Darnit, have forgotten to say "Rabbit, rabbit!" first thing this morning. It's supposed to be good luck and Susan Branch always mentions it.

We were up at 6:15. I was hoping we might get downtown early, eat first, then register and then see Nathan Fillion, since he had only one panel first thing this morning. But between one thing and the other, we arrived at the garage at eight o'clock as usual, when registration opens, so we might as well just go there. Disability Services was just putting itself together, so we weren't on our way to breakfast until around nine. I did get to the Hyatt at 9:45, but the panel was already full, thanks, I found out later, to Hyatt security jumping the gun and loading the room instead of the convention directors. All the disabled people got shut out because they did not leave room for them.

So instead I went to the "Welcome to BritTrack" panel in their new hotel. They, along with TrekTrack and the animation track, are now down on the Galleria (lower) level of the Hilton, in a nice big room, which is great, because that tiny Macon room they've had for years (replacing the even tinier Baker room they had for years before that) just didn't "do" anymore. It was so chilly in there I took my cool towel, which I didn't need now because it was nice out this morning, and put it over my shoulders.

I was in the Hilton for the next three panels: "Brit TV Classics You Should Be Watching" (from Are You Being Served to Being Human), "Sherlock: History & Holmes" (about how Sherlock has been influenced by the canon and by his predecessors from Gillette to Rathbone to The Private Life of Sherlock Holmes—with some love for Watson, and especially Jude Law), and "Doctor Who: Series 10 in Focus" (lots of love for Bill, including someone in the audience dressed like her).

Then I moved over to the Marriott for the panel "Sci-Fic TV 1997: From Fantasy Island to Space: 1999." These were mostly the shows that came out before Star Wars, before the explosion of SF that came afterwards: the two aforementioned programs, and things like Quark, Fantastic Journey, Lucan, Space Academy, etc. This was a fun panel.

From there I went back over to the Hyatt to catch up to James at the Tor preview panel. We only stayed a half hour because we were worried about the elevator situation at the Marriott: we definitely  wanted to see tonight's Atlanta Radio Theatre presentation. But we had no trouble with any of the elevators, so got there early.

One of my favorite things to do years ago was to walk around "The Walk of Fame" and take candid photos of the actors signing autographs. They won't allow you to do this anymore, but since we had time we took a turn around the room. Nathan Fillion wasn't there, but we saw Gil Gerard and Erin Gray and Felix Silla, and then...

I had completely forgotten Megan Follows was at the convention. (She is appearing in the series Reign.) She only had one panel, this morning, and I missed it. To get her autograph would be $40. Sigh. But I did it anyway. I picked a lovely photo of Anne looking at the blossoms on the White Way of Delight and got a chance to speak to her. She is actually very short—read "my height"—and speaks with a charming accent you don't hear as Anne. I told her how much I loved her as Anne, but also that I remembered watching her mother, Dawn Greenhalgh, in Strange Paradise and she seemed amused and surprised that I even remembered it. I mentioned her mother in Doctor Simon Locke, too.

After waiting in the disability line, we were allowed to enter the Imperial Ballroom (a new venue for ARTC) for three presentations: a new adaptation of Thomas Fuller's Nairobi Jack and the Lost Gold of the Atlantimengani, a 30s-type adventure story taking place in Africa with a scientist and his snooty beautiful daughter hiring Nairobi Jack and his sidekick to go into dangerous territory to find the invisible source of the Nile; The Three Galaxateers, a humorous WWII-set story about three science fiction writers (based, as well as we could tell, on Robert Heinlein, Isaac Asimov, and James thinks L. Ron Hubbard) who are asked to help with secret projects to end the war; and Rory Rammer, Space Marshal: "The Last Boojum!"

It was a great show, but by the time it ended I was feeling terrible. I used a cane today because my ankle was bothering me and it worked on the carpal tunnel in my left arm so badly that it was hurting from my shoulder to my fingertips, which were tingling. I really just wanted to get home. The elevators were mobbed and we though maybe it was easier trying to get to the street from the Hilton. We went over the skybridge and emerged in a cacaphony of hideous NOISE. A rock band was playing in the lobby so loudly that it felt like the roof was collapsing upon me. We both took a turn in the bathroom and by the time I emerged I was shaking and starting to cry.

So we went back over the skybridge and I remembered the little elevators right at the back there, the ones we used to take downstairs when the dealer's room was in the basement of the Marriott. Blessedly, except for a pizza delivery, they were empty and we got to the street level and out the door and were free to go to the garage and home. Once we were home I took Tucker out and then curled miserably on the sofa with a blanket around me nursing a bad headache. I was very glad to go to bed.

Labels: conventions, DragonCon, friends

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. . . . . noted and logged by Linda at 10:49:00 PM

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