Con Blues – A Thread

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Isn’t it weird how you do something for year after year, taking it for granted, and when it ends, you’re heartbroken, but after a while, life goes on…and then, a couple of years later, you get to do it again for just a couple of hours and you’re suddenly thrown back into it and realize how much you miss that time of your life?

For me, that was Convention Life. From 2011 to 2013, I went to 4 Conventions – 3 AECON’s and 1 Bloody Con, and I made memories I never want to miss, and friendships I never want to end. It was normal to go back every year to the different places, to freak out over guest announcements, to go skint by buying Photo Ops like there’s no tomorrow. But what I loved the most about it was the whole experience, the atmosphere you feel when you’re there. Even though there are exceptions, it all feels like a big family, everyone is there for the same reason, and even though you may not talk to most of the people, you all are connected in your minds and hearts, because you all share the love for the theme of those conventions. You have the time of your life, and just for that weekend, you forget anything you’re worrying about in your life, leave reality outside the doors.

And when it’s over, the “Conblues” sets in, even though you might not even be able to say why, because basically, what you’ve experienced was something good, something that makes you happy. You just want to go back and do it all over again, but knowing that you can’t right away is hitting you pretty hard, at the latest once you’re back home.

I haven’t experienced this in over 6 years – until two days ago, when I spontaneously went to CCXP in Cologne, only to meet one of my favourite actors for the past 10 years, Zachary Levi, for a short couple of seconds. And I have to say, I came back with more than what I went there for.

First of all – I met the damned BEST Cosplay I have ever seen in my entire life, and ever since, I just can’t seem to get the 5 guys out of my head:

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As a huge Marvel fan, this “Avengers” group has rocked my world as much as nothing at such an event has ever done before, and the guys – all of them from Italy – are just mindblowingly good. Especially Marco Spatola, the one as Tony Stark is just…let’s just say I obviously am still able to become a massive fangirl 6 years on, with no sign of it fading away any time soon. Hell, I’ve printed the picture I took with them out and it now hangs next to my bed!  It shook me even more than the fact that after 10 years I finally met one of my idols, Zachary Levi – CRAZY.  By the way – I am even more amazed by that man than I already was before. He’s humble, kind, funny, a gentleman, and he gives you nothing but good feelings when you meet him. And when you’re anxious or nervous, it instantly fades once you stand face to face with that amazing human being. He just has this wonderful aura that makes you feel better and all warm and happy inside.

And even though I’m turning 33 in just three weeks, I’ve felt the Conblues set in the moment I waited for my train home after less than 3 hours at CCXP. Despite being there on my own, not being able to experience it with a friend for the first time since 2011, I missed everything about it already. The atmosphere at these events still feels like something else entirely. The adrenaline rush when meeting your stars, of getting in touch with other fans, and for the first time for me, also with Cosplayers of all kinds, the feeling like being in a completely different world for just a bit. I’ve been talking to a girl I met online when we both saw Zachary Levi was attending, and hearing my feelings about that entire day being redirected at me from her, all that shared love and happiness, is something I haven’t felt since my last Convention in 2013, and though it’s crazy at my age, I feel like I’m 25 again, when I first experienced it. It’s crazy, and weird, and I want to talk about it 24/7 right now. And despite the fact that a couple of years back I knew I was getting too old for these events, I know for a fact now that you’re never too old for them. Because once you’re back there, with all those fellow souls, it doesn’t matter how old you are, what you look like, the only thing that counts is the atmosphere completely taking you in and embracing you like an old friend, as if you’ve never been away.

See you June 25th-28th 2020, CCXP. See you, Gabriele, Marco, Michele, Matteo & Marko. Can’t wait to feel the same exhilaration all over again, there’s not much like it.

How did the Avengers phrase it?

“Whatever it takes.”

Asylum Europe 4 – Frankfurt 24.-26.05.2013 – A Convention Report

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My 3rd and last “Supernatural” Convention, taking place at the Sheraton Airport Hotel in Frankfurt. Never thought I’d actually do a Con-Report at all, because it will just turn out to be too long and making me all emotional again, but it was too great to not share it.

Friday, 24th May, 2013:
I arrived at a friend’s place on thursday night, and registration was supposed to be on friday evening at 5pm, which meant a lot of time with the girls I was to meet there: Angii, Claudia, Vanessa, Rebecca, Justine, Laura, Maria & Karina. And of course, to finally meet the two ladies I was dying to see again: Susie & Jaynee, two members of the Staff. I arrived at the Starbucks close to the Sheraton Hotel on friday morning at about 9:15, and from afar, I could already see my friend Angii sitting there with her mother (really, it wasn’t hard to make her out, as she was wearing her monkey hat). I went up to her, and we hugged so tight as if we knew each other in person for years, and we instantly had this connection that I can’t explain. She’s such a cute little girl! We talked a lot about earlier conventions, the other girls, Supernatural, just everything, and it was like there would never be an end to that. After about an hour or sth, we decided to go back to the Hotel Lobby, where we would meet up with the other girls in a few hours, and as soon as we got there, it was easy to get in contact with other fans. The next one who came was Vanessa, who is seriously such a gorgeous girl, and shortly after that, Claudia arrived. Of course, it was weird for me, as I had never met them before, but I instantly liked them. We then decided to walk around the Airport for a while until the others would arrive, and after 2 more hours or so, we all were finally united, and I felt like this group would be the best one for this weekend. As everyone except for me was staying at the Sheraton for the next days, they all checked in at about 1pm, then we all went around the Airport once more until it was time to have lunch. When we got back to the lobby, I heard somebody call my name, and when my head bopped around, I saw Susie standing there, and, despite the stupid look on my face I was SO happy to finally see her again after one year! We had been staying in touch over the past year, and became real good friends, and she had become so dear to me that I only had decided to come to AE4 because she, Jaynee and me had talked for weeks and they had told me they would be there…it had only been 3 weeks before the event  that I had booked my bus and turned in my holiday request at work. We talked for about 15 minutes, I gave Susie and Jaynee the presents I brought them – a tiny penguin for Jaynee, as she had told me she loves every black and white animal, and  a huge package of biscuits for Susie. Dear Lord, I never have seen anybody craving for anything so badly, haha 😀
After that, we were all send downstairs as it seemed we were “disturbing” the other Hotel Guests. Me and the girls went up to their room and started doing random group pictures as a memory until it was time to go downstairs for the registration.
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I have no idea how time flew, but suddenly it was 5:30pm and it started…it was honestly a mess. The hotel staff hadn’t managed to get a room ready for it, so everyone was squeezing and shoving each other downstairs infront of a long desk. There was no order at all and the Rogue Staff had a real hard time to bring any order into it (by that time, one of the Staff Members, Dominik, was already losing part of his voice, as he was the one who was trying to manage building queues by shouting). Somehow, in all the crowd, my friends and I managed to be the ones getting registered pretty soon. Gladly, we all were standing at the part of the counter where Susie was doing her job, and I felt very special when I of everyone around was the one who hadn’t had to show her ID, haha 🙂 We all got out badges, our lanyards and the Autograph Sheet and shoved our way outside to get some fresh air and breathe a bit. It just felt like minutes when we heard the news that the last person had been registered and the selling of the Photo Ops would start just now (at about 7pm). I won’t give you a full report of what happened in that crowd, just know that: it was HORRIBLE. People were shoving and pushing each other, and it was SO hot inside that me and my friends thought we would boil on the spot. And actually NOBODY had the dignity to make some space when Rogue Staff Members shoved everyone a bit further back; as as soon as they were gone, everyone was pushing forward again. I actually have no idea how I survived this war, but I got out with my Matt & my Matt & Richard Double Photo Op, all happy. By that time I had no idea that these two wouldn’t be the only ones I’d do that weekend.
Me and my girls went straight for one of their rooms to get ourselves refreshed a bit before the Motto Party that was supposed to happen later that night at 9:30pm. It was fun watching the girls getting ready and all dressed up as Super Heroes; Laura as Captain America and Justine as Nerdy Batman! We then went downstairs to meet the others (except for Maria & Karina, who were so shattered from their long car drive to Frankfurt and the stressful registration that they’d decided to stay up in their room), and Vanessa had the best costume ever: Danaerys, one of the Main Characters of the TV Show “Game Of Thrones” (which I had never seen and don’t intend to, but of course I had seen pictures of that character before), and it was flawless! She even had made herself an own Dragon Egg which looked so real; of course, everyone was amazed and wanted to get a picture with her 🙂 The girls had brought self-made purple nurples to the party, something with wodka, lemon juice, apple juice, Blue Curacao and some other stuff that I can’t remember, but it was delicious! And of course: it was deep purple! As soon as there were the typical “Supernatural” Songs were played (Eye Of The Tiger, Cherry Pie, Carry On My Wayward Son, etc.), the girls rushed onto the dancefloor and started dancing, along with so many others. It was an amazing atmosphere, though I never dance. Too soon, sadly, I had to get home to not miss my last bus, so I said goodbye to the girls and already couldn’t wait for the next morning, where the Convention would REALLY begin!

Saturday, 25th May, 2013:
Finally the weekend really started! The Main Hall, where all the Panels would be happening, was supposed to be open at around 8:30am, and Claudia & Vanessa had told us the night before that they would be sitting infront of the room at already about 6am, to assure we all would get the perfect seats…which we DID. The first two rows were reserved seating, but we were lucky to be the first that were let into the room and got our seats in the third row, just behind them. It was a perfect view, the room was very bright and I knew that it would be the perfect place to get amazing pictures with my Nikon Camera. After a few safety announcements made by Doug, our
all beloved MoC (Master Of Ceremonies), the first Panel started: Misha Collins.
I honestly can’t remember a lot about his panel, because I was so focused on taking like millions of pictures.  I just remember that close to the end, there was this one girl who had prepared a little personal something, reading it out aloud to Misha, expressing her love for him, how much he inspired her and changed her life (which I honestly didn’t like at all, as for me, it was just a weak copy of that one girl a few years back that did the same for Jensen, something that brought tears to my eye, but I just didn’t like that people need to do that, sorry), and Misha actually was really touched and I even think had a hard time not to start crying.
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Next Panel on schedule: Richard Speight Jr. What a man. He’s smiling all the time, he just can’t answer questions seriously, and is SO sympathetic in every possible way. Someone in the room asked him if on his journey to Frankfurt there had been some troubles with the train again (which Jared had had 2 years ago, where the suitcases of his wife Gen had been forgotten on the platform in Amsterdam when the train started moving and Jared, all hero-like, hit the emergency stop button; the way Jared had told the story back then was hilarious), and Richard smiled and said no, but asked if everybody in the room already knew Jared’s story, and as there were a lot of Con-Newbies around, he decided to tell the entire story again, and that man…my, I can actually picture him telling Goodnight Stories to his kids, he’s SO good at it! He tells them so vivid, and it’s so much fun to watch his facial expressions and movements while he does, I loved to hear the story his way. It was funny, the story was so long when he told it, that I think out of all questions that were supposed to be asked by fans, he only got to answer three or four before Doug came on stage and told him that time’s up.
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Next Panel was the one of Matt Cohen, and that was probably the one I was excited about the most. I just LOVE Matt, I adore him, he’s just the hottest and most beautiful young men I’ve ever seen and met. And I wasn’t disappointed, he looked breathtaking. Again, I can’t remember any of the things that were said, only that he hugged like 3000 people that were queueing at the Microphones to ask their questions; even the ones who didn’t even have any questions, got free hugs. You can imagine it was really tempting to go up there, too, but I just felt like it was pretty pathetic to be like that, not even asking questions, only want to get a hug. Guess I’m too old for this kind of stuff. Anyways, at one point of his panel (where he was walking around like the entire time; it was so difficult to get decent and good pictures of him or anybody this weekend, as they were always moving around and the pics got all blurry), he came up infront of our row and saw my friend Maria typing on her mobile phone – huge mistake. She was tweeting about the panel, and Matt went up to her, wanted to know what she was doing; he then took her phone, and when he noticed it was Richard Speight Jr.’s face as her background picture, took the phone and held it directly into the Camera! It was heaven for Maria, being her first Con and being kind of picked on already. After that, Matt turned into my direction, and when he saw me raising my camera at him, he made the possibly dorkiest face on this planet and let me take a priceless picture. God, I love this man to pieces!
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Sadly, I missed most of the next three Panels, that were the ones of first Mark Sheppard, Kevin McNally (that one I missed entirely) & DJ Qualls, as I had to go and take my Photo Op with Matt, which I was so excited about, (and which was amazing;  pic follows further down!) but thankfully, somehow I still managed to take some pictures of Mark’s and DJ’s 🙂
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After I got back from my Photo Op, I went straight for the Autograph Room, as honestly, the Panel DJ had wasn’t really  of any interest for me. As I was standing in the queue, waiting for my turn to get my Autograph from Mark, not thinking of ANYTHING bad at all, suddenly, there was this man standing right beside me on the right, leaning in onto me and talking to me in english in a deep voice, and only then I realized it was the one and only Ty Olsson walking around the queues! He stepped to everyone in line, saying that when it was our turn at Mark’s table, we should tell him to write “I love Ty” beside his autograph. I was so starstruck of having Ty being right at my side that I barely listened but stared at him like a fool, managing to ask if I could a quick picture of him; but he just looked at me sadly, saying “I’m not allowed to!” and went off. So when it was my turn, of course I tried to make Mark writing Ty’s exact words in my book, but I almost knew he wouldn’t. First of all because someone in line before me had already told him about Ty’s joke, and second because Mark just doesn’t take part in these kind of jokes, he almost always rejects them. So he just said “I know he made you say that”, signed my book, and I left. It was sad, but I was too excited about Ty standing so close to me that I didn’t care at that moment *lol*
Next one before I wanted to go back to the Panel Room was Misha’s Autograph, because I already feared that I wouldn’t get it the next day, considering the long Queue already. When I got closer to him, I was taking some sneaky pictures, and I suddenly realized that right infront of me, there was a girl in line that had prepared her nails in an amazing way, with a tiny little Castiel painted on every single of the nails. It looked absolutely amazing, and when Misha noticed them, he just couldn’t resist: he asked the girl to stand right behind him, grabbing his face from behing for a picture with Misha’s phone…it was SURREAL, especially, when Richard came from the table next to Misha, staring at what they were doing, grabbing Misha’s phone and took a picture himself. I was still buzzed about this when it was my turn to get my Autograph, but I managed to say “You know we expect this picture to be your new profile pic on twitter!”, but he only looked at me oddly, signed my book and I left. And yes, I felt REALLY stupid at that moment.
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When I got back to the Main Hall, the one and only Kim Rhodes was already on stage. WHAT. A. WOMAN. I am honest here: I have never been a fan of Sheriff Jodie Mills, I never missed her when she didn’t show up again, and honestly, can’t even remember any of her storylines (like the ones where her family gets killed?!). But when I had the honour to see her on stage, I was simply blown away. That woman must be the cutest, sweetest, funniest person on this planet! Plus, she is definitely the biggest fangirl this universe has ever seen! When she talked about her first days on the “Supernatural” Set, talking about Jensen & Jared, it was almost like she was talking out of our own hearts, because we all would’ve reacted exactly the same. She expressed her never-ending love for Jensen, told us she loves DJ & James Patrick Stuart to pieces (but also, that we should never tell James anything about that *lol), and also that Julian Richings was amazing. By the end of the panel, there was a girl who came up, giving her a rose as a Thank You for being such an inspiration to her, for being so amazing, and when Kim took it from her, her eyes were watering with tears, which was so humane and cute that I myself felt some tears coming up in my own eyes. Kim made a last statement about how it was NOT okay for men to rape or abuse women, and everyone, me included, had the highest respect ever for this woman! By then, I already was so in love with her, that I spontaneously decided to quickly buy a Photo Op with her, which I did directly after she had left the stage. And I love it to bits!
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Please don’t ask me what actually I did after that, I only remember that I missed almost every bit of the Panel of Julian Richings, except for the last minutes, where I took at least some pictures. I just remember that he told us about his small role in the Horror Movie “Wrong Turn”, and I instantly could remember his role, seeing his face and all.
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What happened after that…well, I can’t name it, honestly, because it was so absolutely absurd and funny and ridiculous…which was the moment I completely fell for the weird amazingness that is Mr. Ty Olsson, who’s Panel it was next. I’m honest here again, I absolutely disliked Benny, his role on “Supernatural” in Season 8, much of it due to the fact that he has such a hard accent on the show that I really barely understood anything of what he said. Also, his role is so…unlikeable, he drives a wedge between Dean and Sam, because he and Dean become kind of “brothers” in Purgatory, and Benny was just so unsympathetic, I can’t describe it; luckily, as I knew, I wasn’t the only one, almost everyone I talked to this weekend didn’t like him on the show (not a good start for Ty, you might think *lol*). But on this stage, I think everybody started loving Ty. It was the first time any of us had seen one of the actors coming onto stage with Alcohol, drinking beer like the entire time. There was this one girl, just before Ty wanted to take a sip, who shouted: “Are you sure you should drink this?” and Ty just stared at her, grinned, then walked up to her, grabbing her hand and pulling her all the way to the tech balcony, where the stairs were so steep that the day before, he had almost fallen down, without even spilling one sip of his beer back then. I think the entire room was completely dying of laughter. Then there was this girl that Ty caught yawning; he jumped down the stage, ran up to her, grabbing her arm and pulling her up on stage, and started interviewing her, asking  if he was that boring to her. She was french and Ty called up a girl who translated. Jesus, it was hilarious. By the end of his panel (honestly, why did it have to be over so fast?), Rick Worthy crashed it (just as Ty had done earlier on Rick’s), doing a round with his hand over his head, which should indicate the way Vampires “do Alien Babies”. It was the most surreal and weird but also funniest thing we all had ever seen, and it became a total running gag that weekend, one that even Misha picked up on his last Panel on sunday. I won’t talk about seeing A LOT of Rick’s…asscrack that weekend, because I might just get nightmares because of it (on sunday, even Susie went down from the tech balcony to tell him to pull up his pants!) *lol* I think it’s an understatement that I have a thing for Ty ever since that day and I will never be able to see him the same way when I’m going to see him on a TV Screen. Or Rick, for that matter.DSCN3855 DSCN3860 DSCN3862 DSCN3863 DSCN3864 DSCN3870 DSCN3872 DSCN3877 DSCN3878 DSCN3880 DSCN3890 DSCN3897 DSCN3900

After that, we all relaxed a bit on the girls’ room in the Sheraton and got some food into us (okay, hands on table, it were only Starbucks Frappucino’s). Later, Rebecca & Justine, who had been one of the last lucky ones to get a Meet & Greet with all the actors, went off, and while Laura chilled somewhere (seriously, girl, where did you go? *lol*), Karina & Maria relaxed up on their rooms, so did Claudia & Vanessa, and I went around with Angii and her mother until Claudia texted me if I could come up to their room to practise their pose for their Misha Photo the next day (which had turned out to be total crap and which would be redone on sunday). After that, I went back to Angii and we somehow overcame the time until it was time to get ready for the 2nd Motto Party in the evening (except for Rebecca, Justine & Laura, none of us others went to the Jason Manns concert, which I regret now, as Richard and even Ty had been there, too, singing; I am so stupid.) Neither Claudia nor Vanessa or me stayed long, though, as we were all tired and didn’t want to go to bed too late, as the next day would start at 6am infront of the Main Hall again (and again, Vanessa & Claudia both saved us amazing seats in the 4th row!!!). I went home and after a little bit to eat, went off to bed. The next day would be long and hard, as it would be the last day and also meant a couple of really, really hard Goodbyes…

Sunday, 26th May, 2013
I think it is not an understatement that everyone in the Main Hall that morning was tired as hell, totally shattered. It was no surprise, then, that, as two Stewards who helped Rogue out that weekend – Ines and Rea, I believe, – played with little plush toys infront of the camera, up on the tech balcony, the ENTIRE room went totally nuts. Everyone was laughing and cheering while “Circle Of Life” from “The Lion King” was playing in the background (damn you, Doug *lol*), and I was just like: “WTH?, and I think it was Justine who said what I was thinking: “You really know that everyone in here is tired as fuck when they totally freak out because of some plush animals infront of a camera.” I love you, Jussy 😀
After that, Doug came on stage, telling us that there had been a slight change of schedule: due to the fact that Matt had to leave earlier, right after the Closing Ceremony that evening, Misha’s and his Panel were switched around, so that the first one that day would be the one with Richard Speight Jr. & Matt Cohen, while the one with Misha would be the last one on that day. I think no one had a problem with finishing that weekend with Misha, and Doug won all our hearts when he said: “I bet everyone of you would like to finish on Misha.” That man is too hilarious.
When Richard and Matt came on stage, it was clear to me that again, it would be quite difficult to get some good pictures, as they are probably the ones that are walking around their panels the most. Again, Matt gave free hugs to the entire audience, whoever asked for it, and he and Richard harmonized so well together! They were talking about earlier roles, and suddenly, Doug displayed old pictures of Richard on a big screen, where he was about 18 and had terrible hair. Matt was totally blown away by that, and instantly took a picture of him infront of the pictures (what a fangirl!), and they were followed by a Police Transvestite picture of Matt in one of his roles, and a dorky Photo Op picture of Richard and him on some Convention. I sadly don’t really remember much more about their Panel, only that of course, it was way too short and I loved it. These two on a Convention are always more than fun.DSCN3903 DSCN3904 DSCN3906 DSCN3908 DSCN3911 DSCN3912 DSCN3933 DSCN3944 DSCN3957 DSCN3964 DSCN3966 DSCN4002Next Panel…god, Ty Olsson & Rick Worthy. In the morning. And we all just KNEW they would come up on stage with at least one bottle of beer in their hand, each. Well, it wasnt just one bottle…they had brought two barrels of beer and also, three or four more bottles that were already standing on the table on stage, and all I could think was: “What the hell is going on here?” Both of them just didn’t disappoint us in any way, they were BREATHTAKING. They are the funniest people I have ever seen, and not for the first time I deeply regretted that I hadn’t get a Ty Photo Op or one with him and Misha, and that I hadn’t any time to go and get some more money to afford it (apart from the fact that actually I didn’t have the money for the Kim Photo earlier, either). Of course, Rick and Ty both got us all pregnant with their “Alien-Vampire-Babies-Hand-Over-The-Head”-Gesture – I doubt this will EVER get old, – and as I said before, Susie came down once to tell Rick to “please pull up his pants”, and Ty made the joke like he was pulling a credit card down Ricks’s…crack. I feel like I’m almost going red by just thinking about that. At one point of the panel one girl reminded Ty that the day before, he had promised he would be singing in his panel on sunday, and what followed was something SO beautiful it brought tears to my eyes: him and Rick were singing the children’s lullaby “You are my sunshine”, and I was really impressed by how soft and smooth Ty’s voice sounded, I loved it! They also both danced with two fans infront of the stage, and it would be an understatement if I’d say it had been kind of a dirty dance *lol*. Just before the end, Rick spotted one fan that was dressed up in a costume of a blue fox and got a little “foxy” with her/him. I think I can never look at either of them – neither Rick nor Ty – in a normal, humane way. Never. *lol*DSCN4007 DSCN4008 DSCN4009 DSCN4017 DSCN4018 DSCN4019 DSCN4027 DSCN4029 DSCN4030 DSCN4031 DSCN4045 DSCN4047 DSCN4052 DSCN4055 DSCN4060 DSCN4066 DSCN4070 DSCN4072 DSCN4074 DSCN4076

Next two Panels were Mark Sheppard and after that DJ Qualls & Kevin McNally. Can’t really say a lot about them; Mark’s panels are almost always the same. He said “I. Am. Your. King.” a couple of times, something I love about him, because he’s so much of Crowley that you just gotta like him, even if he doesn’t do all the things you ask of him once you stay infront of him. And DJ & Kevin…I might better not say that, but although they seem nice and cool and kind of funny, neither of them really were interesting to me, so their Panels were the ones I could easily avoid in order to get my Photo Ops taken or my Autographs. Which doesn’t mean that I don’t have respect of them, I do! It’s just, they didn’t leave a huge impression on me on the Show, so they’re just not my favourites and never will be. Though DJ can be cute, gotta admit that 🙂
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After the break (which was between the Panel of Mark and the one of Kevin & DJ), I had a Photo “Date” with my lovely ladies, Susie & Jaynee. When I knew I was coming to AE4, this was in my head like all the time. I knew this would probably be the last time I’d see them both for a very long time or maybe forever, so you can imagine my sunday was…dichotomous. On the one hand, I enjoyed every bit of this last day, on the other hand, right when I woke up that morning and later, sat in the Main Hall, tears started welling up in my eyes just thinking of the Goodbyes in the evening. So I had managed to meet up with both of them at 2pm at the Photo Studio Room to take Photo Ops together. When I arrived there and got into the room, there were only the two Photographers there, Chris and the other girl, one guy that was sitting at the Laptop, Jaynee, Susie…and Mark Sheppard, who had had his Photo Session just before the lunch break. I saw Susie cuddling up with him and felt weird standing there like ordered but never collected, but Susie then told Chris we wanted to take pictures, and he got in position; so did we. First pic was me and Susie, then I took both, Jaynee and her, on my my left and right side for a pic together, last one was one with Jaynee. It might sound creepy and childish and needy and pathetic, but in that moment, I must’ve been the happiest person on this planet. Since I knew for over an hour I would take the pics with them, I was more excited about it than I had ever been about any Photo Op I had taken with any actor brought to Germany by Rogue Events. It meant I would’ve own a wonderful memory and a great picture that no one could take away from me. And knowing that both of the ladies enjoyed that too, and were happy we did it, just made me even more happy.
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After I was out of the Photo Studio, I went straight for the Autograph Room, knowing that the Panels that were happening right now weren’t my faves (I completely missed the Panel of Julian & Kim, but heard Kim was cute as ever and Julian was pretty cool). When I got there, first thing I noticed: Queues of Death. There was a short line and a VERY long line; the short one, I thought, was probably for Rick or Ty, the long one for Misha – well, wrong. It was the complete opposite. The long queue was for Rick AND Ty, and I was pretty amazed by how popular they both already seemed to be – I mean…Misha? Hello? He’s probably everyone’s favourite puppy in the fandom! But I understood the hype, as I just had fallen in love with Ty the day before, and as I stood in the Queue, getting closer, I could hear music coming from his direction, because he had his mobile phone on his table, blasting Hip Hop out of its speakers. When it was my turn, I gave him my Autograph book and as there was not much space on the one side anymore (I didn’t want to start a new page for just 1 Autograph of Rick), I told him to not sign too big, so that Rick would still be able to sign on the same page as him. Ty looked and me in this strange but very tempting way, like “Uhm…are you serious?” and I said “Well, but it won’t be a problem, Rick can also sign on the next page, you don’t have to squeeze your Autograph in some way, no problem!”, because I had a weird feeling…which was completely justified. I should’ve known that, as just before Ty started signing, he grinned at me in this odd way, a way that seriously made my knees buckle, and then he squeezed his Autograph in the far left corner, REALLY tiny, not more than a little circle, and wrote “Sorry I took up space” right beside it on the bottom on the page. At first I was like: “WTF?” but later, it made me smile so much because I knew this made his Autograph even more special for me (of course, this was nothing compared to the Autograph my friend Laura got from him just before me: “Nice boobs…I mean, shoes” *lol*)

After that, we went all the way to the back again to queue for Rick, and it seemed like his Queue NEVER ended; the more we came forward, the slower it got, and we knew that Rick took his time to talk with everyone who was standing infront of him which was seriously so nice…but considering that it was Misha’s panel a few minutes later, that wasn’t really comforting at all. But then something happened that none of us had expected: Misha, who was sitting at the table right beside Rick, started throwing Marshmallows at the queues. He had gotten them from some fan, and obviously, he’s not really the Marshmallow Type. Some people got them thrown against their head, some caught them and ate them…but most of them – me, Rebecca & Justine, who were standing in Rick’s Queue, included, – caught them, only to throw them back at Misha. It was really a Marshmallow War…and the funniest thing I was ever honoured to be a part of. We were laughing our asses off when one girl threw one of the Marshmallow back at him, hitting him on his chest, and another one (actually, the one that I threw) almost hit the Rogue Staff Member that sat next to him against her head. There was this one girl, Kim, who was standing right infront of us, and when Misha threw one of the sweet things at her, she caught it right in her mouth, and everyone was cheering, even him. When he finally had to leave for his panel, he still threw Marshmallows at us, and we were throwing them back; I will not tell you how bad the floor looked after that, I’ll just say that I’m glad I wasn’t part of the Hotel Staff that day *lol*

After that, we three rushed back to the very last panel of the weekend…which started like really weird. After a few minutes, we all could hear Misha’s voice blasting through the speakers, but none of us could make him out…when suddenly, his face appeared on one of the screens, and everyone instantly cheered and knew that he was hiding up at the tech balcony, with a camera pointed on him! He told us that he felt like he was so popular already that he had overcome the need to be seen by us in person on stage, and that he had to fly home earlier, that right at that moment, he was back home in his bathroom in Los Angeles. There were shouts from the entire audience to make him come down, and suddenly, his body popped up over the balustrade, he pulled a face and shouted: “Don’t yell at me!!!”
I honestly don’t remember anything that was said in this panel, guess I was too focused on taking pictures and realizing it were only a few minutes left until this perfect weekend was already over again. At one point in the middle, suddenly, Kim, Matt, Richard & Julian showed up on stage; everyone was saying their Thank You’s for an amazing weekend, told us how much they loved and enjoyed everything and that they hoped they’ll be back in Germany one day. That was the first time I felt tears coming up inside of me, but somehow, I could hold them down. Misha went on with his panel, but after 10 minutes, the rest of the lot came up on stage: Ty, Rick, Kevin, DJ & Jason Manns, and in that moment I knew it was over. The guys all said their Thank You’s, too, how much they loved it here, and when Misha said “Guys, I think I speak for all of us when I say that this is our version of heaven”, I was done, the first tear came out of the corner of my eye. Then Doug came on stage, and everyone in the audience – we knew this would mean the definite end, it was never good when Doug came on stage during the panels *lol* – was shouting “GO AWAY, DOUG!!” and when Doug went off stage, Misha called him back with “Come back, Doug!”. They all “guarded” him in their midst, started to cuddle and nudge him, and Misha even started nibbling at his left ear; the audience went mad. Then Misha said “And I think that Doug’s going to lead you out with a song” and…Doug started singing “Bohemian Rhapsody”. Well, it’s a miracle I didn’t collapse, considering it is my all-time favourite song, being the biggest “We Will Rock You” and Queen-Fan; all actors on stage were singing along, and by the time Ty made us all cheer and clap as loud as we could (honestly, it was like being in a huge stadium, it was a BLAST!), really EVERYONE in that room stood up and gave them and Doug and just everyone of Rogue long Standing Ovations. I couldn’t have pictured a better end to that weekend, it was flawless.
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I didn’t care that my tears now really had started flowing, and when me and my girls left the room and Rebecca, Justine and me went off to collect our Matt/Richard Double Photo, I noticed how quiet and serious Rebecca had gotten. When we got into the crowded room, we three were standing in the Queue and started talking about how Vanessa & Claudia already had been totally teared up when we left the room, and somehow I kept my strength, but when I saw Justine next to me turning away, swiping her eye, I broke down and started crying, and soon after me, Rebecca started, too. There we were, the biggest babies on this planet, crying like someone had just died, knowing it would be the last Con-Weekend we all would have, that it was a Final Goodbye…it was horrible, honestly. I won’t go into detail here, because it just brings up everything again. After we went back to the others down at the Registration desk, we all build a circle and hugged each other, then we took a few Goodbye Pictures.
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By that time, I think my face must’ve been a complete mess. I couldn’t stop crying while I was texting with Susie, who wanted to know where I was – I knew she was coming to say Goodbye. And that was something I couldn’t cope with. When my friend Angii at one point, while we stood all there, sobbing, pointed to the hallway, saying “There’s Susie”, and I went up to her, I felt like there was something breaking inside of me. She stared at me with a shocked glare when I reached her and asked “Why are you crying?”, and all I could do was shaking my head. I don’t really remember a lot she said to me, I just remember feeling her hugging me as tight as no one had ever hugged and hold me before. Minutes passed until she let go of me, trying to comfort me. Then Jaynee came, seeing me crying, pulling me into her arms, trying to make me stop crying with making some jokes, telling me she would slap me if I wouldn’t stop right there. But I just couldn’t stop at all, even as Staff Members from Rogue came up to me, pulling me into their arms, too (thanks so much for that, Dominik, and that woman who showed me a picture of her nephew in a ridiculous costume that made me laugh somehow), and then there was this one girl I knew from tumblr – Ines. She talked to Susie, saying her Goodbyes, then looked at me, and before I knew what was happening, pulling me into her arms, hugging and comforting me too, and that was the moment I think I realized what was going on there. I won’t go into further details about my entire Goodbyes with Susie & Jaynee here, because it’s something really dear and private to me, and because it just brings up the worst pain I’ve ever felt. It was the most beautiful and at the same time most horrible moment of my entire life, getting so close to my two wonderful friends, just to let them go – maybe for good – too soon. One thing stayed in my mind and I really try to cling to that since that night, one sentence Susie said to me just before she left for good:

“Remember: you don’t have to see each other to have a friendship.”

So, this weekend was beautiful and perfect in every way. I loved that I got to spent more time with Jaynee & Susie, that I got to know all the wonderful girls I only knew over twitter or one short meeting – Rebecca, Justine, Vanessa, Claudia, Maria, Laura, Karina & Angii – and that they made my weekend SO unforgettable! I am happy that only by accident, I got in touch with Ines, who I think could even become a great friend to me, given time and all.

My resumé of this weekend: NEVER give Misha Collins sweets that could be adapted for throwing, if you want a beautiful, cute, normal Photo Op with Matt Cohen & Richard Speight Jr…DON’T TELL THEM, because in the end, they’ll just screw it up anyways *lol*, sleep and food are overestimated, it’s never a shame to cry into your friends’ arms…and Mr. Ty Olsson got himself a huge Groupie. THANK YOU for everyone who participated in all of this with me, who made it through all the Queueing-Madness and who indulged with me in any way. I love you all to bits! ❤

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