Pirates, Michelle Forbes and Michael Hagon… Oh my!

Polaris 23 Convention Report for July 10 – 12, 2009

PLEASE NOTE: This report is the property of the author and may not be copied or reposted, in full or in part, without the author's prior written permission and No Video or pictures may be re-posted or linked without express written permission of the owner!

So it’s July and once again time to file my annual Polaris report, which I hope you will all enjoy. It was a wonderful convention. A new hotel and some great guests, great panels and fun with some wonderful friends.

This years guests were:

Actors:

Michael Hogan from Battlestar Galactica
Michelle Forbes from Star Trek: The Next Generation, Battlestar Galactica and True Blood
David Hewlett from Stargate: Atlantis
David Nykl from Stargate: Atlantis
Matt Frewer from The Watchmen and Max Headroom
Claudia Black from Stargate SG-1 and Farscape

Authors:

Lesley Livingston
Gemma Files
Matthew LeDrew
Ursula Pflug
Adrienne Kress
R. J. Anderson
Violette Malan
Derwin Mak
Erik Buchanan
David Nickle
Stephanie Bedwell-Grime
Michelle Sagara West
Michelle Rowen
Rob St. Martin
Douglas Smith
Kenneth Tam
Julie E. Czerneda
Kate Story


Friday July 10, 2009

I arrived at the convention just after 6:00pm, thanks to a ride from hubby. This year the convention had been moved from the airport location to the Sheraton Parkway located just north of Toronto, because of renovations being done on the other hotel. So it was going to be a little different this year and since many long time attendees wouldn’t know where things were any more.
After I checked in, I went upstairs to my room to drop off my bag. While our room was nice, it was literary at the end of the very long hall. So it was a hike to and from the elevator every time. But the room itself was very nice, and it had a really nice deep soaker bath tub! As I was dropping off my stuff, Maggie (my roommate/friend) arrived, and the first thing out of her mouth was “so they had to put us at the very end of the hall!”


After we hiked back to the elevators, we went to find registration so we could get our badges and once completed it was off to dinner. Our friends Paul and Christine joined us for dinner and we were able to catch up and because none of us had a panel we wanted to go to right away, we had a little more time to just relax and talk.

Our first panel (actually all 4 of us attended) was: The Polarizing Effect of Gwen Cooper-Williams. It was an interesting discussion about the character of Gwen from Torchwood, I was actually really surprised to find out that a lot of people didn’t like the way she was written, though I did enjoy some of the insights into the character people had.

After this, Maggie and I decided to take a walk around the hotel and learn the lay out and where everything was. It was a good idea (it was Maggie’s not mine, I likely would have just wandered around hopeless until I found what I was looking for the entire convention).

After our search and discovery adventures, we headed to The Pirate Parrrrrty. Polaris has started doing a theme dance on the Friday of the convention, last year it was Vampire (which was completely dead, pun intended! And the music sucked! Once again pun intended!). This year it was Pirates, and it was a lot of fun! The music was great! They even played Duran Duran (always great in my books!) and a bunch of other 80s music. Every once in a while they would through in a Pirate song, but they were really good and hip!

We were having a Whedonverse open meet up at the party, to allow anyone who wanted to come by and check out our group to do so, we even had a prize for the best newbie Whedonverse story. We had a few new people and Lindsey won the prize with her story about seeing Serenity for the first time.
We had a blast, saw a lot of old friends, some very cool customs, and danced! I also picked up a date, nice guy but really kind of dead!

After a while though I was done. I had a much earlier shift that day, so I could arrive at the convention at the start, so I was really tired. Maggie called me a whip and said I had no stamina, she’s right but all I wanted was a hot bath and a soft bed by then. So I left the dance in search of them and left the others to have more fun.

Saturday July 11, 2009

Was up early (well early for me) and took way too long to get ready, so by the time I made down stairs to breakfast to join Maggie (who had already been up for a while) I didn’t have must time to eat, but I did inhale my breakfast before going to Michael Hogan’s Photo session. Why they scheduled it first thing in the morning I have no idea. Michael of course was wonderful (I so love him!!!) very warm and charming. When I went up to him, he took my hand and looked me in my eyes and said “Hello, how are you doing?” I replied with “great!” and then I said “it was really nice seeing again” He, got a look on his face like ‘Oh should I know her’ and then said “Yeah, you too, you look great!” (Hmm what I charmer!). Then I said, “It was nice to have him back in Ontario” and he replied with “Thanks, its nice to be back!”

Then we got into our positions to take the photo, once again, I sort of snuggled up to him and he leaded into me and gave me a hug for the photo (without me having to ask). I once again LOVE the photo! That’s 2 conventions, 2 photo ops and 1 major love for Michael Hogan!

Then it was off to get a seat for his (Michael Hogan) Q&A, I met up with Paul, Chris and Ali and we all sat together. As we were waiting, Chris hands me her iPhone and says, here a message from Janice (one of our friends) and I read that the party info for a private party for the James Marsters upcoming convention in Cherry Hill was released and it said that you had to send an email to get a ticket. I was really surprised because a friend of mine Amy Sue, was suppose to be keeping an eye on this and call/text me if the tickets actually went on sale and I hadn’t gotten anything. I was able to logged on my email and see if she had sent me anything, but she hadn’t. So I ran out hall and went to the lobby of the hotel to use the computers and send an email for both of us. I also sent her an email telling her I had done it. I then went back to the main hall for the Q&A, Michael had just started, so I hadn’t missed much. It was only after when I checked James website and re-read the instruction that I saw we were suppose to only send it after 1:00pm on Sunday (Duh! Slaps forehead!). Later when I checked my emails again, Steve Himber (James manager) sent me an email, advising I needed to re-read the instruction. I emailed him back and apologized and advised I panicked when I read it on my friend’s iPhone. He did let me know I wasn’t the only one to make the mistake.

And in fact I shouldn’t have worried Amy Sue had been on top of it all long! If I can give anyone some advice, if at all possible try not to be planning / trying to get tickets to one convention when you are another. It’s just too much stress!

Now back to Michael Hogan! His Q&A was amazing, he was funny, interesting and had some great stories! I really enjoyed it. I did get to ask him a question, which was “I have question about Warehouse 13. You will be appearing it with your real life wife, playing your wife, as well as your son Gabriel is also in it. So what was that like?” He said it was great and that he really liked both role and the show and that he enjoyed being able to come back to Toronto to film.

After Michael’s Q&A, it was back to the photo room for my photo ops with Michelle Forbes. While Michelle was very nice, she seemed a little more remote and not as comfortable with people (as some guests are) so, I chose to respect that and keep my distance a little for the picture. But she was genially sweet and did greet everyone and smile.

Then it was back to the main hall once again for Michelle Forbes Q&A. We had been told that she did not want either video recording and flash photography (frankly I am surprised that more guest don’t ask for no flash photography, since I am sure it is very distracting). However shortly after she came out, people were told that in fact there was no photography what-so-ever, many of us had already gotten several shots (including myself).

Michelle’s Q&A was good, she was joking and laughing with us at several things and I got the impression her humor runs to the sarcastic side of things. Which is why I likely found her funnier then most. Though she was a little stand offish on some things, like why she turned down the role in Deep Space 9. I guess she has been asked it one too many times, so in her mind we should be over it by now (hmmpt! Then she doesn’t know Star Trek fans, they never let go of anything!)

After the Q&A, it was off to the Whedonverse Geek-Off. Polaris does a Geek-Off (trivia contest) for several sci-fi genres, such as Star Trek, Star Wars, Doctor Who and others. The top 3 placers go one to compete in the Geek-Off Championship. I had to defend my title (running Whedonverse champ, 2 years in a row). And I did manage to keep it for a 3rd year, so yeah me!

Then it was autographs time. The first autograph was from Michael Hogan, I was joined by my friend Ali, who waited in line with me and then went up with me as I got my picture from Dragon Con the year before signed.

Michael was signing a lot of things with sayings like “Frakking Toasters” and such. So I expected him to do the same with my picture. But instead, he signed it “Magie, Your so beautiful!” I actually said Awwwwwwwwwww while he was signing it. And he looked up at me and said “Don’t tell me you don’t get told that all the time!” Can you say Awwwwwwwww again. He actually made me both tongue tied and blush (and I never blush!), I think I managed to mumble a thank you, your so sweet and leave. I really was taken aback by that! Ok, for the record once again, I TOTALLY LOVE MICHAEL HOGAN AND THINK HE IS ONE OF THE SWEETEST MEN ALIVE!!!
After that wonderful autograph, I got in line to get Michelle Forbes autograph. Ali was nice enough to hang around some more and keep me company, she also helped with the 3 posters I had for her to sign. I had a Star Trek poster (I finally found one I really liked, that was neural enough to have everyone from the Star Trek universe sign it, though that means all the autographs from Star Trek people I have gotten I will have to get again). Also my Battlestar Galactica poster and a True Blood poster.

It was good, fast no fuss and nothing interesting happened. Though, my friends Christine and Paul, tired to get her autograph, waited in line only to be told she wouldn’t sign non licensed photos (I might have been told that as well but because I had posters, I might not have been listening). But since she didn’t have any photos with her and the ones in the dealer room didn’t say if they were licensed or not some people like Christine and Paul didn’t end up getting an autograph.

We as fans do not mind follow the rules, but it would have been really nice to know them BEFORE hand. There seemed to be a real lack of commutation with Michelle’s rep’s and the convention. Because if they had known they would have advised the people attending, so we could have planned according.

After the autograph we had some free time and had a snack. I had missed lunch, but I didn’t want to eat a full meal because I was suppose to go to dinner with Maggie, Chris and Paul later.

Then it was off to do one of my Panels. I have been a panelist for the last 3 years and I really enjoy it. Though because I am such a control freak, I like to only be on panels that I come up with and can run. This year only 2 of the 5 I suggested were approved.

So my first panel was: Buffy & Angel to Hell and Back. And it was myself, Colleen and Jonathan as panelist.

The description for it was: Both Buffy Season 8 and Angel Season 6 have continued to gain popularity in the new series comics. Share in a discussion on how you see this brave new worlds. Which are your favorites stories, what did you NOT see coming. What new exciting upcoming stories or current stories have you running to the comics store to get your next fix.

We discussed the following:
- Who is up-to-date on and reading all the comics?
- Who believes that with the success of True Blood and Twilight that now would be a good time for a Buffy Movie? Or was it a case of too much Vampires right now?
- Who has heard that a new Buffy movie was being developed and it would be without Joss Whedon? And what people thought about it?

Then we discussed the Angel comics:
-The fact the Los Angeles was sent to hell? Yet, unless you were there, no one knew?
-Gunn was a vampire and was trying to take over hell and kill Angel. And in fact killed Connor in Hell.
-Seeing Cordelia again return to the story.
-Angel dies and LA returns to earth from everything went to hell, but all the people still remember being in Hell.
-The return of Kate, as well as a new written Kelley Armstrong, does the stories feel different or them better or worse.
-How does everyone feel about the new guest writes, are they excited about people like Juliet Landau writing a Dru comic?
-Spike Comics, there has been lots of them, how does everyone feel about them, like dislike, think they go well with the main story?

Then we discussed the Buffy comics:
-The Return of Warren (without skin)
-Buffy going into the future and meeting Fray / Killing Willow.

-The return of Riley as a bad guy? Or is he?
-In “After these messages we’ll be right back” how many would have loved to see that story done as a TV show, to the old gang return to the first season maybe having them use old footage mixed in with new?
-In “Harmonic Divergence” What everyone thought about the return of Harmony and her reality TV show? As well as the Slayers now being the bad guys?

At the end I had a trivia question and I advised that the winner would get a prize. The question was ‘Who mansion did Spike take over in Spike: After the Fall’. It wasn’t an easy question, so only one person got it right. She received a copy of Angel – Not Fade Away # 1, so congrats to her.

After my panel, which I was told went well and people enjoyed. I went to get my book ‘Wondrous Strange’ by Lesley Livingston signed. I had found the book on sale and knew she was coming to Polaris, I picked it up and had her sign it. It looks interesting and I figured why not, but I haven’t read it yet. She said I was going to enjoy it, so cool.

After that I found Maggie, Chris and Paul for dinner, but they were going to go have Indian food. I chose not to join them, mostly because I am not a fan of Indian food, but also because I had pre-paid for the hotel buffet, so if I didn’t use it, it would just go to waste. So I had dinner on my own instead, the dining room was pretty crowd and a very nice women came to talk to the couple next to me and when she said she did have seat, I offered to share my table, she took me up on my offer, so it all worked out.

Then it was time for the Dollhouse panel, it was a lively discussion and that was very interesting. It was also interesting to see what others thought about the entire concepts and if Dolls were really volunteers, if being imprinted with feelings meant the same as consent with sex, and so on.

But about half way through I got a call from Amy Sue. I stepped out of the room to take the call because I knew if she was calling me it would be important. It turns out, she was the barer on bad news, there was some controversy going on with the organizers for Monster Mania regarding the private party that James was going to do, the same party that we were all trying to get a 1 of only 50 tickets for. The organizers for the convention flat out said that they would not let the party happen because it would conflict with the convention (it wouldn’t because it was being held off sight and after hours but whatever). We did discuss it and while we were both upset (coming between a James fan and her James is a very dangerous thing) but decided that we would still attempt to get the tickets and see happened.

As I went back into the panel my friends were all worried about me and had thought that something was wrong, I think Maggie wanted to smack me when she found out it was “only James Marsters”. Hey, this stuff IS important!

We (Maggie, Paul, Chris, Ali and me) then all went and had some drinks. I felt better about everything after a cosmo! We sat around and talked and had a great time.

For the first I decided to skip the Masquerade, while I normally really enjoy it. I wanted to attend the only Angels, Winchesters & Demons (Supernatural) panel during the convention (there was another but it got canceled). And since the year before, I had to miss all of them due to a crazy being on too many panels schedule, I was determined to make this one. It was cool and I enjoyed that discussion.

After that was the True Blood panel, while it was good. It was very hard to discuss it without also discussing the books and many (3 out 4) of the panelist hadn’t read them. They also, had some interesting (and by that I mean dumb) insights, like that Sookie was a dumb blond. More then a few of the people in there started to look to Maggie and me, to under some things, since we had both read the entire series. Maybe next year, we will do a Sookie Stackhouse books panel. Hmmmm I like that idea.

After the panel there was another dance (as well as more panels then go on until 2:00am) but I heard the soaker tub and soft bed calling to me once again, so I was done for the day. Maggie (the party animal) also decided to call it a night and not go off to swing off some chandelier.

Sunday July 12, 2009

I skipped the Charity Auction this year because they didn’t have anything I wanted to bide on, so I got to sleep in a little and then meet Maggie down stairs for breakfast, which I actual ate (instead on inhaled), it was pretty good. Though Maggie commented once again that I really should have some coffee with my sugar, hey I like it very sweet.

My first panel was the second one I was running called: Finding Serenity in the Verse and it was myself, Margaret-Anne, and Jayne as panelist.

The description for it was: Once there were 9 Big Damn Heroes aboard a Firefly class ship named Serenity, in a Verse ruled by The Allianceµ This is an in-depth discussion on the crew, the ship, the Verse and so on. And why after 6 years since being cancelled this phenomenon is only gaining speed.

We discussed the following:

-Ask how many in the room are relatively new fans?
-How did people come to the fandom? What made them start watching it?
-How many believe that this version of life in space is realistic?
-If people lived in the Firefly verse, would they choose to live on one of the outer worlds or on one of the core planets? And why?
-Did people agreed with the independents wanting to be outside The Alliance control?
-Did people think the crew of Serenity were Hero’s or Bad Guys that did some good things.

In between the discussion topics, I through out some Trivia questions, just to make it more fun and the first person to get it right got a Serenity mini poster (special thanks to Heather for those!)

Trivia Questions were :
*What is the cargo the crew are smuggling at the end of 'Shindig'? - Cattle
*What's the number of the brigade Mal served in? - 57th
*How did Zoe and Wash meet? – Mal hired him as a pilot
*What is the number on the elevator that Mal takes to the bottom of Mr. Universe’s complex to send the signal? – 6
*In 'War Stories', who was being tortured? – Mal and Wash
*On Miranda, after the camera spins around River, who does it stop on? – Wash
*What is the name of the Dr. who experimenting on River (and is killed by the Operative?) - Dr. Mathias
*What kind of engine falls right out of the sky? - A Capisan 38
*One of the greatest things about the "Firefly" cast is how well they gelled together, despite the differences in their ages. Which of these cast members is the oldest? – Ron Glass
*Which actor is never seen making a mistake in the either the gag reel included on the Region 1 DVDs or the extended gag reel? - Ron Glass

After the panel, we had to check out of the hotel and go and store our bags, once that was done I had some free time and went to check my emails. By this time I had already knew (thanks to another call from Amy Sue) that the party ticket sale for the upcoming James Marsters private party had been put on hold until they were able to work things out with the convention. Later we were told that it would not happen at all, but that James would still be attending the convention. So reading through the tones of emails where everyone was super upset over everything was interesting. I wasn’t really able to reply to anything, since I didn’t have the time.

I joined Ali and Margaret in line for Michael Hogan’s autograph, I wasn’t getting another one myself but was just hanging out with them, and I stay with them as Margaret also got David Hewlett autograph and I was able to get some pictures of her while she did it. I have to say I am not a Stargate fan, but David Hewlett was a really nice and funny man! He asked about our T-shirts since the 3 of us were all wearing our Firefly T-shirts, that I had made and gave people for Christmas (Paul and Chris were also wearing theirs on Sunday and yes, we planned it that way) when David found out they were Firefly t-shirts he talked about being a fan and how great the show and movie was and how he even had a man-crush on Nathan Fillion (wish I had been taking video instead and gotten that!). Woo Hoo for David Hewlett being a Browncoat!

The 4 of us (we were now joined by Kate) went to have some lunch, where we were joined by Sunny. I decided to skip Michelle Forbes Sunday Q&A so I could hang with the girls a little longer.

I went back down stairs for The Teaboy and the Welsh panel (Torchwood) and met up with Maggie. It was an OK panel, but a few people in it were getting on my nerves and I got the impression that they wanted to discuss season 3, but since some people had not see it yet (me being one of them) they kept it spoiler free (mostly, they let a couple of thing slip).

Afterwards I believe Maggie headed home (I don’t think she had any other panels after) and I went to the Sarah Connor Chronicles panel. It was the only panel I left early only latest about 20 minutes in the panel. I think it was suffering a little from ‘everyone was already too tired and it was late in the con’ syndrome. So it was too boring for me, who was also suffering from the same syndrome. So I went back to checking my emails and waiting for Michael Hogan’s Sunday Q&A, which was one of the last things.

I chose to skip the Geek Off Championship so I could see Michael Hogan, but I did stop in to get my certificate for the Whedonverse. While it might have been fun, I got my ass kicked last year, since I just don’t know enough about the other series to do well. You have to know a bit about it all and a lot of a few to do really well. And that’s just not me.

I was able to get a front row seat thanks to Vitra for offering me a seat next to her! Michael was as much fun as the day before or even a little more, he was very much worth me hanging around to see him. I also got to asked him another question and asked “Since he hasn’t done my conventions so far, has he had any ‘interesting’ experience with a fan yet?” He did get this strange look on his face and raised an eyebrow at everyone. Short answer he gave was “No” but he did he had some fun with a bunch of people the night before that he wouldn’t talk about and they now knew he would never saying anything (hmmmm wonder what that meant?).

Here is some video of Michael talking about finding out he was a Cylon.

Michael did end the convention for us on a super high note, he once again told the story of how Edward James Olmos kept repeating “So Say We All” in the scene when they are having the mass funeral after the Cylon attack. So he did the same thing, he stood at attention and said, “So Say We All” and had us repeat it, each time getting louder. We said it maybe 4 or 5 times! It was great!

So that was it, it was a really great convention! SO SAY WE ALL!!!

Magie

“It was nice having an Orgy with you guys.”

June 5, 2009 – June 8, 2009 Fangoria Convention & New York City Report

PLEASE NOTE: This report is the property of the author and may not be copied or reposted, in full or in part, without the author's prior written permission and No Video or pictures may be re-posted or linked without express written permission of the owner!

Friday June 5, 2009

I arrived late in New York City (about an hour and a half) because the weather was bad in NYC and they were not allowing planes to land. So we took off late. The flight was fine, expect for the guy sitting next to me who took my window seat (until I told him to move) and then decided to hog most of the room. Thanks goodness for short flights.I flew into LaGuardia this time because it was a little closer to our hotel then Newark and because I had never flown into that airport before. Well… won’t be doing that again (if I can help it)! It’s not a nice airport, its ugly, gross, begging for a renovation and super crowded.

I got to our hotel the Best Western Convention Center around 1:30pm and check in only to find that “Hotels for Everyone” website had booked me 2 rooms (which they had already charged me for!) WHAT!!! And I couldn’t cancel the second one (and get my money back) because it was past the 48 hour point.

So I went up to our room to make some angry calls. Only to find we were staying in the world smallest hotel room ever! (Well that’s not true, but it’s the smallest I had ever seen). There wasn’t even a closest! All they had was armoire which had the TV, some drawers and a place to hang some clothes (not many). And not enough space for 4 women to move around or put there suitcases anywhere. I really, really didn’t see how we were going to make this work. So first I called Hotel for Everyone and spoke to them, they had to look into it and have me call them back.

Then I called the girls (Iesha, Jillian and Mariah) to tell them what was going on, if in fact they wanted to still try and fit into the tiny room or take both rooms and be able to spread out. They decided to check out the room once they got there and then decide. In the mean time I walked over to the Mint Salon (about 3 blocks away from the hotel) to get my hair done for the cocktail party that night. Why I haven’t learned not to do that, I don’t know since I’m never happy with it. This time was the same thing, don’t only did I get soaked walking over (it was still raining pretty hard) even though I had an umbrella. I ended up with a pony tail and not an updo, that I could have done myself and saved the $100.00 it cost. Though I swear my hair did not move all night and when Mariah helped me pull all the pins that night we joked they had used shellac on it.

Once I was back, the girls arrived and checked out the room. All agreed it was small. Mariah started arranging the furniture so that we would have more floor space and be able to move around, she came up with some really good idea, that is fact helped a lot. Iesha however decided to take the other room for herself, but she ended up on the same floor as us so it all worked out, she was even nice enough to let us use her bathroom if we needed to, because 3 women all getting really at the same time and sharing one bathroom was NOT easy and I really don’t know how we would have done it with 4.

After we settled in, we went to the Jacob K. Javits Convention Center (nice thing about our hotel, it was only a block away) to register, buy tickets, get the lay of the place and so on. We were suppose to meet up with everyone (James fans, who were coming) in line but we didn’t see anyone there. I guess they all came later on (Amy Sue called me later and told me). Since there wasn’t anything to see or do there we went back to the hotel and ordered dinner, we were all really hungry by then and would have started chewing on the furniture if we didn’t get some food. We all had tickets to the private cocktail party with James Marsters (just him and 30 fans) that night so after dinner we got ready. The party started at 9:00pm and would go until 11:00pm. We arrived around 8:40pm, due to having a hard time getting a taxi and waiting for everyone to get ready.

The party was held at Zanzibar, on 9th Avenue. Which was nice, smallish but very nice. At first they put us in a very small room that was about the size of our hotel room. There wasn’t any way 30 plus people were going to fit conformably in there, I could see 15 maybe 20. I guess they realized that too, because we were told they were working on moving us to a bigger room. There were many familiar faces along with a few new ones, it was great to hang out with Tanya, Charity and meet Ana and Kelly.

Then the man himself walked in, he was wearing a black suit and dark blue shirt that had a silver strip in it. I snapped a picture of him as he walked in but I was quickly told that there were no photo taking allowed. I was really surprised because I swear I didn’t read anything about no photos be allowed. No posed photos, no video, yes we were told that, but no still photos, not at all. I told the security guard that, but I also said I would put away the camera right away (James and I actually had a moment when our eyes met, while this was happening and he gave me an Oops hope your not in trouble look).

I guess the security guard must have believed me because he didn’t make my erase it or take away my camera, so that was good. In fact later he came up to me and said he hoped he wasn’t too harsh and we had a good chat. Actually David (the security guard who was with James all weekend) even became our friend and was so sweet to us, of course we have Iesha and her charm to thank for that.

Back to James. He walked in with his usual crew (Steve, Peg, Helen and Marlene) and stopped about 3 feet in from the door, to talk to the first group of people. I was on the fringe of the group but kind of put myself in. I had a little table in-between me and everyone so I was stuck there. Though at one point James was complimenting Kelly (I think it was her, it’s hard to pay attention to anyone else with James around) and I told James that if he was giving out compliments, he had to give them to everyone. To which he replied “And you look beautiful” while gesturing to me and then “Your face reminds me of a Rembrandt painting” and I replied with “thank you!” with a big (silly) grin on my face. (Note to self, study up on more of Rembrandt paintings).

At this point Jillian had come back into the room and was trying to get pass the group but was stuck and couldn’t move (have I mentioned it was a small, small room). James turned to her and also said she looked fabulous and then waved his hand up and down gesturing to her and said Wow. So it was compliments all around.

The one thing that was different at this party was that James spent a lot of face to face time with people. He talked to people one on one, which was great! How many of us have actually gotten to have a conversation with James without other people right there, listen in. But if James was talking to someone the rest would leave them to their conversation.

After James was finished talking to the first group I stopped him as he was going to the next, because I wanted to tell him something (I figured I would only be a couple of minutes, and then he could move on). I told him, that I had meet 8 time before and all that time I had never really introduced myself and that I was determined to get him to remember my name this weekend. That I had even made a name tag, it said ‘Hi James, my name is Magie’ and I was wearing it. He laughed when he read it. Then I stuck out my hand and said it nice to formally meet you, he shook it and smiled. He said, he would try to remember it but that it was better if I wore the name tag.

Then he started talking about how great it was that we could meet over and over and how great his fans were and that he was so happy that we were all so cool and that we got along and became friends with each other and that he felt like he had something to do with all of that, that he brought great people together.

During this conversation, Kelly came over to tell us that they were moving us to the next room. She was so cute about it, she was so apologetic for interrupting us. Then added that she meant we should go into the room together not just James. I just smiled at her, because I knew what she meant and I wasn’t upset at all. So James put his arm around my wait and walked me into the next room (WOW…). We picked up our conversation in the bigger nicer room and James once again talked about how great his fans were. I agreed and told him how I had met some many wonderful friends and people I would be friends with forever. James also talked about how he trusted his fans tastes and when they give him books, even if he wasn’t sure he would like them he read them and always ended up likely them. I am sure we talked about a few other things, but I can’t remember all of them, might have something to do with the fact that all I was thinking during it was ‘Oh my god I’m talking to James Marsters!’.

At one point Iesha join our conversation and she mentioned that she was only on her second mojito. James said that she should have one for him, since he was only drinking ice water (which I already knew because he splashed some on me while he was gesturing, he talks with his hands a lot). When I heard this, I offered to buy he a drink, he asked “really?” and I said sure, I would love to. So he said, “I’ll have a gin and tonic, baby”.

By now I was getting concerned he was spending too much time with me (never thought I would think THAT) so I walked him over to my friends and he started talking to them. And I went to order our drinks, a gin and tonic for James and a second white wine for me.

By the time our drinks came (it took a long time) James had moved on to another group. I hated having to interrupt, but I made it as quick as I could. I just went up to James, tapped him lightly on the back and when he turned around I handed him the drink. He smiled up at me and had an almost (she actually got me a drink look) and said “Thanks Baby”. I smiled back and said “you’re very welcome” and walked away, letting him get back to discussion.

I did keep an eye on this drink, just in case he needed another one, I would have gotten it for him. But he just sipped it (it’s hard to drink and talk at the same time) and when the ice started melting he left it behind and didn’t get another one. But still it was cool I could get him one.

We (my friends and I) had some fun while we were Jamesless we danced and we laughed. Mariah seemed to get drunk, which was very interesting since she was drinking plain orange juice all night (and I check it) I said that it must have fermented in her system and that’s was made her so happy, that or James closeness might have done it.

James made his second trip back over to us (at which point Iesha spoke to David and made sure that both Mariah and Karen got to sit next to him, since they haven’t even spoken to him at all). We all sat at a table and had a very lively discussion about women’s rights and what has been done with them took place and how there are differences between men and women and how that’s a good thing. Most of us (including myself) just listened and let the others who didn’t get as much face time with him engage in the conversation. But at one point James said, “well you can call me an asshole but…” to which Iesha gladly complied with “ASSHOLE!”. Which made James smile and made Mariah embarrassed because she was afraid James might have thought it was her who said it. James also did say during this conversation, that it made him mad that people didn’t think men could be as good parents as women and he personally was a better parents then lots of people he knew. That he was a better cook and more nurturing and that he had taken in his niece when she was becoming self destructive and retreating into herself and that now she was well adjusted and happy.

Then at the end of our time David came over and tapped James on the shoulder, when he was getting up I did add my two cents to the discussion, that maybe we as a people are finally getting to point that we could both understand that it was about equal rights and also understand that we have roles as part of the anthropology of people, since that also plays a role in life. James seemed to agree with me and wanted to say more, but had to go and speak to David. I believe at this time David told him he had free time and could spend it as he wanted. So James came back to our table sat back down and said “Ok, great I have more time!” and then went back into the discussion we are all having.

By this time it was about 10:40pm so he didn’t have too much time but I believe he did make another quick round the room to say good night to people. At 11:00pm James and crew left and as he was leaving, he walked by me and said “great seeing you again” and I said "you too" and asked if I could kiss him goodbye. I blame my boldness on the wine! He laughed and said "go for it!". So I planted a kiss on his check and said good night!

The party broke up very quickly after that, with most people leaving right after. We stayed a little longer and were talking to David when they were taking down the Creation sign that said James Marsters Cocktail party on it. I one of my friends asked if we could have it and both David and the girl from creation agreed. Some how I was the one who ended up with it. Not sure how that happened, but I’m not complaining.

Once everyone left, Iesha and I wanted to stay and get dessert, since we both were in the mood for something sweet but the bar had taken dessert off the menu (WHAT?! That’s crazy talk!) and nether of us was going to go walking off in the rain to look for a place to get something. So we all went back to hotel room.

Saturday June 6, 2009

Mariah and I made it to the convention center first (leaving Jillian and Iesha to finish getting ready and meet us there). Mariah still had to get in line and get tickets and stuff, so I told her I would go get in line and hold a place for all of us. I was shocked to find that no one else was in line yet and it was already 9:45am, I guess I am still use to other conventions where you have to line up 2 hours before hand. But this was going to be a much more relaxed convention I would soon find out. As I was waiting Amy Sue showed up with Mom (her Mom that is) who I was really looking forward to meeting. And I have to say Mom was a hoot! She was so much fun and funny as all heck! It was so great talking to her and getting her take on James and well as seeing James interact with her (he was so sweet).

As we were waiting and talking Amy Sue surprised me, she handed me a poster she made of 4 of my favourite pictures I had taken with James. I was floored, it was one of the sweetest and most unexpected things anyone has ever done for me! Now I have said this before but I will repeat it once again. James fans are some of the nicest people in the world! I was so blown away, I don’t even think I thanked her enough! I do love it and I shown it to James and had him sign it later that day. As we were waiting more familiar faces started showing up, it was great to see Rosie, Squirl, Krista, and well as some from the party the night before Charity, Jean, Ana and Kelly and to meet people like Michelle whom I had only known on-line. It so nice to be able to hang out with such nice people. I also got to see Chris (the photographer) again and we got to catch up. Ok, let it be known that I LOVE Chris! He is the nicest guy (and Canadian) and he takes the best pictures!!!

While we were waiting Jillian and Iesha joined us in line, though only Iesha was getting a photo done today, but we all had planed on doing a group photo and we needed to talk to Chris about it. It was a little saucy and we first wanted to find out if Chris could do it and would he be willing to. Jillian talked to him and he looked at the photo we had and wanted to copy (it was a promo shot from the show One Tree Hill) and said that yes, could do it and it was fine by him as long as James agreed. He asked us to do the group photo last (which is normal to do any group photo at the end). So we would have our personal shots done first and then wait to do the group shot.

James arrived late it was closer to 11:00am, he was wearing a navy polo shirt and grey pants and as he was passing me he stopped and said that he had a really great time at the party and he really enjoyed the conversation we were having (he meant the group one) and I told him me too! It was a lot of fun. Then they got the photos under way. He was in a good mood all happy and bouncing and putting a good face, I knew he was having some personal problem with his girlfriend, since he had told a few people at the party the night before but he pushed it all aside so he could make it a good experience for the fans.

I was second it to get my photos done and as I walked up to James he smiled at me and then gave me a big hug while saying “Hi darling” I said hi back and then I reminded him my name was Magie. He looked at me kind of funny and said “I know” which surprised the heck out of me. I not sure what I said after that, but I did ask how he was doing this morning and he said he was in a good mood because no one had grabbed his butt yet, this took me a little off guard and I told him and he didn’t need to worry about me because I would only do that if he asked me to. He laughed at that and we then went into what pictures I wanted. I had posses printed out on a sheet and James asked me which one I wanted to do first, I said the hug one first but that I wanted him to hug me like he meant it. At this point James got a very serous look on his face, looked me straight in the eyes and said “I always mean it, baby!”. (Insert Magie melting here! Awwwwwwwwwwww… how sweet was that! I am not sure what I said or what kind of look I had on my face but we stepped into the hug posse and it is now my favourite hug picture!

The next picture, was one that we had done before and I wanted to copy it, there are a few I try that with since they always come out different and it came out Ok expect that I had my eye half open and rolling into the back of head so instead of looking like James was going to kiss me, it looks more like I’m having a seizer and James is trying to help me not pass out. But once again Chris the wonderful came through and offered to fix it for me.

The last pose was suppose to be a fun one, where we were doing hear no evil and speak no evil. I swear it was suppose to be funny and fun. Before we took it, James said he didn’t think it would make a good picture (I so should have listened to him!) he came out good, I on the other hand look demented and crazed. That picture is not going to be posted anywhere ever!

That was it and I had to give James up so he could go to the next fan (awwww but I don’t want to!) so I gave him another hug and as I walked away I said “Love Ya!” Which I say a lot (to people in my life), so it goes to show how comfortable I am with him and he replied with “I love you too!”. Man I wish I could keep him!!!

We got back in line to wait to for the end and to catch up with everyone. At one point after Rosie had her photo shoot she came out and started writing what had happened while it was still fresh in her head (good idea, must reminder to do the same) and I went up to her and told her to add that Magie came up and started asking what I was doing but I told her to bugger off. But I don’t think that ended up in her notes.

After everyone had had their photos done, we were up. I was a little surprised that we were the only group having one done. Chris told James we wanted to ask him about a group shot and Jillian went up to James to ask him if he would be willing to do it, the rest of us stayed back as to not crowd him or feel like we were pressuring him, because if he said no we really would have been OK with it and just gotten something else done. Not that we had much of a back up plan. But James was cool about it and said sure. So Chris had the doors close so it would only be us in the room and then went about setting up, since he had to stand on a chair.

The girls and I all took off our shoes (since we were suppose to be lying in bed and pulled out a sheet (Iesha had brought one from home it was brown) and laid it on the floor but she mistakenly brought the fitted sheet so it didn’t lay as flat as we wanted. I was told that Steve stood up with some concern when pulled out the sheet but soon relaxed and just shook his head at us. Then we all got into position, me going first because James was to be lying on me and everyone else on him. We did this pretty fast and as we were looking up at the camera James said “Ok, everyone look really bored.” And the picture was snapped.

We all got up, Jillian asked if we could see it but Chris said no with a smile. We all thanked James for doing it, pack up the sheet and gave him a hug on the way out. When we finally saw the picture, none really liked it, while James looks good, none of the rest of us were happy with it. So after we saw it we decided to have it re-done. It was however good practice for number 2.

James was doing his autographs right after the photos, so we went to the autograph line to get ours. The line wasn’t too big and keep moving along at a good pace. But everyone still felt like they got a good amount of time with James. The line didn’t really go down, since people would just get in line once it got a little shorter. We had found out that James was doing personalized autographs (which he hardly ever does!) so we were all excited about that. As I got up to Steve I gave him his gift, he smiled and mouthed “love you!” Since I found out Steve weakness (Chocolate) I have exploited it! Steve was writing down everyone name so James could copy it and he wrote my name out without asking me but wrote with ‘GG” and I told him, no my name only has one ‘G’. At which point he looks up at me and says “How is it that I don’t know that” and then re-writes it with just the one ‘G’.

Then it’s my turn with James. We talked about the Piccolo figure I was having signed, he says that he has the same figure but that he glued his arms down. I told him I liked the fact that it did the punching motion and he told me he has it at home but that Spike is set up to kill him. Then I had the gift the Amy Sue gave me signed and I got to tell him about her giving it to me and that it proves his fans are the best. He agreed and went into some of the conversation we had the night before. Then I gave him a gift, a couple of red felt hats, shaped like maple leafs that said Canada on them. They were for the kids and I told them they were just for fun. He said that they loved getting gifts and he thanked me for them. Then he shook my hand and said thanks again.

A friend of mine taped me talking to James and then sent to me after as surprised, so here is is.

We all hung around a little while longer to take pictures and talk to everyone. Then we headed to the food court to meet up with everyone. We have planned on getting together and hanging out. We were joined by everyone and many (including myself) went to get something to eat. There is a food court that the convention center that serviced different kinds of food, though they did rape you when it came to the cost. It cost me $12.00 for a small turkey sandwich and a coke and it wasn’t even very good.

We also made plans for that evening, since we were all going to have dinner. We had decided to go to a place called Burgers and Cupcakes but the original plan was to go before the concert, that was until they changed the time of the concert. It had been scheduled to start at 9:00pm, but they moved it up to 7:30pm. My guess is so that any of the gold pass holders who wanted to go to the dessert party could still make it to that, which also started at 9:00pm. But we decided to go after the concert instead. It would be a late dinner, but not much we could about that. Since James Q&A was scheduled for 5:30pm, so by the time it ended it would only give us about an hour in-between that and the concert.

We had a lot of time to kill until the Q&A, so many of us went back to our hotel room, to rest and freshen up. That was what I did and I have to say it was nice that our hotel was so close that we could do that. I called hubby (wanted to check on the pets, since our cat had been sick, I wanted to make sure he was still ok). But I couldn’t get a hold of him. I was also able to change for the concert and drool over some of my pictures (which were ready by then).

The girls came back and we all finished getting ready and headed back to the convention center. We got back and had a walk around the dealer room, to see what was there, it was the first time I had bothered to really see what was out for sale, since it was a horror convention not much interested me.

So we headed to the auditorium, which was just behind the dealer room. I have to say, it was not pleasant. There was just a curtain blocking it from the dealer room so all the noise got through it and it had really, really bad lighting so pictures were going to be a nightmare.

But we found seats and listened to whatever they were talking about, some movie about zombies that looked like complete crap. And then clapped politely when it was over. I then found my way to the microphone so I could be the first to ask a question. I know sad, what can I say. I didn’t have too long a wait until they announced James and he came out looking good and had changed into a navy v neck t-shirt and jeans.

He said hello to everyone and then started saying that he would start taking questions instead of telling stories, when he saw that we had already began to line up and he smiled and kind of said “Awww…” like we knew him already (well yeah).

Then James made my weekend (I know it doesn’t take much) he turned to me and said “Hi Magie” I am not sure what the look on my face was other then the big silly grin but in my head it was OH MY GOD JAMES MARSTER JUST SAID MY NAME, OH MY GOD JAMES MARSTER JUST SAID MY NAME, OH MY GOD JAMES MARSTER JUST SAID MY NAME, OH MY GOD JAMES MARSTER JUST SAID MY NAME. Followed by JAMES MARSTERS KNOWS MY NAME, JAMES MARSTERS KNOWS MY NAME, JAMES MARSTERS KNOWS MY NAME, JAMES MARSTERS KNOWS MY NAME!

I some how got my question out, which was: Knowing you’re a big Star Wars fan, how does it finally feel to have your own little piece of Star Wars Universe. Having now played Captain Argyus in Clone Wars? He, said it was cool but that he hadn’t actually seen it so he didn’t really know how it turned out and that was always his problem, he missed half of the things he did and never got to see them when they were finished. Some people told him it was YouTube and he should check it out there.

There were a lot of interesting questions and some not so interesting ones. I would love to explain to people that a Q&A is not your opportunity to talk to James and tell him some interesting things that happened to you. That is what the autograph sessions are for. I would also like to point out that getting drunk at a convention and then yelling out stupid things are not a way to get any kind of good attention. But hey that might just be me, who thinks that…

I had to move around a bit to try to get some good pictures, because the light was so bad and at one point I ended up just in front of the front row on the floor because I could get some good shots from there. I would have been happy to stand on the side to get them, but the sides were too far away. But I did try not to be in anyone’s way.

At one point the mic went dead when Ana was asking a question and James jumped down from the stage and almost fell over when he landed and handed the mic to Ana so everyone could hear her question. Then he got back on the stage and just sat on the floor of the stage to answer questions. He’s so cute!

There wasn’t as long of a line to ask questions so I went back up to see about asking another one but he had to stop just before me. So no dice. But it was still a great Q&A and I really enjoyed it, drunken silliness aside.

Once the Q&A was done, it was off to line up for the concert. This when we some not so good Creation stuff happened. Over the course of the day many of us had been asking each other what seat each had for the concert and found out that everyone with a reversed seat (which was the higher price ticket) all had seats off to the far sides. I appeared that no one had the middle seats.

We soon found out that even though Creation had stated (this was their rule) that the tickets for the concert were NOT part of any package. Yet, some how they reversed the middle section for the Gold Ticket holders (What the Frak is that!). This was causing many of us to be very upset because, you know that people would move up and sit wherever they saw an empty seat. So what is the point of paying double for a reserved seat?

However both Jillian and another man (one of only 2 guys there) went to speak to the Creation people about this and they finally figured out how to fix it. They told everyone. That you could sit anywhere in the row you had a ticket for and that they would fill up the center first.

Both Krista and I were near the front of the line and both had row A tickets so, we sat together during the concert. Krista told me she didn’t want to be dead front but a couple of seats over, I didn’t understand why until I was sitting front row center, while it was a great seat, the microphone was also dead center and all my photos had it in the way of James face, which was irritating.

Once we were all seated we didn’t have to wait long for James to come out and start the concert, he came out wearing the same navy v neck t-shirt and jeans as he had during the Q&A, and still looking good.
Here is the set list (per the actual written set list):

VandalsLooking at you
Good Bye
Louise
All that she wanted
White Hot Girls (Not performed)
Don’t worry son
The Truth is a Heavy Stone
Fall of Night
Civilized Man
Long Time
Cowboy Song
London City
Finer than Gold
Not Fall Down (Not performed)

Encore
Katie (Not performed)
Smile (Not performed)
For what I need (Not performed)

James came out and told us that he had a new song but that he wasn’t sure if he would performed it, but after we encouraged him he said "screw it - I'll sing it now!" It was really good and I found a video of it on YouTube, so here it is.

Once he was done, he said that he felt like we were too far away from him and asked us to move forward (if we wanted to) I had never seen such a large group of people pick up their chairs and move at the same time. However most of us realized as we grabbed our chairs that the entire row was connected, that lasted about as long as it took for the row to pull harder and for parts to come undone and people moved up closer to the stage. Many people even went and sat on the floor in the center aisle, but no one minded.

I did yell out and ask James if he was going to do White Hot Girls and he smirked and said maybe without looking up (he was looking at his set list).

James sang about 1 or 2 more songs and that was when the technical problems started, one of the main speakers started buzzing at first it was low but it got louder and louder. Soon James heard it and started look at the speaker funny. In between songs, he did check his guitar and at one point even went over to the speaker to check it.

But the noise stopped so he continued with his next song; soon however the noise came back and got worse. It was becoming hard to hear the music and James was getting more and more annoyed.

At one point the sound guy came out and tried to fix it but it didn’t work, he also gave James another mic to see if that helped but it didn’t so about 4 or 5 songs in James unplugged his guitar and sang without the mic, he moved up to the front of the stage and sang clear and strong.

Here is another video from YouTube (The Cowboy Song)

However as he said he often hides behind the mic so for him to be open so vulnerable was hard for him, he performed Fall of Night with such heart breaking emotion it was almost hard to watch. The passion and intensity in his performance was moving. I could hear many people around me saying things like “Wow!” and “I can’t believe we just saw that”. So I wasn’t the only one who felt it.

By the time he did Finer then Gold he was near tears and he gave us all he had that night, it was a raw and powerful version. When it was done, he backed up, held up his hand and said good night.

Having been to many concerts I was expecting James to come and do an encore, so when Krista climbed up on the stage and ripped off the set list (it was taped to the floor) I told her you know he’s coming back and may need that. But I was wrong, he didn’t. While I enjoyed the concert and truly feel it was the best of his I had ever seen, I wasn’t ready for it to be over so I was disappointed it was.

We all went out and were very quickly ushered out of the area by the security nazi, who wasn’t even going to let a 2 year boy use the bathroom. As we were waiting at the top of the stairs for the rest of our friends to meet us. James came up the escalators to leave. I told him that that had been the best concert ever, he looked at me and asked “Really?” And I told him defiantly! As well others also said the same thing, so he smiled and said “thanks!”

Once we were all (more or less) together we made our way to Burgers and Cupcakes a short 10 minute walk away on 9th street. I had printed off maps for most people so everyone who wanted to go could make their way there. So when we arrived there was already a bunch there. We got there just after 9:00pm and only to be told that the kitchen closed at 9:30pm (WHAT? I called them earlier in the week to confirm what time they were open until and I was told 11:00pm) but as long as we order before then we were OK. I had the Lemon Grilled Chicken Breast Burger, and it was really good!!! In addition they gave us all free cupcake! Which were soooooooo good! We even got to take some with us. I was really happy I was able to make up for picking that terrible place at the Your Funny Valentine Event and that everyone had a great time.

Most of us, walked back to our hotels stopping at the Gems where a lot of people were staying to drop them and the rest went back to our hotel.

Sunday June 7, 2009

I was the first one ready, which is not the norm. How 3 such beautiful girls as Mariah, Jillian and Iesha take so long to get ready, when they look great if they just roll out of bed is beyond me. So I walked over to the convention center and got in line for the photos because if I am just going to wait around it might as well have a purpose.

James photo ops was once again scheduled for 10:30am and most people came in around 10:00am. James was once again late, but not so much as the day before, he came in wearing a brown polo sweater and grey pants.

As James was passing me, he stopped and said “It meant a lot to me that you said you liked the concert”. I was stunned, not sure what the look on my face was. I told him that I had meant it and that it really had been the best one I had ever seen. He also said “That was hard for me to do” I said I knew that and that at one point I was thinking that someone should go up and give you a hug. But then he was pulled away to start the photos.

For my Sunday photos, I had 4 pictures. I once again had the poses I wanted printed out, well 2 of them; I was going to let James pick the other 2. The first one (after I got my hello hug) was suppose to look like I was going to kiss him. I told him I would be getting close and asked if that was ok. He said sure, so I moved it, put my hand on his neck moved in and closed my eyes. Chris snapped the picture. James said “You should remember to keep my face more towards the camera so it wouldn't be so much in profile”, I realized he was right and said thanks, I will remember that for the future.

The second was (suppose) to be a copy of him kissing my nose that we did at the Your Funny Valentine Event. But it looks more like he is going to kiss me like the other one we did the day before. I swear a had 3 different posses picked to do that all look very different and all three came out looking like we are going to kiss. Hmmmmmm….

The next 2 were James idea, he asked me to hug him from behind, though it looks cute, these never come out great because I am so short and James has to bend down to much for me, but still its not bad.
The last one was James holding me, we’ve done this one a bunch of time but Chris angled it so it looks really cool. (Awwww I love Chris!).

Then, I got my good bye hug and I swear he squeezed me a little tighter before he let me go and said “thanks”. I have no idea what I said, probably something dumb… most of that was blur.

Since we were re-doing the group picture, the 4 of us waited to the end of all the other photos. It went the same as the day before. Chris had the doors closed, we told James we were re-doing the picture from yesterday and he laughed and said “What are you guys trying to do, take me back to the WB?” But was ok with it, since Chris had already spoke to him.

After we spread out the sheet (a white one taken off Iesha’s bed in the hotel the night before) and took off our shoes again. I laid down first and told James to lay his head on my tummy this time, he lay down next and Iesha next, then Mariah. Jillian stayed standing so she could position us into the right place. She directed us to move this way of that way, head down or up and so on.

We thought a lot about how we are going to do this and how it should look and had even coordinated our clothes so we would be jewel tones and stand out. It took us a little longer and at one point I asked James if he was ok and if this was alright. He said “it was fine, this was his job.” I started saying that even so if he wasn’t comfortable, to say so but he said “No, I mean this is what I do. We take photos for TV shows all the time, so this is just like a normal day for me.” I felt better about all the fuss we were doing, so I shut up then. I did ask once we almost ready if it was Ok if I put my hand on his hair, he said “sure”. Then when we were ready Jillian laid down in her position and I had her move down so she wasn’t covering James. But James said “It’s OK, I can see the camera.” So we were ready and the picture was snapped Chris, looked at the picture and said “One more” I guess just in case. But I can’t tell the different in them, since none of us moved. We all LOVED this picture it just came out sooooooo good and James has the ‘cat that ate the canary’ smirk on his face that I love!

As we were getting up James said to all of us “It was nice having an orgy with you guys”. We all laughed. Then folder up the sheet and got on our shoes. And while James was talking to Jillian I saw his coffee sitting on the table on the side, so I went over and grabbed it so I could give it back to him. It was still warm and as I was heading to hand it to him Peg was also going to get it to give it to him but stopped when she saw I was already doing it. I handed James his coffee and he smiled up at me and said “Thanks Baby” And I replied with an witty, intelligent and thought out “Your welcome”. Then we all said our goodbye’s got a hug each and left.

We then went to the autographs that were right after the photos again. I took some pictures and then got in line for my Sunday autograph, which wasn’t very long again and was moving well. When I came to Steve I once again gave him a gift and he once again said that he loved me. James was personalizing the autographs so I handed my second Piccolo figure to be signed (there are 2 different figures a 6 inch I had signed on Saturday and the 4 inch I was having signed on Sunday.

I shook his hand and he said “Hello Love” I said hi handsome (didn’t even know I said that until after) he said “good to see you baby” When James saw the figure he laughed, he said that he looked so stupid in the cloak (the smaller one has a plastic cloak for the figure). He then told me about the Piccolo has had at home that was positioned to be killed by his Spike who was dressed as a Jedi (he told me the same story the day before, but that’s OK). I then as he was signing it I told him that he made one my dreams come true. That my goal was to have he remember my name and that yesterday at the Q&A when I went up to the mic he said “hi Magie” he said “Yeah!” and then said that now I was all happy. He laughed at that.

I then gave him his present some of his favorite maple candies. When I handed them to him he said “I need food” and when he saw what they were he said “Oh right on” and I said you like them (like he didn’t know that already) and he said “yeah I really do”. I said so enjoy. And then I thanked him for everything that weekend and that he was fabulous and that we loved him. James then got this kind of shy look on his face and said “It was horrible that night” and I said no you weren’t, I swear to god, that I knew it was really hard for him because he was a artist and wants things to be wonderful but that it was sooooooo good (we were talking about the concert). James said “I just… I didn’t cry, the whole time I trying not to destroy the guitar, not to lose my temper and not to cry. Just to get through the set” and I said and you did that great. He smiled up at me and we shook hands as I left.

A friend of mine taped me talking to James and then sent to after as surprised, so here is is.

It was only a little while longer that I realized I had my camera on video and had recorded it (must have switched the setting to video as I was changing it when I was talking pictures). And I had James in the frame the whole time, since I never meant to do it that was a stoke of luck and only happened because I bent down and the camera was around my neck so I put it on the table so it wouldn’t dangle and hit the table. I swear if I had meant to get on video it wouldn’t have turned out so good. And now I know exactly what he and I said (and how dumb and fan girl I sound).

After I got my autograph, James was still going to be signing for a bit. So Karen offered to take me around the dealer room, since she had already checked it out. Some stuff was interesting but it was mostly horror stuff I wasn’t interested in. I also heard a rumor that there were other guests at the convention (not sure I believe them) but I swear I never saw anyone. It was a very relaxed James only convention for us.

We got back to the autograph area where James was still signing and hung out with the gang. Some of which were making their way over to the food court. We all knew that after the autographs the convention was over and none of us really wanted that. Why they didn’t do another Q&A for James on Sunday I don’t know (unless they couldn’t because James had to leave). I did wonder over to a stall that had jewelry, some really beautiful pieces and as I was look the artist said “Hi Magie”, I turned to him with a big smile and said “Hi” then realized I didn’t know him and that I was still wearing my “Hi James, My name is Magie” name tag, so that is how he knew my name. I did however find a very pretty piece that I was interested in, sure enough it cost $6000.00. So no pretty jewelry for Magie.

Then it came time for James to go and as he stood up we all clapped and yelled. He looked kind of embarrassed but said thank you and waved as he left.
And that was it no more James. Magie sad then…

We headed over to the food court since most of us were waiting to get our picture and get Chris to burn us a CD with our jpegs (that’s something I have only ever seen Chris do, but it is so convent!). We all hang out got lunch I had the baked Ziti this time and once again paid $12.00 for that and a coke.

We talked traded stories and just had some fun. When our pictures were ready, we all got to share them and check out each others. I love seeing other peoples pictures and hearing the stories.

Some of us were waiting for Chris still and decided to check out the dealer room once again. Though this time Jillian stopped at the stall that sold posters and since she wanted to get some. Since they were 3 for $25 and she was getting 2 I got one as well. I found a Terminator poster and since Linda Hamilton was coming to Toronto in August I needed to had something for me to sign.
Then we went to hang out in the photo room and get our jpegs. Not only did Chris burn for all of us, but because Mariah paid for the group jpegs, he burned them for all of us for free. Once we all had our jpegs we said bye to Amy Sue and Mom and a few others who were still there and went back to our hotel.

After resting a bit, we all headed out to get some sightseeing done. Our first stop was Central Park, so we could take a Horse-Drawn Carriage Ride through it. I had never done that before and I wanted to check it out. We only took the 30 minute ride and it was still light out so we were able to see a lot. I had been too central park once before but it was during a week day. So to see that many people out was mind boggling. Almost ever square inch was taken up with bodies. It just shows how crowded New York really is.

We rode around and our driving told us a few interesting things about what we were seeing. And I was able to snap a few pictures along the way. After the ride was over. Mariah left us to meet up with Krista and Iesha, Jill and I went to dinner.

Jillian had really wanted to go to a Bobby Flay's restaurant for dinner (he has 2 in New York City). I had original tired to get us a table at Bar Americain, which was closer to where we would be but they were closed for a private party (one of the Broadway show was holding their Tony Award dinner there). So we took a cab to The Mesa Gill on 5th Avenue and had dinner there.

The food was amazing! Though I had ordered a steak and I like my steaks cooked VERY well done. So when asked I always say, very, very, very, very, very, very, very well done. When it came it was a very large and think steak. I started with the smaller side which was cooked perfect, but when I got to the thinker part it was still pink and I don’t do pink. Since the steak alone was $35.00 I wasn’t about to leave it and I had the waiter take it back (I hate doing that and am always afraid I will piss off the Chef and they will spit on my food). But they were really cool. When it was brought back to me (by the manager) he asked if it was done well enough but when I cut into it was still pink. So they took back a third time. They kept apologizing to me for the wait and I kept saying it was OK and I hated being so much trouble. After they took it back the second time the manager came by the table and told me that my steak was on the house because of the extra long wait. I tired saying it was ok and they didn’t have to do that, but he insisted and Iesha told me to shut up and take the free steak. When it arrived the 3rd time it was perfect and sooooooo good. We sat and talked for a really long time. Longer then we had planned and it was after 10:00pm when we noticed the time.

We had planned to go to the Top of the Rock at Rockefeller Plaza but because of the late hour we decided to skip it and take a cab to Time Square instead. I had been to Time Square twice before, but only during the day. Iesha said that we needed to see it at night, so we went to checked it out. First can I just say WOW! It really was lite up like it was day time. It was really cool. Though we saw all these people (about 2000) sitting around in lawn chairs looking up at the big screen. Turns out they were watching the Tony awards as a group. That was really kind of cool.



We walked around a little took some pictures and I even bought a T-shirt for my godson (his birthday had just past and I needed something to give him) at a store that was open. I was serviced by the most miserable unhappy and rude girl I had ever seen. It almost had me laughing and when Iesha asked what was so funny I told her I had never seen such a miserable unhappy person. She said well what do you expect she’s selling t-shirts at 11:00pm on a Sunday (true but still).

We were suppose to walk back to our hotel and enjoy the sights along the way but we were too tired and our feet hurt so we cabbed it back to the hotel and meet up with Mariah. We should have gone to bed and gotten some sleep but instead we stayed up to go know what time going over the weekend. We tried to do video diaries but that just didn’t work out well.

Monday June 8, 2009

The girls had to be up and out early and while I woke up with them and had breakfast, I went back to sleep after they left and got some more much needed zzzzzz.

After checking out and getting checking in for my flight (on-line) and printing my boarding pass, my shuttle arrived to pick me up. I was going to be early for my flight but the shuttle company said that if I went at the time I wanted they couldn’t guarantee that I would arrive in time, so I agreed to go earlier. Turns out it was a really good thing I got there early.

I walked up to the Air Canada counter, handed her my boarding pass and passport, only to be told. Oh your flight has been cancelled (WHAT?!). I am not sure what look was on my face but it couldn’t have been good. I asked why and she just shrugged and said it was due to the high traffic at the airport, but she would see what she could do for me. She was able to get me on the earlier flight since I still lots of time and asked if that was ok, early was good, very good that meant less time waiting is yucky airport.

It was a crazy wait since there was no place to sit and wait the gate was full and I mean completely by people who were waiting for a Jet Blue flight that was delayed and then with the people waiting for the Air Canada flight. I had to go and wait at another gate but since I couldn’t hear any announcements and was afraid that I might miss something, I ended up sitting on the yucky floor of the gate I was suppose to be at. I called hubby to advise of the change and he had the same reaction I did to my flight being cancelled, but promised to pick me up at the earlier time.

The flight back was uneventful, though I was looking forward to watching the end of Marley and Me (since I didn’t get to see the end of it on the flight down) only to find it wasn’t available in the movie selections. So I watched ‘He’s Just Not That Into You’ only to arrive at our gate in Toronto before it ended. So 2 movie both of which I now have to find out how they end! Crap!

So that’s it, all in all it was a great trip/adventure!

Magie