Dragon*Con
August 28th - September 1st, 2003
Hyatt Regency Atlanta & Atlanta Marriott Marquis - Atlanta, GA

Okay, now I'm going to try for the con report, since it's a good idea to do it while it's fresh in my mind. Although, fair warning, I probably have lots of stuff like days and times mixed up, because it's mostly a big jumble. I'm hoping that actually writing it will help me get things straight.

jaydk (hereafter referred to as Jane because I don't feel like typing out the lj user tag all the time) and I left together Thursday morning from LaGuardia. We took AirTran airlines, whcih was a rather strange little airline with a very scrunched little plane. But they actually got us there early which was quite impressive (I don't think I've ever been on a plane that's been early before), so I won't complain. We met soulmate815 (Marlaine) at the airport in Atlanta; she'd also flown from NYC but taken a different airline. It was raining, and Marlaine had a ton of luggage, so we took a cab instead of MARTA (the subway) to the hotel. It wasn't so bad, split three ways.

Once we got to the hotel (we were staying at the Hyatt) we were very impressed; it's huge (thirty floors?) and open (the rooms go in a circle around the open center). We checked in and then I saw bubonicplague and eviljade at the hotel bar. (They are both such cool people; I saw tons of them over the weekend and they're both great to hang out with.) I chatted with them for a bit but had to quickly go and find Jane and Marlaine again so we could go to the room. Our room was pretty small and kind of shoddy, but it had two beds and a shower which was all we really needed.

We went to check in, where we waited in line for about an hour and a half (I saw harmonyfb in line) and got our badges. We were lucky; the line got much larger as the day went on, and on subsequent days. We walked over to the Mariott, the other hotel in which the con was held (although, because fewer activities took place there, it was much calmer and quieter). The Mariott was astounding, and made the Hyatt pale in comparison (although I'm glad we were at the Hyatt since it was closer to all the con activities). The Mariott is huge (more than 40 floors) and stunningly gorgeous. Jane correctly pointed out that it looked like one of those huge futuristic starships that's meant to house thousands of people for hundreds of years. It was pretty amazing. Then we went to buy film, where we discovered that the Hyatt gift shop was charging $26 for two rolls of Kodak 400 speed film. (I declined, and bought it for less than half that at the mall later).

The good thing is that on the way out of the gift shop, we ran into elizard100 (Elizabeth) and rockgoddes (Sharon), who had just arrived. (They were my roommates in Cleveland, and are two of the coolest people ever--so nice and so fun). They invited us to come up to their room with them, so we went.

They had asked for a room with two double beds, but the hotel had been out, and so had put them in a room with one king-sized bed for Thursday night, and planned to move them the next day. They weren't in the main part of the hotel (the open part) but in one of the towers. We were all astounded when we arrived at their room. They had one fairly normal room with a king-sized bed (though it was a four poster bed, included a lulling noise machine thing, was much nicer than other rooms, and had a phone in the bathroom--Sharon later called Elizabeth from the shower to be funny). But the amazing thing was the room that was connected to theirs. At first we didn't realize it was another separate room, but later we figured out that it was separate, and that the connecting doors were supposed to be locked. But the doors weren't locked, and so we went in.

This room took up almost the entire floor. It was huge. It had a large conference table, bigger than a bed, with chairs around it. It had a desk with a fax machine, a couch and TV (with nice speakers surrounded by fancy old books from the 1800's), potpourri everywhere, wine sitting out and a selection of wines in a cabinet below, a fully stocked refrigerator, ice cream and chilled glasses in the freezer, fully stocked cabinets with snacks and breakfast cereals, coffees and teas, etc. It had three bathrooms, all with telephones by the toilets, one of which included a sauna. A real sauna, in the room. The other bathroom (along with its huge cabinets and closets and bathrobes and slippers) had a jacuzzi with a television in the wall next to it, and a little remote attached to the wall. The bedroom had a big four poster bed and another TV. Every main room had an amazing view of Atlanta (even the larger bathroom!). It was just so cool; I honestly didn't even realize rooms like that existed in such hotels. (And the Mariott must have been even nicer; JM was saying in one of his Q&A's that he had a piano in his room!) Anyway, we were just awed by this room, and kept bringing people up to see it. (Unfortunately the next night they closed the connecting doors and Sharon and Elizabeth moved to another room.)

So ... let's see. I know we did more than just drool over that room on Thursday night, but my brain is so fried. Um ... oh yeah! Marlaine, Jane, and I had dinner at the sports bar in the Mariott, where I tried to make them choose a drink for me (because I'm clueless about alcohol and don't like beer). We finally settled on Corona Light, which (surprise, surprise) I actually liked! And they had food I could eat--nachos and salsa--so that was good.

What else ... well, at some point we brought bubonicplague up the room, as well as various other people that I'm forgetting. Oh, and Marlaine and Sharon had a meeting in the lobby of the Mariott, so Jane and I went over with them. We didn't want to intrude, so we went off and rode the Mariott elevator up to the 30th floor (and that's not even the top!) and down again. (It was in the middle the circular hotel and had glass walls, so you could see everything. And it was so high that my ears would pop going up or down. And it was fast; like going on a ride. And somewhat terrifying, actually, given that I'm really not too fond of heights. But definitely an experience!) Then we hung out a while, looking over the schedule and such, and then when their meeting finished we headed back to the Hyatt with them. Sharon went to register (but I don't think she got in, because registration closed earlier than it said it would, and cut off the line -- a bunch of people had to get up early and register in the morning, and several missed JM's 1pm Q&A because of it).

And then ... dude, what did we do? I can't remember. At some point we were sitting at the bar in the Hyatt with a bunch of people, and then we wandered off and did something else, but I can't remember what. Oh, I do know that Jade showed Elizabeth and me around the Hyatt so that we'd know where the Buffy track room was and how to get from there to the ballroom where JM was speaking (and so we could check out the sizes of the rooms--the Buffy track room was tiny, but the ballroom was large). Elizabeth was volunteering and ended up spending most of her time running stuff in the Buffy track room, where she did an absolutely amazing job. She has this wonderful ability to both get things done and to be nice about it, which seems pretty rare--certain other people who were managing things at the con could have benefitted from that quality. Elizabeth also organized the lines at the Q&As and screened the questions after Friday, which was wonderful--we got some great, thoughtful questions instead of a bunch of "OMG!!11!! You are SO HOTTT!!!!! Can you kiss me!!???"

So, at some point on Thursday we all went to bed, although I haven't the slightest clue how it happened. Maybe we were just tired. Wish I could remember. (I wasn't even drunk that night!)

So, we got up on Friday to go to the JM Q&A at 1:00, which was the first event of the day. I can't remember how long we waited in line or who we waited with or any of it. (Or even who I sat with other than Jane, if anyone). I do remember that JM was wearing a very goofy shirt that showed off his arms (too muscular for me; I liked him skinny) and had two very visible patches on one arm. He said he's been trying to quit smoking (still!) but he started up in the past two days because

spoiler

he had to be naked again on Angel (those of you who have read the spoilers know why). From various comments he made this weekend, I got the strong impression that he's extremely uncomfortable with the way that he's been objectified, and that his personal space is very important to him.

/spoiler

He also gave that stupid condescending sexist crap line (repeat after me, girlies: "If a man is bad ....") but I did my best not to let it ruin my con.

After the Q&A I saw wisteria_ (who was great to see again, and who was very nice all weekend). I followed her over to anniesj and several others. Dude! I met anniesj!!!! And she's really, really cool -- exactly what you'd expect from reading her LJ.

We went and did something (I'm blanking again) then called Alanna and met up with her and Annie and a bunch of others in someone's room--Alanna had already uploaded her photos from the Q&A. I love the internet. We talked a bit and then they left to get circe_tigana at the airport. Jane and I went to see John Rhys-Davies at 4pm, but we couldn't get in (why didn't they put him in a larger room? He was in Indiana Jones! And Lord of the Rings!) and it turns out he didn't show up anyway. So we went to a Harry Potter panel instead, which was a discussion of what people liked and didn't like in the fifth book. It was pretty interesting, although nobody was big with the Sirius love like I am.

Then we did, uh, stuff (which is code for I can't remember any of it). A lot of time ended up being spent just wandering around looking at all the neat stuff. The dealers room was huge and amazing, and the various band booths were interesting (The Cruxshadows were there 24/7, with music playing and them just being so cool; I bought another of their CDs even before I saw them Saturday night. Also, Elizabeth had organized a Ghost of the Robot fan table, which was very kind of her; I hope the band appreciates all the nice stuff fans like her do for them.) And the costumes were just so incredibly cool. It was difficult to walk through the lobby because you were always blocking a photo and dodging a costume. It was just amazing to watch, though. There were several Captain Jack Sparrows, a Dark Helmet (from Spaceballs), a whole legion of Stormtroops (and some wacky ones, like the Austin Powers stormtrooper and the Spiderman storm trooper), angels and fairies and skimpy outfits, bondage outfits, fairy tale oufits, the three good fairies from Sleeping Beauty, so many others. Find a photo site and look through them; it was just so incredibly neat. (And it really sucks to go back to real life where people are wearing normal stuff, even in NYC where it's more diverse than many other places.)

We also went to a Buffy fanfic panel at 7pm, but it was awful (I didn't know any of the panelists, but none of them seemed to know what they were talking about, and had only the shallowest observations to make.) Jane and I snuck out of that pretty quickly. Then we did more of that, uh, stuff that I can't remember. I think maybe that was when we had dinner at the sports bar again, where I had a taco salad with no cheese and no dressing (yes, a weekend of plain salads).

So anyway, at 10pm we lined up for the Buffy musical (for which there was a huge insane line; they should not have held it in such a small room, because very few people got in even though they ended up showing it three times). It was Rocky Horror style; they had actors performing it up front, and the audience was encouraged to sing along and to shout out comments (there was a lot of "Shut up, Dawn!" and "Stop whining, Buffy!"). The actors didn't really have their shit together, although it was their first performance and they did improve throughout the weekend. It was pretty fun to see in a group, though; the energy of the crowd makes it even better. (I think Buffy has really just lost its shine for me, though; when I saw Spike and Buffy kiss I didn't jump up and cheer--which is what I did the first time I ever saw it--I cringed and wanted to save him from her. And don't even get me started on Buffy; I can barely stand to see her face, and it's taking a lot of effort to prevent myself from spewing invective at every mention of the character's name.)

After that we headed to the NC-17 fanfic panel at 11:30. It was very cool; on the panel was harmonyfb, jess79 (who I unfortunately never got a chance to talk to), ginmar (who I finally got to meet!), wisteria_, anniesj, and thenyxie. They did a great job, although it would've been nicer if some members of the audience were a bit more receptive (there was one really annoying anti-Spuffy guy, and some guys that walked out when they started talking about slash). The panel went for a while and the panelists all did a wonderful job. (And many thanks to everyone who pimped my website, especially anniesj who was so incredibly nice about it and who mentioned it to so many people.)

Afterwards I got to meet circe_tigana, who is awesome. She is just smart and hilarous and gorgeous. I'm very impressed by the fact that she had her journal with her and was writing things down all weekend. (She wrote Connor/Cordelia coma fic after someone mentioned it in the fanfic panel, and she was also writing Gunn/Panther, plus Spike/Clem featuring Bill and Earl from James Leary's short film Stunt Cocks, as well as noting interesting quotes all weekend long.)

Jane had gone to bed, but Marlaine and I joined Annie, Alanna, Circe, Nyxie and her guy, and a few others in a bar nearby. (I can't remember everyone; I'm not snubbing you, I'm just brain dead. I think maybe YinDagger and/or HarmonyFB was also there.) We saw James Leary on the way in; he seemed to be everywhere, all the time. (I said "It's you!" and he said "It's you!" and that's probably all I said to him for the weekend. I'm not a big Leary fan, though Stunt Cocks is hilarious and I'd love to see Clem on Angel). Then we sat and chatted for a long while. It was great; we were out till around 4am, when the bar closed. I had three beers, none of which I paid for (I kept trying to give money to people and no one would take it; if someone to whom I owe money will actually accept it, please let me know so that I can give it to you). Since I'm such a lightweight, that got me quite drunk. (Mmmm ... Corona Light ....) So I mostly talked to Circe I think, and we talked about fanfic and all that kind of stuff. And how cool wiseacress is; how could we not mention her when we both pretty much worship her? And ... what else? Mostly fic stuff, which is just so incredibly cool to talk about in real life with people who actually know what you're talking about.

So after the bar closed, we staggered back to our hotel rooms and went to sleep. Then we had to get up way too damn early for the panels--Andy Hallett and James Leary were speaking at 1pm. I had to leave time to get dressed (stupid makeup. I only wear it at conventions and concerts, y'know, because I'm fucking lazy in real life, so I haven't really figured out a shortcut way to do it.) and to wait in line. See, this is where DragonCon should have paid attention to what's been going on at other cons and adjusted theirs accordingly. They had the Buffy people (other than James) speaking in the tiny little Buffy track room, which held something like 200 people. I knew I had to get in line early if I wanted to get in, so I got there a couple hours early, and managed to be one of the first in line for Hallett and Leary. However, behind me there was a line of hundreds, probably thousands, of people. For the tiny little 200 people room. Also, they were clearing the room between panels, so basically there was no way to attend both; you had to pick and choose. I chose Hallett and Leary, since I really like Andy Hallett, although I also really wanted to see Danny Strong too since I'd never seen him before (he and Iyari Limon were speaking next, but of course I couldn't get in). Hallett and Leary were fun and funny, although I thought Andy was funniest at Moonlight Rising when he told the bus story; having Leary there kept Hallett from going off on one of those adorable tangents which was unfortunate.

After that, since I couldn't get into the Danny Strong/Iyari Limon panel, I went to wait in line for the Ghost of the Robot panel (which was in the big room, thankfully). It was quite a dilemma, because the other fanfic panel was at the same time. I didn't know whether to see the band Q&A or the fic panel; I finally decided on the band Q&A since waiting in line for it was the only thing to do at that time, and because I'd just seen the NC-17 panel the night before, and because I figured I'd probably already know most of what they discussed at the fic panel, and because the fic panel was longer than the Ghost of the Robot Q&A so I figured I'd be able to run and catch the end of the fic panel after Ghost of the Robot. It was a difficult choice and I'm not sure if I decided correctly, but oh well. So I waited in line for an hour and half. Then I found out that Jane, who had been doing other activities all day and just arrived at Ghost of the Robot as it was starting, got into the front row (with Marlaine, who deserved it since she was working so hard volunteering). And I, who hadn't gotten to do another activity and had waited in line for so long, was much further back. So I was annoyed and jealous; not at any person--I'm glad that Jane and Marlaine got to be up front--just at fate for being so annoying. The only redeeming thing was that I got to talking with the woman in line next to me, who turned out to be very smart, and we had a great discussion about gender in BtVS.

Ghost of the Robot fans, please skip this part

The panel itself was irritating beyond belief. The band members came off as a bunch of talentless, privledged children playing at being rocks stars. I'm irritated beyond belief because I know musicians who have worked their fucking asses off for years doing what they do, doing the best that they can do. And here are these stupid kids getting off on being "rock stars," mostly because they want to get attention and girls. And who not only don't give a shit about their music, but are so fucking arrogant about it. "We're too good to rehearse"!!?? What the fuck? I know musicians more talented than these children will ever dream who are struggling to pay their rent and yet who still pay their rehearsal space fee, and who take time out of their jobs and busy lives to rehearse twice a week because they know how essential it is. Why do these stupid, arrogant, talentless kids get to play in front of a huge group of screeching fans when people who are so much more talented, who work so much harder, and who take their music seriously get nothing but struggle?

And, okay, to be fair, maybe they're not all like this. Maybe one or two of them is even talented or takes his music seriously. JM seems very sincere about it, though he does come off as absolutely clueless (he kept going on about how good they are, which, um, no). And some of them were so quiet that I couldn't tell what they were like. But I'm just giving my honest impression of that panel, which mostly just made me sick.

And I put a warning, so don't try to start a kerfuffle over this; I will ignore you. I'm not saying JM doesn't have a right to his stupid talentless vanity band; he has a right to do whatever the hell he wants as long as he's not hurting anyone. I'm just saying that it is a stupid talentless vanity band.

Safe again for Ghost of the Robot fans

So after that, I ran over to Jane and Marlaine and told them I was going to run and catch the tail end of the fanfic panel. It seemed clear to me that Marlaine and I arranged to meet at the fanfic panel afterwards (she and Jane were just going to stop in the bathroom and such) because we were going to attend the banquet together and she had the ticket. I ran to the fic panel and did catch the end of it. Then I chatted with all the cool fic people. I waited a bit for Marlaine to show up, but she didn't, so I walked with them up to the lobby. They decided that they were going to dinner at the sports bar, and of course I wanted to join them (both to hang out and because I knew there was food there I could eat). But I didn't want to lose Marlaine, since she was supposed to meet me in the Buffy track room, and I felt guilty for leaving. So instead I went back down there and waited. Marlaine didn't show up. Finally I told Elizabeth to let Marlaine know I was looking for her, and I went upstairs and changed into my Saturday Night Outfit (the cool Goth dress I posted about previously). Then I went and got in line for the banquet; it started at 7, and I was there at least and hour before that. But since Marlaine wasn't there, I didn't know if I'd get in. My cell phone wasn't working -- it didn't work all weeekend (*kills Cingular, again*) -- and I didn't have Marlaine's number. Finally I asked a woman in line if I could borrow her phone, and I called Jane, but she wasn't there, so I left a message for her to please ask Marlaine to call me. By this point I had been waiting in lines all day, had almost no sleep, was having horrible cramps but didn't want to take anything with no food in my stomach, had no clue where Marlaine was, was very upset that I'd missed dinner with the fanfic girls, had no clue if I'd be able to get into the banquet that I'd been waiting in line for an hour for, and was starting to have a panic attack. Then bubonicplague showed up and I vented to her and she sympathized. Then she actually went and called up to the room for me, which was so incredibly sweet of her. (She certainly likes to argue online, and I disagree with her a lot, but in person she's really very cool and very nice and I like her a lot.) No one answered, but she said she'd save me a seat once she got in, if I didn't. Finally, right before the banquet started, Marlaine showed up. I guess we'd miscommunicated. So we went into the banquet, which was hilarious and very strange and silly. In a boring way. Bub said she's going to write it up, so I'm not going to cover everything. Basically, almost none of the guests showed up, the host was telling bad old jokes from the 50's that we'd heard before, the singer was some chick from one of the Star Trek's who was drunk off her ass and wobbling about on high heels, etc. The food was, as expected, not vegan friendly, so I had a big pile of lettuce with salt and pepper and lemon juice on it. (Hey, at least I fit well into my dress).

After the banquet, we went to the room and Jane and Marlaine got ready. (I was already pretty much ready since I'd changed earlier.) Then we headed down to Ghost of the Robot. The line was insane; elfgirl's husband, whose name I forget, counted it and said that it contained nearly 10,000 people, many of whom didn't get in. Seriously, the line was winding through the hotel, out the door, and around the block. Insane. We were very lucky that we we ended up getting in another way (many, many thanks to the person who helped with this--I'm not sure if I should say who; she didn't have to, and we appreciate it immensely). The band didn't go on until much later than expected (they were doing a soundcheck, although you'd never know it from the sound; I think maybe JM is tone deaf). But when they did, we ended up joining a group of volunteers as the "front line." Our job was to keep the fangirls behind us from swarming up to the stage, so basically we formed a line -- a couple feet back from the stage -- and were told not to let anyone past. Since I felt kind of guilty about getting in so easily, I took my "job" seriously and made sure not to let anyone past. (Not that anyone really tried very hard; the whole "they're going to swarm the stage" panic seemed kind of exaggerated.)

Once again, Ghost of the Robot fans, you won't enjoy this, so please don't read it

So, eventually the band came on. I was expecting them to suck, and yet I was still blown away by how astoundingly bad they were. It was like they watched a parody documentary of what a rock star is, but thought it was real and reinacted it without the irony. Seriously, it was a lot of showing off, revelling in how cool they were, and basking in the glow of a bunch of women horny for them. Actual musicianship seemed to play very little part, at least for most of them. (Again, I'll give you that maybe a couple of them actually care about the music, since I didn't observe them each all that closely. But the overwhelming attitude was "We are so cool.") And JM himself really needs a vocal coach, a hell of a lot of practice, and lyrics about something deeper than attraction to and relationships with young women. He was so happy and so goofy and so basking in the glow of attention; he seemed utterly oblivious to the fact that 1) he was awful, 2) his band is exceptionally mediocre, and 3) much of the audience was walking out (including people who'd waited hours in line; harmonyfb only lasted a few chords, and others in her group left after the first song). He kind of reminded me of a three year old kid who just got a toy guitar from Christmas and who is playing with it in a goofy, childish, over the top fashion.

Really, it was bad.

It was also kind of freaky because I was in the front row, so I couldn't leave, and because they could see my expression. James was singing to certain people in the front row and smiling at people he recognized, etc., and he recognized/sang to me a few times, so I smiled and pretended that I was enjoying the show. (Because, y'know, I'll be as mean as I want in my LJ that they'll never read, but I wouldn't want to hurt their feelings in RL.) According to Jane, I just looked pretty glarey the whole time; oops. Really, I tried to seem happy when JM looked my way. But then he was so oblivious I doubt my glaring would've registered anyway. Although I did discover that if I was able to tune out the crappy music and silly posturing, he is quite pretty to look at. And it was kind of cool that he sang to me a couple of times, though of course he sang to a ton of people.

Okay, inflammatory remarks over; should be safe again

Okay, so after that was over, they showed Leary's Stunt Cocks, which I couldn't see because the screens were behind me. Then the Cruxshadows came on. (BTW, for everyone who's been pronouncing it wrong all weekend--it's pronounced like "Crew-shadows"). Now that is a band. They were fucking incredible. I've seen them several times around here, but it was great to see them with such a large crowd. And they're just so very good. It was so nice to have that nasty taste of Ghost of the Robot washed out of my brain by such a wonderful show that made me feel like a person with taste instead of a 12 year old fangirl. Of course I was jumping up and down and singing along with all the Cruxshadows songs; they blew me away with such a wonderful show.

Afterwards I staggered out, all sweaty and hoarse and exhausted, and met up with Jane and Marlaine, who'd been hanging out in the bar across from the ballroom. We went to bed pretty quickly that night; we were all exhausted. (I'm sorry we started to get short with each other as the weekend went on; I guess all that exhaustion and line-waiting and living in close quarters isn't so great for a friendship. But you guys know I still love you, right?)

So we got up early for another JM Q&A at 1pm; I have no memory of how I got there or who I was with. (Was it Marlaine? I think Marlaine. And Jane, right?) Didn't get great seats, yet again. I don't remember what James said, just that he did the Macbeth scene he always does. Oh, and that he's extremely anti-Juliard, and he almost threw himself off the roof at one point because it made him so unhappy (thank god he didn't, right?). Oh, and lovely Elizabeth screened the questions, and saved us from a Seeing Red one. Thank you Elizabeth! The only bad part of the Q&A was the beginning; some moron screamed out "Take your shirt off!" so he said "No, you come up here and take your shirt off." He was clearly trying to make the point that it's no fun to be objectified, but this moron had no shame and came up onstage (where the hell was con security?) and removed her top and bra (she was nothing to look at, either). That put an ugly spin on an otherwise good Q&A.

Afterwards I went out to get my Spangel poster autographed; I waited in line with Annie and Circe. I think it was Annie and Circe. No wait, it was Annie and Alanna. I ran into Circe first, on the way to them, but she was headed somehwere else. So I waited with Annie and Alanna. When we got up there, James recognized me (awwww). And in a good way, with an expression like he was glad to see me again. *fangirlish sigh* I asked how he'd been, and he gestured me close (awwwww) and told me something that strikes me as kind of personal, so I'm not going to repeat it, even though he'll probably say it in an interview in a week anyway. (Or maybe it's already common knowledge, but I hadn't heard it before, so I'm not going to say it just in case.) But it's basically that he's good, and that he's had a change in his life that's made it more difficult, but has also enriched it immensely. And of course he'd talked to me too long, so I got shooed away by his handlers. Afterwards (still in the autograph area) I saw Sharon (who was Andy's personal assistant; she had the unenviable position of dragging him out of bed in the mornings) but didn't go to say hi since she was with Andy who was surrounded by a mass of people, and she looked very busy with the autographs and everything. (Sorry Sharon; I wasn't trying to be rude, I just didn't want to bother you). So I followed Annie and Alanna, who then met up with elfgirl's husband (elfgirl/Laura was taking care of Julie Caitlin Brown's child all weekend). The four of us went up to the sports bar again, where I had ice tea and taco salad again, and we all talked. Eventually Circe joined us, and maybe some other people too?

They were showing Amber Benson's Chance (also starring JM and Andy Hallett) at 8:30, but since I didn't want to wait in line for four hours (they were having it in that teeny tiny Buffy track room) I didn't even bother lining up. Instead, I ordered the DVD, which was $46.50, but which also included a Chance poster signed by Amber (and was sold by Amber's aunt and uncle, who were quite nice). Then Jane, Circe, HarmonyFB, and I went to see James Leary's Stunt Cocks instead (since we figured we'd, y'know, actually be able to get in). We also got beer; HarmonyFB in particular got pretty drunk. So we were the rowdy drunk group--hee! Stunt Cocks was still hilarious, and the panel was interesting; they discussed what it was like to work with porn stars, and also a lot of the technical stuff which I find interesting.

After that we headed to Buffy karaoke, but instead they did the Buffy musical again. It was fun; the performers had improved, and watching it with Circe and everyone was very fun. (And some guys who'd never seen it before and who'd come for the karaoke, but who seemed to find it amusing--including the Wing Commander guys who wanted us to write Wing Commander fanfic for them, at least until we mentioned that we'd have to slash the two of them.) After that, we headed over to the showing of Rocky Horror, but by 1:30 it still hadn't started (it was supposed to be at midnight) and we were exhausted, so we went to bed instead. (Later we found out that Andy Hallett had finally showed up in the Buffy track for karaoke around 2am, but the karaoke machine wasn't working, and he tried to fix it and did but eventually got kicked out around 4am or something to that effect; I heard various rumors from various sources so I'm not quite sure what the deal was).

Monday -- once again, got up for a panel, this time the full Buffy panel with everyone, at 1pm. It was so sad to see the DragonCon people checking out and the hotels starting to become normal again. (*sniffle*) We had to check out, but luckily Elizabeth and Sharon let us put our stuff in their room; thank you guys! There was no line for the panel; they were just letting people into the ballroom as they came in. I found Annie, Circe, and Gwynnega, who got people to scoot and make a seat for me near them. (Thank you!) So I got to sit with them which was cool. First we sat through a talk with The Tribe, some Australian teen TV show people (I still don't get it, but I guess it's supposed to be good). Then the Buffy group came on, and they were good. James was way too serious while they others were goofy (he's such an adorable dork) and he is so talkative; he kept jumping in on almost every question, like he just couldn't help himself. He also kept getting embarrassed and turning red, which was cute. Danny Strong was the best though; every little comment he made was hilarious. circe_tigana has much better recaps that I could come up with, since she was taking notes and all. At one point James began spewing his stupid sexist condescending crap again, this time throwing in some anti-soulless Spike nonsense in with it too. The only thing that got me through it was Annie holding my hand (and groping my breast because she's a pervert like that ;) so I'll spare you the rant this time.

Afterwards I really wanted to get Andy to sign my Chance poster, but I also really wanted to hang out with the fanfic/LJ group a bit more before I left. So I ran to be the first for autographs. The James line was already starting outside, but it was pretty small, so I figured I ought to get my Chance poster signed by James, too. Jane, who was also getting her autograph (the CD of Fool Moon, the audio book read by JM, also signed by Jim Butcher, the author, the day before) so she held my spot in line. I ran into Sharon coming into the room with Andy, so she brought me with her and I was the first in line for Andy. She introduced me to him and I got to talk to him for a bit; I told him that Lorne is my favorite character on Angel (okay, not entirely true, but I do love Lorne) and that he does a great job of it and is adorable. Also, that I loved him in Chance, and that he was so pretty in it (yes, I told him "You were so pretty!") Which is actually true; he's just so precious. Oh, and I said that his name really should've been on the Chance poster, which I already knew he was annoyed about (Amber and James were the only actors mentioned on it). I don't know why I went into relentless flattery mode, except to keep conversation going, and because I really do like him. But he appreciated it so much that, after he signed my Chance poster, he told me to take one of the 8x10s free, and he personalized it for me: "Laura! Thank you darling! (heart) Andy Hallett" (awwwwwwww).

So then I joined Jane in line for James, which was pretty quick. She asked him if he's looking forward to the new Lord of the Rings movie, to which he answered yes. He said that he ordered The Two Towers the night before, fell asleep watching it, then woke up and ordered it again. Then he got to me and signed the Chance poster. I said that I really enjoyed seeing him at cons this year, and I thanked him for being so cool, since this would probably be the last time I saw him. (I wasn't planning to say that; I think end of con blues were hitting me and it just came out, though at least I said it in a grateful way and not a whiny way). And he said the obvious, y'know, "Oh, I really hope this isn't the last time I see you," and did the intense eye contact thing as I walked away (guuuuuhhhh).

So then Jane and I went and joined Annie, Alanna, Circe, Harmony, YinDagger, Ginmar, etc. over in the bakery across the street, where we sat and chatted for a while. Then at 4, we went and got our luggage (didn't have time to say goodbye to Elizabeth, which I feel terrible about; we did leave her a goodbye note. I will definitely email her as soon as my stupid hotmail starts working again) and took the MARTA back to the airport. (*cries*) Our plane got delayed, so we didn't get home until around 12:30.

So, now I'm going to get my Spangel poster (signed by JM) and my Chance poster (signed by Amber, James, and Andy) and my Andy photo (personalized to me!) framed and hang them in my room. And I can't wait to get my pictures developed.

The end.