My name is Sherry Lassiter. I went to Comikaze in Los Angeles, California, the weekend of October 30th and the 31st. The con also was Sunday, November 1st, but I did not attend it that day. 

I flew there on Oct. 29th.I flew from Utah to Los Angeles to meet David Hedison for the first time, as my birthday present for myself. I am about to turn 61. I stayed at the RESIDENCE INN, where I met up with Diane Kachmar and C.J. Lewis. I connected with Diane on-line back in June. Now I was meeting her in person, and C.J., too!  Both are very nice ladies!

We went to the Convention Center on Thursday afternoon to get our badges early, so we would not have to stand in line on Friday morning.  We prepaid our admission fees before coming to Los Angeles, but we still did not have our badges. When we got them, Diane also made arrangements for C.J. to get a wheelchair from the Convention Center's guest services.After that, we went out to eat and returned to their hotel room to watch MACH TWO, one of Mr. Hedison's movies!

 

We did not go to the Convention Center until early Friday afternoon because of a misunderstanding about when the con said Mr. Hedison was going to be there.  When we went to the South Hall, where Diane knew his table would be, THERE HE WAS!  To our great surprise!  We had none of the pictures and books that Diane sells for him! Those were back at the hotel!  Mr. Hedison had some pictures on the table, and his assistant, Lauri, was helping him, but they needed everything else that Diane had brought! She hurried back to the hotel to fetch them!

 

An hour later, Diane had Mr. Hedison fully stocked. He went home around five. He left his black suitcase with Diane, with all his pictures. We took it back to our hotel on Friday night for safekeeping, and I had the honor of pulling it!  Diane and C.J. guarded it in their hotel room. 

 

The next day, Mr. Hedison graciously signed pictures for me, and all three of his books, and took a picture with me, too! On Saturday, I think more fans were at Mr. Hedison's table. I wasn't there all the time. I got autographs from three other stars nearby, saw others whom I did not approach because my funds were limited (but at least I got to see them in person) and visited the West Hall twice to attend a couple of panels. I missed seeing an acquaintance who wrote some of the STAR WARS novels, Dave Wolverton. I hadn't seen him in years. He signed his first books at my dining room table during a Christmas party. Maybe next con!

 

The celebrities I got to meet and get autographs from were Gary Lockwood and Keir Dullea from 2001: A SPACE ODYSSEY, and a voice actor who had the table next to theirs. His name was Dino Andrade. He's done voices for many animated characters, including the only one I recognized, POP, of RICE KRISPIES fame. I had fun.  It was my once in a lifetime vacation!  However, I do NOT recommend SUPER SHUTTLE, the transportation service to and from LAX (the airport in Los Angeles.)  They lost my PREPAID reservation and did not pick me up from the hotel when I was scheduled to leave for LAX, to catch my flight home!  I hope my travel agent can get my money back. I was able to book a ride with a different service, but it cost me money that I shouldn't have needed to spend! 

 

Here are a few bright notes!  On Saturday night, I was in Diane's and C.J.'s hotel room again.  They were trying to decide which VOYAGE episode to watch while we ate in the room.  I didn't state my preference, letting them choose.  They chose my favorite, anyway, the third season episode, THE MERMAID!
 
Also, when I was going up to their room, I encountered an older couple conservatively dressed to go out for dinner near the elevators, and a crowd of more colorfully dressed con goers in flashy costumes were also near the elevators. The couple joined me in my elevator car, and the wife said, "We're normal!"  I showed her and her husband my con badge which I was still wearing, and said, "I am, too, but I went to this thing, and I had fun!"

 

Finally, when I landed in Salt Lake City, I made my shuttle connection to travel an hour north to my home in Ogden, Utah, and shared the van with three other people, two women and a man, whom the driver dropped off at a HOLIDAY INN EXPRESS before taking me north to Ogden. I noticed that one of the women, the one who sat next to me, had blue hair! A dead giveaway perhaps? I asked her where they had come from. She said Los Angeles. That's when I knew. I asked her to be sure. All three of them were in some kind of fight demonstration performers at Comikaze! And the gentleman in their group actually stopped by David Hedison's table, but not when I was there! Small world!

 

This concludes my con report! 

Sherry Lassiter
1/16/2015