Saturday
6:45
Gonzai, who has had 2 hours of sleep, reports that Dij talks in her sleep (which Dij had warned us about) and that Alison and I snore. Ah well.

7:45
Showered and dressed, I've tiptoed out of the room to let Dij and Alison sleep some more. Gonzai's gone to the exercise room to work out. I'm curled up barefoot at the near end of a comfy sofa in the lobby, wishing I'd brought money from the room with me for breakfast. I had firmly instructed myself to go back to sleep when I woke at quarter to seven, but the thought that I'd finally meet Billy and Stewart today kept my eyes open. Someone is vacuuming the lobby. There's a grand piano near the front windows. I wonder if anyone actually plays it or if it's just there to look impressive. Of course, it was closed last night and now it's propped open, so . . .

Gonzai's back, and we're looking at the big stretch limos outside. One's an SUV limo. How silly is that? She says the workout room is really nice. She's going to go see if there's a continental breakfast or if you have to pay. You have to pay.

8:00
Dij and Alison woke up and we chatted until Shelagh called. I phoned home and Hubby says Tibby cut her toe on a piece of glass. Awwwww. Poor Tibs. Talking to Mommy seems to have helped somewhat.

8:24
Leaving to meet Shelagh in the lobby. She needs to get to the con at 9 to get in line to check in, as she wasn't able to preregister.

Bleah. McBreakfast. I got a yogurt parfait, but they warned me the fruit was frozen. I'll have to wait and eat it a bit later.

Made it to the Con and dropped everybody off in front of registration and then went to look for parking. Shelagh said, "Gee, it's really nice of you to drop us off like this so we don't have to walk all the way back." I said, "Maybe it's me being nice, and maybe I just want you all the heck outta my car!" Haaaahahaha!

Sat outside and finished my breakfast. Loons began to gather, and I started doling out "Wee Scarvies". Serena appeared with her little "H" pins in remembrance of Hannah, and I put one on my cardigan.

10:30
Headed over to the Cybercafe, which is in the Student Union. It's a smallish basement room done up like a sort of 60s opium den with tie dye draped over light fixtures and tables, and white Xmas lights [fairy lights] draped here and there. The music playing is 60s music. The guy in charge came over to me and asked me if it was okay, and that he had something like 200 CDs. I said we'd probably be more interested in talking to each other than listening to music, but thanked him and said I liked the Santana he had on. (Hey, if he's going to decide that I'm in charge, then I get to make music decisions!) The smell of incense is very strong, though ::pinches nose::, and it's getting hot.

Loons are pouring in and I'm getting busy with scarvies. Stef gave me her nametags, and I've sort of become the person in charge of all that, helping people with pens, stickers, holepunches, etc.

Alison reports that someone outside asked the management what was going on in here, and they said, "It's the BB.net fan club. They're kind of scary." ROTFL!!

Made up badges for Billy and Stewart. We used Stewart's bmg smiley and I asked what we should call him. Everybody told me to put "The Big Biscuit", so I did. Gonzai donated the extra copy of her "Electric Blue Pippin" sticker for Billy's badge. I just hope they come by and we can give them to them!

(from Gonzai) Jennie abandoned her post--for shame! Gonzai did some scarvies and nametags.

Back. Sheesh! Can't I even go get a soda? It's really getting warm in here. Loons are gathering in small groups for conversation, much like the forum's "threads". I'm amused.

Stef, Yui, and Rayvuh are posing for pics. Yui and Rayvuh are both dressed as ringwraiths. Rayvuh has two halves of coconuts and is bangin' them together! Yui has a hobby horse. StefBaggins is in a bodice like a female hobbit, and is cowering between them as they threaten her with swords! Now one is stabbing her in the shoulder. The effect was kind of ruined when it caused her to collapse in a fit of laughter.

12:30
We head back over to the Sports Complex next door where most of the convention stuff is going on. Brian Downey's Q&A is from 12:30-1:30, right before Billy's. Wanting to make sure we get good seats for Billy, many of us went in and sat through his session. Unfortunately, I've never seen Lexx, so it isn't particularly interesting me. During his last 15 minutes, the room really filled up.

1:20
Well, Downey's gone, and the announcer told us that Billy is in fact here, and will be out in about 10 minutes. She told us that as Billy hasn't done many conventions (many?!? Try any!), we should be really nice and not frighten him, or he might not do any more. Poor feart Billy. We're just waiting now while the announcer lady plugs the blood drive. She says, "All you Goth people, you know who you are! C'mon! It'll be really cool!" They're lining up people with questions on either side of the room.

1:30
BWAAAAHAHAHAHA!!!! Billy walked in escorted by four Stormtroopers!!!! He's got jeans and a black shirt, and still has the short beard, so they haven't filmed Sniper470 yet. He said "Thanks guys!" to the Stormtroopers as they left.

This notebook and pen are my only forms of recording equipment. There are many of us with far more sophisticated methods of recording, who should transcribe this Q&A so we can catch everything. I can't possibly write it all down.

He was asked about his tattoo, and had to say that no, the members of the Fellowship had a pact that they wouldn't show it anywhere where there were cameras, because it wasn't a promotional thing, it was private.

He was presented with many gifts and requests for hugs, which he granted universally. He was asked lots of questions, many of which have already been answered in the bb.net interviews. He did feed us the little tidbit that Sniper470 would probably be released here at film festivals. There's hope!!!!

I can see Stewart hovering in the back of the room. He's got really cool hair with stripes! Woo hoo! bmg!!!

Billy noted our Roadtrip T-shirts, and mentioned the site and how wonderful it is that we've become such a community, and how we've all come here to meet our friends.

Someone asked Billy if he'd ever been a fan of anything like we are of him. Would he ever drive across the country and stay in a hotel with people he'd never met? He said, "I have, actually." He could easily have been talking about a film or theatre job, but that's still awesome.

Someone from the Lord of the Rings Fanclub asked if he surfs the boards and reads posts. He said he's really a technophobe, and it's all he can do to answer his email. And that sometimes he even messes that up!

Awww. JadeHawke have Billy a wee teddy bear like the one she gave me last night!

HAHAHA!!!! Stewart's mobile went off, just like in the last interview! Too funny!

I grabbed his and Billy's nametags and ran down to get in the Q&A line. Unfortunately, standing in the line, the speakers are kind of in front of you, and it's hard to hear anything. I'm missing most of this, and am glad Sterlin's recording it on her digital video camera. Cheese is up behind me, and is asking me something, so I'm missing Billy's story about meeting Stewart! I knew it had to do with Stewart being a lighting designer at the Tron Theatre in Glasgow! I just knew it had to! (I helped hang lights once in College. It was hot as heck up there, and the things were off at the time! Whew!)

A little girl in a pink dress with angel wings asked him how he'd gotten along with the other hobbits and did he still talk to them. He said, "First, may I say that's a beautiful dress you've got on!" He had her turn around and said, "Aww. It's even got wings!" Then he told her how yes, they were still all friends, and told her a bit about when he'd last spoken to members of the cast, including Viggo about an hour before.

My turn! I crazily point out that Stewart's mobile has gone off again to see if Billy would laugh with us, and asked my question. How does he feel about the fact that there are lots of people now in at least a dozen countries using words like "feart" and "wee" in their daily conversation? He laughed and said he's proud to be responsible for spreading the Scottish language around the world. I told him I had "Fellowship of the Wee Scarvies" badges for him and Stewart (but was suddenly embarrassed and mentioned that I hadn't made up the name) and could Stewart come up and get his? Billy said, "I know for a fact that he won't." So I'll just have to go give it to him. He told me that Viggo told him about an hour ago that he had one from last night. I said, "Yeah, I gave it to him. I made them. And he tied it on his pendant!" Billy said that was cool! I hand Billy his tag, and he looks at it and says "And they've got little scarves and everything." He said I got the colors just right! (Thanks, Gonzai!!) He likes it!! Yaay! And I got a hug!! ::dies:: Billy thanked me. He's so sweet!

I went across and back to where Stewart was. As I walked, somebody asked Billy what his tartan was. He said it was Royal Stewart, actually. That his family was a member of Clan Stewart. Which is funny because I was just walking up to our Stewart at the time. He's got buzzed short dark-blonde hair with crazy patterns shaved into it and some bits dyed red, and two bleached-blonde stripes sweeping back from his temples. He is indeed very tall, and wears glasses. He had on a khaki t-shirt and shorts, and a bag slung across his shoulder for carrying all of Billy's loot. I came up and shook his hand and said I was Jennie. He gave me a hug, too!

We chatted for quite a while, and I'm afraid I missed most of the rest of the Q&A (glad again that Sterlin's taping it). He said they'd arrived on Tuesday dressed for Glasgow weather, and had hit the freak heat wave and had to go buy shorts and t-shirts. I told him that he'd been noticeable by his absence this past week, and he confirmed that he'd been having far too good a time to go online. Billy went surfing off the New York coast on Wednesday (it was very hot) and they hooked up with some NewLine people and partied all night, and then slept much of the day on Thursday, and then partied again in Port Jefferson. He said they probably wouldn't end up hooking up with Viggo (who had been the one who had just phoned him), as Viggo was very busy. He said if they did it wouldn't surprise him if Viggo skinned an elk that he'd just killed with his bare hands and had hanging in his hotel bathtub. That they'd walk in the door and be handed a plate of elk meat. "Here, have some elk!" He says Viggo is just wild like that. I told him about my encounter with Viggo and he knew about the scarvie, too. He mentioned the bag on his back and half jokingly said, "When did I become Billy Boyd's pairsonal assistant?" Naturally, whenever the site seemed to be mentioned in any way, Stewart's ears pricked up. Mr. Pro.

He said he couldn't promise anything about tonight, as things were up in the air. They were supposed to be "off" tonight after the 7:30 "Inside the Actors' Studio" panel discussion, but that they may not be. I asked how they'd been getting around, and he said that they'd been driven around, the other night in a stretch limo. That they were laughing about it and having a great time. He mentioned that it had been Viggo on the phone, and that "You don't have a short conversation with Viggo. At least not on the phone." I told Stewart that I had a blow-up pic of his smiley, and that I wanted him to hold it and scowl for a picture sometime. He said, "I rarely scowl, really." Awwww! He's really sweet!

Someone asked Billy what was his favorite scene to film and he said all the scenes with Dom were brilliant, but the most fun he had was the fireworks scene. He said that they hadn't been told that the firework would actually go off. He assumed it would just go up on a string and they'd add the fire digitally. "Nobody told me that the firework was actually going to blow up!" So the high-pitched scream you hear is actually Billy screaming in terror! Peter said, "That's it! We've got it!" So it was done in one take!

When asked about his least favorite scene to film, he said it was the one with the Moria Gate, where they were waiting for Gandalf to figure out the password to open the door. It was at night and very, very cold, and the prosthetic feet weren't waterproof, and water would get into them and couldn't get out, and would freeze. He said it was the closest he came to actually being in tears. But didn't want to cry in front of Viggo and Sean Bean. Poor hobbits!!!

Billy talked about breaking his finger surfing, and revealed that the Weta workshop people had made an invisible splint for it so that Peter wouldn't know. But that it hadn't healed straight and would always be a little crooked. He said that it made it very hard to swordfight, "So I had to sword fence the English way." Holding out his pinky like he was drinking tea. LOL!!

He said the thing he liked best about Pippin was his loyalty to his friends, and how Pippin would have liked to go home to the comfortable Shire, but he wouldn't abandon his friends.

He also told the story about Dom's brief fling with a music career, owning an electric guitar for a short time until he dropped it on the floor and broke it. LOL!

2:30
After the Q&A session, Billy was escorted off stage left, and Stewart went up and collected his gifts. We went out and around the front past the snacks towards the front exit, and suddenly, there they were again! Billy was being taken outside to a press conference or something across the street. As they walked past me, I said "Hey!" to Billy and he smiled at me. Then Stewart came by with a video camera, and as he approached, he pulled it away from his eye and fumbled with the front. I said, "Take the lens cap off, Stewart." and he shot me a look as he took the lens cap off. LOL!!! I think I'm proving that I'm as much a smartass in person as on line. Heh. They went outside and across the street to the Physics building and disappeared. After they went in, the weather turned all Scottish, and I sat inside the entrance with Yui for a while. She gave me a packet of yummy Strawberry Pocky (Asian cookie sticks)! Called hubby and talked to Tibby over the phone. Emma showed me pics from her digital camera of me talking to Billy. Woo hoo!!! I can't wait to get copies!

Hmm. Not sure what's happening tonight, now. The schedule for the convention says that there's a masquerade ball at the official hotel from 10-12 "judged by the media guests." Billy is a media guest. He may be obligated to put in an appearance there. However, this puts him at our hotel. ;-)

4:15
Well, we're not allowed to line up for the signing until 4:30, so we're all sitting and standing in a bb.net mob on the steps along one side of the lobby. Every couple of minutes someone comes out and tells us we can't line up, but the only words the crowd hears over the din are "line up," and they all stand up only to have to sit down again. Grrr.

4:30
They let us in and we're lined up on a walkway which goes around the 2nd floor overlooking the dealer's room. We're finally able to put everything down while we wait. Most of us are in a big group, and are able to chat. Sterlin and I are leaning against the rail looking at the dealer's room and she's sharing her Raisinettes with me. Some jerky security guy came up and made us back up, saying we might accidentally drop something on the people below. ::rolls eyes:: So we've sat down.

5:05
Still sitting . . . Someone came by and said we couldn't take flash photos without the guest's permission.

5:11
We've moved about 200 yards, and stopped again. Fortunately, by an open window. The cool air is nice! Looks like it's raining again, though.

5:30
Somebody came by declaring that you could only get one thing signed, and no hugging! Otherwise there wouldn't be time for everyone to get things signed. Carlita already has a signed pic at home that she got through the mail, so her one autograph is going to be Chuck's Pippin picture with the Shire map behind him. Awww. What a nice thing to do. She'll also give him the CDs with our voices on them. She's got two disks for Billy and two for Stewart. One disk is audio and the other .wav files. Gonzai had come over to my house and we'd each recorded a message for Billy and one for Stewart, and my 2 1/2-year-old, Tibby, even recorded one which said, "Hi, Billy. I want to be an actress. I'm Tibby." How cute is that?

Alison just reported that a (kind!) staff member told her (unofficially) that Billy is committed to staying until everyone gets an autograph. There are a lot of people here, which means he'll probably go over the time he was going to spend on it. What a wonderful guy he is!

Another staff member announced that index cards would be handed out. Got one! We're supposed to write our name on them (spelled right) so he'll know what to write. Would've helped last night with Viggo! Hee hee!

6:10
Emma's switching from her telephoto to a shorter lens as we're getting closer. We're thinking of getting one thing signed and coming back tomorrow for something else.

6:20
We can see Stewart sitting against the wall next to Billy. Sterlin's next in line! Emma is nervously putting her telephoto back on and taking it off again. They're letting people go up in groups of 5. Dij and Cheese are up.

Cheese is done, and I can see her meeting Stewart for the first time. Wish I was Dij and could hear that exchange. Cheese appears to be asking him about his hair.

Billy signed both my book and the artwork. And he recognized me from before! So sweet! Carlita had just given him the CDs, and I mentioned that my 2 1/2-year-old daughter's voice was on them. He thought that was really nice.

Chatted with Stewart again for a minute after the signing. I asked if Billy had gotten anything to eat. (I was concerned since it appeared that this signing session was going to run over.) He said that he'd made sure Billy ate. That he was taking good care of him. (Of course he was. I should have known that!)

7:45
Scurried out to the store to get food and ice, and made it back 15 minutes late for the "Inside the Actors' Studio" panel discussion, but as Billy's signing had run over, he was late anyway. In fact, when we got there there were only Andreas Katsulas (I think) and Myriam Sirois there answering questions. A little girl from the audience named Mary Beth raised her hand and asked him, "Who are you?" Everybody howled, and Mary Beth was good-naturedly picked on for the rest of the panel discussion.

8:00
Stewart arrived and sat down, and then Billy was escorted in. She led him up on the stage just as two of the other media guests arrived from the other side of the stage. Brian Downey and Herb Jefferson, I think. Auugh. They sat Billy directly on the opposite side of a big podium from where we are, so we have to move to the middle of the house to see him.

They were all asked lots of questions, and I'm trying to get all the questions and Billy's responses down. Forgive me if I miss things, though.

They were asked how they felt about the convention experience, with the unique opportunity to interact with their fans. They said to Billy, "I guess you're pretty new to the whole convention experience." He said, "This is my first day! I haven't had time to thank you." Much applause for Billy's sweet 'thank you' to us!

A question was asked about how SciFi compared to the Classics, and Billy said something about how Lord of the Rings was seen more as history than SciFi by those who made it. He had also been asked if anyone had warned him that he'd have so much adulation in such a short period of time. He said it's been really great, and that he's really enjoyed it.

They were asked about whether or not the director of their particular show or movie had allowed for much in the way of improv. Billy said that though they tried very hard to stay true to Tolkien, some of the Merry-Pippin scenes ended up with some improv humor. Pete Jackson is one of those kind of directors that likes that kind of thing to happen. There were almost always writers on the set or available by phone, to make sure that it fit with Tolkien, but that yes, there was some improv.

Mary Beth was asked to come to the balcony, and each of them were asked to pretend that she was the evil archenemy character from their show, and what would they say if they saw her. Billy said, "Where is she?" The others gave their impromptu little performances, as well.

Finally Richard Biggs and Jason Carter turned up, and were booed (apparently Andreas Katsulas had coached the audience at the beginning that they should do this when the guys finally arrived, to punish them for being late). There was some wonderful schtick where they then gave the audience the finger, and then turned their chairs to the wall and sat in the corner like bad boys. Heh heh! Very funny guys, those two. But then they were supposed to say something to Mary Beth, and weren't told anything about the situation. Talk about your improv!

They were asked about having to work with characters that would be added later through digital effects, that they had to imagine they were interacting with. Billy told the story of him and Dom sitting in the animatronic Treebeard's branches, and how everyone would leave for tea, but they'd just hand Billy and Dom's tea up to them. So they got to talking to Treebeard like he was a real guy, including him in their conversation. "The more we worked with him, Me and Dom, the more he became like a real person."

"Billy, you have such a great accent! And you're still doing it!" Billy: "I'm from Queens."

A question was asked about funny things that happened on the set, and he said that he came through the 18 months or so of filming pretty much damage-free, unlike Viggo, who broke his tooth nearly in half in one swordfight scene, and that Viggo, being Viggo, wanted to glue it back together and carry on. Or Dom, who was stabbed in the foot by Sean Bean who was trying to put his sword in his scabbard, and Dom, being Dom, took three weeks off. LOL!!!

He was asked about the next two films and what he thought of them. He said, "I haven't seen them. I hope they'll be good!" He said he'd seen some of the scenes, of course. There's a big battle scene in TTT at Helm's Deep that's really good, and that Gollum would be brilliant in the next two films. He also let drop that he'd be back in New Zealand in about three weeks to do some dubbing.

Fellowship9 went up and said, "Billy, it's my first con, too! So you're not alone!" He said, "Good!" She said, "And my question is, if you could be any other character from your show, who would you be?" He said that there were so many good characters in Tolkien. It would be fun to be any of them. "Maybe I'd like to be Aragorn . . . a small Aragorn." Everybody laughed.

They were asked if they had been interested in SciFi before they were approached or tried out for their role. He said, "This may sound strange, but, I was a huge Babylon5 fan! A friend of mine has the whole box set. I just sat and watched episode after episode! I didn't get out of the house for three weeks!"

When Myriam Sirois answered this question, she said that she'd gone to see it on opening night, not having been a fan or knowing anything about the books. Now she's reading the books and is a big fan just like us. And she said, "And I love you Billy Boyd!" Well! I guess that makes her an honorary loon, doesn't it? On impulse, I decided she had to have a Wee Scarvie. Unfortunately, this was the one time all weekend when I didn't have my briefcase with the bag-o-scarvies with me. So I jumped up, yanking the scarvie from my own badge, and scurried down to the front, across the floor, and flipped it up onto the table in front of her as she and the other actors asked, "What's this? What's going on?" When I saw that she had it, I turned and fled back up to my place, leaving Billy to explain, "It's a Wee Scarvie. You tie it on . . ." The loons all howled, and Billy looked over at Stewart who shrugged at him like "Nothing to do with me!"

So the panel discussion continued with a question about words of wisdom from someone who influenced you. Billy said that an actor once said to him very early on, "If you don't have to move, don't."

We were drawing to a close, and because this discussion was modeled on the show "Inside the Actors' Studio" with its routine questions at the end, they were put to the panel. Billy, being right next to the moderator, was first up to answer "What is your favorite word?" (Stewart creased up laughing.) Billy answered "Buns". "What's your least favorite word?" Billy said, "Don't." "What sound do you really love?" Billy said, "mmm! mmm!" (We all died!) "What's your least favorite sound?" "Roadworks really annoy me. In the morning . . . even worse!" "What excites you? What turns you on?" (subject to loose interpretation). Billy answered, "A good script." "What turns you off?" Billy said, "Negativity." Asked about his favorite curse word, Billy said " . . . I can't say it." "What job other than acting would you like to have?" Billy said, "Professional surfer."

9:30
Unfortunately, you'll have to ask someone else his answers to the rest, because I had to go outside and call my daughter as it was half an hour past her bedtime and I hadn't sung her the Choo-Choo Train Song, yet. (Actually Morningtown Ride, by the Limeliters.) Sigh. Well, that's what being a mommy's like.

Everybody poured out, and I caught up with the Maryland Contingent and we heard that Stewart said he'd meet us in the Cybercafe. Billy and Stewart rushed past us to whatever it was they had to do next. (Although apparently Billy stopped to hand out chewing gum to some of the loons. Silly girls actually chewed it instead of having it bronzed! Just kidding!)

So we trekked across the campus and met up in the overheated basement of the Student Union. I sat upstairs on lookout, as Stewart hadn't been to the Cybercafe before that we knew about, and walked down with him when he came in. Stewart announced that they'd be heading over to the official hotel. He said he couldn't promise for how long, but that's the plan. "So, fly my children! Go to the official hotel!" Ha haa!!! Okay Daddoo! Gonzai and I had to hustle all the way across campus to get to my car, and we took off for the Holiday Inn.

On the way back, Gonzai told me how the lady in charge of the Q&A session, which Gonzai was supposed to help out with the next day as a volunteer, had completely unloaded her frustration on Gonzai for the fact that Billy's Q&A time had been so taken up with hugs and gifts, rather than Q&A. But of course, only a bb.net'er would understand the unusual situation with our community. Billy isn't your average SciFi guest, and we're not your average SciFi fans, and things are just going to be different. She was frustrated by that and turned on the hapless Gonzai, who was unlucky enough to be a) a volunteer under her control, and b) a loon.

I carried the cooler into the hotel, and used the luggage cart to get it into the room. I turned around and saw Billy and Stewart and their media agent behind us in the hall and said as I pushed it into the room, "Pay no attention! Official hotel business!" Heh heh! But the people at the desk had had no problem with our using the (apparently sole) cart for our booze. We went and checked in at the bar, and found that when we'd seen Billy and Stewart, they had just left the bar, having been there for about 10 minutes with Jason Carter, before grabbing armloads of beer and heading off to a private actors' party. I guess our trek across campus slowed us up too much. After ascertaining that the bar didn't serve cider, I decided to try the Mike's Hard Lemonade in the cooler, and headed back to the room.

I was hanging out there reading Gonzai's fanbook when she came in and said she'd run into them in the hall heading back from the party. She'd told them that we had lots of beer in the room for them, and Stewart said they'd think about it, and Billy thanked her for the offer. So she'd run back to find me. Thinking they might have gone back to the bar, we went out again and found them in the lobby. Billy was sitting exactly where I had been that very morning!! I asked if he was just chilling, and he said, "Yeah." I told him about the sofa, and he agreed that it was very comfy. I asked how he was and he said he was doing fine, actually. He looked like he'd prefer that I ignored him. So I did. I chatted for a while with Stewart, who looked completely shattered, while I leaned against an end table, half blocking Billy from view while trying not to bug him. Gonzai hovered next to me, peeking at Billy and darting behind me. She was extremely tired at this point, with an injured shoulder, and didn't know quite how to react to the situation. As they were going to leave soon, I told Stewart that we'd just have to drink their beer. He said, "I think you'll have to. Sorry." I said that was okay, but offered him one for the road. He said, "No, thanks. You wouldn't want me to drink it and not enjoy it, would you?" I said, "No, I suppose not." Billy said to Stewart, "Well, I guess we just get up tomorrow and do it all again." Stewart said, "Yeah, I guess." And Billy said, "We can do that." And Stewart said, "And then, Home!" They were obviously really tired. I suddenly remembered what Gonzai had just been telling me, and said, "Oh, by the way. You're unlikely to get as many hugs tomorrow." He said, "Oh, no?" and I explained what had happened, and Gonzai told him she was supposed to be his go-fer at the Sunday Q&A. They seemed sympathetic to Gonzai and wanted to know who it was who had said all this. Turned out to be someone named Mary with whom they'd been working during the day. Billy seemed a bit concerned, but Stewart said not to worry about it. I think poor Billy thought it was his fault or something. Silly Billy! It wasn't anybody's "fault" because it wasn't really a problem. The silly lady just thought it was. Most of us were loons, and didn't want to take up his signing time with gifties, but wanted to use the Q&A as an opportunity to interact with him as we've wanted to do in real space, rather than cyberspace. We did ask lots of questions, and he did give lots of answers. Ah well. I guess she was just doing her job as she saw it.

It suddenly occurred to Gonzai that she could be giving Billy the fanbook now (as she'd be unlikely to be able to at the Q&A the next day, it seemed). So she raced back to the room to get it, and I told Billy that that's where she was going. Stewart said, "Well, it'll have to be quick because we've really gotta go." I told Billy that my art page was in it, that he'd signed today. He blinked at me. I said, "The one that looked like a Medieval manuscript." Another blank look. I laughed and said, "That's okay. You signed several thousand things today." He looked a bit sheepish, and I said, "I know what you did today!" Poor guy. It must all be a blur to him.

A couple of young boys came up and chatted with Billy for a minute, who was really friendly and chatty with them, and then one of them dragged out the Movie Guide for him to sign, which he did with his usual cheerful enthusiasm (despite his apparent exhaustion moments before). Their media agent finally showed up with Stewart's backpack (for which they'd apparently been waiting) just as Gonzai came back with the fanbook. She gave it to him, I took a pic of them together, and as Billy and Stewart got ready to go, Gonzai told him about how Viggo had told her to do something to Billy, but that it would take a lot of what she termed "liquid courage" for her to do it, and as she didn't drink, it was unlikely to happen. He agreed that, Viggo being Viggo, this was probably for the best. She mentioned that the words "King" and "Slave" were involved, and he said, "Yes, that sounds like Viggo." He turned to us and I said, "Goodnight, sweetie." And they left. So we headed to the bar to find takers for all the beer, and circulated amongst the loons telling them the room number and describing our wares. We headed back and they all started coming in.

Conversation ran the gamut from comparisons of the various fan sites and types of sites (A topic which might have interested Stewart if they'd had the energy to stay. Shame, that.), the horrors of slash art and fanfic, how evil sick nutball fans can ruin your enthusiasm for running forums (as happened to Siliconslave), to the way the con was being run. There were 15 of us in the room, eating Wheat Thins and Cheddar Twisties and drinking Mike's Hard Lemonade, Foster's, Bass, Guiness, Vernor's Ginger Ale, and Stella Artois (Mmmm. Kind of a nutty aftertaste, I'm finding. . .). Nessie brought Tim Tams and a Cadbury's Top Deck bar. Wow! "Dairy Milk Milk Chocolate with Milky White Chocolate". Never even seen one before.

We all scrunched together for a group shot, and Julio took pictures with four different cameras while we held up our beer bottles. We plan to send at least one to Stewart. We even sang The Bottle Song!

1:00
Shorty after The Bottle Song, there was a knock at the door and a rent-a-cop came in and threatened to throw us out of the hotel if he got any more complaints about how noisy we were. For cryin' out loud! It was a convention! What on earth did they expect? Ah well. We think Billy and Stewart would be simultaneously ashamed and proud of us for getting busted for singing The Bottle Song and almost getting thrown out. Cheese was apparently hiding in the closet [cupboard] the whole time the security guard was here. Hee hee!

Most people have gone, apart from Cheese and Julio, and Nessie, and us of course. Cheese is talking about plans for modifications to Cheeserealm . She's probably going with a different format so posts won't take so long to load (I think she was saying). Which will involve wiping all the threads and starting over. And she'll probably get rid of avatars (pics by your name). You can have a pic on your profile, but you'd only see it if they clicked on your name. We discussed her meeting with Stewart, and she maintains that he must have shaved his legs, because she just knows they were once hairy.

Conversation has turned to Merchant of Venice and Midsummer Night's Dream.

2:00
Nessie's talking about having been creeped out by Loch Ness on a trip to Scotland. She said the currents and waves in it are weird, and as she was alone and listening to Pink Floyd's Echoes at the time, she felt really creepy! Cheese is asking Nessie about "tea" being "supper".

Australia: Breakfast, Lunch, Tea
Britain: Breakfast, Dinner, Supper
U.S.: Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner

Aaack! Very confusing. Nessie says they also call the tea you drink, "tea", too. But generic tea they call "gumboot." (Read "wellies".) Very strange.

Now the conversation has turned to Billy, and how he when he talks to you, he seems to make you feel like you're the only person in the world. Even towards the end of the queue, Nessie says, he still made you feel that way, even though he must have been really knackered (worn out).

Topic turned briefly to beer and pubs, and then I showed Nessie my vest (the one I kept, as opposed to the rest of them, which Stewart told me to bring to the Sunday Q&A). Nessie fell in love with it and modeled it, and Alison took a picture of her wearing it, sitting next to me.

We looked through the movie guide and the autographs, and my "manuscript" page. We were discussing the forced perspective technique with Elijah and Ian at the table in Bag End (there's a shot of this in the Movie Guide where you can just barely make out that Elijah's looking off at some mark rather than at Ian). We talked about the Gondor heraldry, looking at the pics of Aragorn and Faramir and the Gondor soldiers. Drooled about David Wenham and laughed at the vast difference of his role in Moulin Rouge.

3:00
Cheese, Julio, and Nessie head out, and we finally crash. Whew!


To access Sunday's diary, click on I-Con Day 3, on the sidebar to the left.