Finally, Some Gallifrey Photos!

First, I haven't posted a photo of Gotham in a while and here's one with a snazzy green ribbon.  As you can see, he's still the most handsome cat in the universe.  And I have way too many pillows on the bed.

This blog is going to have lot's of typos and bad grammar.  Sorry.  I haven't had much time to proof and it's been written in three different locations on different devices / computers.

Yes, I'm really going to post some photos my friend took at Gallifrey One this year.  I know you’re thinking, “It’s about time”…..right?  I would say that I've been busy, and that’s partly true, but in reality, the logistics of actually being able to post them has been what’s taken so long.  My laptop doesn't seem to like the Wi-Fi at the house and I got rid of my air card a while ago.  The only other option was to hook up a hard line, but that’s gone missing.  I've had to resort to putting some of them on an external and bringing them to a computer that doesn't hate the Wi-Fi it’s attached to.  I’ll probably post more when I've had a chance to look through all of them, but this will be a good sampling.

Before I post the photos, I’m happy to report that my birthday plans for this year are going to be really cool.  I've been wanting to go to the “Thrilling Adventure Hour” for the past couple of years, but since I always wait too long, it’s usually sold out when I think to get tickets.  Well, this year it falls exactly on my birthday and I’m going to BOTH shows.  J  If you want to learn more about the show, go to www.thrillingadventurehour.com

A little about Gallifrey 2013.  It was an odd convention.  Lot's of fun, but nothing really amazing.  Now that a couple of months have passed and I'm looking back on it, not a whole lot stands out.  That sounds like a bad review, but it isn't.

FYI - I usually go straight from work on Friday, so it's a struggle to stay up much past 9pm (hey, I get up at 3:45am!).  I believe I managed to stay up until after midnight this year.... hooray!

I should preface everything with a bit of a side story.  I have a friend at work who went to a numerology workshop and she decided to figure out the "numbers" of her friends.  Turns out she and I have the same number (6).  Since we're the same, she gives me all of the information she gets from this woman who figures out the types of days you're going to have based on that number.  Anyway, she gave me a 2013 calendar and it has a symbol on each day for what type of day it's going to be for people with the number 6.  I look at the calendar, usually after the fact, to see if it was accurate or not.  Well, about a week ahead of the convention, I looked at the weekend of Gallifrey and it turned out that Friday was going to be "ok", but that the rest of the days were going to be bad.  "Forwarned", I thought!  I'll be prepared, so nothing can disappoint me or upset me.  Let's get the weekend started!

Friday was indeed "ok".  After a "meh" day at work, I got to the hotel in good time.  Hauled all my crap up to the room.  Luckily my other friends had already checked in and were waiting for me, so everything was easy.  We went down to the Con and sat in on some panels and the opening ceremony, went and got something to eat, went to the room for a bit and then went back downstairs to join in on some of the fun activities.

Now, to the Gallifrey photos:

This is us on the first night.  Yes, I know everyone else looks great, but I look terribly rugged.  DON'T REMIND ME!  You would too if you’d been up for almost 24 hours straight.  Make-up gone and hair in need of a good brush. This photo was taken during Karaoke.  If I remember correctly, Tony Lee did a great Bohemian Rhapsody, even with a sore throat!  Believe it or not, we’re all sober. I didn't want to be hungover the next day!  I had to get up early Saturday to study and then go get my hair done in my old neighborhood in Studio City.....all by 9am.  I was up at 6am like a good girl who needed to study.  A hangover would have been really bad.

So, keeping in mind that the number-lady said Saturday and Sunday were going to be bad days for me, I did all I could to mitigate the damages.  As I said, I woke up nice and early to go down to the lobby to study.  I brought my Ipad and headphones and needed to use the Wi-Fi.  I spent over an hour logging on to it and being booted off.  I managed to make reservations at the steak restaurant for dinner that night though (even though they told me on the phone that they weren't taking them).  I finally gave up trying to study and decided I should leave for my hair appointment.  I had some extra time, so I was going to take the scenic route (i.e, up La Cienega, over to Laurel Canyon and over the hill to Ventura Blvd).  When I was at about Mullholland, my phone rang.  It was my hairdresser calling to say that some guy wasn't going to be in today as he was sick and could they reschedule?  I laughed and told her that my appointment was with her, not him.  She basically said "oh shit, I can't take you today".  I was almost there and she was cancelling!  I was determined to not let it bother me though, so I told her not to worry about it.  I needed to pick up some orange juice, so I stopped at the market at Laurel and Ventura before heading back.

The panels were good.  Costumers, spin off shows.  Character actors, all of it good fun.  Only hard part was the comic book panel I went to. I had a really hard time paying attention.  Plus I was kinda lost since (sadly) I haven't picked up a comic in quite a long time.

That night, we went down to the steak restaurant in the hotel.  Bang on time for our reservation.  We were seated quickly and then promptly forgotten about.  When the waiter finally came back, he got my order  wrong.  No problem, I thought.  Just roll with it.  Then he forgot about us again!  We finally got our check, which was wrong, paid and left.  We had programming to go to!!!  Masquerades!  Comedy shows!  Went back up to the room for a little bit and headed back down to programming.

Sunday was pretty much the same, but in smaller ways.  Panels saw me having babies right in front of me (not me actually having the babies, but they were on the floor in front of me), people with Funyun breath.  One older lady farted, burped and coughed her way through an entire panel.  Seriously.  If it wasn't so gross, it would have been hilarious!

Well, I can't say I wasn't forewarned!  Glynis said it would be a bad weekend!  I'm glad I didn't let that stop me from having a good time though.  We really did have fun!

On to more photos!!!

The Doctor at this convention was number 7, Sylvester McCoy.  It was my second convention with him and he was marvelous.  I think it helped that he’d just come off the Hobbit and was asked quite a few "Radagast the Brown" questions, along with the normal, boring ones about being the Doctor .

He was all over the place. More energetic than I've ever seen him!  At one of the panels he decided to take all questions while wandering around the audience.  Brave man!

There are a couple of people I look forward to seeing every year, one of those people is Gary Russell, not only because he came to my defense a few years ago when Paul Cornell basically said I was ugly when it was my turn to ask a question at a panel, but because he is a very smart, funny and an incredibly nice man.  He simply loves the Doctor and it shows.  One of these years my friends and I are going to hang out with him.  He seems like he would be a kick!  Nah, I can't see me hanging out with him.  He's far too cool!  

Side note, Paul Cornell is supposed to be at the convention next year.  I guess I'll cross that bridge when I get to it.  And by "cross that bridge", I mean probably avoid him.

Lucky Gary got to interview Freeman Agyeman.  Can I tell you that she’s even prettier in person and just as sweet as can be?  Very generous and kind to everyone she came into contact with.

Nicholas Briggs (voice of the Daleks!) and Jason Haigh-Ellery are also two people we’d love to hang out with.  Actually, I’d love to work for these guys!  I've heard the lunches are amazing....  Each year they tease us with new things on the horizon for Big Finish and always have interesting stories and gossip.  I was pleased to see that they would be back next year.

Villains!  Or ARE they?  We had Sontarans and Silurians!  No, that’s not Debra Messing.

Ian McNeice's Winston Churchill made another appearance this year.  I’m always amazed at what a bombastic personality he is on stage, compared to the shy man you see walking through the corridors of the hotel.  He never fails to make us laugh.

Mark Shepard was there (what sci-fi convention would be complete without him?  I mean he has been on ALL the shows).  Last year was the first convention I'd seen him at and he had us all in stitches.  All he does is make comments and answer questions.  Very casual, but it really works for him.  It was too bad his dad couldn't be there this year.  They were a good double act last year.   At this point, I could complain about the dirty hippie clan of shrews breast feeding  / baby situation that worked really hard to ruin his panel, but I won’t…

Pete Tyler!!!  Shaun Dingwall.  He looks a lot younger in person than he did on the show. Another person who was kind and friendly to all the fans. 

Turlough!  Mark Strickson has done a lot of interesting things since his Who days.  He's also the documentary director / filmaker who brought us Steve Irwin, the Crocodile Hunter.

WIGGLES!!!!  The best service dog / convention goer ever!  Each year she has a different costume, but always brings the same, sweet demeanor.

Ben Browder ("Isaac" from Doctor Who episode “A Town Called Mercy”).  This is another guy who has been in loads of sci-fi. - Star Gate, Farscape, etc).  He sounds like Nick Nolte and is funny as hell.  To be honest, I only sat in on his panel because I had some time to kill, but I’m glad I did.  A very humble, likable family guy who can't seem to believe he's been able to make a living at being an actor.

Anjli Mohindra from the Sarah Jane Adventures being interviewed by Tony Lee and his waistcoat.

A panel we sat in on.  Don’t ask me which one it was.

That's it for now.  I'm sure I'll post more when I've gone through them a bit more closely.  Suffice it to say, we had a good time, bad numerology and all.  I've got two amazing friends who go with me to Gallifrey each year and I'm truly lucky that we have the same nerdy interest.  They make this convention for me.

We're all set for 2014, only glitch was that the hotel sold out before we knew the blocks were even open.  Fingers-crossed there are some cancellations!

Thank you to everyone who we met or had fun with this year!