Meeting your heroes can be amazing

First, I had originally scheduled a probably too long op-ed about why I'm a Marvel girl and not a DC girl for today, but I think this post should trump that, so I booted it to Friday (and, if I re-read it, I might nix it altogether...it was more of a rant anyway).

Most of you guys know that I'm a huge Duran fan, been so forever, been to dozens of shows, etc, etc...but I make it a point to never stay in the same hotel or pay extra for the meet and greets. Why? Because, if I were to personally discover that Simon Le Bon was an ass in real life (and I have heard he can be), then I would be terminally crushed for life. He can be that way all he wants, I just don't want to see it personally. I'm happy with the concerts and leaving it at that.

And thus has ALWAYS been my view on meeting my personal heroes, big or small, stay away...very far away. Before I start this story, I should probably warn you that there will be a LOT of exclamation marks in this post...I was excited, what can I say?

I mentioned the other day that I was going over to Memphis to hear a lecture from Dr. Phil Plait (aka, the Bad Astronomer). Yes, going by myself was a HUGE deal, but I wanted to hear him speak so much, I did my usual, turn myself completely off and "get 'er done" thing to get myself there. The campus was hard to get into because it was gated up worse than a prison and it took me about 20 minutes to find a guard gate that actually had a guard in it to let me in. Once parked, I asked numerous kids directions, but the answers I got went from dumb to dumber (and keep in mind this is a private university, so it's SUPER expensive and SUPER hard to get into). I eventually just went into the admin building and found an adult to ask. But thankfully, my little OCD self was still over an hour early, so I sat in the auditorium in my usual third row, middle seat, and waited.

About five minutes after I sat down, the man himself came in with the student liaison. I immediately panicked and asked if it was OK that I was already sitting in there, and she said sure! He tooled around with his stuff for a few minutes, unpacking and setting up his computer, getting all his stuff ready, not really paying attention to me at all, so it was a bit awkward at first, but then he preceded to plop down on the front of the stage directly in front of me and started talking...actually TO ME! It was amazing and surreal and unbelievable all at the same time! I told him he was one of the reasons why I decided to go back to school (and especially go into Astronomy) and he seemed genuinely humbled by that. Then, he moved to the front row of the seating in front of me and we really got into it!

He asked all about me, why I was there, etc and we just talked like two normal people! He was one of the nicest, most amazing people I have ever spoken with (and it didn't help that I was extremely star stuck). I told him I also read his daughter's blog (she is a lot younger than I am and suffers from Borderline Personality Disorder, which is nothing like my conditions, but I do relate to a lot of her issues) and we talked a bit about the struggles of mental illness (apparently there are a LOT of Aspers in the Astronomy world). We literally got about 40 minutes of uninterrupted conversation before the first other guests started wandering in, so he went back to the stage and started talking more to everyone else as well.

Of course his lecture was absolutely amazing and I felt like I was literally at a Duran concert. There were a couple of times when he would forget certain acronyms or dates and I'd mouth the words and he'd read my lips, nod, say the correct wording and keep going (he knew not to single me out too much because we'd had the Asper discussion already). It lasted an hour and then the Q&A also lasted an hour. I couldn't tell you how many people showed up, I never turned around (it didn't feel like a lot because I didn't feel a lot of vibes around me, but maybe a lot of people were sitting more towards the back). A lot of people asked questions and there was an Astrophysics Professor from the University of Memphis (a state run school across town) sitting in front and to the left of me) and she asked me afterwards, a bit too loudly, if I had any questions for him (because she asked me my story from the get-go since her and her family were the second to arrive) and I just said I couldn't.

The AP Prof butted in front of me after the majority left (because I wanted to thank him one final time) and they got a picture with him. A couple of others asked questions about random things and one guy even had him sign his telescope. I felt like a goob just standing there and I almost left, but I'm glad I didn't because the kicker of the whole evening (at least for me), the liaison (figuring I was waiting for a picture - which I wasn't...I'm not good with all that), asked him if he had time for one more picture. He looked up, saw me, and goes "SURE KEILEY!". He remembered my name! Needless to say, I felt so weird, but here it is, me and my Astronomy hero and I guess it's OK to publish this photo...it is mine since it was taken on my phone, right? Who can tell with copyright laws anymore, but I don't care, I'm a proud puppy:

Then I kind of went a bit weird and rambled on too much and may have gotten borderline creepy (sometimes I can't tell when to shut up), but I finally figured out it was time to shut up and leave, so I thanked them both again, and home I came! But if I wasn't in awe of him before, I think he might literally be my new nerd crush (well, Stephen Fry still holds the top spot, but Phil holds a good second).

I still think I'll stick to my "stay away from my heroes" mantra, but I'm glad I've had at least one exception to the rule, and with my first "celebrity" no less (well, unless you count the time that YEARS ago Axl Rose flipped me off from his limo's skylight window in Memphis traffic because I was blocking them...wasn't my fault and it's a super long story for another day).