Baltimore Report
(report by Tiasha)

Ohno Zone home

Didn’t sleep very well the night before, so I moved about the early morning in a daze. I drove to the subway, got on. Stopped at work – briefly as it was 9:50am. Where had all my time gone. Anyway, I was power walking when I realized my food donation was still on the front seat of my car. No problem, stopped by CVS which was on my way, and two blocks from the Convention Center. Made my way past the two rows of Rite Aid reps (their job… make sure you had a Rite Aid shopping bag and coupon booklet). Finally…inside. Wandered around until I saw Apolo’s name. Stood in line. The two guys in line behind me were complaining that they didn’t have anything for Apolo to sign. How they got past all of the Rite Aid reps without a bag is beyond me. Then, I spot the infamous Noelle and other OZers. I go over introduce myself and have a seat. I met Linda, Monique, Crash, Tia, Denise, Monica, Mel and a few others (I apologize for not remembering your name). Chat with everyone …name and where the are from. Props to Tia for driving 6 hours to get here. The Days of Our Lives guy came on and did a monologue (his interviewer sucked).

Enough of that. It’s Apolo’s turn on stage. We shift to the front rows. I’m not sure what I was doing when he stepped on stage. He was … I don’t think Merriam-Webster has a word to describe how radiantly magnificent he was. The interviewer did a good job. After the interview, we went to get our autographs… They cut off the line OMG! Noelle swung into action (bet you didn’t know Noelle was a super-hero). It took a little persistence, but she got a promise of autographs at the next session. Catastrophe avoided.

Tia and I went to her car to get her "Got Apolo" shirt, and we got wet. We came back milled around the exhibit, got freebies. It was like trick or treat without Halloween. I got to delete the blurry pictures I took while we waited.

Second interview, got front row seats again. However, that Apolo sign was not posted for the autograph session. So, throughout his interview I was periodically glancing to the autograph area. Yes, I joked about jumping the hurdles, to get in line but his interview was almost over and it seemed like it was going to come to fruition. My friend arrived with her sons. I was so proud when he asked Apolo how many medals was he going to win at the next Olympics. That was so cute. The interviewer, helped him tweak his question to: How many medals would you like to win? Apolo answered: 4. There were other questions and the interview was over, still no Apolo sign. Then suddenly a line formed, and up went his name and through the masses we forged. Finally in line. Anticipation is a killer. Woo-hooo! It’s my turn. I give him the gift and card that I got him for his birthday. He says thanks and take the card. I told him that the bag was for him too. He smiled and said thanks. I got two signatures, the first time I spelled my name for him, on the second one he was out of the gates and signing his name when I noticed that he forgot a letter, he said Ooops and squeezed it in (can’t even tell it was squeezed in, thank God it was only an i.) We took a picture, (Tia did a great job!)

He’s such a sweet and gracious person.

Ohno Zone home