Hello everyone! How are you? Are you doing well? I sure hope that you are! Gosh! It seems like it's been forever since I've written a new journal entry around here, hasn't it?  But I thought after the amazing events of this weekend, that now would be an appropriate time to do so!

Goodness.... Where do I begin? I guess I can start with one of the most exciting events to happen to me as of late (or arguably ever! ), the fact that I got to meet the one and only Dan Green, the English voice actor who played both Yugi and Yami Yugi in the Yu-Gi-Oh anime series!   Dan has played a number of other roles too, of course; ones that I enjoyed greatly such as Asato Tsuzuki in the anime Descendants of Darkness, for instance.  But given the immeasurable impact that Yu-Gi-Oh has made in my life, and how much I have truly adored Dan's powerful performance as Yami Yugi, he was without a doubt the one voice actor that I had always *always* wanted to meet!  And it finally happened, and I owe it all to for announcing his appearance at the Yu-Gi-Oh World Championship Qualifier in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania!  

The ever knowledgeable had mentioned this appearance at the Dan Green fan club here on Deviantart.  After I had confirmed with her that both Dan and  the voice actor Greg Abbey would indeed be attending, I also scoured the web for any additional information on this event.  Truth be told, Pittsburgh is a LONG way from Philadelphia, and I had a bit of difficulty arranging plans for how I would accomplish this trip. A few plans fell through, a few new ones were made, and yet even as I attempted to finalize the travel aspect of this would-be trip, I still couldn't find any more information  about Dan coming, other than what had told me. I didn't know what day he would be there, what time, what the event itself would be like and so forth! Given that I'm usually the kind of person who likes to plan things well in advance, a part of me was reluctant to make the voyage without knowing more. And yet, I eventually reasoned that it may be worth taking a leap of faith in this case, as I may never have the chance to meet Dan again, if the past was any indication anyhow!   Perhaps it sounds a bit odd to go to such lengths, but taking into account what this meeting would mean to me, and much I do admire his work, even now, I wanted to do everything in my power to make it happen!  

Thankfully, I didn't have to make the trip to Pittsburgh alone! A good friend of mine not only offered to drive me there, but given that he has relatives that reside relatively close to the area, they had offered to let me stay with them that weekend in their rather luxurious lake house! Unexpectedly, that turned into an adventure in itself, but more on that later!

After weeks of trying to figure out what I would ultimately say to Dan or even how I would approach him, I thought one way to show my appreciate for his phenomenal talents was to give him a book of prints; specifically some of my Yu-Gi-Oh and Descendants of Darkness related works, which, in a way, he helped inspire after all! I also wrote him a heartfelt letter along with my works, in the event that I'd find myself at a loss for words, when we were able to meet.

And so the search was on! That Friday afternoon, I can recall how my friend and I had joked how we were on a safari hunt of sorts, looking for the elusive Dan Green among the sea of duelists who had appeared for the Duel Monsters Tournament. I had tried questioning some of the staff members about the appearance as well, but many were still unsure of the details, even then! After many failed attempts gathering information, we finally learned that both Dan and Greg Abbey would be attending on Saturday, not Friday. Upon learning that, my friend and I thought it best to travel to his relatives' home for the evening.  We would get a good night's rest,  and try again the following day!

Heading back to the convention center that Saturday morning, we arrived prior to the commencement of the events, as we hoped that we'd learn more about the scheduling, or perhaps be first in line, if one would eventually begin to form.  Again we had begun questioning some of the staff members, to no avail, but then, I myself was able to pick out Dan Green, who was sitting quietly near the main stage!  

In all honesty, I wasn't certain if it was indeed him, especially given how casually he had been waiting, with no spectators in his vicinity! I was also a bit shy to approach him, reasoning that the area  in which he waited may had been restricted at that current time. It was still quite early in the morning, and even the set up for the dueling had yet to be completed.  I thought that perhaps when the preparations had been finished, he would then be asked to announce the start of the competition; which would then lead to an autograph session sometime afterwards. Even with these rationalizations, and though I'm embarrassed to admit this, I found myself hovering rather close to the stage, (at least as close as I felt comfortable with) as I wanted so badly to approach him! Given how nervous I was, and how even my friend had commented how much I was fidgeting, I often wondered if Dan had noticed me watching him, and I feared greatly that he would be convinced I was stalking him!

I remember attempting to hide behind my friend when I thought Dan was looking in my direction, and eventually I struck up a conversation with a few people nearby in order to pass the time.  As I continued to wait, I even posed with one of the banners, as seen here:



In the end, however, I learned that remaining in that general area had proved to be quite beneficial after all!

In time, the event was indeed kicked off by both Dan Green and Greg Abbey who had shouted their famous Yu-Gi-Oh catch phrases like "It's Time to Duel!" as said by Yami Yugi, as well as "Let's Rev it Up!"  as said by Yusei Fudo.  A few more words were spoken by those in charge of the tournament itself, but shortly after, whether it had been planned or not, it seemed as if people had gradually begun to approach both voice actors near the podium for autographs, and again, since I was *already* standing nearby, I followed along and found myself to be one of the first in that growing line!  

So,  what can I say about actually meeting Dan Green....   Well, still feeling self conscious about the hovering that I had been doing, I'm almost certain that my face had been beat red as my heart pounded  like a jack hammer!   And yet I tried to be as polite and as pleasant as I could manage, restraining my inner fan-girl with all of my strength!   

Introducing myself timidly, Dan had, in turn, politely shook my hand, leading me to tell him how happy I was to finally meet him! Greg Abbey was seated next to him and my one concern, (looking back at the experience now) was if I was inadvertently dismissive of him, which of course was not my intent at all! While preparing for the trip, I had actually brought prints to give to both men, and I did honestly want autographs from each.  Furthermore, I did greatly enjoy Greg Abbey's performance in both the original Yu-Gi-Oh, voicing Tristian Taylor and now in Yu-Gi-Oh 5Ds as Yusei Fudo.  I of course praised Greg for his work and I did indeed manage to get a signature from him!  And yet I was so incredibly star struck by meeting Dan, that it was a bit difficult, at that time, to process anything else.

In a nutshell, Dan was very very kind to me.....  Even seeing how incredibly flustered I was, he was so patient and understanding.  He even took the time to look through ALL of the works that I had given him, praising me for my efforts, and even asking me specifics about my artistic process!!   He had even shared with me that he too was an  artist, which was something I hadn't heard him say in any of his other interviews or podcasts! <Sigh>.....  If I had been in a more coherent frame of mind, I would have been happy to ask him more about his own works of art or interests, which is yet another regret of mine.   But then, I suppose I should consider myself lucky that I was able to speak to him at all.

Dan had seemed pleasantly surprised to see the works that I had done in relation to the Descendants of Darkness series. Thankfully I *was* able to express how amazing I thought he was in that show, considering how emotional the character of Tsuzuki had been; thus allowing Dan to spread his wings a bit more in his portrayal!  He had even shared with me that he had wished that he could have done a few things differently in regards to the ending of that series.  Yet again, under normal circumstances, I would have him asked further questions about this topic, especially since I did genuinely enjoy his interpretation of Tsuzuki. In fact, I actually consider this role to be my favorite performance of Dan's, next to his work in Yu-Gi-Oh.  But alas..... my mindset and growing concern that I was taking up too much of his time soon got the better of me.  

      Again, both he and Greg were gracious enough to sign a few things for me, and having mustered every ounce of courage that I could manage, I asked Dan if it would be inappropriate of me to ask him for a hug.....  To my surprise, he readily agreed and he came around the table to do so!!!



Goodness....  What more can I say....? I was *tremendously* grateful, and even moved, and I can say with utmost certainty that this will be  a moment that I will remember forever!   Thanking both him and Greg once again, I said my goodbyes and let them attend to their other fans.  

Ah.....  Even now, I find that I am STILL star struck as I write about this experience!   It meant so very very much to me to not only meet Dan, but to be able to spend so much time with him too. I had originally thought that I would only have a moment with him; a quick hello and a quick signature and nothing more. But I consider myself incredibly lucky to have been able to meet him at this event rather than a convention.  Though I can't be certain of it, I do believe that the majority of the people who had attended were primarily duelists who were competing in the tournament. I had also noticed that I was actually one of the few females present in the vicinity... Perhaps if it had been a standard anime convention, poor Dan would have been absolutely bombarded with fan girls!  So again, meeting him in such a way was much much more ideal in being able to speak with him, even despite my nervousness.  

     Whatever the reasoning that things turned out the way they did, I feel very very fortunate to have been given this remarkable opportunity!  And as I said previously, it was made even more amazing thanks to my friend who was kind enough to take me to Pittsburgh, as well as his family who were gracious enough to accommodate me.  In short the rest of the weekend was filled with other enjoyable activities like swimming, boating, jet skiing, and many failed attempts at water skiing on my part.   Overall the ENTIRE weekend was simply wonderful! Meeting Dan Green was most certainly the highlight of it all, but I was quite pleased that it had all been fun and exciting as a whole!  BEST. WEEKEND. EVER!  Woo hoo!

Once more I want to publicly thank for originally announcing this event in Pittsburgh at the Dan Green fan club! It's all because of YOU that this happened! I will ALWAYS be grateful to you for this, and I WILL repay you for your kindness no matter what! So be on the look out, ok?

      Anyways, it seems that this journal is getting rather long, so I'll leave telling you more about life related events for another time.  I do want to announce that I will most certainly be at the Otakon artist alley, so  for anyone who'll also be attending, feel free to seek me out!
Take care now, everyone, thanks for stopping by, and for listening to my fangirlish account! I'll be in touch again soon!  Until next time then!

Love,
yamigirl21

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