A Weekend Deferred - Part I

Friday started off with me waking up to the soothing sounds of my alarm clock at 4AM. I'm usually groggy at the first sign of having to start the day. However, I knew I was going to have a great evening in store for me. I'd be getting to see BDD, Phyllis, Mona, Adam, LDD, and the rest of the gang. That motivated me to get up out of bed and get ready for my 45 minute trip to Midway (Cicero).

Things are going great. I make it in time for my 6:55AM flight to Phoenix. The flight's a bit turbulent but otherwise pretty smooth. As I'm walking down Phoenix's runway, my eyes are pleasantly assaulted with seeing several fine brothers parked in various areas. That definitely seemed like a good sign of things to come. Of course I kept my lust on the low.

My connecting flight to Burbank (it's closer to the studio than LA) was another hour away. To kill the time, I had a sinful Cinnabon bun while chatting it up with Eugene. I sat near Starbucks (not to be confused with Starbuck...*LOL*) and watched amusingly as folks bumrushed the line for a cup fo Java. I tell Eugene about the line and he reminds me that Dunkin Donuts has the best coffee for his money. I'm thankful that I don't have a coffee fascination.

Before I know it, it's time to board my flight. It's a quick two hour flight to Burbank. As I'm walking in Burbank's terminal, I marvel to myself how small the airport is. I'm quickly stepping outside and notice baggage claim conveyor belts outside. I realize it's a bit warm wearing my navy blue New York baseball jacket. Actually I can't help but notice some of the attention I'm generating with the jacket. I did look kind of fly if I do say so myself.

I reach Enterprise's Rent-A-Car station and give the guy at the counter my info so I can hop on the shuttle. He's actually pretty friendly as he goes over his spiel, which is cool.

So while waiting for the shuttle, I call my friend Xaler (who I was hanging out with for the weekend) to let him know I'm in town. I get his voicemail but it's cool since we agreed to meet around 3PM. Plus he was at his job today.

I eventually get my car and after getting some telephone guidance from Eugene (he lived in L.A. for a number of years before moving back to the East Coast), I umm, get to my hotel. I have a couple hours to kill before meeting Xaler and heading to the studio so I try to familiarize myself with the area and I eventually get a quick bite to eat at McDonald's (Yeah bad...but at least I didn't have fries...*LOL*. My order was a Big N Tasty - no cheese and two apple pies.)

Before I know it, it's 3PM. I call Xaler and after chatting about my shitty phone and other, ummm, shit, I agree to pick him up at his apartment and then the two of us would head to the studio.

We do just that and head to the studio. It's around 4:15PM when we arrive. I pull into the familiar parking garage I went to in 2004 my first time visiting LA and catching a taping of Half & Half.

The guard looks over the printed ticket I gave him and after a few moments informs me that I need to go to another lot on some college campus where they will bus us back to the studio I was at now. I was baffled. Dumbfounded.

Reading the fine print apparently is fundamental.

I had no idea where the guard was telling me to go. Luckily I had Xaler with me and he knew exactly where we needed to go to catch the shuttle. The location wound up being twenty minutes away from the studio.

So as we reach one of the lots of the campus in question, I see a bunch of buses and a lot of people standing around. I rush to find a parking spot. The closest ones were several feet away from the crowds.

I walk over to the crowd to find someone of authority. It takes me a few tries to get the right person. So I finally get the right person and I get word from said person that Half & Half was full and wasn't allowing anymore visitors. I was baffled. Dumbfounded. (Where have I felt that before?)

So there it was. One clerk stood in my way of the main reason I woke my ass up at 4AM.

All I could think of was if I can't see the show, when would I be able to see it again. I've heard about the impending merger of the WB and UPN and fear that Half & Half might not make the cut. I thought about Stacy-Deanne's post regarding this impending merger and felt like blowing up something.

I looked at Xaler. Then I looked at the crowd. Then I looked at the clerk. My mind was racing a million miles a minute. What was I going to do?