What the hell was I thinking? Part 1

This'll be the first time I relate this story, so it might as well be here, so I can just refer people to it and never have to tell it again.

It's not like it's horrible - just soooooo damn naive. One of those things you did that just makes you cringe. I live in Richmond, Virginia. Not much here - I figure it to be the retirement community for all the 'big' companies from places like NY or LA, etc. We have some fairly large companies so these guys can come in, get a high paying job, get a (comparatively) cheap place twice the size of their big city counterpart, and then just retire and kick back. As the signs say, Virginia has it all - beaches, mountains, lakes and lovers.

Well, as a die hard screenwriting student, you're pretty much akin to being on a deserted island. When I started, I got Syd Field's book on screenwriting for $8.95 (Foundations on Screenwriting - circa 1984). This was a tough time - but also, it was a time when there weren't as many restrictions. You could approach people without fear of being arrested or slugged because they feared their life.

So, it was one evening when I happened to be in a local bar playing darts with some of my friends (I worked across the street). We're having fun and I'm looking around to see who's in the bar and I spot John Cusack. I love his stuff - The Sure Thing, Better off Dead, One Crazy Summer, Hot pursuit, Eight Men Out, Tapeheads, Say Anything, Fat Man and the Little Boy, The Grifters - I've just been eating it up. Now, he's like twenty feet away. The first actor I've seen up close and it's one of the guys I've been following. Of course, at this point, he's not exactly a "star".

I finally work up the guts to go over and introduce myself and gurgle how much I've enjoyed his work. I'm sure I blathered something about having a script - and he'd be perfect for it. Jesus - I'm cringing already. On the positive side, he was really kind. Didn't blow me off and I managed (I hope) to not come off like a total idiot and didn't overstep the "fan" boundary.

I go to work the next day and I'm on freaking cloud 9 - I mean, let's face it, I'm in bumfuck America and I want need Hollywood connections and I bump into John Cusack! This is my break!

Of course, I tell everybody, "guess who I met last night?"
"Who?"
"John Cusack!"
"Who?"

I go on to explain in more detail, but it doesn't matter. He's pretty much a nobody to everybody but my movie-geek buddy.

This is all fairly innocuous... part II gets better, and yet, somehow, much, much worse.