Allaine writes...

Very long journal, I'm afraid.

Allaine's 2004 Gathering Journal

Day 1
Thursday, August 5, 2004

I left my house at around 10 AM for a 2 PM flight. When I got to the airport, I discovered two things. First, even though I was taking an international flight, my plane wasn't gated at US Airways International (Terminal A), but US Airways Express (Terminal F). Having been told already to park in Garage A, I had to drag all my luggage across the length of the airport.

A more infuriating discovery was that my flight had been cancelled. Since this was the second time my flight to Montreal had been cancelled in three days (the first time being Monday night, forcing me to scrap plans to catch a ride from the airport with Kathy and Alex Garg), I was understandably outraged. I was forced to take a flight that was leaving at 12:30, but I would be making a stop in Boston for ninety minutes. I didn't actually make it through Customs in Montreal until 6 PM. Fittingly enough, I needed two buses to get from the airport to the hotel, but that didn't happen until around 7 PM.

At least I wasn't poor Alexandria, who wasn't allowed to board her flight because she didn't bring the right birth certificate. Finding out she wouldn't be arriving until Friday was a further disappointment.

That being said, I was able to check into my room without incident, and the first people I found were my other two roommates. Chyna Rose was eating in the lobby restaurant when I found her, so I joined her for dinner. Later Seri Wavelength found us there once she arrived. We talked for a while, then went upstairs. I met Jade Griffin for the first time as she worked on her Demona doll, but she was the only other person I saw. Actually, that's not entirely true. Someone said they'd spotted Karine going to the 21st floor, so I went up there to see if the Con Suite was open yet. I did locate the Con Staff, but since they were quite busy discussing things I probably wasn't supposed to hear, I waved and crept back to my room. Since Alexandria was still at home, I got a bed all to myself while Chyna and Seri shared the other bed. I guess I should say here that our room was very nice. It wasn't enormous, but the beds left plenty of room for two, and the bathroom was spacious. I went to sleep around 11 PM

Day 2
Friday, August 6, 2004

The three of us didn't really leave our room until around ten in the morning. Although we were hungry, we decided to register first, since registration was about to begin. I saw many familiar faces for the first time when I got there - Ellen, Kathy, Spacebabie, and Whitbourne foremost among them. I also got to meet some first-timers, including Dylan's fiancée Stormy. We talked for a while, but since the registration was running late, I went to breakfast with Seri and Chyna. I had the buffet, which was delicious. In fact, I got the buffet the following two days as well, and ate so much that I never needed lunch. It's all about the budget, knowhutahmean?

After breakfast we registered, and I got my packet, including two copies of the Phoenix Gate anthology, one for me and one for Mooncat, who unfortunately couldn't come this year. They did a fabulous job on the Anthology, as it was my first time seeing the finished result from cover to cover. I would read all the stories, including my own, more than once over the next few days. Then I went to the Art Room, where I got to meet two people I'd been looking forward to meeting. I feel both have a significance for me as both a fanfic writer and reader. When I first started reading Gargoyles fanfics a couple years ago, I sought out Jennifer, aka CrzyDemona, and asked her where I could find good Demona fics. She referred me to Madame Destine, whose stories continue to be among my favorites to this day. Plus Jen has a hell of a reputation around the fandom, and even if our politics don't match, she strikes me as extremely smart about a lot of things. The second person was Christine Morgan. As a writer who dreams about being published some day, Christine is an obvious inspiration to me. I didn't buy any of her books, but I did grab one of the Demona T-shirts Jen was selling, as well as an official convention T-shirt for my younger brother.

At last the first panels began. I attended Spacebabie's General Round Robin, where we had the unenviable task of creating a story about how Demona and Macbeth's paths crossed while white-water rafting in the Grand Canyon. Most memorable, I think, was a running gag about "dinghies". I also brought out my tape recorder for the first time. I taped several panels throughout the day, both for my own memories and for Mooncat's benefit. Unfortunately, I managed to tape over the GRR panel a couple days later. Oops.

After the round robin, most people went to the Voice Acting Seminar. Keith David was not present, unfortunately. In fact he didn't arrive until Saturday night. But Greg did a very good job. Lucky Seri got to be critiqued on her reading of lines for the second year in a row. Later I also got to read lines for a scene as young Tom. There was also this interesting anecdote about Carol Channing in her bra . . .

At this point I went back to my room. Two seconds later I realized there were new bags in the room, so I hurried back down to registration and confirmed that my final roommate, Princess Alexandria, had indeed checked in. It took me a while to track her down, but we talked for a while until the Opening Ceremonies began. When I went downstairs, I did locate another person who I rarely email but love talking to, Mara Cordova, as well as a few other familiar names.

There I found myself on one of eight teams in the Clan Olympics. I hadn't been planning to devote any time to it, but I was roped in. I participated in two events that night, including a game where sixteen people fought for balls in a big container and ferried them back and forth across the room. I quickly figured out that I couldn't hold many balls at once, so I started searching for balls with lettering on them. One of the balls I found had "1-UP" written on it, like a video game icon. A fateful selection.

Afterwards I learned two things - we were in first place by two points, and the 1-up ball could be used to save one team from elimination. I could either save the eighth-place team, or hold onto the ball in case my team was in last place at some point. Since I didn't know the rules of the game, I didn't see the point of being the nice guy, so I held onto it. Later I discovered that apparently eliminated teams are allowed to make life difficult for the remaining teams. Oops again.

After Opening Ceremonies, which also featured a taped greeting from Ed "Hudson" Asner and my second time listening to the tape of the Gargoyles/Team Atlantis crossover, I stayed for the MGT3K panel hosted by Jade. When she found out I had a tape recorder, I lent it to her so she could tape the show and transcribe it later. (She still has that tape, in fact, and I need to make sure she has my address so she can mail it to me when she's done.) It was very funny, but I only stayed for about half an hour. Then I went out to dinner with Alexandria, Ellen, and Dylan at an Italian restaurant. I love the panels and everything, but it's especially moments like this that I come to the Gathering - being able to spend an hour or two alone with writers and readers and friends who I don't normally get to see, talking about things we normally only discuss via email.

We returned to the hotel by 10 PM, so I could rejoin my team for the second Olympics event, Shot in the Dark. We didn't do that great here and dropped to third. This introduced an element of anxiety in my team (which included my roommate Chyna Rose), and we decided to let yet another team burn. Now we had two teams that hated us. Unfortunately that event took over an hour to finish, so I didn't get ready for bed until almost midnight. This was my first night sharing a bed with Alexandria, but there was enough space in the bed that we didn't have to touch at all if we didn't want to, and everyone slept well.

Day 3
Saturday, August 7

My Olympics team needed me for Trivia Torture (I think they wanted me to be tortured), but I regretfully (ha ha) passed and went to the Thrill of the Chase panel. The hosts were Christine, Spacebabie, and Ellen. Ellen is a close friend of mine, so I would have gone no matter what the topic was. What we discussed were chase scenes, both in fics and in movies, since chase scenes are so often a part of films.

After that I took a break from the Gathering for a couple hours and went sightseeing in Old Montreal with Alexandria. We ended up shelling out $40 for a thirty-minute carriage ride that let us take in a lot more of the sights than if we'd walked. I was still beat when we got back in time for Really Hard Pictionary. I learned that my team had fallen into fifth place in the Trivia event, which meant we failed to use the 1-UP ball for a third time. So three teams were gone, all thanks to us. Although we were in last now, so I fail to see how we profited from it. Sure enough, the "spirits" conspired to make my Pictionary round more difficult. I had to draw without my glasses (I'm nearsighted, so that had absolutely no effect really), and only one team member (Michael) could guess. Plus I drew one of the harder packets. However, at the risk of sounding a bit immodest, I am a damn good Pictionary player, and I did manage to pull our team into a three-way tie for first before the last team passed us.

That led to a final bonus event where we had to pull colored balls from a bag. We found ourselves in a tie with Mara's team for last, but because of a tiebreaker we ended up in fourth. Since it was our last opportunity to use the 1-UP ball, and since I like Mara a lot, I immediately offered it to her team, but they told me to hang onto it. So my decision not to save them (which must have made a few people scratch their heads in disbelief) left four teams in the running. But we wouldn't find out who won until the Scavenger Hunt the following morning.

Next was the Radio Play, where the Actors read from The Journey, an episode I hadn't seen in a long time. The Actors did a very nice job, especially Stormy as Cagney (that was a very plaintive meow), the guy who played Vinnie, and the Macbeth-Yale eruption.

For the second straight year I passed on the Banquet, so instead Alexandria and I, after voting in the Video Contest, found ourselves having dinner out. We'd hoped to find one of the restaurants we saw in Old Montreal, but it's a funny place over there. Saturday night, and everything seems to be closed! After stumbling around for half an hour, we eventually settled on another Italian place in a completely opposite direction from where we first looked. It was called Guido Angelina, and all I can say is three things. The wait was brief, the portions were huge, and the food was excellent. What more can a guy ask for? Well, a good conversation partner, I guess, and Alexandria and I talked for a very long time about each other's stories. Admittedly, she was my roommate, but I probably spent more time with Alexandria than anyone else this year, and I loved every minute of it.

After we got back I decided to shower and shave before the Masquerade, only to have Seri return just as I was going to shower and announce that Keith had finally arrived and was answering questions downstairs. They were nice enough to wait for me to finish showering before leaving. I got to ask Keith a question about his fight scene from They Live, but the best part was the woman in the next banquet room shrieking Sinatra's "My Way" during karaoke, and Keith says, "Somebody shoot that horse!" Hee hee hee!

Then we had Masquerade. By now everyone knows about the incredible gargoyle costume someone wore (I never did get his name - Kurol?), and I shudder to think of how much time and effort it took to get the costume together. Besides him, the best costumes were Lynati as Ophelia (poor Lynati didn't make it until just as the judges were returning with the results - amazingly, this was the first time I even saw Lynati, who was so helpful before the 2003 Gathering), Cindy as Titania, and someone I didn't know as Ekidna - if it hadn't been for the other guy, I would have picked her as Best in Show, partly because she picked one of the lesser-known characters and did a great job with her reptilian look. I got plenty of pictures, because goodness knows, we had a LOT of costumes this year, and everyone looked great. The only snafu I was aware of - Seri's Pack Fox costume refused to stay in one piece, and she wasn't able to wear it. At least Chyna didn't have any trouble with her Elisa Maza costume.

(Karine made the sensible choice of playing Fox from Walkabout, since it turns out she's six months pregnant. I'm in awe that she was able to continue chairing this convention in her condition. She also had a very nice medieval costume on earlier in the day.)

Later that night I talked to Kathy for a while, and she assured me that I wasn't completely crazy for expecting Andrea to find out about Demona and her sister every time I began to read a Madame Destine story. _That's_ why evil looks so good. It's because she has it so bad :D

After that, I sang "An Innocent Man" by Billy Joel for karaoke. I had hoped to sing "The Bitch is Back", in honor of my favorite character, but the computer was being difficult and I had to choose from an abbreviated list. It's a song I've sung before, but it's not exactly dance music, and wisely people took the time to continue their conversations. Eventually I went back to my room, where Alexandria and I spoke to Mooncat for a while over the phone before the four of us went to bed.

Day 4
Sunday, August 8

Last day of the Gathering. This time last year, I was going to leave the Gathering as soon as closing ceremonies ended, so I counted the hours and got very depressed. This year my flight wasn't until Monday, so I was able to enjoy this day a little better. Which was a good thing, because I had an Adult Round Robin panel to moderate first thing in the morning. Although this did prevent me from joining my Olympics team for their last event.

Anyway, there were a lot of events going on Sunday morning, so my Adult RR panel had five guests - Alexandria, Ellen, Spacebabie, Alex Garg, and Denis Malkavien. For my first time attending an adult RR, I thought it went very well. Despite selecting names randomly, I couldn't have picked a better pairing than the one we got, Fox Xanatos and Gargoyle-Elisa. I still have to transcribe my tape from that panel, but it went VERY well, and everyone went twice. I also read what would have been my entry in the Reading Contest, had it not been cancelled. They seemed to like it.

After that, I went to the Art Room to do some voting, and discovered the Phoenix Gate Anthology signing was taking place, so I took my seat and signed a lot of copies, as well as getting my copy signed. Unfortunately Summer Jackel and CS Hayden weren't there, but I did get little stickers with their signatures on them. I also bought a lot of trading cards from the Morgans, and I put a bid on one of Cindy's drawings. And since Keith gave his Mug-a-Guest in that room, I had a great seat. I got to ask him another question, this time about his experience working on a sitcom called The Job. This was a definite improvement on the previous night, since Sunday's Mug was cozier, better lit, and it was easier to hear.

At that point there was nothing to do but attend Closing Ceremonies. The 2005 Gathering Committee really sold their Las Vegas convention, and I registered for it as soon as the Ceremonies were over. I also got Keith to sign Mooncat's Anthology for her. And I learned my Clan tied for third in the Olympics. Yay! I also had the winning bid for Cindy's picture of Cowboy Alexander riding Bronx and telling him to "Giddyap!"

Afterwards I had dinner with Ellen, Alexandria, Leo, Sadistic Cow, and Alex Garg in this deserted food court before rejoining Seri and Chyna and about thirty other people for Laser Tag. It was my first time playing as an adult, but I had a lot of fun (except for the twelve block walk) and got extremely sweaty. I selected "Get the other team to hate me" strategy, and I believe I succeeded quite well. By then most people vanished into their rooms, so I waited in my room for a while before I slipped into bed with Alexandria one last time and fell asleep.

Day 5
Monday, August 9

Not much to say. I woke up at 8 AM, had breakfast, said goodbye to my roommates, and took a taxi to the airport. I got very emotional a couple times, especially when I left a goodbye message on Seri's voicemail and almost lost it in the middle of an airport terminal, but I was able to keep control. The first couple days ARE a very sad time for me, however, because I won't see these people for another year, and 99.9% of the time, it's the only time I see my fellow fans. So I'd like to thank Ellen, Kathy, Dylan, Mara, Stormy, Spacebabie, and everyone else I spoke to at the Gathering this year. I do hope to talk to you all more via the Internet while we wait for the 2005 Gathering.

I had the best roommates this year, I couldn't have asked for anything more from them, so Alexandria, Seri, and Chyna - I trust we will all continue to be friends for some time to come.

Other than the cancellation of the Reading Contest, Karine and the Convention staff did a fabulous job this year, and I had an incredible time. I hope the Las Vegas crew will be able to match it.

And thanks to Greg and Keith for being there. It was a show unlike all others.

Sincerely, Allaine

Greg Bishansky writes...

Gathering Journal Part 5
Monday, August 9th

Woke up with Revel calling my room to make sure Alex and I got up and checked out of our room. So, woke, showered, moved all our crap next door into Revel's room, and went down to the lobby to check out.

A bunch of people were going to Six Flags La Ronde, but I declined as I never liked amusement parks too much. So, just hung around, had a soda, and decided that while I was in Canada, I was going to get myself a Cuban Cigar, so I head to the gift shop and buy one. One of those big, fat Montecristos... just like what Castro smokes. So I take it outside to smoke it, and am out there, when who comes out but Keith David, looking for Y2Hecate, who unfortunatly had already left. Keith sees that I have a Cuban and I tell him where he can get one. I finish my cigar and head back in... not the fun begins, cause no one ever told me you weren't supposed to inhale. Aw well, was only a little dizzy for about an hour.

So we spend a lot of time just chilling in the lobby, Aaron, Mara, Hudson, Lynati, Seth, Flanker, Kythera, Kaelyan, Dancer, Wingless, Kathy Pogge. Talking fic, and all sorts of other things. Keith comes back with a cigar, and posed for a pic with the rest of us

Afterwards, some of us were hungry and went up to get food and pick up food for others, Hudson handed me a few bucks to get him a quarterpounder as I recall, so we went up a few blocks to that train station mall, and did not go into McDonald's. We got ourselves Chinese food first, it was Ethan, Aaron, Lynati, Kathy and I. We chatted fic and went to McDonald's and came back, an hour late, but everyone got food.

We all hung out for a bit, before Hudson, Chris and everyone had to go. Afterwards the rest of us, Aaron, Mara, Lynati, Emambu, Alex and I along with Kathy and Mandi retreated up to Revel and Spacebabie's room and chatted more fic and later, Revel and Spacebabie came back, and the conversation went all sorts of places, weird car stories, accidents we had as kids, you know, the get to know each other better discussions. This went on well into the night. Finally, Kathy and Mandi called it a night, and we went to sleep early (well, early for us) as we had to clear out my noon the next day), and so all eight of us manage to fit into this room.

Tuesday, August 10th

Woke up, in a timely fashion, we all did, and began taking all our crap down to the cars... and we had a lot of crap. Revel checked out of the room, and now the Rogue Squadron was back on the road. We bid a fond farewell to Montreal and stopped for gas and snacks. Finally we came to the border. First we got out and went over to the Duty Free shop to get our tax refunds, and bought a couple of shot glasses. Before heading to the border.

Emambu's Mafia Cruiser was in front of us, and got pulled over to the side for inspection. This of course made us nervous. But we were just questioned and allowed to drive. Emambu followed shortly. Turned out that "The Department of Homeland Security was quite interested in Lynati's tail" quote Aaron.

So we pull over to the side, and go to Subway's for lunch... it was built in a shack, but it was still Subway's. And we all rejoiced at being back on U.S. soil. We ate, and went on our way, though it turns out that this time we'd make more stops than on the way up. We had to stop for gas at some point in a back water NY town (que the "Deliverance" theme). Also on the way back, Emambu ran over a backpack lying in the middle of the high way, and stopped to check his tire, which was fine. So finally we reach the Tappan Zee Bridge at around eight at night, and get back to my place.

It's a nice night so we eat dinner out on the deck, we eat Italian, and we enjoy our last night hanging out together before the next con. Come up to my room, where Lynati brought the season six of Buffy set to watch the Musical episode since some people wanted to see it and never saw it. When I first watched that episode, I hated it. Years later, I enjoyed it. Go figure ;)

Then we watched this link Seth gave us of these re-edited and re-dubbed GI Joe Public Service announcments gone horribly wrong. Laughed our asses off before all going to sleep.

BODY MASSAGE!

Wednesday, August 11th

Woke up, and showered and dressed and waited for everyone else to get up. Packed up the cars and all decided to go for one last breakfast at the Croton Diner, so we headed down there, and got a look of shock from the Host there when I went in and said "yes, I need a table for seven people" ;). I ordered the Chile Con Carne and Chedder Cheese Omelate. Forget what everyone else had. But we ate, and breakfast was good.

Finally was time for us all to go our separate ways. Lynati got into The Mafia Cruiser with Emambu and headed back to Pittsburgh, and Aaron and Mara piled into Hyena for the very long haul down to Houston Texas.

Had a great time, really needed this since I didn't get a vacation last summer, and I can't wait till Las Vegas next summer.

Chameleongirl writes...

Here it is, as asked - my Gathering Journal.

What I did on my non-Summer Vacation.

Tuesday & Wednesday.
Oh the joys of an early flight and insomnia - being awake since 2 am and then travelling for 36 hours resulted in worse than usual travel sickness. I spent 2 days curled up in a chair at the Auberge sipping water and nibbling bread, reducing all my sightseeing plans to nothing.

Thursday.
I, literally, dragged myself to the hotel where I dozed in the foyer trying to spot Garg fans as they appeared. Some were pretty obvious :). I finally spotted Talyesin (along with other staff) and I got a big twirly hug (I managed to repress my puke reflex). I also met Liz, Taylor and Karlyl who were to be my roomies. Karlyl, Taylor and I lounged in the foyer chairs (so comfy) and waited for Kelly to arrive.
When she finally turned up there was much hugs and hellos and we all went out for food. I didn't eat, since I was still feeling ill, but talking and laughing and just being around fun people made me feel better (The Gathering â€" a cure for any ill). We were supposed to go out for tea with the staff, but that got bumped so instead we went to a 24 hour coffee place.

Friday.
Breakfast was found, DDR wasn't. Kelly and I walked all over Montreal looking for an arcade, only to miss by about 2 blocks.
Instead we decided to get back on time for Registration, where we hung out, volunteered for the Clan Olympics and waited for the staff to appear :)
After registering we hung out a bit then headed out to Con Virgin 101, hosted by Kelly. Not a lot of people showed up and most of those that did were late, so there was some repetition. But it was fun. Kelly did well, I met some new people, we all ate the free lollies.

The hotel pool was fun, but kinda cold. If you are going to heat a pool, please make sure it is at least close to body temperature!
While we were waiting for Opening Ceremonies, Kelly, Kyffin, Ethan and I all practised the skit Kelly had arranged for the Masquerade. It was fun and I almost forgot about the fact that I would have to perform in front of real people.

Opening ceremonies were a blast! Taylor furiously worked on a Green Dragon mascot for our Clan (it was great â€" he is a fantastic artist) and it was done just in time for the first event. Abe and Maui hijacked the room and made Kyffin and I scramble for plastic balls so Karlyl could stuff them down Kelly's shirt. Kyffin had the idea of using a blanket to collect a larger number of balls, but I couldn't grab hold of the right corner â€" people were shoving us and grabbing all our balls, so we gave up and just did it the same as everyone else. Unfortunately the time wasted meant that we came last, saved by the presence of a bonus ball.
After the commotion died down I got to hear the famous spiel from Greg. It was interesting, but long. By the time it all ended I was hungry and had a headache, so Kelly, Kyffin, Liz, Taylor, Ethan and I all went out to Le Marche.
It was *busy* and noisy. But the food was good, especially the dessert :)
We had to get back to the hotel though â€" the second Clan Olympics event was due to begin. We had to wait a while for our turn, so the others actually fell sleep waiting. The second event was easier to play, all we had to do was throw a ball at a target in a darkened room. We got a few points, enough to keep us alive. By that time we were all totally stuffed, so we went back to our room and just crashed.

Saturday.
First event up was more Clan Olympics, trivia this time. We were doing great â€" we answered heaps of questions, got to torture a couple of people, had bonus cards that were supposed to save our butts. But, on the last question a member of an eliminated team (who were allowed to interfere in game play) came over and confiscated the one card that would have won us the game. They pretty much decided that we weren't allowed to win and kicked us out. After that our team decided to leave and find some DDR, walking those two extra blocks mentioned earlier.
We got back in time to watch the Radio Play. It was great, the VA's were perfect.
Next was the Banquet, which, while the food was ok, was made all the better by having Greg sit at our table. (Though the moan of disappointment made when we realised we wouldn't have Keith, and Greg's reaction to that, were even more amusing)
I didn't actually say much, I just couldn't think of anything. But it was still cool.

I would have liked to stick around for the Q&A, but we had to go get ready for the Masquerade. One last practise and we were ready (Karlyl was in stitches after we showed it to her). Oh the nervousness ...
All the costumes we saw while waiting were absolutely fabulous, I am in total envy of their imagination and sewing skills :)
We were up first, but I managed not to have a breakdown. The only bit we fluffed was the lighting â€" the dimmed lights went unnoticed, and I missed my cue to scream.
Still, it was fun and the costumes I saw were great!
I got a ribbon :D

I would have hung around for the karaoke party afterwards, but that really wasn't my thing, so I went to bed. When everyone came back later, I got out of bed and socialised. Liz wanted to go up to the Con Suite and give Greg the con badge she had drawn him, so we all went up there and talked and watched live action Sailor Moon til 4am.
My head is still boggling over that.

Sunday.
Today was a lazy day. We all just hung out in the dealers room and talked. I was still there when Keith David came in for his Mug a Guest, so stayed and listened to him talk.
I love his voice..
Closing Ceremonies were good â€" I finally caught up with Hecate and Venus! I gave them monkies.
When pre-Reg fro next year opened I ran out to the only ATM that I knew would give me money so I could sign up. Yup, that's right â€" I'm off to Vegas next year.
While in line I chatted with Venus some more and got to meet Pixlz. I really regret not catching them earlier, but at least for next year I'll know what they look like :)
Since Keith was still signing autographs I stood in line again and got him to sign the menu from Saturday night. I have my very first celebrity autograph, I'm so proud ^_^

After getting some food we went up to the con suite for the party (Mara showed off her cool new art), then went room hopping, playing video games â€" I won a game! That never happens to me, so I think the celebratory dance was warranted ^_^
I went off with Kyt to collect the art I bought from her, so I also got to see more gaming and to say goodbye to others that were leaving in the morning.
We tried to be good and sleep early so we could get up in time for La Ronde, but silliness seems to be inherent in all the friends I make, so we were up late doing the sort of things that are only funny at 1am in the morning ^_^

Monday.
La Ronde! I hadn't been to an amusment park in a veeery long time, so I was really looking forward to it. I had promised to go on the coasters, but I had to get them to force me- I'm afraid of things like that. We waited in line, then waited some more, it took an hour, but then I was finally strapped in (second from front!) and then the fear set in.
It was fun ride, but I was freaking out *before* it started. The only coherent words I made during the ride were “OH MY GOD!!” repeated frequently and loudly.

I had fun.

The other rides were good, but having to wait in line for an hour for each really sucked. I didn't want to go on the Vampire with the others, so I got to sit in the shade and relax while they boiled in the sun :)
Finally, at 8pm we decided to go back to the hotel. A teary farewell was had for Ian, then we went out for tea, once again ending up at the 24 hour coffee place. Damn they got a lot of business from us that weekend.
Once again, we tried to sleep early, but that was a futile hope. Finally sometime past 1 sleep claimed us all.

Tuesday.
Kelly woke up early, but my brain refused to engage properly, so I just lay there and tried to get both my eyes open at the same time. Eventually everyone was up and packing. It was sad, because it meant that goodbyes were coming.
I hate goodbyes.
Kelly left with much sadness by all. Liz decided to stalk Keith David one last time and buy souvenirs and I checked back into the hotel for a few more days.
Finally Liz and Taylor left too, so Karlyl and I went out to find some lunch in the city. We had a nice walk and bought some stuff in Chinatown, then it was time for Karlyl to go too.
Now I was lonely. The new room was nice (they gave me free chocolate) but it would have been better if my friends were here. So I ate chocolate and watched Scooby Doo 2.

Wednesday.
My new room included free breakfast an internet access, so off I went upstairs to indulge. Afterwards I went for walk into the city and ended up back in Chinatown again. On the way back I made sure to pass by some buildings that caught our eye the day before. Karlyl â€" remember that creepy restaurant with the rotting dummies? Well, it was actually open, and the dummies *were* whispering as you walk past.
Very creepy.

I had tea in the hotel restaurant then went back to the room and watched Van Helsing. Tomorrow was the day I had to leave, so I decided to sleep.

Thursday.
Time to leave. I packed and checked out then had a nice ride out to the airport. I got to see the rest of the city in daylight. Dorval airport sucks, very disorganised and kinda cruddy. Plus my plane was delayed, but they didn't tell us. Vancouver airport is better, but still chaotic. I like travelling by plane, I just hate airports.

I saw the Rockies by air. They are magnificent.
I also finished reading the Phoenix Gate Anthology on the plane. There are some fantastic stories and artwork in it, 'Dust and Ashes' made me cry.

Friday.
Didn't exist for me. Huzzah for the International Date Line.

Saturday.
Home, finally. Mum and Dad picked my up from the airport in Melbourne and we drove straight home, stopping only for a quick lunch. I hung around their place till I had the energy to drive home, then I got on the net and tried to catch up with my LJ backlog. I gave up around 11.30, seeing as how I had been awake (save for occasional naps) for 48 hours, and went to bed.

And here ends my very first Gathering Adventure.

(I came all the way from Australia to meet you, and I barely said 2 words. Go figure)

Greg Bishansky writes...

Gathering Journal Part 4
Sunday, August 8th

Woke up, showered and dressed and wandered around, stopping to chat with people. At some point I went to breakfast with Aaron, Mara, Revel, Spacebabie, Hudson, Chris, and I think Kaelyan and Dancer were there too. Breakfast was a buffet on a revolving restaurant on top of the hotel. Had eggs, bacon, a bagel with smoked salmon, hash browns, sausage, orange juice. It was pretty good.

First excitement of the day was as we were eating, the restaurant revolved and we got a view of a man on top of a crane two blocks away surrounded by police, the man was obviously attempting suicide. Weird thing is that according to the waitress, it was the second time within a month that someone went up there to jump. But just like last time, this guy did not jump and climbed down.

After breakfast, we just hung out on the bottom floor waiting for Closing Ceremonies to start, which started late. I also finally received my copy of "The Phoenix Gate Anthology", so was happy, since mine had been misplaced. Closing Ceremonies came and went, and then Keith David started signing autographs. I had him sign my badge and my copy of the Anthology. Aaron came buy and showed him his tattoo. Keith's reaction to the Demona tattoo was priceless, he stared blankly for about twenty seconds then said "Are you sh---ing me?.... That's fabulous." Keith rocks.

So, Closing Ceremonies ends, and a bunch of people are going to play Laser Tag. For some reason I was not in the mood, I was tired. I ended up in the con suite for the Dead Dog Party. The Con Staff was winding down, and while the party was mostly con staff, I was welcome to hang out, pizza as ordered and I contributed cash, and Siryn and I had a few drinks and traded war stories (what I call work stories). Siryn's had a few interesting jobs while I've worked in the same Barnes & Noble for the past two and a half years, so we both had stories. Funny enough, usually you'd assume that your perfect drinking buddy would be another guy, but Siryn turned out to be the drinking buddy I always wanted.

Let me know if you'll ever be in NYC or the NYC area Si, we'll go get some drinks :)

Mara eventually comes up, and the con staff kicks everyone out. I don't blame them, I did it last year, they deserve time to themselves. They earned it. Told Karine she did a great job, and hugged Jen good bye. Then went down to the lobby, and Mara and Siryn did some bonding, chatting about life and other things. I really respect the both of them a great deal.

Aaron, Hudson and the rest of the Laser Tag crew came back, and there were plans to go play fighting games, but they never really panned out (as far as I know), so some of us hung out in the lobby.

The rest of the evening is a blurr right now, but I went to sleep around two in the morning, that much I remember.

Francois Ferland writes...

Gathering Of The Gargoyles 2004

This year was my first convention, and I was almost unable to attend because of my work and a very limited budget. Still, I got lucky enough to get a week off and the money problem was resolved by staying at my sister who lives in Montreal (a few hours away from my home in Quebec city).

Friday

I got to the Delta shrotly before noon. At first, I was a bit anxious at being there, since I didn't know anybody and hadn't been involved with the fandom at all except for posting a few questions on Ask Greg a year ago. That, plus being a shy guy who has problem feeling comfortable with strangers, made me afraid of spending the whole con alone.

I began by going to the Con Virgin 101 seminar. There was only about five or six of us, but it was still fun. I was very hesitant to speak at first because my spoken english isn't all that hot, so jumping into a conversation is kinda hard. Still, I met a few people, got their business card and got a bit reassured about the other people at the con.

I then decided to go to the voice seminar with Greg. I was disappointed at first that Keith couldn't make it, but that didn't last long once Greg started talking. Man, I had no idea he was this young! Or at least, that he acted so casual around us fans. Reading his responses on Ask Greg for years made me build a very different mental image of himself, but I like the real version better :). He gave a lot of good tips about speed, following other people's cues and the importance of interplay between voice actors. I never realized just how important finding the character's motivation behing each line was. There were several readings by fans, from Awakenings Part V, MIA and Thrill of the Hunt.

After that, I took it upon myself to take part in the radio play audition, despite being scared like all hell of speaking in front of so many people. We waited in line for a while until we could get scripts, and I started talking to a guy named Michael next to me. He was really nice and very good with his voice, and made me a bit more comfortable talking to people despite my horrible accent. The documentary makers from Disney then stopped in front of us and asked us to play our part. When they got to me, I think I must have stayed there, laughing nervously for about aminute before taking the plunge and reading the part of Lexington. That part better be on the DVD after all the stress they put me through :). Then I finally got to audition before Greg, and he made me repeat to whole thing from the back of the room with great anger, and I sounded a lot better, because my voice tends to break up when I'm speaking too softly. I had a lot of chances to be picked up, since there were a lot of parts available this year.

I then headed to the dealers room and bought the convention t-shirt (it'd so cute, it'S got a mounty beaver on the back of the con mascot!) and the Phoenix Gate Anthology. I saw a lot of very good art, including Artemis Prime's Warworld Starscream (which I had already seen on a Transformers message board I usually hang out on). There was a lot of stuff up for auction, which was a shame since I didn't have much money to spend. After that I hung out with a bunch of people in the hall in front of the elevators. One of those was an artist (I didn't catch her name though) who was showing us all the pretty gargoyles she had drawn (including lots of naughty ones, especially the seven deadly sins :) ). After that I heard people talking about the banquet so I asked at the registration if it was too late to buy a ticket and they said yes unfortunately. If I can make it next year, you bet I'm going to pre-register for it.

By 16h40 I was hungry as all hell, having only had some cereals for breakfast. Fortunately I saw a guy with some McDonalds who told me he got it from a restaurant one block uphill from the hotel, so I probably beat some record running there, eating a trio and getting back within 15 minutes for the opening ceremony.

The ceremony was very fun, with the Clan Olympics highjacking the place for their first match. It made me regret not signing on. The plans for the 2005 con with the whole incorporation thing was very neat, and I hope it makes it easier for people like me to make a trip there. Greg then gave us a date for the first season DVD, yeah! Spread the word to everyone people, it needs to sell well to warrant the second season because that's where all my favourite episodes are! Oh yeah, Greg's 'manual' Power Point presentation for the DVD was quite... impressive *snickers*. It was fun to hear the tape from several people who worked on Gargoyles, including the great Ed Asner. I was glad to finally see the original pitch for the series, as well as all the stuff people kept talking about on the net like the pitch for Dark Ages and New Olympians and the now famous Bad Guys leica reel. It hurts not to be able to talk about it, because it was so cool! And although I haven't seen Atlantis, hearing Marina Sirtis playing Demona on the unmade episode was great. That, plus the fact that there was a lot of grunting and animal noises made quite a few people laugh hysterically!

After the ceremony, I put a flag on Quebec City on the map of where the fans come from, then stayed for the Gargoyles MST3K. It was the first time I was seeing a MSTing live and it was fun, although it was hard to follow because lots of people talked at the same time. We saw Kingdom, Revelations and Walkabout; I wish I had been witty and quick enough to participate.

I finally went home to my sisters at around 21h20. I was geting tired and didn't want to miss the subway. If I had been able to afford the hotel, I would have stayed for the Blue Mug-A-Guest. Not that I had questions of my own, but I'm sure there were a lot of twisted minds there...

Saturday

My alarm clock went off at 8h30, but I didn't get up until 9h05. I was really tired after watching a movie last night with my sister and her boyfriend.

I got to the con just in time for 'Thrill of the Chase'. Although I've never really written anything, it was a fun panel with discussions about physical but also emotional chases and epic journeys as well.

After that, I went to Greg's Mug-A-Guest. He told us Keith wouldn't make it until late today, and I started to fear he might not make it afterall. There were a few questions about the show (Gorebash asked a question I didn't understand, and then ran away after getting an answer) but most of the panel was about behind-the-scene things, which I prefered personally. The comment I liked the best is the about his 'appreciation' for Disney's Atlantis, and the scene where he says the whole movie comes to a dead stop and where all the characters 'vomit' their life story around a fire :D.

After that, I headed to the registration desk to see if I was included in the radio play, which I wished I wasn't because I was starting to have second (and third and fourth) thoughts about it. And I got a part (unfortunately :) ), that of Lexington. But all in all, I was more glad than scared because now,I didn't have any excuse not to participate. We did the rehearsals and we learned that we were going to play 'The Journey'. I had four lines in all, and I was told to play them a bit more sarcastic and suspicious, but Greg didn't talk about my volume, so at least I got that part good.

The play itself was great and exciting, even though I was really nervous. I just hope my accent didn't show too much. Everyone was great, and I especially liked the people who did Eliza, Castaway, Vinny and Fleance. After it was over, I got Greg to sign my script, which was awesome since I didn't think we were going to keep them.

I then finish voting for the art contest. Too bad some of the one I would have voted for done by members of the staff. Alas, I didn't get the time to vote for the music video. There wasn't much left for me to do today, since I couldn't go to the banquet and I didn't feel like hanging around until the maskerade. If not for my sister and her boyfriend, I would have taken up the offer of the guy who was looking for a partner in harassing local pizza places in order to get what he wanted.

Sunday

I was planning to go to the Gargoyles biology panel, but I was so tired that I pretty much slept until 11h00. I got to the con at around 12h30 and hung out in the dealers room until Keith David's Mug-A-Guest. I got my Anthology signed by the authors who were present, and I even met Stormy, whom I knew from a Transformers board I visit. I was actually surprised that she remembered my nickname (I remembered afterward that I had reviewed one of her Transformers stories a few months prior). I also talked a lot with the lady from FPS magazine (who's name I forgot, dammit!) about sci-fi and fantasy conventions in Canada. She was really nice, and was lucky to get a big hug from Keith David when he arrived.

Keith really surprised me. I mean, I was a big fan of his voice work, having heard him as Goliath (and in a kids show on PBS called Reading Rainbow where he once narrated a story), and, well, he just has a gorgeous voice! I was glad that people didn't ask him too many questions about his characters, because it's embarassing when fans can't separate the character and the actor behind it. Still, he impressed me a lot because he didn't hesitate to speak about his characters and their motivations (which reminded me of Greg's seminar about finding your character's intent). He was also very heartwarming and charming, and after finally seeing a picture of Sally Richardson, I understood why he said staying on the mike while acting with her was difficult :)

Then finally came the time for the closing ceremony. I was sad to have to go immediately after it ended, because I would have loved to stay for the lazer tag game later on and La Ronde on monday, but I had to get home to go to work tomorrow. I barely had enough time to take the subway to my sister's place, pack my things, eat supper at a local greek restaurant with her and her boyfriend, taking the subway again and finally catching my carpool for Quebec City.

You can be certain that if I don't lose my job during the next year, I'm going to save up for Gathering 2005 in Vegas next year. It's going to be a lot funnier to be able to stay for the whole thing, and at least I'll know a few people this time!

The Sadistic Cow writes...

The Gathering '04

Day 1

Alex Garg and Leo picked me up. And they was so nice. ^____^ Alex got a scratching post and an Arnold chew toy type thing for Squidgy (my cat), and got me a replacement pair of earphones as a belated birthday goft...cuz my cat is insane and tore mine apart a few days before. o.O And Leo took a lot of pictures of my kitty, so yay!

The drive. We drove. For many hours, we drove. We first got sorta lost in Toronto, seeing as how that city is insane and none of us really knew where we were going. Trying to follow the map was somewhat difficult, but thank God it wasn't me trying to read directions - I'll get lost in a paper bag. YAYE for Leo, who helped guide us out of the city!

Oh, and we saw a Condom Shop (named that, too) while going through Toronto. And I think we saw the "homosexual" side of town (or, I think, that's what Leo (or somebody, can't remember who) commented on so I guess I'll have to assume we were in the gay community's natural habitat or some such nonsense like that :P). Nevermind the enormous lineup I saw which was where I think Bill Clinton was signing his book for the mob who seem to take more interest in American politicians than Canadian.

Curse you, you un-patriotic blockheads.

Anyway, we made a few "pee stops" before we charged down on Kingston with all of our combined fan fury. We got lost there, too, and had to keep talking to Lord Sloth on Alex Garg's cell phone. Dude, I mean really - we should have gone left but we went right. Right? Right. Yeah. But we finally did manage to find Lord Sloth's house, and he joined us in our romp through Ontario and into Quebec.

And now we reach the roads of Quebec. FLEE FOR YOUR LIVES!!!! Honestly...those roads were insane. We got lost there, too - and so many times we came close to the Delta Centre-ville and then made a wrong turn and ended back up on the interstate practically. Eh heh heh. And here I thought Canadians were law-abiding for the most part when it came to roads, and I was expecting similar driving in Montreal that I usually see in Hamilton.

Did I get what I expected? UM. NO. I never expected Montreal drivers to be as crazy as they were, ignoring the one lane that held two cars side by side. There is no way to describe that street; but there were three lanes and in the middle one you could just barely shove two cars side by side...and there was no dividing line in there anywhere!!!! AHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!! And the drivers were crazy. So...yeah. Nutbars.

We finally made it to the hotel. Checked in, went up to our room, and got unpacked. Poor Alex had to shuttle so many people while Leo, Lord Sloth (who got there after checking in at the hostel) and I lazed about in the room. And it seemed Alex had just missed Denis, who took a shuttle (or a cab, not sure which) to the hotel... customs I think gave poor Denis a problem. Yeesh.

Leo and I then went downstairs and mingled with other Gathering folks. Fun times. Met Mara, and she told me I was shorter and cuter than what she thought I was. o_O And I have my place in the fandom now - I am the owner of the "wrong" Brooklyn/Malibu pic that I use for my LJ icon. Yay, go me! I'm KNOWN! XD

So when Alex finally got back, we all about went to bed. Lord Sloth returned to the hostel and we all just crashed, exhausted from our adventure.

Day 2

We had breakfast with Ellen and a couple other people. I think it was me, Denis, Leo, Alex, Kathy, Ellen and a few others...though who they were completely slipped my mind. Then we went sight-seeing. Saw lots of cool stuff, like the awesome cathedral and horse-drawn carriages. We also thundered through China-town, something I've never done before, and it was amazing. Simply fantastic.

We also attended many Gathering who-diddlies, which was also fun. I'm skipping over things right now because a) I can't remember *all* of it, and b) I am extremely tired. But I witnessed "Get Stuffed" as the Clan Olympics game during the opening ceremonies, and that was a fun, fun time.

I kept to myself somewhat, browsed the artist alley for most of the day... it's not easy being a n00b. :P I tried but I was still frazzled... met Hudson and a bunch of other people, finally saw a few of my favourite artist's floating around and was pleased with that. But, thanks to my medication I was forced into a state of mind where I wasn't all there in the head, so I can't really remember a lot of it.

But I will say that I despise the elevators at that hotel. Evil, evil things - and it didn't help at all when Leo jumped in the elevator. Scared the crap out of me and I yowled at him for it. XD

Went to the Blue Mug-A-Guest for a while, where Leo's and my screengrab collaboration was passed around, much to the amuement of a lot of people. I didn't stay too long because by that time my medication was kicking in and I would have ended up falling asleep where I sat (which was right next to Greg at his feet, eeeee! XD).

Day 3

Wandered around the panels for a while. Attended the Gargoyles Biology 101 panel, hosted by the fantabulous Dylan Blacquiere (sp? and I think it was Day 3 that I did that.... o_O). He rules, man. I love that guy. And the panel was interesting, I really enjoyed it. I also went to the Radio Play, which was super fun; maybe if I can make it there next year I'll try out. It looked fun. ^_^

More riding on the elevator ensued that day, and I got a lot of nosebleeds for some reason. Maybe it was the height and the constant going up and down on the elevators. o_O But, anyway, it was gross.

Spent a lot of time down in the restaurant we had breakfast with Ellen in, drinking coffee and losing myself in my thoughts. Alex joined me there for lunch, and we chatted it up for a while before we went about our business.

Picked my mom up a souvenir from Montreal, a glass mug with a Montreal logo on it. Heheheh. I figured I wanted to get her something practical, something that can be used instead of something that won't really be looked at or touched. :P

Then we went to the Banquet. And I discovered that I really don't like quail all that much. LOL But I wasn't feeling wholly good either, I had a bit of a stomach ache and I was feeling tired. But the banquet was fun, and Keith David finally made his appearance there, much to our collective delight. But, seeing as in Regence C there was some sort of party going on, I couldn't hear Keith very well when we got him talking.

And yay! He was on the same floor as me, Alex, Leo and Denis! Bwahaaaaa!

Anyway....

By the time it was over, I was exhausted - again. I went down to Antoine's for a few coffees to stay awake and all that, and I ended up meeting up with Alex Garg, Dylan, Stormy and a few other people. So I stuck around with them, had a couple beers (which was a double whammy, combining meds and booze...o_o) and then went to bed.

Day 4

Closing ceremonies. It was fun, interesting and I was excited about the Gathering being in Las Vegas next year. Suffice to say, as much as I didn't want it all to end I was glad of it, because it was a nice ending to a good time.

We went out to dinner, kinda just wandering around with Ellen, Allaine, Princess Alexandria and my little group. Then we headed back to the hotel, I sucked back a coffee because I wanted to go with Leo, Ellen and Alex to Mount-Royal. So, yeah, I sucked back a coffee and was ready and rarin' to go. A brief moment of rest and relaxation in the midst of all the excitement.

And hooo boy, was it ever a walk. By the time we reached the topmost part where we could look out over the city I was sweating buckets, but I enjoyed the romp through the forest and the lovely greenery that surrounded us. I never thought there'd be so many hills in Montreal. LOL!

We stood up there looking out over the city for a while, just admiring the view. It was simply GORGEOUS. If anyone visits Montreal again, I would suggest going up there. The walk is long and painful, but it is worth it beyond anyone's wildest dreams. Leo, Ellen and Alex took a lot of pictures.

Anyway, we took the long way back and I was blind for the most part because it was dark outside by the time we decided to mosey along. We took a slight detour/short cut type thing on the way back and ended up in a nice Irish pub for about half an hour or so, at which point I took a moment to take the most well-earned whiz of my life. Thank you, Ellen. LOL.

We sat for a while, had a drink, and then went back to the hotel, whereupon I crashed pretty quickly.

And, yes, I am skipping out on a lot of details. Truth be told it's all a blur now, it was all exciting and fun and I loved it. So much happened and things I saw, words can't even describe.

Oh, and on a couple of side notes I forgot to mention before:

Leo and I got Keith David to say, "I love you Thailog" and another "naughty" bit. :P (and, yes, we have proof. And, no, it wasn't our idea - we did it for Demona Taina.)

And I got to sit on Keith David's lap, got a kiss on the temple from him and got him laughing at the screengrab collaboration Leo and I came up with, with my text and his screengrabs put to a dirty theme. And Keith signed my Pheonix Gate Anthology with an amusing little note, "To Kelly, of the active, very active imagination. (I'm scared of you). Love, Keith David". And told me he "likes how I think". ^____^ YAY! I so happy. XD

End.

Greg Bishansky writes...

Gathering Journal Part 3
Saturday, August 7

Woke up, showered and dressed and went downstairs. Auditions for the Radio Play were going on, but I decided to sit it out this year, which I kind of regret now. Aw well, there's always next year. So I just wandered around for a while, chatting with people and chilling. Eventually I ran into Carol Wagner (who was my guest coordinator last year and was doing the same thing this year. If you ever run a con, get this woman on your staff, she does an awesome job). Anyway, she told me that the DVD film crew were downstairs doing fan interviews and suggested I go down since I was a Con Chair and if I saw Aaron and Mara to send them down also.

I go down and walk into the room for the tail end of Siryn's interview, and she gave a good one. Kathy Pogge and Mandi give their interviews and afterward it's my turn. THey ask me a few questions, like how the show has impacted me, what I would say to get people to watch it, what I liked best about it, and who my favorite character was... the last sentence gets me into a two minute speech about Demona, to which the camera crew asked "Are you the guy with the tattoo?"... heh, I got confused for Aaron. I say I'm not, but that he'll be down to be interviewed shortly. I thought it went well, hopefully I'll make the final cut. So I get up and Christine Morgan is being interviewed. As I'm about to walk out, Aaron and Mara come in with Lynati, Hudson and a few other people and I tell Aaron they're waiting for him. So I stick around and watch them get interviewed, and Aaron does show his tattoo... that I'm sure is a definite lock for the final cut. I hope they quote him saying "permanently etched into my skin.".

So we head up, and I end up joining Mara for one of the Clan Olympics events... really hard pictionary. We have Kyt on our team, so we figure this will be easy. It wasn't, I swear it was rigged, we got the hard ones. We lost, but didn't mind too much since we didn't want to do the next event anyway.

Afterwards it was time for the Radio Play. This year it was "The Journey". A terrific production if I do say so myself. Emambu was great as John Castaway, Jen and Ethan played off each other really well as Banquo and Fleance, Cindy was great as Margot Yale, and Chris really brought down the house as Macbeth with his MADAME THEY BURNED WITCHES LIKE YOU IN THE MIDDLE AGES! line. THe guy who played Vinnie was great too, as was Stormy as Cagney. Lots of applause.

Since there were no events schedualed for a bit, Alex and I went with Ethan to this Irish pub for a couple of drinks. It was fun, the bartender was cute. Talked American politics there and came back. Ethan went to the Masquerade and Alex and I went up to Aaron, Mara and Lynati's room where they were busy finishing Lynati's Ophelia costume. I won't go into the details here, but unfortunatly things ran late. I head down to the ground floor where we're having the masquerade to keep an eye out on when the masquerade starts and keep them informed and make sure Lynati is schedualed to go last, but again I'll spare you the details.

While doing that I meet Keith David who finally arrived (the voice of Goliath, Thailog and Officer Morgan for those who live on Mars). I first met Keith David briefly four years ago in Central Park when he was performing Shakespeare's "A Winter's Tale" where he played the king. I met him for thirty seconds after and told him I thought he was great and mentioned I loved him in "Gargoyles", he shook my hand and really appreciated. Keith then came to the '01 Gathering in LA but had to leave early, so I didn't get to meet him. But I got to say hello and told him I saw him in "A Winter's Tale" and I'll be damned... he remembered me. Keith is a really great guy, and he has a very, very, very strong handshake.

Anyway, the masquerade begins, I miss the show cause I'm standing outside the room, but all the costumes this year were terrific. I can't really name a favorite here, but I'll give special nods to the guy who won... forget his name. Revel as Dracon, the entire con staff was great, that girl who was Ekidna, Flanker as a Hunter, everyone was great. Finally Lynati came down and her Ophelia costume was terrific, one of the ebst costumes I've ever seen at any Gathering.

Masquerade ends, and we just party and hang out, people start singing Karaoke, and this is where Emambu sings "Blame Gargoyles"... once again the link is...

http://s8.org/gargoyles/gathering2004/videos/Blame_Gargoyles.avi

just right click this link and hit 'Save As'

Cindy sang really, really well. There was a dance to "YMCA" but no one knew all the words so it went something like this...

Young man, something, something, something
I say young man, something, something, something.

You get the idea ;)

Chilled on the sidelines mostly talking a bit with Greg Weisman and Carol and Jen, and several hours later he had to turn in, as he had to leave early in the morning. Said good bye and ended up hanging with Aaron, Mara, Hudson, Ethan, Silver and a bunch of others outside till around 3:30 in the morning. Before we all went to bed.

To be continued

Greg Bishansky writes...

Gathering Journal Part 2
Friday, August 6th

Woke up and jumped in the shower, leaving Alex who still wanted to sleep in the room and ran down to the lobby. Registration was not open for another hour and I ran into Whitbourne and Stormy and a couple others (blanking out on their names) and we went looking for food and ended up in China Town... yes, Montreal has a China Town, though unlike NYC's China Town has much less in common with Tiajuana. Nothing opened till 11 so we had to wait, but finally we ended up eating at this Vietnamese place, I had this shrimp and chicken dish, which was pretty good, and finally we headed back.

Found Alex, picked up registration and hung out in the art and dealer's room for a bit, before heading down to the Voice Acting Seminar which was supposed to be run by Greg Weisman (who is a voice director as well as a writer), and Keith David. Unfortunatly we learned then that Keith had been delayed and wouldn't be arriving until much later that night. But Greg did great on it by himself, talking about voice acting and directing fans with scripts, and critiqing them. Jen as usual read for Demona, and according to Greg was "too good", and had to give it to someone else so he could critique them. I believe it was seri_wavelength who read. Anyway, it was a fun panel.

Anyway afterwards about twenty of us including Aaron, Mara, Lynati, Hudson, Mandi Cat, and well... a lot of people went off in search of lunch. We found this crowded diner which thankfully had enough tables outside to sit us. Though Hudson travelled between tables taking a french fry here and an onion ring there. Good burger there, and we all returned to the hotel for Opening Ceremonies.

Opening Ceremonies was the same as usual, the con staff is introduced. But I felt bad for Karine when she got up and asked "what does the fandom want?" and a lot of people shouted out "We want Thom!" as unfortunatly Thom could not be there this year. I missed Thom too, but I understood, and Thom will be back eventually. I hope the con staff doesn't feel too bad about it, because it was a great con, and I don't think they have anything to apologize for. Putting together a con is not an easy feat.

Greg then got up and did his usual, but also announced the release date for the DVD. December 7th. A two disk DVD set containing all thirteen episodes from the very first season of "Gargoyles". The DVD will also contain an audio commentary by him, Frank Paur and Keith David on all five episodes of "Awakening". They will be the original uncut versions, and will have the original pitch for the series on it, as well as the documentary that was being shot about the con.

Greg then showed his videos, telling the old anecdotes that those of us who have been to several of these cons can now finish for him. He showed the original series pitch, the press preview that used music from the soundtracks from "Glory" and "The Power of One", the Jonathan Frakes press pitch, the pitches for "New Olympians" and "Dark Ages" and of course the leica reel for "Bad Guys.... the latter you need to come to a con to see.

Afterwards it was time for "Gargoyles" MST3K where we MSTed the crap out of the episodes "Kingdom" and "Revelations". I'm blanking out on some of the call backs, but hopefully Jade Griffin will post the transcript soon.

I'm blanking out on the next few hours, but I remember hanging out in the dealers room for a bit and then the lobby with the crew talking fic, and we were being filmed by the DVD crew while doing it. Later we went up to Hudson's room and hung out for a bit before it was time for the Blue Mug-A-Guest.

Keith was supposed to be at the Blue Mug-A-Guest but unfortunatly did not arrive, and it was 11 PM, so we figured we wouldn't be seeing him tonight. Greg was able to hold it all on his own, but unfortunatly we did not have any of the "blue" questions from last year. Though after Lex came out of the closet at last year's, it would be hard to top. It was a very, very, very tight squeeze, 30 of us in the con suite, the floor was completely covered. But it was good. We were finally kicked out at around 2:30 in the morning and we all crawled off to bed.

So far a good first day for a great con.

Andrea "Elisa Maza" Zucconi writes...

Hi Greg,

Alrighty, another long, long con report for you... :)

Thursday, August 5, 2004

Ok, early morning. Brrr. We flew from our home in Melbourne, FL, to Atlanta, GA. While we were trying to figure out which gate they wanted us at, we ran into Sapphire (Kelly Creighton), and were immediately in Gathering-mode. Whee! The three of us were able to find the right gate, and thus we had a fun flight with Sapphire drawing cartoons for us and the flight attendant, who was very grateful. My personal favourite was and still is the ‘for the lavatory â€" how do I put this â€" er, liquids only, please!’ scene.

Montreal airport immediately reminded me a lot of Paris, as in very crowded and smokey. After a few questionmarks popped out of our heads, we found the right bus and headed to the hotel while Sapphire showed us her video collection from ‘City of Heroes’.

Then there we were, and met up with Liz, Trishana, Taylor and Julie. The seven of us went in search of food â€" Lix was convinced there was a ‘glass door that leads to an underground market in the basement of the hotel’. Okaaay… no such thing, but we did find a subway station a few blocks away, and since we found food there we were satisfied and happy so we agreed to let the subway station be Liz’ mysterious underground market.

Word got around that everyone was invited to a dinner that night, so we waited until 9:00, at which point someone said the dinner was giong to be at 10:00 â€" so we waited and starved, and as 10:00 rolled around it turned out the dinner was ‘staff only’ and we were to go hungry. Wah.

Friday, August 6, 2004

The day started with getting our registration packets and setting up the art show. We tried the breakfeast at the hotel bistro â€" which lead us to provide anyone tempted to try the same with a passionate warning against it. French cooking? Nah.

I went to Karine’s panel on perspective. It’s not that I don’t know how to do it, but I always enjoy the company of all the many other artists at the Gathering, and I am always interested in how others do things. You always learn something.

After that, we checked out the voice acting seminar, where Greg was left alone because Keith David hadn’t made it to Canada yet from his shoot in Miami. But hey, Greg likes the attention, and let’s face it, we are suckers for the man. ;)

Tony headed to the radio play auditions, while I went to Cindy’s costuming seminar. Never miss a chance to listen to a professional. Now I know how to porperly wash wigs. Yay!

We went out to find an accessory we needed for our costumes, which made us slightly late for the opening ceremonies (oops…). But luckily we didn’t miss much, and we got to enjoy Greg’s annual shpeel to the fullest. By now, every one knows the best lines (‘It’s better than Barney!’), and Greg gladly plays off of his audience. There were some new pieces in the show, so that was cool.

We went in search for some actual food, but all we could come up with was McDonalds… hee hee… ;)

Later that night a lot of people crammed into the Con Suite for the blue mug-a-guest with Greg. It was pretty much the least blue mugging we’ve ever had, but that was okay. It was an aquamarineish-mugging. We had fun. And were very tired when we finally stopped at about 1:30 am. Who needs sleep at the Gathering?? Defenders of the night and so forth.

Saturday, August 7, 2004

Saturday! We ditched the bistro and stuk with our cheese and snack cakes instead.

While Tony was in the radio play rehearsals, I watched the auction and sat on my hands real tight so as not to tempt myself. There was a good amount of money raised for charity. Even though I have to say, the auction has somewhat diminished over the last few years. Back in 1999, it was a huge deal, with lots of yelling and laughing. Maybe we can give it more attention in the future.

The radio play was very cool â€" it was Greg’s uncut version of ‘The Journey’. Some of these people really would make good voice actors. A very convincing Cagney, whoever you were! Cute.

A special thanks to Greg for making my day on Saturday by saying my Elisa-painting was ‘amazing’. It means a lot.

After the radio play it was time to get ready for the banquet. It is something of a tradition to dress up for the banquet, so I did. I mostly use the Gathering to show off the stuff I never get to wear otherwise! J/K. Well no, I do. In the hall, the film crew filmed us! Yay! They told us to tell our ‘Why we are married because of Gargoyles’ story to Sapphire (like she hasn’t heard it before ;)), and she told us her ‘How Gargoyles got me through High School’ story. We’ve heard each other’s stories, but you know what, we don’t mind telling and hearing them again. It makes us notice that bond that this fandom shares. It’s like being comfortably married for five years, and then your spouse says or does something that reminds you with a happy pang of why you fell in love with them in the first place. I love our fandom. We are indeed somewhat of a family.

We were lucky enough to have Greg sit at our table, even though poor Liz was disappointed it wasn’t Keith David, we had a great conversation with him all the way through an excellent dinner.

Finally, Keith David showed up, and even though he was served the food he never got to eat much as he was answering questions. He is a really smart and deep individual, and not afraid of sharing his thoughts with us, which we really appreciate.

Time to get into costume! Tony and I went as Tony Dracon and ‘Bad’ Elisa from the episode ‘Protection’. As a gimmick when we walked on stage to show off, we handed the judges a jar of jalapena peppers, which were so nicely set up through Keith’s monologue earlier! Thanks Keith! J The ball was awesome, great costumes and good times. I had to change before the dance though, my Bad-Elisa-top was a little dangerous to wear while moving.

Thank you so much Taylor for singing the ‘Love Boat’ song (that’s right, it’ll be written here for eternity)! That was the coolest! J

As the night grew late, people dwindeld to remove their gallons of body paint and fall into bed. However, there was a small group of people, including us and Greg Weisman, who were just not getting tired. So our little group ended up in the Con Suite, chatting and munching on random treats and having a grand time. Greg had to leave at 6:00 Sunday morning to be home in time for his daughter’s birthday. His original plan was to go to bed, but as 4:00 passed us by, he decided to just skip the sleep. Who needs it. Sometime after the point we were so sleepy-drunk we laughed histerically at anything (canadian picasso-mimes, chickens, ans Senior Tricordio) Greg had to leave to pack, and we finally went to bed. Thank you Greg for being so in touch with this fandom. You are the best, and we had a great time.

Sunday, August 8, 2004

Needless to say we didn’t get up early on Sunday. I gathered up my art show pieces that hadn’t been for sale (or hadn’t sold), and then we went to the closing ceremonies.

I actually got a bunch of awards for my piccies! Hurray! Seriously - it might just be a little ribbon from a bunch of friends, but you know what, it means a lot to an artist. We have a hard time finding jobs, a harder time finding satisfying jobs, or praise. At the Gathering, we support each other, and it helps. Thanks so much to anyone who voted for my artwork, and congratulations to all the other artists â€" you are all awesome.

After another short visit to the Con Suite, we joined a group and went to play laser tag and have pizza. And again, it was late, but this time we actually went to bed shortly before midnight. Whoohoo.

Monday, August 9, 2004

Homeward bound. Home is good, but we do miss the family that the fandom has evolved into. Thank you all for a great Con, and see you next year in Vegas!

Christine Morgan writes...

This is why I write more novels and series than short stories ...

Wednesday, August 4th and Thursday, August 5th
Traveling, and Montreal

Wednesday was long. Extremely long. We got up at two in the morning, were picked up by our town car at 3:20 (_much_ nicer than the Shuttle Express vans, btw), and arrived at the Seattle airport a little after four. Then we waited in a long line to check in. Lots of desert-camo army guys in line, too. The one right in front of us had a fresh hickey the size of my thumb, and no hope of hiding it, not with that hairdo. Go, soldier-boy! ;)

Flew from Seattle to Chicago, but everything going into and out of O'Hare was delayed, so we spent some time sitting on runways. In Chicago, we still had about an hour to grab some food, then get on the plane for the second leg of the trip. Once we disembarked, we walked for what seemed like a half mile or more to the customs station. Which was like Disneyland ... a long rat-maze of a line with a sign saying that the wait from this point would be 40 minutes.

And after that, we got to go to another line to have our books inspected. That's the one drawback to these international cons, and dragging all those books along. But we got through, and were met by our driver (town car again) for a trip to the hotel.

Montreal has the reputation of being a beautiful city, and it's a rep that is well-deserved. Lots of green, lots of clean, and lots of fabulous old stonework. I really do love buildings from back in the day when creative architecture didn't mean weird glass-and-steel geometrics. The hotel is quite posh, and an easy walk from Old Montreal (mucho fabulous old stonework).

We checked in, unpacked, took a peek around the hotel, then walked over to a place called Gibby's for dinner. Gibby's is a steakhouse located in a restored 200-year-old stable, and it was bursting at the seams with the kind of ambiance that most gamers would love. Low, beam ceilings. Stone walls. Dim flickery yellow lighting. It was the Inn, as found in countless campaign beginnings ... "your characters meet at an Inn." All it lacked was the hooded old man sitting by the fireplace, selling treasure maps. Food was good, too, and it was the first time ever that I can recall being served sherbet between courses to cleanse the palate (then again, I have never lived much of a highbrow life).

After, we roamed through oldtown a bit, admiring the buildings -- and the astonishing cleanliness and almost total lack of homeless people. Canada is certainly doing something right in taking care of its folks. We got back to the hotel 10-ish local time (7-ish on our body clocks, but our bodies had been up since 2, so we were ready for bed).

Thursday was a lovely day. Becca and I spent an hour and a half at the pool. Watched a gal whose job I don't envy -- she had to climb out on these ledges that overlook the hotel's four-story atrium to water and trim the plants.

Then we went for a long rambling stroll through Old Montreal, looking in shops. Bought Becca a sweatshirt, and she got herself a keychain for her collection. After lunch, we got on Le Bateau Mouche, a fancy ferry sort of boat that took us on an hour-long river tour. This is, I say again, a beautiful city! I took some pictures, and we had a nice relaxing time.

After that, we stopped for ice cream and then came back to the hotel. As we were kicking back in our room a while later, Tim happened to glance out our ten story window and spotted some familiar folks far below, unloading a car. "Hey ... isn't that Patrick? And the redhead ... that's Cindy."

So we rushed down to the lobby but just missed them at the elevator. Hung around for a while until someone came back -- Patrick -- and he told us where the rest were. We went up for a visit (and to slip some Sabledrake catalogs into the envelopes holding the programs, badges, and other goodies).

And, ta-daaaa! We finally got to see the Phoenix Gate Anthology! It looks very good. I think everyone involved will be pleased and proud.

We left the group for a while to get food, and began spotting more familiar faces. Saw Lanny checking in, and I'm pretty sure I saw Seth in the hotel restaurant. Saw Karine, who is going to have a baby in November! I didn't know! Gosh, I am so out of the loop sometimes! Saw Jen's husband Alan, and then, finally, ran into Jen.

We hung out for a while, and Becca colored with Siryn, and folks came and went, and then Greg arrived. He spotted Becca right away and asked her where her parents were ;) I was there, said hi, got my hug and smooch on the cheek. Tim had gone downstairs to take care of some e-mails (and, really, to indulge his new online poker addiction). Then a whole big crowd was going out for food, but we were all beat and so Becca and I returned to the room and slept.

Friday, August 6
The Gathering, Day 1

The official con was slated to begin when registration opened at 10:00 AM. After Becca swam, we headed down to the terrace and found many friendly faces already on the scene. We mingled, said hi, and waited around. Because, of course, nothing ever quite starts on time, on the first day especially. But soon, con staff appeared with boxes of registration packets. We all got our programs and badges. Plus shirts, pins, and books for those who’d ordered them. And, dare I say, everyone got a Sabledrake Enterprises catalog.

It was so good to see people again … I can’t begin to explain. After missing the past two cons, and having fallen out of touch with many of the online forums â€" I lurk around Station 8 and the TGS room, but wouldn’t call myself horribly active there anymore â€" I was really reminded how much I had missed everyone. And how cool it was to meet new people whose screen names I knew but who I’d never seen in person.

Except, the funny thing was, I didn’t recognize a lot … a LOT … of them. I was feeling quite guilty for being so out of the loop. I would find out later in the day that it wasn’t just me being dense, because nearly half of the crowd at opening ceremonies would raise their hands when the first-Gathering question was posed.

After we got our packets, Tim and I left Becca to hang out while we lugged our stuff down to set up in the dealers room. The con rules stated that all kids had to be accompanied by a grown-up, but there were always plenty of folks around willing to keep an eye on her.

It’s funny, it really is, but this is her extended family. The Gathering crowd even moreso than just the gamer-geek-fantypes at other cons. These are people she may not see as often as she does some of her blood kin, but many of them are people she knows better, and hears more about. We’re raising her in a con environment. Some of them, like RadCon, get a little freaky with the Goths and SCAers and Klingons running around. Scenes where most parents might be reluctant to let even their teenagers go alone, and yet it’s there, more than anyplace else, we feel safe and at home and have no problem giving Becca a fairly loose leash.

Especially at the Gatherings. This was her fourth, and she’s become the honorary fandom kid. Everyone’s hatchling. And it wasn’t a matter of persuading her to sit with someone else, either … she was eager to get away from Tim and I, preferring to follow Siryn around, or Cindy, or Jen.

Or Arno, whose patience at having a stuffed cat thrown at him went far above and beyond the call of duty. That, in Becca’s mind, is as much a Gathering tradition as the masquerade. “Is that guy going to be there, the one I throw Chip at?” Heck, we even had to go online and find a new Chip (calico Beanie Buddy cat) on e-Bay because her original one was lost somehow, and she didn’t want to go to the Gathering without a Chip to throw at Arno.

Anyway, the dealers room turned out to be in the same room as the art show and artists’ alley. It was right near registration, too, and near the auditorium. Very nice to have it centrally located. The con staff had a table to sell shirts, pins, copies of the Phoenix Gate Anthology, and even some leftover calendars from 2003. Jen and Alan had a table, hawking her tee shirts. Later in the weekend, there would be a fanzine company and a sci-fi club.

And we had a table. No, I lie. We had three. When all my books are assembled in one place, they take up a lot of room. Alas that we won’t be able to display and sell the ElfLore trilogy anymore, though! My publisher gave me the axe just a couple of weeks before the Gathering, and wouldn’t let me buy any more copies before the whole trilogy went out of print. But we had all three MageLore books, all four of the Silver Doorway books to date, both Trinity Bay books (including a couple of copies of Black Roses on audio), Naughty and Dice, and the two zombie anthologies in which I had stories. We also brought some garg merchandise, not a lot since we were pushing the luggage limit already and Tim had been going around and around trying to figure out the customs and import laws. It all did make for a nice set-up, though.

Once that was done, we had a few hours before the room officially opened, so we headed out in search of lunch. Tim had scouted the train station food court, but we had the bad luck to end up there at lunch hour on a Friday. Now, I have an intense dislike of crowded, noisy, unfamiliar places. Always have. And it’s gotten worse exponentially since Becca was born â€" my personal phobia about getting lost can’t hold a candle to my fear of losing track of my kid. I think Tim used “intimidated” in his LJ, but I wasn’t so much “intimidated” as just extremely uncomfortable and unable to relax enough to have any sort of appetite.

We got back in time for the dealers room to open, and then Becca and I headed over to Greg’s panel on voice acting. The video crew showed up while we were there â€" poor Seri, thought she was going to get off easy, but Greg made her keep reading lines even once the cameras were rolling! She did a good job, though. It’s interesting to get the inside scoop on how everything works, and to hear all the war stories. Carol Channing’s chiffon blouse, anyone?

Tim and I had signed up to do a panel later that afternoon on RPGs, and a fair number of people turned up. Most of them even stayed, hey! We talked about our experiences in the gaming industry, our plans for releasing Simulacrum next year (and we’ll need art, hint-hint). Told some gaming war stories of our own, too. And Becca’s idea of helping was to draw monsters on the white board behind us the whole time.

Then came the worst part of the whole weekend.

See, there were only a couple of problems with the site this time around. One was that the hotel, while very posh and full of staff who treated us exceedingly well, came with an equivalently posh price tag. The other, more aggravating, was the food situation. While the sprawling underground area does boast about any kind of edibles you could want, you better only want ‘em during normal day shift business people working hours. Everything closed after evening rush hour, leaving the dining options severely limited.

So, Tim, knowing this and feeling all guilty and responsible for lunch not having worked out so great, took it on himself to wander the streets of Montreal. Man hunt food. Woman and Child go to Opening Ceremonies. Man find food. Slay mammoth. Then Man, returning to cave, get mauled by saber tooth tiger.

Well, all right, it was Chinese take-out instead of a mammoth, and it was a car and not a saber tooth. I’m trying to make light of the situation because when I found out about it, I worked up one hell of a case of retroactive panic. He got hit by a car. For all the gory details, see his LJ (http://www.livejournal.com/users/tavelorn/)

But Woman and Child knew nothing of this. Becca and I were at Opening Ceremonies, where the con staff were doing the introductions, the thank-yous, and all that good stuff. The Clan Olympics interrupted with a sudden wild game that involved a stampede of people running around stuffing plastic balls into tee shirts. Only one casualty that I knew of, and it was all captured for posterity by the video crew. Showing us at our mature, sedate, respectable best.

Chris got up to talk about plans for 2005 (Vegas, baby, and high-damn-time we had another Gathering in the west!). Then Greg gave his speech, and how is this for cool? He’d gotten his helpful and diligent Girl Friday, Carol, to collect taped well-wishes from several people associated with the show, including Frank Paur and Ed Asner.

If that was cool, the big news was even cooler â€" that the first season of Gargoyles was slated for a December 7th release! With commentary, and with this documentary being filmed at the con. If it does well, we may get the second season. And once that ball starts rolling, it might not be beyond the realm of possibility to dream that ultimate dream of a new series!

Of course, in the middle of it all, Greg played his usual prank by raising an arm to the back of the room and announcing, "Ladies and Gentlemen, _Keith David_!" And so, of course, we all looked. Because once, when he did that, Keith was actually there (three cheers for variable interval reinforcement). Because, this time, Keith was expected. Delayed, since the film he was shooting was rained out again and again, but expected. This time, though, no Keith.

It would only be the beginning of a saga that probably added a few grey hairs and notches to the blood pressure of the con staff … Keith will be here for opening ceremonies … well, okay, no, but Keith will arrive late tonight … all right, Keith will be here tomorrow afternoon … he'll be here in time for the banquet … eventually, though, Keith _did_ arrive! Just not today.

We saw the pitches for the original show, for New Olympians and Dark Ages. We saw the Bad Guys reel. Then, as a new treat, Greg played another audio tape of a Team Atlantis episode he’d written, one in which Milo and company encounter a certain Fiona Canmore who is hunting a certain stone-by-day, vengeful-blue-demon-by-night creature with the voice of Marina Sirtis.

It was in the middle of this broadcast (which was unintentionally hilarious, what with all the grunts, groans, and gasps of combat being taken terribly out of context by our collective filthy, filthy little minds) that Tim came in. He sat down by us, listened to the rest of the episode, and then turned to tell me that we needed to talk. That is _never_ a good phrase. Then he told me his car adventure, and I got to freak out imagining all the horrible things that could have happened. Visions of myself having to call his parents to tell them their only son had been run over. Visions of the police finally tracking him to the hotel and delivering the news to me. Visions of being stranded in a foreign country with Tim stuck in the hospital. Or worse.

But he is all right (as I type this, it’s Wednesday August 11, and we are in a plane flying home) except for a murky purple bruise on his arm. At the time, though, we were all in a state. The three of us returned to our room and ate the Chinese food that had survived the collision (lukewarm but good anyway), and then decided that Tim could use a drinkie. Hell, I could have used a drinkie, and I don’t normally drinkie. So we thought we’d find someone in the con suite to look after Becca while we went to the hotel bar and got sloshed, but the con suite was closed.

However, we ran into a crowd downstairs, and amended the plan. The hotel restaurant had a neat section of tables surrounded by cushy couches, and eight of us â€" Cindy and Rob, Jen and Alan, Patrick, and we three Morgans â€" commandeered this primo spot. By then, I had gotten around to thinking I needed dessert more than drinkie, so I had cheesecake. We had a grand time there, and when it was done Tim and Becca went back to our room while I followed the others back up to the con suite to attend Greg’s special late-night Blue Mug-A-Guest.

It turned out not to be nearly as blue as expected. For one thing, most everybody was brimming with questions about the DVD and “what would you do if.” For another, apparently most of the real naughtiness has been covered at previous midnight panels of this sort. As for me, I hadn’t attended many of those and by now, heck, anything I’d want to ask, I’d already decided my-own-self how I was going to handle it in my stories and done so.

The room was packed to capacity, and thanks to Jen abandoning her chair to Greg, I found myself in the weird position of sitting up in a chair next to him while others were all around us, mostly on the floor. I only felt on the spot a couple of times. Once was when Greg put me there, by redirecting a tail question to me. For the record, people â€" I did not invent the dirty tail trick! That was Spike! Okay, I did pick it up and run with it, but I didn’t _invent_ it (suppose that I might have, given time, but she did it first, so blame her!). I squirmed a little, too, when Andrea brought up my fanfic in an Angela-and-Gabriel question. Greg, if you’re out there, sorry … sorry … that one was all my fault.

What really caught me, though, was when the topic of September 11th came up, and Greg was asked if/how he would handle it in the show, were he given the chance. Now, see, my entry for the Phoenix Gate Anthology, “Dust and Ashes,” was a September 11th story. And as I sat there, listening to Greg talk about the importance of addressing it in a way that would not be disrespectful to the actual events and persons involved, I found myself starting to worry about that story.

I _believed_ I had done my best to be respectful, but I got started second-guessing. Especially when Ethan, who witnessed the tragedy, started talking. After all, I was a continent away and watching on television at work (after Tim called me, after _he_ heard about it from Jen). As great as my shock and horror was, I knew it couldn’t compare to that felt by those actually present. All I could do in writing was try to reach toward what I imagined it must have been like, and though just writing it gave me the cold chills all over again, I was worried that it would still fall far, far short.

So, after, I sought Ethan out and specifically requested him to read my story and let me know what he thought. He told me the next day that he read it, and that it was just what he would have wanted from such a story. I can’t really say he _liked_ it … who can _like_ that kind of story? But I felt it was powerful. One of the most powerful things I’ve ever written. I am very interested in hearing from others who’ve read it, hearing what you think.

Oh, and FYI â€" the only place to read “Dust and Ashes” is in the Phoenix Gate Anthology. I have no plans to post that story to my site. The con staff have several copies of the book left, and I know that at least a few of the other authors have stated a similar intention to not make their tales available anywhere else. So, buy the book.

Well, eventually I figured I should raise my hand. Gotta ask something, right? So I did. And Greg denies it, but that sure did look like dread in his eyes. If not dread, there was at least a palpable wariness. I have no idea what he expected me to ask. By the sounds of it, all the really raunchy questions had already been lobbed his way in years past. I don’t know what _I_ could have said to overtop those.

My question was, given the tendency (by no means a universal tendency, so don’t send me angry e-mails protesting) of human males to fall asleep shortly after nookie, and given also that gargoyles don’t fall asleep per se, what _do_ their males do. And I don’t mean that human males zonk out instantly, like someone threw a switch … too many people were imagining blissful post-coital gargs plummeting out of the night sky. Greg’s reply was that he figured they would be left with a pleasant mellow buzz.

I followed up with, given that gargs have superior recuperative abilities, how many times can the average healthy male “go” in a night. He said “three … and a half.” I guess the “half” is left up to imagination … perhaps going back to that earlier tail question.

Karine threw us all out shortly thereafter, and a good thing, too. It was past two in the morning. I staggered off to bed, knowing that the dawn was going to come awfully early.

Saturday, August 7th
The Gathering, Day 2

When we checked in, the lady at the desk said our room had a "river view." She was taking a little creative liberty. It's true that, with the proper amount of squinting and peering between buildings and under overpasses, there was a glint of something that might've been water. What we had was an eastern exposure, and on previous mornings we'd found that meant the sun woke us at 6:30.

Given that I had only fallen into bed at about 2:30 the night before, I was not looking forward to waking in four hours. And I must've been tired, because I didn't. I woke at quarter to nine, with the realization that I had a panel at 10:00. Ellen called shortly thereafter to let me know that she and Spacebabie were meeting for breakfast to discuss said panel.

Our initial plan was to just dash down and scarf some fast food, but the weekend isn't a work day, so the underground was closed. Arg! We ended up at the hotel's buffet instead, and still made it in time for my panel and the opening of the dealers room.

The panel was called "Thrill of the Chase," featuring myself, Ellen (who always dresses so smart and sharp, like she's going to a job interview, while the rest of us are slobbing around dressed like … well, like typical fan geeks, which is reasonable enough I guess, given that we _are_). We got a nice turn out, and wound up ranging across various topics of action scenes in general. Given that I still hadn't had any caffeine for the day, I think it went okay, though I think I rambled a bit much.

While I was off doing that, Becca and a couple of other kids joined Siryn to do crafts. Then I got sent off to do an interview with the video crew. I was apprehensive, let me tell you. It's all well and good to have them talk to people whose lives have changed because of _Gargoyles_, who've made something of themselves. The success stories, as it were, be they creative, business, or emotional.

And yes, I owe a tremendous debt to the show and the fandom. My writing has improved so much … I've experimented, my confidence has increased, I've benefited in a roundabout sort of way because people who have read and enjoyed my fanfic are then more likely to buy my books because they know they can trust me to tell a good story.

Some of the connections are very direct â€" I might never have written the novel _Black Roses_, for instance, without the inspiration that came from fanfic. That's why I dedicated it to Greg and Salli Richardson … the basic small town ghost story idea had been bobbing around in my head since I was a teenager, but I couldn't quite get a handle on it until after the fanfic, until mentally casting Salli as the character of Theresa. Then, hey presto, it all came together. Greg was so sweet, too, when I gave him a copy. He seemed to think it was very cool, having a book dedicated to him.

But anyway, here I was, having written over two million words of _Gargoyles_ fanfic … the equivalent of twenty paperback books. It felt like I was painting a target on my forehead, getting up there in front of that camera and asking to be hunted down. Imagining stern-faced Disney men-in-black knocking on my door (not that I haven't imagined that, several times over these many years, but I'd never gone out of my _way_ to get their attention before).

We then thought about trying to have Becca interviewed. She was game for it, but she got hit with a big-whammy case of stage fright as soon as we went into the room. We sat and watched a few other interviews â€" Aaron and Mara, one of the met-through-the-fandom love stories with the added bonus of Aaron's "Most Dedicated Fan EVER" status thanks to his giant full-color Demona chest tattoo. But, though Becca said she really wanted to do it, she was just too nervous. We ended up going back to the room for a while so she could settle down.

When she was recovered, I dropped her off at an SCA fighting demo â€" she's seen plenty of them at other cons, and always enjoys them. I stuck my head into the Auction in time to see a cell going for much higher than I could afford. Then I minded the table while Tim went off to fetch food again. Him being, of course, under orders to cross at the crosswalk and look both ways!

The Radio Play came next, with a huge cast to read from the script of "The Journey," the first TGC episode. Keith still hadn't arrived, so Rob "Talyesin" read for Goliath and did a terrific job. Zehra, as Elisa, was great too … there were moments when she was _so_ Elisa that it was goosebump spooky. Mike, aka Riverdale, was a perfect Vinnie (it was apparently his first Gathering, and I have never seen someone fit in so fast and so well; he is truly one of us), and the guy who played Jon Castaway was almost too intense. It was a great show.

The Banquet began at 6:00, and still no sign of Keith David. The three of us sat with Jen, Alan, Zehra, Darien and Nicholas (the latter two had only just discovered the Gathering and come up from Massachusetts; Nicholas was one of the few kids at the con). Karine had Nicholas and Becca draw slips from a goblet, each slip with a table number to tell where Greg and Keith (if he showed) were to sit.

The room was lit eerie orange, so I have no idea how anyone's pictures are going to turn out. Our waitress was a strict grandmotherly type who scolded me for not eating my appetizer or finishing my salad. Dinner was stuffed quail, eensy little birds with eensy little leg bones. Decadent dessert. After seeing that Lanny's table had ordered wine, we did the same (Sprite for the kids).

The menus were an additional cool touch; the menu was listed opposite a color image of Goliath. I meant to save some, but on unpacking, I never did find them so I must've left them somewhere.

And then, at last, Keith arrived. The funny part was, a few minutes earlier, Greg had left the room. So here was Keith, and no Greg. Keith was taken to his table, and it struck me that what we needed was for him to, when Greg walked in, stand up and announce, "Ladies and Gentlemen, _Greg Weisman_!" You know, like Greg keeps doing. So I told Jen, Jen told Karine, Karine told Keith … and he did it!

Keith managed to talk between bites, and had to compete with the party going on next door. It was, I think, a nursing school reunion or graduation, so lots of women singing lots of bad karaoke. That is not always necessarily a contradiction in terms, by the way … when it was our group's turn later, a few shining stars rose high above the rest.

We left to go back to the room, so that I could get Becca into her costume and so Tim and Denis could work out their PayPal arrangements â€" Denis, one of my most dedicated readers, even shelled out for the _Black Roses_ audio book on CD!

Becca went as Bronx for the second time. Amazingly, most of the outfit still fit her (four years? was Orlando four years ago? egad!), though we did have to do new pants for it, since the old ones stopped just below the knee. Borrowed face paints from Jen, and soon we had our Bronx. We hooked up with members of the con staff â€" Jen and Alan as Gruoch and Macbeth, Cindy and Patrick as Titania and Puck â€" and it was time for the Masquerade.

What an incredible turnout, too! The staff weren't eligible for the contest, but plenty of other people dressed up and were just fabulous! The judges were Greg, Keith, our hotel liaison Daniel (he had such a good time; he's probably going to be talking about this for years!), and a lady who, I think, was either Daniel's wife or girlfriend.

I was sitting on the sidelines with my camera when Jen came up and grabbed me and stuck me at the judge's table, so that I could help keep track of who was who and which characters were canon as opposed to fanfic. It was a little startling to suddenly find myself seated next to Keith. And it turned out I didn't have much to do â€" most of the characters were canon this year. But I got to join the judges in their sequestered chamber and listen to them discuss the entries.

I say again, incredible turnout! Incredible costumes! Andrew, as Korul, not only had an amazing outfit but did a song-and-dance routine, was the undisputed best in show. Keith particularly appreciated the ladies, and I am pretty sure I heard a couple of those deep rumbling Goliath-growls from him … like when Argenta was strutting, or when Jade undid the skirt of her Elisa-Belle dress.

The Masquerade opened with Ethan, Sapphire, and Chameleongirl doing a cosplay with props of the _Gargoyles_ opening theme. Then came Vanessa as Dancer, in a lovely white dress. Then Spacebabie as Lori Canmore, and Nikki as Elisa-as-a-gargoyle. Then a scene from "Eye of the Beholder" as a trenchcoated Fox was carried in by Xanatos (that was Jackie and Alan, I think). Then Becca as Bronx. Tony and Andrea were Dracon and Bad Elisa (that costume often wins the Cleavage Award), presenting the judges with a jar of jalapeno peppers.

Sorry if I'm getting any names wrong; I was a little dazed. Then we saw Allan West as Thailog, Stormy as a Quarryman, Mandi in long purple hair as the Banshee. Annie came as Fox. Revel won the Thom Adcox Award for the attitude of his Tony Dracon.

Sherry's Echidna costume … so cool! So neat to see different characters! Lynati was a late but spectacular arrival as Ophelia. Flanker as the Renaissance Hunter … Kaylee and Siryn as Princess Katherine and young Tom (for which Si won the traditional Gorelisa cross-dressing award). Karine was ideal as Fox-in-maternity-smock.

Becca loved being Bronx. She posed for pictures, she roared for the crowd, she had a wonderful time and was thrilled to win a ribbon for Best Junior. But she was also glad, after a couple hours, to get out of that sweaty costume and wash off all the blue. Not only was there facepaint, but the costume hat has never been what I'd call color-fast.

So we took her back to the room to clean up. Then she and Tim stayed to sleep, while I went back down to the party. There was much singing. Now, I don't sing. Ever. I mouth the words to "Happy Birthday." So I admire the heck out of everyone who got up to sing in front of a crowd.

Keith reappeared and sang a number. He had his family in tow. I didn't catch their names, but there was a boy a little older than Becca, a girl of around three, and a baby who was all big adorable dark eyes. At one point, the little girl was climbing around on the stage and did this precarious step-wobble-teeter, and Greg and I, who were standing nearby, both almost lunged for the kid. Parents. Just can't help it.

We had our own lounge-singer rendition of "The Love Boat" (we definitely need him to come to Vegas, to shoehorn him into tight Tom Jones pants to do "It's Not Unusual"), and Zehra blew us all away with her performance. What a voice! Earlier, in the radio play, she'd been Elisa … now she sang like Julie Andrews, with that same almost unbearable purity of voice. She got a well-deserved standing ovation.

And talk about a hard act to follow! The only thing to do was to plunge into absurdity … and you'd have to look long and hard to find any number more absurd than "YMCA," especially when nobody knew the freakin' words! "Young man, something-something-something! I say, young man, something-something-something!"

I mean it. Literally. That's what they sang. Twenty people doing the arm movements and everything. Only knowing the chorus. I have not laughed so hard since seeing "Van Helsing."

So, for future reference, here is a link to the complete official lyrics:
http://www.elyrics.net/go/v/village-people-lyrics/ymca-lyrics/

I didn't stay long, and what time I was there I spent hanging out with Jen and sneaking peeks at her husband's legs (gosh, Alan's got nice legs … and those boots! Oh, baby!) while he was busy rounding up a bevy of beauties to keep him company at the back of the room.

What the rest of the hotel guests must've thought, I do wonder. There was the elderly couple: "See? I told you this place was full of weirdoes." (this because they were sharing an elevator with Puck, Titania, Bronx, Gruoch and Macbeth). There was the couple that wandered in while the karaoke was going on. There were the nursing students, or whatever they were.

And there was the man who approached Jen and I at one point (I forget exactly when) and asked, "Excuse me … what are Gargoyles? I mean, I know what 'gargoyles' are, but … who are you people?" Jen abandoned me to field that one on my own. I think I handled it okay. At least the guy didn't run.

And that was it for Saturday! I got to bed at a more reasonable hour, after saying goodbye to Greg â€" he was planning to stay up all night and leave at six to get home in time for his daughter's birthday.

Sunday, August 8th
The Gathering, Day 3

We went straight to the hotel buffet that morning, and had breakfast with Kathy Pogge. I think most everyone was off to an even slower start that morning, especially the people who'd stayed up all night to see Greg off.

There was some confusion all weekend long about the Phoenix Gate Anthology signing party. It wasn't on the schedule, and so it was going to be at the same time as Keith and Greg were doing autographs. Which, of course, got shoved all around. Finally, it was decided that the signing party would take place during Keith's Sunday morning Mug-A-Guest, in the dealers room.

Which, of course, conflicted with Allaine's adult round robin, and Dylan's talk on gargoyle biology. At least, it would have if the Mug had started on schedule at 10:00. What really happened was that I moved furniture, setting up some tables and chairs and pens, and made some quickie handmade signs for the PGA and for Keith.

Ultimately, it worked out pretty well, I thought! We had a long row of authors and artists. All but two of the PGA authors were there: me, Dylan, Stormy, Ellen, Scott, Allaine, John, and Alex Garg. The other two, Christi and Summer, had sent autographed stickers so that they could sort of sign in absentia. Kyt was there, having done the beautiful cover art, and Kya White Sapphire and Liz joined us to sign their pics, too.

Speaking of which â€" big thanks to Liz for filling in at the last minute when we had a space in the book and needed a piece of art; all the more thanks from me because she did an illustration from "Dust and Ashes," and then honored me by giving me the original! Time to hit the frame shop, and see about squeezing some more space out of our overcrowded walls!

The crowds kept us pretty busy with our pens, and then just as we were more or less finishing up, Keith arrived. It was coming up on 1:00 by then, and some people had been sitting and waiting most patiently. The art show was already coming down. Keith toured the dealers room (he took one of my _Black Roses_ audio tape demos, which was mildly alarming) and then sat down to answer questions.

He also expressed interest in the PGA, so Karine snared him a copy and had us all sign it. This, of course, got me nervous all over again. Wonder what he'll make of the stories? Wonder what he'll make of _my_ story?

The talk topics ranged all over. We found out that a couple of Keith's dream roles would be to do _The Man of La Mancha_, and the Nat King Cole story. When he said this, a low anticipatory sound â€" "ooooh!" â€" went through the crowd. He briefly ascended a soapbox to talk about soldiers and, after someone is trained to dehumanize and kill the enemy, how difficult it is to reintegrate into regular society.

While this was going on, the art show was being taken down and Art Show Goddess Cindy was busy getting the awards ready. As always, the talent of this fandom is just amazing. I liked seeing the unconventional things, too, the wooden sculpture, Jade's darling little Demona doll … it made me resolve that next year, I'll have something to contribute. I may not be able to draw, but I can craft, and I think I'm finally ready to bust out the old hot glue gun again.

Closing Ceremonies began at 3 or so, with the presentation of the art show ribbons, another Vegas reminder from Chris, and the Clan Olympics winners (Becca was swimming at the time, but she was happy later when I told her that Arno's team won the gold). Keith did his autograph session, and a lot of people signed up for next year.

Then Chris convened a business meeting to elect a board of directors. The final seven members were him, me, Jen, Siryn, Hudson, Scott, and Greg B. But in retrospect, I think Tim should have been nominated, not me. He's had loads of experience with this sort of thing, bylaws and motions and seconding and voting and quibbling over wording and all that hoo-rah from being a Mason (so _this_ is what they do at their secret meetings!). But he'll be here to help me out.

After that, we horned in on the con staff for the Dead Dog party up in the con suite for booze and goodies. Karine mixes a mean drink! Some friends of hers showed up with their daughter, a cute little kid who was shy at first â€" for maybe three whole minutes â€" before she was running around playing with Becca and tickling people and feeding candy to us all. There was laughter, cussing, foot massages, silliness, ranting, cuddling, bad jokes (I don't think Karine was all that terribly amused by the "what's the difference between a lightbulb and a pregnant woman" one; she shot me a narrow "har-har" sort of look).

We had pizza â€" Becca had chicken nuggets; whenever we go on vacation, I try to enforce the "chicken nuggets for only ONE meal a day, but sometimes it doesn't quite work out â€" and we partied. The three of us left around 11:00, and I heard that the rest of the party broke up shortly thereafter.

Monday, August 9th and Tuesday, August 10th
La Ronde and Montreal

We got up and got moving fairly early Monday. Breakfast at McD's, and then Tim headed off to explore the city. Again, under orders to stay out of the street. He wanted to prowl the university district, and look for game stores, and go to museums, and take more pictures of buildings … and all the general gamer/history geek stuff that he likes to do.

Becca and I, meanwhile, waited around for the group that was headed to La Ronde. There ended up being some two dozen of us who went, many in garg shirts. Entertained (or frightened) the passengers on the Metro by treating them to a loud, enthusiastic rendition of the "One thousand years ago" speech. Oh, how I love cities with actual efficient rapid transit! Seattle is such a throwback in that regard.

We had our Six Flags season passes, bought this year since not only have we visited our local park but knew we'd have this trip coming up, as well as Magic Mountain in December when we plan to invade Jen's house (and, in light of developments, we're now thinking to arrange it so that we're there on the 7th, for a DVD release party!).

As it turned out, the season passes caused a slight problem. We got separated at the gates because Becca and I had to go to another window to use our passes. By the time we got that sorted out, we'd lost track of the others. Becca, who had wanted to go on the big rides with Siryn, was disappointed but soon got over it.

Nice park! Hot day. We went on a few rides, not many as it turned out because some of the lines were horrendous. Becca won four little stuffed snakes and two fat little stuffed dogs playing carnival games (skee-bowling and darts). It was a lot of fun, just me and her, mommy-daughter time. I bought a "La Vampire" visor, to make up for the hat I lost at Wild Waves.

The last ride was the log ride, which was not the tame tepid Splash Mountain we were expecting but fast and bumpy and full of rapids … fun! Then we sat for a while and watched other logs come down the flume, waiting to see if anybody was going to flash the camera. Closest we got was a quartet of teens who flipped the finger in unison.

We wound up making our way back to the hotel on our own, too. Becca was sure that I was going to get us lost, oh she of little faith. Then she went swimming, and Tim told us about his day.

Then, with aching legs and feet, we wimped out and took a cab down into the old town district, to a fondue restaurant. Seen as how Becca had already eaten her day's quota of chicken nuggets and all! And wow! What a meal! We got the Fondue Trio, which started with a cheese fondue, bread, grapes and apples. Then we got a bubbling pot of broth and a platter of raw chicken and beef and veggies to dip. And then, oh-my-slavering-gods, a fondue of dark chocolate with bits of crepe, marshmallow, banana, and strawberry.

As we returned to the hotel, by cab again because now we were not only footsore and achy but stuffed to capacity with yummy fondue, we ran into Keith and family again. Judging by the array of stuffed animals they were carrying â€" a clownfish, more snakes, etc. â€" they had been at La Ronde too.

We slept in on Tuesday, and then headed to Notre Dame. I only shot a couple of pictures before Tim started grumbling about how flash photography would damage the paint. So I quit, even though hoards of other people were popping flashbulbs right and left. It was a truly impressive building … and I wish I'd realized sooner the gross impropriety of wearing a Gothy black "La Vampire" visor into a cathedral … but my skin didn't blister when I dipped my fingers in the holy water font, so I guess that's a good sign.

Our next stop was the Science Center, where we were just in time to catch the English version of this interactive immersion shark game movie thing they had. Fifty or so people sitting in a dark room at computer terminals, while up front is a huge screen of underwater scenes. Each of us played the role of some sea creature, starting low on the old food chain and working our way up through the species by eating prey, avoiding being eaten, and reaching certain goals. Very cool.

Becca enjoyed the Science Center, which had exhibits devoted to the science of sleep, the human body, and technology. A movie must've been being filmed outside, too, because we could see trucks and trailers and cameras and crew, and they had gone to some effort to make the outside of the Science Center into an airport. Luggage trolleys, suitcases, signs, etc. Never did catch a glimpse of anybody famous, though.

We had an early dinner, then returned to the hotel. By now, if anyone else was still around, we didn't see them. Tim started packing while I took Becca for a final swim, and then I got online briefly … before the thunderstorm rolled in.

And what a thunderstorm! Huge flaring sheets of lightning, stinging rain blown almost horizontal by high wind, crashing roars of thunder. The weather channel even said something about a chance of tornadoes, if I was translating correctly (though how hard can it be to guess what "tornade" means?). So I turned off the computer, and we doused the lights, and sat and watched the storm.

Luckily, it didn't blow out the power or the television, so Tim and I were still able to catch "The Amazing Race" before falling asleep. The alarm was set for 4:00 AM, so that we could get to the airport and finally head for home.

It was a wonderful trip (except for the car thing). So great to see my old friends and meet new ones! I didn't realize until I was there just how much I'd missed everybody. We're all looking forward to Las Vegas, and Tim and I have even found ourselves thinking seriously about a Seattle bid one of these years.

Michael McAdam writes...

This is my con report from Le Gathering, Montreal 2004.

I have attended sci-fi/fantasy conventions since 1985. In my youth, everything was new and exciting and I always looked forward to the next opportunity to meet like-minded people at these magical weekend gatherings.

But like anything, it gets old after a while: one becomes jaded, or cynical, or bored. And for those of us who turn a hobby into a business, this is intensified by the "professional" angle that we maintain.

But at this convention, I re-discovered a pleasure that I haven't enjoyed in almost ten years: The sheer enjoyment of reveling in the appreciation of a wonderful creation-- in this case, Disney's animated TV series, "Gargoyles."

The show ended its run in 1997, but the fandom survived-- and have held a regular convention every year since that time. Understand: the show was over. It only ran three seasons, the last of which wasn't even the same production house as the first two (thus a dispute on whether there were three seasons, or really only two.) And yet, despite this, a loyal following of fans put forth the effort to make a convention happen, dedicated to this show, year after year in a different city each time.

That's dedication.

I was always a fan of the show, but I felt no particular motivation to seriously join the fandom, until this year, when my good friend Lanny invited me to the convention. "You're a voice actor," he said. "You've got to come. Some of the voice talent from the show will be there." And then he very, very generously offered to fly me down on his air travel points, and put me up in his hotel room.

That's friendship.

How could I say no? I looked forward to it-- and I hadn't been to Montreal since I was four-- what a fun opportunity!

So I flew down east, got picked up by Lanny and Derrick and off we went to the hotel.

The very first night, I saw the difference between this convention and so many others: The people who made it happen, and the guests around which the fandom is based. Lanny, it turns out, knew most of the convention staff personally, not to mention Greg Weisman, the creator of the show. We all went out to dinner the first night and I sat between Greg and Lanny and across from the con chair, Karine "Kanthara" Charlebois (six months pregnant and still the perfect hostess, she is TEH FABULOUS, or as we say in French, <i>absolument fameuse.</i>).

And there it was: meeting one of the guests of honour, the show's creator, who is a great guy and very open and-- and this is the part that really sent me-- just one of the gang. You'd never pick Greg Weisman out at this convention as the Special Guest Superstar Guy. He knows these people, and they know him. They're old friends. You can feel that vibe. They're used to each other, comfortable with each other. It's a feeling I haven't seen before in the otherwise drooling-fan-infested populations of other conventions.

I noticed that compared to other conventions, the dealer's room and art show were small. I realized this was because they weren't the focus of the convention, they weren't the <i>point.</i> The point was, and always has been as far as I can tell, the people. The fans I began to meet were happy to be there, as opposed to the dull whineyness of many convention veterans. They were from many diverse backgrounds, and there was a wide spread of age ranges. Artists, theatricals, computer techs, veterinarians, publishers... one couldn't pigeonhole this fandom into one demographic; they are, literally, from all over the place.

I met people that I knew only vaguely as names mentioned by artist friends of mine who were involved in the fandom. They too, had heard of me in similarly vague ways. Those barriers dissolved quickly as I was welcomed by everyone I met. Like I said, these people are all part of the gang-- in Gargoyle terms, we're all one big clan.

I haven't felt that connection in years. I used to have the same feeling with other <a href="http://www.elfquest.com">ElfQuest</a> fans in the late 80's, but since then had become jaded. These people, this Clan, re-awoke something in me that I thought I'd lost, like a memory of my youth but still present in the here-and-now.

The Radio Play, the main reason Lanny invited me and the reason I wanted to go, was so much fun I forgot that I was trying to be a professional and do some serious learning from the veterans of the biz. I auditioned for Greg Weisman, who made it very easy, explaining in a prior seminar what he wanted and how to give it to him, and with the help of Jen, miss CrzyDemona herself, they cast me (as The Ham Comedy Character, which tells me that they had me figured out from the word Go).

Here's the other magical thing about this: Keith David, the voice of Goliath himself, was meant to be at the voice seminar and the subsequent radio play. Due to complications he couldn't arrive until late Saturday night. Guess what-- I had an amazing time anyway. It says a lot about a convention that even when a major guest can't make it, that the fun just keeps on going. I know it did for me.

Keith arrived at around 11 pm Saturday night and he was welcomed-- he had brought his family and he sang karaoke songs after the costume contest. Once again, a miracle-- I can't think of any celebrity who would not only bring his family to a convention with him, but actually stick around and participate in a room full of adoring fans singing karaoke.

The magic of the Gathering, again.

On a personal note, I found the man inspiring. He was <i>resonant.</i> I could believe everything he said because I could feel the strength of <i>his</i> belief behind it. He spoke of the industry of acting and voicing, which spoke directly to me-- but his other anecdotes and stories were a pleasure to listen to as well, because he was sharing in an intimate setting.

Intimate settings seemed to be the name of the game, as Greg Weisman hosted his own "Mug-A-Guest" panels, in both the PG-13 and the "Blue" -- anything goes -- format. Sitting in the con suite, hanging out, anyone could ask him anything. He was accessible. He was friendly. He was candid, open, everyone's pal.

Again, something I've never seen before.

Disney is planning to release the first season on DVD on December 7th of this year. There was a film crew at the Gathering, filming us every day and asking for interviews with the fans. I volunteered, wanting to do my part to explain the amazing phenomenon that Gargoyles fandom is. I hope that I painted a good, clear picture and that something of that message makes it onto the "special features" of the DVD release, because this phenomenon is too cool to allow to pass unnoticed.

To my fellow Clansmates out there, the new people I've met and the generous friend who allowed me my first glimpse of this amazing world-- thank you. Thank you for a great weekend. Thank you for a truly magical experience. I can't say enough about a weekend with no downsides except perhaps:

- Fear me in battle at LaserQuest.
- Liz is a total SHARK at Mario Kart. Fear HER.
- Next year, in Las Vegas, I really hope to put together a smashing team for the Clan Olympics.

Thank you all. I know I'm looking forward to the future of this fandom, and my place in it.

To those of you reading this: The next Gathering happens around the beginning of August, 2005 in Las Vegas, Nevada. Go to <a href="http://www.gatheringofthegargoyles.com/">http://www.gatheringofthegargoyles.com/</a> and keep an eye for further developments. And remember: The sooner you register, the sooner the convention has more money with which to create a fantasy weekend of unparalleled enjoyment.

Karlyl writes...

Well, you wanted con reports...here's a long bugger. ^_^

Wednesday:

I ran around like a chicken with its head cut off and went to work and packed and dropped my luggage with the zipper not zipped, thereby spilling everything across my living room. Ha ha aha. Made it out to the airport,where at TEN-THRITY at NIGHT, there was traffic all up the ass at LAX. V. Disgruntled, but made it into TERMINAL 2 in no less than 30 minutes. I should’ve got out and walked, it would’ve been faster. XD.

Anyways, checked in and dealt with the idiot ppl at the front desk ( Them: You have e-ticket! Me: I go international! Them: You have e-ticket! Me: Machine won’t give me a boarding pass because I’m going _international_ you freak! Them: You haveâ€" Me: Oh, for God’s sake, just check me in!) I make it down to the waiting area for Northwest and whip out the drawing utensils. I had inked versions of all the pieces I was planning to show ( cuz I like, decided to do them Tuesday, instead of having a blank board XD) . I start working on the Puck/Wyrd Sisters piece and realize that I’m a bit loopy. So I call my friend Teresa to let her know I’m leaving (I forgot to tell her when I was going). Anyways, I work on that a while, then they call us for boarding. Nice ppl have pillows and blankets on every seat, which makes me happy. I planned to do some more drawing, but was so tired that five minutes into the flight, I zonked. So did everyone else apparently. I woke up when the head flight attendant with the accent from hell (Please fasten seat belllllllllllllllllllltttttttttttts for takeoff, Thaaaaank you, come agan!!!) told everyone that we were approaching Detroit. I was like, yes, is good, though I have various cricks from sleeping in non feasible positions.

Thursday:

Get into Detroit, find gate for Montreal. I sit down and furiously begin work on the “Moondance” piece. Am very, very, very tired, but know I need to finish, as I didn’t finish the puck one and this one, plus the London one are infinitely more complicated. Get on plane to Montreal and end up passing out, so I didn’t work on the pic anymore. Get off plane and wander through the “corridors of doom!”, aka, the Montreal arrivals area until I get to customs. I g through, get luggage and then I see Liz (Sara Berkeley)! I call out and we hug and yay! I was just happy to see someone I knew. I meet Taylor, who is just in front and we all go out to the curb. I hang with them while we play “where is the van with Patrick in it”. Laurean (Siryn) shows up not too long afterwards. We wait a while until they arrive and then they take the van and I jump a taxi to the hotel. Taxi guy is real nice and gives me a neato map and event booklet and circles relevant places. I get to the hotel and am blown away by how lovely it is. I can’t check in, as the room isn’t ready, so I wander up the street to get food. I come back and I wait around to see folks and an hour or so after I get there, I see Seth (IRC Goliath)! We chat for a while, until his roomies show up. About ten minutes later, Karine (Kanthara) and Cindy (Eden) and Rob (Talyesin) all show up, and I see Scott (Abram Wintersmith) too! SO I wander over and am like “Hi hi!”. Kelly (KWSapphire) still isn’t in yet. Liz and taylor show up and then Liz pawns Taylor off on me. We randomly meet Julie (Chameleongirl), who is our other roommate, so everyone but Kelly is there yet. The room is on her card and no one else’s name is on the room so we can’t check in yet. We end up curling in chairs and sleeping, until Kelly calls my cell.

Anyways, we go up to the room and I resume my mad frantic must draw frenzy. Kelly gets Tony and Andrea from downstairs and everybody chats in the room for a while. The other folks go out to meet ppls for dinner, which ends up being a flop, but I stayed in so I could work on the art. Eventually, around eleven or so, I think they come back and Kelly gives me the second half of her tuna salad sandwich. I gobble down and thank her. We sleep.

Friday:

Mad frantic dash to finish art crap. Going nuts. Rest of folks get up and go to breakfast, _I think_. I sit around and finish up art. I am so happy when finished, I run down around 12:30pm and set up art stuff. I see Cindy again and Jen (CrzyDemona)! Jen’s hubby, Alan walks up to me and says “You’re Trishana” and I am like “I am…”. Hahahha. Alan has sexy knees XD. Anyways, I put up my crap â€" Karine lets me borrow some black construction paper from her ( thank yooooouuuu!!!) so I can mount my stuff on something. After that…I…uh…I don’t remember what I did after that. XD I know I picked up my registration packet and said hi to Rob and Kelly roped me into doing clan Olympics with her, Julie and Kyffin…der…OH! Yes. Me, Julie and Kelly went to the French Staples office supply store and I had a fit because I bought some stuff really cheap there!!! After that, I went to Cindy’s costuming panel, at which time, the legend of Man-Faye became known and has since made its rounds through the con. XD They were filming and Cindy kept curbing her language and it was rather funny, ehehhee. “Son of biâ€"er gun.” Anyways, after that was the opening ceremonies!! We went to that and it went incredibly long, though I dug the Ed Asner tape comment: “Vampires…it’s what we’re not.” And I won’t even talk about the Team Atlantis audio. Those who were there know what I’m taking about. Anyways, there was the first clan Olympics event at the opening and Cindy and Liz got a kick out of my “utterly confused” expression when Julie and Kyffin’s plan to put balls in a blanket failed and they didn’t show up at the front until like 3/4ths of the way into the game. I couldn’t see them, so I had no idea what happened or if I was just missing them. :P After that, apparently Genn (Ithil) sits with us and I notice, but I’m not sure it’s my honeykins â€" I hadn’t yet met her in person yet XD. Anyways, it is! But I am taken away or I wander away â€" we end up going to dinner at Le Marche, since we didn’t go to eat with the staffs and stuff. We being me, Kelly, Julie, Kyffin, Ethan, Taylor and Liz. That was fun. :] I also gave one of the servers information about the Gathering!! I had forgotten to take off my badge. Anyway, we head back and Kelly, Julie, Kyffin and I go to a clan Olympics event. I think Liz and Taylor went up for the blue mug-a-gust, where Taylor experienced a revelation about Owen and Puck (hehehe). I don’t remember what happened after that, but I do know that we’d gone to bed, then Liz comes back and she and Julie strikes up a conversation. Julie is a adorable giggle-box, but I was feelin’ the lack of sleep heavily and I apparently mumbled funny things in my delirium.

Thus the rampant : “Man...guuuys….geeeez…” comment was borne.

Saturday:

Get up. I don’t remember what happened, except that I got up. OH. Right. Went to breakfast with Liz, iana n Taylor at the hotel buffet, whichw as good. Then-- Clan Olympics. Trivia torute. Which was fun, but we got majorly shafted by the “spirits”. It’s alright, but it was still a bummer. Hoepfully there will be a few more rules on what spririts can do.

Afterwards I went down to the dealers room, where I chatted with Cindy for a while and ended up watching the room because Cindy was drafted into doing the radio play auditions. XD Saw Jen again and we chatted some. I harassed Liz and Taylor while they were doing the artist alley thing. Finally saw some of Taylor’s work and Good GOD! He’s got some AWESOME stuff and hasn’t done commissions before O_O. Silly, silly boy. He seemed shocked that we all said we’d commission him. Oh and I made Cindy draw me Vic porn. XD *snuggles* Kyt draws me some Orcus porn as well, ayayayayaa!!!! I’m such a fangirl XD I also got into a bloody bidding war over Cindy’s Brooklyn and Mary-Sue pic. My limit was at 45 bucks and apparently it went to 80. O_O Go Cins. I also devirginized her new sketchbook. Twice. I feel proud XD.

Anyways, Genn and Ian show up!:D:D So we go around Montreal and end up at a Second Cup â€" like a Coffee Bean place. I marvel over the fact that there is clean air and thoroughly amuse my French Canadian friends, heh. We chat for a while, then eventually, we have to get back. Ian had to go do slave work for the con staff ( kidding XD), so me and Genn just hung out for a bit, until the banquet was going to start. Since she wasn’t going, she left. Wish she could’ve stayed!

In any case, went to the banquet and Kelly gave my seat away, so me and Ian ended up at the table next to them. They drew Greg Weisman to sit at their table. Our table was a riot and completely nutters. It was fun, if a bit odd at times. Dinner was good, and Keith David finally showed up. Also, there was the “ooonch, oonch, oooonch:” techno music from the folks in the room next to ours that kept interrupting things. It was very funny, heehhe. After the dinner, me and Ian helped Liz organize the masquerade stuff and then me, Kelly and Julie helped Liz with her costume and body paint. Funniest moment:

(Through the bathroom door)

Kelly: Liz, you alright in there?

Liz: *pause*….eheheheheee. I have man boobies.

After which she opened the door and the rest of us just died, because she had man nipples that could be used as weapons. It was the chest plate. Heh. Anyways, we slather body paint on Liz and baby powder her and she looks awesome!!! Go down to the ball, where I chat with Cindy and Taylor. Rob wandered in and out, sporting his “President Lex Luthor” look, ehehhe!! The masquerade was AWESOME. Everyone had RAWKIN costumes. Indeed, it was one of the best years yet. After the masquerade, there was karaoke. Keith David even sang some! But I died when Taylor sang the love boat and true to his words, everyone over 35 fell out. XD. It was a great rendition. ^_^ The YMCA song was suitably retarded, but fun, since no one could remember the words XD. I spent most of the night chatting with Andrea (Eliza Maza) â€" a very cool and gifted gal. I’m only sorry I didn’t get a chance to tell her and her husband Tony (Archangel) goodbye on Sunday :/.

I stayed down there for many hours. Then I went upstairs and took a shower. When I got out, the rest of the crew was back. We ended up going to the con suite to chat with the folks. Greg was trying to stay awake until his very early flight out. We chatted and then we watched live action Sailor Moon on Karine’s computer. After that, I was done and we ended up going to bed at 4am.

The last thought on my mind: Alan has sexy knees.

(That’s what you get for putting your man in an above the knee skirt, Jen!)

Sunday:

Apparently Ian and Taylor knocked on our door that morning so we all could go to breakfast. Apparently I answered it. And I was told to go back to sleep. I think I told Liz about it too, but it really didn’t matter. We were all zonked.

Um, I got up and went to the dealers room, hung with Cindy and stuff whilst waiting for Genn. She shows up with Felix! And he indeed has poofy hair XD. Me, Genn, Felix and Karine eventually go to get food â€" I get General Tao’s! karine stays as long as she can, but she has a panel to do, so she leaves. The rest of us follow not long after wards and it’s started to rain! Yay!!!! I love rain and we don’t get any out here in LA. We go to Karine’s Dynamic characters panel and I ask her to draw feet XD. After wards the closing ceremonies aren’t too long away and we sit in the terrace, where we put static clinging balls in Genn and Felix’s hair. Kelly shows up for a bit and we bounce the ball around. Silver and Gorebash show up, along with Arno and Gorebash puts the balloons under his shirt and makes booby Gore! Hehehhe. Pictures are better than words. XD

Go to closing ceremonies, where I win first place for marker canon gargs and marker fanon gargs XD Very cool. I also sell all my stuff, except “Moondance” because I didn’t want to sell it. ^^;; But I sold prints XD Go figure?

Anyhow after closing ceremonies, Keith david does autographs and folks sign up for the Vega 2005 gathering. I have Keith sign a cd that Tony and Andrea gave me!!! That was unfortunately, the last I saw of them *pout* as they left on Monday morning.:/ Taylor satisfies his “Keith david must sign art specially done for him to sign!” urges and Liz hits jackpot â€" Keith wants her business card and work and buys it from her!!! Liz sports goofy look until I last see her on Tuesday. I’m sure she’s still sporting goofy look XD I’m glad both she and Taylor had a good time ^_^.

Anyways, Genn and I are getting hungry and evil â€" Kelly and Julie are at the business meeting, which runs long and so, me, Genn, liz, Felix, Ian and Taylor go to this crepes placeâ€"MAN the food was awesome. We wander back to the hotel, and Genn and Felix end up leaving us (awww!). The rest of us make it in. Later I end up wandering up to the con suite and get engaged in after con “thank all that is holy, it’s over!” party, where I proceed to be groped by small children O.o. I’ll never be the same XD After a while up there, I end up leaving, and say goodbye to Jen! Who’s not coming to the LA Ronde amusement park on Monday because she’s _leaving_. *pout, grumble, pout*

Anyways, I wander back down to Scott’s room, where a video game thing is in full swing. I sit around and chat for a while, until Ian comes in. Folks were playing Mario party 4 and Ian kept having brain non-compute moments that left me, him, Liz and Taylor in stitches. Taylor even drew brains leaving the skull XD Anyways,w e eventually get kicked out, cuz Shaun wanted to sleep and we go to Mike’s (Riverdell) room.

OMG. Noshing the nether nipples.

Mike has an awesome sense of humor. Scott shoved the controller for Mario Kart in my hands and I showed exactly how badly I can play. XD We all giggled a lot, then we ended up going to our room.

Sleeeeeeeept.

Monday:

Got up. Went to La Ronde. The whole weekend, I’d been suffering from some sort of feverish allergies. While I had a great time, my nose and eyeballs wouldn’t stop running, so I was very subdued when we got to the park. Me, Rob and Cindy go to get food and then Karine, Patrick, and Shaun show up. We munch and I actually feel less vile. We wander for a while, and then Rob insists that we go n the dragon, the LAMEST ROLLERCOASTER IN ALL EXISTENCE. That was really funny. We then go on the ferris wheel and that was just awesome â€" the view was spectacular. And the air felt so good! After that we ended up going on the vampire, which is basically Batman the Ride for those of you Californian folks who’ve been to Magic Mountain. We went on another ride after that, but then me, Karine, Patrick and Laurean, who’d joined us before the Vampire, went back to the hotel. Rob and Cindy had left a few hours before. Shaun went to find Scott, so they could leave.

Anyways, on the way into the hotel, we see Keith David!! He gives Patrick the money for Liz’s prints and he asks us to sing happy birthday to his youngest girl! He was a very nice person, and his family had to be incredibly accommodating to deal with all of us. They were so graceful, I was very impressed. ^_^

I said goodbye to Karine and Laurean, then went to the room to zonk for a while. The rest of merry band was still at La Ronde. ^_^ I woke up later and wandered out with Patrick and another guy who I don’t know the name of to find food. We walked in a giant circle and then settled on Tim Hortons. OMG, best iced cappuccinos ever! We go back and chill for a while, then folks show back up! We chat for a bit that night and stuff, since everyone except me and Julie are leaving on Tuesday. I also think this was the night that I ended up turning Taylor in Jadzia Dax with Julie’s stamping pens. XD HahHhaahha.

Sleep!

Tuesday:

Kelly gets up really early and opens curtains. AHHHH.

She packs and gets stuff together, then she ends up leaving. It was very sad, because it was like “it’s over” and that wasn’t fun. We all get up and pack up our stuff and everything. I like Taylor and Liz go get breakfast and pick me up some toast. I learnt o work the coffee machine in the room and make my own coffee. The keys had stopped working for everyone when Kelly checked out, so someone had to stay and keep the door open.

Anyways, Taylor and Liz went and stalked Keith. They had the wrong room, then they had Patrick call Karine and get the right room number, but he wasn’t there. They tried one more time and hit the jackpot. XD I swear Taylor had afterglow *dies* and of course, Liz was grinning and in a happy daze.

They ended up leaving and Julie got herself another room for the night. The room was Goregeous!!!! Afterwards, we went tromping around the city and bought stuff in Chinatown. We had really good charbroiled chicken at a little buffet and panini place. We went back and watched disturbing Discovery channel shows and then it was time for me to meet Genn in the lobby. We went down and Genn showed up. I bid Julie goodbye:/

Me and Genn tromped around with my luggage XD in the subway. We’d gotten almost to her house and the sky opened up and rained basketballs. I loved it, but I didn’t want to be in it. Thankfully, Genn’s Dad showed up and drove us the few block to the house.

They have a beautiful home and her kitty!!! *squeeee!!!*

Her mom makes a salmon thing and we eat and chat over dinner, then we retire to Genn’s basement and look at bishies and art and stuff. We talk too late into the night, then go to bed.

Wednesday:

That morning, her mom plies me with fruit ( since I said I eat fruit in the morning) and then she drives us to the metro station so we wouldn’t have to take the bus as we’d done the day before. She mentions, in idle conversation that a toxic gas cloud had rolled through the city that morning O_o.

Anyways, we get back to the hotel and I bid Genn goodbye and she goes to work. ;_;

I go to the airport, go through customs.

Customs: Where do you work?

Me: Berrrr…..

Customs:What do you do for a job?

Me: baaah….

Customs: Are you alright?

Me: …too early for such complicated questions…..

I eventually get through and get on my plane. In Detroit, I ride the bright red train several times XD, then head on to LA, where my dad picks me up and my cat attacks me when I get home.

The end. XD

Stormy writes...

Stormy's Gathering Journal

Well, this was it…the first time in 12 years that I wasn’t spending my summer on a military base. The first time that I was free to attend The Gathering. The week leading up to the Gathering was a frenzy of artwork as I strove to have everything I wanted to show at the art contest ready to go. In the previous months, since I knew Whitbourne had been making plans for us to go together, I had been checking in on the Gathering website where I found out about the Phoenix Gate Anthology project. I submitted an entry and to my great pleasure found myself (and Whitbourne) selected to be in the anthology. The pleasure of publication doubled the anticipation for the convention.
We flew to Montreal on Friday morning, after a frenzy of last minute art framing, packing, and preparation. The convention hotel was just beautiful and in an excellent location. We met up with Jen “Mercedes” DeSalme and her brother Andrew “Sombrero” DeSalme, and enjoyed a nice lunch in Chinatown before heading back to the hotel. I ended up missing the first set of panels because Mercedes and I were in the art room setting up our art pieces.
This is when I learned the first lesson of The Gatheringâ€"you can’t do everything. The sheer amount of events going on simultaneously meant that it was impossible to do it all. Maui had attempted to recruit me for the Clan Olympics and I’d intended to join in, but in the end I only made one event…the one held during opening ceremonies. The rest of the time I was distracted by art duties, writing duties, costume duties, voice acting duties…on the other hand, the pace guaranteed never a dull moment! Still, I wish I’d done more for Team Canadian Body Massage.
The only other con I’ve ever attended was Transformers BotCon in 2002. BotCon is a much larger show, with huge crowds and a real emphasis on buying/selling in the massive dealer room. It somewhat surprises me that Gargoyles fans aren’t, for the most part, rabid acquirers of Gargoyles merchandise. However, this did mean that I was able to acquire a set of Gargoyles pencils in the auction for a price that didn’t break my very small budget. It’s also just as well that my point in going to the con was primarily to meet friends, rather than to acquire stuff. To suppliment my souvenir budget, I sold a toy with the help of the Morgans and used the proceeds to purchase one of Christine Morgan’s books as well as a Brooklyn dangler.
Conversely, I was surprised at the amount of art in the art show that was for sale. I’m very new to the field of computer generated art, doing most of my work in Prismacolour pencils. That means most of my art is one-of-a-kind and I’m loath to part with it. Furthermore, I’ve occasionally experimented with colouring or accenting my art with glitter inks. The ink makes for a really neat sparkling effect; however, when I scan the artwork, the sparkle effect is entirely lost, leaving only the flat base colour. This means I love to show off my sparkling images in person, because trying to put them online doesn’t do them justice.
That being said, here’s what I chose to show:

1. A truly terrifying Ophelia and Angela drawn in “Bratz” style, with sparkling clothing
2. Original character Lady Bismarck of the Iron Clan of Bavaria
3. Original character Wagner of the Iron Clan of Bavaria
4. Demona, accompanied by a poem I had written
5. My sparkling Jetstorm jet that I showed at Botcon 2002 (and got on the Transformers DVD)
6. My sparkling Megatron and Tempest, also from Botcon 2002
7. Sonic Attack Jet, my first CGI piece
8. Sparkling Jhiaxus, also shown at Botcon 2004
9. Black and white Motormaster, also shown at OTFCC 2004 and Botcon 2004
10. Four My Little Ponies, each of which represented a different element
11. A Barbie doll dressed as Elisa, in the arms of Ultimate Goliath
12. A kitbash of Whitbourne
13. A kitbash of Wagner and Caligo
14. “Then and Now”: contrasting a truly hideous Wagner pic from 1996 with one I completed the day before the con
15. and finally, the long-to-be-remembered diorama “Caught in the Act”, in which a custom-made Fox figure and Hardwired Xanatos stumble upon Broadway, Lexington and Goliath in stoneâ€"wearing Barbie dresses, jewelry, and holding makeup.

I’d hoped I might win something for my kitbashes. I was more than surprised to win not one but five art show ribbons.

First place B&W Sci Fi for Motormaster, King of the Road
Second place 3-D Fanchar for Whitbourne
Third place Pencil Sci Fi for the Elemental Ponies
Third place CGI Sci Fi for the Sonic Attack Jet
and Third Place 3-D Canon for, you guessed it, “Caught in the Act”
(How will I ever top “Caught in the Act” next year???)

After finally setting up all our art, Mercedes and I dropped in on Eden’s costuming panel. Although I already had my costume set to go, I found Eden’s panel very entertaining! :) I don’t know much about costuming and this gave me great ideas for years to come.
Next came the biggest challenge of the Gathering: finding supper within walking distance from the hotel. For some reason all the restaurants we found in walking distance were either expensive, or else lunch-only, or else McDonald’s. We finally found a sandwich shop, since we wanted something we could grab and go in order to be back in time for the opening ceremonies.
My favourite part of this was getting a chance to see and hear the Gathering-exclusive goodies: the original pitches for Gargoyles, Dark Ages and The New Olympians; the taped voice acting for the Atlantis ep featuring Demona, and the Bad Guys demo reel. After hearing about these things, believe me, there is nothing to compare to actually seeing and hearing them in person. I like Sphinx :) Greg’s involvement with the fandom is wonderful; unlike Hasbro, whose greatest interest at Transformers conventions is all about pimping their latest toyline rather than discussing the mythology that they created with the original Transformers, you can tell that Greg truly loves Gargoyles.
At this point, medical demands sent me to bed at 8 pm. I needed a long rest so I could stay up for the masquerade the next night. So Saturday morning dawned with a refreshed Stormy getting up in time to eat a good breakfast at Deli Planet in the train station before the day’s events began.
The first thing I did was hit the radio play auditions, since I’d missed the ones on Friday. Greg asked me to meow like a cat, and my first thought was “a cat saying what?” Having four cats makes me rather fluent in their language, which varies surprisingly depending on what they’re attempting to communicate. So I started with a feline question (brrrrr?) followed by attempts for attention (mow? MOW!!) and concluding with the SmokeyDance (well, minus the dancing, I guess it was just the Smokey Song, that horrible cry I’ve awoken to for the past two years from a former feral who remains obsessed with the idea that he may someday wake up and discover that the past two years of life on our couch has been some kind of kitty dream. Every morning Smokey greets us with a cry of “Feedmefeedmefeedme OH MY GOD THE BOWL IS EMPTY Mom Dad Feedme OH MY GOD WHAT IF THERE’S NO FOOD LIKE EVER AGAIN, OH GOD OH GOD!!!”) And it goes something like meowrOWrowROWrOWrowrOW….
Greg started laughing and I had this feeling I was going to be cast as Cagney, though I did get to read Demona and be evil for a while. After my evilness, I dropped in on the auction. I had my eye on a Brooklyn dangler, but when a pack of Gargoyles pencils had trouble getting a bidder, I offered a dollar and won. The dangler ended up going higher than $20, way out of my price range; I bought one from the Morgans on Sunday. Still, I was happy to contribute my dollar to the auction for the Gathering fundraising. Next came our rehearsal for the radio play, and finally the play itself. I sat beside a girl who played Bronx and we discussed our relative animal experience; she works at a kennel, so has had as much exposure to dog language as I have to cat.
After the radio play, Whit and I headed to Old Montreal with Jen and Andrew for a wonderful dinner and some shopping. Jen and Dylan/Whit bought masks; Andrew got a necklace. My indulgence was completely non-costume related: I purchased a Spirit Feather with a leather thong handle. I burn sweetgrass and sage at home, and have never had a proper feather for smudging the smoke. The leather thong enables me to hang the large feather far out of reach of aforementioned four cats. We got back just in time for me to finish sewing the big Q on my Quarryman outfit and it was costume time!
The Quarryman costume was pretty easy to put together. I already had urban combat pants, army boots, a studded belt, some belt chains, and some wide black leather studded bracelets. The hood was made of an old T-shirt’s back sewn into a hood, with eye holes and a tiny nose hole; it didn’t need a mouth, it was thin enough to breathe through easily, and it was stretchy enough to accommodate my glasses easily. The shirt was another black T-shirt with a white circle sewn on it; I’d used black and yellow markers to draw the Q insignia.
The masquerade was lots of fun. There were some truly amazing costumes, and I’m neither surprised nor disappointed not to have won in this categoryâ€"my entire goal was to dress up and have fun despite my limited budget. The fact that I put together a good-looking Quarryman costume using only what I had on hand means I succeeded. In fact, I was told that no one has ever done a Quarryman before, and I’m glad to have done something original.
I now turn to my only down note for the conventionâ€"the advertised reading contest. The contest got cancelled due to lack of interest; yet I know of at least two other people besides myself who had written stories for the contest. The only instruction on the web page was to be ready to read at the Gathering, and we were; yet the convention organizers, having not received emails, presumed no one was interested. Had there been a request on the Gathering website to email the staff about our reading contest entries, we certainly would have done so. It was a bit of a downer to have worked hard on an entry and not have had a chance to share it. The staff offered that we could arrange our own reading; however, I found that I simply didn’t have time. I really hope that in future years, the reading contest is continued so I can use my entry then; I also hope that communication about how to enter is a little clearer.
Sunday morning. Sleeping in meant the only breakfast option was McDogfood’s if I wanted to eat something before the panels began. Flanker and I debated the relative merits of Rotten Ronnies vs Canadian Forces field rations while we waited. I grabbed some chow and arrived to watch Whitbourne’s Gargoyle Biology panel. After that, it was time for the PGA signing to begin…what a kick! I have decided that doing book signings is something I could get used to :) I took the time to buy my Brooklyn dangler from the Morgans before the dealer room closed and Keith David arrived. After his presentation, it was time for closing ceremonies. This was when I got the good news about my art contest wins, scared Keith David with the sight of a Quick Strike Goliath in drag, and got him to sign my anthology.
Unfortunately, after that we had to go catch our plane. There was a little time to say goodbye to everyoneâ€"Wingless, Dan, Rustbot, Lynati, Princess Alex, Spacebabie, Ethan, the Morgans, Flanker, and all the other people I either knew or had metâ€"and it was homeward bound. I really hope I’ll get to see myself, and my friends, on the Gargoyles DVD this Decemberâ€"that was a really great kick, knowing that features of the con will make it onto the DVD. It was a great convention, a great time. The Gargoyles fandom is really “cozy”â€"this is one convention that hasn’t been corrupted by emphasis on pushing products or corporate glitz. It’s by the fans, for the fans. And that is something special. Kudos go to all the organizers for the work they did, particularly Eden who dealt with all my art questions from an art show newbie who didn’t know how the panel/table system worked. Also kudos from a fandom that is based around the audience /participating/ rather than simply sitting back and watching. I felt so involved with everything all weekend, and that was a great feeling. All in all, I hope I can go to The Gathering again, if it’s half as good as this one it’ll be more than worth it.

Siryn/Laurean writes...

Siryn’s Gathering Journal

Thursday
Thursday I had about 2 hours of sleep. This is mainly due to the fact I was drinking caffeine all night. Drinking caffeine was due to the fact of trying to finish the Gathering Programmes last minute. (note to future staffs…do NOT do this, how it was pulled off at all was nothing short of miraculous).

So, my car came at around 6:45, I was fully packed and off. Went to airport, got on plane, and landed in Montreal.

With absolutely no one there waiting for me. So I waited, and waited, and waited some more. Finally I spotted Liz. Who actually was waiting to be picked up as well. She was with Trishana and Taylor. So, we began to seek out every van we could. Taylor continously sweared the next van would be the one to pick us up. I was swearing that some of the vans looked very familiar, and that the drivers were stalking us. (I was joking…somewhat).

Finally Patrick, Karine, Cindy, & Rob appeared. They showed me the Gathering Programmes, which I was very happy to see were printed…until I saw a typo. DRAT. (I will go ahead and apologise for any and all evil typos in the programme to save time) But, I was happy it was printed, and looked cool. Especially since the last 2 weeks had been totally devoted to getting it finished.

We then went to Karine’s place, loaded up the car, and went to the hotel. At the hotel, I got my room, and there was much packing of the registration packets. To be honest, packing registration packets is my most favourite part of being on staff. I don’t know exactly why. It is very soothing, the staff jokes and wonders what lies in store, and it is like wrapping tons of presents. Liz and I also whipped through the Programmes writing in the room number. (Which I specifically left out on purpose because you usually do not know what room the Con Suite is in until you get to the hotel.) We then stuffed t-shirts, pins, anthologys, and programmes into the packets. I was really giddy and happy. I was with my friends, everything looked fantastic, and I was really happy about the ¨Programmes…even though I continued to harass the staff and ask again and again if they REALLY truly looked OK.

Greg soon arrived after. I do not know why, but sometimes I feel really really shy around Greg. Not like OMG you are an amazing star kind of shy (even though he is), but more or less..Hi! You are really cool…and I am going to just stand here and admire your coolness. Blah. But I usually get over it after about five minutes or so. (or force myself too by talking waaaaaayyy too much.) I think I have only ever been star shy around Greg Gular (character designer for Gargoyles) and Vic Cook (Storyboard artist) mainly because it is like HI! You do EXACTLY what I want to do when I get better…so..umm I am going to ask you a lot of dumb awkward questions, feel really weird about asking them, and then shut up for the rest of the Gathering. (They weren’t here this year, but that is how I usually act when they are around.)

ANYWAYS, getting back on track. The staff & 2005 people were going out to the annual Let’s get Greg food deal. Unfortunately, there was some communication, and about 30 or so people were also waiting to go as well. So I volunteered to go down and tell everyone Sorry, You can’t come. It really sucks that not everyone could go. I know how it feels. (I have been denied from outings like this before) But how are you going to fit 40+ people in a resturant with no reservation? *sigh* So, after waving everyone off, apologizing sincerely, I said the OK, and we all went out to eat.

(After speaking to Karine, dinner was in fact originally open, we just had to close eating because 40+ people was absolutely undoable. However, I never knew this at the time, and was going on the inclination that it was staff only, because that is what I always thought it was. I really wish EVERYONE could have come though, and I know it majorly sucks to be left out. So I apologise to said people for saying it was always closed. My bad. I am sorry. :/)

Nothing eventful, food. Greg lightheartedly teased me he has never seen me when I am NOT tired. (Which..I think might actually be close to the truth. ^_^;;;) Finally, tummies full and brains all mushy, we staggered back to the hotel. I found Kythera, and said hello to friends in the lobby. Kael greeted me and reconfirmed his videogame challenge to me. (more on this later) I then staggered to bed, and fell asleep for the earliest time in weeks (which was around 1am but still early..) No mattress ever felt so good.

Friday
I woke up majorly early. I got up at around 7am very nervous, hyper, and excited. I knew I wasn’t going to sleep for any longer, so I changed into gym clothes and told a very groggy Patrick I was going to the gym. I then worked out at the hotel gym for about 30 minutes, then came back, grabbed a shower, and changed into my Con Staff clothes. (A really NIFTY design by Stephanie Lostimolio. Did I mention how kickass she is as an artist?)

I then pulled out the 2005 mascot (Blue eyes, as I affectionately call him). I started colouring and inking, and going back and forth. I had done some work the night before while waiting for Greg to show up. He was turning out pretty cool, which I was happy about…because the last thing I ever want to give anyone is crap…(which is a reason why doing my commissions takes so friggin long…). Patrick then told me to get ready, and we went up to the Con suite and then out for breakfast.

We all went to breakfast, of which I only had tea. (diet). I was also the secretary at the meeting, and wrote down duties and responsibilities. Sadly, I should have really done this EVERY single morning…however didn’t. Hindsight twenty twenty. I highly suggest future staffs to go out to eat in the morning, because it helps the staff know who will be where and what you will be doing during the day. I wanted to write down the notes, because I like doing it, I don’t have to talk…too much…and I felt REALLY REALLY bad for the Volunteers messup.

Yes…Si was in charge of volunteers…but Si was so focused on getting the Programme done, she forgot to set up the proper schedule for the volunteers (I had one, however my entire computer harddrive crashed about two weeks prior to con…PS. ALWAYS SAVE BACKUPS!)…so while she was able to catch some and ask them to help and where to be when, for the most part…poor staff had to fill in a lot more than they should have. (And I really really really apologise for this…I still feel bad.. -_-;;)

Unfortunately, we came back late from breakfast. (There was only one waitress on duty), and there was a staff mixup on when things were supposed to be opening. We came back to a hotel of people waiting for registration. YIKES!! So Rob, Shaun, and I ran up to the consuite to set up things and get them ready. I worked at Registration for most of the morning. (Something I also like to do, because you get to meet and greet the fans…and make everyone feel comfortable…and it sets the con off to a great start when someone gives you a friendly smile. Rob said I seemed like a pro at it, I just like doing it. (Even though I am usually incredibly shy for the first few hours of the Gathering).

Sooo Con staff duties began. There was running inbetween Con Suite & registration. Running between registration & hotel rooms. Hotel rooms & panels, etc. If you are ever on a Con Staff, expect to work. You will be needed, people will look for you…so be prepared to see very little of everyone else but staff. (it kinda sucks).

Karine & my lifedrawing panel went well, and the Disney DVD crew came in and taped us. After the panel, I bumped into someone who mentioned the DVD guys went to registration. I had to go there anyway for something (I forget now). Walking up the stairs..I saw the DVD guys…filming the Gathering Programme! (Oh pleasee…..I hope they don’t display the pages with the typos!) Still, it was REALLY cool and kinda a ‘Go ME!’ moment. I then remembered to ask the DVD guys about the DVDs being multiregional. David said he was not sure if they would be, nor would they have influence concerning that, but he would mention it. He asked me what was going on, and I mentioned some of the panels, including Cindy’s. Cindy had been mentioning earlier she was afraid no one would show up for her panel, and was asking for moral support. So I sent the DVD guys her way. (Which, I am very glad I did, because TONS of people ended up showing up at the panel!)

I think I did something else afterwards…but I forget what. I did talk to people about Clan Olympics and random things….but again..some parts of con are a blur, and this is one of them.

At some time, Rob told me to go help with Radio Play Auditions. I saw a lot of friends including Gorebash & Seth (IRC Goliath). I was excited to see Gorebash there. He was getting fan guest of honour, and didn’t even know it! I was sooo happy because he really deserved it, and it took all the self control I had not to spill the beans then and there. So everyone was asking if I was going to try out, to which I said I really couldn’t because I had a panel at the same time as the rehearsals. Greg then saw me and told me I should try out. Since I can’t really say no to peer pressure…especially GREG peer pressure, I said I would try. The DVD guys then appeared, and filmed people practicing their lines.

At this point..I felt like the DVD crew STALKER. I was worried they were going to think I was stalking them just to get on the DVD. O.o They had just gone inside to tape Greg & Jen (Cryzdemona) doing an audition, when Carol appeared and told me I should go in and help. Now…I was a bit embarresed trying to explain the reason I didn’t want to go into the Audition room because I felt like the DVD STALKER…so I stalled..and then finally went in. The DVD guys left soon afterwards. I stayed and helped Greg & Jen. We said random jokes to each other and I drew. (I was the door person, so while people auditioned I sketched in my sketchbook to pass the time).

Finally..I think it was time for opening ceremonies? I can’t remember, another blur. At some point, I RUSHED to my room, grabbed the 2005 mascot, and frantically worked to finish it during the ceremonies. (I also worked on it trying to distract myself from the soundtrack of the Team Atlantis : The LAST episode…which sounds VERY VERY wrong if you use your imagination) My defense, I was sitting next to Jen. Got it done just in time and handed it off to Chris.

Clan Olympics takes over. I am a little confused, because I thought that was VERY VERY last….and was worried about 2005 not getting a chance to speak but sokay. It worked. I helped count plastic balls. Fun. Weird, but fun.

Chris spoke. Said lots of 2005 stuff. He showed off the mascot I drew. (funny, the mascot was wearing similar clothes to what he was wearing, and it wasn’t on purpose!) People loved it. I think. Maybe they just liked it. (but that is OK too) Chris liked it. Lanny liked it. I was happy. They were the only two whose opinions mattered to me. I wish I had accomplished more with it. But I was relieved I got it done in time, and very very grateful they were pleased.

Blue eyes (the 2005 mascot) is kinda based off of Frank Sinatra. I love Frank Sinatra, ever since I heard all of his songs on the Qe2. So I was very happy to draw him when Chris asked me in 2003. However, he was a pain to draw. I did several caracitures of Frank Sinatra and they didn’t work. I tried different ways of gargifying him. They didn’t work. Finally, I got bored, and drew a beak on him. That worked. It looked more like Frank than any of the others. (No clue why…but it did). So maybe it was fate. I was happy. No main mascot (not including Othercon’s Death in this) has ever had a beak. So it was originally and fresh. And I will draw more of it.

Chris and Lanny like him. Yay. The 2005 con sounded really cool…I just hoped things would work out. I had spoken to Chris earlier, who said its OK that I could not commit to the con, and that he was happy with me doing art. This kinda made me feel guilty..and paranoid…can I really go to a con next year and NOT be on staff…and NOT contribute…and NOT do work?

So..Greg and some people (including me) went out to dinner again. And it was REALLY yummy and good. Greg, Zehra, and I talked about Japan, mythology, shakespeare, and a bunch of other assorted topics. (Yes, at this point, no longer shy about being around Greg…see..told you I would get over it..always do).

Then was Greg’s Blue Mug a Guest, where people actually asked pretty low key questions. It was nice actually. There was a HUGE amount of people in the room, and I curled up next to Jen & Lanny. I asked three questions, then shut up. (They were interesting valid questions though!…I just…wish I remember what they were..oh right! One was about what the Korean Gargoyles looked like, another was concerning what sort of production artwork from the show was still saved and around (aka..I WANT TO BUY IT…before Anthony Zucconi does…)) I did ask about Vinnie, and asked if he was ever going to have a girlfriend. (Yes…my selfish question for the evening..thankyou. Greg laughed at me..hehe. But that is okay, because it warrented a laugh.) I asked After a while though (after getting up about a million times to grab art supplies from the Staff Only room of the consuite…sorry about that people I stepped on..) I crawled and hid under the table of the consuite, and listened to Greg answer questions, and people chat and talk. I fell asleep at some point, but it was nice and warm..and a very comfy place to rest.

I think AFTER the mug a guest was over I went to bed. Or I talked to more people. I can’t remember, because of the evil blur again. I just thought ‘Oh no…Friday is already over…two days left…’

Saturday
I woke up just in enough time that morning. I chewed on an atkins breakfast bar and staff went out to eat. After we all came back, everyone dispersed. And…a lot of attendees were looking at me on what to do. URK. I hate it when they do that. Greg was wondering where Jen was. I didn’t know where she went to. So, trying to stall Greg & attendees…and figure out where everyone was. Not fun. Finally found Jen, finally found staff with keys, and everything was sorted out. I then rushed to Radio Play auditions and auditioned. If anyone is curious, I did the Broadway part. (I was going to do Xanatos, but a lot of people were doing that one, and I like being original).

I then went to the art show and worked at the Kid table. Becca Morgan didn’t want to do facepainting, so I broke out all the art supplies I had bought for mask making, and we started doing that. (two more kids showed up as well, and we all made pretty masks which I hung up and displayed at the art show) They painted, they made masks, they had fun. I love kids.

Unfortunately, I had meant to relieve one of the staff members in the Con Suite sooner, and lost track of time. Jen had posted the Radio Play parts and said ‘Sorry hun, didn’t make Vinnie’. I had known previously the Radio Play was going to be The Journey, and Vinnie, my fav garg character, was a part I wanted. But that is okay. In a Radio Play, ALL PARTS ARE GOOD PARTS! At this point, I missed my fiance, Tempest. Who really *LOVES* the Radio Plays…a lot. He finds them fun, and Greg inspiring. Tempest is currently in the Middle East working on a consulting project, so getting a part in the radio play made me think of him a bit.

(There was something I did here..that was valid to mention..but at the time of typing I just have totally blanked on what it was..)

Karine just reminded me! I was told to go in the auction. YAY!. Auction. Taras and Sandman were hosting it. Much fun to be had. Lots of bidding. I walked away with a beautiful print of Rita M’s artwork, some gargoyle pencils, a binder, a colouring book, two gargoyle clingers and a gargoyle folder.

I wish I could have gotten the Gargoyle Pogs..but that is okay.

The Gargoyle animation cel of Goliath & Elisa went for $455 Canadian. WOW. Awesome. Very very cool.

Gahh! Now I had to rush to rehearsals! (Karine took over for me at the auction, thankyou Karine!)

We only went through the Radio Play Rehearsals once, more would have been nice, but time is short sometimes at cons. The part of Vinnie was given to Mike. Good choice! He played a GREAT Vinnie. I could not have possibly come close, and I really really enjoyed his Vinnie. (Fangirl squeal here). Also, Vinnie’s last name is Grigori, not Gregarino. (hehe..just something I noticed while reading over the script…and I hope mine is packed SOMWHERE…. O.o;;;;)

Insert time for an interview here. Carol motioned for me to go down and speak with the DVD guys. I felt weird..I probably won’t be on the DVD. I got nervous, didn’t know what to say, (mainly because I usually rehearse most things in my head before I say them). Soo..yeah. I answered the questions kind of dumbly. I was asked who my fav character was. I almost said brooklyn, but then said vinnie, and stated my reasons why. I forgot to add though that Vinnie is the only guy who would have the guts to face Goliath with a pie gun. Drat. There goes that hindsight twenty twenty thing again. I mentioned why & when I first started watching Gargoyles. I still remember. I used to babysit for a nurse, so I would come over to her house REALLY early in the morning. At 6am. Around the time Gargoyles was on where I lived at (at that time). I was channel surfing, and found Gargoyles. I decided to watch. The episode was Temptation. I was hooked.

I interviewed, not realizing the Radio Play was immediately after rehearsals. I got into the room just in time, and was the last one to sit down. Then everyone else came in. I got *REALLY* nervous. First lines of the Radio Play…yeah…no pressure…NOT. (Gore or Seth was teasing me earlier about setting the entire tone for the Play, and not to screw up. %_%) Overall, we did well. Everyone did a great job, and LOVED Mike’s Vinnie. (It is interesting to note Mike told me later he was trying to find me in the cast and look at me when Vinnie says ‘Can you believe it?’ ‘I am a hero’ or something like that.

Must find that script….

Then it was time for the Banquet. I changed into my black ballgown (because sometimes..you just NEED to FEEL PRETTY!), put on makeup, and brushed my hair. I then went downstairs to the banquet. I sat with Lanny, Derrick, Mike, Karine, Jade Griffin, and another person. (Sorry, I forgot your name.. @.@) Now, if you haven’t guessed, I love hanging out with Lanny and Derrick, just because they’re down to earth..and I don’t feel like a complete idiot when I talk around them. So we all talked at the table, and Mike talked about Reboot, another animation I loved, and we chatted all through dinner.

The food was amazing. I helped pick it out, but it was STILL AMAZING. Everyone at our table loved the food. We ordered wine. (DOH! Lanny, I owe you money..or artwork next Gatheirng for my share of the wine BTW..) All was yummy, delicious, and good.

Keith David appeared! YAY! Finally. (He had been delayed AGAIN because his movie had been rained out. He also spent 2 hours in costumes. EWW EWW EWW.) I raised my hand and said he was awesome in Chronicles of Riddrick. After that, I sat down with Chris Rogers, who showed me the computer programme he was using to take Gathering 2005 registrations. (yes, I am a tech geek sometimes, deal). So we were talking about random stuff. We got shushed, and we shushed, and then I went to go change for the masquerade.

Wee. Soo yes..changing. Patrick and I put our costumes on. I went from a beautiful black ballgown to pageboy clothes and a short blondhaired wig. (which didn’t want to stay completely on.) After getitng my costume on, I lurked over to Cindy & Rob’s room to see how they were getting ready. Then wandered back downstairs to help set up the banquet room for the Masquerade. (Which involved a lot of moving of chairs and explaining how people were going to walk and who was going to sit where).

Kaylee appeared looking smashing, and she pulled me over and asked if we were still going to do that thing I had mentioned. On Thursday, I had mentioned to her about cosplaying the knighting scene that Tom & Princess Katherine has…but having Tom kiss Katherine at the end. So, we practiced it. And waited in line, and practiced. (KWS was REALLY nice in letting us borrow her sword, thankyou sooooo much for that!)

Finally, our turn. I try to walk up slowly as possible. Do not laugh, do not laugh, be calm…because if I laughed or cracked a smile I KNEW I wasn’t going to be able to last. So I stepped up, took a deep breath, and said my lines. Kaylee said hers, and then I dipped her! Wee! I think people clapped and liked it? I was too nervous too tell. ((It took all the guts I had to pull that off without laughing or totally stopping etc)) Then of course I told the judges please not to vote for us because we were on staff. (And Staff is exempt from prizes)

BTW, our staff ROCKED for costumes! They were absolutely AMAZING. Greg was really impressed. When he gave out awards, he had all the staff in costumes come up.

I ended up getting the GorElisa award for crossdressing. Hehe. And then all people in Gargoyles costumes poised for pictures. It was fun, reminicent of older gatherings, and all in all good to have. Karaoke started afterwards and continued until the late evening. I would have liked there to have been dancing…just because I *REALLY* wanted to dance…and even changed into more appropriate clothing...but that was okay. People had fun. Chris took some people to the casino. I chatted with Lanny, Seth, Aaron, Mara, and a few other people. We chatted about fandom, vinnie, 2005 gathering, and other things.

Finally, pushed myself to bed and went to sleep.

Sunday
No. Not Sunday. It isn’t allowed to be Sunday. Sunday is when most people leave..and the Gathering is over…and there were SOOO many people I hadn’t hung out or talked to yet! (however this year, that wasn’t the case at all!)

Karine, Shuan, Patrick & myself ran out for a quick breakfast. Or Rather, they did, and I munched on an Atkins bar. (see a pattern? I did this the entire con…saved on money for food though). I then went immediately to the lifedrawing nude panel. The model didn’t show up…so we improvised. The model finally did show up, and finished up the panel with a few fully nude poses.

Then I went straight to the Con Suite. And I STAYED THERE. I stayed and watched 2nd season. I then realized my favourite episodes of the second season really involve the international Gargoyles. Almost all of those episodes are extremely well written….I also checked out more of Sora from Bushido, since I *AM* planning on cosplaying her at 2005. (I didn’t have the costume finished in time for this year).

I think I stayed there until closing ceremonies, then I locked up, went downstairs, and sat next to Jen (again). Hehe. We are evil when together. Karine opened the ceremonies speaking in French. It was sooo funny. Everyone was giving her weird looks. I then started speaking to her in French (pretty much saying Speak English! They can’t understand you!) hehe. It was funny.

I still didn’t want the con to be over though…There was SOO MANY PEOPLE I didn’t get to talk too! I pre-registered Tempest & myself for Vegas. I’m pretty sure we can go. At that point next year, I think any sort of vacation from wedding planning will be a good break. (Btw, Chris & Lanny suggested getting married at G2005. But as much of a fan as I am, I am not sure I am THAT much of one!) And, Gathering’s always need money, as soon as possible. Plus, t-shirts to add to my Gargoyle T-shirt Quilt!™

Everyone was organizing a freeze tag game. I finally caught up with Zaius. I made plans to challenge him to the Soul Caliber II game after he got back. I went to the Con Staff Dead Dog party. Booze & Pizza. I don’t care if it was breaking my diet. It was worth it. It was good. Greg gave all of the staff the Promotional Gargoyle DVD postcards that were distributed at Comic Con. (Vash, I will scan that and send it to you for GNC when I get back to the states.)

I must get more Godiva White Chocolate Liquer one day soon.

I got locked out of my room, hung out with Mara. Then Hudson and Zaius came back, and said I could stay in there room. The games were on! While Hudson and Zaius were getting drinks and caffeine, I played some Soul Caliber II, and got to the end without dying. Zaius came into the room and challenged me. We played. I won. We played again, I won. Hudson played me. I won. (yes, I beat Hudson, but he’s not used to videogame controls..he plays more online games). We talked about Doom 3. Hudson said I would love playing it. I beat Zaius some more, and then got tired and slept. Woke up at around 4am. Tried to get into my room again, and did so. Passed out on the bed after apologising for waking people up.

It was a good con. I still wish I had spoken to more people..but it was a good con.

Monday.
Full of goodbyes. Some people went to La Rhonde with us, some didn’t. (24 people went I think?) When we got back, we ran into Keith David, who shook our hands, and we sung happy birthday to his daughter.

In the evening, Karine, Adam, & I had Sushi, and Karine and I went over Gathering Expenses. We’re in the Black. YAY. I won’t say how much, because there are a few more payments to be made (hotel, AV people, aritsts), but yes..money for next year. That is always good.

Final Thoughts
Karine & I have been checking on and off whether or not con journals have been posted yet. In fact, she suggested we sit down and type ours out now. Which I am glad she did, because I am not sure how much longer I would be able to remember everything. ^_^;; I told her that there may be bitching or whining, or things mentioned that she didn’t realized even happened or was a problem. Because this is a Gathering. No Gathering is going to be perfect, there are always mistakes. However, if you are prepared with that knowledge, you will be more prepared to face problems when they do arise. You can’t make everyone happy. You just need to make MOST people happy & have a good time and that’s what is important. (That being said, all the journals we have read so far have been REALLY positive!) I am happy Karine wants to read them. I was worried about reading the ones for my convention…but those weren’t bad either. (except for the banquet, which I still majorly apologise for…)

I think all the staff did a great job. (I could have done better, but I always could do better.)

It was a great con. Next year is in Las Vegas. You have a whole YEAR to save up money and go to it.

Buy the DVD and go to 2005. No complaints, no half promises. You have a year to plan now. DO IT.
(and the sooner you register, the more money the con has to get awesome guests!)

Greg Bishansky writes...

Gathering 2004 was a blast

Went out to have breakfast at the diner with everyone and we parted ways. Lynati and Emambu are heading down to Pittsburgh and Aaron, Mara, Revel and Spacie have a very long haul to Houston.

Had a great time, but am depressed cause I hate this part... a lot.

I suppose I should now start my con journal.

Prologue

Getting to this Gathering was planned out several months in advance. Revel decided he was going to drive up with Spacebabie and would pick me up since it was in Montreal and I was on the way. Then this expanded into my brother coming, as well as Aaron and Mara... which was going to be a very tight squeeze. Then Emambu and Lynati joined in with Emambu's car... which helped a lot. It became a two car caravan with walkie talkies to stay in contact.

Wednesday, August 4th.

Spent the entire day getting ready, packing and cleaning up the house for my six guests. Constant phone calls to see where they were, plus plans to briefly chill with my friend Ron and his girlfriend Natalie who are flying back to Israel on Sunday (so this would be my last chance to see them). Ron and Natalie were at a concert in the city, and would not be in till late, and Revel said the caravan to the Gathering (here after referred to as the Rogue Squadron for reasons you'll see later), wouldn't arrive till late... Alex and I had bets as to who I'd see first.

I get a call from Ron that he and Natalie are at the train station so I go pick them up, we chill for a bit watching a re-run of "That 70's Show". Then I get a call from Revel, they're lost in Croton, and it takes a bit of doing but we manage to talk them to my street and drive way.

Gods, except for Mara I have not seen any of them in over a year. It was great, and my kitchen was very, very crowded. We eat, we chat, Revel and Spacebabie set up the inflatable bed in the dining room for themselves and drift off to sleep while the rest of us relocate up here to check e-mail, chat, watch AMVs, etc, etc, etc. At some point I dropped Ron and Natalie off at Ron's house.

We finally manage to get to sleep at around 3:30 am, with plans to be out of the house and on the road by noon.

That does not happen.

Thursday, August 5th

We try to get up early, but considering this crew (I am very guilty of this as well) we don't all end up up till at least 11 am. Then it's a while to get everyone showered and dressed and out. Plus we need to go to the hardware store so Lynati can pick up some wiring for her wings. Afterwards it's to the gas station for gas and some sodas.

Finally around 2:30 we are on the the Rogue Squadron is on the road. We head south to cross the Tappan Zee Bridge and head north... Montreal is well over 300 miles away, but traffic is light and we're making good time, we figure it shouldn't take more than a five hours to make the drive. Plus we have the walkie talkies to keep contact between the two cars. I'm riding in Revel's SUV (which is gold and named Hyena) and Aaron is riding in Emambu's car... dubbed affectionatly The Mafia Cruiser. We're constantly in contact and only have to make one stop in this back water town. These are the parts of New York state I never see. There is a town in NY called Troy... and there's another one called Coxsackie... we had a lot of fun with that name.

Finally we make it to the border... which had hundreds of cars all moving at a snails pace... and why, because the Canadian border controllers are on strike... but since it is illegal for them to strike, they are slowing things up as much as possible. We sit there for about 90 minutes. Finally, we get through and everyone stops to use the bathroom... and funny enough, once we crossed the border the temperature just dropped that very instant... so out come the trenchcoats. Nice to have trenchcoat weather during summer time and at a Gathering.

We get back into our cars and start heading north another 40 miles to Montreal... where we enter what we called The Death Star Trench The high way was reduced to one lane surrounded by these concrete barriers... and Aaron grabs the walkie talkie and starts quoting from the original Star Wars movie all sorts of lines from when they are flying through the Death Star trench, and we're quoting follow up lines... this goes on for several miles, and I have to say it's a good thing no cars broke down because we'd have been fucked, there is no where on either side to pull off. We figured the Canadian High Way unions do the same thing as ours'... they waste money.

Finally we make see the Montreal skyline, which has the weird search light shining all over the place, so in the geek moment, I use my Frodo voice and way "We made it to Mordor. It's the Eye". It takes us a bit of time to find the hotel because none of the signs are written in English. Which leads to one of the great weekend quotes from Aaron.

Montreal is like Broadway. It's large, slightly confused, boring and can't read or write English.

But we finally find the hotel, which was easy to find, and check in, there is a crowd of people and Sapphire comes up to say hi... and I regret to say that I did not recognize her without her glasses, with longer hair, and with her tattoos covered... Sapph, if you read this, I'm sorry.

We check in, and immedietly my keys are handed to a bellboy... which I snatch back, I will find my room myself, and I don't want to have to tip him. We put our bags in our room, and come back down. Here we run into Seth/IRC Goliath... and a bunch of other people, I'm blanking out on names, I'm sure someone will remind me.

Hudson, Chris Rogers and his crew arrive and we immedietly start talking Gathering 2005. And at the time, Chris asks Aaron to be his Treasurer, and Aaron says yes. And for those of you who don't know, Aaron and I had a pact after Gathering 2003 that if either of us ever seriously considered being on con staff again, we'd commit ritual suicide. But the pact was broken, and I did not feel like ritual suidice anyway.

We all hang, and finally the G2004 staff and Greg Weisman arrives. Greg gives me some good natured ribbing for last year, which is fine, I have a sense of humor about it, and it is funny. Ironically enough, I was more at ease with Greg this year than at previous years, because there was still the celebrity Gargoyles creator thing going, but this year we were like old friends instead of series creator and series fan. And Greg is just one of the greatest people in the world any way. It was great to see him again.

It was really great to see Crzy Jen, cause I was always disappointed that she couldn't make it to Gathering 2003. It was really great, and finally as one con chair to another I went up to Karine to tell her it would all be over soon... I said it humorously though... but seriously, Karine did all this and was five months pregnant. Talk about an iron will.

The con staff goes to bed and the rest of us hang out with Greg Weisman in the lobby for about another hour. And afterwards we decide it's time for bed, had a long drive and we all need sleep.

To Be Continued...

Dylan Blacquiere writes...

Here's my Gathering journal for the first two days; I'll post the Sunday bit when that's done, but it might take a bit of time to complete.

Friday, August 6

The preparations for the trip had kept Stormy and I up for longer than we’d expected; Thursday had dissolved into a parade of framing artwork, editing writing pieces, haircuts and packing. All of this had started late. We had gone to the Annapolis Valley in southwest Nova Scotia on Wednesday, to check out Digby’s annual scallop festival and visit with a friend. We had only gotten back to Halifax at one p.m. on Thursday, and that left us with not a whole lot of time to do everything that we needed.
But it all came together. Somehow, in the end, it always does.
I didn’t get much sleep that night â€" we had to get up at 5 a.m. to get ready for the flight, but I was also trying to think about the Gathering and how I felt about the whole thing. I was excited about going, but I was also feeling a bit wary and ambivalent. I had recently sort of drifted away from the fandom by default, still talking to people but not writing much in the way of fanfiction or thinking much about Gargoyles at all. I had thought that it was a bit of natural progression, that I was making the transition to writing only original stuff and settling into my second year of medical school. Either way, I was wondering what the Gathering would do for that â€" whether it would reverse the course, bring me back into the fandom, or whether it would just be an excuse to meet with people and have a good time before coming home and doing much as I had before. Last year’s Gathering had given me a “post-fandom bounce”, so to speak, but last year I was still pretty involved. It was a question that was on my mind for most of the four hours I was trying to sleep.
We woke up at five, spent an hour getting showered and dressed and preparing the cats for another weekend without us, and then we were on our way. I made do without coffee, driving through the streets of Halifax and across the span of the Macdonald Bridge over the Narrows. Stormy was excited, looking forward to seeing everyone for the first time; this was my second, so I knew the score, and we spent much of the drive to the airport talking of what she could expect and what we were looking forward to. She was excited about the art show and the Phoenix Gate anthology (which we had both been published in), while I had my list of Gathering goals: buy Keith David a drink, get the Acadian flag on the DVD footage in honour of the 400th anniversary of Acadian settlement in North America, speak French as often as I could, and have a good time with all of the friends I had met for the first time last year.
I don’t like flying that much, but I like airports, and the pre-flight experience was stressless. Check-in, breakfast, security screen â€" all fine, save for the fact that my belt buckle dinged in the metal detector and I was asked to undo it in order to prove that I was not some sort of sartorial terrorist. We waited about twenty painless minutes to board â€" I had my coffee and my Globe and Mail to keep me happy â€" and then we were on the plane, settling in. I almost crushed poor Stormy’s hand when the plane took off â€" have I mentioned that I don’t much care for air travel? â€" but aside from that, the flight was flawless, and we landed at Trudeau Airport about an hour later. We got our luggage and called a cab, and twenty minutes and thirty-one dollars later, we were at the Delta Centre-Ville. We checked in â€" hearing the ominous phrase “king-sized bed” â€" and then went up to the twenty-seventh floor to find our room. Just the king-sized bed, room enough for three people. Problem was, we had asked Mercedes and her brother Andrew â€" two more con virgins and friends of ours from our frequent trips to Maine â€" to stay in the room. Only three of us would get bed space; the last would have to find somewhere to make the floor comfortable. By the time Mercedes and Andrew got there, I had already decided that it would have to be me. I’d reserved the room and though there would be two beds, so the fault, such as it was, was mine. But that was okay; I’d slept on less comfortable floors before, and I was sure that the magnanimity would make up for the mattress deficiency quite nicely.
We went down to La Terrasse to find when registration would start â€" no one really knew, but there was a crowd down there, many old time friends including Allaine, Spacebabie and Revel, Mara Cordova and Aaron Wheeler, Kathy Pogge, and Ellen Stolfa, who I hugged first and longest. We all had a series of chats, and I met a few new people, including Tim, Christine and Becca Morgan, who were there as well. It was time for lunch, though, and people were splitting off and going their separate ways, and so Stormy, Mercedes, Andrew and myself started on our way to find people to hit Montreal with. We ended up going to Chinatown with Greg Bishansky, and we saw a nice part of the downtown before getting to the Chinese Quarter. Nothing seemed to open until eleven, so we had to wait a few minutes, and eventually we found a Vietnamese restaurant and had a fine meal. We got back to the hotel just in time for registration to begin; from that point on I had my Gathering badge, announcing to everyone that I was Whitbourne, and that I was with the fan crowd. And that was when the events started, and so we all started splitting up to check out what the Gathering had to offer.
I first went to the General Round Robin, presented by Spacebabie; the turnout was a little sparse, but that worked fine for the crowd, and I got to spend a little bit more time with Spacebabie, Allaine, Revel and Sarah the Great, catching up on old times since Manhattan last year. I was told, in no uncertain terms, that c-words were off limits (even if it were the adult round robin I have no doubt that same restriction would have held true) and then we started round-robining the scenario of Demona and Macbeth meeting in the Grand Canyon as a prelude to the events of “Sanctuary”. I picked “whiskey” as my word, but ended up using “salamander”, and it didn’t take long for the round robin to be hijacked with a running joke involving Macbeth inviting Demona for a ride in a dinghy. It seemed funny at the time, at least. After the round robin ended I went to look at the art room â€" Stormy and Mercedes had set up their work, and the Icestorm Brooklyn that Stormy had painted to look like Whitbourne was standing proudly (drunkenly?) on his table. After that, I crept into the Combat lecture being given by my friend Flanker; he was having a good time, even though Hudson and Aaron, in the back, seemed to know just as much about weapons as Flanker, prompting him to jokingly ask why they were even there. It was a fun lecture on a subject I know very little about; I liked the sniper scope that was passed around, though I thought it sort of funny that whenever anyone got to look through it, they inevitably used it to line up the crosshairs with poor Flanker’s head. Poor guy.
Next came the radio play auditions, something that I didn’t take part in last year but was looking forward to this time. I got my form, and filled out my preferences (any part, think I can do a Scottish/British accent, no to cats and dogs) and had a nice chat with Kathy Pogge before I was called in to the audition. I ended up reading the Brooklyn part in the audition package, and even though I was one of the last, Greg Weisman told me that I was the first to read for that part so far. “Really,” I said, though I was thinking “cha-ching”. So I read the part, and then read the part again from a farther distance, trying to use all my experience as a drill instructor in cadets to get the emoting across. Greg seemed impressed enough, told me I had done a good job, and so that was the end of that audition. I went outside, met with Stormy, Mercedes and Andrew again; it was getting late, and we anted to find some supper before the fast-approaching Opening Ceremonies.
I can’t understand the difficulty we had in getting food. Everything we could find in the cafes nearby was closed or too expensive, and it took us nearly fifteen minutes to find a sandwich bar that had enough to sate us. We grabbed our food and raced back to the hotel; I had time to eat half of my salad and half of the sandwich before people got called in to the ball room for the opening gala. I sat with Stormy and told her most of what to expect, though I was surprised at how many were there â€" the room was full, it seemed, much better than last years had been, and even Greg seemed surprised. I got to catch up with Wingless, Gabarus and a few other old and dear friends. Karine Charlebois, the con chair, got up and gave a speech, and that was when Maui and Abe Wintersmith got up and hijacked the convention for the Clan Olympics.
I had been signed up for this by Flanker, and I owe him big-time for that. I had been conscripted onto Team Canadian Body Massage, a WTF name if ever I heard one, though I must confess that we had one of the fuller esprit-de-corps’ to be found. It was a neat excuse to wave my Acadian flag, anyway, and try to get it on the DVD, but any pretense at dignity was soon gone as I stood in front of the Gathering wearing a ripped T-shirt, having plastic balls stuffed down my front. And we didn’t even win, even though we cheated fair and square. I had my suspicions that it was rigged, though I at least got to shout “Acadie!” at the DVD crew, and that made things somewhat okay. During the aftermath, Greg Weisman found me and told me that they had forgotten to get me to try the accents during the radio play auditions, and so that would have to be one of my first goals for the next day.
The opening ceremonies continued with a pitch for the 2005 Gathering in faraway Las Vegas, and they sold me completely and utterly, so long as I’m not doing an overseas placement for med school in Africa or Southeast Asia. After that, Greg took the podium, talked about the DVD release, and then showed off the goods â€" the pitch reels, the storyboards, the concepts for some of the thwarted spinoffs, and the voice recordings for the Team Atlantis episode “The Last”, all of which I’d seen and heard but which Stormy had not. She was delighted, and I was pleased that I knew what to expect. With that, the Opening ceremonies ended, and I went out to do the social thing that was, is, and ever shall be the centrepiece of my Gathering experiences. I totally skipped out on the Clan Olympics for it, leaving Flanker in the lurch and causing Maui no end of grief (she hates me still, as far as I can tell), but it couldn’t be denied; it was time to see Montreal. Poor Stormy had to go to bed â€" she was exhausted from the trip and wanted to make sure that she could attend the masquerade the following night. So Ellen, Allaine, Princess Alex and myself headed to the outside world, bound for Ellen’s old stamping grounds from her McGill days and some of the Italian restaurants there. There was quite a bit of talk about writing and baseball and inclement weather â€" I had lived through my first hurricane last year, while Ellen and Allaine had spent some time together watching the Cubs play. It was a fine meal with good friends, and for the first time in months I was hearing fanfic writers talk about stories that had nothing, absolutely nothing, to do with giant transforming robots. It’s enough to make me believe in God.
On the way back, Ellen and I talked a little bit about fanfic, and I ended up mentioning that I was thinking of giving it up again. I told her that I felt I wouldn’t have enough time, that I wanted to spend the writing time I had on work that I could publish, that there wasn’t enough time to get my name out there if I spent it working on fanfiction. In her infinite patience, she told me that was fine, but then told me that if I really wanted to write fanfic then I shouldn’t stop myself, because forcing myself to write what I wasn’t interested in was a sure recipe for dissatisfaction and frustration. (At least, that was the gist of it; the conversation extended over several city blocks, at least). I had to admit that the original, artsy-fartsy stuff I had been writing had been utterly less than satisfying, and that the most success I’d had so far had been with poetry and with a story based loosely on my fanfics, and that the rest was shaping up to be elegantly written garbage. So I had been given something to think about as we got back to the hotel, something that carried on into a conversation with Ellen and Alex in Ellen’s hotel room as we waited for the blue mug-a-guest with Greg to start.
We showed up with a few minutes to spare and joined the crowd; Greg was a few minutes later than he’d been scheduled (though he hadn’t entered Keith David territory yet), and as soon as he showed up, the questions began. The thing was, for a blue mug a guest, the questions were surprisingly tame. They were mostly about the DVD rather than any positions or fetishes, and most of the revelations (that I was there for) had to do with special features and such, not like the bombshells of gargoyle sexual orientation that had galvanized the conventions last year. But that was okay, and the theory is going that had Thom Adcox been there then things might have gotten raunchy quickly. Or pantsless. Or both.
At about one o’clock, Flanker and I left the mug-a-guest and went out to explore a bit more of Montreal by dark. We ended up at a small tavern just off of Ste. Catherine Street (another goal!) where I had a pint of Stella Artois and he had a cup of coffee, though something got lost in translation, because he said that he didn’t want any “fancy coffee” and the waitress apparently took this to mean that he did, in fact, want fancy coffee. But things were soon settled, and we sat and talked about military matters, his panel earlier in the day, and a few of his experiences overseas in Bosnia through the Canadian reserves. It was a great conversation, one that will go down as one of the memorable moments of the Gathering for me; we came back to the hotel and parted ways, and then I stumbled upstairs to bed. Stormy, Mercedes and Andrew were sound asleep in the bed; I got a few pillows from the front desk, found a blanket in the closet, and made a nest on the floor to try and while away the few remaining hours of the night, my first in Montreal.

Saturday, August 7

I had spent much of the night shivering â€" the fan was up too high and it was bloody cold, and I hadn’t gotten much sleep until I had cranked ‘er up to Saharan comfort. Nevertheless, I woke up at seven that morning raring to go, running on five hours of sleep. I went to the hotel pool for a brief swim, and then got back to go to breakfast with Stormy, Mercedes and Andrew at the Deli Planet café in the Gare Centrale. We caught up on a few old-times stories, and then got back to the hotel in order to go our separate ways again. I went back to the Radio Play auditions, both to hold a place for Stormy while she checked out the art room, and to follow instructions and give my impression of Scottish and British accents. It was in a different room than the day before, so I followed a crowd of people to find it, heading for the auditorium. Maui was greeting people as we walked in, and she looked delighted to see me. “Witless!” she said. “You’re coming back to Clan Olympics!”
“Wait a minute, this isn’t the radio play auditions?” I asked.
She punched me in the shoulder and chased me away, calling me nasty names.
When I finally got to the St. Charles room for the auditions, Greg called me Brooklyn and the “cha-ching!” sound went off in my head again; nevertheless, I tried reading Hudson’s lines for the accent tests, and they went a little less successfully. Now if there had been a character speaking in an Acadian accent, I would have nailed it, but alas, there was no Avalon Tour episode about Goliath and the others ending up in Bathurst and having to speak in chiac and play the spoons, so I was out of luck. Stormy did well, too; she told me that she had been asked to meow like a cat, and she just imitated our Smokey doing his morning dance for food and attention. It apparently impressed Greg, much more so than Smokey impresses us. This didn’t take all the allotted time, so I snuck into the Thrill of the Chase panel being put on by Spacebabie, Ellen and Christine. It was pretty neat; loads of cool suggestions about chase scenes, a discussion of the movie “Memento”, and plus I got to talk a little bit about “Trailer Park Boys” (my new favourite show â€" go and find it, it should be on Bravo down in the States and most of it is on DVD now). That panel ended up going a little bit over time, as all of the best writing ones often do.
We stupidly decided not to get lunch, and instead just milled about chatting with friends and acquaintances, waiting for 12:30 when the radio play cast was announced. Both Stormy and I were chosen, as was the third member of Team Canadian Body Massage, and I could just imagine Flanker and Maui breaking down into fits of wailing and gnashing of teeth at our inconstancy. Stormy and I went to the room where people were getting set up for the weapons display by the Society of Creative Anachronism; we sat with Flanker, though I was not in the mood for watching people play with wooden swords and say “verily” a lot, and just before the demo started I announced that I was making the quintessential Canadian journey â€" the Tim’s run. Flanker gave a me a toonie, and I set out up University Avenue to score some Tim Horton’s coffee. As I was making my order, I ran into some American fans who had never been in a Tim Horton’s before. “They take credit cards, right?” asked one of them, staring in confusion at the price lists and the wide array of crullers and donuts.
“Why wouldn’t they take a credit card?” replied his friend, looking confident in her ability to buy bagels with plastic. I thought that I might perhaps watch the show, but I chickened out, and told them that every Tim Hortons in Canada that I’d ever been to was cash only. They looked vaguely horrified, but I think in the end that things worked out well.
I came back with the coffees to the weapons demo, and Flanker and I watched for a while. To my surprise, it was quite interesting, and the guys doing the swordplay seemed pretty cool. I think that after spending so much time in the insular cliques of medical school, the geekiness threshold is a little lower once you get to a place like the Gathering; fortunately, I got better. In fact, I figured that if my friends at school hadn’t already googled my name and found my fanfic, then the fact that I had a chance at being on the DVD in my Dalhousie Medicine T-shirt would probably knock me out of the geek closet forever. I ducked out of the weapons show at the first break and went to watch the auction, long enough to watch a bidding war for an animation cell that went up to $455; it was a nice battle, but then it was time for the radio play auditions. I met Stormy and started heading for St. Charles; on the way we ran into Carole Wagner, who told us that the DVD crew had been wanting to interview us as one of the couples who had been brought together by the show. So we ran downstairs to the ball room to see if they were there; sadly, they weren’t, and so we went back up to the auditions.
Greg gave out the parts first thing; I was awarded the role of Brooklyn, while Stormy got to be Cagney. We ran through the lines, floored by the sheer brilliance of the other actors, especially the two playing Elisa and John Castaway. Stormy went all out on her Cagney lines; I did my best to reach into the Brooklyn lines, especially the “parting is such sweet sorrow”; I concentrated as hard as I could on every ex-girlfriend I’d ever had for that one, and I thought it went fine. The audition ended on a positive note, and as Stormy and I left the room, Carole found us again and told us that the DVD crew wanted to try again.
We went down, and gave a ten minute long interview of which I’m sure they’ll use about five seconds. It wasn’t that hard for either of us; Stormy is money under pressure, to coin a phrase, and I’m so used to TV crews an audiences, not to mention that I think I was born with a silver tongue. We talked about how we had come to discover the show, how we had met, how long we had been (I ended up making a crack about my parents’ frustration with the lack of an official wedding that I hope to every God and saint they cut from the footage) and then we gave each other a soft kiss on camera. It seemed sort of lame, but I have my doubts that they’d have used the raunchy French-kiss that I’d wanted to give her, so maybe it’s all for the best. At the end, we were asked why we thought Gargoyles was so unique; I asked if I could be elitist, and then went off on a spiel about how it was a show unafraid to show its intelligence, and how it depended on becoming involved with the characters as though they were real people. Ellen was watching us do this and she tells me that she thought it was eloquent; I have my doubts, but when it comes to TV, I’m always a bit self-flagellating. After that it was time to run upstairs and get ready for the actual performance of the radio play. We had to wait for the DVD crew to arrive, but when they did, we tore right into the performance of “The Journey”, uncut and uncensored. I got a few wild whoops of applause when I stood up and was introduced as Brooklyn, which is always a wicked boost for the ego; I’m not sure how well I did with the lines, though, especially since the DVD crew came up and caught me on tape a few times. It’s something I’d do again, though; loads of fun and lots of laughs. I got Greg to autograph both my and Stormy’s scripts, and then we went to drop some things off in the hotel room before Stormy, Mercedes and I took off to find some food and explore the city.
We walked to the metro station at Victoria Square, pretty much just to say we took it, and we rode it two stations down to the Old Port, or Vieux-Montreal. We walked past a bunch of weddings in the public square and got a bit of the flavour of the place; after a short search for a nice restaurant, we ended up finding a fantastic place called Le Grill. Uncrowded and tucked away in a sort of alcove, with just enough shade to make it comfortable. We had a criminally good meal; I ate filet mignon and drank draft beer, and my companions ate just as well. After that we ended up walking up and down the streets looking for interesting things to see, and we came upon the medieval store that a few people had been talking about, Excalibor. (Is that French or just charmingly misspelled? I’m not sure). But the store was magnificent, and almost instantly I found a multi-coloured raven mask that I had to have. Mercedes bought a mask, and she and Andrew both bought pendants; only Stormy escaped, and she bought something at the native art store. Vieux-Montreal is horrific as temptation for impulse buys. We also went to see art galleries and a few of the streetscapes, including the magnificent Notre Dame Cathedral. I had not spent a lot of time in Montreal before this, only a few hours spent waiting for connecting trains to Toronto or Moncton, so I was glad to see a bit more of the city than Gare Centrale. We ended up walking back to Chinatown, where I saw the Fu-Dogs at the gate on Rue Saint-Laurent, and we got to see it at a busier time than the day before. I also managed to see the street-sign for Rue Sainte-Urbain, or St. Urbain Street, the literary turf of one of my greatest heroes, the incomparable Mordecai Richler, famous for bringing that street to life in books like “The Apprenticeship of Duddy Kravitz” and “St. Urbain’s Horseman”. Had I time enough and world, I’d have walked on that street for hours trying to retrace the steps, sort of like a Bloomsday pilgrimage in Dublin only with smoked-meat sandwiches; alas, time was getting late and we had to get to the hotel for the masquerade. Stormy had to finish her Quarryman costume, and Mercedes and I at least had masks now, though few clothes to go with it. We got back in time and got the costumes squared away, and then we went down to see what things would transpire.
The costumes were amazing, even though my wicked raven-mask robbed me of any semblance of peripheral vision; we enjoyed the masquerade and the cosplays even to the tune of the nurse’s reunion singing karaoke next door. There were plenty of great costumes â€" and I swear to God I’m dressing up as Bonavista next year â€" and lots of hard work and effort. Poor Lynati, though â€" her Ophelia costume was great, even if it was also late, but she at least got an honourable mention for it. I still have that stupid “I’m a Gargoyle Who’s Afraid To Fly” song stuck in my head, every so often. Aneurhythms are dangerous things.
There was a party afterward, but we didn’t stay; a crowd of us went upstairs to the hotel bar and had a few drinks. Stormy stayed till midnight, and Andrew came and had a few rounds, all the more poignant since he’s not legal in his home country. I med Sadistic Cow and a few others, and Ellen and I started a few conversations about misbegotten golf games and classical music. The DVD crew came up again, though without their cameras; they’d had a long day, too, I gather, an I can’t blame them for wanting a drink.
About fifteen minutes before one o’clock, when the bar was scheduled to close, Ellen pointed out that Mr. David had just appeared. She would know; she’d been to the banquet and had been enchanted by the stories that he had told, I turned around and saw Keith David sitting at the bar, and almost unbidden, I announced that I was buying him a drink, and then I was suddenly up and walking toward him. I think I was a little bit lit; I certainly was more courageous than I usually am, and that explains why I thought nothing of walking up the bar and saying “Mr. David, if you don’t mind, I’d like the honour of buying this round.”
He looked at me in surprise, then flashed me a wide and pleasant smile. “That’s very kind of you,” he said. I fished a twenty from my pocket and gave it to the bartender; he then gave Mr. David a double shot of Muscovskaya (I know because I kept the receipt; how’s that for a souvenir?) that earned me only three dollars in change. I was startled, but I didn’t show it; I left the toonie as a tip, then ran back to my table, got my beer, and joined Keith David for a drink. We had a long and pleasant conversation about medicine (he caught just from the way I talked that I’m interested in psychiatry and thinks that I should go for it). We talked about his interest in the ministry and his belief that acting is vocation as much as his job. We talked about good-and-evil, we talked about memorable roles, we talked about ideal Canadian cottage country and the beauty of Montreal. He bought the next round, and so I can say that Keith David bought me a pint of Sleeman’s with as straight a face as I can manage. After a while, Ellen came over and introduced herself and told him a story about cremation magazines and centrefolds, and Keith laughed so hard that he nearly spilled something. It was just an awesome evening, and when it ended and Keith had retired for the night, the bar lights came on and we went back downstairs. So not only had I met my goal of buying Keith David a drink, but we had actually closed the bar down with him. The only think that would have made it perfect would be if we were in Halifax and he’d bought me a pint of Keith’s Pale Ale, but that would have been asking too much.
We went downstairs for a few minutes and congratulated Greg on the birth of his nephew, and then Ellen, Kathy Pogge, Alex Garg and myself went up to Ellen’s room for a nightcap. It was another brilliant conversation â€" I’m running out of superlatives, here â€" that touched on writing, on Freudian slips, on language, and on the fandom as a whole. We shared book recommendations and tales of reading, had a few finals beers; however, I couldn’t help but notice that a few times I had been talking about writing fanfic in the present tense, and I wasn’t sure how scary that was. I noticed Ellen shooting me a few knowing smiles about it, though. She’s wise, that one.
Finally, at quarter past three, I was on the verge of collapse and so I reluctantly took my leave. I went back downstairs to my room, still giddy at the events at the bar and the receipt in my pocket; that night, when I lay down in my blanket on the floor, I had no trouble at all finding sleep.

John 'Flanker' Clemens writes...

Gathering Report:
I want to thank the Con Staff as well as Maui and Abe Wintersmith for working their asses off. I was anticipating this event since NYC last year, and my expectations were far exceeded.

Pre-Con: NYC 03 was my first con. I chat once inawhile online with folks, but I dont think I was too well known. Once the con was over, I decided I should contribute and participate more, in return for such an awesome weekend. I'm too lazy to be staff or volunteer, but hosting a panel appealed to me. Alot of them are about writing or art. I have no business telling anyone in this fandom how to write or draw. But I know alot about fighting, so maybe I could explain combat to people. So I offered to host a panel about combat, focusing on modern firearms. I was embarrased to see my name listed on the guest section under Greg and Thom for so long, since the I wrote my bio in seven seconds. Over in Bosnia, I submitted a story for the Phoneix Gate Anthology. I thought it was a shot in the dark. It was accepted, and when I saw my name in the list of the greatest fan writers ever, I was totally floored. Then I spent more time editing the thing than I did writing it! I still think its one of the weaker stories in the book, but no one spat on me at the con, so I guess its not that bad.

Also, I ended up getting a room with Abe and BrooklynX, two guys I've never seen. Well BrookX briefly in NYC. And I offered to pick up Wingless and Gabarus/Titanic in Ottawa. Then I haphazardly packed the day before the con.

The Con:

Thursday: This year I did the hard core nerd deal. One day early and one day late (not counting stay overs in Ottawa). We picked up Wingless and drove to the hotel with only a few extra turns. They checked in their room while I stalked the lobby for gargoyles fans. (alot of us really stand out. Ten year old see through t shirts of Goliath are a dead give away). I followed BrooklynX into an elevator after I heard him mumble to someone that he was looking for me. It was funny. I spent the rest of the day wandering around old montreal with Sarah The Great (she really is!) and Abe. Then I pretended to sleep while Maui and Abe discussed the clan olympics, for which I was the only guy to pre register a team.

Friday: After breakfeast and some schmoozing, I had to get ready for my panel. Sarah helped my lug my bag of show and tell items from my car to the room. I waited out the round robin folks and started to set up. Just when I though the dry wipe markers were the coolest thing ever, Greg (I forget you last name dude, sorry) comes out of nowhere with a projector that plugs straight into my laptop with no hassles. Amazing! I think my panel went pretty good. Folks were asking alot of good questions. No one wandered away, and I think I won the approval of the leather trench coat clan. (they didnt make me their cheif...). My panel went over time, which I think is a good sign, and I ended up taking questions in the hall outside.
Then the opening ceremonies started and Abe and Maui succesfully hijacked it. It was the first and last time the team I registered actually came together. 3/4 of us are PGA authors, 3/4 are hosting panels, 3/4 of us were in the radio play. I ended up with most of Montreal being on my team at one point. My team did pretty good, we ended up being in 2nd.

I only had one question for Greg W at blue mug a guest, which wasnt as blue as NYC. (Some of you are very imaginative and/or perverted. God Bless!)Then Whitbourne and I snuck out for a drink. He was witness to the horrible verbal abortion that is my attempt at French. We talked about basically everything until O'Dark stupid.

Saturday: I was pretty busy with the olympics (I had to borrow from Arno's team, then I made her our hostage. I love you Cleo!!) SCA thingie, more olympics and then the radio play, then the banquet (I registered back when I had money...) then the masquerade. Somewhere in there I squeezed in looking at all the awesome art. You people rock.
Everyone seemed to like my Renassaince Hunter costume. I must confess that its actually recycled parts from a Star Wars fan movie I made. I spent a few minutes sewing red slashes on the mask. I figured Keith would get a kick out of it when he mentioned being trained in stage fencing. I got 3rd place, which was very exciting. I ended up yaking all night with Robert and Denis.

Sunday: As if I dont need my ego fed anymore than it was already. All of the PGA authors and artists got to sit behind tables and sign people's copies. I dont think alot of people had a chance to read as far as mine, so I made it through unharmed. We all got good seats for Keith's Q&A. That was awesome. A copy of the anthology was passed around for Keith, we all signed it. The closing ceremonies were exciting. I got Keith to sign my Platoon DVD. Syrth claimed me as her last minute Con Boyfriend. I got all psyched for Vegas. I found out that hideous 'Dark Fighter' backpack I found in Croatia sold at the auction for 46bucks or something crazy.

Robert aranged a laser tag trip that was beyond succesful. I dont think I've ever played with over 30 people, let alone over 30 exceptional garg fans! It was crazy. I had no idea how light Jade Griffon was. I had to toss her from room to room so the green team couldnt shoot her.

Half of us invaded Reubens after the game and they were great, letting us order food and be crazy weirdos even though they were about to close. Back at the hotel I fired some quick sketches into some books. Anything Rivendale tells you is a filthy lie. I ended up in Maui's room playing some insane singing game while drawing silly pics for Beedoo and Arno.

Monday: The end of the con always sucks. All of the cool people you got to meet are leaving, and you're only going to see them a year from now, if you're lucky. Sigh.

I ruined Wingless' tradition of nightmarish trips home. I pulled up front, he hopped in and I drove him to his house without incident. I crashed overnight in Ottawa and got back on tuesday around dinner time. I will now commence staring at the calendar for next years con.

Karine "Kanthara" Charlebois writes...

Gathering Report

It has been a great con. Of course, I’m saying this as the con chair, so this might seem a little head-inflated to say, but with all the great comments and the thank yous me and my team have received, I can’t deny it. It has been a great con.

Patrick arrived on Wednesday the 4th, and I’d taken the week off starting that day to work on the con. When he got here, I’d ran errands, I’d been putting stuff together, making the special passes for the SCA people and one of our auctioneers, and finishing up my art for the con. We started putting the badges together, and had a dinner of burgers and corn on the cob with Adam. Laurean finished the programmes that evening, so Patrick and I headed out to Bureau en Gros to get them printed (good thing they were open 24 hours). The next morning was spent packing stuff up, and then we ran errands -- first we picked up the programmes, went to get spray paint for Patrick’s Puck boots, drove to pick up Rob and Cindy, swung by the airport to get Liz, Taylor and Laurean (and met Trishana there at the same time -- she took a taxi to the hotel from the airport) and we drove back home where we met up with Kaylee who had just gotten in.

The lot of us headed out for food -- Poutine was a must for many -- and then came back to my place to pack up the van. We fit as much stuff as we could in there, split the team between the van and Kaylee’s car, and drove to the hotel.We checked in to the con suite, met up with Shaun, and while everyone was unpacking the van and checking in to their rooms, and assembled con packets, Kaylee and I drove to my work place to pick up the office supplies I’d ordered, and then drove to pick up the Anthologies. When we made our way back to the hotel, we got help unpacking her car, and I called Jennifer to make sure they’d made it into the country this time (long story). When Kaylee’s car was emptied, we drove back to my place, picked up everything that was remaining (I packed then, I didn’t have time before) and then we drove back to the hotel. We left the art panel stuff in the van and made our way to the con suite. Carol, Jennifer and Alan were there, and we relaxed a bit as Jennifer, Carol and Patrick set out to get Greg at the airport. When they all came back, we realized that what we thought would be an intimate outing with friends to dinner had become a huge group, and sadly had to cut down the party to pretty much staff (and future staff) only.

We tried to have dinner at the Jardin Nelson, but were too late and their kitchen were closed, so we found another restaurant on the Place Jacques Cartier for dinner. I had a cream of vegetables followed by Mussels with leaks, and MAN that was good. Cindy and I both had the same thing and kept commenting to each other how good it was.

Back at the hotel later that night (Greg kept refusing to take my sweater and was protective of me because I’m pregnant ;)), we decided to convene in the con suite at 9AM, to go have breakfast and kick off the day.

Friday morning, we went for breakfast in a restaurant on McGill close to the hotel. Service was slow because there was only one person attending the whole restaurant, so we got back late from our breakfast meeting. People were gathered in the soon to be registration area, and we got things started as soon as we could. Apparently, one of our dealers had shown up, saw that we weren’t there, got the “I don’t know what you’re talking about” from the hotel, got angry and left, and they didn’t come back for the entire weekend. That’s too bad -- I was really looking forward to having them in our dealer room. Well, I can understand their frustration and the fact that we were half-an-hour late, but still... their loss.

Ian showed up. Registration got started, and while some were dealing with assembling the art panels (oh crap, we’re missing two elbow connections, here are the directions to Home Depot, Patrick), others were getting the rooms set up, and people started posting their art up. Someone grabbed me and said, “Karine, you should be hosting your panel now” and I was surprised at how fast noon came around! I ran downstairs to get the Perspective panel started. Small group, but they had good questions, and I hope I was clear in my explanations. I ended the panel early since everything had been adressed and no one had any more questions for me, and headed back up to the con suite to make sure everything was under control. I grabbed my art and headed down to the art stage to get my art set up. I barely had time to look at the art on the structure I had space on when I was told to hurry up and set up the VCR for Opening Ceremonies. I realized most that day that being Con Chair means everyone is running after you for answers about EVERYTHING. I zoomed back upstairs, got the VCR and the boom box with Shaun, tried to plug make the setup work, struggled with it until Rob replugged the wires properly and Patrick pressed the right button on the projector... and I went “d’oh.” as the thing started working. We let people in and started up Opening Ceremonies.

Opening Ceremonies are kind of a blur right now because my brain blanked as to what I had to say (I forgot my notes). I did announce that yes, I was indeed pregnant and answered the questions I’d been answering all day, so that people would know *grins*. We all got a turn at the podium, and Jennifer gave Gorebash the Fan Guest of Honour award, which he fully deserved. Liz started talking about the contests, and got “interrupted” by the Clan Olympics for their first event. That was hilarious, took a while to settle, but the we got the stage back. After we were done with all we had to say, after G2005 did their announcement, we passed the podium to Greg, and he did his routine which none of us will ever tire of. We saw the videos, heard the stories, and also heard all about the DVD and its release date of DECEMBER 7TH, 2004!!! (Mark your calendars!).

When that was done, we went out to Jardin Nelson again, this time being early enough to have the kitchens open. We had a wonderful meal, chatted a lot with each other (Geneviève had joined us for dinner, it was great to see her again) and then hurried back to the hotel for the Blue Mug-a-Guest. The consuite was PACKED when I got there (I had to make a deposit)and Greg was entertaining the crowd with stories and answering questions. Adam (the hubby) showed up and I was really happy to see him. We chatted with other people, and Greg commented that this was the tamest Blue Mug ever. I’ve had con virgins comment to me about how friendly this convention was and how much fun they had being with the fans. When Greg decided that his bladder was going to burst at 2 in the morning, I decided to kick everybody out, and sent them to bed. Adam stayed the night. *sigh* snuggly hubby.

Saturday, the alarm went off at 8 AM. I snoozed a couple of times to snuggle with Adam, but then Matthieu decided to give me a powerful kick in the bladder which got me out of bed faster that you can say, “I’ll be right back”. By five to nine, I had the consuite door open for the staff, and they all showed up with surprising punctuality. We opted to eat breakfast in the hotel restaurant, and headed out to our panels/registration/activities from there. I was being interviewed for the DVD at 10:30 that morning, but they ran a little late as they started with Chris Rogers; then I chatted with them, answered their questions, and showed them the t-shirts from all the previous years for the DVD extras. They filmed them all. When noon came around, I’d greeted some of my SCA people, and showed them the way to their demo room. I ran up to the consuite to get changes into my medieval dress, came back down for the SCA demo and the Auction, shared my time between both, took over for Siryn in the Auction when she had to go to the Radio Play rehearsal. Marc(<lj user=”sandman7”>) and <lj user=”baronscartop”> did a great job at the auction, and not only did they SELL everything, they sold it in record time. That was the smoothest, most effective auction we’ve every had in this con. (THANK YOU BOTH!!!) When that was done, I went back up to change back into regular clothes to attend the Radio Play: Greg showed us “The Journey” but in his own way. And it was fun. I really enjoyed it a lot.

When that was over, I went to get changed into a nice dress for the banquet. Carol and Patrick headed out to the airport to pick up Keith David. I invited people in, told them to leave a seat open at each table because Greg’s and Keith’s seats were raffled off. Well, food was served, and after the appetizer and salad, I visited each table to ask how everything was, and to let them know that the menus were keepsakes prepared by our enthusiastic hotel contact, Daniel Fortin. He was excited about the menus and had shown one to me earlier in the day, and I really appreciated that he did that. People were happy to hear that, and they were happy with the food too. Main course was served, and then desert, and still no news of Keith. We were getting worried, and finally Keith, Patrick and Carol showed up -- there had been like 8 landings in 15 minutes and thus Customs was bogged down for 2 hours. Their food was waiting for them and when they got in, we started the Q&A, and Keith was such a good sport about answering questions as he was eating! Keith David is absolutely loveable -- I can’t find any other word to explain it. He’s warm, friendly, huggy, kisses on the cheeks for me, I was overwhelmed by how much joy he emanates.

When food was done, people headed out to get dressed for the masquerade. I took advantage of the pregnant belly to dress up as Pregnant Fox from the episode “Walkabout”, and played the role of wrangler for the cosplayers; then I ran up to get Keith for him to judge the masquerade with Greg, Daniel Fortin, his partner, and Christine Morgan.

The masquerade was AMAZING. It was incredible to see so many costumes -- so many CANON costumes! Even the large majority of the staff was dressed up! It was a great show, and people were impressed. So was the DVD crew. When the masquerade was done, I turned on the boom bax at Mix 96 to at least get some music going as we tried to get the Karaoke working. We had a lot of people up on stage singing, despite our technical difficulties. I had to run out and attend to several things like the hotel rooms for Keith and paying off Greg’s room and and O_o when I got back to the room downstairs, there was a huge crowd on the dance floor preforming YMCA with lyrics going like, “Young man, something something something, I said, Young man, something something something” and EVERYONE was singing along, it was HILARIOUS! Later on, I slow-danced with Alan, and Greg made me boogie, with the twirls and the dips and everything. I had a wonderful time. When we had to leave the room at 2AM, a small group of us headed back to the con suite with Greg, and with no intention of sleeping before Greg had to leave. In the con suite, we laughed, joked, told stories of hilarious things among which was my bachelorette, basically all of us were drunk from lack of sleep. Greg finally decided that it was time to pack and take a shower before he left for his plane trip back home, so when everyone left, I cleaned up the room as much as I was able and then collapsed in bed for a big 2,5 hours.

The evil alarm clock woke me up at 8. Hiss. I snoozed. It rang again. I snoozed again. It rang again. I snarled, got up and took a shower. I opened the consuite door at 9 AM as usual. I was barely coherent as a small group of us convened, and a few of us went to get bagels and cream cheese at the Café Dépôt I usually have coffee at every weekday. (I work just a few blocks from the hotel). I got back to the hotel, and as Laurean started up the life drawing panel, I got Greg’s room finalized, and made the deposit on Keith’s room. Then I got my paper to get to the art panel and saw that Laurean had volunteered to pose since our model had slept in until I showed up... in any case, I got half-an-hour worth of life drawing that morning.

I got my Phoenix Gate Anthology signed, and then went out for lunch with Genn, Félix and Trishana. We went into the Place Bonaventure, and had chinese food. We chatted quickly and had good food, and then I ran back to the hotel to host my dynamic characters panel, which I think worked very well. I got picked up as a Scavenger hunt item by one of the clan olympics team, and it got them bonus points. Wheee! Then I went back in the art room to find that takedown had already happened, and I was incredibly impressed by that. Keith was doing his Mug-a-Guest and being the great public speaker he is, had a more than attentive audience hanging on his every word. I was told he wanted an Anthology, and would like it signed, so I went to all the artists and writers who were doing the book signing, and got them to sign the book for Keith. I gave that to him with a pin as a souvenir, and he was very flattered. Then I announced Closing Ceremonies. The DVD crew packed up, and headed home at that point. I’m sure they got tons of great footage -- I can’t wait to see what they do with it!

Closing Ceremonies were delayed by an hour, but they were concluded quickly enough, with announcing winners for Clan Olympics, the Art Show and the Video contest. G2005 did another speech, and then we started a line for autographs with Keith while G2005 was taking registrations in the back. Shaun wanted a picture of me with Keith, and that man wrapped me in his arms for the picture, making sure he gave a good fatherly rub on my tummy and talked to Matthieu, too. wow.

When all that was done, the staff was rushed upstairs for an emergency meeting, and we learned quickly that it was a pretext to get us all in the consuite for the surprise that had been layed out for us. Scott Rogoff (Abram Wintersmith) had prepared a display of Godiva Chocolates, mints and alcohol for the staff along with a very sweet thank you card that was just beautiful, and very appreciated. Ian had been sent to buy booze as well, and we were ready to start up our Dead Dog party. And party we did. woot. I will save party notes for some other post.

Anyways, I got to bed fairly early considering, and by 11:30 I was out like a light. Then Adam called and we chatted for a while,and then I fell asleep again. Alarm clock went off and I snoozed once, then fell asleep over its muisic until I woke with a start, thinking “I need to clean this room and empty it before 10AM!!!”

Thankfully, I had help.

We got the truck packed and people in the lobby were purchasing their La Ronde tickets from the concierge, at the low price of 28 dollars instead of 34 at the park. I purchased my ticket at the park, being the pregnant lady with the no rides pass.

Man, we didn’t last very long. We walked around the park, did some rides. Well, technically, I was allowed on the Grande Roue (ferris wheel), the minirail and the Spirale (a sightseeing ride up a tower at 312 feet off the ground), but not anything else, so I waited in line with friends, we chatted, had fun, and then I walked through and waited at the exit for them to do the ride. We went on two of the three ridesI was allowed on. I’ll talk more about La Ronde when I’m more coherent -- it’s getting late now.

Patrick, Laurean and me got the van from the hotel and headed back to my place, where Patrick dropped us off and we emptied the van; then we collapsed, and eventually sent Patrick on his way back to the hotel once rush hour trafic had died down. Laurean and I tried to nap, but our brains were in overdrive, so we pretty much got up later and cooked up some corn on the cob while waiting for Adam to bring us sushi. The three of us shared sushi and chatted, and then had an early night. We slept very well.

All in all... a great con, at least from what I’ve been told and from how much fun I have had, regardless of lack of sleep.Would I do it again, be con chair? Talk to me in a month... when I actually come down from the high. I’m tired, but I had a great time.

Battle Beast writes...

I wasn't there, but I'll post anyway because I am a fan and I share in your fun. :)

Friday the 6th

It started out like any other day. I got up, went to work and came home. The First thing I did was go on the computer to find out how people were fairing, making it to Montreal.

I found out about the GARG DVD and so I posted that in the Comment room at Station 8.

I read more posts, and then logged off.

Saturday the 7th:

I went online to find out anymore information. There was little info, but I knew they were all having a fun time.

Latter that day I read one of Todd's rambles on Shadows of the Past that I haddn't read the day before. I went out that night with ftiends, but all I could think about was 12/7...

Sunday the 8th:

I knew things were going to wrap up in Mount Royal, so I went on line. There was little more posted since Saturday, so I tried the Disney Website to see if Gargoyles was confirmed or not (it wasn't), but I still rejoiced at the thought of the 12/7 release date.

I went to bed that night with more great thoughts of the series and still awaited the plethera of gathering journals to pour in.

That is all I will say.

Kelly L Creighton / Kya White Sapphire writes...

Con Report, 2004:

Friday
August 6th Julie and I wandered through the underground mall-thingy and found breakfast. The place we ordered from, The Cedar Grill, had very small bagels. Not even half the size of real bagels. Weirdoes. Anyway, then we spent hours wandering around Montreal looking for an arcade. We never found one, and since the registration desk was supposed to open at 10am, we headed back to the hotel. Of course registration did not open on time, but we did finally get our badges, schedules and shirts.
At Noon I hosted the "Con Virgin 101" panel. Not many people showed up, and the crowd was a little amorphous as people came and went. Still, we managed to kill time for an hour, before Julie and I decided to go swimming. The pool was heated, but not quite heated enough. We spent a half hour shivering before finally leaving. At that point I spent a lot of time running around looking for people- Kyffin, Ethan, Liz, Ian, Taylor, trying to get everyone settled into their rooms. Then Ethan, Kyffin, Julie and I practiced my skit for the cosplay. I also begged Julie, Kyffin and Karlyl to sign up for the clan olympics with me, and Taylor drew a Green Dragon sign for us to use during events.
Opening Ceremonies were much of the usual, though the first clan olympics event was set purposely to disrupt the ceremonies. Half of each team stood at the back of the room near a large bin of plastic balls. One person from each team stood at the front of the room. One person was the runner. The people in the back were supposed to bring balls to the runner, who then ran them to the person at the front and stuffed the balls into the T-shirt that the leaders were wearing. Kyffin and Julie had a good idea- they stole a blanket and were trying to load a bunch of balls in it for Karlyl to take to me. Alas, the plot was foiled by the other teams, who never let Julie and Kyffin fill the blanket. So Karlyl, providing much amusement to the onlooking staff, looked around helplessly as Kyffin and Julie were nowhere to be seen. Our team tied for last place, and was saved only because we managed to find a BONUS BALL.
Greg went through his usual shpeel, which we all love to hear. Then after opening ceremonies Liz, Taylor, Julie, Karlyl, Kyffin, Ethan and I went out for dinner. (Someone asked us if we were going out to the Crepes place with the staff. "No, we weren't invited." I replied.) We went to Le Marche, which was a neat concept, but poorly executed. The restaurant was set up like an open market, where you could wander from stall to stall and take whatever food you wanted. The selection was amazing, and the food was very good, however the place was so poorly designed that (as Kyffin put it) "The only thing harder than finding what you want, is getting someone to actually serve it to you once you've found it." Dinner was good and not too expensive though, so all was well in the end. We then had to be back for the next clan olympics event: A shot in the dark. There were targets set up on chairs, and we had to hit the targets with kooshballs to earn points. Again, the only reason we stayed in the game was due to BONUS POINTS, because another team was eliminated, and we're still dead last. By that point we were all so totally exhausted (even having fallen asleep waiting for our turn at the event) we all just went to bed.

Saturday
August 7th started with a shower, and a review of Friday's events. Then Julie, Kyffin and I went to Tim Horton's for breakfast. At 10am we had to participate in the Clan Olympics. The event was Trivia Torture. In the interest of not being bitter, let's just say the "evil spirits" (Teams that had already been eliminated, but still got to participate by messing with the game) decided to help all the other teams, and screw us over, therefore kicking us out of the olympics since we were /already/ in last place. That didn't sound too bitter, did it?
Julie, Amina, Kyffin and I went out to find DDR. This time I was armed with a map from the concierge. The first two places he'd marked down were both empty buildings, but the third (the Pepsi Forum) finally turned up DDR. 7th mix and Extreme, I played several times, my feet hate me, I'm very happy. We took the bus back to the hotel and watched the Radio Play (The Journey).
After the Radio Play I got ready for dinner. Being that I wasn't going to wear any makeup, this was very easy. While waiting outside the banquet hall I had a few opportunities to get on camera (In case you didn't know, Disney had a film crew here all weekend, making a documentary on the con for the Gargoyles DVD, due out December 7th 2004!!) So hopefully *one* shot at least will make it on to the DVD. Dinner was good, though I don't know that it was worth the $55CAD price tag. The food may cost that much, but I didn't enjoy it that much. Karine at first announced that Keith David would be sitting at our table. Then it changed to Greg. I love Greg, but Liz was really looking forward to Keith David, so she was disappointed. However we had a great conversation with Greg all night, while Keith didn't show up til after dinner.
Julie, Kyffin and I practiced our skit several times, then performed it for Karlyl. She laughed her ass off, so we knew we had a winner. We were the first performers in the Cosplay, and people loved the show. Despite the fact that the lights did not turn down the way we needed them to, so we didn't quite get the effect we wanted. Ah well. There were great costumes this year, I took lots of photos, which are below. We won honorable mention for cosplay.. not that there was any competition. There was one staff cosplay, and staff is not eligible to win. Then the only other cosplayer won Best of Show because his costume and play were fantastic. So really, we got last place ;P
Karaoke and Dancing followed, though not really a lot of dancing. I had to lay down for a while because I was feeling ill. I went to the bar to get something to settle my stomach. A guy, Nate, came over and started hitting on me, and wouldn't let me go back down to the convention. Once I left, he even came down to the convention to see what it was about (which is fine because I told him he could). Luckily he left shortly, I think we were too weird for him.
I followed Liz upstairs and just socialized with Liz, Taylor, Karlyl and Julie. Taylor is fantastic, he really is. I'm so glad he came this year, I hope I get to see him again soon. We did wander up to the con suite for a while, but by 4am we were so tired, we decided to crash.

Sunday
August 8th I did not want to get up this morning. But by about 10am everyone else was stirring, so I decided to get ready too. Julie and I spent a long time, again, looking for food. We finally found a Denny's-like place and asked for our food to go, and picked up breakfast for Liz on the way back. I just hung out in the dealer's room, signing the Phoenix Gate Anthology. It was weird, I felt like someone important or something :D
I hung out in the dealer's room for a while, signing the PGA and then listening to Keith David. Closing ceremonies came all too soon. Much more hanging out was done, waiting for dinner. I've also registered for next year's con, and volunteered to be the schedule coordinator. We had closing ceremonies, then the first official meeting of the Gargoyles Fans .Org corporation. I took minutes. The meeting ran for an hour, a lot was decided. I hopefully impressed Chris enough that I'll be allowed to do minutes and newsletters for the corporation (as secretary perhaps?).
Everyone not in the meeting left for dinner, so Ethan, Julie and I went to the same restaurant from which we'd gotten breakfast. The food was fantastic. When we got back from dinner we did a lot of goofing off, talking, playing video games and being silly. That's my favorite thing about the gathering- just hanging out with my friends.

Monday
August 9th At this point everyone is wholly exhausted, since we stayed up til the wee hours of the morning. Still, knowing that we had to be in the hotel lobby for the La Ronde trip by 10am, we all woke up early to get ready. Flanker, Ian, Liz, Julie, Karlyl and I wandered down to the underground mall and had tea cakes and other pastries. Flanker had a very large cup of coffee, which woke him up more by burning his tongue and less by caffeine :D And since few things at the con ever start on time, we didn't actually get out of the hotel until something like a quarter to 11.
What can I say about La Ronde? It's an amusement park. We rode a few coasters- the Monster was great. It was the world's largest wooden coaster at the time of it's construction, though whether or not that is still true is up for grabs. What a great, great coaster. We also rode the Dragon, the world's cheesiest and silliest coaster. It was amusing for the sake of it's lameness. Liz and I played DDR a few times. By the end of the day it was pretty much just Liz, Julie, Taylor, Ian and I in a group, and we had a great time with each other. Ian had to go home after our day, we were sad to see him go. We wanted to have dinner at La Marche, but despite the fact that they told the concierge they were open til midnight, their doors were locked at 10 when we got there. Dorks. We ended up eating at Tim Horton's, AGAIN. Not that I mind the sandwiches, which are very good. I just seemed to spend a lot of time there this weekend. I kept trying to go to sleep, but with the girls and Taylor chatting in the room, I kept wanting to join in. I didn't want the weekend to end. Liz did a con badge for me, YAY!

Link for photos: http://www.coloden.com/sapphire/g2004.html

Silver writes...

Because Greg asked for it
Now on to The Gathering report 2004...
We left early morning on the 5th at 8am to be there at 8pm. Montreal being a good 12 hour drive from where I live. The drive being fairly uneventful. Stopped breifly at the boarder for a sreach, but nothing that bothersome. Arrived a little later than planned but no big deal there, I drove the last leg of the journey finding my way to the Delta without any trouble. Once there, took stuff to the room, my mom stayed in the room and I went to the lobby per useual. Met up with the other garg people there as we all kinda waited for a few of the other cars to come(Mainly those with people we knew where arriving that day.)
Don't remember the names of everyone I spoke to the frist night, just about everyone, even Greg for a short time. Though very sleep depribed about the time Hudson and those riding with him came about... sometimes around... 11:30ish? I not being the only one without sleep. I told Seri to go sleep and didn't go to sleep myself until HOURS later. The teasing/bothering Hudson comensed, Lynati managed to braid his hair without him noticing until an hour or so later. Highly amusing when you haven't slept in awhile. I don't remember exactly but Hudson transposed 'awake' for 'asleep' "I've been asleep too long can't you tell?"
Anway everyone finally went off to sleep, finally did myself around 1:30 or so..
Aug 6th.
Barely managed to get up by 10am. Sloooowly.. Anyway, finally get to where registration is going to be, they're running a little late and so I end up helping set up the art panels in the art room. Help with that along with afew others who offered to help. We got the panels up fairly quickly though we found we where minus two elbow joints for the panels so one of the panels got put up later. After that those of us where artists went ahead and set up since where there already. Put up four peices myself... Arwyn Gargoyle, Kythera, White, and Overlook. Overlook and Arwyn both got 2nd place, Overlook got 2nd place in the Cannon Gargoyle, Marker; Arwyn got 2nd place in Digital Fandom Gargoyles. Yeee! I'll talk more about art a little later.
Opening Cerimonies where cool, Greg announced the release date for the <a href="http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/B00005JNEL/qid=1091423369/sr=1-2/ref=sr_1_2/104-0560503-0543943?v=glance&s=dvd">Gargoyle DVD</a>!!!!! YEEE.. Dec, 7th for $29.99 if ya didn't know already ;) And of coruse the viewing of the useual opening cerimonies videos. Thom wasn't able to make it but, that's ok, maybe next year. We couldn't board all his dogs... he has something like eleven dogs I think. Keith made it though he ended up being a little later than planned, someone said his plane was delayed. I ended up staying up late that night, around 1 or 2ish... did lots of talking and went to many a panel.. Did some life drawing... watched the camra crew for the documentry come around. They did alot of fliming, it'll be interested to see what they put on the DVD final. I know the flimed the art, they asked all the artists to sign a form so they can use the footage.
Keith finally made it in on the 7th later in the night, about the time of dinner. Glad to see he made it ok and was still willing to answer the Q&A... He really came across as a really nice guy, he had some(all?) of his family there too.. He has really cute kids ^.^ I remember him walking by while I was talking with and about to do a few pics Shaun/BrooklynX, and of course he stopped and looked at Shaun's gargoyles cel collection he had out.
Did my normal stuff at the dinner.. hehe... ended up haveing a sugar eating contest with Gorebash, muhahaha... Vash and Sean also sat at that table and...gah I forgot his name! umm guy whose face I know... ^^;
And oh Yes, the Cosplay costumes ROCKED this year, I can't wait to get my pictures back.. they just...wow.... I'm SO doing a costume next year, as I've already told many people I talked to at the gathering already.

Getting tired and gonna cut this a little short... in short, this was one of the best Gatherings ever, got to meet just about everyone I was planning to, and met a few new friends... causing me to stay up until 5am one night *cough* ;)
Oh yes, I got to sell some prints and comissions. Yee! Did a pic for Riverdale, which was special..^_^ Riverdale was one of the first fan characters I've ever saw when I got online back in '97-'98... was much coolness. *squeak*

Just sorta copy 'n pasted from my own journal and stuffs :)
-Silver

kEVO writes...

alright,i'd like to begin by saying how much i truly, deeply love Gargoyles. it is the most incredible show i have ever seen. but i'll save higher efforts of ego inflation for later.

my question is about the Gatherings. i've noticed that when people have asked you about Team Atlantis or, in one case, who created the Praying Gargoyle statue, you told them the answer would be revealed at G2002. i was unable to attend this Gathering, cuz of the whole "no money" thing so will these answers be brought up in 2003 or here on Station 8 or will i just never be able to find them out? i'm gonna try to go to G2003, because it's very close to where i live.

which brings me to my next question. am i allowed to attend The Gathering even if i'm not staying at the hotel there? i know i should probably try to find these answers online before asking you but i figured since i was already here.

thanks for your time, sir!

-kR

Todd Jensen writes...

I've been reading your Gathering rambles, and found them interesting, especially the part about the never-made Team Atlantis episode involving Demona. Pity that I didn't go this year and thus missed it (you don't suppose that you'll be able to play the "original radio cast" performance again at next year's Gathering?).

Although seeing Demona referred to as "the Gorlois" did feel a bit odd, since I'm more apt to associate that name with the Duke of Cornwall whom Uther Pendragon fought with over Igraine than with any gargoyles. Then again, come to think of it, you did once mention that Castle Wyvern was modelled on Tintagel, which was Duke Gorlois's chief stronghold.

Another Angel writes...

If the gargoyles were not to know who their parents were... how did they prevent inbreeding?
Oh, and the Gathering was so much fun this year- can't wait for 2003!

Zarok writes...

Hey Greg
I wasn't able to get to the Gathering this year so I have a lot of questions regarding the unmade Team Atlantis/Gargoyles crossover…

1) Can you give me a synopsise of the plot please? (Keep in mind that I've seen "Atlantis: The Lost Empire" and by the time you've read this I'll have probably have seen the direct to video sequel. So you don't have to waste time explaining who Milo is and stuff like that.)
2) You've said that Fiona is alive as of 12-31-95, so is she immortal or is she just really healthy? (It's possible, I know someone who's a hundred and six.)
3) Besides protecting the gargoyle race from a specific threat, what else can the praying gargoyle do?
4) In the gargoyle universe the majority of Atlanteans were human right?
5) If you had gotten to do more of Team Atlantis would we have seen gargoyles other than Demona or was this episode meant to exist in a vacume?
6) I don't suppose you'd consider posting the script up here? (not likely but a fella can try can't he?)

The Cat writes...

Hey Greg,

Well, it is me The Cat again. Other people know me as the All Mighty Evil one, but ah-well, enough about me. Anyway, I found this comment/question/request room on Disney.com. Curiousity got the best of me, after all I'm a cat what does one expect. Anyway, I asked when the rest of the Gargoyles series was going to be released on to video and if there was a possibility of it going to DVD.

The response was slightly thrilling. The creature on the other end of the internet wrote that they would submit my request for a video/DVD release of the Gargoyles series to the marketing department for their future consideration.

Anyway it is a start.

The Cat is signing out.

matt writes...

about to leave for the Gathering 2002!!! woohooo!!!

1. to the best of your knowledge, would any of Broadway and Angela's three offspring have skin or hair coloring that their parents don't have? like perhaps a grandparents coloring or something?

2. will the Eyrie Building be epuipped with a rookery or was the original Wyvern Rookery transplanted with the castle?

3. how many eggs will be laid in the Manhatten Clan's rookery in 2008? will it just be Broadway and Angela's first egg or will there be others? will there be any beast eggs?

Arystella writes...

Okay, I've heard a lot about these Gatherings on this sight and on other Gargoyle sights. . .I just have to know what it is! Where is it? Why is it?!! (Incoherent jibberish, laughing, and muttering.) (I'm a little crazy today! :-)) Okay. . .I'm all right now. ;-}

Mary Mack writes...

Completely out of left feild...

I've heard you worked on Darkwing Duck, and you've said many times that Thailog's coloring was in part based on Negaduck's costume. Now, I'm likely the only gargfan who has ever dressed up as Darkwing Duck for Halloween(in the eighth grade, btw, and I'm a girl), so I hope a few off topic (well, off gargoyle) questions won't bug you too much.

What did you do while working on Darkwing? Do you have any standout memories from that show? Or any favorite characters? I'm guessing you wrote-- which episodes did you work on?

Thanks for reading! I wish I were going to the Gathering this year, but I'm using my savings to start my own business instead-- that way I'll be able to make it to G2K3 in New York without emptying my penny jar. The L.A. con ROCKED, and I regret missing out this year. My siblings, however, are going, and have been instructed to videotape everything for me. (So if anyone sees Blondewookiee or The Souldier without a camera, remind them I'm pining away at home!)

And in the spirit of guessing when you'll read this... Happy New Year! (Am I right?)

Siren writes...

About Castle Wyvern...
Now I know a wyvern is a "species" of dragon. Standing on his hind legs. It's either never had front legs or it's front legs evolved into wings, as bats have.
1.) Did you choose the name Wyvern just because it sounded good?
2.) Or was there a backstory to why that castle bears the name of this little known dragon species?
3.) If there is a backstory, could you tell us anything about it?
Thanks Greg!

Mark: PRJibaroPapi69@aol.com writes...

Hey Greg! Long time fan first time posting! I was wondering, you said that Gargoyles is the total property of Disney. Does that mean that even though you are the creator, you can't do anything with the series unless they give the okay? If so, does that mean your unable to buy ALL the rights to the show? If not, do you ever plan to reair the show with all new episodes in the future? The reason I ask these questions is because Disney was stupid in pulling the plug on the series just because they wanted to move on to something new. But if your able to buy the rights, I'm sure there's more than enough studio's out there who are so eager for ratings that they'll finance the reintergration of the show back to television. The WB would definatly welcome the show to it's programing as it was aired on that station in New York. Is there anyway that, at the very least, you can create a book series of Gargoyle novels that bring a close to the storylines that were never closed while the series was on the air? I just think that if Gargoyles will never make a big TV come back that comic books or novels should be made in it's place that bring a big close to the universe once and for all. Well... an official close because we all know that Gargoyles will always live on in fanfiction. That's all I guess. Thanx for writing such a wonderful series. One more questions, although it's not documented, in your most best thought opinion since the Gargoyles are the guardians of Manhattan, how do you think they reacted when, upon waking up from their stone sleep, they saw a big gapeing hole and a huge smoke screen on what used to be the world trade center on September 11th??? I, and alot of the fans, would really like to know.

korina writes...

How did you get the idea? It's a wonderful story, the best I've ever seen. The travel between our time and the past, the different stories, the magic and goth. I fell in love with it the first time I saw it. How come it's not on the air anymore? Is it possible to get it back? Sailor Moon was taken off the air and so many people responded that a few years later it was brought back. Is there a place I can write to to voice my opinion?

Annick writes...

Dear Greg,

Hi my name's Annick, I have longed been a Gargoyle fan. Ever since the series went off the air I have always had a couple of questions that I've always wondered about. I'm so happy I found this site! My first question is in the show Goliath blames Demona for the destruction of their clan, I quote,"Don't you see, none of this would have happened if it weren't for you!" And also I think most of the others do too. From watching the show it also reveals that she can't face her own guilt as well. But in reality from the episode "City of Stone," I get the idea that it wasn't her fault. I mean, she thought she was doing something good for her clan. She didn't know that the captain wouldn't have been able to save them. Also I don't think it was the captains fault because he tried to stop Hakon. You see? So why is everyone blaming her? She was trying to do something good wasn't she? Well good in her sense. She didn't want to hurt her clan. My other question is in the FAQ's you explain that it isn't the gargoyle way to kiss. That's a human custom. Yet in the episode,"City of Stone," when Demona returns to Wyvern Castle she sees everyone is dead, and Goliath and the other's are stone at night. Out of grief she climbs to the top tower and looks at Goliath. Takes her finger kisses it and places it on Goliath's lips. Then kisses his forehead. So how can this be if it isn't a gargoyle custom? (Don't get me wrong I really liked that part. So touching... I always cry everytime I think of that part.) I'm just wondering. And my last questions comes from the episode,"The Mirror." I think everyone deep inside knows that Demona does still care for Goliath. I believe you mentioned it in the FAQ's. Do you think Demona would have ever revealed this to Goliath? And what kind of situation do you think they would have to be in? Thank you very much Greg for reading my questions. I really wish I could meet you one day. I'm studying at my college in animation. I hope some day, I'll be just as good as you!

Sincerely Annick