Obviously if you read this blog, you know how big of a Rob Dyrdek fan I am. I’ve written countless blogs about his show, I drove all the way to Ohio to meet him, etc. Well, I am going to get to see him again! I am so excited. It started Friday night. My little brother was out with his friend, and my sister didn’t go with, so she was bored. Me and my mom decided to play uno with her to pass the time. I had my phone next to me as I always do, and someone that works with Rob tweeted about a party coming up at the factory called SK84Life. I went to the website just to check it out, and it looked incredible! I can’t remember off the top of my head exactly what it said, but basically it said it was a Gala to benefit the Rob Dyrdek Foundation, which raises money to provide skateboards and build skate parks for kids in underprivileged areas.
The website said something like, Join Rob Dyrdek for a fun filled day at the world famous Fantasy Factory. Participate in activities seen on the show, take a PHOTO WITH MEATY AND BEEFY, giveaways for all guests, great food, a musical performance by Travis Barker, Pharell and ROB DYRDEK. (possibly Bobby Light?) It went on to list activities such as shooting into the foam pit, going down the zip line, riding in the worlds first skateboard car (no idea what that is, must be something for season 3), shoot the tennis ball gun, peel out in a go-kart, etc.
I said to my mom, “Damn, I really wish I could go, lets just look at ticket prices for the hell of it.” Ticket prices were as follows:
$50,000
$25,000
$10,000
$3,000
Something like that. So yeah…obviously not going to happen. I can’t even afford my car payment each month, not to mention I live in Chicago…LA is quite a distance away. It would have been awesome to be able to attend that party, and I started hating on people who have thousands of dollars and blow it on purses and shit. I wish I had money to decide one day I’d like to hop a plane to Cali and buy a ticket for Rob Dyrdek’s benefit at the Fantasy Factory. But this was reality…it would not and probably could not ever happen. It was just a Fantasy.
So a day or so went by, and on Saturday, Rob tweeted that Carl’s Jr (a popular restaurant chain in California) would be giving away tickets to the party.. It was a twitter contest, so we had to just stay tuned for more details. WHAAAAT? I immediately went on twitter, followed Carl’s Jr, and got their tweets directed to my phone. I knew I had a very VERY small chance of winning, but I had to give it a shot anyways.
Carl’s Jr. didn’t post anything until the next day. I got home from work on Sunday, and the contest was to take a picture of yourself with a Carl’s Jr. burger and submit it. Well…like I said, I live in Chicago. No Carl’s Jr’s around here. We don’t even have a Hardee’s, which is Carl Jr’s sister restaurant. My sister gave me the brilliant idea to photoshop it, so that is what I did. It turned out ridiculously cheesy but I thought it was kinda funny.
So I waited and waited, and they said the winners would be announced by noon tomorrow (Monday). I was pretty excited, I thought I actually might have had a chance of winning since there were only 13 entries all together. They announced the winners on Monday morning, and I wasn’t one of them. I was pretty bummed. I thought to myself that it just wasn’t meant to be. THEN Carl’s Jr tweeted that they would be having another contest. Make up a rhyme. The rhyme had to be about skateboarding, or Rob, or Carl’s Jr. I dunno, I guess it just had to be witty and funny, and it had to get the attention of Carl’s Jr. The guy who won the picture contest spammed Carl’s Jr with tweets. He tweeted pictures over and over. I decided I wasn’t going to do that because I didn’t think it would give me a better chance, but it worked for him, so I decided to go tweet crazy with rhymes. I don’t know how familiar you are with twitter, but if you use it, you know that you can only use 140 characters per tweet. That meant a little less than 140 characters per rhyme because you had to put @carlsjr at the beginning. Now..I was never good at poetry. I excelled in English class, but I sucked hard at all the poetry lessons. I sat there for a minute staring at my screen, trying to come up with a rhyme. Then this popped into my head.
“-I'll travel to LA to go to the Fantasy Factory and play. I'll eat a burger while I'm there, Carl's Jr - nothing compares J “
After that rhyme, another popped into my head, All of a sudden, rhymes were just coming to my head one after another. They weren’t anything to publish in a book, but I do think some of them were pretty funny. Here are a few examples -
“-I wish Carl's Jr was by my house but it's just 2 far. I will fly to LA to see @robdyrdek and the factory and of course Happy Star.”
“-Watching @robdyrdek skate a demo live in front of me would be so much more amazing than only getting to watch it on my tv screen”
“-What would be better than getting to see Beefy and Meaty? Nothing in this world, not even a vacation to Tahiti”
“-to some kids this might be fun, something to do on a saturday. To me it would mean so much more, a dream that becomes reality.”
“-If I go 2 the factory, I will see @robdyrdek, Drama & Blurry. I will get 2 pet Meaty & Beefy, even though they aren't very furry.” (This one cracked me up)
I could go on forever, I literally wrote 38 rhymes in 3 hours. Carl’s Jr. kept listing winners and I wasn’t one of them. I was getting really bummed because I knew that my rhymes were better than others. Then…I got a DM. (Direct Message, for those who aren’t familiar with twitter lingo) It was from Carl’s Jr and they said “Carli, are you really serious about paying your way to LA for this? If so, you win. Message me with your full name and email.”
I started crying. I literally saw that message and burst into tears. Happy tears of course. The rhyme of mine that won was the Beefy Meaty Tahiti one. I didn’t know how I was going to get to LA…I had no money…but I knew I would do it. I would walk if I had to. I messaged them back, then called my mom while in tears. She couldn’t believe it. I didn’t think I was going to win. A trip to the fucking Fa
ntasy Factory? That’s ridiculous! I never ever thought in a million years I would get to go to the factory. It’s something I watch on tv. It’s something I love so much and am such a big fan of…but I never imagined I would be able to go in. Meeting Rob in itself was enough to make me almost want to pass out. Now…I was going to get to go to the factory, see Rob, Drama, Chanel, Jeremy, Big Cat, Tracy, etc?! ANNND MEATY AND BEEFY? I love those dogs! I don’t know them, but I feel like I’ve seen them grow up. Well I guess I have in a way. On tv.Anyways, I called Jackie. My first thought was maybe she could come up with some money and go with me. She watches the show…she’s not a HUGE fan like I am, but she likes it. Carl’s Jr. told me I had to have the name of whoever was coming with my by that night, so I didn’t have much time. The party was on Saturday.. The upcoming Saturday. I don’t know if I mentioned that. I hated pressuring Jackie, but I needed a name asap. She told me she would see what she could do and call me in an hour. She wasn’t able to find a way to come up with the money. We needed airfare, hotel, and rental car money, plus a little extra for gas and food. I really didn’t know what to do next. My sister wanted to go, but that would mean my family would have to come up with twice as much money. If my sister couldn’t go, I was prepared to just go myself. I didn’t know what else to do. My sister really REALLY wanted to go though. She has never been on a plane before, she has never really been west of Chicago (not counting Iowa because that was boring as shit.) So…my family and I scrambled around for a bit, and with a little bit of help from my uncle, we were able to maybe make this happen. I called my boss and asked if it would be possible to get an advance on my next paycheck and she said yes. My job really is so great, they are so understanding and nice about everything. Then my other boss, who also happens to be my mom’s best friend, helped us out with frequent flier miles. We were able to save a little bit on plane tickets. I really am so grateful to everyone who helped out, I need to get some nice gifts for a lot of people.
Anyways, by the end of the day Tuesday, everything was all set. Flight, airfare and rental car. Me and Ilana were going to go. I was/am kind of nervous to go out there being the one in charge. It’s never been like that before. I’ve always had someone either my age or older…now I have my little sister and I feel a sense of responsibility that is making me kind of nervous.
Anyways, back to the contest. Carl’s Jr is being amazing. They can’t believe I am actually flying across the country for this. Though I guess in most people’s eyes this is kind of insane. But I am such a huge Rob Dyrdek fan. This really is a once in a lifetime opportunity, so I needed to make it happen. Julie McLean, the woman who I have been emailing back and fourth with at Carl’s Jr. is great. She is being so helpful and she seems genuinely happy that I will be going. I am so excited about this, but at the same time I am nervous. I also think I am still in shock. I am sitting on the plane now and it still doesn’t seem real. I don’t think it will really hit me until I pull up to the actual Fantasy Factory. I was thinking about driving by it tomorrow just to get a sense of where it is, but I really don’t want to drive all the way downtown tomorrow. We decided to fly out tonight (Thursday night) so I would have Friday to take the rental car around and show Ilana some stuff.
As of right now that is still the plan. Ilana isn’t feeling too good…she is actually really really sick right now. She barfed all over the plane…didn’t quite make it to the bathroom. But at least she almost made it and didn’t puke ON anyone. So..shes sleeping now, or at least trying to sleep. Hopefully once we get to the hotel and she rests, she will be okay. This is her first time flying, and she is really really nervous. She started feeling sick on the car ride to the airport. She puked when we got to the airport, then she felt better, but once we took off she felt nauseous again. I feel really bad, but I know she was really scared. I am trying to tell her everything will be fine and she will feel better, just to hang in there, but I know it is scary feeling sick on an airplane. I just hope she feels better tomorrow so she can enjoy LA, and I REALLLLY hope she feels better by Saturday because we have the party.
So yeah, here I am…I have about an hour and a half left on the plane, maybe a little bit less. I’m nervous. I’m nervous and excited. I can’t comprehend the fact that I will be going to the fantasy factory. It’s insane to me. I am so excited and I really hope I get to meet Rob again and Drama, and the rest of the cast. I know there is no guarantee, I know Rob
especially will be super busy, but it would be awesome. I am just going to be so excited even to be in the building. I also really hope I get to see Meaty and Beefy. Also, I want to say hi to Shane Nickerson. He is the executive producer I wrote about awhile ago on here after the Ohio trip. I emailed him and he wrote back and really gave me some good advice. He made me believe I actually can get out to LA one day and accomplish everything I want to. I haven’t given up on that at all. I am still hoping to be living out there in the next couple years.And I need to find Julie from Carl’s Jr. and thank her in person for everything she is doing for me. I wouldn’t have this opportunity without them, so I really owe them a huge thank you. Oh..apparently there will be a silent auction at the party. That is going to drive me insane. I will want everything, haha. I know I won’t be able to afford anything there…I would be bidding against a bunch of people who were actually able to afford tickets to the event. They will be able to get whatever they want. It doesn’t matter, I am just happy to be going. Happy is an understatment. I am ECSTATIC to be going.
Alright, I guess I will wrap this up. No one will actually read through this whole blog. It was waaay long. I promise I will write another one after the party, maybe on the flight back. Let’s hope Ilana doesn’t get sick on that one. We still have to land…I hope that doesn’t scare her too much. I know feeling the wheels hit the ground is not the best feeling. Alright, talk to you soon! See you soon California!
PS - Made it to Cali...I'm in the hotel room now. Tomorrow, can't wait to see Rob's new NoHo Safe Spot Skate Spot and the 711! Soooo pumped!
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