Being a crazy fangirl means traveling to a different state and wasting money to attend events to meet your favorite actor/actress. In my case, I travel two times in the past two weeks just to experience meeting and seeing "The X-Files" queen, Gillian Anderson.
I've already described my experience before, but I have to be real with my first comic con experience in Chicago; it was crazy. I don't mean crazy as in I didn't have a good time, I mean as in the day was very tightly packed and there being more than hundreds of people doing the same thing didn't help. I'm not going to sit here and rebuttal my experience because that experience is what lead me to confidently go to Dragon Con in Atlanta, GA for Labor Day weekend.
First off, the price of this con, including my airfare, cost me the same as my VIP ticket in Chicago. I was off to a great start and the fact that I was meeting a friend I made IN Chicago made my excitement level go up 10x's.
Fast forward to the day of the con, and my confidence level was up since I already knew how comic con's work. I arrived to the event right when registration opened, which was at 8 o'clock in the morning. This con had people needing to go to different Downtown Atlanta hotels around an area, so I was off to look for where Gillian was going to have autograph sessions. With no help, I made it to the Marriot Marquis in ATL and was one of the first in line for autographs. It was 9 a.m. and the signing didn't start until 11 a.m., I was ready for that long day like I had in Chicago.
Thankfully, my Chicago pal met up with me in the line and my fangirling mode turned on until 11 a.m.. Once the line opened and we were taken inside the signing room, it all hit me again. I was meeting Gillian all over again.
The guest of honor finally came out and we lost our minds. It literally has been almost two weeks since we saw and meet her, but seeing her again made my friend and I so ecstatic and NERVOUS. In Chicago, we waiting three hours, and here, in less than 10 minutes I was already next in line. Now, I really didn't prepare for this autograph session, so I deicide to make her sign my donation to a charity/organization Gillian wanted us to donate to. The catch for me was that I actually decorated the receipt of my donation really girly rather than just printing it and man, did that crack Gillian up. She saw it and already knew it was a donation and was ready to take a picture of it. Stunned, she even asked me, "Are you the type of person that decorates jars?" Gillian was actually talking to me about what I was giving her. Someone pinch me. She even asked for my name so she can write it, but I declined since I didn't pay for a personalized autograph. Thanking me, I left and when my friend was showing her donation, Gillian remarked my decorated donation mentioning to me that I was the only person who took their time to actually decorate it. I was beyond DEAD.
Unfortunately, during our time in the autograph line, Gillian tweeted that she was not going to be able to make it Monday to the con and we had tickets for photos for Monday, so after getting everything signed, we had to change out passes for today. We honestly, did not even think we were going to take a picture with her that day. I thought everything was going to be a mess and hectic.
Fortunately, they changed our photo, and we had our picture with her at 1:40 p.m.. It was only 12 p.m. when we left the signing so, my friend and I had so much time to spare (unlike Chicago). We literally just sat until our photo op time, God Bless.
The time came for our pictures and the line felt like we only waited 5 minutes. It was time to get our highly unexpected picture. I had some difficultly figuring out my pose since I was eh about my Chicago one, but I decided on one that many of Gillian's fans wanted to see her doing: sleeping.
Arms out, Gillian was ready for me to step in and look at camera and smile. I, however, asked her if we could be sleeping since we are both tired and needed some rest. Right after I said that, she dropped her head down and I was so shocked, I laughed and did the same weird head drop and tired to look at the camera without looking weird. Turns out, we both were not stable enough and tripped forward, totally losing our pose. Gillian and I (yes me and Gillian, together) started laughing and tried to get back into position, but failed once AGAIN and couldn't seem to grasp standing up straight and keeping a straight face. The camera guy had to even ask what we were gonna do since we were so lost. "I forgot how to take a photo," Gillian mentions to me (yes, me Alejandra who has descended to heaven by that point), and we finally composed and stood up straight, got our heads together and looked at the camera for picture. I was laughing still by that point. I said my goodbye's and walked out of the room speechless, not believing how long we look. As I got my photo, I was so surprised to see her actually sleeping by me. I was so happy I got such a great photo op. Chicago who?
Then, when we left the photos at 2 p.m., we ran to the panel which was going to start at 2:30 p.m.. Line literally going all-round the hotel, we were able to make it inside and get some great seats. The panel was so much more different from Chicago. Gillian spoke a LOT and was giving eloquent answers with every question being asked. I sometimes had to be like, "what is she answering again?"
We ended our day there... JUST KIDDING. We had time for another autograph session so, guess what? We went again to meet Gillian. This time, I was going to make her sign my photo op. Getting to that line was easy, and thankfully, not even remotely full. As quick as we got there, it was soon our time again. This was going to be the last time we were going to interact with her, we had to make it a good one.
I was up first again, and when I was up, Gillian created me with, "how are you?!" But then she saw our picture and began laughing, again. "What the hell? *laughs*"
I told her we all knew she was traveling to London to do more work and the fans wanted her to rest and take care so, hopefully she appreciated some care. The best part was when she began signing the picture. Gillian began to write the sleeping Zzz's, and then drew a dream bubble around her head to indicate that she was sleeping.
Ending my time with her with a comedic note was so much more than I expected. She truly gave her 100% even though she is probably worn out of doing all these cons, and I appreciated every single interaction with her. To just be able to share a laugh with her is something I can cross off my bucket list. Having a friend to experience this was also a great highlight. To the next comic con Gillian attends, you'll see my friend and I front and center to meet our queen, yet again.




























