Anna Torv fan encounter
—It occurred to me that the episode that aired last night was indeed the episode I had had the pleasure of ‘set watching’ back in November, and also that I’d never really posted the story… So without further ado:
I had just gotten my full driver’s license the day before, so I was really excited about that, but then I’d heard Fringe was filming a scene in Gastown (again, a very accessible place in downtown Vancouver) so I figured with my schedule that day I could make it work, especially with the fact that I could drive myself halfway.
Anyway, this is where I reveal my retardedness in the flesh, because I knew the location, at least I thought I did. But see, Vancouver is weird, and the streets are all messed up… But anyways, I ended looking for the location for about 20 minutes, all the while tweeting Tessa (@tessacpliu) for help (because she’s the one who posted the location) and eventually I found it. Turns out, I’d passed it about 10 times *facepalm*. I walked over and they were filming in Blood Alley, and there were a few other fans there. I met Jaime (@jmimi) there and we had some good laughs and such but that is later. And I also saw her at the Cloverdale set, which is next week’s episode, but that’s another story. We could see Anna and Josh from where we were standing, and she was wearing her beanie so obviously we were saying how, “Oh, fans are gonna go crazy when they see THIS episode… The beanie is back.” While standing there, I actually started talking to one of the driver’s, and we were talking and turns out he knows a friend of mine who used to work on the set. We talked and I told him I do background work like this but never on this show and he said, “Well hey, come and find me next time your on one of these sets and I’ll find out which agencies they get their background performers from.” and that was ubertastically exciting and he said bye and I said bye.
After watching for a while, we couldn’t see Anna anymore, and we were afraid she’d left. But then Jaime and I realized that where they were filming there was a little courtyard and coffee shops right there, and we had to go to the bathroom anyway… LoL So we went into this coffee shop and turns out (with our luck) that the walls on the side of the courtyard were all glass windows, so you could see everything! It was pretty cool, and while we were in there we starting talking to this nice PA, and she was saying how she’d just recently gotten a job on the show. While talking, a woman (and if you’ve seen last night’s episode, it was the woman who had been attacked, with the tears of blood) had walked in and we were like, “Oh my god, are you okay?” She laughed and said, “It’s just make-up, no worries guys.” We were about to leave but then the lovely Jasika Nicole walked in and went towards the back of the coffee shop. Jaime and I really wanted to talk to her, and we’d both never met her before, but we didn’t want to intrude because she was on her phone for a long time. We ended up just chilling a little ways away from her, pretending not to notice, and when she wasn’t busy, we walked over to her and said hi. Jaime asked for a photo and I took it for her. I mentioned to her that I loved reading her blog and she said thank you. I also said that I love how supportive she is of the autistic community and that I have a good friend who is autistic. She thanked me and she mentioned how this episode that they were filming will deal with the other Astrid and her autism. I asked her for a picture and she said, “Of course!” As we were leaving she thanked me again for reading her blog and for coming out to see them. So all in all, Jasika Nicole is one the coolest, nicest people on this planet. End of story.
We went back outside then to find our friends and we showed them the picture with Jasika. We then realized that where we were standing was not a very good spot to watch because you could hardly see anything, so we decided to head back over to the coffee house, and maybe even purchase something LoL While walking, we almost (literally) bumped into Josh on the street. Jaime had never met him before, so she wanted a picture. They got one with her phone, and then Josh proceeded to say that he had the exact same phone case. It was an iPhone case that looked like a cassette tape. Jaime asked where he got his and he said Paris, whereas she got hers in a store in Chinatown. “What are the odds” he said. He said, “Yeah, but you guys probably don’t even know what cassette tapes are, right?” And defensively we said, “Well, not entirely, they were around for a bit when we were young.” Jaime told him she had the Lion King soundtrack on cassette tape and we all laughed and chit chatted. I mentioned how some cassette tapes and even records were still around, and even some being made, and I started to say, “Because of all the—” and at the same time we both said “hipsters” which we laughed at because in Vancouver, it’s SO TRUE. Hipsters EVERYWHERE. I told him that we’ve met before, and he said where? And I wasn’t going to say, “Oh here…and here…and also here…” So I just said the most recent one, which was the one during the summer on Davie and Howe (I don’t think I’ve made a set story for those ones, so I’ll get to that.) at the apartment building with John and Anna. He said, “Oh, yeah! And you and that um…” I told him Nadine, “Yeah! You guys were talking to John, and she had the dog.” I laughed and said yes. “It’s nicer during the summer right? Coming to set? Whereas it’s cold now.” I said yeah and that in Vancouver you can’t really avoid the cold but yeah. We laughed, chit chatted and he said he had to go back to set so we said bye.
When he was out of ear-shot, Jaime squeezed my arm and said, “WE JUST MET JOSHUA JACKSON” and I laughed. We walked up to a PA that was standing outside the courtyard where we were and we talked to him. We were looking at a sign too for a tea house, but it pointed to inside the courtyard. We asked if we were able to go to the tea house and he said, “Yes, of course. We can’t force companies to close while we film.” So nonchalantly, we just walked into the courtyard where hair and make-up crew were, PAs, camera operators. But we honest to god could not find the damn tea house… We thought maybe there were stairs somewhere to get to it? But we looked like lost puppies, so we walked out and read the sign again, trying to find out where it was, and the PA said, “Do you girls need some help?” We nodded and he escorted us to the tea house, which really was hard to find. It was there, but the door was around this other side and whatnot. By the way, the tea there was PHENOMENAL. Anyone heading out to Vancouver should definitely try it, SO GOOD. We did that, and our other set friends joined us in the tea house. The only one we hadn’t talked to yet was Anna, and I wanted to so badly! The thing was, I had to be back home at a certain time, and I was running out of time fast. While we were sitting there, we saw Anna walk into the black tent, and Jaime and I decided to walk out there and back into that other coffee house. When we got in there, Anna walked RIGHT IN and went to order a drink. Now, see I have this weird thing… Anna’s really shy. I used to be shy, and I still am a little, but not as much as I used to be. But because she’s so shy, it’s kind of intimidating to approach her (I think I’ve said that before). So, Jaime, I guess being the NOT shy one out of the two of us, walked right up to Anna and introduced herself. I was kind of back against the wall, I didn’t know what to do! Oh my god, and then Jaime… She looked back at me and pointed to me and said, “And that’s my shy friend in the corner.” *so guys I’d just like to say that the majority of the times I meet Anna, something happens that’s incredibly embarrassing… Like the time I tripped and fell in front of her but that’s another story* So I was literally DYING OF EMBARRASSMENT THERE so I walked over slowly as Anna chuckled at me… *OH GOD GUYS* And Jaime asked if she could have a picture and I took it for her. Honestly guys, I which I could tell you what we talked about but I really don’t remember… It’s all a blur. If I remember I’ll post it but being in her presence melts your brain or something… I do remember asking for a photo and after saying sorry? Like, I said sorry to bother you and she said, “Oh it’s no bother, pleasure meeting you.” and we said bye and that was the end. OH YEAH I think at some point we mentioned the tea place and how good it was and she said she’d gotten some earlier.
Anyway after that happened my time was nearly up and I said bye to everyone and I was on my way. Lucky for me, it was rush hour so I ended up speeding home (don’t tell the cops) but I made it home RIGHT on time. So guys, that’s all I have for you this time. Hope you enjoyed the read.
