My Excellent EyeConadventure!!!
Wow. I never, in a million years, thought I'd be going to a sci-fi convention... but wonders never cease!!! I attended EyeCon in Orlando on April 4-6 and it was SUCH a blast - I can't believe all these sci-fi people have been hiding what a great event that is for all this time (LOL!)
Here's my adventures for the weekend! I've included pics most other reviews of the con probably won't include - since my pics of the stars suuuuucked... big time. That's what I get for getting Row K. Blech!!!
Anyway, you'll notice at the end that I've included a zip file of my Steve Carlson pics in high quality (well, bigger size, anyway... who says bigger isn't better?) - these are in the 3 mb each range and putting them all in one file makes it easier for ya'll to download!
My adventure starts with my dilemma as to whether or not to go... now, I've been to TWO Cherished Teddies conventions (don't know what a Cherished Teddie is? Go here: Cherished Teddies) Yes... they have conventions! My mom collects these and I've been to one at Disney and one in Chicago. The Disney one was fun - we got stuck there in a hurricane - locked in our rooms with only a boxed lunch provided to us by the hotel!!! The Chicago one wasn't as fun - but, I get to hang out with my mom. However, when I mentioned that I might like to go to a convention for Supernatural - hah! I got laughed at. So... no one knew that I went to the Con. =)
I had been talking to J (all names are shortened for privacy sake), a member of my yahoogroup, Supernatural_on_the_WB. He was flying in from PA, so I said I could pick him up on the way down to Orlando, since I was picking someone else up at the Orlando Airport that morning as well (someone else from the same group). So I met up with J - we found each other right away (well, it's a *very* small airport, mind you) and we were off to MCO to pick up AH. While on the way, J looked at my badge that I had made... he read aloud: "Two Bro, One Ho." I turned to him and was like - WHAT?!? Did I misspell it on my own badge?!?! He said, who's the Ho? LOL!!! I explained my reasoning behind my moniker - had a great laugh over that!!! (By the way - it was great to see my badges throughout the con!!! I hope it was useful to everyone!!!) We got to MCO a little early and went to baggage claim to wait for her. I had a brief description of her but there were so many people - it was really just a guess. I had been tempted to make up a huge sign with Jared's face plastered over it with AH's name - but I didn't know who it would embarass more - me or her!!! =D We waited, knowing the plane had landed, and watched. Finally, we managed to spot her and I went up and asked if she was the one I was to meet and off we went to the hotel, which was supposed to be only 10 minutes away. *supposed to be* being the operative words! TimTim (TomTom, the navigation system with the voice of Tim, the British guy) tried to steer us in the right direction, but chatting and not having the sound up led us in all the wrong directions. We passed the hotel about 6 times on the highway - knew we had to get *over there* but couldn't figure out how. Finally, an hour later (sheesh!) we finally arrived at the hotel where the convention was being held. Poor J had been hungry since the Orlando airport, I can only imagine how he was feeling when we finally got there! AH went up to her room to wait for her friend who was flying in later and J and I went into the mall (that was attached to the hotel directly - how nice was that!) and met up with R and AJ for lunch! It was SO much fun meeting up with people I'd been talking to online for a while now and finally putting faces to names!!!
Here's the entrance to the hotel!
This is the view from J's hotel room (and the evidence that the weather *can* be good in Florida - it was terrible the rest of the weekend!!!):
Here's one of the friggin' AWESOME posters throughout the mall!!! I was so excited to see that!!! J and I tried to get one of them after the con was over - but the mall manager person said we'd have to ask Kenny (the EyeCon promoter) and I knew that he was just dead tired from the weekend, so we didn't want to bother him... would have been AWESOME though!!!) There was also a Ten Inch Hero poster right smack in the middle of the food court!!! *squee*
Here's the rockin' Supernatural on the WB group!!! AJ, R, Me, and J (left to right):
J, R, and AJ went up to their rooms to get ready for the registration/Meet and Greet/Ten Inch Hero movie screening and I took off around the mall a little. It's a *really* nice mall!!! Scoped out a couple of places I had wanted to check out, including a place where you could SURF IN THE MALL... like actual water surfing (I mentioned that to someone and they thought I meant web surfing - lol!!!)
I went to my hotel (I was staying with AS and M at a nearby hotel) and showered and changed, then headed back to meet everyone. It was SO hot in the area where we were waiting for registration and getting into the meeting room. Here's what the crowd looked like!!!
There's differing rumors about how many people were there. I'm sure Kenny knows the final number - but I'm thinking there were about 400 registered people, plus probably 100-200 general admission, walkins (this is based on badge numbers we noticed for the banquet - since we had to line up according to numbers). I'm not sure if this is a large or small convention - but it was enough!!! J and I checked out the dealer's room while they were still setting up. We got to say high to Agent With Style (I had been trying to create a cover for one of her zines before I left, so it was nice to put a face with an online persona). Creation Entertainment was there, as were a few other dealers. I was completely surprised by the fact that there was someone selling pirated dvd's right there in the open - very surprised at their gall and for Kenny allowing that - but hey, that's just me!!! J got a couple of items, I just perused and took notes for later!
Saw this on the way in:
If this is your car - you ROCK... This was on a black Prius, no less. What was funny, was that AS, T, and M were hard core Jeff Dunham fans - even more than I was!!! When I mentioned the Prius - they went into the lunchbox routine and were quoting JD even better than even I can.
The "Meet and Greet" was just the stars coming out and saying hi. The MC was Dizzy - he was GREAT. Really funny - really kept the crowd going - I'd hire him for another event in a heartbeat!!! I'm pretty sure he's a fan - but wasn't sure. Gabe was just overwhelmed and it was so cute seeing Sandy (who had just done her very first convention the weekend before) telling Gabe she'd guide him through the weekend. Awww... Jim was also a bit overwhelmed - this being his first convention too!!! But they all said hi and then settled in for the movie. I'm pretty sure they had seats up in the front - not sure if they were in the couches or in the "butt-breaker" seats we were all in, but I did see Jim leaving the movie after it was over from up there, but I wasn't sure who else sat in to watch. This was the second time I'd seen TIH and I was *really* curious to hear what the people from the group had to say about it. It was so cute hearing the reactions of the crowd - all the right reactions at all the right times. Like in Gainesville, Mark and David (the producer and director) were there to answer questions (which is just too cool, IMO). I, along with most people I've talked to, all disagree about their justification for placing a few of the scenes in the movie - they just weren't needed. But hey, it's their movie and it's really up to them! I was THRILLED to hear that they are working on a few deals to get the movie distributed. I might have to break my "I don't buy DVDs for more than $10* rule if TIH comes out on DVD. =D We were able to buy posters and have them signed - really cool too - but unfortunately, I was behind someone who felt that they needed to take up about 10 minutes of the director's time, instead of allowing the rest of us to have our 15 seconds to say hi and tell them how much we liked the movie, yadda yadda. I was about 2 foot taller than her and was totally tempted to just pick her up and move her out of the way, but I refrained. The poster is signed and I can't wait to bring it to Dallas to have Jensen sign it! (Oh, by the way, the TIH MySpace site emailed me and said they'd link to the wallpapers I had done for the movie and thought they were really cool!! I was pumped!!!)
Here's my seat sticker:
(yeah, I know - I'm a dork - lol!)
Here's a few pics from the M&G:
We were all a bit tired already after the movie (it was nice and cold and dark in the room - perfect sleeping weather!) and I had been up since about 7 after going to bed at 4 am... so I was really dragging, but the cocktail party was next! We all filed in to this tiny room with a bar and a bunch of tables. People just kept coming in and coming in - I was sure we were breaking some sort of fire safety rule! The stars showed up and moved in - and basically were planted there the entire night (except Chad, who seemed to be able to make it all the way around the room a few times). Several fans stood right by the stars and never moved the entire night - making it hard for others to get in and at least say hi, shake hands, or make themselves at least known. That was a little frustrating. I said that they needed to hire the people that go with Mickey and Minnie at Disney - the ones who tell them when time is up, keep track of fans who get unruly (unfortunately, I witnessed at least one of those fans with Jim), and who would keep things moving along. They really just needed to open up the wall and make it two rooms. Thank goodness Jared wasn't there - it would have been NUTS!!! So, I was in everyone's "vicinity" all night - but never really got all that close with anyone. For $65.00, it was a little disappointing - I basically had two $32.50 diet cokes! But I do know at least one person drank my share of alcohol (Jim's little "Friend"). I tried to get photos, but I was just a little nervous about doing it - esp since they made an announcement that photos couldn't be taken (I was assuming of people with the stars - not of the stars themselves). So mine suuuucked here too. I seem to have an evil knack of getting people right mid-blink. I'll share them anyway - but know that they are definitely not my best work (lol!)
(Jim - with his "Rockin' the Hat" hat and his "It's a TRAP!" pin)
(yes, that's the best view I could get of Sam - occasionally I saw her hair flip around - she had quite the crowd going! I did manage to get near by at the end of the night - when her voice was going, her shoes had been given away (she said they were dreadful and killing her), and I was about ready to hit it - lol! But I did manage to get some vid of her and Chad - they are quite funny together!)
I finally made it downstairs where I met up with my roomies (people I had never met before). I met up with AS after commenting on a vid on YouTube. She started writing me - we moved it off YT and then joined each others MySpace pages and continued to talk through there. We had been talking about EyeCon and she said that a group of her friends were going and they had space so if I wanted to join them I could! Wow - what a leap of faith! LOL! I secretly reserved a space in each of the WB group members rooms "just in case" - lol... but definitely didn't need it!!! We talked down there for about an hour and then decided to head to Steak and Shake for something to eat. I think I got home around 3:30 am - M had already gone to the room long before and was watching TV/sleeping. I managed to get in there and change into pj's and succumbed to the temptation to check my email. I think I was on for about 30 min and finally crawled into bed. (remember - I had been working on 3 hrs of sleep by then). Unfortunately the a/c was not the best and it was just dead air in there sometimes - so I hardly slept. At around 6 am, the neighbors alarm or phone was rining constantly - and I mean CONSTANTLY. AS finally called the front desk to get them to check it out - but of course, by that time it had stopped. M and AS work for hotels and had expressed their concern over the person in that room not responding to the ringing (when we could hear it plain as day in our room - and we had heard the man coughing and hacking earlier in the morning). They mentioned how they'd had a few dead bodies in their hotels at one point or another. I didn't think I had slept but realized I must have for a few minutes, because the next morning I remembered that the hotel had found 2 dead bodies in the room next door and that we'd gotten a free night's stay for our "inconvenience". Yeah - I was *so* dreaming. Wow... But really, I hadn't gotten much sleep - so getting up and going was very hard to do!!!
The Q&A's started at 10:30 and began with Jim. I'm sure you can find good vids everywhere else - but Jim was very nice and again, overwhelmed with the fan response. He wore a "I read John/Bobby" shirt - too funny (and we were all hoping he really knew what it meant - 'cause none of us wanted to be the one to explain it!!!) But I'm suspecting he did because he says he actually reads "Bobby/Bela". *snerk*
We had a "special event" - an auction for breakfast with the stars!!! WOW!!! I could have done that but was way way way too nervous to even think about that!!! Being in the same room was cool enough - but a few lucky ducks got to get up at the crack of dawn to have breakfast one-on-one with Steve Carlson (for $400), Gabe (for $350), Jim (for $350), Samantha ($250), Alona ($150), Chad ($500) and then shared with one other person with Sandy ($850 each), and then with 3 other people (the bidders from eBay for the banquet seats that couldn't do that because of Jared's flight/filming situation) ($900 each). I was fortunate enough to be able to hear about the breakfast firsthand from AH and was SO excited for her! Jared is just TOO full of awesome - it's not even funny!! All the others are too - but that's the only one I got to hear about firsthand. So I lived vicariously through her!!! *hugs AH* =D
While waiting for the next Q&A... I noticed this:
Sera Gamble, a writer for the show, said in an interview that the show would truly become a cult hit if someone got one of the tattoos. Well, here's definitive proof. We're a CULT HIT!!!
These guys also made an appearance:
Who ya gonna call???
The Roadhouse crew was next - a little disappointing again because I'm sure they would have liiked to have more time - they only scheduled 45 minutes or something (same amount of time as for the other stars by themselves) so we got a lot less time with each of them. But they are all cute together. I had no idea that Alona had been in Isreal and had been in the Army there - that's so cool! I've always like Jo and seeing her in person just made that even better! Again, there's vids out there of their Q&A.
Then there was Sandy's Q&A. OMG She's like a Disney princess. She's so funny!!! I just had to laugh at her talking about Harley and how Jared really loves Sadie because she's so loyal - she's *his* dog but Harley will go to anyone who will pet him. He had knee surgery, so the fans were asking how he was. She said he was doing well. She said that if you rub his tummy, he's in heaven... in doggy heaven. Then she stops and said "Oh no!!! Now I have to call and make sure he's ok!" It was so adorable!!! My neice has just started saying "Oh no" and they sounded very similar - I laughed so hard. Her and Jared's relationship is really cute to hear about - they really seem to be made for each other!!! It's so great that Sandy was able to fill in that time slot since Jared wasn't there. She's so great and it was nice to be able to see her - she's awesome just being Sandy!!!
Gabe came out and again - was overwhelmed a bit! I think he gave an "Oh Shit" look when he walked in the room! =D He's too funny too and just got engaged! Sorry I don't have any photos =/ next time I'll have better seats!
There were the photo ops but since I didn't get one - I went to lunch with R, AJ, and J at the Food Court and then headed home to the hotel to get some sleep and then change for the banquet. No luck sleeping and tried to get ready for the banquet - in doing so, I burned the crap out of my forehead with the curling iron!!! LOL!!! No beauty without pain!!! And of course - that's a farce anyway, since the hair didn't work for me with the humidity anyway. Uggh. We lined up in order of badge numbers - the first people in got choice seating with the star they wanted. By the time I got in there, I was in the "vicinity" of Samantha. They were supposed to mingle after eating dinner, but they mingled to all the wrong tables - not to ours! But we got to sit with some really great people - there were two people I had been dying to talk to all weekend - one lady with a big huge bow in her hair (that she wears everyday - she's the one in the black in the front) and her daughter. They were so adorable and funny to talk to ("Grandma" is a Dean fan, and D is a Sam fan - so they don't have to fight!! LOL!) !!! I talked with some of the others there and fortunately J was there too - so at least I knew one person!
Here's the group... we nominated J as our celebrity, since we didn't get one!!! Apparently the people at Sandy's table got Sandy, Jim AND Chad - where's the love Jim and Chad? NO FAIR!!!
I did get some of the guest's names - but not all - there are 3 people I don't have names for: the first person on the left, the person to the right of me, and the person in the tan sweater. If you are that person or know that person, let me know!!! Say hi!
The Platinum Party was next but I had a gen admin pass so I headed to the hotel to change (again... I had more wardrobe changes than a rockstar at a concert!) and headed back for the Steve Carlson concert. Now, I had never heard his music before that night - so I was a little wary about how I'd enjoy it - but wow. I really really liked it!!! The venue was a little strange for him - I think they should have just dimmed the lights a little and not had the spotlight - so he could see the fans reactions. There were people dancing on the sides and people were joining in - but a lot of people didn't know the words (first time listeners) so I think that was a little different for him. He was jet lagged and had had lots of flight troubles, so his voice was going - but that seemd to make his music even better! I loved it!!!
Here's a photo from his concert:
I didn't have any luck sleeping again and was up at 6 am to pack up and move out of the hotel room and meet R, AJ, and J at IHop for breakfast. It was really good and then we headed to the con for Jared's (YES JARED's) Q&A. The vibe in the room was just... different... more tense and excited and nervous. It was fun!!! And of course, Jared is just awesome wrapped up in his 6'4" bod. I talked to one of the people that had the breakfast with him and she GAVE HIM THE HAT HE WAS WEARING FOR THE Q&A!!! I said that to her and she was like - oh my gosh yes! I didn't even realize!!! She had mentioned to him that she hoped to one day turn on her computer and see that he wore the hat - but she didn't have to wait long - now it was on every vid and pic from that day! That's just too cool.
Here's one last pic of the WB group! Unfortunately, I don't know the name of the person on the far right!!! If you can help me out, let me know!!!
I had hemmed and hawed all weekend about getting autographs. I definitely knew I didn't want to get photos done. I have low enough self-esteem and hate my picture taken - to have them taken next to stars would just not be any fun for me! But, I figured autographs I could do... but I didn't want to buy and have individual photos from everyone - since I did want to eventually display the pic in my office or something with any other fan paraphernalia I might have come across (my TIH poster, for instance)... I really wanted a Metallicar photo - something generic that everyone could sign... but they didn't have that. So I chose a pic of the boys and then got autos from all of the stars. Steve was a little taken aback when I asked him to sign that and didn't take a CD - but I don't buy CD's anymore - I'm all digital. But anyway - my pic looks really cool and I'm just missing Jensen and Fred Lehne (Lane, whatever) as far as I can tell. JDM would be nice too... but I don't think he has time for cons. Maybe Samantha Smith (Mary)... who else goes to cons? Either way - the pic is pretty full!!! When I was getting Jared's auto (unfortunately, he was so rushed at the end, he signed mine before I even got there)... but I managed to mention that I thought it would have been cute if Sandy had signed over his picture - but that she had signed over... and he interrupted, "The Schmackles?" I said yeah... he said "Good girl!" - LOL!!! I stayed to see AS give Jim an AWESOME cartoon she had found online about Bobby and how he has his hats organized by "Researching... Yelling at the Boys... Hunting things" - it was really really cool... and I wanted to see his reaction to it. He thought it was GREAT!! So that was really cool. I felt so bad for Jared - he was so rushed and was really trying to get everyone's autos done and get on his plane. I walked out to the lobby and was talking with some people and saw him and Sandy leaving - you know, he's about as big around as she is? I was really surprised!!!
Speaking of photos/autographs - one of the best things about the con IS the photo-ops! The stars are SO accomodating - Jared in particular. It was great to just sit there and watch the really funny pics come out - I saw Blue Steel several times. the horn-y horned girls with Jared doing his own horns with his fingers, Jared placing his arms on top of a particularly short fan, a hunting re-enactment, one with Jared and two girls and one person over on the side looking quite mad at the "threesome" and many many more!!! The photographer for this con was especially good - the coloring of the photos was fantastic. Chicago and LA photos seemed washed out - everyone looked like they had a tan at this one!!!
T/AS/M/T and I got together for some last minute photos:
Rockin' the Blue Steel:
Yeah, I don't know why I look like I'm going to kiss AS!! LOL!!!
I honestly can't remember much of the rest of that afternoon!!! Wow... how weird is that - it's just blank! I know I finally got checked into a different hotel (free with my TripRewards points)... the next day, after dropping off AH at the airport at 6:40, I went back to the hotel to sleep some more... then I met up with J and had lunch with him and then we walked around the mall... we finally got to check out the M&Ms store... where I got a $10 pound of multi-colored M&Ms!!
This post is so big - it needs a Part DEUX!!! Go HERE!!!
Here's my adventures for the weekend! I've included pics most other reviews of the con probably won't include - since my pics of the stars suuuuucked... big time. That's what I get for getting Row K. Blech!!!
Anyway, you'll notice at the end that I've included a zip file of my Steve Carlson pics in high quality (well, bigger size, anyway... who says bigger isn't better?) - these are in the 3 mb each range and putting them all in one file makes it easier for ya'll to download!
My adventure starts with my dilemma as to whether or not to go... now, I've been to TWO Cherished Teddies conventions (don't know what a Cherished Teddie is? Go here: Cherished Teddies) Yes... they have conventions! My mom collects these and I've been to one at Disney and one in Chicago. The Disney one was fun - we got stuck there in a hurricane - locked in our rooms with only a boxed lunch provided to us by the hotel!!! The Chicago one wasn't as fun - but, I get to hang out with my mom. However, when I mentioned that I might like to go to a convention for Supernatural - hah! I got laughed at. So... no one knew that I went to the Con. =)
I had been talking to J (all names are shortened for privacy sake), a member of my yahoogroup, Supernatural_on_the_WB. He was flying in from PA, so I said I could pick him up on the way down to Orlando, since I was picking someone else up at the Orlando Airport that morning as well (someone else from the same group). So I met up with J - we found each other right away (well, it's a *very* small airport, mind you) and we were off to MCO to pick up AH. While on the way, J looked at my badge that I had made... he read aloud: "Two Bro, One Ho." I turned to him and was like - WHAT?!? Did I misspell it on my own badge?!?! He said, who's the Ho? LOL!!! I explained my reasoning behind my moniker - had a great laugh over that!!! (By the way - it was great to see my badges throughout the con!!! I hope it was useful to everyone!!!) We got to MCO a little early and went to baggage claim to wait for her. I had a brief description of her but there were so many people - it was really just a guess. I had been tempted to make up a huge sign with Jared's face plastered over it with AH's name - but I didn't know who it would embarass more - me or her!!! =D We waited, knowing the plane had landed, and watched. Finally, we managed to spot her and I went up and asked if she was the one I was to meet and off we went to the hotel, which was supposed to be only 10 minutes away. *supposed to be* being the operative words! TimTim (TomTom, the navigation system with the voice of Tim, the British guy) tried to steer us in the right direction, but chatting and not having the sound up led us in all the wrong directions. We passed the hotel about 6 times on the highway - knew we had to get *over there* but couldn't figure out how. Finally, an hour later (sheesh!) we finally arrived at the hotel where the convention was being held. Poor J had been hungry since the Orlando airport, I can only imagine how he was feeling when we finally got there! AH went up to her room to wait for her friend who was flying in later and J and I went into the mall (that was attached to the hotel directly - how nice was that!) and met up with R and AJ for lunch! It was SO much fun meeting up with people I'd been talking to online for a while now and finally putting faces to names!!!
Here's the entrance to the hotel!
This is the view from J's hotel room (and the evidence that the weather *can* be good in Florida - it was terrible the rest of the weekend!!!):
Here's one of the friggin' AWESOME posters throughout the mall!!! I was so excited to see that!!! J and I tried to get one of them after the con was over - but the mall manager person said we'd have to ask Kenny (the EyeCon promoter) and I knew that he was just dead tired from the weekend, so we didn't want to bother him... would have been AWESOME though!!!) There was also a Ten Inch Hero poster right smack in the middle of the food court!!! *squee*
Here's the rockin' Supernatural on the WB group!!! AJ, R, Me, and J (left to right):
J, R, and AJ went up to their rooms to get ready for the registration/Meet and Greet/Ten Inch Hero movie screening and I took off around the mall a little. It's a *really* nice mall!!! Scoped out a couple of places I had wanted to check out, including a place where you could SURF IN THE MALL... like actual water surfing (I mentioned that to someone and they thought I meant web surfing - lol!!!)
I went to my hotel (I was staying with AS and M at a nearby hotel) and showered and changed, then headed back to meet everyone. It was SO hot in the area where we were waiting for registration and getting into the meeting room. Here's what the crowd looked like!!!
There's differing rumors about how many people were there. I'm sure Kenny knows the final number - but I'm thinking there were about 400 registered people, plus probably 100-200 general admission, walkins (this is based on badge numbers we noticed for the banquet - since we had to line up according to numbers). I'm not sure if this is a large or small convention - but it was enough!!! J and I checked out the dealer's room while they were still setting up. We got to say high to Agent With Style (I had been trying to create a cover for one of her zines before I left, so it was nice to put a face with an online persona). Creation Entertainment was there, as were a few other dealers. I was completely surprised by the fact that there was someone selling pirated dvd's right there in the open - very surprised at their gall and for Kenny allowing that - but hey, that's just me!!! J got a couple of items, I just perused and took notes for later!
Saw this on the way in:
If this is your car - you ROCK... This was on a black Prius, no less. What was funny, was that AS, T, and M were hard core Jeff Dunham fans - even more than I was!!! When I mentioned the Prius - they went into the lunchbox routine and were quoting JD even better than even I can.
The "Meet and Greet" was just the stars coming out and saying hi. The MC was Dizzy - he was GREAT. Really funny - really kept the crowd going - I'd hire him for another event in a heartbeat!!! I'm pretty sure he's a fan - but wasn't sure. Gabe was just overwhelmed and it was so cute seeing Sandy (who had just done her very first convention the weekend before) telling Gabe she'd guide him through the weekend. Awww... Jim was also a bit overwhelmed - this being his first convention too!!! But they all said hi and then settled in for the movie. I'm pretty sure they had seats up in the front - not sure if they were in the couches or in the "butt-breaker" seats we were all in, but I did see Jim leaving the movie after it was over from up there, but I wasn't sure who else sat in to watch. This was the second time I'd seen TIH and I was *really* curious to hear what the people from the group had to say about it. It was so cute hearing the reactions of the crowd - all the right reactions at all the right times. Like in Gainesville, Mark and David (the producer and director) were there to answer questions (which is just too cool, IMO). I, along with most people I've talked to, all disagree about their justification for placing a few of the scenes in the movie - they just weren't needed. But hey, it's their movie and it's really up to them! I was THRILLED to hear that they are working on a few deals to get the movie distributed. I might have to break my "I don't buy DVDs for more than $10* rule if TIH comes out on DVD. =D We were able to buy posters and have them signed - really cool too - but unfortunately, I was behind someone who felt that they needed to take up about 10 minutes of the director's time, instead of allowing the rest of us to have our 15 seconds to say hi and tell them how much we liked the movie, yadda yadda. I was about 2 foot taller than her and was totally tempted to just pick her up and move her out of the way, but I refrained. The poster is signed and I can't wait to bring it to Dallas to have Jensen sign it! (Oh, by the way, the TIH MySpace site emailed me and said they'd link to the wallpapers I had done for the movie and thought they were really cool!! I was pumped!!!)
Here's my seat sticker:
(yeah, I know - I'm a dork - lol!)
Here's a few pics from the M&G:
We were all a bit tired already after the movie (it was nice and cold and dark in the room - perfect sleeping weather!) and I had been up since about 7 after going to bed at 4 am... so I was really dragging, but the cocktail party was next! We all filed in to this tiny room with a bar and a bunch of tables. People just kept coming in and coming in - I was sure we were breaking some sort of fire safety rule! The stars showed up and moved in - and basically were planted there the entire night (except Chad, who seemed to be able to make it all the way around the room a few times). Several fans stood right by the stars and never moved the entire night - making it hard for others to get in and at least say hi, shake hands, or make themselves at least known. That was a little frustrating. I said that they needed to hire the people that go with Mickey and Minnie at Disney - the ones who tell them when time is up, keep track of fans who get unruly (unfortunately, I witnessed at least one of those fans with Jim), and who would keep things moving along. They really just needed to open up the wall and make it two rooms. Thank goodness Jared wasn't there - it would have been NUTS!!! So, I was in everyone's "vicinity" all night - but never really got all that close with anyone. For $65.00, it was a little disappointing - I basically had two $32.50 diet cokes! But I do know at least one person drank my share of alcohol (Jim's little "Friend"). I tried to get photos, but I was just a little nervous about doing it - esp since they made an announcement that photos couldn't be taken (I was assuming of people with the stars - not of the stars themselves). So mine suuuucked here too. I seem to have an evil knack of getting people right mid-blink. I'll share them anyway - but know that they are definitely not my best work (lol!)
(Jim - with his "Rockin' the Hat" hat and his "It's a TRAP!" pin)
(yes, that's the best view I could get of Sam - occasionally I saw her hair flip around - she had quite the crowd going! I did manage to get near by at the end of the night - when her voice was going, her shoes had been given away (she said they were dreadful and killing her), and I was about ready to hit it - lol! But I did manage to get some vid of her and Chad - they are quite funny together!)
I finally made it downstairs where I met up with my roomies (people I had never met before). I met up with AS after commenting on a vid on YouTube. She started writing me - we moved it off YT and then joined each others MySpace pages and continued to talk through there. We had been talking about EyeCon and she said that a group of her friends were going and they had space so if I wanted to join them I could! Wow - what a leap of faith! LOL! I secretly reserved a space in each of the WB group members rooms "just in case" - lol... but definitely didn't need it!!! We talked down there for about an hour and then decided to head to Steak and Shake for something to eat. I think I got home around 3:30 am - M had already gone to the room long before and was watching TV/sleeping. I managed to get in there and change into pj's and succumbed to the temptation to check my email. I think I was on for about 30 min and finally crawled into bed. (remember - I had been working on 3 hrs of sleep by then). Unfortunately the a/c was not the best and it was just dead air in there sometimes - so I hardly slept. At around 6 am, the neighbors alarm or phone was rining constantly - and I mean CONSTANTLY. AS finally called the front desk to get them to check it out - but of course, by that time it had stopped. M and AS work for hotels and had expressed their concern over the person in that room not responding to the ringing (when we could hear it plain as day in our room - and we had heard the man coughing and hacking earlier in the morning). They mentioned how they'd had a few dead bodies in their hotels at one point or another. I didn't think I had slept but realized I must have for a few minutes, because the next morning I remembered that the hotel had found 2 dead bodies in the room next door and that we'd gotten a free night's stay for our "inconvenience". Yeah - I was *so* dreaming. Wow... But really, I hadn't gotten much sleep - so getting up and going was very hard to do!!!
The Q&A's started at 10:30 and began with Jim. I'm sure you can find good vids everywhere else - but Jim was very nice and again, overwhelmed with the fan response. He wore a "I read John/Bobby" shirt - too funny (and we were all hoping he really knew what it meant - 'cause none of us wanted to be the one to explain it!!!) But I'm suspecting he did because he says he actually reads "Bobby/Bela". *snerk*
We had a "special event" - an auction for breakfast with the stars!!! WOW!!! I could have done that but was way way way too nervous to even think about that!!! Being in the same room was cool enough - but a few lucky ducks got to get up at the crack of dawn to have breakfast one-on-one with Steve Carlson (for $400), Gabe (for $350), Jim (for $350), Samantha ($250), Alona ($150), Chad ($500) and then shared with one other person with Sandy ($850 each), and then with 3 other people (the bidders from eBay for the banquet seats that couldn't do that because of Jared's flight/filming situation) ($900 each). I was fortunate enough to be able to hear about the breakfast firsthand from AH and was SO excited for her! Jared is just TOO full of awesome - it's not even funny!! All the others are too - but that's the only one I got to hear about firsthand. So I lived vicariously through her!!! *hugs AH* =D
While waiting for the next Q&A... I noticed this:
Sera Gamble, a writer for the show, said in an interview that the show would truly become a cult hit if someone got one of the tattoos. Well, here's definitive proof. We're a CULT HIT!!!
These guys also made an appearance:
Who ya gonna call???
The Roadhouse crew was next - a little disappointing again because I'm sure they would have liiked to have more time - they only scheduled 45 minutes or something (same amount of time as for the other stars by themselves) so we got a lot less time with each of them. But they are all cute together. I had no idea that Alona had been in Isreal and had been in the Army there - that's so cool! I've always like Jo and seeing her in person just made that even better! Again, there's vids out there of their Q&A.
Then there was Sandy's Q&A. OMG She's like a Disney princess. She's so funny!!! I just had to laugh at her talking about Harley and how Jared really loves Sadie because she's so loyal - she's *his* dog but Harley will go to anyone who will pet him. He had knee surgery, so the fans were asking how he was. She said he was doing well. She said that if you rub his tummy, he's in heaven... in doggy heaven. Then she stops and said "Oh no!!! Now I have to call and make sure he's ok!" It was so adorable!!! My neice has just started saying "Oh no" and they sounded very similar - I laughed so hard. Her and Jared's relationship is really cute to hear about - they really seem to be made for each other!!! It's so great that Sandy was able to fill in that time slot since Jared wasn't there. She's so great and it was nice to be able to see her - she's awesome just being Sandy!!!
Gabe came out and again - was overwhelmed a bit! I think he gave an "Oh Shit" look when he walked in the room! =D He's too funny too and just got engaged! Sorry I don't have any photos =/ next time I'll have better seats!
There were the photo ops but since I didn't get one - I went to lunch with R, AJ, and J at the Food Court and then headed home to the hotel to get some sleep and then change for the banquet. No luck sleeping and tried to get ready for the banquet - in doing so, I burned the crap out of my forehead with the curling iron!!! LOL!!! No beauty without pain!!! And of course - that's a farce anyway, since the hair didn't work for me with the humidity anyway. Uggh. We lined up in order of badge numbers - the first people in got choice seating with the star they wanted. By the time I got in there, I was in the "vicinity" of Samantha. They were supposed to mingle after eating dinner, but they mingled to all the wrong tables - not to ours! But we got to sit with some really great people - there were two people I had been dying to talk to all weekend - one lady with a big huge bow in her hair (that she wears everyday - she's the one in the black in the front) and her daughter. They were so adorable and funny to talk to ("Grandma" is a Dean fan, and D is a Sam fan - so they don't have to fight!! LOL!) !!! I talked with some of the others there and fortunately J was there too - so at least I knew one person!
Here's the group... we nominated J as our celebrity, since we didn't get one!!! Apparently the people at Sandy's table got Sandy, Jim AND Chad - where's the love Jim and Chad? NO FAIR!!!
I did get some of the guest's names - but not all - there are 3 people I don't have names for: the first person on the left, the person to the right of me, and the person in the tan sweater. If you are that person or know that person, let me know!!! Say hi!
The Platinum Party was next but I had a gen admin pass so I headed to the hotel to change (again... I had more wardrobe changes than a rockstar at a concert!) and headed back for the Steve Carlson concert. Now, I had never heard his music before that night - so I was a little wary about how I'd enjoy it - but wow. I really really liked it!!! The venue was a little strange for him - I think they should have just dimmed the lights a little and not had the spotlight - so he could see the fans reactions. There were people dancing on the sides and people were joining in - but a lot of people didn't know the words (first time listeners) so I think that was a little different for him. He was jet lagged and had had lots of flight troubles, so his voice was going - but that seemd to make his music even better! I loved it!!!
Here's a photo from his concert:
I didn't have any luck sleeping again and was up at 6 am to pack up and move out of the hotel room and meet R, AJ, and J at IHop for breakfast. It was really good and then we headed to the con for Jared's (YES JARED's) Q&A. The vibe in the room was just... different... more tense and excited and nervous. It was fun!!! And of course, Jared is just awesome wrapped up in his 6'4" bod. I talked to one of the people that had the breakfast with him and she GAVE HIM THE HAT HE WAS WEARING FOR THE Q&A!!! I said that to her and she was like - oh my gosh yes! I didn't even realize!!! She had mentioned to him that she hoped to one day turn on her computer and see that he wore the hat - but she didn't have to wait long - now it was on every vid and pic from that day! That's just too cool.
Here's one last pic of the WB group! Unfortunately, I don't know the name of the person on the far right!!! If you can help me out, let me know!!!
I had hemmed and hawed all weekend about getting autographs. I definitely knew I didn't want to get photos done. I have low enough self-esteem and hate my picture taken - to have them taken next to stars would just not be any fun for me! But, I figured autographs I could do... but I didn't want to buy and have individual photos from everyone - since I did want to eventually display the pic in my office or something with any other fan paraphernalia I might have come across (my TIH poster, for instance)... I really wanted a Metallicar photo - something generic that everyone could sign... but they didn't have that. So I chose a pic of the boys and then got autos from all of the stars. Steve was a little taken aback when I asked him to sign that and didn't take a CD - but I don't buy CD's anymore - I'm all digital. But anyway - my pic looks really cool and I'm just missing Jensen and Fred Lehne (Lane, whatever) as far as I can tell. JDM would be nice too... but I don't think he has time for cons. Maybe Samantha Smith (Mary)... who else goes to cons? Either way - the pic is pretty full!!! When I was getting Jared's auto (unfortunately, he was so rushed at the end, he signed mine before I even got there)... but I managed to mention that I thought it would have been cute if Sandy had signed over his picture - but that she had signed over... and he interrupted, "The Schmackles?" I said yeah... he said "Good girl!" - LOL!!! I stayed to see AS give Jim an AWESOME cartoon she had found online about Bobby and how he has his hats organized by "Researching... Yelling at the Boys... Hunting things" - it was really really cool... and I wanted to see his reaction to it. He thought it was GREAT!! So that was really cool. I felt so bad for Jared - he was so rushed and was really trying to get everyone's autos done and get on his plane. I walked out to the lobby and was talking with some people and saw him and Sandy leaving - you know, he's about as big around as she is? I was really surprised!!!
Speaking of photos/autographs - one of the best things about the con IS the photo-ops! The stars are SO accomodating - Jared in particular. It was great to just sit there and watch the really funny pics come out - I saw Blue Steel several times. the horn-y horned girls with Jared doing his own horns with his fingers, Jared placing his arms on top of a particularly short fan, a hunting re-enactment, one with Jared and two girls and one person over on the side looking quite mad at the "threesome" and many many more!!! The photographer for this con was especially good - the coloring of the photos was fantastic. Chicago and LA photos seemed washed out - everyone looked like they had a tan at this one!!!
T/AS/M/T and I got together for some last minute photos:
Rockin' the Blue Steel:
Yeah, I don't know why I look like I'm going to kiss AS!! LOL!!!
I honestly can't remember much of the rest of that afternoon!!! Wow... how weird is that - it's just blank! I know I finally got checked into a different hotel (free with my TripRewards points)... the next day, after dropping off AH at the airport at 6:40, I went back to the hotel to sleep some more... then I met up with J and had lunch with him and then we walked around the mall... we finally got to check out the M&Ms store... where I got a $10 pound of multi-colored M&Ms!!
This post is so big - it needs a Part DEUX!!! Go HERE!!!