Magie's 2007 Dragon*Con Report - August 30, 2007 - September 4, 2007

Magie’s 2007 Dragon*Con Report (Altanta, GA,USA)

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!


WARNING! Please be advised that this report will contain much James Marsters drooling!

Also it will be filled with lots of details, maybe too much details. But I have never been good at brevity.


Thursday June 30, 2007

Ok have I ever mentioned that I am not a morning person?! Well if I haven’t I would like to now take the opportunity to say: I AM NOT A MORNING PERSON! Having said that, I wake up on Thursday at 5:30am so that I could be at work at 7:00am. Since I normally I start between 11:00am - 12:00pm, so this was NOT easy. Also I shocked my co-workers when they saw me
there so early. I don’t understand why they make people come in the day before they go on vacation, its not like they get any work done. I know I spent the entire day telling everyone who would listen (and a few who didn’t) that I was going to Atlanta and to see James Marsters. So I didn’t get much done.

After work I headed home to finish packing. As much as I have tried to overcome my Portuguese DNA and our tendency to completely over pack, but I believe I have circum to this and now need professional help because I way, way, way over packed. It was so bad, that when my suitcase was weighted at the airport, it was 2 pounds over the limit. Luckily I was told they would let it pass, but that I would need to light it up on the trip back.I was ready to go when my Husband came home from work. He generously agreed to drive me and Colleen to the airport. So we headed to pick up Colleen and arrived about 2 hours before the flight. We checked it and went through security. After we got through everything I realized that I had forgotten the extra battery and charger for my camera. Which sucked since I couldn’t just get any battery since it was a special battery. We decided to get something to eat and for some reason I needed a drink, maybe it was all the excitement of seeing James again! We had plenty of time for dinner the waitress convince me to get a double rum & coke instead of just a regular and while it really hit the stop, for someone who isn’t a drinker it made me a little tipsy and very tried. As we were headed to the gate we hear over the loud speaker, last call for flight # 8628 to Atlanta and finally boarding call for passages Colleen and Margarida. Colleen and I just looked at each other with looks on our faces like “What the f*ck” and we started running to our gates. We both made it there huffing and puffing, fortunately we still made it before the plane left. It turns out that I had read the actual flight time as the boarding time, so we were about 15 to 20 minutes late for boarding. I learned a very valuable lesson on paying attention to when the actual a boarding time is!

The flight wasn’t too long, but the rum picked that time to really hit me and I suddenly got very sleepy though not enough to actually fall asleep but enough to not be able to listen to what Colleen was saying and wanting to take a nap!

We arrived in Atlanta just before 11:00pm and then had to get our luggage, which is at the other end of the airport. Atlanta has it own train that goes between terminals and will take you to the baggage claim. Even though the train ride took us only about 10 minutes by the time we made it the carrousel where our luggage was it was already going around. I don’t know how they got it there so fast, I am convince they have a transporter that they use!

After we got our luggage we headed out to find our shuttle. As soon as we stepped out of the airport the humidity hit me like a title wave. I had heard that Atlanta was hot and what makes it worse was the humidity. But it had just rained and the it was so think, it was like walking into warm soup!

We had a hard time finding a shuttle, but finally found one that was going to downtown and to our hotel. Though the drive kept saying we would be leaving in 5 minutes, 40 minutes and 10
more just 5 minutes later we were on our way. We made it made it our hotel at about midnight. We were in The Days Inn one of the over flow hotel and after a quick bath we hit the hey.

Friday August 31, 2007

We tired to get up early (well I tried to get up early). I did wake up with a really, really sore throat, but I thought that it was just because the air conditioning was too high, I would later find out I was wrong. My friends Kelly and Matt, who were joining us, were driving in from Chicago and were expected some time that morning. Shortly after I woke up I called Kelly to see where they were and they were just outside the city. So by the time we finished getting ready they had arrived. Kelly who got to sleep through the night was ready to join us, Matt however wanted to get some sleep. Who could blame him! So we headed to the convention. We walked to the hotels and had to find where we would pick up our badges, that took us a little while, the entire convention is spread over 3 hotels and it takes a little time to get use to everything. We finally found the place which I think was in the Marriott. Colleen and I had pre-ordered and pre-registered through the website. So we lined up by last name, Kelly had gotten her tickets from ticket master and had to stand in the huge ticket master line. Though I had to line up twice, since they couldn’t find me on the list via my last name, so I had to go to the problem line. I found poor Kelly in the way too long line and told her that since it looked like she would be a while we would head over to the Hyatt and get a place in line for the “Hour in the Buffyverse” panel.
We headed to the panel area, it was easy to find, just look for the long line full of women and chances are that’s it. Sure enough, that’s what we found. Even through we were there about 2 hours before it started we were about 30th in line. What is funny is that I keep seeing the same people over and over at conventions with James. I did joking say to Colleen that I keep seeing these same people over and over again and don’t they have anything better to do then follow James around, now mind you, in order for me to see them I would also have to be following James around and no I really don’t have anything better to do. I did run into some people that I knew, so it was great to see them again! I also got to see the photo book project that was done for James, I had sent in a couple of photos and one was even chosen. One I had taken at Fangoria. The book itself was done in a year book style and it was really, really, really well done! I got to sign both James copy and the copy for Steve (Himber).

We still got pretty good seats in the front row, but off to the side. Kelly had join us before we went in to the panel. I was excited to see the panel since it would be the first one I had seen with more then 2 people and the first with more that just James by himself. Though I NEVER minded seeing just James. The panel started at 1:00pm. They introduced all the guests, which were James Martsers, Elisabeth Rohm, Ken Feinberg and Juliet Landau. James of course looked great, he did say that he had just rolled out of bed and if that’s he looks when he just rolls out of bed, well WOW! The panel was great, the guest were all funny and the answers were wonderful, they all played off each other, had us laughing and enjoying ourselves.

After that I had originally wanted to go to the Ron Glass and Mark Sheppard panel, but I ended up missing it since we decided to first head to the photos area to see about getting our photos done. As it turns out the photo sessions for all the guest were not very long, in some cases 15 to 20 minutes. James & Juliet had theirs after most of the Q&A’s. First they would do any Juliet pictures and then any James and Juliet pictures followed by the James pictures (since his was the longest line). Since I had bought pictures with both James & Juliet and with James alone, I was able to get my pictures done right away. I had 2 with both James & Juliet and then 2 with just James. I requested a hugging picture and then something fun. Our first picture was with all three just with our arms around each other and the second was James idea, it was him hugging me while Juliet look at us all upset.

I had thought that I would have to go back and stand in line for the James pictures but they did those right away as well. So I was done in like 5 minutes. My pictures with James was first, a nice hugging one and the second we did the Spike & Dru head thing where we touched foreheads and then turned to the camera (his idea again). It was fun it do.

After the pictures which was held in the Marriott, I was really hungry since I hadn’t had breakfast. The Marriott had a gift shop that carried sandwichs so I went to get something to eat. Colleen and Kelly joined me shortly after they got their pictures done. After that Colleen and I headed to the walk of fame (the autograph area) Kelly was going to get some sushi and meet up with Matt. Once we got to the walk of fame we got in line for James autograph and of course the line for James was the longest. I left Colleen in line for what I thought was just a little bit, since I just wanted to check out everything. Well when I walked in, I realized that while James had a really long line many people either only had 1 or 2 people or even no one in line, so I ended up getting first Richard Hatch, then Aaron Douglas from Battlestar Gallictica autographs. Then Mark Sheppard autograph.
After that I joined Colleen back in line and by then the line was moving fast, since James
was signing away. I had a few things for him to sign, one of them was the Jacket from the premium Sideshow Spike figure. I told James that it from premium sideshow spike figure and that I had gotten the one with the 2 heads but that when it arrives it has both the heads on either side so it is headless he laughed at that, but he didn’t seem to be familiar with the figure at all. He did say that he took his own 12 figure of spike and put Obi-Wan Kenobi clothes on it, so that it was now Obi-Wan Spike. He also signed my copies of the Varity and Hollywood adds that were done by the fans, we had a quick talk about what his fans do and I mentioned being part of the Katrina relief that was done in his name and he said that was great and how he had donated $5000 of his own money when he saw the disaster. Then I told him that I would see him thatnight and he said “oh right on!”
After that I got the last of my Battlestar autographs which was Jamie Bamber, Jamie did ask why was he the last one to sign get to sign my Battlestar poster, I told him because he was the most important and therefore I had saved the best for last. Those pretty boys you always have to stroke their egos (actually he was really sweet and was just playing with me).

After the autographs we headed back to the hotel to get ready for the “Party the night away with James” event. We met up with Matt & Kelly back at the Hotel and we all got ready to go. The Max Lager Gill & Brewery was just down the street from the Hyatt so it was less then 5 minutes from our hotel, we just walked there. It was a nice place, but the room they had us in was a little too small and there wasn’t enough chairs let alone tables, I think there was only 3 large tables in the room. So most of the hundred people there were standing around, which made it hard to eat anything or to find a place to put down your drink. But all thoughts of food or tables disappeared when James arrived. He looked fantastic! He was wearing a suit and a nice shirt and while I really like him in the jean and a t-shirt look, he cleans up really well!

James started making his rounds around the room and started at the other side of the room so we would be one of the last group to get James attention. While I often feel sorry for poor Matt because while he is a fan, he is also a guy that could care less about being that close to James and goes along for Kelly (now that is a nice boyfriend) but on a selfish note I like having him around because he keeps us laughing and lightens the mood. So waiting around wasn’t so bad. We ended up talking to some nice people that were also from Chicago and even the author who wrote Spark and Burn (the first Spike novel) she had brought a signed copy along with another one of her books for James.

James finally came around about 1 hour and 20 minutes after he had arrived. We weren’t at a table so we gave James a chair and either sat in front of him or stood off to the side of him.
Me, I was right in front (man I was a lucky girl). I started by wishing him a Happy Belated birthday and giving him my present, it wasn’t much. I got him one of my favorite Duran Duran CD (yes I am a proud Duran Duran freak, and have been since I was 12 years old). I gave him their CD Thank You which was their tribute to the artist that had influenced them, and had covers of their favorite song (some really great cover, better than the originals in some cases, but that is only my opinion.) He seem to really like it and said that he would go back that night and add it his iPod. And that the best music he has was gifts he had gotten from his fans (wasn’t that sweet).
He also talked about his current producer music collection and working on his new CD. I had mentioned that I really like his music and the only ones I wasn’t crazy about were ones he didn’t write and that it wasn’t until I went the songs and realized that he didn’t write it that it made sense why they just felt off on the CD. We also had a conversion about the blues, writing and signing it, as well as getting older and how great it was for him to be in his 40’s. It was around this time that James had leaned in and kissed Colleen on the forehead, when she mentioned having a memory of her 40’s. I would also like to say that she at that moment became impossible to be around and sent the remaining time mentioning it WHENEVER she could. Yes, we get it! James kissed you! Enough already, now can we get back to me already! Colleen also presented him with her gift, a Bollywood movie, which was an Indian version of Othello and there was a brief talk about the play. Which then went into relationships and how he admires the guys that come to see him with their women, and stand just behind them and how they must have “big dicks” (his words not mine) at this statement Matt asked how about guys that were standing just beside the women and motioned to Kelly, James then replied “Yeah, that’s what I mean. You have a beautiful women!” and pointed to Kelly and then pointed to Matt “and you have a BIG DICK!” It was meant as a complaint about those being secure with them selves and it was taken as that! We all did keep bring it up to Matt through the rest of the weekend, James Marsters said you had a Big Dick and so on!! Hours of fun, it has given us! I do have to say that we (well maybe me monopolized most of the conversion and when it was time for him to leave the writer had to rush to give him her books. As James was about to walk away, I told him thank you. I had meant for talking to us and being so open. He just smiled at me and said your welcome.

THEN he said as he slipped his arm around my waist “come walk with me baby.” Now who was I to say no! I got to slip my arm around him and walk him over to the next table. While we were walking I told him that he was still the best looking 45 year old I had ever seen (going back to our conversation about age) he laughed and said that he had moisturized that day! Too cute of him! I handed him over to the last group of people and went back to my friends walking on air! Talk about the feeling special, Colleen got a kiss (on the forehead) Kelly got called a Beautiful women, Matt was told he had a big dick and I got an arm around the waist with a come walk with me baby. Have I ever mentioned he is just the ever best!!!!
Since we were running out of time, James was only going to be there until 9:00pm and he wouldn’t have enough time to go around the room a second time. Steve decided that we would have a Q&A so he put James in the middle and have us gather around him and ask him questions. I can’t remember most of them, but there was some talk about his kids and how they were doing and how he disciples them and so on. Then some one asked him about playing at the mile high club and was he a member, surprising he didn’t know what that meant. He must have not heard the term before because no surprise he was in fact a member. He then went into how he had dated a porn star and had had sex in all kinds of weird places but that he much preferred just simple sex, in a bed and that he was really, really good at that. He also admitted to a threesome with a former girlfriend that was a dancer (I think on soul train) and a Buffy writing. I was a little surprise by that, not that he had a threesome (or several) or that it was with a Buffy writing but that he would admit it. I then asked him if it was true that he had lost his virginity in a threesome, I had read that and wanted to know if it was true, he looked right at me and said kind of sadly that yeah it was true, but that he was too young, he was only 13 (and yes the next day he said he was 14) but the article I read also said he was 13. He did say some nice things about the girls he was with but that he didn’t tell them he was a virgin and so it didn’t go all that well. He also said that people should wait until there are older maybe 17 before they have sex, some then asked how about his kids and then said that people should wait until they were 45 to have sex. I also got to ask him if he was able to have a jam session with anyone alive or dead who would it be, he started by saying: Dead, Dead and dead. He named people like Kurt Cobain, Jimi Hendrix and bunch of other then he said Bob Dylan who wasn’t dead but was almost, he also said the same thing about Keith Richards.

What was cute was about half way through the Q&A he stopped and asked if it was OK if he could go to the bathroom because he had to pee. We were all like yeah go pee!

Then the sad time came and he had to go. Those 2 hours just went by way, way to fast! I think most of the people there cleared out after James left though I am sure some stayed. The 4 of us decided to go down stairs and get some thing to eat. Now they did have food at the party, but we wanted a more sit down thing and we just wanted to hang out a little too. After dinner there was the Once more with feeling show at the convention they were doing it Rocky Horror picture style and I am sure it would have been a lot of fun, but I was already not feeling good and had been getting worse all day so all I wanted to do was take a bath and get some sleep, my friends decided that they wanted to be sad as well and just went back to the hotel with me.

Matt and Kelly were still tried from the long drive, Colleen I can only guess was still on “I got a kiss from James” high and just wasn’t thinking straight. So back to hotel and off to bed we went.

Saturday September 1, 2007

We once again tried to get up early, but only ended up getting out of bed around 8:30am. We had some time since my first panel wasn’t until 2:00pm, and we all knew that today would be a
crazy day (with all the people) so we tried to keep things to a minimal.
We went for breakfast and tried to find a ihop but couldn’t (even through we map quested it) so we ended up at a Waffle house. After that nutrition breakfast of chocolate chip waffles and bacon and eggs. We headed out to find me a pharmacy since by this time I was in real need of drugs!! My cold was now is full blown cold mode. We found a Target which had a pharmacy in it and I was able to pick up all the drugs I needed. I was also able to pick up a cell phone, since my Canadian one doesn’t work in the US (it keeps asking me to buy airtime and then wants information like a zip code, it just a mess so I have given up). I knew I could pick up a cell for cheap and get air time, and I found just that. That way my friends and I could keep in touch while we each went off and did our own thing. Colleen decided to get one as well. Pretty good phone for $15.00 and it worked great.

Then it was off to the convention. When we got there, I found that hell was not in fact fire and brimstone it was 30,000 people trying to get from one thing to another, many of them in costumes where their wings would poke you in the eye of you weren’t careful! So many people and all of them in my f*cking way!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I had decided to go to the Battlestar Gallatica panel, so I had to find the line for that. It turns
out there are a lot of BSG fans out there, the line went out the hotel down the block and rapped around the block (and no I am not exaggerating this). However the panel it self was well worth the wait, the guests were: Jamie Bamber, Richard Hatch and Aaron Douglas. I knew it would be funny panel when Aaron Douglas started it talking about how he drank too much the night before and “my liver crawled out of my ass this morning and gave me the finger!” The three of them were great!

After that panel, I once again had to find a line to stand in this one for the Firefly panel with Mark Sheppard and Ron Glass. I had seen Ron Glass in Toronto in July and found him not the most interesting speaker, OK but far from funny. Nice guy and I enjoyed meeting him, but just not the most funny in his Q&A’s. But he was a hundred times better on stage with Mark. Maybe he just needs some one to play off of. I enjoyed the stories they told and got to ask Mark about his role on Medium (which I really enjoyed watching) he told us about the audition for the role and what it was like.

After that I met up with Colleen in the line for the Buffyverse panel at 4:00pm. She had already been waiting a while because she didn’t want to go through the crowds, can’t say I blame her. I decided since we had a bit of a wait that I would head over to the autograph area to get my 2 remaining posters autographs. One was from X- files, I had gotten Tom Braidwood the day before but now needed Bruce Hardwood. I also need Ellen Muth autograph on my Dead Like Me poster.

I was still in need of the star trek people autograph, but the line for them was out the door so, I hoped to get it on Sunday when it was a little less crazy. There wasn’t a line for Bruce
Hardwood so I got his right away.
However I had to wait for Ellen Muth. I had heard from people before I ever saw her that she looks really thin in person (and suffers from an
eating disorder) but I always take things like that with a gain of salt, until I can see for myself. I have meet actress in the past which look good on TV but in person, the first thing you want to ask them is can I get you a sandwich, with Ellen Muth, the first I wanted to say was can I get you an I.V. She looked really bad, not just overly skinny, but pale as well. I don’t know what else might be wrong because she was also taking very slowly and it took forever to write out the autograph (like she really had to think about want she was doing). She was also one of the few people that was selling things at her table (not just pictures and autographs) things like reaper robes and a pair of shoes the she wore on the show. It just all seemed kind of desperate to me. Like she was hurting for money. I just can’t understand how someone who does a series for 2 years, then doesn’t have any money left afterwards. Unless she has some serous problems.
After that I rejoined Colleen in line. What is really great about waiting in line for any James event is you always meet the best people and we had a nice conversation with some great people. Matt came along at some point and join us in the way to long, glad we were close to the front because it is now wrapped around the hotel line. Kelly made it panel just after we got into the room.

This panel was once again great and had James Martsers, Elisabeth Rohm, Ken Feinberg and Juliet Landau. James was his usual fun self and everyone was having fun. Elisabeth Rohm really surprised me though. I guess I just never thought she would be that sweet, fun or funny. But she was really great and I think she had some fun playing around with James, giving as good as she got kind of thing. At some point someone asked James why he liked getting embarrassing questions, his reply was that he didn’t really believe we could embarrass him. So some then said that she would take his challenge and asked how did he lose his virginity. There was actually a groan through the room, since most of us knew the answer to this and had in fact talked about this the night before. I guess he heard the groan because he replied with “well you guys know the story right?” but did say he lost it in a threesome when he was 14. Now I don’t know if he just forgot it was actually at 13 (after all he can’t remember he is only 45 sometimes) or if he was trying to make it sound less bad, for the larger group of people.

I did get to asked (of all of them) “if they could ask a question of each other, what would it be?” I think it was Elisabeth asked I was looking for personal question or professional, I replied that knowing James preference for embarrassing questions that it should be personal. Elisabeth did groan and say person and that she did not want to play that game. Then James asked everyone what they favorite scene of HIS was. To which Ken replied when he first looked at him in the scene with the Chaos Demon. They Elisabeth asked James who he was dating. James did say he was dating a German and had been for the last 3 years. They all of they told us who they were dating.

Once the panel was over we all headed to get something to eat, since it was the only time we had and ended up in the food court in the Peachtree Center which is right beside the Marriott, there is walk way to it. It was so over packed we had a hard time finding seats. Interesting everyone there in that food court was wearing a Dragon Con badge. Man there was a lot of people at this convention!!!

We then headed back to our hotel so we could get all prettied up for James Concert. I think for 3 girls we were pretty quick, Matt just sat on the bed looking at the computer. I asked him if he was going to get changed and he just looked at with this look of yeah right and replied “No, I’m a guy I don’t have to look nice!”
We took a cab to the venue and what a surprise there was already a line to get in, the door opened up at 7:00pm and the concert it self did not start until 9:00pm. So the line was to be able to get in so that we get a good stop to stand in line. The place was pretty nice and what was really great was that they served boozed so you could get drunk while you waited. We hadn’t wanted to sit near the stage because we would be looking up the entire time, so we chose the big comfy red seats in front of the stage, though they were a little further back.

James came on at 9:00pm and rock the house!!! He played:

For What I Need
Lay About
All That She WantedUp On Me
Smile
Louise
Fall Of NightPoor Robyn
Civilized ManNot A
Millionaire
White Hot Girls
Vandals (was Button-Down Vandals)
Looking At You
Don't Worry Son
Like A Waterfall
The Truth Is A Heavy Stone
London City

ENCORE:
Katie
Birth Of The Blues
When We Dance Slow
Goodbye Angel

It was funny because after London City he said that he would be going away but if we all screamed really loud that he would come back, so we screamed and he came right back on stage.

After the concert Steve Himber (James Manager) came out and they held a charity auction. They sold the T-shirt James had been wearing the day before (the one he took the Friday photos in) they even said they hadn’t washed it and James took the shirt while they started the bidding and started rubbing it on himself. Man I wanted that shirt, but once it hit the $500.00 mark I just couldn’t do it. I believe it went for around $800.00. They also sold a picture of James at his concert in London at Union Chapel, his Dragon Con badge and some other stuff that I can’t for the life of me remember now. The last thing was James set list of songs for that night (written by James) it went for around $800.00 as well. Now anyone who won an item got to go back stage and have James personalize it for them with an autograph, so you not only got to get the item but a little extra James attention. The funny thing about the set list was after the auction the sound guy in the booth (which was right next to us) started laughing and held up a copy he had (also written by James) and joked about how much he could sell it for. Well I did go up to him and offered $40.00 but he turned me down. Oh well, I have seen James give his set list away before so no biggie. Beside I wouldn’t be getting any personal attention anyway, oh I mean giving to charity. Yeah that’s it.

After the concert we got a cab back to the hotel. I had originally wanted to go to the Firefly Shindig being held by the Whedonverse Track at DragonCon, but once again I was just not feeling well. All I wanted was a hot bath and a soft bed. The rest of the gang despite my encouraging to go out and party, choose to also return to the hotel with me and hit the hey.


Sunday September 2, 2007

We did a little better in getting up earlier on this day. We headed out for Breakfast. After that we hit the convention, it wasn’t as bad as the day before, but still pretty crowded. Kelly went to check out a panel discussion, while Colleen and I headed to the autograph area. I was hoping to get the rest of my autographs and be done with them all.

James was signing again and for a change his line was pretty short so I jumped it and got a couple more autographs that I didn’t really need but just wanted. One of things I got him to sign was the yellow wrist band we got at the Friday night event, I was still wearing it. I told him as he was signing it that it was just an excuses to get him to hold my hand (since he would have to sign it) he started laughing and said that was smart of me.

After that I got in the Star Trek, first for Gates McFadden who was nice and still looks great. Then for Brent Spiner and while I was waiting for Brent, John de Lanice showed up and since there was no one in his line I jumped out of the Brent’s and got his right away. He was nice but very disheveled, like he just woke up and hadn’t remembered to comb his hair and stuff. I was able to get back in line for Brent since Colleen held my place. Colleen then heading over to line up for the Buffyverse panel while I waited for Brent’s. He was super nice and was joking with me about only having one “G” in my name, saying stuff like why have extra letters if

you don’t need to and how it cut down on time to write it down and so on and even though he hair is now almost all white he still looks
great!!!!

After getting all my required autographs I went to join the line. We where a lot further back this time, out in the street where the line started to wrap around the hotel again. But that was Ok, we still got a good enough seat.

This time the panel was missing Juliet, since she was doing another panel. But the other three were just as much fun and joking. I got to ask them all if they could choose to have a super power what would it be. Elisabeth said she would be invisible, which James said that she was bad for wanting that because it could cause a lot of trouble. James said he would choose to fly, but that it would be really dangerous for him without super healing because he would likely crash into a building. Ken said he would also want to fly. Some one also asked if they could choose to dress up at a convention what would they choose to dress up as. James said right away without even thinking about it, that he would dress up as Storm Trooper. Elisabeth had to think about it for a bit but then said she would dress up as Galadriel (Cate Blanchett ) charter in Lord of the Ring. Ken said that he had never seen anyone dress up as a Chaos Demon so he would do that.

I had to get out of the panel fast so I left just before it ended so that I could get to the picture area. I had pre-ordered pictures with both Jamie Bamber and Aaron Douglas but I hadn’t made it to any of their photo sessions so far and today would be their last one. I got then right as it should have been ending but they both had already left. James Marsters was going to be doing his Sunday Photos next, so since I had already pre-paid I exchanged them for more James pictures, hey you can never have enough of those right? I had to wait in line again, but it wasn’t bad. I really don’t know how these women always make it to this places way, way before I do. I mean I saw some of them at the panel, I left the panel early (about 5 minutes before it ended) so how did they get there before me? Must be some James magic I haven’t found yet!

I got 2 extra pictures, then first one was a huggie picture (I always take the opportunity to get a hug WHENEVER I
can) the second I asked for something fun. James thought about for a second and then said “How about we tickle each other” and he didn’t mean pretend. I got a GREAT picture of us laughing (hard) while we were tickling each other and you can even see he has his finger digging in to my side. Some people ask me why I always get 2 pictures and the reason is that for some reason the second one always turns out the best. That one is one of my favorite!

After that I was going to go and catch the Ron Glass & Mark Sheppard Panel, but it turns out that Mark was going to be doing the Battlestar panel instead. After hearing that there was no way I could miss that.

That line was even longer than the one the day before. But boy was it super fun, they guys were
having such a fun time and it sooooo showed. They had Dr. Kevin Grazier (who is the science advisor and from NASA) Jamie Bamber, Richard Hatch, Aaron Douglas and Mark Sheppard. I know I was laughing pretty hard. The panel however started late because there was just so many people to get into the room (and it was a very big room) that it took almost half an hour to get everyone seated. So it ended late as well.

I headed start to the picture area because I had a picture with Mark Sheppard also pre-paid. He was scheduled to have already been there but since he was in the panel, I figured he be there later. I actually had to wait a while since no one told poor Mark that he was to be taking pictures. He showed up about half an hour later and an hour after he was suppose it and apologized over and over again.

I got my picture and headed over to the Hilton (my first time there) to the William the Bloody: The Transition to Spike panel. I was meeting everyone there. I only caught the last 15 minutes
of it but wasn’t too impressed. I find that at conventions when they try to do it all, such as panels and star stuff that something suffers. At Dragon Con it was the panels. After the panel Kelly and Matt headed out to meet up with some friends of Kelly, since she is originally from Georgia and still some friends she had to see when she was there. Colleen and I went to check out the dealer room (well the top floor dealer room and I was able to pick some a couple of t-shirts, one for me one for Hubby as a gift). Then we headed to get some thing to eat we choose to eat in the Hilton restaurant just because we were starving and it convent and much to both our surprise was not busy. After dinner we headed back through the 3 hotels and back to ours hotel and once again it was off to bed. And no I wasn’t feeling better, I was actually feeling worse as each day passed.

Monday September 3, 2007

Now I haven’t been to that many conventions but before Dragon Con I haven’t even heard of any going all the way through Monday. So this would be a new expensive for me.

We all got up and got ready, Matt had originally wanted to sleep in but then decided to join at
breakfast. Kelly headed off for a panel and the rest of us went to the walk of fame. I got to see James once again as he was signing autographs and I asked Steve if James would be attending the Goodbye to our guest panel later in the day. He told me that James would be on a plane at that time. So that took care of wanting to go to that panel.

Matt wanted to get Erik Estrada autograph and wanted me to get a picture of him, by some miracle my battery hadn’t died so I was able to. After we wondered around a little we both headed back to the Hyatt for our guest panels. Matt waited with me for my Battlestar Galactica panel since he had to wait for his anyway and figured his wouldn’t too crowned. It was a much more relaxed day then any of the previous one even in the organizers attitude. Instead of clearly the rooms after each panel they decided to just let people stay in them, so we went in a caught the last 20 minutes of the Stargate Panel, it seemed pretty good but I was a little lost.

Then Matt left to look for his cell phone which he had lost, about 5 minutes after that, they announced that they had found a cell phone. I wasn’t able to claim it since I couldn’t tell what
make it was but I got a message to him via Kelly and he was able to claim himself a little later.

The Battlestar Galactica panel was pretty good but Aaron Douglas said I was 4”3” and not in a nice way, after I asked them a question so I am a little mad at him! I asked them what question would they ask each other if they could, and Richard Hatch turned and asked if Aaron was straight, I then said “Why are you interested?” I had meant about Aaron (I was trying to be funny) but I think he thought I was asking for myself (yeah right he ain’t no James Marsters!!!) and he said for me to stand up so he could take a look at me at which Aaron replied “Oh come on man she like 4’3’!” What a ASS!!! I will so have to give him a piece of my mind the next (if even) I see him!

After that “fun” panel was the Star Trek: Data, The Doctor and Q panel. Since I wasn’t able to get to any of the other Star Trek panels I had wanted to at least catch this one. But must to my dismay only John de Lancie showed up and he was boring! I really don’t want to seem mean he was just very short with his answers and he just didn’t really seemed like he wanted to talk a lot which sucks in a Q&A. I got so bored that I headed out before the panel was over about half way through and ran into Matt who had come in to the panel since his had been moved to an earlier time without him knowing and therefore had missed it. So we both headed out. I wanted to go to the dealer room and really check it out. So that’s what we did. Matt is a really great people to go to a dealer room with because he noticed things other people (like me) miss altogether. We ended up at Georges Jeanty table he was the one that is drawing the new Buffy: Season 8 comics, and in my opinion doing a great job. We got to talk to him for a while and I bought a sketch book he was selling. He even drew me a picture in it, he asked who my favorite charter was and then drew my own picture of Spike! Cool!! We wondered around a bit more and were joined by Kelly and then Colleen. Then our Dragon Con experience came to a close.

We made a couple more rounds, back through the hotels and then back to our hotel.

The only time we really had for any sight seeing was Monday afternoon and evening so I had us scheduled to visit the Coke museum and then Atlanta Underground. The Museum was fun if not a little hoking at times but still worth seeing. A few fun movies and stuff. Also I was the only one who didn’t get sick in the tasting room, I knew enough not to drink too much.

After that we went to the Underground which I had read was a nice shopping place, well it USE IT BE a nice shopping place now it was more run down and full of not the greatest stores it almost
reminded me of a flea market. We did not stay, even though we were suppose to have dinner there.

We ended up at a Mexican restaurant for dinner and then we had to find a drug store since Magie had run out of drugs and she needed her drugs.

Then it was the sad, sad time to say goodbye to Kelly and Matt! I hate that part! It was so great to see them again!!! Colleen even said after they left, that they were great people. Well course I have great taste in friends. We didn’t do anything that night other than pack up since we had to leave early the next day.

Tuesday September 4, 2007

Today was a simple boring day. Basically it was get up, go to airport, GET TO GATE ON TIME and fly home. Lines were nuts at Canadian customs but nothing major, and that was it for my Dragon Con adventure!


Magie

Oh a side note a few days later after I got back I realized I hadn’t seen my poster tub, the one I took to Atlanta, that had all my signed posters in it, many of which had been signed by several guests before Dragon Con. The last place I had seen it was in the cab on the way home. And I couldn’t remember the cab company I took home. Well after looking all over the house and not finding it and freaking out, (these posters are irreplaceable to me)! And after calling 15 cab companies to see if they had it turned in, and freaking out! One of the cab companies told me that if anyone leave anything in their cabs they have to return it the airport lost and found. So after I called Terminal 1 (the one I came through) and was told they did not have it. I freaked out again. My last hope was the lost and found at Terminal 3. And some one up there must like me because they had it! OMG! Thanks god I found it!!!!