Special Lunch, Vasquez and Flirting

Woke up and made breakfast for Dani and I. While we ate breakfast we watched Wreck it Ralph, again I love this movie and I'm so glad Dani enjoyed it as well. Afterwards I was taking Dani to a Greg Benson shoot down in Los Feliz. This was a great opportunity for her as she lives in Brazil and would have never have had a chance to be in one of Greg's videos.

I dropped her off and headed to Universal Citywalk were I was meeting with more friends from out of town.. Eva from Canada and Lydia from German. They were both visiting LA after being at SDCC last week. We had lunch at Tony Romas. By the time we were done Dani was done with her shoot so I went back to pick her up. Lydia and Eva walked around Citywalk before heading up to my place to hang out.

The four of us hung out at my place for about an hour and half. Dani packed up her stuff as her flight was leaving at 9:30pm. This was Eva's first time at my place so as always we had to visit Vasquez Rocks. We walked around for about 45 minutes, took pictures and had a nice time.

At 6:30pm Dani and I said goodbyes to Eva and Lydia and headed to LAX. Surprisingly traffic wasn't bad and we got there in just under and hour. That gave Dani 2 hours to check in and get to her flight.

It was nice having Dani as a house guest, though for a short time. She seems to come out to the states ever other year.. so I hope we get to hang out again in a few years.

After dropping off Dani at LAX I stopped by a Taco Bell to grab some dinner. While I was there a gentleman.. I'm thinking late 40's walked in, looked over at me and smiled. I didn't think anything of it as I was eating my burrito. But when I looked up again he turned and caught my eye and smiled again. Now I'm really bad at picking up if someone is flirting with me.. but I think he was. Of course nothing came of it as I had left before he got his food. And honestly at the time I wasn't sure what was going on... if he was flirting with me.. it did kind of made me feel good, it's not very often that someone is interested in me.

Got home around 9pm, watched some TV and called it a night.

The Guild is 6 Years Old!!

6 years ago today The Guild premiered on You Tube. Now I wasn't there when they released the first episode. I remember my friend Rico from the Treks in Sci Fi forums posted a link a few months later with the first episode. I remember watching it and something about it just hooked me. I wasn't a gamer so it was that but something about the characters, the writing, the humor that just clicked with me. This series was my first foray into webseries.

I was there during season one as they slowly released new episodes, I remember when they started asking for paypal donation to help get the next episode done which I was happen to contribute.

Then during the break between seasons 1 & 2 I emailed Kim and Felicia and offered my services. I am a Post Supervisor, I had (at the time) a facility with avids if they needed editing done. But what I really wanted to do was produce, shoot and edit some behind the scenes specials for their DVD's. I love that kind of stuff and I know season one DVD really didn't have a lot of stuff. They rely on the sales of DVDs to make more seasons so I wanted to help anyway I could.

They really liked this idea and so began my journey as an official member of The Guild family. I did DVD BTS stuff for Seasons 2 & 3, I also started Knights of the Guild Podcast with my friend Jenni (who also worked for The Guild) between seasons 2 & 3. For season 4 DVD BTS they went a different direction and didn't ask me back but I talked with Kim about taking my podcast to the next level and so CompanionCasts were born. Each episode of seasons 4 & 5 had an accompanying CompanionCast with cook behind the scenes information and interviews for that specific episodes. I continued to work on Season 6 but not in the same capacity as I did with previous seasons, hence why there aren't any CompanionCasts for seasons six. The podcast is still going but I'm releasing cool season six interviews with cast members right now. Once those are done I plan to do one final "big" episode and then lay the podcast to rest.

I can say that with out of doubt my life changed the day I went to the apartment complex for the first day of shooting of season 2. I've met so many incredible crew members, actors and awesome people from all over the world because of the Guild. But the best thing that would happen to me didn't happen until season 5 when I met a group of extras (My Geek Mob), who will forever be part of my life. I found that group of "friends" that I have been looking for my entire life (40 years). I also have The Guild to thank for introducing me to two of my most favorite people in the world Chris and Robert, I couldn't ask for better best friends.

I don't know where my life would be if The Guild hadn't come into it. Thank you Felicia for creating such an amazing show and allowing me to become part of your family. I will never be able to say Thank you enough.

GUILDIES RULE!!!!!!!!!

My Brazilian Friend & Google Hangout

Today I picked up my friend Dani who is visiting from Brazil, she was up north visiting some friends. She is coming back to the LA area as she flies out of LAX tomorrow. So I'm picking her up from the bus station and she is crashing at my place tonight then I'm taking her to LAX tomorrow evening (I'm such a good friend) :)

I picked Dani up at the Greyhound station in San Frenando, then we went to Islands for some lunch. Afterwards as I do with everyone who visits my place I took her to Vasquez Rocks and we walked around for about a half hour.

Back at home we sifted through all my movie screeners from last year and picked out three movies that she had not seen and wanted to see, Argo, Rise of the Guardians and Wreck it Ralph..  We really weren't in a "drama" mood so we watched one of my favorite movies from last year Rise of the Guardians. I love this movie so much and I'm happy to say she really enjoyed it as well.

It was now about 9pm and we thought about watching Wreck it Ralph but she was tired (long day of traveling by bus) and my buddy Chris was having a Google Hangout that I really wanted to join. Dani jumped on her computer and started checking emails and such while I jumped on the hangout. There were alot of friends there and it was AWESOME!!!

Google hangouts are the next best thing to actually hanging out in person. The conversations were all over the place and at one point we played an online mad libs .. this was the final result.

Magic, Anyone?
By: Roger Price & Leonard Stern

Dinosaurs of all ages enjoy watching Drunk magicians perform their Crazy tricks. Every man, woman, and Guild of Extras loves to see a magician pull a/an Hat out of a hat, saw a live Magic Eight Ball in half, or make a huge Willem Dafoe disappear into Sleepy air. Audiences love when magicians perform sleight of dicks with a deck of Tentacles, a/an Hairy coin, or a silk pizza.

The greatest of all magicians was the slutty Harry Houdini, who was able to escape from a locked Glitter even though his breasts were tied behind his taints and his feet were wrapped in iron lamps.

Needless to say good times were had... Dani went to bed and I stayed and hungout until about 11pm or so. At that point I called it a night and crashed.

Lacking Motivation

Still recouping from SDCC, I haven't unpacked anything and I'm having a hard time pretty much doing anything. I have podcasts to edit, and a house to prep for selling but just not feeling motivated. I really do need to kick myself in the butt and get things in gear.. I did manage to get my SDCC pictures up on Facebook as well as a bit of blogging,.. I'm so far behind.

I also did a bit of the summer festival questing on Lord of the Rings Online. I think when this week is over I'll be able to get back into the swing of things. As there are still friends from out of country around and I've been planning things with them. We gotta see each other as much as possible before they go home.

LOTRO & Babylon 5

Today I felt a little better.. had a full day of really doing nothing to recoup from con.. planned to start getting things going again with painting and such.. but of course Lord of the Rings Online started their Summer Festivities and me still not feeling 100% decided to check them out.

I spent the next six hours running around the Shire finding missing items and then fishing in various lakes and I have to say.. online fishing is just as boring as real life fishing.. might even be worse. All of this just to collect Summer Festival Tokens so I can get some cool clothes, house items and mounts. Don't get me wrong I had a blast and it's daily and running until the beginning of August.. so I'm sure I'll be doing it again and again real soon.

Headed out to Robert's for our TV night. If you're a regular follower of my blog you know we've been watching Buffy (Rewatch for me and 1st time for him). Well we finished that a few weeks ago so we had to decide on a new series and we choose something that neither of us had seen.. Babylon 5. I may have watched a few episodes of season one back when they first aired but I honestly don't remember a single thing about the series.

We start with S1 Ep 1 "Midnight on the Firing Line" When the Narn attack a Centauri colony, Londo and G'Kar nearly come to blows. Meanwhile, raiders are attacking transport ships near the station.

I good episode to start with... you really get to know the main characters, especially Londo and G'Kar. The effect are a bit cheesy and they weren't meant to be seen on a 60" big screen. But I'm not an HD/CGI snob so I got use to it and didn't let it distract me from the story.

Next was S1 Ep 2 "Soul Hunter" A badly damaged ship is brought into the station, and the strange alien inside is identified as a Soul Hunter — an immortal race who can sense death and supposedly steal someone's soul.

I really enjoyed this episode, we get more back story for Delenn, she's hiding something. We're introduced to the new stations doctor. And this one really made you think about afterlife and what these aliens were doing.. was it a good thing? It really got Robert and I talking.

Our third episode of the night is S1 Ep 3 "Born to the Purple" Londo's career is in jeopardy when a beautiful slave seduces him and steals a sensitive computer file. Garibaldi investigates an unauthorized use of a restricted communications channel.

Cute episode.. I liked seeing Londo in love and I really liked his girlfriend. I liked that she was concerned about appearance but Londo didn't care.. this showed some real good character aspects in Londo that I liked. I also liked the B story with Garibaldi finding out that it's Lt. Cmdr. Ivanova talking to her dying father in secret. I mean this poor women.. we find out in the first episode that her mom was a telepath and eventually committed suicide and now her dies dies in front of her.

Next up S1 Ep 4 "Infection" Dr. Franklin gets a visit from old friend and mentor, xenoarcheologist Dr. Hendricks. He wants Franklin's help to analyze hi-tech organic artifacts he found on a dead world. But the artifacts seem to have a will of their own, and start to manipulate Hendricks' assistant.

I think this was my least favorite of the bunch that we watch.. though it was still very enjoyable. I kept questioning Robert as to why the Captain always seems to be risking his life and at the end Garibaldi questions the Captain on why.. I love that.

And our final episode of the night S1 Ep 5 "The Parliament of Dreams" Sinclair's old flame, Catherine Sakai, arrives during a weeklong festival when humans and aliens demonstrate their religious beliefs. An old enemy sends an assassin to kill G'Kar.

Another enjoyable episode, at first you think G'Kar is going to be this horrible person / bad guy but he is actually some comedy relief as well. I liked that we got to know the Captain a bit better. I enjoyed seeing the different religious ceremonies and G'Kar trying to stay alive was hilarious... a great way to end our first viewing of Babylon 5.

As we were watching some folks tweeted me and asked if we watched the Pilot episode.. I guess their was a 2 hr pilot that came before the series.. We had no idea.. it's unusual for a series box set to not have all the episodes.. come to find out that though it's part of the series they did some revamping of characters from the pilot to the series. I was told that we really don't need to watch it but both Robert and I want to see it all so will have to go back and watch that next time we get together. We're only five episodes in so it shouldn't be to much out of sync.

So today was a good day.. played some LOTRO, got to see my best bud (who I missed even though I saw him only a few days prior) and we started to watch what looks to be a pretty awesome tv series. Can't wait to see more...

Post SDCC Blues

I don't know why I thought it would be a good idea to walk around a con for five days and 3 of those days in Hobbit feet and then walk around Disneyland the next day... my feet have had it. This is my decompress from San Diego Comic Con day. I did nothing all day long. I could have unpacked or cleaned up the house or even painted but I was physically and emotionally exhausted. I did manage to blog a few days... I'm 12 days behind.. I've never been 12 days behind. I managed to blog all the way up to the day before SDCC. Those blogs are going to take more effort and energy that I just don't have.

There are several aftermaths of SDCC, some folks get the Con Crud (cold/flu) and some get the Post SDCC Blues.. I got the blues. I miss everyone, especially my Bros'. It tough going from sharing a room with your two best friends for five days to sharing a house with no one. Luckily for me I get to see Robert tomorrow for our TV night, but I don't have a clue when I'll be seeing Chris again.. I hope it's soon.

Goodbyes and Disneyland

Got up around 8am and made some breakfast for Chris and I. He was heading back to Montana today... I was was not happy. We watched some TV then wrote in each other's Guild Companion books. I waited to write in his and Roberts because I really wanted to write something meaningful.  He packed up and we headed out about 11am. His flight wasn't until 4pm but I had made plans to hang out with some "out of town/country" Guildies plus Chris was going to hang out with Jen and Jes, before heading to the airport and flying back. We got to Jen's around noon, we took his stuff inside her place and the three of us chatted for about a half hour.

I don't know what it was about this time but I cried saying goodbye to Chris. The past few visits I didn't and the only thing I can think of that is different this time is that he has no plans of come back and I have no current plays to go to Montana. We don't know when will be seeing each other again and I think that's what pushed me over the edge. We hugged for quite some time before parting ways and saying "see you later". We had a great six days of hanging out. I wouldn't change any of it for the world.

I was depressed now so what better place to go then Disneyland for the much needed cheering up. I got to Disneyland around 1pm and went straight to the Little Red Wagon to get me a yummy corndog. While I was eating it I contacted the folks who I was meeting up with. Lydia and Eva had been there all day and found me first. Then Brian, Dani and Doug who had just arrived joined us. it was fairly busy and the lines were a good 50 + minute wait . The group of us first road Star Tours, then Eva and Lydia had fast passes for Space Mountain so Doug, Dani, Brian and I went on the Indiana Jones ride. Eva and Lydia met up with us once again and we rode Pirates of the Caribbean. We then walked around Fantasyland before getting in line for

It's A Small World... fyi this was Eva and Doug's first time at Disneyland. The ride broke down so we got out of line and instead went for a bite to eat. We all had fast passes for Star Tours but Eva opted out of riding it again. We then rode Astro Blasters before deciding to grab some dinner. While we were heading to dinner Andrew Seely joined us. We had a yummy fried chicken dinner (except Dani) and rested for a bit. We then went to Space Mountain and rode that.

By this time it was 10pm and I was tired and called it a night. I said goodbye to the gang and headed home. Once home I watched some TV and tried to stay awake as Dani, Doug and Brian were crashing at my place tonight before heading up to the San Fransisco area tomorrow. They didn't get to my place until around 2am. Once they were settled in we called it a night and I got some much needed sleep.

The Guild Yearbooks

The Guild released a Companion Book for the series during con. A group of us got the exclusive edition which Titian apparently only made or brought 30 of them. The special edition is identical to the standard one you can buy at a bookstore or Amazon.com with a few exceptions.. it's hardbound and has a page at the beginning with a drawing from Jeff Carlisle and the autographs of the six main cast members. We purchased our books Wednesday night during preview night right before the con floor closed. We heard they were sold out by 10am the next day.

I can't remember exactly when.. it may have been on the shuttle ride back to the hotel Wednesday night but Chris mentioned that since there are so many Guildies here at con we should get them to sign our books.. make them Yearbooks for the Guild. Both Robert and I loved the idea and soon word of the Guild Companion books becoming Guild Yearbooks got around and everyone was having their books signed.

We spent Thursday to Sunday trying to get as many Guldies to sign our books.. some of the messages were fun and were very yearbooky.. like "Senior Rule!!!" or "Stay Sweet".. I wrote in many of them "Have a Bitchen' Summer.. K.I.T (then my phone number)." Some of the messages were serious and sweet. How much they enjoyed getting to know me or hanging out with me or being part of the guild.

It was a brilliant idea and so much fun. I'm going to continue to get folks/Guildies to sign my book even after comic con. There are a bunch of us out there and I won't be satisfied until I get them all.

Here are my thoughts on the content of the book... it's pretty amazing, very detailed and covers almost every aspect of the webseries. I haven't been able to read it cover to cover yet but I did take an hour and go through it. I'm happy to say that they used quite a few pictures that I took while on set. So I got a cool photo credit at the beginning of the book. I also get thanked by Felicia and Kim Evey at the end of the book and Felicia even mentions the podcast I created for the Guild, Knights of the Guild. Would I have loved a bit more about the podcast under the Fandom section.. sure but then I understand that the podcast was never an official part of The Guild though I think it was an important part of it. Overall it was a fitting tribute to a fantastic webseries and I'm happy to have been a small part of it.

San Diego Comic Con - Day 5 - Sunday

The final day of con is upon us. I'm sad that it's all over, that I'm not going to be seeing all these wonderful friends everyday. I'm sad that I won't be waking up, hanging out and laughing with my best buds like we have the past five days...  but I am happy that it's over. SDCC takes a lot of energy and wear and tear on your body. And as I get older my body takes longer and longer to recoup.

For this final day I did not cosplay, I wanted to walk around the floor, take pictures and see anything that I had missed the past four days. I also wanted to purchase things that I have been eying all con.

We checked out of the hotel, and loaded up the car. We were leaving the car at the hotel and just being charged a late checkout. We stopped by a Subway and picked up some breakfast. Last year Chris and I had Subway every morning before con.. this was our first time this year. We got to the sales floor around 11ish. No one from our party was cosplaying this time. My brother hit the floor, he wanted to pick up a few things and then he was heading home back to his family. We said our goodbyes. Chris, Robert and I spent the rest of the day walking the floor. Other friends would join us, then leave but it was always the three of us.

I didn't plan to spend alot of money (as I don't have any) but I did mange to purchase a few dice for D&D but I was actually disappointed in the amount of things I didn't buy... but I guess it was good in the end.

We had dinner reservation at 4pm at the Gaslamp Strip Club. A few years back Chris and I discovered this Steakhouse and it's been kind of a tradition to get a large group of friends and have our "final" goodbye dinner there. Well this is now the third year and the group just gets bigger and bigger. We had over 30+ people and we took up their entire back room. If you've never been to the Strip Club it's a Steakhouse where you grill your own steak over an open fire. There are like big communal grills for everyone to use. It's a fun experience and I guess that's why we keep doing it year after year. Chris is the steak man so he grilled a bunch of steaks for folks. This years steak wasn't that great for me. The steak itself was way to fatty.

6:30pm came and we said our final goodbyes, this is always the hard part. Some of these people you won't see again until next year. After our goodbyes we headed back to the hotel one last time, we picked up our car and headed home. I actually wasn't feeling so well (stomach issues). So we had to stop a few times but it took us about 3 hours to get back to Robert's place. Chris and I loaded our stuff into my car and it was another hour before we were home and San Diego Comic Con 2013 was official over.

Chris was crashing at my place and leaving back for Montana tomorrow. We didn't do much once we got home as it was late and we both were exhausted so we called it a night.

Day 5 of San Diego Comic Con 2013, was a nice way to end con, surrounded by friends and having an awesome time.

Pictures from SDCC 2013 Album 1

Pictures from SDCC 2013 Album 2

Pictures from SDCC 2013 Album 3