Chicago
Here is the final part of the Chicago comic con ramble written at Heathrow and on the plane to New York - en route for another James weekend
The Rosie Ramble - Chicago - Part 3
Last day of the first con. Steve had told us at the party that James would be signing from 11am and would be leaving after the photo ops, so w made sure that we got into the con when it opened. Yes - there was queuing lines again but nothing as bad as the previous two days. WE made our way to James’s line up and it seemed they were using the barriers opposite his table to form the lines rather than the one behind that it had been for the previous two days. People came and went (I went and bought my final photo ops) as we waited. Then one of the stewards said that we would be moving over to where we had lined up before, so we all trailed over and round and reformed there. A few minutes later after a discussion, another steward aid we had to go back again…! So we all trailed back over to the original place - goodness knows what they were thinking, but hey - it was something to do!
Eleven o’ clock came and went and there was no sign of James. Then they capped the line so it looked like James wasn’t gong to be there for long when he did arrive because there weren’t that many people really. Its no bother to me waiting - there’s always people to talk to though my legs were feeling it a bit. Eventually at about 11.40, James appeared. He was wearing the black V-neck t shirt again. Tried to get a few pictures from where I was but it was never easy.
The line moved fairly swiftly and fairly soon I was by the table and could see James properly - and he looked bloody awful to be quite frank. He was soaked in sweat, it was dripping off his face and his hands were shaking. He seemed to be covering it fairly well and was as friendly and talkative, but I was fairly horrified at the sight of him. He was constantly wiping his face with a towel and my first words to him were “Are you OK?” to which he replied “Not really” and then after a pause and without even thinking, I added “ Man, you look like shit!” - and he didn’t disabuse me of the notion!
Seeing the state of him threw me pretty much, I couldn’t think what to say as James signed a photo I had taken of him at Phoenix, so just made small talk. But I did have a gift for him so gave him the book “Discarded Science” which was of the same series of the book I had given him earlier in the year. That did make his face light up and he smiled a genuine smile as he read the back cover, saying “That’s really cool - I’ll read that”
We went to shake hands, (left handed) as his right was obviously giving him more grief and I said “I’ll see you at the photo ops in a minute” He glumly replied as he wiped off his face again- “Don’t think you want a photo with me like this” and I was so concerned about the state of him I asked again “Are you OK hun?” He said he had had a few drinks the night before and had woken up like it, which made me “aww” in sympathy and commiserate with him as he really wasn’t looking great. There was nothing much else I could say really - so I just said to him to take it easy, we shook hands again and I think I may have said “Love you” before I turned away. Walking over to join the others, my first words were “Man - he looks like shit!”
There was nothing else to do at this point other than go over to the photo op area and hang around waiting for James - so we did. I have to admit I was worried about him he really did not look well - how much was his hand and how much general exhaustion I don’t know, but I kept fairly quiet. No one else said anything much about it, but I think quite a few people were thinking it.
We all sat in the area for the photo line and caught up with various people and what they had been doing (and a guy came past that looked exactly like Gareth David-Lloyd, only much much bigger - the resemblance was uncanny!)
They were doing Buffy groups first and duo shots with Nick B - and then it was James solo. Adrian wanted me to be in one of her pictures which was very kind - we decided on a James sandwich - she got his front as it was her photo and I got the back. On entering the booth I was glad to see that James was looking a lot better - he had stopped sweating and had a much better colour which was quite a relief. I asked him how he was doing and he said he was feeling a lot better. (It has to be said it was very hot in the hall, especially where James was signing - there was a bit of air over by the photograph booth so maybe that helped) He was fairly quiet still, was sweet about doing the sandwich - I got to lean my cheek on the back of his shoulders - and then I had to go round and join the line again to do my two solo shots. I didn’t want to give him any trouble, so having gone in and said Hi again, we just did a straightforward cuddly picture - I tried to look wistful, but unfortunately it came out more as sarcastic wistful - and the second I just asked if we could do profile - always good as you get to look into James’s eyes, but practically guaranteed to have me starting to smirk as I can’t keep the grin off my face - because I’m looking into James’s eyes - this one was no exception….!
We hugged very briefly after as I said thank you and told him I would see him in Toronto the next weekend (“Right on” said James) and then with a squeeze of my hand, we parted. I went back round to the front of the booth again to join the others as there was only a few more people to have pictures and then was there when James came out to leave - the few of us there all said thank you and see you in Toronto and he was smiling round at us all and saying goodbye too and started to walk away. Then there were various calls of “James” from behind the curtains - we all called out too that he was needed again, but he wasn’t hearing us - and then Nick stuck his head out of the corner and yelled “JAMES!” which did get his attention (they just needed him back to do one more group picture) and he just turned round and came straight back. This time when he left, we all called out again and he turned and waved to us.
Steve left just after that - I ran up to give him a hug - and as he was walking away called back let people know that the Toronto concert on the Friday was definitely going ahead - which was good news but we just weren’t sure how!!
As James had left fairly early in the afternoon, we had time on our side. There wasn’t much else to do at the con - had a last look round and collected our photo ops and as we were going into Chicago to eat and then going to Second City the comedy club, this worked out nicely.
Second City was fabulous - incredibly funny improv comedy - especially at the end when they were just making up stuff from audience suggestions. Thoroughly enjoyed the evening - I hadn’t laughed so hard in a long time.
So that was Chicago done and it was lovely not to have Post-James Blues Syndrome at the end of a con - because I was seeing him again in 5 days and had all the fun of driving across country -and the border - to Toronto and spending time there too first- another new experience and another new city for me to visit - thanks yet again to James
Chicago/Toronto interlude
Road trip! Three Canadians and one Brit and all their luggage squeezed into Ali’s car for the 12 or so hour drive from Chicago to Toronto. (We were joined by Colleen for the trip back) This was going to be my first time driving a left hand drive car and on the “wrong” side of the road - so I had a quick practice with Ali in the parking lot, just to get the feel of it. I was just going to do some of the freeway driving to give Ali a break - I certainly wasn’t up to doing city driving yet!
First we had to run a very important errand for Magie before we started on our way proper. We got a bit lost trying to find our way and so ended up leaving the Chicago area a lot later than we intended.
There was loud music played though somehow no one had brought a James CD (I had offered but somehow it got missed) so we only had a few CDs to work our way through. But there was some group singing - Dr Horrible (which I didn’t know but was getting to by the end of the journey!) and of course the Once More with Feeling soundtrack (Rest In Peace sung at full blast!) Magie videoed us all singing along a couple of times - especially to “Where do we go from here” including me shouting out “Oh bugger this!” at the appropriate point!
I was allowed to drive eventually (actually I was itching to have a go!). None of my passengers screamed or tried to get out of the car at all so it must have been ok. It just seemed very strange at first and it took me a little while to get up to speed, but after that, although I had to concentrate fairly hard, it was good and I enjoyed it - though Magie said she wasn’t used to me being so quiet!! I drove all past Detroit - for about 2 or so hours in the end - I even had to make 2 left turns when we came off the freeway and stopped for dinner. That was about right for my first time - I need more practice now at doing turns and stuff. We eventually got to the border at about 9.30pm - being the only Brit, I was asked a lot more questions, but they let us in OK, so then I was in Canada for the first time in 24 years. Magie then said we weren’t allowed to stop and I wasn’t allowed to step out onto Canadian soil until we got to the nearest great Canadian institution - a Tim Horton’s coffee shop! Which we did - and I was introduced to the wonder that is Tim Horton’s doughnuts! OMG - I was almost immediately addicted! Boston cream with chocolate on top - just soo yummy and the best doughnuts I’ve ever tasted! And they know how to make a decent cup of tea there too! I was an instant convert and consequently, scarcely a day went by during the time I was there that I didn’t have at least one visit to a Tim Horton’s for my doughnut fix! Sadly, they are only in Canada - I’m thinking I may have to start up the first UK franchise - except I might consume all the profits and end up weighing about 300 pounds…
A few more hours and we got to Toronto - much later than we intended! Magie’s husband Rick was waiting for us at the house and showed me round and everything I needed to know and then they hurried off to bed as it was about 1 in the morning and both had to work the next day. It was pretty humid and warm and the houses air conditioning wasn’t working so I had to have lots of windows open to keep a breeze blowing through.
The next three days were fun - me exploring all round the city. I liked staying in a residential area and doing my shopping in the local food store - more like living there which was great. The subway was easy and convenient (all the public transport - buses, subway, streetcars etc were excellent and all priced the same which made it really easy) and I walked a lot too. The city is the most cosmopolitan I’ve ever seen - so many different accents, languages, colours and races all mixed in together. I would hear so many different languages just walking on my way to the subway.
I loved the CN Tower (I love going up tall buildings!) and I didn’t want to come down cos the view was spectacular and great for spotting interesting buildings to go look at later. So much to see and it was a beautiful clear day when I went up. I did a bus tour too and checked out the AGO and other interesting buildings. Magie and I met up after work one day and went out for dinner and checked out a signing and talk by author Kelley Armstrong - it was really lovely. And then on Friday - it was time for the Toronto Fan Expo and more James!!