Запознах се с Johnny!!! :)

Ами това са снимките от професионалната фотографка. Ще копирам report-а си от борда обаче, така че пак ще е на английски. Тя мама знае. Ако някой друг има нужда от помощ с превода, да се обади (да ми пише) и ще разказвам на български. Букетът, който виждате на снимките струва $ 100. Значката е Johnny's Angels. Бях парфюмирана с новият ми Ralph Lauren. :) Другите важни неща ги има в report-a. :) Оооо, моите снимки са тук: http://new.photos.yahoo.com/stefarbalova/album/576460762398282671

Enjoy!!!!!!!!! :))))))) Много целувки на всички!!! :*:*:*:*:*

Sam and I arrived at the Wachovia Center at about 12:15. It was raining and the enormous bouquet we had brought for Johnny was wrapped in paper we were supposed to remove before giving it to him. So we ran inside the building but we were told that the box office, where Sam was supposed to go to receive our VIP passes, was somewhere outside, so she left me waiting for her with the flowers and went to take the passes. Not that it is so important but I had to start from somewhere. Sam already told you about the lost passes and her meeting Priscilla. Nothing interesting had happened to me in the mean time.

So we bought our programs and went inside. I had a third row seat. This rink was very different from the one in Reading, I think. The seats in the different rows were much closer together and the view was kind of worse, although third row wasn’t too bad. And the rink seemed smaller but this may be a visual illusion since this time I was in the central ice Sector.

The show started with lights in different colors that said Champions on Ice. After a few minutes the skaters appeared introduced one after the other dancing to different pieces of music in some fancy costumes. Johnny moved by the boards so fast.

Then, the individual numbers were great. I am really spoilt now. Watching figure skating live is just incredible!!! I kind of love all the skaters live! They are all so wonderful and graceful and fluid!!! Whoever thinks that’s not the best sport/art they are just wrong! It’s just magical! Johnny was once again incredible! I love how he looks so absorbed in the emotion of the piece he is skating to. He went by the boards a few times and I could see his sad face. And then as soon as the music is over, he smiles and looks happy again! I think that even the lights went off as he took his final pose and then on again too soon and he still looked sad. Then the lights went off he moved to the center of the ice and when the lights illuminated him again he was smiling. He was stunningly beautiful! The audience loved him. He consecutively turned to the four sides of the rink and the people sitting in the respective sectors he faced tried to make more noise than the others he had already faced. It looked like a kind of competition. Johnny was the first skater in the show to receive such noisy applause. It was wonderful!

As to the other skaters…

I love Alissa! She is just great!

I was so excited to see Pang and Tong. I have no idea why I didn’t know they were a part of the cast. They were amazing, too! There was an incredible double twist in the program. I think they scared the audience a bit. Btw, I don’t think that Pang is so extremely thin live. Well, it only confirms my belief that all the skaters look better live!

I love Tanith and Ben’s program! They performed the hip-hop one. Their attitude is just amazing no matter what roles they play! And Tanith was in a kind of sparkly black socks this time. They looked great!

I remember that I loved Plushenko’s costume. Black, with some streaks on the loose shirt. He dances to a lyrical piece. His artistic expression was superb, which really impressed me because I am not really used to thinking of him as a great artist. His jumps also looked fine! I know how ridiculous this comment is when it comes to Plushenko but I was really wondering how much in form he is after the season off. But he looked great!I am so happy I had the chance to see Tatiana and Max! They are so beautiful!

I was pretty impressed by the acrobats, although I expected something great from them. They are just scary to watch. The things they do look almost impossible. The Blades in Glory stunts are nothing in comparison!

During Irina Grigorian’s second performance Dan brought her hoops in a shirt that said Hoop boy. It was just too funny!

Kimmie had a new beautiful dress! I think it was really appropriate for her Angel program.

Shizuka was beautiful but I didn’t like the song she skated to.

Anissina and Peizerat had some great lifts and other special moments. Gwendal’s removing his shirt was definitely a highlight of the show. They skated to a selection of Christina Aguilera’s songs. Johnny’s influence???

Sasha was extremely beautiful. This time all her jumps were clean. She skated to Hurt.

Another thing that surprised me is that I really enjoyed Evan’s number and I am usually not a fan of his style of skating. But I think that the music and choreography of this program really work for him.

Rudy’s number was hilarious! My first time to see him and I really liked him.

The finale was amazing!!! I loved the costumes, the stories. Everything was great! And Johnny was on the ice during most of it. Ben danced with a lot of girls, showing a definite preference for Tanith. Tomianina and Marinin and Pang and Tong switched partners for a spiral. Alissa looked great in a tight black costume. The fight of Johnny and Evan was hilarious! I loved the way Johnny looked like a kind of vizier followed by his women. The throw double axel is just incredible!!! Johnny was also smiling a lot during the closing number. He finished on top of one of the white columns, too! Then, the bows, and the show was over.

So we asked where backstage was and went there. Sam said who she was and we were let in passing by Patti. We took our place in the line and waited for Johnny. He was actually one of the last skaters to come…

The first skater who appeared was Shizuka Arakawa. She was really nice. I actually took a lot of pictures of her, since Johnny was nowhere in sight and she was the first skater there, so there were no distractions coming up. While we were getting prepared to meet the skaters, we decided that it would be extremely difficult for us to take pictures and hold the programs, the bouquet, the calendars (I’ll explain later ), our handbags and our jackets all at the same time. So we left the jackets on one of the blue boxes backstage, not really caring if they would be stolen. The mission ahead of us was far more important than our being warm in the future.

Shizuka was followed by Kimmie. She was really nice, too, interacting with the kids right before us in the line, who wanted their skates signed. Then she came to me and I really wanted to tell her that I really liked her new dress. I think that I missed “new,” however, so it must have sounded extremely stupid. Why am I complimenting a skater I meet for the first time on her choice of a dress, as if I am more interested in the costumes than in the actual skating? She said she was happy I liked it. But she sounded surprised. Well… I could have at least mentioned that I had seen her at Marshalls and that was where my comment came from. Not until I went home, however, did I realize what the reason for her surprise was. But everything was happening so fast. The skaters were coming and going. We were impatient to meet Johnny. And Priscilla, Patti and Paris were going up and down around us. So we had more than enough distractions. Plus, I didn’t really know what to tell the skaters.

Alissa must have been one of the next skaters in the line. Johnny had not appeared yet. I love Alissa, so I really wanted a picture with her. She was great. Thank you for taking the picture, Sam.

Ok. Tanith was coming next. I think Evan was in front of her. But I really cared more about Tanith! I adore Tanith and Ben! So it was definitely time for another picture. Tanith always looks great! Sam asked for a picture with her and Evan. I don’t know why she wanted Evan in the picture, but it was alright. Tanith pulled Evan back and we had two pictures of the 4 of us taken.

I don’t have an idea how we missed some of the skaters. There was a moment when I saw Plushenko in the line. I really wanted an autograph and a picture with him. But he must have mysteriously disappeared while our eyes were stuck on Johnny. Well, it doesn’t sound like a mystery, but I never realized what happened with him. I just know that I never met him, which was strange.

Maxim Marinin signed our programs. We missed Tatiana for some reason. Then, Pang and Tong. They were great! I love this pair! They were actually responding in English to the thankful fans. But just as I saw them, I saw someone important behind them. Johnny!!! Wow! He looked amazing even from a distance. The excitement was definitely building up.

Vladimir Besedin was next. I was ready to skip his autograph, but he was nice enough to grab my program, find the page and sign it. I am serious, btw, I am really thankful he did. He was followed by Irina Grigorian. But there was no time to get her signature because Johnny was coming after her. She actually signed Sam’s program and was kind of surprised that I didn’t want her autograph. I am so sorry! I really thought she was great. But I couldn’t miss Johnny. Well, probably I was just too nervous.

And then he finally reached us!!! Johnny started signing Sam’s program, when she told him the flowers were for him. Then he noticed my button and pointed sweetly to it. It was so amazing. We told him that the Angels said hi and I tried to add that they were sending their love, too. He told us to say Hi! to the Angels and to tell them that… OK. I missed this part. Then he came to sign my program, too. And I am not sure whether this happened before or after that but I also gave him a small (pocket) Russian calendar for 2007. I told him it was Russian and I tried to explain that I had won it at a competition in Mathematical Linguistics in Russia. He asked whether I was Russian. And I said “No. I am Bulgarian.” And then, he gave me a hug because of the distance I had passed in order to see him! It was so sweet! He asked me how long I had been in the States. I said almost a year and then corrected myself to a school year. I mentioned I was a student here. He asked whether I liked the USA. And I said that now that I had seen him, I was really starting to like it. And that’s true, btw. I am really starting to like it here just now and Johnny is a big part of it. Then he signed my program. I asked him to sign another Russian calendar for me. I took a picture of it, so it is among my photos. He signed one for Sam, too. I know that we broke the rules a bit, but I would prefer him to sign my calendar anyway and was ready to skip the program autograph, but he was so nice and signed everything. Then I urged Sam to give him the flowers before he had to go. It was a little crazy. Oh, I forgot to mention the picture the photographer took of the three of us with the flowers while Sam was still holding them. We were so engaged in our conversation that I was scared we would forget to give the bouquet to Johnny. Oh, and before Sam gave Johnny the flowers she asked him whether Priscilla had told him that we had this enormous bouquet for him. And he said that she hadn’t, probably because she wanted it to be a surprise. I don’t know if Sam actually heard me when I told her to give him the flowers. I hope she didn’t because it was so stupid of me to believe that she would forget to do it. But I really wanted him to receive them after all. And when Sam gave Johnny the flowers he gave her a hug and a kiss, which she promised to describe to the Angels. *Just a reminder.* Then I asked Johnny if we could take pictures with him. He, of course, agreed! He is so, so sweet! So first Sam took a picture of us. She took a few actually. Then I tried to take a picture of them, but my hands were trembling, so the first attempt at a picture was unbelievably blurry. So I kind of apologized and took another one, this time holding my camera with both my hands. Unfortunately, it’s not perfectly clear. I am so sorry!!! I am so glad that the professional photographer took pictures of us, too! I am extremely bad at taking pictures obviously. Especially at moment like that. In spite of this accident, I have to admit that Johnny is absolutely great at putting people at ease. I thought I wouldn’t be able to say a word and it was so extremely easy to talk to him! He was wonderful. Another thing that impressed me was the fact that he didn’t react in any way to finding out that I had an accent. He seemed to understand everything I said. It really felt so easy to talk to him! Thank you, Johnny!!! After I took the pictures, I hurried to ask whether he was going to perform the Fallen Angels program at COI. And he smiled and said he was working on it. I wished him good luck with that. And it was time for him to go. I am not 100 % sure about the chronology of the events, but I really hope I haven’t missed anything. Then I asked Sam what he wanted us to tell the Angels. Hm… Another mistake on my part. He apparently wanted us to tell the Angels that he was working on getting the Fallen Angels program into the tour. I am sorry for asking again. I couldn’t believe it hadn’t come up… Well, obviously, it had… But Johnny was wonderful!!! He looked so much better live! And his voice is more beautiful live, too. He was amazing! I don’t know how to thank him for this incredible afternoon! And for being the most artistic, beautiful skater and one of the most amazing people I have ever met! Thanks!!! Swept away by the moment, I completely forgot to take notice of his eyes, but I couldn’t possibly have missed the great eyelashes! And his beautiful, beautiful smile!

Well, now I remembered how we actually separated. I knew it was far more logical than it appeared in my account of it! He looked at the flowers and saw a leaf hanging from the bouquet. And he said sadly: “Oh, I already broke it!” But on a more thorough inspection he realized that he hadn’t and smiled happily!

Then we relaxed a bit, our eyes still following Johnny as he continued down the line. As soon as he reached the spot where Patti, Priscilla, Paris and another friend were, he gave the flowers to Patti. Everyone bent over the bouquet to smell them. It was so sweet!!!

Then, we met Ryan Bradley. I wouldn’t say I am a big fan, although as everyone knows already I love all the skaters live, but he was so charming and talkative and nice. I had to do something! So I asked if I could take a picture of him and he posed smiling. Unfortunately, it’s another blurry one, but it was so soon after meeting Johnny. Nevertheless, I am happy I took it.

Shae-Lynn Bourne followed him. We just took her autograph and I also took I picture of her. By far not the best picture, but it’s high time I stopped justifying my poor photographic abilities. I am the only person I know, who can take a blurry picture of a motionless object with my camera, since it has that Mega Optical Stabilizer. Well, I am talented at destroying pictures.

Sasha came by next and I would have probably asked for a picture with her if I hadn’t heard her say that she was in a great hurry because she had a plane to catch. So I just took a picture of her.

Then Gwendal appeared. I knew Sam wanted a picture with him. And YAY! This time it worked. Finally a good one! She also told him that she loved their number with Marina.

Then we saw Ben running by. He promised he would be back. Then he appeared again going in the opposite direction with a bunch of suitcases and I was worried that it was the last we would see of him. But he really came back. A long time after everyone else. He was also extremely nice! I absolutely love him! Just as we thought there was no one to ask to take a picture of Ben, me and Sam together and were ready to take separate pictures, a woman suggested that she help us. The result is definitely one of my favorite pictures. Ben was great, as I already mentioned. I told him that he and Tanith were incredible.

Then, there were no more skaters coming. Someone opened a door to the buses. The policemen were telling each other that the only people still giving autographs were Gwendal and Ben. It was really funny! We grabbed our jackets before someone decided to take the cubic boxes out. Maybe that’s absolutely ridiculous. But I have no idea what these boxes are and I had seen them in other COI photos so I thought they might be a part of the tour equipment.

As we were going out, now almost sure that Johnny was not coming back, we passed by Ryan dragging his suitcase.

We excitedly discussed the show on our way back! It was definitely a memorable day! Thank you, Johnny, Sam, COI, Angels, U Penn and USA for this amazing opportunity! I love you all! Well, dreams come true… :)))))))))))))))))))))