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Chicago 2012, con report part the second
Yes, I am going to try to finish this up! Here's part the first, which covers Friday and Saturday.
I'll try to figure out how to link to my autograph and photo op pictures (ETA: successfully linked, I hope, at the bottom of this report), but first I'll dash off what little I can remember from AUGUST.
Joe Flanigan is signing autographs for the folks he didn't get the night before and any Sunday-only con goers. Paul McGillion is supposed to be joining him at 9:30, but he didn't turn up for another couple of hours. So I go to get in line for Joe. There aren't any Creation employees hovering around that I can spot, so I ask someone if I can cut ahead of them in line, as I have difficulty standing for long periods. She's not thrilled, but agrees. There are only a handful of people ahead of me, so it's not bad at all.
When I get up to Joe, he's still talking to the person ahead of me, but he's handed my photo and starts signing his name. The other person leaves and I say, "My name is Cindy," figuring that he just hasn't had a chance to ask me yet. So he adds my name above his signature, with an xoxo. I beam and say, "Thank you," and he's staring after me as I move away. The man has lovely eyes. I'm just saying. And this all has a bearing on a later decision of mine.
10:45 Andee Frizell (Wraith Queen - all of them, as far as I know, lol.) Of course I can't remember any of her presentation now, but she was hilarious. All of these folks know how to entertain, even if they're not stars.
11:25 David Nykl comes onstage. Soon after, Paul McGillion turns up to sign autographs (that he was supposed to do the night before, and two hours earlier.) David periodically shouts things to Paul, but Paul doesn't hear them from where he's sitting, plus he's busy making nice with the paying customers. So at this point, Paul is signing for the front rows Gold Patrons. I'm way back in Row P.
12:15 Michael Shanks takes the stage. Not long after, my row gets called for Paul's autograph. So I spend a good portion of Michael's time inching my way along the wall toward Paul. There was no one around to shuttle me to the front of the line. It was a long trek. Paul signed: to sweet Cindy, xoxo. D'aww! Made it all worthwhile. If you watch this YouTube clip, I'm part of the line of people against the far wall, but I haven't made it into camera range yet. (That link will also lead you to a bunch of vids of Joe and Paul's time onstage together.) In case you can't see the clip for whatever reason, two young women ask Michael to marry them, so he says, "I now pronounce you wife and wife." That's one of the few things I remember! Ooh, just remembered something else, for all you Victor/Michael Westin fans out there! He was saying that on the Burn Notice set, he and Bruce Campbell would be sitting sweating bullets in the Miami heat, but Jeffrey Donovan was always cool as a cucumber. And it was sexy!
He did a cute thing where he mimed suddenly appearing over Erica Durance's shoulder in Saving Hope. I've heard him say they've been friends for a while, but here he was specific that the friendship dated from her appearance as Teal'c's neighbor. Also someone asked him for the Puff and Ruffle story. I think by that point I had disappeared behind the stage, so I couldn't watch him and his voice got increasingly muffled. Missing so much of his time on stage probably also led me to the decision I shortly made.
I bought a Joe Flanigan/Michael Shanks photo op ticket! Those eyes of Joe's. Not being able to just relax and enjoy Michael. I needed moar. And the following day was my birthday, so why not? It's only money. It was also time consuming, but I didn't realize that yet.
3:00 Joe Flanigan and Paul McGillion take the stage. You can find most of their talk following the YouTube clip above. I'll have to watch it again myself! They were tremendous fun, of course, and Paul periodically would blurt out something in his faux-Scottish accent, which never stopped being funny.
After this must be when I went to the bar to have a beer and something to eat. Wait, I know I went to the bar twice, because my pet bartender wasn't there the first time. The first time must have been right after Michael, right after I bought the photo op tickets. Yes! And I was talking to a woman who was complaining that in three attempts, she'd never managed to get Joe Flanigan to personalize an autograph for her. I pulled out my pic, where he'd added my name and 'xoxo' above his signature, and realized that I'd basically tricked/forced him into doing it, when really I'd just assumed he was waiting for me to give him my name, and the timing was off because the person in front of me hadn't moved on yet. That explained why he was staring after me as I walked away! I'd made him do something he hardly ever does! LOL
So on this second trip to the bar, while I'm feeding my face and waiting for my Joe/Michael photo op, sitting on the stool to my left is Chuck the Technician from Atlantis! It actually took me an embarrassing amount of time to recognize him (I'm not all that great with faces), but at least that meant that I'd already casually conversed with him before realizing who he was. (I'd also bumped into him right after his presentation on Friday, when I was coming back into the theater and he was leaving it, walking through the crowd of people and thanking them for coming. It took what he was saying for me to recognize him then, even though I'd just seen him on stage through my little binoculars ten minutes before!) I remember he asked me once what time it was, and I told him, then added after a second, "Central Time zone, if that makes a difference." He was eating, too. He'd ordered a plate of three sliders, but the little burgers turned out to be quite a bit bigger than he expected. I solemnly advised him to take one off the bun and turn another into a double. He did. *g*
5:10 PHOTO OP!!!!!
I'm watching as I work my way through the line, and I see that Michael and Joe shake hands with some people, so when I approach them I stick my hand right out, and they both shake it. I tell them my birthday is the next day and I'm giving myself a treat. One of them (Joe, I think,) said, "Good for you," and the other said something that was probably a "Happy Birthday," We all put our arms around each other and the picture is snapped. Joe says, "I think I blinked." We put our arms back around each other and the second picture is snapped. I smile and say "Thank you," and start to move away, but the photographer's assistant is stopping me.
The photographer says, "I caught a reflection off her glasses. Do we want to take another one?" I'm not sure if he was asking me, or them! But I take my glasses off and slide my arms around them again (this is getting to be a real drag, you know? LOL), and Michael says, "I have the same problem," flashing back to his Daniel days!
Finally the photographer is satisfied, but dammit, when I took my glasses off my hair got messed up, and I was in too much of a daze to realize that it would be and smooth it down before the third photo. (Or maybe I was just in too big of a hurry to jump back into that nice warm sandwich. Mmmmm.) So I actually prefer the photo with the reflection off my glasses!
Winding down now...
5:30 Autographs with Michael. Except Row P means I won't be called for a long time. At one point I wander back down to where the photos were taken, to see if mine have been printed yet. Nope. Back to wait to be called. FINALLY. Someone writes my name on a little sticky note and passes my photo to Michael. He gives me an enthusiastic greeting and signs Best Wishes Always, with his trademark little Daniel-with-glasses smiley face. As I pick the photo up and thank him, he sees the sticky note that fell off and hands it to me. "I guess you might as well have this." "So that I can remember my name," I say, nodding. He laughed. He's probably seen thousands of fan girls who can barely remember their own names when he's around. *g*
Back downstairs to wait for my photos. FINALLY they appear. All but the first one, so I don't get Joe with his eyes closed, lol.
By now it's a couple of hours later than I thought it would be when I left to drive home, and the trip home was a real nightmare of missing on and off ramps and having to turn around and go back; then once I was on familiar ground there was construction, and to make it worse it started to rain. When I made my plans I had imagined I'd be home before dark, but it was nearly dark by the time I left the hotel! If I go again, I'm staying the extra night. It's only money. :-)
One more YouTube link that gives the flavor of things a bit, then turns into mostly Joe and Paul...which is not such a bad thing.
And...photos. *waves hello* Hover over Joe's left shoulder for the 'next pic' arrow.
I'll try to figure out how to link to my autograph and photo op pictures (ETA: successfully linked, I hope, at the bottom of this report), but first I'll dash off what little I can remember from AUGUST.
Joe Flanigan is signing autographs for the folks he didn't get the night before and any Sunday-only con goers. Paul McGillion is supposed to be joining him at 9:30, but he didn't turn up for another couple of hours. So I go to get in line for Joe. There aren't any Creation employees hovering around that I can spot, so I ask someone if I can cut ahead of them in line, as I have difficulty standing for long periods. She's not thrilled, but agrees. There are only a handful of people ahead of me, so it's not bad at all.
When I get up to Joe, he's still talking to the person ahead of me, but he's handed my photo and starts signing his name. The other person leaves and I say, "My name is Cindy," figuring that he just hasn't had a chance to ask me yet. So he adds my name above his signature, with an xoxo. I beam and say, "Thank you," and he's staring after me as I move away. The man has lovely eyes. I'm just saying. And this all has a bearing on a later decision of mine.
10:45 Andee Frizell (Wraith Queen - all of them, as far as I know, lol.) Of course I can't remember any of her presentation now, but she was hilarious. All of these folks know how to entertain, even if they're not stars.
11:25 David Nykl comes onstage. Soon after, Paul McGillion turns up to sign autographs (that he was supposed to do the night before, and two hours earlier.) David periodically shouts things to Paul, but Paul doesn't hear them from where he's sitting, plus he's busy making nice with the paying customers. So at this point, Paul is signing for the front rows Gold Patrons. I'm way back in Row P.
12:15 Michael Shanks takes the stage. Not long after, my row gets called for Paul's autograph. So I spend a good portion of Michael's time inching my way along the wall toward Paul. There was no one around to shuttle me to the front of the line. It was a long trek. Paul signed: to sweet Cindy, xoxo. D'aww! Made it all worthwhile. If you watch this YouTube clip, I'm part of the line of people against the far wall, but I haven't made it into camera range yet. (That link will also lead you to a bunch of vids of Joe and Paul's time onstage together.) In case you can't see the clip for whatever reason, two young women ask Michael to marry them, so he says, "I now pronounce you wife and wife." That's one of the few things I remember! Ooh, just remembered something else, for all you Victor/Michael Westin fans out there! He was saying that on the Burn Notice set, he and Bruce Campbell would be sitting sweating bullets in the Miami heat, but Jeffrey Donovan was always cool as a cucumber. And it was sexy!
He did a cute thing where he mimed suddenly appearing over Erica Durance's shoulder in Saving Hope. I've heard him say they've been friends for a while, but here he was specific that the friendship dated from her appearance as Teal'c's neighbor. Also someone asked him for the Puff and Ruffle story. I think by that point I had disappeared behind the stage, so I couldn't watch him and his voice got increasingly muffled. Missing so much of his time on stage probably also led me to the decision I shortly made.
I bought a Joe Flanigan/Michael Shanks photo op ticket! Those eyes of Joe's. Not being able to just relax and enjoy Michael. I needed moar. And the following day was my birthday, so why not? It's only money. It was also time consuming, but I didn't realize that yet.
3:00 Joe Flanigan and Paul McGillion take the stage. You can find most of their talk following the YouTube clip above. I'll have to watch it again myself! They were tremendous fun, of course, and Paul periodically would blurt out something in his faux-Scottish accent, which never stopped being funny.
After this must be when I went to the bar to have a beer and something to eat. Wait, I know I went to the bar twice, because my pet bartender wasn't there the first time. The first time must have been right after Michael, right after I bought the photo op tickets. Yes! And I was talking to a woman who was complaining that in three attempts, she'd never managed to get Joe Flanigan to personalize an autograph for her. I pulled out my pic, where he'd added my name and 'xoxo' above his signature, and realized that I'd basically tricked/forced him into doing it, when really I'd just assumed he was waiting for me to give him my name, and the timing was off because the person in front of me hadn't moved on yet. That explained why he was staring after me as I walked away! I'd made him do something he hardly ever does! LOL
So on this second trip to the bar, while I'm feeding my face and waiting for my Joe/Michael photo op, sitting on the stool to my left is Chuck the Technician from Atlantis! It actually took me an embarrassing amount of time to recognize him (I'm not all that great with faces), but at least that meant that I'd already casually conversed with him before realizing who he was. (I'd also bumped into him right after his presentation on Friday, when I was coming back into the theater and he was leaving it, walking through the crowd of people and thanking them for coming. It took what he was saying for me to recognize him then, even though I'd just seen him on stage through my little binoculars ten minutes before!) I remember he asked me once what time it was, and I told him, then added after a second, "Central Time zone, if that makes a difference." He was eating, too. He'd ordered a plate of three sliders, but the little burgers turned out to be quite a bit bigger than he expected. I solemnly advised him to take one off the bun and turn another into a double. He did. *g*
5:10 PHOTO OP!!!!!
I'm watching as I work my way through the line, and I see that Michael and Joe shake hands with some people, so when I approach them I stick my hand right out, and they both shake it. I tell them my birthday is the next day and I'm giving myself a treat. One of them (Joe, I think,) said, "Good for you," and the other said something that was probably a "Happy Birthday," We all put our arms around each other and the picture is snapped. Joe says, "I think I blinked." We put our arms back around each other and the second picture is snapped. I smile and say "Thank you," and start to move away, but the photographer's assistant is stopping me.
The photographer says, "I caught a reflection off her glasses. Do we want to take another one?" I'm not sure if he was asking me, or them! But I take my glasses off and slide my arms around them again (this is getting to be a real drag, you know? LOL), and Michael says, "I have the same problem," flashing back to his Daniel days!
Finally the photographer is satisfied, but dammit, when I took my glasses off my hair got messed up, and I was in too much of a daze to realize that it would be and smooth it down before the third photo. (Or maybe I was just in too big of a hurry to jump back into that nice warm sandwich. Mmmmm.) So I actually prefer the photo with the reflection off my glasses!
Winding down now...
5:30 Autographs with Michael. Except Row P means I won't be called for a long time. At one point I wander back down to where the photos were taken, to see if mine have been printed yet. Nope. Back to wait to be called. FINALLY. Someone writes my name on a little sticky note and passes my photo to Michael. He gives me an enthusiastic greeting and signs Best Wishes Always, with his trademark little Daniel-with-glasses smiley face. As I pick the photo up and thank him, he sees the sticky note that fell off and hands it to me. "I guess you might as well have this." "So that I can remember my name," I say, nodding. He laughed. He's probably seen thousands of fan girls who can barely remember their own names when he's around. *g*
Back downstairs to wait for my photos. FINALLY they appear. All but the first one, so I don't get Joe with his eyes closed, lol.
By now it's a couple of hours later than I thought it would be when I left to drive home, and the trip home was a real nightmare of missing on and off ramps and having to turn around and go back; then once I was on familiar ground there was construction, and to make it worse it started to rain. When I made my plans I had imagined I'd be home before dark, but it was nearly dark by the time I left the hotel! If I go again, I'm staying the extra night. It's only money. :-)
One more YouTube link that gives the flavor of things a bit, then turns into mostly Joe and Paul...which is not such a bad thing.
And...photos. *waves hello* Hover over Joe's left shoulder for the 'next pic' arrow.
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Seems like Creation has a series of new pictures for auto.. I never seen the Sheppard/Bra'tac ones .. or maybe I haven't been to their Con for too long ;-)
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Thank you for such a wonderful report....yeah Joe's eyes are mesmerising aren't they..he was very flirty at the Chi Con Photo Op that I had with him and Paul McG in '09 and flashed those peepers!!..
Michael, well Michael is always gorgeous and welcoming and friendly and sweet....of course I'm a teeny bit biased but I can't help it...
Thanks so much for sharing hon...and yeah, ALL the best times are in the bar!!!..*snerk*...I hope one day we can share a drink or two at a bar somewhere in the world!..
Deeds xx
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The first round's on me!
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Look at you with those dashing chaps! What a hard life.... *g*
And yes, it is absolutely only money - and a great exchange for some priceless memories, who wouldn't have done it?
*smooches*
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Yes, that "sandwich" was one of the hardest things I've survived in my life...LOL!
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Lovely pic, and a fab con report to boot. Thanks, baby!
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