My DC experience
I had the good fortune to attend the Supernatural convention in DC (technically Arlington, Virginia) during my travels. Several people have been asking about my experience, so I’ll explain what happened in my experience.
The gold panel
I had gone gold for the purpose of witnessing the gold panel, even though I only attended on Sunday. Senseless, I know, but it is what it is. I had the intention of photographing the panel, but for some reason made the decision to do it on my phone instead of my camera. Poor judgement call.
The lads came on stage around 20-25 minutes late, I’m not quite certain. Jared explained to have overslept and warned that he’s feeling sleepy and very honest. The beginning of the panel had gay vibes coming at me in waves. Jared especially was acting like a queen, which is something I always love seeing.
The details of what was talked about escape me now, three days later, but I remember enjoying the hell out of it. Both of these fine gents were in a good mood and their interactions were highly entertaining. I was a little surprised to see them live - as you do whenever you see someone famous live. They were even more captivating than I could have imagined.
Jared’s photo op
I didn’t manage to score myself a Jensen op, so my ops began with Jared. I was feeling surprisingly mellow, considering the circumstances, and enjoyed watching Jared interacting with the fans from the queue. He’s a natural with people.
I was debating between getting a hug picture and getting a reverse prom pose. I decided on the latter. ABBA’s Dancing Queen started playing, and that no doubt affected my decision. I walked up to Jared, saying hello and explaining that “I wanted to do a prom pose...” at which point he was already turning me “-- with a twist! I want to be the boy!” He went “Oh!” with a smile and we assumed positions. It was over very quickly and I thanked him and turned to go.
A volunteer came up to me and explained someone had blinked and I would have to redo. I went to the end of the line, which was very short at that point. I came up to Jared and explained that we’d apparently have to redo and he just grabbed me into a tight hug. I didn’t have the chance to explain my pose or anything, but it was wonderful. I had just gotten that hug that I had been debating with myself. I told him he had made me gone all gooey inside and thanked him as I left.
Turned out I hadn’t blinked, but that both of the pictures turned out well. Score! Obviously I’m too much of a pussy to release my face here, so here are the cencored versions.
The afternoon panel
At this point of the day, I was feeling the social exhaustion and just hung out at the smoking spot during Sam Smith’s and JDM’s panel. Luckily I made it back just in time, gazing from the doorway as J2 hopped on stage while Jeff was still talking. I made a sprint to my spot and dug out my phone to photograph it all.
That decision didn’t last for very long, because all the pictures I took were of horrible quality and the more sensible thing to do was just to sit back and enjoy the show. I quit taking pictures within the first five minutes of the panel. Further illustrations will be of random panel pictures I took at random times.
The schedule had been running late since the morning, ever increasingly so. I was worried with the development - what was this about? How on Earth do these beautiful fellows manage these long days? My concerns subsided for a while as the jolly men took over the show and proceeded to entertain us.
I remember a case of face-touching and some statements that made me wonder. I will have to take a look at the videos to find out just what these statements were - it’s considerably harder to follow these panels live, as you lack the option of rewinding and pausing. Many of the questions from other fans made me groan, but there were some good ones as well. I seem to recall one of the fans introducing herself and saying something along the lines of “I love you, but I love your wives more,” which actually made me say WHATTT out loud. Yikes.
I felt that the panel was over far too soon. Neither of the men displayed the exhaustion I had expected, and listening to them talk was something I could have witnessed for the rest of the day. I recall Jared mentioning that he had had some trouble with motivation as of late, and that made me feel bad for the guys. I remember one of them mentioning that the loss of anonymity was something that’s hard about being famous. That gave me pause.
J2 photo op
I was among the first 50 people to get my J2 op. The guys were a bit late in appearing to the op room and I entertained myself with the possible reasons for that. I swore I would take a discreet sniff of them to determine if they reeked of sex, but as you probably figured, I didn’t remember that.
I didn’t really have the chance to observe them for a long time while I was in the line, as there was a curtain covering the set up. From what little I saw, I determined Jared was mostly in charge of the situation while Jensen went with the flow. That was pretty much what I had expected as well. When I walked up to them, something awful came out of my mouth without a warning; “Can I be in a J2 sandwich?” They laughed and assured me it’s possible. Somehow I ended up facing Jared, when I had the intention of facing Jensen due to my lack of a Jensen op.
Regardless of my regrettable change of heart at the last minute, I was very happy with the way this picture turned out. I stumbled out, thanking them and heading out for a calming cigarette.
The wait
It was going to be a very long wait until the autos. My friend @hotdamnj2 and I headed down for food and drinks (and cigarettes for me). After I while, I took her to the second floor where I had accidentally found out the green room was located. The floor was guarded by a Creation volunteer, whom I had charmed earlier into letting me use the bathroom on that floor. I had come across Louden Swain earlier on that floor as I was exiting the bathroom.
The sound of laughter and chatter was echoing from the green room as we made our turn to the restrooms. After we came back, a bodyguard was holding an elevator. I blanked for a second and walked straight into it, and the friendly man allowed us to take it. @hotdamnj2 understood right away what was happening and suggested that we stay by the elevators to see who’s coming down.
Moments later, Jensen exits the elevator on the wrong floor, accompanied by the same bodyguard and other personnel we had just seen. He gave us one of his charming smiles as he went back to the elevator. He was needed on the floor below for the photo ops with Misha. I will never forget that radiant smile!
The autographs
I had gotten all my photographs by this point and was ready to have a couple of seconds of interaction with both of the J’s. We went up to Samantha Smith first, whom I had a lovely chat with. I complimented her on her very pretty jacket and she complimented me on my name, which being Finnish, she found exotic. She got me smiling, it was brief but very lovely.
Next up was Jared. I brought my op for him to sign and proceeded to tell him how I had come all the way from Finland. He thought it was cool and surprising. Then he said “Are you Finnish?” to which I happily chirped “Yes, I am!”. Then he started laughing and apologizing and suddenly I understood the joke. I slumped my shoulders in faux disappointment and went “aww.” I thanked him, told him I loved him and exited while Jared was still giggling to himself.
@hotdamnj2 was in line after me and later told me Jared had been super embarrassed of his own joke and kept asking the volunteers “Why did I say that?” Luckily she had told him I didn’t mind it. I should have probably stuck around for a while longer, but I was determined to do my best to be neat and quick, to not clog up the lines and delaying J2 from going home after such a long day. I felt bad about my own reaction, as the faux nature of it was not necessarily easy to read as such!
We went straight to Jensen’s queue after that. I had so many things running through my mind that I was intending to quip. What came out instead, after Jensen fixed his eyes on me, was “Thank you very much!” and I was once again rushing off to be out of the way. @hotdamnj2 had to do damage control on my behalf once again and she had told Jensen that the op I had him sign had been wonderful.
Oh my. Hopefully I will do better when I meet them again at Rome next spring! Despite my embarrassing behaviour, I was very happy to have had this experience. I had such a wonderful time at the convention! I was also very happy to discover that I could keep my cool around J2 and that, as I had suspected, I was not one of those crying fangirl types. Until the next time!