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What I Think Castle and Beckett Would Give Each Other For X-Mas

As a fangirl, I would have liked to have seen what Castle and Beckett would have gotten each other for Christmas if they were exchanging gifts.  I went through the same thing when X-Files had a Christmas episode and we saw that Mulder and Scully gave each other presents, but it panned out before they opened them so we didn’t get more than a glimpse of the size and shape of the presents.   I probably spent too much time pondering the subject back then *sigh*

So, here are my thoughts on possible things Caskett could have given each other for X-Mas:

Castle to Beckett:

  1. A sexy new motorcycle outfit and helmet  <–although I’m not sure how much more badassery we can take!?
  2. Ridiculously expensive jewelry
  3. A Castle-invented game of Homicide Bingo.  The cards would include things like ‘chasing a perp’, ‘perp is caught in a lie’, ‘Esposito says “Yo”‘, and the free space would be ‘Beckett rolls her eyes at Castle’ (because it’s pretty much a given it will happen at least once a case). <–this will become a precinct-wide hit, btw
  4. A bathing suit, because she obviously doesn’t have one (lmao…kidding!!)
  5. A freakin’ sweet baseball outing for Beckett and her dad to spend time with Joe Torre

Beckett to Castle:

  1. A photo of herself in a Nebula 9 outfit (without mask :P)
  2. A hundred coffees
  3. Coupon book including:  1 time Castle can drive Beckett’s squad car, 1 time Beckett placates one of Castle’s wacky case theories, 1 round of laser tag, 1 time Beckett cooks breakfast with bacon, 1 free pass to make fun of Nebula 9 one time
  4. A slightly nicer chair for him at the precinct…if it’s TOO nice, people will steal it.  Maybe one that looks like there’s something wrong with it, but it’s really fine and comfy…yeah, that’s it.
  5. A watch, or something…the item itself doesn’t matter.  The important part is that there is an engraving on the inside that says ‘Always’.

But anyway, those are some of my thoughts.  Feel free to add your own or expand on any of mine…

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Musings and Revalations After Re-Watching Castle

Earlier this month, I challenged myself to watch all of Castle again before season 5 starts today. I am happy to report that I finished up the last disc this past Saturday. Woot!  It was a very Castleified 3 weeks, let me tell you! I wanted to take a moment and reflect on some of the things I learned or re-affirmed in my re-watching…

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I actually really like Beckett’s hair short and dark

Some of the outfits they put her in in the first season were HORRIBLE. That pink dress? Come on… However I did like those boat-neck tops she’d wear a lot then

Still love the banter between Ryan and Esposito. Hope they patch things up soon!

I love the the attention to detail in the props. One example: in Last Call when they go to arrest the auctioneer, the paddle Castle holds up is #187, which is the police code for MURDER.

Lanie’s catchphrase is “Imma smack you”. I didn’t notice how often she said it until I watched them all in such a short period of time.

I’ve seen Knockout 4 or 5 times now, and I still get choked up at the end.

Favorite quote that I’d forgotten about until re-watching: “Oh, so many layers to the Beckett onion; how ever will you peel them all”

I still don’t think it’s possible for someone to get sliced in half VERTICALLY by a sword. We’re talking skull, the entire spine, sternum, pubic bone….. Horizontally I could see, but especially the guy who did it? no way!

When Beckett was playing guitar, what you might not notice is that she’s playing “Move That Ass (Get On the Floor)”, the rap song those 2 brothers were recording in Lucky Stiff.

Of course, I do love the Firefly references they get to throw in there throughout the series. I think Mal would disagree with Alexis that there in fact ARE cows in space…in Firefly’s cargo bay.

Say ‘boy-o’.

I’d love to see an episode where Martha and/or Alexis’ personal drama doesn’t parallel the case in some way, and then Castle actually makes a comment about it, like ‘don’t you guys have anything else going on right now that closer fits with this case so you can give me that magic phrase that flips the switch and I break this bad-boy right open?’

I should have counted the utterances of “BAM said the lady” and then kept a running talley on this site.

I had no idea one could subscribe to SkyMall… ok, I just looked it up. Evidently one can order a catalogue, but there doesn’t appear to be a way to get a subscription. Although, I’ve never ordered anything from SkyMall, so maybe if you order something they have you on a mailing list and just keep sending you things. Hmmm…

I remembered the first time I saw Punked, being oddly proud of myself for already knowing what Steampunk was.

I prefer Hilarie Burton’s charachter on White Collar WAY more than in An Embarrassment of Bitches.

I think they should have a scene in which Castle is at Java Loft buying the coffees, and maybe he’s made friends with the baristas there and they will all rejoice when they learn about Caskett.

Nikki Heat is definitely a stripper name.

That dress Beckett was wearing in The Limey was SOOO low cut, her bullet scar should have been very prominent, but it was nowhere to be found. I call SHENANIGANS!

I know the show’s set in NY, but films in LA. It’s fun when I notice locations from other tv shows… That Roslyn Hotel in Always was also a location in Common Law, which is actually set in LA. Another was the carousel from Tick Tick Tick; that location in Rizzoli and Isles was supposed to have been in Boston.

Sometimes Castle uses ‘ironic’ incorrectly.

In Cops & Robbers, I feel like they should have sent Ryan or Esposito in as the paramedic. Castle could have still passed a message, and there would be no risk of Trapper John recognizing Beckett’s voice and realizing she’s not a real paramedic.

One thing I’ve always loved about Castle is the random sense of humor moments they throw in.  Beckett: When I’m not here do you guys braid each others hair and debate who’s the coolest Jonas Brother?  Esposito: No, but is totally Nick. Ryan: Absolutely Nick.

I am ridiculously stoked for tonight’s episode of Castle!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

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Comic Con Day 4 – More Obsession and then the Horse Mask

The last day we got to the convention center at 7:30 and waited in one of the shorter lines I waited in that weekend (only about 2 hours).  This one was the line to get into the exhibit hall (things don’t start until 10 in there).  The reason for the wait to get in we were trying to keep on the DL, since it wasn’t highly advertised and we didn’t need any more competition or crowds.  In October, Marvel is releasing a new comic based on the character in Castle’s old series, Derrick Storm.  So yeah, a comic about a character in a book that only exists in a TV show.  It seems somehow existential to me, but I guess I shouldn’t dwell on it too much.

BUT ANYWAY, since this book is coming out, who else but Nathan Fillion would be be at the Marvel booth signing autographs!  So we got in line to get into the hall, to hurry over to the Marvel booth and wait in line there for a while to do a drawing to see if we could actually get his autograph.  Basically, you pull a card out of a bin and you either get a winning ticket or you don’t.  I made Jon stand in line with me to increase my chances.  A bunch of the girls from the Castle Fan dinner were in line in front of me so I waited with much anxiety as they all took their turns.  Some won, some didn’t.  It came to me, and I reached my hand in and tried to summon a winning card.  My hand passed over a big stack clumped together and I decided those were probably NOT winners so I ignored them.  I eventually drew a card out and mentally squee’d because I had gotten a winning ticket!!

Jon did not get a winning one, but if he and I both had, I might have been stampeeded to get that second one.  It would have been totally lame to have to pick someone.  I don’t do well under that kind of pressure.  

After getting my ticket, the booth people gave me another paper card and said I had to have them both to get my autograph.  Also, that I had to come back in 2 hours for the actual signing.  Anticipation was built up already but I was pretty dang used to waiting by then.  Also, this was not in a line, so that was something!  I got to walk around the exhibit floor again for a while.  I made my way over to the Jason Palmer booth and picked up a set of Castle buttons and scoped out all the other artwork he had available for Serenity and other things. It was really good!

Then we made our way to the section with the various fan groups.  R2-D2 was out so I took a pic with him.

There were a lot of Starwars fan groups, which I guess is not that surprising.  I was surprised to see a booth for Jericho, a show that was on a couple years ago that I really liked, but then that big writers strike happened and when it came back from a hiatus, they didn’t do a very good job of advertising it so a lot of the fans didn’t know to start watching it again.  There was a big fan revolt involving sending peanuts to the network, and the show was brought back for another half-season but that was it.  I learned they continued the story in comic form, so that’s something I should get around to reading.

After that, I wanted to find something cool to have Nathan sign other than the small poster they’d give you if you didn’t have something.  I stopped by the California Browncoats booth and after chatting with the gal there, I decided on a Serenity comic book.

Jon wanted to look through some of the comic booths then so I let him go look through one of the giant comic store booths for a while.  I saw Lou Ferrigno (the oldschool Hulk), so snapped a shot.  I could have paid $40 for a pic WITH him, but…..eh.

Then it was time to head back to the Marvel booth.  They had a guy out in the new Iron Man suit on a rotating platform.  So that’s what the Iron Man suit is going to look like in the next movie, folks.I kinda dug the redder suit better, but since when do movies usually do what I think they should do.  I mean, look at the casting for Green Lantern and the newer Spiderman.

Finally it was time.  I had to wait in line along the side of the Marvel booth, where they were doing a demo of an Avengers video game…one of those ones that measures your movement and you don’t use a controller at all.  It wouldn’t have been so bad except there was a line of little kids right next to us wanting to play that game.  I was too far back in line to see when they brought Nathan out…wish I could’ve seen what all went on when he got out there; there was a lot of cheering.  Slowly we made our way up.  Nathan was up on the stage where the Iron Man suit guy had been (see above), so we all had to go up on the stage to get our signatures.  I tried not to think about all the strangers seeing the backside of me while trying to get a glimpse of Nathan.  I took my camera off my right wrist in anticipation of a handshake.  I gave the booth guy my paper card (got to keep the fancier one that said ‘winner’) and then I got to ascend the stairs.  When I finally get in front of him, he takes my hand and says, “and your name is?” with a smile.  I tell him, and try not to smile like a giant dork.  Smiling, of course, but not like a giant dork.  I may not have succeeded, but only Nathan knows for sure.

They’d told us we couldn’t try to take pics WITH him, but yeah, I snapped a shot of him while he was signing my book.  So, here’s a pic of the top of his head taken with my nervous hands:

When he hands it back to me, he says, “make sure you let this dry before you put it back in the bag,” and winks at me.  I thank him and float away.  Lindsay said she saw it, too, so I know I didn’t imagine it!

*sigh*

And so ended my 4th Nathan Fillion experience of the weekend.  So in summary, I got to be in his presence 4 times, touched him twice, spoke to him twice and got winked at.  Goal for next year:  either a hug or a picture WITH him.  I know these will be more challenging, since most of the fan events they drill into you not to ask for personal favors like hugs or pics with.  But step 1 for that goal is complete since I just bought my tickets for Comic Con 2013 this morning!  Woot!  Only 11 1/2 months to wait…

After all this excitement, it was time to look at more booths, this time in company of my whole family group.  David and Lindsay only came for Sunday, so they had pretty much everything left to see.  David promptly bought a horses head mask.  This thing was so ridiculously funny….

Then we went back to the chap selling the wooden moustaches we saw on the first day and each bought one, with the plan to wear them on Space Mountain the next day.  I bought ‘classic’ for myself and ‘dapper’ for Jon.  Here is David with horse-head and Lindsay with moustache…

Then we wandered around and David photobomed some people, which was amusing to no end.  We even came across a unicorn chick.  What luck!

Had I thought of it, I should have David wander around and I’d take some crowd shots and then we could play ‘where’s horse-head’ later.  Oh well…

We saw this lovely Admiral Akbar portrait.  I am preeeetty sure I’d never own any Starwars artwork, especially something that costs multiple hundred dollars, but this one made me laugh.

At the Mattel booth, they had a big to-do about the Hover Board!  We got to hold one!  Granted, it doesn’t actually hover, but it was still kinda badass.  Also, they were giving out big buttons that say, “save the clock tower!  Buy a Hover Board!” so you know I grabbed a big handful of those.

Then we saw this giant fake toy packaging and of course we had to horse-mask it…  And then one with me and Jon, too.


There wasn’t a whole lot more that went on, so here’s a bunch more horse-head shots….

It was nearing time to go, so I took a panoramic shot of the crowd from the second level, and then we went out to the Batmobile display, out between the convention center and the Omni hotel.  They had all 6 batmobiles.


One of the stupid looking ones…
my favorite one
The oldschool one.  Evidently the only one that’s fully functional in terms of all the bat-gadgets and features as opposed to CGI or anything else.
Two batmobiles from those middle batman movies…I don’t really have much to say about them, sorry.
And then another stupid-looking one


So that concluded my Comic Con 2012 experience.  We went to Disneyland the next 2 days and then flew home.  I woke up sickly on the day we flew home, so I dealt with that the next several days, but luckily I didn’t have to be back at work for 4 more days.

I’m sad it’s all over, but like I said before, I already bought my tickets for next year since they had badge sales for those who went this year.  It was a similar process to buying tickets before, except this time we were able to get all 4 days in 1 go.  Single days as opposed to a 4-day, but I’m ok with that.  This year we also had 4 single days but they converted it to a 4-day at badge pick-up, so it could work out like that.

So who wants to go with me next year?

Want to start over?  Day 1 Here

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Comic Con Day 3 – Day of Movie Stuff and Night of Castle-y Goodness

Begin the blog on day 3!  How fitting it is at 3am…

Jon wasn’t up for a second night in a row outside, so he figured getting up at 3am would be a suitable alternative.  Maybe it was for him, but I was of another opinion.  It was lame.  We made it down to the convention center around 3:30, and the line at that point had only wound it’s way through all the ziz-zags under the tents, across the street and down the sidewalk along the grass between the convention center and the marina.

We sit ourselves down on our giant swag bags (which make really good sit-upons, btw) and sleepily say hello to the line-mates near us.  The guy immediately behind us spends some time trying to inflate an air-mattress with a hand-pump, but after he while he gives up.  Apparently he grabbed the wrong pump?  I don’t know, I stopped paying attention because the noise stopped.  One thing I will say about the backside of the convention center was that is was QUIET!  No shuttle, trolly or train sounds whatsoever.  Also there was a bit less lighting, so I took advantage and hunkered down to try and recapture my snoozes.

I did not fall successfully to sleep this time, unfortunately, because around 4am the sprinklers on the grass came on.  They weren’t spraying directly on us, and even the faint mist that made it to us wouldn’t have been so bad but then the water started trickling it’s way across the sidewalk towards us.  Most of us took a few mins to re-adjust our things to places the rivulets weren’t flowing and then it was ok….until the water made it to the dirt on the other side of the sidewalk and the ants came out.  Then there was a lot of standing.  And grumbling.  By this time, the line had gone all around the grass to the sidewalk between the grass and the marina.

Eventually the ant activity subsided enough that I figured I’d deal and laid back down.  There was a light breeze coming off the marina, enough to make me cold, so I put on a couple more t-shirt layers, put my hood on over my face, headphones in and lay there in a sort of fetal position on the cement with my backpack and a pillow for cushion. I’m not knocking the pillow for my head, but curvy hips and laying on the cement do not go well together.  I zoned out for a while.  There MUST have been some actual unconsciousness in there.  I was aware of enough time passing that it can’t have been much though.

Eventually I couldn’t stay in that position any longer (shoulder fell asleep) and had to sit up.  I’m sure I looked awesome.  Right before driving to the convention center, I’d showered, and left without drying or otherwise doing anything to my hair, so I had bed-head from it drying while I lay there.  Also I hadn’t bothered with makeup yet, but the sky was just light enough that I figured it was time (I really don’t consider myself a girly-girl, but I reeeeally don’t like being out in public without the basics on).  As I was doing this, I noticed Jon was talking to the guy behind us, only it was a different guy now.  I guess the one who failed at the mattresses wasn’t doing so well so his friend relieved him and sent him back to sleep for a few hours in an actual bed.  I envied him.

The friends of his who took his place were Phil (an Asian with freckles) and Benal (a really friendly and cool chick).  Phil as an actor who also works at Universal Studios as a character.  He had a lot of interesting stories about various things he’d worked on and famous people he’d worked with.  I guess he’s had a lot of guest spots on soap operas, but not following soaps myself I couldn’t say whether half a dozen appearances on one is a lot?  He did take me and show me the bathroom in the lobby of the Omni hotel so I didn’t have to deal with that bathroom nazi from the previous night so that was really cool.  Apparently there were a lot of guys there in line inside that bathroom at 6am so after I was done and waiting for him, it was like a clown car watching guy after guy come out of there before Phil did.

Upon returning to the line, we discovered they’d begun the condensing process, so Jon and our other line buddies were not where we left them.  We followed the line upwards and Phil had a really accurate guess of where they’d probably end up after the condensing was finished.  There was a little bit of awkward walking through flowers and bushes to get to them but we got there.  Then we all settled down in condensed fashion to wait another few hours.  If you haven’t gotten the theme of comic con yet, it’s a lot of hurry up and wait.  A LOT.  I used this time to load the pics from the previous days onto the netbook, using the pocket-chair as a really handy little desk.

To give a little perspective of the line, here are some shots.  Under EACH row of white tents, the line goes up and down 4 times.

And then to the far left there, where it looks like it ends, the line goes across that street to this…and yes, all those people are in the line.

When we got in line at 3:30, were about the center of this pic, on the sidewalk to the right side of that square of grass.

I think it was around 8am when the people with the signs showed up.  You know, those uber-religious ‘save your soul’ types.  They showed up trying to save some sinful comic-con attendees.  Well, the sign guys typically don’t go out of their way to bother people overmuch, but there was this one guy who showed up with a megaphone and proceeded to preach to those of us in line.  I could only kinda see him through the zig-zag line and not even really hear what he had to say, but some of the guys in line nearer him were getting really agitated and started to hassle the guy.  A lot of people perked up when they thought punches might be thrown.  In the end, no violence happened, but if it had, I wouldn’t have felt bad for the megaphone guy…he really should have some better common sense than to rile up the sleep-deprived nerds.


Eventually we were let into the hall.  Hall H, the biggest hall.  This one even had a bathroom inside, which was good since we were to be spending 10+ hours in there.  We rushed in and found some seats, staying with the group we’d been sitting with in line.  Then it was more waiting for an hour or so and then finally the movie panels started!

First was the new Quentin Tarantino movie Django Unchained, about a former slave turned bounty hunter in the deep south.  Generally I’m not a Tarantino fan, but this could be interesting,  Then there was End of Watch, a funky-looking cop movie focusing on a lot of POV camerawork, which is not my favorite.  Then a bit on a new Silent Hill, and they had a really creepy mannequin spider.  Here are some pics Jon thought were important to take of directors and such during these…


Then there was Pacific Rim….or as most people describe it “giant robots vs giant monsters”.  They opened up some side-screens that had everyone in a frenzy.
There was a teaser-trailer for the new Godzilla movie that’s coming out, which threw people into an even bigger frenzy.  Sorry, it was a short bit and they wouldn’t let us take any pics or anything of it.  I suppose if you like godzilla it will be good, but I’m not really down.

They even threw in a surprise panel!  It was for the new Will Ferrell and Zach Galafianakus movie ‘The Campaign’.  The trailer made it look semi-interesting, but the banter between the two up there, and with the Q&A people was making me laugh so hard there were tears.

Oh, and there’s going to be a new Superman movie, and here’s the new Superman…

He can ‘man’ his ‘steel’ anytime, as far as I’m concerned…*wicked evil grin*  But seriously, most people who have heard me talk about movies know I generally hate reboots.  This one I may actually go see though.  So for me, that’s high praise.  I wasn’t as moved as one of the Q&A guys who was literally in tears from emotion after seeing the trailer.  Chris Hardwick (aka Nerdist) was the moderator of this section of movie panels and he ran down and hugged the guy.
Glad it rocked his workd, I guess?  

Then we got to see 12 minutes of footage from the Hobbit, which included the first AND the second movie, evidently, though they didn’t say what was what.

And they even let Elijah Wood come on the panel for honorary purposes.
OH, but the craziest part was when they had the guy that plays Gollum talk in ”the voice”, and so I heard Gollum say ‘fuck’ 3 times.

Here’s a panoramic of the crowd in Hall H…180 degrees of people and more people.

This blurry line of doods that stretches back to that square of light at the other side of the room is the line for the men’s room.

Then Iron Man!  Robert Downey Jr came out from the back of the hall and literally danced his way up to the front, down the aisles and through the crowds.  Don’t believe me?  Here’s a video…
Then we saw some pretty cool footage and some interesting banter with the Q&A people.  One girl said it was her birthday and so RDJ led the entire hall in ‘happy birthday’.  Here’s some more pics.


Sorry my antics aren’t a little more interesting for these ones…half of the movies I had no idea what they were before that day, and by this panel, we’d been in the room for 10 hours after waiting outside for 6.  My brain was kindof dead, and reflecting back on it now, I’m feeling tired all over again.  Jon is even reminding me now how they had a bit about an Ant Man movie that they’ll be making and I’d totally forgotten about it.

This panel ended at 7pm, and the plan was to quickly bolt the few blocks to meet the girls for the Castle fan dinner.  Well….plans don’t always work so well in a mass exodus.  Here’s a shot of us waiting for 15 mins to cross the street .  Doesn’t help that 2 trollies and a train came by, slowing things further.

So…I think we went the 3 blocks in about a half hour.  Luckily there was a wait on the restaurant.  While sitting outside with the other girls for the fan dinner (SDCC Castle Fan Dinner represent! Woot Woot!), we saw this van…

There was some other interesting people watching for the next hour and a half as we waited for a table to become available, but then finally we were in!  I’m sure the restaurants both love and hate the Comic Con weekend in the Gaslamp district . Yeah, there’s a shit-ton of restaurants in there, but with tens of thousands of people wanting food on Saturday at dinnertime, there’s going to be some ridiculousness out there.

During the dinner we discussed all manner of things ranging from our various Nathan Fillion and other Castlesque experiences so far and those yet to come on the weekend to food to where everyone was from (quite an international mix!) to boobs and other ‘lady topics’.  I brought the Castle t-shirt I decorated and (by default) won the prize of a signed picture of Nathan Fillion.  You know I treasure this.

But uh…if any of you gals who got pics of my t-shirt have links handy, feel free to send to me and I’ll update this cuz I didn’t really take any pics of myself with the shirt that night.  I’d be eternally grateful!


So then we all parted ways and I was walking with a few of the girls towards the Hard Rock hotel for a few mins to see if any celebrities happen to come out when out of the corner of my eye I see Zac Levi emerging from a restaurant.  Instantly in my brain I’m thinking, ‘Nathan Fillion often hangs out with Zac Levi, especially at Comic Con…’ and then I notice someone walking behind him holding a magazine up to cover his face, but sure enough I recognize that hair.  It can only be Nathan Fillion.  The only regret I have of this weekend is not shouting out that we had just come from a Castle Fan dinner and beg him to take a pic with us, but it all happened so fast and his people were rushing him down the sidewalk.  The only thing I can say is that my hand touched his shoulder as we passed each other.  Yes, I reached it out, but that’s besides the point.  Then the entourage disappeared inside the EW party with some nasty looking bouncers outside.  Invite only.  The few of us girls sat there in dazed amazement that that just happened.  Did any of you get a pic?  Cuz I didn’t. It was an epic fail, I know, but that’s how my Nathan Fillion encounter number 3 went down.  We hung outside the Hard Rock hotel for a little bit, and I saw Yvette Nicole Brown from Community rush by, but not much else.  Besides, what could top Nathan?  So, I went back to the timeshare and passed out around 1am.

Day 4 Here
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Day 2 – The Longest Night and the Awesomest Day

This story begins after my first full day at my first San Diego Comic Con in 2012.  Since there was no sleep, I am starting day 2 at 10pm on Thursday night.  I had just represented my awesome self at the Dr Horrible screening and costume contest.  After this ended, my goal was to find the line for Ballroom 20 for the Firefly reunion panel the next day.  (Only Hall H, the biggest hall, has a permanently outdoor line, so we had to find out where they were having everyone line up overnight.)  A confused old convention worker near Ballroom 20 had no clue.  He said there was no line.  Next stop was the front of the convention center and there we found it!!  There were already a couple hundred people in line.   Remember it’s 10pm and the panel we (mostly) all want to see is at 12:30 the next day…

 
We staked our spots and settled in.  At this time, I’m still in my Dr Horrible costume, complete with big white galoshes.  I’m getting into my handy big-ass swag bag and get my extra clothes to change into for the night ahead when I realize I forgot the bloody flip flops!  I have no other footwear than the big white galoshes.  
 
Thinking quickly, I remember reading about a 24 hour store open a few blocks away and according to the person writing it, they have “everything”.  I head over and find said store (still in my costume, btw) and guess what?  It’s a small grocery store and they sell pantyhose but not even socks, let alone flip flops.  So, Boo.
 
Ok, time to pull out the phone again, which is already blinking it’s low battery light.  I look up the nearest Walgreens/CVS/RiteAid and head to it.  It’s a couple blocks away, but parallel to the convention center so not any farther away.  I get there and it looks promising, only I was fooled.  Their lights are all still on but they are closed.  Boo again.
 
I check the phone again for the next closest store, which is a bunch of blocks in the opposite direction from the convention center.  Well, I figure I’ve come this far, wandering through the people partying in the Gaslamp in full Dr Horrible getup, so what’s some more blocks?  Oh yeah, and I forgot to mention it’s muggy and just warm enough to get to an uncomfortable level when wearing big rubber boots and an evil genious lab coat and walking around for blocks and blocks.  
 
The next 3 stores were actually relatively close to each other, but all 3 were closed.  At this point I’d been gone about an hour.  I’m hot, sweaty, annoyed, and I’m sure Jon’s sitting there getting concerned (I am using his phone because mine already died. Guess I forgot the extra and external batteries for the phones, too!  See how well I plan!!!).  I start the dozen-block walk back to the convention center, admitting defeat.  All the while I am trying to convince myself that wearing a t-shirt and jean capris with big white galoshes will not be the weirdest thing anyone sees at the con that day.  Also, I can just go around in socks once we get inside, I suppose.
 
Just a few blocks from the convention center, I notice a touristy-type store with it’s lights on and I see a couple people inside.  Trying not to get my hopes up as it’s now after 11pm, I dash over but the door is locked.  A shop guy comes and says they’re closed.  I notice there are still a few actual patrons in the store so maybe, just MAYBE…. I beg the guy, tell him all I need is some flip flops and I promise I’ll be quick!  It was so comical, he looks at me, looks down at my galoshes and then lets me in!  I’ve never been so happy to pay $16.95 for a pair of Roxy flip flops that I don’t even like the color of!
 
I finally cover the last block and a half back to the convention center to Jon’s relief.  At this point I start stripping.  Galoshes come off, socks and coat.  my undershirt is drenched in sweat, as well as the pants from the knee down (the part that was inside the galoshes).  I feel so gross!  I grab the t-shirt and jeans and go wait in the line for the bathroom (regulated by some sadistic bathroom-hating wench, this line took forever, and they only let 2 people in at a time.  This is a convention center bathroom, remember…it’s HUGE).  Anyway, at long last, I am in dry clothes and I can finally start cooling down.
 
Back to the line.  Here are some pictures of the line at this point.
 
 
Those in line near me say the tweets are reporting the line going down around the corner of the convention center, going around the Hall H line (people were waiting for Hall H for Big Bang Theory, Game of Thrones and/or Walking Dead panels the next day).  As you can see, people just make the best of it and try to sleep there on the sidewalk, even though the shuttle busses for half a dozen routes run 24 hours, and trains and trolleys keep coming by.  The trains were the worst…a couple of them decided they needed to blare their horns (not ALL the trains, just some).  I don’t know if you’ve ever heard a hardcore train horn, but it’s frakkin’ loud.  Anyone who managed to fall asleep was awakened.  Poor nerds.
 
Then it started to rain…
 
These guys had their handy NASA-style blankets so they were fine and dandy to stay where they were.  One of them even did a little bit pretending to be a jiffy-pop popper for a minute.  We were not so lucky, being in one of the sections without an overhang (why, convention center designers, did you not make the overhang all the way along the sidewalk?!?!).  Granted, it wasn’t pouring or anything, but we were wet.  Not hysterical, but wet.  Here is me and Jon huddling by the building trying in vain to stay out of it.
I was still in a lot better spirits than I was before I found the flip flops, and I used my big-ass swag bag as protection for my legs, so it wasn’t so bad.
 
It’s around 1am now, and some are deciding they can’t stay up anymore, and others are that sort of slap-happy tired and it just makes them goofy.  This girl in line by us decided to make it look like her head was on backwards…
Not the best, but whatever…it was entertaining.
 
For a little while, not much happened.  Earlier in the night, random passerbys kept asking what we were waiting for (so much so that we were trying to figure out how to make a sign to put up so people would stop asking), but anyone still out at 1am were pretty much other con-goers and they knew what was up.  A random lady brought around free cupcakes.  Food from strangers?  Sure!  I don’t see what could possibly be wrong with that!?  It was very tasty and nothing went wrong.
 
As I sat there, slightly rejuvenated from the chocolate and sugar, there was a very small commotion going on, walking down the sidewalk along the line.  There are a couple cameras going off, and people walking very fast.  It was Adam Baldwin!  Apparently he had come down with the ‘con crud’ already so he didn’t want to stay long but wanted to come say hello to everyone and thanks for the support.
I can’t actually take credit for taking this pic, but I was standing just off to the left when that pic was taken…see those people in the chairs back there?  Those are the jiffy-pop people sitting near us!  It was all over in a couple flashes and more fast walking.
 
I think to myself, oh that’s really cool that he’d come out and say hi…
 
2am rolls around.  I notice another commotion.  This one is bigger, but way up at the front of the line.  After a few moments my curiosity gets the better of me and I wander over to the gathering crowd.  Joss Whedon himself came out (apparently drunk?) and literally walked the line, signing autographs and taking pics with people.  Apparently he even went and laid down next to those asleep in line so they could get pics too (for when they woke up).
 
 
And here’s the pic Jon got of him signing my book…
 
The mass of people around him was a weird type of entity…all I had to do was stand relatively still and the people swirled all around me as the crowd moved further down the line.  It was a trip.
 
Oh, I almost forgot…around 1, Jon went and rode one of those shuttle busses back to the timeshare to get some pillows and our extra phone battery stuff.  So after the Joss encounter, I was too jazzed to try and sleep again, so I decided to hit up twitter and see what other #SDCC shenanigans were going on.  I finally connected with some of the girls I was planning to meet up with for the Castle fan dinner on Sat.  We were all sitting pretty near each other in line.  It was sortof a ‘I’m sitting by..’ then ‘oh, I’m right by there, stand up!’  and then we gathered and chatted.  I didn’t get any pics of us chatting…maybe one of you did?
 
So now it’s like 3am or so.  Still chatting with the other Castle gals, when one of them reads a tweet that Jose Molina saw us all in line from his hotel room and was coming down, too!  A writer for both Firefly AND Castle…good stuff.  He actually sat and talked to us for like 15 mins.  A really cool guy.
 
The next few hours pass more or less un-eventfully.  They had everyone get up and condense the line twice, and then around 6am they let the line inside…only to go up the escalator, across the lobby and back outside, but upstairs!   Here’s one of the girls in line near me, not wanting to wake up.
 
They have us all in the ‘real’ Ballroom 20 line now, snaking everyone into the maze of back and forth with the line chains.  From there, we could see the back of the convention center.  This shot is of the Hall H line wrapping around after zigzagging a bunch of times on the side of the convention center.
Later, the line close to the water doubles back on itself and goes down towards those boats and past.
 
After an hour or so they allowed the front part of the line into the inside line part.  Lines for lines for lines.
From here, we could see all the people in line behind us being led up and around and down to wherever the line overflow goes.  It was really amazing.  Granted, there were many people in line to see a few other panels like Community, Legend of Korra, and Bones, but the majority were for Firefly.  I saw the Jeyne hats to prove it.
 
Around 8-something, they start letting people into the ballroom.  The first panel doesn’t even start until 10.  This is where being a couple hundred people back in line for a ballroom that seats 4,000 comes in very handy.  We had great seats!  And if you think 4,000 is plenty, you did not see all the people still in line to get in for the rest of the day.  HELLOF people wanted in.
 
Here’s what looks like a tauntaun hat on a camera.
 
First panel finally starts!!  I like Community a lot, but if not for Firefly, I would not have waited in line for this.  It was fun though, and funny.  Here’s some pics.
Oh yeah, it was a trend among people in the panels to take pics of the audience…I saw it at every panel.
 
The next panel, for Legend of Korra, that was my bathroom break.  This ballroom doesn’t have a bathroom so they have to give you a pass to go out, but you have to come back before the panel is over (usually an hour).  I went potty, stretched, and got some lunch for Jon and I.  Hot dogs, yum.
 
Then it was time.  They started late; I’m sure it was a tactic to heighten our antici……….[wait for it]…………pation.  Here are some of the pics as they introduced everyone.
Hugs with Joss and then they sit down.  Already the emotion is starting to build.
Panel discussions, and then questions from the audience.  I don’t remember what was being said at this exact moment, but everyone looked a little bit goofy, so you know it was some shenanigan-filled story or another.
Adam Baldwin put his Jeyne hat on his mic, which he then gave away to a fan who answered a question (shakily, but correctly…..eventually).
Also, I stole this from another site, but I like how he looks all protective and caring for the hat…I could just picture him saying “it is my very favorite hat…”
This is when they started to tear up
At the end, Joss got a standing ovation from the panel members and audience alike.
It was very cool to see.  Totally worth the night.
 
Then the panel was over.  We were given $20 to give up our seats to a guy for the Bones panel.  We were pretty sure we were going to leave after Firefly anyway, so hey, why not?  At this point we lugged our pillows and such back on the shuttle bus and went back to the timeshare to shower and change.  It’s now 2pm and I have been awake since 7am the previous day, and actually not feeling too bad!  Adrenaline, I think?
 
So at 3:30 we leave to go back to the Gaslamp district, not for the convention center, but for Nerd HQ, a few blocks from there.  I’d bought tickets for a ‘Conversation with Nathan Fillion’, which is basically a small Q&A session (like 225 people) that they do for charity.  Aside from having that opportunity, I was even more pumped because we had seats 13 & 14, so front frakkin’ row!  If you follow me on FB, you may have seen the pic I was tagged in from that.
 
Zac Levi hosted, as I think he did with a lot, or all of the Nerd HQ conversations (they had various different ones over the weekend).  Also, go figure they started this late, too.  They just really want to keep that anticipation up, I tell ya.  
 
But finally, Nathan was on stage, mere feet from me!
 
Now, I think I have like 80 pics from this, so I won’t post them all.  If you want to see, you can check them out on my Picasa: HERE.  I’ll just post a few couple a moderate amount for a Nathan Fillion fan.  Also as a surprise, Nathan brought out Adam Baldwin to sit with him for most of the session.
 
So, here are some of my favs…
 
He looks like he’s cheezin’ right at me in this one…
 
Then after the end and Nathan went away (*sigh*), they weren’t done with Zac yet.  Evidently, he had offered kisses on the cheek for anyone that donated $100, or a real kiss for donating $1,000.  Well, someone ponied up the G, and they actually brought her on stage to do it.  He apparently didn’t know this was going to happen, based on his reactions…
 
Here’s the guy explaining the donation deal
 
Then Zac starts to get the idea what they’re doing…
 
Then he quickly prepped himself…
 
Then it was smooch time!  Very suave, Zac.  Well played.
 
 
And THENNN…amongst the cheers and applause, Nathan comes bursting back onto the stage, throws a wad of bills at Zac and then kisses him too!
 
And then not to be out-done, Adam Baldwin saunters out, throws cash at him as well and then proceeds to go in for a more….sensual?  gentle? –I dunno…it was a more intimate man-kiss.
 
Let me just say, if given the opportunity, I would donate $1,000 for a kiss from Nathan Fillion.  I would be willing to make that payment plan on my credit card.  Totally worth it.
 
Ok, now that you’ve read and scolled all the way through this mess of a blog, if you want to sit through the video of the Conversation, here’s the link:  Nathan Fillion Nerd HQ Conversation 1
Oh, and if you do go watch that all the way through, just know that after listening to all the Q&A at the Firefly panel and this, I decided to go with a….less traditional-type question.  Don’t judge me.  I got a kick out of it.

Also, it’s worth noting that I managed not to squee or otherwise spaz like a fangirl whilst asking my question, so GO ME!
 
And for good measure, here’s the video of all the kissing shenanigans
 
So there ended the Nathan Fillion experience number 2 for me (the first being the Firefly panel, which was obviously much less direct, but I was in the same room with him so I’m counting it!)
 
The rest of the day is pretty anti-climactic…we ended up eating dinner at Dick’s Last Resort, which, if you haven’t been to one….just go.  You’ll see.  Here are some pics.
And yeah, that’s our waitress co-licking that whipped-cream dick in Lisa’s drink…
Yes, she made us these lovely hats, too.  Looks like a fun place to work anyway!
 
After dinner we did the slightest bit of putzing around Gaslamp and then it was back to the timeshare to pass out for maaaybe 3 hours before getting up again to go get in line for Hall H….. but that’s a story for another day.  The  NEXT day, in fact!!  Mwahahaha!  Day 3 Here
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Comic Con Day 1

Alarm goes off in the morning and I am UP!  Throw some snacks in  the nerd pack and head down to the convention center.  Jon’s mom drops us off and we join one of the growing streams of people heading to Registration.  We find where the line starts and then have to follow it back to the end.  Let me tell you, this is the longest single-file line I’ve ever seen.  EVAR.  It wound it’s way around back, across the street, past the park and along the marina.  The amazing thing was that the line went AMAZINGly fast.  I think it only took us 15 mins to get through and get our badges.  I made my first line friend and gave her one of my contact info cards, but she has yet to friend me 😦



So we get our badges and our event guide and souvenir book and ginormous swag bag and we are IN!  
  
BTW, the swag bag is the biggest tote bag I’ve ever seen.  EVAR.  Here’s a pic of me standing in it as I contemplate a potato-sack race.

Lisa and I also discussed the possibility of making a dress out of it, but people already had the idea.  I don’t have a pic of it, but Lisa said she saw someone with a hardcore detailed swag-bag dress later in the weekend.

After registration, we checked the schedule and decided to head over to a Battlestar Galactica panel that would be starting in an hour or so.  We navigated the map and found the line, which snaked outside for a while, but it was overcast and decent weather.  Plus, we had our pocket stools!


Yay, first panel of my first Comic Con!
And then this kid with a giant head sits down  between me and the panel table…


Oh well, I didn’t let it get me too down.  Here’s some more pics of me and Jon waiting for this panel to start, and then the main speaker of the panel, Richard Hatch…the guy that played Apollo in the original BSG and then Tom Zarek in the remake.
  The panel was pretty cool.  Talked a lot about the music in the episodes and how they used a lot of different musical styles and how sometimes they didn’t even get to see the scene they were writing music for, just had a general idea what the scene was about.  I think they did a phenomenal job on the music.  I’d heard a rumor that the current Starbuck and Apollo actors would be there, but they were not.  There was another actress slated to show up but she was stuck in traffic (Richard got a call from her mid-panel and put it on speaker).
After that panel we met up with Lisa!!
Then we walked the floor a while.  Here’s some of the weird people and things we saw…. 

Found Jesus!!  Ok, I know it’s a Jedi…
Random mowhawk guy…
Double Rainbow guy!!
Random burlesque chick and what looks like an Amish guy on the ground
I saw a lot of guys dressed as Princess Leia, oddly…
They had some fighting demonstrations for some reason
There was a strong steampunk presence here
And then I saw R2-D2 and I was like…
This guy…
Giant power ranger (there was a 20 year deal for power rangers….and that made me feel old)
Ever want one of those anime pillow girlfriends?  You could buy one here…
Wookie backpack
Wooden moustaches for sale!
This chick…
This booth…
A variety of kitty ears
This Furry…
This chick (?) as Robin
Goth Princess Leia?
These people….
Chobit royalty?
Funky merch
Superman with a yoga-ball earth
Crowded DC Comics booth
  This guy…
Booth Babes



This guy…
Legos!
      


Silver Surfer guy
Darth Vadar toy…life sized.  Oh, and one of the other Dr Horribles!
The Sand People scare easily, but they’ll be back….and in greater numbers!
I found Waldo!!!
I passed a signing by Yvonne Strahovski from Chuck, so that was kinda cool
This chick in some sort of gauze bikini?
Stay Pufft Marshmallow Man!
An unfortunately-timed shot of Marina Sirtis.  I tried to take another but they didn’t want dawdlers in the walkway.  I guess I could have paid for a pic?
Brent Spiner was yelling at someone…not sure why
Ugly Dolls!
Yay, Firefly Replicas!  You can see the little peoples in the cockpit!

Ok, there is a reason I took this pic of the enterprise upside down…cuz that’s how they filmed the model!  I know, my photography needs work…






 

Guy painting nerdy paintings!















 

This chick dressed as Wonder Woman



















 

Finally after all that stuff, we went back to the timeshare to shower, change and get ready for Dr Horrible!  Also, planning to go straight from Dr Horrible to sitting in line overnight for Firefly, so having to prepare for that, too.  Get back to the convention center and I’m ready for the costume contest!


I won for category of ‘Dr Horrible in white’ (although tied with the other chick who was battle-worn…like a before and after kind of thing).  BUT I won a program signed by Felicia Day!  OH, and the contest was judged by one of the costume designers from Firefly.

The Crowd:


The guy dressed as the “soup” version of Dr Horrible even won on his own category that they made up for him.  Everyone was chanting “Soup Soup Soup!”  Later we found out he threw that costume together last minute.  I’d say it was a good one!
  

What I won
So after that, it was 10pm…time to find and sit in the line for the Firefly panel that starts at 12:30 the next day……..  For this, see Day 2!!   Day 2 Here
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Comic Con or Bust! Day 0 (Travel Day)

Yes, I know I’m like a week and a half late on getting these posted.  I foolishly thought I’d be able to post these daily…like at night as I waited in line outside for something the next day.  The one night I remembered to bring the netbook, I had zero luck getting onto the so-called WiFi network at the con.  At least I was able to move pictures over to save space.  I took like 80 at Nerd HQ alone (but we’ll get to that later…)

SO!  Here’s how the first day of my trip went.  Got to sleep in a little bit.  It may not seem like much but I love that feeling that I’m still in bed and everyone else is at work.  Then I went to get a mani-pedi I had a groupon for, and came home and did the last day’s packing stuff; various chargers and things I can’t pack away until the last day.

Steven was cool enough to wake up early and take us to the airport at 3:30 (pm).  If you know Steven, you’ll get why that’s funny.

Our outbound flight was with Delta, which I’ve never flown before.  One mega plus I will say for Delta is that they have this lounge/bar inside the terminal that you can go chill at instead of sitting out in all the airport chaos.  It was so nice!  Flight was on time and relatively uneventful.  We had a 2 1/2 hour layover in Salt Lake City, which was pretty boring, but once it got closer to boarding time, I spent a while picking out people I thought would be also going to Comic Con (since we were all going to San Diego).  We landed around 11pm, and Jon’s mom came to get us and brought us back to the timeshare we were staying at.  Turns out the place was a few buildings away from one of the stops on the Comic Con free shuttle route, which we ended up utilizing a few times.

We also hit the grocery store for all the munchies and water and stuff we thought we’d need to bring for the rest of the weekend  (granola bars, individually packaged snacks, pop-tarts, etc).  It’s really a strange experience being in a grocery store at 1am when it’s not like a WalMart or something that’s normally busy at that time of night…it was a Food 4 Less that stays open till 2am and it was D-E-A-D.  That store is too big to be that empty.

As you can see, it was a thrilling day (she said in a dry, sarcastic tone).  We went to bed around 2am with the plan to get up and head out about 7:30.  I knew there’d be line-waiting in the morning and we probably should’ve planned to leave earlier than that, but I needed at least 5 hours, especially knowing what the next few nights would be like…..

But for more on that, you’ll have to see the next post!  The next one will even have a bunch of pics!  All you get for this one is me at the airport with my Comic Con registration info.  Woot woot!!

 
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Can I Borrow Your Freeze-Ray?

I am undergoing the packing of my suitcase.  My Dr. Horrible galoshes are taking up half the suitcase.  I’ve also pretty much decided I’m not going to attempt bringing my freeze ray in my luggage…I don’t know how that would go down at the airport.  If I had been really thinking about it, I could have shipped it to my mother-in-law, who lives closer and is driving, but now I’d have to overnight it and it’s just not worth it…literally; the shipping would cost 3 times as much as the thing cost to make.  I’m going to tell myself that it would have been annoying to carry around and bulky and all that.  It’s all about the laugh anyway, right?!



Although, if ever there was a place that I could buy a freeze-ray, Comic Con would be it…..

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Questions from a Comic Con Virgin

In case you don’t know, this is my first SD Comic Con.  I went to Wonder Con once, about 8 years ago, and have been to a few small local cons, but nothing on this scale.  I have read about 30 different ‘How to prepare for Comic Con’, ‘What to pack for Comic Con’, ‘Comic Con Survival Guide’ and ‘What not to do at Comic Con’ articles and postings.  I’ve listened to Crazy4ComicCon’s podcast, I’ve studied the official Comic Con exhibition and panel maps.  I read what is posted regarding camping out, and costume weapons.  I have made my MySched selections and alternates, and printed out the full programming schedule.  I’ve got a map/directory of the Gaslamp Quarter and taken note of which shuttle route I should take if I need to utilize the shuttles.  I have taken note where bathrooms are located and from this I have an idea of where to check for the least busy bathrooms (just an idea, of course; reality may prove quite different).  I’ve got my Attendee Badge info and travel arrangements, my budget figured out, costume logistics, game-plan for all my tech, business cards, offsite events and fan parties are set, anxiety pillz are ready to go, gel insoles and tennis shoes, found a grocery store near where I’m staying to get snacks & water, and I’ve been checking Twitter constantly for #SDCC, #NerdHQ and #SDCCTips updates.  I’m ready for crowds and walking and waiting.


So, I think it is safe to say that I am as ready as a Comic Con virgin can be.


I’ve still got a couple lingering questions I haven’t had adequately answered by anything I’ve read, maybe because it’s something new, or some randomly specific question that just would like to know.  I’m hoping there’s some veteran who will take pity on me and try to answer some of them…?
1.  For the Firefly panel in Ballroom 20, are they going to have a line-up area specified the day before, or earlier?  If I get in line at around 10 or 11pm Thursday night, do I have a chance of making it in?  From the posts I’ve been reading and the numbers on MySched, there’s going to be a LOT of people trying to get into this one.
2.  Can anyone give me a rundown on the NerdHQ’s Conversations?  Pretty much all I’ve been able to gather is that is involves around 225 people, there’s some kind of Q&A and there may or may not be a signing depending on which one it is. (of course, not knowing hasn’t stopped me from getting tickets)
3.  Is it weird if I plan to try and get any signatures I’m lucky enough to get all in a single notebook, instead of individual pieces of merchandise specific for that person’s involvement?  (ie, Fringe comic for Joshua Jackson or Babylon 5 trading card for Claudia Christian, etc) ?
4.  Does anyone have any tips on how to mentally prepare beforehand or during a celebrity meeting so as to NOT have a spastic fangirl attack?  Some sort of Vulcan focusing or mental discipline techniques?
5.  I’m a friendly person, but I don’t usually initiate conversations with strangers.  Any good ice-breakers for fellow line waiters other than the Captain Obvious things like ‘oh so since you’re in this line, I take it you’re a fan of *whatever*?’


I’m sure I’ve left out plenty of other planning things, but if you have any other advice in addition to answers to any of my questions, I am grateful for any additional guidance.