Saturday At The 2001 Convention

I arrived at the convention center later than the other days because my hotel driver took some other customers to the airport first, who were late coming down from their room. I was inside the Sails Pavilion (Where they have freebies and the autograph area) at 9:30am, 30 min. before they opened the exhibit hall. I was amazed at the amount of people there compared to the other days. I stood around looking for Kitties, then got the daily update to make last minute changes to my plans while I waited for 10:30 when I would be starting my day. My original plans were to decide if I wanted to see the Futurama panel or the Invisible Man panel, followed by the Lord of the Rings Panel and half the Joss Q&A, leaving early to get to the Women In Comics panel followed by the Women In Comics Autographing and then later the Gays in Comics panel and reception. Throughout the day I would have time to get autographs from certain celebrities I had written down, and some I hadn't planned for.

In actuality, after sitting down and going over my plans and changes, my day went as follows. I had a little something for breakfast and went to see who was signing for the day, trying to make plans as I saw who would be there later in the day. That lasted for half an hour while I waited for the Futurama panel to start at 10:30. I did not video tape any full panels, after finding on the first day that my video camera battery wouldn't last more than 30min to an hour. The other reason being that video taping wasn't allowed during video type previews or showings unless someone said it was ok, like in the Andromeda panel. I watched the unseen episode, "A Tale of Two Santas", in the Futurama panel, which was very funny, including the opening sequence put together by Matt Groening... "Excuse me a moment, it's Fox (on the phone)... well how about 7? 8? Ok 11... ok (hangs up). Due to violent content tonight's episode is not suitable for viewing... ever!" After the cartoon several of the attendees left and I then headed over to the Invisible Man panel to see what was going on. Towards the end of the panel they announced a signing at the Sci Fi booth and I made a note to attend. I went to the autograph area to check for anymore updates and saw that the line for Traci Lords was rather short so I decided not to wait until Sunday as originally planned. I went down to the Sci Fi booth quickly after, because the other day when Anthony Simcoe was signing it got so hectic that they handed out tickets and I wanted to be sure to have enough time for everything, rather than waiting all day for the Invisible Man signing. After getting my ticket I spotted some hardcore Stargate SG-1 fans (I could tell because they had the hats and patches but most importantly the jackets which cost about $169) so I asked them about Micheal Shanks signing and they informed me that I had to buy something from the MGM booth. I bought a picture of him, then headed up for another look at the recent updates for autographers.

When I got up there, I was surprised to see a note that said Elisabeth Filarski (the cute one) from Survivor would be signing and was limited to the 350 people who had a bracelet. I rushed down to the booth to see if there were any left. They had a few left and after getting one I headed over to the Sci Fi booth to sit down and wait in an inconspicous spot for me to get in line when my number was called. There was a small lounge area at the Sci Fi booth with a TV and I found that to be good, so I would be right next to were the line starts, and watch TV while I waited. As I waited in line it was apparent that I would miss the Joss Q&A if I wanted to see the Women in Comics panel at all. I got up to the cast and passed my picture around, as well as getting one that they had pre-signed. Vincente, who plays Darien (The Invisible Man) was my favorite actor to meet because he said, "Hey man!" and shook my hand to which I replied, "Hi." Then he said, "Do I know you?" and I thought, ::Wow! That was cool:: but replied, "No ::Shaking my head::, but I was up in the panel." He said, "Cool." and took my picture to sign. Then he shook my hand again as he said, "Thanks for watching the show man." and I just smiled.

Next I was off to catch a little of the Joss Q&A...