All of this came out of the blue, a morning that started like all mornings. Had you told me a week ago this would be happening, I would of thought I'd dreampt you telling me. I found my way to the library at school, to work on a Sociology project. We were all working on a powerpoint together on our laptops, we had it mostly finished just were adding the finishing touches for next weeks presentation. I decided to take a peek at Facebook only to find Tyler Oakley posting an event page saying he was coming to Marquette. Marquette, I thought, there's no way he means the University of Marquette in Milwaukee, he probably means Michigan. I looked again it said: "Hey Wisconsin People". Not only was he going to be in Milwaukee, which is close by, the event would be free, you just needed to get a wristband. That morning I was told an event at my church was sold out, so a newly empty night was filled up again.
I posted on Facebook about my excitement and told my mom the news. (I don't think she actually thought I would go.) But when one of your favorite people is only a half hour away, you need to go. (unless its like way expensive, which is why I haven't been at a meet and greet in life until now.) After class was over I went on the event page, and found out that this was a high demand event, and wristbands would probably go fast. My friend and I were originally going to get there at like 6:15, but when I saw how big of a demand it was we got there at 2:00. I kind of dragged her along because she only knew Tyler Oakley a little bit, but she was free and I hadn't seen her in a month. :P A student helped us find the building with the wristband, then we walked around Milwaukee a little bit to pass time.
We didn't walk very far, we stopped at the Milwaukee Public Library, and got lunch at Starbucks. On our way to Starbucks we passed the door to the building that Tyler would be at. There was 2 parents and 2 girls waiting at that time. Once we were done with Starbucks, Laurette and I decided to wait with them. They looked to be middle school age, but we were able to talk about a lot of YouTube stuff. We got there around 4ish, and the doors opened at 7, so it was a long wait, but we ended up being 5th and 6th in line and ended up getting the best seats in the theatre, so it was all worth it.
Here's a picture of us waiting outside. The weather was really nice actually, so we weren't miserable. I posted this exact picture on Twitter and Tyler favorited it, while we were waiting outside. While we were waiting a random Red Bull car pulled over and gave everyone a free can of red bull. I'm currently unsure what to do with it, so it's in my fridge. :P An hour before the show the volunteers hung up a poster of Tyler Oakley which I took a picture with, as you do.
The chairs are where they were sat. When they got on stage, they picked questions to answer from the Question Box, and went on little rants on things, and sassed each other on stage. Tyler talked about what he originally went to college for, what job he would be doing if he wasn't on YouTube (McDonalds for the free food), details on the Amazing Race, a strange road trip, etc. He ended by taking a Vine of the theatre which I'm in, which I'll leave a link at the end. (I can clearly be seen, I'm wearing a black shirt, with white lettering).
I wasn't so lucky when it came to the Meet and Greet, as I ended up being one of the last people in line, same with the family from Fondulac/Green Bay who had gotten to the theatre first. (I guess that's what you get for getting front row seats. I still got to meet him, it took an hour an a half of waiting in line, but would of taken longer had it been an actual meet and greet. At this one he was just signing books, you couldn't take pictures with him or hug him unfortunately. Had that been the case they might of cut the line off due to time constraints and I wouldn't have met him but I did. The weird part was I wasn't nervous. I guess his videos do really make it seem like you are a close friend of his. It was difficult to choose what to say since you are only given 10 seconds to talk to Tyler. I wanted to make a lasting impression out of the thousand people, but instead I introduced myself, told him he was my favorite YouTuber, and that his outfit was very cute, and asked for a handshake since hugs weren't a thing. His hands are very soft. He thanked me, and said he'd see me really soon. (He also said I had a cute shirt, it was one of his merch shirts that isn't printed anymore) Which I hope is a true statement (the see you really soon), maybe another random event will show up out of the blue again. I think I'll try and tweet him more so he'll remember me, since he stalks his own Twitter/Tumblr feed all the time.
The girl behind me was able to get a signature from Korey. Korey stayed backstage while Tyler was signing unfortunately, but she asked for him, and he actually came out. When we exited the building a girl told me how she was embarrassed because during her 10 second talk with Tyler she blew it on a Knock-Knock joke. I think that's a good way to leave a lasting impression though. It made him laugh too.
It was a miracle of a night, and I'm so blessed. It's so weird watching his YouTube videos or The Amazing Race and just noting Wow I talked to him in person.
The Vine: <blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Hi Wisconsin, it me. <a href="https://t.co/8DQZi9YaRQ">https://t.co/8DQZi9YaRQ</a></p>— Tyler Oakley (@tyleroakley) <a href="https://twitter.com/tyleroakley/status/723327503885045760">April 22, 2016</a></blockquote> <script async src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
That is so AWESOME!!!
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