Yesterday was a whirlwind adventure. From panel discussions to photo booths to dealing with "talent" as they are called in the industry, I was all over the place. And to top it all off, I was planning on being home in time for dinner.
Well that didn't work out exactly.
While the day went according to plan for the most part, it was still 100 percent crazy. So with that in mind, I'm going to share it with you piece by piece:
6:00 AM - Wake up as usual to eat breakfast and slap myself in the face just enough times to be sure I won't fall asleep on my commute.
7:30 AM - Leave slightly later than usual to head up to Beverly Hills for the CBS TCA Summer Press Tour.
8:30 AM - Somehow make it to the Beverly Hilton 30 minutes before I'm supposed to. Freak my dad out because I've apparently trained myself to drive too fast.
8:45 AM - When I arrive at the check-in desk, one of my co-workers who is finding my badge stares at me in disbelief because I'm wearing jeans. Apparently I was supposed to wear business attire. No one told me, yet they expected me to know? Urgh.
9:00 AM - Eat a massive breakfast, but overlook the waffle bar until I've already had some food to eat. Then cry a little bit and go into the ballroom for panel discussions of the new CBS shows with fall premieres.
9:30 AM - Presentations finally begin. I am ordered to fetch an extra chair from the other side of the room whilst journalists look at me like I've taken their first children away from them.
10:00 AM - I'm forced to tap on the shoulders of the photographers in the panel sessions to make sure they only do their job in 15 minute increments. I am officially the man and now all of the photographers are scowling/laughing at me.
11:30 AM - It's lunch, thank goodness. I go into the separate ballroom for food and the two main courses are meat-based. I complain in my mind, but then load up on potatoes. This cannot be healthy.
12:00 PM - I take a stroll to the Hair & Make-Up Room with one of the photography publicists. I meet Taylor Handley from the new CBS show Vegas. I say nothing, but stare at him and flashback to my single-digit years watching him in Phantom of the Megaplex on Disney Channel.
1:00 PM - Time for more panel discussions. By this point I'm starting to zone out, but still committed to angering photographers, so I do my job accordingly.
2:15 PM - At last, I am done in the panel discussions. And my reward is free Pinkberry! My colleagues think I'm crazy because I get so excited at the sight of the stuff. They don't understand.
3:00 PM - My day feels like it has barely begun, when I'm assigned the new task of aiding the cast of Partners to their photo press stations, including stops at The Hollywood Reporter and TV Guide.
3:05 PM - I've met the cast of Partners, but the only one who cared to know my name was Michael Urie...who is the most adorable man on the planet.
3:10 PM - I think about whether or not I should ask Michael Urie what his experience was working with Nick Jonas in How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying on Broadway a few months ago. I reason this will make me look like a fangirl. I hold my tongue.
4:30 PM - By now I've sat around in the TV Guide tent where a "DJ" blasts "music" for so long that I can't wait to be assigned a new job.
5:00 PM - But little did I know my next job would be to bring the cast of Vegas to do the exact same thing.
5:10 PM - Taylor Handley goes into the TV Guide tent only to start flirting with the "DJ" who is still playing "music." He tells her he likes her music choices. I am no longer attracted to him.
5:45 PM - I find myself on the red carpet of the Press Tour after party. I stand on the end watching the talent walk by and trying to grab them to take photo booth pictures. Many of them cringe and agree reluctantly.
6:45 PM - By this time I've made it into the party, but I haven't eaten since my free Pinkberry. But I've been assigned to run memory cards between photographers and editors, so I don't even have a moment to chat up that cute guy on that show on The CW over some appetizers.
7:15 PM - Still haven't eaten. Stomach starts growling. Oh hey, there's Matt LeBlanc. I don't care, my stomach hurts.
7:30 PM - When my boss tells me to go find Dennis Quaid for a photo with a CBS Exec, I make a stop at the appetizer table. I grab a plate of noodles and scarf them down, looking very dignified.
8:00 PM - After failing to find Dennis Quaid and then losing track of a photographer and my boss, I finally reunite with them but only to excuse myself to go home. I stop by the Sprinkles Cupcake truck, grab a free taste and run to my car.
Once I'd gotten home out of the nighttime traffic (did I mention this is the first time I've driven on a freeway at night? Scary stuff), I got to reflect a bit more on the wonder that was my day. I may have been out for more than 12 hours, but in that time I got to see everyone from Tyra Banks to Emmy Rossum to David Duchovny to Lisa Kudrow. I got to eat gross amounts of food, then starve myself for the entire evening. I got to see what it's like to be a photographer at a red carpet event and be the authoritative figure that they hate in the panel discussions.
It may have been a crazy day of running from place to place in an inappropriate outfit and with an awkward amount of admiration for many of the actors I saw walking around with equal anxiety, but it was an experience worth having, if only for the all-access pass and the free Pinkberry. These are the kinds of experience I dream of when I'm watching VIPs run around at the concerts I attend, or seeing people walk the red carpet at movie premieres.
Spending so much time as a fan makes an experience like this so utterly invaluable. Even stress can't get the better of me. And I hope I get to do it again.
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