Famous People I've Met

I work at a theater and occasionally I get to meet famous people. The most exciting person I met was B.B. King. He is a wonderfully warm and kind man. I was very nervous to meet him and I wasn't sure how to pose for the picture and I wasn't sure if I should hug him or just take his arm and he said "You just feel free to do whatever you want." I thought that was kind because he is a legend and I felt he had the right to tell me how HE wanted things done.

I am usually a talkative person but around B.B. King I could barely speak. You really can't talk about normal things like "What have you been up to lately?" or "Have you taken any trips lately?" or "How is life treating you?" He is famous and "small talk" can quickly become front page news if said to the wrong person. Oh well ... it was so nice to meet him.


Another person I met was Tom Hulce. Here is a picture of me and him in 2005. He starred in "Animal House" and was the main character in "Amadeus". He grew up in Plymouth, MI and so did I. When he was at the height of his popularity in the 1980's I secretly hoped that we would just run into each other on the streets of Plymouth whenever he came home to visit his mother. (O.k. THAT never happened, but a girl needs a dream!)

However, 20 years later I'm working at the Michigan Theater in Ann Arbor and Tom Hulce calls wanting to promote a film that he produced and we just happened to be showing at our theater called "Home at the End of the World". We were delighted and agreed to have him address the audience and he happily agreed to meet our Gold Card Members too. He is a very nice person and I was so glad to meet him. I begged my boss to let me join him when he took Tom out for dinner. My boss agreed and I couldn't help but think this is SO much better than running into Tom on the streets of Plymouth.

I thought the story would end there but I ended up running into him again in Canton, MI. His mother, Jo, was producing a play called "Grace and Glorie" and I got an invitation from her to attend the production. I was happy to attend, it is a wonderful play and the proceeds benefited Arbor Hospice. (Such a very good cause) I attended alone because I couldn't find anyone to come with me. She noticed I was sitting alone and she invited me to join her AND TOM! I couldn't believe that she asked me to join them. I would have never thought at 18 or 19 years old that I would have the pleasure of being invited to sit with Tom and his mother at any event. What a magical night.

I've also met some other famous people that I don't have photographs to mark the occasion. Elvis Costello - He performed at out theater but I don't like his music so I decided to go home early and I ran into him in our alley as I was leaving for the night. He was such a gentleman, he actually stepped aside to let me go by him. (Trucks were in the alley and only one person at a time could go by) I didn't know what to say but I looked him in the eye and said "Thank you" and smile. He smiled back and I have to say it was an electric moment. He has an aura of "stardom" to him. It is hard to explain but I felt it and I'm not even a fan.


I ran into Bonnie Raitt backstage but didn't say hello. I just smiled and walked by. She seemed friendly. Another time I met the strange actor Crispin Glover. He showed a film at our theater he directed and produced. It was very strange but I always liked Crispin's work in "Back to the Future" as the goofy dad. It was great to meet him. He is very cute and REALLY strange. I would never want to be in a room alone with him.



I met John Waters this summer at a Summer Festival Party in Ann Arbor. That was pretty cool too. I took a photograph with him but it isn't in a digital format so I can't post it. I'm sure there might be other surprises that happen at the theater but now I don't find the possibility of meeting a famous person so out of the question.

You never know what might happen.

Cedar Point Food Confessions

I told my Cedar Point confessions (see below) but now I feel the need to confess how much food I shoveled into my mouth that day. If I was catholic I would go to confessional for all my gluttonous sins. I started off the day innocently with black coffee and 4 little donut holes. That seemed reasonable.

Then I moved onto lunch at Steak and Shake: One Hickory Bacon Cheeseburger and a glass of water. I thought that was reasonable. However it was a bit excessive to have two patties of meat on my hamburger but of course, I ate both patties and the bacon. I love bacon!

Got into the park and after getting drenched on the water rides I decided a light beer and a warm, soft pretzel with mustard was in order. Mom had a taste of the pretzel and decided about 15 minutes later that she had to have a pretzel too. However we were in a part of the park where they only had cheese stuffed pretzels so that is what we got and she shared it with me. This is where things start to spiral out of control for me.

Then a few hours later we ended up at the Red Garter Salon and mom order Nachos loaded up with all the good stuff. I ate about a ¼ of that and had water because I was thinking of doing another coaster after the show and didn’t want to “toss up” my tasty snack. I saw the coaster I wanted to ride was a “standing up” coaster and it freaked me out so I held back on the nachos for nothing!

A few hours later the park closed and I was in “ravenous hunger” mode for some reason. We stopped at Wendy’s for 99 cent chicken nuggets and I got an ice tea. After the 20 minute ride home I was still in “ravenous hunger” mode and needed more food. There was a pizza hut down the road from the hotel and I ordered a pineapple and ham personal pizza and for some reason I blurted out “I want breadsticks with that” (It seemed like a good idea for the 3 seconds I thought about it but after I ordered it I felt so ashamed.) It was almost 11 p.m. at night, I kept thinking “What business do I have having pizza and breadsticks with tomato sauce and then tucking in for the night?” I knew I had crossed the line and would pay for my sins later.

Sure enough at 3:30 in the morning I woke up with heartburn and had to wake my mom up to get Rolaids so I could go back to sleep and I felt like a fat cow the whole next day. That is my confession.

Cedar Point Confessions

I went to Cedar Point with my 62 year old mother on Friday. She got a slick full-color promotional piece in the mail from Cedar Point that informed her of a special rate for those 62 and older. For $9.95 seniors can enjoy the park for the entire day while others (like me) had to pay the “discounted” rate of $32.95. I think it is pretty clever of Cedar Point to tap into the senior population to entice their grown children into a day of fun at the park! I have to admit I had a great time. I forgot how much fun it was to ride all those rides.

The first ride we hit was the Corkscrew roller coaster. Just a short wait and mom and I were on the coaster. She looked fine until we went down the first hill and then she looked like she was on the verge of death. She never looked worse in her life! Then we twisted, turned and flipped upside down a few more times. She looked like she was going to pass out at one point and a wave of guilt came over me thinking about the fact that I might have killed my mother by taking her on this innocent thrill ride. I then realized she was conscious so I tried to coach her to yell because it makes things feel better in your stomach and she squawked out tiny little yell. (She had no idea that you gotta yell from the depth of your gut to make things feel better.) The ride screeched to a halt and I got the dirtiest look ever from my mom and she breathed an exasperated sigh. That deep breath convinced me she was still alive. (But I wasn’t so sure I would be after we got off that ride.) The ride really shook her up but then she smiled with glee when she realized she could brag to my sister about riding the Corkscrew and immediately got on the cell phone to call her. I dash off to get a cold drink for her because she was still a bit rattled.

After all that excitement I agreed to a super tame ride with her to calm her down. We did the Paddlewheel Excursion, a five minute slow boat ride around the river. (Thank God the Top Thrill Dragster ride was visible from this ride or I would have fallen asleep. That ride goes at 120 miles an hour and shoots straight up 480 feet into the air!)

Then we went to the water rides. Snake River Falls was the first water ride we did. It is like a roller coaster but with water. You get pulled up a hill in a little boat and then you leisurely float along in for a short while and then the next thing you know you are diving over a ledge straight down into the water and there is a BIG SPLASH. Mom and I got soaked and she couldn’t stop laughing. She loved it. Then you get off the ride and you can stand on the bridge and watch the next group of people come down the big hill. What you don’t know is that when they land in their BIG SPLASH everyone on the bridge gets completely drenched. Mom loved getting pelted by the big splash. We waited one more time to watch the next group of people come down but we were more over on the side of the bridge in hopes we wouldn’t get drenched. But we did get drenched and mom just couldn’t stop laughing. That was a fun surprise for me to watch mom get so much enjoyment out of this ride.

We decided to go on the Thunder Canyon ride and we both thought that was rather boring in comparison to Snake River Falls. You just float in a circular boat down the rapids until you get to the waterfalls and get drenched. Boring! I guess mom got a taste of the excitement and didn’t want the “baby rides” anymore. She needed the THRILL.

She said let’s pass up the Cadillac Car ride because it was too “boring” We got on the Waver Swinger to dry off. I remember enjoying this ride in the past but this time I just got nauseous from spinning in circles for too long. Mom felt the same way and we moved on. I rode the Iron Dragon alone and told mom it was rather tame so she joined me for a ride and once again I got a dirty look after the ride. She said this was worse than the Corkscrew. (I found this hard to believe the Iron Dragon doesn’t even flip you upside down like the Corkscrew so I just couldn’t understand how this was a more challenging coaster for her.)

We saw a few shows. They had an ice skating show that was fantastic and then we went to the Red Garter Salon for a beer, nachos and a Rock and Roll show. Mom liked it so much we saw the show TWICE! (I took off between shows to ride the Corkscrew one more time without her) She also let me ride the Raptor alone. It was a good thing too. She could have never handled this ride and I needed someone to hold my backpack. It was a win-win situation.

She was ready for one more coaster towards the end of the day. We went on Disaster Transport. It is an indoor coaster that is only 63 feet tall but most of the ride is in complete darkness. That was strange. She didn’t complain much about this ride and I couldn’t see the expression on her face during the ride so it was better than the others for me. Overall it was a GREAT day and we practically closed down the park. We never expected to stay so late either.

People Who Love Me

Since I just learned how to add pictures to my blog I thought I'd add a few picture of those who love me.

My mom (Donna) is with my niece Megan in the picture above. The picture below is of my dad (Joel) and his wife Teresa. I'd also like to post a picture of my buff-colored cat (Buddy) but I don't have one yet. I need to buy a digital camera. I think this will happen soon!

I suppose my younger sister Jeni loves me too but I don't think she would confess this to anyone publically. (ha-ha) I don't have a digital picture of her either.

What do you think?

This is a picture of me, taken just a few days ago by my boss. I needed to borrow the digital camera to take a picture for a work related thing. He was messing around with the camera trying to get it to work and just snapped a picture of me. I think the picture shows a different side of me not captured by a camera normally. I sent this to a friend and he thinks I look like I'm "going to kick someone's ass". My mother thinks it is not the best picture of me but I kind of like it. My hair isn't perfect and I rarely smile like that but I like it anyways. If anyone is reading my blog let me know what you think.


This picture was taken a few years ago when I went to a Toledo Mudhen's game with some friends. We had a great time and saw fireworks after the game. Very exciting!
People in the photo from left to right: Juli Pinsak, Jean Hunt, Laura Barnes

I don't have a lot of thoughts to park on my blog today. I must say life seems rather routine so I need to mix things up a bit. I'll have to see what fun things I can do this weekend to spice things up. I did a speed dating thing this past Monday and I have a few matches. So I will have fun getting to know two new guys. I'm taking it slow on the dating scene and just trying to enjoy life. The focus is still to settle down but I'm not going to jump into something too quickly and get burned again.

Green Grass & Blue Skies

Green grass and blue skies - that is where my focus is right now. I’ve been thinking about my ex-boyfriend a bit much and every time I start to think about him I say “Green grass, blue skies” to take my mind off him.

Let me explain, when I say these words it reminds me that some day I will have “green grass” - a relationship that grows and flourishes and “blue skies” - a relationship where I’m happy most of the time, not longing to see the guy I like. Of course, just saying the words, in my mind, a few times breaks the obsession of thinking of what I wished could have been.

I’m not really a positive person. I’ve had too much disappointment in my life to believe that things actually work out. Well …. I guess I’ve had great success in my work life, with friends, and where I live. I’ve just seen a lot of guys come and go and that is the thing I want the most. I want ONE person to be my close friend and lover and to create a life together. I look forward to the normal give-and-take in a relationship and the confidence that we are both committed to being in each other’s world.

I guess the grass is always greener on the other side of the fence. I’d just like to try the other side of the fence for a while.

The Tawas Cottage Affair

I believe my boyfriend is having an affair with his cottage in Tawas, Michigan.

He is part owner of his family cottage and has been going there since birth. (42 years now) We've only dated exclusively about eleven weeks and he has been with "her" six of those weekends with little to no room for me. The cottage comes fully equiped with a phone and e-mail access yet the entire time we dated I've only gotten one call late at night while he was with "her". I should have known that an eleven week romance could never compete with a mistress of 42 years.

I understand the allure. I was once invited there. (I gently pushed for an invitation.) At the cottage you forget all your troubles and you become a kid again! You can't be reached easily, you can play all day and buffet meals are provided the entire time you are there. (since it is a private club they have a chef to prepare their meals.) This mistress treats him well!

I could not compete! Weekend after weekend he chose "her" and I was assigned a lesser day to meet with him. "How does Wednesday or a Thursday sound to you?" My thought: "Actually quite terrible!" I'm rather busy during the week but I held out hope that maybe things would balance out. I suggested him coming home early on Sunday afternoon from his mistress and he did once to attend a party with me (He was only two hours late!)

The following weekend I suggested he come home early on Sunday night and he said he prefered not to do this. Then I found out he wasn't going for a regular weekend. He took off Friday to spend an extended 3 day weekend with "her" and had no room in his schedule to come back early to spend time with me. He doesn't invite me regularly or freely to come to the cottage when I want. This man is keeping a secret and he is keeping me out.

Funny thing is that I've asked if there is another woman and he said there isn't (most of the gals at the cottage are in their 70-80's) and I created a mild stir by being there a few weeks ago. With folks whispering "Who is that gal with ...." If there was another women he would have never brought me there.

I asked if it would be o.k. to date other people for a while but he seemed concerned and had no interest in doing so. He said he wanted an exclusive relationship with me. I must confess, I really like this guy. He's handsome, rather sensible about most things and has many traits I'm looking for in a life-long mate. I was thrilled he said he really wanted to date me exclusively. However something just didn't feel right.

Then I asked two questions that revealed what I didn't want to hear.
1. "Would I see you most every weekend after October when the cottage closes?" and he said "Yes, I would spend most weekends with you."
2. "Have you ever had other girlfriends say they were frustrated with how much time you spend here away from them?" He said a hesitant "Yes"

The mistress was fully disclosed and sadness filled me.

Today I got my dignity back and I stopped our triangular affair. I'm now free to find a man who actually wants to spend time with me on the weekends. (Preferable a man without a cottage.)