Convention report by Quest! Hey all :) Well, I'm back at work, and I'm still floating. I haven't had that much fun in a good long time. I'm sure other folks will have blow by blow reports, so I won't go there. Instead, I'll just paint you a pic of my own day, and the fun I had . . . Xana and I had been out late the night before, so I thought I'd sleep like a baby. *BUT*, it was not to be. I tossed and turned, waiting for the alarm to go off . . . Finally, about ten minutes before it was time to get up, I fell into a fitful doze, and had the strangest nightmare. I dreamed that a crazed Highlander fan, in a dark trench coat, with long (greasy) black hair pulled out an ivory handled katana and attacked Lucy. Of course, since I had a sword with me, I ended up trading passes with him, and before the security could get there he had tagged me twice, and I had run him through. (Dead boy, no biscuit ;-) In my dream, I woke up in the hospital with Lucy leaning over my bed, a worried look on her face, and then . . . the alarm went off. Well, what can you do? But more about this dream later. Xana and I got up, got dressed, undressed and changed the outfits around, bitched about the boots, tried to figure out what to do with our hair, snarfed some waffles, and it was off to the convention in the pouring rain! We arrived, and didn't have to wait in line long, they were letting folks in early to get them out of the wet. Then we milled about, trying to find out where to sign up for the costume contest. *Finally* got that taken care of, but they were very unprofessional about it. Such is life. We ran into Platypus , and he kindly offered to hold a seat for us while we wandered about looking at the vendors. That taken care of, we went back into the auditorium. And there we saw : that *very* Highlander fan from my dream!! Down to the last detail, like he'd stepped out of my head. It was the most surreal thing I've experienced in a while, let me tell you. Thank the gods my dream *wasn't* prescient! But he spooked me enough that I set several of my trustworthy companions to keep an eye on him. (Hi Paks, Dearcy ;-) Fortunately our vigilance paid off, as he caused no trouble that we know of. I know, dreadful superstition, but I'd have felt really bad if we *hadn't* kept an eye on him, and something happened. So much for my reputation as a fortune teller . . . Another funny bit, I'm sure you'll all see Skyia in the news, all the cameras were on her. Can't blame them, I guess, 6'3" blonde in black leather . . . Anyway, apparently folks that knew I was going to be there had been coming up to her all the previous day and asking if she was *ME*! I couldn't believe it! I mean, A) I have dark hair , B) I'm tall, but not THAT tall. (5'10", thankee-very-much) C) she could have squashed me like a bug, I think. . . Anyway, she was pleased to finally meet me, after having been mistaken for me all day . . . Other general impression. Obviously Lucy was *fabulous*. But besides her, the breakout smash hit of the con was Hudson Liek. My GOD, she can play the crowd. She's stunning, flirtatious with the audience, down to earth, quite open, charmingly shy, and *utterly* into her role as an evil character. Wowza. Let me tell you, I thought Callisto was pretty cool, you know, okay. But I wasn't a die hard fan. However, Hudson is one *class* act, and now . . . I'm converted, tha's for damn sure. Wowza for a second time. Mmmmmm. The most noteworthy question asked her? (IMNSHO) An internettie asked her about the innuendo between Callisto and Xena, ending with "What's up with that?" Her answer? In a throaty growl she said "Because I like it that way..." Then, pausing, she followed that up with "I think Callisto is obsessed with Xena in *EVERY* way." (Emphasis hers). She was wonderfully playful, one small child got up onto stage to have her picture taken w/Hudson. First she struck a cutesy pose, wrapping her arms about the girl and resting her chin on the top of the kid's head. Then, when the family kept shooting pics, she twirled her around, doing a couple of mock threatening things and dancing the kid around like a muppet. Lucy was stunning in her electric skye-blue skintight suit. Charming, witty, totally at home with the crowd in a way she's never been on the talk shows. She let us in on set jargon, directing the crowd to repeat after her as she said things like "Faaaaaabulous". Then she said that when things get really tough, but you're trying to keep your cool and not swear, you say (imagine this with a VERY fake British accent) Eeeeexcrement. Of course she had the crowd follow along with that as well, and then told us that since she could make us say anything she wanted, she'd be running for Dictator of the Year ;-) We howled like a pack of wolves . . . I won't even try to cover the questions she answered, they all blur together for me. . . But when I got into the autograph line, I was pondering what to say. I decided that I would stay silent, since the Creation people were herding us through like cattle. Hand the item to be signed to a staffer, they pass it to Lucy, she signs, you move on. Not much time for chitchat. But Lucy completely won my heart. You see, she paused mid signature, looked up at me and *RECOGNIZED* me from when we'd met before! I'd talked to her briefly at NBC before the first (disastrous) Tonight Show, shook her hand, and moved on. All of 30 seconds, and me in my polyester. And yet with me in full costume, hair different, in the middle of the milling herd and convention madness, she took a moment to ask me what my name was again, and tell me that she remembered me from NBC, and say that I looked great in my outfit . . . I don't get all mushy over stars, but she amazed me. Caught me completely flat footed, I gotta say. What a memory . . . what a smile . . . Anything else to add? Hmm, Tyldus and Liz Friedman had the timing of a standup comedy team. They were GREAT in their presentation, and charming with the dolts that asked them if they could submit a script for the show . . . Oh, one lady got up there and referred to the Advocate article (where Lucy said that she'd crawl 40 miles over broken glass just to wank off in Fiedman's shadow...), saying that she wanted to be the second woman on record to state that same thing. Liz blushes soooo pretty. And Ty, you can tell her I said so . . . Avicus was obviously scared stiff, being up on stage in front of two thousand screaming fans. (Pinches Avi's cheek, calls him "Sooooo cute" ;-) But by the end of his presentation he'd relaxed, cracking jokes and rolling the blooper real. Fabulous job! I keep telling him that by next year we'll have him up there in a Xena costume, winning the costume contest and taking the fans by storm . . . Well, that's pretty much it . . . My Day @ the Xenacon. I had fun . . . can't wait till next time. *Quest* ********************************************************************* Madness takes it's toll. Please have exact change ready. ********************************************************************* Because e-mail can be altered electronically, the integrity of this communication cannot be guaranteed.