I am
aggressively eating a gummy worm as I type this. I had a realization today that
has thrown me for a bit of a loop. I would like to think that if I met a
celebrity I wouldn’t freak out. I’ve met Kyle Massey. In like 2006-2007, I was
14/15. He was with his friends at a Dave and Busters at the Irvine Spectrum
Mall in California. I was there with two of my friends, one of whom played DDR
with him. It was a brief hang out. I believe they exchanged numbers, but she
was pretty in love with one of the Jonas Brothers, so if anything she would
have texted to see if he had their number.
If you are in
Southern California and want to meet a celebrity, Irvine Spectrum and Fashion
Island are the malls to hang out at. At Irvine Spectrum, I also ran into Vince
Vaughn and Rebecca Black. At Fashion Island, I ran into Lo Bosworth. At a
restaurant near them both, a teppanyaki place, I ran into Kobe Bryant.
Actually, he
ran into me. Literally. He practically ran me over.
If you don’t
know, a teppanyaki place has a big flat stove where the entire thing is one big
heating surface. Around the stove is a table for people to eat. There are
usually at least 8, but as many as 16, chairs around that. Like an island bar,
but instead of a bar it is a stove. Chefs prepare your food right in front of
you. Because of how big these are and how many seats they have, people in small
groups will eat with other groups. There are no tables for two or less. He was
there with his date and without a reservation, demanding not only to be seated
right away but to have a whole table to themselves. Despite being two people,
in a busy restaurant on a Friday night with at least 15 people with
reservations still waiting to be seated. And he was so upset. The manager
handled really well and said, “no, we can add you the waiting list or see if a
spot is available at a table but we cannot give your party its own table with
only two people.” Finally, tired of waiting and being told no, he turned to
storm out. And little 11-year-old me was in line behind him with my family (we
did have a reservation, it was my birthday dinner and we did have a
reservation. I don’t know if he didn’t see me or didn’t think to look because
he turned and stormed right into me before I could move. He almost knocked me
over. And did I hear an apology? No. Did I hear a grumbled, “move”? No. He didn’t
say anything. He just kept going, probably a little upset that I ruined his
dramatic exit.
I’ve also met a
couple singers in concert. I couldn’t tell you their names, I just remember lining
up with my aunt because she wanted their autograph. I got a picture with them
too, but I didn’t know who they were so didn’t really care.
Anyway, my point really is
that, I have encountered celebrities before and been ambivalent, except with
Kobe. Then, I was annoyed because he stepped on my foot and it had hurt.
So, I often would like to
think this reflects the rationale knowledge that celebrities are people, not
their characters and not magazine articles but actual people. When people spazz
about how much they love a celebrity, I ask “but do you even know them?” When
fangirls on YouTube get all “you don’t belong with X, you belong with Y (or me)”
or “why did you guys break up? You were perfect together.” I can respond
(though I don’t usually) that they don’t know what happens when the camera is
off. They don’t even know if the person on camera is the same as they are off
camera. So, they don’t know better and shouldn’t be telling people they don’t
know how to live their lives.
And it followed, to me at
least, that I could then meet a celebrity in real life without becoming a
fumbling idiot. But, I probably couldn’t.
I remember when I went down
to meet Meg Cabot (author of such works as The Princess Diaries and The
Mediator series) and I was so nervous. I was so excited to meet her. After her
talk, we were able to go up and meet her. I’m not going to lie, I was so
excited. I really wanted to talk to her, to let her know that I love writing
and want to be a writer too. The girl in line ahead of me (though she didn’t
actually talk at all) was about my age and apparently was published at 14. Her
mom was going on about how she’d been published, been on TV, how Meg Cabot was
a huge inspiration, and on and on. And there I was, the same age loving to
write but not having finished anything, let alone published anything at all.
And I was still freaking out about whether I should say “hi” or “hey”. It felt
kind of like a kick in the stomach. Here was this girl, who was basically like
a child writing prodigy and one of the youngest Young Adult others, what was I
compared to her?
Anyway, thinking about that
event, I realized that I didn’t get all weird and fumbling or excited in the
past because I didn’t care about those celebrities. I knew of them. But, that’s
about it. I’m not enthralled by their fame. It isn’t even the fame that gets me
hyped or not, it is what they are in and what they have done. This point was
really sunk in when I found out Sandra Oh was hosting Saturday Night Live. I
thought, “oh! I love her”. Christina Yang. I love Christina Yang from Grey’s
Anatomy, that is the only work I really know Sandra Oh from and, while she does
a great job of portraying her character, that is all I know about her.
So, in the end, my ability to
meet celebrities without freaking out has not been because I am cool about it
or possess self-control in the presence of fame, but rather that they weren’t
celebrities that meant anything to me.
This theory might very well
be put to the test on April 5th, when I see Pink in concert. I don’t
have backstage passes or anything, but who knows what will happen. More later.
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