*FLAILS and iz ded* (aka Seattle Hockey Challenge 2010)
So, as mentioned in my comments for my "AAAAGONYYY" post...i was supposed to work on what is now officially (if it wasn't already) permanently reserved as "Michael Day". So I didn't go to work. Because I had this ticket for months, and they scheduled their training on my day off with no warning. So I forgot to go. And am I ever glad!!! (see new userpic)
*MELTS*
So...the rundown:
I get up to Kent at about 3:50, get myself prepped ("I'm Just Here For The 'BAUM, For He Is The SEXY!!!" and "Lex is the HERO of the story!!!" shirt signs, autographing materials, present for Rosey, et al), and head to the door I went in last year. Which was locked. So I watch the RMHC group setting up their tables, etc, hover around the doors... Cue staff lady coming to said doors to say the place wasn't opening till 5pm. I was all, "The signing is at five, and we have to line up first!" She's all, "Well, maybe they're opening the doors at like 4:45."
Hm. Maybe they've changed the way they proceed. Maybe they're experimenting...or playing with fire. I can only imagine the stampede if we have everyone lining up OUTSIDE the doors, and then clambering in over the tops of each other's trampled bodies as they're opened fifteen minutes to signing by people scrambling for best position in line. But what the hey...I'm not the organizers.
So I eat my snack and hover around the doors, put away my nice metal water bottle, hover around the doors, run across the street to Panera Bread to pee, come back, hover around the doors...and roundabout 4:15 I see some people in Seattle T-birds jersies heading toward the other side of the building talking about how they'd heard they were supposed to go in the other entrance this year. (I had no idea there were other entrances, argh! Why isn't this stuff printed on the ticket?!) So I follow them (after all, my lone hovering is accomplishing nothing, and I can always come back to hover later if there's no dice on the other side, wot?
We reach the other side, and I see fangirls already lining up...luckily only about twenty, but still! I coulda been first again. But whatever; still ahead of the rush. So I jump into line, right behind the same gaggle of youthful Rosenfans as last year, complete with their drool-worthy glossies of MR in drag, MR in baldness, MR in various poses (I had wanted to get a color Kip-pic, the one from the KIOS poster on Amazon, for this, so I could turn it into my new KIOS cover, as that one is tragically lacking a pic of the TRUE STAR OF THE MOVIE on the front or back!!!...but a color copy was like five bucks at Kinkos. So I ask the Rosenteens how they afforded their gorgeous glossies...and they're all, "Fred Meyer. A dollar apiece." *headdesk* Well, there's always next year.)
So Youthful Rosenfans and I chat, I ask them if they liked Rosey's drag better in Sorority Boys or Sweet November; they say they haven't seen it. I tell them, "OMG, you MUST! BRANDON/BRANDY!!!" and etc Michael-induced squee. We all share our things-to-be-signed (since my copy of Poolhall Junkies did not come in time, I am debating between KIOS and Rave Macbeth and am leaning toward the latter due to its being harder to get/worth more and having such UNBELIEVABLY COMMITTED acting by Our Boy (I'm only wavering, really, because of MR's reported dislike of the feature). I also chat with General Hospital ladies behind me who are there for that Thomson guy (who is apparently playing a doctor that is dating MY Robin, who should've been Robin Cates, and yes, I had my days as a loyal GHer in high school, but let's not go there). The line progresses. I am attempting to save battery in my phone until the boys show, as I want to use the phone for decent pics this time, after two years of camera-related disasters...but I'm missing my squee buildup. I need my wingwoman.
So of course I call our girl Lexi (Lexalicious70). We squee a little, whine about how she should be here (you better not schedule anything for next year, girl, as I am SO kidnapping your arse!). I WANT HER HERE every year because she is part of my Rosensperience (and of course, because she should be here, lol)...and we work out a game plan. I'll hang up to snap pics in the brief window between when I am close enough for my sad little phone camera to get anything at all (because if you're more than three feet away you might as well be twenty to my phone), and when I am about to talk to Our Boy. Then I will cease piccing, call Lexi and get her on speaker so she can hear Rosey's voice, organize my autographing materials, and launch into my spiel.
All this goes according to plan. It helps to be less freaked. The first two years I was so absorbed in my squee at this point that I'm dropping stuff, forgetting what to say, and generally being a spaz. This time I get a few fairly decent pics (yay for camera auto-lighting on digicams!), though always a beat after Michael does one of his warm, adorably off-center smiles at some fan (which smiles of course build up the squee rapidly, so that I begin to jitter and flail outwardly (ps, his hair is to his COLLAR now! Why oh why does he always hafto wear that cap, and shade his face so the pics come out all...dim?!). One of the staff of the arena noticed my bouncing and was like, "Better calm down or the security chief will notice. Who are you here to see?" As if the sign on my shirt wasn't pointed enough. I tell her, "Michael!" and point to aforementioned sign, saying, "There's no one else here," because seriously, every year I fail to remember even the faces of the rest. She says, "Oh, c'mon, there're a lot of great folks here!" Which I am sure is very true, but with Michael in the room, all the available air and will to concentrate is taken up by his charisma and his smile, and the world narrows to Roseyvision. It is pointless to explain this to the Uninitiated, but we who Know...are the Blessed. LOL.
While waiting, and while people's heads are between me and my photo ops, I stop to get an autograph from one other person of the 10 or so person panel; a memeber of the US women's hockey team from Torino, Kelly...something. (I can't remember. Isn't that horrible). We chat briefly about how good the games are this year, etc, I shoot a few more pics the minute the waving heads part...and then I'm there TALKING TO HIM. Which still does not get old. His voice makes you shiver. Dayum, I'm shivering now remembering it, and getting a bit flaily. Anyway, I ask him how he is, and he says something to the effect that he's getting by; I'm immediately concerned, because y'all remember his back was bothering him last year, so I'm probably asking him what's wrong or something (I don't recall the exact words), and he smiles and says, no, he's just fine. I pass on (Herohunter)'s and Lexi's love, and hand him Lexi's Kippy pic, saying that Lexi the Chibi Flash girl wishes she could make it this year, but hopes he's well. He smiles at the mention of both ladies, and signs Lexi's pic ("You Rule". Lexi will die DED.)
I tell him his adoring public is dying for another movie and he laughs. I dunno if he takes it seriously or no. I'm a bit too flaily to properly analyze, lol. I hold out my Rave Macbeth cover for him to sign, saying, "I've heard you didn't like the production of this one, but your acting in the bathroom scene after Marcus kills Troy is possibly the best acting I have ever seen, it blew my mind." He says, "Did you know, the sound was so messed up on that that we actually had to re-record all the vocals?" HE DID ALL THAT INCREDIBLE "F**********CK!" BATHROOM ACTING IN DUBBING/POST PRODUCTION!!! OMFG!!! This man is so talented that my brain goes splodey just thinking about the AMAZING emotion he got into that IN POST, on a SOUNDSTAGE!!! *flails* I tell him that just impresses me more )probably something along the lines of, "You're kidding; god you're amazing." He tells me he can't believe I have a copy of this flick, "I don't even have a copy of this." I said something to the effect that we all have one (cuz, duh! We have ALL of his movies, no matter the price!), and that I bought mine from, like, the Phillipines for sixty bucks or whatever it was. He looked impressed.
I then hand him my gift for him. I'd read an interview somewhere that said he liked wolves, so I'd brought him a members/staff/volunteers-only print of the 2010 calendar from a place I volunteer at called Wolf Haven International
(look it up, it's pretty cool). He seems surprised that an interview said that he liked wolves (I knew going in that it was a long shot, as not all interviews/articles are true, but what the hey, I'd wanted to give him something unique), but he said that yes, he thought wolves were pretty cool, and, "I do like this," when I told him what we did at Wolf Haven (rescuing captive wolves from various unhealthy environments). "Now that is cool." So I told him he ought to visit them next time he was in the neighborhood, get a tour. One of his co-celebs asked him about Rave Macbeth, so he started to tell them about the dubbing. I thanked him for his time, and as usual he was wonderfully gracious and thanked me in return.
I moved off the line to hover to one side with one of the Rosebuds (must've been Lexijo, as her son was wearing the Lexijo Rosebud jersey) and a few of the GH and Rosenfans, hoping for more pic opportunities for (rosenbaummedia), as the ones I had so far weren't stellar. I squeed with Lexi a bit more, though my reception in that part of the building was poor (she heard Michael's voice and had yelled her love to him, though I dunno if he could hear my tiny speakerphone over the din of the crowd), and avoided the bulldog security chief who was, apparently, sure we were all about to attack the celebs with foaming mouths at any moment. The new venue (Showare Center in Kent, just southeast of Seattle) has clearer glass down on the ice for more pics during the game, is newer and cleaner, etc...but the security there is somewhat more angsty; the old Key Arena venue in downtown Seattle allowed us to bunch up behind the fencing and take photos for the entire signing once we had gone through the lines. At Showare we had to try to blend with the crowd and await our moment, constantly avoiding forays by the Bulldog's underlings trying to flush us out and chase us off for obstructing the crowd and 'taking too many pictures'. Um...it's a CELEBRITY SIGNING for a CHARITY, dudes. This is what we CAME for! (Well, that and because it's for the kids. But yeah.)
Anyway, the Rosebud chick sent her jersied son up to the fence several times with her (very nice) camera to get some good pics, which I urged her to put up on Rosenbaum Media (*crosses fingers*). He got through where we couldn't because he was more innocuous-looking, at 13 or whatever, and had buddied up to one of the Bulldog's sub-lieutenants at the end; the one standing more or less directly in front of Rosey and blocking our shots, argh. The rest of us just hovered behind the security tape by the elevator, hoping to catch a couple of shots as the guys went up to their box. It was kind of unfair, we agreed, that some fangirls were BEHIND THE TABLE, gathered around the last guy in line, the General Hospital dude, taking pics with him, etc, while we had to hover over here, just because Our Boy wasn't at the end of the table! I was DETERMINED to get at least one good pic for Rosenbaum Media this year, not to mention maybe one with Michael, as this is a birthday thing for me annually, and after 3 yrs it's my turn, dangit! LOL, would that I were bold enough to just go up and bull my way around the table end. Ah well.
So we hover; and the line winds up at closer to 6pm than the advertised 5:30 (lucky punks at the end; if I'd come after my job thing, I'd've never made it). As the panel are all getting up and preparing to move, I see that of all the guys (and gal) moving toward our gaggle, Michael is missing. Frantically I set up my Michaellocation, and mark him at the far end of the tables where the line had been, talking to one of the Kent cops (such a stalker). I figure it's now or never, with the pressure of the (possibly foaming at the mouth) line gone, the Bulldog guarding the rest of the panel, and Michael out from behind the fence, all I had to do was hover near him and appear fairly sane so the cop didn't arrest me. I thus put plan to action and moved to within three feet or so, waiting till they ended their conversation. "Michael; one good one for Rosenbaum Media?" I ask, like last year. He smiles, probably tired of us, but gracious as always, says, "Sure," AND PUTS HIS ARM AROUND ME!!!! FLAIL FLAIL FLAIL!!!! *DIES*
Holding it together somehow, I attempt a pic one-handed. He interrupts me and tells me to hand the phone to the cop, who kindly snaps the pic that is now (and possibly forever) my userpic. I thank them both, Michael profusely, go into a nearby corner, and have a nervous breakdown. FLAAAAAAILLLL!!! Up the pic goes to picture mail and is sent to Lexi. I call her to squee incomprehensibly about the tectonic event that just occurred, but she can't get me because the reception is lame in that outer ring of the building (though it's fine down by the ice, go figure)...so when she gets the pic, she's surprised. And I so wish it was the three of us there, but next year, girl! I promise!
I watch the Seattle-Portland game in a sort of haze, of course, eat the overpriced food, etc...and prepare for the Celeb game, texting Lexi and a Paul Guilfoyle (Det. Brass, CSI) fan I'd met at last year's Hockey Challenge that didn't come because Paul didn't. Michael comes out with one of the RMHC kids, who drops the puck. As that game ends, I run down to use the bathroom, so I can prepare to use up my remaining memory card piccing the heck out of the game (I'd cleared it off for today)...AND MY STUPID PHONE DROPS OFF MY BELT AND INTO THE TOILET!!! Luckily before it was used, but STILL! Phone = ded ded ded. No more pics...and of course no phone might be a problem for work, not to mention not having several people's contact info anywhere else (including the parents, lol)...and yet all I'm currently worried about are my Rosenpics (especially the last, thank god I'd sent it on!!!). Shows where one's priorities go when faced with the Baum, lol.
So I wipe off the phone, slide it open for now, wrap it in paper towels, and hope for the best. (Shockingly, though it sat damp till 11pm and is one of the more advanced ones, not like the old nineties ones you could just open up and dry out, it came back to somewhat-workable after a good blow-drying this AM. YAY PICS!!! And phone numbers, lol.) So, no pics from the game, I'm sad to report, but Michael played!!! He winced a bit coming off the ice each time, hand-signing to his team captain in a way that looked like maybe his back was bothering him a bit; but he gamely went back out each time, razzing the other team as he went by ("Some of these young faces are cherry red. You guys okay? Hang in there!" And talking again about his obsession with Michael McDonald songs while on the bench, god love him). He took several shots at the goal, making one, and his (red) team was up by like, four or five before the blue team finally scored. The blue team then caught up over the second and third periods, so it was a shootout at the end, like last year. The blue team won the shootout, sadly. Michael commented, "Great game, though I lost again. Ten years here and I've never won." WOOBIE! I was sitting behind him again this year, screaming support with the other Rosenfans each time he and bro Eric took to the ice (Michael was #17, Eric was #12, and the unlearned behind me were like, "Do they know there're two Rosenbaums?" I had to educate them. All part of the service), and generally scaring my neighbors (all part of the tradition, lol). Again it was a popularity contest between Our Boy, the GH guy (who I've just learned plays Rick Springfield's son, LOL, long live the 80's!), and this year a returning former T-bird named Wixey who had survived a bout with cancer. We all cheered for him; but Michael easily won the Rosey vs Thomson matchup this year, IMO.
As I had no camera, I encouraged the Rosenfan in front of me to put her pics up at Rosenbaum Media when she got home, as they are the same as I would've gotten. Hopefully we'll see them. They'll be good; she appeared to have a state of the art camera.
As the game wound up, Michael was the only one who came back to the glass to sign a few more autographs and interact with the fans (because he is the most gracious and sweetest dude EVAR!); and even kept his promise and returned to sign two more after he was interrupted to head back to the ice for the team publicity shot. (*swoons*). I hung with the rest just to soak up the last seconds with him, though I had nothing more to pass through the cracks for signage. I just waited till he was done signing and told him, "Great game, and thank you! See you next year." He smiled That Smile and said, "Thank you so much." Because he is just that awesome.
So, yeah. All around, another stellar night with Michael Rosenbaum. I have come to think there is no other kind. He makes everything special. He makes his fans feel special. He makes the kids he hangs with beforehand feel special, and more whole, as evidenced in the vids of him with the RMHC kids. He is a truly generous man, and we are blessed to know of him and to follow his craft. Can't wait to hear more from you, Mr. Michael Rosenbaum, and thank you!
And yes; the phone is saved. Thus, the pics are saved; at least from the first half of the event. Hamlat, I'll get them to you soon!
And now as I've overstayed my welcome on the roommate's computer by two hours or so, au revoir. Miss you guys! The only thing that was missing, is missing each year from this experience is all y'all. I wish more of you could come. My apartment is always open for boarders, if it saves hotel money! I dream of our descending en masse someday in "LJ Rosenfans" (or something similar) t-shirts, *g*, to outmatch the Rosebuds. Someday.
Take care, m'Rosenfriends!
(for more pics, see my photobucket:
http://s228.photobucket.com/albums/ee7/CLex4Lex/Michael/ ...and use as you wish of the originals. There are a lot of collages though...and some of them are made up of other pics I've used by permission, so watch out for that in the descriptions. Share and share alike.)
*MELTS*
So...the rundown:
I get up to Kent at about 3:50, get myself prepped ("I'm Just Here For The 'BAUM, For He Is The SEXY!!!" and "Lex is the HERO of the story!!!" shirt signs, autographing materials, present for Rosey, et al), and head to the door I went in last year. Which was locked. So I watch the RMHC group setting up their tables, etc, hover around the doors... Cue staff lady coming to said doors to say the place wasn't opening till 5pm. I was all, "The signing is at five, and we have to line up first!" She's all, "Well, maybe they're opening the doors at like 4:45."
Hm. Maybe they've changed the way they proceed. Maybe they're experimenting...or playing with fire. I can only imagine the stampede if we have everyone lining up OUTSIDE the doors, and then clambering in over the tops of each other's trampled bodies as they're opened fifteen minutes to signing by people scrambling for best position in line. But what the hey...I'm not the organizers.
So I eat my snack and hover around the doors, put away my nice metal water bottle, hover around the doors, run across the street to Panera Bread to pee, come back, hover around the doors...and roundabout 4:15 I see some people in Seattle T-birds jersies heading toward the other side of the building talking about how they'd heard they were supposed to go in the other entrance this year. (I had no idea there were other entrances, argh! Why isn't this stuff printed on the ticket?!) So I follow them (after all, my lone hovering is accomplishing nothing, and I can always come back to hover later if there's no dice on the other side, wot?
We reach the other side, and I see fangirls already lining up...luckily only about twenty, but still! I coulda been first again. But whatever; still ahead of the rush. So I jump into line, right behind the same gaggle of youthful Rosenfans as last year, complete with their drool-worthy glossies of MR in drag, MR in baldness, MR in various poses (I had wanted to get a color Kip-pic, the one from the KIOS poster on Amazon, for this, so I could turn it into my new KIOS cover, as that one is tragically lacking a pic of the TRUE STAR OF THE MOVIE on the front or back!!!...but a color copy was like five bucks at Kinkos. So I ask the Rosenteens how they afforded their gorgeous glossies...and they're all, "Fred Meyer. A dollar apiece." *headdesk* Well, there's always next year.)
So Youthful Rosenfans and I chat, I ask them if they liked Rosey's drag better in Sorority Boys or Sweet November; they say they haven't seen it. I tell them, "OMG, you MUST! BRANDON/BRANDY!!!" and etc Michael-induced squee. We all share our things-to-be-signed (since my copy of Poolhall Junkies did not come in time, I am debating between KIOS and Rave Macbeth and am leaning toward the latter due to its being harder to get/worth more and having such UNBELIEVABLY COMMITTED acting by Our Boy (I'm only wavering, really, because of MR's reported dislike of the feature). I also chat with General Hospital ladies behind me who are there for that Thomson guy (who is apparently playing a doctor that is dating MY Robin, who should've been Robin Cates, and yes, I had my days as a loyal GHer in high school, but let's not go there). The line progresses. I am attempting to save battery in my phone until the boys show, as I want to use the phone for decent pics this time, after two years of camera-related disasters...but I'm missing my squee buildup. I need my wingwoman.
So of course I call our girl Lexi (Lexalicious70). We squee a little, whine about how she should be here (you better not schedule anything for next year, girl, as I am SO kidnapping your arse!). I WANT HER HERE every year because she is part of my Rosensperience (and of course, because she should be here, lol)...and we work out a game plan. I'll hang up to snap pics in the brief window between when I am close enough for my sad little phone camera to get anything at all (because if you're more than three feet away you might as well be twenty to my phone), and when I am about to talk to Our Boy. Then I will cease piccing, call Lexi and get her on speaker so she can hear Rosey's voice, organize my autographing materials, and launch into my spiel.
All this goes according to plan. It helps to be less freaked. The first two years I was so absorbed in my squee at this point that I'm dropping stuff, forgetting what to say, and generally being a spaz. This time I get a few fairly decent pics (yay for camera auto-lighting on digicams!), though always a beat after Michael does one of his warm, adorably off-center smiles at some fan (which smiles of course build up the squee rapidly, so that I begin to jitter and flail outwardly (ps, his hair is to his COLLAR now! Why oh why does he always hafto wear that cap, and shade his face so the pics come out all...dim?!). One of the staff of the arena noticed my bouncing and was like, "Better calm down or the security chief will notice. Who are you here to see?" As if the sign on my shirt wasn't pointed enough. I tell her, "Michael!" and point to aforementioned sign, saying, "There's no one else here," because seriously, every year I fail to remember even the faces of the rest. She says, "Oh, c'mon, there're a lot of great folks here!" Which I am sure is very true, but with Michael in the room, all the available air and will to concentrate is taken up by his charisma and his smile, and the world narrows to Roseyvision. It is pointless to explain this to the Uninitiated, but we who Know...are the Blessed. LOL.
While waiting, and while people's heads are between me and my photo ops, I stop to get an autograph from one other person of the 10 or so person panel; a memeber of the US women's hockey team from Torino, Kelly...something. (I can't remember. Isn't that horrible). We chat briefly about how good the games are this year, etc, I shoot a few more pics the minute the waving heads part...and then I'm there TALKING TO HIM. Which still does not get old. His voice makes you shiver. Dayum, I'm shivering now remembering it, and getting a bit flaily. Anyway, I ask him how he is, and he says something to the effect that he's getting by; I'm immediately concerned, because y'all remember his back was bothering him last year, so I'm probably asking him what's wrong or something (I don't recall the exact words), and he smiles and says, no, he's just fine. I pass on (Herohunter)'s and Lexi's love, and hand him Lexi's Kippy pic, saying that Lexi the Chibi Flash girl wishes she could make it this year, but hopes he's well. He smiles at the mention of both ladies, and signs Lexi's pic ("You Rule". Lexi will die DED.)
I tell him his adoring public is dying for another movie and he laughs. I dunno if he takes it seriously or no. I'm a bit too flaily to properly analyze, lol. I hold out my Rave Macbeth cover for him to sign, saying, "I've heard you didn't like the production of this one, but your acting in the bathroom scene after Marcus kills Troy is possibly the best acting I have ever seen, it blew my mind." He says, "Did you know, the sound was so messed up on that that we actually had to re-record all the vocals?" HE DID ALL THAT INCREDIBLE "F**********CK!" BATHROOM ACTING IN DUBBING/POST PRODUCTION!!! OMFG!!! This man is so talented that my brain goes splodey just thinking about the AMAZING emotion he got into that IN POST, on a SOUNDSTAGE!!! *flails* I tell him that just impresses me more )probably something along the lines of, "You're kidding; god you're amazing." He tells me he can't believe I have a copy of this flick, "I don't even have a copy of this." I said something to the effect that we all have one (cuz, duh! We have ALL of his movies, no matter the price!), and that I bought mine from, like, the Phillipines for sixty bucks or whatever it was. He looked impressed.
I then hand him my gift for him. I'd read an interview somewhere that said he liked wolves, so I'd brought him a members/staff/volunteers-only print of the 2010 calendar from a place I volunteer at called Wolf Haven International
(look it up, it's pretty cool). He seems surprised that an interview said that he liked wolves (I knew going in that it was a long shot, as not all interviews/articles are true, but what the hey, I'd wanted to give him something unique), but he said that yes, he thought wolves were pretty cool, and, "I do like this," when I told him what we did at Wolf Haven (rescuing captive wolves from various unhealthy environments). "Now that is cool." So I told him he ought to visit them next time he was in the neighborhood, get a tour. One of his co-celebs asked him about Rave Macbeth, so he started to tell them about the dubbing. I thanked him for his time, and as usual he was wonderfully gracious and thanked me in return.
I moved off the line to hover to one side with one of the Rosebuds (must've been Lexijo, as her son was wearing the Lexijo Rosebud jersey) and a few of the GH and Rosenfans, hoping for more pic opportunities for (rosenbaummedia), as the ones I had so far weren't stellar. I squeed with Lexi a bit more, though my reception in that part of the building was poor (she heard Michael's voice and had yelled her love to him, though I dunno if he could hear my tiny speakerphone over the din of the crowd), and avoided the bulldog security chief who was, apparently, sure we were all about to attack the celebs with foaming mouths at any moment. The new venue (Showare Center in Kent, just southeast of Seattle) has clearer glass down on the ice for more pics during the game, is newer and cleaner, etc...but the security there is somewhat more angsty; the old Key Arena venue in downtown Seattle allowed us to bunch up behind the fencing and take photos for the entire signing once we had gone through the lines. At Showare we had to try to blend with the crowd and await our moment, constantly avoiding forays by the Bulldog's underlings trying to flush us out and chase us off for obstructing the crowd and 'taking too many pictures'. Um...it's a CELEBRITY SIGNING for a CHARITY, dudes. This is what we CAME for! (Well, that and because it's for the kids. But yeah.)
Anyway, the Rosebud chick sent her jersied son up to the fence several times with her (very nice) camera to get some good pics, which I urged her to put up on Rosenbaum Media (*crosses fingers*). He got through where we couldn't because he was more innocuous-looking, at 13 or whatever, and had buddied up to one of the Bulldog's sub-lieutenants at the end; the one standing more or less directly in front of Rosey and blocking our shots, argh. The rest of us just hovered behind the security tape by the elevator, hoping to catch a couple of shots as the guys went up to their box. It was kind of unfair, we agreed, that some fangirls were BEHIND THE TABLE, gathered around the last guy in line, the General Hospital dude, taking pics with him, etc, while we had to hover over here, just because Our Boy wasn't at the end of the table! I was DETERMINED to get at least one good pic for Rosenbaum Media this year, not to mention maybe one with Michael, as this is a birthday thing for me annually, and after 3 yrs it's my turn, dangit! LOL, would that I were bold enough to just go up and bull my way around the table end. Ah well.
So we hover; and the line winds up at closer to 6pm than the advertised 5:30 (lucky punks at the end; if I'd come after my job thing, I'd've never made it). As the panel are all getting up and preparing to move, I see that of all the guys (and gal) moving toward our gaggle, Michael is missing. Frantically I set up my Michaellocation, and mark him at the far end of the tables where the line had been, talking to one of the Kent cops (such a stalker). I figure it's now or never, with the pressure of the (possibly foaming at the mouth) line gone, the Bulldog guarding the rest of the panel, and Michael out from behind the fence, all I had to do was hover near him and appear fairly sane so the cop didn't arrest me. I thus put plan to action and moved to within three feet or so, waiting till they ended their conversation. "Michael; one good one for Rosenbaum Media?" I ask, like last year. He smiles, probably tired of us, but gracious as always, says, "Sure," AND PUTS HIS ARM AROUND ME!!!! FLAIL FLAIL FLAIL!!!! *DIES*
Holding it together somehow, I attempt a pic one-handed. He interrupts me and tells me to hand the phone to the cop, who kindly snaps the pic that is now (and possibly forever) my userpic. I thank them both, Michael profusely, go into a nearby corner, and have a nervous breakdown. FLAAAAAAILLLL!!! Up the pic goes to picture mail and is sent to Lexi. I call her to squee incomprehensibly about the tectonic event that just occurred, but she can't get me because the reception is lame in that outer ring of the building (though it's fine down by the ice, go figure)...so when she gets the pic, she's surprised. And I so wish it was the three of us there, but next year, girl! I promise!
I watch the Seattle-Portland game in a sort of haze, of course, eat the overpriced food, etc...and prepare for the Celeb game, texting Lexi and a Paul Guilfoyle (Det. Brass, CSI) fan I'd met at last year's Hockey Challenge that didn't come because Paul didn't. Michael comes out with one of the RMHC kids, who drops the puck. As that game ends, I run down to use the bathroom, so I can prepare to use up my remaining memory card piccing the heck out of the game (I'd cleared it off for today)...AND MY STUPID PHONE DROPS OFF MY BELT AND INTO THE TOILET!!! Luckily before it was used, but STILL! Phone = ded ded ded. No more pics...and of course no phone might be a problem for work, not to mention not having several people's contact info anywhere else (including the parents, lol)...and yet all I'm currently worried about are my Rosenpics (especially the last, thank god I'd sent it on!!!). Shows where one's priorities go when faced with the Baum, lol.
So I wipe off the phone, slide it open for now, wrap it in paper towels, and hope for the best. (Shockingly, though it sat damp till 11pm and is one of the more advanced ones, not like the old nineties ones you could just open up and dry out, it came back to somewhat-workable after a good blow-drying this AM. YAY PICS!!! And phone numbers, lol.) So, no pics from the game, I'm sad to report, but Michael played!!! He winced a bit coming off the ice each time, hand-signing to his team captain in a way that looked like maybe his back was bothering him a bit; but he gamely went back out each time, razzing the other team as he went by ("Some of these young faces are cherry red. You guys okay? Hang in there!" And talking again about his obsession with Michael McDonald songs while on the bench, god love him). He took several shots at the goal, making one, and his (red) team was up by like, four or five before the blue team finally scored. The blue team then caught up over the second and third periods, so it was a shootout at the end, like last year. The blue team won the shootout, sadly. Michael commented, "Great game, though I lost again. Ten years here and I've never won." WOOBIE! I was sitting behind him again this year, screaming support with the other Rosenfans each time he and bro Eric took to the ice (Michael was #17, Eric was #12, and the unlearned behind me were like, "Do they know there're two Rosenbaums?" I had to educate them. All part of the service), and generally scaring my neighbors (all part of the tradition, lol). Again it was a popularity contest between Our Boy, the GH guy (who I've just learned plays Rick Springfield's son, LOL, long live the 80's!), and this year a returning former T-bird named Wixey who had survived a bout with cancer. We all cheered for him; but Michael easily won the Rosey vs Thomson matchup this year, IMO.
As I had no camera, I encouraged the Rosenfan in front of me to put her pics up at Rosenbaum Media when she got home, as they are the same as I would've gotten. Hopefully we'll see them. They'll be good; she appeared to have a state of the art camera.
As the game wound up, Michael was the only one who came back to the glass to sign a few more autographs and interact with the fans (because he is the most gracious and sweetest dude EVAR!); and even kept his promise and returned to sign two more after he was interrupted to head back to the ice for the team publicity shot. (*swoons*). I hung with the rest just to soak up the last seconds with him, though I had nothing more to pass through the cracks for signage. I just waited till he was done signing and told him, "Great game, and thank you! See you next year." He smiled That Smile and said, "Thank you so much." Because he is just that awesome.
So, yeah. All around, another stellar night with Michael Rosenbaum. I have come to think there is no other kind. He makes everything special. He makes his fans feel special. He makes the kids he hangs with beforehand feel special, and more whole, as evidenced in the vids of him with the RMHC kids. He is a truly generous man, and we are blessed to know of him and to follow his craft. Can't wait to hear more from you, Mr. Michael Rosenbaum, and thank you!
And yes; the phone is saved. Thus, the pics are saved; at least from the first half of the event. Hamlat, I'll get them to you soon!
And now as I've overstayed my welcome on the roommate's computer by two hours or so, au revoir. Miss you guys! The only thing that was missing, is missing each year from this experience is all y'all. I wish more of you could come. My apartment is always open for boarders, if it saves hotel money! I dream of our descending en masse someday in "LJ Rosenfans" (or something similar) t-shirts, *g*, to outmatch the Rosebuds. Someday.
Take care, m'Rosenfriends!
(for more pics, see my photobucket:
http://s228.photobucket.com/albums/ee7/CLex4Lex/Michael/ ...and use as you wish of the originals. There are a lot of collages though...and some of them are made up of other pics I've used by permission, so watch out for that in the descriptions. Share and share alike.)