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Hollywood Christmas Parade 1999
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On November 28th, 1999 I attended
the Hollywood Christmas Parade with my friend Ruby. We were supposed to meet my
98 Degrees friend Karen there, but she couldn't make it :( We were waiting for Karen
at El Pollo Loco and we were in the middle of writing a letter to the guys when
we found out she couldn't make it. By this time it was already like 3:30 or so.
As soon as we put the finishing touches on the letter, we left to find a good parking
place and spot to sit for the parade. We had already put fake 98º tatoos on our
hands and little hearts and stars all over us - it was cold and we had to have long
sleeves on so we couldn't put stuff on our arms :( We had our homemade 98º headbands
and made neckaces out of Christmas tinsely-sparkly stuff in gold and red. We also
decorated my car a little. We put 98º in stickers in the back window and two posters
on the back side windows. People looked at us funny while we drove down the freeway,
but we enjoyed it - it wasn't the first time! So we left El Pollo Loco to find the
parade route. The streets were already lined with people and we found a lot to park
at. Then we found the grandstand thingys and figured that it probably wouldn't be
worth sneaking in to sit there. So we walked about two blocks down and found a spot
on the sidewalk right near the beginning of the parade. We were waiting and waiting
for 98 Degrees, it seemed like forever! Finally their float came - as they said
in the tv interview, they rode on the RADD float. They were on the very top part
which was about 6-8 ft off the ground, and there were two other people on the lower
part about 2 ft off the ground. Me and my friend (Ruby) didn't make a poster because
we figured it'd be dark and they wouldn't be able to see it, well we were wrong
but it didn't matter. When their float went by, Ruby ran up to it to give the guys
the letter. The RADD float had 6 security guards around it!! They stopped her and
pushed her back (there were also police every 30 feet or so). Drew and Nick were
on our side of the float. I held up a picture of the guys and I had my little headband
on and my necklace and Drew waved at me, I could tell he was waving and smiling
at me cause I was the only one that looked like a fan, plus I was screaming
at the top of my lungs!! Well Ruby was determined to get that letter to the guys,
so we grabbed our backpacks and baggie of stuff and ran after the float down the
sidewalk. There were 3 other girls following them too by this time. I got pics :)
Whenever there was a break in the crowd, Ruby and I waved to the guys, after about
the 3rd time, Drew knew us and he pointed at us! He even gave us a cute laugh like
he was saying "you guys again?!?" We kept running and following the float and my
friend kept bugging security to give the guys our letter. They wouldn't help us
out! After about a mile and a half of this running, Drew was actually talking to
Ruby! She was so persistent and so giddy (Drew is her fav. of the group, she absolutly
loves him! - as do I!) He asked her if she was cold because she had a tank top on,
and she moved her arms to say "no, I've been running after this float for miles!"
and he put his hands by his head and said "I'm sleepy" (aww, the poor thing). Nick
looked totally sleepy, we felt so bad for the guys. Ruby told Drew to try to get
the letter somehow but he shrugged, saying "there's nothing I can do." But my friend
told him she was persistent and determined to get that letter to them, and he gave
her a thumbs up! By this time, the security had given up on trying to keep her back,
she had asked each of them on our side to give them the letter at least 3 or 4+
times. While the float was stopped for a few minutes, Drew stood up and asked one
of the guys on the bottom of the float to get the letter from my friend!! He didn't
do this for anyone else (well no one else had a letter but....) The security did
what Drew said and he got the letter from my friend. She screamed soooo loud and
was so happy, it was cool. We recognized the guy from some of the 98 Degrees concerts
we've been to. Well the parade still had about half a mile to go, and we were so
out of breath from all that running! My friend then asked Drew if he got the letter,
and he said "not yet." Then a few minutes later, I saw Drew stand up and then sit
back down, putting something in his back pocket - probably our letter!!! By this
time, Drew had tapped Nick and Justin on the shoulder and pointed at me and my friend,
probably saying "they're crazy!!!!" lol. The whole time, they kept replaying This
Christmas, which kept me quite amused cause I love to sing along :) I heard that
cd probably 4+ times that night! Well we kept walking/running after the float and
finally it came to the end of the route, 2+ miles after it had began! There were
about 20+ people running after the float by this time, me and my friend were the
only ones that were visibly huge fans - we looked good hehehe. The float turned
down a side street and we followed. We went under some police tape, I didn't even
realize what it was. After we got about 20 ft, the police yelled at us very aggressively
and said we'd go to jail if we kept following them. So, we headed back and started
walking to the car. We turned up a main street and saw a huge white limo. We were
like "hey I bet that's 98 degrees", (betting that it wasn't them because they always
ride in vans, not limos) and Ruby screamed "98 degrees" and the limo driver heard
it. Ruby saw Justin's ugly orange gilligan hat through the tinted glass, 98 Degrees
was in that limo!! But we realized this too late :( The limo was already through
the intersection with no hope of us following. But they did see us, yet again, and
they may remember us because we enclosed a picture of the two of us backstage at
Universal Ampitheater on July 27th. We were all decked out and were holding up PopStar!
with the guys on the cover. It was a corny pic but it showed our fanaticism. So,
we made it to my car finally and drove home. What an amazing night.... The guys
never did call her cell phone like the did at KIIS :( but its all good, Drew's such
a sweetie, WE LOVE 98 DEGREES!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! WISH YOU COULD'VE BEEN THERE KAREN!!!!
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