‘Star Wars – Medstar II: Jedi Healer, A Clone Wars Novel’ – OVERVIEW

Friday.  My first full day of Celebration V.  We got up at six-thirty this morning and I took a shower and we all were a little sluggish and we all had a nice breakfast of eggs and sausage and cinnamon buns.  We knew it may be a fairly long day and that we may not get to eat too much of a lunch.  We got things ready for the day and I even work my backpack to show it off at the con today.  We packed up the car and then met Gary at his hotel.  We took his car over to the Con and then went into the Exhibitors entrance and we were able to enter the Con before it opened for anyone else.  We walked in the back door right around eight o’clock and before we knew it, there were lights everywhere and George Lucas was about two fee from me.  NO JOKE!!  Here’s some pics:

I just about wet myself, I’ll be honest!  My kids couldn’t believe their eyes and I thought my son was going to pass out!  We watched George for about five minutes or so and then went over to the Mercs table and help them set-up and I continued to get into kit.  We were in before anyone else and we were able to run around and take some pictures, which was really cool.  It meant we got to get some unique pictures that no on else could get.  Like us with the Tie Interceptor without anyone else around:

Or us at the table of the Millenium Falcon:

It really was a lot of fun.  I felt like it was kind of like a playground.  Once people started to arrive, we stopped taking picutres and just participated in the con.  I ended up going to the panel for the Mandalorian Mercs and we had a great time explaining to the Con goers what the Mercs are and what we do.  We had some great questions and we were able to show people all sorts of things about how to make a Mandalorian costume.  It was a lot of fun, but it was rough because I was in the front of the room with my backpack on for about an hour and a half (which can get heavy).  We got done there and I met Heather at the table and she helped me get my backpack off and we did the unofficial Mandalorian Mercs group shot at the Fan Stage.  That was a lot of fun!

We finished with that photo group shot and Heather took the kids around to do autographs and pics with actors.  She sat down with Gary to get something to drink and Austin went and got an autograph from Daniel Logan and got some really cool pics with him:

Tara went and got an autograph from Amy Allen and got a really cool pic with her:

Ruth had to wait until later tonight to get a pic from Ashley Eckstein because she wouldn’t be signing till later.  Shortly after they finished, I scooped up Austin and Tara and we went over to Joe Corroney’s table and we made him an official member of the Falco Clan and the Mandalorian Mercs.  He was excited and was really happy to become an honorary member of the Mercs and he kept the plaque on the table the entire weekend.  We got done with that and I bought a print from Joe.  We then came back in time for Tara to be in the Twi’leek photo shoot which she thought was really cool:

We got done with her photo shoot and we were started to get tired.  It was about three o’clock and we were waiting on Ashley Eckstein to start signing.  Ruth was so excited she wanted to go get in line, but the event organizers told her to come back and they would move her toward the head of the line.  I went around and checked some things out and then came back and hung out with Austin.  He was so exhausted, he fell asleep at the table:

We then got Ashely’s autograph and a photo with her and she complimented Ruth on her costume and said it looked great, which is just what Ruth and my wife needed to hear:

We got done there and came back to the hotel.  We were exhausted yet again.  We made our dinner quickly and decided to try and relax.  I had repairs to do from the day.  I had a guy that ran into the barrel of my gun and pretty much loosened it to the point that the gun didn’t point straight anymore.  So, I had to rip the barrell off and glue it back on.  I also had to fix Austin’s electronics again.  I then got ready for tomorrow.  I was going to wear Imperial Officer’s and my Makili for the Slave Leia picture (they actually invited me to dress up for that).  I got done getting ready for tomorrow and it was ten o’clock before I knew it!  It was a long, but fulfilling day!

Okay, let’s overview “Star Wars – Medstar II:  Jedi Healer, A Clone Wars Novel” by Michael Reaves and Steve Perry…..

‘Star Wars – Medstar II: Jedi Healer, A Clone Wars Novel’ – Epilogue

Well, it’s Thursday and for most of the Star Wars fans out there, they started their day early by going to the opening of Celebration V.  For the Crissman clan (and our friend who is with us, Gary Boughton) we drove THROUGH THE NIGHT!  No joke, we kept driving through the night last night.  We did take a quick one hour nap at a North Carolina rest stop for an hour and kept going.  We got to South Carolina and Heather asked for a break, so I drove the entire state of South Carolina from about two in the morning until about six-thirty in the morning till we switched back.  I give Gary credit because he drove the whole way.  We were getting pretty antsy by noon as we were SO close to Orlando, Fla.  But we weren’t quite there yet.  We got to our hotel by about two o’clock.

Heather couldn’t check in until three o’clock, so I took the kids and we went over to Gary’s hotel.  We met Gary’s buddy Corey and we hung around the hotel for a little bit.  We then got our con badges and headed over to the con.  We got some nice exhibitor badges and then headed into the con.  I have to admit that there was SO much that I saw that was awesome and it was a little overwhelming for the first day.  I checked in with Novall Talon at the Mandalorian Mercs table to let him know we made it, had a short discussion with him and we walked around and checked out everything that there was to do.  We even checked out the Star Wars Celebration Store (which really wasn’t a big deal) and I did decide to get a brand new Celebration V messanger bag/backpack for my laptop computer and I have to admit that it’s pretty cool.

I also managed to pick up tickets for autographs today because the lines tonight were pretty slow and there didn’t seem to be many lines.  I also found out that I should be at the con early tomorrow because there was going to be a special guest at the Con that we could check out and that he would be touring the con.  We speculated that it could be George Lucas or even Mark Hamill.  I did decide NOT to get Mark Hamill’s autograph.  For two reasons – first, no matter when I pick up the ticket, I would be waiting in line for HOURS just to get the autograph and I would not want to put that on myself or the kids – second, I probably could get it online sometime later if I’m really that interested in it.  We hung around the con for about five hours and by that point the kids and I were both exhausted.

We went back to the hotel room where Heather had already checked in.  We got in and she had dinner ready for us.  We ate dinner, prepped all the costumes for tomorrow and relaxed a little.  We watched “Big Brother” and we all went to bed at nine o’clock.  Today was a long day and tomorrow was going to be long too!

Okay, let’s talk about the Epilogue of “Star Wars – Medstar II:  Jedi Healer, A Clone Wars Novel” by Michael Reaves and Steve Perry……

‘Star Wars – Medstar II: Jedi Healer, A Clone Wars Novel’ – Chapter 42 (Part 4)

Well, our day started off as a long day and it just continued.  There is only one way to sum up our day today:

DRIVING!!!!!!!

We got up around nine o’clock this morning and I watched Dr. Phil as I continued to get things together for our trip.  The kids and I remained silent because Heather got up around six o’clock this morning and ran around and did a few things and then picked up the trailer and then went back to bed to be prepared for the day today.  I finished getting things together and we then left the house by about eleven-thirty this morning and we were on the road – ALL DAY LONG!!!!  LITERALLY!  We drove with my buddy Gary Boughton and I ended up driving on the way down in his car more than my own.  I think it’s because my wife was ready to kill me about how anal retentive I was being about how to load the car and what we needed to do and when.  I tried to tell her there was a method to my madness.

We got on the road and met Gary in Great Bend, Pennsylvannia.  We then drove through PA, Maryland, and Virginia with little to no problems.  We had a minor error in Washington, DC when Heather got seperated from us and I’ll admit that it was partially my fault and partly the fault of the GPS we were using.  We drove straight through the day, into tonight and into tomorrow with little breaks.  But, I’ll cover that more tomorrow.

Okay, so let’s talk about Part 4 of Chapter 42 of “Star Wars – Medstar II:  Jedi Healer, A Clone Wars Novel” by Michael Reaves and Steve Perry……

‘Star Wars – Medstar II: Jedi Healer, A Clone Wars Novel’ – Chapter 42 (Part 3)

The countdown is on!  Today is the last day before we get ready for and leave for Orlando, Florida for Celebration V.  I want to say we had a chance to rest to get ready today, but that really didn’t happen either. I got up this morning around nine o’clock and started to watch “Dr. Phil” while the family and I got ready for our event at the Discovery Center today.  I took a quick shower and as I loaded up the car, Heather headed out to go pick up our friend Danny.   We loaded up the car and headed toward the Discovery Center.

My morning seemed to be going okay until I got closer to the Discovery Center.  I got to the light for 434 and South Washington Street and there was a bunch of cops there and obviously there was an accident somewhere near there.  I tried to turn left on South Washington Avenue, but the cop wouldn’t let me.  When I went to roll down my window to find out how to get over to South Washington a better way the cop yelled AND swore at me!  I’m not sure that was the best way to handle the situation as a Binghamton City Police Officer.  If I had the time (and Iwere not trying to get to an event), I would have gotten the cop’s badge number and talked to the Chief of Police.  But, no time!  I got to the Discovery Center, started to secure things and what was going on.

I waited for Heather to get there and we started to unload her truck.  That’s when I realized I forgot my jumpsuit!  So, I headed back to the house and tried to find them (apparently my son had moved them!).  I also found Derrick’s Jedi belt and brought that back with me. I got to the event a little late, but others were there to be in costume to keep things going.  We ran a Clone Cadet Training range and a Lightsaber Training School.  The kids had a blast and I think even the adults had some fun too.  I got costumed up and was in costume for about three hours today.  We got done with the Discovery Center Event and my family and I were in scramble mode.

I got home and immediately pulled apart both of our totes of costumes and started to work on things.  I fixed Austin’s fans in his helmet, and changed the size of his belt.  I worked on my costume by retouching the paint to make sure that it’s all touched up and looks much better.  I fixed my helmet as well as worked on my backpack, which I plan on taking with me as well.  I also fixed Ruth’s headpiece and got a whole bunch of junk off of it and then glued back on the beads to make them look better.  As I worked on all of this, Heather took a quick nap and then started to formulate a plan for food for our trip.  She then whipped up a quick dinner and we all sat down and ate as we watched “The Office”.  Heather then went to Aldi’s while I played “Call of Juarez” for an hour and got through the next segment in the Story Mode.  After that, we started to organize ourselves and started to put our luggage together while Heather became a cooking fiend.  She pre-cooked all our dinners and had quite the plan in place and I REALLY appreciate all that she did tonight.  While we worked on all these things, we watched “Hell’s Kitchen” and both of us were so happy to see Holli win!  We then watched “Master Chef” and then two episodes of “The Office” before going to bed.

Okay, let’s talk about Part 3 of Chapter 42 of “Star Wars – Medstar II:  Jedi Healer, A Clone Wars Novel” by Michael Reaves and Steve Perry……

‘Star Wars – Medstar II: Jedi Healer, A Clone Wars Novel’ – Chapter 42 (Part 2)

Well, it’s Monday and I would like to say it was a day to relax since we didn’t have anything officially going on today.  But I can’t say that as my house is in the thralls of trying to get ready for Celebration V.  But to make things even more interesting is the fact that tomorrow, we have an event yet again for the Binghamton FanForce.  So, I got up around nine o’clock this morning and watched “Dr. Phil” while I formulated a plan about what I was going to do today.  I put together a plan and then by ten o’clock I was enacting that plan.  I put together some things and started researching some information online.  After working on some of that, I decided to take a break, so I played a little bit of “Call of Juarez” online on the PS3.

I then sat down and started to eat some lunch with the family.  We talked about what else needed to be done.  I drafted a letter to the Binghamton FanForce and sent it out in an email.  After I got done with that, I did some more research about Celebration V and started to get worried about parking, so Heather called the Orange County Convention Center and found out that the Celebration V website is inaccurate about the amount of parking that exists in the area.  We were put at ease about that and then the kids and I watched “Spaceballs” while Heather took a nap.  Not too long after that, Heather got up and Al stopped by.  I felt bad that I couldn’t visit for long because I was still researching for Celebration V.  I printed up a schedule as well as some maps and vendor forms.

I joined the family for dinner.  After dinner, we got things together for our event tomorrow.  We had a Star Wars Day at the Discovery Center and it’s the last event we have before we head off to Orlando.  So, I spent most of my evening getting ready for that.  While I did that, we watched “Top Shot” on DVR as well as some regular TV shows and before I knew it, it was time to get to bed.

Okay, let’s talk about Part 2 of Chapter 42 of “Star Wars – Medstar II:  Jedi Healer, A Clone Wars Novel” by Michael Reaves and Steve Perry……

‘Star Wars – Medstar II: Jedi Healer, A Clone Wars Novel’ – Chapter 42 (Part 1)

Well, it’s Sunday and the rest of the Christian world had a day of rest.  The Crissman family and the Binghamton FanForce did not, however.  We got up at eight o’clock this morning again and I’ll admit that I was a lot more exhausted.  We slowly got ourselves going for the day.  I had to fight the kids a little to get them going.  We cooked them some eggs (bribery I guess) and they pepped up.  We got the kids together and got them in the car.  We stopped at the Sunoco on Chenango St. and got some more crushed ice and then headed into the park.

We got held up a little by the 5K run/walk for the Spiedie Fest.  We then got into the park and set things up.  We were a little slower getting into costumes and it was definetly hotter and more humid.  We got into kit in the morning and not too long before we got into costume, Jeff showed up and got into his Vader costume which was a big hit.  We had a bunch of fun taking pictures and even doing videos.  After a while we all changed costumes around and walked around in different costumes. Overall, another good day and we had a very good day on our “Clone Trooper Cadet Training Range”, so much so that we ran out of certificates.  We had fun with the crowd, but by six-thirty, we were all exhausted.  We took down the tent and packed things up.  We put everything in the trailer and hooked it up to the car and we were then on our way home.

On our way home, we stopped off at “Taco Bell” and got some dinner and came home.  We crashed in the basement because it was cooler.  We watched “Animaniacs” for a while and then we unpacked the car and trailer.  Before we knew it, it was bed time and we had to all head to bed and rest up tomorrow.  Tuesday we have another event before we go to get on the road on Wednesday for CELEBRATION V!!!  Man, I can’t wait!!!!

Okay, let’s talk about Part 1 of Chapter 42 of “Star Wars – Medstar II:  Jedi Healer, A Clone Wars Novel” by Michael Reaves and Steve Perry……

‘Star Wars – Medstar II: Jedi Healer, A Clone Wars Novel’ – Chapter 41

Well, it’s Saturday and my entire day can be wrapped up in two words – SPIEDIE FEST!  We got up around eight o’clock this morning and got ourselves going for the day.  We were all a little tired, but didn’t do too bad because yesterday was over and today was a new day.  We made some lunches and packed some food in the car and talked about the day a little bit.  We all packed into the car and started to make our way to the park.  We stopped at the Sunoco on Chenango Street and got some bagged ice and then brought everything to the tent at the park.

We got to the park and set the tent up and started to get kitted up.  We had a BLAST at Spiedie Fest!  I forgot to mention that we had a new family join us last night and they were a great group of people and things went really well and I was impressed with how well they fit in with the FanForce family.  They really were a great family to hang out with.  They ended up having a Padme and Chewbacca costume as well as their sons doing Darth Vader, Boba Fett, and a clone.  It was a fun day and we sold quite a few lightsabers for our charity “A Room to Heal” and we did really well raising money for them.  We had some great interaction with the audience and I have to say it was the PERFECT costuming day.  Not too hot, not too cold, perfect humidity, and there was actually a breeze.  That’s very rare for August in New York.

By the end of the day, however, my family was tired.  We got home at around eight-thirty and we crashed a little.  The kids went to bed.  Heather and I got ready for one more day tomorrow and watched some more episodes of “Big Bang Theory” before going to bed early.

Okay, let’s talk about Chapter 41 of “Star Wars – Medstar II:  Jedi Healer, A Clone Wars Novel” by Michael Reaves and Steve Perry……

‘Star Wars – Medstar II: Jedi Healer, A Clone Wars Novel’ – Chapter 40 (Part 4)

Well, it’s Friday and I wanted it to be an easy day and my day wasn’t easy.  It just didn’t start off the way I wanted it to.  But, by the end of the day, things worked out and in the long run things seemed to finally settle down.  I got up around nine o’clock this morning and as Heather and I were watching “Dr. Phil” this morning, we realized that we had forgotten to take a whole bunch of things over to Spiedie Fest with the trailer last night.  So, we took a shower and got dressed and got ourselves going right away.  I got “gonk” from downstairs and we put together a quick banner along with some other things around the house.  We put it all in the car and then headed out to Otsiningo Park.

Last night we were promised that by this morning our tent would be set up for the festival.  We got there around eleven o’clock today and still no tent.  When we got ahold of an official, they got ahold of the head of the festival and he said it would be up very soon and “he was on it”.  So, Heather and I left and went down to Jeff’s work and got the generator and figured that once we got back from Pennsylvannia, the tent would be set up.   We got back to the festival, and the tent was STILL not set up!  I was frustrated by this point.  I just wanted to set things up.  What made it worse was a comment that I heard over the radio that I probably wasn’t meant to have heard, but it was pretty rude.  Heather and I left and came home and had a quick lunch and got last minute things together and got back over to the park.

We finally had a tent and started to set things up.  That’s when I realize that I forgot the laptop!  All that organizing and I forgot the one thing that we really needed.  And of course, the traffic in the park and in the area is a disaster.  So, I left the park and drove home, got the computer and went to Lowes quick and bought some duct tape and came back to the park.  We set things up and my buddies started to show up and started to help us set up and things finally started to get rolling.  By the end of the night, things were going much better.  We have a “Clone Trooper Cadet Training” range where they shoot clone cut-outs with a Nerf gun and it went over pretty well.  We all costumed a little bit and by the end of the night, things went well.   We even had a guy offer us free power to us after seeing we were running a generator.  We got done and packed things up and came home.  Heather and I were a little tire, but not too bad.  So we watched some episodes of “Big Bang Theory” before going to bed.

Okay, let’s talk about Part 4 of Chapter 40 of “Star Wars – Medstar II:  Jedi Healer, A Clone Wars Novel” by Michael Reaves and Steve Perry…….

‘Star Wars – Medstar II: Jedi Healer, A Clone Wars Novel’ – Chapter 40 (Part 3)

Well, it’s Thursday and my family and I are trying to put our lives back together before we have another event coming up.  Heather and I got up around eight-thirty this morning and started to kind of get around and do things.  We then watched “Dr. Phil” for a while and then decided to start putting more things away.  We talked a little bit and then we went downstairs and watched the TV show “Hung” on DVR.  After that, Heather said she wanted to take Tara out and get her two more “Littlest Pet Shop”  animals for a contest she’s in and then took her to “Creature Comfort” to get a new cage and supplies for Molly, the Hermit Crab.  We got a nice big cage, more sand and rocks, and even dirt and a piece of cork for her to walk on.

We then got her acquainted with her new surroundings and then we all decided to pull apart the new lightsabers that we’ll be selling at Spiedie Fest.  I like the look of them, but I had to do some screwdriver work to a bunch of them and we had to change out some of the batteries.  We got those worked on and packed up as Allen dropped off some things for the trailer.  We then had some lunch and afterward, I went into the basement and played “Call of Jaurez” on the PS3 while Heather took a little bit of a nap.  After that, we got things together for Spiedie Fest and Garry showed up to help out a little as well.  Heather got a phone call and had to leave to help out with the trailer.  She came back and I got to talking to people, but she prodded me to help load up the trailer.  We got done and loaded things up and headed over to Otsiningo Park.

We got to the park to drop off the trailer and the guy running the event told us where we would be.  He said they did not have a tent up for us yet, but that it would be up by tomorrow.  He had all sorts of things to do yet and we let him go.  We dropped our trailer off and put it in a convenient place for the group and then left the park.  We then stopped at “Subway” on our way home.  We all got $5 footlongs and brought them home.  We ate dinner in the basement because it’s still hot in the house!  We then noticed that there were things we forgot to put in the trailer and decided we would have to head over to the park around eleven to drop some more things off to the trailer.  We then watched “The Office” and I played some more PS3 while Heather called her grandmother.  We then watched “Big Brother”, some episodes of “Big Bang Theory”, “Bullshit”, and “Whose Line Is It Anyway” on ABC Family before going to bed.

Okay, let’s talk about Part 3 of Chapter 40 of “Star Wars – Medstar II:  Jedi Healer, A Clone Wars Novel” by Michael Reaves and Steve Perry…….

‘Star Wars – Medstar II: Jedi Healer, A Clone Wars Novel’ – Chapter 40 (Part 2)

Well, it was Wednesday and our entire day was wrapped around the idea that we had to get back home.  We started our day out while most people were asleep.  We got up at midnight and got ourselves on the road by about one in the morning.  We drove to a gas station, filled up the car and got some caffeine and got on the road.  This time around, I stayed up pretty late talking with Heather about our week and our vacation and our next vacation, our trip to Orlando, Florida and Celebration V.  I stayed up until about two-thirty in the morning with her and then finally dozed off and got some sleep.

At about three in the morning, I got woken up by the car hitting the rumble strips.  I was concerned that Heather may have fallen asleep at the wheel, but instead realized that there were lights blinking behind us.  My wife got caught speeding in Virginia.  It was kind of bogus because the speed limit was 70 until we hit the Virginia border and then it became 65, but my wife missed the sign and was going 72 according to her cruise control, but the cop claims he clocked her at 78.  We didn’t argue with the cop, accepted the ticket and went on our way.  I went back to sleep after joking about it with Heather to try and make her feel better and let her know that I wasn’t upset about it.  I went back to sleep and we got on the road further.  We got further into Virginia and decided to stop and get some gas and I went to the restroom.  As we went on, we started to stop a little more often just to get out and stretch our legs.  At 7 in the morning, we stopped at a truck stop and I bought and tried a “5 Hour Energy”.  Didn’t taste great, but did manage to get my body back on track and back to normal.  It actually worked with half the bottle drank.  I stayed up with Heather the rest of the day.  I have to admit that when we got to Harrisburg, Pennsylvannia, we all had a “get me out of the car” feeling.  But we had a whole state to go yet!

I managed to keep us going and we decided to stop at Scranton, Pennsylvannia and got a lunch and sat down at Burger King and ate.  We then got back on the road and made it to Binghamton by about one o’clock in the afternoon.  Heather and I got to the house and we crashed!  We took a nap and the kids were just about ready to crawl up the walls!  They ran around and did some things and helped out by unpacking the suitcases and even washed some laundry just to be able to have things to do.  The hermit crab managed to survive the trip and got named (Molly).  We then got up from our nap and decided we should get some things done and got ready for Spiedie Fest which begins Friday.  So, we got things together for that.  We got done and then got some pizza from “Pizza Hut” and I went and picked it up on Front Street.

We ate dinner and then chilled out and started watching some of the shows that we had on the DVR, including “Top Shot”, “Gene Simmons Family Jewels”, “Big Brother”, “Master Chef”, and “Hell’s Kitchen” as well as the live show of “Big Brother” and then “Dog the Bounty Hunter”.  After that, we went to bed.

Okay, let’s talk about Part 2 of Chapter 40 of “Star Wars – Medstar II:  Jedi Healer, A Clone Wars Novel” by Michael Reaves and Steve Perry……