Wandering Walpole: Jim Boeheim

Monday, February 17, 2014

My Selfie with John Travolta!

Yesterday, I met John Travolta. And, I took a selfie with him.
I know, I know…just a normal Sunday.
Kidding! It was an awesome way to meet a celebrity.
Earlier last week, I got an email from Ticketmaster about last minute tickets to attend a "Conversation with John Travolta." Now, I'm more of a concert and musical person. But, I jumped on this chance as every other event I've attended that has been a conversation has turned out to be awesome.
(We can discuss the Laura Bush story in a future post!)

So, last night, the event happened! Bu,t before I got inside the theater, I ran into the BAFTAs Red Carpet or the British Academy of Film and Television Awards! Talk about luck!

John Travolta was amusing as ever during his discussion with Barry Norman.

He discussed the highs and lows of his career, his personal life, and what he could be doing in the future. Playing a future Bond villain came up numerous times…
He brought several audience members on stage and danced a few numbers with them. And, at the end, the entire audience sang "Happy Birthday" to him!

John, his sisters, and Barry Norman

Now, I'm not a huge John Travolta fan. If Ryan Gosling wants to hold one of these chats, we'll be talking about how I got front row seats. But, I wanted to capitalize on this event.
If you don't know, I had a knack of meeting the SU basketball team quite a lot during college. My best friend, Katie, and I even got Jim Boeheim to stop and take a photo with us in the middle of a crowd with a few clever lines.

Meeting Jim Boeheim in 2010

So, last night, I was prepared for how I was going to meet John Travolta.
Staking out the stage door, I made friends with a few older women. The four of us strategized to avoid the outstanding number of older men that wanted to meet him!
Two hours post the show ending, he finally emerged. Now, I've never been in a crowd like this before.

I described it to one of my friends as a mosh pit!

At one point, I was next to one of the security guards behind John. Tried the "hey, it's my birthday line too."
That didn't work.
And, then I had my moment of inspiration. I touched John's hand, and said "let's take a selfie."
And, he just stopped.
Unfortunately, as you can see below, others did not stop and bumped us.
It's a half selfie. But, it's a selfie. Plus, he touched my hand.
Mission Accomplished.

What a way to start a week off!

Sunday, June 17, 2012

A Little Over a Month Ago...

It's hard to believe that I became an alumna member of #orangenation more than a month ago already. It was a three day weekend filled with a lot of emotions as those four years had been the best time of my life. I started at Syracuse being a CNY native and always loving orange. I left Syracuse a completely different person than I ever imagined and still loving orange.

I had a lot of experiences at Syracuse that will stay with me for the rest of my life. Some moments were more happy than others, but even the somber moments changed me for the best.

Homecoming Court. Remembrance Scholar. Taking the LSAT twice. Interning in DC and Boston. Heartbreaks. Chucks. Roadtrips. Attendance Records in the Dome. Elite 8 Game in Boston. Meeting Jim Boeheim. Lawrinson. Mayfest. Pi Phi. Class with Hillary Clinton. 113 Page Honors Thesis. Studying Abroad in London. Flip Night. Pita El Saha. Traveled to over 10 countries. Met numerous politicians. Celebrated Obama's victory on the quad. First SU Snow Day in 18 years. And, many more memories...

At the 158th Commencement on Sunday, May 13th, Aaron Sorkin was the commencement speaker. It was a great speech; one that didn't leave the audience saddened by the thought of death (prior year) or asleep.

A day of tears, happiness, goodbyes, see you laters, & memories...