Today

I'm still angry at myself for freezing... but I'll always have the memory of him smiling at me. Even if I can't prove it. LOL

Yeah, I'm still going to keep trying... Hey Teddy... I know a LOT of great places for coffee in Houston. Call me when you are in town, I'll hook you up.

Random with lots of dirty words

This morning I'm feeling super random. I'm pissy, pissed off, crazy, determined to not let bullshit get in my way.

Some days I wake up and I feel like I can take on the world, the synapses in my brain work properly and the tasks that I need to accomplish just "work". Other days, I have to really concentrate on what I'm doing just to tie my damn shoes.

I'm working really hard... I don't mind that... I just fucking hate being broke all the time. So, I go and attempt to locate a second job, and that falls flat. Yes, I think that my current position is paying me a fair market rate. No, it's not on the top end of the salary for developers, but I have good perks also. So it evens out.

I've taken on a lot of responsibilities in the past year, I bought a house, my mom and step-dad moved in, I adopted a dog that just showed up at my house a couple of months ago... just average gal's daily life. Maybe I'm just having one of those days where it seems like the harder I attempt to make some headway in the mountains of shit that's piled on top of me, the more I get shit on? The truck breaks down, the car tags expire, just normal every day stuff that for whatever reason has become unbearable.

Whatever.

What next?

Several people have asked me what my next attempt will consist of... I'm thinking about it. I mean, I don't have the money or the time to just go run off to random places in the hopes that I'll meet him on the street while carrying around my copy of Palo Alto...I'm kind of on a very strict budget. So even the trip to Austin was pushing it for me.

Next place I know he'll be near me is next winter when he's at U of H. And that's only if he doesn't postpone it again.

So, I guess I'll have to wait a year, unless I find out he's going to be somewhere sooner than that. I don't like the idea of losing the momentum... I've been verbally berating myself since Sunday, and I don't think I can maintain the intensity of it for a year... but who knows.

Obviously I've got a sort of "obsessive" type of personality. I don't mean obsessive as in I'm looking up where he lives and going to go sit outside til I get an autograph... but the type where I can focus on something that I want very badly and make plans on how to accomplish it. And at some point, my plans will come to fruition.

Some day, oh yes Mr. Franco some day you will sign my book and we'll smile at the camera together before you go on about your life never remembering that moment.

Vote please?

Hello anonymous readers... can you guys please take a moment to vote on the right hand side of the screen, and if the mood strikes you.. a comment would be nice?

Writing Ideas

I had some funny/odd ideas for some screenplays while I was traipsing around the AFF over the weekend, I might just see if I can't gather my thoughts and write them up.

Back to normal life

So, this morning I got up and realized that my bedroom is just completely trashed. I realized this because I fell twice on the way from my bed to the door, due to stepping on shoes.

Tonight, I have a class but directly afterward, I'll probably manage to pick up a few things... at the very least clear out a pathway to the door so that I don't trip and crack my head open on the dresser again in the morning.

What I'd like to know, is what sort of mindset does a person have to have in order to be one of those perpetually organized people? I guess whatever it is, I didn't get it. I'd like to pick some up somewhere though, so if anyone can point me in that direction, please let me know.

I've been told that this has something to do with an artistic brain... there's too much going on in my head.. or something. I dunno.

Final Failure? (at least for AFF)

So after I (as calmly as possible) advised the lady in the theater that it wasn't necessary to pull me... (which I still feel was completely out of line considering there were another 75 or more people standing there also) I walked out to the side of the theater where I had previously seen James exit the hotel.

I honestly just wanted to smoke a cigarette, and calm down.

So, I leaned up against the side of the building a la James Dean, and calmed down. Just a few minutes later, who comes walking around the side of the building?? Not James Franco... but Val Lauren. So, I got him to sign my badge, and chatted with him for a minute. He and his wife commiserated with me about getting kicked out of the theater, and he was super nice. He seemed surprised that I wanted his signature... I hope he gets used to that quickly, because I'm thinking he's going to go very far.

However, I digress...

I waited there for about 35 minutes, alternating between the alley exit where Val came out, and the main exit from the hotel.

Needless to say, pretty much as soon as I turned my back to the main exit of the hotel, Mr. Franco exited, signed a few autographs, got in his vehicle and drove away, leaving me standing on the sidewalk with my book and a sharpie marker - completely dejected. How in the world can he sign autographs that quickly, with no audible indication of his celebrity presence? (That sucks badly by the way James if you're out there reading this somewhere)

I watched the vehicle drive away, then went to eat at Bar Chi Sushi, which I have to say was completely delish.

After sushi, I went to the showing of Beavis and Butthead, laughed at their stupidity (it's nice to know that there are others that are even dumber than ourselves isn't it... even if they are animated.)

To top it all off... today I get a tweet that indicates that I'm even more of a failure at stalking than I had previously realized... it seems that there is every chance that the Short and Creepy showing that I went to... contained none other than my imaginary boyfriend of 15 years.. Mr. James Franco.

What have I learned from this experience?

1. There is a distinct possibility that I could stand to be a lot more observant of my surroundings if I'm on an autograph hunt. 
2. I'm not a very good stalker.
3. I'm apparently a lot like Raj from the Big Bang Theory when it comes to James Franco... but I'd be too scared to be drunk just to try and talk to him... I'm a total lightweight when it comes to alcohol.
4. I need to be better prepared. Perhaps some rehearsal of what I should say if I ever manage to get within 5 feet of him without 100 people in the way, may help.

Maybe I should give up? I'm taking a poll... please vote?

Failure to Perform #2-4

I finally arrived inside of the Paramount Theatre, and choose my seat. It was a wonderful seat, about 10 rows up on stage left.  Not too close and not too far away.

My imaginary boyfriend of 15 years, James Franco walked out on stage to introduce the film Sal. I took a photo..

We were both very "moved"... this is what I got.

Failure to perform #2

And so I thought, oh well, he's coming out for a Q&A after the film... I can take some then!

The film was excellent. Very poignant, the last day of Sal Mineo's life.  It very succinctly illustrates what a caring man he was, down on his luck but looking up from a low point. His life cut short by random violence, potential never realized... Val Lauren was spectacular.

***Spoiler Alert*** here come failures #3-6

#3 He took the questions very seriously for the most part... He considered each answer very carefully. I could tell, because apparently he does the same thing I do when I am thinking about what I'm saying... He closed his eyes and/or looked up towards the ceiling. (at least you can kind of tell who he is here even if his eyes are closed)

Failure #3 which included a nice shot of Elvis, and a shot of part of Val Lauren... and a nice blobby photo of James' left hand. No one ever accused me of being a photographer.

And then the huge rush to the stage, and thank gosh, I was close enough to get to the stage... things are looking up!

He's working his way down, heading my direction... I'm holding my copy of Palo Alto waiting like I'm 16 years old, the year is 1957 and this man is Elvis Presley... and... then... the theater lady decides it's time for me to leave, and grabs my arm and physically pulls me away from the stage.

Failure to perform #4

At this point, I'm ready to cry. I don't know what to do... this has turned into such a farce.

Failure to Perform #1

Since the premise of this blog is my attempts to meet James Franco, that the blog exists at all is an adumbration of the fact that it never happened. While I'm seriously unhappy about the turn of events, I can also see the extreme humor in this, and I'd like to share it with the world.

I purchased the Lonestar Badge for the Austin Film Festival at a price of $115.00. I purchased this specifically with the knowledge that it would allow me to get better seats at the films. Of course the only film I truly HAD to see was Sal.. but to me it was worth it. I may never get another chance!

It took me two days to find a friend that I could browbeat into attending with me to take the pictures... but.. I finally convinced my friend David. We rented a hotel room, and planned what other films to see, and where to eat and so forth.

I was so excited I could barely sleep on Friday night, knowing that tomorrow morning I would at least be in the same general vicinity of the man who holds a key to one of the items on my bucket list.

We got up Saturday morning, I got dressed and we headed out for the 2.5 hour drive to Austin's Driskill Hotel, everything was going great! We arrived, got our packets, put on our badges and headed out to scope out the lay of the land and see our first film. "Small and Creepy" had some really good shorts, I particularly loved "Sebastian's Voodoo".

We had dinner at III Forks Restaurant, which is delicious, and then saw our second film "High Road". The premise was great, there were some kinks that needed to be worked out with that, but the premise was great. Prior to that another short called "Ronnie's Donuts" played, which was really good. What a wonderful day. At some point I checked in on twitter, and saw a photo of James and the "Red Bull" girls... so I was jealous... but it was okay... I knew he was at least in town!

Went back to the hotel to rest.

Got up the next morning, and was on a natural high. Showered, got dressed, had some breakfast and headed out for the serious stuff.

We arrived at the Paramount about 2 hours before the film's start. I was probably the 150th person in the badge line. We were broke up because the door to the Intercontinental Hotel couldn't  be blocked, and I was right there at the velvet ropes with my copy of Palo Alto in my hand when none other than James Franco himself walked out of the hotel, directly towards me. I said out loud to my friend David... "hey David, there he is".

Silently smiled while my internal theme music played as James Franco walked towards me with a small smile on his face...We never spoke, but our eyes met and I just knew he was smiling at me and me alone...

Then he walked across the street to the Driskill Bar and Grill while I mentally beat myself senseless for not having the intelligence to casually walk next to him and say "Mr. Franco, I don't want to cause a scene for you or anything, but could you possibly take a moment to sign my copy of Palo Alto Stories? I really loved it."

And that my friends, was failure to perform numero uno.

Welcome!

For the past 15 years, I've been an avid fan of the talented James Franco. Like most of his fans, I'm female and initially I became a fan because he's terribly attractive. However, because I would like to think that I'm a "deeper" person than to be a fan of someone strictly because of their genetics.. I started paying attention to his work, reading the books he's authored, watching his indie films and reading information about him on reputable websites etc.

I'm still a fan. His views on most everything coincide with mine, and if he were someone who I actually knew in my real life... I'd like to think that we'd get along famously, despite the fact that I'm just a "average chick".

For probably 99.9% of the 15 years that I've been following his career and personal life, I've wished that I could be in a position to actually meet him.

A few weeks ago, I found out that he would be premiering his movie "Sal" at the Austin Film Festival. I decided that this may be my one and only chance to meet him. So, I pooled together enough money to get a Lonestar Badge (middle ground VIP) pass to the film festival, enlisted the aid of an accomplice, and set off Saturday in hopes of accidentally running into him. (Or at the very least, getting to the front of the stage in time to get him to sign my copy of Palo Alto Stories after the Sal Q&A.

I'll be posting more soon on the results of that weekend trip, as well as any other stupid things I do to possibly put myself in a position of shaking his hand, getting a photo with him and an autograph on my well-worn copy of Palo Alto.