Gside writes...

I suppose I owe a con journal, don't I? Didn't take any notes, so I've forgotten most people's names.

Trip wasn't so interesting. Got into Vegas late Thursday. The plane was practially full. Why are there so many people flying from Jersey to Vegas on a red eye? But after that got a ride to the hotel and slept. Next day, I went for breakfast then waited around the main lobby for registration. Didn't know until I asked some passing congoers that there was a lobby to the con area. After getting my con packet, there wasn't much to do for a while but stand around and chat.
When panels actually started, I planned to peek in on the round robin, then steal some of the food from the con virgin panel. However, I got roped into the robin; we had some fun. The operative phrase of it being, "around in a circle, going, 'Wheeee'". I like to think I helped Wolfers get that spit take. After that stole some cake and melted ice cream from the remains of the con virgin panel before the grammar panel. Emambu offered a cookie to anyone who spotted two existing mistakes in his handout. I thought I saw two missing commas, but that was a no go.
I stopped off for a rest and to get rid of my package o'stuff before Opening Ceremonies. The greetings from the cast were fun, espcially Keith David's being denied everything... even his convention.
From there, it was dinner at the buffet with A Fan, then the Blue Mug. Greg wimped out of what color exactly females are on the excuse of being color blind; and I'd like to take partial credit for a resurgance near the end of the thing by asking which cast members have the best sex. I should have included a past and future rider there so the answer wouldn't be so obvious.

So, day two.

Wait, I believe I forgot something from Opening Ceremonies. A partially recreated lyca reel of The Lost (the Team Atlantis episode with Demona). Excellent work on the timing and additional art. And especially the bit of subtitling.

Right, day two.

Skipped out on the first set of panels for brunch, then off to Series Development. There we found out why Steven Speilberg is an evil, evil man (he ruined two pitches for Greg).
Voice Acting was interesting, and it was there that I heard Thom's approach to scripts: "My line, $@!#, !@#$, $!#@, my line, my line..."
I was hoping for more comparisons of style out of the Martial Arts and less of a saftey lecture, but it was still we got at least one good fight out of it.
The comic panel was a nice brief look into the industry and how last minute we were. Greg Guler's Goliath and Eliza that they had at Comicon is the only piece of artwork they have for it.
Then a quick dinner before the Poker Tourney. Kaioto went out early, Thom played mostly by committee, I forget who lost their last chip on a blind, Greg had some good plays, but Chris Rogers eventually pulled through. Fun, but I was hoping for more calling and less folding. And after that, ice cream right before the shop closed for the night. Then a brief trip to the arcade with Greg and Thom. Thom isn't that bad of a marksman. Not spectacular, but better than I with a lightgun.
And to round out the night, Hudson's rant. My British comedy got a brief but funny throwaway, but he elaborated more on my next. I got some love from Revel as he and Spacebabie left for the night, then I pulled out myself before act two.

To continue: Day three.
Got some food, went to hang around the art show for a bit. Then it was time for the storytelling panel; pretty straightforward, ended with a bit of film analysis (look at how these elements come between the characters; his neck between the ceiling beams makes you think of scissors; that lamp looks like a coffin).
There were some technical difficulties at the original W.I.T.C.H. room, so we went to the con suite. On booting up the DVD player there, we were treated to a nice adult content warning. Someone had forgotten to take out the "how to dominate your man" DVD.
After that, I took a break before the radio play, which was a nice story about the immortal daughters of Shakespeare. Though I did hear some of the gratuitous nudity was added just for us.
The banquet was nice, I sat at a pretty much all TGS table (Greg Bishansky, Revel, Spacebabie, Mandolin). In the dim light it was hard to tell the color of the stars under the candleholders for the door prizes, but that was all right. Then there was lots of Masquerade prep time; the cosplayers needed a security escort through the casino. Apparently they get paranoid about people in masks. Revel was quite slick as Jackal, but the giant heads were impressive.

And to finish up my con journal.

But first about the hotel. Boy, those were low shower heads. When will they discover that things built for the average man are too small for half the population?

So, sunday. After checkout and breakfast, I decided to see if I couldn't spectate Win Xanatos's Money, but Aaron convinced me to take the pretest. Should be a used car salesman, that man. Surprise of surprises, I was in, against two fic writers whose work was the subject of some of the questions (Ellen and Alexandria). My strategy was to see if I couldn't figure it out from, see if they others' lack of answer would give me a hint, then take a guess. Managed to kill the Mulder question on a guess, chose a British name for another because of a spanner in the question, and the only one I killed by memory was on Norcumi. Went into finals with a $100 lead, and I was pretty sure I wouldn't get it. It turned out that no one wagered anything, so I won it. I probably should have put down something to let the better woman win.
After that was Creating Original properties, where Greg showed off a couple promos (one a repeat under another name from '03). Then I hung out in the art room (with Revel, Spacebabie, Emambu, Winterwolf, Dreamie, and a few others), helping to take hooks out of pegboard, except to check out how the bidding went on Thom's pants.
I don't remember much about Closing Ceremonies, but afterward Revel and Spacebabie let me come with them back to the main hotel (having handed in my room key already), where they had a little discussion that I was a slight sounding board for. Then it was off to the con suite where they had a little mating ceremony.
Nothing left to do after that but waste time until my flight out at midnight, arrived in Newark at 8, then the monorail to the train and the train back to Redbank (and a ride back home).

Na zdorov'ya.