This was my first WOTP, and sadly, it was the last one....waaaah!
I arrived around 11am on Friday, after being on the ground in Portland for about two hours; it seems that there was a sick-out, and several flights into southern CA had been canceled, so the airline was shuffling passengers...ish. Anyway, I got there, checked in, and went in search of food. After about 25 minutes of aimless wandering, I found a Chinese take-out place that had been given a health dept. grade of 'B' - those of you from California will understand this - for the rest let's just say that 'B' is not as good as 'A', and that I was understandably a bit nervous, but really too hungry and thirsty to care.
There was a convention of Abe Lincoln impersonators at the hotel; some of them even had their wives and daughters there dressed as Mary Todd Lincoln and child...it was so surreal to see these men that looked like 'Honest Abe' walking about in the hotel, and in the bar for drinks, and even at the airport - pretty Twilight Zone-ish...I took a picture of several of the Abe impersonators, telling myself (and a few others) that this way my husband would have proof that the Trekkers weren't the biggest freaks in the hotel this weekend ;)...one of the Abes gave me his business card, with a picture of himself as Abe on it - does this tell you anything about these guys?
Mark, Dina and Egg arrived around 1:00, and we kicked around the hotel a bit before going to eat supper...playing with the dolls - we left Bashir tied to the lamp, with Garak posed to whip him with his cummerbund (looks like a leather strap.)
Friday evening was a bit blurry for me; about all I remember about Friday night is that we met Vicki, and she basically dared me to ask Andy an impertinent question (which I did do - more on that later)...of course anyone that knows me, even a little, knows that just suggesting something to me is enough to induce me to do it; hence the question. (My only regret about the question is that I wasn't quick enough to ask it during the Q&A and had to settle for face-to-face.) Earlier (in the Con suite) we met Invicta, and I finally began to put some faces to names. Oh yeah, we took pictures of the action figures in lewd poses. [To see them go visit the WOTP Gallery]
On Saturday, we hung out in the con suite for a bit, and then went for lunch...again not much going on there - just food, and a dipshit waiter who kept calling us 'ladies' even after we very pointedly referred to Mark by name....
During the autograph sessions, I had a lovely talk with David George (the co-author of Armin's new book) about writing, and 'what works'; I managed to forget to introduce myself to Chase [Masterson], and I asked Rene a stale question about make-up...Armin and his wife, Kitty, were so charming and friendly, that I really felt at ease, even for a first meeting. Aron Eisenberg was very sweet - he had a lovely smile, and a kind word for everyone.
I took four rolls of film with me, vowing that I would only take one roll's worth of pictures on Saturday; of course, I had taken half a roll of action figure shots, and Rene and Armin were so funny and charming during the after dinner auction (not to mention that Django and his daddy were so damn cute[note - somehow, I ended up with no pictures of Sid and Django together]), that I ended up using another roll of film at dinner on Saturday.
When we drew names for dinner, I was a bit disappointed to have not drawn either Sid or Andy's table, but looking back, I'd say that I had a lot more fun that way. (Besides, I was still needed to finish sewing Andy's present - one of the boys spilled kool-aid on the first one, so I was frantically sewing during the pre-dinner auction) Instead, I drew Kitty (Armin's wife), and ended up having a lovely time, despite the fact that dinner was beef (I'd have figured chicken), and that poor Kitty had to wait about 25 minutes for her vegetarian dish to arrive at the table...
As Kitty put it, we all knew something about her, but she didn't know anything about us, so she turned to me, expecting me to start the whole self-intro thing...of course the first thing that popped into my head was "Hi, I'm Heather, and I write slash." Fortunately, I managed to think of something else, and we were onto the next person. Our table was quite diverse - we had a customs inspector, a curator from the Smithsonian, a pharmaceuticals rep, a computer programmer, an EMT, an ice skating instructor, a small business owner, and a library computer tech. All in all, the dinner was nice, but the best part was after the auctions...
ANDY!!!! I'm am so excited about his book - and not only because we found out it's being written from Garak to Bashir(!)...holy cow, can you say 'subtext'? Besides that, it was lovely to hear (even with the fiddle music coming from the Abe Lincoln dinner next door), and Andy was wonderful to watch as he read the passages...his expressions were so Garak, and he was so into what he was doing...<sigh>
We tried to round robin on Saturday night, but were too tired to do much.
Well - on Sunday, I still had some sewing to do, so I got up early and was still almost late to lunch - not at Sid or Andy's table again, but again, I think I had more fun this way, since I sat at the slashers table (::waves:: Hi Merrie, Mark, Dina, Egg, Invicta, Diana) and had a perfect view of Sid. I figure this way, I got to look at him just as much, but didn't have to worry about being too nervous to eat.
As for the auction, I do have
to tell a couple of things - the last prop that Sid sold was a pepper mill
with stickers on it - I know, because I have that same pepper mill on my
stove!!! Also, Sid sold the black undershirt that he had to
wear under his uniform (I believe that it went for $300) - apparently he
is
as
skinny as he looks - it was padded (where the pectoral muscles are) and
he hinted that they padded him in other places as well! <vbeg>
I took lots of pictures, and laughed a lot during the Q&A (J.G. Hertzler was a riot, and our boys were 'on'.) Several questions were asked, and I vaguely remember the answers to them - a few things that really stuck with me: Sid's answer to what he thought was the best part of the show's run - "You saw him running about last night" (meaning Django and his mommy); J.G. mimicking Sid; each time Sid wasn't speaking, he was nibbling at the leftovers on the buffet table (so yes, Jen, he does eat); Andy's wonderful anecdote about Liberace. One thing that I noticed (and really liked) about all the actors was the sense of ease that they all had - they were very friendly, very relaxed - nothing like a lot of Trek celebs are at cons -- maybe it was the small number of attendees? (less than 150)
Okay - I guess that I've teased you all enough - I'll tell about the leather clad Garak and Bashir, etc., so that I can close this long thing up...
When I sat down with Andy, the first thing I did was introduce myself (yes, I remembered!) and then I showed him the Garak...which he LOVED! He started to play with it, making it dance, and being goofy with it. There were tons of people taking pictures of it, and Andy commented that he could just see this picture ending up in some Star Trek sex site as a footnote to Bashir...which was the wrong thing to say to me. I said so, and Andy patted me on the back and said something soothing (I think that he thought that he embarrassed me, but we all know that wasn't my problem, don't we?)
Anyway, we got past that, and I gave him my gift, which he also really seemed to like - I got a kiss on the cheek for it (have I mentioned that I briefly considered bronzing my cheek, to save the kiss for posterity? no, ah well, 'tis sadly true...), and he seemed very touched that someone would take the time to make a gift like that (I cross stitched a dragonfly for each of them)...then signing and pictures, and it was Mark's turn.
I realized a few minutes into Mark's turn that I had forgotten to ask the impertinent question, so I asked in a lull...the question was, boxers or briefs?, to which Andy replied 'Calvin Kleins' while looking dead at me, as if I had asked him a serious question, rather than a decidedly silly one... we decided that was cheating, by the way, because he didn't actually specify, but we received clarification (of a sorts) later.
So, back into line for Sid....finally we get there; intros again, and the Bashir doll. Sid liked it so much he wanted to keep it!!! Of course, I couldn't allow that to happen (hey, that's my baby - ask Dina, Egg and Mark!), but I did tell him that he could keep the next thing, which was his dragonfly. Again he liked it, but no kiss on the cheek this time. <sigh>
When asked the boxers or briefs question (with the qualifier that he couldn't just give us the name brand like Andy did) Sid answered boxers, and after a bit of thought, he asserted that Andy wore boxers, too... (no, I didn't ask how he knew that - I figured that would be TMI - I assume he was guessing.) Signing and pictures were next, and then I asked THE question - what did Sid think of slash? (At this point I have to say that I blamed it in Dina, Mark and Egg, calling them the three chickens, but I wanted to know as well.) After repeating the word slash several times, quite loudly, he said that it was okay with him (someone sent him some, but he's never read it), since it wasn't about him (which I think is a wonderful attitude, and speaks volumes about Sid's outlook), but about the characters (someone popped into the conversation at this point to say she couldn't see Sid with Andy, and I clarified that I meant Garak/Bashir, not Andy/Sid.) Then I got up, and let the others go, and we were done...
Dina and Egg had to leave for the airport shortly after that, and Mark and I took Invicta to her first Mexican restaurant (well...to be technical, she drove us, but I think you know what I mean) - she seemed to like it, and the drinks were good, so I guess it was a success.
On Monday, Mark and I left (sadness),
but I got to talk with Peggy Stewart and her daughter for a bit at the
airport, and they shared the first batch of pictures from the weekend with
me - they had some wonderful pictures of the guys and gals (and some not-so
wonderful ones...who would have thought that either Sid or Andy could take
a bad
picture? Yep, it's true...)
I also found out that Sid *may* be doing the Con in Portland (next month)
and that Andy is scheduled to do a Con in Denver (in September - how handy,
I'll be visiting my mom before leaving for Italy...hehe.), so guess who
will get to see at least one of the guys before going overseas???
My plane was late leaving, so it was late when I got home...oh, well. All I can say is I'm so glad that I was able to go, and to meet so many wonderful people...I'm sorry to have missed the people that weren't able to go, but I'm sure that we'll meet sometime...
[First, a note that doesn't really fit anywhere else. We weren't the oddest people there! :0) There was a convention of Lincoln lookalikes, who seemed very nice, and were curious about us, too. They kept looking in.]
I got up at 3 on Friday morning to get to the airport. They tell you to get there 2 hours pre-flight, but the counter wasn't open until less than an hour before flight time. I checked my bags and was on my way.
I went through customs in Calgary without being stopped. Thank goodness, because they're very suspicious of videotapes, and I had 6 in my bag. Anyway, we caught a tailwind to LAX, and I ended up rather early.
I ran into Carol Reeg at the airport. She remembered me, and we talked as I waited for Dina and Egg to find me. Thanks to Egg's physical description of herself, I was able to spot her and grab a shuttle together.
We happily squicked the other people riding with us for the next hour, then entered the hotel to find Heather waiting. We went to put our bags in the room, then proceeded to chat for hours, and to exchange gifts, (I *love* my 9" Garak!). We also started the Action Figure photo shoot. Think Garak in pimp clothes, or in jeans and a leather jacket. Think Bashir in pink Barbie lingerie, tied to a lamp and about to be whipped. Later on, we put them in various sexual positions, in various clothing and lack thereof.
We went up to the hospitality suite after dinner at the mall, and began running into people. I believe it was Friday that I got to see the beginning of "Inter Arma..." Olivia's right, Garak was definitely acting like he got some.
Invicta was the non-roomie I spent the most time with, I believe. A delightful person. She's also an action figure photo shoot collaborator. :0) I also met a nice guy named Chuck. (Yay! I wasn't the only flamer there!) He hit on me all weekend, and I hit on him back. Much fun!
On Saturday we read fic and chatted in our room. We also went to lunch downtown, where I was lumped in with the 'ladies' by an evil waiter apparently unconcerned by the fact that I grew more incensed every time he said it.
The autographs were plentiful; I collected Aron Eisenberg's, Chase Masterson's, Lolita Fatjo's, Armin's and Rene's. Armin was sweet, but Rene definitely seemed distracted.
The auctions were all stunning in their incredible prices as well as the merchendise that went up for sale. The special auctions by the actors were most incredible -- more on that in a moment.
I was at Chase's table for dinner. She was very nice, but her son seemed to think hell was preferable to enduring this banquet. He's 12. I don't blame him.
Sid and Nana brought Django, who was so *cute*!!! He's like a tiny version of both of them. Very well behaved, too. He helped the actors hand out envelopes to the people who were active in the fan clubs. At one point he said, "I want to give this one to Mommy!" and proceeded to give someone's gift to Nana, who took it and handed it over.
The Sat. special auction brought a top price of $1200 US !!!!!! Holy snerf. Rene was also revealed as a kleptomaniac -- he stole a whole bunch of stuff from the set to sell.
Also on Sat. night was an episode clip montage. One of the scenes was the infamous 'chest cold' scene where Bashir and Leeta meet. I watched Chase during this. Her expression was very amusing.
Andy was, of course, utterly riveting when he read Garak's Diary. Even with the bad music from next door, he performed incredibly. Garak's Diary will be a written record from Garak to Bashir. (YAY!) :0) The bit he read us was so wonderful. I was so jealous -- he said, "That's the first draft..." I wish *my* first drafts were that great!
Rene and Armin did their Q&A with Sadler (Sloan), Chase, and Lolita. They tried to lure Andy onstage, but I think he was tired, and wanted to wait till Sunday.
We attempted a Round Robin in our room on Sat. night, but we were all really too tired. Bed, then Sunday.
None of my main little group got a table with Andy or Sid or JG Herzler. So we set up shop with a clear view of Andy and Sid, and proceeded to make comments that were in occassional danger of being overheard. Much fun.
The auction was as frighteningly out of control as Sat's. Sid auctioned off his undershirt. The reason Sid looks thinner in person is because he's got padding both in the undershirt and under the uniform pants as well! They also sold Rene's cup. Not his drinking cup, his *athletic* cup! (Eww!) :0)
The Q&A with Sid, Andy and JG was marred a bit by squealing mikes, so the actors had to stand several feet apart. I got to ask my question -- I asked Sid to talk about Lawrence After Arabia, and Andy to talk about Liberace.
We waited until nearly the end for our autographs, because Heather was finishing her gifts, cross-stitched dragonflies. She also brought leather clad Garak and Bashir to show Andy and Sid.
In the line, we saw Andy make a quick run for the bathroom. I expressed a desire to follow him in and take a look. :0) Of course I didn't, but it's the thought that counts. <EG>
We got into the autograph room. Heather went first. Andy was thrilled with Leather Garak, and began playing with it. Suddenly every flash bulb in the place was going off. He joked that the pics would probably end up on "some Star Trek sex site, as a footnote to Bashir." The expression on Heather's face was utterly priceless! Dina, Egg and I, the peanut gallery, cracked up. She said that was the wrong thing to say to her. He patted her hand and said, "That's all right, dear."
He was thrilled with his dragonfly. He kissed her on the cheek, he signed her stuff. My turn.
He asked how I was, and I told him I was less terrified than I'd been meeting him in Oct. He said he tended to have that effect on people! :0) I remained coherent enough to tell him how much I enjoyed and respected him and his work, and how much I look forward to the book. I also mentioned my father is a fan, and my sister as well.
At this point Heather remembered she'd neglected to ask her indiscreet question! "Boxers or briefs?" Calvin Kleins.
We decided, in Sid's line, that this was not a proper answer. After Sid looked at Leather Bashir, pouted when he found out he couldn't keep it, and got his dragonfly, Heather asked him too, and told him no dodging. He said boxers, and that Andy probably wore boxers too.
<VEG>
Then Heather had the balls (there's really no other word) to ask him how he felt about slash. She asked very quietly so he could refuse to answer without embarrassment, but he said, and I quote, "Oh, SLASH!!" in that volume. Every head turned. "Oh, no, I'm not bothered at all, after all, it's not me, it's Bashir."
Someone said they couldn't picture Sid with Andy, and Heather said, "It's *not* Sid and Andy, it's Garak and Bashir!!" Sheesh! :0)
After that I blushingly sat down next to him and got my autographs. He was very nice, and I said I knew he was tired, so don't worry about taking too much time. (He took about an hour longer than Andy!) However, he talked to me a bit, and personalised a couple of the photos. The neatest thing was, when he signed the Feisal pic, he signed it Alexader Siddig after saying he'd sign Siddig El Fadil. So he just added to it. I bet I'm the only person in the world with a picture that's signed "Alexander Siddig El Fadil" !! :0)
Egg and Dina also got the benefit of Sid's undivided attention. He talked to us collectively for quite awhile about Bashir's character.
I asked him what colour he'd say his eyes were. He said he didn't know, and that they changed from mostly brown to almost pure green when he's tired. As research, of course, I gazed deeply into said eyes for several moments. :0)
;0) Yum.
Heather and Invicta and I went to a Mexican resaraunt on Sunday night and had a lovely time. I had a Strawberry Daquiri. And nice spicy food.
On Monday, I encountered some evil. I went down to arrange a shuttle to LAX, and was informed that the arrangements had to be made 4 hours ahead. I did *not* have 4 hours, nor did I have $65 dollars, which a cab would have cost.
After going back upstairs to tell Heather my troubles, which served no real purpose but to worry her too, I'm sure, I went back downstairs determined to take a taxi and pay for it on my already maxed Visa, and if the transaction was refused, (a) cry, or (b) offer the cab driver a blowjob. Amazing what a couple of years in the gay community of Saskatoon does to your moral standards.
Anyway, I was holding the shuttle couplon that had been in our room, and a man asked if I was going to LAX. I said yes. He was a shuttle driver who couldn't find the person who'd reserved him. He said he'd have to charge me full price, but I had the $25 dollars!
I decided that he was an angel sent by God, or St. Gene, patron saint of Star Trek fans who travel to cons with insufficient means. I'd certainly been praying!
I got to the airport in plenty of time. I was also reassured that my pineapple would probably make it through customs. (It did. Thanks, Alfina!!)
I ran into Carol Reeg at the airport again, and related to her the saga of the miracle shuttle. She stared for a moment and said, "That must have been ours!" Her party had reserved a shuttle for 9:00, and when it hadn't shown by 9:30 they'd called and said if it wasn't there in 5 minutes, they'd take a limo and charge it to the shuttle company.
It was 9:40 when I went downstairs to find the shuttle driver waiting. Not precisely a miracle, but coincidences like that are a little too good to be true.
I got home at 10:30 at night,
and Carola's Dukat chocolates were waiting on the landing with the mail.
Thanks, Carola!
I didn’t get much sleep on Thursday
night, maybe an hour, but I was so excited it didn’t really matter.
Dina and I tried to search for Mark at LAX without the aid of a flight
number (!) but everything worked
out OK. The first thing that I saw when I arrived at the hotel was
a cluster of Abraham Lincolns standing outside. I should have known
then what kind of weekend this was going to be! I met Invicta, Vicki,
Heather, Karen, and lots of other fans, some I recognized and others I
only knew by their online names. Needless to say, I hardly knew who
anyone was before we got our nametags. We watched “Dr. Bashir, I
Presume” and “Inter Arma” in the hospitality suite, ensuring that we got
plenty of strange looks for making slashy comments. I spent the rest
of the night talking about G/B and slash and posing Garak and Julian in
bondage positions. Let me just say here, before I go any further,
how much it meant to me to be able to talk about anything I pleased with
people who liked the same things that I do. It was phenomenal.
I don’t know any slashers in RL, or even DS9 fans for that matter.
At WOTP, it felt like I was living in my computer 24 hours a day, being
with the people that I really cared about and discussing the only things
that matter to me. I was happy, and I felt powerful and brave and
blessed. I think that I took some of that back to Florida with me
even. It’s that feeling you get when you watch DS9 and it suddenly
feels like home, when nothing else does. Ok, Friday was the first
emotional wallop, now comes the gushing ;-) (hey, keep in mind that I’m
still technically a teenage girl, so bear with me).
Saturday was autographs with Armin,
Rene, Kitty, Lolita, Chase, Aron, and David and Eric, two writers who were
very nice. I had met Aron before, and told him how
inspirational he was in his presentation,
since I didn’t get an autograph last time. He said that he didn’t
get to do too many conventions, and he’d like to do more. His experiences
with his illness taught him to follow his dreams, and when I saw him last
year he told us to do the same. I could tell that some of the audience
just didn’t want to hear it, they didn’t want to hear someone tell them
to quit the jobs that they hated and go do something that they loved instead.
But I liked hearing it when he said it, and I thanked him. Chase
was next, and she was very nice. She is a master at posing for photos,
too, and seemed really happy to be among all the fans. She also was
pretty emotional the whole weekend,
like most everyone was, and sad that the show was ending.
I met Rene next. I forgot
to thank him for posting to the Psi Phi message board, but I got to look
at his crystal blue eyes, and I was happy :-) I met Armin and Kitty
then. Kitty
Swink, Armin’s wife, had recently
played a Vorta for the episode “Tacking into the Wind” and I love the Vorta
so I said so. She just said that they were “unusual” which I guess
is a good way to describe them. I met Armin two years ago, but I
was a bit frazzled so I was convinced that I had met him last year
instead. He didn’t seem to mind too much though, even though I felt
like a fool. (“I saw you in Florida last year.” “I wasn’t in
Florida last year.” “Really? Are you sure?” Never mind!).
By that time, dinner was coming
up. We picked cards out of a bag for 13 different tables, 12 of which
had a guest seated at them. I picked Nana’s table, and I was overjoyed!
Ok, now I am going to gush.
The table was at the front of the stage and near the kitchen. Heather
had mentioned earlier that it was better to sit across from the celebrity
instead of right next to them, so that way you could look straight at them
and it wouldn’t seem so strange (but supposedly if you sit next to Sid,
he’d constantly bump his leg against yours in excitement. Sigh, sometimes
exceptions must be made...). So I sat across from where Nana was
going to sit, and right next to the stage. Coincidentally, almost
every woman at my table was from Florida too, and they were all pretty
experienced con-goers. I sat next to the president of RanDoM flight,
and Carol Reeg
was there too. I was pretty
excited as it was, and then they brought in the highchair. Oh my
God! Django was coming too! Then there was the auction.
My favorite items were the Robert Beltran resume, anything that Sid was
auctioning, anything signed by Jeffrey Combs or Marc Alaimo, and the beautiful
black-covered script for the final episode. I just sat back and watched
the bidding!
The guests entered, and all I
could see was Sid carrying a big stuffed frog and leading a little person
in by the hand, whom I couldn’t see yet. Nana and Django sat across
from me and Sid sat behind them with his back to us. But everytime
Django called for daddy he turned around. Toys were scattered all
around the table and he played with them. Someone from Sid’s table
gave him a Dr. McCoy figure, and Sid kept calling him the “bad guy”.
He would make voices for the toys he was playing with, making them fight
and make roaring sounds with The Voice that Sid uses when Bashir gets angry.
He wanted candy and all he would eat of dinner was bread and butter.
And he asked for a little piece of olive from Nana’s martini, which she
sucked dry and gave to him, which was cute. He was very well behaved.
Once in a while he’d look around the table at all of us, one by one, with
his big brown eyes and his little nostrils would flare (he has his daddy’s
nose) with curiosity. Most of Nana’s attentions were focused on Django
and we talked about children
and vacations and other stuff that I knew nothing about. She did
talk about how she cried on the set the other day, when they were tearing
down the Promenade. But she did say that the Sci-Fi Channel was interested
in doing projects with her and that Sid was trying for films and it looked
very promising. She also mentioned that she liked how the show ends,
all messy and very DS9-like, which I loved to hear, and Andy later agreed.
She praised Sid’s remodeling of their kitchen, and all the other projects
that he does. She said “He can do everything” but doesn’t like to
tell people. Hmmm, if anyone can find a flaw in this man, please
tell me ;-) Nana really liked my slave bracelet, but all I could
think of to say was ‘thank you’ (but I should have known, because I wore
it because of my Leo rising ;-) ).
We had all decided beforehand
that we wouldn’t take pictures during dinner out of respect, but by the
time that dessert came, we gave up and started to snap away! I have
some great pictures with the
three of them, but nothing where they are all three looking at the camera.
The baby just wouldn’t sit still! He was a cutie, helping to pass
out
envelopes and stuff. When
the turned out the lights to show the video, I turned around. I loved
seeing the underwear thrown at Sid! LOL! And when they showed
the scene with Bashir and Kira in the runabout, from early season 1’s “The
Passenger”, Nana said “Who is that?” about herself, and Rene remarked “Nice
hair,” twice! They left after that, but I wasn’t paying attention.
Garak’s diary was next. Andy was amazing. He seemed to really care about Garak as much as we do, if not more. It was incredible to hear. In the book intro, Garak talked about how Bashir was Cardassian-like, about Sisko, and about the Cardassian mind and living in the moment, with the dream and the nightmare all at once. It is like he is writing this for Bashir, like a will, and Bashir is to give copies of it to several people named at the end of the book. It did sound slashy, in the sense that the G/B relationship is quite profound. Some parts of the book had the quality of mystery and suspense that Garak carries around with him all the time. Several times during the reading I found myself getting teary-eyed with emotion when I thought about the situation that I was in. It almost felt like Garak was real, there were so many people who loved him so much all in one room together like that reading and listening to his life story. And to think that Andy could feel it too, all at once...wow.
After Andy finished and we could all breathe again, Rene and Armin auctioned off some special things and did their Q&A. They all seemed quite sad that the show was ending, especially Rene and Chase and Lolita. William Sadler, who I’ve been a fan of for a while, was there the whole time with his wife and daughter. He seemed to really enjoy the con experience, and even auctioned off a sketch of Sloan that he drew a few minutes before. He was great. And I have a picture of Chase eating the yellow carnation in his lapel, after he said the most memorable thing for him about the show was Chase’s dress (which I also have pictures of...meow!). We found out that “Night Tremors” is now entitled “Extreme Measures” too. Armin and Rene talked about early experiences on the set and Lolita talked about how she and Max Grodenchik were in love, which I didn’t know before and think is really marvelous. Then it was over and I needed to get William Sadler’s autograph. I stood in line with Invicta and compared notes about Marc’s nose story, which I still don’t know the facts about! William Sadler was very nice, even though I am sure that he was dead tired by that point. I was going to ask him to do his Hank Williams impression from ‘The Shawshank Redemption’ but it was just too late at night. He looks great in the photos I have of him, and it was cool that the part of Sloan was written for him. Couldn’t have happened to a nicer guy!
We spent the rest of the night
trying to start up a round robin, but I was too tired to think up good
sexual food metaphors. The next morning, we talked and slowly woke
up
while Heather valiantly worked
on her gifts to Sid and Andy. When it was time for lunch, no one
picked a table with Sid, Andy, or JG so we gathered up together and sat
at and all-slash table right behind Sid, which was too much fun.
The auction was great, as we finally got to see the padded shirt beneath
Sid’s uniform (!) and other great items. Sid, Andy, and JG did their
Q&A together. We were disappointed to find that they couldn’t
stand that close together or the microphones would create static :-(
But all three were hilarious! JG did an impersonation of Sid, which
caused Sid to make threats to his Klingon manhood (“Don’t Klingons only
have one testicle?” “But it’s a big one.” “Well, how would
you like to lose yours?” LOL!). Andy got a huge kick out of
it, it seemed. From time to time Sid would pick up a piece of watermelon
from the buffet and eat it (is it getting hot in here?). Mark asked
about ‘Liberace’ and ‘Lawrence After Arabia’ (which I finally get to see,
thanks to Mark!). Sid told a story I’d never heard before about losing
a falcon on the set of ‘Arabia’. When asked what was most memorable
for them about DS9, Sid mentioned Django and Nana, and JG told the story
about falling asleep on the set during Andy’s scene (LOL! Like country
bear jamboree, Andy said). Andy said that he wished that they had
done more with the mentor relationship that Garak and Bashir had after
‘Our Man Bashir’ (he pronounced it Baa-sheer, with an accent on the ‘a’
which always gives me a rush to hear, I don’t know why). I’ve heard
him say that
before, but every time I hear
it it just seems so sad that there was such a missed opportunity.
Too too soon it was done.
Now for the autographs.
I went to get JG’s autograph before he had to leave. He had a surreal
conversation with a Lincoln while I was in line. Another Lincoln
played a saw
with a bow, songs like ‘My Country
Tis of Thee’ (or as Mark said, ‘God Save the Queen’) and ‘Amazing Grace’.
JG signed his autograph to me in Klingon and he wrote “Leather forever”
on it, because I was wearing my leather corset and spiky collar.
He has a great sense of humor, and he is so talented. DS9 really
lucked out with it’s actors. Meanwhile, Heather almost sacrificed
her nose to get her gifts done on time ;-) but the dragonflies looked beautiful
(she wrapped them in bright blue bags too, for Mark’s sake). Our
numbers were so high, we decided to wait and go last. Me, Mark, Dina,
and Heather. While waiting, we thought up as many slash questions
as we were brave enough to ask. You know what they say about idle
hands... ;-) Heather went first. Andy loved the Garak leather
doll, he was playing with it just like Django did (with the McCoy) the
night before! The man is sharp, very very intelligent and thoughtful.
And I feel like I haven’t even scratched the surface with him. He
said something about the doll being a footnote on Julian’s sex life.
He gave Heather a big kiss on the cheek when he saw his dragonfly (I have
a picture of that too). When she asked him “Boxers or briefs?” he
looked at her like she asked him what the meaning of life was and said
“Calvin Kleins”. Chills I tell you, chills ;-) I talked to
him about school and I said that
I met him last year in Florida
(I got the year right this time). I told him that everyone who sees
my Liberace picture of him that he autographed said “I thought that he
was dead!” and he seemed to get a kick out of that. Amazing man.
Sid was next. Of course,
his line was still out the door and around the corner! We were at
the back of that line too. I decided in line that I would have loved
for Sid to draw a heart on my two autographed pictures of Garak and Bashir,
but I was too chicken to ask. We got ourselves worked up in line,
and convinced Heather to ask Sid how he felt about slash. Heather
went first again and the rest of us stood off to the side and laughed.
Sid really liked the Bashir leather doll. He wanted to keep it, but
Heather is very possessive of her men ;-) He loved the dragonfly
too. Sid seemed genuinely flattered by all the attention. I
just couldn’t stop staring at his glowing hazel eyes! Vicki is right,
he is even more beautiful in person. The most beautiful human being
I have ever seen. Heather called us chickens :-Þ and asked
him what he felt about slash. After repeating the word several times,
(loudly too! Devilish man, he is...), he answered. He said
that he didn’t mind it, because it wasn’t himself and Andy, but Garak and
Bashir, which is a great attitude to have. He also said that the
Bashir in the slash stories has “better equipment” than he does!
LOL! When I got the chance to talk with him, I was too shy to say
anything. But right before I stood up, I told him that I felt that
he should know how much Bashir means to us. He seemed to perk up
and asked why that was so? I started to say how I can relate to Bashir,
and his alienation among other things. But Bashir has always been
impossible for me to describe, so I didn’t really know what to say.
Dina started to tell him how annoying she found Bashir in the first few
seasons. I don’t know how he reacted to this, but everyone was snapping
pictures and I heard
he was smiling. I said
that I didn’t find Bashir annoying (who knows how that reflects on my personality...
;-) ) but I liked his darker aspects, and Sid agreed that Bashir did have
a dark side. Then Sid put his arm around me and we posed for my photos.
I gathered up my autographs and got up to leave. He thanked me for
what I said, but I felt sort of embarrassed, because I thought that *I*
should be the one thanking *him*, which I did. Then I took a picture
with Invicta and the rest of the gang, and made a mad dash to the airport.
The Weekend raised $30,000 for charity and I had an unforgettable time. I’m still recovering!
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