The absolute best day of my life!

Monday, October 22, 2007

Whew – where to begin? What an awesome time – best day of my life! I got up kind of early because I was so incredibly nervous I thought I might puke…if I was a puking-type person. I ate a bit of a danish with shaking hands at the hotel restaurant, then sat there waiting for a while, then sat on a bench outside waiting for a little longer, then finally went over to the set.

I went up to the production office and said hi to Brian. We waited around for a bit and then Hillary came in. She got this gleam in her eye, then said we shold go downstairs and watch Judy and Neil do their satellite interview thing. We came around the corner from the elevator to the hospital lobby where they were getting set up…and there he was. My heart started beating really fast and hands started shaking a bit more. He looked so good. Blue button-up shirt and jeans again – oh so tasty! They were just getting ready, so we went up and I met Bill Lawrence (who is really cool! Taller than I thought, maybe 6’2” or so. Really good looking!) and Neil. We stood around chit-chatting a bit, and then Hillary (bless her heart!) said that she brought me down there because she thought I’d be most interested in Neil, which made me blush a bit and look at the floor. Bill made some joke about it, and Neil said that he made it sound like I was his only fan! We then talked about how I was the contest winner, and Neil thought for a minute and then said, “Hey, I talked to you on the phone!” He remembered me!! (A side note: In September, Hillary had arranged for Neil to phone me! I was in a total state of shock! Very cool...) We talked a bit about the different vocabulary between Canada and the US, and then it was time for them to do their interviews.

We stood and watched for a bit – it was quite strange because it was a satellite feed, so we could only hear what Neil and Judy were saying, but not the questions they were answering. It was still funny! I could tell exactly what they were talking about, even without hearing the questions. Those guys must get so tired of answering the same questions over and over again.

After that, we went back upstairs and Brian took me down to urgent care to see them film a few scenes. I saw so many scenes here, but I’m not allowed to talk about them until after the episode airs, which is in the middle of January. The set was so hot and uncomfortable that I couldn’t spend much time down there. Brian took some blog footage each time we went down there.

We came up from urgent care, and it was about 9:50 a.m. so Brian asked if I wanted to go down and see how the interviews were going. They were just wrapping up, so I got to hang around and talk with Brian and Neil for quite a while. Now, this is stating the obvious…but Neil is really tall! My dad is 6’4”, so I thought I wouldn’t really notice how tall Neil is, but he is just huge!! Standing next to him made me feel small, and I’m almost 6’ tall! We all went over to craft services (where they keep food for the crew and cast) – I had a bottle of water and Neil grabbed a pastry and a Dr. Pepper. I told him I saw his Beer Shark Mice show, and that the customs agent part was funny because it was so true!! (In the sketch, the story led to a customs agent bit, and the agent was very rude and arrogant, just like the dude I had to deal with getting into the states.) He said he couldn’t remember the show very well – once they do it, it’s out of his head. I said that I noticed they were missing a couple of guys, but the new guy was funny. Neil said that David Koechner was out with shoulder surgery. We talked about a few more things, and then he said he was going home for a bit. I asked him if I could get a picture with him later, and he said for sure!

I talked for a very long time with Ken Jenkins – he is so very nice!! We talked about our kids for a bit, and I learned that he has 3 sons, and he raised them on a farm in Kentucky. Ken asked if I wanted to go down to the cafeteria for some pizza, so we went down at lunchtime. I also met his dog Pal, who is 14 ½! Ken told me that he often gets girls giggling in his direction because they recognize him as Dr. Kelso. I said I would do the same thing probably! I asked if I could get a picture with him, and he said of course!

At about this time, Sam Lloyd came past, and I asked him if he would sign my Blanks CD, which he did, and I also got a picture with him. This sounds strange, but Sam doesn’t look anything like Ted!! Sam is so cute, and has the nicest smile.

Most of my day was hanging around the production office on the 3rd floor. They have taken out the nurses station on that floor, and all the desks are just kind of in the middle of the floor, very open format, so they can see everyone walking by. Sarah Chalke came by several times and had some computer things she needed to do – it was strange and cool to see her sitting at the computer doing personal stuff in her wardrobe! It was also strange to see Johnny C. walk by several times in half his wardrobe, and bike shorts! (I did see him in the morning come out of his dressing room in just a towel…) I didn’t meet Johnny C. – he seemed really busy as this is a huge episode, and he seemed to be quite preoccupied.

Neil came back after a while and went to his dressing room, and a bit after that, because the other scenes were taking so long, they were cutting the scene he was in today so he could go home. He came out and told me this, and said we should do a picture now before he left, so we did that. (Niiiice to put my arm around him!!!) He was then asked to sign a call sheet, and as he went over, he looked at it and said, “That must be for…her!” and pointed at me with a grin, which made me look at the floor again. He said it would be nice if I could get more stuff to take home, and I said I was happy with just my memories. He thought I should at least have a song or something, so he sang me one: “Angie came down from Canada…doodily doo dee doo. The end.” which for some reason I thought was hilarious.

He went back into his dressing room to get ready to go, and Hillary got another wicked glint in her eye and told everyone to make sure he didn’t leave. When he came back out, Hillary said she had thought of something even better for me, and she had him sign a Janitor shirt! There was some discussion about which shirt I should have – one was brought from wardrobe, but Neil said I should have the one he was wearing because it was too small. I would have loved to have the one he was wearing, but it was decided that the one from wardrobe would be for me. He said he was stuck on what to write, and asked me what I thought he should write. I said it didn’t matter – whatever came to mind…as long as it was witty and intelligent and polite! He thought about it for a minute, then asked if I would mind if he used his fall-back, which is “See you in hell!” Then he said it would be funny to have a nice sentiment after that, so my shirt reads, “To Angie, See you in hell! Your friend, Neil Flynn.”

All this time, I had also met Randall Winston (who, for some reason, doesn’t look as tall as Neil, but he is…) – he kept calling me The Canadian Girl, and I also met Richard Wells. Zach came out and needed help with his wardrobe, so he sat down beside me while someone helped him, and we talked about the Canadian accent. I guess I do truly say ‘aboot’, and I did accidentally say ‘eh’ once. I got a picture with Zach. It was a very busy day for him because he was directing.

They are going on location for a couple of days for some very busy filming. Neil told me he had a 3:42 a.m. call the next day (which I think had since been changed to 4:42 a.m. – lucky him!) I saw Travis Schuldt do an absolutely hilarious scene on the ramp outside with his cell phone – he was really ‘on’ and gave it his all. It was so hard not to laugh while they were shooting!

I asked Brian if I could go up to the roof. Just something I felt I needed to do. He told me where the epiphany toilet was, and where certain scenes took place. Whenever they do a scene on the roof, they have to take down the big North Hollywood Medical Center sign – what a pain in the ass that must be!!

About halfway through the day, it was decided that I would be a medical intern, in a scene where Slagathor and a new intern called Boon were playing “diagnosis Jeopardy.” More on that later!

The whole time I was there, everyone in the production office was on a hunt for hand-held fans because they were going on location the next day and it was going to be HOT!! It was strange – I was so nervous in the morning, but the longer I stayed, the more I felt I belonged there. Everyone was so friendly, and they all tried hard to make sure I was happy, keeping my company. Hillary keeps this cool ant farm at her desk – the ants tunnel through (I think I’m getting this right…) some kind of NASA gel that is also food for the ants, and the whole thing plugs in and gives off a soft blue light. Very neat!

At about 5:30 or so, they were finally done shooting in urgent care and were coming up to the 4th floor to do the scene in the penthouse. Pamela called down to Negis to come and get me to get into wardrobe. He took me down to the extras room and someone got me a set of medical intern scrubs (blue) and some blue crocs. I got changed, and then she told me to grab a red name tag and a black stethoscope. I picked a name tag with a picture that looked closest to me (I don’t remember my ‘name’ but my specialty was proctology!). There were 6 intern extras (including me) and we were called up to the penthouse. Once the rest of the crew got there, we went and waited at the nursing station while they set stuff up.

Originally, I think we were all supposed to be in the scene, but I guess at the last minute they changed their minds, and called me in by myself!!! I was supposed to sit on the couch at the back, read a magazine, and then walk out. I had to listen to the lines and remember when to do it! Johnny C. and Zach were sitting on the couches by the TV talking, then Slagathor and Boon come in, playing “diagnosis Jeopardy.” Boon asks Slaggy a question which she gets right, and she gets up and does a very loud, obnoxious dance. I was supposed to look up, slightly annoyed at her, then roll up the magazine (making sure never to show the cover to the camera!) and walk out. It felt like I was on camera for a good minute or so! We had to do it about 6 times or so, then they changed the shot and we did it another 4 times, and then another different shot and another 4 times. We’ll see how well I did!

Shooting wrapped at about 7:45 p.m. I went back down to the production office because I couldn’t quite remember how to get back to the extras room. I hung around for a bit, then got an elevator down with Zach and his dog, Roscoe. Zach asked I had fun (actually, a lot of people asked me that throughout the day!) and I said I did. We got down to the first floor and Zach pointed me in the directon of the extras room. Found my stuff and got changed, and then Hillary had told me to come back up to the office on the 3rd floor. We stood around chatting for a bit about all the stuff they needed to arrange for the next day. Richard Wells was on his way out, and he asked if I’d had fun. He is so nice, and professional every second, and so calm! After he had left, Hillary said she had something for me. I was shocked – I already had a signed call sheet and a Janitor shirt! She gave me:

- a signed shooting script of My Lunch
- two sets of Scrubs scrubs – one ‘medical’ blue, and one with a ‘caca-colored’ top (from My Scrubs) and surgical green bottoms
- two reusable nylon bags with the Scrubs logo on them
- a black Scrubs hat
- a CD of the musical
- a CD of the first season soundtrack

I kept hanging around because I didn’t want to leave!! We were talking about what they were going to do with the Call Turk phone when the show is over. Hillary had quite a hard time getting that number – I guess it’s easy enough to request the last 4 numbers of a phone number, but not so easy to get all 7. She had to find the right area code and the 225 (CAL) prefix, and then she said she just lucked out and talked to the right person at the phone company, who held the number for her. She finally got the number up and running the day before the episode aired! Brian and Hillary figure they should auction off the number at the end of the show – I said I wasn’t sure who would really want it – getting inundated with calls from Scrubs fans…Now, if it would ensure contact with the Scrubs CAST, that would be different! I guess some of the fans who one the contest were requesting Rowdy as their prize! I wonder if they’ll auction off the props at the end of the show – probably.

Hillary told me how much effort it took to accumulate the squirrel army – they called taxidermists from all across the country, and apparently it’s quite expensive to rent a dead stuffed squirrel. Who knew?

I just kept hanging around, seeing if we would start talking about something else, because I just really didn’t want to leave, but I finally thought I should go. It was almost 9 PM and I had to pack yet to leave the next day. So, my episode is 7.09 – My Princess, likely airing January 17 or so. I caught a glimpse of another episode titled My Manhood…sounds interesting! (Not sure which number that would be.) From this script (7.09) I got a sense of what happens with the JD/Elliot thing, and I thought it was brilliant, as was the writing of the story of this script. It happens to be the concept episode for the year.

Random thoughts:

- Brian was the guy who typed the words for Mr. McNair in His Story III. All he had was an earpiece and a keyboard, but no screen, so he couldn’t see what he was typing, thus the typo. I told him that I thought the typo worked well with the story.

- Donald’s dressing room door has a picture of Donald and a young girl, him and Zach as Batman and Robin, and a picture of Britney Spears.

- When I was in my scene as an extra, it was really hard not to look up at Zach and Johnny C., and I also had to fight the urge to laugh or smile, as it was a really funny scene!

- It’s really too bad I couldn’t see Neil do a scene – it would have been great to see what he would come up with!

- Ken likes to build things – someone on the crew gave him a planer while I was there talking to him, and he was extremely appreciative. I’m not sure what kinds of things he builds.

- Saw Neil’s stand-in with his shoes, which have a platform of about 8 inches!

- In one of the elevators is a “confessional camera.” The cast and crew are encouraged to go and talk about whatever, and it will be going on the season 7 DVD. Brian has been making little signs to go in the elevator with a “question of the week” to encourage participation.

- When he was directing, he was very "Zach" and when he was acting he was very "JD" - it was interesting to see him flip back and forth!

Hmmm...speaking of "flipping back and forth," does that put you in mind of any Scrubs quote? Remember when JD said he wanted to "flip back and forth between male and female genitalia" and then went off to have his fantasy, but Dr. Cox snapped him out of it? Well, apparently Zach did one of these satellite interview things too, and someone from the south asked him what kind of super power he would like to have. (Stupid quesion, IMO, but there you go...) Zach said he'd like to be able to flip between male and female genitalia, and the interviewer waited for a beat, then said, "I don't think your fans in the south would appreciate that kind of talk" or something along those lines. Obviously not a fan of the show! lol

- Was just sitting here thinking about my day, and now I'm really pissed that I didn't get a picture of Neil in his jeans and blue button-up shirt. Damn.

- I saw Colonel Doctor! Isn't it strange that I thought that was cool...lol

- When I was going around for my first tour with Brian, he took me to a hallway in the hospital and said he had a trivia question for me. "No sweat," I thinks to meself. I AM THE QUEEN OF SCRUBS TRIVIA after all. We were in a hallway with bluish-green wallpaper in a circle design. He asked me where this hallway had been in the show. I looked and looked and searched my brain, but I couldn't come up with it. (Turned out it was the outside shot of Elliot's apartment - you can see it when she comes in the door in My Transition as Elliot Reid...Moment Killer.)

We then went to another spot in the hospital and he said he had another trivia question for me. I was a little worried now, but I said okay. It was another hallway, painted two-toned blue, and he asked me where I'd seen this hallway before. I thought and thought again, then asked him if I got it wrong, would he still give me a tour? I just had no idea. (This one was the hallway from Turk and JD's college days, from My Fishbowl.) Here I thought I knew everything...

Regrets
1. I really wish I could have seen Neil film a scene - that would have been hilarious! He was on the call sheet for that day, but because all the other scenes were taking so long (heavy on the special effects), his scene was cut.

2. I should have asked to meet more of the cast, specifically Johnny C. Travis Schuldt walked by me too. I was more waiting for people to introduce them to me, but I should have been more forceful!

3. I really really should have given Neil a hug after he gave me the signed shirt! Still kicking myself over that one.

4. I should have taken many more pictures! I'm thinking back to all the places I saw, and I should have taken a picture of, for example, what is outside the door of Turk and Carla's apartment. The set construction room. The production office. I didn't take nearly enough pictures.