Pinky's Fandance, Wednesday Edition

Now, I'm not entirely sure we've covered this or not, but the story definitely warrants repeating. Several years ago I discovered that Nic Cage (my #2 celeb after Ricky Schroder) was receiving his Half-Life Award at Cinevegas (the Las Vegas Film Festival). As this was a much smaller film festival than Sundance, I somehow got it in my head that getting a picture with Nic would be easy. Ha! I became obsessed (wait, what? Me?) with going - I took a few days off work, stayed with a friend in Vegas, and showed up hours early to the movie he was to appear at and eagerly waited on the red carpet. To my utter and total dismay, Nic not only didn't walk the red carpet, but they wouldn't allow photography in the theater when he received the award. I was horrified! All my hard work....foiled. Luckily, I'd become chummy with a few of the volunteers who tipped me off where Nic was eating dinner (at the 9ine Steakhouse). So, my friend Anita and I made our way to the restaurant and sat in the bar area. For a long, long, long, long time. Now, don't get me wrong, we had fun, made friends, and had some drinks. At one point Nic's preggers wife walked out and I considered chatting her up, but decided against it. So, there we were, hours into our adventure, and we could see the big party being held in the back for Nic (with friends, family, the works), but of course we couldn't crash it (darnit!). Finally, my friend looked at me and was like, "Sweetie, we gave it our best try....but I don't think he's coming out." Completely and totally dejected, I agreed with her and was gathering my stuff to leave when we saw some of Nic's bodyguards ushering in a few Nic's fans (as evidenced by their license plates and things to be signed) towards the back room. Just then, Nic came out (!). Seriously, it was like a movie - everyone around me was shouting, "Go! Go! Now!" So, I ran back there and patiently (cough cough) waited my turn. Anita wasn't really sure I'd get a pic, so she tried to take a picture of me near him (see first pic above), which was sweet. I knew if I tried to say anything to him other than, "May I get a picture with you?" it wasn't going to be pretty (imagine a replay of Duran Duran or a hysterical, blathering girl), so I stuck to that one thing. When it was my turn, I asked him for a picture and he said, "Sure." As we took the picture, someone said something to him and he raised his arm, but I didn't care. Just get the picture already! :) Look at my face - seriously, I'm insane with excitement. Afterwards I shook forever and was crazed with happiness, but it was worth it. Success was mine! :)