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Visions 1999 Part Six We flitted here, we flitted there, we bought pictures and T shirts and mugs, and we laughed (good-naturedly, of course) at the Jedis and Klingons and Borgs actually, we were very impressed by the Borgs. The coolest costume, of course, was the Buffy Halloween dress no big surprise there. The funniest was easily the Ty Ewok Beanie Baby but I think those observations are better left to LouWho and DoBoy and OzLady, since they seemed to get the biggest kick out of him. And of course, we harassed the heck out of poor Chris he signed more books for me, and more comic books, and he laughed appreciatively (or nervously I might have reached stalker status by then) at the Spider Man doll I'd bought to give Nicholas. (Monique thinks I make too much money actually I just have too many credit cards.) He even suggested a plan of action for Nicks Q&A look cute and adorable, and ask for a hug "Hey," he said, "it worked with David!" Little Sister unknowingly called Alexandra Tydings a "Buffy-wannabe" she was wearing red leather pants and a black top; who knew it was Alexandra? My favorite purchase of the day was an airbrushed painting of Nick. I was passing by the artist's easel when it was still just an outline of a face, with a picture of Nick tacked to the side, and I was hooked right away. It might have been the magnetic "sucker" sign on my forehead, but I still think it was worth the money. In our quest to kill time, we also played checkers at the gaming tables (LouWho is a hustler, watch out for her, really!), gawked at Robin what's his name from Babylon Five who played Machida in Reptile Boy (hey, Boston Bronzers, ya think he's the guy from James' 'you hold him and I'll hit him' story?), and chuckled (good-naturedly! Always good-naturedly!) at the questions being asked of Nicole deBoer of Deep Space Nine. Ooo, and who could forget the barbershop quartet, or the lip-synching bobbysoxers? ("I'm Mr. Ed!") But finally FINALLY it was time. Chris Golden was announced, and we all moved up to take our assigned (scattered) seats with me in my $20 front row seat right (a little to the left) in front of Chris. (Ya know, I can just smell the restraining order.) Chris started his opening remarks about how he became 'attached' to the Buffy phenomenon. He caught my eye every once in awhile, and I hope it was because I was a familiar face, and not because of fear I was, after all, holding a camera with a 300mm zoom lens. Unfortunately, my stomach had decided right about then to desert me. The prospect of being within 15 feet of James while he chatted up the crowd had filled me with a nervous dread not unlike the night before, and I was sure I would have to make that long walk across the auditorium to avoid tossing my cookies in front of hundreds of people. I closed my eyes and took a couple of deep breaths, trying to steady the traitorous nerves, when suddenly I heard, "Wake up, Paula" coming from the speakers. My eyes popped open in surprise to see Chris pausing in his comments to smile at me. (Fifteen rows back, Little Sister was whispering, "Did he say 'Paula'? Please tell me he wasn't talking to my sister.") Okay, truth be told, I'm a sucker for attention, and there was that really annoying part of me that was thinking, "Cool. The big bad author just said my name in front of 200 people. Way neat." (Okay, now you know Im an egotist. My secret is out.) Then there was the other part. The part that said, "Ha. Ha. I'll get you."
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Visions 1999 Relevant Links |