Because we had such a drive, I spoke to the event organizer, Anthony, earlier this week – I wanted to make sure both that there would be tickets available, and that Justin was still on the roster, so that we didn't show up only to not get in. Anthony went far, far above and beyond the call of duty, in making sure that we were taken care of, and for that, I am extremely appreciative. I'll talk more about that a little later in the post.
We got to the ballfield around 11:30 on Saturday, and met up with Heather (Hwkgrleo) and her two guy friends. They're all super-cool, and I'm so glad we got to hang out with them. Made it more fun.
The neighborhood the event was in was really interesting – not what I'd expected
(I haven't been to Philly since I was pretty young,) but it had a lot of
flavor... one of the corners of the ballfield was across the street from Geno's
Steaks (you can see J eating a Philly cheese steak there with his buddies on his
trip home to Philly, final three week of AI.)When we went in the gate, I touched base with Anthony, as he had asked me to. Then the guys at the gate (also super-nice and super-awesome) let us know which side J would be on, so that we could sit on the proper set of bleachers, and so we headed over there and staked out a seat. Not too much longer, J came walking down the street with Mike Leach (one of his best friends, for those who may not know. More on him later, too.) Just for the record… I've apparently spent nearly three years of fanship having mixed up the names and faces of Justin's two best friends, and finally figured out halfway through the ballgame that I'd thought Mike was Cole, and Cole was Mike, all along. Talk about feeling dumb, LOL!
Almost right after Justin came in, Anthony brought him over to see us. We went in the gate (we met with him just inside the field) and we all shook hands with him, saying, "Hi, I'm __________, nice to meet you." Now, poor Justin -- as he shook my hand, he kind of paused for a second, before he said, "Nice to meet you," and I think he was a bit confused, because although that's what I'd said to him, I've met him a couple of times before. LOL, I was just going with the flow… but we got to that in a sec. The guys and Heather all got their pictures taken with him, and somewhere after that, he turned to me and said, "Have I met you before?" I rambled on something about "couple of times," and that I was usually with another friend, but she wasn’t able to come this weekend as she had to work.
Nic then got her picture taken with him, and gave him a letter that her sister had written him. (Her sister's 14.) Justin thought she wanted his autograph on it, but then she explained that no, it was a letter.
After that, I just kinda stood there, and Justin looked at me, kinda like, "uh, do you want one?" not in a rude way at ALL, but rather like it was strange that was just standing there and didn't ask. What's funny is that I'm just not a photo and autograph girl – never have been, really, don't quite "get" that aspect of fandom – so I would have been fine without one, but that seemed both rude and silly, so I said a "do you mind, would a picture be okay" sort of thing and then got my photo with him. We won't be posting those, as neither of us is crazy about the idea of our photo online.
Some other fans got autographs and pics with him, then, and we just sort of observed (he took a bunch of pics with little kids, soooooooo cute!) We exited the gate once the crowd had died down, but as he finished with the last person, I called to him, "Oh, Justin, one more thing." He came over to the gate, and I mentioned that Brittney and Laura had met him last week. I don't recall if they posted it on the board or not, but after they met him at the luncheon in Destin, as they were leaving, some lady came over to Justin and they thought he may have been getting in trouble. They felt really bad, but never had a chance to apologize, as they didn't see him again.
I mentioned briefly to him that he'd seen B&L a couple of weeks ago, and that they thought they may have gotten him in trouble, and if they did, they felt really bad. He started out by saying that no, he hadn't gotten in trouble, and then interrupted himself with, "You know what, this is what happened." Then he impersonated the lady – put one hand on his hip, and the other hand on the fence -- his attitude was very similar to the "no you din't!" on Wayne Brady – and started in with, "You can't just invite people in here…" And then he interrupted himself with, "Okay, first, *I* didn't invite them in…" (Not said in an, "I didn't want them there" way, but rather, "I'm not the one who let them into the event.") Then he continued with how nice it was to have seen them, to let them know that, and ended with that they were "worth getting in trouble for." Awww!
A few random notes…
• A few minutes after we met him, they started warm-ups – Justin was stretching out around the third-base area, which was pretty close to where we were sitting. The announcers were flipping through a bunch of sound clips and random songs (testing them, I guess.) All of a sudden, we hear Kelly's voice, "A moment like this… some people wait a lifetime…" Of course, Nic and Heather and I all come straight to attention – heads popped up, started grinning – but that was nothing compared to Justin's reaction. He started jumping up and down, pumping his fist in the air, and yelling, "YEAH!!!" over and over, until they stopped playing the clip (about the length of the chorus, I believe.) He was so excited – it was so stinkin' cute!!!
• Everybody wanted pictures with Justin… the other celebrities, the other team members, fans, event staff. He was announced last of the lineup, to the biggest cheers.
• His parents came to cheer him on, which was SO cute. They sat next to us on the bleachers, except that Jerry hardly sat… he was too busy wandering around taking pictures of Justin. That was sooooo sweet!
• Justin was really good during the warmup, but not so much during the game. They had him in outfield, and it was sunny, but he didn't have a hat on so I think it was hard for him to see. He did get a hit, though… see next point.
• When Justin came up to bat, they started playing AMLT again… turned it off, he got a hit, they turned it back on as he ran to base. When he got to first base, he picked it up, swung it around and danced with it, kind of, and then he kissed it. (We didn't have the best view of this, as we were about to go out to the car and stopped when we saw J was up to bat, but we could see enough, LOL!) I think Heather got video of this, so hopefully she can put that up so you guys can see it. He ended up sliding into third base on his rear, and then scoring a run, after that.
• Lots of Justin's friends and family were there… they were all fascinated by the fact that we had driven that far (as were the event organizers and the Philadelphia Daily News reporter assigned to cover the event.) Which was odd, because he has fans drive far to lots of his stuff… but I guess it's different for his friends/family who don't see that, I don't know. Anyhow, they were all really sweet.
• It was so cute – when Justin missed a catch in the outfield, Leach yelled back to Justin's parents, "It's not too late to change your last name, you know!" They laughed. Also, he was teasing Justin, and Justin yelled back, "This is why I sing!"
We talked to Justin briefly again at the end – Nic got an autograph for her sister, and we overheard him do a brief interview with the Philly reporter. He mentioned that he'd been working on a jazz CD, traveling a lot and doing more events "like this" (ie, charity events). He came back over to us, shook hands with the guys and Heather, and as I shook his hand, I mentioned to him that "I can't wait to hear your new CD," to which he replied, "I can't wait to give it to you."
It was really interesting to me to get to see his family and friends interact with him and with each other. I'm constantly impressed by the people that both he and Kelly surround themselves with – that they're so positive and pleasant, yet very protective of them as well. We had the pleasure of talking a bit to Jason Clarkson back in April, as well as a couple of the members of Kelly's band, and they reinforced that – much like what happened yesterday in Philly. The area in which we were sitting had primarily his friends and family – there were probably 10-15 fans and 10-15 friends and family members, but it was basically just us and all of the friends/family on our particular bleacher. Although we didn't interact much with his parents or most of his other family and friends, we observed them plenty, and they all come across as such genuinely nice and caring people. We had a lengthy conversation with Leach (as he introduced himself) at the end of the game, and aside from being hysterical, you can tell he's a TRUE friend of Justin's in every sense of the word. He was constantly teasing J in a loving way, but it was also obvious that he's super-supportive, yet sees him just as Justin, not "Justin Guarini." "I talked a bit about Anthony earlier; he mentioned to me when I spoke to him on the phone that he was a personal friend of J's, so I'm including him here rather than in a separate "business" paragraph."
You can always tell someone's true person by the people they choose to surround themselves with, and Justin was no exception. In 90-plus degree weather, he had plenty of support there, constantly cheerful, with little more than a passing commentary on the heat. They were all pleasant not only to those they knew but the fans as well – all of the interactions felt very comfortable and natural. I was just so, so impressed… they're a good gang. I can see how Justin is who he is, when he's surrounded by people like this.
This was a really relaxed, enjoyable event, that I'd without question attend again should he participate and recommend to anyone else. Despite the fact that we're extremely tired, hurt from naps in the car, and look like lobsters due to our sunburns, it was without question worth it, as we had SUCH a great time, and brought back tons of happy memories. Honestly – Justin was in a GREAT mood, looked really young, and was happier than I’ve seen him in a VERY long time (since probably summer 2003.) That really did me good, to see him so happy, and if the other things weren’t enough, that alone would have made the trip worth it. Sigh, I love him so… Justin rocks! (And Nic dittos.)