So I'm just kind of writing this all down while I remember it now.
I meant to meet my friend Sam at Southern Cross Station at around 9:30am so that we could figure out the way together. I had just gotten off the plane from Mildura - it was like this when I was boarding the flight a couple of hours before.
So somehow Sam and I miss each other at Southern Cross, and we finally get to the Melb Convention and Exhibition Centre to join the queue at about ten past ten.
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| This was the view towards the Casino opposite. |
Well, I'm not too happy with how the Con started out for me. We waited at a near standstill for about an hour and a bit. Meanwhile the queue had lengthened through the venue, out the door, and along the side of the building outside. Everybody was grumpy and irritable, and we passed the time by reading the complaints on Facebook.
We finally,
finally got to a steady walk and entered the doors at about 11:30ish. Meaning I missed the Whendonverse photo (group photo with Sean Maher, Julie Benz and Fran Kranz) I'd wanted to get.
I think the Con was fairly overwhelming at first impression - and last impression. We quickly found the token booth for photos and autographs. This meant
another queue - but this one moved fairly quickly.
Sam ran off to quickly get a photo with Fran Kranz as I finished my purchases. Decided on a photo with Maher, and an autograph from each of the Whendonverse would-be group. The photo with Sean Maher was first, and I hurried off to that queue. I ended up talking to a couple of people who were
really great
Firefly fans. The girl in front of me kept talking about sneaking in a grope, and a guy called Justin was learning how to fold mini Serenity origami. He ended up posing with it in his photo with Sean, and then he gave it to me.
I ended up swapping with the girl in front as she organised herself. I saw her photo later; it looked like she'd tackle-hugged him and his mouth was open in a genuine laugh.
I was fairly nervous, and like an idiot, I asked the photographer if I'd blinked. He said he'd gotten it. Check the gate, moving on. Sean was so nice and friendly.
I got in line for my Julie Benz autograph. Julie's been in a few things I'd seen:
Buffy,
Angel,
Dexter,
Supernatural,
etc. She looked perfectly lovely and was quite composed as she signed autographs, making conversation with each person.
a) She likes Melbourne a lot. She's sticking around for a few more days to absorb the city.
b) She thinks I don't look like a nerd. (I was still marvelling out loud about how we had the opportunity to be nerdy
together in the one place, I'm so used to being nerdy by myself)
c) I have my life ahead of me to travel. I'm still a baby.
d) She liked my winter coat!
Sam found me after his Jason Momoa photo and he wandered off to find food and such. I jumped straight from the Julie line to Fran's comparatively modest line. I haven't seen
Dollhouse myself, but I saw
The Cabin in the Woods a few weeks ago, twice, and I loved it. Thought Fran was excellent.
a) Fran was
really laid back. I almost thought he was in character from the film.
b) He messed up my autograph a little, and rather than say 'bad luck', he took the photo away completely and started a new one.
c) He likes Melbourne.
d) Fran really enjoyed filming a certain scene near the end - the bloodbath. Said it was a dream come true.
I had seen a certain
Serenity/
Firefly print of Jason Palmer's circulating, and I was wondering if I should go buy one or stay in line for my next autograph, Sean. The others in the line advised me to check and they saved my spot as I ran through the masses of people to the other side of the hall.
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| Said print I was after. |
They were out. But I found an amazing alternative. And Jason signed it for me. Whoosh.
I went back to the Sean autograph line, awkwardly holding up this huge print. When I reached the front, both Sean and Fran (who was right next to Sean) were hypnotised by the print for a few minutes. Sean seemed to recognise me from the photo earlier and commented that particular scene from Serenity was his favourite moment from the film. He was tired... I can't imagine how Stan Lee must have been feeling signing how many autographs!
After that, I kind of got some food and wandered around for a little while. Relaxed. I met Sam's friend Nathan, who had gotten there
insanely early, but was sixteenth in line, no waiting around like we had.
We also encountered a Stormtrooper, who started singing songs from the
Buffy musical episode 'Once More, With Feeling' after we had our photos taken with him/her/it.
We mostly hung around after that to find our photos, and then I left.
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| View opposite the Exhibition Centre when leaving. |
It was such an exhausting but ecstatic day for me. The opportunity to embrace my weird and nerdy about me in a room of others like me doesn't come along very often.
