KingCobra_582 writes...

My Gathering Report, Part 3
Monday, June 26th, 2006

THE GATHERING, DAY 4

9:30 AM

Well, this is it. The last day of this year's con. I've made some nice friends and had such a kickass time at this con that I wish it didn't have to end so fast. But, then, there is always next year, assuming we can afford it. Which I hope we can. We PROBABLY can. But with David and I trying to save up for an apartment, there's no way yet to know. Even though it will be even cheaper to go next year then it was this year.

10:00 AM

I picked up my "Gummi Trio" bid at The Art Show and then attended the Time Travel panel. Very interesting stuff there. I was certainly captivated. Stayed until about 2 mins before it actually ended.

11:00 AM

Didn't have much to do, so I hung out around in the Dealers Room, browsing through the various sale items, admiring the cache at the weapons table, (Dani would have had a field day there!) chatting with Jennifer "CrzyDemona" Anderson, (I'm very interested in knowing more about ElfQuest) and just generally killing time. Also overheard a little bit of the Thom Mug-A-Guest, (He mentioned something about a hypnotist.) while I waited for Greg Weisman's to start.

I caught Thom after it was over, and we went up to his room to get that Demo tape. I'd noticed that the tape had his name and a phone number on it. Most likely by accident. I guess Thom overlooked it.

12:00 AM

It was fun. Greg touched on subjects pertaining to the Comics and the DVDs. I asked a couple questions, but on the first 1, I was kind of nervous (why, I do not know) and was covering my lower face so he couldn't hear me. Damn nerves. I wish I did better with people all staring at me.

The other question I'd asked (I wish I could recall what the 1st one was) was in regards to Jason and Robyn Canmore. Except I kept goofing up and referring to "JON and Robin" which Greg had to correct me on. Eeps. Crap. Anyways, they are apprently going to make appearences in the comic, should it last long enough, and I hope to god it will.

David set up the camera to get a timed group shot, BTW. He wanted me to be staring right at the thing when it went off.

After it was over, I chatted with Greg in the hall, asking, in these exact words, though I'd meant to phrase it differently, "Shouldn't Bill Fagerbakke be here?" and Greg, sounding a little testy, answered that he'd been doing shows all weekend and was probably tired. Gah, I am not always (rarely ever, in fact) the bext speaker in the world. So, now, I was being annoying AND I looked like a jerk. Gah. Forgive me, Greg.

1:00 - 2:00 PM

Didn't have much else to do but join David in Coloring Methods, which was interesting, though that's more David's thing then mine.

2:00 PM

The last panel. The End of the Con. *grumbles* I had such a fun weekend. It ended up way too fast. Gah. Though all good things must end, I suppose. Now I have next year's to look forward to. There's a 90% chance that we'll be there, so all you guys reading this, look for us next year. :-) Even if I were to lose my job (GOD FORBID!!), I have enough experience, that it shouldn't be much problem getting another one, so I'd still be good to go. Especially since we won't need to rent a vehicle or fly. That makes it cheaper. Just a 6 - 8 hour drive, and we're there. Though gas will be a problem. It's doable.

Anyway.

The last panel was great. Fun times. There were a lot of prizes given out and David took a lot of pictures. No surprise there. I walked up to Greg, and shook his hand for "making the show that made all this possible" and promised to see him next year, and Greg laughed, saying the same thing. Then David and I left for the Hotel 6 near LAX (We'd checked out of the one in Sylmar that same morning before leaving for the con) and it was over. We flew back the next day, and I discovered, to my surprise, Jeb was seated in the row in front of us. We made some occasional smalltalk (when I needed to take my mind off the plane trip) and we hung out in Dallas-Fort Worth airport for a fewminutes, getting some lunch for a few minutes before parting ways (He was headed back to Maryland) and I remember thinking how amazed (and anxious) I was that the layover was so short, (I thought it'd take longer then 10 minutes!) as David and I hurried to our terminal. On the way home, I was more calm about the flight (Guess I was finally getting used to it) though I was still somewhat unnerved. We landed in Port Columbus later that night, and David's dad picked us up.

Until G2007, I count the days.