As our block-quoted mission statement above says, the GUS diaries are meant to offer support and encouragement to anyone who is trying to quit smoking. In that spirit, this diary is meant as purely a diversion - something to keep your mind and hands occupied so that you don’t think about reaching for a cigarette.
In a way, I guess what I’m doing is promoting another bad habit to keep you from your smoking habit. The habit I’m talking about is “name-dropping”.
Just for fun (and because I didn’t have anything better planned for this diary), let’s do some name-dropping of our own. Let’s talk about every well-known person we’ve ever come into contact with. Some of these encounters may have been thrilling and life-changing. Some of them may have been no big deal at best or horribly embarrassing at worst. I’m sure that everyone here has, either by chance or through some very careful planning, met a famous person at some point in their life. Some of my “brushes with fame” were related to my job at the time. Others were just a result of being at the right place at the right time. Sometimes, you go to an event where famous people will be never really expecting to get to actually meet one. Whatever the case may be, let’s just drop some names with abandon!
I’ll go first.
When I was in college, I worked for a company for one summer (worst job I ever had) that involved helping people with rental car reservations. On two separate occasions while I was working there, I actually got to speak to a celebrity over the phone. The first was Connie Chung. She was extremely cordial and unassuming. I only spoke with her for about 10 minutes but right away I got the impression she was a nice person. She seemed like the sort of person you would enjoy having a cup of coffee with. The other celebrity I spoke with was Peter Gabriel. He was the exact opposite of Connie Chung. He was rude and impatient. He hung up on me before I could even begin to try to help him. I still like his music but I would never want to speak to him on the phone again.
About 13 years ago, my sister and a friend of ours (Jenny), and I went on vacation to Italy for a couple of weeks. The three of us were sitting in a little café on the Piazza San Marco in Venice when Rick Steves walked up. He had noticed that my sister had her nose buried in one of his travel books and he wanted to see what edition of the book it was. I was sitting facing her at the table and was the first one to see him approach us. I instantly recognized him from his shows on PBS and was stunned to suddenly see him there - in Venice of all places. It was as if we were suddenly in the middle of one of his travel shows! All I could think of to do was kick my sister under the table to get her attention. When he came up and said hello to us, I could barely manage a “Hi!” He seemed like a sincerely affable person - just like on his shows. (My sister, Jenny, and I were very cool - we never even thought to ask him for his autograph!)
I’ve gone to see many writers speak and have gotten books signed by them and some of those encounters have been pretty memorable. One of the ones who made the biggest impression was Gloria Steinem. I went to see her speak at a women’s conference a few years ago and even though the line to get my book signed was extremely long, I had to do it because I couldn’t bear the thought of not getting to meet her. She was incredibly polite and charming. I don’t remember what I said to her or what she said to me but I still remember how emotional and exciting it was to stand there talking to her.
I have some more names I could drop but I want to see if any of you can beat my experience with Gloria Steinem. Okay - it’s your turn.
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