We’re back from our trip and let me be one of the many to say that home is one of the nicest places to travel to. Thanks to an exchange of “the last season of Deadwood for babysitting our cats” I came home to two happy, fluffy, indifferent bundles of “oh, it’s you people.” April, thanks for watching the cats and hope you enjoyed the last season of Deadwood. It’s good to have friends that will barter in television and movies. I’ll drop off my film in the next couple of days and then post some of the pictures up on Flikr.

About the convention – let me start by quoting Lynn “spandex is a privilege, not a right”. I think some of those same attendees felt that deodorant was really the privilege. Nothing like seeing Wonder Woman while your nose tries to crawl into your face and signals are shooting through your body saying “close down the sinus cavities, Beth needs to be a mouth breather for awhile” as tears began to form to create a protective layer around my eyes.

One of the first things we did was hit the Walk of Fame. Jay described it as part freak show/zoo where you had all the celebrities lined up along tables hoping you’d stop by and say something or at least show some signs that you recognized them. I saw, over several trips, George Takei, Alan Tudyk, Summer Glau, Nathan Brendan, The Happy Days gang (well… the Happy Days extras), Lee Merriweather, Mickey Rooney, Rip Taylor, James Callis, Adrienne Barbeau, Richard Hatch (not THAT Richard Hatch – Apollo/Tom Zarek) and Chief Tyrol, Helo and Mrs. Tigh. (IMDB and I aren’t friends at the moment, so I’m not going to dig up their real names. Plus, it’s not like you’re going to recognize the names either.) I kept missing Tracy Lords whose write up in the Dragon Con book didn’t mention anything about her porn career. Jay says she’s trying to leave that behind and be a serious actress. I’m just waiting for Ron Jeremy to do the same.

I only pestered a few of them – notably Mickey Rooney (cross your fingers the picture came out – we had shutter speed issues) where I got an autograph for Mom. Then I went over to the Ghost Hunters table to pick up a shirt. Jay shoved me forward because I was having such a fan girl reaction to them and said “you’re going to get your picture taken with them.” Jay said he knew I’d regret it if I hadn’t and I would have.

Before I get off into how I made an ass out of myself, let me tell you about Ghost Hunters or TAPS (http://www.the-atlantic-paranormal-society.com/) The Atlantic Paranormal Society. These guys go out and help people with their paranormal problems, but one reason I really appreciate them is they mostly go out and debunk. They approach their cases with a lot of skepticism while leaving room for the possibility that something paranormal (beyond normal) could be occurring. Ultimately though, they’re there to help clients and I appreciate how careful they are with the clients beliefs. Plus, these guys are two plumbers from Rhode Island who are incredibly approachable. In fact, a few minutes before they were scheduled to speak when we to see them at an event, they raced to the stage with cameras and began shooting pictures of the crowd while saying “WOW!” then they raced off. They were very genuine and in awe of the number of people who knew who they were and enjoyed what they did.

So, there I am armed with my one t-shirt from the convention, my Ghost Hunters “Dude, Run” shirt (a quote from one of their assistants when he and the camera man got seriously spooked and then that phrase was later used to mock him). Jay pushes me forward and I’m standing in front of them. I managed to shake both their hands and thank them for the work they do and get out, “can we take your picture?” Jason grabs up Grant and beckons me over with a “don’t you want to be in it, too?” Well, of course I do! The picture was snapped and now I feel like talking. This is always bad. I don’t talk. I really need to carry around a write off board and just write out what I want to say to avoid what inevitably happens… stammering. Yes, I was so excited to talk to them that I started stammering and trying to get out my big question about their website. I had worked it up in my head a day before – something about recognizing they were respectful of their client’s rights to privacy, but was there any chance they’d expand their website to include more of their personal stories on their investigations. One of their demonologists, a former priest, has several creepy stories on the site already – http://www.the-atlantic-paranormal-society.com/fireside.html

What I asked was… oh hell, I can’t even remember how I phrased it, but Grant blinked at me repeatedly and made his concerned face. The one that says, “poor girl needs her medication – I should be kind to the mentally challenged – maybe I’ll donate to the Special Olympics this year.” He was trying to be patient and understand me while signals raced through my brain saying “shut-up, you’re making an ass out of yourself” distracting me from my big question. I think I got out words like “website” and “Keith” and “stories” but not in any way that would make sense to people who didn’t grunt and walk on their knuckles. Grant finally said, “we’re always working on trying to improve our site…” I thanked him again, tucked my head down and said “Jay, I’m an asshole” then spent the rest of the day reliving my big moment. It’s hard to be me.

For the record, I logically don’t believe in ghosts or the paranormal, but I don’t want any ghosts, poltergeists, energy fields, orbs or what not hanging around my house.

Anyway, we had a good time and as I have pictures available I’ll try to some more of the highlights. There were some incredible costumes, several I didn’t get a chance to stop the people and take, so I’m hoping someone did and made them available (notably Indiana Jones, the Nazis carrying an incredible replica of the Ark of the Covenant and the priest).