Home!
Finally got a few minutes to sit down and write an update after a crazy few days. Here's a brief recap of what's been going on
Thursday I took the train down to Heathrow which was quite weird as I'll be there again in a couple of months when I fly to the US.
On the train down the Pens decided to start posting deeply upsetting photos such as this one while they were at the White House
By the time I arrived at the hotel the news had broken that Barack Obama had applauded Stanley Cup Champion Phil Kessel and I was 100% done with life
Even though I was there the day before the con there was a large group of people wearing flower crowns and sitting outside who kindly directed me to the entrance of the hotel when I couldn't find the way in. Great start :D
Had a quick shower, donned my flower crown and then I was ready to go :D
My friend Luke and I took the tube back to Kings Cross, grabbed some dinner and then it was time to see In The Heights. We had AMAZING seats
I could pretty much touch the stage with my foot and a few times during the performance I was worried I was going to trip some of the dancers who came by my seat to get on stage.
It was a fantastic show! I was a bit worried given how much I'd been listening to the broadway cast soundtrack that I'd spend the whole show making comparissons but I didn't. And the guy playing Benny was HOT :D
I always forget how long it takes to get to Heathrow on the tube so it was pushing midnight by the time we got back to the hotel. I crashed pretty much as soon as we got back.
Although why a bed needs this many cushions I do not know.
Friday was pretty much a quiet day where we loitered in the hotel lobby and waited for all our friends to arrive. It was during this time that I was treated to the full Fannibal experience. Now I've done a lot of cons over the years. Some of them fandom cons like this one where the actors are present, and some of them fan-run fan cons where it's just fans in attendance. Anyway, this con is without a doubt the nicest fandom con I have ever been to. Complete strangers kept coming up to us and giving us little presents. Not for money, not with any kind of agenda, just because we're all in the same fandom and they wanted to do something nice. I've never had that happen before!
Here's a selections of some of the goodies I ended up with over the weekend
That's candy shaped like body parts in case you were wondering
Once everyone had arrived we ventured out to find a Supermarket so we could stock up on drinks and snacks for the weekend. While we were out I had a bit of a fangirl moment
:D
We got back just in time to grab some dinner and then it was time for the opening ceremony. It wasn't anything major. Each of the actors came on stage for a couple of minutes to say hello and that was it.
While we were waiting to go in, though, the true star of the convention made an appearance
Oh, and the decor of the hotel was thematically appropriate
Straight after that we had a meet and greet for the gold ticket holders which basically involved us sitting around a table, drinking moonshine and playing Exploding Kittens until one of the actors came to sit with us for a few minutes
Saturday was mostly panels which I'm sure people will write up better than I. I livetweeted what people were saying so that those who weren't at the con could follow. I know how much I've appreciated that at cons I haven't been able to attend so I wanted to do the same for others. Anyway, despite writing everything down on Twitter I can't remember a lot of what people said. I do remember Katharine Isabelle telling hilarious stories (and looking amazing).
I have a few pics that I took. Just a selection as you don't need to see 30 pics of various actors holding microphones ;)
After that I got my autographs. It was quite funny because I met Hettienne first and she signed my book using a gold pen. Then everyone else I went to see decided they needed to sign in gold too so I now have a lovely Hannibal book filled with gold autographs
Okay, while we were waiting for everyone to gather for dinner I was chatting with my friend Wendy about hockey fic (of course) and talking about the different pairings I read
Me: Sid/Geno, Phil/Carl, Jamie/Tyler, I read one Sid/Ovechkin fic
Wendy: Oh! Was it the really long one?
Me: No?
Wendy: *shoves Kindle at me*
Me: Uh...
See, everyone teases me for enabling them and dragging them into new fandoms/pairings but it happens to me too! I was going to read just a few pages to determine it wasn't for me and ended up spending most of the weekend reading it and not talking to people. Oops :/
But it's 130k and ended up being really good! GDI WENDY!
We went to an amazing pub down the road for dinner and I had the HUGEST burger. I couldn't eat it all there was so much but it was really tasty
Sunday was Eddie Izzard day and his autograph session overlapped some more panels but since they were mostly repeats of what had been said the day before I went in and got my Eddie autograph as soon as the doors opened and then we loitered until Eddie's panel
He was wearing the most amazing boots btw
His panel was by far the best one. He's very intelligent and took all of the questions very seriously. A lot of actors when asked questions just say the first thing that pop into their heads but when Eddie was asked what the theme song for his Hannibal character would be he took a good five minutes to think about it and find a song that represented a cross-section of Abel's personality. He was a delight to listen to and it was worth the price of the con ticket alone just to listen to him talk.
We headed back to the excellent pub again for dinner and I had duck breast which was later pointed out looked like something Hannibal would cook
Then, saddest of days, it was time to go home on Monday. I had a great time hanging out with all my friends, eating amazing food and converting one of my Twitter friends to hockey (She's chosen the Caps as her teams but I won't judge). That's me done in terms of time off until Christmas now.
But it is only 3 months (93 days according to my phone) until my hockey road trip so YAY
I have, however, managed to come down with Con Crud after attending a whole bunch of cons over the past few months and managing to avoid getting ill. It was bound to happen sooner or later I suppose.
Oh, and my fic is finally done! Properly done this time. My beta is giving it one final look over and I should be ready to post tomorrow. Eek!
Thursday I took the train down to Heathrow which was quite weird as I'll be there again in a couple of months when I fly to the US.
On the train down the Pens decided to start posting deeply upsetting photos such as this one while they were at the White House
By the time I arrived at the hotel the news had broken that Barack Obama had applauded Stanley Cup Champion Phil Kessel and I was 100% done with life
Even though I was there the day before the con there was a large group of people wearing flower crowns and sitting outside who kindly directed me to the entrance of the hotel when I couldn't find the way in. Great start :D
Had a quick shower, donned my flower crown and then I was ready to go :D
My friend Luke and I took the tube back to Kings Cross, grabbed some dinner and then it was time to see In The Heights. We had AMAZING seats
I could pretty much touch the stage with my foot and a few times during the performance I was worried I was going to trip some of the dancers who came by my seat to get on stage.
It was a fantastic show! I was a bit worried given how much I'd been listening to the broadway cast soundtrack that I'd spend the whole show making comparissons but I didn't. And the guy playing Benny was HOT :D
I always forget how long it takes to get to Heathrow on the tube so it was pushing midnight by the time we got back to the hotel. I crashed pretty much as soon as we got back.
Although why a bed needs this many cushions I do not know.
Friday was pretty much a quiet day where we loitered in the hotel lobby and waited for all our friends to arrive. It was during this time that I was treated to the full Fannibal experience. Now I've done a lot of cons over the years. Some of them fandom cons like this one where the actors are present, and some of them fan-run fan cons where it's just fans in attendance. Anyway, this con is without a doubt the nicest fandom con I have ever been to. Complete strangers kept coming up to us and giving us little presents. Not for money, not with any kind of agenda, just because we're all in the same fandom and they wanted to do something nice. I've never had that happen before!
Here's a selections of some of the goodies I ended up with over the weekend
That's candy shaped like body parts in case you were wondering
Once everyone had arrived we ventured out to find a Supermarket so we could stock up on drinks and snacks for the weekend. While we were out I had a bit of a fangirl moment
:D
We got back just in time to grab some dinner and then it was time for the opening ceremony. It wasn't anything major. Each of the actors came on stage for a couple of minutes to say hello and that was it.
While we were waiting to go in, though, the true star of the convention made an appearance
Oh, and the decor of the hotel was thematically appropriate
Straight after that we had a meet and greet for the gold ticket holders which basically involved us sitting around a table, drinking moonshine and playing Exploding Kittens until one of the actors came to sit with us for a few minutes
Saturday was mostly panels which I'm sure people will write up better than I. I livetweeted what people were saying so that those who weren't at the con could follow. I know how much I've appreciated that at cons I haven't been able to attend so I wanted to do the same for others. Anyway, despite writing everything down on Twitter I can't remember a lot of what people said. I do remember Katharine Isabelle telling hilarious stories (and looking amazing).
I have a few pics that I took. Just a selection as you don't need to see 30 pics of various actors holding microphones ;)
After that I got my autographs. It was quite funny because I met Hettienne first and she signed my book using a gold pen. Then everyone else I went to see decided they needed to sign in gold too so I now have a lovely Hannibal book filled with gold autographs
Okay, while we were waiting for everyone to gather for dinner I was chatting with my friend Wendy about hockey fic (of course) and talking about the different pairings I read
Me: Sid/Geno, Phil/Carl, Jamie/Tyler, I read one Sid/Ovechkin fic
Wendy: Oh! Was it the really long one?
Me: No?
Wendy: *shoves Kindle at me*
Me: Uh...
See, everyone teases me for enabling them and dragging them into new fandoms/pairings but it happens to me too! I was going to read just a few pages to determine it wasn't for me and ended up spending most of the weekend reading it and not talking to people. Oops :/
But it's 130k and ended up being really good! GDI WENDY!
We went to an amazing pub down the road for dinner and I had the HUGEST burger. I couldn't eat it all there was so much but it was really tasty
Sunday was Eddie Izzard day and his autograph session overlapped some more panels but since they were mostly repeats of what had been said the day before I went in and got my Eddie autograph as soon as the doors opened and then we loitered until Eddie's panel
He was wearing the most amazing boots btw
His panel was by far the best one. He's very intelligent and took all of the questions very seriously. A lot of actors when asked questions just say the first thing that pop into their heads but when Eddie was asked what the theme song for his Hannibal character would be he took a good five minutes to think about it and find a song that represented a cross-section of Abel's personality. He was a delight to listen to and it was worth the price of the con ticket alone just to listen to him talk.
We headed back to the excellent pub again for dinner and I had duck breast which was later pointed out looked like something Hannibal would cook
Then, saddest of days, it was time to go home on Monday. I had a great time hanging out with all my friends, eating amazing food and converting one of my Twitter friends to hockey (She's chosen the Caps as her teams but I won't judge). That's me done in terms of time off until Christmas now.
But it is only 3 months (93 days according to my phone) until my hockey road trip so YAY
I have, however, managed to come down with Con Crud after attending a whole bunch of cons over the past few months and managing to avoid getting ill. It was bound to happen sooner or later I suppose.
Oh, and my fic is finally done! Properly done this time. My beta is giving it one final look over and I should be ready to post tomorrow. Eek!