Day 2 Recap
So, today didn't have as much stuff in it - for one thing, we didn't get downtown until 11 am.
We didn't even think about the parade and so had to circle around and lost Allison's brother & his friends and eventually found a $5 lot that wasn't too far away from the hotels. We then rushed down to the Sheraton just in time for the Time Lord Ethics panel - which was really interesting, with discussions on how the character has grown and developed over the years and all kinds of stuff.
After that we walked over to the Corner Bakery for lunch and then Allison & Charis went over to the BSG panel - I thought about standing in line with them, but an hour before the panel started, the line was already out the door & around the corner. I didn't fancy standing in the heat for an hour and I wasn't inclined to go to the BSG panel, because I just didn't want to, so I left them to go find the Walk of Fame and see if I could meet any of my celebrities of choice which turned out to be more stressful & intimidating than anticipated.
I walked through the Hyatt to the Marriot and spent like an hour searching for the Skybridge from the Marriot to the Hilton - there were no signs, I completely failed to find it, so I went out the Marriot & walked around it and just walked to the Hilton. When I was in the Hilton, it was simple to find the skybridge, but it came out on a different floor of the Marriot than I was expecting. Anyhow, so I walked there - through the Hyatt full of people and the Marriot packed full of people (most of whom were X-Men, actually) and then out and around and into the packed Hilton & upstairs and into the even more crowded Walk of Fame. I looked around it, but none of the people I was interested in seeing were there (apparently there's a schedule of who is in there when, but I forgot about it), so I turned to leave because I was so overwhelmed with all the people. As I was walking towards the doors, I noticed a guy in a black kilt who looked a lot like Wil Wheaton... then I noticed that it *was* Wil Wheaton, standing about 20 feet away from me. By the time I realized who it was, he was walking in the other direction (further into the crowd), so I just left because I couldn't deal with the crowds any more, but it was cool all the same to have seen him. Then I went and found a corner of the Hyatt basement and sat and read Remnant Population and then I went upstairs to wait outside the BSG panel for Charis & Allison to get out.
After that, we wanted to go to Elizabeth Moon's Q&A, but it got really complicated - I thought Charis was going to the ATM and then rejoining us, but really she was going down to the vendor area alone to buy the book and then coming back for us and then we'd all go over together was her plan. I'm not sure how much of this was communicated to Allison, but I did not understand all this - I thought she was coming back after she'd obtained cash. Anyhow, so Allison & I stand there for like half an hour and then decide to figure out where the Q&A will be so when Charis returns we can hurry & get there and we notice that it started at 4 (and it is now approaching 4:30), so Allison tries to call her and she's buying the book, so we tell her we'll head downstairs and meet her at the place and we can't find it anywhere on the map of the hotel we are in - because we are currently in the Marriot & the Q&A *AND* the bookseller were all over at the Hyatt. I don't know why we went to the Marriot or anything, and Charis isn't answering her phone. Allison & I go down to the vendor area but don't see anyone buying books and definitely not a Charis, so we reluctantly head over to the Hyatt, hoping we can maybe stall Ms. Moon in time for Charis to get there - but Charis apparently knew it was in the Hyatt, and knew which room and everything. When Allison & I walk in she's already in there and had been for several minutes. I was incredibly stressed out by the whole thing... after that, Charis got Ms. Moon to sign the book, only to find it was a pre-signed copy, so she just added in "To Charis, best wishes" (or whatever) above the signature in a different color of ink.
Then we sat down somewhere next to the wall with some caffeine and people-watched & took pics w/ cosplayers (and had my picture taken in Melody's Kaylee outfit that she has so graciously lent to me) for about an hour before heading down to the shuttle to take us to the Aquarium. My ticket was Allison's birthday present to me. Yay! Happy Birthday! We saw lots of animals - dolphins & otters and my favourites: Sea Dragons & Lionfish! They're so pretty! I loves them! (The Lionfish I love from a distance - behind a wall of glass where they can't shoot their quills at me. And then we got on the shuttle and back to the main hotels and Charis stayed for the Abney Park concert (Allison's brother promised to stay & give her a ride home after the show since he had other stuff up there to do tonight anyway).
The end, that's all for today. It seems like nothing really happened, because I only went to the one panel and I was really tired all day and overwhelmed by the people & noise... And now, off to bed. Maybe I can actually fall asleep at a decent hour tonight (she says, ignoring that it's currently post-1AM-local-time). EUREKA PANEL IN THE MORNING(Wil Wheaton & Colin Ferguson)! Also a Firefly panel with Mark Sheppard(which will require running a few blocks to get there)! Fun things! I have no idea what I'm going to wear tomorrow... I should maybe figure that out.
Cosplay Bingo:
37 Doctors (Mostly Ten & Eleven, a couple of Nine and several Four - most of whom were women)
13 other Kaylees (including 2 in the Shindig dress).
I counted 17 Jayne hats before I forgot I was counting them. Sorry about that. I should have counted Mal Reynolds - there were many of those.
We didn't even think about the parade and so had to circle around and lost Allison's brother & his friends and eventually found a $5 lot that wasn't too far away from the hotels. We then rushed down to the Sheraton just in time for the Time Lord Ethics panel - which was really interesting, with discussions on how the character has grown and developed over the years and all kinds of stuff.
After that we walked over to the Corner Bakery for lunch and then Allison & Charis went over to the BSG panel - I thought about standing in line with them, but an hour before the panel started, the line was already out the door & around the corner. I didn't fancy standing in the heat for an hour and I wasn't inclined to go to the BSG panel, because I just didn't want to, so I left them to go find the Walk of Fame and see if I could meet any of my celebrities of choice which turned out to be more stressful & intimidating than anticipated.
I walked through the Hyatt to the Marriot and spent like an hour searching for the Skybridge from the Marriot to the Hilton - there were no signs, I completely failed to find it, so I went out the Marriot & walked around it and just walked to the Hilton. When I was in the Hilton, it was simple to find the skybridge, but it came out on a different floor of the Marriot than I was expecting. Anyhow, so I walked there - through the Hyatt full of people and the Marriot packed full of people (most of whom were X-Men, actually) and then out and around and into the packed Hilton & upstairs and into the even more crowded Walk of Fame. I looked around it, but none of the people I was interested in seeing were there (apparently there's a schedule of who is in there when, but I forgot about it), so I turned to leave because I was so overwhelmed with all the people. As I was walking towards the doors, I noticed a guy in a black kilt who looked a lot like Wil Wheaton... then I noticed that it *was* Wil Wheaton, standing about 20 feet away from me. By the time I realized who it was, he was walking in the other direction (further into the crowd), so I just left because I couldn't deal with the crowds any more, but it was cool all the same to have seen him. Then I went and found a corner of the Hyatt basement and sat and read Remnant Population and then I went upstairs to wait outside the BSG panel for Charis & Allison to get out.
After that, we wanted to go to Elizabeth Moon's Q&A, but it got really complicated - I thought Charis was going to the ATM and then rejoining us, but really she was going down to the vendor area alone to buy the book and then coming back for us and then we'd all go over together was her plan. I'm not sure how much of this was communicated to Allison, but I did not understand all this - I thought she was coming back after she'd obtained cash. Anyhow, so Allison & I stand there for like half an hour and then decide to figure out where the Q&A will be so when Charis returns we can hurry & get there and we notice that it started at 4 (and it is now approaching 4:30), so Allison tries to call her and she's buying the book, so we tell her we'll head downstairs and meet her at the place and we can't find it anywhere on the map of the hotel we are in - because we are currently in the Marriot & the Q&A *AND* the bookseller were all over at the Hyatt. I don't know why we went to the Marriot or anything, and Charis isn't answering her phone. Allison & I go down to the vendor area but don't see anyone buying books and definitely not a Charis, so we reluctantly head over to the Hyatt, hoping we can maybe stall Ms. Moon in time for Charis to get there - but Charis apparently knew it was in the Hyatt, and knew which room and everything. When Allison & I walk in she's already in there and had been for several minutes. I was incredibly stressed out by the whole thing... after that, Charis got Ms. Moon to sign the book, only to find it was a pre-signed copy, so she just added in "To Charis, best wishes" (or whatever) above the signature in a different color of ink.
Then we sat down somewhere next to the wall with some caffeine and people-watched & took pics w/ cosplayers (and had my picture taken in Melody's Kaylee outfit that she has so graciously lent to me) for about an hour before heading down to the shuttle to take us to the Aquarium. My ticket was Allison's birthday present to me. Yay! Happy Birthday! We saw lots of animals - dolphins & otters and my favourites: Sea Dragons & Lionfish! They're so pretty! I loves them! (The Lionfish I love from a distance - behind a wall of glass where they can't shoot their quills at me. And then we got on the shuttle and back to the main hotels and Charis stayed for the Abney Park concert (Allison's brother promised to stay & give her a ride home after the show since he had other stuff up there to do tonight anyway).
The end, that's all for today. It seems like nothing really happened, because I only went to the one panel and I was really tired all day and overwhelmed by the people & noise... And now, off to bed. Maybe I can actually fall asleep at a decent hour tonight (she says, ignoring that it's currently post-1AM-local-time). EUREKA PANEL IN THE MORNING(Wil Wheaton & Colin Ferguson)! Also a Firefly panel with Mark Sheppard(which will require running a few blocks to get there)! Fun things! I have no idea what I'm going to wear tomorrow... I should maybe figure that out.
Cosplay Bingo:
37 Doctors (Mostly Ten & Eleven, a couple of Nine and several Four - most of whom were women)
13 other Kaylees (including 2 in the Shindig dress).
I counted 17 Jayne hats before I forgot I was counting them. Sorry about that. I should have counted Mal Reynolds - there were many of those.