Better Than Life

(warning, my spell checker is still set in American, for the SGA stuff, so please excuse my transatlantic spellings.)

This week I took Adam to  “Better than Life”, a science fiction convention for fans of Red Dwarf. We found out about it when I went to Chevron 7.2 earlier this year. I’ve always liked Red Dwarf, but my son is a huge fan of the Show, so this was like a dream come true for him.

This was a slightly different experience for us because we had planned it much further in advance, so we had Gold tickets, and stayed in the convention hotel. Unfortunately, the squirrels were not there because they were at Collectomania last week, but we did meet some people who were at Chevron, as well as making some new friends.

Sadly, some of the cast had to cancel. Norman Lovett, who played Holly #1, had already canceled, but we were disappointed to find that Chris Barrie (Rimmer) wasn’t going to be able to come. Craig Charles (Lister) was expected on Sunday, but he canceled at the last minute because he was feeling sick.

Without some of the bigger names from the show, it could have been a disappointing weekend, but it was totally saved by the brilliance of the guests we did get.

The guests, in roughly the order that we met them, were:

Mac Macdonald (Captain Hollister) made a surprise appearance on Saturday morning to sign autographs, and appeared in some of the talks.

Hattie Hayridge (Holly #2) was a real trouper, and was here for the whole weekend, as was Steven Wickham, who appeared in Red Dwarf as the Gelf Bride.

Cloe Annett (Christine Kochanaski) was originally only booked for Saturday, but also came back for an extra group photo shoot, which the organizers arranged to make up for Craig being missing.

Danny John Jules (the Cat) was only expected for Sunday, but he turned up on Saturday to do an open line autograph queue, and an extra photograph shoot. He also did a highly entertaining extended talk to make up for Craig being absent.

Robert Llewellyn (Kryton) was there on Saturday, and took part in a highly entertaining quiz called the Kryton factor.

One feature of these conventions is that you get the chance to bid for a guest encounter, where a small group of people can share a coffee and chat with a guest. On Saturday, most people were bidding for Robert Llwellyn, but Adam decided he would rather meet the girls and we were lucky enough to get both Hattie and Cloe. Adam was the only child in the group and I’m pretty sure it made his weekend.

We saw Cloe, Hattie and Steven again at the gold ticket holders reception and the party. We got some candid photos with Steven, who didn’t have an official photo shoot. They’re on Adam’s phone so I don’t know if they came out. Both Cloe and Hattie asked Adam to dance with them, which pretty much made his weekend.

Sunday was Danny John-Jules day for us. We already had our free autos, but Adam wanted to go back for some extra autos with Danny, to personalize some large pictures and DVDs. Then we had our photo ops with him. Danny gave me a really nice snuggly hug, and the photographer picked that photo shoot to take 2 shots of me (I got to keep them both).

There was a group photo with  Danny, Hattie, Steve and Cloe, which was in place of Craig’s photo.  After that, we were lucky enough to be part of Danny’s guest encounter slot. Danny told us some stories about the Red Dwarf cast and a lot about his history and influences in the musical theatre. After lunch, he also gave an extended talk, which also included some singing and tap dancing – there is no limit to the man’s talents.

Sadly, I didn’t have enough money left to pre-book next year’s, but I do intend to go again. Guests I would most like to see again are Cloe, Hattie and Danny, but they were all great.

Spending today chilling out, although I am supposed to be catching up with my laundry. Photos may follow later, but I haven’t got round to scanning them yet,

 

Chevron 7.2

I’ll do a proper mission report later if I get time, meanwhile, here are some photos:

This is my photo from Saturday with Joe Flanigan. He’s a real sweetheart.

 

This is my photo with Jason Momoa from Sunday. I think he looks great with the shorter hair and big glasses.

This is me sharing a huggle with Colin Cunningham. This was taken on Sunday morning, right after Wabit did her red nose poses.

This is probably my favourite pic of Joe.

 

Shore Leave Mission Report 4

Shore Leave – the journey home.

OK slight reference to Star Trek there, that’s what happens when you spend the weekend hanging out with Klingons!

In the morning, Trish and KimberlyFDR hosted a panel on ADB, so we all felt we should go along to offer her moral support and talk about our favourite movie.

After that I  spent the morning on or around Em’s raffle stall. Well mostly, as I needed to take breaks for food, drink etc and kept getting distracted by people who recognised me from Saturday.

Before I went home there was one last chance to get autographs. I nearly didn’t get mine as the girl who was managing the line cut it off right by me and asked us to come back at 5. But David is such a nice guy that when I mentioned I had a plane to catch, he stopped and did one last autograph for me. David, this is just one of the reasons why we think you are so awesome. (lol)

Informal group squirrel photo:

Someone else took this with my camera. This is the second time I let someone do that and in each case people have red eye, but Kimberly seems to get it worse than everyone else.  Is there something you are not telling us Kimberly? Do you maybe have a head snake?

This is something I thought was pretty cool. Sammy and her sister have designed their own Stargate Atlantis Monopoly game.

I would have liked to have stayed for a talk with David, but I needed a lift to the Airport, and Brian offered to take me and Katrina if we left at 3pm. I was separated from Katrina at the airport because we were with different airlines, so we were at different terminals.

As you may already know, I had a few problems getting home. I was supposed to catch a plane from Baltimore to Philadelphia, to connect to a flight back to Manchester, England. However there was an electrical storm that was delaying flights. I could not get to Philadelphia in time to catch my connection to Manchester, and the next one would have been 8pm Monday, (US time)  so would have been stuck in Philadelphia for 24 hours.

I explained the situation to this lovely lady from US Airways called Maria, and she got me a seat on a British Airways flight to London Heathrow. She also got me a connecting flight to Manchester so that I could use my original rail ticket to get home and not have to purchase a new one.

the plane I came home in, at Heathrow Airport.

I ended up stuck in Heathrow for a few hours, but I made it home at 5pm London time on Monday, tired and desperately in need of a bath and change of clothes.

 

Shore Leave Mission Report 3

Saturday, the day of queues

Saturday morning was photo  day. Kate was leaving early, so she was having her photo first, followed by group photos, David and then Jewel. The queues were nothing like the English conventions I have been to. They were first come first served, they were huge and disorganised, and because we were packed together into narrow corridors it was really hot.

I was one of the people who paid for a group squirrel photo, for David and Kate. (I don’t see why Kate should miss all the fun). As we were about to do the photo, I got a chance to talk to David, so I apologised to him for all the chaos we were causing with the group photos. I then realised that I had the perfect opportunity to complete mission objective 3, which was to hug David for barcardi. I thought it might be a good idea to ask David if it was OK, as I didn’t want him to think I was a crazy stalker fan. I also told him that the hug was for my friend in barcardi in England (don’t know if he believed that). Fortunately he did not mind, so I got my hug – I mean barcardi’s hug, obviously! (Barcardi says in her email to me that she did have a tingly feeling all weekend, so I guess I managed to send the hug all the way back to England)

After that we did the group photo, which looks like this:

to get the names, click on the photo!

For my single photo of just me and David, I thought it would be great to have some fun, so I suggested we do some silly poses. David is totally up for this, you just have to be brave enough to ask. This is supposed to be the classic “bring it on” pose from ADB human XBox scene, as done so well by the Scottish squirrels. Unfortunately I was smiling, which Adam says spoils the effect.

I think this is going to be my new site icon?

At this point everyone else disappeared for a cool drink, but I still had a photo with Jewel. Another mission objective to cross off my list! At this point I got a chance to chat with some of Jewel’s fans and made some interesting discoveries.

1. Americans think I have a cute British accent. (if you get told that enough, it really goes to your head)

2.Everyone in US seems to watch Dr Who and Torchwood on BBC America, and if you come from Wales they automatically assume you are an expert. (lucky for me that I watch them both).

This is my photo with Jewel:

 

After lunch we went to the talk by David and Kate. English squirrels from MTH will be really jealous, because she got out a guitar and sang the song from the wedding, that David had been teasing her about in London. It happened thanks to Em, who brought along the guitar for Kate to sign. I tried to get some pics but I was too far back.

I am not going to try to repeat everything they said, but I do remember Kate teasing David about taking on too many projects, and thinking, ohmygod that sounds like me!

After that I helped Em by selling raffle tickets for DWB. We had the end of a table owned by a Stargate club. I managed to find time to drop in on Kate to pass on some nuts, and she offered to sign my shirt (that’s two objectives in one)

Much later in the afternoon, it was my turn to get an autograph. I also met a new squirrel called Marge. David was doing free sigs on the photos, and one free sig per day. So I asked him to sign my shirt with a borrowed fabric pen. Missions accomplished! The handler was trying to keep things moving so she was reading our badges and telling David the names of the guests. But I wanted it signed to Nikki, not Nicola. So David wrote on it “Nikki, if that’s your real name.”!

After that we were all pretty worn out so we went back to the hotel to change. We were supposed to be going back over and meeting up with the boys, but Kimberly started handing out Florida Sunsets, and most people decided they were too tired. So we had a girls party in Kimberly and Trish’s room. Apparently Em won a prize in the Masquerade for her costume as an ascended ancient.

 

Shore Leave Mission Report pt2

The WG Missions

OK so maybe these are not as difficult and dangerous as the missions WG goes on for Area 51, but this is the real world, not one of my fics.

The missions were:

1 Find out if Frooties are real.

This mission was set by my son. You can’t buy anything like Frooties in our local shops, so we have been wondering if this was a real breakfast cereal. In the event I found some real Frooties, I was to bring some back.

2. Sweets for the guys at work.

It is a long standing tradition in our office at work that if you go abroad you must bring back some local sweets. This is a sacred trust not to be taken lightly if you want to keep your friends.

3. Hug David on behalf of Barcardicider.

Barcardi had the initiative to email me in person and request this. A mission I was more than willing to accept.

4. Give Kate a bag of nuts.

Jayne and I started a tradition at Shore Leave of giving each other nuts. I also brought some for Kate. So seemed a perfectly sensible idea to buy some nuts in Tescos (it has to be Tescos nuts because of the fic I wrote for Jayne) and carry them to Baltimore for Kate.

5 Get my squirrel shirts signed by David and Kate

(do I really need to explain this one?)

6 Photo with Jewel Staite

I haven’t met her before, and I didn’t have one pre-booked, so I added this to my mission list.

To find out if I achieved these missions, read on:

Friday is premiere day

Nyssa (my roomie) and I met up with the other squirrels in our hotel for breakfast. While choosing my food, I realised I had already completed mission objective 1 – find out if Frooties are real. The hotel were serving “Fruit Loops” which turned out to be the real world equivalent of Frooties. I had some for breakfast. I think Kimberly took a photo?

After breakfast we all ended up chilling out and chatting in one of the rooms. Eventually we decided to go across the road to the hotel where they were holding Shore Leave. I was rather shocked to discover we were taking a car, not walking. But then I saw the road we were having to cross and it made a bit more sense. It was as big as an English motorway, and there was no bridge, underground walkway or pedestrian crossing. Sp we ended up playing that ever popular party game, how many squirrels can you fit in a car.

Arrived at the hotel and went to register. We got our badges, and I bought my photo with Jewel (another mission objective completed and it’s not even lunchtime). We had some fun taking photos at David’s table:

David’s table

Em took us to find some lunch, we ended up in two groups, eating at McDonalds or Burger King. Due to the exchange rate at the moment, eating out in US is really cheap. So no need to worry if I brought enough dollars. After that we did some shopping. Completed objective number 2, buy sweets for the guys at work. I also got some Fruit Loops for Adam.

Later on, back at Shore Leave we started meeting up with other squirrels for a meal at the hotel. The group included.

Me, Nyssa, Trish,Kimberly, Scary, Em, Delka, Sammy and her sister, Green and her mum, Hemloche and his buddy Mike.

I thought the food was ok, but the service was a bit slow. Poor Kimberly nearly didn’t get served at all. Some of the squirrels were celebrity spotting, as we noticed Kate and Jewel walk in ahead of us.

Afterwards we were lucky enough to get front row seats for ADB. Someone had the clever and twisted idea that we should all put our ducks on our heads.

 

squirrels with ducks on heads.

David and the rest of his family came onto the stage, including Jane and Baz. David commented that Baz was behaving better than in the church at the wedding. David asked where the squirrels were and we all squeaked our ducks. Thanks to the jet lag I can’t remember David’s actual words, but I think he made a comment about us all being crazy. (damn jet lag, I really should have written it all down at the time)

The Hewletts

We also had a premiere of the season 5 part 1 episode. (I managed to resist spoiling it for anyone by telling them the bits I had seen at MTH). After this we were called to the bar to meet some more squirrels. I think I finally got to bed at 1pm (this is starting to become a bad habit). Oh and for the record, Mike you were drunk. No one who is sober makes a point of telling you they are not drunk

 

Shore Leave group pic with David and Kate

As I agreed to pay for this group photo with David and Kate, I got to keep the original and get it autographed. I have emailed a high quality copy to as many people as I could, so if you didn’t get one you need to let me know.

Pam should also have an original photo, which may be a slightly different pose, but it went missing, so if anyone  picked it up can you give it back to her?

The squirrels have created a thread to confirm all the names:

1. Hemloche (Brian)
2. Kdvb1 (Kimberly)
3. MdGateFan (Ann) <~~I think…please forgive me if I’m wrong!
4. tri33bell (Katrina)
5. whovian (Trish)
6. Sammymc (Samantha…Laura’s sister)
7. KarieNorthstar (Courtney)
8. knightowlgrl (Laura…Samantha’s sister)
9. Laura (Courtney’s friend)
10. Linda (green’s mom)
11. liloblivious (Tracey or Lil)
12. Nyssa (Pam)
13. KimberlyFDR (Kimberly)
14. watcher652 (Loretta)
15. sinister_mosquito (Sheila)
16. scary (Mary)
17. welshgirl (Nikki) – and duck!
18. green (Evelyn)
19. Delka (Amy)

 

Shore Leave Mission Report pt1

OK so I’m still feeling a little jet lagged, so let’s call this the draft report, as I may want to change it later when my brain is back online?

The Journey there

I’ve never really done much travelling in the past. I’ve visited Germany, France and Ireland, and that’s about it, and the last airplane I was on was 20 years ago. Hence the flight to Baltimore was a big adventure in its own right.

The journey started when I got up at 4:50 on Thursday morning,  London time. Well that’s not strictly true. The journey really began when I read the Shore Leave thread on dGeek, and realised I wanted to be there. I suppose that originally it was all about meeting David, but it turns out that Shore Leave is just one of a number of events where you can meet him. At some point I realised it was also about meeting up with the squirrels, hanging with them all weekend, and experiencing the whole  Shore Leave event.

I took the train to Manchester airport, checked in and went through security without too much hassle. I did set off the metal detector but that turned out to be the buckles in my shoes. Now I always take them off and put them through with my bag. I had some time to do some shopping in duty free  and a sales girl from Dior gave me a free makeover.

The plane was on time. Sadly I didn’t get a window seat. I must remember to ask for one next time. The seats were a bit cramped, but the flight attendants were really friendly, and the food and drinks were included. I made a slightly worrying discovery – I may be turning into Rodney, because I like airplane food! (actually this is just another item on a long list of things I have in common with Rodney,  which is rather scary!)

At Philadelphia, I had to clear immigration, which included having my fingerprints taken. I was expecting to have to stick my finger in some ink, but in fact they ask you to put your finger on a clear plastic pad, so its pretty fast. I also had to collect my bag and check it back in. A bus took us to the connecting terminal for our flight to Baltimore, so I got to see a lot of the airport.

The plane taking me to Baltimore  was tiny, and had propellers instead of jets. I have since found out from Em that they call these planes Puddle  Jumpers. How cool is that, travelling to Shore Leave in a real Puddle Jumper! Not only that, but the passenger next to me was a member of the US air force, and was wearing his uniform.  I got a window seat this time, so I got a really good view of the area between Philadelphia and Baltimore. In a way it felt like this was not so much a part of the journey, as the start of the holiday, and I was on some really cool theme park ride.

real puddle jumper!

Nyssa collected me from the airport at the agreed time. Actually, she could have come earlier, as there was no security for me to clear in Baltimore, because I had done it all in Philly. She drove me across town to the hotel. American freeways scare the hell out of me because I am used to quiet Welsh back roads. The hotel itself was pretty amazing. It was taller than the hotels I usually stay in, and I got to be on floor 6, so I got some pretty good photos of the view from our window.

view from our room

The rooms were huge, with 2 double beds and a separate lounge for when you invite all the squirrels back for a party. The hotel is arranged around a central courtyard, which had Koi Carp in ponds and palm trees. Surprisingly, the room was not quite as expensive as the hotel in London, so I recon it would be worth doing again for next year.

the hotel central courtyard

koi carp in the hotel

Nyssa took me for a walk, and to find some food, although I was not really that hungry because of the heat. We found the local Hunt Valley Mall, which was not as big as some of the Malls you see on TV. Afterwards, Nyssa wondered if I would want to crash out in the room as it was 10pm, but I always say sleep is for wimps, and I wanted to meet Trish and Kimberly, Em and Scary, who were the only other early arrivals. We handed out the Pegasus Heros badges from Finn. I think we were there talking and watching stuff on Em’s laptop until 1am. When I finally got to bed I think I had been awake over 24 hours. (like I said, sleep is for wimps!)

Anyway, that’s enough for one report. Reports of Shore Leave and the Journey Home to follow.

 

Anyone for fried squirrel?

OK, I can hear you asking, why fried squirrel? Well because this weekend I got horribly sunburned. Its my own fault, I thought that stopping in Legoland on the way home from “Meet the Hewletts” would be an awfully good idea.

I had the most amazing time. For a start I met David and Kate Hewlett, stars of Stargate Atlantis and A Dog’s Breakfast. In addition to posing for photoshoots and signing autographs, David and Kate did a short talk, in which we found out all about what happened last week when David married Jayne at Warwick castle.

For more info check out the mission reports on ADB:

http://www.adogsbreakfastmovie.com/index.php?option=com_joomlaboard&Itemid=26&func=view&id=72285&catid=40#72285

We also had a sneak preview of the first episode of Stargate season 5 episode 1. (I missed some of it because I was getting photographed with David!)

I also met quite a few of the squirrels for the first time, including my writing companion Jayne Perry. We exchanged gifts of nuts, something we are hoping may become a new squirrel custom.

Teknikal Ninja and Little_McKay did their famous Human XBox title fight film shoot. We were at the filming, and my son bsquirrel got to be a cameraman.

We ended up inviting lots of people back to our room to watch Dr Who – I think there were 10 people and we also had Chinese food. Although if I had seen Wabit’s video I might have done McDonalds instead!

The pic is a random selection of squirrels and assorted nuts who were collected together thanks to the kindness of “Mirth”, who paid for the original photo. Oh and David was there too!

I will put the names on later, but you can find the full list on the mission reports thread. (I’m the one in the bright green shirt)