Long Beach Comic & Horror Convention

Today I went to the Long Beach Convention Center where they were holding the Long Beach Comic and Horror Con. The Guild was going to attend on Saturday of the two day event so me and a bunch of Guildies decided to make it a group activity.

The day started off with Brian, Greg and Sean giving a location tour of Season 5, since alot of it was shot at the Long Beach Convention Center. After the tour we had a viewing of Season 5 (cut down to 45 minutes). It was fun watching the season all strung together though there were some huge gaps and scenes completely taken out for time.. but all in all it was a fun watch.

A handful of us went down to the show floor where all the dealers are. We walked around the floor looking at different folks in costumes and checking out the dealers that were there. We found our friends Team Unicorn and their booth and decided to hang out there and chat for bit.

At 1pm The Guild cast (Vince, Amy, Robin and Felicia, along with crew Greg, Sean and Kim) did a panel. It was a 45 minute Q&A session and after a slow started it really got moving. The cast and crew were funny as always. Once that was over a few of us agreed to meet back here at 2:30 to go to lunch. So I headed out with Chris to his hotel room and then we hit the floor again.

At 2:30 about 17 of us gathered at our meeting place for lunch. We headed across the street to Islands and Chris used is charm to get us a table in about 10 minutes which wasn't bad since we had 17 people. They placed us at 3 tables all within the same area. Lunch was a riot.. I got a strawberry margarita and I'm a light weight so I was feeling pretty good.. even had one of my infamous giggle feast.

After lunch we went over to the Jones Soda truck. We were told they were giving out The Guild Jones soda bottles. When I got there several of my friend told Will about my experiences with my previous Jones Soda orders and he gave me a full set (6 sodas) all in perfect condition for free. Jones Soda is a pretty amazing company and have one of the best customer services I have ever had the pleasure of dealing with.

We then headed back to the con to meet up with the other Guildie Extras at 5pm. The gathering started off slow but soon folks were mingling and when Amy, Robin, Sean, Brian and Greg showed up folks got really excited. This lasted to about 8pm and then the party moved to a local bar where we had some dinner and a few more drink. We then went to an bowling alley/ arcade and played a few games before heading back to Chris' hotel for an after party.

Now this is were the real fun began. Since the room was so small we only could invite a few folks to join us. I was drunk but not so much so that I wouldn't remember the night. I was having a blast and I didn't want to forget everything. The party last until about 3am where I and several others crashed were we could in Chris' room.

This day started off fun and just got better and better as it went. Thanks to Chris, Luis, Jes, Jen, Anne, Scott, Rupert, Aaron, Anthony, Ashphord and new friends Nikki and Megan for making this an AWESOME time.

Dinner with Friends

Tonight I had dinner with some friends. This was the couple I was suppose to have dinner with last week but totally forgot about it. John and Moises are some great guys and I love hanging out with them. We got to spend about 3 hours eating delicious food (Moises is a great cook) and having some fun conversation (mostly movie and tv related) since we're all geeks.  I use to do TV night every week when I lived closer and these guys always showed up... I miss tv nights.  It was great seeing them and hopefully it won't be months before I see them again.

Podcasting Rut!!

Well I've been trying to motive myself to getting some podcasts done that are due very soon but nothing really seems to be working. I don't know what it is but editing podcasts hasn't been that fun lately and I need to figure out why. I have a MASH 4077 due as well as a revamped Knights of the Guild but I haven't even started those yet. I have 30+ people on my Confessions of a Fanboy waiting list to be interviewed and I have four that have already been interviewed and all I need to do edit them and get them out. I'm also still in the middle of prepping notes for my new Alien Nation podcast. 

I need to get the KOTG and MASH ones done by Nov 1st and I'm hoping to kick myself in the butt and get moving on the other in early November. I need to get out of this podcasting rut.

Disneyland Again

Yep.. went to Disneyland to joined friends Al and Joyce and once again today I will be doing the same. I  enjoy Disneyland but I just want to hang out with Al and Joyce who live in Arizona and I don't get to see them very often. Good thing is they are huge Disney fanatics so why not hang out with two awesome people in one of the happiest places on Earth.

It was another fun filled day walking around the parks enjoying ones company and the rides. I actually talked Al into riding Mickey's Fun Wheel (Ferris Wheel) and to ride in the moving cabs. We were paired with 2 young and very tiny girls so with Al and I weighting substantial more we were a bit lopsided and every time we swung our way we would turn the cab sideways and the girls would scream and grab the siding so they wouldn't fall towards us.  It was a lot of fun but  I kind of feel bad asking Al to do the ride because afterwards he needed a few hours to recover.

We hung out until 6pm then I was meeting up with another friend from Arizona who just happen to be visiting SoCal and the parks at the same time. So I met up with my buddy Aaron who I meet on the set of The Guild. Yeah he actually drove out from Arizona for season four and five to be an extra. Anyways we had a nice dinner at The Rain Forest Cafe, then walked around Downtown Disney for a bit before meeting back up with Al and Joyce where I said my goodbyes to all of them and then headed home.

I haven't been home in three days so I was happy to get back to my own bed... but I had a fantastic 3 days, two of them at Disneyland and one with my Mom. Was very happy that I was able to spend two days with Al and Joyce and at least have dinner with Aaron.

I love having my annual pass, you experience the parks in an entirely different way.

Hanging with Mom

Since I was down at Disneyland yesterday and going back tomorrow I figured instead of going home (hour and a half drive) I would stay at my mom's (20 minute drive) and then spend the day with her. I haven't hung out like that with my mom for as long as I can remember.

Got up at 8am and of course my mom and chuck (step dad) were already up and waiting for me to go to breakfast. The three of use did breakfast and then headed back to the house. While chatting mom asked me if I wanted to get a manicure and pedicure as she needed to get her nails filled in. I have always wanted to get a mani & pedi but never have so of course I said "yes!!". We headed over to her local nail place (where she has been going for over 10 years). The ladies were all very nice and got to work on me straight away. One did my finger nails while another worked on my feet. The poor pedicure woman really has to work extra hard as my feet have 40 years of wear and tear on them. But about an hour later they were done and my finger nails looked fantastic and my feet never felt so good. They end the session with  a 15 minute neck and shoulder massage. It was a pretty great experience and I can see me getting those every once in a while.

After the mani and pedi my mom and I headed out for lunch and do to a bit of shopping. I needed to get a hoodie as I was cold at Disneyland last night and I knew I would be cold again tomorrow night and I wasn't willing to pay $60 - $75 for a hoodie (at Disney). I did manage to get a pretty cool orange hoodie from Target for only $10.

After that we headed back to my moms where we hung out and I taught her a few things about her new iPad 2. She wanted to get one so she could talk to my nephew, her grandson. So we got that up and running but my mom is not computer savvy at all so will see how long she remembers.

Then the three of us (Chuck, Mom and I) went out to dinner. Once dinner was over we chatted for a bit until about 9pm then I went up stairs to my room to watch a bit of TV. I have to get up early tomorrow to get to Disneyland so I called it an evening around 10:30pm

It was a fun day filled with new experiences.

Disneyland

My friends Al and Joyce are down from Arizona celebrating their 15th wedding anniversary and of course they are celebrating at their favorite place on Earth, Disneyland. They invited me to join them so I went down today. Had a rough start to the day as I was running late, then fighting the woodpecker, then when I left my house I noticed that I had a flat tire. I fixed it and was on my way and right before I got to the freeway I realized I left my medicine at home (which I needed as I didn't plan on come home for three days). So finally an hour behind my original schedule I made my way down to Disneyland.

Luckily there was very little traffic and I got to Disney in an hour and 15 minutes. I hooked up with Al and Joyce and spent a magical day at Disneyland. We focused on mostly Disneyland, but headed over to California Adventures to have dinner at Ariel's Grotto. Joyce had made reservations for us. It's a nice restaurant and had some great food but is fairly expensive.

Part of our dinner reservations were tickets for preferred "area" to the "World of Color". That's one of the water shows at the park. I had never seen it so I was really looking forward to it. After some crazy times trying to find a decent area to watch we settled into a good area and the show began. WOW!!! this show did not disappoint and it brought me to tears. If you don't know what it is, they project video on huge walls of water that kind of dance to the music being played. That was a great way to end my Disney adventure. If you get a chance to watch the show.. take it. I can't wait to see it again.

After Disney I headed to my Mom's who lives in Newport Beach as I was going to spend the day with her tomorrow and then return to Disneyland the following day.

Once Upon A Time

Once Upon A Time is a new TV series on ABC that I have been looking forward to for months since I read the description of this series.
 
~ On the wedding day of Snow White and Prince Charming, the Evil Queen arrives and delivers an ominous threat about a powerful curse she intends to release upon them. Some time later, a pregnant Snow White is worried about the curse and visits Rumplestiltskin who issues a prophecy that the Queen's curse will take them all someplace terrible where there will be no happy endings, except for her. He also reveals that Snow White's unborn daughter, Emma, will return when she is 28 years old to rescue them, thus beginning the final battle with the Queen. On advice from the Blue Fairy, Geppetto and Pinocchio fashion a wardrobe from a magical tree which will allow one person to escape the Queen's curse. On the day Snow White gives birth to her daughter, the Queen's curse strikes. Prince Charming places their daughter in the magic wardrobe, but is mortally wounded battling the Queen's henchmen. The Queen stands triumphantly over Snow White and Prince Charming as the curse takes them to "someplace horrible".

In present day Boston, Emma Swan lives a lonely existence working as a bail bondsperson and bounty hunter. After blowing out a candle on a cupcake for her 28th birthday, Emma is approached by a ten year old boy, Henry, who identifies himself as her son, whom she had given up for adoption as a teenager. Not wanting a relationship with him, Emma agrees to drive him back to his home in not-so-quaint Storybrooke, Maine. Along the way, Henry shows her a large book of fairy tales he has, insisting that all of the stories in it are real. When they arrive in Storybrooke, Henry informs her that everyone in town is in reality a fairy tale character, exiled by the curse and with no memory of their real identities. This includes his therapist, who is really Jiminy Cricket, and his teacher Mary Margaret Blanchard, who is really Snow White. He claims that time is frozen in Storybrooke (shown to be 8:15 on the Towns Clock) and the people are unable to leave, but that the curse will be broken by Emma. A skeptical Emma returns Henry to his adopted mother, the town Mayor, who is really the Evil Queen. When Henry soon runs away again, Emma finds him and decides to stay in Storybrooke temporarily. This decision causes the hands of the town clock, previously frozen, to begin moving again.
First of all it's a fantasy and there aren't many fantasies on TV these days. Second it deals with Fairy Tales which I love so I have been super excited for this forever. Then we started to see trailers and previews and my excitement grew. ~

Well tonight it premiered and I fell head over heels in love with it. I enjoyed every minute of it. I loved the mix of fantasy and real world. I loved, loved, loved the costumes in the Fairytale world. The special effects were pretty good and I liked the story. The scenery was beautiful (fairytale land) and it made me cry several times. I mean it's only the first episode but they set up the story pretty good all within the first episode. I immediately watched it again, which I hadn't done with a TV series in a long time. And on my second viewing I loved it even more and I know I'll be watching it a few more times before episode 2 on Sunday.

This is must see TV for me and I'm hoping it does well in the ratings so we see there this adventure goes. If you love fantasy, whimsical, great characters and a fun story then check out Once Upon A Time on ABC, Sundays at 8pm