"Zombies! ZOMBIES!"
Mar. 23rd, 2008 02:19 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
adelineMore convention reportings. Beware of the tl;dr.
Saturday, March 15th
Well, not yet. I remembered two things about Friday that made us LOL at the time.
One: upon arrival on the premises on Thursday, we noticed our beds had wheels. We were puzzled by this fact for a minute or two, before we decided it must be in case somebody has to be rushed to the hospital in emergency. Lolz, yes? Ridiculous. BUT THEN, on Friday, we actually saw an old lady being wheeled out the door by paramedics on her bed-on-wheels! OMG. We were like, "oh no. Oh no. We are so going to hell. We jinxed her." And yet, we could not stop laughing our butts off. But I swear we're not evil.
Two: we took a walk around the hotel before we went to get lunch, and saw through the windows of the main hall that the people sitting at the back would have crummy folding chairs whilst the people at the front got cushy seats. That made us LOL a lot, too. XD I guess you had to be there.
I think that's that. Also, I'll edit pictures from the Friday night festivities into my previous post as soon as I'm done posting this, in case anyone's curious.
Saturday, March 15th
We went for breakfast at 7:30, as planned, and as soon as we sat down to eat, Carmen started sneezing. HER SENDHIL SENSE WAS TINGLING. And thus was born the "hot brownie" madness, LMAO. Okay, this makes no sense to anybody else but I am lol'ing so hard right now. XD Anyhow! We ate copiously, so as to not die of hunger in case we wouldn't be able to leave the convention for lunch.
The first item on our to-do list was the Santiago photoshoot at 9. We started queuing right on time and promptly got through. Actually, the evil crewmember cut the line of people who got into the room at that point just before me, meaning Carmen, Jules and Zarina got in and I didn't. I sneaked past him anyway as soon as he was out the door to yell at people some more. 0:) Anyhow. Santiago was lovely, albeit perhaps not yet at the peak of his wakeful state. Jules went first and asked for a hug, which Santiago was very happy to give her, and the picture result is a thing of BEAUTY, truly. <3 Then Zarina went, then Carmen, then I. We exchanged greetings and I returned his "how are you?," not exactly expecting an answer but he did say "good!" while we had our picture taken. This amuses me for some reason. And before I could blink... Snap! You can go, exit on the right, don't forget to take a ticket.
I should mention here that I'd specifically brought two different pairs of glasses for the very purpose of getting multiple pictures, selfish hog that I am, out of their hypothetical shininess. Alas, I kept unintentionally leaving them upstairs in our room. Fail for me.
But anyways! We went to the Jessalyn photoshoot next, and goodness, that photographer was so much more friendly than the other guy. XD Jessalyn was still as gracious as the previous day and just really happy to be there, which I think you can very clearly see on the pictures. Aw. <3
We then picked up our bags and went into the main hall for autographs. I noticed David's queue was mysteriously short, so that's where we went first. I wished him a belated happy birthday (MARCH BABIES FTW, PEOPLE! ALSO: PISCEANS PWN TEH KRAZYAWESOME!) and I think he was maybe a little surprised, said "thank you" with a big smile and shook my hand. Hee!
Next we joined the queue for Cristine, who was as charming as ever, but the whole time we had our eyes fixated on Sendhil who was at the signing table right next to hers because OMFG HE IS SO HOT IN PERSON. We were like, OMFG YOU GUYS HE'S WEARING THE WHITE V-NECK! SENDHIIIIIIIL! *FLAIL* OMG SO HOT! OMG SO CLOSE! *FLAIL* *SPAZZ* *FLAIL*. Oh, hai Cristine. >_< Fun times. She was awesome, told me "we charge more for long names." I protested mine was just the 7 letters, but she insisted: "anything more than 4 letters!" lol XD
Emo interlude: I wanna go back in tiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiime, zomg. Where's a Hiro when you need him?
I'm rather confused as to what order we did things in next, but I'm 90% sure we dropped off our things at the bag area again and started queuing for Sendhil's photoshoot. I definitely remember making sure we were in the right queue, and then seeing Sendhil arrive. Yes, we all DIED AGAIN, DAMN IT. kajfghjl;s! I think this is where Tami and I got really miffed at crewmembers continuously harshing our squee on behalf of Malcolm, the incredibly irrascible photographer. D:
But, no matter - no one was ruining this moment for us. ^^ Zarina went first and, as I recall, Carmen said she wanted "a hugging picture." Sendhil sort of did a double-take, "a hugging picture?(What's that?)" And we were like, "yes, a hug. She wants a hug! :D" I really think we should copyright that line, by the way. Girls, what do you say? Anyway, Sendhil being new to this sort of thing, he didn't properly hug anyone at that point, despite saying yes.. lol. I mean he had his arm around us, which is more than what I can say for a lot of other pictures I saw. I practically glomped him, by the way. :$ I tried to be funny, saying "my friend wants me to hug you, is that OK?" but I really think at that point he was kind of like, "lol sure whatever :D" The keyword being :D, which is really all that I needed. ;)
Then we had our picture with Cristine, who was like, "ooh, I've met these people! How are you?" when she saw us come in. ^^ She was very sweet, and in absolutely no hurry to get these things done, LOL. We said "chocolates!" when I had my picture taken, hee. This was a running theme with her for the whole weekend. (I think she may well be a true chocoholic. *gasp*)
After this, we picked up our bags again and went back to the main hall to get autographs from Santiago and Jessalyn. I don't... remember much about that. *sheepish* But I do know we weren't staring at Sendhil for the entire duration of our queuing time, so that tells me he wasn't in the hall and I've at least got my chronology somewhat right thus far. Ooh, ooh! I know. We went to Santiago first, and then Jessalyn. I remember this because, by the point I reached the front of Jessalyn's queue - which was next to Santiago's - I saw the convention's free-roaming photographer Brian tell Santiago to pose while signing pics. So I watched them for a minute and I thought something like, "damn you photographer, couldn't you get there when I was at the top of his queue?" XD Anyways, my turn was up with Jessalyn, who was a love and said I had a beautiful name. (Aw, shucks.)
By that point, it was time to go queue for David's photoshoot, so off we went to drop our bags again and join the line. The nice Scottish crewmember (not to be mistaken with evil, condescending, squee-harshin' crewmember) asked us if we'd maybe like to join the queue for Noah's photo, I guess to even them out. When he was met only by our best "dead fish" impersonations, I think he promptly got the hint we had no intention to budge. XD So in we went, and as David arrived and popped in one more piece of chewing gum (for courage?), he asked Malcolm the incredibly irrascible photographer, "jacket: on or off?" Naturally, we made our own opinion clearly heard: a resounding "off!" that left no room for debate. And then Malcolm the incredibly irrascible photographer began shouting about something or another, probably for everybody in a 10-mile radius to STFU RITE NAO PLS. Our natural reactions were to shudder and groan, but David was immediately like, lolwtf, "MY NAME IS MALCOLM AND I CARRY A BIG STICK! >_<" and we all felt vindicated. Anders ftw!
I think Carmen went first here, and asked for a hug which David readily gave her. When Zarina's turn came, I said for her "she wants a kiss!" David seemed not to have expected the request and asked, for confirmation, "a kiss? :o" IT WAS ADORABLE OMG. So I said, in what I hoped to be humorous tones, "indeed! Isn't she the greedy one?" And then he gave her his cheek. Fail for us. I didn't ask for anything specific, and that pic is one of my favorites. <3
We promptly joined the line for Noah's session and, whilst queuing, found an extra Evacuation Notice (as seen in episode 2x07, "Out of Time") hidden in-between a drop-down projector screen and the wall. Win. Noah was BEYOND cute and wonderful. I went first this time, and we were hoping we could get him to pose "yatta"-style for our picture, so I asked if he wouldn't mind and this is what he told me, giggling: "it's better than putting on a chef hat and holding a lightsaber!" OMG I LOL'D! In case you're wondering, he was referring to the Jedi chefs, who were indeed very present at this convention.
So we took our pic, and I hung back watching my teammates having theirs taken as well. For some reason, I thought Zarina wasn't lifting her arms high enough, so I made the universal you've go' to lift i' up, brotha! gesture at her and Noah took it for himself! Ooops, LOL. That was such a fun moment, we all had a good laugh, including Noah's mom (who's totally awesome, by the by.)
After collecting our bags for the last time, we asked a crewmember when photos were expected to be available for pick-up and he gave us the information. At this point Noah, who was finishing up his photoshoot, caught sight of Zarina through the open door and did another "yatta!" :o FTW! I love that kid so much.
Finally, we made a last trip to the main hall that morning. We went and queued for Sendhil's autograph. Sendhil who, at that point, had got rid of his jacket and was MOSTLY BARE-ARMED OMFG SKDAHLJ;D/ASLK;1!! We were just saying how great it would be if we could actually get a group picture with him right there, when, as luck would have it, Brian came right around! We all but fetched him, asked if he wouldn't mind taking any such picture, and he had no objections himself. So he asked Sendhil, who was more than happy to comply, and ZOMG DFJA;KSDLKFH; w00t! Uh, yeah, so I believe this qualifies as a bonafide win! \o/ Who's with me? Yeah. ^^ So then he signed our autographs, and I couldn't tell you if I was able to say anything beyond "hi again" and/or "thanks". Because my brain was mush at this point. I'm sure you understand. AJHKHFJSD;LK SENDHIL.
The only item that was left for us to get was our Noah autographs, so we made our way to his autograph line, and he seemed pretty happy to see us again. Then again, I might as well ask, when didn't Noah look happy? He's so lovable. So lovable. And giggling, like, always! <333
We wanted to get a picture by the stage of the main hall with the Kensei banners that stood there, but we were asked to leave the hall, so for once we followed the rules and did as told. After which we congratulated each other on getting our 6 autographs and 6 photoshoots in well under 3 hours. More winnage.
I guess at some point we must have grabbed lunch somehow? Hm. Oh wait, I updated from McDonald's at 12:27, says my LJ. So there ya go. 2 double-cheeseburgers for me.
Then we came back to the hotel, dropped the laptop in our room again, and began queuing for the talks. Might have picked up our first pictures from the photo collection around this point. The main hall doors opened at 2-ish, and we made the front row again. Winsauce.
And the talks, omg, EVERYTHING WAS SO MADE OF AWESOME. Also, just allow me to say, Santiago and Sendhil made eye contact with the audience a LOT. Like, wow. I didn't notice it as much with the other guests. Or maybe I wasn't as mesmerized? Ah, dear subjectivity. Either way, it was all GREAT! And honestly, I can't remember the last time I laughed so much in one single weekend before that. >:D Wow. ENDLESS LOVE. I can only encourage you to download the video (via![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
not_san_diego) and see for yourself, because there is NO WAY my words can do the guests justice. *happy sigh* Then if you have any questions, I'll do my best to answer them.
After Santiago and Sendhil left the stage, Jason had another announcement: because the guests had made good time signing autographs in the morning, there'd be time enough the next day for a group photoshoot. EEEEEE! And then he announced the price of that picture: £40. *gulp* Although, y'know, it's not outrageous or anything, but it is an extra forty quid not all of us had to spare. So then, naturally we asked if our gold passes got us in without the extra cost, and the original answer was no, because this was an unplanned bonus. Cue sadface.
Then the auctions began. And ended within 20 minutes. The dinner with the guests was won byhobbit_eyes, and I think we can all be thankful for that because she has written a fantastic account of it that I urge you all to give a read. I guarantee you will squee. OHMYGOD. I wanna be their friend. And/Or drinking buddy.
Before dismissing the crowd at the end of the auctions, Jason informed us after reading the sales description of the gold programme entry tickets again, they would indeed include the group photoshoot in our benefits. Win! ^^
I should also mention we retrieved our pictures from the morning's photoshoots throughout the afternoon. Zarina's pic with David looked very much like Malcolm the incredibly irrascible photographer had snapped it about two seconds too early (or late), so she asked a crewmember about getting a new one taken on the next day and we were told to see about that with crewmember Julie. We found her without much trouble and she was very nice despite being busy, and gave Zarina instructions about how to go about getting her replacement photo.
Now, I had videos to unload from my SD card, but my laptop was being particularly difficult. D: I stayed back in our room whilst Carmen, Jules and Zarina went to fetch dinner. McD's, naturally. I CAN HAS CHEEZBURGER? Yes, yes I can has. Mmm, iz gud.
We proceeded to get ready for the Petrelli ball, about which we were promised some "great in-character stuff". Shortly after we joined the party, Santiago, David (+ girlfriend) and Sendhil were spotted by the entrance. OMG. They were more or less flash-mobbed. When we finally decided to make our way over, it wasn't without an approach strategy. Zarina, young eminent reporter for the famed 9th Wonders was to interview the guests about Petrelli's election. Her questions were brilliant, too. (Did you vote Petrelli? Have you slept with him yet? Etc, etc.)
So, we got closer to Santiago and, incidentally, Sendhil, as inconspicuously as possible, for we didn't want to draw an even bigger crowd - a lot of people had actually not noticed anything particular going on in the room yet. (It's a fairly large room.) We politely waited for either of them to finish the conversations they were engaged in, and Santiago turned to us first. Zarina asked her first question, to which Santiago replied a clear "No," followed by an explanation that he didn't "agree with his policies ;)". I protested inside - we know nothing of Nathan's policies. ^^ Thing is, his security person must have thought this was a real interview, because he stepped in and coarsely asked Zarina to leave. WOT. o_O
This was the moment Cristine appeared on stage to make a speech, so it was an effortless diversion for Carmen and Zarina to flock nearer the new center of attention. Jules and I kind of stayed back a little dumbstruck: what the hell had just happened? And as I told her what I thought had caused the misunderstanding, I was peripherally aware of Santiago being sort of amused by it, albeit sympathetic. It didn't seem fair to pick up a conversation with him right there after what had happened, so we decided to look for C & Z and listen to Angela's speech - which was pretty funny, owing mostly to Cristine's impeccable delivery. By the time we found the girls, Sendhil had left, Santiago was leaving, and David wasn't far behind. Not so much win, that.
We did however get to see Noah, who arrived after the abovementioned had left, as did Jessalyn. We even got a Team Yatta! picture out of it. (I kind of love that Nathan is sorta-kinda with us, too. LOL!) And who shall run into us at this point but Brian, the convention's free-roaming photographer? He took a couple of shots of us and Noah too. Then we had a brief conversation with Jessalyn and, tradition by now, got her to pose with us "yatta"-style. I think Zarina's going to post the picture in an upcoming entry.
Later on, we met up with Brendan, Andrea and Tanya in the bar area and finally got to get a few pictures with them, hee! (Brian took some of those, too. OUR VERY OWN STALKER OMG. XD)
Also, we stole some Nathan posters. It was the thing to do, really. Sure, we may have been pioneers, but after stashing the first three of them in our room, when we came back downstairs there were NONE LEFT ANYWHERE, lmao. Talk about a catching trend. None too surprising, though, for said posters went for five quid in the dealers' shops. Uh-uh.
Oh! Silly me, I didn't talk about the Michael Jackson impersonator they put in charge of the party entertainement for over an hour. Which I think was particularly made of failsauce. I kinda felt bad for the entertainer, actually. The dancefloor was a no man's land. Anyway, we didn't stay very long. We had an early day awaiting us still... DUN DUN DUUUUUUUN.
I've nearly spent 4 hours on this post alone, am a little bit cross-eyed right now, heh. Hopefully I didn't forget too many significant things. I hope to finish my Eclipse report tomorrow with a detailed account of what went down on the Sunday.
I still refuse to accept it's been a week, btw. ;___;
WE HAVE TO GO BACK, KATE. WE HAVE TO GO BAAAAAAACKK!!
Saturday, March 15th
Well, not yet. I remembered two things about Friday that made us LOL at the time.
One: upon arrival on the premises on Thursday, we noticed our beds had wheels. We were puzzled by this fact for a minute or two, before we decided it must be in case somebody has to be rushed to the hospital in emergency. Lolz, yes? Ridiculous. BUT THEN, on Friday, we actually saw an old lady being wheeled out the door by paramedics on her bed-on-wheels! OMG. We were like, "oh no. Oh no. We are so going to hell. We jinxed her." And yet, we could not stop laughing our butts off. But I swear we're not evil.
Two: we took a walk around the hotel before we went to get lunch, and saw through the windows of the main hall that the people sitting at the back would have crummy folding chairs whilst the people at the front got cushy seats. That made us LOL a lot, too. XD I guess you had to be there.
I think that's that. Also, I'll edit pictures from the Friday night festivities into my previous post as soon as I'm done posting this, in case anyone's curious.
Saturday, March 15th
We went for breakfast at 7:30, as planned, and as soon as we sat down to eat, Carmen started sneezing. HER SENDHIL SENSE WAS TINGLING. And thus was born the "hot brownie" madness, LMAO. Okay, this makes no sense to anybody else but I am lol'ing so hard right now. XD Anyhow! We ate copiously, so as to not die of hunger in case we wouldn't be able to leave the convention for lunch.
The first item on our to-do list was the Santiago photoshoot at 9. We started queuing right on time and promptly got through. Actually, the evil crewmember cut the line of people who got into the room at that point just before me, meaning Carmen, Jules and Zarina got in and I didn't. I sneaked past him anyway as soon as he was out the door to yell at people some more. 0:) Anyhow. Santiago was lovely, albeit perhaps not yet at the peak of his wakeful state. Jules went first and asked for a hug, which Santiago was very happy to give her, and the picture result is a thing of BEAUTY, truly. <3 Then Zarina went, then Carmen, then I. We exchanged greetings and I returned his "how are you?," not exactly expecting an answer but he did say "good!" while we had our picture taken. This amuses me for some reason. And before I could blink... Snap! You can go, exit on the right, don't forget to take a ticket.
I should mention here that I'd specifically brought two different pairs of glasses for the very purpose of getting multiple pictures, selfish hog that I am, out of their hypothetical shininess. Alas, I kept unintentionally leaving them upstairs in our room. Fail for me.
But anyways! We went to the Jessalyn photoshoot next, and goodness, that photographer was so much more friendly than the other guy. XD Jessalyn was still as gracious as the previous day and just really happy to be there, which I think you can very clearly see on the pictures. Aw. <3
We then picked up our bags and went into the main hall for autographs. I noticed David's queue was mysteriously short, so that's where we went first. I wished him a belated happy birthday (MARCH BABIES FTW, PEOPLE! ALSO: PISCEANS PWN TEH KRAZYAWESOME!) and I think he was maybe a little surprised, said "thank you" with a big smile and shook my hand. Hee!
Next we joined the queue for Cristine, who was as charming as ever, but the whole time we had our eyes fixated on Sendhil who was at the signing table right next to hers because OMFG HE IS SO HOT IN PERSON. We were like, OMFG YOU GUYS HE'S WEARING THE WHITE V-NECK! SENDHIIIIIIIL! *FLAIL* OMG SO HOT! OMG SO CLOSE! *FLAIL* *SPAZZ* *FLAIL*. Oh, hai Cristine. >_< Fun times. She was awesome, told me "we charge more for long names." I protested mine was just the 7 letters, but she insisted: "anything more than 4 letters!" lol XD
Emo interlude: I wanna go back in tiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiime, zomg. Where's a Hiro when you need him?
I'm rather confused as to what order we did things in next, but I'm 90% sure we dropped off our things at the bag area again and started queuing for Sendhil's photoshoot. I definitely remember making sure we were in the right queue, and then seeing Sendhil arrive. Yes, we all DIED AGAIN, DAMN IT. kajfghjl;s! I think this is where Tami and I got really miffed at crewmembers continuously harshing our squee on behalf of Malcolm, the incredibly irrascible photographer. D:
But, no matter - no one was ruining this moment for us. ^^ Zarina went first and, as I recall, Carmen said she wanted "a hugging picture." Sendhil sort of did a double-take, "a hugging picture?
Then we had our picture with Cristine, who was like, "ooh, I've met these people! How are you?" when she saw us come in. ^^ She was very sweet, and in absolutely no hurry to get these things done, LOL. We said "chocolates!" when I had my picture taken, hee. This was a running theme with her for the whole weekend. (I think she may well be a true chocoholic. *gasp*)
After this, we picked up our bags again and went back to the main hall to get autographs from Santiago and Jessalyn. I don't... remember much about that. *sheepish* But I do know we weren't staring at Sendhil for the entire duration of our queuing time, so that tells me he wasn't in the hall and I've at least got my chronology somewhat right thus far. Ooh, ooh! I know. We went to Santiago first, and then Jessalyn. I remember this because, by the point I reached the front of Jessalyn's queue - which was next to Santiago's - I saw the convention's free-roaming photographer Brian tell Santiago to pose while signing pics. So I watched them for a minute and I thought something like, "damn you photographer, couldn't you get there when I was at the top of his queue?" XD Anyways, my turn was up with Jessalyn, who was a love and said I had a beautiful name. (Aw, shucks.)
By that point, it was time to go queue for David's photoshoot, so off we went to drop our bags again and join the line. The nice Scottish crewmember (not to be mistaken with evil, condescending, squee-harshin' crewmember) asked us if we'd maybe like to join the queue for Noah's photo, I guess to even them out. When he was met only by our best "dead fish" impersonations, I think he promptly got the hint we had no intention to budge. XD So in we went, and as David arrived and popped in one more piece of chewing gum (for courage?), he asked Malcolm the incredibly irrascible photographer, "jacket: on or off?" Naturally, we made our own opinion clearly heard: a resounding "off!" that left no room for debate. And then Malcolm the incredibly irrascible photographer began shouting about something or another, probably for everybody in a 10-mile radius to STFU RITE NAO PLS. Our natural reactions were to shudder and groan, but David was immediately like, lolwtf, "MY NAME IS MALCOLM AND I CARRY A BIG STICK! >_<" and we all felt vindicated. Anders ftw!
I think Carmen went first here, and asked for a hug which David readily gave her. When Zarina's turn came, I said for her "she wants a kiss!" David seemed not to have expected the request and asked, for confirmation, "a kiss? :o" IT WAS ADORABLE OMG. So I said, in what I hoped to be humorous tones, "indeed! Isn't she the greedy one?" And then he gave her his cheek. Fail for us. I didn't ask for anything specific, and that pic is one of my favorites. <3
We promptly joined the line for Noah's session and, whilst queuing, found an extra Evacuation Notice (as seen in episode 2x07, "Out of Time") hidden in-between a drop-down projector screen and the wall. Win. Noah was BEYOND cute and wonderful. I went first this time, and we were hoping we could get him to pose "yatta"-style for our picture, so I asked if he wouldn't mind and this is what he told me, giggling: "it's better than putting on a chef hat and holding a lightsaber!" OMG I LOL'D! In case you're wondering, he was referring to the Jedi chefs, who were indeed very present at this convention.
So we took our pic, and I hung back watching my teammates having theirs taken as well. For some reason, I thought Zarina wasn't lifting her arms high enough, so I made the universal you've go' to lift i' up, brotha! gesture at her and Noah took it for himself! Ooops, LOL. That was such a fun moment, we all had a good laugh, including Noah's mom (who's totally awesome, by the by.)
After collecting our bags for the last time, we asked a crewmember when photos were expected to be available for pick-up and he gave us the information. At this point Noah, who was finishing up his photoshoot, caught sight of Zarina through the open door and did another "yatta!" :o FTW! I love that kid so much.
Finally, we made a last trip to the main hall that morning. We went and queued for Sendhil's autograph. Sendhil who, at that point, had got rid of his jacket and was MOSTLY BARE-ARMED OMFG SKDAHLJ;D/ASLK;1!! We were just saying how great it would be if we could actually get a group picture with him right there, when, as luck would have it, Brian came right around! We all but fetched him, asked if he wouldn't mind taking any such picture, and he had no objections himself. So he asked Sendhil, who was more than happy to comply, and ZOMG DFJA;KSDLKFH; w00t! Uh, yeah, so I believe this qualifies as a bonafide win! \o/ Who's with me? Yeah. ^^ So then he signed our autographs, and I couldn't tell you if I was able to say anything beyond "hi again" and/or "thanks". Because my brain was mush at this point. I'm sure you understand. AJHKHFJSD;LK SENDHIL.
The only item that was left for us to get was our Noah autographs, so we made our way to his autograph line, and he seemed pretty happy to see us again. Then again, I might as well ask, when didn't Noah look happy? He's so lovable. So lovable. And giggling, like, always! <333
We wanted to get a picture by the stage of the main hall with the Kensei banners that stood there, but we were asked to leave the hall, so for once we followed the rules and did as told. After which we congratulated each other on getting our 6 autographs and 6 photoshoots in well under 3 hours. More winnage.
I guess at some point we must have grabbed lunch somehow? Hm. Oh wait, I updated from McDonald's at 12:27, says my LJ. So there ya go. 2 double-cheeseburgers for me.
Then we came back to the hotel, dropped the laptop in our room again, and began queuing for the talks. Might have picked up our first pictures from the photo collection around this point. The main hall doors opened at 2-ish, and we made the front row again. Winsauce.
And the talks, omg, EVERYTHING WAS SO MADE OF AWESOME. Also, just allow me to say, Santiago and Sendhil made eye contact with the audience a LOT. Like, wow. I didn't notice it as much with the other guests. Or maybe I wasn't as mesmerized? Ah, dear subjectivity. Either way, it was all GREAT! And honestly, I can't remember the last time I laughed so much in one single weekend before that. >:D Wow. ENDLESS LOVE. I can only encourage you to download the video (via
not_san_diego) and see for yourself, because there is NO WAY my words can do the guests justice. *happy sigh* Then if you have any questions, I'll do my best to answer them.After Santiago and Sendhil left the stage, Jason had another announcement: because the guests had made good time signing autographs in the morning, there'd be time enough the next day for a group photoshoot. EEEEEE! And then he announced the price of that picture: £40. *gulp* Although, y'know, it's not outrageous or anything, but it is an extra forty quid not all of us had to spare. So then, naturally we asked if our gold passes got us in without the extra cost, and the original answer was no, because this was an unplanned bonus. Cue sadface.
Then the auctions began. And ended within 20 minutes. The dinner with the guests was won by
hobbit_eyes, and I think we can all be thankful for that because she has written a fantastic account of it that I urge you all to give a read. I guarantee you will squee. OHMYGOD. Before dismissing the crowd at the end of the auctions, Jason informed us after reading the sales description of the gold programme entry tickets again, they would indeed include the group photoshoot in our benefits. Win! ^^
I should also mention we retrieved our pictures from the morning's photoshoots throughout the afternoon. Zarina's pic with David looked very much like Malcolm the incredibly irrascible photographer had snapped it about two seconds too early (or late), so she asked a crewmember about getting a new one taken on the next day and we were told to see about that with crewmember Julie. We found her without much trouble and she was very nice despite being busy, and gave Zarina instructions about how to go about getting her replacement photo.
Now, I had videos to unload from my SD card, but my laptop was being particularly difficult. D: I stayed back in our room whilst Carmen, Jules and Zarina went to fetch dinner. McD's, naturally. I CAN HAS CHEEZBURGER? Yes, yes I can has. Mmm, iz gud.
We proceeded to get ready for the Petrelli ball, about which we were promised some "great in-character stuff". Shortly after we joined the party, Santiago, David (+ girlfriend) and Sendhil were spotted by the entrance. OMG. They were more or less flash-mobbed. When we finally decided to make our way over, it wasn't without an approach strategy. Zarina, young eminent reporter for the famed 9th Wonders was to interview the guests about Petrelli's election. Her questions were brilliant, too. (Did you vote Petrelli? Have you slept with him yet? Etc, etc.)
So, we got closer to Santiago and, incidentally, Sendhil, as inconspicuously as possible, for we didn't want to draw an even bigger crowd - a lot of people had actually not noticed anything particular going on in the room yet. (It's a fairly large room.) We politely waited for either of them to finish the conversations they were engaged in, and Santiago turned to us first. Zarina asked her first question, to which Santiago replied a clear "No," followed by an explanation that he didn't "agree with his policies ;)". I protested inside - we know nothing of Nathan's policies. ^^ Thing is, his security person must have thought this was a real interview, because he stepped in and coarsely asked Zarina to leave. WOT. o_O
This was the moment Cristine appeared on stage to make a speech, so it was an effortless diversion for Carmen and Zarina to flock nearer the new center of attention. Jules and I kind of stayed back a little dumbstruck: what the hell had just happened? And as I told her what I thought had caused the misunderstanding, I was peripherally aware of Santiago being sort of amused by it, albeit sympathetic. It didn't seem fair to pick up a conversation with him right there after what had happened, so we decided to look for C & Z and listen to Angela's speech - which was pretty funny, owing mostly to Cristine's impeccable delivery. By the time we found the girls, Sendhil had left, Santiago was leaving, and David wasn't far behind. Not so much win, that.
We did however get to see Noah, who arrived after the abovementioned had left, as did Jessalyn. We even got a Team Yatta! picture out of it. (I kind of love that Nathan is sorta-kinda with us, too. LOL!) And who shall run into us at this point but Brian, the convention's free-roaming photographer? He took a couple of shots of us and Noah too. Then we had a brief conversation with Jessalyn and, tradition by now, got her to pose with us "yatta"-style. I think Zarina's going to post the picture in an upcoming entry.
Later on, we met up with Brendan, Andrea and Tanya in the bar area and finally got to get a few pictures with them, hee! (Brian took some of those, too. OUR VERY OWN STALKER OMG. XD)
Also, we stole some Nathan posters. It was the thing to do, really. Sure, we may have been pioneers, but after stashing the first three of them in our room, when we came back downstairs there were NONE LEFT ANYWHERE, lmao. Talk about a catching trend. None too surprising, though, for said posters went for five quid in the dealers' shops. Uh-uh.
Oh! Silly me, I didn't talk about the Michael Jackson impersonator they put in charge of the party entertainement for over an hour. Which I think was particularly made of failsauce. I kinda felt bad for the entertainer, actually. The dancefloor was a no man's land. Anyway, we didn't stay very long. We had an early day awaiting us still... DUN DUN DUUUUUUUN.
I've nearly spent 4 hours on this post alone, am a little bit cross-eyed right now, heh. Hopefully I didn't forget too many significant things. I hope to finish my Eclipse report tomorrow with a detailed account of what went down on the Sunday.
I still refuse to accept it's been a week, btw. ;___;
WE HAVE TO GO BACK
