Alternate Universe - Sacramento, CA - July 8-10, 2005
Friday
Since the main part of the con didn't begin until well after noon, _sharvie_ and I made it a point to sleep in as late as possible, despite all the interruptions we had that hindered our quest. At 6am, the room alarm clock went off. Then again 10 minutes later, until _sharvie_ figured out how to disable it. Some time later, the housekeeper was making her rounds, and we'd forgotten to put the "Do Not Disturb" sign out there, so we got woken up again. On the bright side, though, we got a zillion towels out of that. At some other point, spikesgurl called to let us know her approximate arrival time. By that time, I was too awake to even try to sleep anymore, so decided to just shower and get ready for the day's events.
While getting ready, spikesgurl showed up for her big appearance... the girl lost over 60 pounds since I last saw her and she looked absolutely stunning! Kudos to her too, for her amazing determination! After doing the requisite squeeing over seeing each other again, we set out to the mall, which was very conveniently located across the street from the hotel. spikesgurl had to buy her dad b-day gifts, but of course, it couldn't be a trip to the mall where I just watched someone else buy stuff. I couldn't help it. I saw this really nice top and jacket that I just couldn't resist. The amount of money I spent could have gotten me at least three outfits at Old Navy, but I just *had* to have them! Plus, I hadn't brought anything remotely dressy for the cocktail party...
After my volunteer meeting, I had about 20 or so minutes to get ready for the cocktail party, and oanimation hadn't showed up yet! She'd been trying to call me but my phone was being an ass and I couldn't get reception in most of the hotel. When I finally got through to her, she was in the hotel lobby. By the time she made it to the room, she only had time to dump her bags and change quickly before we all headed out.
The party itself was super *tiny*! I'd say there were anywhere between 40 to 50 people, including the guests. It was very cool! If crowds formed around any particular guest, they weren't particularly big. We all had the chance to interact with everyone without having to vie for the attention. It was great! And even better? I'd met a volunteer on my way to the meeting earlier that afternoon, whom, as it turned out, was from L.A. She looked familiar then, but I figured I must have seen her at one of the Ghost of the Robot gigs or something, and she told me that she'd been to several of those. We met up again at the cocktail and we were just talking about random fandom things, when my mind makes the very astute observation that she was very tall. The word "tall" clicked in my head and I had a flashback of the very first GotR gig I ever attended, where I ended up all the way in the back, and surprisingly met an old high school friend that I had been rather close to. He'd arrived there with a friend who was really tall and I'd asked her if she could take pictures for me because she had a vertical advantage over me. Remembering that, I must have looked at her rather strangely, and it took me a few seconds to verbalize my question. I asked her if she knew someone named [insert name here], and she responded with his last name! We both squeed and I told her about that gig and we hugged and just had a total moment! It was so cool! Interesting how such little observations will trigger the mind!
For the most part, I just walked around and stood in people's presence, listening in on conversations and whatnot. I get terribly shy around the actors, so I just stand there and listen to what others have to say. I always love listening in on the conversations with David Fury. He always as some interesting take on this or that, and he's incredibly funny. A very pregnant and adorable Elizabeth Anne Allen was constantly surrounded by people, as was Amber Benson. Bianca Lawson (Kendra) is so tiny!!! She looks wicked different in person, and is a total sweetheart! Johnathan Woodward looked *so* hot with that scruffy/beard look he was sporting! Every time I've seen him, he's just amazing! This time, there was the whole super hottie factor working for him, though. *g*
oanimation and I left the cocktail party a little early because we had to be at the concert doors early. I hadn't even realized how much time had passed, we were having so much fun! When we got to the other side of the hotel, there was already a little crowd there. I was put on "Common Rotation button" hand-out duty. So, I got to stand at the door and give out CoRo buttons to everyone. There was a bit of confusion with how the seating was suppose to work, and I'll admit that I had trouble figuring out how *they* had figured out seating, but it all worked out, at least I think so. *g* The concerts were running behind, as a result, which I think was what led to the James Marsters Talk Back being short. Common Rotation was fucking fantastic! I absolutely love these guys! And I could tell that they won over some new fans, too! The person sitting next to me had never heard them, and she absolutely loved them! Turned out that spikesgurl also loved them!
I think we had to wait a little bit before James came down for his performance. Seeing him after just a couple of months was kinda weird. It was nice to hear him sing again, but it was definitely not with the same anticipation that it used to be for GotR or even the beginning of the UK tour. It was just *nice*. He did sound really good, though. It seemed to me that he never wavered; it was definitely one of the strongest performances I had ever seen him do. And because my camera was being nice to me, I probably took more pictures than I intended. *sheepish*
Like with the concert, there was a bit of messiness with getting everyone to their assigned seats for the Talk Back, but it all worked out. Oh, did I mention that I ended up front row at both the concert and Talk Back? Hee. It was a *very* nice view. One way or another, _sharvie_, oanimation, spikesgurl and I ended up sitting close to each other. The Q&A was okay, not as long as originally planned because JM needed his sleep..... and we didn't get the interaction at the end of the Q&A, which was just him handing out the CDs, rather than the volunteers. Apparently, no one informed James that he was suppose to do that. And something about people getting overly groppy with him. IMHO? That's James-exaggeration. Not that I don't believe there are people out there who take advantage, but I honestly think that something happens whenever he crosses oceans for events. UK!James is different from US!James. Totally his prerogative, of course, but it really annoys me. *shrugs*
I also discovered that for the most part, listening to him talk tends to annoy me. Every once in a while he'll say things that are enlightening, but it's a given that JM and I are from totally different sides of the tracks... quite literally. His perception of things often doesn't make sense to me, and I really wonder how much he truly believes everything he says. Frankly, I don't get it. Maybe it's a youth thing, that I'm just not old enough to understand yet, but so far? Me no understand. Must have a lot to do with that, "He's an artist and male" thing that GraySunrise was explaining to me. *snickers* Although, one on one, it's kinda cool talking to James. Okay, maybe a little more than cool, but I think I'm just too much of a cynic...
So yeah, James talked, and I can't say I remember much of what he said. He and _sharvie_ had an argument about theatre, her POV pretty much clashing with his. It was rather nifty because they both got really into it! Other than that, I remember my camera being involved a lot more than I anticipated... again... *g*
After the Talk Back, I think we went back to the room. I don't actually remember. We might have stayed up for a while, but probably not too long. I had to be up at around 7:30am because I had to be in the photo op room the next morning before 9am. More on that later. :o)
*NOTE: Please do not repost any of the pictures without permission! Thank you.
Since the main part of the con didn't begin until well after noon, _sharvie_ and I made it a point to sleep in as late as possible, despite all the interruptions we had that hindered our quest. At 6am, the room alarm clock went off. Then again 10 minutes later, until _sharvie_ figured out how to disable it. Some time later, the housekeeper was making her rounds, and we'd forgotten to put the "Do Not Disturb" sign out there, so we got woken up again. On the bright side, though, we got a zillion towels out of that. At some other point, spikesgurl called to let us know her approximate arrival time. By that time, I was too awake to even try to sleep anymore, so decided to just shower and get ready for the day's events.
While getting ready, spikesgurl showed up for her big appearance... the girl lost over 60 pounds since I last saw her and she looked absolutely stunning! Kudos to her too, for her amazing determination! After doing the requisite squeeing over seeing each other again, we set out to the mall, which was very conveniently located across the street from the hotel. spikesgurl had to buy her dad b-day gifts, but of course, it couldn't be a trip to the mall where I just watched someone else buy stuff. I couldn't help it. I saw this really nice top and jacket that I just couldn't resist. The amount of money I spent could have gotten me at least three outfits at Old Navy, but I just *had* to have them! Plus, I hadn't brought anything remotely dressy for the cocktail party...
After my volunteer meeting, I had about 20 or so minutes to get ready for the cocktail party, and oanimation hadn't showed up yet! She'd been trying to call me but my phone was being an ass and I couldn't get reception in most of the hotel. When I finally got through to her, she was in the hotel lobby. By the time she made it to the room, she only had time to dump her bags and change quickly before we all headed out.
The party itself was super *tiny*! I'd say there were anywhere between 40 to 50 people, including the guests. It was very cool! If crowds formed around any particular guest, they weren't particularly big. We all had the chance to interact with everyone without having to vie for the attention. It was great! And even better? I'd met a volunteer on my way to the meeting earlier that afternoon, whom, as it turned out, was from L.A. She looked familiar then, but I figured I must have seen her at one of the Ghost of the Robot gigs or something, and she told me that she'd been to several of those. We met up again at the cocktail and we were just talking about random fandom things, when my mind makes the very astute observation that she was very tall. The word "tall" clicked in my head and I had a flashback of the very first GotR gig I ever attended, where I ended up all the way in the back, and surprisingly met an old high school friend that I had been rather close to. He'd arrived there with a friend who was really tall and I'd asked her if she could take pictures for me because she had a vertical advantage over me. Remembering that, I must have looked at her rather strangely, and it took me a few seconds to verbalize my question. I asked her if she knew someone named [insert name here], and she responded with his last name! We both squeed and I told her about that gig and we hugged and just had a total moment! It was so cool! Interesting how such little observations will trigger the mind!
For the most part, I just walked around and stood in people's presence, listening in on conversations and whatnot. I get terribly shy around the actors, so I just stand there and listen to what others have to say. I always love listening in on the conversations with David Fury. He always as some interesting take on this or that, and he's incredibly funny. A very pregnant and adorable Elizabeth Anne Allen was constantly surrounded by people, as was Amber Benson. Bianca Lawson (Kendra) is so tiny!!! She looks wicked different in person, and is a total sweetheart! Johnathan Woodward looked *so* hot with that scruffy/beard look he was sporting! Every time I've seen him, he's just amazing! This time, there was the whole super hottie factor working for him, though. *g*
oanimation and I left the cocktail party a little early because we had to be at the concert doors early. I hadn't even realized how much time had passed, we were having so much fun! When we got to the other side of the hotel, there was already a little crowd there. I was put on "Common Rotation button" hand-out duty. So, I got to stand at the door and give out CoRo buttons to everyone. There was a bit of confusion with how the seating was suppose to work, and I'll admit that I had trouble figuring out how *they* had figured out seating, but it all worked out, at least I think so. *g* The concerts were running behind, as a result, which I think was what led to the James Marsters Talk Back being short. Common Rotation was fucking fantastic! I absolutely love these guys! And I could tell that they won over some new fans, too! The person sitting next to me had never heard them, and she absolutely loved them! Turned out that spikesgurl also loved them!
I think we had to wait a little bit before James came down for his performance. Seeing him after just a couple of months was kinda weird. It was nice to hear him sing again, but it was definitely not with the same anticipation that it used to be for GotR or even the beginning of the UK tour. It was just *nice*. He did sound really good, though. It seemed to me that he never wavered; it was definitely one of the strongest performances I had ever seen him do. And because my camera was being nice to me, I probably took more pictures than I intended. *sheepish*
Like with the concert, there was a bit of messiness with getting everyone to their assigned seats for the Talk Back, but it all worked out. Oh, did I mention that I ended up front row at both the concert and Talk Back? Hee. It was a *very* nice view. One way or another, _sharvie_, oanimation, spikesgurl and I ended up sitting close to each other. The Q&A was okay, not as long as originally planned because JM needed his sleep..... and we didn't get the interaction at the end of the Q&A, which was just him handing out the CDs, rather than the volunteers. Apparently, no one informed James that he was suppose to do that. And something about people getting overly groppy with him. IMHO? That's James-exaggeration. Not that I don't believe there are people out there who take advantage, but I honestly think that something happens whenever he crosses oceans for events. UK!James is different from US!James. Totally his prerogative, of course, but it really annoys me. *shrugs*
I also discovered that for the most part, listening to him talk tends to annoy me. Every once in a while he'll say things that are enlightening, but it's a given that JM and I are from totally different sides of the tracks... quite literally. His perception of things often doesn't make sense to me, and I really wonder how much he truly believes everything he says. Frankly, I don't get it. Maybe it's a youth thing, that I'm just not old enough to understand yet, but so far? Me no understand. Must have a lot to do with that, "He's an artist and male" thing that GraySunrise was explaining to me. *snickers* Although, one on one, it's kinda cool talking to James. Okay, maybe a little more than cool, but I think I'm just too much of a cynic...
So yeah, James talked, and I can't say I remember much of what he said. He and _sharvie_ had an argument about theatre, her POV pretty much clashing with his. It was rather nifty because they both got really into it! Other than that, I remember my camera being involved a lot more than I anticipated... again... *g*
After the Talk Back, I think we went back to the room. I don't actually remember. We might have stayed up for a while, but probably not too long. I had to be up at around 7:30am because I had to be in the photo op room the next morning before 9am. More on that later. :o)
*NOTE: Please do not repost any of the pictures without permission! Thank you.