Bowsh 54
Professional Software Product Owner
Journaling my journey via photograph, video, and bullet points.
Follow along on the associated IG accounts.
Journaling my journey via photograph, video, and bullet points.
Follow along on the associated IG accounts.
The Day I Met Dwayne Johnson [2022/07/23]
My wife and I were planning to attend SDCC (San Diego Comic-Con International) in July of 2020. When the COVID pandemic hit, SDCC was cancelled in both 2020 and 2021. We had actually been hoping to work the "baby bump" into our cosplay.
The tickets to attend rolled over, so we still had active badges for Thursday and Sunday of SDCC 2022. Now, with a 22-month old at home, my wife gave me her blessing to attend the convention with a friend. We invited our pal Tim, who was an usher in our wedding.
There are plenty of "offsite" activities in San Diego during SDCC. That was our plan for the day.
On Saturday morning, Tim and I attempted to enter a “House of Dragon” offsite, but the line was capped. I saw on Twitter that The Rock retweeted a post from Zoa stating something along the lines of: "Zoa and Black Adam take over the Fan Zone at San Diego Comic-Con. Ice cold Zoa samples and fun giveaways. Join us now-Sunday.📍Lexus Premier Lot."
I power-walked and waited to get in line at this "Fan Zone" in the huge Lexus lot, across from the Padres stadium. I waited in line for it to open at 10 AM.
While in this line, I saw that The Rock retweeted a video from the NFL Alumni Association.
https://twitter.com/nfla_academy/status/1549471878275747840
I messaged my family the following:
"I chose my high school basketball number based primarily on one thing:
There was a red high school basketball jacket hanging in the closet of the basement 'red room' back home that said, 'Baker 54.'
Number 54.
I decided that would be my basketball number. I gained confidence in the decision when Zach Thomas came into my life, for the Dolphins.
Right now, I’m standing in line at San Diego Comic-Con to get into the Zoa Black Adam Fan Zone to support Dwayne Johnson.
He just tweeted this:
https://twitter.com/nfla_academy/status/1549471878275747840?s=21&t=_3YqhuwLO-OTAsZGycia2A
I didn’t know that about The Rock.
Life is full of beauty when you look for it."
I really, really feel the energy behind that number 54 video.
When the fun zone opened, I power-walked straight to the Zoa booth/tent and got in line. While waiting to enter the Zoa tent, I met a several kind people, including workers, towards the front of the line.
By happenstance, I met one of the executives of Zoa Energy. His name was Rich. He appeared a bit older than me, but was in better shape than me. I complimented him.
He asked me, “You going to stay around until 1:00 PM?”
I said, “Why, should I?” with a big grin.
He held up his can of Zoa. He pointed at the Black Adam image and said: “The man himself is coming by at 1:00 PM to give out some free stuff.”
I responded: “If I wanted to stay at this booth all the way until 1:00 PM, just to SEE The Rock in person… where would YOU recommend that I stand, and not move?”
He pointed at a specific spot. He said, “You have to be on the other side of that barricade, but be against that barricade.”
After the booth opened, we were able to hangout in this "main lounge area." I spent some time relaxing in the middle, people-watching while trying Zoa samples. I spotted Rich, again. I approached him and thanked him again for the tip. I explained that I looked him up on LinkedIn, and that it was an honor to meet him. It was nice that all of the Zoa employees had been so kind. I started to walk away, and an instinct hit me. I turned around and said, "I don't want to be weird, but would you mind if we get a photo together?"
He had been standing next to one other gentleman in a blue Zoa shirt. The guy seemed to think it was cool that I was asking for a photo with Rich. He smiled and stepped to the front. I said, "Sorry, would you mind taking it?" Rich interjected. "You want him in it."
The gentleman said, "No! It's fine!" He grabbed my camera and took the photo.
While smiling, Rich said, "That's the CEO of Zoa" with a big grin.
A moment later, Rich said, "Get in here!"
I was then able to meet the CEO of Zoa and get a second photo. I thanked them again, and returned to the hangout.
Once a single person started lining up, I stood in that spot along the barricade.
Tim and I held our ground, having fun with the crowd, until The Rock showed up.
One of many cool things about Dwayne Douglas Johnson is that he consistently preaches this message:
It's nice to be important, but it's more important to be nice.
At one point, I believe The Rock noticed that I had tears in my eyes. (I was NOT full-on crying, but I admit... I had tears built up in the old eyeballs.) You’ll notice in the video that The Rock sort of signals to a cameraman to slide out of the way. He went back to his gear table and loaded up with loot. When Dwayne Johnson approached me, you could sense he's had AMPLE practice with these type of situations. He was calm, patient, and made eye contact while letting me “collect myself.” He asked me my name.
He made comments such as, "Thank you, brother, I appreciate that." Our first parting fist-bump ended on the comment, “Hardest Workers in the Room.”
I stood gratefully watching as he strolled around and made several other fans’ days.
He only had time to approach and "have conversation" with five of us. He spent time chatting with the crowd on the microphone and throwing lots of free t-shirts. Five minutes later, it was announced he had to leave soon. While he was finishing up signing a Funko Pop for a random fan pretty close to me… I remembered I wanted to tell him I loved his post about the number 54.
-You can hear me in the video simply say:
“Number 54.”
He looked up.
“Loved your post about fifty-four!”
He nodded approvingly, and repeated "Fifty-four."
When he finished signing, he approached me a second time. He asked if that was my high school number. I confirmed, then had another fun, quick exchange with him.
You can tell he means the things he says. You can tell things are important to him.
Long after the dust settled, it was time to part the Fun Zone and move on to our next quest for the day. We spotted Rich behind the barricades and shouted, "Thank you, again, Rich!" as we waved goodbye.
He approached us excitedly and asked, "Did he find you?"
"Ugghh."
"Did he find you?"
I was trying to nod and say thank you at the same time. Felt the need to express gratitude.
Rich explained: "I try to scout out a few people beforehand that seem like REAL fans. The Rock likes to meet people, but he doesn't have a ton of time... We try to pick out a few real fans beforehand."
I thanked Rich multiple more times, and explained that it is really nice to meet people who behave the way they present themselves and their business.
Everyone there was incredibly nice.
Some people say, "Don't meet your heroes." But. I'm glad that I did.
My wife and I were planning to attend SDCC (San Diego Comic-Con International) in July of 2020. When the COVID pandemic hit, SDCC was cancelled in both 2020 and 2021. We had actually been hoping to work the "baby bump" into our cosplay.
The tickets to attend rolled over, so we still had active badges for Thursday and Sunday of SDCC 2022. Now, with a 22-month old at home, my wife gave me her blessing to attend the convention with a friend. We invited our pal Tim, who was an usher in our wedding.
There are plenty of "offsite" activities in San Diego during SDCC. That was our plan for the day.
On Saturday morning, Tim and I attempted to enter a “House of Dragon” offsite, but the line was capped. I saw on Twitter that The Rock retweeted a post from Zoa stating something along the lines of: "Zoa and Black Adam take over the Fan Zone at San Diego Comic-Con. Ice cold Zoa samples and fun giveaways. Join us now-Sunday.📍Lexus Premier Lot."
I power-walked and waited to get in line at this "Fan Zone" in the huge Lexus lot, across from the Padres stadium. I waited in line for it to open at 10 AM.
While in this line, I saw that The Rock retweeted a video from the NFL Alumni Association.
https://twitter.com/nfla_academy/status/1549471878275747840
I messaged my family the following:
"I chose my high school basketball number based primarily on one thing:
There was a red high school basketball jacket hanging in the closet of the basement 'red room' back home that said, 'Baker 54.'
Number 54.
I decided that would be my basketball number. I gained confidence in the decision when Zach Thomas came into my life, for the Dolphins.
Right now, I’m standing in line at San Diego Comic-Con to get into the Zoa Black Adam Fan Zone to support Dwayne Johnson.
He just tweeted this:
https://twitter.com/nfla_academy/status/1549471878275747840?s=21&t=_3YqhuwLO-OTAsZGycia2A
I didn’t know that about The Rock.
Life is full of beauty when you look for it."
I really, really feel the energy behind that number 54 video.
When the fun zone opened, I power-walked straight to the Zoa booth/tent and got in line. While waiting to enter the Zoa tent, I met a several kind people, including workers, towards the front of the line.
By happenstance, I met one of the executives of Zoa Energy. His name was Rich. He appeared a bit older than me, but was in better shape than me. I complimented him.
He asked me, “You going to stay around until 1:00 PM?”
I said, “Why, should I?” with a big grin.
He held up his can of Zoa. He pointed at the Black Adam image and said: “The man himself is coming by at 1:00 PM to give out some free stuff.”
I responded: “If I wanted to stay at this booth all the way until 1:00 PM, just to SEE The Rock in person… where would YOU recommend that I stand, and not move?”
He pointed at a specific spot. He said, “You have to be on the other side of that barricade, but be against that barricade.”
After the booth opened, we were able to hangout in this "main lounge area." I spent some time relaxing in the middle, people-watching while trying Zoa samples. I spotted Rich, again. I approached him and thanked him again for the tip. I explained that I looked him up on LinkedIn, and that it was an honor to meet him. It was nice that all of the Zoa employees had been so kind. I started to walk away, and an instinct hit me. I turned around and said, "I don't want to be weird, but would you mind if we get a photo together?"
He had been standing next to one other gentleman in a blue Zoa shirt. The guy seemed to think it was cool that I was asking for a photo with Rich. He smiled and stepped to the front. I said, "Sorry, would you mind taking it?" Rich interjected. "You want him in it."
The gentleman said, "No! It's fine!" He grabbed my camera and took the photo.
While smiling, Rich said, "That's the CEO of Zoa" with a big grin.
A moment later, Rich said, "Get in here!"
I was then able to meet the CEO of Zoa and get a second photo. I thanked them again, and returned to the hangout.
Once a single person started lining up, I stood in that spot along the barricade.
Tim and I held our ground, having fun with the crowd, until The Rock showed up.
One of many cool things about Dwayne Douglas Johnson is that he consistently preaches this message:
It's nice to be important, but it's more important to be nice.
At one point, I believe The Rock noticed that I had tears in my eyes. (I was NOT full-on crying, but I admit... I had tears built up in the old eyeballs.) You’ll notice in the video that The Rock sort of signals to a cameraman to slide out of the way. He went back to his gear table and loaded up with loot. When Dwayne Johnson approached me, you could sense he's had AMPLE practice with these type of situations. He was calm, patient, and made eye contact while letting me “collect myself.” He asked me my name.
He made comments such as, "Thank you, brother, I appreciate that." Our first parting fist-bump ended on the comment, “Hardest Workers in the Room.”
I stood gratefully watching as he strolled around and made several other fans’ days.
He only had time to approach and "have conversation" with five of us. He spent time chatting with the crowd on the microphone and throwing lots of free t-shirts. Five minutes later, it was announced he had to leave soon. While he was finishing up signing a Funko Pop for a random fan pretty close to me… I remembered I wanted to tell him I loved his post about the number 54.
-You can hear me in the video simply say:
“Number 54.”
He looked up.
“Loved your post about fifty-four!”
He nodded approvingly, and repeated "Fifty-four."
When he finished signing, he approached me a second time. He asked if that was my high school number. I confirmed, then had another fun, quick exchange with him.
You can tell he means the things he says. You can tell things are important to him.
Long after the dust settled, it was time to part the Fun Zone and move on to our next quest for the day. We spotted Rich behind the barricades and shouted, "Thank you, again, Rich!" as we waved goodbye.
He approached us excitedly and asked, "Did he find you?"
"Ugghh."
"Did he find you?"
I was trying to nod and say thank you at the same time. Felt the need to express gratitude.
Rich explained: "I try to scout out a few people beforehand that seem like REAL fans. The Rock likes to meet people, but he doesn't have a ton of time... We try to pick out a few real fans beforehand."
I thanked Rich multiple more times, and explained that it is really nice to meet people who behave the way they present themselves and their business.
Everyone there was incredibly nice.
Some people say, "Don't meet your heroes." But. I'm glad that I did.
Hobbies: Basketball | Weightlifting | Fishing | Movies | NBA | Miami Dolphins | Nebraska Huskers | Boxing | MMA | Nutrition | Music | Concerts | Software Development
The Passion Projects:
@BowshFishing
@BowshHoopsCards
@BowshPodTakes
@BowshResistanceTraining
The Passion Projects:
@BowshFishing
@BowshHoopsCards
@BowshPodTakes
@BowshResistanceTraining