Good "morning" all!

Getting a late start today... the neighbors were having a big,
loud party last night and I didn't get to crash until way after
1am.  Combined with a week of 5/6 hours nights, getting up at
6am on a Saturday (what-fucking-ever!), lots of driving, oh...
and *tons* of adrenaline from meeting Garett -- let's just say
that wallowing until almost noon worked out just fine  ;->

I'll mostly piggyback Pam's comments cuz I figure most of you 
would rather I work on and upload the pics than ramble.  Sigh.
I just wish I had the equipment/software to transfer the vid to
digital.  I don't have a clue why, but the man just looks *way*
better in motion than in snapshots.  I think it's because --
lovely as he is -- his personality is a large part of the appeal
and that comes across much better on vid.  

> So we arrived in Moonridge about half an hour before the park 
> was open. 

Apparently Mapquest's estimate of time doesn't take into account
that some of us have a deep appreciation for driving twisty
canyon roads.  And that, in the mountains, speed limit signs
are simply suggestions for the minimum speed.  But Pam said I
didn't do anything too silly.  Well, at least on the way up.
Between getting lost and taking a couple of turns a litte hot
on the way down... let's just say I realize that my attention
was elsewhere  ;->

Random weirdness -- on the way up I stopped at a gas station to
make sure I wasn't lost (which I wasn't... whoo-hoo!) and the
woman at the counter just happened to have lived in Downey (my
current home town) for years before moving to Big Bear.  Just
a few blocks from my house, actually.

> We met some other Sentinel fans and come to think of it, the 
> majority of the people there were Garett fans. 

Yep.  I was thinking about that last night.  I felt kinda bad for
the other celeb-types there. 

Re: the folks we met at the gate: I really should remember that
not every Sentinel fan is into slash (i.e., Star had yet another
case of 'big mouth' disease re: interpreting certain scenes).
Luckily, the gals we met were... and then Jencat showed up, so 
that took care of that  ;-> 

> The people we met were going to be at the next events as well, 
> so it's nice to be friendly. :-)

It'll be great!  We'll know people when we get there and we won't
be the only ones 'stalking' him this month.  No, seriously -- nice
folks.  And we all seemed to be behaving.  We don't want to freak
him out now that he's finally dealing with fans again after that
restraining order incident.  
 
> When it opened, it was announced that the celebrities
> would be signing around 11am, so we had time to kill
> to see the sleeping animals.

I took pics and vid of pretty much everything -- *love* furries!
Oh, and the birds... tons of raptors  ;->.  To be honest, the fact 
that we'd be at a wildlife rescue/zoo had nearly slipped my mind, 
so I was already giddy before he arrived.

> but we finally see Garett, with Deb in tow, walking to the table 
> where he was signing.  

My first instance of Garett-dar... I got that on tape because I
just "had a feeling" that I should take my vidcam out while we
were grabbing some shade near the food shack.  Apparently the
practice with the animals paid off, because I actually managed
to work the zoom function and follow him down the hill without
too much fumbling.

> Then the majority of the woman population at the park followed.

*snicker*  Seriously.  It was pretty funny... everyone just
"casually" getting up and heading down there.

> It was pretty laid back, with the handlers laid back,
> people taking all the pics they could.

At first we were shy about it, afraid that someone would stop us
or something.  It didn't take long to relax though, and I kept
switching between the regular camera and the vidcam, not being
sure which one would deal best with him being in the shade.  

> A line formed, and he would sign pretty much anything you
> gave him. 

I'm a dork... I *totally* forgot to bring any of the lovely
Sentinel pics I have here at home.  But Sud's going to help me
get together some nice stuff for Fan Odyssey... DUG pics too.

> I had nothing to sign at the moment and Star
> was debating to give him the wolf pup or not. Really
> cute pic by the way. ;-)

Sigh.  Him laughing about that was my fav moment of the day.  Well, 
tied with getting to actually touch him, of course  ;->.  Oh, and
him grinning as he checked out the pics of him and Richard pasted 
in my writing notebook.  No manipulated photos or blooper kisses,
luckily -- just stuff from the actual show.

> So we got in line with Star ready with her writing
> notebook (hiding the writing part of course) 

Similar to a dream Pam had, actually.  Oh -- did I mention he
adds a peace sign to this autographs?  *Love* that  ;->.

> suddenly I'm all nervous, he was signing my ticket and asked 
> if I wanted my name on it. I seemed to have forgotten it
> and just told him to sign his name. 

LOL!  Yeah... I had that moment too, when he asked.  Somehow
I managed to blurt it out and even tell him that it's only one
'r' (lots of people write it with two... ergh).

> Then I asked for a pic, he said sure. I came around closer to him 
> and he had his arm out to put around me, so heck yes, I put
> my arm around him. 

Of course.  Not an opportunity I was willing to pass up either.

> I lost the conversation between them since I was busy
> trying to take more pics,

*crossed fingers they all come out*

> but Star could fill you in.

I can?  I don't remember too much of that first time at the table,
to be honest.  Those big blue eyes are dangerous.  Oh, wait!  Almost 
forgot -- one of my missions was accomplished.  While looking at the 
wolfpup, he said something about seeing the resemblance, then he
tugged on some of the curls and said "except that now it needs a
trim", to which Jen and I both replied "Or you could just grow
yours out again."  

> I just know afterwards she said happily, "I made him laugh!".

What can I say?  He's got a lovely laugh.

> Got to talk to Deb who was pretty cool, nicer than I thought she 
> would be. I can just see her stressed at the DUG con though. 

Totally -- to both.

> Anyhow, I asked how she was doing and she was just tired. I bet it 
> was oh so fun riding up with Garett that morning. 

Hehe... I guess he's not such a 'morning' person after all  ;->
Either that or a crazy driver.

At some point I know we also asked her about how things were going
re: being ready for the big day and she said something about not
being too worried because once the guys show up, no one will care
about anything else.  Paraphrase: "In fact, I'm more worried that
we've ordered this huge spread and no will will eat anything."

We were beside the autograph tent and next to the wolf enclosure 
at that point and we all got some shots of Nova (the wolf Garett's 
fan club adopted).  Talk about intense eyes....

> So finally I decided I would and when it was my
> turn again, he looked at a pic and said "God, what's
> with the face?". It was a pic of him doing the eyebrow
> thing, which Star said something to the effect of "No,
> she'll love it, you're doing that eyebrow thing." 

*blush*  I know it could've been worse, but I *am* kind of surprised
at some of the stuff that actually made it out of my mouth yesterday.
At least I resisted the temptation to touch his hair while he had 
his head bent to sign the pics.  It's a darker brown that I expected 
-- maybe cuz he wears to short now, so it doesn't get as much time 
to lighten up -- and he even has a few grays sneaking in there.

Me?  Hair fetish?  Nah....

> The handler lady said he looked great in it etc. Garett
> grumbled a bit and said, "And I'm not a puppy." Hee.

I have a feeling she had called him that earlier in the day when
he was getting pictures taken with the little wolf pup they just
added to their menagerie.  They seemed quite taken with each other.
I have both pics and video of them together.

> RB wasn't there still and we later learned he did come after 
> everyone pretty much left and he needed to get back to LA quick 
> to his play. 

Doof.  Robbed us of a good chance to get pics of them together.
Hopefully he'll be at DUG...

> A later conversation with Deb, she was telling
> us how Richard got lost to her place, someone actually
> had to go get him. ;-) The running joke for the day,
> "Richard, see that mountain? Go up." 

LOL!  From personal experience, I have to admit that getting *to*
Moonridge is easier than leaving.  I almost took us down the east
side of the mountain instead of the west.  How the heck can Redlands
be on *both* sides of Big Bear???  

> It was just sensing Garett's presence and there ya go, he'd be 
> walking by.

Told you that getting into Highlander would come in handy  ;->

> Quite loverly. As the people dwindled and we held out
> hope Richard would show up, it was time to leave.

Right before we left, we hooked up with some Highlander fans over
by the bathrooms.  We mentioned to them that Peter (Methos) would
be at an event in Reno in October.  Just as I got done gushing
over him and one of the other ladies took up the chant, guess who
walks out of the men's room right behind her?  Yep.  Sigh.  I 
watched him walk on back up the hill toward the main building, 
then mentioned it.  Yes, I'm evil.  We also heard from some other
woman than Peter -- like Garett -- is even better in person that
on-screen or in pics.  

Let's see... I also traded comments with a couple of the other
shorter gals re: Garett being *plenty* tall enough as far as we're
concerned.  Oh -- and it sounds like Garett, Richard and David
Cassidy are all signing up for Deb's next film.

> Earlier than we thought it would be. Got lost on the
> way down, Star just didn't want to leave. Her dar was
> pulling her back. ;-) 

Hey -- I still need a pic of him smoking.  And that long shirt
he was wearing kinda cut off the view re: a couple of other
snapshots I'd told people I'd try to get....

> Had just a lovely day overall, and looking forward to
> the next weeks. Hopefully it'll be as fun as this one.
> Probably missed some things, but Star can probably
> remember some stuff I missed. :-)

Just random babbles ;->

Oh -- and the other 'random weirdness' was that pseudo rainburst
on the way home.  I shit you not... it honestly seemed like the
sky was completely clear and that it was only raining on our car.
I not sure wtf *that* was about.

Okay -- off to play with Paintshop!!

*Hugs*
Star