Salt Lake Comic Con Chaotic Fun 2016

As usual I'm a couple months late on posting. Although this year's comic con was filled with so much fun! We had Mark Hamill you guys! And he kicked off the entire convention, which was honestly pretty fracking awesome. And to top it off, my sister and I were lucky enough thanks to a very generous dude, to get floor passes to Hamill's panel and sit 6 rows from the stage. It was completely magical, and the best way to start off a 3-day extravaganza. Ignore the fact that I look like I just woke up/crap.

This close!! And it was amazing.

Right after Hamill's panel was William Shatner's. And so we stayed and then got bored halfway through. Well bored and hungry. So we ventured out to the food trucks to fill our bellies before we decided to walk the floor and then call it a day.

The rest of the time I was on my own, so I spent that time mainly in panels, as they are my favorite. I only had one photo op this time, mainly due to lack of funds. But I made it worth it. There were a few others I would have loved to done photo ops with, and I could have chosen one that I'd never got a picture with before, but I couldn't pass up the chance to have my arm around Stephen Amell again, so therefore I did a repeat. I'm totally content with that. I even painted my nails to be sparkly green in support of his character The Green Arrow. I'm just that nerdy.

Arthur! He was one I wanted a photo op with, but didn't get. Hopefully he
comes again and I have monies! His panel made up for the missed
opportunity though.

Michael Rooker was amazing!! He walked around the audience the whole time
 and was hilarious. One of my all-time favorite panels for sure.

Famke Janssen was really nice, and quite beautiful. 

Nicholas Brendan and Emma Caulfield were so dang funny! They play
really well off each other, and a little Buffy reunion was super fun.

Captain Amell and David Ramsey. Need I say more?

Seriously These two guys are amazing and genuine. 

So this is my repeat photo, but it was totally worth it!
First off I love Amell to pieces and I was wearing one of his
Fuck Cancer shirts, so we flipped off the camera together in
support. I just wish I had worn the shirt differently, I bought
it when I was a lot bigger. But I'm just so happy with this
picture, and how he didn't hesitate to oblige my request. 

The Adventures of Lily the Cat (As Told By Lily)

An update to my new dry food hatred: I have caught on to my human, and that nighttime snack that smells suspiciously like my dry food, but wet, is in fact a soggy version of my dry food. She can fool me no longer, and I will have none of this! None of this I tell you! So I have now resorted back to my old ways of letting her know I'm hungry regardless of the hour. Ha! See how you like that my human servant!

The Adventures of Lily the Cat (As Told By Lily)

So I've decided that I'm too good for dry food now. Once I got a taste of the good stuff (wet food), I just can't bring myself to eat that poor man's excuse for food anymore. The downside of this decision is that I don't get to choose when I eat. So I've had to become more vocal to let my human know when I'm hungry. No matter the time of day. I find myself most hungry in the morning hours, before the sun has risen. So I've had to become very vocal at that time, because this is when my human is sleeping, so she can't hear me as well. It tends to work, although she gets quite vocal with me back, and seems to take her time feeding me. She's so quick to feed me the rest of the day, so I just can't quite understand why she struggles with this certain feeding. My human has started to leave out a new kind of food overnight, it smells a lot like my dry food, but is soft and wet. I find this to be a fine snack for the night hours while she sleeps, but really I think she's just trying to shut me up. I have to admit, I'm not as hungry in the morning, so I'll let her win this one. For now.

Rewatch: ER

So I took on a major rewatch project. I decided to rewatch all 15 seasons of ER. It was quite the undertaking. I hadn't watched the show since it aired, and had seen every episode only once previously; the night it actually aired. I stuck through the rough seasons of the show, and remained a loyal fan from beginning to end. And so I felt it was due justice that I give it another go and see if it held up after all this time.

First off the first half of the series is clearly set in the 90's, and it's fun. The first few seasons had no internet and no cell phones. Well unless you were rich, then you had the giant brick phone. Relationships occurred by actually talking to people in person, and some of the medicine and techniques are fun to see as antiquated now. Not everything can hold the test of time, but honestly it doesn't come off that outdated overall.

The first five seasons are interesting, and I was surprised to find out how much I actually remembered. I mean it has been 22 years since the show debuted.

Season 1 was definitely ground breaking TV. There hadn't been, and I can say there still isn't anything like this show. They did such a great job making you feel like you're actually there with them in the hospital performing those life-saving procedures. They had an outstanding original cast that to this day can never be matched. It was kind of cool to see a baby Carter on his first day as a med student being thrown into the trenches and reacting just how you would expect a med student to react. And Benton wasn't shy about getting Carter in there and learning. Greene was the mentor everyone wanted, and Ross was the childish handsome doctor you secretly want to work on you. Season 1 was everything they did right to build a fantastic series. For not having seen this season in 22 years, it was nice to see what I actually remembered, like Hathaway attempting suicide, Benton's mother dying, and Greene's baby delivery mistake and the legal consequences. I feel like it says a lot for the writing if I can remember as much as I did.

Season 2 brought us the one and only Dr. Weaver, I remember distinctly hating her from the very moment I saw her. And Doug nor Susan were too happy about her coming to the ER either. This time around because I knew she grew as a character later on in the series, I wasn't as bothered with her. This season had it's first big "event" episode with Doug saving a kid from a water culvert and becoming a local celebrity. I totally remembered this episode almost exactly how it played out. I was impressed with myself. We also saw Greene's marriage dissipate and him struggle with custody of his daughter. Susan also had to deal with losing little Susie to her sister Chloe. Honestly I was glad to see Chloe go away. I never did like that story line in the first place, and it wasn't any better the second time around unfortunately. Aside from that, Season 2 was just as good as Season 1 in my opinion.

In Season 3 Carter finally becomes a doctor, in the form of an intern, and things start to get real for him. Maggie joins the cast, but only as a part-time character, but she's their first gay character, which was pretty forward for the mid 90's, and then we lose Susan the first time after Mark pours his heart out to her. I felt so bad for him, but knew better things were ahead for him in the love department, but as a rebound first he dates Chuny which I found hilarious and so not working. It lasted a few weeks thank god. But then he goes and gets assaulted in a bathroom, and I remember that episode distinctly. I could even tell that it was coming, just by one scene alone. My memory is weird. Poor Mark then struggles with having been assaulted and not knowing who it was. Which would be hard, but he does come around in the next season thankfully.

Season 4 starts off with a live episode, and I remember the advertising for this was all over the place. I also remember that in the 90's it became a short-lived thing to do a live episode. This episode also happened to be where we meet Dr. Corday for the first time. I wonder how that was for Alex Kingston to join a show and the first one you do happens to be a "live" event? I wish I had realized that before the last Con I went to, I would have asked her that question. Maybe she's answered it somewhere in the past. I'll have to look. Season 4 was also when we got the pleasure of Dr. Romano, easily the most hated character at the time. I was also reminded that Dr. Corday was with Dr. Benton before Dr. Greene, and Mariska Hargitay was a desk clerk who dated Greene throughout a good chunk of Season 4. I didn't remember that one at all! We also learned in this season that Benton's son Reese may be deaf. Which I thought was a good thing for Benton. Having a kid softened him already, but a deaf child definitely changed his perspective, as we saw further in the next season.

Season 5 brought us Lucy, and I immediately got sad because I knew her fate. It was also interesting to watch Carter without money trying to make things work, and ending up being the babysitter of a bunch of med students at a dorm, and then when that ended he lives with Weaver for a while, and I found that super entertaining. We got to see a different side of Weaver, and it was a nice change. Doug and Carol were hot and heavy, and then Doug up and leaves, not knowing Carol is pregnant. And Greene and Corday begin their relationship, which in my opinion is my favorite pairing of the series.

The next five seasons were just as interesting to watch. I didn't remember that we actually had Lucy for nearly two seasons before she and Carter were attacked and we lost Lucy. It was just as sad as I remember though.

In Season 6 alone we gained Kovac, Abby, Malucci, Cleo, Deb (Jing Mei) returned, and then Romano was made a regular. I remember them all, but not all at once! Before Season 6, we had maybe one or two new regular characters per season. This was also the same season where we lost Lucy (RIP), Jeannie, Maggie, Anna, and the first full season without Doug Ross, which made me sad, but I knew it was coming. I do have to say that Season 6 nearly killed me. That was easily the most emotional season they'd done so far. Between Carol deciding to leave and join Doug in Seattle and then Carter and Lucy being attacked, the season was full of feels.

And then I got to Season 7 and remembered, nope that's the most emotional season so far. Season 7 wrecked me all over again. Dealing with Dr. Greene's brain tumor, and Corday's pregnancy, their engagement and then their super stressful wedding. I'd forgot just how seriously emotional and hard Season 7 was just for that story line alone. And then to add Kovac's family history, and Carrie's coming to terms with her sexuality, and Carter's drug addiction recovery it was a hard season!

And then came the last half of Season 8. It nearly put me into a deep depression. I remember the death of Dr. Greene being hard, but not that hard. Up until this rewatch, if someone were to ask me what the hardest TV death was, I had always said Nate from Six Feet Under. I can now officially say, nope I was wrong, it's Dr. Greene. I ugly cried so hard! And it left me with a very sad feeling all day. As ridiculous as that sounds, because I do realize it's just a show, but that episode was the best written, acted, and most emotional episode of the series hands down. The episodes leading up to it were hard as well, and the episode right before where the hospital learns of his death had me bawling too, but to watch him actually die ruined me all over again. I thought I was prepared, I mean I had seen it before, but I don't think you can really prepare yourself for that kind of emotion.

I also think it's safe to say that once we lost Dr. Greene, the show just wasn't the same. He carried that show for 8 seasons, and it left a void that just couldn't quite be filled. Don't get me wrong, the show still had some gems:

Like in Season 9 when it started off with Dr. Romano getting his arm sliced off by a helicopter, or watching the downward spiral of Kovac. It spent a lot of time with Carter in Africa, which I actually enjoyed, but can see how it took away from the show's formula. Don't get me wrong, the season is good, there's just something missing (ahem Dr. Greene).

Season 10 started off with killing Romano by none other than a helicopter just a few episodes in. I recall when I first watched, I thought this was their "jumping the shark" moment; watching again, I'm not entirely sure I was wrong. The magic that once was, started to really dwindle at this point with the show. And if I can be honest, this time around Romano grew on me. I remember hating him, but after watching again, I can actually say I enjoyed his character. The season also brought Carter back to Chicago with a pregnant girlfriend in tow, only to be still-born. Carrie lost her wife in a fire accident, and we ended the season with her losing her child to her in-laws.

The final five seasons appeared to me that they tried really hard. Too hard sometimes:

Season 11 for instance, felt like they had one too many "special" episodes. Even having two in a row. Someone was aiming for an award, that's for sure. The season also saw the aftermath of the birth of Carter's still-born son, Carrie almost losing her child in a custody battle, and Carrie meeting her birth mom, only to not be accepted because of her lifestyle. Dr. Corday left after performing an illegal, but justifiable surgery, and then ultimately we saw Carter leave the show at the end of the season.

Season 12 felt odd because for the first time there was no Carter, and then Susan left abruptly as well with no goodbye. That felt a bit cheap. And with Romano dead, and Carrie barely to be found, they had to try and shake things up with a few "strong" guest characters, so they brought on nurse Eve, and Doctor Clemente. I hardly cared for either character. They both brought nothing to show in my opinion, and were basically filler. We also saw Abby and Kovac get back together and pregnant. Carrie had hip surgery and lost the crutch, and Pratt headed off to Africa to join Carter as commanded by Kovac. I honestly forgot how heavy the Africa story line really was in the later half of the series. I think the best part of Season 12 for me though was when Morris found out he was a father to four kids because he donated sperm in his college days. He took to being a "daddy" like it was nothing, and I found it hilarious. I also enjoyed the couple episodes we got with Carter. It felt like he never left.

Season 13 brought about a few changes, like the opening credits. No more theme song. And that saddened me greatly. No more Clemente, which made me very happy, and Kovac and Abby get to be parents. John Stamos joins the cast officially, which of course is good because it's Stamos. Carrie gains a new lover, we learn Pratt is a bigot, and Kovac has PTSD from losing his first family, and projects it onto his new family. We also lose Carrie after she got demoted, Ray after he got hit by a truck and lost his legs, and Kovac after he and Abby got married. I remembered Ray losing his legs from the first time around, but totally didn't remember that Kovac and Abby actually tied the knot. For some reason I thought they didn't go through with it and that was why he left. Instead it was because he went back to Croatia to care for his father.

Season 14 picks up from when Kovac left and it's kind of played that he's still in Croatia. I miss him. And I forgot how Abby spirals without him there, and freaking cheats on him. I got kind of angry with her for that. Basically the entire season revolved around Abby and Kovac's marriage. And basically I was pissed all over again. I actually remembered more than I thought, and then to do a cliffhanger where we don't know if Abby got hurt in the explosion is so uncool after they just barely reconciled. Not cool at all. 

But turns out in Season 15 they begin with picking up at the explosion and we lose Pratt. Now I'll say he was never a favorite of mine but he grew on me and I must have blocked his death out, because I didn't remember that happening, and I bawled like a baby. Honestly it was the first good cry since losing Dr. Greene if that tells you anything. And then Abby leaves to go with Kovac to Boston and I cry all over again, because I'm a hopeless romantic and they worked it out. You can tell it's the last season for sure. It's like they brought all the feels that had been missing since Season 8 and lumped them all into this season. We got an episode with Dr. Greene in the form of flashbacks and I bawled again because of course it has to take place in the season he dies, so all those memories come rushing back. They even brought Weaver and Romano back for the episode and I actually really missed Romano! The last half of the season basically served as a plot to parade old cast through the ER. Corday interviewed Neela for a position at Duke, Carter came back only to need a kidney which brought us Doug, Carol and Benton and that was awesome. Neela said goodbye and we were led to believe she and Ray finally got together which made me very happy.

The Finale. Well first off I didn't cry as much as I thought I would. I mean there were tears, but far less than expected. Second, it was just how I remembered. Basically ending like it began, with patients coming into the hospital. Granted we did get a nice little bit with some of the original cast for the opening of Carter's medical center, and that was nice. The original cast will always be the best cast for sure. But when all was said and done, they really did end the show the way it needed to end, by moving on. People come and go, but the work is never done. And for that it was a satisfying finale to an amazing show.

So after watching 15 seasons of ER here's what I learned:

1. The first 8 seasons of the show were the best. The last 7 felt like a different show. And had far less emotion than the first 8. Except for Season 15 where they kind of brought their A-game. 

2. My favorite couples in order are: Greene & Corday, Doug & Carol, and Kovac & Abby. 

3. My favorite character of the series is Dr. Greene (duh).

4. My favorite character of the last half of the series is Morris.
5. For having seen the series only once before as it originally aired, I found that I remembered the first half of the series way better than the last half, which is surprising. But shows how much more impactful it was. 

The one thing I learned most of all is that I still love this show and maybe even more than I did when it was on air. This is one rewatch I'm really glad I undertook. It was well worth it.

Oh and in case you're wondering, I managed to complete this rewatch in a month and a half. That's how little of a social life I have. 

The Adventures of Lily the Cat (As Told By Lily)

So I like to annoy my human as much as possible. I've told you about Marco Polo, but I also have this other game I play of How Slow Can I Walk in Front of My Human? It goes like this: As soon as she wants to walk anywhere, I get right in front of her and walk really slow and make sure to be in her path the entire time. And just when I think she's going to trip, I run off and go lay down. She makes her warbling sound at me in a tone I can only assume is appreciation of how cute I am. I find it greatly entertaining, and just in case she is mad at me, I will go give her cuddles to remind her just how sweet I really am. It works every time.

The Adventures of Lily the Cat (As Told By Lily)

Ever heard of that game Marco Polo? I love that game! So I like to play it whenever I can. My human seems to love playing the game too. I'll just randomly start a round, sometimes I'll even be in the same room as her, just to see if she's paying attention. I've found the best way to play Marco Polo is to be as loud as possible and repetitive until she responds, that way my human knows for sure I'm playing the game. It's so much fun! Especially at night when she's turned out all the lights and is laying in that nice big bed of mine I let her use.

The Adventures of Lily the Cat (As Told By Lily)

So I lost a tooth the other day. It was weird, I was just sitting with my human and it just fell out. My human gave me a weird look as I was sniffing my tooth trying to figure out what had just happened. My human seemed pretty confused too. It was a big tooth! Those little ones are hardly noticeable when they fall out, but this big one seemed to freak out my human. For me it turns out that was the pain I was feeling and hiding from my human! We cats mustn't show weakness!  I feel so much better now though, and can eat like a champ again. My scavenging excursions are going to be even better now! My human keeps annoying me though checking my mouth every few minutes. Sheesh boundaries!

Slang Word Pet Peeves

So now days it seems that you can just make up a word, or pick an existing word and change its meaning. Granted, this has been happening since the dawn of time, but it seems like with the interwebs, this is more prevalent now than ever before. Some of these words are actually horribly annoying, not cute and make you sound downright stupid. So I thought I'd list the ones I absolutely cannot stand, and that are overly used:

Bae. Ugh! This is my numero uno pet peeve word. Guys it means poop. If you're using this to describe your significant other, you're a total jerk. No one wants to be called poop! You want to shorten the loving term "baby"? Then call them "babe", that's the short version of baby. Always has been.

Meow in place of now. This isn't cute, this is just dumb. Why do we want to make a cat sound when we're emphasizing an urgency? Cat cries are irritating, and so is meow. Just say now, then I'll know you really mean it.

Yas in place of yes. Does saying "yas" really express your excitement better then "yes"? No! It's not even a word people. If you want to agree emphatically please just do so actually using the word "yes" and extend it out like "yessssss", at least it's still an extension of a real word. All "yas" does is remind me of the 80's band Yaz and then I get their one hit stuck in my head. It's annoying.

Others I could do without, but don't bother me as much (including a few acronyms):

On Fleek - I'm not entirely sure what this means honestly. I have an idea...
Adorbs - I have used this as an ironic term on occasion. Never actually seriously.
Totes - Same with this one. They crack me up at how dumb they sound.
Yolo - Again used ironically, because duh! I'm not sure who thinks they're getting to live twice...
Cray - Another used ironically, because really? Too lazy to just say crazy?
LOL - Are you really laughing out loud every time? I don't think so.

Ones that I actually don't mind:

Ship
Can't Even
WTF
AF
Legit

Yep I'm an 80-year-old crotchety woman, but can accept some things. No shame.

The Adventures of Lily the Cat (As Told By Lily)

Yesterday was my birthday! I turned 13, and now my human really gets to see what I can bring to the table. I have the teenager excuse now. Honestly I didn't even know it was my birthday, but my human started being extra nice to me. I got treats and catnip. It. Was. Awesome. So I knew there had to be a reason, and turns out birthdays are kinda cool. I may have overdone it on the catnip though. I felt pretty stoned out for a bit there, I couldn't move, and I may have even drooled some. Ah well, YOLO! Oh and my human thought it would be fun to film my getting high. Whatevs, I own it. It was fun.

The Adventures of Lily the Cat (As Told By Lily)

My human was talking on the phone the other day and I really really needed to tell her something. I thought it was so rude she was talking to someone else and not paying attention to me all the time. So I decided the best course of action would be to talk to her and get her attention so she would hang up the phone. So that's what I did. I decided that only talking a bit wouldn't do the trick, so I just kept going. She thought petting me would get me to stop, she was wrong. It just made me want to talk louder. She wasn't paying attention to me! Finally she got off the phone, but at that point I was bored, and didn't want to tell her my thing anymore. So I walked away. Man my human is rude.

My New Hobby (Update 10-4-16)

I've been trying out a new hobby as of late. I'm sure a lot of you have seen the nail art videos that plague the internets, mainly Facebook, and yes I was sucked in. But in my defense, I am an artist, well a wanna-be-artist, and so to me getting artsy on a nail is just a smaller canvas really. I've only been doing this for a couple months now, and mostly it's been on my own nails, which has been a major thing for me in and of itself (I don't like my nails painted. I know go figure). But I'm starting to feel like I'm actually getting the hang of this thing, and I enjoy trying to come up with new designs. So I thought I'd share some of the ones I've done thus far, and will post an update from time to time of additional designs I come up with.

So this is my very first attempt. I hadn't painted my own nails, let alone any one else's in years and years, so for a first try, I didn't do too shabby:

I then attempted to do my friend Jordan's nails, and quickly learned I'm not that great on someone else. I have better control on my own nails, which is odd. This was my first try at a sponge technique which came out quite well for a first try. This was also my first attempt at using strip tape to create a design, and learned I need to let the paint dry a little longer before removing the strips. It's all a learning process for sure!

I also learned how to take a better picture of the finished product. I got a little better with the sponge technique as well, and learned that when painting over strips, that sponging is much more kind:

My next design I wanted to try a different take on the french tip. I used strip tape to give the tip effect, I also have this cool "splatter" nail polish that I layered over the red:

I've been trying to get better with the stamp technique, which is actually quite difficult! Don't let those videos fool you, the stamps are hard. So this was my first stamp design that turned out decent enough I didn't feel like I had to wipe it off:

And finally we're to the design I did last night. It's again a stamp design because I'm determined to perfect this technique, since it's so challenging:

Thanks for indulging me in this new little hobby of mine! And for those wondering, each painting has lasted me nearly two weeks, a few only a little over a week, but a clear base coat and a couple clear top coats do wonders for longevity.

Update:

Here are a few more that I've done this year. I've kind of had to give my nails a rest, as they just don't handle the painting so well. Is this normal for others? Anyway, enjoy!


This one involves the use of newspaper. After watching a video I thought I'd give it a try. It's actually quite simple! You just need some newspaper and rubbing alcohol, and voila!

This one was a quickie as I had Salt Lake Comic Con to go to, and a picture with Stephen Amell.  I wanted something green (The Green Arrow) and sparkly on the good old middle finger, as I had decided we'd pose flipping the bird to "F Cancer".  The picture turned out great even if you can't really see my nails. I know, and that's all that matters!

Fall is here! And this was my first fall attempt. I love the copper color, and a fun little stamp on the ring finger and thumb added just the right accent.

I think this design is a perfect winter design, so ignore the fact that I did it in the summer. I'd just bought the paint and wanted to give it a whirl. With a little silver strip in the middle and some glittery paint to add some fun, I loved how this one turned out.

The Adventures of Lily the Cat (As Told By Lily)

I've been really bored with my food lately. My human seems to think this dry stuff is good for me, and rarely lets me eat anything else. She says it's good for my belly, well I'm guessing that's what she's saying. She rubs my belly a lot while making warbling sounds. Whatever. So I've taken it upon myself to scavenge for food while she's not looking. The other day I found a nice hot tray of delicious turkey fats and juices just sitting there asking to be eaten. How could I say no? My tongue was a little sore after from the scalding liquid, but it was worth it.

My human made cookies the other day, and I thought I'd do her a service and taste test them as soon as she pulled them out of the oven. Again my tongue was sore, but worth it! I feel like she should appreciate my services.

Last night I got to lick the pan of where some sort of meat had been cooked. I didn't much care what kind, the pan tasted amazing! This scavenging thing is becoming so easy! I'll just ignore the fact that my human has caught me every time so far, it just means I need to better my skills. Maybe being quiet isn't working...

SLC Comic Con Chaotic Fun 2016 - Fan X Style

I figure I'd better get on this now before I forget some of the fun things that happened. This year I went by myself to Fan X, and it was an adventure. The first day even though it was amazing, was lonely, but by the end I realized I was still able to have fun without company. I ended up talking to a lot of different people throughout the day which was way out of my comfort zone. And even though I was socially exhausted by the end of the day, I was glad I'd opened up. Friday was a very long and busy day, but man I had a blast. And Saturday I cut short and went for a few hours, but they were some of the funnest hours of the con. So here's my adventure in pictures and stories:

Day 1:

This time I chose to do VIP, which is on the pricey side, but totally worth it in my opinion. I had a blast getting into all the panels I wanted and being close! My photo ops went really smoothly as well, with little waiting time, and I loved it!

First up was a panel with Peter Davison, who played the Fifth Doctor on Doctor Who. He was so sweet, funny, and a genuinely nice guy. He answered all of the questions gracefully, and it seemed like he was really enjoying himself (even if my crappy pictures don't convey that).

Next up was the Seventh Doctor from Doctor Who, and also known for The Hobbit as the dude with bird shit on his head, Sylvester McCoy. His panel was one of the funnest of the Con. He didn't do the typical up on stage panel, but rather chose to converse with the audience one on one. Someone offered him a Jelly Baby, to which he obliged. And yes he was THAT close to me! He's adorable, funny, and I want him to be my honorary grandpa. I love him!

                                    

    

Right after Sylvester was LeVar Burton. I was so happy I stayed for his panel! I almost left to go walk the floor before my one photo op of the day, but instead decided to stay. He was amazing and so sarcastic, which wins my heart every time. He looks so good, and you'd think most of the questions asked would be Star Trek related, but actually I'd say 75% of the questions were Reading Rainbow related, which was so cool to see. He even sang the Reading Rainbow theme song with a little girl and got the audience to join in. I caught most of it as you'll see below:

                                     

                                                           

After LeVar I had a little time to kill before my photo op, so I walked the floor and got me one whole picture. I seriously suck at this part! I wish I had a better camera than my phone, but my phone is just so much more convenient. Apple get on making a better camera! So with my one whole picture of course it's going to be Doctor Who related, and honestly, it's worth it, because they did an awesome job with their Cybermen. 

                                                                  

My final moment of the day was the best moment of my life. Not gonna lie. First a little backstory; way back in 1993 a little show came out that changed my life. That show was called Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman. Why did this change my life? This show made me realize that it was ok to like superheroes, to like romance, and that they could both fit in the same show at the same time. Dean Cain quickly became my first celebrity crush at the tender age of 12, and I soon had my wall covered with his pictures. Fast forward to 2013 when Salt Lake held their very first Comic Con, and Dean Cain was a guest. I flipped out accordingly, but was quickly bummed to find out that I couldn't afford to go. Then my best friend came up with free tickets, and I got to see him! But only at his panel, which I was fortunate enough to be close to the stage for. I had no money to get a picture with him, and after the Con I was kicking myself, because I thought it was a lost opportunity I'd never have a chance again for. I have never been so glad to be wrong. I was beside myself when I found out he was coming again, and the first chance I got I purchased a photo. Cut to this past Thursday, my photo op time came, and I was sooooo nervous! I mean I was about to meet this man that I'd adored for 23 years! And man was it magical. As soon as he saw me he was a delight. He asked my name, told me it was pretty, and then click goes the camera. He then told me he loved my shirt, and just had to point at it, and thus the perfect photo below. He was a total sweetheart, and I loved every second I had with him. I kept my composure the entire time, and even until I got home, and then I cried. Yep I'm that girl. At least I didn't do it in front of him!

Day 2:

Still on a high from the day before, I entered Day 2 with so much excitement. It was my busiest day, filled with panels, only to break for photo ops. This day is where the VIP really came in handy. It started out a bit rough as I was taking the train, and missed it. So I had to wait for the next one which made it super tight to get to my first panel, but I made it!

First up was the Paul Blackthorne and Charlotte Ross panel. They are both on the show Arrow, and they were both so cool and sweet, and full of advice. Charlotte even tried to act out a scene and wanted us to guess for an opportunity of a kiss from both of them, but the scene was actually cut out of the episode, so we all had no clue! Either way the video was cute and Paul was clearly terrified/full of awkwardness.

                                

         

I had a few hours to kill after my first panel and before my first photo op of the day, and I found that you can only walk the floor so much, so I decided to see who was in the Grand Ballroom, and it turned out to be Alan Tudyk. I was late to it, so I ended up sitting in the back, and it was actually the first and only panel where I had to watch the screens. I loved VIP!

I just have to say that Alan Tudyk is hilarious. I loved his panel so much,and I now have a new found love for him. I've always liked him as an actor, but his panel made me love him. I'd heard how great his panels were, and they weren't lying. So as I learned, he has what he calls his "Bag of Shit", and it's basically a bag filled with stupid stuff that he signs and gives to the fans that ask questions. Some of the items he gave away were: his left contact lense, a manilla envelope, part of his passport picture, a Bat Mitzvah card, a doily, a cover page to a script, and many other useless things that were essentially turned to gold by his signing them. It was a pleasure to have gone to this panel.

   


Next up was Summer Glau from Firefly fame, and many others. I wasn't really planning to go to her panel, but I wanted to get a good seat for the panel that followed hers. She's a really sweet girl, and genuinely seemed happy to see so many people there. She's so soft spoken, and very patient with the questions that were asked. They're not all winner questions, and it's interesting to see how each celebrity answers them. She did well.

After Summer came Uncle George! His panel I definitely didn't want to miss, and I was actually glad that I sat through the two previous panels so that I could get a good seat. George Takei is a gem. You could tell he absolutely enjoyed being there, and discussing his career. He also funnily enough had a chance due to a question to plug Taco Bell. And told us to go to the nearest Taco Bell after his panel and try the Quesalupa. Toward the end of the panel they let us know that we had just made #nearesttacobell the number one hashtag on the internet. We have power.

                            


Right after George I had my first photo op of the day with Paul Blackthorne. He was a sweetie, and asked me if I wanted to hug in our picture. Who could say no to that?

After my pic I then rushed over to Dean Cain's panel. If you didn't catch on before, I seriously love this man. He's not only hot, but adorable, gracious and just a really nice guy. I was able to sit really close to the stage for his so I could just look at him and swoon the entire time. Lots of questions were asked, and one got asked that I remembered from his previous time there, but this time I think we got a legit answer that I had no idea about. I guess the show ended after the fourth season because Teri Hatcher got pregnant, not because it was canceled. Gah! Dean also said that if given the opportunity to don the suit again to give us a proper ending to the series he would do so in a heartbeat. God I hope that can actually happen some day!

                                


                                

Right after Dean, of whom I did not want to say goodbye to, I had my second and final photo op of the day with Alex Kingston. You may know her from Doctor Who, or even ER as my sister does. She was so cute! I could see her willingly goofing with the people ahead of me in their pics, and I'm not very creative, so mine are usually boring (unless it's John Barrowman). Mine did turn out really cute though, and I loved having the chance to meet her.

And then to end the day off just right, I went to the the Ultimate Doctor Who Panel which was definitely ultimate. We had three Doctors and a Professor up on stage at the same time and it was magical. I had a great seat, and had the best time! They let us in really early which I was glad so that we didn't have to sit on the ground for over an hour. Instead we got to watch them set up the stage for the panel. Much better option I think. The last time they had the Ultimate Doctor Who Panel, I was unfortunately stuck in the very back and had to watch it all on a screen. I was determined this time to not let that be the case. So I jumped on the best seat pricing and it paid off. Having two Classic Who Doctors up on stage together with a New Who Doctor and his love interest was so much fun, and a once in a lifetime opportunity. I'm so grateful that at this point I have been able to meet so many actors from my most favorite show.

Day 3:

I didn't have a lot planned for Day 3, I had two photo ops scheduled toward the end of the day, and one panel first thing in the morning that I wanted to see. I decided I would skip the panel as that would leave me with a lot of down time in between, and like I said before, you can only walk the floor so much. So I spent the morning and early afternoon resting and gearing up for my photo ops. I had planned to take the train, but then I got a facebook notification that my first photo op had been moved up and I literally had a half hour to get downtown, find a parking spot and make my way to the event. Magically I did it! And then found out that my first photo op actually wasn't moved up, so I was a little peeved. Therefore I had some time to kill, so I went and walked around a bit, met Mitch Pileggi on the floor, shook his hand and he called me darling. It made me smile. Then I thought I'd go check out the dance party Joey Fatone was having at his signing booth. That was pretty entertaining for a bit. He interacted with all the people dancing and seemed pretty cool. I never did get into any of the 90's/00's boy bands so I wasn't flipping out like others my age around me were. But nonetheless is was fun to watch.

Finally I had my photo ops which were nicely back to back, and quick! I knocked two more Doctor Who actors off my list, which makes me happy. For those that don't know, I've made it a goal to get a picture with every Doctor Who actor they invite to the convention. So far I'm doing quite well! My first photo op was with Peter Davison, who was just sweet and shook my hand before we took our picture. My second was with Sylvester McCoy (my honorary grandpa) who by day three seemed to have let age taken it's toll. He was seated with a knee brace on, so my picture although I love, looks just like you'd think a picture with your grandpa would look.

While I was waiting for my photo ops I did do a bit of celebrity watching, and snapped a picture of Peter Facinelli and Danai Guirira (Michonne from The Walking Dead). On my way to my first photo op I walked right by Joey Fatone and could have touched him, but I didn't much care. And by the time I'd finished with my photo ops, everything had started to shut down, and you could tell it was the end of the event. It saddened me a bit. This is my home away from home in a way. A place where I can be myself and not be judged. So as I began my trek back to my car, I took a few photos that made me smile.

And thus ends another amazing event. Only fiveish more months until the next one!