Random gratitude

[stormkeeper_lovedoris]

 
Oh man, life is good. Where do I start?

- Well, I'll start with the small stuff. I slept like a baby both before the trip and at the hotel. 

- And the big stuff. My Mom. Is. Awesome. She's my travel companion on this trip. She's easy to be around, and she does nice stuff. Like when I lined up outside for 4 hours on Saturday morning, she came and took my spot so I could pee and get some tea.

That brings me to the convention:

- Just in case I didn't mention this before, the basics are that it's an anime con, I'm not into anime, but I really wanted to meet Alessandro Juliani who played characters I loved on The 100 and Battlestar Galactica. I wasn't gonna go, but I mentioned it to my mom, she was like "I'd love to go to Pasadena", I hadn't been on a vacation that involved an airplane since Jan 2020, so we said "why not?" and booked it. (Sidenote. Mom mentioned she hadn't been to California since the 1970s. She also said back then she had an avocado/hard boiled egg sandwich and had thought it was the best thing ever).

- We flew in Friday. Friday went REALLY well. Plane landed about an hour late but we still got to the hotel early, and they let us check in early which was great. The con organizers said to preregister on Friday so you can skip the lines. So I went to the convention center and preregistered, and there was no wait. I later heard that people were waiting 2 hours in line to preregister! But regardless, it definitely worked in my favor and I'm glad I managed to somehow beat the crowd. Also on Friday we walked around Pasadena - the area is lovely. Tons of cute shops and restaurants. We went to the Pacifica Asia museum and ate at a restaurant. 

- Saturday was the big day. I had my Raven costume so I could cosplay. I knew people would line up early. I went down there around 5:30am. Yep. A long line already. I went back to my hotel (which thankfully was across the street) and put the finishing touches on my costume. Mom helped and took pictures. Then I grabbed my cane and lined up. I'm glad I brought my cane as I sat on it for the last hour or so. The people in line were very cool. 

- Finally at 10am, doors open. The line moved pretty well. A girl standing near me wanted to see an actor who we knew would be in the same area as Alessandro. When we got thru the doors, we held each other's hands and ran. It was so much fun and I love little fan bonding moments like that!

- So I go to Alessandro's line. There were maybe 20 people ahead of me. I was pretty damn excited. I selected the option for an autograph and a selfie. I don't remember all of what happened but I greeted him with "Hi Uncle Sinclair". He seemed to like it. We talked a bit, I told him I loved him in T100 and BSG. At some point I made a joke about my fake ponytail and he said he didn't realize it was fake tho maybe he was joking? (Oh yeah. It fell to the floor 2 minutes before it was my turn. I hastily got it back in. It was too damn heavy and my real hair is too thin to secure it). He asked how I wanted the autograph signed, and I said anything, so he wrote his initials and then "Sinclair!" Loved that. Then his assistant took our picture. We hugged, he was just very genuine and very sweet. Oh, and there was a nice banner at his table showing images of all the shows he's been on; I liked that.

- Had a break after that since my official photo op (one that you can purchase ahead of time, taken by a pro) with him wasn't till 3:15. Walked around, ate, talked to people. Everyone was nice. Somehow during that day, twice I mentioned my age and both times the other people seemed truly astounded that i was 49, and one even said she thought I was 30. 

- Then - time for the official photo op! In my experience, these go faster even than the autograph sessions. I hand it to the organizers though; they were very well organized. There were 3 other celebs scheduled at this time, but no one other than I had booked Alessandro. (Wtf). When they called me back there, he smiled and said "My Raven!" I LOVED that! That may've been my favorite moment of the weekend.  He hugged me, and then they took our photo. Unfortunately I hate it and I look terrible. Ah, such is life. After the photo, I asked him about Cameo and he seemed sincerely interested and that he'd seriously consider it. Shortly after that was the panel that he and the other Death Note actors were on. It was good. Obv a lot of the Q&A was about Death Note, which I'm not that into.

- On Sunday, mom and I walked around a park with local art vendors, hit the botanic gardens, and later went to a rose garden. I hit a new step record of 24,300. 

- And before that, I did my good deeds of the day. I gave my weekend pass to someone who was lined up to get a pass. I left a nice comment card for the server at the restaurant we ate at Fri and Sat. (We didn't intended to eat at the same place twice but that's how it ended up). And I emailed the photo op organizers to thank them for being so well organized.


Gratitude stuff not related to the anime con:

- Last week I was on a panel for work. It was just so good and so nice to do it. It was in downtown Chicago. Idk, I felt professional and felt good, and a few coworkers were there to cheer me on

- In a book report, I mentioned how much I loved the book "Women Rowing North" and how it felt like a hug from a friend. I sent a copy to my friend Pam for her birthday. She LOVED it!!  She was extremely appreciative.That was cool. 

- But ugh. I'm sick again. Since October, I've been sick twice and this feels like a rerun of those two times. Slight cough, slight scratchy throat, lower energy, and lower appetite. Well, both times it was over in just over 24 hours or so. So uh, let's hope for a threepeat! Especially since I'm leaving in 5 days to go see Sachin. If I am sick, I won't go.

Comments

[rhoda_rants]

Yay for your cosplay being a hit! Do you generally wear cosplay when you go out to conventions? I can't remember you talking about it alongside your other fandom adventures before.

Don't be sick for your next trip! {sending good vibes}

[stormkeeper_lovedoris]

I usually don't cosplay. In fact, this was my first time doing it - woo! I guess I really really wanted Alessandro to see that his character on The 100 was remembered.

[rhoda_rants]

That is so cool. <3 Yeah, sometimes it has to be someone special for you to make the effort. Cosplay is not easy!

[stormkeeper_lovedoris]

Exactly. I'm not a costume-maker or a seamstress, so if I'm cosplaying, it's gotta really be for someone special. And I really wanted Alessandro to see how much someone loved his character on The 100.

[nytshd3]

I'm so glad you had such a good time at the con, and that he was so kind and lovely! But man does it suck that you have covid now. Also, so so cool of you to reach out and thank the photo op organizers, I'm sure they mostly just get pissy emails from people. And I bet the person who got your weekend pass was thrilled!! At DragonCon they're not transferrable Do you *really* look terrible in the photo? You would think if they were photo op people they could gussy you up a bit! Disappointing though. Really awesome that you had such a good trip with your mom!! I came across an old message I sent when I was on vacation with my family last time and shared a room with my mom and... yeah, traveling with my mom is not as fun. ;) Really nice that it was such a good trip. And hopefully you can reschedule your flight to another time and go visit with Sachin.

What was the panel for? I feel the same way when I present or serve on a panel, it can be such a good, professional feeling, especially when people come up to chat afterwards!

Hope you're feeling much better soon. Will your family do a postponed thanksgiving or just skip it?

[stormkeeper_lovedoris]

I know I am lucky that my mom is a good travel companion....though I did book us separate hotel rooms. That helped a lot. (Plus it was kinda fun, since we were just down the hall from each other and we'd text with like 'see you downstairs in 5 minutes for breakfast?')

The panel had to do with corporate social responsibility.

My family is never big on TG so we'll basically skip it though Mom did also talk about wanting to do a dinner for Doris's bday in a few weeks. We'll have to see if everyone is healthy for that or not.