There might be more added later in a part two kinda way. *laughing* This one is long and it doesn't even have the pictures in it.
Let me start with this, Tracy, I don't know if you got my email, but please email me when you get the chance. *grin*
I don't know how to really break this up, but I will start with the negative that happened this weekend. Because then we can work up to the really amazing stuff. And trust me, from my perspective, the good far, far outweighed the bad. This weekend was bad for technology and me.
When we got to the hotel, Adam wanted to swim, but me being the way I am (and the fact that I didn't bring a swimsuit) declined to go into the pool. I instead decided to lay out a bit and listen to my Zune. It was great the sun was shining, hardly a cloud in the blue sky, the water (which I had put my legs into) was the perfect temperature, it was wonderful- then disaster- as I was getting up, my Zune went into the water. It is dead. I'm holding a memorial service for it Wednesday. All are welcome to attend.
My digital camera hit the floor at the bar. I'm just relieved that didn't break. I would have been completely lost had that happened. Batteries didn't last that long...at all. It was lucky that Adam and I thought to buy some before we went down to Marco Island. If we hadn't, there would be no pretty pictures to show and share.
That was really the worst things that happened to me. Not so bad, huh? Now lets get started with the recap of the Night with The Stars... I'm going to try and remember all I can...
As I said in the previous post, Adam and I did sit with Caitlin. We felt horrible though. Only five people paid to sit with her. *sigh* On the flip side I got to talk with her a lot and as Adam said, speak my mind quite freely. (I really have a big mouth that gets away from me without my brain saying it can speak. I need to work on that) She was very nice. I really enjoyed my time with her, but I'll get to that in a minute. I'm going to try and paint a picture for you. You could really skip the first paragraph under this one if you don't want to know the seating arrangement. *laughing*
I have to say that I didn't quite like the set up this year. Last year, I was really close to the stage, this year we were in the back of the VIP section. It could of been worse I know but it made getting pictures really difficult. My Twinnie and her sister were at John's table which was to the right of Caitlin's. The one right in front of us was Van's and in front of him was Jake. To Jake's right was Billy M. (Casey, As the World Turns) and Nicholas G. (Zac, As the World Turns). From there I couldn't really see. I know that Beth E. (ex-Harley, Guiding Light) had a table in the center of the room. The dinner was a buffet, which was pretty good. And that is all I'm going to say about that. *laughing* Because it's even boring me!
The no-shows this year were Grant A. (Phillip, Guiding Light) and Michael O' Leary (Rick, Guiding Light). I have to be honest and say that it didn't really bother me that they weren't there. I feel bad for anyone that was counting on seeing them though. They were the only ones I really noticed were missing. John has a new girlfriend. She was at all the events and so was Caitlin's boyfriend. We found out that Caitlin actually met him in Vegas and is surprised that a long term relationship grew from that. *laughing* Vegas isn't notorious for long term love affairs. *grin*
The rumor "going around" is that Guiding Light might be picked up by a new network. The emcee hinted around to that fact at the beginning of the dinner. What that means for what is happening on the show now, I don't know. After she made the announcement she directed our attention to a "survey" that was on each of the tables. Basically, it was asking questions about the show, our viewing habits and if we would stop watching CBS if the show really did go off the air. Honestly, I didn't have the heart to write on there that most have already stopped watching, hence the fact they are being cancelled. *sigh* Once her speech was done, she introduced the actors starting with the All My Children stars. Guiding Light was last and John missed his intro. He was late to the dinner. But showed up before anything major went on. I do have to admit that I didn't get to really see him much even though he was sitting at the next table. But Twinnie was at his table so hopefully she has some interesting things to say about him and her time at his table.
Caitlin came to sit at our table and shook our hands and asked for our names. She did remember me vaguely. She thought that she had seen me before. I told her that I was at the event last year. She asked us where we were from and was impressed that we drove all that way to come to Marco. I asked her if Ashlee would ever get another man. She said no. Unfortunately that wasn't in the cards for her character. I don't remember how it was brought up but I mentioned Shayne and Ashlee and the video I did a while ago. (God this is going to sound like I was pimping myself and that I'm full of myself *sigh*) Her mouth dropped open. She had seen the video and loved it. She even showed it to Jeff B. (Shayne), who also loved it. She mentioned it to Ellen Wheeler (otherwise known as the demon lady to me). The scoop I got there was Shayne was going to be for Ashlee, but the writers changed their minds and thought he had much more potential with Dinah. *sigh* So Shaylee fans, we were close. I told her that I hated the Beth/Coop crap. Caitlin admitted that it was never supposed to be liked. I got the impression (although she didn't say it, so don't say she did!!!!) that by that time the writers had already written Coop's death in their minds. Adam, Caitlin and I walked through the buffet line together talking the entire time. She knows that the writing is bad. She said that all the actors know it, but there is nothing they can do. Caitlin also mentioned that Ashlee was never supposed to speak at Coop's funeral. In fact it was only going to be Lizzie and Beth. She called Ellen Wheeler and told her that that wasn't right. That Cooplee fans deserved more than that, so they wrote her that crappy paragraph to say. Again, my mouth jumped before I could stop it and said that it felt like a slap in the face that Ashlee didn't get a proper goodbye to Coop. I also said that Coop and Beth made me want to puke. (yeah, I really need to work on my impulse control. *laughing*) Naturally I couldn't leave it there, I also said that the fans knew that they tried that damn storyline with Blake and it didn't work for a reason. Caitlin nodded. She agrees with all of our frustrations. What this all boils down to is she knows we are/were unhappy by the way the characters were treated. She also hated that after Coop's death, Ashlee went back to being her happy self. I think she felt as betrayed as we did. So that was nice to have that validation. We talked about Doris is a Lesbian storyline. She laughed and said that that was a running joke between the actors (that Doris was a bit too manly for a man to handle her and that she got pregnant from a sperm bank), but the writers decided to actually use it, not to give Doris a story but to push the Natalia/Olivia storyline. *laughing* Everyone that's been on this journal knows I'm a Doris/Buzz fan. I told Caitlin that I was pushing for that relationship. She smiled and admitted she had been as well. Oh and they tape six weeks ahead...Ashlee still doesn't know about Doris's sexual orientation. *sigh* She also doesn't know what will be the final storyline for her character. Most of the actors have had their meetings to find out...she hasn't. Like I said I got to talk with her a lot.
Okay more will be posted in a bit.