Has a famous person ever impacted your life?

Laying in bed last night I got to thinking about my life. My birthday is on the 19th. Im turning 34 and was thinking to myself.
What have I accomplished so far?
Then I started thinking about the famous people I have met in my years and started to consider myself pretty lucky.

When I was 8, I was in anger management. Long story short, I ended up getting to spend a full day with my local Hockey Hero - Eric Lindros. He even went as far as giving and signing for me a game hockey stick, that I still have to this day.

When I was 11 my parents enjoyed partying and were friends with a local promoter.
I didnt know anything about them at the time, but I woke up in the morning to Anthony Kiedis and Flea from the Red Hot Chili Peppers, passed out drunk in my living room. Our house was the after party that the promoter brought them to.
I remember being very upset because Flea peed on our couch.

When I was 19 I started training in MMA. That is when I met Joe Doerksen from the UFC. Who happened to be a regular at our gym. He then introduced me to his best friend and fellow UFC fighter - Jeremy Horn. After 2 years of training, both of them were in my corner for my first fight at Ultimate Cage Wars in Winnipeg Manitoba -And yes I won.
The fight community is pretty tight nit. I have gotten a chance to train with a lot of great fighters during my career of getting punched in the face.

A couple years later I got to train with Andre Arlovski for 2 weeks in his preparation for his fight against Fedor Emelianenko. He was the strongest person I have ever grappled with. Andre is a very big man and simply towers above me. 2 of my fists make up 1 of his.

On my 32nd birthday I got to meet my favourite front man in the world - Scott Weiland. My wife got me VIP tickets to the show. We sat on his bus, chatted about his sobriety for the past 8 months, smoked cigarettes and because it was my birthday, he allowed me to chime in on Dead and Bloated during the chorus. He even gave me his sun glasses. That was the best birthday ever.
It was a shame hearing about his passing.

I have had the chance and honour of meeting some amazing people in my life thus far.
But what sticks out the most was my time with Joe and Jeremy for pushing me well beyond what I thought were my limits.

So I ask to you all,
Has anyone famous had an impact on your life? and if so what?

a reply to: Macenroe82

i never felt sadness for people and their family's for a recently deceased person,unless it was someone i knew,

then cris farley died i knew what it was like to feel sadness and loss for other people that i didnt even know

i think its because he was such an out going character that people felt like they knew him and his personality was so big it spanned the globe.

any way it was a first for me, and would like to say i still have a little compassion left for people i dont know that share this world with me

a reply to: Macenroe82

Yah, wow, okay.

Was twelve, visiting Washington with my parents, in the Capitol building, stopped for a piss break during the tour. I'm in the bathroom standing at the urinal when these guys come in and search the whole bathroom top to bottom, glare at me and leave.

Then some guy comes in and stands right next to me and starts to piss. He goes, how you doing, like he wants to be friendly. I don't say anything he keeps trying to involve me in conversation and this is disrupting my "concentration" so I say I'll be fine if you stop bugging me.

He kind of snorts and leaves, I take a long time to finish. When I come out, my family is all bug eyed going, you know who that was? It was Gerald Ford, then vice pres to Nixon. They're all like, what he say? I'm like what a jerk, he wouldn't leave me alone.

Then later we're in the house chambers in the loft part observing proceedings and Ford is talking (no lie) about how he was in the bathroom bugging this little kid and comparing it to big government meddling too much in the affairs of ordinary citizens.

I almost got thrown out by security because I could't stop laughing.

a reply to: Macenroe82

I have been lucky to meet many famous and well-known people in my life.

As a Trekkie that worked at conventions over the years, I remember Jimmy Doohan fondly. He would have drinks with our little group late on Sundays at the hotel. George Takei put my daughter, then 2, on his shoulders and walked around a hotel with her.

I met Rick James, it appears before his life went absolutely haywire. He would have large parties at his home. He would sit and talk with me for hours and give advice. Too bad he didn't follow much of his own. He was actually incredibly wise.

I have described on ATS before, as to meeting Chuck Norris at my kickboxing school and how he may have taught me too well on how to kick through things. He is a very funny and happy go lucky guy.

I met Jack Stauffer, who was Bojay on Battlestar Galactica at a convention. We emailed back and forth for several years. When the father of the leader of my star trek club died, Jack gave him a call to offer condolences when I asked.

There have been more. I remember these the most.

i worked at buffalo niagara international airport. i worked at burger king there when i was 16 - i was able to meet multiple celebs from rich eisen and chris berman to christina aguilera and usher....
the one celeb that sticks out is stone cold - he was very down to earth

but dominik hasek pissed me off. im a huge hockey fan, and he ordered a whopper meal, and i ask him to autograph my hat. he refused and sd in his contract no sign only promotions - didnt even say sorry. i called him an a hole to his face, went in the back and spat on his whopper, and rubbed the top bun on the ground, sat at the counter and watched him eat. after that i was afraid to approach celebs.

My parents took me to a small cabin resort in the mountains above LA where they had spent their honeymoon. I was maybe 5 or 6 at the time. Early In the morning we went to the lodge for coffee and hot chocolate. There was only one other person in there and he was standing over by the fire getting warm. My mom said " Thats Steve McQueen, go stick him up" So I went over behind him, and stuck my little fingers in his back, and said "stick em up". Steve threw his hands up and begged me not to shoot him. Then he whirled around, and dropped to his knees, to my level, and we had a great conversation while he stroked me on the head like a little puppy. I still regret not asking him to go fishing with me and dad. I know he would have. He was a really down to earth guy

a reply to: visitedbythem

I don't think anyone can beat this. Momentous.

EMILIOOOOOOO.....EMILIOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!

I will not name drop, but I have met some amazing people over the years too.

And the one takeaway I always was left with,...

You can do anything you want. Be whoever you want, and know whatever you want.

Its all in your head and how you nurture your attitude.

Happiness is but a neuron away if you let it happen.

Awesome everyone!

a reply to: and14263
Thanks Bro!
It was about the time this pic was taken of him. 1964

My ex wife named her daughter Mia after the character in "pulp fiction" played by Uma.
I love that girl like no other.

Oh.. I had a famous person pee on my couch as well but i wont say who. All i can say is that was a horrible morning and they sure as hell never came back after experiencing my wrath.

B

a reply to: Bspiracy

Well im glad to hear others have had a celebrity urinate on their couch. For me it ment no morning cereal and nintendo. For my mom it was cleaning a strangers mess lol

No one I actually met. Carlin had a HUGE impact on me though. Critical thought.

a reply to: Macenroe82

Robin Williams. He seemed like such a happy, funny guy but it turns out he was sooooo sad..... made me more careful about listening to people and what may be going on behind their jokes and conversation.

Met a few famous folks in my life. Some i loved, some i hated, some im indifferent to. I've worked for a few. Gone to school was neighbors with a current NFL starter, went to school with another.

Can't say any of them changed my life or had any impact beyond novelty.

I work for some people that aren't famous, but you can find them written about in all sorts of publications and are well known (business people aren't celebrities, even if their names aren't really obscure). I guess they have impacted my life. I actually love my "bosses" like family. 2 of the finest men I have ever known.

ETA: i did strike up a friendship with a not completely unknown movie actress in my earlier days on ATS. She had done some movies we've all heard of. Haven't seen her around in a long while, though.

All great responses everyone!

Its amazing how someone we meet - even sometimes for a very short period of time - Can impact a persons life.

Now Im not famous or anything but I remember one time I impacted a persons life and they in turn humbled me. I always try to help people. Thats just the type of person I am. Was wired that way since birth I guess.
I was in line at Walmart with my father from out of town, grabbing some things for dinner.
An older woman was buying a Christmas card and some canned food. It was visible she was down on her luck.
Long story short, she was forced to decide between buying the meagre cans of food or buying her son a Christmas card. The entire total was around $10-15 bucks. She went to put the food away and I told her, wait I want to pay for your stuff. She was shocked and I seen tears in her eyes. I told the cashier to add her bill to mine. She hugged me and said in my ear, "You are Christmas." I hugged her back and said that I was happy to help.

What I figured as it being just a human thing to do, was a big deal for her. And she thanked me repeatedly.

My father though. Was never big on words, or emotions towards me. I know he loves me and everything, but he's just not the showing type of person.
But he smiled and said "You are a man now my son."

Knowing that I made this woman's day a better one, really made me happy.

Living next to NYC it is almost inevitable that you will run into celebrities at some point. I know a few from having them come into my restaurants when I had them or from them going to my friend's restaurants since the favorite thing of chefs is to visit other chefs and break their balls.

My cousin is also one of the main casting directors for HBO so I have met quite a few of the people on their shows.

No one ever really impacted my life with the exception of some of the foodies I hung out with and traded recipes. I still use many of them to this day so I guess you could consider that an impact.

originally posted by: AugustusMasonicus

Living next to NYC it is almost inevitable that you will run into celebrities at some point. I know a few from having them come into my restaurants when I had them or from them going to my friend's restaurants since the favorite thing of chefs is to visit other chefs and break their balls.

My cousin is also one of the main casting directors for HBO so I have met quite a few of the people on their shows.

No one ever really impacted my life with the exception of some of the foodies I hung out with and traded recipes. I still use many of them to this day so I guess you could consider that an impact.

im not a chef, but have met a few celebrity chefs. i steal the everloving hell out of recipes.

a reply to: bigfatfurrytexan

Most of them are actually pretty cool with sharing them. I still have a Bolognese sauce recipe that I use to this day that a certain red headed chef gave to me in the 1990's.