ATTENDEE COMMENTS/MEMORIES

Gen's Diary

Thursday
At 3:30 my ride arrived and I was off! Sea-Tac was just far enough away, and it was just late enough in the afternoon, that I was worried about making it to the airport on time. I'd also heard about checkpoints before the airport, and car searches -- would I make it on time?

No worries. I was into the airport, through security, and at my terminal by five. By the time my plane arrived I'd eaten, people watched, observed the random searches of passengers, and worked myself into a really nervous state. What if I couldn't think of anything intelligent to say in Atlanta? What if I closed my eyes in all the photos?

My plane left Sea-Tac shortly after eight, and arrived in Las Vegas at elevenish. Vegas gleamed from the air. I'm used to cities shining at night, but Las Vegas is the only place I've ever been that shines red and pink and purple and green and red and blue. It was really amazing.

I didn't believe that the slot machines would really be everywhere until I walked into the terminal. Every gate had its own set of machines. Even at nearly midnight there were large groups of people playing the machines and attendants walking around to make change. I was really irritated after a while, because each machine had its very own bell, horn, whistle, or other sound effect, and I was getting tired. Still, I did play a machine for a nickel so I could say I'd done it. Didn't win anything, though.

I still didn't get picked for a random search (I just don't look like a terrorist) and after the plane for Atlanta left around midnight I managed to calm down and get some sleep.

At six-ish in the morning I arrived in Atlanta. Ugh. It was three in the morning pacific time. Double ugh. I claimed my luggage and went to wait for Tracey. I ended up waiting by a Seattle's Best Coffee stand -- I was tired enough that I found this hysterically funny.

At nine or so I spotted a woman in a bright orange t-shirt and black pants. I snagged my luggage and walked over to her, as did two other people who turned out to be Jilly and Nee. We loaded up Tracey's nifty vehicle and headed out.

At the hotel, after the obligatory confusion at the front desk, we got our room keys and headed up to meet Cat. I was tired enough that I didn't have the energy to be really nervous. Cat met us at the door to the meeting room and nailed everyone's name perfectly, even though most of us hadn't met face to face until just that moment. Cat is great!

Cat gave each of us our welcome packages and got us settled in. Jilly and Nee had arranged secret gifts for Cat and Amy -- the gifts and cards were stashed in my room, and we all returned to the meeting room, ready to party.

I didn't really know what to expect. I thought that we might watch videos, or maybe talk a little bit, but once we were gathered together the conversation just took off! Some of the people who'd been to other gatherings started passing around photos, and from there we covered everything under the sun: Our Gentlemen, gatherings, fandom, fiction, the stupidity of CBS . . .you name it and we talked about it that night. I whipped out my dog pictures at one point, and everyone was nice enough to admire the girls.

At six we ate dinner, which only slowed the conversation slightly. After everyone was more or less done eating Cat and Amy passed out presents to everyone. They put an enormous amount of thought into the presents! Everyone was delighted. I was given a beautiful blue and silver ring which not only fit perfectly but precisely matched the outfit I'd brought for Agatha's.

After the gifts we made key chains (lots of fun) talked a LOT more, and then put the videos in. Ginger, a video production professional, had put together music videos of Our Gentlemen, and the videos were just great. I finally collapsed about eleven.

The next morning I was the only one in my room still in bed for the wake-up call. My roommates Maude, Wynde and Lady Chris had all been up for at least an hour, but hey, three hour time difference, y'know! I pulled myself together and got down to the meeting room for breakfast, which is NOT the most important meal of the day.

I was with the group which went to the Mall of Georgia. On the way over Cat mentioned the "Build-A-Bear" store, so we decided to make that our first stop. I loved the bears but didn't feel up to the emotional requirements of a new stuffed animal. (I'd also spent most of my budget on zines the night before.) I was delighted with the bears my friends made. When we'd had our pictures taken with the new bears (by the shop worker, who didn't realize at first that we had eight cameras) we moved on to mallwalk. We wandered in and out of places enjoying the sights. We ran across a massage thing which looked fun, but I wasn't brave enough to get a massage right in the middle of the hallway.

Lunch was tasty -- it is so much easier to be a vegetarian these days -- and after lunch Amy mentioned the Discovery store. We slowly wandered over; I found a survival kit I thought would be useful. We also found a specialty chocolate shop handing out samples. Talk about bliss! We all pitched in to buy a bag of truffles for general consumption that afternoon. After stopping at some sort of specialty ice cream shop we hit Barnes & Noble and called it a day. The hotel and the Fanfic discussion panel were waiting for us.

The discussion panel was on character development, with special emphasis on role-playing games. Jilly and Nee talked about the different ways to come up with characters for RPGs, and then Cat gave a run-down on the kinds of problems associated with RPGs. I'm not brave enough to try writing in an RPG, but I do like reading them. I knew that a great deal of work goes into a successful RPG -- the discussion made me appreciate the writers even more.

After the formal discussion we more or less broke into smaller groups and carried on conversations from the night before. The group I was in talked about current events (only briefly), the Brig list, fandom in general, and fiction. I'm still a relative newbie in fandom, and I like learning about what people do. Right now I just like being part of the fandom, but someday I'd like to be a bigger part -- Cat gave me lots of pointers on things I might like to try.

Around 4:30 people started changing for the Spaghetti Factory, and at fiveish we gathered to take off for the restaurant. We went past old churches and great big houses, and I was in heaven. Washington doesn't have that much in the way of old buildings. Atlanta is another story altogether. I decided to come back to Atlanta some day and just spend some time wandering through neighborhoods. (Yes, I AM very easy to entertain.)

I'm familiar with the Spaghetti Factories in Seattle and Tacoma, so I thought I knew what to expect. Big converted warehouse buildings, some antiques, cheerfully funky furnishings like private booths made with old bedsteads. I did not expect crystal chandeliers, gleaming woodwork, and the kind of antiques nobody gets to even breathe near in Washington. We were on an upper floor, and I had a great view of the wonderful light fixtures -- I kicked myself for not bringing my camera.

After the great dinner we drove back to the hotel. I know we got a little turned around at one point, but as far as I was concerned that just gave me more time to admire the houses. It was dark at that point, but the thoughtful people in the big places had all their lights on, so I had a lot to look at.

Back at the hotel the plan was to watch movies and talk more. I was getting tired -- I decided to take a few minutes to sit down in my room before joining everyone in the meeting room again. My roommate Lady Chris came in a couple of minutes later. We started talking about the gathering, and how much fun we were having, and non-profit work, and Disneyworld, and Anne Rice, and Arlo Guthrie (whom I dearly love), and fiction, and then Maude came in and it was 1:00 AM. Time for bed.

Sunday
I was awake for the wake-up call this time! I made my way to the meeting room for another muffin breakfast and planning session. We were going to Stone Mountain park to ride a train around the biggest part of the stone basolith that's the park's main attraction. Cat wanted to go to Stone Mountain Village after the train ride, and I decided to go with her.

Traffic was a little sticky getting to the park, and once inside the park folks were doing construction right where everyone was supposed to meet. It was also raining lightly. But really, warm rain? In October? I had on a light jacket and I was fine.

Tracey and I wandered through the gift store for maybe twenty minutes while Cat gave everyone the revised parking directions. When we were all assembled we boarded the train and set off around the park. Stone Mountain park was incredibly beautiful. I just couldn't believe how lush everything was! (In October!) We were having as much fun as twenty cheerful and slightly crazy M7 fans will have -- we told silly jokes, talked about other memorable train rides, had "quick draw" photo taking contests, took pictures of each other taking pictures, and generally ignored the canned speech the guy in the next car was giving. (It's not like we really could hear him over the sound of the train anyway.)

Back at the train station again, the group split. Some went for a steamboat ride, a few decided to take the three mile hike to the top of Stone Mountain, and Tracey, Cat, and I headed for a great German restaurant to eat a real lunch (Tracey) or a real breakfast (Cat) or a fruit thing with enough sugar to give a draft horse a good buzz (me).

Stone Mountain Village was next -- I loved it! It was a great mix of antique stores, craft stores, cute and clever thing stores, and coffee stands. In a hole in the wall museum I found a book I'd been wanting to read for a long time, and I also picked up three genuine civil war buttons to give to my parents. The Christmas store was also beautiful, and I was sorely tempted, but I knew that the fragile glass ornaments would be fragile glass shards by the time I hit Seattle.

Shopping done, we headed back to the hotel. The next fanfic discussion was on hurt/comfort. It was a good discussion; I liked all the different viewpoints given on why it is we like to hurt Our Gentlemen so much. I did get a few funny looks when I confessed why I like h/c. I'm not trying to be kinky, I just think that taking the guys' clothes away and confining them to bed does have a certain thrill.

The discussion went on until it was time to go to Agatha's. In fact, Cat had to give a few meaningful glances to folks before we all remembered to go change. The cameras worked furiously once people returned to the meeting room in their fancy duds. I was pleased to see that we generally had the same taste in fancy clothing -- screw conformity and haul out the velvet and satin! This isn't an office party!

At Agatha's we were all in a state of high excitement. Cat and Ginger ended up with speaking roles (which they performed beautifully and to general applause) and the rest of us were assigned to various groups. Lady Chris and I wrote the song for our group: to the point, short, and EASY. Between our own performances we ate good food and watched the antics of Captain Smirk and his very own fake fur hairpiece. The actor had William Shatner down pat and was gloriously funny.

We piled out of Agatha's after the performance and did some impromptu sightseeing in the lobby of a beautiful restored theater. I'm afraid the security guard did look a little alarmed when he saw all of us coming. (heh heh heh) All we really did was test the acoustics a little.

Back to the hotel again, and Cat and Amy were presented with their surprise presents. They liked the gifts! I'm really glad Nee was willing to pick everything out -- she made great choices. Yay Nee!

I thought that the rest of the evening would be talking and video watching, but when I returned to the meeting room after changing the Dirty Santa exchange was in full swing. Cat and Amy were not going to let us go home without all sorts of goodies. (Not that I'm complaining or anything.) After surrendering a harmonica (I have one) and a Dale movie, I ended up with MB's movie "Blood of the Hunter." Great flick, he does a wonderful job in a good role, and the movie has all sorts of beautiful dogs. Did I mention that I'm a dog person?

The exchange over, we popped videos in and took up the conversation again. The Build-A-Bears were wildly popular. A few people wanted to go and build more bears the following day. With the computer gurus in the room, it was fairly easy to sample lines from the videos so the bears could speak with the voices of Our Gentlemen. I dunno -- my dog has this thing about dismembering anything that makes noise. I think she'd kill any teddy bear who said, "Lady, I am the bad element."

We watched the pilot, cheering for guys, wincing when JD embarrassed himself, and booing Anderson repeatedly. Ezra's stunt with the cannon touched off a discussion of his origins and his service (if any) with the CSA. Cat expanded on her theory that Ezra isn't really a southerner, and I was fascinated. I never thought of it that way.

Monday
The next morning everyone was tired, and we were lower key than we'd been all weekend. Cat had to take the first batch of people to the airport, and most of the remaining people headed off to the mall to make more bears. I didn't feel up to that much effort, so I stuck in the first terminator movie and took out my embroidery. I'm a naturally fidgety person, and I feel more relaxed if I have something to work on. I also wanted to get a chunk done before my flight, not being able to take the needles and scissors in my carry-on bag.

Cat returned before the mall folks did, and we talked for a while on various subjects. The chance to talk one-on-one was really nice. No spelling worries! Cat even showed me a story she was working on. Without spoiling the plot, all I can say is don't ever try to give Cat penalty fic. It's just a really bad idea.

The mall folks returned with their new bears and we tried to figure out what to do for lunch. Pizza was the easiest. We ate, and talked, and then it was time for the next group to go to the airport. Em and I loaded up, and Cat kindly drove us through some incredibly bad traffic to make our flights. I wasn't sorry that traffic was so slow -- Cat entertained Emily and me with stories of growing up on an American air base in England. Cat's had a really interesting life. :-)

I was sad to leave, but I met a lot of wonderful people and had a great time. I can't wait to do this again!

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