Antsy. Feeling like something good is about to happen. Much different from last month when I just dragged along and couldn’t get anything done. (Well, okay, the two-week, “I feel like I have something terminal” cold didn’t help.)

I get this feeling from time to time. I don’t know whether it actually portends something or that simply wanting something good to happen somehow makes it happen. (My Dad was a great believer in the power of positive thinking.)

Last year around this time I had just started drama classes and was reading everything on acting that I could get my hands on, from high art to high sell. (I’m a believer in research.) Getting in front of the camera was something I’d wanted to do for a very long time, so having finally started down that path I guess I was allowing myself just a little fantasy about it – as in, Gee, wouldn’t it be cool if I’m having lunch and reading my acting book and someone in the business comes up to me, notices the book and says “I couldn’t help but notice what you’re reading. Do you act?” And then……!!!

Okay, silly.

Well here's something to file under "You just never know!" Within a week of letting that little thought wander through the transom of my mind (February 10, 2009, to be exact) I was in the McDonald's up on Duke Street in Alexandria (the seedy, industrial part of Alexandria) eating McNuggets and reading my copy of Breaking into Acting for Dummies (yes, there is such a book), and this pleasant-looking, middle-aged man walks over and says "I couldn't help noticing what you're reading. Are you an actor?" He then proceeds to tell me how his son - David Wilcox - managed to break into television as a writer, and how he now writes for Life on Mars, having written for Law & Order for four years and for some Sci-Fi Channel show before that and that his son now makes a million dollars a year.

And I sat there staring like Jon Favreau in that scene from Rudy where the blonde college girl walks up and says, “Excuse me, don’t I know you from somewhere?” I think I mumbled something like, “You must be very proud.”

And he walked away.

And I wasn't wearing any lipstick!

Why didn’t I say, “ Please, have a seat! Tell me all about him! Tell me how he did it! Tell me who you are! ” No! Head-banging stupidity!

I googled David Wilcox. He’s a writer/executive producer on Fringe, Life on Mars, Law & Order, and a whole raft of other series.

Anyway, it goes to show that you never know who you might run into in the business - or related to someone in the business - even in northern Virginia (even in McDonald's!) and that an open book on acting, even a tacky one seen upside down, is a good conversation starter.

Should that happen again, baby I am ready.