If any of you readers (regular or otherwise) either have no interest in news of the annual Gallifrey One convention or for some other reason don’t want to read about all the awesomeness that is about to go down at this year’s event, fair warning: look away now. Why? Because the annual squee-fest is about to begin. That’s right: I’m off to the wilds of Los Angeles to partake in the craziness of Gally!

Every year is a little different, not only in terms of the guests attending and the panels offered, but in terms of what the overall experience means to me. My first year, I knew only one other attendee; last year, I knew several from the previous year and from Twitter; this year, I feel like I know lots. Therefore, much of the experience will revolve around friends.

Sadly, the local friends I like to meet up with while I’m in town are unavailable this year, so I won’t have my usual out-of-con experience. Instead of meeting up with locals for lunch, I’ll be hanging out with other Gally friends. Maybe I’ll even help to set up the main ballroom, as there was a general call for able bodies along those lines. Might be fun.

Then there’s the cosplay. Last year was my first time, and I did three costumes, including the group cosplay TARDISpod dress. This year, all the effort (primarily on my hubby’s part, because he is awesome and also loves to make stuff) went into the Tin Litter (K-9) group cosplay costume. I’ll be wearing one of my costumes from last year one day, too, but the K-9 will be the major focus—including more Doctor pictures!

As I said above, I will be posting a lot about Gally over the next week or so. If it doesn’t interest you, come back in about two weeks; I’ll have a Nu-View or a DVD review for you then. If, however, you are interested in the glorious insanity that is Gallifrey One, then stay tuned! I’ll have my usual daily reviews of the con here, and Twitter will be awash with all the goings-on. (You can follow my Twitter feed or the official #Gally1 hashtag if that’s your thing.)

Let the games begin!

The wifi at Gally gets painfully slow – to the point where you can’t get any sort of real connection for long stretches of time, especially if you want to be going to panels instead of hanging in the lobby waiting (im)patiently for connectivity.

Hopefully yesterday’s post not going up till today now makes sense.

Actually, there was another, even more compelling reason that post didn’t get finished until today. Sunday morning I was fortunate enough to have a ticket to the Guest Brunch Banquet, which was capped at 56 members (attendees). Eight tables are set up. Seven members sit at each, and the final place at any given table is left for one of the convention guests. Every twelve minutes, the guests do a somewhat more organized version of musical chairs, and switch to another table, so that all the members (in theory) get to spend a few minutes in actual, honest-to-god conversation with each of the guests.

Last year being my first, I didn’t really know anything about the brunch, and if memory serves, it had sold out during the previous year’s con anyway. But I am super glad I managed to get in on this one; it was wonderful. Our table started with Michael Jayston, which made my little heart go pitter-pat. I’ve always thought the Valeyard was a super awesome foil (and everyone here seemed to consider him a Doctor; Jayston complained that the BBC are the only ones who don’t seem to know it). Jayston was followed by Philip Hinchcliffe (producer from The Ark in Space to The Talons of Weng-Chiang, 1975-77), Dick Mills (sound engineer from 1972-1989), Deborah Watling (Second Doctor Companion Victoria), Mark Strickson (Fifth Doctor Companion Turlough), and Frazer Hines (Second Doctor Companion Jamie; the longest-running Companion on-screen, and at Gally). Peter Purves (First Doctor Companion Steven) didn’t quite make it to our table before time ran out, but I did chat with him a bit at his signing table later. I simply can’t say enough good things about all the guests. To a one, they’ve been fabulous in person to me as a fan.

This year is already a bit different than last. It’s less about the guests and more about the friends.

On the official Day One (that’s Friday), programming doesn’t actually start until noon, unless you’re a first-timer going to the “Gallifrey 101” panel or a brand new panelist at the “Panelist Primer” one. Being on Central time still, though, I was up and dressed in my costume for the day (my femme Third Doctor) quite early. Most of my morning was thus spent meeting up with new-in-real-life/year-long-online friends, wandering the con, and getting photos with other cosplayers. I loved, for instance, getting pictures with a Brigadier cosplayer and another with a Sarah Jane Smith from The Time Warrior, while she was infiltrating the kitchens.

Among the wonderfully strange things about Gally is that the “talent” mingles with the fans. I sat at a table in the lobby drinking my coffee directly across from writer Richard Dinnick, who was himself between Ian McNeice (who played Churchill) and comedian Charlie Ross. It was beautifully surreal.

I’d wanted to go to the Radio Free Skaro podcast, but somehow that fell by the wayside. Instead, my first actual programming ended up being the Who Crack Video Track, run by ladies I know through The Corsair’s Closet podcast. Although they had some technical difficulties getting things started, the videos were well worth it.