3 girls, a Prius and 117 degrees
5:45 am. Saturday, June 22. You've got to be kidding me. I have to get up now? Why is that again? Oh yeah. The cast of Veronica Mars is going to be at the Comic-Con in San Diego today at 4:30 pm. So up I get. Into the shower. Out the door. To Elisa's. We leave pretty much on time and it was smooth sailing all the way into San Diego. We kept ourselves occupied by watching the external temperature rise from like 100 to 117 Degrees, trying to avoid squashing butterflies trying to cross the road, and visiting awesome public restrooms.
We roll into San Diego at about 1:30, right on time, and find the hotel without a hitch. Finding a parking place in the hotel, however, was full of hitch. BUT, we finally find a spot and haul our stuff up to the room (21st out of 22 floors). The room is small and hot, so we crank the AC. We freshen up and head to catch the free shuttle down to the Con.
A few stops aside and we pull up to one side of the Convention Center. We see a line that streches halfway down the side and around the corner. We don't want to even think about the fact that we'll have to stand in that line. The bus continues to drive the length of the center and drops us off at the complete other end. We start walking back towards that in. sane. line, but Teri stops to ask a volunteer about where we should go.
THANK GOD for pre-registering online two days before. With our trusty printouts with barcodes all ready to scan, we proceed directly into the building. Volunteers are just ushering us in and through doors with no lines and I think how can this be possible? We get our barcodes scanned, get our passes and free swag bag and we're in. Huh? Took about 2 minutes. So sad all the poor people standing out in that humidity and heat.
We locate the room the Veronica Mars panel is going to be in. I go to read the board posted outside one of the doors, and a couple also walks up to it. I look over and I'm like huh? I slyly look again and who is it?? A PCH'er. (One of the actors who plays a PCH'er on VM, I think his name is Patrick Wolff.) He walks away and I'm like Elisa! Look! It's one of the guys! So anyway, we check out the room and it's pretty big and kinda packed. Some people from one or more of the Stargate series' are up on stage. We scope the sitch, then decide to get some food. We were kinda hungry. We get in line at a food kiosk and who do we see walk by? Stan Lee. Yes. Stan Lee. Of course, there were all these security and/or press people yelling "stand back! Stan Lee!" and photographers and fans were trailing behind, but it was still cool. Blink and you miss it, because I missed Elvira, Mistress of the Dark, who walked by us as well. Teri and Elisa saw her.
After paying $8 for a hot dog, bag o' chips and an Izze, back we go to find a seat. Ben is there, he saved us some seats. He says the trick is to go a few hours early to an event that may be packed and find a seat. As each panel ends and people leave, take the opportunity to move up to a better seat. Hopefully, by the time the panel you're there for goes on, you've moved up to a decent seat. So that's what we did.
The next panel was a TV Guide one and it had the creators of Medium (Rene Ecchevaria) and Star Trek (Brannon Braga) and of the new show Heroes, plus a TV Guide guy and....Jorge Garcia (Hurley, Lost) and Jennifer Love Hewitt. Uh huh. That's right. So the content was boring, but JLH was cool. Teri and Elisa hated her, but I thought she was awesome. I'm silly that way.
So, in our decent seats, we eagerly await the VM panel. Finally, it's time. They begin the introductions...Rob Thomas, the creator...Enrico Colantoni, Keith Mars...Jason Dohring, Logan Echolls (SCREAM, SCREAM, CLAP, CLAP, SIGH, SIGH)...Ryan Hanson, Dick Casablancas...Michael Muhney, Sheriff Don Lamb...and, Kristin Bell, Veronica Mars (SCREAM, SCREAM, CLAP CLAP). So the panel starts and I'm a little oblivious, until Elisa nudges me and says Weevil's not here. Oh yeah, huh!!! Hmm. So, the panel goes on, and then the mediator interrupts with good news!! And may I introduce...Francis Capra, Eli "Weevil" Navarro (SCREAM, SCREAM, CLAP, CLAP, SIGH, SIGH).
I try and take pictures, but I'm not used to the camera and I end up deleting almost everything I take. I got some okay shots, though, especially towards the end. (Ask me for my Flikr info to see some). Mostly, Rob Thomas talks until the question portion starts, but it's still awesome to see them all up there.
Once it's over, most of them leave the stage, but Sheriff Lamb and Logan come back out and shake a few hands. Unfortunately, we don't get there quick enough to catch it. So we go out a door and around the back to find a bathroom and there's Mr. PCH'er again. I try and take a sly pic of him on my camera, but it's not the best. Oh well.
We meet up with Ben again and walk Teri down to the shuttles. Once she's on her way, Ben takes us down to where all the booths are. We start roaming and see lots of stuff. So much, I'm on overload. So many people. I can't even process it all enough to go check anything out for any length of time. Lots of things look cool, but we just keep walking. I eventually stop at one thing called Renaissance, which looks really cool. I got a poster and a book about it. (Check it out on IMDB, I guess the new James Bond guy, Ian Holm and Jonathan Pryce all do voices.) While I was getting that, Elisa and Ben were following James Duval (Gone in 60 Seconds, Donnie Darko, Nowhere.)
So, right as we step up to the WB booth, we realize the cast of Veronica Mars is signing autographs. GDMF!!! Why didn't we know this? Why weren't we here sooner?? We get in line and right before I'm about to turn the corner to get my first autograph...they're gone. Their time was up. Shit! As a consolation prize, I get a Veronica Mars postcard that was pre-signed by Kristin Bell. But, hey. It's something. It was awesome, I got to see Logan a little closer up and I saw Keith and Sheriff Lamb too. Sigh.
After a little more wandering, we decide to catch the shuttle back to the hotel and see about getting dinner. The shuttle we happen to board...has no air conditioning. WTF?? Luckily, we were the first stop. Up to the room to find Teri chillin'. We contact Brandi and Darlene and decide to meet them somewhere close to the Convention Center for dinner. This was at around 7:30-7:45. Needless to say, it was 10 PM before we were finally eating dinner. Downtown was PACKED and all restaurants had at least an hour wait.
After dinner, we had a thrilling cab ride back to the hotel. Truly. Edge of our seats. We waited while Brandi and Darlene got ready to go to Sanguine, then we all went to bed, pretty much. I slept horribly, about 40 minutes per hour until finally, I got up at 7 and got ready. It was just so hot and the bed sucked. And I could not get Meatloaf's Bat Out Of Hell album out of my head. I think I sang every song over and over. I couldn't stop. I hate it when I do that.
So we all got ready and headed out of town, again, pretty much on time. After an AWESOME (that's a sarcastic awesome there, people) breakfast at Denny's in El Centro, we were on the road again. This time, we watched the external temperature rise from 79 to 117 degrees, missed the butterflies, and continued our tour of small town, rest stop bathrooms of the desert Southwest.
We got in to town around 5:30, not too shabby, and felt pretty good. Tired. But good. It was an awesome trip and I'm glad I went. I didn't bail at the last minute. And now I have this awesome memory to cherish forever! (that was purposely cheesy) Mwahahahahaa!!!
All right. I'm out. Hope you enjoy. I'll fill in details when we talk, if something comes to mind. Like...elevator rides, border crossings, how awesome the Prius was, etc. Just remind me.
L'amour,
Moi.
We roll into San Diego at about 1:30, right on time, and find the hotel without a hitch. Finding a parking place in the hotel, however, was full of hitch. BUT, we finally find a spot and haul our stuff up to the room (21st out of 22 floors). The room is small and hot, so we crank the AC. We freshen up and head to catch the free shuttle down to the Con.
A few stops aside and we pull up to one side of the Convention Center. We see a line that streches halfway down the side and around the corner. We don't want to even think about the fact that we'll have to stand in that line. The bus continues to drive the length of the center and drops us off at the complete other end. We start walking back towards that in. sane. line, but Teri stops to ask a volunteer about where we should go.
THANK GOD for pre-registering online two days before. With our trusty printouts with barcodes all ready to scan, we proceed directly into the building. Volunteers are just ushering us in and through doors with no lines and I think how can this be possible? We get our barcodes scanned, get our passes and free swag bag and we're in. Huh? Took about 2 minutes. So sad all the poor people standing out in that humidity and heat.
We locate the room the Veronica Mars panel is going to be in. I go to read the board posted outside one of the doors, and a couple also walks up to it. I look over and I'm like huh? I slyly look again and who is it?? A PCH'er. (One of the actors who plays a PCH'er on VM, I think his name is Patrick Wolff.) He walks away and I'm like Elisa! Look! It's one of the guys! So anyway, we check out the room and it's pretty big and kinda packed. Some people from one or more of the Stargate series' are up on stage. We scope the sitch, then decide to get some food. We were kinda hungry. We get in line at a food kiosk and who do we see walk by? Stan Lee. Yes. Stan Lee. Of course, there were all these security and/or press people yelling "stand back! Stan Lee!" and photographers and fans were trailing behind, but it was still cool. Blink and you miss it, because I missed Elvira, Mistress of the Dark, who walked by us as well. Teri and Elisa saw her.
After paying $8 for a hot dog, bag o' chips and an Izze, back we go to find a seat. Ben is there, he saved us some seats. He says the trick is to go a few hours early to an event that may be packed and find a seat. As each panel ends and people leave, take the opportunity to move up to a better seat. Hopefully, by the time the panel you're there for goes on, you've moved up to a decent seat. So that's what we did.
The next panel was a TV Guide one and it had the creators of Medium (Rene Ecchevaria) and Star Trek (Brannon Braga) and of the new show Heroes, plus a TV Guide guy and....Jorge Garcia (Hurley, Lost) and Jennifer Love Hewitt. Uh huh. That's right. So the content was boring, but JLH was cool. Teri and Elisa hated her, but I thought she was awesome. I'm silly that way.
So, in our decent seats, we eagerly await the VM panel. Finally, it's time. They begin the introductions...Rob Thomas, the creator...Enrico Colantoni, Keith Mars...Jason Dohring, Logan Echolls (SCREAM, SCREAM, CLAP, CLAP, SIGH, SIGH)...Ryan Hanson, Dick Casablancas...Michael Muhney, Sheriff Don Lamb...and, Kristin Bell, Veronica Mars (SCREAM, SCREAM, CLAP CLAP). So the panel starts and I'm a little oblivious, until Elisa nudges me and says Weevil's not here. Oh yeah, huh!!! Hmm. So, the panel goes on, and then the mediator interrupts with good news!! And may I introduce...Francis Capra, Eli "Weevil" Navarro (SCREAM, SCREAM, CLAP, CLAP, SIGH, SIGH).
I try and take pictures, but I'm not used to the camera and I end up deleting almost everything I take. I got some okay shots, though, especially towards the end. (Ask me for my Flikr info to see some). Mostly, Rob Thomas talks until the question portion starts, but it's still awesome to see them all up there.
Once it's over, most of them leave the stage, but Sheriff Lamb and Logan come back out and shake a few hands. Unfortunately, we don't get there quick enough to catch it. So we go out a door and around the back to find a bathroom and there's Mr. PCH'er again. I try and take a sly pic of him on my camera, but it's not the best. Oh well.
We meet up with Ben again and walk Teri down to the shuttles. Once she's on her way, Ben takes us down to where all the booths are. We start roaming and see lots of stuff. So much, I'm on overload. So many people. I can't even process it all enough to go check anything out for any length of time. Lots of things look cool, but we just keep walking. I eventually stop at one thing called Renaissance, which looks really cool. I got a poster and a book about it. (Check it out on IMDB, I guess the new James Bond guy, Ian Holm and Jonathan Pryce all do voices.) While I was getting that, Elisa and Ben were following James Duval (Gone in 60 Seconds, Donnie Darko, Nowhere.)
So, right as we step up to the WB booth, we realize the cast of Veronica Mars is signing autographs. GDMF!!! Why didn't we know this? Why weren't we here sooner?? We get in line and right before I'm about to turn the corner to get my first autograph...they're gone. Their time was up. Shit! As a consolation prize, I get a Veronica Mars postcard that was pre-signed by Kristin Bell. But, hey. It's something. It was awesome, I got to see Logan a little closer up and I saw Keith and Sheriff Lamb too. Sigh.
After a little more wandering, we decide to catch the shuttle back to the hotel and see about getting dinner. The shuttle we happen to board...has no air conditioning. WTF?? Luckily, we were the first stop. Up to the room to find Teri chillin'. We contact Brandi and Darlene and decide to meet them somewhere close to the Convention Center for dinner. This was at around 7:30-7:45. Needless to say, it was 10 PM before we were finally eating dinner. Downtown was PACKED and all restaurants had at least an hour wait.
After dinner, we had a thrilling cab ride back to the hotel. Truly. Edge of our seats. We waited while Brandi and Darlene got ready to go to Sanguine, then we all went to bed, pretty much. I slept horribly, about 40 minutes per hour until finally, I got up at 7 and got ready. It was just so hot and the bed sucked. And I could not get Meatloaf's Bat Out Of Hell album out of my head. I think I sang every song over and over. I couldn't stop. I hate it when I do that.
So we all got ready and headed out of town, again, pretty much on time. After an AWESOME (that's a sarcastic awesome there, people) breakfast at Denny's in El Centro, we were on the road again. This time, we watched the external temperature rise from 79 to 117 degrees, missed the butterflies, and continued our tour of small town, rest stop bathrooms of the desert Southwest.
We got in to town around 5:30, not too shabby, and felt pretty good. Tired. But good. It was an awesome trip and I'm glad I went. I didn't bail at the last minute. And now I have this awesome memory to cherish forever! (that was purposely cheesy) Mwahahahahaa!!!
All right. I'm out. Hope you enjoy. I'll fill in details when we talk, if something comes to mind. Like...elevator rides, border crossings, how awesome the Prius was, etc. Just remind me.
L'amour,
Moi.