My New Jersey Con Story
(photo courtesy of acsgrlie)
My vacation started on a sour note, boding ill for the rest of the trip. I live in Southwest Minnesota, and the day I landed in NYC, a tornado struck. Thankfully, no one was killed or injured. My town emerged largely unscathed as far as massive property damage, but we did lose a ton of trees and suffer some minor damage. My car, a 2001 Chevy Impala, emerald green and my pride and joy, however, suffered severe hail damage. Yes, his name is Dean. Never fear, he’ll be fixed soon enough. It was about a week before the convention, and I feared that with this ill omen that it might not be as good as I’d hoped.
Boy was I wrong. Somehow, the universe decided to make it up to me with this convention. It certainly went after my car, so it had to find a way to say sorry. This was it.
This was my first convention, and going in I had no idea what to expect. It was better than I could have ever anticipated—for so many reasons, as you’ll see. It was an amazing whirlwind of a weekend. Let me take you through it.
Friday
I arrived at around 1 PM, got myself checked in to the hotel and set up in my room. I changed out of my grungy travel clothes into my new fancy jeans (a new for me, since I generally think such jeans silly) and a nice tank top. I also put on the new high heel open toe elf boots to complete the look. I went down to the registration table, got myself bagged and tagged so I could move freely into the hall and find my Gold weekend seat. You know what they say, “Go big or go home.â€
I took my seat and met a few of the fans. I was so taken with looking around and taking in the scenery, too. They had large, beautiful banners on the wall that they auctioned off later on in the convention. I happened to sit next to the one of Jared in a tank top. I don’t know what it went for, when all was said and done.
I had arrived and gotten ready around quarter to two, so I had just made it in time to see the first panel of the weekend: Gabriel Tigerman. He’s funny, a delight to see on stage, and I have to say I still miss his character Andy. I’ve always liked Andy. He was goofy, a bit silly, but we all know that when he wasn’t high as a kite that he was probably extremely smart. Gabriel told this embarrassing story about meeting Michael C. Hall of Dexter that, I hope, set everyone at ease for the upcoming weekend. Even actors who’ve been on TV before sometimes get tongue tied or embarrassed meeting other actors that have been on TV! The poor thing said he had those Invisalign Braces, was in the process of taking them out to eat, just when Hall walked past. It was not a pretty picture. I can only imagine how long it took for Gabriel not to be entirely and thoroughly embarrassed by what had happened.
I thought it was funny when someone asked Gabriel who he would like to be if he could be anyone for one day that he instantly said “Michael C. Hall.†He said he’d like to be him simply because he’s cool, but also so he could really make that Gabriel Tigerman’s day by giving him some compliment. After what had happened with the braces, who can really blame him?
We had the Yes/No trivia game, which I watched at first. When they had a second round, I joined the fun. It was interesting to see how obscure they were going to get on some of the questions. At least you had a 50/50 chance of being right! They asked a question about what monster Sam and Dean brought to Crowley in Caged Heat. Was it a Rugaru, yes or no? I knew this one instantly, mainly because my cat, Peyton, is nicknamed the Rugaru. He eats a lot and is always hungry. I missed two questions later, but it was fun while it lasted!
We had Kim Rhodes next for a panel. She’s so funny and was an instant hit. I had NO idea that our Sheriff had been the mom on Suite Life of Zack and Cody. I admit, I’ve watched it a couple times. I never made the connection. She’s so very un-Disney in person. I got in line to ask her a very particular question. I’m from Southwest Minnesota, about 90 minutes from the real Sioux Falls. Let’s be clear: Sioux Falls is about 100,000 to 150,000 in population. It is NOT a podunk little town. The other problem: there is no way they’d really have a woman as their Sheriff. I asked her if she had ever been to the real place, and she confessed that she had not. Kim said that she had wanted to try an accent, but the producers nixed the idea, saying they thought that Sheriff Jody Mills would have been from some place else, ending up there at some point. She thought perhaps they were actually in a suburb of Sioux Falls. I suggested Canton, and Kim said she’d try and pass that along to the writers. At this stage, I’d doubt it’d change anything, since they’ve only had Bobby on the outskirts of Sioux Falls since season 1. It’s one of those differences between our world and the Supernatural World.
Kim said that she has her own secret OTP couple. She’d love to see the Sheriff and Bobby get together, simply because she’d love to see how that’d play out. After all, the Sheriff and Bobby are rather opposite in how they handle some things. She is a strong character and woman, and Bobby most certainly could use such a woman in his life. I just don’t know that they’d be able to make this work. It’s a cute idea, though!
She also told us that she has trouble with singing. It makes her cry. It was so interesting to see how open she was. If anything, Kim shoots straight from the hip, and usually what comes into her mind comes out of her mouth from what I could tell. I found it refreshing and instantly found myself liking her all the more. I had loved her appearances on the show in the first place, but now they’re a bit more enriched by having seen her on stage.
Someone asked Kim which set of boys were more fun to work with or were more mischievous. She hadn’t been pranked by Jared and Jensen. She did say they had this goofy thing about riding around on scooters on set. She said, no offense to Zack and Cody, that she’d rather work with Jared and Jensen—-the looks, after all. I can’t say I blame her. I’d love to see those two on those scooters. It’s probably comical.
Our last guest for the afternoon was Corin Nemec, who played the dastardly Christian Campbell. He was a delight on stage, too. I thought it was funny how he mentioned his love for B-movies. He’s made a few by the sounds of it, too. I must admit, I have a guilty pleasure and love affair with them myself. Sure, they’re usually ridiculous and stupid as hell, but there’s just something appealing about some giant shark or crocodile or man turned into insect that just makes me giggle. I actually sat through both Sharktopus and Dinoshark. Most of them are so predictable, stupid, and bizarre that once you start watching you can’t stop!
I thought it fascinating that he found out as he read the scripts what his character was going to do and when he started he didn’t have all the facts. I’ve never acted in my life (no that one act play where someone stole my line in 4-H does NOT count), so his explanation about finding out things about his character as he got each script was neat. He said that if he had known his character was actually possessed by a demon he would have done things a bit differently. He was depressed when he read that he died, but then was like “hell yeah†when he read that he was a demon only to be bummed when he found out he was killed off again AS a demon this time.
We had our autograph session next, and I got each photo signed. Kim put on mine that she has to get the accent right, considering I’m actual Minnesotan born and bred. Gabriel signed his with the message that he was sorry that he was dead, and Corin put on his that he was glad to have met me. It was nice to see that you could at least say a couple words to them, rather than strictly being rushed past as fast as possible with no chance. Sure, you couldn’t spend all night there, but at least I could say a few words of thanks and the like. I’d love to see them all return at another convention I attend.
We had an evening break, which gave me a chance to catch my breath, get some things organized, and get a small bite to eat. I checked my phone, checked Twitter, and saw a tweet from Matt Cohen that left me puzzled. He said that he had arrived and been “iced†right away. I had no idea that this would become a huge deal through out the weekend.
Then it was time to go down for the Brian Buckley Band performance. I must admit, I had only heard a couple of their songs before the show. I didn’t really know much about them going in. Their performance was amazing. Brian Buckley hit notes I didn’t know was possible, and I really found myself fascinated and enthralled by their music. It’s nice that Jared and Gen have championed such a talented musical group, and proves to me that all of us, writers, actors, musicians, and artists might be in different mediums, but we’re all one family in the end. I had to get their CD and a t-shirt. I got the CD signed by Brian, in green marker. Green is my favorite color, which Brian admitted was his also. I’d love to see a full show of theirs someday. I think it’d be a wonderful concert indeed. Just like all the guests at the convention I’ve met thus far, Brian Buckley was very approachable, sweet, and a great guy.
The Karaoke Party. I had no idea what to expect here, either. I expected a bunch of bad singing, none of which I’m afraid to participate in. I sing badly in my retail store’s backroom on a daily basis, usually at the top of my lungs and off key on purpose. Karaoke does not scare me. It started as a typical karaoke party, but then Richard Speight Jr said it was a chair free event. It went wild after that. Song choices were made, but we didn’t simply listen to just the person who selected it. Everyone joined in. I danced and danced and danced. In my elf boots, that was not necessarily a good idea.
Someone wrote a song for Richard, entitled “Santa Gaby.†As I work in retail, I have had any liking for Christmas music sucked out of my soul. This coming Christmas season, I’ll be giggling every time I hear “Santa Baby,†well at least for the first three to four days. It’s okay, my coworkers at my store already think I’m crazy anyways. Richard seemed bowled over by this and wore the Santa hat with pride for quite awhile after.
Matt and Richard announced their nuptials after someone gave Matt a wedding gift. I’m assuming they were giving it to Matt for his REAL wedding, but it turned into something else entirely once Richard got his hands on it. They said that they had gotten married in New York, as that state now allows it. Matt said that Richard was a beautiful bride. The party was their reception and we were all invited to celebrate! Something tells me the slash portion of fandom will now have a new OTP couple to play with. They really have no one to blame but themselves.
I had moved closer to the stage, wanting to be immersed as much in the party as possible. It earned me a ticket on stage. Richard crooked his finger at me, signaling that he wanted me on stage. I pointed to myself, as if to ask “me?†Richard nodded, crooked his finger again, and once I pushed through the crowd, he hauled me on stage. I got to dance through “Eye of the Tiger.†Now that song is even more special! I had no idea I’d have such amazing luck. While on stage, I got to dance with Matt Cohen, who is quite the snazzy dancer—and even though it sounds shallow, even more attractive in person! Kim Rhodes looked down at my painful boots, got this shocked look on her face and exclaimed “Those are AWESOME!†I told her they cost me $35, that I had gotten them in Long Island at some store I can’t remember the name of, and didn’t have the heart to tell her that my poor toes were in absolute agony. Once the song was over, we all were shuffled off the stage. I took a space by the side of the stage, close to the front and kept dancing. A tiny, tiny part of me wanted it to end so my poor toes would no longer suffer, but I figured “no pain, no gain.†My feet could suffer if the party could continue to be this damn good. We sang “Carry On My Wayward Son,†and ended the night on “Love Shack.†It was more than I had ever expected, and when I finally made it back to my room I was giddy. If anything, the whole convention was totally worth it simply because of this. I highly recommend anyone go to at least this part of it if you don’t go see anything else. It’s even better than I’ve described here, and I thank Matt, Kim, and Richard for being the best hosts ever.
Far Away Eyes, thanks so much for reliving your experiences at the New Jersey Convention for us. They were so in-depth I kinda felt like I was there beside you (in a good way, not a creepy way!) Yirabah actually posted a few videos from the Convention (including one of JP reciting Pi to about 12 decimal places; freak of nature…) and it looks like it was tremendous fun. I don’t think I’ve ever read of anyone having a bad experience at one of these things.
It’s always great to see how refreshingly normal and down to earth these actors are; a far cry from the antics of the ‘celebs’ we’re used to reading about in magazines and whatnot. It’s also lovely to read that the guest stars are such fun, and only have good things to say about their experiences on the show (and I fear I might be developing a new found, ahem… ‘appreciation’ for Matt Cohen.)
In relation to the shoes… what were you thinking?? Heels are bad enough but open toed heels! My toes are curling in sympathy at your plight.
Anyway, good luck with the writing, girl and thanks once again.
Thanks so much. I’m glad you enjoyed my story. I’m going to put it in my convention binder so that I can start building that for the next one, too.
I’d LOVE to see videos from this convention. I had a camera, but it just did not cooperate with me and take any decent photos, so I gave up rather quickly trying to take them. They all either came out dark, blurry or dark AND blurry, so I saw no point in wasting time with it.
Normal? What was normal about the Theater People antics described above? They were truly down to earth, which is beautifully refreshing. Most of the stars in the press that we see just don’t seem to have the talent or waste that talent and have to rely on spin and shock.
Matt Cohen is amazing and you should truly appreciate him. He was awesome and I really hope he’s at my next convention so I can give him a hug properly without broken ribs this time.
The shoes looked hot! They didn’t really hurt until about an hour standing on them, so I didn’t know they were going to be THAT bad. I learned. I wouldn’t mind doing it again, but probably not for karaoke.
Thanks for the encouragement on the writing. I still don’t know how I pulled that rabbit out of the hat. I was not nervous at ALL the entire time, so perhaps it helped.
Thanks for this write-up! I was there, and this was a great way of reliving every awesome moment. (I was gold, but did no M&Gs.) I missed the karaoke & concert Friday, but I had the pleasure of giving Jared his card on Sunday! (Yes, the giant card was mine.)
I love this fandom so much. It’s so hard to explain to people who don’t know. We can relate everything that happened, but we can’t relate the feelings.
That was YOUR card? Awesome sauce! He was so stunned when he got it and that photo with him in his trailer was probably just what you wanted to see.
I absolutely adore this fandom. Those that don’t get it just are missing out on such a beautiful thing.
I wish I could go to another one sooner rather than later. Unfortunately, retail does NOT pay all that well to do that. (Besides, I’m not even close to having my novel ready.)
Far Away, thank you so much for recounting your convention experience. I agree with you completely about the Gold ticket — “Go big, or go home.” I only hope I am as brave as you and not get a fit of shyness when I go to the Toronto convention. Though it would seem I will also be wearing heals as I am barely 5′ 3″ myself.
I really need to save for TWO for next time, but we’ll see. I most certainly lived up to the “Go big or go home” motto.
Don’t worry about being nervous. Just be you and relax. I noticed that it made Jared and everyone else there relax with me when I was the same.
Just don’t dance in those heels! My goodness was that painful!
Aw, it sounds like you had a lot of fun! 😆 I would love to go to a Con, but I really don’t know if that’ll ever happen. It’s nice to know that the actors on this show genuinely are nice people, though I’d be so nervous I had the chance to speak to any of them!
I hope you do someday get to go to one of these. It’s a blast to know that not only do we watch an excellent show, but we’re supporting wonderful people who make it that are genuine and smart.
As for being too nervous, I had some jitters at first when I got there, but quickly I shoved them aside and was just myself. Do that and you’re in.
Great job on the con summary! It was very complete, and you managed to capture the spirit and atmosphere of it very well. Also, as stated above by Adina, reading about it allows those of us who were there the pleasure of reliving it!
And though I mentioned this at the con, thank-you again for being the first person in that Q & A to ask a question. When time was going by and no questions were being asked, my resolve to ask the one that I had planned out for quite some time was weakening. Asking your question so eloquently gave me the nerve to ask Jared about how his portrayal of Sam has changed through the years. I needn’t have been nervous, though; Jared is so down to earth, he makes you feel comfortable talking with him, doesn’t he?
I totally agree that all of the guests were warm and down to earth. I went to Richard Speight Jr’s private meet and greet, and he was so very nice. We all ended up having a drink of chocolate wine with him (which I never had before)! For the toast, he had each of us seated around the table state something we were grateful for on that weekend. He also made sure to spend a few minutes speaking individually to each one of us. At the end, he decided we should all sneak in to Brock’s photo op while he “iced” him. What a crazy time I had!
I hope to go to next year’s NJ con again (that is the one closest to home for me). I hope that you will be there also! I am glad that Supernatural inspired you to focus on your writing again. You are talented, and I look forward to reading more of your work, whether here at TWFB or someday on a bookstore shelf…
You’re very welcome. To be honest, I listen to whining at work all day, and considering someone had set him on the tangent about airline woes, I knew I had to steer the ship away or that’s all we’d get.
I got the sense by Jared’s “Oh please do!” that he was just as anxious to get a real meaty question to change things up, too.
Jared’s such an easy going guy, and I think he’s very comfortable with himself as a person, so he is relaxed, which relaxes those around him. I had no idea I’d have the cajones to say what I said to him, but once it had tumbled out there was no going back.
You were with Richard, eh? Awesome! I love that man so very much having met him. I’ve ALWAYS loved the Trickster/Gabriel, but now? Totally will love those episodes for all new reasons now. I’d have passed on the wine, but it’s all good for the rest!
I’d like to go to the NJ one again, but I don’t know if that’ll be the one I end up. Chicago is much much closer for me, and if I can somehow get my friend to go with me, I’ll have to see where she’d like to go.
As for my novel? First step is to finish it. Second is to edit it to death. Third is to get it into Jared’s (huge) hands. Then I’ll worry about shopping it around, I guess. I see hundreds of rejection slips in my future!
I do hope to see you again at another con!
Hi Far Away Eyes (one of my many favourite Rolling Stones song btw)
Thank you for sharing your first Con experience with us.
I felt like I was there along side you.
I’m so happy your first experience was so amazing.
I don’t think I have ever read anything but wonderful things about the actors that go to these Cons. That they are always gracious, warm and friendly.
I think that says a lot about the actors themselves and about the show.
I hope your book does well when you have it published, you must let us know when it is, so we can help support your efforts.
I’m so glad someone else enjoys this song so much. I love the tongue in cheek nature of Far Away Eyes, and it just seems like a great internet screen name. Once I took it, I knew I’d use it everywhere.
I felt like I was at home—or a three day Ren Fest. The Minnesota Ren Fest is the best place in the WORLD. Even with as great as this con was, that’s still true. I didn’t feel any unease. I guess I took it from a writer’s POV, that we’re all the same, even if we’re in different mediums. I thought to myself a few times through the weekend, “These are MY type of people!” Sure, theater people are crazy, but when they’re this nice and down to earth you can overlook their hobbies (Tibetan Throat Singing, anyone?)
I’m so glad people want to support my writing. Honestly, I don’t know that it’ll live up to the bold expectations I’ve set here in this retelling of the Con story. Let’s just hope a certain moose isn’t disappointed by the final product!
Just love your retelling of your first con experience. 😆
I went to this one and had a ball as well. Too bad you did not stay for the dancing part of the Dessert Party because Rick danced with us. He went around the dance floor and danced a little with everybody that was there. 😀
I am definitely going to the NJ con in August. Hopefully I will see you there. 🙂
I’m glad you liked it. Here I thought I babbled and no one would want to read my rambling retelling.
NICE about Rick. I would have stayed but I was beat and just shot to hell and knew I needed to get up around my normal time to get ready for the morning and such. I got up at quarter to five to shower and primp and the like. I wanted to look decent and alive for my damn photo.
I’m not entirely sure which Con I am attending next. I’d like to get a hold of my friend that didn’t get to come with me this time and take her to one, so I don’t know. If she doesn’t or can’t and I can book things proper I’d like to go to this one again, but that gives me only about a year to get my novel done!
Hey Far Away Eyes. That was such a great story! Thank you so much for sharing, I felt I was there with you. I’d love to go to one of these cons, but I don’t really see that in my future, so in the meantime, it’s through people like you that I can live a little bit of what is going on.
Good luck with your novel, I hope it gets published.
Aww. I certainly do hope you manage to make it to one someday. It’d be fun, trust me.
And thanks for the luck. My goal is to get it into Jared’s hands first, as a courtesy, THEN get it rejected a billion times over by the publishing houses.
We shall see what happens. I’m just going to give it my all and that’s that.
Hello! My daughter was the “locker kitty” costume contest winner. I’ve been scouring the web since the con ended and have yet to find any video or pics of the costume contest with my daughter in them. Would you happen to have any links to any? Thanks so much!
I don’t, but I wish I did! She was adorable! It’s so nice to see so many of the NJ Con people showing up here!
I should scour the net for things sometime soon. I’d love to have some videos myself.
Thank you! She just loves that locker kitty scene from Yellow Fever. The idea for that “costume” just popped into my head one day. All she wanted that weekend was a long-sleeve SPN shirt she saw at the vendor’s table. She won the contest and got the shirt with that certificate. 🙂
I love that locker scene. Dean’s girly scream is amazing and hilarious and Sam’s incredulous look make it perfect!
I’m glad she got what she wanted. I got that shirt, too, mostly because here in Minnesota it gets cold. Why not wear something cool if you have to bundle up?
Sam’s look is perfect. XD I love it!
I bought that shirt for me too! LOL! I think it will be perfect for the fall here in PA. Nice Halloween shirt too. My favorite holiday! o/