December 2, 1998 Margaret just called; it is settled that the Shakespeare in Love premiere is definitely tomorrow, and will there be any sign of the MAN. I think not! I've called ICM and UTA and where does that get me. Nowhere. I mean it was a coup that I found out that the MAN was in New York not but a week ago. I was planning on braving the cold and probably wet weather to get any sightings of him. Maybe get an autograph? Offer him a cancer stick? He would be eternally grateful to me for that one, no doubt! Margaret came over on Sunday, November 29 for the P&P marathon and were we in Darcy heaven. The drooling, the panting, the repeating of lines over and over again, "Miss Bennet!","In vain I have struggled�", "She was but fifteen�" Oh how lovely a lazy Sunday afternoon spent wallowing in Mr. Darcy. Eh, the best way, no? Oh well, I guess I'll try Europe again and find out if there have been anymore sightings of the MAN. Eventually, he must show up� To be Continued

Wednesday, December 3, 1998 6:55 pm Would it be too sick to grab my little lawn chair, camera and a pack of cigarettes and head off to NYC to camp out in front of the Ziegfeld? I mean, I don't want to appear too obsessive. I've been wavering back and forth on this all day. What? The premiere is at 7:00 pm? Hmm, guess it's a glass of wine and Entertainment Tonight for me instead. I flunked my fan test again. kind of strange, Laura, but I like it

Wednesday, December 3, 1998 Margaret called; it is confirmed that the MAN is definitely in NYC tonight. She begged and pleaded to head down to the Ziegfield Theatre. The thought of actually seeing the MAN scares me to no end. What could I say, what would say. "Well, you could start with hello?" Margaret said sarcastically. "Yes, and then I trip over my tongue and make a big fool of myself. I'm too misunderstood." I wailed. I never quite understood why they would premiere a movie only show it in two states, when the rest of the populace can't see it for at least two or three more weeks? What is up with that? "Olivia? Olivia, you're fantasizing again. You have a stupid grin on your face." "What time do you think it would be safe to just see a glimpse of him?" I asked quite dubiously. Margaret thought about it for a moment. Tapping her finger on her cheek. "I would say to safely see him without actually being seen? We get there at five watch all the dignitaries show up, wait for the cast to show up. See who he's with and why. Then we leave. Are you up for that?" I wasn't sure. I mean I've never done anything like this before in my life. I don't normally go chasing movie stars... But the hair, the eyes, the lips... "I'll miss Friends." "It's a repeat." "Stop doing that! Margaret,you're rationalizing the irrational. He's not gonna notice me and there will be hundreds or thousands of people trying to get a glimpse of Ben Affleck." Margaret had that Chesire cat grin on her face. "Ben Affleck too? Oh is it hunk heaven or what?" "Margaret, you're old enough to be his mother." She choked on her drink. "I am not. I'm old enough to be his older sister or better yet, his aunt!" Margaret drained her diet coke and went to the door. "Well, Olivia, are you coming or not?" It was time to make a decision, and I wasn't sure what I wanted to do. To be Continued? If anyone has taken offense, it was done unknowingly and unwittingly. I thought a columnesque-type would be fun especially now that CF has been in the States. I think Olivia can be a fun character, and she doesn't just have an obsession with CF, she likes men and chocolate! I will introduce other people (Heide, I could use you as a friend to Olivia and Margaret if you okay that?), but right now in the here and know, she likes CF. Whether or not she goes to the premiere, well that remains to be seen. If ou don't like this, then let me know here, and I'll have Heide or Karen delete it. Laura

Laura, I'm a lurker on this one....I have no creative writing skills. But it doesn't seem offensive to me.

Thank you, Evelyn! I hope that this is fun and people like. Already, I'm starting to like Olivia!

There is a little (or a LOT)of Olivia in each of us. Thank you for such an original idea. Through Olivia, we can get our jollies or at least rid ourselves of some frustrations!

So? Don't keep us in suspense. Did Olivia go to the premiere? What did she see and what did she (and he) say? Can't wait for the next instalment.

Friday, December 4, 1998 I combed the New York Times this morning for any and all information on last night's gala premiere at the Ziegfield Theater. There was NOTHING! But I was able to drop off the film I took last night... "Come on Olivia, it's a mild night -- Very warm to stand out and watch all the limos drive up. Which one do you think is Colin's?" I felt like a fool allowing her to drag me off. However, secretly my heart was doing flip flops. What if I saw the MAN, and I couldn't control myself. Then he'd think not only was I an obsessive person, but he'd think I was crazy too. Just caught a sight of Hilary Rodham Clinton, amazing how she keeps up a brave face when her personal life is crumbling around her. Now if I had a husband like that... (perish the thought, actually.) "Olivia, what on earth are you thinking of?" I turned to her and smiled brightly, "I was thinking of Bill Clinton." She opened her mouth to say something, then looked at me as if she had just lost the thought. She shook her head and kept jumping higher in the air to see something. Anything. I hung back. For about twenty minutes, time stood still. All the stars had arrived, but they stayed in their warm comfortable limousines. We were far enough away that we weren't about to get trampled on by all the Ben Affleck fans. Some were chanting "BEN, BEN, BEN, WE WANT BEN!" Fools really. Margaret found an opening for us and quickly grabbed my hand and pulled me into that direction. We were there for about five minutes when a security guard came up to us and told us to under the rope, we were in the wrong location. We were now in commoners no man's land. Margaret hugged me close. "We will definitely get to see him here!" Okay, I'll admit I can hardly contain myself. I mean to actually be withing breathing distance of smelling him. Hmmm.. Wonder if he's wearing cologne. Personally, I do prefer the natural scent of a man (really, no pun intended), but still... Same security guard came up, we thought he was going to tell us to go back behind the rope, but he did the strangest thing. He let us into the theater! Margaret thought she'd get sick. I was confused. We had no tickets, we weren't dressed all fancy. Although, I was wearing a cute skirt and sweater set. Oh, my heart continued on in the same manner, I just knew it was too good to stay. We would be found out and soon! The stars finally exited their limousines. Geoffrey Rush was the first one out. Cameras were flashing people were screaming. The air was electric. Gwyneth came with Ben and all the teenyboppers uniformly started screaming, fainting and chanting. Still no sighting of what I was looking for. Margaret had her camera at the ready, barely able to contain herself. She caught sight of some other women who were chanting, "Colin, Colin, Colin." She muttered a derogatory remark, which I silenced her with my glare. Finally, emerging from the limo with, I did a double take, not I did a triple take! Colin Firth came out of the limo right behind, Dame Judi Dench! I waited to see if anyone would come out of the car. I was expecting about 12 clowns to keep piling out of the car. As soon as I had the camera ready to take a picture, the security guard stepped into the picture completely blocking out the MAN. "He's coming in here, you can take your pictures then." the security guard told us. "I could manage to even have him take your picture." he smiled as if he just told the greatest joke. "How about you tell him that we..." Margaret stopped. "Olivia!" She tapped me on the shoulder. I turned around and standing before me was the MAN... To be Continued Note: Wouldn't weekly be better?? Laura

Laura, OLIVIA, what ever your name is - HOW CAN YOU DO THIS TO US ? Okay, I know I am shouting. What happened next?

Good one, Laura. I like it. ;-p , , , , (Those little commas are drools over COLIN!

I like it too. (And I'm across the street 'cause I'm too chicken (read: proud) to get up close)

Laura, do you know some other Margaret or have I been leading secret-even-to-myself double-life? ;-) I get first hiney pinch! (If I'm that Margaret......)

This will be moved to this site: http://www.insidetheweb.com/messageboard/mbs.cgi?acct=mb94760 So you can visit Olivia weekly on Tuesdays.