4:30am: Hate alarm. Getting up despite this fact.
5:30am: Standing on bus corner with one carry-on bag, where I’m thankful to see the bus approaching. Hurrah! I won’t freeze my tookus off today.
6:30am: Arrive at the airport. I LOVE self-check-in. I have to go through the scanner twice, when the shoes that were fine last time, set it off this time. Typical. While I’m taking my shoes off, the security guy has enough time to read my old address off my ID and tell me that “I don’t look like a Medford girl.” What picture this brought to mind for him I can only imagine, but I’m not my brightest in the early hours, so I think I mumbled something about moving closer to Harvard once I began working there. The “ah” he gave me must mean something to the locals, because he seemed satisfied. Not sure I really want to know what Harvard stereotype I was fulfilling for him in my jeans, sweater, wool coat, glasses and no makeup. Apparently “practical” flight clothing means you don’t come from Medford ?!?!
6:45am: Chilling out reading “Return of the King”
7-7:30am: Kim and Kathy arrive. We chat until the plane starts loading at 8:10.
8:35am: Flight is fully loaded and I’m in a window seat two rows behind Kim and Kathy, but I’m also one of the few rows with an empty middle seat. The guy in the aisle and I both say “We lucked out” simultaneously. The flight isn’t bad. We deiced in Boston, had a little turbulence- which I like, and watched ‘Vanity Fair”.
11:40am: Arrive at LAX. By noon, Kathy and I have managed to lose Kim somewhere between the ladies room and baggage claim 6. Two words: speed walkers.
12:30pm: We have regrouped with Kim. Nasty comments to LAX for not informing passengers which baggage claim our flight would be at and that Baggage Claims 1-5 were in another building, so if you took a wrong turn, you had quite a hike back. Still, we recognized Kim’s luggage and had rescued it for her.
1:00pm: Finally, we catch the Super Shuttle and head for the hotel. Everyone on the shuttle is attending the ORC, so we had no problems making small talk during the drive to Pasadena.
2:00pm: We reach the Sheraton and check in. I’ve requesting adjoining rooms, since I already had a roommate by the time Kim and Kathy bought tickets. No problem, except my room,426, isn’t ready yet. Apparently, the carpet is still drying (Do I want to know?) So, I ask them to call Kim and Kathy’s room when it’s ready, so we can all put our things away and grab some lunch.
2:15pm: In room 428 and ready to head out when they tell me that I can’t have room 426 and will be down the hall in 403. Fine. At this point, I just want to get some food in my belly- after all, I've missed second breakfast, lunch and elevenses already. Grab my pass card at the front desk and we head out to the mall across the street from the Convention building.
2:45pm: P.F. Changs has served and we are tucking in. Ahhhh! Noodles and veggies. Much better.
3:25pm: I head back to the hotel to meet Marc, the massage therapist that Anthony Cistaro (the actor whose website I run) has hired to give me a 90 minute massage, as a late Christmas present.
3:35pm: In my new- and very much smaller- room when the phone rings and Marc tells me that he is running late. He won’t get there until 4:00. No problem. I have suddenly realized that my luggage-and therefore all my clothes- are still sitting in room 428. Time to call and see if I can grab my stuff before Marc arrives.
4:00pm: Marc arrives before I have half of my stuff put away, but I don’t care. 60 minutes later, my roommate, Sharon, arrives and 90 minutes later, I’m a happy little puddle of mush and Marc is off in traffic again.
5:30pm: I learn that massage oil takes at least two shampoo cycles to come out of my hair. 15 minutes later I am feeling “purus melior est” or “clean is better”, the family motto.
6pm: We are supposed to be meeting Anthony for dinner at 6-6:30, when he calls to say he’s running late. He’s had a bad day, beginning with his toaster producing enough smoke for his neighbor to call the fire department, but is hoping it will be much better after dinner with me and my friends. So we postpone until 8pm. Which actually worked out better for us, since we had such a late lunch. I can also finish getting dressed at non-breakneck speed.
7-8pm: Kim, Kathy, Sharon and I sit around talking until Anthony arrives. Poor Sharon has a cold, so she decides to take a nap before the pre-registration, rather than join us for dinner.
8pm: We meet Anthony in the lobby and head over to the Delmonicos in the mall. I love spending time with Anthony, because he’s always interested in talking about you, rather than himself. It’s a very un-Hollywood characteristic, especially since acting is a profession where you have to sell yourself so much of the time. I’m used to it, but maybe Kim and Kathy will have a few words to share their experience meeting him. He also surprised us by paying for our dinners. If he reads this- you better be writing it off as a business expense, Anthony! After all, we did discuss work, and all three of us would be happy to tell everyone they can see you on Alias in 2005. His episode is “A Man of His Word” everyone! Tune in! (PR now completed) :)
10:00pm: We say goodbye to Anthony and grab our registration envelopes and head back to the convention center to pick up our lanyards and peruse the products at the early-bird (more late owl, but who is quibbling) booths.
11pm: The pre-registration closes and we head back to the hotel.
Midnight: Out like a light. It’s 3am in Boston and I’ve been up almost 24 hours.