Event Report, I-Con Friday
April 19th, 2002
by Gonzai
Firstly, there’s the odd situation regarding my user name. While I go strictly by Gonzai online, I’ve never used it in real life, and I’ve never used my real name online. Pretty much only Jennie & Alison call me Gonzai in reality, so it was a weird weekend in that respect. They pretty much had to scream at me to get my attention at the start of the weekend, but by the end I had started answering to Gonz, finally. But then I had to give my real name to the actors for the autographs…confusing, confusing.
Anyway, we began Friday morning, bright & early, with Jennie & Dij (Da Girl in Da Jeans) expected at my place at 9am. Dij called at quarter of to say she was lost. While I was redirecting her, Jennie pulled into the driveway, and within minutes Dij was here, too. After meeting my mother and my crazy dogs, we repacked Jennie’s car and set out for Starbucks, where Jennie bought bags of ice and we both caffeined up.
We hit the highway around 9:30 and motored up I-95, stopping at Chesapeake House to disassociate ourselves from some of the coffee. I discovered a Galaga machine, still my alltime favorite video game, and insisted on playing it, which stalled us nearly 15 minutes. But I played my personal best game, scoring over 190,000, and straining my wrist. Oops.
Continuing on, I played navigator while we traded stories and musical selections. Most popular was Christine Lavin’s ‘Harrison Ford’, a nice little tune about meeting your favorite actor. Wonder why I picked that…Anyway, it was a hit with our crew! Except for a few small backups on the LI Expressway, we had no directional or traffic problems and we arrived at the Holiday Inn Ronkonkoma shortly after 2. We had a terrific time joking around with the hotel staff, which paid off when it turned out they’d given us the wrong room, one with only one bed when we had four people. We managed to finagle the only remaining two bed room in the hotel, a smoking room but it was better than sleeping on the floor.
Then, while unpacking, I pulled out the box of Apple-Cinnamon Pop-Tarts I had decided would be my breakfast on the trip, and happened to turn the box around. Much to our surprise and delight, the box’s back panel featured a square yellow smiley face and announced, “Smile! You’re eating a Pop-Tart!” We agreed that I would have to make a present of the box to Stewart.
We were supposed to meet Alison & Carlita to go to Manhattan for Viggo Mortensen, but Alison was stuck in traffic and opted to go straight to the International Center of Photography, and then it dawned on us, a little late, that we’d never actually arranged a meet with Carlita. Whoops. Instead, we picked up ShelaghC and went to a deli for a late lunch, where the deli guy liked Dij’s Tower of Pisa shirt and the cashier adored my Baltimore Blues Society shirt. Our popularity on Long Island growing rapidly, we headed to Manhattan.
That trip also went nearly without incident. The only catch being that we tried to take 41st Street (I think) to the Avenue of the Americas, only to run into the small obstacle of Grand Central Station. Just a little obstacle. But we managed to make it to the Museum and parked at a garage on 45th. Tab for parking there for 3 hours - $48.50. Note to self: quit complaining about parking rates in Baltimore…and DC, for that matter.
The ICP staff had apparently attended Viggo’s appearance at Virgin Megastore the night before and made appropriate changes – mostly limiting attendance to 200 people, marked by little green pins. While we were around the corner on 42nd Street, we still were in the first hundred. We found Pat, The Michigan Gang and other BB netters in line, plus a nice group of New Yorkers just ahead of us who were also planning to head to I-Con the next day. We quickly had our own army. We were also entertained by the Window Guy – an ICP security man who kept walking through the display windows counting the number of people in line. He had a good sense of humor about it though!
At 5:30, it decided to rain. Alison headed across the street and bought umbrellas for $5, thinking the guy was going to ask $15 any minute. Instead he dropped the price to $3. Capitalism is lost on some folks. I had forgotten to bring money – yikes – and so had to settle for no umbrella and the softcover version of SignLanguage. As 6:00 approached, so did monsoon season, and suddenly we were drenched. Fortunately ICP decided to let as many people in as they could fit. Unfortunately they stopped enforcing line integrity and we wound up much further back in the line than we had started. Interestingly, we were now in line next to people from Richmond, Virginia. Virtually homies, in this case.
Viggo was fabulous. Everyone received as much time from him as they wanted, he signed anything anyone brought up, and many photos were taken. Not realizing he was signing everything, I fretted over my selections. I brought six items (SignLanguage, the Visual Guide, the CD insert card, my second, B&W drawing of Aragorn, and 2 trading cards). I settled on SignLanguage, the CD & the drawing. Jennie, Alison, Dij, and myself, all still soaked, agreed to photograph each other with Viggo, and Jennie wound up with my camera.
When it was my turn, I started by giving Viggo a folder with copies of the artwork I’d done of Aragorn, and he immediately opened the folder and remarked on the drawings. I got out the original that I wanted signed, and he liked it. “You’re a very talented artist,” were his exact words. I did internal happy dances the rest of the day from that alone. He signed all three items while we chatted; he asked where I was from, and when I said Baltimore, he asked if I was there just for him. I said no, we’re going to I-Con for Billy tomorrow, and he asked me to do him a favor.
“Even if you don’t normally do this, get a lipstick. Really, really red lipstick, garish even. Put on a lot of it, and kiss Billy all over, and I mean all over, until he’s all covered with lipstick. And tell him that’s from his slave and king.”
Weird. I agreed to do it anyway. Then I asked for a photo, and got behind the table with him holding the drawing, and we waited for Jennie to take the photo. And waited. She turned the camera off instead, then couldn’t find the on button again. Not that I really minded the extra minute with Viggo’s arms around me, of course. Eventually she took the photo, I thanked Viggo and retreated. At that point I discovered he had kept my silver pen. The coordinator wound up retrieving that, while Jennie gave Viggo a wee scarvie. He tied it to his jade pendant (the one the cast got in New Zealand) and Jennie was on Cloud Nine the rest of the night.
After a potty break, we went out onto the Avenue and called John Harvard’s for directions while we visited with Emma and Liz from England, then retrieved the car and headed back to Stony Brook. Jennie’s husband called us on the way, because Jennie had to sing the Choo-Choo song for her two-and-a-half-year-old daughter Tibby or Tibby wouldn’t go to bed. I don’t know if the song put Tibby to sleep, but it worked on me J We arrived at John Harvard’s just before 10 and met Sterlin at the desk, by accident really. She took us back to the tables just in time for them to clear a new one, where most of us newcomers sat.
John Harvard’s was quite the nice experience. Jennie & I shared portobello tempura, and I also had an excellent burger. The music was strictly 80s, MTV stuff – in other words, what I grew up listening to J Hadn’t heard some of those songs in 15 years. A little slice of heaven for me. Our waiter (I think he was Phoenix) was a genuine hottie and a lot of fun to boot. We made him an honorary loon.
Not long after we arrived, so did Cheese and her fiance Julio. Sterlin & F9 presented Cheese with her very own Cheesehead (which she freed from the box by ripping up the box). Other interesting items including anatomically incorrect teddy bears in kilts - nearly everyone lifted up the kilt immediately – and Stef’s sparkly hat, which left sparkles everywhere, particularly on Sterlin’s face.
Hobbit Kitty was collecting messages to send back to everyone on the Forum, and handed the list to me just as I started working on my pickle spear. I promptly choked on the pickle, and I can say with the utmost authority that the only way that choking can get worse is when the offending item is a pickle. A very dill pickle, I might add. In time I recovered and added my message to the book.
The Michigan Gang were down for the count by now and were the first to beat a retreat. Little did I know that in 24 hours I would be in the same condition… And so, we began the slow trickle out of John Harvard’s. The Maryland Contingent returned to the hotel, where Alison hadn’t even been yet. Dij helped Alison bring in her things, and both of them were oblivious to the fact that the guy who walked into the hotel with them was actor Jason Carter, in one of his rare calm moments.
After a good deal of chatter, the Maryland contingent decided it was time to actually do things – at 1am, naturally. Dij wrote limericks for the LotR_FanArt group’s fanbook, Alison (tried) to write a letter for the same book, Jennie read the book, and I read SignLanguage. Around 2ish all of us except Alison gave it up. She gave up around 3. I, for my part, couldn’t get to sleep. I think I may have slept from 3 to around 5, and couldn’t get back to sleep again. But of course now it’s Saturday, so the story shall continue there.
©copyright 2000 Gonzai