This is EXTREMELY long. Just warning you.
This will probably be my largest LJ post ever, because there was just so much cool stuff to do and see at C3.
I have to reiterate how much fun I had. Real life is so boring. There are no stormtroopers, no Jedi, no Anaklones, and people look at me funny when I wear my Burger King crown. WTF is up with that?
I want to especially thank all my friends who made the weekend so wonderful. I didn’t feel weird at all hanging out with you guys in person after almost six years of talking on a message board. I’ll miss all of you and can’t wait to meet up again, hopefully at C4 in 2007. ;)
Thursday I arrived in Indianapolis a little after 2 pm. After a few seconds of searching I spotted my ride and roomie,
nasturtium, aka Emily. We drove to our hotel, Comfort Inn, which was very nice and had free breakfast but had horrible water pressure. After checking in and unpacking somewhat, we set out for the con. The convention center was only two blocks away, which was great since it was freezing. Thankfully, Emily had to get her badge so we bypassed the huge badgeholders line. After getting every settled and buying our fan club memberships, we attempted to go to the C3 store. HA! That was a huge bust. I never actually did get into the store, and had to buy a C3 Vader figure from two of my nightly.net friends and have Andy’s mom order me the Yoda hoodie. It’s so frustrating, because I would have spent so much money in the store and I told people I’d buy stuff for them.
Since my plan for Day 1 was a bust, we decided to try browse through the Exhibit Hall (which rocked, BTW) and catch some presentations before we had to pick up
andorus (Smitha) from the airport. Emily and I saw the last half of the One-Man Star Wars Trilogy, which was completely hysterical from what I saw. My favorite part was from ROTJ: “It’s a trap! It’s a trap! IT’S A TRAP!” “The shields are still up!” “Because it’s a traaaaaaaap!” Bwahahahaha! Afterwards, we saw the first half of the Rebels vs. Imperials show, which featured Rebels Garrick Hagon (Biggs Darklighter) and Ian Liston (Wes Janson) squaring off against Imperials Michael Sheard (Admiral Ozzel) and Richard LeParmentier (Admiral Motti). We also got to see Warwick Davis, who hosted the show. Unfortunately we had to leave before the games ensued, but I read a report and it seemed quite fun. I met all those guys except for Ian the following day, and they were all quite nice, although I’m not so sure about Motti anymore. (More on that later.)
On the way out, we ran into Padawan Learner (Em) and The B-Man (Bryan) from Nightly.net. We made plans to meet them later on at Steak n Shake.
We got to the airport just in time to pick up Smitha, who immediately commented on the height difference between Emily and me. She’s lucky I like her so much or I would have hit her. :p We drove back to the hotel so Smitha could get settled, and then headed off to meet Darth Whoever (Andy), Andy’s mom Patty, and Andy’s sister Meghan. After meeting, we got lost but finally made our way to Steak n Shake. Outside at the movie theatre they were putting up the marquee for Revenge of the Sith, and everyone clapped when it was finished. We’re all dorks. During our meal, who walks in but NumberSix and Jedi Cool, two of my favorite nightly members and the official nightly couple! It was so awesome! Randy and Anne are really cool, especially Anne, who had to hug everyone and guess all our board names. It was so neat to hang out with everyone in person. We planned to go see A New Hope at the con, but unfortunately you couldn’t get inside after a certain time, and we had already gone back to the hotel. It was good though, because we got a somewhat good night’s sleep that night.
The next morning we got up about 6 am, got ready, ate breakfast, and headed out to the con around 8ish. When we got there the line was already around the block and through three windy queue lines. God we Star Wars fans LOVE waiting in lines. Even better, it was raining, so everyone smelled wonderful. But we saw a Wet Obi-Wan clone, which was veeeerry nice. Emily asked him if there was room for anymore under his cloak, LOL.
We finally got inside around 10 am. Smitha and I tried to see the Hayden presentation, but it was delayed until noon and was only going to be an audio interview, so we said screw it. The line for the store was already capped, so I decided to go get my autographs. I have to say, Official Pix (the company who organized the autographs) was completely organized and awesome. They had to areas in the autograph hall – one for lesser-known stars who didn’t have very long lines, and one for con staples like Jeremy Bulloch, which had windy queues and had a fastpath system in case there were long lines. I got eight autographs for $100, which I thought was pretty cool, and everyone took a photo with me and signed my awesome E3 teaser poster. During the first part of the day I got seven autographs – Daniel Logan, Shannon McRandle, Michael Sheard, Richard LeParmentier, Nalini Krishan, Mary Oyaya, and Garrick Hagon.
Afterwards we met up with Andy and family to see Star Wars – the Musical. Being a musical fan, I found this completely hysterical. I will now always think of the Force when I hear “Music of the Night,” and “Don’t Cry for me, Princess Leia.” LOL.
We met up with Emily, Bryan and Em afterwards and decided to get some food. Who did we see on the way? That’s right – ANAKLONE!!!!!!! Much gushing and picture taking ensued. I was so happy. When I finally pulled myself away, we went back to the hotel to eat some of Emily’s food, and then headed back to the con so I could get in line to get Tim Zahn’s autograph!
Tim Zahn was signing in the Exhibit Hall (aka the Dealer’s room) at the Del Rey Booth. This was also very organized and I only waited about half an hour at the most, during which I talked to fellow EU fans and bitched about not being able to get into the store. It rocked! Tim Zahn was so completely awesome. He said that authors love to see two things – brand-new books and beat-up books (my dust jacket was so beat up). When I told him I hated Mara at first but loved her and wanted her and Luke to get married by the end of Dark Force Rising, he laughed and said that was the intention from the beginning. Woo! I also asked him about other books of his he recommended, and he’s actually coming out with a Young Adult series now, which I’ll definitely have to read. Zahn was definitely my celebrity highlight of the week, and Emily didn’t even get into an argument with him about the whole art/culture thing! :D
After getting Zahn’s autograph, Smitha wanted to go back to the autograph hall, so I went with her ‘cause I wanted Jeremy Bulloch’s autograph. Who did we see on the way there? THE ANAKLONE! And HE TOOK A PICTURE WEARING MY CROWN!!!!! Man, he totally made my weekend. I want to find him so I can jump on him, but also tell him what an awesome sport he was.
After squeeing over him for a little more, we headed to the autograph hall. Jeremy’s line wasn’t long at all; I think I only waited about 35 minutes. Then I met up with Smitha, and we met up with Emily and headed back to the hotel to rest up for the Nightly dinner at Buca di Beppo!
Before we left, Mandard (the Nightly admin), aka Ryan, brought us some provisions for the night of George Lucas – a tarp(-aulin) and extra sleeping bags. He also was kind enough to drive us to the restaurant, since it was pouring. I managed to catch my finger in my umbrella, and almost had to get it chopped off (it’s doing fine now, btw, just a little purple).
We found our group easily enough, and the hilarity ensued! We were there about four hours, it was so awesome to hang out with so many cool people who love Star Wars as much as I do! This was definitely one of the highlights of the trip.
After Buca, the George team (aka me, Emily, Smitha, Andy, Em and Nathan (
ven_halcyon) headed out to wait in line. While driving back to the hotel to grab our stuff, I had to sit on Andy’s lap, and he said, “I’m not creepy, that’s really just the best place for my hand.” LOL. Then we drove past a cop so I put my head in Em’s lap. Heh. It was so completely insane. GenCon was so completely disorganized with this. We ended up moving 4 times, and I ended up getting soaked, so I was so cold. It was awful. So many times I just wanted to go back to the hotel, but somehow I stuck it out, and boy am I glad. I don’t remember much of my time in line, because I spent most of it in a cold-induced coma. I do remember Nathan trying to sell our tarpaulin for $500 and a free case a beer, and Andy asking us trivia and hearing “Susan Sarandon” and “The Death Star” being repeatedly used as answers. Hopefully Emily will post some more pics soon, because I don’t remember much. And thanks again for Nathan for escorting me to the Marriott bathroom before I passed out from claustrophobia and trying to keep me warm, even though I think your drunkenness was making you get a little frisky! :p ;) The 501st showed up around 5 am to help get the lines inside, and we got to see stormtroopers directing traffic, which was awesome. Finally getting inside was one of the best feelings ever, LOL. We slept for awhile, then they started passing out the wristbands. I asked the guy what the yellow wristbands mean, and he said these indicate that you are getting into the first show. YES! VICTORY! TAKE THAT, RAIN AND COLD! As were being directed into the show we had to keep our wristbands up – it was like our victory cheer. After humming along to the Star Wars music and laughing about the powerpoint slides (Smitha: Times New Roman??), it was the time we’d waited 8 hours for! THE MAKER! God, it was so awesome. I’ve already posted about it, so I just say that it was totally worth it, and I really need a LJ icon with George’s pic and “The Maker” as the caption. And I really need to go sign the letter at thankyougeorge.com. He seemed so gracious towards the fans, it was really awesome and such an amazing feeling. I cried when he came out and still can’t believe I was in the same room as George Lucas. Definitely the best moment of the weekend!
After GL, everyone wanted to get washed up or sleep, so we went back to the hotel and I took a shower and washed my hair, which felt very nice. I posted a bit, then wanted to get back to the con to catch the Star Wars Trilogy in 30 Minutes with Andy. Unfortunately, Andy overslept (GRR), so I saw it by myself, but it was so completely hysterical that I didn’t care. There were so many great jokes and the cast was so amazingly funny. Again, my favorite was Admiral Ackbar – “it’s a trap!” I really, really hope I get to see this again. If any of you get a chance to see this somewhere, GO!
What did I see next? ANAKLONE! This time he was fighting with Asaaj Ventress. It was sweet. I tried to follow him, but lost him in the crowd when he turned off his lightsaber. Meesa sad. We went to the Exhibit Hall again, then went to the mall food court to get some food, then headed back to the Exhibit Hall (the only place without huge lines!) and I finally bought some stuff! Also, Andy’s mom ordered me a Yoda hoodie when she finally got in the store.
Afterwards we got in line to see SW30. It was so funny, I definitely wanted to see it again. Everyone loved it, which I knew they would. I laughed so hard, I could barely breathe. Then, we went to Steak N Shake again with some more Nightly people, and me a cool new Nightly member, Obi-Wayne! Then we headed back to the Marriott, and hung out in the lounge. I saw the Anaklone again but he disappeared into the elevator before I could jump on him. Darnit!
At the Marriott bar, Andy played the piano and we saw minor Star Wars celebs just hanging out. Richard LeParmentier even signed some chick’s boob, then saying, “these are now the ultimate power in the universe.” EWWWWW! We all turned to each other and gave each other a “did we just hear that?” kind of look.
Smitha and I decided to head back to the hotel to catch up on some much needed sleep. Emily came in some time during the night and I didn’t hear her at all. Sunday was a slow day because the con ended early and we had to leave to catch our flights. We went to the Exhibit Hall first and bought more stuff, took some pictures in the Fan Fair Hall, ate at the food court, and had a failed attempt to see ANAKLONE one more time, as well as the Star Wars Spectacular. But I’m kind of glad I missed it, because while seeing ROTS footage would have rocked, I want to be surprised as much as possible. Then we headed to the airport where Emily, Smitha and I parted ways, and I returned to normal life (at least, I did when I got off the plane and finally took off my Burger King crown).
This is a huge post and I haven’t even touched on all the little things that happened throughout the weekend, like all the awesome costumes, and all the nightly people who were completely awesome. I am so going through con withdrawl and can’t wait to see everyone else’s pictures. I’m planning on going to DragonCon, even though it won’t be totally Star Wars, it should be quite fun! And I really, REALLY hope there’s a 30th anniversary ANH Celebration in 2007, because I’m so there!
All in all, it was an absolutely fantastic weekend and I still need to catch up on my sleep. Thanks again to all of you who made this weekend so fabulous. It was something I’ll never forget in all my life.
This will probably be my largest LJ post ever, because there was just so much cool stuff to do and see at C3.
I have to reiterate how much fun I had. Real life is so boring. There are no stormtroopers, no Jedi, no Anaklones, and people look at me funny when I wear my Burger King crown. WTF is up with that?
I want to especially thank all my friends who made the weekend so wonderful. I didn’t feel weird at all hanging out with you guys in person after almost six years of talking on a message board. I’ll miss all of you and can’t wait to meet up again, hopefully at C4 in 2007. ;)
Thursday I arrived in Indianapolis a little after 2 pm. After a few seconds of searching I spotted my ride and roomie,
Since my plan for Day 1 was a bust, we decided to try browse through the Exhibit Hall (which rocked, BTW) and catch some presentations before we had to pick up
On the way out, we ran into Padawan Learner (Em) and The B-Man (Bryan) from Nightly.net. We made plans to meet them later on at Steak n Shake.
We got to the airport just in time to pick up Smitha, who immediately commented on the height difference between Emily and me. She’s lucky I like her so much or I would have hit her. :p We drove back to the hotel so Smitha could get settled, and then headed off to meet Darth Whoever (Andy), Andy’s mom Patty, and Andy’s sister Meghan. After meeting, we got lost but finally made our way to Steak n Shake. Outside at the movie theatre they were putting up the marquee for Revenge of the Sith, and everyone clapped when it was finished. We’re all dorks. During our meal, who walks in but NumberSix and Jedi Cool, two of my favorite nightly members and the official nightly couple! It was so awesome! Randy and Anne are really cool, especially Anne, who had to hug everyone and guess all our board names. It was so neat to hang out with everyone in person. We planned to go see A New Hope at the con, but unfortunately you couldn’t get inside after a certain time, and we had already gone back to the hotel. It was good though, because we got a somewhat good night’s sleep that night.
The next morning we got up about 6 am, got ready, ate breakfast, and headed out to the con around 8ish. When we got there the line was already around the block and through three windy queue lines. God we Star Wars fans LOVE waiting in lines. Even better, it was raining, so everyone smelled wonderful. But we saw a Wet Obi-Wan clone, which was veeeerry nice. Emily asked him if there was room for anymore under his cloak, LOL.
We finally got inside around 10 am. Smitha and I tried to see the Hayden presentation, but it was delayed until noon and was only going to be an audio interview, so we said screw it. The line for the store was already capped, so I decided to go get my autographs. I have to say, Official Pix (the company who organized the autographs) was completely organized and awesome. They had to areas in the autograph hall – one for lesser-known stars who didn’t have very long lines, and one for con staples like Jeremy Bulloch, which had windy queues and had a fastpath system in case there were long lines. I got eight autographs for $100, which I thought was pretty cool, and everyone took a photo with me and signed my awesome E3 teaser poster. During the first part of the day I got seven autographs – Daniel Logan, Shannon McRandle, Michael Sheard, Richard LeParmentier, Nalini Krishan, Mary Oyaya, and Garrick Hagon.
Afterwards we met up with Andy and family to see Star Wars – the Musical. Being a musical fan, I found this completely hysterical. I will now always think of the Force when I hear “Music of the Night,” and “Don’t Cry for me, Princess Leia.” LOL.
We met up with Emily, Bryan and Em afterwards and decided to get some food. Who did we see on the way? That’s right – ANAKLONE!!!!!!! Much gushing and picture taking ensued. I was so happy. When I finally pulled myself away, we went back to the hotel to eat some of Emily’s food, and then headed back to the con so I could get in line to get Tim Zahn’s autograph!
Tim Zahn was signing in the Exhibit Hall (aka the Dealer’s room) at the Del Rey Booth. This was also very organized and I only waited about half an hour at the most, during which I talked to fellow EU fans and bitched about not being able to get into the store. It rocked! Tim Zahn was so completely awesome. He said that authors love to see two things – brand-new books and beat-up books (my dust jacket was so beat up). When I told him I hated Mara at first but loved her and wanted her and Luke to get married by the end of Dark Force Rising, he laughed and said that was the intention from the beginning. Woo! I also asked him about other books of his he recommended, and he’s actually coming out with a Young Adult series now, which I’ll definitely have to read. Zahn was definitely my celebrity highlight of the week, and Emily didn’t even get into an argument with him about the whole art/culture thing! :D
After getting Zahn’s autograph, Smitha wanted to go back to the autograph hall, so I went with her ‘cause I wanted Jeremy Bulloch’s autograph. Who did we see on the way there? THE ANAKLONE! And HE TOOK A PICTURE WEARING MY CROWN!!!!! Man, he totally made my weekend. I want to find him so I can jump on him, but also tell him what an awesome sport he was.
After squeeing over him for a little more, we headed to the autograph hall. Jeremy’s line wasn’t long at all; I think I only waited about 35 minutes. Then I met up with Smitha, and we met up with Emily and headed back to the hotel to rest up for the Nightly dinner at Buca di Beppo!
Before we left, Mandard (the Nightly admin), aka Ryan, brought us some provisions for the night of George Lucas – a tarp(-aulin) and extra sleeping bags. He also was kind enough to drive us to the restaurant, since it was pouring. I managed to catch my finger in my umbrella, and almost had to get it chopped off (it’s doing fine now, btw, just a little purple).
We found our group easily enough, and the hilarity ensued! We were there about four hours, it was so awesome to hang out with so many cool people who love Star Wars as much as I do! This was definitely one of the highlights of the trip.
After Buca, the George team (aka me, Emily, Smitha, Andy, Em and Nathan (
After GL, everyone wanted to get washed up or sleep, so we went back to the hotel and I took a shower and washed my hair, which felt very nice. I posted a bit, then wanted to get back to the con to catch the Star Wars Trilogy in 30 Minutes with Andy. Unfortunately, Andy overslept (GRR), so I saw it by myself, but it was so completely hysterical that I didn’t care. There were so many great jokes and the cast was so amazingly funny. Again, my favorite was Admiral Ackbar – “it’s a trap!” I really, really hope I get to see this again. If any of you get a chance to see this somewhere, GO!
What did I see next? ANAKLONE! This time he was fighting with Asaaj Ventress. It was sweet. I tried to follow him, but lost him in the crowd when he turned off his lightsaber. Meesa sad. We went to the Exhibit Hall again, then went to the mall food court to get some food, then headed back to the Exhibit Hall (the only place without huge lines!) and I finally bought some stuff! Also, Andy’s mom ordered me a Yoda hoodie when she finally got in the store.
Afterwards we got in line to see SW30. It was so funny, I definitely wanted to see it again. Everyone loved it, which I knew they would. I laughed so hard, I could barely breathe. Then, we went to Steak N Shake again with some more Nightly people, and me a cool new Nightly member, Obi-Wayne! Then we headed back to the Marriott, and hung out in the lounge. I saw the Anaklone again but he disappeared into the elevator before I could jump on him. Darnit!
At the Marriott bar, Andy played the piano and we saw minor Star Wars celebs just hanging out. Richard LeParmentier even signed some chick’s boob, then saying, “these are now the ultimate power in the universe.” EWWWWW! We all turned to each other and gave each other a “did we just hear that?” kind of look.
Smitha and I decided to head back to the hotel to catch up on some much needed sleep. Emily came in some time during the night and I didn’t hear her at all. Sunday was a slow day because the con ended early and we had to leave to catch our flights. We went to the Exhibit Hall first and bought more stuff, took some pictures in the Fan Fair Hall, ate at the food court, and had a failed attempt to see ANAKLONE one more time, as well as the Star Wars Spectacular. But I’m kind of glad I missed it, because while seeing ROTS footage would have rocked, I want to be surprised as much as possible. Then we headed to the airport where Emily, Smitha and I parted ways, and I returned to normal life (at least, I did when I got off the plane and finally took off my Burger King crown).
This is a huge post and I haven’t even touched on all the little things that happened throughout the weekend, like all the awesome costumes, and all the nightly people who were completely awesome. I am so going through con withdrawl and can’t wait to see everyone else’s pictures. I’m planning on going to DragonCon, even though it won’t be totally Star Wars, it should be quite fun! And I really, REALLY hope there’s a 30th anniversary ANH Celebration in 2007, because I’m so there!
All in all, it was an absolutely fantastic weekend and I still need to catch up on my sleep. Thanks again to all of you who made this weekend so fabulous. It was something I’ll never forget in all my life.
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Date: 2005-04-27 09:42 pm (UTC)I tried to follow him, but lost him in the crowd when he turned off his lightsaber. Meesa sad.
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Date: 2005-04-28 06:00 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2005-04-28 05:08 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2005-04-28 06:48 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2005-04-27 09:44 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2005-04-28 06:01 am (UTC)...
Date: 2005-04-28 01:47 am (UTC)Lmao. Who's Anaklone? I am guessing that is someone who looked like Hayden Christensen. I am so jealous lol. I wish I could have gone lol next time. I'm glad you had a good time muahaha. I am confused about one thing though. There was a picture in the other post with Luke's daughter. What movie was that it or was it a play? Some characters I didn't know lol. I suck lmao.
Re: ...
Date: 2005-04-28 06:04 am (UTC)Luke's daughter?
Re: ...
Date: 2005-04-28 04:04 pm (UTC)wow totally typed that wrong lol. I meant the girl you took a picture with. She had red hair? I meant is she someones daughter or maybe a hidden character?
Kristine <3
Re: ...
Date: 2005-04-28 06:47 pm (UTC)Re: ...
Date: 2005-04-28 06:59 pm (UTC)Sorry. I am slow lol.
Re: ...
Date: 2005-04-28 07:18 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2005-04-28 11:55 am (UTC)I'm jealous, of everything except the standing in line part. I wish I'd gone.
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Date: 2005-04-28 06:49 pm (UTC)The best part is that he said he likes the female attention and since he's only 19, he'll probably be floored that a mature 24-year-old wants to have his babies. ;)
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Date: 2005-04-29 04:00 pm (UTC)