As any good Rourke fan already knows, Mickey had recently been all over New Jersey filming scenes for his upcoming movie The Wrestler. In the movie Mickey portrays a past his prime wrestler Randy “The Ram” Robinson. He comes back for a final show down match against his hostile arch enemy The Ayatollah played by Ernest “The Cat” Miller. I did what most people did and signed up with the movies Official website to get updates about the movie and the upcoming matches. The last email I got from them said they would be filming in Dover, New Jersey March 14^th & 15^th, and the final scenes of the movie would be filmed during a real Ring Of Honor wrestling event. I thought to myself, hmm New Jersey or say piss on it and go on that late spring getaway to somewhere tropical and sunny, where I can stick my toes in the sand while catching some rays? I figured what the hell, Ill head to Jersey, I aint never been there before. What’s life if ya don’t toss your tits in the fryin’ pan every so often?

 Before I made my Jersey journey I emailed 2 very good, long time friends of Stephy and I’s, Melissa Prophet and Brandi. Ya may not recognize Brandi’s name right off the bat, but you will soon. This chick is headed for big things! Melissa on the other hand is a highly sought after Talent Manager to some of the most recognized names in Hollyweird. The industry and its inner workings are old hat to her. Before opening her own Talent Management company she was Miss Los Angeles, Miss California, was 3^rd runner up in the Miss USA pageant and Miss Universe pageant. She’s proudly broke bread with the likes of Frank Vincent, Joe Pesci, Robert DeNiro, Nicholas Cage, Samuel L. Jackson, Martin Scorsese and Francis Ford Coppola. Yep, this chick knows her shit. She’s also appeared in television shows and a few films like Goodfellas and Casino. Think your tough and wanna tango with Miss Melissa? Be forewarned Melissa is a warrior at heart. She doesn’t take any shit off of anybody and she’s got a animalistic 6^th sense about people, so don’t go thinkin’ your gonna play her for a sucka’, youll be the fool that’s fo’ sho’! She goes for the jugular and doesn’t fuck around.

 In short Melissa moved a mountain by the name of Mickey Rourke. She scored me a meeting with him, not a hi, how ya doin’, can I take a picture with ya kinda thang. Though I’m sure if Mickey wasn’t feelin’ it he would’ve told me to go fuck myself, fuck off, or go get fucked or something, but he didn’t. To say I am and will forever be grateful to all 3 of these people would be an understatement. They will always hold a special place in my heart. (Hey, I may have graduated from the trashy trailer park to livin’ in tha’ hood but I still have a big heart.)  Melissa made damn sure Mickey knew I was there representing uniquelyrourke. If you haven’t guessed it by now, Melissa and Mickey go way back.

 Friday afternoon March 14th found me scoping out the parking situation in Dover. It was kinda crazy. Dover is a smaller city, your typical blue collar workin’ man kinda place. Which is cool by me coz that’s what I’m used to. Although I did have some trouble reading the signs because they were mainly in Spanish, and the only Spanish this girl knows is hola and puta. Fuck, I was kickin’ my own ass for duckin’ outta Spanish class back in High School. I was crazy hungry but didn’t want to go and order somethin’ to eat and not know what I was gettin’ or unknowingly insult anyone. Instead I sucked down some tea and gabbed to Stephy on my cell phone explaining the sights, sounds and smells, occasionally screeching in her ear about the damn bees that kept trying to invade my rental car. WTF, I have a thang about bees…eeech!

 After awhile I motored back to where I was staying in Morristown, threw some grub down my loudly complaining gullet, grabbed my ROH ticket and headed back to Dover. I thought Id get a good parking spot real close by the theatre where the matches were being held coz I was 1 hour early. Fuck was I wrong! The place was a fucking madhouse. I drove around the block a few times and nothin’ opened up. I finally ended up parking outside a church about 5 blocks away. I called Stephy again and told her wtf was going on. She was like oooh your Scandinavian ass better be careful! I was like shit I live in da’ hood, aint no skin off my teeth walkin’ around up in here. On my 5 block trek I got leered at, jeered at, cat called, whistled at, and a few fellas made that tired old V sign with their fingers along with the whole tongue action thang goin’ on. Pffft, I should’ve opened my mouth and let my freak show of a tongue put theirs to shame, but I behaved so Stephy wouldn’t get on my case.

 After hoofin’ the 5 blocks with the complimentary comedy show courtesy of those silly guys I ducked into the Baker Theatre only to get frisked by the guy who took my ticket. I gave him some shit about touchin’ me coz its like dude I know your doin’ your job but don’t invade my space. I don’t think I’m gonna be hiding anything up my ass ya know? I wasn’t that desperate to get pictures. Once inside the theatre I stopped in my tracks and took it all in. The theatre is a stunning old gal architecturally. The high ceilings complete with punched tin squares, gilded gold wall scones and peeling plaster. The grand balcony with its solid wood railing overlooking the stage, the varnish worn thin from thousands of hands caressing it, coupled with the antique appearance of the bathrooms was like taking a step back in time. In my minds eye I could imagine the theatre in its yesteryear glory days preening in all of its magnificence.

 The only shitty thing was I couldn’t find an usher to show me where I was supposed to sit. I had ordered a 3^rd row reserved seat to the Ring Of Honor event online, ROH sent me 2^nd row. Oi, wtf to do! I figured I’d stand in the back of the theatre and talk to the locals, maybe then I could figure out a good place to eat without lookin’ like a goober. What the hell, I was there for a few nights, may as well make some new friends along the way. (Those of ya who know me know Id talk to a rock if it would talk back to me..hahahaha. Stephy is always sayin’ I’m too friendly and open for my own good) Out of nowhere a nice fella’ named Timmy struck up a conversation with me, but he was soon whisked away by someone who was part of the movie crew to take his spot ringside for filming and I was on my own again.

 All of a sudden the lights start flashing and The Ayatollah comes marching out waving his flag as the smoke machines churned out stanky clouds of funk. He took great pride in pissin’ people off whilst that swarmy song of his played. He hopped in the ring as Guns And Roses Sweet Child Of Mine filled my ears. What appeared to be Mickey came strutting around the ring, smacking people’s hands while the entire crowd chanted USA, USA, USA. He climbs into the ring and it’s on! Those 2 fellas started grapplin’ and doling out the woodshed discipline on each other!. I happen to glance to my right and saw a guy taking pictures. Since cameras and recording devices were supposedly strictly prohibited I had to ask him just how the hell he snuck his camera in there, did he crotch it or what? He let out a big laugh and told me he designed the set and was taking pictures of it for himself. I said, “we’ll it looks really good to me, you did a hell of a job”. He thanked me and continued snapping away for a few minutes. As I was watching the match, I noticed that the guy that I thought was Mickey wasn’t really Mickey after all, it was his body double. HaHa! And here I am with my besty friend running the top website about Mickey Rourke and I was at 1^st fooled by his body double. I was way in the back of the theatre mind ya, but I still laugh about it.

 Next thing I know Timmy is back next to me, tuggin’ on my jacket and saying come with me. I’m like dude where the fuck are we going? He said, come on you can sit by me up front. And that’s how I found myself sitting front row, ringside for the rest of the night. I could feel it when the ROH wrestlers slammed each other onto the mat, smacked each other ruthlessly and got more than a few close ups of them hackin’ on each other. Ya know, even though it’s disputable as to whether wrestling is real or not, the fact remains that these guys are athletes. 1 wrong move and someone is kissin’ their ass good bye. For the money I laid out for my ticket I thought I got a whole hell of a lot of entertainment. How lucky am I, I thought? Kickin’ it front row! Shit, I didn’t even have a clue as to how lucky I was at that point. After a few heated matches between real ROH wrestlers a dude popped into the ring and told the crowd they were going to film a scene for the movie. I about shit myself on the spot and was thanking my lucky stars for this new friend of mine and the whole series of events that led me to this point. Screw sipping silly drinks on a beach in tropical paradise, believe it or not I was having way more fun doin’ this!

Mickey Makes His Appearance!

 When Mickey came out the crowd went wild! I don’t know if they were hammin’ it up coz they were filming, because it was Mickey Rourke in the flesh or people were just riding the energy and excitement of each other. My 1^st glimpse of Mickey made me think all those nasty, fouled out, motherfuckin’, cocksuckin’, skank ass pussies who sit around and talk smack about him are damn lucky they are sitting behind a computer screen. The man is built like a brick shithouse! You either want to beat cheeks for fear he’ll turn that icy glare onto you, or you look past that and see the man behind it.

 The night went on like that, ROH matches then filming scenes for the movie. At the end of the event Timmy was cool enough to take me backstage and I was able to meet a lot of the crew, camera people, hair and make up people, film peeps, set assistants and directors, sound people, the ROH wrestlers and their girlfriends. It’s amazing just how much it takes to make a movie. Miles of cable everywhere, boxes strewn about, carts full of props, TV screens, computers, people always rushing here and there, whew! Ill never again take for granted how much work goes on behind the scenes in the making of a movie. I was dumbstruck at the largeness of it all.

 After the crowd left, there were still scenes to be filmed so Timmy and I, along with the other extras stayed behind and took part. He also introduced me to the owner and manager of the theatre, who were way dope. Though 1 of them thought I was from Fargo….hmmm, no legs in wood chippers goin’ on here! Pahahaha!!! Dog tired yet awake with excitement we went backstage again and met Mickeys body double. We got along great from the get go. He is the shit! I asked him if he had worked as Mickeys body double before and he said no, but he hopes to do it again in the future. Damn, he totally should, he’s a dead ringer for Rourke with subtle differences that could easily be edited out later. Plus he’s a really genuine fella’ that I ended up talking to quite a bit. That night/the next morning I rolled into my hotel at about 4am, having to be back at the theatre, on set at 2pm that afternoon.

 Late morning came way too quickly for me and I dragged my tired ass back to the theatre. I met up with Timmy and we headed inside. They weren’t quite ready to film yet so we chilled out and kicked it with more crew members. Time flew by and next thing I know we are sitting in our designated spots cheering on as Mickey and The Ayatollah went at it in the ring. There was a lot of having to stand up, sit down, stand up, sit down…I got my squats in for the week all in that 1 day. Before I knew it, it was time for lunch/dinner! I followed the crowd over to the church next door for some chow.(eeek churches give me the heebie jeebies) Whoa! The caterers were my new heroes! They had a sweet ass spread laid out including baked salmon, rice, salads, pasta salads, some kinda mystery meat in gravy that I steered clear of, drinks, the whole enchilada. I sat and scarfed my food down while talkin’ to some fellas from Boston. It was fun for me hearing all the different accents in the room while trying not to say too much for fear my own accent would give me away. Nobody seemed to mind though, mostly they looked kinda confused. Shit they probably thought I was from Fargo too..LOL!
 After lunch/dinner I went outside, smoked a cig and called Stephy again. We talked about what kind of questions I could ask Mickey and came up with this. What could anyone possibly ask Mickey Rourke that he hasn’t been asked a zillion times before? It wasn’t our mission to put him on the spot, nor were we after all his deep, dark secrets. We damn sure didn’t want to ask him a bunch of intrusive things. It would be the same recycled, yawn fest questions that would make him wanna stick his wrastlin’ boot up my ass. I didn’t fancy walkin’ around with somethin’ hangin’ outta my pooper so we figured I’d just wing it and let him talk about whatever he felt like talkin’ about.

 It was now almost time for Saturdays ROH event and filming to begin. The theatre was once again ramfucked to the rafters. It kinda reminded me of a concert or somethin’. Should I get my lighter out to see the Rockstar Rourke? LOL!  Bell time was 730pm and by 530pm the line to get in already snaked down the block. These are a hardcore bunch of people who love their wrestling! It was cool to see everyone so stoked, their excitement was infectious.

Meeting Mickey Rourke

 Timmy and I sat in our assigned seats and took in a few matches between filming. (I don’t wanna give away any of the movie so don’t even try to beg any spoilers outta me). Ahhh my big chance to meet Mickey finally fell into my lap, with some help I’m guessing. During 1 scene Mickeys body guard stood right in front of me. I tapped him on the shoulder and said the magic words…”I’m Heather from uniquelyrourke.com. Melissa Prophet called Mickey and he knows I’m gonna be here”. He turned, looked kinda relieved and said “I know! I’ve listened to all of her messages!”…hahahaha I can only imagine what that firecracker Melissa said, she is such a fucking card, I love that girl to pieces! I told him Id be kickin’ it till the matches were done and whenever was a good time for he and Mickey would work for me. He said OK, I thanked him, then he disappeared backstage and I went back to watching Mickey film the rest of his scene. I was thinking to myself this whole thang is like a movie within a movie. Next thing I know the body guard is tappin’ me on the shoulder and tellin’ me to go out 1 particular side door in 5 minutes, walk down an alley, turn a certain way, keep walking and Mickey would be there waiting for me. It all sounded James Bondish to me, but what the hell, I went along for the ride. OoOoh Mickey Rourke, international man of mystery! Muwahahahaha!!!  I wish I would have had time to stop in the bathroom coz my back teeth were floatin’ but I didn’t want to fuck up my opportunity to meet Mickey. I walked out the side door cursin’ the last 3 bottles of water I had drank during the matches only to see Mickeys body guard waving at me, guiding my way, then disappearing. My solitary thought was, oh god I’ve gotta hit the can so bad I can about taste it.

 It was dark outside in that fuckin’ alley so I was kinda flaked out. I have a real hard time seeing in the dark so it was difficult for me to try and adjust so quickly. When I popped outta the alley and turned, there was this bright ass light blinding me like a spotlight. I tried to shield my eyes so I could see, to no avail. Oh great I thought, I’m gonna stumble into something coz I can’t see a fuckin’ thing, fall down and piss myself in the process. Great 1^st impression that would be! Thankfully my fears were unfounded, I ended up following the sound of voices and quietly let out a soft chuckle at my predicament. I sure wanted to bust that fuckin’ lightbulb somethin’ fierce! As I got closer to where I was supposed to be I could see the bright green of Mickeys wrestling outfit and figured well nobody else is gonna be wearing that thang, so I must be headed in the right direction. As I got closer and that damn light wasn’t directly in my eyes I saw Mickey sitting on some stairs. I walked up, shook his hand and introduced myself. I glanced down and remember thinking fuck where’d my hand go? I know I had 2 of em’ when I came here. His paw is so mammoth, mine was engulfed by his with ample room to spare. I’d hate to be on the receiving end of any fury comin’ off of those guns!

 When we shook hands I could like feel the vibe of the self imposed wall Mickey had up. He reminded me of a junkyard dog with it’s hackles up that’s been kicked 1 too many times and isn’t trusting of anyone or anything until he can observe it, sniff it and give it a good whackin’ around the bone yard. I wasn’t put off by his initial demeanor. I may not be the most aggressive person in the whole world, or the most eloquent but I do have a spine and girl balls. It would take a whole hell of a lot more to send me packin’ than a bit of gruffness. He fixed me with that thousand yard stare of his and the interrogation started. He says “so you communicate with Melissa?” I replied “oh yeah we talk all the time, I love her!” ( talking, emailing, sign language, smoke signals, whatever, its all the same to me). He grilled me some more about Melissa and straight up said “I wouldn’t have done any of this, met you or nothin’ if it weren’t for Melissa. I’ve known her forever and I trust her. She knows people, she knows the business, she’s smart, she’s got balls and I completely trust her.”

 As I was listening to Mickey give me the business about Melissa, his body language seemed to be screaming I’m feeling really uncomfortable. I gave him his space so he could sort me out in his own time and way. I was just being my ghetto self coz I don’t believe in putting on false airs or being a fuckin’ poser. Besides Mickey is smart, he can sniff out a fishy fake like a bloodhound. It wasn’t like I had an agenda, or some grand plan to extract information from him or get him to talk with me, I was just me being me. If I wasn’t blunt I may have been intimidated by the way Mickey laid it on the line like that about Melissa, but Im blunt so it didn’t faze me. Personally I think Mickey is way more interesting being himself than being Mickey Rourke the actor. Melissa did tell me she did a layup the size of Texas to get Mickey to meet with me. This sorta experience doesn’t happen by accident. I’m no well known journalist, TV personality nor do I work for some big magazine or publishing house. I’m just me being me. Melissa believed in me and trusted me, she knew I wasn’t some fake, flake or fraud. I am so incredibly grateful to her for her layup and to Mickey for taking a huge leap of faith and agreeing to meet with me. In Mickeys defense it had to be odd for him meeting a chick who along with her best friend run a website about his career and shenanigans.

  The thought that I’m the one to pop his website cherry is cool. I hope it was as good for him as it was for me. I’ll send him my bill in the morning, no wait, I hate mornings, make that afternoon…pahahaha…..

 Mickey and I went on to talk about some of his other real friends Stephy and I talk with. The ice was broken further when I mentioned John Enos. His eyes widened, his face lit up and he said “Fuck, you talk to John Enos too?” and gave out a hearty laugh. I said “yeah, I designed his Myspace page for him too.” It was almost like Mickey couldn’t believe how many of his real friends that converse with us. I rattled off a few more names that took Mickey down memory lane and it was smooth sailing after that. Imagine if I had been able to include all the names of his friends that we chat with, he’d have most likely fallen over from shock..haha! I told Mickey “ya know the beautiful thing is, is that all these people we talk to that are friends of yours don’t have to be nice to us, they really don’t, but they just are. It’s cool that they treat us so good”. He grinned while nodding in agreement. In the course of our conversation I asked Mickey “how are your dogs?, coz everybody asks”. He said “Loki just had a major operation to remove a benign tumor from her. She’s home and recuperating well”. He also shared with me that he’s "lost 4 of his dogs in the past 4 years". Whoa, that is some rough shit I said. He replied “I have 5 dogs now, I really like having 5 dogs.” I can sympathize with him, when I lost my beloved Zeus I was inconsolable.

 When I asked him about filming this movie he said “I’m exhausted. It’s been a long 37 weeks not including weight training and wrestling school.” “This is the hardest movie I’ve made physically. With boxing you move around and punch, but with wrestling – these guys are always moving, getting thrown around, jumping, it’s very physically demanding.” He also said during the making of this movie he had to have "3 MRI’s, 1 on his spine, 1 on his knee, 1 on his foot or elbow", he couldn’t remember. We went back to cakin’ and I figured I’d stick my neck out and ask him if it would be ok to take a picture together. He said “Sure!” We stood up together and some fella’ standing nearby snapped our head shot photo. Then as I took a step towards the fella to retrieve my camera Mickey surprised the shit outta me and said “ya know what, lets take another picture for her, come on lets take another picture”. Hey I wasn’t arguing! I walked back to Mickey, wrapped my arm around him and softly whispered “I’m gonna kiss you on the cheek” and planted some smootches on him. He quietly purred back “mmmm yeah kiss me on the cheek”. (that’s 1 I’ll be savin’ for the spank bank). For all those people out there who love to hate on Mickey and say he smells bad, talk shit about his skin and crap like that, here’s 1 for ya..Mickey doesn’t honk, he smells good! He looks and smells like any other fella that takes good care of himself that I know. What is it with people nitpicking? I really don’t understand it and cant even believe I just had to type that to get it thru your thick fuckin’ heads. It's like what, is Mickey supposed to smell like a French whore or sumthan'? I just can't picture him fawning all over himself like some he-man whore. After that he had to duck into the theatre and film another short scene for the movie.

  I sat down on the steps and smoked a few cigs, talking to a bunch of crew members who were hangin’ around, though they soon had to get on the stick. In truth the short lived silence was nice. It allowed me to mentally take stock of Mickey and I’s conversation thus far. 1 thing kept nagging at me – a short conversation I had with The Ayatollah earlier. It revolved around a select few other websites and how they have been bombarding him with whacked out emails such as, "if your ever in my area look me up, heres my phone number, call me." I don’t need to go into detail, the guilty parties know who they are. He relayed to me he thinks these people “are crazy” and “insane”. I apologized to him for the harassment he’s had to endure. His reply was “It’s OK, you don’t have to apologize for them. It wasn’t you doing it”. I replied “Still, I feel bad that you’ve had to put up with that shit, it aint right.” He smiled and thanked me.

 That got me to thinking….ya know everybody just wants a piece of Mickey for their own selfish reasons. Like he’s a pie that people slice and dice until there’s nothing left but crumbs. Its no wonder Mickey is so guarded and has built such big walls around himself. Everyone is always take, take, take with no regard to his feelings or well being. It’s a good thing Mickey is very well protected and that he’s so smart.

  My mental musings were interrupted when the door opened and Mickey came back out and by his own accord sat down next to me on the stairs. He lit a cig and expressed to his body guard that the hard rubber armbands that were part of his wardrobe for the movie were hurting his arms. The bodyguard rolled them down and I happened to glance over and saw deep, angry red grooves in his bicep along with a nasty black looking bruise from the armband. I leaned in, held his arm, traced the outline of that fouled out looking imprint and said “OMG are you ok? Look at this huge bruise, ouch! Mickey look at yourself, your hurt!” He said, “it’s fake”. I couldn’t comprehend what he was saying because it looked horrible to me and I was really concerned. Here my new friend was hurt, and I don’t like to see anybody I know in pain. He said, “it’s part of the movie, its make up”. I laughed my ass off and said, “oh great, your gonna tell Melissa oh man that chick is a total nerd”! He shook his head and we had a good laugh at my expense. Oh well, if ya can’t laugh at yourself who can ya laugh at? Hey it looked really painful and nasty to me!

  We sat outside next to each other on the stairs, smoked, shot the shit and enjoyed each others company. He asked me a lot of questions, actually listened, took interest and paid attention to my answers which was like a breath of fresh air for me. Whoever said Mickey Rourke doesn’t have manners can go fuck them selves straight up the dirty ditch. I’m a stickler for manners and abhor rude, thoughtless people and Mickey did excellent by my standards. His true friends and the way they have described him to Stephy and I were, as usual, right on the money. He’s kind, whip smart, patient and thoughtful, yet be respectful or you’re gonna open up a can of whoop ass you want no part of and end up runnin’ home cryin’ to yo’ momma hidin’ behind her skirt. People like to try and paint this picture of Mickey that is so far off base it’s sickening. He’s the round peg that they are always tryin’ to hammer into the square hole. He’s personable and very easy to talk to, I wasn’t nervous in the least. I damn sure wouldn’t spend any of my time with someone who lets their ego rule them. If Mickey Rourke was a skanky scrotbag I’d be the 1^st to tell ya, but he’s not, not at all.

 We both share a passion for that word that feels so good rollin’ off my tongue, fuck. Our whole conversation came so easily and comfortably when we were passin’ the time together. Ya see, this guy kept walkin’ by us that had been sniffin’ around me that night. I was pissed coz the guy was on my last nerve and when he was outta ear shot I blurted out to Mickey “I know that guy wants to fuck me”. He quickly looked around and growled “what guy”. I said "ya know that guy we were talkin’ about earlier”. It ended up that the sniffer had lied to Mickey about somethin’. My reply upon hearing that “He's a motherfuckin’, cocksuckin’, tuna assed douche bag fuckin’ mother fucker”. (I hate people that lie too, almost as much as frauds) Mickeys reaction to my dirty mouth that mom tried in vain to wash out with soap so many times? He didn’t blink an eye or miss a beat. His reply was “that guy’s fuckin’ crazy”. When I got back home I told Melissa “gawd I have such a foul mouth” she said “And just for the record he loves a dirty sailors mouth. He hates fakes in case you did not notice”.  Whew! Glad someone can appreciate my truckers mouth! I was just being myself, I don’t know how to be anybody else.

 Sittin’ there shooting the breeze with Mickey reminded me of the fellas I ran with growing up, old school real kinda people. I felt like he trusted me in a way and he obviously knew I wasn’t some flakey flako. I felt safe sittin' there with him, which is really odd for me. Not in a weird sense, but like I could tell him anything and it wouldn't bother him. He isn't the kinda guy that cares where you've been, where you came from or whatcha do. Time flew by and next thing I know Mickey had to duck inside to film another scene. While he was inside I chatted with several more crew members and I even got invited to the wrap party which was later in the week. I couldn’t go though coz I had to get back home and put my nose to the grindstone. It was tempting though, free food, free booze, dancin' and a whole lotta booty shakin'. Plus the prospect of meeting more new people and making some friends was really appealing to me. If Uncle Sam had been more generous with my tax refund I would have totally stayed and partied down with everyone!

Aces Out

When Mickey came out again he was dressed in different clothes for the next scene. I asked him if he was coming back to the theatre and he said “No, I have to go shoot a phone booth scene somewhere else”. He and his body guard walked a few feet away deep in conversation. I took this as my cue to duck outta there, I didn’t want to make a pest of myself or get in anyone’s way. At this point the crew was crazy busy moving all the different things needed for the scene, cameras, props and the like. I got up and walked over to Mickey, touched his arm lightly and said “thanks for everything, take care of yourself, I hope to see ya around sometime soon”. He seemed startled that I was leaving and said “Yeah, you take care too, take care of yourself sweetheart.” I nodded and continued to walk down the dark, dimly lit alley while deep in thought about the whole evening. The hair stood up on the back of my neck, I didn’t know if someone was casin’ me out or somethin’, so I didn’t really wanna turn around and look but curiosity got the best of me. I cautiously turned my head expecting to see some thugs or somethin’ while my body was gearing up to run like hell to my rental car. But much to my chagrin it was Mickey watching me walk away. Why? I don’t know…maybe it’s because he’s the last of a soon to be extinct breed of gentleman and was making sure I got outta the dark safely. I walked the few blocks to my rental car, looked at the clock and was shocked to see roughly 3 hours had passed since I started talking with him. It felt like 5 minutes to me. I came there and met Mickey as a chick from a website and left a friend.

Special Thanks!

Stephy...good thing I have a jammin' deal on my phone or I'd be in hock up to my ears..pahahaha...youve been here every step of the way and then some. I fuckin' love-a you!!!!! Thanks for sticking your virtual foot up my ass when I got out there. I owe ya some Lefsa.

Camden.... thanks for all the insight and not giving up on Steph and I. I bet your missin' that ass..pahahahaha!

The Crew...A huge thanks goes out to the crew of The Wrestler. All of ya that I was fortunate enough to meet and spend a bit of time with...you rock! "Work hard and play hard"! I couldn't agree more. Thanks for answering all my questions about anything and everything. I had a ton of fun and learned so much in such a short time.

Last but not least.......
Mickey Rourke...I want to thank Mickey for going out on a limb and meeting me. For being upfront and to the point about everything. For just being himself, kind, patient and understanding. Also for the good laughs... I wont tell if you don't tell. (wink, wink)