LIGHT! Oh Great, Morning. Someone hand me toothpicks I need to prop my eyes open! Grumble! Grumble! Morning Gail. What time is it? A quarter to 5 AM, Ack I'm normally not even in bed yet. Okay, okay I'll just go try and wash the truckload of sand from my eyes.

Shuffle, groan, stretch, strip! ahhh the shower! What in the heck is wrong with this tub? It must have plastic sheeting or something, every time I take a step the bottom of the tub sinks. WEIRD!

Out on the street the traffic starts jumping.... Working 9 to 5 ... Dressed and ready to run! What Gail you want to go down into Central Station? It's 5:30 in the morning. McDonalds is down there? Oh okay. These poor people... they don't have anywhere else to go? How can they get an ounce of sleep sitting up against the wall like that? Ready Gail? No, I'm sure I don't want anything. I'm not a breakfast person. I need to buy camera batteries. These have bit the dust. Thanks Sir. Have a good day.

TAXI!!!!!! Yes, Rockefeller Center Please. Burr it's cold. Thank God I dragged this coat with me. Lucky, Allen and the gang should be here by 6:30 I think. They had some stuff to set up. No one is here. Oh wait there's a guy over there with NBC = Need Bay City shirt on. Hi, I'm Lori. Yes, Yes... WE need Bay City. You're from Rhode Island? Cool. Read about this in Soap Opera Digest. That's way cool. We are beginning to be heard. Aren't you freezing in just that T-shirt? I'm about frozen and I'm in a coat. No, okay.

Hey mister cable guy, did they mess up the sidewalk cause they heard we were coming? No? You sure about that? Yes, Sure right! This is NBC we're talking about. Ha, Ha, yeah too funny. Hey Gail look up they are watching us from those windows. Some guy eating breakfast up there. Buurrrr, anyone have Coffee? Hey the donut shop is opening.

Here come people with AW signs. Cool. Melissa? Nice to meet you. Oh we need to be over on the side. This land is owned by NBC but the sidewalk on the other side is Public property and we have a permit for that area to hold a rally. NBC can't have us removed from it? Okay let's move gang.

Here comes Lucky, Allen and tribe. Cool Banner. Now to get it on air. Which may not be the easiest thing to do since I have a feeling NBC is going to do their best to keep us from being on the camera. Look they're rolling! ANYONE NEED A BLUE AND GREEN RIBBON? THE BLUE IS FOR ANOTHER WORLD AND THE GREEN FOR CHARLES KEATING! Here you go. Thanks. Careful don't get stuck with that pin. Allen Duran did not make the Banner for you to use as a coat. But the Logo is appropriately positioned on your a...! Funny! Thanks Kelt for the shirt and the cool pin. We need an angel right now.

They are doing a corner shot, Allen hold the banner up! Turn a little bit! There you go. Barely can see it but we are on. Hey every one we are on, chant. SAVE ANOTHER WORLD! SAVE ANOTHER WORLD! SAVE ANOTHER WORLD!

The paddy wagon has arrived! A whole fan full of Police. I don't know about you but I'm being good. Yes I swear! Someone go get our people who have gone over to the other side! They're here great. Sorry Cops we are good folk. BuhBye Coppies.

And the today show is over, Time to go. Where are we off too Gail? To the Hilton? Gonna walk over so we can see Mandybeth. Okay. Then we'll go change sure. Fine by e whatever you want. I'm just a tag-along.

2 hours later after going back to our hotel and changing we once again find ourselves at the Hilton this time for the luncheon.

The Luncheon is on the 2nd floor in the Ballroom? Okay dokey. Wow long line. That's good. Hey there is Melissa. She's talking to a freelance reporter from this morning. Hi Melissa! You look Nice. You're waiting on someone. Okay see you later then. The line is moving! Yes, Lori Stephenson. Table 15, okay. Oh yuck, a hot pink arm band just what I need.

Hi Kathy. Holding down the fort? Cool talk to you later. I want to get this book. Is this the line for the 35th anniversary book? It is okay thanks. You can have Julie Poll sign it? Why would I want that? Nah, don't think so. Thank you sir. I'm sure I'll enjoy it. Melissa what are we doing? Oh, cool idea to have everyone who wants to sign the banner. I like it. Sure, hand me that pen! To Another World, Thanks for the Memories!

Time to wander around, Hi Lucky, Allen, you both doing okay? Sure. Lots of people. I have to ditch this coat. Under the Save Another World Committee of Fans table. Melissa how are the Petitions and mailing letters going? Out of ribbon? Wow. Good! Someone went for more? That's great. We had over 400 made I think.

The Luncheon: (I will just be narrating this. Too much happened for me to give an oral conversation of the events)

The Luncheon is ready we can go in. The food sucked, and the auction was neat but only if you had bought raffle tickets. And then the stars, Victoria gave a rebel-rousing speech. And of course my camera decided to die. I had not the foggiest idea why. I ran out of the room and all the way to the basement to yet again buy Batteries. By the time I got back upstairs Victoria had disappeared and the rest of the cast was on stage thanking us. Charles Keating had introduced them. God it was good to see him back. The crowd went wild when it was announced that Carl was returning! Then they sang and we all cried and hugged and wished it weren't true.

Okay time for the autograph session:

First off the actors left the stage and we were asked to wait in the dining room until they could get setup in the lobby (for lack of a better term) of the ballroom. We waited and waited for what sees like forever. Not that you really want to know this but suddenly I had to go to the bathroom really, really bad. So I head out of the ballroom, out into the lobby area and out into the hall area where we signed in. Low and behold there stands, Victoria Wyndham, Charles Keating, Linda Dano and some Blond Bombshell that looks dressed to kill. And I want to die because they are all standing around right in front of the bathroom doors. I look at them for maybe 5 seconds and decide Hell they're human and whiz past them into the John. They were not there when I came out. One small favor!

I go back into the lobby; Victoria and Charles are seated at the table to my left already signing autographs. I have no idea who was to my right. It was the save AW table with the petition and banner there so I assume it stayed that way. Wait I remember it did stay that way. People were still signing the banner.

I headed back into the ballroom to get my book, and script that I had won in a contest of Victoria's and my camera. I get to the table to find this long line. Judi Evans Luciano is sitting with Lucky and gang. She had requested that be her table. (The reason being is Judi and her cousin Lisa come in and chat with us in the NBC-AnotherWorld Chatroom. So Judi thinks of us as friends.) Judi was sitting were I had been sitting so I have Lucky pass me my stuff. Judi looks up at me and I say "Hey Judi, I'm Lorias." She's like, "Hi babe. Do you want me to call you Lori or Lorias?" I said either works. Then Kelt or Bryn (can't remember which) asks Judi if she can take a picture of Lucky, she and I together. "Judi answers sure. So I get to jump the line and had my picture taken with Judi, and Lucky. Judi signed my book and script and I took off. I headed back into the lobby area and got in line for Victoria and Charles. It was a slow moving line but as always well worth the wait. I had them both sign my book and Charles sign the script since Victoria had already done so.

I went back into the ballroom and decided to get Lucky and Allen in line to meet Victoria and Charles. Lucky was like nope, I am not! I'll be a puddle! I was like yes! You are and I have a mop and bucket on hand! I'll stay with you. So we get in line. About that time my friend Margaret AKA Bubbles shows up and I make her get in line with Lucky, Allen and I because like Lucky she won't get in line unless I stay with her. Lucky's foot starts bothering her so she goes and sits in a chair while she waits for Allen, Margaret and I to get close to the table. I had asked a friend to make sure Lucky got to meet Victoria and Charles. This friend sees Lucky sitting in a chair at the Save AW table and cuts the line for her pulling Lucky in front of people. Well, Allen moves to be with Lucky and I follow suit because I need to take their picture. (Lucky and Allen's sons had broken their camera.) Well needless to say Lucky didn't need the mop or bucket!

Lucky and Allen move off and I get back in line with Margaret. We only wait about 5 more minutes and Margaret is having them autograph her book. She refuses to have her picture taken. By this time Victoria and Charles are starting to tease me. I had only been to the front of their line now 3 times LOL.

Okay now it's time to get other folks John Hancock's. First I think I got in line for Sandra Ferguson. Allen was in line and asked if I'd take his picture with her. Sure and he could take mine. Then I got in line for David Andrew McDonald. What a sweetie! Kelt and Bryn were in line for him so I took Kelt's picture and she took mine. Bryn was gone by the time we got done.

I conned Kelt into getting in line for Charles and Victoria. She swears she's going to faint if Charles so much as even looks at her. I told her if she faints he'd catch her. She's giddy with excitement. But like Lucky and Bubbles I had to stay with her or she wouldn't stay in line. We get to the front and Victoria razzes me about being in line again. Charles asks Kelt what her name is and she says sign it "To Keltic." They have a discussion about her nickname. She needless to say does not faint!

Kelt and I part company. I head back into the ballroom. I stop at Judi's table long enough to steal a picture of her of my own. Then I looked around the ballroom to see who is signing autographs in there. Well I have to get Eric Morgan Stewart's autograph because I know him from a chatroom from 2 years earlier. One of my best friends before she was killed in a car accident had been his webmaster and another friend and he still talked from time to time. So I spied his table and headed for it. Elaine Graham and Rhonda Ross Kedrick where also sitting at the same table so I first got in line for them. I had always heard how sweet Elaine is, but neither Rhonda nor she said one word to me. There was no one to take a picture of me with them so all I had them do was sign my script and book.

Then I got in line for Eric. I walked up to him and said, "Hi Eric, I'm from Maria's old chatroom. You may not remember me but I'm Fee. (Fee was the name I started out with on the net.) His face lit up and he told me he remembered me. He said he's hardly ever online anymore but missed all the girls from Maria's chatroom. He signed my book and script and some nice lady took my picture with him.

From Eric I went back into the lobby and got Alice Barrett-Mitchell's autographs. I was going to get a few more signatures but they started playing with moving the actors all over the darn place. I saw Gail and we went upstairs together to get Linda Dano's signature and a few others. I stood in line for a bit but decided that I had had enough and got out of line and went to the elevator. Tom Eplin was leaning against the wall smoking a cigarette. I said "Hi" He said "Hi" and that was it. He moved off with a girl towards the windows and I headed down to the 2nd floor.

Allen and Lucky were there waiting for everyone to return. We were all supposed to meet and go to the hotel in NJ and call Lisa. Lisa was going to take us and possibly Judi out to dinner. It was going on 5 PM so I was beginning to get antsy. Lucky was exhausted and Allen was tired. Allen went in search of their car crew. We end up down on the first floor waiting in some chairs. Allen finds them and comes to tell Lucky and I that the girls are in line for Tom's autograph or someone I forget and will be down soon. Lucky, Allen and I wait. Linda Dano comes down the escalator with an entourage. She sees Allen walks up to him puts her hand on his shoulder and Thanks him for all the hard work that Lucky and he have been doing. I had forgotten how sweet she is. I had met her in 1990 but she didn't remember me not that I expected her to.

The girls show up, call Lisa and we all pile in Allen's mini van. Little did we know we'd still be in that same car 3 hours later. I affectionately call this little trip Swank's Mobile Tours: Getting lost is what we do best! I had an idea we were in trouble when I had to tell Allen where the Lincoln Tunnel was after we had circled Manhattan for 45 minutes. We get through the tunnel and we first take a left off the Expressway (I have no idea what the number was or where we were). Then we decide that's wrong and we turn around and take the right hand turn. We drive and drive and drive. About this time Bryn announces she has to go to the little girls room. Allen offer's her Jenn's Dr. Pepper Can. "Nah, I don't think so!" We drive and Drive and Drive. Kelt, Hailey and Bryn are now in the back seat eating gummy bears, worms, heck if I know. Then we had some tears, and some singing. It's now 2 hours after we had left the Hilton. Low and behold what is this I see- "The George Washington Bridge." Welcome to the Bronx folks! Oh, there's Yankee stadium. Not exactly what I wanted to see. By this time I was getting rather upset. Bryn really had to go. The atmosphere is the van was on the verge of Murder.

Finally it downs on me that we are on Manhattan Island and that we will have to be within in 2 blocks of my motel for Allen to turn back into the Lincoln Tunnel. I decided that I should just get out when we get close to my hotel. I'm scared that if I go back through the tunnel and back into Jersey I will not have a way back into Manhattan. Lisa had said she'd bring me back but that was before it was going on 9 PM at night. So when we got to the corner of 34th and 9th I jumped out of the van and walked the block and a half to my hotel.

My dinner that night consisted of a Libby's spreadible chicken salad, crackers and a coke, whereas if I had gone with Gail and them I could have eaten at Sardi's. Oh, well, it was an experience. Thanks Allen for the TOUR! Don't think I'll do it again.

I ate my disgusting meal, called Lisa and told her Allen was somewhere out there circling NJ and went to bed. It had been one hell of a long day!

Duran, Hailey and Jenn at the rally

This a picture of my friends Jodi and Kathy .

Kathy, Bryn, Hailey, Melissa and Duran at the rally

The gang with the banner: Allen, Lucky, Duran Kelt, Bryn, Jodi, TommyGirl, Hailey, Jenn and the shorty barely seen over the banner is me!