Post by Clare on Aug 26, 2013 21:11:37 GMT
The main word you will hear throughout the tale of this weekend is vertigo. Associate yourself with it, make it a part of your vocabulary and then make friends with it because you’re going to be seeing that word a lot.
This convention was going to be my daughter’s first, so the fact I was suffering with vertigo [that’s one mention] was far from ideal because I wanted her to have a good time and not worry about her dear ol’ mom. We got there early – in hindsight – much earlier than we should’ve and waited around for Lynda and Darcie, who would be joining us on the momentous weekend. Being unable to find seats we stood up during our wait, which - again in hindsight - was a very bad idea. I’d started to feel a little unsteady on my feet in our wait but powered through it, determined not to let it dictate the terms of my enjoyment.
Shortly before registration was due to start, our weekend companions arrived along with Sally – another addition to our party. We booked into our room in double quick time and dropped our things into what would be our home for two days before heading down to the queue.
It wasn’t long before we were wearing our wristbands and badges that were required attire and moved on to the queue to collect all our prepaid ops. That was a long wait… but we were assured we could buy our extra photo / auto’s at the same desk, so we figured it wasn’t all bad. We were wrong. After receiving the photo’s we’d brought online we were told to queue in a different line to buy anything extra we required. Amelia and Darcie, having been queued in that line since we found out this new information, held our place while I purchased an event print. Then we joined the queue and it took us about two hours to get halfway down the hall toward the room where we could get said items. I was seriously flagging at this point; the vertigo [second mention] was not playing fair.
In our wait, Sally had seen an ‘Ian’ look-a-like in the lobby and Amelia – wanting to have her photo took with him – dragged me out to find him. The young gentleman was named Jamie Christlow and he readily obliged us with a photo upon request before we rushed back to our line. Deciding it was pointless for the teenagers to be standing around with us – they left and went up to one of the rooms to wait.
It was only when I’d got about 10 feet from the front of the queue that my vertigo hit me with a vengeance. Lynda looked at me and asked if I was OK, to which I replied that I was fine – even though I wasn’t. Turns out I was in great hands with her and Sally, immediately Sally found someone to assist me in purchasing the extra’s I wanted – and send me on my merry way. I headed straight up to my room for a sit down and some medication. The queuing was done for one day.
Friday night we did go down to the party for a little while, but as the vertigo reared its ugly head again, we didn’t stay long – just long enough to have a few dances and take a few photos before we headed to bed ready for the next day.
Saturday started pretty much the way Friday had ended, with the vertigo out in full force. I took my medication before breakfast and then faced with eating, couldn’t bring myself to have more than a few bites of toast. This would ensure I felt shitty all morning.
First up was the opening ceremony. We fought to find some seats because I simply HAD to sit down… and Lynda took the option to stand. The two teenagers sat for a little while but soon went to find a better place to get pictures…
When the guests came out on stage the whole room got to their feet… something I’ve never witnessed before at a Rogue event… Supernatural fans stay seated, knowing that it’s hard for the fans at the back to see anything if you at the front are standing, but it seemed these fans didn’t care. So Darcie and Amelia didn’t get to see anything until I told them to stand too… it was hardly fair for them to stay seated when other fans weren’t being as considerate. Still, they struggled to see anything over the adults in front of them, so left me in a bid to be able to actually SEE something down the side nearer the front.
The first thing on our agenda was Paul Wesley photo ops. This would be the girl’s first real experience being that close to someone they’ve watched on TV every week during the running of the season so I was excited to see their reactions… and it was everything I expected. Amelia – who favoured Damon Salvatore rather than his brother – seemed just as elated to meet the actor who played the brooding younger brother as she was about meeting Ian. But she wanted me to have my picture first. Lynda’s, Darcie’s and Amelia’s photos seemed to go by all too quickly… and soon it was my turn. I walked toward Paul, smiled and said ‘hi’. He responded with a ‘hi, how are you?’ Now I couldn’t tell the guy I was suffering with vertigo hence I felt like shit, so I responded with a polite, ‘fine’. A click of the camera – when we were both facing the photographer and as I was about to walk away he looked directly into my eyes and thanked me – for what I don’t know… but he thanked me anyway.
Next was our Ian Somerhalder photo… the one I was really looking forward to – because Damon is my favourite Salvatore and after meeting Ian, that isn’t likely to change. Again, my daughter wanted me to go first so I gladly obliged. I walked up and said a big hello… the vertigo taking a back seat to the rush of being that close to Ian… and he said hey back before wrapping his arms around me… a PROPER hug, nice and tight… so I responded by putting both my arms around him and squeezing ever so slightly. Click of the camera… and as he pulled away he read my shirt (I was wearing my ‘I like guys with fangs’ top) before saying, ‘Do you know Paul Wesley has real fangs?’ To which I responded, ‘I know, I saw that in an interview’ instead of, ‘He may have but I’m an Ian Somerhalder girl’. But I didn’t think of that until after I left the room floating on air.
On to our first lot of autographs next. Nathaniel was the first guy we walked up to and Lynda – being the darling she is – drew attention to Amelia’s ‘Kol: original legend’ shirt, which he loved but insisted he had to maintain eye contact and not look at her chest before I told him I’d printed it for her and he gave her two hearts on the print I’d brought for her – which she was very excited about. I asked him at that point if we were to call him Nathaniel, Nathan or Nate and he said, ‘Nathaniel at first meeting and Nate after that’. He had already signed my inlay, but I don’t really remember it because I was more excited for Amelia. Nathan was one of the guests she was most looking forward to meeting so this was epic for her, and the fact he’d commented on her shirt made her a very happy 15 year old.
Next was Steven. He read my shirt and said, ‘So I need fangs huh?’ to which I responded, ‘you almost had them in season 2, almost and you’re the only one here without them’ meaning the only character – but I’ve only just realised writing this that I referred to him as Jeremy. Oh well, never mind… can’t take it back now.
Malese was next. She asked where to sign my inlay and I asked her to sign by Alaric, to which she responded, ‘sure, we kind of look similar’. I found that quite funny… and moved on to get Claire’s autograph. When she spotted the post-it with my name on, she made a comment about us having the same name.
After lunch we had an extremely hectic schedule. Darcie and Amelia had a Nathaniel photo to queue for so Lynda and I made our way to the hall to watch Claire’s stage talk while we waited for them.
Amelia really wanted to see some of Nathaniel’s stage talk so the two teenagers did that while we waited for them to start the Steven photos. Given how hectic the afternoon was, I don’t remember much about the photo ops that afternoon, but I do remember rushing to get our Ian and Paul autographs.
Lynda was first in line, Darcie was next, Amelia was after her and I was last in line. Paul asked Darcie about the ‘I <3 Paul Wesley’ shirt she was wearing and Lynda pointed me out as the one who’d printed it. I remember him saying that he should get one printed with a laugh and then giving Darcie a high-five. As Paul signed my DVD inlay I told him to tell his wife she’d been missed [she was meant to be a guest but cancelled due to a work commitment] and he replied that he would because he shared that sentiment.
When it came time for Ian’s autograph, Lynda handed him a photo I’d mocked up of the four of us which we’d signed for Nina and he sounded genuinely appreciative and assured her he’d pass it on to her for us.
When I got to him he said ‘Oh, it’s got to be at least 4 hours since I saw you’ to which I responded, ‘I didn’t think you’d remember me’ at which point he looked up at me and said, ‘Oh yeah, it’s the shirt – and the boobs’. That was it, weekend made. Nothing else mattered. Ian had recognised me – and mentioned my boobs. I was elated and I walked away, shaking because I was so happy.
Autographs got, we rushed back down to the photo studio just in time to get our Claire photo – and then the girls got their Malese photo.
Saturday night the girls got dressed up and looked amazing for the party but after a full day of queuing and vertigo I didn’t feel much up to partying. I went to the disco originally but didn’t stay long before I went in search of a sit down and a conversation with my good friend Lynda while the two teenagers danced the night away. My daughter – being 15 – was old enough to be responsible so I gave her the freedom to enjoy herself surrounded by the safety of the other attendees. I knew she would come to no harm, while I sat having an adult conversation. About half 11, she sent me a BBM asking if she could stay longer at the party because Nathaniel and Malese were supposed to be showing up… so I told her she could. It was only 15 minutes later though that both girls appeared back at the room. When asked why they replied that things had got out of control crowded once Nathan had shown up – and that Amelia had gotten a hug off him anyway so they decided to leave.
Sunday was pretty uneventful really… relaxed even. The only thing we had on the agenda was watching stage talks – and given that there wasn’t the hectic nature of the day before I found myself getting extremely tired as the day went on. I did spend some money in the dealers’ room, which woke me up a bit but all afternoon sitting in the main hall was tiring.
All in all the weekend was a hoot – minus the vertigo – and wouldn’t you Adam & Eve it, by Tuesday my vertigo had all but gone. Typical.
This convention was going to be my daughter’s first, so the fact I was suffering with vertigo [that’s one mention] was far from ideal because I wanted her to have a good time and not worry about her dear ol’ mom. We got there early – in hindsight – much earlier than we should’ve and waited around for Lynda and Darcie, who would be joining us on the momentous weekend. Being unable to find seats we stood up during our wait, which - again in hindsight - was a very bad idea. I’d started to feel a little unsteady on my feet in our wait but powered through it, determined not to let it dictate the terms of my enjoyment.
Shortly before registration was due to start, our weekend companions arrived along with Sally – another addition to our party. We booked into our room in double quick time and dropped our things into what would be our home for two days before heading down to the queue.
It wasn’t long before we were wearing our wristbands and badges that were required attire and moved on to the queue to collect all our prepaid ops. That was a long wait… but we were assured we could buy our extra photo / auto’s at the same desk, so we figured it wasn’t all bad. We were wrong. After receiving the photo’s we’d brought online we were told to queue in a different line to buy anything extra we required. Amelia and Darcie, having been queued in that line since we found out this new information, held our place while I purchased an event print. Then we joined the queue and it took us about two hours to get halfway down the hall toward the room where we could get said items. I was seriously flagging at this point; the vertigo [second mention] was not playing fair.
In our wait, Sally had seen an ‘Ian’ look-a-like in the lobby and Amelia – wanting to have her photo took with him – dragged me out to find him. The young gentleman was named Jamie Christlow and he readily obliged us with a photo upon request before we rushed back to our line. Deciding it was pointless for the teenagers to be standing around with us – they left and went up to one of the rooms to wait.
It was only when I’d got about 10 feet from the front of the queue that my vertigo hit me with a vengeance. Lynda looked at me and asked if I was OK, to which I replied that I was fine – even though I wasn’t. Turns out I was in great hands with her and Sally, immediately Sally found someone to assist me in purchasing the extra’s I wanted – and send me on my merry way. I headed straight up to my room for a sit down and some medication. The queuing was done for one day.
Friday night we did go down to the party for a little while, but as the vertigo reared its ugly head again, we didn’t stay long – just long enough to have a few dances and take a few photos before we headed to bed ready for the next day.
Saturday started pretty much the way Friday had ended, with the vertigo out in full force. I took my medication before breakfast and then faced with eating, couldn’t bring myself to have more than a few bites of toast. This would ensure I felt shitty all morning.
First up was the opening ceremony. We fought to find some seats because I simply HAD to sit down… and Lynda took the option to stand. The two teenagers sat for a little while but soon went to find a better place to get pictures…
When the guests came out on stage the whole room got to their feet… something I’ve never witnessed before at a Rogue event… Supernatural fans stay seated, knowing that it’s hard for the fans at the back to see anything if you at the front are standing, but it seemed these fans didn’t care. So Darcie and Amelia didn’t get to see anything until I told them to stand too… it was hardly fair for them to stay seated when other fans weren’t being as considerate. Still, they struggled to see anything over the adults in front of them, so left me in a bid to be able to actually SEE something down the side nearer the front.
The first thing on our agenda was Paul Wesley photo ops. This would be the girl’s first real experience being that close to someone they’ve watched on TV every week during the running of the season so I was excited to see their reactions… and it was everything I expected. Amelia – who favoured Damon Salvatore rather than his brother – seemed just as elated to meet the actor who played the brooding younger brother as she was about meeting Ian. But she wanted me to have my picture first. Lynda’s, Darcie’s and Amelia’s photos seemed to go by all too quickly… and soon it was my turn. I walked toward Paul, smiled and said ‘hi’. He responded with a ‘hi, how are you?’ Now I couldn’t tell the guy I was suffering with vertigo hence I felt like shit, so I responded with a polite, ‘fine’. A click of the camera – when we were both facing the photographer and as I was about to walk away he looked directly into my eyes and thanked me – for what I don’t know… but he thanked me anyway.
Next was our Ian Somerhalder photo… the one I was really looking forward to – because Damon is my favourite Salvatore and after meeting Ian, that isn’t likely to change. Again, my daughter wanted me to go first so I gladly obliged. I walked up and said a big hello… the vertigo taking a back seat to the rush of being that close to Ian… and he said hey back before wrapping his arms around me… a PROPER hug, nice and tight… so I responded by putting both my arms around him and squeezing ever so slightly. Click of the camera… and as he pulled away he read my shirt (I was wearing my ‘I like guys with fangs’ top) before saying, ‘Do you know Paul Wesley has real fangs?’ To which I responded, ‘I know, I saw that in an interview’ instead of, ‘He may have but I’m an Ian Somerhalder girl’. But I didn’t think of that until after I left the room floating on air.
On to our first lot of autographs next. Nathaniel was the first guy we walked up to and Lynda – being the darling she is – drew attention to Amelia’s ‘Kol: original legend’ shirt, which he loved but insisted he had to maintain eye contact and not look at her chest before I told him I’d printed it for her and he gave her two hearts on the print I’d brought for her – which she was very excited about. I asked him at that point if we were to call him Nathaniel, Nathan or Nate and he said, ‘Nathaniel at first meeting and Nate after that’. He had already signed my inlay, but I don’t really remember it because I was more excited for Amelia. Nathan was one of the guests she was most looking forward to meeting so this was epic for her, and the fact he’d commented on her shirt made her a very happy 15 year old.
Next was Steven. He read my shirt and said, ‘So I need fangs huh?’ to which I responded, ‘you almost had them in season 2, almost and you’re the only one here without them’ meaning the only character – but I’ve only just realised writing this that I referred to him as Jeremy. Oh well, never mind… can’t take it back now.
Malese was next. She asked where to sign my inlay and I asked her to sign by Alaric, to which she responded, ‘sure, we kind of look similar’. I found that quite funny… and moved on to get Claire’s autograph. When she spotted the post-it with my name on, she made a comment about us having the same name.
After lunch we had an extremely hectic schedule. Darcie and Amelia had a Nathaniel photo to queue for so Lynda and I made our way to the hall to watch Claire’s stage talk while we waited for them.
Amelia really wanted to see some of Nathaniel’s stage talk so the two teenagers did that while we waited for them to start the Steven photos. Given how hectic the afternoon was, I don’t remember much about the photo ops that afternoon, but I do remember rushing to get our Ian and Paul autographs.
Lynda was first in line, Darcie was next, Amelia was after her and I was last in line. Paul asked Darcie about the ‘I <3 Paul Wesley’ shirt she was wearing and Lynda pointed me out as the one who’d printed it. I remember him saying that he should get one printed with a laugh and then giving Darcie a high-five. As Paul signed my DVD inlay I told him to tell his wife she’d been missed [she was meant to be a guest but cancelled due to a work commitment] and he replied that he would because he shared that sentiment.
When it came time for Ian’s autograph, Lynda handed him a photo I’d mocked up of the four of us which we’d signed for Nina and he sounded genuinely appreciative and assured her he’d pass it on to her for us.
When I got to him he said ‘Oh, it’s got to be at least 4 hours since I saw you’ to which I responded, ‘I didn’t think you’d remember me’ at which point he looked up at me and said, ‘Oh yeah, it’s the shirt – and the boobs’. That was it, weekend made. Nothing else mattered. Ian had recognised me – and mentioned my boobs. I was elated and I walked away, shaking because I was so happy.
Autographs got, we rushed back down to the photo studio just in time to get our Claire photo – and then the girls got their Malese photo.
Saturday night the girls got dressed up and looked amazing for the party but after a full day of queuing and vertigo I didn’t feel much up to partying. I went to the disco originally but didn’t stay long before I went in search of a sit down and a conversation with my good friend Lynda while the two teenagers danced the night away. My daughter – being 15 – was old enough to be responsible so I gave her the freedom to enjoy herself surrounded by the safety of the other attendees. I knew she would come to no harm, while I sat having an adult conversation. About half 11, she sent me a BBM asking if she could stay longer at the party because Nathaniel and Malese were supposed to be showing up… so I told her she could. It was only 15 minutes later though that both girls appeared back at the room. When asked why they replied that things had got out of control crowded once Nathan had shown up – and that Amelia had gotten a hug off him anyway so they decided to leave.
Sunday was pretty uneventful really… relaxed even. The only thing we had on the agenda was watching stage talks – and given that there wasn’t the hectic nature of the day before I found myself getting extremely tired as the day went on. I did spend some money in the dealers’ room, which woke me up a bit but all afternoon sitting in the main hall was tiring.
All in all the weekend was a hoot – minus the vertigo – and wouldn’t you Adam & Eve it, by Tuesday my vertigo had all but gone. Typical.
