Here is almost everything that happened to me and my dad at Celebration 4 on Day 1 of our fabulous adventure. Tomorrow I'll try to have all of the pictures uploaded. I know it's almost two months late but here it is. Friday (Day 2) should be up in about two or three weeks.
I hope you like it.

Celebration 4 Day 1 Thursday, May 24, 2007
3:30PM-11:00PM

We got in line for Drew Struzan and it turns out the line was capped right in front of me! When we saw Drew he didn't remember my letters that I had e-mailed to him. I asked him if he remembered me talking about the Blade Runner poster and he got this look in his eyes that just screamed, "You're about the bazillionth person to tell me that." Since there could only be one signature per-person I got an Episode III poster and Dad got my friend Nicky's Special Edition ROTJ poster signed. I thanked him profusely and we took our leave.
Here, here, and here are pictures of the poster and Drew's autograph.

We continued to walk aimlessly and at one point, after much deliberation, I bought the Acme Archives C4 exclusive Tarkin Character key. My mom's a big Chewie fan so we had to get a picture of him immortalized as a Lego statue. We looked at the Hasbro figures and my dad got in line for the Hasbro exclusive Luke concept figure. I looked at his watch and sprinted to see Lorne Peterson in the Fan Club Lounge.

I scrambled into a high table next to a very nice man who happened to have a copy of Sculpting the Galaxy. He was kind enough to let me stare at the pages as he flipped through it. Lorne was amazing and I really liked him. He had so much to say about his working on all six films. I remember how he said how he never thought computers would become what they became. He thought that they would just be things to store small amounts of data on and help with doin calculations. I thought that funny because all I've ever known of computers was what they are now.

Before the Meet and Greet was over I had to go back into the line at Hasbro. Dad talked about these two brothers who he found out had a store in Milwaukee, near where we live. We also talked with a group of people in rope line one about something pertaining to Star Wars. We got seven figures; one for our neighbor, two for my friend, and four for us. Afterwards we went to Amy Allen's line to get her Aayla picture by Rob signed. She thought that it was amazing. She even thought that I had made it and showed it to whom I assume was her boyfriend. And then I got a picture with her.

We then talked with Randy Stradley about an internship at Dark Horse. While he was talking a man came over wearing the nametag of Jeremy Barlow, I have to say that his image on the DH forums don't look at all like him. They both gave me some advice and Randy said that I would be, "getting coffee, checking color copies and running you through hell," They were hilarious and said that I should do it.

My dad and I hustled to the Fan Club lounge again to listen to J.W. Rinzler talk about his new book, The Making of Star Wars: the definitive story. He had some really cool things to say about how the movie was made and continued to stress that this movie was not expected to succeed. It only happened because he had made so much on American Graffiti. While he was talking my dad got this amazing crumb cake that they had. I only wish that there was more. I asked him what the Star Wars-Indy crossover idea from his article in Star Wars Insider was. He said that it was an idea for Luke to fall off a cliff and not die, and Indy did that once. I expected there to be a signing and so I opened the package containing my paperback copy of his book. Unfortunately there wasn't. But we did see the Vader chef with a suckling Jar Jar head.

After we saw the Droids exhibit, which was fascinating. The people who make these things are just plain brilliant. I absolutely love what they do. And my dad, being a woodshop and computer drafting teacher, was intrigued as well. I have to say that whoever made the concept art R2-D2 is my new favorite person. Also to all the people who put that stuff together and made the videos you guys are great. Maybe at C5 I will get a chance to meet you guys.
Here, here, and here are some other pictures from the R2 Builders exhibit.
As we left that we saw one of the History Channel posters for The Legacy Revealed. So I just had to get some pictures. The changing images totally captivated me. I love concept art and to see the changes something goes through to become the finished product is very interesting. And I do know that those posters weren't concept art.

As soon as I looked at my dad's watch I realized that it was getting close to the Star Wars in 30 minutes we ran to get in line, which was considerably long. The line got capped but they did a second showing since there were so many people in line. The man in front of us was kind enough to let us leave the line and get dinner while he held our spot. He looked like he wasn't going anywhere since he was babysitting his brother's two young boys. As we were walking away my dad glanced back at the line and said he was sure he had seen our old neighbor's son, Doug Bragg. Dinner was pretty good. I have to say that the cafeteria food that they have is much better than the stuff at school. I really liked the turkey sandwiches they had available. When we returned the line had moved to the tables and my dad started looking around for Doug Bragg. We saw Doug and his girlfriend hiding behind one of the tables. My dad and him talked for a while and he introduced us to his girlfriend soon to be wife. It was really cool meeting someone that my dad had known before. Then we talked with two other people in line from Georgia I believe. I felt really bad for them since they had been forced to go on a 16 hour(?) plane ride since their flight got overbooked. Turns out he was a figure collector who had too many to fit in their apartment and had to leave some in their room and at his parent's house. I bet that's a common problem for collectors.

We finally got into the show and ended up near the back. I, being as short as I am, had to sit on my knees for the entire show. It was totally worth it. The show was hilarious I couldn't stop laughing at some points. If I had the chance to see it again I definitely would and I recommend it to everyone. And it lasted 45 minutes, not the advertised 30, but then again who wants to see Star Wars in 45 minutes. That's just too wordy.(saw @ 7:00) lasted 45 min.
The C4 store was our next stop. I was overjoyed to see that there was no one in any of the lines. The store managers at the entrance wouldn't let us take any bags in with us. And although I didn't like it I completely understand. Anyone could have easily stolen an item and slipped it into one of their goodie bags. For those of you calling them Shop Nazis, and you know who you are, should cut them some slack. These people have to wok instead of have fun at the convention like the rest of us. I went in and looked around the store at about 8:30 to see what I wanted. Then I came back and bought five C4 exclusive C-3P0 and R2-D2 figures. They were EXPENSIVE! Dad went in next and got three tee-shirts, (the brown Vader, white Celebration IV, and black Vader) and other assorted goodies. Yet not once did they have those lapel pins that my dad and I wanted so much. I'm somewhat disappointed that they never had them when they said they said that another shipment would be coming, and they didn't even have any on StarwarsShop.com either.
We stoped and got a picture of me with the R2-D2 mailbox, and then someone volunteered to take a picture of both of us.

Then we picked up a cab and drove home.I thought the drive was such a nice guy. Heck everyone in LA was great. The hotel was extremely nice. When I say extremely, I mean extremely. They had everything, even a nice basket of fruit waiting on a counter in our room for us. If you ever go to LA stay at the LA Athletic Club. By the time I had finally fallen asleep it was around 11:00 and I had been writing a rough of what you see here for almost an hour.
The beds were like clouds to sleep on.

My dad and I have this thing called an E ticket day. It started out when he went to Disney land and they would give E-tickets for the best rides. So the best things are E-tickets. That day, and all the others, was an E-ticket day. Overall the day was probably the greatest. I had so much fun and got to meet Drew Struzan, the greatest artist of all time, (besides Ralph McQuarrie of course) and Anthony Daniels, the man behind C-3PO. The only thing I missed was the Meet and Greet with Dr. David West Reynolds. I really, really wanted to see him. But that's what's so great about these Celebrations there's always too much to do and see. Thursday's atmosphere was the greatest because everyone there was there for Star Wars. You couldn't even get in without being a fan club member. I don't believe that any of the days compared with the greatness of the first day.

Check out Part 1.