AUSXIP MaryD's Blog - Back From A Land Far Far Far Away....Premieres, Cons, Emmy Awards and Football!

I'm back home in Oz and thank goodness I don't suffer from jetlag; that's the only saving grace in a long 14 hour flight. Where is my Star Trek transporter? I heard some time ago that scientists were working on it. I sure wish they would hurry up.

Never mind the long flight in a tin box, I'm back home and I realise, I left summerish weather back in Los Angeles and walked into a strange situation at home. It was wet, it was coolish for February in Sydney. Normally it's hot, stinky and humid but it wasn't. How strange.

Anyhoo...it was great to be back home. My heart does a little flutter when I looked out the window and there was the Sydney Harbour Bridge and Opera House..it makes my heart glad to see these two icons. I'm home.

Firstly I want to say what an absolute STELLAR job Lori has done in keeping up with everything. It was fun to be a visitor rather than editing AUSXIP while I was on holidays. It's an interesting perspective and one I don't usually do. Thank you Lori! Outstanding. It's not an easy job but she managed to be good humoured and cool for 4 weeks in my absence.

I had a ball on this visit; got to do some very out of the ordinary things like my close encounter with Mr William Shatner a couple of times (talk about fandoms colliding and going BOOOOOMMMM!). Before that there was the Sparty premiere and afterparty which was a total blast. Had fun!
There was the Xena / Venice Meet and Greet party which was such a great way to raise money for charity and to have fun.

Of course the main reason for the visit (other than to go to Frys and to hang out with my mates) was The Final Journey Convention which turned into The Dress Rehearsal For the Final Journey Convention. I'm not even going into that whole topic of is it or isn't it the final con.

As far as I was concerned this was The Final Journey. Mind you, I've been saying this will be my last con every time I go but I still keep going back. I suspect that next year's convention may be The Final Journey Mark II judging from the comments from all the stars and the fans. The Dress Rehearsal Con was my final one. Not my final US trip as I have lots of great friends over there and visiting them is a priority.

If you haven't caught up with my live blogging from the convention, here are the links:

On my second last day in the US I participated in an revered annual event..the SUPERBOWL! I had a total blast. I actually found myself understanding what was going on with the game. Many many many thanks to my dear mate Christa who patiently explained it. I was rooting for the team wearing red (red is my favourite colour) and since the NY Giants were wearing red on their jerseys..well I was rooting for the NY Giants! It was such a fantastic game and I have a huge crush on Eli Manning. My favourite moment is when Mario Manningham caught the ball right near the sideline! Damn that was good. Catches win matches and Mario won the game with that catch. I actually found out what a Hail Mary is (heard it so many times in various media about politics and such but never knew what it referred to)...that was close by the Patriots but not close enough. EXCELLENT game. LOVED IT!

I can't leave the Superbowl report unless I mention Queen Madonna. Oh my goodness this woman is incredible. It's been some time since I saw Madonna perform and she was just superb.

Speaking of Christa, I'm going to tell you if you didn't already know...my mate Christa is the Executive Producer of the Emmy Award winning series Venice The Series. I was going to post the photo of her with the Emmy but she's shy but here is the pic of base of the Emmy with her name on it. How cool is that? Never held an Emmy Award before and it's heavy! I am so proud of her. She has come a long way in the industry and has worked so hard. Success doesn't happen overnight and hard work pays off. Add to that mix a bit of good karma coming to such a beautiful soul. Her partners in crime are Crystal Chappell (the superb actress from Days of Our Lives and other shows who has created this ground breaking series), KT Jorgensen (another mate and superb photographer) and Maria Webster (another mate who never ceases to amaze me and who graciously sings Hallelujah acapella in my hotel room just to make me happy). Check it out and support them; streaming tv shows is the new medium and one that will become more and more common as television shows evolve.

What's coming up this year? Well we have 6th AUSXIP Charity Auction to raise money for the Starship Foundation in New Zealand. LOTS AND LOTS of great stuff donated by Lucy, Renee, Viva Bianca, Erin Cummings, Crystal Chappell, Lesley-Ann Brandt, Katrina Law and more. Fans have donated items which is just incredible! It's going to be FANTASTIC.

The auction will run in it's normal week of 21-28 March 2012 (Lucy's birthday week). More about the auction in the coming weeks.

I'm also very pleased to welcome a new AUSXIP Reporter to the ranks. Rachelle Yates has been added to the AUSXIP Reporters list! I do love it when someone wants to volunteer their time and energy in making AUSXIP even better.

Many thanks to everyone who stopped me at the convention to thank me for AUSXIP. I'm stoked everyone is loving AUSXIP as much as I do. I was asked how long will AUSXIP be around now that the conventions may or may not be ending.

The answer to that question is: For as long as the passion is there, AUSXIP will be around. It's guaranteed to be around for another year as I have prepaid the server fees until March 2013 <g>

So thank you to everyone for their support!

The AUSXIP Final Journey has not begun. It has a few more years left of following and supporting Lucy Lawless, Renee O'Connor and the other actors and shows we love. I hope you stay for the journey; it's going to be interesting and mega fun!

Battle On!

MaryD