Will the Madness Ever End?

I think the answer is no.  It's been awhile since my last post, but my madness is getting stronger and I feel the need to share with the world.  I will begin again where I left off and tell you about my adventures at Fan Expo and the quest to find Capaldi in Toronto.

Fan Expo was great!  Heather and I had a lot of fun and were pleasantly surprised at how well the day went.  We got in about 10 minutes earlier than expected, so we were actually on the floor by the time the doors were supposed to open for regular pass people.  After casing the joint for an hour, the time was quickly approaching for John and Joan Cusack's Q & A, so with my previous knowledge I told Heather what time we should line up in order to get good seats.  I was of course correct and we were able to get a sweet spot.  Heather's excitement was building like a kid on Christmas Eve.  Finally the moment came and John walked out onto the stage, and I was right he did look like a security guard, but a hot security guard so it was ok.  Fast forward to our photo ops.  I have to say this was far more organized than it was at Awesome Con. Finally the time had come for Heather to come face to face with her celebrity crush.  I'll be honest I paid for a photo op just to see this moment and it was worth it.  She was so star struck that she forgot to stay for my photo and missed the opporunity to have an extra 2 seconds with him.  In terms of a photo op, Capaldi was way better at this.  John Cusack's was a lot quicker.  Mostly due to the fact that he didn't speak.  Not even a word.  I did however, for some strange reason, get a fist bump.  Perhaps he liked my shirt, my hair, my glasses, who knows.  It will go down as one of the greatest mysteries of my life.  Any way here's the photo...

So that was done.  Heather could check something off her bucket list ( I don't actually know if she has a bucket list, but I assume if she does this would be on it).  As we walked out of the photo op area, I noticed some of the Doctor Who people were at the autograph tables, so Heather and I did a walk by to see who we could see.  This was when I noticed that Michelle Gomez, who plays Missy, didn't have anyone at her table.  So I decided to get an autograph, which turned out to be a great decision because she is so lovely!  We chatted for a bit about her role and then I told her how I got to meet Peter Capaldi in June, which meant the conversation quickly changed to talking about how great Peter is.  Here's the photo I got autographed and of course I chose the one that had the Doctor...

That concludes Fan Expo.  We had a lot of fun, I entered a contest to win a meet and greet with Peter Capaldi for when he was in Toronto a month later, and most importantly we got to spend about 5 seconds with John Cusack. Now to tell you about Peter Capaldi coming to Toronto.  If you have been following this blog from the beginning, you may remember that when I met him back in June he told me he was coming to Toronto towards the end of the year.  He didn't know for what, but he knew he was coming.  Turned out it was October and he would only be here for one day to spend it in a studio doing interview after interview.  There wasn't going to be an opportunity to pay exhorbiants amount of money to meet him.  I was going to have to win a contest if I wanted to see him face to face.  I'm not very good at winning contests, so I was very sad and angry about this.  I felt ripped off!  I mean I knew long before it was ever announced that he was coming becasue the man himself had told me!  So putting my tantrum aside, I decided I would take the day off work because let's be honest, I wouldn't really be working, knowing that Peter Capaldi was in the same city as me. The day arrived and I awoke with a determination like I've never had.  Twitter was ready and I was pretty sure I was following the people that would lead me to my goal.  I arrived at the studio around 10:30 am and noticed there were a few people hanging outside, so I wandered over to see if they were like minded people and they were, but not very chatty.  I noticed another girl standing alone, a bit further down the side walk, and I walked towards her.  Immediately she asked if I was there for Peter.  Of course I answered yes, to which she said she was too.  Great!  We chatted for about 5 minutes when I happened to look up towards a balcony on the side of the studio.  Well wouldn't you know it Peter Capaldi walked out.

I told the girl beside me to look up and when she did, she immediately screamed his name.  God bless her for that because he then looked down and waved.  We waved back.  He waved some more and then turned to someone next to him to say something, but pointed in our direction.  That person then yelled down and told us to stay there they were coming down.  What!?  Fantastic!  The young college kids around me were full of questions and wondering what was happening.  I explained, I think they are coming down to see us, just as the nice lady had said.  Then suddenly like a magic gennie the lady appeared in the parking lot and motioned for the 5 of us to come over.  The kids were still a bit confused, but I trudged on ahead not caring what trap lay before me.  I was pretty sure my reward was going to Peter Capaldi.  And I was right!  I came around the corner of some cars and there he was!  And not just him, but Pearl Mackie as well!  So there I was face to face with the man I had met exactly 4 months ago to the day.  I didn't need to win a contest, I had determination!

Once again this man was nothing, but gracious.  When I approached him, he shook my hand and asked if I had met Pearl.  Nope, I hadn't met her before.  The kids had finally caught up at this point, so they immediately started talking to him and asking for photos.  He was so nice that he posed for photos with everyone.  The kids even asked if they could do it again, but without his sunglasses and he of course said yes.  Then it was my turn, so I asked if I could have a selfie and he said yes. He asked if I wanted sunglasses or no sunglasses, I opted for the sunglasses.  When I went to pull my phone out to take the picture I had forgotten that I had the picture of him and I from Washington as my lock screen.  Embrassing!  I laughed and said, Oh I actually met you before.  He looked at the photo and immediately said, Washington!  Damn, I'm impressed he could tell from the photo where it was taken.  I said yeah and he commented about how crazy that day was and thanked ME for coming to do that.  Uhmm, you're welcome?  I should be thanking you.  Anyway, we take the photo....

Unlike my Washington photo, he's the Doctor in this one.  Which is what I wanted.  I then stood off to the side while he was taking a photo with another girl and realized I was standing beside Pearl.  Right, Pearl!  So, I asked if I could take a photo...

She is fabulous!  I can't wait to see her as the new companion because she was so great to meet.  I asked her if she was nervous about taking on the new role and she said at first, but it had been a lot of fun.  At which point, Peter who was drawing a picture for someone chimes in and says "She's great!"  The kids then asked if they could have group photos and they both said sure, so I got in on that action too...

Then that was it.  I immediately sent my picture of Peter and I to the Husband, who said he laughed out loud becasue he thought I would probably see Capaldi, but not actually get to meet him again.  I told him to never doubt my powers.  We spent about 10 minutes in that parking lot and had an experience that I will never forget.  An experience I'm pretty sure we have Peter to thank for because it really looked like he had asked to come down to meet us.  I stuck around for awhile and waited for one of my students to show up, who is also a fan.  I stayed with her for a bit and while we were waiting Peter popped out the front door of the building to take photos and sign some autographs.  More of a crowd had gathered at this point, so he really didn't have much time to talk to people, but my student got a photo with him and a quick shout out video to the fans in Brazil.  At this point, I was starting to feel like a stalker, so I left. But my student stayed for the rest of the day and got another opportunity to see him and to meet Pearl.  Once again, she said it was really quick because more people had gathered.  I'm glad that I got there when I did because it truly sounds like no one else had the experience that I got.

And that concludes the stalking adventures of 2016.  I know it was a horrible year for celebrity deaths, but for me it will go down as one of the best.  I got to fist bump John Cusack, finally talk to one of my favourite musicians, Jim Cuddy, and meet Peter Capaldi not once, but twice.  What will 2017 hold?  Well for starters another trip to Awesome Con to meet my Doctor, David Tennant and a trip to Ottawa Comic Con to meet.... wait for it.... Peter Capaldi again.  So will this madness ever end?  Not anytime soon!

Warning foul language ahead...

Once I become enamoured with an actor, I must try and see everything they have ever done, regardless of if it's good or not.  Peter Capaldi was no exception to this.  Now that the fire was burning, I wasted no time in hitting research mode, aka IMDB.  What I found was a long list of TV shows and movies that Capaldi has done, most of which are British so it has been difficult for me to find some of them, but thanks to Youtube and Netflix I've managed to see a few.

Malcom Tucker.  The second greatest character to be played by Peter Capaldi.  How is it that I was living my life completely unaware that this show even existed.  This is one of the reasons why I am so happy that Capaldi became the Doctor because if he hadn't, I would have never known about "The Thick of It".  I watched the first episode on my own and then immediately after told The Husband he needed to watch this show.  So being the good husband he is, he watched it with me and he and I were instantly hooked and binge-watched the entire series.  As a side note this is not good if you are in any kind of authority position at work and have a tendency to get angry from time to time.   Needless to say I was told by my staff to take a break from watching for awhile. Malcolm Tucker is a character that you probably shouldn't like, but the way that Peter Capaldi plays him, you can't help but love him.  Not to mention he's just down right sexy when he swears with his Scottish accent.  Swearing sounds so much nicer when it's being done in Scottish.
 
After watching "The Thick of It" and "In the Loop", I left Malcolm behind and moved on to a show I had seen before because of my love for Hugh Laurie, "Fortysomething".   This was a show I had seen because as mentioned above I try to watch everything my British loves have done, little did I know at the time that I was watching a future obsession.  Now I could watch with new eyes and see the adorableness of Ronnie Pilfrey.  The show isn't great, but it did allow me to see another side of Capaldi's acting chops and once again I was impressed.  This man seems to be able to do it all!  He sings, plays the guitar, acts and he can draw.  What a guy!

So now that I was drawn into the world of Capaldi and loving Doctor Who more than ever, what next.  Well in my case that would be annoy everyone around me by talking about him and wondering how on earth I could meet him.  That will be shared in my next post.  Thanks for reading!

Kidneys! I've got new Kidneys!

Now that I have established that I am a fan girl, let's talk about the current obsession, Peter Capaldi.  In order to tell this tale I will start from the beginning.  Let's go!

When Matt Smith announced he was leaving Doctor Who, I was okay, a bit worried, but okay.  I think most fans of the show felt worried.  You always worry when it's announced the current Doctor is leaving and someone new will be taking over the TARDIS.  How can you not!  This is the main character of the show!  However, you have to accept it and prepare yourself for the moment the Doctor will glow and morph into someone new.  I liked Matt Smith, but for me he was no David Tennant, so I was actually kind of excited about getting to meet a new actor who will play the role.

The year that all this happened was the year Doctor Who was celebrating it's 50th anniversary, so there was a lot of hoopla about the show.  I'm not sure if it was because of this that the BBC decided to do a live show to announce the new Doctor or if it just thought it was special enough to warrant such a production, but it was all very exciting!  I remember waiting for this day to come with so much anticipation, hoping that it was going to be Hugh Laurie!  Deep down I knew it wouldn't be, but a girl can dream.  The show was one hour and of course the announcement wouldn't be made until the last ten minutes. I waited anxiously while the host rambled on about the show and talked to a bunch of people whom I've  blocked out of my memory.  Finally the moment came....

Wait! What? Who? Peter Capaldi?  Who the hell is Peter Capaldi?!  He's not Hugh Laurie!  That was my initial reaction.  I had no idea who he was.  I had obviously seen him before because he had already been in a Doctor Who episode and had been in some movies I had seen, but he clearly didn't make an impression on me because I didn't remember him.  Had I lived in Britain, I likely would have known him as Malcolm Tucker, but I didn't.  I sat and watched the interview and when it was all over, turned to The Husband and said, "Hmm, I think I like him."  Husband's response, "Of course you like him, he's older, British, and has grey hair."  Okay, so maybe those were the factors contributing to me giving the new Doctor a fair shot, but I didn't like him the way The Husband was insinuating.  I mean come on, I just met the man!

Now we have established that Capaldi has peaked my interest, but I'm no where close to being a fan girl yet.  I need to see how he takes on the role of my beloved Doctor.  He's been given something very precious and he better do right by it. So the time comes for Matt Smith to say good bye and hand over the keys to the TARDIS.  Buckle in because we are about to go through another regeneration and it's never a smooth transition for a fan.

There he is new kidneys and all.  Now we have to wait for Series 8 to begin until we get a real taste of Capaldi. And that's where I will continue this story in my next post.  Thanks for reading!

To stalk or not to stalk, that is the question....

Alan Rickman was the first celebrity I ever met.  As I said before I may have changed the dates of my trip to England to coincide with the end of his play "Private Lives", but my intention was to simply see him in the play and worship from afar.  That was all I knew I could do, until a co-worker at the time had told me to go to the stage door after the show and meet him.  I laughed and said to her... what is this magical door that Alan Rickman will emerge from.  Co-worker assured me that he would and I would meet him.  Of course I didn't believe her, but I thought  I should at least research this.  So to the Internet I went and it was there that I discovered all of these fans who had indeed met him.  Co-worker was right!  There was a magical door!  However, having never come face to face with one of my British loves, I wasn't sure I could do it.  It wasn't until he came on stage that I knew I had to or I would forever regret my decision.  Of course I was a blundering fool when I met him, but now that he is gone, I'm glad that I went.

So now fast forward a few years (over 11 to be precise), and a new older British man love,
Hugh Laurie.

Now I knew about Hugh long before his days as Dr. House and was always a fan, but it was his portrayal as House that made me love him.  What an amazing talent this man is.  He's a comedian, a writer, an actor, and a musician.  What can't this man do?!  As all the loves before him, I had to have everything he ever made, which included his two albums.  As any good musician knows you must tour when you put out an album.  Hugh is no exception to this rule, so you can imagine my excitement when it was announced he would be playing in Toronto on Oct. 20, 2013. Of course I bought tickets.  I was going to take my lovely husband, who bless his soul supports my crazy old British man fetish, but instead took my bestfriend.  I think the hubby didn't want to see me in full fan girl mode, but his loss because it was an amazing show.  Here are some pictures...

 And a video...

 

Anyway, after the show I had the same internal debate, to stalk or not to stalk.  It would be easy, his tour bus was across the street, but for some reason I wasn't sure.  As Bestfriend and I walked away I asked him if we could check out the bus and see if anyone else was waiting.  Of course there was.  So we waited and waited and waited until this happend...

Finally there he was and again I was a blundering fool, but he signed my ticket stub and my bestfriend snapped some pics.  We walked away and I couldn't stop smiling or shaking.  Again this was a moment that I will remember forever.

Hugh Laurie was the second celebrity I met (I have friends who say stalk, but hey tomato, tomatoe).  Peter Capaldi will be the third.  In my next installment I'll tell you the tale of how I hated Doctor Who as a child, but now can't get enough of it.  Strange I know!