SOS Convention 2000

Saturday, February 26, 2000, was a day I will never forget. After arriving an hour early, I was filled with anticipation for the SOS (Save Our Sunset) Convention. This year was the first convention I had the opportunity to attend. Six of the cast members were supposed to come this time; of those six, five of them came. However, even more actors came than I expected. Those in attendance included Chase Parker (Benjy), Christina Chambers (Maria), Shawn Batten (Sara), Krissy Carlson (Amy), Cristi Ellen Harris (Emily), Michael Strickland (Brad), J. Karen Thomas (Jada), Lisa Guerrero (Francesca), Dominique Jennings (Virginia), Clive Robertson (Ben), Sarah Buxton (Annie), Tim Adams (Casey), and Sherri Saum (Vanessa). Looking back at all the names really reinforces the notion that the SB cast is one of a kind. They were all very happy to be there to meet us. It also was really cool when some of them remembered me, my mom, and my sister, Tiffany, from last year's fan club gathering.

We started the luncheon about 30 minutes late, but everything was worth the wait. An auction for Sunset Beach clothing was planned, but there wasn't enough time. I ended up winning a shirt anyway, but I have no idea which actor wore it. At least it's from the show! We had a delicious Italian lunch while waiting for the actors to arrive. One by one, throughout the afternoon, some of my favorite actors and actresses came in. They ate their lunch while Penni (the SOS founder and organizer of the event) gave an entertaining background speech about SOS. After her talk, Penni asked the cast members some questions from the fans. We laughed with the actors because of some of their answers; you could tell that they were having a good time. Soon, it was time for what we were all waiting for -- meeting and talking with the cast! Most people got in a line in front of them to take their turns talking and taking pictures.

The first person we came to was Chase. He is so adorable! We had a choice of three pictures for him to write his name on. Each time someone came up to him, he would ask, "Which picture do you want?" For a five year old, he sure is outgoing and polite! Later on in the day, we ended up taking a picture with him. My sister and I kneeled on opposite sides of him; it made for a great picture!

Next we talked to Christina. I asked her if she could sign my (SOS 2000) t-shirt. Amidst the confusion about where to sign, Christina made the comment that I am "so cute." What a nice thing to say! Tiffany and I took a picture with her, of course. Then I talked to her for a few minutes; I ended up giving her my web site address so she could check it out. To clarify part of the address, I told her that the first part is my name backwards. Lisa said that it was creative. How nice of her! Again, we met a really nice cast member, and we were going to meet another!

We got to Lisa next. I don't remember if I talked to her; I really didn't know what to say! We did get a picture with her though. It was really great of her to come since she wasn't on the show for the majority of last year.

When the line moved again, we came to J. Karen. She conveniently had a stack of pictures with her, so I got her to autograph one for me. Later on, we got back in the line to take a picture with J. Karen. When she saw us, she immediately asked if we wanted a picture with her. When we asked her how she knew that, she said we had that look, and that she had telepathy. Overall, J. Karen came across as being very friendly.

Next, we were in front of Shawn. Of course, we said hi right away. Shawn actually said that she remembered us from last year (at the fan club gathering). Somehow, we got on the subject of letters, and how I had sent her a letter with a picture from last year's event. Shawn said that she remembered my letter because she keeps the ones that mean something to her. Then she started telling me about some things I wrote in it -- she actually remembered when I couldn't! We ended up getting two autographed pictures of her since she had two different ones with her. We also took a picture with Shawn, which I sent to her again. The thing I will remember most about Shawn is how she was able to reiterate what I wrote to her in a letter.

Sometime after that, we went to meet Michael. He greeted us with a friendly, "Hi guys!" We asked him to sign our paper and then to take a picture with us. I also asked him what he's been doing since Sunset Beach stopped. Michael said something about working on a movie for the summer.

Then we walked over to Krissy. At first, I didn't recognize her because her hair is now dark brown and much longer. We said "hi" to her, and she said that she remembered us from last year. (Yes, another recognition!). We also took a picture with Krissy. I didn't talk very much at all with her though; once again, I didn't know what to say!

We waited to talk to Dominique next. We first took a picture with her, and then got her to sign our paper. She gladly obliged. Then when I brought up her Listerene commercial, Dominque said that she did that about three years ago!

After that, we wandered outside and found lots of women around Clive. We stood for a few minutes, waiting for a chance to take a picture with him. Clive noticed us standing there, and asked if we wanted a picture with him. It was so nice of him to offer! Oh, and if you look at the picture, you can see that Clive had to bend down for me since he is so much taller! Unfortunately, we didn't get Clive to autograph our paper since he was pressed for time. I'm glad we got a picture with him though!

When we went back in, we finally got to Cristi. She was happy to see us; in fact, she greeted us with hugs! Just as she did earlier, Cristi asked us how we were. We took a couple of pictures with her inside, then moved outside to room to take another. It seemed like we talked to Cristi for a long time; I'm glad she took so much time with us! My sister and I mostly talked to her about school. I also mentioned having my letters about Sunset Beach's finale printed in two soap opera magazines. It turns out that Cristi actually read one of the letters. What was even better is that she liked my letter because I mentioned her character in it. I wanted her to see the other letter, so I gave her my web site address. After a little more chatting, it was practically time to go. We hugged a couple more times as we said our good-byes. Hopefully, as Cristi said, she'll see us again.

As we were leaving, we got pictures with Sherri and Sarah. We also ran into J. Karen again, so we talked to her a little bit more. She didn't realize that I am older than I look, but she made a good point about how that will be better when I am much older (since I will look younger than my age).

In retrospect, I had a really memorable time. The convention was worth all of the money we spent, as it was filled with surprises, excitement, fun, and laughter. I'm so glad that the many cast members that came were friendly and appreciative. It was really great having Shawn, Krissy, and Cristi remember us from last year. I'm also glad we got to talk to Cristi for more than I few minutes; I do hope we see her again! Overall, I hope the actors had as much fun as we did! (And if any of you are reading this, thank you for coming!!!)

Check out the pictures from the event!