Amy n' Me

I'd like to share with you an experience that changed my life.

AAAAAAHHH!!!!

If you know me at all, you know that I adore Amy Poehler with every fiber of my being. So it was not even up for debate that when I discovered tickets were being sold for "Amy Poehler in Conversation with Jane Lynch" at a theater only a few minutes from my house, I would be going.* My sisters and I bought tickets and stood in line in 40 degree weather**, but we did it without complaint. And good lord am I glad we went.

After standing in line, we went inside the theater and got fourth row seats (I know right) behind Jane Lynch's wife and daughter (I KNOW RIGHT). Although at the time, we didn't know this fact. So we're sitting there waiting for it to start, and all of a sudden my sister finds a wallet on the floor. Opens it up to see who's it is, and holy mother, if that wasn't Jane Lynch's wallet lying on the floor a foot away from me. So at this point I've just about lost it completely, and Amy hasn't even arrived yet. We give the wallet to an usher, who gives it to Jane, who gives it to her wife. Apparently her wife had been holding on to it and it fell out of her jacket onto the floor behind her seat.

Sister: "Stop. That's not cute."

Trying to get warm in line.
It's not working.

So after that little incident, I'm basically jumping out of my seat, craning my neck in every direction to see if I can possibly catch a glimpse of Amy's face. And that's when I see the camera flashes. I look behind me (I have an aisle seat) and Amy is literally walking past me in a gloriously bright orange dress, with black tights and shoes I would kill for. Applause, cheering, and fangirling commence.

Sidenote: What I didn't know at the time was that three fellow Tumblr-ites, one of whom I was already following, were in the same theater, watching the same show. If I had known more bloggers would be coming, I would have organized some sort of sleepover the night before so we could all hang out and shit. But I digress...

Me and my hero. She said I was "so sweet!" when I
gushed about how much I love her. Please excuse
the shitty quality.

The preface of the event was that Jane would be interviewing Amy. She had done detailed research on Poehlz and had taken copious notes. She mentioned some stuff that even I didn't know. (Trust me, that's saying something.) The two talked about their upbringing, their introduction to comedy, and how they made it in the business. One of the first things Jane mentioned was that she found it amazing that when reporters asked Amy anything about women in comedy, she just would not answer the question. Jane also pointed out that when an interviewer asked Amy if she was surprised at all her success, Amy said no. Jane said something like, "And I loved that you said that." Amy was like, "Really? It sounds kind of douchey when you say it back to me."

I won't give a word-for-word analysis of the interview, mostly because it was almost an hour and a half of golden material that I can't do proper justice. And because you can watch it right here.

But I will say one thing. One really important thing. At one point in the interview, Amy was talking about how she got interested in improv. She said that there's a difference between seeing someone do something and thinking, "That's so cool, how do they do that?" and seeing someone do something and thinking "I wanna do THAT. I wanna be up there." That was her aha! moment. I could see the light in her eyes as she said this. Her whole face brightened up whenever she brought up improv in any aspect throughout the interview.

Oh yeah, we met Jane Lynch too. She was super duper nice.

That night I couldn't sleep a wink. I tossed and turned in my bed, unable to get that quote of my mind. It was then that I realized something (because let's be honest, all major life decisions are made in those moments before you drift off to sleep). Seeing Amy up there, talking to Jane, that was my aha! moment. I don't know what I'll be doing 10 years from now. I don't know how my life will work out. But that gleam in her eye? A sheer excitement that comes from talking about what she does for a living? I wanna do THAT. I want THAT to be the look on my face when I tell someone about my job, my passions, my life. I wanna have THAT enthusiasm about something I've been doing for years and years and years.

Amy taught me a lot of things that night. And she even answered one of my questions.*** It was really just an unforgettable experience and it's a night I will 1. never forget and 2. never stop talking about. Prepare to be annoyed.

*Shout out to Annie. Without her telling me about the event, I would never have known it was happening. So thanks babe.
**I'm from L.A.! I'm allowed to be weather-spoiled.
***Listen for the girl in the video with the gross voice at around 53:35 asking whether Amy would ever consider a dramatic role in film or TV.