I guess the day really got started once my mom and I left the airport. We headed to the hotel, met up with Diane, and then drove down to the NBC Studio where we met up with Kathi. We stood, we waited, we looked for parking. We stood, we waited, and Diane nearly backed into a car. <g>

Next thing we knew, we were inside and taking our seats. Luckily, no one asked for ID from me (I wasn’t exactly old enough to be there). The seats were decent, although not as good as we would have liked.

So we sit through Jay’s whole thing.. lalalaa… wait, wait, wait.. then Gillian comes in. We were the only ones I could see who actually made a point of standing up while cheering for her. <g> Diane had made a prediction that Gillian would be wearing red, but she actually couldn’t have been more wrong.

Anyway, then Gillian did her little interview thing.. I’m sure all you guys saw.. But they cut out a few things from her interview. She mentioned that Piper is into Power Rangers now, and something else about Piper and computers. I’m assuming they cut it out because of time restraints.

For the rest of the time, we sat there and watched Gillian’s every move. She was being hilarious during the breaks and even doing some cute stuff while the others were interviewed (none of which could be seen when it actually aired). While Billy Bob Thornton was talking, she did this cute little thing where she moved the Furby and the other toy away from him.. like, held ‘em up in the air and set them down on the other seat next to her. Then he turned to look back at her, and she just put her elbow on the arm of his chair and gave him an innocent look (that WAS shown when it aired). Actually, the two of them talked a lot during the breaks.. she liked his shoes, he liked her tatoo. J

Every time Gillian looked up into the stands during the breaks, we would wave and yell wildly, pointing to the gift we brought with us for her. But every time she either didn’t see us, or if she did, she only replied with a squinty (I don’t know how else to describe it) look.

Gillian really seemed to enjoy Alanis.. when she came on, she stood up and scurried out of her chair to grab a closer seat. The whole time Alanis was performing, Gillian sat in a certain position with her head propped up on her hand, which was resting on her knee, and rocked to the tune.

Another funny thing Gillian did was during the break, she suddenly mad this odd face and then turned around, and pulled something out from under her on the seat. It was a pillow. She yanked it out, held it up in the air, looked at it with a tilted head, and then shoved it back under. We were, of course, cracking up at that point.

Fun fact: Gillian was drinking crystal geyser water in that mug. Don’t ask how I know, I just do. hehe.

Sometime during the show, the woman behind me tapped me on the shoulder. "I have a question," she said. "Yeah?" She pointed to Diane and me, and then to Gillian. "Are you two related to her or something?" My mouth dropped open. I could have been mean and played with her head or whatever, but I just said, "Um, noooo… but we’ve both met her." Then I turned around with a big stupid grin on my face.

The rest of the show was about the same.. we watched Gillian fool around again while they were filming promos later.. we pointed out her tatoo.. stuff like that. At that point, I was thinking that all I wanted was for her to wave to us and I would be satisfied.

As she left the stage, she turned and saw us and waved. Gave us a big smile. I thought, ‘Well, that’s it. So much for getting this gift to her..’

Little did I know, we were in for a big surprise.

We scurried out of the building, hoping to maybe spot Gillian outside somewhere. But we had no luck and ended up returning to Diane’s car. I was holding the gift I had brought, pretty depressed. We drove off, and dropped off Kathi at her car, and then continued around the corner.

Then we saw a crowd of people gathered at the exit of a parking lot on the corner of the sidewalk.

That’s when we got into action. My mom hopped out of the car and into the front seat as I grabbed a Movieline magazine and a sharpie from my backpack and Diane and I ran up to join everyone on the sidewalk. My mom, in the meantime, left to find a parking.

For the most part, the others were there to get autographs for Gillian. Most were autograph collectors and not real fans. So we waited a few minutes.. and then Diane turned to me. "Where’s the gift??" Uh oh. Stupid!Becca strikes again.

Next thing we know, a car pulls out of the driveway and someone yells, "There’s Gillian!!" It was dark, and I couldn’t see her through the car window. The car stopped, and she rolled down her window as the small crowd came over to get autographs. She didn't look too thrilled to be there, and just signed autograph after autograph without saying much.

Diane and I stood at the back of the crowd who was now gathered at the driver’s seat of the car. I could see Gillian by the light of the headlights now, signing autographs. Then we saw my mom walking over across a crosswalk after parking the car. And she didn’t have the gift with her. Something had to be done. <g>

The next few minutes went by in a blur. I ran in front of the car, in front of the headlight, in front of Gillian, and started yelling to my mom across the street. And as I stood near the front of Gillian’s car screaming, I realized how stupid I must have looked. "Moommmm!!! The SCRAP BOOKKKK!!! Gillian is HERE!! She’s HERE!! This is her CAR!!! Go get the GIFT!!!!!!"

My mom made a mad dash back to her car and grabbed the book, as the crowd of people began to get smaller and smaller. It was almost my turn to go to Gillian’s window.

I could see Gillian trying to say, "That’s it." She had her car window rolled up partially, and wanted to get out of there. My mom was JUST crossing the street with the gift, and I pointed her out to Diane, hoping that maybe she could go get it. I turned back around and realized it was my turn to speak to Gillian.

"I – We, we, .. um, over there.. wait! don’t .. we have something.. it’s for you.. wait!! over, over there.." I gestured to Diane using two hands and tried to explain to Gillian NOT to drive away yet because we had something for her. Then Diane came over, and handed me the scrapbook. I turned to Gillian, finally holding the gift.

"This is for you," I said to her as I attempted to shove the large gift bag through her car window. She pulled it in and thanked me (I swear, she has THE most genuine sounding "thank you"s in the world). For anyone who helped contribute to her "Angels" Christmas gift, well.. that’s what I was giving her. "Remember the scrapbook you got for you birthday?" I said. "Oh yeah! Yeah!!" She knew exactly what I was talking about and by this point she had a nice big smile on her face and looked happy. "This is from the same people who made you that," I told her. I babbled on a little more, telling her that I had helped with it and whatever.. she thanked me again.. then we both kind of looked down at the Movieline (from ’97) magazine and sharpie that I was holding up in my other hand. I began to raise it up to her window to get an autograph, then decided against it. I just shook my head and brought my hand back down. Yes, that’s right, I willingly passed up a Gillian autograph. And I don’t regret it (I already had quite a few from her anyway, and this time I was only there to deliver the gift to her).

I looked over at Diane who was to the left of me, a little behind me further away from Gillian and Gillian followed my eyes and noticed Diane for the first time. "Oh, hi!!!" she said. From the tone of the voice, we knew that she recognized Diane. Diane was stunned, of course, and just waved back.

Then for some reason that we were trying to figure out earlier today, Diane and I both walked away and then ran back to the car.

Before getting into the car to leave, we screamed, and then analyzed Gillian’s "Oh hi" all the way to a restaurant. In the restaurant, we whipped out the cell phones and began making tons of phone calls. I blabbed on to my friend Erin’s sister telling her about what just happened. <g>

The next day, being today, we had planned on seeing "Playing By Heart" but couldn’t because the date was changed. Instead, my mom and I met Diane at her office and we drove out to Malibu, listening to Jude the whole way.

We drove by the area that Gillian "could live in", drove by any places where she had been "spotted" just for the fun of it. Then we stopped for lunch. While we were eating, Diane pointed out the playground outside the window. I had remembered seeing a picture of Gillian with her daughter at a park (please don’t email me asking for a picture of Piper, because I don’t have it, it was just something I had come across a while ago) and .. taa daaa.. THAT was the park.

After we ate, we went to the park and I called Erin from the cell phone telling her where we were. I told her I’d bring home a piece of a leaf for her as a souvenir. <g> Yes, I’m a little odd.

We spent most of the day in the car, listening to Jude and track 11 from some Neil Young CD.. something that Gillian was listening to while being interviewed a while back that Diane just happened to have in the car. <g>

Before we knew it, it was time to catch our flight. And that was it. We said bye to Diane, thanks, stuff like that.. and.. here I am.

Looking back at it now, I’m trying to figure out why I had virtually no reaction to meeting Gillian. The last time I met her, I couldn’t sleep for three days, I couldn’t eat, I was practically hysterical… but this time, I was incredibly calm and it was as if nothing had happened. I don’t know if it was because everything was so rushed, or if it was because I had met her before .. but it didn’t have as extreme of an effect on me as I thought it would.

But that’s okay. I’m happy. Well, that’s an understatement.

Becca