My general journal was due. A bunch of us grade 10s took on a bunch of grade 11s in floor hockey at lunch. We kicked ass - I had a goal and 3 assists. I watched Larry King with Drew Barrymore as the guest.
[Note: I was particularly interested in this interview because 4 years earlier I had a very brief flirtation with Drew. I know, that sounds like crap, so here are the details as I remember them (anyone from Willowbrook that recalls something different is welcome to leave a comment).
It was a spring day in grade 6 at Willowbrook P.S. and I was kicked out of class for some reason or another. It was the last class of the day, sunny outside, and filming on a new movie with Drew Barrymore close by had started, so I took off and went to the set. I knew they would be filming on Ravencliffe Rd. because my friend Marla had told me all about how her house was rented out for making a Drew Barrymore movie. Remember, E.T. and Firestarter were only a few years prior, so Drew Barrymore was a BIG deal to a 12 year old. Anyway, I made my way over to the set before all the other kids in school and before I knew it I was sitting on the grass chatting with Drew Barrymore! By the time all the other kids showed up she was now filming, but I was there in the front row watching every take. I was in love. Eventually I had to go home for dinner, but before leaving the set I wrote Drew a love letter and promised I would be back on set after school the next day.
When I got home and told my family what happened they all thought I was full of shit. So before sitting down to eat my mom threw Gabe and I into the car and we drove to Ravencliffe just so she could see with her own eyes that they actually were filming a movie in Thornhill! A few hours later the phone rang and it was Marla - "stay off the line (no call waiting then) because Drew is about to call you!" I couldn't believe it when a few minutes later Drew called me. I'm honestly not sure if the call was 2 minutes or 2 hours, but I do recall asking if she knew Ricky Schroder (I was a big Silver Spoons fan at the time!). Anyway, for the rest of the week I would go to the set after school and watch them make The Screaming Woman (the film). That weekend Jason Gold and I went to Marla's house to spend the afternoon with her and Drew. Then Drew asked me to join her for dinner on the coming Tuesday in her Winnebago. On Tuesday I went to the set after school and was waiting for the filming to break, and to have dinner with her, when suddenly I realized it was October 7th - my dad's birthday! There was a family dinner planned, and I needed to be there. I couldn't tell Drew myself, she was in the middle of shooting, so I saw Marla's brother Jeff and told him to convey my apologies.
The next day at school people told me they heard I "stood Drew up" and that she was pissed. I just assumed other kids were jealous of what we had going on and still went to the set after school. However, when I got to Ravencliffe my friend Andrew, that lived on the street, told me it was true. There were a crowd of people around Drew and she was talking smack about me. I turned around, went home, and never went back to the set. My friend Randy ended up "dating" Drew after that. Apparently he even got some action ... I never did.
Here I was 4 years later watching Drew on Larry King Live explaining how she had a drug and alcohol problem ... even at the time that I "knew" her. So that is why it was particularly interesting for me to hear about.]
