I have never been this busy in my life
My mid-April to mid-May, a summary:
+ April 19-20, AKA Easter weekend, I went to Awesome Con in DC. It was, indeed, fairly awesome. You might be familiar with some of the folks I met:
J. August Richards was a sweetheart who did his best to make conversation with me when I was tongue-tied and obviously out-of-my-element (he was the first celeb I interacted with, although I was not much better with the other, Nicky). Turns out he grew up in DC, which I had not known, so he asked if I was from the area and said he thought he remembered my hometown. After the photo I finally blurted, "I love you as Gunn," and he seemed taken aback but gratified and said, "You look a little young to have watched that show." Me: Well I saw it after the fact. Him: Oh, that explains it. During my brief interaction with him and during his panel he seemed very nice and genuine and like he didn't take anything for granted.
Nicholas Brendon was...charismatic. I would say charming, but his panel revealed him to be, as I'd suspected from reading about him in interviews, a man-child; over the course of the hour he made it very clear how much he liked "boobies." But like Xander, he seemed more juvenile than an actual jerk, and he was perfectly nice one-on-one, so, no regrets, very glad to have taken a photo and hugged him (autographs w/photo were $40, but as per his sign, hugs were free). He started by saying, "Hi, how are you?" Me: I'm fine, thanks, how are you? And then he asked my name or whom I wanted it made out to or something but interrupted me to say, "Let's start over." Me: What? Him: I realized I never answered your question! Hi, how are you? Me: I'm fine, thanks, how are you? Him: I'm good! [or something along those lines] What's your name?
My shirt was very soft, and during the photo he commented on it asking if it was cashmere (Me: Uh, no. Him: Are you sure? It's very soft. Me: I don't think it is.) and petted it several times, but in a five-year-old way, not a pervy way. I was so flustered by meeting Xander that I walked away without the autograph, and he called, "Uh, Alexandra...[waves photo at me]...thanks, luv." Hee.
I went alone on Saturday and whiled away many hours in various lines reading genteensybang fic on my phone and volume 1 of Morning Glories, which I bought at the con after many months of not being able to get it at Barnes & Noble, but on Sunday I brought my little brother, and I bought us a photo op with Danai Gurira AKA Michonne:
I say "little" brother because he is 9 years younger than I am, but he is, as you might be able to tell, not actually little at all. I believe 6'3" is the latest? He's in between Squirrel and Moose, as we like to say, because I have trained him well. It was so cool to get to introduce my baby brother to cons, and I'm already excited for next year when he'll get to go on Saturday, too (due to, you know, Easter, Sunday was a much quieter, less crowded day with way fewer amazing costumes to ogle).
I also got Melissa McBride/Carol's autograph, but I did not feel like spending $95 on a group photo op with her and several other less exciting TWD actors, so alas, no photo with her.
So that weekend was just a little bit hectic.
+ Last weekend April 24-25, my family went to Williamsburg (about 2.5 hours from where I live) to go to Busch Gardens (an amusement park) and stay at the Great Wolf Lodge (a fancy-schmancy hotel w/an in-door water park) to celebrate my sister's impending graduation from William & Mary. We took her BFF with us, and for the most part it was a good, fun weekend, but my sister's asshole boyfriend was there for most of it, and he was hungover most of the day at the park (because he is the kind of person who gets shit-faced the night before his girlfriend's family comes into town for an extremely expensive outing), which I suspect is the reason we had to spend two hours at lunch/in the arcade instead of going on more roller coasters, and he made my sister cry that night at the bar where she'd wanted the BFF and me to meet her college friends (it was such a long day, omg, I had to wake up at 5:45 AM to leave, and I didn't get to go to bed until 1:45 AM), and basically I loathe him and if my sister marries him, which is a distinct possibility, I don't know how I'll ever be able to look her in the face again, and I certainly would have a hard time being her maid of honor, but that's probably a moot point because she would choose the BFF over me as MoH anyway, because when she was crying and we both went to her she asked me to please go sit down but took the BFF into the bathroom, and I dragged myself to a loud, raucous bar when I was literally falling asleep on my feet for her sake because it was her celebration weekend, but I didn't spend a minute of it with her because she was either with the boyfriend or the BFF, and can you tell I'm bitter?
Fortunately, little brother and I are used to hanging out on our own and had an AWEOME time on the water slides the next morning when sister ditched us again to nurse BFF's hangover.
+ This weekend (actually, 1 hour from now when registration opens) is the SPN con. It goes through Sunday. On Monday I am bussing to NYC to hang out with an flistie for the afternoon.
+ Next weekend is my sister's actual graduation and because my dumbass parents didn't bother to check their calendar before letting my brother audition for the middle school play, which is the same weekend, I am staying home to chauffeur him around and act in loco parentis. I am more peeved about my parents just deciding I would miss graduation than about missing the graduation itself (my sister skipped mine, so it was always assumed I would skips hers, too, either out of spite or lack of interest), but I'm still disappointed to not see her graduate because believe me, it has been a long and uncertain journey.
But my aunt is coming to help with our dog because I don't do dogs, so that makes up for it- my aunt is my BFF and I did not get to see her in NY at Easter with my parents and brother, so I am thrilled that we'll have a weekend to ourselves without my mom around to get jealous. And even though I'll be chauffeur, at least I'll get to sleep, which I will really, really need after three weekends in a row of go-go-go.
And then the weekend after that I will be free of commitments, except for a potential movie night with CasTEAel boy, who wanted to see me last weekend or this one and was thankfully understanding when I explained that I literally had no time.
All of this is combined with work being really busy, too (I worked at home until 11:30 PM on Monday, ugh), and so all in all I am very, very tired. So tired and busy that I've barely been on Tumblr in two weeks (not having wi-fi at Awesome Con broke the habit, as did becoming obsessed with 2048), which is bizarre for me (in some ways it's been a relief because the current events stuff I saw usually made me miserable, but I also miss seeing friends who are only on Tumblr now; I want to see them, but at the moment the thought of going on Tumblr just seems so tiring and like a waste of time; I'm afraid of being sucked in again and not being able to claw my way out).
Not being able to sleep in/recharge on the weekend has really taken a toll, but fortunately I planned ahead and took today off so I could prep for the con (which really just means exercising for the first time in days, watching TV, and driving to/checking out the hotel), and I have next Tuesday off, too, to recover.
The exhaustion has made me less excited about the SPN con than I expected to be. The show has also contributed to that, of course. I hate this season. I hate what the show's become. I hate most of the characters. I hate the idea of people at the con fangirling all over it like it's the best thing since sliced bread when really it's a cesspool of misogyny and self-loathing and sociopathy. I hate that the little pro-lady part of fandom I was in is greatly diminished since last year (albeit for understandable reasons); I had originally taken Monday and Tuesday off so I could do write-ups of panels, but now I don't see any point to that, as I don't think anyone would actually care.
It's just really sad to think that I was more excited for the con last July when I bought the tickets than I am now, the day before.
+ April 19-20, AKA Easter weekend, I went to Awesome Con in DC. It was, indeed, fairly awesome. You might be familiar with some of the folks I met:
J. August Richards was a sweetheart who did his best to make conversation with me when I was tongue-tied and obviously out-of-my-element (he was the first celeb I interacted with, although I was not much better with the other, Nicky). Turns out he grew up in DC, which I had not known, so he asked if I was from the area and said he thought he remembered my hometown. After the photo I finally blurted, "I love you as Gunn," and he seemed taken aback but gratified and said, "You look a little young to have watched that show." Me: Well I saw it after the fact. Him: Oh, that explains it. During my brief interaction with him and during his panel he seemed very nice and genuine and like he didn't take anything for granted.
Nicholas Brendon was...charismatic. I would say charming, but his panel revealed him to be, as I'd suspected from reading about him in interviews, a man-child; over the course of the hour he made it very clear how much he liked "boobies." But like Xander, he seemed more juvenile than an actual jerk, and he was perfectly nice one-on-one, so, no regrets, very glad to have taken a photo and hugged him (autographs w/photo were $40, but as per his sign, hugs were free). He started by saying, "Hi, how are you?" Me: I'm fine, thanks, how are you? And then he asked my name or whom I wanted it made out to or something but interrupted me to say, "Let's start over." Me: What? Him: I realized I never answered your question! Hi, how are you? Me: I'm fine, thanks, how are you? Him: I'm good! [or something along those lines] What's your name?
My shirt was very soft, and during the photo he commented on it asking if it was cashmere (Me: Uh, no. Him: Are you sure? It's very soft. Me: I don't think it is.) and petted it several times, but in a five-year-old way, not a pervy way. I was so flustered by meeting Xander that I walked away without the autograph, and he called, "Uh, Alexandra...[waves photo at me]...thanks, luv." Hee.
I went alone on Saturday and whiled away many hours in various lines reading genteensybang fic on my phone and volume 1 of Morning Glories, which I bought at the con after many months of not being able to get it at Barnes & Noble, but on Sunday I brought my little brother, and I bought us a photo op with Danai Gurira AKA Michonne:
I say "little" brother because he is 9 years younger than I am, but he is, as you might be able to tell, not actually little at all. I believe 6'3" is the latest? He's in between Squirrel and Moose, as we like to say, because I have trained him well. It was so cool to get to introduce my baby brother to cons, and I'm already excited for next year when he'll get to go on Saturday, too (due to, you know, Easter, Sunday was a much quieter, less crowded day with way fewer amazing costumes to ogle).
I also got Melissa McBride/Carol's autograph, but I did not feel like spending $95 on a group photo op with her and several other less exciting TWD actors, so alas, no photo with her.
So that weekend was just a little bit hectic.
+ Last weekend April 24-25, my family went to Williamsburg (about 2.5 hours from where I live) to go to Busch Gardens (an amusement park) and stay at the Great Wolf Lodge (a fancy-schmancy hotel w/an in-door water park) to celebrate my sister's impending graduation from William & Mary. We took her BFF with us, and for the most part it was a good, fun weekend, but my sister's asshole boyfriend was there for most of it, and he was hungover most of the day at the park (because he is the kind of person who gets shit-faced the night before his girlfriend's family comes into town for an extremely expensive outing), which I suspect is the reason we had to spend two hours at lunch/in the arcade instead of going on more roller coasters, and he made my sister cry that night at the bar where she'd wanted the BFF and me to meet her college friends (it was such a long day, omg, I had to wake up at 5:45 AM to leave, and I didn't get to go to bed until 1:45 AM), and basically I loathe him and if my sister marries him, which is a distinct possibility, I don't know how I'll ever be able to look her in the face again, and I certainly would have a hard time being her maid of honor, but that's probably a moot point because she would choose the BFF over me as MoH anyway, because when she was crying and we both went to her she asked me to please go sit down but took the BFF into the bathroom, and I dragged myself to a loud, raucous bar when I was literally falling asleep on my feet for her sake because it was her celebration weekend, but I didn't spend a minute of it with her because she was either with the boyfriend or the BFF, and can you tell I'm bitter?
Fortunately, little brother and I are used to hanging out on our own and had an AWEOME time on the water slides the next morning when sister ditched us again to nurse BFF's hangover.
+ This weekend (actually, 1 hour from now when registration opens) is the SPN con. It goes through Sunday. On Monday I am bussing to NYC to hang out with an flistie for the afternoon.
+ Next weekend is my sister's actual graduation and because my dumbass parents didn't bother to check their calendar before letting my brother audition for the middle school play, which is the same weekend, I am staying home to chauffeur him around and act in loco parentis. I am more peeved about my parents just deciding I would miss graduation than about missing the graduation itself (my sister skipped mine, so it was always assumed I would skips hers, too, either out of spite or lack of interest), but I'm still disappointed to not see her graduate because believe me, it has been a long and uncertain journey.
But my aunt is coming to help with our dog because I don't do dogs, so that makes up for it- my aunt is my BFF and I did not get to see her in NY at Easter with my parents and brother, so I am thrilled that we'll have a weekend to ourselves without my mom around to get jealous. And even though I'll be chauffeur, at least I'll get to sleep, which I will really, really need after three weekends in a row of go-go-go.
And then the weekend after that I will be free of commitments, except for a potential movie night with CasTEAel boy, who wanted to see me last weekend or this one and was thankfully understanding when I explained that I literally had no time.
All of this is combined with work being really busy, too (I worked at home until 11:30 PM on Monday, ugh), and so all in all I am very, very tired. So tired and busy that I've barely been on Tumblr in two weeks (not having wi-fi at Awesome Con broke the habit, as did becoming obsessed with 2048), which is bizarre for me (in some ways it's been a relief because the current events stuff I saw usually made me miserable, but I also miss seeing friends who are only on Tumblr now; I want to see them, but at the moment the thought of going on Tumblr just seems so tiring and like a waste of time; I'm afraid of being sucked in again and not being able to claw my way out).
Not being able to sleep in/recharge on the weekend has really taken a toll, but fortunately I planned ahead and took today off so I could prep for the con (which really just means exercising for the first time in days, watching TV, and driving to/checking out the hotel), and I have next Tuesday off, too, to recover.
The exhaustion has made me less excited about the SPN con than I expected to be. The show has also contributed to that, of course. I hate this season. I hate what the show's become. I hate most of the characters. I hate the idea of people at the con fangirling all over it like it's the best thing since sliced bread when really it's a cesspool of misogyny and self-loathing and sociopathy. I hate that the little pro-lady part of fandom I was in is greatly diminished since last year (albeit for understandable reasons); I had originally taken Monday and Tuesday off so I could do write-ups of panels, but now I don't see any point to that, as I don't think anyone would actually care.
It's just really sad to think that I was more excited for the con last July when I bought the tickets than I am now, the day before.