On Meeting the Love of My Life.

Wow. Thank God I did not faint but Lord, I wanted to after what happened. Everything went great and was more than I expected.

I arrived in LA around 5. I ran into one of my friends, Marisa, in the Kodak Theater (easiest place to park in Hollywood) so we walked over to Jimmy's building which is directly in front. Our other friends, Quinn and Cindi, were waiting in line. I was too damned excited. I rocked back and forth on the balls of my feet, wrung my hands, checked my cell phone repeatedly. Tasha joined us around 5:45. I was all smiles and trepidation.

The people who ran the show finally let us in at 6:15 and had us wait around until they let us into the main room. If you've ever been to a taping, it takes forever to get into the studio. They sit you at specific places and fuss over everything. It wasn't as bad as when I with a ton of diehard X Files fans waiting to see Gillian Anderson. Our crowd was made up of fans of Dennis Leary and Ice Cube. The Ice Cube fanclub seemed to have bought a good chunk of the tickets. It did not stop us from being the loudest we could be.

If you saw the Jimmy Kimmel show last night, you know what happened there (or if not, click HERE). Leary had me cracking up and dying of laughter. He was a cool guy. They hit for commercial and then readied the stage for Rickman. My friends would glance at me and smile knowingly. I was elbowed a couple times. When they gave the 30 second warning, I couldn't think. In the 20 seconds after, all I did was stare at the door he would come through. The lights went back up and Jimmy introduced him.

Luckily I was "whooping" and "howling" so I had to breathe. I think that helped. I could feel my face turn tomato red and my skin tighten as my smile grew of its own accord. I loved when Jimmy mentioned the Voice study. Rickman was so incredulous. He really doesn't see his appeal or attraction. I wish his interview had been longer. One of the highlights for me was when he perfectly delivered a line from Die Hard. My God, that movie was 20 years ago! I did do that fangirl squeal. Ugh, what has this man reduced me to?!

The interview ended and he sauntered off stage, smiling and waving briefly to fans. My friends and I only thought of how the hell we were going to get out of there and to the backdoor. The crew did let us out a side door and we ran to the back. The major thing that sucked was the crew had made us check our cameras at the door. They would not give them back until after taping was over. We still had our trusty camera phones. A crowd was already there getting autographs and photos. I froze in the back. I could see him clearly. He was less than ten feet away. My friends has jumped fearlessly into the fray. Quinn kept pushing me to the front and telling me to get a photo. I couldn't do it. I was so embarrassed to even be standing there. It was a horrible feeling for someone who is usually as confident as hell.


Quinn actually grabbed me at one point and made to pick me up and push me to the front. I elbowed him. I apologize! Finally, I joined the others on their side since they were able to make a gap in the front. Tasha had my shoulders. Then the unbelievable happened.

Quinn shouted, "Alan, my friend, Alex, is in love with you and is too shy to talk to you!"

He smirked! Rickman smirked and turned to in our direction. I have never heard my name said like that. Rickman said hello to me and shook my hand as I tried to remember how to function. [The Drama is soaking in this post.] I replied it was nice to meet him and then turned for a quick photo. My friends were kidding me about my freeze up. I walked shakily back up to the street. HERE is a little bit of what happened in the back.

I really did feel drunk afterwards. A late dinner and a coconut margarita set me to rights. Thanks to Marisa, Tasha, Cindi, and especially Quinn! I would have never gotten the courage to walk up to him and talk to him if you guys hadn't pushed me. Love you.