By Beauty Damned

Starry Eyed

Today was my company picnic. I took Rob and Kat and Chas as my guests. The firm threw the party at Chelsea Piers, which was a perfect location to partake in free food, activities and all kinds of good times. We got there and feasted on bbq chicken, burgers, hotdogs, potato salad, watermelon and cookies. After that Kat and Chas and I all went ice skating at the Sky Rink while Rob went and played some basketball. Ice skating was the greatest. It's been a little while. Haven't been skating since wintertime, so it was a much needed salvation from the heat and humidity beating down on the sidewalks of New York. After ice skating we put our shoes back on and made our way to the batting cages and rock climbing. Rob and I hit a few balls in the batting cages while Kat and Chas went for the rock climbing. We joined them for awhile before making our way back to the terrace where beer was still flowing and family pictures were being taken. On our way out of the rock climbing area I saw a strangely familiar face coming right toward me. Guess who it was? Do you give up?

.......

It was Dave Chappelle. Yes David Fucking Chappelle. "I'm Rick James Bitch" Chapelle. My jaw dropped and I sputtered out the eloquent words, "uh, Dave Chappelle..." I reached back to find Rob's arm and all I could say was "Rob, Rob, oh my god, it's Dave Chappelle." I know, I know, what do you say?

Much as I know as well as the next person that celebrities are just people too, not one of us can deny the fact that when you see a person, an entertainer, who you admire, who you've watched many, many times, who you feel almost as if you know personally because you know on a personal level what their work means to you, it is very, very exciting. Since moving to New York, and even before that, throughout my travels in life, I have amassed what I feel is a pretty fabulous list of famous people that I've spotted and/or briefly met. Most of us have a few stories about seeing a person that we really admire. Seeing Dave Chappelle today hit at the top of my list as far as people that it felt awesome to meet in person. He was very quiet, very nice and seemed a little melancholy. Rob was absolutely floored. He has been a Dave Chappelle fan since Half Baked came out many years ago and we have both followed and gotten much enjoyment from Chappelle's career. We once went to the live filming of one of the first episodes of the Dave Chappelle Show. That was a lot of fun. Seeing him today was completely surreal. So we shook hands and said hello and then made our way back to the terrace.

When we came back out and headed towards the end of the piers we saw Dave Chappelle sitting alone on a bench in the shade talking on his cellphone. I asked if we could have a picture of him with Rob. He said no, he was sorry, but not right now. I said no problem, but I couldn't help asking. He was cool about it. Said "I understand, I just can't right now." I said "I'm surprised the paparazzi aren't hanging over that fence trying to get a shot of you, [considering current events]." He smiled and shook his head and said "nah, if I see those guys... they might scare me off, I'd be headed back to Africa." At one point Rob told Chappelle that he was really looking forward to the next season. Rob joked around, saying "but take as much time as you need." We eventually left Dave to his solitary moments on the shady bench at Chelsea Piers. Rob was trying not to appear as if he'd just had one of the most memorable encounters of his life, as was I. But I'm not gonna lie. That was fuckin rad. I couldn't stop Rob from taking one photo on his camera phone. As Rob said "he was such a nice guy, but he did look a lil bit stressed out." You can't even really see his face, since Rob was trying to be stealth, but lo and behold, it is Dave. Also known as the fuckin' man, with the really funny jokes.

I hope Dave's not mad that I put that picture up.

Rob had to go up to Tip Top Shoes on 72nd to check on a demo in progress and at this point we'd met up with Kat's cousin Kelly. We walked down the boardwalk to a gazebo where we roosted in the shade and people watched for about an hour. Then we moseyed up to Tortilla Flats for some Mexican food and margaritas. Just what the doctor ordered. Their margaritas are the best. As we sat there enjoying our food I glanced over at the bar to see yet another strangely familiar face. Guess who it was? Do you give up? Okay, I'll tell you.

It was Jai Rodriguez from Queer Eye for the Straight Guy. In case you don't watch (you fuck), he's the one in charge of culture, i.e., music, arts, jewelry, etc. If you have never watched Queer Eye, you are missing out on seeing this cutie impart his knowledge and wisdom of all things fine upon the hopeless lads that they makeover on the show.

Dammit! I LOVE that show. I just blogged about it a week ago. Ever since we got DVR I have recorded the show every week and enjoyed every second of it. Mostly I watch for the humor. I find the banter hilarious. But there is also something fascinating about seeing people who don't know what the fuck to do with themselves being put through a full on makeover. Everyone loves to see a makeover. Ain't that the truth?

So anyway, I saw Jai. I was so excited that I couldn't stay in my seat. I had to go to the bar and say hello to him. So I did. And I took a napkin and a pen with me. Turns out, Jai Rodriguez is an absolute doll. I told him what a big fan I am of the show and we had a short conversation about the pitch at Fenway park for the Red Sox last weekend and all the stink that the self righteous Christians made about the "gay presence" at the ballpark. He told the friends who he was with about the "good" Christians who were concerned with how they would explain "queer" to their children. He laughed when I said "if these people don't know how to explain the basic concept of diversity to their kids, they need to figure it out!" We shook hands again, and in a spontaneous moment he took mine and pressed it to his lips. We're talking about a full on kiss on the hand. I'm not exaggerating when I say that my knees were literally quivering to the point that I thought they were going to give out. I mean, seriously, I don't care if he's gay, imagine having this guy placing his lips anywhere on your body:

Sigh. He is freakin dreamy. And he has cute handwriting.

So today was an exciting day meant for surprising encounters. Who knew when I woke up this morning that I would run into TWO people who I truly admire and have the opportunity to talk briefly with both of them?

Please excuse all the gushing. I couldn't keep to myself.

Posted by Maria at June 12, 2005 10:43 PM