ltcolerrandboy

GO3- Connor Trinneer & David Nykl, 3 October 2009

Got up fairly early, cos I had a few things to do before picking up my sis at 10.30 –you know, like shower, go to the mall to get cash, lotto and some breakfast/lunch goodies to bring with me (rather than spend a fortune on the rip-off junk food they invariably serve at these events.)

Was a bit late getting home – distracted by trying on a couple of things at this boutique! – but managed to get my hair/makeup done & dress ready to go. Picked up sis & headed off. Parked near my work and caught the bus to the venue (we’re in a free-transit zone so it didn’t cost a thing, plus the bus drops you right off at the busport which also happens to be right near the Convention Centre – handy!) At the door was a bunch of stormtroopers, Darth Vader & Boba Fett (members of the 501^st) doing their bit getting photos for gold coin donations. Telethon weekend as well, and there was a kiddy event next to the geekfest, so there were loads of people. Lucky tho for us was the lack of crowding at the geekfest. As a result of my ‘recky mission’ the other day (I came down on Friday lunchtime to scope out where the Hub booth was & the main stage) we could bypass all the other distractions and head straight there today.

I got my autograph & photo tokens – David & Connor were still to arrive, but worse for the Twi-hards – Chaske Spencer had been held up with filming commitments, missed his plane & wouldn’t be arriving til tomorrow! Sucks to be them.

We wondered why the Hub booth was tucked so far into a corner, with not much advertising! There were a few people hanging around waiting for David & Connor, but not the crowds I’d expected – good for me, bad for the guests AND Hub! Sis & I decided to go walkabout for a while rather than just wait around (seeing I’d already chosen the pics I wanted to get signed & bought my photo tokens too)…we got back there after a short wander down the first row of booths (I bought a keyring with a Luke Skywalker lightsaber on it – it has a blue LED light as well, very cool. Got it for Scotty who’s a die-hard SW geekboy! Hahaha) Back to the Hub stand & Connor & David had arrived! Connor needed a dunny break right off the bat, so while he went off with his minder, they called for people who were getting their pics with David to queue up & somehow I ended up being number 1 (a couple of other chicks were still talking so I just walked past them when the girl called us over to line up). Left my auto pics with sis but dropped my bag just on the floor. David was lovely – big smile and “Hi how are you doing?” etc and we chatted while the camera person got her act together. He asked if I was a Perth native & what was the ‘must see’ things to do while here – I said, “Swan Valley wineries!” He also mentioned the beaches – and I concurred & said “Oh yeah, but it’s too cold to swim yet!” He reckoned it wasn’t cold at all…but I told him the water was pretty brisk this time of year! So then we got positioned for our pic & the photographer showed me the frame & I gave it the thumbs up. Thanked David & said I’d see him afterwards for an autograph & at dinner that night.* (not quite…change of plans as you’ll see!)

Went back out to the front & found Sis. We saw Connor was back as well, so I grabbed my pic & dragged Sis with me to say hi and get my pic signed. I made mention to him about meeting him two years ago at Armageddon & going to the dinner but he didn’t remember (like I didn’t even expect him to, cos they meet so many people!) My sis gave him a copy of the DVD art project she’s been working on with her other half and other WA artists, and he smiled and thanked her.

That was just about the whole thing! We sat down for a while afterwards, I checked my camera & took a couple of surreptitious pics of Connor while he was signing/talking to others, but because they’d mentioned ‘no pics’ I didn’t wanna get busted before my photo session came up!! Sis decided to go for a wander & I sat there a while. Connor looked bored (not very many people there getting stuff signed!! I blame the lack of advertising & I’ll be sure to mention it to the organizers for next year!) I also reckon that because it was Saturday, a lot of people would be A) shopping, B) at the Royal Show cos it was the last day, C) at the Telethon, or D) just had no idea that we had such cool visitors due to the lack of publicity! I decided to just wander over & chat with him a bit, so he didn’t look so bored! I asked him how his little boy was doing – said that we’d talked about him a fair bit at the dinner last time – he’s now turning 4 and obsessed with superheroes- especially Batman/Robin. He even calls his Dad “Batman” & his Mum “Catwoman” (he’s Robin of course!) I told Connor my nephew did the same thing, except that he was Luke Skywalker & I was Princess Leia, and that he’d call me “Leia” all the time! Connor was on the lookout for any ‘Robin’ stuff for Jasper’s birthday next week, so I volunteered to go on a recky to see if I could scope any at the toy/geek gift stands. No such luck, and by the time I got back, Connor was out the back about to get ready for the photo sessions. I passed the info on to one of the Hub girls to relay back to him. I eventually got called over to get my pic taken & he had his arm around me already before we even stood in the spot for the photo! Hahah! The pics came out really well (as you can see!) and I said I’d see him later at the panel then at dinner, and off I chugged. Meanwhile, David was round the front to do his autograph session, so I went to get my pic signed & had a brief chat again with him as he signed. Then I went off, found Sis again & we decided that as it was a LONG wait now for the panels to start (it was only just after midday & the panels weren’t on til 2pm!) we went out into the sunshine to eat our lunches & rest up a bit. Well, it was too cold sitting on the concrete wall in the shade, but Sis is ‘allergic’ to just sitting in the sun, so we opted to keep warm by going for a walk along the river toward the Swan Bell Tower & Perth’s own “Eye” (big Ferris wheel like they have in London) Costs too much to go into either one ($15 for the Ferris wheel, & $10 for the belltower! Bugger that! Locals should go for free!) That killed some time for us at least, and we ended up back at the bus port for a coffee & chat (the coffee place I was looking for was closed, which is why we went into the bus port café – the Convention Centre one was full of all these damn stage-moms and kids all made up like tiny tarty-looking showgirls!) We decided to head back around 1.45pm, to suss out seats at the stage. Another problem – WHICH stage? There were three, all showing anime, and none of them were numbered, so we couldn’t figure out which one was Stage 2! I went over to the Hub people to suss it, but got it wrong. Then we saw a whole bunch of geeks sitting at the OTHER stage, so I stayed on while sis went over to the other spot to snag a couple of seats – that way we had both stages covered. Turns out a process of deduction should have alerted me to the fact that the other stage was BIGGER, more people were there, and once the manga toon finished at the stage I was at, another one started. QED, my sis was at the right spot not me, A whole bunch of us moved then (we’d had the first two rows of the other stage, but the girl & her fam in front of us managed to get front row at the other one too. Sis & I got to about the third row but were right in the middle.

Then (finally) both Connor & David came up to do a simultaneous panel! It was a hard effort for them to try and get questions out of the assembled geeks, but eventually one guy started the ball rolling…my sis was up next, but because they couldn’t hear her, she had to go up to the front and grab a mike…I managed to shoot a pic of her as she asked them her question (an Enterprise one for Connor – how did he feel about the story arc ending so unsatisfactorily!?) After that I managed to get a question in – tag-teamed sis! I asked David if they’d had any news about the impending Atlantis movie…he said he didn’t know, cos last they’d heard it was supposed to start filming in the fall (ie NOW) but they hadn’t heard anything yet. Also, the only other thing he knew was that the story line for the movie was going to follow on directly from where the series left off. Only one bit of news extra from that re: Stargate – the probability that no Atlantis crossover would happen on SGU BECAUSE of said movie commitment…and another question someone asked was whether Connor would be in that movie as Michael – David said, “Do you all want Michael in the movie?” & everyone roared “YEAAAH!” They were both funny & had a hilarious ad-lib moment when someone’s balloon popped – sounded like a gunshot & they both slumped in their chairs as if they’d been shot! (I think my sis actually managed to video that bit, so I’ll see if I can get it from her or get her to upload it to youtube!) Then this ‘jet engine’ sound from one of the “Air Bot” games would start up & David quipped “Woops, there’s my ride!”…it was a bit of a nightmare with all the noise from the general vicinity (NOT like Melbourne where they had a dedicated theater for the panels & NO extraneous noise from the expo!) but they were good sports about it all & made lots of jokes! The fun part was when one guy asked them to improv a scene, so Connor does his Wraith-sucking hand/noise combo & David kept muttering “Please don’t bite me, please don’t bite me”…

They kept us entertained for just on an hour, then off they went to get to the autograph tables. Sis & I decided to call it a day (it was just after 3.15pm) so we went to catch a free bus back to where I left the car. Lucky for me, Scotty had pinged & while I was on the phone to him, I suddenly remembered that I forgot to collect my photos!!! An about-face & we went back toward the venue, back inside (signed off from the phone call to Scotty & said I’d call him later!) and the photos were there waiting for me next to Connor! I grabbed them, said bye to Connor & David & we went back to hunting down a bus! On the bus, my phone rings – it’s one of the organizers asking if I would mind changing the day of the dinner to tomorrow night (*Sunday) cos due to Chaske Spencer’s missed day/flight & rescheduled dinner, and with Connor & David now also popping next door for a quick stint at the Telethon, they’d be better able to organize everything if ALL the guests were at the same dinner. I said yeah, no dramas, text me to let me know what everyone else decides. Sure enough, it got moved to Sunday, so I got home & had a cruisy night in (after a convo with my boy, I fired up the next disk of SGA I was up to – I’ve started watching all the episodes again & I’d got up to Season 2 disk 3, so I watched all of that before going to bed.

SUNDAY

Slack day at home! Just did washing, a quick tidy up and Mum called to ask if I wanted to come over for lunch – yup! My sis had asked me yesterday if I had any nice top she could borrow for her opening on Friday (poor sis doesn’t like buying new clothes often, but as we are different sizes – I’m smaller in girth & taller in height – it’s not often we can do any ‘clothes swaps’) But I did have some looser fitting tops I thought she could fit into, and she decided to try two of them tonight with the pants she’s got. Got home around 2pm, lay around reading in bed! Scotty called me from the hangar phone (he’d been doing some stuff on his car, fixing it up in readiness for our Melbourne road trip in two weeks time) so we gassed on for about half an hour! Then I decided now was a good time to type up my con report, so after I got the washing off the line that’s what I did…

TBC…later!

(now Monday!)

Well, I got ready in plenty of time...wore one of my nice black tops & black pants plus high-heel Crocs! Gotta be comfy! So I headed off to the city to find free parking on the street near the restaurant (I hoped, cos one thing I hate is paying for parking!) No joy nearby, so I did a loop & came down the next block - lucked it & found a free spot not too far from the road leading back to the restaurant (basically only a block's walk away! Neat).

Got into the restaurant & said I was there for the Hub dinner - girl at the desk said something about everyone giving different names for this & that she had a table under then name "Carissa" - I knew that was the Hub organiser's name so I said, "that's the one!" Now, there were about 8 girls already there - obviously the Twilighters, and all on one table. there wasn't anyone there for the Gaters yet, so I went to the bar first to get a glass of wine. While perusing the wine list & finally deciding, I saw Connor sitting alone round the other side of the bar. I caught his eye & he smiled and waved - I raised my glass & then thought 'what the heck' & went over to sit & chat with him. He was so nice! We chatted about the book he'd bought (and then it came about he bought it at the secondhand bookshop across the road from the restaurant!) - for those who wanna know, it's Arthur Koestler's "Darkness at Noon"...he has very eclectic tastes in books! While we chatted about books, wine, travels to wine regions (the bartender had also joined in our discussion at this point!) David popped down and joined us as well, plus a few of the other organisers/volunteers who'd worked at the show. We stayed there talking for at least half an hour before Connor nipped outside with David for a cigarette (yes, naughty boy is a 'recreational' smoker, says he only smokes when he does these conventions! HAHAH) Some people had already sat at the SG table, and one of the organisers said for us to leave spaces between us so that Connor & David could sit in between us. As it was, they decided to each take the head of the table at each end, and I got moved up to sit on Connor's left. Another lady, Julie (who'd been working as a volunteer) got his right side & we had a merry old time chatting with him! I even bought him another wine - he'd started the night drinking a NZ sauvignon blanc (my usual drink as well, but tonight they had a moscato on the drinks menu & I'd opted for that) so I got him another sav blanc. When I came back with the wines, we kept chatting - I told him about Cocos Islands & how I met the love of my life there, and Connor pumped me for info about Cocos as a holiday destination! I said I highly recommend it but only if you're prepared to NOT expect 5-star treatment - it is really like a small country town slapped in the middle of the tropics!! But Connor seemed intrigued with the idea, so I kept answering all his questions! Many other topics came & went - nice to know that Connor really dislikes arsonists as well - we talked about the huge fires in California & that time that Joe's house was under threat etc...one of the guys who was there from Melbourne to do the audio-vis stuff for Hub mentioned the Victorian bushfires which happened earlier this year, which is how we got on to arsonists & the way they piss us off when they deliberately ruin bushland, properties & risk the lives of people living in the area! After the entrees, the guys swapped sides - Connor moved to the other end of the table & David moved to our side. And we gassed on as well...he's actually staying on in WA for a few more days & has hired a campervan to go visit some highlights - he quizzed me, Tanya (the other girl who'd volunteered for the expo & sat next to me) and Julie about best places to go see...we put in our ten cents' worth all round, and Tanya supplied a cell phone connection to Google Maps so we could point out to David the best route as a 'round trip'...I told him we'd bought a block of land near the gorgeous Karri forests he should make a point of visiting - he'd already done his homework about places to see & knew about Walpole & the Treetop Walk they have there, so I said, once you drive out of Pemberton and you get back onto the South-West highway, you will literally pass by the tiny town where we bought the block. And funny enough, Tanya had been looking to buy a block down there & knew exactly the one we'd scored cos she remembered looking at that one!

It's so hard trying to recall everything that was said at the dinner - so many topics, so many laughs over things...Oh yeah, Connor had been discussing Aussie breakfasts & 'what's with the baked beans on toast thing?" - I said, without even skipping a beat, "Cos you get to do the best farts next day!" Connor exploded with laughter, and so did the others - the guy from Melbourne agreed completely, and then we all bantered on about how good they were for cleansing the system, protein if you're a vegetarian etc...til our half of the table was in stitches from all the bean jokes.

And the best thing was, dinner ended up going on til nearly 10pm - a whole hour after they were supposed to be there! I think that they had as good a time as us fangeeks, and when it was time to leave, not only did they oblige with photos, but hugs all round. Didn't get to meet Chaske Spencer cos he sat with all the Twi-hards, but I noticed every girl sitting there got a hug from him, which means he was probably a really nice guy too. He did wave at our table as he left (first, haha)...the SGA boys stayed on another 15 minutes after Twi-boy piked! One of the girls on our table had actually won a competition, but had been relegated to the Stargate table - in the end she did chase down Chaske as he was leaving, and got her pic with him & said a few words, but she was still stoked about meeting David & Connor as well. I stayed on for a bit after the guys left, chatting with the organisers & thanking Carissa in particular for bringing them out here. She was disappointed in the lack of advertising they'd received as well, & it doesn't bode well for a re-appearance. She said even Supanova might be rethinking a Perth expo! NOOOO!!!! I know it's expensive to get people our here, but if the bloody organisers would just do more ADVERTISING! Carissa was even more narked because she'd sent flyers to the GO3 organiser to distribute in bookshops, comic shops etc, but it didn't get done. So looks like it might have been a one-off event - and I'm so GLAD (thanks to pfalcon on GateWorld forum!!) that I got to find out about it! Not only did I enjoy having more one-on-one time with both Connor & David, but I got to meet two new geek girls who said to stay in touch if I ever needed a travel buddy to the eastern states cons!! yay! That could certainly help with the shared accommodation side of things!

If I think of any more stuff that was too cool to have forgotten, I'll add to this epic. Like I said, your mind can sort of do a mini spazz-out when you're in the presence of geek idols!

PHOTOS:

http://i255.photobucket.com/albums/h...nnor-GO3-9.jpg

http://i255.photobucket.com/albums/h...vid-GO3-10.jpg

http://i255.photobucket.com/albums/h...orTrinneer.jpg

http://i255.photobucket.com/albums/h...eDavidNykl.jpg

http://i255.photobucket.com/albums/h...ner4-10-09.jpg

A while ago, I wrote in my journal: 

"I'd said, I thought maybe his missus found out about us somehow, and his reply was "dead right I hope she doesn't find out, don't want to lose everything again, especially my boys. They can be a pain sometimes but I love them to bits and can't live without them" - so, despite the 'soulmate' declaration to me, he's not gonna lose his family. That makes me feel so damn used...and, he also said he 'doesn't want to hurt anybody' - I interpret that as I'd be the easiest thing to give up if it came to that. He's still coming over like I said, but he said he's 'scared he'll like it so much he won't wanna go back'...and I kinda hope that's exactly what will happen. Am I evil for wanting that? I feel evil...I feel like I should just walk away from it all, and just let it be our 'island fantasy' and nothing else. Then I think "well, I bloody deserve some happiness too, and I've never found anyone remotely as connected with me as he is"...so what's right and what's not?...but I'm also feeling very hurt that my supposed 'soulmate' may not be all I'd hoped for."

And yesterday it all came true. Well, it actually came true that his wife found out about us on easter Saturday, because he'd been moping round looking like death warmed over and she got suspicious when he'd come back from his 'walk' all happy looking. She found my number on his phone (which he'd stupidly left lying around!!) and the merde hit the oscillator when he came back and she confronted him. But he started a web of lies from that moment which has finally tangled him so deeply in it that it has driven him to the point of ending it...WITH ME. 

We stayed in touch after the confrontation, he ended up moving out on the Tuesday (moved to the base) and sounded like he was going through with it all (divorce and even paying maintenance for the kids). He did 'play along' with her idea of getting their marriage back together on the pretext that he'd try, but eventually admit it wasn't going to work - he wanted to get her to agree to sell him her half of the house & settle something more amicably, and pretending all this time that I was out of the picture. Far from it, we were in contact planning our future together!

Then suddenly he was getting down and depressed. I spent three and a half hours on the phone to him last weekend supporting him, listening to him, giving him a few laughs as well. He asked if I was prepared to go the distance. I said yes. He asked me if I thought he was a sh*t for leaving his family. I said "No, because I get to have you and you won't be losing your kids, just your wife who is the problem anyway". 

I sent him a present for his birthday (this weekend) and he sent me a text message on Saturday saying how 'awesome' it was, and he loved me and to PHONE HIS MUM, including her phone number. I assumed he meant right away so i did. I spoke to her for a good while - she said he'd told her all about me, and how I was his soulmate, and the whole 'leaving the wife' thing. We got on very well on the phone and she said we should meet up for coffee sometime soon. I took that as a positive sign that he was indeed leaving his wife and wanted me. Why else would he 'out' me to his mum?

Yesterday morning at 7am I got a text from his wife asking if I was still in contact with him. I freaked, shot off an emergency text to him immediately telling him what happened. When he phoned me back a few minutes later, he said it had to stop, it was too much for him and he said it was over between him and me... WTF???

Amazing how last year I was just SO not into it. Guess it's kind of a downer of a day if you don't have a 'love' in your life to share it with.

Still, I think it is an overblown, overly commercial excuse to get people to show their love in an overblown, overly commercial way (you know, "buy this for your loved one or you won't get any rumpy-pumpy!" - it's capitalist blackmail!)

Well, with my boi being some 2000 miles away, we spoke on the phone this morning wishing we could do more than just talk dirty to each other...*grin*....but the countdown to March is on! 

The romantic thing I did for him - I made him an 'e-card' (helps that I'm a graphic designer!!) with a picture of a Cocos sunset on it, and "Run to Paradise" on it...(one of my fave songs) - and a quote that really is sooooo uber-squishy...

"I think we dream so we don't have to be apart so long. If we're in each other's dreams, we can be together all the time."  (Hobbes, Calvin & Hobbes)

...isn't that so cute?? I love Calvin & Hobbes! And it rings so true for Scotty and me at the moment...*sigh*

So, to all of you in LJ-land and beyond, hold on to your dreams...

love and luck,
Dana

Last night I sent Scotty a long email, about all manner of 'deep and meaningful' stuff...yeah, weird, but because he opened up to me about things when we were in Cocos, I thought I would risk doing the same (I make much more sense when I write things down!)

Today I got a reply. Not only did he NOT shy away from my D&M, but EMBRACED IT! He also believes we are soulmates - he's been thinking about it A LOT since we got back to our respective homes. He also believes we are 'old souls' meeting up again, because we both have a love of old warbirds...anyways, he had written all sorts of similar stuff in an email he'd sent me earlier, but somehow never got through to me (a pox again on hotmail/gmail!! grrrrr!) But he will write down his reply in more detail later tonight....

OMG. I can't believe this is happening to me. Never thought it would. But here it is. Woah.

I spent the first week back home feeling miserable. City life suddenly seemed too busy, too noisy, too...civilised. I found myself missing the Cocos Islands lifestyle too much. And Scotty even more so. I wanted to email him, but because I don't have internet at home (self-preservation, or I'd be a 24/7 computer nerd!) I couldn't. Man, the number of times I thought of driving into the city to hit an internet cafe!...

OK, so I waited til I got back to work last Monday. NO EMAILS from Scotty. Oh hell...now I'm gonna get all depressed. In fact, that whole WEEK I felt totally depressed. Stupid of me - hell, what did I expect? I sent him an email to his private addy, and one to his work one. When I had no reply to either by Thursday, I sent ONE more to his work, with my cell number in it, thinking perhaps he'd rather phone instead of email (you know some guys are slackers when it comes to writing!!)

Come back to work on Friday - still nada, either email or phone. Thinking I must have dreamed the entire incident (what happens in Cocos, STAYS in Cocos!) I resigned myself to not ever getting a reply.

Had a good weekend, playing with my cutie pie nephew and niece, catch up with all my fam, getting my photos printed, sorting out how to scrapbook my holiday snaps...drinks with the galpals on a sunny warm Sunday afternoon.

Monday - fire up my computer. Still no contact. Shit. Then around 2pm, an email prompt pops up in my work inbox. IT'S SCOTTY!!!!!!!!!!!! At last!!! - so, he'd been on LEAVE all that time and only just got back to work. And for some reason, NEITHER of our emails had reached either party!! He'd sent me emails last week & I never received them! Bloody hotmail/gmail crapheads!! Anyhow, I barely had enough time to read how he was missing me heaps, how he couldn't get me out of his head, when BLAMMO, my cell phone rings - OH MAH GAWD...it's Scotty. He's COMING TO SEE ME IN MARCH!!! We chatted on, trying to remain 'polite' because my boss was in the office and he was at work too!! gassed on about how we'd have some hella good fun when he got here...looks like he'll be here for two weeks (I may have to have a sneaky day off from work - my boss poo-poo'd me taking time off because he's going to be away, but my colleague (female of course) said she'd be signing the time sheets while he was away and wouldn't 'notice' a sickie/day off from me! hahahah!

I'm suddenly floating about six inches above the ground. I'm a real sap, eh??? Well, after the things he said to me in the subsequent SIX EMAILS I got today...yeah, you'd be floating too!

They say when you're on holiday "the sun always shines, the natives are always friendly and you have the best sex of you r life. Sadly none of that makes it through customs"....I love breaking tenets like that - guess I managed to sneak THIS one in past customs, eh?