UFC Convention 

Written by Suzotchka - 11 Nov 2007 

We made the drive up from NYC on Saturday, Nov 1st and it took about 3 hours. But we got there and met up with Peter, Opal, Andy and Patty. After wandering around for a bit, we ended up getting some food with Peter in the sports bar. We were there for about an hour and a half before deciding to go walk around and find the others.  As we were leaving, we were walking up the hallway and who do we see coming down the hall? TORRI! Peter spoke to her first and then introduced me as the person who started the Save Elizabeth Weir campaign  - and she hugged me and said "Thank you". We all talked for a while, I gave her the Sedge Christmas ornament - which she totally loved - and she hugged me again and she said she was going to put it on her Christmas Tree. (We also had handed over the M&M's that say "Save Weir" and "Torri Rocks"). She told us she had gone to bed really late and had gotten up only a little while ago. I told her that we had driven up from NYC and it was about a 3 hour drive each way and she thanked us for coming all that way to see her. Then she had to go because she had to get ready for the photo op which was in 30 minutes and she needed coffee. So I told her Dunkin' Donuts was right around the corner.

We then headed upstairs to wait on the line for the photo-op. When it was my turn, I handed her a Save Elizabeth Weir button and she was playing around with it (she stuck it in her mouth at first - LOL) but then held it up in the photo that we took. She and I are cheek to cheek in the photo and have huge smiles on our faces!

Right after that was Torri's talk. They had her scheduled for 1 hour but she was there for 1 1/2 hours (Awesome!!!) The crowd went totally crazy when she walked in!!

I asked her these three questions:

1) What were her thoughts on the SEW campaign.- She said at first she was overwhelmed and didn't know how to react. (but to make a long story short) - she is so grateful for all the love and support (she even held up the Save Elizabeth Weir button I gave to her at the photo-op!!). And she also said that her mother's favorite website is the Save Elizabeth Weir site.  She's on it every day, and she's become really compuer savvy because of it

2) Could she tell me what her 4th episode was - she said no. She's not allowed as it would give the plot away.

3) Where can her fans write to her: she said her agent's address is on IMDB.com.

Here are some other questions she answered:

- If she could steal anything from the set, it would be a puddle jumper for her nephew, because she had him on the set one day, and he spent the day playing in a puddle jumper and thinking she was the coolest aunt ever. Then she said for herself, she'd go big, and just take the whole Stargate

- The title of the funniest and most serious person in the cast goes to David. Rachel is the person she's closest to. (She said she saw pictures of Rachels baby)

-She loved working on NCIS and (hopefully) may get more work there.

-She would go to a con to see Johnny Depp.

-She would go through the stargate if she could bring Sedge.

-She hates Elizabeth's red t-shirts and bad pants.

-She's looking forward to being 50, because she thinks there are much better roles out there for women aged 50-70

-She maybe getting some audio work to do (along the line of books on tape).

After her talk is the autograph session. So we wait (we were seats 250/251) over 1 hour to get up to see Torri. During our wanderings earlier in the day, we saw the table that Torri would be autographing at. So right above the note that said "Torri Higginson" I pinned a red "Save Weir" button to the tablecloth! LOL As we're finally getting closer to Torri the person who's supposed to be her "handler" for the con tells someone to go and get another person from security so that they can move people along. Apparently we're all too chatty with Torri. Then someone comes by and says there's about 75 more people to go.

So it's finally my turn and I see that the Save Weir button is still there!! So I tell her that it's still there and she points it out and say "yes, it's still there" as she plays with it. She signs my picture (http://s51.photobucket.com/albums/f389/Suzotchka/?action=view&current=img060.jpg) and then signs one for Jenny too. And then I hand over the "Letters To Torri" I collected earlier in the month. She takes them and tucks them under the rest of the stuff she has. I then asked Torri what else could we do to get her back on Atlantis? Torri said that if they feel they've made the right decision, there's probably nothing we can do to change their mind. To which I said, "but they're not right. They're wrong."

She told us she would see us later but I said that we couldn't stay, that we had to drive back. I really would've loved to have stayed for the banquet but it just wasn't possible.

All I can say is that Torri is so awesome! She is extremely sweet and kind and really cares about her fans.

Photos from the event from Suz and Peterl:

http://s51.photobucket.com/albums/f389/Suzotchka/Torri/?start=all

http://s174.photobucket.com/albums/w93/Peterlme/ufc/