When I heard about it I was kind of deciding if I should go or not. I thought about just staying home and watching it from the site. But at last minute I decided to go for it. I decided what the hell. So I took out some money bought drinks for me, Leita and Jack and kicked back till night came. Once it was about midnight I went to bed. We had to wake up at 4 because we had to leave by 4:30 am so I got up at 3:45 to take a shower. I couldn’t sleep what so ever I had butterflies and indigestion so I woke up about 3:40 and did what I had to do. I got dressed and put on my cripple of inishmaan shirt. I packed my cripple of inishmaan bag and at 4:30 we were out the door. Waiting for the bus in the cold my kids were freezing there was wind so that plus the cold made it even colder. I never felt it really.
But once we got on the bus about 4:40 it got better. Now usually I know my way around downtown, but in the dark you can’t see anything it was so pitch black we missed our stop. That’s how dark it was. We had to track back about a block or more but it was only a block cause we had to take the red line in the subway. So we refilled our tap cards and went down to the trains. Once the Hollywood red line came we got in and took it all the way to Hollywood and Highland. From there it was so easy. Fans were already lined up at the place they said to line up which was called the Souvenirs of Hollywood. So we lined up behind a couple with their little girl. I didn’t catch their names but I introduced her to SDR told her a little about what I do and she gave us a bag a chips which my daughter ate and let me sit in a chair they had to save their space as they went to take photos elsewhere. They had come from San Diego and had been there since 2am. We got there about 5:40.
We waited for like what seemed forever. The line got longer behind us it was so long it surpassed 50 people. Jack got hungry so I bought him breakfast at Mc Donald’s. Leita wasn’t hungry so she just sat on the ground and kept our spot till we came back. Guards finally started to show up and started to come about 9. In the mean time they were buffing Dan’s star and setting up.
We got bracelets and they put numbers on them. I was 22 after a short while we finally got the go to go to the fan cage so we left about 10:30 from Hollywood and highland to the Dolby Theater. When we all lined up against the fence we had to move a bit. My daughter was the cut off at the side of the speaker so they moved the others to the back of us.
We could see everything setting up along with the press and a few for the visitor’s area. Dan’s parents came a bit early so they were chatting with people. So glad to see them there for their son. I took a few photos here and there and just kept snapping away there was a guard by a door and I knew Dan was in there. When everyone eventually came out the ceremony began. Dan hugged his parents and then he waited to be called on stage. Once all the intro’s and everything was done Dan took to the stage with his speech. There was a moment when it looked like he was gonna cry. His voice had this teary sound it in and he finally ended his speech then going down to the star. The paps surrounded him and took their photos you could hear flashes and what not. After he did photos they came and surrounded him even closer for interviews.
During that an interviewer asked me a question about how I felt after seeing it. I told her how I felt and her last question was if I had a crush on him. I nodded and said yes. I had did a slight interview before asking if I was Dan Radcliffe fan and I told her yes and told her about SDR and Graham Norton. She was amazing. Her name was Amanda Salas for Hollywood Today Live.
After all interviews were done we waited there till the very end. There were signs there saying no autograph requests so I didn’t know what to expect. We called to him and once he was done with his interviews he came to us. He came down the line and once he was in my face I held my poster for him to sign I told him thank you and I said more but my voice was overpowered by the crowd. When he signed for my daughter she made him think he didn’t sign hers. But she had turned it over cause the poster was double sided. So when she turned it over she said you got me. Dan said Ah good then he went on to a few others then went back into the same door he came from.
It was an amazing experience and I have to admit looking at him and into his eyes I just about died. I didn’t push or anything and he was just concentrating on signing. I held out the poster to make it easy for him to sign using my arms as a sort of table. It was cool they gave us those for him to sign because I didn’t bring anything with me. I had a few things he had signed already. So I didn’t see the point.
I took a chance on doing something crazy and it paid off. At every chance I didn’t think we weren’t gonna get to see anything but I was wrong. There was an angel out there who made it possible. This is the first time we came face to face with each other and I will never forget it. The time before at Universal I just saw him and Dane from a far. This was so much better. We got out of there by 1pm and headed to the restrooms after that we came home and ate.
