AECON3 aka my single most awesome experience ever
Sorry this is huge... because it was already very long, I didn't go into the panels very much, as it's all over tumblr anyway. That doesn't mean you can't ask me about it if you're curious (in fact, ask anything), I just didn't wanna make you read something you've read 10 times before. XD
Okay, I suppose I need to finally write my report before it’s been too long and I don’t remember all the important things.
Just let me say: I AM SO FUCKING GLAD I DID THIS. I hoped so badly that I didn’t get my hopes up too much, and -even though I was super excited for the con - I didn’t. It was so much more amazing than I could have ever imagined. I met the sweetest and most amazing people and I already miss you all so much. AND I REGRET NOTHING. I am so doing this again. (Just don’t know which con yet, because I’d like to go for a bigger one next time… but I’m considering Asylum9, let’s see what other guests will be announced.)
Y’all have never seen me really blog about my life before and I’m warning you, I tend to go overboard so be prepared.
FRIDAY AKA WHAT’S HAPPENING? WHAT IS THIS GOING TO BE LIKE?
I had to catch my train to Rosenheim at 7:28 or something and then meet Claudia at Rosenheim so she would pick me up. After that, we had a drive of six hours, but that was kinda okay, no delays or anything. I thought since we arrived kinda late in Bad Wildungen (3pm) we wouldn’t have to wait too long for the registration, but I was wrong there… I guess something you have to get used to at a con, especially without any upgrades. XD In the meantime, I got to know Mary in person who is lovely and cute (right back at you :D).
Registration went well so far - after only about 2-3 hours (I wish I was exaggerating) we got it done, including buying photo ops. Then Claudia dropped me off at my hotel, where the trouble started. I stood in this weird stairway with an arrow to the reception pointing downstairs, which already seemed weird to me. So I hesitantly went downstairs, where I met some girl who turned out to be Laura, and started talking to her, because she was looking for the reception guy, too. Finally he appeared and I told him I wanted to check in, but all I got was a blank stare and a “I’m sorry, I have no more bookings for a single room.” Well I stood there kinda dumbstruck and showed him my reservation from booking.com, but he just said “Oh, that’s legit, it must have been my mistake.” As Laura was still standing there, he told me “You can move in with those girls, can’t you?”
So well, I asked Laura and Maria, two girls from Finland, whether I could stay with them and I felt fucking weird and intrusive and didn’t know what to do even though they were incredibly nice and welcoming. So nice and welcoming in fact that the feeling wore off very quickly (I eventually also understood that it was a win-win situation in every respect, as it was cheaper, I could translate some things for the girls, they liked using my hairdryer and, above all, I already had a group of nice people as my con buddies :D). Then my third new roommate, Jenny, arrived, and that was another nice little surprise because I immediately recognized her from Tumblr as she’d posted a photo right before departing. She didn’t remember me even though we were mutual followers, can you believe that XD (It’s alright, I forgive you!! :D)
We spent the next hours before the party showing each other art (that is, I showed everyone my portraits and it came in handy that I had done copies because everyone wanted my Misha, and Jenny showed me her adorable and amazing comics that she draws about all kinds of situations in her life <3), me trying to recall my Finnish vocabulary (only swear words of course) and learning some new and Laura curling everybody’s hair. I also tried to get a cot or something, but the hotel owner guy didn’t have any and - wait for it - told me that one of the beds was wide enough and I could share with one of the girls. (WHAT THE HELL. Never mind that I feel now like I’ve known the girls forever after those two days, but where I come from you don’t just walk in to people you met a second ago and ask them if they would share their bed with you. Just NO. Especially if you booked perfectly normally and it’s the hotel guy who messed up.) So I told him NO and he went to get a mattress for me and when I came with him for that I got a look at the reception desk downstairs and it was really messy there. Then he tried to invite me for dinner to make it up to me, but I politely refused as “I wouldn’t have any time on Sunday” (or ever). I’m too nice by the way. The girls kept teasing me about the guy trying to hit on me all the time. :S
SATURDAY AKA SO MANY EXCITING THINGS IN ONE DAY
Jenny and I got up at 7 and immediately went over to the con hotel so we could get in line and try to get a Misha Coffee Lounge. We waited one and a half hours, BUT WE MADE IT. We got some of the last ones. I WAS SO FRIGGIN HAPPY. We just missed some of the Sebastian panel because of that, but not too much as they started late anyway (as always). The Seb panel mainly consisted of Sebastian doing the crowd thing with making people scream according to his gestures which kinda got out of hand once he realized he could do it with his ass. Somehow nobody asked questions either, so it was really just about all that happened. XD Wow, people weren’t lying when they said Seb had a LOT of energy on stage. (Though his panel was a bit too all over the place for me, tbh. XD)
After that, we already had our first photo OP which I realized AFTER the panel and I wasn’t really prepared for it (good thing it didn’t start with Misha or something, couldn’t have handled that), the one with Sebastian. Up until the last moment I wasn’t sure whether I should ask for a hug or for Seb to lift me up, and I was almost sure I’d go with a hug but then the last people before me asked for a lift and I spontaneously decided I wanted that too. I like it now because that turned out as a nice photo.
We wanted to get autographs after that (and thus missed all the other morning panels), but it was all a mess with groups and I heard my new favorite sentence “Upgrades, A, B, C, D, the others don’t even need to line up” a lot, also one staff member kept shouting that we should form a neat line because Germans know how to do that. I slowly came to the realization that I wouldn’t get all my autographs today, but finally I decided to line up with Mary at least for the Misha one. Oh, and standing in front of Misha and handing him my portrait, that was a kind of big moment. It was perfect. He said “wow, did you draw that?” and “that’s amazing” and “keep it up” (somewhere in between I told him that he’d been really tough to draw, but I don’t remember what or if he answered to that XD) and finally he gave me that really nice wink. Just perfect, I would have died happily on the spot.
My girls from Finland and I originally wanted to go grab lunch sometime after getting our autographs, but a) neither of us got many or any of them, b) I lost my people and c) Mary and I actually wanted to go to the main hall already so we would get nice seats for the Misha panel, so I just quickly bought and ate a pair of (surprisingly cheap) frankfurters and then we went inside and watched the SPN Pilot and half of Wendigo which were shown on the screen. Then we decided that Mary would take photos and I’d film, even though she warned me that it’s really not that easy to hold up a camera for that long. Before the next con we have to do some training in advance for those things.
I loved the Misha panel, it was so much fun. I laughed a lot, I actually don’t wanna know what the recording sounds like. (Mary? :S) My favorites are when that guy tried to ask a question and talked all over the place and Misha kept calling him “ma’am”, and, of course, Misha’s reaction to the girl joking about her $1000 bid on the auction. And then Misha’s answer to the question about his special moment in Haiti - that showed once again that Misha might be full of shit and choose to joke most of the time, but when it comes to important things he definitely can be serious and reasonable and he is just a wonderful person. (So wow, great, now I love that guy even more than before.) Ugh, and the panel ending when Doug actually had to drag Misha from the stage because he didn’t want to go - I guess it’s what we all felt like. XD
We only saw part of the Steven Williams panel - he was fun, but he ranted against technology and talking to people via e-mail and texts when you could as well just meet them, and I kept thinking “do you realize that without the internet, this fandom wouldn’t be sitting here in front of you like this?”. :D Up next was the Mark Sheppard photo op. For this one I really wanted something not too boring but for the life of me I couldn’t think of a thing. Then, when I was almost up, I realized that one of the staff members was wearing those devil’s horns and I thought, screw it and asked her to borrow them. BUT MARK WOULDN’T WEAR THEM. I asked him to put them on but he said “no, you put them on” and so I mumbled “that doesn’t even make sense” and did it. I still think I would’ve preferred Mark to wear them, but at least it was fun. XD
We then went back to the main hall to watch the Mark Sheppard and Mark Pellegrino panels. Mark S was really great, he got more questions about all of his other shows than SPN, but what I loved most is that he actually knows about Superwholock (SO CAN IT BECOME A THING NOW?). I still wonder HOW he does because isn’t that kind of a Tumblr only thing? (So either he lurks around on Tumblr or somebody told him about it… heh.) Mark P’s panel was a bit different than the others because he was actually kind of serious, as in, not just up for shenanigans… I was surprised, but kind of positively. My favorites here were how he explained that for every character he plays he has to find something good in them - even, or especially for Lucifer - in order to actually play them believably, and after that, when he explained that he was actually a bit worried about the message that Dexter sends (don’t get me wrong, I love that show, but it actually does put me into a moral dilemma).
Mary and I couldn’t concentrate on the panel too well though because we had our Misha photo op after that and we were already nervous. We stayed for the first minutes of the Jim Beaver panel, but then we left even though we knew that our groups wouldn’t be up for a while. Mary didn’t want to do something ordinary and said she wanted to give Misha a piggy back ride, but she’s really so tiny and I didn’t believe she could do it, so she gave that idea a test drive with me while we were waiting in line. What happened was that both of us fell over in the corridor and I had a dizzy head. XD She actually managed to lift me the second time, but it was all a bit wobbly and even though Misha is a really slender guy with woman’s hips (or something), he is still more than 25cm taller than me and I guess dropping Misha wouldn’t have been as funny. :D
Meanwhile, I still tried to figure out whether I wanted a normal hug (ugh, I’m still a bit sad I missed out on that… maybe I should have bought two photo ops XD) or another lift OR ask Misha to raise me from perdition as I was wearing my handprint shirt and REALLY wanted to know what he’d think of, because well, an actor needs to be able to improvise, doesn’t he? So finally I went with that. It went like… Misha: “Hi” Me (being too nervous to be polite and greet back): “Could you raise me from perdition?” Misha (very dryly): “Sure.” And then he put his hand on my shoulder. I thought something like “omg this is awesome” but I dunno what I expected, I wasn’t sure what to do and so I tried to look at the camera seriously and knew even then that I’d screwed up that photo op. XD Damn.
The evening ended with me and my roommates having dinner at some really cheap but good pizza place, the Jason Manns concert (part of which I recorded with my iPod btw - it turned out quite nice) - which positively surprised me, it was really great considering that he’s a guy with an acoustic guitar performing alone in front of a lot of people, and I liked his guitar playing style and his voice is really nice and clear - and the western theme party.
SUNDAY AKA MISHA COFFEE LOUNGE ON MY BIRTHDAY
First thing on Sunday morning Laura and I got our Misha photos while Jenny and Maria went to their Sebisha photo op, and by that time I realized that I had worried so much about what I might have looked like in my photo that I hadn’t even thought about WHAT MISHA HAD BEEN DOING MEANWHILE. I mean I knew he grabbed my shoulder, but his face? Oh the bliss when I realized that he gave me THAT stare, though I will forever remember it now as that one time Misha Collins was eye sexing me AND I DIDN’T EVEN LOOK. T_T Laura found it hilarious though and so did I and I like to think that this is what Castiel looked like at Dean when he raised him from perdition, so yay, I think about Destiel when I see my photo op. (On the other hand, I think about Destiel when I see, say… a pen, so it doesn’t have to say anything.)
We were almost a bit late for the Marks panel because Laura said the panel wouldn’t start on time anyway, but be made it. It was a nice one, they were great together and Mark P actually walked around and sat next to people. I somehow can’t remember much of the Jim Beaver panel afterwards, only that he randomly added “Dean and Cas… get a room, right?” to some question without even being asked about that (or it just slipped my attention), which was kind of nice, though.
The Sebisha panel was a lot of fun, too, but you could see already how exhausted Misha was. Sebastian had to work hard to get attention, the whole panel mainly consisted of him and later Matt (after he crashed the panel) and Doug wiggling their asses (Misha obviously didn’t feel like joining in), but still Misha got asked all the questions. XD
Well.. Jenny, Maria and I then hurried to our Coffee Lounge. But we waited and waited and then they said that Misha had gone to the photo studio first. And so we waited and waited some more until they finally announced that things were messed up and they had to postpone the Coffee Lounge to 4.15 p.m. and pull Misha out of autographs for that. Didn’t sound very good because we couldn’t quite imagine how that would work out, but well, not much we could do about it. So we went to grab a quick lunch so we were back in time to get the rest of our autographs.
The line was really long - duh - and we got a bit nervous because we REALLY didn’t want to miss our lounge. (It was obvious they wouldn’t start in time anyway, but… you know.) Things moved really slow (if at all). And I definitely still needed my Mark S photograph - the others too, but especially Mark since it was a present for my brother (getting the portrait signed that I drew for him). So after some waiting (and meeting the girl who made the joke-bid in Misha’s auction - actually, she just mentioned it herself out of the blue, and I couldn’t help but wonder if she was proud of it or something? -_-) we decided to ask Flash if he could move us up, which actually worked and we could directly go get our autographs for both Marks, only Jim Beaver would have to wait until later because he was in the other room. :S
Actually, my autograph tick sheet (whatever you wanna call it) didn’t even have my number on it before and the staff girl asked for my name so Mark S would know who to address the autograph to, and so I quickly shouted “no, it’s for my brother, his name is Daniel!” before Mark could sign. XD He didn’t react to being handed a portrait at all (hey, he actually signed over my own signature, the bastard XD), but I asked him whether he wanted a copy anyway and then he suddenly snapped out of it and said “yes, thank you, it’s wonderful!” so I was pleased. (I gave Laura a copy of my Mark S portrait to get it signed and she told me that she’d said to him that she hadn’t drawn it and he proudly said he knew and pointed at the copy I’d already given him. <3) Mark P was really nice and he was a bit taken aback by the Lucifer (with worn-out vessel) photo I gave him to sign, which surprised me because I thought every second person would have that one as I bought it at the con. :D
So we already got that covered, but it turned out we had some time left before the lounge. So we went to collect photos again, because Maria and Jenny still needed their Sebisha photo op (which turned out to be really cool and funny XD). And then I discovered that my Misha photo was there a second time - it was the same one, but more in the center. SO YAY. I now have two of them. And I decided that I did want my JPGs after all, but I hadn’t put down my other numbers, so I could only get my Misha photo on a flash drive, but oh well. :S
After that we FINALLY went to the Coffee Lounge. The first time our seats would have been better, but never mind. Misha was half an hour late (so: actually kinda punctual if you look at the con’s standards) and he seemed really exhausted. We all awwed when he started coughing, too, as in addition to having had a really long day he was also sick. :(
But one girl’s (mishapala’s) chair was broken, and Misha asked us whether we knew Musical Chairs. So we all said yes and asked “but we’re not playing that now, are we?” and of course Misha said “why not?” AND SO WE ENDED UP PLAYING MUSICAL CHAIRS WITH MISHA COLLINS. Yes. He used his phone and it was really quiet. And the first time he stopped the music himself so we said that was an unfair advantage, but of course Misha said “who says I can’t cheat?”. He first played that good cover of the horrible “I whip my hair back and forth” and then Bohemian Rhapsody and Fun’s We Are Young and it was all really nice, and when I lost Misha actually patted my shoulder and said something to me, like (tbh I can’t remember what he said so I’m making it up) “I believe you’re out this round “ (insert small internal squee).
This was the really fun and special part of the Coffee Lounge, but after that it was still very interesting. (I actually think I do remember most of the questions.) Misha answered questions more seriously than he would have in the panels and he took more time and didn’t get distracted. First he got asked why his fingernail was polished orange and he answered “because that’s the color I chose”. XD Then we (let’s just call it “we” because I was a part of it even though I didn’t actually say a word - I’m too shy for that okay) talked about dubs and Misha said he thought, weirdly enough, that dub voices were sometimes cast after looks, not similar voice, which doesn’t make a lot of sense.
One really good question (that was more or less about my greatest fear %D) imo was whether Misha thought whether Cas and Dean were on their way to becoming their 2014!selves. I can’t recall Misha’s exact answer but he basically said he didn’t know, but he said he wanted Cas to explore the happy side of being human rather than the sad end!verse one (did that happen or am I confusing it with the panel, because there was a similar question? bear with me please, but I’m sure he said it at some point). I was actually about to point out that parallel between Castiel’s Buddha statues in both The End and The Born-Again Identity but I chickened out (yeah, maybe next con… I just hope I won’t accidentally raise my hand before speaking or something). And then we talked about the trenchcoat returning scene again and wanted to know those exact lines that were too sappy for Dean and Castiel, but Misha said he didn’t recall what Castiel’s line had been. Oh man, we really wanted to know. :S
Of course, the Coffee Lounge ended way too early, especially as we’d “wasted” a lot of time with the Musical Chairs game, but it was still awesome and I REGRET NOTHING. (At some point AFTER the coffee lounge I finally came up with a question for Misha, great. I could save it for another con, but okay, I guess it would be one of the things Misha doesn’t really remember anyway and everybody would roll their eyes at. I’d like to know why (or what Misha thought why) that part from the original The End script, “All we have left each other, Dean and I, is each other”, was replaced with another sentence and if it was for similar reasons (=sappiness?) as why they changed the scene in 7x17 where Dean returns the trench coat. (Damn it, I only found out a while ago that this was actually in the script and I’m kind of obsessing over it okay?))
So all that was left after that was getting our Jim Beaver autographs. It was about six now and Maria and Jenny were afraid it was too late to line up as their train would leave at eight, but then we met Laura and Mary again (who had been stalking a Castiel meanwhile) and we decided that of course we needed out last autograph and that we’d ask Flash if we could skip again if all else failed. Nothing too exciting happened, Mary and I sang a bit and she had fun with her huge Jensen photo (putting it over her face and then wiggling, like those Tumblr gifs %D), and finally Misha walked past one last time and Mary tried to get his attention by fake-coughing (which sounded really real, but didn’t exactly work… “Hey, I’m dying here and he doesn’t even look!”). But still Misha turned around one last time and gave us a wave goodbye, so that was nice.
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Oh well - then it was over. We all went back to the hotel and I had to split up with Mary there because she’d meet with her group while I had to hurry and come with my Finnish girls because they’d leave for the train station, and I thought we’d meet up later and so I failed to give Mary a goodbye hug, it still doesn’t feel right. :S After I said goodbye to Jenny, Maria, Laura and Susanna, I actually didn’t know what to do for a moment and when I started packing I really felt like crying, so I put on my Dean/Castiel playlist and gave in. T_T
Soo well, that’s it. If this novel still has you left with a question, just message me. If you believe we met and/or talked at some point, just message me. If you haven’t met me but still were at AECON3, JUST MESSAGE ME. I don’t think I’ll get tired of dwelling on this experience, okay?
Okay, I suppose I need to finally write my report before it’s been too long and I don’t remember all the important things.
Just let me say: I AM SO FUCKING GLAD I DID THIS. I hoped so badly that I didn’t get my hopes up too much, and -even though I was super excited for the con - I didn’t. It was so much more amazing than I could have ever imagined. I met the sweetest and most amazing people and I already miss you all so much. AND I REGRET NOTHING. I am so doing this again. (Just don’t know which con yet, because I’d like to go for a bigger one next time… but I’m considering Asylum9, let’s see what other guests will be announced.)
Y’all have never seen me really blog about my life before and I’m warning you, I tend to go overboard so be prepared.
FRIDAY AKA WHAT’S HAPPENING? WHAT IS THIS GOING TO BE LIKE?
I had to catch my train to Rosenheim at 7:28 or something and then meet Claudia at Rosenheim so she would pick me up. After that, we had a drive of six hours, but that was kinda okay, no delays or anything. I thought since we arrived kinda late in Bad Wildungen (3pm) we wouldn’t have to wait too long for the registration, but I was wrong there… I guess something you have to get used to at a con, especially without any upgrades. XD In the meantime, I got to know Mary in person who is lovely and cute (right back at you :D).
Registration went well so far - after only about 2-3 hours (I wish I was exaggerating) we got it done, including buying photo ops. Then Claudia dropped me off at my hotel, where the trouble started. I stood in this weird stairway with an arrow to the reception pointing downstairs, which already seemed weird to me. So I hesitantly went downstairs, where I met some girl who turned out to be Laura, and started talking to her, because she was looking for the reception guy, too. Finally he appeared and I told him I wanted to check in, but all I got was a blank stare and a “I’m sorry, I have no more bookings for a single room.” Well I stood there kinda dumbstruck and showed him my reservation from booking.com, but he just said “Oh, that’s legit, it must have been my mistake.” As Laura was still standing there, he told me “You can move in with those girls, can’t you?”
So well, I asked Laura and Maria, two girls from Finland, whether I could stay with them and I felt fucking weird and intrusive and didn’t know what to do even though they were incredibly nice and welcoming. So nice and welcoming in fact that the feeling wore off very quickly (I eventually also understood that it was a win-win situation in every respect, as it was cheaper, I could translate some things for the girls, they liked using my hairdryer and, above all, I already had a group of nice people as my con buddies :D). Then my third new roommate, Jenny, arrived, and that was another nice little surprise because I immediately recognized her from Tumblr as she’d posted a photo right before departing. She didn’t remember me even though we were mutual followers, can you believe that XD (It’s alright, I forgive you!! :D)
We spent the next hours before the party showing each other art (that is, I showed everyone my portraits and it came in handy that I had done copies because everyone wanted my Misha, and Jenny showed me her adorable and amazing comics that she draws about all kinds of situations in her life <3), me trying to recall my Finnish vocabulary (only swear words of course) and learning some new and Laura curling everybody’s hair. I also tried to get a cot or something, but the hotel owner guy didn’t have any and - wait for it - told me that one of the beds was wide enough and I could share with one of the girls. (WHAT THE HELL. Never mind that I feel now like I’ve known the girls forever after those two days, but where I come from you don’t just walk in to people you met a second ago and ask them if they would share their bed with you. Just NO. Especially if you booked perfectly normally and it’s the hotel guy who messed up.) So I told him NO and he went to get a mattress for me and when I came with him for that I got a look at the reception desk downstairs and it was really messy there. Then he tried to invite me for dinner to make it up to me, but I politely refused as “I wouldn’t have any time on Sunday” (or ever). I’m too nice by the way. The girls kept teasing me about the guy trying to hit on me all the time. :S
SATURDAY AKA SO MANY EXCITING THINGS IN ONE DAY
Jenny and I got up at 7 and immediately went over to the con hotel so we could get in line and try to get a Misha Coffee Lounge. We waited one and a half hours, BUT WE MADE IT. We got some of the last ones. I WAS SO FRIGGIN HAPPY. We just missed some of the Sebastian panel because of that, but not too much as they started late anyway (as always). The Seb panel mainly consisted of Sebastian doing the crowd thing with making people scream according to his gestures which kinda got out of hand once he realized he could do it with his ass. Somehow nobody asked questions either, so it was really just about all that happened. XD Wow, people weren’t lying when they said Seb had a LOT of energy on stage. (Though his panel was a bit too all over the place for me, tbh. XD)
After that, we already had our first photo OP which I realized AFTER the panel and I wasn’t really prepared for it (good thing it didn’t start with Misha or something, couldn’t have handled that), the one with Sebastian. Up until the last moment I wasn’t sure whether I should ask for a hug or for Seb to lift me up, and I was almost sure I’d go with a hug but then the last people before me asked for a lift and I spontaneously decided I wanted that too. I like it now because that turned out as a nice photo.
We wanted to get autographs after that (and thus missed all the other morning panels), but it was all a mess with groups and I heard my new favorite sentence “Upgrades, A, B, C, D, the others don’t even need to line up” a lot, also one staff member kept shouting that we should form a neat line because Germans know how to do that. I slowly came to the realization that I wouldn’t get all my autographs today, but finally I decided to line up with Mary at least for the Misha one. Oh, and standing in front of Misha and handing him my portrait, that was a kind of big moment. It was perfect. He said “wow, did you draw that?” and “that’s amazing” and “keep it up” (somewhere in between I told him that he’d been really tough to draw, but I don’t remember what or if he answered to that XD) and finally he gave me that really nice wink. Just perfect, I would have died happily on the spot.
My girls from Finland and I originally wanted to go grab lunch sometime after getting our autographs, but a) neither of us got many or any of them, b) I lost my people and c) Mary and I actually wanted to go to the main hall already so we would get nice seats for the Misha panel, so I just quickly bought and ate a pair of (surprisingly cheap) frankfurters and then we went inside and watched the SPN Pilot and half of Wendigo which were shown on the screen. Then we decided that Mary would take photos and I’d film, even though she warned me that it’s really not that easy to hold up a camera for that long. Before the next con we have to do some training in advance for those things.
I loved the Misha panel, it was so much fun. I laughed a lot, I actually don’t wanna know what the recording sounds like. (Mary? :S) My favorites are when that guy tried to ask a question and talked all over the place and Misha kept calling him “ma’am”, and, of course, Misha’s reaction to the girl joking about her $1000 bid on the auction. And then Misha’s answer to the question about his special moment in Haiti - that showed once again that Misha might be full of shit and choose to joke most of the time, but when it comes to important things he definitely can be serious and reasonable and he is just a wonderful person. (So wow, great, now I love that guy even more than before.) Ugh, and the panel ending when Doug actually had to drag Misha from the stage because he didn’t want to go - I guess it’s what we all felt like. XD
We only saw part of the Steven Williams panel - he was fun, but he ranted against technology and talking to people via e-mail and texts when you could as well just meet them, and I kept thinking “do you realize that without the internet, this fandom wouldn’t be sitting here in front of you like this?”. :D Up next was the Mark Sheppard photo op. For this one I really wanted something not too boring but for the life of me I couldn’t think of a thing. Then, when I was almost up, I realized that one of the staff members was wearing those devil’s horns and I thought, screw it and asked her to borrow them. BUT MARK WOULDN’T WEAR THEM. I asked him to put them on but he said “no, you put them on” and so I mumbled “that doesn’t even make sense” and did it. I still think I would’ve preferred Mark to wear them, but at least it was fun. XD
We then went back to the main hall to watch the Mark Sheppard and Mark Pellegrino panels. Mark S was really great, he got more questions about all of his other shows than SPN, but what I loved most is that he actually knows about Superwholock (SO CAN IT BECOME A THING NOW?). I still wonder HOW he does because isn’t that kind of a Tumblr only thing? (So either he lurks around on Tumblr or somebody told him about it… heh.) Mark P’s panel was a bit different than the others because he was actually kind of serious, as in, not just up for shenanigans… I was surprised, but kind of positively. My favorites here were how he explained that for every character he plays he has to find something good in them - even, or especially for Lucifer - in order to actually play them believably, and after that, when he explained that he was actually a bit worried about the message that Dexter sends (don’t get me wrong, I love that show, but it actually does put me into a moral dilemma).
Mary and I couldn’t concentrate on the panel too well though because we had our Misha photo op after that and we were already nervous. We stayed for the first minutes of the Jim Beaver panel, but then we left even though we knew that our groups wouldn’t be up for a while. Mary didn’t want to do something ordinary and said she wanted to give Misha a piggy back ride, but she’s really so tiny and I didn’t believe she could do it, so she gave that idea a test drive with me while we were waiting in line. What happened was that both of us fell over in the corridor and I had a dizzy head. XD She actually managed to lift me the second time, but it was all a bit wobbly and even though Misha is a really slender guy with woman’s hips (or something), he is still more than 25cm taller than me and I guess dropping Misha wouldn’t have been as funny. :D
Meanwhile, I still tried to figure out whether I wanted a normal hug (ugh, I’m still a bit sad I missed out on that… maybe I should have bought two photo ops XD) or another lift OR ask Misha to raise me from perdition as I was wearing my handprint shirt and REALLY wanted to know what he’d think of, because well, an actor needs to be able to improvise, doesn’t he? So finally I went with that. It went like… Misha: “Hi” Me (being too nervous to be polite and greet back): “Could you raise me from perdition?” Misha (very dryly): “Sure.” And then he put his hand on my shoulder. I thought something like “omg this is awesome” but I dunno what I expected, I wasn’t sure what to do and so I tried to look at the camera seriously and knew even then that I’d screwed up that photo op. XD Damn.
The evening ended with me and my roommates having dinner at some really cheap but good pizza place, the Jason Manns concert (part of which I recorded with my iPod btw - it turned out quite nice) - which positively surprised me, it was really great considering that he’s a guy with an acoustic guitar performing alone in front of a lot of people, and I liked his guitar playing style and his voice is really nice and clear - and the western theme party.
SUNDAY AKA MISHA COFFEE LOUNGE ON MY BIRTHDAY
First thing on Sunday morning Laura and I got our Misha photos while Jenny and Maria went to their Sebisha photo op, and by that time I realized that I had worried so much about what I might have looked like in my photo that I hadn’t even thought about WHAT MISHA HAD BEEN DOING MEANWHILE. I mean I knew he grabbed my shoulder, but his face? Oh the bliss when I realized that he gave me THAT stare, though I will forever remember it now as that one time Misha Collins was eye sexing me AND I DIDN’T EVEN LOOK. T_T Laura found it hilarious though and so did I and I like to think that this is what Castiel looked like at Dean when he raised him from perdition, so yay, I think about Destiel when I see my photo op. (On the other hand, I think about Destiel when I see, say… a pen, so it doesn’t have to say anything.)
We were almost a bit late for the Marks panel because Laura said the panel wouldn’t start on time anyway, but be made it. It was a nice one, they were great together and Mark P actually walked around and sat next to people. I somehow can’t remember much of the Jim Beaver panel afterwards, only that he randomly added “Dean and Cas… get a room, right?” to some question without even being asked about that (or it just slipped my attention), which was kind of nice, though.
The Sebisha panel was a lot of fun, too, but you could see already how exhausted Misha was. Sebastian had to work hard to get attention, the whole panel mainly consisted of him and later Matt (after he crashed the panel) and Doug wiggling their asses (Misha obviously didn’t feel like joining in), but still Misha got asked all the questions. XD
Well.. Jenny, Maria and I then hurried to our Coffee Lounge. But we waited and waited and then they said that Misha had gone to the photo studio first. And so we waited and waited some more until they finally announced that things were messed up and they had to postpone the Coffee Lounge to 4.15 p.m. and pull Misha out of autographs for that. Didn’t sound very good because we couldn’t quite imagine how that would work out, but well, not much we could do about it. So we went to grab a quick lunch so we were back in time to get the rest of our autographs.
The line was really long - duh - and we got a bit nervous because we REALLY didn’t want to miss our lounge. (It was obvious they wouldn’t start in time anyway, but… you know.) Things moved really slow (if at all). And I definitely still needed my Mark S photograph - the others too, but especially Mark since it was a present for my brother (getting the portrait signed that I drew for him). So after some waiting (and meeting the girl who made the joke-bid in Misha’s auction - actually, she just mentioned it herself out of the blue, and I couldn’t help but wonder if she was proud of it or something? -_-) we decided to ask Flash if he could move us up, which actually worked and we could directly go get our autographs for both Marks, only Jim Beaver would have to wait until later because he was in the other room. :S
Actually, my autograph tick sheet (whatever you wanna call it) didn’t even have my number on it before and the staff girl asked for my name so Mark S would know who to address the autograph to, and so I quickly shouted “no, it’s for my brother, his name is Daniel!” before Mark could sign. XD He didn’t react to being handed a portrait at all (hey, he actually signed over my own signature, the bastard XD), but I asked him whether he wanted a copy anyway and then he suddenly snapped out of it and said “yes, thank you, it’s wonderful!” so I was pleased. (I gave Laura a copy of my Mark S portrait to get it signed and she told me that she’d said to him that she hadn’t drawn it and he proudly said he knew and pointed at the copy I’d already given him. <3) Mark P was really nice and he was a bit taken aback by the Lucifer (with worn-out vessel) photo I gave him to sign, which surprised me because I thought every second person would have that one as I bought it at the con. :D
So we already got that covered, but it turned out we had some time left before the lounge. So we went to collect photos again, because Maria and Jenny still needed their Sebisha photo op (which turned out to be really cool and funny XD). And then I discovered that my Misha photo was there a second time - it was the same one, but more in the center. SO YAY. I now have two of them. And I decided that I did want my JPGs after all, but I hadn’t put down my other numbers, so I could only get my Misha photo on a flash drive, but oh well. :S
After that we FINALLY went to the Coffee Lounge. The first time our seats would have been better, but never mind. Misha was half an hour late (so: actually kinda punctual if you look at the con’s standards) and he seemed really exhausted. We all awwed when he started coughing, too, as in addition to having had a really long day he was also sick. :(
But one girl’s (mishapala’s) chair was broken, and Misha asked us whether we knew Musical Chairs. So we all said yes and asked “but we’re not playing that now, are we?” and of course Misha said “why not?” AND SO WE ENDED UP PLAYING MUSICAL CHAIRS WITH MISHA COLLINS. Yes. He used his phone and it was really quiet. And the first time he stopped the music himself so we said that was an unfair advantage, but of course Misha said “who says I can’t cheat?”. He first played that good cover of the horrible “I whip my hair back and forth” and then Bohemian Rhapsody and Fun’s We Are Young and it was all really nice, and when I lost Misha actually patted my shoulder and said something to me, like (tbh I can’t remember what he said so I’m making it up) “I believe you’re out this round “ (insert small internal squee).
This was the really fun and special part of the Coffee Lounge, but after that it was still very interesting. (I actually think I do remember most of the questions.) Misha answered questions more seriously than he would have in the panels and he took more time and didn’t get distracted. First he got asked why his fingernail was polished orange and he answered “because that’s the color I chose”. XD Then we (let’s just call it “we” because I was a part of it even though I didn’t actually say a word - I’m too shy for that okay) talked about dubs and Misha said he thought, weirdly enough, that dub voices were sometimes cast after looks, not similar voice, which doesn’t make a lot of sense.
One really good question (that was more or less about my greatest fear %D) imo was whether Misha thought whether Cas and Dean were on their way to becoming their 2014!selves. I can’t recall Misha’s exact answer but he basically said he didn’t know, but he said he wanted Cas to explore the happy side of being human rather than the sad end!verse one (did that happen or am I confusing it with the panel, because there was a similar question? bear with me please, but I’m sure he said it at some point). I was actually about to point out that parallel between Castiel’s Buddha statues in both The End and The Born-Again Identity but I chickened out (yeah, maybe next con… I just hope I won’t accidentally raise my hand before speaking or something). And then we talked about the trenchcoat returning scene again and wanted to know those exact lines that were too sappy for Dean and Castiel, but Misha said he didn’t recall what Castiel’s line had been. Oh man, we really wanted to know. :S
Of course, the Coffee Lounge ended way too early, especially as we’d “wasted” a lot of time with the Musical Chairs game, but it was still awesome and I REGRET NOTHING. (At some point AFTER the coffee lounge I finally came up with a question for Misha, great. I could save it for another con, but okay, I guess it would be one of the things Misha doesn’t really remember anyway and everybody would roll their eyes at. I’d like to know why (or what Misha thought why) that part from the original The End script, “All we have left each other, Dean and I, is each other”, was replaced with another sentence and if it was for similar reasons (=sappiness?) as why they changed the scene in 7x17 where Dean returns the trench coat. (Damn it, I only found out a while ago that this was actually in the script and I’m kind of obsessing over it okay?))
So all that was left after that was getting our Jim Beaver autographs. It was about six now and Maria and Jenny were afraid it was too late to line up as their train would leave at eight, but then we met Laura and Mary again (who had been stalking a Castiel meanwhile) and we decided that of course we needed out last autograph and that we’d ask Flash if we could skip again if all else failed. Nothing too exciting happened, Mary and I sang a bit and she had fun with her huge Jensen photo (putting it over her face and then wiggling, like those Tumblr gifs %D), and finally Misha walked past one last time and Mary tried to get his attention by fake-coughing (which sounded really real, but didn’t exactly work… “Hey, I’m dying here and he doesn’t even look!”). But still Misha turned around one last time and gave us a wave goodbye, so that was nice.
Oh well - then it was over. We all went back to the hotel and I had to split up with Mary there because she’d meet with her group while I had to hurry and come with my Finnish girls because they’d leave for the train station, and I thought we’d meet up later and so I failed to give Mary a goodbye hug, it still doesn’t feel right. :S After I said goodbye to Jenny, Maria, Laura and Susanna, I actually didn’t know what to do for a moment and when I started packing I really felt like crying, so I put on my Dean/Castiel playlist and gave in. T_T
Soo well, that’s it. If this novel still has you left with a question, just message me. If you believe we met and/or talked at some point, just message me. If you haven’t met me but still were at AECON3, JUST MESSAGE ME. I don’t think I’ll get tired of dwelling on this experience, okay?