Hey guys!
Just want to let you know that I'll be in the LA area
For the next three weeks for VidCon and Anime Expo.
And also to check out audible.com/domics for a 30 day trial and a free audio book
Conventions are a great way for me to meet you guys in the real world
But I do tend to meet a good chunk of you on other normal days when I decide to leave my home
It was a bit of a challenge to write this without an underlying tone of humble bragging
But I just wanted to share some of my experiences with meeting some of you
And one thing I really appreciate about meeting you guys is that most of you are well-mannered and polite
Meeting fans unexpectedly is often an interesting event for me whether I'm grocery shopping eating at a restaurant or taking a piss
I meet you guys in all sorts of places and situations
I know I don't usually show my face on this channel
But I do have an instagram which is where most people often go to make sure I'm actually real
Getting recognized in public outside of events was such a surprise for me
But over time I developed a sort of 'fan radar' where I could sense when someone notices me
A lot of the time they know exactly who I was but be very hesitant to approach me because they didn't want to bother me while I ate ice cream or something
Like guys, come on, I'm gonna say right now if you see me
And I don't look like I'm rushing somewhere or helping a woman give birth
Just come and say hello if you can take time from your day to watch my videos
I can take a minute to talk to you and take a picture if you'd like
other times I walk by a group of people and one of them would do a double-take at me and then start whispering to their
friends, and all I'd hear are murmurs of
"Is that Domics?"
"Who the hell is Domics?"
"Yeah, th-that's definitely Domics"
"No way"
"What's he doing here?"
omegalul
"Oh my god"
"I don't get it who is he?"
That was something I never knew how to answer
"Wow Domics, what are you doing here? I didn't expect to see you at our blahblahblah some establishment"
"Well, I mean, uh same to you stranger. I didn't expect to see you either as for my reason being here
Probably the same as you and taking advantage of this up to 80% off summer sale"
Guys, there isn't a special youtuber store we go to for our daily needs
I shop at the mall and supermarket just like you
This one night, I was working pretty late at the office and got hungry
So I decided to head out and indulge my craving for some Chicken McNugget. Mmmmmmmmmmmmmm yum
I went to the drive-through, ordered my goodies, drove up to the first window, paid for my food,
Went up to the second window to pick up my food and the dude lost his sh** and almost fumbled my bag when he saw me
"A-are you Domics?"
choose wisely you liitle butt
I answered truthfully and then he asked me if you could take a photo
I always feel a little guilty allowing this kind of situation because I didn't want him getting in trouble by their boss or manager
Assuming they weren't the boss or mana-. You know what maybe he was a manager
I don't know and on top of that there were a few cars behind me
So I didn't want to hold up the line
He kept fumbling his phone because he was nervous and it kept freezing and we couldn't figure out the right angle for a photo
So I was getting a little anxious but because I already agreed on taking a picture with him
I had to full commit to it. It'd be kind of lame if I just changed my mind like "hey, you know what, bro?"
"I'm good. See ya. Thanks for the food." The woman behind me honked and yelled
"Are you f***ing kidding me?"
And I'm like dude, I think she's upset and he rebuttals with "Nah, nah, it's cool, man. Don't worry about it"
"Okay, if you say so" I mean, he's the one who has to deal with her after but okay
A few weeks later, I met him again at my gaming cafe and it turns out he still has his job.
Aye, thanks for the food
I'm pretty comfortable meeting fans in public now
but there are times where I prefer to be a little more covert because I simply don't want to cause a scene
And scenes have definitely been caused because some fans have been overly excited a while ago
I took Claire to a walk-in clinic because she wasn't feeling well as we were waiting a fan walked out of one of the rooms and recognized me
He asked if we could take a photo and I said "yes, of course"
But then he realized he didn't have his phone with him. So he got a little bummed out. I felt bummed for him
So we were just awkwardly bummed out together for a good minute or so
Soon enough, his mom comes out from seeing the doctor and the fan jumps up and bolted towards her
"Mom, mom I need your phone"
His mom obviously didn't understand the urgency
He told her he wanted to take a picture with me and she asked
"Oh, are you friends?"
And I answered honestly
Uh, no, actually we, uh, just met and she said
"Oh, you sure do make friends pretty easily"
I chuckled, but I think he wanted his mom to understand the weight of the situation.
So he yelled. "He's famous!"
I couldn't tell if she believed him, because when you think of a 'famous' person you think of actors or singers?
And I definitely don't have that celebrity look
I usually look like I just woke up from a long night of watching anime and playing video games
I never know what to say when people ask about my D class celebrity status like oh, are you famous or something?
Well, by definition I guess so, but I don't want my statistics to determine how you treat me
So I'll often say a partial truth, like
"Yeah, I-I Guess a few people are aware of me"
While I say that most of you have been polite to me there have been a few interactions that left me with a sour
impression even though it may have been partially my fault for humoring them and not
explicitly saying how I really felt I guess that's what it's like to be a type 9. I'm a people pleaser
I've been trying to get better about this and I just want to let you know that you should always try and be honest to
yourself and others about how you truly feel even if it may not lead to a desirable outcome
I was at a convention one year and Claire and I were at the video game lounge area in the distance Claire spotted some people
playing Just Dance so we decided to check it out and see if we could play as
We were waiting for our turn, a fan who was sitting on the side recognized me and came up to say hello
He expressed his admiration for my work, seemed like a normal conversation with a fan
But then he immediately segwayed to "Could you give me a shout-out in your next video?"
Uh, Well, I didn't normally do that
I know other youtubers give shout outs at the end of their videos and while I occasionally do that for people I've collaborated with
It's not a regular thing
I do just for anyone I expressed to him but he insisted on the shoutout despite his lack of a proper introduction
So I asked him if he had a YouTube channel, and he said no.
"Oh, then-then what do you have?" "I have a snapchat"
I grew reluctant to continue the conversation
But because we really wanted to play Just Dance
I couldn't just make an excuse to leave or we lose our spot in line for me
It's really difficult to tell someone to simply stop talking to me and ask them to leave my presence as if I was some
Egotistic king when they haven't really done anything wrong.
"Ah, well, what kind of stuff do you do on there?"
Who knows I may have been presumptuous and maybe he actually has like- "I post memes and stuff"
"Hmm, okay." Well, I let him know that I'll consider it with a heavily reluctant tone in hopes that he'd take the hint
"All right, cool" and he walked away Claire and I continued waiting for our turn only to have the guy come back two minutes
Later and ask, "So how soon do you think you can do the shoutout?" Woah, buddy
I probably messed up by unintentionally getting his hopes up. I should have been more clear. "Um
I'm not sure the current video I'm working on is kind of already done. So maybe the next one no promises, though"
Hindsight 20/20. I know I shouldn't have said that I dug a deeper hole for myself. "All right, cool"
He walked away again, but not a minute past and he returned once more
"Hey Dom, just making sure you won't forget to do the shoutout"
"Okay, we're leaving we can just play at home" if there's one thing I learned growing on YouTube
It's that you got to stay humble
It's guaranteed that aspects of your life will change
When you grow a larger following but you have to stay level-headed and not let your ego take over as far as I've come
I still want to be able to have a normal conversation
With you guys and I appreciate that a lot of you treat me with that respect
I look forward to meeting some of you at VidCon and Anime Expo this year
speaking of shoutouts
I want to give one to audible for sponsoring this video head over to audible.com slash
Domics link below or text the code Domics to 500 500 for a 30 day trial in a free audiobook
I'm excited to say that I'll be doing something new and special during VidCon this year
I'll be sitting down for an old-fashioned book discussion with Ben and John from the super Carlin Bros and Phil DeFranco
along with members of its vlog team to discuss the new book by Lauren Groff
Florida available on audible heard really great stuff about it, and I'm excited to dive into it this weekend
The book is only about 8 hours long
So I'll definitely be able to get through it on my way to VidCon using my code
You can pick out any one book you'd like on audible which you get to keep forever. By the way
but if you do decide to check out, Florida
I welcome you to share your thoughts in the comments and I'll try to include some of your input in the conversation with the gang
Look forward to the book club discussion, which will be posted on the defranco vlog channel soon after VidCon
enjoy
(Why are you still here this video is over)
(JUSTGO)
(ノಠ益ಠ)ノ彡┻━┻