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oanimation) wrote2007-09-12 09:46 pm
oanimation) wrote2007-09-12 09:46 pm
Dragon Con Report
Finally the Dragon Con report is done. *yippee*
The Journey:
Wednesday Night/Thursday: 8/29/07
I had a red-eye non-stop flight to Atlanta that left at 12:45am from LAX. The flight left late because Delta forgot to board a gentleman’s oxygen tank. When I arrive in Atlanta after 9am on Thursday, I had a voicemail fromghostgirl13 saying that she and jaesha had been able to check in way early and got us a two-bed room. *Whoohoo* I managed to remember my way to Peachtree station and only had to ask directions in the mall which way the Marriott was. Since the last time I was there was in 2003, I was pretty proud of my memory. ghostgirl13 and jaesha were asleep when I arrived. I took a quick shower and explored the convention area. By 1pm I was tired of everyone sleeping on me and woke them up. Yes, I’m evil, but come on. You don’t come to cons to sleep. We did some more exploring together and then ghostgirl13 got a call that sandy_s was in but her roommates were not. Since the room was in their names, she came up to our room to stow her bags and hang out. When it was time for dinner the skies opened up and it poured. I like that about Atlanta. It just rains with no warning. Since we didn’t all have umbrellas we decided to eat at the pub in the mall. No need to go outside in the rain. It had good food; if I’m ever in Atlanta again I’ll have to eat there again. After eating, we headed over to the registration area to get our badges. After that jaesha and I made a trip back to the airport to try and find her bag. It had been lost earlier in the day, but then they found it. They just were taking their damn sweet time to deliver the bag to her. At the airport they tried to say the bag wasn’t there. After much insistence from our part that the bag was there, the guy took her back to the hold area and she was able to find it. The funniest part was that there was a tag on it that said urgent yet it never left the airport to be delivered to our hotel. * shakes head * On the Marta train back I saw jjwintle and her husband. Apparently because of the rainstorm that had happened earlier they were delayed on the tarmac for hours before take off and had just landed. She showed me the photo book she made and it looked fabulous. She really did a wonderful job compiling that thing. jaesha and I made it back to hotel, where we were joined by mad_brilliant_ and ghostgirl13, and we all lounged around a bit gossiping until we got tired enough to sleep.
Wednesday Night/Thursday: 8/29/07
I had a red-eye non-stop flight to Atlanta that left at 12:45am from LAX. The flight left late because Delta forgot to board a gentleman’s oxygen tank. When I arrive in Atlanta after 9am on Thursday, I had a voicemail from
ghostgirl13 saying that she and jaesha had been able to check in way early and got us a two-bed room. *Whoohoo* I managed to remember my way to Peachtree station and only had to ask directions in the mall which way the Marriott was. Since the last time I was there was in 2003, I was pretty proud of my memory. ghostgirl13 and jaesha were asleep when I arrived. I took a quick shower and explored the convention area. By 1pm I was tired of everyone sleeping on me and woke them up. Yes, I’m evil, but come on. You don’t come to cons to sleep. We did some more exploring together and then ghostgirl13 got a call that sandy_s was in but her roommates were not. Since the room was in their names, she came up to our room to stow her bags and hang out. When it was time for dinner the skies opened up and it poured. I like that about Atlanta. It just rains with no warning. Since we didn’t all have umbrellas we decided to eat at the pub in the mall. No need to go outside in the rain. It had good food; if I’m ever in Atlanta again I’ll have to eat there again. After eating, we headed over to the registration area to get our badges. After that jaesha and I made a trip back to the airport to try and find her bag. It had been lost earlier in the day, but then they found it. They just were taking their damn sweet time to deliver the bag to her. At the airport they tried to say the bag wasn’t there. After much insistence from our part that the bag was there, the guy took her back to the hold area and she was able to find it. The funniest part was that there was a tag on it that said urgent yet it never left the airport to be delivered to our hotel. * shakes head * On the Marta train back I saw jjwintle and her husband. Apparently because of the rainstorm that had happened earlier they were delayed on the tarmac for hours before take off and had just landed. She showed me the photo book she made and it looked fabulous. She really did a wonderful job compiling that thing. jaesha and I made it back to hotel, where we were joined by mad_brilliant_ and ghostgirl13, and we all lounged around a bit gossiping until we got tired enough to sleep.Friday:8/30/07
We eventually got up Friday morning I think just before 10am andjaesha and I made our way down to photo room to get our photo tickets. Before we left the hotel room I got a call from ghostgirl13 saying she just got off the elevator and JMLive was there. My first thought was what the hell are they doing here at a US event. It would have been real nice to have known before hand that they were going to be involved with this event, especially the dinner. That way I could have not went and saved myself the trouble. But it was too late to do anything at the event so I just put on my happy face and played civil. At the photo room, we didn’t see anyone around so we headed over to the ballroom for the Q&A and saw a small line already formed and plopped ourselves down in it. jjwintle had the books for James and Steve and was sending them down the line for people to sign. So we signed them and jaesha spent some time looking at it. I called ghostgirl13 to tell her a line had formed and she might want to get over here soon. They finally let us into the ballroom about an hour early and everyone grabbed a seat. When the Q&A began, my fear of all the questions going to James only came true for about the first 5-10 minutes and then luckily the questions were fielded to the other panelists and it was a good Q&A. James kept crushing over Juliet especially in the beginning when he pouted over not seating next to her. So much so Elizabeth switched seats with him so he would be next to Juliet. The funniest thing of the weekend was Elizabeth becoming an instant fangirl of James. Dude…she flirted with him all weekend. :)
After the Q&A we headed over to the photo room. There was some confusion over which line was what. It took me several tries but I finally got in the line for the photo with James and Juliet. I was after jjwintle and her husband. When it was my turn I was asked to move forward like normal, but jjwintle and her husband were still talking with James and Juliet and I wasn’t going to intrude on them. So I stepped forward a few steps to show I know it’s my turn but I’m giving them space. Someone from JMLive was patrolling the photo room and was standing not too far from me. She got impatient and demanded that it was my turn to step forward. I was still waiting for them to move on before moving forward and was about to tell her so when they left James and Juliet so I did move forward. I got the usual “Hi, it’s great to see you again” from James and a mini hug. He asked how I was. I mumbled a response before turning around to Juliet and saying it was nice to meet her. I didn’t want to leave my back to her for too long because that would be rude. So instead I kind of turned my back to James. * oops * I was a bit flustered during the whole thing because of miss grouchy who couldn’t understand I was being polite to the people before me. But then I shouldn’t expect anyone in that organization to understand what it means to be polite. Juliet commented on my shoes saying they were cute, which prompted James to look down and see them and agree. When the picture was over I said the goodbyes and started going the wrong way out. James shouted out to me which way to go. I thanked him and went out the correct way. Like I said I was a bit flustered. I then got back in the line for the James photo withjaesha. Thank god that for the James photo miss grouchy was sitting away from the immediate area talking to someone. For my solo photo James went hey again and gave me a bigger hug. Either before or after the photo he said he saw me during the Q&A and was glad to see I had come. I probably said I was glad to be here or something similar and then I told him I would see him later that night at the party and he got bouncy and said all right or something similar. This time I exited the correct way. jaesha and I then went over to the auto area to see if there was a line for James or not. There was a small line that we then joined. jaesha picked out one of my photos for James to sign because she didn’t have anything for him to sign. I jokingly told her if he asked, she should take credit for the photo, honestly I wouldn’t have cared if she had. She joked back that she’s a horrible liar and wouldn’t be able to pull it off. She went first and James commented on the photo, it’s kind of bad that I can’t remember what photo she picked; she said it was my photo and pointed to me. James looked and went hey with that big smile and I waved but didn’t say anything. It wasn’t my time yet. During my turn I had him sign my current favorite photo and he said that I always catch him well and that I make him look comfortable. I suppose looking comfortable when you’re on stage in front of hundreds of fans is a good thing. I guess. After the autos it was back to the room to change for the party that night.
We eventually got up Friday morning I think just before 10am and
jaesha and I made our way down to photo room to get our photo tickets. Before we left the hotel room I got a call from ghostgirl13 saying she just got off the elevator and JMLive was there. My first thought was what the hell are they doing here at a US event. It would have been real nice to have known before hand that they were going to be involved with this event, especially the dinner. That way I could have not went and saved myself the trouble. But it was too late to do anything at the event so I just put on my happy face and played civil. At the photo room, we didn’t see anyone around so we headed over to the ballroom for the Q&A and saw a small line already formed and plopped ourselves down in it. jjwintle had the books for James and Steve and was sending them down the line for people to sign. So we signed them and jaesha spent some time looking at it. I called ghostgirl13 to tell her a line had formed and she might want to get over here soon. They finally let us into the ballroom about an hour early and everyone grabbed a seat. When the Q&A began, my fear of all the questions going to James only came true for about the first 5-10 minutes and then luckily the questions were fielded to the other panelists and it was a good Q&A. James kept crushing over Juliet especially in the beginning when he pouted over not seating next to her. So much so Elizabeth switched seats with him so he would be next to Juliet. The funniest thing of the weekend was Elizabeth becoming an instant fangirl of James. Dude…she flirted with him all weekend. :)After the Q&A we headed over to the photo room. There was some confusion over which line was what. It took me several tries but I finally got in the line for the photo with James and Juliet. I was after jjwintle and her husband. When it was my turn I was asked to move forward like normal, but jjwintle and her husband were still talking with James and Juliet and I wasn’t going to intrude on them. So I stepped forward a few steps to show I know it’s my turn but I’m giving them space. Someone from JMLive was patrolling the photo room and was standing not too far from me. She got impatient and demanded that it was my turn to step forward. I was still waiting for them to move on before moving forward and was about to tell her so when they left James and Juliet so I did move forward. I got the usual “Hi, it’s great to see you again” from James and a mini hug. He asked how I was. I mumbled a response before turning around to Juliet and saying it was nice to meet her. I didn’t want to leave my back to her for too long because that would be rude. So instead I kind of turned my back to James. * oops * I was a bit flustered during the whole thing because of miss grouchy who couldn’t understand I was being polite to the people before me. But then I shouldn’t expect anyone in that organization to understand what it means to be polite. Juliet commented on my shoes saying they were cute, which prompted James to look down and see them and agree. When the picture was over I said the goodbyes and started going the wrong way out. James shouted out to me which way to go. I thanked him and went out the correct way. Like I said I was a bit flustered. I then got back in the line for the James photo with
jaesha. Thank god that for the James photo miss grouchy was sitting away from the immediate area talking to someone. For my solo photo James went hey again and gave me a bigger hug. Either before or after the photo he said he saw me during the Q&A and was glad to see I had come. I probably said I was glad to be here or something similar and then I told him I would see him later that night at the party and he got bouncy and said all right or something similar. This time I exited the correct way. jaesha and I then went over to the auto area to see if there was a line for James or not. There was a small line that we then joined. jaesha picked out one of my photos for James to sign because she didn’t have anything for him to sign. I jokingly told her if he asked, she should take credit for the photo, honestly I wouldn’t have cared if she had. She joked back that she’s a horrible liar and wouldn’t be able to pull it off. She went first and James commented on the photo, it’s kind of bad that I can’t remember what photo she picked; she said it was my photo and pointed to me. James looked and went hey with that big smile and I waved but didn’t say anything. It wasn’t my time yet. During my turn I had him sign my current favorite photo and he said that I always catch him well and that I make him look comfortable. I suppose looking comfortable when you’re on stage in front of hundreds of fans is a good thing. I guess. After the autos it was back to the room to change for the party that night.Friday Night Party:
We got there a little after the doors opened. I paid my money and bookworm tried to put the wristband on my wrist. She commented that my wrist was too small and couldn’t get it to snap. She pulled out a new wristband and managed to snap it shut. I laughingly apologized for my wrist and we shared some giggles over the evil wristband. She’s volunteered at a lot of James events and I have never had a bad experience with her. She seems like a very nice person and I hope she continues to volunteer at events. Once we were all in the room we quickly noticed it was way too small for this party and we stood around awkwardly trying to stay out of people’s way. There were a couple tables and many had just grabbed chairs from somewhere and sat around in a circle. There was no where left to sit when we arrived. Eventuallyjaesha and I left to get some drinks instead of waiting for a waiter. After getting our beers we stay outside the room and noticed a sign outside the room that said Maximum Occupancy 60. No wonder the room was too small. * palms face * James arrived in a suit no less. We all went casual and he actually showed us all up. No complaints about that, because he looked good. jaesha and I were joined by ghostgirl13 who was getting very tipsy at that point. We laughed and talked for a bit when we noticed a small empty table inside the room. We quickly grabbed it and continued our fun. Bookworm later came up to tell us that they were trying to have the group be 8 or more to talk with James. So we would want to join another group or we might be overlooked. jaesha asked if we had to move now cause we were having fun talking. She said oh no, just when you see him getting closer to this area. We thanked her for the info and continued our fun. Ends up our group came to us and we didn’t have to find one. We were joined by mad_brilliant_, K, lightdependent, P, and M. We were having a blast at our table. Eventually it was suggested that we should play quarters. Only problem was none of us knew the right technique of playing. We tried for a little bit and were pretty pathetic. Ken Feinberg must have saw us and took pity because he came over and showed us the proper throwing technique and he got the quarter in the glass on his first try. After that we were set and I think all of us managed to get the quarter in at least once. Ken would drop by a couple times to see how we were doing. He missed each time he came by. I wonder if that first one was a fluke. :) It was a good thing that we were making a great party out of the party, because as per usual, bad planning led to people missing out on their James time. I mean would it really have been that hard to have the party at a venue with a set number of tables so they could then figure out how much time each table got and stick to that. It worked at the Queen Mary, although having the cocktail party at the tables was a fluke due to the cocktail room being too hot, but it worked beautifully, and now Steve and JMLive seem to have completely forgotten that that worked. So while the first groups got a large amount of James’ time our group got about 8 minutes and 5 minutes of that was taken by Stephen who already had his James time coming over to our table and monopolizing the conversation. He has apologized for that, but still that was not cool. Then Steve came over and announced that they would do one more group and then a mini Q&A for the rest of the time. So again, thank god us girls made our own party that night, otherwise we would have been disappointed in the evening. We headed back to the hotel after lounging around the party room for bit. We stayed up late gossiping and joking before finally nodding off.
We got there a little after the doors opened. I paid my money and bookworm tried to put the wristband on my wrist. She commented that my wrist was too small and couldn’t get it to snap. She pulled out a new wristband and managed to snap it shut. I laughingly apologized for my wrist and we shared some giggles over the evil wristband. She’s volunteered at a lot of James events and I have never had a bad experience with her. She seems like a very nice person and I hope she continues to volunteer at events. Once we were all in the room we quickly noticed it was way too small for this party and we stood around awkwardly trying to stay out of people’s way. There were a couple tables and many had just grabbed chairs from somewhere and sat around in a circle. There was no where left to sit when we arrived. Eventually
jaesha and I left to get some drinks instead of waiting for a waiter. After getting our beers we stay outside the room and noticed a sign outside the room that said Maximum Occupancy 60. No wonder the room was too small. * palms face * James arrived in a suit no less. We all went casual and he actually showed us all up. No complaints about that, because he looked good. jaesha and I were joined by ghostgirl13 who was getting very tipsy at that point. We laughed and talked for a bit when we noticed a small empty table inside the room. We quickly grabbed it and continued our fun. Bookworm later came up to tell us that they were trying to have the group be 8 or more to talk with James. So we would want to join another group or we might be overlooked. jaesha asked if we had to move now cause we were having fun talking. She said oh no, just when you see him getting closer to this area. We thanked her for the info and continued our fun. Ends up our group came to us and we didn’t have to find one. We were joined by mad_brilliant_, K, lightdependent, P, and M. We were having a blast at our table. Eventually it was suggested that we should play quarters. Only problem was none of us knew the right technique of playing. We tried for a little bit and were pretty pathetic. Ken Feinberg must have saw us and took pity because he came over and showed us the proper throwing technique and he got the quarter in the glass on his first try. After that we were set and I think all of us managed to get the quarter in at least once. Ken would drop by a couple times to see how we were doing. He missed each time he came by. I wonder if that first one was a fluke. :) It was a good thing that we were making a great party out of the party, because as per usual, bad planning led to people missing out on their James time. I mean would it really have been that hard to have the party at a venue with a set number of tables so they could then figure out how much time each table got and stick to that. It worked at the Queen Mary, although having the cocktail party at the tables was a fluke due to the cocktail room being too hot, but it worked beautifully, and now Steve and JMLive seem to have completely forgotten that that worked. So while the first groups got a large amount of James’ time our group got about 8 minutes and 5 minutes of that was taken by Stephen who already had his James time coming over to our table and monopolizing the conversation. He has apologized for that, but still that was not cool. Then Steve came over and announced that they would do one more group and then a mini Q&A for the rest of the time. So again, thank god us girls made our own party that night, otherwise we would have been disappointed in the evening. We headed back to the hotel after lounging around the party room for bit. We stayed up late gossiping and joking before finally nodding off.
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...as per usual, bad planning led to people missing out on their James time.
Were there people at the party who didn't get any James time, then? That sucks.
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