Post by tropicalgymnast on Jul 11, 2005 23:11:40 GMT -5
by Monica W.
Gymnastics and school took up most of my time so I rarely talked to friends outside the gym, let alone guys. I was staying home from gym for 2 weeks to heal a stress fracture and getting extremely bored. I hadn’t watched the Disney channel in a while so I looked, and saw a contest. “WIN A DATE WITH RICKY ULLMAN, THE STAR OF PHIL OF THE FUTURE!” the announcer said. To win, you had to e-mail some Disney address and explain why (with 100 words or less) you should go to dinner with him. I had nothing to do but just sit on my butt, so I wrote a short essay and sent it. When I got back to the gym I was so busy training I completely forgot about it. Then I got a strange e-mail.
From: disneycontest@ disney.com
RE: URGENT
Dear Monica,
3 weeks ago you entered the “WIN! A DATE WITH RICKY ULLMAN” contest. We found your essay and your cleverness and maturity impressed us. You have won! Please send an e-mail with your phone number, full name and address. We will call you ASAP to confirm the date and time. Thank you!
I called and they set a date. I was told I would be called by Ricky himself. I was so excited! I gave them my cell phone number so no matter where I was I would get it. So 2 days later I woke up to the CanCan on my cell phone at about 7 in the morning. Calls that early just tick me off. I picked it up and half sleepily yelled “WHAT DO YOU WANT?!” “Hello? This is Ricky…” I heard. I jerked out of sleep. “Hello? Oh sorry. I’m not a morning person. I know you could tell.” I laughed, feeling kind of embarrassed. I heard him chuckle through the phone. “Sorry to call you so early. I wanted to call as soon as I woke up before I forget. Our date is in about a week, you know. And well I just wanted to get to know you, so it wont be such a blind date. How old are you?” “I’m 17, I’ll be 18 next month. But I’m gonna warn you-I don’t look 17. I look like I’m 13! I’m a serious gymnast so my growth is stunted.” “Kind of young to be watching the Disney channel!” “Yea, well I was injured and bored. Boredom does things to you. What about you?” We had a nice conversation for about a half hour, about what he was doing, what I was doing, current events and stuff. He seemed really nice and genuine. “Well I have to go. I have to pick up a friend. Remember, we go out on Saturday at 7:30.” “Yea…talk to you later…you can text message me if you want.” “Sure! You are awesome to talk to. Well bye!” “See ya.” I hung up the phone, put my face in my pillow and screamed. I was going to go out with a celebrity!
After a long week of anticipation and excited friends, it was time. He was coming to my hometown, and we were going to eat at a nice seafood resturant a few minutes down from my apartment. I primped for 3 hours. I even got my hair braided. I sprinkled glitter on myself and spritzed myself with “Hawaiian Breeze” body spray. I was wearing a fire-engine red halter top with a long black flowing skirt. My shoes were red strapless sandals. I was happy I had chosen my braces to red and white the month before! My earrings were gold hoops, and I had on simple lip gloss and a little mascara. My mom complimented me before I left. “You look beautiful. Have a good time…” She trailed off. “I’ll call you.” I told her and kissed her on the cheek. When I walked outside there was a black stretch limo. I knew it was Ricky. I was happy I didn’t have to drive my tiny black Civic, although I would have picked him up from his hotel so he wouldn’t have to get a taxi. A chauffer got the door for me and there was Ricky in a nice outfit, nothing too dressy. Some nice jeans with a Gap shirt. He smiled that beautiful smile and I gave him a hug (being the friendly person I am). He smelled like Axe. “Hey how are you doing?” “Good.” I sat down. “Wow,” he said. “You sure weren’t kidding when you said you looked younger!” he laughed. “Yea. I get it all the time!” We chatted a little until we got to the restaurant. It was a modest amount of people there. We were directed to a booth on the right side of the restaurant. It was dimly lit, really romantic. We sat down. “I’ve eaten here before. Its kind of expensive but the food is REALLY good.” I told him. As if on cue, my phone rang. I was getting a text message. How embarrassing! “Sorry.” I said. I opened my phone. It said:
Text message sent by contact EMILY at 7:33 pm : omgosh youre on your date! Remember 2 b urself and no monkey business!!!
As if I would be rude and answer her. “Sorry Ricky…one of my crazy friends…I’m sure you understand.” “Yeah its cool. I see you like Mariah Carey, you know, from your ringer.” I smiled. “There’s a funny story behind that…” I told him about how I save money by recording the ringers rather than downloading them. “I keep it ghetto.” I said. We laughed. The waitress came after a little while. I ordered a salad, ¼ pound of lobster, a crab cake and of course, a diet Sprite. He ordered the Salisbury steak well done with Maryland crab soup and iced tea. While we waited for our food, we talked a little bit about him. He talked about a movie he was working on and how “The Big Bad Swim” had done so well. He also talked about his personal life. All of a sudden I saw a cute little girl with blonde hair and green eyes, who looked about 10. She turned to Ricky and whispered just loudly enough for me to hear, “Are you Phil?“ he smiled knowingly. “Yes.” “Can I-” she turned to her parents at the table down from us. “…please have an autograph?” “Sure!” he found a paper napkin and took the pen the girl was holding and signed it. Ricky handed it to her. She looked overjoyed. “Thank you!” she said. “No problem.” “See ya!” she ran down to her parents. “Does this happen a lot?” I asked. “No, not too much. I’m not a well known celebrity. Just people that watch Disney and read Popstar and Bop magazines.” We talked some more about my gymnastics, his acting career, family and friends and well basically everything while we ate. Then dessert came. It was my favorite dessert, cheesecake. “This is my favorite!” I said. “Really? Its my favorite too!” We laughed and finished it. I didn’t want to be rude so I got out $8 for the tip. “You don’t have to do that! I’ll take the tip.” He said. He is such a sweety! I thought to myself. I was already told Disney would pay for the meal. We went to the limo and rode back to my apartment. I was overjoyed. It had been the best date I was ever on. We had so much fun talking and laughing. However as soon as it started it was over. We stopped at my building. I guess he was going to walk me to my door. “Monica…I had a really great time. You’re so fun and full of energy.” He said. When I realized he was holding my hand I nearly passed out. We got to my door, 103. “I guess I’ll call you tomorrow….” I said. I didn’t want him to go. “Well I’m here until Monday. Maybe we can go to the mall or something. Just hang out.” “Yeah….I would like that.” He leaned closer to me. I was going for the kiss. His lips almost touched mine when the door swung open. There was my mom standing there. She gasped and put her hand over her mouth. “Sorry!” She said and slammed the door shut. Unfortunately I shifted to the doorway and it hit me. Being the blunderbuss I was I fell on Ricky and he caught me. I started to laugh. “Only me…things like this only happen to me.” I laughed. We were both laughing and I steadied myself. “I’ll just call you tomorrow. That seems safe enough.” “Okay.” I knocked on the door. “Ok….let me in now!” I called to my mom. “Bye.” Ricky said. I winked at him and said “See ya.”
Gymnastics and school took up most of my time so I rarely talked to friends outside the gym, let alone guys. I was staying home from gym for 2 weeks to heal a stress fracture and getting extremely bored. I hadn’t watched the Disney channel in a while so I looked, and saw a contest. “WIN A DATE WITH RICKY ULLMAN, THE STAR OF PHIL OF THE FUTURE!” the announcer said. To win, you had to e-mail some Disney address and explain why (with 100 words or less) you should go to dinner with him. I had nothing to do but just sit on my butt, so I wrote a short essay and sent it. When I got back to the gym I was so busy training I completely forgot about it. Then I got a strange e-mail.
From: disneycontest@ disney.com
RE: URGENT
Dear Monica,
3 weeks ago you entered the “WIN! A DATE WITH RICKY ULLMAN” contest. We found your essay and your cleverness and maturity impressed us. You have won! Please send an e-mail with your phone number, full name and address. We will call you ASAP to confirm the date and time. Thank you!
I called and they set a date. I was told I would be called by Ricky himself. I was so excited! I gave them my cell phone number so no matter where I was I would get it. So 2 days later I woke up to the CanCan on my cell phone at about 7 in the morning. Calls that early just tick me off. I picked it up and half sleepily yelled “WHAT DO YOU WANT?!” “Hello? This is Ricky…” I heard. I jerked out of sleep. “Hello? Oh sorry. I’m not a morning person. I know you could tell.” I laughed, feeling kind of embarrassed. I heard him chuckle through the phone. “Sorry to call you so early. I wanted to call as soon as I woke up before I forget. Our date is in about a week, you know. And well I just wanted to get to know you, so it wont be such a blind date. How old are you?” “I’m 17, I’ll be 18 next month. But I’m gonna warn you-I don’t look 17. I look like I’m 13! I’m a serious gymnast so my growth is stunted.” “Kind of young to be watching the Disney channel!” “Yea, well I was injured and bored. Boredom does things to you. What about you?” We had a nice conversation for about a half hour, about what he was doing, what I was doing, current events and stuff. He seemed really nice and genuine. “Well I have to go. I have to pick up a friend. Remember, we go out on Saturday at 7:30.” “Yea…talk to you later…you can text message me if you want.” “Sure! You are awesome to talk to. Well bye!” “See ya.” I hung up the phone, put my face in my pillow and screamed. I was going to go out with a celebrity!
After a long week of anticipation and excited friends, it was time. He was coming to my hometown, and we were going to eat at a nice seafood resturant a few minutes down from my apartment. I primped for 3 hours. I even got my hair braided. I sprinkled glitter on myself and spritzed myself with “Hawaiian Breeze” body spray. I was wearing a fire-engine red halter top with a long black flowing skirt. My shoes were red strapless sandals. I was happy I had chosen my braces to red and white the month before! My earrings were gold hoops, and I had on simple lip gloss and a little mascara. My mom complimented me before I left. “You look beautiful. Have a good time…” She trailed off. “I’ll call you.” I told her and kissed her on the cheek. When I walked outside there was a black stretch limo. I knew it was Ricky. I was happy I didn’t have to drive my tiny black Civic, although I would have picked him up from his hotel so he wouldn’t have to get a taxi. A chauffer got the door for me and there was Ricky in a nice outfit, nothing too dressy. Some nice jeans with a Gap shirt. He smiled that beautiful smile and I gave him a hug (being the friendly person I am). He smelled like Axe. “Hey how are you doing?” “Good.” I sat down. “Wow,” he said. “You sure weren’t kidding when you said you looked younger!” he laughed. “Yea. I get it all the time!” We chatted a little until we got to the restaurant. It was a modest amount of people there. We were directed to a booth on the right side of the restaurant. It was dimly lit, really romantic. We sat down. “I’ve eaten here before. Its kind of expensive but the food is REALLY good.” I told him. As if on cue, my phone rang. I was getting a text message. How embarrassing! “Sorry.” I said. I opened my phone. It said:
Text message sent by contact EMILY at 7:33 pm : omgosh youre on your date! Remember 2 b urself and no monkey business!!!
As if I would be rude and answer her. “Sorry Ricky…one of my crazy friends…I’m sure you understand.” “Yeah its cool. I see you like Mariah Carey, you know, from your ringer.” I smiled. “There’s a funny story behind that…” I told him about how I save money by recording the ringers rather than downloading them. “I keep it ghetto.” I said. We laughed. The waitress came after a little while. I ordered a salad, ¼ pound of lobster, a crab cake and of course, a diet Sprite. He ordered the Salisbury steak well done with Maryland crab soup and iced tea. While we waited for our food, we talked a little bit about him. He talked about a movie he was working on and how “The Big Bad Swim” had done so well. He also talked about his personal life. All of a sudden I saw a cute little girl with blonde hair and green eyes, who looked about 10. She turned to Ricky and whispered just loudly enough for me to hear, “Are you Phil?“ he smiled knowingly. “Yes.” “Can I-” she turned to her parents at the table down from us. “…please have an autograph?” “Sure!” he found a paper napkin and took the pen the girl was holding and signed it. Ricky handed it to her. She looked overjoyed. “Thank you!” she said. “No problem.” “See ya!” she ran down to her parents. “Does this happen a lot?” I asked. “No, not too much. I’m not a well known celebrity. Just people that watch Disney and read Popstar and Bop magazines.” We talked some more about my gymnastics, his acting career, family and friends and well basically everything while we ate. Then dessert came. It was my favorite dessert, cheesecake. “This is my favorite!” I said. “Really? Its my favorite too!” We laughed and finished it. I didn’t want to be rude so I got out $8 for the tip. “You don’t have to do that! I’ll take the tip.” He said. He is such a sweety! I thought to myself. I was already told Disney would pay for the meal. We went to the limo and rode back to my apartment. I was overjoyed. It had been the best date I was ever on. We had so much fun talking and laughing. However as soon as it started it was over. We stopped at my building. I guess he was going to walk me to my door. “Monica…I had a really great time. You’re so fun and full of energy.” He said. When I realized he was holding my hand I nearly passed out. We got to my door, 103. “I guess I’ll call you tomorrow….” I said. I didn’t want him to go. “Well I’m here until Monday. Maybe we can go to the mall or something. Just hang out.” “Yeah….I would like that.” He leaned closer to me. I was going for the kiss. His lips almost touched mine when the door swung open. There was my mom standing there. She gasped and put her hand over her mouth. “Sorry!” She said and slammed the door shut. Unfortunately I shifted to the doorway and it hit me. Being the blunderbuss I was I fell on Ricky and he caught me. I started to laugh. “Only me…things like this only happen to me.” I laughed. We were both laughing and I steadied myself. “I’ll just call you tomorrow. That seems safe enough.” “Okay.” I knocked on the door. “Ok….let me in now!” I called to my mom. “Bye.” Ricky said. I winked at him and said “See ya.”