Bitter taste of JIB (Jus in bello 2013)

I have two JIBs under my belt and I still don't understand why some ppl practically have an orgasm at the mere mention of Jus in bello.

I mean, I get it why the guests love it. They are being pampered by the staff and paid to have a vacation in Rome and see some of their friends. If I was them, I would probably love it too.

But I am not a paid guest. I am a paying attendee. And that, my dear lurkers, is a whole 'nother ballgame.

Let's talk about their organizing abilities. Oh, they do cram everything so, so nicely into those three days. But then the cattle has everything at the same time. Panels, photo ops, autographs and meet&greets. I am still just one person and can't be in four places at the same time. I did try, but alas.

Jared had to leave. I found out about that when I saw a woman crossing out his name on that schedule for photo ops. Why? Cause I wasn't in the theater when they announced it. Why? Cause I was standing in line to get my photo op done as soon as possible so I wouldn't miss the first panel. Ah, the joys of JIB. BTW, nobody bothered to change the schedule in front of the theater. They just had to cross his name out and add Ty to one panel. Nobody did that. So for the rest of the day it was like, Oh, I wonder what's next.

Then out of the blue, they announced Jensen & Misha photo op on Saturday. I admit it, I panicked. That photo op was supposed to be on Sunday and I was completely makeupless and in all the wrong clothes. I hurried to the reception desk to find out if they'd still have J&M photo op on Sunday. The woman there didn't really know anything about it. But in the end it turned out it was the ex-trio photo op and not J&M photo op. But I missed like 10 minutes of the panel, so all was good. Since, I assume, that IS their main goal. To make us miss the panels.

And now let's talk about refunds. According to their website: "we will contact by email in the next few weeks those of you who've brought their photo op/extra autograph/meet&greet postcards back at the reception desk during JIBCON 4 asking for refund."
So, we were supposed to bring those postcards to reception desk during JIB if we wanted refund?  That's good to know. Would've probably helped more if I had known about it during JIB, but WTH, right? Let's just complicate things.
To be fair, they did say that they would deal with refunds after the con, but then they plastered the whole area with announcements saying that they will take care of refunds a few weeks after the con and that there will be more info about it on their website. Nobody ever mentioned that we had to return the postcards. But I'm sure it's all my fault. Should've read their minds.


Now, in the interest of fairness, I should mention all the good things about JIB too. Y'know, give credit where credit is due. So, here goes. Photo ops weren't green and blurry this year.

The BurCon Experience - Day 5 (Sunday)

You know what they say. Pics or it didn't happen. See? Pics. So it did happen. *nods*

(BurCon was months ago which means that I probably forgot 80% of what happened. Let's see how much I remember.)

First thing today was breakfast. Started at 7:45 am. Yes, let's pretend ppl can eat so early in the morning. Anyways, I think Jared was late? So Jensen had to brave the stage alone. That was followed by Jensen, Jared and Jensen & Jared photo ops. And yes, a hug from behind is a much better photo op pose for me than a real hug. :(

 

 

Next thing on the schedule: panel with Jim Beaver and Richard Speight Jr. This photo of Richard is definitely one of my better ones. lmao

 

 

At 1 pm it was time for the best panel of the day. :D Somebody obviously knows Js very well so they got their own special chairs. Awwww. lol

 

There are some things no one should have to see. So, you're welcome.

I have absolutely no idea what he was doing. lol

 

At the end of the panel we had that announcement about the donation for St. Jude's. (Which Jared and Gen matched. :))

Sunday was March 4, which means that it was 3 days after Jensen's b-day. So, of course, he got a b-day cake and a very beautiful rendition of ♫ Happy birthday to you ♫. :D (You can see and hear everything in my video on YouTube. I didn't sing. You're welcome.)

 

 
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After all that, we got their autographs and at 4 pm it was time for Madison McLaughlin's panel. Last panel of the day and of the con. Somewhere between 5:15 pm and 6 pm I bought my ticket for next year (for Vegas) and that was it. End of the con. Time for my post-con blues to kick in. :(

 

Funny thing (as in not funny at all), I was going back to my room and just as I reached the elevators my eyes started tearing up (I have absolutely no idea why). Apparently my tears were really salty that day and my eyes started burning and it hurt like hell. TG there was no one in the elevator and in the hallway. I mean, you all know what happens to makeup when you start crying. It was NOT a pretty sight. And when I finally got to my room I couldn't even wash my eyes. I had to remove the makeup first. Pure torture.

lol I looked like this:

 

 

On the bright side, we didn't have to wait in line two hours to get our JPEGs. That's cause we didn't get them at all. Chris decided to send JPEGs few days after the con. :(

 

 

 

Jus in bello 3 - The Good, the Bad and the Hilton

I will probably write a proper con report, eventually, but this summary will have to do for now.

I loved the panels. Everybody (by everybody I mean the guests) was so relaxed and having so much fun on stage. Hell, I never had so much fun during panels before! 'Twas awesome. :D I actually had no intention of going back to Rome, but if there's JIB 4, I just might have to seriously rethink that. Just because of the panels.

I hated the fact that they had panels, photo ops and autographs at the same time. I sometimes say that POs are the reason I'm going to cons, and I'm mostly joking, but I consider them a very important part of the whole convention experience. They are a tangible memento. This time I couldn't buy all the POs I wanted because I knew that I would have to miss most of the panels to get them. That's a huge minus in my book.
On Saturday night, after the concert, I suddenly realized: OMG, is Jim Beaver even here?! Two days of the convention were over and I was yet to see the man. I think that says a lot. So does the fact that I didn't get all the autographs that came with the pass. (Didn't want to miss more panels.)

I really enjoyed the concerts. I always liked Jason's songs, but I was never a fan of Steve's songs. (Which is kinda funny considering I love Kane. Their songs, I mean.) But this time, I was sitting there thinking Why the hell didn't I like his songs??? *still baffled*

I didn't like the offending chair(s) in the photo op room cause when the guests are sitting, that just makes for really awkward POs. Some of my POs look like somebody took ppl from two different photos and photoshopped them together. And I especially didn't like what happened when it was my turn to have my pic taken with Jensen. The woman there pushed me. Literally. And she pushed me so hard that she managed to move me from where I was standing and it took me like two steps to stop myself. What the hell happened to a pat on the shoulder or a simple Go or Next or even the Italian equivalent of that? It's not like I wouldn't have understood her.

Rome is relatively close. And it's really nice when you can get to the con (and back home) in practically no time. It didn't even feel like I was going anywhere. Even my dad said that to him it felt like I went to a neighbour's house for a cup of coffee and not to another country. lol Also, when I'm going to cons in America, traveling for 23 hrs can be really exhausting. (Especially on my way back home while I'm trying to fight off some serious post-con blues.) This time I didn't even care that I had to wait 6 hrs for my flight.

Having Demon pass sucks. Big time. If you have a DP, your entire time there you are just a second-class con-goer. You can stand in line for an hour waiting for a photo op or an autograph and if somebody with an Angel pass comes at that time, they'll just waltz past you. And if you're really unlucky, it'll turn out that everybody with the Sinner pass is also in front of you. Cause there's only one line for DP and SP. And, of course, if you have DP, you will realize very soon that there's a teeny-tiny problem with the stage. You see (or actually, you don't, and that's the problem), the stage is not high enough. And if you sit in the DP section, you won't see the guests. Best case scenario, you'll be able to see them on the screen. But if I wanted to watch them on a screen, I would've stayed home and watched them on YouTube. Also, you can pretty much forget about taking pictures which is something that is very important to me.

It's great that the guests are there for two or three days and for more than one panel.


And the Hilton? The only good thing about Hilton Rome is that it's so close to the airport. The ONLY good thing. Rooms are ridiculously expensive. And then they charge you 22 € for 24 hrs of economy (aka lousy) Internet. And no, there's no free wi-fi in the lobby. Can you say rip-off?
I had so much fun every time I wanted to go into my room because I never knew if I'll be able to unlock the door.
Then there's also the matter of the invisible room service menu, iron and ironing board. I managed to get the menu even though the woman from the housekeeping didn't speak English (and I don't speak Italian). She just went to another room and took it from there. (I sincerely apologize to the guest that got that room.) I didn't even try to ask about the iron.
I had a fun conversation with a guy from room service on Sunday. I got one of those call-this-number-so-we-can-remove-the-tray little cards. So I called. It took me 5 minutes to explain that no, I don't want salmon, I want someone to come and remove the tray. Finally he realized what I was saying and told me to leave the tray outside. So I did. Then I went out. When I returned 3 hrs later, the tray was still there. *sigh* Then why the hell did they make me call room service??!
Oh, and the safe didn't work.
4-star hotel, my ass.

The BurCon Experience - Day 4 (Saturday)

You know what they say. Pics or it didn't happen. See? Pics. So it did happen. *nods*

I wasn't sure if I'll be able to wake up early enough to go to Guy's panel (which turned into Guy and Sam panel). But like every night, I fell asleep, slept for 3 hours and then kept waking up once every hour. So I actually managed to wake up on my own, before the alarm. Thank God my first photo op was at 3:20 pm, so I didn't have to put on my makeup. I was tired and would probably poke my eye out. Next panel (Sebastian and Mark) was... Unique. Biiip-worthy. Let's just say Sebastian called himself Cockroché  and leave it at that.

I had a lot of free time :( between this panel and the next because I didn't get any of the photo ops. :( 

I'm sorry, but I have to say this. It really bothered me when I read something like: OMG, Richard and Matt are great. They went all the way to the back so people in cheap seats could ask questions and take good photos. First of all, if you're there, you can ask questions. It doesn't matter where you sit. And second of all, I'm not rich, I earn $800 a month, but I paid $752,75 for my seat because I wanted to see everything and have photos that don't have other people's heads in them. And in this case (at that panel) I could neither take photos nor see half of the guests 98% of the time. I understand why those people in cheap seats were happy, but if I pay so much, I want to actually see the guests. I'm funny like that.

And, OMG, Rick had his The Magnificent Seven T-shirt on. It totally reminded me of my first big celebrity crush. Michael Biehn. Ithat man since I was 12ish and saw him in The Terminator for the first time. And the whole crush thing didn't really go away for a very long time. Very. Long. Time.

I'm loyal. *shrug* lol 

And it's funny, cause Jensen is gorgeous and he's my dealbreaker when it comes to cons and I fly to the other side of the world twice a year just because of him (well, and Jared, and other guests, but yeah, mostly Jensen), but I never felt the need to squee when I saw him or to do anything fangirly. Fair warning: If I ever get a chance to see Michael in RL, all bets are off. In a completely respectful way, of course.

Misha's just... One of a kind. lol I love his panels. I know that some ppl think that he's rude and that he never answers the questions, but he's not, that's just his sense of humor and, OK, he doesn't really, but that's just Misha. That's why his panels are so awesome. You gotta love the guy. :D

Had my first (and only) photo op today with him. I usually ask for a real hug, but I always end up looking ridiculous (that is NOT a good photo op pose for me *sad sigh*). So I decided to ask for something else this time. A hug from behind. So, I asked, he said OK, I turned around and fully expected him to put his arm somewhere near my shoulders and neck. And then suddenly there were hands all over me. (OK, around my waist.) And I was like, OMG, what's happening???! *cue a mini freak out* And I didn't know if that showed on my face and Chris, God bless him, took a pic right at that moment. lol So much fun.

Jim's panel was the last one today. But the day was nowhere near over. We still had to get autographs from, like, 20 people. Who weren't personalizing them. Why, Creation, why?! Anyways, Matt stared at himself on my karaoke kings photo op for 5 minutes because he couldn't believe the face he made. lol Richard liked the photo. Rick told me how they didn't film sequel(?) to Fallen because of one person who wouldn't do it. And Misha... Yeah, Misha. He totally knows me by now. And he remembers that I'm from somewhere, but, and you gotta love him, he can't remember from where. :D So we always end up talking about that. He asked. Again. E: I'm from Croatia. M: I wanted to go to Croatian coast. E: Why didn't you? *M thinks about if for a few seconds* M: I don't know. So I told him that he should come. He said he would. Just between us, he probably won't.

Oh how I don't like the cocktail party previously known as dessert party. It starts way too late, ends even later and then I get barely 4 hours of sleep before the 6 am breakfast with Jensen and Jared. And I'm tired all day on Sunday. I hate being tired on Sunday.

But getting a chance to talk to the guests is nice.

This year it was even better and even worse. 7 guests! 7!!! And I didn't even leave early like I usually do. *sigh* Don't know why. *coughmasochistcough*

TIP: To add some personal touch (literally) to the whole thing you have to: look really tired when Richard comes to your table so he'll pat you on the back while saying wakey-wakey or be someone Misha recognizes or be anywhere near Matt. That dude hugs everyone. He kinda freaks me out.

Feel free to ignore the badly taken photo and concentrate on Jensen. :D

I love my universal battery charger. It saved me SO much money on batteries this time. Don't know why I didn't buy it long time ago. The only problem was that I had to plug it in like this and it was too heavy so I had to prop it up. And it's not like I had something to prop it up with so I had to improvise.

The BurCon Experience - Day 3 (Friday)

You know what they say. Pics or it didn't happen. See? Pics. So it did happen. *nods*

You know what I really hate? When Creation changes the schedule, but don't feel the need to tell us about it. I mean, we found out that Gabriel is coming from him. And nobody knew when his panel would be. Also, nobody knew if Kim was still coming or not. Even if they couldn't update their web page, they could've at least tweeted about it. And this was not the first time. Really annoying. So it was actually a bit of a surprise when Kim and Gabe showed up on stage. I think I wasn't really in the right state of mind for a convention. I have to admit I wasn't really listening to what they were saying. I just kept zoning out. (And taking pictures without really thinking about it.) All I remember is that Kim laughed a lot and... No, that's about it.

Chad's panel was next. I spent a lot of time trying to take a photo of his tattoo, but he just kept moving all the time. The nerve of that man! lol

This was my first photo op today. I almost didn't get it. I was literally deciding which photo ops to buy while standing in line for pre-registration. At first I wanted to get a photo op with Kim. But then I decided that I don't really need it. In the end I bought it because I wanted to see what my new makeup and hair color would look like on photo ops. I mean, BEFORE the really important photo ops. Such a shallow reason, I know. I'm not proud of it.

Photo ops I DIDN'T get include: Chad, Rob, Mark, Sebastian, Matt, Richard, Matt & Richard in regular outfits, Rick, Mark & Misha, Misha & Jim, Jim and Madison. And that's like blasphemy for this conoholic. *coughphotoopwhorecough* And the best indicator of just how much I didn't care for this con. :(

But hey, at least I had more free time. Yay?

Last panel today was Rob's. I got my autographs after that (Kim, Chad, Rob). No personalization this time. Don't know why. Louden Swain concert was supposed to start at 9 pm. But didn't. So everything else was postponed. By the time karaoke started, I was tired and fed up with waiting and I just wanted to get my karaoke kings photo op and go to sleep. But I had to wait until midnight-ish for that.

Yep, it still says karaKoke kings. lol

I'm still not sure if this top looks like something from the '60s, but Richard liked it. He said so. :D It was during photo ops. I walked up to him and he said I had a nice top. And I was so incredulous that instead of saying thank you, I said: Really??! Then I told him that I had that top in my closet for years and that I've never worn it before. And he said: Well, maybe now you will. Honestly? I kinda doubt it. But you never know. It's not like I expected to wear it at a convention either.

Oh and...

Ladies and gentlemen more ladies, master karaokist Tim Omundson!

The BurCon Experience - Day 2 (Thursday)

You know what they say. Pics or it didn't happen. See? Pics. So it did happen. *nods*

Here in Croatia we eat those thin pancakes (crêpes, I guess), so when I go to the US, I like to order the fat ones, if they are on the room service menu.

These were blueberry pancakes and I got 3 of them and by the time I ate half of the 1st one, I was already full. This what you see here, and I kid you not, was enough for 3 meals. Cheeseburger with fries also lasted for 3 meals. And that pizza? It was huuuge! I ordered it on Saturday and still had 3 slices on Monday. But I threw them away. Huuuuge!




I'm sorry, but I just have to take some time and bitch about iBAHN. Wi-fi at Marriott sucked big time. It was slow and it would get disconnected at the worst possible moment and on Thursday night and Friday morning I couldn't even get a connection. It was easy, in theory. First you had to choose a connection plan, then accept terms and conditions, then write your room number and last name and wait to get authenticated. Well, I was trying for 2 hours on Thu and 1 hour on Fri and managed to get to room number/name page only twice. Mostly I just got a blank page that wouldn't upload. After that I just went to the lobby and used their free wi-fi. It was lousy too, but at least it was free.

Pre-registration was really early this time. At 6:45 pm. I got my lanyard and wristband and found out that LAcon moves to Vegas next year. I don't know, it could be a good thing. I wasn't all that impressed with the Burbank venue. But apparently there aren't any direct flights from Europe to Vegas either. And honestly, Vegas kinda scares me. I'm sure I won't be leaving the hotel once I get there.
I also bought some photo ops. Only 3 this time. :( Kim, kara(k)oke kings (check the pic, lol) and Misha. (Already had the ones with Js.) That probably shows you my state of mind at the con better than anything else. I love photo ops and usually get as many as I can. This time my heart just wasn't in it.

The BurCon Experience - Day 1 (Wednesday)

You know what they say. Pics or it didn't happen. See? Pics. So it did happen. *nods*

I blame the Internet. I asked it if it was a good idea to fly on February 29, and it never said that, no, in fact it was not.
So, there I was, at the airport, on Feb 29, all set to fly to FRA, then SF, then BUR. But.
I found out that my flight was cancelled. (FRA airport was on strike.) And THANK GOD for connecting flights because they still had to get me to Burbank somehow.
I went to get my new itinerary, was told that I'd be going to Zurich and then to SF with Swiss and just as the woman was about to print my e-ticket, the printer went kaput. And she was trying to fix it for 20. Fucking. Minutes. (With a pair of scissors.) While I was standing there mostly panicking because I still didn't know WHEN my first flight was. Or anything else for that matter.
She finally managed to print the ticket (it came out all crooked, but at least it came out) and I found out all the details. New itinerary wasn't that bad, but I really didn't like that I'd be getting to Burbank at 8 pm instead of 6 pm. And believe you me, 2 hrs make a huge difference after such a long trip. 22 effing hours!!!
Oh yeah, the pic. I'm SO glad I'm not scared of flying. The first plane was god-awful. It wasn't just incredibly noisy, it was vibrating. Not shaking, vibrating. Can you imagine sitting there for hour and a half while everything around you vibrated? REALLY annoying. And I had an amazing view of the plane's propeller. Y'all envy me now, don't ya?





 

Swiss fed us nicely. As you can see. I never tried hash browns before. Turns out I like hash browns. Ice cream was a VERY nice surprise and pizza was really good. I definitely didn't miss Lufthansa food.

BTW, 50 ice cubes in a tiny cup of apple juice, United? My upper lip got frostbite.





 

By the time I finally got to Marriott Burbank I was really sick and tired of everything. The only good thing was that I got a room on the 2nd floor so I didn't have to spend a lot of time in the elevators. Room itself? Was noisy. Like, really noisy. And I think it tried to freeze me to death a few times.
But, OTOH, this was the first time that I slept in a hotel room and didn't wake up with a headache every day.