The Surreal Life

You know what the worst part of my day is? The drive home. Traffic that oozes along painfully coming to a dead stop at each of 11 stop lights that cover the five blocks on either side of Rodeo Drive. What should be a 15 minute route turns into 45 minutes... or longer should one have the misfortune of getting behind a grumbling LA transit bus. I am surrounded on all four sides by frustrated drivers who are all inching up on the tailgate in front of them, hoping that those three inches will somehow contribute to getting them home a little bit faster. But I am not looking at the other drivers or at the bumper in front of me. I am looking up.

A mere head-tilt of about 10 degrees and suddenly I see things which practically take my breath away. Sillhouettes of towering palm trees standing out against a brilliant pink and orange sky... the waving flags of a Beverly Hills luxury hotel... the glitter of a designer window display. Do you know what it feels like? It feels like I am watching a movie. Because for 20 years of my life, that was the reality. Places like this only exist in movies. And somehow, even when I am sitting right in the middle of Sunset on Wilshire Blvd. Take 12, it still seems like I am watching it from far away. Somehow, I still don't believe that this is my life.

Although I may have denied being a "star obsessed" person, lets face it, that was a load of crap. If it was on E!, I watched it. If it walked down a red carpet, I drooled over it. And if it was Chris O'Donnell.. .well then I kissed it's picture goodnight every night for about 2.5 years.
Until recently, my biggest celebrity sighting was Steven Tyler in the lobby of a hotel in Disney World when I wasn't even old enough to know who Aerosmith was. Although now that I am old enough, I would like to say that I think "Hole in my Soul" was a completely overlooked Aerosmith song. It may not have been on par with their old classics, but it was good enough that I bought the single of it (on a cassette tape no less!) and taped the video off of VH1.

I digress. My point is that the odd sight of Steven Tyler pushing a baby stroller in shiny leather pants was my only close brush with a celebrity for the majority of my life. (With the exception of the notorious Jude Law Day in London. But making eye contact with Jude Law was so excruciatingly beautiful that I like to think of it as not being worthy of a blog publication, so it will only get this parenthetical mention).
And now? Well, here is my celebrity tally so far: (Everyone on this list I have been within a few feet of, touched, or spoken to.. I have attempted to put them in chronological order).

Reese Witherspoon
Ryan Phillippe
Madeline Stowe
Montana (from the Real World)
Carlton (from Fresh Prince)
Ali Landry
Tom Arnold
Kevin Bacon
Kyra Sedgewick
Eva Mendes
Daniel Stern
Elijah Wood
Joley Richardson
Mel Gibson
Olivia Newton John
Geoffery Rush
Gary Busey
Nick Stahl
Nicole Kidman
Erika Christensen
Ted Casablanca (from E!)
Julian McMahon (from Nip/Tuck)
Cate Blanchett


Ok. I think I got them all. Whew. Ok. So even as I typed that... It still didn't feel real. Not because I still think of them as being "non-human" . I have known better than to think like that for a long time. But just because it seems so... impossible. That I could go from watching E! and writing for the underlings at The Old Gold and Black to covering red carpets and grabbing quotes from Kevin Bacon like it is nothing.

I am sure there are some of you who will read this and say "Yeah, covering red carpets is real intellectual work, way to use your Wake Forest education." And you aren't wrong. It isn't rocket science, it is Hollywood. The clothes, the shoes, the love affairs, the movie deals, the studio promotions... it's all just stuff... fluff even. I grant you that. But even the simple act of sitting in this swivel chair sorting press releases filled with fluff on a Friday afternoon represents something important, to me and, I am willing to bet, to you too. It's important because it represents a dream accomplished. A silly, girlish, starstruck dream... and I did it.
And if there is one thing you can find in Los Angeles, it is people chasing dreams that they know full well may never come true. But that is true everywhere. In every city. People with dreams that reside just outside their conception of reality and possibility. And somehow.. I managed to do it. And it feels wonderful.

Hopefully this wont be the last time in my life I feel like this... like I accomplished something special for my self. Something that excites the little 13 year old inside of me that kissed Chris O Donnell's picture every night before climbing into bed.

Hopefully this is just the beginning for me.
I think I am ready for what's next... even if I can't believe it's happening.