Shore Leave 2010 aka The Best weekend ever!!
Euhm... this is gonna be long, with a lot of pics :^p
Enjoy anyway ;^)
You can find my pics HERE and HERE
And you can find awesome reports by hihoplastic HERE and by drewandian HERE.
Thursday
Thursday started early for me as my plane left Belgium around 11AM and my boyfriend wanted to drop me off early so we wouldn’t get caught in a traffic jam. But luckily I didn’t have to wait alone. I was meeting torrealis at the airport. We didn’t share a plane as I was going through NY and she was going through Philadelphia, but our plane left at around the same time in the same terminal.
I met her and her parents at Starbucks and then we went to check in. I was done ages before her (Delta rocks!), so waited by the exit of her check-in line. When she was finished, we said goodbye to her parents and went through passport security. Luckily we were allowed though and came into the duty-free area.
This really is a bad move of the Brussels airport as they put the main duty free before the security checkpoint, so you have to see how many people are standing in line and have to guess how long it’ll take to get through security and guess how long you can afford to stay in that area. But I usually go straight through it right away, because in the terminal itself is a Starbucks ;^)
So that’s what we did and thus ended up at Starbucks for breakfast. Luckily they sell fruit salads for vegans like myself ;^)
We had a lot of time to spare, so we wandered around the terminal and searched for cigarettes for torrealis .
When the time to board came close, we said goodbye and agreed that torrealis would wait at the Baltimore airport for me, so we could grab a cab together towards the hotel.
Of course that would go wrong :^p
I spend most of my time on the plane writing fic and reading a book. No, the fic is not yet finished, so don’t ask about it :^p
I arrived in NY spot on time, but security took ages, so I had to hurry up to catch my plane. Of course the gate for my plane was on the other side of the airport, so I was sweating like hell when I finally made it to the gate. Five minutes later, we heard the message that the plane was delayed due to a mechanical issue that needed to be fixed first. Hey, I don’t mind my plane being safe and working properly, but they could have told me that before I ran all the way to the other side of the airport :^p
So eventually we left with about an hour delay. Which wasn’t that bad, but I had tried to reach torrealis to tell her I was delayed, but couldn’t reach her. Later we found out her service didn’t include international calling or texting yet. *facepalm*
When I got to Baltimore I tried calling her again, but only got her voice mail. So first I went to pick up my bags and walked around a bit, thinking she was outside, smoking. Of course I didn’t find her, so I went to the infodesk and they told me her plane had landed on time but at terminal B(?) and I was at terminal A(?). So I walked to the other terminal and tried to find her there. When I didn’t find her, I called our hotel and they put me through with our room... where no one answered. At that point I wanted to *headwall* :^p
Anyway, eventually I decided to grab a cab and figure things out once I was at the hotel, hoping that torrealis was already there.
When I finally got into our room, I dropped my heavy bag and found a note by hihoplastic and... torrealis . So she had made it to the hotel, I was happy, but cursing at the same time :^p
The note said they were out looking for food and it also held hihoplastic ’s phonenumber. When I called her, it appeared they were on the other side of the road in an Italian restaurant called: Basta Pasta. *facepalm* Really? Basta Pasta?
Anyway, they had good food, but apparently, the kitchen didn’t switch the egg-pasta, so hihoplastic (who’s also vegan - Yay, for once I wasn’t the only one) and me got our first vegan!fail of the weekend.
When we got back to the hotel, we watched some tv. It was a hilarious show, but I don’t remember the title (*check’s hihoplastic ’s report* Ah yes: Community) :^p And went to bed somewhere after midnight, with torrealis already fast asleep.
Around 2.30AM drewandian and Mandy showed up. I woke up, waved them hello and fell right back asleep.
Friday
I woke up around 5.30AM and was wide awake. Couldn’t get back to sleep, no matter how much I tried. So I got up, took my laptop outside and a while later I was joined by torrealis . We fixed her phone so she could call internationally and then we watched the sunrise for the first time in our lives. It was beautiful and I should watch the sunrise more often, but I just can’t be bothered to get out of bed that early :^p
It took ages before the others were awake, so torrealis decided drastic measures were necessary, took out her phone and played ‘Goodmorning Baltimore’ on the loudest setting. That did the trick and soon the others were ready to go too.
I don’t remember when we got to the con, but it was laaaaaaaaate :^p
So I valiantly tried to get us to registration first. You know, get the really important part out of the way first. But the others were ooooh’ing and aaaaaaah’ing and drooling in the dealers rooms and I just *facepalmed* a lot. See, I’m a con veteran, so the dealers room doesn’t do much for me. Seen most of it tons of times before. The others on the other hand were con virgins (no, torrealis , one or two cons don’t make you a con veteran and besides, you were acting like a con virgin :^p).
But there was one positive thing about the dealers room and that was that I found a “real” D'k'tahg (a Klingon dagger). I’ve been looking for one for years and never found it. Or they were so expensive that I couldn’t afford it. And now I finally have one :^D
So, it seemed ages later before I finally managed to drag them to registration.
After that we decided that we were hungry, so we took the car to the local shopping mall
where there was barely anything to eat (let alone for vegans) but a girl there told us that there was a Chillies not far from there. So we went back into the car to look for the elusive Chillies. An hour later we finally managed to find it and noticed that we prolly passed it two times. *facepalm*
The food was good and mine was vegan, but hihoplastic had vegan!fail nr. two of the weekend as the dressing on her salad wasn’t vegan.
When we got back to the con, the SGA pilot was already playing, so we went into the room and enjoyed ourselves immensely (prolly annoying everyone else, but we didn’t care). We flailed over Torri and over Sparky and I flailed over Joe ;^)
After the panel there were fanpanels we wanted to attend. The first one was: ‘Sanctuary: Where there’s a Will’. It wasn’t bad, but when the people started saying that Amanda played one of the few female roles on tv that women could actually look up to, I wanted to jump up and say: “What about Elizabeth Weir in SGA? I look up to her, she’s a great roll model and much better than Helen Magnus.”
But I’m way to shy for that, so I stayed quietly in my seat, mumbling to myself. Then I saw hihoplastic writing in her book. “Elizabeth Weir??” And I nodded in agreement.
When that panel was over, the others left to go back to the dealersroom and I went to the next panel: ‘Lost: Jacob’s Island’. It was mostly about the final ep and the overall storyline and all the symbolism in the show. It was interesting to hear all the different opinions.
For the next panel the others returned with bigdamnxenafan among them. I waved her hello and we talked a little bit before the panel started: ‘Stargate Atlantis: Weir Outta Here!!!’. We thought it would mostly deal about the ugly way tptb had treated Torri and the other actors, but it was mainly a gen panel and the name was only given because Torri was a guest.
It was good though and there were some very enthusiastic Torri fans. There were some very heavy discussions that I contributed in. And at one point they were talking about why tptb had kicked Torri out for Amanda and because Joe Flanigan had told us that at Fedcon, I actually knew the reason, so I raised my hand and told them that tptb wanted Amanda in, no matter what, but Torri and Amanda together was a no-go for tptb, so they kicked Torri out. That was the only reason. Some people seemed actually surprised to hear that.
Then there was also Terri Osborne, a writer and a very kind lady who was a huge SGA and Elizabeth fan and who’s writing ‘Elizabeth Weir: the memoires’ and it’s something I’m really looking forward too reading. And I knew I had to talk to her if I got that possibility.
After the SGA panel, the others went to the panel of Catherine Hicks, but I wanted to go Stargazing. As it wasn’t raining, it was on the tenniscourts and it took me forever to find them. And when I finally got there, there was: nothing. *facepalm*
So I went back inside and took a couple of pictures of the end of Catherine Hicks’ panel.
After that panel I met up with the others and they wanted to go to karaoke. But I wanted to go to ‘Meet the Pros’ to buy a couple of books and get them signed by the authors and maybe talk to a couple of them.
We said goodbye again as they went to Vic’s Place and I walked into the corridor where the authors sat.
I managed to get my hands on a good amount of books, all signed :^D
Then I came to Terri Osborne’s table and we talked about SGA and the bad decision to write out Carson and Elizabeth. She also told me a bit about the Elizabeth book she’s writing and OMG, I can’t wait to read it. She told me about stuff that's been cut out of the book and stuff that's still in the book and OMG, it all sounds amazing.
For example: Elizabeth in NYC, working for the UN on 9/11 and how she reacts to what's happening.
It got cut :^( But it's gonna appear on her website very soon :^D Can't wait to read that.
Then we talked a bit about Atlantis Rising (our virtual series) and she’s going to read it after the book gets published, because she doesn’t want to be influenced by fic as long as she’s writing.
Oh and Terri is also a total Sparky fan. She, just as well as the other sparkies, can’t understand how people cannot see the chemistry between Elizabeth and John. *hugs her*
After talking to the authors, I went in search of the others who were still at the karaoke. I stayed for a while, but it was freezing cold in there and really... I hate karaoke, so I left again and waited for them while reading one of the books I had just bought.
When they finally got out of the karaoke bar, we went grocery shopping and then passed out in our hotel room.
Saturday
This time I was wide awake around 6AM... yup, cons do that to me...
torrealis was awake too, so we sat down outside again with my laptop and talked about meeting Torri today.
Time kept passing and the others were still fast asleep, and I was getting worried because my first photo-op was at 10AM.
So Torrealis woke drewandian up who was like: “But we only need to be there at 1PM.” and I was like: “Nope: photo-ops start at 10AM and I need to be there then.”
So she scrambled out of bed together with hihoplastic and drove us to the con, but went back to our hotel, because Mandy wasn’t feeling so good. *huggles Mandy*
My first photo-op was with Edward James Olmos and he’s such a sweetheart. The line outside was huge, but they went fast and 15 minutes later it was my turn.
So after that I waited outside and I learned that when you come in later, it’s actually better, because there’s no one before you and no one behind you, so you actually have more time. It’s different at Fedcon. Once the line is gone, the actor is gone and if you come later, you’re out of luck. At Shore Leave it’s in their contract that they have to stay the entire photo-op time. I love that arrangement, especially since I missed out on some photo-ops at Fedcon because of that.
The double photo-op with Edwards James Olmos and Katee Sackhoff was next and since I went in third I went back to my friends, because I had a lot of time to spare to the next photo-op with just Katee.
We decided to see what was happening downstairs. Some off the actors were sitting downstairs already for autographs, but I (and we) didn't really care about Kevin Sorbo and Dominic Keating (I love the guys, but I've seen them three times before already) and we landed at a booth about a firefly fanfilm. It looked very well done and the lead actress was there, and while we were talking to her, torrealis started flailing.
We looked around at the point she was flailingly pointing at and Torri was sitting there, at a table.
hihoplastic started flailing too, said a quick goodbye to the Firefly actress and they both ran off. We both looked at them with a WTF?!? look. So I turned to the actress and said something along the lines off: “I'm sorry about them. They're usually quite down to Earth, but they're huge Torri fans. I'd better go check out what they're up to.” She nodded and said something along the lines of: “Yes, you better make sure they're ok.”
So I went looking for my two flailing friends and eventually found them outside, behind Torri's table, hiding on the stairs, totally freaking out and now and then glancing in Torri's direction through the window and freaking out some more. I rolled my eyes and asked them what was wrong with them.
And they flailed some more, comparing Torri to Jesus and Mohammed and Buddha and what-not. I just rolled my eyes again.
Then hihoplastic called drewandian and left a flailing message on her answering machine. I rolled my eyes again :^p
Eventually I got tired of their flailing and told them that I was going to Torri and that if they wanted to join me they just had to suck up it up. They sorta gave each other a panicked look, realized that they needed me as a buffer and joined me in the line. Luckily once we got to Torri, their flailing leveled out and they acted 'normal' again. So I talked to Torri about the virtual series we were writing and she was very enthusiastic about it and I told her that I had seen Joe in May and I gave her his message and told her friends of mine were seeing him in august and if we should relay anything from her to him. So she gave a message in return. You have to love that woman ;^) And the fact that we Sparkies keep the flow of information between our fav actors going ;^) Then I gave the big box of Belgian chocolates that torrealis and me had brought with us and Torri absolutely loved them and gave us a hug. Yay!! :^D
Oh, I also let her sign my sgarising banner and I gave her one of the sgarising cards and she said she loved the art and that torrealis and me should have done the art of the series. She's also certain we'll do a much better job at writing the show than the original writers did. I love that woman :^p
(this was taken with my phone, so sorry for the crappy quality)
hihoplastic gave her a wall thinger from Israel and Torri said it was perfect as she just bought a new house and it would fit in there perfectly. But right now her house was standing on stelts and she hoped that would be fixed by the time she got back. We wished her luck with her house and told her we'd see her at the photo-op and then left again.
Oh, before I forget, I asked Torri at some point if she wanted to have a drink with us and she said she wanted too but that we should ask her again during the autograph session in the afternoon because she'd had to see how tired she was. Totally understandable of course, because a con is very draining on the actors too... as proven by the following pic :^p
So, we went outside after that where torrealis and hihoplastic flailed some more and I rolled my eyes again.
By then it was time for my photo-op with Katee and I left the two and told them I'd be back in a couple of minutes.
I quickly went up to the photo-op room, went inside, Katee said: 'hello again' and I flailed on the inside (see, I do that on the inside :^p) because she remembered me from the double photo-op :^D
After the photo-op I went back to my friends who were still standing outside and were still flailing because by now drewandian had joined them and was flailing too.
We took drewandian inside and downstairs back to Torri and she showed Torri her tattoo. For a moment Torri looked worried as drewandian told her she got it off her autograph, but she relaxed again and thought it was amazing when it turned out it was the usual peace, love and happiness she puts under her autograph.
After that we went for lunch and after lunch it was time for Torri’s photo-op and it was then that torrealis suddenly realized she forgot her photo-op tickets. *facepalm*
We had no time to get back to the hotel to go get them, but luckily the Shore Leave people were very understanding and helpful and they helped her out.
So finally we walked into the photo-op room and as I had told them, because we went in so late, there was no one behind us. So Torri pointed at my t-shirt (which said 'Eywa Ngahu') and asked me what it meant and I said ‘Eywa be with you’. She gave me a strange look and I explained that it came from ‘Avatar’ and that Eywa was their god and sort of mother nature. She told me she hadn't seen the movie yet and I told her she really should. The story wasn't that amazing, but the special effects were awesome. The photo was taken somewhere during our talk, so we're both kinda looking weird and our feet are sorta in a weird position :^p But it’s all good ;^)
After that our little band broke up again as hihoplastic and me went to Katee Sackhoff’s panel. She’s a very nice person and very honest and she also said something that’s very true: “As long as going green doesn’t get cheaper, global warming is a problem for the rich people.” And I agree wholeheartedly. I’d drive a Prius right away... if only I could afford one...
After Katee’s panel, we got some good seats for Torri’s panel and the others joined us again, including bigdamnxenafan . Torri’s panel was great and she’s so funny!
Someone asked what she would prefer to have happened: Sparky or Sheyla?
Torri: So you're asking weather John would do me or Rachel?
Sheyla would work because John and Teyla are both fighters, but Sparky would also work because John and Elizabeth compliment each other on an intelligent level and keep challenging each other.
Another question was if the chemistry that happened on screen between Elizabeth and John was something that the both of them did on purpose or if it just happened.
Torri said that they had never talked about it, but that they still had to get to know each other when the show started and that they didn't have a lot in common (he's a republican, she’s a democrat), but they did have a lot of respect for each other and she thinks some of that respect came over on the screen.
bigdamnxenafan asked a question about her on stage acting. Then hihoplastic finally got the nerve to ask her about the Martin Firrell project and if he had contacted her about it. She said he hadn't, but she would love to be in it and that if we could, we should let him know that. (later on my friends tweeted Martin about it and he gave them a positive reply. So if you see Torri in the Heroes project, thank us... or my friends :^p)
She called Sedge a bitch because a director once told her Sedge stole her light.
During the panel she was following the soccer match and updated us on the score. After that we went to bar to see the last 15 minutes live, and Torri was there too. Twas funny hearing her cheer for Uruguay.
After that we waited in one of the corridors and Terri Osborne passed us and I took the opportunity to talk to her and ask her a couple of things. I asked her about her thoughts on the polyamarous nomads and the books that said writer is writing. According to her, MGM would never approve a book that breaks canon and if the person checking the books approved it, he made a big mistake. She can understand the reasoning of the writer, but the writer is applying Earth logic to an alien society and she should not do that.
She also said that if we have proof of the writer breaking canon, we should let MGM know and they will put a stop to it because they will never allow to let an outside writer break canon like that.
And according to her, MGM would never allow an outside writer to couple two main characters (like Sparky or Sheyla or Spanky) in an official book.
So, yay!!! :^D
Have I told you guys yet that I love this woman? ;^)
Then we waited in the corridor some more until it was time to get into Torri’s autograph line again. The line was HUGE and it took ages before we finally reached her. Mandy (who had brought glowing bracelets) asked her what her favorite color was and she said orange... or green. torrealis had already claimed the orange bracelet, so Torri got a green one. Then I asked if she was still up for the drink, but as I had expected, she was too tired. Which was really no wonder... Then I asked her if I could put some of the sgarising cards on her table and she agreed to it :^D
Have I told you guys yet that I love this woman? ;^)
So we thanked her, went in search for food and then went back to the hotel were the others had a drinking game without a game... don’t ask...
Ah, somewhere in between, I also went to Edward James Olmos' autograph table to get my 'The Plan' DVD signed (he directed it) and to get my photo-op pic signed.
And I also stopped at Catherine Hick's table to get an autograph.
Sunday
torrealis and me were up early again and waited impatiently for the others to wake up... eventually we had to wake them up again :^p
The con-day started with the panel of Dominic Keating, but I had to leave half way to get into Katee Sackhoff's line for an autograph. Which was a shame, because the man was hilarious.
But I had too, because the day before I’d never gotten Katee’s autograph because Torri’s line took so long, so this was my last chance. After getting my autograph I joined my friends who were in Torri's line again.
Torri was completely awesome as the Atlantis Rising cards were still on her table. She had put them back again, so people could take them *hugs her*
We talked a bit about her online presence, and she said she'd like to get an official website, but didn't really know how to get started with it. So I saw my chance and said that I was a webmaster and could do her website. She agreed and asked me for my email so she could contact me *flails* I'm getting to do Torri's WEBSITE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! *flails some more* (on the inside).
Anyway, after getting my photo-op picture signed, I went back to the room where the panels were taking place and I watched the end of Catherine Hicks' panel and scored some awesome seats for the BSG panels and after that the Torri panel.
First up was Edward James Olmos who told the story of how he got the role in Miami Vice. It was long but absolutely worth it. If you ever see him at a con, ask him to tell that story!
Then he was joined by Katee for their double panel and after that it was Katee alone, who, btw, was dressed in a Spanish soccer jersey ;^)
Torri came after Katee and she was funny and hilarious and entertaining as always.
One of the questions was: What were the best qualities of your fellow actors on SGA?
Her answer: Rachel has a good heart. David has intellect. Joe has his wife. Just kidding. He has a wry sense of humor. Jason... well... all women and some men know what his qualities are. Paul is everyone's best friend. It's sorta like their characters.
Someone asked who her fav bad guy in Stargate was.
Her answer: Ba'al. He was so deliciously evil. But she also loved the Wraith and she's certain they started the vampire myth. She also loved Evil Weir, but never got tptb to use that idea.
Some things she said:
- She didn't want to come back for S5 because she didn't like the vagueness around her character and she wanted closure for Elizabeth.
- They were also frustrated that they didn't get to show any emotion over Caron's dead in the episodes following 'Sunday' (Joe said the same thing at Fedcon :^D).
- Happiest moment from SG is meeting the fans and still being appreciated after all these years. And she rather does fan-run cons than official ones because the official ones are all about the money and not about the fans.
During her panel she kept tabs on the score of the first half of the final of the World Cup soccer. And she was very glad they hadn’t scored yet as she didn’t want to miss a single goal.
After her panel I ran to the bar to see the second half of the soccer game. The bar was filled, but there was a tv outside and for a moment I was standing there alone as the others had gone out for a smoke. Just minutes later I was joined by Torri who stood next to me and together we cheered for Spain (as did the others actors that were in the bar) :^D
A while later the others returned from their smoke. And you know, it's amazing how many geeks suddenly want to watch soccer when the actors are interested in it :^p
During the next intermission, Edward James Olmos walked out while talking on his phone and he was wearing the Spanish flag as a cape... godda love that man ;^)
After Spain won and we all did a silly little happy dance, Torri had to go to her autograph session and we followed.
But can you believe that? We watched the frakking WC final with Torri!!!!!
The line was huge again, but we had time and wanted to be last, so we let everyone pass. It got us a lot of strange faces, but it was well worth it.
Anyway, when we got to her, I asked her if she would like to have a drink with us after the con. And she agreed!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! *diez*
So while the others went for a smoke, I went to the bar and scored us a good table. The others joined me a while later and we waited for Torri while talking about Torri :^p It took a while for her to join us, but when she did, the six of us talked for almost two hours straight about everything, anything and nothing. It was awesome. I also got to tell her about John's woobie face every time Elizabeth's name was mentioned in s4 and s5 and the next time she sees Joe, she's going to hug him for doing that :^D
A lot was said and a lot was discussed and yes, it was one of the best nights I ever had.
I know I'm forgetting a lot, but I'm still in a ruse... yes, even after more than a week :^p
After about two hours, Torri’s babysitter comes into the bar and sees Torri sitting with us and she’s like: “Hey, here you are. You told us you would only be half an hour. People are expecting you at the after party. Eddie and Dominic are almost leaving.”
And Torri was like: “Oops, I completely lost track of time.”
Lol, can you believe that? She had such a blast with us that she lost track of time :^D
And she totally forgot about Edward James Olmos and Dominic Keating :^D
Oh, and she also bought us a round of drinks... SHE bought US a round of drinks!!!! I love that woman ;^)
So, a couple of minutes later Torri needs to leave and we finish our drinks and get back to the hotel... or try to... because at that point torrealis is drunk... very very drunk... can’t even walk straight. And when we’re outside, she doesn’t even realize she’s sitting in the plants instead of on the edge :^p
We got back to the hotel, tried to get torrealis to sleep and when that failed, the others entertained her while I fell asleep like a brick.
But that was it... the end of one of the most amazing weekends of my entire life. I really will never forget it and I really hope to see all my friends again one day. torrealis , hihoplastic , drewandian , bigdamnxenafan and Mandy, I miss you guys!!
If you read this completely... hats off!!! And thanks!!! ;^)
Enjoy anyway ;^)
You can find my pics HERE and HERE
And you can find awesome reports by hihoplastic HERE and by drewandian HERE.
Thursday
Thursday started early for me as my plane left Belgium around 11AM and my boyfriend wanted to drop me off early so we wouldn’t get caught in a traffic jam. But luckily I didn’t have to wait alone. I was meeting torrealis at the airport. We didn’t share a plane as I was going through NY and she was going through Philadelphia, but our plane left at around the same time in the same terminal.
I met her and her parents at Starbucks and then we went to check in. I was done ages before her (Delta rocks!), so waited by the exit of her check-in line. When she was finished, we said goodbye to her parents and went through passport security. Luckily we were allowed though and came into the duty-free area.
This really is a bad move of the Brussels airport as they put the main duty free before the security checkpoint, so you have to see how many people are standing in line and have to guess how long it’ll take to get through security and guess how long you can afford to stay in that area. But I usually go straight through it right away, because in the terminal itself is a Starbucks ;^)
So that’s what we did and thus ended up at Starbucks for breakfast. Luckily they sell fruit salads for vegans like myself ;^)
We had a lot of time to spare, so we wandered around the terminal and searched for cigarettes for torrealis .
When the time to board came close, we said goodbye and agreed that torrealis would wait at the Baltimore airport for me, so we could grab a cab together towards the hotel.
Of course that would go wrong :^p
I spend most of my time on the plane writing fic and reading a book. No, the fic is not yet finished, so don’t ask about it :^p
I arrived in NY spot on time, but security took ages, so I had to hurry up to catch my plane. Of course the gate for my plane was on the other side of the airport, so I was sweating like hell when I finally made it to the gate. Five minutes later, we heard the message that the plane was delayed due to a mechanical issue that needed to be fixed first. Hey, I don’t mind my plane being safe and working properly, but they could have told me that before I ran all the way to the other side of the airport :^p
So eventually we left with about an hour delay. Which wasn’t that bad, but I had tried to reach torrealis to tell her I was delayed, but couldn’t reach her. Later we found out her service didn’t include international calling or texting yet. *facepalm*
When I got to Baltimore I tried calling her again, but only got her voice mail. So first I went to pick up my bags and walked around a bit, thinking she was outside, smoking. Of course I didn’t find her, so I went to the infodesk and they told me her plane had landed on time but at terminal B(?) and I was at terminal A(?). So I walked to the other terminal and tried to find her there. When I didn’t find her, I called our hotel and they put me through with our room... where no one answered. At that point I wanted to *headwall* :^p
Anyway, eventually I decided to grab a cab and figure things out once I was at the hotel, hoping that torrealis was already there.
When I finally got into our room, I dropped my heavy bag and found a note by hihoplastic and... torrealis . So she had made it to the hotel, I was happy, but cursing at the same time :^p
The note said they were out looking for food and it also held hihoplastic ’s phonenumber. When I called her, it appeared they were on the other side of the road in an Italian restaurant called: Basta Pasta. *facepalm* Really? Basta Pasta?
Anyway, they had good food, but apparently, the kitchen didn’t switch the egg-pasta, so hihoplastic (who’s also vegan - Yay, for once I wasn’t the only one) and me got our first vegan!fail of the weekend.
When we got back to the hotel, we watched some tv. It was a hilarious show, but I don’t remember the title (*check’s hihoplastic ’s report* Ah yes: Community) :^p And went to bed somewhere after midnight, with torrealis already fast asleep.
Around 2.30AM drewandian and Mandy showed up. I woke up, waved them hello and fell right back asleep.
Friday
I woke up around 5.30AM and was wide awake. Couldn’t get back to sleep, no matter how much I tried. So I got up, took my laptop outside and a while later I was joined by torrealis . We fixed her phone so she could call internationally and then we watched the sunrise for the first time in our lives. It was beautiful and I should watch the sunrise more often, but I just can’t be bothered to get out of bed that early :^p
It took ages before the others were awake, so torrealis decided drastic measures were necessary, took out her phone and played ‘Goodmorning Baltimore’ on the loudest setting. That did the trick and soon the others were ready to go too.
I don’t remember when we got to the con, but it was laaaaaaaaate :^p
So I valiantly tried to get us to registration first. You know, get the really important part out of the way first. But the others were ooooh’ing and aaaaaaah’ing and drooling in the dealers rooms and I just *facepalmed* a lot. See, I’m a con veteran, so the dealers room doesn’t do much for me. Seen most of it tons of times before. The others on the other hand were con virgins (no, torrealis , one or two cons don’t make you a con veteran and besides, you were acting like a con virgin :^p).
But there was one positive thing about the dealers room and that was that I found a “real” D'k'tahg (a Klingon dagger). I’ve been looking for one for years and never found it. Or they were so expensive that I couldn’t afford it. And now I finally have one :^D
So, it seemed ages later before I finally managed to drag them to registration.
After that we decided that we were hungry, so we took the car to the local shopping mall
where there was barely anything to eat (let alone for vegans) but a girl there told us that there was a Chillies not far from there. So we went back into the car to look for the elusive Chillies. An hour later we finally managed to find it and noticed that we prolly passed it two times. *facepalm*
The food was good and mine was vegan, but hihoplastic had vegan!fail nr. two of the weekend as the dressing on her salad wasn’t vegan.
When we got back to the con, the SGA pilot was already playing, so we went into the room and enjoyed ourselves immensely (prolly annoying everyone else, but we didn’t care). We flailed over Torri and over Sparky and I flailed over Joe ;^)
After the panel there were fanpanels we wanted to attend. The first one was: ‘Sanctuary: Where there’s a Will’. It wasn’t bad, but when the people started saying that Amanda played one of the few female roles on tv that women could actually look up to, I wanted to jump up and say: “What about Elizabeth Weir in SGA? I look up to her, she’s a great roll model and much better than Helen Magnus.”
But I’m way to shy for that, so I stayed quietly in my seat, mumbling to myself. Then I saw hihoplastic writing in her book. “Elizabeth Weir??” And I nodded in agreement.
When that panel was over, the others left to go back to the dealersroom and I went to the next panel: ‘Lost: Jacob’s Island’. It was mostly about the final ep and the overall storyline and all the symbolism in the show. It was interesting to hear all the different opinions.
For the next panel the others returned with bigdamnxenafan among them. I waved her hello and we talked a little bit before the panel started: ‘Stargate Atlantis: Weir Outta Here!!!’. We thought it would mostly deal about the ugly way tptb had treated Torri and the other actors, but it was mainly a gen panel and the name was only given because Torri was a guest.
It was good though and there were some very enthusiastic Torri fans. There were some very heavy discussions that I contributed in. And at one point they were talking about why tptb had kicked Torri out for Amanda and because Joe Flanigan had told us that at Fedcon, I actually knew the reason, so I raised my hand and told them that tptb wanted Amanda in, no matter what, but Torri and Amanda together was a no-go for tptb, so they kicked Torri out. That was the only reason. Some people seemed actually surprised to hear that.
Then there was also Terri Osborne, a writer and a very kind lady who was a huge SGA and Elizabeth fan and who’s writing ‘Elizabeth Weir: the memoires’ and it’s something I’m really looking forward too reading. And I knew I had to talk to her if I got that possibility.
After the SGA panel, the others went to the panel of Catherine Hicks, but I wanted to go Stargazing. As it wasn’t raining, it was on the tenniscourts and it took me forever to find them. And when I finally got there, there was: nothing. *facepalm*
So I went back inside and took a couple of pictures of the end of Catherine Hicks’ panel.
After that panel I met up with the others and they wanted to go to karaoke. But I wanted to go to ‘Meet the Pros’ to buy a couple of books and get them signed by the authors and maybe talk to a couple of them.
We said goodbye again as they went to Vic’s Place and I walked into the corridor where the authors sat.
I managed to get my hands on a good amount of books, all signed :^D
Then I came to Terri Osborne’s table and we talked about SGA and the bad decision to write out Carson and Elizabeth. She also told me a bit about the Elizabeth book she’s writing and OMG, I can’t wait to read it. She told me about stuff that's been cut out of the book and stuff that's still in the book and OMG, it all sounds amazing.
For example: Elizabeth in NYC, working for the UN on 9/11 and how she reacts to what's happening.
It got cut :^( But it's gonna appear on her website very soon :^D Can't wait to read that.
Then we talked a bit about Atlantis Rising (our virtual series) and she’s going to read it after the book gets published, because she doesn’t want to be influenced by fic as long as she’s writing.
Oh and Terri is also a total Sparky fan. She, just as well as the other sparkies, can’t understand how people cannot see the chemistry between Elizabeth and John. *hugs her*
After talking to the authors, I went in search of the others who were still at the karaoke. I stayed for a while, but it was freezing cold in there and really... I hate karaoke, so I left again and waited for them while reading one of the books I had just bought.
When they finally got out of the karaoke bar, we went grocery shopping and then passed out in our hotel room.
Saturday
This time I was wide awake around 6AM... yup, cons do that to me...
torrealis was awake too, so we sat down outside again with my laptop and talked about meeting Torri today.
Time kept passing and the others were still fast asleep, and I was getting worried because my first photo-op was at 10AM.
So Torrealis woke drewandian up who was like: “But we only need to be there at 1PM.” and I was like: “Nope: photo-ops start at 10AM and I need to be there then.”
So she scrambled out of bed together with hihoplastic and drove us to the con, but went back to our hotel, because Mandy wasn’t feeling so good. *huggles Mandy*
My first photo-op was with Edward James Olmos and he’s such a sweetheart. The line outside was huge, but they went fast and 15 minutes later it was my turn.
So after that I waited outside and I learned that when you come in later, it’s actually better, because there’s no one before you and no one behind you, so you actually have more time. It’s different at Fedcon. Once the line is gone, the actor is gone and if you come later, you’re out of luck. At Shore Leave it’s in their contract that they have to stay the entire photo-op time. I love that arrangement, especially since I missed out on some photo-ops at Fedcon because of that.
The double photo-op with Edwards James Olmos and Katee Sackhoff was next and since I went in third I went back to my friends, because I had a lot of time to spare to the next photo-op with just Katee.
We decided to see what was happening downstairs. Some off the actors were sitting downstairs already for autographs, but I (and we) didn't really care about Kevin Sorbo and Dominic Keating (I love the guys, but I've seen them three times before already) and we landed at a booth about a firefly fanfilm. It looked very well done and the lead actress was there, and while we were talking to her, torrealis started flailing.
We looked around at the point she was flailingly pointing at and Torri was sitting there, at a table.
hihoplastic started flailing too, said a quick goodbye to the Firefly actress and they both ran off. We both looked at them with a WTF?!? look. So I turned to the actress and said something along the lines off: “I'm sorry about them. They're usually quite down to Earth, but they're huge Torri fans. I'd better go check out what they're up to.” She nodded and said something along the lines of: “Yes, you better make sure they're ok.”
So I went looking for my two flailing friends and eventually found them outside, behind Torri's table, hiding on the stairs, totally freaking out and now and then glancing in Torri's direction through the window and freaking out some more. I rolled my eyes and asked them what was wrong with them.
And they flailed some more, comparing Torri to Jesus and Mohammed and Buddha and what-not. I just rolled my eyes again.
Then hihoplastic called drewandian and left a flailing message on her answering machine. I rolled my eyes again :^p
Eventually I got tired of their flailing and told them that I was going to Torri and that if they wanted to join me they just had to suck up it up. They sorta gave each other a panicked look, realized that they needed me as a buffer and joined me in the line. Luckily once we got to Torri, their flailing leveled out and they acted 'normal' again. So I talked to Torri about the virtual series we were writing and she was very enthusiastic about it and I told her that I had seen Joe in May and I gave her his message and told her friends of mine were seeing him in august and if we should relay anything from her to him. So she gave a message in return. You have to love that woman ;^) And the fact that we Sparkies keep the flow of information between our fav actors going ;^) Then I gave the big box of Belgian chocolates that torrealis and me had brought with us and Torri absolutely loved them and gave us a hug. Yay!! :^D
Oh, I also let her sign my sgarising banner and I gave her one of the sgarising cards and she said she loved the art and that torrealis and me should have done the art of the series. She's also certain we'll do a much better job at writing the show than the original writers did. I love that woman :^p
(this was taken with my phone, so sorry for the crappy quality)
hihoplastic gave her a wall thinger from Israel and Torri said it was perfect as she just bought a new house and it would fit in there perfectly. But right now her house was standing on stelts and she hoped that would be fixed by the time she got back. We wished her luck with her house and told her we'd see her at the photo-op and then left again.
Oh, before I forget, I asked Torri at some point if she wanted to have a drink with us and she said she wanted too but that we should ask her again during the autograph session in the afternoon because she'd had to see how tired she was. Totally understandable of course, because a con is very draining on the actors too... as proven by the following pic :^p
So, we went outside after that where torrealis and hihoplastic flailed some more and I rolled my eyes again.
By then it was time for my photo-op with Katee and I left the two and told them I'd be back in a couple of minutes.
I quickly went up to the photo-op room, went inside, Katee said: 'hello again' and I flailed on the inside (see, I do that on the inside :^p) because she remembered me from the double photo-op :^D
After the photo-op I went back to my friends who were still standing outside and were still flailing because by now drewandian had joined them and was flailing too.
We took drewandian inside and downstairs back to Torri and she showed Torri her tattoo. For a moment Torri looked worried as drewandian told her she got it off her autograph, but she relaxed again and thought it was amazing when it turned out it was the usual peace, love and happiness she puts under her autograph.
After that we went for lunch and after lunch it was time for Torri’s photo-op and it was then that torrealis suddenly realized she forgot her photo-op tickets. *facepalm*
We had no time to get back to the hotel to go get them, but luckily the Shore Leave people were very understanding and helpful and they helped her out.
So finally we walked into the photo-op room and as I had told them, because we went in so late, there was no one behind us. So Torri pointed at my t-shirt (which said 'Eywa Ngahu') and asked me what it meant and I said ‘Eywa be with you’. She gave me a strange look and I explained that it came from ‘Avatar’ and that Eywa was their god and sort of mother nature. She told me she hadn't seen the movie yet and I told her she really should. The story wasn't that amazing, but the special effects were awesome. The photo was taken somewhere during our talk, so we're both kinda looking weird and our feet are sorta in a weird position :^p But it’s all good ;^)
After that our little band broke up again as hihoplastic and me went to Katee Sackhoff’s panel. She’s a very nice person and very honest and she also said something that’s very true: “As long as going green doesn’t get cheaper, global warming is a problem for the rich people.” And I agree wholeheartedly. I’d drive a Prius right away... if only I could afford one...
After Katee’s panel, we got some good seats for Torri’s panel and the others joined us again, including bigdamnxenafan . Torri’s panel was great and she’s so funny!
Someone asked what she would prefer to have happened: Sparky or Sheyla?
Torri: So you're asking weather John would do me or Rachel?
Sheyla would work because John and Teyla are both fighters, but Sparky would also work because John and Elizabeth compliment each other on an intelligent level and keep challenging each other.
Another question was if the chemistry that happened on screen between Elizabeth and John was something that the both of them did on purpose or if it just happened.
Torri said that they had never talked about it, but that they still had to get to know each other when the show started and that they didn't have a lot in common (he's a republican, she’s a democrat), but they did have a lot of respect for each other and she thinks some of that respect came over on the screen.
bigdamnxenafan asked a question about her on stage acting. Then hihoplastic finally got the nerve to ask her about the Martin Firrell project and if he had contacted her about it. She said he hadn't, but she would love to be in it and that if we could, we should let him know that. (later on my friends tweeted Martin about it and he gave them a positive reply. So if you see Torri in the Heroes project, thank us... or my friends :^p)
She called Sedge a bitch because a director once told her Sedge stole her light.
During the panel she was following the soccer match and updated us on the score. After that we went to bar to see the last 15 minutes live, and Torri was there too. Twas funny hearing her cheer for Uruguay.
After that we waited in one of the corridors and Terri Osborne passed us and I took the opportunity to talk to her and ask her a couple of things. I asked her about her thoughts on the polyamarous nomads and the books that said writer is writing. According to her, MGM would never approve a book that breaks canon and if the person checking the books approved it, he made a big mistake. She can understand the reasoning of the writer, but the writer is applying Earth logic to an alien society and she should not do that.
She also said that if we have proof of the writer breaking canon, we should let MGM know and they will put a stop to it because they will never allow to let an outside writer break canon like that.
And according to her, MGM would never allow an outside writer to couple two main characters (like Sparky or Sheyla or Spanky) in an official book.
So, yay!!! :^D
Have I told you guys yet that I love this woman? ;^)
Then we waited in the corridor some more until it was time to get into Torri’s autograph line again. The line was HUGE and it took ages before we finally reached her. Mandy (who had brought glowing bracelets) asked her what her favorite color was and she said orange... or green. torrealis had already claimed the orange bracelet, so Torri got a green one. Then I asked if she was still up for the drink, but as I had expected, she was too tired. Which was really no wonder... Then I asked her if I could put some of the sgarising cards on her table and she agreed to it :^D
Have I told you guys yet that I love this woman? ;^)
So we thanked her, went in search for food and then went back to the hotel were the others had a drinking game without a game... don’t ask...
Ah, somewhere in between, I also went to Edward James Olmos' autograph table to get my 'The Plan' DVD signed (he directed it) and to get my photo-op pic signed.
And I also stopped at Catherine Hick's table to get an autograph.
Sunday
torrealis and me were up early again and waited impatiently for the others to wake up... eventually we had to wake them up again :^p
The con-day started with the panel of Dominic Keating, but I had to leave half way to get into Katee Sackhoff's line for an autograph. Which was a shame, because the man was hilarious.
But I had too, because the day before I’d never gotten Katee’s autograph because Torri’s line took so long, so this was my last chance. After getting my autograph I joined my friends who were in Torri's line again.
Torri was completely awesome as the Atlantis Rising cards were still on her table. She had put them back again, so people could take them *hugs her*
We talked a bit about her online presence, and she said she'd like to get an official website, but didn't really know how to get started with it. So I saw my chance and said that I was a webmaster and could do her website. She agreed and asked me for my email so she could contact me *flails* I'm getting to do Torri's WEBSITE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! *flails some more* (on the inside).
Anyway, after getting my photo-op picture signed, I went back to the room where the panels were taking place and I watched the end of Catherine Hicks' panel and scored some awesome seats for the BSG panels and after that the Torri panel.
First up was Edward James Olmos who told the story of how he got the role in Miami Vice. It was long but absolutely worth it. If you ever see him at a con, ask him to tell that story!
Then he was joined by Katee for their double panel and after that it was Katee alone, who, btw, was dressed in a Spanish soccer jersey ;^)
Torri came after Katee and she was funny and hilarious and entertaining as always.
One of the questions was: What were the best qualities of your fellow actors on SGA?
Her answer: Rachel has a good heart. David has intellect. Joe has his wife. Just kidding. He has a wry sense of humor. Jason... well... all women and some men know what his qualities are. Paul is everyone's best friend. It's sorta like their characters.
Someone asked who her fav bad guy in Stargate was.
Her answer: Ba'al. He was so deliciously evil. But she also loved the Wraith and she's certain they started the vampire myth. She also loved Evil Weir, but never got tptb to use that idea.
Some things she said:
- She didn't want to come back for S5 because she didn't like the vagueness around her character and she wanted closure for Elizabeth.
- They were also frustrated that they didn't get to show any emotion over Caron's dead in the episodes following 'Sunday' (Joe said the same thing at Fedcon :^D).
- Happiest moment from SG is meeting the fans and still being appreciated after all these years. And she rather does fan-run cons than official ones because the official ones are all about the money and not about the fans.
During her panel she kept tabs on the score of the first half of the final of the World Cup soccer. And she was very glad they hadn’t scored yet as she didn’t want to miss a single goal.
After her panel I ran to the bar to see the second half of the soccer game. The bar was filled, but there was a tv outside and for a moment I was standing there alone as the others had gone out for a smoke. Just minutes later I was joined by Torri who stood next to me and together we cheered for Spain (as did the others actors that were in the bar) :^D
A while later the others returned from their smoke. And you know, it's amazing how many geeks suddenly want to watch soccer when the actors are interested in it :^p
During the next intermission, Edward James Olmos walked out while talking on his phone and he was wearing the Spanish flag as a cape... godda love that man ;^)
After Spain won and we all did a silly little happy dance, Torri had to go to her autograph session and we followed.
But can you believe that? We watched the frakking WC final with Torri!!!!!
The line was huge again, but we had time and wanted to be last, so we let everyone pass. It got us a lot of strange faces, but it was well worth it.
Anyway, when we got to her, I asked her if she would like to have a drink with us after the con. And she agreed!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! *diez*
So while the others went for a smoke, I went to the bar and scored us a good table. The others joined me a while later and we waited for Torri while talking about Torri :^p It took a while for her to join us, but when she did, the six of us talked for almost two hours straight about everything, anything and nothing. It was awesome. I also got to tell her about John's woobie face every time Elizabeth's name was mentioned in s4 and s5 and the next time she sees Joe, she's going to hug him for doing that :^D
A lot was said and a lot was discussed and yes, it was one of the best nights I ever had.
I know I'm forgetting a lot, but I'm still in a ruse... yes, even after more than a week :^p
After about two hours, Torri’s babysitter comes into the bar and sees Torri sitting with us and she’s like: “Hey, here you are. You told us you would only be half an hour. People are expecting you at the after party. Eddie and Dominic are almost leaving.”
And Torri was like: “Oops, I completely lost track of time.”
Lol, can you believe that? She had such a blast with us that she lost track of time :^D
And she totally forgot about Edward James Olmos and Dominic Keating :^D
Oh, and she also bought us a round of drinks... SHE bought US a round of drinks!!!! I love that woman ;^)
So, a couple of minutes later Torri needs to leave and we finish our drinks and get back to the hotel... or try to... because at that point torrealis is drunk... very very drunk... can’t even walk straight. And when we’re outside, she doesn’t even realize she’s sitting in the plants instead of on the edge :^p
We got back to the hotel, tried to get torrealis to sleep and when that failed, the others entertained her while I fell asleep like a brick.
But that was it... the end of one of the most amazing weekends of my entire life. I really will never forget it and I really hope to see all my friends again one day. torrealis , hihoplastic , drewandian , bigdamnxenafan and Mandy, I miss you guys!!
If you read this completely... hats off!!! And thanks!!! ;^)