A Little About Beginnings

Now that I’ve done over a hundred shows, it’s fun for me to look through all my Tales and reminisce. But there’s one in particular that I’ll never forget. And it’s not because of the show, it’s because of what happened when I was walking to the stage. West Wing.

That was one of the times it hit me the hardest that just walking on the lot was a dream come true. I’ve had a lot of mini adventures getting to and from locations on studio lots and elsewhere in LA, but that particular day was beautiful. I can still recall it with such amazing clarity. There was nothing special about the day, the show, or anything else. It was just the experience of being there.

Just. Being. There.

Would you believe that my best friend Jen and I practically dreaded meeting the New Kids our first time? You’d think we’d’ve seen it as a dream come true and been anxious for the day, the moment to finally arrive when we would be in the same room with all five guys.

We’d met Joe and Jordan when they were solo. She’d met Donnie at one of Joe’s concerts (through a strange twist of fate, I grabbed his ass in the very crowded VIP section at that same concert, but didn’t actually meet him). I’d only seen him on the set of Purgatory before that concert, before I was an extra, too…back when I was a manufacturer’s rep for lighting filters. Yeah, I’d gone through a lot of trouble not only to track down what he was working on, but find out who was doing the lighting. Cross-referencing a few sources and making a few phone calls, I found out when and where they were shooting some location stuff.

Granted, it was my job to know who was shooting what and what filters they had on their lights, but that had nothing to do with my reasons for trying to catch up with this particular show. I wanted to meet Donnie. I worked my ass off sweet talking various people and having a good time. While there, I saw hide nor hair of Donnie Wahlberg. I was disappointed, but since I’d made a new friend in the gaffer, I made sure to get invited back… Okay, so doling out swag was part of my job, not a bribe, I swear it.

Then in an attempt to match Jen’s future magical meeting of Donnie, I–unfortunately as fangirl–finally got my chance.

And blew it.

I couldn’t even squeak out a hello. All I did was smile. Donnie looked at me like I was deranged and I turned and kept on walking before any words could be exchanged, already having embarrassed myself enough for the day, the week, the millennium before I’d even started.

Luckily, our little interlude had a good twenty feet of aesthetic distance. I was safe. He’d never remember me.

But that did not mollify my fears during 2008. Jen is usually the better-spoken of us. I just hide behind her because I’m too shy and far too afraid of actually saying something unless I’m answering a question or agreeing with something that was said. Yeah, it sucks to be shy sometimes, but whatever. That’s me and I’ve learned to be okay with it. But when Jen says she’s afraid, she’s worried that her inner-15-year-old fangirl is gonna wreck the moment, I’m scared. I’m terrified.

We were utterly terrified to be meeting the New Kids even after all these years. We reminded ourselves that we’re adults and should act as such, but good golly that wasn’t helping when all we could think about were all those near-misses back in the day which lead to big disappointments. We only barely had our shit together when Joe and Jordan were touring solo.

[Funny I should mention that… The way I got onto the Purgatory set was the same way I got onto the set of Joe’s first video, Stay The Same…and the same way I got onto the set of Jordan’s first video, Give It To You–except it was all actually a little harder. And being shy, but still adventurous, I actually weaseled my way into Jordan’s video because the director had wished he’d hired more extras. So yeah, I took advantage of that opportunity and I’m behind the professional dancers, in a dark green shirt and I’ve got a light green balloon in my hand as I try not to look frozen while shaking my thang to the music.]

[You’d think Jen or at least myself would be totally okay in a room with the New Kids by now given all the adventures. You’d think we’d be looking forward to it and so excited to finally see them all.]

Did I mention that when we were fifteen, we’d also made a pact?

Yeah, we couldn’t die until we’d both met the New Kids.

But then they broke up in 1994 and we were kind of enjoying the immortality after awhile. It seemed more like as long as the New Kids were alive and we hadn’t met them all, we simply could not die. Not that we tested that theory, but we sure did feel like we’d be in for a very long life…that is unless we were somehow able to meet all the New Kids.

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