Thread:Rodangizzardcrusher3/@comment-26687285-20160822213306/@comment-26687285-20161007215422

JP it is then. ;) Anyway, here it is.

About 6 years ago around mid-october, myself, my parents and two older brothers along with their (now ex-) girlfriends went to the stay at a hotel in Arnhem (it's called Bilderberg Hotel De Buunderkamp) for the weekend. Also, the next day a (former) friend of mine (named Gijs) and his mother and sister would also be coming down as well. We were gonna go see Sting and the British Philharmonic Orchestra in the GelreDome (which, if i'm correct, is the largest stadium in the Netherlands) that saturday evening. It was part of a big music festival called Symphonica in Rosso. What was particularly neat was that we were staying in the same hotel as Sting and his people. We arrived on friday evening.

While we were waiting in the lounge for our rooms to be prepaired i went over to a lady with a dog and sat down on the carpet with him (i like dogs alot, so). After a while i went back to the others and they told me they had seen Sting walking in and asked me if i had noticed. They told me that, since i had been the closest to the entrance i could've easily seen him. I however had been sitting with my back to the door and hadn't noticed anything. As you can imagine, i was a little crushed. Later that evening i was wandering around near the main hall and listening to my mom's IPod, which she had given to me since she didn't really want it anymore and which was mainly filled with Sting albums. I was in a hallway left of the reception desk. A guy of about 30 wearing a hoodie, asked me if i wanted to play some table tennis with him, since there was a ping-pong table there. Because i didn't know him it made me a little apprehencive, so i declined the offer. He nodded and began to walk on. Because he spoke english i asked him whether he was with Sting's entourage, to which he said: "Yes, we work in the same studio."

The next morning we were having breakfast when my parents pointed out something outside. There were two men in sweatshirts walking off to go cycling. I recognised one of them as the same man who had approached me the night before. They then told me: "That's him, that's Sting and his son Joe." I could have bashed my head in two on the table i felt that stupid. I had passed up the opportunity to play 1 on 1 table tennis with the son of one of my all time favorite musicians!. Joe Sumner (of Fiction Plane fame) was going to be playing with an opening band before both shows that weekend. Now granted, he probably wouldn't have had time (or been willing) to have any kind of lengthy or personal conversation with me. He most likely would have thanked me and gone back to the group, as it was clear (and quite understandible) that they were trying to keep a low profile. It is (sadly) also completely logical that i didn't recognize Joe at all, since i not only didn't know he would be traveling along with Sting, i didn't even know who he was. I'd never heard his name or any Fiction Plane songs at that point. I just assumed that he would come in during the concert, perform, and leave. Still, i was very distraught.

Later that day i was sitting by myself in the lounge, waiting for my folks to pick up Gijs and his mom and sister from the train station. I was on the phone with a school friend of mine (named Bas), trying to tell him about what happened. Suddenly i looked up, and whattayaknow, Gordon himself walked by my table. I immediately tried to say something to him, but he merely gave me a very brief "Hello". I stood up and called to him, saying: "You're awesome!." I obviously told Bas about it while it was happening. The hotel had (obviously) reserved a conservatory for him and the rest his company where he eventually went to sit by himself with an IPad and a glass of mint tea. I stood by myself in front of the half closed doors for about 15 minutes waiting for him to look up, but he never did. It's possible (and again, very understandible) that he did this on purpose because he didn't wanna talk to anyone, but i can't be sure. Eventually i returned to the lounge to continue waiting for my parents to return with Gijs.

Looking back on this, i do feel a little ashamed that i gave in to my excitement so easily. If this had happened now, i would've tried harder to contain myself more and not bother him with unwanted attention. You see, i suffer from a number of disorders, such as Asperger and a moderate form of OCD. My emotional maturity is also not quite ideal. I am often prone to self-consciousness, envy, self-hatred, self-pity, desperation and naiveté. It was a bit like being around someone that you are really attracted to. In such a situation, people often become compulsive, anxious or neurotic. I was also a much different, less restrained, and more introverted person back then.

Anyway, that evening we went to the concert and we all had a great time. When we got back to the hotel i decided to stop obsessing over my frustration with what had happened with Joe and just let it be. My parents said that they (Sting and Co.) would probably already be gone by the time we would be leaving the next day, so there was no point in remaining upset about it. They told me that i should simply remember how much fun we'd all had and try to get over my dissapointment. And so i went to bed, having made peace with the situation.

The next morning we went down stairs to the banquete hall to have breakfast. As we were walking past the lounge i glanced towards the front door. There was Sting himself sitting on a couch right next to the entrance!. Beside him sat a slightly older man, whom i assume was probably his manager or a colleague of some kind. I immediately perked up. This could be it!, this could be my chance!. About 20 minutes into the buffet, i told the rest is was going to get some more ketchup for my bacon (but of course, i was planning something else). I surreptitiously left the dining hall and started towards the lounge, eagerly hoping Sting would still be around. To my great relief, he was still there. Like the day before, he was busily arranging something on his IPad. I neverously walked up to the couch and tried to get his attention. The man on his right called to him and he looked up. He said: "I just need to finish this e-mail", and continued browsing. The man told me if i came back in around 10 minutes i'd able to talk to him.

I went back to the rest of the group, positively giddy. After getting some more food (including the ketchup) i sat down and, faining interest, i nonchelantly said: "Oh by the way, i'm allowed to see Sting in a few minutes". They looked at me slightly dumbstruck and laughed. "How did you pull that one off!?" they asked, to which i said: "He's in the lounge right now, he just needed to finish typing something out". I don't quite remember who, but someone (i'm pretty sure it was my mom) suggested that Gijs and i go together, which i agreed to (i mean come on, i could hardly have denied him such an opportunity). Finally, about 15 minutes later, we got up and went to see him. I actually don't remember a lot of what he said to us, but i do remember most of what i told him. We introduced ourselves and (as you would expect) told him what big fans we were. He asked us if we enjoyed the concert, which we obviously very much did. He complimented us on our english. I then (finally) told him about the incident with Joe that friday, which he found quite amusing. I also asked him if he could relay the story to Joe for me, which he told me he would. After about 5 minutes, he got up and told us they were leaving. We shook hands and thanked him for his time. Then, just as he was putting on his coat, i quickly refered him to music video that i had discovered earlier that week, which featured his song A Thousand Years. I wrote it down and told him it was really great and he should check it out (though i doubt he ever did).

Shortly after he'd gone, we had checked out and left the hotel. We took a walk together along a forest trail closeby, before beginning our drive back home.

Pretty cool, huh?.

Lord of the Rings (A Thousand Years) Music Video: