Woes

I like LiveJournal. I realize a lot of people don't anymore, and that they think it's old-fashioned and...frankly Russian. I do agree about the Russian part, but I'm kind of an old-fashioned kind of girl, so that part doesn't bother me. The Russian part, as it turns out, does though. LJ is going through yet ANOTHER massive DDoS attack, and it's been virtually unavailable since Wednesday.

This has pointed out to me the need to move my main author's place on the web from LiveJournal to WordPress, and once I get this latest manuscript "in the can" that will be my next order of business. In the mean time, I was thwarted yet again in posting a little private entry of success about the completion of my third novel. (Yes, Chris Jericho, I did indeed say "fuck it!" and write my next book).

Every time LJ goes through these little hiccups, the masses MOAN and BITCH and COMPLAIN in droves. I roll my eyes, and keep doing what I am doing. The last time LJ offered compensation to paid users in the form of extra paid time. Nice. Unfortunately, my paid account is a permanent account. God awfully expensive, I figured it was a good option for me at the time because I relentlessly hold on to things, and knew I wouldn't ever ditch the journal. Problem is, I will get no compensation for the frustration that the last few days have brought. And when we permanent account users complain, we get nothing but grief...that our accounts are basically "free" so why bitch? Is this to say we haven't experienced an equal amount of frustration? Sure, it's hard to reward us for our patience with anything, since extended paid time doesn't cut it, but it's frustrating to see us get bitched down for expressing our frustration.

Ok...off my chest...move on.

When your idols live up to the hype

A few days ago I had an interesting conversation at a party. I was with a bunch of jaded "Hollywood types"...the people who are in the background making the machinery run, and the subject of meeting people you idolize came up. I can't remember any of the specific names they mentioned, but the bottom line was many times celebrities are assholes when you meet them in person.

I was happily able to add my two cents that I know of one celebrity who has NEVER been an asshole in person, and I've had the opportunity to meet him more than once.

The first time I met Chris Jericho was in 2005, Wrestlemania weekend. I stood in line behind a Toys R Us with a bunch of people and was ushered into his presence for all of a minute, but he was incredibly nice, and even joked with me as I handed him my right hand to shake instead of my left. After that giddy meeting my friend and I sat on a curb outside to watch, and the line was cut off. Right as the last people were finally getting inside, a Toys R Us employee came over to us and offered to get us into the line, even though it was cut off. This just added to the good kharma of the day. We declined, but we waited to see Jericho leave.

There were lots of angry peeps that tried to cluster around him as they'd arrived too late to be in line, and he was gracious and pleasant to many of them, signing more autographs before he was whisked away.

In 2006 I had the opportunity to meet him again, after a Groundlings show. I stood there in front of the theater with a whole cluster of people, and watched him take his time to talk to everyone who was there waiting. Not just a "Hi, thanks for coming" but a conversation. Real conversations, I watched him listening. When it was eventually our turn, I let my friend do most of the talking, but as he walked away he said, "What were your names again?"...and it wasn't said "in passing."

We went for a Groundlings show a week later, and this time he politely told us he couldn't stick around, but very graciously agreed to take a picture with me. All in all we talked with him after five different Groundlings show. Sometimes it was a longer conversation, other times not, but every time he was courteous. Who can ever forget having Chris Jericho come up to you from behind, interrupt your conversation and say, "Hey you guys, how was your Christmas?"

In November of 2007 I went to have my Lion's Tale book signed, and I hadn't seen him in nine months, but as I approached the table, he looked up and said, "I know you." Clearly, Chris Jericho has a good memory for faces. He didn't remember my name, but he again was so outgoing as he signed my book, and I had a mini mental meltdown where all I could think in my head was "Oh my God...he remembers me!"

I didn't have another opportunity to meet him again until this year in January. Now more than three years had gone by, and I was sure he wouldn't remember us! My friend and I got VIP passes to see him at the Whisky-A-Go-Go, and in a strange sort of deja vu, we were standing on the sidewalk in front of the club when we first saw him, quite reminiscent of the Groundlings days. He walked past us, looked at me first, then my friend, there was a moment of recognition and then he said "Hey you guys." I was speechless, that was exactly how he used to greet us in the Groundlings days. No time to talk then, but later after we got inside he said to me, "Don't I know you from somewhere?"

Seriously, this wasn't smoke and mirrors. Later we had a heart to heart, Chris and I, where he gave me good advice about ignoring criticism from fans.

These are just my own personal experiences, but I've heard of many other times that Jericho was the opposite of a typical celebrity with his fans. I listened to an Eddie Trunk show one time when a girl called in, clearly clueless about heavy metal music, and the rest of the crew ridiculed her while he was kind to her. I heard from the webmistress at Ohio Valley Wrestling one time about how he made a special effort to see a fan who hadn't had the chance to see him when everyone esle did.

Chris Jericho is not a typical celebrity, and I for one, am glad.

Invisible

I'm writing here because I have the (probably) misguided notion that no one reads this journal. I need to rant, and I have no place to rant, so since I think no one reads this, I'll do it here.

Grrr.

I don't think Jericho is coming back "right after" he wins DWTS. It's not that I don't think he can win DWTS, but I don't think he'll come back that soon. There is the European Fozzy tour first, and I've a pretty good feeling he'll honor that before he comes back. I think him saying he will be back when he wins is a ploy for votes. Everything is a ploy for votes. Hell, Jericho you're getting my votes anyway, all this shameless begging is starting to wear thin. You appear to retweet or reply to people left and right who tweet at you about voting...but some of us, your long term supporters, are left in the cold. Yes...I know, I look like I'm complaining or eating sour grapes, but come on man. You're following a few of the long term fans, and people like me look like we're sitting around with our thumbs up our asses (cheap Batista reference). Granted, I'm going to keep voting Jericho whether he responds to any of my pathetic grandstanding for recognition, but it's tiresome to say the least.

/rant number one

LiveJournal is on my last nerve. For the love of god people...when a mod of a community asks the community to play nice...it means PLAY NICE for god's sake! Don't come back with some kind of snarky response that everyone in the community is just a whiner because guess what....YOU'RE BEING A WHINER TOO! It's not rocket science Einstein! The recent DDoS attack was a pain in the ass for me too, and just because I have a permanent account (which doesn't, btw, mean that it's all free all the time) doesn't mean that I wasn't miffed about the slowness of the service. I was. Yes, I'm not posting anymore, but it doesn't mean I don't want to go in and look at what everyone else is posting. Besides, if I say "it would be nice if we were given some kind of compensation too, like the paid account users" it doesn't mean I'm a whiner. It's my opinion, just like you calling me a whiner is YOUR opinion.

/rant number two

The third rant is still locked away, because there's no way to rant about it in public without looking like an idiot...but hoo boy, it simmers man. It simmers.

Fozzy -- The V.I.P Experience

Thursday January 13, 2011 I had the opportunity to hang out with Fozzy at the Whisky. What a great time it was! I've lost the energy to write a lengthy post about everything in detail, so here is a bulleted list:

• Arrived at 3pm, found out our contact Marty was former WWE ref Marty Elias, what a great guy he was!
• We were supposed to get inside to watch Fozzy soundcheck, but all their equipment arrived late so we ended up standing outside waiting for 2 hours instead. Marty kept us entertained.
• Finally we got inside. First order of business was each of us (12 in our group) got an individual picture with the band. Rich Ward was exceedingly nice to me at this point.
• After the pictures we were able to mingle and have things signed. I gave Rich my The Duke CD and he was so happy to see it he HUGGED me. It was overwhelming, but so very cool. I also had a Stuck Mojo CD and he had already signed it but was glad to see I had it. Frank and Sean signed it. They all also signed my Fozzy Remains Alive CD (it came in the Survival Pack).
• Finally I took the CD to Chris, we took a picture and then he said "Don't I know you from somewhere?" I said "Groundlings!" and then he remembered.
• We had a bit of time to mill around, and during this time I had a rather intense one-on-one conversation with Jericho about criticism, and "fuck it! Do what you love and don't care what other people think!" 
• Walked down to the Rainbow Bar and Grill for dinner. They had us at a series of tables, and Rich wanted to be sure I sat near him...I ended up right next to Frank, and I bent his ear about a whole litany of things. He was a lot of fun to talk to...and I found out his wife is a Cure fan! And she likes Killing Joke...I like her already!
• After the meal I talked to Chris again, he asked me how long I've been writing. I gave him a book called "M Is For Metal"...a heavy metal alphabet book and said it was for his kids. He asked me if I wrote it...I said no but I showed him that "C is for Carol" and he thought that was cool.
• We met Jessica! We asked Chris to introduce us. She is so sweet, and so beautiful!
• Scott Baio was there, everyone was excited except for me.
• Finally we walked back down to the Whisky. Bought earplugs so we could make it through the first bands.
• ZO2 was amazing!!!!! David Z is hawt! Especially shirtless!
• Jeff Scott Soto was also really good...that guy has a lot of energy!
• Finally it was time for Fozzy. There was a lot of energy in the room. Chris said that when he was 12, playing in his first band, he dreamed of performing at the Whisky, and now here he was.
• I got a lot of pictures and they are here.
• They played until 12:30 and according to one of the VIPs who could see the setlist they played 16 songs...including: Under Blackened Skies, Martyr No More, Grail, Let the Madness Begin, God Pounds His Nails, Paraskavedekatriaphobia, Enemy, Wanderlust, To Kill a Stranger, Crucify Yourself, and Eat the Rich.
• The Miz came...we didn't meet him.
• The show was over at 12:30--12:40 ish. I was super exhausted by that time. 

Here's my pictures with Chris...and Rich. I think it's obvious that the Rich Ward experience was a bogus one.

 

It was an awesome experience....really meant a lot to me!