Jared Padalecki canceled on the NJ Salute to Supernatural.

I am shocked at the magnitude of my disappointment. I mean, I've been saying for months that I'm almost more excited to see Jason Manns and Misha Collins. Apparently, I've been lying.

I found out when M texted me last night, though I didn't see the text until this afternoon. It was exactly like someone had wrapped me in a bubble and started drawing the air out of it. I had to buy some dark chocolate toffee medication, and then I bought Cheetos. I let my kids drink Coke with lunch. Classic signs of depression.

The whole idea of being crushed at not getting to meet a celebrity feels ridiculous. I mean, I have friends who've lost loved ones recently. And jobs. And book contracts. There are so many far worse things going on even among the privileged, never mind the underprivileged and worse. And yet, I still feel...crushed.

Intellectually, and even somewhat emotionally, I get it. And I'm not even surprised. He was scheduled for three cons this month, and many people thought that would be too much. Maybe his "unforeseen personal commitment" is a serious or unavoidable thing. And from his perspective, we're just a bunch of nobodies. The faceless mass of interchangeable bodies aren't important, compared to, say, a nephew's birthday party or a meeting with a producer regarding a movie role to film this summer. But I'm not always a naive idealist, and I can't help imagining him partying with a couple of well-endowed twins in Malibu while we trudge through slush in Joisey to commiserate with each other.

Creation Entertainment auctioned off a private lunch with Jared, for $2,300 each. I found that kind of squicky, since the money wasn't going to charity. It's like...paying someone to be your friend, or something. I figured Creation was being greedy, because you could just set a flat fee and do a lottery of all those people willing to pay. And Creation is charging a $7.25 shipping and handling fee for tickets they are E-MAILING. That's EACH TICKET. So if you buy two photo ops, you pay $14.50 to get one e-mail. It still pisses me off to think about it. Anyway, now I find myself changing my opinion a little. If that lunch had been for charity, and the lunch is now canceled, either the people who paid wouldn't get what they paid for and are out the money, or the charity would lose thousands of dollars.

They've added four new attendees, all of whom I expect to be good speakers, and we are getting refunds for the photo ops so I'll probably use that money to get one with Jim Beaver, instead. It won't NOT be a fun time. It's just...

Now how am I going to tell Jared he's not allowed to be in any more horror movies?