Omaze/How I Met Your Mother Experience/Los Angeles Trip (Part 5 (a))
Thursday!
Nerves. Nerves everywhere. I was one walking body of nerves.
Mom and I got up late for once and went to Jinky's Cafe for breakfast (a couple of minutes away from the hotel). Great place and great food! Yummy!
We came back to the hotel to get ready. At 11.30 am, we went downstairs to the hotel lobby where Ali was waiting for us. She hugged Mom and me and we connected just like that. She took us to the Omaze office on foot, just 2 minutes away from the hotel. I had no idea their office was this close! We met Michael again there and Matt (co-owner of Omaze with whom I had skyped) and everyone else in the office.
Matt told us that the HIMYM peeps were currently shooting some outdoor scenes and afterwards they would be having lunch from 2-3 pm. Till then, we would go to Santa Monica Pier to do something fun with Michael filming us. While waiting for Michael and Matt to get all the camera stuff ready, Ali told me that Cobie Smulders was the only person of the HIMYM cast and crew who not only had heard of Mauritius, but also knew where it is. How? Cos Cobie has been to Mauritius before!! Apparently, Cobie had been telling the cast and crew how excited she was to meet us and talk about Mauritius. I was obviously gobsmacked. :D Heart skipped a beat count: 4.
Mom, Ali, Matt, Michael and I took off towards the Santa Monica Pier, walking along Ocean Avenue with Matt/Ali asking us all kinds of questions about us, Mauritius, HIMYM, what I liked about the show, etc and Michael filming us.
At the Santa Monica Pier, Matt stopped Mom and I to tell us that: Surprise! The production people had decided that we would be appearing in a couple of scenes on the show. Are you kidding me?!
For fun, Matt would ask random people on the pier to do a scene from Slapsgiving with us (at the beginning of the episode at MacLaren's where Robin tells everyone she's invited Bob for Thanksgiving and Marshall keeps saying Slapsgiving instead of Thanksgiving) and then we would finish off by asking them if they knew where Mauritius is.
Matt and Michael talking to people to get them to do our little practice/interview thing
Ali and Mom
Matt first asked two college guys who were sitting on a bench. Matt explained to them about Omaze, that Mom and I would be going to the HIMYM set later and if they would agree to practice a few lines with us. They both listened a bit incredulously and then one of them said, "This isn't a prank right? Punk'd style?" Before we could answer, the other guy instead said, "Oh fuck, let's do this!" I played Robin, Mom was Lily, Matt was Ted and the two guys were Marshall and Barney. We were all a bit tentative at the beginning, but then it turned out to be good haha. When we asked them if they knew where Mauritius is, they (of course) had no idea and so I said, "Mauritius is a small island in the Indian Ocean, to the left of Australia and below India" (a line that I would repeat on and on and on throughout the day). The two guys were like, "Oh shit we're so sorry we don't know! We feel SO embarrassed." What did I do? Comfort them! "No no, it's okay! LOTS of people do not know. It's fine, really!"
Our #HIMYM winner reading scripts with strangers on the #SantaMonica pier before heading to the set. #charity
We did the same thing with other people. Practised the Slapsgiving lines and then I asked them about Mauritius. No one knew. Some guessed that Mauritius is near South Africa, Pakistan, Asia, South America...yep we got all kinds of answers.
At about 1.45 pm, Ali/Matt got an email from the HIMYM peeps that the outdoor scenes were done and that they were going to have lunch. We went back to the Omaze parking and we set off in Matt's car to the Fox Studios!
Nerves. Nerves everywhere. I was one walking body of nerves.
Mom and I got up late for once and went to Jinky's Cafe for breakfast (a couple of minutes away from the hotel). Great place and great food! Yummy!
We came back to the hotel to get ready. At 11.30 am, we went downstairs to the hotel lobby where Ali was waiting for us. She hugged Mom and me and we connected just like that. She took us to the Omaze office on foot, just 2 minutes away from the hotel. I had no idea their office was this close! We met Michael again there and Matt (co-owner of Omaze with whom I had skyped) and everyone else in the office.
Matt told us that the HIMYM peeps were currently shooting some outdoor scenes and afterwards they would be having lunch from 2-3 pm. Till then, we would go to Santa Monica Pier to do something fun with Michael filming us. While waiting for Michael and Matt to get all the camera stuff ready, Ali told me that Cobie Smulders was the only person of the HIMYM cast and crew who not only had heard of Mauritius, but also knew where it is. How? Cos Cobie has been to Mauritius before!! Apparently, Cobie had been telling the cast and crew how excited she was to meet us and talk about Mauritius. I was obviously gobsmacked. :D Heart skipped a beat count: 4.
Mom, Ali, Matt, Michael and I took off towards the Santa Monica Pier, walking along Ocean Avenue with Matt/Ali asking us all kinds of questions about us, Mauritius, HIMYM, what I liked about the show, etc and Michael filming us.
At the Santa Monica Pier, Matt stopped Mom and I to tell us that: Surprise! The production people had decided that we would be appearing in a couple of scenes on the show. Are you kidding me?!
For fun, Matt would ask random people on the pier to do a scene from Slapsgiving with us (at the beginning of the episode at MacLaren's where Robin tells everyone she's invited Bob for Thanksgiving and Marshall keeps saying Slapsgiving instead of Thanksgiving) and then we would finish off by asking them if they knew where Mauritius is.
Matt and Michael talking to people to get them to do our little practice/interview thing
Ali and Mom
Matt first asked two college guys who were sitting on a bench. Matt explained to them about Omaze, that Mom and I would be going to the HIMYM set later and if they would agree to practice a few lines with us. They both listened a bit incredulously and then one of them said, "This isn't a prank right? Punk'd style?" Before we could answer, the other guy instead said, "Oh fuck, let's do this!" I played Robin, Mom was Lily, Matt was Ted and the two guys were Marshall and Barney. We were all a bit tentative at the beginning, but then it turned out to be good haha. When we asked them if they knew where Mauritius is, they (of course) had no idea and so I said, "Mauritius is a small island in the Indian Ocean, to the left of Australia and below India" (a line that I would repeat on and on and on throughout the day). The two guys were like, "Oh shit we're so sorry we don't know! We feel SO embarrassed." What did I do? Comfort them! "No no, it's okay! LOTS of people do not know. It's fine, really!"
Our #HIMYM winner reading scripts with strangers on the #SantaMonica pier before heading to the set. #charity
We did the same thing with other people. Practised the Slapsgiving lines and then I asked them about Mauritius. No one knew. Some guessed that Mauritius is near South Africa, Pakistan, Asia, South America...yep we got all kinds of answers.
At about 1.45 pm, Ali/Matt got an email from the HIMYM peeps that the outdoor scenes were done and that they were going to have lunch. We went back to the Omaze parking and we set off in Matt's car to the Fox Studios!