Chicon - Friday
We had a leisurely start to the day as things didn't officially kick off until 1pm. Don't ask me to tell you what I did though as I can't remember.
I do remember panicking when I checked the schedule first thing in the morning and discovered my Matt/Richard meet and greet was today and not on Saturday as I had thought.
Oh, wait, I can! I popped into the Vendor Room to buy some pictures to get signed and say hello to heavenreturned who was manning the food drive table. She asked me to find a suitable Richard print as she couldn't leave her post, which I was happy to do since they didn't actually need me to volunteer like I was supposed to.
So I found nice prints of everyone for me and a nice Richard one for Melissa.
Shortly after that I ran into lizajaneok who happened to be checking in just as I wandered past. Hugs were exchanged and we decided to go and have lunch together (along with Lisa's Japanese friend who I have forgotten the name of - but she was at the Misha meet and greet with us on Sunday). So we had food and chatted and Lisa is just adorable.
I had delicious eggs, asparagus and brown rice. It was yummy!
We went back to the food drive table after lunch as Lisa had brought some minions badges to hand out to anyone who donated. Melissa had brought a little knitted Castiel and Gabriel so I decided to kit them out with badges too
Then it was time for the first panel. Good call by Creation having Matt Cohen go first. The guy is a riot and a great way to get the crowd going.
I certainly don't remember everything he said but I do remember him saying if he could play any monster it would be a shapeshifter who took the form of Marilyn Monroe and decapitated people by spinning and using her dress as a weapon.
There was also a random question about whether he knew how to do The Jerk. Matt had never heard of it (and neither had I) so he got the girl up on stage and got her to teach him. Well, that was it. Matt spent most of the weekend Jerking. LOL.
As well as being really funny he's also incredibly kind and genuine. He's really eager to be involved in Random Acts and right at the end of the panel he gave a lovely heartfelt speech about how he wouldn't even be here if it wasn't for our support.
Such a nice guy!
Most of my panel pics came out really badly due to the actors moving a lot combined with poor lighting
So after that I had to dash from there straight to the meet and greet with him and Richard. Got slightly lost trying to find where I was supposed to be (and evil bitca on the 'information' desk was no help whatsoever) but I eventually found it and I don't think I was even the last one to arrive.
Slightly surreal moment when, while we were waiting for Matt and Richard to arrive, we all went around the table introducing ourselves. When I said my name three people went 'OMG I KNOW YOU!'
Turns out kijikun, morganoconner and jabber_moose were all there. So that was cool.
Not long after that Matt and Richard arrived and they made us all go around the table and introduce ourselves again. When I said I was from the UK Matt halted proceedings for a moment.
M: Oh, hey, you can answer something for me.
H: Sure, I can try.
M: Okay, so you know the C word?
H: *this is not going anywhere near where I thought* Yeah...
M: Well, I have some British friends who are in a band and they told me you guys don't pronounce the t at the end of the word. Is that true?
H: Uh...no. We pronounce it.
M: Say it! Go on, I dare you!
H: *blushing bright red* Cunt
M: Ahhh, it's not as clipped as we pronounce it. Okay, good.
H: *is mortified but smiling at the same time*
I can't remember everything we talked about. Oh, we talked about food because Jason Manns had twitted a picture of him and Richard having pizza and people wanted to know where they had gone. He said some Chicagoans on the plane had recommended a place (can't remember the name now) but that he'd also heard Giordano's was good. Well, of course, I had to flail over the epic stuffed pizza we had consumed the night before.
Richard talked a bit about his Pepsi commercial and said there was another one coming out soon. I told him I was amazed at how many commercial breaks US TV has and we went on to have a small srs bsns conversation about how the BBC works compared to our other channels (He thought Channel 4 and Sky were the same thing)
Matt and Richard said they were hosting the karaoke later on and that they expected us all to be there. They also said that they planned on rearranging the room to create more of a party atmosphere as at the last one everyone had been sitting down in their seats.
Well, their plan worked (more on that later).
I can't remember how we got onto it but I think Richard was talking about VanCon and he mentioned Purple Nurples. I said that I'd never had one and Richard told me I should get the bartender to make me one. Matt had never heard of Purple Nurples before so Richard explained that they had featured in his first episode. Matt was genuinely intrigued and wanted to know what was in one. No one knew so he whipped out his phone and looked it up. There was then some debate on how you pronounce Curacao. LOL.
It was a lot of fun. I was really surprised to learn that Matt and Richard only met at an SPN con a couple of years back. They seem to get along really well with each other.
So the meet and greet was pretty amazing. Don't tell anyone but I think I actually enjoyed it more than the Misha one ;)
And here we all are
So then we had photo ops with Matt and really he is just so attractive. bindaroonie made a good point that I agree with though that he's so down to earth, nice and friendly that you completely forget how hot he is when you're talking to him. Which is a good thing really.
(I really need to learn to tone down my beaming in these pics. I look like a freak)
After that it was time for Richard's panel. Just beforehand a bunch of us decided to get Metallicar pics (it was only a banner but who cares)
Again, Richard was awesome and hilarious. He started off by jumping off the stage and running to the back of the room to he could talk to the people in 'the cheap seats'. He really does just want everyone to have the best experience (which is more than can be said for Creation themselves but more on that later). So he stood around at the back for a bit and asked if anyone there was from overseas. qthelights put her hand up and Richard asked why she was sitting by herself. She said that her friends (us) were in gold. So Richard grabs her hand and pulls her down to the front and berates myself, harper47 and squeemonster for not buying her a gold ticket and he pulled harper47 out of her seat and tried to make her sit at the back. Eventually we compromised and qthelights sat with us for the remainder of the panel.
At various intervals during Richard's talk he said that he was too hot and took a refreshing drink from a bottle of Pepsi Max *g* It was hilarious. He also had several Pepsi t-shirts which he removed at various points (and later he signed them and auctioned them off for a war veteran charity)
Again, I can't remember a lot of his panel but at one point someone asked him if he thought Gabriel liked Sam or Dean better and Richard said Dean because Dean was the one who got through to him in the end and got him to stand up. My Sam/Gabriel shipper heart wept ;)
After that it was time for the photo op with Richard. After the pic was done he smiled and said 'Hils, right?' He really does try hard to remember everyone he meets. Did I mention he was adorable? I can't wait to see him again at A5
This is probably my least dorky pic. I like it.
So on a spur of the moment thing harper47 decided to split the cost of a Richard/Matt duo pic (I had been considering it and then talked myself out of it). We thought we should get them to do something funny. harper47 suggested we get them to hug each other and I said we should lean on them and do the thumbs up.
Then it was time for autographs. We spent a lot of time sitting around waiting for our line to be called but it worked out quite well really. Just as we got to Richard the photographer popped up next to us and presented us with copies of our duo pic (he liked it so much he gave us two copies instead of charging us for a second print). I can't even remember what I was talking to Richard about (I think I mentioned I'd be seeing him in Birmingham) because we started flailing all over the pic. Hee!
When we got around to Matt I thanked him for being such a good sport with the pic and he said no problem. There was a copy on the table and I thought it was mine so I moved to pick it up when Matt stopped me 'Oh, that's my copy. I asked for one to be printed out'
*flail*
So, yeah, Matt Cohen owns a photo of me and harper47. LOL.
After that I ran into lizajaneok again and she introduced me to brihana25 who I had been looking for all day. We chatted for a bit and then we headed to MacDonald's to get a nutritious dinner ;)
Just as I was getting changed for the karaoke party scarletsherlock called me to tell me that she'd seen my photo on Matt's table so she'd told him that she knew me and he'd said how sweet I was N'AWW!
Karaoke was a lot of fun. Matt and Richard were giving it their all, singing backing for everyone and dancing around and just having a good time. brihana25 found me and performed a random act of kindness by dragging me over to meet scarletsherlock who had been looking for me for hours. LOL.
And we FINALLY (and for the only time, I believe) managed to get all of the Team Assbutt chicon reps together for a photo
We are sexy bitches!
Eventually, though, the jetlag hit me and I had to crawl off to bed