Wonderful night.

We arrived at dinner last night at 8.05pm. The start time requested was 8.00pm. We didn't really want to be the first to arrive so we hung in the car for a further 5 minutes and tried to find something cool to sing to on the radio ( as you do ). There was nothing good on the radio, a situation which forced us to enter the house whether we were first or not.

We peered into the open doorway of the amazing square box state of the art house, and saw a long table set with wine glasses. OOOh, quite a lot of people coming it seemed. We hoped that the people would be nice and that our host ( who we really didn't know that well ) was hospitable and kind. We walked into the cool and rather cold house with its views over Hollywood and called out, "hello?" Our host, Jim*, the screenwriter of a movie I was in, greeted us followed by an adorable little giggly person, his 3 year old daughter who clung to his leg for dear life. She was so small and happy and ridiculously cute that even Langford started to feel a little clucky. Perhaps he was really imagining his own life in this oh so cool house, as a successful writer with a maid in the kitchen and the fruit of his loins adoring his every move. The wife was not there. Hopefully he didn't add that part of the story into his wish fulfillment.

Jim poured us a glass of his home-made punch which was really quite strong and the other guests quickly arrived. I was very pleased to see a friend amongst the new arrivals. James* is a successful screenwriter who I had met through another acting friend and been out with on a number occasions with said friend, let's call him Tony*. Once, I had taken Tony to a party and he had insisted on bringing James. To my dismay, when I picked them up, Tony was very drunk and very loud and so I instantly told James that upon arrival at the party I would introduce him (James) as my main friend and Tony as James' friend that I didn't know very well ( instead of the other way round- don't you just love brackets and their clarification use?).

Anyway, back to last night. I was happy for Langford to meet James as he is a great guy and in the same industry. James had brought along his surprisingly delightful Irish girlfriend, Meg*, who is a model turned actress. She had actually been at the same audition as me the day before. We had also both auditioned for 'Sex and the City 2' (which I saw the other night and thought was OK) and I explained to her that the size of the girl's breasts who got the role meant that it was never a possibility for either of us. We got a long very well. There was a slightly older pretty actress there who was lovely and various other people who I didn't get to connect with. There was another writer that I had met before and when we finally sat down, at the very long table with cold slate seating benches, I was between him and Langford. Meg and James sat next to Langford. Jim was nearby. Opposite us were a man and woman I hadn't met. I quickly introduced myself and they said their names. I was a little taken aback by the energy of the woman who had a posh affected air and introduced herself with a disappointed breath, a limp hand and a plummy British accent, "Elizabeth*". Weird. Everyone else had been so open and friendly and I observed her introducing herself to other people to see if she said her name with the same wet fish manner. Yes, she did. So, OK, it wasn't personal she was just stuck-up.

I was then back in conversation with Meg and James and Evan* the writer I was sitting next to. He has a movie about to go into production. When I finally got back to the people opposite me I tried to engage them in conversation.
I said, "so, it's John and Deborah?"
"Elizabeth," she scowled.
"Oh yes, sorry, Elizabeth , so how do you know Jim?"
"Through Evan," answered John.
Evan then stated telling a story about Lindsay Lohan and cocaine and Langford said he'd read about it and Elizabeth said, "oooh, stop, I was there, its soooo gossipy."
OK. Everyone already knows because it was broadcast on every station, but OK.
"So Elizabeth, what brought you to America?" I asked with genuine interest.
"You ask sooo many questions, I can't..."
Oh my God! She was so rude!
"Well, actually, this is the first question I am asking you directly."
She responded by just ignoring me and doing another sour, disappointed breath. Must be hard being her. I was shocked by her response but realised that she must have some major issues and didn't bother myself with it. John then told us that he had met 'lady Elizabeth' through his old apartment complex. Aha, so she is a 'lady', she certainly didn't behave like one, but it explained a little bit of why she thought she was so important. She had an electric cigarette with a fake diamond in the end which she smoked. She had actually designed this particular one and was quite proud of it. Langford asked her a question to which she responded again;
"You ask tooooo many questions."
"I'm sorry Elizabeth but how are you expected to get to know or make conversation without asking questions?" Good call Langford.
"Oh, sorry, long day," she said in her plummy, disdainful way.
Langford got her talking about her cigarettes and then just when she was getting really into it, he said, "Enough with the cigarettes now, I'm bored". HAH! HA! She quickly crawled back into her decaying shell. I know its not nice but this 'lady' was a piece of work.
When she was saying that she had smoked for 15 years, a little piece of me was dying to say "yes, and it shows," but I sent her white light instead, (tick for a proper person) knowing she must be pretty sad to be so rude to everybody.

As soon as she had snivelled out the door, Meg and James were bursting to share with us their stories of her. They had met her a number of times, even driven her home when she was drunk, and she had never remembered them- even ignored them at a party once and once, they had said hi and she turned her back to them leaving her hair dangling in James's drink. They really thought she was a bitch. I have not met such a character in a long time and it was very funny to see a woman like this, in action. As we left, I realised an actress friend who was in a TV show with me, was there but had only come for 20 minutes. We had a quick re-connect as we headed out the door. Langford and I were home by 11.30 and had had a wonderful night.