Toronto Trek 2004
July 2 - 4, 2004
Doubletree International Plaza - Toronto, Onatrio - Canada

Guests
Stephanie Romonov - Lilah Morgan (AtS)
George Hertzberg - Adam (BtVS)
 
photos

Wednesday, June 30th:
Crazy freakin' day. Worked my four hours and then headed to the hairdresser's. I had packed the car in between work and getting my hair done, but as soon as I got to the salon, I remembered I hadn't packed my Swarovski crystal US flag pin. There was no way I was going to Canada for the 4th of July without my flag pin!! Once I finished at the salon, I headed back home and grabbed the pin and then went to the WaWa to get gas and food for the long drive. By the time I got on the road, it was 5:45 PM and I had a 7 hour drive ahead of me. Gah.

The drive itself was uneventful since it was all interstate driving. Mr. Marsters kept me company by reading Jim Butcher's Fool Moon to me. He has a nice soothing voice so it helped to make the ride easier to deal with. I guess it was almost midnight when I crossed the border into Canada. I told the nice Customs agent that I was going to be in Toronto for five days and that I was going to visit friends. No way in hell was I going to tell her that I was headed to a Sci Fi convention. Telling the Customs agent in London that I was there to see an actor and a show got me enough grief, I didn't want to repeat it.

I made pretty good time actually, despite missing my exit to rockgoddes's road. When I got there, there were hugs all around and much squeeing cause, ya know, we hadn't seen each other since May and that was just sooooo long ago. We stayed up for a bit chatting while she tried to get stuff together for the con - she was working it, I wasn't. Or so I thought. It wasn't too long after I arrived that we found out for sure that teep_p12 wasn't going to be able to make it - she had a bad ear infection and a death in the family. Totally understandable. So I wound up being rockgoddes's roommate for Friday and Saturday nights. Once we figured that all out, we went to bed since it was almost 3 AM and we had to get up at the crack of dawn so that she could get to the hotel to work.

Thursday, July 1st:
I followed rockgoddes over to the hotel and while wandering around with her, I said that I'd be willing to help out if I was needed. Next thing I know, I'm a guest liaison. Whoa. I was asked if I would mind PA'ing the people from Lexx and I was like...who? So yeah, apparently I was a good candidate for that position. I figured it'd be no big deal since I'd helped out at MR and in London. Uh huh. Boy was I naive!

Around 10, I called up elizard100 to find out what room she was in since I was staying with her and pann_da_bear that evening. Once getting the room number, I made my way up to the suite (party room!) to find that they were in the midst of getting things ready for Xander's Jammie Party on Saturday night. The three of us, joined by one of pann_da_bear's friends, soon began cutting and ironing. elizard really did a wonderful job with the iron-ons and pann_da_bear made some pillow cases for them. It was a lot of cutting and ironing, but it was fun!!

At one point, I was called downstairs to meet with one of the Con Chairs, Patty, and the head of guest liaisons, Kathryn, to find out what my assignments would be. Turns out I'd be responsible for five guests!! Okay, panic started setting in, but I was assured that it'd be no big deal and that I'd have plenty of help. Cool. Not a problem!

After my meeting and quick tour of the inner workings of the hotel, I made my way back upstairs to my room. By this point, I was exhausted. Lack of sleep sort of has that affect on me for some reason. *g* Eventually, I guess it was around 7 or so, maybe later (hard to tell when it doesn't get dark up there until well after 9 PM), we decided that we were hungry and soon hico joined us for dinner. We did a pizza delivery thing so that we could stay in the room to continue our preparations. The pizza didn't have a chance. It was like vultures in the desert, seeing their first dead piece of flesh in weeks. Okay, maybe it wasn't quite that bad, but it was close.

While hico, pann_da_bear and elizard went to a TT posting board party, I decided to stay in the room and watch the fireworks from all over the city. It was Canada day and since I was going to be missing my fireworks back in the US, I wanted to see theirs. The ones I watched lasted for almost 45 minutes and was absolutely spectacular. Of course, there wasn't any red, white and blue ones going off at the same time (something I adore watching at home), but I still enjoyed myself immensely! Yes, I'm a sucker for fireworks.

Friday, July 2nd:
I'm not sure what time we finally crawled out of bed, but elizard and I had to go sign in and get our badges. I had to get a walkie talkie so that I could keep in contact with the other guest liaisons and the con chairs, as well as the guest lounge and security. My first reaction to hearing that I'd need to use a radio was once of complete shock and horror. I didn't know these people and I had no clue what to do with the thing! My inner shy girl was screaming to be let out, but I swallowed hard and decided that this was going to be an adventure. Suck it up and stop reverting to the old days of being uber-shy. Yes, I was painfully shy when I was younger. I'm totally serious! Painfully shy. Just ask SoccerRef.

Anyway, after I got the radio, elizard, pann_da_bear and I head off to get the liquor for the party. I'm not exactly sure where we went to get it, but we got a TON. The guy behind the counter asked if we were having a party or something. Nah, I was just really, really thirsty! After I told him that it was for a big party at Toronto Trek, he kept looking at me like I had grown another head or something. I guess he didn't think I was a geek until I said what it was for. I wanted to say, "gee, I look quite normal for a Sci-Fi geek, huh?" But I was good and kept my mouth shut. Of course our buying mass quantities of liquor and the massive traffic on the highways lead me to missing the first 15 minutes of my guest liaison meeting. Whoops.

You should have seen me at the meeting, taking notes like a mad woman...I was so nervous. Everyone else had plenty of time (weeks, months, whatever) to read the guidelines for being a good guest liaison, but me, nope, I was just reading it all for the first time. ACK! Earlier in the day I had met George Hertzberg's PA and he and I got along great, so I sat next to him and made him my new buddy. Katheryn was also lovely and a very calming presence. It was so good to have her around, otherwise I probably would have been a nervous wreck.

Once the meeting was over, I wandered into the lobby and was told that my first guest had arrived and that I should give him a call to go over the schedule. So I did. He said that he'd come down so we could meet and since I had no idea what he looked like, I made hico stand with me to point him out when he arrived. The first indication that I might have a potential problem with my guest, was the fact that he wanted to go over the schedule in the bar. Well, not so much that he wanted to do it in the bar, but because he really wasn't listening too much to what I was saying.

After making plans to escort him to his Space interview later that evening, I excused myself and went back out to the registration area to see if the rest of the OBAVA (Ontario Buffy/Angel Viewers Association) gang had come in yet. Plus there was the whole getting ready for the Sunnydale mixer thing too! I don't really remember much after that, just running back up to the room that I now shared with rockgoddes to change and realizing that I really didn't have all that much time to mix at the mixer. When I got down to the club, I recognized a few faces and was immediately pounced upon by a couple of girls wanting to know if rumor was true...that I'd met James Marsters. See, elizard did this treasure hunt type thing so that people would walk around asking others questions thereby getting to know their fellow Buffy fans. Really neat idea, especially for a mixer. Unfortunately, I didn't get to participate long because I had to run out to get my guest for his interview. This meant that I missed George Hertzberg's arrival as well as the Buffy sing along that they had later in the evening. Yeah, I wound up spending mucho amounts of time with my guest that night...and that's when I realized...HOUSTON, WE HAVE A PROBLEM!

By the time I excused myself from my guest, the Buffy sing along was almost over. I found a few familiar faces and sat with them for the remainder of the musical. When the episode was over, I wandered around in a daze and that's when I ran into fraidycatx3. She and I decided to attend the Spuffy v. Bangel panel that was being held. Well, we didn't last long because we felt that the moderator wasn't being impartial (she was a Bangel shipper). Even though richess was on the panel for the Spuffies, Fraidy and I decided to leave and head down to the Bubba Ho-Tep screening. Despite the fact that I love Bruce Campbell, that was the first time I'd seen that movie. What a freakin' riot!! I've since made friends here rent the movie to watch. It's really a great comedy...an aging and cranky Elvis in a nursing home, with a black JFK and a resurrected mummy. Sounds weird I know, but it's a hoot!

Once the movie was over, Fraidy and I said goodnight and headed off to our respective hotel rooms so that we could get some much needed sleep for Saturday.

Saturday, July 3rd:
I got up early so that I could eat and make sure that everything was in order for autographs. This is where things get crazy and the craziness continues the rest of the weekend. I didn't get to see any Q&A's on Saturday, nor did I get any autographs...but I did manage to get my pic taken with Stephanie Romonov! YAY!! She's so pretty and personable!

After my pic, I had to run back to outside autographs and make sure that my guests had everything they needed, but before I did, I ran into fee!! It was so good to see her and it was a huge surprise too!! She wasn't supposed to come because of her accident the month before, but she was out and about and looking great! YAY!

Once I finished my squeeing over fee, I ran back to the autograph table and my guests...whom at this point were being watched over by Katheryn and other wonderful volunteers. I wasn't even missed. Phew! So, out of the five guests that I had, I have to say that my favorite by far was Douglas Arthurs who was on Stargate SG-1 as Heru'ur. Shock, huh? LOL

Around 6 PM, we ended autographs and I rushed back to my room to get ready for the dinner. I sat with rockgoddes and fraidy and the two guests we had were the emcee and one of the many authors who were in attendance. It was neat and the food was excellent. It was really cool to see Walter Koenig walking around introducing himself to the other tables. I saw him wandering around a lot over the weekend. Amazing. However, despite my Star Trekkie fangirl wanting to stay and gawk, I was exhausted from running around, so I left early. What I really wanted to do was go back to the room and take a nap, but I knew I couldn't because I had to head to the masquerade...pann_da_bear was entered and I didn't want to miss him. I have to say, for it being my first one, it was absolutely amazing. The thought and craftsmanship that goes into these costumes is stunning. I may have to check out all the masquerades from now on!!

After the masquerade, I headed to the party suite for Xander's Jammies Party! What a freakin' awesome party it was too! Everyone was there...bitterwater dressed up in a French maid outfit and served candy and other sugary items. I had on my jammies and the hotel robe, plus elizard's pink bunny ears. Uhm, yeah, I partook in the festivities quite heavily. *g*

Later, George Hertzberg popped in to say hello. What a great surprise for everyone. Of course we got all of our singing (we sang to the Buffy musical soundtrack) out of the way early on so that we didn't embarrass ourselves while he was there. He didn't stay for very long, but it was still nice of him drop by. The party was awesome with lots of drinking, games and even pirates!! Around 2:45 AM we were told by hotel security that we had to shut down. The thing is, that party could have easily go on into the wee hours of the morning. Easily. We didn't understand the problem since you couldn't hear us, we were on the party floor and our party was registered. Apparently though, someone on the floor didn't like the fact that door slammed every time people came or left. We tried everything to muffle that, but nothing worked. Every door was like that which I thought was pretty stupid for a hotel. Anyway, we shut down and after cleaning up a bit, I made my way back to my hotel room to sleep.

Sunday, July 4th:
What a freakin' day. My main guest had me so frustrated and upset at his rudeness that I wanted to strangle him. Seriously. Please, don't ask who I had, because I'm not going to tell you. I won't ever speak his name. Nope, won't do it. As elizard dubbed him, he is "He who will not be named." And that's the way I like it.

While three of my guests were doing an interview with a local Sci-Fi magazine, I figured I could hop into the picture line for Chris Judge. Dudes, that man is so very pretty that I just had to. You understand that, right? When I was about 5 minutes away from getting my pic taken, I got word that my guests were ready to be escorted back to outside autographs. Crud. With a sigh I got out of line and headed back to media to pick them up. I figured I still had enough time to get them to where they needed to be and get back in line for pictures, so I wasn't really concerned. Until I found out that once the line was finished, that was that. Pictures were over. I was so totally bummed. However, Chris was kind enough to take a picture with me while he was out on a smoke break.

He was very sweet and a lot of fun to talk to. You see, this is why I've fallen in love all over again with Stargate. Sigh. I was a puddle of goo at his feet...even if he didn't realize it. I was very proud of myself because I didn't go all fangirly on him. *g* Yay me!

Of course the day wouldn't have been complete without getting my pic taken with George!

I did manage to make it to his Q&A and was highly entertained. He's really funny and told us a couple of con stories...his favorite being the time that he pranked J. August Richards while they were in London for a con. I really wish I could remember the entire story, but suffice it to say that it was funny AND he so had J going. I can't wait to see George again in Oakland!! He told me that he and Leary would be running an improv type thing there. That's something that I'm not going to miss!! Leary and Hertzberg doing comedy together - it's almost a scary thought. Almost. Anyway, things pretty much wrapped up around 5:30 and I was so glad that they did.

I didn't get to see much, or do any of the panels that I was interested in, but I had a great time being with all my friends and getting to be a guest liaison...despite He Who Will Not Be Named. Toronto Trek was my first experience with a Sci-Fi con and I have to say, it was incredible. I can't wait to go back next year!