G2K DIARY: Chapter VII

WEDNESDAY: We had a late afternoon flight and some time to kill. We asked for a late checkout from our rooms, but that still meant we had to vacate a couple hours before we needed to leave for the airport. We moved to the lobby. The kids got to spend some more time with Siryn, Heather Rice and a bunch of others. I hiked over to McDonalds and brought us back some food. And then Kellie drove us to the airport.

Everything went very smoothly on the way home. Flight was on time, and I even made it to my Wednesday night class only an hour late. (Kevin Hopps, my co-teacher, was there to cover for me.) Heck, Gathering attendee and animation writing student Carol didn't even make it. So I was pretty proud of myself.

And that's it.

G2K DIARY: Chapter VI

TUESDAY:

Again, Kellie drove us to the parks. She dropped us off and we boarded the Mono-Rail to the Magic Kingdom. Rented our strollers and entered. We spent the morning on our own.

PIRATES. SMALL WORLD. Other kid pleasers.

Then we met up with Siryn, Kellie and Sara, who were just terrific with the kids. We went to ToonTown (or whatever it's called in Florida) so that the kids could get some autographs, but Benny fell asleep in the stroller. So we had Minnie and Cinderella sign his book and take pictures with him, while asleep. Erin enjoyed it though.

The weather was just a tad less hot. But it made a big difference. And we did more rides and fewer shows, so it was much more tolerable.

Saw the Morgans again, but they had a fast pass for something, so we couldn't hang.

We did the AUTOPIA equivalent. And a bunch of other stuff, including the new TIKI ROOM. We saw a couple of parades. One where the kids got to participate. And the MAIN STREET ELECTRICAL PARADE. We ate in Tomorrowland. We saw FIREWORKS.

And than we took the Ferry back to Kellie's car. She took us home. I went to get Donuts. But Dunkins was all out of Donuts, even though they weren't closed yet. Go figure.

Sorry for the abbreviated version, but my memory is already failing me.

Anyway, to be concluded... on "WEDNESDAY"!

G2K DIARY: Chapter V

MONDAY: We let the kids sleep relatively late, cuz we knew they'd want to stay up to the bitter end.

Then we all packed into Kellie's car for the Journey to Disney/MGM studios. We got our double stroller and lemonade and headed into the Studio. It's a cool looking place, but MAN IS IT HOT AND HUMID. They had those TOY STORY LITTLE GREEN SOLDIERS running around shooting grateful people with water cannons. I spent the entire day literally pouring water on my head to no avail. It was kinda brutal.

The kids spotted Hercules, Aladdin, Minnie, Belle and quite a few others, so we bought them autograph books and did <surprise, surprise> some standing in line.

Then we met up with Sara and a bunch of others at a cool diner (with great food -- much better than at Disneyland) that's themed to look like a sitcom house. Sort of. Still, at this point it was family time, so we sat down and ate without the gang. Then we arranged a meeting time for later and headed out on our own.

Little Mermaid show (using a fast pass). The Movie ride inside the Chinese Theater. The Mu Lan Parade. The Doug Live Show. Muppets 3-D. Etc. Then we met up with everyone and headed over to Fantasmic. The kids loved all of it. I had fun, but man the heat.

On the way out, we spotted the Morgans, and I thought it was too bad that we hadn't spent more time together as families, but I also get the feeling that they're more adventurous than us.

Anyway, Kellie drove us home. I called Thom and said good-bye, and we all crashed.

TO BE CONTINUED... "ON TUESDAY"...

G2K Diary: Chapter IV

SUNDAY - Got up and gave my little panel/Q&A on writing for TV Animation. Like a mini-mini-mini-version of the TWENTY WEEK class I teach through UCLA extension. (How come more of you don't take that, huh?) Anyway, it was kinda fun, and as usual, I would have kept talking forever if we hadn't had to clear the room for the auction and signing.

Thom had the time wrong and was late, but he got there eventually, and he and I and Greg G. and Vic signed stuff, while we marveled at the auction. $805 for the storyboard. $95 for the script. It makes me proud. (And sorta grumbly that I have no financial interest in GARGOYLES. Oh, well.) We raised a lot of money. You guys are all terrific. Later I re-signed the script for Lanny to personalize it. Least I could do, after $95 and four consecutive Gathering attendances.

I attended part of Greg Guler's character design session. It was very interesting. He's a good speaker. Made me sorry I missed Thom's acting session, and Vic's storyboard session. I like this stuff.

Somewhere in here, Thom and I did another Q&A. I can't remember exactly when. But it was fun. And then we screened the first two episodes of 3x3 EYES, which featured Brigitte Bako and Christian Campbell with guest appearances by Thom, myself and Keith -- in a very startling roll. I think the eps went over very well. We got a lot of roars for the Garg in-jokes I slipped in there. (But I knew that would happen. I was preaching to the converted.)

Then it was dinner time. I went back to collect my family, but Benny had passed out after another hot day of swimming and running around. So I offered to stay with him and let Beth take Erin to dinner. But she let me go so that Erin could spend some time with me. So Erin and I departed with Thom, Jen, Mitch, Kenna, the Morgans, Kathy and Patrick and Alan, I think. (As usual, I'm probably forgetting someone, sorry.) It was a very long hike to RED LOBSTER. Then I thought they'd never be able to seat us, but low and behold they did after not TOO long a wait. Jen and Erin and Kenna taught each other sign language. ERin and Becca played with a kind of sticker puzzle. And the food was great. But then service was very slow, and it soon became clear that we were going to be late to the Closing Ceremonies. We tried cell phones, but no one's worked. Finally, we forced Thom, since it was all his fault to run on ahead, as those of us with kids weren't gonna do much running at all. We hiked the long way back. And finally got there. WAY LATE.

But Closing Ceremonies were a blast. Everyone was so hyped. I made another pitch for G2001. Lots of cheers for G2K's staff. More awards. It was great.

Eventually, things calmed down a bit, and we showed two more episodes of 3x3. Bill F. was in these. They also went over pretty well. "Wu" "Wu".

When it was over, Jen, Thom, Kathy and I tried to go swimming, since we hadn't had time to get in the pool all con long. But predictably, the hotel told us it was too late. So we headed back to Patrick's room for a while. Then I took off to rejoin my family.

It was time to be a dad again. Next stop: DISNEYWORLD

To be continued... on "MONDAY"...

G2K DIARY: Chapter III

SATURDAY - And things were in full swing. It was a day largely dedicated to the radio play for me, Thom and Jen. We held more auditions. Again, with a mediocre turnout. (Hope this isn't the start of a trend. Do you guys still like the radio plays, or has it gotten old hat by now?)

Then Jen, Thom and I grabbed some food at the snack shop and cast the thing. Thom and I agreed that Jen was the best choice for the female lead. I was nervous about conflicts of interest, but what the hell, we just wanted the best possible show.

We posted the list. I went to get the BIG BOX OF SCRIPTS (which had been SUCH a pain to ship to Florida). And then we convened to rehearse. First problem, someone we cast didn't show. Didn't see her again for the entire convention. Wondered what happened. At first we figured she'd be there any minute, so we didn't recast. By the time we realized that she probably wouldn't be showing up at all, we figured it was too late to bring in one of the other people who had auditioned. There wasn't time to bring them up to speed. So we forced Jesse to play two parts. She did great.

Then we took a short break. I went to my room to get some water. Came back and had MORE trouble finding everyone to shove them into our "Green Room". Wanderer and Anne went off to grab a meal. They came back way late. THANKS. :) Anyway, the show got started and it went very well, I think.

Then we had another break, and I finally took some time to walk through the absolutely AMAZING art room. Stopped by the dealer's room too. Played with my kids. (I had been absent dad, so far that weekend.) And we all endured the delays caused by the blackout. Finally, dinner got started by candlelight. I shared a table with my family, Ashlee, A Fan, and a couple of other people (again, I apologize for forgetting.) We held the trivia contest. I was pleased that I knew most of the answers. Ashlee knew some that I didn't quite remember, but she wasn't always confident enough to make the rest of the gang listen. I hope she gets over that fast. Then Greg, Vic, Thom and I got up to do our Q&A, which was fun.

And there was another break, while people got costumed. Erin and Ben came as Fox and Xanatos from the Judo workout scene in "Outfoxed". (They wore their actual karate uniforms. And Jen, I think, helped them by painting a Fox tatoo on Erin and a mustache and goatee on Ben. Ben quickly tired of his facial hair however, and had his mom wash it off before the contest began.) Becca was an amazing Bronx. We sorta rushed the juvenal division of the contest into play, since it was getting pretty late for the kids. Tom, Greg, Vic and I declared it a tie between Becca and Erin&Ben. But I later went up to Christine and admitted that Becca should have won hands down.

Then the four of us sat down to judge the contest. It was terrific. Vic kept turning to me and asking "Was that character in the show?" No. No. No. Oh, wait, yes. No. No. No. Mostly.

Tim Morgan was a terrific Owen. But the freaky thing was, that without his mustache and with his hair died blond, he really looked A LOT like my college roommate from senior year, Cameron Douglas. And Aaron has always looked like a long-haired version of my junior year roommate Tom McMinn. So I had a picture taken with the three of us.

There were a ton of great costumes. We gave the big prize to Dreamie, who had real working wings. (I half expected her to glide off on them any second.) Of course, we just had to give a prize to Patrick "Chavez" Toman. The guys wanted "Most Disturbing", which I was fine with, but I wanted to also call it "The Gorebash Memorial Award". They didn't get that, but I insisted. Both designations got a big laugh.

After the contest, I hung around. Seth grabbed me and stuck me on ICQ for a couple minutes, and I gave some people a hard time for not being at the con. I also talked with a whole bunch of (mostly) new faces who asked a lot of questions, while Jen and Kelly and a few other people were, like, doing backflips on the dance floor.

Eventually, a few of us went back to Patrick and Kathy's room and hung out for a bit. Finally, I called it a night.

To be continued... ON "SUNDAY"...