The Hub 2: Belly-Licking Awesomesauce
I'm back from The Hub 2. I'm tired, my throat hurts, my voice is nearly gone and I'm almost totally broke. But I had the most awesome time. Everything was right and nothing was wrong. It was everything I dreamed it would be. I'd like to do a coherent report, but my eyes are rolling up into my head so I'll apologise now for the typos and randomness.
Firstly, I shared a room with my darling kitty_poker1 who is my regular fandom event buddy and also one of my best friends in RL as well as LJ. We shared the room with sweet_exile, who I have known on LJ for four, maybe five, years. This was our first meeting and I can say with all honestly that she is utterly fabulous and I can't wait to hang out with her again. Also stayed with accioscar who is crazy and fabulous and I adore her and her belly-rubbing antics (more about that later).
Also met up with piksa, hab318princess and lucy_locket. Gorgeous girls, all of them, and it was wonderful to meet up with piksa who's name I've seen on my flist for years and who I saw once about four years ago at my very first James Marsters gig.
I met lots of new people and I'm ashamed to say that I've already forgotten all their names because I'm an idiot at the best of times and I cannot be expected to retain important information in the presence of Gareth. I do totally remember kerryblaze's name because she is all kinds of fabulous and awesome and her accent is gorgeous.
The best part of fandom events is meeting like-minded people, making new friends and finally meeting people you've had on your friends list for months/years/ nearly half a decade. I loved it.
I had a Standard ticket, but I decided right at the last minute that I was going to book photo shoots with Gareth, Kai and Eve, and I'm so glad I did. It wasn't nearly as terrifying as I thought it would be and I really regret not getting the Silver ticket so I could have a pic with everyone.
I had my picture taken with Eve first and I must say, she is fucking stunning . So beautiful. She blew me away. When I arrived for my photo I told her I thought she was gorgeous and she squealed and then squished me.
I got a big bear hug from Kai, but unfortunately he squashed me so much my picture came out looking very odd. It was like he'd squished all my body fat up into my face. I look so weird.
My photo shoot with Gareth was amazing. The queue moved very fast, thank Merlin because the closer I got to the front the harder my heart pounded. I could feel my legs going to jelly. I got a hug but the photo kept going wrong and had to be taken three times, so Gareth held on to me until we were given the all clear from the photographer, which meant I got hugged for at least 30 seconds, which is fricking eternity when you're trying not to hyperventilate. accioscar rubbed his belly in a surreptitious manner.
On the Sunday, I booked a photo shoot with Matt Rippy (the real Captain Jack), because his talk with Gareth the day before was hilarious and when I got his autograph he was so friendly and chatty and I felt so at ease with him. I decided I had a new crush so absolutely had to have pic with him. Unfortunately, when I put my arms around him for the photo, I accidentally touched his nipple. I have no idea if he noticed, but I very quickly moved my hand, affecting a sort of stroking motion. Let me tell you, that man is buff.
I really regret not getting a photo with Burn, but he was only there on the Sunday and by the time I realised I was in love with him, it was too late. Very disappointed. At the time I didn't think I would get to meet him at all because his signing session with my group clashed with one of the talks, but the organisers were so efficient they managed to get us all through the queue really quickly and I managed to get his signature just before the talk started. I'll happily admit I had a total fangirl moment. There was a Post-it note stuck in my copy of Pack Animals (which I was getting everyone to sign) which had my name on it so he would know what to write without having to ask for spellings etc. My real name is Shelley and he called me 'Shell', which for some reason gave me inner-squee. But then my inner-squee became outer-squee and I said, 'Thank you for being so awesome!' OMG, that was such a fangirl thing to say, but he gave me a massive smile and said 'Pleasure!'
Oh Burn, how I love thee. That was new crush number three officially in place.
The signings and autographs were in the mornings and the talks were in the afternoons. I so wish I had a DVD of all the talks because they were all absolutely hilarious. Gareth is such a cheeky monkey and came out with some real classics. They were all asked about the strangest present they'd ever got from a fan and Gareth came straight out with 'Blow job.' And while we all had tears streaming down our faces, he looked down as if the fan in question was there and said, 'Thanks, Dave. Want me to return it?'
Matt Rippy was an unexpected star. He was incredibly funny and charming. He's got real off the cuff humour and didn't miss a beat. There was a hilarious bit where Gareth was telling us all about timings for boiling an egg and Matt was pretending to write it down. You had to be there to appreciate the humour of it but, trust me, it hilarious and I nearly busted something. He said some quite naughty things and definitely came close and maybe even passed 'The Barrowman Line.' Afterwards, it was nicknamed 'The Rippy Ripple'. I love this guy and I'm going to find out more about him. Let the stalking begin.
Another diamond was Tom Price (PC Andy). He was a natural on the stage. So funny. He had me in stitches and now I really need to see his stand-up. One of the questions asked was 'If you stole an elephant, where would you hide it?' and he jumped in with ‘Africa’ and the whole hall nearly died on the spot. Then he was made to tell a joke: How do you stop a dog from humping your leg? Pick it up and suck it off. And if that wasn't funny enough, he followed it straight up with, 'That's why John Barrowman has so many dogs.' There was much falling about. I'm telling you, he was epic.
Kai and Eve were funny, too. The two of them were wonderful together and you could really see how much they adore each other. Eve is a gorgeous nutter who has the world's sqeakiest giggle and she was so sweet and quick-witted. I loved her before, but now I'm all about her. She rocks so hard. Kai broke his chair, which was just about the funniest thing I've ever seen. They all had directors chairs with their names on them, and Kai's cracked and fell apart while he was still sitting in it. Kai was completely paranoid after that and it became a running joke in the other talks. Tom even tried to pick up the sound of the wood creaking on his microphone when Kai sat down in one of the next talks. Eve wanted to keep her chair and every time she left the stage, she picked up her chair and took it with her. On a similar theme, Gareth took his microphone to the toilet so we could hear him piss. I think the crew might have actually switched off the feed, because we heard nothing and I totally believe Gareth would have done it.
Kai let slip a series 3 spoiler. He saves Gwen from a heard of donkeys. He also told us that if he could be the equivalent of Owen being the King of the Weevils, he would be King of the Adipose -- only, he didn't realise they were body fat. Eve, who wanted to be King of the Blowfish, found this most amusing.
Tom told us how he patted Kai's arse not realising they were filming. Someone, possibly Kai and a few others, invented a brand new alien that was half John Barrowman, half donkey, and named it a Johnkey. Gareth did several impressions of a cock and near the end Tom and Kai did a skit called 'Randy' (Rhys and Andy). Gareth was the alien and Tom and Kai tried to take him down with some alien tech (two dildos). Whether it was deliberate or not, I don't know, but Tom tried to use his dildo instead of his microphone and the tapping and blowing that went on afterwards was enough to send my mascara fleeing into my eyeballs.
In the evenings we partied. I made an advance decision to buy one pack of fags and smoke them only at the con. Also decided to drink on the basis that I intended to have the time of my fucking life and a bit of alcohol would help me to loosen up. I haven't drank properly for about three years (I’m not a recovering alcoholic, I just choose not to drink) and also hadn't had anything to eat since ten o'clock that morning, so I got tiddly relatively easily. Still managed to walk in a straight line on the way home on the Friday night, but we did managed to walk up some steps that went absolutely nowhere, and had trouble getting back down because this was apparently hilarious. Woke up the next day with a banging headache.
The parties were themed. The first night was Victorian night and had gambling tables with fake money. We watched Gareth playing poker. I adore his Concentration Face. The second night was a carnival From Out of the Rain theme and there were stalls and a freakshow that included little people with pea-shooters. The last night was just a Chill-Out party and as Gareth and the others had left, people started to trail off early.
Lots of people dressed up, some in accordance with the themes and some as TW and DW characters. Some of the costumes were absolutely amazing. One girl had on this wire face jewellery that made her look like the Blowfish. She looked so awesome. There were several Captain Jacks, Captain Johns, Iantos, Eves and a Ten who looked utterly authentic. Even this morning, when the con was all over, I saw a guy still dressed at Captain Jack. He looked fabulous! He was waiting outside the loo while I was inside and I couldn’t pee because he was there. Had to wait until later :oD
Back to the parties. It was very weird at first being in a bar and on a dance floor with Gareth and some of the others right there. I didn't go up to them, though. I honestly wouldn't know what to say and people with bigger balls than me were flocking around them enough. Gareth, Kai and Matt got VERY drunk and Matt even swapped underwear with one of his fans. Gareth did some thrashing about on the dance floor and sang.
accioscar made up a dance called 'The Flail', and I made up another called 'The Photoshoot'. We had much fun.
The Dealer Room was all too tempting and I spent far too much money on Torchwood coasters, pictures, issue 1 of the magazine, a t-shirt, and a toy Captain Jack,
On the Saturday, The Hub 3 was announced. They've promised an unmissable event although they couldn't tell us all the guests because they're waiting to get the contracts back from them, but they were able to confirm JOHN BARROWMAN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! We all looked at each other, nodded, and said, 'We're going Gold.' The tickets went on sale Sunday morning and we queued up for about half an hour or so and Kitty and I managed to get tickets G108 and G109. Sweet and Scar managed to get their Gold tickets too. Now we just need to wait for the other guest announcements and I'm praying for James Marsters (Oh god, pleasepleasepleasepleaseplease), Gareth, Eve, Kai, Tom, Matt and Burn. Oh hell, I'm praying for all of them!
But back to The Hub 2. I had the most fantastic time. The event itself was well organised, the staff were great, the guests were all fabulous, and I'm so in Love with Eve and Matt and Tom and Gareth and Burn. Oh, and did I mention that Gareth and Matt kissed? No? Oh they so did. That was one of the reasons I barely have a voice now.
Next stop James's 'Mastersclass', John Barrowman at the Royal Albert Hall and then The Hub 3. It's certainly an expensive year for fandom.
Sooooooo, who’s coming to The Hub 3??????? I promise you won’t regret it.
(Oh and btw, my grandad phoned me on Saturday to tell me he found my handbag. Sort of yay.)
Firstly, I shared a room with my darling kitty_poker1 who is my regular fandom event buddy and also one of my best friends in RL as well as LJ. We shared the room with sweet_exile, who I have known on LJ for four, maybe five, years. This was our first meeting and I can say with all honestly that she is utterly fabulous and I can't wait to hang out with her again. Also stayed with accioscar who is crazy and fabulous and I adore her and her belly-rubbing antics (more about that later).
Also met up with piksa, hab318princess and lucy_locket. Gorgeous girls, all of them, and it was wonderful to meet up with piksa who's name I've seen on my flist for years and who I saw once about four years ago at my very first James Marsters gig.
I met lots of new people and I'm ashamed to say that I've already forgotten all their names because I'm an idiot at the best of times and I cannot be expected to retain important information in the presence of Gareth. I do totally remember kerryblaze's name because she is all kinds of fabulous and awesome and her accent is gorgeous.
The best part of fandom events is meeting like-minded people, making new friends and finally meeting people you've had on your friends list for months/years/ nearly half a decade. I loved it.
I had a Standard ticket, but I decided right at the last minute that I was going to book photo shoots with Gareth, Kai and Eve, and I'm so glad I did. It wasn't nearly as terrifying as I thought it would be and I really regret not getting the Silver ticket so I could have a pic with everyone.
I had my picture taken with Eve first and I must say, she is fucking stunning . So beautiful. She blew me away. When I arrived for my photo I told her I thought she was gorgeous and she squealed and then squished me.
I got a big bear hug from Kai, but unfortunately he squashed me so much my picture came out looking very odd. It was like he'd squished all my body fat up into my face. I look so weird.
My photo shoot with Gareth was amazing. The queue moved very fast, thank Merlin because the closer I got to the front the harder my heart pounded. I could feel my legs going to jelly. I got a hug but the photo kept going wrong and had to be taken three times, so Gareth held on to me until we were given the all clear from the photographer, which meant I got hugged for at least 30 seconds, which is fricking eternity when you're trying not to hyperventilate. accioscar rubbed his belly in a surreptitious manner.
On the Sunday, I booked a photo shoot with Matt Rippy (the real Captain Jack), because his talk with Gareth the day before was hilarious and when I got his autograph he was so friendly and chatty and I felt so at ease with him. I decided I had a new crush so absolutely had to have pic with him. Unfortunately, when I put my arms around him for the photo, I accidentally touched his nipple. I have no idea if he noticed, but I very quickly moved my hand, affecting a sort of stroking motion. Let me tell you, that man is buff.
I really regret not getting a photo with Burn, but he was only there on the Sunday and by the time I realised I was in love with him, it was too late. Very disappointed. At the time I didn't think I would get to meet him at all because his signing session with my group clashed with one of the talks, but the organisers were so efficient they managed to get us all through the queue really quickly and I managed to get his signature just before the talk started. I'll happily admit I had a total fangirl moment. There was a Post-it note stuck in my copy of Pack Animals (which I was getting everyone to sign) which had my name on it so he would know what to write without having to ask for spellings etc. My real name is Shelley and he called me 'Shell', which for some reason gave me inner-squee. But then my inner-squee became outer-squee and I said, 'Thank you for being so awesome!' OMG, that was such a fangirl thing to say, but he gave me a massive smile and said 'Pleasure!'
Oh Burn, how I love thee. That was new crush number three officially in place.
The signings and autographs were in the mornings and the talks were in the afternoons. I so wish I had a DVD of all the talks because they were all absolutely hilarious. Gareth is such a cheeky monkey and came out with some real classics. They were all asked about the strangest present they'd ever got from a fan and Gareth came straight out with 'Blow job.' And while we all had tears streaming down our faces, he looked down as if the fan in question was there and said, 'Thanks, Dave. Want me to return it?'
Matt Rippy was an unexpected star. He was incredibly funny and charming. He's got real off the cuff humour and didn't miss a beat. There was a hilarious bit where Gareth was telling us all about timings for boiling an egg and Matt was pretending to write it down. You had to be there to appreciate the humour of it but, trust me, it hilarious and I nearly busted something. He said some quite naughty things and definitely came close and maybe even passed 'The Barrowman Line.' Afterwards, it was nicknamed 'The Rippy Ripple'. I love this guy and I'm going to find out more about him. Let the stalking begin.
Another diamond was Tom Price (PC Andy). He was a natural on the stage. So funny. He had me in stitches and now I really need to see his stand-up. One of the questions asked was 'If you stole an elephant, where would you hide it?' and he jumped in with ‘Africa’ and the whole hall nearly died on the spot. Then he was made to tell a joke: How do you stop a dog from humping your leg? Pick it up and suck it off. And if that wasn't funny enough, he followed it straight up with, 'That's why John Barrowman has so many dogs.' There was much falling about. I'm telling you, he was epic.
Kai and Eve were funny, too. The two of them were wonderful together and you could really see how much they adore each other. Eve is a gorgeous nutter who has the world's sqeakiest giggle and she was so sweet and quick-witted. I loved her before, but now I'm all about her. She rocks so hard. Kai broke his chair, which was just about the funniest thing I've ever seen. They all had directors chairs with their names on them, and Kai's cracked and fell apart while he was still sitting in it. Kai was completely paranoid after that and it became a running joke in the other talks. Tom even tried to pick up the sound of the wood creaking on his microphone when Kai sat down in one of the next talks. Eve wanted to keep her chair and every time she left the stage, she picked up her chair and took it with her. On a similar theme, Gareth took his microphone to the toilet so we could hear him piss. I think the crew might have actually switched off the feed, because we heard nothing and I totally believe Gareth would have done it.
Kai let slip a series 3 spoiler. He saves Gwen from a heard of donkeys. He also told us that if he could be the equivalent of Owen being the King of the Weevils, he would be King of the Adipose -- only, he didn't realise they were body fat. Eve, who wanted to be King of the Blowfish, found this most amusing.
Tom told us how he patted Kai's arse not realising they were filming. Someone, possibly Kai and a few others, invented a brand new alien that was half John Barrowman, half donkey, and named it a Johnkey. Gareth did several impressions of a cock and near the end Tom and Kai did a skit called 'Randy' (Rhys and Andy). Gareth was the alien and Tom and Kai tried to take him down with some alien tech (two dildos). Whether it was deliberate or not, I don't know, but Tom tried to use his dildo instead of his microphone and the tapping and blowing that went on afterwards was enough to send my mascara fleeing into my eyeballs.
In the evenings we partied. I made an advance decision to buy one pack of fags and smoke them only at the con. Also decided to drink on the basis that I intended to have the time of my fucking life and a bit of alcohol would help me to loosen up. I haven't drank properly for about three years (I’m not a recovering alcoholic, I just choose not to drink) and also hadn't had anything to eat since ten o'clock that morning, so I got tiddly relatively easily. Still managed to walk in a straight line on the way home on the Friday night, but we did managed to walk up some steps that went absolutely nowhere, and had trouble getting back down because this was apparently hilarious. Woke up the next day with a banging headache.
The parties were themed. The first night was Victorian night and had gambling tables with fake money. We watched Gareth playing poker. I adore his Concentration Face. The second night was a carnival From Out of the Rain theme and there were stalls and a freakshow that included little people with pea-shooters. The last night was just a Chill-Out party and as Gareth and the others had left, people started to trail off early.
Lots of people dressed up, some in accordance with the themes and some as TW and DW characters. Some of the costumes were absolutely amazing. One girl had on this wire face jewellery that made her look like the Blowfish. She looked so awesome. There were several Captain Jacks, Captain Johns, Iantos, Eves and a Ten who looked utterly authentic. Even this morning, when the con was all over, I saw a guy still dressed at Captain Jack. He looked fabulous! He was waiting outside the loo while I was inside and I couldn’t pee because he was there. Had to wait until later :oD
Back to the parties. It was very weird at first being in a bar and on a dance floor with Gareth and some of the others right there. I didn't go up to them, though. I honestly wouldn't know what to say and people with bigger balls than me were flocking around them enough. Gareth, Kai and Matt got VERY drunk and Matt even swapped underwear with one of his fans. Gareth did some thrashing about on the dance floor and sang.
accioscar made up a dance called 'The Flail', and I made up another called 'The Photoshoot'. We had much fun.
The Dealer Room was all too tempting and I spent far too much money on Torchwood coasters, pictures, issue 1 of the magazine, a t-shirt, and a toy Captain Jack,
On the Saturday, The Hub 3 was announced. They've promised an unmissable event although they couldn't tell us all the guests because they're waiting to get the contracts back from them, but they were able to confirm JOHN BARROWMAN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! We all looked at each other, nodded, and said, 'We're going Gold.' The tickets went on sale Sunday morning and we queued up for about half an hour or so and Kitty and I managed to get tickets G108 and G109. Sweet and Scar managed to get their Gold tickets too. Now we just need to wait for the other guest announcements and I'm praying for James Marsters (Oh god, pleasepleasepleasepleaseplease), Gareth, Eve, Kai, Tom, Matt and Burn. Oh hell, I'm praying for all of them!
But back to The Hub 2. I had the most fantastic time. The event itself was well organised, the staff were great, the guests were all fabulous, and I'm so in Love with Eve and Matt and Tom and Gareth and Burn. Oh, and did I mention that Gareth and Matt kissed? No? Oh they so did. That was one of the reasons I barely have a voice now.
Next stop James's 'Mastersclass', John Barrowman at the Royal Albert Hall and then The Hub 3. It's certainly an expensive year for fandom.
Sooooooo, who’s coming to The Hub 3??????? I promise you won’t regret it.
(Oh and btw, my grandad phoned me on Saturday to tell me he found my handbag. Sort of yay.)