raloria

The con is over so I have time to catch up on what happened...

Btw, sorry if I'm not super descriptive about panels. The thing about taking photos is that you're pretty much watching these panels through a camera lens the entire time, plus monitoring your settings so at least most of your shots come out with the right exposure. So I'm not able to really remember what all is said and happens during panels. This is why I rely on watching panel videos on youtube later, even for cons I've been to. ;)

We kicked off the day with a hilarious panel with guests Ruth Connell, Brianna Buckmaster, Alaina Huffman, and Gil McKinney. The best part? Gil doing a deep, sexy voice commentary on the hotel toiletries Ruth gave away to fans who asked questions. :P

Then we had a panel of Rob, Rich, and Matt. These 3 are always a delight and they didn't disappoint! All that comes to mind right now is them talking about creating donuts that would build up your abs if you ate a whole dozen of them. LOL

Watched the Costume Contest and there was a very small turnout. Adam surmised due to people participating in GISHWHES instead. There were only 3 contestants dressed as Castiel, the smallest I've ever heard of.

Next up was Mark Sheppard's panel. As many of you know, since the death of Crowely on SPN, Mark has decided to no longer do anymore SPN cons and is only fulfilling his 2017 commitments. So this is probably the last time I'll ever see him in person, which is a shame. There's certainly nobody else like Mark Sheppard. But he did seem a little different this time. There was no wandering around the room like he normally does, none of him telling people his traditional "No" to questions, none of the real fire and spark he usually has at a con. Sure, he was still sassy and unwilling to answer "stupid questions", but there was definitely something missing. Then he informed us he wouldn't be playing drums at that night's Saturday Night Special. A big shock! Sorry he didn't play, it was always a highlight for me during the SNS.

After Mark's panel, a lot of the room emptied out and they did the Yes/No Game. I've played this before and almost won (it was down to me and one other gal, but she won). Anyway, after they played one round I figured, what the hell, I was just sitting there, the room was pretty much empty...why not? Sure enough, I won the second round, winning a Creation certificate worth $200 on their merchandise at this or their other cons, for a year. Plus, I was automatically to play the 3rd round to see if I could win again. And I did! It was so crazy! Again, it was down to me and one other gal and we either kept both getting the questions right or both getting them wrong. The questions were really difficult, too. I was totally guessing at the end, including the final question (don't ask me what it was about). But indeed I was the winner, adding another 2 certificates to my other one, giving me a grand total of $600 to use in buying Creation's merchandise!

Now they had 2 tables in the Vendor's area, so you could only use the certificates there, and only on Creation products. So the choices were mostly shirts and glossy pics of the SPN cast...along with a few other odds and ends. No way could I spend all that on myself, so I invited a couple of friends to pick out goodies they wanted and we made a pretty good dent. Who knew SPN knowledge could be so economically beneficial? :D

After a very long break in panels, we finally had our final one of the day with Misha. Again, I'm fuzzy on most of what went on, though I do remember him telling of getting his GISHWHESers to pick blackberries for him and then having to figure out what to do with all the hundreds of berries! So he brought some fruit leather (which Rob and Rich later fought over) and some jelly, which Rich totally grabbed as his own at the end of the panel!

Right after Misha's panel I got my photo-op with Gil. He had mentioned in the morning panel that a lot of fans want him to do his best Jensen face during photo-ops and sure enough, several of the gals ahead of me in line asked for that. Gil said to Chris the photographer, "I've created this thing now, of doing the Jensen". But then I waled up to him and said I just wanted him to be himself. :D He was so nice! Pressed his face right up against the side of mine. *dreamy sigh* Ah, Gil...I do adore you.

Last thing of the day was autographs from Mark, Matt, and Misha.
Mark was doing his pretty fast, which he always does. But I did get a "Thank you, sweetie." out of him. :)
Matt's showing a little grey in his hair! Is that for his role on General Hospital or just his natural aging? Anyway, I noticed it right away (but didn't comment on it) instead I asked him about the bracelet he was wearing because it was similar to the skull bracelet Dean used to wear. He said a fan gave it to him. Cool!
Misha's line was quite long, stretching to the back of the room, but eventually I got there. And for the life of me, right now I can't remember what was said! *sigh* It was the end of a long day. That's my excuse.

Of course, the highlight of the evening was the epic Saturday Night Special, with surprise guests and a lot of new songs!
I shot video of pretty much everything, so I'll be putting them all up on youtube (along with lots of videos from Karaoke, Jason's panel, and a few extras). Some of the highlights: Emily Swallow singing with Rob, Ruth singing and dancing, Briana's new song, Robert Singer playing harmonica and singing, and of course....JENSEN ACKLES singing "Whipping Post"!!! Damn, but he is just full of passion and force when he sings like that. My video sadly, isn't perfect audibly, but the visuals are quite stunning.

Anyway, I've rambled on enough about Saturday. Gotta get to Sunday's post before I forget it.