Erin RUTH (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
lesmisloony) wrote2011-04-05 06:42 pm
lesmisloony) wrote2011-04-05 06:42 pm
Entry tags:
Dijon part one!
How can I not return Patrice Maktav's love? Nobody has ever ever been this nice to a fan.
So I stayed up super late eating off-brand Pringles and trying to finish my Ariane (Maman Weber) doll, but I realised it was not going to happen and surrendered. By the time I went to sleep my alarm was due to go off in three hours.
Being slow and ridiculous, of course I was almost late for the train. I got to the station with a few minutes to spare, and then my dang American card wouldn't work with the machine and the information man was like You're train is leaving stat homefry, you better just get on and explain the issue to the guy with the machine. The guy with the machine was really nice, but then my card wouldn't work with his machine either. I just happened to have exactly enough cash to buy a second ticket and he said he was going to give me a slip to reimburse the first one, but then his printer thing wouldn't work... it was terrifying. But it did all work out in the end, obviously. I finally was able to settle in, make MOR gifs, watch the amazing French countryside roll by, and nap a lot.
I got to Dijon around 10:30, a nice SNCF man named Patrice (good name!) reimbursed my second ticket and went ahead and printed out the return one so nothing else could go wrong, and then I herped out into the town. Unfortunately, I am NOT SMART AT ALL and I ended up going the wrong way thinking I was off to the Troupe's hotel. By the time I realised I was wandering up a mountain I'd been walking for at least fifteen minutes. Then, using the maps from bus stations, instructions from a nice lady in a flower shop, and even one of the Mozart vans that shuttles the Troupe to and from the Zénith, I finally tracked it down! There were probably about twelve fans waiting out front. Three of them saw me with the dolls and were like OH IT'S YOU and I was like SURE IS. They were fun to hang with, though a few times they insulted people like SDM and even Maeva and I just kinda stepped away for a moment. I wanted to talk to this one tiny quiet lonely-looking girl but didn't get the chance.
Instead, I copied someone else and asked a dancer who is apparently named Charlotte for a picture. I look SO RIDIC here.
Wow she's pretty. And by the way, the hotel I was to be staying in was directly across the street (awesome!!) but I didn't want to go check in out of fear that I might miss someone I needed to see.
SOMEONE SUCH AS SYLVAIN.
Omgggg. So like, I was thinking a few days ago about how all my MOR dreams come true immediately after I realise they are my dream, but then I was like Well, the one thing that will never happen is meeting Sylvain, the really really hot dancer from last year. THAT VERY SAME DAY Sylvain announced on facebook that he was coming back to do a few shows with the tour.
AND LET ME TELL YOU SOMEONE ELSE. HE IS AMAZING. I was actually distracted from FLO. MORE THAN ONCE. BECAUSE OF SYLVAIN. And I don't watch dancers when FLO is around, so there's just something magic about this attractive man. It's hard to explain, but the way he MOVES is just... wow it's crazy. His awesomeness distracted me during Le Bien qui fait mal and then again during L'Assasymphonie. You know the thing the guys do when they come in during L'Assasymphonie? Well it's like, when Sylvain does it his hips are like KAPOW KAPOW whereas everyone else's hips are like NRK NRK. I think that explains it.
Laurie and Jean-Michel came out, so I gave them their dolls. Jean-Michel was basically like Ah, you're the doll one, neat! Thanks, it's cute! And he bisous'd me and then we posed for a picture in which I think he didn't even hold up the doll. One of the other fans took the picture and I haven't seen it yet to whatevs.
Then Laurie came out and she FLIPPED. HER. LID.
Laurie flips her lid
She's like OMG I WAS DREAMING OF GETTING ONE and then she starts showing it to a group of dancers who are like Cute. and she's like THEY'RE JEALOUSSSS and then she says Ohh it's the suivante from the court! and then she runs off and shows it to Merwan who's also like Yeah okay.
Um having the power to make the people from Mozart happy is basically the light of my life. Because I know I mention it all the time but in America my unwavering obsession with this show is what got me through some rough times, so I'm just like... omg, I love being able to give some happy back to them. I love them all SO MUCH. There is not one person in the Troupe who I don't feel undying love for. I even love J-P though he is kind of a douche sometimes.
Of course, there are some people in the Troupe I love more than others. One in particular has recently become my absolute hero.
When Maktav came out of the hotel I guess he'd already seen me in the crowd, because he came right up and already had on his srs bsns get-the-American-a-ticket face. Seriously if he'd completely forgotten his offer to get me a ticket to the show I would have still been totally fine and in love with him for even mentioning it but the man was DETERMINED. His lack of social skills with fans is really really adorable to me. Even Flo knows you are not supposed to berate JP Asian while a fan is handing you a present, but Maktav is so unaccustomed to fan love that he doesn't really know how to focus.
JEAN PAUL. GET THE AMERICAN A TICKET.
I love how he switches from, like, that super-sassy Frenchman shrug to peering at the hat to smiling at me to hollering at J-P some more. Also I love that he was screaming across the parking lot that he wanted to get me a ticket in front of all those other fans. YEAH THAT'S RIGHT BIATCHES MAKTAV LOVES ME. And I like him flinging his copy of Harry Potter and his guitar to the ground so he can go try on his TARDIS hat in the reflection in the window.
So then he went off to fuss at J-P and a second later he called my name and I was like YOU ARE SO FRENCH MAKTAV as I went fromping across this little patch of grass and over to where he was waiting. The thing about my name, which is not really pronounceable to French people, is that in Amurrka we're all "AIR-rin" like that or even "AIRNN" which is fine but my host family has perverted it into "Eh-HHREEEN" which is fine too I guess, and then Maktav who is equally French manages to sound slightly less silly by saying it more "Ehr-reen" and I'm down with that. I mean hey at least he knows my name and loves me and stuff. Mikele calls me "American girl" which is true and perfectly acceptable and Flo is just like Heyyyyy but I promise he has to know what my name is by now GAH FLO. FORGOT BOTH OF THEM. I HAVE MAKTAV NOW AND HE IS THE BEST.
Anyway he Ehr-reen'd me over and was like Okay so all you have to do is go to the window and ask for it. I think it'll be under my name. Which is Patrice. And I was like ...I do know your name. And then I just kind of was all Merciiiii and he smiled down upon me because he is like fifty feet tall and I herped back across the grass to the crowd. The other fans were like DID DA PONTE SERIOUSLY JUST GET YOU A TICKET FOR FREE and I was like HE SURE DID and they were like WHICH SHOW and I was like Uhhhhhhhhhhhhhh oh. Good question.
Then one of the other fans is like Look he put that hat back on! And sure enough.
By the by it was really difficult for me to get this picture because every time I glanced over he was literally just standing there smiling at me. If I didn't love him so much it could have been a little bit creepy. MAKTAV'S DAMAGED SOCIAL SKILLS ARE MY FAVOURITE THING.
So while he was standing on the curb waiting for the van to whisk him and a few dancers away and I was like maybe I'll just go down before both shows today and ask if there's a ticket for me? And the girls were like How about you walk back over there right now and ask HIM? And I'm like durrrrrrr but I don't know about thisss I am too awkward to LIVE.
So finally I was like LEZ DO DIS and I went bouncing back across the grass and was like Paaaatrice? Patrice? and he turns around and does his sweet little smile which is definitely a love smile but I haven't yet determined whether it's love like the way I love him or love like the way I love my retarded Cocker Spaniel. Either way I accept Patrice Maktav's love. Anyway he smiles down at me and I'm like Annnd which show? and he goes Tonight! and I'm like Cooool thankssssss and he just smiles some more and I herp back over to the fans.
Then Flo came out!
Dom had sent me these sweet postcards from her campus in the US with lovely little notes on the back AND, more importantly, Hershey's Cookies & Cream bars because apparently they are not sold in Europe and she was worried that Mikele and Flo had never had them. VALID POINT. Thank GOODNESS she corrected this situation!!
And since Flo had confused me in Strasbourg by speaking French, I decided to return the favour this time. Haha poor Flo.
So he spots me in the crowd and his whole face lights up just like in Bruxelles. FLORENT MOTHE. STOP IT. I HAVE MOVED ON AND YOU SHOULD TOO. Actually just kidding don't stop it it warms my heart forever when you're happy to see me. So when it was my turn I handed him the postcard and the chocolate and it went like this.
Me: Cela m'était envoyé par--
Flo: What?
Me: I'm trying to speak French to you!
Flo: Oh okay!! Vas-y!
Me: GAH. Cela m'était envoyé par une fan américaine de crainte que tu n'aies jamais gouté de tel chocolat.
And Flo looked down at it and made a thoughtful face and went "Non!" in exactly the way someone would say "Nope!" in English.
Me: Et uhhh est-ce je peux uhhhhhhhh faire une photo de toi... uhhh avec... avec le... le pos... carte postale? (It kinda broke down there.)
And Flo smiled patronisingly at me and went "LA carte postale?"
I was holding my camera up already and I went "DON'T MAKE FUN OF MY FRENCH FLO."
Flo: Tu ne peux pas être dans la photo avec moi?
And I was like aww hunny I got your back on this so I agreed and came over to be in the picture. Some fan took the camera from me so I didn't have to take it myself, which was sweet, and then I realised Flo was not obeying my orders so I went "WITH THE POST CARD." in a really abusive way and he was like hup! and held it up.
At that precise moment the van with Maktav inside went by just a few feet away, and I saw Patrice in their wearing my TARDIS hat and grinning all cutely. He waved at me and I smiled with love and waved back.
AND THAT IS THE STORY OF HOW MY NEW ALLIANCE WITH MAKTAV WAS DOCUMENTED FOR FUTURE GENERATIONS.
POOR FLO. He is trying so hard to be good but it is just too late. And my blurry waving hand down there at the bottom... POOR FLO I AM SO SORRY TO HAVE LEFT YOU. But I think you will be okay without me. You have a lot of fans.
Then Mikele came out. He seemed a little bit not upgraded, but he was still being pretty chill. Mikele is so much better at the tour than he was at the PDS. When he spotted me he said "Ça va?" in a way that weirdly seemed to imply that he was actually concerned about me, haha. Maybe he missed me at Cournon and though I had been sick or had fallen off a train or something. So I was like Oui and he was kinda like THANK GOODNESS or something idk. I have forgotten the specifics of this conversation, but I did give him the postcard and when he saw the chocolate he yelled AMERICA!!! sooo I'm guessing he HAS had it before? Either way he seemed pretty stoked, which was cute.
Then I asked for a picture with him and the postcard but he is not the brightest sequin on the coat so he kinda missed the point. But I was holding up the camera to take the picture myself when Mikele was like ALLOW ME and he took it. And I was like OMFG MIKELANGELO LOCONTE IS USING MY CAMERA because no matter how much time I spend around these people my brain loves to randomly revert to a year ago and be like LOOK AT YOUR LIFFFFFE in really weird moments.
Actually a fan even offered to take the picture for us and Mikele was like NO I GOT THIS.
Cuuute but the only thing I see in this picture is that random wound on his neck. Cut himself shaving? Bubble of awesome? I do not know.
And so he and Flo were tossed into the last van and they took them away.
Meanwhile, my hotel was directly across the street (awesome idea Joanna!) so I went and checked in.
By the way I had had to use the bathroom since I was on the train that morning but I didn't want to leave the hotel door and miss anyone, so I had been dealing with that situation for abouuut five hours. By the time I finally made it to my room I was almost weeping with joy at finally being able to get that out of my system, as it were. I had texted Sherry about how I didn't want to leave the hotel door for the bathroom because I was afraid of missing Maktav and she was like "Just don't poop out of excitement when you see him!" which was sound advice.
Anyway then I got online but I actually ended up falling asleep with my face on my laptop. I was so out of it that I didn't realise Joanna was texting me like I'M IN THE HALL WHY AREN'T YOU OPENING THE DOOR and stuff. Fail. Eventually she called me and woke me up and I let her inside. She and I went and grabbed some noodles and then we returned to the hotel door, where there were a couple of the fans from that morning who were like Nah, nobody important has come by.
There was one van parked there, though, and I recognised the denim-clad man who was leaning on it and smoking as the guy who temporarily replaced Jonathan Kerr and who played Stephanie in Améville when Nuno was being weirdly semi-present and Solal was in, like, Malaysia or something. Nobody seems to know anything about this guy, so I was like YOU KNOW WHAT LET'S DO DIS. I went up and was like Scuse me, are you the new Jonathan Kerr? He seemed kind of delighted at having been recognised and was like Yeah! and I was like And didn't you play Stephanie in Amnéville? and he goes Well I only played Stephanie one time... and I was like Yeah in Améville and he was like OH YEAH wait do you just follow the tour everywhere? and I was like Kind of... I'm the one who makes the dolls and he was like Oh those are so cool! and I was like Thanks dude oh aaaaand uh what is your name? And he said he was Fabrice. Then he said his last name which was like de ASDAJKLAFKAKJAJFKALDJKALJFKALJFKLAJFOOO and I just stared at him so he kind of laughed and just said Fabrice again. And I was like Soooo can I get a picture with you? And he was like OMG YES.
I firmly believe that this is the only floto this guy has ever taken. YAY FOR MY NEW PAL FABRICE!
Then the van went on its way and I boarded a bus to the Zénith.
Now so in Dijon the Zénith is wayyy out in the boonies, like it was in Strasbourg. There is one bus line which drops you off kind of a ways away and you have to walk up a hill, through a parking lot, past a hotel and a shopping centre, through a patch of woods, and then through another parking lot before you hit the Zénith. At this point I was beginning to worry because the last bus left the Zénith at midnight but the show doesn't stop until about quarter till. If I missed that bus, google maps had told me that it was a forty-five minute walk back to the hotel. Also at one point I got off the bus at the wrong stop and some douchebag was like Oh, to get to the Zénith just walk that way and he pointed in the opposite direction of the Zénith. I elected instead to wait for the next bus and continue on my way but SERIOUSLY DUDE WTF.
When I got there I made my way toward the little Invités/VIP window like awww yeahhhhhh and on the way I ran into Cassandre who makes awesome cosplay dresses. I also saw her outside that Danse avec les stars thing in Paris AND in Lille AND in Strasbourg, so I was like Yo whaddup homeslice and she was like WELL HELLO and I was like PATRICE MAKTAV GOT ME A TICKET OMG and she was like YOU LUCKY MOFLO. Here she is with two of her friends in their awesome costumes.
I am particularly impressed with the Mikele girl. Those are good costumes yo.
Anyway, I went on over to the window and was like I have a ticket under the name Patrice (omgomgomgomg) and they were like You sure do! And they slid it through... WITH A BACKSTAGE PASS. The man was like just go wait on the left of the stage after the show and I was like OMGWTFBACKSTAGEPASSISTHISTHEREALLIFE but at the same time I realised that I could not use it because it would strand me out there if I had to wait for those fools to come take flotos with me. Plus also I don't really need to be backstage AGAIN. But I liked it a lot because it had my name on it, whereas the other one from Strasbourg had had Bénédicte's.
My seat was right in the centre of the room, in the first row of the gradins, meaning it was a little bit higher up and there was no one in front of me due to a gap for wheelchair folks, so I had an uninterrupted view of the stage. I was forty-five minutes early, so I just sat there being like OMGOMGOMGOMGOMGOMGOMGMAKTAV YOU ANGELLLLLLL the whole time I was waiting.
And finally Jean-Michel appeared in the crowd with his violin!
Okay so now I have to go to class, but I will continue this saga tonight.
So I stayed up super late eating off-brand Pringles and trying to finish my Ariane (Maman Weber) doll, but I realised it was not going to happen and surrendered. By the time I went to sleep my alarm was due to go off in three hours.
Being slow and ridiculous, of course I was almost late for the train. I got to the station with a few minutes to spare, and then my dang American card wouldn't work with the machine and the information man was like You're train is leaving stat homefry, you better just get on and explain the issue to the guy with the machine. The guy with the machine was really nice, but then my card wouldn't work with his machine either. I just happened to have exactly enough cash to buy a second ticket and he said he was going to give me a slip to reimburse the first one, but then his printer thing wouldn't work... it was terrifying. But it did all work out in the end, obviously. I finally was able to settle in, make MOR gifs, watch the amazing French countryside roll by, and nap a lot.
I got to Dijon around 10:30, a nice SNCF man named Patrice (good name!) reimbursed my second ticket and went ahead and printed out the return one so nothing else could go wrong, and then I herped out into the town. Unfortunately, I am NOT SMART AT ALL and I ended up going the wrong way thinking I was off to the Troupe's hotel. By the time I realised I was wandering up a mountain I'd been walking for at least fifteen minutes. Then, using the maps from bus stations, instructions from a nice lady in a flower shop, and even one of the Mozart vans that shuttles the Troupe to and from the Zénith, I finally tracked it down! There were probably about twelve fans waiting out front. Three of them saw me with the dolls and were like OH IT'S YOU and I was like SURE IS. They were fun to hang with, though a few times they insulted people like SDM and even Maeva and I just kinda stepped away for a moment. I wanted to talk to this one tiny quiet lonely-looking girl but didn't get the chance.
Instead, I copied someone else and asked a dancer who is apparently named Charlotte for a picture. I look SO RIDIC here.
Wow she's pretty. And by the way, the hotel I was to be staying in was directly across the street (awesome!!) but I didn't want to go check in out of fear that I might miss someone I needed to see.
SOMEONE SUCH AS SYLVAIN.
Omgggg. So like, I was thinking a few days ago about how all my MOR dreams come true immediately after I realise they are my dream, but then I was like Well, the one thing that will never happen is meeting Sylvain, the really really hot dancer from last year. THAT VERY SAME DAY Sylvain announced on facebook that he was coming back to do a few shows with the tour.
AND LET ME TELL YOU SOMEONE ELSE. HE IS AMAZING. I was actually distracted from FLO. MORE THAN ONCE. BECAUSE OF SYLVAIN. And I don't watch dancers when FLO is around, so there's just something magic about this attractive man. It's hard to explain, but the way he MOVES is just... wow it's crazy. His awesomeness distracted me during Le Bien qui fait mal and then again during L'Assasymphonie. You know the thing the guys do when they come in during L'Assasymphonie? Well it's like, when Sylvain does it his hips are like KAPOW KAPOW whereas everyone else's hips are like NRK NRK. I think that explains it.
Laurie and Jean-Michel came out, so I gave them their dolls. Jean-Michel was basically like Ah, you're the doll one, neat! Thanks, it's cute! And he bisous'd me and then we posed for a picture in which I think he didn't even hold up the doll. One of the other fans took the picture and I haven't seen it yet to whatevs.
Then Laurie came out and she FLIPPED. HER. LID.
Laurie flips her lid
She's like OMG I WAS DREAMING OF GETTING ONE and then she starts showing it to a group of dancers who are like Cute. and she's like THEY'RE JEALOUSSSS and then she says Ohh it's the suivante from the court! and then she runs off and shows it to Merwan who's also like Yeah okay.
Um having the power to make the people from Mozart happy is basically the light of my life. Because I know I mention it all the time but in America my unwavering obsession with this show is what got me through some rough times, so I'm just like... omg, I love being able to give some happy back to them. I love them all SO MUCH. There is not one person in the Troupe who I don't feel undying love for. I even love J-P though he is kind of a douche sometimes.
Of course, there are some people in the Troupe I love more than others. One in particular has recently become my absolute hero.
When Maktav came out of the hotel I guess he'd already seen me in the crowd, because he came right up and already had on his srs bsns get-the-American-a-ticket face. Seriously if he'd completely forgotten his offer to get me a ticket to the show I would have still been totally fine and in love with him for even mentioning it but the man was DETERMINED. His lack of social skills with fans is really really adorable to me. Even Flo knows you are not supposed to berate JP Asian while a fan is handing you a present, but Maktav is so unaccustomed to fan love that he doesn't really know how to focus.
JEAN PAUL. GET THE AMERICAN A TICKET.
I love how he switches from, like, that super-sassy Frenchman shrug to peering at the hat to smiling at me to hollering at J-P some more. Also I love that he was screaming across the parking lot that he wanted to get me a ticket in front of all those other fans. YEAH THAT'S RIGHT BIATCHES MAKTAV LOVES ME. And I like him flinging his copy of Harry Potter and his guitar to the ground so he can go try on his TARDIS hat in the reflection in the window.
So then he went off to fuss at J-P and a second later he called my name and I was like YOU ARE SO FRENCH MAKTAV as I went fromping across this little patch of grass and over to where he was waiting. The thing about my name, which is not really pronounceable to French people, is that in Amurrka we're all "AIR-rin" like that or even "AIRNN" which is fine but my host family has perverted it into "Eh-HHREEEN" which is fine too I guess, and then Maktav who is equally French manages to sound slightly less silly by saying it more "Ehr-reen" and I'm down with that. I mean hey at least he knows my name and loves me and stuff. Mikele calls me "American girl" which is true and perfectly acceptable and Flo is just like Heyyyyy but I promise he has to know what my name is by now GAH FLO. FORGOT BOTH OF THEM. I HAVE MAKTAV NOW AND HE IS THE BEST.
Anyway he Ehr-reen'd me over and was like Okay so all you have to do is go to the window and ask for it. I think it'll be under my name. Which is Patrice. And I was like ...I do know your name. And then I just kind of was all Merciiiii and he smiled down upon me because he is like fifty feet tall and I herped back across the grass to the crowd. The other fans were like DID DA PONTE SERIOUSLY JUST GET YOU A TICKET FOR FREE and I was like HE SURE DID and they were like WHICH SHOW and I was like Uhhhhhhhhhhhhhh oh. Good question.
Then one of the other fans is like Look he put that hat back on! And sure enough.
By the by it was really difficult for me to get this picture because every time I glanced over he was literally just standing there smiling at me. If I didn't love him so much it could have been a little bit creepy. MAKTAV'S DAMAGED SOCIAL SKILLS ARE MY FAVOURITE THING.
So while he was standing on the curb waiting for the van to whisk him and a few dancers away and I was like maybe I'll just go down before both shows today and ask if there's a ticket for me? And the girls were like How about you walk back over there right now and ask HIM? And I'm like durrrrrrr but I don't know about thisss I am too awkward to LIVE.
So finally I was like LEZ DO DIS and I went bouncing back across the grass and was like Paaaatrice? Patrice? and he turns around and does his sweet little smile which is definitely a love smile but I haven't yet determined whether it's love like the way I love him or love like the way I love my retarded Cocker Spaniel. Either way I accept Patrice Maktav's love. Anyway he smiles down at me and I'm like Annnd which show? and he goes Tonight! and I'm like Cooool thankssssss and he just smiles some more and I herp back over to the fans.
Then Flo came out!
Dom had sent me these sweet postcards from her campus in the US with lovely little notes on the back AND, more importantly, Hershey's Cookies & Cream bars because apparently they are not sold in Europe and she was worried that Mikele and Flo had never had them. VALID POINT. Thank GOODNESS she corrected this situation!!
And since Flo had confused me in Strasbourg by speaking French, I decided to return the favour this time. Haha poor Flo.
So he spots me in the crowd and his whole face lights up just like in Bruxelles. FLORENT MOTHE. STOP IT. I HAVE MOVED ON AND YOU SHOULD TOO. Actually just kidding don't stop it it warms my heart forever when you're happy to see me. So when it was my turn I handed him the postcard and the chocolate and it went like this.
Me: Cela m'était envoyé par--
Flo: What?
Me: I'm trying to speak French to you!
Flo: Oh okay!! Vas-y!
Me: GAH. Cela m'était envoyé par une fan américaine de crainte que tu n'aies jamais gouté de tel chocolat.
And Flo looked down at it and made a thoughtful face and went "Non!" in exactly the way someone would say "Nope!" in English.
Me: Et uhhh est-ce je peux uhhhhhhhh faire une photo de toi... uhhh avec... avec le... le pos... carte postale? (It kinda broke down there.)
And Flo smiled patronisingly at me and went "LA carte postale?"
I was holding my camera up already and I went "DON'T MAKE FUN OF MY FRENCH FLO."
Flo: Tu ne peux pas être dans la photo avec moi?
And I was like aww hunny I got your back on this so I agreed and came over to be in the picture. Some fan took the camera from me so I didn't have to take it myself, which was sweet, and then I realised Flo was not obeying my orders so I went "WITH THE POST CARD." in a really abusive way and he was like hup! and held it up.
At that precise moment the van with Maktav inside went by just a few feet away, and I saw Patrice in their wearing my TARDIS hat and grinning all cutely. He waved at me and I smiled with love and waved back.
AND THAT IS THE STORY OF HOW MY NEW ALLIANCE WITH MAKTAV WAS DOCUMENTED FOR FUTURE GENERATIONS.
POOR FLO. He is trying so hard to be good but it is just too late. And my blurry waving hand down there at the bottom... POOR FLO I AM SO SORRY TO HAVE LEFT YOU. But I think you will be okay without me. You have a lot of fans.
Then Mikele came out. He seemed a little bit not upgraded, but he was still being pretty chill. Mikele is so much better at the tour than he was at the PDS. When he spotted me he said "Ça va?" in a way that weirdly seemed to imply that he was actually concerned about me, haha. Maybe he missed me at Cournon and though I had been sick or had fallen off a train or something. So I was like Oui and he was kinda like THANK GOODNESS or something idk. I have forgotten the specifics of this conversation, but I did give him the postcard and when he saw the chocolate he yelled AMERICA!!! sooo I'm guessing he HAS had it before? Either way he seemed pretty stoked, which was cute.
Then I asked for a picture with him and the postcard but he is not the brightest sequin on the coat so he kinda missed the point. But I was holding up the camera to take the picture myself when Mikele was like ALLOW ME and he took it. And I was like OMFG MIKELANGELO LOCONTE IS USING MY CAMERA because no matter how much time I spend around these people my brain loves to randomly revert to a year ago and be like LOOK AT YOUR LIFFFFFE in really weird moments.
Actually a fan even offered to take the picture for us and Mikele was like NO I GOT THIS.
Cuuute but the only thing I see in this picture is that random wound on his neck. Cut himself shaving? Bubble of awesome? I do not know.
And so he and Flo were tossed into the last van and they took them away.
Meanwhile, my hotel was directly across the street (awesome idea Joanna!) so I went and checked in.
By the way I had had to use the bathroom since I was on the train that morning but I didn't want to leave the hotel door and miss anyone, so I had been dealing with that situation for abouuut five hours. By the time I finally made it to my room I was almost weeping with joy at finally being able to get that out of my system, as it were. I had texted Sherry about how I didn't want to leave the hotel door for the bathroom because I was afraid of missing Maktav and she was like "Just don't poop out of excitement when you see him!" which was sound advice.
Anyway then I got online but I actually ended up falling asleep with my face on my laptop. I was so out of it that I didn't realise Joanna was texting me like I'M IN THE HALL WHY AREN'T YOU OPENING THE DOOR and stuff. Fail. Eventually she called me and woke me up and I let her inside. She and I went and grabbed some noodles and then we returned to the hotel door, where there were a couple of the fans from that morning who were like Nah, nobody important has come by.
There was one van parked there, though, and I recognised the denim-clad man who was leaning on it and smoking as the guy who temporarily replaced Jonathan Kerr and who played Stephanie in Améville when Nuno was being weirdly semi-present and Solal was in, like, Malaysia or something. Nobody seems to know anything about this guy, so I was like YOU KNOW WHAT LET'S DO DIS. I went up and was like Scuse me, are you the new Jonathan Kerr? He seemed kind of delighted at having been recognised and was like Yeah! and I was like And didn't you play Stephanie in Amnéville? and he goes Well I only played Stephanie one time... and I was like Yeah in Améville and he was like OH YEAH wait do you just follow the tour everywhere? and I was like Kind of... I'm the one who makes the dolls and he was like Oh those are so cool! and I was like Thanks dude oh aaaaand uh what is your name? And he said he was Fabrice. Then he said his last name which was like de ASDAJKLAFKAKJAJFKALDJKALJFKALJFKLAJFOOO and I just stared at him so he kind of laughed and just said Fabrice again. And I was like Soooo can I get a picture with you? And he was like OMG YES.
I firmly believe that this is the only floto this guy has ever taken. YAY FOR MY NEW PAL FABRICE!
Then the van went on its way and I boarded a bus to the Zénith.
Now so in Dijon the Zénith is wayyy out in the boonies, like it was in Strasbourg. There is one bus line which drops you off kind of a ways away and you have to walk up a hill, through a parking lot, past a hotel and a shopping centre, through a patch of woods, and then through another parking lot before you hit the Zénith. At this point I was beginning to worry because the last bus left the Zénith at midnight but the show doesn't stop until about quarter till. If I missed that bus, google maps had told me that it was a forty-five minute walk back to the hotel. Also at one point I got off the bus at the wrong stop and some douchebag was like Oh, to get to the Zénith just walk that way and he pointed in the opposite direction of the Zénith. I elected instead to wait for the next bus and continue on my way but SERIOUSLY DUDE WTF.
When I got there I made my way toward the little Invités/VIP window like awww yeahhhhhh and on the way I ran into Cassandre who makes awesome cosplay dresses. I also saw her outside that Danse avec les stars thing in Paris AND in Lille AND in Strasbourg, so I was like Yo whaddup homeslice and she was like WELL HELLO and I was like PATRICE MAKTAV GOT ME A TICKET OMG and she was like YOU LUCKY MOFLO. Here she is with two of her friends in their awesome costumes.
I am particularly impressed with the Mikele girl. Those are good costumes yo.
Anyway, I went on over to the window and was like I have a ticket under the name Patrice (omgomgomgomg) and they were like You sure do! And they slid it through... WITH A BACKSTAGE PASS. The man was like just go wait on the left of the stage after the show and I was like OMGWTFBACKSTAGEPASSISTHISTHEREALLIFE but at the same time I realised that I could not use it because it would strand me out there if I had to wait for those fools to come take flotos with me. Plus also I don't really need to be backstage AGAIN. But I liked it a lot because it had my name on it, whereas the other one from Strasbourg had had Bénédicte's.
My seat was right in the centre of the room, in the first row of the gradins, meaning it was a little bit higher up and there was no one in front of me due to a gap for wheelchair folks, so I had an uninterrupted view of the stage. I was forty-five minutes early, so I just sat there being like OMGOMGOMGOMGOMGOMGOMGMAKTAV YOU ANGELLLLLLL the whole time I was waiting.
And finally Jean-Michel appeared in the crowd with his violin!
Okay so now I have to go to class, but I will continue this saga tonight.