Ah, how fast a month comes and goes!  I feel a little fangirl ridiculous, to confess a Katrina truth.  Tickets go on sale this month for the party (or rather the party) of the year, the GH Fan Club Weekend that takes place in July.  My girls and I go every year and this year in particular, I am on pins and needles, not just because I am bringing my daughter for the first time, but because I am getting a nosebleed from the sheer act of not only willing Rick Springfield to stay with the show for that long (Hey!  It could happen!) but to also have the fortitude and dedication to show up.  Much as I did when, out of the blue, Robert Scorpio and Sean Donely walked onto the stage three years ago, I suspect, oh hell, I know, I would lose my mind, Beatlemania-style, and leave my sweet staff AND my daughter, wondering what happened to the classy, oh-so-cool editor-in-chief who was in the chair just seconds before.  That would be quickly followed by the question of what to do with this caveman-speaking, slobbering,

I don't even care if they keep him made up to look like Iggy Pop as he is now. I worried about getting a Rick Springfield who was all nipped and tucked and stretched and plastic and instead I got the real deal, which pleases me to no end. Kelly, you asked who to bring to me?  My order is placed.  I'll take Rick Springfield on a silver platter with whipped cream, please.  Kathy Hardeman, who knows she's the new man thief, had best just walk away when she sees Rick heading for me.  (Kelly, I'll still take a side order of Blake Gibbons, thank you very much)  Give that man a cowboy hat, fire up the Merle Haggard cassette in the car stereo and I might just rethink the moratorium I placed about ten years and a few pounds ago on making out in cars.

I can't say enough nice things about Julie Berman, the incredible little actress who took Lulu Spencer from a mute little adopted looking girl to a vibrant, bitchy, expressive young woman who can well hold herself against powerhouse parents, Luke and Tracy Spencer.  It is rare that a young actor impresses me, but this gal has definitely hit the ground running and I would give anything to see the character of Laura (recast or not) show up to act as the wall Lulu hits dead on.  Lord knows she has Luke and Tracy wrapped around her little finger.  I can't help but think how much the Spencer story needs Laura right now.  She is integral on so many levels and if The Powers That Be are unable, for whatever reason, to work things out with Genie Francis on a return, then the part should be promptly recast.  I would love to see Laura dealing with Skye as Luke's besotted mistress and Tracy as his befuddled shrew of a wife.  Throw in the stepfatherhood of both Nikolas (albeit impending) and Lucky and we have suddenly got a family structure that (gasp!) has absolutely nothing to do with Sonny in any way.

...for a few years, at least.  I strongly suspect that Lulu was actually soras'd because it was foreseen that by the time she is of legal age, Sonny will have scrogged his way through every other adult female on the cast, including, but not limited to Emily (?).  It definitely helps that Natalia Livingston is a solid 7 years older than Amber Tamblyn because the first thing I thought of was Amber soul kissing Maurice Benard and honestly, I threw up in my mouth a little bit as a result.  Never would they consider Sonny having an affair with Monica or Bobbie, which to my mind, would be a much, much more interesting story.  We could kill a whole flock of birds with either of those rocks.  If Monica and Sonny decided to take over ELQ and flush out the squatters like Luke and Lorenzo, that would be most interesting.  If Sonny and Bobbie shared the same scenes that Emily and Sonny have been in lately, it would make more sense and be much more vital.  Bobbie would naturally move in to take care of her grandsons and what a kick in Carly's ass it would be to watch her mother and her ex-husband fighting back some passion for one another.  It would also be quite a karmic bite after she came to town with the specific agenda of taking Bobbie's man away.  See?  These people just don't think this stuff through.

I keep watching Carly jet around town, check back in at the special home and then take off again, pretty much writing her own rules and coming and going as she pleases and I have to wonder if anyone even cares any more.  I have to remind myself that she was, without the benefit of medication and just because she was "depressed," seeing dead people and chopping up Emily with a sickle just a couple of months ago.  For the love of God, two doctors watched her righteously fail the "Don't Knock the Christmas Tree Over" test, after which they sent her to her room, after which, she promptly left again.   This is a far cry from Ferncliff where she was drugged up and practically chained to a wall, rocking that funky little baby doll.  All she did then was shoot Tony Jones, not terrorize an entire town.  Of course, that was Sarah Brown, who is far more hardcore than uptown Laura Wright.  We're talking cheerleaders versus Pink Ladies here. 

Honestly, though, I can't fault Carly for one of her cuh-razy actions.  I swear to God, if Emily had said one more "um" or "uh" when she was telling Michael why she and Sonny were in towels, I would have hacked her up with a sickle my damned self.  Are those um and uhs in the script?  Does Natalia Livingston go home saying, "If I have to say one more 'um' or 'uh' and look like a moron, I am going to hack myself to death with a sickle?"  Does director Bill Ludel, from the production booth, say, "Um, can we have Natalia work in at least 3 more 'uhs' and 'ums' with that last sentence?"  WHAT is going on there?  She was raised in a life of privilege and wealth.  One would think finishing school (or perhaps just osmosis) would work in there somewhere.  If her speech patterns degenerate any further, we'll have to bring Karl "Sling Blade" Childers in to translate.

Even though we have seen evidence that Manny is not quite as lobotomized and innocent as he appears, is it too much to hope for that Robert LaSardo can segue this bit part into a contract role and actually do something on the show besides roll around looking menacing?  He's in incredible actor and personally, I would love to see him get a story of his own.

Have I mentioned how much I really miss A Martinez and Roy DiLuca?  While we're "any chancin'" stuff, how about if we see if there is any chance Jill Farren Phelps (executive producer of GH) can run down her "Friends of Jill" list and give him a ringy ding to come back to work?  Maybe?  Hmmm?  (Before July, mayhaps?)

And you people wonder why July is my favorite month of the year....
I think I'll get back on that recumbent bike now.