My DallasCon 2015 Report - Day Three, Saturday
Day Three - Saturday
Saturday was when the con kind of went a bit downhill for me - not because of the con or the guests themselves, but because I woke up with a horrible headache… which was due to a mixture of not eating enough on Friday, plus dehydration and the dry air from the A/C overnight. It kind of put a dampener on the weekend for me because I was concentrating more on not feeling well and less on enjoying the con :(.
Rich opened the show again, with more witty banter and then we had Ruth again for the first panel.
As I said, she’s such a sweetheart :). This time, she’d forgotten that being environmentally friendly and not having her room cleaned/towels replaced meant no new toiletries to give out, so this time she came armed with tea, coffee, sugar/sweeteners and cups to give out :P. There was a small girl dressed as a mini-Rowena who was really cute (I saw her in the bathroom later, practicing witchy moves in front of the mirror - so sweet) and also Alaina came on stage for a while as well.
Second panel of the day was Gil again, who opened his panel by singing Empty Chairs at Empty Tables complete with accompaniment (so it was obviously pre-planned). It could have seemed like he was milking the SPN Family a bit by using us to practice his singing, but he’s so good and the room always falls silent when he sings (even during karaoke) that I just don’t care :P. I’ll listen to him sing any day, lol. Plus, he’s admitted that SPN cons are what got him back into singing again and that he’s moved out to NYC to pursue theatre and Broadway so I guess any practice he can get is good for him.
After Gil’s panel, we had a bit of a break, so we went out to get take-outfood for lunch. Unfortunately, it took so long for them to make the food that we missed most of Mark’s panel. We knew what he was like for hassling people as they come in and out of his panels that we made sure to sneak in when he was on the other side of the room.
We had a gap of a couple of hours then, where we watched the costume contest and the auctions (I can’t believe what some of the posters and things go for!), and also Jared’s sister was at the con most of the weekend, signing her new children’s book. Jared’s parents were at the table with her one of the days too :).
Up next it was the R2M panel. As usual, Rich, Rob and Matt were on form with their usual humour :).
The R2M panel was followed by Misha, which I have to say, was a bit of a disaster panel! It was filled with inappropriate questions and a lot of catcalling. It was like everyone was taking note of the request by Creation not to tell personal stories but instead went in the opposite direction. There were some uncomfortable moments (and you could tell Misha was a bit uncomfortable too) and so I didn’t really enjoy the panel much.
After Misha’s panel, I had a Meet and Greet with Rich, Rob and Matt, which was really cool. I had tried for a Jensen M&G, but silly me miscounted the seconds at the end of the auction and I just missed it by a couple of seconds. My back-up was an R2M M&G and it was great. Unlike the J2 M&Gs, you sit around a table with the guys and it’s much more relaxed. I had Matt sitting next to me, with Rob 2 seats down and Rich opposite.
Matt came in first and asked who was a newbie - I said I was, because I hadn’t been to a M&G with him before and also not one at a Creation con. Rich came in next and sat down, then told us to pretend we were asleep for when Rob came in, lol. When everyone was sitting Rich asked who was new, and Matt pointed to me and the others and I clarified that I had met Rich and Rob at JIB. I looked to Rob and he was like, ‘yeah, I remember you,’ and we pointed back and forth between each other (we had a running joke going at JIB6 where Rob thought he knew my roommate but she had never spoken to him before). Then the guys talked about going to the December AHBL con in Australia and were asking what the weather would be like (a few of the girls in the M&G were from Australia). Rob started talking about barometric pressure and I was about to say something about how I’m a meteorologist but the moment passed and the topic moved on.
The Meet and Greet was basically the guys going around the table and having each of us in turn say our name, where we were from, what we did for a living and what the name of our signature dance move would be. Rich was going to start with Rob, but then he pointed to me instead. I told them my name, that I was from England and that I’m a weather forecaster. Rich was like, ‘why didn’t you say anything just now?’ :P. Matt asked if I was on TV and I said no, but he got up anyway and demonstrated how the TV forecasters do it with the green screen. I explained I worked with the military and that if I (or another forecaster) am not at work, then the airfield can’t open and no planes can fly. I think they were impressed because Matt kept looking at me, going ‘that’s a really important job’. I was like, ‘yeah…’, and he said again, ‘but that’s really important’. I said that my dance move would have to be weather-related and so it would be called ‘The Tornado’.
We went around the rest of the table, and it was interesting to hear where everyone was from and what they did. R2M also talked about doing the Skype calls with 80 fans for Kings of Con and how although they thought it might be hard to do, with so many calls, it was really interesting because they got the fans to show them the views from their windows and so they saw parts of the world they would not have seen otherwise.
The M&G ended with photos on our individual phones. I’d forgotten that my camera was still set on Sports mode so it takes lots of shots in one go… which means I ended up with 3 photos instead of one :P. After the photos, the guys gave us all hugs - Matt hugged me twice, because he was like, ‘have I hugged you yet? Never mind, I’ll hug you again,’ and then when Rob hugged me, he said, ‘so good to see you again.’ :). Despite my headache, it was a really cool experience hanging out with them for 45 minutes.
After the M&G I went back and got my autos from Mark and Misha and because I’d missed my row being called due to the M&G, the staff kindly put me at the front of the line for them, so I got them done in about 5 minutes or so.
Once we were done with autos, we went out for food again and then came back to the convention centre for the Saturday Night Special concert. We’d all been secretly hoping that Jensen would sing again at the SNS, though I knew it was unlikely since he usually spends his time in Dallas with his family, but it was still a bit disappointing when he didn’t. However, the concert was still really good and it all got a bit emotional at the end when Rob sang She Waits and everyone came back on for Little Help From Our Friends.
The only videos I took this year were of the Saturday concert - they are all on YouTube here:
Saturday was when the con kind of went a bit downhill for me - not because of the con or the guests themselves, but because I woke up with a horrible headache… which was due to a mixture of not eating enough on Friday, plus dehydration and the dry air from the A/C overnight. It kind of put a dampener on the weekend for me because I was concentrating more on not feeling well and less on enjoying the con :(.
Rich opened the show again, with more witty banter and then we had Ruth again for the first panel.
As I said, she’s such a sweetheart :). This time, she’d forgotten that being environmentally friendly and not having her room cleaned/towels replaced meant no new toiletries to give out, so this time she came armed with tea, coffee, sugar/sweeteners and cups to give out :P. There was a small girl dressed as a mini-Rowena who was really cute (I saw her in the bathroom later, practicing witchy moves in front of the mirror - so sweet) and also Alaina came on stage for a while as well.
Second panel of the day was Gil again, who opened his panel by singing Empty Chairs at Empty Tables complete with accompaniment (so it was obviously pre-planned). It could have seemed like he was milking the SPN Family a bit by using us to practice his singing, but he’s so good and the room always falls silent when he sings (even during karaoke) that I just don’t care :P. I’ll listen to him sing any day, lol. Plus, he’s admitted that SPN cons are what got him back into singing again and that he’s moved out to NYC to pursue theatre and Broadway so I guess any practice he can get is good for him.
After Gil’s panel, we had a bit of a break, so we went out to get take-outfood for lunch. Unfortunately, it took so long for them to make the food that we missed most of Mark’s panel. We knew what he was like for hassling people as they come in and out of his panels that we made sure to sneak in when he was on the other side of the room.
We had a gap of a couple of hours then, where we watched the costume contest and the auctions (I can’t believe what some of the posters and things go for!), and also Jared’s sister was at the con most of the weekend, signing her new children’s book. Jared’s parents were at the table with her one of the days too :).
Up next it was the R2M panel. As usual, Rich, Rob and Matt were on form with their usual humour :).
The R2M panel was followed by Misha, which I have to say, was a bit of a disaster panel! It was filled with inappropriate questions and a lot of catcalling. It was like everyone was taking note of the request by Creation not to tell personal stories but instead went in the opposite direction. There were some uncomfortable moments (and you could tell Misha was a bit uncomfortable too) and so I didn’t really enjoy the panel much.
After Misha’s panel, I had a Meet and Greet with Rich, Rob and Matt, which was really cool. I had tried for a Jensen M&G, but silly me miscounted the seconds at the end of the auction and I just missed it by a couple of seconds. My back-up was an R2M M&G and it was great. Unlike the J2 M&Gs, you sit around a table with the guys and it’s much more relaxed. I had Matt sitting next to me, with Rob 2 seats down and Rich opposite.
Matt came in first and asked who was a newbie - I said I was, because I hadn’t been to a M&G with him before and also not one at a Creation con. Rich came in next and sat down, then told us to pretend we were asleep for when Rob came in, lol. When everyone was sitting Rich asked who was new, and Matt pointed to me and the others and I clarified that I had met Rich and Rob at JIB. I looked to Rob and he was like, ‘yeah, I remember you,’ and we pointed back and forth between each other (we had a running joke going at JIB6 where Rob thought he knew my roommate but she had never spoken to him before). Then the guys talked about going to the December AHBL con in Australia and were asking what the weather would be like (a few of the girls in the M&G were from Australia). Rob started talking about barometric pressure and I was about to say something about how I’m a meteorologist but the moment passed and the topic moved on.
The Meet and Greet was basically the guys going around the table and having each of us in turn say our name, where we were from, what we did for a living and what the name of our signature dance move would be. Rich was going to start with Rob, but then he pointed to me instead. I told them my name, that I was from England and that I’m a weather forecaster. Rich was like, ‘why didn’t you say anything just now?’ :P. Matt asked if I was on TV and I said no, but he got up anyway and demonstrated how the TV forecasters do it with the green screen. I explained I worked with the military and that if I (or another forecaster) am not at work, then the airfield can’t open and no planes can fly. I think they were impressed because Matt kept looking at me, going ‘that’s a really important job’. I was like, ‘yeah…’, and he said again, ‘but that’s really important’. I said that my dance move would have to be weather-related and so it would be called ‘The Tornado’.
We went around the rest of the table, and it was interesting to hear where everyone was from and what they did. R2M also talked about doing the Skype calls with 80 fans for Kings of Con and how although they thought it might be hard to do, with so many calls, it was really interesting because they got the fans to show them the views from their windows and so they saw parts of the world they would not have seen otherwise.
The M&G ended with photos on our individual phones. I’d forgotten that my camera was still set on Sports mode so it takes lots of shots in one go… which means I ended up with 3 photos instead of one :P. After the photos, the guys gave us all hugs - Matt hugged me twice, because he was like, ‘have I hugged you yet? Never mind, I’ll hug you again,’ and then when Rob hugged me, he said, ‘so good to see you again.’ :). Despite my headache, it was a really cool experience hanging out with them for 45 minutes.
After the M&G I went back and got my autos from Mark and Misha and because I’d missed my row being called due to the M&G, the staff kindly put me at the front of the line for them, so I got them done in about 5 minutes or so.
Once we were done with autos, we went out for food again and then came back to the convention centre for the Saturday Night Special concert. We’d all been secretly hoping that Jensen would sing again at the SNS, though I knew it was unlikely since he usually spends his time in Dallas with his family, but it was still a bit disappointing when he didn’t. However, the concert was still really good and it all got a bit emotional at the end when Rob sang She Waits and everyone came back on for Little Help From Our Friends.
The only videos I took this year were of the Saturday concert - they are all on YouTube here:
Click to view