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RADIO PLAY: The History

I posted this in the comment room, but Todd suggested I repost it here...

RADIO PLAYS...

Sometimes I just don't have anything Gargoyles for us to do. And I'm not sure if just doing old episodes is all that interesting. And the other things have been fun... at least it seemed that way to me.

Here's a history of the works of the GATHERING PLAYERS...

1998 - RAIN OF THE GHOSTS (an unproduced pilot I wrote)
1999 - THE ROSWELL CONSPIRACIES (a rejected pilot I wrote)
2000 - ROUGHNECKS: THE STARSHIP TROOPERS CHRONICLES (the last arc of the series, which I story edited, half of which was unproduced. Written by me, Jon Weisman Lydia Marano, Cary Bates and Michael Reaves.)
2001 - GARGOYLES: "Hunter's Moon, Part Three" (Note: this was the first time that we actually did something gargoyles related for the radio play. This included scenes that were cut for time from the original. Written by Michael Reaves.)
2002 - TEAM ATLANTIS: "The Last" (Unproduced episode featuring Demona and Fiona Canmore, written by me)
2003 - GARGOYLES: "The Reckoning" (Performed in honor of Gary Sperling, who co-wrote the script with Lydia.)
2004 - GARGOYLES: "The Journey" (my uncut version of the script)
2005 - DOC SHAKESPEARE (An unproduced pilot written by myself and Sam Bernstein)
2006 - GARGOYLES: "The Mirror" (written by Lydia Marano and Brynne Chandler Reaves)
2007 - GARGOYLES: "Clan Building, Chapters III, IV & V: Invitation Only, Masque & Bash" - (from the comic, premeiring chapter V before it was published. Written by me...)
2008 - Geez, I should probably figure this out soon...

Anyway, you can see that traditionally, we've only done something gargish about half the time. For me it's fun to get to see my unproduced work performed, and it does give the fans a little insight into the biz. In any case, I've never heard any complaints from the folks who attended.
Greg Weisman
OFF TO CHICAGO... ON A WING AND A PRAYER...


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Kelly L Creighton / Kya White Sapphire writes...

Youre sure you want the WHOLE thing, no links? What years, just this one, or all of them? Well, here goes. I apologise for the HUGE length of this... but its going to be all of them. :)

2000

2000 - YES! i went to the gathering 2000. it was so awesome. i could never capture all the awesomeness on this page, but ill relate what i can. HOORAY FOR GARGOYLES CONVENTIONS!

Thursday: i get off work at about 5:30, go home, pack, wait for Tore. Tore gets home and tells me he has to work sunday (and friday, but we knew that) so i decide to ask my bud Cyan to go with me instead. Tore leaves for raquet ball, but not before i tell him i wont be home when he gets back. i drive two hours north to Beverly Hills to cyan's house. i learn that Tore has locked himself out of the apartment. Cyan packs, and we drive two hours south to let Tore in the apartment. O.o

Friday: cyan and i get up at 6:45am and drive to orlando. we get to the hotel at about 8:40and look for the group who is supposed to room with us: Meredith and her husband. theyre not there. we go to the con suite, register and get name badges, waste an entire 24 exposure roll of film and run back and forth to the lobby, looking for meredith. by about noon im convinced that they got in an accident or lost. they finally arrive, and all is well.
during this time i meet Siryn, Damocles, Eden, Flyx, Kythera, Kyshandra, Vig, Blindside, Little Deamon, Karlyl and various other peeps (i wont remember til i look at the photos). Then went to listen to Thom Adcox talk about stuff. I LOVE THIS PART!!
Thom talks about being felix the cat, how he loved doing gargoyles, and how he swears a lot in real life. believe me- its odd to hear this man swear, especially after listening to him as lex for the past six years. imagine lex saying "its too weird. kinda fun... FUUUUCK!" *smiles*
went with meredith to cash her check. this takes at least an hour. bank of america sux. went to a little of the fanfic readings, wandered around the art room.
then aimee and kanthara came in and answered our questions about drawing. (ok so i asked too many questions, and only two other ppl asked anything at all. so what i worship those two!! ;P) and aimee doodled in my sketchbook while they looked for a big paper pad to demonstrate on. (no im NOT gona scan the stuff she drew- at least not til im in the mood to.)
went to dennys with damocles. went to opening ceremonies. clapped loudly. watched starship troopers (the series) which greg worked on. twas cool. followed damocles around for a few hours. by now most of my second roll of film is gone. went to bed around 2am.

Saturday: wake up to my watch alarm going off at 9am. go back to sleep. wake up at 10:15 to damocles pounding on my door. "youre suposed to be downstairs, modeling, remember?" OH SHIT! run downstairs, get instructed, learn the male model goes first, run back upstairs, brush my teeth, wash my face, change, (all this while trying not to wake Cyan, Meredith or her husband) run back downstairs, watch male model. then i model (clothed).
then i go stand post at the art room, not allowing cameras, bags, food or drinks. go swimming. drag others into pool. go to TGIFridays with all tha art chiks. listen to first act of radio show. go swimming. get ready for banquet. power goes out as someone hits a transformer down the street. finish getting ready in the dark. run down to the con suite. meet legolas. sit at table with legolas, little deamon, cyan, and some other ppl :P ask greg and thom questions at Q&A. our table "the table with no name" wins the trivia contest (WOOHOO!). power comes back on. finish my third roll of film.
run upstairs, get changed for masqerade. (im a wench! YAY!) watch the kids costume contest. take lots o pix of ppls costumes. go thru 4th roll of film. dance around, play LOTS OF TAG, get all kinds of bumps and scrapes. (from playing tag) act hyper, bother Gate13, (all night) stay up til... oh i think like 4am. go to bed.

Sunday: wake up at 9:30am. go downstairs and draw the female nude life drawing session. go to lunch with Gate13, coldsteel, and shugun raptor (were now known as "the 4 waters gang"). dont ask. go swimming. watch part of the auction. nap in the con suite for a couple hours. watch some gargoyles. learn that cyan has locked my keys in my car. spend next couple hours getting the lock popped. dont ask. (lets just say that Hudson and DarkHorse and all the other peeps that were chatting in that lil back room in A&B kick ass. they all donated money, cuz i had none, to get the lock popped. you guys rock. i owe u ^_^) watch some 3X3 eyes. go swimming. go to pizza hut with the 4 waters gang. watch more 3X3 eyes. get a couple pix of Thom and have him sign them for me. had planned to drive home tonight but too tired, so room with the 4 waters gang. go to sleep about midnight. have now finished 5th roll of film.

Monday: come home. boy im in pain. but what a great weekend. cant wait for next years ;P

2001

2001 - This year's gathering was very organized, and well planned. In keeping with tradition, this fact will be reflected in my Gathering 2001 Journal. Last year's event was haphazard and crazy, though no less enjoyable, and so my recounting of those events were scattered and random, and the picture gallery lacked any order besides alphabetical. This year, all images will include size tags, and I'm even setting things up in a nice neat table. So sit back, relax, and enjoy the organized and ordered insanity. :) -KWS

Thursday, June 21st
Tore and I woke up at 5:30am eastern time. Having been packed since the Saturday before, it was just a matter of brushing our teeth, throwing some clothes on and going. Luckily Tore and I had GameBoys to keep us amused on the long, four hour and twenty minute flight, or surely we would have gone mad. We arrived in LAX and headed for the ATM and bathroom. Immediately we were spotted by another garg who had been on the same flight, GoliathLugia. The three of us picked up our luggage and boarded the Super Shuttle. Now let me tell you, if you're ever in LAX and need to get somewhere, take the SS. These guys know how to drive. Roller coasters don't compare. This guy had the full size van zipping within inches of other vehicles at sixty miles an hour, pulling into spots and slamming on the breaks with mere milimeters to spare.

When finally we got to the hotel, we checked in with minimal trouble, though we notices that the front desk staff wasn't exactly the sharpest cutlery in the kitchen. We hurried to our 20th floor room and unpacked, and sat there, playing GameBoy. Zaius and MorningSong (among others) burst into the room, and MorningSong dragged me down to her room to see her very cool costume. A group of us, consisting of Tore and I, GoliathLugia, Zaius and Nick went to CityWalk to eat lunch. We ate at the Hard Rock Cafe, which was very expensive with bad food. I had ordered my burger medium well, and it was burnt to a crisp to the extent that I couldn't eat it for the taste of charcoal. By the way, the room keys only worked for about 2 hours before they lost their code. It took several days to fix. Every time it happened, they would ask for and ID, and I would say "it't in the ROOM!" Jason, the Concierge, got to recognize Tore and I to the point that he would just walk by the front desk and say "It's okay, I know them. Just code the key."

Tore insisted at this point, and had been for days, that he did not want to come all the way to the west coast and sit in a hotel all weekend, so we went to the Concierge's desk and talked to Steven and Jason to get a rental car. We grabbed Ylla and Andy Stoker and picked up a small sedan. Jason even gave directions and a map on how to get where. We drove down Santa Monica Blvd and Rodeo Drive. On the way we passed the Gateway to The Underworld and the Hitchiking Tree Stump. We walked along the beach, which had yellow sand and brown water, and enough trash lying around to fill a dumpster. Later Karlyl would tell us we had better be careful, the bacteria count may be up o.O I collected little butterfly shells with the intention of making little plaques for the four of us. I left the cup of shells on top of the car, however, and they are now spread about in little bits on Ocean Blvd.

With all this driving I soon found that L.A. is infested with Volkswagen Beetles. Tore was up by 14 by the end of the day, which is more than we've ever seen in one day, let alone been ahead by. I still find it unfair, since I was the navigator, and spent most of the trip staring at the map, since Tore consistently turned down the wrong streets and missed turns I had suggested. And then he would argue with my directions. *huff huff* !!

Anyway, on the drive back the four of us were being very silly on the way back from the beach. First of all, I really needed a hair brush, but Ylla did not have one. Andy offered his shoe- "It has really deep treads..." We also noticed a type of tree that at first was very cool. It had bone white bark and bright yellow-green foliage, which was thick and confinded to the tops of the long, twisted branches. But then we noticed that these trees seemed to have choked out all other native plant life, and the bone-likeness seemed to become evermore ominous. There were also several posters hanging from the street lamps. They were abstract, though appeared to have a man nailed by his wrists to a post. The banners simply read "Public Offering" and were hung every few hundred yards. We were very amused by this at the time, and it's kinky connotations.

By the end of the trip Tore had sucessfully learned to drive like a native, having cut people off, jumped into oncomming traffic, and generally been totally rude. We also discovered the existance of THREE Santa Monicas - Hwy 101/Santa Monica Freeway, Santa Monica Blvd, and LITTLE Santa Monica Blvd, which runs parallel to its larger sibling then veers east. The construction was also a source of amusement, as Tore pointed out the large trench encompassing the road. Andy's comment "open trenchamie" was enought to keep us laughing until we arrived back at the hotel.

Karlyl didn't arrive until after 9pm, and Jade Griffin perhaps around 1am. Tore slept, and I stayed up until about 2:00am L.A. time, for a total of 23½ hours of wake time. Interestingly enough, this day was the summer solstice, quite literally the longest day of the year :)

Friday, June 22nd

I awoke to Karlyl and Jade Griffin wispering. It was around 8:30. I was astonished that i didnt feel the need to go back to sleep. Tore and I went down to the art room and set up my artwork. Eden organized the whole art show! That will be my job next year, as I will be the art director. I finally got to meet some people face to face, like Stephanie Lostimolo! I also gave CrzyJen a back massage, since she was under so much stress. Anyway, Tore and I then went to the registration desk to get our badges. There were a lot of people milling about, watching gargoyles on the big screen TV. Tore tried to pull out cash, but the Budget Rent-A-Car had held $200 from his card, and not put it back yet. They said they would put it back when they got the car back, which they would get this morning.

We went to the fanfic reading. I won second place for the essay contest: "What Gargoyles Means to Me." I read my essay aloud, and hoped people werent too bored. We listened to Tigris Euphrates read the winner for poetry, and her winning entry for the Star Trek crossover. It was very good, I'm glad it one! Tore and I left the reading session early so I could try out for the Radio Play. I read Demona's lines when she tries to convince Goliath to join her cause. I'm not really sure what episode it's from. Awakenings, I think. Anyway, I left the room positive that the panel (Made up of Greg Weisman, Thom Adcox, and someone else...) would never in a thousand years use me for the radio play.

Tore and I browsed the artwork, but wanted to hold off from voting until everyone's work had been set up. We ate lunch at CityWalk (yes, CityWalk, AGAIN). We went through the dealers room, where I bout gargoyles trading cards (of which i only needed one to complete my set) and a lexington cup. Tore and I wanted good seats at opening ceremonies (because i NEVER get good seats for ANYTHING) so we went to the studio early, and got kicked out. Then MoningSong asked us to guard the door, which we did. When finally the doors opened, i launched myself from the stairs, around some people, and slid thru the door. We got front row seats. Karlyl and Al sat in row two, attesting that they were too good to sit with us ;P Then we got kicked out of the front row for the guests. And Kars and Ali laughed. Then they got kicked out of row two, for more guests. So anyway, I still got lousy seats. But I took many many pictures. Far too many to post them all here. Mwahaha. A lot of the pictures I took were around this time, so this section of the page is going to be spaced a little odd, to fit all the photos.

On a happy note, I finally got a good pic with Thom Adcox. Last year I had my picture taken with him. I finished off the roll of film, rewound it and tried to pop it out of my camera. But it jammed, and the whole roll got exposed to light. There goes that roll. I had another pic taken. The picture came out pretty good. I scanned it, but the scan was awful and horrible and dark. Before I got a chance to scan it agian, the actual photo got lost! Thats what happens when you let people look through your pictures before theyre in an album. This year I wouldn't let anyone touch any of the photos before I got them in an album!

Greg showed us the pitches to gargoyles, the concept stuff, and his developments for spinoffs. We've seen it before, and we can never get enough. I *so* want the original gargs pitch on tape. *shudders* Afterwards, Tore, Karine, Patrick, Ylla, Tristan, Djali, Karlyl and I all went out for Sushi. Merideth and Andy joined us later, but since Sushi at CityWalk can sit a maximum of eight people together, they got put behind us. I spent the meal poking Andy, so he and Mer wouldn't feel left out, and Mer spent the meal trying to snap my bra, which is impossible, as when I actually wear a bra (which is rare) its a sports bra. *evil laugh* MUAHAHAHAHAHAHA! Greg also announced the people who would be in the radio play, and I had a part!

I don't remember what else we did that night, but based on what Tore and I did all weekend, we probably went back up to the room and played GameBoy. :)

Saturday, June 23rd

Karine, Pat, Karlyl, Tore and I were running too late to go to CityWalk for breakfast, so we decided to eat at the hotel restaurant. o.O The prices were outrageous. I got corned-beef hash, two eggs, toast, hashbrowns and water, and my bill came to over ten dollars. The food wasn't even very good! Tore and I were running so late that I gave money to Karine to pay for my meal. Later we would find out that the hotel tried to charge more than the menu prices for everything, and insisted they could not fix it! Karine and Karlyl left a message for the manager, and we were all very miffed.

Anyway, Tore and I went to the voice acting Q&A, which had already started. We stayed for both sessions. I got up and read the part of Una in a small scene from MIA, and then tried to do a voice dub for an anima series I've never heard of. I guess I did semi-okay. I think it might be fun to do some voice acting, but Greg says if you don't have a passion for it, don't bother, as it is a very tough thing. I really want to be a scince teacher, and I don't see myself ever moving to LA anyway. It's much too expensive.

Afterwards, Tore and I went back to the art room and voted for our favorites, then went to CityWalk and grabbed a quick takeout lunch. I had a very good "chopped" salad, which I guess is the LA term for Chef Salad, and Tore got chineese food which gave him a sour stomach.

I got back just in time for RadioPlay rehersals. Then Tore and I played GameBoy until the actual RadioPlay. It was funny, Greg was setting up chairs for all of the actors. Tore came in and set a bottle of water on one of the chairs. I thought it was HIS water, and he was putting it there to save his seat. Greg picked it up and said "Is this mine?" and I said "No, it's my fiancee's." Greg then informed me that he had asked Tore to go get it for him. Boy did I feel sheepish.. Anyway, I played the part of Fox, and had only one line. Blarg. Oh well, at least I got chosen. I know I should be happy with that, but I'm self-centered and vain, what can I say?

After rehersals I wanted to hang out with Tristan and the bunch, but they wanted to see Atlantis at the IMAX. There were three problems with that: I'd already seen Atlantis, I couldn't rationalize spending twenty dollars to see it again, and Tore was very hungry, and we knew nothing would be open by the time the movie got out. So Tore and I parted the company of the masses and ate at Shanghai & Mein (S&M... huh huh huh...) which had EXCELLENT food. The best eggrolls I've ever had.

During the meal and for several hours afterwards, Tore and I played GameBoy. :)

Sunday, June 24th

Sick of the previous morning's experience with breakfast, Karlyl, Tore and I went to Carl Jr.'s for the morning. They had greasy food, but it was CHEAP! We walked down the hill instead of taking the tram, but hitched a ride back up. (We were on a darn steep hill!)

Tore and I went to the series production thingie, or at least what was left of it. We stayed for the voice actor's Q&A. I got Thom Adcox to sign my Lex cup, and went back up to my room to get my gargoyles trading cards and my script from the RadioPlay for the voice actors to sign. We stood in line for a good hour or so, but Kieth David left before we got a chance to have him sign things. His little boy was sick, and bored. How could someone be bored at a gargs convention? ;P Oh well.

Tore and I were going to watch TV in the video room, and sit down with a snack of peanuts and snapple, but I ended up helping Eden disassemble the Art Room. Now, before the con I had heard rumors of the G2002 chair not wanting to run the con. The threat of not having a gathering became very real. I told Jen that if need be, I would run the con myself, despite my lack of knowlege in such things. It's just that the thought of there not being a gathering is very frightening to me. It's what I look forward to all year! Anyway, Siryn was there to take the slack, and I offered to be the Art Director. Cindy thinks she might not be able to make it next year, and Siryn swore she wouldnt be both Con and Art Director. Anyway, so I'm diving into something I have no idea about, just for the sake of keeping this going. *BANZAIIII!*

I bought a piece of art by Tana, and found that someone had bought some of my art! I was totally amazed, and I can't seem to GIVE my art away. Someone bought Pyramid, and Greg's son bought my Cat Comparison pic! Imagine my delight! Tore and I also bought GoliathLugia's GameBoy Advance so Tore could give it to his eldest son, Brandon, and I bought some games. (I have since bought several accessories for my GBColor, including a light, AC adaptor, Car adaptor, two cases, several more games, etc. Me, addicted? NAW!)

About an hour and a half before the banquet I began to prep. Tore insisted I had plenty of time. Har har. I was ready just in time! We got upstairs to find... that they were running behind schedule. Oh well, it gave me plenty of time to go around and take pictures of everyone lining up. When they let everyone in to be seated, I tried to make a dash for Aimee and Stephanie's table, but it filled up rather quickly. In fact, everyone I tried to sit with kind of kicked Tore and I out. So we sat at an empty table. Soon Tigris Euphrates and a few other people who had also been edged out of other tables gathered with us. So we were the reject table, so be it. Then they started seating guests. And to my amazement, who should be called to sit at the table of rejects than Greg Weisman himself! Tore and I spent the meal stealing he and his wife's ear. I pretty much didn't stop talking the entire time. Like I said, I am my favorite subject :)

Thom and Crispin were generally silly the whole time. I didn't get any pictures. Lets just say you should have been there. And if you weren't, SHAME ON YOU!

After the meal (which was okay) I went back to my room to get on my costume. I went as my Avian Form which I don't really RP as anymore. Actually, I don't even have this form anymore, she is her own entity named Krynn Swiftwind. Im kind of disappointed with my actions, if not my costume. The costume itsself was pretty cool. Its just that I only walked on stage, twirled and walked off. EVERYONE else, even those people not in the cosplay, at least did something. ANYTHING. So I was kind of dull. This is one of the few points in the Gathering where I was actually depressed. I felt like a lamer. I was pretty much determined to be pissed for the rest of the night, but after changing out of my costume and coming back to the ball, they were playing Love Shack, and I can't be depressed to that song. See, a long time ago, when I was still a little girl, my brother and parents and I went to a bar and sang Kariokie (how does one spell that word?). My brother and I sang Love Shack. And all the bikers in leather, all the drunks, everyone stopped playing pool, stopped drinking, and turned to watch this (13?) year old girl and her brother sing Love Shack. I wish we had it on tape. Oh well, I will do better next year.

This night we also learned about an interesting law in LA. In this city, which you would think never sleeps, there is a law about noise, and how there shouldn't be any after 11pm. So here it is Sunday night, and none of us are ready to sleep. We decided to cram into as many cars as we could find and go somewhere, anywhere. A club perhaps. We asked many of the guests to come with us, but they all insisted they were too old. Too old? What? My dad is 62 years old, and he doesn't show such a lack of energy. I wonder if maybe a lot of the guests were just kind of weirded out by us.

We stood in the lobby of the hotel for at least an hour, trying to figure out where to go and who could drive. By the time we had plans, Karine pointed out, it was probably too late to go anywhere, and everything would probably be closing soon, since it was Sunday. So we just sat in the lobby, and talked. We gave spoons to Myr, who is unfortunately retiring this year. Kyffin even gave him the METAL SPOON! Tore was already upstairs, so I just went to bed.

Monday, June 25th

Tore and I were both semi awake. I heard a knock at the door, but was too far into the next world to care. Suddenly Karine is shoving two plastic spoons in my face, telling me some people at the door wanted her to give them to me. I took the spoons and stumbled towards the door, tripping at lesat twice. An entire MiniClan invasion force stood there. I Invited them in while Tore and I got ready. Then the lot of us went to CityWalk.

We all went to closing ceremonies, which is always a sad time. Tore and I pre-registered for next year. I also commissioned a picture from David Wong, which will be put in the gallery as soon as I get it. We sat aroiund trying to figure out what to do, and I took many pictures. I even took a picture of the concierge, Jason, who helped us with many things all weekend! The whole group of us went to the mall and ate at the food court, because I was still hungry. We got lost several times on the way to the mall. I mean SEVERAL. We made at least four U-turns, and several roads were crossed more than once. Now let me tell you, this mall was LAME. It was in burbank. First of all, the food courst was designed in such a fashion that you must walk the length of it to see what options are available. The food court at Countryside mall, which rules by the way, is in a semi circle, so immediately upon entereing you can browse all your choices and not take a step. Second, the food wasn't that good. But Tristan draw a neat picture in the mustard!

More reasons why the mall is lame: I was taking pictures of our group, and Kyffin was sitting on the floor waiting for the elevator to come. A security guard, who spoke little english, pointed at me and then to this little sign that said "no photographs" and then to Kyffin, and to the sign, which also said "no sitting on the floor." We were astonished. What idiocy! We thought of several reasons for these rules, but none of them made sense. Like I said, it's a lame mall.

We stopped in several stores, including KB Toys, Sears, and more. In ToonTime, I bought some stickers out of the machine. What were the two first pokemon to appear bot Tore and my favorites? It was interesting. I bought two more stickers, neither of which were cool, so we're giving them to the kids! ^_^

After the mall, Tore and I went back to our room to pack. I think I stole someone's deoderant. o.O anyway, after packing, we played more GameBoy. We wanted to go to the dead dog party, but it was canceled. Jen said it might be, since all the food had been eaten. But I even offered to donate large sums of money for food! I so much wanted to spend time with the gang! Later I would learn that Karine and Pat were invitied to hang with the staff upstairs, but I tried as much as possible to let it slide off my back. Afterall, they can't let everyone into their room. (Oh look, is that the reject's table again?)

So Tore and I spent a good deal of time... you guessed it... playing GameBoy. Okay, I admit,some of the times I was playing GameBoy, Tore was reading, but I don't remember which times were which.

Tusday, June 25th

The whole day was spent in travel. We had asked Jason, the concierge, to have a Super Shuttle waiting for us at 7:30am. The driver spoke little english, and in fact had "learning english" audio tapes playing when I got in the van. Tore and Karlyl spent about fifteen minutes at the front desk trying to figure out the room charges. You see, when we got in the room, people had opened up the fridge and said "food!" and I was like "no!" So we moved all the food to a drawer to hide it. What we didnt know is that the fridge was weighted, and so my card got charged for all the missing food. Well, we got it all straitened out. We drove to the airport, when I realized I didn't have enough cash to pay the driver. So I ran to an ATM, and in under three minutes had given him $40. He wasn't a nice driver though. Anyway, we board the plane, fly to CVG, then to TPA. We didn't even land until 10:10, and then we taxied for at least fifteen minutes. Tore and I got home well after eleven. Yes, we played a lot of GameBoy.

2002

2002 - Let's see. I was on staff this year. I've been working on the Gathering for several months (since almost immediately after last year's con.) Thus, despite the fact that I was in Virginia for a week, the con felt FAR too short. It needed to be about a month long, though I'd probably have died. As it is, I'm incredibly tired, But I want to write down everything I can remember, before I forget. So, here we go.

We were actually supposed to leave right after work on Tuesday. But no, Tore had to go out of town Tuesday morning, and he didn't get back until about 6:30. So I went to his house right after work and slept for an hour or so, and when he got home I went off to get dinner so he could take a nap. I had Los Mariachis, he had Shanghai Express. So we actually left Clearwater around 8:30pm. Tore took the first shift driving, with the intention that I would sleep and take over later. The problem is, I wasn't actually that tired. So I did very little sleeping. Anyway, I took over at about 3:30am, gave it back to him somewhere around 4:45, took the wheel again at something like 6am, and gave it back to Tore within two hours or so. He then did all the driving until we reached the Holiday Inn Williamsburg, at 10:30am. We made damn good time, probably due to his speeding.

All day Wednesday we read books and slept. We were so exhausted that we didn't even eat dinner, though we did grab lunch at a place called the Cornerstone Grill. I really liked the decor there... kind of industrial art-deco. We also (of course) found the nearest Wal-Mart and promptly spend $50 or so. Thursday morning we didn't really do anything structured, we had lunch at a small in with Zaius, Goliath116, and two guys from Tennessee who's names I don't recall.

Other staff members arrived later that evening, along with several attendees. Jubes, Si, her boyfrined Tempest, and Tore and I had dinner at a steakhouse Tore wanted to try. We discussed last minute things, then ran to Wal-Mart again to grab more stuff. (Tore and I ended up going to Wal-Mart something like a half dozen times during the week we were there.) We got back and started stuffing envelopes with Maui, Jessie and Kess (who arrived very late.) The envelope stuffing took several hours, and kept me up until something like 3am. Siryn and Tempest roomed with us Thursday night.

Friday morning, the art room setup. That was scary. A VERY big thank-you goes to BrooklynX, Norcumi, and the other guy who was helping (name? AHH!) and of course, Tore. Tore and I almost came to blows about how to set up the art panels, which were all odd sized. The setup looked very good though, and we got many compliments. After that I had to put up artwork for the non-attending artists, and record all the "last minute art" for the attendees. Dreamie, Winterwolf, Tore and I went and had chinese food at Mr. Liu's.

At opening ceremonies I got to read a poem (which is displayed in the Library) that I wrote for the Fandom. I almost cried as I read it... I really love the Fandom. Greg gave his usual shpeel, which we all love. We handed out the FREE STUFF Toon Disney had sent us. How cool is that? They sent us free gargs stuff, like shirts, hats and sweat-shirts. And then, Greg made the BIG ANNOUNCEMENT. The fact that Toon Disney had sent us stuff was a good sign that we had their attention. Another good sign is that they are making Gargoyles pins, one of which I bought at the Gathering. But here is the big one: They are putting Gargoyles on DVD!!! Just one DVD so far, and it will come out sometime in 2003. We don't know exactly what's going on it- probably the first five episodes. But if it sells well, we will get more, and hopefully all three seasons! WOOHOO!

Karine and Adam arrived, so the four of us went back to Cornerstone Grill so I could try the Mahi Mahi from their dinner menu. I wasn't nuts about it, but I really liked the fried green tomatoes. Karine and Adam also got to try gritz. Eww. Anyway, somehow that night CrzyJen and I hooked up, and ended up talking girl-stuff until 3:30am.

Saturday is when I actually went to panels- Karine's how to draw panel, and Greg Gular's character design panel. I worked in the art room for a couple of hours, then went up to prep for the banquet. Oddly enough, everyone lost track of time and I had to clear out the dealer's room to get people to come to the banquet. The food wasn't great, but it was free. I sat with Karine, Adam, Tore, Sara Berkeley, Kythera, and someone I don't know. Then we went down to the masquerade/dance. There wasn't much dance music to be heard, so I danced at first (and pooped myself out) but by the time Karine came down she was too disappointed in the music selection to dance. So we pretty much sat at the other end of the room and talked to Greg. He gathered a large crowd, and we talked until late. Actually I left at a somewhat decent hour, something like midnight.

Sunday morning is when the lack of sleep caught up with me. I went to our morning staff meeting, then went directly back to bed. I was exhausted (a feeling I have yet to shake). I got back up around noon and started counting the votes for the art show. I was doing that up until (and during) closing ceremonies. Then it was strait to the art room to sell artwork and tear down the room. (Did I mention I was the Director of the Art Show?) I think Tore and I went to bed right after that.

Monday morning was the unofficial trip to Busch Gardens. I didn't take any pictures, since I didn't want to bring my camera. But Sara Berkeley and Tore and I spent most of the day together, with Dreamie and Winterwolf there often as well. Tore and I did all four big coasters, so SaraB and I scoured the park for a "Fear the Four" shirt that was small enough to fit me. We ended up getting a youth's small. It fits great! I got to see Greg Weisman at lunch, and dinner, and again when we met to all watch Imaginique. Then Tore and I rushed back to the hotel so we could pack, shower and load the car.

We got up early Tuesday morning to drive Kythera to the airport. I went to sleep in the back of the car, and Tore drove the whole way home. (On about 4 hours sleep. Woohoo.) I offered to drive but he wanted to do it, since he speeds more than I do and he wanted to get home >:) He wasn't out of it though, or I would have taken over. So anyway, we made it back to his house by about 5:30. Then I came home, threw my stuff on the bed, and started up the computer to type this. I wanted to forget as little as possible!!

2003

Thursday, June 26

Joey was supposed to have his Gargoyles music video done. Well, he was SUPPOSED to come to the Gathering with me. But last minute, as in 11pm the night before, he calls and says he can't go. But he assures me that he will still give me the money as if he were staying in the room, so he didnt screw the rest of us over. He was supposed to have the music video ready for the contest. But he didnt start trying to burn it until 6am, an hour before I'm scheduled to be at his house. The power goes out on his street. No video. He tells me he has a bad feeling about me going to NY, I tell him tough cookies, Im going anyway. I told him I'd call him later about getting ahold of the video. (Incidentally, I never got ahold of it. The drama went on for a couple days, over the course of which the vid was supposed to be uploaded to Joey's cousin's site. No file there. So I couldnt enter the vid in the contest. Its a shame really, that vid was awesome.)

Dad drops me off at the airport, and I of course start to doodle. Soon the whole page is full of characters, people I'm supposed to see at the con. I'm flying Song, which is part of Delta. A fun man named Wayne, one of the attendants (now known as "talent" starts quizzing the waiting passengers, since we still have an hour before we can start boarding. First question: "Whats the name of the new Harry Potter novel?" Of course, I yell out "Order of the Phoenix!" and I am rewarded with a lolly pop. Yay! :) I board the plane, which is decorated inside with lime green, orange, purple, blue and yellow. Very fun. The "talent" were a lot of fun too, joking at eachother. Good flight.

Get off the plane, ask where I can go to get ground transportation. I am told to take the shuttle, $13. Woo! I find the shuttle. A taxi offers to take me to the hotel for $38. I scoff and say "But the shuttle is $13." He says "But its the shuttle." To which I respond "But its $13." I took the shuttle. Driver has a russian accent, seems like a total asshole. We drive for an HOUR to get to Grand Central. First impressions of NYC: There's graffiti on EVERYTHING and the whole city smells of sun-baked garbage. Blech. Arrive at Grand Central, take a smaller bus to the hotel.

Check in at the front desk, drop off my luggage in the room. Several phone calls to Dreamie and Winterwolf to figure out where they are. Thank goodness for cell phones. I help Dreamie, WW, Aaron, Greg B, Leo and .. damn I dont remember the other guy's name. Anyway we started setting up the art room. Much scrambling for drills that WORK. We take a break and go to lunch at Sbarro. It's not pizza hut, thats for sure, but it would do. We get back, I go to the hotel room. Liz is there. She shows me her mime impression of the tiny-ness of the room. We exchange gifts: books, shirts, etc. We go back to the art room to continue set up. Women do most of the work, while the men watch. Finally the women get tired and ask the men to take over. Liz says she's hungry, so we make our exit.

Blimpies for lunch. We try to eat in the Sbarro restaurant, but get kicked out. (There is no seating at Blimpies). We wander up to the con-suite. I exchange cell numbers with half the gargoyles maffia. Liz and I decide we want to play DDR. We walk about 9 blocks to the nearest DDR. On the way we see a mom picking her kid's nose. Eew? What a dirty city. Liz and I play DDR Extreme. Some creepy people watch us, but dont say anything. We decide to go back to the hotel. Lamps around the subway entrances look like pokeballs. I notice the marquee from Times Square advertising the Trek Con. I begin singing "Our con is better, we have Greg Weisman...." Just then we notice Greg is leaning on the wall outside our hotel, waiting for Thom to arrive. Much squealing and hugs. (Well, I was the only one squealing.) We wait around for a while, before we find out Thom and Vic are already waiting in the lobby, they'd used another entrance. Greg says theyre going to dinner. Kathy Pogge says that Liz and I cant go. Later Dreamie says we CAN go.

Dreamie, Liz and I wait in the lobby. Everyone else has already gone to dinner and are supposed to call with directions. No one calls, no one answers their cell phone. We FINALLY get ahold of someone, then power walk about 10 blocks to the Sushi place. Unagi is yummy. We walk back. I get to meet Ethan, who seems pretty cool. Liz and I take the leftover sushi to (someone's?) room. Kythera, Hudson, Guandalug (sp?), Duncan, Zaius and Nick are all there, plus others. Someone eats the sushi. We exchange D&D stories. Liz starts drifting off against the wall, so I drag her back up to the room to sleep. I take a shower.. that shower SUCKED. The water pressure was so hard it felt like I was being stung by bees. The water wooshed out so fast it created its own wind. I kid you not. It was like the apartment Tore and I had. Blech. The toilet was funny though. It flushed so violently it felt like it could create a mini tornado in the bathroom. I did finally sleep at some point.

Friday, June 27

Karlyl calls my cell at 630am. I think I'd only been asleep for 3 hours or so. I run down to the lobby to let her in (you cant get to the elevators without a room key.) She stowes her luggage in the closet, then goes to wander the city for a few hours so I can get more sleep. She came back at something like 800 or so. She, Liz and I went down to City Perk Cafe in the hotel lobby for breakfast. We take our food to the con-suite so we can chat with people. We grab Liz's art to set it up in the art room. FLOSS! As we are doing so, Nixie calls my cell, she's waiting downstairs. I go get her, and meet Ganador. Nixie registers at the desk, we get to see Karlyl, Thundra and Djali. Kars and I help Liz set up her othercon art.

The three of us grab Thundra, Djali and Ganador and go for lunch and DDR. Lunch was okay, just subs from the place right next to the arcade. We play much DDR. Good times. Kars and Tuntun are now hooked on DDR. Djali has rediscovered her obsession. MUAHAHA! After DDR we wander back to the hotel. Karine is in the Lobby, I drag her upstairs. We all start arting in our room. (Note: much arting went on this weekend.) We all go up to Opening Ceremonies. We plug the Gathering 2004, which is going to ROCK. We listen to Greg's shpeel again (you know, the same one he does every year) completing his sentences for him. We help Karine set up her artwork. We go to the same sushi place from the night before. Unagi is still yummy. I tried Sake (sp?). The first sip was okay, but each progressive sip was more and more disgusting. I didnt finish even one glass.

We grab our sketchbooks and go to the 6th floor lounge to start arting. We are eventually kicked out by a security guard named Gonzales (remember his name, it comes back up later.) Karine informs us that our room does not lock properly. I go down to the front desk and talk to a man who doesnt seem to know what to do about the situation. Finally I say "Either fix the lock, or give us a new room." We got a new room. The beds were the same size, but the room was much bigger. Very nice. There are sheets on the bed, but no blankets or beadspreads. I go back downstairs and ask for blankets and bedspreads. The girls start moving into the new room. Liz tells me she left her expensive pens in the lounge- I have to get Gonzales to unlock the room so I can get them. Blankets come, no bedspreads. I insist on bedspreads, because I hate getting cold in the middle of the night. Karine rants for about an hour about the stress at her job. King size bedspreads are eventually delivered (for our full size beds.) I shower, then fall asleep.

Saturday, June 28

We all chat in the room while Liz and Karine shower. Good thing: Half of the room occupants are morning shower people, the other half are night shower people. Breakfast at City Perk again. We head to the draing Q&A hosted by Karine, Liz, Kythera and Nikki. At some point Matt (Artgolem) walked in. He came and sat down behind me, YAY! I show him the doodle I did on Thursday. He doodles too. Im so jealous of his mad art skillz. ^_^ After the panel the majority of us went up the the Dealer's room. Karine and Patrick started taking pre-registrations for 2004. I registered. We arted. Djali, Liz and I went to K Mart to get some munchies. Karine started her Cel-coloring panel. Laurean watched the registration desk. I went down to Karine's panel just to doodle. Came up with a decent image, which I may finish at some point. I then went back up to the Dealer's Room to take over the pre-reg desk. I double the number of people who pre-reg. I am an effective salesman when I believe in the product ;) Some people drifted in and out of the room, I got to chat with Laurean, Matt, Karlyl, Nixie, Liz, BrooklynX, and some other gargs.

I leave to start getting ready for the banquet. I take the money with me, I dont feel safe leaving it in the dealers room. We all start getting ready for the banquet in our room. Matt offers to leave to give us some privacy. That launches me into my "60 naked women, ass in your face, you have no idea." basic training story for the umpteen millionth time. So he stays. He says he can't go to the banquet, he doesn't have the money. I offer to pay for him to go, and wont take "no" for an answer. Matt and I race around the hotel trying to find a con-staffer who is willing to take my money. Lynati signs the back of Matt's badge. Thanks Lynatti!! The food was a little dry, the salad drenched with dressing. However the coffee and treats were yummy, Liz and I split one of each of the six kinds of yummmies. Matt had to leave... poo. I wish Matt could have stayed longer.

Random side note: I spent a lot of time trying to NOT be annoying this year. Did it work? I have a habbit of clinging to people (Greg W, new friends, etc.) And I think I alienate a lot of people that way. So I tried to be a little distant. I hope I didnt come off as cold to anyone. I just seem to push people away FASTER if I try to cling to them too much.

Karine, Liz and I really wanted to dance. But the "sound system" was just an old boom box with blown speakers. They didnt even have dance music. Liz and I played a few of my CDs for a while, but then decided we needed to GO somewhere. Liz, Karine and I set out to find a club. We walk something like 15 blocks only to find a club that charged a $25 cover and played rap. GAG ME. We headed back to the hotel, in the hopes of finding another club. Then we just wanted to find a bar with music. Then we just wanted to find something that was OPEN. We finally found a little tavern, and Karine introduced me to a couple of drinks. So the list of things that I can drink without gagging has grown. Yay!

We decide we'd better get back to the hotel and to bed, since we know we're going to get up early for Dim Sum. But we end up arting, chatting and giggling until very early in the morning anyway. Run Away! Ha ha ha ha.

Sunday, June 29

First thought: Arg, I dont want to get up. *Karine goes to take a shower* oh good, I dont have to get up yet. *Karine finishes shower* Liz! Youre turn! *tries to push Liz out of bed* Liz: My turn? Why does it have to be my turn? Me: Okayfine. *gets up*

Karine, Liz, Nixie?, and I wait in the lobby for Dreamie and Winterwolf. We walk to the subway and wait FAR too long for a train. We RUN all over Chinatown looking for a restaurant that serves Dim Sum. We SCARF our food down. Dreamie, Karine and I take a cab back: we MUST be at the hotel at 11am to open the dealer/art room. We get there: the room is already open, probably by the hotel staff. Im glad I didnt leave the money in there last night.

More arting while we sit and take pre-regs for 2004. I go to Dreamie & Liz's computer coloring panel, and find out Ive been doing it all wrong. Poo. We all go to closing ceremonies, where I take yet more pre-regs for 2004. I go to help Liz take her artwork down for the auction. Talyesin arrives, Karine leaves. I miss you Karine! Liz, Talyesin, BrooklynX and I go to Coney Island with a group of people. First we stop at the WTC memorial. Greg W tries to keep count of us, but the group is so amorpheus that he has a hard time of it. (Image concept by me, drawn by Liz.) Coney Island is colder than I thought it would be. That sucks, I was wearing shorts, thinking it would be hot. Liz and I run to play DDR, thus separating ourselves and Tal & BrookX from the rest of the group.

I pout for a while, mad that I let myself separate us from everyone else. Liz and I ride the Cyclone, that ROCKED. What a fun coaster. We stand in line for 20 minutes just to get some fries from the McD's at the park. The sign says "Smiles are Free" So Liz asks for a supersize fry, tripple thick chocolate shake, and four smiles to go. The guy doubles over laughing. We only ever got 2 smiles though. We find a couple of gargs, they tell us where and when to meet the group. We do so at 10pm. Everyone wants to go home, so we get back on the train (long-ass train ride.) We start planting subliminal messages in Greg's brain, and get him to start humming songs. Muahaha.

Greg says he wants Ice Cream. Then he says Pancakes would be better. Thus the 27 of us set off to find any place thats open and serves pancakes. Just like the club-selection, there is really no choice. We finally find an ice cream parlor thats open and partake in the yumminess. We go to the con-suite, but its crowded with people watching the Cowboy Beebop movie. Yay fun. So we (Liz, Dreamie, Kars, Nixie, etc) decide to leave and go art in the room.

Monday, June 30

Woken up by Dad calling me on my cell. Liz, Karlyl, Nixie, Tal and I chatted for nearly 3 hours. We go to lunch with Dreammie, WW & Aura. We walked all over the place for a while, and I finally convinced everyone to try Curry in a Hurry. I'd been craving curry for a month. It was very yummy, but very fulling. To the point where I couldnt finish my meal. A couple more private jokes were spawned, like "A muggle asked me where the Xavier (ex-AH-vee-ay) Institute was. I told him to Live Long and Prosper." and "I'd rather go back to being an accountant." Liz came up with a song, Dreamie helped finish it. "Amaretto, Vodka Amaretto, Amaretto, Vodka Chardinay." More arting in the 6th floor lounge. Nixie is thirsty, so she looks in the empty conference rooms for water. She found a pitcher and some glasses, so started pouring us some water. Later, some guys wearing suits filed back into that room. Nixie got a look of horror on her face, and hid the water behind the couch. This Nixie earned the name Master Water Thief.

Liz, Karlyl, Dreamie, Talyesin and I meet Patrick, Carol and Greg W in the lobby for dinner. We go to a restaurant that Greg used to go to with his dad. Good burgers. Greg, Carol and Patrick had to leave early to catch their plane. It took Katie, our waitress, several tries to get the right items on each of the checks... and in fact never managed to get it all right. She was still really nice about it, and had cool blue feathered earrings in. We took the subway back, but weren't really sure if we were on the right train. A cool guy named Tuck helped us figure out where we needed to go. He took a group photo for us, and talked to Liz in Japanese. We finally get back to the hotel, where Gonzales is on duty, so I take a picture.

Liz still owes me a characture. It takes her five tries to get it right- she says I have pretty normal features, so its really hard to do a characture. Tal, Liz, Dreamie, Karlyl, WW and I go out to find more DDR. The place that advertized DDR and Pump It Up was apparently not open, so we decided to skip it. We walked to the theater and saw the Hulk. It was very silly, Liz, Karlyl and I were laughing at the absurdity quite a lot. We walk back to the hotel. Tal, Dreamie and WW decide to go to bed, Kars, Liz and I go for drinks. I try some of Karlyl's Midori Sour, very yummy. We go back to the room, Kars realizes she's left her ID somewhere, but calls her dad and finds that she will still be able to get home anyway. We go to bed at some obscure hour of the morning.

Greg responds...

Whoo! It took me two days to read this one. But it was worth it. Big rush of memories...

Response recorded on February 10, 2005

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Jimmy_Q writes...

You know, one of these days I would actually like to attend a Gathering. However, I've found that the past Gatherings have been around the coasts, Virginia, Florida, and the next one is to take place in LA? Here's my problem: I live smack in the middle of the country (Nebraska). With college and a part-time job, not only do I lack the time for a lengthy trip, but I'm not exactly swimming in money, either. I may be a wee bit hopeful, but what are the chances of a Gathering taking place in or around Nebraska in the near-future (within the next 5 years or so)?

Greg responds...

Well, here's the (abridged) history of the Gathering...

1997 - Fans got together and organized the first New York Gathering. Most of the work was done by Mae Li, who should be hailed by fandom as the woman who gave birth to our cons.

1998 - Out of the fist Gathering, a group of fans got together and organized the second New York Gathering.

1999 - Having completely exhausted the New York fandom, another group of fans got together and organized the Dallas Gathering.

2000 - Still another group of fans got together and organized the Orlando Gathering.

2001 - Survivors of the Dallas Gathering got together (with some fresh fan blood) and organized the Los Angeles Gathering.

2002 - Survivors of the Orlando Gathering got together (with some fresh fan blood) and organized the Williamsburg Gathering.

2003 - A new group of fans got together (with a few familiar faces) to organize this year's new New York Gathering. For info, check out http://gathering.gargoyles-fans.org .

2004 - A group of Canadian fans have gotten together and are already organizing next year's Gathering in Montreal.

2005 - Is up for grabs. As you can see from this history, there's no magic to it. Dedicated fans just decide to make it happen. In fact, it's a lot of hard work. But if you want a Gathering in Nebraska, organize a group of fans and put together a bid. You've got at least six to eight months to get your act together before next year's bidding process begins. Go for it.

As for attending before then... it's not necessarily as expensive and time-consuming as you may think. Look into cheap fares or ride sharing and/or room sharing. Just LOOK into it, before deciding it isn't possible. Give it a try. I guarantee you won't be sorry.

Response recorded on May 13, 2003

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Slash Thrasher writes...

Dear Greg,

I know I'm breaking the "Ask Greg" Rules here, but I figured this was the only way to get in touch with you. I Just wanted to say thank you for making me feel welcome at the gathering 2001. I've wanted to sit down and type this to you for a long time, but time is something I no longer am able use for such simple things. The whole time I was in L.A. I was nervous enough to be so far from home, but no one there seemed to notice me. The Mini-clanners tried there best to make me feel part of something, but It became clearly evident that I didn't fit in there clan eather. People I knew Online wouldn't say hi to me, the one person I thought was my true friend Denis Duplaen was off in his own world with a girl he met, and Demona May drove me freekin' nutz! I truely know how Brooklyn felt when the clan became caught up in there personal affairs and he had no one to talk to. I left L.A. being more depressed then I've ever been in my life, wishing the plane would crash or something.... But I wouldn't have changed a thing if I could, cause I now realize the valuable lesson this all taught me. That no matter how much you think you are apart of something, and feel like you belong, It doesn't mean that People care about you and how you feel. I don't blame anyone but myself for feeling this way, but I also learned that not everybody... er.. better make that hardly anybody likes heavy metal, and just cause you devote time and effort to something, it doesn't mean anyone will care. Now I know that I need to just worry more about what I need to do, rather then what others think of me. I hope to thank Jeff Bennet too. That guy was awesome and we got to talk a bit at Mug-A-Guest. I also wanted to appoligize for not seeming like the biggest gargoyles fan eather. I love the show with all my heart, but I've never had the time to watch every epsiode over and over till I've memorised every event and name and stuff. I've been working hard since I was 14 and now I'm paying bills for my parents. Its not easy to balace 2.5 jobs and school. I envy the people that have the time to watch T.V. everyday.
Well, I'm sorry I rambled on like this, I know you are a much busyer man than I. Thank you for you time and happy late Birthday to you!

Slash T.
(Dan W.)

Greg responds...

Slash/Dan

I'm sorry your experience at G2001 was a let-down. I feel that I contributed to that, and I do apologize. I still think about it.

But I am curious. Did you have fun at G2000? I mean it couldn't have been too bad, since you came back for more, right?

Anyway, sometimes we build our expectations too high. I'm not sure even the letdown you describe merits some of the more dire conclusions (or 'lessons') that you have chosen to draw from it.

I hope you give the Gathering another chance some day (like this month). But if not, good luck.

Response recorded on June 12, 2002

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The Cat writes...

Hey Greg,

I'd figure since I just got a call back from Jeff Bennett that I'd better check on you. If you are ok could you tell me how Bill(Broadway) and Thom(Lexington) are doing? I'm really conserned about how ya'll are doing and now more than ever. I know that sometimes the actors go to New York to work and Jeff got a hold of my answering machine, so he didn't elaberate(hope I spelled that right). Well, how have you been let's say between November of 1999 to present day? Since I met you, Jeff, Bill and Thom in November of '99 through Make A Wish.

Well I got homework write ya later, Bye.

Greg responds...

Hi Cat,

I've been fine, basically. It's sweet of you to be concerned. How are you?

Thom is fine. Playing a lot of tennis. Doing a ton of radio commercials, at minimum.

I haven't talked to Bill or Jeff since (either) the 2001 L.A. Gathering or when I used each of them on the now defunct Team Atlantis show -- all this past summer. But I'm sure they're doing well, or I'd have heard.

Keep in touch. (Any chance we'll see you at G2002 in Virginia this summer?)

Greg

Response recorded on February 14, 2002

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Josh Wurzel writes...

Monday:

It's all over! NOOOOOOOOO! I have to say, the past four days were probably
the highlight of my entire summer. Never have I had so much fun with people I
barely knew. I made some great friends in Greg X, Revel, Mara, Aaron, Dreamie,
and Winterwolf, and met a whole bunch of people, and even (according to Jannie)
picked up a fan club.

I have only ONE complaint about the ENTIRE gathering! Yes, just one. And its
something that can easily be fixed and would cost NOTHING to fix! The name
tags! Most of us meet over the internet, and few have any idea what the other
people look like. The name tags should have our Internet handle/callsign/nickname
in LARGE letters at the TOP of the badge, with the real name in smaller letters
underneath, with the picture/artwork taking up the bottom. In other words, reverse the ratio of name space to art space on
the badge. I should be able to see someone's nickname on their badge from more than 2 feet away. It was a little awkward
feeling like I was staring at everyone's chest to see their name. "I'm reading your badge, really!"

Gathering staff? What do you guys think about that?

I got to gathering late today, as I really didn't care much about the lectures that were happening. I picked up the artwork I
bid on and watched the closing ceremonies, which was basically a brief thank-you by Greg Weisman.

After that six of us (me, aaron, mara, dreamie, winter, and warpy) piled into Wolf's rented convertible and went for lunch
at a chinese restaurant my family likes. Everyone was happy, which is good because i'd have been really embarassed if
they relied on me to be their guide and disappointed them. After lunch we drove back to the con hotel and dropped off
Warpy so he could catch a shuttle. Then we left again to find a movie theater...the first one wasn't playing the movie we
wanted to see, so we headed to my house and hung out for a while until about 7, when Evolution was playing at a nearby
theater.

During the interim at my house, Aaron and crew (esp. aaron) became very buddy-buddy with my little bro. The six of us
(including my little bro) were talking up a storm in the kitchen. How we managed to keep it at his level is amazing to me,
considering the collection of gutterminds present. He'll start posting in here soon, as soon as I set up his new machine.
He's very excited. Now, keep in mind, he's 13, so try to stay PG-13 with him 8-). When he asks what yaoi is, don't tell
him 8-).

Seeing as I was a total 5th wheel (literally, as I was with 2 couples), I selected a theater with massive love-seat style
stadium seating for my friends. The armrests move back, big comfy chairs, you get the idea. After the movie, I insisted
that they drop me off and head back to the con hotel before I got violently ill. Being a confirmed bachelor for life definitely
has its advantages, but there's always that yucky feeling I get when I see sappiness among couples.

So that pretty much concluded my gathering experience. It was a blast, and as of today I'm actually considering GOING to
Virgina, if I can pull it off (doubtful, but who knows!?).

To Revel, Mara, Aaron, Dreamie, Winterwolf, Jannie, and GXB: You guys made my gathering infinitely valuable, and its
an experience I'll treasure forever. If any of you are in my neck of the woods (although I'd not call either of the concrete
jungles I inhabit "the woods"), look me up: you've got a place to stay. ::fake sobs:: I love you guys ;-). Oh, and I'd really
like at least one of you guys to post your view of events today, as I'd like to see it from the tourists point of view. 8-)

Sadly, the people I went to the movie with know where I live and they've seen where I sleep (good luck finding your way
back, though. Buwahahaha!). Now I'll have to kill them. ;-)

The pictures, greg, are posted at www.kicktothenuts.com/gathering

Thanks, Greg.

Greg responds...

Geez, nice name for your website, man.

Seriously, though, I'm glad you had a good time. That's the point, eh?

Response recorded on October 10, 2001

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Josh Wurzel writes...

Sunday:

So much went on today. There was a big Q&A with some of the voice talent,
including Goliath, Brooklyn/Owen/Magus, Lex, Obsidiana, and Hyena (i'm using
character names instead of real names b/c quite frankly I don't care and most
people won't recognize the names). There was an auction of garg stuff, one cell
went for $420, and some artists bible went for $300. I was part of a pool on a
Carl Johnson Garg Music CD that went for $200.

Anyone interested in borrowing money: talk to Aaron. I swear, that guy has more
money than god. I watched him outbid people just for fun.

A bunch of original artwork was displayed, I took pictures and they will be
available for download as soon as I get them off my camera and onto the internet.

Saved $53 by walking down the road to Subway instead of staying for the Banquet. I'm told all I missed was Crispin (sp?)
kissing Thom Adcox.

The costume contest was...interesting. My personal favorite was Aaron and Shinigami, who dressed up as Fox and David,
RESPECTIVELY. They won the Gorebash cross-dressing award. Best couple award went to Thom and Crispin. Dreamie
and Winterwolf did this cute commando thing where they hijacked Thom and demanded his boxers, leading Thom to drop
his pants in the middle of the dance floor. Thom dropped trou again while dancing later. Greg Weissman made numerous
comments about "any excuse to take your pants off, huh Thom!?"

I didn't get anything signed because, quite frankly, the only stuff that goes up in value when signed is sports memorabilia. I
mean, who outside the fandom knows who Greg Weissman is?!

I got some great pictures of CR members and other stuff, also to be posted soon.

Greg responds...

If people are getting stuff signed to increase the object's MONETARY value than I'd have to agree they're nuts.

But I've had a few things signed in my day by people I admire. And it certainly increased the objects value TO ME.

Response recorded on October 10, 2001

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Josh Wurzel writes...

Saturday:

Another great day at the Gathering.

Lets see, what'd I do today. Well I went to a bunch of different seminars about
writing, storyboarding, etc. Saw the radio play, which was SOOOO funny. Greg
revealed that the second episode after "The Journey" was to be a 22-minute porn
scene between Goliath and Elisa. Spent some time watching "Best of Gargoyles",
and a bunch of time in the art room hanging out with other TGS CR members.

A special apology to Jannie and Denis, who I left out of my list of people I met
yesterday (aka the list of people I strongly suspect exist).

Oh, and I've confirmed the existence of Todd Jensen. Although he doesn't APPEAR to be a cat, his conversational skills
make me wonder if he's a cat in a human costume.

Spent a large chunk of the day in just blabbing with Warpy, Aaron, Mara, Lynati, Dreamie, and Winterwolf (who, in case
you haven't figured out, is Dreamie's other half - I think), Revel, and GXB. Its a lot of fun hanging out with CR people, as
we all know a bit about each other's history and personalities, its not at all like meeting completely new people.

I'm finding out that I've pissed off a lot of people unintentionally. I mean, it probably seemed provoking, but since I don't
remember doing it, I obviously wasn't being malicious. I remember that kind of stuff. So that said, an apology to Jennifer
Anderson (sp?). Its quite interesting being introduced to someone and having them say "can I kick your ass now?"

Greg responds...

Don't worry too much. Jen says that to a lot of people.

::DUCKS QUICKLY::

:D

Response recorded on October 10, 2001

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Josh Wurzel writes...

I see you were looking for gathering essays. Since Aaron posted his, I thought I'd follow suit. These were posted in the TGS CR.

Friday:

Greg X and Revel say: NEENEER NEENEER NEEEEEENER! WE'RE AT
GATHERING AND YOU'RE NOT!!!

Everyone else says: Does anyone have a computer?

Gathering rocks. Loving every minute of it. The following people are now on my
list of those I STRONGLY suspect exist: Winterwolf, Dreamie, Dreamie's
Boyfriend (much to everyone's chagrin, though I discovered today that I could
care less), Revel, Greg X, Lynati, Warpmind, Christine, Tim, Becca, Lexy, Greg
Weisman, Thom Adcox, Coyote, Ravyn, Daniel Johnson, Aaron, Mara,
Guandalug, Patrick Toman, Kathy, CrzyDemona

Cute chicks: Okay, I'm an california boy, so you can imagine my standards are pretty high/picky. So you can imagine I
don't think there are any "Perfect 10's" at the Gathering. As it is, there are a few cuties. They are: Sorow, Dreamie, Ylla
(sp?). Just so you guys who aren't there know that I'm looking. Pictures to be posted soon.

The following people MAY exist: SJ, Robby, Gside, DPH. I suspect that they aren't at Gathering because they really are
someone else who's already there (robby-aaron, sj-me, etc).

Its really cool meeting all these people in real life, some of them are even cool in real life. But I have to say, I've been from
one end of California to the other. I've been to Santa Monica, West LA, and Berkeley. I've seen a lot of weird stuff. But
I've never seen a freak show quite like the Gathering crew, and I'm a weekly attendee of the rocky horror picture show.
That says a lot.

Greg Weisman showed us a sketch for his "bad guys" series, which was pretty funny, and he also showed us preliminary
story arcs for New Olympians and Dark Ages. Too bad he never got to make any of this stuff. If I were king...

I went to a panel group that included Christine and Mara, and learned a few tips for improving my fic...it may see the
black of the fic archive yet.

Then we MiSTed the gargoyles eps "The Gathering", where I demonstrated to the 20 people in attendance that I do, in
fact, have quite the guttermind ("The Puck has played many roles, but never that of straight man" "Yes, puck, we know
you've never been a straight man!"). But MiSTing gargoyles episodes it more fun than I can shake a really big stick at.
Even though they are the bane of our fandom, I really would enjoy MiSTing the TGC episodes.

Greg responds...

Better late than never...

Thanks!

Response recorded on October 10, 2001

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Ambrosia writes...

Hi, Greg!
*Greatly* enjoyed the radio play. Thank you so much!
So...
Did the cut scene of Hunter's Moon III between Elisa and Jason in the decimated clock tower actually happen in the gargoyles universe, just off camera?

Greg responds...

Uh... I'd like to think so, yes.

Response recorded on September 05, 2001

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VF writes...

Some comments about the 2001 Gathering

I am a communications director at a university and can truly appreciate the vast amount of work that goes into event planning, so thanks to all the people who worked so hard on the Gathering 2001. I had posted a note in the Station Eight Comment Room a few weeks before the convention, expressing some slight trepidation about my two daughters and myself attending the event because I felt like a bit of an outsider, but we wanted to show our support for the series and encourage its revival. Several people, including you, Greg, responded in the Comment Room and were very welcoming and put my concerns to rest.

Or so it seemed.

Imagine my thoughts when, shortly after the Opening Ceremonies got underway, my now-infamous daughter says, quite out loud for just about everybody to hear: "Mommy, what's a con virgin?!" Yes, that was my 4-year-old, Caitlin. So after blushing a bit and trying to quietly explain the term to her, all I could think of was that maybe I'd have to carefully scout out any future sessions and try to pre-determine their age-appropriate level.

But I didn't have to worry. The weekend was really very nice. I'm not very good at remembering names, so unfortunately I don't know the names of the kind people we encountered. The women in the Art Room, for example, were so accommodating and welcoming when both of my daughters became inspired to draw Elisa (as a human and as a gargoyle) and Goliath pictures and submitted them to be displayed. The girls were so excited that we had to drop in and see them ... often.

The purchase of some Gargoyles coloring books and stamps and a Goliath mug, the art table that totally occupied my daughters' time while I sat in on your Mug-A-Guest session, hearing the writers discuss their work on the show, the voice actor panel, the Radio Play (thanks for the great choice of material), the Video Room - all were very interesting and fun for this con ... uh ... first-timer.

It has been interesting to read other people's diaries of the Gathering since, including one from Aaron. I didn't know it until I read his summary, but he mentioned watching my other daughter, 6-year-old Jessica, who, during the Radio Play, spent more time turned around watching Aaron's friend, Mara, while she sketched. Mara (whose name I didn't know at the time) was kind enough not to mind Jessica staring mesmerized at her work. Jessica really has an affinity for art, and Mara was very encouraging and gave Jessica one of the sketches she had done. It was beautiful.

I also had the pleasure of meeting your wife, briefly. We compared notes a bit, this being her second - I believe she said - Gathering that she had attended. She, too, assured me that although newcomers may feel awkward at first, her estimation is that it's a pretty nice group of people who make up the fandom. I concur.

While my girls and I had perhaps only modestly participated in the Gathering, it was fun and I hope it will do some good to perpetuate what I think is a really great program that deserves to be revived. So thanks for all your work and that of the con staff and the guests for all the time and energy invested. My daughters and I certainly appreciated it.

Greg responds...

VF - Thanks for coming AND for bringing the girls.

Obviously, your daughter Caitlin provided one of the comic high-lights of the first night. I hope that didn't scare you too much.

But I wouldn't have encouraged you to come if I didn't think the con was 99% kid friendly. I think I'm a pretty good dad, and I know my wife is a great mom. And we wouldn't bring our kids (then ages 6 and 4 -- though Erin would be quick to point out that she is 7 now) if we didn't now KNOW that the con staff and fans treat them with respect and understanding.

I'm glad you all had a good time. And I'm VERY glad you took the time to post here and let me know.

Response recorded on September 03, 2001

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Kelly L Creighton/Kya White Sapphire writes...

Just got done reading the Greg Weisman section of the archives. Time for a LONG rant.

I wanted to tell you at the gathering, but I forgot. which angers me to no end, because i went on and on about this at work for months before i left for LA. in awakenings, elisa makes the number three on her hand. you said how odd it was that the japanese animation studio had her make three in that particular way, with the thumb, index and middle fingers. the reality is that thats the PROPER way in AMERICAN SIGN LANGUAGE to make the number three. they must have looked it up to see "how americans do it." what people usually do as three, with the thumb holding down the pinky, is actually "six" in sign language. and the thumb holding down the index finger is "nine" (with the middle being eight and the ring finger being seven.) a 'hitchikers thumb' is ten. :)

speaking of awakenings, the "nice mask" comment isnt in the "movie". i was mad. i pouted all night last night.

re: goliath and elisa needing help to have a child
technically, theyre closely related enough that they prolly could have a child. that child would not be fertile tho. a Stallion and a female donky can have a hinny, a Mare and a male donky can have a mule, but neither a mule nor a hinny can have offspring. though, in your book, a garg and a human may be way farther from eachother than a donkey and a horse. despite the fact that donkeys and horses arent nearly as related as they look.

I know you dont think this way, but humor me for a second. if you were an animal, what would you be? Tore (my fiancee) would be a polarbear. he likes red meat. he likes the cold. he LOOKS like a polarbear, even when hes not overweight. he acts like one. people give him the respect of one. and he's all white collar(fur) on the surface, and blends in with the crowd(snow) but underneath hes jet black(covered in tattoos, a closet freak ;P) it took a long LONG time to find an animal for me. im nocturnal. im cute. im mostly herbiverous, but not completely. i like florida's hot and muggy weather. i sleep a lot. we went through many rodent and lemur species before settling on flying squirrel.

on the topic of what names mean (oh wise one :) my full name is Kelly Leigh Creighton. Kelly started as a gaelic name, i think spelled calleach, pronounced ka-LEE-ack(phlem sound here). Then the irish clan the O'Kellys took the name. and they were a big factor in the liberation of ireland. so it became fashionable to name boys Kelly. then in 1958 i believe, there was an actress named Kelly. so it became okay to name girls kelly. which is more the case now. anyway, Kelly means "warrior of the king" or "female warrior" Leigh is an english word still used today (in britan) which means "meadow". my last name, Creighton, started as a scottish name, and then spread to england and ireland, where it took many diversion such as Crichton, etc. my family roots have been traced to scotland. it means "near the creek." so fully, my name means "Female warrior of the King, in the meadow near the creek." i always wonder if i will find a meadow near a creek with some unmarked grave in it or something.

along the same track, have you seen the gargoyles code? its a long string of letters and symbols that, if you know how to read them, describes one's character. part of the code is for real life, and asks how obsessed you are. the maximum obsession is defined by one who would be willing to be a test subject for a mutagen that might make them a gargoyle. im one of those silly people. are you? doubt it... (thats not meant to be offensive, i just doubt youre that kind of person :)

at the gathering, while talking about all the spinoffs, specifically i think you were talking about 2198, you said "and its really sad that im still working on this." actually, i dont think its sad at all. im pretty happy about it. because it really is something special. and we all believe in you. its pretty cool that youre as obsessed with your own shows as your fans.

i also recently learned that you dont drink, and think smoking is pretty haneous (sp?). that rules. its nice to see other people out there like that, not just in the fandom too. its really rare these days. not that i didnt respect you before, but i really respect that, and in a way, appreciate it.

i read about how you fell out of the bunkbed when you were little. that reminded me of my bunkbet gymnastics. i hate using the ladder, since i can never find it when im sleep walking. (i sleepwalk a LOT). so ive trained myself to grab the bar on the side of the bunk, or if there isnt one, the lip underneat the bunk, and flip over the side to land on the floor. thing is, if i lose my balance i land on the edge of the bunk below, instead of the floor, and wake whoever is sleeping there. usually, though, since im sleepwalking, i wont remember that i did it unless they confront me about it in the morning. so no guilt ;P

on sleepwaling: i have recently discovered that any time someone tells me im dreaming, i get very angry at them and insist im not, even if i am. i have instructed my parents (specifically my mom, my dad did it anyway because he thought it was funny) to just agree with me, pretend i make sense, and send be back off to bed. o_O

ive wanted to tell you about my religion for some time, but ive been a little nervous to, because its a touchy subject with some people. but after reading your views, i feel like i can at least give you a short version, and it shouldnt be too bad. basically i believe that there are an infinite number of universes, all connected by a void. everything is true, in some universe or another. and some things can travel thru the void into other universes. so basically all religions are true, because there are an infinite number of universes. i simply choose to pray to an alternate set of dieties than the normally accepted ones. which isnt to say i put any less faith in God or Budda (sp?), etc. I just choose not to pray to him/them. which i think this kind of falls into your beliefs anyway, since you belive in alternate universes, and that all things are true. which is basically what my religion preaches. so youre Raptorian and didnt even know it ;P

theres actually scientific evidence coming to light to support the "theory" of alternate universes. cold dark matter, morphic fields, time as a fourth dimension, the possible non-existance of time... its fascinating. this thing that i knew all along is now getting proved by science. basically, the theory of cold dark matter states that there is a force in the universe that is more powerful than gravity. but it only partially exists in this universe, so it is hard to see and study. and most of the force it exerts is exerted in another universe, so were not even getting the full effect. morphic feilds is the theory that everything in the universe is connected by lines of force. this explains why when an atom is split, and two electrons go zinging away from eachother at high speed, one can look at the north/south orientation of one electron and know that the other electron is the exact same. because they are connected. which is why dogs know when their owner is comming home, even if the spouse does not. which is why people can sometimes instinctively know that something is wrong with a loved one, even if miles away. why twins, if separated, can still sense what the other is doing, even if they dont have a twin. why sometimes we can predict the future, or get flashes from the past. morphic fields trancend even time. there is also a theory that states that time is the fourth dimension. basically, since were three dimensional creatures, we can see the EDGE of things in TWO dimensions (meaning you can see the edge of a planar surface), and we can COMPREHEND things in the THIRD dimension (you cant see the edge of a 3D object, a coke can for example, the edge curves away from you and you cant see it. technically, it has no edge). fourth dimensional beings could see our EDGE, and comprehend the fourth dimension. we, as 3d creatures, can only measure what we think is the passing of time. a two dimensional creature could only measure the third dimension. of course there is another theory, who's own creator admits that its just a neat theory he came up with and doenst actually believe in. he said that maybe time doesnt exist at all. maybe we think time passes, just like when we watch a movie we think the pictures are going by, but its just many still frames. as in there is an alternate universe for each second in time. and we only think there is motion because at each second, we have the memories of all the things that have passed before. its an interesting theory, but im more inclined to think of time as the fourth dimension.

anyway, im done rambling for the night. please feel free to comment as you see fit, or not at all :)

Greg responds...

Whew...

Random responses...

I think that humans and gargoyles are biologically much further apart than horses and donkeys.

I already AM an animal. Homo Sapiens, I believe.

Even after your explanation, I'm still not sure what the Gargoyles code is. But no, I wouldn't want to be a mutagen guinea pig.

And I was being a bit fecetious and/or self-deprecating (given my audience) at the Gathering when I said it was 'sad'. Obviously, I enjoy still thinking about the property.

I do think smoking is a fairly heinous and shockingly stupid habit. Though I generally try not to preach. As for alcohol, I see nothing wrong with drinking in moderation -- for most people. Unfortunately, I'm not one of those people.

I'm Jewish. And a bit pagan. I believe in the religion of the Three Musketeers: "All for one, and one for all." Or something like that.

Time has also been referred to as the fourth dimension in the sense that it spots any point. You can spot a point in three dimensions and still miss it if you don't also measure it's location in time.

Response recorded on August 30, 2001

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Vashkoda writes...

KW Sapphire asked how much Demona could bench. Well, I already know how much Lex can bench:

http://crossroads.dragonmists.org/fantasy/avalon/jack-lex1.mp3

(this is a few years old, but I believe Thom's character was complaining that the name "Jumbo Jack" was biased against short people. You may have to actually live in a state that has the "Jack in the Box" chain to understand this commercial).

Oh, and I only have Day 1 up now, but eventually I'll have my Gathering report up here: http://crossroads.dragonmists.org/fantasy/avalon/gathering/g2k1_1.html

Greg responds...

Would you mind cutting and pasting your diary here?

Response recorded on August 24, 2001

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Greg "Xanatos" Bishansky writes...

Since Aaron mentioned it in his Gathering Diary, I figured now would be the time to ask.

I bought a copy of "The Hunter's Moon" Part 3 Radio Play script at the auction. I don't want to post it on the internet without your permission, so may I put it up?

I'll understand perfectly if you'd rather I didn't. I'll abide by your decision.

Greg responds...

Up to you. But thanks for asking.

Response recorded on August 24, 2001

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Aaron writes...

Monday

We headed down in time for the 3x3 eyes Q & A to look for Thom. But Mr. Punctuality is nowhere to be found. Turns out he left earlier to feed his dogs. So we stake out the only way in or out and do eventually waylay him for a bit, ostendably so he can pick up the stained glass Lex he bought. (And so he'll do the line) "C'mon, Greg's already going to rag on you for being late anyway." ;)

Thom does eventually record the line, so I also have a recording of Thom pretending he's Riff Raff, which I need to get to Lynati.

We attend closing ceremonies, which are always kind of bittersweet, and get pre-reged for next year.

After that, we sadly see Lynati off in a cab, and Wolfie, Dreamie, Warpy, Josh, Mara and I all piled into Wolfie's convertable and headed off to a chinese place Josh recommended for lunch. (Funny thing though. An hour later we were hungry again) ;)

Mara and I actually stayed until Wednesday, but that's the end of the Gathering stuff. Except for some...

Random Stories: I don't remember exactly when or where I heard these, but I thought they should be shared.

Crispy apparently had a running war with the hotel staff. He emptied his mini-bar and put his own stuff in it, which you weren't allowed to do. The staff takes it back out, and restocks the minibar. Crispy re-empties the minibar, and puts his stuff back. The staff swaps it again, and leaves him a note saying to cut it out. I don't even want to *think* about his minibar bill.

Why does Duke L'Orange sound just like Brooklyn? Apparently, when they created the character, he was supposed to be *French*. But they didn't like that, so they tried making him English instead. Apparently, they didn't like that either, so Jeff, just goofing around, starts doing his Brooklyn voice, and they're like "That's it! That's perfect!"

What were all those norms in formal wear doing at the hotel? On Friday, they were there for a wedding in the Roof Garden. A wedding that, according to Greg, trashed the place. On Saturday, I was heading up the escalator to get my auction cash, when I passed Myhr going down. He asked if I knew what was going on in the other big room downstairs, and I guessed it was a wedding. He shook his head and said "It's somebody's 18th birthday." Which blew me away. I said "When I turned eighteen, I got a cake and twenty bucks." Myhr says "I got thrown out of the house." "You win."

To sum up...

1 Coke from the hotel minibar: $2.65
Sushi dinner for two at Wasabi's: $40.00
Eye of Greg: $65.00
One week of Mara's company: Priceless.

Thanks for listening to me ramble, Greg. And see ya next year.

Greg responds...

Looking forward to it, my friend.

Response recorded on August 23, 2001

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Aaron writes...

Sunday.

Sunday was a weird day. As I kept remarking to people, "This four day con schedule is really throwing me off." (This was in no way a bad thing, it's just that all the other cons I've been to have been three day affairs, so I felt like I should be rushing to things that weren't happening yet)

Mara and I wandered over to City Walk and spent too much time and money on souvenirs for other people, and T-shirts with witty saying on them. We also spent most of the time sharing a really great slushy from a little shop nestled in between two huge ones. If you're ever there again, I recommend the place highly.

We thought we got back to the hotel in time, but, um, various factors made us really late to the VA autograph sessions. (Had I but known Cree Summer was going to be there... I would have had her autograph my copy of Street Fairy) By the time I got there, Cree and Keith David had left, and Jeff Bennett had to run off to his Mug-a-Guest. (Again, I kept forgetting most of the guests actually *lived* in the city we were in. It wasn't like previous years where they're trapped with us for the duration) Warpy and I were actually supposed to be the last people in line, but a few more people showed up and I didn't have the heart to turn them away. I lost Mara and Lynati for a while here, but found them again by the time I was near the finish. The remaining VAs, Crispy, Elisa, Neil, Gregg, and Thom were all still signing away tho', and I got some more names for my giant puzzle. Neil, Gregg, and Elisa especially seemed really tickled that this many people would line up for them. For my part, I thought they were all very nice, and I was impressed that Elisa recognized her character. Thom looked like he was going to fall asleep in his chair, and complained of being hungry.

Thom also, at that point at least, had apparently seen Moulen Rouge three times. Mara'd seen it four times, and the two began an animated conversation about it.

And then... The auction!

I'd like to thank Myhr for being such a great auctioneer, and Draconis for stepping in when Myhr's voice started to give out.

I have, apparently, gotten a reputation as something of an auction maniac. "God of the bid", I believe was the phrase. I don't know how that happened. ^_^ I certainly wasn't close to Demona May and Heather Rice, (Two big spenders who were conspicuously absent from the auction this year), or whoever bought The Mirror for eight hundred odd dollars. But I do love an auction. Always get a good seat down front, and bring some pretty girls to distract the auctioneer if you can.

I was bidding for myself, Mara, and (sometimes) Lynati, and eventually for a pool to get one of the Carl Johnson CDs, so it might have looked like I was rolling in it.

I did mess with Jannie a little, as she'd promised a couple of weeks before to give me a run for my money. I did *not* bid against Siryn, (Don't annoy next year's con head) but anybody else was fair game to be bid against. And bid I would.

Apparently, there was some feeling that I was simply raising the bids for the sake of doing so. I swear that I bid on nothing I wasn't interested in, I simply wasn't *as* interested in some things as I was in others. And anyway, it is for charity after all. And since I wasn't allowed to give blood, I let myself go a bit at the auction, along with encouraging others to do the same. "C'mon, you can go without food for a couple of days..."

I have no idea what our final haul was since I lost track of what I bid on vs. what I actually got, but there is one standout: The shrinky-dink Brooklyn, a.k.a. The Eye of Greg, acquired for a meer three times what Greg thought it would go for.

The two stories I know are going to make the rounds are:

A. When I'd gotten up to get autographs from the crew, but was still multitasking on the auction. I'd just finished thanking the crew collectively for their autographs and the work they did on the show when I heard one of a pair of bidders who'd been going back and forth go to $35. So I yelled $40. Apparently I don't multitask as well as I thought I did, because I outbid Mara. Oops. (She got me back later) It wasn't my fault, Draconis was standing between us. And then I got outbid by a young woman sitting in the second row. So I stomp toward her, mock-angry, still going back and forth, making "Smite" gestures at her every time I outbid her, walked past her, all the way back to my seat, and then asked "What are we bidding on again?" Which broke everybody up. (Except maybe her) So I turn to look at the items on the block, some of the Hardwired action figures, and say "Oh, I don't want that. You can have that." (If you're reading this, I'm sorry, I thought it was a different set of action figures. One of the Demona/Elisa ones)

B. The script for Hunter's Moon Pt III, the radio play version comes up, and I want it. Naturally, I'm not the only one. Sadly, the auction was winding down, because it really only came down to me and Greg B. He bid fifty bucks, and I asked him if he got it, he'd put it on the internet for all to see, right? And he says no! And to me, in auction mode, he sounds sincere. So I do the only thing I *can* do under the circumstances: Put the bid up to $60. And he's like "I was kidding! Of course I'll put it up! Sixty-five!" So I made him swear on his word of honor that he would put it up for all to see, (Of course, I don't know if I should have trusted the word of a guy whose personal heroes are Xanatos and Megatron... Just kiddin' Greg) and quit bidding.

After that, we scarcely had time to pick up our things before running back to the room to change for the banquet. We came in late, and ended up at a table with a bunch of people we didn't know, Lynati, and I'm afraid I've completely blanked out on the name of the gentleman who was our guest.

Dinner was interesting. Definately the fanciest meal I've ever been to. (I really should have remembered to grab a coke out of the minibar) During the meal, we could see Thom and Crispy getting up and going back and forth between their tables. This was the subject of much debate at our table, so I got elected to go over and find out what was going on.

I have no idea what started them off like this, probably something at a panel earlier, but they were one-upping each other. At least that was what Thom told me. As near as I could piece together, Thom went over to Crispy, pretending to be a waiter, and said "I'm sorry sir, your Visa has been declined. You'll have to leave." So Crispy comes back a bit later and says "FBI sir, you'll have to come with me." So Thom thinks about that for a minute, and goes back with "Don Johnson wants his outfit back." (And, to be fair, Crispy *did* look kinda like something off Miami Vice)

So Crispy goes over and kisses Thom. And everybody claps. Including, after a moment, Thom. Sort of acknowledging that Crispy had won. So I, hating to see Thom lose, go over to and tell him to go lick Crispy's ear. That should guarantee a win. Thom kinda thinks about it for a minute, and then says that he'd already given Crispy his due. "But that would have been good tho'."

On the way over to the dessert buffet, (my favorite part of the meal) we pass Greg's table, and he notices that I have The Eye of Greg on, and asks how much it went for. I tell him $65, and he says that it "wasn't worth anywhere near that much, but thank you." I protest that it's a Greg Weisman original, and besides, I'm sure it has magical, creative powers. Greg says that he'd gotten kind of used to wearing it, and I offer, in all sincerety, to give it back to him. (Lest he, I don't know, try to reclaim it later, Odin-like. How he'd do that I don't know. Write me into Team Atlantis at the Vinnie character, maybe. I didn't say any of that at the time tho') Greg says, no, for me to keep it, and then says "You know I licked it, right?" "Really?!?" "No, not really."

We stayed, probably too long, for the artist awards, and then ran down to get changed. Really, we should have practiced this before. Various problems, mostly with my costume, took forever. (For all would-be Gorebash award contestants, you cannot fill condoms with water and then cram them into a bra. They WILL break. Use jello. Do *not* use pudding, because that has oil in it, and that will eat the latex and make a *huge* mess. Don't ask me why Hudson knew that...) Anyway, then we had to blow dry my dress... With me in it...

So we get in the elevator with two norms, one of whom says "Do I even want to know?" I just tell him that cross dressers always get great responses, and leave it at that.

When we get there, horribly late, but Slash is still playing. Thanks for stalling for us, and the other late arrival Slash. We get to go on, to much applause, and I get a little silly, performing for the crowd. Thom starts yelling for me to come over and give Lydia Moreno a lap dance, and I act like I'm going to do it, but at the last minute I sit on his lap instead. So after that photo op, I slink over to Greg, who says that he's "not as good a sport as Thom is" (Greg's words. I beg to differ) so I don't sit on his lap. Seth comes running out of the crowd, and stuffs a dollar down the front of my dress, and we leave the stage. There's one more act, and the judges leave for a bit. I've got some great photos of "Dueling Foxes" in here, along with pics with Patrick "Reno" Chavez. Jen remarks that she "can't wait until these hit the 'net."

The judges come back. Wolfie and Dreamie have won the Thom Adcox Memorial award, Mara and I have won the Gorebash award, "Because no one worked harder for it." as Greg put it.

And then I got to spring a gag I'd been planning since before G2K, giving Thom a pair of official Backstreet Boys underwear. I meant to do it in Orlando, but I chickened out. But I figured I'd already put on a dress and fake boobs, so what did I have to lose? Thom accepted them with a smile and a laugh. Thom also promised to record a line from Rocky Horror for Lynati the next day. Thom is the greatest sport in the history of the world. :)

After the dance broke up, Mara, Lynati, and I drifted back to our room, and had a long conversation about fic before turning in.

Greg responds...

Aaron, Sounds like you had a great time. You're diaries are a better advert for the G's than anything I can think of. Thanks.

(But i"m glad you stayed off my lap, lady.)

Response recorded on August 23, 2001

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Aaron writes...

Saturday

Saturday was hang with Lynati day. We got to make a much more thorough creep through the Dealer's room, where I bought Mara a pair of little black wings, which she wore the rest of the day, Lynati got herself a tail, and I had to talk myself out of buying a pair of really cool gauntlets on the grounds that the claws were made of plastic, and therefore useless. I also spent waaaaaay too much time at the edged weapons rack. In retrospect, I kind of wish I had bought that giant broadsword, even if getting it home would have been an adventure, if only because the picture of me holding it didn't come out. (That would be the giant broadsword I tried to lift one-armed and nearly dropped on Kanthara. Sorry Kat) Then we realized that Mara hadn't put up her art yet, so we hauled over to the art room and started hanging stuff. (Next year, we have *got* to get an H-rated section for the art show)

During most of the time in the art room, we'd been having a great conversation with Lynati about her ficverse. I am *really* impressed. (I'm pretty sure this is all circumsptect enough to get by, especially since you already said you don't like the idea of the gargs universe being a multiverse)

My ficverse is kind of like a puzzle. Occasionally, I get a few more pieces to fall into place, and it sheds some light on things. Lynati... Lynati has notebooks devoted simply to the bloodlines of her characters. Can you imagine trying to keep bloodlines straight in a *multiverse*? Lynati is mad cool.

We wandered from there until we ran into Jen, (Who did ask if she could kick Josh's @$$. Hey Josh, I think she likes you!) and got sent over to the storyboarding panel to fill in the audience. (Poor guys, they got stuck in the hardest to find room, no wonder they were lonely)

After that, it was back to that art room to make sure we weren't being outbid on anything, and eventually we gathered a bunch of TGS posters around us. It was kind of like having a live TGS room. Greg came through with his family, and we all started genuflecting when they were leaving. Greg's response: "Don't do that in front of my kids, guys."

We made a quick trip back to the room for lunch, if you can call one piece of left-over pizza each lunch. We had to, since it would be the only food we ate all day.

And then it was time for the radio play. Hunter's Moon Part III, the expanded version, reedited by Greg for the occasion. (Hmm, I don't remember Demona grunting and groaning so much in the TV version) It was a blast to listen to, especially with the presence of actual gargs VAs, (and Crispy's impression of Broadway is scarily accurate) and full of material I expect to see start turning up in fanfic soon, like Charles Canmore's line about "We can no more stop hunting The Demon then breathing the air.", and Jason's admission that none of them even know *why* they hunt gargoyles, aside from family tradition. Greg Bishanksy would eventually end up with the script, and hopefully he'll be putting it up soon, so you can all see it. (That is okay, right Greg?)

I spent most of the Radio Play listening while splitting between watching Mara draw, and watching the little girl in front of us watch Mara draw.

(Another thing about this year's con: There were kids! And they didn't belong to Christine or Greg. I know the fandom hasn't spawned that much since last year, so the show must be catching on with it's "intended demographic." Kick@$$!)

After the radio play, we got another example of why Thom is the coolest guy in the world. If anybody knows about cleaning up audio, I have a kinda scratchy minitape recording of Thom saying something really funny.

3x3 Eyes was showing in one of the video rooms, so Mara, Lynati, Warpy, and I followed Greg, who declined to stick around and watch it this time. Unfortunately, either the staff forgot the second tape, or it grew legs and walked off. (I hope not) So that makes twice I've seen the beginning, without ever seeing the end. I guess I should just give up and buy the DVD, now that I *finally* have a player. Warmed up from the night before, and working with material we'd seen already, we were soon MiSTing it in fine form. We were on a serious roll, which carried on through the first four eps of the Utena dub. I'm beginning to suspect that Zelgadis sounds like Crispy, but Touga *is* Crispy.

With the credits rolling, and Spawn apparently cancelled, we were turned out. But nobody wanted to go to bed yet, so the four of us ended up deciding to check out the roof garden where the banquet would be held the next day. Heh. I'm not sure what I had pictured, something open-air with potted palm trees all over the place maybe, but it was a little less roof, and a lot less garden then that. The floor to ceiling windows did provide a pretty nice view of LA at night, however.

So we stayed there for I don't know how long, having one of those wonderful non-linear conversations, mostly between Lynati and I, about our respective ficverses. So here we are, having this loud conversation about fic, and even acting out some of it, when who walks in but Greg himself, followed by the rest of the con staff. We stayed for a while after that, trying to be quieter, but eventually we all grew tired and went our separate ways.

Greg responds...

I hope we didn't kick you out.

And Greg can post it if he wants, I guess.

Response recorded on August 22, 2001

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Aaron writes...

Friday.

It was the weirdest thing, being in the west. I kept waking up at like seven a.m., due to not being adjusted to the time change. LA has some beautiful sunrises. (Got some nice sunsets too) Still didn't make it out of the room before ten tho'... Heh. "Every time I try to leave... Someone keeps pullin' at my sleeve..."

Anyway, we went in search of registration, and found it, along with Jen, and one of her twin daughters. Which still freak me out. Jen doesn't look like she's had four kids, nor does she look old enough to have had four kids. Not only that, but her eleven year old is *taller* then me. (Future WNBA standout, I guess)

We also ran into Warpy, the Cutest Couple from last year, (Who were sporting a great "Let a gargoyle sit on your face" button) Vatana, my old auction partner from G99, who I don't keep track of well enough, and Lynati, who we would end up adopting, and spending most of the con with. Lynati's cool.

Which leads me to another point. How many people remember their first con? (If G2K1 was your first con, then obviously you do) I remember mine. (G99 in Dallas) It was fun, but like most firsts, losing your con virginity is also kinda scary. I remember being on my own in a strange city, not really knowing anyone, feeling kinda out of place. I mean, I met people in Dallas, but I felt a little too intimidated talking to *The* Greg, or even *the* Christine Morgan, to really do more then sort of float around their periphery. (Heh, that was when I even knew who people were. When I met Jen in Dallas, all I knew was that she was a pretty lady who responded to my offer to split a pizza with the words "F**k yes!") I know Mara had a similar experience when she first got to Orlando.

I know I'm supposed to be talking about *this* year's con, but bear with me, there is a point to this.

The point is that we, the people who've been here before, the older guard, (I wouldn't call myself old school, since it's the people like The Morgans, The Andersons, and the Wittenbergs, who were going to Gatherings when I didn't even know there *was* a fandom who deserve that distinction) need to do some more voluntary newbie adoption. If you see someone in Virginia who looks a little dazed, a little lost or a little overwhelmed, and they're sitting by themselves... (Had to include that. If they look all of the above, but are surrounded by people, they're probably Con Staff, not newbies) Anyway, if you see someone like that, go over and say hi. Introduce yourself. Invite them to join you. Make them feel welcome. Because we were all newbies once. And because newbies *are* the lifeblood of the fandom. Without them, there is no growth, and really, no hope of getting our beloved show back. And they're more likely to keep coming back, and bring others with them, if they have a good time. So adopt a newbie, and eventually they, in turn, will adopt their own. To quote a movie nobody saw, they won't pay it back, they'll pay it forward.

Whew, I didn't expect to get so into that. But anyway...

Right next to registration there was a nice big TV showing garg eps, and well, we couldn't resist MiSTing them good naturedly, along with a group of about twenty or so. Eventually the tape ran out, and since no replacement seemed forthcoming, I grabbed something I'd brought, a tape with a bunch of fan videos, mostly by Brad De Moss. We got to watch about half of them there before decamping to the con suite to watch the rest. (BTW, could someone who was on staff remind me of that one staffer's name? She was about my height, i.e., short, kind of curly brown hair. I was supposed to see about getting her a copy of that tape. My email addy is JCarnage@Yahoo.com Thanks)

While we were in the con suite, Thom and Greg showed up, and, to me at least, it looked like they'd come as each other, since it looked as if Greg had taken off his beard and given it to Thom. When I remarked on this, Greg misinterpreted, and said, "When did I wear khakis?"

We made a quick trip back to the room to dump off our registration stuff, and then hit Crispin Freeman's panel. I wish Greg could have made it, because I think he really would have appreciated a lot of what Crispy said about the hero's journey, mythological archetypes, historical gargoyles, and such.

(After the panel, Crispy also told a story that might be of some interest to Slayers fans. Apparently, due to recording schedule, Crispy was supposed to do a bit where Zelgadis says "That... is a secret." like Xellos does. Only they hadn't done any recordings with David Moo yet, so Crispy had no idea how he was supposed to deliver the line. So the Voice Director, (or VD as Warpy would later remark) told him, "Don't worry, just say the line however you think it should be done, and we'll make him do it like you did it." So Crispy does the line, and it sounds pretty cool when he does it. Not quite as cool as when Akira Ishida does it, but pretty cool. And then they called him back the next day... (Insert hilarious impression of David Moo by Crispy here) and said they'd have to do it again. Yes folks, bad as he was, David Moo could, and did, do worse.

Conveniently, the "Writing Successful Crossover Fiction" panel featuring Mara, Christine, Tigris Euphrates, and Gencie Salter was in the same room, so we didn't have to move much. Not having a set agenda, the group wandered merrily for over an hour, entertaining the masses and making a lot of humorous references to the "Other Panel" which is apparently extremely entertaining if you can find out where and when it's being held. (I think I showed off my tattoo for the first time this con in here. I seemed to be showing it to more people then last year, but then I think Mara just likes any excuse to have me take my shirt off in public) We also met Josh, and made his list of people he's pretty sure exist.

After the panel broke up, we took a quick look around the dealer's room, and then ran into Hudson, who told us he was forming a "Gargoyles Mafia" out of everyone who brought enough black clothing. After happening by accident at the last two cons, Clan Mafia now officially exists. And, even better, it's integrated now, Mara, Lynati, and (I think) Kanthara being the female contingent of CM.

A quick run back to the room to change into more evil-looking outfits, and Clan Mafia assembled, waiting to make an entrance at Opening Ceremonies. (Poor Kai. He tried, he really did. Black T-shirt, slacks, and wingtips, but I don't thing he's really cut out to be CM. Sorry Kai) While we were waiting I had kind of an interesting Admin to Admin to Admin talk with Kai ("Oh, so you're the sucker that got my job.") and Hudson, who has made me his Padawan. One day, I too shall be able to smite people like he does. ;)

I love hotels with mirrored walls, and CM looked pretty cool, if I do say so myself, doing that Reservoir Dogs walk down that wide hall, all of us flanking Hudson. (BTW, if anybody has a picture of that, or of later, when we're doing the group photo, please contact me at the addy listed above, because mine didn't come out)

Opening ceremonies were their usual blend of old and new. (Hee-hee, I wonder how long it'll be before Greg starts making *us* tell his stories. We know them better then he does) The highlight was Lexy receiving her "Warpy" (As we nicknamed the little bald statuettes later) for being Fan Guest of Honor. Congratulations Lexy. No one deserved it more.

Other notable points included Greg's ace podium-moving crew, (Can Patrick Toman supervise or what?) a really nice letter from Ed Asner, who said he wanted to be there so bad he considered crawling to LA, and a message from Frank Welker. The original was lost, but Greg summed it up in his usual inimitable manner. "Frank says he doesn't do conventions, because truthfully you people scare him." I'm not sure if he was kidding or not. Greg also showed off one of his contributions to the charity auction, a shrinky-dink Brooklyn, which would come to be known as The Eye of Greg.

And I want to echo Patrick's thanks to Scott Sakai and his crew. The AV setup rocked! (And it's probably be the closest we'll get to seeing gargs on a big screen anytime soon. Sigh)

After OC, a showing of Awakenings was scheduled, but most of CM decamped after being told it was the movie edit. We again adjourned to the courtyard in front of the hotel, and hung out by the "Mountain Dew fountain", so named because of the color of the water in it. (The observation was made that for their prices, we should get an *actual* fountain of Mountain Dew) Ordering pizza for twelve is always complex, but we managed. While we were waiting, Hudson regaled us with stories of how the dotcom fallout affected he and Chris, and a really funny one involving Twisted Sister's "We're Not Gonna Take It!" and a patrol car... Another one of my lost pics, Mara and Lynati doing a really, um... interesting looking stretching exercise happened somewhere in here.

Eventually, the pizzas arrived, and we returned to catch the last of Awakening Part V while scarfing pie. And then it was time for the moment I'd been waiting for, Garg MST3K.

I admit to a bit of professional jealously here. I wondered at first why, if gargs were to be MiSTed, Mara and her trusty sidekick (That'd be me) didn't get to host. But Jade Griffin and Beedoo! do episodes, not fic, and do them pretty well, so it worked out. Eventually and appropriately enough, The Gathering, Parts I and II, were MiSTed. If anyone knows where the final script wound up, or if it's even up yet, please direct me to it.

Gargs fans tend to be pretty funny people, and this group proved no exception. The two episodes were MiSTed with much hilarity. Although I think the best gag may have been between episodes, on a joint effort between Hudson and Josh. (Which is funny in and of itself, considering the cr@p Huds was giving him earlier about his Mac Geek shirt) The blue screen you get from an empty VCR came on, and Josh shouted "It's a blue screen of death!" Hudson promptly responded: "This con has performed an illegal operation and will be shut down. Please reboot your con head, or strike any attendee to continue."

Again, much appreciation for the big screen, since it made physical comedy possible. At one point, I simply reached up and made it look like I was groping Titania. Which started Josh picking Oberon's nose. I'm told that Greg, who unbeknownst to us, had been watching the whole time, put his hand over his eyes and shook his head at that point.

Greg responds...

Pure fiction. I never covered my eyes. Sometimes my head does shake of its own accord, however.

Response recorded on August 21, 2001

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Aaron writes...

(This was written for the TGS room, so if it doesn't seem addressed directly to you, that's why. And it's really cool of you to solicit our Gathering Diaries like this)

Okay, the Gathering was both a blast and a blur for me, (And I spent the whole con in close proximity to Mara, so I was a little distracted) so if I'm leaving someone or something out, please remind me. Thanks. And before we go any further, I'd like to give mad props to all the Staff, volunteers, and guests, who made G2K1 such a special event. You guys kick @$$.

Thursday.

I managed to grab five hours of sleep by virtue of sleeping through a ringing alarm for an hour, before being shaken awake by my mom. I throw on my clothes, stagger downstairs with my one giant bag, (Which, by virtue of being older then me, has no wheels on it) and go tearing off to the airport. And I was off... To Houston that is. For those not familiar with Texas geography, I had to fly east before I could fly west. Fun huh?

The flight to LA was the longest two and a half hours of my life. (Heh, that's what the lady on the plane said it was. I realized after some quick calculations (Bear in mind, I suck at math) that she wasn't factoring in the time difference between Houston and LA, so the flight was more like three and a half hours. And they showed "Air Bud: World Pup" for most of the flight. (Shudder) I was finally so bored I turned to the guy next to me and said "So, what do you do? And please don't tell me you sell soap." Of course, he didn't get the ref...

In retrospect, Josh was right. I should have shelled out the extra $ for tickets into Burbank instead of LAX. Between scrubbing our initial approach for reasons I could never find out, being towed to the gate, baggage claim, etc., I started looking for Mara about thirty minutes late. Little did I know that I would still be looking for her two hours later. LAX, if you've never been, is a big place. I know, because I got some bad directions, and went on a walking tour that included five of the seven terminals in it.

Much later, having been all over the place, having tried to drag a hand truck up a flight of stairs, paged Mara several times, dealt with the mind-numbing stupidity that is the Spirit Airlines staff, been back and forth through security, (people wearing black trenchcoats, collars, finger armor, and carrying three pairs of sunglasses, a minitape recorder, a minimaglite, a lighter, and a lucky coin do not have an easy time with metal detectors) made an urgent phone call to New York to make sure Mara'd even gotten on her plane in the first place, and fended off religious types intent on pressing books on meditation on me by threatening to beat the cr@p out of them, I gave up. I was wandering aimlessly somewhere in terminal six when some impulse turned me back the way I had just come. And then I saw a figure in a black trenchcoat walking toward me...

Cue the Romeo and Juliet music, slow down the film, do the scene that's been parodied a thousand times. I had a brief thought that with my luck, I was probably running toward Hudson, but that was dispelled as she started running toward me. I still have no idea what I did with the hand truck, but I had other things to think about at that moment. Like my first kiss. :)

I went from bummed to wonderful, and stayed there. That was the last time I would feel more then mildly vexed for a week. This is also when life took on a faint air of unreality...

After some time sitting on a bench catching up, and a quick call back to NYC, we grabbed a shuttle and headed for the hotel. The shuttle ride may have taken as much time as the flight. Highlights I can share included a sign that said LA, Population: Way too many, and Mara's remark that LA looks just like New Jersey, except it doesn't smell.

After check in, the first Gathering attendee we ran into was Slash's mom, followed by Demona May, who had a room right down the hall. She seemed geared up for a loooooooong conversation, but we declined, having been up since early that morning. So we finally found our room, and... Let's skip ahead to that evening. (Heh. BTW, how many people noticed that the logo under the room number looked like a multi-colored Hunter's mask? "But what could leave clawmarks in solid plastic?" ;) )

Eventually, we wandered back downstairs, in search of sustenance, and decided to cheat a bit, and see if we could find a Pizza Hut instead of letting one come to us. We were sent off in the direction of the City Walk, a five minute ride away via a trolley with really bad shocks, and wandered around the place for a bit, freaking the mundanes and taking in the local color. Eventually we discovered the world's only grilled pizzeria, and decided that there was a reason it was the only one, so we headed back to the hotel.

Returning, who do we find waiting in front of the hotel but Hudson and Zaius, (Whose name I can finally remember after three Gatherings. Sorry Z) who were waiting for their own pizza, from Pizza Hut no less.

So we shot the breeze for a while, which the hotel staff must have loved, (Four people in black trenchcoats hanging out in front of the main doors) and caught up generally, before leaving to order our own pizza. When the gargfans are hungry, the pizza will appear... On the way back, we ran into Warpy, and had a short conversation, during which I was mostly marveling at how cool Warpy's accent is.

Greg responds...

Sounds good so far...

Response recorded on August 21, 2001

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The Souldier writes...

Okay, I understand why you made the banquet so short in your Gathering Ramble, but you didn't even mention Thom and Crispin's Gag War. It was one of the world's few good Wars. I'm not going into details, maybe one of those people that was at the table with one of them will step forward, maybe you'll give the details. I don't care which as long as somebody elaborates on the Gag War, and it's not going to be me. Oh and I did agree totally with the Best Couple Award at the Awards Ceremony.

Greg responds...

Uh... well, I didn't go into it because I missed most of it and only heard about it second hand afterwards.

Sorry. I've read about it in detail though. Seems to me someone posted about it here.

Response recorded on August 15, 2001

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Lexy writes...

OK Last year I wrote a HUGE Gathering report. Then my comp fell on its face, and I lost all of it:P So this year I am going to just write about the stuff at the GATHERING instead of including all of my vacation. I will include a _few_ highlights, but that is all.
I went on this trip with three other ppl. Kaioto, Marisa and Jamie. We spent a week in California. Four days were for the con, two days before the con, and two days after. For the two days before hand we went to Little Tokyo, A Japanese Museum, and Santimonica beach. It was at Santimonica Beach that I A) picked up that Kimono I wore to the dinner and B) Got a definitive answer. I CANT swim in ocean water. When I was really young I went to the Pacific ocean , and I remembered breaking out. I went back, and it happened again. Doesn't that suck?? :(
Day one of the con: I remember things in sort'of a blur. So here they are that way! I signed up, and then asked if I could help. I was supposed to be volunteering after all! But everyone was really busy. All I really got to do was fetch some soda from the con suite. Greg popped in at one point while I was sitting on that couch near the gift shop. He waved and said hi, and I replied. After he left my friend JT, it was her first time to the Gathering, looked at me like,"who was that guy?". My third Gathering, and the third time I have been able to turn to a traveling companion and say, "Oh him? That was just Greg Weisman." *L* I never get tired of the reaction!
The next thing I remember I was setting up my sketches in the art room. Crispin Freeman was there with Izobel. One of my favorite memories for this con then occurred. There was just something about hearing Crispin explain to someone the story of Gargoyles that made me laugh. It was so great.
Right before opening ceremonies, Bill Fagerbakke came over after work to do some signing. He was so great! I got to hug him a lot longer then I had planned since Kaioto couldn't seem to figure out my complicated instruction of, "push the button". Thom and Greg arrived around that time, and I got my first G01 hug from Thom!*beams* *L*
Opening ceremonies. Hey what can I say that hasn't been said? I suppose I was just as eager as everyone else to find out what Thom had under his shirt! *L* I was fiddling with my tape recorder when my name was called. *sits trying to figure out what to type next* Geez. I'm still in shock. I seriously don't remember much exactly what happened. I remember getting my second hug though! Yea! Afterward a friend of mine said she thought he gave me a kiss on the cheek. Can anyone verify this? I was in lala land:P I'm sorry I had to make everyone suffer through, quite possibly, the worst Gathering speech ever! I had no idea what to say! -_-; I suppose I could have been even more annoying if I had asked Greg who Lexington's mate was going to be. I am, however, glad that Crazy D stepped in to tell everyone I wasn't really the worse speech giver ever, just surprised. *thanks her* My friends made sure that there were lots of pics of me recieving the award.-_-; yea... *hides face* I'm not fond of the pics of me, but Marisa caught a shot of Thom and Greg that is so perfect! The looks on their faces really ARE priceless. To me anyway. They are just smiling to eachother. SO CUTE! It just slays me to remember those first Autum days when Gargoyles premiered. *seems like only yesterday..* I could have _never_ imagined getting to meet those names flashing down the screen. To find out they were such great ppl is even better!
The rest of opening ceremonies was a blast. I never get sick of Greg's videos, or stories. Do any of us? After the ceremony I got Thom to sign my hat. I had it made in a Santimonica mall. As Thom was signing my hat I recieved a quick spank from Crazy D. Geez, Day one and I could already brag 3 VA hugs, a possible kiss and a spanking from the hand that has..well spanked a lot of cool ppl;) I can't remember anything much after this so I guess I must have gone to City Walk for some food.
After some excellent Chinese food Kaioto, Marisa, JT and I ran into Crispin Freeman and Taliesin Jaffe in front of Hot Topic. Kaioto had a lengthy conversation with Taliesin while JT got yet another picture of her with Crispin.
Day Two- ..duh Oh man. I can't remember! *checks her schedual* OH YA I went to the Voice Acting Technique 1 panel. Got to see Thom, Crispin, Taliesin, Jonathan Klein and Morgan Sheppard. Wow what a group! Crispin had brought some funky software with his comp, on accident, that would let ppl in the audience do some dubbing of their own. We ran out of time, but that was so cool of him to set that all up for us! Morgan, as he told us to call him, was a blast! What a cool guy! I loved that panel. At the end I finally gave Thom the Kimba pin and pen that I had bought him, but had forgotten to give him the day before. I got my third hug for that. :)
I can't remember where I went after that. I think there was Mug-A-Guest with Thom soon after this panel. Anyway I did get to go to that, and it was great. Thom told us about his past gigs, and even though I knew from last year that he had danced in some music videos I didn't know which ones to look for. Now I do! You can all check out Janet Jackson's video "Nasty". Thom stated that there were two guys, one on each side of her. He was, as he put it, "the white guy with a spikey hair doo". Crazy D came in at some point, and gave Thom a personalized Gathering T-shirt with the excellent picture of Lex that I purchased from the Art show. I'm sorry I can't remember the artists name right now:P But your pics ruled! Greg's wife Beth, and their son Benny came in also, and Beth chatted with us for a while. After this was all over with I got my forth hug. Not long after this we were all at the Story boarding panel. TONS of guests there! Getting to see those Storyboards was awesome!! Getting to see so many ppl that worked on the show was great. Knowing that it was only a fraction was even cooler. (Was it just me, or did that sound like Master Card commercial?) A little after this I was dead tired. I don't know why. I was fine the other days. But anyway I had to go back to our hotel and pass out. We were all rooming at a Holiday Inn not far from the con hotel. I passed out for a few hours and missed the Radio Play! Well actually we came back in time for the tail end of it, but I didn't want to barge in, and be annoying. While everyone was filtering out though I got to run into Thom and Crispin again. I got my fifth hug then. My friends and I got some more pictures of them, and apparently Kaioto asked Thom if he would go out to eat with us later. He agreed. What a sweet heart! I think by then Thom probably was figuring out who Kai was. Apparently Both Greg and Thom didn't know who he was for most of the con, and poor Kai kept scaring them by shaking hands, and giving Thom that hug. Now they know who he is..yup..now he's Lexy's boyfriend *LOL*. Guess he is in the same boat with Izobel who is now referred to as, "Crispin's Girlfriend." Hey Greg, if you are reading this, Kai was the guy who wrote that report on Brooklyn. I don't know *shrugs* I never got to read it, but he told me, back when he wrote it, that you made a comment in S8 that you liked it. I don't know if you recall this though:P
Day Three- Again. I can't remember anything! Highlights would be getting to "mug" Greg, and going to the VA's Q&A. Boy was that a riot. Everyone was great! Cree Summers *SP* showed up as a surprise, and it was cool hearing her story about how she landed her first gig. Apparently her father played the voice of Doctor Claw on "Inspector Gadget". The little girl who was supposed to play the voice of Penny didn't show up so Cree was given the role, and did so well she kept it. Jeff's stories about how he got started were a hoot. I think everyone got a crazy little mental image of Chibi-Jeff driving his parents nuts with his Dizzy Duck impersonation, and I'm glad somebody asked why Duke, from "The Mighty Ducks", sounded just like Brooklyn, because that was bothering me too. *L* It was great when ppl would try to ask Jeff questions about his characters, or, "what was it like switching between voices like that?", and poor Jeff is just like , "I..I don't remember.. Did I play that character?" *L* Keith got to field a lot of questions about the differences between Voice acting and other forms of acting. Loved his cute little roar;), and I couldn't help but wonder what that panel of doctors in the adjacent room were thinking when they heard someone bellow, "I've lost everything..EVEN MY REVENGE!" I suppose I have to mention Thom's input on how Sally Richardson (is this last name correct!?) bragged to him, so he says, that the animators used her 'eh hem' back end as a model for Elisa's. I believe it was Jeff who put in something to the effect of, "Yup, those guys love doing their research." Somebody from the audience asked Keith what he would have done with his character if he had had the chance. Keith just grinned and said, "You know." "-And it wouldn't have been a dream either." Somebody from the audience also asked Keith if anything about Goliath had rubbed off onto him. Jeff, once again, interjected with something I am not even sure I can say in Ask Greg. *wonders* Oh geez..better safe then sorry! (appologizees to all who weren't there) Hey! Someone with guts can fill that part in. Afterward was the autograph signing. Everyone who had gotten to the last panel early, including myself, ended up in the back of the line. By the time we got up to the signing a lot of ppl had to book it. While Crispin was signing a poster I brought from Slayers Keith David, just three guests from me, had to leave. I probably did not make some ppl happy when I left my poster with Crispin and ran over to Keith with the poster I had brought. I don't think I have ever groveled that bad in my life *L*. "Um..Please Mr. David..Sir..could you PULEEZ sign this for me?" *LOL* He was cool about it of course. I loved watching Jeff inspect that Owen doll someone brought to get signed. I really should know her name:P He thought that thing was great! "Oh man. Hey guys look! It's the Owen doll!"
After the VA's got their chance, the writers and I think some artists came up to sign. I got that panel to sign my poster as well. It looks great! I wake up to it right near my bed:) Now the first thing the sun hits in the morning is Brynne Chandler's golden autograph of , "Jalapena!"
After the autographs my friends and I prepared for the banquet. I didn't get to sit with Thom this year *L*, but I still had a good time. My table was near enough to Thom's and Crispin's to get the jist of what was going on. Boy, *shakes head* those two! They just kept going at it. First Crispin would brag about his excellent imitation of Broadway, then Thom would pick on Crispin's shirt. It escalated until the next time I turned around Crispin was sitting in Thom's lap, and this was after I had missed Crispin planting one on Thom. *shakes her head* wow..must have been a hoot to be at one of those tables!
After the, what? SIX COURSE? meal was done I believe the art show winners were read off, and Mhyr called!off ticket numbers for raffle prizes. I'm still not quite sure how I got an award for art, but it was funny that both Kaioto, JT and myself won raffle prizes. I had to laugh when Kaioto's number was called off, and I heard Thom call from behind me saying, "So Lexy, I guess you won twice!" I figured at that point he knew who Kai was! *L*
Next was the cosplays and costume show. Not as many ppl seemed to dress up this year, but we still had some good costumes. I think I lost a good portion of my film when two of the contestants, sorry I don't know your names!, forced Thom with a net, and by fake gun point, to take his pants off. I also spent a couple shots taking pictures of our "Best Couple". IE: Thom and Crispin. A prize well earned!
After the awards were given out ,and ppl were beginning to dance, I asked Greg and Thom if they would be interested, if they could make it, in attending a party I would be having in honor of my wedding which would be taking place around the gathering of 2002. They both agreed that they would come if they could. I earned yet another hug from Thom AND a kiss that I can verify _did_ occur:D Asking Greg if he would come was pretty amusing. It took me a while before I could get up enough nerve to ask him. After I asked him he smiled at us with a surprised look and said, "What are you guys?? Like twelve?!" *L* I tried to explain that we were a bit older then that, though I am certain I sounded confused. (FYI We will be 22 and dang near 20) ^_^V Soon afterward my traveling partners and I went back to our hotel to sleep.
Day FOUR!!- I remember getting up, going to the 3x3 eyes panel and hitting closing ceremonies. After closing ceremonies my friends and I met up with Thom and we all went out to eat. We weren't sure where to go so Thom suggested a Thai place not far from the hotel. He asked us if we had a ride, and we had to admit we didn't. (We had been thinking we could go to City Walk, and just take a tran. Thom was cool about it though, and said we could just use his car.*pauses for a brief moment to remember* EEEEEEE! As most of you may imagine, I felt guilty yet strangely happy with the situation;) After apologizing like 200 times that his car was a mess, ( for those of you with cars..is that a standard thing to say before you let someone get in? It seems to be to me! *L*), Thom took us on what I like to call the "Thom Tour". I joked with him that he could have made a couple of bucks putting that one the scheduled events. He showed us where he buys his dog food, where he used to get his hair cut and where Kath Soucie used to live. As we were driving Thom mentioned that the studio where they recorded Gargoyles wasn't far, and then decided to take us there! What a sweetheart! The studio was almost empty that day, and some friendly ppl out front told Thom he could take us right on in. We got to take pictures of where the VA's stood, and see the place where Greg set up the pictures for the VA's too see. We also got to go in back and see a poster with the autographs of many who worked on the show.
Afterward we went out to eat, and had a general good time doing so. Thom was kind enough to take us back to the hotel so we could wander off to Universal studios. There you have it folks..my disjointed and rambled G2001 diary!
A few last things I should mention:
Christine Morgan- You wanted one of my pictures from the art show. I will mail that off to you if you email me with your addy:) (izzolexington3@yahoo.com)

Favorite G2001 quotes that I can actually say in Ask Greg:
"I've lost everything, EVEN MY REVENGE!"-Keith David
"Thom Adcox everybody. A man who never misses the opportunity to take off his pants."-Greg W.
"Your going to be even sorrier when those pictures are all over the Internet!"-Greg W.
"What are you guys? Like 12?"-Greg W.
"Master of advertising."-Jeff Bennet
"Did I play that guy?"-Jeff Bennet
"Mommy...what's a 'con virgin'?"-Little girl sitting behind me
"I've got something under my shiiiiiirt."-Thom A. (fallowed by)
"Well at least he didn't say he had something in his pants"-Greg W.
"He got to look!"-Keith David
"Ya right. If I had gotten to make changes Lex would have been second in command. NOT Brooklyn."-Thom
"Thank you for giving that award to Lexy. It really meant a lot to her." *Hugs Thom* -Kaioto (fallowed by)
"Who _was_ that guy?"-Greg W.

Greg responds...

Lexy, you are such a treat. That's probably the best journal yet. Thank you. (And hey, looking young is a good thing. When you're my age, you'll be glad you look ten years younger than you are.)

Response recorded on August 15, 2001

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Todd Jensen writes...

Here's a brief Gathering report of my own.

FRIDAY: Arrived at Los Angeles in the afternoon. I arrived at the hotel in the middle of the Bill Faggerbakke signing, but got to the Opening Ceremonies a little late (I took a little while to find my room and put my luggage away). Fortunately, I did get to hear the whole of your presentation and see the videos. (I especially liked the "Gargoyles" video with the "Glory/Power of One" music, with its showing the camera passing over the "Gargoyles" title several times at different points.) I finally got to see the "Bad Guys" leica reel (and was definitely astonished at the bit where Matrix was shown listening to a boom box), the "Dark Ages" and "New Olympians" pitches, and the edited "Gargoyles" pilot. (I missed the MSTing of "The Gathering", though).

SATURDAY: Went to a few of the panels on writing and researching for "Gargoyles". I enjoyed hearing some of the famous stories about it in person, as well as some of the new revelations (such as the one about the cast getting trapped in a live performance of "Macbeth"; I'd definitely have liked to see that "odd little two-parter", or the sad story about the Loch Ness episode of "Team Atlantis" that will never get made).

And, of course, the big highlight in the evening was the radio play (and I agree that Crispin Freeman did a great Broadway); I enjoyed the additional bits (such as the "breathing the air" line, which I hadn't even imagined was there in the first draft, as well as the scene in the clock tower between Elisa and Jason that I'd read about before).

SUNDAY: Served as part of a panel on fanfic with Kathy, Patrick, and Taleweaver (the one shame about it being that I missed another panel about the development of "Gargoyles", which was being held at the same time). And had the Sunday dinner with you, your wife, Greg Bishansky, Patrick Toman, and Tigris Euphrates up in the Rooftop Garden (though you know that I was at your table, of course).

MONDAY: No special memories for that day, since I had to leave early to catch my plane. Oddly enough, and rather appropriately, the movie on the flight home was one entitled "Just Visiting", about a medieval knight and his peasant-squire who get transported to the modern world by a wizard's spell (certainly evocative of the gargoyles' plight).

Greg responds...

MINOR NOTE: Matrix wasn't simply listening to that boombox, his hand WAS the boombox.

Todd, can't emphasize enough how great it was to meet you. I'm glad you came and I hope you had a good time. Your comments here are always insightful, and your help here at ASK GREG and on all those research questions I had on the Timeline are/were invaluable.

Thanks again. I hope the trip was worthwhile for you.

Response recorded on August 15, 2001

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Shan writes...

REFLECTIONS ON GARGOYLES 2001
By Shannon (Shan) Muir

SATURDAY NIGHT ADDENDUM

How could I forget the highlight of the banquet? (I'm guessing because it was reported frequently...) That incredible game of upstaging between Thom Adcox and Crispin Freeman was even more worthwhile than the food! I was seated on one side of Thom, so everything literally took place right before my eyes. I take it such antics are atypical for the GATHERING the way people have gone on about it? Am I wrong?

Greg responds...

Yes, you are wrong. :)

I'll admit that Crispin and Thom put on quite a show stopper, but to my mind there's always some weird wild stuff goin' on at most Gatherings.

Hey, there's a reason we have a Gorebash Memorial Award, you know?

Response recorded on August 14, 2001

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Shan writes...

REFLECTIONS ON GATHERING 2001
By Shannon (Shan) Muir

MONDAY

Monday Kevin and I did breakfast at Carl's Jr. at 9AM and showed up in decent time before the ROUGHNECKS panel. Got a brief bit of time to say "hi" to Dave Hartman and Jay Oliva, both of whom I worked with on the EXTREME GHOSTBUSTERS series. Before the Q&A, the episode of ROUGHNECKS screened where they go to scatter Razak's ashes… Greg, did you run this because I told you during our Suite101 interview that I cry every time that episode plays? (I doubt that's the only reason but it sprung to mind…) Speaking of Suite101, Greg "Xanatos" Bishansky sat a few seats over from me and recognized who I was. Greg, thanks for your compliments. Especially after not finding a voice in the panel Sunday, you really made my day. Thank you.

Though I knew most of the ROUGHNECKS personnel and had heard some of these stories at San Diego Comic-Con the prior summer, it's always a joy seeing those folks. I regret I didn't bring my Eduardo figurine (still MIB) from EXTREME GHOSTBUSTERS for Rino (ROUGHNECKS' Johnny Rico) to sign; Rino was Eduardo and Jason Marsden (Pvt. Brutto in ROUGHNECKS) played Garrett. But it wasn't clear there'd be a signing period at this panel, not after the separate Voice Actors panel the day before.

Then we went out to lunch… and also did some shopping at Sam Goody and the comic shop on the CityWalk. Kevin owed me some money for buying his Gathering T-shirt (beautiful shirts Aimee and Greg Guler!), plus Sunday breakfast, so he got me a VOLTRON tee and the videotape of SLAYERS: THE MOTION PICTURE - can't afford DVD yet. I know Crispin's not in this movie, but I was looking for a self-contained introduction to the concept. I want to see more, and definitely with Crispin!

Got back in time for Closing Ceremonies, and then off to the car. We headed to Al's Deli on Ventura Blvd. for lunch, and afterwards go home and do drudgery things like wash the laundry so I could be ready for work the next day.

All in all, it really was a good time. And a special thing I'd like to share with Greg and everyone else. I moved to Los Angeles in 1996 from a town of 8,000 people and three stoplights, determined to make it in this town and in animation. A promise I made myself was that if I survived five years in Los Angeles, on that day (or the nearest weekend) I would throw a party and do something really special to celebrate.

My five year mark in Los Angeles was June 20, 2001… the Wednesday before the Gathering. So, indirectly, you folks threw me that memorable event and never knew it.

Thank you - Greg, the guests, the staff, the volunteers, and the fans -- for an event to remember.

Greg responds...

Shan - I ran "Funeral for a Friend" because it's my favorite episode and because I'm vain. But I'm glad you like it too.

And I'm VERY glad we could throw that party for you and for all the fans.

(It is particularly gratifying to have former students in attendance -- Zach and Carol, I'm talking to you too.)

THANKS

Response recorded on August 14, 2001

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Shan writes...

REFLECTIONS ON GATHERING 2001
By Shannon (Shan) Muir

SUNDAY
The big morning, the one I'd been raising my courage for over the last two days. The panel. I'd been asked to be part of a panel on moving from Fan to Pro meeting at 10AM. So I wouldn't stress over being late, Kevin and I had the Sunday buffet breakfast at the Sheraton's restaurant. A wonderful selection, pretty decent. Unfortunately (for him) this meant Kevin having to arrive like 8:30AM this time. The other reason I wanted Sunday buffet was to eat very well, bypass lunch (but be sure to have water for medication), and then eat dinner at the banquet since that was a relatively early dinner. I cannot stress how much of a mistake that was.

People started arriving for our panel. I met Taleweaver (Rashaan Footman), a worthy last-minute addition. I think having someone well-known in fandom on the quest for a pro fiction sale was a much needed voice and I am glad for the opportunity to have met him. Karine (aka Kanthara) and Aimee showed up to voice the artists, and Christine arrived. Christine got things underway with Con announcements, even though I'd agreed to try to serve as moderator. In a way, we tried to stall for the still absent Meredith, but even after Christine finished Meredith still wasn't there. So starting with Aimee, everyone introduced themselves - and Meredith entered right on cue! We couldn't have planned that better. In the end, I didn't talk much on the panel, mainly because all the listeners were either artists or prose/poetry writers. There wasn't too much a scriptwriter/journalistic writer/animation production person could offer that crowd. Sometimes it goes like that. But I'm content with the knowledge if someone had been interested and showed up, I would have been there for them.

Afterwards, we headed for the Series Production panel. Again, the sheer amount of professionals available to listen to made this worthwhile! Some of those folks I'd met through Greg's class, and have even been to Advantage Audio where they do the effects and sound mixing, but other people were totally new to me. A few more of the faces were new to Kevin, but he'd come with me on the trip to Advantage Audio so we were both familiar with those guys. Names are starting to run together at the moment or I'd actually name them…

Then came the Voice Actors Q&A. I can't pin how far back my interest in voice acting goes, I think one of the most early and significant ones was when I saw Sue Blu guesting on a SIMON & SIMON rerun and realized "hey that's Stormer from JEM!" Or maybe it was Michael Bell's guest stint on MASH. Anyway, once I was conscious that on screen actors could also be behind the moving drawings, I've always wanted to identify who's who. Used to be very good, but I think I'm slipping, especially with talented people like Jeff Bennett who can sound like practically anyone. Thom Adcox was the only one I'd seen in person before, Cree I'd seen on TV in ATLANTIS interviews and in Lenny Kravitz's VH1 BEHIND THE MUSIC (though I didn't know it was her, I wondered about the name similarity though. I don't think she talked on camera) because he produced her music CD. I really enjoyed hearing their anecdotes of working on GARGOYLES and in the business. I'm the one who finally mustered the courage to ask the question on dubbing, which gave Crispin Freeman - who I was NOT familiar with prior to the GATHERING - a chance to shine at what was pretty much a GARGOYLES-centric panel. I'm really, really impressed with him. I understand Izobel is to thank for hooking him up at the event? Whoever, a big round of thanks.

Then we decided to find out where the Roof Garden Ballroom was, because we didn't have anything for the actors to sign. We thought we might get dropped outside a set of doors and at least know we knew where the right place was. Kevin and I certainly didn't mean to actually be IN it that early. So, after trying not to be tempted by the incredible view, we went downstairs ASAP.

We went back and sat in the back of the big room, where the Charity Auction got underway on one side and crew signings on the other. Watched the first of the Carl Johnson CDs go for well over $100, the invite to a TEAM ATLANTIS voice record taken at over $200 (by one of my former classmates, it turned out), but really surprised at how low most of the other stuff went. Not that I know what it was all worth, but it just seemed strange. After a while, the crew signings wound down and then we decided to head out towards the dinner though the auction was running behind.

So we went back to the Ballroom and waited for over half an hour, since the banquet had been delayed. But we figured a lot of people wouldn't know and would show up early too, which they did. Now that "no lunch" mistake started catching up to me, I was just short of doubling over in pain. Dinner was fair for a hotel, I've had worse, though. A funny part was when I got up to go to the restroom, and came back to the pasta. Not remembering the full menu I asked Kevin, "This isn't the main course is it?" He said yes, I'm not sure if he meant it as a joke (I have a horrid time telling joke from serious, and I grew up with a Dad and Grandfather who loved to joke). And I believed him, shaking my head because I have seen hotels do worse. So I was pleasantly surprised when the main course did show up! The Sheraton did make good desserts though. I wonder how it stacked up to other banquets.

Myhr and the awards section proved OK but not terribly interesting. I had no familiarity with the fan fiction, but had at least seen the art show. No idea how I missed the World Map everyone's raving about though. Sounds like that one was a sight to see!

My biggest regret was not being in any shape to stay for the Masquerade/Cosplay/Dance. Several weeks before (not with pneumonia like Greg, something different) I'd had problems related to my medical condition and too worn out to stay. Despite the fact I'd chided Kevin for weeks about dragging him on the dance floor, that was not to be. I'd also wanted to encourage him to dress him up as Owen, which would NOT have been hard. The way he dressed at the Gathering (polo shirt and slacks) is casual for him; let's put it this way, even Kevin jokes of being "born in a suit." Unfortunately, that's all relegated to what might have been.

Greg responds...

Sorry you missed the masq...

Response recorded on August 14, 2001


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