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.

Lord Sloth writes...

Hunter's moon part 1 questions:

1) When Jason said he had heard of alligators in the sewers, and Elisa said she could tell him stories, was she talking totaly about gargoyles, or has she ever had an experience with an alligator in a sewer? What would she have told him if the thiefs hadn't interupted?

2)Why do Demona's thugs need to steal DI7 disenfectant if it was a comonly used cleaner? Why not just buy it?

3a) Where do the hunter trio get the money for all their technoligy? I'm guessing stealing, but I dunno. b) did they get their airship from cyberbiotics? How? c) Have they ever hunted and or killed a gargoyle(s) before?

4) Did older hunters use real raven's or halks (or whatever that mech bird was) when hunting Gargs?

5) why didn't Gilcomgain's <sp?> scratches bleed a bit more when he was talking to his daddy?

Kelly L Creighton/Kya White Sapphire writes...

just another FYI

I was watching discovery, learning about human relationships. a theory says that way back when humans were hunter/gatherers, a pair would mate, and stay together long enough for the offspring to no longer "burden" its parents. then the pair would split, and find new mates, therefore keeping a large range of genetic possibilities.

the theory further stats that modern humans seem to have kept this behavior somewhat, which explains the trouble so many humans have staying with a life mate.

another part of the theory says that humans generally have three marriages: the first for sex, the second for children, the third for comanionship.

so gargoyles combine all three into one. cool. but again, that hurts their genetic diversity :)

Kelly L Creighton/Kya White Sapphire writes...

again, looking thru the science archives, someone asked
"3. *DO* the other gargs need to shave? "
and you responded
"3. Not Angela. "

does that mean gargoyles grow ONLY facial and head hair? no underarm hair or leg hair for females to shave? or do they grow such hair, and not shave because theyre not under the same "social obligation" (i can think of no other term for it) as human females?

LeFay182 writes...

I haven't seen the show like a million years. But, I still remember loving it. I just had one question; Do Gargoyles eggs turn to stone in the day time? Thanks

Kelly L Creighton/Kya White Sapphire writes...

I was just reading the "scientific posts" and Im wondering about something. You make several references to "whateveryone considers to be dinosaurs" versus "what are really dinosaurs." so lets classift: there are the protomammals, which include demitridon (which Im not sure if im spelling that right), the sprawling legged reptile-esque creature with the large sail on it's back. Dinosaurs didnt actually evolve anywhere near demitridon's line, as he eventually became rodents (or so say scientists, due to the structre of its skull). there are also the "swimming reptiles" which lived at the time of the dinosaurs, and the "flying reptiles" which also lived at that time. SO, given that Ive just split the group into its perspective parts, where to gargates fall in? protomammals? something else that wasnt actually a DINOSAUR, but existed before the dinos, and from which dinos didnt actually evolve?
(okay, you found my other obsession, i give in.)

Kelly L Creighton/Kya White Sapphire writes...

Im sure someone must have asked this before, but there is no "stone sleep" section in the archive, so:

do gargoyles dream when in the stone sleep?

Vashkoda writes...

Hey Greg. I'm sorry to bother you with the "who are Samson's parents" question again, but I figured I'd give it another shot, because for some odd reason, I *do* care about the answer. When I asked the first time, someone in the CR (sorry--I forget who) noted that considering the ages of Artus, Gwen and Lancelot, of the three, Samson could only be Lance's son. I figured that this was probably true, but because in the Gargoyles universe, there are many ways to affect time (living on Avalon, using the Phoenix Gate, magic, etc), there was still the possibility that Samson could be the child of one of the others. In your response, you had said that you couldn't tell us whose son he is, and that you "don't know anymore". Well if you honestly don't remember, please tell us whether his parents or his egg spent any time on Avalon, danced with the Phoenix Gate, or underwent any experience that caused time to flow differently for them?

Anonymous writes...

In the gargoyles bible you raised the possibility that gargoyles are dragons in China so do chinese gargoyles look like dragons?

Anonymous writes...

What do the majority of gargoyles in New Olympus look like? Generic New York/Ishimura gargoyle?