Fresh when it gets here from
Julie Barrett
Saturday, November 30, 2013
This latest one was a doozy. I was in LA at a charity even to celebrate Quantum Leap. But it wasn't The Leap Back or any other QL con I've attended or have been involved with. There was a huge stage show. Scott Bakula was singing selections from Romance/Romance. There were other name acts.
I was watching backstage when someone tapped me on the shoulder. It was time to get into my costume so I could do my number. What? I was squeezed into a costume, further squeezed into a small corner stage right (while the rest of the stage was blacked out for a scenery change) and had to sing a pseudo-opera piece. Not just any opera song, but this one:
(Oops. That video is no longer available. The song was from a Three Stooges episode. Because why not?)
Yeah.
So there I was, singing with no accompaniment. Of course, I bombed. We got to the end of the show, the big stars gave their bows to wild applause. The rest of us were lined up to take our bows, the curtain rose, and ... the house was empty. We had to look around stacks of scenery on the stage to see that the house lights were up and the crew were staking chairs (in an auditorium!) and sweeping up. I returned to the boarding house where I was staying and had to squeeze through a crawl space to get to my room, which was already occupied by someone else.
I packed up and went home, where I was invited to a small get-together of local fans who had attended the bash in LA. Cool. I got there and there and tried to make small conversation. No one would talk to me. The conversation in the room turned to Quantum Leap books. Every book mentioned was one I'd never heard of. At some point a guy said, "do you remember Quantum Leap A-Z? That was actually a pretty good book." I thanked him for his kind words. A couple of people gave me strange looks, and then the party host piped up with: "Yeah, but I still outrank you. I work at [local grocery store]." I made my lame joke about being just a D-list author and everyone agreed with me.
Then the phone rang.
Definitely an anxiety dream, and reflective of some recent events I won't go into here.
Perhaps soon I'll get some sleep.