IT WAS TWENTY YEARS AGO TODAY...

IT WAS TWENTY YEARS AGO TODAY...

On September 4th, 1988, I went on a first date with this amazing woman. We went to an apartment warming party for my friend Mike Ryan. My car -- actually my sister's car -- had it's horn literally hanging from the bottom of the engine by a wire, so I had to ask her out AND ask her to drive. (Who knew she'd like that?) At the party -- where she knew no one and I knew everyone -- she fit right in. My friend Cameron had just purchased a new camcorder and was practicing with it. Years later, he would give me a copy of the tape -- a tape of our first date -- full of fades and truck ins and other first-timer camera tricks. After the party, we dropped me off at my place, and I invited her upstairs. We talked for hours and hours. I did EVERYTHING they tell you not to do, including talking about multiple past relationships. And yet somehow as morning came, she still liked me.

Beth and I have been together for twenty years now, and... thank God... she still still likes me. After two apartments, we're on our second house, our third cat and our fourth and fifth dog. Plus, you know, the two amazing, amazing kids.

We have many anniversaries in my date book. Engagement. Finding out she was pregnant with Erin. Finding out she was pregnant with Benny. Our wedding, of course.

But this is still my favorite anniversary. This is where it all began.

I love you, Beth. Happy Anniversary.

R.I.P. SAMMI

Our basset hound Sammi went into complete renal failure and had to be put to sleep today. We didn't get her or Abraham until both were senior citizens but they both gave us some wonderful years, and Sammi will be missed. She was a very, very sweet girl. Smart too -- most of the time. This is the first time that we've had no pets at all since Beth and I got Bigtime as a kitten in 1991.

RIP Abraham

He was a sweet old dog. We'll miss him.

RIP BIGTIME

Skittle Skattle Kittle Kattle Bigtime Bitey Kitty Purrmobile Boy...

Great darn cat.

Gathering 2007 - Insta-Journal, Part Eight

SUNDAY, JUNE 23rd, 2007

Despite going to bed at 4am, I woke up for no good reason at 5:30am. Stayed in bed for 45 minutes, hoping I'd get back to sleep. No go. So I got up and worked. Checked my e-mail, did an Insta-Journal and worked on the outline for Spider-Man episode #7. Jamie Thomason, Gargoyles & Spider-Man voice director, called, and we reviewed the recording script for Spidey ep. #4. Then at noon I went to my first panel of the day: Gargoyles Physiology & Culture with Lynati and Jade. It was truly a fascinating panel for me. I love hearing and talking about this stuff. At 2pm, Karine and I had the Gargoyles & Bad Guy Comic Book panel. Since, I'm reluctant to reveal too much beyond issue #5 (since everyone at the Gathering saw #5 the night before), the panel turned into a fan marketing seminar. But I guess that's okay. At 3:30, I met with Ted, a Cartoon Network writer to discuss a project we're working on together. Then at 5pm came the Banquet. I sat with Karine, Samuel, Thom and Nikki. The food was very good. I really liked the Apple Pie. We had one more Q&A, led by Abbie, mostly, who is VERY enthusiastic and fun. After that, Thom and I played Air Hockey. People began to gather, and I beat all comers (Thom twice, Ed, Yami Raven) -- except Flanker, who beat me twice. Our last game, I was winning at one point 6-2 and I just lost all energy, like someone flipped a switch. I only needed one more goal, and he still beat me 7-6. Next came the Masquerade. The big winner -- best in show -- was Aaron as Hal the Gargoyle Halloween King. AMAZING costume. There was some dancing and singing and lip synching. After that, Mike and Tracy helped Thom, Susan and I record a You Tube promo for G2008. I went back down to the Masq, but I was pretty tired. Stopped by Jennifer, Gore & Karine's room and then went to bed. Slept for SEVEN hours, which for me is just great!

Gathering 2007 - Insta-Journal, Part Five

THURSDAY, JUNE 21st, 2007

Travel day. Beth and I got up early, packed, checked out and finally had a breakfast at our bed and breakfast. (Eggs Benedict.) Then we drove to Boston, where Beth dropped me off at Logan Airport before heading back to Nantucket to join the kids and her folks. I bought a Dunkin Donut at the airport, reviewed the outline for the 11th episode of Spidey, listened to audio for the second and third episodes, began the Kandell book and flew to Washington Dulles, where I ate a bag of my Cape Cod chips. Got on the plane to Knoxville, and slept uncomfortably through most of the flight. Landed in Knoxville, where I was picked up by Kathy Pogge, who drove me to Pigeon Forge. Got to the Grand Hotel and into my room. NO INTERNET SIGNAL in the room. Crap. (I'm currently down in the lobby typing this.) Had to spend a lot of time on the phone long distance to Spidey folk, which held up the staff dinner. (Apologies.) Finally, I made it downstairs, and fifteen of us... (me, Kathy, Jennifer, Nikki, Karine, Thom, Samuel, Susan, Patrick, Tony, Andrea, Jenn, Lynati and... and... ugh, forgetting, sorry) went across the street to the Japanese (bennihana-esque) restaurant. Great food. Sushi, steak, shrimp, lobster, veggies, salad, soup.) Fun. Yep, the Gathering has *un*officially started! Back to the hotel. I'd love to just hang out, but I have so much work still to do this week.

MORE TO COME...

Gathering 2007 - Insta-Journal, Part FourQ. .

WEDNESDAY, JUNE 20th, 2007

Went to bed late after finishing an edit on the sixth outline of the Spectacular Spider-Man -- and then woke up early again for no good reason. Beth and I drove to Hyannis to tour the Cape Cod Potato Chip Factory. On the way, I finally got that haircut I've been desperately needing. Today it rained, the first lousy weather day since we arrived in New England. The weather's been universally great. After the Potato Chip factory, we went to a mall so that I could buy a book. Bought a couple mysteries, the latest Cece Caruso by our friend Susan Kandell, and what I think is the first Michael Connelly Hieronymous Bosch mystery, which I've heard is great. We had lunch, and then went to see Knocked Up. Then back to Eastham. Relaxed for a bit, then went out to dinner at the Marconi Beach Bar-B-Q. Some good pulled pork.

More to come...

Gathering 2007 - Insta-Journal, Part Three

TUESDAY, JUNE 19th, 2007
Beth and I slept through the "Breakfast part of "Bed & Breakfast". Got up at a leisurely pace and went to Dunkin Donuts instead. Then we drove down to Provincetown. We parked and walked up the hill to the Provincetown Museum and to the Pilgrim Monument, which we climbed. Then we walked back into town, had really bad pizza, and walked around Commercial Street, which is aptly named. Drove back to the room, and I worked a bit. Then we went out to dinner -- good food at the Wellfleet Restaurant & Bookstore (though I was disappointed to find the bookstore part closed), clam chowder, steamed mussles. We went to see Ocean's 13 and then Ben & Jerry'd our evening away.

More to come...

Gathering 2007 - Insta-Journal, Part Two

MONDAY, JUNE 17th, 2007
Worked on episode six of Spidey, then went to bed about 2am (which is good for me). But I WOKE up for some reason at 6am. Had bacon and eggs for breakfast. And read the outline for episode ten of Spidey. (I've been working up a storm. Joe Dedicated, that's me.) Later, Beth and I went for a walk and met my father-in-law and my kids at a bike store, where bikes were rented for the kids. Erin, Benny, Beth and I had pizza and smoothies for lunch, then we returned to the house.

Beth and I picked up our luggage, and -- after saying goodbye to my kids and mother-in-law -- my father-in-law dropped us off at the ferry to Hyanis for a few days of husband/wife time. We took the ferry to the Cape, rented our car and drove to Eastham, where we checked into a lovely room at the Penny House Inn. We napped a bit, and then went out to dinner at the Lobster Pool, where we had excellent and cheap lobsters. Then Ben & Jerry's. Then mini-golf. Then we saw the movie Waitress, which I enjoyed. (Beth, not so much.) Then back to the room...

More later...

Gathering 2007 - Insta-Journal

As always, I'm hoping that all of you who attend the Gathering this coming week in Pigeon Forge, TN, will post Gathering Journals (of any length) here at ASK GREG. This is useful, as it provides one location for me to refer various PTB types when they want to learn more about the Gathering. The more journals we get here, the more FAN PRESENCE we seem to have. One of these days, I'd like to see 100% journalling, but then again one of these days I'd like to see a Gathering attended by thousands of people...

Anyway, can't ask you to do what I'm not willing to do myself. ASK GREG will open for submissions the day before the Gathering and stay open at minimum through the end of July. But in the meantime, I'll be posting about my own trip...

FRIDAY, JUNE 15th, 2007
Got up early, because I had a VERY busy day ahead of me. First off, a "The Spectacular Spider-Man" voice recording. We had to quickly finish off Spidey's lines for our second episode (which had largely recorded the week before), because we had an editing session that afternoon. When that was done, we had to record nearly all of our third episode with most of our cast. We started out by getting the actors who only had a few lines each (less than ten) out of the way. Then we brought in the rest of the cast for the bulk of the episode. We had done a couple of the actors the day before, and nevertheless we still nearly ran out of time. ARRGGHH. We just made it in under the wire. But I'm hoping that starting with our fourth episode (after I get back) things'll be less crazy, and we'll start recording one complete episode at one session and NOT run out of time.

After the recording, Supervising Director and Producer Vic Cook -- a former Gathering attendee -- and I crossed the street for our edit session. Terry, our editor, had quickly cut in the lines we had recorded that morning, and we completed our natural pause edit with him, often tightening and overlapping lines to make the dialogue play both more naturally -- thus NATURAL pause -- and punchier.

All this took much longer than I had hoped. I was really hoping to get a haircut on Friday, but didn't get the chance. I might try to get one on Cape Cod, but if not, I may be looking pretty scruffy at the Gathering.

I also got a bit of scheduling news on the project that meant that I basically will have to work through my entire vacation. It's a bit of a bummer, as only a day before I was told I didn't have to. But that's life, when you're the"boss" on a show that has a lot of bosses over the "boss". I'm thrilled to have the gig, but it can definitely be exhausting sometimes.

Went home. Checked e-mail as quickly as I could, as I had been at the recording studio all day and not at the office. Packed. Had a grilled cheese sandwich. Raced to Larchmont Village to deposit my paycheck and throw some bills in a mailbox. Raced home. Got in the car with Beth, Erin and Benny and headed for the airport.

We arrived in plenty of time, which is a relief. We all had carry-on baggage only, so that saved us a step too. The kids and I got smoothies, and we waited.

Red-Eye to Boston. Slept some -- through Wild Hogs apparently. Read the revised writer's outline to the seventh episode of Spider-Man. Watched what seemed to be a heavily edited version of "Shooter" and a very funny "The Office" episode. Landed in Boston.

SATURDAY, JUNE 16th, 2007
Ate breakfast at Johnny Rockets. Boarded our flight to Nantucket. Read the revised writer's outline to the eight episode of Spider-Man. Landed in Nantucket. Beth's father picked us up at the airport and drove us to my in-laws' home. Unpacked. Went for a little walk with Beth, the kids and Beth's mom. Had lunch. And took a six hour nap. Got up for dinner. Skirt steak, salad, corn, homemade Banana ice cream (made by my father-in-law and the kids while I slept). Then went to work, checking e-mail again... and editing the Record Draft for the fourth episode of Spidey. Was going to start editing the outline to the sixth episode, but I was sleepy, so I went to bed at midnight, which is stunning for me --- even if you DON'T take into account that by L.A. standards it was really only 9pm. Since I've routinely been going to bed over the last few weeks between 4 and 6 am, this was amazing.

SUNDAY, JUNE 17th, 2007
Woke up early -- also amazing for me -- had a bit of breakfast. Read the outline for the ninth episode of Spidey. So far all these outlines have been in pretty darn good shape, which is always nice. Benny and I went for a walk into town. Came back, and I napped for about an hour. Got up for a Father's day brunch, with Beth, the kids and my in-laws. Had a wonderful Lobster Salad and Lobster Bisque. (Can you tell I'm in New England?) Came back to the house and opened father's day cards. Also called my own dad to wish him a happy father's day. He and my mom had only just returned from the Oregon Shakespeare Festival. I'm jealous, but there's no time this year. Hope to take the kids next year. Took ANOTHER nap. I think weeks of averaging three hours of sleep a night, plus all the walking and the fresh air -- the weather is gorgeous -- are wiping me out. But this is a good time to sleep.

We got up for a 4pm concert -- a choral performance by the Nantucket Choir. It was lovely. I was familiar with quite a few of the songs, as my son's choir sang them... at Carnegie Hall last month. From there, Beth and the kids and I went to dinner at the Brotherhood of Thieves. Burger and Clam Chowder. Then Ice Cream at the Juice Bar: one scoop of Crantucket with hot fudge. We walked some more and then went home.

More to come...