Wait, let me start over.

In Steve’s time economy, we were right on schedule. I, on the other hand, felt like a six year old on Christmas morning. Five : thirty in the morning, I stared at Steve for what seemed to be two hours in hopes that my intense scrutiny of his person would penetrate his deep, irrational sleep. WHO SLEEPS TILL FIVE : THIRTY ON CHRISTMAS MORNING!? Tossed. Turned. Nudged. No good. Five : thirty-two, I went for a shower. When I got out Steve was up, and after about an hour of fiddling, finding, and filling the gas tank we were "on our way." It was a pleasant drive. I spent most of it with my face in a book, trying not to anticipate.

We got to our hotel, which was right by the convention center, and walked over. There was a lot to look at, but first things first....where’s Mr. D? I was a little concerned because we were later than we thought we would be and I didn’t want to miss Kari. We had left the phone in the car (and by "we" I mean "I") so there was no way of getting a hold of her. We had a walk around and couldn’t find Brad, so we went back out and asked, "what’s up?" Brad hadn’t gotten there yet, but he was on his way. It was all good. Steve was relieved that he wouldn’t have to put up with me pouting about getting there late. We decided to get a disposable camera since we (and by "we" I mean "I") had left ours at home— after about an hour of fiddling, finding, and filling.

We were at the hotel help desk and I was feeling really giddy when I turn around and see Brad Dourif walking toward the help desk. Maybe I should have anticipated a little more. It really took me by surprise, and I turned to Steve in a moment of suppressed hysteria and said, "he’s here!" Which somehow translated in Steve’s head into, "I better hurry and buy this camera!" I’m sure I stared for way to long before I finally caught myself doing it and tried to smile and act natural. Ya, right! That wasn’t working very well. While Steve is busy hurriedly buying a camera, I point Mr. D. in the direction of the convention. He goes. Although I’m still standing, I might as well be in a pile on the floor.

A few deep breathes, a few minutes pass, then it’s all good. We take a walk in his direction, see his line and get in it. There was a guy from Glasgow standing behind us, he owned a shop in Orlando. He was nice. Then, after a few minutes of waiting in line we see Kari. I recognized her from her pictures, and she’s looking fabulous as I can only imagine she always does. Greet. Greet. Yak. Yak. Giggle. Cackle. Great shoes, Kari! They are definitely worth the hurt.

It’s finally our turn to go up, and I stand there in front of him totally dumb-founded. Language is always the first thing to go, isn’t it? Brad Dourif asked me if I was alright. He said, "Are you alright?" What do you suppose I looked like to warrant that question? Well, needless to say, everything was alright. After all, it’s Christmas. After that question there was a lot of gibberish that spilled out of my mouth about him being my favorite actor for over ten years. Then Steve said, "This is Juliet, by the way." Then I introduced Steve. We were looking at the pictures and Steve wanted the one of Lon Suder cause he’s a Trekky. That was no problem. Then Steve pointed to a picture of Luther Boggs and thought it was from Exorcist III. Both Mr. D and I made the correction, though words were still failing me. I told him that Steve tried to block that movie out of his head cause it scared him, and Brad then confirmed that it was a scary movie. Before we left I asked him about the part Lanford Wilson had written for him in Hot l Baltimore. He thought about it for a while and then came up with the name of the character. It was the role of Paul Granger III.

As Kari had mentioned in her fan report, we then hooked up and went out. She had a bag full of video yummies for us, and rode us to and fro. Thanks again! Then we returned to the convention and with Steve’s support and Kari by my side, I had enough nerve to go bug Mr. D. again. Since I was writing a paper on Sanford Meisner’s acting Technique I thought it would be cool to have a reference from someone who was a Meisner student, so I asked him to tell me a little bit about the experience. It was really too vague a request, although he had plenty of interesting things to say about it. I was still in a daze and tried really hard to focus, but pounding me on the top of the head was the enormously loud thought of, "Holy crap! You’re talking to Brad Dourif...and he’s talking to you!" Against all odds, plenty of the information was absorbed and some of it used in the paper. Even though I couldn’t use it in my paper, the most interesting part was finding out that Brad was good at Mei sner’s repetition exercise. That’s a bitch to do. It was also cool to hear him use the name "Sandy." I knew it was the name he went by, but to hear it said out loud by someone who new him was kind of neat. It was very nice of him to talk with us for a bit. I’d thank him again if I could.

Then, we were off again. Bitter-sweet Christmas afternoon. As we walked off Steve said to Kari, "She usually doesn’t act like this." "No," I said, "usually I’m a lot cooler." I spent the rest of the evening proving that statement to be completely false. As is ordinary, I suppose, I started thinking about some of the things I could have, should have, would have said. No worries though. We had fun poking around the convention. Steve bought some nunchucks cause he had something to prove, and a samurai sword cause he had a score to settle. (Only the first part of that sentence is true. He really is pretty good at flinging them-there things around). We bought some candy, and then went out for drinks. Kari really is a sweetheart. Steve and I are very glad we had a chance to meet her. I think she’s right, maybe I am a "fan."

The following morning we had breakfast and looked at the paper trying to decide what to do before we went home. Maybe a movie. No. We drove by an upside-down building and had to stop, like moths to the flame. It was Wonder Works, very cool stuff. We road the virtual roller coaster over and over until we got sick and had to leave. That was fun. We were back home before 8pm. I’m still having visions of sugar-plums dancing all up in my head.