Warhead On Legs

Woke up. Could not go back to sleep thanks to the boy constantly poking me, so got up and did some sewing. Still tacking lightwire onto clothing, but that's better than poor infiniteviking apparently, who got her luggage lost by the airline. :( :( :( I hope they find it for her.

But we got up finally, I put in my pigtails and grabbed my lab coat and hippo and we went out to breakfast. I did not grab my Caf-pow because this was Abby before caffeine, which is a monster you do not want to mess with. Then it was back to the hotel room, tack on some more lightwire. Check on and wrap the scarves and shower and change into Cheetara. (Note that at this point I have not yet written my notes for the scarves because fucking terrified.) Put on my Cheetara costume, promptly freaked out about how it wasn't perfect. Naturally. My wig is too messy and I'm too shapeless and my back is all messed up looking and shut up, wolves. I swear.

So. Down to the Walk of Fame, finally, after we all get it together and figure out what we're doing. Since the Walk of Fame opens at 1, somehow we end up getting there just in time to tag along at the end of the line, get in, and everyone's sort of milling around. Claire doesn't have a line! Excellent, I can embarrass myself at length. So I go up, I introduce myself as Kitty Chandler ('cause blog and such) and proceed to get gushed at about as much as I gush over her. If not more. I give her the scarf. She wears it for the next couple of hours, as far as I can tell, even though I only stick around for a couple of minutes. We talk about the blog, what else I blog about, I love her show, how's she finding the con. Silas Weir Mitchell is next to her. I'm pretty sure he's trying to listen in on the conversation without being rude to his current lineup. When it comes to his turn I get his favorite colors and sheepishly apologized if it seemed forward and he said the whole thing was thoughtful and adorable. And another adjective I don't remember but yes. Pretty much those exact words.

On to the next one! Ioan Gruffudd, who apparently actually knows someone from Bolivia with my name! So it wasn't unfamiliar to him. And me and Kiki both got his autograph and a freaking picture with him. Because he's adorable. And cuddly. I cannot begin to tell you how adorable and cuddly he is. On through a couple others, on to Burn Gorman who is THE NERDIEST. AND AWESOMEST. He recognized my costume while I was fucking in line. And winked at me. And wanted my picture. And we talked about working with del Toro (which he loved, and working with his co star) and he's looking forward to working with del Toro again and he loved playing Gottlieb and and and. High-fived me, yes, that too. Him and his adorable self augh I cannot stand it.

Let's see, what else. Julian Sands gave me a bit of information on Person of Interest for the blog. Natalie Tena and I spoke a bit of Spanish! Her voice is lovely, by the way. I have no idea why that stuck in my memory but it did. Anthony Simcoe and Paul Goddard were very friendly and cute, though Paul Goddard isn't in anything I can access lately. Woe. Um. Graham! Graham McTavish! I mentioned seeing him in Jekyll in his underpants, like you do, and we talked about that for a bit. Apparently that scene was exactly as cold as it looked to film, or so he said. Gleep. He also said James Nesbitt was taking a few days off to be with his family because his schedule was so busy this was the only time he could do it, so, well. All the best to him! And I asked him a bit about Khuzdul and possibly may have shown off a bit with the languages thing, which did impress him. Also he's really fucking tall. People loved my costume, even if they didn't always know who I was. (Actor people, that is.) James Cosmo! The guy who played Jeor Mormont, I got to stand and talk to him for a while, we talked about the Spanish language, he wanted to learn it, the Canary Islands, Guillermo del Toro whom he almost worked for but the project fell through, Spanish thinking and magical realism and how wonderful del Toro's movies are, I talked a bit in Spanish for him just for shits and giggles until I ran out of things to say. He was really, really amazing and fun to talk to.

And then we finally ducked out of there. Went back in to say hi and try to find Burn Gorman but didn't manage it before I had to go do my panel. But I did remember to grab lunch. My panel went well! I didn't freak out, I don't think I talked over people too much, I'm pretty sure I might have been the only one whose name they remembered other than the moderator on account of people actually referred to me by name somewhat. We talked, mostly about theories and also about the scraps of evidence the show had given us. I got to display my buffer storage skills. It was really fun! And I gave someone the url of our blog. And then back upstairs and more sewing of lightwire for a bit, and then dinner and meeting Alison for it, and then back up to the hotel room and semi-relaxing for the rest of the day, except for the part where Claire responded to me and I freaked right out. Oops. Need to stop doing that.

SO. That was Day 1. More may be added as I remember it, but right now ON TO DAY TWO.

So, Sunday! I got up still relatively early, did a bit of stretching, and dressed in street clothes to go down to breakfast. Which was, once again, healthy! I had fruit and carbs and it was tasty and, I swear, having healthy meals on Dragon*Con is the big reason I didn't get con crud. Healthy meals, lots of sleep from sleeping at the con hotel, and copious amounts of hand sanitizer.

After that we went down to the Walk of Fame again to get Jim Beaver's autograph. Poor man had a last minute filming thing, which meant he didn't get to the con till late Saturday, at which point I didn't want to go bug him for an autograph. We chatted a bit, I asked him if he was rested and fed and he said they'd taken very good care of him, and then I made some comment about loving him in Deadwood and then seeing him in Supernatural. He commented that he hadn't expected there to be very much overlap between the two shows, and I explained as how everyone was talking about the boys and I wasn't much interested, but then I heard about some of the things they'd done with the story and the writing and was intrigued. And we chatted about that for a bit and I told him that it showed, the writing, and how much fun everyone had and so on.

After that it was pretty close to 1. Lines and so on, although I made some terrific line buddies once again which, since we were in an Illumina Prod. line, inevitably touched on Julie Caitlin Brown and her Reputation. Ahem. But at this point I thought I had a photo shoot in Hardy-Ivy park at 1, which later turned out to be at 2 (or so I thought), so I went up, changed and made a couple quick tacks in my costume, then went out to the park. Which had a Harry Potter photo shoot going on. Oops. I checked my iSis, realized it was at 2, and met up with the boy and we had lunch instead. At a decent brewery called Max Lager's, have to remember that for next year. Then it was almost 2, and I went out to my photo shoot. And waited. And waited. And no one showed up.

I have no idea what happened, except that it started raining, so maybe it was cancelled. Either that or I entered the wrong time into my device, but I'm pretty sure I was told 1 on Saturday and 2 on Sunday. Ah well.

So at that point it was back up to the hotel room, fix a thing on my Silk Spectre outfit, get 90% of the way dressed and decide I don't want to flash my ass all over the hotel again, change out of Silk Spectre and into Abby costume instead. And watch a couple more episodes of Leverage. That's something I'm going to have to remember for next year, bring the superhero sexy costumes and a couple of still recognizable but more comfortable/less image-conscious costumes for if I suffer costume fatigue. Because dressing up is still fun, but being sexy and powerful and projecting yourself out there is hard work, dammit! And then it was down to the Wil Wheaton autograph line, where we stood for maybe, what, an hour? Hour and half? Made a number of line buddies, talked about Beau and Jeff Bridges and the funkiest things we'd seen at con, our experiences with celebrities, etc. We were all really punchy by the time the line got in the Walk of Fame, joking with the line wranglers and so on. Wil Wheaton was sweet, if tired. He said after this he got to go home for the first time in a month, reinforcing my belief that for all the ego-boost of being famous actors have shit jobs, and I was good and didn't try to hug or glomp or shake his hand. (There's a medical thing, it's on his blog.)

I also got a lot of compliments on my Abby costume! And a lot of 'Hey, Abby!' and a couple people wanting to take my picture. This despite the fact that under the lab coat and the hippo and pigtails and things I actually just had on my normal clothes. Clearly, Abby is a good choice for me. One of my Wil Wheaton line buddies also recommended I do Teyla, Vala, or Aeryn Sun. Things to keep in mind for next year, Aeryn Sun would be a good costume for costume fatigue.

After that we spent a while debating where to go to dinner, ended up going to a tasty Mexican place further from the central three hotels but still walking distance from the con. And briefly sitting next to the loudest, most obnoxious drunk con-goer it has ever been my displeasure to sit near. He was boisterous, loud, annoying, angry, drunk, and scared our waitress. I really wanted to knock him down. Didn't, but I really wanted to. The restaurant actually kicked him out halfway through our meal.

And back home, and resting, and watching the second half of Indiana Jones and the Crystal Skull, and eventually sleeping. And then waking up, eyeing the weather outside, and checking out and only briefly stopping by the Walk of Fame to bug David Nykl about Czech again. We also crossed paths with a very lost-looking Jim Beaver in the hall. By the time I thought about asking if we could help him find anything, though, we'd lost him in the crowd.

Oh, and we donated blood Monday! It was very, very quick. The time in line was quick, my donating blood was quick because they just took the blood, and it was over apparently in about 6 minutes. They said I had good veins and so on. The boy got the machine where they separate out parts and put some back, plasma? Something. So he took a bit longer. Then we ate protein bars and leftover fruit from breakfast and had a lot of water and, well, headed home. Through the rain. A lot of rain; the Daily Dragon was passing along weather reports from con-goers in various stages of going home, and it seemed like both Carolinas, Tennessee, and North Georgia were soaked. There was a ground stop on some airports for a while. Bleh.

So, that was Dragon*Con! And it was, as usual, fucking awesome. Even more awesome was not going out of my autograph budget, hot damn. I didn't hit the dealer's room at all, which probably helped. But now I know what the average is and can budget accordingly. I hope. For next year. And now I knwo the best way to do that, too, is to just keep transferring money into my temp savings account and then withdraw it for the con.

And in October, we make our reservations for 2012!

Why the hell don't I have a con report tag yet?

So! Dragon*Con! Registration was so much easier when buying on-site Thursday evening. SO MUCH. And from there we didn't do much of anything, found dinner at the food court, went and hid in a hotel room and collapsed early. There were a number of people in costume already, making me kind of feel like I should be in costume already but, what the hell ever, I didn't bring that many costumes. And I'm not going to try and launder my costumes at Dragon*Con again.

This morning we got up, got organized, and got out and got breakfast and it was a healthy breakfast. Lots of fruit, water, and a single cake donut for carbs and things. Then it was change into costume, Cheetara for day one so I don't kill my feet, and book it on down to stand in line for the Boondock Saints thing. Because hell, I can go back to the Walk of Fame after that, but, DUDE. BOONDOCK SAINTS. The panel was kind of hilarious. Mostly due to Sean Patrick Flanery ripping the shit out of everyone impartially. Especially poor Norman, who didn't get too many words in edge-wise. He also swore less. I'm pretty sure SPF kind of thought he was still a McManus because, damn. Lots of f-bombs, lots of crude (and, okay, sexist and other-ists) talk, and a nun flipped him off. To Norman Reedus's delight and photo-taking. They apparently did a USO tour, a couple military guys (one Marine, two unspecified) stood up and said how much they enjoyed the boys, and the boys (and Sean, loudly) were all "Thank you, man, thank you for your service," and so on. Someone came up and offered them Jameson's. And then the panel closed with a resounding recital of the boys' prayer from them and the entire room. (Plus, towards the beginning, the crowd taking the part of FuckAss, no I don't remember the character's actual name. The bartender. Doc. That guy.)

And then it was down to the Walk of Fame and standing in line for a bajillion (four) hours. These following are not in the order that I got them, they're just in the order that their pictures ended up in my binder and I remembered things. Because that's why I get the damn autographs in the first place, yo.

David Nykl: I told him I had a bone to pick with him, that he was responsible (which he is) for lengthening my already lengthy to-learn list of languages. He asked "you want to learn Czech?" and I told him I already spoke six others, explaining that I grew up bilingual and so on and so forth. Then he said something in Czech, which I had no idea what, so I responded in Russian. And then jumped to Japanese. And then to Spanish and actually got him blinking a bit. For which I was ridiculously pleased with myself. We talked some about learning languages, apparently the R-with-umlaut is the hardest sound to get right in Czech, so says Guiness. And he wished me luck and wrote in Czech my autograph. It was so cool. He was so sweet. He even knew a little Spanish! (I told him [in Spanish] that we didn't speak it in the home, but...)

Eliza Dushku recognized the Thundercats, too, we had a small chat about the old vs new. Tony Todd was... very tall. Beau Bridges seemed exhausted, poor guy. He might not have been, but he seemed kind of shelled. Brent Spiner asked, with a straight face, is that your real hair (note: Cheetara wig. In bright yellow.) We talked a bit about, um, Spain, which is usually the next thing I end up talking to people about because, hey, I have an unusual name, it might as well be a talking point. He's apparently been to Spain, and encouraged me to go. He was really funny, really sweet.

Sylvester McCoy came out for a photograph and said "This looks like a nice queue, I think I'll stand in it." He's short! And very sweet.

Nicholas Brendon was ADORABLE. And he did a little song and I did a little dance and we talked about the Thundercats and he offered me a hug. And I told him I was all hot and sweaty but he was all 'bah' so I got a hug from Nicholas Brendon. Real fun and personable and interact-y.

Julie Benz talked some about Thundercats with me and her handler, who was also cosplaying later in the con. ... And, damn, I forget what her handler was going to play. But Julie Benz also recognized my Thundercat costume, so, go me!

Temuera Morrison and I talked some about Once Were Warriors, which the person in front of me had to sign. Unfortunately, he didn't actually have any publicity headshot type things, just Jango Fett stuff. I told him I loved him in Once Were Warriors (which actually is a very good movie, you guys should see it, but carry a box of tissues because augh so sad in parts). And I told him the first movie I saw him in was Barb Wire, and we joked about that. And then he commented on my name and I told him my mother's family blah blah and we started talking in Spanish some. And he taught me a bit of Maori! And we spoke a bit of Spanish. And it was awesome.

Lance Henricksen was adorable. I told him about my name (because, seriously, everyone comments on it and again, talking point) and he talked about when he'd been in Spain for a European promo of something and he mentioned he didn't like bullfighting and said they didn't like that very much. And that he was a Taurus and so on, so, bullfighting, and we joked about that. He's adorable. He really is. ... and I know saying he looks like his characters is kind of obvious but there was something similar about him to a lot of his characters. Only less with the impression that this guy is going to die horribly or suffer some other terrible fate very shortly in the movie. Anyway.

Samantha Ferris was adorable too, I told her I'd seen her in a few TV shows and since she was sitting next to Mark Sheppard, eventually this went off to Mark Sheppard's insane career because someone mentioned X-Files, and I mentioned something about how for a while all I saw him in was X-Files and In the Name of the Father, and then he went off on this long tangent about how now his job is to go back and forth between Dean Devlin and Kelly Manners and a couple others and be all "So and so says they need me on Friday for Leverage, can I do that?" "sure, as long as you come back on Tuesday for Dollhouse" And something about how apparently Dean Devlin had to fight to get him for Sterling (which was listed as "the Mark Sheppard" which amuses the shit outta me) because apparently when people want him, they have to argue with the studio for a bit. Apparently someone wanted The Rock to play a character written for him. Which also amused me. Misha was walking by at that point and I was all "Yeah, doesn't he look just like the Rock" and Misha put on his v. srs face and was all "Oh, yeah, totally." It was hilarious. Just, he kept holding forth on the subject. Oh Mark. Oh! And I told Samantha Ferris about meeting Mark Sheppard's daddy several years ago and how much of a sweetheart he was, but since she'd teased Mark earlier about not listening to her I continued on all "and Mark Sheppard of course is a total bastard and I can say that because he isn't listening to a word we're saying..." (meanwhile he's holding forth with someone else). That was fun.

Misha only barely remembered me, as I vaguely expected, but then he was all "Oh, yes! Oh, it's your hair. You've done something with your hair." with the same straight face Brent Spiner used. And it took him a second to remember Thundercats, too, but he kept being all "I know this, I know this..." Silly Misha.

Tom Felton knew Thundercats! Tom Felton apparently "was a Thundercats man" when it was out, to which I thankfully did NOT go you're old enough to know Thundercats? because that would have been deeply embarrassing. But he admired my costume and asked me if the new series was any good and we discussed it for a bit. He also signed a card for a little bear for the person ahead of me, to be auctioned off for charity, and took a picture with the bear. While his handler was all "I'm not seeing this, la la la." Literally.

Jordan Hinson was adorable, despite my going "augh why am I getting an autograph from a kid" because, well. I feel old now. But she was adorable and professional and we talked about the costumes we'd seen and how hot some people must be in them. She sounded like she was having fun. Chris Gauthier and I talked about the show getting cancelled and expressed hope for someone else to pick it up, and I told him I'd planned to bring my Joy of Cooking for him to sign as Vincent but alas, forgot. But he signed my picture on both Vincents. So that was fun. :D

And then I went and stood in line for a t-shirt at the Warehouse 13 table, and Eddie... oh Eddie. He wanted to talk with all the fans, which of course made the line ten times longer. But then my turn came up and we talked about the show for a bit and I told him I was just here for a t-shirt, I'd gotten my autograph last year with a t-shirt and he looked at me like he was trying to place me and was all "Were you a Thundercat last year? Were you Cheetara?" And I told him yes but I hadn't hit the autograph hall in costume (which, actually, I had, I just hadn't hit it for very long in costume because, heels of ow.) and he teased me about all "oh, I see how it is" and kind of verbally pouted. So I told him tomorrow I'd come by in my Tron costume and wear my old last year's t-shirt for him.

And then I had a massive headache and went and stood in line for half an hour for the elevator. Next to James Tolkan. Which was trippy. I couldn't for the life of me remember his name, but I was all 'who the fuck is that guy' (in my head of course) and trying to remember. And pretty soon so was everyone around me.

After that it was pretty much come up, curl up and chew painkillers, rest a bit, shower, put on street clothes, go find food. I started getting dressed and made up to go do a second turn on the costume catwalk, but then the boy came up and said it was getting dangerously drunk downstairs. Like, grabassy drunk. I have no wish to be grabassed tonight, and I have no stick. So that is the end of Day One of DragonCon 2011.