This
was me on Thursday -- the only normal
day of that week!
The trip to Burbank was pleasant & blessedly uneventful (especially
compared to the rest of the week). I don't remember much about it,
except that I got to the airport fine & before I knew it I was at
the hotel, the Burbank Hilton Marriot. I had a bit of trouble checking in (they
basically charged me a $150 more than they claimed they would &
tried to dump it all on my credit card -- not good), but got it cleared
up and collapsed in my room, thoughts of shopping forgotten in favor of
a nap (plane left Lubbock at 5:45 AM, which meant I'd been up since
3:30 AM that morning -- & couldn't sleep anyway, I was so
excited!). After I awoke, I headed back downstairs to socialize!
*grins* I mean, a bunch of Xena fans still devoted to the show even
after all these years -- we should have lots in common right? *grin* I
met this lovely couple from Brazil:
Lucia
& Wladimir -- 2 wonderful Xena fans!
& we ended up talking for awhile. They told me all about living in
Brazil & had been attending the con for many years. We talked about
our favorite shows & they gave me a bon-bon from Brazil called a
"Waltz Dream" to try (apparently they are very popular here in the
States. Whenever Lucia comes over, she said her friends here ask her to
bring extra bon-bons for them).
After that I ended up talking to a really nice guy named Tom:
Yep, this
is the convention center where everything happened . . .
& snapped some pictures of the hotel as well in the meantime:
Pretty
hotel (as you can see) -- just bad weather. *sigh*
& stood in line what seemed forever to pick up my tickets. (It must
have been the better part of an hour, maybe an hour & a half.) On
the way to the ticket desk, I saw an itinerary for the conference on
the welcome table & picked it up to glance over whilst waiting my
turn in line. It was then that I was to receive my first nasty shock of
the week. I read over it & to my surprise, Patrick Fabian was not
listed as a guest for Friday's events. Panicked, I frantically searched
the rest of the document for his name & eventually found him --
listed on SUNDAY'S events! The very day I planned not to buy tickets
for, because I was flying out at 1 PM. Thank God I hadn't preordered my
tickets -- always meant to, but never got around to it -- because I
would have been extremely dismayed to attend every day of the con but
the one I truly needed. Course it was the first thing I asked when I
did get to the desk, because I figured maybe it was an error. The
itinerary on the website said Friday, 'cause I'd checked it on
Wednesday night before I flew out (it still says Friday on the website
even *now* for that matter! I looked at it again just the other day!)
But no, they said. It'd been a last minute change due to his filming
schedule & that was all they could tell me. Naturally I was crushed
by the change. He was scheduled to appear at the convention (for photo
ops) at 10:30. I was due to leave Burbank at 1. Assuming I could get in
& get out of the convention w/ no delays, get checked out of the
hotel & over to the airport by 12, that still cut my time to a bare
hour & a half (& *that* was pushing it big time). As it turned
out, I was to get less time even than that, but you'd better believe I
turned into my room pretty depressed.
One more thing that happened Thursday night, something I didn't realize
was that significant at the time it happened, but was another step on
the downhill slope of the hellish week to come. Remember Tom, the guy I
was talking to earlier in the evening? Well, I was leaving the hotel
room he had his display set up in & the door swung back quickly --
too quickly as it turned out & accidentally hit me in face. I don't
blame anyone for the incident really -- just sheer bad fortune is all.
It hurt, but I forgot the incident after my disappointment over
Patrick's schedule change & it didn't cross my mind again -- until
the next morning . . .
Yep. You guessed it. I woke up on Friday & my face had swollen to
disfiguring proportions. I kid you not, I looked like the elephant
woman! The right side of my face was literally so swollen that it shut
my right eye & I could barely open it to see out (& when I did
get it open, it watered all day long from the effort of keeping it
open). It was horrible. Since I cannot possibly describe the scope of
my hideous disfiguring look, I leave the pictures to tell the tale
(though even they don't show the swollenness clearly enough):
Yep.
That's me. With two mismatched eyes & a half face twice as large as
the other half.
Ironically in the midst of this tragedy, I found small reason to be
glad that Patrick had not
attended Friday's con. What a lovely picture that would've made, me
coming all that way to see him & on the day it happened; had a face
like a swarm of hornets attacked. It would've been funny if it wasn't
so damn -- heartbreaking. After a good cry & cursing the Fates
profusely, I slapped an ice pack on the swollen side & spent the
rest of Friday in my room. I'd originally meant to go shopping, since
there were no con guests that day I wanted to see & it seemed like
a good day to do it. But not with a face like Frankenstein. Friday
night I'd had enough of being a shut in. So I applied lots & LOTS
of makeup, wore a hat to shield the worst of it & went off to the
cabaret.
For the record, the cabaret was great (& a wonderful way to take my
mind of my troubles for a couple hours). Jay Laga'aia was on first
& was a joy to behold. He was a surprisingly good singer, had a
very smooth, laid-back style & was amusing us w/ little antidotes
inbetween the songs. I wish I could remember more of what he said, but
alas, it was mostly in one ear & out the other. One of the things I
do remember is him talking about his children (he has *7* children --
pretty amazing huh? *grins*) & he cracked several jokes about how
he just can't keep count anymore ("him & his 14,000 children", he
said at one point). He is also currently performing as Mufusa in the
Lion King on Broadway (he joked about coming into get the role &
all he could think of was that James Earl Jones had played it on the
movie & that J.E.J. had also played Darth Vadar *grin for the Jedi
fans out there*. So when Disney had him read the role, he went up to
the mike & said, *in a deep dramatic voice* ". . .Simba --
everything the light touches is our kingdom. And a king's time is like
the rising & setting of the sun. Someday, the sun will set on my
time & rise on yours. . .*sudden loud Darth Vadar breathing
into
the mike*. . ." The Disney people were like, "We love it! That's
exactly what we want! We want someone who can add some of themself into
to the role!" & that's how he got it! *grin*) Have a picture of
Jay, taken at the Cabaret on Friday:
Jay :: You
ROCKED the house, man! We love
you! *grins*
Next,
our beloved Michael Hurst came
on (IOLAUS! *YAY* LOL!) & infused
the stage with energy. He was quickly joined by his wife (Jennifer Ward
Leland, to those who may not know) & the two of them did
some
numbers together & some separately (they are both wonderful
performers.) Alas, cannot remember much of what they talked about
either (I know, I know. My memory sucketh mightily!!), except Jennifer
talked about being on tour with a show based off the life of Marlene
Dietrich. & Michael talked about directing Shakespeare (he even
quoted us a sonnet & was quite lovely about it), but man, his
directorial style is quite severe. I remember thinking I'm not sure if
I'd even make it in one of his shows -- & I'm VERY much the
consommé professional when it comes to my acting. Someone asked
him about the Kevin Smith foundation & what is going on with
Smithy's family (which delighted me to hear asked, because of course we
all still think of Smithy often -- beloved that he is and evermore will be!). Michael said they are
doing fine & thank everyone for
the support & Jennifer said that the family has been grieving quite
deeply these past few years (understandably so!), but that she believes
they are over the worst of it now & are truly to that point of
moving on (naturally, that's wonderful to hear!). Michael said the only
difficult thing is that all the boys (he said one in particular, but
didn't give a name) are the "spitting image of Kevin" so that is a bit
heartbreaking. But otherwise, Sue & the boys are doing good. (so
glad to hear it!) Also, Michael did a great, hilarious routine as a
drunk Irish priest. I have a picture below featuring that:
Can't remember much else, except Jennifer &
Michael talking about the children & how they aren't much impressed
by their parents being in show business *chuckles!* Course, they
haven't been introduced to the world of H & X yet (they are bit
young still, says Jenn & Mike), so only time will tell. *grins*
Picture of Michael & Jennifer (from Saturday's Q & A):
& what
a cute couple they make too! *grins*
I turned in kinda early on Friday night, almost right
after the cabaret, believing that the swelling would be gone by Sunday.
I mean, no logic in the world can explain why I believed this so
strongly, except for the fact that it had to be. Dammit, it just HAD
to be.
Saturday I woke up & rushed over to the mirror first thing
to check on my face. The swelling had gone down some, but hadn't
disappeared. Cursing Ares, 'Dite & life in general that had brought
me this, I applied more ice and prepared for the day. Pictures of me
from Saturday:
Yeah --
not good. I know. *sighs*
Being self-conscious about my face, I didn't interact w/
fellow fans much on Friday or Saturday. But Sat was the day that I can
only describe as being completely bizarre. I'd originally intended to
participate in the costume contest & the talent contest (both held
on Saturday, so I knew I'd be there). Circumstances being what they
were, I didn't do either. Costume was a bust with a deformed face &
I didn't have much confidence getting up in public to sing either. Even
at a distance, I felt horrifying. Yeah, yeah -- a true performer &
the show must go on, blah blah -- but when is the last time you saw
Julia Roberts do a movie with a face right out of the Rocky Horror
Picture show? Still the day was -- odd.
On Thursday night, there was a
group of women in line behind me & I heard one of them say, "A Xena
conference is the only place on earth where a straight person feels
uncomfortable." The remark struck me funny at the time, but later I
really began to believe it. I was hit on four times throughout the
course of the week (even w/ my face from hell), yet not once was it a
guy. *cough* On the one hand, it was flattering. Um, on the other --
like I said, bizarre. Also,
Sat was the day I was coming out of the
conference room to catch the profile of someone from behind (a cute
profile from behind) & thought to myself, "Oh he's cute!" Luckily,
due to my facial insecurities, I made no attempts at flirting. Only to
realize, moments later when SHE
turned around, it er . . . wasn't a guy!
Talk about mortified.
Popular
guest -- Unconventional
attitude! *grins*
Apparently she had played Brunhilda on one ep of Xena (not
familiar w/ the ep myself -- probably a later season like 5 or 6),
but she was a very popular guest -- particularly after she
shared that part of her career had included modeling for
Playboy magazine. This was exceptionally well received by the
crowd -- which led to someone asking about Brittany's bra (how we got
to that subject, I can't quite recall. But things were moving
rapidly at that point!). This led to Brittany explaining it was her
favorite bra & offered to auction it off for her charity, which she
would sign as well. This was also well received & the bids flew
fast & furious once the offer was made that the winning bidder
would actually get to take the bra off Brittany. *cough* The
bra
eventually went for $1,100 dollars & Ms. Powell simultaneously
cemented her position in convention history for many, *many* years to
come. It was definitely a show, no doubt about it!
Spent most of Saturday inbetween the con & my
hotel room (there was a Psych marathon on USA, so I would periodically
stop & watch between con events). Watched more tv than I do at home
that weekend, but being far from home, it seemed the thing to do. Also
studied my script for Lend me a Tenor
& generally felt
uncomfortable. Not a great day. So we'll move onto a better one.
That
brings us to Sunday. Since Sunday morning is covered in "Two Minutes in
Heaven", we'll skip down to Sunday afternoon, where I left the
convention on a total euphoric high & made serious tracks back to
the hotel & airport. I arrived at about 12 & waited first in
the line outside to check in. After a good fifteen minutes or so when I
reached the front of the line, the guy told me I had a problem checking
in there & needed to wait inside. Because there was only one
airline desk attendant outside, he refused to walk me inside & to
the front of the monstrous
line indoors, even though I'd already
waited.
Waiting indoors another forty minutes or so, I was despairing
that I'd ever make the plane on time. Fortunately for me (or perhaps
not so fortunate), it turned out to be immaterial as all flights into
Dallas were cancelled because of the ice storm. I was rebooked &
thanks to the backed up flights, wasn't able to make it out 'til
Tuesday. Also, the icing on the cake of my day was American Airlines
refused to pay for the layover because it was 'weather related'.
*growls* He urged me to take the booking because there were only two
tickets left for that flight.
Reluctantly I accepted, he printed me
out an
itinerary for Tuesday (this is very important
to note) & I headed
back to the hotel. After some drama checking back in
(thanks to the lovely backup of flight weather related cancellations),
I crashed back in my room & made lunch a priority. Since my face
had been swollen so bad, it made eating impossible & I hadn't eaten
anything since Thursday night (IE: three days). Now that the swelling
had decreased, I gratefully helped myself to a meal & spent most of
the rest of the day scribbling notes into my con journal (as I knew I'd
forgot everything that happened if I didn't write it down while it was
still fresh in my memory) & studying my script again. I also
attended the rest of the con that evening (saw Renee & Lucy onstage
& must admit disappointment over how full the auditorium was --
there was barely standing room -- versus how quiet it'd had been when
Patrick spoke mere hours earlier). Both Lucy & Renee were charming
& very good to their fans. I barely recall what they talked about,
but I remember they were both very sweet, though I have neither
pictures or notes from the event -- I'd run out of camera space for
pictures & my mind was still reeling from the busy day, which was
why
I took no notes. I vaguely remember Lucy discussing her concert &
Battlestar Gallactica & she & Renee sang the 'Yellow Rose of
Texas' while they were onstage together. Other than that, its a blank
in my mind.
I left the con w/ mixed emotions that night. On the one
hand -- ecstasy over meeting Patrick & a deep sense of
accomplishment. On the other -- disappointment over the way things
turned out & irritation over being delayed in California, which I
could ill afford & couldn't even enjoy the weather while I was
there (we had record breaking cold temperatures all week -- the coldest
it'd been since 1932 according to the Los Angeles newscast.) No beach
or pool lounging for me! And here I'd packed almost all T-shirts. The one sweater, 2 thermal white T's
& light jacket I'd packed by
sheer luck got their exercise that week! And it was also lucky I'd
packed a bathrobe (for the shower) because my PJ's merely consisted of
a tank top and satin bottom. I ended up wearing that robe to bed every
night. *sighs* Monday was spent exploring the mall in Burbank (which
was an impressive 3 stories tall & quite a bit larger than our mall
in Lubbock). I bought souvenirs, sampled the food court and blessedly
got out of the hotel for half a day. The rest of the time I spent
jotting notes & trying to remember things people had said. Tuesday
I showed up *two* hours early at the airport -- just in case, little
knowing I was heading straight into a new nightmare.
I got to the
check-in counter & irony of ironies, I ended up w/ the same
assistant who recognized me from Sunday.
"Oh it's you," he murmured as
I came up to the desk.
"It's me," I replied dryly. "Can you get me out
of here this time?"
The flight to Dallas was announced as delayed by an
hour & a half(again because of weather complications), but he said
that should be fine because I had a three hour lay-over in Dallas
before switching planes to Lubbock. Then, after pulling up my name on
his computer, he said those two little words that everyone wants to
hear after a long week of miscommunication.
"Oh shit!"
Burying my face
in my hands, I barely dared to ask what was wrong now. As it turns
out, even though he had rebooked me on Sunday for a flight on Tuesday
(and even PRINTED me the new itinerary, remember?), the computer had
somehow mysteriously dropped me from the flight. No explanations were
offered & even though I pulled out the itinerary he gave ME &
showed it to them, no one (including two supervisors) could find me on
that flight.
"Sorry, it's just a computer glitch," one unsympathetic
supervisor told me bluntly. "It just dropped you from the system
somehow. Technology." She shrugged & added, "What can you do?"
*You
can bloody get me on that flight*, is what I wanted to say, but
couldn't. Even routing me through Phoenix & Houston to Lubbock,
they couldn't get me there. And the explanation they offered was odd
to say the least.
"The trouble isn't getting you to Dallas," the
airline assistant assured me. "We have plenty of space on that flight,
because we are having to rebook people from missing connecting flights
due to the plane delay. No, it's the flight from Dallas to Lubbock that
is completely full. I can't get you a seat on that flight because it's
booked solid."
"TO LUBBOCK?" I replied incredulously. "Who the hell
would go to Lubbock? You would only go there if you lived there. They
can't even be routing people through that airport 'cause everything
changes in Dallas. None of the flights go anywhere else. You have to
change planes in Dallas to get anywhere -- even other parts of Texas."
The guy shrugged. "I can't explain it," he insisted. "But the Dallas
flight to Lubbock is full, even Houston to Lubbock is full. I can get
you to Houston or Dallas without a problem. But getting you to Lubbock
isn't possible tonight."
"Well, then GET ME TO DALLAS," I said finally.
"At least that's half the journey. I'll sleep in the terminal if I have
to, but I can't afford to be stuck here in Burbank any longer."
The
airline assistant quickly agreed & booked me for the first Lubbock
flight in the morning. But he had some parting words of advice before
he let me go.
"See if you can get on standby for the Lubbock flight
when you reach Dallas," he assured me. "A lot of times people don't
show or cancel at the last minute, plus there may be others missing
that connecting flight due to weather delays from other cities. It
never hurts to try. The only thing I can't do is check your baggage all
the way through. Because it won't be on the plane until tomorrow,
you'll have to pick it up again in Dallas."
Scowling helplessly, I took
my new changed itinerary,
made it through security & relaxed in
the Burbank terminal, grabbing some lunch 'cause I had plenty of time,
now that our 12:45 flight had become a 2:15. Before we boarded, 2:15
became 2:30 which then became 2:45 & we eventually made it on the
plane only to be greeted w/ the news in Dallas that someone was using
our gate and now it'd be yet another
fifteen minute delay. I got off the
plane at about 8:00 I think, knowing I had to make a dash for my
baggage & try to get to the other terminal in time for the Lubbock
flight that left at 9:00. I made it to the American Airlines gate at
about 8:30 (baggage in hand) & tried to explain the situation, only
to be informed that I was flying American Eagle, not strictly AA
& even though it's technically
the same company, American Eagle
had their own gate & check-in which was located in (you guessed it)
another terminal.
SOOOOO -- that's how, at 8:40
or so, I was standing (freezing)
out on the sidewalk outside the airport, in the snow, without a jacket,
desperately clinging to 4 bags & waiting for the bus to take me to
terminal B, thinking to myself, "There is just no way in HELL I'm gonna
make this flight."
Ohhhhh noooo -- it was not a good
night!
8:50 or
thereabouts found me standing at the American Eagle check-in, relieved
beyond words to find out that there was not a line & (finally
something going right for a change) that the Lubbock flight had been
delayed an hour, leaving now at 10:00, not 9. Due to baggage
mishandling, my suitcase had split open and was now shedding my
contents across the corridor. I explained the situation to the much
harried people at the desk (feeling much harried myself) &
thankfully they got me rightened out, bag taped up securely, booked for
the flight, luggage checked & boarding pass in hand. Passing
security w/ no drama & feeling confident now that time was on my
side again, I stopped to choke down a quick dinner & started
heading for gate B10 (which, according to the boarding pass, was where
my flight was). Come to find out, I had to then take a tram to get to
B10 because apparently it'd just be too EASY to make a way to WALK
there from where I started (gate B26 I believe). As I stood at
the top
of the skyway waiting on the tram at about 9:20 or so (as 4 trams
passed our glass doors without so much as slowing), I began to get
intensely nervous, wondering after the day of mishaps if ill fate had
found me once more. Finally a tram stopped & we boarded, taking us
over to the other gates, where I then walked (without shoes which were
removed at the security checkpoint and never put back on again 'cause I
couldn't afford the time) from gate B19 ALL the way to gate B10. My
feet hurt so bad. My day had been long. I was suffering the effects of
lots of Dramamine & sleep depravation & was terribly cold.
But
I thought -- if I could just get to gate B10 dammit -- it would all be
over.
FINALLY -- gate B10 loomed on
the horizon & I checked my
watch. 9:40. Hmm. Not too bad. I stopped to make a quick call to Mike
(letting him know not to pick me up at 10:00 -- it was 11:00 now) &
went to have a seat. I waited about 5 minutes, but they weren't
boarding & something odd occurred to me. There weren't many people
waiting around to board -- for a full flight to Lubbock, the seats
surrounding me looked awfully empty. A tingle started in the back of my
neck & I headed over to the flight attendant at the desk, full of
apprehension.
"Excuse me?" I said as politely as I could manage. "But
I've had a hell of a day & just for verification's sake, I'd like
to make sure I'm at the right gate. Gate B10 for Lubbock, it's what it
says on my boarding pass."
The flight attendant looked down her nose at
me.
"It's gate B5," she informed me crisply.
The rage that flooded my
soul at that moment cannot be described. I just wanted to kill someone
right then. The president of the airline would suffice, but I'd settle
for Creation Entertainment (or the staff at the Hilton Marriott) in the
meantime. Then, apparently feeling she could get attitude w/ me because
it'd been a long day, the airline attendant added snottily, "It's been
announced over the intercom four times."
I'm not sure what I said to
her then. Utter exhaustion blocked it from my memory. I'm sure it was
loud, acidic and probably not suitable to be repeated in print anyway.
But I'm also sure it was quickly said, because I very clearly recall
then RUNNING down to gate B5 (still without shoes) to make it in
time
to board.
Which (after all this) -- I did.
I also heard (announced over the intercom) that
the flight next to us (gate B4) was going to be delayed an extra 45
minutes because the plane was broken
& the part had just arrived
to fix it & they preferred to repair the plane rather than cancel
the whole flight. I remember thinking (in the midst of total
weariness), *I cannot believe that didn't happen to me!*
Very, very
long story short(er), I made it
back to Lubbock ok (didn't have to sleep in
the terminal, whoo hoo!) & finally dropped into bed at about 2 AM
that night (only to rise up for work at seven the next morning). &
that was the end of my very long
five days in hell.
Conclusion:
It was an adventure. You see now why I call it that. It didn't
go as
planned, but -- what in life does? I'm not sorry I went, mind you --
though I wouldn't relive it for all the money in the world. Obviously,
hindsight is 20/20 & if I knew then what I do now, there is some
stuff I'd have done differently. But -- it didn't go as badly as it
could've. All in all, it worked out for the best. Small miracles
packaged inside of big disasters. & who can ask for more than that?
*smile*
Now -- on to happier topics. Patrick is awaiting -- all within Part
Two :: Two Minutes in Heaven.
* * *
Better days are on the way my friend
Just away's on down the line
I believe that just around the bend
Everything's gonna be fine
Better days are just a dream right now
Seems like all you do is pray
But the world keeps turning
Bringing us better days . . .
/ Better Days - POG
* * *
Posted 01.25.07
All material & images posted here are © Christy Burk ::
January 2007
