Well I’ll be darned…

Preparing to teach again has been an eye-opening experience. For the first time, I'll be responsible for a course at the university level, a somewhat advanced topic at that, and the process of preparing the class syllabus and instruction program has taught me more in the past two or three weeks than I probably picked up during my own college years.

The fact that a good portion of those years was spent playing ping-pong and sleeping my way through the available theatre majors may have something to do with that.

In which I Noah few people…

Becca had been enthusing almost non-stop about her new boyfriend and I was trying to be attentive, so I didn't see him until we were nearly finished with lunch. I turned in my seat as I pulled out my wallet to settle the check and noticed that Noah Wyle was sitting at the next table, dining with a woman and two other men.

Judging by the fact that Becca's eyeballs were nearly in my lap, she apparently noticed this at the same time as I. I believe her exact whispered words were, "Oh my God. Oh my God. Oh my God." And so on.

"I should go over and say hello," I told her and, at that point, Becca gave up any pretense of controlling her optical nerves. She jerked her gaze away from the adjacent table and stared straight at me.

"You should?!"

"Yes."

Although we'd never met before, the young actor who regularly melts hearts as Dr. Carter each Thursday night and I have a couple of mutual friends, one of those odd and non-significant connections in a world where we're all separated by fewer and fewer degrees.

As we got up to leave, I took one or two steps toward the other table, cleared my throat and begged pardon for the interruption. I introduced myself to the actor and asked that he convey my regards to our friends. I then introduced Becca, who was thoroughly charmed when the arguably most famous man in the room extended his hand and said, "Hi, I'm Noah." He then named his dining companions, we chatted amiably for another moment or so, and then Becca and I left.

"Wow," Becca said. "Wow. Wow." That was pretty much the extent of our conversation all the way back to her office.

Upon on recounting this story to another friend, his reaction was equally apoplectic and entirely self-interested.

"Did you ask him out?" Kirk asked.

"No," I said.

"Did you get his autograph for me?"

"No."

"Did you tell him you had a friend who really, really wanted to have sex with him?"

"No."

"Why not?"

"I imagine, when you're Noah Wyle, you pretty much take that last one as a given, no matter who you're introduced to."