so glaad to be me - new york

you may remember that last year i attended a series of award shows for work, and managed to have some very cool opportunities.  i met kirsten dunst, and julie bowen, and michael & mondo from project runway, and west wing goddess alison janney was sitting at the next table over, for crying out loud!  it was an amazing experience, largely amazing because every second of it felt like icing.  i was just happy to be nominated *ahem* invited.  and since i had no idea what to expect, i didn't expect anything.  as much as humanly possible, i try to operate under a strict no or low expectations modus operandi.  this has two significant outcomes: 1) it fosters genuine appreciation and gratitude, and 2) it goes a long way to the  prevention of having your hopes smashed into a thousand tiny sharp protruding-edged pieces.

but this year, i had expectations. i am an award show veteran now, after all.  (HAR HAR)  what's worse is that unlike last year, where every celebrity introduction was a cool bonus, among this year's announced celebrity attendees were a small number of people i reeealllly wanted to meet.  and i was certain i was doomed.  i had a very strong feeling that this year, when it actually mattered to me, i would have to resign myself to being in the same room with some of those folks (rough life, i know), because no way, would i actually get to meet them. because i wanted to.  but last year i did! but this year....  you can see where this is going.

at last year's events, i was fearless. i saw someone recognizable, i approached them.  the worst they could say was 'no, i will not take a photo with you', and really, that made them the jerk, not me. and when it came down to it, these were the kind of famous people where i could both be excited to meet them and also not be heartbroken if they turned out to be jerks.  this year however, there were a couple of folks (mostly at the upcoming los angeles event), who, if they had 'rejected' me, i would have been sincerely disappointed.

fortunately, i had a ramp up.  the new york event comes first, and i was genuinely surprised at the bump that this year's event got over last year's.  in 2011 tina fey hosted.  she was a smart funny host, as expected, but we never saw her off stage.  in fact, the only person we saw out among us little people was gail simmons - which only appeals to us top chef watchers.

this year however, cory monteith and naya rivera from glee hosted the event.  i met naya in san francisco last year, so, no big (wink), but the event also included dakota fanning, harvey weinstein, padma lakshmi, megan hilty, bernadette peters, and john stamos, to name a few.  thankfully, when dakota fanning happened to pass by me, sitting on a chair, in a corner, resting my aching feet, i literally hopped-to, aching feet and all, and discovered that my fear had completely dissipated.

the evening was thoroughly enjoyable.  there was a completely unscripted moment where naya and corey were auctioning off kisses and john stamos began 'bidding' on corey.  he then decided to auction himself instead.  this video doesn't quite capture the hilarity, but it was a surprise to everyone.

meeting dakota was of course, a highlight, but my favorite moment was when i ran into megan hilty on my way back from the restroom, and without a co-worker in sight to take a photo, i whipped out the self-portrait stick and handled my business.

i realize megan may not be as 'famous' as some of the other folks, but i saw her play glinda. in wicked.  'nuff said!

so the warm up was behind me, and i could still 'groupie' with the best of them.  i was ready for los angeles.  except, oh no, those dang expectations!

checkout the glaad ny album for all my pics.