Saturday, January 30th 2010
(aka...The Best Day Of My Entire Life...So Far)
My alarm went off at 4:00AM and instantly I threw some expensive ABC Store raman into the microwave. I needed all the energy I could get and clearly a bowl of raman would make up for 4 hours of sleep. I was full of nerves. What if I get mugged on the beach? What if there is already 48,151,623,42 people there? What if getting up this early is a HUGE mistake? But it wasn't something I was willing to risk. I made it all the way to Hawaii with the help of some amazing people and I was going to make sure everything happened that needed to happen, and if that meant sleeping on the beach for 13 hours then so be it. With that - I rolled my Dharma Jumpsuit into my backpack, stoked my Season 6 Premiere Meet Up Tote Bag (Thanks JO!!!!!!!!!) with bottled water and set off for the Waikiki Beach.
Of course it was raining outside, but that just added to the excitement. I caught a few interesting looks from the island indigenous population on my way to the beach, but I didn't blame them. I was a teenager with a Canada t-shirt on, wearing Hawaiian themed shorts, sandals, with an AVATAR backpack and a tote bag. I was the definition of LOSTie. And it felt GLORIOUS. I crossed the deserted street and began trekking through the cold, rain-saturated beach sand. Now, for anyone who knows me. I HATE THE BEACH. I live in Florida and I hate the beach. I probably go to the beach once or twice a year with friends who force me to do it. That being said - My beach phobias weren't allowed in Waikiki and thus, I buried them Nikki and Paolo style as soon I set foot in that sand.
And the reason I had pushed them to the back of my mind was the fact that I appeared to be the ONLY person on the beach. There was an umbrella about 100 feet away, perched next to the Anti-Fan-Barricades set up for the actor's protection. I was a little nervous. Was it a LOSTie? Was it an other? Was it Damon Lindelof?!?!?! Or maybe it could of been a predator, aiming to scoop up an innocent little Lostie like me. But alas....It was.............(building Giacchino music)...
TOUR GUIDE MATT!
Yes! That's right folks! My super cool LOST acolyte was chillin' and saving a spot for me (duh...), front and center. I was super relieved to see him and glad I wouldn't need to sit 30 feet away from this stranger until some friendly faces showed up. And also, being the first 2 people there. We had chairs. Oh yes. Chairs. Matt, Shannon, and I were super ready for Sunset on the Beach.
Matt left for fifteen minutes to get some emergency back up umbrellas, both for the stupid rain and for the stupid sun that would be beating us senseless in 10 hours. I was alone on the beach. And that is when "she" arrived. I don't quite know how to explain her. Mid 40's, early 50's. Dressed in all black. I didn't know it yet, but Matt and I would soon refer to her as "The Monster"...
She was one of those people who likes to talk. Not that it's a bad thing, exactly, because certainly...LOST fans LOVE to talk about LOST. But this woman just complained, and spewed crazy negativity all over Waikiki Beach. I realized that this was the cost of getting out here at 5AM. Putting up with "The Monster". It went a little like this...
"I went to a local print shop and made some really amazing glossy photographs of EVERY actor on the show and if ALL of them aren't signed by the end of this day, then I'm going to be so pissed, because they should have the decency to sign everything since I'm such a huge fan and came all the way out here to see them and I won't be pleased if they don't sign anything, I mean, they shouldn't even have barricades here because then its possible I won't get my stuff signed, and when I went to Paley Fest I only got a few signed and that wasn't good enough, and I can't believe they aren't even going to show us the entire episode, I mean, I flew all the way out here to see it and they can't even show me the entire thing, I mean, what the heck-"
Come to think of it, if Illana really wanted to kill Ben, she could of just tied him to a tree next to this woman and sooner or late he would of just buried HIMSELF alive. She went on to say she was trying to book a hummer tour around the island, which freaked Matt out, but rest assured, the day she spoke of was his day off. Thank Jacob.
"Oh, but I don't know why I'm worrying about not meeting the entire cast and crew of LOST ,because I have a friend who is a VIP and is going to get me in there with a press pass, so I don't even know why I came out here this early. hahahahahaahahhahhah what a waste of time, but oh well, like seriously!" - said the MONSTER.
By this time she got a tip-off that there was a "prime" cast viewing location on the OTHER end of the beach and she got up and moved her crap down to the other end of the barricades, far, far, far, far away from us. And the balance was restored to the beach. Also, by this time, our premiere "Survivor's Camp" was being established.
TIMEFLASH!!!!!!
As the sun began to rise over Waikiki, more survivors began to surface and I knew it was time to begin to ration our supplies. The sunblock, water, and the ABC Store roast beef croissant sandwich I purchased the night before. A few more hours passed and around 10AM-ish, Erika and Jo arrived and set up camp a few feet behind us. To pass the time I intended on bringing my notebook to create some sort of LOST fan-fiction, assigning roles to my fellow fan-camp survivors. Like who would pull a "Joanna" and go drown themselves on accident, and who would be the first person to go save them. Or who would get dragged into the jungle by Ethan first. I couldn't decide whether or not Tour Guide Matt would be our Jack, for lending memorabilia-less Italian girls his spare LOST t-shirts and being the hero, or if he'd be our Locke since he knew more about the island than any of us. And because of this picture...
(I mean. Seriously? Come on. How cool is that?)
Heidi showed up not too long later and we negotiated with the Island, allowing her to sneak up front and camp out under our pink umbrella even though she wasn't there at 5AM (for shame, Heidi!) and we hung out, talked about everything and anything. Neil showed up too in his Dr. Grant Jurassic Park hat which I thought was pretty epic. The hot dog vender was taking FOR-EVER to set up, which sucked so much since we were all starving and unwilling to leave the beach to hunt boar.
I was expecting a majority of the LOSTies to be overweight and dorky like me, but they was a vast diversity of people. We met a group of girls who came all the way from Italy for the premiere. They were also in Hawaii to study, but I'm not going to mention it since it's cooler to say they came JUST for LOST. I met another lady who was pretty much our camp "Mom", and she had a LOST tattoo just like me, but maybe a little more subtle. Things began to get really busy. Crew members quickly putting together the giant school that we'd be watching the first episode of the final season on in just a few hours.
FINALLY - The Giver of the Hotdogs was open for business. Heidi and I enjoyed some delicious "Shave Ice"...I referred to it as "Shaved Ice" and Tour Guide Matt corrected me. I felt like a tourist. The sun out and cooking my feet. My main concern was Shannon. Tattoos hate the sun, and unlike the Shannon of LOST, my tattoo would NOT be sun-tanning on this particular beach day. We also discovered the youngest LOST fan, decked out in Dharma Overalls.
This little girl put me in the mood to do something I had been waiting to do since my plane took off from Orlando, FL, two days earlier. And that thing was waiting for me inside my backpack. It was my Dharma Jumpsuit. I ran back to the umbrella, asked my friends not to judge me, and suited up. It was like putting on my armor before battle. Or putting on a tuxedo for a wedding. It was a glorious moment, 6 years in the making, dating back to September 22, 2004.
I went for a small walk around the beach and was met with laughs, applause, points, pictures, and a whole lot of more LOSTie support. I ignored the fact that it was stupid hot outside (and inside...) and marches my way through the crowd, feeling like the Messiah. Heidi and I made our way to the entrance to the VIP area, which wasn't blocked off yet. I was hoping to see name placements on the seats, so I could worship Damon Lindelof's chair, but alas, nothing. So I picked a good one, took a seat, and basked in the glory of this entire trip.
As the sun began to rise over Waikiki, more survivors began to surface and I knew it was time to begin to ration our supplies. The sunblock, water, and the ABC Store roast beef croissant sandwich I purchased the night before. A few more hours passed and around 10AM-ish, Erika and Jo arrived and set up camp a few feet behind us. To pass the time I intended on bringing my notebook to create some sort of LOST fan-fiction, assigning roles to my fellow fan-camp survivors. Like who would pull a "Joanna" and go drown themselves on accident, and who would be the first person to go save them. Or who would get dragged into the jungle by Ethan first. I couldn't decide whether or not Tour Guide Matt would be our Jack, for lending memorabilia-less Italian girls his spare LOST t-shirts and being the hero, or if he'd be our Locke since he knew more about the island than any of us. And because of this picture...
(I mean. Seriously? Come on. How cool is that?)Heidi showed up not too long later and we negotiated with the Island, allowing her to sneak up front and camp out under our pink umbrella even though she wasn't there at 5AM (for shame, Heidi!) and we hung out, talked about everything and anything. Neil showed up too in his Dr. Grant Jurassic Park hat which I thought was pretty epic. The hot dog vender was taking FOR-EVER to set up, which sucked so much since we were all starving and unwilling to leave the beach to hunt boar.
I was expecting a majority of the LOSTies to be overweight and dorky like me, but they was a vast diversity of people. We met a group of girls who came all the way from Italy for the premiere. They were also in Hawaii to study, but I'm not going to mention it since it's cooler to say they came JUST for LOST. I met another lady who was pretty much our camp "Mom", and she had a LOST tattoo just like me, but maybe a little more subtle. Things began to get really busy. Crew members quickly putting together the giant school that we'd be watching the first episode of the final season on in just a few hours.
FINALLY - The Giver of the Hotdogs was open for business. Heidi and I enjoyed some delicious "Shave Ice"...I referred to it as "Shaved Ice" and Tour Guide Matt corrected me. I felt like a tourist. The sun out and cooking my feet. My main concern was Shannon. Tattoos hate the sun, and unlike the Shannon of LOST, my tattoo would NOT be sun-tanning on this particular beach day. We also discovered the youngest LOST fan, decked out in Dharma Overalls.
This little girl put me in the mood to do something I had been waiting to do since my plane took off from Orlando, FL, two days earlier. And that thing was waiting for me inside my backpack. It was my Dharma Jumpsuit. I ran back to the umbrella, asked my friends not to judge me, and suited up. It was like putting on my armor before battle. Or putting on a tuxedo for a wedding. It was a glorious moment, 6 years in the making, dating back to September 22, 2004.
I went for a small walk around the beach and was met with laughs, applause, points, pictures, and a whole lot of more LOSTie support. I ignored the fact that it was stupid hot outside (and inside...) and marches my way through the crowd, feeling like the Messiah. Heidi and I made our way to the entrance to the VIP area, which wasn't blocked off yet. I was hoping to see name placements on the seats, so I could worship Damon Lindelof's chair, but alas, nothing. So I picked a good one, took a seat, and basked in the glory of this entire trip.
In the next entry...The Red Carpet.
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