*All names have been changed except Youtube peoples.
Okay, so Tuesday (the 31) was just a normal day. Minus the fact we had been counting down for the past half month, because my friends and I were finally going to meet the one and only Olan Rogers at the Dial Up Tour. We had seen the vlogs, the videos, everything he ever posted onto YouTube and everything in between.
But when the Dial Up Tour was first announced, there was nothing there. Nothing of interest, but then Olan made the announcement that he would actually be coming along with as the opener. My friends and I waited days after this to learn each DUT location, hoping that he would come near Salt Lake. Finally, around December, the dates were set, and so where the locations. Scrambling onto Facebook, we looked down the list. And there it was.
JANUARY 31, 2012 :: Salt Lake City, Utah
This may not seem like a big deal, but guess what... IT IS A BIG EFFING DEAL! Olan Rogers, the MASTERMIND of New Prime, The Last Scene, Pee Mints, Dare on Dare with Reid, was coming to Salt Lake on the last day of January with the Dial Up Tour. Holy shitake mushrooms. Now, let's jump forward, shall we? :)
~~~ January 24, 2012 ~~~
I was in Creative Writing, and I had remembered that my professors were very specific about being in-class for it being a once a week course. I already had my ticket for the show about a month prior to now, and I was feeling nervous. After class, I told my two professors that I wouldn't be able to make it to next weeks' class, the 31. What did they tell me? "Oh, then whatever you are doing, just have fun!". Mission completed. I had full access and permission to turn in my Creative Nonfiction piece through email, and I wouldn't be missing much of anything. Hell to the yes.
~~~Day of Event~~~
I woke up and there was such an excitement through my bones, I had no idea what to expect. My heart was pounding as I began counting down the SECONDS of every minute spent in Math. Luckily, Math is actually interesting, so my attention is in two different things and I can still participate in Math. But that near 2 hours was brutal. We go to our break at 1, and I was thinking of the only ONE more hour until we would leave to go Downtown and wait by the gate. Finally, the last bits of class were done and we were actually left about 15 minutes early. Not bad, not bad. I hurried to the library to print out my ticket receipt, taking longer than expected and rushed to the appartment.
Lilli * was waiting for me, and we had learned that Rachel and Naomi would be coming shortly to come pick us up to go wait down at the Complex. Our adrenaline was out of control, so we grabbed Olan's goody bag of Reeses and M&M's and bolted out the door with posters, t-shirts, and everything ready to get signed or given. We were so close, but we still had time before the Meet and Greet at 5:30pm.
We got to the Complex, and to our sad dismay, we weren't allowed to even pick up our tickets or meet and greet passes. Which ironically, we didn't even need them at all. Our names were on a list, but anyways, back to the story. So we decided to walk around Gateway to kill off some time. Besides, when we would come back, we'd be the first in line. We went into Hot Topic, used the bathrooms, and just creeped around in case some Youtubers would walk around and POSSIBLY bump into Olan early. We didn't, but however, we did notice a familiar orange-hair colour... Tessa. Aka, Meekakitty. She and Shana (Nanalew) were only about 30 feet in front of us on our way back to the Complex around 3pm. They took a turn, and we carried on, holding our breath.
Waiting just us at the gate was rather boring. It was warm with the sun outside, but it was still cold being January. We passed the time singing AVPM, getting To Dance Again stuck in our heads, and then just talking randomly. Then it happened. We saw a familiar figure walking around the parking lot and around the bus: Olan Rogers. We kept our cool, noticing he was talking on his cell, and no matter how close we got, the calmest we tried to be. He finally went back his way near the bus, telling Naomi everything we saw him do. Keeping our cool was going to be hard the closer the meet n' greet would be coming alone.
It got colder, and later. More people eventually came up, and we met a girl, Cheyenne. Super nice girl, and we all got her hooked watching a video of Olan simply laughing. Naomi's boyfriend finally came along too, so now our group was good to go.
~~~Skipping forward...
Minutes away from finally getting part of the meet n' greet about a half an hour after we were supposed to. My hand was growing numb from holding the bag for Olan, but we would finally be going in soon. Finally, we were all single filed. Telling a security guard inside our names, and seeing Olan, I JUMPED. I told the security guard my name, pointed it to him, and then basically sprinted to Olan. I gave him the bag, out of breath, and he basically looked into and went "Oh wow, thank you so much!" and gave one of the most delighted hugs I've ever received! I was so glad he liked the M&Ms and Reeses, and then continued to talk to him and the others for autographs. It was such an adrenaline rush, and it was so much fun to meet Olan, Livelavalive (Kyle and Mitchell), Tessa, Shawna, Alex Carpenter, and Jason Munday. I felt like I was on top of the world after just meeting them once, and we all knew that after the show, they're be an even BIGGER meet n' greet. I ended up buying a t-shirt then too that said "I partied with Nanakitty and Livelavalive @Dial Up Tour". Then our group all got back together and went into the venue to wait an hour before the show would start.
Finally at 7pm, right on cue, Olan came out. EVERYONE in the audience shouted and hollered, us included, for him because we were waiting and wanting only him. I recorded his four stories, laughing so hard internally so I wouldn't affect my video quality. Seeing him preform in person, was just...amazing. So truly amazing. Months of watching his videos and laughing and smiling and crying, finally paid off with his 20 minute stage time. And it was ALL WORTH IT. But that wasn't all! Then Tessa and Shawna came out, doing their musical sets...followed by Kyle and Mitchell, I recording their entire 40 minute set. My arm is still sore. Then Jason and Alex to finish. It was such a great show, but we left to hang out in the lobby to finally sit down after several hours of standing.
The audience eventually came trickling in, because in the next half hour, the BIG meet n' greet would finally occur. The first person to come out, of course, was Olan. :)
Everyone swarmed him, and we just stayed back until we could have him to ourselves. We finally got there and did our own thing. Pictures, Danger Legs, more pictures, hugs, and when it was my turn, I had fun. We got pictures, then I had Olan call my dear boyfriend Kyle to talk to. :) I wish it had been recorded, but I could sense how awesome it was for Kyle to talk to Olan with my cellphone. I loved watching Olan's facial expressions and say "hug" in such a cute way to stimulate an over-the-phone hug. We hugged again, and then it was time for the next people in line to go.
Lilli and I got our pictures with Mitchell, such a cute guy who's HILARIOUS in person as in videos, then I waited for Tessa and Shawna to get pictures with them. The day was finally drawing to an end, but we wanted to stick around just because. Or was it ;)
We were in a little bubble, then all of a sudden we hear "Hey guys.". There was Olan mingling in our little bubble of joy and happiness. We all talked to him more, and he expressed his gratitude for us coming out to see him, and acknowledging our homage to him from Banzai. It was so great to talk to him. So sweet, charismatic, everything positive in a person. Then, he had to go. Giving us all individual hugs, we told him to come back to Utah anytime, and we'd be there waiting for him. :)
We finally left, leaving with the greatest level of satisfaction a person could ever have. And that is why January 31 was the best day EVER. :)
OLAN ROGERS!!!! and me :)
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