Hey everyone! First I'm going to apologize for not responding to anyone's Con posts. As you'll be able to see when you read mine below, I had a good reason! I've finally caught up on all the reading, I think, and everyone did such a tremendous job remembering stuff! Thank you!

Well here's mine! Forgive me if I get self-indulgent or a little overly detailed on things you might not be interested in, but this is what I do remember!

San Francisco 1999
Am just now finally starting to feel like myself again. I went to the Con, not knowing I was sick with the flu, but discovered it almost right away. To those I infected (Kendaa, Amoreena and any others I don't know about) I am so sorry! I honestly had NO idea how sick I was until I got home late last Sunday night and collapsed until Thursday! It certainly kept me from reading the Con reports and posting my own until now. Although I'm glad I waited, because Whisper did such a phenomenal job in detailing all the actual events of the con, I don't have to. (Which is probably good, cause to tell you the truth, I don't remember very much!)

The things I seem to have the clearest memory of, are the wonderful forum members I spent time with. Lil, Kendaa, Cass, Whisper, Amoreena, Shana, Bastet, Ceal, I can't tell you all how special it was being with you. And all of the wonderful and amazing Amazons who came to breakfast on Saturday! Far too many to name.

And speaking of breakfast - I have seen several postings about just how "much" I did. Let me go on record, right here and now, Cass & Whisper did all the work! Cass made the most incredible nametags, magnets and folders for everyone and Whisper's games were incredibly fun and clever! All I did was delegate and make a few telephone calls. Not so much. Thank you EVERYONE for the lovely certificate (and Cass - that picture - OMGOW!) but really Cass & Whisper deserve much more credit than I do. Without them, the breakfast would have been just another meal.

One of my favorite memories of the weekend was on Friday night and funnily enough, no one else seems to have mentioned it. Seven hungry Amazons, none of them from the San Francisco area, are trying to figure out how to get to Plouf to meet Lil. We decide to take the cable car. It comes, we all pile on, and somehow we end up getting us all paid for and then the fun really starts. The conductor of the car begins to flirt like mad with all of us. I forget just who he liked best, but I do remember him telling us we were supposed to pinch the driver's butt as we left. It was hysterical. (Maybe this is one of those; you had to be there things?)

I'll never forget Lil's face when she saw all of us! The look of surprised and happy shock (did you think we stood you up?) was enough to make the entire weekend. I don't really remember too much about what we ate at dinner, but I remember lots of laughter and mostly feeling warm and fuzzy with the great affection we all felt for each other.

For someone who had never done anything remotely like this in her life (like Lil, this has really been my first involvement with the Internet and Internet related friends) it was quite a revelation. To think that seven total physical strangers could all come together and just mesh so beautifully was quite astonishing. I was and still am continually in awe of the wonderful people I have met through the Hercules Forum and know that the friendships that we've formed both on line and in person will last forever. (Probably longer than even the shows will last in syndication!)

Saturday is somewhat of a blur in my mind. Cass and Kendaa came to my room early to get ready to go to the breakfast and so Kendaa could talk to JinXavier on the phone who couldn't be with us. We exchanged a bunch of gifts and then went to breakfast. Standing in the lobby, waiting for all our Amazons, wearing nametags (Yes, I did break down and wear my lovely nametags all weekend. Cass made me the MOST wonderful tags; I had to wear them!). The first new friend I remember meeting was Shamba who came all the way from Phoenix just for the day!

Then we had our lovely breakfast, Lil and Amoreena were the official photographers and I do have a complete set of photos. I've had them developed and they are wonderful! I'm still trying to figure out where I'm going to post them. Kendaa presented everyone with Tim Tams; they truly are the scared food of Amazons! Then Whisper did the games and everyone got prizes. It was wonderful!

After that Lil brought her stuff up to my room and I teased her about the gift, I had for her that she couldn't get until later. (As most of you know, we've been taking bets for MONTHS that Lil would go THUD over Kevin Smith and of course, as you all know, she did!)

Then a group of us went to the convention. I have to admit most of the rest of the day is kind of blurred in my mind and thankfully, plenty of other Con goers can remember what was said and done by the guests. My memories are definitely hazy. I do know Cass and I saw Tim arrive and I was struck by how good-looking he was without all those hair extensions and the moo-moo! After the guests and the autographing Lil, Whisper and I went back to the hotel and I gave Lil her sweatshirt. She was just blown away.

Then back to the con for the Cabaret. It was really something. I know I was there, cause I took lots of pictures (Many of my con pictures will be up on JinXavier's site in a day or two) but again, this is still somewhat blurry in my mind.

I'm afraid Sunday is even blurrier, as I was much sicker that day than on Saturday. Again, I know I was there, cause I took pictures, but don't ask me what went on! I spent more time with Kendaa, Cass and Whisper. I had breakfast (well I ate anyway) with Whisper and then she and I went over to the con center. (And btw, Whisper, did you have to tell everyone I was a nice person? You're going to ruin my reputation!) We ran into Ceal who shared some of the lovely digital pictures that she posted on her site recently.

I also remember calling Zoni with Whisper, Kendaa, Cass and Shana. After that I think I went back to my seat, there were some guests, some autographing and then I had to leave to catch my flight.

I never did get to say a real goodbye to everyone. Which in a way is probably a good thing, because I don't feel as if I will ever say goodbye to all the wonderful people I met over the weekend. It was a wonderful experience and I would do it again in a minute, although I think I'd prefer not to have the flu next time!

Again, I hope that this report has not been too self-indulgent! Anyway, It was a wonderful weekend and I feel totally blessed to have been apart of it and to have been able to spend time with such very special people. I highly recommend it! (But do skip the flu!)