Okay, laugh, laugh all you want.  I'll be honest with you...I am buzzing...crazy!  To put it more simply, it's taken me at least ten minutes to write that last sentence!  Why, you ask...well you know that I will attempt to explain it to you in the best diction that this moment will provide me (of course, with lots of edits to make me seem capable).

Anyway, I was completely sober when I started out the day.  I even took a nice swim before I met up with Melissa McGinnis to pick up my tuxedo and have the greatest lunch I've ever had up to date!  Anyway, once I returned, I realized that I had about an hour to get ready for the Special Merit Award Ceremony that I was entitled to attend.  Afer all, it was sponsored by Waste Management!  Off the record, it was the Nominee Reception that found me in the situation that I am now.

So as it happens, I arrive at the Wilshire Ebell Theater around 4:30pm.  I await in the line to get credentialed for about five minutes (if that) and wish that my cab driver would have had the same ethics to get me there in a quicker fashion.  Anyway, who am I to demand?  Once I was checked in, I realized that I was equipped with two passes and, if you care, fell one short.  Sorry Ernie, sorry Tanya, and sorry to everyone else whom I've promised a trip to the Grammy's prior to this.  What can I say, I have been a bit confident in my musical skills!

Around 4:45 I take a comfortable seat in the old theater that plays host to this event and thumb through the program to become a bit more familiarized with the festivities of the night.  At this time, I have not noticed anything with a WM (Waste Management) logo, nor do I see anything to set me straight about that for the rest of the night. 

As it happens though, the Special Merit Awards and Nominees Reception was a beautiful turnout.  The honorees included the Four Tops, Brenda Lee (of Radar Love fame), Dean Martin, Allan Toussaint (who holds a special spot in my heart as of my time in New Orleans), and Leo Fender.  The surprise was The Blind Boys of Alabama and their lifetime achievement award which proved to the audience just how legit the Grammy's are.

Once the ceremony ended, we constituents waited in the biggest line God herself could have ever dreamed of.  Once inside though, the guests were treated with the finest of foods...and the best in liquor (hahaha, wherein I fall)! My first action was to peruse the spot and count all of the recyclable bins strewn throughout the event.  Unfortunately, I did not find one...and at an event sponsored by Waste Management, my opinion of the red flag went up. 

It was then I decided to simply enjoy the scene (it was not difficult) and schmooze (is that how you spell it?) as much as I could.  Deciding to take one (or two, or three, or more...) for the team, I approached every bar and asked the Tenders themselves what was being done with all of the cans, plastic bottles, etc. that were being utilized for the evening.  The simple reply was that they were being recycled.  NICE!  One bartender in particular seemed to want me to know that implicitly.  It was then I divulged my credentials and bonded with him over another Cosmopolitan.

After that I decided to strategically place myself in random "corners" and "hallways" and try to make myself seen.  I ended up speaking with three of the remaining members of Boyz II Men (God bless 'em for their cover of In The Still of the Night), Ted Allen (of Queer Eye fame), and unsuspectingly Beau Bridges (seriously Beau Bridges)! 

By this time I was a bit sloshed in all honesty, and my thoughts switched from "oh my God" to "oh my God, how am I going to get back to the hotel?"  Luckily, I still possessed the wherewithall to figure that problem out, thus here I am now, still blogging to all of you, as promised.

What does the rest of the night hold?  In all honesty...rest, as tomorrow is going to be huge!  Waste Management has a reputation to uphold and I plan to help them do just that.  From my prior introduction yesterday, this will not be hard.  My goal is to catch some celebrity opinions and see where they themselves stand.  However at this moment, I am about to make sure that tomorrow, I myself can stand!

In love and in luck,

Noel

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