i realize that i never mentioned whether or not i was able to see daniel when i arrived. so here's a quick rundown before i dash back to conn to get ready for "babes in arms" at the goodspeed tonight (yay!):

i arrived here shortly before noon and walked up to the white house, where the critics' office is located. walking in, i saw dan (director dan, not daniel), who welcomed me and were all nice and whatnot. almost immediately, dan asked, "have you seen daniel yet? he was hoping he'd get to see you before he left, he's been asking all morning if you've arrived!" so i smile and feel all special and whatnot. then i met helene, who, upon being told i was victoria, said, "hello victoria! have you seen daniel yet? he wants to be able to see you." then i met sarah, the administrative assistant, who says hello and immediately says, "you're victoria? have you seen daniel yet?"

yay...and since it was lunchtime, dan led me to the mansion to get some food, telling me that daniel would probably swing by there, so that was the best place for me to be. we went in, got something to eat, sat down and were talking (helene and liza came as well), when helene looked over my shoulder and smiled. "there he is!"

i turned around to see the crazy guy, who got a huge grin on his face. we staged one of those really dopey reunion reactions and ran up and gave each other hugs. he was leaving in less than an hour and said it was about time i'd shown up, so we all had lunch together and had an enjoyable time. then he stole me away for a little while and we got to catch up on things, giving each other the usual hard time we always give each other. it was d.c. all over again.

i was able to give him a copy of one of our d.c. group shots, and we reminisced about the experience and he told me a bit about what the first session was like, and then i walked him to the car and he went off to the airport to head to d.c. (playwrighting workshop at the kennedy center--*sob*). when i went to my "mailbox" shortly after, i came across a slip of paper he and mark had left for me--each writing me a note on one side. his? typical daniel:

"vickie--

do you like me? (check one)
__yes
__no
__maybe"

then has all of the "you rock (spelled: U RAWK!)" and good luck wishes and whatnot. and, since i had barely arrived on the grounds and was all nervous about being here, it made me feel that much better about the experience to come.

so that's the daniel story. i sent him a wiseass email answering his question and throwing the question back at him, so i'm anticipating an equally wiseass response at some point. happiness.