It feels very strange to be writing my first post this morning, after so much has already happened. Although only a single day of the official con has passed, Gallifrey One has been happening unofficially for many days now, a few of which I’ve been lucky enough to experience.

After a little travel excitement (though not nearly so much as many), I made it to LA on Wednesday night. All that travel combined with the two-hour time change (and in the wrong direction, dammit) kept me from being social, but the next morning I met up with some friends to have breakfast at our (non-Marriott) hotel and then drag all our stuff to the Marriott, where we’d all be staying for the duration.

The rest of the day was a slow ramp-up to LobbyCon, which is the socializing that happens outside con programming in the Marriott Lobby. Thursday night, the night before programming begins, is traditionally the night that LobbyCon begins (though as folks arrive earlier and earlier each year, it has stretched out well ahead of the con), and ribbon trading begins in earnest.

I also managed this year to get in on another Gally tradition: the run to In-N-Out Burger. Having never tried In-N-Out before, I figured it was worth a shot. However, because it’s a bit of a hike from the Marriott (25 minute walk) and the particular folks I was with didn’t have a car, I ended up blistering my feet on my not-a-good-fit-for-long-distances shoes. Frankly, the food wasn’t nearly good enough to make up for it. In other words, having done it once, I see no reason to trek to In-N-Out again. (I got ribbons, though!)

The rest of Thursday was LobbyCon’ing, meeting up with friends old and new. It’s both tiring and energizing, and I pooped out around 11.

Friday the con itself began. After some friends had breakfast (I’d already eaten, but hung out with them in the hotel restaurant as they ate; I still can’t get used to being a couple tables away from Frazer Hines or Paul McGann), we headed down to the Radio Free Skaro live podcast, which has become the traditional opening salvo of the con. It was lovely to hear firsthand from Colin Baker, Terrance Dicks, and more. I felt very much in con mode.

After a break for some lunch, I spent the next couple hours in lines. Billie Piper and Arthur Darvill were signing autographs (as were many others), and I figured with all the other stuff I wanted to do on Saturday and Sunday, this was my best chance. The lines actually went fairly quickly, and both of them were lovely, as were all the other folks whose autographs I got. Katy Manning, in fact, expressed envy over my frilly shirt (from my femme!Three costume) and gave me (and everyone else who came through autograph her line) a hug as I left.

Soon there was only one autograph left that I wanted to try for on Friday: Rob Shearman. Now this name may not mean a lot to most fans, especially those who are primarily interested in actors from the post-Hiatus era. For me, though, Rob’s kind of a big deal. Not only did he write the lovely Dalek, he’s actually read this blog. (Hi, Rob! You’re awesome!) We’d exchanged a few tweets over the last couple of years, so I figured I’d be able to dredge those up from his memory if I explained myself long enough.

Imagine my surprise, then, when I got to the front of his line and he recognized me. He called me by name, and started chatting like we were old friends! We talked a little about his short story collection, which I’d brought for him to autograph, and a little about the blog. Then, as there were others behind me in line, he asked if I did LobbyCon and suggested we should chat more later and have a drink. It was difficult not to fangirl all over him—for a writer/aspiring writer, having an established writer complementing one’s work is heady stuff.

That fabulous experience, though, meant that I was late to my next fabulous experience. One of my friends was having his first panel, and I wanted to be there to support him. I am so glad I went; “Colour Separation Overlay” was the best panel I’ve yet seen this year. This one was about diversity (or the lack thereof) in Our Show. Although women and various cultural groups were also mentioned, this panel was, as the name implies, primarily about racial diversity and representation in Who. The panelists all had great points to make, and made them eloquently. The audience had great comments and questions, too, and I would like to believe that the panel sparked a number of important conversations we can all continue for a good, long time to come.

My final panels for the day were the “Travels with the Doctor” Companions panel (including Deborah Watling, Frazer Hines, Katy Manning, Richard Franklin, Nicola Bryant, Matthew Waterhouse, Billie Piper, and Arthur Darvill) and the Colin Baker interview. Both were lovely, and fun, and silly, as these things tend to be. They embodied what I love about Gally: true personality and love for the show.

At this point, there was a general exodus from the con for dinner. LobbyCon was not as heavily populated as Thursday, but that was probably in part due to the fact that it was Valentine’s Day. I did actually manage to find Rob Shearman, and have a ten- or fifteen-minute conversation with him before he disappeared into Champions for dinner. As this year’s Friday night entertainment was not as interesting to me as some years (with the exception of the events that didn’t begin until 10pm, which I just was not going to manage), I spent the rest of the night in the Lobby. I turned in early (for Gally), happily exhausted.

On to Saturday.