[/caption] Finding myself sitting in the first row (albeit a bit to the far left) at the PaleyFest True Blood event on Monday night, I had to stop and check myself to see if I was dreaming. When the moderator took the stage to our immediate left, Sarah and I almost could not contain our excitement...and then, the lights dimmed and the highlight reel began... all on a really, really BIG screen (which was received with giddy enthusiasm by the packed house)...and then, the "teaser" scene from Season Two...this could not really be happening, could it? When the moderator then announced the introduction to the cast, both Sarah and I were looking to the left and all of a sudden, there was Alexander Skarsgard, coming from the aisle to our immediate right, walking right in front of us...and we looked in awe, up and up and up (that man is Tall!) and discovered, to our delight, that each of the cast would walk right past us and onto the stage, giving us the opportunity to be as "up close and personal" as we could have even imagined possible. How in the world (or in any other dimension for that matter) had any of this happened? Rewind back to the summer of 2008, when we first learned of True Blood at Comic Con while waiting for a panel on "Dexter" ( starring a guy who is very familiar with the work of Alan Ball!) ...if I ever have the opportunity to speak to Michael C. Hall, I will profusely thank him for the never-to-be-forgotten opportunity to discover True Blood!! As a result of attending that panel, we were given a True Blood "goodie bag" with a T-shirt (Real Blood is for Suckers); the first book, Dead until Dark, in the Charlaine Harris series on which True Blood is based and a True Blood comic book. But more on that later. When I first heard about the True Blood panel being featured at the PaleyFest, I had seriously mixed emotions. I was very, very happy that True Blood was getting the recognition that I feel it so deserves, I was giddy at the thought of fans being able to attend a screening of some sort (not knowing exactly what that would consist of at the time) along with a panel and Q&A... and I was completely miserable because I just knew that I would never in a million years be able to attend. Just shows you how wrong you can sometimes be and to never underestimate the power of dreaming and believing in those dreams coming true. Quite a few of us in our little group of die-hard True Blood addicts thought we would not be able to attend the PaleyFest and had to console ourselves with the happy thoughts of the release of the upcoming book in Charlaine's series, Dead and Gone (to be released on May 5, 2009), the Season One DVD becoming available on May 19 and the premiere of Season Two on Sunday June 14. So much True Blood Bliss, indeed! Even so, I was finding myself avoiding a lot of talk about the PaleyFest because I wanted to go so badly from the moment it was announced and I will confess, it was hard to even think too much about not being able to go. We were even considering going to the ArcLight and standing outside to watch the arrivals and support our favorite show in the only way we could. So, when TrueBloodNet.com announced that there was an extra ticket for the PaleyFest available, I stared at the email notice for the longest time, thinking to myself that it was probably someone selling a ticket. Even though I didn't think it could possibly come to anything, I clicked on the link to inquire. Imagine my shock, delight and astonishment at the end of the next day (April 7) when I found myself being offered the extra ticket and began making arrangements with Sarah to attend the Fest. Did I mention that Sarah is from Colorado, a 24 year old mother of 4, who would be driving 13 hours the Sunday before the Fest? By herself? And, that she had never been to California before in her life? Did I mention the fact that she got into a car accident, 25 miles from her destination on Sunday night? Did I mention that Sarah's husband will be deployed in June? No? Since it will take a bit of time to tell our tale, I am breaking it up into several parts. I hope you will "stay tuned" for the rest of the story. The hair-raising, sometimes comical, sometimes almost bordering-on-tragic adventure of attending the PaleyFest is something I will never forget, ever. I will be sharing some favorite memories along with pictures of the event itself in the days to come. I wanted to get at least this much written down while the memories are still so fresh in my mind. Several others in our group of True Blood fans were also able to attend the Fest, through almost equally amazing circumstances... and we will all be sharing our thoughts, impressions, memories and pictures with you over the next few days or so. Hope you will enjoy and/or be amazed at our story and come away from reading it with the same feeling that I have: that miracles can come to us all via the smallest of blessings, sent in delicious Vampire Packaging (I guess those would have to be the Large Blessings!) and to never, ever stop dreaming...because dreams really do come true. http://truebloodnet.com http://truebloodnet.com/community http://truebloodnet.com/forums
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