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Once again I am filing my convention, I enjoying writing them full of details so expect to find a lot of those in this one.
Friday August 24, 2007
Now here is the thing, while Fan Expo does not start until around 2:00pm and most people only get there around 5:00pm after there normally work day has ended. I normally start work at 12:00pm, so today I had to start work at 8:00am to be able to leave a 4:00pm. So while I don’t mind making the sacrifice to do so, I am NOT a morning person so I am already pretty tried by the time I get there. Just wanted to make this clear!
I actually walked over to the Convention Centre during my lunch at 2:00pm to pick up my weekend pass and to buy Rick’s pass (my husband Rick decided he would join me for the Saturday). It was a good time to go, because I only waited in for 5 minutes to pick up my pass, and ran into fellow BrownCoat Ally in line. She also introduced me to Angela who was standing in between us, also a fellow BrownCoat. As it turns out that was very fortunate since Angela had posted the she was selling some Jayne hats and I had emailed her that I was interested in one, but she didn’t get it. Luckily I got the last one she had. It only took me another 5 minutes to get Rick’s weekend pass (since I hadn’t pre-order his). Then I was back to work. Good thing I only work a block away.
I left work a little later I had hoped. I was supposed to met up with my friend Maggie in front of our friend Chris “Pixel Barrel” table at 4:30pm. I got to the table, no line to get in to the dealer room, which was really nice. I found the Pixel Barrel table and gave Chris the money I owed her and pick up my Serenity in Disguise Ornament and my Serenity PVC Set. Now how bad is it when, even before you walk into a convention you have already spent over $200.00 on things! And looked for Maggie but she wasn’t there Chris did inform me she would be back. I did a walk around and found my friend Christine in line for JONATHAN FRAKES so I left word with Chris to tell Maggie where I was and joined Christine in line. The line wasn’t all that long and Maggie found not to long after and we made plans to meet up again at line for DWIGHT SCHULTZ Q&A.
Christine and I each got our autograph and a picture with JONATHAN FRAKES, who was very nice and my picture looks great.
Then I headed to DWIGHT SCHULTZ line for an autograph, his line wasn’t very long so long, but right in the middle he had to leave for an interview with Space. He said 5 minutes but it was more like half an hour. But was bad was that there was this kid in line and was just a pain, you know the people that spend too much time in their parents basements and when they get out in the world they don’t really know how to behave. I swear I just wanted to slap him! But I got my autograph and picture.
I met up with Christine once again in ROBERT BELTRAN line. And once again the line wasn’t too long, now when I say not to long it was under an hour, and if it under an hour it wasn’t too bad for us. We both got our autograph and I got a picture. Now the only other person I wanted an autograph from was MALCOLM McDOWELL, but his line was the longest mostly because he was late in getting there. I hear his plane was late. So I didn’t think I would get it until Sunday.
We headed to DWIGHT SCHULTZ Q&A and met up with Maggie and her friend Shawn (his first convention). I wondered if he realized all the waiting in line he was going to have to do. DWIGHT Q&A was good. He was fun and told some good stories.After the Q&A we were going to go to dinner at the Duke of Earl, but I decided to go and see if
MALCOLM McDOWELL was still signing autographs and if I if he was. I was going to try and get his. Maggie, Shawn and Christine headed off to dinner and I was going to catch up with them. I ran into my friend Karl while I was waiting and we got to catch up a little. As it turn out MALCOLM was still there and I got my autograph and picture taken. As a matter of fact, when as we were taking the picture they started turning off the lights, their way of saying to everyone to get out, I guess.I was really pleased with myself, since I got all the autographs I wanted to get (expect for the people that were only there on Saturday) in record time. I met up the gang and much to my surprise they waited for me to join them before they ordered dinner. Though they were up to partying all night, Magie was tired (up early remember). Though my mentions of being tired fell on very unsympathetic ears. As it turns out I only got home around 12:30am. I had now been awake since 6:30am and was beyond tired. So I think I went to bed and fell asleep but I don’t remember anything, but waking up in the morning.
Saturday August 25, 2007
I once again had to get up early, have I mentioned that I am NOT a morning person! I had hoped to be back at the convention at 10:00am, but I only got there at just before 11:00am, since it was so hard for me to wake up. I knew I would spending the entire day in line for first TRICIA HELFER and then CHARISMA CARPENTER, since they were both only there for the Saturday only and because of that the lines would be extra long. I started in line for tickets, unlike the rest of the guest, if you wanted either TRICIA HELFER or/and CHARISMA CARPENTER Autographs or Photo Ops you had to buy tickets before hand. Since Rick had mentioned he wanted photos with them, I called him at work and asked if he would be there in time for TRICIA photos (he was working that morning). He wasn’t sure and so we decided to get a photo Op with just CHARISMA for him. I on the other had got all my tickets. After that line I went and waiting in the long line for TRICIA HELFER autograph, it was a long line and I was about half way down. Since no one else (any of the friends) wanted to get her autograph or already had it. I was left all lone, poor Magie. But I brought a book and just sat on floor reading and waiting.
TRICIA showed up a little late, but once the autographs started man did they go fast. Since no one was taking their photos or having to spend time choosing a picture for her to sign and then paying for it, it was like an assembly line. Walk up to the front, give the person your ticket and your item they put into in front of her, she signs it and thanks you for coming and your done. She was nice and was smiling the whole time and looked great!!! I got her to sign my Battlestar Galactica Poster. So that it the second signature I got on it, I had Katee Sackhoff to sign it at Polaris the month before.
After that I headed to once again wait in line this time for TRICIA Photos Ops and as I waited my husband showed up. YAH! Someone to wait with, but I would like to point out that it VERY, VERY interesting that he decides to join me at a convention when both TRICIA HELFER and CHARISMA CARPENTER are going to be there! Hmmmm, I wonder if that had anything to do with it? Can you say duh? He did get to see TRICIA when I got my photo done he said he didn’t realize she would be that tall. For the record in person, she is super beautiful, super skinny (but not gross skin) like a size 4 and 11 feet tall. Ok maybe 5”10 and in heals 6”1 but she may as well be 11 feet. Thank goodness she was sitting for the photos or everyone would have looked like little kids next to her.After the photos both Rick and I were so hungry we decided to go and get something to eat. I am not sure if last year at Fan Expo they had food if they did I did not see it. Luckily this year they had food AND table to sit and eat. We each got a hot dog, with the world’s stalest bun and proceeded to wolf them down.
After that yummy meal, it was off to once again wait in line (I know what a surprise). This one was for TRICIA’S Q&A. We meet up with Maggie and Shawn who shown up as we were going in. TRICIA was great! She was funny, sweet and very personable. She told some great stories that were pretty funny or really interesting. I was glad that Rick’s first Q&A was a good one, nothing worst than going to a bad Q&A and if it is your first, well that would just be bad.After TRICIA’S Q&A, Rick and I went to get CHARISMA CARPENTER autograph. It was to start right after TRICIA’S Q&A. We met up with Christine who had been waiting in line for a while. She was in a good stop close to the front on the line. But as it turns out CHARISMA was about 30 minutes late. Rick wanted to get some roasted nuts he had been smelling since he got there, so he went off.
When he came back we had already started moving, so CHARISMA was there and the assembly line was in progress. For CHARISMA I had a lot more than just one poster for her to sign so I really need help. I asked Rick as we were getting close to stop eating those stupid nuts and give me a hand. He was like what is the problem (he so didn’t have a clue how fast this was going to be). He had just enough time to put the nuts away and help me get my 3 large posters and Cordelia Sideshow doll out when we were asked for our tickets and items. It went so fast again and the problem with the posters is you have to keep them apart and not rolled up for a little bit until the ink dries or the signature rubs off. CHARISMA looked great, even more beautiful in person and she was trying to talk to everyone but everything was going so fast even for her. She did say “Wow, that’s nice how much did that cost you?” about the sideshow doll. I answered with “it wasn’t bad about $45.00”. And she also said about the posters “those are great, did you get them here?” My Buffy and Angel posters which I have to agree are great, I got off Ebay over time (since I wanted some really nice different posters) and then once I got them I had them laminated, it makes them look even nicer. I replied to her with “No I got them on Ebay”. But that entire conversation took less then 30 seconds. And we standing beside the area trying to let the poster dry and not let them touch each other when Rick said “Wow that was fast, I hardly even saw her.” I got to tell him I told you so and that maybe if he hadn’t been playing with his nuts he would have seen more.
After that interesting little scene we all to wait in line for CHARISMA’S Q&A. Maggie and Shawn joined us there. Since the wait was a long one, a couple of hours Christine decided to go back to the dealer room and pick a couple of t-shirts she had seen and I told Rick to go with her since he had hardly seen any of it going from one line to another. When Christine came back she was alone, I asked her if she had lost a husband. She told me that he had disappeared right after she got there and sure enough he shows up a little later with a long thin box. He had bought a sword, actually Bill’s sword from Kill Bill. It was nice but I would have liked the Brides sword better. Oh well, I am sure I can still scare someone with who shows up at my front door that is unwelcome with it.CHARISMA’S Q&A was great s well. She was sweet and told some good stories as well. However I was very surprised to hear her speak about leaving Angel, she gave the impression that it was not her idea to leave the show. And I had always believed she left because she was going to be a Mom. I am not sure what happened, but it did leave me wondering. It did get to ask her a question, which was “Your character was bitten a lot, so out of ever one who did she enjoy being bitten by the most”. I did have to reminder her of everyone who had bitten her, she had forgotten Darla. But she answered Vampire Willow and left it at that.
After CHARISMA’S Q&A Rick and we went to her Photos Sessions. We were close to the end of the line because we had just come from the Q&A but even so the wait wasn’t all that long. When we got to the end of the line and one of the staff turned to Rick and told him that just so he knew, guys were not allowed to touch her, so no putting his arm around her. This was the very first time I had ever heard anyone be told this. It may be a common practice, but I have never come across it. The only guess I can come up with is that their must have at some point been an incident to cause her to make that a rule, likely some fan got grabby with her. I went first, even though I wasn’t told not to touch her, I did ask if it was OK to put my arm around her for the picture. She said well I guess that is OK and then asked if she could put her arm around me. We took our picture and then it was Rick’s turn. Since this was Rick’s first convention, I told him to wear his Can’t Stop the Serenity T-shirt. Since it was the perfect place to wear it and even though I saw a few people wear theirs as well around, Rick must have been the first person CHARISMA saw with it. Because she asked him what it was about and had him turn around so she could see all the city’s on the back. Since I was still in the room, I jumped in and told her we raised over $100,000.00 that year. She then asked how we even got the movie; I explained we just rented it from Universal. Then she asked what was “Equality Now”, I gave a very quick explanation. I was very surprise that she wasn’t aware of it.After the photos we joined the Toronto BrownCoats for a Shindig at East Side Mario’s. This was Rick’s first Shindig and he seemed to enjoy himself, though he kept putting his arm around me leaning into me and to other people it looked like he was being very affectionate when in fact he was just trying to hear what people were saying. The place was LOUND!
Then it was time to go home and collapse into bed.
Sunday August 26, 2007
It was hard for me the wake up early on Friday, it was even harder to wake up on Saturday. But Sunday it was close to impossible. I was still so tired! I even considered not going and just sleeping the day away, well for about 5 minutes anyway. I dragged my tired butt out of bed and made it down to the convention centre at around 11:00am, I was going to go for 10:00am but the dealer room only opened at 11:00am and I wanted to check it out. As it turns out I skipped the dealer room and went to the line up for JONATHAN FRAKES Q&A. At first I didn’t see anyone I knew so I went to the back of the line and read my book. But soon after one of the staff came along the line and told everyone that in order to get into the Q&A we needed to have our pass punched and our hands stamped. When you have a weekend pass (which is the only pass that allows you into the Q&A’s) they punched out the different days on it and when you go into the dealer room they stamp your hand. Now this was the first time all weekend I was told we needed that and I still do not know why or what difference it makes. But I did not have my pass punched or handed stamped, since I came directly to the line up. Well I decided to go and get that done, I asked the women behind me if it was OK if I left to do that. She was not nice about it, she said that she wouldn’t hold my stop and I would end up at the back of the line. I had been willing to do hold the stop for her, since she didn’t have her pass punched either. But fine be that way. I decided that I would go and get it instead of not being able to get in at all. As I was walking to the front I saw my friends Colleen, Margaret & Ally at the front of the line. I was happy to see them and they told me to go a get my pass punched. As it turns out while I went to do that someone came around and punched people’s pass. But I got to sit with my friend for the rest of the wait and got a better seat then when I was sitting next to that mean woman.
JONATHAN FRAKES Q&A was one of the funniest things I have ever heard. It was pee in your pants funny. I could hardly take pictures because I was laughing so hard. It was by far the funniest I had heard. I just loved it and he told some great stories about working on TNG and his cast mates. Also about producing Roswell and working on Gargoyles. I had wanted to ask about his work on Gargoyles, but some asked my question before they got to me.After that we had about 2 hours until MALCOLM McDOWELL Q&A, so Margaret, Ally and I went to the dealer room. Margaret had some autographs she still wanted to get and I wanted to look through the dealer room. I wondered around but in truth I didn’t see anything I really wanted. I ended up buying a couple of Buffy/Angel 6 inch figures but they were cheap and I did not have them yet. But nothing major. It sucks when you have everything already, besides what I really wanted I had gotten from Chris at Pixel Barrel of Friday.
But while I am wondering around, I heard an announcement stating that CHARISMA CARPENTER had returned and was again signing autographs. I hope I didn’t start swearing a blue steak out loud because it my head I was swearing up a storm. Both CHARISMA and TRISHA were only supposed to be there on the Saturday ONLY! That was why we had to get tickets and the lines were so long because it was everyone’s only chance. Well I guess not.
I spoke to Chris and she said that she got CHARISMA autograph which was personalized (she had no time to do that on Saturday) with only 10 minutes of waiting… Aggg Grrrr! I met up with Margaret & Ally and asked them if they had heard the announcement and then told them what Chris had said. They went to get another autograph, since the lines weren’t too long at all (some of the Star Wars people, didn’t have anyone waiting at all). So I decided to go and just check out CHARISMA line. As it turns out the line was not only short (not even a 10th of out it had been on Saturday) and she had time to talk to everyone, personalize the autographs AND SHE WAS TAKING PHOTOS FOR FREE! I just stood there staring with my mouth open! I decided that even though I did not need or want another autograph, especially since I didn’t have anything on me, I could have gotten her to sign my Veronica Mars poster that I had at home. I would get another autograph just so that I could get another picture taken with her. I went back and told both Margaret & Ally and they decided to join me in line. Margaret also got another autograph for the same reason.
Since we took the extra time waiting in line for CHARISMA we missed MALCOLM McDOWELL’S Q&A. We headed back for ROBERT BELTRAN Q&A. Colleen who we met up with decided she was going to go and see COLIN FERGUSON. ROBERT Q&A was pretty good, funny at times. He told some great stories about not knowing anything about Star Trek before he went on the some and how he went to Leonard Nimoy house to audition for a Star Trek movie for the part of a Klingon and did not know what a Klingon was and the look on Leonard Nimoy’s face when he asked him. I asked him what his most interesting experience has been so far at a convention and he replied it had been when he first started on show and some one asked him if they would be encountering the Borg and he had no idea what the “The Borg” was.That was the last Q&A for the convention and we were all tired. Even so we decided to do one more round though the dealer room where I picked up a BrownCoat T-shirt. But we were all very tired, so hi oh, hi oh it was off to home we go.
Well that is it, Magie’s grand adventure for Fan Expo 2007. Stay tune for next week’s adventures in Atlanta. Same bat channel, same bat time.
Magie
(Tired Now)
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