GenreCon 2012--Day 1

You guys, I had the BEST WEEKEND!
I was lucky enough to get a volunteer position at the first annual GenreCon in Guelph, ON!
Who were the guests? Oh, just to name a few--NICHOLAS FREAKIN' BRENDON and TOM FREAKIN' LENK and MARK FREAKIN' LUTZ!
Only THREE Whedon alum--one of whom just happens to be my FAVOURITE scooby! Y'know, no big deal. (TOTALLY A BIG DEAL!)

Autograph table, before the guests
arrive!

My job was 'line management' in the Autograph/Dealer room, which was a pretty sweet position!
I was able to watch and even interact with the talent and guests all weekend...it was a dream come true.

Day 1--Friday:

I arrived in Guelph 90 minutes before my 5-8pm shift was to start. The location was a Holiday Inn, and I was sent upstairs to the 'headquarters' (a block of 3 attached rooms) to sign my release and get my 'official' t-shirt.

My boss, Nick.

I was given a quick tour--the main Q&A room, the panels, the vendors, the photo op room, artists alley--and then I was introduced to my immediate boss, Nick--who seemed a bit uptight and cold.

There was a bit of confusion over what my job was, exactly, but I'm pretty resourceful and was able to pretty much figure out my own duties, which I think Nick and Paul--my bigger boss--appreciated.

Day 1 was slow, but fun. Because we didn't have a steady stream of attendees, the talent mixed and mingled with the volunteers and vendors.

Michael Biehn and his wife
Jennifer Blanc

I had a 30 minute conversation with Michael Biehn (Terminator, Aliens) about karaoke, his horrible singing voice, a movie he almost did with a young Peter Gallagher 30 years ago and my city, Hamilton, which he calls, 'rough'. Hahaha!

I was also able to say a brief hello to Nick Brendon (Buffy, Criminal Minds), Mark Lutz (Angel) and their con manager, Jacqui.

Nick Brendon (sitting, grey hat) and Mark Lutz
(sitting, looking at Nick)

I shook the guys hands and hugged Jacqui hello. It was so awesome to meet her in person after reading her Tweets for so long.
Of course, I squeed over the guys after I moved away from their table, and I immediately regretted not asking Nick for a hug.
He's pretty well known as the huggiest Whedon alum, but since I had my 'official' con shirt on, I didn't feel it was appropriate of me to hug the guests.
Boy, was I wrong. ;)

Mark Meer chats with the artists

As I made another circuit around my area, I ran into Mark Meer (Mass Effect) browsing Artist Alley.
We said hello and talked about the amazing Thai food he'd just had.

8pm came quickly and a few of us--including author JM Frey, whom I've seen and spoken to at many, many events now (and adore!)-- then decided to check out the pub quiz and karaoke that was happening in the party/main Q&A room.



Hoooooo, boy, was THAT a great--but oh, so painful the next day--idea!

We were split into teams, and I was put on the 'Genrecon staff' team because they were short players.
I was okay with this and unknowingly made some amazing new friends!

After the first round, in walks my uptight and cold boss, Nick. I'm pretty sure I gasped aloud when he sat at our table. LOL
And now comes the part where I apologize to him (again) about calling him uptight. We had a GREAT time at the trivia and it was pretty damn amazing, working together as a unit like we 'Staff Infection' (best team name EVAR) did.
We all knew a bit about almost every subject, and so we did really well. After the 6th round, we were winning by 5 points.
...but somehow we lost by 1 to another team.
The funny thing? The other team is pretty sure the host added wrong and that we were the winners....but I'm not bitter. (I'm totally bitter :P)

Jess shocking the crown with her huge voice!

Next up--Karaoke!
By this time I was a few beers deep, which is NEVER a good thing when Karaoke is involved.
Jess (JM Frey) got up there and belted out an amazing 'Let's Hear It For The Boy', new friend Liz and NICK (*gasp again*) got up and sang, 'I Got You, Babe' (just for me, to prove how uptight he really isn't. LOL!) and then, yes, I actually got up on the stage and helped sing background vocals to 'Grease Lightening' with my fellow Staff Infection members.

By the way, Rob, Dave, Nick, Liz, Chris and Mike--if you read this? Thank you. You're amazing, you brought out the best in me, you made me feel accepted and I adore each and every one of you. Thank you. :)

I'm the one trying to hide behind everyone.

Last call came early (thank GOD!), and I hopped in a cab.
Luckily, my mom and step-dad live in Guelph, so I didn't have far to go.

I was there by 12:30, ate a ton of Chinese food, drank a ton of water and in bed by 2am.

Boy, did 7am come quickly, and I wasn't feeling so great when I woke for day 2.

And with that, GenreCon day 1 was wrapped!

Day 2 would bring even more awesomeness and surprises!

...and I'll tell you about those tomorrow. ;)