Brussels adventure!
This weekend was the rescheduled KLZ Buffy and Angel fan meet. I confess I wasn't looking forward to it as much as I should have been. The rescheduling took a lot of the gloss off it, the schedule was clash city and the organisors customer service was a bit.......abrupt. I am pleased to say that I was pleasently surprised!
Spark and I caught the train to London despite there being a dude at my local station clogging up the ticket office with random questions. We managed to get to our London train with 5 mins to spare and had a completely uneventful journey to Euston. We then battled London to get to St Pancras.
We stocked up on munchies in M&S, checked in with zero hassles and waited for our train. The whole thing was so smooth that I have no desire to catch a plane to Europe again. Plus the leg-room is better in the train!
We met up with jooles34 with no issues and then attempted to find the hotel. After a bit of walking around the station, a sign to the Ibis was spotted and we followed them until we reached the correct exit. Check in was a breeze, everyone spoke English, which was blissful (my brain was incapable of doing anything else) and we were given a voucher for free drinkies (only beer, wine or soft drinks) if we had a meal in the resturant, which we did, cos the thought of going anywhere was just not pleasant :-)
The room was plenty big enough for 3, with a proper bed rather than a put-me-up. The only downside was that it was hotter than the sun! Even my Elbow Grease melted!! And we had the fabulously passive-agressive move by Housekeeping of leaving a clean pillow case *laughs*. I've never been to a hotel and only slept on top of the covers. It was just too hot to throw a duvet over one tho.
Finding the venue on the first day was.........interesting. A taxi driver was all keen to take us until he found out where we wanted to go. 'It's 200m that way' says he. Well, that was the most creative 200m I've seen. It was close to American ideas of distance. Thanks to jooles34's data bundle and mobile phone, we stayed on the right track and got to the venue. Passing the bloody station again! We'd been in earlier to get drinks and the poor woman in the wee shop had a guy come in who was vile to her. None of us know what he said, but it was so bad that she nearly burst into tears. She was fine the next day, but he was dreadful.
Registration was a breeze, it really was simple and they had everything you'd bought in a wee envelope and double-checked it against what you had on your printouts. There wasn't much merch, I got a gorgeous photo of Nicky, and a fairly standard James cos I had a second James auto that I hadn't really planned for. We got called into the main auditorium for the opening ceremony and established that the second number on the pass was the seat number. Most sensible as we could leave stuff at our seats and not worry about losing them. Sadly due to the position of the lights, it was pointless taking photos, all I got was a ghost :-)
Owing to KLZ's plan that everyone has to be doing something at all times, photo-ops and talks clashed. So whilst James was doing his first Q&A, I was in Nicky's photo op. Which was lovely. He looked great, smelt amazing and gave the best hugs, all squishing and with his hand in my hair :-) It was great to see him looking so good.
Then we snuck back into James' talk. Nothing hugely earth-shattering - found out later I'd missed a GOTR story that I hadn't heard. Then it was James' meeting room, which ended up being relocated due to accessability issues, so we all ended up in a board room thing, complete with flipchart which made me think of softfruit immediately. Lots of talking about stunt men and how hard they work, and how daft he was in hindsight to do most of his own stunts (his back still hasn't forgiven him).
I had a complete blank for all the photo-ops, so when it came to James I have a lovely side by side where he squished his head next to mine, and for the second he was all 'Air guitar!' and I said 'I don't do that!' so he's doing that (and looking awesome), and I'm next to him looking really good! So not complaining! Quite good for day one I thought.
As soon as the con finished, sparky_uk, jooles34 and I zoomed back to the hotel to get changed for the 'party'. Everything had over-run, especially the autos cos James was super chatty :-) We ended up talking about music, which was rather spiffy. I'd done my usual thing of calling out in James' talk (this time it was Steve Jones), so I apologised and he said it was no problem :-) I'm a helpful kitten really. During the getting ready, there was a knock at the hotel room door with this dude wanting one of us to go and show him how to get into his hotel room. Sorry dude, we are not falling for that!! Jooles showed him how to use the key and then we waited quite a while until we were sure he'd gone. Then we set off.
Now Jooles and I were wearing coats, and the only things you could see were our skirts. Spark was in HUGE boots, wet-look leggings and a nice top. Nothing outrageous. However walking through the station (bearing in mind this is an international station), we caused one hell of a stir. We had a guy trying to call out to us, and get in our way (sorry dude, we were marching), a woman laughed at us (yeah, you WISH you could be as awesome), and a young girl gazed at us in awe (don't fret kid, this is all waiting for you). We get to the venue and NO ONE other than our table has made any form of effort! Turns out Brussels doesn't really 'do' goth, or alternative at all.
The meet & greet was fab, I always enjoy them because they are proper chats. I'd much rather have a longer m&g than q&as tbh. Kristine was our first guest and Jooles and I ended up getting up for a twirl for her :-) We chatted weather and travel and how naive my mother is 'No one will stop me with a bag of white powder. I don't look like a drug smuggler!'. Then Mark appeared and it was LOVELY! We all had hugs, he sat with us for ages (I'm the lesser known actors club'), and we all got to have a really good chat, they had a weirdly un-sauna like sauna in their room, and were talking about doing a podcast of them playing video games - which would apparently have to be edited due to Mark's language *giggle*. It turns out that he and Spark have the same nick-name which was just so fab to see. And he had no issues about being covered with glitter by me! I mentioned to him about the possibility of James doing something for the 400th birthday of Shakespeare, which he seemed quite enthusiastic about, mentioning wanting to do something in London with the Actor's Church again.
We ended up talking drugs with Nicky, and I don't have any 'drugs are bad - mmmmkay' stories, and then James appeared! We ended up talking about the power of clothes to shock as we were telling him about the experience of walking over to the venue. He told us about going to see the RHPS in a dress and lippy, and I told him about going up Broad Street to XLs, and the twats that would follow the sexy-nekkid-death-chicks only to find out that their boyfriends were like fridges, cos goth boys are pretty, but a bit crap. Then Spark said 'I like floaty pretty goth boys' and I did the 'Not the face, not the face' thing, which made James laugh! Then he was whisked away and we had Claire who was thrilled that we were a table with drinks! She is utterly lovely and Jooles and I told her she needed to get to Miracle Day, cos it's a con like no other :-)
After the 'party', we just wanted to go back to the hotel and get changed. I knew that the atmosphere would change the longer we were out, and Jooles had been told something really disturbing when she went up for a drink. So we flew out and off to the hotel. I may be quite happy to shock with my clothes, but I'm not putting my own safety at risk. We all ended up back at the hotel for food because everything else was closed (at 9:30!!! on a Saturday!!!!).
Sunday started with me waking up thinking 'My lip is tingling, this can't be a cold sore, it just can't'. Well, it was! I couldn't believe it. Bloody typical. Fortunately I had some cream in my bag, but it meant that I felt utterly rubbish all Sunday, and it really affected my photo-ops. Which meant that I wasn't wearing what I wanted, and I didn't get what I wanted. Having said that, I was so looking forward to it, it was never going to be what I wanted. The James and Nicky (aka the Spander) photo ops were right at the end of the day, when both were tired. Nicky was brilliant in them and just directed James as to where to stand and what to do, which led to much hilarity.
The only full panel was a ticket only thing in the morning, and was the best panel imo. There was a huge debate about networks and how rubbish they are, Kristine told a fabulous story about a rat, and then they were asked about what sort of teenager they were. I'd heard Claire and Nicky's answers before, but James and Kristine were very interesting, and Kristine's was a revelation to the guests as well as us! James said that he had been at the bottom of the pecking order at school until he went to stay with his dad for a year. That not only moved him to 'Coolest Guy in School', it also showed him that he wasn't going to live and die in Modesto (which is HUGELY important). And he started to get old suits and turn them into zoot suits (as we said, he'd only need a large or an xl *giggle*), and got to RHPS in drag. Then he said 'I was talking to someone about this last night' and I grinned as my lot all looked at me :-)
Kristine said she was surly and moody and didn't fit in. James' face as she said this was fabulous. Apparently her mum came up to see her in her room and said 'Honey, what are you doing?' and Kristine said 'Waiting to grow up!' Nicky asked where she lived and on hearing it was Kentucky, both he and James said 'You had to get out!' Then James went 'I'd love to see you surly!'
The guests were noticably tireder on Sun and the green room was apparently freezing and the coffee machine wasn't working. James hadn't slept, and as Nicky said at the end 'This is our 5th panel!' The last James and Nicky panel was fab. Lots of singing, Nicky hugging people with James going 'Wing man!' and talking about stunts. Apparently Nicky only did one stunt and as it started he thought 'I've made a mistake' so never did another one. James said he was very wise :-)
We had another meeting with Mark after lunch, which was lovely! All the hugs and giggles. He was asking about the photos, and the con had just put out The Photo with the motorbike (which Spark got signed with 'Nice Boots' *all the giggles*). I also mentioned to Mark about James bringing his guitar to WCC (Rosie and I had mentioned it to James on Sat) and Mark seemed to imply that they were in talks for that. We told Mark about the horrendous name change for DW, which he was unaware of, and how it will now become 'That time that James Marsters was in a porno' *rolls eyes* which he found slightly amusing! Then we had a big group photo and suddenly Nicky appeared and joined in *laughs* Which was both lovely and surprising.
By the end of the con, I was reaching my limit so we went for a quiet tea and (in my case) an attempt at pudding. The steak was delicious, the pudding..........didn't happen :-( So we trotted back to the hotel via Hagan Daz where I got vanilla ice cream and melted milk chocolate, which made everything better!
Yesterday we had waffles, which beat us all and shopped for presents before attempting to spend the last euro coins prior to returning to the UK. Again the journey home was smooth until we got to Euston, where there were the inevitable delays, but we made it home in time for Drag Race, so that was fab.
All in all, I'd probably go to another KLZ con. They are very will organised, and they pack a lot in, but the lack of downtime wasn't the best. I didn't realise how much I need the ability to step away, particularly if I feel like shite. Next con is WCC and hopefully there won't be a fekking cold sore making an appearence!
Spark and I caught the train to London despite there being a dude at my local station clogging up the ticket office with random questions. We managed to get to our London train with 5 mins to spare and had a completely uneventful journey to Euston. We then battled London to get to St Pancras.
We stocked up on munchies in M&S, checked in with zero hassles and waited for our train. The whole thing was so smooth that I have no desire to catch a plane to Europe again. Plus the leg-room is better in the train!
We met up with jooles34 with no issues and then attempted to find the hotel. After a bit of walking around the station, a sign to the Ibis was spotted and we followed them until we reached the correct exit. Check in was a breeze, everyone spoke English, which was blissful (my brain was incapable of doing anything else) and we were given a voucher for free drinkies (only beer, wine or soft drinks) if we had a meal in the resturant, which we did, cos the thought of going anywhere was just not pleasant :-)
The room was plenty big enough for 3, with a proper bed rather than a put-me-up. The only downside was that it was hotter than the sun! Even my Elbow Grease melted!! And we had the fabulously passive-agressive move by Housekeeping of leaving a clean pillow case *laughs*. I've never been to a hotel and only slept on top of the covers. It was just too hot to throw a duvet over one tho.
Finding the venue on the first day was.........interesting. A taxi driver was all keen to take us until he found out where we wanted to go. 'It's 200m that way' says he. Well, that was the most creative 200m I've seen. It was close to American ideas of distance. Thanks to jooles34's data bundle and mobile phone, we stayed on the right track and got to the venue. Passing the bloody station again! We'd been in earlier to get drinks and the poor woman in the wee shop had a guy come in who was vile to her. None of us know what he said, but it was so bad that she nearly burst into tears. She was fine the next day, but he was dreadful.
Registration was a breeze, it really was simple and they had everything you'd bought in a wee envelope and double-checked it against what you had on your printouts. There wasn't much merch, I got a gorgeous photo of Nicky, and a fairly standard James cos I had a second James auto that I hadn't really planned for. We got called into the main auditorium for the opening ceremony and established that the second number on the pass was the seat number. Most sensible as we could leave stuff at our seats and not worry about losing them. Sadly due to the position of the lights, it was pointless taking photos, all I got was a ghost :-)
Owing to KLZ's plan that everyone has to be doing something at all times, photo-ops and talks clashed. So whilst James was doing his first Q&A, I was in Nicky's photo op. Which was lovely. He looked great, smelt amazing and gave the best hugs, all squishing and with his hand in my hair :-) It was great to see him looking so good.
Then we snuck back into James' talk. Nothing hugely earth-shattering - found out later I'd missed a GOTR story that I hadn't heard. Then it was James' meeting room, which ended up being relocated due to accessability issues, so we all ended up in a board room thing, complete with flipchart which made me think of softfruit immediately. Lots of talking about stunt men and how hard they work, and how daft he was in hindsight to do most of his own stunts (his back still hasn't forgiven him).
I had a complete blank for all the photo-ops, so when it came to James I have a lovely side by side where he squished his head next to mine, and for the second he was all 'Air guitar!' and I said 'I don't do that!' so he's doing that (and looking awesome), and I'm next to him looking really good! So not complaining! Quite good for day one I thought.
As soon as the con finished, sparky_uk, jooles34 and I zoomed back to the hotel to get changed for the 'party'. Everything had over-run, especially the autos cos James was super chatty :-) We ended up talking about music, which was rather spiffy. I'd done my usual thing of calling out in James' talk (this time it was Steve Jones), so I apologised and he said it was no problem :-) I'm a helpful kitten really. During the getting ready, there was a knock at the hotel room door with this dude wanting one of us to go and show him how to get into his hotel room. Sorry dude, we are not falling for that!! Jooles showed him how to use the key and then we waited quite a while until we were sure he'd gone. Then we set off.
Now Jooles and I were wearing coats, and the only things you could see were our skirts. Spark was in HUGE boots, wet-look leggings and a nice top. Nothing outrageous. However walking through the station (bearing in mind this is an international station), we caused one hell of a stir. We had a guy trying to call out to us, and get in our way (sorry dude, we were marching), a woman laughed at us (yeah, you WISH you could be as awesome), and a young girl gazed at us in awe (don't fret kid, this is all waiting for you). We get to the venue and NO ONE other than our table has made any form of effort! Turns out Brussels doesn't really 'do' goth, or alternative at all.
The meet & greet was fab, I always enjoy them because they are proper chats. I'd much rather have a longer m&g than q&as tbh. Kristine was our first guest and Jooles and I ended up getting up for a twirl for her :-) We chatted weather and travel and how naive my mother is 'No one will stop me with a bag of white powder. I don't look like a drug smuggler!'. Then Mark appeared and it was LOVELY! We all had hugs, he sat with us for ages (I'm the lesser known actors club'), and we all got to have a really good chat, they had a weirdly un-sauna like sauna in their room, and were talking about doing a podcast of them playing video games - which would apparently have to be edited due to Mark's language *giggle*. It turns out that he and Spark have the same nick-name which was just so fab to see. And he had no issues about being covered with glitter by me! I mentioned to him about the possibility of James doing something for the 400th birthday of Shakespeare, which he seemed quite enthusiastic about, mentioning wanting to do something in London with the Actor's Church again.
We ended up talking drugs with Nicky, and I don't have any 'drugs are bad - mmmmkay' stories, and then James appeared! We ended up talking about the power of clothes to shock as we were telling him about the experience of walking over to the venue. He told us about going to see the RHPS in a dress and lippy, and I told him about going up Broad Street to XLs, and the twats that would follow the sexy-nekkid-death-chicks only to find out that their boyfriends were like fridges, cos goth boys are pretty, but a bit crap. Then Spark said 'I like floaty pretty goth boys' and I did the 'Not the face, not the face' thing, which made James laugh! Then he was whisked away and we had Claire who was thrilled that we were a table with drinks! She is utterly lovely and Jooles and I told her she needed to get to Miracle Day, cos it's a con like no other :-)
After the 'party', we just wanted to go back to the hotel and get changed. I knew that the atmosphere would change the longer we were out, and Jooles had been told something really disturbing when she went up for a drink. So we flew out and off to the hotel. I may be quite happy to shock with my clothes, but I'm not putting my own safety at risk. We all ended up back at the hotel for food because everything else was closed (at 9:30!!! on a Saturday!!!!).
Sunday started with me waking up thinking 'My lip is tingling, this can't be a cold sore, it just can't'. Well, it was! I couldn't believe it. Bloody typical. Fortunately I had some cream in my bag, but it meant that I felt utterly rubbish all Sunday, and it really affected my photo-ops. Which meant that I wasn't wearing what I wanted, and I didn't get what I wanted. Having said that, I was so looking forward to it, it was never going to be what I wanted. The James and Nicky (aka the Spander) photo ops were right at the end of the day, when both were tired. Nicky was brilliant in them and just directed James as to where to stand and what to do, which led to much hilarity.
The only full panel was a ticket only thing in the morning, and was the best panel imo. There was a huge debate about networks and how rubbish they are, Kristine told a fabulous story about a rat, and then they were asked about what sort of teenager they were. I'd heard Claire and Nicky's answers before, but James and Kristine were very interesting, and Kristine's was a revelation to the guests as well as us! James said that he had been at the bottom of the pecking order at school until he went to stay with his dad for a year. That not only moved him to 'Coolest Guy in School', it also showed him that he wasn't going to live and die in Modesto (which is HUGELY important). And he started to get old suits and turn them into zoot suits (as we said, he'd only need a large or an xl *giggle*), and got to RHPS in drag. Then he said 'I was talking to someone about this last night' and I grinned as my lot all looked at me :-)
Kristine said she was surly and moody and didn't fit in. James' face as she said this was fabulous. Apparently her mum came up to see her in her room and said 'Honey, what are you doing?' and Kristine said 'Waiting to grow up!' Nicky asked where she lived and on hearing it was Kentucky, both he and James said 'You had to get out!' Then James went 'I'd love to see you surly!'
The guests were noticably tireder on Sun and the green room was apparently freezing and the coffee machine wasn't working. James hadn't slept, and as Nicky said at the end 'This is our 5th panel!' The last James and Nicky panel was fab. Lots of singing, Nicky hugging people with James going 'Wing man!' and talking about stunts. Apparently Nicky only did one stunt and as it started he thought 'I've made a mistake' so never did another one. James said he was very wise :-)
We had another meeting with Mark after lunch, which was lovely! All the hugs and giggles. He was asking about the photos, and the con had just put out The Photo with the motorbike (which Spark got signed with 'Nice Boots' *all the giggles*). I also mentioned to Mark about James bringing his guitar to WCC (Rosie and I had mentioned it to James on Sat) and Mark seemed to imply that they were in talks for that. We told Mark about the horrendous name change for DW, which he was unaware of, and how it will now become 'That time that James Marsters was in a porno' *rolls eyes* which he found slightly amusing! Then we had a big group photo and suddenly Nicky appeared and joined in *laughs* Which was both lovely and surprising.
By the end of the con, I was reaching my limit so we went for a quiet tea and (in my case) an attempt at pudding. The steak was delicious, the pudding..........didn't happen :-( So we trotted back to the hotel via Hagan Daz where I got vanilla ice cream and melted milk chocolate, which made everything better!
Yesterday we had waffles, which beat us all and shopped for presents before attempting to spend the last euro coins prior to returning to the UK. Again the journey home was smooth until we got to Euston, where there were the inevitable delays, but we made it home in time for Drag Race, so that was fab.
All in all, I'd probably go to another KLZ con. They are very will organised, and they pack a lot in, but the lack of downtime wasn't the best. I didn't realise how much I need the ability to step away, particularly if I feel like shite. Next con is WCC and hopefully there won't be a fekking cold sore making an appearence!