May 26, 2012

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It all started a few weeks ago really. I remembered that Jimmy Fallon was putting out a new Thank You Notes book. I immediately contacted Katie, who was my savior last year, and let her know a signing was in the near future.  Well, Monday, May 21 rolls around, a day before the book was to come out, and I noticed that my blog posts peaked throughout the day, and my blog from last year's signing was pretty high. I thought it was odd, but didn't think anything of it, as sometimes that happens. Right before I went to bed that night, I checked Twitter and saw that Jimmy was doing another signing on Thursday, May 24 and the wheels immediately started turning. I realized that I would have to take another half day and cancel my personal training session. And I had to get in contact with Katie!



Bright and early on Tuesday, I emailed my boss and my trainer and made the changes. Then I Googled, 'Jimmy Fallon' and 'Union Square' to get more info on the signing and saw that my blog was number 3 in that search! Three!!!!!  Well, mystery solved as the blog hits kept coming that day.



All of a sudden it's Thursday and I'm rushing to get my work done and get into the city. It rained, well poured, rather, on and off throughout the day, but whenever I had to actually walk somewhere, the weather held up. I got to the store around 3 p.m. and bought two books. I let Katie know that it was the same deal as last year, except that Jimmy only planned to talk for about 10 minutes and then it was strictly a signing (which is better, since the store was expecting 600 people for it). I grabbed a quick lunch and then walked around the store until around 4:30 p.m., when the employees let us line up. In that time, Zenovia called me to say she was in fact coming, so I bought another book for her. At 4:50 p.m., they made an announcement they would let us sit down, but we weren't allowed to save seats!!! Dammit, I thought, but went in with the crowd. They told me again, I could not save seats, so I got out of the front seats and waited for the girls to get there. In hindsight, I'm thinking that I probably could have waited another 10 minutes and then went to get seats, as they weren't really keeping track. But I played by the rules and waited for them to show up at 5:30 p.m., which was fine because we were still in the front section and were able to see the stage. We settled in to wait until 7:30 p.m., when Jimmy was scheduled to arrive, as again, he was taping a show beforehand.



At 7:35 p.m. on the dot, Jimmy showed up, looking extremely sexy and adorable in a blue sweater. He spoke a little bit about his show and having the president on the show before he read a few Thank You Notes. As he was finishing up the notes, this woman in the audience stands on her chair, completely topless with just a camera between her breasts, a top hat and a fake handlebar mustache. She starts yelling something about being the real New York. Jimmy takes it all in stride and makes a few breast jokes while security escorts her out, still topless. (Katie did some research after the signing and found out this is not the first time this woman has done this, as she has been topless at other events and on the subway.)



After the interruption, Jimmy started signing. Even though the staff said we weren't allowed to take individual pictures with him, he still posed for them, hugging people, taking gifts and giving each fan his undivided attention, even if just for 30 seconds. The line, at first moved pretty slowly, and I was getting nervous and bored all at once (a weird combo). But soon, we were getting up and waiting on line to see him. And I started shaking, again. To this day, I still don't know why he does this time me, as he is the nicest celebrity to meet! While waiting, I made the girls practice with my camera phone and my camera, as I wanted pictures from both angles.

And then we got closer!

Zenovia went first. And then it was my turn. I had planned out what I was going to say, but I'm sure it sounded like babble. I blurted out that he made my blog number 3 in a Google search, without actually telling him what the blog was about!!!!! So, he asked me, and I got very happy!
And then he told me we needed to make it to number 1!

And then we took our picture. While I had wanted to take the 'money shot' with the regular camera Katie was in charge of, he turned to Zenovia with the camera phone. BUT, it came out great and I did get the picture from both angles.
   

After we took the picture, I grabbed my book, thanked him and moved along to let Katie get her autograph. And that's when Zenovia and Katie decided to tell Jimmy that I am his biggest fan and that I've seen every show (which I have) and that I've been to see his show several times (which I have) and that I met him last year too. So embarrassing! BUT, he turned to me with a huge smile and was like, 'Really???' and he shook my hand again!!!!!!  He then thanked us and Katie got her picture.

And all of this happened in a matter of 1 minute. And it was one of the best minutes of my life. Now, I'm pretty sure that he if has a CD signing next month and I go, that he will either remember me and be excited OR have the cops on hand to escort me (and possibly the topless lady) out. Oh well. I enjoyed myself and am thankful for the girls for coming with me and letting him know how much I love him, since I could barely speak. I love that Jimmy is so great to his fans. Even the store employees let us know that he would be individualizing each book, which other people don't always do. And I really do love that he took the time to talk to each person. By the time we got up there, you could tell he was exhausted, as we were probably 300 or so, but he was kind and funny and personable. If you haven't met him already, I recommend getting down to a signing or even see his show. It's worth it.

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Love you Jimmy!  Thanks again!!!