Event Recap: Star Wars Celebration!

I know. I know, shop I know, case I know. I’m so late on my recap. But April legit has been the craziest month ever. I don’t know why everyone seems to think that this is the best month to schedule every thing at the exact same time but apparently it is.

I first heard of Star Wars Celebration about two to three years ago when a friend of mine went to the one in Florida. I thought, ohmygod, this is the coolest thing ever and I need to go. Then I found out the next one was going to be in Anaheim. Right down the street from me. Heaven. Tickets went on sale about two years ago and I knew I had to go until I saw the ticket price. 140 dollars. At the time, I was legit making only about 100 dollars a week so there was just absolutely no way I was going to make this work.

Fast forward to about a couple months ago. I knew it was fast approaching and they kept announcing epic guests. Ian McDiarmid. Mark Hamill. Anthony Daniels. Kenny Baker. Peter Mayhew…and then the clincher, Carrie Freakin Fisher. I had to go. I learned I had a discount through my job (the House of Mouse) and knew that I just had to get there.

But an even better thing happened! I applied for press, because I have such a “why not” attitude and I was gifted a beautiful media pass, for four full days at the convention for FREE. AWESOME.

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I can’t even begin to explain the amazing time that I had that weekend. It was one of the best cons I’ve ever been to, even with the craziness of lines and the drama of the autograph tickets and all of that. I was surrounded by a million people that enjoy and love Star Wars just as much and more than I do. Everyone fangirled (fanboyed) together and there were so many cast members there and people in such epic cosplays and I can’t even begin to explain what a great time I had.

So instead of boring you will the details of all four days, I’m going to give you the highlights:

Taking pictures with everyone in their cool cosplays while I read my book. Which is something that I started doing with my friends at Disneyland and I decided it would be a super fun thing to do at the convention and omg it came out so great that now I’m going to do it all the time. It was seriously so much fun to do.

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There are a lot more but I just can’t even haha. They’re all so awesome. These are my favorites though.

Going to the Ian McDiarmid panel. For those of you who don’t know, he played Senator/Emperor Palpatine in the movies and he’s just so epic. His panel was seriously fantastic. He did a reading of the Shakespearean Star Wars and he just went into it, no problem. Seriously epic man.

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Family Feud: Star Wars style. Dark vs Light. SO hilarious plus my beautiful man crush Matt Lanter was on the panel (he does the voice for Anakin Skywalker in the Clone Wars, if you didn’t know). It was a TON of fun.

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UGH he’s so beautiful. Its not even fair. ;)

The Carrie Fisher panel. Seriously this was my main goal of the entire weekend. Because…its Carrie Fisher. Princess Leia. LIFE. And it was so much fun. She is one of the most eccentric people I have ever met and she’s such a weirdo, but if you know anything about her or her life, you totally get why. But her panel was totally wild and I had a blast.

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Taking our photo with Carrie Fisher. This actually might be the absolute best part of the whole weekend. We waited in line, and when we finally got up there, I was like, I’m doing it. I’m asking if I can kiss Carrie Fisher because WHY NOT. And I did it and it was beautiful.

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I will never ever ever ever ever ever get over the fact that I kissed Princess freakin Leia. Dream come true, I’m not even kidding. I’m pretty sure Princess Leia was my first girl crush. I still want to be her when I grow up. Except I want a pink lightsaber because…well…duh, its me.

Getting my Carrie Fisher autograph. It was such drama, seriously, I almost cried a couple times because they need to work on a better system for the autographs. Plus I finally was able to get in line because my ticket number was called, and THEN I proceeded to wait 3 hours in line. But I had to interview Karen Hallion, and I didn’t want to ditch out on that so I didn’t know what to do. Luckily one of the workers gave me a secret password that got me to the front of the line so that I could go interview Karen. Sweet!

So because Carrie’s line was so damn long, she wasn’t personalizing. She would either write “Leia”, something else that I honestly can’t remember or “Nice boobs”. Which is hilarious. She was talking to the guys in front of me and she wrote “Happy No Boobs Day” on their pictures and I could not stop laughing. Then I walked up and she was like, “whoa, you have BIG boobs” and I literally could not stop laughing. So she wrote that on my picture. She also said we looked like goobers in our picture.

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Meeting and Interviewing Karen Hallion. I adore her so much. She’s just so amazing and I love all of her Disney crossover art with Doctor Who and Star Wars and Harry Potter. I just love it. I was so excited to both be able to meet her and get the opportunity to interview her. Hopefully that will be going up on my YouTube channel quite soon!

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I know. I really should take the picture off the camera and upload that haha. I’m SO lazy. Worst. Blogger. Ever.

Seeing all the GIRLY stuff. Seriously. One of my biggest things is that you can be a total girl and still be into nerdy stuff and be a badass. My favorite characters are the ones that are gorgeous and classy and all that but also are smart as hell and can kick ass. You shouldn’t have to choose, you should be able to be all of it. And I liked seeing that. My favorite was this awesome pink R2 unit. I want it. I’m still on the search for a pink lightsaber though…

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Going to Star Wars Night at Angel Stadium and Getting my Jedi Rally Monkey. Seriously guys. These are two of my absolute favorite things in ONE. You guys know how I feel about baseball and my Angels. Add in Star Wars and its like…the most beautiful thing in the entire world. I ended up leaving the game early because I went on short notice and didn’t have a jacket with me and it was freezing as hell, but its okay because I got my rally monkey and that makes me happy.

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All in all, it was a seriously epic weekend. I had such a blast, got to see all kinds of super cool Star Wars things, took a ton of amazing pictures (that I swear will be uploaded to FB super soon) and just had an amazing time. I’m super sad that the next one will be in London because I want to go again and there’s just NO way this girl is getting to London next year. Oh well. But again, a totally fun event. They need to work on their autograph system because that was frustrating as hell and really unorganized but other than that, I really did have SUCH a blast and I can’t wait til it comes back to the US so I can go again.

May the Force be with You!

*****

Tuesday Top Ten-Favorite Fandom Labels

Hey guys, treat how is it going everyone? I hope you’re all having a wonderful week so far.

I want to warn you! Its five days into NaNoWriMo, order and both myself and Christina Marie are participating, this web in our different ways. Well, because of this, there may be less posts. We are going to do our best this month to keep up as best as possible, and that you’re incredibly patient with us.

This week’s Tuesday Top Ten is the top Ten Fandom Identifiers that I love. You know, when you meet Harry Potter fan and they immediately ask what house you are in? Or a Percy Jackson fan will ask you what god you’re a child of? You know what I’m talking about!

So here are ten groups that I am proudly a part of and why! Share with me what yours are!

10. Mage from the Tortall Series

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Here’s the thing about the Tortall series: its like a YA version of Game of Thrones, except that Tortall came out first. But who is keeping track? Anyway, the point is that there are knights and soldiers and noble ladies and merchants and all of that fun stuff. And all I can think of is, do you really want to put ME of all people near a sword? I tripped and twisted my foot when walking down Main Street in Disneyland. I’d probably chop my own head off, no lie. But the one thing that always stood out to me was the mages. I loved that they were born with this magic and it was deep within them and they had to learn to wield it and control. I also love that your Gift would be a certain color. I’d like to think mine would be pink. Because that would be SERIOUSLY awesome. But yeah, I would be a mage if I lived in Tortall. I would make it so that I was born that way. Somehow.

9. Elf from Lord of the Rings

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I’m not going to lie, a huge reason why I want to be an elf is not even about the immortality or the beauty or even the sexy sexy Orlando Bloom as Legolas. Those are all great reasons as well but my main reason is…do you see where they live? Its like a beautiful Impressionist painting. I remember seeing it the first time in The Fellowship of the Ring and dying of happiness at how incredibly beautiful it is. If I lived forever, Rivendell is definitely on the list of places to spend that forever. Plus, like I said before, they are incredibly beautiful and full of a ton of wisdom, which, you know, totally describes me. And hair…its like a damn shampoo commercial up in there!

8. Pokemon Trainer from Pokemon

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Okay, is there anything else to be in that world? Seriously? Like, the people who work in the Poke Mart or who are working in the casino or Safari Zone and that…why would you do that! Why would you not be a Pokemon master? Or trainer? Or something? I just want to own all the Pokemon and have a Pokemon party, and dress them up in a little costumes and name them all after book characters…and…okay I’m slightly obsessed with Pokemon. Its fun. I first got into it when I was a kid and I’ve continued to love it. I think it was just kind of a fun concept as a kid, going out into the world, on an adventure, and catching these amazing creatures.

7. Amity from Divergent

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It was really hard for me to pick a faction in Divergent because I want to be Divergent! I think, legitimately, everyone is divergent and embodies multiple characteristics. But in the spirit of the book, I eventually thought Amity fit kind of well, and I took a test and I was mostly Amity with a splash of Erudite. The Erudite value wisdom and knowledge, which seems to go hand in hand with some of the other ones you’ll see on this list. But Amity really fits me too. Amity is the peaceful and the friendly. They created the peace serum. They grow food and love to eat awesome foods, and they were bright colors and they just kind of sound like hippies. I am a very peaceful person, really, I hate drama and fights and confrontation, and I love food. Plus do you see their symbol? Its absolutely beautiful!

6. District 4 from The Hunger Games

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I realize that no matter what district you live in, it pretty much sucks because everyone is hungry and poor and could possibly compete-and die-in the Hunger Games. But even so, I choose District 4. I wanted to pick whatever district that was California since this is future-USA but when I saw a map of Panem, it was under water…you know, like most dystopian novels. So the next best thing was district 4 because its the fishing district, which equals ocean! Gotta have my ocean. And I only eat fish when it comes to meat so that works out too! Plus is Finnick Odair is my favorite character of the entire series so I’ll hang out with him in that district.

5. Huntress of Artemis from Percy Jackson

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Yeah, I wouldn’t be a child of god or goddess. Mostly because since I was a kid, I was obsessed with Artemis. I got really involved with feminism and women’s rights when I was young and Artemis was like a badass Greek feminist, and she had her cool pack of hounds, and her silver bow, and denounced men. Its all just awesome. I do realize that if I actually became a Huntress, I would have to give up my boyfriend and that really sucks, and that part is kind of lame. Boys are awesome, at times. At least to look at, if nothing else. But I like the idea of having a bow, and working with Artemis. She has the best stories and she’s the goddess of hunting (which makes no sense as a vegetarian but whatever) and the moon, and I love her. I would follow her for sure.

4. Companion of the Doctor from Doctor Who

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Come on! I could be MYSELF! I could literally be myself! I want the Doctor to show up on my doorstep, and open the door and say “Allons-y” or “Fantastic!” or “Geronimo!” and I would shout back “YES!” and run right down into the TARDIS, in pajamas, most likely. I would be so excited. I wouldn’t even know where to go first, but I would let the Doctor get us lost through time and space, and do amazing things. The best part of Doctor Who is the beauty of the impossible and the encouragement of imagination and creativity, and it would be amazing to be a part of that. Being with the Doctor is like having your wildest dreams come true, and so much more. Plus I could spend lots of time exploring the TARDIS, which would be super fun, and maybe visit the ginormous library, or take a dip in the swimming pool. Sigh.

3. Shadowhunter from The Mortal Instruments

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I would KILL to be a Shadowhunter. Its such a cool thing to be. I mean, sure, werewolves, and vampires and warlocks and faeries are all really cool. There are a lot of really cool things in The Mortal Instruments but being a Shadowhunter is top dog. They are badass, they get to wear black all the time and no one says they’re stupid or a mall goth or anything. They have the Runes, which are beautiful and make them fast or agile or help with their precision, and things like that. They get use all kinds of cool weapons like daggers and knives and long seraph blades and bows and whips, and they keep the world safe from demons. They live in beautiful churches, and travel around the world, and the homeland, Idris, is beautiful and perfect. Plus they have cool names like Herondale and Lightwood, Fairchild, Morgenstern, Penhallow, and such. Its so beautiful. I also think I could be myself if I was a Shadowhunter. Sara Shadowhunter.

2. Jedi Knight from Star Wars

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What I really want to be is Princess Leia but that’s not really a category in Star Wars to be so….a Jedi Knight is really awesome. Plus, Leia eventually gets Jedi training, and can use a lightsaber and such so THAT is awesome. I’ve been watching Star Wars since I was a child, and I always thought Jedis were so great. They were warriors but peaceful warriors. Warriors that are in control, and wield these awesome weapons, made of LIGHT, like lightsabers. They have the power of the Force. They get to navigate the coolest vehicles, like X-Wing fighters and such. And their costumes are pretty awesome too. I would also like to think that I’d be part of the Rebel Alliance, a hidden Jedi come to save the Galaxy from the evil Galactic empire.

1. Ravenclaw from Harry Potter

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My ultimate identifier. I have a Doctor Who tattoo and a Star Wars tattoo but I have a Ravenclaw tattoo. This is one that I embrace all the time. I represent it all the time. I try to put blue and silver into my every day outfits. I tend to pick out blue when it comes to choosing colors. When I get married, my colors are going to be blue and silver. I feel like I represent Ravenclaw in so many ways. Smart, always reading, wanting to learn, keeping to themselves, because they’re wrapped in learning and books. Its so me. They live in the highest tower, facing the mountains and little professor Flitwick is the head of House. I have so many amazing friends, from different walks of life and with different talents and careers, that are all Ravenclaw. We are unique and awesome. Wit beyond measure is man’s greatest treasure.

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I hope you all enjoyed this week’s Tuesday Top Ten!

Share with me your own houses and such!

Happy Tuesday!