ShellBell's MegaCon report

Disclaimer: If the story comes out weird, I'm tired and it was all a blur anyway! :)

When I first heard that Nicholas would be attending Megacon 2001 in Orlando, I felt a distinct mixture of fear and elation. I was finally going to meet the man who played my favorite character on Buffy.

I don't think it really hit me until the day we went, but when it did, I was a mess! I went through the whole crazy fan thing. You know, changing my clothes a dozen times, rehearsing things I might say, and forgetting all the important stuff like extra film! Thankfully, I had my two sisters to keep my feet on the ground!

Now I've been to a convention before when I met James Marsters. But that was different. It wasn't Nicholas. It wasn't the person who brightened my Tuesdays for the last few years. Or the one who has made such an impact on my life through the character he plays. This time I was nervous.

When we got to the convention, we made our way to the first autograph session and it was packed! Thanks to Tara's fantastic badges, we even met a fellow Nick Brendon poster named Laz. He brought the first edition of a comic he wrote based on the character of Xander. I suddenly felt empty-handed. Here was a guy with an amazing gift and all I wanted was an autograph and a picture. Thankfully, Laz had the solution for that. He had a comic artist draw up a quick birthday card to Nicholas, which we all signed and presented to him during the second session.

Unfortunately, due to time contraints, several of the people in charge of the session were determined to get it done as fast as possible. That meant only one signed item per actor and absolutely no pictures taken with them. We felt cheated.

Laz presented Nicholas with the birthday card, which he really seemed to like. I think I had about five seconds with each of them when it was my turn in line. I mentioned that I posted on his website. And I got to thank them for all the work they do. That was about it. But in that short time, I found Nicholas to be very charming, quick to smile, and touched that his fans cared so much.

As for Amber, I don't care what anyone thinks of her character, Tara. Amber is just one of the sweetest people I've ever met. She was so thrilled to see the support of the fans. She even gave hugs to some of them when she could. Seeing that kind of gratitude in an actor, instead of snobbery, really touches my heart.

Like I said before, I really felt cheated out of that photo. And I was NOT leaving without a picture with Nick. So I cornered one of the agents (I don't know whose). And after some arguing, and not a little persuasion on my part, the agent agreed to ask Nick if he would be willing to pose for the shot. To our delight, he said yes! I was even able to get Amber into the picture!

At the end of the day, when we were heading out of the parking lot (after the daze that had set in from being so close to a man I admire so had faded), I realized once again what a truly great guy Nick is. He was obviously tired, yet he still took time out to take a picture with us. And that made our day. A day which will live in my memory as one of the best.

Amber and a fan	Nick and Amber	Nick and Amber

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