My Social Media-less Life

This is a longer story post. Get ready for a ride. 😉

I love Planet Comicon. Anybody who’s spent more than 5 minutes with me will automatically know that. Even if there’s not one celebrity there that I want to meet, I still go, just to be a part of it all.

This year however, there were some good celebs lined up. This year’s “theme” was the Scream movie franchise since they had a lot of the actors from those movies, but they also had a lot of voice actors and other such people who were not directly (or indirectly as far as I know) related to those movies. As they usually do, which is where they end up having “something for everyone.”

Very shortly after they began hyping up this year’s 25th anniversary, they began announcing guests, and announced the three actors from Boy Meets World who also have their own podcast, Pod Meets World.

Having never really gotten into Boy Meets World, I was happy for the 75% of people that were going to be there that probably were… but there was one of those names I realized I did want to meet: Will Friedle.

I knew Will Friedle from a lot of the voice acting he did, mainly as the new Batman in Batman Beyond and most notably, Ron Stoppable from Kim Possible… And for the short run it was on TV, he was also Lion-O in the new Thundercats some years ago.

So mentally, I’ve been planning to meet Will ever since I got the tickets for Christmas (thanks, Mom!). The biggest drawback was what I was going to say. However, I have the “gift of gab” and worst case scenario, I knew I would just say whatever fell out of my mouth once I stood in front of him.

In the Planet Comicon app, I had all of his autograph times set up to remind me when they would be… but also decided Friday (the first day) was simply going to be a day to get a feel for the crowd this year (it really is different every year). But I did buy a Ron Stoppable print from a seller in anticipation of meeting him on Saturday.

Saturday… was a day. My furry friend Zeke’s mom had a flat tire and stripped lug nuts after working a 14-hour shift as a trauma ER nurse, so I hung out with her until the tow truck came and then took her to the car place. So I decided to treat myself to a breakfast after that, AND THEN went to Planet Comicon.

By then it was almost noon and I was going to get in line to meet Will Friedle… only to find out they only do cash for autographs. Facepalm. I really should have known since this isn’t the first celebrity I’ve met and they do that just to keep things simple. The lines for all the ATMs were a literal mile long, so I thought, “I’ll just run to an ATM outside of the center; the financial district isn’t that far from here, after all.”

Easier said than done… I was gone for almost an hour and only managed to get $40 cash back from a CVS after buying some allergy medicine for a friend at the convention as well.

I did become somewhat more proficient in getting on those electric scooters and driving those around when I got tired of walking, so that was an added bonus for the weekend. And that was on top of all the street car riding I did!

By the time I finally got back to the convention (after stopping at a Starbucks for a strong coffee and to call my mom and vent), I helped my friend find some food and a bathroom with a less long line… which was also easier said than done. By then, I had missed the autograph time I wanted and a panel I wanted to see. But the friend needed me and I had been away from the convention for much longer than I had originally intended.

Ultimately, Saturday was a bust. On the upside, I now knew how much I needed in cash, and there was still one day left of the con.

And I knew in my knower… I was going to be there for the first autograph signing for Will Friedle.

Not only was I there, I was 7th in line! Which gave me FAR less time to be nervous about what I was going to say, but it didn’t matter, since he’s very attentive and very kind and I wasn’t nervous at all.

As soon as Will saw my Ron Stoppable print, he broke out his Ron voice and it was as if I was meeting ACTUAL Ron Stoppable and not just “the voice”.

Did I build up this whole blog post simply to fangirl? Yes, yes I did.

When Will signed the print and put his little note, “Never be normal”, he said it as Ron Stoppable and in my head I said to myself, “That’s it. I’m never going to forget this moment.” And even now, I still giggle thinking about it.

I didn’t realize how much I really wanted to meet him until my opportunities to do so started getting fewer, but I am so thankful I got to meet Will Friedle… maybe only for the first time, or maybe the only time. Either way, it was an unforgettable first experience.

I’m just glad I was persistent and finally got everything in order to get to that moment this morning where Ron Stoppable could tell me to never be normal. As I told him, I try not to be, but now… I think I’ll take his advice forever. 🙂