To a certain degree, even the most infinitesimal, my life will never be the same as it was before July 5, 2014 at approximately 8:40 P.M. (Pacific Standard Time).
It was desired by both my brother that evening to go to the Barnes and Noble at the Americana. If you are unaware of what this "Americana" is, it is Glendale's treasured outdoor, overpriced mall located conveniently across the street from its biggest mall "The Glendale Galleria". At around 8:30, our mom dropped the two of us off at the alleyway passed Coffee Bean and Tea Leaf that lead directly to Barnes and Noble. Fortunately for us, our navigational skills were impaired and we accidentally walked in the wrong direction. It took us until we finally got to the end off the block for me to finally affirm that we were in fact, going farther from our desired location and the whole mall itself. We walked back and corrected ourselves.
As we went about mindlessly moving our bodies past the sidewalk, a sensation that I have never quite felt before, at least not to this magnitude, was accomplished.
This was orchestrated by a man who was slightly shorter than me walking directly past me. I had been looking to my left at the myriad of wonderful selection of stores, so I witnessed him almost immediately upon his walking past me. He had disheveled, short blonde hair and appeared to be speaking on the phone with someone.
I feel that when one typically has the good fortune of seeing a famous person he really admires, there is a degree system that provides the affirmation of his or her identity. For example, I didn't turn to my brother and ask, "Do you think that guy looks like Gerard Way?". I simply stated, with my voice trembling, "I'm pretty sure that's Gerard Way".
This statement is just slightly misleading as I was not "pretty sure" of anything. I knew 100% who the blonde wonder I saw before me was. In the nanoseconds of his journey past my person, my neural receptors seemed to accelerate and enhance as everything was realized in what seemed like .00000000001 of a .00000000001 of a second.
A) This man was blonde, as I knew Gerard Way was at this time.
B) He was with his daughter, who I estimate to be about 5 at this time.
C) He was talking in that iconic voice that he does. There is absolutely no mistaking it.
I had no mental preparations whatsoever. I immediately went from having an "I hope they have the book I want" mentality (which they did!) into one of "How the hell do I approach this person who has influenced every aspect of my life?".
It's funny really -- this is a guy who has had a huge impact over my adolescent years. He's a stranger. I'm a stranger. He is just one of the crowd.
Contrary to what others may think, celebrities don't glow or anything; they just look like any other person. It makes them seem interestingly ordinary in a crowd environment. His physical presence was additionally strange. "Gerard Way" has become equally an idea and a person over the years to me.
After he walked past me and all those mental processes happened, I alerted my brother immediately. Upon our talk, he sat down on a bench probably 25 feet away from us. We would later find out he was waiting for the valet to get his car. What seemed like an eternity of us freaking out about how to approach him was probably actually a minute or two at most. Being the geniuses that we are, we decided it was best to continue our discussion and plotting on the other side of the bench, except only about 15 feet away. A plethora of thoughts navigated our heads. We thought, "This may easily be our only chance ever to meet him," and, "We're not fucking messing this up." Before we could realize it, a black Volkswagen beetle approached the curb. Upon this occurrence, he elevated himself from the bench and walked over to the car.
If this were a one-act play, this would have been either its climax or turning point.
The passenger door opened, and he put his daughter in the back seat. His next objective was to place himself in the driver's seat. He stopped briefly and during this treasured time, I took it upon myself to approach him. While intensely scared out of my mind, I got new thoughts such as, "If he is an asshole to us, I'll never be able to listen to his music again."
I didn't have much time to think. "Excuse me, are you Gerard Way?" is what the 37-year old rock star heard as he turned around towards my brother and I. He smiled his classic half-smile and said casually, "Yes, I am".
Of course, as I said before, I had absolutely no doubt that it was his him. I wasn't going to say "You're Gerard Way!" and be met with, "Yes. I know who I am". He took a few paces towards us as I said, "From the bottom of my heart, I want to thank you for everything." My Brother said something similar, but I don't remember his exact words. He basically said, "You're welcome, and thank you very much too". It was at this point where he extended his hand out and I shook it.
I touched Gerard Way.
A few more words were said, which included my brother saying, "Yes, I'm a huge fan of everything you do" in a very casual manner. It was even slightly comical in nature from what I can remember. I may be wrong, but I think this may have made him laugh a little bit. Typical. It's all a blur, but the next thing I remember is him saying, "You guys have a great night". Afterwards, he got in his car, and drove away. We freaked out immensely and the first thing I did was called my best friend to alert him about the crazy events that just occurred. My speech probably wasn't even legible but I managed to spit out what just happened.
As if things weren't great enough, my brother posted a tweet saying "Just went @gerardway from My Chemical Romance! Next up: Matt Bellamy", and Gerard Way responded with, "You guys were nice, I liked your vest". In this, my brother got special attention as he was wearing his Hot Topic vest decorated appropriately with Hot Topic Buttons. This meant he had to actually click in his profile picture to affirm that he was in fact the individual who was wearing the vest.
Other than this, we are easily the envy of most My Chemical Romance fans worldwide. This wasn't organized. It was a random encounter on a random day where everything just fell into place. Moreover, we were easily much more composed and casual than most fans are when they meet him, which I can imagine was appreciated. We didn't get a picture or autograph or anything, but that's all right -- he seemed a bit busy, and I had no need for proof of our encounter.
I always imagined that if I met a member of My Chemical Romance, I would just say "Thank you" and that's it. This was successfully accomplished. Maybe this was a good thing, because we didn't ask anything of him. Maybe it made his encounter with us a unique one. Or, maybe it was just common sense.
What I can say for certain, however, is that there are few other places where I would have had such an opportunity as this. Therefore, this may have been one of the few times I was legitimately happy to be living in Los Angeles.
