Collectormania - day 1

[hils]

Ok, peeps, here we go. I am flocking these because there are pics of people from my flist on here. I might put the Michael and non LJ people pics in a public post at some later point but for the time being it's for your eyes only.

I would ask that you don't post these anywhere else at the moment

Obviously this post is VERY image heavy so probably not suitable for dialup users


We woke up at 6am this morning and took our time getting ready. The first surprise of the day came when yavannauk texted to say she’d just seen Michael in the lift. Yes, we were staying in the same hotel as The Baum. I was on edge the whole time thinking we were going to bump into him.

By the time we got to the centre I was pleasantly surprised at how small the queue for Michael was. When they finally let us in I was ticket number 47.


The gang waiting for our Michael tickets


Still waiting in line - but smiling

After getting my tickets for everyone we wanted to meet we had a leisurely breakfast and decided to go and get some autographs before our photo session with Michael. As we had low ticket numbers for everyone we decided to go with Amber first as she was nearest. She was totally adorable and she chatted to me for ages about the cruise. She said she’d had a lot of fun, and she showed the photo to Mercedes McNab who was sitting at the next table. Amber was laughing and saying she couldn’t even remember owning the top she was wearing in the photo. Then she started talking about how cute Clare Kramer and Iyari Limon were and finally she talked about the table wars.

For those of you new to my flist when we were on the Buffy cruise Jacqui and I were sat with Jonathan Woodward and Amber was on the table next to us. Amber and Jonathan got into a contest with each other to see who could be the most silly and rowdy, and of course they got everyone at their tables involved. Jonathan named our table Team Herpes but I can’t remember why now.

It was really sweet that Amber remembered me from Jonathan’s table though. We had a lovely chat and I had my picture taken with her.


My autograph from Amber


Me and Amber

After that it was time for my photos with Michael and OMG I was so nervous! When I got there though it was fine. Michael read my t-shirt and said ‘Where do you guys get all these shirts from?!’ I told him the internet was a wonderful thing. I had a regular photo and then I asked if we could do something different for the second one. The photographer said we could do whatever we wanted so Michael just pulled me into this tight hug. Then the camera didn’t work properly so I had to stay there for a while. It was awesome!


Yeah, I don't look too happy there. LOL!

I was on cloud nine for a while after that but as soon as we were done with Michael we went over to meet Jamie. I think I was actually more nervous meeting him since I’ve been waiting for it since before BSG started airing. He was incredibly sweet! He’s very softly spoken but I said I’d been a fan since back in the Hornblower days if he could remember back that far. He said of course he remembered, and that it had been his first big TV thing. He said he’d had a lot of fun filming it. I was just a mushy mess. LOL! I had my picture taken with him too.


Waiting to meet Jamie


Me talking to Jamie






My autograph from Jamie


Me and Jamie


yavannauk took this one for me and I love it!

Morena was next and she was sweet. When I told her my name she asked if it was short for something and when I told her it was short for Hilary she did a facepalm and said ‘duh’. Sadly she wasn’t allowing photos to be taken with her but I’ve got an official photoshoot tomorrow.


Morena


My autograph from Morena. I'm hoping Nathan will be back over here one day so I can get him to sign it too

Finally we went to meet Mark Sheppard. OMG! He teased me so much! He was chatting to Morena when I arrived as there was no one else waiting to see him so I just stood and listened. Finally he turned his attention to me and I said I’d been quite enjoying just listening to them chat. He read my shirt and said that he bet Michael loved it and what a nice man Michael was. Hee! Fanboy. Then when I spelled my name out to him he stared at me like I was weird. I pointed out that it was short for Hilary and he was the first person that had thought it was weird. ‘Well, it’s a weird name’ he replied, jokingly of course. Then he mentioned something about travelling all this way and I asked him if he’d come far. He pointed out that all of his shows were filmed in America so he certainly didn’t live in Milton Keynes. LOL! He then talked about Milton Keynes for ages, about how he remembered when it was first built and he talked about the concrete cows. It was just really funny.



Then yavannauk took our photo and he noticed her hands were shaking (she's hypoglycemic) so he made Morena give her a Snickers bar. I'm guessing he knows someone with a similar problem because he knew exactly what to do and told her that once we were done with him we had to go and have lunch. He was just a really sweet and really fun guy to be with.


Me and Mark

Finally it was time for my Michael autograph. Because I’d already met him for the photos I didn’t feel too nervous, except when I remembered I said I’d talk to him about porn. LOL!

So, when I finally got to him he chatted about the print he was signing on and said he’d seen a lot of them that morning (I didn’t point out that half our group bought one after they saw mine) and he discussed where the best place to sign it was. He asked my name and when I told him it was Hils he sang ‘the hills are alive with the sound of music’. Hehe! The woman sitting with him rolled her eyes and said I'd set him off now. Hehe!


Michael signing my autograph


My Michael autograph

Then I did it.

“So, I hear you just made a porn film with Nathan Fillion”



“It is not a porno!” Michael replies with mock indignation.



“But it’s called PG Porn .” I pointed out.

“Exactly,” Michael replied. “PG Porn. Does that sound like a porno to you?”

“It’s got porn in the title, so yes, it does.”

“It’s a spoof,” Michael explained. I’m not sure if he got that I was teasing him. “My agent called me up and said ‘Have you made a porno?!’”

“It looks funny,” I finally said.

“It’s going to be awesome.” Michael replied.

I don’t doubt it :)

Now I have to figure out what to say to him tomorrow. I’m thinking just general Shear Love squeeing. I hear he likes to talk about it.

To end the day I got my official photo with Jamie Bamber. He remembered me from the morning and said 'hello, again'. What a nice man!

It was so funny. The camera kept messing up and the photographer must have taken about 8 shots. He kept apologising that it was taking so long. I (standing there with Jamie’s arm around me) pointed out that I didn’t mind in the slightest. Jamie gave me a squeeze.

When we finally got a shot that was ok, the photographer changed his mind and called me back to do another one. I must have spent a good six to eight minutes being held by Jamie




I can't work out which is the 'bad' one? Ah well, I got two photos and I only paid for one.

All in all I couldn’t have asked for a more awesome day. Tomorrow I’ve just got my photo with Morena, two with Michael (I went and bought another one because I want more cuddles) and my second Michael Autograph. Should be a nice, gentle day.

Addendum: At midnight I got a text from aurora_bee to say the Michael had been spotted in the bar next to our hotel. Of course I had to go an investigate. Sure enough he was there with his brother and their little entourage. I didn’t go and bother him as he was just relaxing with his friends but I had a drink and he walked past me as he was leaving.

And here we have the variety of Michael pics I took during the day at various points