(no subject)

[mirnell]

Okay, making an attempt to start my Chicago Tardis convention report, rather than paying attention to class. I've already talked about the totally bizarre lack of stress on Wednesday, so I'll move on to Thursday now.


Thursday was actually rather nice and quiet. I'm a stupidly early morning person, so I was up at way too early o'clock in the am, but it meant I had a chance to curl up on a couch in the lobby and catch up on the overload of email I had accumulated. Things I learned: I need to create a secondary livejournal account that I can use solely for tracking posts. Because over the course of about 36 hours, I had nearly 100 messages in my inbox. Other than that, we just kind of bummed around the hotel with the people who'd arrived the day before and those trickling in throughout the day. About the only thing open for food, other than the overly expensive hotel restaurant, was a diner a mile or so away, so we took the hotel shuttle over and got ourselves some food. After getting back to the hotel, we decided to be boring some more, pick up our badges, and eventually made our way into the restaurant for dinner. Yes, like true Americans, we spent most of Thanksgiving day either eating or waiting to eat.

Thursday evening was the reception with the guests. It was rather nice, I'm just not outgoing enough to generally keep myself heard in those kind of crowds. I'm more than capable of holding my own in small one or two person conversations, but not in large crowds. For one, my voice doesn't carry. For two, I'm just not comfortable. But I did have a very good time, and then ran upstairs to pull out the whisky and my flask. Which always helps everything. Thursday ended up not being a super late night, at least not compared to what was coming.

Friday morning dawned with me being awake at way too early am again. But this time, it was Black Friday. Which I always seem to be working on. And I never get to go out for. So what do I do? Head to Target and then JCPenny and the mall at 6:30am. Where I got a hoodie, a toy motorcycle, and a free cup of coffee. Not a particularly impressive outing for my first Black Friday in almost ten years. But fun. Despite getting lost in the mall.

The majority of Friday was spent running back and forth between autograph and photograph rooms trying to catch everyone so that I wouldn't have to wait in the insane lines on Saturday. We started with Kai Owen, Ian McNeice, and Tommy Knight first thing in the morning, and since I'd had a chance to speak with Tommy both at Gally in February and the previous day, it was completely unstressful. We got out of that line, and right back into the line for Frazer Hines and Louise Jameson's photos. And again, nice and easy. After that, the rest of the group was going back in for Gareth David-Lloyd's photo, which I didn't really have the money to spend on. So I waited in the hallway as the resident coat rack, and waited for the rest of the gang to finish.







After the photos, we decided to go to Tony Lee's One on One panel. For those of you who don't know, Tony is the writer for the Doctor Who Ongoing comic, and is gloriously insane. He is also incredibly interesting and a huge Doctor Who fan himself. I've heard a lot of his stories before, but it's still fun to listen to him tell them again. Particularly since we were all right in the front and able to happily harass him. And harassing Tony is always a good time.

The girls decided to go to Kai Owen and Gareth David-Lloyd's panel after the One on One, and I started my day of running back and forth across the hotel to try and get everyone's autographs. Rather than bringing individual pictures for people to sign, I had bought a simple Doctor Who Tardis t-shirt and figured I'd collect autographs on it throughout lots of future conventions too. Yeah, that's not going to happen. Everyone started signing it massively, and there's not going to be room for next Gally, much less anything past that. But I do have a really cool idea for the future, which hopefully will be a bit more expandable. Or at least have more space available. But anyways, I wandered into the dealer's room where Gary Russell, Tony Lee, and Simon Guerrier were signing. Since it had taken me a little while to get to the room, I ended up being the very end of the line, so I got to talk to them more than I probably would have otherwise. Gary Russell and I spent a little time talking about tattoos (and yes, my new caffeine molecule ink got a ton of attention!) Tony and I continued our ongoing tormenting of one another, and Simon Guerrier is very sweet and extremely attractive. Not that everyone else was ugly or anything, but Simon is adorable.



Bouncing back across the hotel, I waited in line for Kai Owen's and Ian McNeice's autographs. I've met Kai before, he's still very nice and friendly, but I've been through some epiphanies regarding actors recently, and getting my shirt signed wasn't anything more than getting my shirt signed. Ian McNeice, however, is super personable and, better yet, someone I'd never met before. We didn't get the opportunity to speak for more than a moment, but he seemed incredibly interesting. Heading over to the dealer's room again, I picked up autographs from Nick Briggs, Ciara Janson, Laura Doddington, and Lisa Bowerman of Big Finish. I'd actually been outside talking to Laura and Ciara the night before and they'd been absolutely fascinated by my ink. To the point where one of them took a picture of it to show her family/friends. Woohoo! Now my wrist and my shoulder are getting known among conventions. So on my t-shirt, "Best Tattoo Ever!"





I stayed in the dealer's room for the next set of autographs, which was Terrence Dicks. Who asked about what "Best tatto ever" meant! So cool! Okay, enough about my ink. I went back to the main autograph room to get signatures from Louise Jameson and Frazer Hines after that, Louise being an absolute gem, and Frazer being a bit distracted talking to another fan. Which is okay. I've kind of gotten used to it. Rather than making a run back to the dealer's room this time, I got out of one autograph line and back in the line for the same room, so that I could wait for Gareth David-Lloyd and Tommy Knight. Which is about when I caught back up with the rest of my group. As with Kai, I've met Gareth before, and so let anyone else who wanted to speak to him have the opportunity. I did, however, really want the chance to talk to Tommy Knight again. After experiencing ribbons at Gally, I decided to order some of my own for Chicago Tardis. I hadn't known whether anyone would be handing them out or not, but I figured I'd have them, and if people were sharing them, great, and if not, I'd take them to Gally in February. Tommy Knight was the king of ribbons at the last Gally, so I figured that during the autograph session, I'd have the chance to give him one of my "Geek Pride" ones. Which I did, and got one of his in return.



Following my marathon photo and autograph bouncing around, we headed into Opening Ceremonies. Which was okay. It's basically just an introduction of all the guests, bringing them out on stage and letting them say a few words. The angle I was sitting at meant I didn't get a ton of good pictures, but I did get a few.

















After opening ceremonies, we went on a food run to the mall food court with two very nice guys we'd met during the day. One of the things I like most about conventions, and particularly Doctor Who conventions, is that you can quite happily get a meal with someone you've never met before and have an unending amount of things to talk about. Anyway, following dinner, I sort of went into some of the adult track panels. I started to sit through "The Good, the Bad, and the Crack!fic," but since I don't read or particularly enjoy crack fic, I ended up wandering out in a mission to replenish my alcohol supply. I eventually made it back down to the panel room in time for the "Lies and the Lying Liars That Tell Them" panel, which included Tony Lee and Toby Hadoke. I'd never been to a liars panel before, so I found it rather amusing, but I got the impression that a number of the people in attendence didn't quite grasp the concept that nothing said on the panel would be the truth. The major thing that happened during the panel was a slight tangent into the fact that Toby Hadoke hadn't seen Gareth David-Lloyd's Sherlock Holmes. The one with the mechanical dinosaurs. (If you haven't seen it, have copious amounts of alcohol ready.) Anyway, during New York Comic Con, thescarletwoman and I had written a drinking game for the movie. And Tony Lee referenced it and told the crowd that we had written it during the panel!

The other major development during the panel was the picking up of my stalker. Although I didn't know it at the time. More on the stalker later. Because before that, we had the "serial killer." He was some creepy guy who wasn't actually attending the convention, but apparently knew people there, and joined the group of us that were congregating in the lobby. For a while, we didn't notice anything strange. But as the evening went on, it became obvious that he was starting to make people very uncomfortable. But aside from that, Friday lobbycon was a good time, and Tony Lee has continued to try to find me a girlfriend. Which reminds me, I need to inform him I'm staying single and therefore no longer looking. (For those who don't know, this started back during my adventures at Gally, and has continued since then.) I did have multiple very cute, very young girls in my lap at various times during the evening though. Much whiskey was had, multiple beers were enjoyed, and when I finally went to bed, it was just about 3am. With the warning that the following night would likely go even later.

Saturday morning dawned with, guess what? Me being awake way too damn early. Again. But it meant I was awake enough to go to the "You're My Doctor (New Series Edition)" panel at 10am. While fun and interesting, I think I may have been too half-asleep to really remember a whole lot from it. Oh well. I do remember being only one of two people in the room who, when asked who they're doctor was, answered Patrick Troughton. No, he wasn't the first I saw, but he is the one I connected the quickest with. After that, I bummed around the dealer's room for a bit, picked up Running Through Corriders (Rob Shearman and Toby Hadoke's book) on recommendation and threat of being yelled at if I didn't. Having started reading it since then, fantastic! Okay, after that, I went over to the photo room to get my picture taken with the Big Finish group of Nick Briggs, Lisa Bowerman, Ciara Janson, and Laura Doddington. Who still loved my tattoo. And continued to talk about it! In that same hour, I went over to the dealer's room so that Rob Shearman could sign my t-shirt and also his book. And I don't have the faintest idea what his message in the book says. Okay, following that, I caught back up with my group, and got in line for the photo with Gareth David-Lloyd. We'd planned on all getting a group picture with him, and I'd found out that if I used my own camera, I could get one picture taken of just the two of us for free. So why not, I figured.







We were early enough in line for the photo that we had time to run across the parking lot to Target to pick up food for lunch before the "Graphic Storytelling" panel. Although it did mean bringing lunch into the panel with us. And that's when the story of stalker number two gets interesting. This is the one I seem to have picked up during the late night panels on Friday, rather than the creepy serial killer one. The panel was empty enough that I had space to sit sideways on one seat with an empty seat to my back, spread my leg across the seat in front of me, and have plenty of room for my food. So I'm perfectly comfortable, enjoying the panel, eating my lunch, when someone sits down, not just close to me, but practically on top of me. And I mean close enough to be touching more than just by accident. And I'm not a touchy-feely person, as anyone who knows me will tell you. I also don't get creeped out easily and it takes a lot to make me feel really uncomfortable. So I start inching away from him, still kind of trying to be polite. And I spent the rest of the panel very aware of exactly where he was in relation to where I was. Not a fun way to spend an hour. And he kept on popping up wherever I was throughout the day.

The gang decided to go to Kai and Gareth's panel after "Graphic Storytelling," and I ran up to grab my hoodie before showing up a few minutes late to Gary Russell's One on One. And you know what? I know that there were some interesting events at Kai and Gareth's panel, but I'm really glad I went to hear someone speak that I'd never heard before. I like hearing new stories!

About that time, broksgurl717 arrived, so I hung around the lobby to wait for her and show her where registration and such was. Once everyone was back together, we decided to go into the hotel restaurant for dinner. We'd picked up a couple of other new friends in the meantime, including Ken Deep from Podshock, and headed for food. Rather than everyone ordering overpriced entrees, we just got a whole bunch of appetizers and shared between us. It worked great, and was significantly cheaper. And that's when the stalker story picks back up.

We sat down at dinner, and there he was. No one had invited him to join us, so he just followed us in and sat down at the table. And apparently is was obvious very quickly to some people just how uncomfortable I was. He'd been showing up wherever I went, sometimes popping up just behind me or at my shoulder, and it had been getting progressively worse throughout the day. So I very quietly explained what had been going on, and immediately picked up some unofficial security guards. Which helped dramatically. Or at least made me feel somewhat more comfortable. Seriously, when I'm threatening (albeit not to his face) to kick someone in the balls, things have gotten bad. After dinner, I decided not to go the masquerade, too many people, so we reclaimed our couch in the lobby and pulled the beer and whiskey back out. And creepy-stalker guy followed us there too. He eventually left to go wherever the hell he was going, and I explained to the rest of the group what had been going on. I'm not used to being the middle of the problem. I'm much more accustomed to being the person on the outside, so this was all new to me. And I just couldn't figure out what to do about it, other than ignore him and hope he went away. And this is why I have wonderful friends. While Ken and I went to watch the very end of the masquerade and sit down for "Moths Ate My Doctor Who Scarf," emyrldlady told con security what was happening. I didn't know until later, but while we were waiting in the back of the hall, I had people I knew and trusted all around me, and I was perfectly okay for that moment.

I don't regret missing the masquerade, but I do wish I could have seen the antics that some of the guests got up to during it. But since I really don't like crowds, I'm not too upset.

Just before "Moths" started, I found out that I had picked up a bodyguard. From the convention staff, thanks to my friends. And while it was slightly awkward, I definitely didn't feel nearly as uncomfortable as stalker had been making me feel. And I got to enjoy the show. And oh it was so amazingly wonderful! I've never managed to be at a convention that Toby Hadoke was performing it before, although I've heard a LOT about it. If you haven't seen it, and you get the chance, take it! It's funny and heartbreaking and it's all of us Doctor Who fans. I don't think I've laughed as much as I did during that performance in a long time. And since I was in the second row, just one seat off center, I had a perfect view. The only embarassing thing is that as soon as a group goes "Awww," I start laughing. And being that close to the front, it must have been painfully obvious that I was laughing during what were supposed to be the sweet and sensitive parts. But I couldn't help it!

We ended up right back at our table and couches after the show, and emyrldlady kicked stalker out of the group and away from the table. My bodyguard hung around for a while, but he did eventually need to go to be himself, and I hadn't seen the stalker in a while, so we figured it would be okay. And it was. I don't think I saw him again the rest of the weekend. I don't know if someone talked to him or if he figured it out himself, but you know what? I don't care.

Here are some pictures of costumes and such I managed to snap photos of.











Okay, back to Saturday night. As people started to trickle off to bed, or to other non-lobby parties, the groups left in the lobby began to merge together. I'd brought down my flask filled with whiskey, a couple of beers, and the bottle of absinthe. We somehow ended up watching all kinds of bizarre things on youtube, like Charlie the Unicorn and Magical Trevor. I honestly forget how we decided to watch Gareth David-Lloyd's Sherlock Holmes, but start to watch it we did. Since my laptop was upstairs, we didn't have the drinking game rules handy, so I wrote a new one. "Just keep drinking, you'll need it." Which may not be an actual rule, but it certainly worked.

We watched the first half hour or so, and damn I wish I had a recording of Tony's commentary! The only reason we stopped was because one of the guys watching with us passed out and fell over from all the alcohol. He was fine, and someone walked him back up to his room, but we decided that that was a good point to stop at. So we shifted down to another set of chairs in the lobby and kept going at the absinthe. By that point, we needed it! After that, Tony decided that it would be fun to reenact a sort of play he'd done in London, using the group of us still in the lobby. By this point, I think there were only eight or nine of us, in various stages of drunkeness. The pictures below are from that "play." By the time we were done, also known as the play completely fell apart, it was early/late enough that we started to try to decide when Starbucks opened. The one in Target was closer, but didn't open until 8am, when Target opened. The other one, as the hotel staff informed us, was opening soon, but we would have had to take the shuttle to get there. So Saturday night came to an end as half the group decided to go grab some sleep and the rest of us gave up on waiting for Starbucks to open and decided to walk down to McDonalds instead. Which at least was open.













By the time we got back to the hotel, we were ready to start the day. Or rather, continue the day, since none of us had been to sleep yet. The roomates were starting to wake up, so I took the opportunity to take a much needed shower before the brunch with the guests. I actually quite liked the way the brunch was run. Each table had a place tag telling which guest would be sitting there, and as people walked in they could choose which table to sit at. broksgurl717 and I got a bit abandoned (don't worry guys, it all worked out!) by the rest of our group, so we ended up at Rob Shearman's table. I still don't have the faintest idea why or how he knows my name, but he does! Which might be somewhat disturbing if it wasn't so cool. Anyway, he was at the table for about half an hour, telling stories and have a really great discussion with all of us. Then the con staff moved the guests around and Louise Jameson sat down. Which may have blown the minds of a couple of the guys at the table. One of the nice things about having worked in theatre is that very few famous people intimidate or overwhelm me. That part of my personality got destroyed when I got to work with some of the actors and directors in New York. Okay, so Louise was at our table for another half an hour or so, and then Ian McNeice sat down. I wasn't sure what to expect from him, but he's extremely friendly and very down to earth. By the time he left our table, the caffeine was wearing off and people were heading into the rest of the convention day.

I had wanted to go into the "Living in a Podcast Paradise" panel, but I wanted to make sure to check into my flight for Monday while I was thinking about it. And damn is it a good thing I did. I went to do the online check-in, and it showed me as cancelled. So I called up the customer service number that was listed, and found out that somehow, US Airways had managed to lose me on my flight out. And if you don't travel the first leg of your flight, they cancel the whole thing. Now, obviously I was on that flight. I had my boarding pass, and I was in Chicago! Obviously I'd been on the flight. So I spent almost 45 minutes on the phone with four people in three different departments before finally getting the problem solved. I did make sure to check in for the flight while I was on the phone, just to be absolutely sure that it worked this time. Everything turned out fine, but it was definitely stress I didn't need, especially while functioning on no sleep. And I didn't get to the panel.

I did manage to stop into the dealer's room to snag my last autograph of the weekend afterwards though. Toby Hadoke laughed when I told him that Rob had signed my copy of "Running Through Corriders," but I had no idea what it said, and signed his "You can read this!" I also told him just how much I'd loved "Moths Ate My Doctor Who Scarf," and that I was truly sorry for laughing at the sweet and sensitive bits. And his response will stick with me forever. "Don't ever apologise to a comedian for laughing." I have trouble with comedy, because I tend to not get the obvious jokes or laugh at the complete wrong moments. So to have a comedian tell me not to feel bad for laughing, no matter when it happened, meant so much.

The moment that I'd been both fearing and anticipating all weekend was up next. When Chicago Tardis first asked for volunteers to be panelists, I decided to throw my name in for the "Crafty Whovian Showcase," figuring that I'd be denied anyway. So imagine my surprise when they said sure, and next thing I knew, I was on a panel. Yeah, me with my horrible stage fright and inability to speak in front of groups. But the panel actually went really well. I'd been in touch with everyone on it via twitter, and had met most of them between the airport and arriving at the hotel, so I at least was comfortable with my copanelists. I'd half expected the audience to just be our friends, but people actually showed up! And while maybe I'm not outgoing enough to really keep up with loud people, I'm aware of that, and the panel was a lot of fun! People seemed to like my giant cross stitch, although it's been universally decided that I'm insane for doing it.

I followed the group back into the dealer's room after the panel, so that we could torment a few guests just one more time. I went back up to the room after that instead of going to closing ceremonies, because I'd finally hit the point of HAVING to grab a few minutes of sleep. I got about forty-five minutes, and then we walked over to Target to grab dinner.

I definitely tried to get to bed early, but of course, that was never going to happen. I was actually in the elevator area, waiting to go upstairs when Rob Shearman talked me into going back into the bar to hang for a bit longer with the rest of my group and a few other people. Despite being absolutely exhausted by that point, how do you say no? So back into the bar I went, where I didn't drink anything, but did get to have a last conversation with a bunch of friends and say goodbye to a bunch of others.

Is it a surprise to anyone that I slept like the dead Sunday night? We headed back to the airport Monday morning, thanks to rides from wonderful friends. (The last time I was in Chicago, I took public transportation between the airports. Not fun.) I'd been dreading going through the TSA naked-scanners, especially since the journey out had been so painless. So I got dropped off at my terminal, walked into the security line, and ran right back into emyrldlady and amazonx. So rather than waiting in the airport by myself, we got breakfast/lunch before heading to our respective gates.

And so ends Chicago Tardis 2010. It was brilliant and amazing, and I had a fantastic time! And maybe even more important than the convention events themselves, I learned a lot about myself during that weekend. So next year? Possibly. But I definitely won't rule it out completely.

Finished autograph t-shirt!