OKAY- So here's what happened...
FRIDAY
NIGHT
Telly, Katy, Katy's mother, Matt, Doug, and I all
went to the Hard Rock. It was a hoot. Singing along
to whatever was playing, doing the YMCA, stuff like
that.
SATURDAY
We took tacos to Doktor A. We found out from previous
taco excursions on Friday that he's a vegetarian,
so we took him veggie tacos. By the way, Helen,
you were correct ... his stuff is cool!
Doug's panel- "Leaping
from the Page- The Comics Characters of Doug Jones"-
was at 2:30. We thought it was right outside the
artist's area (it was on a board next to one of
the rooms) so we told Doktor A about it (he hadn't
seen Doug yet and wanted to pop by) ... then found
out that it was in another part of the convention.
So we arrived a bit late. But our running in, giggling,
yelling "Whoo!" at all favorite Dougie
characters. This is how we met Michele. Our loudness,
squeaks, giggling, and "I love you" sign
language hands, combined with our awesome shirts
(by our talented KatyBacon) and our awesome Fan
Sapien bags (glittery by Telly's hands), alerted
her to the fact that these were the chicks she was
looking for. We hung out with her for awhile.
Here's where things get dicey. Telly
was staying with Katy and her mom at their hotel.
Katy and her mom turned in for the night, and Telly
was supposed to grab her stuff from there and come
stay with us at our hotel. Somewhere along that
line, she got lost. Badly. She drove around for
the longest time, then went to a parking garage
and curled up in the back of her hatch. A couple
hours later, she found her way to the convention,
and hung out there with some of the best guys, a
couple volunteers guarding the Walk of Fame. (We
had designated Doug's table as the "lost puppy"
table.)
In the meantime, Matt, Michele and
I had some dinner, and hung around in a corner of
the lobby of the Mariott. After awhile, Spydaweb
and Doug joined us. We worried. I called Telly's
phone multiple times, texted Katy, and called and
texted Derek, who was up in the bar somewhere, thinking
that he would at least keep an eye out for her.
Every once in awhile, one of us would walk around,
looking for her. Nothing. 3 am (ish) was when we
gave up for the night. We just had no idea what
to do, and hoped to formulate a plan the next day.
SUNDAY
At 10 am the next day (after once again sleeping
through all my alarms), I got a call from Derek,
who gave me some suggestions. I quickly jumped into
the shower and into some clothes. This is when I
realized that there was a message for me on the
hotel phone. Helen, did you know your voice is very
calming?
Then I got a call from a number
I didn't recognize. Usually, I don't answer for
numbers unless I'm expecting a call from one, but
I picked up. Telly had borrowed a cell phone from
a stranger, called her husband, who looked on Facebook
to find my phone number, then she called me, hysterical.
We hauled it to the convention, found Telly completely
a mess, and took her back to the hotel to sleep.
Matt stayed behind to "babysit" and make
sure she had everything she needed. I gave Katy
and her mom a hug goodbye, and went to hang out
with Michele.
The two of us met
at Dougie's table to walk with him and Derek to
the "Why Actors Chose Certain Roles" panel.
When we got there, we met up again with Spydaweb
[from the DTF board -
Ed.].
Afterwards, Doug was going to go
to a short film screening, so Michele, Spyda, and
a handful of other people went back to "our
spot" on the floor, in the back of the Mariott
lobby. We hung out, waiting for Doug to get out
of his movie. When he arrived, we got some burgers
and hot dogs and sat around, just munching.
Then Derek joined
us. While the whole lot of us were sprawled out
in a semi-circular fashion, Derek just talked to
me. He asked me questions, joked around, stuff like
that. Telly moved closer to us, and the two of them
discovered that if you lay in the right position,
you can see up the kilts of dudes walking on the
walkway above us. (I did not partake of this discovery
... bleh. LOL)
Derek is AWESOME.
He taught Telly and I the proper way to take tequila
shots. Randomly, we were just lying around in "The
Spot" when he asked me what number our hotel
room was. When I replied - 520 - he jumped up, insisted
I come along with him, and we went up to the 45th
floor and looked for a (4)520. There was none -
it just went from 4519 to 4521. We went down to
the 5th level, and found it. He knocked on the door,
but nobody answered, so I just took a picture.
When we got back
down there, there was a new puppy, Trey. He has
the funniest laugh. The whole lot of us decided
to go over to the Walk of Fame to see if Telly's
security volunteer friends and thank them. When
we went back to "The Spot," Derek decided
to call it a night.
We all hung out
with Doug some more, then said goodnight to Michele.
We took a walk around the atrium with Doug and Trey,
then parted company.
