Hi! Well, it’s been a SUPER busy summer! Really. I think I am ready for school to start just so I can get some breathing room. I have to say that I loved how my summer began. It may be no surprise to y’all but it started with a concert. w00t! Guess who? 
Yup. I took that!
I scored some front row seats for this concert back in March. I was pretty excited about it. It’s been a year since Mom’s stroke and this concert would be her first “normal” thing (according to her) that she’d get to do since. I wasn’t sure how Mom would react to the loud music or how she’d be able to see. Her vision was severely impacted by the stroke and she was left blind from the tip of her nose down towards her feet and she has very little peripheral vision. Well, she did AWESOME! She loved every bit of it. Rick was a bit more risque at this show as it was in a gambling town and in a 21 and over venue. Kinda makes me wonder how he’ll be on the cruise. I am guessing pretty much the same. He didn’t stand on my sister’s chair this time and we didn’t get the bump & grind in our face either but I did manage to get a heck of a hand slap that managed to keep my fingers stinging for about 10 minutes after.
The fun continued later in July when I went out to California to visit with friends and to schmooze with some soap opera stars. But before I did that, I took a slight detour in Los Angeles and look who I ran into…
That’s right, people….
Rick was doing a book signing at the Barnes & Noble at The Grove in L.A. – which coincidentally was at the same mall as the American Girl store that I had promised Michaela I would take her to. No really… this was a TOTAL coincidence. True story!
So, that was at the beginning of my trip and really, the trip could have ended right there. I was satisfied. What a thrill… a 10 second thrill but whatever!
The rest of the week was spent with these guys:
General Hospital Fan Club Weekend was “OK”. I am highly critical though. Events such as this one that are done each year should be run like clockwork and not like it was someone’s first time. I was pretty disappointed in the level of professionalism by the event coordinators and their blatant efforts showing favoritism to certain groups of fans. It was pretty obvious and sad. I suppose some would call it sour grapes but not really. I wasn’t PERSONALLY wronged by this. It is just an observation as a first time fan club weekender. The amount of money spent to do this activity was obscene considering the value I received and I will likely not do it again. That being said, the actors themselves were gracious and kind they turned it on for the fans and that was nice to see. If I had to rate my experiences with the actors, I would say that my favorites to meet were Ronnie Marmo, Dominic Zamprogna and John J York. I had a MUCH better experience with Julie Berman than I did in December 2010 when I went out to do a house build for Habitat for Humanity. I don’t know if she was having a bad day or not but at the time I found her rude and stand offish. That was a total turn off then. But she was super cool at FCW and she was great with Michaela which mattered the most to me. As for who I didn’t care for??? Well… my daughter and I nicknamed Jason Thompson “The Bump on a Log”… Mr Personality he was not. Again, I don’t know if he was just having an off day or what. But that was THE big event and frankly he should have turned it on for the fans. He wasn’t engaged. The line to meet him and Kimberly was slower than cold tar. In hindsight I wouldn’t have stood in line to meet them. By the time I got through their line, Jonathan Jackson, Steve Burton and Maurice Bernard had already left the building. It was ridiculous. And their line wasn’t even that long either. Kinda still irks me that I wasted my time there.
So, let’s move on…
One of the activities that we got to do while we were there was a “tour” of the General Hospital set. I use that in “quotes” because I am not so sure it was a tour. I mean, I saw the Green Room and I saw the inside of a dressing room and I did stand around the set for a long time. But that was about it. I was fascinated watching the taping of the scenes and getting to see how big the sets really AREN’T. It was interesting to see that many of the sets are in storage and they move them to and fro when needed. The actual set area was quite small. We didn’t get to see wardrobe or make up or any of the many actor’s dressing rooms. And since I was a visitor it wasn’t like I could “demand it” either. I was originally told it’d be a 3 hour tour and that worked well for me because I had to pick up a friend a the airport but the majority of the tour we were left standing there with out an escort and wasn’t sure what to do. And before I knew it, I had to leave and the rest of the tour had to go on without us. I missed lunch with the actors and the goofing off on set with them after. In a word… I was disappointed. 
Had I known how it’d really be, I would have blocked out the entire day. Plain & simple the communication about how it really is wasn’t there. So, if you’re going to spend the big bucks to see the set, then be warned…be SUPER SUPER flexible with your time and expect the unexpected.
One of the main highlights of the trip was the play reading by Ronnie Marmo, Dominic Zamprogna, Julie Berman and Lisa LoCicero. I had created a poster for the play reading that Ronnie ended up really liking and he used it to auction off at his event to raise money for his theater group. I am proud to announce that the poster & script for the play reading fetched the highest bids of the night. Soap Opera Weekly just did a write up on the event and my poster was published in the August 16, 2011 edition:
How cool is THIS!?
So, that’s my summer so far. We’re into August and the plans for Michaela’s birthday party are in full swing. We’ll celebrate a few days before her actual birthday with hopefully several of her friends and many of her cousins. This year’s theme?? American Girl Luau. Yep. You heard that right. Expect pictures. LOTS of them.
Until then….
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