First Of All, Saidy, You Can TRUST Me On This...

...(if I could have left this message on your blog, I woulda) but a few bounced checks will not defeat any purpose you have for your credit in the future, given the way you have described you do your finances.

TRUST

me.

Secondly, you can call your bank if any of the checks have bounced and negotiate a deal. They can reverse some, half, or all of the overdraft charges at a whim. When they see that you've

*ahem*

NEVER

bounced a check, they will be happy to deal. Especially if they resist a little, and you point out how good your history has been with them, and if they can't appreciate that you are sure you can find a bank who will...this thing will become no more than a bad memory.

Take it from one who knows. I could rebuild Iraq with the money I've paid out in overdraft charges.

Okay, Now On To My Star Sighting
Well, not directly onto it.

I have to first say;

"(Let's here it for our Haitian sistas!)"

Did I write that??????????
As if I don't know the diff between here and hear???????
As if this exact grammar mistake is not my own personal pet peeve?????????????
SORRY folks. I'll try to do better next time.

Okay, and now for the second pre-amble.
I have to explain something before I tell you about this sighting.
Back when I was negotiating my summers in Spring Valley, home of the Lord of The Flies, I refused to go outside and do things if I absolutely didn't have to. Safe in my apartment and protected from the fists and boots of the psychopathic children. (It was like Village of the Damned without the cute, genius, or alien factor). So to while away the time, I watched TV. Well, being the only child of a single mom, I watched what she watched. She was actually the one who turned me on to Sci-Fi! She used to love Star Trek and also the British imports on Saturdays. I believe she first watched Doctor Who, but I took up that torch religiously.

Anyway, being an American female, she also watched soap operas. Well one day, and maybe for the first time ever, I saw my mother crying. I was like, WHAT-TT?? (I had never even seen this woman cry when Dad broke a chair over her back, so I HAD to know what the was going on.) She explained to the television that it was so sad how this marriage was breaking up after they had been together for so long. And she was speaking about a couple on "The Young and The Restless". Well, I was hooked.

That addiction probably ended when summer was over, but the fascination lasted through many summers to come. I was watching back when there was such a thing called "Ryan's Hope" and watched it long enough to see a baby get born, then turn into Yasmine Bleeth a few years later. When I watched, Who's The Boss' Angela was not a prissy and rich Connecticut housewife falling for her hunky Italian housekeeper--she was a doctor's wife by day and a hooker by night, outed on the witness stand! When I watched, Jenny Gardener was Tad Martin's sudden surprise sister, not some dusky hottie bumpin' uglies with Jimmy Smits on NYPD Blue!

Okay.

So when I got into church, I tore myself away from the soaps. But don't think for a minute that I wasn't still fascinated. They were a constant temptation. All the sex. They got all the sex, y'all. The fascination remained when I went to Missouri, and after a 5-year long hiatus from TV, I'd take a given day off to check out what had been happening on the soaps I used to watch.

Yeah. I found out what utter and indefensible pap the stuff really was. Stilted hackneyed dialogue, repeated at even commercial break. Storylines to rival Doctor Who in their impossibility.

Doesn't mean that I wasn't fascinated by all the beautiful, beautiful people--and the actors who played them.

That said, I have run across several of these people in real life scattered through the years. Like back in the heyday, the cast of "One Live To Live" came to quaint little Spring Valley (of all places in the world) to play a celebrity charity event. I ran down there, literally. I got a huge, shoulder-blade crunching hug from Brynne Thayer--no, you prolly don't know WHO she was, but I did! Why, just a year and a half ago, I saw a fellow in my NJ gym a few times who looked very much like a star I'd caught on One Life To Life, from back when I reviewed the soap out in Missouri--but I figured "This can't be him because that soap tapes in New York, this is Trenton. Why the heck would he be 2 hours away from New York when there's a gym on every corner out there?" Yeah, then Soap Talk debuted and I found out what his name was and voila, I discovered he was born in Trenton from his bio page. Well, it wasn't as if I ever spoke to him at length. I never speak to guys at the gym because usually they want to talk about beer, girls, or their own bodies--none of which I need to discuss when I'm trying to get my exercize on.

Yeah, so, having said all that, you may understand when I tell you I recognized Tonya Pinkins across the train from me when I got on the W at 23rd St. I had just seen her on an access cable show called Inside New York and she had quite a story to tell. It was stuck in my mind long after I saw it, and I even used it as an example for one of my clients on how a person can slog through the worse of adversities, be defeated for a while, then marshal up the strength it takes to try again. But did I say, "Hello Ms. Pinkins! I dig the work I've seen you do on 'All My Children'! Your performance is the only one which made the whole "Who Killed Michael Cambias" storyline a credible one!"

Noooooooooo.

For one, I didn't want anyone overhearing to identify me as a soap-opera watcher. I gots me an image to maintain! And for two, I didn't want her to cuss me out for invading her space. I often hear that actors don't mind being approached if it's done with respect, and they especially appreciate compliments and encouragements. Well, who wouldn't? And we know actors derive their greatest validation from we fans. But wouldn't it just be my luck if there had been 999 people that day to say hi, and her nerves were just frayed enough to let the 1000th person have it with both barrels? "Boy, GET away from me! Can't you see I'm writing in my journal? Do I LOOK like I need to be bothered by you? Go find a hobby!"

Heheh. Yeah, I actually think like that. I told you all this before. The Worst Scenario Possible runs through my head before I make any decisions. The only thing that gets me to make a choice is the Want To factor. I've got to Want To more than I fear any consequences that would come if it went Horribly Horribly Wrong. For instance, I Wanted To move to NYC more than I feared that I'd be killed on these dark city streets.

So I did the next best thing. I wrote her an e-mail after I found her website in the writing of this very blog entry. Nice and safe and anonymous. So if she cusses me out now, well, I can't hear it. And if I see her again, she won't necessarily know it was me.

Here's what I wrote;

(Title)"Hi Ms. Pinkins! I saw you on the W train the other day..!

"...and neglected to say hello! I was the fellow who
kept stealing glances at you while you were writing in
your journal, and I jumped off the train at the 34th
St station, just before you did. I left the station,
but i noticed you got on the train across the
platform. (I was looking back because I couldn't
believe it was actually you!)

"I saw you also on a local access channel show I think
was called "Inside New York", and I was very moved by
your story. I wish you the best of success in the
things you're struggling through.

"Oh, and I've watched you on All My Children back in
the day and here recently. Ms. Pinkins, let me just
say that only your performance livened up all those
crazy "Who Killed Michael Cambias" calisthenics. If
it weren't for your grounded performance, all that
stuff would have looked like it was happening on Mars.

"I would have told you so the other day if I'd have had
the guts! I'm glad you have a website where I have a
2nd chance to say now what I should have then, but one
never knows how others are feeling on a given day.
I'd have hated to have bothered you if you weren't
feeling like speaking to some complete stranger, which
in my mind is a perfectly reasonable reality in New
York.

"Anyway, you have a good day! If you're interested
stop by my blog and sign my guestbook or
something--maybe you can find some amusing
distractions in my writings. I definitely am blogging
about seeing you! :-)"

I think it'd be cool if she signed the guestbook, don't you?

Oh, and one more thing before I go to bed.
I got the job I interviewed for today!!!! Muahahahahahahahahaaahhhhaahahahahahhahhaaa!!!!!!!!!! I'll tell you more about it later. I've got to get some snooze for my other interview tomorrow. (And just today I got a call for a THIRD interview for a position here in Manhattan!!! You know, the whole Rain....Pours thing? A-MAZE-ING!)

Me at 3/04/2004 10:38:00 PM

---