Seeing Josh Hutcherson

You read that right. I saw Josh Hutcherson. With my own two eyes. No, I didn't meet him & no, I didn't get his autograph, but I'm thinking optimistically on this. Girls line up for days just for the chance to catch a glimpse of him at premieres and I happened to see him by chance and it was awesome!!

Okay, I'll start from the very beginning. It was about a week ago (I believe it was Thursday, March 29th) when I received a text from my sister (who is a HUGE Red's fan) after I got off from work. The text said that Josh Hutcherson would be throwing out the opening pitch at the Cincinnati Red's Opening Night Game. I remember thinking that I wanted to go but also thinking that there was no way I'd be able to go.

Later that night, I spoke with my mom about it and she said that she had considered buying tickets months ago, but then decided against it. I felt very disappointed upon hearing that. I asked her if we could still go and she said maybe. Then later she told me no. I was so upset. I really wanted to go. Then a few days later on Sunday, my sister asked about going to the game and my parents seriously considered it. The following day my mom told me that they bought the tickets, but  that we wouldn't have very good seats. I was so excited but discouraged  that I wouldn't get very good photos.

Throughout the week I told several of my friends and other people I knew that I was going to see Josh and how excited I was. They were all super excited for me especially since I'm such a major Hunger Games fan and Peeta fan.

Now comes the day of the game. My family & I were going to eat at Skyline in Cincinnati and I had heard in an interview that Josh likes to eat at Skyline. I was hoping to see him there, but of course, he wasn't there. As we were leaving though, my sister said something about wanting to go to the Red carpet to the Reds Meet and Greet to see some of the players. I answered saying that it would be awesome to get a glance and she said that Josh wouldn't be there. I wasn't even referring to Josh! I was referring to getting a glimpse of one of the players! Once we get there, we headed immediately to the Reds' red carpet. It was packed with hundreds of people. We went up the escalator to the next floor up to get a better view. We were able to see several of the players from one floor up. We saw Arroyo and Hannigan and a few other players. I was able to get a photo of some of them. Then thinking that I should save batteries, I turned my camera off. About a minute later, I heard a bunch of screaming and someone said "There's Josh!" I look over and there he was, walking down the red carpet, a huge grin spread across his face. He was waving to all of his fans. I started screaming and shouted out "I love you, Josh!" I quickly turned on my camera and took a photo but it turned out poorly :( Very blurry. Of all the photos that I took of course the one I took of Josh turned out horrible :( UGH!!! I still cannot believe that literally minutes after we got there, Josh made an appearance. Ah! I'm so happy, but totally bummed that I didn't get a good photo.Oh well, I will always have the memory of seeing him there unexpectedly. We definitely did not expect to see him since it didn't say that he would be on the red carpet.  I will try to fix the photo somehow through photoshop. We shall see.

After Josh left, I couldn't believe it. I kept saying "Oh my gosh! Oh my gosh! Oh my gosh!" about 25 times! I almost cried of happiness. We were literally only 40 feet away from Josh Hutcherson, the guy who plays Peeta!! I still can't wrap my head around it.

Before the game, of course, Josh threw out the opening pitch. He didn't throw too well and ended up on the ground in embarrassment. I got a few photos before and after he threw out the pitch but none of them are that great. Here's the best one:

Josh Hutcherson right after throwing the Opening Pitch

I am glad we got to see him before the game closer up because I never would have been able to tell that that was him on the field! I kind of wish we stood closer to get a better view of the opening pitch, but there's nothing we can do now. I will have to think these things ahead next time. But anyways, I got to see Josh twice even if I didn't get to see him perfectly. It's more than most fans can say. :) I definitely want to see him again. Maybe at another Red's game or perhaps at a Hunger Games event. Who knows? If not, I'm glad I was able to see him at the game, even from a distance.

-E

PS-Happy Easter, Everyone! Check out this awesome photo I found! haha :)