The GHFCW Past Cast Event

I will be the first to admit that this event was not for everyone.  It was intended as a special gift to honor the fans who have been with the show for decades and remember and appreciate characters from years gone by.

I was nearly breathless with anticipation for it.

Delena was hoping that Steve Bond would be there because she'd spoken with him at the Quartermaine Brunch last year and he was astounded that she could possibly be a fan.  She had not mentioned the Playboy layout and I think she wanted to correct that oversight.  He wasn't there.

She wasn't in a pout about it, however, considering that she got to spend the evening hanging out with Dylan Cash, a buddy of hers, and Eileen Dietz, who played the face of Pazuzu the Demon in "The Exorcist."  Eileen also played Sarah Abbott on GH, the young woman who walked around the mental institution with Heather Webber and a doll.

Dylan Cash (Michael Corinthos, Jr) was a total sweetheart, even though he knew no one at the event hardly since they were way before his time.  He helped us check in the fans, put on wristbands and get everyone situated.

It was tremendously challenging as the honored guests began to arrive since some of them we had not seen in 30 years or so.  Chad Brannon is Chad Brannon and you recognize him.  Cynthia Preston is Cynthia Preston.  Some, however, were a bit of a challenge and the escorts, security and the photographers all worked together to try to figure out who was who.

There were a lot of hopeful people in the audience, each with a list of stars they prayed would be there.  I managed to get photos of some, but not of all of the people there. 

Brian Gaskill came in taping the event with a camcorder and continued to do so throughout the night.  His smile would light up Vegas.  If they ever have a power outage, they should just find a way to harness that beautiful nanowatt smile of his to a generator.  He is truly a beautiful individual.

I already told you folks my story (below) about the Table of Kings to whom I served alcohol.  That was a precious moment.

Jon Linstrom (ex-Kevin) was there, but I am not completely sure why.  He was in the green room for around a half hour while fans were being seated and then just before the actors went on stage, he left. 

The fan response to different actors as they walked out was interesting to see.  Some were uproarious applause while others were confused, gentle "who is that?" claps.

Of the folks on the stage, here is the run down:

Kiko Ellsworth (ex-Stan) is working on "I Am" and "Stauntin Hill."

John Reilly (ex-Sean Donelley) has been doing a lot of voice overs and of course, played Alistar Crane on "Passions." 

Chad Brannon is married with a baby and also doing voice overs.

Ian Buchanan (ex-Duke) joked that he had taken up ceramics.  In reality, he played Dr. Greg Madden on "All My Children" and a zillion different parts in between.

Christine Carlo (ex-Leticia Juarez) is engaged to Kiko and is excited about her new jewelry line.  As I escorted her in, we joked that she had been on the show longer than most of the people there.

Ryan Carnes identifies himself as "Lucas Jones #9."

Dylan Cash has done a movie that is coming out soon called "Opposite Day."

Eileen Dietz starred in a number of horror films.

Scott Egan (ex-Johnny and still soooo sessy) is heavily involved in his baseball for children projects.

Randall England (ex-Jack Slater) has appeared in "Baywatch" and has two projects completed.

Jason Gerhardt (ex-Cooper Barrett) is still cute and sweet and has a new baby of around a year old.

Amy Gibson (ex-Colette Francoise) still looks amazing.

Peter Hansen (Lee Baldwin) received two standing ovations and seemed genuinely floored by the fan response.  It was mentioned that he had been a fighter pilot in WWII.  He spoke of loving humming birds and honored Betty, he late wife of more than 50 years, as well has his new lady friend. 

Angel Boris (ex-Angel Ellis) sells:

Lindze Letherman isn't doing much and had a sleek makeover.

Brian Gaskill noted that he is the only person on the stage who was never on General Hospital.  (He played Rafe on Port Charles)

Amanda Tepe (ex-Crazy Nanny Colleen) has been busy with her series, "Wizards of Waverly Place" on the Disney Channel.

Brian Patrick Clarke (ex-Grant Putnam) has two projects completed and is so gorgeous, I have no idea what I said because I was rendered temporarily deaf.

Bradley Lockerman (ex-Casey the Alien) is immersed in www.johnsearlstory.com

Robert Lasardo (ex-Manny Ruiz and ex-Father Mateo) did Nip-Tuck and a number of other projects.

The actors adjourned to their tables and I got busy with the camera.  Peter Hansen left just after this point.  I was running drinks to actors most of the time, so I did not get as many photos as I'd like, but here are the ones I have.

This has to be the sweetest, most gentle man alive with the softest hands ever.

Randall England did not stay at his table long, preferring to sit at a fan table and talk with John Reilly's daughter.  He is nearly-perfect looking and the parts of him that are not artistically perfect are rugged enough to be absolutely delightful.

John Reilly moved around a lot, so it was hard to get good photos of him.

Chad Brannon is still Zander eight ways to Sunday.  Hasn't aged a day.

This is Scott Egan's ass.  Such a nice ass it is.

Totally gorgeous and a complete sweet-talker.

Millions of wattage, I'm telling you.

Does NOT look happy to be here!  (But great dress!)

Number nine...number nine....number nine...

New hair for Georgie Girl!

More please!  More!!

Crazy Nanny Colleen joked that she'd been stalking Tyler Christopher.

Still looks exactly the same!  We need some Faith!!

And the grand finale!

"Live people ignore the strange and unusual. I myself am strange and unusual."
Lydia Deetz, Beetlejuice

Each year when we go to this event, it's different in some way.  There are good years and bad years and every time, the events present a new set of challenges and blessings.  This one was no different and had a whole big bunch of both.

I've given too much time between event and writing out a review for you folks, mostly because I could not seem to get my head around how to go about writing the wrap up.  There are about a million write ups on the internet that give you the course of events from getting ready to get on the plane until the plane lands back home again, hour by hour, moment by moment.  The best coverage you will find of individual events is our own Kathy Hardeman's wrap up, which is very thorough and enjoyable to read. 

As I'm reading it, my head gets all fuzzy thinking, "We went to that event?"  For some reason, I have no memory of Greg Vaughan's event, but we must have gone because Kathy has photos and I don't think we divided up at any particular time.  I must have really, really been tired.  I remember asking Delena if she wanted to go to Greg's event and she said, "No, because he always cries and that makes me sad."  Maybe I didn't go and was busy with something else when Kathy went.

I'm overthinking this, huh? 

I decided that this year, I'm going to talk about the interesting (strange and unusual - see above quote) things I saw and experienced rather than just giving a blow-by-blow of each event we experienced...

...especially since I obviously can't remember some of them.

Anyway, this year had a particular energy of its own that started even before we left for L.A.  Many, many people were unable to go this year due to financial problems.  The economy is taking quite a bite into my social life and traveling schedule, let me tell you.  I almost didn't go, but decided almost at the last minute that we were going to be pretty  much screwed regardless, so we might as well be screwed and have some good memories and photos in the process.  Screwed if I do and screwed if I don't, so might as well be screwed and do.

So I did.

Kathy, Carolyn, Delena and I were all ready to go...

...until Carolyn wasn't any more.

She'd been having a tough time with an overwhelming feeling that things were going to go badly and she was going to have a shitty time and in the end, she decided not to risk it and stayed home.  We missed her tremendously, but we were not in the hotel longer than 5 minutes before we found out she'd trusted her instincts and they had not let her down.

Off the plane, into the cab, 20 minutes and $25 later, we were at The Lodge.

Except that it's not really The Lodge any more. The Sportsmens Lodge is a Hollywood historical monument where Marilyn Monroe and Joe DiMaggio stayed, where Jack and Bobbie Kennedy took their mistresses for a good bang and where others of the glamorous elite would go both for privacy and discreet mingling.  The people who have worked there for a while can definitely tell some fantastic stories, that's for sure.

Now the hotel has been sold to some kind of destructive insurrectionists who have just absolutely screwed up a lot of what was great about it and they are about to screw up more.

I'm not one of these "change is bad" people and fully believe that sometimes, remodeling is great and gives everything a new and better outlook.  That is evident in how many times I change the layout of our site.

Whoever waved their magic wand of redecorating hate around The Lodge should just be shot.

The entry lobby used to literally have the feel of an old, classy sports lodge with beautiful, comfortable furniture everywhere and that fireplacey, dark wood feel.  Now it is decorated in Early Laugh-In.  Groovy, Baby.

The furniture is now this bizarre, futuristic white vinyl stuff and it looks completely tacky.  This is a sectional sofa and as you can see, these fully grown GH loving ladies cannot even reach the floor when they are seated on the couch.  Your feet just dangle if you are under 6' tall or so.  In this photo, we are all swinging our feet about 4-6" off of the carpet.

Sort of like little Edith Ann on "Laugh In," so maybe they were actually going for something here:

Across from the couch was an electric firepit, also encased in the inescapable white vinyl that extended out and made narrow seating around the pit.

Kathy, why don't you show us some of the other redecorating choices the new owners have made?

"Thank you, Katrina, I will.  Well, when you first walk in the door of the hotel,
you are now immediately greeted by a gigantic fish.  There's that."

(Kathy feeds the fish an apple -- we think swordfish eat apples -- sure that they
do, in fact -- and maybe makes out with it a little bit.  Maybe.  These photos came
from us sitting in our hotel room and saying, let's go see if we can
screw with the wildlife without the people at the front desk catching us,
which is most stalwartly brave since the front desk is oh, around 10-15 feet
ß ß ß that away.  Either they are used to people screwing with
the wildlife and ignored us or, well, thank God for plants.)

"Then, directly across from the fish, we have antlers on fire."

"That's right.  Antlers on fire.  It can be a flaming, crowning glory if you squint.
Sort of like the holy Pentecost when God had tongues of flame leap over their heads"

"Next, we went out to the parking lot where someone had told us there was
a reindeer.  We asked the doorman about such things and he denied it was
the case.  Obviously, he doesn't ever make it past the door and into the parking lot
 because there most certainly was a topiary reindeer in the parking lot."

"Back to you, Katrina."

If bad decorating had been the only faux pas of the new owners, we, of course, could have let it slide because let's face it, even though there is a baseline of good taste somewhere in society, (I suspect it is in my house, as do we all) decor is perfectly subjective and we can forgive and move on.

Bad customer service is something altogether different.

I made my reservation in December.  De-cem-ber.  I asked for 2 full sized beds away from the pool.  Pool = very loud.  I called in February and confirmed my reservation for 2 full sized beds away from the pool.  Yep!  It's a go!  I called in July to confirm my reservations and was told that no, I'd been given a room with one king-sized bed and by the pool.  Grrr.  Delena and I have shared a bed before and could again.  Then money got really bad and we decided that I would let one of our GHFCW friends (those are the ones you only ever see or hear from at GHFCW - it's the perfect friendship, actually - very low maintenance) take my room and the four of us, Carolyn, Kathy, Delena and I, would share their room with the two double beds.  Kathy and Carolyn have a long history of looking forward to sleeping together on this trip and Delena and I could sleep together, just in a smaller bed than we had planned at first.

We got up to check in (check in doesn't happen until 4pm, which is a pain in the ass since we arrive around 10am) and learned that Kathy had been given a room with one king sized bed as well, despite specifically requesting 2 full sized beds.  They offered to bring in a rollaway bed.

This, folks, is when Carolyn would have hit the roof.

One of two things would have happened if she'd come.  Either we would be in the presidential suite with each of us having a king sized bed of our own by the end of the night or the famous Sportsmens Lodge Hotel would have been a pile of kindling strewn up and down Ventura Blvd.

Carolyn don't take no shit.

Kathy and I, however, took the rollaway bed, which did not get to our room until around 10-10:30pm.  Delena slept on the rollaway and Kathy and I took the bed and all was peace and love, except that Carolyn wasn't with us, which was good for her under the circumstances, but we missed her and it made us sad that the Sportsmens Lodge juju had screwed up our trip.

In fact, there was a lady that would hang out by the pool under our window and we would pretend it was Carolyn and that she was just spending way too much time at the pool:

Click it to make
it bigger

We met up with Errol from Soap Opera Network and as always, it was great to see him.  While we were waiting to check in, Maxine Bennett (from our site) and Nina Gregorson from Soaptown USA came in.  Then came Stacey Lopez, the official videographer of the event and our dear buddy.  Eventually, we found Dylan Cash, another long time friend of ours and he and Delena flitted off to catch up on all things anime and teenagery.

While we waited for our room, we had our first of a couple of meals at the Patio Cafe.  We were warned that the prices had gone up and they had, but no more than most other restaurants.  They did change the potato skins, which for me, is the kiss of death.  They now come with taco flavored ground beef inside of them (agh).

The Kick Off Party was a great big ol' ton of fun and we had a great time escorting in the actors and keeping them safe from the teeming millions who wanted their 2-3 minutes of autograph and photo time all at once.  The Kick Off Party is particularly fun because it's quite informal and the actors just sort of drift in and mingle and visit.  Usually, they're just getting off from a day of taping and are tired and don't stay very long.

Surprisingly, the first to arrive and the last to leave was Steve Burton (Jason). 

Here he is with Rick Hearst (Ric) and Sebastian Roche (Jerry)

Most people who have attended events where Steve was one of the actors celebrated knows that Steve is practical and professional and very much of the Maurice Benard school of fan interaction:  charm'em, get the photo, get the autograph and get the hell out.  This time, however, Steve was a man of great perseverance and presence and everyone was saying, "Oh my God, Steve is still here!"  That was a great WTF moment of the many WTF moments to come this weekend.  Why, you may ask, the sudden omnipresence (not unwelcomed, I assure you, because we luvvvvvv Steve) of Mr. Burton?

The answer is:

That's right, my dears, MONAVIE was the word and taste on lips across the GHFCW ('cause Steve brought SAMPLES to the main luncheon).  Last year, it was just a whisper in an ear and a passing thought, but this year, it was big, big business.  In fact, at the GH Fan Club Luncheon during the Q&A, someone asked Dylan Cash (Michael) if his character would be coming back out of the coma and before he could answer (no), someone yelled out, "MonaVie can heal you!!"

and I am sure it could.

If you are wondering how Jax could be paralyzed in one moment and discharged from Miracle Hospital and back to work the next, I'm sure it had something to do with MonaVie.  In case you are one of the 4 sub-rock dwelling people who don't know what MonaVie is, there is a website (there's always a website, isn't there?) that will tell you all about this miracle elixir that cures absolutely everything that can ever be wrong with anyone.  What it is, at its heart, whether the stuff works or not (and based on what Steve and his MonaVie partners will tell you, it definitely does), is a pyramid scheme (I'm sure they don't like the word "scheme" since it sounds shifty, but think of it as "scheme" in the since of a business layout) like Amway or Primerica and your goal, as nearly as I can tell, is to be one of the multimillionaire supersellers who reach "Black Diamond."  I don't remember where Steve is in the process, but he's making a bazillion dollars doing this and really seems to believe in his product (although I keep reminding myself that he makes a living in his other life acting).  In fact, he actually mentioned that he's making more money doing this than working for GH, so one has to wonder if he will continue to be Jason past his contract expiration in October or if he will want to dedicated the whole of his being to selling MonaVie.

That's pretty much what he was doing at the Kick Off Party and at the GH Fan Club Luncheon.  To paraphrase Eric Draven in "The Crow," "MonaVie is the name for God on the lips and hearts of all children."

So that was Steve's gig.  He wasn't excited to talk about GH much, but if you mention the miracle juice, it was like someone threw a switch and he would just come right to life.  Regardless of WHY he was there, people were thrilled he was there and they got lots of time with The Jason.

Back to the Kick Off Party happenings:

We were there setting up for the event and Ignacio "NACHO!!!" Serricchio was tuning up with his band.  He came down to get a drink and I wished I'd had my camera out because he came up behind Delena and gave her this big hug and she thought it was me, since I'd be the only one hugging her, and turned around to give me one back, saw Nacho instead and almost fainted away in a sea of teenage girly hormones.  It was precious, really, and I hope she remembers that moment forever, because I sure will.  God bless Nacho.

All in all, it was such a fun night.  The only real irritation came from an expected source, although I'd hoped it would be better than it had been in the past. We'd heard whispered under the breath of many that he was "difficult," which is the nice, professional way of saying, "an ass," and sadly, this was one rumor that proved it out.  I'd hoped have to that nasty rumbling dispelled and give this actor a really great review, honestly.  But noooo.  The event was set up so that we met the actors as they came in and quickly escorted them into the ballroom so that they were not immediately mobbed.  This let us get them settled, announce their arrival and let things proceed calmly and smoothly.  Unfortunately, Kin Shriner did not get the memo and came in a different door and was instantly mobbed with fans.  I can understand how that would be a little off putting and we're not sure what got him going the wrong direction, but happen it did.  He came with Jay Pickins (new cop - they worked together on "Port Charles"), who is just the cutest little thing EVER and I just could have eaten him with a spoon and a straw, let me tell you.  My buddy, Kathie, (Gunn, not Hardeman) who shares Boss Queen duties of escorting with another friend, Toni, for the events, began immediately segregating out Kin from the throng of fans and together, she and I got them organized into a couple of lines:  one for Jay and one for Kin.  Jay started signing autographs and taking photos like mad, thrilled to be there and excited by the response to his arrival.  Kin looked at the line a couple of times, then walked over to talk to someone and just didn't come back.  There were easily 50 more people in his line.  I asked George, our security guru, if he would go over and ask Kin if he was coming back to sign autographs, so George did and we could see the conversation from where we stood.  Kin looked at the line, made an "ick" face and a few minutes later, he left.

We were...surprised, to say the least.  Disappointed, to say the next to the least.

But there were more actors coming through and so we got back to work and tried to shake it off.

The event went smoothly, as nearly as I could tell and as they say, a good time was had by all, unless you expected a photo with Kin Shriner or were the Angry Italian Lady who got severely pissed off at Kathy Hardeman. 

Kathy was working Steve Burton's line that night and got totally abused and berated by an angry little Italian woman who was pissed because she couldn't get a photo with Steve.  We have to do what the actor details in terms of how they are going to interact with the fans and can't dictate to the actor what they will and won't do.  Steve told Kathy he did NOT want to do personal photos that night, but that he would sign autographs.  When people came up and asked for photos, Kathy sweetly told them it couldn't happen, but that he would give them an autograph.  This lady came up and Kathy told her just that.  A few minutes later, some person came up and said that their mother could only attend that event and wanted a photo and Steve agreed to do it.  Angry Italian Woman was on that like a hen on a June bug and started bitching Kathy out hard.  Anyone who has MET Kathy knows that someone bitching her out is like someone bitching out Mother Teresa or Sweetpea from Popeye or Buddah or something.  This woman was just not letting go of the fact that someone else got to take a photo with Steve and she didn't.

Kathy and I went back to the hotel, waited for the rollaway bed so we could all bed down for the night (we'd all been up since o'dark thirty that morning) and then it came and Delena went to sleep and Kathy and I stayed up hours longer talking about deep things, then finally collapsed into sleep.

AT 5:00AM, OUR NEIGHBORS BEGAN HAVING THE LOUDEST SEX I HAVE EVER HEARD ANYONE HAVE IN MY LIFE AND IT WAS DRIVING ME NUTS.

They just went on and on and on and on and on and on like rabbits or something.  It wasn't that fun "tee hee, they're doing it" thing, it was more like where you accidentally hear your mom having sex and just want it to STOP, dear God to STOP.  I wouldn't even want to have GREAT sex for as long as they were having whatever kind of sex they were having.  The rhythm was contagious and it just would not stop and remained burned into my head for hours afterward.  I wondered if I was the only one hearing it, but as the light eased into the room bit by bit, I looked over and saw that Kathy had her pillow on her head.   Every now and then, there would be these 5-6 minute pauses where you THOUGHT they were done, but then they would start up again and you were left to wonder what depraved things were going on during the quiet times.

FINALLY, they quit and I think it might have been because one of them DIED or something (perhaps about 15 minutes before the other one realized it), but blessed, sweet relief, they stopped.  I thought about calling their room and begging them to please, for the love of sweet God, stop.  I thought about throwing something around the wall that divided the two balconies so that it hit their French doors (loudly).  I thought about banging on the wall.  I thought about calling the front desk and begging for intervention.  I thought about taking our "Do Not Disturb" sign, altering it to say, "Do Not Have Sex" and hanging it on their doorknob.  The only reason I did not do any of those things is that Kathy was really, really sure it was coming from the room to our left and I was really, really sure it was coming from our room to the right.  Wrong room would have been bad.

We had to be up by 7am to get to the Bradford Anderson event and start our day, so suffice it to say, we were up.  I then got an experience I'd never had in 47 years of life.  I ordered from Room Service.

The events were great.  All of the Debby O'Connor events and the Debbie Morris events were flawless.  We worked a great number of them and were so happy to greet the fans and share the experience with them.

The photo scalpers were out in force, which is always bothersome.  These are the people who are selling unauthorized photos of the actors around the pool.  They'll get them from www.abcwebpix.com or ebay some other source and print them out on their home computer and show up peddling their stolen wares.  You aren't supposed to sell an actors image unless they have given permission to do so. It's illegal otherwise.  The proceeds from the photos go to, among other things, donations to the actors' charities.  Yet these people are there every year pirating photos and pocketing the money.  It's shameful, really.

Since it was quickly getting pricey to eat our meals at the Patio Cafe, Kathy and I went over to Ralphs to get some groceries.  On our way there, I found my dream car:

It was a very classy, very roomy gigantic wood-grain-sided station wagon.  I wanted it muchly.

We got good foods and went back to finish our day.  Kathy saw Angry Italian Woman at the pool and went over to again apologize for how things had gone the night before and she started yelling at Kathy again and wasn't hearing any of her explanation.  Finally, Kathy told her she was so very sorry that she was obviously still so upset about this and walked away.  That made the woman even angrier, but what can you do, really?

That afternoon, I met the most wonderful family at the pool.  Both Delena and Kathy were napping and I was bored, so I went to sit by the pool, which is the hub of The Lodge.  I struck up a conversation with the woman beside me, who was not a soap fan, but was actually staying at the hotel for a non-soap-related visit.  Her two kids and her husband were there with her and while they were actually from West Palm Beach, Florida, their accents put them at a New York/New Jersey origin.  It's an accent I dearly love and they have the BEST kind of that accent, which is that Sopranos accent that I could listen to just forever.  I'd put her in her very early 40's and him in his mid-50's and they were so much fun to talk to.  I really wished I could have run into them again during the trip. 

She told me a story about how the first night they'd been staying there, she'd been on one of the chaise lounges by the pool and was wearing a nice, white skirt.  She got up from the chair, which was covered with a white towel, to go to the poolside bar and her daughter, who had just graduated from high school, said, "Ma, sit down, don't get up again!"  Turns out, she'd started her period and it was all over the back of her skirt, all over the towel and quite a mess.  She really wanted a drink from the bar and now she had the added dilemma of how to get from her chair to her room with the mess on her skirt and her towel, so she got up (to my mind, this takes guts and class, sorry), started to walk toward the bar and said, "Oh my GOD, I've been SHOT!!" 

You can't PAY for stories like that.

They were in the process of touring baseball stadiums all over the US and while she was in LA to see Dodger Stadium, she also wanted to take the tour of the Hollywood murder sites.  She said, "My husband, he always wants to know about people's lives and how they lived.  For me, tell me how they DIED."  I could have hung out with her forever.   I loved how this woman was thinking.  Her husband was also very nice and interesting and as it turned out, they had also booked a multi-bed room and gotten (say it with me, kids), one king sized bed.

Over the course of the weekend, I talked to probably 10-12 people who had booked rooms with 2 beds and arrived to find they only had 1 bed.

It was quite a theme.

Saturday, the day of the GHFC Luncheon, went by in a blur.  I'm not even sure what happened when or where.  I worked Steve Burton's line and learned a lot about MonaVie.  He also brought his own supercooling $1000 fan.  He's not called Mr. 72 Degrees for nuthin.  Both he and Maurice Benard were late, so I ended up standing around waiting for him for about a year and a half.  I couldn't really go anywhere (and I so completely had to pee) because people were murmuring about how he was "due" any time.  Maurice Benard ended up coming when Steve was almost done for the day.

I heard Kin Shriner was a jerk again, but I missed all of that and can't speak it it intelligently, but it doesn't surprise me since he was clearly on a roll.

By the time Steve was done with his line, the event was almost finished.  I did manage to see some of my favorites.  One is my annual Blake Gibbons hug.  I was sure we had a photo, but I'm looking all over the place and not finding it.  Maybe it's on Delena's photos and I haven't gotten it yet.  He is just the nicest guy ever and I very much want him to live next door to me and borrow sugar and such.

A big joy was meeting Bruce Weitz (Anthony Zacchara), who Kathy got to say, "Loo Loo," and who has that same wonderful Sopranos accent I was talking about before.  He was very gracious and sweet and I would love to hear some of the stories I'll bet he has to tell after being in the business for so long.  The photo is cropped because my bra strap was hanging out for the whole world to see.

A really nice guy was Stephen Macht (Trevor) who I got to talk to for a while.  I asked him how the GH fans compared to when he was on OLTL 12 years ago and he said that this was actually his first soap event and that he was having a ball.  I didn't ask if he'd done the Star Trek events (he was on Deep Space Nine for a couple of key episodes), but that was only a moment of weakness on MY part, not wanting to reveal the extreme level of my own complete geekiness all in one shot.

Although I did wax into major geekdom when Peter Billingsley was at Nazanin's event on Friday:

I was in heaven, not because he was the little boy in "A Christmas Story," but because he was the Executive Producer of "Iron Man."  *sigh*  It was a good hair day.

After the event on Saturday, we were sitting around the pool waiting for Delena's dad and stepmom to show up because we were going out to dinner with them.  I really, really wanted to go to Jerry's Deli, which we had yet to hit, but Michael was determined we were going to some place "nearby" that he loved.  I can't remember the name and wish I could.  We drove so long it felt like we had to be in Mexico or Nevada by the time finally got to it, way down past Hollywood.  It was tremendously lovely and the company was great.  I've got to give it to my ex-partner and current friend, it was well worth the travel.

Before that, during the waiting part (they were delayed a bit), Kelly Monaco came to the pool on her way to some other event, not sure which.  She looked all pretty and posey and almost fell into the pool when she stepped back too far.  (As you can see, she's doing that "gotta pee" model pose here)  She also went to Greg Vaughan's event (holy shit! I just remembered something about Greg Vaughan's event!!!) and looked resplendent in a much-photographed yellow dress.  This particular photo of it, which regrettably is the only one I can find at the moment, is from Soap Opera Weekly, so you folks go out right this minute and buy a Soap Opera Weekly (I'll wait) and one or 3 for your nearest and dearest friends just because they had the foresight to know I'd need this photo to show you and run it last week.  Go on now.

Anyway, Kathy and I were talking about how good she looked in that dress and after that day, whenever we talked about Kelly Monaco, we would say, "*sigh*  She was dressed in sunshine."  Meh.  It was a moment.  She did not go to the main luncheon or Kick Off because she has stalker issues (and rightly so, sadly).

At the pool, as you can see, and dressed in sunshine, she looked weally pwetty.

While Delena and I were at dinner with Michael and Anneke, Kathy enjoyed Wally Kurth's event and I'm sure she'll tell you all about that.

Sunday morning was sad day because we were all three going home and I don't think anyone but Delena felt like going home.  Delena was having some tooth problems and just wanted her own bed.  Kathy and I always feel as though we have more talking to do than we are able to do, even though this particular year, we got more quiet time than normal.  The good news is that evidently, the sexual marathon of Friday morning was sufficient to keep our neighbors sated for the remainder of our visit, so we had blessedly quiet mornings.

We checked out the Cheetwood event, which is always fun:

Yep, that much fun. 

After that, we went to the Scrubs event.  One couple who was in attendance was extremely rude and obnoxious in regard to Finola Hughes, which was sad to see.  They practically man-handled her and almost knocked her down to get a photo with her as she left the stage.  These are the people on whom you wish a very unpleasant demise because they make the rest of us look bad.  Show some class, obnoxious couple.  Show some class.

We left Scrubs early to put Kathy on her shuttle to the airport and while we were waiting, I talked with a man named Mano who ran a car service.  He quoted me a price of $25 to Bob Hope Airport and since that was the same price as the CAB, I was all over it.  The name "Mano," of course (reference "geek" above) makes me think of "Manos, The Hands of Fate," that grand old 1966 Sci Fi classic.  I booked with Mano and gave Kathy hugs and farewells and hurried back in for... something, I can't remember what.  I'm old, shut up.

The Past Cast event was that night and it was what I had most eagerly awaited.  It was tremendous fun and since I will do an actual recap of that event since Kathy was unable to attend.

My sweetest moment happened in the green room for that event.  I had just escorted in Brian Gaskill (ex-Rafe from "Port Charles"), who was happily filming the whole event all the way from his car, in the green room and through the ballroom.  I had a handful of drink tickets and was checking tables to see who needed drinks.  I came upon Kiko Ellsworth (ex-Stan) and Christine Carlo (ex-Leticia), very much in love and very kind.  No drinks needed.  Next was Angel Boris (ex-Angel Ellis - I have a photo for James, Carol) and Jason Gerhardt (ex-Cooper), very nice.   No drinks needed.  At the next table, all at one table, were John Reilly (ex-Sean Donnely), Ian Buchanan (ex-Duke Lavery), Brian Patrick Clarke (ex- Grant Putnam) and Peter Hansen (ex-Lee Baldwin).  I teared up.  I told them I'd give about anything to sit with them and hear the conversations that must be going on at that table, but instead, did they want a drink?  Peter Hansen took my hand and kissed it and said he wanted a beefeater with an olive and a twist.

*sigh*swoon*

I was in heaven.

The event was great fun and I will recap it in detail because I have actual photos and notes.

After that event was over, Delena and I said our goodbyes and went outside with Dylan to wait for Mano to come.  As we were sitting on the bench, I started elbowing Delena in the ribs saying out the corner of my mouth, "Get your phone, get your phone, get your phone, snap a photo, snap a photo, snap a photo."

She started struggling for her phone which was buried in her carryon luggage and alas, our results were lame:

The black car is Mano's (Manos!  The Hands of Fate!) limo pulling up to get us.  The guy in front of the limo is Gene Simmons, frontman for the rock group "KISS," star of "The Family Jewels" and evictee from "Celebrity Apprentice."  I am a girl of the 70's and I was seconds from absolutely falling over.  Here he was, out with the unwashed, having an intense conversation with someone on a cell phone.  I wanted so much to get a photo, but he has this incredible "Do NOT mess with me" force field around him, so all I could do was jab Delena with my elbow and whimper.

This is a photo of Gene Simmons walking away from us.  Nice jacket, dude!  Yes, it was him, I'm sure.  I'd heard from one of the photographers on the red carpet for the Past Cast event that he was staying at the hotel, but I never expected to see him just strolling the grounds.  *sigh again*

We got to the airport right on time, an hour before departure.  Go Mano!! (The Hands of FATE!) and got checked in, only to find that our flight had been delayed over 3 hours due to storms in Phoenix grounding the beginning of the route of planes from there through Burbank and up into Sacramento. 

Gah.

This always happens to me in Burbank.  We started talking with a lovely Hispanic lady who was also going to Sacramento and by the time the flight left, we had bonded as sisters over the fact that we had crossed oceans of ethnic diversity to actually have the same color of toenail polish. She was funny and sweet and I hate that I did not get her name.

I finally got home around 3:30am and was destroyed for the rest of the week.

The End

(PS:  Past Cast write up coming as soon as I find my notes)