One thing, for sure, is that 3 days are really not enough to visit Manhattan. You can take one of those buses touring in up/mid/downtown but if you want to take pictures, you know you’re up to some walking, and frankly I didn’t mind. Camera out and looking up the whole day, wearing a sign reading “Tourist” wouldn’t have made it even more obvious :D

Basically, I need more, so I’ll gladly come back because again, everyone was friendly.

Not that I didn’t like Buffalo but after spending a few days in the Big Apple you sort of feel like there’s nothing to see anywhere else.

Yet there was Alec.

As if one Alec wasn’t enough for the night, I spent the whole cocktail/dinner next to a guy named Andy who looked like a mix of Alec and his brother Daniel. Fans would tell the difference of course but it seems some people don’t since he’s sometimes offered meals and other things for free but he doesn’t and can’t accept these. That’s how much he resembles them, he would have been a Baldwin I wouldn’t have been surprised.

We enjoyed our night until Alec entered the room.

It was just weird to see feet away a man I’ve been admiring and loving for several years now and that I thought I’d only ever see on screen. Also it was confusing because he wasn’t the playful guy we usually see at award events or talk shows, he looked quite serious and almost… lost, like a 2 year old you put in a crowd of unknown faces, quiet, observing, that was actually cute to see him so humble. There was a tight schedule and he was guided from table to table so that professional photographers could take pictures of him surrounded by up to 9 people.

I was sitting at one of the last tables so I got plenty of time to literally stalk him, I mean, we definitely knew he wasn’t going to spend the whole evening gossiping and catching up with friends of his before the reading so you try to enjoy every single second you have. Slowly he was coming our way till it was our turn and what I can say is: he’s surprisingly taller than I expected, maybe because of his being slimmer, I don’t know but he definitely looks amazing.

The photographers had put us in a random order for the picture and Alec changed everything by himself to put women in the foreground and men in the background. Ok, now I can see a bit of the shyness going away, haha. Pictures were taken, a woman got her book signed, he shook a couple of hands and as I was right behind him I went like “shit, I’d like a bit of attention too…” so I patted him on the shoulder. Awkward I know, blame me. He didn’t budge anyway. Then Andy generously pointed out that there were people from Europe who made it here to see him. Not that he cared that much I guess but he turned around, presented his hand and looked right at me with a “Hi, I’m Alec, nice to meet you”. This very sentence was as adorable as unnecessary, I mean we all knew who he was and it’s not like I randomly ended up here 4000 miles away from home. I’ve been told he does it everytime.

As much as I expected it, I couldn’t deal with it. I’ve waited for this moment for so long, I went through different kinds of discussions in my head so many times and when the spotlight was finally on me, my brain just froze. Everything was gone. The only thing that came to my mind at this very moment was the few english words I heard just before so I replied “Hi, nice to meet you”. How cliche and lame is that!?!!!! It went too fast, even his face seems quite blurry in my memory. It was too dark anyway I barely looked at his eyes when shaking his hand and replying this, I couldn’t discern the blue of his eyes and he was gone already. So much for preparing questions :D As he disappeared behind the curtain I was starting to think about the things I could have said but it was too late. That’s what I get for being shy, I can’t be pushy and spontaneous when I need to be.

The rest of the evening took place in the drama theater where we listened to him (and others) for 2 or 3 hours. Right after, he threw some jokes and it was nice to finally see the modern-day-jester Alec we all know. Once finished and outside, I noticed some kind of limo, a Bentley maybe, and thought that maybe he would be out there shortly and that I could finally ask for that picture I wanted. But after waiting for 1 minute, I couldn’t bear feeling like a stalker so I took my poster and my t-shirt reading Alec Baldwin loves me and went away.

In the end, it has been a nice experience and I already hope I can make it to the Softball Game in August, he should be more accessible and hopefully Hilaria will be there so I can thank the girl for being good to him.