PREPARE FOR RAINBOWS AND... MACY'S.
ATTENTION _SKATERS IN/NEAR CHICAGO, NYC, LA, AND ST. PETERSBURG, FLORIDA. IF YOU CAN GET YOURSELF TO THE MACY'S EVENT JOHNNY IS DOING IT IS TOTALLY WORTH IT.
Okay so they were holding this in the Macy's at the Metro Center, so I booked it like a madwoman after work. Jumped on the metro, and worried about how late I was and scared I was going to miss it because it was supposed to start at 5:30 and the train kept stopping for some reason.
I managed to get there, booked it to the men's floor (I haven't climbed stairs that fast in a while!) and saw a small crowd, and a man modeling menswear while Johnny narrated and added his own commentary.
I was kind of near the front at first, but still behind quite a few people. It made pictures hard as I was more focused on being able to see him than like... standing at a strategic camera angle. So there's a lot of professional photographers in front of me in my shots, lol.
A lot of the comments he was making about the clothing/models was pretty funny. Especially when he realized the stuff on his cards didn't match (he was talking about a tie that a model wasn't wearing at one point. XD) He also made comments about loving white speedos for summer, and how his shorts looked shorter than the underwear the models were wearing.
After the fashion show he did a mini Q&A panel, where he mentioned two things I found interesting: the first being that I think he said he was taking "another" year off and that he wanted to focus on his skating spectacular and that he hopefully would be done with that in time for him to "get his act together and return to competition next season" (I'm assuming that he means after this season then? I may have misheard the "another year off" bit.)
A woman asked a question about what he would say to skaters (like her) who were getting older, and frustrated by how they can't do all of the things they used to be able to do, and he was very adorable in his reply. It was pretty standard you have to get back up kind of thing, but still lovely to hear.
I asked a question about whether or not he had ever had any music that he had wanted to skate to, but the song didn't work for choreography or whatever, but just a song they couldn't really skate to but wish they could. He talked about how early in his career a Liebesträume piece had been choreographed but that he didn't end up using it, and how he really regretted that now. I TOTALLY DIDN'T MEAN TO BUT I KIND OF KILLED THE MOOD THERE. Did not mean to be a mood assassin. Fortunately someone followed it up with asking where Johnny had gotten his shorts, and the Macy's employees yelled MACY'S before he could answer, which had him respond with "... ... ... Macy's."
People who bought a certain amount of men's clothing would get a free copy of Johnny's book, which he was signing. I instantly regretted forgetting my e-reader since I bought the e-book. That would have been cool to have.
MAN I WISH THIS PICTURE WAS LESS BLURRY. But yeah he greeted me with a hug instantly, which I was pretty floored by, and I apologized for being a mood murderer. I told him how I had been a fan of his for a while, and how I loved seeing him skate at ATS, and mentioned that I had started lessons. He started asking me about how that was going and what I was learning, and was asking about what I could do well, and seemed genuinely interested. He was asking if I was learning to jump, and when I told him I didn't think I was ready for it he told me to do it anyway.
He also told me he loved my nails (I was all D: because some of it was chipped), and we were comparing nail polish for a few seconds. He hugged me again, and when I was saying goodbye and thanks, he was like "Remember, jump! Jump!"
Lol this headshot BUT IT'S NICE THAT HE WAS SIGNING STUFF. He was really so sweet, and took a lot of time to focus on each person, he didn't rush things at all. He was so engaging and I'm really glad I got the opportunity to see him in a smaller setting in which he could spend some time with each of us.
Okay so they were holding this in the Macy's at the Metro Center, so I booked it like a madwoman after work. Jumped on the metro, and worried about how late I was and scared I was going to miss it because it was supposed to start at 5:30 and the train kept stopping for some reason.
I managed to get there, booked it to the men's floor (I haven't climbed stairs that fast in a while!) and saw a small crowd, and a man modeling menswear while Johnny narrated and added his own commentary.
I was kind of near the front at first, but still behind quite a few people. It made pictures hard as I was more focused on being able to see him than like... standing at a strategic camera angle. So there's a lot of professional photographers in front of me in my shots, lol.
A lot of the comments he was making about the clothing/models was pretty funny. Especially when he realized the stuff on his cards didn't match (he was talking about a tie that a model wasn't wearing at one point. XD) He also made comments about loving white speedos for summer, and how his shorts looked shorter than the underwear the models were wearing.
After the fashion show he did a mini Q&A panel, where he mentioned two things I found interesting: the first being that I think he said he was taking "another" year off and that he wanted to focus on his skating spectacular and that he hopefully would be done with that in time for him to "get his act together and return to competition next season" (I'm assuming that he means after this season then? I may have misheard the "another year off" bit.)
A woman asked a question about what he would say to skaters (like her) who were getting older, and frustrated by how they can't do all of the things they used to be able to do, and he was very adorable in his reply. It was pretty standard you have to get back up kind of thing, but still lovely to hear.
I asked a question about whether or not he had ever had any music that he had wanted to skate to, but the song didn't work for choreography or whatever, but just a song they couldn't really skate to but wish they could. He talked about how early in his career a Liebesträume piece had been choreographed but that he didn't end up using it, and how he really regretted that now. I TOTALLY DIDN'T MEAN TO BUT I KIND OF KILLED THE MOOD THERE. Did not mean to be a mood assassin. Fortunately someone followed it up with asking where Johnny had gotten his shorts, and the Macy's employees yelled MACY'S before he could answer, which had him respond with "... ... ... Macy's."
People who bought a certain amount of men's clothing would get a free copy of Johnny's book, which he was signing. I instantly regretted forgetting my e-reader since I bought the e-book. That would have been cool to have.
MAN I WISH THIS PICTURE WAS LESS BLURRY. But yeah he greeted me with a hug instantly, which I was pretty floored by, and I apologized for being a mood murderer. I told him how I had been a fan of his for a while, and how I loved seeing him skate at ATS, and mentioned that I had started lessons. He started asking me about how that was going and what I was learning, and was asking about what I could do well, and seemed genuinely interested. He was asking if I was learning to jump, and when I told him I didn't think I was ready for it he told me to do it anyway.
He also told me he loved my nails (I was all D: because some of it was chipped), and we were comparing nail polish for a few seconds. He hugged me again, and when I was saying goodbye and thanks, he was like "Remember, jump! Jump!"
Lol this headshot BUT IT'S NICE THAT HE WAS SIGNING STUFF. He was really so sweet, and took a lot of time to focus on each person, he didn't rush things at all. He was so engaging and I'm really glad I got the opportunity to see him in a smaller setting in which he could spend some time with each of us.