I'll be there! I been missin' my peeps and need to hear some geek speak. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/icon_smile.gif)

I'll be there too. Sue just e-mailed in sick. Deb usually turns up, as do Kikki and Morgan. I'm not sure who else is planning to turn up.

Lin

Norwescon anyone?

Any get-togethers on the Eastside in the next couple of months?

Not that I've heard of. Do you have a suggestion?

Lin

Me me me! (IMG:style_emoticons/default/icon_smile.gif) I'm always there. Looking forward to it!

I think we should have a Shindig. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/icon_smile.gif)

Our table is reserved for the same place as last year - directly across from the bar! I'll be Norwescon-ing next year for sure. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/icon_biggrin.gif)

Does anyone know where I could get a locally-made Jayne hat? I've seen a few on eBay, but I'd like to get one from someone that makes them in the Seattle area. Thanks. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/icon_smile.gif)

Robyn, Karrie, and Sue all know how to knit them, and I am sure some others do also. I think (this is a guess) they charge around $30 for them. I will be seeing some of them this weekend and ask if you like,
How are you doing Brandon??

Reminder -

It's the first Friday Sci Movie at Wayward tonight. The movie is Willow.

Lin

I can knit one up for you. Unfortunately, I sold my last one on the Browncoat Cruise. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/icon_confused.gif)
Contact me through the board if you want one. I was going to make another one for myself too. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/icon_smile.gif)

When is Norwescon again? Doesn anyone have the link? Thanks so much!

http://www.norwescon.org/ Mar 20 to 23 and we can early celebrate my birthday there!! You can register on line, for best price register by dec 31.
Hey Morgan, Kiki and Deb
Naomi Novik will be there!! Guess someone should loan me the first book!! (IMG:style_emoticons/default/icon_smile.gif)

Fun!

Thanks! How nice that there is a Con near by! I get to save some $$ on because I don't need a hotel & airline ticket!

My Birthday is in March as well!

Miss you all!

we can celebrate together, twins from different mothers, planets, etc!!

Vixy & Tony - back at Wayward on 12/22 at 8 pm. Yippee!!!!!!

Oh - and a SciFi/General TRIVIA QUIZ the night before (12/21) ... bonus point for wearing a Jayne hat during the quiz .. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/icon_wink.gif)

Hey Robyn or Sue,

Any chance I could get a Jayne hat by the 21st? Kikki and I have one between us but look funny if we wear it at the same time. If not, no biggie. If so, I've got some folding money I can throw your way. Thanks.

Still trying to post my Mutant Enemy and Cruise reports. Problematic from home. If this message goes I'll have to post from work I guess. Odd.

- Morgan

We arrived at the Mutant Enemy march late, around 1:00pm, and found it going strong and in full swing. Looked to be 300 people in all, mostly marching and some doing other things like taking photos or being interviewed. Cars were honking their horns and there was a palpable buzz. Parking was easy and we were soon in the thick of it. Tables were set up and a whole “support” section was arranged with signs, doughnuts, water, and such things. Very friendly greetings and smiles welcomed us as we doctored our signs to read that we were from Seattle and came 1200 miles to march, which is more or less true as we’d just come off the Browncoat Cruise the day before and were heading north towards home. But hey, the march was on the way and we would have gone had we been able and serendipity made it so.

Merging into the marchers the wife and I started our circuits, giddy to be amongst the peeps. We recognized many from our cruise and they greeted us with nods and smiles. Cedric of the Bedlam Bards was there and we talked him up for a few before he started off strumming his mandolin and singing Firefly songs with Julesong (Another Seattleite) and anyone within earshot. I pulled out the camera to document the occasion and admitedly to shoot a few celebs who seemed to be everywhere.

So far as actual writers go we spotted the man, Joss Whedon standing near Tim Minear. Ben Edlund was around as well as Jane Espinson who was easy to spot as she had jersey with “Espinson” printed on the back. Other Firefly and Buffy alum were out in force too. Spotted Fanty and Mingo first, but couldn’t tell which was prettier. Sorry that I forget your real names, guys. Then I spotted everyone’s favorite captain, Nathan Fillion who looked both haggard and rugged in his brown jacket and what I read was a GQesque stubble. He was hovering around Summer Glau who we’d seen on a billboard on the way in advertising her new Terminator show. She wasn’t so menacing though in person and was talking to adoring fans. A few others were around whom I recognized but don’t know their names, but later found out many had been there before we arrived including most of the cast. No Adam Baldwin made me sad, and I was also bummed that Alan Tudyk wasn’t there when I turned around and saw him conversing with someone. I grabbed the wife and pointed him out as I had been with everyone up until then. He asked the person who he was talking to where Nathan was but they didn’t know. Walking by me I mentioned, “He’s about halfway down on the right.” Startled, Alan looked at me and gave me a smile/nod in thanks and was on his way.

More marching and finally it was 2:00 and time to end and go to the picnic, though we weren’t attending that part of the fun. Joss was given a megaphone and thanked everyone for coming. I mentioned to the wife that we were happy just to be doing good works which got a laugh from some around us. Determined to get a few seconds of face time with Joss I waited patiently for him to finish up with the last of the other fans, a group of young ladies from Australia. As they ended I pulled the wife close and made my move. Before he got up a head of steam I made eye contact and took his hand saying how much I enjoyed Firefly and thanked him because due to the show I met my wife, the love of my life. He seemed happy, though humble, giving us that wry grin of his and saying it was a “summer romance”. Get it? Summer? We all chuckled and I said that we thanked him and also blamed him. The wife mentioned that it’s one more thing that is all his fault and he rolled his eyes, reluctantly accepting the mock-guilt.

After that we dispersed and walked back to our car while talking to a gal who had used her frequent flyer miles to fly down from Vancouver, Canada for the march and stay for the weekend with a friend. We kept our signs as they were now personalized with our Seattle sticker. All in all a worthy effort. Some people criticize one side or the other. Me, I figure despite tactics on either side the writers in the end deserve to be compensated along the line for any incarnation of their work that makes more money. Everyone does, end of story.

Day 1 & 2:

When my wife, Kikki, and I heard about the cruise we decided that it was something we wanted to do for all the right reasons. First cruise for either of us, promise of good guests, and hanging with Browncoats for 5 days sounded like a slam dunk so we started saving our pennies a year in advance. We requested long vacations from work so we could come down from Seattle early and hang in SoCal with family for Thanksgiving and do things like go to Disneyland too. Ended up driving so we were also able to attend the Mutant Enemy writers strike day, but that’s another blog.

Drove through torrential rain to San Diego and with some difficulty found the hotel which turned out to be an old bank so the lobby was decked out in marble and hard woods. Beautiful and classy to be sure. There was line to check in with the cruise people so I waited in line while the wife got our rooms and took up the bags. We tagged off and I was up and back down in a flash. We received our dog tags which would double as ID on the cruise to identify our group as it’s hard to remember 200+ people by sight, at least initially. Not much was going on so we went upstairs and had dinner via room service.

Back down to the party and schmoozed as the Hawk and Cedric of the Bedlam Bards played for us. Hard to hear in the high ceiling echo chamber that is the lobby/bar/dining room, but still and all we had fun and the booze flowed. Poor bartenders were given a recipe for “Mudders Milk” and ended up making over 100 of the bloody things. Started out serving them in martini glasses and eventually ran out so ended up using anything that was clean.

I spotted Jonathan Woodward sneaking by the group to check in and pointed him out to the folks we were with. After a few minutes he reappeared and had changed from his stealth outfit to an easily spotted striped shirt. Drink in hand, he talked with a lot of folks and mingled with the crowd. Later I saw he had changed back to stealth mode and was at the bar alone. Long drive like us I’m sure. He’d make up for it later though.

Had a good nights sleep and went down for breakfast which was an overpriced but decent enough buffet. Regrouped with friends and planned the attack on the day. Thinking the boarding wouldn’t happen until 1:30ish we planned on going to see the Rose, the tall ship that stood in as the Surprise in Master and Commander, the Russell Crowe film based on the series of novels. She’s moored just down from where cruise ships park and had been recently refitted back to a status where she could be deemed seaworthy by the Coast Guard. Another driving adventure through downtown San Diego and we found our destination. Spotted our cruise ship, the Elation, first and saw she was a bit smaller than the fancier looking Osterdam parked adjacent. We checked out the Rose and then went to park in the pay lot across from the cruise ships, though could have come by one of the busses provided by the organizers of the cruise. Nice extra that wasn’t necessary but very welcome and the first of many details that were thought of by the awesome organizer crew.

Turns out boarding was earlier than we thought so we were whisked through check in and security. Soon we were on the ship and up on the Lido deck in Tiffany’s which was where we would eat breakfast and lunch for the rest of the cruise. They had free coffee, juice, and tea plus 24 hour ice cream and pizza. Sodas and alcohol were extra, but you could buy an unlimited soda card for around $30 if you were a hard core drinker. Around 4:00 we were able to go to our rooms and almost immediately had to report to our muster stations life jacket in hand to review emergency procedures. Apparently it’s a requirement prior to debarking because the boat didn’t move until we were done and back in our cabin. On the way up to where group D had to meet we shared an elevator with Ron Glass who looked as thrilled as everyone else in his zippered hoody and blue jeans. He ended up along a bar in the Jeckel and Hyde club chatting with our friend, Deb, for the duration of the drill. I also spotted Michael Fairman and his family, but didn’t know until later that it was his wife and daughter.

Our cabin was R204, on the lowest deck for passengers but an outside cabin so we had a nice big window to look out of. Also, our placement near the aft of the ship meant we were as close as we could be to the bank of elevators that took us to all meals and about half of the activities. Not a bad way to go and being low on the boat we were subject to less of the wave action of which there was a lot. You’d think that such a big ship that carries 2000 passengers and 900+ crew wouldn’t move a lot, but you’d be wrong. During the worst of it towards the end of the trip we were back and forth between 5-10 degrees each way. Not enough to spill drinks, but darn near.

Dinner was in the Inspiration Dining room during the early seating at 5:45. All of the Browncoats were on the Starboard side in the same general area. The wife and I shared a table with 10 seats with 4 other couples. There were 4 tables in a square with a small table of 6 in the middle where half of the VIPs sat, and this was mirrored forward of where we were. Our VIPs were the Bedlam Bards along with Cedric’s wife and Michael Fairman with his family. Later in the cruise you could purchase dinner with a celeb so the seating changed slightly but we remained at our table through it all.

Dinners were fancy with all of the forks and such that make people nervous. Our group seemed very cool though and nobody looked nervous. The variety was good for starters and entrees and there were always a couple of salad choices too. Steve, from San Jose, wasn’t happy with the size of his starter and then the quality of the ribs he ordered so I told him that he could have as much as he wanted so order something else. It was like a light went off over his head because he never looked back and at each meal was ordering two or three starters and two or three mains with every meal, making for a much happier guy. Don’t know where he puts it though. Perhaps he has a hollowed out leg because he doesn’t look like someone who eats like that. Thin as a rail. Anyway, our group was very personable and we got along well.

Immediately after dinner we went upstairs one floor to the Cole Porter Lounge which is also host for Karaoke and other shows too small for the main Mikado Stage up front of the ship. Everyone was introduced and in turn thanked us for coming and were thanked via applause and cheering too. Ron started an evening tradition of giving a tidbit about an upcoming comic book from Dark Horse Comics about Sheppard Book and his back story. More on that to come.

We were pretty tired so after a few songs by the Bards we went off to bed. Our two beds had been transformed by our steward into one bed during dinner and the sheets were pulled down and chocolates placed for our enjoyment. The rocking of the boat was slight as we drifted off to sleep.

Greetings from So Cal! Got to have a few visits with Morgan and Kikki while they were down here, got to go to the Park (Disneyland) with them for a bit which was fun. Good seeing you guys again!

Heard about this on the radio tonight: Star Trek the Tour. Looks prety cool. Here's a linkie:

http://www.startrek.com/custom/include/community/tour/

Looks pretty cool. Especially looking forward to the Hands-on Seven of Nine exhibit. Ok, I made that up. But that would be cool, huh, Fellas?

Nice reporting MorganEH-

I hope we have another Browncoat Crusie next year! I would like to attend more fan organized events.

Joss Whedon in Seattle -- TODAY!


I don't have all the details - a customer just came by who works at Amazon and said that Joss had been at the Amazon offices today giving autographs!

Does ANYONE else know anything about this? ... about to embark on search for info ...

Holy SH!T!! Why doesn't anyone tell us these things!

*crosses fingers Wayward can find out something*

WHAT !!! No more news, hey I need to know!!

Gorram it, I just get back on the signal to find I missed Joss. I do have other news though. For those who have X-Box 360s, you can d/l the entire season on Firefly. Just sayin.

O.J.

Been a mite bit quiet around here. I think per-maybe-haps that folks are recovering from the holidays and readying themselves for New Year's Eve. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/icon_biggrin.gif) May everyone have a safe and fantasticaly shiny New Year! (IMG:style_emoticons/default/icon_wink.gif)

and just in case....

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!


See ya in 2008. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/icon_biggrin.gif)