Gonzai Gallery

I have a couple pics that are amusing or at least not too horrible.

This was in fact a photobooth. Note K-9 is also available for your photo amusement.
Lee Arenberg wasn't sure what to do with the penguins.
Felicia Day is a good listener.
John Billingsley was attempting to wed this couple with the powers vested in him by the back of a magazine, because Maryland is a less benighted state.
John and Bonita Freidericy needed to check on the rules.
John can't believe there's a polyamorous couple up front.
Bonita's new hat. She likes it. John didn't. So she wore it all weekend.

Home and trying to catch up on the DVR now.

Got to meet Giancarlo Esposito and talk H:LotS with him; talked board games with Felicia Day and hockey with Lee Arenberg; and Bonita Friedercy & John Billingsley were hysterical. I want film of their panels, I will PAY for those films. I was part of the fun on Saturday, when my attempts to get Bonita's opinion of Timothy Olyphant's backside turned into John attempting to instigate a Ravens/Steelers brawl. They are SO funny.

Meanwhile, I learned to play the card game 'Poo' from jslinder and returned the favor by teaching him, another gamer and a complete stranger to play Castles of Burgundy. Panels didn't go quite so well, problem wasn't the panels but that once again the con put children's programming in the next room and once again the kids were allowed, if not encouraged to run wild. Noise, noise & more noise, drowning out our attempts at discussion. Similar problem with the inaugural Geek Speed-dating - we were all crammed into a small room and we couldn't hear each other. I had almost no voice left afterwards. And only one guy professed interest in me. Plenty of visiting with folks I know, unusually good eating for a con, etc. Generally a good weekend.

Skipped the full convention this year. I was so busy in January and so tired, I wasn't sure I'd go at all. I settled for Sunday only, which turned out OK because most of the panels I was interested in were on Sunday. I had an hour to pick up autographs from Michael Hogan & Kate Vernon, and browse the dealers room. Took only half an hour as it turned out, there was no line for either actor and not much of interest in the dealers room. Picked up a few new games, including Ticket to Ride's newest version (India) and a couple goofy card games, 'Nuts' and 'Kittens in a Blender.' Yes, you read the last one right. Apparently a very popular game, I bought the last copy the guy had and evidently there were several rounds of it played prior to poker last night. Was pleasantly surprised to see jslinder and Pam, and visited en panel with the USS Chesapeake gang. We concluded that 'Chesapeake' is a Native American term meaning 'Attention Deficit Disorder.' And that was my Farpoint, however brief.

And yes, still no games. I was asked once to play, but I was asked 30 minutes before a panel so that took care of that. Also lost all but one of my auction bids in the charity and art auctions, sold only 4 prints, all at the minimum bid (and I lowered my minimums for the show) and some things I wanted at the dealers room didn't last until today. Yippee. On the other hand, had a very nice chat with Tahmoh, met Bonita Friedericy and caught some of her panel, which was a laugh riot, and I'll need a brain eraser after some of the...discussions...about Supernatural.

For an encore, the Office Depot by the hotel did not have the onsale item I wanted in stock and the traffic from the con to home was horrific. All in all, this year's Farpoint was underwhelming. Jeff & Terri, you didn't miss much.

Yes, already. After 8, the only possibilities were gaming, and the Chesapeake's party at 10. The game room consisted of a beading workshop and Axis & Allies. No one there interested in any board games. For that matter, there were a whopping 4 games in the room I know how to play. And I'm beat, so I decided against doing nothing for 2 hours and went home. I figure I can watch Supernatural and get to bed at a reasonable hour, which gives me a fighting chance for tomorrow.

But honestly, I'm really not feeling it. Probably just a couple panels tomorrow, Trivial Pursuit with tiggerallyn and anyone we can recruit, and that's it. Well, I should get an autograph from Tahmoh Penikett at some point. He is hot, after all.

Watching last night's Supernatural, and now I know why Matt Frewer cancelled on Farpoint - ( minor casting spoiler ). At least it should be fun watching him chew that scenery.

Home from Farpoint, and kind of wishing I hadn't left the con. I'll get back to that.

( The gist of things )

Well, OK, I don't know about Smeagol's present status, but we have been shovelled out of our driveway. I can go to work! I can go to Farpoint! Wa hoo!

Is rather light. Not a whole lot of panels I'm interested in, and a whopping one on Saturday (Dr Who), which is of course scheduled against autographs. And for the 4th year in a row, Supernatural is against autographs & the art auction/artist pickup. What's with that? But this year I was looking at least as much towards socializing and gaming so in that respect the light panel schedule isn't so bad. And the Dominion tournament is in the morning, so I have a fighting chance at it assuming I'm less hung over that other participants! As long as the roads are cleaned up enough for terri_osborne and I to get there Friday, should be a good weekend with friends.

At least, we may be able to dig out in time for Farpoint. Better the previous weekend than the weekend of!

( NWS Forecast for this weekend )