I have been doing a lot of thinking since my return from Wilmington. Lots of soul searching and lots of randomness. All in all I feel more comfortable about my decision to move and to do it very soon. I am going to miss home and my family and friends that are here but I know that this move is what's best for me. I have watched others chase their dreams and have everything they ever wanted in return and I am ready for my chance at that.
I also can't help but feel like that 5 days changed my perspective on things a little bit. Ok maybe a lot. I had a once and a lifetime trip full of everyhing I could have ever asked for and so much more. I got to meet one of my idols. I got to meet someone that I look up to. I got to see what living my dream could look like. And in the process I meet some of the nicest people in the world.
Yes I met The SGP team but they are so much more. I'm not going to get into again because I feel like I'm beating a dead horse but there is something I do want to say about it. I watched this weeks OTh and was shocked to realize that the person I saw on the screen as Peyton Sawyer was just that Peyton Sawyer. She was not the person that I met at the bar or on the riverwalk. Now that shows just how great of an actress she is but also what an amazing person she is.
I am more than likely moving next month. Now this is so soon and scares the heck out of me because there are so many details to work out but I am so excited. This is the first big step I have made in a long time and I can't wait to see where it takes me. I have never loved an area so much so quickly as I did. From the moment I walked downtown I was hooked and every where else we went just added to that.
I know what I want to do, where I want to be and how I want to live. I know where I'm going, when I'm going to get there. All that I don't know is what will happen when I get there.
Big changes are coming my way very quickly and I have very little time to dwell on that. The journey has just begun, the road is laid out in front of me. All I have to do now is follow it to where I am supposed to be and right now I know that is Wilmington, NC and I will be there very soon.
Random Thoughts Running Through My Head
A Wonderful Occurrence of Events
My amazing experiences with the SGP team were not limited to vlogs and bars. A little before my random and amazing meeting with Hilarie Burton at the Copper Penny I was told that we had the opportunity to go tour the OTH sets with KT. So the morning of the vlog shoot we got up and I called to set up a time to meet KT and headed out to the studio. After getting there and meeting up he took us through all of the sets which were awesome. Of course we took tons of pictures which will make there way to flickr sometime soon. He answered all of our questions and gave us some pretty cool behind the scene knowledge that only a person who worked on the show would know. This was really interesting to me because it's the things I've been reading in class but now I got to see them in real life. KT is awesome and so full of knowledge. We saw all of the sets on site like Lucas's room, Haley and Nathan's, Mouth and Skills apartment, Peyton's office, Brooke's house, Dan's beach house, the creepy hotel room that I swear could have been based off a couple of places I have stayed at, and my favorite Jamie's awesome room which if I was a little kid I would never leave. There was also the high school, and the locker rooms. It was so weird to see them in person to be able to see how they make such small spaces, cramped full of people when they film seem so big and bright. It was a once and a lifetime opportunity that was one of the highlights of my trip.
After the awesome tour we headed downtown to where they said they would be filming. What is funny is that I forgot to tell KT we were going down there when we were at the studio and I didn't tell Hil last night that we were meeting KT so we got down there and Hil couldn't believe that I didn't tell her we were meeting KT and as we are walking up KT is calling me saying Hil says you were going to meet up with us.
KT setting up the tour for us was beyond amazing and way more than I would or could have ever asked for. Not only did I get to the sets but KT personally showed us around giving little insights along the way. He was willing to meet us at the studio and take a little time out of his day. Then to call and make sure that we were going to make it to the riverwalk for the filming was amazing. While we were touring Lindsay asked how he got into the industry and the subject got onto his mentor. Well he did a really good job with KT and I can see him as a great mentor to many people.
SGP and Me
As I have already posted I got to meet many members of this wonderful team during my visit to their fine city. But I am here right now to tell you that these are some of the nicest, most down to earth and conciderate people I have had the pleasure to meet. Who ever said that fame or money can change you have obviously not spent any time with any of them. I was welcomed by a group of practical strangers who have very busy lives to lead and took jus a little bit of their time to talk to a fan (a very dedicated one at that).
From Hilarie's graciousness at allowing me to take a picture and chat with at the bar while she was out, to inviting us to come out and be apart of the vlog and watch them in action, to her helpfulness and friendliness in trying to help point out things for us to do while we were there. This womans spirit is amazing and shows through her. She is the real deal, what you see on the blog is the real person. Now it may just be me but I am constantly shocked when people remember me. It's my own personal battle but I digress. As we arrive for the blog filming she greeted us like we were friends not 2 random strangers that she had just meet the night before. Critics and synics would say that she's an actress and she gets paid to act certian ways but I don't believe it from her. I can read people and am usually a good judge of character and I only got warm friendly vibe from her.
Nick is the perfect writer for this group. Because his heart and spirit are right in line with the others and his passion for Pedestrian and SGP radiates from him. I had the pleasure in meeting him at the blog filming and running into him again downtown. Not only did he recognize us (of course I was rockin my SGP shirt to spread the news in the airports) but he took the time to talk to us. The way he talks about the projects that they have coming up and are working on and the light in his eyes is the same look I get when I talk about my dreams and goals and plans. His heart is 110% in SGP and all you have to do is talk to him to see it. But on top of that he is an overall nice guy. Nothing said he had to take the time to talk to us, nothing forced him to share his time with us.
This wonderful group of people are the reason why I want to get in this industry. Their hearts are large and open and their passion is contagious. Thank you all for everything. I could never say it enough.
Good Luck, Good Times, and Amazing People
Preface: This post was originally written 4/30/2009 at 4:44 PM right after I returned to the hotel from filming the vlog with Hilarie and Nick. Here is what I wrote in reflection of what happened.
As everyone knows I am in Wilmington scooping out my future place of residence. Well as part of my plan I decided that the best way to know a place was to see it's night life, get a feel of the people and the area. So I had choice a couple of bars a night to hit up just to check out.
The second night we decided we would find a nice small bar/pub to go to with not a lot of crowd to just sit and get a couple of drinks at. After circling Front Street 4 or 5 times we found a small place just off of it call The Copper Penny.
We park right in front of it and go in and sit at the bar. Now to be honest I saw a big group of people sitting at a table and I didn't want to sit directly across from them so I made Lindsay move down the bar a little ways. It's a good thing we did because I was being my curious self and glancing up at the mirror behind the bar to just check out the happenings of others around us.
As I glance one time I notice a white hair gentleman that looks an awful lot like Kris Kristofferson. Well after further glances (nothing to obvious you know) I realize it is him. Being from the south and a country music fan I was in awe. Here was in the same bar that I was. Now I might be a little slow on the up take because it took my brains a couple seconds to put together that he was in town shotting "Provences of Night" with Hilarie Burton. Now as you know I love SGP and HB so I start scouting the table a little bit more. Sure enough sitting on the end closest to me is Hilarie Burton. Now I will admit I had a "small" panic attack at this. After having Lindsay confirm that it was her we just sat at the bar and I pretended to be cool and casual.
After Kris and the rest of the gang left Hil relocated herself to the bar. By this point I was in no mental state to just walk right up and talk to her so Lindsay went for me. She was the sweetest person gladly took pictures (and a video by accident) and we let her get back to her evening. The funniest part to me was that she was just star struck by Kris and I was star struck by her.
She mentioned while we were talking to her that they would be filming the next day down on the Riverwalk if we wanted to come by and check it out. After watching them film a vlog, we did our piece with Hil. I can totally see why she was an awesome VJ because she made me feel totally comfortable and made talking to her very easy. After finishing filming we were standing around and the people writing the article from the Star News got our names, Hilarie suggested some places for us to visit and we parted ways.
Now I have been a follower from basically day 1 of SGP and have loved everything that this company has been and will be doing but this just put it over the top. The fact that these wonderful people would take an interest in me while I was here for these few days is amazing. They truly do care about their fans and are amazing people. They are just down to earth people doing something that they love and are willing to share it with the world. I will shout it from the rooftops, wear my SGP shirt with pride, and support these people until the end of time because they are the real deal. They are worth supporting. I have said it before and I will say it a hundred times you need to follow and support SGP. You need to buy the shirt, watch the vlogs, hop in the chat. EVERYTHING! Because giving them support is only a small way that I will ever be able to pay them back for the amazing experience they have given me here.
Video Preview
A 5 hour layover will cause you to go crazy if you let it. However I have enough stuff to sort through after my amazing trip that I am no where close to bored. I wanted to share 1 quick video that we shot while we were in Wilmington as a little preview of what is to come. Now our videos pretty much were me filming Lindsay and asking her a series of questions but there are a few on camera appearances by me. ENJOY!!!
