So the excitement actually started on Saturday when I had to call and book taxi for morning... You may think thats not a big deal .BUT it is . It was my first time in life when I had to speak English on phone !!! I was pretty nervous , I dont know why, or I do , I just thought that speaking on phone in English is going to be a lot more different , that its gonna be hard to understand and you know no expressions to understand what type of sentence does the speaker uses ... Anyway I felt kinda scared , but then I just found a number and called... ( of course I had written down all of my lines , and possible answers :D ) anyway , so I called and the first taxi firm was all booked up for the morning , that was sad , but the other didnt ask any questions(only the basics , what when where) or assurance ,just said that all's done :) ... Wow that was easy :) , ye there is no actual difference in speaking English on phone or in personal , maybe on phone it is even a bit easier ! :) really ,cuz you dont see the other person and you dont know , him so you dont have to worry about stuff (you know looks and misspelling and stuff :D )
Anyway after that I pretty much went to bed, but didnt get a lot of sleep ,cuz people where partying everywhere and making a lot of noise ... However I had my alarm on 4:15 and I woke up straight away...(cuz probably I was kinda excited and didnt want to screw the Taxi driver :D ) , so I ate something I think and then run off to meet the taxi , that came a bit early , on 4:50 and then we went to St.Albans... Of course Had the basic usual chat with the driver. and then in about 5:10 I was in St.Albans , ye well , I had to be there on 5:30 :D , anyways , the city was kinda dead , no living sole ( ok another guy going to the Games day , but we will not count him ) It was interesting and cool I have always wanted to see empty city . The day before we were in St.albans market and it was packed with people shouting , buying , selling , and stuff, and musicans playing , and now the same place was completely empty , actually I may have a picture ...
These are the market streets and as you can see they are EMPTY :D
Well this is not a Marks&Spencer advertisement , but draw your attention to the clock :O ,ye really 5:10 ... Its probably ,the first time ....in my life.... when I have been ....hmm ...up so early ....in other country.. ( cuz come to think of it I have walked around Riga in 5 am quite a lot ( nooot , not a lot , but some 10 times for sure :) )
OK so , when I didn my 28 days latter walk around the city , I went to the shop , and of course the sellers weren't there yet but there were about 6 people already :D ...( man those people are eager)... Anyway we waited for about 10 mintes , when it was 5:30 they arrived and let us into the shop... there we spent next 40 minutes , basically standing and looking into the wall( I did that not the other ) , ok , not really I actually talked with one guy that I saw was also a student in Herts , and he is doing astrophysics ( I guess you can lear absolutely anything here) ,so ye the other time I just spent trying not to fall asleep , and listening to British Nerds :D ( ye I am one of them - Nerds , but not British :O ) it was actually kinda funny , I have to admit , that after spending all day with real british people( guys) , they are pretty funny and they are nice and open people :) , at least those Brits that still plays with models ( ye me too I know) ... anyway so the bus cam at dunno maybe 6;30 or something and then we set off...
Only thing I remember form the trip was , that at the start there was a huge thick fog around everything , and it looked so crazy fairytale like ... like the big trees were all in mist ( that gave the feeling of some kinda Sherlock Holmes story) and the road was in deep mist , so that the cars were suddenly swimming out of it ...
They were showing one movie on the bus ,its called Ultramarines , and it was very laud , but still somehow I fell asleep , cuz when i woke up , the movie had ended and it was bright outside ....
Then we stopped for a we-wee and stuff ( thats what they said) ... And then it was only about 20 minutes and we were at Birmingham .... It was 9:05 ... The event started at 10:00 , at that time already began to feel suspicious :D ... So we went in.. ou before that we all toke a picture of St.Albans hobbyists ( ye I gues I am one of them now :) ,yee) with a huge Droppod in a background( dont ask me I have no Idea what that is :D , but It looked like some kinda time machine , or just very up-to-date toilet :D ) anyways we went in and alined into queue ,ye and of course as I suspected we had to jsut stand in queue for almost 30 minutes-pretty exhausting :
that's just people standing :D ..
Hmm , ye every Hobby shop has their own flag , so ye if u think what the hell is those thing on the poles ...
Thats the flag of St.Albans Games Workshop . the blue with the cross , is actually St.Albans official flag ...
Other people were just reading a book... Well this guy was actually in some kind of soldier outfit ?! with like a self made spear-saw-laser beam -weapon , and with a gun made out of cardboard :)
So then we finnaly got into the excibition room , and ye... Then I just walked around , and around ,and around , and ou take a picture , and around , ou I have seen this already ...around ... Uuuu I should take a picture of this ..... around ... and ye that was basically it :D
There were a lot of hobby people form the studio and design and stuff, but I dindt go to anyone to ask anything , I just didnt have anything on my mind , that I would have liked to ask ... to boot, I didnt know any of those people :D , that other guys were coming to and asking for their signatures ... I just havent been that into the hobby. but I guess thats because we have only one shop :D , and I dont actually read any White Dwarf magazine , only buy it and watch trough ... Ok so I took a lot of pictures of the contestants( the entries , not the people who brought the models :) ) , but those I wount post here their are just too many .. ok only one to show what was it all about ( not really , it was all about a big Demon Slayer Sword ,that is the main prize you can win , if your minis are the best ...)
anyway so here is an example of duel that actually won second (bronze Deamon) award :
So , ye then I found out about one competition that everyone who wants can participate in ... So I did it too .. it was a conversation competition . The rules were : they gave you a lot of pieces and details and you had to make a mage in 20 minutes , and whoever makes the best gets a cool award ... Anyway , so I entered , but I had a bad spot - nothing was actually left of the details , everything useful as already used in the round taking place , before mine...Anyway , i still made something and I have a picture of it just here :
Nothing special for the mage , basically the normal parts , but I like how I made the scene though.. Somewhere in the first five minutes of the time , my mind came up with this some kind of menthal mage , that can control other people (the poor guys that keep the mage up in the air ) and the mage can do some kinda sonic attack :D , just that he makes the poor lad go crazy and scream in pain and hold hes head ... ( ok I hope you dont think I am completely nuts now :D , just a quick story about the scene, I dont know why the mage does that , though ...hmmm...)
Anyway, I didnt win of course , cuz there were a lot of pieces made that was huge , and stood out from the more than 600 entrants :D . Although I actually didnt see the winning mage :( ...
Ok so After that I jus walked around, and around , and around... Listened to soome poeple talking with the studio guys and , you know just observing :)
Funny, though , that I actually met a latvian guy at one of the cafes . he worked at the register and when I gave him my credit card , he recognized it and started to speak Latvian ... well that was unexpected :D ...
Well then I ate my breakfast and just sat in the auditorium :
This is just the first hall , there were 2 more , that was just as big but much more packed, cuz the other two where gaming and shopping hall :D , and people bought stuff as crazy(although the prizes were the same, I guess thats could be a thing to research for psychologists - why do people buy stuff in big events , but dont spend money on daily basis ...?)
So ye at 3 and up there was the award ceremony , in which all the winners were awarded with the Golden Demon ( I really hate the prize (how it looks and its name , its just so stupid :D )) ... Anyway there was this guy , don't rememebr his name , but he won 5 GD ,and of course he got the Slayer Sword as well ... Well that seems rather unfair :D ...
Anyway ,that was the ending and then we went home ! :)
It was a long trip that I spent mostly listening and laughing ,and sleeping as well , cuz I don't remember how it got dark :D ..
It was almoust 8 when we were back at St.Albans, and because it was Sunday and late , no Buses were going to Hatfield so I and the guy form Uni split the taxi ...BTW hes name was Dave :)
So there I was back at home .... I think I did something more that day(ou it was yesterday ) ye write , I met up with Deb and Harshil and another girl called Jess ( i believe) from England of course ( cuz everyone knew now is from UK ) so we wen to McDonalds and just chatted and chilled ....
I was actually kinda sleep-deprived drunk :D , I was in a state when I just didn care what happens , I was like ye lets go party and stuff, and I actually felt good , like rally good , :D I guess when you get over the phase of 'I really need to sleep ' and "my eyes are closing" ye feel kinda great :D ...
Anyway we didnt go anywhere , though, cuz from now on ,everything is going to be for a price , and the tickets are like 7 pounds :( ....
Anyway , so to sum up ... I really really really really regret that I didn't take any of my models with me ... cuz the competition is open for everyone... And It would just be nice to see your model in the display , and that thousands of people just goes by it :) ... ye , but that didn't happen ... so it will , definitely next year ... I promise I gonna bring a prize back home :) . for sure ! :D
So I got a lot of inspiration, and a lot of resources about the level of skills and stuff.. But it wasn't fun though , cuz I was all alone , for most of the time , and it was really hard to start a conversation , cuz all the people talked about was hobby stuff , but I barely know anything that's not related to painting ...:D
ok so just before I go some more pics :
Design dislay:
Å bunch of dressed up dudes :) , actually they look kinda cool!
See ya' back soon!
It's kinda comic-con for toys :D
ReplyDeleteYe definitely , that was actually what I was thinking to say to everyone who asks what was it ...
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