Tonight was absolutely one of the most memorable nights of my life. I went to the American premiere of the Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King in Westwood. Mind you, the FOTR and TTT premieres were in New York, so I started off with the mindset of this being fated. Well, my friends and I planned on getting there at 3, but Missy and Angela left Irvine later and got here at 4.

Then we needed to find parking at UCLA, so you know how I am with directions—we went back and forth, back and forth—and when we were successfully parked, it was 4:45. Then Missy decided she needed to buy a disposable camera so we stopped by the HillTop Store, got her her camera and Pepsi, and finally started off walking to Westwood—when we got there it was 5:30. I was really bummed, because chances were basically null of getting a decent viewing spot. But we saw this guy heading toward the stadium, and were told that he would be letting people into the bleachers (FYI—the bleachers were set up both near the Mann Theatre where we were, and the Bruin Theatre over one street). We edged in with a group on the sidewalk, and entered the bleachers area, and sat down in ROW FIVE. Everyone showed up—Ian McKellen, Orlando, Viggo, Dominic, Billy, Sean and his lovely wife, Peter Jackson, John Rhys Davies, Miranda Otto, Liv Tyler, EVERYONE—except Elijah.

Where was Elijah? Presumably stuck in traffic. He ended up coming about 45 minutes late. I know, it was sort of mean—all the press people and most of the fans waited until he showed. And when he finally came, some people in front of us had left, so we ended up in ROW TWO. ROW TWO!!!!! And when he began making his way toward us, Dom and Viggo came out for one more series of interviews, etc. Dom came over before Elijah, so Missy and I were screaming our heads off and he waved at us! Tucked his finger into his thumb and waved the other four fingers! Not a hallucination, I saw his eyes on us, and that wave!

So I was floating, and Elijah finally came by. Got 2 good pics of him, I think. He was so close I could see his eyes. Then Dom, who was near the side, was tossed a poster to autograph, and a pen immediately after. He caught the pen (which he prob didn’t know was coming his way until a split second before it got to him) with one hand, in mid-air. Dom was on FIRE! So I just alternated looking at him and Elijah, but we left soon after, as my friends were hungry. That’s it!

Thanks Jennifer! :)