Sunday, September 15, 2013

*NSync Groupie Freak Out

My dorm bathroom
Working for Disney I had my fair share of celebrity encounters. Bruce Willis is the one I still get all dreamy-eyed about - that was in 2002! I talked with Secret Service when Jimmy Carter was on my ride. Uncle Phil from Fresh Prince of Bel-Air, pretty cool guy! Dana Carvey - had to teach him how to buckle his seat belt. Heck, I even mustered up courage on my day off to talk to Samantha Brown when I saw her at Animal Kingdom. I love her and when she told me to call her Sam I about died!  So when this *NSync groupie found herself  in this situation in Adventureland .... her actions are still so embarrassing.

It was Saturday, August 31, 2013. I had just exited from the Indiana Jones Adventure (bad ass ride!!) and found myself in a cluster of people. Delicately I was navigating around one group and shimmied around a man. He felt larger than life (duh, I should have known then). *It's possible I brushed up against him during my shimmy.  When I got around him I was face to face with two Disney cast members in THE plaid vests. Being a cast member for many years I knew to look around and see if they might be with a celebrity.

And then it happened.

My first of 3 *NSync concerts. Second row, baby!! Also, JC's 21st birthday!

I heard a voice. It came from the tall guy standing to my immediate right. I knew that voice. It happened so fast, but it felt like slow motion. I turned my head and OH MY GOSH!!!

Myself in 1998. You're welcome. I still have those shoes. I will never part with them.

Died.  I died of pure girly giddiness.  I had stared at that face on a post on my college dorm wall. This face decorated my dorm bathroom walls. I listen to that voice all the time. The Christmas album plays year-round in my house/car/work/phone/computer/ipod. Holy shit!!!!!

Joey Fatone after the WDW Marathon/Goofy's Challenge

Disneyland Half Marathon start line
I just uploaded those photos and I am freaking out all over again inside. Now let me just first discuss my obsession. It begin in 1998 when their concert aired on the Disney Channel. I still have my VHS recording of it and am shocked it isn't worn out. I can recite that whole special word for word. It's on youtube also, if you have yet to see it. That summer I was second row at the Clark County Fair in Washington. It was JC's 21st birthday. We all celebrated it. I took a kajillion photos - and that was before digital! My dorm room had 3 posters .... Justin Timberlake, Chris Kirkpatrick, and the entire group.  I ended up going to 3 concerts during their time as a group. I am still to this day just as loyal of a groupie as I was in 1998 when I was a young college girl in braces. Hell I even handcuffed myself (I was a dominatrix) to a Chi Phi boy at a Halloween frat party once because I thought he looked like an NSync member - and then I proceeded to sing "Tearin' Up My Heart" to him on the dance floor. Whatever, he liked it. I freaked out when *NSync reunited earlier this month at the MTV VMAs.  I'm a lifer!! Knowing Joey Fatone did the Goofy Challenge in January and was there doing Dumbo, I vowed to my friends that I would stalk and find him!


We left off in Adventureland. I hear the voice. I feel the presence of super cool. I look to my right. And what did I say??
Oh my gosh, Joey Fatone!
I turn to my dear husband, who has been hearing me gush about *NSync endlessly for weeks.
It's Joey Fatone!!!

And then what did I do?? This girl that hung with Bruce and Demi; this girl that usually can keep her cool? Yeah, I ran! More of a scurry. I scurried away closer to the entrance of the Jungle Cruise. I whipped out my phone and clicked photos. Then ... I'm so ashamed, but not shocked, I completely jumped up and down, spazzing like a junior high girl and had a complete freak out! There he was!!! Joey Fatone! He was getting a pickle, FYI. I know this because I was standing right there when he said, "I want one of those big pickles!" And here I was taking photos and freaking the F out. I'm still freaking out!


I freaking breathed Joey Fatone air!!! Dying.

A couple hours later, when I THOUGHT I had calmed down -- immediately after I freaked out in a bathroom stall and was repeated calling my mom so I could tell her all about it, I came out of Innoventions. There was Joey Fatone. I may have followed him to Autopia. I may have positioned myself along the attraction's path with my camera in hand. It was a 50/50 chance - and dammit, his car went on the other path. I turned into paparazzi ... and I'm not the least bit ashamed!

*NSync groupie FOR LIFE!!!




To quote Pitch Perfect:  Nothing makes a woman feel more like a girl than a man who sings like a boy!


6 comments:

  1. I LOVE YOU!!!! This just made my day :)

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    1. Thanks!! I knew I wouldn't be the only one to truly understand the momentousness of this whole thing!

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  2. Oh if only they would get back together..my dream is that New Kids would open for them..sigh..the concert has been playing in my head for awhile..to bad it doesn't look like it will happen in real life. I would have been right there with you to perform some paparazzi duties too :)

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    1. That is a beautiful dream!! I swear I hear one note of an NSync song and I revert to college and completely become a squealing, dancing girl!

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  3. So jealous!!! Definitely N'Sync for life!! In fact I really just want to run faster so I can get seeded in a corral where Joey is! Haha!!

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    1. Imagine how great we could run if in his corral! That would be motivation enough to not whine about heat and just run so se could keep up and be near Joey Fatone!

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