Event: Gatecon 2oo8 - Family Reunion (Stargate Convention)
When: August 21 - August 24
Where: Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada
An additional note, this is a revision of my original report so it's "internet friendly." Sorry, guys, but some stuff I wanted to leave between Garry, my mom and me.
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Wednesday, August 20, 2008
My mom’s and my day began at 2:30am, Wednesday, August 20. Our flight from Allentown, PA wasn’t until 5:40am but the airport suggested we be there two hours early from departure. So we left home around 3:30am and got to the Lehigh Valley International airport around 4:00am. We boarded on time and were on our way to Chicago, IL accompanied by a beautiful sunrise. Upon arriving at O’Hare airport, we had little time to find our next terminal, which just happened to be all the way on the other side of the airport, and board on a little larger airliner. Departing on time, our four-hour flight consisted of food, a movie (The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian), an episode of The Office, and an E! documentary on the Wilson brothers; Owen, Luke and Andrew. Landing on time in Richmond, British Columbia, Canada, we breezed through Customs and made our money exchange. After that we looked for my friend William who was picking us up from the airport to give us a ride to our hotel and a tour of Vancouver. We found him holding a little sign that had my name printed on it along with a box of Tim Horton’s donuts. What a sweetie! And those are great donuts! After hugs and gabbing, we set off in his car and started our tour.
Photos from our airliners on our way to British Columbia:
The beach William took us to on our tour where Garry injured his leg while walking his dogs:
William showed us so much that I can’t possibly remember all the names and streets and buildings and beaches. One beach that stood out, with a spectacular view, was the one Garry had his “spill” back in February and messed up his leg while walking his dogs. After that we moved on with our tour driving by fancy houses and the University. Now a few days ago, Garry had passed on his cell number to me and told me to call him after 5pm since he’d be working on Wednesday. Well, while we were driving with William, Garry surprised us and called my mom around noon to try setting up a place to meet for lunch. Eventually we caught up with each other, exchanged hugs, and Garry suggested we try the local market food. So we headed over to Granville Island (one of the sites I really wanted to see), found parking, and caught up with Garry again. He took us through the Public Market and it was a huge store full of tons and tons of food from almost everywhere in the world. All of us got our food (mine was a salmon burger with French fries and water; delicious!) and found an empty table out on the patio by the docks for small boats after Garry so graciously paid for our meals. Seagulls and pigeons were everywhere on that patio! We sat at our table and got situated while Garry went to get his own food. Returning to our table with his food, he was ambushed by a seagull that stole a piece of his food off of his plate and whacked him in the head with its wing. I’ve never seen something so funny. Such rude birds! During our entire meal we watched the birds chase each other and eat food and fly at people, some of the pigeons even landing on people’s hands. Garry kept offering the seagull that attacked him a French fry that he stole from my plate and then kept stealing my fries to feed them to the seagulls. Of course I was the only one who couldn’t finish my food, but instead of wasting the rest of my burger, Garry took it and tossed it to a seagull that swallowed it whole! The four of us sat there for some time until we got up and allowed Garry to take us through Granville on foot. We stopped at many stores and admired the art we saw, joking here and there and having a great time until it started to rain. After visiting an awesome art supplies store where Garry pointed out a few of his favorite things, he hurried to his car and grabbed a giant umbrella for us. William ended up carrying it most of the time; such a gentleman. Continuing our walk as it rained and thundered a little, we came across a kids’ toys store that Garry pointed out would be perfect for me (ha ha!) and I said, “I was just going to say that to you!” but he beat me to it. I asked, “Well, does it have Transformers? We could play with those.” “I don’t know. It probably does,” he answered. So we went in for a peek and happily discovered some Transformers! “Which one is you, Garry?” William asked him. “I don’t see me,” Garry said and I frowned. They only had the Animated and movie toys. Eventually exiting the store, we continued our brisk walk in the rain, Garry pointing out more stores and its owners that he knew and brief histories about them. We got back to William’s car, swapped hugs and kisses with Garry as he took back his umbrella, and Garry added to my mom and me, “If you aren’t doing anything tonight, give me a call,” and told William to take us to the hotel to check in so we could relax from our flight. Instead, William wanted to finish our tour (which I was fine with), so we drove on. Our last stop was the hotel where we grabbed our luggage and hugged William, thanking him for all his help and the donuts, and then walked inside and checked into our hotel room.
No more than 30 minutes later and one of my other friends who lives in Surrey called me on my cell phone. We discussed a brief plan on when and where to meet on Thursday and it came down to him planning on calling me around 12:30pm since our day was pretty open up until the Meet and Greet portion of the Gatecon at 7pm. No more than another 30-45 minutes later, Garry calls my mom’s cell phone asking about the “Open Invitation to Beach Party at English Bay” that was scheduled at 7pm Wednesday night according to the Gatecon itinerary. Since it had been rainy all afternoon, no one was sure if it was still going to be held, so we decided to check it out together. Garry came by the hotel in his vehicle and picked us up. I sat in the front and my mom sat in the back. We headed down to English Bay with no luck of finding any kind of party. We turned around and started a short tour by car where he told us more about his own past and the city’s history with specific buildings, as well as giving us ideas where to eat for breakfast since the hotel food was so expensive. Then he asked if we had dinner yet, but since we were still kind of full from lunch, we decided to look for a place for just a snack or dessert. After finding a parking spot, we walked up and down the sidewalks until we came across a nice restaurant called the Milestone and finally decided to eat there. Garry ordered a small appetizer that looked really good and all of us ordered dessert. It was delicious! We sat there and talked about all sorts of things. We also talked about our work, I finally showed him my “creepy eye” which he thought was beyond weird, and he had us laughing out loud with his Southern and English accents and stories. We couldn’t have had a better time out. But all good things must come to an end. After an hour or two, we left the restaurant and walked back to his car, talking about how stupid it is to pay $300 on a pair of jeans and $500 on some shirt. He dropped us off back at the hotel and blew kisses, saying we’d see him again Thursday night at the Meet and Greet. My mom and I returned to our room where we finally settled in and went to bed.
(( Sorry there are no photos with Garry for Wednesday, guys. I didn't want to bother him with a camera, I wanted everyone to relax. ))
The view from our hotel room on the twenty-sixth floor:
Thursday, August 21, 2008
My mom and I didn’t get up until around 11am, mostly due to the jetlag, but we hurried up and got ready for the day while my brother and I texted back and forth, and I had a call from my friend at 12:30pm. Afterward, we decided to head down to pick up our registration first thing, and since we were so late, there were no lines. Woohoo! My mom noticed that her autographed photo of Richard Dean Anderson wasn’t the one she requested on-line. So we searched for someone from Lengends Memorabilia but they weren’t available until 2pm. So we headed down the street to Denny’s for breakfast. I had French toast with chocolate milk and Mom had eggs, pancakes, bacon, toast and sausage with orange juice. My friend called again while we were eating and told us he’d be at the hotel in about an hour since he lives in Surrey. After our meal, we walked back to the hotel around 2pm and checked out Legends. Now the sign said they’d be available at 3pm. So we waited for someone to talk to and finally spoke with Becky who took my mom’s photo but couldn’t guarantee that she could get the issue fixed. By then it was about time to wait for my friend to show up, and we waited in the South Tower of the hotel since it seemed to be the main entrance.
Around 2:50pm, my Surrey friend pulled up and we walked out to his car. He had a blue rose for my mom and a red one for me. What a sweetheart! He and I had a hug and kiss and then we were off to the “Metro” mall. Our first stop was the store he used to work at. It was Transformers galore inside! And they had Star Trek figures, and Family Guy, Mr. T, Gundam Wing, Final Fantasy, Gremlins, Reboot, Star Wars, and comics. It was great! Then we walked to Toys R Us and checked out more Transformers toys, and they had a pretty nice selection. Without spending much time in there, we strolled down the mall to a place called the Big Orange, where they made ice drinks with real fruit of smoothies, slushies and bubble tea. He insisted we try it, so we each got one and it was really good! Next, we drove off to his place in Surrey and spotted a bridge (for the sky train) that looked like the one they often show on Cold Squad. Arriving at his home, which was VERY nice, he introduced us to his giant Transformers collection that was freaking schweet. I have never seen so many in one place! Then he called one of our other friends and we had a three-way conversation on the phone, which was great since I had known her for years now but we’ve never met or spoken on the phone. While we were there, we also met his dad, and after a few pictures of us together and his Transformers, it was time to head back to Vancouver. This time we took the sky train, which I thought was great because Garry and William had been mentioning it a bit and said it’s a great view to see the city from an elevated location. By the way, the sky train is unmanned, meaning there aren’t any humans driving it. It’s all controlled by computers. Can everyone say “Sky Net?” Hah! We got off at our stop and walked back up to our hotel. It was already after 7pm, which was when the Meet and Greet part of the convention started. We walked up to our room with him, exchanged hugs and kisses, and he set off on his own back to his home.
It was about 7:45pm when we finally checked out the Meet and Greet. We didn’t see Garry but we saw Alex Zahara there first and weren’t sure if it was him or not, so we went to Corin Nemec and introduced ourselves and asked for photos with him. He was so nice and always smiling. We still didn’t see Garry after that so we decided to sit outside of the ballroom where we could catch him and anyone else coming in before the horde of fans would see them. On our way out of the room, Cliff Simon showed up and was greeted with applause and cheers. He was just as pleasant so we were able to get photos with him as well. Unfortunately, we heard from someone who was talking to Cliff when he asked who all was there and she said Alex and Corin were there and that Garry Chalk was there earlier. I was immediately disappointed and felt bad that we were so late and had missed him, especially since Garry’s always punctual for these things. It was almost 9pm when we finally walked out and I decided to give Garry a call to see if we could hand out some where else that he and William like to go some times but he didn’t pick up so I left a message. We sat for a while in the main lobby of the North Tower where it was quieter in case he’d call back and noticed Corin walk by toward the elevators. Not much later and he walked by again and looked at us because my mom waved and called his name. He smiled and continued walking on out of the hotel. Soon we decided to head up to our. From 11pm to midnight I watched an episode of Star Trek: TNG called “Q Who” on the Space channel which was cool because Q is such a pain in the butt and it was the first time the Enterprise’s crew was introduced to the Borg. I got my shower after that guessing that Garry probably wouldn’t call at that time and then went to bed.
Meet and Greet with Corin and me:
Meet and Greet with Cliff and me:
Friday, August 22, 2008
We awoke around 6:30am this time even though the alarm was set for 7:00 but we couldn’t sleep anymore. The sun was already trying to peek through the clouds. After getting ready for the day, and my mom finding out that her new slacks were too long, we went down to the hotel’s café for breakfast. I ordered the breakfast panini sandwich which was delicious and included dark forest turkey, tomatoes and sticks of asparagus. My meal also had an Omega 3 egg fit for dipping my hot sandwich in, fruit, and potato “chips” with orange juice. Mom had pancakes with fruit and orange juice.
At about 8:30am, we left the café and ventured back up to our room to grab our VIP passes and cameras. And so my mom could hem her slacks to wear them. Near 9am, we returned to the lobby level and headed down the escalators for Richard Dean Anderson and Captain Paul Watson’s (of the Sea Shepard Conservation Society) Q&A panel. It was spectactular! Both of them had a great sense of humor and jokes. Captain Watson was very knowledgeable in his answers and really made me open my eyes about all of the illegal whaling that’s still going on, and the seal hunts and dolphin slaughtering. It made me appreciate the oceans and its inhabitants even more and what the SSCS is doing every day, constantly putting their lives at risk to save every whale that they can. Recording was not allowed, but everyone took tons and tons of photos. Richard was great, it was definitely O’Neill sitting up there on the stage. After the panel, they left and we were showed a documentary on the SSCS. It was very moving, and I just couldn’t understand why people could murder such harmless, adorable creatures of this planet. I loved how Captain Watson told his stories; they were very touching. And how he explained that the Sperm Whale is the most intelligent mammal on Earth; more than humans. And how worms and insects are the custodians and cleaners of our planet; worms can live without humans but humans can’t live without worms. We are BELOW worms. And WE are killing the planet. My eyes watered at a couple parts of the video that showed dramatic slaughters, and showing what the crew of the SSCS goes through sometimes; attacks from ships of other countries, both physical and verbal. And I especially teared up at the clip at the end showing a baby harp seal crying tears from its large black eyes.
My mom and I went back to our room to freshen up and found out that we had voicemails since our phones had been off during the panel. I had the darnedest feeling one of them was from Garry but we couldn’t access our inboxes! Utterly frustrated with her phone company because my mom’s service kept roaming and she kept losing her calls, she finally got it figured out and she was able to listen to her messages. Yes, one of them was Garry saying he had actually waited for an hour for us at the other place the night before! I felt so incredibly bad. First we missed him at the Meet and Greet and then we left him sit all alone at that place! But we didn’t know because he never called us back because evidently he didn’t have our numbers on him, and I KNEW I should’ve left my number in my message on his cell phone. Also, he was under a time constraint for the Meet and Greet, so after he waited for about 20 minutes or so for us, he left as he needed to be somewhere else. I hate being late! So we finally got that figured out and we simply waited to see if Garry would call to catch up. Meanwhile, we decided to take a walk down Burrard St to see how far the McDonald’s was for a cheap breakfast over the weekend. And my mom took pictures of the building that reminded her of the one on Ghostbusters. Coincidentally, Garry had told us during our night out with him on Wednesday that he shot a movie waaay at the top of the building and that it’s just an enormous ballroom inside. We headed back up past the hotel and down the other end of Burrard, but since it only seemed to be businesses that way we soon turned around and came back to the Sheraton Wall Center hotel.
Looking for the room where the photo sessions for the other guests were going to be on the 3rd floor, Garry happened to call my mom to let us know he was one of the guests for the photos and that he’d be at the hotel shortly. We dropped off our jackets in our room and went back down in the line for the photos. Garry showed up and quickly said hi to us since he was in a rush to get situated for the session. But we noticed we needed forms of some sort for the photos, so while my mom went to figure out what that was about, I stood in line and Garry popped back out of the room, telling one of the volunteers he wanted to say hi to a couple people but couldn’t see us because we moved. He spotted my mom at the nearby help desk and then spotted me when I walked toward him. We walked together over to my mom and he apologized for missing us last night. I said that I was sorry for missing him! He asked, “Why are you sorry?” And I said, “Because we were out with one of my friends all the way over in Surrey and came back on the sky train.” “What were you doing in Surrey?” he asked a little surprised. And I said, “Well, that’s where my friend lives,” and we went on chatting about that for a minute or two. While my mom spoke with a volunteer, for some reason (that I can’t recall) Garry stared at me and tilted his head and pretended to rub noses with me like an Eskimo. He had to head back in to the room so we said we’d see him in there soon and got the rest of our stuff ready for it. Thirty dollars for each photo with a guest! Both of us chose five photos and I picked Colin, Corin, Cliff, Garry and Alex. My mom chose Colin, Corin, Cliff, Gary Jones and Garry. So we both spent $150 on professional photos with only five of the many guests. We were in line for a while, watching Colin playing the Wii and the other guests gabbing or talking on their phones. When we got to the front of the line, I saw Garry talking to Dean Haglund and looked and pointed in our direction and Dean smiled. I wasn’t sure if they were talking about us but I smiled and waved back anyway. And then Garry was trying to wave to us again but the photographer was in the way the whole time. I was up in line before my mom and I started off with Cliff since he was already up there with a previous fan that was from Florida. We shook hands and I said it was nice to meet him again and he said the same asking how I was doing. I said I was great and asked how he was and he said cool. After the photo, we thanked each other and shook hands again. Next was Corin’s turn so I told him the same thing upon shaking hands, that it was nice to meet him again. He said the same and I asked, “How are you holding up?” And he answered, “Real good!” And I added, “That’s good!” We shook hands again and thanked each other. Then it was Colin’s turn and as he approached, I said, “Wassup?!” with the appropriate hand gesture. He did the same thing and smiled saying, “What’s up?!” We shook hands and took the photo, Colin deliberately taking my right hand and placing it on his left side like he did with at least all of the women. Then we thanked one another. And then it was Alex’s turn, and I could see Garry standing up and getting ready to walk over before Alex did, automatically assuming I was getting a photo with him. He looked a little startled or disappointed, probably wondering when it was going to be his turn. I felt a little bad but laughed about it and tried telling him he was next and not to worry. Alex and I shook hands and introduced each other. He asked where I was from and I said Pennsylvania and he was a little surprised. We took the photo and he added that I could walk up to him to say hi anytime. I said that was great and thanked him. Finally it was Garry’s turn. When he was called, I pointed at him and called him over with my index finger. He smiled and started doing a little dance so I started to dance too and we laughed. As we stood for the photo, he told me that he was telling Dean about my artistic talent and I thought that was awesome! I said, “Awe, that’s great! Thank you!” We hugged and posed, took the photos, and then I was rushed out of the room like every other fan who was done. I waited in the lobby for my mom and then we hung out for a while there before we realized how long it might be until they were done with the photo session. She also mentioned that she had told Garry that we were free between the end of the session and the banquet but he had already had plans before the dinner. So he said we’d see him in a couple hours. After he left, we checked out the Legends dealer room and bought a few things for our selves and birthday presents for my younger sister and my brother. Back to our room for some relaxation and snacks, it’d be soon enough for us to get ready for the banquet.
My mom and I were getting dressed in our fancy gowns for the dinner around 6:30pm to 7:00pm and Garry called our hotel room saying he was waiting in the lobby. Well, he was way too early (the banquet didn’t start until 8pm) so we told him we’d be down soon. When we got down to the lower lobby, we walked around but couldn’t find him. But we did bump into Corin who didn’t seem to know exactly where the dinner was either, like us. So my mom went to the ballroom to save seats at a table while I went to find Garry. I went back up a set of escalators, and another set, and looked around all the lobbies. I didn’t see him so I headed down the long hallway that connected the North Tower to the Residential Tower and stopped to look out the glass wall that faced outside. I saw a couple small groups outside and noticed Garry’s vehicle parked near the South Tower so I knew he was there somewhere. I went back down a set of escalators and finally found him chatting outside with one of the groups I had spotted from above. I walked outside and met up with him. He seemed pleasantly surprised to see me all dressed up and one of the other guest actors (who played Anubis at one point) that was there asked me to do a little spin. With Garry egging me on as well, I spun lightly and smiled at them. Garry complimented me very nicely and I said thank you with a small curtsy. I had comments from a bunch of people for my dress and my Stargate tattoo. “Is that a real tattoo?” the “Anubis” guest asked. And I replied, “Yes, it is!” I never really think about it so I often forget that it’s there. Garry said, “Now that’s a true fan.” I laughed. Another lady joined our little group and showed us her tattoo, which was just like the Earth patch they wore on the left shoulder of their off-world jackets. That was a lot of ink but it was pretty awesome. So I was outmatched. Ha ha! We were out there chatting for some time and Garry helped with introductions when Michael Greenburg showed up between us and a nice mother-and-daughter couple from Ohio. We all talked about sports, and he said he was a local and went off on a couple other actors who lived in Vancouver as well, and we went off on all kinds of topics. So much time went by that my mom actually came strolling out and got just as many compliments as I did with her dress. Eventually we headed in to the hotel with Garry and headed down to the ballroom since they were beginning to serve the bread. We sat at our table and let Garry do his quick rounds, and I immediately noticed that we were sitting at a table that were all women. Boy, Garry was going to get a kick out of this. Ha ha! It turned out that they were all from the website known as Gate World, and they were all so nice so I hoped it wouldn’t be a problem. I caught Garry walking around and looked like he might have been searching for us, so I walked over and showed him our table. He said there might be a reserved table for him and the other guests and I said jokingly, “Forget about the reserved table and sit with us!” He strolled over and we sat down. The first thing he said was, “Oh man. A whole table of hot chicks! I’m definitely sitting here.” Ha ha! Everyone introduced themselves to each other and the ladies seemed very pleased that we managed to bring Garry to our table. It was such a great time. All the fans and the actors were laughing and carrying on and taking photos during the entire banquet. Garry showed us the accent he used to have when he was younger, and his Scottish accent, and his Russian accent from SG-1. It was awesome! But we talked about all kinds of things and he really kept it entertaining (as usual). One of the ladies was from Philly, another was from Florida, another from Nashville, another from Georgia, and the other was from Edmonton, Canada. Throughout the dinner Garry made some rounds to other tables, and Corin made a point about someone’s birthday; a 19-year-old named Steph. He got everyone to sing happy birthday to her and he brought her on the Stargate stage to chat a little before he let her go on and said congratulations to making it to the legal drinking age in Canada. Cliff had stopped by our table to speak briefly with Garry, and later on while he was making more rounds to the tables, Colin stopped at our table and asked for cameras so he could take his picture with everyone sitting there. That was really nice of him. But the actors were available to everyone the whole time it seemed. Colin, Corin, Garry, Dean, Dan Payne, David Winning, Andee. We got a load of hugs and “naughty” photos with Garry while he was at our table for some longer periods of time. He rubbed noses with me like Eskimos while the ladies snapped photos of us. And when we were standing with him to take more random pictures with our gowns, we had quite a little crowd forming with cameras and flashes from fans from other tables. It was really fun! Soon it was getting late and the banquet was wrapping up. Garry’s leg was getting sore and he was getting tired, so we called it a night. Most of the room had already cleared out. We gave hugs and kisses with Garry and he complimented us again. Since he said he was beat, and it was getting late, I didn’t bother asking about hanging out afterward, but he did mention that he had to check his itinerary to see if there was any time to drive us around again on Saturday. It was already 11pm so we went up to our room and got for ready for bed.
Garry sitting with us at the banquet (he was sitting between my mom and me). One of the ladies at the table snapped this shot of us about to rub noses but she didn't know how to use my camera so the flash wasn't on. I might have better photos later from one of the other ladies:
Garry and I taking more random photos. I like the attitude on our faces:
Me, Garry and my mom posing for random photos:
Colin and me:
Me on the Stargate stage:
Saturday, August 23, 2008
Waking up at 7am to a cloudy sky and temperatures in the lower 50’s, my mom and I got dressed and headed out for breakfast at McDonald’s down Burrard St. I had Cinnamon Melts with 1% milk and my mom had and Egg McMuffin with tea. After we were done eating, we returned to the hotel and grabbed our badges and cameras from our room and hurried down to the lower level. It was around 9:30am when we got to the first Q&A panel that had Andee, Steve Bacic, Corin and Cliff. They were hilarious! I loved it. It was a great start to a beautiful day. Immediately after them was RDA’s Q&A panel in relation to SG-1. He had us laughing the whole way through with his sarcasm, jokes and stories. He’s a really a remarkable person with a great sense of humor and a sweet kindness. At about the middle of his panel, we noticed Garry show up and hang by the doors to watch for a while. We were on the other side of the ballroom, though, so we couldn’t flag him down. Near the end of Richard’s panel, Michael Greenburg, who Garry had introduced me to the night before, showed up on stage with RDA and carried on a little while he had something to tell him as well. At the very end of his panel, Dan Shea showed up and pulled a few great jokes and stories with him, like when he and Richard were playing ice hockey and Dan whacked the puck right into RDA’s skates which caused him to fall down face forward and blow out his knees. Ouch! When it was over, almost everyone cleared out for the ten minute break, so we decided to set out in search of Garry for a good morning greeting. When we had checked the new itinerary they had posted in the lobby on the 3rd floor, it didn’t have Garry’s name anywhere for the day so we had no idea what was going on with him; he was originally scheduled in a Q&A panel. Since we couldn’t find him anywhere, I gave him a ring on his cell phone and he picked up saying he was getting ready for the Q&A. Evidently he had been “backstage” in the main ballroom where we had just left. So we booked it back downstairs and sat down right when they were about to begin. This was a huge panel! It had Dan Shea, Dean Haglund, Garry, Gary Jones, Dan Payne, Alex and Gavin. What a spectacular time it was with all of them up there. They were all funny and all so nice. Everyone’s stories were great. When it ended, we looked for Garry again but didn’t find him until we were waiting for the elevator. My mom had spotted him just outside, so I walked out and met up with him just to see what was going on. He said he was going to get lunch, and after that he had photo sessions to do. In the mean time, my mom and I figured we’d get some things done that we needed to do.
From left to right in the photos - Cliff Simon, Andee Frizzell, Corin Nemec, and Steve Bacic:
Richard Dean Anderson (RDA) and Michael Greenburg:
RDA:
RDA and Dan Shea:
From left to right in photos - Gavin (can't remember his last name), Alex Zahara, Dan Payne, Gary Jones, Garry Chalk, Dean Haglund, and Dan Shea:
We picked up our photos with the other guests that were taken on Friday and had a couple autographed for another $15 each. I was only able to get Corin at the time. I also went to the Legends dealer room to pick up Captain Watson’s book “Seal Wars” and asked him to autograph it. He was very nice. One of the SSCS crew members inquired how I knew about the SSCS and I told him I had stumbled upon on it on RDA’s website and also through Facebook. And we went on about where I was from and if I had seen the documentary yesterday. Then we took our things back to our room and came back down for RDA’s photo session. While in line, I spoke with a nice gentleman from the area and we talked about Stargate, the cancellation of Atlantis, the banquet since he wasn’t there, and where I was from. Richard’s photo session got off to a great start. He was so kind and nice to everyone, even the babies and toddlers; that was so cute! When it was my turn with him, I was about ready to pose when he had to adjust his pants or shirt or something. I backed away and laughed and patiently waited until he was done fussing around. After the photo was taken, I shook his hand and told him, “By the way, my brother, whose name is also Richard, wanted me to tell you he said hi.” RDA was pleased and smiled, “Thank you. Where is he?” I shrugged and said, “Not here! He’s probably at home playing video games.” I laughed. “He’s a big fan of yours, though,” I added. And RDA joked, “He isn’t such a big fan if he isn’t here.” I laughed and thanked him for the photo and he thanked me for coming. My mom was after me, so I waited for her. Since Garry’s session was still going on, we decided to go for some ice cream for lunch. We headed down Burrad St and stopped at Darryl’s Coffee Shop and Native Art. Everyone there was so nice! We got big bowls of vanilla ice cream with chocolate syrup and sat by the window to watch the people go by on the street as we ate. It was really good ice cream! We left and came back to the hotel and got Cliff to sign our photos with him. Afterward, we sat down in the lobby on the 3rd floor and waited for Garry to finish his photos, which was probably about an hour. In that time, we picked up our photos with RDA as well.
Richard Dean Anderson and me (scanned photo):
I called my brother to let him know that I had met RDA and told him everything we talked about with my brother wanting me to tell him he said hi. While I was on the phone, my mom had caught Garry exiting the photo session room and had him come over. “I’m on the phone with my brother,” I told Garry. And he leaned into my cell phone and my face and said, “Hello there in Pennsylvania.” My brother said, “Hey!” And then Garry had to run off for a moment for something. So I told him other stuff that had been going on and asked him what he was up to. He and some peeps were at a birthday party for his friend’s son, so that was cool. At least everyone back home was a having a good time too. Garry came back and couldn’t believe I was still on the phone. I just laughed and told my brother we had to get going soon and Garry said into my phone how much the call was costing me and for roaming charges. My brother laughed and knew what he meant. Once we hung up, my mom and I escorted Garry downstairs and outside. We sat on a bench in front of the hotel near the fountains. Garry had his camera on him, that he jokingly referenced was his phaser because of the way it looked, and said he wanted a photo of my mom and I together, so he took a nice photo. He asked if we had been to Stanley Park yet, and I answered embarrassingly, “No, not yet.” He had been pushing us to see it ever since Wednesday. “Okay, then let’s go. It’s only five minutes away.” Okay! So we hopped into his car and drove off to the park. It was really beautiful and huge! He gave us a tour around the place and then suggested he take us up a mountain for a view overlooking the entire Vancouver area. We ended up stopping at a couple views instead, and they were all simply breathtaking. And quiet. You didn’t hear any birds or crickets or insects. I absolutely loved the scenery and was so appreciative of Garry taking the time to show us around more even though we were under a time constraint. He took us all the way up to the ski slopes where they’re going to hold the 2010 Winter Olympics and we caught a Bald Eagle swooping around in the tall grass up a hill. Being my favorite bird of prey, it was so awesome to see my first wild encounter with one while with my mom and Garry. It was priceless for me. But those slopes are deathly steep! We turned around and headed back down the mountain to another place with another spectacular view where many trees had been blown over by the harsh windstorms. Passing an ice cream parlor, I said, “All right, ice cream!” And Garry asked, “Do you want to get some?” And I answered, “Oh no. We had some earlier for lunch at Darryl’s Coffee Shop down on Burrard Street.” “Oh, okay. I know the place,” he said. I think it put him in the mood for ice cream, though. Walking down a path, we bumped into a family of wild raccoons. They were so cute! Garry and I whipped out our cameras and started taking photos. Then we walked a little more and Garry took more photos with my mom and me with his camera and then we took turns taking photos with him with my camera. We headed back up and bumped into the raccoons again, taking more photos of them, and continued walking until Garry wanted to stop to buy an ice cream cone before we left. If we hadn’t had some ice cream earlier, we’d have joined him with the snack but we declined and went back to his car. It was starting to get late now and he needed to get back to the hotel to help with the auction that began at 6pm. Once we parked next to the Sheraton Wall Center, we hugged and kissed before breaking off from Garry, and went to our hotel room to grab stuff, drop off my camera since most of the memory card was full, and come back down to the grand ballroom. Garry showed up not long after and was a riot with the microphone. He was really into being the auctioneer and I could tell he was having a blast with it. The other actors that were there to help auction stuff to raise money for the SSCS were Richard, Captain Watson, Dan Payne, Corin, Alex, “Anubis,” Gavin, and surprise guest Tom McBeath. Totally awesome! I was really hoping he’d show up some time during the convention. It was hilarious how they all teased each other, especially when Dan Payne or Richard picked on Michael Shanks who wasn’t even there to defend to his self. Ha ha! And Garry got yelled at by Richard for speaking too loudly into the microphone. Really, he doesn’t even need one because he knows how to project his voice, but he was just having fun rattling off the numbers and encouraging people to bid higher. In the end, we all raised over $30,000! A pretty impressive number, one that Richard was almost in tears over. I couldn’t believe the money people spent on some of the items. I think the highest was $4,000. Unbelievable! But it was for a great cause. After the auction, I was to get photos with Tom, Captain Watson and Dan Payne while Garry hung out and got photos with other fans. We went up a level to the elevators and while we were waiting for one, Garry caught up to us and said he’d be up in a minute; that later turned out to be some other fundraising he was doing but we weren’t aware of it. I asked him if he had auctioneered before and he said yes and he always loves doing it. I told him I could tell and that he was great at it.
Our tour with Garry Chalk:
The adorable raccoon family:
Garry and me on our tour:
The auction to raise money for the Sea Shepard Conservation Society and Garry takes over on the microphone:
Tom McBeath on the mic:
Dan Payne, RDA, and Garry:
Captain Paul Watson and me:
Dan Payne and me:
Tom McBeath and me:
My mom and I went up to our room and got ready for dinner since we were starving. We headed down to the Denny’s on Burrard St. I had the Club Sandwich with French fries and a Coke. After dinner, we strolled back to the Sheraton and found Garry mingling with some people from the convention at the Bar One in the lobby. I couldn’t believe he was still there. While Mom went up to the room to get ready for bed, I hung out and waited to see what Garry might be up to since it was only around 10pm. When he was done gabbing with Alex and some other people, he gave me a big hug and asked where my Mom was. I said she had gone up to the room to call it a night and that we had already gone to dinner. He said he was beat and just wanted to go home to bed as well. He explained that he was still there because after the auction he had done more fundraising with some of the guys. I didn’t know that. Garry told me he’d bring one of his watercolor paintings for tomorrow, and I was very surprised. I said he really didn’t have to if he didn’t want to but I was pretty excited about it. I thanked him and told him how sweet he was while we hugged and kissed cheeks. Then we parted ways and I told him to drive safely and to get off of his bad leg. So no nothing else went on but everything he did for us today was far more worth it. I came to the hotel room and got ready for bed. Tomorrow will be just as fun for sure except that it’ll be the last day.
Sunday, August 24, 2008
One more fabulous day! Our morning began with an overcast and rain, so my mom and I figured we’d eat at the hotel’s café for breakfast despite how ridiculously expensive it was. I got the Continental Buffet and picked out cold cereal with milk and a croissant. When we were done, we immediately headed down to the grand ballroom for one of the Q&A panels. This one had Colin, Corin, Dean and Gary Jones. It was just as funny as yesterday. The panel that quickly followed that one was with Cliff, Gavin, Andee and Steve. Again, more jokes and great stories that I simply can’t remember. Then it was time for a 30 minute break so we walked about a little and checked out some stuff before we came back for RDA’s MacGyver Q&A panel. It was the last one before the convention’s closing ceremony so no one would be missing it. Right when we sat down, I noticed Garry walk in from the other side. I got up and walked over to him since it kind of looked like he was starting to look for someone when he began walking in front of the stage. I said good morning and we hugged, and he told me that he had a painting for me. I argued with him about him criticizing his artwork too harshly. I was so excited to see it but he didn’t have it on him right then, probably because he wasn’t sure if he’d find us right away. Then we walked together over to where my mom and I had our assigned seats according to our VIP pass numbers. I sat down and he sat in the empty row in front of us. Right before RDA’s panel was about to begin, Garry got up and said he’d quick grab my painting and walked out. Richard came on stage through the Stargate and all the jokes and stories came tumbling out again just like before. He’s so comical! Garry returned with his painting in a bag and handed it to me and sat down right away. I think he was nervous about it. I said, “Thank you so much, Garry!” and took a peek at his artwork and thought it was absolutely wonderful. “Do you like it?” he asked. And I answered, “I love it! It’s beautiful! Thank you so much!” But I couldn’t go into detail with RDA on stage; I didn’t want to be a distraction. Garry deserved a hug and a kiss for it, though, so I waited until Richard was being asked a question from the audience and I got up to half hug Garry from behind and give him a kiss on the cheek. I thanked him again and said I loved it. I don’t care what anyone says; Garry rocks!
From left to right in photos - Gary Jones, Dean Haglund, Corin Nemec, and Colin Cunnningham:
From left to right in photos - Steve Bacic, Andee Frizzell, Gavin, Cliff Simon:
When "Anubis" showed up for the panel (and if anyone knows his real name, please tell me!):
A couple surprises happened during Richard’s hilarious panel. Someone had asked him about him and Amanda Tapping kissing and that seemed to be Amanda’s cue to come out on stage. I couldn’t believe it! And they kissed and hugged with the audience “ooooing” them and cheering. She was one of the main characters I wanted to see so I was thrilled. Amanda’s as funny and sweet as I thought she would be. The other surprise was Richard’s daughter Wylie who was there. She was so cute! RDA asked her to the stage with them when his panel was ending. Immediately after that, they introduced Don S. Davis’s wife, Ruby, on the stage and she gave a heartfelt speech about her husband and personally thanked all the fans there for their condolences and support. It was very sad but very sweet. It just made me wish even more that I could’ve met him. After her speech, they showed a wonderful slideshow of Don with photos, his fantastic artwork, and thoughtful quotes from his loved his ones. Then they called every guest from the convention to the stage for farewell and thanks. My mom and I thought the tall, skinny dark guy was “Apophus” but weren’t 100% sure. He had facial hair and a lot of hair on his head so he really wasn’t recognizable. When all of the thank you’s were done, they played the Family Reunion slideshow to end the convention and everyone was clapping along and having a good time. Some, like Garry, were dancing off of the stage and out of the room. It was funny.
RDA's MacGyver Q&A Panel:
When Amanda Tapping showed up:
After RDA called his daughter Wylie to the stage:
Don S. Davis's wife Ruby:
The closing ceremony, from left to right in photo - Sabine Bauer (behind the Gatecon announder), Dean Haglund, Alex Zahara, Amanda Tapping, Gavin, "Apophus," Colin Cunningham, Dan Payne, David Winning, "Anubis," Garry Chalk, Bruce Woloshyn, Wylie and her dad Richard Dean Anderson:
About 2:30pm were autographs from the other guests in the grand ballroom. My first stop was Alex. I handed his assigned volunteer a U.S. twenty dollar bill but they didn’t have change for the $15 autograph. I said I didn’t care but Alex insisted he give me a dip with a kiss. Ha ha! Okay! I got a hug from him first since he said he does that for everyone and then he autographed my photo with him. Then he came around the table and dipped me and kissed me on the cheek. He’s so sweet! Since Garry’s line went down, I made him my next stop. I thanked him again for the painting and told him that my watercolor painting is crappy which was why I don’t have many, and that his talent with it was much better than mine. I’m a lot more comfortable with acrylic paint. I asked him to give us a call if anything was going on tonight. He said he wouldn’t be done until 8pm but I had a feeling it wouldn’t carry on that long; it was probably an estimated time. My last stop was Colin, who wasn’t accepting payment for autographed photos with the fans so that was cool. And that was about it for us at the convention.
My mom said Legends was accepting post cards from fans for Richard, so we grabbed one at the hotel gift shop with an Orca jumping out of the water in Vancouver. We thought it was fitting for someone who participates in the SSCS campaigns. And I had an idea to get a post card of Stanley Park for Garry, since he so graciously took us around there and it was such a great park, and to put it on his car so he’d find it when he’d leave incase we wouldn’t see him again. We took the post cards back to our room and I drew a little harp seal pup on RDA’s with a nice message and Mom added a message as well. On Garry’s we both signed it and wrote nice things to him. I added a little dog paw print and the Russian word “NYET!” in filled bubble letters. We put it in a ziplock bag to keep it dry. After we dropped off RDA’s at Legends, we walked out to Garry’s car that I had spotted earlier only because it was right outside the hotel and carefully placed it under his driver’s side windshield wiper. We walked back inside the hotel and grabbed snacks at the gift shop. Then we headed to the South Tower to print out our airline tickets in order to get back home. Well, once we got to the Business Center and started filling in information on a computer for the tickets, we realized we needed our passports and we didn’t have them on us. So we trekked it back to the North Tower and I hung out in our room to start typing up Sunday’s report while my mom went back to get our tickets printed. It was about 6pm when my mom returned and said she wanted to go down and try to search for Kate Ritter (the one who controls RDA’s official website), so we took off down stairs again and stopped at Legends. A crew member told us Kate hadn’t been there all day and had no way to communicate with her so we let it be (which was disappointing for my mom) and went down another level. Getting off of the elevator, we happened to find Garry standing around with some Gateconers and chatting. He hadn’t found his post card, and it looked like he was ready to leave, so we decided to hang back and not let him know we were there. Once he walked out of the hotel to his car, he got in and we saw he noticed something on his windshield. So he reached out of his door and grabbed it. A minute later (probably after he read it), he turned off his car and got back out. We had already walked out of the hotel and he saw us. We laughed and approached him as he said he was looking for us. He gave us two big hugs and kisses and told us we needed sleep since we were getting up at 3am. He hadn’t been home enough to be with his wife and dogs all weekend, so he was heading there for the night and wished us well. We said our good byes and headed back into the hotel while he drove off to go home.
We were getting hungry since it was past our regular dinner time and went off to find the hotel’s dinner restaurant. It was located in the South Tower so we went back there and had really good supper! I had the Seafood Linguini with Pepsi and my mom had the Caesar Salad and the Seafood Linguini with Pepsi and hot tea. The seafood was muscles, clam, shrimp and I think chunks of crab. It was delicious. And then we returned to our room in the North Tower and started packing. I also called William to make sure he was going to pick us up at our hotel and drive us to the airport and he said it wasn’t a problem, so we’ll be waiting for him.
Monday, August 25, 2008
My cell phone went off at 2:50am. I didn’t recognize the number that early but I realized it was past 2:30 and that’s when we were supposed to get up. With William picking us up at 3am, we had to scramble and get moving. Grabbing our luggage, we made it downstairs to the lobby and found William at the front desk. The guy at the desk helped us take a photo of the three of us with my camera, and then we got into William’s car and took off for the airport in Richmond. Once we got there, it was hard to say bye and leave, but we all hugged and William took another picture of us with his camera.
My mom, William and me about to leave the hotel at 3am:
Our flight departed on time despite the overcast. We landed in Chicago, IL at the O’Hare airport around noon, and since our departure wasn’t until 2:45pm, we were able to grab lunch at McDonald’s and find our terminal, which again was far from where we were. Once we got there, I watched Family Guy on my iPod Touch and listened to some music until it was time to leave. We boarded a smaller plane and departed on time with a smooth ride to Allentown, PA. Landing around 6pm, it was a gorgeous 80ºF with sunny skies and a light breeze. We jumped in my mom’s Jeep and went home.
What a spectacular vacation. Many thanks to Garry, William and my friend in Surrey!
