denny-1's Diaryland Diary ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- The night I met Ben Affleck. The event was held at the Royal Sonesta in Cambridge. The festivities started at 5:30. I was the last guest to arrive at 7:30. I exited the elevators to an empty check in desk...looked down on the list of folks and noticed a name tag bearing the last name, Affleck. The first name was that of a women...and this could only mean that Mr. Ben had to be related to someone within the organization...Why else would he be attending a benefit for a mediation center? I walked over to the bar...and said to the bar tender, "Hi, I'm late..."...his reply, "Hi, I'm late, I'm Carl."...at this point I was not in the mood to be fucked with..."ha ha ha"..."I'll have a martini...Cosmo, please". Carl decided to help, he must have seen the panic in my face...I was approached by the 'check in lady'. The check in lady scanned the list, apparently noticing that I was not one of the larger donors and proceeded to tell me that I could sit at any of the tables along the outer perimeter...The doors were closed, and everyone was seated. I decided to stand in the doorway with the Police Man to make a scan of the room and look for an open seat...I said, "Hi, I'm late". He smiled and said, "Are you looking for your friends"...hmm...how the fuck was I going to get out of this one..."No, unfortunately my girlfriend cancelled on me at the last minute, I've been in my car arguing with her...how ironic right?"...I think Mr. Police Man found me charming, he smiled his round faced smile and told me there was a seat available next to Ben. I smiled, and scanned for a seat with optimal viewing potential. Someone important was being recognized, everyone stood and clapped...I booked it for the table on the left side where there were three women sitting. (these were 10 to 12 sitting tables)...I couldn't have chosen a better spot. He was right in my view, Ben... After a barrage of speeches and when my Martini was finished I rushed for the door, knowing that Ben had exited the hall. The Bar, and lobby were empty...I headed to the ladies room to freshen up, and when I exited...there he was...talking with three people that he seemed to have known from his past life as a 'regular Joe'. I walked passed and headed straight for the bar. ..."Carl, may I have another one of those fabulous martinis"... Carl made me a strong one. I got up the courage to approach the group, stood next to Ben and asked, "excuse me, are you signing autographs?". He looked me in the eyes then said in a non responsive way, "ah, yea, do you have a pen and paper?"...did I have a pen and paper?...what was I thinking...I didn't have a pen...and I didn't have a piece of paper for him to sign...What an ass I am. His small friend came to the rescue, and handed Ben a nice black month blanc. I walked over to the bar and picked up a napkin. I felt the need to explain to the group, "I have a 12 year old sister who will just be ecstatic"...I'm wonder if any of them believed me...Ben looks at me and says, "what's her name?"...proceeds to sign the napkin and finishes his conversation with the four...."I'll be in town for the rest of the weekend, " ...then he mentioned something about a ball game...After signing, he handed me the napkin and the pen...I thanked him and said, "Nice pen...but it's not mine."...he looked me again in the eyes, and I handed the pen to his friend. I got the feeling he was annoyed...tired of people approaching him...It almost felt as if he was trying hard to purposefully not notice me. ...strange really...because his short friend was totally checking me out...I hate being ignored...that's how it felt...so I decided to ignore him. (as if he were going to notice this?...) I went back to my seat, took notice to a man across the way eyeing me and started in conversation with the women to my right. (she is a documentary photographer...very interesting lady)...I almost felt bad feeding her this lie about my friend who works at a substance abuse firm canceling out on me last minute, and arriving knowing absolutely no one...she smiled and mentioned that she and her friend, the women sitting to her right, had only known one person...I felt better..."Who is the women in the red dress I asked?"...she replied, "I don't really know". The red dress women was tall, awkward, big nose, and wavy dark hair. She reminded me of a horse...awful, I know...but truly she struck me as odd...Well, it just so happens that in midst of my conversation with the documentary photo lady, she (the red dress women) gets up and approaches Ben's table, and asks Ben to dance!...can you imagine...He declined, of course, and she sat back down at our table...Horrified I was...and all I could think of was, oh, great...Ben thinks I'm at a table of nuts. More conversation...and an empty martini...(I was drinking these martinis out of a wine glass per the recommendation of Carl...the martini glasses were small, spill-able types...)...it must have looked as if I were drinking white zinfandel... I'm such a snob. ...white zin is a major NO NO...for any occasion. I headed for the ATM...needed more money for the martini's...and called Rose... I felt very confident last night. I looked smashing...or at least I felt smashing. I had on black pin striped pants, with a halter top, however because it was so cold out, I had a sateen mid length beige/gold trench coat on with a belt on the waist. ...this coat cost me a small fortune...but well worth it... Back up to the bar. Another martini. (this is #3). The man from the opposite table who was eyeing me approached and introduced himself. We chatted causally, he was there with his wife...came directly from work...I told him how my friend cancelled on me...blah blah blah...when all of the sudden another man approached the bar. ...It was BEN!. He stood as close to me as humanly possible, on my left, so close that his hands brushed against mine. I smiled, and at this point, I'm absolutely clueless as to what I said...I do remember saying something along the lines of "wow, you must be exhausted having to be 'on' for all of these charities..." ....I don't remember his response...He smiled again...I smiled...(he has beautiful brown eyes...)...the bar tender handed him his drink (It was a cola based...not sure what he had in it...probably rum and coke)...and he left. I exchanged more words with the eyeing man, and returned to my seat. This time I was fascinated with Ben...all I could do was watch him. Watch his ticks...I love ticks...they bring out the human qualities of people...Ben was sporting a goatee...which must have itched him because he kept scratching it...pulling it, moving it...placing his hands on it...I was fascinated... More speeches... Time for another martini...(this is # 4) I was happy to escape the room...and I'm actually happy that I arrived late...listening to people who like to listen to themselves talk on stage is boring at best. I was approached at the bar again...this time by a sweet little angel named Anna. She is 5. She had on a beautiful white dress with little white tea roses on the top and attached to a puffy white chiffon skirt. Anna was as fascinated with me, as I was with her. After about 20 minutes of conversation (the best conversation that I had all evening), her mother approached and thanked me for chatting with her little girl. Anna wanted me to meet her teachers who were just about to leave...as was everyone else...we stood in the door way of the hall, and as I was crouched down squatting so that we were at eye level together, Ben approached, rubbed Anna on the chin, and gave me a good buy smile. Anna turned and said, "who was that?"...priceless. This concluded me evening...of meeting Ben. I called Rose, again...and cursed her for canceling on me :)...then headed for home. I'm left to wonder if I will ever see him again. If he would remember me...when things like this happen...it truly is magic...we are responsible for our own destinies...I now believe more than ever, that, anything is possible. 10:20 a.m. - 2004-05-26 ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |
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