Calgary Comic and Entertainment Expo 2012: Day 3

I didn't want to take so long to write this post but the con really wiped me out.  I guess I should have booked one more day off work so I could catch up on some rest.  Lesson learned for next year?  Anyway, without further ado, here's my day 3.

Day 3

After the bit of a fiasco that was Saturday, we decided it was best to get up early again and head to the BMO center early.  I got up around 6 and checked the Twitter feed and saw they were advising people to be there around 9.  We got dressed, packed our stuff and checked out of the hotel and were at the grounds by 8:30.  (Yes, I remembered to wear my necklaces.)  What a difference a day makes!  The organizers had really rallied over night and things were way better.  They separated the pass holders from those buying/redeeming badges and shuffled us into the autograph/food court area to wait for the main doors to open.  The vibe in the room was a million times more positive than the day before.  We found a seat at a table with on old University friend and did a little wandering before the main doors opened.

Once the doors opened it was nice to see they had added signage on where to walk through the congested areas.  We headed straight for the Boyce Theatre so we could get a seat for the Battlestar Galactica panel at 11.  This was the one thing that D, R, J and I could NOT miss.  J and I took D and R to the BSG panel at our first con and got them hooked on the show.  It's really a tie that binds us.  Plus with Aaron Douglas there again this year we knew we had to be there.  Once again the organization improvements were very apparent.  They told people at the back of the line when the room was full well ahead of time so that they didn't wait for nothing.  Once inside we got amazing seats just on the edge of the VIP area.  The labeling on the VIP area was a little misleading and some of the volunteers had to deal with a few snarky people that they asked to move but over all it was ok.  There was a woman sitting next to me who was a media member from the US.  She had moved down a few seats and lost her Blackberry in the process.  It was great to see everyone rally around her and help to find it.  Turns out it had fallen in the crack of J's chair and we eventually found it for her right before the panel started.  She was so excited and everyone around us clapped when we found it.

The panel was just as amazing as we thought it would be.  Aaron Douglas, Katee Sackoff and Richard Hatch are amazingly funny people and they entertained us.  Richard Hatch told a story about having an intimate dream about Katee and it became a running gag through the panel.  Aaron talked about how he felt that our little con was amazingly well run and he would gladly come back every year.  So say we all!

  Once the amazing panel was over, we decided to go get something to eat.  We found a place making wraps and sandwiches that were really good and fast, despite being crazy expensive.  I was really getting tired of line ups and decided that as much as I would have loved to see Jim Cummings panel I didn't want to stand still anymore.  So we wandered, took a ton of pictures and met some amazing people.  J posed for a picture with a 4-year-old who was wearing a "Shiny, let's be bad guys" shirt.  J put his hat on the kids head for the picture and the kid was so excited.  His dad told J later that his son believed that J was the real Jayne!  I love kids at cons.

We went back to Max Brooks' booth to quiz him on my name and posed for a pic with him.  He has got to be one of he nicest people I have ever met.  I waited until his line was short before jumping in.  He was posing for pictures with his fans behind his table and that's what I expected when I got up there.  I asked if he would mind taking a pic and crouched a little so he could stay seated behind his table but he jumped up and came out from behind his booth, pushed through the crowd and posed with me in front of his table.  A moment |I won't soon forget.

I could tell that we were getting to then end of our con experience as we were all getting a little tired and grumpy.  After getting separated for a bit, we found each other in the food court and D and I decided that we would head for the Corral for the last panel of the day, Sir Patrick Stewart.  J and R decided to join us so we made the long cross of the floor to the panel area and posed for pics on the way.  We got there about half way through James Marsters panel and I was totally ok with sitting and watching him.  That man looks fabulous!  Patrick Stewart was good, but you could tell he was getting very tired after a long weekend.  Once his panel was over, the hall was closed so we had to make the long walk back to the car.  This was the moment the weight of my skirt really started to get to me.  I'm pretty impressed I made it as long as I did in that thing.  I still have welts on my sides from it three days later.  R ran to the car and grabbed my bag so I could change before the ride home.  One of the best moments of the weekend happened at a gas station on the way home when some guys ran up to R (still in his Waldo outfit) and wanted a picture.  They hadn't even heard of the Expo and thought they had won a radio contest or something.

It was, all in all, a fabulous weekend.  I am very impressed at how the organizers rallied to fix things after disaster struck.  I got some big checks off my bucket list and I can't wait for next year!  Now to plan my cosplay....hmmm how to top Lulu.  Good thing I've got a year to go!  I'll leave you with a few more shots from Sunday.