Dragon*Con 2008: Sunday

Michael Rosenbaum

After the amazing Smallville panel with Michael Rosenbaum, jaesha, oanimation, and I were determined to get as early as possible to the queue for the panel with James and Michael. Frankly, that was the panel I’d been waiting for the entire weekend. When oanimation first told me about this panel, before D*C, I literally squeed her ear off! I was so excited! Despite having gone to bed late the night before, we were up early (by Dragon*Con standards) and claiming a spot at the front of the line, later on taking turns getting properly ready for the day. It was absolutely wonderful having the panels take place in the same hotel where we were staying! Brilliant!

James Marsters

Unlike the day before, the doors to the ballroom were opened much closer to the start of the panel. After handicapped and press were let in first, we got to go in and I managed to get a seat somewhere in the second row. The panel itself was fun. Very, very fun. Michael was hungover, though, so he had less energy to spare. Unlike James who supposedly went to bed at 10pm. I’m pretty sure he was the only adult person at that con asleep at that hour. No details here about what was said… I hear there are YouTube vids, though. Overall, it was pretty much the fun I expected to have at a James and Michael panel. They could have both stayed on stage all day and I would have been perfectly happy!

After the panel, jaesha and I had to run over to the Hilton to take our photo ops with Nathan and Alan. For whatever reason, I get more shy around actors who are not James, so I say very little aside, “hello,” “thank you,” etc. So, I didn’t really say much beside those 2 things. It was neat meeting Alan, though. I hadn’t met him.

Once I was done with that photo op, I ran back to find the girls who were making line for the Firefly panel and get their food orders. Hello, long line to get into the panel!!! It was sooo long! Supposedly they weren’t going to let anybody line up before 1pm, but what are you going to do with hundreds of people ready to make line hours before that? I guess they had to make line unless they wanted a real serious fire hazard. I found the girls near the entrance to the walkway to the mall. Took their orders, got a little lost trying to find the mall, doubled-back and then made my way to Subway. :D

After I finished eating, I realized I had a text from… actually, I’m not entirely sure. Although, I figured it came from someone in eyesthatslay‘s, musing_mia‘s and angstchic‘s group. Oooh! And I forgot to mention… angstchic provided me with a bag of goodies that have already come in handy. Smarties are yummy. :o) Thanks, hon! The girls are absolute sweethearts. Super thanks for letting me make line with you! So… for the Firefly panel I ended up much closer to the stage than I anticipated. :D

Morena Baccarin

It was a good panel, but I could tell that the energy had been zapped from Nathan, Alan, Jewel Staite, and Morena Baccarin. The panel was not as energetic as what I’d seen a few days before with Nathan and Alan. Still, it was a lot of fun and I’m glad I got to see them all on stage. Think maybe one year Adam Baldwin won’t cancel? Granted, I love Chuck…

After the panel… I think we had more photo ops. At least I think we did… with… James? Wow, I can’t remember anymore. I do remember completely caving and getting myself an extra photo op, though. When I went up to him for my photo, I thanked him for singing “This Town” the night before. He told me, “It was for you.” Hee.

Photo ops with James done, I wandered over to the Walk of Fame to check out what was going on. As I was rounding one corner, I saw a dude at a table that looked familiar. I looked up at the sign with his name and it read, “Dustin Pari.” I had to think for a moment about where I’d seen that name… D’oh! Ghost Hunters!!! Dustin saw me looking and smiled at me, so I smiled back. I kept looking at the guys all sitting at their tables… Dave Tango saw me and also smiled. I knew the line to meet the TAPS crew was long, but after I figured out that getting all their autographs would be free (save for the price of the photo), there was no way I would not get in line to meet them!

An hour later, I was finally standing in front of Grant Wilson, and I babbled like the fangirl I am. I told him that my sister and I started watching the show this summer and got totally hooked. We’ve even recorded all the re-runs we catch on TV. He thought that was great and reminded me that the show starts up again this week (tonight!!!) and I told him I knew that, but since I was going back to school, I had no TV! Not to mention, the cable here doesn’t even show the SciFi channel. Woe! I also told him that I admired the poise with which he and Jason handled all the situations. He told me they had to because they were professionals. I just told him that I could never do that, so I genuinely admired their courage. He laughed and on my photo he wrote, “Scare ‘em back, Yani.”

Next I got Tango’s autograph and I told him too that I really enjoyed the show. I really like how he and Steve interact. It’s funny. Next was Robb from Ghost Hunters International. I’m not a big fan of the spin-off, but I don’t mind it either. Robb asked me where I was from, so I told him. He then asked me if all my family was from there and I was starting to say yes, but I realized then what he was asking me. Apparently GHI will be heading down to parts of Latin America (lots of good ghost stories around there), and he’d been asking people to find out if any of them were from one of the countries they’ll be visiting. GHI won’t be visiting El Salvador, but I’m curious to see where they do go. While I talked to Robb, Dustin had signed my photo and totally ignored me. Boo!

I have to say, out of all my D*C experiences, meeting the TAPS guys was my “geeked out” moment. I was so ecstatic and only a little sad I hadn’t been able to go to one of their panels. I’m especially happy I got to meet Grant. He’s just so cool. Shame Jason couldn’t be there, but maybe next year? I hope so!!!

My last stop at the Walk of Fame was James’ autograph line. This time I had him sign another photo I took at the SD Indie Music Fest. As he signed it, he told me, “Hey! You got the Gibson!” referring to his guitar. He told me that the guitar was too beat up now to travel with. Rather than bringing up the SDIMF again, I thanked him for trying at the concert the night before and that I’d had a lot of fun despite the less than stellar situation. I’m pretty sure he wasn’t happy with the outcome of that concert, but… he tried. Since he’d been shaking my hand when I was telling him this, he kept holding it while he told me that on an artistic level, it was not great. However, on a human level, he genuinely felt that we were all there with him and enjoying each others’ presence. At least, that’s what he saw when he looked at us during the concert. I agreed. I know I had fun! :D Hee, it wasn’t until he finished talking that he let go of my hand and the whole time, mad_brilliant_ took photos. She’s my papparazzi, or so she says. :P

Lastly, jaesha and I took our joint photo op with Michael. I had planned on saying something, but at the very last minute, all I could mutter out was a thank you. Lame, I know. But I get tongue-tied around him. So pretty.

Before the night ended, jaesha, oanimation, and I had one last drink from the Pulse Loft bar as we chatted at the Marriott’s Atrium with mad_brilliant_ and did some more people watching… doing our best to extend the time we had left at Dragon*Con. Not much later, we began the packing process.

Overall, it was a great weekend, and I’m so glad I decided to go. My roomies and I are already making plans for next year! Hopefully the guest line up will be as good as it was this year.

Photos for the rest of the weekend will be up… eventually. Hopefully sooner rather than later, when school gets more hectic.