GooCon: Citrus Ridge
Orlando, Florida − October 23-25, 2009
 Aaron Shurtleff |
 Amy Austin |
 Jackie Mason |
 Kelly Lee |
 Matthew Preston |
 Scott Hardie |
The following is Scott Hardie's remembrance of the event:
Thu 11pm - Kelly and I pick up Matt at the airport. This year I'm relieved to be almost completely done, whereas the previous year I was much more behind than I already thought I was. We get some Wendy's and chat about old times, and I print everything and start packing.
Fri 11am - The three of us drive to Orlando and wait at the airport for Jackie, while I write out trivia questions by hand, completing the last bit of pre-event planning. We pass the time shopping for souvenirs, buying some astronaut ice cream from the Kennedy Space Center store to snack on during the weekend. Amy calls to let us know she is delayed until late in the day, so she'll have to miss lunch.
Fri 1pm - Now with Jackie, the four of us drive to Earl of Sandwich at Downtown Disney for lunch, finding the food even better than we expected. Aaron surprises us at the restaurant, since we didn't expect him until much later in the day. After lunch, we stop at a toy store where Kelly makes a lightsaber, and a Lego store where we kid around with the displays.
Fri 3pm - The five of us stock up on food at a local grocery store, having to put everything into Aaron's car since mine is full. Cheese and crackers, Coke 12-packs and LOTS of breakfast food dominate the shopping cart. We then head to the house to relax and set up. It's a big trade up from last year, a deluxe house with lots of space to spread out and get comfortable. Among the various framed photographs scattered around the house, Matt and Aaron find a ridiculous vacation photo that turns "banana hammock" into the first of many running jokes for the weekend. The swimming pool is an instant hit; everyone else jumps in within minutes while I set up decorations and arrange the house for the weekend. We had planned to play Guitar Hero with a game and controller that we bought for the occasion, but we were so tired and the pool was so much fun...
Fri 6pm - Amy arrives, and the six of us are together at last. We chat and get comfortable in the house while Matt tries to get the Internet to work. The house had a cable modem but no wireless router as advertised, meaning we had to rely on poor signals in the area except when we connected right into the cable modem for Celebrity Goo Game Live. However, Matt brought every cable except the correct one for connecting his laptop to the big-screen TV, so we're forced to take a short drive to Best Buy for it.
Fri 7pm - Dinner at Grand China Buffet is a disappointment with mediocre food, but my fortune cookie gets a laugh. We briefly discuss a recent blog post of mine to include blogs in the weekend, and I bring up questions from Tragic Comedy to get us talking.
Fri 9pm - The first round of Celebrity Goo Game Live goes to Aaron, who bets it all on the final goo and winds up with more money than the other four players combined. These goos are noticeably harder than last year's, owing to my efforts not to repeat the household names from the previous year and running out of famous people in numerous fields.
Fri 11pm - Kelly goes to bed, while the rest of us stay up for the horror presentation, an episode of the Stephen King anthology TV series Nightmares & Dreamscapes. A couple gets lost in the Oregon woods, and winds up in a creepy town called Rock and Roll Heaven, where rock music will never die. Afterwards, Jackie, Matt, and I go to bed, while Aaron and Amy stay up to watch another episode. They wind up staying up the entire night, watching shows and laughing at videos.
Sat 10am - Kelly cooks a great breakfast of bacon, egg, and cheese sandwiches, tater tots, fresh fruit, and more. Capping off the rock & roll theme of the decorations around the house, Kelly and I have brought a jukebox-shaped piñata filled with candy, which we take turns bashing open by the pool.
Sat 11am - It's time for round two of the goo game, which again goes to Aaron despite strong showings from Jackie and Kelly. After the game, we break for a refreshing dip in the pool while I set up the next event.
Sat 3pm - It wasn't on the published schedule, but when Gothic Earth players Justin Conner and Melissa Turffs looked like they were going to join the event, I put together a session of the role-playing game to be played at GooCon, with the approval of the other guests who don't normally play RPGs. Even though it turned out that Melissa and Justin couldn't make it, we play anyway, and have a great time. The roughly 3-hour game takes place in the horror-themed 1899 setting of Gothic Earth, but without the existing characters of the campaign. Trapped in the Dry Tortugas off of the coast of Florida, the five guest characters must survive a mad general named Zadoff who uses telekinesis to hunt them, having grown bored of hunting mere animals. The players use teamwork well to overcome their nemesis and escape. Midway through the game, Amy politely bows out to sleep, so Jackie takes over her character.
Sat 7pm - Amy and Jackie dress up for a night on the town, as we drive to Bahama Breeze, the fanciest (and loudest) meal out of the weekend. I surprise the others with a conversation starter tailor-made for longtime site members: One at a time, we draw a name out of an envelope without looking, and say what that person means to us. All major site members past and present are discussed, with lots of insights learned into each other's real opinions and secret insights into other members of the site.
Sat 11pm - Round three of the live goo game. Matt dominates the game, earning more than four times what Aaron and Jackie collect, while Amy loses everything in a gamble. (Kelly has gone to bed already.) After the game, several guests stay up to watch last year's planned horror movie, The Orphanage, but only Matt is able to stay awake beyond the first act and see the whole film.
Sun 10am - While Kelly cooks and serves a delicious lunch of bacon cheeseburgers and corn on the cob, the rest of us play the final round of Celebrity Goo Game Live, which goes to Jackie despite a strong showing from Aaron. However, even as the players make their wagers on the final goo, it's clear that Aaron has won the weekend with the overall high score no matter how much they bet. Aaron happily claims his trophy while everyone poses for more photos with their gold, silver, and bronze medals for placing in the four rounds.
Sun 1pm - Jackie needs to catch a flight and Aaron needs to get home for his wife's birthday, so they depart early with warm farewells. Having lost a third of our party and pushed all of the big games into the early part of the weekend to accommodate their early departure, the rest of us sink into a rut as the weekend loses momentum. Amy and I retire to our bedrooms for naps, Kelly swims in the pool alone, and Matt tunes into various football games for the afternoon. It's the chance to relax that some of us have been looking for, but it feels like time is wasting.
Sun 6pm - With only three players, we dig into the trivia game that asks five questions about each section of the site and five about the site overall. Amy wins a gold pin for her 26 correct answers, while Matt gets 24 and Kelly gets 11.
Sun 7pm - Not wanting to drive far or pay much for the original planned restaurant, we just mosey down the street for Chili's. The conversation is the most relaxed yet, although we're all worn out by now.
Sun 10pm - With time left for one more game, Amy picks Scene It!, a test of our movie knowledge. The game is close with all four of us within reach of winning, but I pull off the winning guess and claim a gold pin for myself. We play the open "party play" mode for a while, but by midnight we're all tired and need sleep, except Amy who stays up and enjoys the hot tub and a glass of wine.
Mon 8am - A miscommunication results in Amy being woken up and then abandoned while Kelly and I rush to get Matt to the airport in time for his flight. We regret it but put it behind us in time for a pretty good $4 breakfast buffet at Ponderosa and Amy's brief driving tour of International Drive where she used to live and work. We depart around 1pm for the long drive home and much-needed sleep afterwards.
