If you don't feel like wading through loads of detail, feel free to hit the back button now! Now even though I wrote down all I could, I'm positive that I missed stuff, so please don't be offended, and feel free to make additions or changes!

October 15, 1999

Well, I got in town around 12:40. The plane rides were okay, as far as they go . I don't like to fly and have a fear of heights (vertigo), so of course I got stuck on the top floor of the hotel (26th floor). I had some fun with hubby and friend and took a nap. Enough of that!

Before dinner I went to Cass, Kendaa, Bastet, and 'shana's room. We hugged, passed out fun goodies (thank you so much girls!), and checked out THE BOOK (Kendaa you're a DOLL for bringing that)!! YUMOLA! Man alive, I could hardly think of anything but palm leaves the entire weekend!

We then were off for a fun evening of French waiters, French food, and the best friends from around the globe (Areswriter, Lill, Amoreena, Cass, Kendaa, Bastet, 'shana, and myself). Thanks you SO MUCH Lill for arranging all of this! We talked about the show (both shows), the forum(s), you all , and how much we will miss the cast. We drank (Lill ), ate, and laughed a LOT. It was so much fun! Bastet left right before dinner to get some well deserved rest (we missed you Bastet!), and everyone else went back around 10:30ish, except for Lill and me (someone had to make sure she actually left the French waiters). We had some dessert, a GREAT talk, and were home by 12:30 or so. I actually did bring out the video camera and got some lovely shots of the group. Everyone was very gracious about being on camera. I tried not to be too obnoxious about it!

Before I go on, I have to say that these really are the best people! I felt so connected and so touched to be able to spend time with them. What I ever did to deserve friends like these, I will never know, but I'm sure glad I did it! You have never met nicer, more decent, more uplifting souls. My life is forever changed because of this experience.

October 16, 1999

Saturday morning --

We were up early for GABS. Cass had made the best name tags (2 each) for everyone, plus a handy folder and awesome magnets! She's so talented! So in we go to meet and greet. Hugs, pictures, "oh my gawds", and laughs abounded! I'm sure we were making spectacles of ourselves, but so what! It was so worth it! Everyone filled up on the lovely buffet, took tons of pics (I did a little video work), and caught up. Lill was presented with a Sov Survival Kit, of which she laughed, cried, and hooted over. It was great fun to see the clever ideas that went into creating that! Of course we played some very stupid games ("We're all nutty!", "Name that HerK goodie!", and "Beanstalks and bad eggs!"). Imagine nobody getting that the battery was supposed to represent "CHARGE"! Whoever thought those games up was demented , but it was a great time! Everyone walked out of there with a prize (thanks to Kendaa, AW, and Cass). Kendaa gave out little Aussie Koalas and Tim Tams (yum!) to everyone! So sweet! Cass brought the folders, magnets, name tags, and H:TLJ book covers. AW passed out consolation prizes of Las Vegas change purses (great idea!). I want you all to know that without AW's contribution, this brekkie most likely would not have happened (or would not have been the success it was). She volunteered to get it all together, made arrangements, and stayed on top of it until the sweet end. Cass had arranged for a lovely thank you certificate to be signed by the whole group of us for AW, and she presented it to her at the end of GABS. Thank you so much sweets! Those poor waiters. They suffered through us well, taking pics, ringing us up separately, and even doing a little vid taping. How much fun is one group of people allowed to have? I don't know, but I'm guessing we were pushing the limits!

On to the Con --

After going back up to our rooms to drop off some stuff, we took a trolley from the hotel to the Masonic Center (which was right across from the beautiful Grace Cathedral). Waiting in line isn't even a big deal when you're with a bunch of laughing Amazons! Anyway, that part flew by, and before we knew it, we were sitting inside watching the Salute to Callisto. I was so lucky to get to sit by Illusia and her friend Stacy, who is a real hoot! This was a video put to the music of Maniac. It TOTALLY fit her, I liked it. Thumbs up.

Then came an Australian "60 Minutes" profile on H:TLJ and X:WP. This was a pretty good bit. We were able to see what the set looks like from an ariel view (interesting) and to hear about the financial impact of these two shows on the NZ economy. It was fun to see a little Sorbo, as that was almost all we saw of him during the entire con.

On to Robert Field. Incase anybody doesn't know, RF is one of the editors for X:WP. They showed a video of Steven Sears (writer) entering RF's trailer supposedly looking for a bloopers tape. Instead, he found RF's wallet (he scammed his credit cards), cell phone (took it), money in an Altoid's box (sticky fingers), and Xena hat (yep, absconded with that too). He finally sees the bloopers vid, when all of a sudden RF wake's up, catches SS, and punches him out. End of video. Not bad for what it was. They then showed a scene which showed his editor's cut (X:WP riding a horse and Hephaestus tagging bodies from when Gabster was killed off and sent to the Amazon after world) vs. the scene with director's final cuts. This was interesting. I personally liked the editor's cut better, but whatever. It was interesting to find out from RF that when he's editing, he gets LoDuca's music coming in from over a phone line. I guess I always thought he was on sight. RF said that he puts the music tracts to the dramatic eps, but someone else is in charge of doing that for the comedy eps. Evidently they use an AVID computer editing system to do their music-overs or voice-overs. They can montage up to four tracks with this system. Pretty cool. Something I never knew before. He did say that there is an ep of X:WP coming up that is unbelievably high tech, the highest ever done for TV (computer animated monsters kind of thing). Anyway, he was a decent fill in guest, and it was nice to hear something new.

Next was a Xena blooper real, and since I had never seen it, I enjoyed it.

Then came the 10 favorite Xena eps. It was okay. They weren't what I would've chosen, but who am I?

The slide show was a complete waste. I'm sure they did a fine job, but what was the point? One or two still pics from shows that we've never seen and can't relate to are useless. Thumbs down. Anyway, this is what they showed slides from:

Darkness Visible -- H:TLJ
Wicked Good Time -- H:TLJ
City of the Dead -- H:TLJ
Hercules, Tramps, and Thieves -- H:TLJ
Full Circle -- H:TLJ
Animal Attraction -- X:WP
Them Bones, Them Bones -- X:WP
Purity -- X:WP
Back in the Bottle -- X:WP
Punch Lines -- X:WP
Little Problems -- X:WP
Seeds of Faith -- X:WP
Liar Liar, Hearts on Fire -- X:WP

We then got a bit of H:TLJ with the Bloopers Real. I thought it was funny, very cute. Sorbo has a GREAT sense of humor! I loved it when he was supposed to be served by a barmaid, but instead he grabbed her, threw her over his lap, and kissed her. Well, she wasn't having any of that! When he set her back upright, she grabbed him by the face and kissed him back! LOL! He deserved it! (Darn, setting those actors straight must be murder!)

The Salute to Iolaus was very nice and done to "You're a Friend of Mine". Of course we always like to see Iolaus. I just wish we'd seen more. Thumbs up!

Next was the making of Bitter Suite which basically consisted of repeated interviews with Renee, Lucy, and Robert. At one point Lucy did pull her foot back out of her mouth in the nick of time before saying something unkind about H:TLJ show, but that was no shocker. It was okay, seemed more like a commercial though.

Finally they did the minimum bid auction which I actually watched. What a colossal waste of my time. I guess I don't get it 'cause this was weird to me.