Today's entry will be written in installments, 'cause I'm in the mood to write right now, but at 7:30 am I don't have much time before I have to get ready for work. Besides, it's nice lounging around in the ol' PJ's, robe and slippers. Being someone who generally has to leap out of bed and rush around to get ready for work, the robe thing is pretty nice.

It must be winter, because the weather's becoming unpredictable. Yesterday it was a beautiful day, sunny and bright and warm, with just enough bite in the air to keep me invigorated. This morning, the streets are slick with rain and it looks gray, gray, gray from my kitchen window. I like it, but I sure wasn't prepared for it.

Here's another site with an excellent use of frames. And the content's pretty good, too. Don't know about that green background, though.

Started this part yesterday, but I got sidetracked by research I had to do as soon as it infiltrated its way into my brain.

I went to the Max Headroom Reuinion this past Wednesday. It was very interesting and a lot of fun. I was unable to bring either a tape recorder or camera (which is just as well, since all recording and photographic devices were strictly prohibited), so I'm recounting this purely from memory.

OK, the most important part first: Matt was quite tall and very attractive (I'm betting that he probably still is). Thank heaven the toupee(s) he wore in Psi Factor was just for the character, as I suspected. His hair was gloriously thin, he was wearing nice wire-rimmed glasses and all in black (polo shirt, jeans, leather coat and athletic shoes with black and yellow laces). Even 20 feet away I could tell his eyes are a bright blue, especially when he opened them wide to emphasize a point, which was often.

But someone has to teach that man to sit up straight in his chair! Talk about a sloucher! At one point Amanda Pays and a couple of the other panelists were talking about how much of Max's dialogue was Matt just improvising and were saying how brilliant he was at it, and while saying thanks he slowly slumped even further down in his chair until I thought he was going to slide right out of it. It was very adorable (little shows of modesty get me every time). Though he occasionally looked out over the audience, most of the time, when he wasn't talking, he was looking at his shoes. Maybe he was pondering his yellow laces.

Matt came up with some funny stuff. Rocky Morton, who was one of the writers of the British video show and TV movie, was telling about how he and his wife thought the guy who introduced the videos should be incredibly dull. He went on and on about this (in a very entertaining way, I might add) and I could see all these thoughts flitting across Matt's face. Finally, after Rocky made another point about using someone horribly dull, Matt just turned to him and said, "OK, Rocky, where exactly are you going with this?" The small auditorium burst out laughing. Matt went on, assuming an expression which I can't describe but is so classically Frewer, "Yes, they scoured the country and found the dullest man on earth!" (I love how malleable his face is!)

Apparently Max Headroom and Doctor, Doctor allowed him a great deal of creative room as an actor, and he did quite a bit of improvising, which he thought would be the norm. (He admitted that he was quite naive about it at the time.) Someone asked him about that and how he felt when he found out it wasn't the norm. Matt then recounted a little story about a series he did (whose name he didn't mention, but I suspect it was Shaky Ground) where, after a couple of episodes, he was introduced to a woman from Standards and Practices. "And she's assigned only to you!" At first he took it as a challenge and a badge of honor, and had fun with it, but after about 20 minutes the woman became a bit of an albatross.

The nice thing is he talked a bit and contributed to the seminar and made everyone laugh, but he didn't monopolize it by any means, which I really liked. The creative guys (Rocky, Peter Wagg and Steve Roberts) actually did most of the talking and were also very entertaining and interesting while recounting the history of how Max Headroom came to pass. Amanda Pays and W. Morgan Sheppard (who played Blank Reg) didn't talk as much, but were obviously having fun and contributing a little too.

Unfortunately, I wasn't in the front row, because the first two rows had reserved signs on all the seats. But I was in the first open row, and at one point, while they were showing clips (before anyone was on the tiny stage) the panelists had filed in and were sitting in the front row. Guess who was two seats in front of me! Aaargghhh!!! I didn't realize it at first, but then I glanced down the front row and saw Amanda Pays and W. Morgan Sheppard. So I looked a bit more and didn't see Matt. That's when I figured out where he was sitting! Co-worker Patti (with whom I attended the seminar, she's been a Max Headroom fan since the very beginning) later told me she feared for the woman separating Matt and I. Just as well, as I might have been very tempted to just reach over and touch the top of his head. *visions of security tossing me out* Why, that woman may have unknowingly saved me from serious embarassment.

It went by far too fast, and did I go down and ask him to autograph my Dr. Seuss tape which I had brought just for that purpose? No! I just chickened out and I've been kicking myself about it ever since. Both Patti and co-worker Julie told me that I shouldn't be so hard on myself, especially since I've met one of my faves this year (great thanks to Linda again for that!), but I don't know if I'll ever have that opportunity again! *sigh* I'm just gonna stick my head in a paper bag and sit in the corner.

Whoops, 8am! Time to get ready for work. I'll pick this back up tonight.

Hi honey, I'm home! And I'm smelling gassy.

Um, wait, I don't think that came out right.

What I meant to say is, I smell like gasoline. For the first time in my driving career (all of ten years), I ran out of gas.

I was on my way back to work during my lunch hour. Suddenly, without warning (though if I did have warning it wouldn't have happened suddenly, now would it?), my car started sputtering and lurching. Hmmm, not good. I knew I was low on gas, running on fumes, but I thought I'd have just enough to get to work and back.

Ah, the arrogance of one who really doesn't have to commute. Back in the days when it took me half an hour to get to work (never mind the job that was a hour and a half commute every day) I never had to worry about it, because I made sure I was never that low on gas.

Until today. Luckily the sun had come out, so it was a beautiful day as I walked the five or six blocks to the nearest gas station with my little plastic gas can in hand. (It's been sitting in my trunk for the last eight years. I'm sure it was happy to finally be doing something.)

Also lucky for me was my shoe selection for the day. I chose to wear my ankle length pink skirt with the light pink top and black cardigan outfit. This outfit is nearly always accompanied by my comfy vinyl, rubber soled, chunky heeled shoes, which I originally purchased for paging (where I'm required to be on my feet almost constantly for at least six hours).

Practically the only times I wear my long skirts are when I haven't shaved my legs for a while. And to think, I was planning on shaving this morning, so I could wear a short skirt and heels, but I ran out of time. I guess there was a good reason for that, afterall.

I called work to let them know I'd be back late and why, and ended up with an almost two hour lunch. Guess I'll be making up that time on Wednesday. (I couldn't today because the office pretty much closes up at 6pm.)

But now my hands smell like gas, even after scrubbing them repeatedly with hot water and soap. I hope the smell goes away soon.

I'm just gonna sign off for now, since this is already way too long, but tomorrow I'll pick up where I left off.