To see my photo album of the day, click here 

 

I Got To Hang Out With David For 2 Hours

 

I can’t even begin to express my excitement and shock right now. Words are not enough. I’m writing this at 4am – I just got back from the concert and I can’t wait until the morning to make this post.

 

Yes, I did indeed get to hang out and talk with David for 2 hours this evening. SDcoulturedoll (Liz) and Blaykee (Kristen), and Chaarlie (Cherlyn) from the AI Boards shared this amazing evening with me and I would like to tell you about it!

 

 Liz and Kristen drove up from San Diego to go the Tacoma concert.  They both had been to two other concerts in California, and decided to try one more! We (including Cherlyn) met by the buses, where the idols were kept behind the fences and never came out. I managed, however, to get David to sign my David Archuleta Fan Blast water bottle (given to me by Eric from FB) and he signed my hand. (He held my hand while he did it!! EEK!) Anyway, David recognized Liz from the other concerts and American Idol tapings and his reaction was priceless. He was on vocal rest and couldn’t talk, but when he saw Liz he just threw his head back and did a “silent” laugh. Liz asked “Do you remember me?” and he shook his head in disbelief and smiled.

 

There were many disappointed fans in Tacoma, because the idols couldn’t come out due to security reasons. There were a LOT of people there. However, we did manage to run into Jeff Archuleta. I was able to personally hand him the hat I bought him which read "World's Greatest Dad"! This act sparked a lengthy conversation. Liz and Kristen came over to us, and Jeff recognized them.

 

Then he leaned forward, and whispered very quietly in our ears “Write your names down, give me a phone number. I’ll get you backstage After Show Party passes”

 

My heart exploded.

 

The conversation continued as normal, because Jeff didn’t want to draw attention to the situation in fear that others would want passes. In fact, Liz started talking to Jeff in Spanish so others wouldn’t understand what they were saying! It was really cool, and kinda funny.

 

Realizing the idols would not be coming out, and bursting at the seams with excitement about our backstage passes, we left for the rest of the day and came back later to pick up our passes.

 

I wore it very proudly. It had a little handwritten “DA” on it, which meant we were on David’s guest list J

 

The concert was fantastic, as you all know by now. Honestly, I didn’t even take pictures of the concert (or at least not many) because so many identical pictures exist on the Internet and I wanted to soak up the concert and enjoy it as much as I could. Besides, I knew I would be meeting David afterwards so I assumed I would get better pictures then.

 

The concert ended, and we met up with Jeff again who told us where to go. We were led into a medium sized room where all the idols were waiting for us (changed back into normal clothes). Honestly, there were not very many people there. You’ll be able to tell from my pictures.  It was quite small, and we were happy for it.

 

Liz and I went to straight to David Archuleta. He was standing in a corner talking to two other people. As we walked up, those people left and it was just me, Liz, and David. David said hi to Liz (his now familiar friend LOL) and Liz introduced me. “This is my friend, Meleah” she says. “It’s really nice to meet you!” says David as I shake his hand and try not to look stupid. Right away we took pictures. I specifically asked David to take a “fun” picture with me and we decided to do a “thumbs up” picture because he loves doing that in pictures!

 

As this was happening, I handed him the movie I bought him – the “Notebook” (remember the Seventeen Mag interview?) – and his reaction was awesome! I hadn’t even finished explaining it to him and he says “Oh wow! I haven’t seen this! That’s so nice thank you so much!” So when we took our picture, he held up the movie. I thought it was sweet. Later during the evening, we talked about it again. He said to me “You know, I think I want to save this and watch it with my friend!” I told him that it was definitely something to watch with a friend, and Kristen chimed in and said “Yes, save it watch with a special lady friend”. David laughed hysterically. “Girls love Guys who have watched the notebook” I say. He laughs more. I think we made him laugh a lot tonight.

 

After our initial meeting with David, we decided to spread the love around. Liz and I headed to Cook. He was standing alone, and so we went to him next. I have to tell you – my Cookie love has grown enormously. He is the funniest, sweetest guy. He was goofing around with Liz and I, and taking silly pictures and making fun of my “I Voted for David Archuleta” t-shirt. He was very cool.

 

After saying high to Cook, Jason, and Michael Johns, we suddenly realized that we were standing in the same room as David Archuleta yet NOT with him. I’m like “what am I doing??” so I went back to David and watched him (non-creepily… I think). I stayed with him the rest of the night. I watched as he interacted with some people (again, not many people there) and every move he made was adorable. His skin was bright and shiny, and so were his eyes. I couldn’t take my eyes off him. He looks completely unreal.

 

We continued to talk throughout the hour – about various topics. It was strange how easy it was to talk to him. I was so afraid I would go all “fan girl” on him, but instead I was cool and calm and able to converse with him like a friend – and that’s how he talked to us! He was very smiley and excited. At one point he was talking about something that made him happy and he did a little “hop” in the air. We all laughed. It was adorable.

 In case anyone is wondering, the sunglasses in the pictures belong to Liz - she dared David to do it, and he did! He was such a good sport. 

 

I asked him about singing “Crazy” on Tuesday, and he didn’t know about it! But he said “Ok, then! But I haven’t rehearsed it in awhile”. I told him that his fans really want to hear him sing it. He went on to explain how he sings it – he said it’s a very slow, simple version of it - nothing fancy. And we told him anything he sings is fantastic. At times he almost rambled, and I loved every moment of it.

 

We talked about his album and how it’s ranked number 4 on Amazon. His reaction was priceless – he was like “nuh UH!” I told him I already bought his album, which prompted him to discuss his album and how he’s still trying to find the right balance. “Hopefully it will be good” he says. We laughed again.

Of course, I could not go the WHOLE night without saying something ridiculously stupid. I actually had a brief conversation with David Archuleta about the economics of supply and demand concerning his album, and how it dropped from 20 dollars to 10 dollars in one day because so many people bought the album. I wasn't explaining it well, and I think I confused the heck out of him! But good old David just smiled, looked me in the eye, asked question about it, and at least pretended to be interested. Finally I was like "Nevermind -- it's a good thing!"

 

One of my favorite moments happened when we were talking about his height. “I’m really short” he says. “You’re taller than me!” I say. Then he stops, stands on his toes, squints his eyes, tilts his eyes, looks me up and down, sizes me up, and then says “nahh I don’t think so”. I swear Archies – my heart exploded. But I kept my cool.

 

Another funny moment happened when a Goth girl came up to David to get his autograph. “You have an interesting style” says David. LOL!!! I couldn’t help it – I laughed out loud. It was awkward. 

 

I told him I loved reading his Myspace Blogs. He laughed, and seemed flattered. “I wrote another one today!” he says. (He hasn’t posted it yet though!) “I wish I could do more video blogs. I’m not very good at them, and I don’t know how and my laptop is all messed up. I’m going to get Jason to help me.” I said “What, American Idol can’t get you a decent laptop?” and he says “Well I haven’t asked. I don’t want to be like “Ohhh give me a laptop”. He said it with this mock “arrogant” tone and it was the funniest thing ever.

 

It was funny to watch as he would sing and hum to himself. At one point, these two girls stood next to him and he started singing a line from “Stand by Me”. He spoke in Spanish a lot, which I didn’t understand but it was very cute.

 

I got so many autographs its ridiculous. He signed my hand, my water bottle, my picture – and then I asked him to sign my shirt. As he was spelling out my name, he was like “Oh I met you early today! I signed something for you”. I was happy he remembered me! I asked him if he recognized my shirt and he did! And I told him about how I drove to Murray for his homecoming.

 

At one point, while Cherlyn was giving David a present, she gave him a pin of some sort and it was white. “And it’s white!” she says. David looks confused and says “White?”. Cherlyn says “That’s your tour color.” Still confused, he asks “What is a tour color?”. I explained it to him was like “OH! That’s cool – I never noticed!” I laughed. Maybe a little hard, but it was funny. I told him to keep an eye out for the white fans! (I got this whole interaction recorded - I’ll post it later)

 

At one point he asked “What time is it?” – I don’t know, but it was such a normal, non-fan-like question and it kind of tickled me that was asking for the time.

 

David seemed to think it was really funny and cool that Liz and Kristen drove from California to see him in concert again. Liz and Kirsten made him guess how many hours they drove. He guessed 12 hours, but it was actually 19 hours and he was shocked!

 

As the evening went on, the room became more and more empty as others Idols left. Of course, David just kept staying. Part of me wondered if he was reluctant to meet the huge mass of people waiting outside at his bus. Regardless, he kept talking to just us – finally we were the last ones in the room, except for Jeff and some security guards. We were the last to leave.

 

I sheepishly asked “Can I have a hug before I go?” and said “Aww! Of course!” and gave me a big old hug. His cheeks touched up against mine – EEK!

 

He said goodbye to us and whishes Liz and Kristen a safe trip home to San Diego. We were like “bye David! It’s been so nice talking to you tonight” and he was like “Thanks! Have a good one bye!”

 

We went into the parking lot, and then a few minutes later he came back out on his way to buses. He said goodbye to us again! It was funny to watch as his security guards escorted him behind the huge line of people waiting for each Idol to return to their buses. We watched as he snuck up behind the crowd– no one knew he was there and then suddenly everyone started screaming.  That was the last we saw of him.

 

The experience is still hard for me to completely grasp – the fact that we spent 2 hours just talking to David about random things. Some things were so random I can’t even remember now! But I was taking major mental notes the whole time and thinking of you all a ton.

 

 His ability and eagerness to listen, ask questions, and respond was amazing. I would be talking to someone else, and David would overhear and chime in. There was no sense of just David talking to us because he had to – he seemed so interested in talking to us. In fact, the fact that he kept talking to us – even after everyone left – is what kept him from making an appearance at the buses afterwards. We didn’t realize this until afterwards. Oops.

 

He was so normal, yet so perfect at the same time.

 

My ODD needs a new word, because I’m not sure “ODD” says it all anymore.