Asylum 13 ramblings ...

[dizzojay]

So that was Asylum 13!

It came, it went … I loved it.

My Asylum began around midnight on Friday night after an epically bad example of time management on my part had me delivering a tutorial to my local art society on Friday evening, and then hitting the road to Birmingham around 10 pm after I’d packed up and cleaned up, complete with easel and half-finished cat pastel portrait in the back of the car!

When I finally arrived at the hotel in the wee small hours, if Viv, my roomie, was expecting the knock on the door to be Jensen turning up to sweep her off her feet, she did a great job in hiding her disappointment when she saw me standing there :)

This was a lovely convention – Rogue got this one pretty much just right. With about 600 attendees, there were enough people to create a nice atmosphere but not so many (as in May) that by the end of it you felt like you’d just battled your way through the shitty end of Mordor on your way to dropping something shiny into a volcano.

And the guest list was great. For once, without any of the great convention triumvirate of Jensen, Jared and Misha, we instead got a great selection of convention regulars such as Matt Cohen, DJ Qualls and Richard Speight Jr, lovely ladies such as Amy Gumenick, Lindsey McKeon and Nicki Aycox, and bewildered newbies such as Theo Devaney, Gil McKinney, Tim Omundson and Adam Rose.

And then there was Jim Beaver (who I kept referring to as Bobby all the way through the event because my brain had stopped functioning beyond basic motor functions by lunchtime on Saturday.)

I have my own personal formula when I go to conventions. Saturday is my photo day, and Sunday is my autograph and panels day, and thus it was that I was in full blue-arsed fly mode all day Saturday taking advantage of all the photo ops that come with the upgrade I’d treated myself to.

Me and those mini-boys got hugged, cuddled, teased and just treated wonderfully by every single one of the guests. I don’t consider myself the most photogenic person on earth, but I’ve got to say, I really love this set of photos; I think the sheer joy of the occasion really shows in my face.

The girls were beautiful, and the mini Boys were very delighted to finally meet their Mum who gave them both a little kiss for the occasion.

They also met their Dad; I’m not entirely sure what message this expression conveys.

And they met their Grandad who didn’t bat an eyelid when I asked him to shove a four inch plastic doll down his shirt; what a lovely, lovely man!

I took the boys next to make sure they’d been Garthed.

Then I bought another photo-op with DJ to make sure I got Garthed too – after all, why should they get all the fun???

Then the little dudes had a rest when I went to meet Theo and Tim.

Theo was warm and polite, and an all-round sweetheart; and Tim just … well, he hugged. Hard! I didn’t even stage this picture, he just reeled me in, and there I was with a face full of beard before I could even say, ‘hi!’ Not that I’m complaining, mind!

Adam was an absolute sweetie; a true gentleman.

and then it was time to meet Jim.

I introduced him to his beloved idjits and he gave them the patented ‘Bobby disapproving eye-roll’.

Then I introduced him to myself and got the patented ‘Jim approving hug’. Do I look happy? I think I look happy!

Final photo op of the day was with Richard, so I took Cas to meet a fellow angel, and realised it’s very difficult to click your fingers when you’re holding a very small angel at the same time!

The Saturday evening was just spent, chilling out, bopping the night away and singing (very badly) at karaoke (and no, we didn't sing 'I'm Too Sexy'), and rewatching 10.02.

As one of life’s tactile people, I really love all the hugs and squeezes that go on in the photo ops, but I also love the autograph sessions. It gives you your few seconds to connect with the actor. Again, the benefit of having less people at this con was that you got a liitle bit longer to have an exchange that could almost be classed as a proper conversation (if you squinted a bit).

I had done some artwork for a few of the guys to sign. I always hope they are flattered by the fact that I take the time out to do something to honour them in this way (whether or not they think it’s any good), and usually, it’s just nice to see the pleasure on their faces when they see my efforts.

This time I was totally overwhelmed by the reaction my art got; bloody Adam Rose, the adorable man, nearly made me cry; (I thought he was going to cry at one point). He took photos of his picture on his phone, then asked me if I had a copy that would be good enough for him to put on display. I told him I always take a scan which is pretty good quality, and the upshot is I’m going to tweet it to him tonight.

Jim and DJ were equally gracious about their pictures, and so were Amy and Matt.

I think I must point out that at the auto session, I may have fallen everso slightly, just a little bit in love with Theo Devaney! He’s a Streatham boy, and as a Lambeth girl, we connected immediately - kindred South London spirits!

He told me he really loved my photo with him; and said that it looked like I was being really, kind and sweet and protective to him.

I told him I was being protective; it was his first con and we all wanted him to have a wonderful experience. (It was an act of total selfishness, of course, because I want him to come back).

The day ended up with Jim’s coffee lounge which was great except for a very annoying girl sitting along from me with a huge arse and a mouth to match. I asked Jim about the French Mistake episode and how he thought Bobby would have coped in that fabulously terrible scene where Jensen and Jared are playing Sam and Dean playing Jensen and Jared playing Sam and Dean.

Apparently, Jim was initially scheduled to be in that scene, but was written out because of time constraints, and he was very sad about that because he thought it was an epic scene and he would have loved to be in it. Apparently Misha stole his thunder because his first instinct would have been to play fictional Jim Beaver’ as a complete diva asshole, but Misha took that stance with fictional Misha, so his next thought was that fictional Jim Beaver would have been so like Bobby, there was hardly any separation. Either would have been hilarious, and it’s a shame we didn’t get to see it.

After one last photo op with Jim and DJ, I headed back to the main hall and collapsed into my seat in a dishevelled heap to watch all the remaining panels until the end.

At the end of everything that day, I passed Theo in the corridor on his way out and wished him a safe journey. That earned me a hug and a kiss – and I hadn't even asked!!

After a quiet couple of hours winding down and catching up with some friends over a couple of bowls of chips, I reluctantly hit the road back down south, eventually getting home just after 9 pm.

Tired, footsore, stiff and very, very happy …

… and that was Asylum 13!

Comments

[cassiopeia7.livejournal.com]

Looks like you had the time of you life, lady. AND you got "Garthed"! :D But hey, where'd you find the SPN tee you're wearing in the first few ops? (I love my collection of SPN tees, but oh, to find one with a more "girly" cut!)

[dizzojay.livejournal.com]

It's just a plain black tee I bought in a High Street shop, and got a friend to print it up for me!

[borgmama1of5.livejournal.com]

What a lovely report--it mad me happy just reading about it :)

[dizzojay.livejournal.com]

Thank you - I'm glad it made you happy :)

[amberdreams.livejournal.com]

Of course you are photogenic - though I defy anyone to be as photogenic as Tim Omundson! What a fab time, hey? And got to say I'm glad they didn't have 600 guests LOL!! We'd never have finished our photo ops then...

[dizzojay.livejournal.com]

Ahem, I have changed that to 600 attendees!
600 guests? I'd have beeded a suitcase to carry my photo
ops around, not a wallet!

[amberdreams.livejournal.com]

ha ha make that a convoy of suitcases... :D

[sasha-dragon.livejournal.com]

You look absolutely lovely! And what a great sound con, looks like it was one of the best. I'd love to see see of these guests at A14, especially Tim, but any of these guest would be amazing.

Thank you for a great con report.

[dizzojay.livejournal.com]

They were all lovely, we really did have a ball.
The only thing that would have made it better would be if you had been there!

[sasha-dragon.livejournal.com]

That's good to hear and I wish I could've been there as well.

[heliokleia.livejournal.com]

Great pictures, great report. Thank you very much for sharing your [and your Minis] con impressions, dear Dizzo.
*high-fives*

And I ♥ you beaming at the photos - even when got garthed.
*giggles*
- My favourite one is Mini Sam tucked into his Grandad's hoodie-shirt and Mini Dean tucked into your shirt, of course...^^

[dizzojay.livejournal.com]

Off course Mini-Dean would go for the option that involved bosoms!
:D

Glad you liked them x

[emeraldarrows.livejournal.com]

Looks awesome! Glad you had such a great time! :D

[dizzojay.livejournal.com]

Thank you :)

[jj1564.livejournal.com]

Thanks so much for sharing your pics and giving us a wonderful report of the con. I love that you took your minis with you and they looked like they had fun meeting their family! Love the pic of you with Tim - he's so distinctive looking and very handsome! I forget how tall DJ is as he's so skinny, I'm pleased you got Garthed! Love Jim Beaver's t-shirt and Theo must be a lovely guy if he's from sarf London!!

Your artwork is lovely and such a great idea to take it with you and get it signed, a really personal touch.

I'm so pleased you had a great time even if you did arrive a bit late! :)

[dizzojay.livejournal.com]

The minis and I had a wonderful time. The guests provided me with some fabulous pictures, and it was so lovely to catch up with friends!
And yes, Theo's a sarf-London boy (although he grew up in Wiltshire), so he's automatically a diamond geezer!

Glad you liked the pics :)

[ex1led-nyer.livejournal.com]

Thanks for sharing both the story and the pics!

[dizzojay.livejournal.com]

Glad you enjoyed them :)

[milly-gal.livejournal.com]

I think you photo beautofully hun and you look like you had SUCH a great time, I am seriously SO jealous, I've wanted to SQUEEZE DJ for years :D

I loved your account of the whole weekend and your formula sounds like a good solid one too, that way nothing you wanna do gets missed off :)

*le sighs* I can't believe our boys got to go and get hugged and loved by all the guests :D

[dizzojay.livejournal.com]

The boys had a wonderful time - they're already nagging me about A14 :)

[999alena.livejournal.com]

Fantastic photos all of them!
A13 was such fun.

[dizzojay.livejournal.com]

It was fab, wasn't it :)

[waywardprimrose.livejournal.com]

Sounds like you had a great time!

Last weekend I went to Armageddon convention and we had Alaina and I missed her! grr so annoyed - was stuck in line for Jenna from Doctor Who (which was worthwhile, I mean I flew to Melbourne because they and a companion) and couldn't get to Alaina's panel :( If I'd had two days I could have caught her on the Sunday but Melbourne's a long way from home and I could only stay for one day and still be at work on Monday.

All in all I had fun, but I'm hanging out for AHBL (the supernatural con) next year, 1 SPN con a year isn't enough.

[dizzojay.livejournal.com]

It's such a shame that you have to travel such a vast distance to get to your con - Birmingham is about two hours drive for me, so not too bad.

You're right, 1 Spn con a year isn't enough - at the moment, I'm managing 3 a year; 2 in England and 1 in Rome.

[waywardprimrose.livejournal.com]

3's awesome! And hey trip to rome - way cool! I want to go one day. England too of course.

Although we only have one SPN con we seem to have heaps of pop culture cons for such a small country, two each in Brissie and Sydney, three in Melbourne, and a couple more in Perth and Adelaide. The Gold Coast even gets one of its own and it's not that far from Brisbane. Next year I probably need to be sensible and travel to less cons but as luck has it we're heading to Brisbane Supernova on the 29th and Tahmoh is coming which is super exciting. His panel will focus on Battlestar because he's there to promote the Syfy showing all the episodes from the beginning for the 10 year anniversary but I adore him in that so I'm happy either way, though I hope we get a couple of SPN qs in. If I don't make it to the panel I at least should get to say hi at the Syfy 360 degree fancam event because I won a spot. I have no idea what to do with that, normal photos are fine but a 15 second 260 degree video photo? With Tahmoh and Jamie Bamber? I'm going to be awkward and shy and die! If I'm allowed to take Chrissy in I reckon we should ask the boys to dance! (Usually people seem to do actions for fancams, and jumping in the air which usually looks cool is not going to work with my body type!) But I don't know if I'd actually have the guts to do that!

[metallidean-grl.livejournal.com]

What an absolutely fun event. Sounds like good times were had by all. From the horror stories I heard about the last Asylum event, I'm glad this one went off without a hitch. Cool that you got to meet Lindsey and Nicki. I would love to see a panel with them. The original Meg, that would be cool. I think she was much more menacing than the second one, although I did like them both.

I would love to meet Omundson. I hope creation invites him to a Con here in the States. He would be a big ticket. We need some fresher blood over here. As much as it is nice to see the same guys, we do need some other blood to cause things from getting too formulaic.

[dizzojay.livejournal.com]

The Asylum event here in May was fabulous but soooooo busy. There were about 2,000 attendees, and I'm so glad I'd had the presence of mind to get an upgrade to get priority queueing and a seat near the front. I could imagine it could have been quite fraught otherwise.

This con was just lovely. The numbers, the guests, the schedule - everything was just great!

I've never been to a con in the states, but it's something I'd love to experience!

[metallidean-grl.livejournal.com]

I'm so glad that everything went off without a hitch. Sometimes the smaller Cons are more enjoyable. When you get too many people everything can just be overwhelming. Although I do enjoy the Cons here in the States, they seem to be wanting to make them bigger, always out for the big buck Creation. I'm not sure bigger is always better in this case. Next year, VanCon is moving to a bigger venue and I'm not sure how I feel about that. I loved the smaller intimate feel of where we were. We'll see.

The Cons here are indeed different that the ones in Europe. It would be cool if you could come to one in the States, and I would love to attend one over there, just for the experience.