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elderwitty(I think I've made all the photos click-to-enlarge. I'm not saying it's always a good idea.)
Thursday
Went to the Institute of Art for six and a quarter hours. Took 540+ photos (including name plaques). Picked up Walter at the airport and took our stuff to the hotel, where we chatted and unpacked, and then had a demo on how to use the awesome Mac book he brought me. Ain’t he cool?
Sweeping staircase just outside the Arms & Armor exhibit
Ring of the Heart, bamboo basket by Fujinuma Noboru
Friday
Got registered and headed for the Dealers’ Room. Was very happy to have brought my own photos, as there weren’t any that I fell in love with. No John or Rodney action figures, putting the kibosh on plans for Mensa!verse foursome porn. Sad. :P
Went in to find our seats. I warn you that after last year’s sad result of 36 photos for the whole weekend, I didn’t take any notes. I have over 1000 pictures, but I probably won’t remember much from the talks. Most of the focus will be on the autographs, photos, and extracurricular fun. Let’s hope the David & Joe Show transcript that I’m hoping to do again this year (from magical unnamed sources) will bring it all back.
We wandered into the lobby at one point and ran into
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grammarwoman (Kim) and nakedwesley (Kath). Or, as I called her, “Ruby!” Kath looks remarkably like a friend named Ruby (who has never watched SGA as far as I know. Der!) We made it back in time to seeGary Jones
He came on and talked. Pretty funny guy. I got a good example of his Walter at his keyboard feeling concerned look.
My attention might have wandered a bit.
Yes/No Trivia Game
They should have a fan vet the questions before they ask them. “Col. O’Neill was the one who launched the drone in Atlantis. Yes or No?” and “When they got back to Atlantis in the second season, Sheppard was promoted to Lt. Colonel. Yes or No?” The first one isn’t a real question – unless he meant to say Antarctica. The second one sent the one person who answered No to his seat, with the moderator opining, “That must be embarrassing.” Too bad that guy was the only one who got it right, since John got promoted ON EARTH before shipping back to Atlantis. Nice attention to detail there, Creation. :/snerk: The last question was an SG:(p)U question, so that round was won by chance, basically. (Whoops, marked the end of the snerk too soon. :grin: ) The first round winner didn’t win the second.
Alexis Cruz
He’s hot! He’s funny, too, and seems to really know his acting beans. Again, mostly I remember the photos, including the ones I took of his arms just for
squidgiepdx . (He'll tell you he made me do it, and it's true. He used the dastardly mention how hot they look method. I was helpless to resist.)
(Enlarge this one - I don't know why it looks blurry)
Such a cutie!
Arms!
Alex Zahara
He’s fun! And funny, too. (Wait – I’m sensing a theme.) I don’t know what Creation paid him, but they sure got their money’s worth. He was around all weekend, having a great time with the fans. (I regret not getting his autograph. Next year, maybe.)
Not sure what he's doing with his hand, but I was mesmerized.
Aargh, me hearty!
Gary Jones autograph
There’s not much to tell. He didn’t mention the non-standard photo. I’m not entirely sure he noticed it wasn’t one of him. :grin:
(Tomorrow, I'll post the one I had him sign. I forgot that it's not on my hard drive. Der! I'm at my sister's, due to poor planning that resulted in no internet at my house 'til Monday. Double der!)
Here 'tis!
We went over to the hotel, planning to drop our stuff and head out to Best Buy to get Walter a monopod. It seems that years of carousing have left him shaky as a drunken monkey. (Did I say that out loud? :smirk: ) Okay, fine. The reality is that when you zoom greatly the photo blurs very easily. Whatever. I like my story better. We also needed to hit Walgreens for nametags, as we wanted both our real and LJ names on display, and pick up some food, too.
We ran into
mackenziesmomma (Kassandra) in the lobby, got to talking, and learned that she was supposed to meet a group of people in The Benchmark, but wasn’t feeling it, due to rude and inattentive waitstaff. And that she had a collapsible tripod that Walter could use for the duration. Naturally, we had to take her to dinner with us.First, though, we went up to her room and saw her photo album. I could be wrong, but I think she may have a thing for Kavan Smith. :snicker: Then to our room to get something vital that I can’t recall. Oh, yeah! Kassandra had to tend her Oregon Trail entry; stave off dysentery or something. Off to eat! Where’d we go? We took the fine dining option – Walgreen’s for junk food and office supplies (hey, those gold stars were begging to be bought), then Wendy’s for burgers and fry-agra. We decided to give the Cabaret a miss, but go back for the karaoke. Kassandra had tried to dissuade us with video of her singing at last year’s, but we were determined.
While walking to the ballroom, one of them mentioned that the cabaret must be over, since people were leaving. I was assessing the tide, so I completely missed Christopher Judge coming out of the bar and saying 'Hey, how's it going?' in passing. Der! I couldn’t even see for myself the tiny waist that so fascinated Walter. :)
While getting drinks at the bar, Walter gained an admirer.
lil_jei (Jess) found out that he runs squidge.org and I got to see a fangirl squee. :D Her friend Kelly Anyway, back to the karaoke. Some were good, some were awful (at least one was room-clearingly awful), most were drinking, and all were festive. Alex Zahara was dancing and having a great time. The video screen announced that the next song would be (I’m gonna be) 500 Miles by Paul & Gary. We thought nothing of it until the scary, suit-clad security man started admonishing us to not use our cameras. Um, okay? I gave him some chocolate. All became clear when Paul McGillion and Gary Jones stepped onstage. They called us to the foot of the stage (sitting in the rows of chairs did seem odd) and listen to them wail a song we’re pretty sure they’d never heard before. They gave it their all, though, with both of them putting on Scottish accents. We all chimed in on the last chorus at their request, though I must confess I was faking. Near the very end, Chris Judge came out and they all dance/hopped in a happy circle of silly.
We applauded and cheered, and they ducked behind the curtain (Oz Wizard consult, perhaps?). We laughed to see Security bopping his head to the next song, and later dancing in his chair. Jess wanted to get a picture of Alex and the (cute) security guy, so I volunteered to ask. You may not realize this, but I’m not all that shy. Shocking, I know. I stopped Alex and said, “My friend wants to get a picture of you and…” Here he started toward the second row where she was. “…the security guy.” Not being shy paid off with a close-up view of his complete befuddlement before he wheeled around to pose with the dude. She skipped over to be in the photo, and it was duly taken. Then she grabbed one of Alex, the muscle, Walter, and me before Alex returned to his dancing.
Jess wanted to know security man’s name, so I asked. Steve. Naturally, he had to have a nametag - Security Steve. And thus was he known for the rest of the con, even though he never put it on.
Alex was all hot and sweaty at one point, so I motioned him over and gave him a breeze from my omnipresent folding fan. Jess got a couple of pictures of us, but Alex couldn’t have any of our chocolate. (Did I mention I was trying to give away the last of a bag of assorted mini chocolate bars? Plain or dark chocolate, or Twix.) He’s lactose intolerant and left his pills at home. Make a note, con-goers. Next year I’ll probably bring Jolly Ranchers.
Right before they kicked us out
The Creation people finally kicked us out sometime after 1am (I think). Jess headed upstairs to her room and Walter and I headed out for the Marriott. There was a gathering of ten or so people right outside the main doors, which included Alexis Cruz, Paul McGillion, and Christopher Judge. (I saw him this time. Tiny waist.) We paused so Walter could post to LJ on his phone, and thank goodness we did. If we’d walked on, we wouldn’t have seen Chris lean over and plant a smacker on Paul. I asked Walter if that had really just happened, and he said that if it had, he was in danger of passing out. (Or something like that – I was in my own little daze.)
We teetered off to our room, I uploaded the photos , we ate some cookies, and went to bed, as breakfast with Ben was going to come very early in the morning. (I seem to recall Kassandra came up with us, but can’t remember how she wasn’t at the kiss, but was in the room. Maybe next year, I’ll narrate the non-panel events into a PI-level minirecorder. Jeesh!)
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no subject
Date: 2011-08-26 12:29 pm (UTC)Con report... huh? Umm.... right....
And I would totally squee meeting Walter, too! And you!
no subject
Date: 2011-09-03 09:02 am (UTC)And I had tons of fun meeting so many LJ fans either way.
That was well worth the fangirl embarrassment :)
no subject
Date: 2011-08-26 12:32 pm (UTC)That was me, drooling.... using a work computer I rarely use and didn't realize I wasn't logged in....
And I'd still squee at you guys! ;-)
no subject
Date: 2011-08-26 04:44 pm (UTC)what Walter said
Date: 2011-08-27 04:05 am (UTC)Yes, you have to come next year! We have coookieees. No, really. We did have them and we'll have them again. (Not the same ones, obvs.)
no subject
Date: 2011-08-26 02:20 pm (UTC)About Chris Judge's tiny waist. I saw a brief clip of him somewhere and he looked downright skinny, and wondered about that. Where are the muscles? Should we worry?
no spinach for you!
Date: 2011-08-27 04:10 am (UTC)The only worry is, why won't he hang out with us all of the time? :grin:
Re: no spinach for you!
Date: 2011-08-27 04:36 am (UTC)He really ought to have gone home with you or Walter. *g*
Thank you for the fun report and the pics of all of the gang! Alexis is a cutie patootie. :)
Also, while I'm here, I read your post about your job woes. Yeah, you're pretty dispensible all right. It's not like you do anything around there. Hope they open their eyes and see you for what you are and do. Good luck!
Re: no spinach for you!
Date: 2011-08-27 04:51 am (UTC)I concur!
You're very welcome. There's more coming up tonight. Since I didn't have many orders to enter at work, I used the time to type up Saturday's report. :grin: They're all pretty damn cute. I don't know how they do it.
Thanks! At this point, I don't much care if they figure it out. My direct boss said today that he discussed it with his wife, all the stuff that I do now...that he's gonna have to do. I said I hoped he'd have fun with it. I really feel like I'm out of there either way. Why would I work for people who think so little of me, ya know?
no subject
Date: 2011-08-26 04:39 pm (UTC)And it was a riot to read about squidge's con experience. So fun!
report
Date: 2011-08-27 04:38 am (UTC)Giant McShep AU List
But, wait, there's more. :grin:
ETA: Oops, bad html.
no subject
Date: 2011-08-27 02:44 am (UTC)my bad
Date: 2011-08-27 04:39 am (UTC)Re: my bad
Date: 2011-08-27 05:32 am (UTC)I can totally quit Kavan Smith any time I want! :P ;)
Wendy’s for burgers and fry-agra.
I had Wendy's for lunch like twice this week and BARELY kept a straight face (in fact I couldn't bring myself to order fries)
Re: my bad
Date: 2011-08-27 09:39 pm (UTC)Oh, yeah. Blame the fires. /snerk