dallascon 2016

[steeplechasers]

(i've been neglecting lj lately, im sorry)

so i went to dallascon yesterday with eris--just the day, since silver tickets were UNGODLY this year. most of it was great, some of it was a trainwreck. DEETS BELOw

• i've mentioned before how much i loathe driving to dallas. my loathing has only increased. i hate that city. there is nothing redeeming about dallas. FUCK DALLAS.
• eris and i got there about an hour before my jensen solo photo, checked in, etc. i was REAL NERVOUS having never had a solo with him before, but it went well! he is very soft. VERY SOFT. and it went quickly, because the volunteers were being very pushy and rushing everyone (much to a lot of people's chagrin) but i really like how the photo turned out. (AND HE IS SO SOFT. MAN PILLOW JENSEN ACKLES) no tearjerker stories about it--i didn't cry afterward as i expected, i was just kinda giddy!--but it was very nice to see him!
• someone explain to me the science behind cons and how hunger does not exist at them. i didn't eat for a solid 12+ hours and even then i couldn't finish my chicken express. v weird
• we wandered the vendor's room a bit which was much bigger than the last few years! i have to say i really hate that they sell other fandom merch there :/ like, we're here for spn. you can sell doctor who shit at comic-con. please leave.
• but i bought some good stuff! a new shirt, which is a must for every con; a samulet for my coworker jesse's daughter; a louden swain cd signed by all the guys (I LOVE ROB BENEDICT. HE IS AN ANGEL. i of course brought him greetings from sophie, a friend of mine who is very close with rob and the band, and we chatted about her for a while <3); and this one AMAZING lady was selling actual! hunting gear! she was very emphatic about the fact that all of it was authentic except for the "dead man's blood," but she was selling gorgeous glass bottles of real goofer dust, rock salt + matches, real holy water, and a "hunting kit" which had four vials in it, i'm not sure what they were but it looked so rad. i bought goofer dust and rock salt and entered a drawing to win a replica colt ;U;! if she's at nolacon, i'm gonna buy EVERYTHING from her.
• jared's op was interesting. i don't know why, but i started getting really emotional in the line, which has never happened before, and i was near-crying when i went up to see him. jared really hates the staff rushing him, btw. i was wearing my akf baseball tee, and he said he loved it and asked how i was doing. i told him i was nervous, and he boomed out "well, hug me, then!" and grabbed me into a REALLY tight hug before i had time to react, lmfao. the picture isn't my favourite, but he was, as always, so kind and compassionate. afterward, he took hold of my shoulders and made sure i was looking him in the face and he thanked me--i honestly have no idea what that was about, but i was shook, obviously, lmfao
• the j2 panel was so wonderful, easily my favourite of all the cons i've been to so far! i really like this new lottery question system they have going on. my fave moment was when someone asked how sam and dean would celebrate cas' anniversary (as sept 18 is the day he became a character) and jensen said they would make him a cake with a hand popping out of it (perdition, etc), eat a lot of pizza and drink a lot of beer, and binge-watch angels in the outfield over and over. IT WAS REALLY CUTE.
• they also mentioned wanting to slow down and just be dads once the show is over. none of the audience had any issue with that. <3
• after their panel a girl just straight-up gave us her mark sheppard photo and auto as she wouldn't be around to get them, which was so nice! i ended up giving away the auto in turn to a girl who was there for her first con and she almost cried. it was precious. the lady she was sitting with--a total stranger--bought her a photo to go with it, i found out later. I LOVE CON ALTRUISM.

• here's the trainwreck part, though.
• eris' bus left for houston at 9:50. autos started late, around 6:45. we both had jared ops, fairly early in the pdf group, but gold autos, of course, take six billion years. we left to get dinner and came back, and they were still only on gold row G. a mutual friend of ours gave eris her gold pass so that eris could for sure get her autograph in time. by that point it was about 8:45, and i thought it'd be wise to take her to the bus station and then come back for my own auto. they called row N as we were leaving, so we assumed there was plenty of time.
• well, i dropped her off and got back just fine, and texted my friend to ask what row they had called. to which she replied, did you not go?? autos are over.
• FUCK.
• so i bolted upstairs, hoping to GOD they were still in there, and asked the first creation volunteer i could find if jared was gone, if it was all over, what could i do. at this point i'm fucking devastated. i had to miss autographs at chicon two years ago, too. i didn't want it to happen again. she talked to the head lady and had me follow her. i'm sobbing now.
• another creation lady takes my sam photo (which y'all might remember) and says she's going to try to stop jared in his car and get the signature. so i have to stand there for about fifteen minutes while these poor women try to console me, and im just so upset because i really wanted to talk to him about that op and how much it meant to me. the autograph wasn't what i was after, it was the time with him, you know?
• eventually the lady comes back--

• not only did jared sign it (and personalize it, which they're not allowed to do--it says "much love" under my name in his illegible scrawl, haha), but jensen wanted to, too. and that pin in the top left is a pin that only the cast and crew were given--jensen took his off his lapel and pinned it right up there. for ME.
• needless to say i cried a lot on the creation lady's shoulder, lmao. i'm so grateful. im hoping i can bring it along with me to nola somehow to show him and talk to him about it a little more in depth, but for now these little gestures mean SO MUCH. jensen didn't need to give away that pin. they didnt need to personalize it. they didn't even have to sign it, but they did. they are such good people.
• SO HELP ME GOD I WILL GET THOSE FUCKING AUTOGRAPHS IN PERSON IN NOLA.

SO IT WAS AN EMOTIONAL ROLLER COASTER OF A DAY. but i'm very glad i went, and i can't wait to see them again next year. properly this time, the whole weekend, lol. <3