My travel 2012 saga - post #3 Jibcon Saturday & Sunday
This is so late in posting but nonetheless, I'm going to finally post the rest of my Jibcon experience. Internet access has been limited and I've been busy. :)
As much as I may have had some issues with the con as a whole, they were primarily just me things, the lack of personal space issues and the isolation I felt as I say below, but I will state unequivocally, the panels at this convention are some of the best I have seen. I loved that they mixed them up, that they had individual and joint panels that you just don't get at the Creation cons and that you got to see everybody more than once. The fact that they have a opening and a closing ceremony with all the celebs onstage is such fun.
Saturday start out well as I had finally gotten a great full night's sleep and with two photo ops that day, I was pleased that the dark circles under my eyes were gone. Plus, the general exhaustion had passed.
I went downstairs to the hall and again there were swarms of fans lining the halls, those with Hunter passes who didn't actually get to go in and see the panels live and who waited to catch a glimpse of the actors as they entered and left the rooms. I asked one of the security guys if they had started letting people in yet as the opening ceremony was to start. He said no so I waited with the swarm until I heard music blasting and saw someone dashing for the door. He clearly had misunderstood my question. It was almost better for me though as I dashed in and stood by the wall and a lot closer to the front than where my actual seat was, about two-third of the way back. It was a short opening and then it was off for the photo op.
I'm going to backtrack here and say that I have been known to be a bit star-struck by both Misha & Jensen. Actually a lot star-struck. When I had the opportunity to chat however briefly with Misha on Friday at the autograph session, yes, I had a bit of the butterflies in stomach thing going on but I actually didn't babble. When in line for the Jensen photo, I was surprised that I was actually feeling quite calm, not at all terrified that I would make an idiot of myself as I had the first time I met him. I was still very excited mind you and know I had a goofy smile on my face while standing in line.
I'm also going to digress a bit more and comment on the general feel of this convention for me. It was challenging for me to meet people, bottom line. When I stood in the lines, most people were chattering away in a language that I do not understand. It definitely felt isolating. Not that I hadn't spoken to people but it made it that much harder to find anything to connect with. I did chat with a couple of women from Spain and helped a woman who I think was Italian as she was trying to juggle her things and tie a ribbon around a CD of songs for Jared's baby (very sweet gift.) I salute those people I have met at North American conventions who's first language is not English and who have attended by themselves. I don't believe I will do another foreign language con again unless I was going with someone but hey, it was an experience and I believe I have said elsewhere that I do attend these for the panels and again as I said before, the Jibcon panels are some of the best I've seen. Admittedly though, the thing I have loved about going to the cons is the connection with other fans and that was somewhat lacking for me here.
So back to the actual day.
When I got to the actual photo op door, (and yes both Jensen & later Jared were sitting on stools,) I was advised that there was to be no hugging. I thought that was rather odd but whatever. Just standing next to him was fine by me. When it was my turn, and I'd been thinking of something reasonably intelligent to say, not another 'wow, are you ever tall', I blurted out that I liked his scruff. I do like that look on him. I really wanted to touch it but I am definitely not that bold. Haha! Instead, he smiled & rubbed his hand over it and said "I like it too. It means I'm on vacation." Sweet! Then he put his arm around me - I flailed a little inside - we smiled and that was it. I definitely went out of there with a huge smile on my face, just like the first time. I do adore Misha, but Jensen turns me into a puddle of goo. And I love the way the photo turned out. Yay!
I took my huge smile into the panel room in time to see the last of Jim Beaver's panel, a good 20 minutes of it. I'd not seen him in person before and was looking forward to it. Luckily he did a second one Sunday which I caught in total. He commented that while there have been rumors flying about the season 8 pick-up, nothing was official. He continued by saying that it would be highly unlikely that it wasn't picked up given that they had signed new production staff. Of course, now we know it is official.
Jim was delightful and very self-effacing. A fun panel.
Sebastian and Mark's panel was fun. I really enjoyed Mark at this con. He is classy, answers questions thoughtfully and attempted somewhat vainly, to hold Sebastian in check. Richard was definitely the one in charge of the Sebastian leash throughout. :)
Next up was what everyone had been waiting for the Jensen & Jared panel. And the crowd went wild when they started to sneak in from stage right. I saw the door open and pointed my camera in the general direction and good some surprisingly good shots, one of the best I had managed of Jensen for sure as far as focus went and when I get home, I will post some of the pictures. I am just not able to do so from this iPad which is a shame. The boys were in fine form all of which you can and no doubt have read elsewhere. They were lovely with everyone, funny and kind. I have lots of pictures from way back in the cheap seats (mostly of Jensen I confess) a few of which are pretty decent. Again, posting those later.
Next was my photo op with Jared during which he had me laughing. I remarked about his scruff too (could not think of anything original at that point) which he scratched and then he put his arm around me which was very nice. He still smells so good. I then spewed 'even sitting down you are tall' to which he said, 'that's me, tall and scruffy'. I couldn't help but laugh and for that, my face is all screwed up in the photo. Lol! He is charming that man.
There was a break, at least for me and then the rest of the afternoon was three individual panels of Jensen, Misha, and Jared to look forward to. I made it in early so as not to miss any of Jensen's and caught the end of Brock's panel. Brock has definitely grown and actually does a good job with the crowd. So different from that first convention he did in Vancouver which was painful for the audience and I'm sure for him too.
Jensen was delightful but Misha cracked everyone up with his comments about how gay the scene was where Dean had kept Castiel's trench coat. More was said about that at the joint Jensen Misha panel the next morning. Jared was as adorkable as he usually is. I do love all three of them for the panels they do.
I squeezed in to get Jensen's autograph and he smiled every so nicely. I can't remember what I said but know that he was as charming as every. And that was the end of my Saturday. I missed the Jason Manns concert that night as I was still trying to catch up on sleep and I am sorry I did miss it as I heard it was terrific.
That night was another fitful night's sleep in prep of course for the picture with Jensen and Misha which was up first thing that morning. I lined up and met up in the line with the lovely Holly who I'd briefly chatted with before and we exchanged cell numbers so we could get together once we were in Rome during the balance of the week. The pic was fun and I got them to do some blue steel faces for me. I'd done the prom picture last year at Vancon so wanted something different and they obliged. :) me smiling in the middle of them with the awesome faces - couldn't help myself. It was a lovely sandwich.
I did make it to see all of Jim's panel, after which was Jason and then Jensen again! Did I mention how much I loved all these panels. :) After lunch, I got my Jared autograph and this was when I helped the woman juggle all her things in line so she could give Jared the CD of lullablies for Thomas. I got a wink from Jared which had me grinning.
I'll do another aside here to talk about one of the panels and I honestly can't remember which day it was, pretty sure it was Saturday but it was a Jared one. Apparently there was some concern that Jared was drinking onstage but what actually happened was that a bunch of them had been in the green room, Jensen, Richard, Mark, Brock and Jared and Jared had ordered a beer which hadn't arrived by the time his panel was to start. (Let's give the man a break here - one beer, a boy that size, we're not talking alcoholism.) He went to go on stage, complete with a towel wrapped around his head, like a Lawrence of Arabia thing. The beer arrived in the green room, Jensen told the waiter to deliver it on stage which the waiter declined to do, so Jensen decided that all of them in the green room would deliver it. They grabbed some napkins to use like waiters' towels, ran on stage, lay a napkin down like a table cloth and served the beer, requesting that Jared taste test it first. It was hilarious, the improv, the straight faces on them all and the crowd had a good laugh about it. This does not happen at north American cons. :)
So back to Sunday... After the autograph, I went for a needed break and unfortunately missed Rob's panel as I hadn't looked carefully enough at the program. I call sleep deprived in that issue. Fortunately, I didn't miss any of the rest if the day's panels which included Jared/Misha (they are so funny together, playfully jabbing at each other) Jim/Brock (- rather unlikely panel which turned out to be amusing nonetheless), the Richard/Sebastian/Mark panel (during which there was hilarious improv on Richard and Mark's parts and where you could see Richard being the Sebastian keeper) and then the Jensen/Misha panel which had to be the highlight of the con for me. Seeing Misha completely undone when a woman brought his old resume to the stage and seeing Jensen and Misha totally lose it laughing was beyond priceless. Misha always attempts to have the upper hand during his panels and for the most part succeeds but this time, he didn't and it was such fun to witness. If you haven't seen the panel, I definitely recommend going to YouTube and viewing it.
So that was it, the end save for the closing ceremony which was just an opportunity to have another glimpse of all the wonderful men who had made the weekend so enjoyable.
I did go to see the Steve show that night which was awesome. He is a fantastic musician and I loved his song selections. Looking forward to seeing him again.
I am so glad I did attend Jibcon. It was an experience I shan't forget, and hey, it got me to Rome!
My next installment will be about the balance of my time spent in Italy. Hope you enjoyed the summary of my Jibcon experience.
As much as I may have had some issues with the con as a whole, they were primarily just me things, the lack of personal space issues and the isolation I felt as I say below, but I will state unequivocally, the panels at this convention are some of the best I have seen. I loved that they mixed them up, that they had individual and joint panels that you just don't get at the Creation cons and that you got to see everybody more than once. The fact that they have a opening and a closing ceremony with all the celebs onstage is such fun.
Saturday start out well as I had finally gotten a great full night's sleep and with two photo ops that day, I was pleased that the dark circles under my eyes were gone. Plus, the general exhaustion had passed.
I went downstairs to the hall and again there were swarms of fans lining the halls, those with Hunter passes who didn't actually get to go in and see the panels live and who waited to catch a glimpse of the actors as they entered and left the rooms. I asked one of the security guys if they had started letting people in yet as the opening ceremony was to start. He said no so I waited with the swarm until I heard music blasting and saw someone dashing for the door. He clearly had misunderstood my question. It was almost better for me though as I dashed in and stood by the wall and a lot closer to the front than where my actual seat was, about two-third of the way back. It was a short opening and then it was off for the photo op.
I'm going to backtrack here and say that I have been known to be a bit star-struck by both Misha & Jensen. Actually a lot star-struck. When I had the opportunity to chat however briefly with Misha on Friday at the autograph session, yes, I had a bit of the butterflies in stomach thing going on but I actually didn't babble. When in line for the Jensen photo, I was surprised that I was actually feeling quite calm, not at all terrified that I would make an idiot of myself as I had the first time I met him. I was still very excited mind you and know I had a goofy smile on my face while standing in line.
I'm also going to digress a bit more and comment on the general feel of this convention for me. It was challenging for me to meet people, bottom line. When I stood in the lines, most people were chattering away in a language that I do not understand. It definitely felt isolating. Not that I hadn't spoken to people but it made it that much harder to find anything to connect with. I did chat with a couple of women from Spain and helped a woman who I think was Italian as she was trying to juggle her things and tie a ribbon around a CD of songs for Jared's baby (very sweet gift.) I salute those people I have met at North American conventions who's first language is not English and who have attended by themselves. I don't believe I will do another foreign language con again unless I was going with someone but hey, it was an experience and I believe I have said elsewhere that I do attend these for the panels and again as I said before, the Jibcon panels are some of the best I've seen. Admittedly though, the thing I have loved about going to the cons is the connection with other fans and that was somewhat lacking for me here.
So back to the actual day.
When I got to the actual photo op door, (and yes both Jensen & later Jared were sitting on stools,) I was advised that there was to be no hugging. I thought that was rather odd but whatever. Just standing next to him was fine by me. When it was my turn, and I'd been thinking of something reasonably intelligent to say, not another 'wow, are you ever tall', I blurted out that I liked his scruff. I do like that look on him. I really wanted to touch it but I am definitely not that bold. Haha! Instead, he smiled & rubbed his hand over it and said "I like it too. It means I'm on vacation." Sweet! Then he put his arm around me - I flailed a little inside - we smiled and that was it. I definitely went out of there with a huge smile on my face, just like the first time. I do adore Misha, but Jensen turns me into a puddle of goo. And I love the way the photo turned out. Yay!
I took my huge smile into the panel room in time to see the last of Jim Beaver's panel, a good 20 minutes of it. I'd not seen him in person before and was looking forward to it. Luckily he did a second one Sunday which I caught in total. He commented that while there have been rumors flying about the season 8 pick-up, nothing was official. He continued by saying that it would be highly unlikely that it wasn't picked up given that they had signed new production staff. Of course, now we know it is official.
Jim was delightful and very self-effacing. A fun panel.
Sebastian and Mark's panel was fun. I really enjoyed Mark at this con. He is classy, answers questions thoughtfully and attempted somewhat vainly, to hold Sebastian in check. Richard was definitely the one in charge of the Sebastian leash throughout. :)
Next up was what everyone had been waiting for the Jensen & Jared panel. And the crowd went wild when they started to sneak in from stage right. I saw the door open and pointed my camera in the general direction and good some surprisingly good shots, one of the best I had managed of Jensen for sure as far as focus went and when I get home, I will post some of the pictures. I am just not able to do so from this iPad which is a shame. The boys were in fine form all of which you can and no doubt have read elsewhere. They were lovely with everyone, funny and kind. I have lots of pictures from way back in the cheap seats (mostly of Jensen I confess) a few of which are pretty decent. Again, posting those later.
Next was my photo op with Jared during which he had me laughing. I remarked about his scruff too (could not think of anything original at that point) which he scratched and then he put his arm around me which was very nice. He still smells so good. I then spewed 'even sitting down you are tall' to which he said, 'that's me, tall and scruffy'. I couldn't help but laugh and for that, my face is all screwed up in the photo. Lol! He is charming that man.
There was a break, at least for me and then the rest of the afternoon was three individual panels of Jensen, Misha, and Jared to look forward to. I made it in early so as not to miss any of Jensen's and caught the end of Brock's panel. Brock has definitely grown and actually does a good job with the crowd. So different from that first convention he did in Vancouver which was painful for the audience and I'm sure for him too.
Jensen was delightful but Misha cracked everyone up with his comments about how gay the scene was where Dean had kept Castiel's trench coat. More was said about that at the joint Jensen Misha panel the next morning. Jared was as adorkable as he usually is. I do love all three of them for the panels they do.
I squeezed in to get Jensen's autograph and he smiled every so nicely. I can't remember what I said but know that he was as charming as every. And that was the end of my Saturday. I missed the Jason Manns concert that night as I was still trying to catch up on sleep and I am sorry I did miss it as I heard it was terrific.
That night was another fitful night's sleep in prep of course for the picture with Jensen and Misha which was up first thing that morning. I lined up and met up in the line with the lovely Holly who I'd briefly chatted with before and we exchanged cell numbers so we could get together once we were in Rome during the balance of the week. The pic was fun and I got them to do some blue steel faces for me. I'd done the prom picture last year at Vancon so wanted something different and they obliged. :) me smiling in the middle of them with the awesome faces - couldn't help myself. It was a lovely sandwich.
I did make it to see all of Jim's panel, after which was Jason and then Jensen again! Did I mention how much I loved all these panels. :) After lunch, I got my Jared autograph and this was when I helped the woman juggle all her things in line so she could give Jared the CD of lullablies for Thomas. I got a wink from Jared which had me grinning.
I'll do another aside here to talk about one of the panels and I honestly can't remember which day it was, pretty sure it was Saturday but it was a Jared one. Apparently there was some concern that Jared was drinking onstage but what actually happened was that a bunch of them had been in the green room, Jensen, Richard, Mark, Brock and Jared and Jared had ordered a beer which hadn't arrived by the time his panel was to start. (Let's give the man a break here - one beer, a boy that size, we're not talking alcoholism.) He went to go on stage, complete with a towel wrapped around his head, like a Lawrence of Arabia thing. The beer arrived in the green room, Jensen told the waiter to deliver it on stage which the waiter declined to do, so Jensen decided that all of them in the green room would deliver it. They grabbed some napkins to use like waiters' towels, ran on stage, lay a napkin down like a table cloth and served the beer, requesting that Jared taste test it first. It was hilarious, the improv, the straight faces on them all and the crowd had a good laugh about it. This does not happen at north American cons. :)
So back to Sunday... After the autograph, I went for a needed break and unfortunately missed Rob's panel as I hadn't looked carefully enough at the program. I call sleep deprived in that issue. Fortunately, I didn't miss any of the rest if the day's panels which included Jared/Misha (they are so funny together, playfully jabbing at each other) Jim/Brock (- rather unlikely panel which turned out to be amusing nonetheless), the Richard/Sebastian/Mark panel (during which there was hilarious improv on Richard and Mark's parts and where you could see Richard being the Sebastian keeper) and then the Jensen/Misha panel which had to be the highlight of the con for me. Seeing Misha completely undone when a woman brought his old resume to the stage and seeing Jensen and Misha totally lose it laughing was beyond priceless. Misha always attempts to have the upper hand during his panels and for the most part succeeds but this time, he didn't and it was such fun to witness. If you haven't seen the panel, I definitely recommend going to YouTube and viewing it.
So that was it, the end save for the closing ceremony which was just an opportunity to have another glimpse of all the wonderful men who had made the weekend so enjoyable.
I did go to see the Steve show that night which was awesome. He is a fantastic musician and I loved his song selections. Looking forward to seeing him again.
I am so glad I did attend Jibcon. It was an experience I shan't forget, and hey, it got me to Rome!
My next installment will be about the balance of my time spent in Italy. Hope you enjoyed the summary of my Jibcon experience.