PART VII: MEETING MICHELLE!!!
My sister & I left & didn’t stay for the ending because we wanted to find the place where the skaters signed autographs & not get lost in the crowd if we waited until the show was entirely over. I vaguely remember when I had attended a hockey game that we had gone to some place underneath the arena or something like that to get autographs. That was a long time ago. Yet I began to remember. I found an area where there was a big cell wall & charter buses were over there too. I knew that was the place! Nobody was really out there either. Unfortunately there were gates set up so you couldn’t go all the way down to the cell wall & inside when it opened like you were able to when I had been to that one hockey game. So my sis went back to find our grandparents & let them know where we were etc. We had left them in their seats. The guard said that the skaters would come out that way & some would probably sign autographs. I knew if Michelle came out she definitely would because she just has the kindest heart! They said the wait was about half an hour though. I didn’t care! I was going to wait forever until the skaters did come! My sis came back & our grandparents waited in the car. I think it was so nice of them to wait all that time for us! There weren’t many people waiting for autographs. Then gradually more came! Before I knew it the gates were crowded around with fans! I also couldn’t believe it! My sis & I had spots up front! In the middle! Further up it got high so you can’t really reach over to the skaters for autographs. Then we were in the middle. The end part went to about a little past the buses. I swear if it was cold or freezing I don’t know because my body was not conscious of such feelings. I do remember since it started getting crowded I stood on the bottom of the gate to raise myself higher so I could bend over the gate more & see down to the cell wall. It opened & you could see Champions on Ice lockers & all kinds of people. But no skaters yet. I saw Naomi Nari Nam’s coach come up & possibly her family. I also so Michael Weiss’s wife. Then sometimes guards or other people would walk up & people cheered just as a joke. So that was pretty funny. Then I saw Naomi down there inside the opening signing some autographs. We all started shouting, "NAOMI! NAOMI! NAOMI!" & she came down the line of fans signing autographs. Then there she was right in front of my sister & me signing our program! She was so cute! So small! With such a gentle & cute voice! It was just amazing! I got 2 beautiful pictures of her! I was able to see because like I mentioned before I had a special digital camera where you can view the pictures after you’ve taken them. Then Michael Weiss came out. Everybody started shouting, "MICHAEL! MICHAEL! MICHAEL!". And it started sprinkling! California has had quite some weird weather! Especially for the beginning of June so we’ve been calling it "June Gloom". I was holding out the program opened to the page with Michael Weiss’s picture. He came to sign it, but it was all wet! He was all "Uh oh! It’s wet!" in his nice friendly voice. He couldn’t get the pen to write. He managed to after a few tries & it came out sort of in a medium shade. I was trying to be extra careful because since the page had gotten wet I was afraid it would smudge & come off! But it didn’t it stayed. J He was real nice. J Then Philippe Candelero came out! I definitely wanted his autograph too! & I got it! He was right there by me & my sis making his way down as he signed programs for people right next to us & I got some really good pictures of him. We talked to him a little, congratulating him on his marriage, since he recently married last year. He has such a nice voice with a wonderful French accent! It was so amazing in person! He was right there in front of us talking to us! J Don’t worry I’m still super crazy for Michelle Kwan & she is my all time favorite skater, but I was just excited getting to meet some of the other great skaters too! J Next came Victor Petrenko. Unfortunately we couldn’t get his autograph. But we weren’t sad! We had had so much luck as it was! We were just appreciating & enjoying our luck as it was! Oskana came out but she went on the bus & didn’t sign any autographs. L I kind of really wanted hers. I was also sad I didn’t see Todd Eldredge come out at all. L But that’s alright. I remember everything! I looked down & saw MICHELLE down there inside! I started yelling, "MICHELLE! MICHELLE!" & I could only hear myself! I had spotted her first before anybody had! J So I felt pretty special! Oh my god! I can not believe it was her! She walked out & stood in the middle for a few seconds while everybody cheered super loud! She had such a beautiful smile! She always has a smile! J She started signing autographs on the other side, which was her left. Then she turned to come over to the right side! I desperately yelled, "MICHELLE! MICHELLE!", flinging my program out! She came right over to me & my sister first! It was amazing! J She smiled so beautifully at us! J I had the program closed because I didn’t want her page to be all wet when she came & unfortunately couldn’t open it in time, but she signed the cover which is good enough for me! J It was sooo great! She didn’t say anything to us because she was trying to sign other autographs but I remember I said, "Thank sooo much!" & I had been in such awe when she came over that I had not taken that moment to snap a perfect picture of her & that wonderful smile! I do have 4 pictures of her, but they are side view of her as she moves down the line. Atleast I have pictures of her though! I am not regretting anything I am extremely satisfied & happy! I just want to endure more experiences with more things! So next time I will get better seats, better pictures, perhaps talk to Michelle as well! But I met her though! I can finally say, "I MET MICHELLE KWAN!". She has made one of my dreams come true in life!