Jewel Staite

3 May 2005

Hi Roj

Serenity Con...... whoa. Just got back from a whirwind in the UK with the best, most enthusiastic Firefly fans I have probably ever met. What a response! What costumes! What debauchery with them and my fellow crazy castmates! Seriously, it was incredible.

Highlights? Getting in nice and early Thursday so we had all day Friday to bomb around London with the gang. Chris Buchanan had spent a fair bit of time in London a few years back, so he knew where to go, what to eat, where to shop, etc. The weather was perfect, and it was really nice to see everyone and just hang out before the convention started. I have to say that the costume competition (they call it "fancy dress" in the UK) was another huge highlight. I’m usually super thrilled when, like, ONE person dresses up as Kaylee, let alone three or four. And they were all so good!!! The best of the evening, though, was the "Wash-o-saurus", which was essentially Wash riding a t-rex, complete with Hawaiian shirt and sideways grin. The mask, the dinosaur, everything was just out of this world. We gave her (yes, a she-Wash) first prize. Another highlight was the group Q&A, which we all did on Sunday together. It was really cool. We don’t get to do those often, and it worked out really well. Except for the part where Summer started crying when she was asked to talk about the cast... which got Ron Glass crying, which got Morena and me crying... and we were all pretty much a mess. When Summer cries, it’s kind of hard to ignore it.

So whew, here I am back at home, but not for long. There’s some test screenings going on this week all over the US of A, and I was originally supposed to be a part of the Seattle screening... and then I booked a guest star on Stargate: Atlantis, that basically shoots at the exact same time as I’m supposed to be doing three hundred thousand other things. When it rains, it pours! Anyway, I will unfortunately have to miss this first batch of screenings, but for the next batch, if and when that is, I am SO THERE. Also, somehow this weekend I’m going to fit in a trip to LA for photo shoots and publicity stuff with the cast, then back at work for more Stargate next week.... How this will happen smoothly, I really don’t know, and how I will sleep and actually look presentable for said photo shoots, I also don’t know... but life is interesting, right? Interesting is good.

I guess everyone’s heard about our DragonCon confirmations, which is awesome. It looks like there’s going to be quite a few of us, yay! Also, another convention in LA in December, with a lot of us there as well... at the Century Plaza Hotel, which is a gorgeous hotel (that’s where I stayed when I flew down to audition for Firefly, which is strange). There will be many chances to meet browncoats and spread the word, as well as par-tay with my buddies and have a laugh, also yay!

Anyway, thanks so much to everyone who turned up in Heathrow. You were all so incredibly welcoming and cool, and had such intelligent questions and things to say. Thanks for the goodies, too! (my hand-sewn "Serenity" pillow matches my house’s decor perfectly!)

Until next time, take care..

Jewel

PS. OF COURSE I went shopping.. how could I go to London and not buy anything? The newest edition to the family is a gorgeous pair of tortoise Chanel sunglasses... fabulous! I wore them to bed last night, I love them so much.