Excellent guesses, everyone but…no dice.

Here we go.

Ready? I don’t know why I’m so embarrassed. Okay, I’ll admit it. I have a thing for Joaquin Phoenix.

There it is…out there. This “thing” started when I saw Signs for the third time. There was just something about the guy playing Merrill. Then, when I saw Ladder 49…oh boy…done deal. Now, I realize I don’t KNOW the real Joaquin and perhaps I only have a “thing” for certain characters he has played (I need to interject here and say I adored him in The Village even though I didn’t care for the movie much…don’t get me started on Gladiator (yuck)). So, I’m admitting this fascination because of the “coincidences” which have happened in the past couple of weeks.

I went to Toronto (really it was Mississauga) the week of August 22nd. The night before I left, I watched The Village. As I laid my sleepy head down to the pillow, I thought to myself, “wouldn’t it be super cool if Joaquin just happened to be at the same hotel I’m going to be staying in?” I laughed, half-asleep. How silly. I mean, what are the chances he would even be in the area. Fade to black.

I had to go back to Toronto (again, Mississauga) this past Monday and Tuesday. As my supervisor, co-worker and I sped down one of the most boring highways ever, Amy turned to me and said, “Did you know the Toronto International Film Festival is going on right now?” My heart almost bounced out of my body. “Are you playing with me, Amy? I mean…if that is true, there is a slim chance Joaquin is in town to promote Walk The Line!” We discussed this as we scanned boxes, trying to figure out how to get to downtown Toronto and bump into Mr. Phoenix. Alas, we finished up at 4:30 p.m., went back to the hotel, went out to dinner and then felt too tired to care. Before heading back to our rooms, I asked Amy for a favor.

“Will you go down to the hotel bar with me…just so I can check?” She agreed but of course, no Joaquin. Oh well. I wasn’t serious anyhow…heh.

We spent the morning with our vendor and finished really early. Jim, Amy and I joked that we should go down to the film festival to look for Joaquin, even though I couldn’t even confirm he was in town. We joked about this all the way home.

Wednesday night, I was flipping through stations when Joaquin’s face suddenly flashed on the screen. I had stumbled upon some cheesy game show where the contestant had to guess the names of people on the covers of magazines. Among Cokie Roberts, Arnold S., and whomever else….was a picture of Joaquin. Wow. What a “coincidence”. An hour later, a promo for “8mm” came on. Another shot of Joaquin jumped in front of my face. What is going on? Is Satan toying with me?

And now for the biggest kick in the guts (well, yesterday, anyhow): I went to CNN.com and clicked on the link about the new Johnny Cash movie. Now, I knew Joaquin was playing the role. No surprise there. The kicker….."Walk the Line," which premiered Tuesday at the Toronto International Film Festival…and there was Joaquin, all dressed up. I missed him by a few hours. HE WAS THERE! I just can’t believe it. I hope he didn’t wait long at the Novotel Hotel bar. Ugh! Amy feels bad we didn’t try to go downtown but what would I have said to him as I stood there in my Wrigley Field tee, grubby jeans, hair pulled back looking like a mess? “Hi….uh…hi….loved you in Spacecamp.”

So, yeah…there it is. I’m a huge fan of Joaquin and think I might see Walk The Line on opening day. It helps I’m a fan of Johnny Cash, too, but who am kidding? Sigh…all this proves is nothing except my little fantasy world is alive and strong. Doesn’t all of this mean anything? I know it means I’m changing my desktop wall paper from the picture of Riv at Easter to Joaquin on the red carpet in Toronto. Steve Sommerlot comes down, Joaquin Phoenix goes up. That’s just the way it works…