Tuesday, July 2, 2013

Fallen from Grace

I decided that, since my Philly experience was so fantastic, it would be a good idea to meet Norman Reedus again at the Wizard World in Manhattan.  I went down on Saturday, June 29th, getting up at 5am so I could leave by 6 and try to beat the crowd.

I beat some of the crowd, but it was already crazy busy when I pulled into the parking lot at 9:24.  The staff was doing valet parking, in order to try to fit everyone into the parking lot.  While waiting for them to park Sheila (that's my car's name) and give me my ticket, I chatted with the attendants' supervisor.  He asked if I was there to see Norman, and I said, "Is it that obvious?"  His explanation was that I don't look like a con-geek, but rather, a normal female, so he had to assume.

The conversation then somehow turned to the celebrity cruise from the previous night.  This guy had been on the cruise (working, of course), and basically told me that Norman was "partying hard."  I asked what he meant, and he said, "He was... partaking in... things."

Naturally, my response was, "Drugs?"  His response was simply, "Hey, the guy used to model for Prada, of course he does some fucked up shit."

Oh, well.  That's... huh.  Okay.  So the day started off on an uncomfortable note.

The VIPs were allowed inside early, so having already looked up the location of Norman's booth on the map beforehand, I headed straight back there to get in line, and wasn't terribly surprised that there were at least fifty people already waiting.  So I got in line, made friends with two girls that were, awesomely enough, also from Massachusetts, and waited patiently.

Sean Clark showed up at about quarter past ten, and I snapped a few pictures of him because he's wicked awesome and if he asked me to marry him, I'd say yes.  Just saying.  P.S. Sean, if you ever read this, I like solitare rings.  Thanks.

They set up the booth and sorted out security and where to direct the line while we waited patiently.  Sean seemed a little anxious, especially as 11am came and went and there was no sign of Norman.  He wandered around talking to people in line, which was nice.  He was probably worried we were going to riot if Norm didn't show, and he didn't want us to toss him on the pyre while we were at it.

It was mildly concerning that he didn't seem to know where Norman was.

But ho, Norman popped in through that double door at about 11:30 and slipped into the booth.  The line started moving pretty steadily, and I was up to Sean in no time.

He asked me what he could get me, and I said, "Nothing! I have something for you!" and handed him a bag full of several different kinds of sour gummy candies (which are purportedly his favorite, according to his Twitter stalker, @ClarkStalking).  He seemed excited about them, saying they were going to be eaten immediately, and when I wasn't looking, he slipped around the table and hug attacked me!


If I hadn't already had a bit of a crush on him, I would've developed one then!  He gives really good hugs -- no butt-out or one-armed junk hugs, but solid, two-armed, body squeeze hugs.  I loved it!

So after that excitement, it was my turn to see Norman.  I was proud of myself when I managed to form coherent sentences, saying hello and asking for a hug (which was a one-armed, across-the-table hug, boo).  After he signed my picture, I showed him my phone and the picture of me licking him from last time, and asked what we should do for this one.  His response was that he didn't know, and he guessed I'd have to go with a kiss on the cheek.  I didn't really say anything, but I thanked him for the autograph and left the line.

Fellow fangirls, please forgive me; I'm about to say something you're not going to like.

I lost some love for Norman.  The way he spoke, his slow reaction times, and his apparent difficulty in processing speech made me think that he was under the influence of a substance.  I don't know what substance, but I know he wasn't speaking or acting at all the way he did in Philly.  Considering what the supervisor outside had told me, I can only imagine it was some kind of drug, and I'm hoping it wasn't something he'd used before the convention, but that maybe it was just a residual effect from the night before.  Regardless, the very idea that Norman Reedus does drugs is a horrible one, and I hate thinking it at all.

I wasn't entirely convinced until later.  There was so little to do between the signing and the photo op that I ended up spending a considerable amount of time sitting on the floor against the wall (I migrated to a new spot every so often).  Around 4pm, signing was done, and Sean and a few security guys were escorting Norman over to the photo area, and I watched them from the spot I had staked out near their booth.

It was a huge chore for them to get Norman to focus and just walk.  He was super distracted and Sean had to keep reminding him to keep walking, c'mon, let's go, we have to keep moving.  He was just kind of all over the place, and I was super disappointed.  I ended up leaving before the photo; I gave my VIP pass and the photo ticket to a nice-looking family who seemed very appreciative, so that was a plus, at least.

Still, though, I feel a little heartbroken over this, and I wish I'd never gone.  HOWEVER, if I HADN'T gone, I'd have missed out a picture with Michael Rooker:


I told him that I'd hated Merle for SO. LONG, and that I was really glad he went out the way he did, and he laughed, gave me a squeeze around the waist, and then we got the lovely photo.

Also, this awesome little experience:


Story to come in the next post!

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