What I Did This Weekend aka my WinconUk 2.0 Report

[castalie]

I wrote my report last night. Will it surprise anyone if I say it got a bit long? Well, if you're new on the flist, it might, mind you, but that was supposed to be a rhetorical question.

So, anyway, I'm on my lunch break so I'm sneaking in and posting this...

Day 1: Friday

I got up at 5.00 AM because I, being the smrt girl that I am, had bought an early train for London. Technically I could have chosen to arrive in the UK at at later hour than 9.00 AM, but I think I was just so excited at the prospect of leaving Choisy for a weekend and being back in London that when I got my ticket I must have said something like 'I wanna be on English soil very early' to which the guy said 'okay what about 8.00 AM' which did make me go 'er okay so maybe just a little 'less' early if possible, kthxbai.' Which is how, in the end, I left Paris at 7.43 AM to arrive in London at 8.59 AM - because apparently trains, like Jim Ellison, can be pretty anal sometimes.

Anyway, due to a slight change of plan I was to meet with yami_tai at 10.00 AM at the Paddington station and I so didn't panic at the idea of taking the tube on my own, not at all. Except I might have been a bit anxious but it was the fault of a friend of mine. From what she'd told me about the English underground, it was supposed to be this huge maze, and I was bound to get lost at least once.

I think I should have remembered that she's the same friend that is also a bit afraid of our Parisian transport system, so I should have realised she was just a bit of a drama queen about it, is all. Because I didn't have a problem at all finding Paddington Station. Except for the moment of doubt when, on the map, it looked like there were actually two Paddington stations which didn't make any kind of sense but, well, you never know. But, no, there was only one station, thank you very much.

I headed to the Paddington bear, treated myself with a hot chocolate at Krispy Kreme - sadly Lent forbade me to add a couple of donuts to my order - and I waited for Tai, who arrived, like, ten minutes after I did.

We went to Waterstone's next - because whenever I go to the UK, I can't not go there - and we marched straight to the gay & lesbian section - I remembered exactly where it was \o/ We bought ourselves a novel each then after some time we decided to head to Milton Keynes.

Incidentally, Kathleen Turner was apparently doing a signing - or something - at Waterstone's later in the afternoon and it made me smile because it seems that there's always a celebrity around when Tai and I are both in London. Last time, it was Terry Pratchett.

Anyway, let's go back on track. We arrived in MK around 1.35 PM, I think. We got a very nice welcome there; we'd asked a chap - I'm trying to add to my English vocabulary, see? - about the whereabouts of the hotel and before we went into a taxi he came to us and offered to give us a lift... some people are just so nice.

So we arrived at the National Badminton Center, checked-in - smiled at the Sci-fi message on the electric board - got to our room and I think krazykipper found us almost immediately. That's when we met, well, Kip first, obviously, luthien82, teeatsix, theoret and ghyste. morgan32 was already there too, and it was great seeing her again :-)

We all migrated to the main building because the plan was to go to the bar, alas it was closed. It made some people very sad - though I think they made up for the trauma later that night. Since we had nowhere to go, we just went back to our building and invaded Morgan's room. We introduced ourselves - which, as teeatsix said, did make us sound like AA people: "Hi, my name is Mouse, and I'm an SPN fan and a slasher", "Hi Mouse!" - chatted a bit, made the acquaintance of Possessed Demonic Rubber Zebra Duck that ghyste had offered to Kip, you know, the usual...

When it was time for Kip to go to the station to fetch some other fangirls, we decided to all go with her. Oh and let's not forget that teeatsix had to go and fetch fewdaysdown too since she'd called to let her know she'd missed her station and so would arrive a bit later.

So anyway, the lot of us went back to MK central and we all - minus Kip and teaatsix - planted ourselves in Costa. Fangirls kept joining us by then; I think the first one was fewdaysdown, followed with phantomas and dector_noctis...

That Costa place was really good; the hot drinks were great and they didn't mind us taking over the whole place - I mean, there were many of us in here and I let you imagine what kind of conversations we were having. It's not that we made a point of talking about dirty porn or anything but those things... they happen, you know? Talking about fandom and tv shows and LJ - and a bit of your life, occasionally - when you're around so many people, you tend to get sorta loud. We're sorta sorry.

I mean, I went back to get myself a new hot drink at one point and the girl was like "is that your group?" It obviously was so I said yes "I don't want to be rude but could you try to keep it down just a little?" Which she wasn't. Rude, I mean. I said I'd pass the message, which I did, and I don't know if we succeeded in keeping it down, but after a while the same girl came to us with free muffins... like, for all of us! I don't know, maybe, she thought we might just shut up once we'd have our mouths full? But joke aside, that was so sweet! Free muffins! So, okay, I couldn't eat any but still, free muffins are of the good :-)

At 7.00 PM Costa closed and we all herded on to the station to wait for the new people.

That was an epic moment. Because a slasher's meeting is never complete until someone does something a little inappropriate. And, no, the pr0n talks at Costa weren't inappropriate. As it happens, luthien82 and teeatsix both had respectively a Winchester sign and a pink Porn signs. So that the new comers would know who to go to when they arrived. Of course the signs were arranged in a logic way so we had luthien82 and teeatsix holding their Winchester Porn signs high and proud...



Honestly, I think the giggling and laughing attracted attention on us more than our signs... though we did get a few odd looks. Maybe they thought we participated in a weird lesbian porny symposium or something.

And I think someone in the group - fewdaysdown was that you? - was worried about some innocent bystanders and was all "think of the children omg!" but I promise that the kid couldn't see anything, she was behind us by then.

So we were all waiting but no-one came... I don't get it because our Winchester Porn signs should have attracted slashers like a moth to the flame. After a while, I'm afraid we were just a bit too cold and a bit too tired so we kinda abandoned Kip and headed back to the hotel.

By then the bar was opened and that made many people happy. We all settled in comfy couches in the middle of the room - we did try to find a more secluded place to be, but we didn't have a choice so that's where we ended.

Cue hours of slash and fandom and SPN talks - yes, shocking, I know. Obviously it would be just impossible to make a list of all the subjects that were mentioned that night but I remember a couple like the Very Serious discussion about Dean: Top or Bottom - I was overjoyed to realise that many people agreed with me and saw Dean as a bottom. That always makes my heart sing when others sees his bottomness :-) We talked about crack fic, I mentioned the cat!Jared/hamster!Jensen fic but luthien82 upped the ante with her SGA Unicorn/Rainbow story... that apparently even has a sequel with mpreg! Except I guess we can't say 'male' when it's a unicorn? Wait, who was pregnant again?

Anyway, in the course of the evening Kip came back and she had new people with her, namely nebulein, theaeblackthorn and the infamous charli_macboyd.

Got to introduce ourselves once more and then yami_tai and I got an indecent - though very interesting - proposal by charli_macboyd: Tai because of her hair and me because of my accent. Isn't that nice? :-)

Nothing happened though, but only because Tai and I, being tired, abandoned the girls and went back to our room. Something that's always weird when you're at a con and go back to your room? How silent it is lol Quite the contrast, believe you me. Went to bed and crashed pretty quickly, I think.

Day 2: Saturday

Saturday came and we started it with a nice breakfast with the girls. Well, I could only watch the sausages and bacon and eggs from afar since, again, I couldn't eat them, but when I was eating my little lonely toast, I promised myself that I would make up for it on Sunday.

At 9.00 we all headed to the conference room where WinconUK 2.0 Officially Started. Cue cheering and applauding :-)

I quite liked the room, btw; large and spacy, with tables arranged in a U, we had boards and a projector and all kinds of nice stuff.

We all introduced ourselves and each got our nametag + booklet + goody box. Which, the booklets and goody boxes? I kinda fell in love with right away. The booklet was absolutely gorgeous and the goodies we got were L.O.V.E!

See for yourself:



That would be the goody box itself - mine was blue with the Winchester brothers on it - the booklet under all the goodies, and the goodies themselves; a bunny chocolate - poor Dean, he'll think chicks are always trying to kill the lil bunny! - a Clown pen - that way we know Sam won't ever try to steal it from us - two badges; one with WinconUK 2.0 on it and the other with a drawing of Sam and Dean, a little ghost pin, candies, a fanmix CD that I'm listening to a the moment, and my two favourites; an SPN keyring - which I immediately used - AND! Two black jelly bracelets. You can't see them because as soon as I saw them I immediately put them on my wrist, hee Sam's bracelets! I was looking for that kind of black, simple bracelets for a while and lo! WinconUK 2.0 did it!

Thank you again, girls, those were awesome pressies :-)

And this is when I wish I'd taken precise notes because I don't remember how we started exactly... was there fic reading first? When did the Limerick lil contest happen? But, okay, what I know is that we voted for the two episodes to watch - which is when yami_tai, being her organised self, stood up and counted our votes... "Tall Tales" and "Bornd Under a Bad Sign" won.

Which was a great combination; fun and angst. It was first suggested that we watched AHBL I&II but as fewdaysdown said "it's going to upset us too much" - or something along those lines - and I so agreed. So TT and BUABS it was.

Some of the scenes in BUABS looked even slashier this time around, man. If that's possible. I think watching an SPN episode with tons of fangirls brings out the slash even more than usual... which is saying something, yes *eg*

I don't remember when it was I know that both Jo and Morgan read a fic... I mean, I know we had more than those two, including by charli_mcboyd, but I don't remember when the others were.

Anyway, we had many fics read to us through the whole weekend; some were really funny, some kinda broke my heart. One thing is sure is that I love having fics read to me :-) Which isn't news, but still...

There also was a little Limerick session... I hope someone will post some of the results because they were great... charli_macboyd had many of those and I really need to save them on my HD *nods*

Let's say we reached lunch break time. We had a very nice buffet just for us - hail to Kip's mother for the food - with sandwiches that made teaatsix very, very happy, and veggies and crisp and candies and chocolate and just, yeah, mucho love for that buffet :-)

It was during lunch, I think, that theoret decided to turn some of us into Vid lovers. So she went to get her laptop - which is a very shiny laptop! With the pen thing and the flexible screen thing etc... - and pimped vids to us. She's a bit of a vid addict, apparently. But I so didn't complain because ohhh I might have seen the light! I really loved the vids we saw, especially all the ones which had Sam/Dean kissing... they were gorgeous and so well done, too! So I need to have them all on my HD now. Just so you know.

Saturday afternoon was also when the Impala Awards was held; we all - minus one, I mean, IIRC - had a little envelop for each category and we got to announce the winner after watching the nominated scenes live- ie on the screen.

My category was Best Show of Flesh. If you're reading this and you weren't there and want to know who won; it was Sam in "Heart" - much to luthien82's consternation *pets Lu*

The whole thing was really so well done; he montage of the scenes were great and the way it was arranged was really fantastic. I had a lot of fun, really. That was a hit!

Then I think we had more fic reading, more free time, more vid pimping - two by charli_macboyd, which I absolutely loved. I now have them on my HD and I really need to pimp them to my flist, in case someone else had never heard of them because they were too awesome for words.

We got a treat then, of the Jeffrey Dean Morgan persuasion, in the form of the Burning Zone pilot. It took me back, because I did watch the show when it aired in France, many, many years ago. I didn't remember it being so lame, though... or maybe I didn't care even then because of JDM's character?

So that was a nice treat; except the DVD decided to go on strike, so we couldn't watch it all. Still, we'd had the time to get a nice glimpse of young!JDM in very tight jeans - which, from the sound of it, made some fangirls very happy in the room, and we also have a great laugh at one line that reminded us so much of SPN and Papa Winchester that it was, yes, very funny.

Then we were given an SPN quiz and omg! So hard! Seriously, Tai and I were like 'we're such bad fans!' We did answer some questions, though, to our relief, and when we couldn't, we just made some up. We almost asked if we got points for creativity but in the end we just gave up. Note to self: next time, find time to watch all of SPN before going to the con. I mean, I did want to do that, except I didn't have the time... and then the quiz happened and I regretted it *nods*

Around 6.00 PM, I think, we left the room and Tai and I parted from the girls. They all went to Pizza Hut - maybe to scandalise as many people as possible? - but we'd decided not to go with them early on because we wanted the opportunity to spend some time just the two of us... it'd been a year since we'd seen each other last, after all.

So we went to M&S to grab some food, then went back to our room and had ourselves a quiet evening... We chatted, watched tv - and femslashed Rosemary and Laura in Rosemary & Thyme, because they did make a great team. Both as a detective and as a couple, we thought.

All in all, it twas a very nice cozy evening *g*

Day 3: Sunday

Tai and I woke up kinda late on this fine Sunday and it was 8.45 when we left the room... I thought we'd be pretty late to the party, actually, but pretty much everyone was still having their breakfast so that was all right. I finally had myself a very good breakfast, this time, and that made me happy.

We got a first summary of the Pizza Hut night and what happened after the girls had come back to the hotel - or to the bar, to be more precise - and from the sound of it, it looked like they had a wild time. Some people had a bit of a hangover, apparently. Life, it can be hard, sometimes, right?

Apparently the new trend was Jared/Jesus slash and HPS in the form of Hotel Person Slash... because the consensus was that Bartender Guy and Breakfast Boy would make a very nice OTP. To help with the visual for later reference, luthien82 asked Breakfast Boy for his picture. Since she kinda messed up with the camera at first, Lu actually got a little video of him before the actual picture, so it means that if someone wants to make a fanvid of their Love Story, they can! yami_tai suggested the Je T'Aime song. So inappropriately appropriate ;-)

Anyway, at 9.30 PM - or something, I'm not sure I got any of the hours right, to be honest - we were back to the conference room.

We started with a frantic signing session, which actually took some time - you'd think we were writing fanfics on those booklets and not just a little message with our names on it... though, wait, some people did write fics. It's not that I didn't want to cooperate, it's just that if I'd started a fic to add to, say, nebulein's notebook, the convention would have lasted till May... 2009. So I think it was much safer for everyone if I just didn't try that.

After the signing thing, I think Kip read a fic... and then it was time for our little panels. Which I really enjoyed.

Morgan was the first with The Marmite Theory of Orgasm, with real Marmite at hands. Which, I need to point it out again, was awful. The Marmite thing, not the panel, of course. Lu and I were forced to taste the thing, because apparently everyone needs to pop their Marmite cherry. That was a bit of a traumatising experience. theoret was adamant that it tastes much better - even went as far as say that it tasted 'good' - on bread and butter but I just want to say one word 'NO.'

Morgan's panel was really great and gave birth to some hilarious comments like - just to name a few:

morgan32: Excuse me while I find my porn voice
pushkin666: Swallow.

Or phantomas' bad memory of a sex scene in a story that had "wave after wave of passion" and "wave afte wave of whatever" and, I think, velvetjinx went "omg it was a sea of come!">. As for charli_macboyd, she wanted to "surf the waves of orgasm", which, yeah, who wouldn't? lol

ghyste followed with her Sam Winchester: I Had a Crappy Guidance Counselor panel. I'll admit she got my attention right away thanks to a nice little ploy:



She could have talked about Jensen's Mouth all day, I wouldn't have minded at all. But the actual discussion that took place was very interesting too, so I didn't mind that she didn't ;-)

Then I think we had a little break and nebulein read a fic that broke my heart... when she finished reading there was this silence in the room before people applauded but, yeah, that was intense, all right.

In a different kind of intense was the reading that followed, ie the crack!fics that the girls had written the night before. Man, that was... interesting? Yeah, let's just say that it was interesting, it's a nice word lol It had Jared/Jesus, and giant squids, and cheese and - I have many tabs opened so I don't know if someone posted those yet or not, but that was quite... something lol

After that was charli_mcboyd's own panel, the one that will save our lives in case there's a zombie invasion one day; namely Zombies: What You Need to Know About the Undead Peril.

What I learnt is that without an attic or stairs, I'm already a little more doomed than someone who would have those two things in their home. Which is so unfair, btw.

But I'll totally remember to 1. Run 2. Fill my bath 3. Destroy the stairs - or build some to begin with and 4. Go to the attic - and build one of those too, since I'm at it.

Oh and I'll have to remember NOT to go 1. the police station or 2. the hospital.

That panel was a lot of fun... if a little bit scary. Make that, really scary. And not just the panel itself but some of the comments that went with it. I'm not sure thinking about the logistics of zombie sex is the kind of thing I want to do ever again *makes face* Except that you can't help but wonder about it...

After that last panel we had lunch and soon after lunch people started leaving... we then started a little Hangman session that went a bit out of control - nothing surprising here, I guess.

Actually, I really loved the different results throughout the weekend:







Then we chatted about SPN and tv shows again for a little while, then at 4.15 PM, Tai, ghyste, pushkin666 had to leave for London. We headed to the station, accompanied with teaatix, fewdaysdown, luthien82 and nebulein who needed some money for their evening together, and then off to London we went.

Tai and I went on our way to St Pancras after that and it was time for me to say goodbye to her...

Man, findind myself on my own when she left was a bit weird... you always need some time to get used to a) being on your own again and b) be part of RL again, where slash and pretty boys and tv aren't the conversations by default, know what I mean? :-)

In conclusion, our weekend was love. I'm completely addicted to conventions and I need to do as many of them as possible. The End.

No, wait, not exactly 'the end'; I so want to go to Asylum now. I mean, more than I did before. Oh, well, maybe next year if we get a 3rd one?

Comments

[teaatsix.livejournal.com]

EEEK MOST AWESOME DETAILED REPORT EVER♥
Reading this made me sad, I want to go back right now, it was the best weekend ever :)
Are you going to Asylum?
♥

[castalie.livejournal.com]

EEEK MOST AWESOME DETAILED REPORT EVER♥

Hee thank you! :-)

I want to go back right now, it was the best weekend ever :)

Those weekends are so amazing, aren't they?

Are you going to Asylum?

Sadly no and you can't imagine how much I regret not going now. I soooooooooooo want to go and see you all again. Oh and see Jared, too, obviously lol

[briarwood.livejournal.com]

I'm so sorry you were traumatised by my Marmite, m'dear. 'Tis an acquired taste, I admit. When I was a kid I used to eat it by the spoonful - scared the crap out of my mother!

It was great to meet you again! Hope to see you at Asylum.

[castalie.livejournal.com]

It's okay, now I'll be able to say that I survived the Marmite experiment ;-)

Alas, I don't think I'll go to Asylum. Unless I suddenly find a job and there're tickets and rooms left; which, well, I'm not exactly hopeful, you know?

But maybe next year? If we get a third Asylum, obviously *fingers crossed*

[charli-macboyd.livejournal.com]

I can only apologise for the traumatic zombie sex discussion. I can be a bit graphic at times...eeek.
But this was an awesome report about an awesome weekend which was made extra awesome because you were there.

*smishes*

[castalie.livejournal.com]

Dude, don't apologise. I'm used to more graphic stuff; it's just that zombie really freak me out. I was a bit afraid we'd get some visuals, actually, so it wasn't so bad *g* And now I know a lot about zombie protection which is of the good!

Seriously, I loved your panel :-)

And thanks! Glad you enjoyed the report; writing/reading it was quite enjoyable for me too *nods*

[ghyste.livejournal.com]

Great report and I completely agree with you about Marmite: Stuff of the Devil...and not the cute duck variety!

[castalie.livejournal.com]

Thanks! I love details, and I just love going back to those reports months later and feel like I'm still there :-)

Lol Nope, definitely not the cute duck variety, I second that *nods*

[aswanargent.livejournal.com]

I'm exhausted just reading about your weekend, but it sounds like you had a glorious time, and that's what counts. :-D

What else are you giving up for Lent? So far I count donuts, muffins, sausage, bacon, eggs....

Giant squids and cheese? I don't even want to know, lol.

[castalie.livejournal.com]

Lol It was quite an intense weekend, all right :-) Intense but in the most fantastic way. Fan meets are love!

So far I count donuts, muffins, sausage, bacon, eggs....

Well, it's not so much that I gave up on those specific things but more like I give up meat, everything that is/contains eggs and just about every candy and cake.

Giant squids and cheese? I don't even want to know, lol.

That's because you're smart lol

[luthien82]

The Unicorn/Rainbow sex fic must be blamed solely on me :) And I actually never found out who was pregnant in the end because one day... the butterfly was just there :)

Awwww your report makes me sad and achy for the next con to start RIGHT NOW. 't was so awesome in MK! ♥ And our Marmite cherry was thoroughly popped, wasn't it? Awful stuff :D

[castalie.livejournal.com]

Ooopsie, you're right, the Unicorn/Rainbow thing was all your fault! I corrected my mistake; it wouldn't do for someone else to take the 'blame' for that one lol

the butterfly was just there :)

Man, that crack!fic never gets old, really lol

[decor-noctis.livejournal.com]

This is such an awesome report! I wish I hadn't missed the games of hangman. Fannish hangman is the best!

Also: "because apparently trains, like Jim Ellison, can be pretty anal sometimes" MADE ME LOL

[castalie.livejournal.com]

Thanks! So glad you liked it too *g* Dude, the games of hangman were E.P.I.C! And by that I mean they were a bit insane lol

[moimoietmoi.livejournal.com]

Ack, what did I miss?! Wincon? Lunch break?

[castalie.livejournal.com]

Er, I'd say you missed a lot, yeah!

You honestly didn't know/remember that I was going to attend Wincon? The SPN fancon? Cause that was last weekend, obviously *g*

As for the 'lunch break' thing, that's because my contract has been renewed for another week, so I'm still working right now :-)

[moimoietmoi.livejournal.com]

I feel like I've lost touch with reality! \o/

I'm glad you've got more work! Good for you!

[castalie.livejournal.com]

Those things happen :-)

And thanks!

[babycakesin.livejournal.com]

First: great report, as usual - sounded like a lot of fun *g*

Second: I only used the London subway system a couple of times, but the only things I remember is that it was expensive and I bumped my head. Oh, and that it was clean.

Third: I really hope you'll get a third Asylum! *bounces* that would be so awesome!

[castalie.livejournal.com]

Re: First: thanks *g* I had A LOT OF FUN, indeed!

Re: Second: each time I go on the tube I can't help but telling Tai how amused I am that it's all so tiny. Cute, but tiny. I can totally understand how you'd have bumped your head.

Re: Third: thanks! I'm crossing my fingers already. For next year. Because sometimes you have to be prepared a long time in advance!

[babycakesin.livejournal.com]

I can totally understand how you'd have bumped your head.
then again, I'm known for being careless, so I can't blame it entirely on the 'tube' (is it wrong that the name makes me giggle?)

OT: currently watching Numb3rs - at what point did you hate Charlie's hair?

[castalie.livejournal.com]

currently watching Numb3rs - at what point did you hate Charlie's hair?

I hated his hair in s2... there was a point when it got really scary. Well, in my world it was, that is...

[sockich.livejournal.com]

I am seriously considering printing this out and rolling around in it. I figure it's the next best thing to actually being there. :D

I'm so glad you had a good time and thank you kindly for writing such an awesome report - it makes living vicariously through you much easier. ;)

[castalie.livejournal.com]

Lol Thanks. Fan meetings are love, seriously ♥ ♥

You're very welcome, mate!

[turps33.livejournal.com]

That sounds so awesome! It makes me happy that we've both had fantastic fannish gatherings last week. Though the post gathering slump is a bitch *sadface*

I had to laugh at the Jesus slash though, he was slashed at CS too, the man was busy the last week ;)

[castalie.livejournal.com]

We both had fantastic fannish gatherings last week, didn't we? I want to say that's because we deserve it lol

The DepressionPostCon is a pain, though, I second that. I'm always surprised at how long it takes to come down from the high... it's not always the easiest thing.

Jesus seems to be quite the promiscuous guy, doesn't he? Or maybe he's just that popular. Or both.

[yami-tai.livejournal.com]

See, I knew that you would do an awesome report ^_____^! It brings back happy memories (I can't believe how long ago it feels already!) and I agree, next year, I'm going to do some episode re-watching prep for the quiz :-)!

[castalie.livejournal.com]

See, I knew that you would do an awesome report ^_____^!

Lol I have a reputation to preserve, right? :-)

I can't believe how long ago it feels already!

That's what I was thinking today! I mean, it was just last week... and yet it seems so long ago now. Weird.

I'm going to do some episode re-watching prep for the quiz

We'll be prepared, Tai! And we'll totally rule at SPN quizzes \o/