Saturday, October 5, 2013

BEST DAY EVER.

So a few weeks ago I had this awesome dream that David Attenborough (my childhood/adulthood idol) came to the US to give a talk and that I was in the audience. For those of you who aren’t familiar with Sir David (yes, he was knighted by the Queen for being so awesome) he is like THE man in all of the BBC nature and wildlife productions. He is the guy who did the Planet Earth narration and Life of series and basically the reason I decided to pursue animal behavior research as a career path.

David is the man

David Otterborough

Such a badass


Anyway, in the dream, after the talk he was walking past me and I thought to myself “This is crazy.. this is DAVID FREAKING ATTENBOROUGH.. I know you are excited and terrified but if you don’t go up to him right now, you will lose your chance to ever meet him”. So heart thumping and hands shaking I approached him and asked to have a photograph with him. He was SO NICE about it and said yes! It was the single most amazing moment of my life.. and then I woke up.. And it became the single most depressing moment in my life.. first world problems..

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I then thought to myself, I have to make this happen. He is 87 years old now, and not to be morbid or anything, but my time to make this happen is fleeting. So I googled him to find out if he would be in North America anytime soon, but was unsuccessful.. but then, I found an address for him and thought “If I can’t meet him, I must write him a letter”. In the letter I told him he should come to Yale to give a talk. I wanted that letter to stand out.. so I also drew him a picture of the blue faced snub nosed monkey (which I remember he once said that is the one animal he has not seen but wants to see). So I put together my drawing, my letter, and a photo of me holding  a basilisk (the lizard, not the Harry Potter giant snake.. although that would have been way better..) and sent it off to him. I was hopeful he would write me back, but I thought it unlikely.

The contents of the letter moments before I mailed it

But then, today, I got a letter in the mail. It had no return address, so I had no idea who it was from. And it had been a few weeks since I sent off the letter to David Attenborough, so it wasn’t on the top of my mind. I opened it and as I read over the address on the letter (Surrey) and then down to the scrawled signature on the bottom (his greatness’) sudden realization passed over me. I started screaming. And jumping. And I am pretty sure my neighbors thought I was crazy. But I couldn’t believe that THE David Attenborough addressed me personally and wrote me back!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! And although he politely said he was a bit too busy with his productions at the moment to come to Yale, I was ecstatic to say the least.



If you want to write David a letter, this is his mailing address:

David Attenborough
David Attenborough Productions, Ltd.
5 Park Road
Richmond
Surrey, TW10 6NS
UK

So if that wasn’t enough awesome for one day, my friend Molly and I went to see A Streetcar Named Desire at the Yale Repertory Theater and met JOE MANGANIELLO!!! 


Joe (center right) in Magic Mike

Joe as a werewolf in true blood. 
ahWOOOOooo! 


He was soooo niiiice! And surprisingly sheepish! I was the first of the horde of ladies waiting to meet him after the show (in which he played Stanley). As he approached, I tried to swallow my nervousness and stuck out my hand and said “Hi, Joe! My name is Stacy” and he responded with a soft but sincere smile and said “Hi, Stacy. It is nice to meet you.” AAAAAGGGHH I nearly died. And then I asked if I could have a picture with him and he said yes :D so I tried not to freak out too much when I felt his hand on my shoulder.


 Okay.. this Saturday definitely had its fair share of star-struckness to last me a life time.. Although I would love to just replay today over and over again in my head, I have so much work to do.. SAD FACE.. But, today’s series of events will soften the blow of spending a beautiful Saturday night indoors grading things for the class I TF and studying for a phylogenetics exam..

3 comments:

  1. Oh my goodness, how exciting!!! Congratulations on getting a handwritten letter from a world wide treasure! David Attenborough is such an amazing person, thoughtful, compassionate, and deeply passionate about the world. How freaking cool is it that you got a letter back from him?!

    Thank you so much for sharing your story with me at The Scientific Mom! I'm SO glad that you got to experience this while he's still here! <3

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    1. It is so cool that he responded!! I am so happy I came across your blog. Also, I am from AZ (grew up in northern Phoenix and went to ASU for my undergrad), so I really like seeing all the familiar places on your blog!

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  2. I don't want to pry, and please don't share if you don't want to, but I'm burning with curiosity as to what his letter said to you? I'm going to write him a letter soon, too. You don't know how many times I've wished I was his grandchild...imagine the stories you would hear!!

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