Sunday

The Place: Atlanta, GA
The Day: August 31, 2003
The Event: Day 3 of Dragon*Con

Sunday morning was about sleep. Sleep. And more sleep. Did I mention sleep, cuz I'm a total lightweight and am just not used to sitting up talking about musicals and traumatizing Jonathan with the experience til 5:30am. But I did finally get up before noon. Otts and I walked over to the underground mall and had Chinese "fast food" for lunch. Then he took off for the Dealer Room and I headed in (rather late) to the James Marsters Q&A.

Ok, it's fairly well known around HMC that I'm not a huge Spike fan. I don't dislike Spike, but I don't adore him. Likewise, I don't drool over James Marsters (Alexis Denisof, thank you very much). So I was curious to find out what's so great about this man who (along with his character) has captured the hearts of so many ladies.

Without transcribing the Q&A (which I know you could find elsewhere in cyberspace), I have to say that I was decently impressed with him. He's intelligent, well-spoken, opinionated, passionate about what he does, and funny. A random quote from the session is "Music is math in the air," which I found rather interesting. He loves cons ("I used to go to cons! I used to have ears!") and dislikes acting schools that take the joy out of the craft. And he did a bit of "Hamlet" for us. Yes, I was suitable impressed.

After that, I headed back down to the Buffy Track panel room for a session of "Angel Jeopardy." I actually got to play, which was a blast! And I have to admit, I am nerd enough that I'm the only one who even got CLOSE to knowing what flavor of ice cream Buffy was feeding Angel in "I Will Remember You." (Yes, I know, I know, I need help!) Saw some HMCers in the crowd, and a good time was had by all. Just as wonderful was me standing out in the hallway waiting for my turn to play and meeting Earthmom! She is such a lovely lady. But then again, hellhounds in general are fantastic people, as I discovered all weekend long.

Hippie and I briefly met up to look at stuff in the Exhibitor Hall. Jewelry pretty, leather nice! (Sadly, she did all the buying; I just browsed.) Then I headed down into the basement of the Walk of Fame for my picture with Andy Hallett. As was par for the weekend, it was jam packed, stuffy, and loud. The people in line where nice for the most part, but I just wanted out. Andy was about 15 minutes late for the session, and I think that's why they rushed us all though like shit through a goose as my father would say. I was hoping to ask him a question Dannyboy and I have been discussing, but it wasn't to be. Andy was wearing a tight sapphire blue T-shirt and black pants; I was wearing a light blue top and my dark blue jeans. When it was my turn, there was just enough time for him to say "Nice shirt," me to say "thanks, you too" and take the picture. Just as well I suppose as I was getting close to running late for the session on "Buffy and the Internet," paneled by Mac, Eric, Spike4Ever, and a gal with a Spike website whose name I just can't recall.

The panel cracked me up, cuz there were a TON of hellhounds in attendance, and three quarters of the panel were HMCers. The guys wore their new HMC shirts with pride, I took many pictures, and S4E lead the room in a "which sites do you like" round robin. I found out that there were MANY people in that room who lurk at HMC's posting board. Cool thing was that some of them have stopped lurking and started talking! Saw SevenofTN again, and met luvsbitca and her friend Sweets_Demon_Goddess. Par for the course, super nice people. In fact, I spent so much time chatting with people and taking pictures that I was almost late to dinner with everybody at Benihana.

Ahhhhhhh... gotta love Benihana. Fresh yummy food, a little dinner show, good friends. Wish, Dusty, LH, Otts, Hippie, and I were joined by this guy wish met named Mickey. (No, not the mouse. Sheesh!) Mickey's worked Dragon*Con for several years, and while not a Buffy fan, was a fun addition to the group.

Now for the truly crappy portion of the weekend. Ladyhawk drove down to Atlanta and had to park her car in a paid lot a couple blocks from the hotel because the hotel parking was full. Her husband Nighthawk wanted her to check on the car, so we all took a little stroll, thinking this would be a routine "oh look there's the car, let's go back to the hotel" trip. Um, no. We get to the lot and the car isn't there; it had been towed. LH pulled out the receipt she had for three days of parking at $5 a day and showed it to the attendant. Turns out that she had been scammed; the lot was a "pay only one day at a time" deal and the person she paid was a con artist. She'd have to out somewhere in Atlanta and pay over $100 to get her car back. Needless to say, we were all furious (none more so than her) and just a bit dumbfounded. If there was ever a "wtf" moment, this was it. Lucky for us, Mickey is an Atlanta local and volunteered to drive wish, Dusty, and LH out to get the car. (hippie, did you go too? I can remember.)

Otts and I headed back to the hotel to change into our "costumes" for a repeat performance of BHPS that evening in the Buffy Track room. I ditched the skirt this time and donned my red (maroon) leather pants, Otts redressed as Giles, and we headed upstairs where a showing of Amber Benson's movie "Chance" was still in progress. After "Chance," James Leary went in and showed his short film "Stunt C*cks." I missed both films, but heard that "Chance" was excellent and "Stunt C*cks" was a riot. Then there was a little debate about whether to do karaoke (with only a few discs that people scrounged up) first or jump to the show. Needless to say, the show won out. Not quite as much fun doing it in a meeting room with a normal TV as it was up on stage with a big screen, but in some ways it was probably our best performance. I'd play Anya again in a heartbeat!

A bunch of old and new hellhounds came up to our room for some beer, cigs, and general silliness. We compiled a list of the many incarnations of Giles (inspired by Jason's many Giles outfits) which LifesaShow transcribed and now resides in my computer. Then we tackled the task of "worst guest stars" for S5 of Angel. Those are also in my computer and I'm trying to fandangle them into Top Ten lists. Round about 2 or 3 in the morning, we had just had enough and parted ways.

By that point, I was beyond ready for sleep.

Monday

The Place: Atlanta, GA
The Day: September 1, 2003
The Event: The Final Day of Dragon*Con

No one wanted to get up, but there was check out to be dealt with. Otts and hippie were staying until Tuesday morning, but wish and I had planes to catch that night. The hotel (in a surprising act of common sense) allowed Otts and hippie to have the current room for one more night, instead of checking out and back into another room. (They had a separate reservation.) So luckily we didn't have to pack EVERYTHING up before going to the front desk to deal with paying for the room.

Hippie, Otts and I got grabbed a quick lunch in the mall again. (I don't want to see a food court for a couple more weeks!) Hippie and I headed over to the "Buffy Extravaganza" Q&A panel which had all five celebs in a big ballroom at the same time. We arrived late, and security was rather snippy with us, so we just sat in the back. (Which was unfortunate, cuz a bunch of HMCers were holding seats for us!) We ended up sitting against the back wall with a bunch of people who were in the BHPS. The panel was interesting; everyone was obvious tired, and I had to wonder if Andy Hallett and James Leary were a bit hung over. As I expected, there was A LOT of attention focused on Mr. Marsters, but it could have been a lot more.

HMCers all met up, and decided to meet outside the Buffy Track panel room at 3pm for a big group picture. The Wrap Up panel started at 2:30pm, and I finally decided to skip seeing Peter David (an author whose humor I adore) and just head over to see what was what. Again, hung out with a bunch of the BHPS people as all the left over prizes were handed out and the raffle was drawn. This was the awesome part - our very own Dusty won the Spike cardboard standup that was autographed that weekend by James Marsters. I don¹t think I've ever seen that girl look so happy.

We all posed and smile pretty for the picture, and then began the part of the weekend I disliked the most - saying goodbye. Yay for the posting board and email and Instant Messaging, but they're a poor substitute for real life. So began the hugs and the "talk to you laters." Hippie, wish, Otts, and I made a final run to the Dealer Room for any last minute shopping, and then wish and I had to leave for the airport where we had a quick dinner and headed off for our respective states.

I've told friends that Dragon*Con was indescribable, but the last several pages seem to have proven me wrong. For all the muss and fuss and hell that did occur, it was a wonderful weekend. Thanks to everyone! *huge warm hugs* Can't wait to see you again soon!

And that, my friends, is that.