Saturday.  It is so funny how at a con all kinds of crazy things can happen in the world and you have no idea.  It’s hard to even remember the day.  Is it Sunday/  Tuesday?  No, it is Saturday.  And yesterday I thought my husband was a silly Fanboy…but yesterday was child’s play compared to today!!!!  He is now officially listed not only on Liz Sladen’s crazy stalker fan list, but now he is also on Nick Briggs and Robert Sherman’s lists too.  I actually feel like I should apologize to them all, because he has gone stalker boy crazy! We actually had a conversation today about how it is good that we have each other there when we go fanboy/girl insane, or we would never get autographs or have any memory of it at all.

Today we got to hear Colin Baker speak, and I was instantly charmed.  What is it about the Doctor, apparently any Doctor that just makes me a sucker?  He was so enjoyable, personal, witty…it made me wish I knew his Doctor better so I could be proper excited.  We decided that we are going to have to make a point to watch some of his stuff because he was so great.  If I like my Big Finish Audio book purchase, perhaps I will buy some of his books.

Did I mention the dealers room yesterday?  Everyone knows that Barrie is no longer employed, and we debated going to the convention at all, but we finally decided to go and to only spend money we had, no credit cards were used at all.  With all the bonuses and paying out PTO we had almost $3000 to spend.  We spent over $300 in the dealers room.  The doors opened at 12, and we were in line.  We rushed in with all the other sad fans and just started buying crap!  My excuse is that because we have been trying to conserve money, I have not been shopping or buying anything since he got laid off….so once I was set loose, I went nuts.  Not sure what Barrie’s excuse was.  We walked out of the dealers room with:

-Another Sonic screwdriver (“This one is a torch,(British for flashlight.  When you get that many Brits together, Barrie reverts to Brit speak)” was the explanation I got when I asked why we needed ANOTHER one .  This makes 3 .

-A Laser Screwdriver

-5 inch Nine and Ten dolls.  They are mine and I plan to do really obscene things with them when I am alone…..(insert evil grin)

-The first part of Doctor Who and the Blood of the daleks (Big Finish Audio book.  It has Paul McGann as the Doctor.  I must admit, I have always had a thing for him so I am looking forward to hearing it)

-”The Doctor Who Encyclopedia”

-”The Writers Tale” by Russell T Davies, the man responsible for New Who and the producer and major writer for the first 4 seasons.

-Red Dwarf playing cards-they’re funny.

Ok, embarassed, but most of that is mine…yeah, I went crazy, but I am not apologetic at all.  I need all that stuff!

So back to Barrie being labeled as a crazed stalker fanboy.  In the panel with Nick Briggs he managed to mention and make fun of his own obsession with the daleks, number one in the crazed stalker handbook.  He managed to mention this again to Rob Sherman during a panel too, and he asked them to sign his Dalek.  So here is the sign he has gone overboard, he did the participated in the masquerade.  Through a series of mishaps, I ended up in the room and really tired when he went down and got autographs from Nick (on a picture) and Rob.  He told me he mentioned again not only that he was not a crazy stalker boy for them, but that he wanted them to sign his Dalek.  Oh, and did I mention that from Saturday around 2pm on, whenever We passed Nick or Rob in the halls, they would make eye contact with him and go “Hello Barrie”.  That was strike 3. Official Stalker Fanboy hall of fame.   He won a award in the Masquerade for Best Tech, and who did they have present it to him, Nick.  Yeah, he is on someone’s list.

BTW, they are calling for snow tomorrow.  No mores now flurries or snow showers, actual snow.  Hmmmmmmm…….

Well, I am so so excited, today was an awesome day!  We went down for the convention, and I really expected to see the same 20 lame people we saw in the lobby the night before and was pleasantly surprised.  There were lots of people there!!!  I really mean it!  There were 2 video rooms showing Doctor Who and Who related videos.  There were 3 rooms of panel programing, and a  dealers room.  This is the first time I have seen more that a few Doctor Who costumers.  Yeah, I saw the usual suspects, Roses and Tens I see at DragonCon, but there were also other Doctors, and Companions and Unit members….pretty cool.  Today’s mission was to get Elisabeth Sladen’s autograph.  It was very much like DragonCon .  We stood in line and got a professional picture done with Liz Sladen by accident, then we stood in line to get her autograph, then we went over and got awesome seats to hear her speak.  My she was typical British woman,  a bit standoffish and she worked hard to be very be politically corect in all her answers.  She was not what I expected and I was a bit dissapointed.  I couldn’t help but think that she was like all British Women I’ve been dealing with lately.  Yuch.  I am really having a hard time getting my British mojo back after the stuff earlier this year….::sigh::   The funny thing is she looks great, she looks just like she looks on the show, and Barrie became this giggling, flumoxed fanboy.  She is petite and very well put together, she reminded me of his mother a bit…heehee.  It is funny to see him get like this really.  It’s not the buxom blond with the low cut top, it is Elisabeth Sladen that makes him lose his stuff.  Funny.  I asked if is because he had a crush on her when he was young, and she was the Doctor’s companion, and he said “No, it is more like she looks great now.”  Nice to see a man whois not threatened by a mature, confident  woman.

Chicago Tardis does  an awesome thing.  “Opening Ceremonies” is at the end of the first day, when all the guests have arrived.  They get introduced and come out on stage and then you get a chance to take pictures of all of them.  The 2 big guests are Liz Sladena d Colin Baker, but there are a ton of people here from Big Finish Audio.  They produce  Doctor Who audio books with the 3 classic doctors still alive.  I don’t know much about the audio books, but every year at DC I say I am going to pick one up and listen it it to see if I like it.  I might actually do that here.  Some of the Big Finish People are also involved with New Who Nick Briggs- voice of Daleks and Barrie’s Man Crush, Paul Cornell(wrote the Family of Blood and Human Nature eps)  and Rob Sherman(wrote Daleks) even though there is are no new Who big stars, this has been way better than I expected.

So the first day is done and dusted, and it was alot fo fun and I am so glad we came.  There was one more thing I forgot to mention that  makes this con awesome.  Not only is there a Mall within walking distance (the mall that has the Ed Debivic’s that I want to go too, and a food court with a Mickey Dee’s Arby’s, Taco Bell and the usual Mall Food Court suspects ), but there is also a Target across the parking lot.  a TARGET! Great hotel, great food, great guests, and a TARGET!!!!  Does it get any better???

Actually it does.  At the end of the first panel this morning they played the first 2 minutes of the next Christmas special.  It was reased as a “Children  in Need” special this year.  Yes, there was much squeeing (is that correct?  Squeeing?  Did I sque, or is it squee?  How do you conjugate squee?”  GOD, I LOVE Doctor Who!!!)  I felt like someone had suddenly thrown me a lifeline, and I hadn’t realized I needed it until I had it.  If you like Who, look it up online….I am smiling just remembering!

Today we undertook the long drive to Chicago for Chicago Tardis.  I have made the long  drive to Chicago before. Years ago, not sure how many Anna, my mom and I made this drive to go to a Comic Convention in Chicago Illinois.    I was looking forward to the drive to see what I remembered, just seeing different stuff, and of course being in Chicago today.  The drive was 12 hours and I hate to say pretty boring.  The last 3 hours were in total darkness and part of me was itching to see what was going on, and part of me was just saying “Let’s GET there already!”.  The worst part of the drive was the middle 3rd.  The first 3rd was exciting because we were driving through the NC and  Tennessee Mountains.  Sometimes I marvel at myself.  I don’t like heights, but I want to drive through the mountains- I’m a nutball.   The drive bothered me more than I wanted to admit, and I wonder if my fear is getting worse, or I just notice it more now.  We were full of vim and vigor and everything was fun.  “Stop for gas?”  “What a blast.”  “Stop for food?  This is awesome.”  The middle 3rd was just long and boring with not alot of scenery and a constant nagging thought of “Are we there yet?  Are we almost there?”  And as I said above, the last bit sucked. When we walked into the hotel lobby I was excited and thrilled

A. To be there finally.

B.  To be at Chicago Tardis.

I have always wanted to go to Chicago over the Thanksgiving weekend for this convention, but in the past before Doctor Who came back, none  of my friends were interested in Doctor Who, and since it has come back and I have someone to go with, Barrie has always had to work the Friday after Thanksgiving and could never get off unless he was dead.  How ironic that he decided this year to put his foot down, and Tweeter went bankrupt.  He didn’t even the opportunity to put his foot down.  It was weird that Chicago is an hour behind us, and trying to find food on Thanksgiving night after 9pm was a pretty good challenge. This hotel is pretty awesome.  I don’t think I have ever been in a hotel that has a mini-bar.  Everything is modern, with clean lines.  Not a look I would want in my house, but it is pretty cool.  The heavenly bed is not nearly as heavenly as the Marriott in Atlanta, but the heavenly towel (only one and it is labeled as a “heavenly towel”) is heavenly and again, I really like the clean fresh eco-friendly look.    We already got our badges and programs for the convention tomorrow….looks good….but the geeks in the lobby, well, it kind of looks like a sausagefest….hope it gets better.

Barrie and I got a wild hair last Sunday and got in our car and drove.  Actually it was a trip we had planed a while ago that got postponed, and it is also part of our trying to care for our relationship.  Anyway, we were headed to the NC Mountains to see the changing leaves.  It was supposed to be the prime weekend for it.  The trip was weird.  The drive to the mountains was better than the actual mountains because in the mountains it had already changed.  On the drive through SC the leaves were in peak shades of red gold brown and green.  It was great.  I realized a few things from that trip :

1. While a drive through the mountains sounds great, if you don’t like heights, have control issues  and have a husband who delights  in the curvy, twisty turny roads as a change to practice his race car driving skills(ok, I told him to, but I was joking!),  a trip to the mountains is not for you.

2.  If you are not into buying lots of little chatskies , and don’t delight in buying old crap owned by other people, the charm of a walk through those small mountain towns is also not for you.

What we did find to do was a place called Pearson Falls.  We saw the signs and got out to check it out.  For $3 a person, you drive into this little “park” and get to do a “moderate hike of 1/4 mile” (straight from the brochure; I thought it was actually pretty easy) though a well planned path along the little river to the waterfall.  It was quite fun.  I have never spent much time in the mountains so I was amazed at how cool it was up there; and the falls were a lovely reward for the hike.  The sound so intrigued me.  People tended to speak in hushed tones.  I was just amazed that I saw one woman who had brought a book and was sitting by the falls reading….what awe inspiring thing.  Did she just happen to have her book and she sat down to read, or did she plan this and brought her book on purpose?  I found myself wondering if you lived near there would you make a plan to go out there every weekend, or would it be something to do when you had company?

and the falls

My favorite thing about the trip, we stopped at the outlet mall in Gaffney, SC on the way back and I bought a pair of jeans that fit so I can recycle my old ones and Barrie bought a pair of shoes that fit.  This says something about me that my favorite part of a trip to nature was shopping right :)? He has been wearing size 10′s but he really needed 10 1/2.  Weird, are our feet like our hair and nails, constantly growing throughout our life?

The concert was great tonight!  I think it is a awesome ting to watch a band play.  I mean a real band with trumpets, trombones and a stand-up base.  The music was all from “Oh My Nola”, his latest album.  The proceeeds go toward builing a musician’s village in the 9th ward.  It was like watching a group of musicians jam.  Made me remember my band days.  There were 2 things I really enjoyed.  The first was when a woman yelled out “You are my Sunshine” and Harry started an impromptu jam session singing it.  The 2 was Harry dancing around on the stage.  It was that “New Orleans Shuffle” kind of dance, and at the end, He and another band member did the Voodoo King dance…basically they turned around shook their butts at us and shuffled across the stage.  I have never been to New Orleans during the Mardi Gras, but I got the impression that that is what would happen.  The crowd went nuts and the whole place just felt rally festive.  I can’t wait to go to New Orleans now.

Let’s get Rocked

Let it Go

Promises

Bringin’ on the Heartbreak

Foolin’

Hysteria

20th Century Boy

Rock On

Rocket

Photograph

Armageddon it

Animal

Rock of Ages

Encore

Love Bites (thanks for catching that Ron, I am in DL overload)

Pour some Sugar on me

Colimbia, SC at The Colonial Center