Toronto Trek 2003
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Tuesday 8th July
Holiday has really begun now. Spent the morning slobbing around at supernaturalhel's. We watched Not Another Teen Movie which was funny and gross at the same time. Then we headed off to the station. We were pretty early but luckily there was an earlier train that I managed to catch. Navigating the tube with my suitcase was fun. I had to drag the bloddy thing up and down several flights of stairs. Why they don't have lifts is beyond me.
Anyway, made it to the hotel in Heathrow without any problems (aside from the stairs of course). This evening I treated myself to a rather expensive but very nice dinner. Spoiled slightly by the fact that I had to eat alone but these things can't be helped. Came back to my room, read a Buffy magazine and then settled myself down to enjoy a good Bond movie (Dr No). Am getting picked up at 5:15 tomorrow which means I'll have to get up at 4:30. I can't remember the last time I saw that time of morning. Fun!
Wednesday 9th July
God I'm exhausted! I was doing pretty well with the whole jet lag thing but it's now about 2am British time and I'm still sat in Washington Airport. Day started off well aside from one minor mishap. Managed to drag myself out of bed at 4:45am and get myself reading and checked out in time for my taxi. The problem? There WAS no taxi. 15 minutes passed and I eventually called the company who claimed that the driver had turned up and been told I was getting the bus. Bullshit! I got very angry and yelled at them and 5 minutes later the taxi arrived. Only ended up being 5 minutes late to the airport and it didn't really matter anyway, the place was deserted. It only took me about ten minutes to get checked in and everything and this left me with about 2 hours to kill. Luckily I found an internet cafe (why don't all airports have these?) and that killed some time as did breakfast.
Getting on the plane reminded me how much I dislike flying. Taking off and landing are the most terrifying experiences EVER. When I'm in the air I'm fine, all you can see is cloud and you kind of forget that you're thousands of feet in the air.
Anyway, met up with Kristin at the airport and she goes on the list as yet another internet friend who is lovely in real life (in fact that goes for everyone I met while I was away). We had lunch together and just chatted like we were old friends.
The time soon came for me to catch my plane to Toronto and this was where the problem. I'd been in the boarding lounge for 5 minutes when all of a sudden this tropical storm came out of nowhere. I'd never seen anything like it in my life. There were gale force winds, forked lightning, thunder, torrential rain, it was incredible to look at. We just don't get storms like that here. And it was still really hot outside. Unfortunately the storm resulted in my plane being delayed which is why I'm still in Washington and not halfway to Toronto like I should be. Still, the plane is here now so hopefully it won't be too much longer.
Ended up being 2 hours late into Toronto. Daks and Py are lovely and they had a wheelchair fight while they were waiting for me. Which I'd been there for that. LOL. I haven't slept in about 24 hours so I guess I should head to bed.
Thursday 10th July
Today has been so much fun. We went to the race track at Woodbine and had a lovely buffet lunch. Banana pancakes are to die for! Daks got me and Py addicted to betting on the horses. I won a couple but Py won loads. She then stated learning how to read all the stats and I predict she'll be at gamblers annonymous before too long ;)
In the evening we went to see Charlie's Angels 2. It was a lot of fun and a loads better than the first one. We're going shopping tomorrow and I'm making it my mission to find a Spike coat.
Friday 11th July
Well, today has certainly been interesting. Didn't get a Spike coat and I realised when we got to the mall that I didn't have a dress for the cocktail party in Tampa. We went into pretty much every shop there was and in the end I found one in the very first shop we went into. Typical! (Will post a pic when I type up the Tampa stuff). We're going to another mall on Tuesday so if I have enough money I'll try and get a coat there.
The con was ok. I fell in love with the dealer rooms and I could quite easily spend all my money there. I bought a novelisation of Season Seven and decided to stop there before I went crazy.
The meet and greet with Anthony Stewart Head was kind of disappointing. He sat at our table for maybe five minutes and seemed to be spending a lot longer with everyone else. We chatted about some general stuff and we asked what was happening with Ripper. He said that it's been put on the back burner while Joss works on some other stuff. That was kind of it really. I had my picture taken with it and mine looks awful. Cover your eyes folks.
Autographs and forums tomorrow. Should be fun.
Saturday 12th July
God I'm exhausted but it's been a fun day. I've finally embraced my inner geek and I just felt so at home at the con.
We started off with a panel on forgiveness in the Buffyverse. It was ok but it ended up more being a discusion on why Spike really went to Africa.
Then we went to a session on the characters of Angel and spent most of our time talking about Wesley. Understanable really. He's hot and cool.
Then we went to Anthony's Q and A session. It was really good! He was really funny and he sang for us too. I asked him what his favourite episode was and he named Passion, Hush, Restless and Once More With Feeling. We have another Q and A tomorrow which should be good.
It was autograph time after that and we had to queue for about 2 hours though. The time went really quickly. Especially when I got talking to the Save Farscape campaigners. We started ranting about the injustice of it all and the time just flew by.
When I got to the autograph table I just couldn't think of anything to say. ASH said hello, signed my autograph and I went on my merry way. Funny how you couldn't shut me up when I met James.
We then went to a panel on lost Buffy and Angel plots but that wasn't so good. It was just people talking about things they's like to have seen happen on the show. To me that's what fanfic is for.
Next was the Buffy memorial panel where we just chatted about the show. I met Chen and Colleen from one of my mailing lists which was cool. Chen hung with us for a while afterwards and we just chatted. She's going to be at Tampa next week so I'll see her again there.
Then we had the apparent Buffy themed dance. There was nothing at ALL to do with Buffy though. ASH popped in for a couple of drinks and sat with Jason Carter who was also there. The guy who played Agent Spender from XF was also there but I had NO idea who he was until someone told me. Stopped watching XF before he was on it.
Finally we had a forum on slash. I took Daks with me as she thinks slash is gross and I thought it might give her a different perspective on it. She found it interesting but still won't read it. Ah well, I tried.
More stuff tomorrow and Tampa in just under a week. WHEE!!!
Sunday 13th July
Well, the con is over. It was cool. We went to a charity auction this morning and I bid on a couple of items that had been autographed by James but I was outbid :(
Then we went to a panel on how Buffy could have been and I saw the unaired pilot for the show. It was SO funny. They clearly had a very low budget. There was barely any music, no sound effects and when they dusted a vamp it looked like something out of a Hammer Horror movie. It was weird seeing Willow being played by someone else and I can certainly see why they changed actress. It was nothing to do with her being plump, she just couldn't act. She delivered her lines in the most wooden way. It was terrible
We then went to another Q and A with ASH. It was great. He played his guitar and sang and he has the most amazing voice. What was really funny was that he kept slipping into an American accent. I think he's been stateside for too long. LOL.
Then we had Buffy and Angel bingo. It was a lot of fun and I came away with a postcard of Cordy, a few trading cards and a tin of bubblegum.
This evening we went to see League of Extrodinary Gentlemen.
It was great and Stuart Townsend was yummy as usual. Tonight is actually
the first night we've been home by midnight. I should make the most of
it and go to sleep.
Monday 14th July
Caught The Price Is Right this morning and snickered about Bob Barker being the key
We went to Canada's Wonderland today and went on loads of cool rides. Rollercoasters terrify me but I still go on them. Not sure if that makes me brave or stupid
I'm also discovering all kinds of new food which we don't have in England. Today I had poutine which is fries, gravy and melted cheese. It sounds gross but it's yummy. I also had funel cake which is kind of like a waffle and is YUM! I had mine covered in icing sugar with ice cream.
Daks and Py are making a list of things I have to try before I go home next week so my time in Tampa should be filled with culinary experimentation
Shopping tomorrow so the quest for the Spike coat continues.
Tuesday 15th July
Success!!! I am now the proud owner of a very funky black leather duster. It was cheap too so I'm happy. I also bought a very cool Emily top and one that says I Mate And Then Kill. I'm thinking of wearing it when I meet James.
Off to Tampa tomorrow. Can't wait! The heat is probably going to kill me so I anticipate much staying inside or hiding by the pool.
Watched First Date tonight and I nearly started crying. Just that moment where Spike tells Buffy he's ok with her having a date and then looks all heartbroken when she leaves. I was just thinking how sweet it was when I remembered Spike was dead. Had to leave the room before I broke down. I need help!