My so called life

Here is the final part of my con report. I do warn you that this is once more a long one. I did try to put as much detail into it as I could remember.

I do hope you enjoy!

There are again some pictures attached to the text.



When I got back to the Park Inn hotel I noticed that they had already stopped the bidding for the Intimate encounters. I quickly checked the results and was very happy to find my own badge number included in the winners. The end price for the bidding ended up being £60. I did realize it was quite a high price for just 45 minutes of sitting in the same room with Gareth but I don't think I'll get another chance to do something like that, I was prepared to make the sacrifice. I had kept well in my budget and actually had pretty much money with me. I was aware that I had overestimated my budget but that's always better than running out of money.

This time I was at the main hall early enough that they hadn't let anyone in yet. Went in when my number range was called and managed to get a seat in the fourth row pretty near the middle aisle. Even if it was one row more from what I had sat the previous night I was pretty sure it was a better seat since I could see the stage better.

The first ones on stage were Naoko, Sara and Anthony. Naoko started with saying that she was very happy Sara had joined the con as well since she had began to feel herself a bit lonely with just men surrounding her. She also kept saying how cute she thought Anthony Lewis was and I had to agree with her. However, it seemed Anthony was a bit embarrassed by the attention and I do think he blushed a little. Naoko continued that she had contacted the casting director almost immediately after reading the script for the episode “To the last man" and asked who she was going to play against. The casting director hadn't told her a name but had told her that she would be very pleased. Then Naoko just said that the casting director had been totally right. Once more Anthony blushed a little. He said that he was probably about the color of the carpet they had on the floor which was quite bright red. He was so cute when he felt all embarrassed from the praise Naoko was giving him.



Naoko was asked for some more information about the fact that she had called herself a geek the previous day. AL and SLG were also asked if they would say they were geeks. Naoko immediately said that she was a total geek and proud of it. In her opinion it was actually pretty cool to be a geek. She told us that she practically sleeps with her laptop and doesn't go anywhere without her Nintendo DS lite. There were a few more examples as well but I can't remember them.

Anthony said that he's a total movie geek. He owns quite a lot of movies and they have all been arranged into order by the name of the lead actor in them. He also remarked that his girlfriend was sitting in the hall and had been nodding the whole time he had told about his movies. Anthony also said that he has a habit of watching movies with his laptop beside him so that he can keep checking things from IMDB while he watches. It seemed he was pretty proud of being a geek as well.

At first Sara thought she was an outsider in that group since she couldn't really come up with anything geeky she had a habit of doing. She wanted to be cool too. Suddenly she asked if being obsessed with clothes could be counted as geeky. She was told that it was totally fine so she shared that she has all her clothes arranged by their color in her cupboards. The end conclusion was that they all were geeks and very proud of that fact.

It was once more asked how they coped with working with JB. Sara told that in one scene where Sara's character Carys had been laying on the ground, John had come to stand astride her and while standing there had pulled his pants down. That must have been an interesting experience. Sara also joked that she had actually been a bit afraid what JB would come up with while she sat beside him in the autograph room in the morning. She said that she had been very thankful that John's legs had been hidden under the table and that there were long tablecloths.

John pulling his pants down was a very popular subject in the other responses as well. I've heard it before too but it really seems he loves to surprise his co-stars with that every once in a while. Although, I did get the impression that no one was really surprised anymore when he did that since they had all gotten so used to it already.

Naoko was also asked about working with James Marsters. She said that it had been lovely working with him but she did admit that she had had no idea who he was when he came to the set. She had found only later. People wanted to revoke her geek status.

Unfortunately didn't make notes in this Q&A either so those responses are the only ones I remember. The time again went way too quickly and soon it was time for Naoko, Sara and Anthony to leave the stage. True to form people once more protested but as before it was no use.

As soon as the guests had left the hall I made my way out as well. It was time for my intimate encounter with Gareth. Okay, I knew there was going to be 11 other people as well but I like to think about it as MY Intimate encounter with him. *g*

I was admitted into the room that was prepared for that purpose and got a cup of coffee for myself. Slowly the room was filled with the other people who had "won" the encounter. Finally Gareth entered the room as well. He entered the room really carefully and tried to pretend he was scared of us. His first words to us were something like: "Isn't anyone minding us?" When someone from the crew entered the room a few seconds later Gareth immediately said; "Thank God you got here, I was just about to be gangraped." That just got some good natured laughs out of us.

The session was started. In the beginning Gareth asked how much we had ended up paying for the session. He seemed quite surprised that we had actually paid £60 for just to sit in a room with him. He continued that he had been very surprised when someone had paid £540 just to sit opposite to him at the dinner. He said that he had mainly just smoked the whole time. He also commented that one of the attendees in the Intimate encounter was obviously nuts since she took part in both of Gareth's sessions that day. She paid £106 together for the meetings.

One of the first questions Gareth was asked was about the play the previous night. Someone asked if the kisses with JB and KO had been scripted. Gareth's response to that was; "I didn't kiss Kai, or did I?" When we told him that he had done just that he just said that he must have been pretty drunk since he didn't remember doing that. He also told us that he had had no memory of the mooning either and had been quite surprised when someone told him about it in the morning. Someone then told him that he had actually done the mooning in other places besides the stage too. He tried to deny it but there had been too many witnesses.

From there he went to say that just the story line of the sketch had been scripted and that they had added quite a lot of stuff by themselves. The kissing had been one of those parts. He also told us that doing the play had been totally voluntary. They had been asked to do it but they could have well said no. I, for one, am very grateful they did it. At the same time Gareth asked us if we knew if someone taped the show despite it not being allowed. We all said that we at least weren't aware of anyone filming. One attendee also told Gareth that there was a pack going on among the attendees that if someone saw a taping of the show somewhere, they would immediately report it and make sure it was taken down.

GDL was asked if there would be lots of Ianto & Jack moments on the third season. Possible spoiler for season three. Again paint over the text to see it. In my opinion not really a spoiler but being careful. GDL told us that the pace on season three was so hectic that there really was really no time for any tender moments between them and since it's only five episodes they have concentrated more on the action part. He did reveal that there's one scene where they have a guest actor who obviously is also interested in some private time with Jack but both Ianto and this guest actor refuse to leave the other one alone with Jack. GDL used the pronoun "he" when he talked about this guest actor so it's a male. That was all he revealed.

Other topics under discussion included the school system in the UK and its problems which went a bit over my head since I really don't know that much about that. GDL also revealed that at first his parents and teachers hadn't been too supportive of him. Especially his teachers had put him down pretty much. He had grown in an area where being different wasn't tolerated that well. Some of his friends had reacted a bit badly when it came out that Ianto was actually a bi/gay character.

Gareth had been disappointed that all the shooting in the third season was done with CGI. He had enjoyed shooting the Daleks in the Doctor Who season four finale very much. On the third season they just had to pretend to be shooting and the bullets would be added there later with computers.

Next he told us about some projects he had in the US. Or he told us that there are some projects going on. He didn't reveal anything else. He promised that if some of them came to something, he would let people know. He was quite tight lipped about it.

Next on the list was season four for Torchwood. Gareth told us that it hadn't been confirmed yet. The future of the show depends on the success of the third season. He still told us that he wants to be on it very much if it gets done and his other possible projects give him time to do it. This was followed by a question that did Gareth's enthusiasm to do the fourth season mean that Ianto survives the third season alive. His only response was that it's a scifi show, anything can happen.

I guess there were other subjects as well but those are the only ones I could remember. After the Intimate Encounter ended I made my way back to the main hall since Gareth's and Kai's Q&A was starting soon. I did catch the end of the Q&A that was going on in the main hall that had all the "Weevil actors" and John's body double in it. Unfortunately can't remember any questions that they were asked and I only caught two or three questions before they left the stage.



After a small break Kai and Gareth took the stage. During that break I noticed that I actually had a pen and some paper in my bag. I could finally take notes!

Kai arrived to the stage first and the called Gareth there. He arrived there with a sheep handcuffed to his wrist and he claimed that he missed Wales. Pretty quickly he started asking if anyone had the key to the handcuffs. When a key was found it was handed to Kai who started to open the cuffs. Gareth kept saying "harder" and making obscene noises all the while. Finally the cuffs were off.

Gareth started the panel by asking who in the audience had woken up that morning with their clothes on. There were a few responses. Next they asked who had woken up with someone else's clothes on. Kai raised his hand at that point. As the last option Gareth asked who had woken up naked that morning and raised his own hand to that.

Finally they both got seated. There were still four chairs on the stage and Kai and Gareth sat so that they left one chair empty between them. They claimed that chair was reserved for JB. They continued that with making fun of how JB always wants to sit in the middle and be the center of attention. They mocked the announcement JB had done earlier that day when he had been signing autographs. They remembered pretty well what he had said. And naturally got people howling from laughter since they overdid it totally. In the end Gareth said almost inaudibly "He's so going to kill me." There was also some talk about how Kai had received his first gay kiss the previous night. Gareth then added to that that Kai had also gotten his first gay rimming job at the same time.



Then it was finally question time. The first question was about hang over remedies and they were asked for any recommendations. They did agree that "hair of the dog" was one of the best hang over remedies there was but if that wasn't possible they did have a few other suggestions as well that went over my head since I think they were some brands I wasn't familiar with.




Gareth was asked if he would want to play James Bond some day. His answer was that "he would love to get it on with James Bond". He once more tried to act all innocent and injured when people laughed at his choice of words and accused people of having dirty minds.

Naturally since JB wasn't in the event anymore there were quite a few questions regarding him and stuff he had pulled at the set. Kai told us that JB kept whispering obscenities to him every time he passed while they were filming some scene where Kai needed to concentrate really hard. That of course destroyed his concentration totally and he ended up needing several takes. Gareth shared that they had had a competition with JB to see who could get the other one crack worse on the set. They had a habit of sending each other pictures of certain part of their anatomy in various states of arousal while one of them had a break from shooting and the other one was supposed to be doing some scenes. GDL was adamant that he had won the competition.

Next they were both asked what their favorite and least favorite body parts were. Kai told us that he liked his legs and hated his eyebrows. GDL went to great lengths describing how he hated the shape of his head. He said he had a problem with a hanging forehead and then the back of his head was totally flat. His favorite body part was his calves. He rolled his pants up a little to show us. Got him a few whistles. Kai obviously wanted his share as well because he got up from his chair, opened his pants and dropped them down. He was wearing some very nice black briefs underneath. He posed for a while to make sure everyone saw his great legs before pulling his pants up again Unfortunately I didn't manage to get a picture of the situation. I concentrated on ogling too much. When Kai was again sitting down Gareth decided he wanted similar attention as well and pulled his pants down as well. He stood with his back towards the audience claiming that he had piss stains on the front of his briefs and didn't want us seeing those. He was wearing nice white briefs and had good legs as well.

And here's proof. Okay, you can't see his legs but you see his briefs *g*


When they both again had pants on there were more questions. Gareth was asked if Blue Gillespie (his band) was going to do gigs outside Wales some day. He told us that they would love to and if anyone was interested in organizing gigs for them somewhere else they should just contact him. The possibility of Blue Gillespie being there for Hub 2 was raised. GDL asked if people would be interested if they did come. That got a very interested response.

Isn't he just adorable! *happy sigh*


Then they were asked what were their favorite presents they had received from fans and had there been any weird gifts. KO told us that he had gotten an inflatable chair from someone during that con he had liked a lot. He also said that he had actually liked practically all the gifts he had ever received. There weren't any gifts he had disliked he could remember. GDL said that he had enjoyed the whiskey people had given him. There had also been some pictures people had drawn and painted he had liked quite a lot.

GDL was then asked how it had been working with James Marsters. He said it had been really fun and that they had become good friends with James during the shooting. He said that he hoped James would come and visit him again soon. James' manager is representing Gareth as well in the US and has gotten him some interviews that might get his foot in the door. He again didn't say anything else about those projects. GDL did say that he didn't care about the music James does that much, with tongue in cheek.

Then there was some singing. Didn't know the song Gareth sang but it was quite obvious quite a few others did since they sang along.

Next they were asked about their favorite movies. Didn't write down what GDL answered but Kai answered that he especially liked romantic movies. That got him a big "awwwwwwww" reaction from the audience and he was obviously quite satisfied with the response. GDL made fun of him how he had obviously planned the whole thing. It had been seen during the weekend how the guys were obviously envious of how Naoko kept getting the "awwwwww" reaction to almost anything she said while the guys didn't get that reaction. Kai was happy that he finally got his own reaction from the audience.

Next the analyzed their own performance in the series and tried to come up with their favorite moments. Unfortunately I didn't write those down and I've totally forgotten what they were and what was said.

The end of the Q&A was coming when Kai was reminded that he had promised that he would sing the song "Hyms & Arias" on stage. He claimed he wasn't drunk enough for that. He actually told us that he was totally sober due to the fact that he needed to drive that night. GDL immediately told him that was what happened when you didn't have representation. He was heading home as well that night but he had a driver and that's why he could well drink as much as he liked. Anyway, after some persuasion Kai did sing the song. The audience joined him for the chorus. Missed most of the words but did try to sing along with the chorus. When the song finished Kai told us that it was probably the first time he sang that song sober and was surprised he had been able to remember the words. He did have a pretty good singing voice in my opinion. After that the panel finished.

There was again a small break before all the guests that were still present arrived to the stage together. This time Paul Kasey took the middle seat and got some comments from GDL for that.




One of the first questions was an inquiry about the therapy needs or survival methods they had needed on set to deal with JB. Naoko told us that slowly it all just becomes "white noise". GDL's immediate response to that was to say "racist". His own answer to the question was in line with "Sometimes you just have to close your eyes and relax the best you can." He enhanced his answer with some very expressive facial expressions and other movements. Use your imagination…

People still kept reacting to almost anything Naoko said with an "awwww" reaction. She was actually getting a bit frustrated with that since she didn't think there was anything "awwwww" worthy in her answers. It had just become a joke in the whole event. GDL and KO also continued their joke from the previous day about falling asleep while Naoko gave her answers since she had a tendency to ramble on a little and get lost from the subject. She wasn't too impressed by that.

All the guests were asked who their idols were but I can't remember any of their answers and I didn't write them down.

GDL told us that he loves football almost as much as bowel movement. Don't really know what to think about that.

The guests were asked what would they write into a personal add. Managed to record some of their answers:

Ian: big, strong and very long
Anthony: If you shake me up very well, I will explode
Paul: If you fancy some monster time

Next they were asked who of the Torchwood cast they would change body with. Eve Myles was a very popular answer. GDL and Kai said that they would change bodies with Naoko. With their hand gestures they implied it was due to her breasts. That made Naoko hide her face into her hands.

The guests were also asked which performance they would delete. Naoko immediately told us that she would like to delete her performance just now since she had an urgent need to pee. She was given permission to leave the stage to use the bathroom. While she was gone Kai tried to get everyone to leave the room so that she would be totally confused when she returned.

Then the guests were asked what role they would like to do some day. GDL said that he would like to do McBeth someday. To that SLG said that she would like to do the role of Lady McBeth mostly because how she "fucks McBeth over". There had been some sniping going on between GDL and SLG for a while already. It seemed Naoko was a bit uncomfortable sitting between them. (For those who weren't aware of it GDL and SLG used to date). After a while GDL ended up apologizing to SLG and telling her his intention hadn't been to be mean and assured the audience that there was no bad blood between them and that they were still friends. That was a small uncomfortable moment.




One more thing I've written down was that the guests were asked about their mottos. Didn't write any down but I can remember that one of the guests replied that his/her motto was: "Live every day like it was your last." I like that motto and could well adapt it myself too.

Then the last panel was unfortunately over. All the guests stood on the stage for a while and gave their thanks. There were lots of cheers and people clapping. Then they walked off the stage. Right after that the organizers got to the stage to give their own thanks. They told us that we had been a very good audience and guests thought so too. No one had tried to mob the guests if they wandered around the place during the parties.

They also had a small surprise in the form of a video message from JB. In the message JB also gave his thanks and said that he had been pleasantly surprised by people giving him space when he needed it. No one had tried to mob him either. Then there were some comments about James Marsters. JB said that he has heard stories where James had claimed that he had bit John's lip during their kissing scene. John said that he had bit James as well. He continued to say that kissing James hadn't been any different from kissing a girl but did say James had been pretty nervous during the scene. He had had some stubble as well. JB ended the whole story by saying that James had obviously needed to reaffirm his manhood since he had escaped to kiss his girlfriend right after the scene had been filmed. JB said that the film crew had appreciated the porn show (his words) James had put up with his girlfriend.

Then it was all over and I made my way back to my hotel to change some clothes and possibly dinner. We thought about going to the hotel lobby again but then ended up going to this pizza place after all. It took a while before our pizzas were ready and it wasn't anything special. I did realize it was actually the only proper meal I had eaten during the whole weekend if you didn't count the breakfasts. Couldn't eat the whole pizza since I felt so stuffed from it.

After eating we went back to the Park Inn hotel to the last disco. Pretty soon after we got there it was obvious most people had left after the closing ceremonies. There really weren't many people in the hall. First I hung around the bar for a while but then went to take a seat in the main hall near one of the walls. Hadn't been sitting there long before GDL stormed the hall and told everyone to dance. Did get up and went to the dance floor for a while. The music wasn't anything special but I did stay there for a few songs before sitting down again.

Was feeling restless so I kept getting up and walking around most of the time. Did talk a bit with the Finnish girl I had met during the weekend. At some point we realized that we had actually met once before in an event organized in Finland a few years back. I was a bit embarrassed that I had no memory of meeting her before.

After the party had gone on for a while GDL took the mike and said that he needed to be going soon. He did tell he was going to punchfuck everyone who wanted that and told us to get in line for that.

He left the hall for a while but soon he was back saying that he really needed to go now. He also said that he was sorry but the punchfuck wasn't going to happen since the hotel management had told him that he might get into trouble for that J He promised that to make up for that he would sing us one of the songs by Blue Gillespie. He got the DJ to play one of the songs from a tape and sang over it. If you want to hear their music go to their Myspace-page here I had heard the song he sang, Bam bam, a few times before since I friended the band some time ago in Myspace. It isn't my favorite of their songs but it was still nice hearing him sing it.

After the song Gareth had some difficulties making it out of the room since so many people wanted to hug him. I stayed well back since I wanted to keep to the guidelines of not harassing the guests to the end.

After Gareth left the party started to die down. I still stayed there for a while and talked with people but soon tiredness began to get the best of me. I walked back to the hotel with the other Finnish girl. At the hotel we talked for a while before saying our good byes. At my room I once more noticed that my key card wasn't working. It had been doing that quite a lot during the weekend. Luckily I heard that the TV was still on in the room so I guessed that justdb was still awake. I knocked and she let me in.

Headed into bed pretty soon after that. I guess the fact that I hadn't slept that well for several nights was getting to me. I knew I needed to pack since all my stuff was spread all over my half of the room but I also knew there would be plenty of time for that the next morning since I only needed to leave the hotel after 1pm. Sleep did come pretty quickly.


Monday 20.10.2008

Again woke up way too early and then just waited for the clock to be enough so that I could get up and start packing without disturbing justdb too much. Finally I decided I could get up and start doing something useful. I started with doing my check-in for my flight. Wanted a window seat so I needed to be early with that.

After a while we went for breakfast downstairs. Again didn't get much eaten but at least I did try. Then it was time for packing. Somehow it felt like the stuff I had with me had multiplied during the weekend and I had hard time fitting it all into my luggage. Somehow I managed to get everything into it and even the luggage closed.

A bit after ten o'clock justdb left since she wanted to avoid the rush hour traffic. I was left alone in the room. I had agreed with the reception that I could keep the room until half past one so there was no rush anywhere. I spent the time by writing this report, watching some TV and reading. Somehow it felt like the time went really slowly but finally I decided I could well start walking towards the bus station. I had no idea where my bus would leave from there so I wanted to be early.

Walking to the bus station was pretty taxing since it felt like my luggage weighted a ton. Had some trouble pulling it behind me and soon my arms were hurting quite a lot. However, somehow I made it to the bus station. Had to ask directions to the right place for my bus but luckily found it pretty easily. There were other people waiting for it as well. I was there pretty early but in my opinion that was better than being late.

I was a bit nervous about the bus trip since I only had about 1½ hours at the airport to catch my plane. I really hoped the bus wouldn't be late. When the time for the bus to leave went by and there was no sign of the bus I began to get nervous. Luckily the bus showed up finally and we got on our way. It was raining pretty heavily and I hoped that wouldn't slow us down more.

The bus trip went pretty smoothly except for the annoying kid who kept kicking my seat every once in a while. Luckily he sat there only for a while. We made it to Heathrow just five minutes behind the schedule. I started walking towards the right terminal with brisk pace. Of course my luck was that the desk I needed to go to drop my luggage was about the furthest away in the hall. I was really getting sick of pulling my luggage behind me.

Finally I had my ticket and my luggage checked in and I made my way towards the security check. I had been afraid there would be long lines but to my surprise there were just a few people before me. I put my stuff on the line and walked through the metal detector. I had forgotten to remove my belt and I'm pretty sure that made the device beep. I was then searched but allowed to go further pretty quickly. As soon as I made it to the transit hall I took a seat near one of the screens that showed the gates for the flights. I noticed that it had only taken me 20 minutes to get from the bus terminal to the transit area so there was plenty of time.

When I opened my shoulder bag I noticed that I had forgotten to throw away the bottle of water I had with me. My bag had obviously been too full since they hadn't seen that in the security check. It didn't bother me since I could then enjoy the water and didn't have to buy more.

Had to wait for my gate to show up on the screen for a while but finally had to right direction to go to and walked to the gate. I was probably one of the last who made it there. Took my seat and tried to get comfortable.

The flight went alright. Did feel pretty tired and actually nodded off at some point. The only food they gave us in the plane was a sandwich. I had hoped for something more but had to do with that. Noticed that I had accidentally packed all my food to my luggage so I couldn't eat those either. Didn't feel that hungry but again the only thing I had eaten that day had been the breakfast.

Got to Helsinki in schedule. We had to wait for our bags for a while but finally I had my luggage and could get into the taxi queue. Luckily there were quite a few taxis coming all the time so it didn't take long before I was on my way to my parents' house.

My intention had been to go straight to bed but of course I just had to check my e-mails before that. Ended up staying up for a while still and knew that the next morning was going to be hell.


This concludes my con report. I do hope you've enjoyed!