My First Fandom Convention

I know people who go to Comic Con etc. and I always thought it was a little weird.  Never thought I'd be one of THOSE people.

I started watching the TV show Supernatural this spring and loved it.  It has been on for 12 seasons - started filming its 13th this week! and has a huge following.  Sociologists have written books about Supernatural's fandom - about how the relationships between the cast and fans accomplished amazing things together.

The main stars are Jensen Ackles, Jared Padalecki, and Misha Collins and all three of them do a lot of work for charities - especially for mental health issues.  Jared has been really outspoken about his battle with depression, anxiety, and thoughts of suicide.  Actors that have had pretty small roles on the show attend the conventions and they all have created an amazing support network.  Many of them sing or play musical instruments and often perform with Louden Swain - which is the house band for the conventions.

I just started watching this spring and watched all 12 seasons!  and saw clips of the conventions on You Tube and they had one in Chicago in July.  I already had my plane ticket for Texas so I wasn't able to attend the convention on Friday without paying a ton to change my flight so I decided to get the cheapest tickets I could for Sat/Sun.  I didn't know what to expect and was a little nervous about going by myself even though I go to places like Cambodia and Sri Lanka by myself!!

On Friday nights they have Karaoke which most of the stars participate in and it is free to attend even if you don't have a ticket for the convention that day.  It was fun to see that and I started to realize how many of these people are invested in wearing costumes to every event, decorating their hotel doors etc.  I am just tiptoeing into this so I didn't do any of that :)

I had seats in row X on Saturday.  I was hoping to make some friends with people around me since we have something big in common.  2 teenagers who were here for the first time were sitting next to me - they were nice but we didn't talk much.  The two women in from of be were obviously pros at this convention thing, but seemed snotty and didn't respond to my attempts at conversation.  I was disappointed and concerned that I would be lonely all weekend.  Glad I was wrong!

Richard Speight Jr. and Rob Benedict are like the MCs.  I loved Richard on the show Jericho and he plays the archangel Gabriel on Supernatural.  I have loved Rob since his Felicity days and he plays the prophet Chuck and someone else, but I won't spoil it for others who haven't seen the show!

They were great and then Kim Rhodes and Brianna Buckmaster came on and they are so fun.  I was shocked at how many 9 year olds were up there asking questions - the girls are known for their very bad language!

 After that panel, I went outside to warm up and a woman taking a smoke break chatted with me.  She teaches in Guatemala so we chatted about international teaching and I thanked her for being the first person to reach out to me.

I got to see Mark Sheppard who plays Crowley and this was his last season on the show so people wore crowns for him (he plays the "king of hell")

 Ruth Connell is seriously the sweetest person on the planet.  I've see her panels on You Tube and knew I wanted to meet her.  She collects soap and shampoo from hotels and gives them out as "prizes" for people brave enough to ask her a question in front of a huge audience!!

 Misha Collins plays an angel, Castiel and is super funny in panels.  He grew up really poor and runs a charity called "Random Acts of Kindness" and does a lot of good for a lot of people.

I went out to the lobby to eat lunch and asked two women if I could sit with them and they were sooooo nice.  They had driven up from Indiana and this was their second time attending the Chicago Con.  They were passing out bracelets and gave me a lovely one.

On Saturday nights they have Saturday Night Special concerts with Louden Swain and many of the stars join in.  Rob Benedict is the lead singer and I could listen to him forever.  Brianna, Kim, Ruth, Richard, Orsic Chau, Matt Cohen, Gil McKinney all participated and I had so much fun!

Sundays are the days "the BOYS" come - Jared and Jensen - the main stars.  They are both Texas boys and clicked immediately when starting the show.  Most of the show's success is credited to those two being best friends - it makes their brother relationship on the show more believable .  They day is filled with meet and greets, photo ops etc.  Some people spend a lot of money!

I asked two women if I could eat breakfast with them and we had a great chat - they only came for Saturday and were leaving before the boys' panels.  At lunch I sat with two men, the son of one of them, and another woman.  The woman has been to FIVE Supernatural conventions and some for other shows.  The two men have been to many conventions for different things and I learned a lot.  They were also really into Supernatural lore and we had a lot of fun discussing it.

The Photo ops are very weird things - they go by really fast and a lot of people are nervous or even crying because they get to meet people they admire.  Some have elaborate fan art to have in the pic etc.  The volunteers literally tell people "no kissing, biting, or groping the stars"  seriously.  The girl behind me asked if that was a problem and the volunteer said she saw someone bite one before!!! crazy people!  I chatted with a bunch of people in line - two of them were from SAO PAULO!!!!

I'm really happy with my one with Misha Collins and Jensen Ackles - their faces look like their characters.

Ruth Connel is the most adorable person ever.  I felt like a giant.  She is TINY!  I squatted down to hug her.

Misha looks so tired/stressed in this one. They were rushing everyone really fast because he had a plane to catch.  I wasn't even sure if I smiled in this one.  Jared is TALL - 6'4 so he put his chin on my head.  He was also rubbing my back and I was really distracted!  He is someone I would love to chat with - He has inspired so many by being open about his battle with depression and anxiety.  Here is my story of why his work means so much to me if you are interested. 

I do not wear jewelry but this one stand caught my eye.  The woman makes them out of aluminum and stamps each letter one at a time.  She sells them at a few cons during the year.  I got one that says "My story isn't over;"  She shaped it to fit my wrist - which is ridiculously tiny so she had a lot of work to do!  I wore it all day and enjoyed it so much that I went to go see her later in the day.  She remembered me and I picked out one that says "she believed she could, so she did"  She fit this one to my tiny wrist and we chatted quite a bit.  Even though I got to hug and high five celebrities, meeting her was a highlight.  Meet Joelle from Figments and Fripperies.

My store isn't over;

Jared Padalecki and his crusade for mental health

Some of you may know Jared Padalecki from playing Dean on Gilmore Girls.  After GG, he started playing Sam Winchester (whose brother's name is Dean and is a big joke) on Supernatural.  He has been really outspoken about mental health and his struggles with depression and anxiety.  During season three of the show, he was diagnosed with clinical depression.  He has found ways to cope with it, but still struggles sometimes.  In 2015 he cancelled on a convention in Italy because he had a "breakdown".  He talks about the incident in his chapter of "Family Don't End in Blood".  Something really minor happened that sent him in a tailspin due to his depression and he thought about suicide.  He made the decision to live, managed to get home safely and got the help he needed. He scrawled "Always Keep Fighting" on his arm in sharpie until he landed in the US.

He heads up the campaign "Always Keep Fighting" and uses the proceeds of t-shirts etc. to fund mental health charities such as IM ALIVE  (an organisation that is at conventions to help people with anxiety attacks etc.)  and To write Love on her Arms.   His co-stars Jensen Ackles and Misha Collins have a You are Not Alone Campaign that is under Misha's charity Random Acts of Kindness foundation.  The money raised from this campaign is used to train crisis counselors for a suicide prevention hotline.  This is a great video of Misha and Jensen talking about how the hotline has affected them and others.

Jared often explains how depression can affect anyone.  People think it means you are sad about something and that someone like him shouldn't be "sad".  He has a great career, is wealthy, has a wife and three beautiful kids, great friends etc.  He "shouldn't" be depressed, but that isn't how it works.

In my late 20s, I was diagnosed with Hypothyroidism and SLE (Lupus) and on top of dealing with all of that I was depressed.  It took me awhile to go to the doctor about it because I thought it was a part of being sick.  Thankfully, my doctor was awesome.  He diagnosed me with clinical depression and put me on medication and gave me some strategies to cope.  When my Lupus went into remission and I was feeling better, I tried to go off the meds, but my doctor said that something is wrong with my brain chemistry and although there are things I can do to manage the depression, I will have to be on meds for the rest of my life.  I noticed I drank more when I was depressed so I stopped and I have been sober for over 10 years.  Due to my Lupus, I was on various opioids  for a lot of reasons - demerol, morphine, oxycodone, and Vicodin.  I was on Vicodin for over 2 years until one day I was teaching when my hearing went out- everything sounding like I was underwater and in a cave.  My doctor said that it can cause permanent hearing loss so he started weaning me off.  It was really hard, because at this point I was completely addicted.  He said we could try other pain drugs, but the addiction thing scared me so I decided to go meds free and just live with the pain.  Of course being in massive pain all the time doesn't help with depression!!!  It is all a vicious cycle!!! Living in massive pain all the time - physical or emotional- can, understandably, lead to thoughts of ending it all. People don't want to admit it because our culture is not kind to people who struggle.  "Just try harder, just pray harder, just think positively! "  Again it doesn't work like that!!!  Being a Christian doesn't mean that you can't have depression - or diabetes, cancer, or a broken arm!

Many people are inspired by Jared and his "Always Keep Fighting" Campaign - and depression is always a fight.  You can have a lot of easy days in a row, then a really hard one or ten!  I'm doing much better now and have a lot of coping strategies and can keep it at bay for the most part.  Stressful events - like moving to a new country!- can make it hard sometimes.

Philadelphia and NYC with Dad

My dad and I like history and museums so we have always wanted to go to Philadelphia.  We used my American Airlines miles so we had some wonky flights.  We flew from Bloomington -Normal to Chicago to Cincinnati to Philadelphia!  long day.

We arrived in Philly and took the SEPTA train to the city center around 4pm.  Our hotel was the Alexander Inn which was near everything.  The hotel was great and the staff was helpful.  We went to see Independence Hall and the Liberty Bell that evening.

Some of the furniture is replicated, but the chair behind the table in the back is George Washington's actual chair. 

The next day we went to the Museum of the American Revolution that just opened in April - it was amazing!  I had my Supernatural shirt on and museum worker noticed it and started a conversation about Supernatural and two of her co-workers joined in.  They were excited that I am going to the Convention in Chicago in a couple weeks.

We went to see Betsy Ross's House and the Benjamin Franklin Museum.  We went to Reading Terminal Market and we perused all the stalls.  I had a traditional Philly Cheesesteak while I was there which was awesome!

the only version that had 15 stars

They decided they wanted it completely different than England so they started using stars after this one. 

On Friday, we took the Amtrak to NYC which took about an hour and 20 minutes.  We arrived at Penn Station and our hotel was about 2 blocks away - the Fairmont Inn and Suites right near Madison Square Gardens.  I have been to NYC a half dozen times, but my dad had never been to NYC so we walked around for him to just feel what the city is like. We saw the old post office, NYC public library, Grand Central Station, the Chrysler building, St. Patrick's cathedral, and spend a lot of time in Central Park.

St. Patrick's Cathedral

St. Patrick's Cathedral

St. Patrick's Cathedral

We spent quite a bit of time in Central Park because I knew Dad would need a break from the busy city sidewalks.  

Dad with a snake in Central Park

The reason I convinced Dad to come to NYC was to see Ellis Island.  We took the subway down to Battery Park and then got a ferry to go see the Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island.  Wall Street and the financial district is close to Battery Park so we went down to the 9/11 memorial.  It started raining so I just a few quick pictures and we left.  The first time I was at Ground Zero was just a few months after 9/11 and there were still posters of missing people everywhere and there was tons of rubble.  I have been to it a few more times when there just a big pit etc.  It was nice to see it rebuilt and some day I would like to go to the museum.  

My friend Sara lives in NY so she came to have dinner with us, then we took the train back to Philly.  We flew back to IL the next day and again, because I used my miles, we had wonky flights.  We had to fly all the way to Dallas, then to Illinois, but we got to ride 1st class so that was great.  For someone who does not enjoy cities and crowds, Dad did like the little bit of NYC that he saw.