Con Journal - The Gathering of The Gargoyles 2006
There was so much going on, that I'm sure I missed huge chunks of the weekend. Forgive me if I forgot you.
This is long and rambly and VERY VERY whiny. You've been warned. (Don't worry, Greg, I'll be watering this down significantly before I post it to 'Ask Greg')
THURSDAY - June 22nd
The fun really started on Thursday for us. Everyone on the staff was coming in that day and we had a lot of stuff to do to be ready for Friday. Patrick and I had done a lot of pre-running around, so we just needed our staff! :) Patrick returned from a trip to the airport with Karine, Bishansky and Kyt in tow. Seth showed up in Sammy’s SUV and Steph made her way back to us from hanging in the valley. We all loaded up our caravan of cars and headed out to the hotel.
After unpacking everything, we had a few errands to run. Photo copies, supplies for autographs, etc. So we all piled into my Car of Impending Doom(tm) and Steph thought we were ditching her. O.O Sorry Steph. I lost head count.
We decided to go get some dinner before we started stuffing con packets. I figured BJ's across the street would be good. ... that was my first mistake. Next time, I pack us all in a car with limited seating and drive FAR away. What should have been 13 con staffers and their kids, Greg Weisman and a few others.. ended up being a party of over 35 people. I was starving and the longer we waited to get seated, the more people we were picking up. I was about to give up and walk to Taco Bell when they let SOME of us sit down. This also meant that the staff wasn't going to be eating together at one table, which really bummed me out.
So yeah, I wasn't off to a great peppy staff start. We FINALLY got back to the hotel after it taking us FOREVER to work out a bill for over 20 people (Karine/Tim, I still owe you money!) and started stuffing con packets. After getting several calls interrupting this process, I was finally able to really help. We got done early and headed off to bed.
FRIDAY - June 23rd
We started with the staff breakfast meeting. Something we started in 2001 to get us all at least ONE meal a day and to get us off and organized in the right direction. Memo to me... this works better when we all can sit at one table. I was all business and had a difficult time getting anyone at table two to focus and pay attention long enough to keep a flow going to the meeting. So... 2nd peppy staff start foiled. I was pleased that Greg joined us for all the breakfast meetings, especially since I would end up not seeing much of him all weekend. Knowing we had a ton to do... we started off to get registration, the dealer’s room and the art show set up.
Super thanks to those who came by to help us assemble the art show. This was the first time since 2000 I'd posted anything in the art show and there was some intimidating competition this year! Honestly, this has to be the best art show EVAR. It was just incredible.
The Friday panels were awesome. Crispin's Voice Acting Workshop ruled all. Thom gave his input from the sidelines, but at least he was at a panel on time! Then we had Radio Play Auditions. This is usually my favorite part of the convention since I get Thom and Greg to myself for a bit and we always have fun making everyone bark like a dog. At some point in the auditions, I noticed Greg was presenting this as "Now... for my amusement... Bark like a dog". I told him that it was selfish of him to keep the amusement to himself. So he started taking turns so that all of us got to be personally amused by the dog barking. When Michael Reaves decided to sit in with us a bit, he even got some dog barking honors. At some point during auditions, I pissed Greg off with my opinion of the comic (sorry, correction "hurt his feelings") and he pretty much didn't talk to me unless he had to for the rest of the con. GO JEN.
Then Opening Ceremonies... DUN DUN DUUUUNNNN. The part I was dreading the most. I can get up in front of a crowd with a memorized two hour play and not get the jitters... but when I lack a written script, I don't do so well. Before it all started, I briefly introduced myself to Mae Li (sp?) the wonderful, beautiful, woman who started The Gathering back in 1997. I also warned her that I would be embarrassing her in front of 300 people shortly. So I announced my staff, made past staff members stand up as well. Then pointed out that all these people had kept it going when it was all started and run by one person. Mae Li was our Fan Guest of Honor this year and I don't think anyone in this fandom deserves it more.
Next was Nikki and with her, the promise of another year of The Gathering. She had her hotel and her dates and ZING she's on top of it all. 2007 in Tennessee, people! It's all good stuff!
I forced the Music Video Contest on everyone to make sure the majority of the people saw them all. CAPTIVE AUDIENCE!! MWAA HA HA HAA! Then we passed it on to Greg.
Greg got up and immediately turns down the mic. I know he thinks he's really loud... but at the back of the room it does get difficult to hear him. There's no telling him this so I tried moving people in the back of the room to open seats closer to the front. There was a whole empty row 3 rows from the front next to A Fan... it stayed empty. O.o.
Greg explained why Greg Guler wasn't there. This portion of Opening Ceremonies would bring me happy moments throughout the con. Greg, in comedic over dramatics, explained that Guler was "in HAWAII!". My son latched onto that bit and reenacted it for us several times. He did such a great Greg impersonation (complete with clenched jaw and open hands) that I tried to talk him into doing it for Greg. Alas, he claimed he was too shy.... for now. He was just saving that meaty morsel for later. ;)
We got to see the standard run of pitches that Greg always brings us. We had such a HUGE newbie turn out, that just about everyone stayed (even those of us who have seen them every year since 1998!). I gotta say, 'Bad Guys' never gets old. I love that reel. We watched the small bit that was put together by Vashkoda of "The Last". I wish I had time/talent to help with that.
Once Opening Ceremonies was over, everyone started making plans for dinner. Holy uncomfortable moments, Batman. I walked into the hotel on Thursday knowing I was $500 in the negative thanks to the loss of my job and surgery dates. I made several excuses and said I was going to just go up to my room and eat some of the plethora of CupO'Noodles I brought along. I wasn't expecting most of my staff to toss their own dinner plans to hang with me... but they did. I love them for it. I loved them even more when Christine and Tim came up with the awesome idea that we simply ORDER PIZZA! Everyone pitched in a few bucks and we were set. I felt a bit guilty for ruining their fun, they could have all gone out to dinner with Thom and Greg and the "Industry Crowd" (as they became known as), but we all had such a blast laughing our asses off and hanging out, that I got over it. ;)
This was really the first year that the guests really banned together and did a great job of avoiding the regular con goers. Usually, the guests tend to go out of their way to hang out with the attendees. It's something that has always made The Gathering special. It was rather sad, honestly, and I was a bit disappointed in a few of them. Had we all gone out with the "Industry Crowd", I'm quite sure we would have just been sitting off at another table like the others were.
After stuffing ourselves and having a good time, we headed back down to our room to unwind. I got my kids off to bed and tried to get some sleep myself. In that restless moment, I was hit with the realities of my life and really broke down. Steph and Karine tried to comfort me... but that's hard to do sometimes (and then the in the dark, we had the fatal combo of me trying to sit up and Karine trying to pop Steph or something... but my face and her wrist connected and I saw STARS). I'm pretty sure it's hard to understand all this from the outside. Even when you think you understand it... you're probably off. So waking up to my face swollen from tears that wouldn't stop is how I started off my....
SATURDAY - June 24th
Breakfast again... I was short tempered and not feeling well. Sorry for being snappy guys. I don't even remember what we ate, I just remember drinking 3 cups of coffee and hoping I'd live.
Then I had the rest of the radio play auditions. I kept my mouth shut this time and just kept my head down for the most part. For the first time ever, Greg didn't make me audition. I was a bit shocked when he told me I didn't have to. We retreated to Greg's room to cast it. We really had some good auditions and not really enough parts to cast them all. Not all the casting went the way I wanted, but I was determined to hold onto Abby for Elisa. If it meant I had to wrestle both Thom and Greg at once!! (Okay, so that would have been a plus not a minus... but you get the idea). I got the part of Demona (I think I may be typecast) O.o
Keith David and his family arrived with Seth. I meet up with him to go over the weekend and he immediately asked me “Where’s Red?” …“Red” being my former husband, Alan. My throat catches as I explain that Alan and I are getting a divorce. Keith gives me a big hug and tells me to love myself and my kids and I’ll get through it. Something about that voice just makes you believe everything he says.
Then I had a Cross Dressing Panel with Patrick. I think Patrick said two words, maybe three. I wasn’t really fully prepared, but I think I handled it well on the fly. There were a lot more people there than I had expected.
We had a quick rehearsal for the Radio Play, the big hold ups being Greg yelling at the Pini's to get out of the room (which, I'm sure he was joking, but he came off pretty scary) and my son, Fox, missing his cue several times and us starting over and over again for his line "Run Away! Run Away!". But we got through it pretty fast. After we were done, Greg teased Fox a bit by saying the "Run Away" line. To which my son came back with "Hey Greg, I got something for you! ... " and launched into the "He's in HAWAII" Greg impersonation. I love my son. He always catches me by surprise.
We got a few moments rest (and a small panic as I hurried the hotel staff to switch the room configuration!!) and then it was RADIO PLAY TIME! I was eagerly looking forward to playing Demona against Keith David's Goliath. I expected to be nervous, but I wasn't. It all felt good and right. SWEET! (and Fox nailed his line... that's my boy!)
Once the radio play was over I made some announcements and wanted to get my script signed by a few people in the play. I missed getting my usual "Good job" hug from Greg. I figured I was still in the dog house with him. Then we had more drama. Someone was inviting select people to an "Industry Party" (their words this time, not mine). Steph and Karine were on the bandwagon to go, but I had no desire to be anywhere near these people when I felt the way I did. I felt like I was repeating Demona's line to Puck over and over again... "Please... just go."
So finally after that drama left the building, we again found ourselves guest-less and hungry. We decided to head over to Red Robin for dinner and Bailey's Shakes (MmMMMmm). This was BY FAR my favorite meal of the con. All my friends, laughing, drawing, writing notes like we were little kids in school. Sammy flashing his boobs to Gorebash. Lanny flirting shamelessly with me like he was straight. Good stuff. I had hungry kids back at the hotel so I had to hurry back to bring food to them. Bishanksy shouldn't be allowed to drink. He's clingy enough as it is without the booze.
After that, we relaxed a bit before heading up to the Blue Mug-a-Guest. Oh My Hell. When walked in the room I knew we were in trouble. It was already too full and I knew more would be coming. The security guard that I saw walking down the hall as I showed up was coming to give us a warning and the guests hadn't even showed up yet. Nice. I was tempted to close it down right then. There was no way that all those people were going to be able to keep the volume down. Then FusionDemon showed up with a note from her mom allowing her to attend. Karine and I wanted to toss her out anyway, but I was beyond caring at that point. I told Karine to hold onto the letter because that was our release of liability and just let the 14-year-old-going-on-40 stay. (Let me just say that I really think that child is out of control and needs to be reigned in). So finally our guests show up and people clear off the couch for them. Greg, Thom, Crispin and Keith. Izobel sat with us in the bedroom of the suite and took her usual amount of pictures of Crispin.
I think we were good until Greg decided to stand on the furniture and yell. In my mind, it was only a matter of time until it happened anyway. We got our final warning from an ass named Edward in Security. We were going to try to move the party down into the Foyer outside our meeting rooms. Edward followed us down and told us we couldn't stay there, then was an ASS to us when we were trying to talk about options. I considered punching him so that he'd call the cops and I'd go to jail and finally get some sleep. Greg finally told everyone that we'd make time for the blue mug during the dance instead. ... Great. Like the dance wasn't going to be hectic enough as it was. I smelled doom for the dance and decided this whole thing was not worth any of this fight.
I wanted to find time to talk to Greg... but I couldn't get ANYONE to leave me alone for 5 seconds. I had such a bad night the night before and such a long day and I just wanted to talk to my friend. Not THE Greg Weisman... just my friend Greg. No matter where I went I had someone on my tail. I was stuck choking on my life again for another night.
SUNDAY - June 24th
This day was not starting out good. Kyt was seriously underfoot in our room for the weekend, and since she hadn't even ASKED if she could stay in our room, I was super pissy. She complained about not having a blanket at one point and I certainly wasn't going to give her a blanket off one of my kids... it was that ridiculous. I had 4 kids and three adults in there already. ASKING would have been nice... because then I could have said NO. So I get out of the shower and I'm getting dressed, etc. When Kyt gets IN the shower... so... all of my make-up, hair drying, GETTING READY was postponed while I waited for her to get her ass out of the shower. Why she didn't take a shower in the kids room, I still have NO clue. So now that I was almost late for breakfast... I was already in a bad mood and I had HAD IT with everyone talking over me at table two for the breakfast meeting. I'm sure they all think I'm a bitch, but really guys...
Then I get to the meeting rooms, and the hotel hadn't broken down the rooms properly. uuuuugh. So we had to ask the World Harvest Church (I get leary of churches that are interesting in harvesting!.... harvesting WHAT? Babies?? Livers??... anyway) if we could move the wall in the middle of their church service. Taran, one of the guys who worked at the hotel, more than made up for Edward's assholeness the night before.
It was going to be 100 degrees and humid that day, so I asked the hotel to move the banquet indoors. I didn't want everyone sweating it out over dinner. I asked them 10 times to make SURE that it was going to be moved right. I was jumpy at this point.
I tried to take a quick nap on a bench outside the ballrooms. That didn't work out so well.
We had a TON of guests coming in this day and I tried to field as many as I could to Carol (OMG she must have been ready to pull her hair out by the end of the day!). Dark Lord started to give me trouble after the first round of voice actor panels ended. He was holding up the voice actors from getting to the autograph seats. Then when I told him he had to get in line for the autographs, he wandered towards the FRONT of the already established line. I sent Bishansky after him to chase him to the end of the line. I also was a little ticked off at one of our dealers. He would let himself early into the panels and nag all the guests for autographs before the panels started. Twice I told him to knock it off... third time I was ready to kick him out of the dealer's room if he did it again.
The beginning of the Gargoyles Production panel had me nervous. Greg was over in the WITCH panel so they had no one to really lead the panel. I was hoping Frank or Dennis would take the lead, but they were all just sort of sitting there looking at each other. I suggested they all introduce themselves and what they did on the show... they did... and then got quiet again. Finally we got the Sound Editor to get going and he was eager to talk about his part in it... once the ice was broken, the panel kicked off and I left them to it.
Patrick had told me that we had enough free spots for my kids to attend the banquet. So I, mistakenly, told them they could attend. ... only to find out, come banquet time, that we were sold out to the rafters and I had to let all my kids down. FYI... that sucked.
Shortly after I deliver that news to the kids, Dark Lord's mother calls me. She's complaining that the convention staff isn't being nice to her son. I asked what happened and who did it. After listening to her explain it... and then her passing the phone to him to explain it... I realized that I had nothing to apologize for. He wanted to use the excuse that he is autistic and has a "condition" to get around behaving properly around the guests. He was very upset that he had to actually stand in the autograph line like everyone else. I refused to apologize for my staff doing their job. I would find out later that he had complained to Greg Weisman and Greg explained to him that he was a guest and to find someone on staff, then he complained to the HOTEL about Greg not listening to him.
I can understand that he has a condition, but he should have someone there with him to help him to better deal with the public at large. He disrupted every panel he went to with completely irrelevant questions... to the point that the Ben Ten people were making a joke of him. His mother should have been there to keep him herded up so we didn't have to. How is my staff to know he is autistic? It's not like you can see it from the outside. It's not our job to handle him special. It's our job to clear the rooms and make things run smoothly from one panel to the next. There were nearly 400 people at this convention. I have to worry about ONE? His mother claimed she would talk to me after the banquet, but I never saw either of them again. I explained this all to Greg W., expecting him to reprimand me for not being more of an ass kisser, but I think he was a little tired of it all too.
So I get off the phone with that mess, and get a call from Carol. Thom has called her and said he has a friend coming up from some long drive and he wants his friend to go to the banquet with him. Apparently, the terms are that his friend goes to the banquet, or Thom doesn’t.
Fine, you know what? I give up. He can have my seat. I’ll wait outside. The banquet is technically overbooked by 10 seats now. I can just feel the nightmare getting worse. I get pissed off because it beats crying. Carol calls again, this time, she has Thom on the line. I talk to Thom but my phone is cutting out so bad I can hardly understand him. Honestly, I have NO idea what he said. I just agreed with him and told him to have a good time. When I saw him later, he said he promised to buy me breakfast. I smiled and nodded and internally thought “I hope you don’t plan for me to hold my breath”.
Now Keith’s calling to leave. Right before the banquet has to start. That means, someone is going to miss the banquet. I know the Morgan’s aren’t attending the banquet, because I’ve already begged them to take care of my kids since they couldn’t go to the banquet. So I go to beg Tim if he’ll take Keith and his family home. Tim agrees. WHEW! I go up to help bring down their stuff from the con suite.
Keith gives me the BEST divorce advice ever, made even better by him holding me close and talking to me in a deep, soft voice. Nearly in tears yet again, I scamper to the banquet to see if I can scrounge an empty spot.
I say hello to a few people, marvel at how much extra work the “Industry Crowd” wants me to do for them on stuff totally not related to the convention, scarf down some food in record time and then drop out of the room to check on the Masquerade/Dance room.
The room looks great, Scott and I tweak it a little bit and set up. I’m not so worried now about the music we’ve all brought, since I know Greg will set up the Blue Mug and that will be the end of the dancing and karaoke. (I totally called that one).
It was time to get ready for the masquerade! My son (with the help of Cindy the Life Saver) was Lexington. This meant I had to glue a brow ridge on him and paint him green. Cindy got dolled up as Fox and I bypassed my costume because it suddenly felt like a bad idea (not to mention Greg didn’t like the idea either).
We scrambled down to the ballroom and lined up for the contest. The drunken party next door found us amusing; sadly, I didn’t find THEM so amusing. I would end up taking them on again later when they were drunker and I was fed up.
We finally got some of our judges down from the con suite where the “Industry” was taking up Convention time again. It must be nice to only think of oneself. I wish I could do it. … On second thought… no I don’t.
Thom wanted me to run and get him a pina colada. He told me to get myself one too, and I was ALL for that at this point, but then he added a diet coke to the order and that cancelled out my pina colada since I only have two hands and I make a very sucky waitress. I sent Seth and Sammy, hoping the four hands would bring me back a pina colada. No such luck. I gave Thom his drink and passed the diet coke to Beth Weisman.
We whipped through the contestants pretty fast, and then the judges set off to find a place to vote. We got some music going and danced a little bit. Did the Time Warp with my daughter, Stephanie and hammed it up really well. With Karine in there, I really expected the dancing to continue. She’s hard to stop once you get her going. Dancing is in her SOUL. ;)
The Judges came back and handed out the awards. Fox was happy to win for his Lex costume. He’s really competitive like that. Susan was ready for bed already and so she took Fox back upstairs to hose him off and put him to bed. Me, Steph, Seth and a few others went to the bar to get a drink. Apparently, we stood on the wrong side of the bar, because the bartender was determined NOT to serve that end of the bar. By the time the 2nd bartender got back from her break and we got our drinks, most of the “Industries” were leaving and the dance had died out to Blue Mug.
Disappointed, we cleaned up the dance equipment and took it all upstairs. Really, it was a lot of set up and lugging of equipment for nothing.
We all came back downstairs and sat in the back of the Blue Mug where we could hear close to nothing, when the drunk guys from next door came in again. A few of them sat in the back of the Mug and I was fine with that as long as they were quiet and respectful. Immediately, drunk #1 started giggling. Now, it was hard enough to hear anything from the back as it was, this ass sitting there giggling was NOT helping. I gave him a moment to shut up, and he didn’t. So I got up and told him to get the hell out. He couldn’t figure out why he was being booted. I told him that these people paid money to be here and they’d like to actually hear what was being said. He hesitated at first… but finally I won and he and his date left.
The rest of the con staff slowly started to discuss going to bed. I told them to go and that I’d stay to close up. I reminded Greg that we only had the room until Midnight, and after that we risked getting booted by Edward again. Shortly there after Greg wrapped it up and we closed up the ballroom, we headed upstairs and I opted to share a bed with Fox for the most restful night sleep of the weekend.
MONDAY - June 25th
Breakfast, it was a short day for the con and set up was relatively simple.
I went to most of the Time Travel panel, but I had to get back to the Dealer’s room to take care of tables so that Tim could run his panel and Susan and Stephanie (who had been running the Art Chicks table all weekend) could go to the Iron Artist panel. I talked myself into the dagger that had been calling me all weekend and put in $5 for the sword they were raffling off. I really wanted that sword. …I considered putting in $10, but I didn’t HAVE $10. … the fatal flaw in my plan!
When the kids got back, I had to run the “How to host a Gathering” panel. We explained how the bid process works and what key ingredients you need to pull off a convention. Ellen is working on a Chicago bid for 2008 and she’s HOT on the info! I felt like I was feeding off her energy (since my reserves were totally tapped). It was enough to get me through the last panel… CLOSING CEREMONIES!!
We kept it short and simple. Art Show awards, Music Video awards, G2007 info and boost, I introduced my staff again and thanked them again. Then, I think it was Christine, stood up and thanked me… and everyone stood up and clapped… and I have never wanted so badly to run from a room before in my life. By standing there I was risking a complete meltdown in front of a roomful of strange people. I stared at my clip board and thanked them all for coming and hoped to see them next year.
WHEW… made it.
We cleaned up the room and then headed over to help tear down the dealer’s room and art show. The sword raffle was fizzling because no one was there to win it. The Morgan’s finally won the sword. I shook a fist and cussed them good! They retaliated by giving me the sword they just won. So, I did the only thing one can do in such a moment. I stood there and cried. I can’t wait to have a place of my own again so I can put it on the wall in-between my two AWESOME Gargoyles posters (both mine, thanks to Stephanie L.).
Bishansky gave me an awesome animation cel of Demona from Sanctuary and then we headed to my room to work on getting our Dead Dog Party going. Greg W. brought the raw footage from The Gathering featurette in 2004. We watched the radio play and a few interviews. Then Greg packed it up and left. He didn’t stay very long and was rather distant the whole time he was there. People started asking me if he even had a good time at the con. I honestly couldn’t tell them because I’d hardly seen him!
Let me just tell you all how much Tim Morgan’s Chocolate Martinis ROCKED. Steph had fun toying with all the boys. Seth had fun toying with all the boys. Tony and Andrea make me happy and hopeful about life. O.O We slowly fizzled out and sent everyone home. Karine had to be up EARLY to get her flight.
TUESDAY - June 26th
Karine left early and I tried to sleep as much as I could. Tony and Andrea came to help us clean up and pack up, but I needed food ASAP. We gathered the Morgan’s and set out to find IHOP. I was shocked that Bishansky was in the lobby. I thought his ride to the airport (Patrick) had left with Karine hours ago. Apparently, Patrick was stuck making two trips instead of one. This didn’t please me very much… but I just kept on going. I needed coffee.
After breakfast, we went back to the hotel, cleaned up and said our goodbyes. Patrick, Andrea and Tony came back home with me and helped me unload everything. I was embarrassed by how horrible my house looks and I could tell Andrea was itching to start cleaning/tossing things out. Trust me guys… I want to bail on this place too.
I still have t-shirts to mail out and various other items to take care of, but for the most part, G2006 is over. …. And we lived to tell about it.
This is long and rambly and VERY VERY whiny. You've been warned. (Don't worry, Greg, I'll be watering this down significantly before I post it to 'Ask Greg')
THURSDAY - June 22nd
The fun really started on Thursday for us. Everyone on the staff was coming in that day and we had a lot of stuff to do to be ready for Friday. Patrick and I had done a lot of pre-running around, so we just needed our staff! :) Patrick returned from a trip to the airport with Karine, Bishansky and Kyt in tow. Seth showed up in Sammy’s SUV and Steph made her way back to us from hanging in the valley. We all loaded up our caravan of cars and headed out to the hotel.
After unpacking everything, we had a few errands to run. Photo copies, supplies for autographs, etc. So we all piled into my Car of Impending Doom(tm) and Steph thought we were ditching her. O.O Sorry Steph. I lost head count.
We decided to go get some dinner before we started stuffing con packets. I figured BJ's across the street would be good. ... that was my first mistake. Next time, I pack us all in a car with limited seating and drive FAR away. What should have been 13 con staffers and their kids, Greg Weisman and a few others.. ended up being a party of over 35 people. I was starving and the longer we waited to get seated, the more people we were picking up. I was about to give up and walk to Taco Bell when they let SOME of us sit down. This also meant that the staff wasn't going to be eating together at one table, which really bummed me out.
So yeah, I wasn't off to a great peppy staff start. We FINALLY got back to the hotel after it taking us FOREVER to work out a bill for over 20 people (Karine/Tim, I still owe you money!) and started stuffing con packets. After getting several calls interrupting this process, I was finally able to really help. We got done early and headed off to bed.
FRIDAY - June 23rd
We started with the staff breakfast meeting. Something we started in 2001 to get us all at least ONE meal a day and to get us off and organized in the right direction. Memo to me... this works better when we all can sit at one table. I was all business and had a difficult time getting anyone at table two to focus and pay attention long enough to keep a flow going to the meeting. So... 2nd peppy staff start foiled. I was pleased that Greg joined us for all the breakfast meetings, especially since I would end up not seeing much of him all weekend. Knowing we had a ton to do... we started off to get registration, the dealer’s room and the art show set up.
Super thanks to those who came by to help us assemble the art show. This was the first time since 2000 I'd posted anything in the art show and there was some intimidating competition this year! Honestly, this has to be the best art show EVAR. It was just incredible.
The Friday panels were awesome. Crispin's Voice Acting Workshop ruled all. Thom gave his input from the sidelines, but at least he was at a panel on time! Then we had Radio Play Auditions. This is usually my favorite part of the convention since I get Thom and Greg to myself for a bit and we always have fun making everyone bark like a dog. At some point in the auditions, I noticed Greg was presenting this as "Now... for my amusement... Bark like a dog". I told him that it was selfish of him to keep the amusement to himself. So he started taking turns so that all of us got to be personally amused by the dog barking. When Michael Reaves decided to sit in with us a bit, he even got some dog barking honors. At some point during auditions, I pissed Greg off with my opinion of the comic (sorry, correction "hurt his feelings") and he pretty much didn't talk to me unless he had to for the rest of the con. GO JEN.
Then Opening Ceremonies... DUN DUN DUUUUNNNN. The part I was dreading the most. I can get up in front of a crowd with a memorized two hour play and not get the jitters... but when I lack a written script, I don't do so well. Before it all started, I briefly introduced myself to Mae Li (sp?) the wonderful, beautiful, woman who started The Gathering back in 1997. I also warned her that I would be embarrassing her in front of 300 people shortly. So I announced my staff, made past staff members stand up as well. Then pointed out that all these people had kept it going when it was all started and run by one person. Mae Li was our Fan Guest of Honor this year and I don't think anyone in this fandom deserves it more.
Next was Nikki and with her, the promise of another year of The Gathering. She had her hotel and her dates and ZING she's on top of it all. 2007 in Tennessee, people! It's all good stuff!
I forced the Music Video Contest on everyone to make sure the majority of the people saw them all. CAPTIVE AUDIENCE!! MWAA HA HA HAA! Then we passed it on to Greg.
Greg got up and immediately turns down the mic. I know he thinks he's really loud... but at the back of the room it does get difficult to hear him. There's no telling him this so I tried moving people in the back of the room to open seats closer to the front. There was a whole empty row 3 rows from the front next to A Fan... it stayed empty. O.o.
Greg explained why Greg Guler wasn't there. This portion of Opening Ceremonies would bring me happy moments throughout the con. Greg, in comedic over dramatics, explained that Guler was "in HAWAII!". My son latched onto that bit and reenacted it for us several times. He did such a great Greg impersonation (complete with clenched jaw and open hands) that I tried to talk him into doing it for Greg. Alas, he claimed he was too shy.... for now. He was just saving that meaty morsel for later. ;)
We got to see the standard run of pitches that Greg always brings us. We had such a HUGE newbie turn out, that just about everyone stayed (even those of us who have seen them every year since 1998!). I gotta say, 'Bad Guys' never gets old. I love that reel. We watched the small bit that was put together by Vashkoda of "The Last". I wish I had time/talent to help with that.
Once Opening Ceremonies was over, everyone started making plans for dinner. Holy uncomfortable moments, Batman. I walked into the hotel on Thursday knowing I was $500 in the negative thanks to the loss of my job and surgery dates. I made several excuses and said I was going to just go up to my room and eat some of the plethora of CupO'Noodles I brought along. I wasn't expecting most of my staff to toss their own dinner plans to hang with me... but they did. I love them for it. I loved them even more when Christine and Tim came up with the awesome idea that we simply ORDER PIZZA! Everyone pitched in a few bucks and we were set. I felt a bit guilty for ruining their fun, they could have all gone out to dinner with Thom and Greg and the "Industry Crowd" (as they became known as), but we all had such a blast laughing our asses off and hanging out, that I got over it. ;)
This was really the first year that the guests really banned together and did a great job of avoiding the regular con goers. Usually, the guests tend to go out of their way to hang out with the attendees. It's something that has always made The Gathering special. It was rather sad, honestly, and I was a bit disappointed in a few of them. Had we all gone out with the "Industry Crowd", I'm quite sure we would have just been sitting off at another table like the others were.
After stuffing ourselves and having a good time, we headed back down to our room to unwind. I got my kids off to bed and tried to get some sleep myself. In that restless moment, I was hit with the realities of my life and really broke down. Steph and Karine tried to comfort me... but that's hard to do sometimes (and then the in the dark, we had the fatal combo of me trying to sit up and Karine trying to pop Steph or something... but my face and her wrist connected and I saw STARS). I'm pretty sure it's hard to understand all this from the outside. Even when you think you understand it... you're probably off. So waking up to my face swollen from tears that wouldn't stop is how I started off my....
SATURDAY - June 24th
Breakfast again... I was short tempered and not feeling well. Sorry for being snappy guys. I don't even remember what we ate, I just remember drinking 3 cups of coffee and hoping I'd live.
Then I had the rest of the radio play auditions. I kept my mouth shut this time and just kept my head down for the most part. For the first time ever, Greg didn't make me audition. I was a bit shocked when he told me I didn't have to. We retreated to Greg's room to cast it. We really had some good auditions and not really enough parts to cast them all. Not all the casting went the way I wanted, but I was determined to hold onto Abby for Elisa. If it meant I had to wrestle both Thom and Greg at once!! (Okay, so that would have been a plus not a minus... but you get the idea). I got the part of Demona (I think I may be typecast) O.o
Keith David and his family arrived with Seth. I meet up with him to go over the weekend and he immediately asked me “Where’s Red?” …“Red” being my former husband, Alan. My throat catches as I explain that Alan and I are getting a divorce. Keith gives me a big hug and tells me to love myself and my kids and I’ll get through it. Something about that voice just makes you believe everything he says.
Then I had a Cross Dressing Panel with Patrick. I think Patrick said two words, maybe three. I wasn’t really fully prepared, but I think I handled it well on the fly. There were a lot more people there than I had expected.
We had a quick rehearsal for the Radio Play, the big hold ups being Greg yelling at the Pini's to get out of the room (which, I'm sure he was joking, but he came off pretty scary) and my son, Fox, missing his cue several times and us starting over and over again for his line "Run Away! Run Away!". But we got through it pretty fast. After we were done, Greg teased Fox a bit by saying the "Run Away" line. To which my son came back with "Hey Greg, I got something for you! ... " and launched into the "He's in HAWAII" Greg impersonation. I love my son. He always catches me by surprise.
We got a few moments rest (and a small panic as I hurried the hotel staff to switch the room configuration!!) and then it was RADIO PLAY TIME! I was eagerly looking forward to playing Demona against Keith David's Goliath. I expected to be nervous, but I wasn't. It all felt good and right. SWEET! (and Fox nailed his line... that's my boy!)
Once the radio play was over I made some announcements and wanted to get my script signed by a few people in the play. I missed getting my usual "Good job" hug from Greg. I figured I was still in the dog house with him. Then we had more drama. Someone was inviting select people to an "Industry Party" (their words this time, not mine). Steph and Karine were on the bandwagon to go, but I had no desire to be anywhere near these people when I felt the way I did. I felt like I was repeating Demona's line to Puck over and over again... "Please... just go."
So finally after that drama left the building, we again found ourselves guest-less and hungry. We decided to head over to Red Robin for dinner and Bailey's Shakes (MmMMMmm). This was BY FAR my favorite meal of the con. All my friends, laughing, drawing, writing notes like we were little kids in school. Sammy flashing his boobs to Gorebash. Lanny flirting shamelessly with me like he was straight. Good stuff. I had hungry kids back at the hotel so I had to hurry back to bring food to them. Bishanksy shouldn't be allowed to drink. He's clingy enough as it is without the booze.
After that, we relaxed a bit before heading up to the Blue Mug-a-Guest. Oh My Hell. When walked in the room I knew we were in trouble. It was already too full and I knew more would be coming. The security guard that I saw walking down the hall as I showed up was coming to give us a warning and the guests hadn't even showed up yet. Nice. I was tempted to close it down right then. There was no way that all those people were going to be able to keep the volume down. Then FusionDemon showed up with a note from her mom allowing her to attend. Karine and I wanted to toss her out anyway, but I was beyond caring at that point. I told Karine to hold onto the letter because that was our release of liability and just let the 14-year-old-going-on-40 stay. (Let me just say that I really think that child is out of control and needs to be reigned in). So finally our guests show up and people clear off the couch for them. Greg, Thom, Crispin and Keith. Izobel sat with us in the bedroom of the suite and took her usual amount of pictures of Crispin.
I think we were good until Greg decided to stand on the furniture and yell. In my mind, it was only a matter of time until it happened anyway. We got our final warning from an ass named Edward in Security. We were going to try to move the party down into the Foyer outside our meeting rooms. Edward followed us down and told us we couldn't stay there, then was an ASS to us when we were trying to talk about options. I considered punching him so that he'd call the cops and I'd go to jail and finally get some sleep. Greg finally told everyone that we'd make time for the blue mug during the dance instead. ... Great. Like the dance wasn't going to be hectic enough as it was. I smelled doom for the dance and decided this whole thing was not worth any of this fight.
I wanted to find time to talk to Greg... but I couldn't get ANYONE to leave me alone for 5 seconds. I had such a bad night the night before and such a long day and I just wanted to talk to my friend. Not THE Greg Weisman... just my friend Greg. No matter where I went I had someone on my tail. I was stuck choking on my life again for another night.
SUNDAY - June 24th
This day was not starting out good. Kyt was seriously underfoot in our room for the weekend, and since she hadn't even ASKED if she could stay in our room, I was super pissy. She complained about not having a blanket at one point and I certainly wasn't going to give her a blanket off one of my kids... it was that ridiculous. I had 4 kids and three adults in there already. ASKING would have been nice... because then I could have said NO. So I get out of the shower and I'm getting dressed, etc. When Kyt gets IN the shower... so... all of my make-up, hair drying, GETTING READY was postponed while I waited for her to get her ass out of the shower. Why she didn't take a shower in the kids room, I still have NO clue. So now that I was almost late for breakfast... I was already in a bad mood and I had HAD IT with everyone talking over me at table two for the breakfast meeting. I'm sure they all think I'm a bitch, but really guys...
Then I get to the meeting rooms, and the hotel hadn't broken down the rooms properly. uuuuugh. So we had to ask the World Harvest Church (I get leary of churches that are interesting in harvesting!.... harvesting WHAT? Babies?? Livers??... anyway) if we could move the wall in the middle of their church service. Taran, one of the guys who worked at the hotel, more than made up for Edward's assholeness the night before.
It was going to be 100 degrees and humid that day, so I asked the hotel to move the banquet indoors. I didn't want everyone sweating it out over dinner. I asked them 10 times to make SURE that it was going to be moved right. I was jumpy at this point.
I tried to take a quick nap on a bench outside the ballrooms. That didn't work out so well.
We had a TON of guests coming in this day and I tried to field as many as I could to Carol (OMG she must have been ready to pull her hair out by the end of the day!). Dark Lord started to give me trouble after the first round of voice actor panels ended. He was holding up the voice actors from getting to the autograph seats. Then when I told him he had to get in line for the autographs, he wandered towards the FRONT of the already established line. I sent Bishansky after him to chase him to the end of the line. I also was a little ticked off at one of our dealers. He would let himself early into the panels and nag all the guests for autographs before the panels started. Twice I told him to knock it off... third time I was ready to kick him out of the dealer's room if he did it again.
The beginning of the Gargoyles Production panel had me nervous. Greg was over in the WITCH panel so they had no one to really lead the panel. I was hoping Frank or Dennis would take the lead, but they were all just sort of sitting there looking at each other. I suggested they all introduce themselves and what they did on the show... they did... and then got quiet again. Finally we got the Sound Editor to get going and he was eager to talk about his part in it... once the ice was broken, the panel kicked off and I left them to it.
Patrick had told me that we had enough free spots for my kids to attend the banquet. So I, mistakenly, told them they could attend. ... only to find out, come banquet time, that we were sold out to the rafters and I had to let all my kids down. FYI... that sucked.
Shortly after I deliver that news to the kids, Dark Lord's mother calls me. She's complaining that the convention staff isn't being nice to her son. I asked what happened and who did it. After listening to her explain it... and then her passing the phone to him to explain it... I realized that I had nothing to apologize for. He wanted to use the excuse that he is autistic and has a "condition" to get around behaving properly around the guests. He was very upset that he had to actually stand in the autograph line like everyone else. I refused to apologize for my staff doing their job. I would find out later that he had complained to Greg Weisman and Greg explained to him that he was a guest and to find someone on staff, then he complained to the HOTEL about Greg not listening to him.
I can understand that he has a condition, but he should have someone there with him to help him to better deal with the public at large. He disrupted every panel he went to with completely irrelevant questions... to the point that the Ben Ten people were making a joke of him. His mother should have been there to keep him herded up so we didn't have to. How is my staff to know he is autistic? It's not like you can see it from the outside. It's not our job to handle him special. It's our job to clear the rooms and make things run smoothly from one panel to the next. There were nearly 400 people at this convention. I have to worry about ONE? His mother claimed she would talk to me after the banquet, but I never saw either of them again. I explained this all to Greg W., expecting him to reprimand me for not being more of an ass kisser, but I think he was a little tired of it all too.
So I get off the phone with that mess, and get a call from Carol. Thom has called her and said he has a friend coming up from some long drive and he wants his friend to go to the banquet with him. Apparently, the terms are that his friend goes to the banquet, or Thom doesn’t.
Fine, you know what? I give up. He can have my seat. I’ll wait outside. The banquet is technically overbooked by 10 seats now. I can just feel the nightmare getting worse. I get pissed off because it beats crying. Carol calls again, this time, she has Thom on the line. I talk to Thom but my phone is cutting out so bad I can hardly understand him. Honestly, I have NO idea what he said. I just agreed with him and told him to have a good time. When I saw him later, he said he promised to buy me breakfast. I smiled and nodded and internally thought “I hope you don’t plan for me to hold my breath”.
Now Keith’s calling to leave. Right before the banquet has to start. That means, someone is going to miss the banquet. I know the Morgan’s aren’t attending the banquet, because I’ve already begged them to take care of my kids since they couldn’t go to the banquet. So I go to beg Tim if he’ll take Keith and his family home. Tim agrees. WHEW! I go up to help bring down their stuff from the con suite.
Keith gives me the BEST divorce advice ever, made even better by him holding me close and talking to me in a deep, soft voice. Nearly in tears yet again, I scamper to the banquet to see if I can scrounge an empty spot.
I say hello to a few people, marvel at how much extra work the “Industry Crowd” wants me to do for them on stuff totally not related to the convention, scarf down some food in record time and then drop out of the room to check on the Masquerade/Dance room.
The room looks great, Scott and I tweak it a little bit and set up. I’m not so worried now about the music we’ve all brought, since I know Greg will set up the Blue Mug and that will be the end of the dancing and karaoke. (I totally called that one).
It was time to get ready for the masquerade! My son (with the help of Cindy the Life Saver) was Lexington. This meant I had to glue a brow ridge on him and paint him green. Cindy got dolled up as Fox and I bypassed my costume because it suddenly felt like a bad idea (not to mention Greg didn’t like the idea either).
We scrambled down to the ballroom and lined up for the contest. The drunken party next door found us amusing; sadly, I didn’t find THEM so amusing. I would end up taking them on again later when they were drunker and I was fed up.
We finally got some of our judges down from the con suite where the “Industry” was taking up Convention time again. It must be nice to only think of oneself. I wish I could do it. … On second thought… no I don’t.
Thom wanted me to run and get him a pina colada. He told me to get myself one too, and I was ALL for that at this point, but then he added a diet coke to the order and that cancelled out my pina colada since I only have two hands and I make a very sucky waitress. I sent Seth and Sammy, hoping the four hands would bring me back a pina colada. No such luck. I gave Thom his drink and passed the diet coke to Beth Weisman.
We whipped through the contestants pretty fast, and then the judges set off to find a place to vote. We got some music going and danced a little bit. Did the Time Warp with my daughter, Stephanie and hammed it up really well. With Karine in there, I really expected the dancing to continue. She’s hard to stop once you get her going. Dancing is in her SOUL. ;)
The Judges came back and handed out the awards. Fox was happy to win for his Lex costume. He’s really competitive like that. Susan was ready for bed already and so she took Fox back upstairs to hose him off and put him to bed. Me, Steph, Seth and a few others went to the bar to get a drink. Apparently, we stood on the wrong side of the bar, because the bartender was determined NOT to serve that end of the bar. By the time the 2nd bartender got back from her break and we got our drinks, most of the “Industries” were leaving and the dance had died out to Blue Mug.
Disappointed, we cleaned up the dance equipment and took it all upstairs. Really, it was a lot of set up and lugging of equipment for nothing.
We all came back downstairs and sat in the back of the Blue Mug where we could hear close to nothing, when the drunk guys from next door came in again. A few of them sat in the back of the Mug and I was fine with that as long as they were quiet and respectful. Immediately, drunk #1 started giggling. Now, it was hard enough to hear anything from the back as it was, this ass sitting there giggling was NOT helping. I gave him a moment to shut up, and he didn’t. So I got up and told him to get the hell out. He couldn’t figure out why he was being booted. I told him that these people paid money to be here and they’d like to actually hear what was being said. He hesitated at first… but finally I won and he and his date left.
The rest of the con staff slowly started to discuss going to bed. I told them to go and that I’d stay to close up. I reminded Greg that we only had the room until Midnight, and after that we risked getting booted by Edward again. Shortly there after Greg wrapped it up and we closed up the ballroom, we headed upstairs and I opted to share a bed with Fox for the most restful night sleep of the weekend.
MONDAY - June 25th
Breakfast, it was a short day for the con and set up was relatively simple.
I went to most of the Time Travel panel, but I had to get back to the Dealer’s room to take care of tables so that Tim could run his panel and Susan and Stephanie (who had been running the Art Chicks table all weekend) could go to the Iron Artist panel. I talked myself into the dagger that had been calling me all weekend and put in $5 for the sword they were raffling off. I really wanted that sword. …I considered putting in $10, but I didn’t HAVE $10. … the fatal flaw in my plan!
When the kids got back, I had to run the “How to host a Gathering” panel. We explained how the bid process works and what key ingredients you need to pull off a convention. Ellen is working on a Chicago bid for 2008 and she’s HOT on the info! I felt like I was feeding off her energy (since my reserves were totally tapped). It was enough to get me through the last panel… CLOSING CEREMONIES!!
We kept it short and simple. Art Show awards, Music Video awards, G2007 info and boost, I introduced my staff again and thanked them again. Then, I think it was Christine, stood up and thanked me… and everyone stood up and clapped… and I have never wanted so badly to run from a room before in my life. By standing there I was risking a complete meltdown in front of a roomful of strange people. I stared at my clip board and thanked them all for coming and hoped to see them next year.
WHEW… made it.
We cleaned up the room and then headed over to help tear down the dealer’s room and art show. The sword raffle was fizzling because no one was there to win it. The Morgan’s finally won the sword. I shook a fist and cussed them good! They retaliated by giving me the sword they just won. So, I did the only thing one can do in such a moment. I stood there and cried. I can’t wait to have a place of my own again so I can put it on the wall in-between my two AWESOME Gargoyles posters (both mine, thanks to Stephanie L.).
Bishansky gave me an awesome animation cel of Demona from Sanctuary and then we headed to my room to work on getting our Dead Dog Party going. Greg W. brought the raw footage from The Gathering featurette in 2004. We watched the radio play and a few interviews. Then Greg packed it up and left. He didn’t stay very long and was rather distant the whole time he was there. People started asking me if he even had a good time at the con. I honestly couldn’t tell them because I’d hardly seen him!
Let me just tell you all how much Tim Morgan’s Chocolate Martinis ROCKED. Steph had fun toying with all the boys. Seth had fun toying with all the boys. Tony and Andrea make me happy and hopeful about life. O.O We slowly fizzled out and sent everyone home. Karine had to be up EARLY to get her flight.
TUESDAY - June 26th
Karine left early and I tried to sleep as much as I could. Tony and Andrea came to help us clean up and pack up, but I needed food ASAP. We gathered the Morgan’s and set out to find IHOP. I was shocked that Bishansky was in the lobby. I thought his ride to the airport (Patrick) had left with Karine hours ago. Apparently, Patrick was stuck making two trips instead of one. This didn’t please me very much… but I just kept on going. I needed coffee.
After breakfast, we went back to the hotel, cleaned up and said our goodbyes. Patrick, Andrea and Tony came back home with me and helped me unload everything. I was embarrassed by how horrible my house looks and I could tell Andrea was itching to start cleaning/tossing things out. Trust me guys… I want to bail on this place too.
I still have t-shirts to mail out and various other items to take care of, but for the most part, G2006 is over. …. And we lived to tell about it.