“Sorry what was that?” as Jared Padalecki leans in closer to
hear me repeat what I just said: “Those shirts are for you guys, its half
Nelson Mandela’s Face and half a Lions face” I repeated. Barbara, standing on
my right hand side, lines up Jensen Ackles and makes her move. We all heard this
“oomph!” as she rugby tackled him. Oh shit…she wasn’t kidding.
Before we get into today’s blog I must say that today was
the morning we woke up to news about the Orlando Nightclub Shooting. It happened a few hours
ago way down south of us. Barbara and I didn’t quite know what was going on,
you know the news was just in the background, but as we paid more attention it
made for a very somber start to the day.
It is so scary to think that out there
somewhere is a man capable of walking into a venue, totally unannounced and
just murdering 49 people cold blood. It is frightening. We both physically felt a pain in our chests. We felt so sad for people we didn't know in a place that we have never been. We felt sad for the Americans. We felt sad for civilization. We sat at the breakfast table and spoke about how weird it is to be at a convention about good versus evil. You know, the story line is based on a fictional plot yet it, as compared to the evil that is living among us in our daily lives, is so much more believable that what happened in Orlando. It is hard to explain it in writing for me.
Thinking back to that now makes me miff. More about the
Orlando attacks in my GBLT Pride Festival blog, in Denver, in a few days’ time.
For now: Let’s try keep it light.
So, few steps back. Years and years ago Barbara and I sat
down to watch a series pilot together. A series about two brothers that take on
the supernatural world and continue “The Family Business”. Now, we have very
different tastes in series. I am a South Park, happy-go-lucky slap stick and comedy
based kind of viewer. How I met your Mother, Archer and intense story lines
like Takeshi's Castle. Barbara on the other hand watches everything else. I
mean, literally everything else. Basic rule of thumb is if I like it then that
is the odd one in a million that she won’t enjoy.
So anyway, she pulls out this series called Supernatural.
For some reason it struck a chord with both of us. Long story short – it is the
only series that we watch together progressively. Years down the line, around
about season 9, Barbara picked up that the Supernatural team do their own
conventions. It was from there that we decided to plan our USA trip. It all started
with “let’s pop over and do a convention” which mutated over the few years to
this 5000 mile road trip.
So we are here. Standing in the queue to see the boys. A few
people brought along some basic props like hats and Avenger masks. Barbara and
I designed these pretty awesome shirts that have Mandela’s face and a Lions
face superimposed over a South African flag on them. Quite chuffed with them
actually.
Standing in the queue. Let me paint a picture: The boys have
classic rock playing in the back ground (not classical rock) and you go one
slot at a time closer and closer to them. You have a microsecond with them,
pose for a photo and get shuffled out of the way by their managers. Now, we
have traveled thousands and thousands of miles for this so there is no way we
are getting the standard deal here. We plotted out approach. Barbara went from
being a giddy chatterbox to just quietly staring at them in a serial-killer
kind of way. Right – it’s our turn.
Now, we both have our shirts on and I have two shirts in my
hand – one for either of them. The initial idea as to ask them to put the
shirts on but the situation just got the better of us. I basically showed
Jared his shirt and explained that we brought these extra two for them.
Jared, surprised by my accent I believe, gave me the huge smile and said
“Whaaaaat?”. He didn’t hear a word and took a step closer to me so I could
shout in his ear.
Barbara is standing just behind me to my right. Now, because
Jared leaned in closer to me Jensen become interested in what was going on. He walked
across from the photo area and came out of position. Barbara, with a surge of
hormones I think, literally pushed me to the side and took a run at Jensen. She
is quite a short girl so she ended up bear hugging the guy around his mid-section
with some pretty solid momentum. He literally said “oomph” as she gripped him
and pushed him back a few steps. She just held on in there…quite awkward.
Jared went to Jensen’s rescue, gave Barbara a huge hug and posed for the
camera.
Our little pose was predetermined. I think it came out
pretty awesome – something a little different you know. Anyways, they gave
Barbara a big old sandwich hug, Jensen smacked me on the chest and we headed
out of the photo area. Now I’m not saying that I initially figured them for weaklings
but I didn’t realise how strong Jensen is. He smacked me on my chest – you know
in that sporty kind of way – which actually knocked my breath out.
And that was it. Frikken whirlwind. Barbara just giggled for
an hour thereafter.
We had another panel by Ruth and then J&J panel. I was surprised
that Jared is actually the boisterous one – Jensen is a lot more chilled of
the two. Although they did mention Orlando a few times in their panel and I get
the feeling that was what dampened the mood a little. They did try put on a
showbiz smile and still gave a great show but the Orlando attack really hit
home for a lot of people in the crowd and it felt almost wrong to be laughing
and enjoying ourselves. The cast tried their best to still be entertaining but
you could feel the sadness in the room.
The convention was a huge success. We really felt part of a
little something special while we were there. At the end of the show, when it
was all over, we popped out to visit the local Cabelas (insane) which is an outdoors wonderland emporium (think Willie Wonker for Men) and then called it a day.
Bit of rest tonight and then its onto the greener pastures up north-east tomorrow.
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