The 2009 Supernatural Vancouver Convention: Part Four (cont'd)
Note: See Part One for details.
Part Four: “The Ultimate SQUEE!” - Sunday August 30th (Cont’d)
I must say, it’s a hard thing to know that Jared and Jensen are in the same room as you are and not be able to see or hear or go to them…at least it was for me, anyway. But such was the situation of waiting for our row to be called for autographs…and waiting…and waiting…and waiting some more. We were in Row P after all, remember? LOL. I won’t bore you to death with the details of that, because really? There aren’t that many to speak of! Just the usual…Beth and I showing our drawings to those who wanted to see them, talking to people around us, the convention manager being shrewish with everyone like she’s so good at…nothing special or new. Except for that extra large lump of excitement lodged in our throats, of course.
Truth be told, it was a hard choice. On the one hand, we could’ve been wishing for the time to go faster so as to get up there to the boys sooner…but that also meant we’d be having to say goodbye to them sooner. On the other, there was wishing for the time to go slower, meaning that it would be a while longer before everything was over…but that it would also be a longer wait to see the boys. And unlike the photo ops, this wait wasn’t exactly one of those ‘fun’ ones…namely because the photo op line moved much faster than the rate of it being half an hour into the thing and Row B still having not yet finished. But of course, the photo ops had thankfully not went by rows, so…guess you really couldn’t call that an accurate comparison. It was taking longer than the previous autograph sessions, we knew that much…but really, what could you expect; it was Jared and Jensen, after all! LOL. Also unlike the photo ops, in the case of the autographs I’ve gotta say that I preferred the EyeCon setup, which allowed you to actually be able to see Jared while he was giving autographs to other people at the table set up at the front of the room, if only in glimpses in between those people themselves. At this convention they were behind that elusive curtain, not to mention way on the other side of the main theatre, so…yeah, it was a long wait. LOL.
But, even the longest waits eventually come to an end, and this one was no exception. Row P was finally called and we finally at least got to get out of our seats and get into an actual line, though we still didn’t get our first look at the boys sitting behind their tables until it was nearly our turn. Again, Jensen was first and upon getting up to him, I repeated how nice it was to finally meet him and thanked him for coming. He glanced up at me with those striking green eyes of his and gave a sweet little smile and thanked me too, after signing the 8x10 I’d purchased of him. And I’ll tell you, seeing him in person is just reinforcement to that belief that in the Ackles family? Yes, Jensen really must have gotten all the good genes...LOL. Man how I wished I’d had time to complete a drawing of him, but maybe next time…hoping to goodness that there is a next time! I did, of course, have my pair of charcoal Jared drawings though, the one I’d originally done for the bungled March EyeCon, and its companion piece, the one I’d done for this convention and to match the March one. And it was finally time to present them! I happily greeted Jared again as I set my drawings down on the table for the handlers to pass over to him…this was it, the other huge moment that I’d been waiting for not only all that weekend, but for over four months! And it didn’t disappoint. Upon having my drawings slid over to him, Jared immediately knew what he was being given and apparently had been waiting to see them, eagerly accepting them and beginning his examination of them with a heartfelt, “Oh, wow…”, actually picking each one up and taking in all of the details before grabbing the perfectly color-coordinated silver marker with which to autograph the black mat-board frames. And it was then that the awed compliments started pouring out, him calling both drawings “awesome” and “amazing” and also using these same praiseful adjectives to describe me, along with phrases such as “extremely talented”. Basically, all the same adjectives I would use to describe him! LOL. And you see, I meant to give those compliments right back to him…I SO meant to! Especially since I hadn’t gotten the chance to carry out my ‘gift’ for him thanks to the cutting of his solo Q&A session. But, I must confess that at that moment my brain (and heart!) was officially dissolving into mush, and I completely blanked on everything I wanted to say to him other than the thanking him for his compliments to me. Because every time he gave me those flattering remarks, he looked up from the drawing and signing his name, straight into my eyes…and the rest of the world and any other thoughts just pretty much fell away, LOL. No exaggeration. His voice and eyes were soft, his sincerity and his heart clearly showing through both, and I was just plain mesmerized by both. His way of speaking and making eye contact with me had me feeling like I was the only person in the room with him, and amidst that feeling of bliss and thanks to that, I was finally able to discern something that I had been wanting and trying to for a long time - the color of his eyes. Though I’m still pretty sure that it oftentimes changes like a mood ring due to varying factors such as lighting, the color of his clothing, and well, his moods of course, I can now attest from both the photo ops and autograph session that the natural color of Jared’s eyes is a beautiful shade of medium-light bluish-green. I had seen it increasingly spread around on the internet that those fans who had been lucky enough to see his eyes up close and personal affirmed them to be that color, and I can now join those lucky fans in that affirmation! LOL. And have it accurate whenever I write fanfiction…
But there were also some other things that registered as I continued to look at him, and he at me. One of those things was the way he seemed to keep glancing back at a particular area on the second drawing he’d had slid over to him as he autographed it, the full-body shot one, and narrowing his eyes, almost as if he was looking for or studying something as best he could. And the other was how when he was done with his signatures and the handlers gestured for me to take back my drawings and move along, that familiar puppy-dog expression leapt into his gaze, and from and the way he was still looking at me and complimenting me even as I started to VERY reluctantly back out of the line having had my turn with him…I got this incredibly touching and very solid impression that if he would’ve had it his way, he would’ve definitely talked to me longer, would’ve definitely written me a message along with his signature on those drawings like he was able to and did at the September 2008 EyeCon, and like he was unfortunately unable to do at this convention due to the sheer magnitude of attendees and limited time, plus the risk that he would’ve run with upsetting other eyewitness fans with his special treatment of me if he’d done so. His eyes are incredibly expressive and even more so in person; you really can practically see what he’s thinking nearly word-for-word when you look into those blue-green depths…and what I saw was true appreciation for what I’d done mixed with a wish that he’d had more time with me, along with what I could only describe as a bit of apology for something…though at that exact moment I had no idea what it could be. After thanking him once more and concluding with how great it was to have seen him again, I continued to SLOWLY back out of line at the handlers’ ushering…but oh man, sweet Jared was making it that much harder because even then, he continued to talk to me! LOL, that’s right, I’m about two steps from being on the other side of the curtain again, and there he is, still complimenting me and my work with that soulful look like he couldn’t say enough and from what it seemed like to me, at the very last few seconds appearing as though he was really searching his brain and his memory for something, something that may have been on the tip of his tongue, but ultimately after that bit of hesitation deciding to go with another, all-encompassing compliment to be on the safe side. Head turned to his left and leaning forward to make sure he was directly looking into my eyes again, he finally gave in to the handlers who were now urging him along as well as me and let me go (blasted handlers, you made him let me go! *cries and kicks you all*) with a heartfelt, “You’re so good,” and then, after that aforementioned bit of thought and hesitation, “Very talented”. And naturally, I couldn’t help but smile and thank him one more time.
Walking on jelly legs with Beth back to our seats, we didn’t have much time for deep afterthoughts of all that had just happened because the next convention guest, Richard Speight Jr., aka the delightfully devious Trickster on Supernatural, had already started his Q&A session since everything was still running a little bit behind. But unlike previous panels, it was quite hard to balance our thoughts between the three dominating things - listening to Richard talk, all the post J&J bliss swirling through our heads, and of course, the fact that the boys were still behind that curtain and trying to control that instinctive yearning to run right back there! LOL. Like I already said, it’s a hard thing to know that Jared and Jensen are in the same room as you are but not be able to see or hear or go to them…VERY hard. LOL. Especially when instead of having any time with them in your very near future, all your time with them is in your very recent past…in other words, no more interactive in-person J2 goodness to look forward to until next time, if there is one! So, instead of focusing on that sniffle-worthy thought lest we’d depress ourselves, LOL, we tried our best to focus on Richard’s Q&A, or rather what was left of it. What we were able to see was - as Richard’s character the Trickster is - very entertaining and amusing, though. The funniest anecdote that we got in on just in time to hear fully, had to have been the story of when Richard first met Jared’s dogs, Harley and Sadie. As has been well-documented over the show’s existence, Jared’s dogs are oftentimes on the set with him to the point where I’d imagine that they’ve become nearly as much of a fixture there as Jared himself is, LOL. Apparently, when Jared is off doing his thing, whether it be filming or reading his script or eating or (one of my personal favorites) chasing people around the set with a hot glue gun trying to attach action figures to people’s hats, LOLOLOL, his dogs for the most part hang out in and around his set trailer. And Richard, uninformed and inexperienced soul that he was at one point, found this out the hard way, LOLOL. He told us of how he first approached Jared’s trailer and knocked on the door, expecting him to be inside, but getting no answer. Richard then however heard a bit of a noise coming from inside the trailer and, finding the door to be unlocked, decided to go on in and call out for Jared, thinking he was likely in the bathroom or merely too busy to come to the door and would be available in a few seconds. But instead of hearing and seeing Jared when he opened the door, what he heard was a low growl and what he saw were Jared’s dogs on the couch, LOL…and being that Harley and Sadie are pretty huge just like their master and that Richard hadn’t yet met the dogs and vice versa, LOL, I imagine that was a rather shocking and intimidating sight! Richard told us that one of the dogs started to get up and that was when he let out a quick expletive, slammed the door back, and got the heck out of there! LOLOLOL. If only Richard would’ve known at the time - and I imagine he later found out - that Jared’s dogs are supposedly really big cuddly puppies at heart…also much like their master, LOL. I wish we could’ve gotten in on Richard’s entire session, but unfortunately we only got in on about the last ten minutes of it since we were still in line for Jared and Jensen’s autographs. NOT that I would’ve changed THAT of course, but would it have killed them to wait about a half hour more to put Richard on? I personally still don’t think it would’ve, but then again, what do I know, because it would’ve apparently also killed them to spare just a half an hour more for Jared’s Q&A as well, and I sure didn’t think that either, so yeah…what do I know? Hmph.
The truth about Creation is what they certainly couldn’t bear to do without were their chances to make more money. If we hadn’t been before, we were crystal clear on this fact in the moments directly following Richard’s departure from stage, as the next official event was a ticket/seat upgrade sale. All the details were given and as it turned out, for a low, low price of a mere 519 dollars, all paid UP-FRONT to them, right then, you could go ahead and buy your Gold ticket for the August 2010 Vancouver convention, either keeping the seat that you had or being able to upgrade…what a deal! NOT. We were stunned, and quite frankly, a little disgusted with the convention managers. For one thing, this went on for about forty-five minutes…forty-five minutes, twenty to thirty of which they could’ve given Jared for his solo Q&A, and the rest of which they could’ve used to push back Richard’s session so that more people who were still waiting in the J2 autograph line could’ve seen the whole thing, or at least more of the whole thing. It just irks me to no end that there they had no problem having Richard onstage while we waited in the J2 autograph line, but yet they had to take up a whole forty-five minutes or so to further oil their money machine when they could’ve so easily been doing THAT while something else was going on, like say, later that evening when we were waiting for autographs from Richard and Jim Beaver. That would’ve made MUCH more sense to me than overlapping Richard’s Q&A with the Jared and Jensen autographs and uh, what was that other thing they did that made no sense whatsoever? Oh yeah, CUTTING JARED’S SOLO PANEL. Like I could ever forget that. And the other thing…seriously, Creation? 519 freaking dollars, UP-FRONT? RIGHT THEN? Right at a time that we were all - except for those select rich few who just whipped out their credit cards like it was nothing - very likely and very SURELY in my case, running very LOW in our wallets and bank accounts thanks to all the money we had just spent to be able to be where we were sitting at that said time?! When most of us still had our hotel bill yet to be paid? Again, I have no experience in the field of big business - not dishonest or shady or greedy enough - but to me and to a lot of other people, it would’ve made more sense if we had been allowed to make a down-payment for a Gold ticket at that moment, say, 100 to 200 dollars at the most up-front, then another 100 the next month, and another the next month and so on until it was paid off and the Gold ticket was officially ours…and that was also something that honestly, more people would’ve had a chance with.
But to ask for the entire 519 dollars up-front as they did - and I do mean up-front, they were literally swiping credit cards at a table right at the front part of the main theatre - was just ridiculous, in my opinion…as was really the notion of already selling tickets to their August 2010 Vancouver convention in the first place. The major hype that Jared had already signed up to come back was running rampant; official advertisement /sign-up sheet s were printed on the back of our schedules and readily available to us while we were there, with the headline reading - “We’re back August 27-29, Creation Entertainment’s Salute to Supernatural Vancouver Convention 2010…JARED IS COMING: ARE YOU?” Now I’ll hand it to them, that’s a mightily appealing advertisement, oh yes…but, thing is, a lot of us have learned our lesson, Beth and I included. First from Kenny’s deceit at EyeCon, and also from Creation’s own debacle with the Supernatural set tour that never was - and that lesson is, just because the company SAYS something is going to happen, doesn’t mean it WILL happen. And Jared is super-sweet and generous and loves the fans, yes, but as my mother so aptly and truly put it when I told her about all this, he’s not stupid. He knows that the future isn’t written in stone, that in reality he has no clue where he’ll be nearly one year from now, much less a guarantee of where he’ll be or what he’ll be doing. The fact is that Jared has very likely told the Creation organizers that he will definitely be back next year if he can be, but the Creation organizers in that classic spirit of wanting to sell, sell, sell, have conveniently left the ‘if he can be’ part out of the advertisement. Though this should be automatically considered and implied with any convention appearance of course, since things can always come up for the stars and sometimes do so last-minute, but I don’t know…overall, I just thought - and still think - that it was/is too soon to be selling tickets for a convention that’s nearly a whole year away, and especially too soon to be asking for the full payment up-front. Along with just being annoyed that they took up forty-five minutes for that business venture that they could’ve used in better ways, in my opinion.
After that was said and done, Beth and I went back up to our room, and there we were finally allowed to revel in our post J&J bliss. We stared at our autographed drawings happily and replayed the words that had been said to us in our minds and out loud, squee level high! And during that moment, much as it had hit Beth earlier, it hit me what Jared’s hesitation had been, what he had been searching his brain and memory for in those few seconds, why he had been staring so intently at one area in particular in one of my drawings - it was all about my name. It all added up and completely clicked for both Beth and I that Jared, bless his sweet, huge, respectful heart, had been trying to read and/or remember my name during those moments and had ultimately been unable to do both, and that was what brought about the somewhat apologetic look in his eyes as I was leaving. He had been successful in the endeavor with Beth before, and had obviously felt a bit bad that he wasn’t able to do the same with me…likely thanks to the fact that I’d signed in small script and in pencil on top of charcoal on the one drawing, LOL. *facepalm* However, upon this realization, all I felt was a whole new upsurge in my love for him, because to me, it doesn’t matter that he didn’t say my name, the fact that he tried and would have had he been able to read/remember it was more than enough for me. It was one of those situations where that old cliché “it’s the thought that counts” truly was the case. Along with the fact that he kept talking to me like he did even when I was out of reach of his table, even when the handlers were telling both of us to move on, the way he really looked at my drawings, took them in and appreciated my work and the sincerity and emotion in his eyes and voice when he complimented me so wonderfully…all those things, all those things and then some, things I can’t do justice to in words like just the overall way Jared is and was to me, just touched me so deeply and still do, and THOSE were the things I took with me. Not the couple of things that weren’t - written autograph personalization and him calling me by name - but the many things that WERE, and those things were just absolutely amazing on all levels. Like I said, I’d hope that I have here but doubt I did and ever could, do true justice in words to what this me/Jared/drawings experience was like, either for this convention or for the previous EyeCon ones…all I can really say is, THANK YOU, JARED. Thank you, thank you, THANK YOU, for everything. And I all I can really do is just tell people about it, about him, and love him all the more. And that I do. J
At sometime a little after 5:00, Beth and I headed back down to the main theater to take our seats for the final convention guest, the one, the only, Jim Beaver - aka the one and only Bobby Singer on Supernatural. Continuing in the tradition of his hilarious stage attire, such as the T-shirt that he wore at EyeCon that read “I read John/Bobby” (in reference to slash fanfiction), LOL, he walked out onto the stage this time in a long, tan trench coat ala Castiel, LOL, joking that it seemed to work in getting girls for Misha but didn’t seem to be working quite the same with him when we all burst out into laughter, LOLOLOL. He then, after ditching the trench coat, officially greeted us to our all delights with his gruff, now-customary famous Bobby phrase, “Hello, idjits,” and we all laughed again and cheered, LOL. Since it was nearing the end of the convention, the rules had sort of by now fallen by the wayside and once again the process of drawing random questions was ignored in favor of having the fans ask them…only this time the fans that had questions lined up at both ends of the stage instead of the microphone being ran around. The questions asked to Jim covered a pretty broad range of subjects, roles he’d played from Bobby on Supernatural and where he’d like to see the character go next to his role on the CBS summer miniseries thriller Harper’s Island, comments on his wonderful recently published book Life’s That Way and concerns as to how he and his daughter Maddie were doing in the present day, and of course, any dirt that he had to dish on Jared and Jensen, LOL. And then, to all our dismay, she was back - not PETA girl but the other rude one - crawling out from under her rock for the first time since Misha had so brilliantly smacked her down. She decided to make her comeback by resurrecting the inane question she’d asked Alona - if you were on a plane that was getting ready to crash into the ocean with Jared, Jensen, Samantha Ferris, and Jim Beaver, and there was only room for you and one other person on the raft, who would you save - only this time it was modified for Jim as, “If you were on a plane that was getting ready to crash into the ocean with Sam, Dean, and Castiel, and there was only room for you and one other person on the raft, who would you save?” As Alona did, Jim chose to turn it into humor - what else could you really do, I wonder? - and also as it was with Alona, poor Jared was the first one eliminated, LOL (don’t worry Jared, I’d save you! *hugs*). However, whereas Alona’s reasoning was that Jared might sink the raft because he’s so tall, Jim’s reasoning was that Sam wouldn’t need the raft in the first place, because Sam’s played by Jared and “gas floats”. LOLOLOLOLOLOLOL! He then went into a bit of detail about how (to quote him) “that boy needs to see a gastroenterologist” to an apparently major degree, LOLOLOL, before moving on to giving Dean as his answer by process of elimination, as Castiel is an angel and therefore, well…has wings. LOLOL. (Alona, by the way, ultimately chose Samantha in the spirit of girls united, LOL) Another memorable moment was when Jim made a comment to a skimpily-dressed fan that that was a “nice dress you’re almost wearing there”, LOLOLOLOL, and I really think poor Jim was trying to compliment her and say that she looked attractive because she was dressed up more than most of us, but it was a pretty revealing dress and he got flustered and sort of put his foot in his mouth, LOLOL. And I don’t know who was more mortified by that exchange, him or the girl! LOL. Because for as long as she stood there he really couldn’t stop looking at her and kept kind of verbally smacking himself for doing so, LOL, and then even after she’d sat down he kept bringing that back up and apologizing to her! LOLOL, oh Jim, it’s okay…girls who under-dress like that really are asking for it, sometimes they just can’t seem to take it when they actually get it, though. Not your fault! LOL. As always, he was just awesome, and a great choice to wrap up the Q&As.
With those now over and done, the only event left to go was the autograph session with Richard and Jim. At that point, it started hitting Beth and I very hard that it was all almost over already, that we’d have to be saying goodbye to Amy and Charissa and Jenna and Mary and Sandra and all the rest of the gang in mere hours, since we unfortunately couldn’t afford another day - due to matters of both finance and employment - and would be leaving early the next morning. So naturally we decided to sit with them instead of in our own seats while we waited to be called. Before we got settled in though, Beth and I actually went on a little excursion with Immie joining us, to the elusive cupcake shop that Beth had been trying to find the entire weekend…and we finally found it! LOL. The girl working there was nice, and her name was Amanda too! LOL. She easily surmised that we were there for the convention by the Jared shirts that Beth and I both still had on, and we all shared an unexpected moment of squee combined with sympathy when she told us the story of how when she’d been working at one of their chain’s other stores in a different part of the city, Jared and his gigantic sweet tooth had actually come in the store! Sadly for Amanda though, she had to hear about Jared’s visit from her excited co-worker, as she had been in the back sweeping and mopping the floor at the time and hadn’t even known he’d been there until she was told! But according to the co-worker, he’d just walked in there, engaged in casual friendly chit-chat with her while he ordered his fill, and left…just a normal, everyday cupcake run! Except for all the squeeing the co-worker did afterwards, of course, LOL. We wished Amanda the best of luck with seeing him next time he came in the store, and I playfully told her that when and if he ever did, to tell him that another Amanda, the girl with the charcoal drawings from the Vancouver 2009 convention, said hi! LOL. Back at the hotel, we made a quick stop in our room to refrigerate the leftover cupcakes, and then came back down and settled in for what would turn out to be a LONG, LONG, LOOOOOOOOOONG wait for autographs. Thank goodness that rules had slacked by this time and we were allowed to sit with our friends! LOL. And so we did. We finally got to show off our freshly autographed drawings to everyone and tell them our first-hand accounts of our time with Jared and Jensen, and they likewise returned the favor until our whole group was just one big ball of squee, LOL. Amidst all the squeeing I also went over and got Richard’s autograph, which much like it was with Traci and Julie, was a much shorter wait due to the fact that his autograph wasn’t included with any ticket package. I asked Richard something Beth and I been volleying back and forth amongst ourselves and our friends for the entire day, that if, as the Trickster, he would do us all a favor and pull a Mystery Spot for us so that the day could repeat over and over and over again! LOL. He laughed and said that he definitely would if he could, that even though some people might not have wanted to live that day over again, he too was one of the ones like me that did. LOL. He was very cool.
After my returning back to the group and relaying that, we continued to look back on the day, to look back on the entire weekend, engaging in several discussions relating to the convention, the boys, the show, and each other, along with all of our SnOb buddies back home! We also kept periodically checking the third floor to see if our photo ops had been printed out yet, and after a good couple of hours of waiting and checking, found that they finally had been! We squeed and swooned and in some cases, laughed at our results, especially when it came to poor Beth’s solo photo op with Jared, LOLOLOLOL…it was absolutely adorable, don’t get me wrong, but it was also hilarious because two of her fingers, apparently of their own volition, had pinched a hold of Jared’s shirt right at the photo snapping point, and it just looked so mischievous, LOLOLOLOL. We teased her with everything from it looking like she was trying to get his shirt unbuttoned, to the angle of the shot making her look like the ghoul-woman from Jump the Shark when she had her finger stuck in Sam’s side! LOLOLOL, none of us could stop giggling over it, Beth included! As for my own Jared solo photo op…you can see it below! LOLOLOL, now I will tell you honestly, I have absolutely NO CLUE why I decided to imitate the Leaning Tower of Pisa in that moment, LOLOLOL, but I think it had something to do with how Jared himself was leaning over to make sure he got in the frame with the shorter people - LOLOL, and again, I am a full foot shorter than him, possibly more since I could SWEAR he’s actually GROWN an inch or two lately, LOL - and I of course, was only too happy to lean with him, making sure to attach every inch of my side to him that I could get attached! LOL. At least I remembered to tilt my head back to the side for balance…or was that to get my head as close as possible to his shoulder and neck, LOL…probably the latter! Like I said, the photographer snapped the picture so fast that I really didn’t even have time to consider how I looked; all I knew in those few seconds was the intense need and desire to nestle myself against Jared as close as I could get while still staying within the boundaries of appropriateness! LOL. And he definitely returned the favor…look at how tight he’s gripping my shoulder with that huge hand of his! LOL. And you know good and well that my own arm is wrapped around him as far as it can go, LOL, my hand having tons of fun pressing against that firm-all-over body of his! LOL. *drools just thinking about it* Also, for the record - and I first experienced this at the EyeCon photo ops but again at this one - he smells SO good! LOLOL. Clean and warm, an alluring spicy scent with a tinge of sweetness to it…I don’t know if it’s his cologne or shampoo or body wash or just something uniquely him, but whatever it is? YUM. LOL. And then those eyes, that smile, those dimples…*happy sigh*…you can clearly see why my own smile is so big! LOL. And same deal with the Jared and Jensen Sandwich photo op…I love how it came out too! Mmmm, both those muscular arms around me and hands touching me, LOL - though man did they both, especially Jared, have to bend their elbows to an acute degree in order for their hands to actually be on me because I’m so skinny! LOLOL. And of course…you know where my arms and hands are again! LOL. Mmmm-hmm, planted firmly and happily on those broad backs! LOL. And awww, both Jared and Jensen have such nice smiles in that one too! :-D
So, with our photo ops and everything except for Jim’s autograph now thankfully in hand, we talked some more, squeed some more, and waited some more. Then we squeed, waited, and talked. And for a change of pace, after that we waited, talked, and squeed! LOL. And we also had someone snap a group photo of all of us, LOL, that took four tries to get right because different individuals kept accidentally shutting their eyes at the flash! LOLOL. We did all these things and a few others until finally, we came to the realization that it had been nearly three hours since the Jim autograph line had been started, and they weren’t even halfway through the room yet. We also realized that we hadn’t yet had dinner, and since it was late again and Beth, Charissa, and I wanted to go cheap again, it ended up being back to Subway, LOL, where I got the same thing as earlier…nothing wrong with going with the tried and true, LOL. We brought our food back with us once more, only this time we sat back down and ate in the main theatre, since several others had decided to do the same. The wait had gotten so long that one group of people had even had pizza delivered to them! LOLOL. We continued to kill time as best we could through talking to each other, but our group had been slowly but surely dwindling as those who were sitting in the more immediate rows got their autographs and, after fond farewells to us, decided to either head on up to bed or out to eat at a fancier place. By the time the clock hit 11:00PM we had already hugged Amy, Jenna, Sandra, Mary, Immie, and the rest of the gang goodbye, and it was just down to Beth and Charissa and I. We were exhausted in all manners; the wells of conversation had pretty much run dry and we were just plain tired of being in that windowless room and ready to go to bed. Plus to make matters even worse, the shrewish convention manager was up there onstage, yakking away self-importantly, making the rest of the staff actually take turns giving her shoulder massages like she was some sort of queen and acting like she was putting on a show of her own…it wasn’t a very entertaining one. We were all just wishing she’d shut the heck up! LOL. And that the line would move the heck along! But we couldn’t fault Jim, who’d demanded that he be allowed to personalize autographs since he was the final guest and therefore not in any rush. Eventually and finally, after no earlier than nearly 1:00 in the morning, we got in line and got our autographs. It was apparent when we got up to the table that Jim, bless his heart, had been running on caffeine himself, as there were about five or six empty cans of Dr. Pepper piled up beside him! LOLOL. But he was his usual wonderful self nonetheless. I complimented him on his amazing book, Life’s That Way, which is a memoir/diary comprised of a collection of emails sent to his friends and family that unexpectedly became an internet phenomenon through forwarding, chronicling his wife Cecily’s battle with lung cancer and Jim’s struggles and endeavors to raise his young daughter, Madeline, after Cecily’s tragic death at the hands of the disease. If you haven’t yet read it, READ IT…I HIGHLY recommend it. I also told him that reading it helped me to better understand the grief process in my own life, as I’m still at heart dealing with the loss of my grandfather aka “Pops”, who as of October 18th will have been gone exactly one year now. I could tell he was touched by that, and he kindly signed the inside of the book with his signature and the words “Life’s that way” with a sideways-pointing arrow. What a truly awesome guy he is…again, buy and read that book if you haven’t done so already, it is well worth the time and money spent.
The following moment was the finale in a long list of bittersweet ones. We were glad to have finally gotten our autographs after that painfully long wait, no doubt, but immediately after getting them and sitting back down in the rapidly emptying main theatre to gather up our things, we came to the ultimate harrowing realization that none of us wanted to believe, but that couldn’t be denied nonetheless…that was it. The entire convention was officially over and done. We took a few moments to come to terms with that, then finally hugged Charissa goodbye and proceeded back up to our room one last time. Lessening our burden for the morning, we went ahead and packed as much as we could, reflecting on the awesome time we had and squeeing with what little energy we had left as we worked, before finally collapsing into bed at close to 2:00AM for a grand total of around three hours of sleep, visions and dreams of the boys and the past few days dancing in our heads. Yes, the 2009 Supernatural Vancouver convention had come to an end, as all good things must eventually do. But WOW…what a convention it had certainly been.
Coming within the next couple of days: Part Five, the conclusion, covering post-convention thoughts and occurrences and summarizing the squee. Photos to enhance the above read are below! :-D
The second of my two Jared charcoal drawings, this one was done specifically for the Vancon and to match the first. Jared autographed it in silver marker on its black matboard frame, at the bottom-center, but the autograph isn't included in these scans because the matboard was too big for my scanner...sorry! LOL.
The first of my two charcoal Jared drawings, this one was done originally for the March 2008 EyeCon, but was autographed at the Vancon. The artist 's signature has been photoshopped on to be visible! LOL. Like its companion, this piece was also autographed by Jared on its black matboard frame, at the bottom-center.
This is me, in the J&J Sandwich!!! SQUEE!!! :-D
And this is me in my third (so far!) photo op with Jared, special T-shirt and all...SQUEE AGAIN!!! :-D