Start digging some nerd holes...
So, like, remember the bit where I said I was totally reserving a few days for nerding it up? Well here's a few more nerd-dedicated days. Which, despite what some people might think, was not the entire reason for my trip. *grumble* (It was rather funny when I met people, though, and they're like, “you're from Australia? Wow, that's dedication to come all the way over here for a Torchwood convention”. Alas, no. But still. Tres amusant. and it was so much fun that I might be already vaguely calculating how much leave I'll need to have racked up to come back for the next one in March... What? I didn't say anything! *whistles*)
(disclaimer: So, like, I don't usually like using the actors' first names to refer to them, because I always feel like it makes me sound like I'm trying to be artificially pally with them, but seriously, it's so much easier for these purposes. So, yeah. First names it is. Hooray)
FRIDAY 17TH OCTOBER - NORTHAMPTON (THE HUB)
So, got up quite early and actually ate the full breakfast (which I am so, unbelievably sick of I can't quite express it, but which is free and means I don't ever need to pay for lunch), then headed off into town to see the Shakespeare house and do the other touristy things that I'd totally planned to do yesterday, but which I (as usual) didn't get a chance to. So, because it didn't open till 10, I wandered around the streets and along the river, which was nice (they have those houseboat things lady_sometimes was telling me about! The ones that were in His Dark Materials, or so I like to think, anyway.) and did some of the touristy shopping thing. Some of the souvenirs are, like, the tackiest things evar. Some are kind of tackily hilarious, and I might have bought a couple of those, even though they'll totally be no longer amusing by the time I get home. Bah. Wandered through the Shakespeare house once it opened and basically had a personal tour, as there was no one else there. Which was... good, but I can't quite get into the whole ridiculous reverence these people have for it. They were all like “and this is the room, really, the actual room where he was born. No, no, don't rush, just experience it. But yeah, mildly cool, and yay Shakespeare.
So then I headed off to Cambridge to meet with Treens to pick up stuff for the Hub so I could actually, like, go and stuff, but driving in Cambridge proved to be this unbelievable nightmarish hallucinogenic experience, with roads that suddenly aren't roads and millions of people and bikes and one-way streets and ridiculous things like that, and it's actually impossible to get into the town centre by car. Eventually parked, hiked into town and found somewhere to give me a haircut (srsly, I'm, like, having photos taken this weekend, need to look my best... :P) and caught up with Treens (OMG yay), and finally met Tom (OMG yay), who, of course, is awesome. And by the time I got away, it was, like, nearly 4 o'clock, and I'd planned to be in Northampton (an hour and a half away at any time that's not 4 o'clock on a Friday afternoon) by 5, so I could check in to the hotel, find the other hotel and actually register and go to the opening ceremony thing. Alas, the traffic was what is occasionally referred to as unbelievably crap, and so i didn't actually get to Northampton until 7 (having missed the exit not once but three times, even though I bought myself a proper map. Bah.) and so after walking through the scary park where there was a random man just standing, rather creepily, on his own, in the dark, I'd missed most of the opening ceremony thing, which, apparently involved John, Kai, Gareth and Naoko all up on stage and was apparently very entertaining, if the cheers I could hear from half way up the street were anything to go by.
But I hung around for the party, which was such unbelievable fun. I didn't actually dress up (though I had kind of brought a costume of sorts along, including my rocking new dreadlock extension things), because I just couldn't be bothered, but I met so many awesome people (seriously, smokers are the easiest people in the world to talk to) and had an awesome time, and the guests were totally just wandering through the hotel, hanging out. Which was great, though I didn't actually speak to any of them. And I totally drank lots of wine, too, because I wasn't driving (*gasp*) and I *could*. Even if I did have to walk back through the scary park on my own to the other hotel. Which wasn't so much fun (not the best area, or city, even, apparently, and actually quite obviously), but I followed these other people so it was okay. Hooray!
SATURDAY 18TH OCTOBER - NORTHAMPTON (THE HUB)
Even though the party totally went 'til 3am, the photo shoots and signings and stuff totally was scheduled for 8.30. Yes, IN THE MORNING. SRSLY. So I managed to get there by around 9.30 (barely), and had to hang around doing very little for a while, as my group wasn't called for anything. Eventually got a signature from Gareth (who I had only ever found attractive when he was playing Ianto and not when he was being himself, but who is ridiculously attractive and charismatic IRL. Damn) and a photograph with Kai and (omg!) teh Barrowman, both of which totally included hugs (omg!). Which was awesome, even if it was totally production line. And srsly, no one should be allowed to be as good looking as Barrowman. The man is 41 years old, trufax, and looks just like he does on television and better than he did 5 years ago. *certain that he has a picture in his attic somewhere*
Went to Barrowman's Q&A session, which was, naturally, ridiculously entertaining (the man's laugh is hilarious in itself, and he's so good at entertaining people it's brilliant), then Treens arrived (hooray!) which made everythinig a BILLION times better. We both sat through the Gareth, Kai and Naoko Q&A thing (and omg, Naoko is stunning in person. How the hell do people do that!?) and the guys made fun of her so much that she totally got the sympathy vote, though I'm not convinced she needed it, even if it was a bit uncomfortable when Gareth kept mocking her for being Japanese (which was probably okay, as she was doing it herself, acting like the microphone (and everything else) was a telephone and trying to talk into it, and it might have been an in-joke, but it made me cringe a bit). But all in all, everything was turned into an innuendo (heh, in-your-endo... ahh, Scrubs) and OMG the guests have as much of a 15 year old boy's sense of humour as the fans (insofar as 15 year old boys are obsessed with teh slash). 15 year-old girl, maybe. One who uses teh intarwebs a lot.
But yes. The final Q&A session, which had all the guests who were there that day, was absolutely brilliant, as it had all four of the main actors and a whole group of guys who play weevils and who were kind of ridiculously filthy-minded (which fit in with the rest of the cast brilliantly, incidentally) and Gareth and John kept pretending to kiss just to get a reaction from the crowd (a reaction that mainly consisted of loud squeals, a la 1960s pop concerts, or something :P Seriously, there are not many guys at this convention. Which I think is quite cool for a science fiction show. Yay, fandom. Stupid ABC and saying it's too blokey. Bah. Girliest scifi show evar.)
Incidentally, I think someone put up videos of the panels here, like, on the off-chance that anyone other than me might be interested. Blaaah. Will probably get taken down soon, anyways. Bah.
In conclusion (SPOILAR ALERRTZ), series 3 totally has Unexpected Naked!Jack. But Naked!Jack is always expected. Heheh, but people cheered when he said that. Outstanding. Uh. From a purely literary-socio-cultural-postmodern-disaffected-litcrit perspective, you understand. :P
And then there was this auction thing, where people paid ridiculous amounts of money for not-very-good things - mainly signed photos and stuff, but a thing for two people to sit opposite Gareth at a dinner with all the guests went for something ridiculous like £540 (extra hilarious because Gareth said later that he'd spent half the night outside smoking. LOL) And people were surprisingly willing to part with up to £50 for dodgy printouts of bad photoshops of Captain Jack with famous presidents that had been decorating the Captain Jack's office room (which, in itself, was kind of cool, but I could probably recreate it on my own if I wanted to, without actually paying for someone else's dodgy photoshop in a frame... bah.) Oh well. A souvenir is a souvenir, I suppose. *actually did not buy anything. Shocking, I know!*
Picked up the photos from the morning's photoshoots, both of which were not my favourite photos of me (*is not photogenic*), though John and Kai both looked great (which, of course, is what they're paid to do) and had Thai for dinner and some delicious, delicious French wine that Treens totally picked and which we got through an entire bottle of all too easily. So we were, like, totally in a good state when we made it back to the party, which had a 1930s/40s big band theme, and a swing act which was like these two women in 1940s military uniforms singing (omg, cool) and everyone was dressed up in 40s dresses and victory rolls and/or military uniforms, a la that Torchwood episode, and there were flags everywhere. Looked very cool (and much less like a high school dance than the night before, which is always a plus).
Anyhoo, at about 9.30, we'd totally been promised a one-off 'play' with John and Kai, which it turned out that Gareth was in, too. First thing they said was that omgseriously no one should video it, because they could really get in trouble, because of how they were making fun of the show and might never get to do conventions again, liek, evar. So. Good start. Promising. But the play? O.M.G. Starts off with them all dancing ridiculously to the theme music, like, whatevar. Cue flimsy plot, lots of innuendo-y jokes about aliens “entering” people and “I think he's gone down the back passage” and Ianto offering everyone coffee, because “It's what I do.” So, mild lolz. Ends up with John and Gareth making out (uh, naturally. There may have been rioting if they didn't, at this stage), then John and Kai. Then John goes off stage and Gareth and Kai make out and John runs back in and tacklehugs them. Quite loltastic, actually. *fans self* At least they know what the fans want. OMG I love this fandom so unbelievably much! I can't think of another fandom, let alone a SF fandom where they'd do this. So. Much. Awesome. I don't think anyone could speak after this for a good few minutes. *sigh* (someone else wrote more and even took pictures, here (not entirely SFW, just so you know...depending on where you work): . Alas, all my pictures were blurry. It's hard to take photos in the dark without a flash, dammit! *cries*
The party was as awesome as the night before, and I drank muchly in the way of wine and cider, even though it was going backwards along the 'alcohol spectrum', as Treens reliably informed me (seriously, she's totally studying biolo-skience-ness at Cambridge, so she, like, knows about this stuff :P) and I met so many awesome people and had such a good time, even though I couldn't quite bring myself to dance to the dodgy convention songs (which, apparently have actual steps and stuff. I'm so not enough of a nerd. *tries harder*). I did take photos of Treens dancing to them, though, but she looks kind of awesome in them, so I can't really use them for blackmail material. But that's okay! Yay!
So yeah. Did I mention that I might have accidentally booked a double room instead of a twin before I knew Treens could come to the convention? Because, yeah. Oh well. The bed was big, and at least it wasn't like the heaps of stories I heard about like 4 people squished into one room. Awesome. *too old to sleep on the floor, trufax*
Very sad that there's only one more day. *sob* Having so much fun. Best. Weekend. Ever. (And I really hadn't realised how much I missed Treens. *smooshes her*)
SUNDAY 19TH OCTOBER - NORTHAMPTON (THE HUB)
So, like, I had to get up early again, because, dammit, I paid extra for these photo sessions and I'm going to at least go to the ones I want (though I really couldn't be bothered going to the one with the guy who plays the weevils and the monsters and stuff, not least because I've never seen him out of costume before, nor the one with the guy who played Gray, because even if he's pretty damn good looking, as Barrowman kept pointing out all the time, his skillz with the acting were totally the (biggest) thing that ruined the last episode of series 2 for me, and I just don't think he's that supar). So I waited and waited and waited because I was worried about missing out on Barrowman's signature, as he was leaving at lunchtime (srsly, any reason to get up close to him, zomg) and managed to get Kai's signature, then (using yesterday's photos to see what went wrong with the whole 'photogenic' thing, fixed my hair and rushed off for a photo with Gareth (yay, hug), then Naoko (yay, hug), and then finally got called for John's signing, by which time he was getting a little stressed and seriously rushing things, because he only had like half the time and of course, everyone wanted his autograph, because, like, yeah. Naturally. But still. Guh. In conclusion, I ended up with photos and signatures from the four actors I actually had any interest in (though I really, really would have liked to see the writers far more than the actors, incidentally *subtle hint to anyone 'important' who might be reading this... helloooo???*)
But the photos were far better than yesterdays, which was a relief, because I'm so never letting those other ones see the light of day. *shudder* May have developed a working hypothesis about an inverse relationship between the amount of face visible behind my hair and the acceptability of a given photograph. Ahh, skience. Hey, I did warn you about the 'nerding it up' thing... :P
So yeah. Had to rush back from lunch because I might have kinda-accidentally-sorta bid for one of those 'intimate encounter' sessions with Gareth (uh, not as 'intimate' as the name would have it seem - more like a slightly awkward conversation with 12 people and a guest for 45 minutes). Mainly because I figured this is probably the only one of these things I'll ever get to go to, what with living on the OTHER SIDE OF THE DAMN PLANET, ZOMG, and I might as well make the most of it.. So, like, I won a spot (and I'll never tell how much I paid... *cough*) and it was actually less mortifying than I'd expected, even if I did have to sit next to Gareth for the whole thing, and he did that 'touch wood' thing and hit me on the head, and I'm all like “gee, thanks. Y'know, I'm sure the table's made of wood, too...” and totally had nothing else to say for the whole thing, because the only question I had to ask was kind of based on the assumption that most people in the world thought Torchwood was kind of crap, so, like, not so tactful and stuff. But yes. OMG tidbits about the Jack/Ianto thing in series 3. Not that there's time for much, apparently, but the one thing he said? O.M.G. *isn't posting because I'm so not sure of the etiquette of posting what was said in the smaller sessions and no one else who was there seems to have posted it and I don't want everyone to hate me. *twitch* Eeep. But Gareth totally couldn't remember that he'd made out with Kai the night before and that he'd mooned everyone, like, twice, once of which wasn't even onstage. Hil-aaaarious.
And by the time it finished, Treens had gone back to teh Cambridge place, because she has to be all responsible and productive this week. Woe.
In conclusion, the rest of the panels were quite as hilarious as the day before, even without Barrowman's lowbrow influence (bless! If he wasn't so attractive, he'd never get away with half the things he says). Got quite 'pretend-heated' in the middle there when Gareth and his ex (who was also a guest, as she'd been in the show) were sniping quite hilariously at each other, especially when Sarah (the ex), who wasn't used to the whole convention thing said something, and Gareth was all like “No wonder it didn't work”. Best was when they were all saying parts they'd like to play, and Gareth said Macbeth, so Sarah (the ex) said Lady Macbeth. Bah. Whatever. I guess you had to be there. :P I LOL'd, anyway. :P
Wandered off for a bit of a rest and some dinner, which was less forthcoming than you might expect on a Sunday night in a place that calls itself a city. Ended up choosing the least food-poisoning-looking option of the four kebab places, which were the only places that were open, and getting some chips. Seriously, it is so hard to eat healthily here. I need a kitchen, it's ridiculous! I never want to see the following foods ever again: chips, bacon, sausage, baked beans and did I mention chips? OMG everything comes with chips. *has no willpower* And omg, can someone explain to me why sandwiches also come with chips (like, crisps)? I just don't get it! Oh well, at least I'm doing lots of walking. And I choose to believe that the reason my clothes are looser has nothing at all to do with the fact that they've probably stretched when I wear them, but is because I'm walking enough to let me have chips. Which I NEVER WANT TO SEE AGAIN, OMG. *conflicted*
Anyhoo, headed back to the party, which was considerably quieter than the last two nights, and which had a theme of 'One Night in Cardiff', which I think some people took in quite a disparaging direction (I actually liked Cardiff, even without the Torchwood thing...) and just hung out and chatted to people and drank wine. Lots of people left when Gareth did, but I hung around for a bit longer, because I'd been having so much fun that I didn't want it to end. So I talked to heaps of people who were so nice and it was awesome fun. And there was this girl who was dressed as Ianto in a little pinstripy suit with the dark red shirt and the slicked back hair and drawn on sideburns, and she looked so awesome (and scarily like Jen Z, actually), and I was totally going to go up to her and tell her that, but then she like disappeared. So, like, if you're reading this I totally think you had the best costume there! :) (y'know, because my opinion is SO IMPORTANT, OMG).
And I didn't want to go, and I could have hung around and talked to the lovely peoples who I only know who some of them are, and everyone was so nice but I was so unbelievably tired (I blame wine!) that I just couldn't stay up, so around 11.30, I wandered back through the scary park and crashed until like 10am when the cleaning lady woke me up, which was awesome, as the checkout time was seriously 12. Bah. Least of my concerns with this hotel. Worst hotel evar, trufax.
TEH ENDZ
In conclusion, zomg squee!!1!
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(disclaimer: So, like, I don't usually like using the actors' first names to refer to them, because I always feel like it makes me sound like I'm trying to be artificially pally with them, but seriously, it's so much easier for these purposes. So, yeah. First names it is. Hooray)
FRIDAY 17TH OCTOBER - NORTHAMPTON (THE HUB)
So, got up quite early and actually ate the full breakfast (which I am so, unbelievably sick of I can't quite express it, but which is free and means I don't ever need to pay for lunch), then headed off into town to see the Shakespeare house and do the other touristy things that I'd totally planned to do yesterday, but which I (as usual) didn't get a chance to. So, because it didn't open till 10, I wandered around the streets and along the river, which was nice (they have those houseboat things lady_sometimes was telling me about! The ones that were in His Dark Materials, or so I like to think, anyway.) and did some of the touristy shopping thing. Some of the souvenirs are, like, the tackiest things evar. Some are kind of tackily hilarious, and I might have bought a couple of those, even though they'll totally be no longer amusing by the time I get home. Bah. Wandered through the Shakespeare house once it opened and basically had a personal tour, as there was no one else there. Which was... good, but I can't quite get into the whole ridiculous reverence these people have for it. They were all like “and this is the room, really, the actual room where he was born. No, no, don't rush, just experience it. But yeah, mildly cool, and yay Shakespeare.
So then I headed off to Cambridge to meet with Treens to pick up stuff for the Hub so I could actually, like, go and stuff, but driving in Cambridge proved to be this unbelievable nightmarish hallucinogenic experience, with roads that suddenly aren't roads and millions of people and bikes and one-way streets and ridiculous things like that, and it's actually impossible to get into the town centre by car. Eventually parked, hiked into town and found somewhere to give me a haircut (srsly, I'm, like, having photos taken this weekend, need to look my best... :P) and caught up with Treens (OMG yay), and finally met Tom (OMG yay), who, of course, is awesome. And by the time I got away, it was, like, nearly 4 o'clock, and I'd planned to be in Northampton (an hour and a half away at any time that's not 4 o'clock on a Friday afternoon) by 5, so I could check in to the hotel, find the other hotel and actually register and go to the opening ceremony thing. Alas, the traffic was what is occasionally referred to as unbelievably crap, and so i didn't actually get to Northampton until 7 (having missed the exit not once but three times, even though I bought myself a proper map. Bah.) and so after walking through the scary park where there was a random man just standing, rather creepily, on his own, in the dark, I'd missed most of the opening ceremony thing, which, apparently involved John, Kai, Gareth and Naoko all up on stage and was apparently very entertaining, if the cheers I could hear from half way up the street were anything to go by.
But I hung around for the party, which was such unbelievable fun. I didn't actually dress up (though I had kind of brought a costume of sorts along, including my rocking new dreadlock extension things), because I just couldn't be bothered, but I met so many awesome people (seriously, smokers are the easiest people in the world to talk to) and had an awesome time, and the guests were totally just wandering through the hotel, hanging out. Which was great, though I didn't actually speak to any of them. And I totally drank lots of wine, too, because I wasn't driving (*gasp*) and I *could*. Even if I did have to walk back through the scary park on my own to the other hotel. Which wasn't so much fun (not the best area, or city, even, apparently, and actually quite obviously), but I followed these other people so it was okay. Hooray!
SATURDAY 18TH OCTOBER - NORTHAMPTON (THE HUB)
Even though the party totally went 'til 3am, the photo shoots and signings and stuff totally was scheduled for 8.30. Yes, IN THE MORNING. SRSLY. So I managed to get there by around 9.30 (barely), and had to hang around doing very little for a while, as my group wasn't called for anything. Eventually got a signature from Gareth (who I had only ever found attractive when he was playing Ianto and not when he was being himself, but who is ridiculously attractive and charismatic IRL. Damn) and a photograph with Kai and (omg!) teh Barrowman, both of which totally included hugs (omg!). Which was awesome, even if it was totally production line. And srsly, no one should be allowed to be as good looking as Barrowman. The man is 41 years old, trufax, and looks just like he does on television and better than he did 5 years ago. *certain that he has a picture in his attic somewhere*
Went to Barrowman's Q&A session, which was, naturally, ridiculously entertaining (the man's laugh is hilarious in itself, and he's so good at entertaining people it's brilliant), then Treens arrived (hooray!) which made everythinig a BILLION times better. We both sat through the Gareth, Kai and Naoko Q&A thing (and omg, Naoko is stunning in person. How the hell do people do that!?) and the guys made fun of her so much that she totally got the sympathy vote, though I'm not convinced she needed it, even if it was a bit uncomfortable when Gareth kept mocking her for being Japanese (which was probably okay, as she was doing it herself, acting like the microphone (and everything else) was a telephone and trying to talk into it, and it might have been an in-joke, but it made me cringe a bit). But all in all, everything was turned into an innuendo (heh, in-your-endo... ahh, Scrubs) and OMG the guests have as much of a 15 year old boy's sense of humour as the fans (insofar as 15 year old boys are obsessed with teh slash). 15 year-old girl, maybe. One who uses teh intarwebs a lot.
But yes. The final Q&A session, which had all the guests who were there that day, was absolutely brilliant, as it had all four of the main actors and a whole group of guys who play weevils and who were kind of ridiculously filthy-minded (which fit in with the rest of the cast brilliantly, incidentally) and Gareth and John kept pretending to kiss just to get a reaction from the crowd (a reaction that mainly consisted of loud squeals, a la 1960s pop concerts, or something :P Seriously, there are not many guys at this convention. Which I think is quite cool for a science fiction show. Yay, fandom. Stupid ABC and saying it's too blokey. Bah. Girliest scifi show evar.)
Incidentally, I think someone put up videos of the panels here, like, on the off-chance that anyone other than me might be interested. Blaaah. Will probably get taken down soon, anyways. Bah.
In conclusion (SPOILAR ALERRTZ), series 3 totally has Unexpected Naked!Jack. But Naked!Jack is always expected. Heheh, but people cheered when he said that. Outstanding. Uh. From a purely literary-socio-cultural-postmodern-disaffected-litcrit perspective, you understand. :P
And then there was this auction thing, where people paid ridiculous amounts of money for not-very-good things - mainly signed photos and stuff, but a thing for two people to sit opposite Gareth at a dinner with all the guests went for something ridiculous like £540 (extra hilarious because Gareth said later that he'd spent half the night outside smoking. LOL) And people were surprisingly willing to part with up to £50 for dodgy printouts of bad photoshops of Captain Jack with famous presidents that had been decorating the Captain Jack's office room (which, in itself, was kind of cool, but I could probably recreate it on my own if I wanted to, without actually paying for someone else's dodgy photoshop in a frame... bah.) Oh well. A souvenir is a souvenir, I suppose. *actually did not buy anything. Shocking, I know!*
Picked up the photos from the morning's photoshoots, both of which were not my favourite photos of me (*is not photogenic*), though John and Kai both looked great (which, of course, is what they're paid to do) and had Thai for dinner and some delicious, delicious French wine that Treens totally picked and which we got through an entire bottle of all too easily. So we were, like, totally in a good state when we made it back to the party, which had a 1930s/40s big band theme, and a swing act which was like these two women in 1940s military uniforms singing (omg, cool) and everyone was dressed up in 40s dresses and victory rolls and/or military uniforms, a la that Torchwood episode, and there were flags everywhere. Looked very cool (and much less like a high school dance than the night before, which is always a plus).
Anyhoo, at about 9.30, we'd totally been promised a one-off 'play' with John and Kai, which it turned out that Gareth was in, too. First thing they said was that omgseriously no one should video it, because they could really get in trouble, because of how they were making fun of the show and might never get to do conventions again, liek, evar. So. Good start. Promising. But the play? O.M.G. Starts off with them all dancing ridiculously to the theme music, like, whatevar. Cue flimsy plot, lots of innuendo-y jokes about aliens “entering” people and “I think he's gone down the back passage” and Ianto offering everyone coffee, because “It's what I do.” So, mild lolz. Ends up with John and Gareth making out (uh, naturally. There may have been rioting if they didn't, at this stage), then John and Kai. Then John goes off stage and Gareth and Kai make out and John runs back in and tacklehugs them. Quite loltastic, actually. *fans self* At least they know what the fans want. OMG I love this fandom so unbelievably much! I can't think of another fandom, let alone a SF fandom where they'd do this. So. Much. Awesome. I don't think anyone could speak after this for a good few minutes. *sigh* (someone else wrote more and even took pictures, here (not entirely SFW, just so you know...depending on where you work): . Alas, all my pictures were blurry. It's hard to take photos in the dark without a flash, dammit! *cries*
The party was as awesome as the night before, and I drank muchly in the way of wine and cider, even though it was going backwards along the 'alcohol spectrum', as Treens reliably informed me (seriously, she's totally studying biolo-skience-ness at Cambridge, so she, like, knows about this stuff :P) and I met so many awesome people and had such a good time, even though I couldn't quite bring myself to dance to the dodgy convention songs (which, apparently have actual steps and stuff. I'm so not enough of a nerd. *tries harder*). I did take photos of Treens dancing to them, though, but she looks kind of awesome in them, so I can't really use them for blackmail material. But that's okay! Yay!
So yeah. Did I mention that I might have accidentally booked a double room instead of a twin before I knew Treens could come to the convention? Because, yeah. Oh well. The bed was big, and at least it wasn't like the heaps of stories I heard about like 4 people squished into one room. Awesome. *too old to sleep on the floor, trufax*
Very sad that there's only one more day. *sob* Having so much fun. Best. Weekend. Ever. (And I really hadn't realised how much I missed Treens. *smooshes her*)
SUNDAY 19TH OCTOBER - NORTHAMPTON (THE HUB)
So, like, I had to get up early again, because, dammit, I paid extra for these photo sessions and I'm going to at least go to the ones I want (though I really couldn't be bothered going to the one with the guy who plays the weevils and the monsters and stuff, not least because I've never seen him out of costume before, nor the one with the guy who played Gray, because even if he's pretty damn good looking, as Barrowman kept pointing out all the time, his skillz with the acting were totally the (biggest) thing that ruined the last episode of series 2 for me, and I just don't think he's that supar). So I waited and waited and waited because I was worried about missing out on Barrowman's signature, as he was leaving at lunchtime (srsly, any reason to get up close to him, zomg) and managed to get Kai's signature, then (using yesterday's photos to see what went wrong with the whole 'photogenic' thing, fixed my hair and rushed off for a photo with Gareth (yay, hug), then Naoko (yay, hug), and then finally got called for John's signing, by which time he was getting a little stressed and seriously rushing things, because he only had like half the time and of course, everyone wanted his autograph, because, like, yeah. Naturally. But still. Guh. In conclusion, I ended up with photos and signatures from the four actors I actually had any interest in (though I really, really would have liked to see the writers far more than the actors, incidentally *subtle hint to anyone 'important' who might be reading this... helloooo???*)
But the photos were far better than yesterdays, which was a relief, because I'm so never letting those other ones see the light of day. *shudder* May have developed a working hypothesis about an inverse relationship between the amount of face visible behind my hair and the acceptability of a given photograph. Ahh, skience. Hey, I did warn you about the 'nerding it up' thing... :P
So yeah. Had to rush back from lunch because I might have kinda-accidentally-sorta bid for one of those 'intimate encounter' sessions with Gareth (uh, not as 'intimate' as the name would have it seem - more like a slightly awkward conversation with 12 people and a guest for 45 minutes). Mainly because I figured this is probably the only one of these things I'll ever get to go to, what with living on the OTHER SIDE OF THE DAMN PLANET, ZOMG, and I might as well make the most of it.. So, like, I won a spot (and I'll never tell how much I paid... *cough*) and it was actually less mortifying than I'd expected, even if I did have to sit next to Gareth for the whole thing, and he did that 'touch wood' thing and hit me on the head, and I'm all like “gee, thanks. Y'know, I'm sure the table's made of wood, too...” and totally had nothing else to say for the whole thing, because the only question I had to ask was kind of based on the assumption that most people in the world thought Torchwood was kind of crap, so, like, not so tactful and stuff. But yes. OMG tidbits about the Jack/Ianto thing in series 3. Not that there's time for much, apparently, but the one thing he said? O.M.G. *isn't posting because I'm so not sure of the etiquette of posting what was said in the smaller sessions and no one else who was there seems to have posted it and I don't want everyone to hate me. *twitch* Eeep. But Gareth totally couldn't remember that he'd made out with Kai the night before and that he'd mooned everyone, like, twice, once of which wasn't even onstage. Hil-aaaarious.
And by the time it finished, Treens had gone back to teh Cambridge place, because she has to be all responsible and productive this week. Woe.
In conclusion, the rest of the panels were quite as hilarious as the day before, even without Barrowman's lowbrow influence (bless! If he wasn't so attractive, he'd never get away with half the things he says). Got quite 'pretend-heated' in the middle there when Gareth and his ex (who was also a guest, as she'd been in the show) were sniping quite hilariously at each other, especially when Sarah (the ex), who wasn't used to the whole convention thing said something, and Gareth was all like “No wonder it didn't work”. Best was when they were all saying parts they'd like to play, and Gareth said Macbeth, so Sarah (the ex) said Lady Macbeth. Bah. Whatever. I guess you had to be there. :P I LOL'd, anyway. :P
Wandered off for a bit of a rest and some dinner, which was less forthcoming than you might expect on a Sunday night in a place that calls itself a city. Ended up choosing the least food-poisoning-looking option of the four kebab places, which were the only places that were open, and getting some chips. Seriously, it is so hard to eat healthily here. I need a kitchen, it's ridiculous! I never want to see the following foods ever again: chips, bacon, sausage, baked beans and did I mention chips? OMG everything comes with chips. *has no willpower* And omg, can someone explain to me why sandwiches also come with chips (like, crisps)? I just don't get it! Oh well, at least I'm doing lots of walking. And I choose to believe that the reason my clothes are looser has nothing at all to do with the fact that they've probably stretched when I wear them, but is because I'm walking enough to let me have chips. Which I NEVER WANT TO SEE AGAIN, OMG. *conflicted*
Anyhoo, headed back to the party, which was considerably quieter than the last two nights, and which had a theme of 'One Night in Cardiff', which I think some people took in quite a disparaging direction (I actually liked Cardiff, even without the Torchwood thing...) and just hung out and chatted to people and drank wine. Lots of people left when Gareth did, but I hung around for a bit longer, because I'd been having so much fun that I didn't want it to end. So I talked to heaps of people who were so nice and it was awesome fun. And there was this girl who was dressed as Ianto in a little pinstripy suit with the dark red shirt and the slicked back hair and drawn on sideburns, and she looked so awesome (and scarily like Jen Z, actually), and I was totally going to go up to her and tell her that, but then she like disappeared. So, like, if you're reading this I totally think you had the best costume there! :) (y'know, because my opinion is SO IMPORTANT, OMG).
And I didn't want to go, and I could have hung around and talked to the lovely peoples who I only know who some of them are, and everyone was so nice but I was so unbelievably tired (I blame wine!) that I just couldn't stay up, so around 11.30, I wandered back through the scary park and crashed until like 10am when the cleaning lady woke me up, which was awesome, as the checkout time was seriously 12. Bah. Least of my concerns with this hotel. Worst hotel evar, trufax.
TEH ENDZ
In conclusion, zomg squee!!1!
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