piece that caught my eye wasn't, it had a flat buy price, and so I quickly snatched it up. It's a profile of Demona's face done by Andrea Zucconi. I'd love to know what Andrea was thinking as she drew this. (I should probably e-mail her.) What I see when I look at it is a moment of vulnerability and perhaps sadness in her face. It's one of those things you just really never see or expect to see from Demona, which makes it all the more interesting. When I'm looking at it, I don't see the cold-hearted, walled-up Demona seen throughout much of the show, but someone who actually feels emotion. I dunno. I dig it. I've got to take it to a place and get it framed.

Still a few minutes before the mug-a-guest so I headed outside the door, onto the terrace, where I saw BrooklynX. I finally got a chance to check out BrooklynX's stash of cells. As he told to me, what Vic Cook (storyboard artist for the show) said at last year's con was true, he has more Gargoyles cels than Disney. BX even has the cel used in some marketing materials that shows the main cast lined up together. It's the same image of Owen, Xanatos, Demona, Goliath and Elisa that I've had on the front page of s8 for the past couple years. Incredible. He also had a couple cels from "Eye of the Beholder" which is a personal favorite of mine. He also has another book of cels from other shows and artwork that he's either commissioned or had given to him as a gift. The guy knows his artchicks.

Karlyl and Silver were also there and I sat down and hung out with them for a few. There were some oddball balloons floating around so I grabbed a couple to give a minor reenactment of the '98 con. Although these balloons were a bit on the large size, not that I minded, much.

I headed back into the art/dealer room to await Keith's eventual appearance. While I was waiting I was finally clued into who the line of 10 or so people sitting behind one of the tables were. They were the authors of the Phoenix Gate Anthology and they were signing copies of the book. Never one to turn down the chance for a good souvenir, I grabbed myself a copy and proceeded down the line getting autographs of all the authors. Stormy and Whitbourne were both in line and I they really made it an especially treasured souvenir as they both wrote comments about how they met each other through s8 and that they're planning on getting married. It's especially cool to hear about people who met through the fandom and developed a close relationship. I wonder, 20 years from now, how many kids there will be simply because this fandom exists. (Not to put any pressure on Stormy and Whit, hah.) And do we include Keith David's kids in that? He and his wife had their first date during the first Gathering back in 1997, as Greg tells it. Pretty cool.

Keith showed up to the mug-a-guest and went around the room shaking hands, checking out the artwork that was on display, and talking to the Phoenix Gate Anthology people. He was a real class-act, taking his time to meet everyone in the room. He seemed genuinely interested in the artwork and PGA stuffs. Very cool guy.

I was too busy paying attention to my camera, trying to get everything on tape, to hear everything he said. And I am presently away from my tapes of the mug-a-guest, so I don't have much to say about what was said. I can say that Keith was very open, very willing to talk and go into great depth on whatever he was asked. I remember his first question was about the cologne he was wearing, which a lady or two seemed to enjoy. He said he couldn't remember every show specifically, when asked about his favorite episode. He said one of his favorite lines from the show was "I've lost everything, even my revenge!", which Goliath yells out in Awakening (part 2 I think). He talked a bit about his interpretation of the line and what it meant to him. He also talked about the lack of killing in the show and how important he felt that was. "We beat [the bad guys] up pretty good, but we never killed anyone.", I think was what he said. He talked about other movies he's been in, told a story or two about filming "Men At Work" with Charlie Sheen and Emilio Estevez. He was very cool, very willing to talk, and it was really enjoyable.

After the mug-a-guest I caught up with Vash and Sean who had shown up for the mug as well. I paid for the art piece I had bought and we went back up to our room for a few minutes while we waited for Closing Ceremonies.

This would be the first time I was able to attend closing ceremonies as at previous cons I would have to leave early on Sunday to catch my bus or train home. Since I was leaving on Monday, I could stay and catch all the Sunday events. Karine got up and said a few words, got the crowed pumped for the 2005 con, and thanked the con staff and volunteers. The whole crew really did a great job putting together and managing the con. Greg wasn't around for the closing ceremonies as he had to leave early to be with his family and celebrate his daughter's birthday.

After closing ceremonies, Keith was available to sign autographs. I had brought with me a copy of issue #1 of the Gargoyles comic put out by Marvel, with the giant Goliath on the cover (and a bumpy cover too). I also had with me one of those new silver Sharpie markers that I picked up at the Staples (equivalent) next door to the hotel. I handed him the book to sign and he took a few moments to look through the comic. He seemed to get a kick out of it. I then asked him for a second autograph for a friend, and to sign it "Hey Dave, where were you?!!". An odd request no doubt, but he was very cool and signed it. It's for a friend whose autograph collection is made up of those collected by his friends, each one saying "Hey Dave, where were you?!!". It had started as a goof when he missed a signing by Kevin Smith way back in the day, and it's just snowballed since. He's got a Captain Atom book I had Greg sign last year as well.

Vash and IRC Goliath also had things to get signed. Vash had her picture taken with Keith, as did IRC Goliath. He gave Keith a t-shirt as well. I forget which one it was, but it had a line-drawing of a gargoyle (Goliath?) on the front. I think Step L.. I can't spell her last name, Raptor Woman, I think she had drawn it.

Anyways, with our autographed swag in hand, we got together, (Vash, Sean, myself, IRC Goliath, Wingless and Dan) and we headed out to the pasta place for dinner, again. This time through I ordered angel hair with the teriyaki sauce, which had dark-meat chicken in it. It was mighty tasty.

When we got back there was a group of people trying to get 30+ people together for a game of laser tag at a nearby place. But I declined. I wanted to get to bed fairly early so we could leave early the next morning. On our way back to the room, IRC Goliath stopped by the con suite to see if he could swing a couple of non-staff passes into their postmortem party. We continued on to our room. IRC Goliath showed up an hour or two later. We hung out for a while, then IRC Goliath took off, I watched TV for a little while, then went to bed.

Monday, August 9, 2004 (Abridged)

Drive home was fairly uneventful. Left Montreal around 11am. Dropped Vash and Sean off in the Bronx around 6pm. Got home just before 10pm. Slept. A lot.

Greg responds...

Gorebash, I can't think of anyone who deserved a fan guest of honor award more than you. If it weren't for you, I wouldn't be here answering questions here at ASK GREG.

Response recorded on June 20, 2006

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Spacebabie writes...

Tuesday Aug 10

We woke up to the sounds of popping. The early risers began to pop their knuckles and joints, waking ever one else up that joined in on the popping. After getting dressed and last minute packing done we carried ours suitcases down to the basement and placed them into Hyena and Mafia Cruiser.

Before we left the city we filled up the cars with gas and bought breakfast snacks.

We thought they were hard on us going into Canada. They were even harder on us coming back. We watched as they waved Emambu's car to the side. We were slightly worried, but the questions were a bit tougher but they did not wave us off.
As we drove we saw the Mafia Cruiser join us on the road and we regained contact via the walkie-talkies. We were informed the department of homeland security was interested in Lynati's tail.

Except for a stray backpack set on attack mode near the lovely town of Coxsakie, the trip back to Gregx's house was relatively dull.

We helped to take Grex's and Alex's suitcase out of Hyena and into his house before were retreated to the deck and enjoyed sodas. It was a cool and comfortable evening, made pretty by the candlelight and fireflies. Grex's and Alex's mother is an excellent cook. She fixed us a meal of pasta, delicious beans with bits of chicken and black olives. Sliced tomatoes with thin slices of cheese and slices of bread.

After dinner we watched the Buffy musical and some hilarious downloads before we retired for the night.

Wednesday Aug 11.

After waking up we brought Aaron and Mara's stuff into Hyena and gave Erik some of the snack foods. After a few last hugs and goodbyes we were on our way to Texas. We decided to avoid the most of Tennessee.

Emambu and Lynati separated from us when were in Pennsylvania. We continued to drive south passing through Maryland, the Virginias and into North Carolina where we stopped at a Denny's. I ordered mushroom Swiss burgers with seasoned fries.
We decided to keep going. I think the day officially ended somewhere in Alabama.

Thursday Aug 12

I kept weaving in and out of consciousness around the south. Waking up in Louisiana before drifting back for a brief nap before we entered Texas.

We returned to Revel's house around noon. We unpacked and set bags down around the house. Nearly everyone checked e-mail and took a nap. Aaron and Mara had to return to San Antonio around four. We had our goodby hugs with the promise to keep contact over IMs and LJs.

Revel and I had sandwiches before we did some drawing and went to sleep.

Friday August 13(No wonder it happened)

I woke up feeling sick from a head cold. Luckily I packed cold medicine for just in case.

The two of us left messages on messages boards before we did some more drawing and started on our gathering Journals.
That evening we ate fast food from Long John Silvers. I had a cup of fried shrimp with fries, a diet soda and some hush puppies.

While watching television we switched to the weather channel and saw Hurricane Charley bearing down on Orlando. I called my family and talked with everyone including my brother. The power went out at my house during mid conversation. We kept trying back every hour before we went to bed.

Sat Aug 14 (Why do I have to go back?)

Woke up and did some last minute packing. Revel and I both decided I should leave the art I won at his house and he could mail it to me.

We tried calling the house and no answer…tried everyone's cell and no answer.

To pass the time we watched Gargoyles on ABC Family. The episode was "Turf".

I checked on my flight to make sure it wasn't canceled. We did some more drawing and journal writing.

The power came on my house around 3:pm (My neighborhood is lucky) we called to confirm when my flight was landing and where I would be found.

We went to the airport around 5:00 and I said goodbye to Revel around 6:00.

Flight was uneventful. Ate a snack pack thing of a little sandwich with pretzels and a tiny candy bar. It is good to have a window seat when you are flying at sunset and at night. The fading colors are beautiful and the land below looks like various Light Brite sets.

There were plenty of lights in Orlando, but also a lot of dark patches. For anyone who flew in for the 2000 gathering might remember how the airport was designed. Imagine stepping off the plane and immediately walking down a narrow path created by a velvet rope. On either side where the chairs are there are chunks of ceiling scattered about and patches of water soaked carpet.

They told us it might be 45-minute wait for our luggage. I waited only about 20 for both of my suitcases. Stepped outside and my father had just pulled up to the curb in Riker (His white Sport Track)

After I returned to my house (And saw the broken fence) I greeted my mother and the animals. Reset my clock, gave Zelgadis's keyboard a tap and checked to see if it was working, called Revel to let him know I was home and then crawled into bed for much needed sleep.

Greg responds...

And so it ends...

And so it begins....

This is it. Gathering 2006 this week. I can't wait!

Response recorded on June 19, 2006

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Spacebabie writes...

Monday: Aug 9 (So embarrased I got the previous date wrong)

Slept in in again. Revel and I barely had enough time to get dressed and ready to go down stairs into the lobby to meet up with the gang heading towards La Ronde. Revel called the other people who were rooming with us that night. Lynati was the first to show up and I gave her one of the two keys. We kept the other one.

Karine lead us through the labyrinth like path to the Metro and paused at McDonald's to get breakfast.
The metro was unique in that it had rubber wheels and wooden tracks. As we rode Sapphire lead the group in reciting the intro lead of Gargoyles.

I was feeling a small headache developing. (Maybe it was because of the lack of coffee or food) I wasn't in the mood for some of the big coasters. Revel and I rode a couple of rides, including a small coaster with the carts designed to look like toboggans.

We met up with the others for food. Instead of combos they have trias. Either phrasing makes sense if you think about it. I had a chicken sandwich tria.

After we ate Revel and I rode the monorail around. It was a descent post lunch ride and we were able to hold hands and enjoy the scenery.

We exited the ride on the other side of the park where there was miniature golf. We played a half round: nine holes of the game on a course with a Camelot motif.

We went on several more rides, including my favorite: the swings and snacked on Dipping Dots. Before we left the park we bought a couple beverages. Just my luck I bought a soda from a machine that wasn't working properly. It was warm. Luckily we took it to the front desk. Told them where the defunct machine was and I was able to exchange it for a cold one.

While waiting for our train. I noticed my arms were a little burned. I broke out in laughter over the fact I have yet to get burned this summer in Florida but I get burned in Canada.

Nobody was in our room when we returned and we were hungry. We went to the McDonalds. I still had half a cold soda in my room so I didn't order a tria. I ordered a chicken nuggets and a small fries and a Mcflurry (They were out of yogurt parfaits.

The rest of the rogue squadron was back in our room when we returned in addition to Kathy. We chatted while we ate. Mandi came in and joined in the conversation while she groomed her Banshee wig.

Alex played a homemade video he downloaded of clips of Cowboy Bebop with Denis Leary's "@$$hole song")
We talked about fic, next years con. This years con and the possibilities of where 2006 might be.

Eventually we all grew weary. Kathy and Mandi left and we squeezed three people per bed with the Bishansky brothers on the floor.

Next up: The long voyage home.

Greg responds...

Ahhh, the mellow bittersweet feeling of a gathering winding down...

Response recorded on June 15, 2006

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kathy writes...

Hi Greg,

No blow by blow Gathering Journal from me this year, just some comments:

Gatherings are never long enough. There are too many people to catch up with.

Creton (pork pate) is good for breakfast. Sugar pie is better than it sounds. Cheddar cheese should never be used on anything claiming to be Italian food.

I want Keith David's jewlery. Not to wear, just to take out and admire from time to time.

"My Heart Will Go On" should be banned from kareoke for all time.

Have I mentioned I enjoy our post-prandial racewalks through strange cities?

Viva Las Vegas!
kathy

Greg responds...

I'd enjoy those walks more if I wasn't always RUNNING at the end because I'm late to the Blue Mug or whatever. Otherwise I love to walk.

Response recorded on June 14, 2006

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Norcumi writes...

2004 Con Report
(apologies for the length)

WEDNESDAY AND THURSDAY
Quindar and I headed up to Canada by car, thankfully without too many wacky hijinks ensuing from my mutual inability to drive OR navigate. Coming from the lovely and way too large state of Pennsylvania, we only got in around midnight through a single lane highway bordered by concrete barriers that looked like they'd been painted black by the same lunatic that put together the very strange road signs. (yes, I've already been told that they adhere to international sign standards whereas the U.S. doesn't - but I also swear the next time I go to Canada, I'm wearing a shirt that says "Sorry, I'm a stupid American" in several languages). While we were checking in, a group of gargy people were hanging out in the lobby looking strangely out of place. The hotel was outright beautiful - sadly enough, we didn't get any pictures of that - and my first impression was "swank.... how'd we get away holding a con here???"

Being tired, we headed back past the group of garg people - Greg included - to the ridiculously expensive parking garage, hauled luggage to the room, and returned to find people gone. :( Still, that meant at least some decent amount of sleep that night.

FRIDAY
I had my first encounter with the row of elevators that faced the outside of the building and thus had a glass outer wall. I'm sure it was fairly amusing - door opens and innocent garg fans step inside, one wandering over to the fantastic view from the 21st floor, the other only going about halfway before the doors close, the elevator starts to practically freefall, and viewers find me plastered back against the door with appropriate "eeep!" sounds. Quindar seemed to enjoy the view the entire time, though. I will admit I really did like that they designed the hotel with the indoor pool viewable from those elevators, but trippyness aside, my fear of heights did not enjoy it enough to ever manage to comfortably stand next to the window. It did make for an interesting personal challenge throughout the con, though.

Found the registration desk and got a chance to talk with BrooklynX and Abe Wintersmith while signing in. Saw a few more gargoyles fans, and then we decided it was finally time to take a look around the city.

Well, actually it was more like a hunt for a place to exchange money, but this sounds better. The concierge gave us directions to I still don't know where, but it sure was pretty walking the few blocks looking for it. Aside from some gorgeous architecture, local interest was found mainly in the fact that one of the streets we were traveling was reserved for a movie shot later in the day. Sounds boring, until you realize that the city had pre-made signs for this purpose. Also, one of the trees growing from the protective grates had been removed, soil and all, and replaced with a mini-telephone pole. I guess just because.

I'm also silly enough to find it very amusing that there was a guy with a "Movie Surveillance" jacket watching over everything, mostly because I literally only know about 7 phrases of French, most of which I was mentally confusing with my 7 phrases of Spanish. Public education and the mandatory 3 months of assorted languages didn't help me much. I'll admit, as lovely as the location was, the French thing intimidated the heck out of me. There's just something about knowing that if I somehow get separated from known locations that it's even odds anyone would even be able to understand me. Due to nerves from that, I tended to make sure that every time someone spoke to us, I used specifically English phrases - it's a spiffy trick of all the waiters and service people have. Go up to helpless English speaking tourist, and a "Bonjour hello," and they take the cue of how you answer to speak whichever language.

We ended up wandering down into the subway system, a nifty little set of actual train and underground walkways. Beautifully kept up - though everything was pretty much monolingual, including a sign for either a movie or play about the life of Elvis (...) - and the walking part was intriguing. The thing that kept striking me about the city as a whole is they put a lot of work into making things aesthetically appealing, as compared to most of the US, where once you get past the Victorian period, architecture tends to be utility based. I mean, the subway system had sections that were clearly there mainly for art purposes. Pretty spiffy, all told.

After an interesting encounter with an overly helpful local and a map, we finally had lunch in a McDonalds in the underground area just by the hotel. - the first and only McDonalds I saw the entire time. We actually tried to go to the Subway (yes, the sandwich place - who says restaurants don't have a sense of humor?) first, but the person behind the counter just looked at us blankly as I gave my now standard introduction of "Hi, do you speak English?" Since we figured we could at least figure out how to order a large fry from a French only menu, we headed next door. Which was all well and good, but after getting food, I realized that I had neither been charged for nor gotten my drink. Rather than deal with the snarky mainly French speaking McDonald's person, I decided to wander back to the Subway. A different person was manning the counter, and he managed to speak - barely - some English. With a lot of gestures and many sheepish variants on "I'm sorry, can you repeat that?" I finally managed to get a bottle of Coke. Or, as he seemed to put it, "Cocola." Very nice guy, though, and I think I thanked him profusely enough about that.

Quindar and I somehow ended up finding ourselves randomly sitting next to Yggdrasil, so we had a spiffy chat over food about gargs, biology, politics, and a few of the con panels. Pity we didn't get a chance to pester him some more over the weekend. After watching lots of people in con paraphernalia brave McDonalds for food, we all headed to Opening Ceremonies. Lots of fun, and Greg seemed to be having a wonderful time - both with the good news about the first season coming out on DVD (December 7 is about a week after my birthday.... I know what I'll be getting from everyone I know!) and the Keith David gag. I also entertained myself by watching the DVD crew taping the documentary. It was amusing to watch the cameraman try to figure out what to film, and the expressions on all three of their faces when the crowd let loose with "It's better than Barney!" were absolutely priceless. They apparently didn't see it coming, even after Greg called OC the garg version of the Rocky Horror Picture Show.

The other highlight was a tape of hellos and good wishes from assorted people who'd worked on Gargoyles but couldn't make it. I honestly can't recall everyone on there, but both Ed Asner and Crispin Freeman had wonderful and touching things to say. It's good to hear that everyone, fans to voice actors to producers, loved this show.

And Vegas.... wow. That is going to be... interesting. Chris Rogers certainly knows how to put together a presentation. I've been turning over the idea of the Gathering in Vegas since I heard about it, and at first I had very mixed feelings. With the realization that the DVD will have documentary of the con, and going out there into the world, well, that means a pretty hefty increase in attendance, no matter what. And Chris really seems to not only have that well in hand, but any other random ideas that seemed to have been thrown at him. He had a really terrific talk about con plans, and it looks like it will be really cool.

I'm looking forward to Vegas, actually.

I think after that, another foray for food, a bit of time in Mystery Garg Theater, and then we headed up to the con suite early to see if anyone was there. Due to that, we got to hang around, listen to people chat about random things and Leo's strange screen shots, not to mention we actually snagged some chairs. Blue Mug wasn't too blue, but it was really amazing, because it's 30 odd people crammed into a room, and basically hanging out with Greg. Totally different atmosphere from Greg being the guy standing up in front of the crowd and talking - much more relaxed, cozy, and overall just very fun. This of course went until the wee hours of the night, until Karine kicked us out.

Happy thoughts and good wishes to Liz Chesterman's friend, who was not only a con virgin but hadn't made his way through the whole series, and so left early due to getting some massive spoilers during the blue mug.

SATURDAY
We slept in a bit, and wandered around the hotel looking for people to chat with. I think somewhere in here we spotted the DVD camera crew talking amongst themselves, and I nerved myself up to talk to them. I asked if they were still looking for stories, and there was an exchange of looks before the camera guy told me they already struck the set. The director, however, asked what it was. Given it was Quindar and myself standing there, I guess he suspected another "couples" story, so as always I enjoyed myself too much pulling out the classic of "I got cancer in '96, gargs helped see me through to remission, Make-A-Wish sent me to 2000, been coming back ever since." Then add in Quindar's quiet "we met in 2002, and been together ever since," and I think we kinda surprised them with that. There was another, different look, then the director told us to check for them around Masquerade time.

That done, and having carried out part of Greg's mission (go forth and spread the word of gargs, and talk to the camera crew!), we finally headed out to the radio play, and what an event!

The talent in this fandom never ceases to amaze me. The script was for The Journey, and it was incredible. Rob St. Martin made for an incredible Goliath, Zehra once again portrayed a spiffy Elisa, and Vinnie, Castaway, Macbeth and Margot Yale all shone as well. Heck, EVERYONE rocked. As an interesting side note, Greg mentioned at some point that the lovely line of Macbeth's - "Madame, they burned witches like you in the middle ages!" was actually an improvisation by John Rhys-Davis. So when I got home I checked the 2000 Journey script, and found that the original line was "Madam, you are the most narrow-minded--"... and one can only wonder what word would've followed. Margot's return shot of "Mister, you are living in a fantasy world!" still makes me giggle immensely.

We headed down to the banquet after that, but people were preparing the room itself, so we hung around outside with assorted people. Then the camera crew showed up and started taping mock convos between people, trying to get real, lifelike interaction to tell personal stories to people that... probably knew at least some of it anyway. We spotted them, and so bit the bullet again and went up once they were done.

Noel Leas and her friend (apologies, I know I've seen you before, but I never catch your name!) were randomly snagged to try to talk to us about our story. I had my usual case of stage fright, and so I have no idea what I said AT ALL, other than WAY too many ums and ahs in there. Sigh. Ah well. Did our duty, told our story, and could therefore just chat with the film crew a bit before they moved on to their next group. I'm afraid I also don't recall what anyone else said.

Meanwhile, the room had finally opened up to let us in. The banquet followed, and was really, truly stunning. Admittedly in several different senses of the word, but I had a lot of fun. I'm afraid I don't recall who all we sat with, other than BrooklynX and Lynati for the bits when she wasn't working on her costume. There was a one day con-goer, to her first Gathering with her father, who looked a little overwhelmed by the insanity, but incredibly proud when his daughter went and gave Greg a picture of a gargoyle she'd drawn. I think that really made her night, if not her con. If she sees this, apologies for not remembering her name, and hope to see her next year!

The other person at our table was a Canadian fan, whose name I also didn't catch. Eeek. Sorry! He was also incredibly nice, and not only put up with Quindar, BrooklynX, Lynati, and myself talking obsessively about the con, but he also humored me and answered Stupid American General Questions About Canada. One of the most interesting threads was actually about the con shirt design. To paraphrase, there's the grinning Mountie beaver - Canada - riding along top the symbol of Quebec, which is a silly looking dog. I totally forgot about Quebec talking about secession a few years back, but with that in mind, I can see why he commented that it'd be a cute shirt for a kid, but not something he felt comfortable wearing. ::facefault:: One of those interesting commentaries about how different cultures lead to misunderstandings.

The other major interesting bit to the meal actually involved the menus. Yes, the menus. The cover was a nice Delta logo, the inside had the expected menu, but the inside of the cover had a picture of Goliath (picture 8c in the S8 misc image archive), above the Garg logo. When first seeing them, I think everyone made awed noises, and then moved on. I'll admit I did a bit of a double take at the logo, because I could see the classic clawmarks in the name - marks from the logo with Goliath standing above the letters. I'll admit I thought it was odd that a) the con mascot wasn't used and b) the normal logo wasn't used, but I figured what the hey. They're still darn pretty. More on this later.

Keith David finally arrived near the end of the dinner, and it was fascinating to just listen to him - the content was interesting, but it was the rumble that's naturally in his voice that really is nifty. I'm also rather proud of the fact that when he left the room for a few minutes, I noticed the waiter clearing away dishes - including Keith's! I snagged the man and told him that at least Keith was still eating, so he put the dishes back - and when Keith returned a moment later, he double checked to see if his food was still there. Glad I could help with that before anything happened!

Let's see... all else I really recall of the Q&A was that Greg didn't answer many questions, but I at least got to ask him about his project with Vic Cook that we heard about last year. Stuck in the cogs of the machine is the quick answer, unfortunately. After the Q&A broke up, Quindar and I got recruited to help move tables and chairs. I finally got to meet Ian "Sir Rowan", whose art I've been watching (and drooling over) for a long time, and he seemed happy to know there's a fan of him out there. Unfortunately I was too caught up in table moving to remember to mention I'd been hitting his Elfwood site for far too long, and could only tell him that I'd really enjoyed the comic he, Kanthara, and friends worked on.

Due to chair rearrangement, we got good seats right up front behind the judges. Which was interesting, because soon after we sat down, the hotel guy who'd been running interference with the Godawful Karaoke (tm) next door sat down at the judge's table. He was pretty hyper, grinning and clearly having the time of his life, especially after A Fan came up (wearing a suit and a Delta name tag of Daniel) and asked if he wanted his glass filled with water. They had some nice banter going, but unfortunately all that I remember was Fan recommending the Hilton across the street. Basically, the hotel person was almost giddy and clearly having a blast. When Fan finally wandered off (to stand by the door and try to help guests there), the hotel guy finally turned around and just had a bit of a ramble/conversation with us. Turns out that Daniel was the hotel contact person, and had been interested in the con from the get go, which is somehow (I'll admit to not knowing entirely how) related to him becoming a judge for the Masquerade. But he was really enjoying things - the strangeness, the energy, the fun. Then he proceeded to get up and grab one of the spare menus for himself, after all he did with it. He sat back down, turned around, and proudly showed us how he wanted to do something spiffy and special for the menus, so he went online to the Disney site, and picked up the garg logo, but that was black and white, so a little boring - so he cropped that, and snagged the Goliath picture to put above it.

I love this man. He is so cool. Then, when Greg finally came in and sat down next to him, Daniel asked him to autograph the menu. Greg did so, and Daniel turned around and gave us the niftiest thumbs up, "this is great!!" expression.

You can find it at http://norcumi.gargles-fans.org/photos/con2004/20040808_214602_1406 thanks to Quindar being quick with the camera. :) Daniel was not expecting that, so he just flopped over the table laughing, and went back to talking with Greg. We caught him later, and Quindar got a business card, so we will be sending on the memento. He was also kind enough to later pose for the camera with his menu: that one's also available at http://norcumi.gargles-fans.org/photos/con2004/20040808_224402_1433 :) It was also cool to have things from a non-fan's perspective as the people paraded by in costume, and Daniel would lean over and ask Greg if each of them was from the show or not. A little different type of attention for Greg!

The masquerade itself was awesome. The cosplayers themselves were stunning, the staff was clearly having fun (pregnant Kanthara as pregnant, Walkabout Fox was rather inspired), and the audience was highly dressed up and spiffy to boot! I have to make an offhand comment about why on earth did Cat as Hecate's Heccy (I think?) not join in??? Especially with the big battle-ax o' DOOOM? Also, there were several very nifty versions of the Eye of Odin running around, which really impressed me. Well, that and scared me, but right now I'm going with impressed. Beyond that, however, I'm still just too stunned to make much commentary. That, and I have no idea who people are in costume. ^_^; Sorry!

Single commentary: Ethan, Sapphire, and Chameleon Girl put on a hilarious and wonderful performance of the opening monologue that has to be seen to believed. Hit s8. S8.org is our FRIEND!

Once the judges adjourned to talk about costumes, the masquerade people were free to drift out into the hall and have their pictures taken, of which there were lots. The most memorable bit of that to me was the group photo after awards, when everyone in costume grouped together and let everyone take several dozen shots. And they vamped nicely for the cameras - including someone who was taking pictures with several cameras, clearly belonging to people IN the shot - until they declared they would be leaving in five... four... three... two... ONE! and just streamed out amongst the picture takers like some movie shot or something you'd see on camera. I have no idea if the DVD crew was still around for that. I hope they got it, but if not, it made for a fun moment anyways.

Quindar and I had finally managed to catch Lynati, and promised to kidnap her after the masquerade, and "hanging around for a few minutes for something." So we were right there as Emambu got up for karaoke, and did Lynati's filk of Blame Canada: Blame Gargoyles. Now, it's very strange to me to realize that when Emambu was doing his spiffy intro talk, Greg was busy chatting with someone, and utterly oblivious to the fact that someone was trying to get his attention. So Quindar went over, got his attention and told him he was wanted by people at the front of the room, and THEN Greg was noticing what was going on.

Blame Gargoyles, simply put, is stunning. In a very, very good way. All I really know what to say is, if you haven't seen it yet, go to s8.org and check the archives to see it. Thank you, Gore! You totally DO deserve the fan guest of honor award!

After this, Lynati went off to get less green (her Ophelia costume was amazing), then we all tromped back downstairs because Lynati had an art project to share. I'm still not entirely sure about the details, but she made several glass, wood backed friezes of the con mascot, and she wanted to give one to Greg. Since we found out during dinner that he'd be leaving very early the next morning, she wanted to catch him then.

We made it back to karaoke just in time to catch Keith David singing acapella - and my word, that was amazing! We just stood quietly in the back and listened, like everyone else... aside from Arno and whoever grabbed him for a dance. Heh. When that was done, Lynati snagged Greg and wowed him with her gift, which he really seemed to like.

Then we finally got to kidnap Lynati and talk until the wee hours of the morning.

SUNDAY
So because of going until the wee hours of the morning, we decided to just get sleep. We slept late enough that we pretty much passed on the events, but were up and about to keep our appointment for dinner with BrooklynX, because both Quindar and I are finding to our amusement that the con is more a family reunion and a chance to get together and see people than about the panels - which is fun, no doubt about that, but the main thing is the people. It's strange how the fandom and the con become a strange but nifty mix like that. Anyway, we had a good meal and a nice chat, with a bit of ogling BrooklynX's cel and art collection. Lots of talk about gargs,, the DVD (of course!), and life. After unknowingly keeping the restaurant open a bit longer than they expected (in our defense, con time or no, they closed ridiculously early), we headed back to the hotel and went off to do our own things. Quindar and I ended up wandering around the hotel and finally trying to look at things - what we found was the Mezzanine level Muzak volume knob. No, seriously, we did. There's pictures of it, even. We considered playing with it, made jokes about how it was good that it hadn't been publicly advertised during the con itself, and then went off to write a note to Lynati. After all, the girl had gotten no more than 5 hours of sleep (I think rather less) because she had to be up for a biology panel, and it was late enough in the evening we figured it'd be good to make sure she knew how to contact us, considering she was visiting us at home post-con. So we wrote and dropped off the note, then wandered back down to the lobby - only to discover a very sleepy Lynati sitting and waiting for Aaron and Hudson to come back from laser tag.

Since talking helped keep her awake, we joined her and started chatting. We tried doing a few walks around the lobby itself, and while that didn't help her, we did pass Keith David coming out of an elevator, and he said hi. Then back to the chairs, and we talked. Mara and Emambu came down eventually to tell Lynati she had a note left under her door, then they sat down and we did this fun mixed convo that floated between all of us. Eventually, most of the laser tag people came back - but not the segment that had Aaron and Hudson, which had gone off for drinks and food. So we talked some more, as CKayote joined us, and maybe GregX, until the second group straggled back in. More talking, with Aaron (and GregX if he wasn't there before), and basically we were there until 3 am.

I love con time. It doesn't work like real time, but it's way cool. Things went until everyone was too tired to really hold conversation anymore, so everyone went to bed. The noon checkout time was not fun.

MONDAY
However, that meant by noon we were out of our room, stuff packed in the car, and saw us sitting with all the other non-park people who were waiting for the parkgoers to get back, so they could hit the road. It was an awesome group get together, with random people talking about anything and everything. Chris Rogers discussing next year's con, Kathy Pogge talking about the joys of con running, random American politics, and all sorts of other cool stuff I've unfortunately totally forgotten.

The part I keep forgetting to write down that WAS fascinating: at some point, while we were all hanging out, Keith David wandered by with drink in hand and at least one kid in tow, and he stopped to say hello to the group. That rather predictably led to him and his family being sat down for pictures of the group, before he wandered off, telling us that he was really looking forward to the Vegas con.

He. Is. Awesome. Unfortunately, I have no idea who the heck TOOK the photos! If they see this, or someone knows, could they please pass a copy of the picture my way? I'd love to add it to the con photo album, with appropriate credit.

We stayed around as long as possible, just hanging out, until it was clear we had to hit the road. Then heading back across the border - the stop at the border itself was interesting in two ways. One, the mail in rebate for Canadian taxes was interestingly with a massive cut (20%?) for the company doing it, rather than getting total back at the border itself. Which is just evil. Two, the bored guy quizzing us to see if we were legitimate enough to get back into the states asked us some questions. Why we were in Canada - for a convention - and what was it about - the show gargoyles - and while he didn't seem any less bored or uncaring, he did comment that he remembered the show.

.... and Disney canceled this WHY?

Anyway, there were more crazy hijinks with my lack of navigation, but in the end, we made it safely to our destination. It was interesting to check into the hotel that night. I was doing my typical thing of advertising post-con with the 2003 shirt, and as I finished signing us in, the night clerk did a literal double take at my shirt. "Where'd you get that?" After a strange moment of not getting how weird the universe is, I jumped right in to my spiel about the con. He seemed impressed, and while he laughed politely at my talk of Vegas, he did in fact write down the date of DVD release....

I love this fandom. It always amazes me how almost anyone I talk to that ever saw Gargoyles, says something along the lines of "Oh yeah, I remember that! I loved that show!"

Great con. For those interested, pictures can be found at http://norcumi.gargles-fans.org/photos/con2004 - pictures taken by Quindar, because my camera decided to die on me literally the day before the con.

My favorite picture of the lot: http://norcumi.gargles-fans.org/photos/con2004/20040808_230946_1452

Here's to Vegas, and the DVD!

Greg responds...

As I write this, it's only ten days before G2006 in Valencia. Probably the only good thing about being so far behind here at ASK GREG is that it's timed out so that these 2004 reports are getting me really psyched for 2006.

Response recorded on June 13, 2006

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Quindar writes...

GATHERING REPORT 2004

Greg, I know you wanted Gathering reports posted here, so here's mine. It was good to see you and everyone, and as always, thanks for sticking by the show.

I wrote up the original report with links to photos. Since I don't think Gore accepts HTML, and I didn't want to interrupt the purported narrative with URLs, I've removed most of these links from the text of the report. Photos are available on Norcumi's site at http://norcumi.gargles-fans.org/photos/con2004 for anyone that's interested. No, that's not a typo.

FRIDAY
Norcumi and I got into Montreal on Friday at about 2 in the morning. Apparently MapQuest had underestimated driving times, because we had been /planning/ to get in earlier the previous night. The last 45 minutes' drive inside Canada proper was largely composed of road construction, replete with signs politely warning us in French that we were to beware of the tigers. Or something. I remembered enough high school French to get by, but I think the signs made Norcumi's head explode. But to me, the really funny thing was the customs agent at the border. The Gathering site had led me to expect the usual bilingual thing, where everyone who works with tourists greets them in both languages. Many of the store clerks and waitpeople in Montreal did indeed do that, but the customs agent didn't, so my ear didn't process her greeting the first time around. The conversation went like this:

Her: "Bonsoir."
Me: "...say again?"
Her: "Bonsoir."

At which point I got it, but I thought it was rather interesting that she didn't switch to English once it became apparent that I spoke it. She simply repeated herself. Har har.

Anyway, since we arrived so late, we looked at the schedule and figured that none of the panels on Friday looked interesting enough to lose sleep over, especially since the Blue Mug was scheduled for that night. So we slept in, and Friday afternoon we went out to wander around Montreal a little. Nice city, though the fact that all of the signs were in French was consistently, and unduly, intimidating. At a square around the corner from the hotel, there were a couple people with a table and a sign bidding all passersby to "IMPEACH CHENEY". There was also a lot of nice architecture, some of which was nice enough that they were shooting a movie with it a couple blocks up the street. We didn't see the actual shoot, just the no-parking signs and a couple Old West-style telephone poles which had been cemented into tree holes on the street.

That part of Montreal has an interesting system for its subways. In order to reduce the number of subway stations while still making them easily accessible, they have an underground grid of walking tunnels which connects to a subway station every few blocks. Makes sense, given how far north they are. We didn't actually take a train -- we got as far as the station and turned back -- but we did wander around, and get lost in, the tunnels. Ultimately we followed the signs back to the hotel and wound up in the food court vaguely underneath it, where we ordered from Subway and McDonald's in a combination of pidgin English and gestures. (I was loath to use my high-school French, probably because I was afraid I would mispronounce stuff. I tried, but wasn't able to work myself up to it.) While we were eating in the (beautiful) food court, a random Gargs fan who turned out to be Yggdrasil struck up a conversation with us. (Maybe he noticed Norcumi's shirt? Or did we just look like the con type?) It was his first con, so it was interesting to get his impressions of it, though we mostly ended up talking about Canadian gun control laws.

After that was Opening Ceremonies. It was pretty much the usual, though they held the first Clan Olympics event /during/ OC. It wasn't very well planned (http://norcumi.gargles-fans.org/photos/con2004/20040807_174126_1382), but it was amusing, and the sign trick they pulled at the beginning was cute. Greg announced that the first-season DVD will be out December 7, and introduced the camera crew that was filming a Gathering documentary for the DVD. He read some PowerPoint slides that had been conveniently overnighted to him on pieces of paper, raving about how great the show was -- it even had a yearly convention attended by THOUSANDS OF FANS. Heh. (Though we had a surprisingly large number of con virgins this time, as it turned out.) Chris Rogers gave an impressive talk about 2005, and then Greg did his song and dance. I've seen the leica reel three times now, and this is the first time I understood all of the action in it; the animation can be pretty jerky at times. They also played an audiotape made by a bunch of people who worked on the show who weren't able to be at the Gathering. One of those people was Ed Asner, and something in his message jumped out at me. I wasn't taking notes, so all I can give is my impressions rather than direct quotes... but while everyone else on the tape was talking about the show as something in the past but somehow still in existence, Ed was very definitively talking about the show as though it was finished, dead, never to happen again. The finality of his tone really took me aback. Thom, Keith, and Greg are all realists, but they all seem to think of Gargoyles as having some sort of existence outside of, or alongside, reality: that it's about more than 65 episodes which aired from 1994 to 1996. Ed doesn't seem to think that way. I don't mean to say that it was deliberate. It didn't seem to me that he didn't enjoy doing the show, or that it wasn't very important to him at the time. Mostly it felt to me that his method of dealing was to move on. But I don't think he was aware of the discordant tone of what he was saying.

After OC we wandered around. We dropped in on MGT3K for a while, but the room was too big and it didn't seem like anyone could hear anyone else. So we headed to dinner in the hotel restaurant -- very good food. Nice clam chowder.

Then we went to the Blue Mug-A-Guest. Like last year's, it wasn't very blue, and there weren't any major revelations this year, but the Blue Mug is always fun because of its informality. It was held in the con suite, presumably so that we wouldn't be kicked out the way we were last year, but there wasn't really enough space to go around. Norcumi and I got there early, so we had seats, but most of the people ended up having to sit on the floor. It came up at some point that Owen was Puck, and there was a con virgin sitting next to us who hadn't gotten that far in the series and was really disappointed in the spoiler. We both felt bad about it, but what are you going to do? Greg also made an interesting comment about this idea for the Korean gargoyle clan: what they protect is an idea, and the idea is justice. But not in the way the Manhattan Clan does: the Korean gargs believe in poetic justice, meaning that you get what you deserve. Apparently they never were able to fit that into the World Tour, but it's an interesting idea nonetheless. He also explained TGC: apparently the people who worked on TGC had just come away from working on /X-Men: The Animated Series/, and didn't have time to come up to speed on Gargoyles before starting to write for it. Thus things like putting Goliath on trial: it made perfect sense to these people that the existence of gargoyles was accepted, because they were thinking of them in terms of mutants.

After the mug, on the way out to the elevator, I pinned Greg Weisman and told him that Norcumi and I had first met in person at the 2002 con and that we had been together for two years. ("You're probably not collecting these anymore, but...") He congratulated us and told us to tell the film crew about it, and we all went to bed. I hadn't been able to get up my nerve to mention that to him at 2003, so it felt good.

SATURDAY
Saturday we slept until the radio play. Before they opened the doors, we hung around the mezzanine waiting for the play to start. We went through the art show; very nice work. I enjoyed all of it, but particular kudos to whomever did the Mary Sue piece. We talked to BrooklynX some, got big hugs from A Fan, and I determined from another staff member that the schedule was in fact correct: Greg would /not/ be at Closing Ceremonies. Nice of them to keep us in the loop and everything.

The radio play itself was a modified version of The Journey. It was fun, though I do wish Greg would return to using non-Gargoyles scripts for the radio plays. If we're going to the Gathering, we've probably already seen the episodes, and IMHO it's much more fun when we don't already know what's going on. It makes sense, what with Keith David (who ended up not making it in time for the radio play anyway) and the film crew, but still. Nonetheless, the (huge) cast gave a very nice delivery.

After the radio play we wandered out to find the film crew. Given Norcumi's story and mine, we figured they might want an interview, so we asked them about it. Apparently they had already struck the set they used for interviews, but they told us to find them during the masquerade and they'd interview us somewhere. We headed up to the con suite for a while and then went down to wait for doors to open for the banquet, only to run into the film crew again. They ended up doing a couple interviews right there (including ours). They were done in the style of a fake conversation: grab some random fan and bore them by telling them your story for the cameras. It was fairly annoying, actually. The interview before ours was pretty good, but I'm not at all sure (and was not at the time) that we gave the film crew anything usable. The fake-conversation device was just so /awkward/. Maybe the part about Norcumi coming to G2K on a Make-A-Wish grant was usable... anyway, we did our Honorable Duty, and if they don't use the footage I'll probably be happier anyway. I looked like an idiot.

Then came the banquet. This was a delicious five-course meal which started with shrimp cocktail and a salad and then went on to stuffed quails. I ended up eating Norcumi's shrimp cocktail as well as my own, not that I'm complaining. We ended up sitting at a table with BrooklynX; a French Canadian fan; and a girl from Vermont and her father, who were only there for the day. Apparently it was the first con of all three of them. The girl from Vermont had seen the website and convinced her dad to come out to Montreal for the day. She ended up giving Greg a piece of art she made, and he really seemed to appreciate it. It was really sweet.

BrooklynX, Lynati (who was in and out; she had to work on her costume for the masquerade), and the two of us ended up spending most of the meal talking about con politics; hopefully that didn't distress the other occupants of the table too much. The Canadian added an interesting point, though: the con T-shirt shows the Canadian beaver riding on top of the Quebec mascot. He said: "This shirt would be fun as a gift to a child or something, but I would not wear it." Apparently it's offensive to Quebec separatists. I doubt this occurred to anyone responsible for the shirt; it's just interesting how politics always come back to bite you.

Keith David had been scheduled to be there for the entire convention. Apparently his movie got behind schedule, so he wasn't able to leave for Montreal until Saturday morning, and then he had delays at the airport. He showed up at the end of the banquet, and so everyone ended up grilling the poor man while he attempted to eat dinner at the same time. Unfortunately half of his comments were inaudible, due to the tenor of his voice and the bad karaoke sounds coming from the next con over. ("Somebody shoot that ho!" -Keith) But he was interesting. On more than one occasion his answers were so profound that everyone erupted in spontaneous applause. He delivered the most spirited, considered praise of gargoyles as a species that I have ever heard. It was clear he really feels the characters; the extent to which he personalized Goliath was heart-warming. And, on a personal note, when he had to duck out he asked me where the restroom was. It was the extent of my interaction with him, really, but it made my day. Isn't that sad? (While he was out, Norcumi managed to save his meal from destruction by the hotel's Plate Retriever Person, so we both have a really bad story to tell.)

After the banquet, BrooklynX grabbed us to help rearrange tables for the masquerade. No one knew what was going on, but it got done, and at the very least it meant we got front-row seats for the masquerade itself. We therefore got to see the saga of Daniel the hotel coordinator, who was sitting at the judging table right in front of us. He had done up the banquet menu himself, complete with Gargoyles logo and a screenshot from the Disney site. He was really proud of it, telling us all about how he did it, and very enthusiastic about the con. He was fun. When Greg came in he had him sign a copy of the menu, and while Greg signed Daniel turned around and gave us an exaggerated thumbs-up (http://norcumi.gargles-fans.org/photos/con2004/20040808_214602_1406). That's gotta be the best photo of the whole con - Greg, seriously, check it out. I ended up getting Daniel's email address to send him a copy of the photo when we got home.

(He also let A Fan borrow his hotel nametag, which Fan used to do his butler routine and stand next to the door. Fan was even waiting on Daniel, getting water and such. The whole thing was a blast.)

The masquerade was truly amazing. Apparently everyone was hamming it up this year for the film crew. The photos tell more than I possibly can, but it was just amazing. We even got a guy in who is apparently an amateur master costumer of some sort; he goes from con to con showing off his costumes. He won Best Costume, of course.

After the masquerade we hung around for a while. Lynati wanted to give some art to Greg, since he was leaving the next morning, and so we chased around with her for a while as she got everything together. I wound up sitting in the hallway outside Lynati's room, waiting for people and chatting with Aaron, who was trying to get into the room to get his shoes but didn't have a key. Then we went back downstairs, Lynati gave Greg her thing, Erik sang "Blame Gargoyles", and Lynati and the two of us headed up to our room to talk until about three and a half.

SUNDAY
Sunday, because we had been up so late, we missed everything again. We seem to be making a habit out of this; it happened last year too. (We both seem to be going more and more for the people, and less and less for the events, as the years go by.) We got downstairs in time to catch the middle of the 501(c)6 organizing meeting, which was not nearly as fun as a KGB meeting nor as well organized (!). Then we met BrooklynX for dinner, which ended up being at a diner nearby. The food was decent, but it was outside the hotel and wasn't McDonald's, so no complaints. We came back to the hotel and hung around for a while, but Norcumi wasn't feeling well so we headed back to the room.

Eventually Norcumi started feeling better and we got bored, so we went out to look for Lynati. Though we didn't find her we found a Muzak knob next to the mezzanine elevators, which was cool enough that I had to go back to the room to get the camera. Got camera, took pictures, went down to the lobby and promptly ran into Lynati, who was waiting for people to get back from laser tag. So we ended up sitting around the lobby talking to Lynati until several in the morning. And playing with the camera. Over the course of it, Emambu, Mara, Aaron, CKayote, and GregX were there for various periods of time. There was TGS, there was Aaron telling stories about driving down the highway with his foot out the window, and there was a long, animated, highly amusing discussion between Aaron and Emambu over the quality of recent seasons of MST3K.

Eventually everyone that was left (Lynati, Mara, Aaron, and Emambu) decided to go bug Hudson and we decided to go to bed. Yet for some strange strange reason, instead of going to bed, we went along to bug Hudson as well. Mostly this consisted of hanging around in the hallway listening to rants about MST3K while Mara and Lynati went to see if Hudson was presentable. Apparently he was not, and by the time he was, everyone wanted to go to bed. Thus we stood around watching Hudson watch everyone drift off to go to bed. I decided I had had enough, told Hudson that we hadn't been able to sleep without him, and went to bed. The whole thing was worth it, just to be able to deliver that line.

MONDAY
Monday we checked out. We had been planning to wander around Montreal a little before heading out in late afternoon, but we were too tired from all the late nights. So instead we hung around the lobby. A bunch of people came and went -- there's no way I'm going to remember who-all was there, so I'm not even going to try -- but mostly I listened and wished I had the camera again. Chris Rogers was there, and so I aired a few things I had wanted to mention for next year's con, but mostly it was just sitting there hanging out. Keith David came by wearing a bright blue suit and posed for a picture with everyone. (By the way, whoever took that picture, please get in contact with Norcumi or me. I'd like a copy.) Ultimately we decided we had to head out. We had another meal at the lobby restaurant (while watching the public works department pull up all the manhole covers on the street outside, look underneath them, then close them again) and then headed for Connecticut to visit Norcumi's parents.

One final note on the organization of this year's con. I thought the con went really well this year. The hotel was terrific, the location was great, and organization was good. The hotel staff were incredibly tolerant of con craziness; it astounds me that they even let us make nuisances of ourselves in the lobby as much as we did. The schedule was overly light and had some timing problems -- three of the four interesting events during the day on Saturday were scheduled during the 12:30-1:45 time block -- but that was my only major complaint. Except for this: the staff had a persistent us-against-them attitude which I found highly distasteful. The staff was highly defensive, and anything that looked like it /might/ be a criticism was jumped on with all four feet. During Opening Ceremonies, someone said that they missed Thom. It wasn't a gripe about the con staff, it was just the sort of thing people say when Thom isn't there, just the sort of thing they said at 2002 -- and suddenly Karine was at the microphone berating people for wondering why Thom had been cancelled at the last minute. That's the first example. The second example is the way Keith's schedule was handled. Again, his travel delays weren't the staff's fault, but neither was the staff particularly communicative (though they did try) about what was going on. And finally, to my knowledge, it was /never/ announced that Greg wouldn't be at Closing Ceremonies. I figured it out by looking at the schedule and then asking a staff member, only to get snapped at for my trouble. Now, I don't think /anyone/ would object to Greg leaving early so that he could be there for his daughter's birthday. I don't think anyone would blame that on the staff. But I /do/ think people wanted to know that, so that they could say their goodbyes or whatever. But I never heard it announced. It should have been. The con staff was too busy defending their turf to keep people in the loop. Folks, you can do better than this.

Next year's Gathering looks to be a fun one. The staff really seems to have it together, and the schedule and location should make for interesting times. Honestly, my biggest fear is that we'll be completely overwhelmed. Even if the DVD sells very badly by Disney standards, the Gathering documentary will send lots of new recruits our way, and in the worst case I fear that we'll be completely overwhelmed by con virgins next year. Not that that would be bad from a financial perspective, but the smallness of the Gathering seems to be a major attraction these days. Many of us don't come for the events anymore, but for the people. And if the people have trouble finding each other, it'll be a very different con. We could certainly use some new ideas and new blood, though, so it'll be a mixed blessing no matter what happens.

Greg responds...

I don't think you'll ever have to worry about not being able to find your friends at the Gathering... For better or worse, we're never going to turn into ComicCon.

As for the Radio Plays, I like to mix things up. So I'll continue to do new stuff and old Garg scripts. Both are fun, for different reasons. And honestly, I don't always have new stuff to present.

And I see your point about staff defensiveness, but you could also cut everyone a bit more slack. I'm not sure you realize (a) how much work goes into putting one of these things on and (b) how much complaining does take place. The examples you gave may indeed be instances of people being defensive, but the reason for that defensiveness is because (and I've witnessed this) so MANY instances of people, well, bitching.

And frankly, I'm not sure that you're being entirely fair. My non-appearance at Closing Ceremonies was in the program, as you stated. That to me qualifies as an announcement. And Keith's delayed appearance was spread by word of mouth... how else would it get spread? At the time of Opening Ceremonies, no one knew Keith would be delayed. After that, when was everyone together for a grand announcement to be made?

I know it may sound like I'm being defensive now, but I'm not on the staff. I'm just a bit protective of these good people. Still, I'm sure we could all stand to lighten up a bit.

Response recorded on June 12, 2006

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Spacebabie writes...

Sunday Aug 6

Slept in and woke up in time to get dressed quickly. I slipped into a pair of jeans and my Samwise shirt. I didn't have time to eat. I didn't want to miss Allaine's panel.

Allaine had set up a tape recorder to record our voices for Mooncat who couldn't make it this year. We wrote down names of the characters and mixed them up before he selected a couple. It went well and we decided to use the end for an upcoming fic challenge. With a few extra minutes left Allaine read his entry for the canceled reading challenge. It was funny and the way he read it made it even funnier.

After the panel. Revel and I went to look for Chris Rogers. He wasn't in the dealer room, although I did manage to buy a Brooklyn and Goliath dangler. Now my Lex Dangler won't be so alone. We found out Chris was still asleep.

After he, Kaelyan and Hudson had fully woken and dressed we went to seek food. First place, no food. The sign pointed to the revolving restraint at top. Gregx, Aaron, Mara and eventually Dancer joined us.

After a small wait we were seated and we received our beverages. I had ordered coffee of course. We loaded up our plates with food. I had a croissant, a little cup of blueberry yogurt, scrambled eggs, bacon, crepes, and some potatoes. Mara discovered the chocolate milk at the juice bar and Aaron found the desserts. After eating I reloaded my plate with some cantaloupe, a piece of cake, an éclair, and a slice of raison bread with some chocolate spread.

We ate and talked while studying the scenery. We saw the dome shaped frame that was once part of the expo center, a strange structure that was part of the 1976 Olympics and a large crane with a potential jumper. The police seemed to talk him out of it. Chris agreed to cover the bill as long as we paid him back later. I gave him my last 20 Canadian dollars and promised to pay him the rest back later.

We were rejoined by Lynati in the basment and gathered around a small table while Chris showed us how to gamble via cards. He showed us the positions of the game table and told us when would be a good time to fold. We used the hotel candy as chips to mock gamble with. We played a few rounds until Closing Ceremonies.

Closing Ceremonies is always a depressing time for us. It is a sign the gathering is officially over. The medals were given out to the winners of the clan Olympics and ribbons were given to the artists. We were reminded to prereg for next year before they gave us the official farewell.

After it ended I pre-regged on Chris's laptop. It's been a whole year since I used a laptop, but I eventually figured it out.

After pre-regging I went to exchange some more American cash for Canadian and returned to the art room to see if I won the art I bid on. I did! I won the lovely ink drawing of Demona by Karine and a beautiful marker picture of the trio and Puck riding a shopping cart by Eden.

With my newly acquired art safely placed in Revel and my hotel room I took a small nap while Revel paid for his meal and repaid the rest I owed Chris. After snoozing for a couple of hours Revel and I went to look for people to hang out with before we searched for food. Couldn't find anyone.

We decided to find a Subway and walked along ways to find one. I ordered my favorite combo: Teriyaki chicken with a diet Pepsi and baked lays. We returned to our room and ate while leaving the TV on for background noise. We also watched an episode of South Park and King of the Hill…the voices were waaaaaay off.

Next Up Monday: Theme park day.

Greg responds...

Winding down, are we?

Response recorded on June 08, 2006

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Ellen writes...

GATHERING JOURNAL, PART THREE (CONCLUSION)

SUNDAY

Sunday morning brought with it the luxury of sleeping in till 8:30, as opposed to 8:00. Good thing, too; at this point, I needed that extra half hour to prepare for the day. I got to the mezzanine in time to get a couple of authors' signatures in my anthology, then repaired to Allaine's adult round robin. Maybe it was because I knew what to expect, maybe it was because we were all in the same boat of abject exhaustion, but this time around it didn't seem as difficult as the first time, last year in New York. (That happened to be the greatest challenge of my entire writing career, such as it is. There's something about composing prose on the fly, without seeing it or being able to revise it, that frightens me.)

We moved the story along tastefully and seductively, and ended with a neat cliffhanger that we decided would make for an ideal complete-the-story challenge for the sorely-missed Mooncat's Gargoyles X forum. Allaine wrapped up the session by reading aloud a little tale he graciously penned at my urging earlier this year, an account of a sudden-death playoff hole at the British Open golf tournament between Hudson and (if I recall correctly) a "Kim Possible" character named Duff Killigan. Many of you know that Allaine can pen dramatic dialogue with the best of them, but how many of you are aware of his talent at *humorous* dialogue? I laughed so hard I had to wipe tears from my eyes.

I decided then that I needed sustenance to remain vertical for the next few hours, and was happy to find that Kathy and Princess were willing to accompany me upstairs for brunch at Tour de la Ville. We found lovely things to eat and once again had a very enjoyable conversation, with me often gazing glassy-eyed at the handsome city outside as the view gradually rotated around us.

When we went back downstairs, I was dismayed to find that I had missed a substantial portion of the anthology-signing session. However, in retrospect, I would have been far less functional if I hadn't taken time out and eaten something -- again, those trade-offs. Upon joining the group, Christine immediately presented me with a stack of books that I gratefully signed. Just the idea of scrawling my signature upon a story of mine in print, even on as amateur a basis as this, boggled my mind.

As our book-signing wrapped up, Keith David began a question-and-answer session in the same room, in the area where we seated. As he had the previous night, he enthusiastically answered our questions and generously regaled us with tales about his work, and all present listened in rapt attention.

After a while, Karine quietly came up behind us and had us sign, one by one, a copy of the anthology to present to him. "What a nice idea," I thought. As I accepted the book from her and began to open it to my story, I was struck by the irony that I should be signing an autograph for Keith David, as opposed to the other way around.

And then I looked down at the title page of my story, and it hit me: Not only was I signing an autograph for him, I was signing it to a story I had written *entirely from his character's point of view.* From a purely creative standpoint, this was more than big. This was definitive. My story would be read by one of the *co-creators* of this character we know as Goliath.

My hands started trembling.

I took a deep, calming breath, and commenced writing. "Mr. David," I inscribed, "this one's for you. I hope I got it right." I signed my name, handed the book back to Karine, and simply sat, silent and outwardly calm, waiting for the feeling to return to my extremities.

The closing ceremonies had a relaxed feel to them, with the con staff clearly seeing the light at the end of the tunnel and all of us running on empty rest-wise. Mr. David reiterated his intention to attend the next Gathering in Las Vegas, delighting all present. The con staff got nowhere near the applause they deserved (but then, this would have been impossible under any circumstances), and the proceedings wound down in a relatively low-key manner.

I had to bid farewell to Dylan and Stormy at this point, unfortunately. The time with them went entirely too fast.

My two objectives now were to preregister for Las Vegas and to obtain an autograph from Mr. David, who remained his amazingly personable self as he patiently and jovially signed pictures, programs, books, and whatever else we fans scrounged up. He had smiles for everyone.

I had brought with me a black-and-white press-kit sketch of Goliath for him to sign, then it occurred to me: What was there of mine for him to sign, really, but my anthology story? When my turn came, I recounted my earlier experience of signing my autograph to this story in his copy, and his reassurance in reply convinced me that I had nothing to fear from his judgment. Leo was kind enough to take a picture of the both of us. It turned out great.

Once I had preregistered, Allaine, Princess, Leo, Alex Garg, Kelly, and I headed over to the train station for some supper. It was nearby, sure to be open, and relatively inexpensive, but I regret not returning to Movenpick, where the food was far superior. This was negligible, however, in light of the pleasant company. We had some passable sustenance and good conversation. Then Leo, Alex Garg, and Kelly obliged me not only by waiting patiently for me while I changed into my walking shoes back at the hotel, but by letting me haul them up to the top of Mount Royal. I knew *I'd* enjoy the view, but would *they* consider it worth the trek (some of it on rather sketchy trails through the woods necessitated by the reconstruction of the steps to the top)?

They insisted that they did, and the exclamations I heard from them when they first beheld the panorama of the St. Lawrence River Valley made me believe they were being honest.

We enjoyed the view of night settling upon the city, then started downward. We took the long way this time, walking down the dark but wide main path. I took my companions on a shortcut through the McGill campus, then was indulged by them further when they allowed me to buy them a round at one of my old student haunts, an Irish pub farther down University, on our way back to the hotel. Through sheer dumb luck, this little detour delayed us just long enough to enter the hotel lobby about two minutes after my husband did. I made introductions, then bade goodnight and farewell to my fellow hikers.

I took the husband upstairs so that he could drop off his bag, then accompanied him back down for a tall cold one. While we were in the bar, we were joined by a small group that included Princess, Kathy, and Chyna Rose. We enjoyed a conversation that involved immersing my hapless better half in the wonderful world of Gargs fandom in general, and Garg fanfic writerhood in particular. He did fine -- if he was scared, he didn't let it show.

We stayed up well past our bedtimes once more, then shuffled upstairs and collapsed.

MONDAY

The following morning, we slept late, and it felt simply grand. Through confusion and missed communication, however, we failed to join Kathy, Mandi, and Princess for breakfast. I met up with them later for long enough to apologize to them, and then Kenn and I were off to walk the streets of Montreal.

The weather was perfect that day, and I amused Kenn by saying over and over, "I can't believe that I don't have to *be* somewhere in five minutes!" He had (quite accurately) described me as being in "college final-exam all-nighter No-Doz mode" when he met up with me on Sunday night, so this opportunity to wind down was welcomed by both of us. We strolled up St.-Laurent north of Sherbrooke, looped back down St.-Denis a little ways, stopped at Schwartz's for smoked meat, wandered back downtown, and found a lovely little sidewalk café on McGill College. We sat, enjoying the weather, the scenery, the rush of people around us, and the fact that we weren't among them. It was at this point that I felt truly unplugged from the glorious but frenetic Gathering scene.

ET CETERA

Highlights from then on would be of little interest to those reading this account, but they included, in chronological order:

-- Dinner at Gibby's in Old Montreal on Monday night

-- A visit to the Museum of Fine Arts on Tuesday afternoon

-- Dinner with a good friend Tuesday night (the one, ironically enough, responsible for the humorous anecdote with which I regaled Maestro David in the bar)

-- A visit to the basilica of Notre Dame de Montreal on Wednesday

-- A visit to the Montreal history museum in the old city

-- A one-night delay in getting back home, thanks to the hurricanes and what-not obliterating flight schedules up and down the East Coast.

One last Gathering-related anecdote: On Wednesday as we were checking out, we ran into Keith David once more, in the hotel lobby. I introduced him to my husband with the line, "Kenn, this is Goliath," which elicited chuckles all around. Mr. David mentioned that he had begun to read the anthology, and that he was impressed with the quality of the writing and artwork featured in the book. (He mentioned that he was just about to read my story. From this I surmised that he'd read Dylan's by that time, and evidently -- and not at all surprisingly -- liked it.)

When we were finally airborne Thursday morning, I mentioned to Kenn that I was having to put some thought into how I'd respond to the people back home who'd ask me, simply, "How was your trip?" I decided that the most accurate answer to that question would be, "It was an alternate universe." And I have the con staff and my fellow writers and Garg fans, as well as Greg Weisman and Keith David, to thank for that. You folks are something else.

See you in Vegas!

Greg responds...

Hey, give yourself credit too. You made the effort. You came, so you get to see and conquer. Showing up is more than half the battle.

So all of you... it's NOT TOO LATE...

Come to the TENTH ANNUAL GATHERING OF THE GARGOYLES in Southern Cal. June 23-26.

For more information, check out www.gatheringofthegargoyles.com

Response recorded on June 02, 2006

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MooncatX writes...

My "ALMOST A GATHERING JOURNAL" Journal =D

Firstly, I have been to previous Gatherings (VA and NY) but wasn't able to attend the Gathering this year in Montreal. Of course I wanted to, because the Gathering is really a wonderful experience for anyone in the Gargoyles fandom. All the ones I've attended have been warmer, friendlier, more fun than anyone could hope for. It's like the ultimate family reunion where you all have these great common interests and are all so happy to get together and have a good time and enjoy the company of people you only get to meet up with in real life at these special Gatherings.

It's not just your fellow fans who are warm and accessible, but the industry people, like Greg Weisman, who is so friendly and outgoing and willing to share his personal thoughts and good humor, that the experience of a Gathering is extra special and memorable.

In any case, I would have loved to have gone, but unexpected family and financial emergencies kept me at homebound for this year. But even though I was many miles away, in Kansas, I didn't feel forgotten or left out. Special friends of mine in the fandom, people I've only met in the flesh at previous Gatherings, were doing their best to catch and save a bit of the event to send to me in a WONDERFUL package I got just the other day. So a most special THANK YOU to Allaine, Princess Alexandria, Seri Wavelength, who called me from the Gathering itself in Montreal to give me updates on everything going on at the convention, and super special thanks to Allaine who went above and beyond the call of friendship to audio tape portions of the convention for me, the round robins and the mug-a-guests and the opening and closing ceremoies... All of which I'm listening to with a very loved feeling and happy heart. I couldn't go to the Gathering, but my friends managed to send a bit of it to me *^_^*

Along with these great tapes, Seri sent me a wonderful piece of art from the convention, whee!!!, I got one of the Gathering schedule booklets which is just grrreat! And most wonderfully Allaine picked up my copy of the Phoenix Gate Anthology and got it signed by everyone there who participated in the book. Which by the way, I've read most of now and it is TOTALLY KICK ASS!!! Art to die for, and some of the best writing I've seen fan or pro, and all terribly enjoyable. If anyone hasn't gotten a copy yet, see if you can because it's so worth it =D

Besides the much appreciated care package, other fans have put up picture galleries, vids and audio files that are so fantastic, and help the fans who didn't get to go have virtual peek at the Gathering. And the Journals, the wonderful, wonderful Gathering Journals, which gives even people who were there an even broader knowledge of events and a richer experience. For those of us who didn't get to go, it's pure gold, every journal eagerly sought and devoured.

So, I'd like to give a big THANK YOU for everyone writing a Gathering Journal and posting it, because it's such a neat opportunity for others to experience through you some of the Gathering. It's so very appreciated.

Well, I'm definately going to be going to the Las Vegas Gathering in 2005, barring having an anvil dropped on my head... Already making plans and preparing for the trip, because I don't want to miss another Gathering if I can possibly get there at all. Viva la Gargoyles!

MooncatX
>^,,^<

Greg responds...

Ahh Pshaw. We all try to pitch in. Hope to see you next month too. (Man, I'm really tired of being a full two years behind.)

Response recorded on June 02, 2006

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Nezumi writes...

The Gathering is one of the most fun conventions I've ever been to. When David and I showed up Friday morning, there was none of that awkwardness that I've felt at other cons. People I'd never seen before online or off invited us to join in their conversations right from the moment we showed up. I never had a chance to be shy.

We disappeared into the dealer's room to set my stuff up for the art show for about an hour. While we were there, Maui showed up to ask people to join the Clan Olympics. I volunteered myself and the boy, but we didn't know anyone to be the other 2 members of the team. Maui solved that problem by giving us to another pair of homeless players. This turned out to be the best thing to happen at the con. I love my clan. We met Reusch and Top Man for the first time that morning. By the end of lunch you couldn't tell that we hadn't been friends for years. And the woman at McDonald's was our arch nemesis. I still wish Reusch had actually tried to eat that salad with the plastic knife or maybe even both forks. We went to some different panels, but our team spent most of the weekend together.

David and I had a blast at the Life Drawing panel. It was very relaxed and there was a lot of fun conversation going on. At least until the TV crew showed up because that's when the reclusive artist instincts seemed to kick in for all of us. If you keep quiet and don't look up, nobody will notice you ^_~ I'm only sorry that we had to miss the second session because of the Hunter's Moon Dash part of the Olympics.

The cosplay was great. There were such cool costumes! The Bronx was my favorite and all because of that little waggly stump of tail on her costume. I went as Anastasia Renard… but nobody noticed. It's not exactly a costume that stands out as one. And really, of everyone at the con only David would know how strange it is for me to be in a dress. I'm glad I dressed up anyway. It was fun ^_^

Greg responds...

Glad you both had a good time. See you next month?

Response recorded on May 31, 2006

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Spacebabie writes...

Saturday Aug 7

Woke up and washed and dried my hair. I decided to wear my Pirates of the Caribbean shirt. I joined Ellen in the restaurant downstairs and ordered pancakes and a cup of coffee. They placed a variety of fruit on my pancakes including kiwi. The two of us went over our panel notes while we ate.

Christine and our audience were already waiting for us. We assembled at the table and the panel began. We want through various examples and brought up several movies that highlighted our examples before we asked questions.

After the panel I went into the art and dealers room. I voted on the various subjects and bid on a couple of pieces. I went to Alan's table and bout a G200f shirt, pin and Phoenix Gate Anthology.

Next thing I went to was the auction. It was fairly entertaining despite the lack of stripping. One highlight was Siryn chasing after Taras. I managed to win the following: a gargoyles binder, a coloring book, and three action figures: Xanatos, Elisa, and Brooklyn aka No Neck

I had enough time to put away my stuff and come back for the Radio play. Mara sat next to me and I had something to drink and a bag of Crispy Minis to snack on. There was a huge cast this year. The play was the Journey. Michael McAdam was an excellent Vinnie. Revel sounded a whole lot like Broadway. Jen and Ethan played off each other well and so did Chris and Cindy. They earned that huge applause. When Dylan (As Brooklyn) read out his line at the end of the Broadway and Angela kiss there were a few sympathetic awwws. Zehra was an amazing Elisa and Rob made a sessy Goliath. Emambu as Castaway was breathtaking. At end a few audience members wanted to sign up as Quarrymen because of Erik's performance.

Revel:" I told you she would love it." Revel to Erik about his performance. I was the She since I have the same feelings for Jon/Canmore/Castaway as Siryn does for Vinnie. It's scary, I know.

The lighting in the room for the banquet was pretty dim and the candles did not help. It was almost as dark as the banquet from 2000. Revel and I sat at a table with Seri, Chynarose, Kathy, Yrrgdrsl and I think Mandi

The banquet was amazing. We had tasty rye rolls with butter and some water to munch on before the appetizer. I loved the menus and placed mine in my bag to keep as a souvenir. The appetizer was interesting. It almost looked like a work of art and wondered how I was supposed to eat it. I took a picture of it because it was so pretty. I managed to nibble around the edges, eating the large shrimp and the olive before I dove into the shrimp and avocado sauce. I'm a shrimp whore. The salad was good and I loved the dressing. The main course was pleasing to all of my senses except for hearing. I can't remember the last time I had quail. It was hard eating the legs but I managed the veggies. The veggies were good and I loved the round potatoes served in a tortilla shell. The dessert was a perfect finish. I had the fruit charlotte with strawberry coulise. Hmmm it was like a tiramisu.

As were eating our desserts Keith David arrived. The poor guy barely sat down to eat when we began to fire questions.
That was when it started. We were trying to have a Q and A when they decided to strangle cats next store. That was when it sounded like when the group next door made their tragic attempt at Karaoke. I know I can't sing, but these people made could make me sound like Amy Lee from Evanescence.

"Could someone please shoot that horse?"- Keith David

Revel and I left around 8: 15, giving us 45 minutes to change for the Masquerade. Revel draped himself in a towel and sat in the tub while I sprayed in the dye. I used the white for the streak followed by the black on the sides.

I quickly slipped into my outfit: white skirt, peach colored shirt, and a white button up blouse to use as a nurses jacket. I attached the badge on my blouse and slapped band-aids on my heels (to prevent blisters) before I slipped on my heels. I felt sympathy for Eden, Lynati and everyone who put on body make up and rubbed on body shimmer over my shins, arms and dabbed a little on the apples of my cheeks.

We gathered in the room on the left of the banquet. There were many amazing costumes. There was a Fox and a Xanatos from "Eye of the Beholder". It went well with Jade-Griffin's Elisa as Belle. There was an Elisa and Dracon from "Protection." Becca was an adorable Bronx. There was also an Elisa-goyle, Thailog, Banshee, Renaissance Hunter, Quarryman, and Ekidna. Dancer was a princess and Caille as Argentina.

Sapphire's Cosplay was first and I wish I could have seen it. Dancer was next and then it was my turn. I'm getting used to the masquerades. I didn't feel any bit nervous and actually enjoyed strutting my stuff while Jen shouted, "Work it girl."
I sat next to Dancer and took more pictures of the others as they took their poses. The last was Loopy in his AMAZING gargoyle costume and filked "Rubber ducky" as the gargoyle afraid of heights.

During intermission we all waited outside and took more pictures. I interchanged between cameras in my skirt pockets.
A variety of prizes were given out in the forms of ribbons, medals and trophies. Lynati arrived in her Ophelia costume and holy cow it was cool! I won third place for Noncannon.

After the prizes were given out we started to mingle some more, took some pictures. Sapphire and I got onto the dance floor and danced a little bit before Revel and I returned to our rooms. Revel to slip out of his costume and wash out the dye and me to change into some pants and clean off some of the shimmer.

We returned in time to see Keith David finish singing and Watched Allaine sing. I never expected Allaine could sing so well. A pity we missed Erik's singing. I sat next to Mara and I was already feeling my energy had been used up for the day. When the YMCA dancers gathered both Mara and I just placed foot on the floor and tapped along with the music.

"Young man, something, something, something."

Next up Sunday.

Greg responds...

I'll admit I'm running out of pithy responses to the G-diaries, but I still love reading 'em.

Response recorded on May 30, 2006

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Spacebabie writes...

Friday August 6
I forgot what time I woke up but we had a few hours till registration opened. Showered and selected my Ravenclaw shirt and khaki pants to wear. After I exchanged some American for Canadian money Revel and I went to search for food. We found a nice lil café. I had a muffin and a bagel with some coffee.

When we returned to the hotel we ran into Cindy aka Eden, Patrick and a handful of fandom artists. They needed a few hands. We first came in with panel boards followed by the poles. Assembling the poles reminded me of a giant Kinex set.

Several people were gathered around the registration tables and I noticed some familiar faces including Chyna-rose, Seri-wavelength, Allaine, Ellen, and Dylan and many more. I was reintroduced to Dylan's fiancée" Stormy", and Chameleon girl. It was great getting reacquainted with everyone I have talked with via e-mail, message boards, chat rooms and instant messengers.

I was pretty amazed with the program. They were beautifully done and well organized. I noticed my panel was bumped up to noon, giving me a few minutes to glance over some off the program.

I noticed the candies they had set up for the panel table. I had a good number of attendants. The whole panel got turned into a running gag about Macbeth and his dinghy.

Shortly after I glanced back into the dealers room and bought a few books from Tim Morgan. Christine was there to sing them including the gift for my father. I came across Karine in the room. She asked how my panel went and I told her it was great and I apologized about not finding any Shock Tarts for her. She was able to find some in Montreal.

The Next panel I attended was Greg's voice acting seminar. That was when the DVD camera crew arrived. Greg was instructing the crowd how to voice act and asked CrzyDemona's help to read for Demona. She did that too well. He gave the script to Seri and he gave a few pointers after she read. The other scenes performed were form M.I.A and Awakening pt1. Greg even told a story about Carol Channing and a chiffon blouse.

Afterwards it was Eden's costume panel. I learned how to take care of wigs: create wings, tales and brow ridges. I also learned two good kinds of body paint to use.

I was starving afterwards. Revel ad I walked uphill to find a place for food. We found a McDonalds and to my disappointment a quarter ponder with cheese is not a Royal with Cheese. It was still food and the fries were a bit salty but it was good to have something to nibble on during opening ceremonies.

The welcoming pitches were excellent and for the 2005 pitch Chris looked sharp in his suit. The clan Olympics took everyone by Surprise but they were fun to watch. It is always great to see the newbies and the spin off pitches again.

The evening ended with "The not quite so blue" Mug a guest. It was hard to squeeze all who wanted to come on the room, but we managed. The highlights that were included were:
Several details about the DVD.
The fact "Angels in the Night" could have been much worse.
CrzyJen making fun of Erik's soup.
Greg making fun of Liz falling asleep.
Siryn crawling under my legs to get under the table.
My own legs falling asleep.

I had to leave early to get a good night's sleep to prepare for the next day.

Next up Saturday

Greg responds...

Christine SINGS her books? I had no idea. How cool!

Response recorded on May 26, 2006

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Abram WinterSmith writes...

Here is that last chunk of it...sorry about that.

Everyone who approached me to sign their Phoenix Gate Anthology, thank you for giving me the privilege of scrawling my name and heartfelt thanks in there. Writing for that book was a big step for me, and to know that there are people out there who are enjoying that story is enough to keep me inspired, and to continue plugging away at something deep down inside I truly love. To Cindy for encouraging me to gather up the courage to write that story, and to Christine Morgan, who helped me refine it.

To Kythera, thank you for giving me something of your heart, I consider that a privilege and a wonderful distinction. Love you much, sis.

To Greg Weisman and Keith David. Thank you both for making the trek to Montreal to attend this year's Gathering. Greg, I don't usually get a chance to speak with you all that much, but when I do it's fascinating, entertaining, and thoughtful. You're a great gentleman, and it just wouldn't be the same without you. Keith, it was pleasure to see you again, and a great honor to meet your family. After seven years, despite the changes in your life, both personal and professional, you've remained the same down-to-earth, wonderful human being (or gargoyle) that I met back in 1997. Bless you both.

Last and not least, to everyone who came to the Gathering, to each and every one of you whom I've had the pleasure and joy to meet and speak with. It's a moving feeling to know that one is welcomed somewhere, and despite the dark hours, one is truly never really alone. Thank you for your companionship, kind words, cheers, jeers, and laughter.

Now THAT'S it…nothing left to say except for:

SEE YOU IN 2005! VEGAS!
DREAM WELL!

Scott "Abram" Rogoff

Greg responds...

Thank you, Abram. See you soon!

Response recorded on May 25, 2006

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Abram WinterSmith writes...

Greg, you asked for a Gathering 2004 Journal. Here is my contribution:

The 8th Annual Gathering of the Gargoyles
A Convention Journal by Scott "Abram" Rogoff

This is the fifth Gathering convention that I have had the pleasure and privilege of attending, so I figured it was about time to start the tradition of writing a Gathering Journal. I'm not entirely sure why I decided that this was the right time to do it…being someone who is somewhat good with the written word, it would make sense to write something about a convention that I've grown incredibly fond of. Add this notion to the fact that I've been regularly updating a LiveJournal for over two and a half years and it's pretty much a no-brainer at this point. I know that I've got a lot of mental notes of the other four Gatherings that I've attended in 1997, 1998, 2000, and 2002, but I will wait just a little while longer to write about those. The matter at hand (or talon in this case?) is to relate what happened in the most recent past. Sit back, and enjoy the read…I hope this proves to entertaining.

"Hey! You Could Fly Over Here and We Can Drive Up!"

I met Shaun "BrooklynX" Donagher at the 2000 Gathering, but for the life of me I couldn't remember what he looked like until this weekend. I think I ran into him in Sapphire's Raptor Chat and we began to talk in there, and then over AIM, and eventually we added each other to our LiveJournal Voyeur's lists. Being writers, we both seemed to be full of all sorts of zany and cool ideas, which culminated in the creation of several storylines, though I'm not sure if any of them will make it to a more public forum. We've been having fun with it, and exchange the frequent smart-assed remarks back and forth…this sort of behavior often marks the start of a good friendship.
We were talking about the 2004 Gathering and discussing matters such as rooming and transportation. Originally neither of us had any room mates picked out, but we both needed to find one in order to make the hotel price a bit more on the reasonable side…so we decided to room together. (Flanker and Mike would later join the mix). I figured Shaun already had his plane ticket to Montreal already purchased, but he then mentioned to me that he hadn't…so drawing from my innate like of road trips, I offered to drive him up to the Gathering if he flew into Rochester. The move would actually save him over a hundred dollars, and it would be a lot of fun too. So before I knew it, I had a travel buddy. So already this was going to be fun trip, and it was going to start a little earlier than the Gathering.
At this time Siryn was still in Rochester and I think I extended the offer to her to drive up with Shaun and myself, and then I found out she was moving away from the area. However, she did offer to get me in contact with Sarah McEvoy…AKA "Sarah the Great". After spending five days traveling and hanging out with her, I know she's fitting of the namesake; a wonderful and funny person she is, and a great travel buddy as well. We spent some time making phone calls to one another and planning things, and before we knew it, everything was set up…our Journey to and from The 8th Annual Gathering was to begin on the 4th….

Wednesday, August 4th - Yes, It Started THAT Early…

It's funny how at the Gathering and the events leading up to it I'm suddenly willing to wake up extremely early to get things done. When the alarm clock buzzed at 6:30am I practically jumped out of bed, full of energy. Shaun's flight was to arrive around 10:40 and there was no way that I was going to be late to pick him up. I quickly prepared a sizable cue card and wrote "SHAUN PUP" in big green and silver letters, a very quick job, but it was quite noticeable. A few businessmen gave me a few funny looks and an older woman asked me if my dog could actually read signs. I shrugged and told her he was a German Shepard, so he damn well better be able to read. She made a funny noise and walked away, about ten minutes before Shaun actually came walking up the ramp, I knew him from the Weird Al shirt. Leaving the sign behind we started on the pre-Gathering preparations: The procurement of chocolate and Pocky.
We headed to the Asian Food Store in Henrietta and grabbed about five boxes of Pocky, and a bottle of ginger dressing that Liz requested, the keepers of the store asked us what we were going to do with all that stuff and we mentioned the Gargoyles Convention…they were pretty keen on that. Next was to Godiva Chocolateer to pick up the order I placed with them…some 75 bars of their chocolate on sale, all varieties…sadly only one white chocolate bar left in the entire store, but milk, dark, raspberry, and almond bars filled the order out nicely; they would do for the little surprise I had planned for the Convention Staff…anybody who is reading this knows full well how evil I am.
Mwu. Ha. Ha.
It was about 3pm by the time Shaun and I got back to my place, and he was pretty exhausted, I was beginning to feel tired too, so we chilled out a bit. He had picked up Doom 3 at Best Buy on our way home so he was busy installing that, and I went out to go get some preparation stuff for dinner. Sarah the Great arrived shortly after that, and we got to meet each other for the first time…again. She presented me with a bottle of raspberry wine, which was very sweet of her. We woke up Shaun and we got to catch up with one another, we talked a lot about politics, some Gargoyles stuff, and basically got all bouncy about the convention. Dinner was good save for the sudden attack by a juice-spitting hamburger as I was grilling it, but the clothes got washed and everything was fine after that. We kept on talking until a little before sundown and then grabbed some Seneca Farms Ice Cream for dessert. Anyone who visits my place during the Summer will almost certainly wind up coming to Seneca Farms either for ice cream, fried chicken, or both.
After some more talking, Shaun decided to offer up a movie, and we all watched "Hellboy", which was cool for the visual effects, a little thin on story, but still a good film…I'm going to see it again with Leva, and I'm still looking forward to it. Funny how it took a Gathering to finally get me to hook up my DVD Player. ;) We then went to pack the car, having decided to take just my Neon….at first it seemed like a bad idea, but we fit all of my stuff, all of Sarah's stuff, Shaun's equipment and prints, and the Clan Olympics crap into the thing, and still had room for ourselves. HUZZAH! We all then headed to bed, for we knew we were going to have one heck of a day ahead of us.

Thursday, August 5th - I Wanted to be on the Metric Clock: 100 Hours a Day…

Waking up at 7:30am, we all headed down to have some breakfast and get our final trip preparations set up. Sarah took the front seat, she was going to be my navigator because of her fondness for maps, of which I had absolutely no argument against. Shaun took the seat behind and was…Color Commentary…because all road trips need one of those. Before we knew it, I had burned a bagel, Sarah had the trip planned and I was ready to start driving. We were OFF TO CANADA!
Trip went extremely quickly, we got to the New York State Thruway and covered the first 70 miles or so in a little over an hour before hitting Route 81 North right up to the Canadian Border…but we needed to stop at the Duty-Free Shop for the obligatory alcohol purchase. About the only time I will purchase hard liquor freely is when it's not taxed, and I found some Godiva White Chocolate Liquor…HAD to pick up a bottle of that stuff, but decided at the last minute to put it toward The Evil Plan. We each picked up a bottle of booze, Shaun picked up one for Karine, and Sarah grabbed some for herself. Always a nice way to shop, beats the local liquor store.
Customs was pretty routine, but I was nervous. After all, I hadn't been to Canada in four and a half years. I knew I had to have a passport now, and had that out of the way. After the questions were answered, the Canadian Border Patrolwoman told me I should sign my passport before going back to the United States so I wouldn't get into any trouble. We're pulling away and out of the blue I half-yell "Suckers!", not knowing that Shaun had not yet rolled up his window. Luckily, no flashing lights or sirens were following the car, so I think the little faux pas went unnoticed, though we all shared a pretty good laugh over it and then pulled into a Service Centre for a Wendy's run…I did some Instant Lottery and found out that the terminals play a jingle when you cash in a winner. I already knew I was going to play, since going to the Casino Montreal was more than likely not going to happen. Besides, I put a sum of money aside just to play with my Latex Fixation (one of these days, this may lead to pointy ears, gargoyle feet, and other stuff that may lead to a costume…).
We arrived on the outskirts of Montreal around 2:30pm or so, and we began to search for the Hotel. Shaun pointed vaguely in the direction of the Live Meet Location, so that was cool. After passing that we began to get into the more stop-and-go traffic of Montreal heading toward Center-Ville. After overshooting the hotel by about ten minutes we backtracked and made it to the Delta Center-Ville, our home for the next five days and four nights…in a real nice section of downtown Montreal. It was weird to finally be back to this city after four and a half years. From 1997 to about 2000 I would visit Karine, Genvieve, and that whole crew on a pretty regular basis, usually during the Spring. I remembered Rue University, old Montreal (which I regrettably didn't get to see much of this time), and LaRounde. This was the first time that I was going to stay at a hotel and enjoy the hospitality of Montreal, and after the four nights were up, I can say that it was one of the best hotels I've had the pleasure of staying in.
Shaun and I checked in, and we ran into Cindy, Talyesin, Karine, Karlyl, Sapphire, and a few others over that afternoon. Finally got to meet Kaylee too, which was very cool; always a wonderful feeling to put a face and voice behind the online persona. Old favorites soon followed up, like Crzy Demona, Siryn, and Liz. Gatherings are like family reunions in a way, only you don't necessarily want to kill the people you're meeting, and your cheeks don't get pinched nearly as much, if at all. The convention staff all went their ways to get things prepared, and I went up to the 14th floor to claim my bed…and shortly afterward met John Clemens, AKA "Flanker", he and I hit it off right away and I spent a lot of time just hanging out with him over the four days up there.
Since I brought my Gamecube up, as per the plan with Sapphire, I decided to hook it up and practice (if Liz was a good as she said she was, I would need it!)…and it was one of THOSE television sets…the ones where you couldn't hook up a game system without a special plug. No problem, went up the mall on St. Catherine's and got one at Radio Shack, also had a late lunch with Flanker as well. Subway is good in any country. We walked around, got used to the uphill/downhill trekking, and made it back to the hotel. The 'Cube began to work, and I enjoyed some MarioKart for a little bit before wandering around and exploring the hotel some more.
Sarah the Great joined Flanker and I as we began to explore Montreal some more and we wandered about into old Montreal, which was just as pretty as I remembered it. We caught a few of the sights, contemplated dinner at one of the fine restaurants, but decided against it, and just wandered around some more until we hit the fine cuisine of Tim Hortons, a place which I will probably go out of my way to eat at from now on. The three of us discussed a few topics, mainly politics and the state of affairs in the United States, Bush Worries, and other things. Three Gargoyles Fans and not a bit of discussion on gargoyles, go figure, but it was a liberating experience to be able to talk current events without getting my head bitten off for saying the "wrong thing". Good food, great friends, and awesome conversation…who could ask for more?
We all headed back to the hotel afterwards, and I caught up with Wingless, Seth Jackson, Kyt-Sis, Norcumi, Gorebash, and a few others (if I forgot your names, I'm sorry, there was just so many of you!). Found out that Kyt was rooming right next to me, so she and I went back up to my room and I presented her with the copy of "Final Fantasy: Origins" I was hoarding, and the hint book that went with it. It was worth seeing the look on her face. She and I talked for a bit, and then we headed back down to do some more catching up. Seth and I talked video games, Wingless and I spoke a bit, but I mostly just basked in the happiness of seeing old friends, and being in the company of new ones.
MAui, Arno, and Dubble all came by shortly afterwards, and shortly after, MAui and I began to plot and plan for the first Clan Olympics event; as in how we wanted to pull it off and get it done. We also brainstormed on just what in the Hell the event "A Shot in the Dark" would entail. As we plotted in the hotel lobby, I believe Jade Griffon ran up to me and gave me a hug, we spoke briefly then and there too…and Gorebash and I caught up a little. By this time, I was going into sensory overload, but in an extremely happy way. Eventually, MAui and I went back to my room and I showed off my work on the Clan Olympics, and she showed me the cards she worked on…everything looked awesome: so well-done and professional-looking. She really outdid herself on that, and I think her efforts really made this year's competition special.
At this point, I remembered that our 4th Roomie, Mike Cohen, was probably downstairs in the hotel lobby, probably about ready to lynch me. I made it down to the lobby and began looking for anyone with an orange shirt…and lucked out, for Mike was the only one dressed in orange. I led him back up to the room, helped get him settled in and then went back to planning and plotting with MAui until we both got tired. Shaun Pup eventually came back from the Con Staff dinner with Greg Weisman, and we settled down for bed, knowing that at about eight thirty in the morning, we would be all out and about.

Friday, August 6th - We Have Infiltrated…

MAui and I woke up early to walk up to St. Catherine's and search for Cheap Plastic Award Medals…a mission that ended in failure, but it gave us plenty of exercise. We walked around the Eaton Centre and searched through those teeny bopper shops, but nothing really jumped out at us. Oh well, one would figure that this being an Olympic year in general they would be easier to find. Note to self: buy them in bulk…
Since we only got one team to pre-register for the Clan Olympics, we decided a few days before the convention, along with Liz, to set up a table for prospective teams. I sent out Sarah the Great to cull the Gathering Attendees and find some suitable quartets. It didn't take long before the first of seven teams to register, and the mix was very impressive; the 2005 Gathering Staff put up a team, a few teams of Con Virgins, and the Arcadians all put up their bids for the cheap non-metal medals this year. I brought out "Billy" for the first time (he's that ridiculous-looking grinning kid, he probably weaseled his way into a bunch of photos…). We had a full compliment of teams by about 3pm or so, which made me a very relieved man. Also over this time I got to talk a little more with Talyesin and enjoyed speaking with him. Tried badgering CrzyDemona into putting up a Clan Olympics team this year, but she turned me down, and also chatted with people in general, which is always a fun thing to do at a Gathering.
In the middle of all of this, and preparing for a couple of the games, I heard a guy ask what this was all about, and wound up face to face with one of the Disney DVD Cameramen. Brain goes on automatic and I just start calmly stating how the Clan Olympics started, what they were all about, and how it all worked…and blabbered about how good the fandom was in general, being so tightly-knit and all. Honestly, I haven't the slightest clue if I actually sounded decent or wound up being a bloated moronic ass about the whole thing. It seemed to last much longer than it did, mainly because of being nervous as Hell...after all, when one could potentially be speaking in front of thousands of people who buy the DVD on December 7th, 2004, one tends to get a bit scared. I can only imagine how Chris Rogers, Hudson, Karine, and anyone else who got interviewed would feel. But what are you going to do, run away? Become silent? Nah, just say what's on your mind and let the viewers in on the fun, and who knows…maybe we'll get a bunch more people in on the Gatherings in the coming years.
Around 5pm or so I manage to track down MAui and we decide to finally look at the room where the Opening Ceremonies are…and that's when everything began to sink in, we were going to steal the show in the middle of everything. Now I know Liz, Anne, and I all planned this ahead of time, and the staff also knew what we were up to. However, as the two of us worked on walking to the sides of the dais in unison and then went through our cue cards, I had one overriding thought going through my head: "They are SO going to kick our ass about this!" When you plan on flinging some 400 balls around a room in front of a live audience and in front of the people hosting the convention you're attending, there was call to be nervous. In about thirty minutes, we both felt somewhat comfortable with what we were doing. Even if we weren't, it was way too late to back out now.
I run up to grab the ball pit, MAui grabs the sunglasses, and we take our seats at the back of the room, and when Liz spoke the pre-determined trigger words, we slowly walked up, circular cue cards in hand, and just lurked on either side of the dais table. We take one look at one another, give the thumbs up sign like a pair of blues brother-and-sister, with some Matrix-like flair, and we hold up the first cards…and then drop them to reveal our first words. I didn't expect the crowd to react like they did, but they genuinely seemed to like what we did.
I introduced the teams for the Clan Olympics, and they all came on up, cheered, and whooped it up. Then many of them went into semi-shock when we announced that the first event would be RIGHT NOW. MAui grabbed the Holey Shirts, and I wheeled the balls to the center back, and before long, everyone was psyched up to do the event, and the crowd got to see first hand what this was all about. In two minutes it was over, and we were counting things, determining the first team to be on the chopping block. We took our "victims" out of the room and said "we now return you to your regularly-scheduled Opening Ceremonies…" I think the audience and staff really liked it…and then our first eliminated team began to smile when MAui and I let them in on the secret that they would be able to come back as "Spirits" and haunt the surviving teams.
After briefing the Dark Knights about their new role, I went back into the Opening Ceremonies and watched Greg Weisman speak about the whole Gargoyles phenomenon and he shared with us the original pitches for the show, pitches for some other shows, and audio tapes of Ed Asner, Greg Guler, and a few others. Another treat was an audio tape of the Atlantis series, which had Demona in it…and for some strange reason it sounded a lot like an erotic fantasy…but then again I think my mind was in the gutter…as were others. At the end of the presentation, the message was pretty clear: tell friends about Gargoyles, let them, know that the DVD comes out on December 7th, and that this is the last chance to push it…make or break time. The Opening Ceremonies concluded and MAui and I presented Greg with eight bars of Godiva Chocolate, since no team won that prize, and there was more than enough to go around.
I flitted about with the convention goers for another hour and a half or so, met a lot more people and was able to pal around some more before needing to pick up everything for the second Clan Olympics event. I managed to sneak in on the tail end of Jade Griffin's "Mystery Gargoyles Theatre 3000", an event which I wish I had attended because I LOVE that sort of thing. However, there was more work to do…fun work mind you, but still work. Got about half of the ballroom cleared out and set up our "Shot in the Dark" shooting gallery. The first quartet of Spirits made their way into the darkened room, grinning evilly, and were anxiously awaiting their first opportunity to mess with Clan Challanged: Part Duex…the team that refused to save them from elimination.
The surviving teams found out that the Dark Knights had crossed over to the Dark Side of the games, and were going to be trying to keep them from scoring points. The twist seemed to work quite well for that event, and it was enjoyable. People were throwing Koosh Balls around, the Squishy Soccer Balls saw some action…one guy was whipping them clear across the room and hitting targets…a real deadeye there. In the end everyone seemed to enjoy it, and the Defective Gargoyles got eliminated, Clan Challanged refusing to save anyone again. That's how the cookie crumbles, and they seemed to have some evil plans set up for the next event, which would take place the next morning.
Alright, survived the first day of Gathering, made it through the first two events, and things are going great. Everyone is having a good time, I'm feeling pretty damn good at the moment, and aim to find something to do. Originally wanted to do the Blue Mug-A-Guest, because I never really got a chance to do it before…wasn't going to happen this time around because the room there was PACKED, you couldn't even open the door…I knew this from Shaun, who was sitting propped up against the wall, waiting to deliver a VCR to the con suite. It was right then and there that I realized that I hadn't eaten a damn thing since last night. That was bright….so I'm looking around for people who hadn't gone to sleep or out to see Montreal at night, wind up saying hi to the crew in MAui's room, asked someone to walk with me to Tim Horton's…just didn't comfortable walking alone at night in the city, even one as nice and clean as Montreal…my New York City heritage rearing its ugly head.
Originally, no one was able to join me, so I wandered about, tried the "Liquid Dinner" thing and realized that wasn't going to work all that well…I really needed someone to walk with, and share dinner with. Countess then decided to join me, and I was very grateful for that. Got a chance to get to know someone new, and found out she lives in Montreal, which was good to know. We also talked about my past, explained where I came from, how I got to be, and all that…mainly just rambling, but she either really enjoyed getting to know the man behind Abram, or was just humoring me for the hell of it. In any case, I was appreciative for the company, and we left back for the hotel with much milk in hand, a rarity at most conventions.
Countess went to bed, I wished the Arcadian Room goodnight, and I plodded back up to my room, and ran into Kythera, whom I gave my last chocolate milk to…she's a major fan of the stuff like I am. ^_^ We shared a milk and some tired friendly grunts and words, and then decided to collapse…Shaun was already in bed, and the VCR was in tow. Flanker and Mike soon made their way back and we all finally wound down for some much-needed rest….

Saturday, August 7th - Breakfasts of Champions, Spirits, Pictionary, and Shyness.

At conventions, you don't sleep…it really doesn't matter if you're on the Convention Staff or are a Program Presenter, or if you're new to these get-togethers. Either you have something to do or somewhere to be, or you actually want to be up early to enjoy being with friends for as long as possible. At Gatherings, I'll happily wake up at 8am, or even seven or six in the morning if it meant hanging out with good people. So when that alarm rang I was all ready to go, and had all my stuff ready to go for the next Clan Olympics event.
Ran down to Arcadia Room to grab MAui, who was still asleep, so I simply went ahead to set up for Trivia Torture, the third event for the weekend. The first people who entered the auditorium were the members of the Green Dragons: Sapphire, Chameleongirl, Karlyl, and Kyffin. I don't know what it was, but that really made my morning when they came in and took their seats. Of course I was still setting up, running late like I usually did. MAui soon joined us, and then my co-host and I set everything else up as the other teams filed in for the Trivia Torture, with Billy grinning like a constipated evil genius behind me.
The event was pretty well-received, especially the torture part of it. MAui and I took turns reading the questions and teams scrambled to "Buzz In" by writing their answers on pads and hoisting them into the air as quickly as possible. Bonus cards were picked by teams, who earned points, all while ripping off targets from their opponents. Lanny actually came up and grabbed a pair of cards, which put another member of his team on the chopping block, and then he picked the "Abram 1-up", which put ME on the chopping block with his two hapless teammates. In the end, one of the 2005 Con Staff got her hair colored, Lanny got to enjoy toothpaste with an orange juice chaser, and I discovered the culinary perfection which is Godiva Chocolate dunked in Montreal's Finest Bleu Cheese Dressing. It wasn't all that bad, except for the whole chocolate and salad dressing part…I think there are some blackmail pictures floating around of me with this horrible disgusted look on my face as I choked my punishment down.
We're all having a grand all time, eating toothpaste and orange juice, sucking down Godiva and Bleu Cheese, and spray-painting our hair for a good hour, and it came down to the Green Dragons and Arcadia International. Both teams had a major shot of winning this event until one of the Spirit Teams decided to screw over the Dragons…which didn't sit well with them. (Frankly, I don't blame them). Since I already laid down the ground rules on Friday I really couldn't do much about it without upsetting someone, so like an yutz I let it stand. The last thing I ever want to do is upset people, so seeing the event end on such a sour note made me feel bad…things got smoothed over a bit after a while, and at the very least I know that rules will need to be streamlined a bit better. Live and learn, I suppose. Also have to make it clear that the games are spectator-friendly; people -can- come in and watch the proceedings and root teams on. That was one of my "Stupid Guy Moments."
I spent some time wandering around the convention afterwards, checking out the artwork in the show and looking at the dealer's room booths. Took some time to vote on the art show awards and place my ballots out. A lot of excellent illustrations this year, it was hard to pick winners for all the categories that were given. I did the best I could and went ahead and voted for what I thought deserved it, only way to do it, really. Oogled over Liz's artwork, marveled at Karlyl's, and Jade Griffen's…and Karine's and Talyesin's…so much wonderful work, so little time. Maybe next year, if I keep myself on schedule, I'll have the first of my "Talon-Etched" pots to throw into the mix. However, illustration still remains a medium that I continue to admire, and give praise for where it's deserved…and practically everyone in that show did.
It was about this time that MAui and I walked up to Eaton Centre to try to find those elusive Cheap Plastic Gold Medals, but we merely wound up finding chintzy crap that didn't suit our needs. Kind of sucked, but what can you do? It was a good walk, anyway. MAui went to Tim Horton's, and I went back to the hotel to prepare for the next event, and to regroup a bit.
Really Difficult Pictionary was a hit at the 2002 Convention, and this year I happened to be extra evil and got some true doozies for our surviving teams to sketch out. I think the best score was 4 out of 10, so I felt a little guilty about that, but not too much guilt since everyone had an awesome time. The "Secret Bonus Event" was revealed as a version of the "Three Strikes" game from the Price is Right…and a bit of "Press Your Luck" thrown in for that. I'm a sucker for game show references. In the end, it was Arcadia International, the Mexinadians, Clan Challanged: Part Deux, and Team Canadian Body Massage going to the final four…and they got their Collection Bins to prove it. The Final Four got a chance to decorate their boxes with team logos and pictures. "Poutine Grande" is an image that will be etched into my head for the rest of my life…and one of these days I will serve Poutine in a Taco Shell to Top Man, whom I believe was the person who dreamed up of that monstrosity. Funny thing is, it might actually taste pretty good…stranger culinary feats have occurred, after all.
Robert and Flanker asked if they could do the rest of the Really Difficult Pictionary sets and MAui agreed to it. I busied myself throwing out paper and trash that had been amassed by our drawing antics…when I got back up there they were still at it…and Robert celebrated in his ability to get all ten of his clues in the four-minute time limit. Either a sense of pointless pride or a need to be included overrode me and I stepped up to the drawing board…and also managed to get 10 out of 10, and in slightly less time, proving that I can play the games as well as organize and make them up. There were some 30 or so people in La Terrence playing Pictionary and having a blast, that was the main point of the whole thing, and the spirit of the games definitely seemed to be with us.
Just as we finished cleaning up our mess and putting back huge pads did Talyesin call out and ordered us all to the auditorium for the Radio Play, something I was looking forward to. In 1998, I actually auditioned for Greg's radio play and got a minor role (which eventually led me to find out more about Spike than I bargained for…one of the funnier convention memories I hold, but that's for another Gathering Diary). However, I haven't quite worked up the courage to try out for another one yet, and Clan Olympics takes up a big chunk of my time anyway. One year I may go for another Radio Play role. When I got into the auditorium, I was actually pretty glad I wasn't part of the play, but only for the reason that the entire front area in front of the seats was PACKED.
There were some 30 roles in this year play, and it was based on "The Journey" I believe…everyone did an excellent job, especially Talyesin as Goliath, and the guy who played Vinnie. A lot of other friends were involved, and honestly every last one of them really made it a success. The whole thing kicked major butt, and being a spectator to it was a great break from all of the running around. Already looking forward to what will happen at the next radio play.
I was invited to dinner by the Arcadia Clan…those whom I remember the names to are MAui (of course), Arno, Beedoo!, Dubble, Countess, and Robert, those whose names I don't remember, I'm sorry…but if you tell me, I -will- edit this. ;) We all took the trek to St. Catherine's and eventually found the Hard Rock Café of Montreal…in the middle of an open-air street festival which was rocking and hopping. We all got some inside seats and socialized to the music. I scratched Beedoo!, chatted with Robert, and laughed as Arno suggested a line of T-shirts based on his "Evil Makes Me Sad" T-Shirt (if you haven't seen this shirt, you MUST…it's really adorable!)…stuff like "Evil Makes Me Happy!" and "Evil Makes me Mad!"…then out of nowhere, there was "Evil Makes Me Want to Pee!" which gave most of us some really messed up mental images. We all enjoyed various dinner items, I had the pulled pork sandwich, because I was craving it…and we passed around a napkin cartoon a few times. MAui, Robert, Arno and I exchanged evil genius faces. It was a great dinner with some awesome friends, I just wished I could have shared similar dinners over the other nights, but I tend to forget to eat at Gatherings…
On the way back to the hotel, Robert spotted a Laser Quest arena and had to stop to check rates. He had this really great idea of getting a group of Gargoyles Fans together after closing ceremonies and basically take over the Laser Quest for three games. Hell, I'm all for it…I even played in that very arena waaaay back in April of 1997 with Melissa, Mae Li, Karine, Adrianna, Dark One, and others at the original Montreal Mini-Gathering. I wasn't going to miss this one for the world! We started to plot for that and get the word out that night during the costume ball.
At this point, I went up to my room to start working on part of the surprise I had in store for the Convention Staff…it was hard at first to put words to paper, but I think what I ultimately wrote was honest and heartfelt, but more on that later. Half of the ballroom I spent in the hotel room, struggling to deal with a slight panic attack…I tend to get very shy at times…I can get up and act like a total putz in front of a bunch of people when it needs to be done, like the Clan Olympics, but when I try to do such things for myself, I tend to not be able to…but this time around I was able to spend about half of the time actually wandering around and socializing a bit…especially with Flanker, Gorebash, Arno, and a few others that were in attendance.
Gorebash and I had a very nice conversation; we caught up with one another and told each other what we were up to. He's a guy whom I always considered a good friend, but never got much of a chance to hang out with. Come to think of it, a lot of people I consider friends I don't hang out with much…already working to correct that, bit by bit. One of the things I would love to do in the early fall is get a few Gathering folks together and do a wine tasting and brunch, and maybe even do a Spring Get-Together as well…bring back the Mini-Gatherings…there's no reason to not attempt them, really…and call me overly-nostalgic, I would love to see at least a few people more than just once a year.
During the early part of the ball I got a chance to listen to Keith David sing, and ran into his wife and his kids, but didn't realize it until he/they introduced me. Last time I saw Mr. David was in 1997, where he spoke with Karine and I…another very fond memory. He now has a beautiful family and is such an accomplished actor in many mediums. It was an honor and a pleasure to see him again after seven years. We spoke briefly about Gathering with a few others, and Flanker discovered his enjoyment of swordplay, which made his face light up…always a great thing.
After a rocky start of the evening it turned out to be quite a nice night after all. I managed to stay downstairs longer than I anticipated, it felt comfortable, and I was among people I cared about. I got to see some wondrous costumes; including Laurean as Tom and Kaylee as Princess Catherine, both were beautiful. Karine and Cindy did a perfect Pregnant Fox and Titania. There were some excellent gargoyle costumes also around, and someone even went as Echidna…I will always have a soft spot in my heart for snake women, and the people who have the talent and gumption to dress up as them. Karaoke was also fun, and some people in this fandom have truly beautiful voices. I remember one young lady on stage singing her heart out…and her mother hid behind Gorebash and me so she wouldn't be spotted…she wanted to hear her daughter sing, and that was really cool in my eyes, a mother supporting her daughter like that.
Eventually things started to wind down and we began to wander off to our separate ways. I tried finding Hudson's room to hang out and challenge Kaelyan to a round of Soul Calibur II, but failed to locate him. Next year, or next time he comes down to my place, his ass is mine. (Yes, that's a challenge…^_~) I stopped by the Arcadian Room and said my goodnights, and then wandered about the hotel for a little while longer, just taking in the beauty of it…visualizing all of us in our Station Eight Gargoyle Personas, lounging against rafters, relaxing and just hanging out in general. It was a real good visual to end the third night in Montreal. I found my room shortly after, and sleep soon found me…

Sunday, August 8th - The Hunt Is On, time to Get Zappy…

Had to wake up extra early this morning to get the final preparations for the Hunter's Moon Dash done and over with…needed to talk to the manager of the pool area and get her permission to hide the ball pit and MAui there, which she did, so that was cool. Went down to the gift shop and gave the clerk there one of the squishy soccer balls to put up "for sale"…and she did a truly wonderful job in displaying it rather inconspicuously. A few teams caught sight of it before the event, but didn't realize what was going on until later. Last night I sorted ball pit balls, taking out all but three yellow ones from the ball pit, and putting the rest in a container in a visible, but out of the way place. Also planted the shiny bags and the Sack Of DOOM tickets around, as well as giving more to the spirits. The last Clan Olympics event…finally!
Our teams filed into the terrace area with their decorated boxes, which overall I think was a great idea. There was a lot of spirit and excitement involved and it was going to culminate in the mad dash around the hotel looking for things like floor mats, plungers, diapers, and other assorted weird stuff. MAui and I did some last-minute plotting, and Flanker came strolling in with his "Billy For President" box, and my navy comforter! He must have overheard something, but he didn't get away with it…I took the blanket from him and told him to play nice. Gave him credit for trying though…and got to admit; seeing Billy plastered all over his container was quite funny. All of the boxes were wonderfully done, too…still like the 404 Error message drawn on the Arcadian Box also.
As the final team members made their way into the starting area, MAui ran off to take her position poolside on the 4th floor, which was right in view of the elevators. I briefed the Arcadians, Body Massagers, Mexinadians, and Challanged clans about the rules, and how everything was going to go down. I answered questions, and the tension and excitement mounted…and then the 45-minute countdown began and the Arcadians were off…the other three teams left within two and a half minutes of one another, intent on finding everything first.
Things were going well and good and rather mundane as teams collected the easier of the items, and then the Arcadians went on a tear on Bonus Items! I remember Arno and Dubble leading Karine to their box and getting her to stand in it for the full half-minute required for their big bonus. I wish I had taken a picture of that, because that moment was rather funny. Arno found my 2 by 4 in the Dealer's Room and sprinted it back to his box, and that was followed by a couple of squishy balls and a bunch of business cards. All the while, even the teams who weren't doing as well seemed to have a blast searching for all this stuff, and I think the gift shop lady took a shine to us when she began selling little souvenir birds and shot glasses. The 45 minutes was over way too soon, and it was time to tally up the scores…I think everyone knew that Arcadia International dominated the event and won the whole thing, but I didn't want to make the official announcement until the Closing Ceremonies. Besides, I still needed to find Cheap Plastic Medals somewhere in Montreal!
After cleaning up and thanking the hotel staff for their cooperation, I met up with Mike Cohen and Sarah the Great to go out for some lunch, and to search for the objects of my need. We headed over to the train station, and while Mike and Sarah ate their brunch I ran over to Staples and asked the clerks there if they had anything that resembled medals or even award ribbons. No luck; no medals, no ribbons…not even extra lanyards. I got stressed out a little, but then saw a bunch of metallic markers and decided to go even cheaper than plastic…this year, we would be giving out Cheap Cardboard Discs That Vaguely Resemble Medals! I bought my stuff, and some Instant Lotto and ran back to my two companions…chugging down some chocolate milk with them. Again, not choosing to eat all that much because really, I just don't tend to eat at conventions…too excited/nervous to eat anyway.
I managed to get back to the hotel just in time for another session of Phoenix Gate Anthology signings. Christine ushered me to a table and immediately had me sign books. I don't think I'll ever get used to the concept of people actually wanting my autograph, but the feeling of being able to do that for someone, and see them smile meant a lot to me. Perhaps it's a sign that I do decent to good work, or maybe it means I may be moderately famous someday. Who the heck knows? Still, to be able to express a thank you to both people who are very close friends to me, and to people whom I don't know as well, but consider me a peer and a comrade, that's just plain cool.
Keith David's Mug-A-Guest was in the same room as the Phoenix Gate Anthology Signing, which made me very happy because I thought I was going to miss all of the speakers this weekend. I knew I had some other stuff to do before the Closing Ceremonies, but I was going to at least spend half an hour in there! Listening to this man speak and give his reflections on show business, Gargoyles, and life in general was an absolute joy. That's one of the biggest things that stand out at this convention; the celebrities we have tend to not only be famous, but really down to earth…you feel comfortable around them, and I believe that notion is mutual. Greg Weisman, Keith David, Thom Adcox, Greg Guler…all of these men treat their fans with a great deal of respect, which makes it so much easier to give THEM respect and adoration. That is one of the biggest things that makes The Gathering such a special convention to me.
I really wanted to stay for the entire Keith David Mug-A-Guest, but I needed to get going and do what I needed to do. There were medals to be made and I didn't want to go into Closing Ceremonies empty-handed. (I really should have that backup plan ahead of time…) I ran into Sapphire and Chameleongirl during my little medal-creating project and we plotted to do some Gamecube action that night. We've been wanting to do that this weekend, and Liz wanted in on it, and anyone else was welcome to join too. So we set that up for right after Laser Quest, which I had already promised Rob and others that I would join in on. Even on the last official day of the Gathering so much was going on!
Kaylee, Ian and I snuck up to the Con Suite to carry out The Evil Plan: About two months before the convention I had decided to bring up a spread of Godiva Chocolate, Mint Tins, wines and other goodies, and put a thank you card in the center. It was going to be small at first, but it wound up being some 36 bars of chocolate, 20 tins of mints, three bottles of wine and a bottle of Godiva White Chocolate liquor. After putting forth so much effort and hard work, the staff really did deserve to be treated to something nice. Truth be told, a couple weeks before I almost chickened out on this, fearing it would be taken the wrong way…but sometimes, you need to throw caution to the wind and go with your inner nature. I was just very relieved that Kaylee managed to get the room key from Karine, for I believe she was the only one left in the dark by the time the surprise was to be revealed! We set up the spread in a nice presentation, and then left…it was now out of my hands.
Before long it was time to go to the Closing Ceremonies and everyone who was left was there. Karine takes the podium and begins to speak in French, which was a fitting way to kick things off. Not sure if that was planned or not, but it worked very well. I was going to toss out the three squishy soccer balls to the crowd for keepsakes, and CrzyDemona took one…which I didn't mind one bit…the Gathering Staff deserved a stress ball, after all. Cindy got up to speak and present the awards for the Art Show…and many of the people I voted for got ribbons, including Kythera, Karlyl, Stormy, Jade Griffin, and many others, all of whom deserved those rounds of applause and praise.
Chris Rogers began to talk about Gathering 2005, and MAui and I managed to get up and semi-interrupt him to declare the winners of the 2004 Clan Olympics. Arcadia International seemed surprised that they won by such an overwhelming margin, but they worked their butts off for that Cheap Cardboard Disc with Gold Writing on It. We did have another prize for them as well: MAui and I made Clan Olympics "We Kick Tail!" T-shirts for the four Gold Medal Winners, so Arno, Dubble, Robert, and Beedoo! (I think) got to take those home. We also announced that we would be doing another Clan Olympics in Las Vegas, which made a lot of people very happy. I know most of the participants this time around want to do it again. Overall, I think we did a decent job of putting it all together, and it was very gratifying to know that a lot of fun was had.
Keith David came in late in the closing ceremonies to sit in on them, which was welcomed without any hesitation, and he stuck around to sign autographs and artwork. It was at this point that I pre-registered for Gathering 2005 (for if I don't go, I'll probably never hear the end of it.) and was about ready to go back to my room for a bit when Kythera presented me with one of her limited edition prints, which really touched me: it was of Goliath kneeling on a pillar…and since Keith David was there, I asked her if she would have him sign it…and she agreed! This piece of artwork will be framed…done by a great artist and co-signed by a great actor. My thanks goes out to you, Kyt-Sis…in spades…and hearts, clubs, and diamonds too. That print will be on my walls for years to come, a fond memory of a great time.
We were talking and chatting and having a good time, happy that the convention was a success, and out of the blue CrzyDemona hugged me, thanking me for the spread in the Con Suite…this was followed by a hug from Karine, which was another one of those "Floor Me Moments." A lot of thoughts were running through my mind, but in the end I hugged back and accepted it for the thank you it was, and nothing more. Give credit where credit is due, and reward those who do a job well done. At the very least, I'm glad it wasn't taken the wrong way, and that it was accepted and genuinely appreciated.
After a rather lengthy meeting with the 2005 Gathering Staff and Attendees, it was time to go and get ready for Laser Quest, but not before running up to my room with Hudson to grab the last of the Godiva for Keith David. Felt rather bad that all he got was two measly bars, but I handed over the last double-box of Pocky I had, which went over great with his kids. He introduced me to his family, and sadly I can only remember the name of one of his younger daughters: Mae Li. I spoke to Beth Maza about this, and she still doesn't believe me. She'll just have to come to Vegas and hear it for herself. I also relayed the message to Mr. David that he was welcome to join us as Laser Quest, an idea which he seemed real keen on…so I gave him directions to the place on St. Catherine's and the first part of the group trekked on up.
I decided to wait up for Keith, because I had a little bit of doubt in my directions. A young lady stuck around with me, whose name I currently cannot remember (sorry!) stood by and chatted for a while, discussing fandom matters and how much both of us liked the convention. After about 45 minutes of waiting we both figured that Keith either went up to his room, went to spend time with his family, or went ahead to Laser Questing not knowing people were there to walk with him. No problem, the two of us managed to get up to the arena, and only one game had been played, so I found a guy who didn't want to play anymore, so I paid him eight bucks and took his place.
Hudson had begun dividing out teams for the next too games, placing all of his Quake Buddies and other good shots on his team and lumping the rest of us on "The Other Team". This was going to be an ass-handing, no doubt about it…but it was still fun. The first of the two games was just a simple points-based battle, and I spent most of my time doing the uber-slow Terminator (Governater?) walk around the maze, tagging people I could find…was proud that I hit Hudson and Chris a couple of times, and they returned the favor. I also probably hold the record for the most times barreling into a wall or obstacle in a span of fifteen minutes, got the bruises and scrapes to prove it.
The second game was called "Queen and King", where hitting the other team members didn't matter, and one woman and man on our team had a limited number of lives. Jade Griffin was our Queen and Flanker was our King, and we did our best to keep them safe. I wound up trying to follow Robert and Dubble as kind of this Secret Service like group, but managed to fall behind and then get lost. I'm hearing laser fire, and shouting KING!! KING!!! QUEEN!! However I was wandering around looking like a complete doofus. Still managed to tag a bunch of people though, but our team lost by a mere five points, not that this surprised me. In the end I was happy with finishing solidly in the middle of the pack of Laser Questers.
Having a Mario Party and Mario Kart date with Sapphire, Chameleongirl, and others, I decided to hightail it out on my own and make my way back to the hotel, and ran into Riverdale along the way, where we just talked…mainly about voice work, how we were linked to the fandom, and a bunch of other things. He eventually joined us in the GameCube partying that followed.
The video game goodness started in my hotel room when Sapphire brought over her controllers, games, and Karlyl, Chameleongirl, and others…Liz and her friend Matt(?) soon followed, and Ethan Gilchrist also joined in on the fun. We started out with Mario Party 5, just Sapphire and I, and then Chameleongirl and Ethan joined in on the second game. Just short contests, but Mario Party is a game where everyone can just pick up and play and have a good time. Chameleongirl never played Gamecube in her life, and she wound up winning, which was hilarious. Also remember teaming up with her in a pinball mini-game where we outscored the competition by about 36,000 to 3,000…so Chameleongirl, you may be my pinball partner any day!
After Mario Party, Shaun wanted to go to sleep, I don't blame him….so we attempted to move the game system into Sapphire's room, only to be foiled by a protected coaxial cable guard….damn those hotel safeties, trying to force us to pay for crappy, outdated video games! Not daunted, we moved into Lanny and Riverdale's room, and the Mario Karting commenced! I found out just how good Liz is at handling a little cartoon kart, and her friend was even better…I think I placed third in most of the races behind them, so practice is in order during the off-season. Karlyl and Riverdale took turns as well, and this elicited the next great quote: "I'm sucking the hind teat, noshing the nether nipple."
It sent three racers into the wall with laughter if memory serves me right.
As the party wound down we put in Bloody Roar: Primal Fury just to check out the "Jiggle Factor" on some of the female characters…which got a bunch of laughs. At this point, I'm beginning to wonder how Jenny the Bat can walk straight now. It was a great end to the whole thing…and it felt good to be able to share such moments with friends. I spend most of my working time talking about video games, and usually only play them in the privacy of my home, alone. Doing the whole party thing really kicked major butt…and I think I'll pack the 'Cube for Vegas. Sapphire, if you're up to this, let me know. ^_^
Being Sunday night, I decided to get a jump on packing up the car. I took all of the ball pit balls down to my Neon and packed them away, threw out all of the cardboard discs that I didn't need anymore, saving the one Kythera drew upon. The only things left of mine in the room was my suitcase and satchel…everything else was packed in ahead of time just to streamline everything for tomorrow. As I trekked half-asleep to and from my car I greeted other exhausted Garg fans and said my goodbyes to some, whom were either leaving tonight or tomorrow morning. Also stopped by the Arcadians' Room one last time to say my goodbyes there, for I think most/all of them were not going to go to LaRounde Monday Morning. It was a joy to be able to hang out with MAui, Robert, Arno, Beedoo!, Countess, Dubble, and the rest of them this year…felt like I grew closer to them this time around. I really liked the ArCanadians music disc I received from them…which has gone into my morning drive rotation.
Anyhoo, there was sleep to be had and I tottered up to get to bed…and realized I was only the second guy in the room. Flanker comes in a little while later, and then Mike joins the room last…this marks the last night of the first time in a long while that I slept in the same room with three other grown men. I remained awake just a little while longer, taking in what had gone on in the last three days, and could confidently say that I would never trade times like this for anything. The best part was that it wasn't over quite yet…

Monday, August 9th - Back South…

Sooner or later it has to end, but it was going to end on a high note. Flanker, Mike, Shaun and I all woke up a little earlier than normal to get ready for checkout. I wandered around a bit to say my goodbyes to people who were not going to make the trip to LaRounde, trying to hit everyone I possibly could. I know I missed a fair number of people, especially Arno, MAui, and the rest of the Arcadian Crew. Eventually we got the car packed, I gave up my key to Shaun and he checked us all out. The Delta Center-Ville was probably one of the finest hotels I've have the opportunity to stay in, Gathering or not.
We all met in the lobby and soon gathered up in a pack to head toward the Metro station that would lead us all to Six Flags: LaRounde. The group in part consisted of Karine, Cindy, Liz, Talyesin, Kyffin, Sapphire, Chameleongirl, Shaun, Sarah, Laurean, Trishana, Patrick, Christine, Becca, Seri, and Top Man. I know there were more, but I can't remember the names, just plain bad at that sort of thing. We rode a few Metro cars and made it to the buses that would take us all to the amusement park. There were photos taken, laughter, happiness, and just a general feeling of less stress. The convention was officially over, but hanging out was still to be had.
LaRounde was the only major disappointment for me, sad to say. The park looked beautiful, but there just weren't any rides that I could fit into, which was strange because I could do a lot more when I went there a few years ago, and was heavier. I won't bash on LaRounde though, for it was one of the nicer parks I've had the chance to walk through. I took in the scenery and the watched the people, talked to a few of them. I played a few carnival games, and gave my plushies to some of the younger kids who were trying to win but couldn't. I have no need for stuffed plush roses anyway, and it was a nice thing to do. Also got a chance to play Outrun 2, which kicked major tail…but I didn't get on the Dance Dance Revolution Machine. I had told Sapphire that I would do DDR with her at some point…so I gotta get into better shape, and make sure I don't have a multitude of blisters on my feet because that will be something I'll need to make good on in Las Vegas, or in Florida, depending on how my vacationing plans go.
Overall, everyone kind of went their separate ways at Six Flags…I know a few of the convention staff members kicked out early, and I don't blame them one bit after all the work they've done. Others just got tired of the lines and decided to go home, and some of us stayed until about 5pm, Shaun, Sarah, and myself were a part of that number….we took pictures of the stragglers in our group in general and we parted ways. It was overall a decent trip, though I was a pretty miffed that I didn't actually get to ride anything. But hey, I got my exercise in spades and still managed to have a decent time. We rode back on the metro and were guided by one of the Montrealers, and during the ride I met a guy who knew where Penn Yan, New York was, which was neat…small world. We made it back to the hotel and at about 6:30pm we were on our way back to my place.
The trip back to New York State was filled with a lot of talk about various fandom ideals, political banter, mental issues and general silliness. Though we were all pretty tired so half of it was only semi-coherent. I had to get some gas before getting too far into the Quebec countryside, and it was the only time I had to gas up in Canada…score! We ate at Wendy's right inside the Ontario Province border and talked yet some more. The rest of the ride was just general rest, and me concentrating on driving until we hit the Duty Free store right before the United States…we had to stop. I grabbed a dozen Cadbury Flake bars, some Canada Flag stickers to torture my boss with, a shotglass, and a bottle of Godiva White Chocolate Liquor…figured this time I wouldn't be so tempted to give it away.
During our slow-moving line to customs we joked around and laughed quite a bit, and I forgot how to drive in the process, which was met with much embarrassment from me, but it got a good laugh out of Sarah and Shaun. Absent-Minded Professor genes are good for something. We talked to the U.S. Customs Officer and he asks us the standard questions and he actually recognized the show Gargoyles…I think we chatted up the convention and told him to go buy the DVD of the First Season, which is coming out on December 7th. He laughed and waved us through to United States Roadways. We hit another gas station, got more caffeinated beverages and motored down Route 81…hitting the Thruway a couple of hours later.
At this point we're pretty punchy: Shaun is snoozing in the back seat, and Sarah is keeping me awake by rambling about Yu-Gi-Oh!, which I counter with rambling about story ideas, both fan fiction based and original. It also helped that the road was mostly in a straight line. We finally get to the home stretch half past midnight and we begin to play "Spot the Mennonite", which we both lost because they were all probably sleeping. Pulling in at about 1am, we made good time overall…only we woke up the dogs, which started barking…oh well, they missed us after being gone for nearly five days. I set up the inflatable bed for Shaun, the downstairs hide-a-bed in the den was already made up for Sarah, and we were all ready for some well-needed sleep.
I spent a little time on the computer to read up on my e-mail that I missed, just to make sure I didn't miss anything major at work. Go into Station Eight and wind up bumping into Mai "Beth Maza" Li, who began to ask all about the convention. If there is one person I absolutely can't turn down speaking to, it's her. So we chatted a bit, Shaun put in his remarks and this kept going for at least an hour. Sleep depravation was finally get a hold of me, and I cut out. It was great to sleep in my own bed again…heck, it was going to be great to get more than four hours of sleep in general. When it comes to Gatherings, though, sleep depravation is very worth it, especially when it comes to seeing friends whom you usually only see once a year.

Tuesday, August 10th - It's Gotta End Sometime…

Waking up at 10am never felt so good, and I was still in short-sleep mode, so I felt really great. Shaun and Sarah were still sleeping so I took the time to sneak out and grab some eggs, ham, cheddar cheese, shredded potatoes and bacon…we already had bagels. I decided to prepare omelets, bacon, bagels, basically a classic Sunday Brunch style breakfast, only it was Tuesday…oh well, it was the Day Before Having to Go Back to Work Brunch. We all sat around our kitchen bar top, eating our eggs, bacon, hash browns, and drinking orange juice, just enjoying the last day together.
Sarah was the first to leave, we all grabbed her car and then I led her to the shortcut road I took to get to the Thruway in the first place…she honked, we honked…bye bye Sarah the Great. That left Shaun and me to go back to my house and prep up for his trip to the airport. We hung out in general for another hour before packing his remaining stuff in the car and heading toward Rochester International Airport. We popped in the South Park Soundtrack and half-smiled, half sang along, and Shaun eventually put in another Weird Al compilation, with Amish Paradise blaring as we passed Mennonites…the windows were closed though, unlike the customs crossing into Canada.
I stopped by Michael's Arts and Crafts to pick out a frame for the "Pillar" print that Kythera gave me, and picked out something in a black, dark purple and silver…that should be done in a couple of weeks, and it will hang in my room/apartment/house for the rest of my days. After that relatively short trip I got Shaun up to the airport. He and I hugged, I told him to have a safe trip, and he disappeared into the airport terminal. That was it; the last person I knew from Gathering was on his way home and I was a solitary Gargoyles Fan once more…at least until I got home to go online again. Another Gathering, my fifth, was now officially a very fond memory, and now there's just about 11 months until the next Gathering in 2005…in Las Vegas. I had been asked with MAui to do the Clan Olympics next year…which I will gladly take up the ball pit balls for. Who knows what else will happen…as long as I'm with a group of wonderful friends, in a great location, knowing does it really matter all that much?

See everyone in 2005!

And You Thought It Was Over…

When I came into the Gargoyles Fandom in October of 1996, I had the
long-standing belief to give credit where it is due. This is no different.

I would like to thank the 2004 Gathering staff for a job extremely well done. Karine, Rob, Brenda, Patrick, Jen, Ian, Shaun, Liz, Laurean, Cindy, Carol…all of you pulled together one of the most elegant and classy Gatherings yet, and for that you have my gratitude, respect, appreciation, and an overabundance of chocolate. Liz, thank you especially for working with MAui and me on the Clan Olympics, we couldn't have done it without you. Brenda and Ian, thank you so much for co-conspiring with me on "Evil Plan #1", I'm happy it worked out as well as it did.

To my two travel buddies, Shaun and Sarah…thank you for putting up with my crazy rambling and blatant addiction to Instant Lottery. I've always enjoyed road trips, but road trips with friends are that much sweeter. Sarah, it was a joy to meet up with you again, and to share this wild ride with you. Shaun, it has been a pleasure to be able to have you as a companion and friend on this road trip. Thank you both for making the ride up to and back from Montreal a joyous one for me. You are both welcome in my home anytime, and next time, I'll get steaks, I promise.

To Shaun, Mike, and Flanker…rooming with the three of you has been a trip and a half, and I wouldn't trade that for anything in the world. It was a great deal of fun, though Flanker, I'll still have the occasional nightmare about that military cot. I hope I didn't keep any of you up with my snoring, if I did….well, revenge is sweeter in Vegas.

For the Arcadia Clan; thank you for unofficially adopting me this weekend, and having me along on your trip to the Hard Rock Café, and to Laser Quest. Robert, Arno, Beedoo!, Dubble, MAui, Countess, everyone in that wild and crazy bunch, you made me feel more than just welcomed, you made me feel normal…as normal as a Gargoyles Fan could be, anyway. A special thanks to you, Countess, for being a walking companion that night to get some Tim Hortons, that meant a lot to me.

To Sapphire, who helped co-conspire a Sunday Night GameCube Fest, and to Chameleongirl, whom I will play pinball with any day.

Everyone who approached me to sign their Phoenix Gate Anthology, thank you for

Greg responds...

Woo! See, gang! You just can't top a Gathering for good times, good friends, good conversation, etc.

Are YOU registered for G2006 yet? Time is running out!

Response recorded on May 25, 2006

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Ellen writes...

GATHERING JOURNAL, PART TWO

SATURDAY

Those responsibilities asserted themselves a few short hours later, when I got in touch with Spacebabie and Christine, my 10AM panelmates. Christine had family obligations, but Spacebabie was able to join me for breakfast downstairs at 9. We discussed topics we expected to cover during the panel, and a great deal more.

Our panel seemed to keep moving all right, considering that the majority of us in that room had stayed up way past our bedtimes the night before with the Boss and everyone else in the con suite. It was a huge help, of course, to have a con panel veteran such as Christine there. Most importantly, though, the people in attendance seemed to enjoy it. We were up against some stiff competition with the radio play auditions, and I for one am grateful to each person in attendance for helping to make our panel a success.

From there I wandered into the dealer/art room and did my level best to fill in the art ballot as thoroughly as possible. (Who am I kidding? Half the time, I was only guessing while I voted. All of the work was awesome.) I then headed to the live auction. I stayed for almost all of the proceedings, enjoying the fabulous floor show that the auctioneers -- Marc and Rob, were they? -- were putting on. They were witty, smart, and persuasive -- I was all the more willing to bid as a result of their efforts.

Also, during the live auction, I had an opportunity to introduce myself to Karine. And I'm setting this off in its own paragraph for a reason. Folks, I have been pregnant myself. I have been *six months* pregnant myself (as was she at this point). You can ask my husband how much fun I was to be around during that time -- preferably in my absence, if you desire an honest answer. Hauling a small sack of cement around on your front ain't all that comfortable, and it can be very, VERY tiring. Nevertheless, through it all, Karine was unfailingly hardworking, cheerful, attentive, and indefatigable. I found it almost frightening. Whatever kudos, whatever glamour, whatever reward this woman receives from her work on Gathering 2004, no matter how great, will still fall far short. She is superhuman, and we mere mortals are all the richer for it.

From the auction I wandered back out to the mezzanine, where I encountered Kathy and Carol Wagner. They encouraged me to go downstairs and talk to the Disney film crew. I was glad I went when I did, because I was able to listen in on Dylan and Stormy's eloquent testimony to the greatness of this series we all know and love. They did the series proud, and I'm looking forward to seeing how much of their can't-miss presentation ends up on the DVD.

On the other hand, this also meant that my own little ramblings had to follow in the wake of their verbal luster. Oh well. My interview was essentially a pleasant chat with David, which is what it should have been. Whether or not I gave him and his crew anything they could use is another matter. If and when I go to the cutting room floor, I'll go happily, knowing that I did my best and, above all, made yet another friendly acquaintance amid the populace of these Gatherings.

I decided that this year I mustn't miss the radio play, and I was glad I went. The players, all cast-of-thousands of them, were individually and collectively brilliant. They put their hearts into every line, and the synergy between them and narrator/director Greg was almost palpable.

Following the radio play, I decided that a little bit of quiet time was in order. Unlike last year, I didn't actually fall asleep (fortunately). I rested comfortably instead, contentedly watching the Yankees-Blue Jays game and the periodic updates of Greg Maddux's ultimately successful bid for his 300th win (life is good). I kept an eye on the clock, and rousted myself when it was time to dress for dinner.

I arrived at the banquet slightly late, but found a place at a table with Kelly, Leo, Alex, and James Anatidae, with whom I was particularly pleased to converse, considering that I hadn't been able to spend time with him otherwise. The food was very good, too.

And then Keith David arrived. How could I do anything but give this gentleman a standing ovation?

(Memo to self: If 30-year high school reunion next year features a karaoke system, make sure no guests of honor are trying to speak in the ballroom next door.)

I said above (and on previous occasions) that I could sit and listen to Greg Weisman talk for hours. Same with Keith David. The gentleman loves to tell stories, and tells them with every inch of his body and every shade of expression in his face. And what a joy it is to watch and listen.

I stayed for the masquerade and cosplay, and was very impressed. Some serious work and talent went into those costumes, and it showed. Loupy/Korul and Becca both were too cute for words. And Flanker, you were drop-dead elegant. I might have to write your Hunter into one of my stories.

I was dismayed to know that I'd miss Allaine singing karaoke if I headed up to the bar for a little quiet time with a few of my other pals, but I was again craving uninterrupted conversation. So off I went with Dylan, Leo, Kelly, Alex, Mercedes, Andrew...

And, well, whaddya know? In walks Mr. David. He sits on our side of the bar and begins chatting amiably with the bartender. I pointed him out to my companions, and Dylan knew exactly what to do. He got up immediately, his hand fishing in his pocket for his wallet, and paid for the maestro's drink. Since Dylan had missed out on the banquet and the subsequent Q&A session, I decided that he deserved a little one-on-one time with Mr. David, and abandoned my urging that he persuade him to join the rest of us. After a while, though, I decided to horn in on the conversation anyway, if only for a minute or two. I went up to them, introduced myself to Mr. David, and chatted for a bit. Our talk touched upon the funeral profession at one point, giving me the opportunity to entertain Mr. David with a brief and thoroughly silly anecdote involving the friend with whom my husband and I would be having dinner several nights later. I'm proud to say that I made the maestro throw his head back and let out a laugh that would have filled the interior of Notre Dame de Paris.

Not long after that, the bar closed, Mr. David retired for the night, and the rest of us meandered back downstairs to check out the proceedings, such as they were at that point.

It was then that I found the opportunity to thank the Boss for dropping that link on Station 8 to his brother's outstanding baseball blog site, Dodger Thoughts. Then, with tongue planted firmly in cheek, I proceeded to bawl him out in the same breath for giving the name of such a nice guy (viz., his brother) to such a shit-heel (viz., Jon Canmore/John Castaway) in his Gargoyles universe. Hey, it had to be said. ;) I also mentioned how impressed I was that his father was in attendance at the last Cubs World Series (and not as a Tigers fan, either). Let it be said, however, that I chose to avoid *real* controversy, and refrained from bringing up the recent Paul Lo Duca trade.

By the way, Jennifer Anderson has a *beautiful* singing voice.

As things wound down in the ballroom, Kathy, Alex Garg, and Dylan agreed to accompany me to my room for a nightcap. Our conversation ran until 4, at which point I announced that I was on the verge of physical collapse, a sentiment readily seconded by my comrades. We said our good nights and got a few hours of shut-eye.

(To be concluded.)

Greg responds...

Props always go to Karine and Jen and all the other staffers. Staff after staff, year after year, these hard-working people do near-thankless work and always manage to put on a great show!

Response recorded on May 24, 2006

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Alex Garg writes...

Monday, August 9 - The Long Road Home:
I woke up, collected my things and went down to the desk with Denis to check out and make sure Denis was set to spend another day in the room. There were a few communications blocks at first, but Denis used his French to get them cleared up - gotta love those bilinguals. Too bad I spent most of my time in high school on Italian and dead languages (get a Gathering in Italy and I'll be golden).

We all gathered together for breakfast and ended up sitting next to Gorebash and a couple of his friends, though we pretty much kept the conversation within our own groups. Leo split afterwards to catch up with the group heading to Six Flags, and Denis... I don't remember what Denis decided to do, but he went off on his own.

Kelly and I gathered our things, went down to my car and headed off around 10 - getting out of the city was much, much easier than getting in.

With no stops along the way (well, no pick-ups anyway), it was smooth sailing. We hit traffic around Toronto, but fortunately we were staying outside of the city so there was no risk of getting misdirected again. A storm threatened to make things particularly hazardous but it held off long enough for us to get to the QEW and to Hamilton.

Got Kelly back to her place in one piece and didn't stick around for long - cat allergy aside, I was in a mindset to just get to Niagara Falls and relax. Got out of Hamilton without incident and headed on back to the States.

Of course, it wouldn't be a road trip if there was no incident. I ended up following the wrong signs and got lost on the Canadian side of Niagara Falls - nice town, just not where I wanted to be. Eventually I got my bearings and continued on to the correct bridge.

I slowed down on the bridge to take a look at the Falls, which was as close as I would get this trip, and continued on home. I had an interesting conversation with the border guard that, well... I was tired. This is pretty much verbatim:

Guard: Okay, I gotta ask - what do your plates mean?
Me: "Let there be night." It's Latin, motto of a club I belonged to in high school.
Guard: Ah. Okay, citizenship? ~What I heard: Citizenship papers?~
Me: Birth certificate and driver's license.
Guard: No, what country are you from? ~What I heard: What country are you coming from?~
Me: ...Canada...
Guard: ...What's a Canadian doing with Virginia tags?
Me: What? I'm not ~~sudden realization of what he had actually said~~ ...oh! I'm American. Sorry. Yeah, American.
Guard: Carry on.

I got to the hotel about the same time as a crunch of Italian tourists and guests who didn't seem to understand the concept of checking into a hotel, so I opted for a quick dinner while the crowd dispersed. Nothing, and I mean nothing tastes as good as a steak after a long day on the road.

Made it into my room and ordered "Master and Commander" for some post-travel entertainment. As soon as it ended I went to sleep.

Day's mileage: 430
Total mileage: 1,360

Tuesday, August 10 - The Long Road Home Continued:
I woke up around 8:30 and carried myself to the Duty Free Shop to exchange the Canadian currency into ol' Greenbacks as I doubted I'd have another chance after Niagara Falls (another difference between the U.S. and Canada - while you can exchange currency almost anywhere up there, you can only do it at the border and international airports down here). I walked there because the only exit by car was back into Canada, and while I very much enjoyed my time up there I just wanted to go home.

I decided against going to the Falls for three reasons: rain was coming, the crowds were gathering and I just wanted to go. So I left at 10 and began the final leg of the road trip.

It started with my getting turned around in Buffalo. I lost track of the various signs and ended up on I-90 Eastbound. Okay, so, not wanting to go to Albany I turned around, donated $.30 to the state of New York via their toll booths and tried getting home again.

Not much to report for the first part of the trip - just followed the breadcrumbs from the way up. However, if you'll recall the storm that slowed Leo and me down on Wednesday, it would seem lightning can strike twice in the same place. Just before State College and my turn off to I-99, a storm fired up and dropped visibility to zero. It was pretty dramatic - driving rain, lightning all about and cliffs on either side of the windy road, all at speed (nobody felt like slowing down). I made it out of the storm in one piece and well beyond my exit.

By the time I figured out that I had missed my exit I was halfway to I-81, so I decided to carry on. As I mentioned back on Wednesday, Pennsylvania is entirely too big. Oh boy, well, I made I-81 and carried along on to I-70. I had planned on going to I-66 to avoid the traffic, but I was approaching the nine hour mark and didn't want to add another 40 minutes to what was going to end up being a 10 1/2-hour trek, so I braved I-70.

Only when necessary, friends; only take that road when absolutely necessary.

So that path aside I made it home in one piece - although very, very tired. I stayed up just long enough to grab dinner, my only meal that day, and then hit the bed hard.

Day's mileage: 580
Total mileage: 1,940

That's it - all I've got. Thanks for reading through it.

Greg responds...

Thanks for writing it up. How did Leo get home?

Response recorded on May 23, 2006

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Alex Garg writes...

Sunday, August 8 - The Weekend, Pt. 3:
To say that I "woke up" at 6 would be wrong - I merely emerged from a comatose state with limited activity. My shower was only slightly rejuvenating, and the two cups of coffee I had downstairs just barely gave my body animation. Simply put, today started off on only adrenaline and caffeine - truly a Gathering experience.

Well, Gathering and high school.

Anyway, as true consciousness and animation slowly returned to me I made my way to Allaine's round robin panel and an equally exhausted group assembled - Ellen, Allaine, Princess Alexandria, Denis and Spacebabie. We waited a while as Allaine tried to wrestle some more people away from the Gargoyles Biology panel but he was unsuccessful and we got underway.

I had missed Spacebabie's panel on Friday so I wasn't really sure what to expect, but what I didn't expect, though, was that doing an oral round robin would be harder than a typed one; although given my state of body and mind, doing anything that morning requiring more than a passing thought or gesture was challenging. Despite that, the round robin came together and we got a decent story going - then we had to stop.

The dealers' room/art show was the next stop. I put in bids on artwork (I lost all of them) and saw that the PGA signing tables had been set up. Christine was there and let me know that we were finally underway for the book signing, so I joined her. People trickled in at first, not really sure what was going on (some people weren't even aware of the PGA), and after a while more of the authors began to assemble. It was about half an hour before the crowd really gathered and we were signing multiple books at a time.

Being asked for a signature is really a weird experience, especially given my attitudes towards my work, but as long as people think that getting my signature was worth it - fair enough.

I had intended to go to Kathy's workshop, but about the time I was going to step out when the crowds were dying off Keith walked in, so I stuck around. It went well, good Q&A, and in the course of it we signed a PGA copy for him - now that made me nervous. I don't know why, but it just didn't sit well with me.

After Keith's mug-a-guest had ended it was time for Closing Ceremonies - so sad. People had already left, Greg wasn't there, people were still running around; it didn't have the same energy as Opening Ceremonies and was kind of depressing overall, really for the reason that it was the end of the con. I skipped on pre-registering for Vegas - I have no clue if I'll be able to make it, but if it turns out that I definitely won't, I'll put in a supporting membership for sure - and just got in line for Keith. It didn't occur to me until I was in line that I should have brought my Radio Play script from last year for him to sign, so lacking anything Keith/Goliath-related I just had him sign my copy of the PGA - a little quid pro quo signing.

From there I went with Ellen, Allaine, Princess Alexandria, Kelly and Leo to lunch in a deserted food court - good, not great. We chatted about what we all had to look forward to when we went home. On the way back to the hotel Ellen offered to take us up to Mount Royal to look out over Montreal at night. Allaine was going to laser tag so he couldn't make it, and Alexandria opted out. Kelly was undecided up to the last minute when I ambushed her at the hotel restaurant and encouraged her to come.

It was a haul going through Montreal, but it was all so worth it.

Ellen pointed out the various places she remembered from her days in Montreal on our way up, but the fun began when we got to the park. We opted for a back route to the observatory that turned into a nature hike, but there were plenty of other disoriented groups to keep us company as we went up the narrow trails.

Eventually we arrived at our destination and we were not disappointed. Montreal is stunning. Honestly, the staff should have had a trip to this place - it was just so beautiful. We hung around for about an hour or so enjoying the view, but eventually we had to go back so Ellen could catch up with her husband.

We didn't take the scenic route back - nightfall made that an impossible feat - but we did cut through the university (so, okay, a different kind of scenic) as Ellen extended her tour. We stopped off for a drink at an Irish pub for a quick round before we finished the trip, and the stop gave Ellen the perfect timing to walk into the hotel to greet her husband at the check-in desk.

Realizing that it was unlikely we'd see each other in the morning we said our goodbyes in the lobby and then retired to our rooms. I gave my parents a call to let them know when I'd be leaving the next day and then went to sleep - actual sleep this time.

And that was the weekend.

Next, "The Long Road Home"

Greg responds...

Yes, the bittersweet end of another Gathering... <sigh>...

Response recorded on May 23, 2006

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Alex Garg writes...

Late Saturday, August 7 - The Weekend, Pt. 2:
Gee, I wonder how many Disney cartoons he could have been talking about, given the activities in the hotel. I suppose they could have just gone on some drunken tangent about Duck Tales, but was pretty sure the guy was talking about Gargoyles and those of us attending the Gathering.

I am a magnificent eavesdropper. I know it's rude, I know I shouldn't do it, but it's just one of those things I do very well; and when the conversation relates (in some way) to me, well, I grant exceptions in my morals to listening in on people talking about me behind my back.

Their conversation started off pretty typically - what nerds, why bother, yadda-yadda; stuff I'm used to hearing being the Gargoyles geek that I am and things I pretty much ignore. I was about to tune out when as the conversation turned to what was going on downstairs, the costumes, karaoke and the like, but then they started talking about crashing the party.

*ahem*

I don't go to many conventions and see my online friends all that often, so when I do attend such events I appreciate them *not* being crashed. They passed around the straw to see who was going to go down and scout it out, come back and bring the others for a good ol' party crashing. They came to a guy who, apparently, had some connection with the group (I would find out what later) and spiced up the bet. The bet was that he couldn't come back to the bar in 10 minutes with a girl from downstairs and the pot was set at $17.

As the group was finalizing their plans, Keith David entered the bar and Ellen and Dylan began talking about inviting him over. All right, so, people were about to go downstairs to crash the party and an opportunity to share drinks with Keith David had just entered the scene.

Stop party crashers, drink with Keith, stop party crashers, drink with Keith...

Ellen and Dylan decided not to invite Keith over - Dylan instead opted to buy Keith a drink - and so my course was clear. When the crashing scouts left the bar, I followed.

Of course, I made no attempt to be stealth-like in my pursuit - the objective was an interception, not make sure they involve a fellow Con-goer in their sick little bet - and they, guy and a girl, spotted me. I was quick to let them know that I had overheard their conversation and wasn't going to give them a free ticket down.

They denied wanting to *crash* the Gathering but the guy did fess up to his boss' bet. Okay, let's back that up - this guy's boss bets him that he can't get a girl back to the bar in 10 minutes. Are you feeling a little repulsed by his boss, too? The guy turns on the charm and appeals to me man-to-man, thinking that I'm going to sympathize and approve of the bet to lure a girl back to the bar. He even tries to slip a bribe by me.

In what some might consider counter to a federal employee's stereotyped first instinct, I refused.

So he tries the backup plan - feign interest in the Gathering. All right, semi-weak spot, semi-opening to get him to leave: if you ask me about the fandom and the Gathering, I'll tell you all you want to know. My thought process was to use that to *maybe* get him to forget about the bet or bothering us and just part ways peacefully. It worked to some extent, however I talked it up a bit too much and they insisted on seeing everything that was going on. Plus in the course of conversation it was discovered that they were from the D.C. area as well, so we ended up talking a bit about all that was going on at home which, although it eased any tension that was between us, took away a bit of my edge.

In any event, we headed down to the ballroom - the two of them looking for their target, me looking for security - and then they revealed who their target was. "Kelly." Earlier I had seen the Kelly I've been hanging around with go to the bar in proximity of the guy, but she had gone to bed a while earlier; so I told him that Kelly was my roommate, asleep, and "probably not" going to go back with him to the bar.

He looks into the room - "No, there she is."

Ah, see, it didn't help that there were three Kelly's at the Gathering and that his "Kelly" I know as Sapphire. So... instead of diverting him, I led him right to his objective.

*heavy sigh of defeat*

Sapphire came over, greeted the guy and invited him in - you have to invite a vampire into your house before they can attempt to suck your blood - and I left; I don't need to be defending people I don't know and who are very capable of handling themselves.

She sums up the event in her journal as follows:
"I had to lay down for a while because I was feeling ill. I went to the bar to get something to settle my stomach. A guy, Nate, came over and started hitting on me, and wouldn't let me go back down to the convention. Once I left, he even came down to the convention to see what it was about (which is fine because I told him he could). Luckily he left shortly, I think we were too weird for him."

As I said, I went back to the bar feeling pretty rotten about the event - namely my handling of it, particularly in hindsight - and saw Dylan and Keith sharing a drink. Ellen shared an anecdote with Keith that had him laughing (it's actually very funny, but you'll have to have Ellen tell it because I can't). The guy, of course, came back to the bar without Sapphire and was chided by his coworkers - no big loss.

We stuck around the bar until it closed then went down to see if the ball was still going. There were a few people left but it was clearly winding down for the night (/morning - it was 1 a.m. at this point). Continuing my wallflower state I hung around while Ellen and Greg talked about baseball and his brother's website. Had I known that Greg was leaving early I would have spoken more - not that I had much to say, I just like the guy - but, alas, I missed my chance.

The party ended and we brought Kathy into the group - now just down to me, Kathy, Dylan and Ellen - as we headed up to Ellen's room to just hang out. The coffee I had sucked down plus my mind rolling over and over the earlier episode and how it could have gone even worse were keeping me up, so I gladly stuck around.

Again I didn't talk much - seriously, I love to listen more than chat. The three of them, among my inspirations for writing, talked back and forth about books they liked, writing techniques they used, etc., so for me, just kicking back and listening in on all this was great. Dylan left around 3 and Ellen booted Kathy and me out about a quarter to 4.

I was still very much awake at that point - again, more from continually going over and over the night's events more than the coffee - and just wandered around the hotel. At that point, it registered that the Gathering would be ending soon and, well, that just saddened me. Eventually my body cried out and my brain allowed it to return to the room to lie down.

So at 4:15 a.m. I plopped down on the floor and my eyes shut - brain very much stayed on. No sleep.

Next, "The Weekend, Pt. 3"

Greg responds...

Geez, that "boss". Creepy is right. Uggh.

Response recorded on May 22, 2006

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Alex Garg writes...

Saturday, August 7 - The Weekend, Pt. 1:
Woke up 7-ish and grabbed some breakfast before heading off to Ellen, Christine and Spacebabie's panel regarding chase scenes in fiction and what makes a good one. They all seemed rather tired, but despite that the panel turned out well - good participation from the audience (although they all seemed tired, too - for once I was ahead of the sleep curve).

I stopped by the mezzanine to take a look at the cast list for Radio Play around noon and was very happy to see that I had made the cut - along with about 30 other people. Largest cast ever.

Grabbed lunch with Kelly and we pretty much just hung out in the restaurant. From there it was on to Radio Play rehearsals where we learned that we'd be doing the uncut version of "The Journey." I was Art, and I had fun with it.

I filled out the audition sheet as "Alex Garg" - Greg inserted "Alex 'Carter' Garg" on his own. Greg remembered my name... I'm so happy.

Radio Play was well-attended, thanks to the staff closing everything else so people would sort of be forced to attend. A good strategy as last year's Radio Play's audience was sparse. Of course, the DVD crew was also there, so maybe they'll get a shot of my head or something. Overall, the show went very well and everybody seemed to have a great time with it. We had a bit of a break before the Banquet and I used that time to, once again, retreat to the room - briefly.

The Banquet was definitely something else. At the table were me, Kelly, Leo, Denis, Ellen and James Anatidae. It was a fantastic meal. At some point near the end Keith David finally showed up, having escaped filming yet another movie, and was bombarded with questions before he could really get a chance eat. I was tempted to ask, "Would you like to eat before we continue?" but decided not to be a jerk - the group doing karaoke in the next room had that covered.

We got a break after the Banquet/Q&A to retreat to the room, and on our way down to the Cosplay we encountered Keith who, as it turns out, would be staying on our floor - not that we interacted much with him, but it was still cool to know that Keith David was right down the hall.

Let's talk about Cosplay for a second. I don't know if it was Montreal, the DVD crew or just a huge collective effort this year, but the costumes were above and beyond. Seriously, some great work. My camera wasn't working, though, so I don't have any pictures.

I didn't stick around for the Ball - never have, I don't dance - and instead went with Ellen, Dylan, Stormy and a couple of others to the bar (they had drinks, I had coffee). Leo and Kelly showed up later and joined in. I didn't really say much, as always more content to listen. This kept my ears sharp for them to pick up from behind me "It's a [cut] Disney cartoon!"

Next, "The Weekend, Pt. 2"

Greg responds...

Hey, Carter, of course I know your name! It usually takes me two cons to get an individual's name down, but I try my best.

Response recorded on May 22, 2006

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Alex Garg writes...

Friday, August 6 - It Begins:
Nobody bothered to inform my internal clock that I was on vacation and didn't need to be up *nearly* as early as I was. However, it gave me time to freshen up before we all went down to breakfast with Kathy and Ellen, the whole group being me, Kelly, Leo, Denis and Rob. After that we kind of scattered - registration was moved to noon so I just hung out in the mezzanine and talked to folks as they came by.

After a while registration opened and we got our packets - con badge, schedule (which was really something else), PGA and shirt (I ordered an XL, I was presented with a small (made the exchange for a large later)). I flipped through the PGA and was very, very impressed. The stories are truly top-notch, and I'm still surprised that I'm in it. The back of the book says, "This anthology contains ten stories and eleven pieces of art, brought to life by eighteen of the fandom's top authors and artists," and to be in that list (given all of my literary accomplishments) is something else. Still amazed.

At some point Ellen asked if we all wanted to go on a walking tour of downtown Montreal - Ellen's old stomping grounds - and we agreed, we being me, Kelly, Leo, Denis and Kathy. It took a while for us to assemble - whenever one of us showed up, another had to run back to get something - but we eventually made it out of the hotel.

Montreal is a beautiful city, a great mix of modern architecture with an old world atmosphere. We stopped by the Notre Dame Basilica and Chinatown (all very nice) and then started looking for a place to eat. What we hadn't done, however, was check our watches, and when we did we realized that we were all going to be late for panels we wanted to attend (and I had missed Spacebabie's Round Robin). So we had to cut short our plans to eat out and headed back to the hotel. We passed Ellen's alma mater on the way and she and Kathy eventually ducked into a cafeteria. As became a theme with me this Gathering, I wasn't hungry and, with the others being similarly without appetite, we made our way back to the hotel to attend Flanker's panel. From there I was off to Radio Play auditions.

Last year I had the role of Thailog, so I wasn't too nervous going in - right up until the DVD crew showed up. For a second it looked like they were going to film my audition, but they did not. I read as Lex, got nods of approval from Greg and Jen and left it in their hands. As I stepped out of the audition, the DVD camera was *right there.* There was only one thing I could do - look like a deer in headlights, give them a quick nod with a smile and dart away. I hope that doesn't make the cut - nobody needs to see a sleep-deprived, tired, startled Carter.

I had been very excited about the DVD crew being there, but I pretty much made it my business to avoid them. Not that I'm camera shy or anything - not by any means - I just didn't really have anything to say and I wasn't doing anything particularly interesting. So, you know, there was no point in getting in their way.

Anyway, I went back to the room and hung out with Kelly for a while until Opening Ceremonies. LOTS of first-timers at this one, close to half of the attendees. We saw the videos, Greg played a tape of many Gargoyles-involved people and we heard the pitch for the 2005 Gathering - we're goin' to Vegas!

Opening Ceremonies also included the first Clan Olympics event - many, many teams involved - that was hilarious and chaotic. After that event we went back to the room to hang out for a brief time before the Blue Mug-A-Guest. It was at this event last year that I "earned" the title "Creepy" - *poke at Greg* - so of course I was going to participate in this one. The event was going to be held in the con suite and about 60 people packed in, even though there was really only comfortable room for about half that.

It wasn't very "blue," if you will - they scheduled it before the regular Mug-A-Guest, so the many took the opportunity to ask the regular questions; that plus all the exciting DVD news was on people's minds. I would have stayed around longer but I was suddenly overcome with sleep and ducked out about 12:30 a.m.

So ended the first official day of the Gathering.

Next, "The Weekend, Pt. 1"

Greg responds...

I love those late night sessions, whether or not they turn blue.

Response recorded on May 18, 2006

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Alex Garg writes...

Thursday, August 5 - The Longest Freakin' Day:
On the road again...

Leo and I left Niagara Falls about 8:30 and had no problems getting across the border - I know, we were spoiled. Once we were across the border we sent Kelly a heads-up to let her know that we were on the way. After making that call, Kathy called to ask if I would pick up her roommate at the airport after she arrived - to which I agreed.

Hamilton should have given us a warning of traffic to come. I'm used to one-way streets, that wasn't an issue, but not an entire city of one-way streets. I managed it, however (though I almost went the wrong way down one of those pesky one-way streets), and found parking.

We found Kelly, I dropped off Squidgy's toys, Leo scared Squidgy off by taking many, many, many pictures of her, Kelly and I exchanged CDs (which I wasn't originally aware that we were doing, but it worked) and we were off once again.

Toronto is a very impressive city - skyscrapers, CN Tower, etc., much like NYC; and the traffic's about the same. This didn't help us when the GPS decided that we should see Toronto more closely and turn off the highway an exit too soon. We were never *lost* in Toronto, despite what Kelly and Leo might describe in their journals, we stayed on the same street the entire time - we just had trouble finding a suitable exit.

Anyway, because the GPS was kind enough to take us off the highway then peter out (going back to that problem of not managing to download the detail maps), Leo was left to navigate. He got us onto a parkway which led us back to the highway and we fled Toronto hastily.

A short time after noon Lord Sloth (Rob) called and wondered if we could still swing by and pick him up, and I had no problems doing so - well, I had no problems agreeing to do so anyway... sort of.

Cell phone coverage was less than sharp along that stretch of highway which led to some amusing conversation.

Rob: "I'm wearing a white shirt." + cell phone static = "What's your insurance?"
Me: "...State Farm...?"

Less amusing was the fact that when he said we should take the third exit into Kingston we just took the third in a series of seven exits and ended up far, far off course. However, like in Toronto we got through it and picked up Rob without further incident - unless you count the fun we had at the A&W store when trying to pick up food.

Let's not go there.

It was more smooth sailing from Kingston to Montreal, but it was in Montreal that things got very, very interesting and frightening. Like with any metropolis, traffic piled up when we were about 20 minutes out. Then it piled up some more. Then some more.

I've had this route planned for months down to the mile and minute - unfortunately, I must have thought that Rush Hour didn't exist in Canada because that's when I planned the minute I'd arrive in Montreal. On top of that, the drivers in that part of the country are, to put it nicely, insane. So, we were approaching a metropolis in Rush Hour conditions with the worst drivers Canada has to offer.

To this respect, Montreal is Canada's Washington, D.C. - I was home.

On top of the traffic, Rob let us know that he needed to be at the hostel by 6 (it was around 4:45 when we learned this) otherwise they were going to drop his reservation. The crunch was on.

As at home as I was with the traffic patterns, it took a second to dawn on me that I had crossed over to the other side - the tourist. I can't stress how often I grind my teeth at a Georgian who swerves from lane to lane playing dodge-car with Marylanders, or how often I need to charge around a New Yorker who is obeying the posted speed limit in spite of the flow of traffic. Now, I could imagine the Quebecers who took a glance at my Virginia tags and felt their hearts sink at the knowledge that this tourist was going to throw a wrench into their traffic.

And how I did.

All right, let's talk a little bit about that sketch tunnel that welcomes you into Montreal. Because, you know, it's sketch - at least if you're trying to get to University St. The signs... kind of don't exist for that until you get *out* of the tunnel, if you get out at the right exit. I did not get out at the right exit. So, confused, I got back *into* the tunnel and popped out even farther from where I needed to be. From there, things got weird.

I fumbled through Montreal until we got to a major road at which time I pointed towards downtown and hoped to cross University. Let's talk about this road that I turned on.

Okay, imagine your standard four-lane road. On the far right you have your bus/taxi lane, on your far left you have your turning lane - all normal; the middle two lanes are, instead, one big-ass lane that two cars share. To repeat - that two cars share.

Never have I heard of such a thing, much less driven such a thing. I would have been more than happy to turn off of it, but Leo had discovered that the road took us almost directly to Rob's hostel (it was about 5:30 at this point). Traffic was heavy, time was running out, and I was completely in the dark as to what was going on. Eventually I got sick of it all and just sank into D.C. commuter mode.

I must have angered many a Quebecer, much less scared Leo, Kelly and Rob - but I give props to my mad driving skills (Kathy, if you're reading this, stop laughing).

With about 10 minutes to spare we dropped Rob off a block from his hostel, and he reported later that he got his reservation with four minutes remaining. With that mission accomplished, we made it to the hotel (after having to briefly leave Montreal) and got ourselves squared away.

I had planned to arrive with enough time to relax myself, but the traffic ordeal had made it so that I had to leave the hotel to pick up Denis and Kathy pretty much as soon as I stepped into the room.

Off I went.

Getting to Dorval was simplistic - just had to take a highway and follow the signs. Again, the Maryland-like driving qualities of Quebecers, the setting Sun in my eyes and a really sketchy roundabout kept me on my toes. I saw that Denis' flight was two hours delayed and was going to come in about the same time that Mandi, Kathy's roommate, would be coming in, so fortunately I would only have one more trip after this one. I picked up Kathy without much of a wait and it was back to Montreal.

Determined not to make the same traffic mistakes I had made on my first ride in, I made new ones. This included screwing up the tunnel again *and* running a red light - first time for everything. Overall, though, getting Kathy to the hotel was much, much easier than getting my roommates there.

Had a little downtime in the room then it was off to get Denis and Mandi. At least, we left the room to do so. Kathy and I decided that since customs was adding an hour to people's wait times we would just hang around the lobby. Oh, boy, talked to a lot of people (Michael, Lenny, Mara, A Fan... lots more), saw Greg show up (tired) and then we were off.

Mandi showed up... Denis didn't. After an hour, Denis still hadn't shown up. After an hour and a half and learning that British Airways was undergoing a complete meltdown at Dorval... Denis didn't show up.

We waited until midnight for Denis and then figured that he'd be intelligent enough to realize that we weren't going to wait around all night and just take a shuttle. This he did - just two hours earlier, minutes before we showed up at Dorval.

*grumble*

Got to the room at 1 a.m., unrolled the airmat that my fellow office intern loaned me and called it a day - a long, long day.

Day's mileage: 480
Total mileage: 930

Greg responds...

Wow... you are a generous and dedicated soul.

Response recorded on May 18, 2006

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Alex Garg writes...

Tuesday, August 3 - Prologue:
Typical day at work. Got up around 7:30 a.m., out of the house around 9, in by 10 (love that summer recess intern work schedule: 10 a.m. - 3 p.m.). I left a note for my parents to dig up my passport so I'd be all good to cross the border - for years I've insisted on keeping it, but they've always said that it would be better for them if they kept everybody's stuff together. At about 11 I get a call from my dad - Dad never calls my office unless it's something big.

Mom was sick and couldn't remember where my passport is (she was under the impression that I had it. See note above, understand the minor headache that washed over me at that moment). So, I said that I'd just go with my birth certificate.

Apparently, that's with my passport.

*sigh*

Fortunately, I was born in D.C., so I cut out from work early to head down to D.C. Vital Records to pick up a new certificate. I don't know if it's because I work for the bureaucracy that has made me immune to fear of bureaucracy (the DMV doesn't scare me, either) or that I was too dedicated to getting this checked off my list that I wasn't thinking about what a trip of this nature entailed, but I set off to do it anyway.

There's nothing like walking in a suit in 90 degrees + humidity for a mile-and-some to get you in the mood for filing paperwork. And, of course, there's nothing like sitting around for 80 minutes while the people who came in after you get their certificates first to keep that energy going, not to mention the words of encouragement coming from the man who had been waiting five hours for his certificate.

So, after that long wait I got what I sought and was on my way. I did all my packing that night, made Kelly her mix CDs, double and triple checked with the hotels that all my reservations were in order and took a good, long sleep in preparation for tomorrow.

Here's what I didn't do: get drinks for the ride, get Kelly's cat, Squidgy, any toys and download the maps I needed to my GPS - I had the route in there for about a week, just not the maps along the way. I could do those in the morning.

Wednesday, August 4 - Onward:
Dad woke me up on his way out at around 7:30 a.m. and we had our goodbyes. I went through my morning routine and was out the door at about 8:30 to take care of the last-minute details of my trip and I left the computer to download those GPS maps. While out I picked up the drinks, an Arnold Schwarzenegger "The Governator" chew toy and scratching post for Squidgy, a 128 MB memory disc for my digital camera and a new pair of headphones for Kelly as a belated birthday present (Squidgy had destroyed hers a few days earlier).

I returned home about 9:45 to check on my maps, only to see warnings that my device didn't have enough room to hold them all and the map of Montreal was corrupted. So after sacrificing the maps of D.C., Maryland, Pennsylvania and greater Ontario in order to keep maps of the key cities *and* reinstalling Montreal… I was out of time. Leo was due into Dulles at 11:10 and, the airport being 40 minutes away, I needed to go.

At 10:06 I posted in my LJ "See you all in Montreal!!!" and was off shortly thereafter - quickly grabbing a road atlas on my way out.

No problems at Dulles, other than getting together with Leo, but through much of the morning we didn't have any incident. We stopped in Altoona, Pa., for a bit of lunch about 1:30 p.m. but for the most part had a straight shot - although through some very windy, skecthy back roads.

One of the great things about today was that my older sister was on her way *back* from Canada and pretty much along the same route. She gave me a ring at some point in the afternoon that she had just gotten through a major storm in Pa. and wanted to know where we were.

We were just entering the storm at that point.

It was, well, massive, and we had to pull over a few miles east of Du Bois to wait it out, but from there (I promise this time) - straight shot.

Pennsylvania is entirely too big, BTW.

We got into our hotel in Niagara Falls, N.Y., around 7:30 p.m. without much trouble and ordered a pizza for dinner (culture clash - how big is a sheet of pizza?) We called Kelly to let her know that we were just across the border and to confirm the time we'd be picking her up (and asked her the question above - she didn't know).

That night we had to contend with a very, very loud tour group that had taken up the hall. So, though I ended up sleeping soundly, it took a few hours to get there.

Day's mileage: 450

Next, "The Longest Freakin' Day"

Greg responds...

Now, I've got two of you leaving me in suspense...

Response recorded on May 17, 2006


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