Harvester of Eyes writes...

Gathering Journal, Part Three

Sunday, 6/24/2007

Slept in until ten, then woke up and went downstairs for biscuits and gravy. After breakfast, I hit an ATM, and then my brother and I decided to sit in on the Gargoyles physiology/culture discussion. Greg was very animated during this one, especially towards the end when talking about how a gargoyle might define "the castle". The main thing I took away was that gargoyles and humans have one very key thing in common: the men are idiots, and the women are crazy.

After that, there was a panel on Gargoyles/Bad Guys. Right before it started, I went down to the second floor, found a vending machine that didn't hate me, and got my Mike-and-Ikes at long last! Vengeance is mine (or at least artificial fruit flavors were mine)! The comic panel turned more into a motivational speech on spreading the word. But in all fairness, Greg had said that it was because the panel had been thrown together at the last minute, and he was unable to answer too many questions about the story (for which I couldn't blame him).

I went upstairs after that, and perused some of the items up for silent auction. I had already bid on some art, otherwise I would have put some bids in on a few other things. I didn't even know Tiger made an LCD game for Gargoyles. I tried to get some soda from the third floor vending machines after that, but they refused to give me any love. So I gave up, and went back to the room to shower and shave. I still had time to kill after cleaning up for dinner. I chatted with my brother for a bit (he went to Gatlinburg during the comic panel, and he described it as a Swedish town in the middle of nowhere). Earlier, I had offered to front him some money to go on the waiting list for the Banquet, but he kept saying no.

Went down to the second floor after that, and finally scored some Coke from THAT soda machine. They must have grouped all the working machines on the second floor. I also had a nice chat with Jonathon and Kristen (whom I'd met Friday night), and also with Susan Leonard. My memory was hazy on just what we talked about, but hunger usually puts gaps in my memory.

The Banquet was a lot of fun, though I was confused as to why the chicken appeared to be served over rice with some mysterious yellow gravy. I thought the menu said it would be Southern Fried. Ah, well, it was still good. The potatoes and gravy were awesome. The Q and A afterwards was also very enjoyable (if Greg was annoyed with me asking if he took the Mrs. Smith's apple pie out of the box before eating it, he didn't show it). Overall, it was a lot of fun. If my brother actually comes with me again next year, I'm fronting him the money for the Banquet. He went to KFC.

A wicked storm kicked up after the Q and A let out. My brother and I smoked pipes on the balcony, until the wind picked up and started blowing the rain into our faces. When that happened, we decided to abort. I bumped into Brooklyn X and a few other people not far from my room, and got some pictures of a table upside-down in the swimming pool. Shortly after that, my brother and went to grab seats at the Masquerade.

The Masquerade was wild. I don't know if my brother enjoyed himself, but I did. Sadly, I was sitting under the fluorescents, so I didn't get too many good pictures. I got some great ones after the judging, though. My brother went back to the hotel room shortly after the awards were given out, and I tried to get him to come hang out with us. He came over for about five minutes, and then I lost track of him. I think he went back to the room to drink some more and pray for my soul. It's funny. I'm usually the antisocial one, and this time he was the one drinking in the hotel room. ( ;

Lots of general insanity after that. Managed to have some better, lengthier chats with Greg X, Kelly, and JEB. Kelly and I discussed the possibility of doing something Quarrymen-related at next year's Masquerade, an idea that took better shape as the night progressed. Watched some kareoke, and wound up doing some of it myself with a few other males in the room (that was fun. Haven't belted out a good rendition of "A--hole" in years), but not too long after that, there was a bit of a buzzkill from the rain, which caused a leak in the Dealer's Room. From what I heard later, everything was okay, but a bunch of people needed to go buy tarps because the rain picked up again.

Kelly, Leo and I did our own search for the comic book dealer, but we wound up back in Leo and Kelly's room, drinking coffee and bitching about the hotel. Despite all my belly-aching, I still liked the hotel. It had personality. I went upstairs after that, and hung out a bit more. Had another chat with a girl named Tiffany about tattoos. All this talk has gotten me thinking about getting one at the next Gathering. I eventually wound up in the hotel lobby with Thom Adcox and a group of other people (names are, again, sadly a blur) watching dirty videos on youtube, as well as a short film someone made based upon an internet comic. I went back up to my room about a quarter after midnight, watched "Venture Brothers" with my brother, and then slept.

6/25/2007

Woke up, and started to get breakfast. Once again, the line in the lobby was too long. And honestly, my brother and I were tired of biscuits and gravy. So we went to McDonald's and grabbed coffee. We went back to the hotel after getting coffee, and I bumped into Mandy and BrooklynX as they were checking out. Said goodbye to them (BX and I wound up chatting a few times over the weekend when he was pulling guard duty for Radio Play auditions and rehearsals). After that, we went upstairs to where Greg, Thom, and Karine were signing things. Got them to sign a copy of Gargoyles #3 for someone whose wedding I went to over a year ago, and I still hadn't gotten him a gift. Thanks, guys! He's a massive fan of Gargoyles, so he'll appreciate it a lot! Hopefully, it won't take as long for me to mail it out to him, and I'll be sure to mention Chicago in the letter.

Said goodbye to Greg X and JEB, then stopped upstairs to the Dealer's Room to pick up some art. Bought a very nice Demona piece from Revel. Said some more goodbyes after that, and then my brother and I hit the road. I decided to forego stopping at a fireworks outlet, since we got a late start and my brother had a longer drive than I did.

Made the trip in seven hours, and saw more roadkill on the way home. The final roadkill count was:

Bird - 1
Deer - 3
Fox - 1
Opossum - 2
Raccoon - 7
Unknown - 8

Unpacked the car and started to upload the Gathering pics I took so my brother could copy them onto a portable drive. Only problem was it was taking too long. So he told me to just give him a CD next time we saw each other, and he started off again. I unpacked my stuff, had a beer and some leftover enchiladas, and vegged out until I got sleepy.

Overall, it was a blast. Hope to do it again in 2008.