FanTour Virgin Experience--There Oughta be a Handbook!
FanTour Virgin Experience--There Oughta be a Handbook!
It’s the morning after and I’m still reeling from yesterday’s Vampire Diaries Hot Topic tour in Dallas (Frisco--sorry you guys, the metroplex is the metroplex!) Right now it feels surreal that it even happened. This is more for me than anyone else, but you’re welcome to sit down with a six-pack of soda and read through it. It might help some of you who have tours to come in the next couple of weeks!
I was so amped up to actually meet Ian Somerhalder that I was totally beside myself! If any of you saw my posts on Twitter (@mak75231), I’m sure you could tell!
Let me preface my saga by telling you about first finding out about the tour even happening by somebody wonderful on Twitter--I can’t even remember how I got it, but the TVD Family rocks! I also found out on Twitter about a contest that our local CW station (CW33 in Dallas) ran on the website starting several weeks before the event--about the same time as the Hot Topic 3-city tour was announced (Dallas, Chicago, Miami)--two to come for you guys in IL and FL! Word to the wise--GET YOUR WRISTBAND NOW!
The gist of the contest was this: go to the local CW website every day after the contest started--contest ended Oct 6 for the event on Oct 9. They placed 5 photos of Ian Somerhalder and Candice Accola within their pic galleries, each picture having a codeword on it. Get the codeword, fill out an online entry, and wait. The typical “enter often”! tag just barely mentioned that the photo location and codewords changed daily. Here’s the rub: The local CW website has literally HUNDREDS of pic galleries, each with anywhere from 30-170 pictures in each gallery! Some days it took about 15 clicks to find one of them--some days it took more than 5 hours! I have totes seen more mud wrestling, Dallas Lingerie Football League, Sexy Geeks, Girls with Tats, Victoria’s Secret Models, Hot bods in bikinis, Roller Derby Divas--are you feeling my pain! I SO earned my spot (much to the chagrin of Mind Bullet Mom--see more below)! The CW33 was picking 5 people to “jump the line” at the Hot Topic autograph signing, and each could bring one guest.
I never in a million years thought I would get a call on October 7th. I thought me and 7,000,000 13-year-olds who are WAY more computer savvy than me were entering. I went to Hot Topic at Stonebriar Center (I almost never go to that mall--it’s a 40 minute drive thru traffic) last Saturday--a week before the event--and purchased a t-shirt and wristband so I could just get in to the autograph signing. And they sold out FAST! Was so glad to have met Meagan behind the counter--she became a lifesaver the Day Of! I bought a T and wristband since I didn’t think I’d get in any other way. WAS I WRONG!
Imagine my surprise when my cell goes off at work at 8:30 on Thursday morning--
”Hello?”
“Is this “M___?”
”Yes?”
“This is Shelly with the CW33.”
“You’re shittin me. Who is this really?”
I actually said that to her ROFL! She gave me till noon to give her the name of my “guest”--of course I didn’t have one, because I NEVER thought I’d get the call. After calling the local friend that turned me on to The Vampire Diaries in the first place (she had a VERY poorly scheduled baby shower to attend), I turned to my good friend at @tvdfansonline (fab site if you don’t follow), and asked her--you have like a half a million followers on Twitter--is there anybody you know that’s planning to go that would REALLY appreciate the opportunity to be in the FIRST TEN PEOPLE? In no time flat she returned me the twitter handle @CAccolaweb (another fab site for Candice Accola fans) and we started six ways to Sunday trying to get in touch with her. I don’t wanna violate a trust so we’ll call her Madminx. Madminx had been working feverishly for weeks on a fan scrapbook for Candice that she was hoping to deliver personally at the autograph session. @tvdfansonline and I tried every which way but loose to contact her--she was in class--@tvdfansonline even offered to call the school! Cell phone, Twitter, e-mail--nothing worked.
“If anyone out there can get in touch with @CAccolaweb, she needs to read her e-mail/tweets ASAP! It's about #TVD Hot Topic Saturday!URGENT!”
In the meantime, I had been tweeting with several other peeps I knew were going, so put out some feelers to extend an offer to be my #2--knowing full well that these folks probably think of me as The Crazy Lady! I knew of one fan who had driven 3 hours one-way earlier in the week to get a wristband--I got in contact with several tweeters, but nobody wanted to split up from whoever they were going with. SO, I hit the Twittettrail. Why would you NOT respond to this desperate cry for accompaniment?
“Never thought it would B THIS difficult 2 get someone 2 line jump w/me @ #TVD Hot Topic on Sat? Who wants 2 meet @iansommerhalder?”
Let’s make a long story, well, long. Since I thought Madminx would be the PERFECT #2, I called Shelly at CW33 and gave her Madminx’ name--figured if she wouldn’t go with, at least I had tried to do good deed for the day! She got back to me at lunchtime--sorry, can’t split from my sis. Well, I was doomed. Several people tried to help and retweeted to their followers, but no name came forth--I must be too scary that even an up-front-and-personal with Ian wasn’t enough to get somebody to stand with me! Lol
Wonder how much space I have on this thing?
Let’s skip all the nervous anxiety at ACTUALLY GETTING TO MEET IAN SOMERHALDER FACE-TO-FACE (whew, adrenaline central) and get to Saturday morning.
Had no idea how early to go. CW33 told me to meet my liaison, Roger, at the Hot Topic store between 2 and 3. When my morning paper arrived, it was on the front page of the Guide section! Had to take a pic and tweet it. Tried to do the NY Times crossword--all the 3 letter clues kept comin out “IAN”.
My Twitter timeline from yesterday morning is totes hilarious--”Who IRONS a T-shirt? I mean, REALLY” “I’ll be the crazy lady in the converse high-tops on the stretcher.” “How can I possibly be sweatin when I just got out of the shower?” “Mom always said, ‘Wear clean undies in case u have to go to the hospital’” “The folks at #HotTopic were sick when they printed these shirts--guess whose eyes are right across "The Girls"? That last one turned out to be important!
Well, the Twitter traffic started about 8:30 am--that’s when the first peeps started lining up. And people from all over the WORLD--(Australia to Serbia) were askin me particulars on how I’d won the contest. I tweeted with several great fans--only actually met some of them when I got there @shelbyfogarty, @Damon_girl, @txvdfan, @VampDiariesLove, @Hartley129--so many my head was spinning! And talk about followers! I was tweeting from home with the peeps already at the event, and like every 2 seconds I was getting new followers! It was EPIC! It appeared nobody had read the fine print on the event flyers, and things were getting tense (no cameras or pics inside the store, no sittin down in the line, no, no, no). I tweeted out everything I knew to folks who hadn’t gotten there yet, but I got so nervous waiting to go that finally @tvdfansonline said GO--take some pics and send them out!
Do NOT tell TXDOT this--I DO NOT REMEMBER DRIVING TO THE MALL! Or home, for that matter. Would YOU drive through a city of half a million or so people on a Saturday afternoon and not know what you were doin? Sorry fellow motorists--at least I didn’t crash into any of you. I do remember laughing out loud (mind you, I’m alone in the truck) when I saw a big black crow sitting on top of one of the street signs along the way--flashback to Season 1!
My heart rate was 149 when I got to the mall (I’m a trainer, so I wear a watch that monitors that kind of stuff--my norm is 60!) Since I had told @tvdfansonline that I would send some early pics, I took my netbook with me--that purse was SO loaded down! Figured I could take some stuff back to the truck between things--NOTHIN DOIN! I could have left some of it--only used the netbook pre-event, shouldn’t have hauled my copy of one of Ian’s favorite books to autograph because you are only allowed the official Warner Brothers poster being autographed (be warned, Chicago and Miami!), too much baggage! One of the gals I had been tweetin earlier in the day, @shelbyfogarty, was gonna be wearing a pin striped fedora (the better to get a personal comment out of you, my dear!--I checked her later--it worked!), so I go headin down the line since I knew she was in the first 10 or so. There was a gal at about #3 or 4 in a fedora, but it was all black--but I walked up to her anyway and asked if she was Shelby? Nope, about that time, Mind Bullet Mom, who was #2 in the line, hears me talkin about the contest and jumping the line, and with Double Damon Daggers in her eyes tells me NO ONE is getting in ahead of her and her child or there will be bloodletting and I don‘t care what you won! WELL! Now the norm for RetiredAirForceMasterSergeantBitchInAHeartbeat me would have been to put her in her place--okay, PC explain nicely to her about the contest, but she was totes scary and deadly serious! So I turned around and saw Meagan fro Hot Topic standing in the door. She totes remembered my voice from a week earlier (I have a “medical condition” that makes me sound like I’ve been swilling Jack Daniels since birth--It comes in handy sometimes!). I told her about winning the contest (it was scary how little CW33 had told the store, but she hauled me inside and introduced me to the Hot Topic District and Regional Managers, and several of the security guys--wow, Warner Brothers brought in these guys that looked like Secret Service--black suits, curly earpieces, cufflinks--really guys). Well, I made my presence known to anybody who was anybody so they wouldn’t forget about me--nobody from CW33 was there yet (it was only, like 1:15), so I went back out. Meagan told me not to worry about the death threats from the front of the existing line--she would “Put the smack down on em!” I felt better then!
Took a few pics of the line, took a few pics of the stage where the Q&A was gonna be (just the band’s equipment was set up), and hotfooted it back down the hall to Starbucks to fire off pics to @tvdfansonline and the world. While I was postin (and it was amazing how many random folks stopped to ask me about my shirt--I think we introduced a BIG bunch of peeps to TVD yesterday who were clueless--and the TVDFamily just smiled and waved at each other in passin!), my cell goes off--I figure the DMs on Twitter have started again--my phone almost blew up every day after Thursday morning! No, it’s @tvdfansonline calling, and Madminx is there and wants to line jump with me now. All I can say is, THANK GOD FOR TECHNOLOGY! @tvdfansonline sent me Madminx’ cell number, I called her, and we found each other! I had been thinkin “sis” was “little sis”, but turns out sis was older, so didn’t mind standing in line alone if we could just get that scrapbook to Candice. That’s what I needed was a mission! And I wanted to see Ian more, she wanted to see Candice more--The Dynamic Duo!
Madminx and I went back to Hot Topic to try to find someone in charge--the Rules of Engagement were getting scary…..
INTERRUPTING MY STORY--just found out I was in the clip they showed on the CW33 news last night at 9:00 and I had forgotten to turn on the news until 9:15! BUMMER! I hope they reshow it tonight or put it on the website!
Back to the Rules--there were a bunch, so listen and learn, Chicago and Miami, because Warner Brothers is sending the same team of guys to your cities (they told me so). These are firm: Nobody gets inside without a wristband. Nothing gets autographed except the provided Warner Brothers poster (I was disappointed, wanted to have Ian sign my copy of “The Power of the Actor“, which he swears is the Bible). They may stick to the following hard and fast rules, but some of them got a little bent in the process. The autograph table is inside the Hot Topic store (yes, it’s a tiny store, but believe me, they CAN do it). No cameras (or cell phone) cameras inside the store. This was a big POOH for everybody, but ended up getting bent. The first tale said if they caught you sneaking pix they would take your camera or phone from you, delete pix and give it back to you. As agitation, that became they would take all your belongings from you at the entry door and give them back to you after you had met Ian and Candice. Then they were gonna let us contest winners take our cameras in, but had to shut them off before we got to the autograph table (which eventually became what they did with everybody). This kinda ended up putting us at the front at a disadvantage, because we were afraid to ruin it for everybody else, so we didn’t hold things up much trying to take pictures. From seeing what other people got, I’d say they got lax with this as the signing went on, but I have yet to see anybody get a “posed” with either Ian or Candice--not sayin there aren’t some out there yet, I just haven’t seen any posted.
More trouble with “gifting”--I don’t think they allowed very much, so I am so thankful Madminx and I hooked up. I buttonholed one of the Secret Service and explained our predicament--Madminx is kinda shy, and I don’t know if she’d would have gotten the scrapbook out of the bag without me dragging her all over the store and introducing her to all the security peeps I could find to get it cleared. One of the “suits” finally set up a procedure for us--on the way in, Madminx gave it to him, he took it and put it under the counter, and she was to tell Candice that it was from her. We know it worked, because @tvdfansonline got a DM from the honchos at The CW that in had, indeed, been delivered to Candice. Yays!
Whatever you’re planning on saying to The Talent--unless you’re on Valium, you’re gonna forget it. THIS I PROMISE YOU. I heard this from many, many people, rookie fans and veterans alike. It’s just so chaotic, and you are so excited, and when you make eye contact--not from a screen, but from two feet--just forget about anything you wanted to say because you are going to forget anyway!
And word of advice--do not dress like a streetwalker. It was just plain embarrassing. You don’t want your city’s fan base remembered that way. Can you imagine the conversation, “You did the Hot Topic in Dallas? How was it?” “Oh, yea, that’s the place with the hoes…..” Duh
This is SO long! But I don’t want to forget anything! At one point during our long wait (we FINALLY hooked up with the CW33 people, and “Roger“ didn‘t get there until after 3:00), 2 gals from the station herded us winners over into a separate group by the door so they could separate out the people who didn’t even have wristbands that were trying to stand around with us. We kinda found each other in pieces--you could tell by the slightly confused and intimated looking people who kept coming up to the Hot Topic doors--Meagan was a big help in getting us together!
The excitement (which was already on hyper drive) went over the top when Ian started tweeting about them being on the ground, on the way, everything’s bigger in Texas, and then when he and Candice got into the store (sealed off by cops at about 45 minutes pre-blastoff) and he starts waving out the front window, WELL!
Security and CW33 moved us all over into a line and TWICE verified we were who we said we were; once by ID against CW‘s list, once (Secret Service, since we had already been carded) with just a “Give Me Your Name”--my name was first on the Warner Brothers security list! They brought the Frisco PD over to be our bodyguards--from the growing number of Mind Bullet Mom corps (THAT word spread fast through the first part of the line), and the non-wristband/paying peeps that were trying to get Madminx to take their camera in with us and take a picture. It was sad for her to have to turn 2 little girls down, but me and Theresa from the station immediately knew what would happen if even one camera had been accepted--7500 people trying to get us to take their cameras! I’m not gonna go into the fact that when they asked the winners to raise their hands, six hands went up. Twelve of us were in the line. And several people had no idea what I was asking about when I asked them who spent hours on line searching picture galleries…Madminx and I were there fair and square!
Mr. Secret Service of the Scrapbook explained to us how it was gonna work. CW33 was gonna interview Ian and Candice inside the store first (I had bothered the poor reporter, Roni Proter to death about Roger’s whereabouts earlier, and she is pregnant, AND she is in heels on that hard floor). Then at 20 till the hour, they were gonna take us in. We could take pix until we got to the guy halfway back at the store, where we turned the corner around the counter and were face to face with, dun, dun, dun--Ian and Candice!
Gee, when I walk away from this I think of so many things I’ve left out! I know, I know, you wanna know what happened when we met The Talent!
Pix were next to impossible--Madminx had left her GOOD camera with her sister back in the line, and thank goodness, she got some good shots. I had stupidly said I would take pix--store and security peeps and displays in the way (do not put the FREE CANDY sign in front of Ian!). The guy herding us up to the table was telling us to turn off our phones, put everything away, yadayadayada, when we were in THE SAME ROOM…it was all too much for a rookie like me! The few I took were--disappointing. But there was NOTHING disappointing about meeting Ian. Okay, I’ll give you the play-by-play, but from what I heard yesterday and read today, even though we all felt a really personal connection, he kinda has the tendency to say a lot of the same things--just depends on what you say back. I mean, can you blame him having some standard comebacks? Yes, we all wanted more time than we got but yes, he made a personal connection with every single person that walked up to that table. It went by so fast! So I felt it was personal, and I don’t wanna hear anybody’s story that he said the same thing to them! Don’t spoil the dream!
I have no idea what Madminx was doing behind me--it was like tunnel vision! Epic! I wasn’t first, I ended up third in (hey, I at least made the top 3), so they were already shoving posters under his hands and he was signing when I got to JUST THE OTHER SIDE OF THE TABLE (OMG) when he looked up. Can you say time stands still? Speechless. Utterly and totally speechless. The liquid blue of those eyes are like a jolt of electricity. SERIOUSLY blue…I digress….
The exchange was brief--security was rushing us along. I’ll put this in quotes, but don’t quote me on this.
Ian: Hey there, Lady. How are ya? (it appears as if he likes to use the term Lady when talking to people/stupid fans!)
Me: Hi, there. Um, fine? (dumb)
I: Cool belt
M: Oh, thanks! (I wear a gold belly chain)
I: Very cool shirt--I like where the faces ended up (wink--seriously, he winked, Madminx saw it)
M: *Laugh* (total idiot, I grabbed my boobs--can you believe I DID that?)
I: (passing poster to Candice) Thanks for coming to see us!
M: Thank YOU for being here!
About this point they were rushing us again, and Candice looked at me, so I shoved out my hand to shake hands with her--she was totes dumbfounded at first--I mean, she had a pen in that hand, for crisakes, and in went through my mind--they’re gonna chop my arm off for reaching across the table)
M: It’s so nice to meet you!
We’re shaking hands at this point…..
Ian: What about me? (and another wink) (Do you know what it took not to leap over the table?!)
So I reached across (Madminx was standin in front of him by this time, and I know she was freaking out because she had to actually remember to tell Candice about the scrapbook) and shook hands with him. I do not wanna hear any more stories about him kissing the backs of hands, or any of that junk! It was my moment! I made eye contact, he winked (twice), and I actually touched him! And I didn’t die!
Then I was gonna wait for Madminx at the far side of the table, but Meagan was there making arm motions for me to wait for her OUTSIDE the store. This gets kinda funny, because she told Madminx that her mom was outside. Thus, Fauxmom was born! And we totes switched roles the minute we got out of Hot Topic--we were both so excited, Madminx had gotten in out that she brought Candice the scrapbook with the fan messages and the input from @lymenaide (Candice is a spokesperson for the Lyme disease awareness movement), and it was over in a FLASH!
Madminx herded me into the shoe store next door and we seriously collapsed on the floor. The people still in line were totally staring at us--who cared--WE DID IT! And we were both like--is it over--did that just happen? Stupid grins, cell phones out (mine actually went off with a text just as I got inside!), panting (well, me at least, I think Madminx was afraid I was gonna need CPR!). Here I’d been taking her under my wing for hours, and now she was keeping me going! Lol Thank God for that sweetie!
Since we were over the moon and then some, it takes a while for me to remember what happened next. Somehow we found Madminx’ sister, who was just about as bumfuggled as we were but she got some great shots inside Hot Topic (of course, everybody was going through their pix during all the waiting). There are some excellent pics out there. I don’t care if you want to watermark them, whatever you need to do (I mean, if I ran a website or had really good pics, I wouldn’t want anybody stealing my hard work, either) but please, please, please, post them somewhere so we can download them for our own memories. Tweet me sites to @mak75231 I promise not to publish anything!
Well, we had a LONG time before the band was supposed to start--after all, we were in first! But we decided we’d better go down to the Mosh Pit, and it was a good thing we did because there were already a couple of hundred people up around the stage (the band and the Q&A are OPEN TO THE PUBLIC, so they start lining up there while everybody else is getting autographs). Might be an excellent idea to have a scout that doesn’t want to meet & greet (haha, like you can find one) to get you a place up front at the Mosh Pit EARLY. Word to the wise. We were about 20 feet back from the stage. Madminx’ sis went for drinks--we were all just totes parched for some reason. Your mouth just dries out like the Sahara when you get ready to talk to them!
I won’t punish you with the long wait until AFTER 5:45 pm when the band started--Sounds Under Radio out of Austin TX--they’re featured on the TVD Season 1 soundtrack--they threw out free CDs (theirs, not the soundtrack)--pretty cool and some cards for free downloads. They played a total of 4 songs (one was the one they used when Vickie’s body was discovered in Season 1), and then the madness began.
You can watch the entire Q&A session on Youtube (believe me, it was WAY easier to hear it on Youtube than standing in that screaming mob, trying to take pictures, trying to keep from getting jostled, trampled, yadayadayada). There is even a Youtube vid out there that is so up close you can see how cute it is that Ian still blushes when asked to do the Damon Dance! Twice!
Hope you enjoyed the show. This has taken me all day to get down, but in the long run, I’m glad I did it. The CW is sending me some kind of prize package that has the Season 1 soundtrack in it (geez--Amazon shipped me my copy on Friday…duh), and I don’t know what else will be in it. I got down the important stuff, and Youtube has the rest. Namaste….
It’s the morning after and I’m still reeling from yesterday’s Vampire Diaries Hot Topic tour in Dallas (Frisco--sorry you guys, the metroplex is the metroplex!) Right now it feels surreal that it even happened. This is more for me than anyone else, but you’re welcome to sit down with a six-pack of soda and read through it. It might help some of you who have tours to come in the next couple of weeks!
I was so amped up to actually meet Ian Somerhalder that I was totally beside myself! If any of you saw my posts on Twitter (@mak75231), I’m sure you could tell!
Let me preface my saga by telling you about first finding out about the tour even happening by somebody wonderful on Twitter--I can’t even remember how I got it, but the TVD Family rocks! I also found out on Twitter about a contest that our local CW station (CW33 in Dallas) ran on the website starting several weeks before the event--about the same time as the Hot Topic 3-city tour was announced (Dallas, Chicago, Miami)--two to come for you guys in IL and FL! Word to the wise--GET YOUR WRISTBAND NOW!
The gist of the contest was this: go to the local CW website every day after the contest started--contest ended Oct 6 for the event on Oct 9. They placed 5 photos of Ian Somerhalder and Candice Accola within their pic galleries, each picture having a codeword on it. Get the codeword, fill out an online entry, and wait. The typical “enter often”! tag just barely mentioned that the photo location and codewords changed daily. Here’s the rub: The local CW website has literally HUNDREDS of pic galleries, each with anywhere from 30-170 pictures in each gallery! Some days it took about 15 clicks to find one of them--some days it took more than 5 hours! I have totes seen more mud wrestling, Dallas Lingerie Football League, Sexy Geeks, Girls with Tats, Victoria’s Secret Models, Hot bods in bikinis, Roller Derby Divas--are you feeling my pain! I SO earned my spot (much to the chagrin of Mind Bullet Mom--see more below)! The CW33 was picking 5 people to “jump the line” at the Hot Topic autograph signing, and each could bring one guest.
I never in a million years thought I would get a call on October 7th. I thought me and 7,000,000 13-year-olds who are WAY more computer savvy than me were entering. I went to Hot Topic at Stonebriar Center (I almost never go to that mall--it’s a 40 minute drive thru traffic) last Saturday--a week before the event--and purchased a t-shirt and wristband so I could just get in to the autograph signing. And they sold out FAST! Was so glad to have met Meagan behind the counter--she became a lifesaver the Day Of! I bought a T and wristband since I didn’t think I’d get in any other way. WAS I WRONG!
Imagine my surprise when my cell goes off at work at 8:30 on Thursday morning--
”Hello?”
“Is this “M___?”
”Yes?”
“This is Shelly with the CW33.”
“You’re shittin me. Who is this really?”
I actually said that to her ROFL! She gave me till noon to give her the name of my “guest”--of course I didn’t have one, because I NEVER thought I’d get the call. After calling the local friend that turned me on to The Vampire Diaries in the first place (she had a VERY poorly scheduled baby shower to attend), I turned to my good friend at @tvdfansonline (fab site if you don’t follow), and asked her--you have like a half a million followers on Twitter--is there anybody you know that’s planning to go that would REALLY appreciate the opportunity to be in the FIRST TEN PEOPLE? In no time flat she returned me the twitter handle @CAccolaweb (another fab site for Candice Accola fans) and we started six ways to Sunday trying to get in touch with her. I don’t wanna violate a trust so we’ll call her Madminx. Madminx had been working feverishly for weeks on a fan scrapbook for Candice that she was hoping to deliver personally at the autograph session. @tvdfansonline and I tried every which way but loose to contact her--she was in class--@tvdfansonline even offered to call the school! Cell phone, Twitter, e-mail--nothing worked.
“If anyone out there can get in touch with @CAccolaweb, she needs to read her e-mail/tweets ASAP! It's about #TVD Hot Topic Saturday!URGENT!”
In the meantime, I had been tweeting with several other peeps I knew were going, so put out some feelers to extend an offer to be my #2--knowing full well that these folks probably think of me as The Crazy Lady! I knew of one fan who had driven 3 hours one-way earlier in the week to get a wristband--I got in contact with several tweeters, but nobody wanted to split up from whoever they were going with. SO, I hit the Twittettrail. Why would you NOT respond to this desperate cry for accompaniment?
“Never thought it would B THIS difficult 2 get someone 2 line jump w/me @ #TVD Hot Topic on Sat? Who wants 2 meet @iansommerhalder?”
Let’s make a long story, well, long. Since I thought Madminx would be the PERFECT #2, I called Shelly at CW33 and gave her Madminx’ name--figured if she wouldn’t go with, at least I had tried to do good deed for the day! She got back to me at lunchtime--sorry, can’t split from my sis. Well, I was doomed. Several people tried to help and retweeted to their followers, but no name came forth--I must be too scary that even an up-front-and-personal with Ian wasn’t enough to get somebody to stand with me! Lol
Wonder how much space I have on this thing?
Let’s skip all the nervous anxiety at ACTUALLY GETTING TO MEET IAN SOMERHALDER FACE-TO-FACE (whew, adrenaline central) and get to Saturday morning.
Had no idea how early to go. CW33 told me to meet my liaison, Roger, at the Hot Topic store between 2 and 3. When my morning paper arrived, it was on the front page of the Guide section! Had to take a pic and tweet it. Tried to do the NY Times crossword--all the 3 letter clues kept comin out “IAN”.
My Twitter timeline from yesterday morning is totes hilarious--”Who IRONS a T-shirt? I mean, REALLY” “I’ll be the crazy lady in the converse high-tops on the stretcher.” “How can I possibly be sweatin when I just got out of the shower?” “Mom always said, ‘Wear clean undies in case u have to go to the hospital’” “The folks at #HotTopic were sick when they printed these shirts--guess whose eyes are right across "The Girls"? That last one turned out to be important!
Well, the Twitter traffic started about 8:30 am--that’s when the first peeps started lining up. And people from all over the WORLD--(Australia to Serbia) were askin me particulars on how I’d won the contest. I tweeted with several great fans--only actually met some of them when I got there @shelbyfogarty, @Damon_girl, @txvdfan, @VampDiariesLove, @Hartley129--so many my head was spinning! And talk about followers! I was tweeting from home with the peeps already at the event, and like every 2 seconds I was getting new followers! It was EPIC! It appeared nobody had read the fine print on the event flyers, and things were getting tense (no cameras or pics inside the store, no sittin down in the line, no, no, no). I tweeted out everything I knew to folks who hadn’t gotten there yet, but I got so nervous waiting to go that finally @tvdfansonline said GO--take some pics and send them out!
Do NOT tell TXDOT this--I DO NOT REMEMBER DRIVING TO THE MALL! Or home, for that matter. Would YOU drive through a city of half a million or so people on a Saturday afternoon and not know what you were doin? Sorry fellow motorists--at least I didn’t crash into any of you. I do remember laughing out loud (mind you, I’m alone in the truck) when I saw a big black crow sitting on top of one of the street signs along the way--flashback to Season 1!
My heart rate was 149 when I got to the mall (I’m a trainer, so I wear a watch that monitors that kind of stuff--my norm is 60!) Since I had told @tvdfansonline that I would send some early pics, I took my netbook with me--that purse was SO loaded down! Figured I could take some stuff back to the truck between things--NOTHIN DOIN! I could have left some of it--only used the netbook pre-event, shouldn’t have hauled my copy of one of Ian’s favorite books to autograph because you are only allowed the official Warner Brothers poster being autographed (be warned, Chicago and Miami!), too much baggage! One of the gals I had been tweetin earlier in the day, @shelbyfogarty, was gonna be wearing a pin striped fedora (the better to get a personal comment out of you, my dear!--I checked her later--it worked!), so I go headin down the line since I knew she was in the first 10 or so. There was a gal at about #3 or 4 in a fedora, but it was all black--but I walked up to her anyway and asked if she was Shelby? Nope, about that time, Mind Bullet Mom, who was #2 in the line, hears me talkin about the contest and jumping the line, and with Double Damon Daggers in her eyes tells me NO ONE is getting in ahead of her and her child or there will be bloodletting and I don‘t care what you won! WELL! Now the norm for RetiredAirForceMasterSergeantBitchInAHeartbeat me would have been to put her in her place--okay, PC explain nicely to her about the contest, but she was totes scary and deadly serious! So I turned around and saw Meagan fro Hot Topic standing in the door. She totes remembered my voice from a week earlier (I have a “medical condition” that makes me sound like I’ve been swilling Jack Daniels since birth--It comes in handy sometimes!). I told her about winning the contest (it was scary how little CW33 had told the store, but she hauled me inside and introduced me to the Hot Topic District and Regional Managers, and several of the security guys--wow, Warner Brothers brought in these guys that looked like Secret Service--black suits, curly earpieces, cufflinks--really guys). Well, I made my presence known to anybody who was anybody so they wouldn’t forget about me--nobody from CW33 was there yet (it was only, like 1:15), so I went back out. Meagan told me not to worry about the death threats from the front of the existing line--she would “Put the smack down on em!” I felt better then!
Took a few pics of the line, took a few pics of the stage where the Q&A was gonna be (just the band’s equipment was set up), and hotfooted it back down the hall to Starbucks to fire off pics to @tvdfansonline and the world. While I was postin (and it was amazing how many random folks stopped to ask me about my shirt--I think we introduced a BIG bunch of peeps to TVD yesterday who were clueless--and the TVDFamily just smiled and waved at each other in passin!), my cell goes off--I figure the DMs on Twitter have started again--my phone almost blew up every day after Thursday morning! No, it’s @tvdfansonline calling, and Madminx is there and wants to line jump with me now. All I can say is, THANK GOD FOR TECHNOLOGY! @tvdfansonline sent me Madminx’ cell number, I called her, and we found each other! I had been thinkin “sis” was “little sis”, but turns out sis was older, so didn’t mind standing in line alone if we could just get that scrapbook to Candice. That’s what I needed was a mission! And I wanted to see Ian more, she wanted to see Candice more--The Dynamic Duo!
Madminx and I went back to Hot Topic to try to find someone in charge--the Rules of Engagement were getting scary…..
INTERRUPTING MY STORY--just found out I was in the clip they showed on the CW33 news last night at 9:00 and I had forgotten to turn on the news until 9:15! BUMMER! I hope they reshow it tonight or put it on the website!
Back to the Rules--there were a bunch, so listen and learn, Chicago and Miami, because Warner Brothers is sending the same team of guys to your cities (they told me so). These are firm: Nobody gets inside without a wristband. Nothing gets autographed except the provided Warner Brothers poster (I was disappointed, wanted to have Ian sign my copy of “The Power of the Actor“, which he swears is the Bible). They may stick to the following hard and fast rules, but some of them got a little bent in the process. The autograph table is inside the Hot Topic store (yes, it’s a tiny store, but believe me, they CAN do it). No cameras (or cell phone) cameras inside the store. This was a big POOH for everybody, but ended up getting bent. The first tale said if they caught you sneaking pix they would take your camera or phone from you, delete pix and give it back to you. As agitation, that became they would take all your belongings from you at the entry door and give them back to you after you had met Ian and Candice. Then they were gonna let us contest winners take our cameras in, but had to shut them off before we got to the autograph table (which eventually became what they did with everybody). This kinda ended up putting us at the front at a disadvantage, because we were afraid to ruin it for everybody else, so we didn’t hold things up much trying to take pictures. From seeing what other people got, I’d say they got lax with this as the signing went on, but I have yet to see anybody get a “posed” with either Ian or Candice--not sayin there aren’t some out there yet, I just haven’t seen any posted.
More trouble with “gifting”--I don’t think they allowed very much, so I am so thankful Madminx and I hooked up. I buttonholed one of the Secret Service and explained our predicament--Madminx is kinda shy, and I don’t know if she’d would have gotten the scrapbook out of the bag without me dragging her all over the store and introducing her to all the security peeps I could find to get it cleared. One of the “suits” finally set up a procedure for us--on the way in, Madminx gave it to him, he took it and put it under the counter, and she was to tell Candice that it was from her. We know it worked, because @tvdfansonline got a DM from the honchos at The CW that in had, indeed, been delivered to Candice. Yays!
Whatever you’re planning on saying to The Talent--unless you’re on Valium, you’re gonna forget it. THIS I PROMISE YOU. I heard this from many, many people, rookie fans and veterans alike. It’s just so chaotic, and you are so excited, and when you make eye contact--not from a screen, but from two feet--just forget about anything you wanted to say because you are going to forget anyway!
And word of advice--do not dress like a streetwalker. It was just plain embarrassing. You don’t want your city’s fan base remembered that way. Can you imagine the conversation, “You did the Hot Topic in Dallas? How was it?” “Oh, yea, that’s the place with the hoes…..” Duh
This is SO long! But I don’t want to forget anything! At one point during our long wait (we FINALLY hooked up with the CW33 people, and “Roger“ didn‘t get there until after 3:00), 2 gals from the station herded us winners over into a separate group by the door so they could separate out the people who didn’t even have wristbands that were trying to stand around with us. We kinda found each other in pieces--you could tell by the slightly confused and intimated looking people who kept coming up to the Hot Topic doors--Meagan was a big help in getting us together!
The excitement (which was already on hyper drive) went over the top when Ian started tweeting about them being on the ground, on the way, everything’s bigger in Texas, and then when he and Candice got into the store (sealed off by cops at about 45 minutes pre-blastoff) and he starts waving out the front window, WELL!
Security and CW33 moved us all over into a line and TWICE verified we were who we said we were; once by ID against CW‘s list, once (Secret Service, since we had already been carded) with just a “Give Me Your Name”--my name was first on the Warner Brothers security list! They brought the Frisco PD over to be our bodyguards--from the growing number of Mind Bullet Mom corps (THAT word spread fast through the first part of the line), and the non-wristband/paying peeps that were trying to get Madminx to take their camera in with us and take a picture. It was sad for her to have to turn 2 little girls down, but me and Theresa from the station immediately knew what would happen if even one camera had been accepted--7500 people trying to get us to take their cameras! I’m not gonna go into the fact that when they asked the winners to raise their hands, six hands went up. Twelve of us were in the line. And several people had no idea what I was asking about when I asked them who spent hours on line searching picture galleries…Madminx and I were there fair and square!
Mr. Secret Service of the Scrapbook explained to us how it was gonna work. CW33 was gonna interview Ian and Candice inside the store first (I had bothered the poor reporter, Roni Proter to death about Roger’s whereabouts earlier, and she is pregnant, AND she is in heels on that hard floor). Then at 20 till the hour, they were gonna take us in. We could take pix until we got to the guy halfway back at the store, where we turned the corner around the counter and were face to face with, dun, dun, dun--Ian and Candice!
Gee, when I walk away from this I think of so many things I’ve left out! I know, I know, you wanna know what happened when we met The Talent!
Pix were next to impossible--Madminx had left her GOOD camera with her sister back in the line, and thank goodness, she got some good shots. I had stupidly said I would take pix--store and security peeps and displays in the way (do not put the FREE CANDY sign in front of Ian!). The guy herding us up to the table was telling us to turn off our phones, put everything away, yadayadayada, when we were in THE SAME ROOM…it was all too much for a rookie like me! The few I took were--disappointing. But there was NOTHING disappointing about meeting Ian. Okay, I’ll give you the play-by-play, but from what I heard yesterday and read today, even though we all felt a really personal connection, he kinda has the tendency to say a lot of the same things--just depends on what you say back. I mean, can you blame him having some standard comebacks? Yes, we all wanted more time than we got but yes, he made a personal connection with every single person that walked up to that table. It went by so fast! So I felt it was personal, and I don’t wanna hear anybody’s story that he said the same thing to them! Don’t spoil the dream!
I have no idea what Madminx was doing behind me--it was like tunnel vision! Epic! I wasn’t first, I ended up third in (hey, I at least made the top 3), so they were already shoving posters under his hands and he was signing when I got to JUST THE OTHER SIDE OF THE TABLE (OMG) when he looked up. Can you say time stands still? Speechless. Utterly and totally speechless. The liquid blue of those eyes are like a jolt of electricity. SERIOUSLY blue…I digress….
The exchange was brief--security was rushing us along. I’ll put this in quotes, but don’t quote me on this.
Ian: Hey there, Lady. How are ya? (it appears as if he likes to use the term Lady when talking to people/stupid fans!)
Me: Hi, there. Um, fine? (dumb)
I: Cool belt
M: Oh, thanks! (I wear a gold belly chain)
I: Very cool shirt--I like where the faces ended up (wink--seriously, he winked, Madminx saw it)
M: *Laugh* (total idiot, I grabbed my boobs--can you believe I DID that?)
I: (passing poster to Candice) Thanks for coming to see us!
M: Thank YOU for being here!
About this point they were rushing us again, and Candice looked at me, so I shoved out my hand to shake hands with her--she was totes dumbfounded at first--I mean, she had a pen in that hand, for crisakes, and in went through my mind--they’re gonna chop my arm off for reaching across the table)
M: It’s so nice to meet you!
We’re shaking hands at this point…..
Ian: What about me? (and another wink) (Do you know what it took not to leap over the table?!)
So I reached across (Madminx was standin in front of him by this time, and I know she was freaking out because she had to actually remember to tell Candice about the scrapbook) and shook hands with him. I do not wanna hear any more stories about him kissing the backs of hands, or any of that junk! It was my moment! I made eye contact, he winked (twice), and I actually touched him! And I didn’t die!
Then I was gonna wait for Madminx at the far side of the table, but Meagan was there making arm motions for me to wait for her OUTSIDE the store. This gets kinda funny, because she told Madminx that her mom was outside. Thus, Fauxmom was born! And we totes switched roles the minute we got out of Hot Topic--we were both so excited, Madminx had gotten in out that she brought Candice the scrapbook with the fan messages and the input from @lymenaide (Candice is a spokesperson for the Lyme disease awareness movement), and it was over in a FLASH!
Madminx herded me into the shoe store next door and we seriously collapsed on the floor. The people still in line were totally staring at us--who cared--WE DID IT! And we were both like--is it over--did that just happen? Stupid grins, cell phones out (mine actually went off with a text just as I got inside!), panting (well, me at least, I think Madminx was afraid I was gonna need CPR!). Here I’d been taking her under my wing for hours, and now she was keeping me going! Lol Thank God for that sweetie!
Since we were over the moon and then some, it takes a while for me to remember what happened next. Somehow we found Madminx’ sister, who was just about as bumfuggled as we were but she got some great shots inside Hot Topic (of course, everybody was going through their pix during all the waiting). There are some excellent pics out there. I don’t care if you want to watermark them, whatever you need to do (I mean, if I ran a website or had really good pics, I wouldn’t want anybody stealing my hard work, either) but please, please, please, post them somewhere so we can download them for our own memories. Tweet me sites to @mak75231 I promise not to publish anything!
Well, we had a LONG time before the band was supposed to start--after all, we were in first! But we decided we’d better go down to the Mosh Pit, and it was a good thing we did because there were already a couple of hundred people up around the stage (the band and the Q&A are OPEN TO THE PUBLIC, so they start lining up there while everybody else is getting autographs). Might be an excellent idea to have a scout that doesn’t want to meet & greet (haha, like you can find one) to get you a place up front at the Mosh Pit EARLY. Word to the wise. We were about 20 feet back from the stage. Madminx’ sis went for drinks--we were all just totes parched for some reason. Your mouth just dries out like the Sahara when you get ready to talk to them!
I won’t punish you with the long wait until AFTER 5:45 pm when the band started--Sounds Under Radio out of Austin TX--they’re featured on the TVD Season 1 soundtrack--they threw out free CDs (theirs, not the soundtrack)--pretty cool and some cards for free downloads. They played a total of 4 songs (one was the one they used when Vickie’s body was discovered in Season 1), and then the madness began.
You can watch the entire Q&A session on Youtube (believe me, it was WAY easier to hear it on Youtube than standing in that screaming mob, trying to take pictures, trying to keep from getting jostled, trampled, yadayadayada). There is even a Youtube vid out there that is so up close you can see how cute it is that Ian still blushes when asked to do the Damon Dance! Twice!
Hope you enjoyed the show. This has taken me all day to get down, but in the long run, I’m glad I did it. The CW is sending me some kind of prize package that has the Season 1 soundtrack in it (geez--Amazon shipped me my copy on Friday…duh), and I don’t know what else will be in it. I got down the important stuff, and Youtube has the rest. Namaste….