Tampa Buffy Vulkon

There probably would have been a little more focus on smut, but at the last minute someone walked in with children, so we kept in PG13 for the most part. Again, there was great audience participation and lots of comments; JodyorJen (with her adorable hubby, Sir Larikin), Estepheia, and Chris all got involved - and I promised that after the con I would put up a page with a list of links to the handy writing tools that were mentioned during the panel. Chris, who also happens to be the webmistress of The Bloody Awful Sandlot, kindly offered to host the links there. Stay tuned fo an update.

Several of us headed off to the mall for lunch after this. And gah. Tampa. It's hot. And dude - it's humid. Sauna. Seriously. People could just be sittin' on little wooden benches with towels wrapped around their heads on the roadside if they wanted to. No need to pour water over hot rocks when you can just baste in the steamy air around you. Dayum, but it's hot. Fifth ring of hell, at least. Only thing I have run into as hot as Tampa in July is James. *snicker* I could make crude comments about moisture here, but I won't. And, really, don't have to. Your mind already went there, didn't it? Heh. Yeah. I knew it would.

And don't even get me *started* on James Marsters. Cuz you know... the boy really needs a gay man to dress him. Top candidate for 'Queer Eye for the Straight Guy' if I ever saw one. Thank the LORD above that nasty tattoo shirt was nowhere to be seen. That thing really needs to be eaten by the naked singularity that lives in everyone's dryer.

I missed James Leary's Q&A, dammit - I would have liked to listen to him again. He's a total character, I just love him to bits. And he's hot. And married. But, still - hot anyway. With a nice haircut, and new clothes that proclaim he has keen fashion sense. Or, more likely, his wife dresses him.

Aside - you ever notice that? Bad fashion sense in the straight men? I mean, James Leary wore the same funky shirt to a couple of cons and I was like "Oh, come ON dude, you must have more in your wardrobe than that!" And don't even get me *started* on James Masters. Cuz you know... the boy really needs a gay man to dress him. Top candidate for Queer Eye for the Straight Guy if I ever saw one. Thank the LORD above that nasty tattoo shirt was nowhere to be seen. That thing really needs to be eaten by the naked singularity that lives in everyone's dryer. But do you notice? Andy Hallet? Always impeccable. I've never seen him wear anything that didn't look fabulous. Now, he's never said anything one way or the other, but.. Fashion sense. Totally adorable. And he makes my gaydar go completely wonky. ::shrug:: I'm just sayin'.

Got back in time to listen to Iyari speak. That was nice. I was too far back to get any good pics - I took a couple, but they just aren't worth scanning and posting.

After her, they took a brief break during which I ran up to give my camera to Kelly. She kindly agreed to snap some photos for me, and I scampered off back to my seat. Mercedes McNab came out. She's a nice gal, and hey! From Vancouver originally. Nifty, that. It's nice to know she's going to be back on Angel - I always did get a kick out of the character. As a human, she was such a twit, but Vamp!Harmony was fun.

When she was done, another brief break, and then...

There was James.

Mmmmmmmm...

. . . . .

There were questions. There were answers. I know that there were, I heard, I saw. Mostly, I was just appreciating. Mmmmmmm, James. Niiiiice. I am NOT impressed with the wild roots. I know some of ya'll love them. Feh. I want it ALL brown or I want it ALL blond. This halfway in between crap is annoying. I think that about 1/2 inch, maybe a full in of roots I can handle. Like this? It just looks sloppy and I don't like sloppy. And of course, Crazy!Spike has a certain attraction, wild roots and all. All soulful and angsty and fucked up. Yeah. Gimme some of that anytime. Mmmm. Nice Spike. Pet the Spike. *cough*

Errr. yeah. Back to the Q&A. Eh. Most of it has been said and done before. Nothing really new. He didn't really beat the 'you silly women are blinded by my abs, hello Spike is EVIL' horse, which was good, cuz I think several of us might have had to lob spit balls at him just on general principle if he had. There were a couple questions asked that made me wince - someone just HAD to go there about the rape scene. And of course, I understand the wanting to know, but I also realize that it bothers him and there was sort of a collective moan from the audience after it was asked. The other one was the 'I'm a 12 year old fangirl' question/statement about Buffy and Angel and Spike and love and again with the wince when he answered with the "Buffy loves Angel" line (spit!). Then she followed it up with wanting him to read her fanfic story (which I can only assume has Buffy and Spike riding off into the moonset or some such) When she asked him if he would read it, there really *WAS* an audible groan of pain from the audience. I just wanted to jump up and shout "On behalf of the rest of the fic writers here, I'd like to apologize for this ankie fangirl," and then grab her fic and whack her across the head with it. Gah.

*Sigh* We were all young and stupid once.

Okay. So. Finally James was all finished with strutting around and looking totally hot that you just wanted to grab him and.. err... I mean, finally the Q&A was done and it was time for autographs. With majorly long and hellish line ups, but it was organized chaos that you could predict - unlike the stories some shared about that Chicago "CashBack Weekend" fiasco. Gotta hand it to Joe and his crew - they *know* that they are doing and they do try to makes sure that the fans have a good time.

So while some were quietly sitting in their seats, killing time chatting and such while waiting for their turn with Mercedes and James, I ditched out to go buzz around, have a smoke, see what people were up to, and generally wreak a little havoc. Cuz I'm good at that. Stick with what you're good at I always say. I happened upon Kimi and Laura and thought it was a great moment for a photo op.

It was still almost an hour to get to me, and I was in row F. Which is a freaky fluke I'll have you know, 'cuz I bought my ticket late and I should have been in row Q or some damn thing like that, but I must have lucked out and gotten tickets someone else returned. Which is totally freakish, is it not? I got better tickets then people who had ordered month before I had! Unbe-fucking-lievable. I sure ain't complaining. It was marvelous to be up so close.

Finally it was my turn. I didn't have anything for Mercedes to sign, but I did chat with her about Vancouver briefly. She left when she was very young and didn't remember any landmarks, but she was born in Burnaby General where I had two of my kids. She'd commented earlier that her favorite scenes on the show had been the action ones, so I asked her which kick ass scene she had enjoyed the most. She said the one with the chip or the one in the basement. I was puzzled at first, then clued in.

"Oh, you mean the one in the crypt? When you shoot him with the cross bow?"

"Yeah, that's the one," she agreed with a smile.

I laugh. "Yeah, he totally he deserved that. He was such an asshole!"

Big guffaw from Mercedes. "Yes!" she agrees enthusiastically. "He really was!"

I nod. "Completely. Should have shot him twice."

I leave Mercedes giggling behind me and move on to HIS table, wondering if I will manage to get through this signing without making an asshat of myself. I don't have Minty to rescue me by pulling me away from the table this time, but alternately, the Florida heat has already reduced me to a limp noodle and most of my vim, spit and vinegar is plum tuckered out. My brain is simply incapable of making my mouth run off at mach 5 in this climate.

I pulled out the picture that Gables photoshopped together and hand it to the lady in charge of such things. And then he's done with the person in front of me and it's my turn and he's looking at me and I almost start babbling and he reaches out a hand and mind is all twisted up in my camera case chord and ohmygodi'msakinghishandnd-

"Ah!" sez in, oh-so-intelligently. "Forgot to do this last time!" spills out, and I earn an odd look. Okay, at least I'm not getting the "Oh, God, it's a stalker!" look like I did in Seattle. And James hand, hand-of-James. And gah, let go now. James, you're sexy, but it's too damn hot to be holding *anyone's* hand. Even yours.

So she gives him the pic and I briefly read the last line of the letter (two paragraphs!!!) that Gables wrote him. And picture! I was going to get a picture of him signing it. And I say so as I fumble for the camera, but damn - too late.

"Or not," I say as I collect the picture and make my way from the room. And hey! I don't even the shakes this time! Okay, just a little. But they're done in like 20 seconds and the adrenaline level is back to normal and I see people I know and we schmooze and woo! I'm back to normal (whatever the hell *that* is) and it's all good.

So I wander into the other autograph room, where James L, RAD and Iyari are hangin' out. And people come and people go and it's pretty mellow. I talk to RAD a bit, we talk a little bit about music - he plays, I play, we both like Jazz. This is cool. Norah Jones rocks.

Then I schmooze over to JL, cuz I have a pic of him and I together in Seattle that I want him to sign - and I'm willing to pay the money this time 'cuz I like him. I'd also taken a pic of him with Fenchurche, and I left it with him with strict instructions to guard it well until she came by. And I get a funny look from him, but I think he knows that I'm messing with him and he's game - cuz he doesn't get all weird on me and furthermore, allows me to rope someone into taking a picture with him and me and Estepheia together.

So then I wander over to the other side of the room where Iyari is signing pictures. And chit and chat. And then ask if I can get a picture. And I think she is just tickled pink by all this attention - I mean, she's still just a kid. 21 or 22 or something? Yeah. This is pretty big shite. So she is totally up for it and she poses all cute with me and grabs my hand, which really threw me at first, but I'm game. It's all fun. And who knows, mebbe she'll be famous some day. Heh.

The autographs drag on for hours - and like the cocktail party, the banquet doesn't start till late. All these beautiful people are in the hallway, dressed to the nines languishing about *waiting*. Gah. Again, I alternately thank my luck stars it ain't ME and feel jealous at the same time - then I shrug and head over to where the karaoke tryouts are gonna be. And fuck up royally cuz I was expecting a real try out, not just a 'stand here and sing a little bit' kinda try out. Cuz, I CAN sing. But not that night. I'm always bad on the spot, and nervous. Eh. What can you do? It ended up that the karaoke was okay - I was just really disappointed that I didn't get to sing. I don't want prizes. I just wanna sing. It sucks to not be able to SING. Goddammit! I wanted to sing my jazz song for Andy and see if he liked it. *pout* Cuz I just *know* that he likes Jazz.

I was just really disappointed that I didn't get to sing... Goddammit! I wanted to sing my jazz song for Andy and see if he liked it. *pout* Cuz I just *know* that he likes Jazz.

There was this one couple that did Anya and Xander's song from OMwF, complete with dance choreography. It was fabulous. They made the whole thing worthwhile. That was way fun. So after that was all over, I ditched off to the bar where the piano was - and lo and behold, Robin shows up and plunks down. And again we start talking music. And He plays Norah, and I sing what I can remember - which ain't a fuck of a lot at this point (Cuz hello? Already been into the vodka. I have this little trick - I have a water bottle full of vodka, and I buy pop. And walla! Mix em! And Save myself $6 a drink USD. Cuz, dude. I ain't payin' that. But on the flip side, I tend to mix them a little bit stronger than your friendly neighborhood bartender, cuz judging amounts? Not so easy to do as you grow more and more tipsy. Tends to become a "Awww, fuckit, just pour it all in!" kinda thing after a while... Good lord, can I babble!)

So, anyway. We be singin'. And I ended up getting my song books. And he didn't know anything I had. And of course, there was some stuff he knew that I didn't have the chords to. (grrr! Argh!) He tried to play some stuff for me, and I was totally "no no no!" and pushing his hands away and showing him the timing. And he's all offering me the seat, saying "You want to play it?" and I'm "NO! No no no!! You play!"

So he did pretty damn good considering it was a song that he'd never seen before with absolutely craptastic timing indicators (I know the timing, so what do I need them for? Gah! Poor guy!) So I am singing and he is playing, and I have it in a key that is waaaaaaay to freakin' high, but I usually capo it on the guitar so I sing it down, and not in the key of G which is absolutely stratospheric in the high part (gah! shattering glass now!) and I'm SINGING the damn thing, and I think I'm almost on key, and where the FUCK did all these people suddenly come from, but here we are in the middle of it and I can't stop NOW cuz I'm singing with RAD fer godsake, even if I DO suck, and WHY in God's name did everyone have to show up RIGHT NOW???

And finally, it was over. Thank God.

And then he went off to get his music books and stuff and we were all singing and then James Leary shows up. Show stealer. So he ducks in and of course I am the lame-o, so I grab the camera and accost some poor hapless bystander to take a picture. And I know I look like a dweeb, I should have just ignored the camera and stuck with singing Billy Joel.

Which is was RAD was playing at the moment. So James finally gets his butt out of the way so I can go back to turning pages for RAD like I was (cuz I KNOW what a pain in the arse it is to turn pages whilst you are trying to play. Feh.)

And then James asks RAD if he wants anything - then he turns to me and asks me if he can get me anything. Dayum! I don't *really* need one, but I ain't turnin' down a drink from JL!

"Beer me!" sez I. And so he does. ::does the snoopy dance:: James Leary bought me a beer!! ::thoughtful look:: Which, I suppose, I paid for since I did buy an autograph.

And then Andy pops up outta nowhere. *Poof!* There he is! On his way out to have a smoke, but he keeps getting sidelined by people. He ended up at the piano, where he sat and sang with Robin for a while.

I was getting tired of the crush of people, and I found this one other gal wanted to go outside and filk. So I got my books and guitar and we went outside to a table on the far side of the pool and set up. She played for awhile, then I did. After a but I realized my Spike Cup seemed to have mysteriously vanished, so I popped back inside to see if I could find it.

On my way back, I caught Andy finally coming out for a smoke. Somehow I ended up asking him to come on over and sit with us 'cuz we were making music outside or some damn thing. God, I can't recall exactly. Remember what I said about measuring shots? Yeah. I was pretty much at the "Aww, hell, pour the whole damn thing in!" stage by then. In any case, he was very agreeable, and off we went, across the pool deck to where my guitar and crap was. And he was scrounging around trying to find a smoke. I had one Canadian cigarette left, so I offered it to him.

"Hey, have a Canuck smoke," I says.

"Yeah?" he asks with a concerned frown. "Are you sure?"

Cuz, last smoke - and we smokers tend not to steal each other's last ciggy. That's just bad form. But I had another pack, and told him to help himself.

Now I *wasn't* going to be the first one to ask. Cuz the photo-op's on Sunday morning were selling for $50 USD. But someone else asked if they could have a photo with him, so I jumped up and did it too. Yeah, I'm bad. What the fuck ever. I am NOT paying $50 for a photo with any star. Plus, you don't have the juicy tidbits to share the next day like you do when they are DRUNK out of their ever loving MINDS. Kinda like Andy was, bless his heart. Ooooooh, doggie, but I love this boy!

It kinda went like this. I was sitting, playing the guitar. He looked over at me when I stopped and said "Keep playing, don't stop!" and that was all very well and good, but coordination is not really my strong point when I'm drinking, and so I eventually packed it away. I had motioned for him to sit down, and at first he'd said no, but eventually he ended up in the chair beside me. Heh.

So, here's Andy. He's already pretty fucked up by this point, really. I mean, the guy was double fisted drinking (I know, I took his drinks away from him and gave him my binder so he could sign some autographs) He keeps looking around for smokes, patting the table and shit, but, alas he *has* no smokes with him. So I keep handing him my lighter and a smoke.

"Here you go," says I with a grin.

He gives me a heartfelt look of gratitude. "Thanks!"

I kinda alternately handed him his drinks and took them away, handed him the binder so he had a hard surface to sign shit on, gave him a smoke every time he started searching for one and enjoyed knowing that I was going to be able to tell this story after the con. After the 3rd smoke, he looked at me and said "You're all the shit!" Hee! I just thought of Sandy, patted his hand and said "No, Andy, that would be you."

At one point when he handed back my lighter, he either sparked it as he handed back or had let it burn for awhile first - in any case, it was really hot when he handed it to me and I yelped when he pressed it into my hand. He was immediately contrite.

"Oh, my god, are you okay?" he exclaimed. Before I could even respond, he plunged hi hand into his drink, pulled out a handful of ice, and pressed it into my hand, then grabbed my hand in both of his. I just kinda sat there, gobsmacked for a second, then stared up at him. God, he's so *sweet*, I just wanna take him home and keep him for my very own. *Sigh* I just kinda giggled and said I was fine, and tried to stem the flow of profuse apologies.

A little later, someone was saying something to him, and I had a mouth full. Ahh, you *know* where this is going, don't you? Yes, you do. This lady is saying something perfectly innocent I'm sure, but she happened to use the word 'coming'. Well, that was it. You don't get a spew alert in real life and the poor girl in front of me got half a mouthful of vodka and 7 on her arm. Not over her whole body, but I got her arm. And, of course... Andy did notice. Cuz, again, he's askin me if I'm okay, as I splutter and choke. Ohmygodiwassoembarressed. So I tell the truth, cuz I'm too zooed to lie about it. And he laughs. And says "What does that say about us that you and I are the only one who went there?"

And he totally cracked my shit up with that one. He's lucky I didn't have another mouthful.

The evening wore on and it was picture time at Andy's expense...

Don't ask me. I have no idea. But it's funny, no? God, I can't wait to show him these next con I go to. Hee. Cuz, you know. I'm evil that way. I'm going to give him copies. With a full blow-by-blow of events of the evening, as I am quite sure that he has very little recollection of what actually occurred.

He's wearing my glasses. MY glasses. Isn't that just too damn cute for words? And they even seemed to help him read whatever the hell it was he was looking at. How funny is that?

My glasses. Hee!

Finally, Andy wandered back inside. I looked down and discovered that he'd left one of his drinks outside, full and untouched. I grabbed and went after him, but he was gone. I considered the drink for a moment - then shrugged and dumped it in my cup. Couldn't let it go to waste, after all. And when I took a sip, hooooooo boy! Now I know *why* Andy was so totally zooed. The man was drinking double vodka and Seven. Yoiks!

The funniest thing *had* to be when [James Leary] turned away from the pool and and repeated "I'm happily married, I'm happily married, I'm happily married!" like a mantra. And then turned around and motioned to one of the really pretty girls in a bikini - "Could you stand up? Yes, you." *blink* "Thank you. I can go now."

I schleped all my crap back upstairs and then headed back out to the pool deck where I surprised Bubonic as she went to light up.

Then I grabbed a photo op with some of the great people out there like Laura, Harmony, and voodoo. We all just hung out and drank and gabbed. Lotsa fun.

A little bit later, James Leary showed up again. He chatted MustangSally up a bit, and then hung out with us at the pool side for a while. He was a total riot. The funniest thing *had* to be when he turned away from the pool and and repeated "I'm happily married, I'm happily married, I'm happily married!" like a mantra. And then turned around and motioned to one of the really pretty girls in a bikini - "Could you stand up? Yes, you." *blink* "Thank you. I can go now."

*snicker*

He did make some mournful noises about wanting to go into the hot tub but that he was fully clothed. I offered him the option of being pushed in so that it wouldn't be his fault, but he didn't go for it. Looked a might peeved at the idea actually. Heh.

After all this, MustangSally and I grabbed DJ Dizzy for a picture. 'Cuz he was pretty cool.

Somehow I made it back to my room that night. It was late. I was seeing double. Not surprisingly, since I'd been drinking doubles. Sunday morning came fast and furious, bringing with it Floridian sunshine, humidity and a medium sized hangover.

I got dressed, got my coffee and dragged my ass to the grand Q&A room and plunked down to listen to JL, RAD and Iyari. Once again, Kelly was kind enough to take photos. It was basic Q&A - how long for the make up, who's a better kisser, what have you done before, blah blah blah - but somehow slash got brought up and oi! Robin and James were suddenly doing K/S on the stage and DAY-um! If they don't have slashy possibilities...

James Leary is SO damn funny. And RAD ain't no slouch himself. And the two of them together - just too funny for words. Iyari very patiently sat their and watched them run with the gag, rolling her eyes at their antics. It was a great time.

Then came Andy. Who was obviously feeling the aftermath of the night before, cuz coherent thought? NOT present. His refrain that morning was "Uhm... what was the question again?"

*snicker*

He did pretty damn well for someone who really should have been sleeping it off. For at least 12 straight hours.

The most amusing part of his Q&A had to be the question that turned into a running joke. Someone asked if he had ever dressed up as/done a part as a drag queen because he looked really familiar. Everyone laughed, he kinda dissembled an got off topic, but he promised to come back to it. And never did. So, every time after that when there was a pause and he said something about having forgotten what the question was, people started yelling out "drag queen!" to remind him we still wanted a response. He never did give us a straight answer.

Shyeah. Whatever, Andy. I know the truth. I mean come on... you're a man, and you have far better fashion sense than I do. I'm just sayin'.

Then, during the Q&A, someone shouts a question out from the back and everyone start cheering. It's JL, being a trouble maker - cuz he's good at that. He trucks on up to the front, banters with Andy (ho HAPPILY hands over the mic and lets JL go for a while) before finally heading out and leaving Andy to his own devices.

I got a question in; I asked him, in regards to what he'd said in Seattle about doing an album, if there was anything in the works with that. He said he didn't want to go off half cocked, expecting too much from the success he'd enjoyed on Angel thus far. Actually, he didn't say those words at all, but that was what I got from what he DID say. Just so it's clear. My interpretation. After that, he took a few more questions, then the whole mess of us sang happy birthday to his mom over his cell phone at hyper speed (man, I'd love to see HER expression when she gets that message!) and then...

James. Again. Like we can ever get enough of him. Heh.

(Have I mentioned how popular I am at work right now with the other girls? Cuz Everyone. Loves. James. You should have heard us all swooning in unison on Tuesday at work... "Mmmmmm... Spiiiiiiike..." I think we scared some of the male supervisors. Eh. They just don't understand the power of the cheekbones...)

So. More of the same. Some new questions, some recycled. He refused to sing. *coughbastardcough*

"You have to understand, musicians don't like to sing when they can't give it their best.." yadda yadda yadda.

<whine><bitch><rant> Hogstwaddle! He had no problem singing back a couple of years ago when he didn't have an album and a band and shit. *pout* I really wanted to get him to play my guitar. *stomps foot* It's not faaaiiiir!!!</whine></bitch></rant>

And, again with the autographs. The line seemed to move a lot faster on Sunday. When I got to Andy, I just couldn't resist.

"So. Andy. How you feelin'?"

He kinda nods, doesn't look up. "Uhm, I'm okay."

Heh. Yeah, Andy, suuuuuuuuure you are. "So. You left your drink behind last night."

Recognition dawns as he looks up at me. "Oh, yeah, I realized that after, but I just didn't feel like going back..." he trails off.

"I tried to find you, but you'd already vanished."

I get a big 'awwwwwwwww-that's-so-sweet' look from him. "Oh, really? You took such good care of me last night."

I grin. "I took good care of your drink too."

Raucous laughter. Yeah, baby. I made Andy guffaw. Chalk one up for me.

I got him to sign another one of my Karaoke discs. I figure eventually I'll have his signature on everyone of them. Kinda cool.

Then on to James. First off, the gals in front of me had muppets they brought for him to sign - Beaker and Animal. He made some comment about the drummer in their band and Animal as he was singing. I thought that was a pretty cute idea for something to have him autograph, and judging from his grin, he did as well.

Then it was my turn. And I am proud to say I did absolutely *nothing* stupid at all. As he was signing my calendar (Spike!Calendar! Whoo! Hoo! 12 months of Spikey goodness!!) I shook my head at his patience.

"I don't know how you do it." He looked up, curious. I continued. "I could *not* do what you do."

He tilted his head to one side, looked pensive for a moment. "It helps if you really like adulation."

I planted a hand on my hip and cocked an eyebrow at him. "I like adulation just fine - but there is no *way* I could this. No way."

A got a little bit of a smile as he handed me my calendar. "It's hard, but I'm learning to live with it."

Check that out! A normal conversation! And, heart rate? Didn't even accelerate that time. I think I am officially over my crush on James Marsters. About fucking time. I was getting bloody tired of feeling like I was about 14 every time I got within 10 feet of the man. I'm all better now.

(You believe that, and I have this bridge I'd like to sell ya...)

I'm sorry folks, no great big, long transcription of every word he said. Other people have eidetic memories and can give you all those details. A) I was hung over and busy reminding my stomach that it was already, in fact empty and had no reason to be threatening me, and B) James is Pretty. I was busy watching James be pretty. Yes, I *am* that shallow. Hello? I flew to fucking FLORIDA to see a guy who I will never spend more than 8 seconds in the presence of when I had just seen him in Seattle, WAY closer to home, a little over 4 months earlier. Yeah. You can safely say that I'm here for the eye candy.

And the great people. Cuz as much as a luurve me some James, I could have seriously hung out with all these fabulous ficcers all bloody weekend without a Celeb in site and *still* had me a fantastic time. Which is something that we all talked about later Sunday night at the pool side after the Surprise Birthday Party/Baby Shower that Chen planned for Jerry and Kelly.

We *were* going to go off and party in the Cuban Quarter, but that kinda got derailed. People were tired, Chen was feeling sore and a lot of us just wanted to hang out at talk.

So that's what we did, until and ungodly hour of the night. At 3 am, there were still a bunch of us going strong on the pool deck, talking fic, videos, literature, writing, Buffy, slash, smut and anything else that struck our fancy. A common theme seemed to be that we couldn't let another year go by before we all got together again, and the idea of a fanficcers and fen con in Vegas got bandied about a bit. I think Chris even got an LJ community going on that very topic a few days after she got back. So hopefully, what started as talk will soon become a reality.

Monday morning found most of us airport bound, heading back to jobs, families and real life in its many and various forms. There were many hugs and fond farewells as we parted. I really loved meeting everyone, but I have to say that I am going to miss Cathy the most - I just adored her! And you have to ask her to tell you about how she totally zinged James on pictured day. Heh. Go Cathy!! Also, with all the people I met, I didn't get to spend much time with everyone I wanted to; I really wish I could have had a couple of hours to sit down and plot a fic with Sandy, cuz she was just too much fun! We took turns getting pie-eyed on Saturday, her on the early shift, me on the evening. Between the two of us, I think we were snookered most the day.

I am so VERY glad that I went. I really couldn't justify spending all the money on airfare and a hotel for a con, no matter how much I wanted to go, so it was great to be able to see my family in Alabama after; but it was just so great to meet these people who I have been talking with and reading the fic of and appreciating for so long. I had a total fangirl Squeee! moment when I met MustangSally! It was seriously just as much of a high as when I met Spider Robinson the first time - *and* I got to have her sit on both panels! Gah! And Colleen! And Sandy! And Kita! And Chris! And... ::fiZzle:: Sorry. Went into fangirl overload for a second there.

I have already shared far more than anyone wanted to know. I talk too much, I know. It's a thing. I like to tell stories and I don't know how to Shut.Up. I hope there was at least something interesting or amusing that made slogging through this report fun. And I hope ya'll enjoyed the pictures.