The weekend of running into people

I escaped to L.A. this weekend. Sandy was kind enough to pick me up from the airport, let me stay with her and basically just be a wonderful friend/lifesaver all around. She and two of her friends aided me in my quest to see what the original Sprinkles Cupcakes in Beverly Hills was like. I had heard it was smaller, more crowded than anywhere else. Well, it was all true. We waited in line for cupcakes for almost half an hour(!) The line is always out the door. If you don't believe me, I provided some visual evidence.



I'm sorry, I enjoy Sprinkles cupcakes but not enough to wait that long. I promised Sandy I would never again ask to go there. I overheard one guy on his cell in line saying "I'm outside in Beverly Hills waiting for cupcakes. These are supposed to be like the greatest cupcakes in the world." I'm sorry, but there's no such thing as the greatest cupcake in the world, in my opinion. There are so many great bakeries and just because there's no wait doesn't mean they don't have cupcakes worth eating.

Anyway, my cupcake voyage Saturday afternoon led me on a very surreal day of seeing people I know or know of. In the "know of" category, when my friends and I were outside Sprinkles, I saw a guy walk from behind us, passing the line of people. The dark skin and curly hair looked uncannily like the actor who plays Mohinder Suresh on "Heroes," a show I have followed from its series premiere. Once he and his two friends, both Indian guys, passed us, I caught his side profile. It was undoubtedly him. Unfortunately, I can't remember his real name and I thought it would be stupid to call out "Mohinder!"

After Sprinkles, we went on to the Vanilla Bake Shop in Santa Monica. We were all sitting around trying mini cupcakes when this couple walked in. I thought the guy was possibly a fact-checker I worked with when I interned at Entertainment Weekly in New York in 2002. But I wasn't positive because the guy I remembered wore glasses and had a smaller build. I didn't want to approach him in case I was wrong, then I'd feel stupid. So, I just started talking to Sandy really loud about how I don't keep in touch with anyone at Entertainment Weekly. Well, he turned around with definite interest. So, I went "Josh?" And he was like "Yeah, you're Terry." I was so surprised he remembered me. Usually I'm the only one who does the remembering. So, that was cool. We caught up for a few minutes. He was really nice and said I was more than just an intern. Oh, then after he and his fiancee/wife left, these two girls walked in and one of them looked so familiar. So, I just asked her point blank if she had lived on the 7th floor of Dykstra Hall at UCLA. And I was right. We exchanged hellos. I just said it was bugging me whether I imagined she was familiar. Hmmm...maybe I should spend more time at cupcake places just to see who I'll run into!

Not your typical stakeout

I spent Saturday afternoon and part of the evening at Sprinkles Cupcakes. My story on frosting shots, slated to run this month, was missing one key ingredient (pardon if that sounds like a bad pun), a quote from a customer. So, I spent more than two hours waiting, hoping, chanting for someone to order one so I could pounce on them for an interview. I don't know what it says about my social life that I didn't mind waiting there for so long. The girls behind the bakery counter were really nice. I could tell they felt really bad for me just waiting there. It got to the point where one of them was asking customers if they would be interested in buying a frosting shot. That was nice of her but it really should be someone who either wanted one to begin with or ordered it for a special reason. I told them that it was a helluva lot more fun than the time I had to do a stakeout in front of a serial killer suspect's house. I was indoors and surrounded by cupcakes after all. Well, it was about half an hour before 7 p.m. closing when a guy ordered one. Hallelujah! Otherwise I would've had to go back Sunday morning. Once again, no life, hehe.