The Rosie Ramble - New York Comic Con - Part 2
Next part of the saga...!
Saturday 9th October
Being Saturday, I knew it was going to be a looooong line to get into the con and it was - but I got there earlier this time and so was further up the snaking queue and it moved along steadily. Once inside, which only took about 20 minutes from where I was, I made straight for James’s auto line - best to get in early! I was about eleventh in line this time and it ended up being a much longer wait as James didn’t appear on schedule and the natives were getting restless, and then James 2 arrived and said James was stuck in traffic, he would be here as soon as possible and they were going to push his photo op back by half an hour. So I sat on the floor and talked with the guy next in line (and got a good tip on where to buy some more Converse sneakers!) and Jessie came up to show me the little chair in a case and the album with all the notes in she had put together to present to James when we told him about the seat at the RSC later on - we were going to present it towards the end of the day.
James eventually arrived and set to doing autographs straight away. He was wearing the plain dark red t-shirt with the black cardigan over the top - which didn’t stay on for very long! As I got to Steve and said about James being late, he just gave me one of those patented Steve-looks and said “Well I was up at 7am!”
James was telling the lady in front of me about “frustrated New Yorkers stealing our cab” so more that didn’t help with the hold ups, and then said he met the guy who inked Batman and they had a great time talking sci fi. Then he turned to me
“Hey Rosie! Good to see you babe” as we shook hands. I asked “You all right?”
“I’m doing pretty good actually” There was a pause as he was signing the Moonshot DVD cover for me “I woke up late…”
I grinned “Yeah - we kind of noticed!” James did a “Yikes!” face “...well, that’s the thing about hotels, man - it’s always a different alarm clock, it’s always a different sound, I didn’t press the right fucking button..!” (which was said through clenched teeth and wide open eyes right into the camera!!) and which made me giggle a lot!
I then tried to ask something and did that dorky garbled words thing I’m so good at in James’s presence and which wasn’t helped by James looking up at me, leaning forward on the table and listening intently with his tongue slightly out, clamped between his front teeth! Eventually though, I managed to get out “Gotta ask this - did they straighten our hair for “Three Inches”?”
“Yeah!” he nodded and grinned at me, biting his lip slightly with his top teeth.
“Thought so - going to say - bring the curls back!”
“Yup, straightened it once going in and we straightened it in the middle again”
“Aww, right. But we want the curls back - I like your curls!”
James shook his head once “Well, curls are good, but afro…?” and he made a “nah” screwed-up face and shook his head again which made me laugh and then him too.
Short and sweet today as he was going to be very busy - held his hand out and said “Good to see you Rosie” as we shook (no hand clasp today) and I replied “See you in a bit - love ya darlin’” as I was turning away so I can’t hear what James’s response was (probably “Right on!”)
I stopped to take a few photos though it was harder today as there were people at the tables either side of James. And I had to make my way over to the photo ops as well. James had two sessions today and although I had planned for 3 photos for the day, probably all in one session, the previous days pictures had come back one short - the very first one was missing. Froggy tracked it down on the computer and it hadn’t been printed - which was a good thing as it was bad - I had my eyes shut. He apologised for not noticing at the time and said he would retake it, giving me four photos for the day, so I decided to have two in the first session and two in the second.
A hasty beautify in the loo and I was ready - I think I was somewhere towards the end of the line again. I had to dig out the Anya picture again as well as that was the one that needed retaking. Just before I go in for a photo op, I always get a few butterflies. Just a little shiver of excitement and anticipation mixed with nerves. I don’t know why, after all this time you would think I’d be used to it - and I’d already spoken to James about half an hour previously! But no - I got my little nervous flutter as I was waiting by Steve for the person in front to finish. Froggy said that one of mine was a retake and I assured him I’d given Steve the card saying so. And then James was smiling at me and holding out his hand, saying “Hi Rosie” and used the handshake to pull me in towards him. I waved the picture at him again and said could we try it again as I had messed it up the day before. “Sure” was the reply and this time we got it right, sideways on to the camera, James with his right arm round my tummy and his left round my neck (but not so tight it looks like he’s strangling me!) and his head against mine. Lovely! Then I asked if it was ok if I put my hands on his face as though I was going to kiss him and again he was fine with that. (because if I’m looking up at him, it makes my fat chin disappear!) So he turned towards me and I put my hands carefully on either side of his face - well, more his neck with my thumbs on his cheeks. James tipped his head slightly and started to move in with this look on his face that made me believe he was intending to kiss me - it certainly looks like that’s what he’s about to do! Froggy took the shot and so I let go and James started laughing, waggling his eyebrows at me and said “Very romantic!” and then pulled me into a big tight hug, which was just wonderful!
Stumbling back out of the cubicle in a happy daze, I found Louisa waiting and we again took up our position by the exit to see James come out after he had finished the pictures. They always waited for the crowd to disperse a bit afterwards and through a gap in the curtain I could see him signing a load of Spike pictures for J&J, sitting on the floor, using a chair to rest on. We hoped he wouldn’t be looking the other way again this time as we were standing in the same place as the day before - and he wasn’t. Steve came out first and just murmured “Ladies…” to us as he passed - and James, immediately behind him, grinned at me in recognition, lifted his hand and just stroked his fingers briefly along my arm as he passed without stopping. Whoah! Now that was lovely - James stroked me!
I ended up back at the autograph line again as I wanted to see Jean give James the beautiful Piccolo model from Japan and take pictures. He was chuffed with the Buzz Aldrin figure she gave him first and then threw his arms up and was cheering when Piccolo was produced! I had said to Jean she should take Piccolo out of his box beforehand so that James could see him and it was good that I did. He was so excited he immediately grabbed Piccolo and showed him to Steve (who took pictures for the FB page) and then having admired his looks and started moving all his limbs, peered into the box to check all the extras that the figure came with and generally behaved like a kid at Christmas - it was so sweet!
Louisa and I had a late lunch and sat outside in the sun for a while. I took the chance to write up some notes and after Louisa had gone back in, I took advantage of the time before the next photo op to nip back to the hotel and drop off stuff I no longer needed and use the bathroom there for beautifying!
This later photo session was very crowded - the line had to double back on itself twice and even though we tried to keep it tight, the area left for people to walk through was getting smaller and one or two got mad when we didn’t move, not realising we were in a line. Meanwhile, I changed my mind about the two poses I wanted to do this time, I think because of what I was wearing and decided to do something else.
Stepping up to James in the tiny cubicle, we just shook hands briefly this time and said hi - and then I asked if we could do a close up, nose-to-nose shot - I assured him I had just cleaned my teeth! He laughed and said sure and as I put my hands on his sides, he gently took hold of my arms just under the elbows (looking at the photo - he had his fingers inside the sleeves of my lace shrug!) and came right in close until our foreheads were touching and our noses were about a quarter of an inch apart and James is looking straight into my eyes.
So Im staring back into his beautiful blue eyes from about 4 inches away and for a brief moment it’s just me and James. All sound appears to completely fade away into the background and I’m not aware of anything else apart from this man in front of me. It was literally only a couple of seconds whilst Froggy took the picture, but oh…!
We moved apart and of course then I had absolutely no idea what I had been planning for the next pose. Not a clue, I had completely forgotten everything in the face of that intense stare. I stood there and made some vague “Err” noises with a completely blank mind and then protested “I can’t remember what I was going to do! It’s your fault - Looking into your eyes made me forget everything!” and James laughed like a drain as I kind of doubled up trying to think!!
A few synapses did start working about then, and I remembered that I was just going for a cuddly, tickly picture. So said so and that could I tickle him (gently!) to make him laugh? He put his arms round my neck and pulled me in close saying “Go for it!” So I just wiggled my fingers in his sides and it did make him laugh out loud, and his shoulders come up slightly. It’s a lovely picture with both of us laughing - a very friendly fun picture.
That cuddle just then turned in to a big hug without James letting go of me - he pulled me against him and gave me a big squeeze and looking into my eyes one more time told me, still laughing “You’re the best Rosie!” which was utterly lovely and made me go all stammery!!
All the people who had chipped in for the RSC seat gift that were present then made our way over to the autograph line again to do the presentation. (I think it was 6 of us plus Carol and Rob’s two girls) We just kept on dropping back to the end of the line - every time we thought it was getting shorter there would suddenly be a rush of people and we’d move back again. Eventually though, it got to the point where it was just us and they closed the line.
Jessie did the talking as it was her idea and she did all the work. James’s face as he realised what she was saying was a picture - his mouth dropped open! And he then just wanted to check -“You mean to say there’s a seat with my name on in the Royal Shakespeare Company theatre???” then he just sort of collapsed with delight!! He was really gobsmacked and so pleased and amazed with it all - he loved the little chair and the book and couldn’t stop saying thank you. Steve took more pictures for the FB page and of course Jessie’s wonderful husband videoed the whole thing. James said that he was going to put the chair with his action figures and he would leave his clothes behind if he had to, to make room in his case!
It was wonderful - James’s reaction was better than we could have hoped for - he was so utterly overcome by it all. Having shaken all of our hands at least twice each, Jean and I rather cack-handedly got the chair back into its box and still thanking us, James and Steve gathered everything up and left for the day. It was great doing it - so lovely to make him so happy.
I went out to dinner with Jessie, Mark and Jean (Louisa had gone home) we walked up to a nice little Italian restaurant. One of our topics of conversation over dinner was would James be playing with his new Piccolo figure tonight back at the hotel? The unanimous vote seemed to be - yes!
Saturday 9th October
Being Saturday, I knew it was going to be a looooong line to get into the con and it was - but I got there earlier this time and so was further up the snaking queue and it moved along steadily. Once inside, which only took about 20 minutes from where I was, I made straight for James’s auto line - best to get in early! I was about eleventh in line this time and it ended up being a much longer wait as James didn’t appear on schedule and the natives were getting restless, and then James 2 arrived and said James was stuck in traffic, he would be here as soon as possible and they were going to push his photo op back by half an hour. So I sat on the floor and talked with the guy next in line (and got a good tip on where to buy some more Converse sneakers!) and Jessie came up to show me the little chair in a case and the album with all the notes in she had put together to present to James when we told him about the seat at the RSC later on - we were going to present it towards the end of the day.
James eventually arrived and set to doing autographs straight away. He was wearing the plain dark red t-shirt with the black cardigan over the top - which didn’t stay on for very long! As I got to Steve and said about James being late, he just gave me one of those patented Steve-looks and said “Well I was up at 7am!”
James was telling the lady in front of me about “frustrated New Yorkers stealing our cab” so more that didn’t help with the hold ups, and then said he met the guy who inked Batman and they had a great time talking sci fi. Then he turned to me
“Hey Rosie! Good to see you babe” as we shook hands. I asked “You all right?”
“I’m doing pretty good actually” There was a pause as he was signing the Moonshot DVD cover for me “I woke up late…”
I grinned “Yeah - we kind of noticed!” James did a “Yikes!” face “...well, that’s the thing about hotels, man - it’s always a different alarm clock, it’s always a different sound, I didn’t press the right fucking button..!” (which was said through clenched teeth and wide open eyes right into the camera!!) and which made me giggle a lot!
I then tried to ask something and did that dorky garbled words thing I’m so good at in James’s presence and which wasn’t helped by James looking up at me, leaning forward on the table and listening intently with his tongue slightly out, clamped between his front teeth! Eventually though, I managed to get out “Gotta ask this - did they straighten our hair for “Three Inches”?”
“Yeah!” he nodded and grinned at me, biting his lip slightly with his top teeth.
“Thought so - going to say - bring the curls back!”
“Yup, straightened it once going in and we straightened it in the middle again”
“Aww, right. But we want the curls back - I like your curls!”
James shook his head once “Well, curls are good, but afro…?” and he made a “nah” screwed-up face and shook his head again which made me laugh and then him too.
Short and sweet today as he was going to be very busy - held his hand out and said “Good to see you Rosie” as we shook (no hand clasp today) and I replied “See you in a bit - love ya darlin’” as I was turning away so I can’t hear what James’s response was (probably “Right on!”)
I stopped to take a few photos though it was harder today as there were people at the tables either side of James. And I had to make my way over to the photo ops as well. James had two sessions today and although I had planned for 3 photos for the day, probably all in one session, the previous days pictures had come back one short - the very first one was missing. Froggy tracked it down on the computer and it hadn’t been printed - which was a good thing as it was bad - I had my eyes shut. He apologised for not noticing at the time and said he would retake it, giving me four photos for the day, so I decided to have two in the first session and two in the second.
A hasty beautify in the loo and I was ready - I think I was somewhere towards the end of the line again. I had to dig out the Anya picture again as well as that was the one that needed retaking. Just before I go in for a photo op, I always get a few butterflies. Just a little shiver of excitement and anticipation mixed with nerves. I don’t know why, after all this time you would think I’d be used to it - and I’d already spoken to James about half an hour previously! But no - I got my little nervous flutter as I was waiting by Steve for the person in front to finish. Froggy said that one of mine was a retake and I assured him I’d given Steve the card saying so. And then James was smiling at me and holding out his hand, saying “Hi Rosie” and used the handshake to pull me in towards him. I waved the picture at him again and said could we try it again as I had messed it up the day before. “Sure” was the reply and this time we got it right, sideways on to the camera, James with his right arm round my tummy and his left round my neck (but not so tight it looks like he’s strangling me!) and his head against mine. Lovely! Then I asked if it was ok if I put my hands on his face as though I was going to kiss him and again he was fine with that. (because if I’m looking up at him, it makes my fat chin disappear!) So he turned towards me and I put my hands carefully on either side of his face - well, more his neck with my thumbs on his cheeks. James tipped his head slightly and started to move in with this look on his face that made me believe he was intending to kiss me - it certainly looks like that’s what he’s about to do! Froggy took the shot and so I let go and James started laughing, waggling his eyebrows at me and said “Very romantic!” and then pulled me into a big tight hug, which was just wonderful!
Stumbling back out of the cubicle in a happy daze, I found Louisa waiting and we again took up our position by the exit to see James come out after he had finished the pictures. They always waited for the crowd to disperse a bit afterwards and through a gap in the curtain I could see him signing a load of Spike pictures for J&J, sitting on the floor, using a chair to rest on. We hoped he wouldn’t be looking the other way again this time as we were standing in the same place as the day before - and he wasn’t. Steve came out first and just murmured “Ladies…” to us as he passed - and James, immediately behind him, grinned at me in recognition, lifted his hand and just stroked his fingers briefly along my arm as he passed without stopping. Whoah! Now that was lovely - James stroked me!
I ended up back at the autograph line again as I wanted to see Jean give James the beautiful Piccolo model from Japan and take pictures. He was chuffed with the Buzz Aldrin figure she gave him first and then threw his arms up and was cheering when Piccolo was produced! I had said to Jean she should take Piccolo out of his box beforehand so that James could see him and it was good that I did. He was so excited he immediately grabbed Piccolo and showed him to Steve (who took pictures for the FB page) and then having admired his looks and started moving all his limbs, peered into the box to check all the extras that the figure came with and generally behaved like a kid at Christmas - it was so sweet!
Louisa and I had a late lunch and sat outside in the sun for a while. I took the chance to write up some notes and after Louisa had gone back in, I took advantage of the time before the next photo op to nip back to the hotel and drop off stuff I no longer needed and use the bathroom there for beautifying!
This later photo session was very crowded - the line had to double back on itself twice and even though we tried to keep it tight, the area left for people to walk through was getting smaller and one or two got mad when we didn’t move, not realising we were in a line. Meanwhile, I changed my mind about the two poses I wanted to do this time, I think because of what I was wearing and decided to do something else.
Stepping up to James in the tiny cubicle, we just shook hands briefly this time and said hi - and then I asked if we could do a close up, nose-to-nose shot - I assured him I had just cleaned my teeth! He laughed and said sure and as I put my hands on his sides, he gently took hold of my arms just under the elbows (looking at the photo - he had his fingers inside the sleeves of my lace shrug!) and came right in close until our foreheads were touching and our noses were about a quarter of an inch apart and James is looking straight into my eyes.
So Im staring back into his beautiful blue eyes from about 4 inches away and for a brief moment it’s just me and James. All sound appears to completely fade away into the background and I’m not aware of anything else apart from this man in front of me. It was literally only a couple of seconds whilst Froggy took the picture, but oh…!
We moved apart and of course then I had absolutely no idea what I had been planning for the next pose. Not a clue, I had completely forgotten everything in the face of that intense stare. I stood there and made some vague “Err” noises with a completely blank mind and then protested “I can’t remember what I was going to do! It’s your fault - Looking into your eyes made me forget everything!” and James laughed like a drain as I kind of doubled up trying to think!!
A few synapses did start working about then, and I remembered that I was just going for a cuddly, tickly picture. So said so and that could I tickle him (gently!) to make him laugh? He put his arms round my neck and pulled me in close saying “Go for it!” So I just wiggled my fingers in his sides and it did make him laugh out loud, and his shoulders come up slightly. It’s a lovely picture with both of us laughing - a very friendly fun picture.
That cuddle just then turned in to a big hug without James letting go of me - he pulled me against him and gave me a big squeeze and looking into my eyes one more time told me, still laughing “You’re the best Rosie!” which was utterly lovely and made me go all stammery!!
All the people who had chipped in for the RSC seat gift that were present then made our way over to the autograph line again to do the presentation. (I think it was 6 of us plus Carol and Rob’s two girls) We just kept on dropping back to the end of the line - every time we thought it was getting shorter there would suddenly be a rush of people and we’d move back again. Eventually though, it got to the point where it was just us and they closed the line.
Jessie did the talking as it was her idea and she did all the work. James’s face as he realised what she was saying was a picture - his mouth dropped open! And he then just wanted to check -“You mean to say there’s a seat with my name on in the Royal Shakespeare Company theatre???” then he just sort of collapsed with delight!! He was really gobsmacked and so pleased and amazed with it all - he loved the little chair and the book and couldn’t stop saying thank you. Steve took more pictures for the FB page and of course Jessie’s wonderful husband videoed the whole thing. James said that he was going to put the chair with his action figures and he would leave his clothes behind if he had to, to make room in his case!
It was wonderful - James’s reaction was better than we could have hoped for - he was so utterly overcome by it all. Having shaken all of our hands at least twice each, Jean and I rather cack-handedly got the chair back into its box and still thanking us, James and Steve gathered everything up and left for the day. It was great doing it - so lovely to make him so happy.
I went out to dinner with Jessie, Mark and Jean (Louisa had gone home) we walked up to a nice little Italian restaurant. One of our topics of conversation over dinner was would James be playing with his new Piccolo figure tonight back at the hotel? The unanimous vote seemed to be - yes!