Recent Comments

My #JibCon experience

So I went back to Jibcon last weekend. Back to Rome, back to that hotel, the hallways and the lobby that are all so familiar by now. It was the first time that I went alone but that was okay, I guess. It gave me the opportunity to do whatever I want whenever I want. When I reached the hotel on Thursday morning it was only around 11 am. I tried to check in but my room wasn’t ready yet and I had to wait till 2 pm. So I had them store my suitcase and went to the registration desk of the convention, got my badge, my lanyard, my photo op tickets. I was actually considering getting a photo op with Tom Ellis (Lucifer) until I saw the price, 85€. So I scratched that idea and decided to at least get his autograph that was included in my pass anyway. I bought a picture for him to sign and got in line. The autograph room was pretty hot and humid which was not very pleasant but I wouldn’t spend a lot of time there. So when it was my turn I saw that Tom was wearing devil’s horns on his head and he seemed to be having fun. The girl in front of me held up the line so I didn’t really get to say a lot. The only thing I got out was “I love Lucifer” and he smiled and said “Thank you”. I think the rest of the day was spent in my hotel room. Oh, and it was season finale night, so I got up at night to watch the 2 last episodes of the season.

The actual Jibcon started on Friday afternoon so I had a lot of time to sleep in and get ready, prepare my camera. The first panels were great fun of course and the first day is always pretty stress-free. I didn’t have to get any autographs or photo ops so I was able to just enjoy the show. And then day one was done. And I was getting really nervous about day two because day two was Jensen photo ops day. I couldn’t sleep very well, so many things were going through my head, not just about the con, I was full of self-doubt for specific reasons, which would make me cry on Saturday night. Anyway…

Saturday started very early for me. I got up at 5.30 am to go downstairs for breakfast and it was nice and quiet, a good time for breakfast before all the crowds came storming in. Afterwards I went back up to my room to shower and get dressed and be even more nervous about the photo ops. What would he be wearing, what mood would he be in, would he do the pose I would like him to do? Would the staff let me ask for this pose? Would everything be rushed? Would I even be on time? I decided to take it one step at a time so I got ready, went downstairs to see the opening ceremony. I could have lined up for my Jensen photo ops already but I just didn’t want to miss him on stage for the ceremony. Of course the line was much longer when I came back but it wasn’t so bad it moved quite fast and before I knew it I reached the corner a few meters before the door to the photo op room and got even more nervous. A few minutes later I entered the room, showed my ticket and was given a blue plastic ring because I had 2 photo ops. A staff member asked everyone in line what pose they wanted and I told him I want to different hugs and asked if I could show Jensen  one of them on my phone. He said that it’s fine and I was relieved, that was one of my worries because I didn’t know how to describe it. And standing in front of Jensen…well, you lose all ability to speak anyway. So when it was my turn I gave Daniela my bag and the other volunteer took my ring and showed Jensen my phone, he looked at it and got what I wanted. The rest is pretty blurry. I remember looking at Jensen, his face was so high up (I’m short) and then he hugged me, I felt his stubble. Then the photographer said something, I think he was confused because he couldn’t see my face. Jensen then told him that it’s okay because I wanted it this way (I actually don’t remember what exactly he said) and then the picture was taken. The next one was just a normal squishy hug and it was good and he hugged me tight and when it was done I looked at him again, smiled (I think) and said “Thank you so much” to which Jensen replied “Thank YOU”. Then it was time for me to go, the volunteer gave me back my phone and I got my bag and left the room floating in the clouds. I left the convention area because I really needed to calm down. A few minutes later I noticed the blue ring in my hand and I didn’t know how it got there. I’m serious. I was completely confused. At some point I thought that maybe I had it in my hand the whole time during the photo ops.  But I didn’t. They must have given it back to me, I really don’t know, it was just there. However, there were panels to attend so I went back in, enjoyed more panels, took lots of pictures of Jensen on stage and decided that I would get his autograph on Sunday instead of Saturday, but not during his last session (which turned out to be a good decision). I was a little sad that Jensen’s solo panel turned into a second J2 panel because I would have loved to see and hear Jensen talk on his own. He gives interesting, thoughtful and long answers. But the J2 panel was funny, too, and I knew there’s be a second Jensen solo panel on Sunday so it was okay. Day 2 was almost done, there was only Jason’s concert left which was at 9.30 pm so I had some time to rest and post pictures on Twitter. I knew from experience that those concerts never start on time so I went downstairs a few minutes before 10 and still had to wait till they opened the doors. The concert was nice but as I said back then, for some reason concerts make me sad. And since there were other things on my mind, too, I was just really down afterwards.

Sunday, final day. It was also Jensen/Misha photo op day and Jensen autograph day. The photo op was first thing in the morning and I somehow managed to be second in line and the girl who was before me at some point asked me if I wanted to go ahead of her. When I got in line it was very early of course and we had to wait a while till they let us go to the infamous corner (those who have been to a Jibcon before know which corner I mean). Incidentally I was in a good spot to see Jensen and Misha arrive and go into the photo op room. Many fans were waiting with their cameras ready but I had the best spot. When Jensen arrived it got very loud and he was smily and happy and looked so good in his jacket and red plaid and I waved and he waved back at me and he noticed my YANA t-shirt and smiled. That was a pretty nice start. In the photo op room I met the same guy asking about my pose as the day before. I just wanted a squishy sandwich hug so it was fine. Suddenly it was my turn and I had to look up to both of them. I think Jensen was a little distracted by what was going on at the door at that point but then I could talk to him and ask for a squishy hug. They hugged me pretty tight which was awesome. I thanked each of them, they thanked me and I left, got my bag and suddenly they called me back because I blinked. Oops. So I had to redo the picture which wasn’t so bad, one more Jensen hug is always a good thing. So we did it again and then I was finished and I don’t remember what happened after that. I must have walked back into the panel room, enjoyed more panels and at some point it was time for Jensen’s solo panel which was delayed and I was scared that it would be canceled again. But it wasn’t. It was a good panel and Jensen was amazing, I took lots of pictures, of course. The next thing I did was go into the autograph room to get an autograph from Dave Haydn-Jones which was pretty fun. When I was done I saw there there was already a line for Jensen’s autograph and I decided to just get in that line. It was a good idea. I had to wait a while but when Jensen arrived it was just a nice sight, again 😉 He was pretty cheery and gave high fives and he might have recognized me and smiled at me, I’m not sure, maybe it was the person behind me. It was cute either way. I liked one of my photo ops so much that I wanted to get it signed which I’ve never done before. As the line moved I got more nervous and wasn’t sure what to tell him till the last second. I love his hugs so much so I just wanted to thank him for all the hugs over the years. It was a good decision because his reaction was the sweetest. I can’t even describe the look on his face (I probably could if I was better with words, but I’m not). Then he blew me a kiss and that was the best thing ever. I didn’t even know how to react so I just smiled shyly and said “Thank you”. I thanked him a lot this weekend. I walked out of the autograph room and I was so touched that I actually started to cry. Damn you, Jensen. I love him. So then I was done with autographs and I would be able to just enjoy the rest of the panels. Which I did. The Jensen/Misha panel was delayed but it stood out. It was silly fun till the moment Jensen started to get emotional and told us about his afternoon, how talking to the YANA people affected him. Pretty sure you saw the videos. But being there was special. The whole room was quiet when he was talking, I hardly heard any cameras at all and when I looked around me most people had tears in their eyes. I just wanted to hug Jensen, I think we all did. Of course when Jensen was done he wanted to lighten the mood again by being extra funny but you could tell he was emotionally drained (actually you could tell from the beginning of the panel) and relieved when the panel was ended by all the other guests rushing on stage to hug him. That was really sweet. I loved that moment. I love Jensen for being so open and for letting us know how much he loves us all. This man has a big, big heart.

After the closing ceremony the convention was over. I was tired and of course I was sad that the con ended. I went back to my room and posted more pictures. And that was it basically, that was my convention. 🙂 I loved it.

The journey back home was very stressful but that is a whole different story…

2 comments to My #JibCon experience

Leave a Reply to ZakhHelen Cancel reply

You can use these HTML tags

<a href="" title=""> <abbr title=""> <acronym title=""> <b> <blockquote cite=""> <cite> <code> <del datetime=""> <em> <i> <q cite=""> <s> <strike> <strong>