Mistaking Forest (and Woods)

Tuesday night I checked into my hotel room then spoke with Hay on the phone and headed out for a walk into town to eat me some steak. I arrived to my destination of choice, a local brewhouse which I found during my pre-trip search on the Internets. I ate a great NY strip steak with cajun spice, and phenomenal garlic mashed potatoes. (My order is important later in the story, don't forget that detail.) I sat alone facing the front of the restaurant.

Near the end of my meal I saw two men walk in and could not believe my eyes. Is that...Forest Whitaker?!?!?! Ooooh, wait, and James Woods?!??!?! I was so excited that I wanted to go introduce myself and slather them with my adoration, but I played it cool. I settled my tab then walked by them but didn't dare to look. When I got outside I looked through the glass and saw Forest staring at me so I turned and almost did a face plant into a patio chair. Turns out Forest and James were really not Forest or James, just two guys having dinner. Oh well, at least I could blog about it, right?

The next day I went into my workshop room and was chatting with some ladies from another organization when WHO WALKS IN?! FOREST AND JAMES! I couldn't help myself, I went right up to them and told them about the night before, about mistaking them for famous actors and almost tripping over the furniture outside. “Thanks!” Forest said. I was curious so I asked, “what, you don't get that all the time?!” Forest explained to me that he and James had never been anywhere together so they'd never been told that before.

The session started and I then began to experience what I like to refer to as human interaction remorse. I talk to people in an extroverted way, and then after the interaction is completed I replay the event over and over in my head, telling myself how stupid my actions and words were. I just couldn't believe the small sliver of extroversion in me had the balls to walk up to total strangers and tell them they look like celebrities.

During a break I happened to see Forest in the hallway and apologized to him. I made sure he knew that the real Forest is one of my most favorite actors, that I didn't think that he was some two-bit B actor whose career is in the toilet. He laughed it off, and I crawled away feeling even worse than before.

To my surprise, however, at lunch Forest caught up with me and asked if I wanted to sit with him at a table. An 8-person table. Me, next to Forest. As soon as we sat down people started flocking to the table and all of a sudden little old me was sitting at the popular kids' table! I couldn't believe it! I asked Forest what he had for dinner at the restaurant the night before: NY strip steak, cajun style with a side of garlic mashed. “That's what I had, too,” I squealed. The chit-chat flowed, we all talked about how frustrating our jobs are, and we actually bonded. WTF? Je suis un INFP, people! I don't bond with strangers!!

After lunch the whole lot of us even went so far as to go shopping for souvenirs as a group! It rocked!

When we were all finished for the day we all said our goodbyes and made promises to email each other, shaking hands and reveling in our happy bonding experience.

When I got to work today I was very busy, but not busy enough to forget Forest. I started to compose a message, which I haven't quite sent yet, but I fully intend to:

From: [Poppy]
To: [Forest]

Hi [Forest's real name],

Or, should I say, “Forest”? [*snort*] It was great to meet you at the [conference name withheld]. I didn't say anything at the time, but I really liked the idea you mentioned at lunchtime about...

Someday I'll actually finish that message and send it. Maybe Forest will remember me, and maybe we'll meet again. If not, we'll always have that moment in the restaurant. :)