Cory Booker’s In Town, & I Wish I Were Going To His Reception!

September 22, 2013

(From the last time I met him in April.) (Photo credit: Mona Brooks.)
(From the last time I met him in April.)
(Photo credit: Mona Brooks.)

*Note: This should’ve posted weeks ago. But I was just too busy. Just so you know, this info is old. He is not currently in L.A.

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So, Cory Booker’s in L.A. tomorrow night, having a reception hosted by Matt Damon. The campaign is really hitting the whole “hosted by Matt Damon” thing hard. I thought it was kind of funny that they kept hitting the Matt Damon angle. Sure, Matt Damon’s great and all. But he is really the highlight of a Cory Booker event?

Yeah, yeah, I know. People love Matt Damon. It’s cool that he’s doing it and that the campaign is highlighting him.

I’ve gotten numerous emails about this event. With each one, my resolve weakened just a little more. I started flipping through all the possibilities in my mind of how I could make this work. Not only will Matt Damon be hosting; but Ben Affleck, J. J. Abrams, and more are co-hosts.

Even though Cory’s the draw, it might not hurt to go hobnob with all those important Hollywood people. “Hey J. J., I just applied for the open assistant editor position at Bad Robot. I’m sure you deal with all the minute, day-to-day operations down low enough to assistant editor on one show, right?” 😉

I really wanted my dad to go with me! He was actually out here on the west coast for a conference and just left 2 days ago. I was all, “You could just rent a car and drive over from Phoenix. Stay with me.”

(My dad looooves Matt Damon. So, the whole Matt Damon push is perfect for him.)

Alas, it didn’t seem all that feasible in my dad’s schedule/life for him to spend a few more days out in these parts. So, he returned home.

I heavily thought about going. I had a blast at the last Cory Booker thing. And I haven’t talked to him in about 3 months. How do I even know if we’re still buds? 😉

Here’s my problem. I’m finishing out the final week of my job for a show on NatGeo (which I work during the days), and I’m doing a short stint for a new show on Fox which needed extra help (which I work at night). I didn’t really want to ask for time off from a place where I’ll only be for 3 weeks, or from a place where I only have one week left.

Both companies probably would’ve given the time to me. At the day job, things are really winding down. We got everything done in practically record time. So, at this point they don’t need a whole ton of stuff from me. In fact, they might not even notice if I took a day off.

At the night job, we’re still in the sorting/grouping phase. It’s not like the editors are asking for specific things each night. As long as the organization of footage moves forward we’re good. So, I’m sure to them whether I worked Sunday or Monday, really it’d all be the same.

But I have one unsolvable problem and the real reason I can’t go. I am just so tired between the two jobs. I look like crap (though that possibly could be changed with make-up and such. Way more than looks though, my brain is barely functioning. I come in and do the same stuff (I’ve thankfully done a million times) like a little focused robot. Repeat, repeat, repeat – don’t mess anything up.

(I am so unbelievably happy in this night!) (Photo credit: Mona Brooks)
(I am so unbelievably happy in this night!)
(Photo credit: Mona Brooks)

But to hold a real conversation? To try and function around people? Nope. I can’t do that right now. I’m putting myself in time out. I’m not allowed to play with the grown-ups until I get a couple of good full night’s sleep. (At least I have the capacity to know I have to put myself in time out.)

For this event, I even got a phone call asking me to go! And boy did I want to. I mean a phone call, really! They are doing their jobs at the Booker campaign.

This was the first time I’ve ever pleaded to be kept on an email list. “Hey, just ’cause I’m not going to this one event doesn’t mean I won’t go to the next one. Please oh please tell me about the next one.”

I made a donation and bought a t-shirt. As I was thinking about how bummed I was that this would almost certainly be the last event in California for his campaign, I read through all that stuff about campaign contributions as I was checking out (with the t-shirt). It was saying how much we could give to this election… and how much we could give to the next one in 2014!

I’d completely forgotten that as soon as he’s won this special election, he’s gonna be back at campaigning all over again.

I'd love to hear from you! So whaddya say?