It's hard to know where to begin and end this report, because my trip
started earlier than most people's, and ended last.  I think,
however, I will just concentrate directly on I-Manicon related time
and travel.

I spent a couple of days in the San Francisco Bay area courtesy of
Visball (InvisibleBallerina to you newbies) before the two of us
headed to Los Angeles to meet up with the others on Friday, July 20.
We walked in at about 10 p.m., and I immediately spotted a familiar
looking back:  it was Underdog, facing the other direction, on one of
two courtesy computers in the business center just off the lobby.
Visball and I freshened up and returned to find a small gathering of
Imaniacs gathered around Underdog.  We came up and I said in my best
official-business voice, "Excuse me, but you've been on the computer
for some time, and there are other guests waiting to use it."  I
hadn't even finished speaking before I-Mom and others turned around,
and hugging commenced.

CoolB was also there; I hadn't seen him, I-Mom, or Underdog since the
Chicago con 3 years ago, but we all picked up right where we left
off.  I think SnoPrincess and maybe 1 or 2 other Imaniacs were there,
but I can't remember exactly who.  In a portent of schedule changes
to come, they were online, trying to map out a route to pick up a
stray Imaniac whose flight into LAX had been canceled, so she went to
Burbank instead.  Feeling a little guilty (at least I was), but
having just made a six-hour car trip ourselves, Visball and I checked
in and got settled in our room.

The next day we held I-Manicon.  I kept fairly careful notes in a
little notebook, so I could report on everything accurately.  I have
now misplaced that notebook.  It's around here somewhere.  So, what
follows is as near an approximation of events as I can get.  Rest
assured that whatever the printed schedule says for the day, none of
it happened that way, except for lunch occurring more or less at the
customary time.

After registration and playing with the goodies in our goody bags, we
started off around 9:30 by watching I-Man music videos made so many
years ago now by CrimsonEyez.  This was a nice, low-energy way to
begin, since many of us were still travel-lagged.  Also, it had been
awhile since many of us had actually watched the videos, and we were
again impressed and enjoyed them a great deal.

At about 10:45, we started playing OCrap, the traditional I-Man bingo
game.  We interrupted the game at 11:00 to make our prearranged
speaker phone call to Mike McCafferty, who spoke to the group via his
cell phone from somewhere in Michigan."Let me find someplace to pull
over," he said.  "There's nothing but corn around here."  We spent
about fifteen minutes chatting with him about his I-Man colleagues
and all of their current projects.  Additionally, he made the formal
announcement of his and his wife's second child, a boy due in
November.  They will not, he volunteered, be naming him Eberts or
Albert.  The phone call was dropped as the conversation was winding
down, but he called back to say goodbye and to thank us for our
support.

My memory is a bit fuzzy on what happened next.  Joyce had to go
check on something, and I think that was when the polite argument of
the exact wording of Darien's rap broke out.  I pointed out that we
had the DVDs, so we ended up watching "The Other Invisible Man,"
putting all disagreements to rest.  Afterwards, we walked a few
blocks in search of food, and ended up at an IHOP.

Following lunch... okay, I really can't remember what we did next.  I
think we played "Find Your Frickin' Friend" and followed that up with
the poetry reading.  All I know for sure is we were digesting some
pretty good food at that point, and had a good walk back to the
hotel, so we were probably not inclined to move around too much.
Later, we did the scavenger hunt, in which I'm told I turned very
Bobby Hobbesian.  I was grouped with Sheera and (I think) Lindsey,
and when they told me they weren't very competitive, I assured them,
"Oh, you're going to get competitive."  My team did a great job,
hitting the grocery store while I took the strip mall and a busy
street corner, taking video of an airplane overhead and, at last, the
elusive bicycle on the back of a car driving by.  We lost by a a
point-and-a-half, and although I took full responsibility for my
team's failure, they were very forgiving, telling me, "You'd make a
great drill sergeant."  *sniff*


Official I-Manicon activities wound down after that.  Underdog and
I-Mom drew for door prizes, and I got a pretty fuschia tie-dyed shirt
donated by Krysalis.  Other prizes included an I-Man messenger bag,
"Psycho Silver" hair spiking gel, and various other t-shirts.  We
cleaned up the room, and everyone left happy.  Since none of the cast
was able to attend, we canceled the dinner reservations we had, and
ended up going to P.F. Chang's for some excellent Oriental cuisine
and some devilishly good dessert. Tip: never order "The Great Wall of
Chocolate" for fewer than 6 people.  Mine lasted me a week, and CoolB
and SnoPrincess helped me with it.  It's also great with milk.

Shoom forward to Sunday night.  Mike stopped in, coming straight over
from LAX.  Amanda and I were still out in Santa Monica, and had just
returned to the car when Joyce called and said he would arrive any
minute.  Although we traveled as quickly as we could, it took us
half-an-hour to get back to the hotel. Mike was nice enough to stay
until after we arrived.  We joined the chat in progress in I-Mom's
room with Underdog, The Maltese Hobbes, Tara, Sheera and her visiting
friend Sarah, CoolB,  SnoPrincess, and all the others I'm sure I'm
forgetting here.  Then we all rode down the elevator with him to see
him off, getting a group photo before he left.  It was easy to see
how tired he was, so we really appreciate him taking the time to
visit.

Shoom again to Monday night.  Back in Santa Monica with the whole
group together, we headed to Buco de Beppo where Paul Ben-Victor met
us with two of his friends in tow, actor Lev Gorn and makeup artist
Jamie Ford.  Lev and Jamie were visiting Paul for his birthday, so we
really appreciate them taking time out of their visit to let PBV come
and entertain us for an hour.  (Thanks for the tips, Jamie!)  We had
great food, and the company couldn't be beat.  I-Mom put him to work
signing autographs for the group, and had some goodies for him.  She
said what sounded even to me like, "I have your contract."  PBV did a
double-take.  "You have my contract?!"  "Con crap," I-Mom said.  We
ended with group pictures, taken with at least eight different
cameras by the very obliging Lev who kept us laughing the whole time.
 Lots of hugs ensued, and our visit was at an end.

That's really it for I-Man related goings-on at and after the con in
the L.A. area.  Several of us went on to Comic-Con in San Diego after
that, and we newbies to that event were treated to a couple of
drive-by viewings of I-Man locales, including the Official's house.
We had dinner at the Studio Diner outside Stu Segal studios one
night.

And the very observant Underdog spotted actor Don McManus at
Comic-Con, who played The Chameleon/Claude Escoffier in the  Season 1
episode "Beholder."  He was genuinely surprised at being recognized
from that role, and was kind enough to pose for pictures with
Underdog, I-Mom, and me.

Finally, on the last day in San Diego, The Maltese Hobbes generously
drove me around to see several other locations used in shooting
I-Man, including Darien's apartment building, The Agency, and Balboa
Park, the setting for many scenes, including the embassy in Santa
Ruego.  I had a great time, and I'm going to start saving up right
away so I can make it back next year.

--Bravogabbo