Monday 21 May 2012

Conventions... To Geek or Not to Geek...

When you mention to people that you go to conventions, their first reaction is usually, "What? Like Trekkies?" This is, of course, a reasonable summation. After all, you have Comic Con etc where people dress up like their heroes and have a whale of a time, and you kind of think you can pick them out of a line-up, because they've got to be skinny nerds with glasses, surely?  No. I, my fellow bloggers, am indeed a convention nerd.

This is me. I don't look particularly nerdy... certainly not skinny, although I do have the glasses - but that's cause I'm blind without them, not part of my geek outfit.

The conventions I attend are for my favourite TV show, Supernatural, with Jensen Ackles and Jared Padalecki.  I'm sure most of you who know me, will have no trouble believing this.  Basically, you get the chance to participate in Q&A panels, if you're brave enough, and have your photograph taken and collect the autograph of your favourite characters and miscellaneous guest stars from the show.

Now, I'm not going to deny that the draw of the convention is the guests. Well at least it was for my first convention in 2009. After that, the guests were just gravy. Not that my tiny little heart wasn't pitter-patting any less when having the Ackles and the Padalecki arms wrapped around you, but they were not the main reason.

A typical opening ceremony on the Saturday morning will leave you in your seat, heart in your mouth as the music plays, the introductory vid, made by our lovely Doug the MC, begins to play and 800 people (at least) start to clap and cheer and wolf-whistle like you've never heard before.

Then, one by one, the guests are introduced. (The boys are not always there, but if they are, they are usually left til last for their big entrance. Sometimes this involves Jared or Jensen or indeed both of them tripping up the stage step - depending on how long their flight was).  The poor actors and actresses are hit by flashing cameras and deafening screams.  It's really exciting. But do you know what's more exciting than these gorgeous men?

It's the people sitting beside you, and in front of you and behind you.  It's the friends you have made and the people whom you would never have met, if it were not for this little TV show about spooky stuff and the longest road trip in history.

I have made friends that will last me a lifetime. Friends I now consider family. I posted on my facebook a picture of myself with three other women.  Women who have empowered me, stood by me, loved me through the last three years, good times and bad.  These women have become my sisters and I cherish them. Each Friday night, the first of the convention, we have a photograph taken of the four of us. It was a tradition started in 2009 and one we still carry on, and I'd like to share them with you...

A3 - 2009

A4 - 2010

A5 - October 2010

A6 - May 2011 (Also Jaynee's Hen Night)
These photos are the reason I attend cons. The chance to see people I may only see once a year is the reason I decide on my fancy dress outfit for the themed discos and walk around like an idiot.  I don't care... because I'm with my family, these four women, and many others ranging from all over the country, the world actually!

So, if you've never been to a convention... I highly recommend them.  You might find some of your missing family members, too :)

1 comment:

  1. Awe, fab entry, and lovely to be one of you 4!!!!

    ReplyDelete