My New Friend, Ryan...

I really had a wonderful weekend that I thought I'd share a little about. My dear friend Taylor Horner was in town from Boston (via North Carolina for the summer) and we spent a few glorious days together. It was good to have an old friend around, especially one that I rarely see anymore and also at a time when I'm realizing more and more what it's like to live in an area with really no friends to speak of. It's not exciting.

Anyway, the highlight that I wanted to share about happened on Saturday afternoon. I finished working at Starbucks and we jumped on the train for downtown Chi-town. It was a normal Saturday for everyone else on that train, but for us, something special and extraordinary was about to happen. You see, doing a promotional at the clothing department at Marshall Field's was....Ryan Seacrest. Believe it, AI fans, there he was, in the flesh. You see, he has this new clothing line out...the R Line...and was debuting it downtown. I remembered seeing it in a catalog a few weeks ago and Taylor was the perfect person for this kind of activity. (Loralee, our fellow AI judge, we thought of you as well and wished you could have been there...)

We found ourselves surrounded by mostly 13-year-old girls, gawking and squealing and all that jazz. There was a rather long line to stand in if you wanted to meet Ryan, so Taylor and I decided to come up with another plan. There was also a very short line (basically nonexistent) that you could go in if you bought any clothes from the R Line. Now, the clothes aren't that good, are pretty expensive ($300 sweaters?!), and since most of the people were 13, no one was buying anything.

Taylor and I are geniuses.

We bought a t-shirt (for the record, it was black and long-sleeved and said "I am not a rock star") for $38 and then happily got in the short line. We chatted with Ryan for several minutues, talking about AI, what his plans were that night (he said he had to get back to L.A. for the Teen Choice Awards), and about Taylor auditioning in Boston. He really was extremely kind and didn't rush us at all as he signed several different things. (And yes, it's true that he's quite short and he kinda has a funny looking jaw/lip...we think he might have had some surgery that just didn't quite work out).

We told them we didn't want out shirt signed. Why? Here is where genius ensued. As soon as we finished with Ryan, we walked upstairs to the men's clothing section and promptly returned our new t-shirt. We cut hours standing in line. Soon we'll get our pictures back and I'll have new proof of my new-found friendship.

It was a day to remember. People at Starbucks and Regina's either think it's fantastic, or more likely, rather bizarre, especially since I was there with another 23-year-old guy. I think they're just jealous.

Becker, out.