Week of EPIC Recap (finally)
I’ve been putting off this recap for a couple of reasons. One, limited internet access. Two, recapping it and posting meant that it was over and as long as I didn’t do that, in a way, it still wasn’t over. Three, I don’t remember everything. Four, recaps and videos have already been posted.
Instead of doing a full-blown recap of the Cruise, because noelleleithe has a pretty fantastic one done already, I’ll just add bullet points, thoughts, run-on sentences, and pretty much however else I’m going to get this out. The closer to the end of the vacation and the Week of EPIC I get, the more coherent and detailed I would expect things to get (since it just happened and I remember it better).
But first, a quick refresher of what my Week of EPIC included.
Thursday, April 8, 2010 - Fly to LA for Rock the Soap 2
Friday - Monday, April 9-12, 2010 - Rock the Soap 2
Tuesday - Friday, April 13-16, 2010 - Travel to and spend time in DC with the bestie
Friday, April 16, 2010 - Carpool up to New York with jackieoh for ATWT Fan Luncheon/Nuke-a-Palooza and general all around KICK ASS time
Saturday, April 17, 2010 - ATWT Fan Luncheon/Nuke-a-Palooza
Sunday, April 18, 2010 - Go home, fall into a heap, sleep, sleep, sleep
Like I said, most of the RTS stuff has already been brilliantly recapped and vids have been posted (How freaking precious is that Q&A video? I swear, up until that point, it’s the most epic thing I’d ever witnessed.), so I’m just going to go over some of my highlights.
The cabin we were all crammed into, not quite like pickles, more like sardines, was nicer than I had imagined. I don’t know what I was imaging but when I found out that we were on the bottom deck (Riviera) and I saw how orange everything was, I guess I had unintentionally lowered my expectations. But it was nice. It did for sleeping and hanging out during the day and the shower was actually quite excellent.
The ship was gorgeous. Just absolutely beautiful. I’ve decided that a cruise, any cruise, is the ONLY way to vacation from now on. I’m not even joking. I’m not a wealthy individual, I don’t get pampered very often, but let me tell you, I felt like a wealthy, pampered person on that boat. Everything was so clean and everyone was so polite, smiles and ma’ams and doors opened and just, wow. Talk about knowing how to treat your customers. I could think of a few hotels that could take notes on how to service their customers - and I mean that in a totally non-dirty, non-bumpin’ and grindin’ kind of way. Honestly.
The back end of the ship. That bottom row of windows is the level our cabin was on, only on the other side.
Front of the ship. *sigh* I loved that boat. I wish I could be back on that boat.
Inside the ship. Or at least, part of it.
Part of the outside. We spent most of our outside time hanging on the upper deck. It allowed for a fuller, more appreciated "view."
(These last two pics are totally filched off someone from somewhere. Apologies for taking them but I don’t have any pics of the ship and I’m only using them for this post and then my own scrapbook. But if they are yours and you want them removed just say so and I’ll take them down. )
The food was incredible. And it was always available. I know not everyone thought the food was great, but I had no complaints about any of it (except the pear which I probably could have lost a tooth to if I’d actually been able to bite in to it). And lunch on the first day, if you were following my tweets, you know was amazing.
If you weren’t following my tweets (shame, you missed a lot of tweeting), lunch on Friday was our first sighting of the guys. And it was a total fluke.
Shannon and I had been talking about now that we were on the ship we would need to start keeping out eyes open since unlike a lot of events, they weren’t sequestered away anywhere until a certain time. They were out and about on the ship pretty much at all hours and if you saw them, hey, you saw them. And hey, I saw them. Just like that. They were there, standing over Shannon’s shoulder and looking very nice. We didn’t say anything to them, instead opted to tweet, giggle, and ogle as subtlety as possible. And obviously no pictures were taken, but they looked amazing.
The actual events have already been covered in various recaps and of course video, but they were all great and the guys were fantastic.
There are a few highlights from each, of course. At the cocktail party we (Shannon, Kat, and I) were standing around talking to Jake (like this happens every day, ha), and he totally and completely unsolicited told me I looked great. I know I’ve tweeted that and said it nth times since, but dude. Jake. Told me. I looked great. Yeah. It was awesome.
This was taken almost right after the, "But you look great," comment. So yeah. The grin is huge. But I dare you to stand there right after being told you look great by that guy and not grin like a fool.
Also, at the cocktail party, Van brought me a glass of wine. Ok, I lie. Kinda. I got a glass of wine from Van. He had brought back two glasses from the bar, one for himself and one for someone else (I don’t know who, probably Melissa Claire Egan). The Someone Else didn’t want it and in his search of where to put a full glass of wine so it wouldn’t get knocked over, I swooped in said that I’d take it if it wasn’t for anyone and voila! Wine from Van.
When I asked Van if we could get a picture before we all left for dinner that night he asked me, "Your name's Ailene, right?" (T had introduced us earlier that evening). I replied in the affirmative and Van kind of grinned like, "Fuck yeah, I remembered," since he is terrible with names. He's awesome with the faces but not so great with the names thing, by and large. So we took the picture and since Jake was standing right there I asked him if he wouldn't mind joining in for a pic of the three of us. He said no problem and stepped on up. There was some mild scrambling as to who would stand where and Van was all, "Put her in the middle!" (omg, seriously... D-E-D)
After the picture was taken Jake leaned over towards me and said, "I lean, too," while leaning against me, squishing me into Van. I HAVE NO COMPLAINTS ABOUT BEING SQUISHED BETWEEN THEM. NONE AT ALL. I even forgive Jake for the lame-ass joke that I hate with a fiery passion because I WAS SQUISHED BETWEEN THEM. BETWEEN THEM. PRESSED FULL BODY BETWEEN BOTH OF THEM. Yeah. Double D-E-D, dead.
Drinking with Van. Where do I start? Where do I finish? I don’t know. It’s really only something that can be experienced. But boy can and will talk about almost anything. In the course of the conversation that night we covered everything from M&M’s (hates the plain, likes the peanut) to salty over sweet foods (make of that what you will ;p), to the show (loves Eric, likes the Luke/Reid stuff, and we’re going to hate Luke in a couple of weeks, just fyi) to Harry Potter (never read, never seen the movies), to religion (I don’t remember specifically his view points on this since by this time I was wasted, but yeah. Talking about religion with Van Hansis. Drunk. Good times.)
I remember telling you all I would try and get the guys on Twitter. I failed. I am sorry. I never got a chance to talk to Jake about it (he spent a lot of time in the casino and since I had no money to play with in there, I couldn’t just hang out), but Van hates Twitter. HATES it. So no bones there. Sorry, I tried.
As for It Doesn’t Include the Guys At All But It Was Still Freaking Epic Stuff… I’m in love with both Eric Martsolf and Scott Clifton. Seriously. Not so much that I’m going to start watching their soaps (well Scott’s kinda no longer there, but I’m hoping for a return to GH since I’m already watching that one), but enough so that they made me giggle like crazy, even when I wasn’t drunk.
Eric is almost too gorgeous for words. No joke. I didn’t get any pictures of him or with him, but he was still super pretty to look at the whole time. Especially when he was on stage singing and doing extremely inappropriate things with his hips. I was highly entertained and hooted and hollered much like I’ve done in my fangirl past at various boy band concerts (I’m looking at you Hanson and Nsync). Good times, good times.
And Scott, what is there to say about Scott? He’s cute, funny, talented, and extremely easy going. After the guys I think I talked to and interacted with him the most. He was just the coolest kid on the block and I hope nothing but the best of luck for him in finding work again.
Tanya, Tasha, if you ladies want these pics taken down, just say so.
The Divas of Daytime were incredible and I really enjoyed what I saw of their concert. I kind of wished we’d gone to the whole thing. At least I got to see “It’s Raining Men.” That was an absolute blast.
Lisa LoCicerogh is kind of stupidly beautiful and small. I absolutely adore her on GH and when I found out that she was going to be on the Cruise I fangirled out slightly. I’ll admit to being slightly star struck by her but she was way nice and sweet at the meet and greet and I got a picture with her and I’ll post it just as soon as Kat finishes uploading all of her pictures. I was able to tell her that she is currently my favorite part of GH and that I’ve really been enjoying the current storyline. She was very professional and thanked me but that was about the extent of our interaction.
Tyler Christopher is a douche and I have nothing more to say than that.
Wally Kurth is kind of the only actor I really wanted to meet but didn’t. I’ve loved him ever since his days as Ned on GH and I regret either not having the time to meet him or the balls to say hi. He seemed genuinely nice and open and is still just as good looking as ever. I seriously used to have the most epic Hot for Teacher-like crush on him. No lie.
Getting off the boat was the end to a pretty spectacular time. I made friends with people in this fandom I hadn’t thought possible and we all had a wonderful time. Not even my cold, which I woke up with Friday morning, got in the way too much. I didn’t spend much time in Mexico because of the cold, but I got drugs there and that was a good thing.
The best thing about the Cruise, and really overall this week at each of the events, was that all of the fandom wank that is so everywhere on the boards and LJ and FB and Twitter, wasn’t there. It just wasn’t. I think we all recognized that this was the last time, the last shot, and why ruin it for anyone else, much less ourselves, with crap. That’s not to say we all saw eye to eye on topics, but unlike online, we were able to discuss them like the adults we are and it was fantastic.
Random Cruise pics:
The "Family Portrait." All Van's idea. Dork. Not too shabby a pic for the four of us being so totally hungover, huh?
Also, found out about that shirt. Van's friend made it and it's Gena Rowlands. (Thanks Shannon for correcting me.)
Before the Captain's dinner on Saturday night. Don't we look purdy?
At the Q&A. Sorry for the moon-like glare behind them. It wasn't the best lit room, but it was the most epic room.
On to DC.
I love DC and my best friend, her fiance, her sister, and her brother in law, all live there and I haven’t seen any of them in over a year. Between moving and working and not being able to get back to San Diego for the holidays last year (where they always go), we just haven’t seen each other. So it was long over due and it was great. There wasn’t much pressure to do anything. In fact, I spent most of Wednesday lounging around her apartment regrouping. It was the first real day I had to kind of take a break. I know that sounds weird given that I was on vacation and had been on a cruise, but it’s true. Even in Long Beach, when Shannon and I spent a day hanging there, there wasn’t much relaxing. At least, not without having to get up and do anything later that evening or afternoon.
We went out for dinner and hung out and drank some wine and then on Thursday we played tourist. We went out for a late breakfast (she let me sleep in until after 10) and then tooled around the Natural History Museum. It was the only thing I ask that we do and we spent a good hour or more walking through all the exhibits, taking pictures, learning new things about the structures of skeletons and spiders and whales and stuff. Pretty fucking cool, actually.
Friday I went to work with her in Baltimore so that Jackie could pick me up and we could head on up to New York.
Ah, New York. Not even your gray, cloudy, wet weather could dampen it.
Friday night started with a Nukie dinner a restaurant called Figaro’s. We at first got lost on our way there (headed the wrong way up the street then had to turn around). It was all around good times with good food and great people.
Just candids from our table at dinner Friday night.
After dinner Friday night I headed to the bar at the Marriott and more good times with more good people ensued. Much beer was consumed, many songs were sung, laughs were shared, as well as hugs and kisses.
I love you, B!! I'm so happy that I finally got to meet you! xoxo!!
Saturday morning rolled around much too early (much like most of the mornings on this week, though Friday night was actually the earliest I’d gotten to bed all week). We all got ready in our “nice casual” finest and headed on down to the sixth floor to get our wrist bands, enter in raffles, buy pictures, and get our pictures taken with the famous, pretty people.
First, because he was leaving before the Luncheon even started, Michael Park.
I have a kick ass picture with Michael but it’s on Kat’s camera and she hasn’t uploaded it yet so that’ll have to wait. But Michael is gorgeous and sexy and totally nice and called me quick witted. I think my heart skipped a beat. No lie.
Then we kind of stood around and waited and signed cards and entered in raffles (I won nothing). Eventually the room opened up and we got to our tables and food was served. Food was edible but not great. I ate only because I was starving and hell, I paid for it.
The Zombies scored when it came to table placement. Yeah, we had the World’s Biggest Douche sitting with us, but we were first in line for Van, Jake, and Eric. Which had it’s pros and cons.
We were able to freely give them the Zombie!Thems with little problems but we were kind of rushed. We were able to stand and look at them getting all set up, taking jackets off and stuff (any time they get to take any article of clothing off, even a piece of outerwear, it’s a very good thing) but we didn’t get to stand and look at them for long. But we all got our pictures taken and most of them turned out great. Mine turned out fuzzy and I’m kind of pissed at the woman who took it because really, how long would it have taken for her to take one more, non blurry pic of the four of us?
Like I’ve said before, I wasn’t all that bummed that as far as Jake and Van are concerned the pic is blurry because I have other pictures with them, of them, but the pic is also with Eric and I don’t have any others like that and it’s blurry. But whatever. I still got to meet him and he’s quiet and polite and I am SMITTEN. No joke. Ask Kat and Shannon and anyone else I spoke to the rest of the day and all I could say about Eric all day long was, “Smitten, smitten, smitten.”
I got the "Family Portrait" autographed which was awesome. Van said the pic wasn't that great but Jake seemed to like it and they both remembered all three of us when we stepped up to the table. My name is actually spelled right on the pic, too. But that's because Van signed it and wrote out, 'To Ailene,' not Jake. Jake seems to have some kind of mental block when it comes to my name. He either freaks out and just spells it however (in the pic that Barb got signed for me last year it's spelled, Aileen, and in the SID magazine I had him sign on the cruise for the Stuffer article, he spelled it, Eileen, with another bad joke written above it). Instead Jake wrote, "Good seeing you again."
I didn't have a picture for Eric to sign but all three guys signed the bag we got. Most people got Eric's full name (nice penmanship, btw) but all I got was Eric SS, like he's a ship all his own or something. Ha.
Van with Zombie!Luke. See it right there on the table? Yeah. It's awesome. He kept pulling the head off.
You can almost see Zombie!Noah complete with Java shirt, behind the glasses. Jake didn't really know what to make of the doll. So presh. And there's Eric (hi, bb!) thinking that the chairs were actually there to sit in. Hee.
And because, like I said, SMITTEN, here's Eric.
After the guys I went and stood in line to meet Ellen Dolan and Terri Colombino. Both beautiful, gracious women. I got them to sign the bag we were given when we checked in and a picture with them as well. Shannon has yet to either upload this picture and/or send it to me so that pic will have to wait as well.
(A lot of my pics are on other people’s cameras. It was just easier to use one camera at the table than dig another one out. That and my camera isn’t the best and the pics sometimes turned out blurry and poorly lit.)
Next to Ellen and Terri’s table was Ewa, Trent, and Colleen. I so wanted to meet Trent and Colleen but after the guys, they had the longest table. I blame the Bentry shippers but not really. I just wasn’t going to wait an hour in heels to meet them. So on the sly I took a pic of Trent and Colleen with some random fan. Apologies for the graininess and poor lighting.
I'd give anything to look like Colleen when I'm her age. Hell, I'd give anything to look like Colleen now. Just sayin'.
After them I went to the shorter lines and met the kids (so sweet and cute) and then the teens. Mick is quiet and polite and TALL (taller than Jake, actually) and Sarah, nu!Liberty, has the most beautiful hair. She was also very sweet. Valentina, nu!Faith, is of course much nicer than Faith but I didn’t interact with her much other than saying hello and getting her autograph. Ben Levin (Gabriel) is rather good looking and we had a pretty cool conversation about watching soaps. He wasn’t into them at all and then get got cast on one and he was totally on board with my reasoning as to why I watch them (they are the ONLY thing other than the news that is new every single day of the week).
After them I met up with barbaragail and we got in line to meet Alex Cole and Tom Pelphry. B really wanted to meet Tom and I was all for meeting more good looking men and their line wasn’t all that long. I got them each to sign my bag and got a pic (on B’s camera so again, waiting for uploading). Alex was adorable and I got a taste of why this fandom is so crazy cakes over him. And Tom is crazy good looking in person. Of course, the hair cut help oodles. I told him that I loved the hair cut and he grinned and said thanks, that he liked it much more than the longer hair he had when he was on the show.
After that I was done. My feet hurt so badly from wearing heels all day and I needed a break before heading to NaP. I circled back around to the guys table before leaving though ‘cause I wanted to ask Eric if he was going to attending NaP. Well the line was way too long so I said fuck that shit and went up to where most people had been standing all day to take pics of the guys and just asked him. Van had already left at that point for “movie stuff” (aka getting a hair cut) and Jake was busy being insanely awesome with fans and Eric was just kind of standing there so I called his name and got his attention.
To be honest, I was a bit taken aback by the direct eye contact and smile thrown my way at asking him a direct question. Again, SMITTEN. He told me he wasn’t going to be attending and I told him that was a bummer and he said he was sorry.
He was just so totally overwhelmed by the whole event, you could tell. But as the day went on I he loosened up a lot. So totally adorable. It’s really too bad he wasn’t able to attend NaP. I would have really liked the chance to talk to him more than the few seconds I did at the Luncheon.
Overall I got autographs from Jake, Van, Eric, Ellen, Terri, Tom P., Alex, all the kids, and Michael. Not everyone I wanted to get but not unhappy with any of them, either.
Now, on to NaP.
NaP was crazy. It was fun and sweet and the perfect end to two amazing weekends that will never be duplicated or repeated. Even if there were more events that I go attend that the guys were going to, it just wouldn’t be like the Cruise and NaP.
The whole vibe of NaP was great. It was open and laid back and there wasn’t any real drama (except for when Van made us all cry at the end of the night) and I think everyone there had a good time. It was a major bummer that Jake had to leave early but I totally understand why he did. (The fact that he was there at all speaks of how classy a guy he is and earns him major points in my book.)
Instead of getting into NaP, I’m just going to post a bunch of pictures. Words and recaps can’t describe the epicness of that night (and the memory is a bit fuzzy - hey, OPEN BAR!! Hee.)
Moey, me, Dawn, and Lyddie (with Zombie!Shannon in the background) somewhere in NYC.
Me and Jackie (and Dani's bunny fingers, ha!) at NaP.
Me and Dawn at NaP. Was this before or after the cracker conversation? LOL!
Me and Angela at NaP.
What's that Van? You hate Twitter? Tough shit. Shannon wants to TwitPic us so shush and put your arm around me!
I love this picture, and not just cause I'm all tucked into Jake's shoulder (though that's a huge part of it). I actually look decent in it.
When I showed my mom this picture all she had to say was, "Woah, he's tall!"
Ok, so that was my Week of EPIC. Sorry the recap is so late. I was pretty wiped out after getting home and I was waiting (still am waiting - *pokes* those that have read this recap but still have pics of me on their cameras) for pictures to be posted.
And now that the recap is finished, I'd just like to say HUGE THANKS to: Shannon, Kat, Tasha, Tanya, Jessica, Nicole, Barbara, T, Jill, Angela, Ryan, Babs, Anthony, Jimmy, Michael, Moey, Casey, Jackie, Dani, Lyddie, Eileen, Dawn, Jacki, Manny, Stephanie, G and Honey, and omg I know I'm forgetting people, but THANK YOU, THANK YOU, THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR TWO AWESOME WEEKENDS!! If I forgot to see you, I'm sorry, it's not because you didn't help make the two weekends the best they could be, it's because it's been three weeks since the cruise and I drank a lot and slept a little.
(If any of the pics above belong to you and you'd like me to take them down, just say so. Same goes if you don't want your pic posted. Also, if any of these pics, most of which are honestly mine, you'd like to take, go ahead.)
This entry will remain unlocked throughout the weekend. Beyond that it gets put under lock and key again.
Instead of doing a full-blown recap of the Cruise, because noelleleithe has a pretty fantastic one done already, I’ll just add bullet points, thoughts, run-on sentences, and pretty much however else I’m going to get this out. The closer to the end of the vacation and the Week of EPIC I get, the more coherent and detailed I would expect things to get (since it just happened and I remember it better).
But first, a quick refresher of what my Week of EPIC included.
Thursday, April 8, 2010 - Fly to LA for Rock the Soap 2
Friday - Monday, April 9-12, 2010 - Rock the Soap 2
Tuesday - Friday, April 13-16, 2010 - Travel to and spend time in DC with the bestie
Friday, April 16, 2010 - Carpool up to New York with jackieoh for ATWT Fan Luncheon/Nuke-a-Palooza and general all around KICK ASS time
Saturday, April 17, 2010 - ATWT Fan Luncheon/Nuke-a-Palooza
Sunday, April 18, 2010 - Go home, fall into a heap, sleep, sleep, sleep
Like I said, most of the RTS stuff has already been brilliantly recapped and vids have been posted (How freaking precious is that Q&A video? I swear, up until that point, it’s the most epic thing I’d ever witnessed.), so I’m just going to go over some of my highlights.
The cabin we were all crammed into, not quite like pickles, more like sardines, was nicer than I had imagined. I don’t know what I was imaging but when I found out that we were on the bottom deck (Riviera) and I saw how orange everything was, I guess I had unintentionally lowered my expectations. But it was nice. It did for sleeping and hanging out during the day and the shower was actually quite excellent.
The ship was gorgeous. Just absolutely beautiful. I’ve decided that a cruise, any cruise, is the ONLY way to vacation from now on. I’m not even joking. I’m not a wealthy individual, I don’t get pampered very often, but let me tell you, I felt like a wealthy, pampered person on that boat. Everything was so clean and everyone was so polite, smiles and ma’ams and doors opened and just, wow. Talk about knowing how to treat your customers. I could think of a few hotels that could take notes on how to service their customers - and I mean that in a totally non-dirty, non-bumpin’ and grindin’ kind of way. Honestly.
The back end of the ship. That bottom row of windows is the level our cabin was on, only on the other side.
Front of the ship. *sigh* I loved that boat. I wish I could be back on that boat.
Inside the ship. Or at least, part of it.
Part of the outside. We spent most of our outside time hanging on the upper deck. It allowed for a fuller, more appreciated "view."
(These last two pics are totally filched off someone from somewhere. Apologies for taking them but I don’t have any pics of the ship and I’m only using them for this post and then my own scrapbook. But if they are yours and you want them removed just say so and I’ll take them down. )
The food was incredible. And it was always available. I know not everyone thought the food was great, but I had no complaints about any of it (except the pear which I probably could have lost a tooth to if I’d actually been able to bite in to it). And lunch on the first day, if you were following my tweets, you know was amazing.
If you weren’t following my tweets (shame, you missed a lot of tweeting), lunch on Friday was our first sighting of the guys. And it was a total fluke.
Shannon and I had been talking about now that we were on the ship we would need to start keeping out eyes open since unlike a lot of events, they weren’t sequestered away anywhere until a certain time. They were out and about on the ship pretty much at all hours and if you saw them, hey, you saw them. And hey, I saw them. Just like that. They were there, standing over Shannon’s shoulder and looking very nice. We didn’t say anything to them, instead opted to tweet, giggle, and ogle as subtlety as possible. And obviously no pictures were taken, but they looked amazing.
The actual events have already been covered in various recaps and of course video, but they were all great and the guys were fantastic.
There are a few highlights from each, of course. At the cocktail party we (Shannon, Kat, and I) were standing around talking to Jake (like this happens every day, ha), and he totally and completely unsolicited told me I looked great. I know I’ve tweeted that and said it nth times since, but dude. Jake. Told me. I looked great. Yeah. It was awesome.
This was taken almost right after the, "But you look great," comment. So yeah. The grin is huge. But I dare you to stand there right after being told you look great by that guy and not grin like a fool.
Also, at the cocktail party, Van brought me a glass of wine. Ok, I lie. Kinda. I got a glass of wine from Van. He had brought back two glasses from the bar, one for himself and one for someone else (I don’t know who, probably Melissa Claire Egan). The Someone Else didn’t want it and in his search of where to put a full glass of wine so it wouldn’t get knocked over, I swooped in said that I’d take it if it wasn’t for anyone and voila! Wine from Van.
When I asked Van if we could get a picture before we all left for dinner that night he asked me, "Your name's Ailene, right?" (T had introduced us earlier that evening). I replied in the affirmative and Van kind of grinned like, "Fuck yeah, I remembered," since he is terrible with names. He's awesome with the faces but not so great with the names thing, by and large. So we took the picture and since Jake was standing right there I asked him if he wouldn't mind joining in for a pic of the three of us. He said no problem and stepped on up. There was some mild scrambling as to who would stand where and Van was all, "Put her in the middle!" (omg, seriously... D-E-D)
After the picture was taken Jake leaned over towards me and said, "I lean, too," while leaning against me, squishing me into Van. I HAVE NO COMPLAINTS ABOUT BEING SQUISHED BETWEEN THEM. NONE AT ALL. I even forgive Jake for the lame-ass joke that I hate with a fiery passion because I WAS SQUISHED BETWEEN THEM. BETWEEN THEM. PRESSED FULL BODY BETWEEN BOTH OF THEM. Yeah. Double D-E-D, dead.
Drinking with Van. Where do I start? Where do I finish? I don’t know. It’s really only something that can be experienced. But boy can and will talk about almost anything. In the course of the conversation that night we covered everything from M&M’s (hates the plain, likes the peanut) to salty over sweet foods (make of that what you will ;p), to the show (loves Eric, likes the Luke/Reid stuff, and we’re going to hate Luke in a couple of weeks, just fyi) to Harry Potter (never read, never seen the movies), to religion (I don’t remember specifically his view points on this since by this time I was wasted, but yeah. Talking about religion with Van Hansis. Drunk. Good times.)
I remember telling you all I would try and get the guys on Twitter. I failed. I am sorry. I never got a chance to talk to Jake about it (he spent a lot of time in the casino and since I had no money to play with in there, I couldn’t just hang out), but Van hates Twitter. HATES it. So no bones there. Sorry, I tried.
As for It Doesn’t Include the Guys At All But It Was Still Freaking Epic Stuff… I’m in love with both Eric Martsolf and Scott Clifton. Seriously. Not so much that I’m going to start watching their soaps (well Scott’s kinda no longer there, but I’m hoping for a return to GH since I’m already watching that one), but enough so that they made me giggle like crazy, even when I wasn’t drunk.
Eric is almost too gorgeous for words. No joke. I didn’t get any pictures of him or with him, but he was still super pretty to look at the whole time. Especially when he was on stage singing and doing extremely inappropriate things with his hips. I was highly entertained and hooted and hollered much like I’ve done in my fangirl past at various boy band concerts (I’m looking at you Hanson and Nsync). Good times, good times.
And Scott, what is there to say about Scott? He’s cute, funny, talented, and extremely easy going. After the guys I think I talked to and interacted with him the most. He was just the coolest kid on the block and I hope nothing but the best of luck for him in finding work again.
Tanya, Tasha, if you ladies want these pics taken down, just say so.
The Divas of Daytime were incredible and I really enjoyed what I saw of their concert. I kind of wished we’d gone to the whole thing. At least I got to see “It’s Raining Men.” That was an absolute blast.
Lisa LoCicerogh is kind of stupidly beautiful and small. I absolutely adore her on GH and when I found out that she was going to be on the Cruise I fangirled out slightly. I’ll admit to being slightly star struck by her but she was way nice and sweet at the meet and greet and I got a picture with her and I’ll post it just as soon as Kat finishes uploading all of her pictures. I was able to tell her that she is currently my favorite part of GH and that I’ve really been enjoying the current storyline. She was very professional and thanked me but that was about the extent of our interaction.
Tyler Christopher is a douche and I have nothing more to say than that.
Wally Kurth is kind of the only actor I really wanted to meet but didn’t. I’ve loved him ever since his days as Ned on GH and I regret either not having the time to meet him or the balls to say hi. He seemed genuinely nice and open and is still just as good looking as ever. I seriously used to have the most epic Hot for Teacher-like crush on him. No lie.
Getting off the boat was the end to a pretty spectacular time. I made friends with people in this fandom I hadn’t thought possible and we all had a wonderful time. Not even my cold, which I woke up with Friday morning, got in the way too much. I didn’t spend much time in Mexico because of the cold, but I got drugs there and that was a good thing.
The best thing about the Cruise, and really overall this week at each of the events, was that all of the fandom wank that is so everywhere on the boards and LJ and FB and Twitter, wasn’t there. It just wasn’t. I think we all recognized that this was the last time, the last shot, and why ruin it for anyone else, much less ourselves, with crap. That’s not to say we all saw eye to eye on topics, but unlike online, we were able to discuss them like the adults we are and it was fantastic.
Random Cruise pics:
The "Family Portrait." All Van's idea. Dork. Not too shabby a pic for the four of us being so totally hungover, huh?
Also, found out about that shirt. Van's friend made it and it's Gena Rowlands. (Thanks Shannon for correcting me.)
Before the Captain's dinner on Saturday night. Don't we look purdy?
At the Q&A. Sorry for the moon-like glare behind them. It wasn't the best lit room, but it was the most epic room.
On to DC.
I love DC and my best friend, her fiance, her sister, and her brother in law, all live there and I haven’t seen any of them in over a year. Between moving and working and not being able to get back to San Diego for the holidays last year (where they always go), we just haven’t seen each other. So it was long over due and it was great. There wasn’t much pressure to do anything. In fact, I spent most of Wednesday lounging around her apartment regrouping. It was the first real day I had to kind of take a break. I know that sounds weird given that I was on vacation and had been on a cruise, but it’s true. Even in Long Beach, when Shannon and I spent a day hanging there, there wasn’t much relaxing. At least, not without having to get up and do anything later that evening or afternoon.
We went out for dinner and hung out and drank some wine and then on Thursday we played tourist. We went out for a late breakfast (she let me sleep in until after 10) and then tooled around the Natural History Museum. It was the only thing I ask that we do and we spent a good hour or more walking through all the exhibits, taking pictures, learning new things about the structures of skeletons and spiders and whales and stuff. Pretty fucking cool, actually.
Friday I went to work with her in Baltimore so that Jackie could pick me up and we could head on up to New York.
Ah, New York. Not even your gray, cloudy, wet weather could dampen it.
Friday night started with a Nukie dinner a restaurant called Figaro’s. We at first got lost on our way there (headed the wrong way up the street then had to turn around). It was all around good times with good food and great people.
Just candids from our table at dinner Friday night.
After dinner Friday night I headed to the bar at the Marriott and more good times with more good people ensued. Much beer was consumed, many songs were sung, laughs were shared, as well as hugs and kisses.
I love you, B!! I'm so happy that I finally got to meet you! xoxo!!
Saturday morning rolled around much too early (much like most of the mornings on this week, though Friday night was actually the earliest I’d gotten to bed all week). We all got ready in our “nice casual” finest and headed on down to the sixth floor to get our wrist bands, enter in raffles, buy pictures, and get our pictures taken with the famous, pretty people.
First, because he was leaving before the Luncheon even started, Michael Park.
I have a kick ass picture with Michael but it’s on Kat’s camera and she hasn’t uploaded it yet so that’ll have to wait. But Michael is gorgeous and sexy and totally nice and called me quick witted. I think my heart skipped a beat. No lie.
Then we kind of stood around and waited and signed cards and entered in raffles (I won nothing). Eventually the room opened up and we got to our tables and food was served. Food was edible but not great. I ate only because I was starving and hell, I paid for it.
The Zombies scored when it came to table placement. Yeah, we had the World’s Biggest Douche sitting with us, but we were first in line for Van, Jake, and Eric. Which had it’s pros and cons.
We were able to freely give them the Zombie!Thems with little problems but we were kind of rushed. We were able to stand and look at them getting all set up, taking jackets off and stuff (any time they get to take any article of clothing off, even a piece of outerwear, it’s a very good thing) but we didn’t get to stand and look at them for long. But we all got our pictures taken and most of them turned out great. Mine turned out fuzzy and I’m kind of pissed at the woman who took it because really, how long would it have taken for her to take one more, non blurry pic of the four of us?
Like I’ve said before, I wasn’t all that bummed that as far as Jake and Van are concerned the pic is blurry because I have other pictures with them, of them, but the pic is also with Eric and I don’t have any others like that and it’s blurry. But whatever. I still got to meet him and he’s quiet and polite and I am SMITTEN. No joke. Ask Kat and Shannon and anyone else I spoke to the rest of the day and all I could say about Eric all day long was, “Smitten, smitten, smitten.”
I got the "Family Portrait" autographed which was awesome. Van said the pic wasn't that great but Jake seemed to like it and they both remembered all three of us when we stepped up to the table. My name is actually spelled right on the pic, too. But that's because Van signed it and wrote out, 'To Ailene,' not Jake. Jake seems to have some kind of mental block when it comes to my name. He either freaks out and just spells it however (in the pic that Barb got signed for me last year it's spelled, Aileen, and in the SID magazine I had him sign on the cruise for the Stuffer article, he spelled it, Eileen, with another bad joke written above it). Instead Jake wrote, "Good seeing you again."
I didn't have a picture for Eric to sign but all three guys signed the bag we got. Most people got Eric's full name (nice penmanship, btw) but all I got was Eric SS, like he's a ship all his own or something. Ha.
Van with Zombie!Luke. See it right there on the table? Yeah. It's awesome. He kept pulling the head off.
You can almost see Zombie!Noah complete with Java shirt, behind the glasses. Jake didn't really know what to make of the doll. So presh. And there's Eric (hi, bb!) thinking that the chairs were actually there to sit in. Hee.
And because, like I said, SMITTEN, here's Eric.
After the guys I went and stood in line to meet Ellen Dolan and Terri Colombino. Both beautiful, gracious women. I got them to sign the bag we were given when we checked in and a picture with them as well. Shannon has yet to either upload this picture and/or send it to me so that pic will have to wait as well.
(A lot of my pics are on other people’s cameras. It was just easier to use one camera at the table than dig another one out. That and my camera isn’t the best and the pics sometimes turned out blurry and poorly lit.)
Next to Ellen and Terri’s table was Ewa, Trent, and Colleen. I so wanted to meet Trent and Colleen but after the guys, they had the longest table. I blame the Bentry shippers but not really. I just wasn’t going to wait an hour in heels to meet them. So on the sly I took a pic of Trent and Colleen with some random fan. Apologies for the graininess and poor lighting.
I'd give anything to look like Colleen when I'm her age. Hell, I'd give anything to look like Colleen now. Just sayin'.
After them I went to the shorter lines and met the kids (so sweet and cute) and then the teens. Mick is quiet and polite and TALL (taller than Jake, actually) and Sarah, nu!Liberty, has the most beautiful hair. She was also very sweet. Valentina, nu!Faith, is of course much nicer than Faith but I didn’t interact with her much other than saying hello and getting her autograph. Ben Levin (Gabriel) is rather good looking and we had a pretty cool conversation about watching soaps. He wasn’t into them at all and then get got cast on one and he was totally on board with my reasoning as to why I watch them (they are the ONLY thing other than the news that is new every single day of the week).
After them I met up with barbaragail and we got in line to meet Alex Cole and Tom Pelphry. B really wanted to meet Tom and I was all for meeting more good looking men and their line wasn’t all that long. I got them each to sign my bag and got a pic (on B’s camera so again, waiting for uploading). Alex was adorable and I got a taste of why this fandom is so crazy cakes over him. And Tom is crazy good looking in person. Of course, the hair cut help oodles. I told him that I loved the hair cut and he grinned and said thanks, that he liked it much more than the longer hair he had when he was on the show.
After that I was done. My feet hurt so badly from wearing heels all day and I needed a break before heading to NaP. I circled back around to the guys table before leaving though ‘cause I wanted to ask Eric if he was going to attending NaP. Well the line was way too long so I said fuck that shit and went up to where most people had been standing all day to take pics of the guys and just asked him. Van had already left at that point for “movie stuff” (aka getting a hair cut) and Jake was busy being insanely awesome with fans and Eric was just kind of standing there so I called his name and got his attention.
To be honest, I was a bit taken aback by the direct eye contact and smile thrown my way at asking him a direct question. Again, SMITTEN. He told me he wasn’t going to be attending and I told him that was a bummer and he said he was sorry.
He was just so totally overwhelmed by the whole event, you could tell. But as the day went on I he loosened up a lot. So totally adorable. It’s really too bad he wasn’t able to attend NaP. I would have really liked the chance to talk to him more than the few seconds I did at the Luncheon.
Overall I got autographs from Jake, Van, Eric, Ellen, Terri, Tom P., Alex, all the kids, and Michael. Not everyone I wanted to get but not unhappy with any of them, either.
Now, on to NaP.
NaP was crazy. It was fun and sweet and the perfect end to two amazing weekends that will never be duplicated or repeated. Even if there were more events that I go attend that the guys were going to, it just wouldn’t be like the Cruise and NaP.
The whole vibe of NaP was great. It was open and laid back and there wasn’t any real drama (except for when Van made us all cry at the end of the night) and I think everyone there had a good time. It was a major bummer that Jake had to leave early but I totally understand why he did. (The fact that he was there at all speaks of how classy a guy he is and earns him major points in my book.)
Instead of getting into NaP, I’m just going to post a bunch of pictures. Words and recaps can’t describe the epicness of that night (and the memory is a bit fuzzy - hey, OPEN BAR!! Hee.)
Moey, me, Dawn, and Lyddie (with Zombie!Shannon in the background) somewhere in NYC.
Me and Jackie (and Dani's bunny fingers, ha!) at NaP.
Me and Dawn at NaP. Was this before or after the cracker conversation? LOL!
Me and Angela at NaP.
What's that Van? You hate Twitter? Tough shit. Shannon wants to TwitPic us so shush and put your arm around me!
I love this picture, and not just cause I'm all tucked into Jake's shoulder (though that's a huge part of it). I actually look decent in it.
When I showed my mom this picture all she had to say was, "Woah, he's tall!"
Ok, so that was my Week of EPIC. Sorry the recap is so late. I was pretty wiped out after getting home and I was waiting (still am waiting - *pokes* those that have read this recap but still have pics of me on their cameras) for pictures to be posted.
And now that the recap is finished, I'd just like to say HUGE THANKS to: Shannon, Kat, Tasha, Tanya, Jessica, Nicole, Barbara, T, Jill, Angela, Ryan, Babs, Anthony, Jimmy, Michael, Moey, Casey, Jackie, Dani, Lyddie, Eileen, Dawn, Jacki, Manny, Stephanie, G and Honey, and omg I know I'm forgetting people, but THANK YOU, THANK YOU, THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR TWO AWESOME WEEKENDS!! If I forgot to see you, I'm sorry, it's not because you didn't help make the two weekends the best they could be, it's because it's been three weeks since the cruise and I drank a lot and slept a little.
(If any of the pics above belong to you and you'd like me to take them down, just say so. Same goes if you don't want your pic posted. Also, if any of these pics, most of which are honestly mine, you'd like to take, go ahead.)
This entry will remain unlocked throughout the weekend. Beyond that it gets put under lock and key again.