There is nowhere in this world
more accepting that a comic convention.
I do not generally like being in big crowds of people because for the
most part big crowds means I am more likely to hear people making funny of
me. Negative shouts or calls or other
forms of insensitivity that some people think are funny seem to follow me in
big groups. Well the thing with a comic
convention is that this doesn’t seem to happen.
I will admit each year I go and expect that it will but each year I am
amazed all over again when it doesn’t.
The people that file into the convention for probably a lot of different
reasons just don’t seem to pay that much attention to things like my size. True looking around a convention I’m probably
not as out of place as I would be at a different event but it still amazes me
not to hear the negativity. It doesn’t
matter what size I am or what things I love people are all just friendly
accepting and wonderful. You can strike
up a conversation with anyone and I have never ever felt like I was being
judged. It is truly a refreshing feeling
for me. It lets me relax and just enjoy
the good things that come my way while I’m exploring and meeting people I
admire.
Compliments are the way to
change the world.
This seems a bit silly to put in here because it seems like it should
be common knowledge and practice. There
is nothing like a compliment to make you feel good. I had two experiences at the Expo that left
me feeling wonderful about myself and both came from compliments given to me
while getting autographs. The first
happened when I went up to meet Mark Hadlow (Dori from the Hobbit movies). I
went up and was chatting with him and he called me a doll and said he loved how
bubbly and smiley I was. The second
happened when I meet get Craig Parker (Haldir from the Lord of the Rings). We
chatted a little bit and after I had my picture taken with him, he asked how it
was. I said that it was beautiful and he
replied without blinking an eye no I was beautiful. I’m sure both of these guys say lovely things
to fans all the time but I can tell you I walked away standing taller and
feeling better about myself as a person because two strangers took a few
seconds to say something nice. Both of
the interactions felt very genuine and made me feel special. What I realized from these two interactions
is that if we all spent as much effort on complimenting each other as we do
criticising each other our world would probably be a much happier and more
peaceful place.
If I relax and be myself people
do respond positively to me.
I have always had a hard time meeting new people. I feel shy and insecure about myself when I
am meeting strangers. I have learned
that this is multiplied a lot when it comes to meeting the stars of my
favourite movies (especially if they are ones I have had crushes on). This year though for the first time I really
learned that if I just calm down, relax and be myself the reactions I get are
amazing. I found this with each and
every one of the actors from The Hobbit and Lord of the Rings movies that I met
this year. I like the movies but I have
never been all gaga over the stars (well at least not the ones who were here
this year anyway). So when I went up to
get autographs I was more relaxed and just myself. In each case I had these amazing interactions
and conversations with them. It felt
genuine and wonderful and surprisingly easy.
There were the two interactions I talked about above but those weren’t
the only ones I had. The other
interaction that most sticks out that really made me realize that maybe I’m not
so bad was my conversation with Sadwyn Brophy (Eldarion in Return of the
King). We had a fun little conversation
that I actually cut short because there were more people in line and I didn’t want
to keep him. I didn’t think anything of
it until I was talking to another expo goer who said when she went to get
autographs he looked bored so she didn’t ask for his or talk to him. I assumed it was maybe later in the day or
something but found out that she was actually in line only a few minutes after
me. By being my normal self I was able
to interact with him and get him smiling and laughing with little effort. Friends have often told me that they love the
way I can draw people in and I always shrugged it off because it is not at all
how I see myself and maybe now I’m reading too much into it but if all it takes
is for me to be myself I guess I will just have to try and remember that for
the future, especially if it means I get the interactions I actually want to
have with the talented people that I admire.
Boys with accents make me melt
especially when using words like love, lovely and beautiful when talking to me.
This is certainly not a new lesson.
Accents are one of the many reasons I love to travel. Let me tell you though as I walked around the
expo and sat in on panels I was reminded time and time again just how sexy accents
are. I also think some of it comes from
the fact that in North America we don’t seem to use the same words that they
use elsewhere in the world (of course if a guy I met from Calgary called me
love I don’t think it would come off as good anyway). Even though in a lot of cases it is just a
generic term I still get all giddy when I hear it. The main example of this was with Tom Felton. During his panel he called all the girls
either Love or Lovely when he thanked them for their questions. It is obvious it is just something he says but
when he said thank you love to me after his photo op I melted. It is silly because although I think he is
great in the Harry Potter movies I never had a crush on him really or anything
(I was too busy think bad thoughts about Snape) but at that moment I was
smitten and it was entirely the accent.
Saying thank you with a big
smile will always get you a smile back.
This is another one of those lessons that I already knew but not
something I always remember. This year I
made it my goal to make sure no matter what the volunteers said to me I would
smile and thank them. I wear my emotions
on my face and if I’m disappointed about something I struggle to not show
it. Last year at least a couple times I
found myself frustrated with the volunteers.
I am not the type of person to express that frustration to their face
but I know that it was written across my face which the volunteers don’t need
to see. They do their best even if they don’t always have the answers I
want. This year I was determined though
that no matter what I would smile and say thank you. It worked wonderfully. Even the few times the volunteers didn’t know
and just suggested I walk further and ask someone else I smiled and thanked
them. Each and every time they smiled
back and if they didn’t have answers they always said sorry. I hope that they never felt any frustration
from me and only felt the gratitude I have for them. The thing I wasn’t expecting though was how
good it made me feel. Positivity begets
more positivity. When someone smiles
back at you it is contagious and it makes me feel good and smile a little
more. The funny thing is after one
incident with one of the volunteers I turned away from her and continued
smiling as one of the golf carts carrying one of the stars (I’m not sure who he
was but I know I had seen him in one of the autograph booths) and I caught his
eye and suddenly then he smiled back.
Sometimes you just have to say F
it and do it anyway.
This has been a philosophy I have adopted in the last little
while. It has led me to taking more
chances and to pushing me to expand my world.
This philosophy is probably not always the best one to adopt (especially
at Expo when money is involved) but I have to say that it has done me good.
This philosophy was what I applied when it came to meeting all the Middle-earth
gang. I had no intention of getting any
of their autographs except for Billy Boyd and Sean Astin but after Mark Hadlow
was so nice to me in my photo op I decided I wanted to meet him and it went
from there. Sure it cost me a small
fortune for a chance to talk with each of them but they are some of the
memories that I will carry with me from now on.
The responsible side of me knows I could have spent that money on
something else but the joy I got from each of those meetings is more than worth
it. I won’t ever regret spending the
money I did over the weekend.
Having a plan is a good thing
but being open to new things can be eye opening.
This one goes with the lesson from above I think. I am a list maker and each Expo I have a plan
with exactly what I want to do. I
learned my very first year that this approach may not be the best one to have
the best Expo. Not accomplishing my list
often leaves me feeling sad and disappointed and in a world of line ups and
delays it’s pretty likely that things aren’t going to go as planned. This year I still made a list but I
prioritized it better as well as leaving space for me to have other
adventures. As I mentioned above meeting
all the Middle-earth gang was not planned and that turned out really well
fo me.
Another unplanned thing that turned out to be completely enjoyable and
got me interested in something new was the Aliens Exposed event. I didn’t buy tickets for this event until two
days before. I wasn’t interested because
I have to admit that I have never actually seen more than clips of any of the
Alien movies. When I bought the ticket the
only reason I did was because I knew in going to the Exposed event I would get
another chance to see and hear more from Bill Paxton. It is such a hormonal fangirl thing to do but
I guess really that is who I am.
LOL. The funny thing is that after
seeing more clips and listening to all the actors talk I can’t help but want to
see it. I may have even ordered the
quadriolgy so that I can watch it. It is
not the first time I have discovered something geeky late because of something I
have seen or heard at Expo. Most of
these new things come from sitting in panels because I have a blank space in my
schedule and I want to sit down. I owe the
expansion of not only my DVD collection but my likes to Calgary Expo.
Packing your own food as a way
to remember to eat was not as successful as I hoped.
This year as I continue down the path of a healthier lifestyle I was
determined more than ever to try and keep things healthy while at Expo. In the previous two years I have gone and I have
often just forgotten to eat. Whether I
was distracted or my feet were just too sore to walk to get food it was far too
easy for me to skip eating and just grab fast food on the way home. So this year I went with the plan that if I
brought food and had it with me I would have no excuse. I picked up healthy snacks (fruit, veggies,
cheese, and stuff for sandwiches) and prepared food to take with me. It did mean that when I did finally realize I
was hungry (often way past the point where I should have eaten) that I had
something healthy to snack on which is good but sadly it didn`t help me at all
to remember to eat. Saturday and Sunday
which were my busiest days I ended up coming home and realizing that I had
barely touched the food I brought with me.
Of course the good thing is that I could eat the prepared food instead
of fast food when I was uploading the day’s photos. Apparently when running around being an over
excited fangirl my hunger signals just get lost in the shuffle. Next year I will plan food the same way but I
think I’m going to have to actually schedule some breaks for food so that I
actually do take the time to eat something.
Come to think of it this would probably help with my end of day mood as
well. Hopefully I will feel less
exhausted and just content from whatever the day had brought me.
Too much of a good thing can be
overwhelming, so I must remember to take breaks.
This goes along with the lesson above as well. As much as I really want to see and do
everything it is quite exhausting.
Saturday was my busiest day with 5 photo ops, 7 autographs, 2 panels and
Aliens Exposed. When it came to the end
of the day I was exhausted but more than that when it came to my last photo op
of the day I don`t think I even really acknowledged it was happening. I live for those moments generally so it`s a
little sad to realize I had one that fell a little flat. It is just becomes a reminder that although I
want to do everything if I`m not going to get the excitement and joy out of it
maybe it would be better off waiting for another time when I will be able to
really enjoy it. I’m still learning the
ins and outs of taking care of my mental wellbeing so this is sort of a big
lesson to take with me for next year. I
can do everything I want I just can’t do it all at once.
I am blessed to live in a city
full of people willing to work hard, volunteer and come together to give me
(and everyone else) the chance to fulfill dreams and fantasies.
This last lesson is also not really new to me. I have thought it each year I have gone to
the Expo. It amazes me that there are so
many people willing to volunteer and help out.
I have to admit that I don`t know that I could ever give up my time and
volunteer for the Expo even though I often think I should. I know it makes me sound selfish (which I
openly admit to being a lot of the time in other situations) but as much as I
think it is a great idea to volunteer I don`t think I could ever do it. Maybe as I learn to find more balance in the
schedule I create this will change but for now I would much rather attend than
help. That being said I do know and
value the amount of care and work that goes into this show. I completely realize that because there are
people out there that are less selfish than me, I am able to have the
experiences I crave. I am filled with
gratitude for that. This year I found
that my experiences with the volunteers and staff were amazing. I had volunteers who went out of their way to
help me (even one girl who ran after me to give me an answer she had found out
after I had walked away). It was
wonderful and I just want each and every one of them to know that I think they
are great. Without the wonderful volunteers
I wouldn’t get to spend the next year dreaming about all the cool things I will
experience next year.
Thank you to everyone who was a part of the Calgary Comic and
Entertainment Expo this year. Thank you
to the guests who came out and were willing to meet all us crazy fans and to
the staff who organized everything.
Thank you again to the volunteers who were willing to answer questions
and point me in the right way. Thank you
for giving me a weekend of amazing memories and moments. It is not every day that you get to find a
wonderful blend of reality and fantasy that creates an epic adventure full of
memories. Keep up the good work and I
can`t wait to see what you have in store for us next year.
