OK, I know it's kind of ballsy for me to actually quote myself for this, but if you were there this weekend, you'd know that "It's what I do" is really the only quote that could be used.
As usual, I'm breaking this up into four pages (if not more later). The first two will be some general pics of the con and the happenings and stuff, page 3 (and maybe 4 later) will deal with the Sunday night After Party, and the last page (whatever number that ends up at) will be the 501st handing out awards to the Actors an making them honorary members of the 501st.
Where to start? Celebration 2 (for those that don't know) was a convention held in Indianapolis, Indiana for Star Wars fans. They have one every three years to coincide with the opening of a new Star Wars film. It's run by Lucasfilm, and Wizards of the Coast.
The members of the 501st Stormtrooper Legion were asked to volunteer and work Security at the con. I graciously denied this honor as I always work at cons and really wanted to just relax, not be involved, and just be a fan enjoying the festivities.
Thursday afternoon I went to the airport only to find that my 1 hour and 40 minute direct flight had been canceled, and I was being moved to a connection out of Atlanta. Great. So, onto the plane I go.
One and a half hours later we're still sitting on the Runway waiting for some fog to clear. We finally take off, and 2 hours later I land in Atlanta 10 minutes late for my connection to Indy. I ran through the airport like a maniac (and those that know me, know that running is not my strong suit!) and finally got the the Gate. Of course it's the last gate in the whole wing, as far as it can possibly be from where I deboarded my last flight. I jump on the plane and then sit for another 2 hours on the runway waiting to Taxi!
I guess I forgot that Delta stands for "Doesn't Ever Leave The Airport".
Finally up, and less than 2 hours later we land in Indy. So I spent almost as much time sitting in the plane on the ground as I did in the air.
Normally I would write up a lot more about this and bitch and whine to no end, but the other things that happened at the con make this a worthy trial considering the final outcome. Once in the hotel I meet up with the ECG (Empire City Garrison, the Troopers that I hang out with here in New York), the NEG (New England Garrison) and the other Troopers from around the Country that we know and we head out to dinner.
Click on the pics below to see them full size.
And then after dinner, we do what we always do. We head out to a bar!
We checked out a few places on the way, then found a place called "The Have A Nice Day Cafe". A rocking club in Downtown Indianapolis.
As we were paying our cover, we bumped into Temuera Morrison (Jengo Fett from Episode 2). So we decided to have a drink with him.
Here's Temuera with Danny. We had some laughs, I abused him with Magic tricks, we drank, and had a good time.
"I just bought a drink for Jango Fett! Eric is going to be so jealous!!"
Hector and Lynn getting cozy at the bar. It's funny to see how cozy Lynn gets by Sunday night!
Fernando and I getting cozy. Apparently, it was a very cozy weekend from what I hear.
"If I wish hard enough, maybe I can get Lynn laid."
BAMM! Lynn gets Lei'd. Way to go, Kieth!!
Now we all know about "Boob-Grabs", but Lynn moved it on to a whole new level. Basically the entire weekend was one big "Lynn-Boob-Grab". Are they very sore now, Lynn?
Dancing girls!! Apparently, Jessica Alba is hard up for cash these days.
See how everyone else is having a great time, while Hecotr looks like he's waiting for a bus. What's up with that?
"How come you guys got your badges already and I have to wait in that damned line tomorrow?"
Danny and I bumped into these two at the bar. After some chatting we decide to have a little drinking contest.
We ordered one of thse... things? Don't know what they're called. It was guys against the girls, and as you can see, we lost miserably.
Our punishment? We had to pay for a round of shots! Poor us! These are shots called "Red Headed Sluts". Don't want to know what's in them, but mine is the one on the far right. I'm a big girl. There, I said it. Happy?
After one shot, Danny turned into a Red Headed Slut himself. Here he is busting a move!
So my aim was off on the first "Self Shot" of the evening. I'd been drinking, cut me some slack!
So I gave the camera to Dan and he helped out a bit.
Yes, it was that kind of club. Do I ever go to any other kind?
You just gotta love any place that has a VW Bug inside as part of the decor! Here's Danny busting a move!
A split second after we left, an Ambulance and 2 Cop cars showed up. You really can't see them that well, but they are there. We have no idea why they were there, but hopefully it wasn't our fault.
Is that the scariest thing you've ever seen in your life? I guess I really should have "Un-Zoomed" after the Ambulance pic.
Danny calling for another Ambulance for when we leave this second bar.
Hey! A "Self Shot" that worked! I guess I was sobering up! Hugo looks a lot better from further away, huh?
Hey, these Trooper suits don't stay shiny white without some help. (Photo courtesy of Rich)
The big problem was that Frank showered with his helmet on, and it shrunk!
Hector, still waiting for that bus.
This was the line for the "Will Call" window of the Con. Pretty long huh?
Luckily, I bumped into Qui-Gon-Tim towards the front of the line, started chatting with him, and cut my way into the Con early!! Thanks Tim! I think over the weekend I must have cut him like three times. I'm just that slick.
Han and Leia. Hey, go for it, she ain't your sister!
What's sad is that Rob looks like this pretty much 90% of the time.
Eric in his Jengo Fett armor. Well, the pass has to go someplace!
Here's the Three Day pass I paid for. I wasn't really happy with it, so I walked over to the work table and asked for my "Associate" pass.
"Do you work here?" He asked me.
"Yeah!" I answered.
And this is what he gave me! Woo Hoo. When asked how I got an Associate badge without actually volunteering to work the Con, I answered, "It's what I do."
After that I wandered over to the line to get into the Official Gift Shop. The line was huge, so I cut Tim, and wandered in to pick up the Exclusive Jorg Sacul (George Lucas as an X-Wing Pilot) action figure. It was only 2 per person, and they were very strict about it. For some reason when I walked up and asked for 2 of the figures, the girl behind the counter leaned in close and asked, "Do you want more than two?" I was tempted, but in the end just got my two.
Later in the weekend, Kieth left his 2 figures at the 501st table, came back later and they were gone. So I gave him one of mine.
I ran into Richard LeParmentier (as I always seem to at Cons these days), and he gave me a little red phone box for my Cousin Tracy. I had picked one up fo her while I was in London (it was all she wanted me to get her), but somehow lost it on the way home. So a big huge thanks to Richard for helping me out and picking one up for her. She's so happy. Now if I can just keep from losing it before I actually get to give it to her....
While hanging out at Richard's table, he was escorted to his Imperial Q & A. So I tagged along.
Here's Michael Sheard (Admiral Ozzel), Julian Glover (General Veers), Richard LeParmentier (Admiral Motti), and Ken Colley (Admiral Piett) having some fun abusing each other.
Back to the autograph area, and finally some proof that Richard actually works!
Bill Hootkins (Jek Porkins) getting molested. Poor guy.
I wandered around the Con for a while, and used my new Associates badge to sneak into the Green Room to steal some coffee and brownies. Tee hee.
Then I found Kieth on line for something. basically, Celebration 2 could have just been called LineCon. There were HUGE lines everywhere.
Anyway, I asked him what he was doing, and he said he was getting tickets for a Symphony that night. The Indiana Pops would be playing Star Wars music, and the tickets were only $12. So I gave him the money to get me a ticket and decided to wander around and see if I could get some free tickets to the show.
I bumped into Dennis, the agent for a lot of the Star Wars actors, and asked him about the Symphony. he said that a block of VIP tickets had been set aside for the actors, and since he wasn't planning on going, he'd give me his set.
So I wandered back over to Kieth and told him not to bother because I had just gotten us free tickets. Since I didn't actually have them in hand, he decided to wait on line and get a set of tickets just in case. Over the next little while, he worked his way through the line while I was wandering around the autograph area saying "hi" to everyone I knew.
While with Richard, one of the girls from the Con came over and asked him how many tickets he needed for the Symphony, and I gave him a look, and he signed me up for 2 tickets. (Thanks again, Richard). Turns out that even the actors had to pay, so I slipped him the money, she put my name down, and off I went to find Keith.
When I finally found him, he had already gotten to the front of the line and paid for his tickets, so I told him to sell them to someone from the ECG or NEG and call it a day.
"Why?" He asked.
"Because I got us tickets in the VIP section." I answered.
"How did you do that?"
"It's what I do."
I decided to find a place in the area that we could go to that night and party, so Rob and I wandered around checking out the different bars and asking about setting up some kind of little party for the Star Wars guys.
It was a long walk, and apparently Rob just couldn't hold it in any more...
And now, on to the first party!!!
