csteinme and CYBY DragonCon adventure

[csteinme]

;D Wow! What an adventure! The last two days have been the most disappointing and exhilirating rollercoaster experience I've been on in a long time.
Well, you all know the drama of Hurricane Frances. OMG!! Tornado Warning passing right over my house as I'm typing this!! Now I'm really getting nervous that it will be a sad homecoming in a few days...

OK - back to my story of DragonCon. CYBY and I decided to head up to DragonCon despite the enormous looming Hurricane Frances heading towards us. We left at 6am knowing that it might take all day to get there. And it did. 11 hours. But we got there just in time to make the 7pm panel with Adam, Nathan, and Jewel. Or so we thought. We didn't have the required registration badge. So we SPRINTED (in heels) through two hotels and down two levels to the registration and stood in line for 1/2 hour then SPRINTED back by 7:30. Only to be told that the panel was closed and no one else could go in. We couldn't believe it. To drive all that way with all the other Florida refugees to make it just in time to have the doors close and not make it in was devastating. I was in tears. CYBY was pleading with the door guards (nicely) about our long, arduous trip and that we had been invited by Adam via the board postings, but they were just following orders. A very nice Browncoat named Rene tried to console us. As we were there weeping (well, I was weeping), the door guard took pity on us and let us in to stand near the door for the last 10 minutes. I was instantly happy.

As it was over so quicly for us, we left the room only to spy Adam talking nearby with some fans. We approached him and CYBY went up to him to say hi. He recognized her board name and roared out 'CYBY!' and threw his arms around her in a giant bear hug. Fortunately, the door guard saw this so he could appreciate that she was telling the truth that she knew him.

She then turned to introduce me, and I was speechless! I squeaked out that I started his Hottie thread, and he threw his arms around me, kissed me on the cheek, and said something about me being the hottie. He shook my son's hand firmly and told him it was nice to meet him. I took this opportunity to give him a gift. It was one of the Firefly Park ornaments with all the Firefly Park characters from Lux's Cafe Press site that was abruptly closed. I truly think he was touched as he thanked me. Then, he made sure to invite us to the Browncoat mixer later that night, that he was surely going to be there.
;D

pg.photos.yahoo.com/ph/csteinme/detail?.dir=/8d1d&.dnm=775c.jpg&.src=ph

[csteinme]

Well, CYBY and I were so elated that we were floating. Didn't matter that we missed the panel, we had the chance to have a quick chat with Adam! So we decided to visit the Firefly Fan table and our new friend Rene offered to show us. As we were walking over to the table, Nathan came around the corner, pointed at us and said 'I love your shirt!' We're not exactly sure which shirt he meant, as both CYBY and I had on Firefly shirts, but that didn't matter. Rene started talking with him and then introduced him to me! Again, I squeaked *something* out as he gave me a hug! Then he moved on to CYBY who asked him for two favors. First was if he could talk to or leave a message for one of the other Fillies (AMYL). He said 'Sure!' CYBY tried to dial her number, but the signal strength wasn't getting through, so she asked for a picture. Meanwhile, Adam had made his way over. I was taking CYBY and Nathan's picture, and he playfully jumped into the background! Then he jumped back and winked at me - CYBY didn't know he did that until she saw the pictures later. Then Nathan and I had a picture taken by my son. Nathan was so gracious and patient while my son fiddled with the camera and finally took the picture. Then Nathan and Jewel (who we didn't get a chance to talk to) went off for another appointment.
Adam was disturbed that we were unable to get into the panel until it was almost over. He said that the solution was to have it in a larger room! I totally agreed. Then Adam started talking to us about our trip up. We were going on about the long trip and huge traffic and just getting there in time to not get in wah wah wah story, and he (being so concerned) asked if we even had a chance to eat. We said no, we had just worried about getting there in time to see them. He was concerned for my son (being a growing boy of 9) being hungry, so he asked us if we wanted to catch a bite or drinks. We were like 'Sure!'

We found a sports cafe and sat at one of the booths. I think CYBY and Rene were being kind because they sat together so I could sit next to Adam. I was in Bunkmate heaven! He really is a fine man and so darn polite! We ordered drinks and talked for over an hour. He is so easy to talk to that I was finally able to get over *squeakiness* and actually say some semi intelligent things. We talked about our kids, the BDM (no spoilers), politics, etc. He asked us if we wanted to see the movie gag reel and that it had some spoilers. We said 'Sure!' So he said that he would bring it to the fan mixer later. He showed us his Inkworks Jayne card - it looks wonderful! I told him I would have to buy a couple of boxes...

[csteinme]

Adam finally had to leave as he had some stuff to do before he could make it to the fan mixer later, but he told us to be sure to be there. So of course, that's where we went next. It was stuffed with people! And the Serenity episode was on, so we settled in to watch and chat with the other Browncoats. I was able to meet Horsenbuggy, DVDGuy, 11thhour, and Dubbage. I absolutely adore 11th's artwork, so it was a real pleaseure to meet her. She was thrilled that I was wearing the Jayne the Mercenary T-shirt I had made. What a wonderful lady. And I sat down on the floor right next to Horsenbuggy who told me about her adventures at the Orlando airport. She is such a sweetie. And DVDGuy and Brian (one of the BDE's) were also very nice, but I didn't really get a chance to talk with them much. And Dubbage called out to me as she was making her way around the back of the couch.
Then, Adam showed up with his laptop (applause). He was so obviously glad to be there amongst the fans, and excited to show the new gag reel. Since it was loaded directly on his laptop and he didn't have the cables to hook it up to the TV, he had to hold the laptop up high enough so everyone could see it. <bunkmate mode> Oh my! *rippling muscles* Those arms! </bunkmate mode> Unfortunately, there were lots of non-browncoat folk behind us talking not so quietly, so we couldn't hear anything. But the funniest part I remember is the ongoing joke between Nathan and Jewel of flipping each other off. Then Adam threw a kiss to all the Browncoats and was off.

Well, my son was oh so tired (it's after 12 am at this point), that we decided to call it a night (we still had to drive another 20 mins back to our hotel). CYBY and I were just walking on air. But dreading the possible drive/stay decision on the hurricane. We decided to sleep the night and watch the news in the morning and then decide whether or not to stay for the next Firefly panel at 11 on Saturday.

We got up the next morning, and it was a really hard decision. We decide to go back to the convention just for an hour or two to see if we could catch them signing autographs, but not to stay for the panel discussion. It was kind of a compromise as I really wanted to get my Browncoat flag signed by Nathan and my DVD cover signed by Adam. We were in luck as they were at the signing tables early. We walked up to the table, and Adam stood up and shook my son's hand when he saw him. I was so impressed with his gentleness. He asked Nicole how the hurricane was coming along. Then the line guard came and told us we had to get in line, so we went over to the end.

Aaaaack! Now there's a tornado warning for right over MSCKaren's house!! I'm going to be biting my nails all night long I see...

When we finally got up to the head of the line, we were able to get to Nathan first. He remembered us from the day before, and I asked him if I could get a picture of him with my son as my son always likes to be Capt Mal when they play Firefly. Nathan was so sweet! pg.photos.yahoo.com/ph/csteinme/detail?.dir=/8d1d&.dnm=4477.jpg

Then I asked if he could sign my Browncoat flag. He said sure! As he signed it, the money taker person for them exclaimed that they had one of those and it was hanging on the post yesterday. Then Adam looked over and jumped up and pulled out the one that MSCKaren had given him from me. I was again teary eyed that he had it with him. He said that when he heard some Florida Browncoats were coming to the Con that he had to bring it. I told him that I was the one that made it for him, and I told him that he ROCKS! He started hanging it back up on the post for all to see. I pulled out the money to pay for Nathan's signature and asked how much it was. The money taking person said $20 for one, $40 for two. So I gave her $40 for Nathan and Adam's signatures. Nathan heard 'two', exclaims 'Oh my! Two!', and grabs my copy of the DVDs and signs it!

[csteinme]

17968.16 in reply to 17968.9

While I was overjoyed to get TWO Nathan signatures, the money taking person expected additional payment for an Adam signature. Adam signed my DVD cover for his disk. He asked us about the hurricane, and we told him we were leaving right then to try to get back to our families before it hit. He told us that he was leaving the next day for South Africa to start on his next project. Then, he let me get a picture with him, me, and his Browncoat Flag. I told him that I was so very touched that he would remember to bring the flag and display it. There were hugs all around, and then we were off to hit the highway south.
There was little traffic on the trip home. pg.photos.yahoo.com/ph/csteinme/detail?.dir=/8d1d&.dnm=a1d0.jpg&.src=ph

We practically flew along and made it home in a record 6 hours!! There was only a handful of cars on I-75, especially after we crossed the Florida border. I'm thinking the few cars heading north fancied that we were idiots for heading into the storm. We had some pretty good weather all the way down, with only one bad rain patch about 30 miles north of Orlando.

CYBY and I relived every tiny moment of the whirlwind adventure and concluded that it was well worth the trip up. We got to meet two exceptional actors, spend some quality time with Adam, spend some quality time with our fellow Browncoats, and see the movie gag reel. What more could a happy little Bunkmate dream of?? Perhaps... the next con??