By BetteAndTinaForever

PHOTOS from the Event

Some call me “dedicated fan”, some call me “crazy lunatic” and there are some who call me all kinds of names that I can’t put in this report. I prefer to be called a dedicated fan, though I’ll admit to some craziness. Before I report about the TimesTalks event in New York, let me tell you what happened on my journey there.

Part 1: Turbulence or Fear of Flying

I know some of you might not want to read this part because it’s about my journey to New York…believe me, it wasn’t fun for me to write this either because I was doing it while I was in the air.

On Saturday, April 18, I went to the GLAAD Awards in Los Angeles as a reporter for the l-word.com. Initially, I planned to fly to New York right after the GLAAD event and attend the TimesTalks. Then I found out about Mia Kirshner’s Benefit event in Los Angeles on April 22 that Jennifer Beals and Laurel Holloman were planning to attend. I wanted to go to that event as well but I wasn’t sure if I could manage three events in such a short time, especially if I had to fly back and forth across the country, and expect to be employed I got back!

I decided to cancel the New York trip and go to the LA events instead. A day before leaving for the GLAAD Awards, I found out that Mia’s benefit was canceled but I had already made all the flight changes and I didn’t want to deal with making changes again for New York. And then something happened at the GLAAD Awards that made me change my mind …and that something was Jennifer Beals.

When she approached me on the red carpet and before we got to the actual interview, Jennifer asked me if I was coming to New York and I explained that I had to cancel that trip to go to Mia’s benefit, which was also canceled. We began talking about other things and doing the interview but when it was over and Jennifer was ready to leave, I asked if it was okay for me to come to New York. Jennifer replied that she would be disappointed if I wasn’t there. Even if it was a joke I realized that I couldn’t say no to Jennifer Beals, so I decided to rearrange my flights again to go to New York.

I flew home from LA on Sunday and Monday morning I was back at the airport. As fate would have it, my plane to JFK was delayed for two hours due to bad weather on the East coast. Imagine my frustration and despair. I had to fly five hours each way just to get to a two hour event in New York and I might not even make it. I guess that’s the crazy part of me.

Luckily, there was another flight to Newark that was leaving an hour before my original flight and it had one seat available. It was in the back of the plane by the restrooms and, of course, a bunch of crying kids but at least it was getting me closer to New York. I exchanged my ticket, got on the plane and then found out that it was also delayed but now I was stuck inside the aircraft on the runaway, not knowing when we were leaving. So maybe I wasn’t as lucky as I thought.

So here I was, exhausted from the previous trip, sitting on the plane bound for Newark, waiting for our departure and hoping that I’d get to New York on time for the event.

Finally we were in the air and at that point all I wanted was just to get to New York because the flight was long and the turbulence was bad. When we reached the East coast there was another delay landing and we were stuck in the sky above Pennsylvania. For almost an hour we were making circles accompanied by turbulence…I don’t know how many because I stopped counting after the fifth circle when half of the plane became sick and searched for the motion sickness bags.

After we finally left the circles of hell, the plane began to descend in a weird pattern. After we landed, I looked at the yellow trace on a moving map on my TV screen and it looked like the pilot was trying to spell The L Word.

When we finally landed, I spent another 30 minutes waiting to get off the plane. Everyone who needed to make connections was already late so they didn’t care and I was almost jumping out of my skin because I couldn’t stand idle for another moment.

Finally, I was free, running down the terminals and stairs to get to my shuttle. Little did I know that my adventures were not over yet! Because I flew to another airport the super shuttle had a van available for me only in another 30 minutes and I had to share it with other passengers. So I was warned right away that I wouldn’t make it in time if they needed to be dropped first. My best chance was a taxi.

At that point I didn’t care that it was three times more expensive. I was in New York already and I had a little over an hour to get to Times Square or the whole thing would be for nothing. I kept running in the rain, searching for a taxi stand. It was like an episode from “Amazing Race.” There was no line, so I quickly pre-paid, jumped inside the next free taxi and yelled, “Go, go, go…here’s the address where I have to be by 8 pm.”

The driver was really nice and even listened to my explanation as to why I was in such a hurry. I looked like a mad woman, literally. I was running in the rain so I was wet, sweaty, breathing hard and speaking in short sentences because my English always gets worse when I’m nervous or tired…and I was both.

To make this long story short, the driver knew what he was doing and got me to Times Square by 7:30 pm. I made it! I went inside and nobody was in yet because they had another talk going on until 8 pm. I met a few nice fans and spent time chatting with them. When I finally got inside, all the front middle rows were taken; it looked like I’d probably sit somewhere on the edge. But, alas, a couple of very nice girls, who had one seat available in the second row right in front of the stage, offered me a seat. I was very close and right where Jennifer ended up sitting so I had a very good view.

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