04.27.02 - 22:20
Friday night I went to dinner (The Vermont), dessert (Fred's) and Enigma* with Brad; between those activities we browsed through Skylight during a reading/signing for The Impressionist. For train reading on Saturday I picked up Aimee Bender's novel, An Invisible Sign of My Own, since I loved her book of short stories (The Girl in the Flammable Skirt).
*Kate Winslet, Dougray Scott, Jeremy Northam, Saffron Burrows, among other big names--WWII historical codebreaker flick. 7/10--The screenplay by Tom Stoppard would have made a great stage play, but sucked ever so slightly as a movie. (Brad begs to differ.) They tried to make Kate look frumpy and failed miserably. Plus I totally figured out whodunit ahead of time. Too obvious, Tommy Boy.
So Saturday I took the train up to Santa Barbara; it was cloudy and overcast when I left LA, but right around Carpinteria the sun broke through the clouds and we could see the sea. I was thinking I'd have time in between signings to hang out with Marianne and her friend Russell, whom I've never met before, as well as have a cup of coffee with John G and his brother Louis.
Boy, was I wrong. The crowd for Amber Benson and Stephanie Romanov was massive. Minutes turned to hours. I should have just left the line, hung out with Marianne and Russell for an hour or two, then gone back for the signatures. Friendly as they were, they were probably as pooped as the fans were by 3pm. Amber didn't quite remember Rebecca from King of the Hill--understandable, since it was quite a while back, and they didn't exactly stay in touch. She said to say hi anyway. And Stephanie Romanov just smacks of smarts. I don't think that driven-lawyer-intellectual thing Lilah has going is an act.
Right when I was walking down State to meet Marianne, John called and we arranged to meet at Espresso Roma. I felt really bad about leaving Mae to her own devices again, but I already felt like somewhat of a third wheel upon meeting Russ. At least he had been able to take the day off and take her around SB; otherwise I would have totally dropped the whole signing thing and hung out with her instead. Another disappointment of the day was that I didn't get to meet Little Willow. I ended up waiting in line so long, by the time I got in the store she was gone.
I had a great hour or so of geek-speak with John and bro, then we headed back up the street, they to their car and I to my signing. Had my picture taken with "Lorne" and "Groo" from Angel.
"I'm not the only one who's crazy" Shout-outs: George and Jeff from the previous signing were there. Earlier I waited in line with some folks from Modesto, a guy whose orange shirt proclaimed him "Available," Julie from the Kitten Board and a quiet blonde girl. There was a family with two little girls and a baby boy in front of them; it was cool to see kiddies there as well. Later I met this crazy girl named Alex who had driven from Nevada just for the signing. Also, the couple in front of us met Alyson Hannigan and Alexis Denisof walking down the street in LA on Easter Sunday. They happened to have Willow photos but none of Wesley's, so one of the actors pulled out a call sheet and they both signed the back, "Happy Easter!" Pretty neat!
I don't think I'm ever going to another one, though. The only major players I'm missing for the call sheet are Charisma Carpenter, Alexis Denisof, and Christian Kane. And whoever plays Skip. And I don't think they do signings, really...
Plus, the day Xander and the Geek Trio are going to be at Metro, I'm playing my first D&D game at Denzoner's place. Not that I could get that day off anyway--it's the day before Mother's Day and there's no way to get off retail detail.
So I guess I'm framing up the ol' call sheet. If you're really nice and leave me lovely friendly guestbook messages and e-mails, I might let you see a scan.
Meanwhile on the train home, I ate an Oscar Meyer hot dog and imagined myself at my own signing someday. As a novelist maybe, or a jazz singer--heck, perhaps even a tv show creator! I'm sure I've got a good premise thumping around somewhere in this uber-cluttered brain of mine...
Oh, who am I kidding. I'm thinking of changing my major to math and studying obscure high calculus so I can teach kindergarteners about Greater Than and Less Than.
Screw English.
