One of the two people I really desperately wanted to meet this weekend was a fine gentleman from Canada named Corey Vidal. If you do not know who he is, he is a youtuber from Toronto, Ontario, Canada who went viral in 2008 with a video called Star Wars (John Williams is the Man) (link right here if you haven't seen the video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lk5_OSsawz4) Now I've been following Corey ever since this video but in 2011, when I was a junior in high school, he started vlogging. At first they were weekly vlogs but then they became daily vlogs and I was hooked. Somewhere in those weeks of watching his vlogs, I became more and more interested in him and the people he worked with and lived with and I was so hooked.
Now at this time, I was having severe panic attacks and was severely depressed. I was required to go to the counseling department for my school, at minimum, twice a week to talk to someone for an hour or so, so that they could make sure I was alive and not about to kill myself. And it was a really rough time because I really didn't have friends or anyone to really talk to. I started watching his vlogs when they started and it got to the point where I realized that every single day I woke up, I was waking up because I really wanted to see what crazy thing that Corey and his friends did, or what cool thing they got involved in or whatever it was. I don't know what hit me but I started wanting to wake up and see his vlogs. Yes I wanted to watch Charles Trippy's vlogs and eventually the Shaytards vlogs too but Corey was someone I really wanted to see every single day and I started ticking off the days that I was still alive and breathing by watching the vlogs, and before I knew it... it had been a whole year. It had been a year and I was down to a visit to the counseling department at school once every two to three weeks (if that). And I was still so hooked on their vlogs.
Fast forward to this last weekend. I finally met Corey. I actually met Corey Vidal!
It was the craziest, most surreal moment of my life. I had been looking for him as I walked the expo hall and visited panels and what not, kind of not expecting to see him because of how many people were at VidCon. But my friend and I were standing outside the Hilton, trying to figure out where we were going to meet our other friends for dinner when I looked up from my phone and all I see is him and the rest of Apprentice A. Immediately I stepped into the street and got his attention. From there it was all a blur, an out of body experience for me. The two things that I do remember very very clearly is that A) he has an amazing smile and brilliantly blue-green (in this photo his eyes look very green but I've seen his eyes blue before) eyes and B) he gave me some of the best hugs that I have EVER gotten in my entire life!
I had been wanting to meet Corey for four years now, since I woke up that one morning in July (yes it took me from January when he started vlogging to July) and realized that I was waking up each and every single morning so I could mark another day of living by watching this man's vlogs. His story is not mine to tell but his videos are available for you to view as he has told us the story himself, but in a way we've had similar experiences (although also very different life experiences at the same time). I love him from the bottom of my heart and I know I'll always be supporting him in whatever he does because, although he didn't know it at the time, he is one of the reasons why I'm still alive today and was able to go to VidCon this year and meet him. I'll never be able to thank him enough for it.
