11 Days of Con

[heavenli24]

So, Ive just returned home from the most manic 11 con days of my life. Between Friday 12th and Monday 22nd May, I attended three conventions in two different countries: Asylum 18 in Blackpool, England, JIBLand2 in Rome and JIB8 in Rome… and now I’m exhausted :P.

Comments

[heavenli24]

Thanks :). I'm not quite sure if it's a good or a bad thing that I don't really get nervous around the guests anymore - on the one hand it makes it easier to talk to them, but on the other, it's kind of like the 'specialness' of meeting them is gone.

JIBLand was really cool - the Welcome Party at was actually standing up and mingling in one of the business meeting areas in the hotel, just chatting to them out in the sunshine on the roof. It was lovely - like a dinner party setting or something :).

David G. told us about how the Adalind baby storyline was written in because Claire Coffee was pregnant herself, and he asked us for our opinions on some of the storylines - I got the feeling he thought some of them were a bit ridiculous (which, to be fair, they kind of were :P). Sasha was a lot of fun and when Daniela said we could go outside to the roof for some fresh air, he was like 'what, just me, or can they come too?' and so we were joking that we'd have to shout across the room to him :P. I have a vague memory of David saying how much he loves Portland and was sad to leave. It's sad they didn't have any cons in Portland - I got the feeling Sasha and David are pretty new to the con circuit in general.

JIB was a lot of fun - though this year seemed busier than normal and everything was running late, especially on Sunday. I was getting frustrated with it, especially as they cancelled Jensen's Saturday panel (though we did get bonus J2 instead), and then all the J2 panels were cut short and we only got about 30 minutes of each instead of 45-50 minutes, and also after already spending several days doing cons and also having a bad cough, I was really tired... but my Jensen auto, then his emotional speech on stage, and finally the Monday concert made up for it all :).

It would be nice to have something like JIB in the US, though it would have to be small to have the same intimate atmosphere, and I guess Creation has exclusive contracts with J2M. The US cons have several pros though - you have Chris Schmelke (the JIB photographers and lighting are pretty bad), Rich and Matt's karaoke, the SNS, and the panels don't clash with the extras. Usually I can get everything done at JIB without missing much (maybe a few minutes of a panel), but this year I missed quite a lot because of J2 photos and Jensen autos running so late.