Charisma Carpenter

Sorry to start a new thread, Penny, but I felt it was kind of...necessary. So, sincerest apologies in advance. Well, here goes. This will be quite long and extremely detailed, but worth it in the end. Emma, you can certainly have this for CC Online. To start off with, I received the notebook in the mail from Penny on Thursday morning. Here are some pics of it (which Emma can also have, of course):

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I got all dressed up and left for the taping with daydreamer. Minimal traffic got us to the studio at 5:30. Waited in line for a bit, then were ushered to the very front as soon as we indicated that we had made reservations. Cool. Waited in line a bit more, and I suddenly realized that Paramount Studios is where they film AtS. How’s that for ironic coincidence?

So, we finally go in, and it’s a very nice set. Daydreamer and I got seated in the very front row in the very center. Excellent. I was excited. After a little while, I decided to get brave and go talk to someone about the notebook and how to get it to her. I went up to a page and introduced myself as a representative of stranger-things.net and charisma-carpenter.com and said we had a special gift for Charisma and we’d really like for her to have it. The nice page stopped an important-looking guy and told him what was up. He said "I’ll go get Christine, and she’ll get that hooked up for you." Okay, cool. So, I waited and chatted with the page, and then Christine showed up and said "Are you the one with a gift for Charisma?" "Yes," I said. I handed her the notebook and thanked her warmly. I then went back to my seat and waited for the taping to start.

When they introduced all the actors, I was so glad to be in the front row. They brought out all the other actors first, ending with Tyler Labine, before getting to Charisma. They called out her name, and the entire room erupted. She came bouncing out from behind the partition wearing an adorable little suit (dark grey with white pinstripes). She was so excited, all smiles and everything. I was immediately struck by just how small she is. She is extremely cute in person, and she kept waving and jumping up and down. I suddenly got brave again, and I shouted as loud as I could, "We love you, Charisma!" She totally heard me and looked at me for a second and smiled and waved again. She was just so excited. Then all the actors went away.

The first scene was in Sarah’s (CC’s character) house, and she’s basically having a little fight with her brother. There were dogs everywhere. I caught sight of CC waiting to come on at her cue, and she was wearing a bright red bathrobe over her costume (because it was freezing in the sound stage). She did the scene very well, and it was adorable to watch her adlib with the dogs. So, so adorable. One of them licked her face, and she was amused, but she had to make sure he hadn’t messed up her makeup. It was really cute.

The next scene was in her office, and she was really funny. It was hard for everyone because they kept doing rewrites of the script on the set, so people messed up a few times, but everyone was very professional and in good spirits. Charisma was, once again, adorable. The scene focused on her friend setting her up with a guy for a double date. There were a few more scenes after that involving the brother (who is also really funny).

During the date scene, you will NOT believe who I noticed was playing the guy she was supposed to be on a date with: Ken Marino, none other than Wilson Christopher! Wilson! The one who impregnated her with demon spawn! I just about crapped a brick when I saw him. I couldn’t believe the coincidence. Crazy! It was funny, though. In between takes, Ken would dance a little to the music. Charisma started dancing around to Beyonce’s "Crazy In Love"! Over the course of the shoot, she danced and even sang along a little to No Doubt’s "It’s My Life," "La Bamba," and "I Wanna Be Sedated!" Very cute. She looked gorgeous in her dress, but every time she wasn’t shooting, she put the red bathrobe back on. It was too cute.

For one scene later on, it took the crew forever to set some things up, so CC was sitting by herself in a fake alley, holding an adorable dog on her lap. She was all smiles, and kept petting the dog so affectionately. It’s a really good thing that CC likes dogs so much, because this show is full to bursting with dogs! In the final scene, she’s supposed to take the five dogs outside for a run, and they’re all on leashes. Once she finishes talking to her brother, she has to get all the dogs to go out the door with her, and it was hilarious watching her try to get all these dogs to go with her out the door! She was really great at working with the doggies, and it was fun to watch her with them.

It was a very long shoot, but it was awesome just to watch her work. She works so hard, and she really enjoys what she does. On a side note, they didn’t try to cover up her tatoos. You could see the one on her left wrist, and the one on her back was also quite visible. They’re very pretty. Her hair is just below shoulder length, and they had it slightly curly. She was, to put it simply, absolutely stunning.

At the curtain call at the very end after they wrapped, I did my best to shout nice things to her, like "we love you" and "you rock" and other equally dorky things. She was so, so happy and excited. I don’t understand how one person can smile that much and look so amazing doing it. After the curtain call, the whole cast came together is this big group hug, and they sort of squashed tiny little Charisma in the middle. ’Twas very precious. She very graciously came up to the barrier (which is situated a few feet above the actual stage) and said hello to the rabid fans and signed autographs. We waited patiently for our turn, but the security people were really trying to usher us out of there. Finally, CC was called away from the fans, and she was very nice to everyone. Oh, and I looked behind us, and there was Damien Hardy! Yay! So, we were being kicked out, and I was okay with it. A little disappointed, but I was very happy to have come to see her and support her, and I figured she would probably get the notebook, so it there was nothing to be unhappy about. We were outside in the large alleyway between sound stages, and Daphne (a nice girl who was sitting next to daydreamer and I in the audience), looks back to the private area of the lot where the talent and crew enter and exit the set. "There she is!" said Daphne. The three of us looked back, and there she was, jogging in our direction, still wearing her costume (a blue tank top, blue running pants, and her hair was up in a cute little ponytail). She jogged closer and closer, and then she was passing me, and I panicked a little on the inside. "DO SOMETHING!" I silently screamed inside my head. So, in another moment of courage, I yelled after her "STRANGER THINGS LOVES YOU!" and not really expecting anything to come of it. Honestly, I just wanted her to know. Okay, now here is where it gets very, very surreal.

She stops dead in her tracks, turns around, and yells out "Are you guys from Stranger Things?" "Yes!" we call back. She grins, and starts jogging toward us, looking directly at me, of all people. I honestly didn’t know what the hell to do. Fortunately, Charisma knew exactly what she wanted to do. She came right up to us, not 18 inches away from me. She was smiling really big and said something like "Wow, thank you so much for coming!" And then, she did the most amazing, most unbelievable thing. She smiled at me, looked me in the eye, stuck out her hand, and said "Hi, I’m Charisma." So, trying desperately not to let the shock and euphoria show in my face, I took her hand, shook it, and said "I’m Ellen." She shook daydreamer and Daphne’s hands, and then turned to me and asked "So, did you fly in?" I shook my head and said "No, I live in La Mirada, I go to school there." Then, this guy we didn’t know steps up and starts talking to her, and before he finishes his sentence, she asks very politely, "Are you with Stranger Things? Are you with them?" He said no, and she said very nicely to him, "Okay, well I’ll be with you in a minute," and then turns back to me! AAAAAHHHHH! So, I asked her if she had received our gift, and she said she hadn’t, and I told her that I gave it to a girl named Christine, and Charisma brightened and said that "Christine would be sure to get that to me." I then proceeded to give CC a brief description of the notebook and its contents, and she was so appreciative and happy. Then, she said that her mom told her that we’d "been having some trouble getting in touch with my publicist for an interview." I said a stupid thing because I was slightly confused, and I asked her if that was actually C-C.com, and she said she was pretty sure it was Stranger Things, and then she very jokingly said "but I guess you don’t want an interview." We vigorously said yes, of COURSE we did, and we all laughed. So, she thanked us once again, and finally turned to the poor guy who was waiting to talk to her. I told her as we were leaving that she did a really great job, really awesome, and I loved it. She was so, so gracious and nice, and said goodbye.

I freaked out once we got to the parking garage, and I realized to my horror that I couldn’t remember our conversation, but luckily I had daydreamer there to help me reconstruct the most of the conversation and accurately record it on a piece of paper I had in my car. I think the most amazing part was when she held her hand out to me and introduced herself, as though she actually wanted to meet me properly. I didn’t even think of asking her to sign anything. It seemed totally inappropriate, and I’m generally not in favor of that kind of thing anyway.

I’m sorry to have gone on so long, but there is just so much to say. I met Charisma. I mean, actually met her. With names and hands and everything. It was quite wonderful, and I feel confident that she will receive the notebook Penny so graciously put together and sent to me. Thanks so much to you all for your contributions and support, and I hope I haven’t bored you with my epic recap of an amazing evening.

I’m so happy. And I won’t sleep at all tonight. I love ST and CC!!1!!1$3!!1

***argel***