Six Years of Streep

Six years and 3 months ago, I began my summer of Streep. On June 22nd, 2006, Meryl was mere inches from me as she entered, and exited the Letterman studio. I was honored to see her on her birthday, angered by the mob of people screaming rudely for her autograph, and really, really hot.

On June 22nd of this year, I spent the day 3,000 miles away from New York but still found a way to celebrate the day — this time not with the actual Streep, but with her star on the Walk of Fame and her hand and footprints in the forecourt of the Chinese Theater.

I put my hands in her prints (a perfect match — we apparently both have carnie (small) hands) and attempted to squeeze my Sasquatch foot into her teeny tiny perfect print. I traced her signature with my finger and noted that as far as "penmanship" goes, it was as classy and beautiful as its creator.

Six years ago, on August 4th and 5th, 2006, my uncle Steve and I awoke at 4:30 am, walked to the 81st street entrance of Central Park and set up camp (camp = a picnic table tablecloth) outside the Delacorte Theater and waited patiently until the 1pm ticket giveaway.

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Meryl was performing in Mother Courage that summer, and we had made the trip specifically intending to secure the much-sought-after tickets. Not only did we secure tickets for both nights, but we were sixth, and fifth in line, respectively.

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On August 5th of this year, my friend Trent and I are headed to New York to see Meryl once again. He managed to snag a place (plus one!) in the tiny audience of Bravo's Watch What Happens Live, when none other than the Goddess herself will be a guest (filming Aug. 6th, to air on the 9th). She will be promoting her new movie, Hope Springs, and I will be doing my best to not, well, die.

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I also discovered today that Meryl, along with Tommy Lee Jones, Steve Carrell and Director David Frankel, will be speaking about Hope Springs at the Apple store in Soho on August 5th, at 4pm. We get into the city at 7am, and we're basically going to drop off our luggage and spend the rest of the day camped outside of the store.

It's sort of strange how much 2012 is starting to mirror 2006, in terms of Streep-content, and I couldn't feel more lucky or excited. I'm also incredibly grateful that I have such wonderful friends and family to share my adventures with — look no further than my Uncle spending countless hours outside of Greta Garbo's NY apartment when she was alive, dying to catch a glimpse of the reclusive star, to see where I get my knack for obsession.

Also, if anyone has any advice for me on the following issues, it would be much appreciated:

  • How not to sweat through my entire outfit.
  • How not to throw up on an Oscar-winning legend.
  • How to speak coherently and not creep out said legend.
  • What should I wear???
  • How not to look like a troll next to her if/when a photo opportunity presents itself.

When I saw her six years ago, I actually still had a film camera that I then took immediately to a one-hour (i.e. longest hour of my life) photo place to develop. I'm bringing at least two cameras this time (my phone + an actual camera), so hopefully I'll be able to properly document the events.

That is, if I don't die of anticipation first.