We mobilized about an hour later than we were supposed to, and the rain weather wasn’t helping the mood. Still, it was Oliver’s big day to collect some celebrity photos and signatures at the pop culture convention Supanova.

Chloe and I dropped Oliver off at the doors and then looked for parking. It took a while, but we found a small lot near the RNA grounds that only cost $8. Chloe wasn’t in the best mood with the rain and having to pay for parking and the $30 for the convention to accompany Oliver, but at least she had me. We found some crappy food right away once we got inside.

Chloe and I eat some crap food while Oliver waits in line for celebrity signatures

Oliver’s day basically consisted of waiting in lines in this barn. And we waited with him half the time. They had one big section for signatures, and another section for photos. The celebrities basically walked back and forth between signing and photographs. It was not super organized, as the times were totally off most of the time, and Oliver even got the wrong photograph for someone to Felicia Day to sign. It was some other similar looking girl. Embarrassing!

Saturday we went to a “pop culture expo” called Supanova so Oliver could collect some celebrity signatures and photos. You buy tickets at a stand for various celebrities, and then wait in their respective lines at specified times. Oliver spent the entire day in line basically.

There was Magic The Gathering training, but it was quite crowded, so I didn't try to do it… :(

We weren't supposed to take photos of the famous people. Oops.

Not sure what this guy is dressed as, but it's pretty intense!

The main reason Oliver came here… to get a signature and photo with… I already forgot his name. The black guy in True Blood. He doesn't look anything like in the TV show.

Good advice in general!

I found a lovely hat, and I love it!

This is Spike from Buffy. He was really nice.

Chloe likes my hat, too.

So many people waiting in long lines for photos!

Finally, once all the photos and signatures were gathered, we left for a bit of food and to get some alcohol for the hotel. Oliver’s friends Josh and Lili were coming over, and then we were going out to The Beat.

Alcohol is quite expensive in Australia. $33 for a 750mL bottle of Smirnoff?!

And $37 for a 750mL bottle of Bacardi!

From the balcony of our room in Urban Brisbane Hotel.

On our way to my first Australian club. Chloe likes my Pepsi mix.

Again, the driver seat is on the wrong side! I can't get over it!

About to enter The Beat

Smoking area

Josh, Lilly and me at the dance floor called Wreckers

Chloe made some new friends at the smoking area.

Chloe apparently yelled out that this shirtless guy is from the movie “Rat Race,” and suddenly all these people wanted photos with him.

Chloe got an autograph from the nonfamous person. I think she was trying to compete with all of Oliver's celebrity signatures.

A bit after midnight, Oliver kept running away from me and doing his own thing, which was fine. But I ended up meeting this guy Daniel who apparently Oliver didn’t want me to meet. Us hanging out at the club caused Oliver to get bitter and not talk to me.

Made a new friend, Daniel, on one of the dance floors. He turned out to be one of Oliver's friends, of course.

So, not wanting to spend the next four hours with sour Ollie, Daniel and I decided to leave. We got some pizza, he almost ate some chicken after years of vegetarianism, and we crashed at his place. I went back to the hotel in the morning to wake up Oliver and Chloe and get ready to leave for the airport.

Once we were there, we both got bumped from the first flight we were trying to get onto with standby tickets. Daniel was working at the airline that day, so he was keeping me updated on our status and helping out. Oliver refused to talk to him, though, so that was awkward.

There was a flight to Melbourne every hour. We told them we’d be willing to split, so Oliver got on the first flight we had a spot on. He needed to get back for work, and I strictly didn’t need to. But I did want to get back to Melbourne, as all my stuff was there.

Now at the Brisbane airport, Oliver and I were waiting for a flight to Melbourne that we could get on flying standby through Daniel's position working at Virgin Australia. Apparently everyone wanted to go to Melbourne today, as there was a flight every hour and it took us from about noon till 8 p.m. to both get on a flight. Anyway, the point is, Subway is really expensive here!

Cookies are $1.25 each! I think six cookies in the States at Subway would cost $2.50.

The meat selection at Subway. Note the photo of the chicken and bacon sub featured normal American bacon, but the “bacon” they actually use is the sliced ham at the top of this photo. Daniel says they call our (real) bacon “stringy” bacon or something like that.

Daniel at work.

Finally I got cleared for the very last flight of the day to Melbourne. What a stressful experience!

Last moments at Brisbane airport

Oliver got on a flight around 3:55 or 4:55, but I didn't get on one till 8. Thankfully I got to hang out with Daniel on and off while he was working at various gates around where I was waiting for the flights. I also got to enjoy wearing my silly hat in public. It made a lot of people smile.

The flight landed a few minutes late, which was annoying as I knew it would be tough to make all the transit I had to take work out. I speed walked from the plane to the SkyBus, which left a few minutes after I got to it. So far so good. But apparently there was a lot of traffic at that time at night, at almost midnight, so we had to take a detour. I arrived at Southern Cross Station and basically ran in my leather boots with all my luggage a half a mile to Flinders Station, where I was to catch the train to Oliver’s. Unfortunately, I was a few minutes late, after an entire day of travel.

So, I called Oliver, contemplated what to do, and eventually caved and paid $40 for a taxi, though I considered sleeping at the station another five hours till the train started again. But I really needed good rest.

The longest sleep I've had in a while. But I needed it!