SATURDAY Since we had to be at the hotel at 10AM, Saturday started out as a very early day for Team Nuke New England. George and Melissa picked me up at about 5:30 AM. I had met George back in January at DMD but this was my first time meeting Melissa since I missed the lunch in Cambridge last month. We got to our parking garage at about 9:30 and made our way to the hotel. We got into the room where the gift bags were to be assembled and just as Melissa asked about the rest of the group, we saw Lisa and Renee coming across the hallway. Shirphie arrived as we started our first “meeting” of the day that was a couple minutes of explaining what we were going to do & thanking us for being there. Tom, the talent escort leader, introduced to the group and after the larger meeting for everyone; Melissa, George and I went aside with him and had our own smaller meeting. He explained a little bit about our duties for the awards show and then went on to talk about having pictures in our folders so we could see who our the celebrities where if we weren’t familiar with them. He then went on to give us an example of how he wouldn’t know “that guy from the soap, Van Hansis”. George, Melissa and I stood there nonchalantly as he went on to talk about “that guy that plays his boyfriend”. At this point the guy standing to my left says, “Jake” and the other three men with us all start to confess to being ATWT fans, one for over 25 years. That meeting then broke up and we when went to back to join the rest of the Nukies and started our gift bag stuffing duties. It worked out so that all six of us were at the end of line and would be working together.

For the sake of saving space here, I’ll just say the next few hours were crazy. We were supposed to be handling the finished bags by stacking them in the bins they’d be store in but instead we ended up having to correct mistakes that were made in the assembly process. Due to this we had to go back through the bags not once, not twice but three times and then they wanted us to do it again, but the woman in charge refused to have us do it…she had complimented us on how we were the calmest group when as Renee put it, “we had the most shit thrown at us.” Anyhow, after a few hours of this we had lunch and then we were free from our GLAAD duties for the day.

From there we were off to buy Rent tickets for luncheon weekend. We went to Midtown comics and then headed toward Rockefeller Center. We ended up taking a walk through part of Central Park and just having some time to chat about ATWT and then went to the CBS morning show studios where Renee wanted a picture of all of us with the CBS logo above us, after that, we headed for dinner at Dallas BBQ. After dinner we all broke off and headed our separate directions with Team Nuke New England heading off to our hotel in Jersey. It had been a long day between traveling and the time in the city and we chatted for a bit and went to bed.
SUNDAY We got up Sunday and made our way into the city and parked again at the same parking garage. We walked a little bit and found a diner for breakfast and then met Renee at the Staten Island Ferry where we all got some shots of the “huge monument to freedom”. Some of us also got pictures of the Homeland Security building that was next outside of the ferry. On the way to the South Street Seaport, we stopped by “ground zero”. I had never been to NY before going to see DMD in January so I had never been there before. Then we moved on to the South Street Seaport and found the location and Noah’s boat from the Valentine’s episode. We stopped at the shops there and Melissa and I managed to pick up the jewelry we wanted to wear Monday night and then we headed down the courthouses to try to find the stairs from the Valentine’s episode. We went to ones Renee believed to be the correct ones but we weren’t quite sure. Since my cell phone included net access I pulled up Andy’s youtube and watched until we found the scene and found out we were definitely in the right spot. We got a couple pictures and then headed off to Build-A-Bear Workshop where Shirphie and Lisa met us and we went on to do the “dorkiest thing a Nukie has ever done” (according to George) and built our Luke and Noah bears. After that we decided that since Christian was staying near the Social Bar we could go there for dinner and check the place out. We had dinner and again broke off and Melissa, George and I headed back to our hotel.
MONDAY The New England group got up at 9 and started getting ready for the day. While I was in the shower, Melissa and George had heard that there was a half our back up in the tunnel so we wanted to make sure we made it into the city on time. We got there at about 11 and headed to find a place for breakfast. As we were walking, we found ourselves near New World Stages (great memories!!) and George suggested going to a place called VYNL where had eaten before. After eating, we headed to the Marriot and met Renee. We headed up to our training meeting and Renee joined us even though she wasn’t scheduled as a talent escort. Tom had told us on Saturday that people hadn’t been showing up for training meetings and we had hoped to get the girls in, but, unfortunately, enough did show up on Monday. We went on a walk through so that we could see the different areas of the hotel that we would be bringing our celebrities to and it was during this time that Tom told Melissa and I that because we were there on time and others were not, he was changing us from being floaters to being permanent talent escorts. Melissa was going to be escorting Caroline Rhea and I was going to be escorting Kate Clinton. George would soon find out that he was escorting Anthony Rapp and we also discovered that the guests for the boys were scheduled to be Tala and Elena.

Eventually, we were all given our credentials and radios and we headed to the lobby to await the celebrity arrivals. Ms Clinton’s publicist Michelle and two of her friends arrived early and I accompanied them up to coat check. As I was walking towards the elevators, we went by on of the other entrances and I suddenly heard this familiar voice. I looked to my left and the first person I noticed was Jake, and then I saw Van. At the hotel, when you press a button for what floor you want to go to, you get directed to a particular elevator and when I was walking towards that elevator I ended up walking directly towards Van and Jake. Van glanced over at me and kind of looked at me oddly with what looked like a hint of recognition in his eyes. We ended up on different elevators but I saw them again up at coat check. One thing I noticed at this point was about Jake. I had noticed often on the show the upright perfect posture of Noah and I thought Jake was playing it that way since Noah was a military brat and that would be expected of him. Turns out, that‘s the way Jake actually is. He walked past me as I was talking to Michelle, he was fixing his jacket and I couldn‘t help but notice the way he was walking just so upright and proper.

When I got back downstairs, Melissa and George were still there and I let them know that our guys were there. A few minutes later I got called on the radio by Tom and was told that Ms Clinton had entered through the other door as well. As I walked in the direction, Tom told me that she was wearing a white pant suit. I had her publicist with me and pointed out a woman in a white pant suit and Michelle told me that it wasn’t her. I went on the radio and asked Tom if he had actually spoken to her or if he had just seen her. He told me he had just seen her…oooops….wrong person. It was just a few more moments before Ms Clinton actually arrived and I headed up to the red carpet with her. I brought her to the red carpet and then headed to the Private Celebrity Reception where Lisa was already working directing people towards the silent auction. She had seen Van, Jake and Tala enter the red carpet a while earlier but they had been in there a long time. George soon joined us after escorting Anthony Rapp up and we started talking until Lisa was called away to another floor.

Soon after that, I went over to check on a guest that had chosen not to walk the red carpet with Ms Clinton to see if she would like a drink or anything and as I turned back towards the room I saw Van, Jake and Tala leaving the red carpet area. Van was leading the way and the look on his face said to me “lets get the hell out of here”. Judging from the timing of when I saw them at coat check before they went up to the red carpet and the time they got off of the red carpet, they were on there for about 40 minutes when most everyone else I saw go in and out was on maybe 15 to 20 minutes tops.

I waited in the reception area for Ms Clinton to finish on the red carpet and when I saw her coming out, I headed across the room towards her, since there was a crowd coming my way I stepped back between groups of chairs that were along the side of the room. I waited for the group to past and then as I was stepping back so I could go towards Michelle, I happened to glance sideways and looked straight into these amazing brown eyes. I smiled and kind of nodded at him, but couldn’t really say anything at that point without it being pretty unprofessional since the person I was escorting was asking for my assistance. I went to talk to Michelle and she asked me if I would mind getting Ms. Clinton a diet soda. During this time I noticed Van lean forward towards Jake and then Jake looked up towards me…in my mind, I’m thinking “Yup, he recognizes me at least vaguely and thinks I’m a stalker.” I went off to get he drink and ended up on the opposite balcony because that bar had the shortest line. While I was in line I looked up and saw the boys heading towards me from a distance. Since the talent escorts were required to have our cell phones with us in order to call for the cars when the celebrity was ready to leave, I had my cell phone and thought maybe I’d try to get a picture or video for everyone. Unfortunately, it didn’t work out.

Shortly after I got the Diet Coke it was time for everyone to move from the reception to the ballroom for the dinner. I met up with Shirphie, Lisa and Renee while I was there and since one of the papers we had in our folders told where the celebrities were all seated, I pointed out to them where the guys were sitting and we went out into the hallway to chat. As we were talking, Mariska Hargitay walked by us and kind of waved which was pretty cool. Then someone walked behind my back and the girls all gasped, I turned to see Tala returning to the ballroom. Let me say this to everyone, the pictures do not do her justice, she is absolutely gorgeous!! What does it say to you that a straight woman (me) and a gay man (George) were so taken by her that it was barely registering that she was standing next to Van most of the time that they were in the reception?

I went to check on Ms Clinton and her guests and then came back out to the hallway. The ballroom was really crowded and I just couldn’t handle hanging out in there longer than I needed to so I took advantage to go join the girls again. The told me that Van had stepped out but would be coming back and as we were standing talking, he returned…and recognized at least some of us in the group and said Hi. He was walking along as he asked how we were doing and wasn’t paying attention to where he was going and a waiter (also not paying attention) was coming the opposite direction. We all yelled at him to look out and he kind of spun out of the way just in time because the tray would have hit him directly in the head. (Can you just imagine the collecting Nukie reaction if this had happened?)

Shortly after this time, George had joined us and he and I were off to the side on our phones, I was talking to Jammi and he was talking to Barbara. I noticed all three of the group (Van, Tala and Jake) heading out of the ballroom and I didn’t want to have them walk by me with me gushing like an idiot so I hung up with Jammi telling her I’d call her back. To my surprise (and the surprise of the rest of the group as well) Van glanced around and walked directly over to the girls and George and I went over to join them. To this day, I’m still stunned that Van made a point of bringing Jake and Tala out to meet the group. We all already know that Van is so sweet and from the brief time we spent with Tala and Jake I’d say it’s safe to say the same about them. When we complimented Tala on how good she looked she was aa bit flustered and commented on how nice WE were because we weren’t throwing rocks at her. For those of you that wonder about Jake’s eyes…just GUH!! Even more amazing in person. And his comment when they left to return to ballroom when Lisa said they didn’t have to come out the way they had and he answered something to the effect of “Of course we had to come out and meet you guys” definitely told me that Mindi from the fan club was telling the truth when she said that Jake was just as sweet as Van.

During the awards, I spent most of my time near the green room since that was the area of the room where Ms Clinton’s table was located. I got to see a lot of people going back and forth from this vantage point (Mariska Hargitay, Cheyenne Jackson, Caroline Rhea, Graham Norton, Anthony Rapp and others). The time eventually came for me to let Kate know that it was time for her to go to the green room and I escorted her there. She got her makeup done rather quickly and then asked me where the nearest ladies room was. Now, normally, I wouldn’t be reporting on someone’s toilet habits but, the behavior of a woman in the lobby really surprised me. You hear celebrities from time to time talk about being approached in a bathroom for autographs or just to say hello. Well, just as Kate was entering the bathroom this woman came running yelling her name from the opposite side of the lobby…all she wanted to do was introduce her self and tell her what a big fan she was. Umm…wow…that was just beyond me to think of behaving that way.

Anyhow, by the time we got back to the greenroom Van and Jake had already come in and had their hair and makeup done. They were at the monitor in the green room going over their presentation. It was actually kind of fun to sit back and just observe the way they interacted. I couldn’t hear everything they were saying as they ran their lines, but, I didn’t notice when Van put his arm around Jake and said the line “a great friend”. I couldn’t help but smile to myself because there was just something in the tone of Van’s voice when he said it. After they finished running lines, they had a few minutes before they were to go backstage and Jake went over to the full length mirror and was fixing his jacket and then Van went over and kind of blocked Jake a little bit and started fixing his own jacket. It reminded me of the types of things my siblings and I would do to each other when we were all getting ready at once for something. Jake walked away from the mirror and I got the impression that he just wanted to get on stage and get it over with. Van stayed in front of the mirror a bit longer and started complaining about his pants. He was wearing low boots and the bottom of his pants kept getting caught up on them. Considering I’m used to seeing Van in Luke’s wardrobe, it was funny seeing him primp in front of a mirror.

Just as Van went to get a glass of water, the GLAAD representative came in to call them backstage. Also, at this time, Randy Jackson from American Idol came into the room and when Van turned from the water cooler, he came face to face with Randy Jackson. This led to a moment that still makes me smile….Van as a star struck fan. His mouth dropped open momentarily and then he got a big smile on his face and was pointing over his shoulder mouthing to Jake “That’s Randy Jackson!!!”. There were to many people in the room for me to move to get a look at the door where Jake was fast enough, but, I can only imagine he was at least smiling at, if not laughing at Van’s reaction.

Ms Clinton was still in the greenroom when the boys presented but, I excused myself to slip out and see them on stage. When they were introduced, all you had to do was listen a bit and you would know where the other members of our group were located in the room. After the boys were through, I returned to the green room while Ms Clinton waited to go onstage. She left shortly after I returned and I noticed she left her purse in the room so I picked it up intending to keep it with me until she returned. As time passed, another escort commented to me how he thought he saw Ms Clinton leaving already. Umm..YIKES!! Turns out she had just returned to her table. She left shortly after I returned her purse to her and my duties were done for the night and I got to spend some time with the rest of the gang until it was time to leave. We all yelled and cheered a bit once we were outside of the hotel and went our separate ways. George, Melissa and I made our last trip out of NY to the hotel for this trip and ended up staying up until almost 5AM chatting before finally getting some sleep and heading back to New England on Tuesday.

All in all, it was a great time. I enjoyed the trip and most of all enjoyed spending the time with my great Nuke friends. Cant’ wait to do it again the weekend of the luncheon.