In February of 2011 I had the privilege (although some people may not see it that way) of attending Oprah’s After Oscar Party. I won tickets by entering a random drawing on her website. It was one of those serendipitous moments where I was on the computer and a little voice told me to visit her website. Out of the corner of my eye I happened to see on the side bar, “Enter to Win tickets to Oprah’s After Oscar Party.” I was thankful I listened to that little voice in me.
This event in my life makes me smile for several reasons. I’m a huge Oprah fan, and I’ve loved watching the Academy Awards since I was a kid. It was a dream of mine to be in the audience at the Academy Awards. Although this wasn’t the way I pictured my dream, it was pretty close. I was also excited about being in Los Angeles during all of the Oscar hype and the opportunity to see movie stars out and about.
I would like to say I had a huge smile on my face the whole trip, but I didn’t. The weather was cooler than normal, traffic was horrible, and I didn’t see a single movie star prior to the show. I spent the entire night before Oprah’s show listening to the Academy Awards from my hotel bathroom. I’m not sure if I had food poisoning or the stomach flu. I had about an hour of sleep before my husband and I had to get ready for Oprah’s show. We stood in line freezing for two hours waiting for a shuttle to take us to the Kodak Theater. We then stood in line again as 3,000 people were herded into the theater. Eventually we found a seat in the last tier of balconies behind the spotlights. It wasn’t exactly prime seating. The fact I was still feeling miserable didn’t help matters. I’m still grateful I had this once in a lifetime opportunity even though it wasn’t quite what I had planned.
I can smile about this experience now because it taught me some lessons. A big lesson I learned is that I need to be careful about buying into the idea or hype of things. While it’s fun to see or meet someone famous it also made me question why I would wait in a crowd of people for hours on end just to get a glimpse of a celebrity. Celebrities are human beings just like the rest of us. I have to admit though, if it’s a comfortable wait you still might find me in line.
I remember you going on this trip but I forgot about you not feeling well. I couldn’t stay awake last night to watch the whole thing…I wish it wasn’t sooo long!
The last part of the show was actually the best. I almost didn’t make it through either. Seth McFarlane wasn’t my favorite emcee. I was on pinterest most of the time while watching the show.
I remember being so excited to hear about the trip and then felt awful for you because I know how excited you were to go. What great luck though to have the.opportunity to meet Oprah. You have a good story and a unique one 🙂
Thanks Gina! I miss our counseling sessions 🙂 Hope all is well in Texas.
OH MAN. That just sucks. Especially since you won tickets and still had bad seats. Totally unfair. Great perspective on celebrity, though. You are so right!-Ashley
I tend to agree with you on the celebrity thing. They filmed part of Mr. Deeds right in our downtown, 5 minutes (walking distance) from my house. I never once saw Adam Sandler. People waited in line to get his autograph and he was gracious to everyone. But I’m not one to wait around to get a glimpse of a celebrity. When I was working on Martha’s Vineyard eons ago, people were constantly seeing celebrities and I didn’t even notice. I am pretty much oblivious to all of that.
I’ve never been to Martha’s Vineyard, but it’s on my bucket list. I notice celebrities, but if I ran into a professional athlete (which I have), I would have no idea who they were. Somehow though I never seem to run into celebrities or maybe I do and they just look different without all of the smoke and mirrors 🙂