Meg's Diary

Princess Diaries 6 Tour Day 1-2

So who watched 14 HOURS last night, the made for TV movie on TNT based on the true story of how Tropical Storm Allison flooded this Houston hospital and they had to evacuate 539 patients, many of them in critical condition, in like 3 hours?

And how many of you wept when at the last minute the National Guard helicopter showed up to save the 22 preemies from the NICU (not to give anything away to those who haven't seen it yet)?

I did. I cried like a baby from the NICU. It was so good! Except for Kris Kristofferson, who said his lines like he was a robot (on a side note, did you see HOUSE HUNTERS Thursday night? It was a new one, and in it, Suzanne Whang ACTUALLY MOVED HER ARMS. Seriously. I don't know if she read my blog or had her robot controls recalibrated, but she was almost ANIMATED. Also, she was standing outside, and WIND BLEW HER HAIR. It was amazing).

Anyway, I was going to recap the movie for you, but I was crying too hard to type. So you're going to have to watch it on your own. Since it was TNT, it will be on a million times this week. Really, you should watch it, it's so good. Plus it has Ricky Shroeder in it. Oops, sorry, he goes by Rick now.

It sort of felt good to cry all night alone in my hotel room, because I have had a very depressing weekend. Except for getting to meet Edward Hermann, the dad from GILMORE GIRLS, things have really been sucking lately. Like it took me five hours to get from Fort Meyers, Florida to St Louis. Seven if you count the fact that I showed up at the airport 2 hours early, like you're supposed to.

I could get to freaking France in that time.

Plus on one of the planes I took to get here, there were these kids sitting behind me who kept kicking my chair. I wanted to kill them. They were traveling without a parent, and did anyone on the plane so much as attempt to supervise them? No.

But the flight attendants were sure sorry when one of the kids spilled a whole can of Sprite (on purpose) on the other kid, and she started screaming her head off. And then they had a pretzel fight, so there was ground up pretzel all over their seats (and under mine). Which caused of the flight attendants to go, “Kids!” Just like that.

Like saying, “Kids!” ever stopped anyone from doing anything.

Plus the whole time there was this business man (no relation to them) sitting next to them, and he just ignored them, and when I saw him down at the baggage carousel, he looked like death warmed over, and his wife, who'd met him there, kept going, “You poor baby. I can't believe there were TWO of them. You poor thing.”

Anyway, I got to meet Edward Hermann because he was speaking at the Listening Library's 50th birthday party, same as I was (the Listening Library does the audio versions of my books) in Fort Meyers, Florida. He was very charming (as was the event, at the lovely Sanibel Harbour Resort and Spa).

Even though I wheedled for them, he didn't give me any spoilers. Sorry. Although in real life Alexis is dating Milo Ventimiglia, who has a new series starting on HBO. But you probably already knew that.

I did finally make it here to St Louis, the first stop on my PRINCESS IN TRAINING tour. It's a good thing I'm here, too, because the people of St Louis don't have anything else to do tonight, such as go to the NCAA basketball final game, which is taking place here in their town at the exact same time as my signing.

And which is why my hotel is filled with MEN. MEN who are going to the game.

And also why when I checked in I received a coupon booklet for free beer for when I watch the game tonight down at the hotel bar, even though I politely explained I will be at a book signing, not the bar, and won't need beer coupons.

But I was cheerfully informed that I could stop by after the signing.

Anyway, it's been kind of a sad weekend, what with the plane seat being kicked, and the Pope dying (and even though, with the exception of the fact that we're both Catholic, the Pope and I had very little in common–since I think stem cell research and using condoms can save lives and are therefore good things, and also half my friends are gay, which I know wasn't a “lifestyle choice” for them–I still feel bad he's dead and all), and Charles and Camilla having to change their wedding day so Charles can go to the Pope's funeral, and Britney not taking me up on my offer to stay with me in order to escape Kevin, and my reading THE LITTLE FRIEND by Donna Tartt, which I thought was going to be a fun mystery, but which turned out to be about a 12 year old girl who decides to kill the man she thinks murdered her brother.

I won't give anything away and tell you what happens, but it's not what I was expecting. I'm glad I read it, since it was really good and well-written, but I wouldn't call it a “fun” read.

So then to cheer myself up I bought Sarah Vowell's new book, ASSASINATION VACATION, because I loved her book A PARTLY CLOUDY PATRIOT, and I also loved her in THE INCREDIBLES (she plays the voice of Violet, the teenage daughter).

And even though Sarah is an incredibly funny writer (and is currently on almost the same tour schedule as I am, and I pray that I get to run into her in an airport or something, so I can buy her a drink and hopefully have some of her genius rub off on me), her new book, which is about touring all the sites in this country associated with people who have killed or tried to kill presidents, isn't exactly cheering me up.

Because it is filled with information like this: how John Ashcroft wrote a letter to “Southern Partisan” magazine bemoaning the fact that Southern generals like Robert E. Lee don't get the respect they deserve. Hmmm, I wonder why. Could it be because they were fighting for the right to keep, um, SLAVES?????

So I guess now you can see why watching 14 HOURS and weeping all the way through it was sort of cathartic for me.

Great. Now there's a car alarm going off in the hotel parking lot.

I hope some people will show up at my signing tonight.

I hope REVENGE OF THE SITH won't suck.

I hope Donna Tartt is writing a sequel to THE LITTLE FRIEND so I can find out what happens next.

I hope I get to meet Sarah Vowell.

I hope.

(Hee, get it? “I hope.” From SHAWSHANK REDEMPTION? Shut up, I love that movie).

More later.

Much love,

Meg

PS I just downloaded this and cheered me up quite a bit. I suggest you do the same.

Share:

Newly Released

Cover of Enchanted to Meet You

Enchanted to Meet You

September 2023

Recently Published

The Quarantine Princess Diaries

Full Length Novel
March 2023

Little Bridge series

No Words

October 2021

Princess Diaries

20th Anniversary Editions
October 2020

No Offense

August 2020

Related Posts