Richard Armitage’s Message to Fans Before his Hobbit (THAUJ) Premiere at Wellington was Both Gracious and Thoughtful, 12/02/12 Gratiana Lovelace (Post #316)

Picture yourself.  You are about to attend the biggest event of your professional life–up to this point.  Everything is riding on the line.  How you appear to others–and how well they receive you–will determine not only your success on this project, but on your future projects to come.

As you wait for the event to begin, you are a jumble of nerves–even though you are well known for being calm and poised.  You ask yourself:  Is my hair cowlick combed flat?  Check!  Did I put the same color of socks on both feet today?  Check!  Did I remember to zip up the last time I visited the loo?  Check!  But still, you check everything twice, and then thrice.  All the while, you are chomping on minty fresh gum since you will be meeting lots of people today.  And the last thing you want to do is bowl them over with bad breath.

You have not put on your new suit jacket yet.  You don’t want to wrinkle it.  You already have your tie and other clothes on.  So to just loosen yourself up, you tilt your head from side to side–cracking your neck.   It cracks so loudly, even you are startled.  But there is no one else to hear you nearly break your neck and you grin at yourself sheepishly.  Then you do a couple of shoulder rolls as you pump your legs up and down–not too high though, because your suit trousers are quite well fitted to you and you don’t want to bust a seam.  Finally, you let your arms swing wide as you try to ease the tension out of your body as you jump up and down like a pogo stick with your legs together.  Ooh!  You should  not have done that.  Now your shirt tails  have popped out of your trousers.   So, you have to tuck them back in again.  You wonder if everyone has some kind of pre-presentation loosening up ritual.  That is something to ask the blokes about over a beer later.

And you really wish that you had stretched out your new dress shoes a bit more–considering how far you have to walk today.   They are rubbing your dancer’s feet bunions a little as you walk about your room.  But, you can always ease your feet out of your shoes during the presentation.  It will be dark, no one will see–nor, you hope, smell them.  You just wish that you had selected slip on shoes–rather than tie up shoes–however nice these shoes are, like the kind that your dad wears.  And you also hope that the seating will allow room for your long legs–or at least that they put you on an end of a row so you can stretch out.  That is the trouble of being so tall–leg room.  Finally, you hope that your height doesn’t prevent others from seeing over you to the screen–because you really don’t want to scrunch down in the seat and wrinkle your expensive new suit.

You have already received the well wishes of your family and friends through text messages and personal phone calls.  They are so proud of you, and they wish that they could be with you to share in this moment.  Then it hits you.  There are a few other people with whom you really want to communicate and thank them for their support.  They can’t be with you today either–except in spirit.  So you sit down at the desk, turn on your iPad, and type the following email to some of your friends around the world:

You hear a knock at your door and you hit send on your email to your friends, and turn off your iPad.  Then you stand up and put on your suit jacket.  You take one last look at yourself in the long mirror–adjusting what is needed.   You smile, because the tie clasp you are wearing is a sentimental choice–known only to you and your family.   One last grooming task is yet to be done–as you energetically spit out your minty fresh gum into a nearby waste can, lined with plastic, of course.

Then it is showtime!  After a short car ride you step out of the limo to meet your future.  And you leisurely stroll down a very long walkway filled with thousands of people–where you dazzle the world with your brilliant poise, grace, intelligence, humility, thoughtfulness, confidence, self-effacing handsomeness, enthusiasm, and professionalism, etc.

Everyone adores you and is eager to hear your viewpoints about the project that you are presenting tonight.  You feel that you are under a magical spell of excitement, joy, and hope–and you want to remember everything about this night.  You’re especially looking forward to everyone seeing and enjoying the presentation this evening.  And when the lights go down during the presentation–and the room is dark?  Oh yes, those dress shoes are coming off!

                                  References

“Message from Richard Armitage 28^th November 2012”, was shared by RAOnline Admin  Annette at  http://www.richardarmitageonline.com/

Image (cropped) of Richard Armitage at the November 28, 2012 Wellington, New Zealand World Premiere of “The Hobbit:  An Unexpected Journey” was found at http://www.richardarmitagenet.com/images/gallery/Hobbit/WgtnRedCarpet28Nov2012/album/Wgtn-28Nov2012-09.jpg

The Dominion Post image of the long red carpet for the November 28, 2012 Wellington, New Zealand World Premiere of “The Hobbit:  An Unexpected Journey” was found at http://static.stuff.co.nz/1354071136/685/8009685_600x400.jpg

“The Hobbit:  An Unexpected Journey” poster sample is a cropped image of “The Hobbit Scroll” found at www.TheHobbit.com