Reunited

I "taught" today. I was certainly not filled with a warm and fuzzy "I want to teach forever" feeling. So I may never do it again. It wasn't really "teaching," though. It was more like I'd talk for a bit, and then the prof., apparently unable to keep her mouth closed, intervened every so often. I'd always bring it back around. There was a lot of discussion.

But at the same time, I wasn't totally happy with where it was going. There was no yelling. No heated debates. Oh well. I have a story. I'm going to have to take you back (Oh My God!) 12 years ago (Oh My God!). The summer before my freshman year at Chico State, I had to attend the Summer Bridge program, which was a program for economically depressed/academically challenged people looking to get into college.

I made a lot of good friends there but one who was especially important to me, besides the one I ended up living with my sophomore year, was named Adrienna. And no it had nothing to do with the fact that she was really cute. I was still closeted at this point anyway, so it didn't matter. I helped her hang Marilyn Monroe pictures all over her wall (not a bad job) during one of our first meetings and we had fun the rest of the time. She was an actor, of course, and so was always hyper -- not that all actors are always hyper.Anyway, to illustrate how nice she is, one year, the summer before my second senior year, I saw her on my birthday -- a total chance meeting on campus in the middle of summer. When she found out what day it was, she canceled her plans and insisted on being with me. Very nice of her. She ended up leaving Chico for a while but then came back and ended up graduating a year after I did.

We contacted each other every so often but then unfortunately fell completely out of touch. I think of her every so often and am frustrated that I don't know where she is. But I also had this feeling that I'd eventually catch up with her. I've been thinking of her lately for some reason. Which is what made last Friday interesting.

You may remember my mentioning Amanda Detmer's TV show. I don't recall if I mentioned that she has a brother who also appeared on stage in numerous productions in Chico. She does. Last Friday, I had a couple of people over to watch a movie. Sliding Doors. Love Gwyneth. Anyway, Gray called me from a bar that she went to with her actor classmates to tell me that she was talking to Amanda Detmer's brother. His best friend is in his first year at the Actors Studio. I had to ask her what his first name was (Matt) and she then handed the phone over to him. We talked for a few minutes. It was really weird. "Hi, Matt?" Like I knew the guy or something. I never talked to him before in my life. I only watched him on stage. I asked if he'd be willing to hang out and he said yes and that we could get a drink or coffee.

I got his phone numbers and told him that he probably wouldn't recognize me (although he might because there were only like two and a half "people of color" there). He said he hoped he would and we planned on hanging out. He asked me if I remembered anything he was in and I told him no but that I remember something about him being an Amway salesman. He said he didn't even remember that.

I told him I remembered his blonde curls, which he no longer has because he gets work easier without them. I also told him I knew Adrienna. He saw Adrienna at Christmas. And he told me he had her contact info at home. Amazing. I'm going to call him this week. I love this shit. One more thing about the size of the world: Another drama boy from Chico (I will NEVER get away from actors) lives in NYC.

His name is Daniel. He's actually a good friend of mine, but it took me a while to contact him. Whatever. Bygones. We talked the other night and are going to see each other next week. I then told him I talked to Matt and mentioned the bit about Matt's friend being in the Actors Studio. Daniel knows the best friend. Ridiculous. I'm halfway through James Baldwin's play Blues for Mister Charlie. I decided this semester to read more stuff that has nothing to do with school. We'll see how that works out for me. The play Erin is in is next. I picked it up from Bobst today. And after that, Virginia Woolf's Orlando. I'm gonna go read.